Archive for the ‘pentagram’ Category
Pentagram & Heavy Metal Parking Lot 3 Concert Review, Austin, TX, March 19, 2016
foto by Jerry Milton
Day 2 of my weekend with Pentagram took place at The Lost Well in East Austin. This show was held during SxSW and was part of a separate 2-day affair called Heavy Metal Parking Lot. This is the third installment put on by Johnny Galyon and American Icon Records. The day’s featured artists were as follows:
PENTAGRAM 1130
Mondo Drag 1030
Venomous Maximus 930
Sweat Lodge 830
The Blood Royale 745
Tower 7
Sabbath Crow 615
Against the Grain 530
Destroyer of Light 445
Banquet 4
Wrong 315
Greenbeard 230
After driving back from Houston in the morning and sleeping half of the day, I got there a little after 5 missing my friends in Destroyer of Light but got to catch Against the Grain whom I missed the night before. They were killer! Bass player was a total monster. It was a good set overall and I look forward to catching them again. Good friends Sabbath Crow were up next and I caught part of their set before grabbing dinner with Greg from Pentagram and Jeff Lee, who is basically a Pentagram historian and lives in the area. He’s been involved with the band since 1979 and it’s always great to hear his stories. Tower from New York were up next and I enjoyed their set quite a bit. The Blood Royale came next and it was their end of tour show and they blazed through it like madmen. Sweat Lodge was up next and they fall into that category of 70s retro that I just can’t get in to. Their singer’s got a great voice but I just can’t latch on to them at all. Good friends Venomous Maximus were up next and as always got a great response for a great set. Love those dudes. Mondo Drag’s set was comparable to the night before in Houston, which is to say they were great. They got a really good response from the crowd, too.
Pentagram came on next to an over capacity crowd that was jam packed into The Lost Well like sardines in mustard sauce. It was pretty intense. I’ve never seen it so packed in there. I stood in the very back of the venue and really could only see the tops of Victor’s and Greg’s heads. They played the same setlist with the only difference being the encore was played after the last of the main list songs since the band couldn’t leave the stage at all to take a quick break. So they plowed through the encore with the extended massive jam at the end of 20 Buck Spin. It was crazy in there. And it was great. I’m glad everyone got in and that no one got hurt in that packed crowd. Bobby’s voice started a little rough at the beginning of the set, but improved greatly by the time they played Forever My Queen. Once they finished, they quickly exited the stage and went straight to the bus. I got caught up in a few conversations and didn’t get to see them off as they had to get to DFW to catch some flights home. They were backlined so didn’t have any real gear to break down and load up besides the merch. Speaking of which, I didn’t get one of their shirts as they had run out of my size prior to the Houston show. And again, pick up Curious Volume. It’s a great album.
I couldn’t have asked for a much better weekend with a great bunch of guys in Pentagram and the folks at The Lost Well, including all of the friends and staff there. It was a night for the record books for sure.
Pentagram Concert Review, Houston, TX, March 18, 2016
I like traveling out of Austin for shows and seeing Pentagram in another city was surely going to be fun. I first met them in 2010 on the street in Austin and became pals with them over the years since.
I got to Houston around 4PM and a little before the band arrived to load in and sound check. I noticed a line of people at the venue that seemed pretty young, too young to be Pentagram fans in general. There was a show in the main room at Warehouse Live from some mall metal/mall core/emo core band called blessthefall.
When Pentagram arrived, I helped them load in during a heavy rain storm. That was fun(?). Also loading in were Detroit’s Against the Grain and Oakland’s Mondo Drag. Once everything got set up, the band ran through sound check with a couple of Pentagram songs and KISS’ Cold Gin, all with Victor on vocals. After the check, I ran Greg and Victor to Guitar Center to get a fog machine. Let me tell you, the customer service there was total shit. The guy working there just seemed annoyed that we had questions and that he needed to get the ladder to get what the band needed from the top shelf. Sorry that you had to provide customer service in your customer service job, dude. We grabbed a quick dinner across the street and then headed back in the venue.
When we got back, they set the machine up in the dressing room to test it out. Bobby had come in from the bus and was on the couch next to the machine and they blasted him with it twice. His reaction was pretty funny. I guess you had to be there. The band also decided to prank blessthefall as their dressing room was connected by a sealed doorway that had enough of a crack in it to shoot fog into their dressing room. During blessthefall’s last song, they got their room filled with fog. Oddly enough, they got pissed off about it as did the promoter and security guy. What a bunch of pussies.
