Detritus
Mini-Issue #273.5 - June 11, 2004
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*
*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
*
-Today is my nephew Mark's Golden Birthday. (He's 11 and I'll do my
best to make him a lil' rivet head.) Let's all celebrate with Sean's
lengthy report on last weekend's Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack
II festival, shall we? - Tim

*
*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
*
by Sean P. Gahgan (lof@...)

-Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack Weekend II
The Odeon, Cleveland, OH
June 2-5, 2004

Let me start off by saying I had a total blast at the Brave Words &
Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack Weekend II Festival! The coolest thing about
events such as this, besides the great bands, is meeting people who
love and share the passion for the same style of music as you. I met
some great people who I learned a lot from and had some great
conversations with. A big shout out to Chris Demarco for filling me in
on the history of the Cleveland Metal scene (check out
http://www.cleveland-metal.com/ for more info). Also thanks to the
BW&BK staff for putting on a tremendous show.

Please understand that with the numerous bands that performed it was
difficult to see them all and document every song in every set so I
did the best I could. As well, there were certain bands I had no
interest in seeing and others I specifically came to see. If I didn't
catch your favorite band that was performing at the show I apologize.
I will also, as always, try to be very objective and give you the
perception of the crowd's overall response. But also remember I am a
musician/recording engineer/producer as well and I can be -- and am --
highly critical. If I liked everything how interesting would that be?
;-) If you see "???" that means the band played a song that I was not
familiar with and did not know the title.

The Odeon, located in the Flats District of Downtown Cleveland, sits
on Old River Road and is wedged between numerous bars and clubs.
Parking was very easy to find and very cheap ($3 compared to the $15
I'm used to paying in Chicago). It is a standing room only venue (a
few bar stools scattered throughout the floor) that holds
approximately 800. This is not the ideal place for a festival that
lasts 8+ hours a day as there is no room for people to sit down and
rest, even if for just a short time. From talking to others, if there
was seating, this would have increased their time spent in the
building and enjoying the bands. There is a small balcony that had
less than 20 reserved seats and accommodated some vendors selling CDs,
DVDs, T-shirts, etc. In the back of the building there was also a
small room that also had numerous merchants. It was a little cramped
and hard to casually browse through the selection but worth the effort
as there were many hard-to-find titles available. Beverages were
reasonably priced: beer was $3-$4 for a 12-16 oz. and a 16 oz. soda or
bottled water was $2.50. The concert was not sold out and only neared
capacity on the final night when Primal Fear and Metal Church
performed. Security was very light but there was no need to worry as
the crowd was extremely well behaved. Dreams Of Damnation canceled on
Saturday night and the time slots changed slightly. Each band was
given a few more minutes to play.

With this type of festival, what makes it logistically work and keeps
the time between set changes to a minimum is that all of the bands use
the same equipment (with the exception of guitars and basses). What
takes the longest is the reconfiguring of the drum set to the
specifics of the individual drummer. Ampeg bass amplifiers and bottoms
were available and there were Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers, Marshal
amps and bottoms and one VHT head for the guitarists to choose from.

Friday, June 4 - The Odeon

Lilitu
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Did not see.

Shadowkeep
5:50 p.m. - 6:35 p.m.

Did not see.

E-Force
6:55 p.m. - 7:40 p.m.

We missed the first two bands as we didn't arrive until 7:30 due to
our excursion to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and our dining
preference. The Odeon was about 1/3 full and as I am not familiar with
the music of E-Force all I can say is that they were heavy.

Seven Witches
8:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.
??? / Metal Tyrant / Camelot / Warmth Of Winter / Metal Asylum /
Passage To The Other Side / ??? / Victim Of Changers / Mental Messiah

