Southwest Terror Fest 2013 Part II- Live At The Rock, Tuscon, AZ


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The Year of the Snake: Four Days of Noise, Doom, and Booze in the Old Pueblo Part II

 

Half over or half begun, the festival entered a truly marathon third day of music, with bands beginning as early as one pm and continuing all the way through to about midnight. This was the day many had been waiting for and as events would show, the most epic of the four. The very first performance of the day was a good indicator and extremely surprising. Destroy Her, hailing from Tucson, competently delivered alternative stoner sludge, but possessed a front man above and beyond the normal. Sounding like a mix of Geoff Tate and Bruce Dickinson, the vocals were stunning and elevated the decent music to a higher level. With twenty bands scheduled for one day, the festival kept chugging along efficiently and the crowd steadily grew larger as each hour passed. Highlights from the afternoon included Skulldron from New Mexico, a mix of stoner and doom that any fan of Down should take a listen to, as well as the hard to classify sounds of Sorxe who came down from Phoenix to boggle minds with complex dynamics. By eight pm the venue was packed and one of the most memorable performances of the entire four days happened when Subrosa got up to play the main stage. Creating sheer walls of sound with guitar, bass, drums, and two violinists, Subrosa mesmerized all who witnessed their set and held that audience captive within their hands. There was the power of music made manifest on stage, incredible to witness and unforgettable afterwards. One might almost feel sorry for any band who had to follow such an incredible performance, but truth be told, the final acts on the main stage lived up to the challenge and instead of mesmerizing the crowd, they rocked them instead. Helms Alee gave people a taste of the main headliner with their rockin’ songs, but by the end of their set, it was clear that everyone was ready for the mighty Red Fang to blow the roof off. This was certainly done with flying colors. Playing a mix of fan favorites and tracks from their newly released album, Red Fang utterly rocked a packed house with their tight jams, blazing solos, and cool rhythms. The energy level between the band and the crowd was incredible and the mosh pit was raging with cyclonic fury. When the final note was played, a very long day came full circle with the masses of drunk, stoned, and deafened festival goers looking visibly exhausted.

 

Dawn on the fourth and final day of Southwest Terror Fest was probably not something that many wanted to witness. Most likely quite a few people stayed up very late after the slam bang finish of the third day and saw the march of the sun upwards from beyond the horizon, dismissing the necessity Sorrower5of rest and determining to endure just one more day of excess. Weariness was the name of the game, being quite visible on the faces of all involved in the saga of a multiple day metal show. This final stretch of the festival was heavily slanted towards the punk, grindcore, and powerviolence genres, with another early afternoon start time. Notable moments of the day included the chimeric Swampwolf, a band that seamlessly blended thrash, black metal, and punk into a face shattering fist. ACxDC, Sorrower, Theories, and Sex Prisoner delivered chaotic, crusty noise that showed there was still some energy left on the final day of the event. Changing the pace up quite a bit, an acoustic artist by the name of Amigo The Devil performed serial killer and humor themed songs with voice and guitar, leaving the stage and playing among the crowd. As the final hours of the four day odyssey approached and the daylight faded, things began to wind down quite a bit until the final headliner, Early Graves, riled up a dedicated group of onlookers with their hardcore tinged death and roll. This was the last chance to dance and the moshers bled off their remaining energy throughout this final performance out of over sixty bands and four days. Collapse was no longer an option, but mandatory.

 

EarlyGraves5Thus four days of music came to an end. Many casualties were sustained, but victory was achieved. Whether it be punk, grindcore, thrash, death, post-metal, doom, stoner or plain old hard rock, Southwest Terror Fest showcased an amazing range of heavy music from the underground and the not so underground. The event illustrated that there are many good bands from west of the Mississippi that don’t come from California or the Northwest. Another of the most noticeable facts about this year’s show was the much larger representation of women within the bands, showing the growing acceptance and respect for women in this scene as musicians. This fest was efficiently run and the diverse crowd were united in enjoying and celebrating the music that they love, not because it is popular, but because it speaks to them and provides a universal catharsis or release from the daily grind of reality. Next year will arrive soon enough, hopefully the ringing ears and wounded livers will have healed in time for another weekend of terror in the desert.

 

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Words: Ryan Clark

Photos: No Ceiling Photography/Violent Resistance


Southwest Terror Fest 2013- Live At The Rock, Tuscon, AZ, USA


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The Year of the Snake: Four Days of Noise, Doom, and Booze in the Old Pueblo Part I

Early in the afternoon on the tenth day of October, a small corner on the edge of a rather quiet neighborhood in Tucson, AZ was besieged by a caravan of tour buses and vans. Within moments of screeching to a halt, this group of transports began disgorging the vanguard of an army primed for delivering an all or nothing audio assault of extreme music over a four day campaign. This was the beginning of the second annual Southwest Terror Fest, a celebration of heavy underground music with an impressive lineup that puts well known national acts alongside the best of the underground scene. Year two was all about outdoing year one. Doubled in length, with sixty-five bands, the headliners also grew in immensity with revered artists such as Kylesa, Red Fang, and Sacred Reich leading the charge. Anticipating the experience of seeing these mighty bands and discovering new ones, a heady excitement permeated the air as those first day bands and venue staff converged.

