Lost In A Forest

Agalloch
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
December 22, 2010


"I need to see a Metal show." It was with those words that I ended my last post in this space after being underwhelmed by a certain Hippie Classic Rock band. Thankfully I only had to wait 3 days for Metal to center me again.

Prior to the show I *had to* attend my work’s fancy Holiday dinner at the always excellent Slanted Door. After the celebration I sped over to the Great American and I knew it was going to be a perfect night when I scored a parking space just around the corner from the venue. After a quick stop at Will Call to get my ticket I walked inside a mere 15 minutes or so before Agalloch’s smoke machine started up onstage. My apologies to Dispirit and Allerseelen for missing their sets completely.

As I chatted with friends in the minutes before the headliner came onstage, I felt my body starting to fall into a food coma from my massive dinner. Oh man… I leaned back against the front of the soundboard for a bit while attempting to hold up my end of conversations… and I managed to fight off the coma de food. Note to self: A big dinner and a 750ml bottle of Bière de Miel (Umlaut’s favorite Belgian honey beer) is not the best thing before a big Rock Show in a crowded and hot room.

Agalloch's latest album is arguably the most lauded Metal album of the year, from being raved about on NPR (!) to being named Decibel magazine's Album of the Year as well as topping many other "Best of 2010" lists. All of this well-deserved attention paid off as the 600 capacity Great American was sold out. Pretty crazy because I think the last time Agalloch visited San Francisco was 4 years ago at the bar-sized Elbo Room.

Agalloch's brand of Metal is elegant in the same way that a hand-crafted edged weapon is elegant. I read a recent negative review of their new album that complained Agalloch "take too long to make their point". I'd like to mention that the source of that review has raved about Jarhead favorites Hatebreed in the past. Whatever… Agalloch are the Metal equivalent of being lost in the woods as darkness falls and you only have a stale Clif Bar and a half empty book of matches with you. What will you do… What will you do..

Darkness fell inside the Great American as smoke filled the stage accompanied by the new album's intro track 'They Escaped the Weight of Darkness'. As the symbolic water sounds of the intro track faded the band lit a torch with the opening song 'Into the Painted Grey' and Agalloch proceeded to lead the crowd down a path that was barely visible... but easy to follow if you let yourself sink into the volume.

(Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse)

Agalloch get inside my head with their profound hybrid of Metal aesthetics, Post Punk dynamics, and Prog / Folk elements. As the set unfolded I kept doing mental double takes over the sounds that the band’s virtuoso guitarists John Haughm and Don Anderson weaved... and their volume path as laid down by the solid 5-string bottom end of Jason Walton and the mighty Aesop Dekker on drums (He of Ludicra fame and who also spawned the mighty Crud Wizard!) was just as compelling. Agalloch do not bludgeon their audience but instead slowly drowns them… preferably in the cold waters of a mountain stream as a bull elk drinks indifferently nearby. Your lungs fill with cold, cold water as your eardrums implode.

An older favorite 'Limbs' segued into my favorite song of 2010: 'The Watcher's Monolith' (aka The best Death Metal song The Cure never wrote..). Stunningly great. My favorite bands are those who make me confront my inner darkness in order to appreciate them. It's not something "normal" people want to do, but without darkness there is no light... etc.. cliché.. etc.. If you’re willing to make an effort to weave Agalloch’s music into your head it’s like looking into a black tinted mirror that reflects back on yourself. Is that weird? Oh well… I think I saw some Hatebreed CDs over there in the bargain bin. Only darkness has the power.

(Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse)

It was a stunning set.... completely amazing... and some of the best 100 minutes I've spent appreciating a band onstage all year. It was one of those shows that was life-affirming... and I was extra careful crossing Polk Street afterwards because it would have been a total buzz kill to get hit by a car after this show.

If you bought one of every available Agalloch merch item you would have paid $100; evidently they only had size SMALL shirts left! DIY Metal needs a real merch company running things for them sometimes... Just saying. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. While I was at the show there was a drive-by shooting less than 1/2 mile from Casa de Umlaut: 3 dead, 4 wounded related to local Hispanic gangs. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Full Moon Metal
(Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse)

Click HERE for Photo Ray's shots from the night!

