dredg + judgement day Saturday night Nov 22 2008 Salt Lake City - - the Final Performance of DREDG's Fall Tour with supporting acts The Sunbears from Fla and JUDGEMENT DAY from San Francisco.

The Sunbears were just two guys, one plays keyboard and the other on a drumkit. They had this cool primary-coloured display screen behind them showcasing elementary rainbow coloured graphics while they played the most lo-fi, yet richly textured and deeply resonant synthesizer rock. They were charming and kept my attention throughout their set, exuding a happy vibe of playfulness. I highly recommend The Sunbears if that sounds like your cup o' tea.


Next up were JUDGEMENT DAY - - the drummer from Sunbears told us they were going to tear us a new one, and boy was that the understatement of the night. I heard someone in the crowd say they were "metal", so I began preparing myself. Boy was I surprised to find out these guys are string-metal: A violin, a cello, and a Drumkit. No vocals. No overdubs. Just 3 dudes hellbent on jamming for Satan some string fuckin metal for the Apocalypse. Yes they reminded me (instantly) of Apocalyptica - - there's just no way around it. But someone said something I agree with: Apocalyptica by way of the Dirty Three.

The two string players are brothers, Anton and Lewis Patzner. Anton is the tall skinny one with the curly hair and bandana, wielding his violin like a crazed maestro and constantly honing the razor's edge of their music's higher end. He was Jimmy Page on crack and really had a commanding stage presence, taking the forefront and lead duties to mind-melting limits. Meanwhile his brother Lewis, the shorter and more boyish looking of the two, hunched over that bass cello of his at a stoop that never let up, not throughout the entire show. His head down and short haircut with its bangs covering his face, he kept up the pace with a bassline and rhythm so off the hook you couldn't take your eyes off him. The guy is a virtuoso and it was unbelievable to me that these two brothers, with just a violin and cello, could deliver such a maelstrom of unhinged metal fury- - backed up by Jon Bush's relentless drumming. JUDGEMENT DAY blew me away, plain and simple. I knew when they finished their set that I would be walking away with their T-shirt and album, there was just no way I was about to leave that show without a copy of their album in my hands. It was released in '04 - - recorded in their garage. I met their drummer at the T-shirt stand after the show - his name is Jon. As for the "String Bros", Anton went on tour with BRIGHT EYES with his violin since '04 apparantly, leaving little to no room for JUDGEMENT DAY themselves to play; while his brother Lewis received his cello performance degree from the The Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.

First thing I asked Jon at the merch counter was "Hey man, did you guys ever play with the Devil Makes Three, by any chance?" and he looked at me frankly surprised and replied "matter of fact, we did play with them once. . ." I told him "I had a feeling. They're from California too of course and it just flashed on me you'd be amazing together."

Well make no mistake about it: JUDGEMENT DAY is back and they rock like a mutha! Here is their official website, check it out and be sure to click on their YouTube video to get a taste of their own personal brand of "Apocalypse".


http://www.stringmetal.com

Order their album DARK OPUS you won't be let down (unless "string metal" is just too heavy for you, haha).

Which brings us to the legendary dredg. I don't even know where to begin. If you've seen dredg as many times as I have, you already know they are the special band earmarked for greatness along the lines of Pink Floyd or Pearl Jam. You already know that if for some ungodly and senseless reason they never make it that big- -that's ok too, because their musical integrity is untouchable both composition-wise and performance -wise. You already know no amount of commercial success can dictate what to do with pure magic. Dredg is in a win-win situation because of this. Gavin Hayes will one day attain his place amidst the rock pantheon as one of the golden voices. Dino Campanella has solidly carved out his spot as belonging in the top tier of rock drummers, and I don't care who you come up with -- Dino belongs in the Top ten, easily. The stuff he does is indescribably complex yet straight-forward as well; I think he is the hardest -hitting drummer in alternative rock today, with a deceptive style which incorperates insane signatures amidst the basic beat. He is a wonder and a delight to behold live. If you've never seen dredg in concert and you are into rock music in the least bit -- you owe it to yourself to see these guys live before you die.

