HardRockChick Interviews Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers

by hardrockchick [about 2 months, 7 days ago.]

I can remember how hard I fell for A Place to Bury Strangers the first time I heard them a few years ago, and that was only magnified by the first time I saw them live. Since then, I’ve seen several more shows, and somehow my admiration grows every time. While the entire band is solid, my focus tends to be on the ninja guitar skills of Oliver Ackermann. Below is my phone interview with Oliver, who is in the midst of a West Coast series of headlining dates.

HardRockChick: When I first saw you guys a few years ago, the first words that came to my mind were ‘sensory overload’, between the volume and the fog and the strobes and everything. I was wondering how you think that fits with your music and what about that draws certain people in to that kind of show?

“And that’s even partially sort of the goal of the music as well as the live show where it kind of takes over the body and the mind with what’s going on.”

Oliver Ackermann: I think that all of those kind of elements just help…kind of go hand in hand, with where the songs and the music sort of goes. Where you’ve got things where it’s sort of ambiguous exactly what is going on, kind of like music and what sort of sounds are happening, which is kind of reflective of the smoke machines where it kind of blows your vision, strobe lights that can be disorienting and goes with the distortion and what not. You know, I think it’s just almost the same sort of thing with that, I think it’s an appropriate sort of marriage of things. And that’s even partially sort of the goal of the music as well as the live show where it kind of takes over the body and the mind with what’s going on. I think that’s the best way to do it- to mix it with something that’s disorienting as well as overpowering. I think that the kind of people who would like that sort of thing I guess are maybe people who, I don’t know, kind of want to have an out of body experience in some sort of way. It’s not the kind of music where you go with your friend and kind of mingle and pick up people or whatever. It’s for people who want to enter that out of body state, or something like that.

HRC: Another thing I noticed is that your vocals are always pretty drowned out during the show, and I was just wondering why that is, if there’s a reason for that?

OA: I guess it doesn’t always end up that way. Maybe it’s because of inadequate PA equipment? We’re kind of playing where the guitars are an important element as well as the vocals and everything, and the volumes are really loud on the guitars so to get a particular sound, so I think sometimes it’s just, you can’t necessarily hear exactly what’s going on with the vocals. Sometimes it has to do with the PA. It’s just the way things go.

io echo / APTBS by hardrockchick, on Flickr

HRC: The highlight of your show for me is always when you essentially destroy your guitar. I was wondering- there’s equipment abuse and then almost this element of admiration for the instrument that goes along with that, like when Jimi Hendrix lit his guitar on fire. While those are 2 conflicting elements, I was wondering if you feel they go together?

“And when you kind of rough it up a little bit, you kind of get more in tune with how a guitar is built and how you interact with it and what maybe it’s limits are.”

OA: Guitars, and instruments, are meant to be played. And when you kind of rough it up a little bit, you kind of get more in tune with how a guitar is built and how you interact with it and what maybe it’s limits are. So I guess, you know, I have a little bit of an advantage because I can just put the stuff back together. It’s great that there are guitars and to be able to use such nice beautiful guitars out there, but as far as respect goes, you shouldn’t really worry too much about some sort of object. It’s meant to create the sound, and it should be used for its purpose.

HRC: What’s the best show you’ve ever played and what makes it the best show for you?

OA: Best show I’ve ever played? Tough call. I’m just going to say…we played a festival in Greece, and I guess it was because it was truly destructive, so it was super fun. I was swinging my guitar around and it smashed into these lights and they exploded with glass all over the place. And we were rolling around in the glass and lots of good stuff. It was fun. And then I think I threw a guitar through the drum set. It was just a good, fun, crazy show.

HRC: So it seems like you guys are constantly touring…how do you keep your sanity and remember where you are?

“You should just live life, live it up, experience and hang out with good people that you’re doing good stuff with and make you feel good.”

OA: I don’t know. I guess we don’t do it? Is that an answer? I guess, you know, you can remember where you are once you get someplace, it’s easy enough. You become aware of what’s going on. But we usually don’t know exactly where we’re going or what time shows are and stuff like that. As far as dates in the future, people will be like ‘hey I heard you guys are playing, what time are you playing?’ and I’ll be like ‘I don’t know’. It’s hard to remember that kind of shit. As far as keeping your sanity, you just don’t really think about it too much. I think I sort of felt like I’ve lost my sanity at times. You should just live life, live it up, experience and hang out with good people that you’re doing good stuff with and make you feel good. I think you would lose your mind more if you were just constantly partying and not aware of reality or something. You have to take in a little bit of the environment. Helps keep it amazing, helps keep you inspired by the cities.

HRC: That leads into my next question; who or what would you consider to be your muse?

OA: I don’t know, I guess…all sorts of things….just life helps take that role…and it changes. It can be exciting, whether its the people in your band or the bands you’re traveling with, all sorts of stuff. Let’s just say the music. That keeps things afloat. And that conversation between it and you.

HRC: What’s a goal you have in mind for the band and for you personally?

“Just try to be able to do everything I’m doing now as much as I can, whether it be like helping bands out or releasing some cool records, or travel around more and play more cool shows.”

OA: Oh my…for the band, just to record more music that we want to hear. We’re writing a bunch more songs. I think that goal would just be to write and record some really cool stuff. And for me, personally, I guess it’s the same kind of thing. Just try to be able to do everything I’m doing now as much as I can, whether it be like helping bands out or releasing some cool records, or travel around more and play more cool shows. I dunno, I guess just to focus on working all the time and usually that ends up working out for me, and have a good outcome. The goals come about without even realizing it, I think.

HRC: Is there a new band that you’re working on helping out now or are into recently?

OA: Yeah, we just played with this band Weekend, they’re amazing. This other band Grave Babies, they’re an amazing band. I really like this band Natural Child, and Jeff the Brotherhood, they’re wicked. Seahorse, they’re a good band….there are a bunch of good bands.

HRC: What’s the last movie you saw or book you read that had a big impact on you that you would recommend to people?

OA: It’s a book- Atomised, by Michael Houellebecq. That was an amazing book. I don’t know if it exactly ties into what we’re doing….but it’s kind of raw and sexy and really cool.

Genre(s): Interviews

3946Comments (0)2010-06-27+19%3A46%3A23hardrockchick

This is the End: The Psychedelic Furs, She Wants Revenge @ The Fillmore, 6/22/10

by hardrockchick [about 2 months, 10 days ago.]

