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What a weekend! I’m completely wiped out this morning but here goes…

I go see Satan any chance I get. I love Satan! Unfortunately they aren’t doing any Texas dates this year so I took the opportunity to go see them at the famous Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood. Even more, my good friends in Night Demon were playing direct support. It was slated to be a win-win!

I had a super early flight from Austin to LAX and didn’t sleep well the night before. Bummer. Anyhow, I arrived in LA at 830AM Pacific time and there was some sort of weird mix up with the rental car. Let’s just say that I’ll never try and use Payless Rentals again. I ended up at Enterprise having to try and book something on the spot. That’s never easy to do in LA as I’ve found out before. The only available cars that they had were classified as exotics and there were only a few to choose from. They handed me a rate sheet with the car selection and the cheapest one on there was a 2016 white Camaro SS convertible. I gave a bit of a sob story to the guy that was helping me and he gave me some discounts. It was still more than I had planned to pay but whatever. I figured that the weather was nice, I’m in LA for just a short time, I might as well enjoy it as much as I can. So off I went with the top down, the 80s metal cranked up and two suitcases full of Cirith Ungol and Night Demon shirts in the back seat that I was delivering for a friend. I cruised around LA a bit, ate at Pinches Tacos on Santa Monica Blvd then went to the hotel to check in. I was pretty tired and with the long night ahead and the 2 hour time difference, I was going to need all the rest I could get. Unfortunately that rest only lasted about 30-45 minutes. Too much noise around. Oh well. I went to do some exploring and ended up at Amoeba Music. The place is huge and I couldn’t find a thing that appealed to me.

It was getting close to load in time so I called for a Lyft ride and took the aforementioned shirts along with me. Night Demon had just started loading in and a good friend from Mexico was already there so we chatted while the bands worked. Satan hadn’t arrived yet as they had some issues in San Francisco the night before and had to get some things worked out. After Night Demon finished their load in, Jarvis and new Night Demon guitarist, Armand, Sarai and I went over to the Rainbow for dinner. This was my first time back at the Rainbow since Lemmy died. Lemmy died. That’s still not easy to write or think about. The group secured a table and I went to the outside bar to the corner and just spent a moment there in reflection. It was good. Back to the table and Armand and I ordered a Jack and Coke in honor of the man and we ordered a pizza for the group. I love their pizza. As we were eating, Sebastian Bach and his family/a family came in. I just said hello as he walked by and it was returned with a “hey man”. San Antonio Rodney showed up as did Night Demon’s drummer, Dustin, and we hung out for a little longer before heading back to The Whisky.

Once inside we made our way upstairs to the dressing rooms where Sean Taylor, Brian Ross and Steve Ramsey of Satan were hanging out. Sean and I caught up for a bit while Brian and Steve were being interviewed. After their interview, Russ Tippins and Graeme English arrived. I really do love these guys. All class and super kind and all very funny. They were obviously still a bit worn out from the night before and their drive so I went downstairs to meet up with some other friends. Some of the opening acts had already played and locals Resistance were just coming on when we got downstairs. I couldn’t get into them at all although one of the guitarists had some good lead breaks.

Up next was Night Demon. As I mentioned before, Armand was now in the band replacing Brent Woodward. I love Brent. All around solid guy and loved my tacos when he and Night Demon were in town. I’ve known Armand for several years as his old band, New Liberty, played Austin several times during SxSW in 2011 or 2012. Dustin from Night Demon was also in that band and it was through him that I got introduced to Night Demon when my old band played with them in Chicago at Ragnarokkr in 2014. As much as I hated to see Brent gone, I’m elated to see that his replacement was Armand. He’s a killer guitarist. and was also recently in Gygax and I highly recommend their latest album, Critical Hits. Night Demon opened up with Screams in the Night and blasted right into Full Speed Ahead, which is one of my faves. Armand sounded great with them and brings a bit of a different vibe to their live show. They played 7 tracks overall and were right on point as always. I’ll see them again in a couple of weeks in San Antonio and Austin with the mighty Visigoth.

