Fast forward nearly twenty years, and an opportunity to see Devo presents itself in a very unusual, only in the life of HRC way. Someone who discovered my site through my write-ups of the final Nine Inch Nails shows contacted me, offering up an extra ticket to the show. Knowing that Josh Freese, the drummer for Devo, used to be the drummer for NIN for about half the time I followed the band around, he thinks I’d be into it. And, of course, I am!

The fun begins as I’m walking up to the venue and pass several members of the band, all led by Josh Freese, on the street. That NEVER happens…..odd that the venue was circled with people waiting to get in and the band they are waiting for just casually walks right by me.

It’s a sold out show, and the crowd is full of San Francisco eccentrics, many who you could tell this was their only show of the year. They were dressed in variations of what I can only assume were homages to the band: coke bottle glasses, crazy jackets, and an array of bizarre hairdos. And of course, the little hats.

The person who took me to the show had mentioned that these were VIP tickets, and as we arrived we got cool little passes and instructions on where to go after the show for the meet and greet for ‘Devo-tees’ as they are called.

The first thing I saw when the opener, Reggie Watts, took the stage was his hair. And then I heard a bunch of hip hop beats and thought, this is an odd choice for an opener. But this guy was amazing. Beyond his beatbox cover of ‘Whip It’, which would be the only version of the song I heard that night, he closed with a ’song’ that was the smartest, most hilarious piece of commentary on the state of hip hop that I could ever imagine:

Gets going at about 1:40 mark….worth the wait!

As it gets closer to time for Devo to go on, the crowd gets really antsy and turns unexpectedly pushy. A video for ‘Secret Agent Man’ comes on that reminds me of how the Devo aesthetic freaks me out:

Then the band rolls out in their jumpsuits and the crowd goes wacko. I bail from the middle to my usual side stage corner spot, which is close but has a pretty obstructed view. However, it afforded me the ability to observe two things closely: Freese’s drumming and the crowd up front. People had lost their minds…the temperature in the room shot up seemingly 20 degrees. The band slowly rips apart their jumpsuits and tosses them into the crowd after a few songs. Singer Mark Mothersbaugh paces back and forth across the front of the stage in black socks and knee pads. KNEE PADS! Hahahaha, and they had ‘Mark’ written across the back in sharpie.

It’s hard to not feel like I’ve missed out on something for twenty years by watching this crowd. Case in point: the couple next to me at the barrier. The woman is in a funky little dress, and the guy has on one of the little red hats. They aren’t even watching the band; they are dancing. At times, the girl would lay up over the rail and the guy would just repeatedly spank her to the beat of the music. It was so odd, but kind of endearing, except when they would bump up into me and I felt like I was involuntarily joining some kind of bizarre public menage-a-trois.

The album ‘Are We Not Men? was being played in its entirety. As I’m watching Freese, I’m thinking that it’s so weird that he can transition from NIN to this, as a lot of the drumming was pretty mellow. However, towards the end of the album, things picked up, and his drumming became faster and more ferocious, and I remembered exactly why we called him ‘Josh-Fucking- Freese!’, or JFF for short, throughout the tour.

The show flew by. After finishing the album, they did ‘Gates of Steel’ for the encore. I think many expected them to come back out and do their big hit, but since they are playing all of ‘Freedom of Choice’ tonight to a crowd I would expect to be largely the same, it was understandable.

Devo. I think I get it now.

Youtube finds:

After the show, we were told to remain in the ballroom while the rest of the people filed out. About 75 or so people were involved in the aftershow meet and greet. Basically, the band came out and just mingled with the crowd, which was kind of a disorganized mess if you weren’t proactive about things. Luckily, my ticket person is not shy like me, and knew Josh Freese, so he took me right up to him and introduced me and I got my picture with him!

I told him how I saw him a lot with NIN, and he talked about how cool it was to be a part of the LITS tour. Then he talked with my friend about his crazy schedule- between Devo, Weezer, and Sting, and three kids, I don’t know how he does it. After mingling some more, I spied another rock star in the room- Robert Trujillo of Metallica! I get a little giddy and explain to my friend who he is, and he just walks up to him and taps him on the back and asks him to take a pic with me. I’m slightly mortified, but also super excited, and Robert is nice enough to turn around a snap this epic pic with me:

As part of the VIP ticket, we also received these amazing signed posters:

On the way out, we stopped to say bye to Josh, and he shook my hand and said, ‘nice to meet you, Jamie’. He remembered my name….someone stick this guy on finding the cure for cancer. Seriously.

Special thanks to my friend for the ticket hook up- meeting Josh essentially meant that this year I met almost every NIN member I ever saw play- between the final lineup meet and greets, to Ally, Jeordie, and now Josh. Jerome Dillon and Aaron North, you’re the final pieces of the puzzle!

I enter Slim’s and make my way through the crowd of young girls and fratty dudes to the stage. The opening act, Ke$ha, came out and performed a quick set of girl pop rap. The female singer, presumably names Kesha, is in hot pants and oddly enough has the eyelashes of one eye drawn on, just like my Alex DeLarge Halloween costume. She is flanked by an uber hipster ‘guitarist’ and a DJ, both shirtless…and a girl with a keytar who looks like a cross between Lady Sovereign and Lady Gaga but is mysteriously called Lady Tampon. Or Laser Tampon. I couldn’t hear exactly what was said…..either way, it was pretty much my own personal hell. They were bathed in glitter and had dollar signs painted all over them, and sang a song about ‘old dudes who hit on young chicks called ‘Dinosaur’. Not. For. Me.

After a lengthy break, Beardo came out with DJ Mackey. In an impressive improvement from last year’s show, everyone knew the words….except me and my friend. His music is rap punk like Mickey, only he occasionally plays the guitar and has a pretty impressive mullet. He wears skin tight acid washed jeans and has the Grim Reaper tattooed on his arm and an AK-47 tattooed across his chest. His covers of ‘Paper Planes’ and ‘Fight for Your Right’ were fun but obvious choices. His attempt to be a little more rock than Mickey is lost on me, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

The swarm of girls start to push and shove as Mickey’s set draws closer. The lipstick is out, the hair is being fiddled with…..Mickey just has that affect on women. He comes out to the usual ‘Hey Mickey’ flanked by two scantily clad dancers, and opens with ‘Waiting to Die’, the first track off his first album. Oh how I love that album. The girl behind me screams and tells her friend, “I totally wanna fuck him…is that bad?”

