A Two-Edded Monster: MeBats, Death Sentence, plus a special unannounced guest, July 4th at the Waldorf: "as entertaining as fuck"

 So there's a Jak's party at China Creek tomorrow, which I won't be at, followed by a gig at the Waldorf that I might be at. The headliner is Death Sentence; this will be the third time, and the third incarnation in which, I have seen them. 

The first was around 1985 at the York Theatre. I remember almost nothing about the show; I think it was a festival of independent music of some sort. The Spores played, whose lyrics I love; I was less enthusiastic with the cruder songwriting of Death Sentence, with lyrics about how "I don't want to love you/ I just want to fuck you up the ass," though I did love "In Flames." If I understand correctly, the video makes it look like Pete Cleaver, then the frontman, is singing the song, but the actual singer on the album -- someone tell me if I'm wrong -- is Doug Donut?). I remember arguing with a big haired Gothy gal who I liked which band was better, and I had to concede the point that Death Sentence had more live charisma, but held fast that "the Spores have better lyrics."  

That is exactly all I remember about seeing either band. Most of my memories of that day, in fact, involve the Haters, who were making a terrifying racket destroying things with power tools, while wearing hoods. 

The second time I saw Death Sentence was in the early 2000s. Doug Donut was fronting behind the kit. Pete Cleaver was long gone, and I don't recall who the two other members were. I enjoyed seeing Donut sing "In Flames" -- I had heard he was kind of a difficult case, but I still think that's a great song, and I'm glad I saw him do it (and that I can actually REMEMBER THE GIG, unlike the previous). 

The third time I saw Death Sentence, Donut was out, and Syd Savage had replaced him as the sole original member. Betty Bathory, in the role of "Betty Machete," sang the lyrics. I must admit, I enjoyed "Feel Fucked" a lot more with a woman singing it. 

Syd and Pete of Death Sentence, "maybe at the PNE," by bev davies

I was unsuccessful in hailing Syd -- I'm not sure he's much of a social media guy -- though I did chat with him awhile back at the Rickshaw and told him how delighted I was to hear that they'd started covering the Exploited's "USA" as part of their set, which I presume they will do on Friday as well. I think people will find that a powerfully cathartic song. I wonder how they figured out the lyrics? I can only really make out the chorus...

Syd Savage, 2024, by Bob Hanham

Without any real questions for Death Sentence (or any way of getting them answered) I have bugged both Ed Hurrell (left, below) and Eddy Dutchman (right, below) about the gig. I feel like it has been ages since I have seen them together, the odd Lulu's gig aside. I liked "Left Ed's" band Rocket #9 a bunch, though they seem to be defunct now. I like "Right Ed's" band Stiff Middle Finger a bunch, too, with Danny of the Spores as the singer. But I have not seen any incarnation of Stab'Em/ MeBats since before the pandemic... maybe a few years before the pandemic... it's been awhile!

Hasn't stopped them being friendly with me, though! 

Oh, Eddy Dutchman would like to clarify that Stab'Em in the Abdomen IS MeBats. "We are super lazy and Stab-Em-In-The-Abdomen was just too much work to repeat over and over. So we changed the name to a shorter, easy to repeat, 'Stab'Em.' But the algorithms for our various internet platforms had a problem with the words “Stab'Em’ and we kept getting barred so we just wrote it backwards, Me Bats... Oh that last brain cell just went ape shit when we came up with that one."

Borrowed from a FB post. Ed Hurrell, left; Eddy D., right

Anyhow, here are my questions and their answers. Because both Eds have eccentric ways of structuring their sentences, I am respecting this as a stylistic choice, maybe with a tinker here and there, mostly reigning in excessive and Sometimes ranDoM CAPITALIZATION, because IT MAKes me CrazY, though it does often carry EXPRESSIVE FORCE. I have left in a little of it. You will see that Mr. Hurrell prefers blocks of text while Eddy D. writes like a Bukowski poem. Both are valid forms. It makes it easy to tell which Ed is which. 

