Live Shows

[Thorngrub]

Our Local Flyer:




Translation:

Blasphemic Hymns and Dark Winter Silence Productions Presents


BLOOD FIRE DEATH ACROSS AMERICA TOUR


Live at Club Vegas --- November 4th 2008

HORNA (Finland)
Blood stained Dusk (Alabama)
Nocturnal Fear (Michigan)
Iconoclast Contra (Utah)


My friends in Iconoclast (recall the bloody pics I posted a couple weeks back) are going to open for this significantly dark, dangerous, and unholiest of shows.

Last night, Metallica.
Tonight, HORNA.

Metallica = Metal = technology / 21st century
Horna = Horn = paganism / ancient times

Do the math.

[Thorngrub]

And he ushered in ICONOCLAST CONTRA, Salt Lake's own voice of the heathen; and he arranged it so that Alabama's own sinister sons in BLOODSTAINED DUSK were to perform as well as Detroit's Nocturnal Fear, which verily were not that good but served to be made a mockery of by being told to Shut The Fuck Up until they suddenly played a Sodom cover, by which they were Forgiven for the duration of that song; and finally, he made it so that Finland's own notorious practitioners of the unholy art of wielding sonic terror HORNA were to headline, whose credo is DESTROY HUMAN LIFE (and decidedly not NS; nay, the fine practitioners in Horna HATE US ALL EQUALLY).

Having set this show up strategically to not only take place the day after The Sword/Down/Metallica played, but lo, and behold, on the very day of our US Election, yes Satan himself did get a Chuckle from the rafters as this show was set in the stone of eternity, to wreak audial terror in the hearts and minds of the initiated who so dared to dismiss the utterly pointless shenanigans of the election race details, and to abolish all thoughts thereof.

And so it was with great finesse and anticipation that we, Salt Lake's own disposable heroes, The Horde and its few stalwart stragglers that dared to venture into Club Vegas on the night of November 4, 2008, to patently ignore the election results and instead devote ourselves fully to the practice of imbibing strong alcoholic spirits whilst being subjected to the unholiest of musical onslaughts.

ICONOCLAST CONTRA started up the evening in a chaotic frenzy, and to these ears they never sounded better. Tony Hatefucker's drumming can only be described as "helter skelter", frenetically accentuating the restless and unhinged nature of the band's playing. Ricky the Gorepig's GOATEE alone was more metal than ROB TRUJILLO himself, and that is indisputable fact. Despite encountering some problems with his bass and the soundguy, Iconoclast Contra's intensity of effort prevailed, while LD wielded sporadic razor sharp soloes of a nature which would enwrap Kirk Hammet in an ever tightening barbed wire trap, and Anthony the Zodiac leered into his microphone with such hatred that it disturbed even his closest friends and acquaintances, including me, to the point we are beginning to get pretty wary around him, as he is obviously a human time bomb waiting for the opportune time to just go the fuck OFF. Iconoclast Contra last night sounded very tight indeed, and their style of music has evolved into a unique sounding hybrid that can only be described as successfully bonding elements of thrash, black, death, and even punk in their attitude and original percussion style. Really they are outside the boundaries of normal metal categorization, which I think is where they are bound to excell, just so far as Anthony doesn't kill himself, whether by accident or on purpose.

Ricky had cut his beefy arms to shreds and at the end of their set, was standing in a puddle of his own blood. After they left the stage, a dude came out and mopped it all up. I didn't see whether Anthony had cut himself -- I'm sure he did, but I was paying attention to the band half the time, and the other half I was gabbing with friends, making the rounds, getting more beers, etc. Later in the show after Horna finished, Anthony loomed out of the crowd up at me with a horrific gash in his forehead, and he was really possessed out of his mind in a bad way. I told Tony how great they sounded and was informed, as usual, how much the sound guy fucked everything up, and I had to reiterate to him that in all honesty, despite the problems, they pulled off the best sounding set I'd heard yet, musically.

Next up was Detroit's NOCTURNAL FEAR, and they played a pretty generic set of standard deathmetal with shades of black, to the point where Anthony kept yelling "SHUT THE FUCK UP" at them every chance he got. Then suddenly, on a dime, they launch into this Sodom song that Iconoclast themselves had just played (!), and Anthony's negative disposition to the band did a 180 as he fled up to the stage to fist-pump them on. It was pretty hilarious actually. Then after that cover was over, the few who paid homage up front dispersed back to their tables and various corners to nurse their pitchers of PBR and shots of cheap whiskey.

