MUSIC/CD - LIVE REVIEWS

NEW ENGLAND METAL & HARDCORE FESTIVAL @ The Palladium 4/28,29,30

NEW ENGLAND METAL & HARDCORE FESTIVAL @ The Palladium 4/28,29,30
Worchester, MA.  Home to several colleges and thats about it.  Once huge in industry, Worchester (pronounced Wooster) has become the proverbial ghost town.  Its complete with tall buildings, churches, parking garages, even a hotel, yet no people. However, this all changes once a year when the annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival (NEMHF) takes over the town for a weekend. 

            Going strong for its 8th year in a row, the NEMHF draws a crowd of several thousand to partake in a 3-day free for all reveling in all that is new and current in the underground metal scene.  Originally founded by Scott Lee, a dedicated fan of the New England metal scene, the festival has been increasing in popularity for almost a decade.  Now holding stake as the leading festival of its kind in the United States, the metal fest does its best to present new and upcoming metal and hardcore bands for the tireless and undying fans.

            With the only hotel in town The Crowne Plaza completely booked solid weeks in advance, the remaining townspeople had a short time to prepare for the metal masses that would soon ascend in hordes upon their peaceful, grey village.  The hotel itself seems far too upscale for the likes of many of the attendees, yet its all there is outside of the ghetto, so they must accommodate.  The best part of having only one hotel is the issue of double booking.  On the evening of the first night of the Metal Fest, not only was there a high school prom booked - jamming the hotel with acne faced teens trying to get laid, but there was also a weekend long Christian convention that just so conveniently rolled into town.      

            The Palladium, an old renovated Movie Theater that could easily seat thousands, was and has been the venue of choice for the NEMHF.  It is two blocks from the hotel, which means getting drunk is completely an option.  With security tight upon entering, guests could receive a day pass, a 3-day pass, or if they had a label affiliation a laminate that pretty much got them anywhere they pleased.  Yes, even after the glory days of hair metal and screaming fans, backstage passes are still a must to keep security at a max.

            After several trial and error years, the Metal Fest had finally perfected its use of multiple stages to maximize the number of bands seen over the course of three days.  Two stages were put to use.  To play the huge main stage meant the possibility to play in front of thousands while the smaller second stage only had a capacity of 200 people.  Regardless, there were still plenty of fans there to spread music by word of mouth.  At any given moment from 12 in the afternoon until 5PM, a band could be seen on the main stage while a smaller band was setting up on the second stage.  As soon as the main stage band was finished, the second stage would play.  Yet at 5PM the second stage was no more and only main stage acts played the remainder of the evening. 

                        As the NEMHF is a showcase of over 100 bands, there were various labels present along with certain music associates.  From the music labels, people from Ferret Music, Roadrunner Records, Century Media, Relapse Records as well as Victory, Facedown, Prosthetic and Metal Blade Records were found scattered about the club at a certain point.  All the big ones come out for the New England Metal Fest.  And why shouldnt they?  Several hugely popular trade magazines praise this festival in the highest degree.  Revolver Magazine said "If you decide to go to only one fest this year, this should be it.  Metal Maniacs, another widely read trade magazine said Metal Fest was the best and most balanced fest North America has to offer. 

                If you arent with a label, carrying a laminate and hanging out with the bands, then youre inside pushing to get to the front, or youre at the side door trying to get someone to sneak you in.  The power of the groundling fan goes far at this particular event with main stage acts only playing 30 minute sets and 2nd stage acts only playing 20 minutes, the bands have exactly that amount of time to win the crowd over so that after their set, new (and old) fans will flock to the merchandise table and pick up a T-shirt, sweatshirt and CD of their favorite band. 

           Seeing as merchandise sales make up the bulk of an underground metal bands profits, its crucial that bands have trendy enough merchandise to win over the dark metal hipsters there to check out the new, underground and unheard-of or the diehard metal fan thats been following the bands progress for years and doesnt want them to sell out.  Half the bands at the NEMCF walk a fine line between being generic, being sell outs or being just plain horrible.  Its the other half that makes the festival worthwhile.  Two thousand screaming metal fans come out for this festival, its important to please.  Because doing well at the NEMHF could mean potential success in the future just because of word of mouth.

What happens after the end of Day 1 is something better off left in Worcester.  It seems for the general Metal Fest attendee, the viable option would be to spend your first night doing nothing but drinking in the hotel.  For the industry folk at the festival, Day 1 always finds everyone wandering down the street in hoards to the ever popular, always changing strip club.  This year, the club was under the name Crystal Palace which suited it perfectly.  Usually a relatively seedy and ghetto joint, upon entering with 30 metal industry people found the club instantly transformed into a head bangers paradise.  Strippers working it to Slipknot, Mudvayne and Pantera, truly a sight to see with ones own eyes.  Beyond the spectacle of the fully nude array, the stage was lined with duck tape and the floor was nothing more than wood paneling put to good use.  With a slew of metal songs, fairly decent girls, $10 drinks and $20 lap dances, the backbone of the music industry was overly satiated. 

For those not within the exclusive circle, there is always the hotel.  Whole floors of metal maniacs (many of theme members of the days bands) bonded together to party in the hallways.  The only problem with this was that the Christian convention mentioned before was easily swayed into calling the police to shut down these parties early.  It was the first time for the weekend but certainly not the last.  Rumored parties of Metal Fests from years past left the hotel in complete disarray, with pieces of furniture being thrown off balconies, uber amounts of drug consumption and fires. Even farm animals have made the list, making partying focused around Metal Fest the most sought after event only 2nd to the show itself.

Day 2's activities mirrored that of the Day 1, yet in putting together the festival, the producers were smart enough to put similar acts on similar days as to not waste fans time.  Friday was very much based around Hardcore and Saturday was very much metal primarily death metal.  An even mix, with some well-known bands as well as obscure ones, which made the day interesting.

            On the main floor of the venue, theres a bar, which runs the width of the club.  Its located conveniently in the back of the club where people can congregate, imbibe and comment on the current acts on stage.  It also is home majority of the label representatives, because apparently, these guys like to drink.  Either that or they are just way too overworked.  Regardless, if you are looking to schmooze, this was the place to do it.  Brian Slagel, founder of Metal Blade Records and rumored to have discovered Metallica was spotted there, along with other various notables from several bands, making this back bar a fans edge inside.

            As to keep with par, the 2nd day of Metal Fests partying becomes increasingly more insane, with hotel parties galore.  With everyone participating, its harder to kick people out of their stay.  Various members of the Syndicate, a popular music promotion agency for Radio and TV banded together to host the industry party of debauchery and mayhem.  In true to form metal style, the hotel room became increasingly trashed with lampshades being worn as hates, sheets being torn up, room service ordered and an over capacity of people and alcohol.  It was a potentially dangerous situation with some truly unique individuals.  As for the other 2000 fans floating around Worchester, one can only guess what chaos might have gone on that night.

            The early morning crowd on Sunday (Day 3) was scarce, but as the day built on, more and more heathens clad in black T-shirts of their favorite bands flocked back to the venue for the closing bands and one last shot at chicanery.  A stranger sight could have never been seen.  One could stand in the divider of the road looking at the venue on one side of the street and see the black mass and turn ones head slightly to see the exiting Christian worshippers on the other side dressed in their Sunday best, shielding their childrens faces from the inherent evil which lurked inside the cavernous venue. 

            By far the most anticipated moment of the weekend was the U.S. debut of Dragonforce, an uplifting, triumphant extreme power metal band from England.  Having toured extensively in the U.K. and being well known for their crazy stage antic, they were warmly welcomed to the NEMHF with open arms.  For fans of their music, Dragonforce are seen as god like figures, and even for non-fans the appreciation for their musician and showmanship is enough to make anyone tip their hat.  They are the prowess of Rock and the majesty of Roll, said A&R Rep. Mike Gitter from Roadrunner Records.  And a truer statement couldnt have been made.  They took to the stage and finished off the weekend with a powerhouse of a show, playing songs both new and old and winning over the hearts of everyone present at the venue.  Everything rumored about their shows was true, the high-energy performance followed with a deep gratitude for their fans.  Upon exiting the venue, one crazed fan said, I feel like I was just in the best Jacuzzi ever created. Its stipulated that everyone in attendance that evening left the show with feelings of euphoria and elation.  They truly felt the Dragonforce.

