"In These Days"
Up to the Minute information and Pics of current Men in Black projects
"Burning Fast"
1st CD release by Men in Black, limited release on
'Lectric Eye Records, available now
FREE for the asking, for mail, phone, 530-332-9609 or on-line orders click here
Download Mib CD Graphics and Credits Here
Burning Fast Cover
Printable CD Logo
MIB MP3s
updated 04-24-2008
OK, first up on the agenda, the HAGMANN Reward is up to $ 500, usd.
It seems rumours of his/her death may have been greatly exagerated. Both Screemo Leemo and Nick Clayton have reported seeing a Hagmann like entity slinking around the San Francisco Muni Transport System.
So $500 to anyone with info that'll put us in direct contact with the late, great Jay Hagmann.
Special this month:
MEN IN BLACK - DNA, just $8000 a load
no, this is not a joke !
Turkey Baster not included
Paint it Black One More Time by Stich
It was a warm sticky night when I arrived in New Orleans at Checkpoint Charlie's for Men in Black's final anarchic aural assault. For the fans of this long standing institution of truly inspired institutionalized black impressioned manic madness it was an evening not to be missed. I got at the crowded demarcation zone at around 12:00 when the gig of all gigs was said to be set for show time. All was sprung into rock n' ready action as the band took to the stageand briefly twanged and banged a bit to get things in check before they unexpectedly propelled forward with a wave of sonic thrusts head on into an underworld realm of crazed cascading pulsations and libations. The first physical thing of note I espyed as the band played was Ricky Rockett's plain green jump suit. Everybody to my recollection was mostly attired suitably in black. The first number was "Insanity," a Wayward Youth song to which Rockett began to jerkily jaunt around to like a sort of amphetamine Gary Numan mechanical grease monkey of some strange splendid menace. A real animated sight of a guy with uncoiled stage presence. "Green Eyed Girl," also a Wayward Youth tune, sent shaky spirals of psychedelic distortion flyling overhead. * Stich Stich's transmission mysteriously vanishes at this point. could this be the work of men in black's long time nemesis,(I don't think so.) ?
Well first off, Men in Black would like to thank those who helped in the transportation department that night, those persons being Mr. Louisiana Skydive himslf, Philip, Rock-a billy guitar legand Johnny Jay again graced us with his presence and vibe, JJ hailing from suck acts as Johnny Jay and the Hitmen, O.L.D., the Sluts, etc....Reddy Teddy and K-Hole Dave from Houston. A big round of thanks goes again to M.C. Reddy Teddy for hosting the show and carring on his free form, R&B Rap during moments of technical difficulties. Thanks to the Stich man for his review and for bringing some art student from across the pond ( one of whom kept insisting thatI was Mike fromTabula Rosa). I replied that I wasn't , but that is him sitiing across the bar. Speaking of Tablua Rosa, a big Machine Screw precence was in the house. Beside Darius and Mel on stage ( both Machin Screw members) were M.C. SLAG, guitarist George & Mojo (who looked like he was having as good a time as I do at their shows, and last but not least, Little Freddie Woodworth made through an entire MIB set. Freddie not only hails from Machine Screw, but from bands like Legionaires Disease, Wayward Youth and Samba Rio. Freddie also jumped up on stage near the end to sing the chorus of "Dead Neighbors", which he wrote back in the day.
Well near the end of the show, during the Hogshead Cheese sing a long, even if you don't know the words, the stage got mighty crowded with everyone in the spirit and shouting whatever they liked into the choatic mikes. The boundery between artist and audience had finally been smashed, at by MIB at least. A few people came up tome during this last few shows and confided in me that men in black, "play the kind of music that the indusrty has totally forgotten how to create." Well, that's the idea isn't it ? Sad to say that these were the last shows for a while for this , the V'th encarnation of Men in Black and I agree with some opinions that is was the best.
Not to worry friends and neighbors, this band learned a long time ago to "never say never". Men in Black have been buried before, only to rise like the Phoenix from the ashes. Mainly, THANKX to everyone for their support through the years. There may be some new stuff released this fall from MIB V, watch out. A quick note about Men in Black Members. Until a functioning version of MIB VI arrives, all current members will be considered as the current members of men in black. A bit redundant, i know.
Let me finish while I can, "it's not forever, it's just for right now." Also, like I said in 1980, "Old Punk Rockers never die...They just go Rock A Billie."
