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$8 Made Them Holler: Cannabis Corpse, Stormcrow, Voetsek, Wasteoid, Sorrower @ Thee Parkside, 2/28/10 »

Petaluma School of Music: Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, Ashtray, & Cormorant @ The Phoenix Theater, Petaluma, 2/27/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 6 days ago.]

I parked my car in front of a grocery store down the street from the venue. As I walked by, I saw a bunch of young high school kids skateboarding in the parking lot, and some about to get into a fight. Ah, the disillusioned youth of small town America. It reminded me of the tiny town where I went to high school; but where my town had Luckenbach bringing country stars to the area, this place has the legendary Phoenix Theater. Bradley Nowell, lead singer for Sublime, OD’ed after playing a show here. Local legends like Metallica, Green Day, and AFI have played it as well. It was almost poetic for me to finally see Jello Biafra perform in such a venue.

As I waited in line at will call, two very young girls in front of me can’t even stand still they are so excited. They turn around and ask me, “What happens if you don’t have a ticket? Like, we just have money?!” I feel bad because I laughed. But I let them know that you could probably buy a ticket at the will call counter.

I walked in and was immediately sent into shock by the uniqueness of this place. I ran into Arthur- lead singer/bassist for Cormorant- right away, who let me know that they’d be on in about 10 minutes. That’s good timing on my part! I walked past the graffiti covered walls and sporadically placed couches and chairs to the main part of the floor. There’s a half pipe on the walls perpendicular to the stage! And it’s not a design technique- Arthur tells me that kids were actually skating on it just before I got there. And people sit at the top during the shows. I’d never seen that before!

I was very interested to see how the crowd would react to Cormorant‘s set, considering the other two bands are punk. I mean, Cormorant isn’t just metal, it’s death metal. As they began, the first growl that escaped from Arthur was almost hesitant, and it felt jarring filling the cavernous space of the venue. But after that, the crowd drew closer, the sound settled into the space, and the Phoenix was rattled by the complex, esoteric brand of metal that Cormorant served up. Arthur took a moment to address the crowd regarding their fit with the otherwise punk bill- pointing out that Jello is into metal, citing his involvement with Ludicra, Neurosis, and The Melvins. Arthur is kind of like a wikipedia for metal – read my interview with him here. Their set showcased their variety- from harder hitting death metal, to folk metal, to instrumental prog metal. I was standing in front of guitarist Matt Solis, so I was totally geeking out on his work. I tried to film my favorite song of theirs – Trojan Horses- but the mosh pit started at that exact moment and my Flip camera failed me at the end…but you can get a taste for them:

Afterwards, I was chatting with Arthur and he told me about their plans to release some of their ‘jam sessions’ routinely through the website they are working on, and they plan to have their next album out by the end of the year. They also have a couple of shows coming up at Thee Parkside and The Vine in Santa Rosa.

The lighting in this place is really weird, thus, low-fi iPhone pics are even more lo-fi…

It was really, really jarring to go from history and philosophy filled lyrics to Ashtray. The set began with the statement “This is a song about drinking Robitussin for fun!”…which went into one about running out of beer or something. Vocal duties are shared by a male and a female- who’s Betty Boop singing voice was something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced live before. But after a few songs I eased into it. Then they got me with their song, ‘Back in the Day’. “This is a song about all of those people who try to tell you things were better back in the day”…to which someone in the audience yelled, “they were!!!”. But, in all seriousness, I so share the feeling that went into writing this song. I feel like every single fucking day I get an email or someone tells me about how things were soooo much better back when such and such happened, or how they saw so and so before they were famous, and how today is just lame. Well you know what? Good for you, but please stop showing off. I know I missed out on a lot, but I’m trying to make up for it now. Between songs, the female singer told everyone to come forward and fill in the space in front of the stage, to which the guy goes, ‘aww, don’t do that, I hate when bands do that!’, and she goes, ‘thanks for belittling me on stage’, and he goes, ‘wow, we really are a married couple, aren’t we’. HAHAHA! Classic. The rest of the set I spent watching the ridiculous hardcore dancers…damn, you Flip camera! Why did you have to quit on me? Well, I guess this video kinda shows you what I was dying laughing at:

Their Operation Ivy cover really got the crowd going. At one point, this really, really drunk guy flopped on the floor and used his feet to spin himself around, in a failed breakdance move. I was beginning to think someone had slipped acid to me, or them. Hmmm….

I could just feel the unruliness level surge in the room as Jello’s band walked out on stage, so I moved out of the way and to the corner, behind the stairs to the stage. Yes- stairs- right there. There should be a sign- ‘use these to jump onstage and crowd surf’. I saw this older woman walk up to the stage, and I did a double take as she had what looked like blood on her face and hands and was holding a red cup. I was like, ‘WTF?’ and then security got her and took her backstage. And then out runs Jello in a doctor’s coat covered in ‘blood’ with blood on his hands.

While this would be my first time seeing Jello do a full set, I’ve seen him as a special guest with Tool and Fucked Up. But I’ve stood in a crowd with him countless times over the years- at Mayhem last year he practically stood on top of me with two drinks in his hands. Last I saw him, I was walking backstage at Motorhead behind him and his lady. We were both wearing cowboy boots. Mine > his.

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine is about 70% music, 30% political rally. Jello is the protest leader, educating us on all things fucked up with the government, calling out all of the enemies, and at the same time schooling many vocalists half his age with his energy. He’s all over the place, the poor mic tech scrambling the whole time to keep up with him. He’s crowd surfing during ‘California Uber Alles’ and ‘Holiday in Cambodia’, he’s baptizing the crowd with water, he’s screaming introductions to every song- ‘this is from the Seattle protests’, ‘this is for Gavin Newsom’, ‘this is about Barack Star and his new feudalism’.

The crowd was going mad. I was standing behind this young punk couple; the girl was standing on the stairs and the guy was sitting on the stage. There are no rules here. Intermittently throughout the set, he would run off into the mosh pit and then come back. Once he stood up and ran onto the main part of the stage and dove off. Then she did the same. Each time they would come back and kiss and hug. Seriously.

The band sounded great- they come from a smattering of other bands (I believe the bassist is from Hammers of Misfortune). But the focus is obviously on Jello, who is just one of most physical performers I’ve ever seen. He’s making all of these hand gestures, mimicking things that have to do with the songs, like typing during ‘Electronic Plantation’. I was drawing a lot of similarities between him and Iggy Pop, whose ‘The Idiot’ I’ve been listening to a lot lately.

There were two encores, each getting more and more chaotic.

You can catch Jello and the GSM at Bottom of the Hill on Wednesday, and then on the East Coast towards the end of March.

It was a truly unique evening. I think I’ll keep my eye on the calendar for this venue, as it was well worth the road trip.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3550Comments (1)2010-03-01+00%3A18%3A36hardrockchick

The Men in Black: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ Harlow’s, Sacramento, 2/26/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 7 days ago.]

On what would have been Johnny Cash’s 78th birthday, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club kicked off their tour in Sacramento, sharing new songs from their upcoming album Beat the Devil’s Tattoo for the first time.

Last time I saw BRMC was their two night acoustic/electric stint at Great American Music Hall. It was a magical couple of nights, and I’d been anxiously awaiting this new album and tour for a year and a half.

The weather was supposed to be really bad for my drive to Sacramento, but it miraculously cleared up in time for me to make the 1.5 hour trek. I picked up my sidekick for the evening, Floraisadora, who I know through our shared NIN fandom. We arrived at Harlow’s, which was not at all what I would expect for a venue for this band. It’s kind of a swanky bar with a tier of booths in the back. But the stage is small and curved, and there’s a perfect spot on the right side that we gladly claimed.