Finally, the New England Metal and Hardcore fest came to a close.  The mass exodus from the club to the parking garages located around the city was a sight to be seen.  Like hundreds of black ants scurrying to their vehicles to be back in time for work in the morning.  It had been three long days of music and madness and to stay another minute would guarantee insanity.  The parties might have not been too crazy, nor were half the bands and the fact of the weird vibe flowing through the town, coupled with the Christian convention made things a little awkward yet Metal Fest still reigned supreme in the fans eyes.  In closing, Ryan Adams, a guitarist for the band Catalyst had but one thing to say.  Jesus: 2, Metal Fest: 0 No doubt a good time was had by all.

DRAGONFORCE & PROTEST THE HERO @ Avalon NYC 5/3

"Did you hear about the fire in Brooklyn?" Roadrunner A&R man, Mike Gitter asks me, "Yea, it was just Dragonforce practicing this morning." He answers himself quickly.

Truly, Dragonforce is a Force to be reckoned with and it is quite arguable that Dragonforce is the best band in the world for the style they play a complex mixture of power, speed, thrash and death metal.  With an emphasis on Speed!  With a completely sold out US tour, Dragonforce has the potential to completely resurrect stadium metal in the continental United States. 

They had completely sold out their New York City show at the Avalon.  The Avalon is spectacular site, having been the Limelight before, now updated with shiny metal railings and walkways mimicking some sort of space age church.

The house was completely packed.  Sanctity played first in the nights lineup.  I have nothing positive to say about their performance, except that I didnt know Horatio Sans played in a metalcore band (if youve seen them, youll understand what I mean).

PROTEST THE HERO

Protest the Hero took the stage second.  They put on an awesome stage show.  These boys look like they couldnt be older than 20 and yet, their crazy style of Poli-emo Thrash metal really gets people going.  The crowd was half into it and half not, yet these boys put their hearts and souls into their music.  They were wildly electric, moving all over the place, promoting their new album Kezia (which is absolutely amazing you should buy this record I highly recommend it)

DRAGONFORCE

After a long set change, Dragonforce took the stage.  Heres something weird Reign in Blood played right before they came on.  Nowusually at concerts you have fans chanting Slayer in the crowd, but in this casefans were chanting DRAGONFORCE! over one of the most favored Slayer songs.  A complete reversal for the realm of metal Amazing. 

As soon as they took the stage, Dragonforce were worshipped as metal Gods.  Everyone knew the lyrics to their songs, they were headbanging, moshing and loving each other.  Dragonforce single handedly destroyed New York City everyone within ten square miles felt the Force.   Sam and Herman wielding their axes like mighty warrior kings of the stage.  ZPs vocals soaring over the house and inspiring everyone to sing along with them.  Drummer Dave and Bassist Fred held down the low end, bludgeoning the house with all the rhythm they had to offer.  The sonic assault on the audience was something which cannot be portrayed in wordsits something which has to be felt and experienced.  So I tell you now, you MUST see Dragonforce to really know what theyre all about.

Vadim the Keyboard player played an absolutely incredible keyboard solo halfway through the concert.  It was in-fucking-credible.  Literally, the entire audience was sucked into 1984 listening to the old Atari tunes being played over the house.  But it was more than that.  It was 10X more intense.  I could not believe what I was hearing.

The mosh pit was amazing.  Never before have I been to a show where people will mosh and hug the person next to them after knocking each other down.  Dragonforce actually created a Braveheart wall at one point and separated the two sides of the room, until on ZPs command did they rush at each other with the fury and the flames of the Force.  It was truly a site to see. 

The show ended an hour and a half later and everyone was thoroughly satisfied.  As one dedicated female fan said, I feel like I just got gang bangedby Dragonforce.  Congratulations Dragonforce, you win.  Please return soon.  Hands down, the best concert Ive ever been too thus far. 

HUNG & DEAD MEN DREAMING @ Continental NYC 4/25

I got off at Astor Place.  I walked alone from the 6 train along St. Marks until I came to the point where I could see one Starbucks in front of me, and when I turned around, see one directly behind me across the street.  According to Lewis Black, this is hell on earth.  And thats exactly what Id come to see.  For across the street playing at the Continental was a supreme dark metal band, simply called Hung.  The bands name is taken from the last name of the lead violinist of the group, and yet it also works so well on a morbid level. 

The club is guarded by a large biker looking man who is checking everyones IDs and intimidating those who might just be walk ups, yet this is the underground bar culture of New York City.  I make it past the minotaur at the gates and set foot inside this bar which is a step up from CBGBs but at the same time still just as seemingly dirty.  I stand and wait, looking around at the clientele for the evening and notice the heavy amount of what I would classify as Hot Topic Goths in heavy vinyl clothing, D-rings and black eyeliner.  On the other hand, there are also a lot of what one might call normal looking people there too.  Its obvious who is there to support who.  Yet soon the tables would be turned.  A band took the stage.

DEAD MEN DREAMING

Now usually when any band is armed with an Ibanez guitar and a keyboard, I would turn away from them, thinking they would be just another Incubus rip off.  But these guys were far from that stereotype.  Dead Men Dreaming were a killer fusion of all the good aspects of classic and grunge rock with hints and flairs of the new metal age.  I wasnt originally going to write a review for them, but their stage performance impressed me so much that I had to tell someone about them.  The lead singer had uncanny amounts of energy which he puts forth into his performance while the guitarists focus mainly on getting the right riffs down.  The bassist and drummer hold their own from beginning to end, operating in their own little world.  Dead Men Dreamings songs are powerful and take you places within their lyrics, not to mention that the lead singer has incredible range going from singing beautifully to heart wrenching screams which makes him stand out that much more.  The drums were solid and the tempo changes within their set only added to the bands already intense tightness.  What most surprised me though was their amazing cover of Journeys Dont Stop Believing which left the audience of the Continental floored and wanting more and more.  Yet their set ended and I felt like I could have watched them for another half hour.  One word Solid.

HUNG

         After a prompt set change and a shift in the crowd, the band that seemed to be the biggest draw of the night took the stage.  Armed with a guitarist, a violinist, a singer, bassist and drummer, Hung was not a force to be reckoned with.  They were there to bring you sorrow and pain, yet it was pleasurable!  Hung is black metal done right.  No keyboards, instead there is an electric violinist with range beyond compare, soloing all over hell and back.  Not to mention the dueling guitar/violin action happening on stage much of the time when both are playing the same lead.  Originally, when I saw the attire of the club goers I became skeptical, but my skepticism was quickly redeemed when I saw the full on sonic assault which took over the bar.  They may have appeared to be mallcore, but these were the real Goths, completely legit.  There was no imitation here, if anything people would imitate them. 

All the members of Hung are extremely talented musicians.  Their songs (usually running over 5 minutes in length) take you on epic journeys through hell and back.  Hung captivated their audience by leading into every song with a haunting introduction which would only become more and more intense and extreme as the song went on.  The addition of the violin is completely new to the scene and worked very well for their purpose.  Watching their set and feeling the madness put forth by Hung onto the audience made me feel as though I was in a nightmare and couldnt wake up.  The eerie melodies followed by brutal attacks from the double bass drum and lead guitar took me to places I didnt think I could go.   Yet Hung delivered beyond expectation.  Hung is black metal with class.   I leave you with this.  

See Hung.   See Hung Slay.  Slay Hung Slay. 

Opeth & the Ballet Deviare @ Town Hall Theater NYC 2/23

“If Opeth were a dick, I’d fuck it.” That’s a direct quote from the trade magazine queen, Amy Sciarretto.  I have to say, I definitely agree to that statement after sitting through one of their three special ‘Chronology’ performances.  You’re probably saying to yourself, “Well Jesus, this guys a total fag.” Well I can assure you that’s not true! But when it comes to Opeth and the haunting voice of Mikael Akerfelt…Well, I’d go a little ‘Brokeback Mountain’ for them.  Here’s how it went down…

I hi-tailed into the city after a leisurely day of editing pictures from the Melissa Cross DVD party and found my boss- J.Robs - ready and raring to go.  We went to dinner with Amy Sciarretto (a.k.a Retto), her assistant Brian Kessler (a.k.a BK or just Kessler), and Justin (aka Tour Coordinator Extraordinaire).  Finding a cab somewhere in near 23rd Street, Justin, Brian and I rode north as I regaled them with horrible sexual practices with catchy names.  Munging is the new craze; all the kids are doing it.  We exited around 44th Street and found Retto and J.Robs.  Low and behold our original restaurant was booked solid, so we walked around the corner to the street the venue was on and found some good eats there.  For the record, everyone had burgers – except for Retto and me.  I had Calamari and Retto had soup.  On to the venue!

