Total Juicehead

This past Easter Sunday there was an all ages show in Brandon. The opening bands consisted of Mobina Galore, The Bumpin' Uglies and Elder Abuse with The Isotopes headlining (who are just finishing up touring Canada in support of their new LP/cd Nuclear Strikezone). I was pretty stoked for the show because this was a killer lineup and doors were at 1pm which allowed my daughter to go to her first punk rock show. The opening bands all slayed, this was my first time seeing The Bumpin' Uglies (somewhere between hXc, skatepunk and pop punk) and I was certainly impressed. Soon enough it was time for the headliner to take the floor. The turnout wasn't the greatest but that didn't stop The Isotopes from ripping through a dozen or so absolute burners. For those unfamiliar with The Isotopes, they're a Ramonescore band from Vancouver who's lyrical subject matter is solely rooted in or around baseball. Their set was straight forward punk rock, no fancy lighting or dance moves required; simply lightning fast down-stroking, rapid fire snare/hi hat and somewhat nasally in your face singing from the super personable lead singer (and some wide stances). Shit was fantastic. Not knowing much about baseball, when I listen to The Isotopes a good portion of the references fly right over my head. Luckily my friend Mitch enthusiastically explains the baseball terms/references/etc to me. You might think that missing a lot of the intended references may be a turnoff, but it really isn't. The songwriting is so on point that if you can't connect to the lyrics when they get super baseball-centric, the music and vocal delivery is more than enough to rock out to. The Isotopes rip and their music is fun as hell; if you get a chance to see them live do it and until then get yourself a copy of Nuclear Strikezone or The First Four Seasons.

This past Easter Monday I was given a bag of Herr's Hot Sauce flavored potato chips. Based on the bag it was a safe assumption that these were going to be some tasty little zingers with a little bitta' burn; after all, they're from the south (There is a hot sauce bottle on the bag that reads "TexasPete Original Hot Sauce" which appears to be the sauce Herr's partnered with to bring about this flavour). When I ripped open the bag and took a look inside I saw some partially crushed ridged chips (my in-law's brought these back from Nevada for me. In packing, they may have over estimated how protective the bag would be, haha). I like crumbs (chips that have been crushed a little) so no big deal, makes them easier to shotgun. The chips, as I mentioned, are ridged. The ridges are on the smaller side while the chips are on the thinner side of the ridged chip spectrum. These wouldn't be my first choice as a dipping chip which is good because I doubt that's Herr's intention. When I tossed some of the crumbs into my mouth I was initially surprised, these tasted like plain/original/etc chips. After a few chomps I started to get a mild tingle on my tongue, that would be the hot sauce flavour. The hot sauce flavour gave me a zing for 15 or so seconds after I swallowed the chips then dissipated and left my mouth tasting like I had just eaten 'original' chips. The flavouring for these chips isn't very intense to say the least. If you think that BBQ chips are spicy and find yourself feeling frisky one night..try these on for size, they're probably the most mild 'hot sauce' chips that I've tasted.

Isotopes bring the heat..Herr's Hot Sauce chips, surprisingly, not so much.

Stay hydrated,
Marc