The dancers do their thing alongside Mickey…they are never the same girls, but they always have the same vibe- mid tier strippers. Mickey’s brand of sleazy punk rap is always exciting to witness, and the girls just make it over the top. The beats are back to basic, stripped down bass lines- none of the poppy auto-tuned crap that has invaded all of the rap and hip hop genre.

The set contains a lot of his new songs that must be cued up for his yet to be released second album. I’m split- some of them sound great and in the same vein as his first; others have lyrics and beats that are much more light and poppy. This is surely a result in the change of lifestyle for Mickey Avalon- that first record was a product of years of hard living, while this one is born from his rise to fame.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this performance was mellow in comparison to past ones, but he did seem to be on good behavior. The shirt is usually off a song or two in, exposing that iconic ‘Thank You’ tattoo. Girls are screaming, “take your fucking shirt off!”, but he doesn’t listen until the final song. Must be hard to be a female sex symbol like that.

During ‘Hustler Hall of Fame’, Mickey starts going down the line of girls in the front row giving them kisses- something I had seen but never partaken in myself. I was at the far corner filming, so I handed my camera to my friend and had her capture the moment. I got a tiny peck on the cheek…..because I am a laydee….and I don’t need no H1N1 from any of those other chicks down the line.

Hustler Hall of Fame (over Whole Lotta Love) ~ with a very polite kiss on the cheek at the 1:45 mark

After the show, Mickey came out to sign stuff and take pictures at the merch booth. My friend and I queued up to get a picture towards the back of the line. I was fighting with my camera as the flash wouldn’t turn on, when I feel a hand on my back as someone is passing by. I look up, and Beardo is totally giving me the perv move as he walks by…we exchanged a few words and my friend and I start cracking up.

When we walked outside, I asked a guy standing out front to take a picture of me and my friend. I chose him because he looked the least harmless out there. After he took it, he proceeded to try to get us to go across the street with him to Butter- a ‘white trash bar’. We respectfully declined and scurried away….but it was somehow a perfect ending to the evening.

Fuckin’ ‘Em All

So Rich, So Pretty

Earlier this year, I had to miss the LA Puscifer shows due to a family emergency, so it was nice to be able to make up the show before the year’s end. I had considered doing the wine tasting or meet and greet that was offered for this show, but was unable to….however, I started off my year with both (sorta) at my local Whole Foods anyway.

Umlaut, Photo Ray, and I walk up to the Fox Theater to encounter a ‘protest’ out front. Two guys holding signs that say ‘Satan is a Real Douchebag’ and ‘Jesus Thinks Your Music Sucks’ are preaching to a small crowd of people waiting to get inside. One of them looks exactly like MJK…..but I’m skeptical. These guys are going on about Jesus and the Devil, picking on people in the crowd and telling them to lay their tickets down and go home. It’s funny, but I can’t stop trying to figure out if that’s really MJK. Then two separate people walk up to me and go, ‘you know that’s Maynard, right?’. Theses are guys in Tool shorts. So I’m convinced, and stand their mouth agape at the fact that MJK is actually doing this. Especially when he picks on a girl in a NIN t-shirt- ‘what is that, some kind of satanic emblem?’, and then picks on all the band tees in the crowd, including the Tool ones. It goes on for a good 15-20 minutes, until they finally decide it’s time to start the show inside.

The GA area of the Fox Theater had been lined with seats, which set an entirely different tone for the evening. We had great seats for press tickets, at the back of the GA pit. We were allowed to shoot pictures from the bar of the first tier….which was a little weird. But I was kinda glad, because the night before I had a nightmare that my flash accidentally went off and MJK got really angry with me.

The debate about whether the guy out front was MJK or not was ongoing in my twitter feed, but once Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival came out, I knew the guy out front was indeed the drummer. They continued their tongue in cheek Jesus-preaching through their set decor and songs….which somewhat reminded me of Captain Clegg from last night’s show. ‘Back Door Man No More’ and ‘Gimme Back My Bible’ entertained the crowd….especially this one guy who was hootin’ and hollerin’ and flailing his arms in the air moving around the aisle near his seat. Dude was definitely in an altered state.

As the set ended, this god-awful R&B song came on- a friend working the venue said that MJK instructed the sound guy to play this song a lot. It was something like this. (That was painful to google. And seriously- is that site some kind of weird ARG?)

The set begins with a video introduction from MJK, mainly stressing NO CAMERAS. He hates them…so much so that he is hardly on stage for the two songs we are allowed to shoot. The band starts trickling out onto the set: a living room setup in the middle, two television monitors at the rear, and a drum set on each side. Tim Alexander comes out in a ’70s suit, followed by a bassist and two guitarists. The bassist, Matt McJunkins, and the other drummer, Jeff Friedl, are from Ashes Divide. Two female singers set up behind the TV monitors- they sing behind them with their faces projected on to the monitors, making them look like real life bobbleheads. They start with ‘Sour Grapes’, and MJK eventually comes out on a Segway in a track suit with a bad combover. Let the headscratching begin.

I was totally into it, but then again, I love Lynch films and this was like seeing a country fried version play out on stage. Plus, I’ve actually heard the music. I think a lot of people in the crowd didn’t realize they were coming to see something so different from Tool and APC.

The musicians are constantly shifting about- when not playing, they are on the couches surfing on a Mac (actually, they were tweeting on MJK’s account), eating an apple, cheese, bread, and drinking wine. Then when it came time for their part, they would get up and return to their playing position.

