Walken, Aerial Ruin, Saturn's Return - thee parkside

hey guys, feel like a show review?  too bad, that's what you're getting.  i know what you're thinking, "...(sigh)...a review of another Walken show. let me guess, sandeep loved it.  surprise surprise, what an asshole."  well put.  i guess my burden is to make this a scintillating piece of reading then.  'ear me now (that was an ali g impression):

"i love it...this is like,'metal heads get old and mellow out' night at the bar..." i overheard some random chick saying to her dudeman as they were standing by me during Aerial Ruin's set.  she kinda wasn't kidding.  seriously, if you are into metal, live in sf, and have a significant other who's into lighter shit and you were at this show, you probably got laid like crazy saturday night/sunday morning, your patner thankful for some chill, acoustic-y indie-ish rock and you satisfied by some badass metal.  

as i was pulling up and finding a spot to lock up my bike outside thee parkside i heard music already seeping out the doors.  in my experience, Walken has always had badass bands with the on the bill, so i hurried through my lock up and headed in as quickly as i could.  Saturn's Return was up and laying down some mellowed out...indie (hard) rock?  definite essences of metal showed through with sweep picked guitar parts and the occasional double bass, laying down a sound that sound more akin to Built to Spill rocking out with Alice in Chains than annoying dumb homogenous arcade fire style stuff.  all in all, from the three songs i heard, they were pretty badass, but cill...a little perplexing for the first band at a show headlined by my favorite local metal band.


second onstage was Aerial Ruin.  i first heard about this band when i went to see Cuttthroats 9 at el rio a while back.  i was chatting with Will Carroll post show and asked him if there was any possibility of an Old Grandad doing a show.  he replied that a show would probably happen eventually, but at the moment he was busy with many other bands (at the time Death Angel being the most time consuming!!), and fellow Old Grandad member Erik Moggridge had moved to Portland and was touring with a solo acoustic project.  i wish i could say i looked it up the next day, but in all honesty, let's fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when i google the acts opening for Walken.  when i looked into Aerial Ruin, i found what looked like a rather stereotypical long haired, battle vest wearing, bearded, sludge and/or death and/or thrash and/or power metal looking dude sitting behind an acoustic guitar playing some pretty haunting technical riffs alongside almost folksy vocals.  needless to say, i was curious about what it would be like live...

Erik Moggdrige...aka Aerial Ruin

...and live, it was pretty badass...seriously.  it was an interesting juxtaposition, a dude wearing a Lesbian t shirt (the same Lesbian t shirt i have!!!) growling out song titles only to cut into riffs and vocals reminiscent of At the Gates' acoustic work and Neutral Milk Hotel simultaneously.  Aerial Ruin went electric for the last few songs featuring hypnotic guitar doubling between Moggridge and Eric Peterson (of Saturn Returns that night, but also Night After Night and Lost Goat).  All in all, Aerial Ruin's set was fun and despite expecting the usual distorted guitars that usually accompany Walken's opening acts, i really fucking enjoyed Aerial Ruin's show.  the album is well worth picking up, offering an interesting view one metal head's perspective of acoustic rock.  after listening to the album it was easy to see that i probably would have been much more into Aerial Ruin's set were i more in the mood for something a little more laid back...but saturday night i was ready to rock the fuck out to some Walken!

as Walken prepared to start heir set and close out the show, frontman Shane Bergman (also of Hazzard's Cure) joked that the audience could take out their earplugs.  thankfully, i never wear earplugs, and why would i?  put a fucking barrier between myself and the soul crushing awesomeness that is Walken live??!!  fuck no!  if you've ever read a blog post where i've mentioned this band, you know i can't be impartial on this front.  these guys seem to play music that exactly fits my definition of 'kickass tunes'.  now i don't mean to sound totally arrogant, but i like to think i have pretty fucking good taste in music (if i was being honest i'd say i have the best fucking taste in music on the planet, i just haven't discovered all the bands that fit into it yet, but in an attempt to show at least one measly iota of humility, i'll say i have 'pretty fucking good taste' in music), that being the case, it would follow that bands i think are totally fucking amazing are not only extremely talented, but are also folks whom you should think are totally fucking awesome...TOTALLY FUCKING MINDBEDINGLY AWESOME.  i for one, think Walken is one of the most amazing bands i've come across in the last five years, so following the simple syllogism i just set up...well, you get the point, you love Walken too, now read on.

