Cosby Sweater Buddies!

Date: January 9, 2010
Venue: Ten-Eleven, San Antonio TX
Bands: D.R.H., Exmortus, Vektor, Birth A.D.

PRE-SHOW
Again, our first show of the new year was in San Antonio. What made it even more special was that it was with our buddies in Exmortus, so we were (or at least I was) taking extra care to be nice and warmed up ahead of time to be sure that we not make ourselves look like fools in front of them. Another band we were looking forward to seeing was Birth A.D., who were headlining this evening. We had previously played with them in July ’09, and really dug their hardcore-isms and friendly attitudes.

Someone we were not looking forward to encountering but we knew would be there was Old Man Winter.

Sure enough, it was COLD. “Doi Dart, it’s January, it’s gonna get more than a bit chilly. Plus didn’t you already bitch about low temperatures in your last Armstrong show blog? Man up sissyboy!” Well I’m sorry but cold weather and I do not make agreeable companions. I even came prepared, sporting my awesome Cosby sweater, and was still shivering.

Speaking of Cosby sweaters, I was not the only one garbed in such potentially-embarrassing attire! As soon as we parked across from the Ten Eleven we ran into Exmortus, and Balmore was wearing this snow-scene sweater, complete with a snowman. According to the man himself, this was such an aesthetically displeasing garment that his wife would not even let him wear it back home! I wish I had brought the camera I got for Christmas with me so I could get a picture of us in our awesomely bad threads.

The other guys in Hexlust were, as usual, all for hobnobbing and elbow-rubbing, but I’m no flibbity-ibbity-gibbit! (cool points to whoever can tell me what cartoon movie I got that from) I had a kit to set up and have ready to go onstage, which would happen after the first performance, given by Dead Rotting Hood.

D.R.H.
I didn’t actually see this band, as having the room necessary to set up my drums involves being outside, but those who ventured inside described them as looking pretty damn out of it. I think they were from Corpus Christi or some such, so I imagine they were pretty pooped after that drive. I did manage to sneak a peek inside and get an eyeful of the drummer’s setup, which was pretty dang sweet. He had two bass drums, plenty of cymbals, and scores of toms, which he used to perform long rolls in just about every song. The music itself was mid-tempo stuff with what seemed to be a constant guitar lead going on. I guess I’m being generous when I say “lead,” it was more commonly described as “noodling.” Overall, not my favorite music, and apparently not a very selling performance. Hopefully they have their shit more together back in Corpus.

HEXLUST
We seem to have an unspoken vow to make 2010 the year with the least amount of fuck-awful shows thus far. After two years of playing shows together, we have our stage presence figured out, our tunes practiced to death and personalized to beat hell, our pre-show warmup regimen more or less down pat, and the secure knowledge that we need to drink water between songs and pace ourselves throughout the set. Here’s a-hopin we spend the rest of the year making good on these hard-earned lessons.

As for this show: another proud feather in our hat and a great way to kick off the new year. There was a mosh pit going on during “Toxic High,” which, considering “Toxic” is the second song we play, was quite a compliment! Tony got a nice, huge Tom G. Warrior roar from the crowd in announcing “Hellhammer.” I started feeling the burn and running out of breath during “Baphomet Dawn,” and realized I had neglected to drink any water up to that point. I finished the song and took nearly half a bottle down in preparation for the final two. We plowed through “Tombs,” and I pulled a long (feeling) solo out of my ass for the stinger, basically just ripping up and down my toms in a mostly improvisational manner.

For the closing cover, Tony decided to ask the audience if they wanted “Open Casket” or “Sodomy and Lust;” The majority of the applause was for the latter. While I’m always more than happy to play that song, especially in a live setting, we had not done such a thing for a few shows now. We had practiced the number even less, so while apparently we did a good job, it felt kinda sloppy to me.

As soon as the amps were flicked off, I was hurrying to get my drums outside and broken down. The adrenaline flowing through my system enabled me to feel warm, and I knew I didn’t have long before it died down and I was left shivering again. I got my stuff packed away just in time to start feeling the chill, and changed into a fresh shirt and my Cosby sweater.

VEKTOR
Unfortunately, I missed most of their set. JT and I were both suffering from a serious case of the munchies and set off for the Valero station not far from the club. By the time we got back the set was almost over, but I was in time to hear this really sweet clean electric guitar part of one of their songs. The band instantly had my respect! The rest of the song(s) enforced my admiration, they are a really tight band with an awesome drummer and a great set of lungs on the singer.