The crowd slowly grew as we waited for the opener, but in chatting with people around us it seemed like a lot of them don’t really know the band. The place might have held 300 people by the time The Whigs hit the stage.

I didn’t have a chance to listen to The Whigs beforehand, and their opening statement that they are from Athens, GA concerned me. I have historically not liked bands out of the Athens scene- they tend to be a bit too indie rock for my tastes. However, The Whigs’ sound is psychedelic tinged enough to capture my interest for their set. Lead singer, Parker Gispert, wears his guitar very high up on his body. We nicknamed the bassist, Tim Deaux, ‘Hot Jesus’. I thought they were a good warm up for BRMC- but part of my attention was focused on Peter Hayes standing off to the side, tweaking the guitars and the setlist up until the very last minute.

I was excited to find out that this would be Floraisadora’s first BRMC show- it’s great to know when someone truly loves a band, and is seeing them for the first time and I KNOW they aren’t going to disappoint her.

BRMC’s music fills a void for me that no other band is really able to touch. It’s true rock ‘n roll that’s dark, sexy, romantic, and psychedelic. It possesses haunting gospel qualities which always takes me back to my Southern roots. The band has a certain mystique and they do their own thing, which has included releasing albums that have alienated some of their core fanbase (Howl, The Effects of 333). There’s been some skepticism regarding the new album and what direction it would take, and I had avoided listening to it so that I could hear the new tracks live for the first time. I love being able to do that, and I’m so glad I was able to do so with this band.

This is probably going to sound weird (well, maybe not, coming from me), but the number 333 has been appearing all over the place for me. Like when you look at the clock, and it’s 3:33. I know other people have this, too- in my teens my number was 23, then it became 666, and now it seems to have changed. I thought it was symbolic considering the last album title and took it as meaning I was going to have a really good show.

We spied the setlist and couldn’t resist analyzing it. Several scratched out songs confirmed my suspicion that Hayes was altering the setlist until the last minute. We could also see that it was very heavy on the new songs, and, as Floraisadora pointed out, contained ‘Red Eyes and Tears’, which she knew was my most listened to BRMC song thanks to Last.fm.

The stage dimmed and became veiled in fog. As soon as the band positioned themselves on stage, they started with the new track, ‘War Machine’. It was so loud I thought perhaps my earplugs weren’t in properly, but they were. Immediately I was reminded of how great this band is to watch; Robert and Peter are both such emotional performers, and the way that they trade off on every aspect of the music makes for a lot of variety. And I would be remiss not to mention Leah, the new-ish drummer, who is an intense, focused performer. I feel bad dismissing her from this piece’s title…but….you know.

I love watching Hayes play the guitar. He truly treats it like his partner, and as I stated in my review before, he almost dances with it. This time I was able to see how he works all of the pedals and switches, which I find immensely interesting even though I don’t understand it. Floraisadora and I watched the Ground Control panel of switches, which had a screen of text as he would switch things up, indicating what song was coming.

The first three songs were new- and they sounded really good- but I was ready for it when they played ‘White Palms’. Then, I had forgotten how good ‘Shade of Blue’ is. ‘The Line’ is so beautiful- Robert is such a great singer to watch. You can just see the vocals emerging from him, and it reminds me that the voice truly is an instrument.

‘Aya’ was the first new song that I truly fell in love with. Slow and piercing, it is distinctly BRMC.

Then I remembered that I brought my Flip camera. The first song I recorded was the foot stomper, ‘Ain’t No Easy Way’.

Robert talked a little bit to the crowd, thanking people for coming out and saying that it’s been a long time. He also mentioned that this was the first time they were playing the new songs in front of strangers, reminding me exactly why I made the trek out there. It was a special night for us all.

At one point, Hayes lit a cigarette and crouched down to take a few drags before resuming playing. Yes, it’s a classic rock star move, and I love it.

At this point, Floraisadora turned to me and said, ‘we still have 9 more songs!’

Robert asked us what we’d like to hear. My choice was ‘Rifles’, but we got ‘Sympathetic Noose’. During these quieter songs, the chatting crowd was ridiculously loud. Next was ‘The Toll’, which I recorded again (quieter songs are easier on the camera).

And then I was able to capture a new song, ‘River Styx’:

It would be ‘Evol’ that instantly became my favorite new track, more for the lyrics than anything. “I wanna feel love again” pretty much sums up my life right now. It gave me goosebumps.

I knew ‘Red Eyes and Tears’ was coming, and I tensed up in anticipation. This song is so amazing live, particularly the rendition they did this evening. I really wish I had recorded it, but I can never do that with the songs I love. They did something to the ending that just took it to another level.

No more fear, no more fear I’m in love
Losing sensation for you my love I fear
Losing sensation for you my love I fear
No more fear, no more fear I’m in love

The set was almost 2.5 hours, and it still left me wanting more. We patiently waited to ask for setlists at the end, and Floraisadora graciously assisted me in getting a crew member to give me the one we’d been staring at, only to have someone take the other one we were trying to get for her. Then someone else handed us guitar picks. We were standing there looking at Floraisadora’s camera (she took 1000 pics- I’ll post some here soon), when Hayes’ guitar tech came over to me and asked if I’d like to have Peter sign my setlist. I was like…ummm…yessss, please! So he told us to wait there. I’m thinking that this is really funny, because obviously he saw me, mouth agape, the whole set in front of him, otherwise why would he have not said Robert? Mildly embarrassing. Anyway, we waited around but apparently he slipped by us and I was not going to go bug him outside while he was smoking a cigarette.

It was 2am by the time we left Harlow’s. After dropping Floraisadora at home, I sped back to San Francisco, arriving at my apartment at exactly 3:33 am.

I will be catching the record release show at Slim’s on March 9th, which just happens to be kind of a momentous day for me as well.

Visit Florisadora’s blog for amazing pictures of the evening.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3546Comments (5)2010-02-28+00%3A21%3A49hardrockchick

Noise Pop Film Fest: The Heart is a Drum Machine @ Viz Cinema, 2/25/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 8 days ago.]

When I had my serendipitous run-in with the filmmakers of Blood Into Wine, they mentioned that I should stay after that screening to check out their other film, The Heart is a Drum Machine. I’m really, really glad I did.

Obviously, I love music. But sometimes I don’t see the forest for the trees. I’m so focused on my next show, the logistics, the writing, the promotion…that I forget the underlying motivation for it all. It’s all about the music.

The film is beautifully bookended with the story of the Golden Record, which was put aboard the Voyager in 1977 to represent human culture. The rest of the film is a collection of interviews with musicians, sound engineers, actors, and scientists (why no bloggers?!) talking about music in general terms- why they make it, why they consume it, feelings, physical reactions…deep, meaningful stuff.

The subjects are as varied as could be (click for my show reviews): Wes Borland, Ivar Bjornson of Enslaved, George Clinton, Britt Daniel, Kimya Dawson, John Frusciante (who almost put me in tears just looking at his deteriorated physical state), Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Maynard James Keenan, Billy Morrison (perhaps the most hilarious story), Matt Sorum (with an unexpected supporting statement for the Backstreet Boys), Mickey Avalon, Juliette Lewis, Gene Hoglan, Charlie Clouser of NIN, Fairuza Balk (Sapphire!!!), Bob Ludwig (mastering engineer for pretty much everything important), and many more. The breadth of talent interviewed send it’s own message- while we all have different tastes, conflicting ideas, and alternate viewpoints- the underlying motivation ties us together: we all love music.