Sean, Shane, Zack (in the back!), and Max..WALKEN!!!  \m/

i've constantly had the pleasure of being able to ask the members of Walken when their next album is coming out. totally awesome for me, though possibly a pain in the ass tot he membership of Walken, but i can't help it.  ever since my first Walken show, i've been hearing songs announced as "new songs" sometimes without lyrics or titles...and they've all absolutely destroyed...just totally fucking DESTROYED!  at first i would constantly come home from shows with 'Thunder Paws' stuck in my head for days, salivating rabidly over the prospect of having a copy (thankfully we got that album back in november of '09!). it's addictive fucking music folks, and staurday's show dished up even more...some new tracks that are starting to feel a little familiar (in the most headbangingly awesome way possible) and others that were brand fucking new.  the new material continues along the path the band has already set, with crunchy, groovy riffs heavily percussive yet melodic bass, gut shattering drums, and unrelenting growled vocals...though many of the new tracks seemed to be instrumentals...maybe lyrics are in the works...?  the new songs are fucking brilliant and show the band reaching new heights in their collective musical growth...but i would kill to hear them play 'Bitch Wizard' live again (it's been a while!)!

Sean, Shane and Zack, killin' it on stage as Walken destroyed...

Zack n' Max, takin' no prisoners with Walken saturday night

members of Walken are of course involved in various other projects, Zack and Max also forming two thirds of Grayceon and Shane joining various other badass local doomsters in Hazzard's Cure, both of which are awesome bands that i look forward to seeing as often as possible, but Walken, Walken inspires something distinct.  badass would be a good word for, but unfortunately badass in now way expresses the immensity of pure fucking awesome that Walken represents.  they're playing again in september if not before, i'll post details as soon as i hear 'em, BE THERE. (i'll twitter at ya' about it...follow me, i'm sandeeppbhuta)

Sean and Shane, shreddin' chords and vocal chords...Walkenroll!

...and Walken delivers one badass encore.

so yeah, an interesting mix this saturday night, in the end, undoubtedly a badass show....phew, and we're done!  perfect timing!  better grab my bike and get on my way to bottom of the hill for the Orange Goblin/Gates of Slumber/ Naam show...keep it gloomy y'all.

week of epicness part deux...

If my evenings this week could have been bottled, the only name they could be marketed under would be 'awesomesauce'. looking back over the past week i've seen awesome performances, been privy to opportunities to purchase awesome new underground metal vinyl, cassettes, or cds, and hopped around in a couple of pretty prolific pits.

the week of epicness began last saturday, october 9th at the hemlock tavern. on the bill were Serpent Crown (sf), Spellcaster (portland), Evil Survives (manitoba), and Midnight Chaser (sf). going in the only band on the ticket i was familiar with was evil survives, and even then it was mainly due to the fact that serpent crown is one of the many local metal outfits featuring Will Carroll (of Death Angel, Scarecrow, Old Grandad...) on drums. in all of my eagerness to see them, i naturally miscalculated my bike commute to the hemlock and totally missed their set. fuck you murphy and your fucking laws (i'm flipping off the hypothetical "murphy" as i type).

as i entered the back of the hemlock where the stage is after wading through crowds of fleet week yuppies (though, with all the sailor outfits i just assumed it was some pride event) on my way in, i arrived to a band assaulting eardrums as their front man thanked everyone for coming and that they hoped to come back soon...yup, i missed the second band, Spellcaster, as well! worried that my $7 dollar admission fee might have been for naught (as just that brief glimpse was enough to convince me i needed to buy Spellcaster's album...what if i had missed the best bands?!) i nervously sipped my beer awaiting Evil Survives. what came next, did not disappoint.

from the instant they took the stage Evil Survives proved themselves a force to be reckoned with. slashing speed licks supported by a skull rattling bass and gut pummeling blast beats with searing vocals tearing through the mix in a style that exemplifies some of our favorite aspects of classic NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal...y'know, the prolific post Black Sabbath stuff like Iron Maiden, Saxon, Judas Priest...). despite an audience that seemed content to hang back as far away from the stage as possible, Evil Survives rocked it as if playing to a packed arena. fortunately the small performance space that is the hemlock tavern was put to full use as the lead singer belted lyrics from the pit occasionally using audience members standing idly by as supports during vociferous headbangs. as far as the riffage went, the guitar talent of Evil Survives clearly showed strong influence from the likes of Dave Murray and KK Downing, augmented by a tangible love for thrash and early american death metal. in many ways, at the end of Evil Survives' set i felt like i had just been treated to a performance by Helloween in their prime.

as Evil Survives left the stage, I was already telling myself that Midnight Chaser's performance would have no bearing on the fact that the night had already reached extreme levels of badassitude. luckily, Midnight Chaser brought it with the same over the top energy that had defined the night thus far. at that point in the night, the crowd was warmed up (and boozed up) enough not to need much more than some loud driving rock. Midnight Chaser tore through some old school power metal styled party rock that had the audience grooving right away. the only downside to the show came about 20 minutes later when Midnight Chaser had to end their set abruptly due to a broken guitar string. audience members waited, unmoving, as the guitarist scrambled around looking for a replacement string, but as the search continued last call was, well, called, and the music had to be shut down for the night. despite being unable to see Midnight Chaser's entire set, missing most of Spellcaster and all of Serpent Crown, it was a seriously epic night at the hemlock, and just the beginning of a show going week so epic, my ears are still ringing. what happened next?! keep checking back and you'll see, otherwise, keep it gloomy y'all.