When I think back to when I was the happiest going to the gym I immediately think about two places, the weight room at my college and Bally Total Fitness. One was where I got my start as a clueless weightlifter, not knowing my ass from my elbow about anything and just using machines because they had instructions on them, and the other place was that major step up. It was like my college weight room but it had more of everything and therefore I no longer needed to wait for someone to finish up or improvise by doing something else. But what they both had in common is that they both had great, strong support groups, we all looked out for each other, helped each other to reach our goals. It was incredible and I’ll forever be grateful for those days.
It was a year into my time at Bally Total Fitness when I met Mike Stanlaw in the fall of 2008. He was a brand new trainer and I saw him watching me as I struggled with cable rows with the corner of my eye. So in between sets he began talking with me, and I wasn’t sure what to make of him. It wasn’t personal – I stopped trusting personal trainers after my experience with the jerks at LA Fitness. But the more we talked I slowly began to see that not only did he actually know what he was talking about, but – GASP! – he actually liked what he was doing. I even let him show me a variation of the barbell row! Needless to say he made a great impression on me pretty quick!
Over the next two and a half years Mike trained me on and off (I think I was the first person in Bally’s he introduced to Dogg Crapp Training, which some guys like to use when taking a break from Max Overload Training and he tried to get me to hurt as much as possible with Calf Raises but he had no luck thanks to my calves already being pretty damn strong from years of being a pedestrian). During this time Mike also became the head trainer at Bally’s. Then, things changed. He got a job at New York Sports Club in Bayonne, NJ, which is much closer to his home, and Bally’s sadly closed down and is now a Planet Fitness. That’s when you know something’s wrong with the world.
Mike texted me last year, letting me know that he was getting ready to open up his own personal training studio in Bayonne and I immediately thought to myself that if you love something you’ll do anything in your power to make it a reality and that’s what he was about to do. Things were delayed due to legal issues that I’m sure I can’t discuss here but Stanlaw Fitness finally opened up shop nearly three weeks ago. I finally found the time visit the new place just two days ago and man it looks great.
GREATEST. CLOCK. EVER.
Holding true to Mike’s love of fitness, Stanlaw Fitness offers several kinds of training, from Bodybuilding contest prep to Zumba to Youth Training and so much more. As of my seeing him he told me he already has 60 clients. What was most awesome part was he took time out of his crazy ass schedule to train chest with me like old times. We did five sets of bench, a set of pushups to failure, and then we capped it off with five sets of dumbbell bench with a Dogg Crapp style static stretch after the final rep – and all while hearing two of Randy Orton’s theme songs on Mike’s ipod! My upper body hadn’t felt that tired in a long time!
If you live in the Bayonne area or you want to train with someone who is the real deal, who lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps health and fitness give Mike Stanlaw a call right now. Yesterday, even. For more info here’s the link to his website.
It’s been a few weeks since this show happened but I took awhile to finally do this blog partially because of time constraints, partially because of the fact that a lot of things happened at this show, partially because I was sure some drunk piece of shit blatantly sabotaged one of my video of the Black Breath set but as I now know she failed. But I’ll get to her. I’m doing this post a little differently than my other posts because there was a lot to cover so I’m going to recap this as quick as I can and then list the bands and I’ll add their pictures and videos that way.
So I arrived at the bar a good half an hour before the show was supposed to start and within maybe ten minutes of my being there I recognized the woman I was standing next to during the Crowbar show just a week earlier. She had checked on me after the psycho fanboy kicked me in the back of the head and she now revealed to me that her legs at that moment we were talking were still bruised all over from that night. We both spoke for a bit about the crowd as a whole that night, how brutal that show in general was because that pit wasn’t really a mosh pit – it was one big fucking fight! See the video on my post about that night see what I’m talking about!
The first band of the night was a band called Theories, who are out promoting their latest album, Regressions. I recorded the first few songs of their set which I will post. They weren’t bad. I don’t know that I’d buy their stuff but but I’d definitely see them again. I’d say that their singer should definitely work a little more on coming out of his shell with his stage presence. I imagine it will happen over time.
