| 915/07
2007 UK TOUR
Testimonial from skid
This UK
tour is for real, what I mean is, we are taking this seriously. We are not coming over fat and tired, trying to milk the last of our legacy no, that's not what this is about.
We are going to bleed/give 100% at these shows.
Not because we think we'll get famous or we'll make more money. L/H is fun again and we're going blow minds.
Sure the catalog is strong but the real power is the energy of the band.
I promise you will see us in top form. We will be as good as you remember us to be.
See you at the show!
skid
DEC 15th Hollywood Knitting Factory
DEC17th London Camden Underworld
DEC 18th Bristol The KLA Social.
DEC 19th Dudley JB'S
DEC 20th Nuneaton The Queens Hall.
DEC 21st Leeds Rio's
DEC 22nd Nottingham Rock City / Rescue Rooms
8/26/07
Karen's Birthday party
Thank you for making my birthday party so much fun!
Fifteen years ago, I wrote a fan letter to Skid. I mailed it to the “fan club” mailing address in the Wasted In America CD. I wanted to let Skid know that his songwriting captured my imagination and had a positive impact on my life. Writing that fan letter was the best thing I ever did.
Love/Hate was and still is my FAVORITE band! Having Love/Hate play at my birthday party was a dream come true.
Thank you to Skid for being the best husband in the whole world. We are soul mates.
Thank you to Jizzy, Jon, and Joey!!! You have always been so cool to me. I put each of you on a very high pedestal.
Thank you to all the fans of Love/Hate who came all the way to San Pedro. I hope that you had fun at the party.
Extra special thanks to:
GreenDream & Candy, HeadsWillRoll, Chris L’Orange, mOji, Amy, and YuccaMan.
View our party pics here:
http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/SkidKaren/Karen%20-%20Birthday%202007/
If the link doesn’t work, go to www.photobucket.com
User: SkidKaren
3/13/07
Joey remembers Berlin 1992
I read Skid's Berlin recollections and it definitely brought back memories. I recall Skid dodging beer cans and all kinds of flying projectiles, and I definitely recall Jizzo dodging much spit. There was another type of projectile thrown that night though. In the middle of the set (after a particularly close call with a beer can flying by my head) I got hit with an apple. I didn't particularly think that flying fruit was out of the ordinary until an orange came whizzing by, exploding on my favorite 17 inch Paiste crash. That's when the banana came. I remember thinking that it had now gotten wierd. Who out there would have brough fruit into the venue to pelt the opener with? That's when I looked stage right and saw that Ozzy himslef had gotten into our dressing room, stolen our fruit basket, and was drilling me with its contents. I can still picture that maniacal Ozzy smile as he pelted me with fruit as I was unable to defend myself.
A couple other things about the gig. The Ozzy crew bus (there were two on the tour) didn't break down, it actually got into an accident on the Autobahn which resulted in a fatality in one of the other cars involved. The crew got to the venue late, shaken up and assuming the gig was off. Skid recollects correctly when he said that Jon saved the day. Jon directed the three of us and our crew on how to set up the Ozzy rig and we did it just in time for doors (actually, doors went off only 15 minutes late).
Another thing I remember about that night is up until that time, Sharon Osbourne was being really piggy with our catering and ability to use the production office phone. After Jon and the rest of us saved the show, we had full catering, access to the production office, and basically anything else we wanted. We had won Sharon over. As a post script, I wound up managing a band on Elektra many years later, and I got them on Ozzfest. Sharon invited me to her office for lunch a few times and when I went the first time, she brought up the story of the Berlin show and mentioned that in all of her years touring, it was the only time she ever saw a show on the verge of being cancelled due to something like this, and an opener that was so intent on playing, they went to heroic lengths to save the gig. She remembered it fondly, though when she mentioned it to Ozzy, he had no recollection of the crash, the gig, or of course, the fruit basket...
2/7/07
This story is not news so, I guess it's out of place but new content has been so scarce on the old L/H that I thought a fun recollection wouldn't hurt anything. The reunion gig got me waxing nostalgic and I was going to post a short response to a thread on Jizzy's messageboard regarding the budcross then it turned into a story that I like so I posted it here too.
Budcross Memories by skid.