A last minute invite had me happily returning to The Fillmore for the second night in a row. As I entered the building, nodding at all of the familiar faces that work there, I thought about how I’m going to have to learn a whole new scene in Austin and San Antonio once I’m able to. It’s going to be so different.

My first year in SF was pretty hellish. Fresh out of school in a new town with a very demanding job, She Wants Revenge‘s first album was my go to record for an escape. Since then, I’ve seen them countless times around here and have had great times with the band. In fact I’m kind of at the point where there’s nothing more I can write about them, except that they are great. In this set, we got to hear four new songs, three of which I hadn’t heard before. I can tell you that they feel similar in tone to the first album as opposed to the second, which I like. It was cool to see them convert the crowd of somewhat older Furs fans into their fans as the set went on. I wish they would have played ‘Black Liner Run‘, because I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.

The Psychedelic Furs are a band that I just never got into, but once they started playing I recognized a lot of the songs. Part way into the set I retired to the bar area to visit with friends. Leaning against the bar, I found myself staring at the picture of Jim Morrison that adorns the wall closest to the stage. There’s something about the image; him in black and white and the background in pastel colors. I’ve looked to the Lizard King for answers many times in my life, and tonight I somehow found peace with this image.

As I exited The Fillmore, I vowed to return one day to make it part of whatever the next chapters of my life hold for me.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3933Comments (0)2010-06-24+20%3A01%3A39hardrockchick

Open Heart Surgery: Brian Jonestown Massacre, Federale @ The Fillmore, 6/21/10

by hardrockchick [about 2 months, 11 days ago.]

I guess you could say that it’s somewhat poetic that the week of my return to San Francisco for the last time would be populated by shows from my most favorite bands.

However, all I wanted to do is crawl under the covers and sleep. And I don’t usually sleep more than 4 hours a night. But in my dreams, I am free…

It’s odd, how your whole mind repositions itself when faced with something like this. Not only has it made me feel very confident in the way I live my life- as an ‘experiences’ person over a ‘things’ person, and as someone who burns the candle at both ends doing as much as I can while I can- but it’s made me look at SF entirely differently.

As I drove towards The Fillmore, I saw the fog rolling in. It’s in the high 50s in late June….but that is so SF, and once I’m baking in the heat of Texas once again, I’ll miss it. As I ascended the stairs, I gazed fondly upon Tim, the greeter, as he welcomed me to The Fillmore for like the 50th time. I wanted to touch the apples, the pictures on the wall….I wanted to savor every second.

I think I had been in SF about a week when I went to my very first show, LCD Soundsystem at The Fillmore. No one seemed to know who they were yet- the place was fairly empty. But I was so excited to be at THE Fillmore. And I never stopped being excited about it. It’s a very special place.

There was no barrier tonight, so I walked right up to the stage, in front of my ‘usual’ spot, to where I knew Anton Newcombe would soon stand. I broke the news of my situation to a couple of friends, which never gets any easier.

Right on the dot at 9 o’clock, Federale sauntered on stage. Now, I had seen the name on the bill, but did not have time to do my usual pre-show research. But it did make me think of Willie Nelson’s ‘Pancho and Lefty‘, which, ironically, are the names of two of my mom’s cats. But when I saw these guys come out on stage in western clothing…spurs, cowboy hats, snap button western shirts, bolo ties….I kinda freaked out. It felt like….fully realizing I was moving back to Texas.

The music is nice….Sergio Leone western inspired almost to the point of sounding too derivative. But it was cool to watch each sound be created on stage- the whistles, the maracas, the melodica, the thing that sounds like a rattlesnake. But it was really all about that perfectly played horn for me. It’s very carefully composed music, but it was kind of a strange opener. But, there are members of BJM in the band, so therein lies to tie.

Before a BJM show, there is always speculation as to whether there will be any drama. However, I can tell you that as far as I know nowadays, the drama has transferred to the crowd. Anton is drinking Red Bull, but the crowd is wasted. WASTED. The girl to the side of me can’t even stand up straight and must be taken out before the band even begins. People are talking about waiting for their drugs to hit. Mid set, there’s a fist fight, and a multitude of crowd surfers. CROWD SURFERS. Why?

Brian Jonestown Massacre‘s music holds a special place in my heart. The band, like how I often feel, seems to have been made for another era. It’s the music I listen to when I want to feel peaceful, when I’m thinking about love. Which seemingly should have been an excellent fit for that evening.

However, I quickly found out that it was potentially not right for me. Every 15 minutes a little bell goes off in my body that says ‘OMFGTHISISALLHAPPENINGTOME’. And the dreamlike way of their music did not drown that out. In fact, it made me choke back tears several times. But it was beautiful, and all the players in the band were in perfect form.

The highlight for me was definitely ‘Anenome‘, which is one of my favorite BJM songs. However, I was really hoping to hear ‘Open Heart Surgery’…everything about that song fits my life perfectly right now.

Anton seemed almost embarrassed by the guy behind me that kept yelling his praises, along with Matt Hollywood’s. He ended up shushing him, in fact. The only time he showed any sign of being upset was when a tech fiddled with Hollywood’s amp without being instructed to.

The mellow set spanned over 2 hours with little breaks between songs. Upon exit, we were given what would be my last free Fillmore poster. Such a treasure, that gesture.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3922Comments (0)2010-06-24+07%3A52%3A31hardrockchick

Mama I’m Coming Home

by hardrockchick [about 2 months, 11 days ago.]

When I moved to San Francisco in August 2005, I made the decision to do so in about three weeks. My house in Austin sold and I turned in my final paper for my master’s degree. My mom and I flew to SF and found a cute apartment that fit in the living room of my Austin house and cost 50% more, and was in what I would later find out was a terrible neighborhood. Then I drove cross country with my cat and my boyfriend to start my new life.

Before the boxes were even unpacked, I had my TV and cable connected so I could watch the finale of my favorite TV show at the time, Six Feet Under.

I never cried so much because of a TV show in my life.

There was something about that final scene that mirrored my life. Leaving home for the first time and living so far away is scary. What would happen while I was gone?

Two years later, my grandmother died. We were very, very close.

Two years after that, my grandfather died.

And then on June 6th, the International Day of Slayer (that will be my music tie-in here), my entire life changed.

