Return of the Nazarene Zombie Fest

DATE: Saturday, April 19, 2014
VENUE: Limelight, San Antonio, TX
BANDS: Morgengrau, Las Cruces, Flesh Hoarder, VBT, Cheese Grater Masturbation, Reign of Tyrants, Hexlust, Womanthrower, Richard Simmonz, USO

OH HEY, IT'S YOU GUYS
A year (to the day) since we last played a show, we in Hexlust took to the stage once more to unleash our speedthrashing slap-and-tickle show on a paying audience. The venue hosting the evening's tomfooligans was The Limelight, a place I had never before heard of under its current name, but have heard mentioned in tales of glory-day gigs from back when it was named Wacky's.

I was actually really happy with the place, and am surprised we'd never played there before. The stage was decently-sized, the staff were competent and friendly, and there was even an outside patio area where folks could get some fresh air without discarding their drinks. The venue itself is more deep than it is wide, and the stage's location at the back end potentially makes the act of getting gear to the stage an obstacle course of sharp table corners and unaware patrons. There is, however, a side door just past the table section where bands can pull up their vehicles and load in their crap.

Of course, we did things the hard way, taking our stuff in through the front door, because we believe in building resilience in mind and body by taking the most inconvenient route in getting things done.

Truth: we didn't want to move our vehicles, since the parking situation was either whatever free curb space you could find, or a pay lot across the street. We got there early and planned on staying put.

So, what have we been doing for a year, you may ask? We've been finishing up an album, that's what! Yes, friends, we are finally in the mixing stages of our first full-length, Manifesto Hexcellente. Don't ask me what that title means, because I have no earthly clue. Like our band name itself, those two words just sounded cool together so that's what we went with.

The story behind the recording is a long sad tale for another day, full of frustration, meth heads, thievery, location changes, sub-par performances, tendonitis, the band almost completely drifting apart, and - by far the biggest setback to this process - deciding we weren't satisfied (understatement) with what we had so far (just vocals and JT's solos left) and starting all. Over. AGAIN.

Because we like Morbid Angel and Vader so much, we just had to follow their example, even the counterproductive aspects.

In the months leading up to this show, when not finishing up the recording sessions, we were purchasing new equipment, holding more frequent and much more productive practices at an actual rehearsal studio, tightening up old songs, and even got starting work on new material. Unfortunately, we had plenty of riffs, but no actual songs completed and ready for the show. We hoped our wham-bam setlist of shorter songs (including "Imminent Retardation, which we rarely play) would be enough to get us through this gig without feeling too samey.

Redudancy quickly fell a few notches on my list of worries, though, as something felt wrong halfway through the first song. Especially worrisome was the sureness that it was something wrong with me. Shifting into muscle memory, I took quick stock of my kit: all stands were upright, sticks were intact, double pedal was working fine, kick drum was anchored in place. Everything that has ever been wrong before was hunky-dory, so why was my mental "CHECK ENGINE" light still on? It wasn't until we were a couple more songs in that I checked the underside of my snare and saw that my resonant head had burst, resulting in a neutered "tonk" instead of the robust "CRACK" I go for. Precisely how the awaiting hell did I accomplish that? Granted, the head was pretty old, and it never takes any direct damage so I rarely replace it, but why now of all times?

Thankfully, although it did distract me and leave me off my game for the rest of the set, the busted reso head didn't affect our sound in any significant way and we were able to continue uninhibited.

The audience energy took a few songs to build up, but things really got going once Tony announced the album. A genuine excitement was charged up once folks heard about our little Manifesto Hexcellente, and when we launched into "Imminent Retardation," the room really started to move.

Of course, right after that very song, we were saying goodnight and getting ready to pack it in. This was a festival-type lineup with like 11 bands, and even though a few had dropped off the bill by this time, it was still prudent that we get off the stage ASAP and keep this train rolling. The audience, however, weren't having that nonsense. Jake from Morgengrau was kind enough to point out, "It's only 8:50!," and we were quickly hit with requests for one more song, one more song, uno mas, uno mas! They specifically wanted to hear Tombs of the Blind Dead, the tune we mindfully left out due to its length and drawn-out ending (Baphomet Dawn was given the same consideration).

