“Broken Heads
Brainwashed
Hatred Pulls Me Through
In Your Mind
Instinct For Survival
Censored Views
Trick And Confuse
It Began Just As I Knew It Would
Black And Blue Crayon Scratches”
~”Blank”, eyehategod
Greetings from sunny Los Angeles.
Consider this the beginning of a new, exciting chapter of HardRockChick, where instead of popping up all over the place with a review here and there of this or that like a submarine lost in the ocean….where instead of soul crushing, bleeding heart stories of death, misery, and self-destruction (ok…I actually don’t promise that will totally go away)…instead, things will go back to the beginning of HardRockChick, where I immerse myself into what a city has to offer. A period of discovery is about to occur; but instead of the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed 27 year old in San Francisco who was rediscovering her love for rock and metal after leaving it for many years, I will approach this as a much more experienced and slightly jaded pseudo-metalhead.
I’ve been in LA for two weeks, and while not working on my new-found enthusiasm for my jobs that actually make money, or laughing at Los Angelenos who are complaining about the heat (PUSSIES!), I caught a rad mini set by my much beloved Gypsyhawk at the supercool Vacation Vinyl in celebration of their recently released record. I also Summer Slaughtered again in the air conditioned Grove, where I began the show trying to find my way through the dark during the Short Fuse set and was ragdoll thrown by a spontaneous pit. I saw Cerebral Bore for the first time and was completely impressed by their female growler, and during Cannibal Corpse, while perched on the first tier, we experienced what came to be know as “Hair Smashed Face” by a long hair below us going crazy. Then I went to Los Globos for the first time to see Black Cobra and Saviours, which was a venue new to me, appropriately described to me as a Scarface-esque coke den. That couldn’t have been more accurate. The synchronized shirt removal that begins a Saviours set is worth the price of admission alone.
But for whatever reason, for the first time in nearly 6 (!) years…I’m not writing full pieces on those shows. Call it being burnt out, laziness, or whatever…
So the chapter begins, appropriately, with eyehategod.
I’ve been seeing EHG play for 16 (!) years now. To recap what I’ve written in many EHG pieces on this site, they were technically the first metal band I ever saw, opening for White Zombie and Pantera in 1996. You never forget your first, blah blah, etc etc…nothing will beat this EHG show for me….but I’m still stoked I got to review them on the GRAMMY site.
While waiting in line to get into this show, I caught the best juxtaposition of merch ever:
Then, after having fun list drama, we walked upstairs into the low ceilinged, dimly-lit, red leather padded walls space that is Los Globos. It’s the kind of joint that makes shady people look one shade shadier. Standing on the perimeter of the crowd watching Nausea perform, I took in their primitive growls and Terrorizer covers while a guy looked at me and slurringly said, “are you ready….to go up there…?” to which I replied with not words but a very distinct look that is worth a thousand words. He stared back and then relocated. HRC = 1, dude = 0.
Los Globos is kinda weak on sight lines, so I’m not sure I ever really saw Lack of Interest, but I sure saw the pit and security hand picking people to drag out of it. It was an intense set of what is apparently deemed “powerviolence” and has a long LA legacy.
While that all may sound auspiciously provocative, I will say that I was somewhat horrified by the guy who ran out on stage, took out his junk, and started fiddling with it on stage in our direction. I mean…I didn’t need to see that.
Nice job HRC! Great seeing you there as a new “neighbor” 🙂