Dorkery and Lust

Date: Thursday, February 21, 2013
Venue: Korova (basement), San Antonio
Bill: Army of Drunks, Last Stage of Decay, Reign of Tyrants, Hexlust, Weapönizer


Has it been seven months since the last gig already? Last year was a busy one for us, more personally and professionally than musically, which is why the metal world only got two Hexlust shows and still no album in 2012. In fact, we only played those shows because we had them booked months in advance so we could have time to align our planets correctly. Anything offered sooner than that had to be turned down.

Hopefully, now that everyone's lives have evened out, 2013 will see us playing more shows, with an emphasis on venturing more outside of our San Antonio stronghold. We've already made progress in this direction by booking five shows from February to April, all in San Antonio.

Yeah, adventure scares us.

Completion and release of the album will be discussed eventually, but we can't even sneeze into a mic unless we have money to book studio time, so shows are the priority for the time being.

PRE-SHOW
I don't think we've ever played a set list as improvised as it was tonight. Sure, we've come up with sets in the parking lot before shows and even on the fly onstage, but when we do that we pick from a pool of well-rehearsed material, not from the nether reaches of songs we haven't even seriously practiced in well over a year! Well, after Tony and I got to the Korova and greeted our bandmates, we all observed Weapönizer maneuvering into a parking spot and talked about how they cover "Sodomy and Lust," and hey, maybe we should play that song tonight as well! Wouldn't that be a gas?

Granted, for the past couple years we'd been sticking with "Agent Orange" when it comes to covering Sodom, and yeah it'd be less redundant to have a different cover to put up against Weapönizer's, but that song is long-winded, mildly technical, and consists of more than three riffs. It requires some actual rehearsal before whipping out for a paying audience. "S&L," however, is simple in structure and technique, plus it's so far pounded into our systems from having covered it since our very first show that we figured we could pull it off with absolutely no practice at all. We even ran this idea by the Weapönizer dudes and they were all for it.

Even if they didn't like it... yeah, we wouldn't have played it. What else would we do, rumble for it? Have you SEEN those guys? I wouldn't fight them with fifty friends!

Nope.

REIGN OF TYRANTS
Tony and I got there too late to catch Army of Drunks' set, and gear load-in kept me distracted from Last Stage of Decay. All I had left to do was put my drum kit together off to the side of the stage, so Reign of Tyrants had my semi-divided attention. Admittedly, most of my focus was centered on that sweet-ass drum kit they brought onstage. Cymbals galore, a stuffed Animal (the Muppet) perched on the center stand, and Octobons! The man wielding the sticks was a play-for-the-song sort who played thrashy, occasionally blasty beats to match the riffs, but every now and then he cut loose with a crazy fill that raced up and down those tubular toms and the standard rack toms. Excellent! The vocalist was very animated but his voice is an acquired taste that reminded me of Proscriptor on Tara: higher in pitch yet still very throaty and a little gargly. If that makes any sense at all.

Come to think of it, I wonder if the band was influenced by Absu, because like the legendary Texas black/thrashers, Reign of Tyrants' songwriting is no joke, amigo. Most of their tunes exceed the five-minute mark, containing the standard three verses and choruses but having many different tempo shifts, off-the-wall riffs, and spidery solos between and around them. Two songs stick out in my mind, to which I have the titles thanks to patient YouTube research: "Mortal Sufferstream," which I at first thought was a cover of Voivod's "Tribal Convictions" because of its beginning drum beat (I bet they get that a lot); and "Sinister Realms," which has a chorus that slightly resembles "Highland Tyrant Attack" (you know, the part that goes "HIGH-LAND-A-TY-RANT-AT-TACK!"). By the time the last chorus came around, I had all my bandmates singing along, albeit with the Absu lyrics.

HEXLUST
Things did not begin optimistically for us. Tony plugged in his amp, flipped it on, and his effects loop immediately died. Zero signal. At some points during our actual set, both of his guitars went out of tune, one after the other. I was actually happy for the lapses this caused, as my double pedal was giving me some strange issues. Throughout "FBF" and "Toxic High," I felt the main pedal start to wobble, a sure sign of its grip on the lip of the kick drum coming loose. After multiple inspections, I found that the problem wasn't the grip on the lip, but that the spikes holding the pedal to the carpet were set to different lengths. A quick adjustment and I was good for the rest of the show.

After those minor hiccups, we actually had a great set. Tony took his technical issues in stride and remained outgoing and charismatic throughout the whole show, as opposed to losing his balls and hiding behind his hair as he used to do in the face of equipment SNAFUs. Tarzan had told me that he and JT had been practicing together lately, and it showed in their playing. Not that I could hear them very well; I had neglected to bring earplugs onstage, so all the amps were putting out fuzzy fart noises so far as I could tell. Despite that, I could feel the vibrations of Tarzan's bass better than I could hear it, and JT's tone cut through a little better when he soloed, and they both felt/sounded focused and confident.

"Sodomy and Lust" went exactly as I thought it would, with me not even thinking about what I was playing, just going with the flow of pure memory. I occasionally slipped up on a fill but nailed all the right beats and tempo changes, including our big slow-down right before the "Madness... crime... disgrace..." breakdown. As we always did when we played this song, we held that last chord out after the word "kill," I counted off, and came flying in just as fast as I could possibly play, casting out a small wish that the guys could still keep up with me. Lightning solos, big fill going back into the last verse (which I messed up), final chorus, big finish. Crowd loved it, and we were happy. Show well played, let's pack it in, I can barely lift my arms anymore and am well dehydrated because I'm stupid and left my water in Tony's truck.

One small thing...

We had made a last-minute decision to leave out "Meganecropolis" because, well, that song's hard and we didn't feel like playing it. What we wound up with, however, was a gap in our set we didn't realize existed until after we finished "S&L" and the sound guy told us we still had time for one more song. What could we possibly play that wouldn't kill us? We had just finished going fuck-you fast (as JT likes to call it) during the Sodom cover and were running on fumes. "Mega" was out of the question, as was our stupid-technical speedfest "Imminent Retardation." Thankfully, we still had a cover that fit perfectly: "Troops of Doom." Another warhorse from all the way back to our first show, the song is only speedy for a third of its running time, and even that's broken up into little chunks. We pulled it off with no thought and little effort, and trudged offstage to cry ourselves to death.

