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Kreator, Obituary, Midnight and Horrendous at Irving Plaza

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Kreator was one of the first non-Big Four thrash bands I got into and had yet to see them. With a bill featuring Obituary, Midnight and Horrendous, I felt the time had finally come for me to see the teutonic thrash titans.

This show was a no-brainer as Obituary has always been a favorite of mine, Midnight is one of my favorite newer bands and Horrendous is pretty cool too. The day came and my friends Jay, Branden, Scott and I rode the bus to NYC. Jay and Scott went to the Blue Ruin for some drinks while Branden and I got some pizza before catching a cab to Irving. When we got there, Horrendous had started their set.

Horrendous

I was excited to finally see the old school death metal throwback Horrendous as I missed them at last year’s Maryland Deathfest. The band had great energy and made their long songs feel quick.

Midnight

Second band on was the almighty Midnight. Before they played I ran into my friends Jason and Nicole (the latter who wanted to see Midnight badly). After buying a Cause of Death shirt, Scott and Jay showed up. The band started with “Vomit Queens” so I knew I was in for a fun ride. The band had amazing energy and played many great tracks such as “Black Rock and Roll.”  No doubt about it, Midnight was the second best act of the night for sure.

Obituary

Next on were death metal classics Obituary. This was my third time seeing them, the first being at MDF 2015 and second being with Cannibal Corpse and Cryptopsy at this same venue. Although the band was really good both times, this set blew the others away because it was loaded with classics. “Internal Bleeding,” “Chopped in Half,” “Turned inside out,” “Slowly We Rot” and more hits from their catalog were featured. As always, the energy combined with a great setlist made them the best band of the night.

Kreator

In the ninth grade, the only thrash bands I knew were the Big Four, Sepultura and Suicidal Tendencies, my teacher(who also happened to be the singer for All Out War) recommended me a list of bands which included Kreator. After hearing “Betrayer” for the first time, I was hooked.

While I was glad to finally see Kreator, their set sort of bored me. They mostly played songs from the last two albums while throwing in some greats such as “Tormentor,” “Extreme Agression,” “Flag of Hate,” “Enemy of God” and “Pleasure to Kill.” I enjoyed them during these tracks while Jay only enjoyed them during “Pleasure to Kill,” “Tormentor” and “Flag of Hate” as he is only a fan of the first three albums. On the other hand, Branden loved every minute of the set as he loves their 2000 and onward stuff the most.

After Kreator finished, we left the building, got more pizza and hopped on the bus back to Middletown.

 

 

 

 

 

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Mayhem, Inquistion at The Chance

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While The Chance gets some pretty cool metal shows from time to time, no one saw it coming when black metal icons Mayhem was announced with support from their Colombian counterparts, Inquisition. We then found out they were playing all of their 1994 album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, making this show an immediate must. After work, I grabbed my friend Jay and we left for the venue. When we got in the parking lot we saw that many a fan had also arrived early. We ran into Branden (another friend) and all headed for some food at Nutty’s, where we again ran into other friends who are normally mentioned in my articles. Prime time came around and we entered the venue. Although no band had started playing yet, the venue was already packed. Taking advantage of the open balcony, I headed up and found a sweet view before the first band started.

Black Anvil

I had seen Black Anvil once before when they opened for Watain at The Loft. I was never a fan, and wasn’t impressed at their performance then. Here it wasn’t much better. They had a new sound that had clean vocals that didn’t seem to match the music. After their set Inquisiton got on.

Inquistion

This legendary duo has always been one of my favorite black metal bands. Every time I’ve seen them they were killer – including this one. Their sound was spot on and they had a great setlist. Nothing that night could match the power of their set as Inquistion stole the show once more.