I saw Jack Frost with Savatage on the POETS AND MADMEN tour twice and
he was very cordial when I spoke with him then and is very much the
same now -- just a very down to earth guy -- and he is always full of
energy and jumping around stage. James Rivera came out dressed all in
black with a long coat on, and with his massive black hair, he was
sweating his ass off in no time. James looked very happy to be here
and when he opened up his mouth the wailing began. He sounded great,
very powerful and nailing his signature high notes! Jack announced the
name of the bass player, Spider (a local guy from Cleveland filling in
for Joey Vera). I did not catch his real name, but he was a monster on
six-string bass! He just played the living hell out of it. Brian Craig
was on drums and rounded out the band. I am not too familiar with
Seven Witches' music as I don't own any of their CDs but I was very
interested to hear them and especially intrigued to hear James sing,
as I am a big fan of his Helstar days, and he didn't disappoint!
"Warmth Of Winter" was a great song live and lent itself well to
bouncing the lead vocal back and forth between Jack and James during
the chorus. "Metal Asylum" was announced as a new song that will be on
their next CD that should be released sometime this fall. It was very
catchy and included all kinds of references to their musical
influences. Mentioned in the lyrics of the song were: Maiden, Sabbath,
Motley Crue, Rose Tattoo, HEAVEN AND HELL, DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT
CHEAP, B.O.C., "Bang Your Head," and many others (I couldn't type fast
enough to keep up). It was a very cool song and I look forward to
hearing the finished version. Overall Seven Witches is a good group
but Jack's lead guitar playing doesn't knock me out. He's not bad, his
leads just don't do anything for me. Towards the end of the third to
the last song (not sure on the title) they stopped abruptly and
transitioned into "Victim Of Changes" (from the slow part, "When she
was wonderful..."). This was very cool and the crowd went nuts,
especially when James nailed the high notes...very cool. Overall a
very entertaining and solid performance.

Doro
9:05 p.m. - 10:15 p.m.
I Rule The Ruins / Hellbound / Burning The Witches / True As Steel /
Metal Racer / Burn It Up / Hellraiser / Fight / Fur Immer / East Meets
West / Metal Tango / All We Are / birthday cake celebration /
Earthshaker Rock

When the queen of Metal hit the stage the Odeon was about 3/4 full. On
the day after her 40th birthday Doro proved that good things come in
small packages. Her voice is as strong and powerful as ever, and clad
in a leather outfit this super sexy, beautifully statured professional
belted out classic after classic from all points in her career, from
new anthems such as "Fight" to oldies like "Burning The Witches" and
"Metal Racer" to the beautiful ballad "Fur Immer." Doro was on top of
her game and truly seemed to be having a great time. She was very
appreciative of the overwhelming crowd response she was receiving. The
only thing that disappoints me is her band. I saw Warlock back in 1988
when they toured with Sanctuary and Megadeth (and three times since)
and no band I have seen her with since then has been able to hold a
candle to that lineup. Her current bass player Nick Douglas is great
and full of energy but the guitars are seriously lacking any edge and
are just plain uninspired. These guys just can't compare to Niko
Arvanitis and Tommy Bolan in my opinion. That complaint aside Doro as
a whole put on a fabulous show and she is a fabulous performer that
can rock out with the best of them! They presented her with a birthday
cake after "All We Are" and the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to her,
and she sincerely seemed moved by it. The ended with "Earthshaker
Rock" and took their bows...a great show!

Due to our extracurricular activities the night before that drained us
of our energy, and the fact that we weren't that familiar with Grave
Digger or Katatonia, we decided to call it a night. I was told that
Grave Digger was the only band of the night that got called out for an
encore.

Grave Digger
10:35 p.m. - 11:50 p.m.

Did not see.

Katatonia
12:10 a.m. - 1:30 a.m.

Did not see.

Saturday, June 5 - Acoustic Show at Alice Cooper'stown

We were told that the doors opened at 11:00 a.m. so we decided to get
there at 10:30. Much to our surprise the doors were already open and
1/3 of the tables were occupied. We still got a great booth that was
slightly elevated and against the wall. By 11:30 all of the remaining
tables were filled and there was standing room only for the scheduled
1:00 p.m. start time. The restaurant itself has seating for 135 but
there were easily 200 people there come showtime.

Seven Witches (James Rivera, Jack Frost, and Spider)
Passage To The Other Side / ??? / Metal Tyrant / Diamonds And Rust

It was very apparent that the band had been up very late partying and
they made no excuses for it. James sang well but his voice did sound a
little rough. Ben Jackson joined the guys for "Diamonds And Rust" and
played a very cool acoustic lead. This was the highlight of their
short set.

Doro
Burning The Witches / I Rule The Ruins / Song For Me / Metal Tango /
All We Are / Chained

I knew we were in for something special when I saw Doro walk in the
door. On the spur of the moment she decided to do some songs. It was
real special hearing her do "Song For Me," which was the bonus track
on the limited edition digi-pak of FIGHT. "Chained" was also cool as
it is a song she rarely plays live. Again Doro's appreciative nature
and her sincerity were overwhelming. It is so plain to see how much
she loves performing and sharing her music with people. She signed
autographs afterwards but was always surrounded by security.