Ringworm were next and all I can say is…OW!! There’s a reason James Bulloch is the “Human Furnace”. Damn. The band as a whole were absolutely brutal…so much so that that this where the circle pits and even some idiotic dancing began! I stood to the side of the room while filming to avoid getting hit but some retard who was dancing around like a spaz threw himself in to the guy next to me, who obviously bumped in me, hitting me right in the ribs and forcing my thumb to turn the camera off. Within a minute or two of starting over I knocked into again twice, tailbone first in to the wall both times so this time I just got out until the band finished. Again…OW!!! By the way as of this writing my tailbone STILL hurts.
Black Breath…where shit went down. What’s in a name? That’s what I need to remember when it comes to Metal bands because these guys shattered all my expectations and fucking killed it! I couldn’t even use the word brutal to describe their intensity on stage. They were PERFECT!! So what was the problem? I had gotten a brand new Droid Maxx just a few days earlier so I was unaware when filming that there was an automatic light that I had to remove. So while I was filming there was a light on the whole time so I was a little confused when the woman in front of me began giving my phone the finger and then gave me the finger. Of course I gave her the finger back. She then turned to me and told me that the light on my phone was really bothering her and I was “making everything suck”. I understood and kindly asked her to give me a minute so I could find a place to move and I guess that wasn’t good enough for her so she pushed me.
I didn’t do anything only because I assumed she was a bit drunk but the fucking bitch did it again! When I was done filming she and her much calmer boyfriend thanked me. I politely approached her and told her that there was no reason to push me. “Well I tried to reason with you and you wouldn’t listen so I’ll push you all I want!” was her immature reply. I called her out on it and she declared “I’m not afraid of you!”. I never threatened her. She then tried to insult me again and gave up. It’s incredible, how tough women act when their boyfriends/husbands are around, although part of me thinks that this drunk bitch wears the pants in the couple. And by the way you dumb twat, if you’re reading this I hope you get shot repeatedly in your fuckin’ head! I do have to acknowledge the guy behind me, who saw everything and offered to lend me his spot so I could continue filming, but I was already finished at that point. If you happen to be reading this, thank you bro, it obviously wasn’t forgotten.
After I took a few deep breaths in amazement that I didn’t punch the drunk bitch in her throat I got ready for Goatwhore. I slowly got more in the mood the longer I heard Venom’s song “In League With Satan” blasting through the speakers…so bad but so good! I was getting ready to film again and when I saw the guy in front of me looking up at my phone I decided to stop and look at the problem. That’s when I discovered the light and turned it off – it still doesn’t justify some dumb bitch pushing me.
Goatwhore got on and they fucking tore it up! I personally feel that leaving Crowbar was the smartest move Sammy Duet ever made; he’s a totally brutal, loud, heavy guitarist. Let’s face it – he never would’ve been able to truly express himself had he stayed. That’s no disrespect to Kirk Windstein, but when the band you’re in is the product of one guy’s sole vision you’re not going to have an easy time getting your ideas out there. The good news here was I was in a spot were I was able to avoid injuries this time and STILL see the band!
This is actually the third time I’ve seen them in the last eight years and the second time I saw them while on tour for their latest album, Constricting Rage of The Merciless, an album I recommend HIGHLY. Someone once said that Goatwhore is exactly what Venom would have sounded like if they weren’t such a joke and I couldn’t agree more. The place really came apart near the end when the began their song “FBS” (right….I don’t know why they didn’t just label it what it is.), of the new CD. At the end of the night everyone knew what is was to get Fucked By Satan…and they loved it.
…ok so maybe that dying part is a bit exaggerated but if it got you to read this then my job is done! Suck me.
Sludge GODS Crowbar came to town this past Monday night on their Summer of Doom tour, taking along with them Lord Dying and Battlecross. It took so long to write about this because I needed a whole day to recuperate from the insanity that I’m going to write all about. Then I had a very hard time uploading all my pictures and videos. Why? I couldn’t tell you, but I finally upload everything last night. My videos from the show have been up for the last day or two though and I’ll put the link to them here of course.
I arrived there maybe before 7:30 so I could eat something. I was walking up the block to find food and who’s coming toward me in the opposite direction? None of than Crowbar founder/vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein! I shit you not! He and two other guys were headed back to the bar with food and I had a slight fanboy moment so I went up to Kirk. He shook my hand and said hey in that gruff, raspy voice of his before going back to his conversation with his buds. No big deal since I wound up with a souvenir from him later in the night anyway.
So I go back to the bar later and upon looking at Crowbar’s merch table I found this shirt.
