Thrashy

Lamb Of God / Killswitch Engage / Testament / Huntress
The Fox Theater, Oakland, California
November 9, 2013

YES I'm behind with this blog thing and NO I haven't really been motivated to write recently for some reason.  Anyway, this show was over a week ago and it was pretty chilly that night and I should have worn a heavier jacket.  Before the show Photo Ray and I fueled up at Rudy's Can't Fail before diving into the potential drama that can be the guest list at Will Call.  Long story short, if only all shows were this easy:

Before entering The Fox I had a long overdue drink and catch up session with my Murder In The Front Row co-author / brother Harald O. at a nearby bar that I'd been to before but had completely forgotten about.  Then I found myself inside The Fox watching the last songs of the Huntress set.  Oddly, I had not seen Huntress before... although I had seen the singer in a Metal cover band called Chelsea Girls several years ago in Vegas.  Huntress were not awful and I appreciate how their music is based on Classic Metal, but I will offer the opinion that a song like 'I Want To Fuck You To Death' sung by a witchy woman in a leotard and cape might cause people to pigeonhole the band into a certain stereotype.  Just saying..

During the changeover there was a nice mellow social scene in the VIP area with a few friends as well as 1/2 of Machine Head.  I was kind of surprised there weren't more familiar faces in attendance, especially since it was a Saturday night. However, given that we were in downtown Oakland the local vibe was in full effect.. something that Mr. Robb Flynn commented on as well. 

Anyway, local heroes and legends Testament were up next and it pains me to see them playing so far down on bills like this.  Eight songs and 40 minutes for the longest running and most influential band playing tonight?!  Also, I can't remember the last time Testament actually played inside Oakland city limits.  Of course, they destroyed their hometown with the newer song 'Native Blood' being my fave of the set.  However, given the brief time onstage, it was a classics heavy setlist with 4 songs from The New Order album alone and 'Over The Wall' closing things out.  Then it was "Thankyougoodnight!" and Testament disappeared into their hometown night to be with family and friends before leaving for the next city in the morning.

Uhh, the last time I saw Killswitch Engage they had a different singer and that one guitarist wore a cape onstage and told jokes about having sex with underage girls. I think I'm too old to *get* Killswitch so I'll just leave it at that.  So while they entertained the kidz I had a nice conversation with my good friends a cold beer, Photo Ray, and Nikki Blakk in the bar during their set.  Since The Fox has an in-house video system that's shown on the big screens in the bar, I can at least say I saw Killswitch tonight.

Last but not least, the heirs to the Pantera crown Lamb Of God exploded onstage and I'm sure there was a guy wearing a Pantera shirt in the pit trying to start a fight.  LOG's production was not unlike the recent Megadeth staging that was heavy on video projected behind them on screens behind the backline.  Honesty is my only excuse:  The only song I wanted to hear was 'Walk With Me In Hell' and they blasted that out as the 3rd song of the set.  LOG should headline a Beards of Metal Tour; fake beards could be sold at the merch stands so the entire crowd could participate.

If you bought one of every Lamb Of God merch item you would have paid around $260.  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  Then 5 days later it was...  

Kreator / Overkill / Warbringer
The Fillmore, San Francisco
November 14, 2013 

Honesty is my only excuse:  The main reason I was interested in going out tonight was because it was a rare Metal show at The Fillmore.  There's so much history in the space and it's my favorite hometown venue... and if only all shows were this easy:

I've seen Warbringer several times and they are good at the retro Thrash thing... but I'd like them more if the singer didn't talk to the crowd in his Metal character voice in between songs.  The voice sounds silly... and Baloff didn't have to use a character voice onstage..  but I'm nitpicking because they are one of the better younger bands who dress like we did back in The Day.

The fact this show was at The Fillmore was surprising because the last time Overkill were scheduled to play in San Francisco the show was cancelled due to tepid ticket sales.  However, tonight the old school New Jersey veterans made up for it by playing one of the best sets I've seen them play in these parts... but they didn't play 'Wrecking Crew'.. which I thought was odd.  There were a lot of kidz in the house tonight and it was cool to see them respond to Overkill like it was 1987 again.  I watched the set from the lazy person's spot in the VIP balcony. I noticed a guy in a wheelchair heroically pushing himself around the pit.  After one time around a random guy started pushing him and then another guy helped out.  They ran into people like a careening car on a busy street going the wrong way but no one cared.  I got teary-eyed watching it.  A Metal band of brothers!  Yes, I was a hypocritical jerk for being up in the balcony while those kidz kept it real... but I salute them.

