Date: July 30, 2010
Venue: The Pedicab, San Antonio TX
Bands: Aggravator, Bastardwolf, Hexlust, Insinnerator, Vektor
PRE-SHOW
In two years of playing gigs in San Antonio, we had never before heard of this place called the Pedicab. Never seen it on a flier, or heard of other bands playing there, not even a mention in conversations with other headbangers about cool places to play around here, and that made us a little bit nervous. It meant this place was either a hidden gem or total shitsville when it came to hosting live shows.
It turns out the place was a kind of bar and grill establishment which had a stage and PA perfect for live performances... of small, not-metal acts. Like, if the Violent Femmes came through San Antonio, this place would be perfect for them. The stage itself was definitely one of the smallest stages we've played on in our time of live gigging, I think even tinier than the one at Headhunters. The PA included one mic for vocals, a kick mic, and I think even a snare mic, plus a monitor at the back of the stage, which I did appreciate.
So, on to the load-in. We parked across the street, where a free public parking lot was set up in a grassy area. The Pedicab itself is located at the top of a long uphill driveway, with few parking spots (already taken) and some picnic tables set up just outside the place, forming the bar's outdoor dining area. Direct entry to the bar is accessed by either a small staircase or a long handicap ramp, and facilitated through a small door. The stage is located at the far back wall, way on the other side of the restaurant, so once equipment is brought through the front door, it must then be dragged around and even through a group of tables and chairs before finally being set up.
What all this lead up to was us lugging amps, guitars, drums, and stands across the street, up the drive, up the stairs/ramp, and through the tiny door. We weren't the first band so getting it across the room would come later. Of course, we could have just driven our vehicles up the driveway, parked temporarily in front of the place, and loaded in from there. We didn't think of this at the time because we're stupid that way.
This is us. EVERY DAY.
AGGRAVATOR/BASTARDWOLF
Aggravator were playing as we got there, so unfortunately I won't have much of anything to say about them this evening. Bastardwolf took the stage as I was setting up my kit outside the Pedicab, so once again I was to only listen to this great band play their oddly endearing mix of thrash, doom, and sludge. To this day I have no idea what those guys actually look like or how they perform; I have just the music, the megaton rhythms, the occasional duel harmonies, the madman vocals, the singable riffs. One of these days Hexlust and Bastardwolf are going to play a bill and have a band between us so I can finally put an image to the sounds in my head, granting me complete appreciation for these guys.
HEXLUST
From the moment we started playing, I knew this wasn't going to be a solid gold gig. On the surface everything was perfectly fine: all the gear was in place, the tunes started at a and ended at b, and the audience was responsive and mobile. But underneath it all, within ourselves, something was off. Maybe our annoyance from the obstacle-course load-in was taking its toll on our stage mindset; could also be that the time taken to get here and set up gear left very little space in the schedule for warming up; hell, maybe it was just time for an off-night. 2010 had up to this point been an almost flawless year for Hexlust performances, so we were probably just due for an underwhelming set to uphold the balance of the universe or some such mystical shit I don't understand.
Despite the pervasive feeling of mediocrity, as I said before, the songs themselves started and ended on the same note, with very few hiccups, and with positive, active audience response. At one point, however, we ran into an actual crisis that threatened to tear the whole thing down and bring about the much-dreaded event of a band stopping a song due to confusion and unfixable fuckuppery. In the middle of "Baphomet Dawn," during Tarzan's vocal part, he got lost.
From what I can understand, he had been running on auto-pilot, as the rest of us were by this point, and had mysteriously come back to consciousness mid-sentence, with no actual clue what he was supposed to be singing or playing. The vocals and riff meandered, waking the rest of us up and causing one of the guitarists (I forget who) to get off-track as well. I dug in and started counting out loud, knowing that if I went too badly astray then we were done for. Thankfully it all smoothed back out, and with the exception of Tony getting lost in the midst of his own guitar solo just seconds later, we finished the rest of that and the remaining tunes confusion-free.
Something else that must be said. One of the more obvious sources of discontentment was the presence of only one vocal mic, which was connected to the nearby sound booth on a cord that was about four feet long. This put Tony on the far right side of the stage, which would have been fine if we hadn't already set up the amps with his pedals in the middle. Switching channels and effects, not to mention trading off vocal parts, involved an uncomfortable amount of spot-shuffling between him and Tarzan.
Now, I shit you not, here's Tarzan earlier that very day: "Hey Dart, do you think we should bring our own mics and cables, just in case?"
Here's me in response: "Nah, dude, it'll be fine."
INSINNERATOR
We missed Insinnerator when we played in Ft Worth due to an impending storm and a sense of "Man, we still have to drive three hours back to Killeen." I resolved that with this show, I would load back up as quickly as humanly possible and get back inside to catch these very able thrashers in action. Unfortunately, even with our newly-acquired sagacity in parking the vehicles in front of the venue, navigating gear across the restaurant and out the door still took more time than usual, and saying goodbye to Tony took up even more time. That's right, our fearless leader had to take off due to relationship commitments. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if he hadn't badly wanted to stay and watch Insinnerator and Vektor, but I guess that's the cost of devoting oneself to another. (EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: I feel secure in including that thought as that relationship has since ended.)
I made it back inside to catch maybe the last two songs of Insinnerator's set. Very energetic, nonstop speed, and a constantly moshing crowd. Chris Atomic Thrasher is a monster on guitar, has bounds of energy and a huge, perpetual smile on his face, and Juan Speed more than lives up to his name on the drums. He's not a big fill guy, but tempo consistency is the name of the game in drums, and this guy does a fantastic job of keeping a constant thrash pulse going.
VEKTOR
After missing out on the majority of Vektor's set last time we played with them, I was determined to view this highly talented band's performance in its entirety. From my vantage point beside the stage, behind the PA speakers, I was able to appreciate the nuances of the players and still hear every instrument, while not getting moshed into. I envied Blake's splattering of technique across a minimalist drum kit; marveled at David and Erik's guitar wizardy, both individually and as a harmonized team; and got up-close insight into Frank's ability to switch from "traditional" root-note plucking to a more "progressive" third-guitar style.
"Forest of Legend" was the highlight of the main set. It was this tune that had the beautiful clean-guitar part I caught a glimpse of on that very cold night six months ago, and to hear that piece fit in with the rest of the wonderfully structured tune put a big stupid grin on my face that remained for the rest of the evening. The show's second highlight came after Vektor said their first goodnight; the audience wanted more, and the guys professed that the only song they had left to play was "Accelerating Universe," the album's thirteen-minute final track. The crowd was game, and thankfully so was the band, who led us through almost a quarter hour of David's most insane shrieks, a lengthy, psychedelic middle section, and that odd chorus riff that sounds like Woody Woodpecker's distinctive cackle.
POST-SHOW
We spent some time hanging out after the show, talking with audience members and the guys from Vektor, who were just as friendly and easygoing as they were last time. We couldn't dally for too long, however, as JT hadn't moved into his San Antonio digs yet and we still had a long drive home ahead of us. Our next scheduled show is more on our home turf, at the Lone Star in Temple, so I am very much looking forward to getting home at a relatively decent time. Like 2:30, as opposed to 5:00.
