As the never-concluded post series "Three Days in September" detailed, I attended A Dropkick Murphy's/Flogging Molly show in Philly, followed by two Interpol Shows (NYC, Philly) all in the span of three days. Most recently, I attended a Tiger Army show at the Fillmore in Philly, and an Avenged Sevenfold concert at my favorite concert venue The Electric Factory. For the last two shows I was flanked by hot women from every angle. My "date" for the A7X show looked amazing. She is a horse-riding weight-lifting rich girl from Chester County who I have known for about a year and a half. I rolled up to her town house, waaay stoked and ready to get my metal on. I pulled into her driveway and she greeted me with "Hi! Oh don't park there, my boyfriend is coming over later and he parks there". Strike One. As we rolled into Philly, we played catch up and prepped our ears for some metal with some metal. Our pre-game location was Finnegan's Wake, 3rd and Spring Garden Streets. A solid venue only 8 blocks from the Factory. We rolled, and The Man In Black was pouring out of the jukebox. The Flyers were already up 1-0. When I came back from the pisser she had a shot waiting for me. It was good to go.
Upon exiting the bar at around 2100 hours, we strolled out into a blustery Philly night and a parking violation on her windshield. I picked the parking spot. Strike two. And after we re-parked closer to the Electric Factory, and after we enjoyed the show, We came out to another ticket. Strike three.
The show was insane. We caught one opening band, and they were pretty hard. However, the night was reserved for Sevenfold. With a set that lasted just under an hour, we saw them put on a metal clinic. For awhile, metal fell into disrepair, and in the early 90's it took four lads from Texas to bring metal back to where it belonged. When metal was born, and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest set the bar for other bands to soon follow, such as fellow Englishmen Black Sabbath and Diamondhead, metal was the opposite of punk. Precise, technical, and predicated upon great songwriting and theatrics which accompanied the music on stage. Punk, in it's mandatory short lifetime (Greenday, Fallout Boy, and even the great Bad Religion are not punk, sorry kids), was a nihilistic mockery of the bands who had elevated themselves to a point where 26 minute drum solos and huge arena tours were their hallmark (I love Zeppelin, do not misinterpret that), and with safety pins through nostrils and heroin overdoses and girlfriends shot in the vagina, punk lived fast and died early, which it had to. And as the first wave of American metal bands came about, to include Slayer, Metallics, and Anthrax, all of these bands embraced the "thrash metal" moniker and flaunted their punk influences. Shit, to this day some of my favorite songs are Metallica covering The Misfits (my favorite band ever) and Slayer covering The Exploited (see "Judgment Night" movie soundtrack). At this exact time, many bands bridged the gap, and developed a more primal, more HARDCORE sound for thier punk-oriented aggro music, and thus hardcore Punk was born (see DRI, Black Flag, Bad Brains). Well, when the third wave (third of four) of American Metal Bands took hold, and reclaimed the metal crown from fallen heroes such as Metallica, Megadeath, and post-Joey Belladonna Anthrax, the sound which was (re)invented sounded very similar to the Hardcore punk sounds of east coast bands like Sick of It All, Biohazard, and Agnostic Front. Those four Texas lads I mentioned earlier, if you did not already know, they played in a little single guitar metal band named Pantera. Quite possible the best four piece ever assembled. And in addition to that, they saved heavy music from the depths it had reached. Slayer was going through a drummer every week. Megadeath sounded like rehab had taken Dave Mustaine's edge away (Dave was kicked out of Metallics in 1980 because he was a fall down drunk), and Metallica, well, fuck those clown is all I have to say. "Nothing Else Matters"? Please. How about "Nothing else matters but record sales and how many tickets we sell since this song is meant to just tease women into getting their men to buy them tickets and records". Pussies.
And so Pantera came, conquered, and every kid my age, give or take a few years, who picked up an instrument and wanted to play heavy, will surely credit that Texas four-piece as huge influences. And even if I did not know this for a fact, I would tell you that Avenged Sevenfold's two biggest influences are my two favorite bands from my formative years, Pantera, and 1980's era Guns and Roses. Forget about anything you know of GnR after the year 1989. When GnR landed on the Sunset Strip in '86 and played that unique blend of scum-rock and punk-ish, heat seeking guitars, with those screaming vocals (before Axl ate himself) and that snotty "I just smoked some crack and your girlfriend blew me before I went on stage" attitude, they were demi-Gods. And, accordingly, their career was short and tragic. Their drummer suffered a massive stroke after shooting a clinically lethal dose of heroin into his foot (he is, to this day, under weekly medical attention). Their lead singer is now an overweight recluse who was last seen repping the GnR name with a guy, who, no shit, had a bucket of fried chicken on his head, while wearing an Oakland Raiders, Jerry Rice jersey to hide his unsightly belly. And that is where rock stardom has taken many people. Into the depths of their own heads, gorging on drugs, alcohol, and flesh, while building the wall that keeps the critics and detractors away, and sealing off any chance of reclaiming your "sanity". Enter A7X.
"Five best friends from a Huntington Beach High School" is what I have read many times as online and paper based articles introduce these kids as they try to tell me what I already know, and have always FELT from this band. Metal and rock and punk and whatever else we grew up listening to does not have to exist on separate tiers. When you set out to write songs, and maybe even carry the torch for all the bands that play and live just like you (genre, anyone?), you can create your sound, your niche, your legacy, any way you fucking want as long as you are a music FAN, above all else. And that is what Sevenfold has above all other bands right now. They are still fans of the music that shaped their tastes and the bands who introduced them to other bands and on and on. If you look at a picture of these guys, they are, most certainly California boys. They are all heavily, HEAVILY tattooed, and sport physiques of full on rock gods. You know, the guys who stay fit, but don't really lift all the time. The guys who surfed and rode dirt bikes and played football or whatever growing up, so that now, their energetic stage show keeps them in shape. Those guys. And they are all really good looking. So they aren't playing music to get laid, as I am sure that these guys could get laid even if they just worked in a record store. They play music to honor the heroes of their past. On their 2005 LP "City of Evil", the final two tracks are dedicated to the memory of Pantera's murdered guitar God, Dimebag Darrell Abbot, and a friend who went to Iraq and did not return as the man they knew. These blokes are about playing, and all the shit that come after that is just icing.
A short clip from the short song that introduces their album "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet"
Did I miss strike three? Was there a strike three?
ReplyDelete