IT'S ALIVE!

Thanks Baltimore, this crow is delicious.  Saturday February 11, I witnessed a lively and robust metal scene at Overlea Station.  Mike Dee did not dissapoint with his annual Drinkin With Lincoln Fest.  Things started off with a really cool up and coming grind band called Universal Remonster.  These guys have been hitting it pretty hard paying their dues opening up shows for awhile now.  This was probably the best I'd seen them play.  Really fun band, and cool guys to hang out with too.  Next up was a band I've been really impressed by.  I first saw Drunk Monk this past Halloween at The Baltimore Free Farm.  These guys are doing something really interesting and I've found them to be the most enjoyable local band I've discovered over the past year or so.  They play an instrumental doomish surf/psychobilly style that is truly hard to explain without doing them an injustice.  You really need to get out there and check out Drunk Monk if you have not yet done so.  The always impressive tech/prog metal awesomeness of Balor's Eye was to follow.  These guys are another band I get pretty excited about seeing.  If you haven't seen them, you're missing out.  My band, Shakeface, played next.  I don't feel comfortable critiquing from the opposite side of the stage, but I'd love to hear what anyone in attendance had to say about our set.  Now, at this point I have to address the food at Overlea Station.  During a long show like this I had to take a second to sit down at the bar and enjoy a meal.  I've been raving about the cheeseburger at this place for a long time now, and true to form that's what I got.  My girlfriend got a crabcake sandwich, which was god damn amazing.  If you go to a show at Overlea, make sure you take a break for some food.  I didn't really see Lifetime Shitlist play, but they sounded good and they must have done something right.  When I returned, an already good show had really come alive and become something I hadn't seen in years.  It was perfect timing that Fuck U All was just coming on.  You should already know who these guys are if you follow metal in Baltimore at all.  They fuckin' killed it!  It was a blast, people were into this shit like it was 1998 or something.  Top honors of the night have to go to the awesome crowd that showed up and participated in this.  Weed is Weed came up after FUA, I was loading my equipment out by this point as it was getting pretty late but if you dig some slow stoned out jams, give them a listen.  Closing the show out was Mike Dee's band Monger.  I didn't see much of this but I heard Mike was wrecked, so it had to be fun, as it always is when Mike takes the stage.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  I really needed to witness a night of carefree metal partying.


It's been awhile since my last post.  I've kinda been thinking about the blog and how I'd like to revamp the format.  Covering shows is awesome but it makes the show a little less fun for me when I am worrying about how I will have to account for every second of the show.  It makes shows feel more like work than a good time.  In the future I will still be covering shows, but only the noteworthy sets.  I'd also like to keep a running list of upcoming shows that are worth going to, so if you have a show you think people need to know about please feel free to email me here.  I'd also like to open up topics of discussion and get a little more positive feedback and involvement from anyone who reads this and has an opinion to share.  Interviews with local musicians will be another thing I'd be open to doing, so again just send an email if you'd like to be featured.  I can't always get pictures and videos from shows so it'd be much appreciated if anyone who does get them could send them to my email.  I'll also be mentioning an album or two you should check out.  This time, I'd like to recommend Throwdown's 1999 release "Beyond Repair".  It pretty much got me started in wanting to play music.  I hope you'll find some inspiration in there as well.

The discussion topic for this edition is something brought to my attention by the bass player in Shakeface, Ed Vaughan.  It's the rampant misuse of Facebook as a promotional tool.  There is a lot of good that can come from Facebook and social networking in general, but as we saw with Myspace, if you overdo it and become annoying and trite... it will bring a collapse to the entire system.  I'm not sure what compels bands to take the cheap route of like-whoring on facebook but it's fucking lame.  If you are on facebook begging people to click some stupid button just so a worthless number you obsess over will increase you are cheating yourself.  Get off your computer and go hand out some sampler CD's or fliers for your next show.  You do have shows and recordings to promote right? Or is it just a brand you're pushing?  People go to shows to hear music.  They will be far more receptive to your spam when it's directed at the right audience and done in person.  People get on facebook to do a lot of different things, but most of the time checking out your band is not high on the list.  If your friends like your band, they will hit that like button on their own.  They'll share it because they want to.  They'll be at shows where they can be reached by other similar bands.  Stop being lazy and expecting everyone to promote you, take advantage of the new faces at shows you play and have a conversation.  Make some friends even.  Superficial "likes" will get you nowhere.  Even worse, you don't even have an accurate read on whether or not what you are doing is working because you haven't let that number climb naturally.  Like-whoring is a lot like taking steroids, you might appear to be bigger and better.  But you know in your heart you cheated, took the easy road and ended up with tiny balls.  Make real life connections, they are far more valuable than you could ever imagine. 