Set List:
FBF
Toxic High
They Conjure
Hellhammer
Tombs of the Blind Dead
Sodomy and Lust
Troops of Doom   

WEAPÖNIZER 
After loading all the gear back into Tony's truck, I took a long moment to breathe in some fresh air and tag-team my bottle of water with the similarly-parched JT. I was soon enticed back inside, however, by one of the ugliest, most evil guitar tones I've heard in a good while (and yes, I meant that in a very good way), the signal that Weapönizer had begun their black/crust/thrash assault on everyone left crammed into the Korova's basement venue. How to describe them to you folks? If you've heard Midnight or Vomitor, these guys are very similar, only faster and... dirtier. High-speed drumming, with lots of blast beats, combined with guitar playing that's fast without going into tremolo picking, lots of chugging palm-muted riffs and held-out chords, the riffs more strummed than picked most of the time. Way high on the Hellhammer/old Celtic Frost, Motörhead, and Venom influence.

Speaking of Venom, after bashing the audience in the teeth with their iron-knuckle originals, bassist/vocalist Barbarian announced a cover of the classic "In League With Satan," and drummer Shaggy immediately got heads banging and fists pumping with that distinctive tom beat. Towering guitarist Ale Wülf then called out a Hexlust cover, bringing a quick chuckle from the audience as they launched into their own rendition of "Sodomy and Lust" and we in Hexlust all joined the surge at the front of the stage to enjoy the song from the other side of the mic for once. We marveled at how their other guitarist Nuke was playing so fast, with such intensity, yet with a laid-back, confident stage presence. By comparison, our heads pretty much match our hands; the faster we play, the faster our necks snap. That's probably how we end up feeling as if we got hit by a bag of trains (whole bag, all at once) by the end of every show. Getting back to the shared cover, I'd say our version of that most recognizable of Sodom songs is faster, while theirs is by far more grinding and menacing.

Weapönizer closed out the evening with "Warbastard," and I almost lost my mind when they got to the end and Shaggy started slamming his snare drum in lock-step with the palm-muted chugs. They could have gone on doing that for five whole minutes and I never would have tired of it. Fantastic band all around, some true-blue intense black/thrash combined with a genuinely intimidating one percenter biker-type physical presence. Talking to them after the show, the idea was thrown out that we should head up to their home state of Colorado to play a show or two with them someday. Tony has family up near the Denver area; could this be where Hexlust finally plays an out-of-state show? A potential link in a possible touring chain? Time will tell. 

Although knowing us and how good we are at this whole ambition thing... nope.

POST-SHOW THOUGHTS 
Speaking of touring, how the hell do metal bands do that without completely destroying themselves? As I said earlier, we in Hexlust end every gig night with every muscle in our bodies screaming at us. We need the entire next day to recuperate, and even the day after that we're still not 100% crisp. We get up on that stage and throw every ounce of our energy into entertaining our audience, tossing chiropractic caution to the wind in favor of giving the paying customers a balls-out thrashfest. Not something we planned on doing, it just sort of happened naturally. We'd watch the headlining acts of the shows we played, some of them part of a touring package, and say "Yeah, the music's great, but the dudes themselves are kinda conservative with the metal-thrashing madness. They only really let loose in certain parts of the songs, and besides that they're all reigned in. Are they afraid of hurting themselves?" Now that I think about it, yeah they probably are!

Even when we say to each other, "Ok guys, tonight let's dial it back a notch. Reserve the headbanging for the really intense riffs, conserve energy, pace ourselves," that inevitably flies out the door. Two or three songs in we're playing as if it's the last tune of the last show we'll ever play. To be able to play every night for two weeks or more, we'd have to find some way to truly moderate our onstage energy, to dole out the thrashery based on the ebb and flow of the songs themselves. Would it be the same though? Would it still be hexcellent? Most of the praise we get has to do with our live shows, how we hit the ground running and don't even slow to a jog until we hit the finish or our feet fall off. I suppose the alternative would be to hire a yoga coach and a massage therapist to cram into a van with us and snap us back into place every night. Ideally, they'd have to be able to speak entirely in Simpsons quotes and put up with a constant tirade of dick and fart jokes.

Maybe we should just learn to dial it back. Or just never tour. Again, considering how we are with getting shit done... let's concentrate on playing these shows, then finishing an album. We'll see.

For this, our first of hopefully many shows in 2013, and our triumphant return to the Korova, we in Hexlust thank Weapönizer, Reign of Tyrants, Jaime for booking us and believing in us, the throng of crust kids who regarded us well, and the ever-supportive Beer, Hellbound Jeff, BJ, and Hellpreacher Johnny, who insist on coming to our shows and liking us in spite of our non-stop humdickery. See you all next time! Keep it hexcellent, and thrash til Alzheimers!

You Know, That Song From 'Dumb and Dumber'

Date: Friday, July 13, 2012
Venue: Ten Eleven, San Antonio
Bill: Cannibal Bitch, Aggravator, Hexlust, Age of Fire, Machinage


In June of 2012, Hexlust held two full-band practices, something we hadn't done in... I don't even remember how long. Since JT moved to San Antonio in late summer of 2010, and Tarzan followed a year later, I really don't think all four of us had got together to stretch our muscles in the proverbial woodshed even once. A shame, really, not only because it combined with our late-2011 setbacks to bring about our fuckeryfest of a show this past March, but also because Hexlust is a band practically founded on the concept of a group of friends getting together just to play fast music and tell dick jokes for shits and giggles. With these two practices, we were determined to get the magic back and have a hellaciously hexcellent show to put on when we played with our Brazilian friends Machinage.

That first session, we plowed through literally every song we've ever played together: all eight original songs and all the covers, even numbers like "Open Casket" and "Chainsaw Gutsfuck" that we haven't played live in years. Most of it was great, some of it was shaky (especially toward the end of that hour and a half thrash fest), but all of it was fun. We were smiling and laughing and cracking joke riffs, throwing out the first few bars of  "Photograph" (by Def Leppard) and "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution," just like we used to. The second practice was just a little more serious-face, with the focus being more on crafting and rehearsing a set list for our upcoming show. We decided on our five "major" songs plus an old favorite, "Hellhammer," our stylistic tribute to the early works of Tom G Warrior.

