In June, the rock-novelty manufacturer Aggronautix unveiled the latest in its line of “Throbbleheads,” resin figurines cast in the likeness of some of rock’s most notorious figures: Jeff Clayton, leader of the enduring Charlotte punk rock band Antiseen would join perpetually nodding luminaries such as GG Allin, Wendy O. Williams, The Dwarves and Meatmen figurehead Tesco Vee.
It’s telling, too, that Clayton’s figure—bleeding from the scalp and clutching a baseball bat that’s wrapped in barbed wire—is closest in appearance to the blood-spattered Allin figurine: Antiseen backed Allin on 1991’s Murder Junkies, and share a certain, umm, je ne sais quoi, with the infamous scum-rocker.
For 30 years, Antiseen have peddled a remarkably stable sort of no-frills punk—heavy on offensive satire, nods to pro wrestling, military imagery and (sometimes a bit too much) Southern pride. Bloodletting live gigs often find the burly Clayton, a man built like a pro-wrestler trained at a biker bar, bashing his own face bloody with his microphone. It’s not for the faint of heart, or the ambitious of ear, but for 30 years, it never has been. Antiseen’s stubborn tenacity has earned them cult status, collaborations and covers with or by Hank Williams III, Blowfly and Zeke.
On this visit to Slim’s, the Queen City sluggers gather support from Richmond sludge-mongers The Might Could and Raleigh hard-rock revivalists KIFF.