After their performance, we wound up talking to a few of the members (yes, I actually joined in on a conversation!) about life and college and whatnot. Turns out, as soon as classes let out for winter break these dudes were on the road, and the day after they get back is when they start classes again for the spring semester. I highly admire them for this as I couldn’t do it. Being a heavy procrastinator, I wouldn’t be registered for my classes ahead of time, and even if I did, I’d be walking into class that first day thinking “Wasn’t I just here?”

EXMORTUS
The highlight of the evening for me, and the only set (besides ours) for which I stayed all the way through. Not only that, but I was up front the whole time. I was positioned just in front of Daniel (bass player), meaning I was up against the stage-right monitor and just out of the mosh pit’s reach. This gave me a close view of Exmortus playing their songs, as well as an insight to how much Daniel contributes to their music. This dude doesn’t just hold down the root notes, he uses all four of his strings and does just as many scale runs as the guitarists do, although in very “tasteful” ways.

What made this show even more enjoyable for me was the fact that I had recently begun to really listen to their album, allowing me to recognize and appreciate more of the songs they played. I forget the exact order, but I know they did “In Hatred’s Flame,” “Onward to Battle,” “War Gods,” “Axes of War,” a new song about a pharaoh’s tomb or something, “Fimbulwinter” and closed with (personal fave) “Triumph By Fire!” No headlining status meant no Slayer-rific encore.

About that new song, I really enjoyed it. It was longer than most of their other tunes, it had a crap-ton of trade-off guitar solos, and Konan sang lead! I knew he was responsible for the backup vocals but didn’t even know the dude had it in him to take the lead for a whole song. Thanks to my positioning relative to the P.A. speakers I couldn’t hear him very well, but Tony and Tarzan said that his voice was a little deeper than Balmore’s. Very interesting.

BIRTH A.D.
Did not get to see them! It was getting late, we were still without a reliable place to stay in San Antonio, and it was time to hit the road.

POST-SHOW
By the time we got to J.T.’s place in Cove, it was 3 a.m. and still very cold. I cursed my instrument of choice the entire time I spent loading my drums, stands, and cymbals from JT’s vehicle into Tony’s truck bed. On the way to Killeen, I called my roommate to have him open the garage door for us. We slapped the truck in there and hit the hay.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Not long after the end of this tour, Exmortus parted ways with Balmore. Of all the bands whose split-ups or firings I have seen coming a mile away (or, in some instances, have really hoped for) Exmortus’ split with their front man really kinda came outta left field for me. I’m sure the band will find another awesome singer (or guitarist, since Konan has proven himself a worthy vocalist) but I’m gonna miss seeing that dude at shows. He was nice to us, always taking time to thank us for playing a show with them. He was the one who, back in March of ’09, leaned out of the van and screamed “HEXLUST!” at us, just as I doubted they’d remember who we were. Of course, he and I will always have our Cosby sweater connection. Good luck to Balmore with whatever he’s gonna do now, and to the rest of Exmortus in keepin’ on keepin’ on.

A Ball to Close Out the Year!

Date: Sunday, November 15, 2009
Venue: Rock Bottom
Event: Goregrowler’s Ball

PRE-SHOW
This was a show we had been booked for WAY far in advance, like since June or something, and was the show to which we were the most looking forward. We were told we’d be among the opening bands of the festivities, going on like at 4 or so, which we did not mind at all. We know our place on the totem pole, and liked the idea of playing early, packing up the stuff, and having time to watch some of the other bands before leaving.

We got to the Rock Bottom and were told that we had been moved up; a few of the other bands cancelled at the last minute and we had been promoted from 4:00 to like 6:30! This would have been great if we had not already arrived at like 2:00. Instantly I felt tired. The club wasn’t even opened yet so we spent a goodly amount of time just chilling outside the club. JT tried to go to sleep in his car, I warmed up on a practice pad, and Tony and Tarzan walked around talking to folks.

CORNUCOPIA OF BANDS
The doors finally opened and the festivities began. Thus began a huge collection of bands that I either saw and do not remember or was not watching since I was busy setting up my drum kit.