Puscifer highlights MJK’s amazing voice in a way that his other bands have not- it’s pure and stripped down. His voice….does things to me….it’s so beautiful that he could literally sing anything and I’d listen, which is basically what he does here. There will be beautiful, profound lyrics followed by vagina, kidney stones, and blow job references. It’s beautiful and it’s crass, a combination that didn’t sit well with many in the crowd.

Songs are flanked by skits on the screen- many of gross old man creeper MJK in the track suit with a trio of strippers, with a guest star spot from a giant dildo. They add to the multimedia feel of the set- this isn’t really a concert, it’s performance art.

MJK walks around pouring wine for his band, into those stemless glasses. He drinks from the bottle. He rarely looks at the crowd, which is good, because people are conferring on what the hell is going on all throughout the set, and the back half is empty. It breaks my heart.

The songs sound amazing live. MJK’s voice takes my breath away. The setlist meanders from the psycho disco rock grooves of ‘DoZo’ to the stunning, soul wrenching ‘Momma Sed’, and continues this pattern through ‘Queen Bee’, ‘Polar Bear’, and onto ‘The Humbling River’. ‘Queen Bee’ roused some of the audience out of their seats to dance, which in turn revealed the others in an altered state. One woman started working her way up the aisle forming letters with her arms…it was weird.

The hour and a half set was an interesting trip for those open minded enough to it. Word on the street is that they’ll mix it up from night to night for those attending back to back shows.

The night grew even a little more random as I fell in love with a classic muscle car on the way back to the Prius, and Photo Ray did a little impromptu photo shoot for me. Thanks, Ray!

My experience really couldn’t have been more different from the Halloween Zombie show on Saturday in LA. This was mostly because I decided to buy a VIP upgrade to my ticket so that I could meet Rob Zombie. I was on my own for this one, and my solo adventures are always….interesting.

Besides being totally fangirly about Rob Zombie, I was really interested in how this I Love All Access thing would work. The only other meet and greet I ever did were the NIN ones, but that was through the band and just entirely different. I had seen these kinds of packages for sale before, but never for an artist that I cared for. It ended up being a helluva deal.

It took me an hour and a half to get to the venue’s parking garage (parking was free with the upgrade) from SF. I was starting to stress but ended up arriving at the meeting spot exactly on time at 4:45p. There were about 30 in the group, and we were quickly checked in and given laminates and envelopes. Inside the envelopes were 2 drink coupons and a raffle ticket. We were escorted inside and get to walk across the main venue floor where Captain Clegg is getting ready to soundcheck. We were taken into a medium sized room where we are able to get drinks and snacks. I had a glass and a half of local Chardonnay out of a plastic wine glass- how perfect!. We were told that Rob will be coming in at 5:35-5:40pm (precise!) and that we were allowed one item signed and the I Love Access rep would take the picture with her camera, and she would upload it for us that evening. We were instructed to not be afraid to give him some fanfare when he entered the room, and that we were allowed a couple minutes to chat because he didn’t want it to be a rushed thing, but to please not grab onto him or kiss him because they are trying to keep him well as this is only the fifth show of the tour.

He comes in the room at precisely the right time, everyone claps and cheers, and the meet and greet begins. You had to go with the members of your party, so since most people were in couples or threes, it went fast. I had the ticket stub from my White Zombie / Pantera show in 1996 for him to sign clutched in my hand. I had carefully pried it out of it’s home where it had rested for 13 years the night before.

It’s my turn. I walk up to him and say, “Hi Rob, I’m Jamie”. He looks at me and says something like “hey, I have those pants, too”. I giggle. I hand him my ticket and explain that this was my first metal show, and that considering I write a rock and metal music site now, this is pretty monumental for me. He looks at it and goes, “let’s see, where was this…” and I say San Antonio. He carefully signed it and handed it to me and asks, “do you remember it?” That caught me off guard, because I wrote that whole piece linked above about how I wish I could remember it more. So I said, “not really….?” And he said, “Yeah, me neither”. And then it was picture time. I kinda stood there and he stood next to me, and then he put his arm around me and stuck his fist in the air. I said thanks and that was that! It was awesome. And no, I didn’t ask him anything about being scared.

After that we were given our goodie bags that came with the upgrade and got to hang out and finish our drinks. The bag contents were: a thermal shirt, a drink cosey, a bottle opener, and a dog tag. Pretty cool! Then they had a raffle for several various shirts. One ticket number called was 666, to which everyone was pretty psyched about, and then the last one was one little number off from mine

Then we were taken up to merch, where we could buy stuff and then take it out to our car and come back in before everyone else was let in. I grabbed a….guess….poster and ran everything out to my car. I made it back and could walk right in and up to the completely empty rail. Sigh…so easy and stress free to get the best spot in the house. That was almost worth the $125 upgrade alone. Though I had noticed that when I arrived at 4:45- slightly less than two hours before doors, there were only about 10 or 15 people queued in the normal line. NIN is certainly different from most bands.

I killed the hour easily chatting with my rail neighbors. Then, promptly at 7:30p, Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures came out. No Uncle Seymour tonight! As soon as they came out is when I got really excited realizing how awesome this spot was in comparison to Saturday’s. I really enjoyed them- especially because I could watch Dayton’s guitar work. Their songs are really fun, and they have to be with titles like, “I Was at Home Getting Hammered While She Was Out Getting Nailed”.

There’s something cool about Nekromantix, but their rockabilly weighed heavily on my ears after a while, as it did on Saturday.

And then it was time. It kicked off with a snippet of El Superbeasto, and then Clufetos walked out to the drums, and Piggy D and John 5 walked up through the cold fog wearing their skull masks. The mash up of ‘Sawdust in the Blood’ and ‘Electric Head’ Pt. 1 (The Agony)’ begin. And then out strolls Rob Zombie.

It’s weird to go from two normal people standing in a room making small talk to assuming our proper roles- he, the psycho cowboy rocker from hell, and me, professional front row fangirl. He’s maneuvering the stage with his part kung fu, part male go-go dancer moves, working the front, the back, the sides- he’s all over the place. As with Saturday, he’s having serious mic issues- it was even worse this time. The beginning of ‘Superbeast’ was lost and he was storming towards the sound guy. He made up for it by jumping offstage and coming into the crowd, starting at one end of the rail and walking over to mine, where he stopped right in front of me and sang on top of me. HE SANG ON TOP OF ME! My eyes were exactly level with that little hole on his left hip pocket….HAHAHA…..but I leaned back and just grabbed onto his leg for balance. It was rad.

