Danzig's woes at the House of Blues...
Went to the Danzig Blackest of the Black show last night in Houston at the House of Blues. Ate dinner there in the restaurant before the show. It was pretty good, but a bit pricey ($9 burger w/fries). The price range is like $8-$25 per entre, but if you spend enough, you can get a pass to the front of the line if you eat on the same day as the show. We didn't need it, as there was no line. We actually missed the first band. On to the music...
The first band was Skeleton Witch. We missed their set, but they had some nice looking t-shirts for sale. Their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/skeletonwitch, reveals a fairly standard speed/death metal band. Some cookie-monstering, some croaking. Not too bad though.
The second band was Winds of Plague. These guys were heavy and fast. Not so much cookie-monster singing as bleeding lungs. Chunky metal with some melody. I liked them. You can listen to their music at their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/windsofplague. Met them after all the shows, they were a bunch of nice and personable guys. They didn't have any shirts in my size, so I ordered one off their website this morning. They sell a pair of women's shorts with the band name across the ass... I laughed or a good while about that one. Ironically, they were the only band that had a female member (on keyboards).
The third band was Moonspell from Portugal. They could play their instruments well, but seemed to suffer from not being able to write songs. It could have been the mix, but everything seemed muddy and bland. The stuff on myspace is a bit better quality than what they reproduced live: http://www.myspace.com/moonspell
The fourth band was Dimmu Borgir, a symphonic black metal band from Norway. Youtube them at http://www.myspace.com/dimmuborgir if you are unfamiliar with them. Decked out in black apocalypse makeup, some chainmail on the bassist, and various spiked accessories, they were a real crowd pleaser. Maybe it is my old jaded self, but they seemed to be taking themselves way too seriously trying to be evil. To quote Rosemary's Billygoat:
"I see the spooky tatoos
and your gun black hair,
there's a skull on your t-shirt.
Satan doesn't care...
You think your evil,
don't make me laugh.
At best you're a six six five and a half".
Musically, I found them to be pretty good. The vocals were good, with the singer croaking out evil sounding lyrics and the bass player singing in a more traditional role. The real problem was that both the guitars seemed to be playing the same thing, and neither were functioning in a lead role. To my ear there is a real hole in their sound for a lead guitar. I'd add slower soaring notes in a octave or two higher in most of their songs, but not compete with the keyboards.
The fifth and final band was Danzig. Man he has let himself go. I guess he looks ok for a 53-yearold, but I think it might be time to pack it in and call it a career. He might still be doing the pushups, but it is clear he is doing no ab workouts. His oversized skull belt buckle was looking at the floor the whole time.
The set was pretty simple: a banner, two winged skull statues, two tentacled skulls statues, and a dias from which Glen sang. It gave him enough height so that it put him on the same level with the rest of the band, who was not on the platform. He is like 5' 4" or something. He won't take pictures with tall people. There were absolutely no cameras allowed last night. They kicked out people taking pics with cell phones even. His bad attitude must come from a life of being short.
Musically, the monitors apparently weren't working to his satisfaction last night, despite the other bands sounding pretty good. I think he creates most of his own problems. He really needs to learn to use a microphone properly. Often he would hold the mic inverted and sing into the side of the mic (as seen in the below photo)
This is not how microphones are designed to pic up sound. He would also cover the end of the mic with his thumb, not a good way to get good sound, Glen. He could get lots of feedback though. It is the music business, and live music is an organic thing... stuff happens that you have to deal with at live shows, but he was pitching a fit every other song. What a crybaby. But from all accounts he is a jerk anyway. Here he is losing his temper some time ago and paying the consequences (NSFW due to language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfD7agP1yxw.
When he stopped bitching and whining and moaning about things and just sang, he sounded pretty good. Mother, Her Black Wings, and Devil's Plaything were awesome. The whole packed club was singing the lyrics. We were louder than Glen was on the mic. I don't think I'll go to another show just to see Danzig though. He is too much of a drama queen.
The first band was Skeleton Witch. We missed their set, but they had some nice looking t-shirts for sale. Their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/skeletonwitch, reveals a fairly standard speed/death metal band. Some cookie-monstering, some croaking. Not too bad though.
The second band was Winds of Plague. These guys were heavy and fast. Not so much cookie-monster singing as bleeding lungs. Chunky metal with some melody. I liked them. You can listen to their music at their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/windsofplague. Met them after all the shows, they were a bunch of nice and personable guys. They didn't have any shirts in my size, so I ordered one off their website this morning. They sell a pair of women's shorts with the band name across the ass... I laughed or a good while about that one. Ironically, they were the only band that had a female member (on keyboards).
The third band was Moonspell from Portugal. They could play their instruments well, but seemed to suffer from not being able to write songs. It could have been the mix, but everything seemed muddy and bland. The stuff on myspace is a bit better quality than what they reproduced live: http://www.myspace.com/moonspell
The fourth band was Dimmu Borgir, a symphonic black metal band from Norway. Youtube them at http://www.myspace.com/dimmuborgir if you are unfamiliar with them. Decked out in black apocalypse makeup, some chainmail on the bassist, and various spiked accessories, they were a real crowd pleaser. Maybe it is my old jaded self, but they seemed to be taking themselves way too seriously trying to be evil. To quote Rosemary's Billygoat:
"I see the spooky tatoos
and your gun black hair,
there's a skull on your t-shirt.
Satan doesn't care...
You think your evil,
don't make me laugh.
At best you're a six six five and a half".
Musically, I found them to be pretty good. The vocals were good, with the singer croaking out evil sounding lyrics and the bass player singing in a more traditional role. The real problem was that both the guitars seemed to be playing the same thing, and neither were functioning in a lead role. To my ear there is a real hole in their sound for a lead guitar. I'd add slower soaring notes in a octave or two higher in most of their songs, but not compete with the keyboards.
The fifth and final band was Danzig. Man he has let himself go. I guess he looks ok for a 53-yearold, but I think it might be time to pack it in and call it a career. He might still be doing the pushups, but it is clear he is doing no ab workouts. His oversized skull belt buckle was looking at the floor the whole time.
The set was pretty simple: a banner, two winged skull statues, two tentacled skulls statues, and a dias from which Glen sang. It gave him enough height so that it put him on the same level with the rest of the band, who was not on the platform. He is like 5' 4" or something. He won't take pictures with tall people. There were absolutely no cameras allowed last night. They kicked out people taking pics with cell phones even. His bad attitude must come from a life of being short.
Musically, the monitors apparently weren't working to his satisfaction last night, despite the other bands sounding pretty good. I think he creates most of his own problems. He really needs to learn to use a microphone properly. Often he would hold the mic inverted and sing into the side of the mic (as seen in the below photo)
This is not how microphones are designed to pic up sound. He would also cover the end of the mic with his thumb, not a good way to get good sound, Glen. He could get lots of feedback though. It is the music business, and live music is an organic thing... stuff happens that you have to deal with at live shows, but he was pitching a fit every other song. What a crybaby. But from all accounts he is a jerk anyway. Here he is losing his temper some time ago and paying the consequences (NSFW due to language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfD7agP1yxw.
When he stopped bitching and whining and moaning about things and just sang, he sounded pretty good. Mother, Her Black Wings, and Devil's Plaything were awesome. The whole packed club was singing the lyrics. We were louder than Glen was on the mic. I don't think I'll go to another show just to see Danzig though. He is too much of a drama queen.