The scientific elements in the film appealed to my psychology background. I think we spend a lot of time thinking about how music affects our mind, but not as much on how it physically effects us (well, outside of moshpit injuries). I found these parts fascinating and much easier to digest that This is Your Brain on Music.

It also helped me to realize that- while I put ‘my’ musicians up on a pedestal, I really have more in common with them than I think I do. The same way a musician feels about having to get the music out of them when they play, I feel about writing about my music experiences.

The Heart is a Drum Machine really made me take a step back and think.

I dig music.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3542Comments (0)2010-02-27+00%3A53%3A55hardrockchick

Noise Pop Film Fest: Blood Into Wine @ Viz Cinema, 2/25/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 8 days ago.]

I’m a huge Maynard fan.

Unfortunately, while my fandom for Reznor, Cantrell, and Cornell have taken me all over the place for shows….Maynard has been as elusive to me, personally, as he has been to the media. I’ve had conflicts galore, family emergencies, all sorts of things prevent me from ever seeing him much. Result: 1 Tool show, 1 Puscifer show, and 1 Whole Foods bottle signing. Considering the things his voice does to me, those are low numbers for me.

I had been anticipating this documentary forever. Luckily I snatched up a ticket as soon as it was announced, because it did sell out.

The night before the screening, I went to see Echotone. In an odd case of serendipity, the filmmakers of Blood Into Wine happened to sit next to me at the screening. Of course, they tried to conceal that fact as they asked me what I’d heard about the film. Sneaky, sneaky.

Viz Cinema is a really cool new space. It seats about 150, and the walls are filled with long, bare fluorescent bulbs to give it a slight industrial vibe. The audience was peppered with Tool shirt-wearing movie goers.

Blood Into Wine is a film of many layers, just like any great film should be. First, it tells the story from inception to present of Maynard’s winery- Caduceus Cellars. Then, it speaks to the development of Arizona as a wine region, and the challenges associated with that. It is constructed around the yearly cycle of winemaking- so that you learn about the process in a way that they can’t teach you when you take one of those Napa tours. And lastly, it’s a music film that shows you Maynard’s life in a way that’s never been captured before.

One thing I thought about while watching the scenes where Maynard is working in the vineyard or showing the fermentation process is how much of himself is in the wine. He’s literally had his hands in what we are drinking out of those bottles, unlike other musicians who’ve slapped their names on the labels of consumables. So I’m thinking about the spiritual effects his voice has on me when the sound enters my ears, and then the intoxicating effects of tasting his wine….Maynard is truly a multi-sensory musician. As a fan, this is something truly unique in terms of the way that you can experience an artist’s creations. Considering the religious ties to wine, when a fan says ‘Maynard is God’ (which they tend to say a lot), it takes the statement to a different level.

Without giving too much away, I’ll share some of my highlights. The most immediate thing that comes to mind is Maynard talking about his mother, Judith, for whom he named one of his wine’s after. Second would be Eric Glomski- Maynard’s mentor and partner in winemaking- describing how working in winemaking has developed his sense of smell. I also like how the film interwove supporting characters into the story- many of whom are truly characters in their own right.

Another thing that caught my eye were the shirts people wore in the film- at one point Maynard wears a Free Frances Bean shirt, and a writer for Wine Spectator wears a polo with a pot leaf on it.

Puscifer music is all throughout the film, as well as some great live footage, which is impossible to come by on youtube. So I finally got to see the country night (I saw them on the religious night), which featured quite a few shots of Jeff Friedl drumming in drag.

Afterward, all I wanted to do was go open one of my bottles of Chupacabra, listen to a mixture of Tool, APC, and Puscifer, and plan a pilgrimage to Jerome, AZ that would make a great piece for HRC. Stay tuned for that.

Go see this film now.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3539Comments (2)2010-02-27+00%3A13%3A50hardrockchick

Noise Pop Film Fest: Echotone @ Roxie Theater, 2/24/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 8 days ago.]

Echotone means ‘tension in ecologies’, when there’s an overlap. Specifically to this film, it means the development of downtown Austin and it’s longstanding position as the Live Music Capital of the World.

I lived in Austin for 7 years- from the day after I graduated high school (I hated my small town that much) to a week after I got my Master’s degree from the University of Texas. From the moment I first went there in my early teens, to when I used to visit in my later teens…I always knew it would be the only place in Texas for me. The music, the local, forward thinking, ‘Keep Austin Weird‘ mentality, the embracing of the creative class…Hamilton Pool (pretty much my favorite place on Earth), Barton Springs, Alamo Drafthouse, BBQ, Tex-Mex, Rollerderby, Austin City Limits, SXSW….it’s a cool place.

I was excited to see this film, one that seemed like it would catch me up on what I’ve missed since I moved away 4 years ago. I’ve been back several times since leaving, and had noticed the huge high rise condos that had started taking over the downtown area. I thought that was weird, considering the economy, and the fact that it’s Texas and most people want space and a yard. But considering how sad the partially built Intel building was- which served as a reminder of the dot com bubble burst; the newly constructed skyline seemed much more promising. The film aimed to explore the new constructions’ relationship with the music scene.

The film highlights the work of Austin musicians such as Ghostland Observatory, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Sound Team- more specifically, Bill Baird and his new project Sunset, The Black Angels, and Belaire. With the exception of GLO, the artists are portrayed as struggling with success, trying to come to terms with commercializing their art, and, of course, being eccentric creatives. While it was good to not hear about the legacy acts that often symbolize Austin- like Willie Nelson- it would have been nice to cover a greater variety of Austin bands. Trail of Dead, Spoon, The Sword, White Denim, and Explosions in the Sky come to mind.

The parts of the film that dealt more with new constructions’ effects on the music industry really hit home- well, my new home that is. San Francisco has dealt with the same problem- noise ordinances make shows at Slim’s extremely quiet, and DNA Lounge has been affected as well. While the tall high rise buildings in Austin are a bit away from the live music, a particular battle on Red River- my favorite area of downtown- was highlighted. Apparently a new condo has moved in across from Club DeVille (which was my favorite bar when I lived there), and there is a live music ban after midnight in the area. My first thought was, damn, I’d like to live right there. But then my second thought was- what were these people thinking!? The people who built it, the city officials who allowed it, and the people who moved in?

While the film does a good job of capturing the mentality of the city, the spirit of the artists it chose to represent it, and the challenges that are facing the city in terms of supporting the artists and the live music industry- it struggles to weave this all together into a strong narrative. At times, I felt like the film didn’t know exactly what it wanted to be.

This could be, in part, due to the answer the director gave during the Q&A after, regarding what he hoped the film achieves. The director stated that he wanted the film to ask all the questions, but not necessarily give all the answers. The lead singer from Belaire was also in attendance, along with Bill Baird, who handed his brown paper-sacked bottle to a friend as he walked up to the front of the room. Someone asked him what he’s doing now and how he feels about it, and he said he was doing the same thing, and that, like Sound Team, he’s sure it will end at some point. “I build stuff up, and I tear it down”. It was a rather poetic answer concerning the film’s content.

Austin, are you ready for me to return in a few weeks for SXSW?!

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3535Comments (0)2010-02-26+23%3A12%3A34hardrockchick

Diary of a Madman: I am Ozzy Book Signing @ Book Passage, 2/21/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 13 days ago.]

