The ZEN House revisited
I’ve been talking a lot to my friends in New Brunswick who do basement shows these days about all the crap going on with the cops trying to stop them and it made me remember all the shows that I did with I was in college, so I dug up the list of bands that I booked years ago when I ran the ZEN House. It’s pretty interesting, actually. I really don’t even remember who half of these bands were and the shows that they played, but the ones that I do remember were pretty interesting.
One of the best shows that I did was actually the My Chemical Romance show. It was on Halloween night in 2002 and way before they were big at all. They had just gotten off the Plea For Peace tour and were incredibly nice…and cheap to book. Few other bands ever showed up earlier and with a better attitude than they did. They pretty much walked in and picked up a broom asking how they could help set up for the show. Even though I’ve never really been into their music, they played really well and stuck around for hours afterwards partying and drinking. Great dudes.
Many of these bands played multiple shows, but I always felt bad about the shows that I booked Del Cielo for. They were a cute little all-girl indie-rock band, but they always ended up playing with loud as hell hardcore and screamo bands. And they were always excited about it. They are definitely one of the reasons why I miss doing shows so much even to this day.
Maybe one day I’ll upload all the pictures from the shows, make an album, and post them, but for now, here’s the list of all the bands…
| Affirmative Action Jackson | Little Yellow Box |
| Airkake | Lock And Key |
| Alison Ranger | Long Since Forgotten |
| All In Favor | Lower Merian |
| Amanda Rogers | Mandala |
| Amping Copper | Mara’akate |
| Apparatus Engine | Melmac |
| Apple Of Dischord | Memior |
| Armor For Sleep | Methal Orange |
| Assistant, The | Mine Shaft Gap, The |
| At Fault | Missing Pilots |
| Attic’s Noise | Monty Love |
| Audio Heart | My Chemical Romance |
| Before I Go | New Anxiety |
| Before I Kill | Nihilists, The |
| Blind Society | Nine Will Die |
| Blue Hour, The | No Silence |
| Books Like | Not For Resale |
| Born With A Tail | Oliver’s Army |
| Boy Girl Boy Again | One Up |
| Burning Paris | Out For Justice |
| Cable Car Theory, The | Outsmarting Simon |
| Charlie Is Dead | Oval Portrait |
| Chasing The Yellow Line | Paragraph, The |
| Chromelodeon | The Paris Commune Return From The Dead |
| Dawn Treader | Pattern Is Movement |
| Dead Calm | Paulson |
| Dead End Saints | Pilot Round The Sun |
| Dead Letter | Pine, the |
| Death Notices | Postman Syndrome |
| Del Dielo | Progress, The |
| Denver In Dallas | Puck On Six |
| Destroy The Plot | Quarter To Never |
| Dr. Thunder | Racecar |
| Drivinby | Racing Daylight |
| English System, The | Rarae Avis |
| Eyes Like Knives | Reason To Believe |
| f44 | Red Death, The |
| Far From Bliss | Red Hot Valentines, The |
| First Aid Kit | Resignation |
| Fishs Eddy | Risk Relay |
| Food | Salt The Earth |
| For All Time | Say Hi To Your Mom |
| Forms, The | Scarlet Letter, The |
| Fortunato | Scream Hello |
| French Connection | Shadows And The Silence, The |
| Funeral Bird, The | She Lies |
| Get Real! | Silent Film Score |
| Gibbler | Silent Orbit |
| Give Me Danger | Sirens In The Shipwreck |
| Green Is Mean | Slain July |
| Hiroshima Mon’Amour | Sleep Station |
| Hollow Road | Soterio |
| Holly Drive | Sovenskya |
| Homage To Catalonia | Squints, the |
| Hoover Damn | Stellar Tuesday |
| HyJinx | Stop It!!! |
| I Wish I Was Dead | Stryder, The |
| Jonah Complex | The Animit |
| Just Ted | Too Short Notice |
| K Word | Traditions Aside |
| Kick Over The Traces | Trashtalk In The Kingdom |
| Kill Crush Destroy | Tri-State Conspiracy |
| Kiss The Cynic | Twenty Inch Burial |
| Last Perfect Thing | Up Since Friday |
| Last Place First | Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start |
| Late Night Desperate, The | US Rail |
| Laura Palmer | With Resistance |
| Left Behind | X The Owl |
| Letdown, The | Yaphet Kotto |
[...] Say Hi last night reminded me a lot of the show they played at the ZEN House back in 2002. It was before Say Hi was an actual band, it was just Eric, and the band was called [...]
[...] know they were still a band. I don’t think I’ve heard them since they played the ZEN House years ago. They were great back then, but they were even better than I remember last night. They [...]
[...] Say Hi last night reminded me a lot of the show they played at the ZEN House back in 2002. It was before Say Hi was an actual band, it was just Eric, and the band was called [...]