The crowd was pretty rough at the beginning, and there was one priceless moment where Rob was right in front of me on one of the blocks and security pulled an empty wheelchair out of the pit and you could hear him go “what the fuck?” mid song. He talked of playing this venue before when there were no cameras in the crowd…I know, GUILTY, but this band is just so damn photogenic. I was actually worried about my new camera so I barely used it, and was really into the moment of this performance so I even kept my tweeting to a minimum…I know, shocker. It felt great to be front and center at a big rock show again…it’s so exciting.

Part of this excitement was watching John 5….one of my favorite guitarists. I went to his Guitar Center session last year and it was awesome. I love his aesthetic- he looks like he’s escaped a mental asylum to play on that stage. He darts around with his guitar, often coming up to the blocks in the front but dashing away before I can take a picture. When he was in front of me I would get this huge grin on my face, and when he’d look up he’d stick his tongue out. Every time. It got to the point that I started doing it back at the end. Tit for tat. He handed picks out to lots of people around me, but I never got one.

At one point he played riffs from ‘Jessie’s Girl’ (too which Rob exclaimed ‘this crowd had too many smiles when you did that’) into ‘Back in Black’ (I think) into MJ’s ‘Black or White’ and ‘Thriller’ (Rob said ‘too soon’) into the theme from The Munsters. His solo in the middle of ‘Thunderkiss ‘65′ showed off his speed, skill, and variety of playing styles…..love me some John 5.

Piggy D is fun to watch as well….he mouths along to every word for every song it seems. He’s really good with the crowd and emotes a sense of being dark yet funny. He’s very animated.

Tommy Clufetos…..rawr. That is all. Kidding. He’s a very focused drummer- no flashiness or headbanging….just perfectly executing every beat with a vengeance. He keeps his eyes on the three up front from his perch, making sure the foundation for the music never falters.

There’s a lot of crowd participation type stuff at a Zombie show- and normally I am not down for that kind of thing- but here I’m all about it. It’s fun to be part of the show when you believe in the performance. I’m clapping, I’m yelling as instructed, I’m a Zombie cheerleader.

During the new song ‘What?’, something happened at the rail that I can add to my list of ‘never seen that before!’. The poor guy next to me got sick- I hadn’t even noticed it until I saw the security guard bringing a bucket over for him to puke in….then I looked down and it was everywhere. Then the guard told him he needed to come out, and he did not want to, so they fought about it on top of me through the whole song. He finally came out, and security laid some towels on the ground…and the show went on.

I spent the last part of the show soaking up my final moments with Zombie. I thought about how it’s interesting that I can be just as into this as a NIN show, but it’s just a completely different part of my personality. At NIN, I cry during songs, and it’s generally like an exorcism of deep dark painful feelings. At a Zombie show, I just have fun. I think about things like I’m in a movie- I’m choreographing dance moves in my head- since I spent over half my life thinking I was going to be a professional dancer, sometimes that type of thing inhabits my thoughts. I think about campy horror films and meaningless yet totally fun sex. These are the kinds of things that Rob Zombie’s music evokes in me, and I make no apologies about it.

And then it was over. I stood there hoping to get one of the remaining John 5 guitar picks from the tech, and sure enough he threw them out onto the floor. As I bent down to pick it up, a security guard stepped on it and picked it up himself. Imagine this in slow motion…HRC bends down and goes “NOOOOO!” as his foot comes down inches from my fingertips. And then I’m tackled from behind by someone. I stand up and brush myself off and say ‘What. A. Dick”. Then I spin on my heels and leave in a huff.

So there you go….two excitement-filled shows with Rob Zombie. And since I know they are touring most of next year…stay tuned for part two.

Setlist:
1. What Lurks on Channel X?
2. Superbeast
3. Super-Charger Heaven
4. Living Dead Girl
5. Demon Speeding
6. More Human Than Human
7. Sick Bubble-Gum
8. House Of 1000 Corpses
9. Drum Solo
10. Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)
11. Scum of the Earth
12. What?
13. Thunder Kiss ‘65
14. Dragula

Encore:
15. American Witch
16. Werewolf Women of the SS
17. Lords Of Salem

I literally woke up in LA, drove straight home, typed up my review, and hopped back in the car to go to the show. I was in a weird mood- part of it personal, most of it because I’ve been going nonstop. I walked in and EUSTACHIAN is on stage. A one man band, he moves back and forth between a laptop and a drum set. It was pretty out there- I would describe it as tweaker death metal. The guy was super into it, but I think the rest of us were scratching our heads. It almost made me uncomfortable. Then his hype man comes out and showers the crowd with CDs, which is kinda dangerous and made me think of this.

After the set I look at my phone and am informed via text message from my friends that Ogre had just passed right behind me to go to the bar and get a drink. mslgaerjahnkladnhopajhoj *dies*.

Next was an interesting set- VVerevvolf Grehv Dapose from The Faint’s side project. I was interested to see how he would pull this electronic death metal off live, and also it was just interesting to see him outside of The Faint since I’ve seen them so much over the years. While the set showed off Dapose’s shredding skills, it wasn’t quite dynamic enough to involve the crowd. Also, compared to his presence in The Faint, he seemed almost timid. It also ended kind of oddly- he put down his guitar and people came out on stage while laptop music was still playing, and then he turned around and waved and said ‘thanks’.

Last time I saw Nivek Ogre was with his solo project, OhGr, last year at Slim’s. It was an amazing show. I also went against critics and loved Repo! The Genetic Opera. He’s a true performance artist, and I was excited to see what costumes he would bring to the stage this evening.

cEvin Key and the drummer come out first, and then I can see something that looks part mummy, part hospital gown, with a large white dunce cap emerge from the back of the stage. With a walker, Ogre slowly hobbles out to the stage, his face completely masked in grotesque, melted rubbery skin. I shake my head for some reason, probably in disbelief from it’s awesomeness. Ogre just takes things a step further than everyone else.

