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
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