Date: Saturday, April 19, 2008Venue: Area 51, Harker Heights, TX
Bands: The Shfux, Beyond Gods and Empires, Hexlust
Setlist:
-Intro
-Troops
-Toxic
-ED
-Tombs
-Baphomet
-HH
-Sodomy
"Baphomet" refers to "Baphomet Dawn," our most mid-tempo song to date, written during a period of time when Tony had a technicality freak-out and decided to write something with a little more complexity in the riffage. "HH" stands for Hellhammer, a song written as a tribute to (you guessed it) Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost. This song was written immediately following Tony's technical kick, a simple song with simple riffs played with the guitars deliberately sounding like crap.
FORETHOUGHT
It's a story as old as time itself. I think. A stroke of extraordinarily good luck followed right up by a stroke of horrifically bad luck. We came back to Area 51 with high hopes, looking forward to the awesomeness that would have been us performing again with two brand-spankin' new songs in tow.
Well…
PRE-SHOW
We arrive at 6:45 and… they're not ready. No prob, still early. James and Branden showed up and we hung out in the parking lot waiting for something to happen. All of us are in a loose, optimistic mood. Our last outing at Area 51 was a screaming success, so how could this be any worse? It's the same club, same staff, only no manager screaming in our ear. To pass the time we headed across the street to the Mickey's in search of nourishment.
Around 7:30 we got the call to bring our gear in. We load our stuff into the club and pile it into a corner. Since there are three bands, there's no way in hell we're all gonna set up onstage and soundcheck right then and there, so this part is way easy. Speaking of three bands, Beyond Gods and Empires haven't shown up yet, but they're from Austin, so there's really no problem with that at all. While we're getting our equipment in, word starts to get around that there are no microphones, which will prove to be a problem for any band that happens to have a vocalist. Willing to lend a helping hand, Tony and I set out for his house to retrieve the microphones we use at practice; three minutes later JT calls us back, saying they somehow acquired some.
THE SHFUX
By the time Tony and I get back, my parents have arrived, so we spend a while milling about outside and BSing. Finally, it's time for the Shfux to get onstage and do what they do well. And believe you, me, they did it very well indeed. The middle of their set saw all of Hexlust, plus James, in the front row headbanging, a trend which continued through to the end of their set.
BEYOND GODS AND EMPIRES
Beyond Gods and Empires took to the stage next, and from the very get-go I was pissed. Not that there was anything wrong with the band, mind you; in terms of sheer energy and stage presence they had us all beat. But not even twenty seconds into their first song, I'm blindsided by an impromptu three-person mosh pit and knocked onto our gear, piled up on the side of the dance floor. I land on my cymbal stands and my first thought is "Well, that's it, here comes a sprained ankle or wrist that shoots my performance right to hell." Thankfully, I'm fine, but not a happy panda, so I head outside to cool off.
Somehow JT has made it out before I have, where he sits warming up on his guitar and talking to his mom. I sat near him and began to have this weird nagging thought, about the loads of lag-time we've experienced, the odd placement of other equipment, not to mention the stroke of bad luck on my behalf concerning my location relative to the mosh pit… did it all mean something? Was it an omen of our later performance?
HEXLUST
BGAE finish up with one hell of an extended stinger and get their stuff loaded up. Now comes the moment we've all been waiting for (and by "we" I mean myself and my bandmates): Hexlust get up and prepare for their first headlining show evar. And boy howdy have we prepared in advance for it. I myself am proudly unveiling a stripped down version of my Pulse kit, complete with bigger toms for a boomier sound. As I'm setting up, I realize that my drums aren't being mic'd; no prob, they weren't last time either and it proved to be no major hindrance. Then I notice Tony's amp being placed in front of my bass drum; this strikes me as odd, hell even just plumb wrong, but no time to sweat the small stuff, got a drum kit to set up and an intro to count off.
We made it through the intro song with only a minor screw-up on one part; so far, so good. "Troops," being the fantastic warm-up song that it is, went by with few to no problems and decent audience reaction. And then problems started happening. Immediately after "Troops" I realized that my double bass pedal had malfunctioned in a way that had nothing to do with how high the pedal was (the typical problem). I lean over to fix it, deciding to use Tony's announcement of "Toxic" as my signal to come back up and count off the song. Seconds go by with nothing, and I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Tony's taking a little too much of a dramatic pause. I look up and realize that he has indeed announced the song without my hearing it and they're waiting on me to count off. Fuck!
OK, I haven't pinpointed the source of the problem, but that's alright, "Toxic" has almost no double-bassing anyway, I have all the way until "Tombs" to fix it. Playing the song, however, I recognize another problem: Nobody can hear me. Maybe the audience can, but my bass-drum-reliant bandmates can hear nothing but the occasional snare-and-crash hit. For a song as simple as "Toxic High," that's not a major problem, but things are gonna get sticky in "Evil Dead" when I start throwing in more frequent fills and speed changes.
During the between-song pause I fiddle with my bass drum some more and find the problem: the stick thingy which connects the "slave" pedal to the "master" pedal has come completely off. I take my time fixing it since I don't have to listen for Tony to announce "Evil Dead", I just have to wait for JT to start up the guitar intro. And, just as I feared, "Evil Dead" ended up a complete mess, with nobody able to follow my rhythms accurately. Eek.
Of all the songs we play, "Tombs" is my personal favorite, just in terms of my playing, so I was dead-set on making it work. And for the most part I did, the drum rhythm in this song is more steady and less hectic, and I kept my fills to a minimum. "Baphomet" followed in similar fashion, I think they actually heard me in this one.
"Hellhammer" was probably the second most-painful song of the evening to play, only because JT jumped the gun at one part and went right into another riff, leaving the rest of us confused, but able to pick it back up quickly. I don't worry too much about this one; watching the footage my dad shot, the audience didn't seem to notice.
And finally, "Sodomy." My most fill-laden song, it would be a big worry if it wasn't the song we in Hexlust have been playing the absolute longest of any song in the list. Boom, boom, build speed, solos, big stinger finish, and curtain.
POST-SHOW
Well, we didn't make any money. We were supposed to get $2 for every person that walked in the door that evening, but due to a miscommunication, BGAE made off with the whole jackpot. Which actually isn't too bad, neither of us is relying on show income to pay bills and that band is from Austin, if anyone needs the gas money it's them. Still, it just served as an unpleasant cap on an even less-pleasant evening.
JT, Tony, Keith, James, Branden, and I all went back to my place and talked about what had happened that evening. Tonight had been a disappointment, but at the same time wasn't a disaster. Looking back at the footage, we really weren't that bad, it was just a few technical problems that stood in the way of awesomeness. Branden ended up staying the night but the rest of them went home, all of us in Hexlust confident that our show at Club Spontaneous the following week would go much smoother.
For this show I'd like to thank everyone who came to this one, spent $7 at the door, and spent the entire show playing pool in the back; you guys are what keep us going. Johnny the Friday Knight, for his continuing support; my parents (especially my dad for the video footage) and JT's parents, just for showing up; Sue, for the pictures taken; James and Branden, for being awesome roadies; Michael and his girlfriend whose name escapes me, for staying up front even though she needed earplugs; and of course Jade, who has come to more of our shows than anyone else I know.
AFTERTHOUGHT
I didn't see much of the guys after that night.
JT moved away. He's gay now.
Tony runs the Temple Public Library. I stop by every once in a while and make fun of him for going nowhere with his life.
James was drafted* and killed in New Hampshire.
And as for Keith, well, he became The Reverend K. Ryan Rogers.
Looking back it was the best summer of my life. They were my best friends.
*Into the NFL