Finally Alabama's BLOODSTAINED DUSK went on, and these guys were the real deal. Total corpsepaint and spiked armbands, but the best part, was their music. It was truer to blackmetal by eschewing thrash altogether for a veritably blackened symphonic approach that I can only describe as desparingly beautiful. Soaring, atmospheric palettes of corruption boiled over and coalesced to create an ironically soothing wall of annihilation majestically enhanced by ulutating vocals of demonic despair. I was entranced. Bloodstained Dusk were my favorites of the night, which although may be antithetical to the true metal warrior's tastes (who unequivocally were for HORNA, and deservingly so) I nonetheless enjoyed their set the most last night.

But that did not stop HORNA from taking the stage and proving why their popularity in blackmetal circles is nearly unmatched. These guys have been around for 15 years, hailing from Finland in 1993. And despite the various inevitable lineup changes, they still deliver the true spirit of blackmetal today like few other bands can. I'd have to say they were better than Watain. Horna just took the stage and delivered straight up sonic devastation, as ordered. Our songs arrived blackened and full of hate. Our ears were pummeled mightily. Devilhorns did reign from the crowd. Beers were spilled, glasses smashed. Cutters cut themselves and the staff held back behind the protection of their countertops. Ricky the Gorepig later told me that after their set, while he was still rather heavily bleeding from his slashed arms, the singer from Horna approached him backstage, and in a faux-european voice said "I vant you to pleeze bleed on me" and he pulled out these white garbs and donned them to bring out the blood imprints. I LOL'd as Ricky mimicked the european accent. Yeah this is a fun bunch of guys lemme tell ya. While the rest of the world was tuned in to Obama's obvious winning final stretch, we shunned politics entirely in favor of total anti-human metal. Long live Satan \m/

[Thorngrub]

Dead Vessel are a local band I've never heard, but GRAVECODE NEBULA is also local and one of my favorite DOOM bands, ever!


I'm interested to hear what CEREMONIAL CASTINGS sound like, and also DEPTHS OF TARTARUS, having never heard either of them yet.


Man the METAL just never ends here.. . . .

[rocknroller]

Two days until Madonna! Gosh I'm excited. I saw her "Who's That Girl" world tour in 1987 in Anaheim, CA. Now, 21 years later am seeing her again in yet another (albeit with MUCH better seats) stadium.

[RocDoc]

...and that 21 years went like an eyeblink i will BET.

[JACkory]

Nov 14, 2008 19:59:52 GMT -5 @rocknroller said:

Two days until Madonna! Gosh I'm excited. I saw her "Who's That Girl" world tour in 1987 in Anaheim, CA. Now, 21 years later am seeing her again in yet another (albeit with MUCH better seats) stadium.

I bet she looked a lot better in 87. Too bad you didn't have the vip seats back then.

Kidding, of course. Madonna looked HOT at Live8. Age is treating her well physically.

[RocDoc]

the ringling brothers barnum & bailey circus' opening night at the united center.

very good professional show, which had quite a few acts which we saw with the coles brothers circus at the MUCH smaller u of illinois pavilion last summer.
everything was up close there as opposed to the cavernous 'home of michael jordan' where we sat in the cheapo opening night 11-dollar special seats which someone else bought for us.

fucking parking was 20 bucks!

ya gotta save somewhere.

the protesters out front ('ringling bros BEATS their animals!!') weren't exactly shocking anyone into not going, but they did exhibit their somewhat overwrought principle (i mean c'mon, what exactly constitutes 'beating' in the context of training a tiger to heel and not bite a guy's head off?) and froze their asses standing out there while one and all breezed past them.

[Ampage]

Sorry the point passed you by, but a tiger should not be beat to teach them "to heel and not bite a guy's head off".

Hopefully your toddler gets it.

[RocDoc]

seems that my point passed you by too, amp.

that there's 'BEATING!' where some beats the absolute shit out of an animal to 'break' it....but there' a LOT of degrees to 'discipline and training' an animal like this.

you do remain convinced then that someone there is fucking wailing on those tigers (and the monkeys and dogs that we saw) and then they parade them out in front of us, all docile n'shit.

i sincerely doubt it.

and i also hope you're not implying that i'm teaching my 4 year old that it's ok to mistreat animals.