After Overkill I went to the bar and ran into Tom Hunting of Exodus.  Then, after a longish changeover, those veteran German thrashers Kreator returned to a San Francisco stage. At this point Umlaut was a bit punchy from a long work day, but the German's set pretty much went like this the entire time:

Video courtesy of Umlaut's iPhone

Yes, they played 'Pleasure To Kill'.  Despite my fear earlier in the evening that the show would not be well attended, the floor of The Fillmore ended up being decently full and action packed.  There were enough young kidz in attendance to give the floor action some good energy.  It wasn't one of those Old Metal shows where it's just 45-year old men shoving each other and calling it a pit.  All in all an unexpectedly great show!

I was lazy and didn't do a merch audit.  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  Although I didn't do a merch audit there was some juicy merch drama tonight:  Overkill have a different shirt for every night on this tour specific to each city.  Pretty cool, right?  Unfortunately, evidently there are certain rules of conduct when using a venue's name on merch (I might or might not know about this...) and, long story short, Overkill were not able to sell the San Francisco event tee.. which was pretty cool:

Tee pics courtesy of Alan Ralph

Since I may or may not know something about this, I'm disappointed that Overkill's merch person didn't sell the tees outside the venue after the band's set.  Oh well... Anyway, such is the drama behind the scenes at some of your favorite concerts, kidz.

Run To The Hills

The Battle of San Bernardino
Iron Maiden / Megadeth / Anthrax / Testament / Overkill
September 13, 2013

This show went onsale over 4 months in advance back in April, which seemed like a 100 years in the future back in the Spring... but now the day had finally arrived.  This was the type of bill that would only happen in Europe when I was a Teenage Metalhead in the 80's; one that we could only dream would happen in America.  That was over 30 years ago, so better late than never I guess.

After taking a late night flight out of Oakland I found myself in a hotel parking lot at midnight and it was still almost 80 degrees outside.  There was a car with Slayer, Anthrax, Exodus, Testament, Iron Maiden, and "All I Want To Do Is Listen To Heavy Metal" bumper stickers on it.  As I walked past this Metal Mobile I said "Hi" to the kid who was leaning against it.  He replied with "You going to Maiden?"... and I said "Fuck yeah"... and he nodded and replied with "Fuck yeah.." Then I walked past a car with 2 kids making out in it. Then I got into the elevator with 3 kids, one wearing a Metallica tee, who reeked of doobage. They suddenly bailed out of the elevator before it closed; maybe they thought I was a narc despite my Motörhead shirt. The kidz are alright.

The next day when we arrived in the amphitheater parking lot the Maiden tail gate parties were already in full roar with tents and even campers set up.  Gathering of The Tribe! The tone was set early on when we walked past a Maiden fan wearing a Maiden hockey jersey in the 90+ degree heat but who also had an artificial leg with The Trooper art painted on it (!).  Metal!  Despite how the day would unfold, I was overwhelmed a couple of times by a sense that I was amongst "my people".

Anyway, I became involved in some Will Call drama that makes this story kind of convoluted, so I'll try and relate this tale as organized as possible.   First off, we had tickets so English Bob and I made it inside and watched Overkill play on a small side stage crammed into a corner of the concourse.  More importantly, we made it inside to get a cold beer after standing in the hot sun at Will Call.  Unfortunately, Overkill sounded like shit and we couldn't really see them.  The next hour or so was a blur of heat and beer combined with some nice conversations with a couple of Bay Area friends who had also made the trip (Hey Liz and Tiyo!) and some other Metalheads who we randomly met.  One of them was wearing an Orchid tee and his friend without warning told me she had given the guy wearing the Orchid tee a copy of Murder In The Front Row for Christmas.  Wow.. They had given no indication they knew who I was up until then.. Thanks for the support! Then Testament opened up on the main stage.

Our Bay Area heroes unloaded into the sunburned face of San Bernardino with a short and concise 30 minute set.  The newer song 'Rise Up' opened things up followed by old standards like 'The New Order', 'Practice What You Preach', and 'Into The Pit'.   A half hour was criminally short for a band of Testament's stature but it was clear that the crowd understood it was quality over quantity this time.  Thankfully Chuck Billy & Company are hitting the road in the U.S. again this Fall because they were just getting heated up in San Bernardino when they had to unplug and head back to the comfort of backstage.

