Day one:
After approximately 17 hours in a car (rest stops included) and lots of $$ on gas, I arrived in Cave-in-Rock for Full Terror Assault. While driving from the Hogrock park entrance to the ticket booth, I could understand fully why a parking pass was highly recommended; the driving distance was long enough that I could not imagine the average concertgoer walking into the festival.
Once inside, the staff is quite friendly and usually has the answers that you might seek; if not, they know which person does know. For instance, the organizer showed me a few spots with electricity. Even so, the festival website recommends that one does not leave their generator on overnight. The campground includes vendors for food, drinks, and ice; booze was apparently not included last year, as the event is BYOB, but I saw several food vendors sell beer. I find this preferable to Mayhem Festival with beers going as high as $13 a can. Whatever your sustenance of choice, bringing your own, whilst trying the cuisine in the booths and food trucks, is recommended by the officials. For the latter, however, money must be drawn prior to entering because the campground has no ATMs.
Navigating the festival ground is...tricky. For starters, the festival officials have blocked off a few areas of the Hogrock campground that were not used last year. As pointed out by staff, this makes it slightly difficult to access certain areas that are still open to the public at this time (e.g. the swimming area, which I intended to visit). Good thing the first two stages and the food vendors are in close proximity to each other.
Sooooo, I took a shower and changed before the bands started playing; I intended to wear a shirt that I had forgotten was the wrong size, but ended up in my obscure Sinaya shirt (death/thrash metal from Brazil). The first band, Carpathian Funeral, urged the fans to the stage area before their set while I started my food critiquing; I made a secondary goal to try something from each food vendor. I ordered a dreaded deep-fried Twinkie from the Little Red Food Wagon, along with a burger to make it seem like I cared about a meal.
It was much like a very thick funnel cake with creme filling. Very guilty.
Black metal band Carpathian Funeral delivered a good performance considering the insane heat. The singer even attested to the heat, the adverse effects of stifling heat to person of his size, and how much he loves to perform anyway. As if attesting to the heat as well, the crowd was minimal for the first band, even moreso than I usually see. The set included penty of anti-Christianity banter, reading a Bible verse, and frontman Brian Ritchie ripping said Bible apart. Dude, that move is SO old...but it does still get some attention, I gotta give him that.
After approximately 17 hours in a car (rest stops included) and lots of $$ on gas, I arrived in Cave-in-Rock for Full Terror Assault. While driving from the Hogrock park entrance to the ticket booth, I could understand fully why a parking pass was highly recommended; the driving distance was long enough that I could not imagine the average concertgoer walking into the festival.
Once inside, the staff is quite friendly and usually has the answers that you might seek; if not, they know which person does know. For instance, the organizer showed me a few spots with electricity. Even so, the festival website recommends that one does not leave their generator on overnight. The campground includes vendors for food, drinks, and ice; booze was apparently not included last year, as the event is BYOB, but I saw several food vendors sell beer. I find this preferable to Mayhem Festival with beers going as high as $13 a can. Whatever your sustenance of choice, bringing your own, whilst trying the cuisine in the booths and food trucks, is recommended by the officials. For the latter, however, money must be drawn prior to entering because the campground has no ATMs.
Navigating the festival ground is...tricky. For starters, the festival officials have blocked off a few areas of the Hogrock campground that were not used last year. As pointed out by staff, this makes it slightly difficult to access certain areas that are still open to the public at this time (e.g. the swimming area, which I intended to visit). Good thing the first two stages and the food vendors are in close proximity to each other.
Sooooo, I took a shower and changed before the bands started playing; I intended to wear a shirt that I had forgotten was the wrong size, but ended up in my obscure Sinaya shirt (death/thrash metal from Brazil). The first band, Carpathian Funeral, urged the fans to the stage area before their set while I started my food critiquing; I made a secondary goal to try something from each food vendor. I ordered a dreaded deep-fried Twinkie from the Little Red Food Wagon, along with a burger to make it seem like I cared about a meal.
It was much like a very thick funnel cake with creme filling. Very guilty.
Black metal band Carpathian Funeral delivered a good performance considering the insane heat. The singer even attested to the heat, the adverse effects of stifling heat to person of his size, and how much he loves to perform anyway. As if attesting to the heat as well, the crowd was minimal for the first band, even moreso than I usually see. The set included penty of anti-Christianity banter, reading a Bible verse, and frontman Brian Ritchie ripping said Bible apart. Dude, that move is SO old...but it does still get some attention, I gotta give him that.