Warming up on my snare-mounted practice pad outside the Ten Eleven the night of the show, listening to the surprisingly catchy Cannibal Bitch and the familiar, energetic Aggravator, I went through every tricky beat and complicated fill in our songs, traded hahaha-hope-we-don't-suck cracks with the guys, and checked out every fail-potential piece of my kit, from the arms of my cymbal stands to the nuts holding my double-kick pedal together. We may have had the Hexmagic back and were perfectly happy just hanging out and jamming together again, but getting up onstage in front of these folks tonight and not sucking would really, ya know, be totally awesome.

HEXLUST
Our set was fantastic. Worries be gone! All six songs we played went off without any major hitches, nobody dropped a pick or accidentally unplugged their guitar by stepping on a cable, and I didn't drop any sticks or have my floor tom fall over on me. The crowd was responsive and supportive, though very small, maybe 25 people tops. Friday the 13th is a very choice night for metal shows, so audiences are almost always split. In fact, there was at least one show going on in San Antonio and another in Austin featuring bands we associate with, so we knew we would be without the support of many of our musician friends and usual fans.

We had only two gripes concerning our performance, and even they are pretty small: Tony was having himself a slippery-hand kind of evening, I don't know if it was the moisturizer he used or the soap in the bathroom or if he was just a sweaty-palmed dude that night, but his solos were a little sloppy and he couldn't hit a harmonic to save his hair. This took a lot of oomph out of his whammy dives, of which there are plenty in Hexlust songs. The second complaint was my own, that no matter how much I warmed up before going onstage, I wasn't able to achieve my effortless speed, where my super-fast hi-hat and ride patterns are as simple as flexing my wrists, allowing me to relax more. It normally takes about one or two full songs for me to "break through the wall," so to speak, so it was rather frustrating to find that we were into the second half of our set and I was still having to actually "push" for my speed. As a result, I thought my individual performance was sluggish and forced, but of course no one noticed, not even my bandmates. Everyone was just all, "Those fills were really smooth Dart!" and "Hey Dart, you didn't drop a stick this time!" As long as everyone's happy, I can sleep at night.

Speaking of sticks, a quick little side note. About an hour and a half into the drive to San Antonio, I realized I had left my stick bag at home, so I texted JT and asked if he could pick me up a couple pairs of sticks, any brand as long as they were size 5B. When I arrived, I was met with "Dart, these sticks were like $13 a pair! Why are they so expensive!" I explained that they're usually not, and then saw that he had bought two pairs of Pro-Mark Shira Kashi Oak, said to be the highest-quality, most unbreakable sticks offered. It was immediately obvious that he had simply told a clerk at Guitar Center to get him two pairs of any 5B sticks, giving the guy license to do what any competent sales clerk would do: go for the high-ticket items. My fault for not being more specific. Oh and let me tell you, those high-dollar "unbreakable" sticks didn't last three Hexlust songs without one of them breaking at the tip! Yeesh.

Set list:
FBF
Conjure
Baphomet
Hellhammer
Meganecropolis
Tombs 

AGE OF FIRE
(To the tune of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies)

Once, there was this band who
Back-lined for Machinage, they went on after Hexlust
And when, their time to play came,
That, band, had disappeared from the venue
We couldn't quite explain it, they'd only just
Beeeeeeeen theeeeeeeeeere

MACHINAGE
With Age of Fire oddly absent, we happily volunteered our own gear for Machinage's use. In fact, my drum kit wasn't even broken down yet, so getting things set up for them was a simple matter of putting stuff back onstage and rearranging it in a playable fashion. Folks, if you ever get a chance to be in the audience while pro-grade musicians play music on your equipment, by all means take it. It's an oddly gratifying experience hearing quality metal being blasted at you on gear that, a few hours earlier, had been taking up space in your parents' spare room. It's almost as if their professionalism is injected into your gear and actually makes it sound better than it really is! We experienced this before, back in 2009 when we played with the mighty Midnight, though thankfully this evening's performance didn't end with Tony nearly on the brink of tears over his blown-out amp.

Machinage really brought the fury to that small audience in that tiny club, plowing into the attendees with their groove-heavy take on modern thrash, dazzling those close to the stage with their top-notch musicianship. Both guitarists possessed an enviable tone that was equally thick and sharp, and the solos, while not as shred-heavy as I prefer, were strategically placed and expertly played. The lead vocalist, Fábio, even sang while soling on occasion. Drummer Ricardo is of that rare breed of skinsman who is both capable beatsmith and consumate showman. Between his crushing rhythms and smooth, linear fills, he was always finding an opportunity to throw a thumbs-up or the metal horns at the audience, or to make a face for the camera, all without once breaking cadence. Even when my snare stand fell backward over the double pedal and popped his snare drum out onto the floor, he simply moved his snare hits to the toms, not upsetting the song at all as I wormed my way onstage to fix the issue. 

A cover and a half were present in Machinage's set list: A full rendition of Sepultura's "Territory," one of the highlights off a very hit-and-miss album, for which we were all on board; and a teasing bit of Pantera's "Walk," which pleased many in the audience but left me a little ambivalent. Hexlust's opinion of Texas' go-to metal act isn't necessarily well-documented, but if you've talked to us about music for any length of time you've likely heard our apathetic-at-best take on Dime and the gang. I was happy it was just a tiny bit of "Walk" played, and didn't let it color my opinion of these guys in the slightest.

POST-SHOW
I think I had three instances of Ricardo walking up and giving me a big hug and a heavily-accented "Thank you, man!" after the set. In fact, all of Machinage were very liberal with expressing their gratitude to us for the use of our gear. All we could do was thank them right back for showing us how good our bargain-price contraptions sound in the hands of the well-practiced. We spent a short while engaging in that wheel-greasing and fat-chewing, then decided to hit the road.