Diary of a madman
Walk the line again today
Entries of confusion
Dear diary I’m here to stay

~Diary of a Madman

When I entered teen-dom in the mid nineties, Ozzy had a stellar solo career. It was only after singing along to ‘No More Tears’ and ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ for quite a while that I learned that he used to front this band called Black Sabbath.

In 1996, I went to see Mr. Ozzy Osbourne at Southpark Meadows in Austin with my friend Yoyo and two guys. We were WAY out of our minds, sitting on a hill at the back of the venue. Sepultura and Type O Negative opened. I remember literally rolling around on the ground laughing at the ‘old’ people getting carried out of the pit on stretchers and walking around all out of their minds….thinking back those old people were probably in their 30s.

The following year, I went to one of the first Ozzfests in San Antonio. Looking at the lineup: Black Sabbath, Pantera, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Machine Head, Powerman 5000, Coal Chamber, Slo Burn, Drain STH, downset, Neurosis, Vision of Disorder…whoa. I wish I could remember all of that better!

The point is, I always loved Ozzy. Even when The Osbournes came on MTV. I last saw him with Rob Zombie, and while it wasn’t the best experience and I called it ‘my last Ozzy show’, that still doesn’t change the big imprint he left on my teen years. So when I heard he would be signing his recently released autobiography, I am Ozzy, I said, I am there!

It was cold, rainy, and foggy- a perfect day to pay a visit to the Godfather of Heavy Metal. It was weird for such an occurrence to take place in the yuppy tourist trap that is the Ferry Building, but whatever. I arrived at 2:30p for the 3p signing- wet and with a broken umbrella. Just as I was about to enter the store to buy the book before getting in the monstrous autograph line, security cut me off. “We’re closing it down for him to enter”. OK…..so they place a rail in front of me (touché), and I wait next to the people in front of the autograph line, who had been there since 6am! And we wait, and wait. I’m getting soaked, thinking, ‘the things I do for the musicians I love!’ It’s 3pm now. A few pigeons fly near us and someone says, “let’s catch one and ask him to bite the head off!” Finally, at a quarter after, a black SUV enters the lot, and out pops Ozzy!

I walk in after that and wait in a separate line to buy my book. As I walk back out to stand in line, I hear a familiar voice shout my name. It was Alan- of course! He let me slip in line with him, and we were discussing a picture taking strategy, when suddenly we were there, and I think we all kind of froze. There were still a few people in front of me when I looked ahead at Ozzy, sitting there, expressionless, looking right back at me. Well, past me, I presume- probably gazing at the extremely long line and wondering why he agreed to do this. He wasn’t saying anything to anyone, he didn’t look bad or good, he didn’t seem happy or sad….it was….kind of odd.

We get up to the table and Alan gets a quick pic and I ask the guy behind me to take one and he just shakes his head at me. By the time I pick my jaw up off the ground at that, a lady is putting the book in my hand and shuttling me out of there. I didn’t even get to say thank you….

These signing things are always weird – a blur – but they are interesting little events that often yield funny stories….like my wine signing with Maynard last year. If you’re going to buy the item anyway, you might as well attend one of these.

I decided to walk all the way home in the rain, thinking.

I was looking back on my life
And all the things I’ve done to me
I’m still looking for the answers
I’m still searching for the key

The wreckage of my past keeps haunting me
It just won’t leave me alone
I still find it all a mystery
Could it be a dream?
The road to nowhere leads to me

Through all the happiness and sorrow
I guess I’d do it all again
Live for today and not tomorrow
It’s still the road that never ends

~Road to Nowhere

Well, I made one stop at Walgreens, where I made my first purchase of anti-wrinkle cream. I’m turning 30 in 2 weeks! Whoa.

By the time I got home, I had walked off my weird mood. I stood two feet from Ozzy today! Wow.

And thanks to Alan doing a little digging- there’s proof! My ass met Ozzy

~signed, HRC | Diary of a Madwoman

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3518Comments (6)2010-02-22+06%3A32%3A01hardrockchick

HardRockChick Interviews Chris Reifert of Abscess, Autopsy, and Death

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 13 days ago.]

It’s not every day that I’m given the opportunity to interview someone who is considered a founder of one of my core genres. Chris Reifert played drums on Death’s debut album, and has since gone on to form Autopsy and Abscess, among others (like the lovingly titled side project Eat My Fuk). I was supposed to chat with the Bay Area legend yesterday, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to- but he quickly answered my questions via email, in red, all caps letters. I don’t know how to turn the text red, but I left it all caps nonetheless as I imagined that he screamed all the answers. What lies below can basically be summed up by one sentence: it’s all about the music.

band photo

Abscess – Chris Reifert – second from left

HardRockChick: In reading some of your other interviews about the upcoming Abscess album, Dawn of Inhumanity, you talk about how it was crafted to be listened to start to finish, and that each song is like a piece of a puzzle. It almost sounds like a concept album. What was the inspiration and what are the interwoven themes you are trying to communicate?

Chris Reifert: WELL, IT’S NOT REALLY SO MUCH ABOUT LYRICAL THEMES AS MUCH AS A LISTENING EXPERIENCE FOR THE EARS AND MIND. IT’S ABOUT GETTING LOST IN A WORLD THAT DOESN’T EXIST IN THIS PLACE WHERE WE ARE USUALLY FORCED TO LIVE. DON’T WORRY ABOUT PICKING OUT A SONG OR TWO FOR YOUR IPOD, JUST DIVE IN DEEP AND COME WITH US FOR THE WHOLE SICK RIDE TO A STRANGE PLACE.

HRC: What is sickodelia, the term you coined to describe Abscess’ genre?

CR: I THINK THAT WAS ACTUALLY PEACEVILLE’S WORD. WE HAVE CALLED OUR STUFF PSYCHEDEATHIC BEFORE, BUT JUST IN PASSING. THERE’S SO MANY WEIRD TERMS AND CATEGORIES FOR MUSIC NOW, I JUST SAY LISTEN TO THE ALBUM AND SEE WHERE IT TAKES YOU. BOTTOM LINE IS WE PLAY SICK, HEAVY BRUTAL MUSIC.

HRC: What is your philosophy behind album art?

CR: WE LIKE TO HAVE ART THAT CAPTURES THE FEELING OF THE MUSIC AS BEST AS POSSIBLE. THAT’S SOMETHING THAT CAN’T BE DONE WITH PHOTO SHOP STUFF OR SOULLESS COMPUTER ART OR WHATEVER. WE’VE ALWAYS PREFERRED IT WHEN AN ARTIST TAKES THE TIME TO UTILIZE PAINT BRUSHES OR PENS AND DIG DEEP DOWN TO FIND THE IMAGES THAT COMPLIMENT OUR STRANGE SOUNDS.

HRC: What does it feel like to be referred to as a pioneer of the death metal genre? What are your thoughts on the progression of the genre as a whole, especially since it’s become more mainstream?

CR: METAL IS METAL AND THAT’S THAT. OFTEN I GET INVITED TO DISCUSS THE RELEVANCY OR PROGRESSION OF THIS MUSIC AND I JUST CAN’T DO IT. REALLY IT COMES DOWN TO BANDS YOU LIKE OR DON’T LIKE. SEEMS LIKE METAL WILL BE AROUND FOR A LONG LONG TIME AND THAT’S WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO ME. BESIDES I’D RATHER PLAY IT THAN TALK ABOUT IT. HAHA!

HRC: Your music, artwork, and shows are laced with material that tends to be deemed shocking and controversial. Is it harder to be shocking these days? What do you think draws people to music that is provoking in this way?