Mayhem

Last but not least, Mayhem got onstage. I had seen the controversial band once in 2015 with Revenge and Watain. At the time, I really enjoyed Mayhem’s set (though not as much as Revenge’s) as I finally got to see them and hear classics such as “Chainsaw Gutsfuck” live. Looking back, their sound was pretty off and they spent too much of the set promoting their last album (2014’s Esoteric Warfare), which wasn’t very good. Here, they were amazing. Mayhem brought out an altar while all the members wore robes. They performed De Mysteriis from front to back while doing over-the top-theatrics. The sound was much better this time around. The only problem I had was that they only played the album, making for a short set. Overall, it was a great show and made up for the near two month streak of not seeing any touring acts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wishbone Ash At Daryl’s House

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Every once in a while I check the listing for shows at Daryl’s House,  a restaurant owned by Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates located in Pawling, NY. The place is known for great food and gets plenty of notable jazz,blues and classic rock acts. I noticed that Wishbone Ash were scheduled to play there in late September.

Seeing this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see such an underrated band, my good buddy Birdman from Roargh and I knew we had to go. After school that day, I made the drive to Pawling. While we waited, we both ordered chili burgers, which were pretty amazing.

Wishbone Ash

For those who don’t know, Wishbone Ash are a pretty overlooked 70’s hard rock band that are most known for influencing Iron Maiden. We were able to see this as soon as we noticed their guitar playing is just like Dave Murray and Adrain Smith’s.

The sound was amazing and the vocalist showed us all he has a sense of humor. They played many great songs including “The King Has Come,” “You see Red” and “Blowing Wind.” The band encored with the track “Pheonix.” Wishbone Ash played for about an hour and 45 minutes but weren’t boring for a second. After the show we met the band, who were pretty chill guys and then headed home after experiencing a performance by one of classic rocks most overlooked acts.

 

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Deftones at The Stone Pony 8/10/16

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The Stone Pony is a venue in New Jersey which my friend Doug and I have always heard about but never went to. As fans of their material since their 2000 album “White Pony,” when we saw that Deftones were playing, we decided to finally check the place out.

After being stuck in traffic due to a man climbing Trump Tower with suction cups we got to the venue. This was specifically the venues outdoor stage which is only open for the summer. The “Summer Stage” as it’s called looked like it would be used for a festival (it even had a bar and food vendors that had more than just popcorn and crappy hot dogs). We met up with Doug’s friend/new Alternative Nation writer Dylan, his girlfriend Christine and our old friend April.

Refused

Due to the traffic we missed most of the first band, Spotlights. Though they seemed alright I was just glad I was able to catch Refused.  I’ve been a fan of these Swedish punks since I first heard them on Fuse back in the day while Doug was curious about them due to their involvement in the new Doom game.

Refused opened up with a newer track and from the moment he started we knew this was going to be a good performance. Their singer, Dennis Lyxzén did all kinds of over the top antics such as weird dance moves, running into the crowd screaming and Refused even covered the intro to Slayer’s “Raining Blood” with him making poses to the riffs (not making this up). They ended their set with their most well-known song “New Noise,” which brought on intense circle pits.

Deftones

After Refused finished Deftones were on. They started with “Rocket Skates” which was a good choice as it got the crowd going, with Deftones’ diverse audience being made up of bros, metalheads and even hipsters. They played a few tracks off the new album “Gore” as well as older greats like “Digital Bath,””Knife Party,” “The Passenger” and “Diamond Eyes.”

They sounded great and the whole performance had a distinct atmosphere felt nowhere else. The band didn’t touch their nu-metal stuff until the last few songs which vocalist Chino Moreno decided to wear a plain white t-shirt for. Though I don’t like those tracks, it was fun to see people go crazy for them. After the show we said goodbye to our friends and headed back to the Hudson Valley to return to real life.

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My Experience at MDF 2015: Part 4 – Sunday

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For the final day in Baltimore we (now also joined by Josh’s friend Tom who was with us for just that day) decided to make a trip to legendary writer Edgar Allen Poe’s grave.