I was woken up at 8:30am from a Faygo soaked clown-mare of epic proportions by a phone call. I sleep with my iPhone. It’s more reliable than a boyfriend, even with AT&Ts terrible service.

It was my dad.

I don’t talk to my dad unless something bad has happened. So I thought it was going to be about my grandmother, who’s in her mid-nineties.

It was my mom. After a week of being sick, he had rushed her to the emergency room Saturday night. After a few tests, it was determined that she had a tumor, near her pancreas.

I could never convey to you what that felt like, to hear that news. As you can imagine, it’s shocking. But it was even more so for me, because I knew exactly what it meant. That boyfriend that I had moved to SF with just lost his mom to pancreatic cancer a little over a year ago, right before we broke up. From the time she was diagnosed to when she died was 9 months.

Pancreatic cancer is very, very serious shit. And even though the next few days were spent doing more tests and confirming things, I knew from the moment I first heard what it was.

But I still had hope. I flew to Texas to start helping out while we waited for a surgery date. She was a good candidate for the Whipple procedure- what Steve Jobs had.

From the time they took her into surgery until the time they came and talked to us was an excruciating three and a half hours. There was no music I could tolerate. Nothing. Instead I browsed Facebook and envied other people’s carefree lives.

And then the doctors are in front of me, matter of factly telling us that they didn’t complete the procedure because the cancer has already spread to her liver. Right there, in a waiting room full of people. I stared at the floor, and everything faded to black.

And then I threw something against the wall and I ran. I ran through the halls of the hospital, screaming for the exit. And then I went outside and sat in the middle of the parking lot, under the hot sun.

My mom is 57 years old. She doesn’t smoke, and barely drinks. There is no rationalizing this, at all.

First and foremost, I thought about how I was going to lose my mother, the one person on the planet who legitimately cares about me. Then, I realized that if I ever have kids, they are not going to have a grandmother. And that sent me down a whole other path of regrets. Should I have settled? I could have already been married and had kids twice. That’s all mom really ever wanted for me….

Do you know what’s it’s like to wake up in the morning and be hit with a wave of dread? 2 weeks of that and it starts to wear on you…I can’t even imagine what it will be like going forward. I try to take things one hour at a time, but it’s hard. It’s really, really hard, especially since I’m an only child.

So, I am quitting my job and moving back to Texas to take care of my mom in about 3 weeks. To say that going from working my corporate entertainment job and going to so many shows and living in the middle of a vibrant city, to being unemployed and living on my parent’s ranch in the middle of nowhere is going to be a lifestyle change is an understatement. But this is the right thing to do.

This site has been my life for the past 3 years, and I hope to still keep it up to some extent. As my friend told me, I’m entering a very unscripted portion of my life right now. It’s very scary.

As I finish up my final shows in SF, I will savor all of the memories I’ve made here. And the best thing is that I can go back and read about all the great times I’ve had whenever I need a pick me up. It’s been a wild ride, San Francisco……and while I may not be leaving my whole heart here, it will definitely always have a piece of it.

Much love to my readers….

~jamie / HRC

Genre(s): Uncategorizable

3917Comments (6)Mama+I%27m+Coming+Home2010-06-23+20%3A04%3A28hardrockchick

Clown Cult: Insane Clown Posse, Kottonmouth Kings, Coolio, Kittie @ The Warfield, 6/5/10

by hardrockchick [about 2 months, 28 days ago.]

I was chatting with a friend of mine at a show on Monday, asking him what he had coming up this week. When he mentioned Insane Clown Posse, I wrinkled my nose. He proceeded to tell me about their live show, and in my partially inebriated state, I became intrigued. One thing led to another, and somehow I ended up at the Warfield at 7pm Saturday night with my name on the list.

I’ve also been told I’m a masochist.

My only memory of ICP is from about 10 years ago. The monster I was dating at the time didn’t come home one night. When he did show up, and I inquired about his evening, he proceeded to tell me he had gone to an ICP concert and things ‘got crazy’. Being my young and dumb self, I jokingly asked if he had been kidnapped by clowns, and I think that was the extent of it….but looking back, he was probably fucking a juggalette.

I did not think or hear of ICP for years, until last year when they started popping up in pop culture references in unexpected places, like Saturday Night Live. They also seemed to be the butt of many jokes in the metal community. Also, ICP consider themselves horrorcore, which is the genre associated with that crazy kid killer Syko Sam that made headlines last year (who was from around here). Being the ‘I’ll try anything once’ girl that I am…curiosity just really got the best of me.

I am indeed one of those people that are frightened by clowns, though not full on scared of them. The only things I’m really scared of are falling in love and being alone forever, which could explain why I didn’t have anything better to do on my Saturday night. Oh, and body hair. I’m very scared of body hair. So, I figured I could endure being in the presence of clowns for a few hours.

The scene inside was something that I could not have mentally prepared myself for. It seemed that everyone was in some variation of a costume. The best way I can describe the general aesthetic of it is this: recently returned from a vacation in Cancun where their hair was braided, they accidentally electrocuted themselves, causing the braids to stand on end. Then, they decided to don the jersey of their favorite sports team for the game, but changed their minds and went to clown tryouts at Barnum & Bailey instead.

As I entered the main floor, I noticed that everything was covered in plastic, like for a GWAR show. The floor is shaking with the deep bass of the rap coming from a DJ, who is perched up in the VIP box that I’d always wondered about. He looks like Dr. Horrible with clown hair. I take a spot at the extreme left of the first tier, where I can be close enough to observe, but hopefully out of harm’s way.

Kittie comes out as soon as I’m settled. I thought they were an interesting addition to this bill, and feared for the crowd’s reaction. It was good to see them after listening to them on and off for years. They play barefoot and angry, and with little sass that you see in many of the female metal musicians. I enjoyed watching Ivy on bass the best; she handles that piece of equipment well, and has a tremendous helicopter headbang. They are the kind of band that, after they initially come out, you forget that they are girls playing metal, as any gender bias evaporates. However, I do think that because they are girls, the crowd was more accepting of them, because they saw it as a novelty.

It was during this set that I really started to experience the ICP culture. Kittie started pandering to the ICP crowd- as would the other opening acts. This included some grunt-like whooping thing, the whole juggalo/juggalette nomenclature, and the chanting of ‘family’ and ‘clown love’. Apparently it was towards the end of the tour, and the support seemed to be well initiated into the clown culture- or clown cult….because that is what it felt like in there.