Armed with highly coveted tickets to the nights sold out event, we used the closest entrance to enter the building.  However, once inside, people became confused.  Why?  Town Hall Theater.  It’s on fucking Broadway.  This is a seated event.  There is a balcony and even a huge pipe organ running up the side walls of this place.  This is classy, but then again Opeth is the Perrier death metal.  So working through the kicking, biting and shoving, we found our way to our seats and waited.  Watching people file in was more than entertaining.  The crowd was far from your normal rock concert.  There were people here I would have never thought would go to a death metal show in years.  Businessmen, average Joes – it seemed like everyone there was an internet technician or something.  Weird vibe, but cool nevertheless.  I keep watching people and talking to friends close to me, but really - I’m just stoked for the opening act.

Lights drop.  Music plays.  The song is ‘Deliverance’ and it’s loud.  Everyone is stirring.  And then, dancers! This marks the return of the Ballet Deviare! Gracefully confronting what could be an audience of hecklers, they take to the stage.  Four dancers, four of their best, chosen to be displayed (or sacrificed) for the mighty Opeth.  The performance is powerful, combining elements of modern dance into classical ballet and all of this to the tune of Opeth.  The visual is stunning, all of the dancers beautiful, yet the bludgeoning vocals of Akerfelt give the entire dance a looming creepy feeling.  What are these dancers trying to express through their dance? The anger filling the song?  The rage?  Whatever it is, it’s damn good.  Sure enough, the audience loves it too! There is applause all around for the individual dancers in their spotlight segments.  Their use of the stage is brilliant, considering Opeth’s set is already up behind them.  They come together for the final portion of the song to channel all their energy into the performance and out into the audience.  They finish and the crowd goes wild.  A high class performance, for a high class crowd, for a high class band.  To quote Mike Gitter, A&R magic man, “All the guys here were having Beavis moments, don’t deny it.” And I won’t, these fine dancers were like a big Opeth cocktease that just made the performance more anticipated.

Then it goes down, Opeth comes on stage, everyone goes ape shit.  And by ape shit, I mean everyone stands up from their comfortable Broadway seats to watch the show - All 2 ½ hours of it.  Now I was expecting this to be a leisurely experience, but I was wrong.  So the show begins and Opeth starts their first saga of a song.  Now I said the concert was 2 ½ hours long…Opeth played 10 songs.  That’s an average of 15 minutes a song.  That’s some straight up Pink Floyd shit right there.  It was amazing to watch them play live, the entire band makes it look like the music they are playing -which is entirely difficult and complex – is like nothing to them.  “Mikael plays guitar like he’s taking a shit, it’s like it’s nothing to him,” said a crazed Amy Sciarretto.  They played selections off of every album they’ve recorded and didn’t have any breaks, except for the encore.  In between songs, Akerfelt made amusing comments to the audience as if he were an actor in a one man performance, or a comic.  His Swedish take on all things American made it even more entertaining.  Now, I love Opeth and it’s true, they cannot write a bad song.  But in saying that, it’s also true that they cannot write short song either.    You want to think that all the songs start to sound the same, but they don’t!  No matter how hard you try to convince yourself, they are all still so different, like various strands of Opeth DNA that all add up to create the newest addition to their catalog – Ghost Reveries.  An amazing album.  They closed with their most notable songs from the album and the sold out evening at the Town Hall Theater was a success.
 
There was an awkward point midway through Opeth’s set where I motioned to Brian, who was sitting on the opposite end of the row I was in.  In waving to him, I didn’t realize that Juliya from FUSE was definitely standing right next to him.  She looked at me with a puzzled ‘What the fuck?’ face, and I continued to get Brian’s attention unaware.  Eventually I just went and grabbed him and that was that.  But the awkward tension was there.  Well, that says it all…she wants me.  Just kidding… GOOD SHOW!

In Flames & Trivium @ Webster Hall NYC 2/15

Trivium is a band that’s going to take over the world.  They’re also all early 20’s and very talented, not to mention good looking – which makes them all cocky assholes.  Usually this would be a turn off for me, but not if you can back up your cockiness with an amazing live show and stellar songwriting, which is just what they do.

I met the artist Stefan (if you’ve been reading, you’ll remember him from the IEMF show) in Grand Central and we headed downtown.  Both hungry we stopped in a Middle Eastern eatery and Stefan mange’d on a falafel.  $3.50 for a falafel, that’s got to be a record, no where else in the city can you find quality like this joint.  It’s right on Astor place next to the Continental.  Anyways, it was time to put the game face on so we headed over to Webster Hall- which was lined with the various bands tour buses.
 
We bypassed the door line and went straight to will call for our passes and then hopped inside.  Now the Webster adheres to the laws of physics.  Heat rises in this place.  However, on the bottom floor you feel as though you’re in arctic temperatures, yet as you climb the stairs to the main dance floor (in this case, the stage) the temperature increases drastically due to the amount of sweaty bodies that are moshing all over the floor.  If you climb even further – to the balcony or the VIP – you find yourself in the hottest part of this venue.  It is just a sweltering mung fest in the VIP.  Packed wall to wall with people, this show was sold out, so there was no escaping the sweat and heat of human bodies.  The second part about Webster Hall that I find interesting is that there is 360 degrees of sound.  Speakers line the walls in the front, sides and back – as well as on all levels – so there is no place you can go to escape the sound.  This is good for a dance club, which Webster Hall primarily is, but this was ridiculous.

Devil Driver is on the stage and is commanding the audience like a circus ringmaster.  They played a tight set and the crowd really seemed to dig them.  This band is a great improvement on his previous effort with Coal Chamber, of which I was never a fan.  The most impressive part of Devil Driver’s set had to be the final song.  Dez made it clear that the entire floor was to turn into one giant circle pit from wall to wall.  Now I’ve been at concerts where bands have attempted to get the audience to do such a thing, but never have I seen it happen.  No doubt, as soon as the song starts every fucking kid in that place starts running in a circle.  It was much like the jolly caucus race in Alice in Wonderland. 

Stefan and I find ourselves at the merch table after the set and this dude Matt – red hair, mutton chops, glasses – is there.  I have seen this guy on consecutive tours for the past 3 years which means that he has got to be the best merch guy anyone can find.  Good dude though, we shot the shit for a little while and then the lights dropped for Trivium.

Trivium is such a fucking power house.  They are exhausting to watch.  Not because any of their stuff is repetitive or sounds the same, but because they just destroy the place.  Everyone is moshing and jumping around for 45 minutes non-stop.  They play an excellent set, as always.  I don’t think these guys can ever play a bad show, which is why they have so many fans and can pack stadiums in Europe.  And now they’re opening for Iron Maiden? These guys have come a long way.  I left the pit and went to the VIP to watch the rest of their set; Stefan had separated and would eventually meet me there anyways. Up there I saw Corey’s NYC girlfriend who was at the Roadrunner United show, as well as Amy Sciarretto and the boss, Dan Forman.  We talked, but I was wiped out.  I just wanted to sit down, but the show went on.  Finally Stefan surfaced and we just hung out during the set change.  We managed to even find some seats during the set change that we might not have otherwise been able to have.

Lights out. In Flames comes on stage after a cool intro and then BAM – Pinball Map.  Crowd goes berserk.  I’m loving it.  These guys get dropped from their label (Nuclear Blast) and picked up by a smaller one (Ferret) only to make a killer comeback album and sell out more tour dates.  Now I love In Flames, they are pioneers in their field and are Gods among their fans.  But to tell the truth, without some pyrotechnics or catchy visual behind them, after an hour of In Flames playing – it all starts to sound the same.  But I stick it out, even venturing into the pit for a selection of songs.  But there was no pit, it was more or less just pushing the person closest to you.  I was done.  In Flames, congrats on your new album, it’s great – but seriously, the stage show needs to come up a notch if you’re going to keep me around till the end. 

We stayed until Only For the Weak and then jetted to Grand Central to catch the next train home.  The score - Trivium: 1  In Flames: 0

Blood Promise @ Melissa Cross DVD Release party 2/19 – 2/22

I got off work at 6PM on Sunday and headed in to New York City, specifically Chamber St. down by City Hall.  My friends from Blood Promise (formerly known as Lilitu) were up from Georgia doing a video shoot with the renowned Dave Brodsky.  He did the videos for Trivium, Scars of Tomorrow, Remembering Never, Diecast, God Forbid and many more.  They’d already been t the shoot for 8 hours by the time I got there at 8PM.
 
