Dav Waldron's Blog

As if seeing Electric Wizard wasn’t good enough, the gods of metal decided that there should be MOAR horror unleashed upon the very appreciative Irish Doom scene.  What we got was a day long treat that was without doubt one of the finest single day metal events I’ve ever been to.

Dublin Doom Day (Chapter One) had been on a slightly bumpy journey as the original venue of “The Scene” has now closed down. Eventually Fibber Magees was the new venue – I wasn’t awfully impressed at that news as it’s not the most amazing place in the world, but do you know what? It was perfect for the day that was in it!

So the running order was as follows:

• DWELL IN SUN
• ON PAIN OF DEATH
• COUNCIL OF TANITH
• WRECK OF THE HESPERUS
• GRAVEYARD DIRT
• ESOTERIC
• SATURNUS
• THE LAMP OF THOTH

Esoteric were the headlining act of the day, but I believe that scheduling meant they were to finish by 11.

As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, On Pain Of Death and Wreck of the Hesperus are friends of mine, and I really love the stuff they produce.  More on that later…

I was delayed in arriving and missed out on Dwell In Sun.  I caught them before in the Lower Deck before and I’m sorry I missed them.  One of the OPoD lads said they were excellent and reviews I’ve seen from some of the folk on Metal Ireland seem to suggest the same.  This of course just means that I’ll have to seek out their next performance

My arrival perfectly coincided with On Pain Of Death’s start and whilst it was a hot and sunny day outside, the atmosphere in Fibbers soon turned dark, bleak and heavy as their set progressed.  A sense of dread took hold and the audience stood still fearing that movement might single them out for an extra helping of punishment.  An excellent set over all and everyone who stood up to watch it took something from it I’d say – even if that was just the impending sense of a week of nightmares…

Council of Tanith followed – they’re simply not my cuppa tea, so I went outside with the lads to watch the soccer.  They seemed very well received though as they tend to be.  I heard some fairly big blunders from the guitars and a solo that seemed to be completely out of tune which was, to be honest, dreadful.

On then to Wreck of the Hesperus.  I am very much a WOTH fanboy, and make no apologies for it!  Once again they delivered a filth spawned tide of sewer-rot.  They started with a really long sample and I remember turning around to Hick (OPoD) saying “it’d be fucking hilarious if the whole set was just this sample and they didn’t play a note!”  Didn’t take long for things to kick off though and the assault began.  Andy’s screaching lyrics and howling feedback makes for an uncomfortable experience.  Rodge’s Bass thumps along and keeps you standing – just.  Ray’s drums beat the very essence of humanity out of you though and turn you into little more than a shell waiting to be filled up with the afore mentioned screaming and heavy dread-riffs.  We were all left shadows of our former selves by the time the last note rang out.   Once again WOTH had abused us and we thanked them for it.

This was to be the end of this half of the day’s activities…

I wandered back outside in tatters to try and get back to normality.  There  was soccer on which certainly helped.  The outdoors part of Fibbers is rather good – it seems to me that this is a venue who had the ability to do well out of the smoking ban – it was jammed with us and with people from the hotel.  After some sport, I decided I was in need of something’s flesh.  Long story short, I went to Burger King and arrived back in to hear Graveyard Dirt.

Traditional Doom is very hit and miss for me.  It lacks the misery and weight that I find so appealing on the more extreme end of the Doom scale.  Graveyard Dirt made a bit of a dent on my psyche though and I liked some of what they had to offer.  I shall have to seek out some of their music I think to forumlate a better opinion.  They had good stage presence and the crowd seemed to be liking it, so fair play to them.

It was at this stage that I figured I might just indulge in something I hadn’t done in quite some time – I got a bottle of Buckfast  Esoteric were coming and it seemed criminal to tackle a performance of theirs with a completely clear head.  It turned out to be the right decision…

It began…

…it carried on…

…it ended.

I simply cannot put into words how amazing this set was.  It was one of the best live music experiences of my life.  Found myself in front of the stage for the majority of it and totally lost in the thick fog of noise that rolled off the stage.  When it all ended, I found myself talking to the front man, Mr Greg Chandler, about all the multi-effects he has for both his guitar and vocals – fair play to the man, he’d just finished a set and was trying to pack it all up, but was good enough to give me a basic idea of how his set-up worked.

And so it was, at 23:15, I figured nothing that remained on the line-up could have topped the experience I’d just had with Esoteric so I headed off  By all accounts Saturnus and Lamp of Toth were very good, but I got what I’d come for.  It was a day that showcased the power of music as a medium to deliver horror and misery straight into the brain.

I wanna say a big thank you to all the bands and the organisers, not to mention the staff at Fibbers (who for some reason had only one man on by himself during the day and he worked fierce hard to keep us all thirst free).

Last week, I went with the members of J-Cloth (and a couple of other friends) to see Electric Wizard at Whelans. It’s not the first time I’ve seen the Wizard (5th actually), but it was their first Irish gig and I was damned if I was gonna miss it given it was on around the corner from where I live!

So got to the venue, met the rest of the gang, handed out tickets and got money and all was well. I was expecting a big crowd in the venue, so I said to everyone that we may as well chill in the main bar and catch up with one another as there’d been some time from when some of us had last seen one another. It was particularly great to see Ty cause he lives in Bettystown and doesn’t get into civilisation as often as we or he’d like. I had also heard that the support band, Blood Ceremony weren’t great. This turns out to be not true – we caught the tail end of their set when we wandered in and it was pretty good. Unusual in that the singer was also a flautist and it worked rather well over the very 70′s style heavy rock (Sabbath / Jethro Tull inspired). I’ve been listening to some of their stuff on their MySpace and it’s still decent, but lacks the punch that a live performance delivers.