Being that we still had some time, we decided to give 'em what they wanted. I counted off, Tony launched into the beginning riff, and once the whole band came in with the audience-participation falsetto, shit went nuts. A pit started up immediately, people off to the side were headbanging, everyone was singing along to the chorus, some dude even spun his can in the air, which caused beer foam to spiral out and get all over the place, it was pandelerium!

We put a short end to Tombs (as short as we could, anyway) and STILL they weren't letting us go! This was slightly awkward for us, as everyone hates that band who play halfway through the night and take even the slightest provocation as the chance to play an encore, and you can bet that even more ire is felt toward those who throw out one more song after that, but this was a genuine crowd request, and we estimated that we still had a couple minutes to do a really short number. We once again went with the crowd's whims and pulled out our tried and true cover of "Troops of Doom," another song we were sure we wouldn't play just because we wanted to play all originals during our short set.

 And what would a cover of "Troops of Doom"  be without Jake's participation?

Although I was feeling rather underconfident about our performance, I was assured (with raised voices through wide smiles) that this was a solid, even great outing for Hexlust, and a hell of a note to come back on after a year off the stage.

The rest of the evening was spent talking with friends, so I didn't get around to watching a lot of the other bands. We caught up with Ralph, former vocalist of JT and Tarzan's high school band Nautilus, who just got out of the Marine Corps and surprised us all by showing up unannounced; I got to spend time with my brother, who moved out here to San Antonio in January, and my parents, who never miss a Hexlust show if they can help it; and JT, Tarzan, and I were regaled by Jeff AD, at our urging, with stories of AVRS tours and opinions of current metal releases while grabbing some decent Mexican food from the taco truck next door.

I did, however, catch Morgengrau's headlining set, and they have yet to disappoint me. Tight as ever, with furious energy, they played four new tunes that were very well-received and show a lot of promise for their future release, along with a super sped-up version of Pestilence's "Chronic Infection." The crowd - what little of it remained at this hour - were really into them, with lots of headbanging and moshing, which is really saying something considering it was 1:30 in the morning.

It's a sad fact that a couple fights broke out, which a) scattered the crowd and took their attention away from the stage, b) threatened to spill over onto the stage more than once, and c) wound up involving my bass player when he tried to help pull a fight apart and was mistaken for a combatant.

Thankfully, that particular matter was cleared up peacefully when it was all revealed to be a misunderstanding, and if anything Tarzan made a new friend out of the ordeal. At the end of the night, I think he was more upset over the beer that was spilled on his pedals than the scuffle itself.

Overall, a wonderful evening. Everyone in the band was happy with the performance, we had a great time catching up with all our friends, and we're really looking forward to finally releasing this damn album. I'll do my best to keep everyone up-to-date on release dates and whatnot.

Polymorphic Communion

Date: Friday, April 19, 2013
Venue: Zombies, San Antonio TX
Bill: Hexlust, Morgengrau, Plutonian Shore

Playing with Plutonian Shore and Morgengrau? Hot damn! What a way to end this string of shows than with a "family reunion" sort of gig, sharing the stage with friends and having a slew of additional compatriots in the audience. Even better, this was the release party for Morgengrau's exceptional debut album, Extrinsic Pathway, so the atmosphere was thick with camaraderie and the celebration of a milestone realized. Having my ever-supportive parents in attendance made it all the sweeter. We were excited, warmed up, and ready to blow the roof off of Zombies, one of our favorite venues in San Antonio.

Things were off to a rather awkward start as the night's opening act, the very promising Nymesyn, had to drop out. Their singer (a guy with whom, just days prior, I was exchanging Facebook messages talking about how excited we were for this show) had become Born Again and suddenly quit the band. I'd like to think that if I were to one day be drawn to the "loving embrace of our heavenly lord and savior," I would at least finish out my commitments to the band and bow out quietly, "devil's music" or not. 

What can you do though, besides get back on the proverbial horse and ride on. An eleventh-hour replacement was found in a band whose name already escapes me, opening the show with power-grooving "Texas metal." Pantera worship really isn't my thing, and the band did feel a little out of place in the evening's death/black/thrash bill, but they did come through when the show needed them, so thumbs up all around.

