Date: Saturday, June 13, 2015
Venue: Korova Basement, San Antonio TX
Bands: Aggravator, Nodens, Blood Royale, Hexlust
Originally, this was supposed to be a Hod show, with Hexlust invited to support our favorite San Antonio band at one of our favorite San Antonio clubs. Their sudden breakup last month shifted the lineup, resulting in us getting promoted to headliner and Nodens coming in to fill the void.
It felt a little weird, almost wrong, to be the top-billed act in a San Antonio show. Probably because - and I just went back through this blog to make sure this was correct - this was our first time ever headlining a San Antonio show! I'd say it's about time. These past few shows have seen us consistently at the top of our game in terms of ability, tightness, and stage presence. Plus, we've been pimping out our album by playing the whole thing live lately, along with bringing out favorite covers, so we definitely weren't lacking material to show off.
So, you know what, yeah, maybe we are accustomed to being the spunky support act, but it was high time for Hexlust to show what we can do with the top slot and a more flexible time limit! Onward and downward, San Antonio hessians, into the Korova basement, Hexlust's dungeon of death and dick jokes for this evening!
AGGRAVATOR, who had been set up and soundchecked since nine, did get a late start to their ten o'clock set, but I'm led to believe they were waiting for their bassist to show up. They took the stage without him, and played an energetic set to an audience who had been waiting to thrash. I saw a few Aggravator shirts in the crowd, too, a sure sign that years of being Central Texas's anywhere/anytime go-to thrash band are paying off.
Watching them as I was putting my drums together, I realized it had been a while since I had seen them play. Mike now had his drums held up by a spiffy curved rack, with his roto-toms out front above his rack toms. Jessie was still the man to beat in terms of technical sweep-happy shredding, and Derek was as caustic and abrasive as ever, although he did show his sweet side on a couple occasions by congratulating us on our album release. Their bassist showed up about halfway through, ampless but still bringing that vital low end to the proceedings by plugging direct into the PA, as bass players are lucky enough to be able to do.
NODENS were up next, and these Houstonians win the award for quickest setup time. They came in part of the way into Aggravator's set, had their gear set up by the end, and were stage-ready in no time flat! Their music was a death/black mix, heavy on the black, with a wall-of-sound attack that reminded me of "pure" black acts like Inferno that toss aside any sort of rock influence in favor of hateful aural chaos.
I loved the noisy, whammy-heavy solos, but my attention was really focused on the drummer. This dude had chops to spare, and soundchecked by showing off some spiffy traditional-grip snare work and jazzy hi-hat hits. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing these guys again, this time on a show I'm not playing so I can really take it all in.
THE BLOOD ROYALE, being an awesome band with the "sweet spot" set time that falls between 11:30 and midnight, wound up being the true stars of the evening. Heavy, energetic, uptempo without being full-on speedy, like Motorhead's faster moments sustained for a whole performance. The best part of the whole deal was watching JT Smith go into a solo: holding his guitar way out in front of him where you'd think he wouldn't even be able to pick comfortably, leaning heavily on that wah pedal, building up to a crescendo where he'd suddenly arch way back, dreadlocks flying everywhere.
They're also really cool guys who let us have a bit of space on their merch table, because after eight years of performing live we still haven't realized basic shit like getting a table for the wares we're peddling. Something Walmart's el-cheapo fifteen-dollar foldemups are actually good for. Something I've seen Morgengrau drag to the two shows I've played with them at this point!
*Sigh* One step at a time towards being a real band. One step, at a damn time.
HEXLUST
Random thought: I'm normally up until 5 or so in the morning because of my work schedule, but at shows I'll still be thinking "Fuuuuuuck, it's 12:30 and the last band isnt even on stage yet!"
Yep, that is a status update I posted to my personal facebook profile, just a five days before this show, where we headlined with a 12:45 time slot.
Turns out, I'm not the only one who feels this way. The room had emptied a bit when we took the stage, and continued to diminish as we played. Even my ever-supportive parents called it a night by about the halfway point. Such is the gamble you take with late shows, I suppose.
Those who stuck around, though, were treated to a fine set of deathrashing hexcellence, if I do say so myself! The surprisingly plentiful stage space negated the crowding issues of our last show, and everyone got a mic so the trade-off vocals in the second verse of FBF went off without a hitch. I did better with energy management this time, not even feeling tired yet until after "Baphomet," although I did experience a brain-fart on my big fill in "Conjure." Possibly the funniest drum happening was when I dropped a stick that came to rest on one of my toms right in front of me, allowing me to pick it right back up and continue on.
After "Baphomet," we switched things up a little by bringing out our cover of "Agent Orange," which we've been nailing a lot in the practice space and is never not fun to pull out live. After that, though, I was really starting to feel the fatigue set in, so of course it was a perfect time to go into "Imminent Retardation." The rest of the set, all our fastest material, went by in a blur, as I was just taking a breath before every song, willing myself not to die, and going for broke. I do know we finished strong with "Tombs," though, and finished to enthused applause from a small audience of loyal hexthrashers.
OUTRO/THANKS
Late shows are always a dicey proposition. Weariness sets in with both the audience and the bands, and if the headliner isn't on by midnight there's a good chance they'll be providing the soundtrack to everyone's goodbyes. In ten years of seeing live shows I've only seen two bands take the stage at 1am to a full house, and they were both in Killeen: Downsiid and Kritickill. This was during both bands' unstoppable halcyon days, back in the mid-2000s.
When it comes to playing a late show, though, I couldn't have asked to be part of a better lineup. Every band on this show managed their stage time well, and made quick work of their changeovers. Everything was running so smoothly, in fact, that when we were setting up on stage, we were told not to rush because our start time was twenty minutes away! In retrospect I should have asked if we could just get going right after the souncheck just so our fine audience wasn't waiting for too long, but that's that ol' 20/20 hindsight kicking in.
So yes, a big thank you to the members and associates of Aggravator, Nodens, and Blood Royale, and again thanks to BR's merch crew for letting us get in a little table space. Thanks to my parents, Jake, Nick, Zvs, Alyssa, Marisa, Dough, Tony R, and all the fine thrashers who stuck around as the night wore on and everyone else started peeling off! You made this night worth it!
Just as a bit of an update, the album is selling pretty damn well. The CD's arent exactly flying off the shelves, but even I'm surprised by how steady the pace is, as well as the reach. I've shipped CDs and shirts to Japan, South Korea, France, and Denmark so far, as well as all over the US. We don't really hype the thing up a whole lot, but part of the fun has been simply putting the album out there with minimal pomp and circumstance, and watching it take on a life of its own!
And I just gotta say, when our BandCamp has a paid download option, and when I've seen our album pop up on Torrent sites, the fact that some folks are actually laying down the dough to get their own physical copy of our little disc of darkness and fuckery is a huge honor. I've heard nothing but good things from those who've purchased one, and I'm looking forward to what the future holds for Hexlust as we start working in earnest on new material.
Until next time!
THRASH TIL ALZHEIMERS