Love/Hate was opening for Ozzy on a two band bill all over Europe in 1992. We were in Berlin playing a
soldout 5k amphitheatre, it was a warm summer night and Ozzy's fans were rabid. We had been on the
tour for over a month and we were seasoned at facing adversarial crowds (giant OZZY CHANTS) and big
Fuck You's and us trying to turn Ozzy fans into Love/Hate fans one by one. It was an arduious task but
we still had energy and night by night we would face the Ozzy crowds head on, so this night was no big
suprise but this night was the closest thing to combat I have ever experienced, it was like "Apocalypse Now"
totally surreal full blown rock, in your face.
Now, I have been accused of being a drama queen and I'm painfully sensitive so maybe some of you might be correct thinking this event was not as intense as I think it was, but please be entertained and be sure that this is how I remember that far away night.
BERLIN 1992
Jon set up the sound system, it was one of Jon's greatest moments. The truck with the PA was at the gig
but Ozzy's sound crew's bus broke down hundreds of miles from the gig and the gig was going to be canceled
because the sound crew was not there to set up the rig.
Jon made it look easy, we all chipped in and humped the gear and Sharren Osbourne was impressed, when the sound crew arrived 2 hours before the show everything was dialed in.
Everything seemed normal, catering, the fans come in , we are excited because you could feel the energy
it was rockin and we were ready to get it on.
I don't remember what happened before the gig, I just remember what happened when I went down the shoot.
Fuck man, it was tribal it could have been 1166 and if it was legal they would have killed me for sure.
I came out with the cross, the lights were good, there was a spot light on me and I had a clear view of the room.
The sound was pretty good and i could hear Joe & Jon but I was immediatly stunned by 10,000 arms flipping
us off. I took a second look to confirm what I thought and yes, every person in the arena was flipping us off and chanting OZZY OZZY and we had the unique experience to hear what every note of our set sounded like with thousands of people chanting OZZY
thru the entire set and not only flipping us off (10,000 middle fingers) but gesturing violently - the people in front wanted to kill us and we didn't get it. We didn't understand why they hated us that much but they did, they really hated us.
So, this as it turns out, was one of my greatest moments, I'm loaded, I'm transended, I'm impressed, I felt like a king and
I was not afraid. No shit. 10,000 middle fingers in my face and I'm humping the cross and it goes into slow motion,
spit rains on me, oh yeah, they fuckin hate me loud. But I was skinny, and deep inside I knew they knew I was cool
so I faced them head on and I thought they would know that we were down with the devil and they could appreciate
that we wanted to rock - I mean no questions asked we were tight - people that didn't like us
didn't deny that we were way tight, and that was the biggest source of our pride, It was like a atom bomb to me,
the way the fingers never went down and I was skinny an I didn't get why they wanted to kill us.
I smashed my head especially hard on the cross that night, I couldn't even feel it, blood started trickling down my face
and I was in no hurry, I wasn't trying to get it over with, normally I would keep my eye out for flying beer bottles
and other projectiles, that night was different, one bottle missed my head by about twelve inches and you could hear the
disapointment of the fans, had it hit me and knocked my head off they would have been thrilled.
then more bottles came, one crashed into Joey's cymbals, then there were the flying cups of piss splashing on the stage.
It was a rough gig, and times like that made me love the guys in the band. Sure I was front and center for a few minutes
but Jizzy had to face them eye to eye for forty minutes.
My bass tech filmed it, but he kept the camera off the fans because he didn't think their hatred of us was flattering.
I wish I had video of the Ozzy fans that night so I could prove that I'm not exagerating.
After the gig, Ozzy's crew/band gained a new respect for us. They patted us on the back and gave us encouragement.
Old crew vetrans commented that in 20 years they hadn't seen an opener take so much shit and not leave the stage.
It was as if we earned our rock wings that night. The German press was there in full force and even the Slayer type writers
showed respect, they hated the music but thought we showed guts. After the show we walked around in the venue
and Ozzy fans were shaking our hands and giving us thumbs up.