HEXLUST
I swear our audience gets better and better every time we play in San Antonio! With every show there are a few more people and the response gets a little bit better. The sound check went pretty well; Tarzan wanted his own microphone so that he could start working his backing vocals into the show. The sound man warned me that this would result in one less of my toms being mic’d, which I didn’t mind, hell I mainly use the two right in front of my snare anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really hear his (or anybody’s) vocals this time, so I couldn’t tell you if he did a good job or not.

As you have probably guessed, by now we had a never-fails set list of Intro-Toxic-Hellhammer-Baphomet-Tombs-Casket. It started feeling kinda samey to us, but 1) we were sucking at coming up with new material and 2) it’s not like our audience is at every practice with us. At the time there only three videos of us on YouTube, we still have only the one recording out, and we play in San Antonio maybe once every two months at the most. I didn’t see people getting sick of our songs anytime soon.

I’m digressing a lot. This show went very well, I did not drop a stick once this performance, although I did screw up horribly during "Open Casket." Nothing we couldn't bounce right back from though! Besides that, I don’t remember many details, which is good, because it’s usually screw-ups that stick out in my mind! I promise, dear readers (those of you left who haven’t been driven away by my writer’s laze) 2010 will be a much better year for show coverage, mostly because I won’t be behind so much!

POST-SHOW
We stuck around long enough to see maybe one more band, and then left for home. By the time we got back to Killeen and I got my stuff unloaded, it was nearing 11:00, I had school the next morning, and I still had homework to do. I attempted it for about a half hour and then went to bed.

Friday the 13th: The 11th Hour

Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Venue: Music Vault, Harker Heights TX
Playing with: DownsiiD, Amicicide, some others.

MOST LAST-MINUTE GIG EVER
As I got done helping a customer at work, some dudes came up to me and asked if I’m in Hexlust and if we’d like to play a show that evening at the Music Vault. I was down for it but told them I’d have to ask the others. Turned out they knew Tarzan from high school or something, and even had his number. Tarzan thought it’d be a great idea, so all we had to do was get Tony and JT on board and we had a show this evening! Oh, and those dudes who approached me were members of the band Amicicide, of whom I had never heard before this evening but was glad to meet.

JT and Tony were of course down, and we were already set to practice this evening so it’s not like we had to do any schedule shuffling to be able to play. There was something which had the potential to ruin the evening; when Tony got to my parents’ house he asked me to come out and talk to him for a minute. Turned out his family dog had just been put down that day. We sat out on the back porch and got it out there all manly-like and whatnot, and he assured me that he would be good to play and would be having no emotional breakdowns onstage.

So we got the gear loaded up and headed out to the Vault, a place at which we hadn’t played since… poking through the archives… November of ’08, almost a full year before! And that last time, as you readers may recall, was quite a disaster, the time my bass drum flew off the pedal and Tony suffered a case of stage fright and everything basically went to hell. Coming back though was like coming to some kind of class reunion, Big Mike and Rich recognized us and gave us hearty handshakes and expressions of “how the hell ya been?”

We were the first act this evening and so had the luxury of being able to set up on stage without feeling rushed. The sound people weren’t even there yet, so I had time to make sure my toms and cymbals were in comfortable reach and not interfering with each other. It was then I discovered that, in spite of all my usual precaution, I had forgotten one very important can’t-live-without-it item: my throne. JT had taken off to pick up his girlfriend but was already most of the way back to the club by the time I discovered this. I sent Tarzan to see if any other drummer would be generous enough to offer up a seat for my temporary use. I got one, and the seat was comfy, but the height was set very high and kind of stuck in place. This didn’t affect the performance too horribly though, it was just a little awkard on the knees during the double-bass parts. I sure as hell wasn’t complaining.

HEXLUST
Not too shabby of a set, definitely a make-up for the shambles that was our last outing at the Vault. We came back with our newfound habits of drinking water onstage and not putting all our energy into the first few songs; our streamlined set list of Intro-Toxic-Hellhammer-Baphomet-Tombs-Casket (that’s right folks, no more Sodomy and Lust); and a mega-boosted stage presence thanks to a year of playing mostly in San Antonio, where we had just recently started to really feel accepted. What also helped was that we had great sound equipment amplifying us. I tell ya, after a year of shows at the Sports Shack and the Armstrong Center and especially all those shows at the Ten Eleven, I had almost forgotten how great it feels to be able to say “Can I get some of Tony’s guitar in my monitor?” Also: LIGHTS, which also were absent at many of 2009’s outings.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the biggest audience to show off our improved Hexcellence; due to the VERY last-minute nature of the show we couldn’t get a lot of our friends, not even my parents, to come out. Also, again, we were opening, so we were basically playing to Amicicide, Dear Cyanide (I forget if they were there to actually play this evening or just hang out) maybe another band, and a few of those bands’ friends. Not that this affected the quality of the audience, they were very much appreciative and cheered enough for a roomful of folks!

