Date: November 20, 2010
Venue: The Parlor, Austin TX
Bands: Black Thorn Halo, Death Rites 666, Hexlust
Mr Tony Rivera, one of Hexlust's top supporters, was throwing a birthday bash for his daughter Ana, and chose Hexlust as the main act! We were of course happy to show some love to the man who dragged himself all the way to Killeen from his home in San Antonio just to watch us play, and we were looking forward to playing at the Parlor for the first time since one of our first Austin shows in the summer of '08.
Tonight was also a special occasion in that we were set to debut "Fucked By Fire." This was a song that first took form in the spring of 2008 and spent two and a half years getting re-structured, re-written, argued over, shelved, forgotten about, re-visited, shelved again, and finally brought to satisfactory completion this fall. It is a very dynamic song with a very strong hook, so we were eagerly anticipating the audience's reaction.
BLACK THORN HALO
Admittedly, we spent the majority of Black Thorn Halo's set outside, catching up with friends and getting advice for band-related matters like t-shirt making and acquiring gear for home demo recordings. We did go inside to catch a song or two, though. They had quite a setup going on in there, the kind of gear you'd expect to find on a "full stage," such as floor monitors, floor lights, and a fog machine, set up on the floor of the Parlor right there by the front door. The music itself was well-executed, with everyone in the band obviously being an experienced, very able musician, but not really my cup of tea.
DEATH RITES 666
Dedicated to "public mockery of all that is holy," Death Rites 666 kicked the extremity level up a notch as we unloaded our gear onto the sidewalk outside of The Parlor. Usually, setting up gear means I don't get a good earful of a band playing at the time, but places like the Parlor and the Ten Eleven, with the stage right by the front door, consistently allow me to listen to a performance while still being able to focus on getting my kit together. Ingesting the riffs and analyzing the influences, I heard two bands in DR666's sound: Kreator, and Slayer.
Before you jump on me, please know that I'm well aware that Slayer is a metal-influence cliche, cited by bands who are looking for a more "extreme" name to counteract their obvious Sevendust jackoffery and by "reviewers" who haven't listened to enough metal to know the difference between a riff played by Scott Ian and one played by Andreas Kisser. I seriously hear inspiration from the best moments of "Hell Awaits" and "South of Heaven" in their music, fantastic rhythmic riffing and blistering solos, thick meaty drum beats seasoned with tastefully-placed fills. Come on, watch this video and tell me you don't hear that!
HEXLUST
Thankfully, the guys from Death Rites 666 were also super cool, allowing me to use their drum throne since I neglected to bring my own. Setting up in the Parlor felt just like it did two and a half years ago: HOT. The place isn't that big, so no matter where you are, you're pissin' distance from the ovens. Bottled water was a necessity in our packing today. I'd have to say the funniest part of setting up was when the sound guy/manager asked us where we were from. When we told him Killeen, he revealed that he went to Killeen High and was close friends with our buddy Frank, whom you readers may remember from a long ago post as the drummer for Robots Are Evil. Small world.
The intro song, "Toxic High," and "Hellhammer" went as smooth as to be expected, considering how long we've been playing them. "FBF" made its debut in our usual first-time-live style: stiff and awkward! Also, while it's pretty much a rule in Hexlust that Tony's gonna mess up the lyrics to any song we're playing for the first time, he took it even further this time by brain-farting on the entire second verse and chorus. I saw more than a few heads bobbing during the chorus, though, and full-on headbanging during the fast middle section, so I'd say this premiere was a relative success.
After a clean run-through of "Baphomet Dawn," it was time for the evening's special surprise: Having Jeff A.D. come up and provide vocals for our cover of Sodom's "Agent Orange"! We felt quite honored to be joined by a man who's been a contributing member of the Texas metal scene since the early 90s and has traveled the world playing in or tech'ing for so many awesome bands, and sporting such an awesome Sodom shirt too! We made sure to bring our A game.
That whole "A game" shit lasted til about halfway through the song. If you listen to the video closely, you can hear the precise moment during the big double-bassing part where the pin completely slips out of my kick pedal, a problem that has become commonplace in our rehearsals since August. Usually I remember to take a quick second to push the sucker back into place between songs, but this evening I was too caught up in the moment to remember such a thing. I paid for it with an embarrassingly long silence during that held-chord moment where Jeff comes back in, during which I leaned down to slide the pin back in, slipped and completely fell over backwards, righted myself, and finished fixing the pedal. I counted us in and finished the song, wondering if, under the dim lights, anyone could see how bright red my face was.
After finishing "Tombs of the Blind Dead," we put on our serious faces about starting to pack it in, since we knew the Parlor only stayed open so late and we were pushing the time limit as it was. The audience, particularly Tony, was adamant about hearing one more song though, so after a second of deliberation we threw out "Sodomy and Lust," a tune we've rehearsed about as many times as I've tuned my drums (as in, "on a whim"). So objectively the performance was dodgy at best, but the crowd dug it and that's what matters.
POST-SHOW / CLOSING THOUGHTS
First on our list of thanks and shout-outs for this evening is the birthday girl herself. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANA! Sorry we couldn't get the Possessed songs down in time. Nailing those suckers is harder than it seems. Thanks to Tony and Victor, for putting on this show and being such fervent supporters of all that we do; to the good people at the Parlor, for the free pizza and for patiently allowing us to continue playing past closing ours (sorry about that); Jeff and Erika, for taking time out of their busy schedules to support a band of dorky thrash novices; Michael Barton, for bringing us to the Parlor the first time as a part of Boogdish and coming back to support us as an audience member and impromptu roadie; to Death Rites 666, for the drum throne I may or may not have damaged when I took my tumble; and to everyone in that audience, for cramming themselves into that place to watch us thrash around for 40 minutes. Until next time!