CR: YEAH, YOU CAN’T REALLY WORRY ABOUT OR ANTICIPATE SHOCKING PEOPLE ANY MORE. IN A WAY, IT’S ALL BEEN DONE BEFORE. AT THIS STAGE IT WOULD BE HARD TO GO FOR SHOCK VALUE WITHOUT BECOMING OVERLY RIDICULOUS OR OBVIOUS WITH YOUR INTENT. THAT SORT OF THING HAS TO HAPPEN NATURALLY IF AT ALL ANY MORE. AS FOR ABSCESS, WE JUST STAY TRUE TO OUR VISION OF WHAT THE BAND SHOULD BE. AS FOR THE DRAW OF ‘SHOCKING’ MUSIC, I WOULD GUESS THE SPIRIT OF REBELLION HAS A LOT TO DO WITH THAT, WHICH IS WHERE THE HEART OF METAL REALLY RESIDES. NOT SETTLING FOR WHAT SOCIETY DICTATES AS NORMAL OR GOOD OR ACCEPTABLE.

HRC: Are the sources of anger that fueled your music earlier in your career the same things that do now, or does it come from a different place? I’ve seen a lot of metal artists mellow out a bit as they get older, but it doesn’t seem like that has happened to you…

CR: IT’S NOT SO MUCH ABOUT CHANNELING ANGER AS IT IS RELEASING THE HORRORS OF THE HUMAN MIND, OUR INCLUDED. THERE’S ENOUGH HORROR IN THE AVERAGE PERSON’S MIND TO FUEL AN ETERNITY’S WORTH OF BRUTAL METAL ALBUMS OR HORROR FILMS OR BOOKS OR WHATEVER.

HRC: I’ve read about your legendary performances….what is the craziest thing you’ve ever done on stage, and what is the craziest thing you’ve ever seen done on stage?

CR: THERE’S BEEN SO MANY THINGS. HAHA! THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THE MUSIC THOUGH. WITHOUT THAT, THE SICKEST STAGE SHOW OR ANTICS ARE NOTHING. THERE’S BEEN TONS OF BANDS WHO TALK ALL ABOUT THEIR INSANE SHOWS AND UNLESS THERE’S GOOD SONGS TO BACK IT UP THEY QUICKLY FADE AWAY.

HRC: There’s a lot of anticipation for the Autopsy set at Maryland Deathfest this year. How do you feel about it? Are there any plans for shows for either Autopsy or Abscess this year, particularly in the Bay Area?

CR: WE’RE EXCITED OF COURSE. THE PRESSURE IS ON TO DELIVER A CRUSHING SET WHICH IS WHAT WE INTEND TO DO. AS FOR OTHER SHOWS, WE’LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS AFTER MDF. AS FOR BAY AREA SHOWS, I’VE LEARNED TO NEVER SAY NEVER BUT THERE ARE NO PLANS FOR THAT AS OF NOW.

Check out the upcoming Abscess album, Dawn of Inhumanity, which hits March 9th. It’s great nightmare music.

Genre(s): Interviews

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I Scream, You Sing: Epica, Threat Signal, Blackguard @ Slim’s, 2/17/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 16 days ago.]

I arrived early for my interview with Threat Signal, and enter an empty Slim’s. I’ve never been in this venue when it’s empty…it seems much bigger that way. I’m led down to the dressing room- the belly of Slim’s is a cavernous place. I was told that the band might prefer to do the interview after their set- when they’ve had a few beers- so I walk in unsure if I should be ‘business HRC’ or ‘fun HRC’. They clear a space on the couch for me, and we’re talking for a bit, and then all of a sudden they get quiet and look at me. So I look at the singer, Jon, and go, “do you want to do it now?”

Note to self: do not say the words ‘do it’ in a dressing room full of boys.

The rest of the guys laughed and said, ‘well..should we leave the room?’ After we settled back down, the interview proceeded, and then I was on my merry way back up to the main floor and outside with the rest of the kids.

Once we were back inside, Blackguard‘s set quickly started. I saw them about 3 months ago open for Ensiferum down the street at DNA Lounge (which they mentioned and said was the best show of that tour). These guys (and a girl drummer!) have a lot of energy. They constantly move about the stage, and the crowd LOVES them. At one point this guy and girl who were up front took off to the middle of the crowd to thrash about. I thought they were fighting. It was kind of a weird maneuver, but, hey, to each his own.

Threat Signal really doesn’t fit on this bill. Sandwiched in between melodic metal bands, they brought the hard and heavy. The crowd seemed slightly stunned. Jon’s vocals sounded just as good live as I had hoped for. The whole band had a aire of confidence usually reserved for bands that have been around for longer. Because I was standing close to Travis, I got to see his guitar solos up close. WOW. It was the kind of thing where not once, but twice, I turned around and looked at my friend and we just exchanged the nod that means ‘this guy is really like really really good’. And we’re not talking noodling guitar for the sake of being noodly guitar solos- this is real speedy metal guitar. And he’s only 20! Travis- don’t forget who interviewed you before you were big and famous!

An interesting thing occurred before Epica: old dudes pushed their way in front of me. Wanna know why they were there?

‘This chick is hot!!!!!!’

Dudes are dudes no matter how old they get.

Epica is a very interesting band to me. In fact, I think I watched the set kind of cocking my head from side to side, like when a dog is trying to figure something out. So Epica is fronted by a truly beautiful red headed woman with a voice like an angel. I mean, her voice is absolutely amazing. She could be an opera star, have won American Idol, perform on Broadway….but she fronts a metal band. She’s up there singing astutely from the depths of her diaphragm, headbanging with a fan underneath her to make it look all magical hair commercial-ly, occasionally forming the most unmenacingly delicate horns with her pale white hand. The music is good- some songs I could stand behind when the guys growled, but then she would always come in and I would scratch my head. But the thing is…she is why the band is successful.

I have never seen a room so quickly become filled with the chemicals of every girl wants to be her, every guy wants to do her. Some younger girls pushed their way in front of me, filming the show with one hand and mimicking her arm motions with wanton looks on their faces. Hell, I think I even wanted to be her for a second!

It was interesting to watch a set with guys constantly looking at each other going, ‘she’s so fucking hot!’ all night. While I would never listen to Epica, it will definitely go down as one of the most different metal bands I have seen.

I went home and practiced headbanging with a fan underneath me.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3507Comments (1)2010-02-19+07%3A22%3A59hardrockchick

HardRockChick Interviews Threat Signal

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 16 days ago.]

If you haven’t heard of Threat Signal yet, well, you can thank me later. I chatted with them last night before their set opening for Epica. From mustard yellow couches in the sticker filled dressing room downstairs at Slim’s, the guys shared their thoughts on filming their recording process, dealing with the music business, the meaning of Twitter, metal vocals, and Lady Gaga.

HardRockChick: You’re from Hamilton, Ontario; how much does where you’re from affect your music?

Adam Weber (guitar): I’m from in the middle of nowhere, I grew up around not a lot of metal. There wasn’t many metal kids- they were all punk kids and pop punk kids, and I hated it all, I don’t know why…but I didn’t listen to anything. One kid moved to where I lived from Florida who listened to all metal- Lamb of God, Hatebreed, Shadows Fall- all that kind of shit, and I fell in love with it. And in my whole high school and pretty much the whole city, there was only my metal band, who was just a bunch of my friends who I made listen to it, and they started liking it. So there were pretty much just 5 dudes who listened to metal in my whole city. Now there’s a ton.