Immediately I was greeted by Dave with open arms and was escorted into the master ballroom where they were shooting.  This place was magnificent.  It was straight out of old school New York; complete with high ceilings, huge windows, crazy fireplaces, oil lamps no longer in use, and everything was made out of solid white marble.  No lie.

I tapped Jason (guitarist) on the shoulder and said hello.  Then I went around to the rest of the band.  Derek (singer, guitarist) said hello, Noah (bassist) said hello, Jonah (keyboards) introduced himself to me and their new drummer, Clayton, also said hello,  They’d finished the majority of their shoot already, but still had some key parts to finish up.  So I broke out the camera and started shooting what I could.  Jason and Jonah both filmed next to a fireplace in one of the back areas, so I went with them and watched the magic happen.  Then the boys got rounded up to shoot across the big ballroom floor again. 

In between shots I had a chance to catch up with my friends and see how they’d been.  Apparently, during their drive up, their van stalled out on some highway in Pennsylvania.  Luckily there was a nice cop and a good AAA guy to help them out.  They got their car running and they made it to NYC on time.  But that story doesn’t stop there, for more details, check back later.

When the ballroom shoot is finished, the guys pack up their gear and Director Dave calls that portion a wrap.  Jonah, Noah and the stand in actress for the shoot (who shall remain nameless) then begin going back and fourth on the most horrible sexual acts that could feasibly be performed.  This carries on for a solid hour it seems, between packing up and various stories.  Derek, all the while, is shooting one final scene with our actress of the day.  Finally, Dave calls a wrap for the shoot.  It’s 11PM and I’ve got work the next morning.  The guys load up their van and hit the road to Long Island where they are staying.  Jump to Tuesday.

MELISSA CROSS – ZEN OF SCREAMING – DVD RELEASE PARTY

I open the door to a venue that appears to be boarded up from the outside, but the loud noises coming from the inside tell me there is life somewhere within.  I open the next door and Blood Promise is on stage sound checking.  I wander around until the sound is good to go and then greet my fellow metal brethren.  The doors are about to open to this exclusive event so the guys and myself step out to Starbucks for a last minute coffee.  Following the coffee, we move to eat some food because the majority of us are starving.  Clayton goes with MSG loaded Chinese food, while everyone else sides with Pizza.  We joke around for a while, but then comes time for the show.
 
The first band takes the stage.  For the life of me I can’t remember there name, but it’s something along the lines of “A thousand tears from the end of the sun” or “A million rainbows from left of the shore”.  Regardless, these guys were terrible.  I mean, horrible.  They were hipsters, all of them.  Hair styled to meet the latest trend.  All songs relied solely on keyboards.  The guitarists, bassists and drummer were unnecessary.  And the singer…completely useless.  He strutted around the stage like a queen in clothing far too tight for his husky body.  At a few points he even entered the audience and sang to someone (usually a guy) directly.  I don’t know what their affiliation with Melissa was, but damn, this was a rock show and these guys were far from it. 

Blood Promise was next to take the stage and I was ready with camera in hand.  Then I found myself next to Melissa and congratulated her on the release.  She thanked me by name, and mind you, I’ve never met this amazing lady before.  I asked her how she knew who I was, as if I were important at all and she simply replied, ‘I read your reviews’.  Well damn.  That was the best thing I heard all night.  Melissa Cross knew who I was and read my stuff.  Well that make’s us mutual fans of each others work.  Then she scurried off to introduce Blood Promise.  She’s an awesome woman who’s doing good things for the metal community, anyone reading this should definitely check out the DVD.
 
Lights drop and a beat is played on the keyboard.  Everyone is ready to go as the first cymbal crash kicks off their 45 minute set.  Derek’s vocal range is all over the place – between screaming and singing – not to mention he’s practically playing lead guitar at the same time.  Jason looks like he is just having a blast, like the complexity of the songs is nothing to him and his fingers fly over the fretboard – not to mention he designs/builds his own guitars.  Noah, well Noah is a bass genius.  He is beyond good.  He’s practically in that realm where he’s mastered the 4 string and needs to get a 5 string to make things more interesting.  Jonah is rocking out in his digital realm, playing harmonies and layers over all the songs which give them another 5 layers of depth.  And Clayton, who could forget Clayton.  He may be the newest guy in the band, but he certainly has a lot of power inside him.  He carried the entire set straight through after vomiting continuously between takes at the video shoot 2 days before (he caught a fever from Noah).  Their set rocked the house.  Even though there was no moshing, everyone still loved what they played.  Even Angela Gossow!

When they finished their set they cleared their gear and who was there drinking in the audience but Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy.  On top of that, Director Dave had shown up as well, along with my friends Erin and Tom from SinAriA, Phil from All That Remains and the guys from God Forbid.  Oh right, and Randy Blythe (but he was playing with Halo of Locusts and not Lamb of God…and well, if you read back, you can see what I thought of Halo of Locusts the first time).  It was a star studded event, complete with industry people.  The boys got a lot of good compliments and everyone got to drinking after the set was finished.

We took some candid pictures in the upper part of the bar and hung out for a while, but Halo of Locusts set was draining and I realized the inevitable, I had to return home so I could sleep and have class the following morning.  So I said my goodbyes to my Georgia boys and thanked Melissa for the party.  We’d be seeing each other soon enough…I may be coming down that way within the next month.  I hitched a ride with SinAria back to Grand Central and slept most of the ride home.        

Faktion & The Girls Gone Wild Tour @ Webster Theater/Starland Ballroom 2/20-2/22

I heard about this tour.  It involves girls in next to nothing and spectators hungry for blood.  No wait, I meant boobs.  The blood part would be too metal, and when it involves girls…well then it just gets kinky.
I show up at the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT and immediately realize that this show is going to be an all out sausage festival.  Which I’m completely OK with, but I just wanted to see Faktion play and get the hell out of there because I had no interest in seeing Revelation Theory or Hinder.   Sure enough, as I roll up in my pimped out 93’ Ford Escort, I see the 46 foot long Girls Gone Wild bus hanging out next to the venue…right next to the bus is a line of guys, all shapes and sizes, young and old, wrapped around the block, waiting to get onto this mobile Mecca of breasts.  This is an awesome spectacle – the use of boobs and sluts to pack in a venue and charge them ridiculous prices for beer and merchandise.  No wait, that’s already been invented? I think it’s called a ‘strip club’ and features a ‘house band’…

I walk in the 18+ show and it seems as though either I’m getting really old, or a lot of the girls and guys running around this place are not 18+…they probably came right from high school to the show.  Whatever, boobs are boobs.  The 21+ entrance takes you to the back of the theater where the bar is and all around me I am surrounded by cock.  And not attractive ones at that, these dudes are mutants.  I move forward in the packed venue to the stage with my photo pass and find myself squeezing between lots of overweight guys.  Then I look around and realize that there are more minorities at this show than I’ve ever seen at a rock show (with the exception of Krisiun, which I dubbed the ‘mexi-metal-fest’).  This place has got wannabe gangstas and Guidos all over it.

Faktion goes on, I’m in the pit ready to shoot.  They play a really tight set; the crowd is definitely digging what they’re hearing.  They play some good ol’ rock and really deliver for their fans.  Their clean vocal harmonies are very pleasant after repeatedly listening to screaming all the time and their solid riffs really bring it all together.  But the crowd is growing restless with the constant need for breasts and I leave the pit to avoid any danger.

 I return to a spot on the side wall and watch the rest of their set and then await the next boobie show.  The Girls Gone Wild guys bring out 9 chicks and line them up next to each other.  They then proceed to have them make out in pairs…and one threesome.  Now I enjoy a good amount of debauchery myself, but this was like overkill.  The guys attending this show were going nuts over it.  Then the GGW guys upped the anty and had them get more intimate, involving a lot of groping and such.  It was quite a spectacle, I’ll give you that, but all the chicks were most definitely busted.  I think…damaged goods, would be the best way to put it.   Then some fights broke out between security guards and the venue patrons and I decided to leave.

I came to two conclusions that night. 
1) Girls making out and showing some skin is a great way to get through set changes.
2) Everyone from Hartford has Down Syndrome. 

