Date: Friday, February 18, 2011
Venue: Zombies, San Antonio TX
Bill: Army of Drunks, Aggravator, Legion, The Ruined Few, Hexlust, Birth A.D.
Anybody who's ever been to any live music performance knows that things rarely start on time. The "why" is unknown to me as I've never worked at a venue and I'm too shy to ask, but it happens. Of course, if things begin late you have everything else being pushed back later, or you have bands playing shorter sets. When it was announced that Hexlust would be the second-to-last band to take the stage at Zombies on February 18, I reacted with elation and unease. Elation, because SECOND TO LAST BAND, BUDDY! Unease, however, because with as many bands as there were on this bill, we stood a very good chance of soundchecking at 12:30 with maybe half the audience left in attendance and rapidly depleting. Headliners at such gigs feel like opening bands, playing to five people who may or may not be giving their undivided attention. We've seen it happen, we've even experienced it.
Thankfully, the good people at Zombies really have their shit together, and had this show up and running right on time, if not a little ahead of schedule. We in Hexlust thought we were pretty hot shit arriving at the venue at 8:30, thinking we would get there just as the doors were opening so we could get a good parking spot, only to join that program already in progress! In fact, Army of Drunks were almost done with their set by the time we walked up to the front doors, so I have almost no impression of their music whatsoever. Thankfully, the San Antonio Heavy Metal Examiner was there in time, and as usual you can read about the things I missed in his report.
By the way, bringing the focus back to us, Jeff A.D. was kind in helping us secure a table right next to his where we could hawk our new T-shirts, allowing us to reach a new phase in our bandhood: merch sellers! Yes sir, feeling more and more like a real band with every gig! Gone are the days of shrugging and saying "Nope, no shirts... no CD either... not even a sticker. If you want, you can have this table napkin on which Dart sketched our logo while he was bored at work." Granted, we were peddling shirts at last week's show, but that was more just carrying a box around and telling whoever passed by that we had them. This time we had a permanent selling station, with a sample duct-taped to the wall with a "$10" sign up next to it! Bigger and better things, friends!
AGGRAVATOR
Aggravator have been getting better every time I've seen them. Whereas a year ago all I could really say about them was that they had great energy and a charismatic frontman, now I can honestly say that they are a tight, pulverizing outfit who have talent that matches their raw energy. In fact, after four or five times of seeing them live, I'm also starting to recognize songs, which just makes things even more enjoyable. The audience shared my sentiment, folks were headbanging and starting mosh pits, and this was just the second band of the evening! This coupled with the fact that the venue was already starting to fill up was the sign of a very special evening, these people were here to thrash and they were not going to wait until three or four bands in to start doing so!
One thing I especially enjoy about Aggravator is the chemistry between vocalist/guitarist Derek and guitarist Jesse, it really reminds me of early Megadeth. Derek is Dave Mustaine, not only in hair color and stage presence, but also in his raw, shredder style of soloing, while Jesse is undoubtedly the Chris Poland of the band, the more technical soloist. Unfortunately, there was only one song, maybe two in which the beauty of these contrasting styles was shown off, as Jesse soloed for the majority of the tunes. I think Derek should take some more leads as Aggravator write more songs, that's a dynamic you don't find often and even then doesn't often work. Usually the "raw" guitarist just plumb sucks and the "technician" is eye-goungingly boring.
LEGION (It's time for thrasharoo!)
Bastardwolf recently dissolved, leaving a vacant spot in this evening's roster. Aaron Goregrowler quickly found a replacement in the young Houston band, Legion. This isn't an oddity in the live music world, but for some reason, on this particular evening, this situation reminded me of Mr. Derp from South Park, prompting me to spend the rest of the night quoting him to my bandmates. Also, whenever someone said "Legion," I would mentally follow it up with Mr. Derp's two-note theme song and laugh to myself.
Anywho, this group played some hella thrashy stuff and even a cover of "Angel of Death." My only issue was the breakdowns present in quite a few of their songs, but I guess that's what happens when you mix old and new influences. Not that it sounded bad, it was just rather unexpected and certainly raised an eyebrow or two. Admittedly this band didn't have my undivided attention, as I was distracted by a conversation with Doug's cousin. He's in the Army and was stationed at Ft Hood, so we were sharing opinions on things we hate about the Killeen area.
THE RUINED FEW
As Legion were de-staging and The Ruined Few were getting their stuff set up, we in Hexlust started bringing our gear out and setting it up outside the back door (if there's one thing I've come to highly appreciate in Hexlust's short history of gigging, it's a venue with a separate door right by the stage). Listening to them as I was warming up on my kit, I found I didn't much care for The Ruined Few. I could hear a strong Obituary influence in their playing and song arrangements, but I felt it was overpowered by a Pantera feel that rendered them sounding too "Killeen" for my comfort, especially on a thrash-oriented bill. But hey, the people really seemed to dig em, so who am I, right?