By the way, Age of Fire did show up, when Machinage were already onstage. Apparently they had gone to get a bite to eat and had taken a little longer at Pizza Hut than they had anticipated. Sorry guys, gotta call a technical foul here. If you haven't even gone onstage yet, a "bite to eat" should consist of a hot dog and chips at a gas station ideally no more than five minutes away from the venue. Any place that involves sitting down and ordering is out of the question, and if the band right before you is already playing, forget it, no matter where you plan on going. It's just too big a risk.

Anyway, AoF went on after Machinage. I have no idea how many people stuck around for them because we took off. Our obligation was fulfilled, and the headlining band had already played, so for us the show was over. I hope they had a decent set and have learned from this evening's judgement lapse. We'll see what the future holds, maybe we'll even get another opportunity to play with them if we ever make it back out to the Dallas/Ft Worth area.

The 'Lust Machine Took a Shit & Died

Date: Saturday, March 17, 2012
Venue: Ten Eleven, San Antonio
Bill: Hexlust, Spellcaster, Speedwolf, Bonded By Blood, Witchaven, Exmortus


The hell were we thinking?

Hexlust experienced a few setbacks after our last show in October. JT's amp was stolen, and Tony developed severe wrist issues that left him unable to play guitar for about four months. As a result, production on the album ceased (which was ok, considering we no longer had a recording space and ran out of money), and we experienced a small lull.

Cut to five months later. Tony recovered swimmingly, but only just in time for our show on March 17. He and I hadn't put in a whole lot of practice together. With JT and Tarzan living in San Antonio and Tony being unable to play, I had fallen out of individual practice. JT had no new amp, since those things tend to be expensive and his car insurance didn't reimburse him for his stolen one. Somehow, in light of all this, we thought it would be a fine idea to get up onstage and just see what happens. Half a year of the whole band not even being in the same room together, let's just get JT his dodgy old Marshall amp from way back in Hexlust's early days, go up in front of a paying audience, and see if some of that ol' Hexmagic can make us come out like champions!



The HELL were we THINKING?

The instant we hit that first chord, it just felt wrong. We were out of shape, out of sync, four separate guys trying to play the same song at the same time instead of a tight band playing the tune as one. JT's tone was weak, and his amp was just loud enough to be very audible, so yippee skip there. The audience weren't responding that enthusiastically, which was understandable considering a) we sucked, and b) we were the opening act and nobody's ever all WOOHOO at 8pm. All this added up to Tony immediately losing confidence; you can clearly see in the above video that he was playing with his eyes shut.

The rest of our set is a blur, as I set myself to just turning off my observational senses and powering through the remaining songs. I remember Tony having the audience wish me a happy birthday between songs at some point (this very day was my 25th), but beyond that I got nothin'. There is video evidence to suggest that we started tightening up a little, and even got a little mosh pit out of the attendees.



And holy hell, I even got my first ever drum cam video!



Overall, however, this show was a dud, and we all knew it. We didn't even stick around very long after our set, we were just so embarrassed. We watched Spellcaster (awesome, with a rousing rendition of the classic "See You In Hell") and a little bit of Speedwolf, said hi to our buddies in Exmortus, and were gone.

2011 was all in all a pretty good year for us. Our last show was such a success, and sure, we had bought into so much of our own hype as an energetic and rousing live band, that we thought the awesomeness would just carry over across half a year of inactivity. We had taken the Hexmagic for granted, and it bit us in the ass. That is surely not going to happen again; not with our next show, and hopefully ever again.

Of course, watch me write another entry just like this in two years. We're awesome like that.

Set list:
FBF
They Conjure
Baphomet Dawn
Meganecropolis
Tombs 

All We Hex Is Lust! Birth Holes!

Date: Friday, October 7, 2011
Venue: Headhunters, Austin TX
Bill: Aggravator, Morgengrau, Hexlust, Birth A.D., Whore of Bethlehem

A note on the title: I've had it in mind since the day we announced this show. If you're Facebook friends with members of Morgengrau, Birth A.D., or Hexlust, you'll recognize the wacky little quotes I'm toying with here. Of course, now that I look at it, "birth holes" seems like an odd choice of words, haha.

PRE-SHOW
It's amazing how quickly something as simple as gear load-in can dissolve into chaos when already limited space starts running out. When we in Hexlust arrived at Headhunters, the early-evening singer-songwriter show was still going on, so we didn't feel the need to unload yet. After grabbing some pizza next door and catching up, we went back to Headhunters and chatted with the members of Morgengrau. They went about bringing their gear in, and the question was then raised if we should unload as well. As much as I'm all for getting things set up as early as possible, I insisted that we wait; we were going on third, so it would make more sense to load in just before Morgengrau's set than to take up room in the tiny club hours in advance.

Then I saw another amp being wheeled into the club, piloted by somebody I didn't recognize. This could only be stuff from Whore of Bethlehem, who were the evening's headliners. Aggravator and Birth A.D. hadn't even arrived yet, and already things were getting crowded. A hasty decision was made, and twenty minutes later, about half of the audience floor was taken up with assorted amps, bass rigs, and guitar cases. Not one thread of organization was applied to this, where maybe we'd have Morgangrau's stuff closer to the stage, then our stuff, then Whore's. Nope, it was a big hodge-podgey rat's nest, from which one band's equipment would have to be extracted by shuffling everyone else's crap around.

Jeff A.D. showed up, took a look at the steaming batch of equipment jambalaya we'd made, and asked me if that was all our stuff. I gave him a huge smile and said it was everyone's stuff, and wasn't it fantastic! He gave me a look that brought to mind Kurt Russell in Tombstone going "Ahh, hell," and went back outside, presumably to vent his frustration into a ninety-nine-percenter's face with his boot. (Not too big a stretch, there was supposedly an Occupy-Everywhere thing going on in Austin that weekend, so they were around!)

AGGRAVATOR
My parents, who were in town to catch the show, really liked Aggravator. My dad in particular noted how catchy their songs were, and how there was a large emphasis placed on rhythm, from the drum beats to the memorable riffs that were played even as Jesse was ripping out a lead. I shared my dad's appreciation for their talents, but noticed that the band looked rather tired, and less spirited than usual. I later found out that they were double-booked over at the Dirty Dog on 6th Street, so they were probably conserving energy for a later performance.