Jon Howard (vocalist): I remember there wasn’t much metal going on in Hamilton. I got into the whole grunge phase, you know- like all the West Coast, Seattle kind of shit…

AW: I didn’t even know that existed.

“And then I just wanted heavier and heavier and heavier, and it just went from there.”

JH: That’s what I got into, and it started me playing guitar, and my whole music career. And then I just wanted heavier and heavier and heavier, and it just went from there. But the metal scene now, it’s decent, man. Every show we play in our area is sold out every single fucking time.

Norm Killeen (drums): There are a bunch of metal bands from Hamilton now…..

JH: It’s picking up. I think metal’s a lot more accepted these days.

HRC: Yeah, for sure.

JH: You even hear heavier shit getting on the radio now, like Alexisonfire. They scream a hell of a lot. It’s cool to hear that on the radio.

NK: growl-growl-growl-growl….

HRC: When you were growing up, was there one album that really affected you and made you want to be a musician?

AW: Ashes of the Wake, 100%, Ashes of the Wake. It’s the reason I play guitar- the way I do now, anyway. I started playing guitar before that, but that’s why I’m a lot better now. But yeah, Ashes of the Wake, Lamb of God.

JH: Mine’s gotta be something like Pantera, Vulgar, or something. Like I grew up watching all of the home videos, and just fucking getting smashed and breaking shit…

AW: We still do that!

HRC: So I was reading about the beginnings of the band, and using garageband.com to promote yourself; can you talk about that a little bit?

“I was like, ‘fuck- we don’t have to play a show? Do we need a drummer? Fuck!’.”

JH: We basically had myself, and two guitarists, no drummer, no bass player. It was just like a side project. We ended up calling it Threat Signal. We were going to school, going to work, and we just recorded these demos in my cousin’s room. We just recorded them ourselves and threw it up on garageband. It’s a rating site- so fans come on and rate the songs. We put up ‘Rational Eyes’ and it went up to number one. There were like 8,000 other entries and it just went to number one. A lot of people paid attention to it after that. And that’s where we got our record deal. Nuclear Blast went on the site, listened to what was number one, what was on top, and they lost their shit. They were like ‘holy crap what is this Threat Signal band?’. So they hit me up and asked me for more demos. They just sent over a record deal right away. I was like, ‘fuck- we don’t have to play a show? Do we need a drummer? Fuck!’. So that kind of gave us the kick in the ass to try to do this full time. As soon as we signed the record deal I left college to do this full time. It’s like now or never, right?

HRC: What were you in school for?

JH: I went for architecture. I was in my third year of architecture. I wanted to build bad ass houses.

Pat Kavanagh (bass): Now he’s building a badass studio!

JH: Yeah! So I’m still using it.

HRC: I checked out most of the video that you guys did about your recording process…

AW: Oh yeah, it’s pretty long…a lot of party footage.

JH: Oh yeah, that was the basement! A lot of that drunken wrestling…oh fuck….

HRC: Was there any moment during that process that you didn’t capture on video that you think should have been there?

AW: I think there’s a lot.

JH: I think we captured a lot. We were filming all the time.

AW: Except for all the lead parts- we didn’t do any of the solos.

JH: Yeah, because we filmed it all ourselves, right?

AW: It’s kinda hard because sometimes you’re working away…

JH: You got two guys working and no one to film.

AW: So all of my guitar solos- there’s none of me playing.

JH: Yeah, we should have captured more of that. And Travis’ solos…we caught a little bit of them, but…

AW: Yeah, it was just me and Jon when we were doing my solos, and we were like working and concentrating, so we’re not gonna go, ‘let’s get the camera and film this’.

JH: It would have been sweet to hire someone to fucking film it.

AW: Yeah, it would have been way easier. When I was doing the rhythm guitars, Pat and Jon were both there, and they were doing nothing but playing with the videocamera, so there’s so much footage of that shit. But, yeah, there could have been some more stuff. But it was a lot of fun.

HRC: Yeah, it looked like it was fun.

JH: That’s what we were trying to put across. It was a fucking blast. We just recorded until we got too drunk, and then we partied.

AW: Just the overdubs is what we missed mostly.

JH: Fuck it. We captured a lot of that shit. And it’s all edited by us, and filmed by us. I like it when bands do that. Some people say it’s too long, but I like when it’s long.

AW: It’s a long process

JH: A lot of fans like seeing everything that goes down.

HRC: It looked like a lot of people watched it. So, beyond using garageband to get a record deal and using youtube to show behind the scenes stuff, is there anything else that you’ve maybe seen other bands do or you’ve thought about in terms of social media and new, innovative ways to promote yourself?

AW: We’ve actually got a guy working for us that’s really good at all of that kind of stuff. He’s just wiring it all together, and we’ve been kind of taking a step back. We used to do a lot of that ourselves, and it’s kind of a lot. It’s way too much- especially on the road. I mean, we have internet today, but not very often. So he’s doing a really good job of making a fan club, an involved fan club, where you get exclusive videos.

JH: That’s one thing we’re really working on- the fan club.

AW: Yeah, news updates and stuff like that. You can win prizes and stuff. So he’s really good for that. We’re doing a lot of cool things that are going to be launching in the next couple months that we’re pretty excited about. So it’s not just myspace, replying to comments, and facebook.

JH: We started doing twitter now.

NK: We started twittering, but not that much yet.

JH: Almost every day.

HRC: Are you guys actually doing it or is your guy doing it?

JH: Oh no, we do it.

PK: I take a picture almost every day and put it up on facebook.

HRC: I’ll have to go check it out. We can follow each other!

JH: Yeah, twitter me!

AW: Tweet me!

HRC: That just sounds really dirty…

JH: What was that one you came up with, Travis? The meaning of twitter?

In unison: The space between your twat and your shitter!!!

everyone laughs

HRC: There’s a lady present!

JH: Oh yeah! Well that’s what bands talk about.

HRC: I know, I’m just kidding. So, you’ve gone through a few line up changes. Besides teaching new members the music, what else do you tell them about?

AW: I think it comes back to the whole garageband thing. When you get a band out of nowhere, it’s just a bunch of kids sitting in a basement. You tell them to get a band together, buy all this shit, and go on tour.

JH: We rushed into it.

“You have to be a really strange kind of a person to be in a band and go on tour.”

AW: You have to be a really strange kind of a person to be in a band and go on tour. I would say 90% of people who want to be in a band can’t actually do it. It’s fucking hard….it’s really really hard.

JH: It kind of slapped us across the face, like ‘oh shit, we gotta do this full time?’ We didn’t know what it was going to be like. Then we hired a drummer too fast, a bass player too fast, and you think everything’s going to be fucking great, everything’s paid for, you’re set. Fuck no. You’re broke, sleeping in a van.

Travis Montgomery (guitar): I think teaching us how the business actually works. Because people have no idea what it’s really like and how it actually works.

JH: A lot of people learn how it works and just quit.

HRC: People in the business don’t even know how it works.

JH: Well, that’s what we’re finding out. So with the new members, it’s basically, we know up front to tell them what’s going on and how the business works. These guys haven’t left yet- they’ve been with me for years and years…three years. Pat’s been around for fucking ever…

PK: Six? I dunno.

JH: He’s even got the Threat Signal tattoo on his arm- that’s a fucking lifer!

AW: I think we’ve all been in this band longer than anybody who started the band, except for Jon, of course.

JH: Yeah, this has been the line up for longer than anyone else who was in the fucking band. I don’t even consider that. This is fucking Threat Signal right here.