Ben Jackson/Midnight
In Dark Places / Painted Skies / Burning Bridges / Black Sheep / Cage
Around My Heart / Lost Reflection / Dream Dancer / Azrael

Now came the time everyone was so anxiously waiting for...Midnight! As
he and former Crimson Glory mate Ben Jackson were announced the crowd
was its loudest. They started off with "In Dark Places" which sounded
very good! Midnight's voice was clean and precise. Ben played
flawlessly and easily had the best guitar sound of the day. Most of
the songs they played were songs with a slower tempo. Midnight's voice
did crack once as he attempted to hit the high note in "Painted
Skies." Afterwards he apologized and blamed it on the very late night
they had at the hotel. That aside, he sounded very good all afternoon
and especially lively as he performed one of his solo songs, "Black
Sheep." The lyrics are quite comical in some places and the crowd got
a good chuckle from them, and it was very apparent that Ben, Midnight,
and the crowd were experiencing something very special. Ben sang some
very good harmonies and is a good singer in his own right and proved
it when singing the bonus track from his new CD, "Cage Around My
Heart." Midnight added some ambient background voices throughout this
very good song. As Midnight let out his trademark cackle in "Lost
Reflection" the crowd went nuts and he just ate it up. There was a
very good chemistry back and forth between the crowd and the two all
day. At one point they announced that Jack Frost was going to come up
and play a few songs with them, and after about five minutes they said
due to some technical difficulties it wasn't going to happen. Ben said
that normally he tunes his guitar down a half-step and when Doro's
guitarist borrowed it he tuned it to standard pitch. Jack's guitar was
tuned a half-step lower and I guess they didn't want to take the time
to retune guitars. I found this very strange as it doesn't take too
long to tune a guitar but I guess because Doro's impromptu set took
longer than expected they were running short on time. Midnight made
another comment in jest to Ben saying, "Oh...making it more difficult
on me are you?" In between songs the crowd would yell out the titles
of songs they wanted to hear. At one point "Red Sharks" was called out
and Midnight jokingly said, "Yeah, that's gonna happen," and we all
laughed. I would have to say the song requested more than any other
was "Azrael" and halfway into "Dream Dancer," Ben transitioned into
the slow melodic intro. Midnight shuffled through his lyric sheets,
which he barley glanced at until this song. This was really the only
up-tempo song they did and was great to end the performance. Midnight
messed up the words to the second verse and ended up repeating them in
place of the third verse as he was determined to get it right; it was
all good fun. It was great to here him sing "Azrael" which is my
personal favorite. After the show they were both very gracious and
signed everything anybody had. Even before the show Midnight had taken
the time to pose for pictures and sign various CD/album covers. It was
a very entertaining afternoon and we truly came away feeling as if we
had experienced something special.

The Odeon

Doors Open
4:00 p.m.

Ion Vein
5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Did not see.

Dreams Of Damnation
5:45 p.m. - 6:25 p.m.

Canceled.

Brainstorm
6:00 p.m. – 6:50 p.m.
??? / Fornever / Highs Without Lows / Under Lights

I was very upset when we walked in at 6:30 and found out Dreams Of
Damnation canceled, and they changed the time slots, which resulted in
Brainstorm starting at 6:00 p.m. instead of the posted 6:40. I was
really looking forward to seeing them. What pissed me off is that I
find it hard to believe that BW&BK did not know of the cancellation as
the acoustic show was going on. They could have made an announcement
and informed us at Cooper'stown so that we could adjust our schedules.
Very disappointing. Anyway, the three songs I did get to see
Brainstorm do were awesome. Andy B. Franck's voice was just as
powerful live as it is on the CDs. He was very animated on stage and
the rest of the band really seemed to be enjoying themselves. They
came across very heavy, powerful, and tight. At least I got to see
them do "Highs Without Lows." Now I am really looking forward to
seeing them at ProgPower USA V.

Flotsam And Jetsam
7:10 p.m. - 8:20 p.m.
??? (from NO PLACE FOR DISGRACE?) / ??? / Swatting At Flies / Hard On
You / Nothing To Say / Escape From Within / ??? / Secret Square / ???
/ Hammerhead

I had seen Flotsam And Jetsam once before when they opened for King
Diamond over 10 years ago and they were very good, but I have not
followed them that closely since the CUATRO release so I didn't know
exactly what to expect...but Holy Monkey!!! They came out and just
slammed the place! Heavy as all hell, this was the loudest I had heard
the guitars in the mix all night. Eric A.K. was wailing away and
sounded great. There was a tremendous amount of energy on stage as
well as off-stage. This is the first time in many years that I have
seen a mosh pit at a concert. It looked like there was going to be
some trouble but the moshers were pretty civilized, if there is such a
thing. "Swatting At Flies" and "Hard On You" were a great back-to-back
punch. These are two of my favorite Flots songs and the lyrics are
thought-provoking backed by some ass-kicking riffs. The beginning of
"Hard On You" was so heavy and had the whole crowd jumping up and
down. Overall they were the heaviest band that I enjoyed at the show.
They performed a powerhouse set that was tight and in your face, and
very impressive.

