Last night I went to a show. Cthon had told me our friend Matt would be playing with his new band in Columbia a couple of weeks ago. So I was stoked as this was my first metal show in a while. Right as I was getting in my car to leave, 'thon called me and told me the show had been cancelled. But come up anyway, we'll hang out. Ok, cool, no prob. I get to Columbia around 6:30 and find that they will be having a practice session later. Alright, good, still I get to see some metal. We all grab something to eat which turns out to be one of my more profitable feasts. Its a chickenshack of some kind, I place my order and sit down. They bring my food. We leave. When we get back to Matt's apartment, I realize I never paid for anything. I appreciated the hospitality. After supper, Matt starts making some calls and it turns out that the show is on. WOW, now how could this be with the venue shut down? So we drive with Matt to where the band practices. Its a rental storage facility. He starts tuning his drums. Then a guitar player shows up. He starts tuning his guitars. I'm wondering, damn, shouldn't they start moving equipment into their van? They got a show soon. Anyway, Matt's girl, comes by, and she takes 'thon and me to get beer. I grab some Amber Bock, gum, cigs...ten dollars in all. We head back to the storage place. The scene has changed completely. As we get to the security gate, we see two young girls dressed in drab grey and black colors run toward our car. They yell with much exuberance, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE BANDS??????" Matt's girl very smoothly says, "sure, we got to park though." We drive into a morass of pierced, tattoed teens crowded around the open door of a storage unit. Suddenly I realize, this is The Show. They're playing at a fucking rental storage facility. Now this is metal the way it is supposed to be.

PART TWO

Matt's band sets up and goes through a quick feeback drenched soundcheck. What happens for the next 15 minutes is worth the whole trip. These guys launch into a furious assault of sound. The crowd has assembled into the double unit pressing right against the band. Soon they are a part of the show moshing with the singer whose barely audible hardcore catcalls are buried in a sea of bodies falling back and forth in the small confines of space. It is a beautiful sight. 'thon and I watch from the outside with Matt's girl. I ask her about the kids here. She tells me that all the girls a year ago were part of the prep crowd and dressed as such. Their turnaround in fashion and music is a result of wanting boys. She tells me this with an air of disgust, but I have to think, isnt' this better than these girls chasing guys at a mall or some football game?

PART THREE

Matt's band is done and the second group comes on the name of which is something like, The Great Redneck Hope...They're from Colorado. Immediately they start unloading equipment from a van. Several members come up to us asking for beer or water. 'thon obliges them with his nasty piss Natural Ice. I hold off cause I want to see if their playing deserves a free beer. These guys look like actors in a early 80's b-movie. You know, those movies that are always played on Saturday afternoons when there isn't shit on to watch except golf. The bass player definitely would have been the lead actor in such a film. His jeans are rolled up a bit in an attempt I guess to show off his black leather shoes. Several of the members walk up to each other to grab each other's crotches which is followed by much giggling. A homoerotic inside joke perhaps? I'm not sure. Nobody seems to be paying attention to them. So they get started playing chanting in accapella the theme song to the PBS show, Rainbow Reader. They follow this immediately with a tremendous outburst of distortion shrieks from their instruments. I can see the singer crouched in a furious vocal attack but I hear no words emitting from his microphone. The PA is blown. Apparently he doesn't realize this. And the kids don't care either as what was a mosh pit before has now turned into a full-scale riot. They hang from the ceiling joists, run up against the walls, in total defiance of breaking a limb. The G.R. Hope love it too. With thirty second,(I would not call them songs), but rather cacophonous moments, they blow the walls out. There is a "modern" merit here in the dynamics, delivery and total disregard for conventional song structure. This is why I'm so happy that these trendkill teens are exposed to this. Sure they've conformed to this punk chic in fashion and style, but unlike a conformity to normal American society involving sitting on your ass watching college football and eating doritos, these children are exposed to a jagged endeavor of life which provokes them instead of sedating them as our sedentary television culture tends to do. The band obviously has a following cause after the show several of the kids are buying tapes out of the back of their van. Maybe they'll make enough for a motel room. Probably not.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mezcalhead:
PART ONE

