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Notes From the Underground
By Michael Mechanic

Tilting at Kidmills:
Skaters and punkers have a soda tantrum at the SC Hotel

I've often mused on why skateboarding and rock music go together. But when you think about it, they have a lot of similarities. Both are fast-moving--and you have more fun and get hurt more often when you do 'em recklessly. Both are high-energy, emotional and sometimes crazed and rebellious. You can suck at either of 'em and it's okay, or you can be super badass and people will give you a lot of money. Both are cathartic and in some ways spiritually fulfilling (don't Bogart that crystal, brah!).

And, of course, both have Steve Caballero, a pro skater from San Jose whose band Soda rocked the Santa Cruz Hotel last Friday with Tilt and the Tantrums from Berkeley. Soda also played Sunday with our very own Spaceboy and Lost Cause and some others at a big skate demo at Sand City's Monterey Bay Skate Station.

I haven't ridden a skateboard in years, but Soda is a band you might want to check out next time they grind through town. Super solid rhythm section and dual guitars that remind me of NoFX, especially on the song "Old Things Haunt." Their tape is killer, too. All the songs are catchy as hell. I especially like "Basically the Same" and "See the Inside." Frontwoman Meegan Godd is like the anti-punk, dressed in casual preppiness and dancing duck-like around the stage.

Tilt sounded great, much better than the last time I heard them at the Los Gatos Teen Center (Santa Cruz needs one of those). These guys are hopelessly silly. While Jeffrey was changing a guitar string, the bass player played Huey Lewis songs (with feeling)--oh, yeah, and the whole band did the Dukes of Hazzard theme. I mean, how can you turn your back on such utter radness? Vocalist Cinder Block is a total pro. It's really nice to hear a singer who can actually sing.

The Tantrums, whom I saw play in a muddy Berkeley back yard on New Year's Eve, are relatively new and feature Pete Rypins, who used to be in Tilt. These cats mix punk influences with an old-time blues-rock--and are actually a bit like X in that respect. Actually, it's funny that X comes to mind, cuz the Tantrums singer calls herself Devil Doll and has a very Exene-esque stage presence. The rest of the band rocks out, while she just kind of stands there and sings. Personally, I like it when singers go off more, but I'm a loser.

Upcoming

Feel free to worship the devil on Sunday as Deeds of Flesh, Interration and Amputation do their thing at the Satan Cruz Hotel (16 plus, 9pm), while a band called Mattress Camp plays upstairs at Emi's. Rock icons Schlep play with Creature, Lost Cause, the Grabbers and Agent Orange at the Vet's Hall on March 2.

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