And then there was Jersey! Beloved boss J.Robs stole me away from my desk at the job and had me accompany her on Wednesday of that week to the show at the Starland Ballroom.  We got a Zipcar, which is the coolest rental system ever I might add, and headed out to the venue.  It takes us a little under an hour and we don’t get lost at all.  Starland Ballroom is in the middle of nowhere, but the interior of the venue itself is very nice.  I was pleasantly surprised.  We were definitely early and Faktion hadn’t arrived yet, so we hung out around the venue checking things out.  As I poke around, I find out that the performance this night is not actually a Girls Gone Wild event, so I’m in the clear for that one.
 
Faktion shows up about half an hour after we get there and starts setting up.  They sign some posters and such and then they start into a photo shoot with Kristina from Show and Tell (www.showandtellonline.com).  The guys are really down to earth in person and this tour has really given them a taste for what the real world is all about.  Being from Denton, TX gave them a sheltered look on things, but now they’re out and kicking some true hard rock ass.  Scott from Show and Tell (and also Kristina’s husband) interviewed the lead singer, Ryan, following the shoot while J.Robs regaled the rest of the band with tales from the old days of Roadrunner.

Dinnertime rolls around for the band, so J.Robs, Scott, Kristina and myself hop in the Zipcar and head over to a diner for some food.  As the waitress tries to rush us through dinner, we take our sweet ass time and talk about the goings on in the job.  Turns out Scott digs some of my obscure music I carry with me, so we promise to do a music exchange.  Dinner was good, now onto the show!

Faktion goes on, everyone from Roadrunner is there to support them, as well as a good amount of fans.  Again they play a really tight set; the crowd is definitely digging what they’re hearing.  They play some good ol’ rock and really deliver a solid show.  Their clean vocal harmonies come through excellently at the Starland.  The sound at this venue is superb.  All in all, nice performance guys.

They finish and it’s back to the Zipcar and NYC.  Thank you Jersey for redeeming the retardedness of Hartford.

 

1/6/06 – BALLET DEVIARE/ARSIS – 59E59 Theater - NYC

Right on. So my vacation has been pretty work filled so far. I haven't been doing much relaxing and enjoying life. But there was something that I've been holding out for since October. What was this, you may ask? Why my friends, it was a DEATH METAL BALLET, performed by NYC's very own, Ballet Deviare.

I originally heard about this in July when Arsis was still recording their EP 'Diamond for Disease' (which by the way, if you don't have already, go out and fucking buy it, it's the best use of 8 bucks ever and the CD is flipping fantastic.) Arsis was asked by Ballet Deviare to write a song to be performed by the Ballet and agreed, and thus 'DFD' was born - a 13 minute metal masterpiece touching on death and romanticism throughout it's contained chaos.

I couldn't just stop when the CD was released; I had to see the ballet. So I waited. And I waited some more. Finally the dates of the performance were released and I bought my tickets right away. Awesome. Now I just had to wait a few months until show time.

Fast forward to Friday, January 6th. My original plans had somewhat changed and I found myself with an extra ticket, offering to anyone who would appreciate some ballet as well as a healthy dose of death metal. Luckily for me, my boss, J Money of Roadrunner Records, decided to join me on my cultured adventure. Sweet. So I'm in the city around 6, we meet up at the office and then venture uptown to the 59E59 Theater where the ballet is being held.

First we stop in for some food in the freezing cold, but it's next to impossible since midtown is like a barren wasteland of office buildings and nothingness. Aha! There is a Cinema Cafe! So we chill out for a bit ordering up some tasty treats to tide us over prior to the performance and I am stoked! I can't really stop thinking about the awesomeness of Ballet and Death Metal combined. Thus Jamie and I chat about the week and some upcoming projects and some other stuff, but before we know it, we've got to get to the theater! (which just happened to be right next door).

So we get in, get our tickets and the doors open. We're third row, but there is not a bad seat in this house, let me tell you. The stage was smaller than normal and the room was very intimate. Jamie was excited, so was I. I was more excited because somewhere around there, Jim Malone from Arsis was lurking, and all his tech metal geek followers were in the audience. Then J and I started assessing the crowd. It was an even mix, half people who were into the scene and half parents of the dancers and people who like ballet that had no idea what they were going to be listening to. One of the dancer’s parents leans over to Jamie and goes "My daughter is going to be performing; she said it's going to be very different from normal ballet! Isn't that exciting?!" Mind you this was a definite white bread lady - she was about to be shocked by the underworld of metal.

LIGHTS DROP! First song up is by Swallow the Sun, an excellent doom metal band. The dancers come out, very minimalist, yet doing what they could with the space. There were definitely good dancers and bad dancers in this crew. It wasn't your normal New York City Fucking Ballet. And there was some weight to, they weren't all anorexics, which was interesting. Alright it's over and it's going awesome. My boss is eating it up, so am I for that matter. What we can't wait for is Opeth, newly signed to Roadrunner Records. They were performing the song deliverance and all the girls in it were amazing. Jamie was astounded, I was pretty amazed to. The fact that they could dance ballet to death metal was still screwing with my head.

Immediately a plot is going on in Jamie's head. Something's going down, but I can’t say just yet. There’s a brief intermission and soon the show starts again. More leaping and bounding of the 8 crazy ballerinas and then....Arsis. Now, I've been listening to this song every day since I got the single, I want awesomeness. Jim Malone and friend take the cat walk with guitars blazing, watching over the audience like a couple of Nordic gods watching their creations at work. The drums were tracked through the house, but there was nothing that could be done. The dance is just crazy. Girls every which way and that - very smooth sleek movements and every now and then something random that was a bit of a stretch. Malones' vocals aren't as extreme as on the album, but he did a good job for what he was given. The song goes on for another 13 minutes, and I'm going back and forth from watching the dance, to watching Malone and then, BAM. It's over. I was just rocked by a death metal ballet. The dancers bow, Arsis takes the stage, they bow. Dancers get flowers. Arsis gets southern comfort. Excellent.

Jamie and I wait around after; she's got something going on. We go find the choreographer and J does her thing. "Hi I'm Jamie Roberts, Publicist for Roadrunner yada yada... Listen, I really enjoyed this tonight and I was wondering...We're going to be having 'A Night of Opeth' in a month, do you think the girls would be interested in performing?' Right there...I LITERALLY watched this chick shit her pants. I bet she never expected something like this to come from the show. She was so taken aback by it, when she was writing down her info; her hand was shaking all over the paper. It was the ultimate way to make someone’s night. And all because I had the extra ticket. Fucking amazing. So if everything goes smoothly, fans... you just might have an added bonus at the Opeth show. And you can thank this guy!!

10/17/05 – Blackest of the Black/BEHEMOTH – The Nokia Theater - NYC

So when I walked into work today and was handed a ticket for the Blackest of the Black Tour, I was caught completely off guard.

1. I wasn't thinking of going to the show in the first place.
2. I had a term paper to write.

But, it's a free show and I can never pass up a free show. So after class I hiked down to Times Square where the new Nokia Theater is located. It was opened a few weeks ago, after being purchased and funded by MTV.

The Nokia Theater - Remember The World? The WWF Wrestling Theater that was in Times Square? Yea well imagine The World, only 10X snazzier. The marquee on the Nokia alone is enough to blind you from a few blocks away. When I approached and could see the Danzig skull looming over Times Square, I knew it was gonna be something awesome inside. You enter this place and go down a HUGE flight of stairs until you're way underground in this posh, neon blue highlighted lounge. It's very European, but then Nokia is from Sweden or whatever so it makes sense! You enter the main room from one of several places, but there is an amazing bar you pass before entering. I should have sampled their beverages, but I was pressed for time. I had my VIP pass out and walked into the main room and DAMN. Hard wood floors, tiered seating in the back for those of you who are tired lazy bastards, 2 levels of possible general admission standing space and not a bad seat in the house! Not to mention there is ample VIP seating as well. Oh and I almost forgot, crystal chandeliers...2 of them. This is fancy shit. My friend Brian said to me that you almost feel like you're going to Disneyland when you're standing outside waiting to get in. This place is groovy and a worthwhile spot to check out. The stage is pretty big, bout the size of Irving Plaza, but the place goes way back and the sound is good too!

