Walken/Huntress/Dark Black - Bender's Bar 12/4

"...so, how'd you hear about the show man?" the lead singer of Dark Black asked me as he handed me my freshly purchased copy of their 3 day old EP. i smiled immediately, "well i'm a big fan of Walken", i replied' "so whenever they have a show i try to check out the other bands on the bill as well, they're usually pretty badass too."

holy shit was last night an awesome night for music. i was stoked as hell as i locked up my bike outside of bender's bar, one of my favorite mission dive bars and the site of many a badass show in the past. it was just shy of a month from the last Walken show at the hemlock tavern. Walken, being one of if not my favorite local band (see previous posts for necessary confirmation) always shares bills with badass bands. Everything from big names like Death Angel and St. Vitus, to underground favorites like Lesbian, and often playing shows with other killer SF based indie metal bands like Hightower and Floating Goat. in my last 3 and a half years of living and show going in the bay area i have seen a wide variety of serious amounts of spine crushingly awesome music courtesy of attending Walken shows. yesterday night's show at bender's might have been one of the best though.

opening the show was portland's Dark Black. this may end up a comment i make in many of my future posts, but shiiiiiiiiiit, portland is churning out massive amounts of badass underground metal of various sub genres these days! i feel like i come across a new portland band that totally ends up melting my fucking face off at least once every couple weeks, Dark Black being the most recent addition to that list. belting out tunes that sounded distinctly of vintage power metal with a driving percussive bass, tight stabbing drums, epic double chorused lead guitars and a soaring vocals over the top coupled with sludgy doom riffs, heavy reverb on the vocal mics, and gratuitous use of crash cymbals Dark Black took the show going crowd through a set that encompassed some of the finest aspects of doom, power metal, and straight up good old fashioned 70s hard rock. their 30 odd minute set was hands down (horns up?) one of the most fun show going experiences i've had this year. the only downside of the set was being almost unable to hear the 2nd guitarist. the sound dude was running around the during the show trying to figure out what was up, by the end of the set, the audience was still straining to hear the dude shredding on the pink Charvel.

after Dark Black finished their set i felt a twinge of worry for LA based Huntress as i made my way to the merch tables. Dark Black has just torn it up, Walken would undoubtedly put on a brilliant show, so as far as i was concerned Huntress had a lot to live up to. before i get into some details on their performance, let me just say i never should have fucking doubted Huntress. the band took the stage and went on to bludgeon the audience with a skull crushing combination of rock n' roll attitude and aptitude. let's be honest, it's easy to please dudes at a metal show by throwing a super hot girl with a mic in front of the band, but add the fact that the dudes on strings and skins are fucking amazing and the girl with the mic can not only really sing (REALLY FUCKING SING) but she rocks that metaphorical spotlight in a way that would make Paul Stanley bow down and you have an amazing piece of ass kicking rock n' roll. the musical high i was riding from Dark Black was kicked into overdrive by Huntress' knee to the face, Judas Priest meets Electric Wizard meets Saxon styled heavy metal beat down. after their set i was mouth foamingly eager to pick up a disc or some vinyl and rushed over to the merch table as i saw the drummer sitting down and chatting with audience members. i asked if they had any recordings, but was informed that unfortunately they have yet to record an album, all they were selling were shirts. the drummer went on to mention that he plays in a number of other bands in the LA area and remembered seeing me at shows at annie's before that badass venue was shut down. :) well color me amused, guess i stick out in a crowd. in the end though, i was hoping the supporting bands would be good, turned out they were both fucking awesome.

