So we drive up to Poughkeepsie, New York to play with our friends No Remission, Left In Ruins, and Assault (F.Y.C.) J.R. and I drive up together while Bobby and Scotty took their own cars. We get there around 7:30 and start having some drinks with some of the other bands who are already there. Scott arrives and we unload the trailer and have more drinks. After a pizza dinner, we find out that Bobby is going to be late to the show. People are already filling the bar and are getting a little antsy. Before we even play one note a guy walks up to us and asks to buy a shirt because he loves the BEER RUN on the back. This was already turning out to be a good experience.
After a couple of more drinks, J.R. is feeling the buzz and sets up his guitar and starts warming up. He plays some old school Metallica and Black Sabbath tracks and the people start yelling. I jump on the drums and Luigi, the lead singer of Left In Ruins, grabs a bass and we start to play any and every cover song we know. Metallica, Ozzy, Pantera. The crowd is going nuts. People are taking turns jumping on the mic to sing whatever parts of the songs they knew. We were having way too much fun.
Bobby finally shows up and we crush our set. The fans are going crazy and we loved every minute of it. Definitely a fun show to play. Afterwards we go outside and start mingling and selling t-shirts. A couple of people buy some shirts before a guy walks up to us and saids "I'll take a shot in the nuts if you give me a free shirt." Everyone starts getting in on it, taking bets and egging people on to do it. This girl raises her hand and offers to do it. Turns out shes a dancer and a martial artist. She's stretching her leg right in front of me and her leg seriously went straight into the air. I was like "holy shit!" Everyone starts to call foul, however. She has flip flops on and everyone saids that its not going to hurt. This dude then raises his hand and saids "she can use my steel toed boots!" Everyone starts to go nuts.
She laces up the boot and starts warming up. Everyone is chanting. This dude assumes the position and, while the kick was not full force, it still obliterated him. He's on the floor for a good 20 minutes and he was coughing the rest of the night. We decided to give him two shirts for each of his testicles.
We go back inside and No Remission is picking up where we left off, destroying the stage. Left In Ruins keeps it going, always a pleasure to see those guys, and Assault finishes up the night in true metal fashion.
More drinking, more partying. J.R. tells me to get some sleep because I'm driving us home. at 2AM i jump in the passenger seat, lower it, and take a nap. He wakes me up at 4AM. The bar is closing. The owner and the bartender are leaving with everyone and the party is over. I'm still a little groggy and A LOT hungover, but i managed to keep it together enough to get us back into Jersey. We stop at a MCdonalds and J.R., having recovered enough, drove the rest of the way home. We unpack the trailer and i realize its 6:30AM. I have to be at work at 7AM. J.R. throws me the spare keys to the car and tells me to go to work. I drive to work on two hours sleep, take two aspirin, and get through the workday. I drive back to J.R.'s to return the car and then he drives me home.
Insane insane fucking weekend with a lot of booze, a lot of cool people. A lot of new memories were made and a lot of metal was had. We're definitely coming back to Pickwick in the future.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Underground Heavy Metal Scen in New York City Part 1
I am writing this blog not to complain but to talk about some of the things that I have observed being a member of one of the Heavy Metal Bands in the Underground Heavy Metal Scene. I also am writing this to offer some guidance to all of the bands that make up this scene. You know who you are. I bet some of the advice that I offer here can help other Metal scenes throughout the country or the world, but this is specific to NYC only because it is all I know.
The greatest thing about the underground is the freedom of musical expression that is so readily available. I mean lets face it...if you call up a local venue or promoter and tell them that you will bring 20 people to one of their events, you are pretty much guaranteed to play a show no matter how good or bad you are. And that shouldn't be too hard, 4 guys in a band all bring one girlfriend and 4 friends each you got your 20 right there. Like I said, this is a good thing because I think everyone should have a platform to express themselves musically. So if you are honest about the fact that all you are there to do is express yourself and you are not trying to reach a larger audience, the underground is a great place for you....however....