[Ampage]

Circus suck and they are forever getting busted for abuse. And that's just what gets noticed. No animal there is having a good time except maybe the random dog if they are being treated like a dog for the most part. Even if that were not the case, most animals that are meant to be in the wild are not happy with traveling the country in boxes, period.

[RocDoc]

taser them?

[Thorngrub]

Saturday night Nov 22 2008 Salt Lake City - - the Final Performance of DREDG's Fall Tour with supporting acts The Sunbears from Fla and JUDGEMENT DAY from San Francisco.

The Sunbears were just two guys, one on keyboard and the other on a drumkit. They had this cool primary-coloured display screen behind them showcasing elementary rainbow coloured graphics while they played the most lo-fi, yet richly textured and deeply resonant synthesizer rock. They were charming and kept my attention throughout their set, exuding a happy vibe of playfulness. I highly recommend The Sunbears if that sounds like your cup o' tea.


Next up were JUDGEMENT DAY - - the drummer from Sunbears told us they were going to tear us a new one, and boy was that the understatement of the night. I heard someone in the crowd say they were "metal", so I began preparing myself. Boy was I surprised to find out these guys are string-metal: A violin, A cello, and a Drumkit. No vocals. No overdubs. Just 3 dudes fucking hellbent on jamming for Satan some string fuckin metal for the Apocalypse. Yes they reminded me (instantly) of Apocalyptica - - there's just no way around it. But sisy said something I agree with: Apocalyptica by way of the Dirty Three.

The two string players are brothers, Anton and Lewis Patzner. Anton is the tall skinny one with the curly hair and bandana, wielding his violin like a crazed maestro and constantly honing the razor's edge of their music's higher end. He was Jimmy Page on crack and really had a commanding stage presence, taking the forefront and lead duties to mind-melting limits. Meanwhile his brother Lewis, the shorter and more boyish of the two, hunched over that bass cello of his at a stoop that never let up, not throughout the entire show. His head down and short haircut with its bangs covering his face, he kept up the pace with a bassline and rhythm so off the hook you didn't want to take your eyes off him. The guy is a virtuoso and it was unbelievable to me that these two brothers, with just a violin and cello, could deliver such a maelstrom of unhinged metal fury- - backed up by Jon Bush's relentless drumming. JUDGEMENT DAY blew me away, plain and simple. I knew when they finished their set that I would be walking away with their T-shirt and album, there was just no way I was about to leave that show without a copy of their album in my hot little hands. It was released in '04 - - recorded in their garage. I met their drummer at the T-shirt stand after the show - his name is Jon. As for the "String Bros", Anton went on tour with BRIGHT EYES with his violin since '04 apparantly, leaving little to no room for JUDGEMENT DAY themselves to play; while his brother Lewis received his cello performance degree from the The Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.

First thing I asked Jon at the merch counter was "Hey man, did you guys ever play with the Devil Makes Three, by any chance..?" and he looked at me frankly surprised and replied "As a matter of fact, we did play with them once. . ." I told him "I thought so. They're from California too of course and I just thought you'd be amazing together".

Well make no mistake about it Castaways: JUDGEMENT DAY is back and they rock like a muthafukka! Here is their official website, check it out and be sure to click on their YouTube video to get a taste of their own personal brand of "Apocalypse".


www.stringmetal.com

Order their album DARK OPUS you won't be let down (unless "string metal" is just too heavy for you, haha).

Which brings us to the legendary dredg. I don't even know where to begin. If you've seen dredg as many times as I have, you already know they are THE special band earmarked for greatness along the lines of Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, or U2. You already know that if for some ungodly and senseless reason that they never make it that big- -that's ok too because they are untouchable in their musical integrity both composition-wise and live performance -wise. You already know no amount of commercial success can dictate what to do with pure magic. Dredg is in a Win-Win situation because of this. Gavin Hayes will one day attain his place amidst the rock pantheon as one of the Golden Voices. Dino Campanella has solidly carved out his spot as belonging in the Top Tier of Rock Drummers, and I don't care who you come up with -- Dino belongs in the Top 3. The stuff he does is indescribably complex yet straight-forward as well; I think he is the hardest -hitting drummer in alternative rock today, with a deceptive style which incorperates insane signature jazzytronics amidst the basic beat. He is a wonder and a delight to behold live. If you've never seen dredg in concert and you are into rock music in the least bit -- you owe it to yourself to see these guys live at least once, before you die.