This is so fucking true! I myself wound up buying two shirts from the table but no this wasn’t one of them, although I think I should’ve gotten one for my girlfriend as a hint!
Not too long before the first band of the night, Carcosa, went on, I tried to talk to a few people and it felt a bit weird. There were times where I felt like because these people didn’t know me they wanted nothing to do with me. Not that I give a shit at all but this is something about metal that pisses me off. It’s cool that there of groups of metalheads that found each other because that’s so hard to do; but what’s with the cliques? I did met this one guy in a Down t-shirt who was a HUGE Crowbar fan. Nice guy when I met him but as it turned out he was one of those pyscho fanboy types…you know the ones…there’s one at every show and that idiot always knows every little thing about the band including it’s day to day personal activities. Well he turned out to be one of them.
While waiting outside I met Alex Bent, the current drummer in Battlecross. We had a long conversation about all things music. He and I and the crowd including the psycho fanboy were reminiscing about how we each discovered Crowbar and I good chunk of us said by watching Beavis and Butthead. “Huh huh, I’d hate to meet this guy in an alley Beavis. Huh huh.” After a while it was time for him to go back in but he was cool enough to take this photo with me before he did.
I walked back in as Carcosa began their set. They’re a band out of Long Island and this just happened to be their first show. If I could describe their music I’d say a sludge/hardcore hybrid, not like Crowbar does but they were pretty heavy. For their first show they were spot on, as if they rehearsed a lot. I spoke to Tim, their lead singer at their merch table after they finished and he said this wasn’t even supposed to be their first gig but when they got the call how the fuck could they say no???? They’re one of many bands I’ve noticed selling their music on cassettes, primarily because they’re cheaper to make than CDs according to what they guys in Ajax told me last July. For $5 I got a cassette with a free digital download card along with two stickers. To hear it for yourself go to http://www.carcosali.bandcamp.com and you’ll find the entire demo.
I had more pictures and even a video but for some reason my memory card filled up quick and I didn’t even have many pic taken yet at that point. This would be cause for a lot of frustration throughout the night.
Next of was Lord Dying. This is was a close as we were gonna get to Crowbar before Crowbar even hit the stage. It was heavy and sludgy…but with harmonies and solos. They actually impressed me a lot and I will but their shit. Erik Olson’s vocals were angry as FUCK and the music just pounded you.
At the end of their set I spoke to Chris Evans, their co-guitarist, who let me take a picture of him with that beautiful custom made guitar you see both guys with in the video I posted. He even let me hold it, that thing is light as a feather. I wanted to try and balance it one finger!
Battlecross were next and the last band before Crowbar. This was the thrashiest, fastest and most melodic band out of the entire lineup. They were still intense but in a different way and it’s safe to say the definitely have a following because this was the time when the room were in in truly began to full up. From “go” the band were non-stop. Their music was fast and while i had heard some of their songs before this night just so I could be familiar with them, they really impressed me live. Also, it’s good to know there are bands out there with a sense of humor because Kyle Gunther was absolutely hysterical at times. When I met him afterwards I should’ve suggested he try standup comedy.
Here’s where problems began. My phone’s battery was dying so my video for Battlecross was cut off after a minute and a half and my camera’s memory card was mysteriously full. I’d fix the camera issue later but I couldn’t charge my phone obviously. But here’s the video I made because it did come out good, at least.
Some people were crazy enough to clear the room after Battlecross got off the stage. I guess they wanted to get one last smoke break, I don’t know. I just know that there was a great open spot right at the front of the stage and I took it quickly. While Alex was taking down his massive drum set – the biggest one of all the bands! – I befriended the guy standing next to me, also named Mike. Turns out he’s huge Crowbar fan – no not like the psycho fanboy. Kirk Windstein got on stage to set up and he drops the setlist on the floor and reading it Mike and I got real giddy, like teenagers, just knowing that shit was going down tonight. I mean…just…just look at this fucking setlist!
After just ten minutes Crowbar finally hit the stage. I think you can just look at the picture above to figure out just how fucking crazy shit got based on the song being played but trust me, seeing is believing. I was only able to take a few pictures because I got banged around a bit being that I was at the front. I mean I was right in front of Kirk Fucking Windstein and practically getting an upfront guitar lesson! If I can’t play any of Crowbar’s shit after this show I need new glasses now. So here are the few pictures I was able to take, just to get it out of the way.
