Wow, what a show! Shitstorm/The Kill/Noisear/DOC/Street Pizza/ATT in RVA 5/22/11
Most of my excitement leading up to this show stemmed around the fact that I chose to go to Chaos In Tejas (say hi if you see me there) over going to Maryland Death Fest. Both awesome lineups, but the possibility of seeing Lärm (canceled), Seein Red (canceled), Low Threat Profile (canceled), and Killing Joke (canceled) seemed to outweigh what MDF offered this year. Don’t get me wrong, Chaos in Tejas is stacked this year but, damn, did some amazing bands drop off. Well, the one major letdown was the fact that Australia’s premiere grindcore act, The Kill, would only be playing up in Baltimore for the fest I chose not to go to. To my belated surprise I got an invite on the internet to come see this show and I about ran circles around the room for joy, I could have kissed Mark Osborn on the lips for putting this together two hours away up in Richmond, Virginia.
I got a few Raleigh folks on board to come up with me and, surprises among surprises, I found out that my good friends Steveo and Andrea would be around and wanted to come with. Ended up being my awesome roommate Jace and the pair to head up. We rolled up in a leisurely Sunday style — ate some vegan all-you-can-eat buffet across the street, and prepared for a grindcore assault at Strange Matter.
First to play was Ancient Torture Techniques. I apologize for not having any pictures of them, I had thought to grab my camera out of my car a few minutes too late as I had a bird’s eye view and they started playing… plus, it appeared a friend or girlfriend of the band was getting video of them right next to me. Simone, the guitar player and long time acquaintance, had eaten all-you-can-eat buffet right next to us earlier in the evening but it didn’t seem to slow him down any, he was thrashing about the crowd as he played. The bass player did some cutting wood attacks with his bass and I was prepared to kick him back into his area if he got too close. The band shared vocal duties, had some yelling, screaming, and Simone threw back some of the Man Is The Bastard Cookie-Monster vocals. I’m 99% sure they are the only band that sounds like this in Virginia Beach, so glad to keep powerviolence strong up the coast.
After ATT left the floor, RVA’s own Street Pizza started setting up on stage. Ironic band name aside, I had heard great things about this band and was excited about finally seeing them. I would have liked to have seen them play on the floor, but they delivered a tight set. Really quality grind-violence/powerviolence with songs that weren’t too short to be enjoyable. Caught a few pictures of the bass player singing with his eyes bugging out which made me laugh.
Following the hometown heroes, Disciples of Christ, a.k.a. DOC, took the floor. I have an unfair bias towards this band, but for good damn reason. This was my second time seeing them and they were just as intense. Brutal blasting grindcore from DC featuring Nolan who is ex-Juice Tyme, young gun Tim, and Chris of Magrudergrind/Coke Bust/Sick Fix fame. Nolan played in the normal power-stance with his mic set up three to four feet from the ground and one leg dragged far back while playing and singing. All three of them sing. No fluff, great short set.
When the show was first announced two or three weeks prior, they didn’t have Noisear listed as playing. It was a nice surprise to see them added into the mix. New Mexico’s grindcore outfit rolled up onto the stage with some funny looking death metal instruments but I was super stoked to see the guitar player wearing a Gate shirt. The band was noticeably more on the metal tip than the last set of bands but they tore through some songs like wet toilet paper. Not totally my cup of tea but I definitely liked them and I see them being a big hit at Deathfest.
Holy crap. Holy crap? Holy crap! The Kill takes stage and I’m floored. I briefly and awkwardly met Roby, their guitar player, who I have been in contact with before, and felt like a weird fanboy taking pictures right under where he is playing guitar on a weird rolling set of stairs up to the stage. During their set my perch on the stairs almost got uprooted as the movable set of stairs I was on got moshed into a few times. Getting back to what’s important — The Kill. The Kill is Australia’s answer to Magrudergrind… super fast and blasty grindcore with no bass player. The played an absolutely perfect set and polished it all off with a Napalm Death cover.
Last to play are my great old friends Shitstorm. I have known Ricky, Dub, Jon, and even their new bass player Eric, for about seven or eight years now. They consist of Miami locals, and I think Ricky is now an Atlanta transplant. The band plays super pissed off, primal grind and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them quite a few times. Actually, I drove two hours to the NC coast to see them play last summer, brought my camera to take pictures of them but left my camera battery in the charger. Lots of moshing in the crowd and Eric did some awesome youth crew jumps while swinging his bass behind his back so that he could get some height.
I ended up talking to Roby from The Kill quite a bit before embarking on the trip home with my small NC crew. He told me about his four-year-old son that he misses, he told me that the drummer from Noisear got mugged in New York, and he ended up giving me quite a few kisses on my cheek. Legit awesome guy. Sorry to hear about the drummer from Noisear — hope they have better luck the next time they are up that way. In all, amazing trip. Thanks to all those who came with me, Mark for booking the show, the good RVA locals, and the bands…definitely the bands. It was a great small venue prequel to MDF for anyone going up to that, but it was just the amount of grind to get me stoked on life.
Enjoy some video that me and Jace Kuhn shot at the show:
Noisear
The Kill
Shitstorm
Scroll through all of the photos from the show here:
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Besides being MRR.com’s premier show reviewer/photographer combo, Will Butler‘s claims to fame are To Live A Lie Records and Fastcore Photos (Issue #2 is almost out for those who care!). If you take photos and like to write about punk shows (or if you and a friend wanna team up to do this) drop us a line at webzine@maximumrocknroll.com with a sample review and pics, and maybe you too can be a MRR shitblogger!