That night, in Berlin in 1992 Love/Hate was a real rock band no joke.
skid
2/2/07
Love/Hate reunion
The original members are playing their
first show together in many years at
Club Vodka on FEB 24, 2007
The Knitting Factory - Hollywood, CA
7021 Hollywood Blvd.
One Block East of LaBrea
Los Angeles CA,
323-463-0204
We are going to play "Blackout in the Redroom" in it's entirety.
It's like riding a bike sort of, the fun part is that
I'm talking to the guys. One thing that I forgot is
how loud live music is, standing next to Joe's kit is
intense, he's smashing the drums and I'm a few feet away
and it feels like I'm in a war zone or a heavy industrial factory.
The bass is painful to play, lucky for me that when you play for as many years as I did the balls on the tips of your fingers never go away so it hurts but not that bad.
Well, I'm going to rock at this gig but there's no way I could hump the cross, I mean it makes me laugh to think about the mindset it took to do that. I used to gig in a trance, not just loaded.
I am fit, and I have the moves and I still am on the crazy side, but the idea of a 47 year old man shirtless humping the budcross seems not only undignified but also a bit perverted or shall I say obscene. So I will spare us all the embarasment. But, that's not to say that I won't do it in the future.
I will post my unobjective observations of the Club Vodka show, until then so long.
skid
12/8/2006
It's been a long time sinse I've been to the old L/H. It's
good to be back. Our poor horrible message boards
have driven even the most core fans away. Well, I'm
going to get a new hack proof message board up over Christmas vacation, wait a minute I said that last year.
I'm gonna do it and other improvements as well.
I had to stop working on Devil Party Anthems around a year ago because I got a really big project. My wife Karen was concerned that our house was too small and I said, "let's tear our house down and build a big house" she said "let's do it" and that's how the journey started.
I have always been a do it your self guy so our plan was to do the work ourselves so we would have enough money to build the house. The first step was to learn about architecture so I could design the house and create the plans. This process took a few months of working nights and weekends, it was a bit complicated because the house was to be two stories and two story houses in Los Angeles require a licensed structural engineer's stamp of approval on the plans before the city will check the plans.
There was a pretty big learning curve creating the plan set. The day we finally passed and I pulled the permits from the city (approx 10k) we celebrated like we were done. The problem was we had just begun.
We went to the bank and borrowed 200k for the project and everybody I talked to said that we were crazy, that the project would cost a minimum of 400k and that we were setting ourselves up for a disaster. I had done the math and I was convinced we could build 3,000 sq ft for 200k. I was right.
We rented an apartment close by and started tearing our house down. My office is in a separate building in the back so I could manage the construction and do my day job simultaneously. During the first week of construction I fell off the roof and confirmed my wife's worst fears. Construction is dangerous. The scariest part of the job was when our house was completely torn down, we had a big mortgage and rent from our apartment but no house. Sometimes I would look up at the vacant lot and think what the fuck have I done.
We passed inspection for our foundation in record time. This achievement lifted our spirits and the framing went well. I was the general contractor, this presented many challenges because I had very little experience. There was a lot of learning on the job.
When we passed our rough framing inspection we were very confident that we could build anything. We had installed a 1000 pound steel beam, many 500 pound long beams, 2 floors, stairs, 17 windows, 12 doors but the most difficult was framing the roof (lots of tricky cuts)
The finish of the house is smooth stucco, I must say that the three coats of concrete process was a war. We mixed & hoisted what seemed to be thousands of buckets of cement up the scaffolds in the dead of summer and when we finished we were strong!
There were many processes to go but I understand for some of you construction is boring
At the end of October we passed our final inspection and moved in our house the day before Halloween. We handed out candy to many tricker treaters and we felt very happy and grateful. The construction part of the project took 6 1/2 months.
Now, I'm ready to do some music. Maybe this year will bring a L/H reunion. I think it would be fun to film a sold out Whiskey L/H show in 2007. The show would be fun and the footage could be used for a DVD. I read that Jizzy is done with Ratt so the timing might be right.
I never thought I'd say this but I think I want to hump the bud cross one more time.
----------------------------------------------------
12/19/2005
It's Christmas vacation and I'm off work for two weeks.
I'm going to make some improvements to the old L/H.