Coolio was next…..and I officially entered the twilight zone. Coolio tracks mixed heavily into NIN, Pantera, and Smashing Pumpkins for me in the summers of ’94 and ’95. I mean, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ was HUGE. In fact, I can close my eyes and remember sitting in my guy friend’s trailer (yes trailer- I’m from Texas), it being 110 degrees outside, and my friends and I are all sitting around a table with the buzz of the window unit A/C in the background and smoke heavily in the air. My friend, the biggest pothead I’ve ever known, is reading from a piece of paper. He basically turned ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ into ‘Smoker’s Paradise’- Weird Al style. “Got a blunt in my hand and some smoke in my eye”. HAHAHA. Anyways- Coolio was brought out in a body bag, and was quickly unleashed on the crowd by his entourage of three, one of which was his son, as he mentioned like 40 times. Between songs, it looked like Coolio took swigs of honey out of a honey bear. At one point a necklace was thrown into the crowd and some girls fought over it. Towards the end of the set came ‘Fantastic Voyage’, and then a gunshot introduction to ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’, where Coolio proceeded to remove his shoes and throw them into the crowd, then his shirt, and socks….I was starting to worry that I was going to see more of Coolio than I wanted to. But there was a live sax. Seriously. And people were crowd surfing! What….

After the set, the DJ in the box perch came back out, and all of a sudden everyone broke into something called the Chop Chop Slide. This was the point when I really got scared because everyone around me was shouting “fuck…shit…pussy…ass….”

But I learned the dance moves pretty quickly. Maybe I’ll show you sometime.

Kottonmouth Kings. I had heard of them, but knew absolutely nothing about them. This tall white dude with bleached blond hair with these two weird little spikes in the front and an X drawn over one eye bounces on stage, followed by three other guys. They are all dressed in green button front shirt and shorts uniforms, with matching soccer socks and shoes, all heavily branded with their names. The heavy, old school hip hop beats are actually infectious- I will admit this- but the content…oh my god. Let’s rap about weed. Now let’s rap about sex. Weed and sex. Name drop ourselves. Now let’s get drunk. Weed…sex…..weed….sex. I inhaled the secondhand smoke from the plethora of large joints around me, hoping to get on their level for a second. Nope. It was very interesting, though, and you could tell they love NorCal, as they talked about this being the epicenter for legalizing weed, which we’re getting very close to. I will, however, cite them for a highly inappropriate use of the devil horns, and for making me talk to my neighbor as they told everyone to high five the people around them, which said neighbor made me do.

I look around me and watch the excitement brew as everyone gears up for what they’ve been waiting for. I see the dedication of these fans- the time they spent doing their hair and putting on this makeup, the money they spent on the merch. I haven’t seen such heavily branded attire since a BLS show. The girl in front of me has an ICP belt, and she is with what I assume is her mom and dad. Mom is in an ICP shirt. In fact, I’m surrounded by families.

It was then that I truly got it, I think. ICP is a perfect case study of how a band or an act or whatever they are can be successful if they have a point of view. ICP is a very defined entity- there’s a lot to latch onto when you tell someone about the band. They’ve crafted a story, and thus an entire subculture that their fans can literally buy into. And that taps into something deeper- the need to belong. I look around me and I see all these little groups of people of all ages, all shapes and sizes and colors, having the time of their lives. They are all partaking in this event together, which is even blatantly called out as an ICP thing: ‘family’ and ‘clown love’. Everyone wants to belong. It is a cornerstone of our existence. Now, why someone would choose this particular ‘family’ of clowns is up for debate, but my guess is that it’s very accepting. I mean, the ‘family’ that I experience in my metal adventures is extremely picky and often downright unaccepting.

The set begins as it should, with a ringmaster…..and two grim reaper looking individuals. And then the part I feared- a bunch of people in freaky clown masks came out and danced around. There are giant containers of this Faygo thing I had been informed of earlier that week- some dark soda in liter bottles. The giant letters ‘ICP’ light up at the back of the stage. Then came the two ICP guys, and the music officially began.

However, I could not tell you what the music was about, because I was either a) dodging Faygo bottles and spray or b) watching the crowd. So I have no idea if this magnet song that everyone was blowing up my twitter about even happened. Granted I had to leave about an hour into it.

“This shit will blow your motherfuckin’ mind.” Seriously. People know every word, every move. A girl in the balcony is tits out singing along. Having spent my time in a NIN pit where the tambourine is the ultimate prize- here the prize is the damn Faygo bottle. Those guys- especially the bigger one- know how to tear open those bottles and shake them up so they sail high into the balcony, or spin into the crowd. I was doing ok at first, only getting a few droplets on me, but then the stageclowns brought out buckets and these watergun type things, and I got fully drenched. The shit smells, is really sticky, and I found myself wondering if the calories could be absorbed through my skin. Then they started feathering the front- the feathers stick because of the Faygo.

Drenched in Faygo, I had to bail. With an abundance of material, my investigative journalism piece felt complete. Did I become an honorary juggalette? No, I don’t think I’ll ever go to another ICP show again. But do I understand the allure of it? Sort of?

Yes, clowns did indeed haunt my nightmares, but my real nightmare began when I awoke the next morning.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3898Comments (3)2010-06-06+19%3A37%3A44hardrockchick

HardRockChick Interviews Roxana Shirazi, author of The Last Living Slut: Born in Iran, Bred Backstage

by hardrockchick [about 3 months, 1 day ago.]

This past holiday weekend, in between my own rock ‘n’ roll moments, I could not put down Roxana Shirazi’s newly released memoir, ‘The Last Living Slut: Born in Iran, Bred Backstage‘.

After reading the press release and the intro, I expected the book to be one salacious story after the other. But very early on I realized that it was going to be much different. In fact, the whole story really got under my skin. Is it a loss of innocence, coming of age, falling in love with the wrong guy story like Pamela Des Barres’ books? In a way, yes. But Shirazi tackles very current and extremely heavy topics at the same time: Middle Eastern cultural issues, immigration, sexism, abortion, and feminism, just to name a few. It’s smart and it’s shocking; it’s entertaining and thought provoking.

I spoke with Roxana on the phone last night from her hotel room in LA about how she wrote the book, her favorite stories, regrets, advice, and plans for the future.

HardRockChick: I read your book this weekend and couldn’t put it down…it was really unexpected, the way that it began. It almost felt like two books in one….which made me wonder what prompted the timing of you writing the book, and if you started out in one direction and went into another. What was your initial plan?