But how could I forget Drew on his bass? That kid's playing is straight up dope. Solid basslines with just the right amount of flex and specs. I can't really describe it, other than he more than holds his own, he's carved his place. And then there's Mark. Probably the most overlooked Dredg member, but clearly, when you stop and think about it, perhaps the most important. This guy calmly puts out the most beautifully evolved guitar riffs and effects you could imagine, really the core of dredg's unique sound. Without Mark you have no Dredg, period. Yes these four cats are indispensable, all four of them need each other as much as we need them. Dredg is a real band. Hallelujah.

They were in tip -top form that night. Part of that was because it was the final show of the tour. The Patzner Bros from Judgement Day joined Dredg for the last several songs, classic staple material from El Cielo mainly, and here is where the performance lifted itself up and beyond any Dredg performance I've seen yet - and this was my 7th or 8th show (I've already lost count). Lewis Patzner's deeply inspired bass cello filled in the bottom end of dredg's music very well, while Anton's insane lead-violin playing added the perfect texture and depth to sections of those old songs. By the end of their inspired performance I was 100% ready to have the Patzner Bros added as official members of dredg - - they were that good together. When the show was over, I remained stunned. My friend Andy caught one of Gavin's crumpled up poems he occasionally types up onstage with his typewriter he always sets up front and center. I've been dying for one of these crumpled up dredg poems since, forever. Andy was thoughtful enough to give it to me after the show, that was awesome of him. When I get a chance I am going to scan it onto my harddrive, and display it here as well as on dredg's myspace. All it said on the crumpled up sheet was the date and location (SLC) and the words "I couch surf" . . . so I am going to post it on their website and tell Gavin "our couch is open". Its been a long time coming but dredg have certainly cemented themselves into my favorite 21st century band.

They played a couple of songs from their upcoming album in March of 2009: it will be the coveted 4th album -- the senior effort by which all bands must be judged since the watermark standard in 1974, Led Zeppelin's IVth album. I've been using this 4th album watermark for decades now, and I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I am for this impending release. I can say without blinking an eye and with confidence that it will be Dredg's breakthrough album, in terms of musical and artistic integrity, if not in record sales or chart topping). The deeply rendered themes inherent to this band will have finally coalesced into that perfect offering, their seminal fourth album, only four months away. Something to live for.

And Then Satan Said "Let There Be Real Metal"

And he ushered in ICONOCLAST CONTRA, Salt Lake's own voice of the heathen; and he arranged it so that Alabama's own sinister sons in BLOODSTAINED DUSK were to perform as well as Detroit's Nocturnal Fear, which verily had a slow start and served to be made a mockery of by being told by the Zodiac to Shut The F**k Up several times until they suddenly played a Sodom cover, by which on a dime they were Forgiven at least for the duration of that song if not for a short time thereafter; and finally, the dark one made it so that Finland's own notorious practitioners of the unholy art of wielding sonic terror HORNA were to headline, they whose credo is Destroy Human Life (for the fine practitioners in Horna are not NS but rather, hate us all equally).

Having set this show up strategically to not only take place the day after The Sword/Down/Metallica show played, but lo, and behold, on the very day of our US Election; yes, Satan himself did get a chuckle from the rafters as this show was set in the stone of eternity, to wreak audial terror in the hearts and minds of the initiated who so dared to dismiss the utterly pointless shenanigans of the election race details, and to abolish all thoughts thereof.

And so it was with great finesse and anticipation that we, Salt Lake's own disposable heroes, The Horde and its few stalwart stragglers dared to venture into Club Vegas on the night of November 4, 2008, to patently ignore the election results and instead devote ourselves fully to the practice of imbibing strong alcoholic spirits whilst being subjected to the unholiest of musical onslaughts.