His costumes are punishing and seemingly performance prohibitive, but he never loses his focus that he’s there to sing. He also never steps out of character, as he morphs from one on stage costume change to the next, likes he’s molting. The hat comes off and he’s down to the mask- but his eyes are covered in black mesh, and you can occasionally catch a sparkle of his eyes when the light hits it. At one point, he pulls off the bandages from his hands, and the crowd actually cheers- other than that the only real skin of his that was exposed were his armpits.

I do feel sorry for his assistants / techs – they have the hardest job of any besides perhaps the GWAR slaves, and Ogre definitely had a few choices gestures at them when transitions didn’t go smoothly. But the tour just started so they are probably still working out the kinks.

The security guards often turned around to stare at the spectacle…I don’t think they got it.

It is very interesting to see this immediately after a Rob Zombie show….both so similar yet so different. SP’s industrial beats entranced the crowd, as did the lights that projected across Ogre’s white costume. It was sensory overload in much more of a trippy way than Zombie, which is flashy and over the top in an indulgent sense.

The setlist was great- mostly a greatest hits list, with some songs that hadn’t been played live since the early ’90s. The newer songs fell comfortably in place. My favorite SP song was not played (Rash Reflection), but I kind of figured that would happen.

Since I was standing on the side I couldn’t see all that Ogre was doing in the cage that he used for a lot of his costume changes. But I did get to watch the crowd, which is always fun. The back may have been going off- I saw a lot of sweaty guys when I went to leave- but the front row were truly watching the show as if it were a play. Their eyes were saucer like, taking it all in.

The dunce cap went back on towards the end of the main set, only this time smoke came out of the top of it. For the encore, he came out sans mask with only smudges on his face. He’s a pretty man; I love the costumes but he really doesn’t need to be covered up.

I don’t think they ever spoke a word to the crowd. It was truly theater, and the only kind I care to go to.

See Photo Ray’s excellent pics of the show.

Setlist from the Pomona show (probably some differences):
Love In Vein
Hatekill
Addiction
Dogshit
Deadlines
Politikil
Pedafly
Rodent
Tormentor
Pro-Test
Morpheus Laughing
Ugli
Assimilate
Worlock

Some youtube clips (not mine)

Perhaps I had better start from the beginning. White Zombie was my first metal show. Rob Zombie was the only one of ‘my’ ’90s bands that I actually got to see in the ’90s. I wouldn’t see him again until late 2007 opening for Ozzy, in seats.

I would classify Rob Zombie’s music as my guilty pleasure tunes, and that’s absolutely not a diss to his work. I don’t read US Weekly, I don’t watch The Hills, I don’t surf Perez, and I for damn sure do not listen to Lady Gaga….to me a guilty pleasure musically is a band where it isn’t just about the music. If I didn’t have such vivid imagery and such a defined aesthetic along with Zombie’s music, I probably wouldn’t be into it. His songs don’t tug at any personal feelings that I’m unable to express and thus must listen to the music to get it out, like NIN; nor does it contain obscure philosophical or scientific themes, like Mastodon. Rob Zombie is part metal band, part cowboy, part horror film, part strippers, part white trash- all things that directly relate to my upbringing in a way that no other band has ever done. I’m into metal. I was born and raised in Texas in a family that owns a gun company. I was raised on horror films- my dad would watch them with me a when I’d start to look scared he’d laugh and say, ‘look at all that ketchup!’ and thus my very sick sense of humor was born. In fact, when I was a kid, my dad looked exactly like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. I’ll admit, I’ve got some white trash in my family, and I myself have been involved in white trashy type things in my past. Strippers….hmmm….I’ve never been a stripper so don’t get your hopes up for some juicy story there, but I’ve definitely practiced in the confines of my home, taken a few cardio striptease classes, and visited several strip clubs all over the US because that breed of woman fascinates me.

With one of my NIN friends in tow, we arrived at the Palladium and joined the huge line. I’d say a good 50% of the crowd was in costume….many in simple Zombie facepaint to at least show some effort towards the evening. I had already done that twice this week; tonight’s costume was Alex from A Clockwork Orange.

After waiting for only a few minutes, a car accident occured in the intersection in front of us……pieces of car parts littered the ground. At first I thought it was going to be a hit and run, but I did see the car finally pull over. The same thing happened in front of the Fonda for the NIN show last month. Then a crew from the BBC rolls up and asks if I would say a few words for the camera. They asked me what my thoughts were about Rob Zombie on Halloween, so I mention that he was my first metal show, blah blah blah, and end up turning it into a shameless self promotion for HRC. So that was kinda weird. Then this van rolls up- a mobile ATM- which seemed super shady. The line starts moving, and we get closer to the entrance and see how the outside is decorated for the occasion.

We get inside and are pretty excited to get spots at the left corner or the stage, second from the rail. We have almost an hour to hang out, so we had a couple drinks and reminisced NIN style. We also admired some of the costumes we saw: Waldo, Franken Berry, and a Teletubby were standouts.

At promptly 8pm, Uncle Seymour Coffins, the host of the evening, came out flanked by two raven haired twins in pleather. He seemed a little drunk, and the skit seemed a little awkward, but having a host for the show did give the night a special feeling.

Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures kicked off the music. I interviewed Captain Clegg, otherwise known as Jesse Dayton, recently, and it was good to hear a lot of the things I brought up in my questions touched upon in his stage commentary. I’m not sure if the crowd knew what to make of it, but they were polite if a little quiet. Personally, it was nice to hear a group of Texans perform- there’s a certain quality there that you can’t get anywhere else. For part of their set they were joined by a go-go dancer, which would sadly be the only dancer for the evening.

Next up was another skit with Mr. Coffins which included a woman with an accordion, and some eye rolling worthy banter.