The next band, Blood Tribe, was simpler and more core-ish. The band sounded decent, albeit with a keyboard intro before each song that made me wonder why they didn't just hire a keyboardist; that's only a personal quirk, though. Vocalist Gary Doolittle gave the usual frontman banter (thank you for coming, buy our merch, etc), but I suppose that is still more original than ripping up a Bible.
For this one, most of the fans were understandably gathered in the shaded RATdaddy's Hangout with benches and beverages.
Oh, speaking of beverages, I dropped my water jug to take a picture and the fucker completely broke on the bottom. Good thing they were only $.88, I had 4 more.
Compare that to the $1 waters on the festival grounds. Granted, it's better than $8 water bottles in certain other festivals, but this still makes sense of the BYOB concept.
For this one, most of the fans were understandably gathered in the shaded RATdaddy's Hangout with benches and beverages.
Oh, speaking of beverages, I dropped my water jug to take a picture and the fucker completely broke on the bottom. Good thing they were only $.88, I had 4 more.
Compare that to the $1 waters on the festival grounds. Granted, it's better than $8 water bottles in certain other festivals, but this still makes sense of the BYOB concept.
The next band, a sludgy hardcore punk act named Everything Went Black (which seemed to have switched stages and set times with Lucifist), was up. I normally would not complain about walking between the two stages that are close together, but dude, it was hot and I was carrying an umbrella, probably looking stupid in the process (hey, portable shade). I would have caught more of the set hadn't my sunblock started to wear off. I was going to wait longer, but sunburn is not an option, so back to the car I went for sunscreen and another drink; a diet cola can this time.
And now, a DJ, Sleazy B, provides banter before Lucifist's set. Among the rambling, he described the band's party after their show previous to FTA; a lady had apparently smuggled a 40 ounce of King Cobra in her asshole. After that engaging story, the band proceeds with some fast to mid-tempo thrash metal. Very good to my ears, and the audience started to increase, as if to provide testament (not the band) to Lucifist's entertaining music and the vocalist's jokes.
Next was A Threat to the Enemy, whom Carpathian Funeral vocalist thanked for "saving their asses". I expected a band with such a name to sound like technical core-ish death metal...and I was right on the nose. Even though the name and genre are predictable in junction, I happen to like metal like that. Just before ATttE's set, I ordered food item #2: a "man salad" from the Bitesize kiosk. It was the most expensive item at $12 and took a while to make; these guys cook the items to order. I finally got the thing during the set, and took pics before eating. During which, the vocalist informed the crowd that each shirt purchase includes a free tequila shot or beer.
Now I sat to eat the man salad, which surprisingly contains no sausage. This interesting combination of lettuce, radishes, red onions, carrots, cucumbers, parsley, meat, and fries is FRIGGING GOOD! I recommend the man salad to all of the ladies who plan to attend FTA next year. Hey, you don't even need a side of fries with it.
The next band, the trio Nevalra, sounds like blackened death metal, and the lead vocalist's Satan goat shirt reinforced that notion. By now, my phone was struggling to pick up any wireless signal; if you come here, be prepared to only make occasional phone calls. Anywho, at this point, it had become apparent that the bands like to point out where they are from; Nevalra is from Missouri. This trio delivers a good sound and performance, with two vocalists delivering distinct vocals and vocalist jockeying for just the right position to make the wind blow his hair upward. One bizarre thing about the set was the guitar backing tracks. It personally irks me a bit more than the aforementioned keyboard tracks because, in this scenario, they backing tracked an instrument that they use onstage. But I'm kinda critical.
The next band, the trio Nevalra, sounds like blackened death metal, and the lead vocalist's Satan goat shirt reinforced that notion. By now, my phone was struggling to pick up any wireless signal; if you come here, be prepared to only make occasional phone calls. Anywho, at this point, it had become apparent that the bands like to point out where they are from; Nevalra is from Missouri. This trio delivers a good sound and performance, with two vocalists delivering distinct vocals and vocalist jockeying for just the right position to make the wind blow his hair upward. One bizarre thing about the set was the guitar backing tracks. It personally irks me a bit more than the aforementioned keyboard tracks because, in this scenario, they backing tracked an instrument that they use onstage. But I'm kinda critical.