I decided to wear my Suspiria shirt; one to wear something that for once wasn’t a band and two because it fit the the atmosphere of the exhibit. After getting a picture with his tombstone we headed back to the Edison Lot, stopping by 7-11 for lunch before heading down to the venue. When we got there we ran into none other then Katherine Katz of Agoraphobic Nosebleed.We all got pictures with Katz and I eventually would get to interview her. For this day I would stay at the Edison Lot for the remainder of its run (just like I did last year).

Masacre

When we finally got to the venue we had already missed the first two bands, so the first one I caught was Colombian death metal band Masacre. Knowing nothing about this band I decided to watch them out of curiosity and damn was this awesome. I couldn’t believe a band I never heard of could end up being one of the best bands Sunday had to offer. After this set, I’m now a proud Masacre fan.

Goatsnake

Back in 2011, Goatsnake dropped from playing MDF and where replaced by Ghost.While Ghost were cool to see, I’m glad that this year I finally got to see this stoner/doom super group.

Goatsnake was a nice break from the extreme nature of Masacre and most of the bands from previous days. Goatsnake had a good sound which helped with their trippy atmosphere (until this show I never noticed how much the singer sounds like Alice in Chains’ Layne Stayley).

Primordial

After seeing death metal then doom we then switched to folk metal with Primordial. As mentioned in part three, I am very picky with folk metal. Primordial is a band that is not only an exception but one I find to be top notch. Primordial sounded much more epic live  – especially when they closed with “Empire falls,” their signature song.

Winter

After Primordial the shift returned to doom but with a deep-seated vengeance. I was super stoked to see these death/doom pioneers as I was always a big fan of their only album,”Into Darkness” for quite some time. As it tends to be in real life, Winter was extremely heavy and crushing – one of the heaviest bands on the fest.

Anaal Nathrakh

England’s Anaal Nathrakh were yet another one of my “must-see’s” (Sunday was on a roll). With the exception of the clean vocal sections, the band’s distinct mix of grindcore, black metal and industrial translated great live (a very minor complaint). The crowd went from being crushed by doom to intense moshing. The transition would revert to doom yet again with the next band.

Skepticism

To be honest, I was never a fan of funeral doom. During this band’s set I decided to get food from my favorite MDF vendors Pork Lord Tacos. After eating I went to the shape area. Here I met a girl named Coco who turned out to have read my interview with Teloch of Mayhem as well as friends with my areas infamous Facebook troll Olivia (small world).

Demilich

After Skepticism was over my excitement skyrocketed. One of the bands I wanted to see the most was about to start.

Finland’s tech-death masters were a band I planned on catching no matter who played at the same time. Demilich’s set was perfect: the sound, the energy, the choice of songs – EVERYTHING. This was easily my favorite set from Sunday night and one of my favorites of the whole fest.

Neurosis

Neurosis was always a band I found to be over-hyped. While I am a fan of sludge, the more post-rock infused bands just never did it for me. I was bored during their whole set and was honestly just awaiting to see Amorphis.

Amorphis

Next to Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Amorphis was the fest’s second biggest draw.

This was Amorphis’s second time playing in America (the first being at that year’s 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise). Amorphis was set to play their best album “Tales from One Thousand Lakes” in its entirety.

Unlike ANB (who more then met expectations), Amorphis was the most disappointing band of the entire fest. The main problem was the sound which I immediately noticed was way off. The mic would also tune in and out a lot – most noticeably during the clean vocal sections of “Black Winter Day.”

I didn’t stay for the whole set as I wanted to catch Melt Banana at Soundstage, but people who did told me Amorphis played no encore and would have had time for one if they did. What a bad move for a Sunday headliner.

Melt Banana

Japan’s experimental rock band was up next. I caught up with my friends Nick and Cheyenne and we watched from the rail at Soundstage.

Melt Banana more then made up for Amorphis’s disappointing set. The over-the-top energy mixed with the theatrical light show and vocalist Yasuko Onuki’s chirping vocals made it impossible to not enjoy this experience (she would also talk to the audience in her “chirp voice,” which I thought was pretty funny). As different as it was, Melt Banana was still one of the fest’s best acts.