So when the band began playing the place turned into a heavy metal lion’s den of dudes jumping off the stage – especially that psycho fanboy! He kept on trying to push his way in and knocking me away from the front but I wasn’t letting that happen. But I did pay for it because his breath smelled like fucking shit! Mike smelt it too as did the woman standing to my right! I have a video of the the second and third songs they did: “Planets Collide” and “All I Had (I Gave)” and before the “All I Had…” ended the fucking camera stopped on me again! But I’ll tell you what…as crazy as we all were – I mean Mike and I were laughing so hard at how crazy everybody was and how heavy as FUCK the band were – shit really went down at the breakdown to “All I Had…” It’s as if nothing else matters after that song. This was where the whole fucking place just caved in. For real. Here’s the video of it. The sound’s fuzzy because I’m right in front of Kirk but just fast forward to the 8:16 to see it all.
It was an extremely intense show. And if shit couldn’t be more out of control the band broke into the intro to “The Lasting Dose” and played it even slower than it already is. That just made everyone’s blood boil because they just wanted the band to kick in so they could beat each other up some more. I fucking loved it! I’m pretty sure it was that song were some jackass jumped of the stage and landed right on my shoulder. And not even five minutes after that I felt someone kick me in the back of the head. The woman next to me asked me if I was ok and I saw that psycho fanboy crowd surfing, so I immediately figured out that it was his foot that hit me. She and I both wanted to fuck him up because he kept on jumping our direction AND his breath smelt so fucking rancid. Rushing to the stage to show he knows every single word before jumping on us again and again. I was ready to hurt him.
The show was SICK. Crowbar were so fucking heavy. This really is the music you listen to to get fat! If I wasn’t sick I would’ve totally been motivated to lift weights the next day because they gave me such an adrenaline rush. This is the music you shit dead babies to. Fuck it – this is the music you EAT babies to! They ended the night with “Existence is Punishment” and just when you thought the crowd were tired from beating the shit out of each other they got right back into it just like that. I’ve never seen anything like it in all the years I’ve been to shows. I’ve seen things close to this happen but the difference was that at all those other shows the crowds calmed down at least a little after a few songs. Here? No. Just…no. At the end of the show I jokingly thanked Kirk for the free guitar lesson. “Free guitar lesson, huh?”, he asked on the mic in the raspy ass fucking voice of his. He then let out a smile and gave me this sick looking guitar pic out of his pocket.
This again was such a fucking sick show…the single most intense show I’ve ever gone to so far. I plan on going back to Saint Vitus this Monday to see Goatwhore, which ironically enough was formed by former Acid Bath and Crowbar guitarist Sammy Pierre Duet. That’s a band that puts on a sick show but I know that it won’t be the same as this.
“High On Fire are gods to a generation of bikers, barbarians and beardos, and luminiferous is one of their finest hours.”
That’s what I saw when I bought High On Fire’s latest album, Luminiferous this past Friday, and for once I might actually agree with Rolling Stone on this one. Just one question: what the fuck is a “beardo”? Is it meant just to describe someone with a big beard? If so then I understand because I saw a few on those when I saw High On Fire at Webster hall back in October 2007. But if it’s meant to say dudes with beards are weird then fuck them because as far as I’m concerned Rolling Stone’s core audience are a bunch of dirt bags who probably don’t even shower. It’s bad enough Rolling Stone as a whole appears to forever be stuck in the 1970s!
I wonder if Matt Pike was looking for irony when he named the band’s new CD Luminiferous because there sure as fuck ins’t that much light being carried through here. I’ll never forget when I first heard the band back in 2004 and decided that this was what Master of Reality-era Black Sabbath would’ve sounded like had Lemmy joined them and sped up the tempos greatly. On Luminiferous it’s probably even MORE intense as it ever was and that especially goes for Blessed Black Wings!
I put this in my car and my ass was immediately kicked by “The Black Plot”. The whole band immediately came in with a great mid tempo chug that quickly turns in to some of the greatest sludge thrash I’ve ever heard from them. Matt Pike as far as I’m concerned is the king of fast paced sludge; his guitar sound is so strong, so heavy, yet you can still hear everything he’s doing. Des Kensel does a fantastic job of keeping up with the riffs. His double bass work and his fills highlight the guitar and bass parts without overshadowing them, which is so important when you’re in a band.
