Trial to play Chicago in '09

A message from Greg Bennick of Trial:

Yes...its true. I had a dozen texts today, and facebook and myspace messages about this show asking if it was rumor or real so I thought I might share what I know and then we'll all be on the same page.

I got an email from my friend Jim Grimes from Chicago yesterday....Jim has been doing hardcore shows in Chicago since the mid 1990's and is like the hardcore Al Capone of Chicago. Well, Tony Victory is more like the Al Capone of Chicago. Jim is like if Al Capone had a little brother, named like "Fletcher" or "Tupac" or "Brodie". Yeah...Brodie Capone.

So Brodie Capone writes me from Chicago and says that he is doing a show for Disembodied and Unbroken and that Undertow will likely play too if they can do it. He said its going to be in honor of Brian Petersen's new book "Burning Fight: The Nineties Hardcore Revolution in Ethics, Politics, Spirit and Sound" which is coming out on Revelation soon. I am excited to read this book when it comes out. Brian is completely sincere. Have no doubts. I talked to him a ton during the research phase of his book and he wanted to make it as accurate as he possibly could. He said that so many times that I eventually would just start to zone out a little when he started talking about it. I believed him 100%. He was preaching to the choir. I am sure people will talk behind his back that he forgot this or overemphasized that in his book. He didn't, and he won't. And if he does, he's the author, and thats his right. Please remember this though: if you decide to talk shit about Brian and his book, know that I will write to the voodoo dudes that I met in Haiti last month and have them wreak havoc on your world, just like in that movie 'Serpent and the Rainbow' (which if you haven't seen, you need to, especially if you are going to be an amateur book critic). Brian rules and his book will be great. Think about that, and about potentially spending the next 25 years as a zombie, BEFORE you decide to make fun of him.

Anyway...Undertow and Unbroken have been talking for awhile now about their two bands doing a San Diego show and a Seattle show together. I had heard rumor too about a Chicago show but I never knew any solid details other than hardcore message board talk. Not that I read the message boards. Gosh. Anyway, the email from Brodie Capone changed all that. He said that he wanted this Chicago show to be a show with 90's bands to support the book and he wanted Trial to play. I had no idea that he was promoting the Chicago show. I wrote to the guys (Timm had already talked to him) and they all said yes. Alexei actually said "fuck yes". EJ said something equally expressive, though slightly more articulate. And Brian, as to be expected, spouted off some insanity about wanting the Scorpions to play too, that he needed an entire hotel to himself, and that we should all wear witches hats onstage, or at the very least that I should wear a fez. Gotta love him.

So there you have it. You now know as much as I do:

Chicago, sometime in April 2009
Disembodied, Unbroken, Trial: all confirmed
Undertow possibly and hopefully confirming soon

Now we're all on the same page. See you there and keep in touch.

xox
greg

If all goes well, I will be in attendance. I really need to see Trial. They are one of my all-time favorite hardcore bands. Are These Our Lives? is just about perfect.

Who's gonna make plans to go?