Posts Tagged ‘emos’
Hello Killdozer, goodbye Emos
Simple review. Killdozer was how I remembered them. Not great, but not shitty. Last time was 1994 in Newport News, VA.
The main story tonight was the closing of the downtown location of Emo’s. Not my favorite venue but I saw some good shows over the years…valkyrie, Pentagram, hammerfall, Celtic frost/tryptikon, buzzov*en, and lots more. It’s really the beginning of the end of our beloved Red River District.
Triptykon – Austin, TX 10-29-10
My history with Celtic Frost goes back to about 1986 as noted here. I am a fan. While Monotheist is probably my least favorite album, it’s not bad. A year or so ago Tom G. announced that Celtic Frost was done and he had a new project called Triptykon…which uses the Frost script in one their logos. Tom seems to have some deep seeded issues with carrying on as Frost.
No matter.
Triptykon was announced to play Emo’s and I was in. I mean c’mon. It’s Tom G! I bought the meet and greet pass mainly to get his signature in the book.
Per my normal routine I walk to the venue early and happen to catch Tom G. walking the streets. I talked to him for just a few moments and headed over to the venue. The pre-sale on this show was 60. SIXTY! I was able to get in early via a friend who worked there and got to catch the soundcheck. They did Usurper and for whatever reason, Tom was smiling and laughing the whole time. This was the last show on the tour as they canceled the Houston show. It is my understanding that the tour attendance had been pretty light. Last night’s show had Triptykon playing before the headliner. The tour included Yakuza (Chicago) and 1349 (Norway) on the bill. Local band Mammoth Grinder opened but I missed them.
At the end of soundcheck Tom G was asked if he needed more monitor. Tom G responded with, “I can hear myself enough. Doesn’t matter, we’re just playing Austin.” Ouch! C’mon Tom G! Show a little love!
Tom G signs the book.
After soundcheck I hung outside talking with a few friends before the quick meet and greet. Only 7 people (including me) bought the pass for it. Two guys drove up from Monterrey, Mexico for this. That was cool. They brought each member of the band some gifts from Mexico which mainly consisted of tequila. Very cool. I had Tom G sign the book which got the usual reaction from bands…”What the hell is this?” He read through the Celtic Frost section and signed it. We all snapped a few pictures and that was it.
I left there to drop the book off back at the house and went to a bar for a beer. I missed Mammoth Grinder and caught most of Yakuza’s set. Not my cup of tea at all. Sort of avant-garde metal with lots of saxophone. Their slower mellower stuff was alright as background music but they aren’t something that I would want to listen to regularly.
Triptykon cam on next and I was glad to see the place fill up a little. There may have been 150 people there but I think that’s pushing it. They opened up with Frost’s Procreation of the Wicked. This band is tuned
Eyes as black as his soul! Tom G!
down a bit and it’s weird hearing this song in a lower key. Overall they were good, solid. Tom G is no guitar wizard by any stretch of the imagination, but he does write good riffs. The Triptykon stuff sounds like where the music from Monotheist left off. Slow, plodding, dark. I enjoyed the show quite a bit, though. How many more times are we going to see Tom G in the states, ya know? They also plays Circle of the Tyrants and Usurper with the singer for 1349 handling vocal duties.
I was tired and didn’t stick around for 1349. I’m really not that big of a black metal fan. I saw what I wanted to see.
Setlist:
- Crucifixus (Intro)
- Procreation of the Wicked
- Goetia
- Circle of the Tyrants
- Abyss Within My Soul
- The Usurper
- Synagoga Satanae
- The Prolonging
- Winter (I think they did this)
Ugh!
(all images clickable)
Love the H. R. Giger guitar!
My shitty vids from the show. The lighting was terrible.
Concrete Blonde – Concert Review – 061910
CONCRETE BLONDE
LIVE AT EMO’S, AUSTIN, TEXAS
JUNE 19, 2010
So let’s go back to 1990/91. I was working part time at an independent record store in Norfolk, VA called The Music Man. Pretty legendary place for a store that was in a mall. Between them, Skinnie’s Records and Unicorn Records, there were none better in the area as far as indie stores went. Skinnie’s is the only one to still be alive. Awesome!
At The Music Man there was a girl named Teresa that worked there. Tall, dark hair, black leather jacket, seemingly pissed off at the world and would likely kick your ass. We weren’t friends by any means but were amicable. Concrete Blonde’s Bloodletting had come out and any night that we were working together, she spun it in the store. I neither liked nor disliked it, but I became very familiar with it. She was a Concrete Blonde fanatic. So for the year or so that I worked there, the album was force-fed to me.