D.R.I

I had once seen D.R.I. three years ago where they played a two hour set due to it being their anniversary show. Here I only planned to watch them for 45 minutes so it wouldn’t conflict with Portal at Rams Head. Having said that, 45 minutes of D.R.I. is still a lot of songs!

They opened with “Who Am I?” – the perfect way to start a D.R.I. set. Like last time, their energy was great but because of a larger crowd, they were more fun to watch this time around. After watching a decent amount of songs I went over to Rams Head for the final band of the 2015 Maryland Deathfest.

Portal

I got into Rams Head and watched Portal set up from one of the TV screens before finding a great spot where I could see everything.

Portal had a dark theatrical performance that went well with their odd, atmospheric music. They were going over time and their equipment’s power was eventually shut off. This didn’t stop them from finishing their last song. Overall, they were a great way to finish the fest.

After their set Josh,Tom, Matt, Nicole and I went back to the hotel (Jason had already gone back after D.R.I.) before heading home the next day. As always, MDF 2015 was a success and we all can’t wait to see what Evan and Ryan (the fest’s organizers) have in store for us this year.

Music

My Experience at MDF 2015: Part 2 – Friday

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After resting Thursday night, the five of us (Josh, Nicole, Jason, Matt and I) ventured to the Edison Lot. We arrived an hour before the first band to look at merch.

At the Season of Mist tent I finally met Enrique, the labels PR in person (who thanks to my connections I’ve been able to conduct several interviews for the label’s artists). Before we knew it, 2pm started to roll around and it was time for the first band.

Artificial Brain 

Friday started with Long Island tech-death metal in the form of Artificial Brain. At the time I’d heard a lot of hype about this band but sadly, I didn’t get the hype. Artificial Brain was very technical but not in a fun way.

Funebrarum

After being bored by those damn Long Islanders, it was time for a slice of New Jersey  to take stage. I had seen these guys once before at MDF 2011. Like at that year’s fest, they killed.

Cianide

Old-school death metal dudes, Cianide where next. The band sounded decent but nothing too amazing.

Vallenfyre

These British death/doom greats were the first band on my Friday “must-see” list. I’ve loved their music ever since their 2011 debut “A Fragile King;” most likely due to the fact that they are an offshoot of Paradise Lost and sound similar as well.

The bands live performance was very impressive and they sounded great. I was extremely happy to hear my favorite Vallenfyre tracks “Splinters” and “Savages Arise” performed so well. After their set Jason and I rushed to Soundstage to catch another of my must-sees for the day.

Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in The Dilapitation

Jason and I got to the venue just as these adorable Japanese ladies were setting up.

Cute pictures and image aside, they are one of heaviest bands from Japan. The energy these girls brought on was intense. I caught up with my friend Nick and his girlfriend Cheyenne as we watched them put on one of the best performances of the whole fest.

Nekrofilth

We stayed at the Soundstage to see Nekrofilth. When they were added to the bill, I checked out some of their material and though it sounded decent. After watching them for about half an hour, I was kinda bored. Something about their set just felt off so Jason and I decided to leave for Edison.

Aura Noir

When we got to Edison Lot, Aura Noir still had about 20 minutes left in their set. I had seen these Norwegian blackened thrash greats once before at MDF 2011. Again, like last time they put on a fun live show. The day would only get better from here on.

Suffocation

Suffocation has always been one of my favorite death metal bands. Their 1995 album “Pierced from Within” is one of my top 10 albums of all time. Before this, it had also been five years since I’d last seen them so they were way over due for another encounter. Suffocation blew me away just like they did five years ago. Between their perfect performance and vocalist Frank Mullen’s jokes, this set blew teveryone in attendance away.

Obituary

These death metal pioneers had been on my “to see” list for quiet some time.When I finally did, I was not disappointed.

While not as energetic as Suffocation, Obituary still delivered with their signature dirty Florida Everglades sound. While they didn’t play “Chopped in Half” (the song that first got me into them), I still greatly enjoyed them.