I stuck around for a couple tunes, then retreated to the second floor of Headhunters' patio area where I warmed up for our performance and talked to Njord from Humut Tabal. I eventually realized that time had gotten away from me, and retreated back into the club proper, expecting to find Morgengrau already performing, or at least soundchecking. Instead, they were just now getting their gear onstage, which I later found out was due to Aggravator finishing their set and then I guess just going somewhere, leaving their drum kit onstage and in Morgengrau's way. Sorry guys, that's what we call a technical foul.


MORGENGRAU
Morgengrau's set was off to a shaky start before they even played one song. They had to hurry their gear onstage to prevent more time being eaten away, shuffle things around to fit everything onto the tiny, oddly-shaped space, and grit their teeth through a long soundcheck which ended with vocalist Erika hampered by a scratchy guitar sound, possibly due to a faulty cord. I've been through plenty of those frustrating pre-performances, where we would finish the soundcheck stressed out and feeling like the gig's already gone straight to hell. More than half the time, that's exactly where it would go, and I started to feel a sympathy headache coming on. Morgengrau don't believe in self-fulfilling prophecies, however, and through the power of their Christmas guitars turned in one hell of a performance that lifted the spirits and ensured that this was going to be a fine evening indeed!

CHRISTMAS GUITARS!

Erika, known more locally for her soaring clean vocals in Iron Maiden tribute act Drifter, impressed everyone with the ferocity of her death metal growl, employed most impressively in the band's covers of Asphyx's "Apshyx (Forgotten War)" and Pestilence's "Chronic Infection." (Van Drunen fan, much? Hehe.) From what I saw she stuck with rhythm guitar duties, leaving the leads in Nick's very capable hands, and they both employed a very precise picking style, wrists rooted firmly in place, the hands themselves hardly seeming to move at all. Extremely impressive, especially when one is singing while doing so.

At the set's beginning the audience's reaction was rather subdued, but they started getting more into it after the covers had warmed them up, moshing hard during such fantastic originals as "Grave of Lies" and "Extrinsic Pathway,' and throwing their horns or fists up after every tune. As a quick closer, Morgengrau pulled out yet another cover, this time allowing bassist Jake to take the mic for a raging rendition of Exhorder's "Anal Lust." I'm not sure how he or drummer Reba still had the energy, between his seemingly perpetual headbanging and her endless thrash beats and double-bassery they were both in constant motion since the first tune. Plus I know very well how hot it gets on that stage! Kudos to them and the rest of Morgengrau for putting their all into giving their audience a showcase in old school death metal, we all loved it and are looking eagerly forward to the next gig!


HEXLUST
Not only did we kick undisputed ass after having not had all four of us standing in the same room together, much less playing as a full band, since our last gig in August; not only did we near flawlessly play almost all of our originals, including the tricky "Imminent Retardation" but excluding "Hellhammer" due to time constraints; and not only did JT still headbang like the bastard he is after having had to recently chop his metal-god mane down to a Dwight-Schrute cut to appease the crotchety old fucks in charge of his higher education, but we did it all without the time-keeping assistance of my hi-hat pedal!

To understand just why that's significant, you should know that since our earliest practices I insisted that everybody follow me. I'm the timekeeper and I take that role very seriously. One of my favorite tricks to use is stomping the hi-hat pedal, bringing those two cymbals together to provide that chik-chik-chik sound that keeps us in time when, say, Tony starts a riff on his own. Sometimes my insistence on being the focus of time bites me in the ass, like when something malfunctions in my hi-hat stand and renders it useless. Before, whenever this happened, it tended to set everyone adrift, especially when sub-par sound didn't allow us to hear the guitars that well, so when the rest of us came in together it was with all the precision of blustery wind chimes.

Tonight, however, we pulled out the best results in the worst time-keeping circumstance: not halfway into our first song, I smacked the wingnut holding the top hi-hat cymbal straight off the stand and into the black abyss of the stage floor. The cymbals fell together and stayed that way through the whole set, the stand's pedal now all but useless. I gave a heavy internal sigh, figuring I'd have to actually hit the cymbals during a break in the song, or maybe even substitute the chiks with a kick drum thump. When the time came to do either of those, though, I got caught up in the moment and forgot, stomping that useless pedal like the happy idiot I am. Something awesome happened, though: we all still came in together! I'm sure it helped that the small stage allowed us to hear the guitars a little better, but at the same time it was something more than that. It didn't feel like the guys were having to stop, listen for the guitar, and react from there; we all just simply knew when to go. It was a fantastic feeling, being able to let go of that responsibility and trust that we would all come in on time.

I told that long story that had a lot to do with me for two reasons: 1) I'm the author, so deal with it, suckas! 2) I was super-proud of the fact that, after over three years of playing live with this lineup, we seem to have finally developed a group-sense of being able to stay on time with each other without an explicit guide. I'll be sticking with my hi-hat stomping anyway, due to force of habit, the sneaking suspicion that this could have been a fluke, and just feeling like the chiks are a part of the music itself, as they are in the old Sodom records. Yay Hexlust, becoming more of a competent band with every gig!

The Drummer Stays in the Picture

Set List:
Fucked By Fire
Toxic
Conjure
Baphomet
Imminent Retardation
Meganecropolis
Tombs

BIRTH A.D.
How did we go on after these guys once upon a time? I mull that question over in my thinkin' brain every time I see Birth A.D. in action, thinking back to that show in August 2009 where their set preceded ours. How did that audience put up with our buffoonery after witnessing these guys set up, kick ass, and tear down like the seasoned professionals they are? Though the band itself has only been around for a few short years, the members of Birth A.D. have been playing in Austin-area metal acts since the early '90s. The benefit of their experience showed in the way they fit all their equipment onto the stage with seemingly few issues, blew through their whole set with nary a technical difficulty, and held the loyal audience's attention the entire time with Jeff's vitriolic between-song rants and humorous banter with drummer Mark. Inspirational.

I have come into possession of a copy of their "Stillbirth of a Nation" EP since we last played with them in February, so I was now ready for Birth A.D.'s assault on my senses, having memorized most of the lyrics and the time changes (as in, "fast" to "mid-paced). Of course, the glorious thing about this band is that their choruses are so catchy and simple that even an uninitiated newblet will be singing along and pumping their fist by the last go 'round of each tune, but knowing the songs beforehand allows for less listening and more doing. I sang along to every tune and loved every second of it, finally able to feel like one of the cool kids who really knows the tunes.