Tony from Iconoclast Contra
helter skelter at his kit again


ICONOCLAST CONTRA started up the evening in a chaotic frenzy, and to these ears they never sounded better. Tony's murderous drumming can only be described as "helter skelter", frenetically accentuating the restless and unhinged nature of the band's playing. Ricky the Gorepig's goatee alone was more metal than Rob Trujillo himself, and that is indisputable fact. Despite encountering some problems with his bass and the soundguy's manipulations, Iconoclast Contra's intensity of effort prevailed, while LD wielded sporadic razor sharp soloes of a nature which would enwrap Kirk Hammet in an ever-tightening barbed wire trap, and Anthony the Zodiac leered into his microphone with such hatred that it disturbed even his closest friends and acquaintances, including me, to the point we all gave him a slightly wider berth. Iconoclast Contra last night sounded very tight indeed, and their style of music has evolved into a unique sounding hybrid that can only be described as successfully bonding elements of thrash, black, death, and even hardcore punk and speed in their attitude and original melding of these styles. Really they are outside the boundaries of normal metal categorization, which I think is where they are bound to excell and seperate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Ricky continued to cut his beefy arms into crisscroosed scars and at the end of their set, was standing in a puddle of his own blood. After they left the stage, some guy came out and mopped it all up. I didn't notice whether Anthony had cut himself yet -- I'm sure he did, but I was paying attention to the band as a whole half the time, and the other half I was talking with friends, making the rounds, and getting more beers. Later in the show after Horna finished, Anthony loomed out of the crowd up at me with a horrific gash in his forehead, and he looked really possessed out of his mind. I told Tony how great they sounded and was informed, as usual, how much the sound guy screwed everything up, and I had to reiterate to him that in all honesty, despite those problems, I thought they pulled off the best sounding set I'd heard yet. It was just the right degree of being frenetically out of control.

Next up was Detroit's NOCTURNAL FEAR, and they played a pretty generic set of standard deathmetal with shades of black, which is when Anthony kept yelling "Shut the f**k up" at them. Then suddenly, on a dime, they launch into this Sodom song that Iconoclast themselves had just played, and Anthony's negative disposition to the band did a 180 as he fled up to the stage to fist-pump them on. Then after that cover was over, the few who paid homage up front dispersed back to their tables and various corners to nurse their PBR pitchers and whiskey shots.


Bloodstained Dusk

Finally Alabama's BLOODSTAINED DUSK went on, and these guys were the real deal in terms of USBM. With corpsepaint and spiked armbands, to set the mood, the best part about them was their music. Truer to this metal, it abandoned thrash for a veritably blackened symphonic approach that I can only describe as desparingly beautiful. Soaring, atmospheric palettes of corruption boiled over and coalesced to create an ironically soothing wall of annihilation enhanced by ulutating vocals of demonic despair. I was entranced. Bloodstained Dusk were majestic, and my favorites of the night, which was antithetical to most of my companions in the Horde's tastes, who were unequivocally for HORNA.


Horna shatters the night with soulkilling black death

And it did not stop HORNA from taking the stage and proving why their popularity in blackmetal is nearly unmatched. These guys have been around for fifteen years, hailing from Finland around 1993. And despite the various inevitable lineup changes, they still deliver the true spirit of blackmetal today like few other bands can. I'd have to say I liked them a little better than Watain. Horna just took the stage and delivered straight up sonic devastation, as ordered. Our songs arrived blackened and full of hate. Our ears were pummeled mightily. Devilhorns did thrust from the crowd. Beers were spilled, glasses smashed. Cutters cut themselves and the staff held back behind the protection of their bar's countertop. Ricky the Gorepig later told me that after their set, while he was still rather heavily bleeding from his slashed arms, one of the members of Horna approached him backstage, and said "I want you to pleeze bleed on me" and he pulled out these white garbs and donned them to bring out the blood imprints. These were a real fun bunch of guys, and we partied like it was sixteen-ninety-seven. While the rest of the world was tuned in to Obama's obvious winning final stretch, we shunned politics entirely in favor of total anti-human metal. Long live Satan \m/

photography by Mathilda of NEX CULTUS PHOTOGRAPHY
http://myspace.com/nexcultusphotography

BOB DYLAN AND HIS BAND
BLEW US ALL AWAY

@ Deer Valley Mountain Ski Resort, Park City UTAH Sunday, August 31, 2008.