So I decided I could only see one band, because this paper was looming over my head. Next on the bill... Behemoth. These guys are Polish Death Metal giants. They're signed to Century Media records and have a pretty killer sound. Not only that, but they dress in corpse paint and spiked shin guards! Which is amazing and fun to see on stage. These guys played some pretty fast and brutal stuff...not one of their songs didn't contain a blast beat. The vocals are super harsh and the guitars are pretty intense too. There seems to be an element lacking though, or maybe I've just been listening to too much melodic death metal, but keyboards wouldn't hurt this band. Then they'd be in the rankings of Dimmu Borgir. They played a pretty tight set despite some technical difficulties, but luckily they have dark and creepy instrumental tracks on their album they can play for just such an occasion. The scariest part though was for their finale, the lead singer came onstage wearing the outfit that is on the cover of their CD. The mask is frightening; it's almost Hellraiser-esque. It's the only thing I can link it to. Now I realize that masks really are scary and that they aren't just a gimmick. Yet the singer removed it eventually and they finished their set in a fury of head banging and double bass drums. They definitely earned their title as ‘Best Extreme Metal Performance’. Nice job Behemoth, try not to scare me so bad next time.

If you get a chance, check out the Blackest of the Black Tour. Danzig, Doyle, Chimaira, Behemoth, Mortiss, The Agony Scene and Himsa are all on the bill. It's pretty intense. I was pissed I didn't get to see Danzig or Mortiss just for the spectacle of it all, but there will be other tours. I just wish I'd seen the first BOTB Tour, when Mayhem played...oh that would have been insane.

12/14/05 - CHILDREN OF BODOM/TRIVIUM - Irving Plaza – NYC

This was a long day from the get go. I got up early and headed into the city, set to be a runner for the Roadrunner United rehearsal. A runner, in fact, runs from one place to another trying to accommodate everyone’s needs. Thus, I was out at OfficeMax getting pens, or checking guests in, or directing artists this way and that. It was very surreal to check in Mr. Ville Valo in all his drunken Finnish glory. Yet, I made the most of my day making trips from the lobby to floor 6M of the Hammerstein ballroom.

Nearing 7:30PM, after a full day of endless press interviews, my boss and I were ready to depart for the Trivium and Children of Bodom show. It was freezing outside, so we hopped in a cab and booked it down to Union Square. The cabby's meter broke as soon as we began our ride from 34th down, so we made him a deal and got there in one piece. My boss and I talked the whole way down about the interviews of the day and how things were turning out for the show, I was excited. But not half as excited as I was to see Bodom!

So we show up at Irving Plaza, the line is around the block. This show sold out in a day and a half two months ago, so I should have expected this, but it was still a sight to see. Dan and I decided that after being on our feet all day, we should get some pizza before watching this show all night. We both got a sweet New York slice and sat down for what seemed like the first time all day. While we ate, I watched a little ghetto kid probably not more than 10 chug out of a carton of Eggnog. Now those kids know how to party.

Amy Sciarretto, a good friend and esteemed writer of such noble metal mags as Metal Maniacs, Revolver, Outburn and many more, commented on this tour as being the 'Guitar Masturbation Tour' or G.M.T. for short. Matt Heafy and Cory Beaulieu are killer guitarists, but no one can touch Alexi Laiho with a 10-foot pole when he plays... So Dan and I got our passes and went inside. I had to wait in line to check my bag while Dan made his rounds. We had just missed Amon Amarth, amazing Viking metal from Sweden. No seriously, these guys are all 6+ feet tall and full red-bearded. I was a little bummed, but there's always next time.

I found myself wandering up to the VIP area and grabbed a spot on the railing where I could watch the show. There were a handful of Roadrunner artists attending the show from the rehearsals earlier in the day as well. Jordan Wheeler from Still Remains was there, as were most of Machine Head. I was still very awed to be standing around with amazing musicians to my left and right and me, nothing but a peon. LIGHTS OUT. Trivium takes the stage...

Now, I saw Trivium on Ozzfest and they blew me away there. They have great stage presence and their songs are for the most part catchy and have easy to remember sing-a-long choruses. The only problem was, I was getting tired from all the crap I'd done all day, so it seemed like all their songs were stringing together into one long guitar-riff accompanied by some screaming. Yet, the boys put on a wild show; they really have their timing down. From dueling solos to all 3 of the front men head banging in unison, I don't know what much is left to improve on. And they're all 20 for fuck's sake! (Except the drummer, he's 23) They've got a long career ahead of them; it'll be interesting to see where they go.

So their set ends and I try to find my boss because we were supposed to drink all night. Yet he had disappeared somewhere backstage and my pass only got me as far as the VIP area. Not complaining. So I found myself a few label friends and chatted it up for a while until Bodom's gear was loaded in and then I made my way back to the VIP area.

As per usual with Children of Bodom concerts, they had a corny intro dialogue track that played right before they came on to kick ass. I was stoked. The place was packed and the energy running through was wild. Then Jaska hit the drum kit. Henkka entered on bass. Janne on the keyboards, followed by Roope and then Alexi on guitars. The crowd went ape shit as they opened their set of both old and new songs that were set to rock the house down. They started off with Living Dead Beat off the new album Are you Dead Yet? which was absolutely killer (it’s definitely the worst of their albums however, even though it’s killer). It was highly energetic and everyone in the crowd got into it. From there they played stuff from Hate Crew Death Roll, Follow the Reaper, even Hatebreeder. I wished that they had reached as far back into their catalog as Something Wild, yet no go. Nevertheless, the set was fucking amazing.

Alexi's guitar playing is almost painful to watch it's so good. He just has this way of making it look so simple and easy while he's playing that completely rubs it in your face. Janne had a killer keyboard dual with Alexi towards the end of the set which ended with a teaser for "Oops I did it Again." I was praying that they actually played the entire song just because it was the last night of the tour, but no such luck. However, Jaska's drum solo was very impressive, not that it could ever take the place of Bodom's most hysterical cover song yet, but it's a start. After an encore and several more oldies and newbies, they closed the set with "Downfall", a simply classic piece by Bodom which showcases all of their talent into 5 minutes of brutality, classical training and speed. They played incredibly, as always. I don't think these Fins could ever be less than par.

I left the show alone, feeling satisfied with the performance, yet bummed that their merch wasn't attractive enough for me to buy. Admittedly, their new album cover art sucks big time, but what can you do? I wasn't drunk, so I had my reasoning skills about me and no shirt is worth $25 unless it has amazing artwork and front and back printing and I'll never be able to find it anywhere. Thus, the show was over and I headed back to Grand Central to write my final papers and such on the train ride home, only to get up at 830AM to be back in the city for another day of amazing excitement. The Roadrunner United show... It was insanity... more to follow shortly!

11/3/05 - HALO OF LOCUSTS/BYZANTINE/SINARIA - Crazy Donkey - NY

Oh man. So I had to work at 8am. Then I had a midterm from 2 - 3:30PM. Then I jumped on a train and headed to Long Island to see my boys (and girl) from the mighty SinAria play with big shots Byzantine and Halo of Locusts (Featuring the almighty Randy Blythe from Lamb of God).

It took me an hour to get in and Mike a little time to find the train station, but once we found each other, everything was kosher. We stopped at a gas station for booze and then it was off to the venue.

The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale, NY is a pretty groovy venue, I must say. Having never been there before, I found it to be refreshing. More upscale than your normal rock club, what with hardwood floors, two full bars and an eatery section, not to mention a DJ booth! The overwhelming smell of fried food made me hungry upon entering, thus I aided with SinAria's load in and greeted the other opening band and hung out till things got hot. My only peeve with the Crazy Donkey is that they have inconveniently placed bar benches in what would be the general admission floor, so it makes moshing or "hardcore dancing"(for you hardcore poofters) a bit more difficult. But on the other hand, they have an amazing porch area for hanging out and smoking and etc. in order to keep their club looking nice and clean.

OK, so by this point it looks as though I'm manning SinAria's merchandise for the night, cause Erin "The Shredder" is on the verge of vomiting because she is performing on the same stage as the mighty Randy. Everyone else was stoked; she was just a bit more nervous than the rest. Then these guys show up with all this System of a Down stuff and I ask them what's going on.

"Oh dude, you get to hear the album tonight before anyone else. It's a special teaser party being thrown by this promotional company! Here dude, you want a shirt? How bout some stickers or a poster? It's all free! Just take a picture holding the stuff up for us, would you?"

Well, I'm not one to pass up free stuff as we all know, so I took the shirt and gave them the picture and patiently waited the unveiling of the new SOAD tracks. This now became the new highlight of my night (well, next to meeting Erin's sister and extended family of course).