 

 

 

Within hours of their arrival, these merchants of extreme unloaded mountains of gear to strategic locations inside The Rock, the well known local venue on the street corner that was about to become anything but silent. The impressive array of guitar cabinets, amplifiers, drums, and other instruments were tuned and adjusted, while microphones were fixed to stands much like bayonets would be fixed to the end of rifles. Walking by the bar, one would have seen a stockpile of Pabst Blue Ribbon or a vast array of Jack Daniels, all of it neatly set up to supply the artillery of alcoholism that would shortly be firing for maximum effect. Yes, year two of the festival was definitely going the distance and pulling out all of the stops to make the biggest bang possible. Day one was ready to begin.

 

After an initial gaggle of local bands, who alternately performed on the main stage and the smaller, more intimate second stage, events began to heat up with some on fire performances via Godhunter’s confrontationalTransient2 punk sludge, Anakim’s cerebral hammering, and Sierra’s old school, groovy distortion. The mood of the event was cheerful and the growing crowd flowed smoothly across the the venue in search of merch, beer, or food. Later performances of note on that first day included a powerful set from Demon Lung, packing the smaller side room with their heavy dirges and apocalyptic vibes, as well as a rather unique band named Pinkish Black, who dropped an ethereal, keyboard heavy acid trip onto the curious onlookers over at the main stage. Once Kylesa hit the main stage to close out the first day, it was clear that all which came before was mere prologue. Through their trademark poly rhythmic attack and gut wrenching atmospheres, Kylesa was the definition of heavy during their debut performance in the City of Tucson.

 

 

 

Vehemence5As day two dawned, the festival kicked into even higher gear with a more extensive and diverse lineup. The crowd seemed to grow larger and more eager on that Friday night, ready to party harder. The bands slated to hit the stages for the evening certainly encouraged that attitude. From a local band Kvasura came Eastern European tinged folk metal that could make even the most kvlt hipster nod their head. The band featured an interesting male and female vocal combination, along with a guitarist who picked up the mic and sang a song in Russian. Tucsonans Lethal Dosage also whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their melodic, death tinged pummeling over in the once again tightly packed second stage room. The music grew even heavier when Oregon’s Transient assaulted ears with grinding chaos and Cave Dweller spit venom into the souls of listeners with their prog flavored death metal. Even these performances were outdone when Vehemence deployed a battery of razor sharp death tunes that mowed down droves of the crowd with flawless precision.

 

 

 

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Rounding out the heavy caliber portion of the evening, Landmine Marathon crushed heads with their alternating groove, and straight dirty death grind. The mood seemed to shift after all of the super heavies were done, as a bona fide legend was about to get up on the main stage. The show became a nostalgic sing-a-long as Sacred Reich capped off Friday with 80s thrash and proof that the old guys can still plug in their guitars and rock. They could have played ‘Surf Nicaragua’ ten times and the attendees would have enjoyed each one all the same.

 

 

 

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Words: Ryan Clark

Photos: No Ceiling Photography/Violent Resistance


Arizona Love – An interview With Ryan Butler of Landmine Marathon


361158Continuing our series from the Second Annual Southwest Terror Fest- “The Year Of The Snake”,  Ryan Clark caught up with Ryan Butler of Landmine Marathon in an exclusive interview for Ghost Cult . Ryan and his band have been through a lot of changes,notably the addition of new front woman Krysta Martinez, but are coming back stronger than ever.  They talked about the scene, the value of being a great band live, and what is on the horizon for his band.

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on the heavy music scene in Arizona? If you could change one thing about it for the better, what would that be?

 

Good question. I’m a big proponent of Arizona and always have been. I love our state and our scene, and I think a lot of people take it for granted. I hear people complain about Phoenix/Arizona that are from here non stop, and they whine about the scene all while doing nothing about it. Phoenix literally gets just about every tour coming through with us being such a big city and being a passage from the east to California. I recently took a band from Vegas that was recording with me to see Rotten Sound. It was a Thursday night, and there was probably 100 kids there. So, not a huge show by any means. After the show, I asked them what they thought of the bands. They loved the bands and were blown away by how many people were there, especially on a Thursday night. They said they’re lucky to get 20 people at a grind show on a weekend night. If anything, we have too many shows here and it splits the draw. When I was first going to shows in the early 90’s it was an event, because you only got a few punk/hardcore/metal shows in a month and everyone went! There was rarely a poorly attended show. That’s probably what I’d change. Make people appreciate what they have, and maybe cut down on the huge overflow of shows that Phoenix gets. As Ian Mackeye would say, “I can’t keep up.”