Most of the people that I run into are using the underground to get to another place. I would say a lot of them are looking for a record label to "discover" them and offer them some sort of recording deal, and an avenue for them to tour the world playing their music....Slam One Down is for sure.
The New York City Underground is a double edged sword. And when I say NYC underground I mean NYC, the 5 boroughs, Rockland etc., North Jersey & Long Island etc. The reason that it is a double edged sword is because there are a ton of places to play. This is a good thing and bad thing...the reason that it is a good thing is because it is very easy to get a show and play live. The reason that it is bad is because....
....So here is the problem...there are soooooo many bands and sooo many venues and we have a very small and concentrated scene (or better said, not a lot of people). SO what happens is every band takes their 10 or 20 people and take them to wherever they can get a show. Then what happens is the band plays 1 week in NYC, the next week in Brooklyn, the next week in Jersey and the next week in L.I. The problem is that now they keep asking their friends to follow them to every show and their friends go to the first 2 shows and then say to themselves I wont go this week, I'll go next week because they will obviously be playing again next week or so. I mean let's face it, even if Metallica played every Friday for 6 months at the Garden, by the end of the first month there would be like 100 people there. What Metallica does is plays once and then leaves and does not come back for a year and makes people come out everytime they play. It's a simple strategy.
You can ask anyone in the scene, I go to almost every underground show that I can. The only time i don't is if we have a show or practice. If someone invites me, I go and you don't even have to call me. I go on facebook and look at today's events and I go to whoever is playing wherever. But I have to, because I am a true supporter and I have to promote my band. I also hope and expect people to do the same for me. But guess what, most people are not like me and do not care about the scene the way I do.
So here is what is happening, their are about 20 or 30 solid bands that are really doing well and making some noise in the scene. They perform well, write good music, get the crowds involved, bring 20-60 people and throw a good party. But most of them are not getting anywhere because the whole scene is being watered down. Everyone is playing every week in the city and all the time. So I have a bit of a solution to the problem. This is not a perfect solution and is going to take time to organize but if we all start working together it can work well....to be continued!!!!-J.R.
The greatest thing about the underground is the freedom of musical expression that is so readily available. I mean lets face it...if you call up a local venue or promoter and tell them that you will bring 20 people to one of their events, you are pretty much guaranteed to play a show no matter how good or bad you are. And that shouldn't be too hard, 4 guys in a band all bring one girlfriend and 4 friends each you got your 20 right there. Like I said, this is a good thing because I think everyone should have a platform to express themselves musically. So if you are honest about the fact that all you are there to do is express yourself and you are not trying to reach a larger audience, the underground is a great place for you....however....
Most of the people that I run into are using the underground to get to another place. I would say a lot of them are looking for a record label to "discover" them and offer them some sort of recording deal, and an avenue for them to tour the world playing their music....Slam One Down is for sure.
The New York City Underground is a double edged sword. And when I say NYC underground I mean NYC, the 5 boroughs, Rockland etc., North Jersey & Long Island etc. The reason that it is a double edged sword is because there are a ton of places to play. This is a good thing and bad thing...the reason that it is a good thing is because it is very easy to get a show and play live. The reason that it is bad is because....
....So here is the problem...there are soooooo many bands and sooo many venues and we have a very small and concentrated scene (or better said, not a lot of people). SO what happens is every band takes their 10 or 20 people and take them to wherever they can get a show. Then what happens is the band plays 1 week in NYC, the next week in Brooklyn, the next week in Jersey and the next week in L.I. The problem is that now they keep asking their friends to follow them to every show and their friends go to the first 2 shows and then say to themselves I wont go this week, I'll go next week because they will obviously be playing again next week or so. I mean let's face it, even if Metallica played every Friday for 6 months at the Garden, by the end of the first month there would be like 100 people there. What Metallica does is plays once and then leaves and does not come back for a year and makes people come out everytime they play. It's a simple strategy.