As soon as the opening band left the stage, SinAriA took their places and were ready to rock. The lights dropped, and this time they even had entrance music! I fucking love entrance tracks for bands, it just gives them so much more of an edge. Well, SinAriA played extremely well, better than previously I might add. The energy levels were high, and crowd's energy was high and I was digging it. They made a shout out to the Donkey, as it's like their homecoming to play the place and proceeded to rock some more. They played a thirty minute set, in which there was no bull shit, it was all raw and to the point metal. I was impressed, especially after seeing them at a teen center in Connecticut where they played on the ground level to the audience of...me. This just proves they are the real deal, raw and powerful and a force to be reckoned with. Hey, that's what you get when you're from New York, right?

So SinAriA wraps up and I sell some of their merch like a good boy, but then I get sidetracked by Erin's sister who is far more interesting than the set change going on. We chat it up for a few and then Byzantine comes on. Holy Shit. I'd never heard these guys before, but they were technical as all hell. I was really impressed, I wasn't sure what they were going to sound like, but their riffs were pretty freaking awesome, not to mention the vocals were just the right level of growl. The singer was loosing his voice so the bassist took over half the time and did an awesome job picking up the slack. They played a killer set, even though they lost a few patrons once SinAriA finished, but man, they could shred. They had awesome guitar effects too, that seemed to not require any pedal boards, it was all from scratch. Good stuff. If you get to see Byzantine, you should do it! Not only that, their merch has amazing designs which are well worth the money. The only trouble was they only had Large and Extra Large...and now you know the most worthless information of the night.

Lastly, Halo of Locusts played with Randy from Lamb of God. Randy, cool dude, pretty down to earth and really skinny. Skinnier in real life than you'd think. But, hell of an entertainer. I like his growl a lot more than his shrieks which seem to make a bigger appearance in the Virginia based Halo of Locusts. I'm not going to say anything about HOL. I didn't get to see their whole set, but from what I saw, it wasn't anything spectacular. They took the hardcore set up...tons of breakdowns that last for minutes and no solos or riffs and made four minute songs out of them. Randy was fun up close and personal though. He walks around behind the guitarists and bassist like a tiger caged in a zoo, slinking back and forth with his shoulders arched with a pissed off look on his face. Check em' out if you're down with the H-Core music.

Oh I almost forgot. The System of a Down tracks were amazing. The follow up to their album Mesmerize, Hypnotize is going to be an even bigger explosion. What a brilliant marketing ploy. They were number one in May; they're going to be number one in November too. You will buy this album, because from the sound of it, it's well worth it. I'll let you be the judge though.

10/04/05 – I.E.M.F-LILITU/MANNTIS/LEAVE'S EYES – CBGB - NYC

I got off work at 4 and hustled my ass to the train to meet my friend Stefan who was accompanying me into the city. We were all set to go see the International Extreme Music Festival at CBGB’s featuring a plethora of artists, from Lilitu (whom I was there to support) to God Dethroned, Dutch death metal kings. Train took an hour to get into NYC and as soon as we got there we hopped on the 6, taking it all the way to Bleeker Street, a block away from CBGB’s.

Stefan was interested in checking out the record shops around Bleeker for various electronic artists missing from his library, but I had to check the show times before we did that. When we got to the door, the doorman said that doors opened already and the show was at 7, so we had a little under an hour to check shit out around the area. We walked back up Bleeker to Bleeker Street Records and unfortunately for Stefan, none of the albums he was looking for were in, so we turned back towards the club. We stopped at Wendys along the way to sample their Dairy Desert, which is questionable in its contents but delicious nevertheless.

Upon arriving back at the club, many metal heads were gathered outside. I looked for someone with a wristband and struck up a conversation with the singer from Manntis who told me that God Dethroned's bus, the bus with all the gear in it, was held up at the Holland Tunnel, which is ironic since they are from Holland. The concert hadn't begun yet, so I looked for another wristbanded character and managed to gain the attention of Noah, the bassist from Lilitu. I was super excited to talk to him since the legendary Gitter at Roadrunner had played me their new tracks and I was blown away and dying to see them play live. Stefan smoked about 5 cigarettes in this time, under the impression that there was no reentry to the club once we got in. When the doors opened to let us in, we got carded but for some reason got reentry passes, so his efforts were a bit pointless.

Now I had never been to CBGB's prior to this concert and was somewhat glad I hadn't been, because this place is a dump. I could go into detail but I'm already running long. There were about 30 people there, which looked like a lot for the size of this club, apparently it can hold 300 people which I think is impossible. Stefan and I grabbed a seat and I whipped out my trusty camera ready for anything.

Lilitu (www.myspace.com/lilitu) came on stage and blew me away; they were incredibly technical and had an awesome stage presence. Their sound is like a mix between Death Metal, Progressive Metal and a little bit of Emo scattered here and there. They are definitely worth checking out, hit up their Myspace for some enjoyable tunes. I've got pictures that I took of them on the main page of the site. Really good, I mean really good.

After their set I introduced myself to the other members of the band and they were super friendly. It's the Georgia state of mind that they brought up to New York with them.

Hell Within played next and I just wasn't sure what to make of it. I heard their CD, it sounded real good. They sounded like Boston metalcore, and they played well, sure, but their sound live was just way off. This was probably due to CBGB's crappy system. Not to mention halfway through their set someone messed with the bass drum microphone and the drum parts got about ten times louder than they should have been.

Leave's Eyes, a band that just joined the tour from Germany played next. They concert only had 30 people there until they played and then it got packed, maybe there were 100 now. They are fronted by an operatic blond, corset wearing chick singer and play melancholy metal. Very doom influenced. I wasn't that impressed with the music, but their spectacle was funny. The best part was this...I shit you not, there were more gay metal heads at this one particular show than I've ever seen at all the metal shows I've been to in my life. They were all there bouncing along to Leave's Eyes and once the set finished, they all hit the bar waiting for Atrocity to come on stage.

Atrocity, as I would soon find out, is the EXACT same band as Leave's Eyes, just fronted by a different singer. Oh, and they put on costumes...That's right, space suits. I couldn't believe it. Again, their spectacle was more amazing than their sound and I could hardly believe that they got to play twice because they are considered two separate bands. Ridiculous. Whatever. Thanks Germany.

Lastly, Stefan and I stuck around to see Manntis, who competed on the Battle for Ozzfest. They were solid, good and tight sound. Very Slayer influenced, but a lot of hardcore was present at the same time. The thing I found the most interesting was their guitarist. He was this amazing black guitarist that had the most amazing hipster look I've seen. I wanted to be him. He had cowboy boots and the bullet belt, along with a jean/leather jacket and chains galore. His hair though, was incredible; it was tons of tight little curls all cropped up, and then this massive goatee. Check out the pictures on the main page, you'll see what I mean.

All in all, the International Extreme Music Festival wasn't as EXTREME as I wanted it to have been, but at least I got to meet and see some extremely talented and amazing bands. To all who played - Rock on, I'll see you next time round.

12/15/05 - ROADRUNNER UNITED - The Nokia Theater - NYC

So here's Thursday December 15th in a nutshell...
Wake up: 830AM
Train: 930AM
Final History Exam: 11AM
Nokia Theater: 1PM
Depart Nokia Theater: 2AM
After Party: 230AM
Crash at Nikole's: 4AM

So I got up mad early and jumped on the train so I could go take a History final that I had hardly any preparation for, but felt solid about. What I was more exited about was the Roadrunner United show that night. I got over with the final as soon as I could and then jetted down to Times Square.

The door to the crazy Nokia Theater was open, so I headed down the huge flight of stairs to the underground lair that is the Nokia and looked for my contacts.
OK, so both of my bosses weren't there, but I remembered them saying I was working for the stage manager that day, so I walked into the back and looked for 'Ro' as he liked to be called. Sure enough he was there, shaved head, mini mohawk and all. He gave me my laminate and introduced me to the man whose bitch I would be for the next 12 hours. His name was Keith and he was the head stage manager. I also met Jen, an ex-intern of Roadrunner who would be working with me as well.

Together, we headed upstairs to the main floor to greet people as they came in, or turn them away if need be. In the elevator on the way up we rode with none other than Glen Benton of Deicide. Holy shit, this dude is mad cool, but with the upside down cross burned into his head, something about him just makes him a little bit scary, I'm not gonna lie. We all exited and Jen and I stood post at the door, taking turns bringing down noteworthy individuals to get their passes and show them to the dressing rooms. I had the wonderful chance to bring the guys from Trivium (and their one arm floozy) and Killswitch Engage into the depths of the Nokia for check in. Good dudes.
After a good hour or so of that, we started the run through of songs that had yet to be performed. Trivium had their show the previous night, so they played and so did Corey Taylor (Slipknot), who showed up late, as did Keith Caputo of Life of Agony.

