Mushroomhead 2017

with special guests Slop Musket, XIII, Ventana, and Unsaid Fate.

I have been to this venue a couple of times already. I actually went there a few times before it was this particular incarnation. But this night was the first time I walked through the door with the brand on the outside, proudly displayed for all to see...Come and Take It Live! (https://www.comeandtakeitlive.com/)

There is plenty of parking all around the building. As you walk up to the entrance there is a large fenced in area for smoking and enjoying some grub from the food trailer to the right. As you walk in there is the ticket counter immediately in front of you and the large main bar to the right of that. This is where it gets interesting. As you face the bar from the entrance, the large stage is to the far back left of the bar, bathrooms are to the right behind the bar and there are some steps to your left that lead up to a second level viewing area and a merch sales area behind that. As you walk up the steps, to your left and almost behind you is a flight of stairs that goes up to the next level.

Up here is another bar to you left, in front of you, as you reach the top of the stairs. There is a VIP lounge area back behind you that has sofas and some additional seating and overlooks the stage. Where the bar is has a long halfwall that allows you to look down on the stage and the crowd below. There are also a couple of very nice Jack Daniels pool tables. There is also a hidden room that is called the 'Skybox'. This sweet little retreat is actually over the top of the stage on the side. This  allows for some pretty good views of the onstage antics. The skybox can seat about 5 people comfortably, and more if you are comfortable with the crowd.



In all, for its quirky, different levels and areas, Come and Take It Live allows for a great view from just about anywhere in the house.

On the bill for this night of music were two Austin bands opening for three road bands. Slop Musket (http://slopmusket.com/) was up first to open the night. Of course it always has to be a tough spot to be the very first. Not everyone has arrived. The crowd is just starting to get their drink on, it's just generally tough. There was about 25 or 30 people down on the floor when Slop Musket took the stage. With their different style of rap and rock, Slop Musket powered through their short set. As entertaining as they were, it was super difficult to get a grasp on their set in general...and there was just not a whole lot of feedback from the crowd. I am sure I will run into them again and hopefully be able to give a proper review for their set.

XIII (https://www.facebook.com/xiiiasylum) was up next. Tell you what, the crowd had swelled enough to pay attention. And it took all of 35 seconds from the start of XIII's set for the small, growing crowd to react with cheers. Although they opened with a cover song, it was still a pretty fucking epic and ballsy jump off. The great thing is their sound and set didn't change much. Rolling into there originals XIII kept it high energy and exciting for the crowd and myself. Credit to the band for doing a great job of hyping themselves and their upcoming CD release show. It was musically bad ass enough and interesting enough that I made plans to attend their event.

Ventana (https://www.facebook.com/VentanaBandOfficial/) was the first of the three road bands to hit the stage. Costumed and on point, Ventana laid into the now warmed up crowed. Here was another band with an energetic front man and dueling lead vocals to make the crowd start to break into a sweat and start a circle pit. The little snippets of sound intros to a couple of their songs where quite charming as I caught myself laughing at some in the crowd who didn't know it was a recording or didn't get the joke and poke at politics. Of course if you have not seen Ventana live you wouldn't know. The solution...go see Ventana, for the love that is All-American, Apple Pie, and all that other fucking shit.

Unsaid Fate (https://www.unsaidfate.com/) came out onto the stage with a pretty much packed house and ran with the set. With the vocals by the show stopping Jackie LaPonza, Unsaid Fate just blistered the crowd. even greater than the musical part of the show was how great Jackie was in being completely interactive with the crowd down in front. At one point she even snagged a fans phone who was filming and ran around the stage capturing the magic from the stage perspective. All in good fun of course as she handed the fan back his phone when she was done. There is a souvenir that goes down as once in a lifetime. Unsaid Fate charged through their set, barely giving the fans time to rest or catch their breath. It was just perfect. To build on what had come before, and prepare the crowd for what was about to happen, Unsaid Fate definitely has a new fan here!

Mushroomhead (http://www.mushroomhead.com/)! YES! This is my fourth time seeing them. It is absolutely worth it EVERY SINGLE TIME. The stage production is always different. The set list changes and stays fresh, but keeps some of the great tunes in a different order than the last time you saw them. In all, Mushroomhead puts on the show of all Muthafuckin' shows! It's loud, it's bright and flashy, and completely non stop energy. Even when the did a little homage to Prince by doing a super clean and tight opening of 'When Doves Cry' the crowd never stopped screaming. Mushroomhead pounded us with the sound and presence for over an hour and when they were done....they were done. No need for an encore if you kick it to the crowd like Mushroomhead does!

Laters

Babes got balls

Another week night show in downtown Austin, Texas at The Dirty Dog on 6th St. Nothing wrong with this. In fact, this is everything great with the music scene in Austin. A wide and varied assortment of venues, clubs, bars, and event centers only matched by the diversity of the music played in those spots, it is great to have a choice of live music all week long.