You can ask anyone in the scene, I go to almost every underground show that I can. The only time i don't is if we have a show or practice. If someone invites me, I go and you don't even have to call me. I go on facebook and look at today's events and I go to whoever is playing wherever. But I have to, because I am a true supporter and I have to promote my band. I also hope and expect people to do the same for me. But guess what, most people are not like me and do not care about the scene the way I do.
So here is what is happening, their are about 20 or 30 solid bands that are really doing well and making some noise in the scene. They perform well, write good music, get the crowds involved, bring 20-60 people and throw a good party. But most of them are not getting anywhere because the whole scene is being watered down. Everyone is playing every week in the city and all the time. So I have a bit of a solution to the problem. This is not a perfect solution and is going to take time to organize but if we all start working together it can work well....to be continued!!!!-J.R.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Slam One Down to open for Devildriver
S1D needs your help...we were asked to open up for Devildriver & Kittie at Eleanor Rigby's in Jermyn, PA about 2 hours from NYC on Thurs Aug. 26th @ 7pm..tix are $20each we need to know if people are willing to come with us on a bus road trip again and if people near the PA venue will buy tix from us...otherwise we cannot afford to do the show, we need to sell 100 tix, this could be huge for us...please respond.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Who gets thrown out of the woods?
This has to be the most ridiculous story ever. We were asked to play a 3 day mini tour in upstate NY near Niagara Falls, called the campfire sessions by a management company called Kalamazoo Recording and Management Company. The company invites 10 metal type bands to campsites all over the country for 3 day mini tours. So what you do is go to a campsite and set up your tents and so on and then drive to three different venues, play a show and then return to the campsite to sleep and then do that for three days from Friday through Sunday. So we thought that sounds like a cool way to get out of the area and invite more people into the Slam One Down family.
So everyone tried to get out of work as early as possible and we hit the road to Niagara Falls which is about a 6 hour drive. Our navigation system told us that we were going to arrive at the campsite around 10 and when I told the promoter that he said we were going to miss the first show. We were kind of pissed about that but new we would make it up somehow. We finally arrive at the campsite at 10:00PM. And the whole place was closed and shut down. The promoter told us where to go and we found the site.
When we arrive we saw about 6 other bands with their campsites set up. It looked like everyone was having a good time. SO we start setting up immediately. We had a canopy, two tents, a beer pong table, acoustic guitars, a fire, 6 chairs and a cooler full of about 6 thirty packs, a beer funnel, a bottle of crown royal, and a bottle of Jagermeister.
So we start attacking the booze like every good metal band does. Now remember we are in the middle of the woods, with about 6 other metal bands, a cooler full of beer and its about 11:00 PM. We are now having a party in the middle of the woods. We were singing songs by the fire, playing beer pong, laughing and having a fucking amazing time. The weird thing was out of 6 bands only 2 people came over to hang out. All the other bands went to bed around 11:30PM. Now no-one said anything to us about noise or being loud. We just went about our partying like everything was OK. It didn't seem like there is anyone around us.
Then at around 2AM, out of nowhere in the pitch black night someone walks up to us yells, "What the FUCK are you guys doing." We were completely freaked out and didn't know where he came from. It was a cop in the middle of the woods and he snuck up on us. He was flashing a light at us and Bobby was flashing his light back at him, because we didn't know what was going on. That pissed the cop off. He starts asking for our IDs and what not....One of the guys in our group was mouthing off to him a little because the cope was very rude for no reason. Now think about this for a second. What kind of cop sneaks up on people in the middle of the woods. He didn't ever pull up in a cop car he came out of the blackness of the woods....who does that. So he takes our IDs and disappears back into the blackness of the woods. So we continue to drink and do funnels.
Then all of a sudden 3 more cop cars come pulling up. I guess he called for back-up. And returns to us and says he is not going to do anything and said we have to leave the campsite at 10AM tomorrow morning. SO we are like "Cool" now we will get a hotel room and not have to sleep in the fucking woods. Most of us passed out around 3-4 AM.