As for the set itself, it almost seemed to go by too quickly. Smooth playing, no muscle cramps, no dropped sticks or picks, no equipment malfunctions, everything went swimmingly. Tony even took a moment to pay tribute to his dog, which was greeted by a “WOOOOOOOOOOOOH! YEAH!” from some douche in the audience who was quickly silenced.

BAND?
Honestly, I forget who played next. I know it was the band whose drummer was generous enough to lend me his throne, to whom I lent a pair of sticks in return. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get to see them, since I was busy breaking down the kit and fielding questions and compliments from some very appreciative benevolent audience members.

After that, it was time to go. No, we didn’t have a long drive ahead of us and no, we weren’t restricted from sticking around because of our gear; yes, I live like ten minutes away and yes, that may have made us seem rather douche-y, but dammit I had to work in the morning! In fact I think most, if not all, of us had to work that next morning (and for JT, that shift starts at like 7 a.m.) so we all took off early this time.

A Whole Lot More of Not Much

Date: Friday, August 7, 2009
Venue: Ten Eleven, San Antonio TX
Playing with: Witchaven, Hod, Birth A.D., Butchered Saint, Bloody Pit of Horror

PRE-SHOW
Part 2 of “shows Dart doesn’t remember cuz either he was outside being all ‘mother hen’ about his drums or he was just gone.” Once again, I’ll be offering sufficient commentary on our performance but will be saying very little, if anything, about anything else that happened.

BIRTH A.D.This show was our first encounter with Birth A.D., although JT knew of them beforehand. Even while I was tending to my kit, I could hear the unleashing of crossover fury, and I felt very nervous about going on after these guys.

HEXLUST
After the minor embarrassment that was our last show, we took to the stage for this performance with two things: water bottles in our hands and “take it easy” notes in our heads. Boy, did it make all the difference! This show was fantastic compared to the last one; we were going steady during the first few songs, still going fast, still headbanging, but not putting our full 110% into it. After “Baphomet Dawn” we started turning up the juice, so that by “Sodomy and Lust” we were able to make it the full-speed spectacle we intended it to be!

There was only one eentsy flaw with this performance though, and it rested with Tony. While it was great the guy was taking swigs of water between tunes, he would do it after he announced a song! On more than one occasion, he would be cleansing his pallet as I was counting off, which wouldn’t be so bad if his wasn’t usually the first guitar playing! It’s amusing now, mentally watching Tony realize his snafu, try to choke down (literally) his water, set the bottle down, and then hit the right frets, all in the span of four hi-hat strokes. At the time, however, the boy was asking for a flying stick upside the head. Thankfully Tony has been great about drinking before talking at every performance since.

Another interesting note about this show was that it was that we had opted out of performing “Troops of Doom” or “Immanent Retardation” in public, the former because we felt we had grown out of it and was one of our more expendable covers, and the latter because we felt like it was a huge lyric-less drag. At the time I did not like the decision to nix “Troops,” I felt that it was an excellent first song of the evening as it started slow, was mostly mid-tempo, and had a few fast parts, a perfect warm-up song. I did, however, see what the guys were saying about it not being as relevant as it used to be, and have since gotten used to jumping straight into "Toxic High" after the intro.

HOD/BUTCHERED SAINT/WITCHAVEN?
JT and Tarzan wanted to stay and see Witchaven, but Tony and I were pooped and still saddled with an open truck bed of valuable gear, so we chopped out.

POST-SHOW
At the time, I had just moved out of my parents’ house and into… my parents’ house (I used to live there with my family, my parents still own it and are technically my landlords) so Tony and I just slapped his truck in the garage, put the amps in the spare room, and crashed out in my room.

A Whole Lot of Not Much

Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Venue: Ten Eleven, San Antonio TX
Playing with: Deceased, Butchered Saint, Necurat (?), Bloody Pit of Horror

PRE-SHOW
I’m going to use this pre-show space to say that I have no earthly clue what went down these next two shows as far bands other than Hexlust are concerned. I have only one good reason: I personally did not do much besides set up my drums and play.