DUVAL
 MIB Warming Up |
 Dawgs of War |
 "I Can't be Good.. |
 Green Eyed Girl? |
 Night Vision |
 Horrorshow Faces |
 Real Time |
 Mel & Duval |
 Duv & 2 Jimis |
 "Got an Eye on You" |
 Fuse & Brad |
 "gotta have a fly's eye to see it" |
 Bwanna & Rockett |
 K-Hole View |
 Light it up |
 Johnny Jay |
 Reddy Teddy & Philip (la skydive) |
 Stich |
"IT CAME FROM OUT OF THE DARKNESS!"
commentary by STICH
So hey what is this thing called Punk Rock anyway? The best answer I can summon to this day is that punk is the wild, ever experimental, outspoken, delinquent son of Rock n' Roll. That cunning cruel bastard offspring that spawned out of necessity - with sparks of invention and experimentation - a new sonic sensibility of crafty insensibility. Yeah, they did it THEIR way! Punk kicked and caressed that ailing old girl we all know as Rock n' Roll, and made her sing a new song with raging, revolutionary excitement, and a new vitality that people were, and are, forever starved to hear and experience. It ravaged and resusitated what was, (and amazingly enough more than twenty years later) continues to be a flagging musical scape of mainly bad disco, mega-bands, and brainless teeny-bop pop. Punk practitioners threw away all of the hallowed conventions, and reinvented music for people who were hungry for a new electricity. Bands discarded all of the music biz manuals, junked all expectations, and got to what really matters - MUSIC! For this and more I'm still grateful - as I'm sure you are too! Rock n' Roll was a tired old harlot, and it took punk to give her new currents of life to proudly strut the streets again. Critics dubbed this forward slash and burn phalanx a New Wave. Whatever it was, with a direct application of electro-shock therapy, music was alive and vital once more. So, maybe you're asking yourself...what dark nether-void did all of this stuff come out of...where did it all begin? Was it Detroit with the Stooges and the MC5? Is it the New York scene that spawned everything from Richard Hell & the Voidoids to Wayne County & the Electric Chairs? Was it the forlorn London underground that bred the atomic angst of the Sex Pistols and the Damned? The answer is all of the above and a whole world more! The really important thing to GET, is that you fortunate people of New Orleans don't have to look far beyond a few city blocks to see that you've got a pack of veteran Punk Rockers right here in your own mysterious foggy urban alleyways. These guys have been jolting and juicing up audiences with life affirming sonic radiation for over twenty years, as well as in a multitude of other punk rock ports of call nation wide. I speak of New Orleans'own MEN IN BLACK.
From across the divide, from 1977 to the uncertain edgy precipice of the 21st Century, M.I.B. have emerged to rouse your huddled masses, both living and dead, and claim more converts from the confines of their catatonic cat naps along the way too! If you really want to experience the true blue punk-junk this is YOUR one stop. You won't need an airline ticket or a time machine either, just kick back, stoke it up, or whatever, and boredom bedamned! Listlessness is not on these guy's list! This is not today's on the radio dial, silly swig of sody pop bunko-shit! Take in from me, I've been the Abu Nidal of the underground Bunko Squad for a very long time. So here you have it guys and gals, shake off that old malaise that's been holding you tight in it's grip like a tedious nagging bitch for a seeming eternity! Throw yourself around with funtastic fury out on the floor, and come and have your sences filled and flailed all at once! Remember when it used to hurt sweeter than arsenic and honey? That's right, grin that twitchy grin again! Armed now with this burning scrap of knowedge in your brain, GET OUT AND GO WITH IT and DIG IN!
In former times I jumped and jived to the early Houston punk rythm and grind, and I candidly testify that you've got a genuine nugget of neutron energy pulsing here in this city. Therefore without any further fucking around -it's happening right here in N.O. and of course in all of it's periferal environs! Come and get it fast, furious, and hot, because the punk zeitgeist thrives strong with the individuals in this band. They're serving up a pulsating helping of unique uranium savegery at a hole in the wall near you, so BE THERE! If you really, earnestly don't wanna bop to the same old insipid pig slop, or park it in front of the tube on a Saturday night - come and get that jolt of jumper cables that'll wake your tired, weary mind! COME to the show, I KNOW you want it! And If you're still confused as to what punk IS, get to the show and have your mind unmuddled on that score. Experience the mystique and thrill to the beat - MEN IN BLACK ARE BACK ON THE STREETS!
MEN IN BLACK, The MacGillicuddys, 07-01-2000, Casey's Place, 18th & Hessmer, Metairie, LA, 10.00 p.m., $ 5, CD Release Party
FAN MAIL concerning Men in Black's 07/01 gig, CD Party and the state of PUNK Rock, then & Now. by Stich
Sounds like you guys are as much up to the gills in newbie sonic abortions as I am. I tell ya I've had my fill of Al-turd-a-tive whatever, or as I call it amorfous platypus shit. I can't stands it, can't stands it no more.