Next time I'll have a fresh list of shows for you to get out there and go to, my experience this past Friday night at Baltimore Free Farm's Zombie Prom, an Interview with Bryan and Paul from both Butcher's Hill and FUA, my thoughts on the pros and cons of Maryland Death Fest and what album I've been listening to while I write.  Thanks for reading, hope you check back for the next one.

My Ears Are Burning.

Today I checked out an article written in "Shockwave Magazine" by RQ.  Everyone should be following this publication, they have a productive attitude towards change and that is all I could ask for from anyone.  Check out the article HERE.  I can't help but to feel that this is at least in some small way a response to my "Baby Steps" posting on this blog.  I know that sounds kinda self centered at first, but someone from the magazine commented on my link to this blog, so I know someone from that magazine read what I had to say.  I liked the Shockwave article, I think we are both after the same goal but I feel like I've been misunderstood by a lot of people. I need to clear the air.  This blog was never intended to be about me, so it kinda sucks that I even have to go through this explanation.  I wrote that blog based partly on my experiences, heavily on the gripes I hear from other musicians and with a HUGE dose of sarcasm.  I've been around, I know how things work.  I played in a rock/metal act doing the ticket sale/promoter/club circuit for a few years.  For the past 3 years I've been in a band that has never taken a show selling tickets, we play basements, DIY venues, art spaces, etc.  We've built a great network of bands we have become friends with by talking to anyone and everyone at every show.  This blog would not even be possible if I weren't going to shows as well. I do get it.  Thing is, it's not about me.  It's not about my success.  It's about our success.  Prosperity to me comes from cultivating your surroundings and rising to a new level because you've brought everything and everyone around you up to a new level.  I am in no way looking for any animosity with the guys from Shockwave, I just really can't handle people seeing me as a do nothing complainer.  We're after the same thing, trying to inspire more people to take part in their own communal destiny.  I'm an ally, let's work together to build a stronger metal community. 

Go "Like" Shockwave Magazine on Facebook to stay informed on all the good stuff they have going on.


That being said, I went to the Abigail Williams show this past Saturday.  Unfortunately my camera guy got a paying gig so I have no pictures for you.  I showed up late and missed the first 2 bands.  I hate that I did that but shit happens.  You should still take a little time to go check them both out, they were Illuminations and And Then They Bled.  The first band I actually got to see was New Jersey's Fall Of Man.  If you like seeing a big fat guy take his clothes off and caress the shit out of himself while singing metal, this is your shit.  Musically they weren't bad, not my thing but I have nothing bad to say about them.  They also seemed to bring a decent number of people out, which is very cool for a traveling band.  Next up was probably the best set of the night as far as the crowd is concerned.  The drummer of Bury The Memories was celebrating his birthday complete with a cake shaped like a drum set.  These guys were cool, standard deathcore but done well.  Seemed to be the best audience response of the night.  Next up was Torture Therapy from Cumberland, Maryland.  I liked these guys a lot.  Good ol' death metal complete with the second coming of Corpsegrinder doing vocals.  Unfortunately this is when the show kinda went south.  It was getting a little late, we were now 5 bands into the show and people started to leave.  I have major respect for the guys in Torture Therapy for very obviously cutting their set short to move things along.  Not many people saw it, but they were good.  Following them was Baltimore based metal quartet Butcher's Hill.  These guys always bring the heavy and Paul is one of the most intense guitar players you'll see.  I'm friends with thee dudes so I won't spend a lot of time kissing their asses but they a legitimately worth checking out.  They were the only band of the night to mention any kind of CD and it's free so hit them up for a copy.  People reappeared for this set, which was good to see.  The last act of the night was of course Abigail Williams.  By this time the show was over.  It sucks but there were only a few people left, I hadn't eaten dinner yet and I just wasn't going to enjoy the set either way.  I've seen them before, if for some strange reason you don't know who they are you should check them out if you dig black metal.  I apologize for this being a half assed show recap and a half assed show attendence.  I put what time and money I had into going to this show and for me, the effort was enough.  I did what I could to support my community.  I thank those of you who put the effort out there just as well and those of you who do not I hope to see you doing so very soon.  The next show I will be attending will be Feb 11 at Overlea Station so that's where you can find me if you wanna tell me what a whiny bitch I am or punch me in the face or something.  As long a it gets you out to a show.  It's also a place where you can get cheap boh, good food and hear a lineup of really good metal bands.  Check out the info HERE