Archive for the ‘austin’ Category
Not Your Older Brother’s Buzzov*en
Kings Head Inn in Norfolk, VA was legendary for us locals. So many great bands rolled through there. Many times we had no idea who was playing, we’d just show up and hang out and deal with the bands that were on bill, whether we liked them or not. That’s how I first saw Buzzov*en live. My guess is that it was around 1992/1993 as that was the time I started hanging around Norfolk a bit more. I guess I saw them 5 or 6 times with the last show being in 95 or 96. The memory isn’t as great as I would like it to be.
One of the main things I remember is how violent their shows were. not necessarily because of the crowd, but the band themselves, especially lead-man Kirk Fisher. I don’t think I ever saw a show of theirs where he didn’t end up bloody. Were they the greatest band on the planet? Not by a long shot, but they were highly entertaining.
Flashforward to this past Saturday night, October 2, 2010, and it was a bit of a different Buzzov*en than I was used to seeing back in the olden days. Other than Dixie Dave Collins from Weedeater on bass, they were pretty subdued. Dave moved around quite a bit but it really did seem like the younger years of hard living and violent touring may have calmed them down a bit.
Soundwise they were good and right on par to how I remembered them. Oddly enough I never owned any of their albums and still can’t name one song, but they were still entertaining.
If I could complain about anything it would be the $18 cover and the lack of attendance. The door price turned several people away and I was almost one of them, but I sucked it up and went in. I doubt there were more than 120 people there. Pity. These guys are pretty legendary as far as sludge metal goes and you’d think that EYEHATEGOD’s fans in Austin would have come out.
It was good to see them again though. now I just need to catch Weedeater when they roll through again.
There were 3 opening acts: Mala Suerte, Honky and Dixie Witch. They all seemed to fit well with the vibe of the evening and all 3 bands sounded great.
Gary Rosas of Mala Suerte
Jeff from Honky
One of the Dixie Witch bass drums. The band is actually too ugly to photograph. (kidding guys!)
Kirk from Buzzov*en
Dixie Dave and Buzzov*en
Goodbye Room 710
I’ll never forget the very first time I walked in there. Jasmine was behind the bar and Mercyful Fate was playing on the jukebox. I repeat…MERCYFUL FATE WAS PLAYING ON THE JUKEBOX! I knew that I had found a home. I had just moved to Austin from Virginia and was checking out some of the places on Red River St. It was early in the evening so there really wasn’t anyone else in there. So I had a few beers, talked with Jasmine and commandeered the jukebox with 2 or 3 dollars. Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Celtic Frost, Thin Lizzy. Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate etc etc.
I love that place. They staff was always the best in town. No matter if a band was playing there that I liked or not, if I was downtown, I would always stop in for a drink.
They had some great shows there from all of the local rockers (including both of my bands) to some national and international acts. I got to see Vicious Rumors and Witchcraft there. Both great shows for me.
The new owner apparently owns One Eyed Jacks in New Orleans. I’ve heard good things about that place. I’ve also heard that they will remodel Room 710. Probably not a bad idea but I hope that they can retain the Red River vibe and even more importantly I hope they can retain some of the staff.
That place is special…to me anyways. So thanks to Room 710. I have a lot of great memories and even some fuzzy ones.
This is from the first show I played there:
Iron Maiden and Mountain Dew
So tonight I am walking down the hall of my loft complex to get my mail and one of the other tenants says, “Dude, Iron Maiden shirt and Mountain Dew pajamas…you are so metal.”
I grabbed my mail, turned to the guy and gave him the Dio fingers and said, “I know” and walked away. hahaha
OK, it was funny to me.
The weekend…
Pretty interesting weekend. One of my good friends is in town for a few weeks so I get to see him a lot. Nyk is a great guy and it had been about 3 years since we last hung out. He came to our show Friday night and took about 1000 photos…literally. He’s a maniac! The show was great. I was a bit worried when we went on because there was only about 15 people there. By the end of our 2nd song the place was packed. It was pretty nifty. The crowd was very into it and the guy who books there is already asking us to do a headlining show in the next month or so.
The night started out great as a friend kept showing me her breasts all night. I almost felt like a rock star! haha. She has a nice set by the way. Too bad you probably missed it.
Another friend of mine tried to rush the stage when we were in the middle of a song. I swatted him down once and he tried again so he got a face full of my boot. That’ll teach him to try and get on my stage. Like Lemmy said one time, if you want to get on stage, get your own fucking band. Amen brother.
Saturday Nyk and I moved some boxes into my new apartment. I’m pretty excited about it now. I hurt my ribs and back a bit though. I’m getting old. It sucks. Hopefully we’re moving the furniture this coming weekend and i will be in there for good. It’ll be cool and it’s in a great location and uber convenient to downtown.
Sunday I packed up my CDs and moved them to the new place. That is a task in and of itself. I also watched the Steelers game. What a stroke of pure luck.
Dangerous Toys Concert Review
I’ll preface this by saying that I was never a big Dangerous Toys fan, but I am a Jason McMaster fan. His work with Watchtower and broken Teeth is top notch. It is with the Toys as well, but their style of rock wasn’t my thing although I do like their debut. I’ve been living in Austin for 2 years now and I think this is the first local show they’ve played since then. Sold out. $20 a head. Jason offered to put me on the guest list but I passed on it. For my friend’s bands I always like to pay.
The show started with a slide show from photographer Greg Maston whose photo of Randy Rhoads is on the inside cover of Blizzard of Ozz. He ran 100s of shots ranging from Ozzy, early VH, King Diamond, Wendy O, early and late era Pantera and a ton of others.
Then the Toys hit the stage. Jason’s voice was in top shape and the band was great. This line up features Paul Lidel (f. Dirty Looks) on guitar along with original guitarist Scott Dalhover. They were supposed to play here about 5 or 6 months ago but bassist Mike Watson’s diabetes hospitalized him for a while and he couldn’t play. He gave a nice apology last night for being the reason the last Austin show was postponed. The highlights for me were Queen of the Nile, Outlaw, Gunfighter, Scared and Gimme No Lip and Demon Bell (from Shocker). The band was having fun and so was the crowd.
McMaster is one of the best frontmen in rock n roll IMHO.
Great time.
The Metal Files 
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