Archive for the ‘manilla road’ Category
Manilla Road & Graven Rite Concert Review, Austin, TX, October 25, 2015
It’s been quite a busy few weeks for shows and last night’s show was a last minute decision that I am so glad I made.
I got to Hotel Vegas right as Graven Rite was setting up so went outside for a bit and ran into Mark “The Shark” Shelton, who I had just seen the week prior at Frost and Fire Fest in Ventura, CA. We spoke for a few minutes. Before heading in to see Graven Rite, I ran into Scott from Texas Metal Underground who is one of the coolest dudes around.
I came in on Graven Rite’s third song, Bloodstone Ring. After that they played Twisted Sister’s The Beast and it sounded good. The closed their set with the title track from their debut EP, The Summoner’s Pit. It was good to catch them live.
After a pretty quick stage switch out, Manilla Road comes on and I move right to the front where a couple of my friends were hanging out. My favorite album by Manilla Road is Mystification and they opened with Masque of the Red Death. Trying to keep up with their setlists is interesting because everything is pretty much decided on the spot. “Let’s play this one…” kind of thing. That means the band has to be ready for anything and they were. I was quite surprised to see so many people wearing MR shirts and singing along to their set, especially some of the younger folks I saw there. After headbanging up front for the first 3 or 4 songs, I moved to the back with the old folks. haha. Plus I could hear everything better. The whole band sounded great and watch Mark shred is such a pleasure. Admittedly I don’t know their whole discography but really enjoyed Cage of Mirrors, The Riddle Master and Divine Victim and the others from Mystification.
I was pretty tired after the show, so I said some quick goodbyes to the band and headed home. It was a great night though. As an aside, I saw a lot of younger “metalheads” at this show. A few I’ve seen at other metal shows but most seem to be, in my view, metalheads for the fashion of it. I’d like to see some of these kids in 5 years to see if they stayed “metal” or if they’re just rolling in the trend. And Matt, if you’re reading this, you’re not part of that crowd. You’re one of the truest metalheads I’ve ever known. :)
My neck hurts today.
Manilla Road, Eternal Champion, Chaos In Tejas 2013
I’m in a new band called Eternal Champion and last night we got to open for the mighty and legendary and extremely underrated Manilla Road during this year’s Chaos in Tejas. Because of some recent band changes, we had a couple of replacement guys fill in on guitar and drums and the show was incredible…all 3 songs of it! We got a great response, sold all of our shirts and have been getting positive feedback all day. We also released a 2 song cassette that sold out in about a week. There’s a forthcoming 7″ as well. It was easily my favorite show that I have ever played and after 25+ years of being in bands as I’m finally playing the music I’ve always wanted to play: true epic metal. We were also the perfect opener for Manilla Road. Pics and videos from the show coming soon.
Then Manilla Road. After we finished playing, Mark Shelton from Manilla Road showed up and got showered with attention from hardcore fans. I’m a fan of Crystal Logic and especially Mystification. Our singer is a fanatic though. This is his favorite band…EVER. It was great watching them meet. Because of major lack of sleep over the weekend and having to get up early this morning, I could only stay for 3 songs. They sounded incredible. Mark’s guitar playing is great and I really feel like they should have been so much bigger. I got to meet him for a minute and he signed The Book. Another huge signature for my collection.
In between us and Manilla Road were Satan’s Satyrs and Speedwolf. I like Speedwolf. It’s good Motorhead worship.
-
- Mark Shelton and Monkey Boy
-
- Mark Signs The Book
-
- I think Speedwolf is from Denver.
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.