The Nekromantix had some hard core fans in the crowd- potentially ones that came just to see them. The trio includes a female drummer, some gravity defying hair, and zombie makeup. The vocalist plays an upright cello in the shape of a coffin. Cool aesthetic, but I tired of the rockabilly quickly.

Most of the rear of the stage had been covered all night, and it was now time for the big reveal. There were two screens in the back, and then more screens mid stage in front of the elevated drum set, and then more mini screens along the front of the stage. One of the people at the rail near us was in a wheelchair, and at this point he wanted out. So we all moved for him to leave..and then the tallest guy in the entire room moved in his spot with his tiny girlfriend blocking my entire view. I WAS SO PISSED OFF. But in an amazing maneuver, the dude in the wheelchair comes back, AND EVERYONE MOVES AND LETS HIM BACK IN HIS SPOT AT THE RAIL. Unbelievable. So even though I know it’s risky, I stand behind him…unobstructed view.

Mr. Coffins comes back out and I can’t even remember who was with him or what he said for the most part, because I got that surge that happens when I’m at shows that mean a lot to me: I got nervous. Excited, but nervous. I started shaking with adrenaline and couldn’t stand still. I do remember him saying something about how everything started for him 30 years ago on that stage when he was a roadie for Anvil. Not sure if that’s true or not, but it caught my attention.

Then a video clip runs- The Peanuts Halloween special. After that, ZOMBIE is spelled out one letter at a time on the screen, and that cycles a few times. And then nothing. And then we watch the Peanuts skit again, and the letters, again. This time everyone shouts the letters and began chanting ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE! And then it began.

Insert HRC girl scream here. As a whole, Rob Zombie the band has to be the best looking group of guys out there. First Tommy Clufetos walked out to his drum set, then Piggy D and John 5, followed by Mr. Rob Zombie. I think they started off wearing the Total Skull bandanas over their faces. The intro music playing is a mash up between ‘Sawdust in the Blood’ and ‘Electric Head Pt. 1 (The Agony)’. And then Clufetos begins the madness that is ‘What Lurks on Channel X?’. I’m watching Piggy D, staring dementedly at all of our faces, mouthing along to all of the words. There are horror clips on the screen, parts of the words to the songs, there’s pyro, and then there are the guys and their ferocious attire. OVERSTIMULATION AND I LOVE IT. Normally, I’m all about the clean and simple rocker look- and honestly there’s something about the clothes these guys have on that could easily go into Ed Hardy/Affliction territory….but it doesn’t.

IN FACT I will devote an entire paragraph to Rob Zombie’s pants. OMG wow. I think they were denim with all sorts of embellishments on them, to the point of almost looking dirty, Below the belt, where the pockets should be, there was….nothing. Skin and hip bones. At first I just saw one side and thought it was a tear, but it was indeed symmetrical. And he totally pulled it off. If HRC ever finds another manfriend, he will be made to wear those pants. Sheri Moon is a lucky lady- they are definitely one of my most favorite couples….*turns green with envy*.

Launching into ‘Superbeast’, the pit gets insane. A couple comes crashing out and want to jump over the wheelchair and over the rail. Fights are breaking out everywhere; skinhead dudes are mangling anyone in their paths, including one who flat out hit a chick, to get up front. Security wasn’t doing much to help. I was getting beat up against the wheelchair- I have lots of bruises- but I knew that going into it. My eyeballs glued on my costume immediately popped off. Half the time I had to lean on top of wheelchair guy to hold my balance on the rail. He turns around and is like, “are you ok?”, and I’m like, “yeah, are YOU ok?”, and he says yes and we both go back to getting beat up and headbanging and loving it.

These guys know how to entertain. They hop on top of blocks at the front of the stage and thrash, dance, and pose for the crowd. The camera policy seemed pretty lax- but there were no professional photographers in the pit the entire night. My trusty Sony drowned on Friday in an unfortunate drink-spilling-in-the-purse accident, so I was trying to learn my new camera at this show, and things didn’t go to well.

There was a lot of stopping in between songs to chat with the crowd. Zombie often held a giant flashlight on the crowd- looking at the costumes or pointing out the VIP area, “look at all those people who probably didn’t pay to get in!”. He urged Ronald McDonald to go crowd surfing, meanwhile lamenting, “why did you stop making Shamrock shakes?”. As the night progressed, to introduce ‘Thunderkiss ‘65′, he discussed how no one knew them on the Danzig tour in 1992, “before most of the front row was born”- until this note became popular, followed by John 5 teasing the intro. Then he talked about how pits used to be scary, “you might die” type experiences, and had the lights left on for the song in an attempt to get a rougher pit going. It always makes me sad when I hear bands say that….I feel like they’re disappointed in us! But at the same time, if things were still like that I couldn’t stand as close as I do…

There was a lot of crowd surfing going on. Once a girl came over, and when security stood her up, she paused and they looked at her like, “are you ok”, and it ended up that she was just waiting for a particular part of the song to jam out to. It was hilarious. Another time the security had to take a guy down because he tried to rush the stage. And then there was the tit flasher, who’s body and shirt arrived separately, but were rejoined by security covering her as they hauled her away. Chicks dig Rob Zombie, myself included.

Parts of the show were a bit ruined for me by the rough crowd- ‘Living Dead Girl’ is one of my faves, and half that song was spent with security on top of my head trying to pull someone out. But it was a fun chaos, and I was surprised to come out of the pit a) unmolested considering my attire- the dude behind me was really well behaved, and b) only with a few smudges on my legs from the wheelchair…..you can wear white in a mosh pit apparently.

The new songs were met with muted reception….I’m not in love with them though I will admit that ‘Sick Bubblegum’ is fun live. Chanting ‘bubblegum’ still sounds weird to me though.

I felt a little removed from John 5’s playing all night- he briefly came to our side a couple times, but for the most part he would just dash over like he was playing tag with an invisible person. At one part of the night, Zombie threw a monster head into the audience- with a warning they were supposed to throw it around like a beach ball and not hang onto it because it is “worth nothing”. Eventually only the hair made it back onstage, and John 5 wore it for part of a song.