A month or 2 ago it was announced that they were going to tour for the 20th anniversary of Bloodletting and were coming to Austin on the tour. I figured what the hell, never seen them, liked some of the stuff I remembered by them, so why not go? As I am apt to do, I bought 2 tickets. I mentioned the show to my stunningly gorgeous friend, Christine, and she accepted. This is the same Christine that went to Iron Maiden with us last weekend.
So I pick her up, we go eat some awesome sushi at Mushashino, grab a margarita at my favorite bar in Austin which shall remain unnamed) and head downtown. Jason McMaster’s Killa Maul was playing early at Red Eyed Fly and we wanted to catch some of their set. Killa Maul is Jason’s Metallica tribute band which plays only the Kill ’em All album. It’s a fun show to watch, mainly because you can see him having so much fun with it. We only caught 2 or 3 songs and had to head to Emo’s for the Concrete Blonde show. They were playing the outside stage and it was hot and muggy and slightly uncomfortable with such a large crowd. It seemed that no matter where we stood, some dude wanted to take his shirt off right in front of us. We ran into my friends Sean and Jen and found a decent spot to catch the show.
An announcement came on before the band took the stage dictating that there is to be no filming of the show and no flash photography. So, sorry…I have no photos or video to share.
The band took the stage which was purposely poorly lit on Johnette’s side. They opened with Bloodletting (Vampire Song). Her voice sounded good and really got better as the night progressed. Next song was their hit “Joey”. They botched the intro and I noticed on a vid or 2 on YouTube that they had done this a time or 2 already on the tour. Hey…it happens. We’re musicians, we’re not always perfect! ha
Overall they sounded really good. I was quite impressed with their guitar player. He had a cool style, switching between using a pick and just fingers and sometimes a combo of the 2. Drummer was solid. Towards the end of the set, Johnette really belted out some lyrics.
Overall it was a good show and my friend seemed to enjoy it as well. The one thing I could have done without was the cover of Little Wing. I’m not a Hendrix fan in the least. That being said, not too many people can do his stuff justice. Their version wasn’t bad, but, well…ugh. Hendrix. ’nuff said. I would have rather heard their version of Thin Lizzy’s It’s Only Money. That would have been bad ass. But alas, no. I knew the Hendrix cover was in the set thanks to the interwebz, so it was expected.
Instead of doing encores, they just played through to the end of their set. Four of the last 5 songs were done with no bass. Just vocals, acoustic guitar and drums. Sounded pretty cool. They closed with Still In Hollywood.
As expected, this was a mostly “older” crowd and it’s obvious that some of these people don’t get out much these days. It was great people watching for sure. I was a little surprised to not see much of the goth crowd there.
In the end, nice job to Concrete Blonde. We had a great time and they sounded really good.
This setlist may be a little jumbled up. I’ll fix it later if I can find the correct order.
1. Bloodletting
2. Joey
3. I Don’t Need a Hero
4. Days and Days
5. Lullabye
6. Scene of the Perfect Crime
7. Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man
8. Someday
9. Everybody Knows (Leonard Cohen cover)
10. Caroline
11. When I Was a Fool
12. God Is a Bullet
13. Run Run Run
14. Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix cover)
15. Heal It Up
16. Your Haunted Head
17. Mexican Moon
18. Happy Birthday
19. True
20. Tomorrow, Wendy
21. Still in Hollywood
Pentagram – Concert Review 052610
PENTAGRAM – BLACK TUSK – RWAKE – MALA SUERTE – STRIDER
So let’s back up to July of 2009. Looking at my review I don’t remember liking the show as much as I wrote about. No matter. This is May 2010 and a different day.
As some of my faithful readers may know I recently moved in downtown Austin to be closer to all of my favorite music venues to make things a bit more accessible. Mission accomplished. Last month I was able to hang out with some of the guys from Hammerfall and do dinner with them. More or less this happened because I live 3 blocks from this particular venue.
Last night my luck struck again. I left my apartment to hit a local burger joint to meet up with Amelia and have a burger and some beers before we both went our separate ways to see different shows. As I am crossing the street I see this group of longhairs and noticeably I see Bobby Liebling and Victor Griffin from Pentagram. I also recognized the drummer Gary from the previous Pentagram show and from a show where he drummed for Valkyrie a few years back.