Up next came NWOBHM legends Satan. I can’t say enough about this band on a personal level and on a performance level. The band is practically perfect live and I’d go see them every chance I could. They opened with Siege Mentality, Incantations, The Devil’s Infantry and Twenty Twenty-Five. That’s the same four they opened with the night before but then they changed it up and played Break Free from Court in the Act. That album is so good. All told they played 5 from their great latest album, Atom by Atom, 8 from Life Sentence and 4 from Court in the Act. I’m still utterly amazed at Brian Ross’ vocal abilities. The whole band was awesome and it was especially nice to hear them on a quality PA system. I was a bit surprised that the show didn’t sell out but it was good to see people singing along to Night Demon’s and Satan’s sets.

I ran into Tim Baker from Cirith Ungol. What a nice guy. He gave me some stickers. I saw Robert Garven as well but we didn’t get to speak much as he was on his way out the door. I also got to see my friend from Austin, Allie. Quite the pleasure seeing her again as well.

After the show we headed back to the dressing rooms. The band was packing their stuff as they had an early flight out for their next show in Portland. We said our goodbyes and I told them I’d see them on one of their east coast dates in October. Right before walking out of the dressing room, I was recognized by a girl I had met at the Cathouse Live show at Irvine Meadows last year. She was wearing a killer Toxik shirt, too, so that’s major points with me! It was great making that connection with her again. Said my “see you later” to her, Satan and the Night Demon guys and headed back to the restaurant by the hotel for a late night bite to eat. Service was slow and Rodney bailed. My LA friend, Sabrina, and I stuck it out, ate and she took a ride back to get her car by the Rainbow and I was fading fast. I went back into my room and pretty much passed out as I hadn’t been to sleep, real sleep, in almost 24 hours. Unfortunately I was only able to sleep for about 3 hours as I have a hard time sleeping while the sun is out.

After checking out, I spent some time just driving around LA. Made a quick trip into Venice to see Cameron and Rell. She and I have been friends for a long time from when we both lived in Norfolk. She moved to Austin after me, met Cameron, moved to Venice and then got married. Always great seeing them.

After that I headed up to Studio City to meet with someone whom I’ve loved since first hearing her music…Betsy from Bitch! We had been in contact a few times in the last 15 years or so and I asked her if she had time to meet up as I’d love to get her signature in The Book. She agreed and we met in town for about an hour. It was really awesome to be sitting there with her. We spent about an hour together, she told me some stories about the band, her current drummer showed up, she signed the book, snapped a few fotos with me and then we were both on our separate ways. I can’t thank her enough for that time. She’s pretty damned cool.

I was slated to turn my car in by 5 as I had a 7PM flight home. I got notice that my flight was delayed for 2 hours but went ahead and turned it in as I was getting charged an hourly rate. I couldn’t have asked for a better 2 days of 78 degrees and clear skies to be driving around with the top down, though.

Once at the airport, I just waited it out at Gene and Paul’s “Rock N Brews” for a beer and some tacos that weren’t that good. I tried catching a few z’s on the plane but couldn’t as I couldn’t get comfortable, even with the whole row to myself. I finally got to bed around 230 Central time, extremely tired by extremely pleased with the whole fast weekend in LA. California always sets me right, even with the fakeness and the deplorable traffic. Something in the air for sure. BUT…I’m always ready to get back to Texas.

America, the beautiful

the weekend ride

Pilgrimage. We miss you, Lem

Ran into Tim Baker from the mighty Cirith Ungol

Satan destroying The Whisky

Betsy signing The Book

Gladly!

Betsy and Monkey Boy

I’m such a fanboy.

Gifts from Tim Baker

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Written by The Metal Files

March 28, 2016 at 1:39 pm

Posted in 2016, california, concert, concert review, hollywood, los angeles, night demon, satan, Uncategorized, whisky, whisky a go go

Tagged with 2016, betsy weiss, bitch, cirith ungol, concert review, heavy metal, march 26, night demon, nwobhm, satan, sebastian bach, the rainbow, whisky a go go

Satan “Atom By Atom” Album Review (2015)

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Satan have returned again with a new offering for 2015 on Listenable Records entitled “Atom By Atom” and it’s everything you’d expect after 2013’s Life Sentence.

This album rolls hard from beginning to end and proves once again that the guitar duo of Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins is damn near untouchable. Brian Ross’ vocals are on point and his patented high wails are ever prominent in all the right places. After their Richmond, VA show in 2013, my friend asked Brian how he’s maintained his voice so well since “Court In the Act”. Brian simply replied with, “It’s my job.” And he still does it well.

