Metal As Art 1-30-10 French Reactions and Alternator Dung

Many things need be sacrificed on an altar of madness on my way to being the Lester Bangs of heavy metal journalism...Health, hearing in my 60s, rest, time with my long-suffering wife and patience with friends. For those of you whippersnappers unfamiliar with the Great Lester, he was a Hunter S. Thompson of rock journalism (now, if you don't know who he is, Cobalt's 'Gin' was dedicated to him and maybe pick up a book for Chrissakes!) All sacrifices were worth it to see the 'Metal as Art' tour sail in.

Vince Neilstein of Metalsucks.com said I should check out the "Metal As Art" tour and, after finding out it was $6, (!), I figured it would be worth the time to support some bands. I invited my oldest friend, Mike, who was the first kid I met in 1983 into metal, to go with. I remember back in the day taking his jean jacket to the mirror to see if his Dio patch spelled 'devil' when looked at backwards...This was the early 80's mind you when evil intentions in bands were hidden rather than proclaimed loudly from corpsepaint and pigs' blood. He had a lady-friend Sheree that wished to go as well...(More on this later).

As soon as we got to the Lion's Lair, I could smell the hunger from the bands. It was like when Burgess Meredith was talking to Rocky in 'Rocky III' saying he needed to be hungry for it right before he croaked in the movie. These bands were sweating for their art; this was metal at its purest. A bunch of guys making shit money, drinking shit beer (PBR all around!) in a bar known for its shit ambiance. You know the kind of bar; stickers of bands plastered all over smoke-blackened walls (and toilets), long-suffering bar mistress with tattoos and worn eyes looking at you like she just knows you aren't going to tip(which you probably can't afford to).

Mike and his date were much more into consuming alcohol than watching bands, but I was trying to find out who was who... I first bumped into Dan Gargiulo, touring guitarist for Revocation. They are trying him out for the tour to add a dual guitar attack. The band, along with tour mates Binary Code have had some van troubles. The lads in Revocation broke down a stones throw from Mexico. (Binary Code had it worse and were forced onto a guardrail by some crazy driver which totaled their van). Anyway, I talked to Anthony (bassist) and Phil (drummer) about actually getting one decent meal on the tour at the Buckhorn, a famous eatery in Colorado that serves all sorts of animals including alligator, elk and hometown favorite Rocky Mountain Oysters (for the uninitiated, they're not from the sea).
Turns out the Revocation guys had some of the bulls balls and found them quite chewy. A local patron then regaled us with stories about how he got to do dome snipping and cooking himself. A laugh was had by all at the expense of the cows tasty testes. The guys from Revocation also have an informal bet with Binary Code to see who can go the longest without an actual shower. My sinuses have been screwed for days, so I smelled nothing...

First up was a local band Frozen Eternity; well, by local I should say the same state. This Colorado Springs band were all probably half my age (remember, dear reader, I'll be 40 this year). Still, their musicianship was strong; I felt a 'Children of Bodom' sound emanating from the speakers. Now, anytime a keyboardist is thrown into metal, the comparison goes 1 of 2 ways; Bodom or Norwegian Black Metal wankery. Luckily, the keyboardist was restrained unlike Bodom and our Scandinavian 'ELP/Yes' men. Tight and well rehearsed, and hard-working, they were enjoyable in the small venue. I spoke to bassist Michael Hylands who had just been added to the lineup along with rhythm guitarist Stuart Hetzler about about how they were excited to play with the other bands. A good opportunity for a young band.

Next were Binary Code. I got to meet Jesse, the lead guitarist, who apparently works for the Metal Sucks website that Vince (Ben?...your secret identity is OUT) runs. Before the show, we had a good talk on his band and the tour thus far. He was initially concerned with the bands that were to tour together but now feels the "flow of the line up" has been great. Anyone can see that the camaraderie of all the bands is strong...I know the image of touring bands being a ship of pirates sailing through the lands is about as old as likening traveling musicians to cowboys; but you do get a "take no prisoners Jolly Roger" vibe.