Bloodbath

The last band of the Edison Lot classic death metal triple feature was Sweden’s Bloodbath.

Many fans worried about this set because Bloodbath’s new vocalist, Nick Holmes had turned off many fans, causing the new album to get mixed reactions. Personally, I didn’t have a problem with that album and the band played a good mixture of songs from their entire career.

Holmes told some pretty funny jokes including asking “if we were sick of death metal yet” (as if).

Bloodbath encored with their two most well known songs, “Eaten” and “Cry My Name” as well as a short cover of the Phantasm theme. After Bloodbath, Jason and I rushed over to sound stage.

Napalm Death

This was the last band Jason, Matt and I watched that night. I had seen Napalm Death earlier that year with Voivod, Exhumed and Iron Regan (That show was killer and I got to interview Barney Greenway in person! ).

The British grind giants opened with “The Silence is Deafening,” which was the first hint that this set list was going to be very different from last time.The band had tons of energy and I enjoyed this performance a lot more due to the venue having better sound.

After Napalm Death was done, Jason, Matt and I left for our hotels while Josh and Nicole watched Aeternus at Rams Head. After stopping at 7-11 for some snacks and running into a homeless, schizophrenic version of Bill Cosby we made it back to the hotel and called it a night.

Click here for part 3 (Saturday).

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The Vault: My Experience at Maryland DeathFest 2014: Part 3 – Sunday

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Editor’s Note: In the wacky world of publishing, some stories don’t see the light of day. Whether they sit on the backburner until they become irrelevant, positions change hands or they just plain get cut, it’s just one of those things. Today, one of those unpublished articles will finally get its due as we traverse the archives of “The Vault.”

After the amazing experiences on Friday and Saturday, it was time for the final day of 2014’s Maryland DeathFest.  This day was mostly doom and sludge metal at the Edison lot, which is why I chose to watch Edison’s entire lineup.

Windhand

First up were Virginia’s female fronted stoner/doom metal outfit Windhand.  They were the most melodic band I’d seen at the fest which felt distinctive after two days of extremities. “Soma,” their latest release at the time was one of my favorite albums of 2013 and it was great to hear it performed live. I loved the way the clean vocals sounded live and thought Windhand’s sound translated well live as a whole. Next up was another stoner/doom band.

Bongripper

I’d been a fan of Chicago’s instrumental stoner/doom crew ever since an old friend of mine decided to randomly show me one of their songs on FaceBook a few years ago. The lack of vocals might turn some people off but I feel Bongripper’s psychedelic atmosphere is perfect on its own. I just sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere’s big change from the intensely violent shows of the past few days for 45 minutes. After Bongripper came yet another doom band.

Graves at Sea

Graves at Sea are a sludge metal band from California. As a big fan of sludge I have always heard of these guys but never got around to listening to them until now. After seeing them I couldn’t believe I hadn’t. The first thing I noticed was the singers unique voice. The music also reminded me quiet a bit of New Orleans sludge greats Eyehategod. All and all it was a fun surprise and after Graves at Sea the days period of slowness ended.

Misery Index

Baltimore’s grindcore three-piece brought the moshing back to MDF. I had seen Misery Index once before open for Cannibal Corpse (with Hour of Penace, Goatwhore and Necroptic Engorgement as well) and they put on a pretty kickass performance. Since I had already seen them before and was getting hungry, I skipped a good amount of their set. I watched the first 20 minutes and then left for the nearest meal.  However, I did get back in time to hear “Traitors.” The next band would continue the intense mosh pits.

Pseudogod

Puesdogod are a Russian black metal band. Like Graves at Sea, they were another band  I’d always heard good things about but never actually got around to. Just like Graves at Sea, I’m glad I finally did.  The Pseudogod’s sound was like a fusion of Incantation and old Morbid Angel with a blackened touch. The rapid-fire drumming was also crushing. Next up was another very blackened band.

