It was the best of times, period. There was no "worst of times", even when someone accidentally dumps Cheeze-Its on my laptop as I'm typing this. Roadtrips are always an experience, especially when metalheads take command of a starship (or Slepnir, our nickname for our rented GMC Yukon XL tank of a SUV) and head off to Virginia.
Slepnir
Okay, so we'll flash back to about 4 months earlier to start this story. After a particularly long day of work, I was at a bus stop when I got 2 texts about 2 minutes apart from friends Nikki and Andrew. Both of them told me that Kalmah was coming to Canada in March. Andrew said that he'd roadtrip it (he's done this before for a Moonsorrow show in Canada). Being 4 months away, I figured there would be plenty of time to plan a vacation around this. So I notified the usual suspects and waited.
Within that time Rotting Christ and Melechesh announced a tour together with Hate, Abagail Williams, and a few other bands. Of course, the day they come to the area is the exact dame day as the Kalmah show! After taking a vote, we decided 150+ miles to the trip could work and decided to head to the March 9th show in Springfield, VA. 2 shows, 622 miles apart. No problem!
Including Dave, who traveled all the way down from Indiana to travel with our little group, we had 9 people. Friends from Northern NJ and NYC, Cindy and Sean, were out for Rotting Christ, but decided to join us the day after.
The night before we gathered at my place for a pre-party. With Andrew in Philly for the first time since NYE 2008 (besides for shows), we just HAD to get a shot of us windmill headbanging to Keep of Kalessian's "Come Damnation" just like 2008. Early morning, we woke up to gab our GMC Yukon from the car rental place, then made our way back to pick everybody up. With the GPS in tow, we had directions straight to Jaxx in Virginia.
Moonsorrow's new album got us going towards Maryland's countryside, and then into Virginia. For some reason, the exit off I-95 leads to a place called Port Royal (Running Wild!!). Anyway, we got to Jaxx event free, except when Andrew ut the car into forward and we hit a parking median. At 5 MPH, here wasn't any damage to report.
The show was fairly empty, though the crowd picked up for Abagail Williams. Melechesh was absolutely amazing. Rotting Christ put on another ferocious show, though there were a few omissions from the set list that were a tad disappointing. Overall, though, an amazing show.
Another quick ride later, we were at a Denny's in somewhere, Virginia, freaking out the locals talking about a band called Rotting Christ and showing up with an army of 7 decked out in leather and metal shirts. Aside from that we were Hell-bent on getting to North Jersey by 7 AM, so we could be on the road to Canada early. We wound up getting there at 5, and tried to catch a nap as we were waiting for Sean to get to Cindy's house. Turns out the Lincoln Tunnel from New York isn't fun to travel through at 7 AM, delaying Sean, who was on the wrong bus. We had to wander around Lodi, NJ (home of the Misfits!) to find him at a gas station. We found him eventually, and it turns out we were on the right road anyway towards New York state as well as the New York Thruway.
This was more or less our soundtrack to our roadtrip last week. I'll have a review up in a few days hopefully.
In no order:
Amon Amarth - Vs. The World
Allfader - Black Blood Flux
all Kalmah albums (we were seeing them after all)
Arkona - Goi, Rode, Goi!!
Moonsorrow - Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
The Project Hate MCMXCIX - Armageddon March Eternal (Symphonies of Slit Wrists)
Dark Seed - Diving into Darkness
Moonspell - Irreligious
Paradise Lost - Faith Divides Us - Death Unites Us
Nuclear Assault - The Plague
Edge of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow
Eternal Tears of Sorrow - Chaotic Beauty
Lord Belial - Revelation - The 7th Seal
Will be edited as I remember more of what we listened to.
First off, I'm not going to use this blog entry to bash your musical tastes. If you happen to actually like those bands, all power to you. Besides, not everyone was born listening to awesomely good underground metal; you had to have progressed there.
Now then...
Metal is not really a topic of conversation either on my job or outside of the circle of friends I have that actually listen to it. Though I will under no circumstances try to cover up what I actually listen to, as metal is a huge part of my life and has been for years (ask anyone into the scene, they'll probably say the same thing).
The thing with being into such an underground form of music is that you have a few bands that everyone has heard of that they instantly lump you into the category of listening to. Mention that you listen to metal and the first question you usually get is "Oh, like [insert popular band here] ?" The top 3 are always Disturbed, Slipknot, or Metallica. Once in a while you will get someone older mention either Motley Crue or Guns and Roses. Same difference.
There was a popular culture perception of the metalhead in the late 80s (just watch any popular movie for that stereotype). There is one now, though the weird "OMG you listen to metal?" looks you get slow down in frequency quite a bit as you get older.
There are 3 good ways to respond to this.
Co-Worker: "So what music do you listen to?"
You: "Mostly metal."
Co-worker: "So you like music like Disturbed and Slipknot?"
- Response #1: "Fuck No!!" PROS: Straight to the point. Very clear way of showing your position on bands like that. CONS: You may be the "weird" person at the office or wherever. Plus, cursing at co-workers to make a statement against false metal may win you metal points and a beer at a Manowar show, but it's the fast track for getting fired or demoted.