“Atom By Atom” features 10 tracks and one thing I’ve noticed is that this album seems a bit darker lyrically than their last album and even “Court In the Act”.

Let’s go track by track:

Farewell Evolution – The album opens with Brian’s falsetto, and lyrically tackles the lack of critical thinking in modern society.
Fallen Saviour – “Some still believed that he’d return to save them”. I think you can figure out the rest of the sentiment here. I love the guitar solos in this one.
Ruination – This is one of my favorites on the album so far. The combination of the riffs and rhythm section matched with Ross’ descending vocal pattern just makes for a clean song.
The Devil’s Infantry – Sean Taylor and Graeme English open this one with a marching pattern. Lyrically what you’d think based on the title. It all works so perfectly. The breakdown/transition mid-song is killer.
Atom By Atom – The opening riff on this gives me chills. “Out to get you, atom by atom.” You can hear Russ’ distinctive vocals in that part and it just sounds wonderful. The solos are both crushing as well.
In Contempt – What Satan album would be complete with a song dealing with judgement? No worries here. You got it and shan’t be disappointed!
My Own God – Brian lays it out in this one with, “I am my own God, I made myself, broke the mold, life is what I make it, I will not be told.”
Ahriman – Lyrically dealing with Zoroastrianism, of which I am not too familiar. Great song though. Love the backing vocals in the chorus.
Bound In Enmity – This is a total fist pumper. Riffs and licks for days.
The Fall of Persephone – Final track on the record. A bit of a slow roller and took a few extra listens to warm up to completely. English has some great bass licks that really stand out. This one clocks in at almost 7 minutes and has several parts. The dueling guitar solos are perfect.

I really cannot praise this album enough. It’s everything I expected and more and I can’t wait to get a physical copy in my hands and especially can’t wait to catch them live again. If I could give only one critical opinion about this album, it would be in the drum production, mainly the snare. On much of the album it’s just a bit too bright but really doesn’t detract from Sean’s solid playing or from the album itself.

Long live Satan and thanks to Listenable Records for letting me review this!

10/10!

Satan are:

Brian Ross
Russ Tippins
Steve Ramsey
Graeme English
Sean Taylor

l-r: English, Taylor, Tippins, Ramsey, Ross

Written by The Metal Files

September 19, 2015 at 11:20 pm

Posted in 2015, album review, album reviews, nwobhm, record reviews, satan

Tagged with 2015, album review, album reviews, atom by atom, heavy metal, listenable records, nwobhm, record reviews, satan

Satan Concert Reviews, San Antonio and Austin, TX, October 21-23

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Days 2-4 of Mitchfest with Kelz consisted of 3 straight shows with Satan in San Antonio and Austin and it’s just easier to combine the reviews all in one post.

We mess around Austin for a little bit before heading back to the house to rest up for Tuesday night’s show with Satan in San Antonio at The Korova. We got there a little before Satan showed up and helped them load their personals from the van to Korova’s green room. They looked pretty good after playing Houston the night before. They recognized us from the Richmond show earlier in the year. Satan was being backlined on this tour by the venue and/or the opening acts. Seemed that there were a few compatibility issues with guitar heads to the effects that Ramsey/Tippins used but those quickly got fixed with the arrival of a couple of Marshall amps.

Austin based Firestarter ’82 opened the show and I stuck around for their set as their bassist is a good pal of mine. She did a fine job as always. Local thrashers, Aggravator, played next but we missed them as we were having a couple of drinks next door.

We get back right before Satan hits the stage and as expected, they delivered an awesome set to about 40-45 people. The crowd size was quite unfortunate, especially for a city that often touts itself as the metal capital of the USA. Things change I guess. And it was a Tuesday night…but still. How often are you going to get the chance to see Satan? Satan played flawlessly as expected. They were great when we saw them in Richmond this year and I expected no less this time. They did not disappoint. It really can’t be stated enough how great of a guitar duo Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsey are. Ross’ vocals are stellar, especially for a 61 yr old man who can still belt out the falsetto with no problem. Sean and Graeme held the bottom down as Satan rolled through a mostly similar set to earlier this year with only a few changes. They were awesome and have become one of my favorite live bands. Brian’s not a big talker between songs beyond introducing the next song and I’m fine with that.

