Bulletbelt @ Biddy Mulligan’s Irish Pub, Hamilton (Feb. 24th, 2012)

Again, I botched pretty much all my photos (this time because I forgot to turn Macro off after taking a picture of a praying mantis) so again I will apologise for the lack of clear visuals.

Setting: I have been to Biddy’s before, but that was to drink a stupid amount of various whiskeys, and not for a gig. It is what you would expect of an Irish pub in New Zealand. They do have a band room of sorts, with a small stage that appears to be called “Hogans Stand”. Also, fairy lights, hooray! They do not have a dedicated PA system it seems. An odd choice for a metal show what with all the gewgaws on the walls but Hamilton is not exactly in possession of many suitable venues. They don’t have a handle on the whole “pipe in some music before/in-between bands” thing. I drank G&T from a tumbler via a bendy straw. Merch table included general extreme metal distro (vinyl and CD) from Headless Horseman. I coveted lots of things.

The first band: Open Tomb started at around 9:30pm. They are a doom/sludge band local to Hamilton.  Started off okay but didn’t really impress me much. It seemed like every time they had a chance to step things up and take an interesting turn with their music, they backed down. Can’t accuse them of false advertising, though, their last.fm blurb describes them as “super slow and super fucking cut yourself ugly”. Audience was pretty small for their set. Notable heckle: “Play something slower!”

Open Tomb @ Biddy Mulligan's, Feb. 24th 2012

The second band: Dying of the Light. I must point out here that I mistakenly thought and tweeted that these guys were Hamilton-based as well, but they are not, and I am disappointed about that because they were enjoyable. Live drums be damned, they made great use of programming and included dialogue samples and even some non-intrusive synth work. I got what they were going for right away, and feel that the venue sort of let them down a bit due to confusion over projector usage and us not being able to properly see the images they wanted to use as part of the performance. However, by the time their set was over, the audience had grown considerably and everyone was nicely warmed up. Incidentally, this was the band that my non-metal gig buddy enjoyed the most from the whole night.

Chris from Dying of the Light @ Biddy Mulligan's, Feb. 24th. (Sorry Rangi, I tried to get a good one of you as well, but had no luck!)

The third band: So a corpsepainted Winter Deluge took the stage. They definitely surpassed my expectations, so much so that I splashed out and got their CD and a shirt.  They brought great energy, and whilst I think they could sound even better and tighter live, they were by no means a let-down. Their setlist had catchy stuff and the audience was primed for it. Hair flew in all directions (good to know everyone shampoos and conditions on a regular basis) and it wasn’t long before the pit got started. They were a great choice of support for Bulletbelt and I think more gigs will really benefit them as a unit. They will be supporting Inquisition (USA) at The King’s Arms in Auckland on June 6th.

Winter Deluge @ Biddy Mulligan's, Feb 24th

The headliner: Bulletbelt hail from Wellington, my hometown, and play a kind of punk-infused black metal. This tour is in support of their EP Writhe and Ascend, which I have CD 91/100. Well then! They really nailed it, took full advantage of the crowd fervor and worked it up into total chaos while exhibiting wonderful cohesion and charisma, the stuff that truly separates the pros from the amateurs. No encore, despite the chants of “more! more!” but encores aren’t compulsory and it was a very satisfying set. I really hope they come back to Hamilton soon, whether it’s for an EP, LP, or just for kicks.

Bulletbelt @ Biddy Mulligan's, Feb. 24th. The best band gets the worst picture, of course.

So. My first Hamilton metal gig experience was very positive. Can we please get some more of these in our forsaken burg?

Smile Fairy Drawing

I drew this for a Twitter pal but you can look at it too.  It is the Smile Fairy.

This is why I am studying geoscience and am not in any sort of art school.

Guitar Wolf @ Static Bar, Hamilton (Dec. 15th, 2011)

Here is where I will write about the show, but only a little bit.  I don’t have any photos because I am an idiot who didn’t figure out how to use her new camera before going.  Put that on the to-do list, perhaps.

Setting:  I have never been here before.  A teeny-tiny venue, the stage must have been about 1.2 m x 3 m and only 5 cm higher than the floor.  The usual suspects in terms of posters on the walls (Ramones, Nancy Sinatra) and Actual Vinyl Records being played by a seasoned soundie.  I might love this bar forever just because they played Swampland by The Scientists.  Digital projector ran old movies as a backdrop: Plan 9 from Outer Space, assorted Bettie Page footage, Gojira.  The bouncer was a bit of a douchewaft but that’s to be expected from bouncers.  Bar staff were friendly, not snobby.  People were enthusiastic and rowdy (all 50 of them) but I felt a bit alone and awkward.  I may have felt more comfortable among them ten years ago except most of them would probably have been in primary school so perhaps not.  Also, where did all those rockabillies come from and was it a cloning experiment?