Anyone who knows me knows that I spend most of my pre-show time tending to my kit. Even when it’s set up, I rarely leave it unless it’s constantly in my line of vision and/or with somebody I trust. I play my drums during the show, and afterward I load them up and go about having fun and observing other bands. Unfortunately, since our last show our beloved HexBus was sent off to the junkyard. Tarzan’s Jeep was having startup issues, and my little Toyota would be no help with gear loading. So we were left with Tony’s truck, with its open bed. Great for loading gear in a jiffy, but not the best option in terms of out-of-sight gear storage.

The result: once I was done performing and loading my kit, we had to either leave immediately or hang out by the truck for the rest of the evening, which sure as shit wasn’t happening.

Hoping for help, I sent emails to my bandmates asking for any details they remembered. Unfortunately, I chose to do this quite a while after these shows took place (schoolwork interfered with punctual blogging) and they couldn't give me much to work with. As much as I'd like to describe the entire show, I'm afraid I'll have to leave y'all with just our performance.

HEXLUST
We were far from great this evening. This was the show when Hexlust learned two valuable lessons: 1) Control our energy and distribute it evenly throughout our performance, and 2) keep ourselves hydrated.

I myself was suffering extra-hard from neglecting those two concepts, for some reason I got so into it just during the intro and “Troops of Doom” that I was slamming my hi-hats and snare with all my might. I felt like I could go like that all night! Then, during “Hellhammer,” (a whole two songs later) it happened. The arms started cramping, the throat got all cottony, and even my legs started protesting. That part right there, the cramping and dry-mouth thing, could have been easily alleviated by wetting my whistle between songs. Hard lesson learned.

So of course “Tombs of the Blind Dead” was a cruel, cruel bitch, and by “Sodomy and Lust” I couldn’t even play fills anymore. Thankfully that song requires almost no double bass (unlike “Tombs” or “Open Casket”) or quick opening and shutting of the hi-hats (again, fuck you “Open Casket”) but it was still a struggle making this song the most high-speed, throw-everything-in-the-pot song of the set.

After our set I spent time outside, with my drum kit all in pieces on the sidewalk being all up in the way of passers-by, talking to Ralph and Eric about precisely what the hell happened up there and trying to salvage my ego. Of course, most audience members were very generous in praising our performance, but those two are hometown homies, they know how we roll and they know how to really tell when we’re playing at our best. Finally, Tony got his stuff out there, we loaded into his truck, got the tarp over my gear, and headed home.

Swansong for HexBus

Date: Sunday, May 24, 2009
Venue: Rock Bottom, San Antonio TX
Playing with: Gloam, So Unloved, Butchered Saint, Midnight

PRE-SHOW
After four outings to San Antonio, a routine has set in for Hexlust. On this day, like the others, we met at JT’s house in Kempner, dumped our gear into JT’s Explorer and Tony’s HexBus, chose riding buddies, and set off. We stopped at a gas station near JT’s house to fill up on gas and snacks. It kinda varies for everyone else but to this day my pre-show snacks are almost always a green Monster and a bag of Chex Mix Bold Party Blend.

GLOAM
I think there was a band that went on before Gloam, although I don’t remember who they were or what they sounded like. Alls I know is that I had my stuff unloaded and mostly set up by the time Gloam took the stage.

I will give this band props for not giving away much about themselves with their name and delivering a style that I did not see coming. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I liked them. The vocalist, who was on the floor in front of the stage, had a keyboard, and soundchecked with some pretty off-the-wall soundscapey stuff. I was expecting mind-blowing psychedelic transcendentalism. I got substandard metalcore fluff (complete with obnoxiously bad snare tone) with weird keyboard “interludes” between songs. That’s right, the only time the dude touched his keyboard would be when a song ended. And it wasn’t like he actually played an interlude, he would just hit a key which triggered a sample. Looking back, and at my review of this band so far, I think it really was the lack of keyboard whackaloonery that disappointed me the most.

SO UNLOVED
I did not hate this band’s music. I say that not as a comparison to Gloam, but as a reference to how I rarely am into “punk”-type music. I like Dead Kennedys; I like the bands we play with back in Bell County; I’m like punk-inspired bands like Nuclear Assault and some bands in the grindcore genre. Beyond that, I just can’t get into the stuff. This band, however, had that awesome combo of pissed-offishness and sing-alongishness, and had a damn good stage presence too. The fact that these ladies were easy on the eyes didn’t hurt matters either.