I missed Against the Grain’s set while we were buying the fog machine. However, I did catch most of Mondo Drag’s set and completely loved it. If I had to classify it, it’s Uriah Heep meets some Yes meets early 70s jazz/fusion. In general I detest the 70s psychedelic revival as most of the bands sound the same to me, offering nothing different than any others. But these guys had a little something different. Maybe just the Heep styled heavy keyboards and cool jazz riffs here and there, but it set them apart from just about all of the other bands I’ve seen that fall in the sub genre. The crowd seemed into it as well.
Pentagram hit the stage with about 150ish in the crowd. It seemed pretty lightly attended overall. I’ve not attended many Houston shows so can’t really gauge what it should have been. They opened up with Death Row and All Your Sins and much of the crowd was singing along. Bobby’s voice sounded great, probably better than any other time I’ve heard them. The band was energetic and extremely tight. New drummer, Peter Campbell, has the perfect combination of keeping perfect time and having feel in his playing. They mixed the setlist up with a lot of classics and 5 from the latest album, Curious Volume. The album is awesome and I highly recommend it. It’s easily in my top 5 Pentagram albums. The crowd went crazy during Forever My Queen. For me Broken Vows and When the Screams Come are two of the major highlights and come from my favorite album of theirs, Day of Reckoning. They played 7 total from Pentagram (aka Relentless). The encore also had Be Forewarned, which was the favorite song by my old pal, Sergio. RIP. It was a great show overall and the Pentagram band and crew are really all great guys. Thanks for the hospitality as always!
After the show, I went back to the dressing room and hung out for a bit. Bobby was worn out and about to fall asleep. He asked me what I thought of the show and I mentioned that I’ve seen 3 classic singers recently who all blew me away. Those being Liebling, Mogg and Meniketti. He perked up when heard Mogg mentioned. Apparently UFO is his favorite band. Based on the conversation we had, his knowledge of the band has few rivals. And I’ll say this, for a guy who’s done the drugs and lived like Bobby has, I’m always impressed that he can get on stage and not miss a lyric ever that I’ve seen. No teleprompter, just incredible memory. It’s quite impressive. Greg mentioned that at rehearsals they’ll start playing a random old Pentagram song and Bobby will come right in and sing it perfectly.
After some quick goodbyes, I headed to my hotel. I was wiped out.
Pentagram Concert Review, Austin, TX July 4, 2014
This past weekend American Icon Records (AIR) put on their inaugural 2 day music festival at The Mohawk in downtown Austin. AIR is run by my pal, Johnny Gaylon, and by all looks, this was a successful thing for him. My main reason for wanting to go, friendship aside, was to see my pals in Pentagram play again. Victor Griffin has rejoined the band and it’s always a treat to see him play. He’s a damn good player and has written some of my favorite metal riffs.
Pentagram was scheduled to play on July 4th and I planned my day around that. I befriended the band in 2010 when I ran into them on the street before their show at Emo’s. Added bonus for that day show was to finally see War Master live as well as seeing my friends in The Bulemics and Venomous Maximus.
I arrived at the venue around load in time and got to hang out with Bobby for quite a while in the green room. It’s always an interesting conversation with him in 1000 different directions. He reminds me of my brother (RIP) a bit. I sit through sound check and they sounded great. We head back up to the green room and they take off to go rest up before the show.
Brothers Collateral opened up the show and they sounded great. Instrumental stonerish 4 piece band that had some really cool guitar harmony parts setting them a little differently than most of the stuff in the genre. Venomous Maximus laid it down solidly as always. I was really looking forward to seeing War Master, mainly because their bassist is a very good friend of mine. I’ll be honest when I say I’m not the biggest fan of death and black metal. I’m very limited to what I like in those genres. But War Master was great. If I can understand your singer, you’re halfway there with me and I could get most of what he was yelling at us. The guitars were good and solid and thankfully JT plays solos. I see some death and thrash and black metal bands with 2 guitarists but no one plays solos. That’s not very metal! Add in that TA on bass is always solid and fun to watch. Then that drummer. What a beast! Seriously, this guys is awesome. I really hope something good happens to this band. They’re back on the road again for the next 2-3 weeks I believe. Go see them. I caught part of Ditch Witch and they were good.