The first band:  Trash Can Dud.  I think.  Trash Can something.  Can’t find any sort of link for them so I am going by the duct-taped signage on the singer/guitarist’s jacket but there’s always the possibility that an “E” may have fallen off.  The drummer wore a garbage bag.  Chaotic two-person snare-and-tom-only garage rock, quite adorable because they looked too young to even be in a bar but had all the passion in the world.  Personal highlight: me rocking out shoulder-to-shoulder with Guitar Wolf Seiji while they nailed a speedy cover of Love’s Seven & Seven Is.

The second band:  The Transistors.  Not the UK punk band, nor indeed the Italian lounge act.  Garage punk with more poppiness than Trash Can Whatever.  They were pretty good but none of the songs stuck with me, perhaps just not my cup of tea.  I took this opportunity to go to the toilet and to go outside for fresh air, but not both at the same time.  Would be happy to see this band again though.  Personal highlight: they broke the stage, ’nuff said.

The headliner:  Guitar Wolf.  With the disclaimer that I left before the third (!) encore because my back was playing up, resulting in excruciating pain the whole evening and I just couldn’t take any more.  If you have the opportunity to see these guys, do it every time, they are explosive beasts.  Noisy, sweaty, unapologetic high-octane rock and roll that zaps you in the loins and makes you want to slam dance until you fall over or get forcibly ejected from the venue.  A true force of nature, wonderful, re-energising stuff.  Personal highlight:  How about Seiji howling away while he crowdsurfed a room of 50 people and getting flawlessly deposited on the bar where he battled a lampshade?  Or Bass Wolf U.G.’s impressive range of facial expressions (seriously, I have never seen so many different pouts)?  The effortless cool of Drum Wolf Toru and also a close look at his tattoos?  It was all good.

Then I walked home.  Personal highlight: not getting raped or murdered.

I feel like going off on a tangent here to talk about Hamilton and The Importance Of Live Music To Me Personally And Also In Communities but will save that for another post as it will likely be full of ranting.  But we all know how often I post and it is almost never so you may feel safe in this knowledge.  Love you too.

Dear Sleep Disorder

I love you , I really do. We’ve been together for such a long time, through thick and thin, across time zones and in total defiance of circadian normality. I know you can be relied upon to surprise me on what is almost a daily basis. Will you get me to sleep at 8pm and wake me up at 2am? Or will I be drifting off at 4am and rising at 9am? Or will it be a 3am to 11am stretch? Will I not sleep at all for a few days? You certainly keep it interesting!

It must now be expressed that your constant and capricious tinkering with my biological clockwork has lost a little charm over the past twenty-odd years. I do admire your patience and your perseverance. When I have tried to fight you with an arsenal of sleep aids – melatonin, warm cups of milk, regular exercise, valerian, Tylenol PM, benzodiazepines – you have smiled and patted me on the head, and remained the rock at my side. I also respect your disdain for The Man’s socially acceptable hours of operation. Fighting such tyranny is a noble goal.

But with this declaration of war, O Sleep Disorder, have you not become the tyrant? In your well-intentioned quest to keep me free from the shackles of a 9-to-5 job, you have adopted the role of a dictator. I am at the mercy of your whims, helpless in the face of those sporadic daytime naps that come like a billy-club to my head, or wide awake in the dead of night with eyes that feel as if someone had injected them with liquid nitrogen.

Such heartache is not intended, surely. You do give me two or three days a month to glimpse what it is like for those whose bodies have a more conventional response to zeitgebers. I must admit that I do not enjoy those days much, though the opportunity to frolic in the sunlight is appreciated, despite this not being a preferred activity of mine.

Please do not construe this as a Dear John letter. I am quite happy for you to have free reign over my sleep cycle. But we mustn’t be so selfish! There are other people to think about, and like it or not they tend to be awake at times that seem irrational to you and I. No need to be angry at them, for they cannot help being that way. I merely ask that you loosen your constrictive yet comforting bear hug a fraction.

Warm fuzzies,
Your Remedy.