“I just thought, OK, I guess this is my life.”

Roxana Shirazi: I actually started it at university, because I was speaking at a lot of women’s conferences. I started writing this book at university because I wanted to write about my childhood in Iran. It had a lot to do with gender issues, identity issues, and lots of things about the war and revolution. So it was purely that; it was going to be something about growing up in war-torn Iran and about revolution and how politically active my family were. And at the time I was seeing a lot of bands. So someone said to me, it would make a really interesting book if you put both lives, because it’s like a secret life you have, and you kind of write about that, too, with rock bands. And I was like, wow, it’d be weird, because I don’t know how to merge the two together. I had a really great tutor who said to me not to censor myself- he said just write everything you have about your childhood, how you were sent to England, and then start going into how you got into rock ‘n’ roll. And I guess it kinda went on from there really. I just thought, OK, I guess this is my life. The rock bands are a huge part of my life, so I might as well put that in as well.

HRC: So how long did you write for before you got to the point where you felt ready?

“…so I was writing about it as it was happening..”

RS: Well, I wrote the parts about my childhood in Iran, and took me only two to three months. When I started writing about the rock ‘n’ roll stuff, the thing is it was going on, so I was writing about it as it was happening. When I started the rock ‘n’ roll stuff, everything had happened up to the point of Brides of Destruction, just before Dizzy, I think. And then that year I went on tour with Guns n’ Roses, so…then stuff happened and I wasn’t writing anything. Stuff was happening and I was in a really bad state of mind. And then I went back to writing the book. And I wrote everything that happened to me and things after that as well. All in all, the thing was a year and a half, maybe? With lots of breaks in between.

HRC: Oh wow, that’s really interesting; so it was almost written as it was happening instead of looking back, except for the part about your childhood.

RS: Yeah, the band stuff…it wasn’t like a diary where I wrote as things happened. Because when I went through the stuff with Dizzy, I couldn’t write at all…I was kind of really depressed. I left it and didn’t write, and then went back to it.

HRC: Well hopefully it was therapeutic for you to write about it.

“I was like ‘oh my god, did this really happen to me? Ick’.”

RS: Actually it wasn’t. I was like ‘oh my god, did this really happen to me? Ick’. It was like an icky experience. Or, I wish this hadn’t happened. It felt really uncomfortable and afterwards I was really nervous, thinking, you know, what have I done to myself. But looking back now I think, well, you know…I guess….I’m glad I put it down on paper to make some sort of sense out of it.

HRC: I know you are getting a lot of comparisons to Pamela Des Barres‘ books and things like that, but she wrote that many years after the fact and it was obviously a very different time. So I think it’s very interesting because now there are things like text messages and emails that record everything as it’s going on, I could see that you were putting some of that into your story. I was wondering how that helped you keep the memories?

“So, I always thought rock ‘n roll was a very free spirited place. It turned out to be not as wild as I thought it would be.”

RS: Well, I never thought I’d be compared to a groupie. I don’t like to be compared to a groupie…I think I’m too wild to be a groupie. I don’t want to be subservient and meek to other men. I want me to be the one calling the shots. So, I always thought rock ‘n roll was a very free spirited place. It turned out to be not as wild as I thought it would be. So, I don’t really like to think of me being compared to someone who is a groupie. I’d like to be compared to someone who is a very strong woman, and who’s in charge of things she does. I love Madonna. Some of my idols, people I look up to, are very strong women. But back to your question about the internet and stuff, I think it’s easier to get in touch with people, obviously. If you’ve got Internet, and now that people have these social networking sites; if you’ve met someone on tour and you’re trying to get a hold of them, you can try and find them and contact them. Where as maybe before, it wasn’t that easy. But then there’s also the added thing of internet and stuff that it has lost it’s mystique. So as maybe in the ’70s, everybody went on tour together and they shared things together, everything is so much like technology-technology now. Maybe it’s lost some of it’s romanticism in some way. I don’t know. It’s become too sort of ‘out there’…I don’t know, maybe I’m an old romantic at heart, but it just seems to me that in the ’60s ad ’70s it was much more free love, open, everyone was like together…and now it’s so corporate, the rock ‘n’ roll world. Very corporate, like an office.

HRC: Absolutely. How does it work legally with including the names of these people in your book? Did you have to ask their permission?

“I had so many guys say, ‘can I be in your book?’.”

RS: Yeah. I had so many guys say, ‘can I be in your book?’. And I’d be like, ‘uh yeah- there’s nothing that’s happened with us’. There are so many that I haven’t written about because there’s nothing exciting to talk about. Like members of Whitesnake and Def Leppard, it was really so dull when I went on tour with them. But in terms of, I told a lot people before when I was writing about it, that you will be in this chapter. I even actually gave their chapter to them. A lot of them were cool with it. There was one person that I didn’t name. I said which band I was with but I didn’t name who he was because he asked me not to, and I absolutely adore him so I didn’t. There was one other guy who I have a very close friendship with- I mean he’s absolutely adorable- I have named him, but I think that he looks really good in it. And I said, you know, he’s going to get more chicks, really, so I think he should be happy and flattered.

HRC: In terms of editing the book down to what got included, was there any part that got left out that you wish you could have included?

“And when you read present tense, as if it’s happening, it’s a lot more powerful.”

RS: Yeah…well, obviously there was a lot of stuff about guys and rock bands that I didn’t write about. But, there was my style of writing, which was slightly different from the edited version. Mine is really heavily poetic, and I’ve written a lot of poetry throughout my life and childhood. And they kind of have to make it less dense and less poetic to appeal, to make it more accessible to the reader. I wish, like for example, there’s parts about my abortion, and especially my childhood, with the child molestation- were very painful points in my life which I had written in a very raw, in the present tense. And when you read present tense, as if it’s happening, it’s a lot more powerful. And it’s not present tense now; they’ve edited it to make it- it’s a lot sort of like happened in the past. I wish I could have kept my way of writing. Maybe in my next book I’d have more power.

HRC: I think I can probably guess what the hardest part to write was; so what was the easiest or most fun part for you to write?

“They said, we want to call your book ‘Are You Fucking Man Enough? The Legend of Roxana’.”

