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LIVE
IN CONCERT! |
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MOTORHEAD |
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With
Special Guests |
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DROPKICK
MURPHYS |
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HATEBREED |
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And |
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SKARHEAD |
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Review And Photos By
Bushman
The Palace
Hollywood, CA
5/11/99 |
Ah Hollywood. Even on a Tuesday it’s
still very. . .Hollywood. This night's destination was the sporadically
rocked Palace, off the famous Hollywood and Vine intersection.
Tourists need only look for the Capitol Records tube of a building,
and the Palace is directly across the street. The Palace is a
sort of "theatre" with ornate ceiling and wall decorations,
but with ample room (looks kinda like the "Evenflow"
video by Pearl Jam). Many side rooms, a back open-air bar upstairs
for smokers and a balcony, compliment the small general admission
gym floor in front of the medium sized stage. Aside from the
"cool-guy" syndrome of security, it's a pretty cool
venue.
I arrived way early to interview Lemmy from "Motorhead."
The side door security was very accommodating and hooked me up
with the "Motorhead" manger, who was a pleasant English
bloke that scrambled to find Lemmy (who was MIA somewhere in
LA), but secured me drummer Mickey D in his place. The interview
went well, with Mickey D even complimenting my interviewing prowess
- thanks Mickey!
The guest lists weren’t available until 8:00 so my friend
and I hung out waiting to catch "Hatebreed’s"
soundcheck (their label had set me up to interview them also).
After waiting an hour or so I went to check if the guestlists
had been brought up to the front window yet. They hadn’t,
so I went back to the floor to see if "Hatebreed" was
around yet to do that interview. Enter super-cool-guy security.
"HEY! - Can I help you? Where’s your pass?"
"It’s cool. I’m here doing interviews with the
bands. I just got done talking to 'Motorhead' and I’m waiting
for 'Hatebreed’s' soundcheck."
"If you were supposed to be here, you’d have a pass.
You gotta go - NOW!"
"Wait! I’m on two lists, but they haven’t brought
them up to the front yet. But I’m supposed to interview
them before the show."
"You don’t have a pass - you gotta leave - I’m
not asking you - I’m telling you - YOU GOTTA GO NOW!"
And then proceeded to physically remove myself and friend. What
a dick. So anyway, after waiting outside until they bothered
to open up the will-call (more than 20 minutes after they were
supposed to), we made it back into the venue. Since my photopass
does not allow access backstage, I didn’t get to speak with
"Hatebreed." Thank you very much Palace security. All
you hard-core "Hatebreed" fans can pitch your bitch
at the Palace (I’m sure they care).
"Skarhead" was the first offering of the night. A Victory
Records export from the East Coast, "Skarhead" encompass
all the traditional core elements. Along with hard edged guitars,
slamming manic paced drums and barking vocals, "Skarhead"
does enlist a dual vocal presence that was a cool dynamic. The
crowd was rather thin, but a good handful pushed up against the
stage and knew the songs word for word. There was even a small
friendly pit during some of the more catchy numbers. |
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Their set was neither bad or good. A kind
of level hit that will probably please the fan and fly by the
unfamiliar, since the vocals were all but inaudible barks, especially
from the black dreadlocked singer. There was some attitude, but
it looked a little contrived.
They ended with the drunken sing-a-long "Snickers,"
with it’s somewhat juvenile chorus of "Fighting and
drinking on a Saturday Night - ain’t no excuses - that’s
just our life," but the fans present ate that one up, so
"Skarhead" ended on a positive note.
"Hatebreed" was the next band and I was heavily anticipating
their set. This would be my first time seeing them live. I had
the chance to review their latest, "Satisfaction Is The
Death Of Desire," and pretty much gave it a hearty "thumbs
up."
I was getting my camera ready for their set when security informed
me that we (the press) would only be allowed up front to take
pictures for the first three songs of each band's set. (???)