Here's the favor I ask. I used to live in Cairo, Egypt where I lived for about a year studying Arabic, Political Science etc. I randomly stumbled on to a website dedicated to getting the word out to generation catatonic swine about an Israeli band calling itself "Useless I.D." These guys don't have the first fucking clue about tunes. I fucked with them about the Intifadah just to get a rise out of them. Called Yitzhak Shamir a butchering cock sucker for blowin' down arab kids holding rocks. Shook these dudes a little. They needed it too they're just takin' the party boat route like most of today's tiny tadpole turds. I like em' they're good brats, but they need an ass whoopin' from the "old school"
I'm giving them a crash course, but I need to call in some real professionals. In other words a plumber to unstop the hopelessly full of shit. If you should decide to take this assignment, here's their site address: www.mp3.com/uselessid
Make them hep to your site too. These guys are seriously lame toe fuckers. I mean give me a fucking break. I've already had to suffer the latter day dung heap of Green Day and Bunko Shit 183! Cut the shit already! These brats need to tighten up!
Music doesn't necessarily have to be all that politically or socially revalent, but it sure doesn't need to be stuck in permanent pussyhood either. Thanks, I think you'll be doing the world a favor. Tell them Stich sent you if you want to. Ishay is the bands top banana, or as he'd have it top felafel.
I hope you CAN convert a contingent of the Al-turd-a-tive detergent generation to pay notice to you and other bands. I like the Big Boys mucho myself and miss Joe Star's Omni, the Island, and other long perished joints like that were in the big Houston Tejas when there really was an underground scene.
Generation Emergent Detergent likes it's tunes cleaned, bleached, and pressed real neat. Well, this shit just needs to be hung out to dry, or else fuck off and die if you'll pardon the pun. It comes right to us from the auto-spade & neutering tune mill. Take care, make trouble and I'll see ya.
STICH
MEN IN BLACK, SECTION 8, 02/08/2000, Rock n' Bock International Beer Garden, by D.Groove
MPG clip from the show, "Darius playing hitch hiker & Arron's (afterparty.net) light show"
What we saw this warm Friday night was not your usual fair for Metairie, LA nightlife. The club scene here is saturated with juke box, cover bands, metal acts and bad DJ's. We all were treated to a montage of music and lights, everything from classic, original rock, world beat percussion, to live trance. The light show was provided by Aaron of Afterparty.Net, his digital creations projected for hours across the 2 bands and the club's rear, a total visual delight and major space out effect.
Now I hadn't seen Men in Black live in a few years, but it was well worth the wait. They hit the stage first (stupid me thinking these guys were headlining, didn't matter though) with their trademark high-energy barrage. Right off the bat though, they threw the audience some serious curves. They did most of their classic tunes, but most of them with a twist. They had funkified or slowed up some of these, making it easier to pay attention to the subtitles inherent in these songs. They have some new members, Mel Martinez on vocals and percussion, and Brad S. playing pumped up, Flea style bass. This allowed Bwanna D. (Darius Kalil) to put down his guitar and play some serious percussion, adding more to these already rich songs. The also unveiled some brand new MIB songs that added to the contrast of their presentation. The club was a little small for this band's energy, but everyone seemed to love it, judging from the screams and demands for their favorite MIB tunes. Watch out world, " They're Back !"
Section 8 turned out to be a young, good looking live Trance band from Baton Rouge. The most noticeable difference between them and others in their field is that they performed 2 sets of heavy trance on traditional rock instruments, not turntables. Treated guitars (all collectable), a sampler, fretless bass, vocals and drums, this 4 piece ensemble helped finish off a fine evening of entertainment. Bwanna D. (MIB) sat in with them on percussion for the second set, no rehersal needed for this unified groove.
Check your local listings for future gigs by either of these acts. You won't be disappointed.
Men In Black's Play List
Hitch Hiker - Darius K.
In These Days - Duval / Rockett
Metal Anguish - Darius
Dead Neighbors - Darius / Freddie Woodworth
I Walk with the Zomie - Duval
Post Modern Ying-Yang - Mel Martinez
General Kruss - J. Hagmann
Adventure - Rockett
Fade - Mel / Brad S.
Just Turned Bi - Rockett
Chicano - J. Hagmann
Early Times, Old Grand Dad - Rockett
Insane Insanity - Rockett
I Can't be Good at Everything - Mel
Horrorshow Faces - Duval
Valkarie Night - Rockett
Particles - Mel
China Blue - Mel / Brad S.
Higher Winds - Rockett
Wind Sheer - Darius / Rockett
Cyclones in the Dust Bowl - J. Hagmann
Hot Pork - J. Hagmann
Quadraplegic - Duval
I Got Money - Mel, Brad and Brent
Green Eyed Girl - Darius
Decatur St. - Mel / Brad S.
Dead Neighbors II - Darius
Quadraplegic II - Duval / Darius
Alright for Now - Darius / Rockett
My Possession - J. Hagmann
The Glove - Rockett
El Mundo - Darius
Fade - Mel / Brad