The Metal Files

My first recollection of hearing Krokus was from buying a tape in the early 80s of their 1978 album, Pay It In Metal.  I’m pretty sure that hearing Screaming In The Night and Bedside Radio on the radio in those years prompted me to buy that tape.  Plus it was only $1.  That album is quite different than their 80s stuff and doesn’t include Storace.  I bought The Blitz when it came out in ’84 and loved it.  People slag Midnight Maniac but I think it’s a killer tune.  I pretty love all of their 80s stuff but never got to see them back then.  I remember in the late 90s or early 2000s that they were scheduled to play Jaxx in Springfield, VA (RIP) but something happened and they never made it over to the USA.

When I saw they were going to do to a small US tour, I knew I had to go.  They scheduled dates in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas and I promptly bought tix for Houston and SA.

I got to Houston early in the day to beat the rush hour traffic, checked into my hotel and went to the venue to see if any of the guys were hanging out and to try and get The Book signed.  Score.  I got to meet Mandy Meier and Chris Von Rohr (only original and founding member) after their sound check.  Chris was pretty funny.  As he’s signing the book, he just looks up at me and says, “Can you find me a toothpick, please?”  He handed the book back to me and I said I would.  There were some folks there with stacks of vinyl and CDs and I could see in his face that he was getting punished by a few of those guys, especially this one dude that I have seen at a few Houston shows.  The guy just wouldn’t move on after getting his stuff signed.  Von Rohr just stopped paying attention to this dude’s inane ramblings.  I came back a few minutes later with some toothpicks and handed them to Chris who stood up as the punisher was mid-sentence and said, “THANK YOU!  You’re now my new tour manager.”  I think it gave him a reason to just get up and diss that dude.

I ran into some friends right before the first band went on and hung with them most of the night.  The opening band is touring with Krokus (same US mgmt).  They were called The Chimpz and it was some sort of hip hop metal thing.  I stayed outside.  Horrible.  Puerto Rico’s Red Tiger came up next and they were decent.  The drummer and one of the guitarists both handled lead vocal duties and I preferred the drummer’s vocals.  They’re pretty young and their sound is all over the hard rock/metal map, but I think they can likely dial it in.  Love and War was up next and they’ve got a good Houston following.  They’re super solid hard rock and the singer has a great vocal range.  This was my second or third time seeing them.

Finally around 1130, it was time for Krokus.  The show looked about 3/4 full.  I was down in front on the rail for most of the set and it was hot down there.  They come out and open with Long Stick Goes Boom and go right into their cover of  American Woman.  Blech.  Never liked the original and never got into Krokus’ version.  But the band was tight and Marc’s vocals sounded great.  They mixed the short set up with some newer and older stuff, completely avoiding The Blitz album.  There were a few older gems in there like Winning Man and Easy rocker but I’m still a bit surprised that in your first US show in 25 years, you don’t play Bedside Radio, Our Love, Fire, Midnight Maniac or even some of their other famous covers of Stayed Awake all Night, School’s Out and Ballroom Blitz.  Don’t get me wrong, I say avoid covers when you have such a huge back catalog but oh well.  They’ve been pretty good about putting albums out every 5 years or so.  Lots of lineup changes.

Right after Screaming In The Night, I got out of the pit and listened to the rest of the show on the patio.  They had the doors open and I could see and hear everything perfectly.  It was hot inside and I needed some air and a cold beverage.

After the show, they did do a quick meet and greet and I got Marc to sign the book.  There were a lot of people in line to meet them and I just shook hands, said thanks and moved on.

The show was great.  I went to San Antonio to catch them on the second night, but because of their Fiesta traffic, I never made it in.

Click photos to enlarge.

great additions to The Book

Photo by Rob McNees