Another flier by Tarzan!
"Official" flier
Date: May 1, 2010
Venue: Music Vault, Harker Heights TX
Playing With: American Lab Rat, Untitled We Stand, Killing In Apathy, Dear Cyanide, PainFilled Silent, Periwinkle Massacre
Venue: Music Vault, Harker Heights TX
Playing With: American Lab Rat, Untitled We Stand, Killing In Apathy, Dear Cyanide, PainFilled Silent, Periwinkle Massacre
PRE-SHOW
When we arranged to play May 1 at the Music Vault, we did the usual thing of telling all our friends, slapping the flier on MySpace, and of course putting in our requests off at work. It worked out for everyone, except JT. He had scheduled a meet with a counselor at the mortuary school he wanted to attend, which happened to be the week of or after the show, and Starbucks was only letting him have time off for one event: either the gig or the counselor meet. He went with the latter, and Hexlust were, for the first time ever, playing a show as a three-piece.
When we arranged to play May 1 at the Music Vault, we did the usual thing of telling all our friends, slapping the flier on MySpace, and of course putting in our requests off at work. It worked out for everyone, except JT. He had scheduled a meet with a counselor at the mortuary school he wanted to attend, which happened to be the week of or after the show, and Starbucks was only letting him have time off for one event: either the gig or the counselor meet. He went with the latter, and Hexlust were, for the first time ever, playing a show as a three-piece.
Some people love the hell out of "power trios," especially in thrash metal, and for the life of me I can not figure out why. Sure, on the recordings everything sounds ok, but that's because the artists can beef up the tones and multi-track guitars. Live, the one guitar usually sounds very thin and naked, and it's awkward come solo time because, unless the bass is beefy enough to be heard well, all the backing rhythm just drops out altogether. Hexlust started off as a trio, and I wanted so bad for so long to find a second guitarist. I wanted a thick rhythm sound, and multiple leads. JT's arrival was an answer to my prayers, and now we were having to do without him. We knew this would end up being weird and awkward, so we actually did the opposite of "good promoting," telling our friends not to show up unless they were willing to watch a half hour of us looking confused.
Considering the prospected result, the set times actually worked to our favor. We were originally slotted for second, but the Periwinkle Massacre didn't show up in time. We were bumped to opening band, allowed to load directly onto the stage, and proceeded with the assurance that our set would be over by the time the crowd started thickening. Now all we had to do was get through the performance itself.
HEXLUST
At first, things didn’t feel too off, with the intro and most of “Toxic High” working well enough with just one guitar. It did feel a bit weird without the thickness happening, but rhythmically everything was as it usually is. I actually started to feel comfortable. Until the solos. Tony of course performed his lead with panache and confidence, a thing of beauty. When it came time to perform JT’s solo, Tony was forced to improvise, relying mostly on scale runs. Turns out the J-Tizzle’s style wasn’t very easy to imitate at all, and Tony was left grasping at straws. Hey, it was better than Chuck Schuldiner playing empty rhythm parts and looking unhappy.
At first, things didn’t feel too off, with the intro and most of “Toxic High” working well enough with just one guitar. It did feel a bit weird without the thickness happening, but rhythmically everything was as it usually is. I actually started to feel comfortable. Until the solos. Tony of course performed his lead with panache and confidence, a thing of beauty. When it came time to perform JT’s solo, Tony was forced to improvise, relying mostly on scale runs. Turns out the J-Tizzle’s style wasn’t very easy to imitate at all, and Tony was left grasping at straws. Hey, it was better than Chuck Schuldiner playing empty rhythm parts and looking unhappy.
"Hellhammer" ran smoothly, with Tarzan’s distorted bass filling in most of the thickness. We skipped JT’s solo altogether, charging from the end of Tony's middle-section lyrics straight into the Celtic-Frost-influenced breakdown. “Baphomet Dawn” was pulled off by skipping JT’s first solo and shortening the intro riff by four reps. Tony awkwardly performed JT's middle solo, which thankfully is very short, and then was allowed to comfortably play his own. The funny part was that Tarzan got the inspiration to try something Sabbath-y and so some noodley, scale-climbing bass lines under Tony's lead, as opposed to just playing the riff. It just sounded weird and after a while he went back to just playing the riff.
“Agent Orange” never felt truer to Sodom’s performance than it did on this night, haha. Playing the leads turned out to be no problem; Hexlust had been playing "Sodomy and Lust" since before JT joined, with Tony doing the whole solo that went from the verse into the chorus, and let's face it, "Agent" is the same damn thing. Our rip-roaring finale, "Tombs," was surprisingly easy to pull off. JT has two leads during this tune; Tony just didn't play the first one, and for the second "long" one, we just cut that part out altogether. The lack of awkwardness allowed us to finish the set strong, throwing our usual confidence and energy in for one last hurrah to end this weird experiment.
POST-SHOW
Yeah, we totally left after our set, compensation be damned*. Tony's girlfriend had brought friends, and they wanted to go out for some food. Tarzan didn't feel like staying, my ever-supportive parents decided to move on to another bar, and I sure as hell didn't want to be left there by myself. I would have stayed to support PainFilled SIlent, but they were going on much later in the show. I made a mental promise to stay for their set the next time we played together, and absconded for IHOP with Tony's group.
Yeah, we totally left after our set, compensation be damned*. Tony's girlfriend had brought friends, and they wanted to go out for some food. Tarzan didn't feel like staying, my ever-supportive parents decided to move on to another bar, and I sure as hell didn't want to be left there by myself. I would have stayed to support PainFilled SIlent, but they were going on much later in the show. I made a mental promise to stay for their set the next time we played together, and absconded for IHOP with Tony's group.
I certainly hope we never have to pull this "power trio" nonsense again. The dynamic may work for other bands, but Hexlust were meant to be a two-guitar ensemble. Even getting away from the whole "sound" issue, the stage presence and balance were thrown off. It's no secret that JT brings a lot to the table in terms of energy and shenanigans, and it just looks right with him and Tarzan windmilling on either side of Tony. Now that I think about it, that would be the upside to this whole show: it gave us a deeper awareness and appreciation for what each of us contributes to this band, something I sure will never take for granted again.
*For those not in the know, bands usually get paid by having at least one member stick around until the show's ever, when all the door money can be divvied up.
PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE
"Can everybody hear me?"
The Vault's sound crew
The Hex-Trio attacks!
"Can everybody hear me?"
The Vault's sound crew
The Hex-Trio attacks!
