Vegas Roadtrip with Castration Squad

We made a blitzkrieg trip to Las Vegas this weekend to see Dinah Cancer and the Grave Robbers play. A friend lent me a CD by a band called the Dresden Dolls and we listened to it all the way to Vegas. It just got better and better with each listen. It's hard to describe what they do and I don't want to label them. It's easy to see they have given quite a bit of thought to the theatrics of performance, which is refreshing since I think that visual presentation is often overlooked by new bands. I, for one, am tired of bands that get on stage in t-shirts and jeans and then stand in one place during the whole set. Check out the Dresden Dolls' video for their song "Girl Anachronism". It's good to know that there's still exciting new music being created and yet to be created, despite what's passed off as rock music these days.

Dinah and the Grave Robbers had a ton of PUNK ROCK energy and Dinah rocked harder than I've ever seen her rock. She was amazing and has such presence. A young girl with blue hair was right in front, dancing and singing along with Dinah to every 45 Grave song. The cigarette smoke in the club just about sent me to the grave, though. My lungs can't take that kind of abuse (never could) and I've really gotten used to smoke free nightclubs, courtesy of living in California. Needless to say, we didn't win a damn thing in the casinos, but Castration Squad (Dinah, Tracy, Tiffany and me) was all-too briefly reunited, if only for a walking tour of the Hard Rock casino, as we tried in vain to find the Sid Vicious slot machine. We stared in disbelief at the Sex Pistols exit from the casino which read "The only notes that matter are the ones that come in wads" in big, ransom-note style letters. Surrounded by the glitz of the Hard Rock, it was so incongruous and cynical that I felt like a piece of me died.

Speaking of a "Piece of Me," that happens to be the title of a very cool song Tracy Marshak has just written for the new and improved Castration Squad! We've been working on new songs and contemplating reconstructive surgery on the old ones. Look for the Squad to rise from the grave around Halloween. Booking agents, send us your best offers!