Then Pentagram hits the stage. It’s amazing to watch Bobby perform after all he’s done to himself. His between song banter is basically indiscernible and was also a little hoarse, but while singing he was clear and powerful. His stage moves are awesome. I love that guy. For most of their set I was up on the top deck with good friends. It was a good night and Pentagram sounded great. I was a little surprised that they only did one song from Last Rites, which I think is a fantastic record. Most of the set was from Relentless and I was happy to get 3 songs from my favorite, Day of Reckoning (no Burning Saviour of course). After the show, I hung with them for a little bit before heading home. I was wiped out. Great to see those guys.
I went back to Mohawk Saturday for day 2 of the fest. I’m not a fan of anyone on the bill but was guestlisted so I went again as I had no other plans that night. American Sharks were a pleasant suprise. I’d like to catch them again sometime. I’ll be the first to say that I’m not a fan of The Sword in the least but seeing them Saturday was enjoyable. Not sure what was different this time, but whatever. I missed everyone else on the bill.
Johnny is already working on the fest for next year. Good job on this one!
-
- The axes of Victor Griffin
-
- soundcheck
-
- soundcheck
-
- soundcheck
-
- Brothers Collateral – check ’em out!
-
- War Master!
-
- Bobby and his awesome studded jacket
-
- Pre-show Victor and his tech, Dan
-
- pre-show Greg
-
- Pentagram – Photo by Jerry Milton
-
- Bobby – Photo by Jerry Milton
-
- Bobby and Victor – Photo by Jerry Milton
-
- pre-show with Bobby and Johnny Gaylon (American Icon Records)
Pentagram and Ancient VVisdom Concert Review, Austin, TX 8/2/2013
Pentagram came to town yesterday to play Emo’s East. No need to rehash my love for them, it’s all written here somewhere.
I’ll just say that the band was solid and Bobby sounded great. New guitarist, Matt, did a great job. No, he’s not Victor Griffin, but no one is. This kid did a fine job. New drummer, Sean, was rock solid as well. And of course Greg Turley killed it on bass. I got to spend some time with Greg for a few hours before show along with Jeff, the band’s biographer. Jeff and Greg know more about Pentagram than Bobby. Their history with the band is quite interesting. It was a great time talking with them again.
The Saint James Society opened the show and quite frankly I couldn’t have been more bored.
My friends Ancient VVisdom were on next and played a fine set. Their singer now plays acoustic guitar and it changes the vibe quite a bit.
Overall it was a great night.
-
- “Hey brother, can you spare a dime?” 105 degrees outside and he’s wearing a jacket.
-
- Bobby pre show getting a Pentagram history lesson from Jeff.
-
- Monkey Boy & Bobby post show
Meeting UDO/Raven – June 17, 2000
My good friend Nyk invited me to stay the weekend with him in Northern Virginia the same weekend that UDO and Raven were playing Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield. While I’m not the biggest Accept or Raven fan, I knew that we would be on the guestlist because at the time, Nyk was friends with John Gallagher of Raven. It would also be a good opportunity to get some more sigs in The Book. Raven’s drummer at the time was Hasselvander from Pentagram, a band that I am a HUGE fan of, so the chance to meet him is worth the trip in itself. And to be clear, I love Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall but I’m not as familiar with their other albums. I owned Metal Heart and Russian Roulette at some point but I really don’t remember either one of them. And Raven? I’m not a fan…at all. There, I said it. Talented dudes, but not my thing.
The day of the show we have dinner with the Gallagher brothers and they were super nice guys. If memory serves me well, dinner was at an Asian place. A few Raven fans spotted them and came over to say hello. Honestly, prior to that day I wouldn’t know those dudes if they were standing next to me.
They take off for the show and we bum around for a bit then head there ourselves. We’re on the list and get to go in the “upper room” above the bar while one of the opening bands was on. Hasselvander was up there and let me tell you, he is one of the coolest dudes around. We talked about Pentagram quite a bit as he was still involved at the time and his connection with Blue Cheer and his new band, Hounds of Hasselvander. He was putting on some eyeliner and with it he can really pass for Ozzy. Fun dude. He signed the book as well the Gallagher brothers and I went back to put it in the car. It’s a bit of a pain to lug around all night.
Right as Raven was going on, we were just standing a ways back from the front and I turn to go get a drink or something and bump into this little stocky dude. I said, “Oh, sorry man. ” and he replied with “No problem.” And instantly it hit me. It was Udo! He must be about 5’1″ or so. I shook his hand and asked him to sign my ticket (see below).
Both bands put on great shows, no matter if I liked the music or not. The musicianship was top notch for sure.
Ticket signed by Udo...flip it over and you can almost make out his name.
Raven sigs in The Book on their page. (click to enlarge)
The Metal Files 
You must be logged in to post a comment.