Contact High

The Black Crowes - "The Final Show"
The Fillmore, San Francisco
December 19, 2010


It still bums me out a little how The Black Crowes evolved over the years from a great American version of the Rolling Stones (when they were cocky and fucked up), Humble Pie and The Faces (Yes, Umlaut's Classic Rock Roots are showing..) into a Hippie Jam Band headliner. I'm not afraid to say that I think the first 3 Crowes albums are good... but then they took off the Keef Richards t-shirt and started wearing one with Jerry Garcia on it. I can't argue that it wasn't a good career move since there are alot of people who still wear patchouli here in the 21st Century. Anyway, I was surprised when the Umlaut Archives told me this would be the 5th time I've seen the Black Crowes... 'cause I don't really remember any of the other shows after 1991.

The First Tour
(From the Umlaut Archives)

This was the last night of a 6-night Fillmore run, the last show of the band's 2010 tour, AND evidently it was also their "FINAL SHOW" before going on an "indefinite hiatus". The band has gone on "hiatus" before (in 2002-05), so I'd take the "FINAL SHOW" thing with a grain of salt. However, I figured I should see the Black Crowes one more time and at least it would be one of those special, only-in-San Francisco Fillmore shows. Plus, as I've said in this space recently, I'm bored with most Metal bands right now so a change of scenery might do me some good.

It was pleasant seeing the inside of The Fillmore decked out in Christmas decorations, but it was overshadowed by the amount of pot smoke clouding the space. The houselights went down at around 8:15pm and the 9 (NINE) members of the Black Crowes live unit walked onstage and toked straight into a semi-acoustic version of 'Remedy' and for the next hour the band played a bong worthy semi-acoustic songs.

As my head started to get hazy from the contact high from all weed in the air, I couldn't help but compare the Black Crowes' Hippie crowd with Sleep's Stoner Rock crowd (click HERE for my 48 hours of Sleep back in September). A Stoner Rock crowd is drawn to the volume darkness and the thundering bottom end while inhaling. A Hippie crowd is drawn into the belief that "the jams" and rainbows will make everything alright while inhaling. In reality, both Hippies and Stoner Rock fans are coming from the same WEED place, but Hippies believe in *the light* and Stoner Rock follows *the dark*. To quote the mighty Saint Vitus: "I bleed black".

After a short break the 9 (NINE) members of the Crowes' live unit returned to the stage for an hour or so long electric set. I enjoyed the 'My Morning Song' / 'Stare It Cold' medley... but then a 10+ minute drum / percussion solo harshed my Inner Metalhead. I spent alot of the set watching the crowd and wondering why I couldn't be as in love with this band and this performance as they all were, especially since I genuinely still like this band's first 2 or 3 albums. Of course, the obvious reason was I wasn't stoned... The guy standing next to me sang along to every song and looked up at the ceiling with his eyes closed and arms held aloft like he was at a Southern Baptist revival meeting... I felt like putting my hand on his forehead and pushing him into a river... but he was taller than me.

Over the course of this Fillmore residency the Crowes had a "tradition" of ending the night as a cover band for whatever reasons. Two nights earlier they closed with cover versions of songs by The Band... and the night before they had closed with a set of Neil Young covers. On this final night of their tour, the final night of their San Francisco stay, and possibly the final night of their career the band from Georgia ended things with 5 consecutive Rolling Stones covers: 'Midnight Rambler' > 'Torn And Frayed' > 'I Just Want To See His Face' > ' Can't You Hear Me Knocking' > 'The Last Time'.

With my recent experience amid Classic Rock Zombies at Jason Bonham' Led Zeppelin Experience still fresh in my mind, I thought ending this way was a total cop out by the Crowes. Now, I don't want to harsh everyone's buzz (especially my friends who are Crowes fans...) but I still can't understand how eager and willing the crowd was to eat up a half hour of cover songs instead of hearing their favorite band play their own songs. However this seems to be accepted behavior with Hippie bands dating back to the Grateful Dead (some of their most beloved songs were covers) to Phish (who became legendary with their fans for playing cover versions of entire albums on Halloween). If a big time headlining Stoner Rock band came out and played a set of Black Sabbath cover songs people would leave and never come back... Just saying. Anyway, given "THE FINAL SHOW" hype of the evening the ending was downright anti-climatic.