RS: Oh, well there were so many fun things that happened, like with Matt Sorum and Tracii Guns and Jeremy Guns from L.A. Guns. There was the stuff on Kid Ego, that young teenage band who I had a lot of fun with. There was stuff like with Avenged Sevenfold, which was not very nice, but it was just some crazy nights. I liked writing about, like, I love Buckcherry, and they sort of renamed my book…they said, ‘we want to call your book ‘Are You Fucking Man Enough: The Legend of Roxana”. I wish I could call it that. I liked writing about fun times that spontaneously happened with lots of bands that didn’t have any emotional attachment. Where there was no love or anything involved, it was just a good night out getting drunk, dancing, and having great fun. So those were like…funny, made me laugh..I was like, this is cool to write about. Those were good, and there’s a few of them, I guess.

HRC: Do you have any regrets- like a missed opportunity…I’m trying to keep it positive here- about anything that happened along your journey that you covered in the book?

“It was something I did without really thinking about it.”

RS: Well, my regret was having the abortion. I wish I hadn’t. It was something I did without really thinking about it. I feel like I was never really given any- I mean, no one sat me down and was like ‘are you sure?’ I mean, I would have thought there would be people who at the clinic would talk to you about it, and not just take you into the room. So I wish I hadn’t done that. And obviously, I wish I hadn’t done drugs. I used to do cocaine, and I had a seizure on it. I wish I hadn’t damaged my body. I don’t touch drugs at all now. I hardly ever drink. I have one glass of wine and I’m completely drunk, it’s so embarrassing. I wish I hadn’t- and I think I’m wild enough that I don’t really need to do a lot of drinking and taking drugs. So those two things. I don’t really have any other big regrets, I guess, no…I guess maybe with some of the really boring rock bands I wish I had made them be a bit more fun.

HRC: That’s what I was getting at there. You alluded to the fact that there’s more to the story and that the story continued on past what you’ve covered. So, I was wondering what your future plans are from here?

“I’d love to still have a bit of rock ‘n roll fun.”

RS: I have so many things that I really want to do. I just have some much stuff I hope I can do them all. I’d love to continue- I want to do my Ph.D. and do more teaching at the university on gender and feminism. I absolutely love teaching. I’d love to write more- because I’ve written from a young age. I do a lot of animal rights work, anti-fur stuff. I’d love to still have a bit of rock ‘n roll fun. I’ve done a lot of theater work in my life- I did the Vagina Monologues, Dracula, and lots of Shakespeare. When I was young I went to drama school. Basically anything creative- I love creativity. I love art, I love painting, sculpture and stuff. I’d love to be able to actually have a profession being creative. And also I’m academic. So if that could all happen it’d be really ideal.

HRC: What music are you listening to nowadays?

“…I have these funny little phases where I just get crazy and I like something really weird.”

RS: Wow, gosh. You know what- this is going to sound really funny. I’ve always loved musicals, and recently in England there was a show that they were auditioning girls for- a Wizard of Oz show, Over the Rainbow. I think it’s just a little sort of passing phase- I don’t think it will last- but I have these funny little things where I get into something for a while and then I get bored of it. But I’ve been listening to any sort of Broadway musical soundtracks, and it’s really fun and happy. My first love is rock ‘n’ roll- I always listen to Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin…my absolute love is classic rock. Love Leonard Cohen. I love The Beatles. So that’s always there, but I have these funny little phases where I just get crazy and I like something really weird.

HRC: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received and what’s a good piece of advice that you could give to other women out there?

“We need more characters in this world- we need more individuals.”

RS: Oh, that’s a hard one. The best piece of advice I ever received is to be myself, and not to give into peer pressure and society’s ideals of how to be. Just not to censor myself. I think I’ve always had difficulty with being…I’ve never had any friends that were kind of a dork and a nerd and I always worried that I wasn’t cool enough and I wanted to be like them. I’ve stopped wanting to be like others. So I think the best thing I can say to other people is, don’t worry if you’re different or don’t think you have to be this same, homogenized version of what society wants you to be. We need more characters in this world- we need more individuals. Human beings are very complex; you can’t stereotype people. Like for example, I have come to live with the fact that I’m very academic, but I’m also very, very sexual. And I don’t have to be one or the other, I can be both. So just be yourself and embrace what you feel and what you love, and love yourself, basically.

HRC: My final question is what do you want, and what do you expect, to come from people reading this book?

“I mean, a bad human being should be measured by how cruel or selfish or horrible they are, not what they do in bed. “

RS: Ideally, well, I’d like a couple of things. I’d like them to understand that to, break stereotypes- I know that there’s a lot of people who think, ‘oh, she’s from Iran- so she’s a Muslim’, and no, I’m not. ‘Oh, she’s from Iran, she must be a terrorist’. Well, no, I’m not. ‘She is very sexually active so she must be a bimbo’, well, no, I’m really academic as well. So I hope to break these stereotypes of people’s limited way of thinking about humanity that you have to be- if you’re one thing you can’t be another. I want people to understand that human being can be multifaceted and very complex. And, you know, to be able to open their minds and know that if a girl’s really sexual and she loves being wild, she also can be a humanitarian and love people and do charity work and be completely academic and be a complete feminist. You know, I hope to change people’s way of thinking- that would be my greatest achievement, you know, if people can start to see things and be more open minded and aware. And also I’d like for people to see that women can be quite sexual and be quite happy. When they read the parts about my experiences and think well, you know, she’s not a victim. She controls it, she enjoys it…so what’s the harm in that. And if you’re sexually active it doesn’t make you a bad human being. Your sex life doesn’t reduce you down to a bad human being. I mean, a bad human being should be measured by how cruel or selfish or horrible they are, not what they do in bed. Maybe, hopefully, people will be able to see something in that when they read the book.

Buy ‘The Last Living Slut: Born in Iran, Bred Backstage’ on Amazon here.

Roxana’s MySpace
Roxana’s Facebook Fan Page

Genre(s): Interviews

3886Comments (2)2010-06-03+17%3A41%3A50hardrockchick

Melodic Metal Memorial Day: Dark Tranquillity, Threat Signal, Mutiny Within @ Slim’s, 5/31/10

by hardrockchick [about 3 months, 3 days ago.]

6:05pm: “Come to the back door.”

6:10pm: “Where is it?”

6:15pm: “It’s around the back, in an alley.”

6:16pm: “Off Folsom?”

Ring ring.

“Jamie- how do you not know where the backstage entrance is to Slim’s? Go around the side”.