Basically the first words out of my mouth when we were face to face, and I am sure I stuttered, were, “holy crap…you’re Pentagram!” I meet tons of bands, some big some small…but this is Pentagram. The band that
Greg, Bobby, happy fat dude, Victor, Gary...PENTAGRAM!
did Day Of Reckoning! To me one of the greatest doom albums of all time. So, as I am totally trying not to be a fanboy, I ask for a picture with the band. One of their old friends lives here in Austin and he snapped a few shots with my camera and then some with his. As we’re doing pictures and standing in the street, I asked if they were going to hear Burning Savior from Day of Reckoning. Victor said no. Then I asked about Living in a Ram’s Head and Bobby quickly said, “We’ll never fucking play that song again. I never really liked it!” Damn! Then he says to me, “Didn’t Burning Savior scare you?” I replied with, “It probably scared my mom back in the 80s but never phased me.” “Right on,” he replied. So I ask them where they were heading and they pointed to the restaurant that was right behind us. I told them that they would be making an intestinal mistake if they ate there and they asked for my recommendation. I took them to Chupa Cabra, the same place I took Hammerfall. They loved it. Conversations were pretty funny at the table. Everyone in the band kept giving the new bassist a hard time. As we were walking to dinner, Victor and I talked about the upcoming Place of Skulls album. September! He asked if I liked it and I said, “If you’re on it, I’m a fan.” Which is true.
Bobby was great to be around and he seemed clean of drugs. Sure, he’s a bit burned out but he was pretty funny and had some really cool stories to share. He seemed like a “sweet old man”, and I say that with the highest respect and regard for what this man has meant for metal. It was a pleasure to spend that kind of time with the band, especially with him and Victor. I mentioned to them that I had a book that I would like both he and Victor to sign. I mentioned that I had a spare copy for sale and Bobby asked if I’d trade a t-shirt for it. In the grand scheme I lost a little money in the deal but how often does anyone get to give a legend a cool gift and have said legend give you a cool shirt and a poster in return? After the transaction, they went back to their hotel to rest.
Gary Rosas and Mala Suerte
There were 4 other bands on the bill and I wanted to catch a few of them. Since I obviously dissed Amelia to hang out with Pentagram I met her up the street for a beer with our friend Natalia. I caught the last 3 songs of Strider (Austin, TX) and liked what little bit that I heard. After their set we all just hung outside on the Emo’s patio and jibber jabbered. Lots of familiar faces, of course. Mala Suerte was up next and this was the first time I had seem them with their new guitarist. Seamless transition. They were good, they always are. Consistently. Their singer is one of the first people I met when I moved here and one of my favorite people in this town. Great dude. He was wearing an awesome original DIO Last In Line shirt as well. They finished their set and it was back to the patio.
Next up was Rwake (Arkansas). They’ve played here several times in the last few years and I always miss them. I caught a few of their songs last night and will likely never see them again. Just not my thing. More patio!
Black Tusk
Black Tusk hit the stage and are a very energetic 3pc stoner rock band. Their drummer was fantastic. Seriously. Fantastic. The band was fun to watch. Don’t know that I’d buy their album but I’ll surely go see them live again when given the chance.
The crowd had increased and tonight’s show was on the inside stage as opposed to the outside stage from last year’s show. I staked my claim at the front of the stage as Pentagram was setting up so I could at least get a few decent photos. Pentagram his the stage and opened up with the song Day of Reckoning. They sounded great. The band was tight, the sound was good and most importantly Bobby’s voice sounded much better. I had a huge smile on my face for the whole show. They were great. I was totally elated.
I am one of the luckiest people I know sometimes.
The setlist was as follows:
- Day of Reckoning
- Forever My Queen
- Ask No More
- Run My Course
- Frustration
- You’re Lost, I’m Free
- Review Your Choices
- Petrified
- Relentless
- All Your Sins
- 20 Buck Spin
- Pentagram (Sign of the Wolf)
- When the Screams Come
Setlist...love how they coded it.
Bobby Liebling
Victor Griffin
Pentagram
Greg, Bobby, happy fat dude, Victory, Gary...PENTAGRAM!