We wake up around 10:30 AM to pack up and now drive to the show that we were supposed to play. This time a different cop comes back around 10:30 and said that we need to leave around 1PM which was perfect because that was the time we needed to go to the show. However, he walks up to the promoters and tells them what happens. These two kids are like 17-years old and proceeds to tell us that we are off the tour and have to go home. We couldn't understand why, we didn't do anything wrong. We didn't break any rules. See the way we look at it....if we were causing a problem, why didn't we get a warning. Someone should have come up to us and tell us we were being "TOO Loud" in the middle of the woods and we would have gladly brought it down a notch. So these 17 year olds who we have never met and apparently were at the campsite monitoring the campsite says to us well you guys were kind of loud but we didn't want to stop you from having a good time. They then allow someone to call the cops on us and then have the nerve to tell us that we cannot play the shows that we already paid $125 to play. They kept blaming it on their boss, but I didnt see any boss anywhere. At that point there was no reason to argue, we were dealing with morons.
Now that I think back, who the hell would call the cops on us. Was it one of the other "Metal" bands that we were camped out with. I mean is that the weakest thing ever. You call the cops on us and not ask us first to quiet down. That is pathetic. Or could it have been some neighboring campers who were not part of the group. Those people had to be pretty far away for our voices to travel that far and have them call the cops. Either way I would say that is the promoters fault because he should have made sure that we were far enough away from people that 10 metal bands couldnt bother them. I mean lets be realistic...there was hundreds of miles of open space I hope you didnt put us that close to other people. Plus these guys will not give back my $125.
Anyways we drove home around 11AM laughing the whole way home. I mean how does anybody manage to get thrown out of the woods by cops who sneak up on you in the black of the night. Only Slam One Down can. I guess this is the stuff that "Legends are made of" Thanks for reading....J.R.
http://www.slamonedown.com
http://www.myspace.com/slamonedown
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953?ref=ts
So everyone tried to get out of work as early as possible and we hit the road to Niagara Falls which is about a 6 hour drive. Our navigation system told us that we were going to arrive at the campsite around 10 and when I told the promoter that he said we were going to miss the first show. We were kind of pissed about that but new we would make it up somehow. We finally arrive at the campsite at 10:00PM. And the whole place was closed and shut down. The promoter told us where to go and we found the site.
When we arrive we saw about 6 other bands with their campsites set up. It looked like everyone was having a good time. SO we start setting up immediately. We had a canopy, two tents, a beer pong table, acoustic guitars, a fire, 6 chairs and a cooler full of about 6 thirty packs, a beer funnel, a bottle of crown royal, and a bottle of Jagermeister.
So we start attacking the booze like every good metal band does. Now remember we are in the middle of the woods, with about 6 other metal bands, a cooler full of beer and its about 11:00 PM. We are now having a party in the middle of the woods. We were singing songs by the fire, playing beer pong, laughing and having a fucking amazing time. The weird thing was out of 6 bands only 2 people came over to hang out. All the other bands went to bed around 11:30PM. Now no-one said anything to us about noise or being loud. We just went about our partying like everything was OK. It didn't seem like there is anyone around us.
Then at around 2AM, out of nowhere in the pitch black night someone walks up to us yells, "What the FUCK are you guys doing." We were completely freaked out and didn't know where he came from. It was a cop in the middle of the woods and he snuck up on us. He was flashing a light at us and Bobby was flashing his light back at him, because we didn't know what was going on. That pissed the cop off. He starts asking for our IDs and what not....One of the guys in our group was mouthing off to him a little because the cope was very rude for no reason. Now think about this for a second. What kind of cop sneaks up on people in the middle of the woods. He didn't ever pull up in a cop car he came out of the blackness of the woods....who does that. So he takes our IDs and disappears back into the blackness of the woods. So we continue to drink and do funnels.
Then all of a sudden 3 more cop cars come pulling up. I guess he called for back-up. And returns to us and says he is not going to do anything and said we have to leave the campsite at 10AM tomorrow morning. SO we are like "Cool" now we will get a hotel room and not have to sleep in the fucking woods. Most of us passed out around 3-4 AM.
