Date: Saturday, May 21, 2011
Venue: Mineshaft Saloon, San Antonio TX
Bill: Hexlust, Exculterate, PLF, Hod
PRE-SHOW
In our previous outing at the Mineshaft Saloon, we arrived at the venue to find a full parking lot and a still-populated attached restaurant. The former wasn't too bad, we just had to pull up to the front, drop gear off, and then park much further away then we're entirely comfortable with our vehicles being. The latter, however, pushed the show's start time back drastically, cutting into everyone's set times and resulting in The Oath only playing like four songs. When we were asked to play at the Mineshaft again, we were understandably apprehensive, as rushing onstage to play a reduced set at an unpredictable time (for no pay) is nobody's idea of self-shitting fun. However, we're always down to play with Hod, and we were all excited to see P.L.F., so we agreed.
Steeling our nerves, we pulled into the Mineshaft parking lot to find it... empty. We parked right up front, just across from the entrance, and took a look around. Nobody who was actually a part of the show seemed to have arrived yet, and the restaurant itself was sparsely populated. Guess it was a slow Saturday night. Fantastic! One of the guys from Exulcerate arrived soon after, who I guess was providing the sound equipment for this evening, so we were given the green light to load onto the stage.
Frustration from the get-go on Tony's behalf; the positioning of his amp put him out of range of any kind of electrical plug-in, potentially setting us to shuffling the whole stage setup around just so he could get some power. Or we have him just act as a stand-alone vocalist while JT handles all the guitar parts, which I would find amusing but didn't want to put past him at the time. Thankfully, an extender was found that Tony could plug into, but even that was kind of stretched, so Jake was asked to take up a post by the plug to make sure no stray moshers knocked it out.
HEXLUST
Remember how, one sentence ago, I hinted at the possibility that some overly zealous moshers might cause problems for us? Well, I may have been overestimating the audience situation quite a bit. The reality was that we had a rather small and subdued group of attendees this evening, even with our regular supporters of Tony R, Victor, Hellpreacher Johnny, Derek from Aggravator, and Jake. This could really just be chalked up to the fact that we were the very first act of the evening, and this show would have still been a winner if everything else had gone well.
Unfortunately, there was frustration coming from two sources: Tarzan's vocals and my drumming. Tarzan's vocalizing itself was just fine, but his mic was low, or cutting off altogether. We went through both his verses in "They Conjure" and his middle verse in "Baphomet Dawn" barely able to hear him at all. We were premiering "Meganecropolis" this evening (bringing us to a set list comprised of 50% new material) and Tarzan not only wrote that tune, but has yet another stand-alone verse, so having his vocals in the mix was imperative for the big debut. Unfortunately, the sound guy's diagnosis was that the mic may be non-functioning altogether. Severely frustrated, we went into "Meganecropolis" anyway, and thankfully the issue was all fixed by Tarzan's verse, his vocals cutting through very well.
Now, when I cite my drums as a source of frustration, I'm not actually admitting to having a problem. Our performance this evening is hotly contested amongst the members of Hexlust in that everyone else insists that my playing was quite under par, whereas I feel I put in a solid performance. Not a single one of the hornets' nest of issues I was having at our last show popped up; I dropped no sticks, had absolutely no pedal issues, my drums stayed upright, and my hands remained splinter-free. Additionally, I had put in some practice in the month since to ensure that I could more comfortably perform my fills on a once-again-downsized drum kit.
Talking to the other guys, however, one gets the impression that I abandoned all sense of rhythm and cohesion as, I dunno, some kind of sick joke, trying to lead them through some of our most technical and dynamic material with monkey-screaming fuckery. It's all very vague, though, no one can seem to give me any specifics beyond my having "played a fill for half a beat too long in one song."
It was all very headache-inducing, and the worst part was trying to figure out who to believe. I know myself and my abilities better than anybody, but I also have complete trust in my bandmates in terms of assessing my work. If all three of them found my performance lacking while I insist it was solid, where does the truth really lie? Could I have been blinding myself and overestimating my abilities, or were they venting their frustrations with the subdued audience and technical difficulties onto me? There was no video footage shot for the show, and audience members, while admitting that this wasn't our tightest outing, provided no headway in the direction of solving our argument. As I write this a week later, all I can say for sure is that we have agreed this gig is a non-winner, shall continue to practice and improve, and look forward to our next chance to prove ourselves, to our audience and to each other.
Set List:
Intro
FBF
Conjure
Baphomet
Mega
Tombs
EXULCERATE
Exulcerate are the very models of airtight musicianship in technical death metal, with their Immolation-inspired riffs and melodies, off-the-wall drumming, and their bassist/vocalist who growls out the lyrics while alternating between traditional finger-picking and percussive slap-popping. Unfortunately, their brand of death metal doesn't hold my attention for very long. While I did spend a few songs admiring the drummer, I eventually found myself in a conversation with Hod's Trans Am (that's his name, he's the bassist) about his enviable participation in the early 90s Florida death metal scene.
PLF
Back in the spring of 08 or so, Tony and I attended a death/grind show at Emo's in Austin. Among the evening's successes (headliners Kill the Client) and letdowns (some opening act whose guitarists soundchecked with amazing sweep-picking and whammy dives and then did absolutely none of that in their actual set) were a high-energy duo from Houston called PLF (Pretty Little Flower). This is the band that stuck with me long after that show, my interest piqued by their oddly catchy tunes, unrestrained sense of humor, and crushingly thick sound achieved with just one guitar and a drummer.
Fast-forward three years, and here we were opening for the act that came out of nowhere and showed me that yes, I did have it in me to genuinely appreciate a grind act. I would have liked to have stood and watched them, but my right knee had started to hurt, so I opted to guard the merch table while Tony and Tarzan went to watch the performance. Of course, since PLF had to be up on stage, I actually ended up watching over two tables. Good thing nobody bought anything, I had no idea how much anything cost and didn't even want to mess with their change box. The band itself was just as high-energy as the first time Tony and I saw them, and still had their unbelievably thick sound. The audience certainly dug them, throwing out plenty of loud cheers and slamming into the evening's first mosh pits.
HOD / CLOSING THOUGHTS
Hod took the stage as the all-obliterating final act of the evening, amazing me with not only their consistently high-quality black/death ass-kickery, but also their ability to fit all their equipment and all the members (except Beer) onto the Mineshaft Saloon's tiny stage. Their performance was on par with the last time we saw them, complete with Lord Necron's awesome whammy solos that make me want to punch the nearest waitress! (Out of sheer happiness, mind you.)
The only disheartening aspect of Hod's set had nothing to do with the band itself, but with the size of the audience. Although they were headbanging, moshing, and cheering enthusiastically, there was no denying that even this late into the evening the attendance had only picked up to maybe double what it was when we played. A far cry from the packed house at our last Mineshaft gig, or even any typical Hod gig. There was, however, a pretty big show at Zombie's the night before featuring Wings of Abbadon, and another much-publicized show going on this very night in Austin for Evil United.
With that in mind, it's safe to say that this evening's attendance owed more to attrition and competition than the drawing power of the show itself, which, considering it was also free, I thought would have folks crushed up against the walls. Oh well, such is the seemingly random nature of live gigging, and ya know, those who did show seemed to have a good time, which is all that really matters in the end. Personally, as an audience member, I love attending less-populated gigs. The Triptykon show from last year is a perfect example; from a performer's perspective, the attendance at Emo's was a let-down, but for me, since I was solely there to watch, it was heaven. I got an up-close look at Mr Tom G Warrior himself (and the vision that is Vanja Slajh) and didnt have to worry about getting kicked in the head or crushed between sweaty drunks.
