Date: Friday, March 8, 2013
Venue: The Korova, San Antonio TX
Bill: Cerebral Desecration, Cannibal Bitch, Hexlust, M.O.D.
Ever have one of them gigs where you just know you can't fuck up?
We got to the Korova as Cerebral Desecration were in the midst of their instrumental technical death metal assault ("instrumental" because their singer had to work this evening), and there were already people moshing. This was the opening act, the sun was just barely setting outside, and folks were getting their pit on. I'm sure this is as much a testament to the band's brutality and precision as anything else, but we all know that if you're the opening act, you're lucky if people are standing up, much less moving around. This was an audience who were truly excited, chomping at the bit and ready to thrash! And who could blame them? M.O.D. were playing tonight! For what was certain to be a helluva show, we had the honor of going on before this legendary band.
I'm sure any other direct-support act would see this and think, "Oh boy! Our competent musicianship, consistently functioning equipment, and pro-grade songwriting are going to blow these people away!" We, however, were faced with the fact that our caution-to-the-wind playing, bargain-bin gear, and slapped-together set list would have to be the center of these fine folks' attention for forty minutes and not have anything go horribly wrong.
Shit.
We had plenty of time to ruminate on this; Cannibal Bitch finished their set relatively early, so by the time we had our gear set up and soundchecked, we actually had a good fifteen or so minutes before we had to play. In that time, more and more friends of ours showed up, some of whom we haven't seen in a good while. Some of them were wearing Hexlust shirts, and all of them were talking some crazy mess about looking forward to seeing us play. When our name was called to take the stage, we were giddy and giggly, chock full of that positive energy that comes out of stage fright being handled well. We were ready to show these people a thrashing good time!
HEXLUST
We did the intro to FBF, held that note out, Tony announced our name and what song this was, I did my little triplet fill thingy, the band came in going a thousand miles an hour and people went nuts. We had a large crowd gathered and that mosh pit went into motion almost immediately, not slowing down at all as long as there was music playing. Those not pitting were crowding the front of the stage, banging their heads and doing that thing where they pretend to claw their way onto the stage. Lord, it was fine.
In addition to our main set list of originals, we pulled out the same covers we did last show at Jake's request. He even got up onstage with us to belt out the vocals to Troops of Doom, just as he did at that Humut Tabal show from like a year and a half ago. The audience nearly tore themselves apart during Sodomy and Lust, shouting along to the chorus with every repeat. Somehow, we still had energy for "Tombs of the Blind Dead", and we threw everything in the pot. So much so, in fact, that we almost fell apart in the beginning, all of us just taking off as fast as we could and being out of sync from the get-go, finally bringing it back together with the first chorus.
SNAFU's were few. For one, JT busted a string on his main guitar and beat on his backup so badly it went out of tune, resulting in him finishing the set with Tony's backup guitar. Tarzan also had a bit of trouble; his amp's power cable came apart at the plug, so by "They Conjure" his sound was gone. What was funny was that this particular song has a strong vocal contribution from him, so he had to fiddle with his amp, run over to the mic and sing his part, then run back over to fix his problem. Lol's were had behind the drum throne.
Oh, one more thing: Tonight was Tony's first show using his boss-ass new delay pedal. You can hear it really well during his solo at the end of Tombs in the video link.
Set List:
FBF
Toxic
Troops of Doom
Conjure
Hellhammer
Sodomy & Lust
Tombs
M.O.D.
Among the members of Hexlust, Tony is the only fan of M.O.D. (he even brought along a copy of U.S.A. For M.O.D. for Billy Milano to sign), so he got to have his fun standing stage-side while the rest of us guarded our gear at the back of the club. Ya know what, even for a non-fan lounging on the Korova's comfy couches, it was a pretty fun set! The musicianship was tear-the-roof-down heavy yet still very tight and precise, which is almost expected when the band includes local guitar stalwart Mike De Leon of Disfigured and Flesh Hoarder (plug plug plug). The song selection was pretty sweet; there were some M.O.D. tracks I actually know and like, such as "Get a Real Job," "Aren't You Hungry?" and a special Spanish version of "Bubble Butt," along with a decent handful of old S.O.D. songs, like "Pussy-Whipped" and "Fuck the Middle East." Of course, there were the played-at-every-show S.O.D. warhorses "Milano Mosh" and "United Forces." The crowd was huge, taking up almost the entire floorspace of the Korova. The mosh pit never stopped, and the roar of the audience singing along to the "gang vocal" parts at times overtook the vocals of the actual musicians.
The true highlight of the set was, of course, Billy Milano's between-song banter. The man is hilariously brash, offensive, clever, and just overall awesome, showing no signs of slowing down or going soft even at age 50 (his age was the basis for a lengthy joke at the beginning of the set about how long he's been... appreciating the finer points of female anatomy). He even gave a shout-out to Hexlust: (Paraphrased) "What's the name of those motherfuckers who went on before us? ...Yeah? Yeah, they must have drank like seven gallons of soda before going onstage." I'm glad I caught that before we went outside to bring the trucks around and load our gear.
Overall, this was a fantastic show, both to witness and be a part of, one that the local headbangers and hessians of San Antonio had been fervently looking forward to for a while and were sure to never forget. We were happy to have this feather in our cap, and here's hoping the rest of our shows this year go just as well!