We wake up around 10:30 AM to pack up and now drive to the show that we were supposed to play. This time a different cop comes back around 10:30 and said that we need to leave around 1PM which was perfect because that was the time we needed to go to the show. However, he walks up to the promoters and tells them what happens. These two kids are like 17-years old and proceeds to tell us that we are off the tour and have to go home. We couldn't understand why, we didn't do anything wrong. We didn't break any rules. See the way we look at it....if we were causing a problem, why didn't we get a warning. Someone should have come up to us and tell us we were being "TOO Loud" in the middle of the woods and we would have gladly brought it down a notch. So these 17 year olds who we have never met and apparently were at the campsite monitoring the campsite says to us well you guys were kind of loud but we didn't want to stop you from having a good time. They then allow someone to call the cops on us and then have the nerve to tell us that we cannot play the shows that we already paid $125 to play. They kept blaming it on their boss, but I didnt see any boss anywhere. At that point there was no reason to argue, we were dealing with morons.
Now that I think back, who the hell would call the cops on us. Was it one of the other "Metal" bands that we were camped out with. I mean is that the weakest thing ever. You call the cops on us and not ask us first to quiet down. That is pathetic. Or could it have been some neighboring campers who were not part of the group. Those people had to be pretty far away for our voices to travel that far and have them call the cops. Either way I would say that is the promoters fault because he should have made sure that we were far enough away from people that 10 metal bands couldnt bother them. I mean lets be realistic...there was hundreds of miles of open space I hope you didnt put us that close to other people. Plus these guys will not give back my $125.
Anyways we drove home around 11AM laughing the whole way home. I mean how does anybody manage to get thrown out of the woods by cops who sneak up on you in the black of the night. Only Slam One Down can. I guess this is the stuff that "Legends are made of" Thanks for reading....J.R.
http://www.slamonedown.com
http://www.myspace.com/slamonedown
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953?ref=ts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
show this last saturday. meeting Eddie Ojeda of Twisted Sister
So we had a show this past saturday night in honor of J.R. and Scott's birthdays. It was at a bar called The Blue Room. Nice place, nice stage. Thanks to our good friend and unofficial/official manager Stevie, a couple of people showed up to the place, including Eddie Ojeda. If that name doesn't ring a bell then I'll spell it out for you. He's the lead guitarist for Twisted Sister. Coolest fucking guy in the world. Now i have a bit of history with this guy before i even meet him.
A band i was in two years ago recorded in a studio in Long Island run by a guy named George Marshall. That name is not familiar to you, but he's the guy who does ALL the sound for Twisted Sister on their tours. They take him everywhere. We instantly became family with this guy and we had a blast at the studio. He told us stories of touring with Twisted Sister and all the places they went in the world. So seeing a member of the band was doubly amazing for me.
After he had a conversation with J.R. I sat next to him and introduced myself. I mention that i recorded with George Marshall and he immediately lights up and i knew right away that this was the right thing to do. We get into a conversation about playing on the road when Steve comes back into the picture and mentions were both Puerto Rican. We look at each other and give each other five. We start talking about the Puerto Rican Day parade, being young and Puerto Rican in the city, about being close with family, and even how the Italians treated us like family as well. In summation, Eddie Ojeda is the coolest fucking guy I've ever met.
Its our turn to go up on stage. We set up everything and this was a special performance. It was our first one hour set show so we were debuting some new songs, including Hell Doesn't Want Me, which marks the first time Bobby Brazen sings instead of screams. He was obviously nervous and we had rehearse the song hundreds of times before the show trying to get it perfect, but i was confident he would pull it off. The opening goes fine, we're getting into it, then comes time for HDWM. The minute Bobby started singing, I knew he hit it. He was on point with every note and he didn't crack once. Even the part where I jump in sounded amazing.