Anyway, back to my Will Call drama:  Yes, I had tickets but my name was not on a certain guest list for a pass as it was supposed to be.  Back in the ancient times before The Internets and mobile technology you couldn't call or text someone to help you with a Will Call problem.  You could try to slip a handwritten note to someone backstage via a security guard, but unless you were a cute girl the odds of that working weren't that great.  For all of the things technology has ruined here in the 21st Century (record stores, etc..) it's also made situations like this much easier to deal with... as long as you have a cell signal... which was very hit and miss at this venue (Trivia:  The US Festival was held on this same site in 1983).  So during the time after Testament played the following happened...

Despite my initial Will Call setback, the Metal Godz once again proved they work in mysterious ways.  One thing led to another and I contacted an old friend (via text) who lives on the other side of the country.  This friend (Hi Patrick!) contacted a mutual band friend (who we've known for years) whose band happened to be playing today.  Then this band friend passed on his contact info to me and I contacted him directly.  Then after trading messages back and forth with this band friend and his assistant this was delivered to Will Call for me:

Unfortunately I only saw the first song of Anthrax's set ('Caught In A Mosh') since I used the plastic to go backstage and thank my band friend before his set.  Considering that (1) his band was playing direct support at the show and (2) it was his birthday and he had his family with him, the fact that he went out of his way to help me was amazing.  Then this happened:

Pretty cool.  Anyway, after a short chat my band friend told me to come back after their set.  I just want to say this:  No matter what Dave Mustaine's politics or opinions might be, the bottom line is he still treats me like a friend after 30+ years... and that's all that matters to me.  He genuinely remembers the Old Metal Days... and he still shreds.

We stopped in Catering to grab some waters... and it was surreal seeing 2 members of Maiden casually hanging out with crew and guests.  I ran into another Bay Area friend who's on the Testament crew (Hey Walter!) and also managed quick chats with Alex and Chuck of Testament as well. We also finally met up with Photo Ray and the day's Bay Area circle of Metal was finally complete.  All of the earlier crazy from the heat Will Call drama was forgotten.

Right before Megadeth came on they played Diamond Head - 'Lightning To The Nations' and Exodus - 'Bonded By Blood' back to back over the PA... which was a nice old school touch.  Then the houselights went down and Megadeth tore into 'Hanger 18' and then 'Wake Up Dead'.  The band's production consisted of video screens behind them and on the back line which worked very well with the band's set of precise Metal.  Over the next 50 minutes Megadeth were my favorite band for obvious reasons.  The band executed a tight set that included a great version of 'In My Darkest Hour' as well as solid versions of 'Symphony Of Destruction' and 'Peace Sells' that closed the main set with the encore of 'Holy Wars' nailing it all down.  Solid.

I missed the first 3 1/2 songs of Maiden's set because I was at Mustaine's birthday cake party in his trailer.  The symphony of destruction of Dave's birthday cake:

For the record it was a chocolate cake with a creme filling shaped like a Flying-V.  Deliciously Metal.  Yes, we sang 'Happy Birthday' to him.  It should also be noted that Accept was playing on the stereo during the birthday cake party.

After the Mega-Birthday party we returned to our seats midway through '2 Minutes To Midnight'.  Ironically today was Friday the 13th... and according to the Umlaut Archives this was my 13th time seeing Maiden.  Trippy.   This was also the 3rd time I've seen Maiden on this tour and, despite having missed the beginning, it was the best performance out of all of them. Maiden were on fire, with Bruce sounding especially strong and the sound was pretty much perfect; the huge crowd sang along loudly to every song. Epic. The version of 'Wasted Years' was special.   As during the previous shows I saw on this tour last year, the middle section of 'The Trooper' into 'The Number of the Beast' into 'Phantom of the Opera' into 'Run To The Hills' had the most impact. However my favorite tonight was the epic complex progressive hammer of 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' while 'Wasted Years' and 'Aces High' were the emotional highlights for me. Is there any more life affirming concert moment than singing along with 30,000 other Metal fans to 'Aces High'?!  Nope.  "Fly to live!!  Do or die!"

There was a group of 4 young Hispanic Metal kids sitting right in front of me.. all decked out with denim vests, patches, and band tees... and they sang along to EVERY song. They were going nuts the entire time and knew all the songs and not just "the hits". I almost got teary eyed watching them sing along with Maiden during 'Wasted Years'.. They stood on their chairs every once in a while to bang their heads.. If it had been any other show I would have been the annoyed old guy, but they were just like me at their age. It was awesome. The kidz are alright.