Response #2: "Yea, bands like that" PROS: Avoids argument. Shifts the conversation to something else. May be the approachable guy/girl in the office. CONS:: You're a filthy liar. Poser. Leave the Hall now!!!!
Response #3: "Not really those bands. I'm more into the less popular stuff, more obscure bands." PROS: You just continued the conversation further. CONS: You just continued the conversation further.
Response #3 usually works for me. People look at me weird still, but at least they know my thought process and there's a good chance I'm not all that crazy, and I probably won't shoot up the place depending on how well adjusted I am.
With that said, this concludes this PSA on how to talk to your co-workers about metal. As usual, if you encounter a crazed, religious-filled response to any of this, just smile, say "See you in Hell, my friend!" and continue on with your day.
I posted this one long time ago, but I am now editing it for the use of this blog. Warning: Picture intensive.
First, a toast (and picture #1):
To drinking at 3 in the afternoon and going down memory lane.
Now then, a few things triggered this blog entry, the very first and foremost being that Jay (IcedGuardian) found all his previously lost Heathen Crusade photos and videos and has since uploaded them to Myspace. If you want to see 9 pages of visual documentation, go to his Myspace and check it all out. The second thing that motivated this little typing exercise was the fact that Heathen Crusade is no longer with us with part 3 being the last one. And the third thing motivating me was the fact that I never actually wrote an extensive blog about the festival. It's impossible to review a lot of it cause of lack of memory after 3 years, but for some odd reason I still to this day remember the set-lists of Moonsorrow and Thyrfing, and still have the mental image of Primordial playing the Coffin Ships for the first time in America and Nemtheanga getting a little teary-eyed as he belted out the lyrics. I remember my neck absolutely hurting after The Chasm, my voice half gone after November's Doom.
I LOVED HC 2 and 3 and had an absolute blast at those, but my favorite had to be the first festival in January 2006. When I first started hanging out with Matt back in like 2005 this festival was slowly being announced. For years I always talked about traveling to a metal fest, namely Wacken, but was working at a pizza place and barely netted $250 for a week. So it was always out of the question. However, after a night of many beers (or a string of nights at the Dodger), we actually figured out that we could do this festival. I think I was more shocked then anything that Matt was actually serious about it and not just saying "dude, let's go to this" and balking when it came time to fork over the cash. Moonsorrow and Thyrfing were among my favorite bands at the time as well, so it was a no brainer.
Matt hit the travel arrangements, I paid for my share of the plane ticket, ordered the concert tickets, and took the days off from work. Then the hard part came...waiting till January to fly out.
The night before we flew out of Philly, we all took a trip to NYC to see Sonata Arctica play. We didn't get into Philly again till 4 am, then headed to the airport at 5. After an easy plane ride (it was my first time in a plane), we arrived in Minnesota not knowing at all what to expect. We met up with Maddie (who flew in from LA) and Jay (who took a shuttle bus from Mankato, MN) at the airport and grabbed a taxi. Ironically the first face we saw at the hotel was the festival organizer, John. He welcomed us, we got settled in, and took a nice walk to Burger King afterwards.
Original Blog Post from 2006: "I'm in Minnesota!!
My
flight got into Minnesota around 10:30 AM for Heathen Metalfest. I'm
using this little computer in the hotel to update for now, probably
check this every day or so to see if any of you sent me anything :P
Thyrfing just arrived and hopefully (or is that unhopefully) we wind
up with a room near theirs to add to the party. Speaking of, liquor
stores are hard to come by here :( Unless you have a car, which the
closest one of us has in New Jersey right now, 1,000 miles away.
Going to Heathen? Look for black leather jackets :P"
We met up with the first of many party mates, Garen and Shannon on the way to Burger King. Took us forever, but after a few hours, we finally tracked down a liquor store and carried it all the way back to the hotel (nobody rented a car and it was at least a mile walk).
All of us walking back to the hotel with alcohol in hand.
We stole a bellhop cart from the hotel and wheeled it up to our room:
Naturally, wheeling $150 worth of alcohol through a hotel is bound to attract some attention, and we definitely did just that by running into the members of Thyrfing. Invited them for a few beers, they accepted.
We finally quit after like 4 am. Ironically the hotel only had to call us once all night to keep it down, and that was due to a drunken Manowar singalong. The damage: half a liter of vodka and like 5 beers was all that was left of $150 worth of alcohol. Jagermeister, Captain Morgan's, and Odin knows what else was completely eradicated of it's existence.
The morning after was a hangover and a half. Somehow, I managed to answer the phone at 9 am to a gift of more beer, brought over by a hungover Crusader that couldn't even look at it without getting a bit nauseous. I also felt a sense of accomplishment in the fact that I pounded about 13 beers, a record for me at the time (since broken). Matt was almost dead to the world after consuming about half a bottle of Jagermeister, the rest being punished by Garen and Thyrfing's bass player Kimmy, who didn't really stop drinking until the day of the fest.