Shok Paris
8:40 p.m. - 9:40 p.m.
Go Down Fighting / Go For The Throat / Steel And Starlight / Chosen
Ones / Hot On Your Heels / Caged Tiger / Find A Way Out / Minute Men /
On Your Feet / Never Say Why / Burn It Down / Run But Don't Hide

I had seen Shok Paris once back in 1988 at the legendary Thirsty Whale
in Chicago when STEEL AND STARLIGHT was first released. I remember the
cool dual leads that the team of Ken Erb and Eric Marderwald ripped
through and the very distinct voice of Vic Hix. Last year I even paid
$25 to get STEEL AND STARLIGHT of eBay (I found out at the show that
Auburn Records will be re-releasing it on June 22nd, 2004). So
needless to say I was looking forward to see them. I was a little
disappointed in how much the crowd thinned out after Flotsam And
Jetsam, as Shok Paris are Cleveland natives and I expected they would
get a little more support than they did. But the place was about half
full when they hit the stage; regardless, they put on a solid show.
They had a great set list including a song not on any of their albums,
"Minute Men." Vic explained to the crowd that this song was recorded
during the STEEL AND STARLIGHT sessions but the record company shot it
down due to its controversial lyrics. It was one of the heavier songs
in the set and I can't wait to here it again as it will be included on
the re-release. The crowd that was up close to the stage like me
appreciated the effort by the guys and were singing along to just
about every song. George Mihalovich and Ken Erb were on guitars and it
wasn't quite the same type of axe slinging duo as I saw in the late
'80s, as Ken did all of the leads on this night. With that said, I
enjoyed Ken's playing immensely. His well-articulated and structured
solos perfectly fall into the boundaries of the songs. They are
aggressive and melodically vicious at the same time; Ken is much
underrated. Vic Hix sounded just as good as he did in the '80s with a
very powerful voice. Over all a great set and one of the bands I
personally enjoyed the most.

Dismember
9:55 p.m. - 10:55 p.m.

Not really into these guys so I spent this time talking to other
people.

Primal Fear
11:10 p.m. - 12:20 a.m.
Devil's Ground (recorded) / Angel In Black / Chainbreaker / Suicide
And Mania / Running In The Dust / Visions Of Fate / Nuclear Fire / The
Healer / Battalions Of Hate / drum solo / Silver & Gold / Metal Is
Forever / Final Embrace // Colony 13 / Armageddon (5 seconds)

