[110] Nether Regions, Zoroaster, Weedeater (2011)

I had one day off between Scion and this show. Considering how that went, the one day break was not enough. Waking up for this show, I still felt like I'd just gotten home. Everything felt weird. I normally need a couple of days to properly recover from concerts, but I don't usually have problems with "reality" after sleeping. Here, I was still dizzy, my home still felt like a clone of what it should be, I was sad and felt like I was going to break down at any moment, and my neck fucking hurt. I needed and wanted to go someplace familiar, someplace neutral, to get my bearings again.

Rotture's not my favorite place to go, but it's okay and it would have to do. After all, there is no fucking way I'd miss Weedeater live at this point. They're "at the top of their game", so to speak, with a heavy touring background and a well-honed, Weedeater-unique sound and stage presence. While ironic given that they're known for their love of inebriation, they would be just what I needed to help me with my reality issues and low mood.

Now, originally, this show was listed as Ancient Age, Kvelertak, Zoroaster, and Weedeater. Ancient Age had "scheduling issues". In other words, Danava and Red Fang were both busy (they were a day or two each from leaving on tour). I haven't seen them since 2008 because they always seem to drop out or play a show when I've got another so this was a bummer. Kvelertak, though, ended up having their passports/visas stolen on their way to America so they had to cancel the first few dates of their tour here... I don't have history with the band and they don't perfectly align to my favorite styles, so I didn't feel the sting of that one (except at Scion... fuck).

I found out two days beforehand that Nether Regions had been added in place of both instead. Now, I love Ancient Age (as far as I can remember, anyway), but I'll take it! Yeah, I've seen them a thousand times now, the concept is getting uninteresting, and I talk about them too much as-is, but I can stand to see them live another time. A hundred more times, preferably.

Wanting to get the fuck out of the house already and similarly wanting to support everyone's new favorite High On Fire clone, I left to this show way early. Despite screwing around, I still ended up getting to the venue close to an hour before the show started. It was cold and rainy out and the door person was missing to tell me that doors hadn't actually opened yet, so I walked in and sat down. It wasn't one of the shows where I am allowed to do that, but I try to go by an "act like you know what you're doing" policy; besides, everyone in the room had seen me before and it's not like I was going to actively disturb the band. Eventually the door person noticed me and told me I had to surrender my ID until doors actually opened.

Nether Regions were doing soundcheck, and I was soon treated to some "Spanish Werewolves". I was amused for some reason, I "forget" why. Maybe it was just so nice to hear a good, familiar, well-known song live after all the novelty from ChristMiss (aka Scion). Maybe - probably - it's just one of those songs. But it could have been because I was reading about evolution and I have a terrible sense of humor.

The monkeys were let in the room and I was given back my ID shortly after Nether Regions left the stage. I had thought this show might sell out, but even under that condition I don't really expect much of the crowd until past 11pm. Instead, Nether Regions had a decent-sized crowd. Each band did. It was never sold out conditions but, considering it was a rainy Tuesday at a hidden venue that doesn't have any indication that live music happens there on the building, it was pretty nice to see.

Now, I tried to get a setlist together of Nether Regions but I am pretty sure I fucked it up. I guess it was my existing state of mind but I may have just entered in a title before I was certain the title was the correct one (my usual method is using lyrics, not titles, so I can fact-check just in case). Anyway, this is what I decided on after noticing I fucked up. Again, I could be wrong, don't quote me.

Do You Live
Into the Breach
Spanish Werewolves
Blood Ritual
Pale Faced God
Alpha/Omega
Outrun The Sun

From my soundcheck experience they sounded okay - I made a comment about the guitars being quiet on one side, and it wasn't loud enough in general for me, but that's Rotture for ya. I decided to go to the side of the room with the louder guitars, taking me away from crowd-facing speakers, and that made everything even more quiet for my tastes. These songs are all familiar enough now to where shit like that shouldn't matter, and I know Rotture sounds like shit when it's "too loud", and it's not like I'm going to bother going to the center of the room anyway (fuck those guys), so... whatever.

Even with my lazy perfectionism offended as usual, seeing and hearing them again elevated my mood and cleared my head a bit. Watching their new drummer Ryan change the drum solo bits to his own style of playing was worth my early attendance. As usual, I enjoyed the final song the most.