HRC: I first found out about you (Jon) through your other project, Arkaea. When I first listened to that, I thought, ‘he sounds so much like Chester form Linkin Park!’. Do you take that as a compliment or no?

JH: I definitely take it as a compliment, you know, Chester is a great singer. He may not be as metal as a lot of people want, but he’s a fucking amazing singer….great band. I’m not biting his style or anything…my voice sounds like it does, you know. I think it’s a lot heavier than Chester’s, that’s for damn sure.

HRC: Yeah, I agree.

NK: A lot of people think you’re trying to sound like Chester….they don’t get that Jon just sounds like Chester.

PK: It’s almost a vocal technique, like Jon doesn’t sing clean very often- like he does in ‘Rational Eyes’ and a couple of other songs- but the new album he doesn’t sing clean I think at all.

JH: No, not at all because I’m really pushing to put that rasp on it because I want it to be hard.

AW: There’s a thick rasp on it and I don’t think a lot of people understand what’s going on.

JH: I think it’s because I’m so high- I think it’s the range, because I’m up in the higher range.

AW: You’re fucking high, that’s for sure.

JH: Especially the Arkaea record- there’s a lot of highs on that shit.

AW: A lot of dudes do that now. Like Randy just started doing that in Lamb of God.

JH: Everyone’s trying to put it in.

AW: It’s exactly the same technique. Speed does it from Soilwork. The dude from All That Remains tries it sometimes, Phil. Not just clean singing. Killswitch does it, too.

JH: Melissa Cross is trying to teach it.

“Melissa Cross, the vocal teacher, she teaches people how to sing like Jon.”

AW: Melissa Cross, the vocal teacher, she teaches people how to sing like Jon. She met him once and goes, how the fuck do you know how to do that because I try to teach people to do that.

JH: Yeah, she’s like, Jon, you should teach my class. It was like a huge compliment from her.

AW: The dude from Shadows Fall is trying to do that now. Like those guys all get lessons from Melissa Cross, and they’re teaching what Jon already does. I don’t know how the fuck he knows how to do it.

JH: Yeah, she’s like ‘don’t do the death metal, and go to the straight singing’.

AW: Just low screaming, and la-la-la-la-la. I think it’s all from Pantera. Phil used to do that like a motherfucker. Always raspy singing and shit, after the Diamond Darrell phase.

JH: I’m influenced a lot by Phil, man. He did the raspy melodies.

AW: Yours is more trained, and I think you know what you’re doing.

PK: Even James Hetfield used to do it, not anymore.

JH: Yeah, that’s what I grew up on….Metallica, Pantera. Layne did it, too! Layne had some fucking balls.

AW: Chuck Billy does it in Testament. He’s got a heavy fucking voice, too. That’s what Jon does, he just sings it really fucking high! I dunno- it just seems like the metal thing…I just named, how many names in metal bands? People get pissed off because we’re not metal…..

HRC: When you’re not playing music, what else do you like to do?

AW: Drink.

HRC: Besides drinking….

TM: I don’t really do much else.

JH: Lots of music….recording….producing…

TM: All I do is work and play guitar.

AW: I ride my dirt bike.

PK: Videogames…

JH: He works at a videogames store. I used to build guitars for 10 years. I was building guitars from scratch, custom guitars. We’re DJing now- metal DJ night! Every Friday! Rock Hard Friday.

NK: Yeah, the rest of us show up and get drunk and go ‘play this song!’ and everyone gets mad at us. People want to dance!

JH: Gotta play the crowd.

HRC: What’s something you listen to that people wouldn’t expect you to listen to?

JH: Uh-oh.

NK: Lady Gaga!

AW: Norm listens to Lady Gaga, let’s just get that straight. Jon does, too. I do not.

JH: I enjoy it, I won’t lie. I like to dance while I drive.

AW: I listen to James Taylor a lot. I like to cry. What else….Andrea Bocelli….he’s a wicked singer.

TM: Lots of jazz stuff.

PK: A lot of people think I’m weird when I say I like the Foo Fighters.

JH: Foo Fighters are alright.

PK: Well you listen to Lady Gaga.

NK: We’re in a metal band, you know.

This is the point where someone makes a joke about sucking Lady Gaga’s dick….to which everyone laughs…..and I remind them that I have this all on tape.

HRC: After this tour, what else do you guys have planned?

JH: We have a European tour lined up after this supporting Hed PE. Hopefully that gets pulled together. We’re working on signing some last minute financial details. After that we’re looking to open more shows. We’re looking to be a support band…we’ve headlined for way too many years…and we need to grow our fanbase.

AW: Hopefully we get some sweet tours.

JH: We gotta find some hook ups, man.

Thanks to Jeff for setting this up and taking the pictures.

Genre(s): Interviews

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HollyWould?: Alice in Chains, Creature with the Atom Brain @ Hollywood Palladium, 2/13/10

by hardrockchick [about 6 months, 20 days ago.]

There are moments in life that you don’t fully understand and appreciate until after they occur, when you gain perspective.

And then there are moments where you can feel the significance right then and there.

Both happened to me last night.

It was a unique day, spent recovering from Friday night’s show basking in the SoCal sunshine with my friends and an awesome English Bulldog. I’m trading texts, tweets, emails, and phone calls with my bizarre collection of virtual LA friends, who my rushed LA trips and their chaotic lifestyles never allow me to meet in person. I am constantly evaluating if I should move to LA, and wonder what it would be like, but it just hasn’t been in the cards yet.

An interesting sighting earlier in the day:

On the way to the show, the sun was setting, and we passed an oil refinery where one of the towers was spewing this enormous flame. It was ominous, immediately reminding me of the backdrop for ‘In This Twilight’ from the NIN LITS tour.

Due to traffic, we were running a bit later than anticipated. As we were pulling off the freeway onto Sunset Blvd., I received a text from a friend letting me know that the venue I’m about to step into is where the Almost Famous scene where Penny Lane skates across the garbage strewn floor to Cat Steven’s ‘The Wind’ was filmed. The very scene I referenced at the end of this review. ‘May the spirit of music be generous tonight!’, it said. It put me into an interesting frame of mind.

We parked in the lot next to the venue and were shocked by the guy selling bootleg shirts for the show, who personally attacked us when we weren’t interested in buying- ‘Come on, we have small sizes. Oh, look at you with your university license plate, you’re SO SMART’. Like that’s going to get us to buy a shirt.

When we reached the line, we were actually ahead of where we ended up for the Halloween Rob Zombie show there. But my friend Mel was on a mission. I know the look on her face- we are cut from the same cloth. She wants a rail spot. Her significant other was with us, and he knows the guy who works the VIP door, and long story short, he got us in. We didn’t even care about being in VIP, we just wanted to bypass the line. It’s funny how our priorities work.

So that was sigh of relief number one- but we were sent to a special bar area and not allowed into the venue yet. Mel stationed herself at the door, ready to bolt, and we grabbed some drinks and waited impatiently until we were let in. We were still a little nervous to see if this was going to all work out. As soon as that door opened she bolted for the rail, as I trailed right behind her- like old times for NIN- and it worked. We got a spot at the right corner of the stage, which is actually pretty small for the size of the venue.

If you’ve never done this before, it’s hard to describe the thrill of being in the best spots in the house, exactly where you wanted. It makes or breaks a show for me. Mel photographs and films, so having that rail there really helps her out. I just care about the view. So we were having a moment of celebration that it all worked out, and the adrenaline turned into excitement for what we were about to witness for the next few hours.