Bye Bye Hippies

Anyway, after the show my head was hazy from the at least a half dozen varieties of herb that I had inhaled second hand. For those keeping score, according to the Umlaut Archives this was my 75th gig this year... and I hate to harsh everyone's mellow with my bad trip on the Crowes... but at least I was in good company and saw some members of the Umlaut Nation. A shout out to The Sheriff, Sin, The Talent, and Whitney.

If you bought one of every Black Crowes merch item you would have paid around $350. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. The next day my head was still leaden from my Crowes contact high... Yeah, I'm a lightweight. I need to see a Metal show.

Wardance

Killing Joke
The Regency, San Francisco
December 17, 2010


As rain poured down on San Francisco I met up with some bros for pre-gig German food at Schmidt's in The Mission. Good friends, good food, good beer. Then we few, we happy few, made our way to the venue. Umlaut's Parking Karma was not in effect tonight and I had to drive around an unusually long time looking for a space... which annoyed the shit out of me... but at least I eventually scored a space just around the corner from The Regency so I could leave my dork raincoat in the car.

The Regency was practically empty when we arrived... which had me a bit concerned. However, the 700 pre-sale punters started arriving in numbers and the room filled up very nicely by the time the houselights went down. At around 10:00pm Killing Joke's Blade Runner intro tape started and the Brit legends walked onstage and locked into that old nugget 'Tomorrow's World' that danced straight into their Gothy hit 'Love Like Blood' and it immediately felt like the 80's inside The Regency... in a good way.

It was impossible for me not to quickly get caught up in the compelling combination of Jaz's vocals with Geordie's staccato guitar; the feeling of deja-vu that the combination caused in my head was unexpected and welcome. Of course, the understated power of Killing Joke's return here in 2010 is that the band's original lineup recorded a new album for the first time since 1981. Although Youth was not on bass tonight (I thought he was touring with the band... Does anybody know what happened??), the mighty return of drummer Paul Ferguson after 24 years (!) away from the band made a profound difference in their sound. Things sounded *right* and the ease in which the band laid down their volume carpet was sublime. All of this combined with Jaz's hypnotic stage presence and the band's still-relevant political overtones only sharpened the sense that I was witnessing a band screaming at society from out of time and space.

A Wardance in San Francisco
(Photo courtesy of Photo Ray)

Old war cries like 'Wardance' and 'Requiem' caught me off guard with how good they still sounded live... but it was the new songs from the excellent new album Absolute Dissent that made the performance great. 'This World Hell' was as soul-shaking as any live song I've heard this year. Given my recent boredom with many Metal bands, it was the perfect reality check to witness a veteran Post Punk band deliver a seemingly effortless performance featuring solid SONGS, both old and new.

Man, I was TIRED from a mentally draining week at work and I almost fell asleep while standing (!)... So I wisely moved upstairs to the balcony, snapped back to attention, and watched the last half of the set from above. Dude, when the intro to 'The Wait' started I felt like doing a dive off the balcony.... but I didn't... "Motives changing... Day to day..."

'The Wait' starts in San Francisco

When the band returned to the stage and uncorked 'Eighties' as the first encore my sense of time travel was complete. The irony that Cliff Burton (who was a huge fan of the first Killing Joke album) and Kurt Cobain (who plagiarized the riff from 'Eighties' for 'Come As You Are') are both long gone but Killing Joke were raging onstage was not lost on me. Seeing Killing Joke tonight easily equaled the Amebix and Shellac shows I saw last year; two other shows where old favorite bands from out of time and space exceeded my expectations.

Amebix back patches = 1. If you bought one of every Killing Joke merch item you would have paid $70. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. When I got home I noticed that ants had discovered and swarmed all over the remains of a Holiday chocolate cake that had been left on the kitchen counter. Let's kamikaze 'til we get there... come as you are.




Click HERE to see Photo Ray's shots from the night!

The Wall

Roger Waters: The Wall Live
HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
December 7, 2010

Because of my FM Radio Classic Rock upbringing it was hard to ignore the hype around this tour… but the steep ticket prices made me say "Oh well..." and I had a flashback to the hyped up, expensive, but underwhelming Rolling Stones show I saw back in 2005. However, The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways and an hour before show time we were at Will Call picking up comp tickets. Thanks to The Talent for hooking me up!