Last night I went to a show. Cthon had told me our friend Matt would be playing with his new band in Columbia a couple of weeks ago. So I was stoked as this was my first metal show in a while. Right as I was getting in my car to leave, 'thon called me and told me the show had been cancelled. But come up anyway, we'll hang out. Ok, cool, no prob. I get to Columbia around 6:30 and find that they will be having a practice session later. Alright, good, still I get to see some metal. We all grab something to eat which turns out to be one of my more profitable feasts. Its a chickenshack of some kind, I place my order and sit down. They bring my food. We leave. When we get back to Matt's apartment, I realize I never paid for anything. I appreciated the hospitality. After supper, Matt starts making some calls and it turns out that the show is on. WOW, now how could this be with the venue shut down? So we drive with Matt to where the band practices. Its a rental storage facility. He starts tuning his drums. Then a guitar player shows up. He starts tuning his guitars. I'm wondering, damn, shouldn't they start moving equipment into their van? They got a show soon. Anyway, Matt's girl, comes by, and she takes 'thon and me to get beer. I grab some Amber Bock, gum, cigs...ten dollars in all. We head back to the storage place. The scene has changed completely. As we get to the security gate, we see two young girls dressed in drab grey and black colors run toward our car. They yell with much exuberance, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE BANDS??????" Matt's girl very smoothly says, "sure, we got to park though." We drive into a morass of pierced, tattoed teens crowded around the open door of a storage unit. Suddenly I realize, this is The Show. They're playing at a fucking rental storage facility. Now this is metal the way it is supposed to be.

PART TWO

Matt's band sets up and goes through a quick feeback drenched soundcheck. What happens for the next 15 minutes is worth the whole trip. These guys launch into a furious assault of sound. The crowd has assembled into the double unit pressing right against the band. Soon they are a part of the show moshing with the singer whose barely audible hardcore catcalls are buried in a sea of bodies falling back and forth in the small confines of space. It is a beautiful sight. 'thon and I watch from the outside with Matt's girl. I ask her about the kids here. She tells me that all the girls a year ago were part of the prep crowd and dressed as such. Their turnaround in fashion and music is a result of wanting boys. She tells me this with an air of disgust, but I have to think, isnt' this better than these girls chasing guys at a mall or some football game?

PART THREE

Matt's band is done and the second group comes on the name of which is something like, The Great Redneck Hope...They're from Colorado. Immediately they start unloading equipment from a van. Several members come up to us asking for beer or water. 'thon obliges them with his nasty piss Natural Ice. I hold off cause I want to see if their playing deserves a free beer. These guys look like actors in a early 80's b-movie. You know, those movies that are always played on Saturday afternoons when there isn't shit on to watch except golf. The bass player definitely would have been the lead actor in such a film. His jeans are rolled up a bit in an attempt I guess to show off his black leather shoes. Several of the members walk up to each other to grab each other's crotches which is followed by much giggling. A homoerotic inside joke perhaps? I'm not sure. Nobody seems to be paying attention to them. So they get started playing chanting in accapella the theme song to the PBS show, Rainbow Reader. They follow this immediately with a tremendous outburst of distortion shrieks from their instruments. I can see the singer crouched in a furious vocal attack but I hear no words emitting from his microphone. The PA is blown. Apparently he doesn't realize this. And the kids don't care either as what was a mosh pit before has now turned into a full-scale riot. They hang from the ceiling joists, run up against the walls, in total defiance of breaking a limb. The G.R. Hope love it too. With thirty second,(I would not call them songs), but rather cacophonous moments, they blow the walls out. There is a "modern" merit here in the dynamics, delivery and total disregard for conventional song structure. This is why I'm so happy that these trendkill teens are exposed to this. Sure they've conformed to this punk chic in fashion and style, but unlike a conformity to normal American society involving sitting on your ass watching college football and eating doritos, these children are exposed to a jagged endeavor of life which provokes them instead of sedating them as our sedentary television culture tends to do. The band obviously has a following cause after the show several of the kids are buying tapes out of the back of their van. Maybe they'll make enough for a motel room. Probably not.

So that was the show. 'thon was looking rough that night the result of a bender the night before. I sobered up well enough to make the drive home at 2 in the morning. A great night for ten bucks and a free meal.

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TGRH band