As if the screens and the pyro and the men weren’t enough of a spectacle, Eddie-like giant monsters made their way onstage during two different songs. It was rather impressive. There was a lot of effort put into the production of this show, and I’m very interested to see what remains in the ‘normal’ show I will see in San Jose on Tuesday. You could tell things were not running like a well-oiled machine though; beyond the issue at the beginning with the intro video, Rob’s mic cut out a bunch at first- in one song it cut out the whole beginning, which really pissed him off and he picked up the mic stand and slammed it into the monitor and was going for the drums when he calmed himself down and yelled at one of the crew. This, of course, prompted my friend and I to exchange a glance and say, “something’s gonna get broken!”. He also had choice words for his lighting guy.

But their evil energy ruled the night. They sounded great, they looked great, and they pulled out all the stops for us. They closed the set by bringing out buckets of candy and throwing it into the crowd, before all joining together in the middle of the stage and taking a classy final bow.

It was quite a night, and the messy floor of booze, cups, broken eyeglasses, shoes, and costume pieces told the story. I never caught a pick (this is why I fail at sports), but my friend did, and special shout out to her for giving it to me for taking her to the show. Warms my heart.

I’m super excited to see the guys again on Tuesday…so stay tuned for the next installment of the adventures of HRC in Zombieland.

Setlist from Phoenix- similar but I think there were a couple differences.
What Lurks on Channel X?
Superbeast
Super-Charger Heaven
Living Dead Girl
Demon Speeding
More Human Than Human
Sick Bubble-Gum
House Of 1000 Corpses
Drum Solo
Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)
Scum of the Earth
What?
Thunder Kiss ‘65
Dragula

Encore:
American Witch
Werewolf Women of the SS
Lords Of Salem

A few choice clip from youtube (not mine):

It was going to be a quick in/out. Germany’s best kept secret, black metalers Secrets of the Moon, would open the night at my local dive metal bar Thee Parkside. I planned to swoop in with my warm up Halloween costume, and duck out before Divine Heresy and Moonspell.

At our precise 9pm arrival time, a line around the building indicated that doors were not yet open. It wasn’t too long of a wait though before we made it inside the cozy, dirty confines of the venue. However, shortly after we realized that the band setting up on stage was not the long haired Germans…..

Divine Heresy are not my thing. I would venture to say that they are not good. However, their effect on the crowd was ridiculous. There were guys just totally losing their minds. The rickety barrier barely held them back; they still managed to do what was the equivalent of humping the lead singer’s leg.

This was Secrets of the Moon’s first US tour. The riff raff cleared the room and the tone changed completely. The foursome, including a female bassist, faced the back of the stage as they began. Then they turned around, flipped their hair, and delivered four songs of pure dark intensity.

It may have only been four songs, but it was enough to show me that this band has something special. The vocalist is trancelike and graceful; from the way he kneels to tinker with his pedals to how he gazes upward and signs the cross with his hand. The guitarist plays with his hair over his face, barely peering out at the crowd in a haunting way.

Their dark and melancholy tone had me enraptured. It was the perfect way to ring in Halloween. These guys (and girl) have it- I’m sure they’ll be back next year on a much bigger tour.

A quick changeover and Hightower is up. Another 3 piece- this time local- the set starts with the bassist walking out into the crowd and playing in some faces. Then the guitarist jumps on a speaker and plays for a bit. The sound isn’t doing it for me at first- it sounds out of tune and out of pace…sloppy. By the second or third song, the drummer turns around for a good length of time, facing the back corner of the stage. He half airs drums, half uses his drumsticks to conduct and imaginary orchestra. Then he turns around and starts playing, and things got better from there.

After Hightower cleared their equipment, there was a long wait. So I started people watching. Metal shows at Annie’s are small- maybe 50-75 people- and it always seems like everyone there has a story. Besides the guys in the opening bands milling about, you’ve got guys from other local bands- such as Flexx Bronco, who you can’t miss when they wear their own hoodies. There are people who work at other venues and promoters and photographers and writers like me. This always gives shows a whole other tone- it’s far from amateur night….we’ve all been there, done that, know what to expect, and know what we’re looking for.

I knew something was going on with the long wait between sets, but then a bunch of speakers started being rolled in and a huge crowd walked in front of me and I got distracted. So when the lead singer of Valient Thorr got on stage and said Early Man had a man down- I got really confused…turned out that one of the members of Early Man was sick, so they had to cancel. But Valient Thorr really made up for it.

The vocalist- Valient ‘himself’- is part superhero, part wrestler. His banter is like a reverend; his red lace up high tops, iconic; his demeanor, totally lovable. I think we could be great friends in real life. I wish I could recall every quote he bestowed on the audience between songs….they would start out kinda cheesy, kinda funny and then become something profound and heartfelt. “Come closer” he says, “or the cops are going to come arrest you for not rocking hard enough”.

The stage was too small for them- I thought for sure there would be some black eyes from one member thrashing into another. The crowd was going off….one really tall guy kept reaching his hands for the ceiling and hitting it, two guys in front poured beer on each others heads. “We’ve missed you guys on the last four tours…..thank you for having us. Otherwise, we’d be playing Reno. Or South Lake Tahoe. Or someplace not San Francisco”.

They played new stuff, old stuff, and a song they had never played before. Every song had an introduction- whether it be a statement about semi-boners and pretty girls, or talking about how people from all over were in the room, but “it’s not about where you’re from, it’s where you are” followed by “it’s not black, it’s not white, and everyone is a story”. That kinda blew my mind.

HardRockChick: Having lived in Austin for 7 years myself, what is it about the city that makes it such a haven for musicians? What are your favorite places there?

Jesse Dayton: Austin has always been a magnate for musicians, because it simply has always had more clubs to play than any other town you can name…Austin has bands everywhere all the time….I walked off an airplane the other day at the airport and there was a killer western swing band playing IN the airport…only in Austin…my fav joints? Antones, Broken Spoke & Continental Club are best for music and you can’t throw a stick without hittin a great BBQ or Mexican food joint!

