Photos from the Bald Faced Stag last night
So last night, rather than go to any of the usual suspects (Berserk in particular), I found myself at a metal gig at the Bald Faced Stag in Leichhardt. This is not something I normally do, obviously, but it was an album/EP launch for two bands (Ironwood and The Veil) that I've played on Dark Passage and I like the records, so I wanted to find out what they were like on stage as opposed to on disc. Also, it transpires I know the sister of one of The Veil's guitarists, so I was hoping to run into her and her bloke there as well (which, happily, I did; also had quite a good chat with Suzanne from Cabinet of Curiosities as well). So here follows some photographic evidence (been a while since I've done this, eh)...
I missed the first band (The Pine Rangers, an offshoot of Beastianity, who reportedly had chain mail costumes and had tympani on stage) and didn't get any photos of the second one (Summonus, who were OK if somewhat generic growly death stuff), so we begin with The Veil. I first encountered these folks last year when I got some pre-production demos by them and played them on the show (said songs have now been properly released as an EP). I enjoyed what they did on stage (quite a few songs not on the EP, presumably some of those will appear on another recording further down the track or something), although like all the bands last night they were a bit hamstrung by the quality of the live sound (which was hamstrung by the fact that the usual sound guy was away, the guy who was supposed to replace him never showed, and so the bloke who actually wound up doing the sound was drafted at pretty much literally the last minute), which meant the keyboards frequently got lost, vocals tended to get swamped, bass was too high, etc. Still, they looked the part (even without chain mail) and the material worked well, and I'd be happy to see them live again in future.
Ironwood-whose drummer famously sat in with the IVD at the Sandringham last year-were fourth on the bill. They were perhaps somewhat heavier live than on record (whereas your average metal band will maintain the rage and power with occasional drops into quieter moments, these fellows give the impression of being primarily a folk-rock band who like to occasionally break into black metal; it's a bit baffling at first, and nine songs across 70-odd minutes is hard to swallow on first listen, but it's growing on me) and possibly a bit more prog-rock as well. The musicianship was as serious (unfortunately the photos can't really reproduce the speed with which Henry Lauer could play that six-string bass) as the heathen lyrical content. I found them a bit harder to engage with than The Veil, but they're doing something that interests me a lot. Again, a band I'll want to see in future.
And Aeon of Horus were the last band. Alas for them, they were on after 1am (the fun and games trying to get a sound guy had delayed everything by an hour), by which time I'd seen the two bands I really wanted to see and in any case if I was going to get home easily I'd have had to leave around then. Plus they were, to be honest, a little bit "über" for me, if you know what I mean. On the whole, though, in spite of technical considerations, it was a fun night.
I missed the first band (The Pine Rangers, an offshoot of Beastianity, who reportedly had chain mail costumes and had tympani on stage) and didn't get any photos of the second one (Summonus, who were OK if somewhat generic growly death stuff), so we begin with The Veil. I first encountered these folks last year when I got some pre-production demos by them and played them on the show (said songs have now been properly released as an EP). I enjoyed what they did on stage (quite a few songs not on the EP, presumably some of those will appear on another recording further down the track or something), although like all the bands last night they were a bit hamstrung by the quality of the live sound (which was hamstrung by the fact that the usual sound guy was away, the guy who was supposed to replace him never showed, and so the bloke who actually wound up doing the sound was drafted at pretty much literally the last minute), which meant the keyboards frequently got lost, vocals tended to get swamped, bass was too high, etc. Still, they looked the part (even without chain mail) and the material worked well, and I'd be happy to see them live again in future.
Ironwood-whose drummer famously sat in with the IVD at the Sandringham last year-were fourth on the bill. They were perhaps somewhat heavier live than on record (whereas your average metal band will maintain the rage and power with occasional drops into quieter moments, these fellows give the impression of being primarily a folk-rock band who like to occasionally break into black metal; it's a bit baffling at first, and nine songs across 70-odd minutes is hard to swallow on first listen, but it's growing on me) and possibly a bit more prog-rock as well. The musicianship was as serious (unfortunately the photos can't really reproduce the speed with which Henry Lauer could play that six-string bass) as the heathen lyrical content. I found them a bit harder to engage with than The Veil, but they're doing something that interests me a lot. Again, a band I'll want to see in future.
And Aeon of Horus were the last band. Alas for them, they were on after 1am (the fun and games trying to get a sound guy had delayed everything by an hour), by which time I'd seen the two bands I really wanted to see and in any case if I was going to get home easily I'd have had to leave around then. Plus they were, to be honest, a little bit "über" for me, if you know what I mean. On the whole, though, in spite of technical considerations, it was a fun night.