|
LIVE
IN CONCERT! |
|
FEAR
FACTORY
With Special
Guests
SPINE SHANK
and
STATIC-X |
|
Reviewed By
"Bushman"
SOMA
San Diego, CA
10/2/98 |
Anticipation for this show was high, since
I saw openers "Static-X" (then just Static) open for
"Snot" at the Roxy in Hollywood a few months back,
and they were...impressive. I actually located their hard-to-find
demo at a MusicTrader in Pacific-Beach, San Diego, CA for like
a buck (score!) and have waited patiently since. Add "Fear
Factory" headlining the bill with "Spineshank,"
and you've got a pretty solid Friday evening. The first hour+
was spent navigating the SOMA security trying to get to talk
with Wayne from "Static-X" to do an interview. Even
though Static-X's management had set this up, I still had to
go back and forth from front door to backstage, to front door
to stand in line and get frustrated, and go backstage again and
vainly hope to see one of them. I eventually found Wayne, and
in his coolness, sat down with me for a few words before the
show. (See "Static-X" interview below.)
The SOMA is the all-ages answer to a venue in San Diego. Basically,
it's a big black box, little air circulation and no atmosphere
at all. No place to sit. No place to hide in a corner. Absolutely
no re-entrance, so if you're there to see the opening band, you
will be breathing some stale, hot air for the next three or so
hours. They have a side-stage area that has smaller, local (and
predominantly punk-or-die) type shows when the main room isn't
open. The cover for most main shows here ranges from $8-$12.
(And if you get'em in advance from Ticket"scalpers"Master,
you can add a couple bucks more service charge). Nothing like
paying $14.00+ to make sure you've got your ticket in advance,
only to watch the guy in front of you pay $12 at the door. |
|
|
Static-X |
"Static-X" opened the show (second
of a couple of shows with "Fear Factory" on this leg
of the FF tour). The crowd was thin and spaced out. A few dozen
or so hovered near the front of the stage, but most stood back
at "safe-watching-distance." Starting with some of
the songs on their demo (all but one of which will be on the
final release), they were about 3 songs into their set and "poof"
- out went the power. Cheers and applause followed and then the
power was returned. "Static-X" made it through one
more song before the power went again. This time it was kind
of annoying. A longer delay, an apology for having to cut the
set short, and "Static-X" gave it one more try (the
band and the crowd seem to lose momentum when interrupted mid-vibe).
They pounded through a couple more songs, and left a respectable
impression, despite the interruptions.
They showcased some newer songs, but as far the crowd went, they
were all new songs. There were a few people obviously familiar
with the "Static-X" brand of jackhammer guitars, laced
with almost techo/disco looped samples. They sounded decent,
but the SOMA sound quality seemed about as good as it's dependability.
Wayne's vocals were barley audible, and the samples came through
at weird levels sometimes. As a fan it was a righteous set. I
know "Static-X" are capable of a more engaging show,
but with the constant sound problems, they did their best.
Bassist Tony tore around the stage and barked out the low-end
vocals. Singer Wayne makes an interesting front man with the
bride-of-frankenstein inspired hair (the best way to explain
his style is like when a bomb blows up in a cartoon characters
face and all their features smear up and back - that's how his
hair stands). Very kinetic energy considering he's tied to the
mike as the vocalist. The sincerity of the crowds applause as
they left the stage suggested they made some new fans, or at
the very least appeased the ones there. |
|
|
Spine
Shank |
|
"Spineshank" held the middle slot
tonight. Admittedly, I'm only familiar with their name. Damn
good set from these guys, though. I hate trying to review a live
performance without having any idea of what they're trying to
pull off, but the energy was intense. Their vocalist has a really
decent range and hits these occasional howls very reminiscent
of "Fear Factory's" Burton C. Bell. Kind of a shade
of rap-core in there. Good tempo changes and breaks. Very solid
considering I didn't know what I was listening to. "Spineshank"
made it about half-way through their set when "poof"
- out went the power again. Now the crowd was starting to get
bored with joke. Luckily, that was the only interruption to the
impressive "Spineshank" set. I believe they are on
tour with "Fear Factory" so you might be able to catch
them around your area. Check'em. |
|
|
Fear Factory |
|
Fear Factory is the reason, Fear Factory
is the drive. Supporting their latest release "Obsolete"
on RoadRunner Records, Fear Factory entered to a loosely 3/4
filled SOMA.
They opened with the first track off of
'Obsolete' - Shock. Those familiar with the song know that one
of the first big breaks in the song is marked by this kind of
disintegrating BOOM sound that'll crack your teeth on a decent
stereo. Well they made it past the first 'boom' and then 'poof'...out
went the power. The already thinning patience of the crowd snapped.
Various shouts of 'SOMA blows' and 'SOMA sucks' followed until
the apologetic Fear Factory came back out and decided to give
it another shot. Since they only made it like 30 seconds into
their first song...they started over again. This time they made
it about two minutes into the song before the power blew again.
Now the crowd was unanimous in chanting 'SOMA SUCKS!....SOMA
SUCKS!'. A good ten minutes passed before singer Burton came
back and said 'Sorry. This is not our fault. We'll try it once
more...but if it happens again....(in a low gutteral growl)...we're
done. Whatever the problem was, they finally fixed it. Fear Factory
then proceeded to crunch through songs off their last two concept
albums 'Obsolete' and 'Demanufacture'.
All of Fear Factory can command presence
on stage. Particularly sociable was guitarist Dino who, during
the ample breaks between blowouts, gave out repeated glasses
and cans of beer to the kids (what a guy!). Bassist Christian
Wolbers threw down guttural backing vocals and loomed over the
kids up front. The drumming by Raymond Herrera was impressive
and tight, but didn't have the crispness of the album (but for
the record, 'Demanufacture' had no live drums on it and the new
album 'Obsolete' drums are very processed - Fear Factory is very
open about their electronic recording approach stating that they
like the processed, machine like quality they can achieve in
the studio this way).
Burton C. Bell is the focal point of the
live Fear Factory. Wearing his tatoos like armor, he verbally
shoved the crowd through the dark techno-nightmare that is Fear
Factory. Those familiar with the band know that they have a lot
of imagination and imagery to their songs. Both 'Obsolete' and
'Demanufacture' are "concept" albums in that they tell
a sort of bizarre story-line from song to song. Watching Burton
twist and wail against his own demons, this was no bed-time story.
Intense.
Fear Factory played a long set and even
pulled out numbers from earlier release 'Soul of a New Machine'.
Burton and band kept the intensity up throughout which translated
to the persistent (if not small) whirl of a pit all the way to
the end. Considering the venue, lack of a full house and multiple
interruptions from the SOMA pa blowing out...Fear Factory left
the stage to a blown away crowd. No encores. No need. |
|
|
|
