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Over the years, my band has had some pretty cool opportunities, sharing the stage with numerous touring bands as local openers or at festivals. When it was announced that Behemoth's frontman was diagnosed with leukemia and that their North American tour was called off, their support band Watain decided to go ahead with the tour. We were offered an opening spot on the St. Paul, MN date, which we of course took. We've never opened for a proper black metal band, so since this tour lineup consisted of Watain, Goatwhore and Black Anvil (who I'd never heard of) it sounded like fun. The other local opener would be our former drummer's band, which includes his wife and the guy who used to print our t-shirts. I was looking forward to it.
Two months go by with no more information. Then we find out that a new promoter is involved, and that two more local bands have been added. They are new, young bands and had to pre-sell tickets (pay-to-play) so we started worrying that we might "retroactively" get dragged into that. Set lengths would presumably be shortened due to the extra bands. Nobody new the band order anymore. Perfect!
The day of the show finally comes, and I arrive early at the venue to scout it out before load-in. I've played this place many times, and while it's not the nicest place, it's no dive either. I was completely unprepared for the wave of body odor that violently assaulted my nostrils. Wow! Someone told me (and someone else seconded) that Watain's frontman has worn the same shirt for every gig the band has played, never washing it so as not to lose "the essence of black metal" that has accrued over the years. (A friend of mine who works at the club also informed me that on a previous visit, one of the band members "dropped a deuce" on the floor backstage.) Torches and elaborate decorations constructed from fresh livestock carcasses gave the whole thing a surreal backwoods BBQ/mass murder sort of aura, so it was truly a delight for the nose.
Goatwhore's van broke down, so we ended up getting a decent set length, which was cool since we were playing to an audience that had for the most part never seen us play before. One of the bands before us was terrible, and one was pretty good. Our ex-drummer's wife was playing a Jackson AT2T that I'd sold to her years ago, so it was nice to see it back in action. I missed Black Anvil entirely while loading everything back up, but made it back in just as Watain hit the stage. Beards, corpse paint, black uniforms (everyone with a Watain patch on their black leather vests, of course) and scowls all around! Pretty sure they missed Sunday School the day before due to their touring schedule, which I'm sure is why they were so conflicted about Jesus and such. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of them, but it was at once impressive and disappointing - the music was good, but completely overshadowed by the theatrics. I only stayed for about a third of Watain's set before calling it a night and taking all my gear back to our studio, but the "essence of black metal" was sure smelling pretty ripe six hours into the evening.
My wife was kind enough to take some pictures of us, although we looked downright pleasant and substantially less grim than Watain.
My brother Chris, failing to block out the fragrance of dead goat coming from somewhere behind him:
Beard's eye view:
Two months go by with no more information. Then we find out that a new promoter is involved, and that two more local bands have been added. They are new, young bands and had to pre-sell tickets (pay-to-play) so we started worrying that we might "retroactively" get dragged into that. Set lengths would presumably be shortened due to the extra bands. Nobody new the band order anymore. Perfect!
The day of the show finally comes, and I arrive early at the venue to scout it out before load-in. I've played this place many times, and while it's not the nicest place, it's no dive either. I was completely unprepared for the wave of body odor that violently assaulted my nostrils. Wow! Someone told me (and someone else seconded) that Watain's frontman has worn the same shirt for every gig the band has played, never washing it so as not to lose "the essence of black metal" that has accrued over the years. (A friend of mine who works at the club also informed me that on a previous visit, one of the band members "dropped a deuce" on the floor backstage.) Torches and elaborate decorations constructed from fresh livestock carcasses gave the whole thing a surreal backwoods BBQ/mass murder sort of aura, so it was truly a delight for the nose.
Goatwhore's van broke down, so we ended up getting a decent set length, which was cool since we were playing to an audience that had for the most part never seen us play before. One of the bands before us was terrible, and one was pretty good. Our ex-drummer's wife was playing a Jackson AT2T that I'd sold to her years ago, so it was nice to see it back in action. I missed Black Anvil entirely while loading everything back up, but made it back in just as Watain hit the stage. Beards, corpse paint, black uniforms (everyone with a Watain patch on their black leather vests, of course) and scowls all around! Pretty sure they missed Sunday School the day before due to their touring schedule, which I'm sure is why they were so conflicted about Jesus and such. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of them, but it was at once impressive and disappointing - the music was good, but completely overshadowed by the theatrics. I only stayed for about a third of Watain's set before calling it a night and taking all my gear back to our studio, but the "essence of black metal" was sure smelling pretty ripe six hours into the evening.
My wife was kind enough to take some pictures of us, although we looked downright pleasant and substantially less grim than Watain.
My brother Chris, failing to block out the fragrance of dead goat coming from somewhere behind him:
Beard's eye view:
So did the smell stay with you after you left the venue? I just imagine it would have rest on the back of your tongue for a good couple of days.
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