Macaulay Culkin Basement Show (Jan 2014)

September 30, 2023

In the winter of 2014, my pal, Jim told me that his out-rock band, quit, were invited to play a show with Macauley Culkin's conceptual band, PIZZA UNDERGROUND. The concept, that the Brooklyn-based group dreamt up was reworking Velvet Underground lyrics to be pizza themed. Pretty clever. I mean thats 2 things that most American hipster kids can agree on. Pizza and VU. I was a bit jealous and wanted to play too. Jim, being a most excellent friend and cohort in noise making, asked the promoter if HUMAN ADULT BAND, could play. There wasn't room to add another band but the promoter suggested quit & HAB do a collab set. It was cool of Jim and quit to agree to do a collab set with us. I was thankful, as the events that follow were quite memorable and kind of represent HAB's final hurrah as a New Brunswick band.

A couple weeks before the gig, (which was booked as a basement show), all three members of quit and 3 then current members Human Adult Band (T, Phil Connor & Mank) did rehearsal jams at another basement, "the Alamo". We also did some grilling over a backyard fire with a scene veteran or two. That day was strange in and of itself, but that's a story for another time. The jams were hellish. Pretty much unlistenable jams. Not really knowing what we were going to do, Jim suggested a day or so before the show that for the set, quit's drummer, Blonde, would count it off and then we'd unapologetically thrash at max volume.

The show was wild. As you could imagine, a lot of ppl showed to see the Home Alone star sing and play kazoo on Pizza themed VU jams. Before Blonde's count off, I cracked a can of anchovies and tried to hand a few to audience members. I figured some people at a pizza show would like to have anchovies to get in the spirit. It was messy. The oil from the can spilled on my fingers and the floor. Tinned fish oil mixing with dusty & stale beer-soaked basement floor was foul & odiferous to say the least....1-2-3-4!!!

I didn't get to meet Mac. I was told he spent most of his time in the makeshift 'green room' (an upstairs bedroom) with his partner. This also marks the first time I can remember there being a rider for a basement show. Some beer, wine, hummus and of course a personal cheese pizza. I have to give Mac a lot of credit for following through with the gig. I don't think Pizza Underground knew it was going to be a basement show ahead of time. Must've been strange for him too. I snapped one pic of him ascending the basement stairs after their set. We used it for the j-card cover of the very limited tape release we made of our Human Adults Quit set and rehearsals. See above.