Tonight's show was the 2nd of 3 Bay Area shows (1 in Oakland and 2 in San Jose) and it was also the 61st Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was also the day before the anniversaries of the murders of both John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell (It's trippy that both of them were shot on the same date, right?). Before the houselights went down a couple of Lennon songs were played over the PA… but they didn’t play any Pantera. I guess Roger Waters is as sick of hearing 'Walk' as I am.

I’ve never been a Pink Floyd aficionado so I was gobsmacked to learn that one-time Thin Lizzy guitarist Snowy White would be onstage and has been a long time member of Roger Waters’ band. He also performed with Pink Floyd in the 70’s and on some of the original Wall concerts in 1980. How did I not know this before??! My Inner Music Geek is a poser.

I went into the show with preconceived ideas about what it was going to be like. I was expecting the show to be somewhat cheesy and overblown. I was expecting myself to have a detached experience because how "intimate" could such a massive arena show be? I've been going to concerts for well over half my life at this point and I've seen it all, man... or so I thought.

To my surprise, seeing The Wall live was the complete opposite of my expectations in almost every way. Eventhough we were up in the nosebleed seats, it was like watching an amazing theater production AND a mind blowing concert experience. There was more pyro and drama during the opening sequence of 'In The Flesh?' > 'The Thin Ice' than I've seen during entire concerts, including a plane "flying" across the arena to crash into the stage at one point!

Holy Shit!
(Photo courtesy of Photo Ray)

I thought the performance would be a straight clinical run through of the album. However, a couple of times Waters paused to address the crowd in such a personable and humble way that it gave the massive show moments of intimacy and personality. His intro before 'Mother' about the course The Wall has taken over the past 30 years was really cool and the performance of the song (with vintage footage of himself from 1980 performing the song projected across the entire stage) was a haunting audio / visual time machine.

The fact that the album's story about self-imposed isolation from society still resonates so profoundly 30 years after its release speaks volumes; the more things change the more they stay the same. It was also profound for me that a performance of this ALBUM has been drawing such big ticket sales and it seemed like everyone around me was completely mesmerized and caught up in the performance. Despite being up in the nosebleed section, there was barely any of the idle chatter and short attention span crowd behavior that usually accompanies a massive arena show like this. It was inspiring to see so many people getting caught up in the performance of an ALBUM that obviously meant a lot to most of them, especially when we live in a time in Music History when singles rule and albums are a dead art form. Either that or they were all tripping on some good acid or stoned on some prime weed.


It's very hard for me to write about this show because it was so visual and was an astonishing mix of modern digital technology and video combined with old school theater production. Dude, they actually BUILT The Wall onstage brick by brick! Once The Wall was completed (at the conclusion of the song 'Goodbye Cruel World') it acted as a massive video screen for the rest of the show.

'Another Brick In The Wall' in San Jose

(Photo courtesy of Photo Ray)

I marveled at how any band could possibly pull a show off of this magnitude. Usually my Inner Music Geek notices details of a production as they happen, but the production of this show was so seamless it appeared to be magic at times. Props appeared out of nowhere. Waters and the band emerged to perform on the audience side of The Wall seemingly from out of nowhere. Guitarist Dave Kilminster appeared on top of the wall to solo during 'Comfortably Numb'. The choreography and precision of the production was staggering... and the performance of the iconic songs was flawless.

"Teacher! Leave them kids alone!"
(Photo courtesy of Photo Ray)

Dude, I guess Pink Floyd really were an amazing band. For the newbies: I don't have the time or brain cells to explain what The Wall "means" or "symbolizes" or "represents"... All I can say is that seeing the album performed live was like having one of your most disturbing and haunting dreams brought to life. It... was... mind blowing.

'Outside The Wall'...

Another thing that blew me away during the night was how brazen, ballsy, and aggressive the bootleg t-shirt vendors were selling their $20 tees (which compared to the $40-$45 official tees). The pirate vendors were swarming everywhere: in the restaurants / bars near the venue, on the sidewalk in front of the venue, and even INSIDE the venue! BALLS!