 

As a band who does a significant amount of touring and has been involved in the up and down toils of the music business, what do you define as success in this day and age of extreme music?

 

For us, if we can do awesome tours, play with rad bands and break even, that is success. I obviously didn’t get involved in heavy music for fame and fortune, so that is success to me. If a band can come home from a tour with money in their pocket playing doom/hardcore/grind/death, that’s amazing, but rarely the goal.

 

Do you think events like Southwest Terror Fest are great opportunities to expose new people to the underground scene?

Absolutely. How often does Tucson get a fest with a lineup like this year’s had, or even a single show with that rad of a lineup? Pretty rare. I’m in deep into this culture and I still heard a ton of bands I’d never been exposed to at the fest. Tucson is kind of sequestered away from the flow of shows, and it’s a B market. Don’t take a fest like that for granted, and get some new fresh faces in there, Tucson! Bring a friend. It’s a fabulous way to make new fans for these bands.

 

How important do you view live performance to be in relation to your art? Do you think it outweighs a recording or falls somewhere in the middle?

I think it’s huge, but not always necessary. A recording is like a painting and you can often really get your point across. Many things can distract and detract fromLandminemarathon2 a live performance, and sometimes even tarnish how some people may view an artist. This is not always the case, but problems with a venue, gear, promoter or a bad day for a musician in a band can really screw things up. Some bands just sell what they do live, though, and it’s an amazing experience. Neurosis live compared to a record is a million times more powerful, but I saw them on Ozzfest during the day to 20,000 people, and it just wasn’t the same. We really enjoy the live experience and enjoy traveling. Many people tell us that our performances mean a lot to them as well, so it keeps us doing what we do.

 

What are your plans for Landmine Marathon in the upcoming year?

First and foremost, we really need to get a new record out. We’re writing and well over halfway done, but we all live in different states now, so we’re all figuring that out. That’s a priority. We’re touring Mexico, and will hopefully have more tours than we did last year.

 

 

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Live Photo Courtesy of No Ceiling Photography 

 

Ryan Clark


Division and Dust – An Interview With Godhunter


1425690_10151990674319265_1815759436_nRecently, over four days in the arid heat of Arizona, bands from all walks of the underground descended on Tuscon for the Second Annual Southwest Terror Fest! During this completely D.I.Y.  booked and run festival dubbed “The Year Of The Snake”, bands crushed stages and beers, while fans crushed each other (and more beers). Metal was played and eardrums were brought to ruin, as expected. Ghost Cult is proud to have partnered up with Ryan and David, occasional contributors to the Axe of Contrition Blog  to cover the festival on our behalf, and interview some of the bands you ought to know better. First up is the axe-killing Jake Brazleton of Godhunter (Full disclosure Ryan helped book the festival and manages bands, and David is a member of Godhunter). Look out for the rest of the interviews from that weekend, and a series of show reviews for each day, next week on our website.

What are your thoughts on the heavy music scene in Arizona? If you could change one thing about it for the better, what would that be?

There are a lot of good bands with incredible talent here, but sometimes it becomes so fractured that it becomes outrageous. Not enough people are going to shows and the bands are not supporting each other and working to get more people into the scene and keeping it positive. The solution is obviously to have more people attend shows and watch the bands. There is sometimes an air of indifference about people when they are at shows, not really there for the music, but to hang out and drink in the other room.

 

How would you describe your bands’ sound and what are your future plans?

Southern style sludge with a touch of hardcore, the old school kind, not that Whitechapel spin kick shit. We’ve got a new album, City of Dust, coming out soon and we plan to tour as much as possible to support it and get the word out.

 

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Do you think events like Southwest Terror Fest are great opportunities to expose new people to the underground scene?

Yes, this year’s Southwest Terror Fest lineup is amazing, but with the fractured scene in Tucson, exposure is not as good as it could be. A lot of people from others states and even other countries can’t make it out to this particular event, but would very much like to go to one just like it if they could. With a lineup like this, who wouldn’t?

 

How important do you view live performance to be in relation to your art? Do you think it outweighs a recording or falls somewhere in the middle?

Well, records capture your sound as you want it to be heard, but live shows have a visceral energy that is very hard to duplicate on a recording. Playing live gives you the ability to flourish. No one gives a fuck if you aren’t tight and able to capture the crowd’s attention. However you want to look at it, you are in the entertainment business as a musician, so therefore you have to entertain.

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Ryan Clark