Back in the 20th Century, ümlaut was a xeroxed fanzine that existed from 1992-95. Despite limited distribution, loyal readers ranged from coast to coast and included Rock Stars of various credibility, including Neurosis, Sonic Youth, Melvins, and Metallica. This 21st Century version of ümlaut has been ranting since 2004 and is also the co-author of the book Murder In The Front Row.
Showing posts with label Dillinger Escape Plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dillinger Escape Plan. Show all posts
This was one of the most solid bills of the year and basically all killer, no filler for Umlaut. At this point in my life, I'm an old jaded fart and I don't pay attention if others think a band is "Hipster Metal" or whatever; if I like a band I could give two shits about what you think about them... and if being labeled "Hipster Metal" means a band of Mastodon's caliber can go from playing clubs to headlining a theater and make a living being musicians, than what's the problem? Anyway, most of my shows this month have revolved around work, which is fine because it's always good when a show is this easy:
I like Red Fang a lot and they seemed to win over the large venue with their Oregonian brand of bearded Rock. Their 30 minutes of boogie sludge flew by, which was a bummer… but not as big of a bummer as when I found out Red Fang had to sell their shirts for $30 tonight. It’s not the band’s fault for the pricing, but it was a reality check about the downside of playing a major venue. I'm looking forward to when Red Fang comes back through town and can sell their tees for $15.
To be honest, I'm not as enamored with Dillinger Escape Plan since I realized they basically copped their sound from Rorschach. However, they're still one of the best live bands going. Dillinger attack a stage like a serial killer with a hunting knife and it's hypnotic to watch the members fly around the stage, up onto the backline, up onto PA stacks, leaping into the air, leaping into the crowd. I always wonder how Dillinger keeps their stage intensity up over an entire tour; they probably do yoga or something. The crowd's 45 minute stint in the Dillinger kill zone was rewarded with the special appearance of Mike Patton on guest vocals; an "only in San Francisco" moment, right? Dillinger are still one of my don't miss live bands; it still feels like anything can happen during their set... and that "anything" usually ends up with people getting bruised.
Outside of the venue I was surprised to see as many as 6 bootleg vendors selling Mastodon tees. Odd. It’s not like Mastodon are AC/DC and the show was not sold out. I should bring this up with the band’s merch company….. Anyway, Mastodon sounded unbelievably great tonight and kudos to their soundman. There's a lot going on when Mastodon are in full roar and the mix was crystal clear and booming out front. Oddly, Mastodon posted the setlist they're playing on this tour on their website. After watching the start of their set from near the soundboard, I found myself at stage left for a couple of songs... and you know you're at a show in San Francisco when Jello Biafra and Matt Pike are standing next to you.
Stage left Mastodon
However, watching a band from onstage is overrated, so for the last part of their 90 minute set I went back out front. As you can see from the posted setlist 'Blood & Thunder' was the final song of the set as it has been for awhile. It was a solid, solid set and it was good to witness Mastodon finally headlining a big stage because I've been following them for a long time... despite what the haters think.
The show was also a Who's Who of Bay Area Rock with 1/2 of Black Cobra, 1/4 of the Dead Kennedys, 1/5 of Faith No More, 2/3 of High On Fire, 1/3 of Papa Wheelie, and 1/4 of Metallica in the house. However, my biggest Music Geek moment happened as I was walking past a table backstage and recognized a member of the band Gallows… I stopped and said “GALLOWS!” and the guy, Laurent (guitar), looked surprised to be recognized. Long story short, Gallows had the day off in S.F. and were playing the next night; I chatted with Laurent for a good while about his band. Unfortunately, Gallows recently got a new singer which was a buzz kill for me... so I felt kind of bad not seeing their S.F. show the next night... but I just wasn't feeling seeing the band with a new front man. Honesty is my only excuse.. bummer.
Oh, cheers to the guy who walked past me at the downstairs bar and shouted "UMLAUT!!" and shook my hand. I think I know what SLAAAYER feels like now. Thanks, dude!
