Tags Matching: zootz

Whoa, shocking revelation.

By b. murphy | Published 08/07/2010

While looking at these intensely awesome mesh shorts from 25 Ta Life, it occurred to me that I’ve NEVER seen 25 Ta Life or Comin Correct play. No shit. Not once. In over 15 years of attending shows, I’ve never seen Rick Ta Life rock the mic. Now, this doesn’t mean I’ve never experienced Mr Ta Life. No sir. In fact, once at a Zootz show, he set up his flea market and sold some goods. Granted, none of his bands were playing, he was just selling goods. Pretty sure I bought a Hatebreed Smorgasbord sweatshirt off of him that night. It was also maroon. Would probably look excellent with these maroon shorts. I should probably get some sort of prize for somehow NEVER seeing these bands play. And it wasn’t like I was going out of my way to avoid them. Just somehow never saw them. Wild.

Someone let c.marti79 know that his pic for the Sick Of It All Basketball jersey is terribly, terribly terrible. Super small and impossible to see. How does that happen?

Snapcase Isn’t Cool Anymore …

By b. murphy | Published 05/04/2010

Growing up in Maine, we didn’t get a lot of “cool” gigs.

Bold never played Maine. Youth Of Today never played Maine … Granted, I would have only been 10 or 11 when they played.

But lots of cool bands never played Maine. We had Sam Black Church and Tree every weekend. Oddly, I don’t recall Murphy’s Law ever playing Maine.

So when “major” bands would come through, kids would come out in force. Such was the case on June 14, 1997.

June 14 1997 @Zootz Portland Maine: Snapcase, Cast Iron Hike, Eventide and Ground Zero

Kids were lined out of Zootz waiting for this gig. The moshing was intense (for Maine, mind you. Years later, I would see Madball play a Masonic Lodge in Cambridge, Mass. It was then that I learned what HARD moshing really was). The crowd went crazy. And when Snapcase played, the place blew up. They covered She by The Misfits. Dudes were stoked.

This particular shirt is an obvious Outspoken rip-off. “Straight Edge Isn’t Cool Anymore … So What?” Snapcase loved to make shows for one day events. I had a Hungry Charlies shirt somewhere. This one is dated June 18, 1995 with a Syracuse NY mention. We’ll have to get Guav or Buske to comment on the significance.

leewayrulesok has a ton of great auctions up so check those other sales too. Continue reading »

Snapcase Steps Victory Records Tee

By b. murphy | Published 12/17/2009

I’ve got another nifty one for you …

Dum dum dee doom …

This EP is probably one of my favorites from the early 90s. It has easily stood the test of time. Where some albums have fallen way off, I can always go back to this EP and lookinglasself for good tunes.

Seeing Snapcase at Zootz was certainly a revelation. They were near polar opposites of Tree and Sam Black Church. Great memz.

One King Down Basketball Jersey

By b. murphy | Published 12/09/2009

Here’s my One King Down story.

My girlfriend in high school had a very strict father. She was a junior, I was a senior. When prom came around, he refused to let her go with an older guy. No big deal to me because One King Down was playing at Zootz that night.

Yeap. I skipped prom to go see One King Down. It was actually a dope ass show.

May 10th 1997 @Zootz Portland Maine: Havior, Polyglot (final show), and One King Down

Being a Mainer, I was obviously a big Polyglot fan, and I was pretty stoked to see their last show. Did some moshing, lots of singing along. This new band Havior was pretty cool too. Little did we know that it would morph into American Nightmare in a few years. I don’t even remember One King Down playing.

Coincidentally, my friend from PA would skip his prom the next weekend to go see One King Down too. Not bad.

This is a great all american jersey. Wear with pride.

Sadly, when Rob OKD joined fortydaysrain, I stopped paying attention to fortydaysrain. It wasn’t the same without Brian.

Hatebreed OG Wind Breaker

By b. murphy | Published 12/01/2009

Here’s the story of the first time I went to see Hatebreed.

It was a show in Portland Maine at Zootz. I had to borrow my step father’s Ford Explorer to drive into the “big city.” I babied his car. I didn’t want him to have any reason to not let me go back there ever again.

If you ever went to Zootz, you may recall the sketchy parking lot that was next door to Zootz. It was down this alley and was semi-behind Zootz. You had to squeeze down this alley and then squeeze through a narrow metal “bridge” to the lot. I wanted to park OFF the street in order to keep the car “safer.” Of course, I ended up not being able to make that sketchy corner and left a good 3″ long scratch in the side of my step-father’s car. OOOOOFFFFFF

Then in the gig, it was smokey as shit. I had just made the switch from glasses to contacts that day, and the smoke killed me. At one point during Hatebreed, one of my contacts popped out, but somehow, magically, I managed to catch it. No idea how. Magic.

At this gig, especially in Maine, the way to dance was to create a huge circle, where one dude would get in the middle and show off his fancy ninja skills. Lots of kicking, spinning and the like. I recall specifically one dude getting in “the pit” with a broken arm. He was in cast and was literally killing people with it. Punching the crowd. Kicking and spinning. It was wild.

Great show. I was definitely stoked on it.

This jacket was probably sold at the gig. I didn’t buy any merch that night.

Snapcase Basketball Jersey

By b. murphy | Published 11/24/2009

For fellows from Buffalo, NY, this jersey sure does smack of the LA Lakers.

Is it a Sabers color?

I know for sure it’s not a Bills color.

June 14 1997 @Zootz Portland Maine: Snapcase, Cast Iron Hike, Eventide and Ground Zero

Twelve years ago, that show went down. I recall my brother being especially stoked on the event because Daryl let my brother count off the intro to the cover song She. Great gig, looking back. Kids were packed into Zootz, shows like this definitely didn’t happen all the time in Maine.