UNFORTUNATELY, there was this prick in the audience who liked to mosh. I’m normally fine with this, I just move back out of his way and keep my eye on the band. Not good enough for this cockfag, though, who decided that moshing by himself (noone else was interested) was lonely work and decided to go around pushing folks on the edge of the circle. Including me and my bandmates. Mocking us all with thumbs-down gestures and middle fingers the whole time. Tarzan was amused by the fact that he could see me popping my jaw, part of my signature “Rolf is not amused” body language. Finally, though, the guy’s buddy grabbed him and whispered in his ear. I dunno what exactly was said, but considering the little douche stopped his tomfooligans, it was a warning to stop before he gets knocked down and clubbed about the head and throat.

Anyway, good band, good tunes, nice people to chat with. We haven’t played a show with them since, but I would not complain if’n we did.

BUTCHERED SAINT
By the time Butchered Saint went on, I was spending most of my time warming up on my practice pads. I heard them though, with their high-speed blackened blast-death metal. They weren’t as catchy as Hod, so I can’t say I remember much of their stuff, but I was ok with it. Sure enough, something did annoy me though.

Not once in most of their songs was there even one guitar solo, but finally, at least midway through their set, I heard it. A solo. Not just any solo, but a whammy solo. Ask any of my bandmates what Dart’s favorite type of guitar solo is, and they’ll probably tell you with little hesitation: Whammy solos. And boy howdy was I a happy camper… for five seconds. Then it was over. Just like that. They didn’t do it again; they didn’t attempt such a feat in another song. Five seconds of one tune. I couldn’t help but feel bamboozled.

HEXLUST
Part of me believed that the only reason we went on after Butchered Saint was that Midnight wanted to use our gear. This was the last night of their tour and they had already shipped most of their crap back to Ohio. Not that we were complaining, up to this point we were always going on first or second. It was nice to have a little more time to warm up, and it was nice to have a little more audience to play to. We were not disappointed, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t disappoint, judging by the enthusiastic applause after every song.

Our set list was different this time in that we closed with “Baphomet Dawn.” There were two reasons behind this: One, it was our first time playing this song in front of our San Antonio audience and we thought they would get a major kick out of it; two, our old friend Jade had come to our practice a week before and suggested that we close with the song, which we all thought was a great idea. The desire associated with the first point (audience approval) was satisfied; we got nothing but compliments on our seven-minute doom-speed behemoth. (Basically it’s our version of Sarcofago’s “Nightmare,” haha) Unfortunately, the desire associated with the second point (great closer) was unsatisfied; being that the song is so damn long and is also a change of pace from the rest of our songs, I always felt it worked best in the middle, and the nagging feeling of anti-climax that came with using this song as a closer reaffirmed that conviction.

After the performance as we were getting off stage, some chick asked Tony if she could get a copy of our CD. Tony responded that we didn’t have one on us and that she could download it off our MySpace for free, and it totally threw this girl for a loop. She was like “You don’t have a copy of your recording with you?” as if Tony had just told her he drove all the way here without a driver’s license. I found her bafflement slightly amusing.

As I said before, we were sharing our equipment with Midnight this evening, and it was a pretty sweet feeling not having to immediately get my gear offstage and start breaking it down. I took full advantage by sitting down on the couch in Rock Bottom’s back room and opening a bottle of water. Normally I do none of these until my drums are loaded and secure. In retrospect I kinda feel like a douche, I didn’t think Midnight’s drummer had brought his own set of cymbals and would have gladly stayed behind to take mine off if I had.

MIDNIGHT
So before our set we were talking to these three dudes who claimed to be the band Midnight. They were all roughly middle-aged, very friendly, and overall were about the least likely metal band I’d seen since… us. But then the equipment gets on stage, shirts came off, black hoods were donned, and it happened. Before us stood Midnight, the band that mixes Venom power-trio metal madness with a Piledriver fashion sense. The songs were good, although when I said they were Venom-ish I wasn’t kidding. While definitely steeped in evil subject matter, it was all just a little too mid-tempo for my taste.

