Gearing up for Soulfly at Strummer's

In some ways, it seems like this week has been dragging on; in others, I feel like I haven't had a moment to catch my breath. I suppose the emotions are a mix of excitement and nervousness, a lot like the countdown for any show, no matter the venue or lineup.

If you ask Buddah, the guys from Azazel or myself how significant this show is for us, prepare to get your ears talked off! To simply say that the work Max Cavalera did with Sepultura was very influential on thrash and death metal would be a gross understatement. That era of Sepultura is easily up there in our top 5 bands and greatest influences as musicians.

I still remember hearing my older brothers listen to and seeing the album covers for Chaos A.D. and Arise when I was around ten years old, although it wasn't until I was seventeen/eighteen that my curiosity really drove me to see what they were all about. At the time, I was taking guitar lessons and was really all about Randy Rhoads, and I remember reading an interview with Andreas Kisser in Guitar World saying how his favorite albums are Master of Puppets and Diary of a Madman. I figured, if he's a fan of Randy, he's probably pretty good. If I recall correctly, it was a school night, and I was killing some time before I had to go to bed and took a look at the Arise CD. It looked horrific, surreal, and dangerous, and even in their band pictures inside the sleeve they looked like a legitimately rough bunch of dudes that would smash your face in if you so much as looked at them weird. Even reading prior to that that they're from Brazil, and all came up from poverty. These guys didn't need to pretend to be hard, they were the real deal. That alone was enough to draw me in, since it was the very antithesis of the then current trend of nü metal, which I personally never got into. Once the music started playing, the thunderous sound byte making ominous sounds like the very mouth of Hell was opening wide to devour you and everything in it's path. Then suddenly, out from the speakers bursts Arise, kicking ass and taking names in such a dark and nihilistic way... Sold! From there I started checking out the other albums, championing the span of Beneath The Remains to Chaos A.D. Although I was bummed to find out Max had quit the band and formed Soulfly, my inner metalhead was definitely more than satiated with my discovery of Sepultura when it seemed like the goings-on in Metallica, Megadeth and Pantera at the time were anything but great.

Fast forward twelve years, I almost couldn't believe it when Buddah told me that Soulfly was coming to Fresno, and to Strummer's of all places, as they had come a year ago to the Rainbow Ballroom with Five Finger Death Punch. I'm still pinching myself over the fact that I get to open for them with both of my bands (I hope I have enough energy to do double duty)! It's a trip and a half to be kicking off 2014 opening for big national bands, and there is nothing about it I would change. Even if I wasn't playing, just to see the show itself would've been awesome! 

Two days left, and I still have more preparations to go as far as promo materials and practice with Azazel. Stay tuned, Amentheans!

On behalf of AMENTHES,

Pierce

All Four One Purpose!

After much anticipation on our part, we finally descended upon Visalia with one purpose: evangelize it's denizens with the everlasting gospel of hatred and vitriol... Ok, so that, and overcoming the obstacles that threaten to derail us on the night of the show.

We made it to the venue without too much trouble (Pete, following behind Travis and I, missed the turn off and almost got lost, haha) and had plenty of time to load in and soundcheck. At this point, I'm enamored with the stage setup, as I had never played at a venue like that one previously. The stage was fairly large and clean (pretty much the antithesis of dive bars), kudos to Cafe 210 for running a tight ship with that!

In the midst of everyone setting up, Pete tells me that he forgot one of his cymbal stands, most likely that it accidentally got left outside at Gristle HQ. So he does a last minute cymbal repositioning to compensate for his lack of a ride cymbal. Micah and Alex of Catharsus were also kind enough to let me use their guitar cabs for the show, since there was limited space in Travis's car for both his and my gear, so I had a lot of fun getting to play in stereo, haha.

We're all set up and ready to go. The lights dim, Buddah greets the crowd, and Pete kicks off our intro with the toms. While I allow my guitar to feed back for a couple bars to buy us all a couple extra moments to get pumped up, we all quickly glance at each other, realizing that we're each as nervous as the next guy. It is in that very moment, inside the lion's den, that we muster up our courage and might and join Pete in our instrumental intro, marching into war.