The next morning I was preparing to return to The Bay Area when the Metal Godz provided us with one final blessing for the weekend.   While packing up I texted my farewell to a friend who then mentioned how I was only 15 minutes away from the grave of.... RANDY RHOADS.  WTF!?  Since we had time before our flight, English Bob and I found an awesome old school diner for breakfast (Tole House Cafe... Open since 1951!) and jetted the rental car towards Mountain View Mortuary & Cemetery... where we quickly found the final resting place of Randy Fuckin' Rhoads:

I was speechless.  I worshipped Randy Rhoads during his short time with Ozzy and had been lucky enough to have seen him onstage twice. However, it had been almost 32 years (!) since the last time I was in the same venue as him.  Seeing "1982" etched into his tomb profoundly reminded me how much time had passed since he left this world.  ALOT has happened since then and it felt like my Teenage Metalhead had come full circle (again).  Over the mountain, man... Over the mountain.

Number of strangers who told me they were Murder fans as I walked through the crowd at Maiden = 2.  On the way back to San Francisco, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags.  As with the epic Big 4 show a couple of years ago it took me a couple of days to decompress from this monumental day of Metal... but I didn't have a lot of time to reflect because a couple of days later I was attending the fancy U.S. red carpet premiere for the movie by a local Metal band called Metallica... but maybe I'll rant about that later.

"Run to the hills... Run for your life.."

The Home Team

Testament / Overkill / 4Arm / The Butlers
The Fillmore, San Francisco
January 30, 2013

The feeling of Bay Area pride that I felt in the air as I entered The Fillmore was thick enough to cut with a fictional knife.  It's been amazing to witness so many bands from back in the Murder In The Front Row days who have gotten a second (or 3rd... or 4th..) wind in recent years and come back stronger than ever.  Testament is one of those bands from the 415 / 510 who are now seemingly immortal here in the 21st Century.  The Butlers were already onstage and a lot of old friends were there early as well.

Umlaut generally loathes cover bands, but The Butlers are so good that I must admit I dig them.  The band features former members of such veteran Bay Area bands as Exodus, Jetboy, and Ruffians so their musical chops are as real as the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was a nice 35 minute warm up of Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, and Alice Cooper tunes.  Then the band played their trump card by bringing out their buddies Phil Demmel of Machine Head for UFO ('Shoot Shoot') and then Rob and Mark of Death Angel for Judas Priest ('Green Manalishi'!).   Dude, it was one of those only in The Bay Area moments!  I thought it was funny that the kid on the rail with the Machine Head back patch on his denim vest got WAY more excited about Rob and Mark then he did for Phil.  Kind of awkward...

Rob of Death Angel and Craig of The Butlers

[Photo courtesy of Photo Ray]

I spent the entire duration of 4Arms set in the upstairs bar getting some food / beer and quality hang time with old friends (Hail to Photo Ray, Cable Car, and The Behrhorsts!)... and then this happened:

[Photo courtesy of Photo Ray]

Yes, Phil Demmel of Machine Head (and Vio-lence) carries around his copy of Murder In The Front Row with an old school written-on-a-piece-of-paper autograph hit list of people in the book.  His list is not just band people but also old friends and local Metalheads who are in shots.  So fucking cool... Murder is our yearbook.  Yes, I was on his list.  Anyway, meanwhile downstairs there was a Metal show going on...

Overkill...I'll be honest.. I've never been a big fan.  Although I do still have their original 1983 'Power In Black' demo tape that an East Coast penpal sent me back in The Day. Overkill are at 2/5 original members these days and they were good.. MUCH better than the last time I saw them. The had the crowd action going nicely all night especially during older songs like 'Wrecking Crew'.. and Bobby did have the best quote of the night with "Sweet baby Jesus in a Slayer shirt we've got ourselves a Thrash show!"   I couldn't have said it better myself... I guess.

It was the first night of the tour, which always means there will be some fine tuning needed.. but despite a couple of miscues Testament destroyed their home field tonight.   The 4 songs performed off their great new album Dark Roots of Earth fit right in with the older material; Testament are a machine of mayhem these days from their seemingly endless touring.  The vintage 'The New Order' was the highlight of the set for me but 'Practice What You Preach' was the quintessential moment when the hometown band became profoundly one with the hometown crowd.

