There are plenty of obvious reasons to despise KISW, the Seattle area's mainstream hard-rock station. At the top of my list is a certain glorified dumbass who calls himself "the Ricker" and takes knuckle-dragging misogyny and heart-stopping stupidity to levels even Andrew Dice Clay couldn't dream of. Despite his pervasive presence, I still find myself listening to the station during my commute, simply to increase my chances of hearing Nazareth while stuck in traffic ("Hair of the Dog" is always soothing in such scenarios). Because of that questionable listening habit, I've been exposed to much more Nickelback than can possibly be deemed safe, but I've also heard a lot about KISW's "American Idiot" contest (presumably a rip on American Idol and not an endorsement from Green Day), a local competition to determine the most popular hard-rock band among the station's listeners. Why should you care? Because KISW managed to nominate some decent local bands, most notably preeminent stoner rockers Mos Generator, who could easily put the contest's more practical prizes (20 hours of studio time and $1,000 for new gear) to good use. Unfortunately, they didn't even win runner-up status, which means they aren't playing the finals show at Neumo's on Thursday, September 7. Screw you, KISW, I'm listening to KIXI from now on.
Another local band that has been not-so-quietly building a following is Bullet Club, the Dischord-informed quartet that blew the doors off the High Dive at Vindaloo's record-release party on August 24. Vocalist/guitarist Matt Krus gets more than his share of comparisons to Fugazi's Guy Picciotto, but his aggressively angular guitar playing and glass-gargling vocals mesh potently with his bandmates' equally relentless delivery and give them a sense of fresh, original tension all their own. They currently have one full-length and one EP under their belts; a second EP is scheduled for release later this year, and judging from the single track I've heard, they're just getting stronger. You can catch them live with Hearseburner and Prize Country at the Comet on Friday, September 8.
Speaking of Vindaloo, when I wrote up the band's new release, Machine Gun, in this column a couple of weeks ago, I incorrectly indicated that it was produced by Jack Endino. Although Endino was originally slated to record the album, financial obstacles resulted in the band doing a quick-and-dirty recording with Brandon Busch of Sound Media Productions instead. Vindaloo still have plans to record with Endino later this year for a release in 2007. While I am sorry I got it wrong, I'm even more impressed with the caliber of the recording, given the challenging circumstances under which it was executed. Vindaloo will be playing the Rogue Hero in Bellingham on Friday, September 8, and at Buzzard Records in Tacoma on Saturday, September 9. Inexplicably, they're also playing a second record-release party at the Crocodile on Sunday, September 10.
As I mentioned a couple of months ago, the Fatigues are one of my favorite new local bands (rivaled only by the Steel Tigers of Death—more about them in future columns). Their black-humored, antiwar shtick (complete with appropriate camouflage garb and '80s Vietnam movies flickering in the background) is both wildly entertaining and seriously hard rocking (think early SST catalog meets the shameless antics of bands like Les Savy Fav or slightly less flamboyant Alice Donut). They'll be joined at the Blue Moon on Friday, September 8, by OntheDouble(dutch), a live jump-rope act that's garnering fans in all sorts of circles (they have upcoming bookings at both On the Boards and Fremont Oktoberfest). Self-described as "Seattle's premier, all-girl, super-bad, art-style, old-school, double-dutch team," OntheDouble's performing collective of superfly, jump-roping renegades is a concept I hope catches on in a big way.
Unfortunately, I won't be attending any of the shows I've just mentioned because I'll be out of town. However, I'm just fine with that because I'll be in Chicago for the Touch and Go Records 25th anniversary shows, a three-day flurry of live sets by the influential label's standard-bearing bands including Girls Against Boys, !!!, the Ex, Man...Or Astro-man?, the Shipping News, Didjits, Tara Jane O'Neil, Scratch Acid, Uzeda, and most importantly, Big Black, who are reuniting for the first time since they played their last show in Seattle in 1987. Look for a complete report and photos in next week's column and on Line Out (www.thestranger.com/lineout). 