Of course, I wasn’t really focused on whether or not I liked the music. Admittedly, my mind was set on how great my drums sounded! Until this evening I had never been fully confident in how POW-y my snare was or how BOOM-y my toms were. Tony, Tarzan, and I just stood there admiring the audience perspective on our equipment when the guitar suddenly stopped. We thought this was just some breakdown that was part of the song for like two seconds, then the bass and drums got confused and stopped. Something had blown in Tony’s amp head. We got his stuff off stage and Midnight continued with someone else’s head while I followed Tony out to the back yard area. He was none too happy, having just recently got the head and now it was somehow fritzed. He put on a brave smiley face for the public but I knew he was screaming inside.

POST-SHOW
Our first time driving back to Killeen after a San Antonio show. It was late, we were all tired, Tony was driving, and I was his passenger. Not that I’m complaining, I was happy to be the one talking to him in his mood. Soon he was mostly cheered up, we were listening to music and laughing and generally enjoying ourselves. It was a pretty peaceful drive until we got just outside of Burnet. That’s when the fog rolled in. And not just any ordinary fog, this was pea-soup, slow-down-or-you’ll-die, fuck-you-tired-driver fog. We were doing like 35 on a highway-speed road and shoveling extra minutes onto our journey home, not to mention hoping nobody behind us decides to throw caution to the fog and plow full-speed-ahead into the HexBus.

Tony and I made it to my house in Killeen at like 3 or so in the morning. We left the HexBus in the driveway, staggered into my room, and fell gratefully into our beds. Boys will be boys though; exhaustion didn’t stop us from staying up another half hour making fart jokes.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
I must seem godawful cranky talking about this show. Every section I wrote in had something go on that rubbed me (or Tony) the wrong way. Honestly it really was not all that bad of a show, I wasn’t even particularly pissed off when we left. There were just little things I did not like going on at every turn, which thankfully did not compound and add up to major pissiness.

Tony’s amp head was eventually repaired and was back in action by our next show. An exact answer was never found for its temporary demise, but those in the know offered up a possible solution of it being plugged into a multi-plug deal, resulting in a short.

Also, I would like to take this “closing thoughts” section to say goodbye to the HexBus. Not long after this show, Tony’s parents decided to get rid of it in favor of one of them spiffy Toyota hybrid spaceships. All of us in Hexlust miss that van terribly, with its impossibly comfy seats, ample legroom, separate stereo systems, and of course, the Super Nintendo hookups. What we will not miss, however, was that 90s relic’s appetite for petroleum. That thing guzzled gas like Chris Holmes enjoyed him some Jack Daniels. R.I.P. HexBus. You’re a cube now.

Haaaaaaaands Down! Part 2

Date: Saturday, April 4, 2009
Venue: Sports Shack, Killeen, TX
Playing with: Hands Down

PRE-SHOW
So we gets another invite to play a show with local friends Hands Down. For those not in the know or not remembering from our October 11 show, Hands Down are a predominantly covers band. Their guitarist, Sheena, is a good friend of mine. Her dad, Russ, is the singer/guitarist and bandleader, her mom is the bassist, and their friend Dan handles drums.

So we get this gig, which is great, cuz we had not played a local show in almost half a year at this point. The best part? The venue itself, the Sports Shack, was literally, LITERALLY, a three-minute drive from my house. Now I know what you’re saying: “That’s terribly fucking fascinating, Dart, but Tarzan and JT live in the Cove/Kempner area, and Tony in Temple. Aren’t you being kinda self-centered on the whole convenience issue?” Bear in mind that all our gear is stored in our practice room at my house. That means when the show’s over, we can just toss our shit into our vehicles as un-meticulously as possible, put on Death’s “Evil Dead,” and be unloading our stuff by the last chorus! You can’t tell me that ain’t a sweet deal.

Problem? Sound. The Sports Shack does not have a house PA, bands must bring their own. Luckily, we were playing with HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDS DOWN, one of those groups that’s more like a self-sufficient community than a band. Russ had his own PA packed into his truck and was very generous in letting us use it for our performance. As we shall find out later, benevolent as this was, things didn’t go completely swimmingly.