With the intro concluded, we kick things into high gear the best way we know how: Destroyer of the Icon. We follow it up with Dead Lights, following which Pete's double kick pedal broke on him. Luckily, Jeremy from Catharsus saved the day and spotted him his double kick for the rest of our set. With the technical difficulties ironed out, we continued on with Codex Gigas. At this point in the set, I can tell Buddah's trying his hardest not to swear in between songs, and we all knew it was going to be interesting to see how he would announce the next song, Barbed Wire Fist Fuck. We continued on with Unrealistic Moments, and finally concluded our set with World Unknown. We made it through the set alive and in one piece, and we had a killer time and response from the crowd!

We clear out and make way for Catharsus. They take the stage and rip it up like always! Unfortunately, they had to stop in the middle of a song when someone in the audience started having a seizure. A scary situation to be in at any show, let alone the one you're playing. Once the paramedics arrived and the situation calmed down a little bit, Catharsus resumed the rest of their set and killed it!

Next up was the night's headliner, Fallujah. It was surreal getting to share the stage with them after recently seeing them at Strummer's a couple months back on tour with Skeletonwitch and Black Dahlia Murder. They were just as amazing this time as the last time I saw them. An experience like this is something I never would've imagined in a million years, let alone getting to open for Soulfly nearly a week later!

In conclusion, we had a great time out in Visalia and made a lot of friends, and even ran into a couple of Travis' old friends at the after party. In spite of being completely out of our element with the setbacks of malfunctioning gear and being one guitarist short on top of the completely new venue and town for us, the four of us really came together and made it work, and we proved to ourselves that we are indeed capable of carrying on if needs be as the four horsemen to bring about the apocalypse at a venue near you! Much love and cheers to our buddies in Catharsus for going above and beyond the call of duty, we can't thank them enough for all the help they gave us; and hails to all the Amentheans new and old that came out to support. We hope to see you all soon!

On that same note, we will be opening for Soulfly at Strummer's on Sunday the 26th with HateFX and Azazel. This show is one you should definitely not miss!!!

On behalf of AMENTHES,

Pierce

Welcome!

Welcome, Amentheans, to our official (for the time being) website, and one-stop shopping place for all things AMENTHES!

The timing for this couldn't have been better as to coincide with our show tonight at Cafe 210 in Visalia with Catharsus and S.F. Bay Area heavyweights Fallujah. Tonight is a special night for several reasons: one, it's our first show in 2014, and I couldn't think of a better way or lineup to do it with. It's almost a surreal feeling being asked to open for Fallujah, as they had just played here in Fresno a couple months back with Skeletonwitch and Black Dahlia Murder. I will admit that prior to seeing them, I wasn't familiar with their music, but I'm glad that I did. When Alex Perez from Catharsus contacted us to play this show, how could we say no? This is AMENTHES' first time opening for a national touring band, and the best part about it is that it's not a pay to play show where we would've had to fork over a king's ransom just to play; we were simply asked to based on our merits as a band and most importantly as people. Hails to Catharsus!

Second: it's obviously our first (and hopefully of many!) time playing in Visalia, as well as Cafe 210. My understanding is that the venue is run by a Presbyterian church, but all around everything about it is a new experience for us. I just hope they're cool with death metal and the subject matter we sing about, haha.

Third: touching back to what was said previously about it being the first show of 2014, it is also the first show without Alex Belmontez, effectively making us a four-piece band for now. It's bittersweet in the sense that we were asked to play this show literally the morning after Alex notified us that he was choosing to resign from the band last month. The thought was daunting, but after we all finally reconvened to rehearse the songs, and we made it work. While we prepare our prospective new second guitarist and fifth member, the four horsemen will be riding into Visalia to bring about the apocalypse and raise the brutality to another fuckin' level!

So there you have it for the first post from our official blog and website. Stay tuned for more!

On behalf of AMENTHES,

Pierce