As I threw my fist in the air and ravaged my voice to their music, the true beauty of Birth A.D.'s hooks really hit me. Sure, they were choruses designed to be memorable, what music artist doesn't create something like that? What really matters is the intent behind the catchiness. Others make their hooks irresistible for the plain and naked sake of popularity, but Birth A.D. do it for the sake of spreading their messages. They want you to come away from a show having it in your head that you need to Cause Problems, Kill Everybody, and Bring Back the Draft, because we're living in a Failed State, with Equal Opportunity for losers in the job environment, and most of all, because This Scene Sucks!


WHORE OF BETHLEHEM/ POST-SHOW
A small, devoted crowd stuck around for Whore of Bethlehem's doom-influenced take on blackened death metal, but this audience did not include me. Tony was setting off on his long journey back to Belton, my parents were leaving for the hotel room I would be sharing with them tonight, and members of Birth A.D. and Morgengrau were finally getting around to packing their stuff up in their vehicles. All my friends were outside, so outside I went, engaging in those glorious long goodbyes where an utterance of "well, see ya later" was followed right up by, "Oh by the way dude, have you listened to [awesome band/recording] yet? Let's have another five-minute conversation about that!"

I finally tore myself away at a little after 2, as I had to grab a few precious hours of sleep and be back in Killeen for work at 8:30 the next morning. It was really hard for me to leave, I appreciate every second spent talking to our awesome metal friends in the Central Texas metal scene, commiserating on life subjects and swapping awesome stories. Makes me glad that we hopefully get to do it some more when we share the stage with Birth A.D. again, opening for Exhorder the day after Thanksgiving!

For those of you wondering what's been up with the lack of studio blogs, recording was put on hold for a little while so we could perform a change of location for the studio. Work is set to resume this Sunday, so I'll try my best to post that night or the very next day and keep you all up to date on what's going on with our first album. Until then, remember to THRASH TIL ALZHEIMER'S!

The Faptrabulous Riffoonery of Tone-Deaf and Jar-Tard

Just got home from Walter's house, where Tony and I were given the opportunity to listen to what's been recorded so far for Hexlust's first album (meaning all drums, bass, and rhythm guitars). After giving five of the songs a listen, on quality speakers instead of the grainy floor monitors in the studio space, it pleases me to report to you folks that so far I am quite the happy camper!

See, our true purpose was to troubleshoot the tracks to see if there were any horrifying mistakes that may have escaped us up to this point. From what we listened to tonight there are just a few sloppy hammer-ons or painful dead notes from the guitars, so Tony and JT will both have a little extra rhythm work to do when they go in for the leads next week. Granted, we know that little mistakes add "character" to a recording, give it that "human element" and whatnot, and we accounted for that; what we were searching for tonight were the extra bad flubs that could reach out and slap us in the face after it's too late to do anything about it.

As for the recording of the rhythm tracks themselves, I was present for one day of recording for each guitarist. Tony's was an inspiring but rather frustrating day, his last of maybe three sessions. At one point he was having trouble with a riff where, when recording drums, I had suddenly and inexplicably slowed down (oops), which threw his concentration off and badly affected his playing. Walter tried omitting my drums, then tried phasing out Tarzan's bass, even tried telling Tony to just continue playing in spite of what he was hearing, all to no avail.

Finally, it was suggested that Tony simplify his picking style for that section, which did the trick stupendously. He was now able to just go with the flow, and the best part was that him matching my sudden slow-down made it sound deliberate and even gave the whole thing a kind of eerie feel. It's truly amazing what magic can happen when creativity is applied to a mistake!

As for the J-Tizzle, the one day I was there turned out to be the only day that mattered. How so? Because this fool somehow pumped out all his rhythm tracks in one seven-hour session! Were we letting him get away with first takes and sloppy runs? Hells to the no, JT was very good about policing himself but we also let him know when we spotted something he needed to do over again. It got a little tense in some places, and at one point he even asked that Tony and I leave on account of how scrutinizing we were. He got it done, though, and so far it all sounds great.

I also just want to say real quick that I love the sound of two different guitars from two different players. It may not be as perfect as the time-honored method of having one player track all the rhythms, but what matters is that the parts mesh well and they get the point of the song across. As long as that goal is attained, then it's a lot of fun listening in for the little stylistic ticks and foibles that distinguish each contributor. Some good examples of this are Cannibal Corpse's first two albums, before it was decided that Jack Owen would record all the rhythms for "Tomb of the Mutilated." I think Megadeth's early albums are the same way, though I have no proof of this and am surprised those dudes got anything done considering how constantly blitzed they were.

Thrash Til Death at the Dirty Dog!

Date: Friday, August 12, 2011
Venue: Dirty Dog, Austin TX
Bill: Hexlust, Numb Skull, Legion, Warbeast, Blunt Force Trauma

PRE-SHOW
Ahh, Sixth Street. That legendary haven of hedonism in downtown Austin, where Texans can pretend they have their own Sunset Strip, on which the venue hosting this evening's shenanigans rests. Sure the sidewalks are crowded, the traffic's perpetually congested, and one can't help but feel like they're choking in a miasma of empty-headed party-hardy escapism mixed with a particularly delusional brand of holier-than-thou snootiness seemingly exclusive to the "live music capital of the world." (*Inhale*) On the plus side, though... Umm... Hmmm...

...

Yeah, fuck Sixth Street.

Since Tarzan now also lives in San Antonio, he and JT had already arrived and loaded in by the time Tony and I got there. We parked in an alley out behind the Dirty Dog and loaded in through the back door, which was insanely preferable to the option before us merely ten minutes prior: Park the truck in the sketchy lot on Red River and then take forever lugging all the drums and stands a little bit at a time two blocks away to the club.