Alright... I'll be the first to admit that I am a total mark for
Primal Fear but in all honesty, you can ask anyone else that was there
and 90% of the people would say the same thing, they just destroyed
the place. The Odeon was the fullest it had been all weekend. I new it
was a Primal Fear crowd when I went to the rest room and, after
finishing my business, I turned around to see four -- I kid you not,
four -- guys wearing the exact same BLACK SUN tour shirt that I was...
Pretty cool. As the lights went out "Devil's Ground" played over the
sound system and then -- BAM! -- the opening riff of "Angel In Black"
ripped out and the onslaught began. Ralf Scheepers was dressed all in
black with a long sleeve shirt on and his signature shaved head... He
looks so intimidating on stage and there was no doubt that it was
"his" stage. I enthusiastically laughed as Mat Sinner came out with
his D-X Suk It jersey (WWE reference for any of you wrestling fans).
Tom Naumann and Stefan Leibing just absolutely shred on guitar --
harmony leads the likes of Maiden and Priest but just turned up a
notch. On that note, that is what Primal Fear represents to me:
everything that good about the classic '80s power metal and just
brought up to the next level. Granted, I didn't see Grave Digger's
performance the night before, but from all of the bands I had seen
this was the best response the crowd gave any band. Ralf and Mat sing
very well together and Scheepers is well on his way to one day
inheriting the Metal God Throne. I would have liked to have heard a
different song substituted for "Suicide And Mania" but that is my only
complaint with the set list. Since I am not particularly fond of this
song I took a moment to go get a beer and lo and behold who do I run
into but James Rivera (Seven Witches/Helstar). I asked James what he
thought of Primal Fear and he told me, "These guys rock!" I felt
fortunate as they ended up playing the two songs that I really wanted
to hear off of DEVIL'S GROUND, "Visions Of Fate" and "The Healer."
Both songs came off extremely well live and were received well by the
crowd. The band was very energetic and genuinely seemed happy to be
playing in front of such an enthusiastic American crowd. Mat and Tom
did the most running around as Ralf methodically plodded around stage
calmly, cool and collected as if he owned it, and for these 80
minutes, there was no doubt that he did. Did I mention how
effortlessly these guys make playing bone-crunching power metal? Well
they do... Naumann and Leibing just rip as individual guitar players
and as a tag team blending their aggressive and melodic styles
together into blazing dual leads. "Metal Is Forever" came off better
live than it is presented on the CD; I still am not happy about the
lyrics but the power in the presentation of this song make up for it.
Randy Black went into a drum solo at this point so I made a break for
the rest room and guess who I bumped into on the way back? Midnight
from Crimson Glory. I thanked him for an incredible performance that
afternoon and asked him what he thought of Ralf; he just looked at me,
smiled, and gave him the thumb's up! After Randy's brief drum solo
Ralf came back out wearing a tank-top shirt and showed off just how
put together he is; the guy is a freak! After "Final Embrace," which
seems to be the regular set closer, the band briefly left stage.
Overwhelmed by the "Primal Fear" chants, the band came back out and
thanked the crowd for the wonderful reception they had been given.
They burst into "Colony 13" which I thought was an odd choice for an
encore. I like the music for this song but the melody and lyrics don't
do much for me. As soon as they finished this song Stefan jumped into
the beginning of "Armageddon" but the rep from BW&BK ran out on stage
waving his hands and said no because their time was up. Now I was up
front and I seriously thought there was going to be some trouble as
the crowd got very upset and started chanting "BS...BS." The band came
to the front of the stage and took their bows to calm the crowd, and
then quickly left. I was pissed because it was very plain to see that
the crowd was there to see Primal Fear; they received the best crowd
response of the weekend from what I saw, as well as what I was told by
others, and they had the best turnout as far as attendance. Regardless
of them not playing their final song they put on the strongest, most
powerful set of the weekend. Their presence and talent put them on top
of the mountain and the ease at which they pulled it off gave them, as
well as the audience, the enthusiasm to enjoy it. They were the show
as far as I'm concerned. What more can I say? These guys are the
future of Power Metal.

Metal Church
12:35 a.m. - 1:55 a.m.
"Terminator" intro / <set list unknown>

We were absolutely exhausted by the time Metal Church came on. I
wanted to stick around long enough to hear their latest singer, Ronnie
Munroe, as I had never heard him before. He sounds like a good blend
between David Wayne and Mike Howe to be honest with you. They started
out strong but we just didn't have the strength to stick around
knowing that we had a long drive home the next day.

-All and all a great weekend and I would recommend it to any
Metalheads out there. It wasn't quite on par with ProgPower but
definitely worth the trip. When I go to festivals such as this I think
it's always interesting to see the varied bands that the fans promote
by way of wearing the band T-shirts, patches, hats, etc. I keep a
mental note to see who the most popular band is by way of this
support. I asked my two friends to do the same this time around to see
if they came to the same conclusion as I did. With the exception of
all the Primal Fear shirts that were worn on Saturday evening, my
friends and I came to the consensus that the most supported band in
terms of apparel was, hands down, Iced Earth, with Iron Maiden being a
distant second. This is interesting as Iced Earth was the most popular
in this regards at ProgPower USA III. Thanks for reading!

Relevant links:

AfterShok
http://www.aftershok.com/

Auburn Records
http://www.auburnrecords.com/

Brainstorm
http://www.truemetal.org/brainstorm/

Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
http://www.bravewords.com/

Cleveland Metal
http://www.cleveland-metal.com/

Alice Cooper'stown - Cleveland
http://www.alicecooperstowncleveland.com/

Crimson Glory
http://www.crimson-glory.com/

Doro
http://www.doropesch.com/

Dreams Of Damnation
http://www.dreamsofdamnation.com/

E-Force
http://www.recordfinder.com/eforce/

Flotsam And Jetsam
http://www.flotsam-and-jetsam.com/

Grave Digger
http://www.grave-digger.de/

Ion Vein
http://www.ionvein.com/

Katatonia
http://www.katatonia.com/

Metal Church
http://www.metalchurch.com/

Primal Fear
http://www.primalfear.de/

Seven Witches
http://www.sevenwitches.net/

*
*** OUT ***
*

=====
Detritus Rock/Metal e-zine
"Rock Hard With A Purpose"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/detritus/




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