The Dirty Dog (https://dirtydogbar.com/) sells itself as an 'extreme sports bar'. It is. It is extreme. They have sports on many different screens. And it's a bar. BAM! There you go. Truthfully there is nothing more awesome than watching some bad ass games on a TV, at a bar, with some kick ass live music in the background. Sharing this moment with my girlfriend during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals only evoked the comment "I didn't know they had TV's!" Believe me people, they do and it is a cool place.

Speaking with the club manager Ben, makes me more excited for the future of The Dirty Dog and the live music scene down on 6th. Only good things and opportunities to come. 

The show review I am dropping on you now is from three local metal bands with two headliners from a road show. This show was simply lined up perfectly. From the opening act to the headliner. Exciting and great music. Just awesome stuff from Come and Take It Productions (http://www.comeandtakeitproductions.com/).

Before the Darkening (https://www.facebook.com/BeforeTheDarkening) opened up the evening like they were headlining the night. The nice thing is there was a fairly decent crowd on this particular night to show the love. Much credit to these guys for knowing there place on the roster and come out guns blazing. The lead singer acknowledged that they didn't have much time and these guys just flew right into it. Before the Darkening is a new band in Austin, TX that is currently working on their debut EP. With the seriousness these guys took to their live performance as well as the friendly attitude towards the fans off stage, things look bright for Before the Darkening. I would for love them to have some merch at the next show and give the crowd something to hang on to. The energetic performance, from a constantly smiling lead singer, was the perfect start up for the whole night! 

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Fear Control (https://www.facebook.com/FearControl) came up on the stage next. With an energetic sound check, here is another band that jumped on it like it WAS their business! Awesome job here with the performance all around. Fear Control actually made a 'show' of the stage time. With a couple of light boxes for the guitarist and drummer using for effect and lead singer/guitarist that more than held his own. The crowd ate this shit up! Getting a mosh pit started this early in the night with the ever growing crowd, only proved that Fear Control knew how to take control. Great metal, great vocals and 'piss off' attitude had Fear Control owning the stage for their designated set time. 

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Heroinme (https://www.facebook.com/heroinmeATX) was the last of the local bands to mount the stage. Very much the same style of metal as the previous 2 bands, but some how intangibly different. Another lead singer with an audience interactive persona. With the crowd pretty much at capacity, Heroinme, took advantage of this poured out a ton of energy into the crowd. Working everyone up into a sweaty mosh pit, I damn near got put on the floor during this set - camera and all! No question about the love the audience gave back. As proof, I was totally unable to get near these guys after their set to even say hello. Just some more DAMN good metal from the ATX!

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Here is a brief interlude before I get to the band I came to see. I previously did press for the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival (http://livemusicinaustin.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-rockstar-energy-drink-mayhem.html). I simply could not wrangle myself out of another obligation to get to the Mayhem fest early enough to catch all the bands and get brutally sun burned. Part of the let down was not seeing this next band. So when I heard they were gonna be back in Austin, DAMN STRAIGHT I was going!!!

Butcher Babies (https://www.facebook.com/ButcherBabiesMusic) are fronted by definitively two of the hottest chicks in rock and metal today. But don't be a tool and think it is a gimmick. They are no joke and the music is just as hard and has more balls then MANY other bands in this same genre. In fact, Butcher Babies killed it so hard this particular evening the completely fucked up the sound system for Devil You Know! 

The crowd totally pushed all the way up to the stage and only broke for the mosh pit that seemed to be going EVERY DAMN SONG! What I thought was brilliant was the Jekyll and Heidi act. Not by both of the femme fatale singers, but by Heidi. She would smile and be cooing to the crowd, bringing them in closer, then launch into the next song or just go off at the peak of the current track with the gutturals and screams. This would totally set off the crowd again. Don't think it was all Heidi as the other singer Carla channels some serious ferocity with vocals through a very tiny frame. 

It was unequivocally thrilling to hear the vocals, both the singing and gutturals, performed flawlessly. No synth, no help form the sound board, just kick ass raw, screaming like dudes can't do, vocals! Lets not forget, all the while, the lead guitarist just fluidly moved around onstage. Playing off of the ladies overt sexuality, it my not have been truly noticed by the crowd (pretty damn obvious where all eyes were the whole time), but it was a brilliant performance as a whole.

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Devil You Know (https://www.facebook.com/Devilyouknowofficial) rounded out the evening with their performance. As I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, I think Butcher Babies came out and come on so hard, they fucked up some shit in the sound system. Never the less, there was no question this is who the majority of the crowd wanted to see. Devil You Know really played off the crowd. The lead singer completely kept the audience pulled into the show their whole set. Playing to the ladies in the house, the bearded dudes, and all the rest of us. Cracking jokes about playing for a crowd of white folks actually caused me to spit out my beer when I heard that one. 

As for the music, Devil You Know just pounded the shit out of the audience when they weren't chatting it up. Brutal and searing guitar licks, brain pounding bass and drums is just what the crowd ordered. I will say I was horribly disappointed in the vocals of the lead singer. Some serious cringe worthy moments where he was off key. The blog is all about the performance and the responsiveness from the crowd. With this, Devil You Know handed everyone there monies worth in the performance. Not my pick for performance of the evening, and I would be hard pressed to see them again without a Hellified list of bands on the bill.

Laters