Anyway, I didn't do a merch audit tonight... although Mastodon had the best merch IMO. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Pop culture trivia learned during backstage hang tonight: That band guy is dating that porn star.
Warped Tour 2010 Shoreline Amphitheater, Mt. View, CA June 26, 2010
Summer's here and the time is right for Warped Tour in the streets... Unfortunately, the 2010 edition only has one Bay Area stop because Pier 30/32 in S.F. is out of commission... which, for better or worse, meant the only option was Shoreline for 8+ hours featuring 87 bands (!) on 8 stages. Quantity over quality is what Warped really is, but it is an event tailored for kidz and not old farts like Umlaut. Ironically, exactly a year ago to the day Umlaut was at Pier 30/32 for Warped 2009. Time rolls on, man... and while I've been to a lot of Warped Tours in the past this was the first time I attended solo... which was a little weird since I can't remember the last time I attended a big show all by my lonesome.
Warped has now been around for so long it's become a multi-generational institution that's continued to thrive where other festivals (like OzzFest) have either imploded or become shadows of their former selves. Despite the gridlock crowd it's always heartwarming to see parents wearing Dead Kennedys shirts escorting their young kids at these shows. Passing the torch... and the brand loyalty the Warped crowd shows to Vans is mindboggling. All you have to do is look at the shoes the crowd is wearing and it's safe to say 95% (or maybe more) of the audience are wearing Vans. As I walked towards Will Call with the masses I noticed a guy dressed in black with spiky bleached blonde hair had fallen into step next to me. I noticed the G.B.H. laminate on his belt and realized it was G.B.H. vocalist Colin Abrahall... DOH! However, before I could say something to him someone else recognized him and started a conversation. Oh well... Colin probably wouldn't have cared to know that I saw G.B.H. in 1985 anyway.
Once inside I watched some of Berkeley's own The Uptones on a side stage and then I was fascinated watching the English band Bring Me The Horizon play to a massive crowd on the Main Stage. BMTH had the thousands of kidz in the palm of their hand and got some serious crowd action going. I can't say I liked their Mall Metal, but their performance was impressive. Once they were done I made my way backstage to wait for Dillinger Escape Plan, who were the only band besides G.B.H. that I *needed* to see out of the 87 (!) bands. Eventually I found myself standing next to DEP as they were preparing to walk onstage.
However, just before they made their entrance I darted to the other side of the stage and grabbed a prime vantage spot that was out of the way of the band and their crew. Perfect.
DEP are a band whose onstage personality is so completely out of control I can't imagine what a band rehearsal is like because chaos is such an integral part of them. The members of DEP like to climb on things... they climb on top of amps... speaker cabinets... stage scaffolding... anything that isn't stage level. It's as if one of the band's missions is to defy gravity as they assault an audience with their volume.
I'll use lazy music "journalism" and say that DEP are like a retarded offspring of Faith No More / any Mike Patton solo project and Fugazi... at least those are the bands that pop into my head when I listen to them more often than not. However, the only other bands I can call equals to DEP onstage would be Jesus Lizard, A Place To Bury Strangers, and the mighty Gallows... These are bands who do not play it safe and who embrace spontaneity and unpredictability and perform like they're physically invincible.
Vid by Umlaut
During the first to the last song Ben flipped his guitar around his body for probably the 12th time of the set... but this time the tuning peg of the 6th string (I'm not a guitarist... so whatever string that is..) caught on something and it broke clean off! However, instead of switching guitars like any other guitarist in the heat of combat, he continued playing it as a 5-string for the remainder of that song and for the final song of the set. I hope DEP's guitar tech (actually all of their crew guys) get combat pay.
Dead tuning peg...