HRC: You’ve been described as having a cult following…what does that mean to you?

JD: A “cult following” is kind of a weird concept these days, isn’t it? I mean, the whole business model has changed so drastically you have to go to alternative sources anyway to enjoy real music…I would like to think that by touring and making records all this time that I have fans who love what I do and no radio format or label can take that away…yep, it’s a hardcharger cult!

HRC: What makes you tick besides music?

JD: New experiences make me tick….I’ll try just about anything once….I’m a Gulf Coast paddle boarder…I love the smell of gasoline running through a flat-head Ford…I love the Astros….I love cooking gumbo and drinkin’ wine w/ my family….other cultures really do it for me as well, so I’m a travelin’ man…I’ve really been working a lot outside of music in the film scene lately…film is a whole new language to learn.

HRC: What is going on with country music right now?

JD: Country music doesn’t really exist on a popular level….I mean , the stuff they call country today is just bad pop music for soccer moms who like to have crushes on famous people….my grand-dad is rolling over in his honky-tonk dancin’ grave when people call it “country” music….there’s a lot of great contemporary folks, but you’re never gonna hear that on mainstream radio…I personally listen to Willies Place & Mojo Nixon shows on Sirrius/XM for better programming.

HRC: Were you a fan of Rob Zombie before entering into this collaboration?

JD: When I was younger I only remember the White Zombie songs on the radio…I always thought Rob was like Ozzy or Alice Cooper and ya know what? HE IS! Rob is the coolest….I mean, he listens to Otis Rush and Buck Owens just hanging out!

HRC: What served as your main inspiration for the Captain Clegg material created for H2?

JD: Rob and I talked at length about Clegg….he came up with the idea because he loves those old English horror movies….we had extensive conversations about the songs and the influences of the songs….in the end, he cut me a check and said now go to Austin and record whatever you want….he’s all about framing an idea and then letting people do what they do and leaving them alone…I wrote all the songs in suite #2 at the LaMothe Hotel on Esplinade St. in the French Quarter in New Orleans in 3 days…it was a very paranormal experience.

HRC: What is it about the horror genre that makes music such an important component?

JD: I’m 40 man…I came up w/ all the classic 70’s & 80’s horror stuff….of course I love Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series and really dig the Italian stuff like Black Sunday with Barbara Steele…but all that music from those early movies influenced all popular music….people like Iggy Pop and Roky Erickson we’re totally into it…even Buck Owens had a great song out called Monster’s Holiday…eventually it morphed into a genre…I’d like to think we’re doing something fresh in this genre….Fangoria seems to think so.

HRC: Regarding the upcoming tour with Rob Zombie, are you worried at all about the reaction of the fans that are more of the metal crowd?

JD: I’m not really worried about the reaction from the Rob’s metal crowd….I went out w/ Mike Ness of Social Distortion all last summer and we killed the audience….besides, this time I’m Clegg so we have license to rock those little bastards peckers off!

HRC: I’ve seen John 5 play some mean honky tonk tunes…any chance we’ll see any collaboration on that front?

JD: Hmmm….I know John 5 is a shredder, but never heard him play “honky-tonk”….would love to though….he’s a brilliant player by any stretch and we’ll be glad to get out on the road and hang out…we come from 2 totally different worlds….sometimes that makes for the best hang when you’re apples and oranges….gotta feeling we’ll be doin some genre bending guitar picking backstage.*

HRC: I’ll be going to the San Jose show and the LA Halloween show….should we expect something special for the holiday?

JD: Let me think, something special for the holidays. huh? The Night Creatures have been playing Hollywood Babylon by the Misfits, so we might have to break into that in LA….we’ve got a ton of weird covers worked up for this tour and wouldn’t you like to know what night we’re gonna shoot’em all over the crowd….beware: we’re killers…we wanna murder the first 5 rows of people** and at least mame the rest….all I can say is, get there EARLY to see the most white-trash guitar shredding rock n roll revival held under the Pentecost…let the conjuring begin!

*Um, HRC would LOVE to see this…..INVITE ME PLEASE!
**looks like I’m getting murdered!

Pelican set up as I discussed upcoming shows with Photo Ray, Alan, and Umlaut.

And then the rest is kind of a blur.

It’s a good blur- one that comes along with spacing out to heavy, instrumental metal that doesn’t have lyrics to guide you anywhere. It sent me on a weird head trip inside my brain, where I spent the next hour with my recent life flashing before my eyes, gaining some perspective, and bringing things into focus; all while watching four guys play on stage.

From the moment they began, I was assured that they weren’t going to stand there half dead and jam. All members maintain a dynamic stage presence regardless of any vocalist instructing them like a stage play. It actually really allowed me to watch their hands move- such precision, such flow…..and that’s where I got lost.

I start thinking about my day, how I talked to Rob Zombie on the phone earlier, and how he claims to not get scared. Then I start thinking about how I had just heard that the Bay Bridge was shut down after some rods came crashing down…almost exactly one week to the minute after I drove across for STP and tweeted that I hate that bridge. One of the guys moves and I come back into focus and notice that these guys are all really skinny and wear shirts that are probably the same size as mine. I notice the ink on the lead guitarist’s forearms and wonder if he has a tattoo of a pelican. Then I start thinking about this guy I saw earlier with really nice tattoos that was really good looking, and start thinking about how Pelican would probably be nice make out music. No polarizing lyrics or mood killers….then the guitarist and bassist switch places. The lighting changes and I notice the people around me. This one guy looks familiar. This other guy is wearing a horrible hat. There are only one or two other girls around. And then the set ends.

They come back out for one more song. I manage to stay focused on them for it, but realized that I really enjoyed that hour of spacing out….maybe I need to do that more. Perhaps my perpetual state of work->show->write is wearing me down. Because seeing Pelican was one of the most relaxing nights I’ve had in a while. Except my ears hurt when I left.

I went home and IMed with my best friend in New York about shoes (or as she says, ’schewz’) for a half hour, but still made it to bed before my usual time of 3:30am. Why I share this with you I don’t know. Pelican relaxed me.