There are some tracks like “The Falconist” where the band show their ability to write solid mid paced songs that may not be as frenzied as what they’re known for but are still heavy as FUCK. I recommend that track alone. I also recommend “The Cave”. Jeff Matz – who I once saw opening up for Motorhead with his old band Zeke, ironically enough – opens up the song with this bassline that offers a brief sense of calm before the rest of the band kicks in and fucks everything up. Since this song alone is nearly eight minutes long I have to say now that I appreciate the fact that the guys are able to keep shit from getting absolutely boring, finding the right spots to changes things up.
Another thing I appreciate is that the band’s recording process hasn’t changed that much. Sure, things sound clearer but matt Pike still appears to be recording his solos live without any backing tracks, which provides so much of a live feel. I’m pretty sure the last time I remembered a band doing that was Pantera starting with Vulgar Display of Power. It actually makes the album sound even heavier in a way. I just found out that High On Fire will be playing The Williamsburg Music Hall in Brooklyn, NY on August 18th. I’m sure I’ll be going!
What a week it’s been for Morbid Angel, because in a matter of just a few days, the band lost…everyone. It all started when founding guitarist Trey Azagtoth announced that bassist/vocalist David Vincent was out of the band and back in the band has non other than Steve Tucker – the very guy who replaced David when he first quit the band back in 1996. Trey even said they were working on new music together. Then came the drama; a few hours later David responded saying his basically had no idea what anyone was talking about and that he never the band or was asked to leave.
But wait, this gets better! With the next two to three days drummer Tim Yeung quit the band, saying he left over financial reasons, which is not too much of a surprise, and then co-guitarist Destructhor (his real name is actually Thor. That is fucking awesome!) announced that he was out because he wanted to go back home to Norway to focus on his other band Myrkskog. What I find funny about this already is that both Tim and Destruthor decided to leave Morbid Angel after their most recent European Tour ended in December 2014. I imagine that they both left because of money and their both too professional to say anything, although according to Destructhor the band wanted to work with someone “more local”. Already sounds a bit fishy.
Then, just two days ago, David reversed his initial statement and announced that he too was in fact out of Morbid Angel. He said that he Trey had a long conversation and they both agreed that they had some “incompatibilities” in regard to them working together any longer. Of all the band departures this is the one that was the lightning rod. David Vincent is the vocalist you hear on those first four classic albums. He left the band in 1996 to join his wife’s bondage themed rock band The Genitorturers. There was some dispute over the creative direction of his last album with them, Domination. David thought at the time that it was sonically their best album to date due to their upgraded production values and the fact that they tried a few new things. Trey, on the other hand, said a few years later that he found the sound on Domination to be so sterile that it pissed him off. He also didn’t like that David wrote all the lyrics this time around and that they strayed very far away from the themes of the previous three albums.
Steve Tucker came in and did three albums with the band and then something happened in 2004. Trey and David started talking again, which led to him doing a few surprise gigs with the band…which led to him rejoining the band altogether due to the positive reaction from the fans. There’s been a bit of controversy ever since the band released their 2011 album, Illud Divinum Insanus, an album so techno sounding that David was given the blame for the musical direction. Hell, look at the guy. Really – look at him, even in the picture on this post! God damn if he doesn’t look like something out of a sex shop or Hot Topic before they were bought by the Gap! Some of you call him David Sixx, which I think is hysterical. Given that along with his Genitorturers past and his big influence on Domination twenty years ago it’s easy to make a martyr out of David.
So I wonder like everybody else what happened because Trey obviously isn’t ready to talk yet. He might never be because he doesn’t like to talk…which is probably why he kept David around – he’s very social, I met him so I know as does anyone else who met the guy. Some people are saying that this is Trey cleaning house and regaining control of his band because David was once again too strong when fighting for creative control. Some are a little bummed that he’s gone again and some are REALLY happy that he’s gone and Steve’s back in. And remember I mentioned David not knowing he was gone? Sounds like Trey didn’t really have the balls to tell him he was gone, kind of like when Warrell Dane of Nevermore discovered through Blabbermouth.net that Jeff Loomis had quit the band. Pretty scummy if you ask me.