HEXLUST  
The awkwardness continued when we took the stage. Not only was I struggling to get acclimated with the backline drum kit (more on that later), but we had some technical issues in the form of JT and Tarzan's sound disappearing entirely before we had even reached the chorus of the first song. Tony and I soldiered on while they performed inspections to isolate the cause. It was quickly discovered that the problem was with the power supply itself, and thankfully the whole thing was resolved in time to finish the song and play the rest of the set intact. 

JT was livid, however, and considered our performance the laughingstock of the evening. I felt differently: for one thing, the problem wasn't due to any kind of incompetence on our behalf, just a short in the power supply; additionally, and most importantly, we kept playing. The laughingstock thing to do would have been for me and Tony to stop the song and stare stupidly, unable to contribute to the solution ourselves and letting that godawful silence fall over the stage. I've seen bands stop songs and start all over due to technical issues; it's never not cringe-worthy and they never do gain that momentum back. Momentum is everything, it maintains that immersion the audience achieves when they are physically and spiritually invested in the music, and to lose it is more a sign of failure than any trifling technical issue.

All in all, though, we played very well. Through "Toxic," "Conjure," "Baphomet," and "Meganecropolis," momentum was sustained, immersion was maintained, we never lost the audience and finished out "Tombs" to a roar of applause.  

As usual with any band that goes on right after us, I missed out on a significant chunk of Plutonian Shore's set thanks to gear breakdown and load-up. And, well, let's be honest, I didn't just put my shit away and then run right back inside; we caught our breath for a minute, discussed the pros and cons of the set, took a few pictures, what have you. You do it too, so shut up.

I do want to say real quick, though, that my mom, who was in attendance, took plenty of pictures, and manage to capture the full face of the elusive Prokingu. Definitely doesn't happen often, you'd almost have to do like on Pokemon Snap and throw an apple at his head or something.

MORGENGRAU
Tightness. Tightness, tightness, tightness. If there's one thing for which Morgengrau are quickly becoming known (besides their "old school" sound) it's their lock-step cohesion, even when playing at higher speeds. The higher speeds don't happen often, as they've settled into more of a mid-tempo act, but when they do turn up the gas, like on the "Inner Self" cover, you can bet there won't be a single note out of place. No matter the velocity, though, they're all together: the backing vocals match precisely with Erika's lead yells; they turned their backs to the audiences between songs at the exact same time; hell, they even came in all together after a "held out chord" without Reba having to keep time with her hi-hat pedal, which I consider a recipe for disaster but dammit they made it work! Altogether a fine showing for their album, and I'm really looking forward to playing with them again.

A special shout-out goes out to Jake tonight, pulling double duty like a champ and not showing any signs of wear. He's the headbangingest dude I've ever seen, and in real life is always at 100%, as if he doesn't even bother unplugging his charger. We in Hexlust are old farts who start powering down once midnight hits, we like our cups of hot tea and our comfy sleepytime clothes and our "it's 2am, shut the fuck up!" Jake is always ready for metal, will pull out his Proscriptor impression at a moment's notice and perform it at full volume, one of them dudes you're sure will someday die onstage and go out with a smile on his face.

POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
We wound up leaving as the last band took the stage, a weird black metal act with an... unusual vocal style that was hard for us to digest.

At times, it actually sounded like crying.

Anyway, as I said in the beginning, it's always great to be able to play shows with friends, people you not only respect but have fun talking to and yukking it up with as well. It was a shame that Jeff AD wasn't his usual fiery self, he was a little more subdued tonight thanks to a jacked-up rib and a bad case of bronchitis he picked up on tour, but we were glad he still showed up and even tried to lend a hand when things went wonky during our set. I really hope any other shows we play this year are just as much fun as tonight, although hopefully smoother from a technical standpoint.

DRUMMERS CORNER
Devastation from Plutonian had lent his drum kit to be used as a backline for the whole evening. This was great in that I only needed to bring my cymbals, snare, throne, pedals, and sticks, but undeniably uncomfortable for Witchhunter-worshipping me, a disciple of "caveman drumming" not at all at home on a kit build for technicality and blast-beating. I spent the whole set rim-shotting fills on his horizontally-angled toms, and never did find a comfortable way to position the ride cymbal without overreaching and hitting the other cymbals or elbow-bumping the floor tom ("Have I always been this fucking gangly? When did I get spaghetti noodles for arms?").  