The venue itself impressed me; considering its downtown location and the fact that it's not Emo's, I came into this prepared for a small club with a tiny stage, barebones sound equipment, and almost nowhere to set up gear. Looking at its front exterior, about as long across as an average house, I figured it would be a little bigger than expected, but not much. However, the Dirty Dog surprised me with its interior that, deeper than it is wide, stretched far back enough to allow space for two full bars, a comfortable audience floor, an area by the back door for gear storage, and a comfortably-sized stage with a full P.A. system (my hi-hats got mic'd; that has never happened, ever).

As I've mentioned in previous posts, being the first band of the evening has the awesome perk of being able to load directly onto the stage and take a little more time setting up and getting comfortable. It also allows for more time to deal with small issues, like Tony forgetting his foot switch that changes his tone from rhythm to lead, and JT discovering a short in his own pedal. Normally something like this creates tense apprehension for the performance ahead, but the mood was eased with the sudden (first ever) presence of Tony's flashlight headband, which awarded him a high-five from Tarzan "for just not giving a fuck!"

HEXLUST
In honor of our twenty-five minutes of actual play time, a leaner and meaner set list was devised for this evening. We stripped away such excesses as the intro and our lumbering groove-hemoth "Baphomet Dawn," and emphasized our faster, more concise songs, including the re-entry of "Toxic High." This would have been another perfect night to bring back "Imminent Retardation" but, alas, the lack of full-band rehearsal. Also, I'm still wrestling with the fear that playing that song and "Meganecropolis" back-to-back at "live speed" may kill me. Soon, though, I promise!

I must say, for this having been the first time all four of us have been playing our instruments at the same time in one place since our show in June, we did pretty damn well. Still as vicious and off-the-wall as usual! Just a couple hiccups on our behalf: Tony broke a string in the middle of "Fucked By Fire" (the first song), but had his back-up guitar plugged in and ready to go by the time he had to sing again; and my remote kick pedal came disconnected from the main one right before the big double-bass part in "Meganecropolis." It didn't drastically affect the tune itself, I was able to soldier on single-footed and then reconnect the pedal after the song was over, simply making sure to super-tighten the screw on the connector rod.

We got a sweet audience response, too, considering it was nine o'clock and there was nobody present except for friends, other musicians, and a handful of early birds. This show was taking place the same evening that Macabre were destroying San Antonio, so we were surprised and very grateful to have even that many people there at such an early hour. Nobody really noticed our small blunders, and everyone was full of enthusiastic praise. Particularly remembered are the words of Jeff A.D., who offered that our sound this evening was much fuller than when he saw us a month ago at Headhunters, which made a huge difference in the impact of our songs. Grateful are we to the Dirty Dog's awesome sound equipment and the guy running it, who was patient and clearly-spoken during our sound check.

Setlist:
FBF
Toxic
Conjure
Meganecropolis
Tombs

NUMB SKULL
D.R.I. worship fronted by a vocalist who looks (and performs) like Phil Anselmo circa 1990. Not my bag musically but a group of really nice guys who play with big smiles on their faces, and I can always be won over by a band who are clearly having a good time doing what they do. I especially enjoyed watching their drummer from off to the side of the stage; he uses a very unorthodox style in which he sometimes leads off with his left foot despite playing right-handed, and for certain passages eschews riding the hi-hat or ride cymbal in favor of just punching the accented notes on the crashes. Overall a decent performance, one that was not captured on video (at least none posted online), so I give you a vid shot at one of their more recent gigs.



LEGION
Since our last show with these guys, the third Night of the Thrashing Dead back in February, Legion have been doing a good job of playing as often as possible in as many places as they can, really "getting their name out" and building up a reputation wherever they play. They have also said goodbye to that one guitarist who looked more bro-sy than thrashy and picked up a shredder who looks like one of the former guitarists for Bonded By Blood, the short one who never smiled. Hell, for all I know it's the same guy, Legion's Facebook profile doesn't list the name of their newest member. [EDIT: I recently found out the dude's name is John.]

I was more impressed with their playing than I was last time, as they have gotten tighter and faster, leaving out some of those breakdowns that raised so many eyebrows in favor of more "traditional" mid-paced sections. That or they have a rotation system on their set list to cater to particular crowds, either way it really works. Vocalist/guitarist Drew played fewer leads than last time, limiting himself to tunes which required trade-offs or multiple solos. Their new guitarist John, bearer of the lion's share of the lead work, pulled out a decent selection of tasteful shred solos, notable for Hammett-esque wah-pedal manipulation.

The highlight of the show was their well-known cover of Slayer's legendary "Angel of Death," to which the audience responded with loud enthusiasm. The best part of this performance, though, was watching from the side of the stage as drummer Brian dropped one of his sticks right before that famous initial scream. Having to go into that section with only his snare-hand going, he looked confused for a second and then looked at us off to the side for help. My initial thought was "Well, grab your spare, dude!" before seeing that he had no spares available. Yikes. I actually turned to go grab one of my sticks for him, trying to remember what size he played and hoping it wasn't something like super-light 5A that would contrast heavily with my own thicker 5Bs, but one of Warbeast's crew beat me to the punch and had a stick in Brian's hand before I could take a step.

Even better: dude dropped a stick again before the song was over! Not that I'm ever one to make light of another musician's faults, it's just one of those things I'm able to laugh at because I've been there myself. Talking to him after their set, he expressed dismay at his slippery grip, as he had been playing a whole string of shows lately without ever dropping wood, and then it happened twice tonight. I knew exactly how he felt; just a month ago at the Music Vault I was having a frustrating time dealing with my own sudden onset of butter fingers. Just one of them inexplicable freak flukes that comes with being a musician.

Oh, and as if me talking about it wasn't bad enough, here's a video of that very song, thanks to Victor "Montopolis Thrasher"!


WARBEAST
After loading the guitar gear up and saying goodbye to JT and Tarzan, Tony and I went back into the Dirty Dog to catch the evening's most anticipated band in action: Warbeast, a crushing super-group comprised of Texas metal veterans from such acts as Gammacide and Rigor Mortis. So no, this is not "TEXAS FUCKIN' METAL," that abomination of a phrase I hear shouted out at too many Killeen shows that makes me want to tear out my eyelashes in shame, used in reference to acts like Hellyeah and Texas Hippie Coalition (or just anything with an overly strong Pantera influence). This is some truly heavy headbanging material, played through ginormous amps which, even without the assistance of the P.A., had this music rumbling in my tummy and pulsing in my brain.

