I found this gem in a box of old video tapes while cleaning out the garage this week. This is some of the raw footage of the great Portland pop punk band The Automatics that I shot back in 1996 at my house. They were supposed to play the Missoula rock club, Jay’s Upstairs, but unfortunately Jay’s was overbooked. I asked them to play at my house. This is quintessential mid-90’s punk which represents such a profound place and time for me. During their set, people would wander in and out of my house, grab beers from the fridge, and then go back outside and listen to the music. I stayed inside, drank beers, and cheered like a Scandinavian metalhead. Jesse Kimball’s bass amp blew out early in the performance so he just set his guitar aside and grabbed the mic for the rest of the 20-plus song set. I recently saw Jesse on an episode of ‘Diners, Drive-ins & Dives’ Chefing at The Memphis Taproom in his home town of Philadelphia. It was great to see how well he is doing. He was also the man behind the Portland drink punk mag, Beer Can Fanzine.
sound & video quality: shit