This was a new one to me. I guess the theory is that in case
the crowd gets to out of hand, the security needs to be able
to control the masses from the front. I can go along with this,
but for the record, I didn’t witness one incident of the
crowd getting so wild that security needed extra precaution.
And security seems quite capable of navigating the press up front
in any other venue I’ve worked at. But this is the Palace.
Ok, I must rant for a bit here. I fucking hate security. The
same way I hate cops. I mean, I see their necessity - and it
is warranted. The problem is they don’t just do their job.
They employ this "grovel before me lowly one" attitude
and flex every bit of power they have at every available opportunity.
They act like they hate their jobs and how dare you do anything
to make them actually do what they are paid for. Every, and I
mean EVERY show I cover brings a new and detestable security
experience. I have met a few that are commendable (which I most
always mention when the rare occasion warrants it), but 95% have
some sort of attitude problem with doing their jobs, or rock
music, or kids or their momma didn’t love them, or some
unexplainable stimuli that makes them lose any compassion and
integrity as a human being. If any security actually reads this
(especially you punks at the Palace), feel free to email me and
tell me how wrong I am. And dear reader, if you agree, or not,
please let me hear your voice. One person is a whiny bitch, a
few people calling out injustices becomes a legitimate concern.
So, I prepared for the 3 song race to get pictures. "Hatebreed"
came out loud and hard. I had a video cam with me and tried to
get some footage. I had informed their label of my intent to
tape the show, and even showed the door guy my camera when they
did the search out front, but the security/promotions people
had a friggin’ cow! I thought for sure they were going to
keep the camera. They made some sort of motion about coming and
getting it after the "Hatebreed" set (it was rather
hard to hear and deal with these irate people over the din of
aggression that "Hatebreed" was churning out a couple
of feet away). Since I only got three songs to take pictures,
and I just blew the first song yelling back and forth with security,
I clicked off as many pics as I could for the two remaining songs
then went off in search of my confiscated video camera (which
actually wasn’t even mine).
Since my pass didn’t allow me backstage, the stage security
wouldn’t let me go backstage to retrieve my goods. I freaked
out. "They fucking took my camera back there!!!" He
must have seen the wild eyed rage I was in by this time and actually
let me pass (unreal since I don’t think he even heard what
I said exactly - "Hatebreed" was still mid-set).
I found the "Motorhead" dressing room and the promotions
chick who took my camera. They started chewing me out for having
a camera, it’s against "Motorhead" policy, it’s
against the Palace policy blah blah blah. So I was like "Hey
- I cleared it through "Hatebreed’s" label and
I showed it to the door guy, so I followed the rules. Just doing
my job. I wasn’t taping "Motorhead" was I?"
They (the "Motorhead" manager and promotions chick)
kinda looked at each other like "oh." I had zero problem
with NOT taping the show, I just wanted to go check out "Hatebreed."
They ranted about policy for a little longer so I said "Look.
Fine. I don’t care if I video tape this or not. I’ll
put it in my car." So then they got this security guy to
walk me outside. "Hurry up." said security dick as
I walked away. I looked at him over my shoulder and kept walking.
After going through the whole search procedure once again to
get in, I caught the last 2 songs of "Hatebreed’s"
set. The crowd had grown and was spinning a fairly vicious circle.
Many a fan was stretching over the barriers and mouthing out
words and shaking fists to every nasty "Hatebreed"
break. I can’t really offer a detailed description of set
list or delivery as I was messing around with the Palace Patrol
through most of their set. Too bad. From what I did catch, I
can tell you "Hatebreed" is the shit. |
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They are much younger and cleaner cut looking
than their sound might relay, but the "Hatebreed" sonic
attack is a mean one. For those unfamiliar, easiest comparison
would be a kind of Pantera riffed attack, packaged into a core
mentality, utilizing punk rock song structures. It rips.
After that set and hassle I needed a drink. The bar here makes
pretty decent mixed drinks for your $5.50 (beer is $4.50). There
is a bar downstairs on the floor and one up in back for the smokers.
