Most Triumphant

So as it happens, we [that is the band whose name remains in flux] played that show at Ash Street on March 2nd, though if you want to be specific it was early in the morning of the 3rd by the time we took the stage.

It went very well. Here's some pictures and some text which I will use to convey to you some small slice of the experiences of those who were physically present at the time.

Burke

Burke opened. Burke. I guess that's just his name. Burke. Spastic one-man working-it-hard a-boy-and-his-guitar shouting and singing and strumming and a disconcerting amount of crotch rubbing in a couple songs. At the end of his set, he humped his amp a little.

Later, when we were on, Brian discovered that he had forgotten his capo. I ran off stage and rummaged through our guitar cases, but no love. To the mic: "Is there a capo in the house?"

There was. It was Burke's. God bless him.

Bully Killer

These guys were really, really loud. Good, in a blasting metal rage-against-the-machine sort of way, but Jesus Christ did they ever turn up. There was this palpable wave of movement -- Bully Killer started playing, and the crowd started retreating away from the stage and into the relative quiet of the bar area.

Force Fed Led

There were only three guys in this band, but they were just as loud as Bully Killer. That's 133% that they were giving, on the LAS (Loud-Ass Crunch) scale. I liked Force Fed Led a bit better, the wife preferred Bully Killer, but as this latter band was fronting a mohawk whereas BK's lead singer was dressed in baggy black clothing, I think I am in the more defensible position, at least from an aesthetic perspective.

The wave of moment, mentioned above? These guys help establish it as a tide. BK started, tide goes out. BK finishes, tide comes back in. Force Fed Led starts, bam, with the moon, there goes the ocean of people. You have to almost wonder what the goal is -- musicality, or irreversible inner-ear cilia damage.

Great mohawk, though.

The Havzies

Or is it the Havies? Or what? I dunno. I think we may have said different things at different times throughout the evening.

First up, a round of introductions, I think:



Wilder Schmaltz, high-school compatriate and bassist.



Brian Rosendal, lead singer and rhythm guitarist.



Edgar Paras, drumming machine.



Josh Millard, lead guitarist, backup vocals, blog author.







We played well, we had a helluva good time, the crowd stuck around and cheered -- it was the sort of wildly catharctic and therapeutic experience that makes this sometimes trying and exhausting band thing make sense. I think we'll do it more often.