First off and most importantly, we've managed to stay quite busy ever since Dave joined the ranks, accumulating a lot of cool shows and stage time under our belts as well as setting the wheels in motion for the long-awaited recording process. Not that I'm making excuses for not posting anything on here, but I assume that anyone who's been following us on our other social media outlets has been relatively kept up to date with our shenanigans. Where to begin? I'll summarize the best I can the shows we played and other occurrences that weren't covered in previous posts.
After my 30th birthday bash, we played at Strummer's for their one-year anniversary party on July 13, 2014. I have no clue what it was, but the planets were definitely aligned for us that night, and I felt that it was probably one of our better performances and crowd responses ever. In spite of all the odds against us (an all-day mixed genre show on a Sunday night in the Tower, with us being perhaps the only really heavy let alone death metal band on the bill), it turned out to be a really solid show with a packed house. I couldn't believe my own eyes!
August 21, 2014: our maiden performance at the famed Workshop in Ceres, CA, and our first out-of-towner with Dave. It was for Ismael's birthday, and the venue was exactly the way I imagined it: like playing in an auto shop. It's as DIY as it gets, and I'm glad that our pal Brian Mohler (ex-Artery Eruption and Devouring Humanity) knew Ismael from way back, so I was able to name drop and be in good graces with the people in charge (don't you worry, a future show with Amenthes and Aborticide will happen soon enough ;-) ). Since Alfred had school that night, we drove up in two vehicles: Dave and I in his truck, and the others with Alfred. Dismembered Carnage opened up the night nice and brutal, Autopsy style. Our homeboys Incisus took the stage next and metlted our faces off (they were also nice enough to let us use their guitar cabs, and I returned the favor by spotting Codie my amp at the last minute when his wasn't working). Accidentally Murdered up next, straight up killed everybody there. In my opinion, they stole the show! They were definitely a tough act to follow, but we did our thing. Luckily, we didn't make everyone run in horror, so we did our job lol (note to self: play with the drums on the floor, it'll make it easier for everyone to hear each other and stay in time). This was also the weekend where Cemetery Rapist was supposed to do a mini West Coast tour, and this show his first stop, but more on that in a second. The fun didn't end there, though. On the way back, Dave and I felt the truck was driving weird, so we pulled over at a 76 station right outside of Ceres to look at the tires, and sure enough the treads on the front passenger side were coming out. Great... It gets better: the store had just closed, and Dave didn't have a tire iron or jack in his truck. We had to call the other guys to turn around and come help us, and after nearly an hour of scrounging around for stuff to use in conjunction with Alfred's tire iron and jack and struggling to get the wheel off, we finally did it. We decided to reward our small victory a few miles up the road at the Denny's in Turlock. It was a long night!
August 24, 2014: we set up a show for Cemetery Rapist at Infoshop as a stop on his mini tour, but he ended up cancelling his tour due to prior commitments, so we opted to go on with the show for Pete's birthday. The lineup included Ent, Moral Sacrifice (their last gig, and with Nick Elliott filling in on vocals), Evisceration, and yours truly. It was a Sunday, and we didn't have too big a turn out, but we all still had a blast enjoying each other's company. In a way, it felt like a giant open practice with close friends.
August 31, 2014: we're back at it again, this time at CYC, opening for Full of Hell and Noisem along with Keeper (their first show), Field (their first as a two-piece), and Maggot Colony. There was already a weird vibe in the air with everything going on leading up to the show. Buddah got pulled over literally around the corner from the venue and his truck impounded for expired tags (ouch!), and to make matters worse there was a creepy guy strung out on something that was weirding out our homegirls Audri and Vanessa (Alfred's girlfriend). He even tried to come up to all of us huddled together and call us a bunch of Satan worshipers... Oh, the characters you meet in downtown Fresno lol. Anyways, we did our set the way we always do, trying our best to maintain composure in spite of the downer moments that transpired earlier. All that aside, we made the best we could out of the situation and still enjoyed ourselves, not to mention rubbed elbows and made connections with Full of Hell and Noisem (way to go Pete for smoking them out! lol).
September 6, 2014: the fourth show within a span of three weeks, this was September to Dismember part 4, hosted by Kris Devold at Fulton 55. We played alongside Inside the Sun, Cursed, Blind Disciple (their last show, with current Gristle vocalist Abraham filling in for Jake last minute on a couple songs), Spirit Descending, then us. We did our thing and gave it our all, even though there was an unspoken vibe we were all feeling that we needed to either take a small break from shows or do something to switch things up.
After that show, we put our foot down and began recording what we initially planned as our EP. In the meantime, we end up doing two more shows for the remainder of the year: November 14, 2014 at the Guzmán Residence (the site of our second show ever... the backstory for another occassion) for Vince's birthday bash with his bands Fatal Rebirth, Mystism (from the ashes of Moral Sacrifice), and us closing the set. It was a house show, but we had a great time and made a lot of friends there, not to mention got fed really good by Vince's parents.
We go back into show mode on December 1, 2014 at Infoshop, opening for Plague Widow and Leucrota alongside Wallflower and Fiend. It was really poppin' for a Monday night, and we had a killer set and time with everyone there.
Fast forward to January 13, 2015, after the holidays are over with. We're back at Strummer's, and this time we're opening for Incantation and John McEntee's wife's band Funerus (not to toot my own horn, but I feel like I had a minor part in making that happen, as I had hit up Numbskull and mentioned the idea of booking them, since they were going to be passing through). There was a minor confusion as to who exactly was opening the show, and it ended up being Cursed, much to their chagrin. Added to that, the sound person for Incantation took forever to get everything dialed in, which caused domino effect of people running late. Notwithstanding, we blazed through our set and tried to keep the energy high. Another awesome night for the books!
Following that, we were suddenly faced with setting up a last-minute show for Bay Area doom metallers Castle at Audie's on January 21st. Luckily, we got Beastmaker (they were a killer choice, if I must say so!) to open the show, and we agreed to play as well despite being the odd man out soundwise. For all intents and purposes, it was pretty dead that night (surprise for a Wednesday night in Fresno). All that aside, what made my night was chatting it up with Mat, who it turns out is from the same region of Canada as one of my favorite bands, The Tea Party. If that wasn't enough, he actually knows the dudes and has jammed with them all back in the day. What are the odds of that?!?
One week later on the 28th, we're back at Audie's, and this time it's a combined metal and burlesque showcase featuring Gale Force, Jeslen Michelle, Mystism, and us. Surprisingly, the venue was packed! They might not all have been there for us specifically, but we made sure to get rowdy for the new crowd. A killer time was had by all, and we minus Alfred ended the night at Denny's. Luckily this time, we didn't have to change any tires in the dead of night out in the middle of nowhere lol.
After a small break in the action, we reconvene and hit the studio again, deciding to record a couple more songs and shoot for a full-length instead of an EP.
March 12th, we're back at Strummer's, although in a much different setting: playing a free show on the bar/restaurant side opening for Inanimate Existence and WRVTH. We had no idea how to set up in that corner, but after the first two songs, we managed to work out the bugs and finish the rest of the set on a high note. We were also fortunate to have a few homies we hadn't seen in a while in attendance that night, and received some positive feedback.
On the horizon, we have a couple of shows lined up: April 19th at Infoshop with Cease, Evisceration, Obastra, Devilkin Assailant, and Silent Uprising for Fresno Death Fest, followed by April 25 for Metal In The Park VII in Visalia (our first one, and I'll also be pulling double duty with Azazel!)
I promise I'll try to do better at keeping up with this bloody thing.
Until next time,
-Pierce
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