Review: Bullet for My Valentine + Still Remains 11/20/05

#46
November 20, 2005
Bullet for My Valentine
Still Remains
Scars of Tomorrow
It Dies Today
Jacknife
Make Your Stand
Ottobar

OK, Sunday night for me is party night but it makes Mondays even more horrible especially when there are endless, pointless meetings, multi-hour commutes to-and-from said meetings, and then endless pointless forms to fill out when you get back in the office. And it was dark at 4 pm and pouring rain. *sigh* It's not that I regret going out, it's that I resent working.

Anyway...I couldn't figure out what time this show started (different everywhere I checked) or if Still Remains was playing at all (only two of the four sites I checked had them listed - their own record company had not updated their tour info for quite some time...). In any case, setting my arrival for 7:30 worked whether the show started at 6:30 with several local openers or if it started at 7:30. It apparently did start at 6:30 so I was also able to catch one of the locals - Dillinger-esque Make Your Stand (I refuse to type those stupid straight-edge xhardcorex letters in their name). They were pretty good. I'm generally happy to see a 'metalcore' band that doesn't sound like Underoath or As I Lay Dying (esp AILD - one of those is plenty, thanks). Though the Dillinger/Norma Jean sound is getting kind of old now too. Maybe bands should restart some kind of psychadellic pseudometal and sing songs about childrens literature. Oh, wait somebody already did that.

I couldn't figure out what Jacknife was going to sound like and when they started setting up a big drum rack, I started to get worried (no more Lamb of God sound-alikes needed either!). However, I do think that having a good bit of the equipment attached to a collapsable dealie is a good idea and functional. Drummers have so much crap - it just saves time. Jacknife's singer looks like a professional wrestler (w/neck tattoos!) - he kept talking like a wrestler too - trying to egg the crowd into doing something. I dunno though...metal shows at Ottobar are kinda weird since it's more of a hardcore/indie rock venue. Put any old hardcore band on and the place will be packed with crazy dancing mofos. And with this kind of metal, most of these little Christian kids just stand around. Plus it was still only like 8 pm and it was Sunday night and I don't know if many in the crowd had heard any of their songs before. I didn't think it was bad (and these dudes are awesome to hang with, if a little aggressive for my personal taste); I just wasn't blown away. I would definitely do shots with them again though, cuz they're awesome. And the singer is kinda hot. And neck tattooed.

And then...for the first time in the US: the lovely Welsh quartet, Bullet for My Valentine. Yay! They might not be the best looking of the overhyped Welshies, but they're definitely the most metal. And Matt - singing lead and playing lead guitar and headbanging with 3 broken ribs - is fucking hardcore. Very short set - mostly from the non-US-released full-length album 'The Poison'.
Before they hit the stage I was chatting with Matt - and this guy DudeyourbandisthegreatesetbandeverandI'monyourstreetteamand - freakin gets right between us, about 6 inches from Matt's face and starts fucking talking. Gah! What the hell is wrong with people. If I was a really hot chick there would be none of that happening. Or if I was with Coheed - they don't let dicks pull shit like that in the middle of a conversation. Anyway. That put me in a bad mood for the rest of the show. Considering what happened next though I'm surprised I didn't engage in any shirt-ripping, pant-tattering She-Hulk type of tantrum: I thought all my batteries were charged - regular set, back-up set. I was all excited to take hundreds of photos of BFMV and then: 'Change the Batteries' -camera totally dead. Argh. [apparently it's the battery-charger that's broken - I put both sets of batteries in when I got home and they seem to be fully charged] Hence the stolen John Waters 'Scene Missing' photo above.
Still though, BFMV is awesome and I would recommend them to anyone who likes Welshmen, metal, or muscle shirts.

Next up in this metalcoreapalooza, Scars of Tomorrow. I thought that I'd seen them before and then recognized none of them. Which is I guess because it's only one guy from the other band called Scars of Tomorrow that I saw back in March.

Band member confusion continues with Still Remains. At first I thought they had yet another singer, but really TJ just had yet another hair-do. They are about to get a new drummer though (their third). Mike Church (yes, that apparently is his real name and he is the second second guitar player) was not wearing make-up this time, although he was admiring my pyrotechnic eyeliner. Interesting footwear choices - Zack has those Misfits vans and AJ was just wearing socks. Great set - pretty sure it was the same as last time. They get pretty crazy on stage.

I didn't pay much attention to It Dies Today because I was attempting (once again) to talk to BFMV and chatting with the Jacknife guys. From now on I'm going to carry a back-up camera like a real photographer and possibly even a camera phone (T-Mobile has a prepaid Sidekick if I can get over my deep hatred of them).