During the last song of the set, Jeff the rhythm guitarist jumped down into the photo pit and climbed over the barrier to run the pit while playing. Yes, the Gallows did that at Warped last year... but it's always fun to see a guitarist take full advantage of his wireless system. Once Jeff was back onstage, for a finale DEP did their best impression of The Who circa 1967 by tearing down their backline and drum kit... starting with Ben lying on his back on the stage and dragging one of his Marshall cabinets to the front of the stage. As I said earlier, I hope DEP's crew guys get combat pay.
Vid by Umlaut
I think it should also be noted that I'm pretty sure none of DEP were wearing Vans shoes.
After DEP finished I stayed in a corner at stage right so I wouldn't get in the way of the stagehands switching over the gear for Andrew WK's set to follow. Sorry, I'm not a fan... I finally made a move to get off the stage and almost got ran over by a couple of roadies pushing a rack of guitars... but I managed to dodge out of the way and, after walking the merch tent village, I deposited myself in the bar with a cold beer. I spaced out while checking e-mails and text messages and forgot Suicide Silence were playing on one of the other stages. Oooops... Wow, I was tired since I only got a few hours of sleep and being at Warped all by lonesome wasn't as much fun as I thought it might be... and G.B.H. weren't due to play for another 4 hours and I didn't have it in me to kill that much time at Shoreline. So I listened to my heart and returned to Casa de Umlaut, much to the approval of the cats 'n dogs.
Yes, I basically went to Warped 2010 to see Dillinger Escape Plan which was all I needed out of the afternoon. Quality over quantity. Thanks as always to my brutha Kurt SuperSix8 for sorting me with an All Access. He's a host in the truest sense of the term.
Number of Iron Maiden shirts = 4. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. Quality over quantity and I got home without sunburn. WIN.
Greg of DEP not wearing Vans... Umlaut.. (Pic courtesy of Alan Ralph)
I had some work-related meetings to take care of in the morning, so Landmine went on ahead to the day's venue: A Pizza Parlor on 6th Street called Hoek's Death Metal Pizza! Throw The Horns and The Claw... I'll wait. Once I was done with my work duties, I had to wander around a bit looking for the place (Thank dog for Google Maps on iPhone). I finally found it and hung out on the sidewalk with various members of Landmine, Book Of Black Earth, and The Funeral Pyre and also some record label friends as well. I liked how the set times were posted on a paper plate at the door.
Hoek's is the type of place that doesn't exist in San Francisco: A pizza parlor that plays nothing but Death Metal on its stereo with a small patio out back with a bar and a small stage for bands to play... and a wide alley behind for easy load-in / load-out. It's the type of venue that makes me question just how "cool" my hometown really is... Just being honest.
Anyway, with the afternoon sun high overhead, it was an interesting contrast seeing Book Of Black Earth in bright sunlight after the previous night's pitch black performance. I'm happy to report that the band managed to block the rays of the sun with their wall of sonic darkness and volume... Although if the new bassist had been wearing a BLACK shirt the effect would have been more complete.... Just being honest. Pastel = NOT Metal... at least in Umlaut's Metal style guide... I wear black on the outside 'cause black is how I feel on the inside.. Just saying.
Book Of Black Earth in the daytime. (Pic by Umlaut)
Literally minutes before Landmine were due to start playing I was checking messages when someone came up to me and said "I MADE IT!"... It was Umlaut's music journalist friend Hard Rock Chick! It's always cool to see a familiar face from home when you're on The Road, right? Combined with the PBR I had in my hand and my final day at SxSW was starting off alright.
Once again, Landmine were in their element playing a venue that allowed their Hardcore side to drive their Metal side. Under a blazing sun, '25th Hour' got the afternoon pizza crowd going as PBR talls were served up at the patio bar. It was interesting how each of the band's Austin shows had a different vibe: Emo's was a classic Punk riot, Mohawk was a DIY basement party... and Hoek's was like a kegger in someone's backyard.
