Date: January 24, 2011
Venue: The Korova, San Antonio TX
Playing With: Sturmgewehr, Aggravator, Bonded By Blood
PRE-SHOW
After a year and a half of performing in San Antonio after which we had to make the long drive back to Killeen, we finally had a reliable place to stay overnight in our most frequently-played city! Yes folks, our JT had moved and settled into his new apartment, which, yes, meant that we don't get to practice with him as much anymore, but also means we have a central base of operations for our SA gigs, complete with a bathroom, a microwave, NetFlix, and within a close proximity to Taco Bell and Jack In The Box. We have a home away from home.
Following an hour or so of bro'ing it up and watching The Office, we loaded JT's vehicle with amps and guitars and set off for The Korova, a venue at which we had never played before but about which we had heard good things in the meantime. Boy, every one of those good things we heard spoke the truth! Although parking was horribly limited, the venue itself was very spacious, plenty of room for an audience and gear storage. It had a large stage, with a small staircase on each side, and a patient sound tech in possession of plenty of mic's and metal sound know-how. This was shaping up to be one hell of a gig.
STURMGEWEHR
First band up for the evening were local blackened punkers Sturmgewehr. Don't ask me how that's pronounced. According to those who had seen them before, tonight's performance was an improvement over their past shows, which was weird for me to hear because I was underwhelmed. Then again, I've never been much of a punk fan. One aspect of the band that was simultaneously intriguing and disturbing was the drummer, who was intriguing for staying on his crash/ride throughout the whole set, but disturbing for having a hi-hat set up which he almost never used, not even to stomp on for timekeeping purposes. Could be that he was making an artistic statement about how having and not needing is better than needing and not having, a very subtle stab at gun control maybe? Either way, I'm not a fan.
Tony loved the hell out of them, though, said he loved how the drummer reminded him of Mick Harris. I'm don't like Mick Harris; dude reminds me of someone's obnoxious younger brother, following the older kids around and being a nuisance. There was like a whole year Tony spent going around and quoting Mick, saying things were "chuffed" and "pinged" and "ready for rhino charge," a year I spent smiling politely and wishing I had more of a backbone. Good times.
I do want to take this moment to apologize to Sturmgewehr and anyone enjoying them. I was off to the side, warming up on my drum kit with practice pads on my drums and lightly clicking my hi-hats. Light as I was trying to be, my friends reported that they could hear my noise loud and clear throughout the set. I am sincerely sorry for seeming obnoxious at all, I really didn't intend to seem like such a dick.
AGGRAVATOR
Our friends in Aggravator took the stage, with what appeared to be a new addition to the lineup: another guitarist! This dude had one of the tightest picking techniques I've seen in the local metal scene, and could sweep like nobody's business. In fact, he was so good he almost seemed out of place, belonging more in a tech-death outfit than a raw thrash band. Of course, upon talking to the guys later, we found out that this dude, Jesse, has been a part of the lineup, and I guess he just happened to not be able to make it the last couple times we played with Aggravator..
Anyway, these guys were the first real kickstart to the heart of the show, bringing about the evening's first mosh pits and getting some very enthusiastic cheers. For good reason too! With two guitars, the always-catchy were much beefier, yet not so thick as to overshadow the well-placed bass runs and fills (which I hadn't noticed before, yet another pleasant surprise from Aggravator) and the brilliantly executed solos added to the frantic energy already laid down by Mike's drumming and Derek's vocals. In fact, they got such a great response, I honestly was scared that the audience would be too juiced up on technical solos and concise songwriting to sit patiently through our wacky structures and whammy-fuck solos.
HEXLUST
I needn't have worried. From the moment we started playing the intro we had a fantastic audience response, and there were quite a few mosh pits going on during "Toxic High." Things got slightly confusing during "Hellhammer" when Tarzan continued playing a riff after the rest of us had transitioned into another, but he recovered well and nobody in the audience seemed to notice. Our sophomore performance of "Fucked By Fire" went more smoothly than before, with Tony still messing up on lyrics but actually remembering to sing all the verses and choruses this time.
Following a smooth rendition of "Baphomet Dawn," we performed "Imminent Retardation" for the first time in a little over a year. This song is very love-and-hate for us; we adore it for its short running time, consistent speed, wacky riffs, and the many fills I play in it, not to mention the ending trade-off solos. However, it is exactly those reasons which make this song a mixed bag when performing it. On a good night with great sound, "I.R." is headbanging heaven, but if even one of us is having an "off" night that throws the dynamic off, and/or the venue's sound is muddy, the song comes across as incoherent and messy, just three minutes of goofy white noise. We are therefore rather selective with the instances in which we perform it, and tonight's gig, being basically a night of thrash worship, seemed like the perfect opportunity. Thankfully this was very much an "on" night for Hexlust, with a very capable sound tech at the helm, so this... just odd song of ours was given a worthy performance and reception.
After blasting through "Tombs" and doing our typical drawn-out stinger, we were ready to pack it in for the night. The audience, however, weren't having any of that, and one dude actually jumped onstage to get on the mic and demand that we "play some fuckin' Sodom!" After checking with those in charge that it was okay to do one more song (cuz we was raised right), we launched into "Agent Orange," which seems to be very quickly becoming our most preferred cover. Hey, not like we're complaining, that song is a blast to play and always gets fantastic crowd participation!
BONDED BY BLOOD
I honestly didn't get to see much of the evening's headlining act; packing up our gear took a little longer than expected, and JT was ready to leave not long after we were finished, having been up since four that morning or something. What little I did see, though, left me slightly disappointed. Not necessarily in the music, I've never been wowed by Exodus or Testament so I didn't expect to be by a band strongly influenced by them. I was more disappointed by their stage presence and attitude. Some of the members, particularly one of the guitarists and the bassist, looked positively bored, which I personally don't think I would be able to be if I were in one of if not the most popular band in the new wave of modern thrash.
Of course, I don't know the musicians personally. Hell, maybe those guys just have a Pat O'Brien-esque way of showing enthusiasm. I am also still very naive to the "rigors of the road," my band plays like one show a month so we've never really experienced anything along the lines of burnout. I'm sure they have a reason for putting on a "blah" face and only managing an occasional half-assed headbang while performing with excellent technique (I swear that guitarist's wrist never once moved) in a roaringly popular, headlining band. I just hope it's a damn good one.
I guess it doesn't matter anyway, most of the audience seemed bored as well. I specifically remember, as I was running back inside to make sure I had collected all the pieces of my kit, the lead vocalist enticing the audience members to put up their horns. Many in the crowd barely even put up their arms.
POST SHOW
We made it back to JT's place and settled in for bowls of Cripsy Rice, more episodes of "The Office," and the usual dick-and-fart-joke-laden buffoonery in which Hexlust heavily indulge in lieu of alcohol and women. Not that we'd argue with having a woman in the mix. Okay, multiple women; if there was just one, she'd most likely end up in JT's bedroom, a possibility enforced by the fact that he actually has a bedroom whereas the rest of us share a living room. Nothing says "sweet lovin'" like the friction-squeaking of Tony's air mattress, am I right?