Wrathprayer

Puesdogod started the shift in the days genre from sludge/doom to black metal and Wrathprayer continued it. Like Psuedogod, they played blackened death metal. Unlike Psuedogod, these Chileans weren’t very interesting. They just sounded like yet another “kvlt” band who want nothing more than to appeal to the “trve” fans in that market.

Inquisition.

I had seen this Colombian black metal two-piece twice before. The first time was at MDF 2011 (though I only watched two songs due to it being 1:35 A.M.) and the second was as an opener for Marduk and I must say Inquisition owned that show.

Now it was time to see one of my all time favorite black metal bands play a full 45 minute set. Like the other times I had seen them, Inquisition played an in-your-face set with a haunting feel and little talking between songs.A major complaint a lot of people had was that they did not perform there most famous song “Crush the Jewish Prophet.” Although that is a great song, I wasn’t bothered by this as I sometimes feel people forget that’s not the only song in Inquisition’s catalog. Next up was a brief return to sludge.

Soilent Green

At this point I had never seen Nola’s sludge/death/grindcore band live but I had seen Goatwhore several times (which Louis Ben Falgoust II also does vocals). Though their sound is usually considered more sludge than death, their performance defiantly leaned towards death metal. It felt like I was seeing Goatwhore again but playing different songs, which is a good thing. I always loved the energy Goatwhore brings to the stage as well as Ben’s over the top stage moves. While I always found Soilent Green to be average, they put on a great show and the crowd went wild. While I do like Goatwhore more, this live set increased my respect for Soilent Green.

Gorguts

This was my third time seeing Canadian “avant-garde” tech death legends Gorguts.

My first time they were headlining with Origin, Nero di Marte, Necroptic Engorgement and BillxNye. At this show they only played songs from “Colored Sands,” their latest release at the time. While that was a great album (on my top ten of 2013), I wanted to hear more material. The second time I saw them was on 2014’s Decibel magazine tour with Carcass, Noisem and The Black Dahlia Murder. Here they only played three songs.

I figured I would give these guys a third chance to put on a fulfilling set and this time they finally delivered.  Rather than just one, they played songs from all of their albums. Gorguts must have finally gotten promoting only “Colored Sands” out of their system. Next up was the biggest misfit on the bill.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats

For these three days I’d been watching a lineup of mostly extreme metal bands and extreme forms of punk. Now it was time for something completely different and not extreme at all.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats are a British psychedelic rock band, making them the only non-punk or metal band on the whole fest (not saying it was a bad thing as I do love a lot of psychedelic/classic rock). The bands sound reminded me a bit of Blue Oyster Cult and Uriah Heep.When they ended I went over to the next stage to see the oldest band on the Edison Lot.

Candlemass

I have been a fan of this bands older work since I was 16 years old. They were my introduction to non-Sabbath doom metal (and where I first heard the term).

As excited as I was, I was also a little worried. To me, Candlemass has not had a decent album after “Tales of Creation” and since a lot of the members they have now are from after that album, I was wondering if they would even play much of the classic Candlemass tracks at all. They started their set with “Mirror Mirror” (the first Candlemass song I ever heard). This was my first clue that they’d be awesome. Right after that song, their vocalist Mats Levin announced that they were going to play an old-school set (though one later song was played). When I heard him say this I knew I was going to greatly enjoy this.

Candlemass was up there along with Asphyx and Dark Angel for best bands of the fest. Every song they played was a song I knew and unlike the next band, I’d give them the award for “best setlist.”

My Dying Bride

First off I will admit I’m not a fan of goth doom (I don’t have a problem with it just isn’t for me). I enjoy some Type O Negative and Katatonia every now and then as well as the early albums by this band, but I just wasn’t too thrilled to see these guys.

I decided to give these British goth-doomers  a shot anyway as there second album “Turn Loose the Swans” is one of my favorite death/doom albums. I watched them for a few songs, two of which I saw were from that album while the rest of the set was mostly boring. I wound up getting Subway with two people I met at the show before venturing back to Soundstage .