So where does Trey Azagtoth go from here? Does he hire all naive rookies in order to pay them less than guys like Destructhor and Tim were already getting? Is Trey ever going to discuss what happened? Is this new album he’s doing with Steve Tucker going to blow Illud Divinum Insanus out of the water? Only time will tell but if Trey ever talks he has a lot of explaining to do because a whole band leaving in or announcing their gone in just a matter of days raises a few red flags. I’ll always be grateful that I got to see Morbid Angel with David Vincent during last year’s Summer Slaughter Tour at Irving Plaza in Manhattan. Great show and no songs from Illud! Here’s a short video I made of the band playing “Fall From Grace” off their second album, Blessed Are The Sick. It’s not even two minutes long though because my phone was dying after a long day out.
I recently got tickets for Anaka’s next show, a headliner at Gramercy Theater in Manhattan on the heels of their latest album, The Unwavering, that’s happening next Saturday, June 26th with support from Brand of Julez and Tempest City. If you don’t know who they are they are an aggresive as FUCK metal band from Brooklyn. I started talking with Jimmy Pallis, the band’s singer on facebook about four years ago; when the conversation went into Megadeth and how they essentially lost their balls after Youthanasia (some of you would say otherwise) I knew this guy was the real deal!
So we exchanged numbers and as it turns out this and his guitar player brother, Peter Pallis, are so into connecting with their fans that they will have no problem driving to you to sell you tickets. This was the case last week when I bought my tickets for this upcoming show. Not a lot of bands do that. It was a funny few minutes. They’ve been on the scene a long ass time and when i told them about my blog post regarding my first metal concert and brought up a few old names the jokes just started flying. Fuck…Jimmy…Peter…we’re old.
If you want a good time and are in the area next Saturday I’d definitely recommend seeing them. A great live show with a very loyal following. Quick story for you; I finally saw Anaka for the first time at a free show they played at a bar called Killarney’s on 95th St in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to promote their latest acoustic EP, Into The Great Unknown – The Acoustic Sessions back in February 2012. I took my then-girlfriend, Nicole, with me along with my then-bassist, Joe, and his friend Shake (yeah, I know, a dopey nickname. But he’s awesome). Now…when you see a band play a bar this tiny the last thing you’re going to expect is for a mosh pit to break out, right? Well…no sooner did they hit one note did the whole bar break out into a pit. I was siting right where the band was and I found myself pinned to the bar by my left leg! I struggled to get out and I think it was Joe who finally pulled me out to safety. But man, driving home from the show that night my left quad was in exquisite pain and it stayed that way for the next two weeks – that’s more of a souvenir of a good time than the t-shirt I bought from Jimmy that night!
New Angel Vivaldi Premiere
What a fuckin’ week it’s been for Angel Vivaldi! The youtube sensation only released the video for his new single “._ _ _ _” just a few days ago via Guitar World and it already has over 20,000 views and more than 24,000 views on Ibanez Guitars’ facebook page. I actually posted a video of him performing this song at Dingbatz a few blog posts ago so this the song proper. Here’s the video now:
He recently made the ballsy decision to quit his fulltime job to go on tour based on all his success so if and when he comes to your town you should go show your support. You won’t regret it.
Final Thoughts…
Anyone here read what Kerry King said about Jeff Hanneman yet? Apparently Kerry was asked if he feels like Jeff’s spirit is guiding the band. Kerry’s reply? “Jeff is worm food. When you die, you go in the dirt. There is no doubt. Doubt’s called agnostic. I’m not agnostic.” Well Kerry is there’s on thing you ARE it’s a real piece of SHIT. “Worm food”? It’s one thing to say that you don’t feel like his spirit is guiding the band. That’s fine. But calling the guy that wrote Slayer’s greatest music “worm food” is as disrespectful and as slimy as it gets man. There are a Lot of people I can’t wait to call worm food but if I was in your position and my co-guitarist who contributed so much was gone I wouldn’t say that shit about him. Scumbag!
Have you ever been so hungry you could eat a horse? On Sunday night, members of the black metal band Watain did just that.
At the end of an impromptu show at Wantagh, Long Island’s VFW Hall 3666, singer Erik Danielsson and the rest of the band carved up the now-legendary horse American Pharoah and consumed him raw. After the band concluded their concert and meal, they donated the remaining edible flesh of the animal to the audience of nearly one hundred formerly enlisted soldiers who served our country with honor during The Korean War and World War 2.