It was also great seeing some old pals that I hadn’t seen in a while, namely Rob Doom, Jaime, Mando and of course Rodney who was the show promoter. A new friend, Henri, came in from Holland just to see these shows with Satan and Militia. Pretty cool!

Kelz and I left promptly after the show for the 75 minute drive back to Austin. Of course it was full of conversation about the show and old times.

: Graeme English

: Brian Ross

: Steve Ramsey

: Russ Tippins

: Sean Taylor

: Steve and Russ putting on a clinic

: Firestarter ’82

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Day 3 of this Mitchfest didn’t consist of much other than foraging around town for food and resting. This night’s show consisted of Satan, local speed/thrash metal legends Militia and my band, Eternal Champion, opening up. What a perfect bill of classic styled metal! We had to be at the venue by 730 to load in and we were backlining all bands that night. We did a quick rehearsal and then headed over to Beerland to load in. We got everything set up and then grabbed a quick slice of pizza and a beer across the street to wash it down. There was a good crowd rolling in after the doors opened at 9. Lots of friends who work for one of my company’s clients came. It was awesome seeing a bunch of non-metalhead friends show some support like that.

We hit the stage a little after 10PM and breezed steadily through our set. Minus my bass being out of tune for the first verse of the first song (wtf?), the set seemed tight and was extremely fun. The crowd was right up front with us and it was a blast.

Up next came one of my favorite bands, Militia, who have been here since the mid-80s and reemerged about 5 years ago. Original drummer Phil Achee came to town from Alabama to play this show and it was great seeing/hearing him on the skins again. It just felt right. Mike Soliz’ vocals were on point and I’m still amazed every time I see and hear him on stage. He’s a beast of a singer and one awesome guy. I think they gained a lot of new fans that night.

And then Satan. The crowd had thinned out a little but not that much and Satan rolled through the same set as the night before. I enjoyed seeing and hearing Graeme playing through my bass rig. He made it sound a lot better. haha. After finishing their main set and destroying everyone who was left for their set, the house lights came on and the music from the soundboard started playing. The band was a little disappointed that they didn’t get to play their encore. So was I. But it was a great show. I’ve not had that much fun playing a show in ages and getting to do that with 2 of my favorite bands made it even more special.

: the backline

: Eternal Champion

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Day 4. We’re tired. Lack of sleep, not eating properly etc was catching up to my old ass. haha. We went out and got some tacos and bounced around to a few places before getting the nod from Satan’s tour manager that they were ready to eat. I had offered to take them to my favorite BBQ joint in town and we chowed down. Two of them are vegetarians so their options were limited but they seemed satisfied. The others loved the ribs, sausage and pork tenderloin. I think they were happy to just get something that wasn’t pizza or from a fast food restaurant. I have to admit that it was a bit surreal having a meal with those guys. Yeah, they’re just people, I know that. But they’re also people that I’ve been listening to since the early 80s. It was fun.

This night’s show featured a totally different lineup consisting of Sweat Lodge, Ditch Witch and Natur, all bands that I’m not into in the least. Not at all. 0%. Although I think Natur could be a little more workable to me if their riffs went somewhere. These bands also draw the “we dress like we’re 1975 hippies”. I’m pretty sure most of them were born in the mid to late 80s. Not my thing but whatever.

I stayed outside for the two openers and watched about half of Natur’s set. I was strictly there for Satan. As they were setting up, Kelz and I staked our spots right up front. I wondered how many people there would be familiar with them but it seemed like a decent amount of people were. A pit lasted throughout most of the set and Kelz and I were flung to the stage a few times each, but I didn’t mind. It wasn’t a violent pit at all and reminded me of the 80s a bit. Satan played through their set and were great again. Two nights in a row they didn’t get to do their encore. They also didn’t do their instrument as there was no where for Brian to stand during that song. He had trouble getting to to the stage during the opening song as the crowd was packed up there. Again, Satan destroyed another show. After finally getting kicked out after closing, we were exhausted. Completely. Totally worth it.

This show marked the last night of MitchFest. It was great seeing Kelz come to my city and hang out. We had a blast and always look forward to the next gathering of Mitches.