Ratos de Porao (Basement Rats)

Ratos de Porao is an obscure Brazilian crossover/thrash band similar in style to early D.R.I. I was only going to watch about 30 minutes of their set mainly because Ulcerate was going on shortly after them at Rams Head, but half an hour for a band like this is a lot of songs. Like any thrash show, the crowd was circle pitting hard.

Ulcerate

The New Zealand tech-death giants were probably the most technical band I’d seen on this year’s fest. Unlike most tech-death bands today whose main focus is just showing off, Ulcerate focus more on atmosphere, giving them a sound similar to later Gorguts.

Ulcerate was overpowering and loud thanks to the help of Rams Head’s live’s sound system. The band played a lot off their latest album “Vermis,” an album I greatly enjoyed (though not enough to put it on my top of 2013). Next up was the final band of the fest, who could not have been more brutal.

Immolation

Being from the Hudson Valley (Montgomery specifically), I found it pretty awesome that my areas biggest death metal band was ending this year’s MDF.

I saw these dudes three years ago in Kingston, NY with Gigan and Jungle Rot. It was a powerful show and the crowd tore the place apart (literally). Now it was time to see them decimate again in a bigger venue.

Immolation’s set was very different from the last time I saw them. Between then and now, they had a killer new album called “Kingdom of Conspiracy” and they played a lot of awesome old songs that they didn’t play last time. Like always, vocalist Ross Dolan had amazing stage presence and the crowd (or over-crowd really) was going nuts. After watching a few songs, I started to feel tired (a combination of the heat and watching bands all day). I went upstars and lay down on one of the seats and continued watching from one of the TV monitors. Even watching from a screen the performance was still brutal. After Immolation it was time to go back to the hotel one last time. MDF 2014 was a huge success and I do plan on returning as soon as possible.

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Blue Coupe Rock Brian’s Backyard BBQ

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Blue Coupe (left to right): Bassist Dennis Dunaway, guitarist and lead vocalist Joe Bouchard and drummer Albert Bouchard.

While looking for shows to go to in March, I remembered that I hadn’t been to Brian’s Backyard BBQ in awhile. Upon looking through their events, I saw that Blue Coupe were playing on the 19th (“Blue Coupe” is a Blue Oyster Cult offshoot that plays small venues during Blue Oyster Cult’s off dates on their tours).

This version of the band contains the Joe and Albert Bouchard, the two founding brothers of Blue Oyster Cult as well as founding Alice Cooper bassist Dennis Dunaway. Due to Dunaway, they also throw in some Alice Cooper tracks. I had seen them 2 years ago during a memorial for Brian’s nephew and they put on a killer show. This time they were headlining so I knew they were going to play more material this time around.

I arrived at the Middletown/Montgomery, NY venue/restaurant at around 7:00 p.m. and ordered the Backyard Burger combo. After some really good food a staff member asked me if I wanted to sit closer, which I graciously obliged. I didn’t know any of the people I now sat next to but they seemed quiet nice and humorous. At around 9:20 p.m. Blue Coupe was set to kill.

Blue Coupe

As mentioned earlier, Blue Coupe’s set featured both Blue Oyster cult and Alice Cooper songs. Killer tracks such as “City on Flames With Rock and Roll,” “Burning For You,” “Don’t Fear The Reaper,” “Black Juju,” “I’m Eighteen” and many more classics were played and all sounded great. We also got a cover of the Ramones’ “Pet Cemetery” as well as some songs there were written specifically for the Blue Coupe lineup.

The band had plenty of energy and didn’t show their age. After this first set there was a brief intermission. During this time I was able to buy a photo of Blue Oyster Cult and have them sign it. After about half an hour, they started their second set. Act two contained more Blue Oyster Cult tracks like “Astonomy” and “Godzilla” as well as some Alice Cooper  tracks like “No More Mr.Nice Guy” and “Elected.” While I didn’t get to hear tracks like “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” and “Take Me Away,” it was still an amazing show and I was glad to once again hear some classics by two of rock n roll’s best bands.