(The) Control Group, An Oxygen Auction, Bad Blood, Pittsburgh Free Improvising Co.

The Mr. Roboto Project, Pittsburgh, PA

26 February 2000

posted: 17 June, 2021 11:25

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I also think I organised this, or maybe Chris Strunk did, or maybe we did together as he was longtime friends with An Oxygen Auction, a very weird free noise post-hardcore group that seems to be forgotten by history. They were great - dirgy, and pounding, and inventive, with some sort of electric fencing turned into an instrument. I don't remember Bad Blood at all, but the Control Group played who were another fantastic Pittsburgh post-punk group that were probably at the peak of their powers.

If I remember at all we got a handful of 'hardcore kids' to turn up to this too and it was fairly crowded. I remember taking An Oxygen Auction to this very perverse pizza place in Pittsburgh where the cheese is not melted, and they reacted with appropriate horror. I also remember offending them somehow with a well-meaning joke that was misinterpreted, though I cannot remember what it was. Oh, the perils of being a socially awkward 19 year old.

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