If you read the first part of our best metal concerts countdown you’l notice things are a bit different from other sites. With so many shows, we enlisted some help from RÖÄRGH and Minotaur’s Redemption guitarists Birdman Dan and Lyon. Without further ado, we continue to go against the grain with this roundtable discussion.
Chris’s #4: King Parrot and Child Bite at St.Vitus
Chris: Here I also interviewed both bands. Some of my favorite humans.
Anthony: King Parrot is a lot of fun live. I saw them open for Superjoint Ritual last year.
Chris: So funny and Shawn Knight from Child Bite not only has a cool name that rhymes with his band name but hes also extremely intelligent.
Anthony: Nice. Parrot is hilarious.
Chris: It was there that i noticed the 1988 painting of Donald Trump with the world in his hands in the basement. Youngy mooned it and I took a picture. I have no idea why he even bothers wearing clothes. As soon as I saw the painting I said to Youngy “If he becomes president then this might be proof that time travel exists.”
Birdman’s #4: Diamond Head at the Chance.
Anthony: Oh God, yes. That show ruled.
Birdman: I love how they stuck to songs form the metal records instead of the wanna be prog-rock records.
Anthony: Agreed. Almost the whole debut was played.
Birdman: I’ll bet if Metallica didn’t make “Am I Evil” famous, their “legacy” would’ve been “Sucking My Love.”
Lyon: Bands recognizing their good shit is important. I’ll segue that in like 30 mins.
Birdman: If I ever start a Vinyl collection I’ll grab lightning to the nations before I grab the Iron Maiden debut.
Anthony: I could see that sounding great on analog.
Birdman: They have a great new frontman as well and it was awesome getting a pic with Brian, who I interviewed earlier this year.
Anthony: He seemed like a pretty chill dude.
Lyon: When was that show?
Anthony: November 19th. Two days before the both of us went back for Carcass.
Tony’s #4: Belephegor, Shining and Origin at the Gramercy Theater
Lyon: Sick. I saw Belphegor a few years ago – fun show.
Birdman: Did Niklas cut himself during Shining’s set?
Anthony: Very fun night. All of those bands ruled live and it was cool to see my friends Coco and Herb who I rarely see. As for Niklas cutting himself, no he didn’t but it didn’t bother me because they sounded great. He did do some goofy improv live too. For a psycho Niklas seems nice. He was hanging out with fans at the bar and letting people get pics with him. He remembered my interview with him where he talks about making a Christmas album. He then sang Christmas carols to me.
Lyon: Live shenanigans are like half the reason to go to a show.
Anthony: Yeah but music is most important. Anyone who hates their set just because he didn’t cut himself isn’t a real fan to me.
Lyon: Oh, for sure music is #1. I was mostly referring to whatever goofy live improv you mentioned.
Birdman: They’re especially not a fan if they didn’t like their set because he cut himself lol.
Anthony: Belephegor stole the show though. They are just a heavy choking machine live, and of course, Origin is always great.
Lyon’s #4: Dead City Crown, Necromancing the Stone, Allagaeon, Battlecross at Dingbatz
Lyon: It’s not because we’ve played there before – DCC, Necromancing and Battlecross all put on blisteringly raw and fun sets.
Birdman: Anthony did you hear the Necromancing the Stone record that came out this year?
Anthony: No I haven’t.
Birdman: It’s got James Malone from Arsis shredding it up.
Anthony: I saw it has him and members of Black Dahlia Murder and The Absence so I’m sure I’ll like it.
Lyon: Allagaeon basically didn’t play because of band mates having to go home on family emergency, but the rest of the show slayed. I knew Battlecross was gonna be fun (third time seeing them), but Necromancing really blew me away.
Birdman: What you basically witnessed is how hard the band will actually work in times of pressure, Allegaeon I mean.
Lyon:Yeah – it’s nuts they even played three song with no drummer and a failing backtrack.
Birdman: Including the Rush cover
Anthony: Which song did they cover?
Birdman: Subdivisions.
Lyon: It’s actually my favorite Rush song.
Birdman: It was how rob and I used to play RÖÄRGH shows, except Allegaeon put up a picture of a stick figure.
Lyon: They kinda lost it at the end, but for the most part it was sweet.The dudes from ‘cross were as nice as ever, too. The show just had a real “we are all here for the metals” vibe.
Birdman: I made it rain in Allegaeons tip jar twice, I had to. And the singer gave me a hug each time.
The Bonesaw 