The thoroughbred’s owner Ahmed Zayat, who himself plays in a Megadeth cover band called Hoof in Mouth, is a huge fan of heavy metal and Watain in particular. He demanded that trainer Bob Baffert play Watain’s seminal metal song “Reaping Death” for at least an hour during each of Pharoah’s workouts…
This just popped in my head a little bit ago…maybe because Phil’s bringing this band back out on the road again, but only as Superjoint for “legal reasons”, whatever the fuck that means. In early 2003 I was finishing up my first year of college and was anxiously waiting for Phil Anselmo to stop with the multiple side projects and get with Pantera again. So one day before I finished for the semester I met this guy Hussein, who I’m still buddies with. I don’t remember how it came about but we got to talking about Pantera and he mentioned that Superjoint Ritual, Phil’s Black Flag-meets-Black Sabbath hardcore side project, was going to be playing L’Amour in Brooklyn in a week and opening up for them would be Sepultura. Whoa wait a sec. Superjoint Ritual? Phil Anselmo? Sepultura? Playing…in Brooklyn?? Playing …in THIS place??? I figured for sure Phil Anselmo was too big of a name for a place like L’Amour, I don’t give a fuck how many bands played there. Hell my first two gigs ever were at L’Amour and I vowed to never played there again because the faggot ass guineas running the place didn’t know how to talk to people. But I realized I had to go. It was Superjoint – it was fucking Phil Anselmo, who at that time still had it as a vocalist, and sadly it was as close to seeing Pantera as I’d ever get, partially because Phil wouldn’t shut the fuck up but that’s another story…kind of. May 20th, 2003. It was perfect, I wasn’t scheduled for work that day and all I had to do was hand a final paper to my English professor and I was a free man. While on campus I couldn’t help but go on a computer and check out Pantera’s website. It read “May 20th 2003: Phil says Pantera is over.” I click on it and there was a link to an audio clip were Phil explained his logic that he wanted to do another Down record, his label wanted another Pantera record and therefore his “obvious choice”, as he put it, was to stick with Superjoint Ritual. Don’t get me wrong, Use Once And Destroy was a fucking AMAZING CD, but that’s his ‘obvious choice”?? Why didn’t I realize he was far from sober the whole time? So I took car service all the way to 63rd St in Brooklyn, which I swear is like this magical hidden block that you can’t know about unless you know what to look for because I never knew of or saw the place until two years earlier. I got there real early anticipating a line but thee wasn’t. But I did see a Ryder moving truck with Sepultura’s gear in it and realized Igor Cavalera was hanging out in front of the building while the crew was unloading the band’s gear. These days I have no problem going up to musicians but this was the first time I ever saw someone like Igor in the flesh and I just fucking froze. I didn’t know what to say, do, nothing. It got worse when Andreas Kisser came out. I did try to talk to the road crew, offering to help them unload. They were cool but they nicely declined. Fuck! I was there for a few hours before I decided that maybe I should get on line. Problem? I didn’t have tickets; but that all changed when I ran into an old friend whose band, Dieverse, was one of the local bands opening up the show. So one of his fat goth chick friends sold me a ticket while (I think) subtly offering to blow me – not happening sweetheart! I was one of the first on line when Superjoint’s bus came around and the band walked out. Considering all things Phil looked pretty normal as he high fived me. I walked in there and was surprised to see that since I last played there in October 2001 they had built a brand new stage in the back, which meant there now were two stages. I thought this was pretty genius since L’Amour was notorious for overloading the bills with local bands up the ass. I would know – my old band suffered for it twice. So while seeing the first main band, this really shitty hardcore band called Full Blown Chaos – wow they sucked so bad! – I found myself talking to some older woman who was standing next to me. She was a real cool chick and I found myself asking her were she lived and when she said the village (Greenwich Village for those of you dopes unfamiliar with lower Manhattan) I for whatever reason said “I figured so”. She asked me nicely how I figured that and I couldn’t think of a good answer even though I totally didn’t mean it as an insult. I must’ve meant the fact that she came off as such a free spirit but didn’t know how to say it like such at the time, and being just days away from turning 19 what the fuck did I know anyway? “I’m getting another beer, I’ll be right back”, she said. Guess if she ever came back. Oops! Yeah, I was a dope. Lesson learned! So Sepultura came out