It's funny when a gap opens up between Landmine and the audience as the boyz in the crowd get intimidated by Grace. Her Velociraptor presence was magnified in the small, confined space of Hoek's patio... and maybe the fact that she "accidently" kicked a dude in the nads early in the set gave the boyz reason for concern. Pussies... Anyway, besides the Velociraptor on the mic, I liked how the band's musical fury had more of the Hardcore vibe than at the other Landmine shows I've seen so far. Their set felt like a fucking prison yard fight... the kind of prison brawl where the guards simply look at each other, shrug their shoulders, and just let the inmates shiv and beat the living shit out of each other.
'Skin From Skull' at Hoek's (Vid by VicthortheViking)
The band winged the setlist this time, which only added to the Hardcore feeling of the performance and the beat down was pretty complete. If Hoek's had been a prison yard, Landmine would have walked away with the bloody respect of the guards and inmates alike and taken anyone they wanted as their bitch in the showers.
I said this after the first time I saw Landmine in San Francisco 7 months ago: They are the real fucking deal. That's not something I say very often about a band (even ones I like); it's just a gut feeling I have about Landmine. I've never seen a band play so many different venues (from the stage at a major concert venue to a backyard patio..) under different circumstances (high pressure major show to a backyard patio..) in such a short time (4 shows in 6 days). I was seriously gobsmacked how the band approached each of the gig's circumstances and molded their performance accordingly; I'm sure it wasn't a conscious thing on their part. They collectively just grabbed each moment by the throat and went at it Landmine Marathon-style. Drink up, shoot in, let the beatings begin.
By the way, the band's performance at Scion Fest caught the attention of no less than the fucking NEW YORK TIMES, who featured a photo of the band onstage with their coverage of the festival in their March 15th print edition. Click HERE to read the NYT review online, which has some nice ink on the band's set as well.
(Pic courtesy of Landmine Marathon)
After hanging out for a bit, I knew it was time for Umlaut to move on and I said my goodbyes to Landmine as they prepared to continue their tour in Dallas that night. THANKS to Team Landmine (Matt, Ryan, Grace, Mike, Dylan, and Valerie) for putting up with me in 2 time zones in less than a week... and I'll never listen to *that* Kings Of Leon song in the same way again.
My parting with Landmine Marathon was perfect timing since it dovetailed into another Metal showcase back at Emo's. This one was to feature a "surprise" appearance by The Dillinger Escape Plan. However, before DEP I found myself at Emo's outside stage watching Orphaned Land. I have to be honest and say Orphaned Land aren't my thing... I can appreciate what they're doing with their music... combining cultures and trying to bridge the rifts in their homeland... but I like my Metal Satanic. Just being honest.
I had never seen DEP live before but had heard how insane they are onstage. Although Umlaut knew about this performance several weeks ago, DEP's appearance at Emo's was a secret to the public until they issued an announcement via their Twitter a mere 30 minutes prior to the 5:15pm start time. Luckily we were inside Emo's well in advance; THANKS to Metal Joh for walking us in the back door! However, we made a serious miscalculation thinking DEP were playing the outdoor stage, when in reality they were playing the stage inside. DOH!
Long story short, there seemed to be an insurmountable line to get in the room's back door... but amazingly people were leaving the room and security let new people in as the sweat drenched lightweights left... and it wasn't long before we found ourselves amongst the lucky 300 or so inside the sweaty box. I'm not sure what band played the room just prior to DEP, but I wonder if those kidz leaving even knew what was coming next. Oh well! The sweaty energy in the room was thick enough to cut with a Bowie knife, but cold Lone Star talls cured that.
We got inside in time to watch DEP finish setting up their gear and then walk back to Emo's "dressing room". Oh, the drama..... After leaving the stage for a few minutes the band returned to the stage and as soon as the first note of the first song was hit... ALL FUCKING HELL broke loose!! HOLY SHIT!