So after meeting at my house, scarfing down some wings and rice prepared by my dad, and rehearsing a bit, we broke down and got to the Sports Shack. James arrived shortly thereafter and helped me build my drum kit on the stage, for which I was very grateful indeed. Due to the convenience of location, I brought every piece of my kit I could pack into the bed of Tony’s truck, including rotary toms, extra floor tom, and even cowbells. While preparing to play, a few friends showed up, in the form of my friend Sue, Tony’s friends Susan and Andy, JT’s friend Kumer (sp?), Kodee, Jeff Lewis, Michael and Kelsi, and band friends John and Rick. (EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: John and Rick would later play with us in January 2010 in the band Desmortes.) And, of course, my dad, who took VIDEO FOOTAGE! Always a helpful tool in reviewing performances.

HEXLUST
This evening was special for one reason: The debut of two things: Our song “Baphomet Dawn” (actually a re-debut, in the YEAR since we last played this song we had re-tooled the structure and the lyrics and the solos) and JT’s awesome new red Jackson guitar! Tony was also using his Jackson this evening, meaning we unleashed a double-Floyd-Rose-whammy attack on this small club in Killeen!

For the most part, the set went very well. The list went Intro, Troops, Toxic, Hellhammer, Baphomet, Imminent, Tombs, Casket, Sodomy. Tony made the evening extra-so-special by announcing at the end of the intro “We are Hexlust from up the street!” There was something dropped in “Troops.” Was it Dart with his sticks? No, surprisingly, it was JT with his pick. What was better? His back-up picks he left on top of his amp fell down. Even better? He walked across the stage to grab a spare off Tony’s headstock. Speaking of JT and headstocks, “Toxic High” saw Mr. Bass getting his hair caught in Tarzan’s tuning keys. After the song ended, ol’ Tarzan was kind enough to remove the hair and toss it back onto its owner.

Comical moment #3 came at the beginning of "Hellhammer." Oldest HexJoke in the book, actually. I counted off and Tony DID NOTHING. I think he didn’t stomp his distortion (again). This time I took an extra second to say “Fool!” menacingly. And then of course Dart the FailDrummer dropped his stick! The re-debut of "Baphomet Dawn" went well, with Tony flubbing the lyrics only a few times! Wooh. Thanks to the appreciative reaction, we kept it in the setlist and haven’t not played it since. Although one thing that totally fell flat on its ass and we never did it again was Keith’s bass solo in the re-intro. Totally inaudible and overall pointless. We have since replaced it with a solo from Tony. Also: JT dropped a pick again. HAR! This time he actually had to fish on the ground for it.

Not much to say for “Imminent Retardation” besides how hilarious it was watching the camera try to switch back and forth between Tony and JT during their big trade-off solo section, which never fails to make me dizzy. “Tombs of the Blind Dead” came off very well, and when it came time for “Sodomy and Lust,” I unleashed ALL THE SPEED in the last verse! I love making my tired bandmates have to work to keep up with me during that verse.

Overall, lots of fun. The only real problem was the PA provided by Russ. While certainly fantastic in the use of Hands Down, those mics rebelled and became unruly when put in front of Hexlust. Tony’s vocals feedbacked constantly, and I was told my bass drum was a little too prominent in the mix. Not helping matters was the fact that Tony and JT compensated for the lack of miking by having their volumes set pretty high, which made Keith wanna turn up, which meant Dart’s drums were pretty much totally drowned out except for the overly-loud kick (this was apparent in the video as well.) We were very grateful to Russ for letting us use his equipment, but until we get a bitchin’ system of our own, we’re just gonna have to stick to clubs that come with one.

HANDS DOWN
After loading up the gear, we headed to my house and dropped our stuff off. What did we find? MORE WINGS! We re-nourished ourselves and headed back to the club. Since it was so close, we only missed a few songs out of Hands Down’s set. Of course, who did I find in the front row enjoying the hell out of the show, but my dad. The rest of the band soon left to get to their homes out of town, but Sue, Dad, and I stayed for both sets. All our favorite covers were played, plus an original tune that closed the show with a huge breakdown (which I know pleased Sheena.)

POST-SHOW (already?)
Did I mention there were only two bands this evening? Since HAAAAAAAAAAAAANDS DOWN play two sets, they’re practically two bands in one. Best part about playing on a bill with two bands? Splitting the money only two ways!

Oh, what did we do after the show? Well, the gear was already at home, the other guys had already left, so there wasn’t much left to do other than help Hands Down load their stuff, walk Sue to her car, go home, and go to sleep. I love local shows.

I would like to take this moment to thank all our friends who came to see us! Every time we play a local show we invite tons of friends, and it’s not very often more than… three show up. This evening, you all made us feel very specialJ