Chuck and Greg of Testament

[Photo courtesy of Photo Ray]

It's still mind blowing watching Testament onstage with the legend that is Gene Hoglan sitting atop the drum riser.  The guy is the Cozy Powell of his generation and he never seems like he's phoning a performance in despite the fact he's playing with, what, 2 or 3 bands at the moment?  Drum God.  After the main set, and after a good chunk of the crowd had already left, Chuck Billy and the guys came back out for an unscheduled version of 'Over The Wall' that was not on the printed setlist.  Nicely done.. Home cooking rules! 

If you bought one of every Testament merch item you would have paid around $220.  My only question is why don't they have a simple logo tee?  On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag.  Five days after this show the Niners returned to the Super Bowl for the first time in 18 years and lost because they couldn't score from 5 yards out... Ridiculous... but I'm sure Testament were okay with that since they're Raiders fans. 

Overkill... Literally..

Overkill / Vader / God Dethroned / Warbringer / Evile
The Regency, San Francisco
April 18, 2010


This was a weird concert lineup for Umlaut. Although the headliner is from *my* generation of Metal, I can't say that I've ever been a fan of Overkill. Full disclosure: When Overkill were starting up my head was starting to get out of Metal. Sad but true, but that's what happened to Umlaut. For around a 5 year period I turned my back on Metal and listened to alot of other Music. Of course, those years made Umlaut a MUCH more educated Music Geek; I can quote Bob Dylan AND Slayer lyrics at the drop of a hat equally well. However, once my Music Geek education was advanced enough, The Rock Godz led me back to METAL, but that's a story for another time. So, in hindsight, I have no regrets that I didn't see Overkill at The Stone in 1986 or whenever.

This was also one of those Metal package tours that are the industry standard now.. Which generally means too many bands playing sets that are too short. Tonight it was 5 bands with the first 4 allotted a paltry 30 minutes onstage while the headliner got 90 minutes. I know it's about economics, but I miss having 3 quality bands on a bill playing decent sets versus the talent show / battle of the bands lineups. Another thing these package tours take away is the Music Geek tradition of geeking out over the bands' equipment as they switch over between sets since everyone (except the headliner) uses the same backline. Although Umlaut friend Dave and I managed to make the best of it (noting the pentagram grill on the Peavey cabinets, etc. etc.) I had to be the buzz kill and tell him that ALL the support bands were using the same backline. Sorry, Dave. Anyway..........

Evile (England): To be honest, I don't know much about Evile other than their debut album was produced by Flemming Rasmussen and their bassist had passed away suddenly 6 months ago. They play solid retro Thrash Metal, but to be honest after 3 songs I was done and went to the lobby for a beer and meet up with some friends. For the newbies: You will find that Umlaut can be a very jaded Metalhead and I won't sugar coat that; sometimes I'm just not into watching a band after a certain point. It doesn't mean I think the band sucks (and I'd say so if I did), it's just how I keep my sanity by not forcing myself to watch something that I'm not engaged in. Sorry Evile, just being honest.

Warbringer (Southern California): Ironically, Warbringer were the band I wanted to see the most on the bill. Umlaut isn't really into Thrash Metal anymore (I'm more of a Doom / Death guy now..) because it sounds dated to me most of the time; it makes jaded Umlaut say "been there, done that". I have a hard time getting into the new bands who are recreating that sound, but Warbringer and a couple of other new bands (specifically 3 Inches Of Blood) do the retro thing well and I do dig them. Umlaut has listened to the their latest Waking Into Nightmares CD quite a bit and I keep hearing Death Angel in it, which is a good thing of course. Before Warbringer came out they inexplicably played 'Maggie's Farm' by Bob Fuckin' Dylan over the PA... Come on! Throw the horns with me! Anyway, Warbringer brought a strong set and the band has obviously watched all the right old Metal videos which translates into how they work a stage. At first I was getting annoyed by John's front man posing and the fact drummer Nic was using a click track via headphones to keep time... but I reminded myself these were just kidz onstage and I was watching them through jaded Umlaut eyes. Once I made that attitude adjustment it was all good. 'Prey For Death' absolutely killed live and at the end of their set, guitarist John jumped down into the photo pit to rage with the front row and vocalist John dove into the crowd:

Nicely done, lads. OH! During Warbringer's set a pair of skinny, probably 14-year old boys were standing next to me at the edge of The Pit gawking at the crowd action. One of them wanted to join The Pit so bad but he couldn't get his timing right to join in the mosh. Kid, you can't "wait" for The Pit to let you in! You just have to fucking GO!! At one point he turned to his buddy and I could see he was frustrated, but his buddy was a pussy and wasn't going to join him. When the kid turned back towards The Pit a 200 pound dude slammed into him. CUTE! Poor kid... don't take drugs.