The rest of the show went without a hitch, Eddie and company loved every minute of it and the birthday show was a complete success. Afterwards the crew went next door to AJ's, which is a strip club connected with the bar. That story can't be told by me, probably because it would get some people in trouble, but mostly because I didn't get to go. I had to hop on the 2:18AM train back into NY (last one for the night) so i can get home and get some sleep. I had a funeral and a procession to play the next day. Me and my endless weeks.
So thats it. Met a bonafide rock star and he was awesome, great show, and great friends to hang with. stay tuned for more from SLAM...ONE...DOWN!
-Roach
www.slamonedown.com
www.myspace.com/slamonedown
www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953
A band i was in two years ago recorded in a studio in Long Island run by a guy named George Marshall. That name is not familiar to you, but he's the guy who does ALL the sound for Twisted Sister on their tours. They take him everywhere. We instantly became family with this guy and we had a blast at the studio. He told us stories of touring with Twisted Sister and all the places they went in the world. So seeing a member of the band was doubly amazing for me.
After he had a conversation with J.R. I sat next to him and introduced myself. I mention that i recorded with George Marshall and he immediately lights up and i knew right away that this was the right thing to do. We get into a conversation about playing on the road when Steve comes back into the picture and mentions were both Puerto Rican. We look at each other and give each other five. We start talking about the Puerto Rican Day parade, being young and Puerto Rican in the city, about being close with family, and even how the Italians treated us like family as well. In summation, Eddie Ojeda is the coolest fucking guy I've ever met.
Its our turn to go up on stage. We set up everything and this was a special performance. It was our first one hour set show so we were debuting some new songs, including Hell Doesn't Want Me, which marks the first time Bobby Brazen sings instead of screams. He was obviously nervous and we had rehearse the song hundreds of times before the show trying to get it perfect, but i was confident he would pull it off. The opening goes fine, we're getting into it, then comes time for HDWM. The minute Bobby started singing, I knew he hit it. He was on point with every note and he didn't crack once. Even the part where I jump in sounded amazing.
The rest of the show went without a hitch, Eddie and company loved every minute of it and the birthday show was a complete success. Afterwards the crew went next door to AJ's, which is a strip club connected with the bar. That story can't be told by me, probably because it would get some people in trouble, but mostly because I didn't get to go. I had to hop on the 2:18AM train back into NY (last one for the night) so i can get home and get some sleep. I had a funeral and a procession to play the next day. Me and my endless weeks.
So thats it. Met a bonafide rock star and he was awesome, great show, and great friends to hang with. stay tuned for more from SLAM...ONE...DOWN!
-Roach
www.slamonedown.com
www.myspace.com/slamonedown
www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Slam-One-Down/130550258953
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Hellyeah show last night - Roach's thoughts
Roach here. J.R. will probably write one of these about the show last night, but i thought i would chime in with my thoughts on the show.
I get there at 730 and doors are still closed. J.R. says hes leaving his house at that moment, which means i have an hour and a half to kill seeing as how he lives in north jersey. After a sandwich and water i come back to the venue and they're letting people in. now for people who don't know music hall of williamsburg, its a nice venue to be at. there's a separate bar where you can sit and drink before the show starts and bullshit with your friends. i sat there by myself, had a cup of beer, and watched the other fans yelling and act like fools, thinking i was only going to drink a little before the show actually started. Black Water Rising started their set and after a couple of SECONDS listening to them, i decided to go back to the bar and drink some more. 6 beers in J.R. finally shows up and im already feeling the beer. I don't know if this goes for anybody else, but when im drunk my body suddenly becomes numb and all the pain i feel from working the day suddenly disappears. We go into the main hall and Hellyeah just started their set.
As soon as the first song started, a giant circle pit formed and about ten guys were moshing and running around. i originally wanted to lay back and watch the show without getting pushed, but the combination of being drunk and seeing the pit, i thought "fuck this" and ran into the fray. I still had my leather jacket on and didn't bother going to coat check to put it away and i damn sure wasn't going to put it down somewhere so i moshed with my jacket on.