HEXLUST
Loading in and soundchecking was a breeze. The stage itself was huge, with room for all my drums, the amps, and for the guys to move around during the songs. The sound guy was friendly and accomodating, and was relieved that I didn't throw a cymbal at him for not having enough mics for every one of my drums (apparently there are other skin-bashers out there who are total drama queens about this). The only thing I regret is that during our soundcheck we forgot to make monitor requests; we're used to not having them at all, so it completely slipped our minds. With the stage (and venue) being as large as it was, this would come back to haunt us.
It wasn't a problem during the intro song. That tune never gets fast or technical, so it was easy for us all to hear each other. "Fucked By Fire," though, turned out to be a slight problem. Going into the hella fast riff after my first big drum fill, I realized I couldn't actually hear the guitars at all, only a buzzing cacophony from which notes or chords were not discernible. I gritted my teeth, concentrated on my mental metronome, and prayed the guys could at least hear me so we could come together on all the right parts. We pulled it off, and the response was massive. People really seem to be digging FBF, which makes the two years it took to write that beast all the more worth it.
The rest of the set continued pretty much in that vein. Play fast, can't hear anybody, focus on time-keeping and cymbal crashing so everybody knows where they are, and no flashy fills so's to minimize the chances of stick-dropping. For anybody who thinks we may have been playing slower or more subdued than usual (I certainly felt a decrease in speed), this is why.
After making it through "Toxic High" and "Hellhammer," we premiered "They Conjure" to decent success. First-time jitters ensured that it was not going to be a particularly tight performance and I know we came close to derailing a few times, but we held it together and pulled it off without any major errors. After a particularly staggering (in a good way) "Baphomet Dawn," we got the notice that we had time for one more song, so we ripped right through "Tombs" and wasted little time with the stinger.
BIRTH A.D.
We're starting to get better at unpacking and re-packing our gear. We had almost everything stowed away when Birth A.D. started their set, so I had only missed a few songs by the time I made it back inside. Instead of packing up against the front of the stage where all the moshing and squishing was, I took up a position on the side, where I could not only see all the action without people running into me but also not have to rely as heavily on earplugs, since I was behind the PA speakers.
One glowing advantage to my position was a close-up view of everything Mark was doing on the drums, including the pedal work of both feet. That man is an absolute monster, with his blinding tom work, his on-a-dime flipping between thrash beats and blast beats, the fact that he plays, with one foot, patterns which require both of my feet to pull off at those speeds. He does this while singing on occasion, and makes it all look effortless. Oh and he plays with some pretty thick sticks too, but then he is a big guy. Have any of you readers ever seen the sticks Gene Hoglan, Fred Leblanc, or John Bonham played with? Tree trunks in their fingertips, being twirled as easily as twigs.
I also noticed Mark not having to take a swig of water between songs. In fact, I noticed every member of the band having full water bottles nearby which went pretty much completely unused! Here we are in Hexlust scrambling for nourishment during applause, sometimes holding up the start of songs in the process, and these guys are playing faster than us, virtually nonstop, with little or no water breaks. A true testament to how long and how hard they've been doing this thrash thing.
Oh and the TUNES. I just recently gave tracks off "Stillbirth of a Nation" a decent listen, and I thought they couldn't get any faster. This performance proved that the guys were actually holding out on the recordings, saving the real speed for the stage. I barely had time to put my fist down from shouting "Parasites DIE!!!" or "This scene SUCKS!!!" before it was time to put it back up again. A performance so slamtacular the audience wasn't about to let them off the stage without one last hurrah. Jeff said that if we wanted one more song it would have to be one they already played (I wanted to yell "YOU'RE NOT TRIPTYKON" but decided against it) and they satisfied us with a repeat offense of "Cause Problems."
WHITE PEOPLE AND THEIR LONG GOODBYES
The show was over and it was just a minute past one o'clock. Definitely one of the better shows I've ever attended or been a part of, not only for the bands but for the punctuality as well. Five bands, done in five hours. A rare occurrence indeed. We hoisted our box of shirts (down to only nine out of thirty-six in just two shows! Wooh!) collected our money, and said our goodbyes. Our long, multiple goodbyes. We said adieu to Legion twice, an encore convo getting started up again by Tarzan needing a reminder of their names.
And if Jeff A.D. thought he only had to do one encore this evening he was dead wrong. In a colloquial sense we treated him like Led Zeppelin, bringing him back for second, third, even fourth conversations long after the initial bid farewell. Sometimes he would think of something else to say; other times it was Tarzan or JT (once it was me, and boy did I kick myself), but at least it never stopped being fun. I just wish we could have been doing that at midnight instead of almost two a.m. I needed a shower, a bowl of Crispy Rice and slumber. All of which later took place at JT's epic bachelor pad.
In conclusion: Doug is "Drunk Jeff," Tarzan is "Little Sideburnless Jeff." I need to get a picture of those three together.
