music – Trezvennost II

Kings, Goats, and death metal ravioli

Curiousser time at Rendezvous Pub last night. Nameless King and Thirteen Goats have rolled into town with their tour and made a significant ruckus. I figured I’d come a take a look at them since I never listened to them before, and enjoy some of the bands I enjoyed before.

The openers Exit Wound played without the bass player who is the coolest member of this thrash band from Calgary. The boyz have an interesting bloody theme: “blood” stained white t-shirts, red glares in ripped jeans and nice gleaming dark red guitars. Their music is alright, i saw them twice before and i liked their EP … but this night without the bassist it was really just not it. Plus, i started to more and more loathe it when musicians, although understandably but unnecessarily and regularly keep trying to communicate with their audience about having good time and pumping them up to wake up. Shut up and play already for fucks sake, y’know. So Exit Wound always do it and this time it was even more annoying. Sorry, guys…

A young lady, planted herself next to me and began doing acrobatics on her walker (!), while in between asking all kinds of questions about bands on tv. I wasn’t in the mood to chat or be friendly, sorry. Too much work, not enough live metal just yet…

Yeah, thankyou Rendezvous for feeding the TV screens with death metal promo vids while we waited between bands! Great time-killing idea!

Good human (and one ET) turnout, i’d say at least thirty people, and good rock out vibe altogether. Some moshing did happen, which is always interesting to witness at that venue, considering how little space there is for that.

Speaking of – the Acrobatic Fan eventually ran (!!) into the mosh with her walker (!!!) Weird sight… and surprisingly no one got extra hurt, by the looks of that.

Brain Stem, my favourite band of the evening, and of local metal bands for couple years, were excellent as always – maniacal, heavy, and sounding great. That night though it was even more fun, because one fan seemed to have decided that vocalist Jesse needs sustenance and passed on to him a can of ravioli and veggies or something similar which Jesse appeared to love munching on for a couple songs, alternating it with singing. Fun. Also, it turned out that yelling in approval was harder after recording screaming for a couple of hours, as I working on completeing my own song prior to coming to the show. New experience!

Thirteen Goats were intense and fun… when not trying to sing in clean voice or excitedly communicate with the crowd (although i get it, they were pumped to be at the end of the tour and loving every bit of it.) I think their bass player was performing across from stage in the corner or did i. consume too much caffeine?!

I only stayed for half of set by “bunch of nerds who write song about video games”, Nameless King in their own words. My back was tired and i didn’t care much for the bands putting “groove” or overly melodic bits in their music. Also vocalist’s overtly shy dancing on stage was too much for me (yeah, i guess im a serious and boring old school deathmetalhead.) They were still alright. I probably would have enjoyed them more if i wasn’t so tired.

#rendezvouspub #namelessking #thirteengoats #brainstem
#exitwound #nobassindeathmetalsucks #walkermoshpit #deathmetalraviolivocals

Blackened, yet Brightened

I’ll be honest, this was not an event I was waiting to attend for decades (as, on the other hand, it was with Exploited, seen three weeks earlier), though I am a Black Flag fan since ‘97. Mostly because seeing them live wasn’t something realistic, considering all the key members coming and going and forming other bands and suing each other in between. Thus, seeing the upcoming show ad on the wall invoked more of a “Yeah right must be a joke” reaction out of me and I didn’t buy a ticket for weeks after. But I did buy it, because even 71 years old Greg Ginn with performers at least thrice younger than him is still THE Greg Ginn playing Black Flag songs, so WTF am i really contemplating this for?!?

First impressions of the event were amazing already. A guy with electric violin plopped himself two steps from entry door (right next to me) and went jigging it out. He was very good but i felt like paying him to go away because my ears hated it – too close. Except for a couple teens who dropped coins into his can, nobody cared for the dude’s work. Sorry, pal, but we didn’t come here to see Dropkick Murphys, ok?

Funny enough, the day wasn’t yet done with violins. Upon my entry into the might Starlite Room, the sound guy was playing Mahavishnu Orchestra ‘Birds of Fire” on the PA! Which is an amazing record, hands down, that i was enjoying for decades, but more amazing is that: 1) it is not something you are likely to hear before a punk show (although Black Flag were/are quite experimental); 2) even more nuts is that i was going through the linear notes of that very CD, borrowed recently from the public library, an hour prior to the show! Wow. I didn’t believe my ears! But looking at the sound guy’s monitor i knew i got it right. I’ve briefly talked to his majesty Sound Master right after. We had a good laugh. And then he played Thin Lizzy for half an hour. Then – Cramps, SNFU, and DRI . Nice evolution!

Also, during that first half hour there were over fifty rockers in the room and I was the only longhaired guy. I shared that thought with a couple standing next to me. Fella said “Oh, thats becoming a norm now. Well, Metallica guys all looking shorthaired and respectful now.” Wtf?? Dude must be living in a forest.

Anyway, Black Flag formation 2026 took the stage later than 8pm sharp but totally SLAYED! Besides Gregg looking quite in shape and with a cool transparent plastic body of a guitar, the band was also very pro at what they do and it was absolute pleasure to hear them. The drummer was friggin awesome, and the vocalist Max was totally born to be in this band, even though she is literally decades away from BF heyday (she also revealed she was either born or raised in Edmonton. small fkn world, hey). I hope this line-ip will last, and record, and release something tangible together. We had to our listening pleasure a mind-bogglingly all-inclusive set list and great sound. Audience was nuts and happy, I’ve spotted one case of stage diving and all kinds of moshing, including a circle pit involving the bassist who kept playing(!). I met some new people, which happens rarely. Great night. Thankyou Starlite!

#blackflag #punk #punkmusic #starliteroom #mahavishnuorchestra (haha)

uniting passions

A decade and a half ago there was something I could identify myself as – a rocker. I’m sure there were plenty of other social groups I could identify as: a human, a male, a student, Russian, a misanthrope, maybe. But as a rocker, I was fitting into a subculture that meant everything to me above all others listed above. I’ve been listening to metal and rock and everything that grooved and had fire and could break through the wall. I learned of the bands I liked, bought their music and shirts, and I went to their shows.

At the shows there were plenty of people who came there to see the bands, they shared my passion for the heavy and virtuoso guitar and drums music. Still though, I think they also came to get drunk, and although that was never my original idea, I still ended up getting drunk too.

It was because of that lifestyle that I eventually came to learn there was something else I could identify as – an alcoholic. Coming to that realization took some considerable effort to open eye and ears. And yet was thanks to that effort that I ended up being a sober alcoholic. And I loved it that way. The reason for loving it was me now being a part of another group, only I don’t know if that counts as a subculture. They call themselves a fellowship.

Alcoholics Anonymous are a kind of a group which if I came to their meeting I’d always be welcomed, no matter how many days or years of sobriety I’ve had and there would be no judgement. So they were even more welcoming that the rockers, and this crowd was much healthier. We were united by the passion of staying sober, living it positively and not making it an end, rather a means to a positive and spiritually prosperous end – life of freedom.

I never gave up being a rocker. I still collect music and go to shows and buy shirts. Only now I do it sober and banging head soberly, I think, is more fun – you are less likely to throw up.

the Amon Amarth GIF was copied from https://gfycat.com/gifs/search/amon+amarth+headbang and thank you. keep rocking!