Chad on vocals was amazing and i don't even have to say anything about Vin Paul on drums. The guitarists didn't seem to be into it though. They played their riffs and bobbed their heads a little, but compared to Chad and Vin, it seemed like they were standing still. The music was amazing, though, and all the shit from their new forthcoming album sounded just as good as the old shit. No Pantera covers, but oh well maybe next time.
So I'm pushing people around, getting pushed around, elbowing people, got punched in the jaw, got knocked down, helped some people up, gave guys i don't know pounds and probably made 6 new friends from the show. I spent the entire set in the pit, with my jacket on, and it was the best thing ever. i haven't moshed in a while and it was just what i needed. Two fights that i saw broke out, but nothing serious happened.
Right after Hellyeah finished their set, i met up with J.R. again and he gives me a stack of cds to give out. let me tell you, I've never seen a stack of cds go so fast. i just kept yelling out "FREE CD" and people just took them. One person didn't take it and i yelled out "YOU DON'T LIKE FREE SHIT?" to which he gave me a weird look and kept walking. seriously, who doesn't like free shit?
I saw a couple of people that i know at the show too. I ran into a friend from another band in the pit and a friend of my wife's rockin out too. We also ran into some people who knew of us and had seen us perform at a previous show. Small metal world we live in. After talking with them, we drove to Duffs and had some more drinks there. I was talking to Jimmy Duff, the owner of the bar, and we're thinking of doing a summer show there sometime. We were just about to leave, when Hellyeah comes in. We're in the car ready to drive away when we see Vin Paul walk into the bar and J.R. said's "i think we can stay a couple more minutes."
I saw each member of the band and congratulated them on the show. I'm not one of these guys who shits himself when he sees a celebrity of any kind because, not to sound full of myself, i know someday that i will be at that status and i want to be a colleague, a contemporary, and hopefully a friend to some of these guys and not just another fan. Chad finds his way to the bar and orders a drink while this super hot chick is talking his ear off about her tattoo and how it has something to do with him and i'm thinking "this super hot chick, who knows shes hot, was playing it all cool before he showed up and now shes throwing her vagina at him and all he wants is a drink. i love this guy."
after meeting the band and saying whats up, we leave, stop by at another bar in the city, say hello to some friends, stop by a pizza place, get a slice, and J.R. drives me home. I stumble past two people sleeping in my living room (my wife had some friends over and killed a bottle of wine and half a cake) got into bed and went to sleep. An awesome night of metal, an awesome night of drinking, an awesome night for meeting new people and saying hello to some old faces. The night couldn't have gone any better.
I get there at 730 and doors are still closed. J.R. says hes leaving his house at that moment, which means i have an hour and a half to kill seeing as how he lives in north jersey. After a sandwich and water i come back to the venue and they're letting people in. now for people who don't know music hall of williamsburg, its a nice venue to be at. there's a separate bar where you can sit and drink before the show starts and bullshit with your friends. i sat there by myself, had a cup of beer, and watched the other fans yelling and act like fools, thinking i was only going to drink a little before the show actually started. Black Water Rising started their set and after a couple of SECONDS listening to them, i decided to go back to the bar and drink some more. 6 beers in J.R. finally shows up and im already feeling the beer. I don't know if this goes for anybody else, but when im drunk my body suddenly becomes numb and all the pain i feel from working the day suddenly disappears. We go into the main hall and Hellyeah just started their set.
As soon as the first song started, a giant circle pit formed and about ten guys were moshing and running around. i originally wanted to lay back and watch the show without getting pushed, but the combination of being drunk and seeing the pit, i thought "fuck this" and ran into the fray. I still had my leather jacket on and didn't bother going to coat check to put it away and i damn sure wasn't going to put it down somewhere so i moshed with my jacket on.
Chad on vocals was amazing and i don't even have to say anything about Vin Paul on drums. The guitarists didn't seem to be into it though. They played their riffs and bobbed their heads a little, but compared to Chad and Vin, it seemed like they were standing still. The music was amazing, though, and all the shit from their new forthcoming album sounded just as good as the old shit. No Pantera covers, but oh well maybe next time.