Mel had to school a young kid who was trying to sneak up to the rail- learn your rail manners now, kiddo! Other than that, it was a very mellow crowd- we never got crushed and barely were bumped into.

Creature with the Atom Brain played another solid set. Mel is a big QOTSA fan, so she was into the similarities. The bassist didn’t pull any of his antics this time, though. It’s funny that I just listened to all their voices over and over again as I transcribed my interview with them the other day.

As we were waiting for AiC, Mel spied Robin Finck off to the side near us. Once again, we always run into NIN related people. I watched Cantrell’s guitars being prepped, thinking about how different those two guitarists are.

I could see behind the curtain a bit this time, so I saw DuVall come out as the heart on the curtain started beating and ‘All Secrets Known’ began. I thought I preferred ‘Them Bones’ as an opener…..but this works pretty well.

Hope,
A new beginning
Time,
Time to start living
Like just before we died

I got kind of lost at this time, thinking about all the things that have to fall in line to get to this spot at this moment with these people. First would be my lifelong love for AiC. Second would be when I met Mel in line at a NIN show in Chula Vista. Then we both wanted to go to this show, the VIP thing worked out, and here we are standing at the rail rocking out.

As I posted my first tweet I noticed that there were several rockers I follow in the crowd tonight…..Blasko, Jeff from DevilDriver, Carl Restivo….I love LA.

‘It Ain’t Like That’. I’m thinking about that club scene where AiC is playing in Singles (which, coincidentally, is from the same director as Almost Famous). I pretend that Mel and I are the two girls. ‘We will AWAYS go out dancing!’

A photographer in the pit walks past me, and I see that the back of his shirt says ‘Tribute to the Legendary Layne Staley, Seattle 2004′. Damn. Somehow on Thursday night I had essentially avoided thinking about the Layne void. It ain’t like that anymore.

I quickly turned around to check out the crowd when they introduced ‘Check My Brain’ with ‘this song is especially for you’. The place was absolutely packed. It’s great to see that so many people are passionate about this band. And I’d have to say that you don’t feel a pull back in enthusiasm for the new tracks like you would for many other bands with this much material. The new album is that good- it just slots in well with everything.

A few people down from us, there were some women with a handmade sign with ‘Sean, we want your stick’ on one side and ‘Jerry will you marry me’ on another, in rainbow colors, no less. The guys were laughing at it- and Jerry actually went and grabbed the sign to show the crowd the Sean side of it, and then threw it back at them. It was kind of funny. And yes, they got Sean’s stick later.

‘Them Bones’ is when my focus went to Cantrell. He’s such an internal guitar player, it’s like every fiber of his being is involved in the music. Watching him play is like having my feelings about the song extracted from me and physically manifested right there. I tried to write about 5 more sentences about this and none of them were good enough. As Mel would say later, “it’s like he’s playing to save his life, and if he stopped, he would die’.

I’m a riddle so strong, you can’t break me. DuVall’s performance for ‘Rain When I Die’ is one of his strongest. I’m watching the guys move around on the stage, and am noticing how they feel like a real band working together. There’s a lot of non verbal communication, and they all seem at ease with each other.

‘Your Decision’….’Last of My Kind’……’Nutshell’. So far it’s the same setlist as Thursday night, but I don’t care.

‘Sickman’ was one of the highlights for me. What the hell am I? Thousand eyes, a fly. Lucky then I’d be in one day deceased. ‘Lesson Learned’ was the one different song in the setlist from Thursday.

DuVall talked about how it’s been almost 10 years to the day since he arrived in LA from Atlanta, and how he literally met Cantrell days later. They had a nice little moment- it was interesting to hear him talk about that.

But the best moment of the evening came, once again, during ‘Love, Hate, Love’. If I could bottle the intensity of emotions that I felt during the last minutes of this song…I don’t know. Sometimes I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad feeling. Cantrell came and stood right in front of us on the speakers for the last few minutes of the song, and it was close to the most intense live music moment I’ve ever had in my life. My brain couldn’t really process it. I just looked at his closed eyes, and then his hands moving on the guitar. How his jewelry moves when he plays, how his nails a neatly kept. How he created those very notes 20 years ago, and I heard them 18 years ago, and here we are. And then during one of the breaks before the song finished he bent his knees a little and pointed at us. Then he started playing again and my eyes just welled up with the weight of the moment, as they are now as I type this. Why do I feel this way? How can I love this piece of music and this musician so much…that it hurts? It will never love me back. Unrequited love.

I will never listen to that song the same again.

I reached my hand up when the song was done, thinking maybe he would touch our hands as he had some of the others….but he took his pick and placed it in the hand of the guy next to me. Take my hands before I kill. I’m invisible on the rail.

Lost inside my sick head, I somehow managed to get into ‘Would’ and ‘Rooster’ as they finished the show.

Cantrell tossed his guitar to his tech. Sean gave Mel a drumstick and we both got picks from DuVall.

I still have New York next month.

As I posted my final tweets for the evening (my AiC fan followers are really, really awesome), I noticed it was midnight, and everyone was starting with the Valentine’s Day wishes. Part of why I made such an action packed schedule was to distract myself from this dreadful holiday. I hate it. It’s my first time being single on this day in 12 years, and while I’m enjoying my independence, I’m starting to feel like there’s something wrong with me.

We took a pic on the near empty, trash strewn floor. I was skating across it like Penny Lane in my mind.

We met a friend of Mel’s at a bar named Saints & Sinners, a cool little place- but they were playing dreadful disco music, like ‘Love Machine’. However, Evil Dead 2 was being projected on the wall so I was down with that. And then, all of a sudden, boom-chick-boom-chick-boom….’Closer’. Mel and I looked at each other and cracked up. Of all the gin joints in all the world, amongst this disco music, how did this come on? And to top it off, a weird moment of synchronicity occurred as we looked at the movie projection and caught a scene where a piano is playing itself, just like when Reznor is dangling there at the end of the ‘Closer’ video. We looked at each other again and go ‘whoa’. There was some weird cosmic coincidence at play here.

Then they played ‘All My Exes Live in Texas’. Fuck. Last call, time to go home.

But the story doesn’t end here.

The next morning, Mel was driving me to the airport. ‘Your Decision’ comes on the radio, and since I informed her of my no driving to AiC policy, she said ‘let’s change it’. So she goes to the next station…..also AiC. She had to switch it again. Now that is some Final Destination shit right there.

At the moment I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff. There are all of these amazing things floating around me, just out of reach, and I can’t escape the feeling that I’m about to fall off into the abyss. Sometimes I wonder if I tried a little harder, that some really cool things could materialize for me. But, alas, the time and the confidence is just not there. So I just keep doing what I’m doing.

On my flight back to SF, we had to circle the city for half an hour due to fog. When we were finally able to land, the pilot stated, ‘we’ve exited the hole and we’re heading towards San Francisco once again’. Down in a Hole.

Special thanks to Mel & Jon for making this experience happen.

I listen to my words
but they fall far below
I let my music take me
where my heart wants to go
I swam upon the devil’s lake
But never, never never never
I’ll never make the same mistake
No, never, never, never

~Cat Stevens, ‘The Wind’

Setlist:
All Secrets Known
It Ain’t Like That
Again
Check My Brain
Them Bones
Dam That River
Rain When I Die
Your Decision
Got Me Wrong
We Die Young
Last of My Kind
Nutshell
Sickman
Lesson Learned
Acid Bubble
No Excuses
Angry Chair
Man in the Box
Love, Hate, Love
Would
Rooster