God Dethroned (Holland): I was hanging in the lobby with friends when the Dutch took the stage.. They had already played a song and I was about to head back in to watch them when Photo Ray returned from the photo pit and said "One of the dudes is wearing a polo shirt..." That was reason enough for Umlaut to stay in the lobby with a beer and his friends. Sorry God Dethroned. One of the things Umlaut can't abide is a Metal band wearing polo shirts onstage.

Vader (Poland): As much as I like Vader, I've always been dubious about a band naming themselves after a Star Wars character, especially such an obvious one. Maybe Sarlaac was already taken?? However, I cut Vader slack because they have delivered the appropriate darkness that behooves that name. The Poles took the stage and their Eastern European Death Metal was EXACTLY what I wanted here in the 21st Century. Vader's most recent album Necropolis was in rotation on Umlaut's playlist after its release last Summer. Vader reminded me why, despite my wider Music Geek base, I will ultimately always bleed Metal. Dense and bludgeoning riffs speak straight to my soul. Vader are one of those bands who have been around so long that, aside from Peter, they've had too many members for Umlaut to keep track of and I'm not even going to try at this point. Anyway, with Peter leading the band as always, I think the lead guitarist on this tour is a dude named Marco and he brought the volume in a very workmanlike way. It was also nice to see the drummer (who I assume was Paul) bringing the thunder without the use of a click track like the youngster in Warbringer. During their set security shut a guy down for lighting up a bowl down front... and THEN THEY KICKED HIM OUT!!? WTF Regency Security!? I thought this was San Franfuckincisco!?? Way to harsh The Metal, man. We're NOT fuckin' Hippies! Anyway, despite the buzz kill, Vader owned the stage and wiped the floor with the rest of the bill. How do you say "buzz kill" in Polish?

Overkill (New Jersey): As I said earlier, by the time Overkill were hitting The Metal Scene in the mid-80's I was just starting my hiatus from Metal and was more likely to be found at a Jesus & Mary Chain show. Before they came on, Umlaut was back in the lobby when Dave came up and said "You gotta see this...." We followed him back into the venue and The Jersey Boyz had a rather silly stage that was a bit much for The Regency: ramps, stairs, strobe towers. I don't mean to be a dick because I understand this is the band's 25th Anniversary Tour, but if you took away some of props you might have been able to knock a couple of bucks off the ticket price and gotten a bigger crowd in the house. Just saying. Anyway, when the lights went down and the smoke machine kicked in it was the 80's all over again. The veteran band did sound and perform good... but I have to be honest and say vintage Thrash Metal sounds so dated to Umlaut and, in all honesty, it makes me feel old. It really does. Aside from a couple of key Thrash albums from that era, I feel no nostalgia for it...


Anyway, after 4 songs I headed out the door and back into the 21st Century. Evidently the final song of Overkill's set was.... their cover of.... 'Overkill' by Motörhead. Cheeky.

Over the past month, the Metal shows on Umlaut's calendar have featured some pretty great hang sessions with friends. In the past Umlaut has been more surgically precise with shows and the social aspect has been minimal. This evening turned out to be ALOT more fun than I thought it was going to be because it was a perfect balance of a couple of bands who I genuinely like and having members of the Umlaut Nation in the house to shoot the shit with... So a quick shout out to Timo, Dave, Photo Ray, Nikki Blakk, Sven, HRC, Taylor, and Alan.

Warbringer had 4 shirts for sale but only had them in size SMALL... Ooops. (Merch 101: Metal bands should ALWAYS have plenty of size XL in stock... 'cause alot of BIG BOYZ listen to Metal..). If you bought one of every Overkill merch item you would have paid $253 and if you bought one of every Vader merch item you would have paid $105. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. The next morning Alan told me that Jeff Walker of Carcass had been at the show! WTF!? He was stranded in the U.S. after his brief tour with Brujeria because of the Icelandic volcano eruption. That whole volcano thing is pretty METAL, right?