That kick drum, however, was a thing of beauty. I've been using the same double pedal since the fall of 2008, and longtime readers are aware of the issues I've had with the thing. I'm too poor to replace it, so I just make do, "ghetto-rigging" it here and there the best I can. Tonight, however, those issues ceased to exist; the contraption remained structurally coherent the entire time, and my double-bassing has never been as fast or as fluid as it was this evening. I need to message Devastation and ask how he tunes and anchors his kick, I'd have never thunk that the key to getting good results out of your double pedal would be to focus on the drum itself.

Spondiferous Thrashtacular

Date: Saturday, April 13, 2013
Venue: Ten Eleven, San Antonio TX
Bill: Army of Drunks, Aggravator, Hexlust, Insinnerator, Lich King

It was July 2010 when we last rocked the house with Insinnerator. Since then, they released an acclaimed album (Stalagmite of Ice) and an even more widely celebrated EP (Hypothermia). We in  Hexlust... did stuff.  Over the two and a half years since, we kept in touch, sharing early-Nintendo jokes and guilty pleasure pop videos, making fun of new Anthrax, and sending promises back and forth that we would soon enough share the stage again. And oh, what an occasion that would be.

Finally, on a mid-April Saturday night in San Antonio, an occasion arose. Insinnerator, hopping on board the Texas leg of Lich King's Born of the Bomb tour (in support of the album of the same name) came to the Ten Eleven to join forces with Hexlust once again for a real, honest-to-goodness nut-busting thrash show. No arbitrarily-booked core, post-black, or Pantera-worship bands on the bill tonight!

ARMY OF DRUNKS/AGGRAVATOR
As with the M.O.D. show, this audience needed no extended warm-up; they came ready to rock. There was head-banging, fist-pumping, and a few unprovoked choruses of "Hey! Hey! Hey!" during Army of Drunks, who, for a band with one guitarist (exclusively rhythm), no bassist, and a meat-and-potatoes drummer, really know how to get a show going. Their songs are a well-balanced arrangement of fast and aggressively mid-pace, and they're no slouches in terms of stage presence, constantly moving and headbanging. 

Their guitarist spent the rest of the evening trying to get a member of Hexlust to have a beer with him, an uphill battle considering half of us are stubborn (yet polite) teetotalers and the other half would greatly prefer to drink in the privacy and safety of their own home, if they ever drink at all. Being the great guy that he is, JT eventually fell on that sword and accepted a Lone Star, earning himself ten diplomacy points and... well, a beer.

Aggravator continue to be San Antonio's most persistent work-a-body band, releasing a kickass album (The Age of Combat), going out on tour, and even playing a few shows in Norway over the past year, in addition to making themselves continually available to play any local metal show offered to them, whether as openers or headliners. 

Hard work and a busy schedule indeed have their rewards, as these guys continue to get better and better every time I see them. Their performance tonight was super tight and hella punchy, building even further upon their modern-day-Megadeth method of raw, aggressive thrash sweetened with melodic lead guitar work. Speaking of lead guitar, did that guy grow hair?? Holy hell, I guess it has been a while since we've seen Aggravator!

HEXLUST
I started counting off the first song and shit immediately started going wacky. My hi-hat stand was half on the drum carpet and half on the smooth stage floor, so we weren't even out of the intro to "FBF" before my pedal-pumping action sent it sliding away. This continued throughout the whole rest of the set. Thankfully, my kick drum was rooted firmly on the carpet, but my side hi-hat was also half on the stage floor, so I couldn't even rely on that like I usually do when something goes wrong with my main hats. The fact that the side hats share a stand with my china cymbal give me two different opportunities to send that one stand moonwalking into Tarzan's bass amp. 

Shit, this was going to be one of those shows, where I play mostly from muscle memory because my actual attention is focused on keeping my kit from being all "Bye, Dart!" and abandoning me altogether. My floor tom, which I guess felt bad for me and wanted to give me a hug, was sliding toward me instead of away, at some points grinding on my thigh. This was not only way christing uncomfortable, but also got in the way of pedal work. I held up quite a few songs having to disentangle stands and pull everything back in even after Tony had announced the next tune.