The second day we all wound up splitting up, with a trip to the Mall of America for some, and me wandering around the small suburb of Roseland, MN finding a small shopping mall and eventually a Best Buy. The weird looks I got from traffic reminded me that in these parts those folks don't take too kindly to that Devil music, nosireebob. (At the fest ironically they thought there was a biker convention at the supermarket). When we got back the 2nd party was already being prepared. After another long haul to the liquor store to restock, we got underway. Moonsorrow had already arrived and Primordial was on their way. This was also when we realized that the Heathen Crusade festival had booked the entire 3rd floor of this hotel so anyone that wanted to drink only had to wander into the hallway to find like-minded metalheads with beers wide open. Me, Jay, and the members of Primordial grabbed the shuttle to the venue to see a pre show organized by a few local bands. The bands pretty much sucked, but it was an excuse to drink a few pints at the bar attached to the venue.
The party was basically moved to the other room we had cause one of our Finnish friends decided to answer the phone "Hail Satan" when hotel security was calling about the noise. We grabbed the party and went post haste to the other corner of the hotel.
Picture time:
We didn't actually pass out that night. We were partying till 6 am with Nemtheanga from Primordial and Kimmy from Thyrfing, much to the horror of the 2nd floor who all wanted to be moved away from the noise.
The day of the fest we woke up and gathered in the lobby.
This was the original 2006 Blog Post from the 2nd Night:
"Trashed, Lost, and Strung Out
2nd day of Heathen Metalfest. Hungover as fuck. 2 days of drinking with Europeans, my liver is rebelling against me!
We trashed the 2nd room in a row, drank till 6 am, had band members
pass the fuck out in our room and the hallway, and I have a hangover
that even Tylenol won't cure :P
Okay, going to the shuttle. Okay bye!"
The venue (which is no longer there) was smack in the middle of a strip mall, with a Mexican grocery store across the street and Chinese buffet next door. It made an awesome side trip while the bands were playing. Missed like half of Typhus because we decided to get some vital carbohydrates to sustain our headbanging energy. November's Doom was awesome, The Chasm was pretty brutal, with a few people traveling from Mexico to see them and showing Minnesota what a circle pit was. The blood shower from Thyrfing stained my arms red for the rest of the fest, Primordial was amazing, and Moonsorrow were absolutely insane.
3rd night of partying, the "official" after party in the venue was cut short because everyone just wanted to come back to the hotel to get wrecked. We crashed Primordial's room, then wound up annoying hotel security to the point where they called the cops, who were horrified to see pieces of shredded bible in the hallways. We had the quiet room at the time, so nobody knocked on our door.
However, here was our aftermath (and NO, I have no fucking clue what I was saying at the end of this video cause I was going on 48 hours awake and wickedly destroyed on alcohol:
We packed up, said or farewellsto our new friends (Hail to thee, Amy Maddie, and Amy!) and headed to the airport...barely cause Matt was so wasted.
I passed right out and slept for a whole day when I got back.
And this was the original blog I posted when I got home:
"I just got in yesterday from Heathen Metalfest in Minnesota. I'm still recovering right now from 72 hours of drinking :P
The bands and fans were all staying at the hotel on the 3rd floor, and
the night of the fest we had both the cops come and hotel security
complain there was like 3-4 noise complaints from every room we moved
the party to
:P
The
fest itself was awesome. Thyrfing, Primordial, and Moonsorrow headlined
and all got an hour a piece, completely rocking the place. November's
Doom and the Chasm were the middle bands, and the show was opened by a
few smaller acts like Todesbonden, Typhus, Dumas, Enshrined, and Autumn
Eternal, and the night before featured a local act show with Cold
Colours, Risingfall, and Epicurian. Really was a worthwhile experience,
and not as cold to boot (the weather stuck to being around 30 the whole
time).
Met a TON of cool people down there, and have a few pictures to upload of the weekend."
The ironic part is it was my friend Talia's birthday when we got back, so a 4th night of drinking was about to happen in Philly. We had built such a tolerance from the fest that my friend, who lives in Finland and can out-drink most guys, was taken to the hospital with alcohol poisoning while me and Matt were perfectly fine the next day. This insane ability to be immune to alcohol would continue until my tolerance dropped a bit due to like a month of not drinking just so I could recover.
Heathen Crusade would be repeated again in 2007 and 2008, cementing it as one of the absolute best festivals to go to in North America. We're hoping beyond hope there's a 4th one to have more adventures at.
I did want to do a blog for quite a while, but never got around to it until now. My name's Joe and I am a admitted metalhead. I've been listening to metal music since 1992, and I've traveled the world to witness good music and good bands.
My favorite genres are thrash metal, old death metal, black metal, folk/viking metal, and power metal, although I listen to just about everything.
Now, I did used to run a website dedicated to reviewing albums and overall covering the metal scene.but this blog's going to be a bit different. I've had any many stories over the years of various metal adventures we've been on that provide a wealth of good drunken stories to tell. Maybe Ill throw in a recommendation here and there.
Really, I have no schedule to update this, and I'm not trying to educate anyone. Hey, if I wasted your time long enough at work to get through it, I've done my job! Enjoy it, ignore it if you don't like it, whatever. Hails \m/