You may also want to read my slightly more historically-minded previous Ed Hurrell interview here. 

ALLAN: I am assuming, for July 4th, that Death Sentence will repeat their cover version of the Exploited's "U.S.A." So do MeBats have any songs about America, or songs that you will be playing to mark the occasion? Thoughts on the current situation in the USA? (I don't know how political MeBats get!). 

EDDY DUTCHMAN: 

Well.

As artists we like to craft our messages to force the listener to work for some meaning in our seemingly simple rock songs..

So?

We use Satan as our metaphor to represent America in our songs.

And why not.

The ‘Father of All Lies’, Trump and the Republican children of darkness that bow at his feet are represented in our songs like “Born Loser” and “Satan Bacon and Beer” as pure evil.

As far as being political.

The MeBats are strong proponents of closing the border with Amerikkka.

As Ed Hurrell likes to remind us all.

”Fuck em”.

ED HURRELL: 

I suppose "Boo Hoo,"..a song about FEAR instilled news stories... "Worried," a song about said fear and the coming world crisis via Trump-ism..."Money Stinks"... Not money itself per se, but the things people do to get it!.. "Satan Bacon & Beer"...basic hedonism resulting from a retreat from reality... "Shithole," about places we live or have lived whilst being a Starving Artist.. And the only affordable places to live!.."Little Electrode"... Forced training of soldiers, to turn 'em into killing machines.. Theres a Frankenstein element...hahah...

ALLAN: Tell me about your songs? I don't actually see you often enough to know any... what are three of the better-known ones, and what are they about? 

EDDY DUTCHMAN:

The MeBats don’t really care about being popular or care about what anyone thinks of our band.

We’re just a crappy rock band out to play loud and loose with the hope to offend and annoy anyone silly enough hang around.

So.

We just play what ever we want to play and excel at the entertainment part of show biz…

We like our song ‘Boo Hoo’ which is all about being scared shitless in todays world.

We also like to play “Money Stinks” which deals with greed and how it’s ok to live without a dollar addiction.

And of course our classic, “Shithole” which deals with those of us that have freed ourselves from that evil dollar addiction and have taken the vows of poverty..

Is that three songs?

ALLAN: Are there any new ones?

EDDY DUTCHMAN: 

New Songs?

Yes.

We have a newish one called “Worried.”

A nice little pop song about how fucked everything is and how we are just plain fucking worried.

And it even has spelling in it. The band likes to show off that we know how to spell.

Another new one is “Electrode”.

It’s a song about a future time when wars are fought with Frankenstein soldiers resurrected from the dead to go out and kill but the Frankenstein soldiers don’t want to.

It’s twisted.

ED HURRELL: 

The songs came about from improv-jams and fucking about. Lyrics come once and an IDEA is formed. We rarely sit down and say "Let's write a song" from scratch.. Also we do tunes from other bands we've played in [cf., the Liquor Kings, for example] ..In a sense we cover our own songs..having a HUGE backlog..from the last 35 years of doing this..Steve Graf  must take credit for a bunch..That guy is a writing machine!! 

ALLAN: Do you do covers of other bands? 

EDDY DUTCHMAN:

Well.

We don’t do covers.

We have a belief.

You do ‘one’ cove and that makes you a cover band.

And the MeBats are not a cover band.

Why the fuck would we spend any time as a band learning someone else’s song when we don’t even know our songs?

So.

ALLAN: So it's a Jak's skate event after party -- do you have Jak stories? Were you or the other Ed into skating, ever? Or Death Sentence stories?

ED HURRELL: 

Jak stories!! Well Dutchman is the guy to talk to there...

EDDY DUTCHMAN: 

We don’t skateboard.

We drink and party and play crappy rock songs.

That’s it.

As far as the Jaks go, we just happen to know Malcolm from SBR and Jak’s Ron Ferris.