During the FIRST song, guitarist Ben Weinman jumped into the crowd and rode it not once but TWICE... and during the entire set various members of the band dove straight into the mass of fans jammed against the stage. Pretty unreal... At one point during a song I glanced back at the bar and rhythm guitarist Jeff Tuttle was standing on top of the bar facing back to the stage. I literally said "What the fuck!?" out loud because Emo's was pretty packed and how he got through the sea of humanity is beyond me. Unreal. I'm not familiar with any of DEP's material so my reaction was purely to their performance... Non-stop mayhem. During the final song Weinman climbed up onto the stage right PA speaker... Kneeled on top of it for a bit... and then leaped off it to land on the stage. Unreal.
(Pic by Umlaut)
Holy shit DEP are an INSANELY GREAT live band; I can't fathom how they generate that kind of mayhem consistently at every show. They're like Jesus Lizard or Gallows onstage, with that same brand of danger and spontaneity in their performances. If you bought one of every Dillinger Escape Plan merch item you would have paid $50 out on the sidewalk... which is where their merch was set up.
After DEP's set my SxSW experience was over. I headed back to my hotel to chill and cancelled plans to stay out late again and opted for room service instead. I know... BORING... but Ohio the previous weekend and SxSW had finally caught up with me. However, the next day The Rock Godz arranged for a final magical conclusion to Umlaut's week.
As I was about to head for the airport, I received a text from my brutha Jason of Black Cobra telling me how he and bandmate Rafa had just ran into Landmine Marathon at a vegan restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas (about 200 miles from Austin)! Landmine were on their way to San Antonio and Black Cobra were headed to Austin for their SxSW appearance on Saturday. What are the ODDS of that happening?! I trip on coincidences like that, man... Unbelievable, right? The Rock Godz work in mysterious way... On the flipside: Austin Buzzkill = A teenage prayer circle in the middle of the airport terminal as I checked-in.
While boarding my connecting flight home in Houston, I realized I really needed to take a mental shower because my brain was jammed up and bruised from all of the METAL hand-to-hand combat I had experienced over the previous 6 days. So, at 40,000 feet I put THE SMITHS on my iPod and ignored the inflight movie. As the plane landed back in San Franfuckincisco I had decided Umlaut's theme song for my SxSW experience would be:
Yeah, NOT METAL... but it summed up my feelings about my experience ending.. and a text exchange with Landmine Marathon after I landed applauded my choice. So fuck you if you don't like it.
"To die by your side, the pleasure, the privilege, is mine..."
So ended my debut SxSW experience. On the way back to San Francisco, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag... which makes sense I guess. Yeah, my SxSW experience was limited. Yeah, I didn't embrace the whole SxSW *thing*... but I was there on a work-related agenda of meetings so that was my focus... and I generally hate people... so being around thousands and thousands of people generally puts me into a less than perfect mood. I honestly don't know if I'll attend SxSW again... while the shows I saw were awesome, everything else about the event (the crowds... the congestion... the crowds... the crowds...) aren't my thing. My Scion Fest experience had been inspiring and, while I liked Austin, SxSW was like that drunk girl you see from afar who you think would be cool to hang out with... but after awhile you realize she's not your type... and her record collection has too much crap in it that you don't like.
This was one of the most solid bills of the year and basically all killer, no filler for Umlaut. At this point in my life, I'm an old jaded fart and I don't pay attention if others think a band is "Hipster Metal" or whatever; if I like a band I could give two shits about what you think about them... and if being labeled "Hipster Metal" means a band of Mastodon's caliber can go from playing clubs to headlining a theater and make a living being musicians, than what's the problem? Anyway, most of my shows this month have revolved around work, which is fine because it's always good when a show is this easy:
I like Red Fang a lot and they seemed to win over the large venue with their Oregonian brand of bearded Rock. Their 30 minutes of boogie sludge flew by, which was a bummer… but not as big of a bummer as when I found out Red Fang had to sell their shirts for $30 tonight. It’s not the band’s fault for the pricing, but it was a reality check about the downside of playing a major venue. I'm looking forward to when Red Fang comes back through town and can sell their tees for $15.
Stage left Mastodon
