Kylesa, Zoroaster and Fight Amp at Kings

Wednesday night I saw Kylesa and Zoroaster, with Fight Amp opening. I've seen Kylesa and Zoroaster several times each, and I would say both put on great shows. I got video of both, but I was asked by Kylesa not to put theirs online. Any time a band asks me not to post videos of them I am happy to oblige.  

Zoroaster - "D.N.R." from Mann's World on Vimeo.


It was my first time seeing Fight Amp, who are from New Jersey. I had only heard a couple of their songs before the show, but I liked them a lot. This video is for a song that they said they'd never played before. Unfortunately, because the lights were almost completely off on stage, you can see almost nothing.  See more photos.


Fight Amp - "Shallow Grave" from Mann's World on Vimeo.

This week's cool shows: Kylesa/Zoroaster, Cannabis Corpse and Megafaun!

2011 is starting out splendidly for local metal fans. Tomorrow night (Wednesday) Savannah's Kylesa, whose "Spiral Shadow" was voted album of the year by many reviewers (including yours truly) will be at Kings. Opening up is one of my favorite heavy bands, Zoroaster. Also on the bill is Fight Amp. This is easily the show of the week, so do not miss it. I don't think Kylesa will be playing club shows like this for long. 

On Thursday, Richmond's Cannabis Corpse - who were hilariously great at Hopscotch - and Inter Arma, will also be at Kings. That same night Leslie will be at Slim's. 

Also at Kings, Megafaun plays a two-night stint Friday and Saturday. I'll see you there on Friday.

Other cool shows this week:

Thursday: Jucifer at Volume 11
Thursday: Hammer No More the Fingers at Playmakers Theater
Thursday - Saturday: Death to False Hopes Showcase at Motorco
Saturday: Mandolin Orange at Local 506

Well, I tried

Seriously, I did. Other than my own show at Hopscotch, I don't think I've ever spent this much time promoting a show, as I did last night's show at Kings with Nachtmystium (above), Zoroaster, Dark Castle and The Atlas Moth. All of these bands are amazing, with Nachtmystium, Zoroaster and The Atlas Moth releasing three of my favorite albums of the year. Why this show wasn't packed, I don't know. I've heard from two reputable sources that the metal community didn't know about it. Others speculated that people didn't want to try and figure out how to park and get to the club with all the Harley weekend festivities going on. Personally I would have thought having a metal show in the middle of a thousand bikers would be a sure hit, but evidently they were happier watching the Led Zeppelin tribute band on the street directly in front of the club. I didn't hear any of them, but I did look out and see that "Jimmy Page" was playing a gold top, which is just wrong. Any Led Zeppelin fan will tell you that.

Regardless, if any of the bands were upset over the crowd, they certainly didn't show it. All played well (though The Atlas Moth had some sound problems toward the end of their set), and all hung out and chatted with people and were very cool. Zoroaster in particular seem to have a whatever attitude and just had fun onstage. All of the bands are playing tonight with Buzzoven and Black Tusk in Charlotte, which should be a massive show.

The lighting for most of the bands was really dark and atmospheric, which worked with the music, but made taking photos difficult. In fact, the videos for The Atlas Moth and Nachtmystium were completely unusable. In the Zoroaster video, you can only see the drummer, Dan. Dark Castle, ironically enough given their name, were the only ones who had the lights up, and so that video and those photos are better. One of my goals for the year is to learn more about shooting in really low lighting. I don't claim to be a great photographer, but shooting in such conditions is way beyond my capabilities.

(Dark Castle)

See more photos. 

Dark Castle from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Zoroaster - "Ancient Ones" from Mann's World on Vimeo.

5 Questions with Dan from Zoroaster!

I should have checked my e-mail before that last post. Turns out that my interview with Zoroaster, which I thought wasn't going to happen, was waiting for me after all. Thanks to drummer Dan Scanlan for answering the questions. 

1. It seems like you guys have a little more than your fair share of vehicle problems on tour (vans being stolen, breaking down, no AC). What are you riding in on this tour, and how’s it holding up?

We have the same van from the last tour but we got the a/c fixed before we left. Well, we thought we did anyway. It just went out again two days ago so that sucks but no one has stolen it again yet and we haven't had any accidents on this tour so far so it could be worse I suppose.


2. Tell us more about this new song, and the “badass metal compilation” it’s going on. (Note, I sent this question before finding out about the Adult Swim comp).

It's a song called "Witch's Hammer" which is part of a free Adult Swim/Scion compilation called 'Metal Swim'.

We were asked for an unreleased song and since we didn't have anything recorded we decided to do something new and wrote and recorded it in one week. We've been playing it on this tour so by the time we get back home it'll probably be a bit different so maybe we'll rerecord it for the next record.

3. Considering the band’s name, and trippy, almost mystical sound, do any of you have any interest in Eastern philosophy or religion?

Not really. We just like drugs and being nice people.

4. You guys always do something cool with your videos. What’s the next video from “Matador” going to be, and what will be the concept?

I'm thinking we might do one for "Black Hole" but we haven’t really discussed any concepts yet. Maybe we can come up with some kinda dance routine like a Michael Jackson video.

5. Is there a beloved, highly influential band (Beatles, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, etc.) that you just can’t stand?

I used to really hate Led Zeppelin. I bought one of their records as a child and couldn't stand the vocals and the same for the Who but I eventually got passed it because the music is so cool.