But how could I forget Drew on his bass? That kid is the dope ass bomb diggedy, lemme tell ya. Solid basslines with just the right amount of flex and specs. I can't really describe it, other than he holds his own - -straight up. And then there's Mark. Probably the most overlooked Dredg member, but clearly, when you stop and think about it, perhaps the most important. This guy calmly puts out the most beautifully evolved guitar riffs and effects you could imagine, really the core of dredg's signature sound. Without Mark you have no Dredg, period. Yes these four cats are indispensable. Dredg is a real band. Hallelujah!

They were in tip -top form that night. Part of that was because it was the final show of the tour. The Patzner Bros from Judgement Day joined Dredg for the last several songs, classic staple material from El Cielo mainly, and here is where the performance lifted itself up and beyond any Dredg performance I've seen yet - and this was my 7th or 8th show (I've already lost track). Lewis Patzner's deeply inspired bass cello filled in the bottom end of dredg's music perfectly, while Anton's insane lead-violin playing added the perfect texture and depth to sections of those old songs. By the end of their inspired performance I was 100% ready to have the Patzner Bros added as official members of dredg - - they were that good together. When the show was over, I remained stunned. My friend Andy caught one of Gavin's crumpled up poems he occasionally types up onstage with his typewriter he always sets up front and center. I've been dying for one of these crumpled up dredg poems since, forever. When I get a chance I am going to scan it onto my harddrive, and display it here as well as on dredg's myspace. All it said on the crumpled up sheet was the date and location (SLC) and the words "I couch surf" . . . so I am going to post it on their website and tell Gavin "our couch is open". Its been a long time coming but dredg have certainly cemented themselves into my #1 position as "favorite 21st century band".

They played a couple of songs from their upcoming album in March of 2009: it will be the coveted 4th album -- the Senior Effort by which all bands must be judged since the watermark standard in 1974, Led Zeppelin's IVth album. I've been using this 4th Album Watermark for decades now, and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for this impending release. I can say without blinking an eye with full confidence that it will be Dredg's breakthrough album, in terms of musical and artistic expression (if not in record sales or chart topping). The deeply rendered themes inherent to this band will have finally coalesced into that perfect offering, their seminal fourth album, only four months away. Something to live for.

[Ayinger]

r'Doc: curious if you ever went to The Limelight club back in the day when it was the place in Chicago....any stories?

[Thorngrub]

hey Ayinger. . . so far I've only listened to some of the Roy Harper disc. . . amazing stuff . . . I'm going to have more of an opportunity to lend my ears over this Thanksgiving Holiday. cheers. . .

[RocDoc]

Nov 25, 2008 18:39:44 GMT -5 Ayinger said:

r'Doc: curious if you ever went to The Limelight club back in the day when it was the place in Chicago....any stories?

yeah the 'slimelight'.
there was a time when chicago aspired to BE new york, which ain't necessarily a bad thing i guess.

still there's only one nyc. period.

so they had their china club, we had ours.

they had their limelight, we had ours.

my only chance to check it out was right at the time it was announced they were closing, because before that it was the chi-chi lounge lizard with beaucoup bucks (and the attendant cocaine) scene and i sure as hell wasn't any part of that at that time.

the way i ended up there was when a girlfriend of mine was asked to model for a designer friend of hers, at a multiple designer showcase they were having there.
possibly something to do with 'the school of the art institute'-design arm.

but we were guest listed and had a blast....drinking for free and getting RAWKed out of our socks by the unreal sound system they had there.

that girlfriend was also freaked complete out because she was totally a non-model shy type (worked at a law firm) who wasn't at ALL comfortable sashaying out on the runway.
oh, is THAT a memory!


fantastic building by the way (which i think is still standing) with 7-8 different entertainment (or simply chill) zones scattered over 4 floors of this limestone-constructed mansion.

~

fwiw i saw danny gatton play twice at that short-lived (but VERY cool) china club we had....

and at buddy guy's.

and at the cubby bear.

::)