Here's the setlist:



Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

When I Paint My Masterpiece

Stuck Inside A Mobile w/the Memphis Blues Again

It's NoT DaRk yeT

DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT

a MILLION miles

DESOLATION ROW

The Levee's Gunna Break

she belongs to me

Honest With Me

Simple Twist of FATE

HIGHWAY 61 Revisited

QUEEN JANE Approximately

THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN

LIKE A ROLLING STONE


Bob Dylan rocked our darned socks off. DAMN that was a blazing blistering set to help a crowd withstand torrential rains, but no amount of bad weather could put a damper on Bob Dylan or his band's set this evening. They just seared their way through song after song -- 15 in all, I think -- yes most likely a foreshortened set due to the inclement weather, but it just made songs like The Levee's Gunna Break all the better.

The fact it all started with Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 was just perfect. My gf and I were well-prepared this time for an outdoor lawn show. We bought these low-slung back-pack chairs and these 2 overlarge wicked windproof, bright-colored umbrellas so when the downpours came (and boy did they ever come) we were sittin' pretty and dry. We had a bottle of very nice Sonoma county wine we'd been saving since last year's vacation, which we poured into these metal goblets. We enjoyed sesame water crackers with goat cheese as well as some Greek and Chinese food. No sooner than Bob was singing 'Everybody Must Get Stoned' at the show's start in the rain did I began to dance, this was not the slow rollicking beat with brass instruments but more of a wicked fiery Hellbilly ride.

Bob loves nothing more than changing up his familiar songs, and it was quite evident in the next song 'Stuck Inside A Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again', a much quicker and upbeat version which got me on my feet and dancing in no time flat. Bob's band really got into the swing of things. Before my mind could catch up with what was actually happening to us all, 'It's Not Dark Yet' began, and it was so pitch-perfect. It was a brisk and tense delivery of a heartfelt anthem and was really quite moving. Then the rain actually stopped, some clouds parted, and we actually spied a section of blue sky up there above the mountains. You gotta understand Deer Valley is a ski resort catering to the rich and, yes, famous. It is clear and beautiful up at that elevation. We were lucky the sun broke through because it would remain relatively sunny and dry for over the next hour and nine songs or so. Everyone began pouring their libations of wine and bringing out their fancy picnic meals and whatnot. Shasta and I broke out the gourmet dark chocolate w/bits of ginger in it and quaffed more red wine while Bob Dylan and his band began jamming out an intro to the next song, which struck a familiar chord yet was being played too fast to be immediately recognizable. I started dancing my ass off to this song and before I knew it realized I was twisting to Don't Think Twice, It's Alright!

It was then and there during this 5th song that a feeling of Awesomeness struck like a bolt of lightning from above, this was one of Bob's ON nights! Every song he played was uncut, and if anything, an extended version from the original. His band was ON it, jamming this unbelievable fusion of down home country ragtime, rock'n'roll, periodically injected with elements of swing, jazz, and Mississippi delta blues. Gone was the 'folk' element Dylan cut his teeth on; these here versions were fully electrified and transformed beyond their familiar guises into something far more dynamic.

His Bobness pretty much stood in one spot sporting this nice Stetson hat and these black pants with a silver stripe down the sides of the legs, he was all got up good'n'proper like the man in black oughta be. I couldn't quite tell if he ever played a guitar or not - - most of the night I was letting go dancing having a grand ol' time -- but his voice shone through the dizzying arrangement of musical stylings in a crisp nasal tone that, although a bit raspier than it used to be, nonetheless managed to carry the songs through to their respective ends. The energy Bob and his band instilled in the crowd was palpable and electric, everyone was going nuts.