My sole purpose at this show was to be the talent wrangler, since I know what all these guys look like; I had to make sure they were all on stage when they needed to be, or offstage for that matter. I spent a good long time running around catching up on what everyone looked like, but after a while I got everyone down and was running every five seconds for Keith when he screamed for me to get someone. At 5PM the final run-through started for the show and that took a fucking eternity to get through.

Everyone seemed tired and such and it just moved slowly as all hell, but this was my chance to actually say a word or two to a couple of the rock stars. One of the stagehand guys went up to Scott Ian (Anthrax) and said "I saw you guys play The World like 5 years ago before they closed it" and Scott Ian goes "Um, we never played The World" and the tech goes "Oh well it was someone who looked like you, he was having trouble with his guitars." The tech walked away and I turned to Scott Ian and said "Is it that hard to remember Scott Ian? I mean come on." and we had a laugh at the tech's expense. When the house band played Surfacing by Slipknot, I went to Corey Taylor and Joey Jordison and asked them "Does this feel weird?" and they said, "Dude, you have no idea."

The run-through was finally over at 8PM and we all headed out for an hour and half to the open bar that was waiting for us at the pre-show party. It was maddening the amount of people that were attending this thing. Notable people who showed up - Jack Black, Bo Bice, Paul Booth (tattoo artist), Children of Bodom and Disturbed. All these crazies showed face. Now I don't think I was supposed to drink, but I had a Jack and Coke which was super strong and that got me pretty set for the night. I found my friends from SinAria there and we chatted for a few, but then I stumbled away. The noise in this enclosed lobby and bar area was so deafening I thought it was louder than the performance sound. Then I found my two lovely co working interns who were working a signing booth backstage - Ms. Lyndsey and Ms. Kathy (or Special K). We chatted for a few, but then Amy Sciarretto came over trashed as all hell and apologized to Lyndsey for like 10 minutes straight about god knows what, then Lyndsey ducked out and went somewhere else, leaving Kathy and I to talk about the show. Kathy wasn't drunk, but I was a bit, and so was another one of our coworkers who came and hit on her hard. I couldn't do anything about it, so I offered to get her a drink instead. In theory I should have stepped in and offered some protection, but I didn't have my wits about me. I returned 10 minutes later with a vodka tonic which within 2 minutes of having the drink, Special K dumped it all over herself. Amazing. Nevertheless, I grabbed her hand and removed her from the hostile situation and we made our way back towards the bar. We were intercepted by the boss, who told us we had to get on our game and be ready to go in 10 minutes, so I told K I'd see her after the show and made my way backstage to get ready to Wrangle!

Lights go down and the show starts. This was awesome, being backstage and having 34 rock stars hanging out, waiting to play. The house band, which consisted of Joey Jordison (Slipknot), Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Adam Duce (Machine Head) and Dino Cezeares (Fear Factory), all were amazing. They played every song perfectly and for the most part the guest vocalists all did a pretty good job too.
Notable performances -
Ripper Owens performing Annihilator/Mercyful Fate with Jeff Waters on guitar.
Ville Valo (HIM) performing TypeONegative with the house band.
Brian Fair (Shadows Fall) performing Soulfly.

It was pretty fucking crazy. No lie. But then again I was running around like a madman all night trying to make sure all these guys were onstage and ready to go. Joey Jordison, by the way, is literally 5 feet tall, but Christ is that guy an amazing drummer. I have to say though; award for best drummer of the night goes to ex-Soulfly drummer Roy Mayorga. He is just badass. Hopefully he's the next Nine Inch Nails drummer too.

After listening to Keith scream at me for 3 hours long and an exhausting day coming to a close, the show was over, closing with Roots Bloody Roots and a huge jam session with everyone from the show. We cleaned up for an hour and finally it was time to head out to the after party. So Jen (my other wrangler) headed out to Latitude for a short while, but I could barely stand at this point. It was a cool after party, the whole top floor of this bar was made available to the Roadrunner crew and it was again, an open bar! So I had my Peach Schnapps/7UP combo and chilled out for a few. I saw Lyndsey and she was thoroughly trashed by this point, but it's all good, it was a celebration! I was too tired to stand, and fearing a transit strike, I said my goodbyes and headed to the street for a cad. I made it up town and by 4AM, I was at my friend Nikole's door and ready to pass out, after all, I still had 1 final the following day. All in all though, fucking excellent experience and show.

9/30/05 – Still Remains/Aiden/Underminded – Empress Ballroom – Danbury, CT

Friday night. September 30th. It's getting cold out, thank God. I've managed to guest list myself for one of the better metalcore bands out there, Still Remains. They're playing at the Empress Ballroom in Danbury. Danbury is the middle of nowhere. It's on the border of New York and it has a huge college somewhere within its town walls, but other than that, nothing much is going on there. I drive for an hour to find this place and once I come to the address, there is no door, no sign that this place even exists. So I park and walk around in the weird blue collar district that is the majority of Danbury. Sure enough, I hear music and follow it down a back alleyway to find a fat man next to a door under a street light. It's the club.

"Hey what's going on, I'm on the Still Remains guest list, name is Aub Driver"
"Shit son, Still Remains didn't leave a guest list with us, but you know what? Just go in, I trust you on this one."

So I said thank you to the semi-bouncer and entered the club, camera in tow, ready to document the night’s events. As I enter the main room, I'm already taken back by the clubs interior. Literally, this place is a fucking warehouse, with a huge ceiling for sound to disappear into, a shitty sound system to boot and graffiti covering the walls. Not to mention the clubs attendees were not what I was expecting for this particular event.
I should have seen this coming, but I shit you not, the kids there were not over 16, for the most part, so automatically, it's eyes to the stage, do not look around, sweet Jesus. Everyone there exhibited the following characteristics.

1) Happy Hardcore hat, complete with button pins.
2) Eyeliner, male or female.
3) Tight jeans, black or blue.
4) Lip rings, oh my god - seriously what is this fucking fad?
5) And oh right, they couldn't have been over 16.

Not only that, but they're all hardcore dancing, which is something I loath at a concert. When these supposed hardcore kids form a circle for a pit, and then flail their arms around and kick their feet in the air like madmen but never, I dare say never come into contact with each other. It's as if they're taking their own rage out on themselves, rubber ninja style. I like to see a pit with people attacked each other, people knocking each other in the fucking face, but such is not the case with this lame ass Emo crowd. Although I did watch one girl, who was not looking at what was directly in front of her - get cracked in the face with a backhand and begin to nose bleed. It was the height of amusement that night.

I realized that all these kids were there to show support for Aiden, this band which is kind of a cross between Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance and Atreyu. They had the whole black suit get up, eyeliner, the clean vocals with harmonies, cheap punk beats for their catchy riffs. They knew their crowd and marketed themselves right. I can't really comment on their sound too much because the sound system there just outright sucked. But if you're into that kind of music, do check them out, they're fun loving guys and they play good music for the type of music they play. Little did I know, but they are actually from my favorite place in the world…Seattle.

Second on the bill was Underminded, who I was bored with as soon as they came onstage. This might have been because of a lack in stage presence, the poor sound system or just an overdone metalcore sound, but regardless, they didn't do it for me. I may revisit them at a later time, but for now, their crazy tricked out hardcore can wait. However! They have an incredibly hot merch girl named, Audrey (www.myspace.com/twiggviolence), who ya'll should check out, I wish I had a picture of her to go with this, but you can just look her up. She made a dress out of a Cannibal Corpse shirt, nuff' said, she's on my good list.Lastly, Still Remains came on. By this time, a good portion of the underage audience had taken off, much to the other bands dismay, because apparently Aiden is bigger than Still Remains?? What the fuck. Anyways, Still Remains loaded in, came on stage and then did something I'd never seen before, they PRAYED around the drum kit, and you could hear it too! So Tom Rizzo, you were right, they are a - Christian metal - band, and I don't know what to say. Regardless, their set was flawless, although their original singer was out sick so they had someone else screaming for them. All the songs sounded like the CD, which was pretty amazing, despite this horrendous P.A. system which seemed to plague this sketchy venue. But unfortunately, their set was short, they only played a few songs off the CD and then left, no encore or anything, but I don't blame them, this audience was not a good one for them. So I walked out of the venue at 10PM on the dot and drove my ass home to sleep. Weird show, but always a good time.

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