As a wanna-be San Francisco resident, I found one more reason to get up here ASAP - a weekend of eccentrically rich and blisteringly heavy music. The former was found on Friday night in Sebastopol, while the latter thrashed eardrums in San Jose. I guess not just San Francisco proper has cornered the market on an excellent variety of live music.
The Hopmonk Tavern in Sebastopol started the weekend, with "Fancy Booze for Semi-Fancy Folks," brought to you by Claypool Cellars - that would be Les Claypool, of Primus fame. The night was a double-bill of the tasting of his new Pinot Noir (musician, novelist, wine-maker... what next?), aptly named Purple Pachyderm; and a night of live music, billed as "Claypool and Friends." While I am not an avid fan of most live improv-jam noodly stylings, this night provided the crowd with some truly psychedelic and rhythmic grooves that even brought this critic around. Guest appearances by Larry LaLonde (guitarist from Primus) brought out a rendition of "Tommy the Cat," one of my faves by the defunct band. Gabby La La, one of Claypool's regular co-horts, brought everybody up into the psychedelic stratosphere, with her expert wielding of the sitar. Add to that some electric cello and Claypool's trademark bass grooves; and you've got a room that draws you in like a magnet and won't let you go 'til they're done. There was an expectation of a Tom Waits appearance - the main reason yours truly attended - but it was not to be. However, the cozy surroundings of the 150-year old enclave, a few glasses of the bold Pinot vino, and a live jam-session with Les and friends added up to a night that exceeded my expectations for greatness and pleased all of the "Semi-Fancy Folks."
Gears were radically shifted 20 hours later - next stop, San Jose, to witness the final show of this year's ultimate metal festival tour. Death Metal band Dethklok, the human embodiment of the enormously popular Adult Swim cartoon, Metalocalypse, co-headlined the 4-act show. Their counterparts were Mastodon, the swampy prog-metal outfit from Atlanta, Georgia; whose latest album, "Crack the Skye" has taken the metal world by storm, selling over 200,000 copies. As if that wasn't enough, Boston legends Converge, hardcore/extreme metal masters of a 20-year vintage; and local shredding heroes High on Fire, opened the show.
Every band had it's core followers rushing up front for their performances. Matt Pike, High on Fire's guitarist and vocalist, dominated the stage like a man possessed, feeding off said fans' energy and returning it back with his trademark growly vocals and expert heavy riffage on his guitar. For a band that usually headlines sub-800 person venues, these metal veterans knew how to dominate the San Jose arena.
30 minutes after High on Fire's set ended, Converge emerged to crush the crowd. And crush they did, with their trademark mix of hardcore and complex metal rhythms, earning the trademark "metalcore." They're a band that Mastodon, the co-headliner, has stated as an influence; and it was easy to see why. Jake Bannon screamed the vocals with genuine desperation, flailing about the stage for the entirety of their 30-minute set. The bassist, Nate Newton, was not far behind in the aerobic category - this has got the be the most physically active band on the planet. That energy rubbed off on the crowd, ushering in a mosh-pit, which visibly garnered the approval of the singer.
As expected, the crowd doubled in size after Converge's set; as most fans were there for the co-headliners. Being a 36-year old metal fan, I loved witnessing the vast number of youngsters - many donning Slayer hats, Children of Bodom t-shirts, and genuinely into the music they came to witness tonight.
Fans of Mastodon who didn't know what to expect (like me) were greatly surprised - the band played their latest album, Crack the Skye, in its entirety - with full visual projections to accompany each song. Their latest is a concept album, and the visuals supported this by portraying psychedelic visions of out-of-body experiences of a character that is trying to find his way home - pretty complex stuff to describe here, but let's just say that the bands complex musicianship and epically building song structures meshed perfectly with the visuals. A full-on sensory overload of the best kind!
The show ended with a 60-minute set from Dethklok, the "cartoon death metal band" fronted by Brendan Small, creator of said cartoon, Metalocalypse. It must have been odd for fans to witness 3 bands fronted by long-haired and/or tattooed axe-wielders; and then have Dethklok emerge as 4 clean-cut dudes who look more like dot-commers. After all, they're really just fans of this genre that basically were called into touring by the cartoon's popularity. But, once the music started, the cookie-monster-style vocals and heavy riffage overtook everybody's pre-conceived notions.
Dethklok also incorporated visuals for each song, but each one was precisely timed to the live music - with the cartoon band being projected and "playing" along with the real band on-stage, to humorous, yet crushing, tunes like "Murmaider" and "Pull the Plug." The result was perfect for the crowd - the old metal fans could stand back and laugh at the in-joke-heavy metal cartoons; while the sub-21-year-olds were enticed to throw up the trademark devil-horns and push their way up front to the mosh pit. Not band for a "cartoon band!"
The 4.5-hour metal fest ended with Dethklok and Mastodon profusely thanking the road crew and crowd; saying a final goodbye to all, as this was the last stop on the 7-week tour. Having gotten barraged for that length of time, I was ready to pass out on the ride home - if only I had a bottle of Claypool Cellars' Purple Pachyderm to finish off the evening... Can't complain too much after a weekend of musical bliss like this. Thank you, Bay Area!
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