So I'm pushing people around, getting pushed around, elbowing people, got punched in the jaw, got knocked down, helped some people up, gave guys i don't know pounds and probably made 6 new friends from the show. I spent the entire set in the pit, with my jacket on, and it was the best thing ever. i haven't moshed in a while and it was just what i needed. Two fights that i saw broke out, but nothing serious happened.
Right after Hellyeah finished their set, i met up with J.R. again and he gives me a stack of cds to give out. let me tell you, I've never seen a stack of cds go so fast. i just kept yelling out "FREE CD" and people just took them. One person didn't take it and i yelled out "YOU DON'T LIKE FREE SHIT?" to which he gave me a weird look and kept walking. seriously, who doesn't like free shit?
I saw a couple of people that i know at the show too. I ran into a friend from another band in the pit and a friend of my wife's rockin out too. We also ran into some people who knew of us and had seen us perform at a previous show. Small metal world we live in. After talking with them, we drove to Duffs and had some more drinks there. I was talking to Jimmy Duff, the owner of the bar, and we're thinking of doing a summer show there sometime. We were just about to leave, when Hellyeah comes in. We're in the car ready to drive away when we see Vin Paul walk into the bar and J.R. said's "i think we can stay a couple more minutes."
I saw each member of the band and congratulated them on the show. I'm not one of these guys who shits himself when he sees a celebrity of any kind because, not to sound full of myself, i know someday that i will be at that status and i want to be a colleague, a contemporary, and hopefully a friend to some of these guys and not just another fan. Chad finds his way to the bar and orders a drink while this super hot chick is talking his ear off about her tattoo and how it has something to do with him and i'm thinking "this super hot chick, who knows shes hot, was playing it all cool before he showed up and now shes throwing her vagina at him and all he wants is a drink. i love this guy."
after meeting the band and saying whats up, we leave, stop by at another bar in the city, say hello to some friends, stop by a pizza place, get a slice, and J.R. drives me home. I stumble past two people sleeping in my living room (my wife had some friends over and killed a bottle of wine and half a cake) got into bed and went to sleep. An awesome night of metal, an awesome night of drinking, an awesome night for meeting new people and saying hello to some old faces. The night couldn't have gone any better.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Mastodon
I checked out Mastodon and Between the Buried and me the other day and I was very impressed by both bands live sets. It was an excellent night of music. It definitely got my creative juices flowing again to write new music. I love when that happens. We here at Slam One Down definitely want to write music from all different styles and we don't ever want to box ourselves into one style. I would love to implement more progressive type riffs into our songs, but of course S1D style!
....funny story though...both bands stopped in the middle of the set to yell at either people in the crowd or their road crew. BTBAM- yelled at someone in the crowd for cursing at them. Mastodon's Brett Hinds, started yelling at his roadies' saying that they get paid too much money to tune his guitars and they must have been out of tune. Then he yelled at the sound board engineer and told him to lower the subs, because he couldn't hear anything. I understood what they were going through. It sucks when you get rude people or you can't get into the vibe of your own music, due to technical diffuculties. However, it totally disrupted the vibe. One lesson I learned is always keep the party going, never let your emotions get the best of you. Nothing is perfect, but the fact you are up there and playing live and playing in front of 2000 people should be all you need. -J.R.
....funny story though...both bands stopped in the middle of the set to yell at either people in the crowd or their road crew. BTBAM- yelled at someone in the crowd for cursing at them. Mastodon's Brett Hinds, started yelling at his roadies' saying that they get paid too much money to tune his guitars and they must have been out of tune. Then he yelled at the sound board engineer and told him to lower the subs, because he couldn't hear anything. I understood what they were going through. It sucks when you get rude people or you can't get into the vibe of your own music, due to technical diffuculties. However, it totally disrupted the vibe. One lesson I learned is always keep the party going, never let your emotions get the best of you. Nothing is perfect, but the fact you are up there and playing live and playing in front of 2000 people should be all you need. -J.R.
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