I tried to do a merch audit but gave up, but I think if you bought one of every The Wall Live t-shirt alone you would have paid around $480. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. I've listened to The Wall album all the way through twice since witnessing this show and I still don't have my head around the concert and what I saw... Mind blowing.


Click HERE to see Photo Ray's shots from the night!

Bar-B-Que

In my last couple of posts I said that I was burned out and jaded about most Metal bands... So, of course the logical thing to do was get on a plane to Texas to go see Metal bands... right?

Skeletonwitch / Withered / Trap Them / Landmine Marathon
Red 7, Austin, Texas
December 4, 2010

So it was get up at 4:00am… Drive to Oakland Airport for a 7:05am flight to Vegas to meet a 9:30am connecting flight to Austin. Land in Austin at around 2:30pm… METAL. Tonight’s show was the final night of the 15-city U.S. / Canadian “Skullsplitter Tour” and was also basically a Prosthetic Records showcase with 4 label mates sharing the bill on this Saturday night.

Landmine Marathon (Arizona): It's always interesting to follow a band closely and witness the moment when something finally clicks for them; a time in their career when a missing piece of their puzzle falls into place. No offense to their previous drummer at all (Hey Mike…) but Landmine's new drummer Andy is their missing piece. SOLID Metal drumming that focuses their chaotic Hardcore tendencies. The set was a tight blast furnace that lit up with 'Bile Towers' and scorched to a close with 'Rise With The Tide'. One of my favorite bands has stepped up their game and all I can say is "FUCK YEAH..." See? Good things DO happen to people who believe in blasphemy.

Trap Them (Washington State): Trap Them were a last minute addition to the show and they rolled onto the stage with their druggie Hardcore vibe that's as jarring as it can be entertaining. I'll be honest and say Trap Them are a band who tends to make me head to the bar for another round but, unless there's something else going on out front, I'll hang at the bar to watch them. Tonight I was going back and forth.

Withered (Georgia): Thankfully Withered left their smoke machines at home this time and let their sonic darkness do the talking. They were amazing... and the volume wall they built in this chilly Austin night was more profound in its simplicity than anything Roger Waters performing The Wall could do for me. Withered's new album Dualities is a magnificent beast that I've been having hand-to-hand combat with for the past couple of weeks. Seeing the new material presented live made it even better; bands like Withered who make me go straight into the darkness are my favorite ones... and I don't want a flashlight.

Skeletonwitch (Ohio): This was the best set that I've seen by the band and I’m still of the opinion that the opening riff to ‘Beyond The Permafrost’ is perfect. I don’t know if it was because it was the last night of the tour, but having a Metalhead transvestite in the front row must have been special for the band... 'cause who doesn't like Metal Trannies!? Whatever the case, it was a great set that reminded me how a Metal Scene really can be the same from city to city (in a good way). The crowd was into the Metal… The band was into the crowd… What else is there except the band selling more merch as a result in order to eat decently the next day? “Breathing The Fire” indeed…

Anyway, by definition I did travel to Austin to see some Metal bands… but it ended up being a little more than that for my head. Besides seeing the bands I also spent the afternoon and the night and the next morning hanging with old friends, band friends, and new friends… and it was cathartic for me. As I said in the beginning of this rant, I’ve been feeling burned out about most Metal bands recently. However, hanging out in Austin… eating BBQ… record shopping... and shooting the shit and trading war stories pre-show with friends in Casino over beers was good for the soul… and also provided the most symbolic moments of my Austin trip: The two times I brought up Metallica in a conversation a Metallica song started playing on the bar's jukebox; I shit you now. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways. I think the lesson that I learned during my 24 hours in Texas was that you can’t escape your past… and sometimes that’s a good thing… and you should embrace it… and I will. A shout out to Umlaut Nation friends Landmine Marathon and to my Texas comrades Hard Rock Chick and Crawlspace Booking for the good times.

If you bought one of every Landmine Marathon merch item you would have paid around $120 (I think). On the way back to San Francisco, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag... which makes sense I guess. I went to Texas with 3 black t-shirts in my bag and I came back to San Francisco with 6 black t-shirts in my bag. How did that happen?