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The latest word (March 2006):

For those of you who know us well, it is likely that you've already heard about Charles (drummer) parting company with Decapitado. We wish Charles the best of luck with all of his future endeavors.

Mike Olson, drummer of Realm, has now joined the band. Come and see him perform at the Taste of Summer Festival in Waukesha on June 11th.

Now for our remembrance of the last half of 2005 . . .

July 2005

Only one live appearance for Decapitado in July, in Stevens Point, WI, at the Mission Coffee House on Friday the 22nd. In case you’ve never been to the Mission, it’s a great place for coffee, food, and beer. It was nearly 100 degrees, humid, and no air conditioning. Inside the club it was even hotter, so it was a sweaty, but fun gig. Also on the bill that night were the infamous Rictus Grin with their big black bus and Repeated Trauma who are fast as hell and simply shred! Probably the most violent crowd we’ve seen in a while too. Jordan and staff at the mission were very helpful and courteous. We had a great time hanging with them in downtown Point.

August 2005

August was a bit busier. On August 13th, Decapitado played in Madison at the Annex with our friends Flat Atom and Driver 13. The Annex has a great stage with a ton of lights and killer PA system – great for the audience and the bands. We always love playing with Flat Atom -- very original, very unique, and pounding!

Decapitado also played 4 day mini-tour with Oakland, California's Totimoshi. We started on Friday, August 19th in Minneapolis at an interesting downtown venue called Grumpy’s. Grumpy’s music room is perhaps the smallest on the planet, and certainly the narrowest we’ve ever seen. After knocking out the power and overcoming some equipment difficulties we were able to lay down a decent set for those in attendance, which seemed to be made up mostly of Decapitado fans. We saw folks from Zebulon Pike, Babes in Toyland, and Future Lisa as well as many others. Later, Totimoshi took the stage and totally shook us to the core! They are one hell of a cool band! Do yourself a favor and check them out next time they come around. You wont be disappointed! A big thanks to the folks at Grumpy’s for being so gracious!

The next night, August 20th, found us doing a gig with our friends Bevl at the Polack Inn in Wausau. What an interesting night and such a contrast from downtown Minneapolis -- like being transported back in time to the Jabberwocky 1987. After the power outages and equipment issues in Minneapolis, we were quite amped and ready to play. The folks at the Polack Inn were waiting and anticipating our onslaught! Some people drove hundreds of miles just to see us play. Thank you for making the drive. After the openers Red Wire, Decapitado came out and absolutely demolished the place. All three of us and the audience were as one organism, pulsating... awesome! (Did we mention we were all drinking heavily that night?) We even got a taker on our standard offer of "Anybody want to sing Roots?" And not too bad a job of it either. This is what playing live music is all about! Bevl took the stage afterwards and threw down a very killer set of their psychedelic metal. Takis ended up running the sound board for them since there was no sound man in sight. A great night was had by all. A great big thank you goes out to Danielle and the staff for taking care of us, and also to Bevl for always making our stay in Wausau one to remember! We look forward to returning to the Polack Inn soon!

The third night of the tour, Sunday, August 21^st, found us home in Milwaukee at Linneman’s with Totimoshi. Opening the night was Living Dred, who threw down a killer set. Decapitado played a pretty damn good set on this night as well despite some more rapidly subdued gremlins. It helps to have many friends and peers in the audience, such as Floating Face Down, Paris from the Cocksmiths, Bill the fan, the Setbacks, Irock Z and many more along with all our regular fans. Thank you to Jim Linneman for being such a cool guy and treating us all so well.

The fourth and final night of our little tour was in Chicago at the famed Empty Bottle on Monday the 22nd. Talk about a cool music club! These guys and gals greeted us all with smiles, introductions and handshakes. It’s so nice to come into a venue and be treated like one of the family. They even had a load in crew to help us, and a sound man and lighting man that truly cared about how they represented us. Even the cooks in the kitchen next door wanted to make sure we were totally happy with our meals. What a great place! First on the bill was Pattern is Movement from Philadelphia. Wow! What an awesome band with an intriguing sound! We’ve heard nothing like them before or since, highly recommended. Totimoshi played probably the best set we’d seen them do in our three gigs with them. Decapitado played last won many new fans and friends this night. Thanks again to Bruce and company at the Empty Bottle. We look forward to our return!

September 2005

Friday, September 9th found Decapitado in our home away from home at the Underground Saloon in Hartford, WI. This was a birthday party for Tony from Living Dred. Living Dred and Floating Face Down played great sets that night. Plenty of folks showed up at this cornfield crossroads to hear a ton of killer rock n roll and lots of drink was had by all, especially Tony! Tony actually joined us and played guitar on our cover of Sepultura’s Roots and did a marvelously drunken' good job of it! (Then we had to tackle him to get the guitar back while he was doing Pantera riffs. Don’t deny it man, we have it on video tape.) We love the Underground Saloon. Scotty always treats us right and the audience is always ready to rock.

Friday, September 16th found us in La Crosse at the 324 Club -- a club with a truly unique idea on how to operate a live music venue, no cover charge! 324 has "tip boxes" located around the club and all the bands need do is ask the audience to give what you can if you are diggin' the tunes being thrown down. Also on the bill was Bevl from Wausau with their usual style and flash. Our friends Living Dred also did an awesome set of their punk/metal/reggae and seemed to turn a few heads up there. Last but not least, Decapitado took the stage and shook the poor little 324 Club to its foundations!

The following night, Saturday, September 17th, found Decapitado in Winona, Minnesota at a place called Rascals where it was "Metal Fest"! There were 5 bands on the bill, one of which didn’t show up (the one with the chick singer), too bad as the place was packed and ready to rock, but okay since we got to play a very long set! The openers for the show were local favorites And Hope to Die for and Far from Humane. Next up was Martyrs Chapel who grabbed everyone with their sonic stoner rock groove. The drummer of Martyrs Chapel had played with ex-Realm bassist Steve Post in a twin cities death metal band called Awaken, which we had heard all about, so our interest was high and we were not disappointed. We hope to bring these guys to a club here in Milwaukee. Since we got to do a lengthy set, we had an opportunity to play just about every song we know, including two encores! What was a questionable gig from the start, turned out to be a great night of live music and a chance to meet lots of new faces and make new friends. Thanks to Elena and the staff at Rascals for making this trip possible. We look forward to rocking Rascals again in 2006!

October 2005

Our last gig of 2005 (October 14th) was at one of our favorite clubs here in Milwaukee, the Cactus Club. We played a rippin' set of mostly newer material which is always fun! We had many of our friends and some fresh faces show up, including members of Living Dred, Floating Face Down, Test-Site, 9mm Solution, and people from as far away as Madison. Thank you for your support! For those that got there early enough and caught our sound check, they heard a couple of extra songs that weren’t played in the set, Bio Mass and Zonderblog, and pretty damn good renditions of each. Not often do we get applause for sound check. Also playing on the bill was local favorites Hex Adjuster and Negative Reaction from New York -- very entertaining, very brutal, very loud! Just the way we like it. We had fun and we thank Alex and the staff for their efforts in making this a great evening for all!

Final notes for 2005:

Thank you so much for supporting us in our endeavors. We hope to see you all at Heartbreakers Gentlemen’s Club on February 25^th, when we start fresh for 2006.

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