Also, this is usually an 18 and up venue, but if you have an
ID you can drink. I like that set up best, because it doesn’t
exclude or alienate anyone and crowds reach maximum draw. (I
wish San Diego could figure this angle out).
"Dropkick Murphy’s" were the third musical endeavor
of the evening. Another writer at AMZ gave their new album 5
stars out of 5 stars. That’s pretty impressive. I don’t
think I’ve EVER given ANY record a perfect score, nor do
I think I ever will, just because of the reality that what I
deem perfect, someone else will deem entirely worthless, and
a perfect record would have to be universally perfect to earn
that title, no? Anyway, I was curious to see what kind of band
earns a perfect rating. They came out on stage to the sound of
bagpipes (um, Korn already used that) and kicked into a kind
of Irish influenced punk rock. |
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Dear reader, they are NOT a five star band
- at least live. They have a mediocre stage presence on top of
a lot of really used 3 chord rock. Very standard. There was little
crowd interaction, and less dynamic from song to song. Some of
the crowd was into it, but compared to "Hatebreed’s"
set and energy, this was a step back.
A good chunk of the floor thinned out by the third "get
the press the hell out of here" song. I don’t know,
maybe it was my attitude by this juncture, but I found their
set rather dull and opted for more drinks in the smoking bar
for the last part of their set.
"Motorhead" was the undeniable entity of the night.
All sorts of crusty "Motorhead" fans milled about in
their custom Jean-jacket vests and patches. The band strolled
out amidst much smoke, and there was a giant Beast-Dog, or whatever
that bulldog with giant tusks logo is for a backdrop. Large cheers
welled up immediately, Lemmy let out a quick little "Hello
Los Angeles - We’re Motorhead" intro and tore into
their set. Lemmy’s bass tone is so distorted and raw, it
sounds almost like a guitar so when doubled by Phil Campbell’s
trainwreck guitars, the sonics are huge. This was so fucking
LOUD! Very Motorhead!!! |
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The band was about as animated as "Motorhead"
gets - meaning little strolls around the stage, and some cool
ass rock star posturing. After my allotted 3 songs (sheesh),
I found a good vantage point in the back to soak up the rest
of the set.
"Motorhead" are out supporting their latest double
live CD, "Everything Louder Than Everyone Else," recorded
in 1998 in Hamburg, Germany. I can tell you the CD is incredible
and the live interpretation is fairly accurate. "Motorhead"
do "Motorhead" very well - meaning if you like one
song, you’ll love all the songs, since they all mostly sound
a lot alike. |
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Memorable songs from the night: "Sacrifice"
and "Iron Fist" got good crowd reaction. "Orgasmatron"
was my pick for the most original sounding piece. Rock star spotting:
About 5 feet from me was Scott Ian, the guitarist from Anthrax,
attentively rocking out to "Motorhead’s" set.
I wasn’t entirely sure it was him until he started air-guitaring
to one of the songs, and he started making the faces he makes
when he plays, so I knew it was him.
"Motorhead" did one encore consisting of 3 songs. The
first was what everyone was waiting for, "Ace Of Spades."
The crowd went friggin’ nutz! The whole floor opened up
and started thrashing out. Even Scott Ian couldn’t control
himself and launched his small frame into the swirl of the pit.
(Way cool!) I’m not sure if it’s the recognition of
that tune or what, but it’s such a good song. It's like
the essence of "Motorhead," at least as far as the
crowds are concerned. A couple more songs and they were done
- and the ringing in my ears began. They were soooooo loud! I
loved it!
"Motorhead" is about as real as it gets. Here’s
a band that has outlived many of its contemporaries and has never
compromised its sound. A band that’s never pretended to
be about anything but loud rock. That kind of purity is hard
to find these days. "Motorhead" is pure. "Motorhead"
is rock. "Motorhead" is pure rock. |
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