“Oh.”

I walk up to the backstage door and am greeted by my friend Jeff and new to the area Darrell. We go inside, where our friends, Threat Signal, are still setting up. I’ve kept in touch with the band since interviewing them last time they were in town. The plan was to meet early for drinks- part Memorial Day celebration, part welcome party for Darrell, and come to find out, it would soon be TS guitarist Travis Montgomery’s birthday.

However, the band is stressed out because something is wrong with Travis’ gear. With rhythm guitarist Adam Weber tending to a family emergency, everyone is working on making Adam’s equipment work for Travis. I watch on helplessly as I take in this tidbit of life on the road.

We go down to the dressing room, where a handle of Crown Royal awaits us that Jeff brought for the evening. TS vocalist Jon Howard fixes us drinks- “say when”…..”Oh my god… WHEN!” Those of us not working on Travis’ gear talked metal for a while, which is when the moment I later had them redo for photographic purposes occurred (more later on that). Then came the part where drummer Norm Killeen started warming up to Lady Gaga, and I heard the first notes of the opener and we went upstairs.

Dark Tranquility / Threat Signal / Mutiny Within

Mutiny Within seem like really nice boys, but their music is just not for me. I just can’t deal with those vocals. Engaging performers and good musicians, though.

As Threat Signal got ready to take the stage, I crossed my fingers and toes for everything to go smoothly. As the screen lifted and the stage went dark, the beginning of Bon Jovi’s ‘Dead or Alive’ played. And then they hit the stage and everything fell into place. Playing with an angry fervor, they performed like they weren’t a man down or had experienced such technical difficulties. Jon worked the crowd, showing off his seamless ability to transition from scream to sing, dousing the crowd with water all along. Travis impressed with his stoic yet nimble guitar work, with a presence beyond his years. Bassist Pat Kavanagh’s ferocious headbanging made his presence known from the other side of the stage. And Norm’s drumming…well, let me put it this way: it didn’t look like it came from someone who warms up to Lady Gaga. I’d say maybe she makes him angry and want to hit stuff- but I know this isn’t true….

Threat Signal are about to join up with Goatwhore for a string of dates…really bummed out I don’t get to see that!

There was a funny moment right before Dark Tranquillity came on where the screen that comes down in front of the stage at Slim’s went up, everyone got excited for the set to start, and then it went back down again to our dismay. Moments later it came back up and the Swedes entered the stage. They had a screen projection in the back that generally functioned as an ad for their latest album, prominently displaying the name. I’m always impressed with the respect the Euro bands show when they play for us. They recalled that Slim’s was the first place they played in SF in 2002, and thanked the fans. There are times that I like DT, but then the melodic parts get too overpowering for my liking.

About a half hour into the set, it was noted that my drink was empty and we went back downstairs for more storytelling, tour videos, and discussion of a cover that TS needs to do of one of my all time favorite songs. Once the bottle of Crown was down to its last gasps, I reminded the guys that they promised to reenact a moment where they bowed to me earlier for a photo opp; and they made good on it….even Pat, who had no idea what was going on.

Thanks to TS, Jeff and Darrell for indulging me and giving me my Wayne’s World ‘we’re not worthy’ moment.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3878Comments (1)2010-06-02+06%3A26%3A01hardrockchick

Provoking the Ritual of Death: Goatwhore, Son of Aurelius @ The Blue Lagoon Santa Cruz, 5/26/10

by hardrockchick [about 3 months, 9 days ago.]

I sped through the rain-soaked, foggy Santa Cruz mountains watching the sun disappear. With the stereo cranked high, I tried to drown out the sound of myself, but my mind continued to race as fast as the car.

I have a lot on my mind.

Is it possible to be the happiest you’ve ever been, yet the most unsatisfied? It’s like the closer I get to making my dreams come true, the more frustrated I become. The clock is ticking. I want more, more, more, and I wanted it yesterday. I can see it, but I can’t touch it. So what do I do? What is next? How do I balance this with that?

The fog gets thicker, and as I skid around a sharp corner, I think about death.

Santa Cruz city limits. Strip malls are peppered with surfer culture. I navigate my way to The Blue Lagoon….which evokes no imagery of islands and Brooke Shields whatsoever.

The guy checks my ID at the door. “Where’s the girl on this ID? SHE needs to be here”. I killed her a long time ago, dude. After murdering him with my eyes, I enter the establishment. A long bar, a pool table, a room full of strangers. I have no idea where the stage is. I sit at the bar and grab a drink. People stare and I stare back harder.

Finally, I hear screaming, so I go towards the sound. After paying my $7, a guy takes too much time putting the wristband on my arm.

I stand there in my jeans and t-shirt, thinking about how three nights prior I was staring out the window of Soho House at the Hollywood Hills in a dress and heels surrounded by celebrity types. I love the high/low rollercoaster of my life- it keeps things in perspective- but sometimes I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore; or perhaps, who I want to be.

I’m not sure what the first two bands were called (they never said their names), but I’m certain they were local. Not bad, not great. The first one was death metal, complete with gauntlets. The second was more punk metal, and the guys looked like skaters. They also held up a sign at one point that had arrows going around in a circle, and the crowd obliged.

Between sets, I examined the venue. A long, narrow space not unlike SF’s Hemlock Tavern, it was mostly populated by a younger skewing metal crowd. I spotted a Slipknot hoodie and it made me sad. I also saw a couple making out against a wall for an entire set. What is it with all this metal show nookie I keep witnessing?

The third band was Son of Aurelius, who I had just seen open for Whitechapel a couple weeks ago. Apparently they had never played their hometown of Santa Cruz before. They sounded better here, but it’s still not my kind of metal. I had moved up front at this point. The pit got going, and since the stage is really low, people end up everywhere. The speaker stack by me started swaying, and someone steadied it from behind. Flying people knocked into me a few times, so I decided for the Goatwhore set, I’d move to the other side of the stage so I could balance on the wall. Big mistake.

This would be my third time seeing Goatwhore. Watching them set up, you can just tell what road warriors they are. The way they nonchalantly set up their equipment, nonverbally communicating with one another. What a hard life. But once the music begins, you can tell it’s what they love.