I wasn't alone in dragging down the momentum of our stage show. At one point Tarzan had to re-tune his bass, and he doesn't have a pedal so he had to pull the plug out of the amp, plug into a tuner, do his thing, and re-plug his amp back in. Yep, after Tony had announced the next song. And poor JT had to once again spend some time fiddling with the settings and getting a decent sound out of an unfamiliar amp, since he still hasn't bought a new one and was borrowing Fry's.

Tony was not a happy camper. He was also nervous as all get out, since at some point in the evening some beer had been spilling on and around the outlet into which his amp was plugged. He did his best to dry it off but was still operating under the terrifying premonition of his amp exploding.

Even though all the technical nonsense weighs heaviest on my mind, we played pretty damn well tonight. My drumming was uninspired but spot-on, guitar solos went off without much of a hitch (although JT did lose track and overextend his solo in "Toxic High," which is captured in the video I posted below). Tarzan did have some trouble with his arm cramping and his voice going out, but he held it together very well. The crowd was really supportive in spite of all our crap, and genuinely seemed to enjoy themselves. Big thank-you to everyone in the audience that night, including the ever-supportive Hellbound Jeff and BJ, Tony Rivera, Insinnerator's Chris Atomic-Thrasher, my brother Damiyan, and the surprise appearance of Humut Tabal's Grimzaar.

Set List:
FBF
Toxic High
They Conjure
Baphomet Dawn
Meganecropolis
Tombs of the Blind Dead

INSINNERATOR/LICH KING
Insinnnerator ruled the night from the instant they counted off. The energy was high, the headbanging was immediate, and the moshing was continuous (ol' JT busted his lip pretty well participating in the pit that night). Juan Speed is a monster on the kit; it might just be because he's a bigger dude but every stroke of his sticks seemed to be brought down with the entirety of his power. His poor drum heads, he must have to replace them every week! Brutal Ben handled bass and vocal duties very well. What surprised me is that he played with a six-string bass. I didn't get a good enough look at his playing to determine how much of the increased stringload he used, but I'm sure he wouldn't bother if he didn't feel it necessary. 

And of course, we have Christopher Atomic-Thrasher, whose classical training (as in a legit college degree, not just a few half-ass lessons) informs his playing very well without being obnoxious. In fact, unless you knew what to look for, you'd hardly know it's there. Tarzan told me he saw Chris making some very unusual chord shapes in one of their songs, the type only a learned player would know and a well-practiced one could pull off at those speeds. His solos were just the kind I like, a mixture of tight, accurate shredding and noisy whammy bar abuse, with just the right hint of melody. Insinnerator are far and away my favorite of the current generation of thrash bands, and they ruled the evening with their insane talent and boundless energy. They even played "Nightmare Theater!"

We only stuck around for about half of Lich King's set, and most of that time was spent saying goodbyes to our friends and comrades. I didn't hear much of Lich King's music but I did meet their drummer and guitarist, who were incredibly friendly and humble dudes, so the impression I walked away with was a good one. 

M.O.D. For S.A.

Date: Friday, March 8, 2013
Venue: The Korova, San Antonio TX
Bill: Cerebral Desecration, Cannibal Bitch, Hexlust, M.O.D.

Ever have one of them gigs where you just know you can't fuck up?

We got to the Korova as Cerebral Desecration were in the midst of their instrumental technical death metal assault ("instrumental" because their singer had to work this evening), and there were already people moshing. This was the opening act, the sun was just barely setting outside, and folks were getting their pit on. I'm sure this is as much a testament to the band's brutality and precision as anything else, but we all know that if you're the opening act, you're lucky if people are standing up, much less moving around. This was an audience who were truly excited, chomping at the bit and ready to thrash! And who could blame them? M.O.D. were playing tonight! For what was certain to be a helluva show, we had the honor of going on before this legendary band.

I'm sure any other direct-support act would see this and think, "Oh boy! Our competent musicianship, consistently functioning equipment, and pro-grade songwriting are going to blow these people away!" We, however, were faced with the fact that our caution-to-the-wind playing, bargain-bin gear, and slapped-together set list would have to be the center of these fine folks' attention for forty minutes and not have anything go horribly wrong.