I've never listened to Rigor Mortis and am not a big fan of Gammacide, but I really dug this act. The tunes were quite catchy and expertly played, singer Bruce Corbitt strode all over the stage (as a vocalist with no instrument should) and struck a variety of picture-worthy stances while screaming into his mic, and the drumming was tight yet frenzied, with a huge emphasis on "linear" fills involving interplay between the toms and kick drums. Best part were the guitar solos, though. Each guitarist put in an equal share of leads, all of which were lengthy and well-developed, with a lot of wah pedal use and even some much-appreciated whammy-bar abuse. A huge hit with the audience, which filled the whole dance floor with headbangers and moshers, definitely an act I would consider seeing again, after taking some time to become more familiar with their music and the work of their "original" bands.

This, the only video I could find of tonight's performance, doesn't really capture the immensity of the band's sound, but you can really get a feel for how the crowd reacts to them.

"Tonight, Hexlust! ...Hexlust, right?" I un-sarcastically loved that.

BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA
We didn't stick around for the entirety of Blunt Force Trauma's set. Tony and I were both pretty tuckered out by this point, ready to load up our gear and get out of Austin, so he left to get his truck while I stuck around to catch a couple songs. Very impressive straight-up thrash, with a large lyrical emphasis on social and political issues, backed by hands down my favorite drummer of the whole evening. This man played high-speed beats and fills with an assured ease, and though he possessed a double pedal, he demonstrated an ability to pull off many double-kick patterns with just one foot. My only regret of this evening is that I didn't take more time to say hi and talk to him, maybe dissect his brain for some useful advice, but these guys got to the venue kinda late, and I didn't want to interrupt his process of setting up his kit and warming up. Hopefully we get another opportunity to play with these guys.

It's a shame that they didn't have more of an audience. A goodly-sized chunk of the crowd left after Warbeast, who undoubtedly were the true headliners of the evening, relegating BFT to being more of a "cool-down" act to entertain their own fans and those of the audience who didn't feel like leaving yet. As this video of this evening's performance demonstrates, they are a truly relentless band, hardly taking a break between songs and keeping their momentum going for long periods of time.



POST-SHOW
As if trying to load into any club in downtown Austin isn't annoying enough, matters get further complicated as later in the evening Sixth Street is closed off from those parallel to it, turning traffic into one long line with no hope of cutting in or out. When loading the amps and guitars into Tarzan's Jeep, he was able to park on Fifth Street and we simply took a couple trips to wheel the shit down the block, no problem. For the drums, however, we wanted to be as close to the venue as possible. Thankfully Tony found a way into the back alley we used at load-in, which was also being used by Legion's vehicles.

The process was going smooth until some meathead showed up and chastised us for our parking situation, doling out a "hey, you guys can't park back here!" Rather than argue that we were given permission to use the alley, or tell him that he was more than welcome to gripe as long as he was willing to help lug this shit back to a distant lot (and pitch in eight dollars for the parking fee), we simply told him we were working as efficiently as we could and focused on our task at hand. Between the two of us we had everything strapped in and were taking off just as his vehicle pulled back into the alley.

He didn't announce any affiliation with any club or seem to have any official authority at all. Not that it mattered; if this guy really was a designated enforcer rather than just some douche who wanted to use the alley as his own through-way, then it just adds to my belief that this lauded entertainment district in the "live music capital" actually hates musicians. Get your shit together, Austin; things like this are the reason my buttcheeks clench when we get booked in your city, whereas I sport a big goofy grin when we get a gig in San Antonio.

AFTERTHOUGHTS
Thanks to: Tristan Spears, who set up a great show, was super-friendly, and did his best to scrounge up whatever money he could to pay us; Jeff and Erika, for not only the constant support but also the willingness to hold extended conversations with us and make us feel cool; Victor, sans Tony this evening for the first time that I've seen, for always being around and always documenting shows. Many of the videos I post in this blog are from his YouTube channel, go check it out for more awesome videos!

PROGRESS!

The month of August begins with all drum and bass tracks and half of Tony's rhythm guitar tracks completed for Hexlust's first album. There were a couple casualties along the way, the most obvious being "Sodomy and Lust." Though it was decided beforehand that we would lay down both our Sodom covers as bonus tracks or possible compilation material, I was so focused on rehearsing our originals that I put absolutely zero practice into "S&L". The result was a take so sloppy that we decided to just scrap the song entirely. Interestingly, it wasn't so horrible that Tarzan couldn't lay down a bass track.

Not long after this photo was taken, we also lost "Agent Orange" to accidental deletion. Not that I care too much, it was just an extra cover, nothing worth dragging my whole kit all the way back up to Temple (thank the gods). My only heartache comes from the fact that I put so many takes into "Agent Orange," the most for any song in these sessions, which admittedly is due to my own lack of preparedness for these covers, but still! Just about all of my fourth and final recording session was devoted to laying down both of those covers, and the fact that they're gone for good makes that whole day feel like so much dead effort. Thankfully I still had time to do a re-take of "FBF," as I wasn't satisfied with what I had laid down during my first session.

I was there for the recording of a few of Tarzan's bass tracks: smooth, fluid, and with an awesome tone! Walter set it up to where Tarzan's effects pedal/pre-amp thingy (I don't know things good...) was plugged directly into the computer, and also had a microphone positioned in front of his amp. The pedal result was like miking a bass drum's batter head, with a very "attack-based" sound, more high-end, where you could actually hear his fingers plucking the strings; the amp sound brought out the qualities of miking the resonant head, pure low-end "boom." By combining the two sources into one result, we got a bass sound that was sharp, yet punchy, able to be heard through the guitars while still providing the deep bulk for their frequencies.

Due to work schedules and Tarzan moving to San Antonio, nobody has been able to shoot footage of Tony as he lays down his guitar parts, so I'll try to get in there with him sometime soon to capture some of the action. While I'm at it I'll probably have Walter demonstrate Tarzan's bass sound, with the two parts separated and then together, which hopefully translates to the camera well. Speaking of which, I should have Tony post his footage of Tarzan's sessions to Facebook so I can slap it on this blog.