And that is an other story we are not going to get into at this time.

Ask Ed about other shows we did with Death Sentence.

I know we have.

But I don’t remember.

That was back in the drugged out days of our youth.

I remember meeting Syd when he was new in town.

At Wank Manor.

Before Death Sentence.

We became good friends.

Just a couple of losers trying to find stuff to do.

ED HURRELL: 

Yeah, we played many shows supporting Death Sentence back in the mid-'80's..Stab'em and OGRE!! Pete PUKE hated me for some reason.. I think I bitched out some band fer going overtime and cutting into Ogre's set once... Ever after he referred to me as "THAT ROCK STAR!"... but it's been 35 years or so since we trod the boards with Death Sentence... Looking forward to doing it again... WE plan on doing out most rockingest tunes for the PUNK crowd that'll no doubt show up...

ALLAN: Any hints as to who the special secret guest is? Is that a guest the Jaks have arranged, perchance? (They dropped Brandon Cruz on us awhile back, that was pretty surprising).

EDDY DUTCHMAN: 

No idea who else is playing.

We don’t know anything about this show other than its July 4th At the Waldorf.

But what else do we need to know?

Death Sentence/MeBats/ Surprise Guest. July 4th. The Waldorf.

Let me say it again.

Death Sentence/MeBats/ Surprise Guest. July 4th. The Waldorf.

ALLAN: I am clear. So, uh, do you ever think about recording some MeBats or Stab'Em songs and making, say, a bandcamp page? Now that NO FUN is widely repped online, it's time for Stab'Em to have a presence, no? 

ED HURRELL: 

I dunno... we're a LIVE experience and cynical about the WHOLE BIZ.. There's just TOO MUCH out there... people's minds are already glutted,and they move on to the NEXT and the next and the next leaving behind a trail of used up musicians... We play and have fun... Fuck history.. 

EDDY DUTCHMAN: 

 Not sure if this is coming across to the degree it deserves...

But The MeBats have a serious attitude problem.

We don’t see any reason to record or have any kind of presence because at the end of it all, we all believe nobody gives a shit.

And it’s that simple.

So.

No. None of that stuff.

ALLAN: Any final things to say about the gig, the state of the world, or MeBats in 2025 (who else is in the band, by the way?).

ED HURRELL: 

WELLLL... I tend to keep it local.. My tiny paradise is pretty good.. I feel impotent to actually CHANGE anything... Decades of protests only slow "THEM" down at best... What with the SYSTEMATIC extreme DUMBING DOWN of the general public that's been going on fer the last few decades, it's harder and harder to make a "ONE MAN-ONE VOTE" electoral system count fer FUCK ALL!

As for band members!!! Myself...MR..Eddy Dutchman...Cole on keys...Tony Lee drums... Shane "Death Sentence" Davis on lead guit.. Dym (Roots Round Up) on trombone..A sort of ALL STAR band (except for me and COLE!) hahahah... The oldest still working "FUCK BAND" in Vancouver!!

I don't know who took this. Stolen from Ed's FB

EDDY DUTCHMAN: 

There is only one constant member in the sad and unappreciated 30 year history of Stab-Em-In-The-Abdomen.

And that is Ed Hurrell.

I’ve been in and out of this band 3 times.

Same with Shane (who also plays guitar in Death Sentence.)

Ed is the only original member.

I think this is a selfie? 

EDDY DUTCHMAN, CONTINUED: 

One last thing Allan.

Thanks for doing what you do.

It is huge and necessary for this fragile music scene to live.

We have an upcoming show at The Princeton.

Saturday Sept 6th.

The Me Bats are a crappy rock band.

And we are the first to admit that proudly.

So ya.

We’re a shitty rock band but we are as entertaining as fuck.

And you can quote me on that Allan.

“The MeBats are as entertaining as fuck.”

Tickets for Death Sentence, MeBats, and surprise guest here! Thanks, you Eds.