Arsis, Misery Index, Dying Fetus, Cannibal Corpse and Bang Tango(?) Concert Review 051110
So last night I went to a big death metal show that had bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Misery Index, Skeleton Witch, Dying Fetus and one of my faves, Arsis! As stated here too many times now, I am a huge Arsis fan and you can read about that stuff here. I got to the show early hoping to see the Arsis guys hanging out on the street but no dice. I know the door guy at the show and he let me in before everyone else to see if they were hanging out. I poked around the venue and again, no dice. No biggie. I was talking to the dudes from Misery Index when Corpsegrinder from Cannibal Corpse comes up and says, “Are you part of the Cannibal Corpse meet and greet?” “No way, man” I responded. He looked a little disgruntled and walked away. I didn’t realize who he was until about a minute after that exchange. haha. Whatever. I am not a CC fan in the least. Saw them about 10 years ago in Richmond, VA and they were the most boring band I had ever seen.
After leaving shortly thereafter to get a decent beer up the street I returned back to the club and starting seeing some good friends and hung out with them for a while. This venue has an indoor and outdoor section and they bands were alternating time slots with some overlap. We hung out in the other outdoor area during most of the other opening bands as they, to me, were all pretty forgettable. I really was only there to see Arsis, and to a lesser degree Dying Fetus and Skeleton Witch. I’d seen Dying Fetus 2 other times and I like their technical proficiency but I’d never buy their albums. Skeleton Witch I’d love to see but they were playing at about the same time Arsis was.
So I’m standing there watching Misery Index and James “Jim” Malone from Arsis comes in. I had seen him in about 5
Misery Index
years and tapped him on his shoulder. It took him a second then he realized that he knew me. We chatted for a minute during Misery Index but he needed to go get some of his gear as they were going on pretty soon.
The crowd thinned out pretty quickly after Misery Index and many of them went to the other side to see Skeleton Witch. I hung out and staked my claim near the stage. Arsis hit the stage after some prerecorded scene from a movie or something. They opened with Return and went straight into Forced To Rock from the new album. Unfortunately their bass player had just quit a few nights before and they were waiting on one of their previous ones to arrive to finish the tour. Pity. I was a little disappointed that Mike Van Dyne wasn’t doing the tour either. He did the drums on the older albums and the newest one and he’s awesome. A great guy too. The guy they were using for touring was pretty fucking good, so playing-wise it was pretty seamless.
Arsis ripped through their set and Jim did a good job of getting the crowd involved. There were a few hundred people
Arsis
in there to see them, which was cool. I think they gained some new fans, for sure.
After they finished their set, Malone loaded his gear back on the bus and found me in the outside area talking to some friends. That’s when the drinking began. haha. Laura started buying vodka/redbulls and that’s what we stuck with the the rest of night. I introduced Jim to some of my friends and everyone was very complimentary about the band’s performance. Someone mentioned that Bang Tango was playing the venue next door and Jim lit up and said, “Dude, we have to go to that. I love that band!” I told him we could go and I’d likely be able to get us in. I did. Ran into a few friends at that show and then Bang Tango started.
I’m not a fan and couldn’t name one song they ever did. The band was very tight and his vocals were alright. I had
Jim Malone (Arsis) enjoying some Bang Tango.
nothing to compare them to as far as how he sounded 20 years ago. I did like one of his other projects, Beautiful Creatures. The debut CD by them was listenable. We pretty much stayed for their whole set. It made me giggle a bit to see the sweaty death metal dude singing along to Bang Tango!
Personally, I wasn’t really enjoying the band, but I was having fun hanging out with an old friend. Definitely made everything alright for the night.
After a few more drinks and the end of Bang Tango’s set, we went back to Emo’s to hang out. Cannibal Corpse was on stage and they were just as boring as I could remember them being. They had a huge crowd there, which is great. Austin is getting a lot of metal shows these days. We hung out until the end of their set and I had to get home, I had been up since 545AM that day and it was already 1AM.
I never saw any of Dying Fetus’ set, but I could hear them. Meh. No biggie.
We said our goodbyes and that was that. I was very happy to see the band finally play Austin and even happier to get to hang out with Malone after such a long time. Cool dude. Great musician…very underrated as a guitarist in my opinion. I remember their early days seeing shows and telling them that I thought they would get signed to a major label. After their deal with Willowtip passed, I was very excited when they got signed to Nuclear Blast. Well-deserved. Those dudes worked hard to perfect their craft.
Arsis setlist:
- Return/Forced To Rock
- March For The Sick
- Diamond For Disease
- Escape Artist
- We Are The Nightmare
- Sightless Wisdom
- The Sadistic Motives Behind Bereavement Letters
- The Promise Of Never
- The Face Of My Innocence
Bang Tango
"Reunited and it feels so good."
The Metal Files 
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