I personally proudly wore my original KoRn T-shirt and sported a Jester's Cap w/bells on -- picture me dancing a crazy Peanut's Dance sped up to about 78rpms in this outfit and you pretty much get the picture of shaun @ Bob Dylan, 2008. Believe me when I tell you that throughout most of these rockin' tunes, the level of intensity in the musicianship was such that it afforded plenty of opportunities to break out in wild, gyrating air guitar soloes and there was one point (during the song 'Honest With Me') where I gasped out loud 'OMG this is BAD ASS!' on account of how much heavy momentum the jamming had acquired. Let me put it this way: there were a few moments wherein my imagination inserted speed metal leads to the music - it was that sick!

Needless to say I kept exchanging astonished looks with the folks standing next to us. I had read somewhere that lately, Dylan's shows focus so much on his more recent material that some audience members get disappointed. Well at our show in Deer Valley this Sunday nothing could be further from the truth. After just having heard Rainy Day Women, Stuck Inside a Mobile, Don't Think Twice, and Desolation Row, I was personally so satisfied with the 'hits' that I didn't care one whit any longer what Bob had in store for us; it was just that well delivered and each song provided ample opportunity for the various musicians to shine respectively on their instruments.

So when 'You Belong To Me' played it was just another amazing classic song in a setlist chockfull of them, as far as I was concerned. I don't know which recent album the song 'Honest With Me' is from, but I will say it was the most rocking song of the night, just a scorcher through and through. And then Dylan dropped the bomb I had no idea was to come, and that was 'Simple Twist Of Fate'. I don't know about you all, but personally whereas I think 'Tangled Up In Blue' to be Dylan's greatest song, my mind has never been able to accommodate for both of these songs at the same time; When Simple Twist Of Fate plays, I forget all about Tangled Up In Blue, and vice-versa. Its the weirdest thing. Even the memory of Tangled Up In Blue was utterly annihilated while Simple Twist Of Fate played, and all I could think was 'This is the greatest song Dylan ever wrote!' and I shouted as much when it was over: 'BEST SONG EVER!' I yelled with devil horns thrown.

Then the well-oiled machine that is Bob Dylan's band launched into Highway 61 Revisited, and it was around this time that I decided I was definitely being blown away, here. You Dylan fans reading this by now can probably perfectly well understand how fully amazed I was by this point in the show. Every song had a really cool and unique arrangement, but more importantly, they just jammed them all incredibly well.

The clouds had been gathering for awhile and the sun had been swallowed up by the mountains looming behind us when Queen Jane, Approximately began to play. Shasta and I sensed the rain barely begin again, so I started bustin' up our picnic and packing it in. We grabbed our brightly colored umbrellas and popped them open just in time to catch the fatter rain drops beginning to fall. That's when Bob began on one tune I particularly enjoy from Modern Times - 'Thunder On The Mountain' - I don't know how he kept lobbing out these perfectly appropriate songs, but yeah the thunder that pealed down from the storm-laden night sky during this song could not have been more properly timed. And a hard rain began to fall, in earnest.

Of course I think everyone there was half-expecting Bob to actually sing this song ('A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall'). I personally was holding out with fingers crossed for 'Buckets Of Rain', one of my faves. But the final song of the evening that was delivered with almost apocalyptic fury was 'Like A Rolling Stone'. Do I even need to mention we weren't let down in the least? Howling 'without a HOME like a complete UNKNOWN like a ROLLING STOOOONE' up into the rain at night on a mountainside with hundreds of other people while Bob Dylan led us along was certainly a memory I will carry with me for awhile, yet. Just as soon as that song was done, Dylan tipped his hat and briskly exited stage left along with the rest of his band and the stage spotlights went on. Nobody in the audience hesitated, we just grabbed our shit and thence began the mass exodus in the pouring rain, every single one of us all smiles and chattering excitedly and making our way for the gates. The thunderstorm never once let up from that point on, it was about 9:45 pm or so, which meant Bob Dylan had played for two solid hours in the sun and the rain. I can't imagine being more surprised or satisfied at the stellar show Mr. Tambourine Man & band delivered to us that last day of summer in Deer Valley, Utah, 2008.