Zoroaster was loud and loud enough. Unfortunately, they sounded washed out, especially at first. I had a similar impression when I saw them live last year but just assumed it was the venue doing them harm... Now, I don't know. Maybe they want to sound like that. I'm curious what they might sound like at Berbati's (RIP) or even Hawthorne which usually caters to a louder, busier metal sound. Either way, they're much clearer on record, and I found I wasn't that into their set to the same degree that I'm into their album work.

Brent was temporarily replaced for the tour by the drummer from the band Whores (playing bass, that is), resulting in all vocal duties going to the guitarist. That also added to some "WTF?" moments where I expected to hear a different sound. Still, mister Whores made shit interesting - that guy has enthusiasm.

I checked out Whores around August of last year and didn't care for them on first impression - yet, days later, I was back to listening to them again out of curiosity. I ended up ripping their myspace tracks which I've been stuck with since. They're not 100% exactly my sort of metal/heavy rock these days, but I get the sense that I would have been really into them a few years ago and they're easy on the ears for some vague familiarity to some band I can't seem to identify. I wanted to hear more, and I was hoping the Whores guy would bring along some Whores merch on the Zoroaster tour. Sure enough, I saw a Whores CD on the Zoroaster table. MINE.

I didn't keep any sort of Zoroaster setlist, but they played an even mixture of old and new material... Pretty much what you'd expect.

Fun fact: a few songs into their set, Dan lost a stick and it came flying at my head. I had milliseconds to react and I wasn't in a reactive mood. I was knocked right in the center of my head. Guess what? It hurt. I hope whichever person who grabbed the drumstick off the floor behind me enjoys their story.

"Hi, we're Weedeater, and we suck."

For the last while, whenever I've mentioned Weedeater, I've said Dixie Dave is my "hero". I'm being facetious. The guy's on-stage shtick is 180 degrees from what I normally represent. He acts dumb and drunk and dirty - I have this thing about being sober and trying to be intelligent most of the time, and I tend to socially project a youthful pseudo-innocence, assuming the fact that I'm a germaphobe doesn't count. Saying a person like himself is my "hero" is sort of like when I used to say "Prison Sex" was my favorite song. If I can like that weird and mildly offensive little tune, you can, too. If I can find endearing and somehow charming qualities in Dixie, you should be able to, too. So, he's not my hero (nobody is) but, god damn, he's an interesting little fucker. Even if I didn't like Weedeater much, I think I'd go to their shows just to watch him.

I started smiling a little before Weedeater started playing, going on through several songs til the pot fairy dropped by and days of abuse caught up with me, making me incredibly sleepy. My mood stayed elevated - the new songs they played sounded pretty good, and the old stuff was about as great as ever. I made a point of standing next to and in front of a floor speaker so as to get the full affect and hear everything, and I kind of wish I would have done the same for the others.

Dixie made the night "interesting" by blowing snot on stage several times, once missing and landing in his mustache. It stayed in the general location for a few songs, slowly moving its way to his mouth. As I'm sure you are, I was fucking grossed out. Better than those rumors of vomit, though - can't handle that, thanks for keeping it in.

I commented that the last show I saw them do had significantly less stomping than before, but it seems his foot has healed enough now. Something that I didn't notice at other shows was him leaning down to the stage - product of the new songs, or the foot? Either way, the chemistry between him and Keko is still there, and they all sounded great.

As for setlist, I didn't keep one - they did, however, play at least half of their new album, a block from God Luck And Good Speed, and one song probably from a previous album that I didn't recognize. The best song of the lot was "Jason... The Dragon". I was kind of hoping for some banjo or Barstul material but, alas, "Jason" was worth the show all by itself.

The crowd was pretty much what you'd expect for the bands - mostly hoodie-wearing sub-genre metal types. Everyone was pretty civil with each other, even at the cramped front. I really like that I can go to a metal show and not be in fear for my lack of health insurance and even spend most of the time concentrated on the stage or the music.

I left a pretty happy customer. May Weedeater return soon.

This was my last show for about three weeks - the next 'view I write will be current.