next and they fucking SLAYED. Igor’s drum kit is something else but whatever. The man is one of the greatest metal drummers of all time, a pure machine. Andreas Kisser’s tone was heavy as fuck as they played stuff off classics like Roots and Chaos A.D. During “Roots Bloody Roots” the place came apart for a bit. There was no way they’d be able to steal Superjoint’s thunder – even with Paolo Pinto’s bass sounding like a 747 taking off. So Eddie Trunk came out to introduce Superjoint and I had just discovered him not too long before this night but he was every bit as fat as I imagined he would be just from listening to him as he showed off his vast, useless musical knowledge. The only thing he was missing as far as I was concerned as was a pair of nerdy Steve Urkel glasses and suspenders! The band came out and the place came apart for real this time. I wish I could find footage of the show but I can’t. There was this one guy with these nasty looking dreads standing in front of us who just had to keep his middle finger out in the air while yelling out “FUCK YOU ALL!!!” over and over again. The guy standing next to me was jokingly putting his lighter to the guy’s head – I wish he lit that asshole up! Some memorable parts of the show include a girl jumping on stage to grab Phil’s nuts and hand him a joint, in which Phil responded in kind: “Thanks for the joint – thanks for grabbin’ my balls!”, as security took the girl away. There was the part were some dude jumped of the stage head first and no one caught him. Yeah, cringe moment for me and the dudes I now was hanging with. Then Phil said the one thing some of us predicted he’d say. In a pure drama queen moment he put his left palm out to the crowd, closed his eyes and proclaimed “It feels…SO GOOD…to be only two inches in front of you. I’ve been on all the world’s biggest stages – I’VE BEEN ON ‘EM ALL! But this is where I belong…and this is where I’m stayin’.”, he said as he backed up toward Joe Fazzio’s drums for the next song. “Who called it?”, someone yelled out. Aside from that the band destroyed the place for real. Just one issue…how the fuck do I get car service to take me home?? I found a number for car service when I heard someone say “I know you from Psychology class”. Anna Lopez?? Thank Satan you’re here! And there was my ride home. The next concert I went to two months later was far bigger But this was Phil Anselmo, and this was also to be the second to last time I’d ever go to the original L’Amour; the place closed down eight months later. If any of you reading this were at the show at all drop me a line and tell me about your view of the show. Let me know if I forgot to mention anything.
In the spirit of my last posting regarding Crowbar’s upcoming gig at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn at the end of next month, I just can’t resist t adding this clip from Beavis and Butthead. “Heh heh. This is the kind of music you have on a workout tape if you get skinny and you wanna get fat. Heh heh.” Classic.
I celebrated my 31st birthday in Manhattan yesterday, with my girlfriend. It was a great time. Bought a Power Trip CD at Generations on Thompson St, got free ices courtesy of the New York Rangers, who had an ice truck outside Washington Square Park, got a Black Flag t shirt on St. Mark’s Place, which I might cut the sleeves off of. But as a birthday gift to myself I started my day by getting myself tickets to see Crowbar on Monday, June 29th at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn, Ny.
This is fittingly being called the Summer of Doom Tour, as they released their 10th album, Symmetry in Black, just last year. Also on the bill are Battlecross and Lord Dying. I’m hoping I can find a way to meet or at least take a picture with Kirk Windstein. If you love to lift weights Crowbar’s music is the perfect music to listen to. Really sludgy, heavy as FUCK, so unrelenting. Twenty six years later Kirk is still a beast. His lyrics over the last two albums have changed to reflect his positive outlook on life after becoming sober but the music is as inspired and as badass as anything he put out before.
Anybody remember when they first heard Crowbar? I do. “Huh huh – he’s always taking a dump! – huh huh.” Man, I miss Beavis and Butthead. I’m sure a good chunk of people out there would have never known about Kirk or Crowbar had it not been for his stint in Sludge supergroup Down, with whom he made three classic albums and an EP before leaving to focus entirely on Crowbar. I personally think that was the best move he could’ve ever made. If any of you reading this plan on going to the show you should drop me line/comment/whatever; maybe we could meet up. I’m also sure I’ll be doing a write up of the show for this blog. Until then, here’s probably my favorite Crowbar video – mostly thanks to Beavis and Butthead!
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Confessions of an Angry Metalhead 