Now, Mike and his date were getting drinks on my tab...This of course, sucked...I was assured I would be paid back but between Mike, the perpetual "starving artist" and this 23 year-old (!) woman I don't know from Adam, how the hell was I going to get paid back?! Plus, I have one rule about these shows; I have to buy merch to support these road-trippers. After ordering 2 more drinks on my bill (~@#$!), they decided to get something to eat...They came back shortly with Mike saying they couldn't hold out, specifically SHE, couldn't hold out for the rest of the show. I was pissed but didn't show it...I wanted to do this concert write up as a writing sample for SkullNBones, I was NOT leaving. So, they got some more money from me (cue storm cloud over my head and daggers from my eyes) and were taking a bus back to Westminster, a northern suburb of Denver. Their tab made this an expensive show.

Binary Code had a little bit of a "Between the Buried and Me" sound and progressive touches. There's was a high energy set with lead singer, Mike Appritch running off the stage and the bassist, Brett Bamberger, flailing like a metal version of Flea. Also a tight band with interesting slow melodic passages in the maelstrom of their deathcore-ish center. Song structure seems to be the Binary's key. (Also, do I hear Zappa in there? NICE!)

After the Binary Code was Revocation, easily the group of guys who I hung out with the most. Between talking about Colorado's quirky cuisine and van troubles, I got to talk with touring guitarist, the previously mentioned Dan, a bit. I was wondering how the young guitarist, who reminded me of Vincent Gallo in looks not temperament, would fit. He was a friendly fellow and had that 'hungry' quality I mentioned before. I had talked to David Davidson, lead guitarist, earlier who is, along with the rest of Revocation, staying at Dave's place (from the local band Havok). David is a HILARIOUS guy, and we bullshitted with Dave and his penchant for the cougar-ish ladies of the world. This was AFTER a grizzled barfly patron tried to suck on his neck like an elderly Vampira.(Dave, its because of the Troy Polamalu locks, buddy!)

Revocation's show was a twisting, turning, thrashy, technical death-ish, musical meltdown. David and bassist Anthony Buda do the majority of the vocals with Phil keeping crazy time on the drums. I did like the addition of Dan on rhythm guitar; the band has been a trio for a decade but the addition of Dan for the tour allows for probable prodigy Dave, to showcase his stellar playing. Then you get the twin guitar attack ala Tipton and Downing (look it up if you don't know who they are and bow your head in shame when you do). The rhythm guitarist of Binary Code would share his PBR with the band members while they were playing to keep the good vibes alcohol propelled. All of the chaos of this show was NEVER an interruption on the musicianship and the band was excellent live.

See, I don't buy that a metal band has to be a group of assholes who you wouldn't leave your kid alone with. Guess was jerkwads, you can play metal and NOT be a douchebag. Why do I need to fear my entertainers?! Isn't paying taxes and living in a world of sociopaths who blow up buildings fearful enough? I don't need my metal musicians to be as horrifying as the music. I got into a conversation with a guy named Todd who was there to see Revocation and he was as pleased as I was about their show...(He told me to get the New Megadeth and Alice in Chains which I must remember to do).

Anyway, a solid set that was followed by Hypno5e, a French band of post-metal experimentation. While they were tuning up, a woman in one of those Nordic ear flap caps that you see hippies in Boulder wear in the winter was playing jokey songs. Nothing wrong with a Manic Pixie Dream Girl playing ukulele and singing indie versions of rap songs while you're waiting for the band.

Hypno5e play a crunchy, atmospheric, post-y kind of metal; slow and fast mixed with precision. When I was talking with Anthony from Revocation, he was saying that Hypno5e get drunk before they play every time and still sound great. He also told me that the band did a 2 minute song and dance about Taco Bell when they were in Spokane when they found out they were going to go to the eatery...TACO BELL! There was plenty of dancing before the show and during from their entourage. They were a beautiful mess; the music was practiced and tight but the band was loose limbed and jovial. A sort of serious playfulness. By the end of the set, lead singer and guitarist,Emmanuel Jessua, was on the ground with Binary bassist and rhythm guitarist hovering over and the stage was a shambles. Anthony from Revocation remarked "You can tell the tour is almost over, huh?"

So now, let's do the numbers...The sheer joviality and camaraderie of all the bands plus the professionalism of the playing plus the doing it for the love of the music times the originality of all of the acts equals a solid 5 points of the pentagram from me. Were there sound problems, sure, did the ship sail in late, yeah, but the sheer,pure FUN of the 'Metal as Art' show made even paying my friend's tab worth it... So, support this tour...With all the hipsters talk about tr00 metal when referring to tours that dwarf a U2 show, this is what the scene is really about...Word of mouth about bands hungry to play you their original music...