BloodLust!

03 JULY 2005
The Empty Bottle
Chicago, IL
with:
Hive Mind
Workbench
Aaron Dilloway
Climax Denial

BLOODYMINDED
Ed Knigge – Synth + Vocals
Chris Mack – Synth
Isidro Reyes – Synth
Mark Solotroff – Vocals + Synth
Christian Soto – SLR

01. “IN THE MOOD”
02. “AS IF”
03. “PORN LORDS”
04. “ANGEL OF DARKNESS”
05. “CHALK EATER”
06. (PROVISIONALLY TITLED) “VISITING AN EX-GIRLFRIEND IN THE HOSPITAL – AIDS WARD”
07. “THE LOVE HATERS VS. THE HATE LOVERS”
08. “LAKE STREET”
09. “BECOMING AN ANIMAL”
10. “MIND THE GAP”
11. “PRO-ANA”
12. “PRO-MIA”
13. “A SONG FOR LISANNE, A YOUNG MODEL”
14. “THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE’S DESTRUCTION” (DISCHARGE)
15. “TROPHY”
16. “TWO DROPS OF BLOOD”
17. “SHIVERY”
18. “GENITAL PANIC”
19. “MANTRA”

Not quite as bloated a set as on Memorial Day, but we still passed 27-minutes. Fuck! Nothing came unplugged and nothing broke down…except my voice. Still, it was a miracle of Duct tape and reduced equipment… and maybe Ed’s possibly reduced alcohol consumption. Thanks to Pete Toalson at The Empty Bottle for setting up the show. All said and done, with guest lists, etc., there were close to 100 people in the room, and according to someone who works at the club, there were less than 100 paid bodies each night of the (vacate the city) holiday weekend, so I do not feel so bad about the lighter-than-hoped-for turnout. Major thanks go out to Grey, Mike, Aaron, and Alex, for traveling to Chicago for the show. Thanks to our friends, and to everyone who showed up to support the performers, especially the Champaign-Urbana, Milwaukee, and St. Louis crews --- oh Chicago, so much to answer for!

I thought that the night was amazing. Alex (Climax Denial) started the show off with a bang, far surpassing his Big Blue House show from last year, and so much more satisfying than his piss-in-a-bucket assault at Thee Crooked House from when we played up there with Karlheinz in 2003. I expect great things in the future… We did our thing, and then Aaron came on and destroyed any memory of our set with a horrific, walloping show that was filled with great dynamics and mouth-mic-madness far more prominent than how one usually hears it in a Wolf Eyes live mix. Simply astonishing! People were freaking out. Mike (Workbench) took a far different approach than he did last Friday in Detroit, skillfully bringing a calming-yet-disturbing giant-worm-of-doom drone (with chanting) to the room – a smart move after Aaron’s severe attack. The frequencies really opened up across the club, as Chris the soundman did not hold back on power, allowing Mike’s adroit knowledge of his electronic gear to slow-burn through everyone’s systems. Grey (Hive Mind) stepped up in weakened-Unabomber style – aviators but no hoodie – giving way to beachcomber/castaway style – long shorts, flip-flops/barefoot -- and he proceeded to drop a bass bomb on the crowd that was far more potent and sustained than the one that took out my hearing at Ypsilanti’s Elbow Room in 2003. My god, it sounded – and felt – so good!!! So how do you top that? Mike gets back on stage and they close out the night with a shifting bass-tone Acid Bed finale. Nice!