Shit.

We had plenty of time to ruminate on this; Cannibal Bitch finished their set relatively early, so by the time we had our gear set up and soundchecked, we actually had a good fifteen or so minutes before we had to play. In that time, more and more friends of ours showed up, some of whom we haven't seen in a good while. Some of them were wearing Hexlust shirts, and all of them were talking some crazy mess about looking forward to seeing us play. When our name was called to take the stage, we were giddy and giggly, chock full of that positive energy that comes out of stage fright being handled well. We were ready to show these people a thrashing good time!

HEXLUST
We did the intro to FBF, held that note out, Tony announced our name and what song this was, I did my little triplet fill thingy, the band came in going a thousand miles an hour and people went nuts. We had a large crowd gathered and that mosh pit went into motion almost immediately, not slowing down at all as long as there was music playing. Those not pitting were crowding the front of the stage, banging their heads and doing that thing where they pretend to claw their way onto the stage. Lord, it was fine. 

In addition to our main set list of originals, we pulled out the same covers we did last show at Jake's request. He even got up onstage with us to belt out the vocals to Troops of Doom, just as he did at that Humut Tabal show from like a year and a half ago. The audience nearly tore themselves apart during Sodomy and Lust, shouting along to the chorus with every repeat. Somehow, we still had energy for "Tombs of the Blind Dead", and we threw everything in the pot. So much so, in fact, that we almost fell apart in the beginning, all of us just taking off as fast as we could and being out of sync from the get-go, finally bringing it back together with the first chorus. 

SNAFU's were few. For one, JT busted a string on his main guitar and beat on his backup so badly it went out of tune, resulting in him finishing the set with Tony's backup guitar. Tarzan also had a bit of trouble; his amp's power cable came apart at the plug, so by "They Conjure" his sound was gone. What was funny was that this particular song has a strong vocal contribution from him, so he had to fiddle with his amp, run over to the mic and sing his part, then run back over to fix his problem. Lol's were had behind the drum throne.

Oh, one more thing: Tonight was Tony's first show using his boss-ass new delay pedal. You can hear it really well during his solo at the end of Tombs in the video link.

Set List:
FBF
Toxic
Troops of Doom
Conjure
Hellhammer
Sodomy & Lust
Tombs

M.O.D.  
Among the members of Hexlust, Tony is the only fan of M.O.D. (he even brought along a copy of U.S.A. For M.O.D. for Billy Milano to sign), so he got to have his fun standing stage-side while the rest of us guarded our gear at the back of the club. Ya know what, even for a non-fan lounging on the Korova's comfy couches, it was a pretty fun set! The musicianship was tear-the-roof-down heavy yet still very tight and precise, which is almost expected when the band includes local guitar stalwart Mike De Leon of Disfigured and Flesh Hoarder (plug plug plug). The song selection was pretty sweet; there were some M.O.D. tracks I actually know and like, such as "Get a Real Job," "Aren't You Hungry?" and a special Spanish version of "Bubble Butt," along with a decent handful of old S.O.D. songs, like "Pussy-Whipped" and "Fuck the Middle East." Of course, there were the played-at-every-show S.O.D. warhorses "Milano Mosh" and "United Forces." The crowd was huge, taking up almost the entire floorspace of the Korova. The mosh pit never stopped, and the roar of the audience singing along to the "gang vocal" parts at times overtook the vocals of the actual musicians.

The true highlight of the set was, of course, Billy Milano's between-song banter. The man is hilariously brash, offensive, clever, and just overall awesome, showing no signs of slowing down or going soft even at age 50 (his age was the basis for a lengthy joke at the beginning of the set about how long he's been... appreciating the finer points of female anatomy). He even gave a shout-out to Hexlust: (Paraphrased) "What's the name of those motherfuckers who went on before us? ...Yeah? Yeah, they must have drank like seven gallons of soda before going onstage." I'm glad I caught that before we went outside to bring the trucks around and load our gear. 

Overall, this was a fantastic show, both to witness and be a part of, one that the local headbangers and hessians of San Antonio had been fervently looking forward to for a while and were sure to never forget. We were happy to have this feather in our cap, and here's hoping the rest of our shows this year go just as well!

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