1. Get Jizzy's L/H history back up
2. Install a hack proof guest book
3. Post L/H B-sides for download
4. Post all L/H video's
5. Offer L/H bootleg CD"s
6. Offer L/H swag - tee shirts/caps
Happy
Holidays,
skid
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L/H at CLUB VODKA 2/24/07
Wow, I think I should never play another gig in my life because I doubt we could beat our gig at CLUB VODKA.
Firstly, it was sold out in a big way (1,500 people).
Hundreds of people were turned away at the door, the fire marshals threatened the promoter that they would shut the club down if they let any more people in. Hollywood showed respect for an old war horse band and L/H was proud and full of gratitude.
We did nine rehearsals, two with vocals and we only sounded good the night before the show, still we were confident because there was a natural excitement that as a group we had not felt in many years.
Storybook fantasy, I get to the venue, I'm coming in the back with my wife Karen because I had to bring the bud-cross in and it would have been to embarrassing to go in the front door with the cross. I get to the back stage area and there's over a hundred people in a full blown love fest. L/H always did good at easy gigs, when the rock gods layed it on a platter for us we had no problem getting it up and getting it on and this night would be no exception.
Reunions are different than regular gigs because time changes your perspective and you are able to see with a depth that comes with the passing of many years.
For me the essence of Rock and Roll is about giving your life force (your energy) to people. The thing is, you have to have energy to give, the songs need to be good but the songs are only the platform that the energy is delivered on. Like 99% of all rock bands that tour for years L/H ran out of gas and I had forgotten what we once were.
It was the promoters idea for us to play Black Out in it's entirety. He thought we would sell more tickets, he was right, but it ended up being a rediscovery for the guys in the band of the power of Love/Hate.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that we made the room seem small that night, we did. We had the energy that it takes to rock a big room. Massive sing a longs, hundreds of arms, unbridled enthusiasm. Wow, I was amazed at how natural the whole affair seemed.
My music career ended around 1995 Jizzy has been rocking professionally the whole time. He never stopped. I have to tell you that to sing the stuff he's been singing all this time defies gravity. Jizzy was better at the reunion gig than ever. Rail thin, hit the high notes, put on a crazy show and he was so cool to me. When we were on stage it was like a couple of old army buddies looking into each others eyes remembering all the people we killed together. Am I creepy? That's what it felt like.
Joe is more like me. We are guys with beautiful wives, children and good jobs. Our rock past is a warm fuzzy far away history that we have a naughty chuckle over.
That being said, we wanted to prove to ourselves and Jizzy and that we could rock in 2007. Drums are difficult. You can't fake it, arms, legs, back, neck -- all need to work well to play bombastic arena rock, frankly I don't know how Joe did it, he hit so hard that , well, it almost brought a tear to my eye. It was mental, we were excited and adrenaline fueled us to a place where we had not been in years.
When you're an old man in our materialistic society you are judged by how much money you make, not by how well you play guitar. At the L/H reunion gig Jon demonstrated a world-class guitar skill set. To say he played well is an under-statement. He spit fire, it was as if he was dining with the devil right there on stage. Raw emotion. I bet Jimmy Page would have approved I know I did.
I had a great show myself, came skinny, hit the notes, did all the kooky moves but way more importantly I gave my soul, I gave every bit of energy I had.
I think that if ACDC was at our gig they would have said; "For those about to rock, we salute you".
Thanks to all the people that flew in from far away and thanks to everybody who went to the show. I will remember that gig for the rest of my days.
skid
2/2/07
Love/Hate reunion
The original members are playing their
first show together in many years at
Club Vodka on FEB 24, 2007
The Knitting Factory - Hollywood, CA
7021 Hollywood Blvd.
One Block East of LaBrea
Los Angeles CA,
323-463-0204
LOVE/HATE PARTY
In celebration of the Love/Hate reunion gig we are having a party at skid's house on
Friday FEB 23, 7:00 PM to 10:00
This party is dedicated to the handful of fans flying
in from far away.
Jizzy has confirmed he is coming to the party.
skid-jon-joe will be there too.
Enjoy food and drinks and L/H music.
All fans and friends of L/H welcome.
Cheers,
skid
FEB 23, 8:00 PM to 12:00 PM
skid & karen's house
1110 S Wycliff Ave
San Pedro, CA 90732
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