How to metal.

[trashcanman]

It's funny because we were just talking about our local music scenes and I was bemoaning what has become of Fresno's once-vibrant underground punk/metal scene. I also mentioned I was seeing Exodus this week at this club named Strummers. How did that go? Like this:


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That's one of the opening bands, Cursed, who were particularly intense. But the headliners weren't exactly slouches either...


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And that's before shit got crazy.

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And then the epic moment where the floor splits down the middle at the singer's behest and then come crashing together in glorious chaos.

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So yeah, I had a pretty fucking good night. But while I was there, I was looking at the flyers for upcoming shows. Immortal Technique, Agent Orange, Subhumans, and motherfucking Guttermouth to name a few. Turns out this club is an epicenter for a crapton of awesome shows I never even knew were happening. Basically, I'd be living at this place if I resided in Fresno and didn't work nights. I was seriously floored. Imagine how much amazing music I've missed in the years this place has been open. So to add an addendum to the conversation about my local music scene: it's really goddamn awesome, but I'm too out of the loop (and employed) to fully appreciate it. 

[Ben]

Those are the shows, man. God, that second video just fires me up. Looks like they played a sweet set. I'm stoked to see they brought back The Toxic Waltz now that Steve is back.

Having said that, and I hate to do this, but I am gonna have be one of "those" guys for a moment... That rendition of Wall of Death was beginner level. Chalk it up to a small venue, maybe, but I've seen way better.

[trashcanman]

Yeah, the place was tiny. Let me put it this way: there was a fence dividing the bar section from the floor right in front of where I was standing so the WoD could not have been any bigger than it was. The sound in there was absolutely murderous, though. That opening band Cursed apparently had a female guitarist who couldn't play because of technical difficulties and she was up on sage before the set rampaging about how she was homeless and now she couldn't even fucking play. She didn't have a mic and we could hear her loud and clear almost in the back of the place. She kept coming onstage on going off for the first part of their set too, shouting and flipping off the audience, which was pretty entertaining. Even if her guitar didn't work, she'd make a badass metal hype woman.

And while we're in the mood:



Chuck Billy for president!

[The Curmudgeon]

Good to see. Not my thing, at all, but a diverse local scene is exactly what we were talking about. Were you the one filming, Trashy?

Sadly defunct Glasgow rock/metal/whateverthefuck band Danananaykroyd did a twist on the "split the crowd up" bit, where they cut the crowd in half and then during the mental heavy bit of one of their songs (that would be pretty much all of their songs, really) they wanted mosh-hug pit, where everyone had to run together and hug. Why the fuck did they split up again?

One thing I always, always recommend for people who miss gigs and shows they would have loved is Songkick. Dunno if I mentioned it before, but it's an app that scans your music library and then whenever a band you have on their plays in your area, you get a pop-up on your phone or an e-mail. There's so many bands I would have missed (Mates of State being the most recent) without it.

[trashcanman]

Ooh, nice. I'll give that a look. Yeah, I was filming. Never had a decent phone before so I figured I'd give it a go. Kind of wished I'd moshed, though. I've never been in a wall of death. I probably would've ran in if that fence hadn't been there (would've had to push through the crowd to the bar section exit and then push through that). But with my back and knees the way they are, I figure I should let the young'ns own the place and just pull out my phone and enjoy the spectacle.

[The Curmudgeon]

Yeah, I'm the same. Honestly, I could enjoy that gig but no way would I be moshing or jumping in circles or any of that stuff. I just.. I don't GET it. You can't be listening to the music when you're doing that shit, you're just trying to survive.

Decent footage, though. Usually videos at gigs are a blur with a wall of noise, but that was pretty good. You should put that on Youtube. You'd get plenty of, ah, "views."