Next was grind band Sexual Atrocities. This band uses bizarre masks and costumes, and the vocalist sings into two microphones with different effects, sometimes simultaneously, and enjoys burping between songs (how original...). During the set, the band threw two inflated boob balls at the crowd to pass around and commandeered a volunteer from the audience to drink from a boob-shaped beer bong, all the while a person dressed in a PBR costume started moshpits. Hey, it's a festival. Gotta have at least one band who goes all the way, right?
Next, Kilbury Unit. Another band in masks? Why not? To start, more backing tracks; however, I'm not sure which instruments were used, so it's all good. The vocalist sounds great and the band takes the apparent technical issues like champs. I also started smelling bud at this point; nothing can stop the most dedicated smokers. Finally, vocalist ends the set with a few politically incorrect jokes.
The next band, Airacobra, sounds like heavy metal with some growls, or blackened heavy metal. While the other bands either played music and moved onstage enough not to be boring, or went over the top with costumes and gimmicks, Airacobra consists of performers who play bitchin music while performing for the sake of performance. This is especially true for lead vocalist Vhommit; he killed it on the stage with vigorous headbanging and old-school "stage moves" such as swinging the mic stand around, even more energetic in movement than Kilbury Unit vocalist. His vocals range from screams right in between raspy and guttural, and clean vocals that reminisce Airbourne at a medium tenor range. Of course, his bandmates give it to the crowd with energetic performance and nice backing vocals. So far, if you asked me which band I would like to see immediately after the festival, in a venue of any size, Airacobra would be my first answer, followed closely by Lucifist.
During this set, I found some fans who had their own way of working around the festival's ban on glass bottles and containers. Wine titty, anyone? The trio offered a sip to several people, including me; I felt bad turning it down, but I fucking hate wine.
Also during this set, who should I run into but Airacobra vocalist Vhommit swigging from a bottle of Jack Daniels (of COURSE the singer is done loading out first). He enjoyed the attention that he was getting, so I just had to bug him for a picture.
Next up, hardcore/grind band Strong Intention from Maryland. Sadly, I used part of this band's set time to record my observations on Airacoba, because I couldn't look away during their set. This band does a good job, musically and onstage.
Also during this set, who should I run into but Airacobra vocalist Vhommit swigging from a bottle of Jack Daniels (of COURSE the singer is done loading out first). He enjoyed the attention that he was getting, so I just had to bug him for a picture.
Next up, hardcore/grind band Strong Intention from Maryland. Sadly, I used part of this band's set time to record my observations on Airacoba, because I couldn't look away during their set. This band does a good job, musically and onstage.
The next band was Interment, who must be so fond of their home state, Texas, that even the day's schedule includes a note of where they are from. This is definitely a band to see live just for their music; the trio plays death metal that is more reminiscent of Bolt Thrower than anything newer like Cannibal Corpse, while singer/bassist delivers vocals reminiscent of Chris Barnes in his early days. Beyond that, the strobe light was rather distracting to me; not to mention, here is the umpteenth band today to proclaim their hatred of Christianity and the church. Don't invite Dave Mustaine.
Organ Dealer was up next. This grind outfit keeps things short, simple, and fast, the same way that grind musicians fuck (or so I hear). All joking aside, these guys are an obvious crowd pleaser.
Also, some fans climbed up into these cages during the last few bands on the National Rock Review Stage. I guess that these are used by fans and/or dancers during Hogrocktoberfest. In this instance, a few fans are just chillaxing in the cages for a better view. Maybe I should try that tomorrow.
Also, some fans climbed up into these cages during the last few bands on the National Rock Review Stage. I guess that these are used by fans and/or dancers during Hogrocktoberfest. In this instance, a few fans are just chillaxing in the cages for a better view. Maybe I should try that tomorrow.
As we waited for headliner Waco Jesus (on the stage opposite to what was announced), the DJ fellow who has introduced most of the bands told the audience about the band's original drummer, Nick Null, who had passed away years ago, and his twin brother who had passed away recently; this announcement was followed by a "moment of noise", which the crowd enthusiastically gave. And now, Waco Jesus takes the stage; this is definitely a band that people flock to see for their underground reputation and edginess. The music itself is an entertaining brand of grindcore and the band members are not too boring. The set consisted of a bunch of newer songs, but interestingly, vocalist Shane Bottens introduced "Respect the Fist, Bitch", a track from the obviously misogynistic "Receptive When Beaten", as "four words you say before you knock someone out", as if trying to be politically correct. Like the concertgoers won't know what it really means? Like these fans would care?