Blood Ceremony

So after some chat and wandering around (and happily bumping into my mate Alan who’s now playing bass with Natty Wailer he tells me) and asking the J-Cloths what they’d thought of the opening act, Wizard took to the stage. It was a familiar set for anyone who’s seen them recently – they’re a bit lazy in that regards in that they’ve never really changed the set list since they started touring the Witchcult Today album:

• Witchcult Today (Witchcult Today)
• Dunwich (Witchcult Today)
• We Hate You (Dopethrone)
• Satanic Rites of Drugula (Witchcult Today)
• Return Trip (Come My Fanatics)
• The Chosen Few (Witchcult Today)
• Funeralopolis (Dopethrone)

(Album name in brackets)

Electric Wizard begin...

A couple of points about the surroundings and venue: its not very big and it wasn’t as loud as one might have expected from the Wizard. It wasn’t detrimental to the evening as a whole, but I really missed the feeling of the music pulsing through me that I’ve experienced at previous Wizard gigs. The crowd were well up for it and there was just about enough space for everyone (where as Gojira who I saw there earlier this year had about 30 or 40 people too many). Now that the negatives are out of the way, onto the band!

They played very well, tighter I thought than the last time I saw them (at Hellfest in France earlier this year). Jus rarely opened his eyes only to turn around and take a swig from his can of Bavaria. Liz looked like she always does – astonishingly beautiful and happy on a stage playing her SG. Tas who’s a more recent addition on Bass (replacing Rob Al-Issa) was well into his bit and played well and Shaun on drums beat out a beat to keep the head rolling. I occasionally looked around to check on my friends – it was their first time seeing (and hearing in some cases) Wizard and everyone seemed to be getting into it. Johnny po0k in particular really got into the vibe of it all.

Electric Wizard at the end of their set

And so as good thing things must end, as the last wails of feedback made sure we’d have less hearing than we had at the start of the gig upon the band’s completion of Funeralopolis I turned and saw a very happy gang of campers in the form of J-Cloth and friends. Mission accomplished But that wasn’t to be the end of the evening…

A trip was made to the BatCave and an after party was had Turns out the BatCave’s an awesome party venue too, but we suspected that was the case all along. Was nice to have guests out (some of my friends from Mayo who were up for the gig and the afore mentioned po0k) and I even got to horrify some of them with the vocal stylings of the Doom tune that Neal, The Dragon and I wrote!

First day of summer – what better a way to start it than by listening to an evening’s horror in musical form?

My friends know I love Doom metal – it’s everything that’s wrong with the world (and beyond) given aural substance.  Continuing the “Doom on the Deck” series of gigs, (in the Lower Deck on Portabello Harbour) this night was to be no different.  The line up:

• On Pain of Death
  These lads are friends of mine from at home in Mayo.  “Slightly better than being raped” is how they describe themselves on their MySpace page – not entirely without truth.  Their music tells a tale of misery and disappointment with the world that’s hard to ignore.  New song started at a fierce fast pace by their own standard which threw me off guard – sneaky gits
   
• Council of Tanith
  I’ve seen these lads a few times now,  they’re pretty good, but it’s not quite my cuppa tea.  They have been better every time I’ve seen them though, which is always a good sign.  I hope they carry on doing what they’re doing, it’s starting to work for me
   
• Wreck of the Hesperus
  Purveyors of utter rot and masters of leaving a crowd genuinely unsettled, I’m a big fan of WOTH. A few new tunes were unleashed on a very appreciative crowd.  My bandmates were suitably impressed – having never been to a Doom gig before, the lads left them reeling and questioning why they hadn’t taken my advice and come one before
   
• Procession
  These lads were buckled before the gig according to my mates and wanted to go on second as they didn’t think they’d last until their turn.  Traditional Doom from Chile, they were actually a great end to the evening.  There was an element of rowdiness to their stuff which got the crowd all fired up and the addition of a surprise member in the form of Barry, the guy who was passed out on the couch infront of the stage for most of the night made for good times.  They were very good and I think I may have to get some of their stuff.

All in all, a great night’s fun.  Coupled with the Alley-Cat that was going on outside on the square, it was definitely the most alternative part of Dublin to be in on Friday night

Not the planet, the band.

Was just leaving the office this evening and something prompted me to check Metal Ireland and saw that Earth were playing this evening.  There was much joy in my heart as I missed them the last time they were hear cause a friend of mine was playing a gig the same night.

Long story short, went to the gig, got there as Earth were just finished their set up and basked in their good vibes.  Great gig, left me in a very enhanced state of calm which is unusual and much appreciated as it’s a turbulent time of year for me.

They said they’re working on a new album and will be back again next year to tour it.  I won’t miss it!

The whole thing’s also reminded me that Roadburn‘s on this coming weekend. Had forgotten all about it.  Been there plenty of times, it’s an enjoyable, if somewhat crowded and hazy time

Finally, since I’m on the subject of gigs, Friday the 1st sees On Pain of Death and Wreck of the Hesperus playing in The Lower Deck in Portabello.  An evening of utter filth awaits any souls brave enough to face the tidal wave of raw, unprocessed, fermented, yeast infected rotten misery that these 2 bands will serve up. Also on the lineup are Council of Tanith and Procession (headlining act).  I can not wait to see this gig.