It's what gets me to that place. I set out on a Thursday night to go see the legendary sludge metal band, Jucifer. If you haven't heard of them, they come from Athens Georgia. They are husband and wife and are true nomads. They tour in an RV and have no real home base. Known for playing extremely loud...ridiculously loud. They use huge wall of amps.
The show was being held at a local dance club called area 51. It's kind of throwback to 80's goth/industrial garbage that I loved when I was in Jr high, Some people still like that stuff, but whatever. Besides the metal show, there was also an 80's dance party going on and the last 5 goth kids in Utah were doing whatever the hell it is they do in the room next to where the bands were set to play. Not to get off on a tangent here, but seriously, what the actual fuck are these people doing? Dancing to the likes of Nitzer Ebb and 'Everyday is Halloween' era Ministry? Seriously, I get that everybody has their thing, but getting into S&M/Goth gear on a Thursday night and swaying back and forth to crappy 80's music makes zero sense to me. I can almost understand going and doing that once in awhile to relive the old days or something but it's a fucking Thursday night. To me that says that these weapons grade dingleberries are all about this shit. I shake my head and judge them,
I proceeded into the spot where the stage is where a local band, Muckraker, were just about to start their set. Of course, I missed the first band, but I'm sure they were fine upstanding young men. Anyway, Muckraker is fronted by an old homie of mine and they totally slayed it. They are everything that good metal should be. Loud, dirty, and no bullshit. After Muckraker, I wandered my way through the Gothic dummies to the smoke porch to visit with some friends and got caught up in some promo photo shoot for some movie? I think some things that happen when I go out are pretend...they just didn't really happen. Although, I did get a stupid water bottle thing out of the deal. I'll be sure to catch that movie...whatever.
I made my way back into the show, but of course I stayed outside long enough to miss them come out on stage. But holy shit, what I saw when I made it in was staggering. I've seen the wall of doom in pictures but in person, it's another story. It was so much to take in. I didn't even bother to count the number of speakers on stage. It was enough artillery to blow the roof off of any arena in the universe. This room may have accommodated a hundred metal heads comfortably although there were only about 30 people there...did I mention it was a Thursday? Anyway, as I said before, and by the description of their stage setup, you probably guessed it wasn't exactly a low volume situation. In fact, I would say it was the loudest anything I've ever heard anywhere. Not just musically speaking, but anything...jet planes, car races...anything. In front of this monstrosity was an over-sized drum kit and two wee little people making muddy, grubby, and downright awesome music. The vocals were almost nonexistent. There were no breaks between the songs and zero communication with the crowd...at least that I saw...but they lived up to their reputation. Loud, sludgy, goodness that gave this middle aged pre-curmudgeon a metal boner. To be honest, I don't really know shit about this band and after seeing them I still don't.
Save this, if I was ever in danger of experiencing the ever elusive brown note, this was the closest I've come. As they finished their set singer/vocalist Amber Valentine leaned her guitar against the the wall and let glorious feedback ring out for several minutes as they left stage and shut it down...no encore. No need for one. They did what they do and bailed.
Afterwards, she ran to the merch table to sell whatever they had for sale. The drummer ( Edgar Livengood) just kinda disappeared behind the gear. I kinda figured she'd be this unfriendly, kinda scary, metal chick but she was actually friendly and talked to anybody who wanted to. All in all it was worth rolling out to see them. Should they show up in your town, they don't disappoint.
Thanks mom for reading !
PMA Joel
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