Walken, of course was headlining last night (did i already mention that?). as i've said before, i'm not sure i'll ever get tired of writing about how fucking amazing i think this band is. i don't know what it is about 'em, but the way they put their music together is pretty much exactly my definition of awesome. to see it done live is always an ass kicking experience, and of course this saturday was no exception. slick sludgy guitar grooves, gut rattling bass, esophagus shredding vocals and intensely heavy handed yet agile drumming set Walken outside any label or box. is it doom? thrash? all and none of the above, it's just badass bay area metal (seriously, if you haven't yet, just go to this myspace page and listen to some samples...they're good for the soul: http://www.myspace.com/walken ). before they took the stage i had a chance to chat with Max Doyle (guitar for Walken and Grayceon) about what was up musically. excitingly, i was told that Grayceon has finished writing a new album (so hopefully that means they'll be recording soon!), but that Walken is still writing and rehearsing with about half an album put together. of course if either band makes any official announcements, i'll be sure to let y'all know. seriously though, i cannot fucking wait for the new Walken album! what unrecorded songs of theirs i have heard played live kick the shit outta me. this band does not stop progressing and growing musically. y'all gotta come to their next show with me. you'll be fucking blown away. Walken started saturday night's show with what i currently consider my favorite of their new songs (and possibly favorite overall Walken song as well) and didn't stop tearing it up until the sheer force of awesomeness caused a broken guitar string leaving Max to quickly replace it so that the show could go on. thankfully it did, and Walken kept the audience groovin' for a few more songs. unfortunately the brief break seemed to ruin any chances of an encore, so we didn't get to hear 'Running Out of Time', but ah well, all the more reason to be sure not to miss Walken's next show! keep it gloomy y'all.

week of epicness...

dude. DUDE. this week has been fucking awesome! Spellcaster and Evil Survives last Saturday, Red Fang and Valient Thorr on Monday, Grayceon and Deadsea last night...fucking awesome. is this post gonna be a full on review? no, cuz sandeep is fucking exhausted, but a massive review will follow this weekend...maybe after i've figured out whether i'm going to the Hightower show at el rio or the Kowloon Walled City (though i will see KWC for free with Saviours next thursday at the SF tattoo convention pre-party at thee parkside...) show at the hemlock tavern this saturday night...more to come, keep it gloomy y'all.

Red Octopus - layers upon layers of psychadelic goodness

i don't get why some metal heads or so anti-prog. prog is super fun! it's all spastic and abrasive and confusing to people that listen to all that mainstream bull shit that's always on the radio. in my mind, prog is the purest spirit of metal in musical for, a big, loud, unapologetic fuck you to folks who dont get it or like it. when you start through heavy elements of psychadelic rock, prog only gets more fun. case in point, san diego's Red Octopus. walking into thee parkside last month for a Hightower show, i was hoping the other bands on the bill would be pretty prolific. from Walken, to Pride Tiger, to Frontside Five, i've seen some pretty badass supporting bands courtesy of Hightower. Red Octopus is definitely the latest addition to that list (oh and Hightower's new album...freakin' sweet, review to come...soonish). claiming oneself to be in a psychadelic band can definitely pigeonhole one's sound. for me it invokes mental imagery of Jimi Hendrix spasmodically expressing his way through a full body performance of 'Voodoo Chile'...a ridiculously high standard to achieve. it's no surprise that many bands well worthy of referring to themselves as psychadelic bands prefer the label of 'math rock' as they use their extremely non-traditional time signatures and riffs to fight for musical legitimacy. some bands can totally pull it off, while other slip into the 'noise rock' category making them inaccessible to many music fans (especially during live performance). keeping in tradition with greats like King Crimson, Red Octopus goes out of their way to provide awe inspiring musicianship held together by a tightly mathematical rhythm section supporting ethereal lead grooves to keep your toe tapping despite being totally mesmerized by the enticing wall of sound this power trio puts forth. providing just enough of that gritty noise we would hope for from an extremely talented prog band, layered with dooomed out grooves, catchy melodies, and intensely headbangable moments.

Red Octopus' set that night was maybe 45 min or so, which was the perfect amount of time for them to power though 2 (yup, just 2) songs as the audience struggled to fight the urge to applaud at each down tempo breakdown. the tenacity and focus with which Red Octopus attacked their instruments was mesmerizing convincing me that i wasn't about to leave thee parkside without either a recording of their stuff or very explicit instructions on how to get one of their recordings. luckily their EP was for sale (or really just available for folks will to throw some cash down for it) on unlabeled burned CDs which came in a fun card stock sleeve which featured Red Octopus' logo silk screened on the outside (which the guitarist did in his bedroom after creating the stencil off a pen sketch!). the show was an unmitigated success with audience members converging upon the band to share congratulations, ask about recordings, and a slew of other questions around musical influences, song writing technique, and nerding out on their gear (they had some SWEET fucking gear). waking up the next morning and having the opportunity to give Red Octopus a listen in a state of *ahem* sobriety was mind blowing. the sheer power of this band's stage show is audible through one's headphones. though their recordings might be extraordinarily hard to get your hands on, it'll be well worth the effort. keep it gloomy y'all.