With the exception of us excited Goatwhores upfront, the rest of the crowd seemed to have thinned out. But once the music began, people streamed back in. I was getting into Ben’s commandeering of the crowd and Sammy’s bobblehead guitar playing when the pit started to get stupid. I’m all for a normal rough pit…I get it….but I’m pretty sure these people were doing dumb things just for the sake of doing them. There was the straight running and crashing into people, swinging arms around and hitting people on purpose, attempts at crowd surfing when there wasn’t a crowd to surf over, and my favorite- a duo of two guys, one holding the other and letting him just randomly kick people. I was pinned in a corner taking a beating most of the time, turned around trying to help regulate the pit. Both of my wrists were swollen from this, but it didn’t stop me from raising the claw during ‘Provoking the Ritual of Death’. Then I bailed to the back, where I was somehow still a magnet for flying limbs. It was just one of those nights. Plus, the two ‘security’ guys had to hold onto the speakers to keep them from falling over.

It was great to see a full length headlining set from these guys. For the most part, they went straight from one song into another, nonstop. They paid tribute to Dio. They asked what we’d like them to tell SoCal when they see them tomorrow, and the crowd’s response was something like ‘fuck you’.

The band sounded great. When I bailed to the back, I was standing near some guys from one of the openers. At one point, one leans to the other and goes, ‘how’d they get that sound??’

It was nearly 1am when the show wrapped up, and I limped back to my car for the hour drive home. With the iPod on shuffle, I tried to focus on singing along to everything. But every time I thought about a particular thing or person I’d told myself not to think about anymore, I killed the thought with a Goatwhore style blast beat. It worked pretty well.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3869Comments (1)2010-05-27+03%3A29%3A31hardrockchick

Fire In The Sky: Hypocrisy @ DNA Lounge, 5/16/10

by hardrockchick [about 3 months, 18 days ago.]

With 5 minutes to spare, I walked into the much more sparsely crowded, heavier atmosphere of the DNA Lounge to see Hypocrisy.

I was supposed to see Hypocrisy last year with Ensiferum, but due to visa issues, they had to drop off the tour. They were actually supposed to do the tour with Children of Bodom’s Alexi Laiho on guitar, which would have been interesting. But after experiencing this set last night, I’m happy to have waited 6 months for it, and have it delivered sans Alexi.

The Swedes had a shaky start, as the bassist had to bail up the stairs (which is always weird, but that’s the layout of DNA) to have an issue fixed. But after that, they proceeded to completely blow my mind.

Going from Airbourne to BFMV to Hypocrisy shows the breadth of metal my taste encompasses, but all sets were especially pleasing tonight. Perhaps everyone was in a special place because of Dio, and the spirit at the shows was better for it.

Hypocrisy is not a showy band, like I had just witnessed over at the Regency. They are very focused and deliberate. This set was all about getting lost in the live sound crashing over us. The guitars sang, the drums pounded; it was dramatic without the theater…..an intensity I craved.

Vocalist Peter Tagtgren dedicated the final song, ‘Fire In The Sky’, to Dio, giving a little speech about him. There was a point in the song where it paused, and everyone…and I mean EVERYONE…raised their horns. I had chills.

The show was over before midnight, and I walked home in the cold fog to clear my head.

You know, it’s amazing that I arrived at the Regency at 7pm, saw three bands, made some new friends, took some fun pictures, went to a second show and saw another amazing band…..all in 5 hours. 5 hours that most people spent sitting on their couch watching television. Life is way to short to not spend doing….anything but watching television. Every second counts.

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

3856Comments (0)2010-05-18+05%3A43%3A11hardrockchick

Accentuated: Bullet For My Valentine, Chiodos, Airbourne @ The Regency Ballroom, 5/16/10

by hardrockchick [about 3 months, 18 days ago.]

The dreaded Regency Ballroom security.

I remembered to remove the pack of gum and the pen from my bag, but I forgot my meal replacement bar, since, you know, I don’t eat dinner when I’m at these shows. They made me throw it away. I laughed at the ridiculousness, shook my head, and then the security lady called me back to spit out my gum. So stupid.

I stick my photo pass on right before Airbourne hits the stage. The Regency Ballroom is pretty much the only place where I’ll photograph in the pit- it’s big enough where I won’t interfere with the real photographers, and the light is ok for my shitty camera. I ran into Alan, who hands me a poster he got Bullet For My Valentine to personalize and sign for me earlier at their meet and greet. So thoughtful!

Airbourne, simply put, made me smile. They are from Australia, and yes, they sound A LOT like that other band from Australia that starts with the same letter. But they are fun to watch. They have classic rock star moves, great energy, and catchy, anthemic songs that remind you about what you love about rock ‘n roll. As I was shooting them, I kept getting distracted just watching them so much that most of my pics didn’t turn out. That, and they move around a lot. This is the kind of band that could handle a stadium and lots of pyro, but this ballroom suited them as well. At the end, lead singer Joel O’Keeffe took a beer, shook it up, and sprayed it all over the crowd….and the crowd…went….wild.

It’s interesting that a mere 20 hours before I was watching another Australian band of a very different variety of metal.

Between sets, Alan told me Airbourne was by merch so I went and got a picture taken. Love the Australian accents!

Chiodos are from…Michigan. I thought they were gonna be a Latin band to fit with the worldly rock theme here. Judging by the outfits worn by the screaming girls up front, coupled with the beats that came on for a bit as they set up, I figured this band would be ‘not for me’. But I did take some pictures.

After the first three songs, I went and grabbed a drink and spent the rest of the set chatting with various friends, where the death of Dio was heavy on everyone’s minds. Well, except for the couple making out hardcore standing in the middle of the floor by merch…..seriously, they looked like they were going to eat each other!

I’ve spent quite a bit of time informing people that Bullet For My Valentine is not an emo band. They are a metal band- and a good one at that. I got into them last summer while on my Mayhem Fest trek. Love the Welsh accents, too.

The show was sold out, and the boys entered the stage dramatically to a very enthusiastic crowd. They began with a song off their new album, ‘Your Betrayal’. This was my second time photographing them, and they are a fun band to shoot. After the three songs, I watched from the side of the stage. As I had another show to go to, I was happy to hear ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ and ‘All These Things’, but especially ’4 Words (To Choke Upon)’ early in the set. There was a lot of crowdsurfer action and girls getting pulled out of the pit for getting crushed. See- metal…not emo!

It was cool to see them headline a show after seeing them as an opener several times. There was a difference confidence about them. They were celebrating the recent announcement that their album charted at #3, which is quite an accomplishment in this day and age.