LINKS:

myspace.com/mastodon

myspace.com/kylesa

myspace.com/intronaut

I am not rich by any means, and though prone to spontaneity and reckless risk taking decisions at times in my life, I knew without a doubt that if this show was happening on my birthday, I needed to be there. Sit around feeling sorry for myself like a big fat loser or go on a super metal mission to the Big Easy? Door number two, please! I left it up to the Metal Gods to decide for me. I was listed for the NYC show but quickly wrote Laura Pleasants from Kylesa and asked if we could switch it to NOLA, explaining my mad intentions. If she wrote back while I was still hanging out with the girls, I had to do it, YES MAN style. Well, apparently it was meant to be, because I heard back from her shortly and she was able to make the switch! Thanks Laura! The first time I had seen Kylesa was in Albany, NY and I'd broken my foot at the show, plus their set was cut short due to equipment malfunction, so I was amped that this time I would get the full experience. It turned out to be perhaps the most metal night of my life.

I didn't eat for like two weeks so I could afford my plane ticket on short notice and still pay bills, and somehow April 10th found myself flying out of Albany. It was great when I finally flew in over New Orleans and saw water as far as the eye could see intersected by the lone highway span. It was seventy degrees on touchdown and I was greeted by my girls' blasting some Ronnie James Dio "Rainbow In The Dark”. Jesus, we almost ended up getting Rainbow in the Dark tattoos on this trip, understand!? Damn, I really wish I had! It was gonna be a black banner on my wrist inter-cut by a diagonal rainbow and I didn't care if people thought it meant Gay Pride. So, to answer your question, yes, I was already drinking gin and tonics before touchdown (and continued to until lift off five days later). It was great to be back to NOLA for the first time in eight years, roll around the ghetto smoking joints and enjoying tasty food all over town. Seeing the ninth ward was very upsetting. This is such a cultural center for us and Detroit is pride. We need to fix up New Orleans and Detroit and try and help the residents to restore our national character. Detroit's auto industry could be revived via electric cars!

Anyhow, the night after my arrival was my birthday and Marissa and I made it to the venue easily. Intronaut were just getting started and I was revved up as hell, having seen a flyer for St. Vitus on a dingy wall earlier in the day. House Of Blues has a much earlier curfew than One Eyed Jacks on Toulouse Street, where St. Vitus was doing their Stateside reunion show, so I figured we could probably hit both shows in one night! What a fuckin' unbelievable thing! I had interviewed Wino of St. Vitus for this very publication regarding his killer new Southern Lord release Punctuated Equilibrium (rip Jon Blank, by the way). He'd told me about the Vitus reunion but as I'd seen it was far off and nowhere near me at the time, I'd put it from my mind. Well, one of my friends was getting kissy with her new BF in New Orleans and behind them I saw the flyer on the wall and was like, “Move over! Stop it!” My excitement was unbelievable as I realized the show was the same night as Mastodon but that I could probably hit both!

Intronaut from Los Angeles,California are sludge sluggers who have been critically acclaimed but are just starting to break into wider notoriety with their recent Prehistoricisms album on Century Media. The band fired up the House Of Blues crowd on this warm April night, especially via the relentless bass lines of Joe Lester, which sounded like a stampede of Elephants through the great, corporate sound system of the surprisingly smaller-than-I-had-anticipated venue. Intronaut are shaping up to make a real dent in the metal scene and are already heralded for what they've accomplished to date. With time, who knows what this band could achieve. They are a bit more cerebral in a less brutish way than the other bands on the bill, but not so much that you can't get lost in the rock while you enjoy the time changes and colorful array of hallucinatory and violent sounds.

Kylesa are from Georgia, like Mastodon, and churn all the heat and heaviness of the air of that state into their crust-metal-stoner-punk-psychedelic formulas. The band's two drummer attack has become very precise and dialed in, sounding absolutely pulverizing and huge in the venue, like King Kong was about to arrive. I was staring at them in disbelief, since it was such a better sound system than the one in Albany. They were sludgy as fuck but still epic and distinct. "Running Red" had me trying to play air guitar with two drinks in my hands (two gin and tonics for $11 sure beats NYC prices!). The song is gigantic and the room filled with cheers upon its battering completion. Other highlights of the set, which drew well from every Kylesa record, included "Where The Horizon Unfolds" and a rabid version of "Bottom Line", my favorite, punkier song from To Walk A Middle Course. Thick as a Fudge Tunnel fight with Nausea, they quickly hammered the crowd into shape. Phillip Cope hollered about "history repeating with a laugh" over the din of guitarded awesomeness, painting a grim yet factual portrait in the minds of fans. The absolute standout track of the night from the band was "Unknown Awareness" from their 2009 release Static Tensions. Laura's high-octive melodic guitar lines soared above the low end soup, arcing on black wings above the wall of sound and stabbing the guitar lines home. It was one of the most intense performances I've witnessed in years and proved why this band is so admired live. By the time they kicked out "Hollow Severer", I was already rocked out, but it was just the beginning of a long night of metal. Before I move on it must be said, Kylesa definitely made it worth the trip and there are very few bands out there I would fly hundreds of miles to see these days. The combination of the show's full line up, hearing new Kylesa material and the locale made it a no brainer. Kylesa alone are of the best current heavy bands in the world and it is so cool to see them breaking bigger every year, despite the brutality and complexity of their material.

Troy Sanders prowled the stage like a giant, fingers disemboweling his bass. He's always been my favorite dude in the band for his bellows and because he was real cool when I bought the last copy they had of the Lifesblood EP at Relapse Contamination fest years ago. He always lends a superb level of stage presence to the band. I hadn't seen them live since before Leviathan came out, having missed the Blood Mountain touring cycles, so it was rewarding as a fan to have the point driven home of how much they've grown and how influential and vital a band they've become. The backdrop changed for each record they played material from, showing animated versions of the covers of Blood Mountain and Leviathan for example, "Colony of Birchmen" had the crowd beating the crap out of each other and hollering along to the part Josh Homme sings on the record ,"Run with death!". Mastodon played David Letterman the other night (in May) and Troy's vocals were suffering, probably from the strain/wear and tear of being a legit band on tour non stop, but the night I saw them everything was 100%.

After the concert Marissa and I headed over to One Eyed Jacks to a dirtier, later night crowd. "I like it," joked Laura Pleasants when I met up with her and bassist Corey Barhorst, who it was cool to also meet. We were in time to catch Wino, Dave Chandler and company hand the whole room its doom loving ass. These guys are so legit it is impossible to convey. It is impossible to explain how cool it felt to be surprised on my fucking birthday by suddenly seeing Vitus, who I'd never expected to see live, after a Mastodon show! The last time I'd seen Mastodon they were opening for Clutch and Wino's recent band The Hidden Hand were on the bill touring their first release Divine Propaganda. At that show in Saratoga a few years back the Mastodon guys were standing by the front of the stage near me watching Wino's every move, so it was really cool to see Brent and Bill in the audience for St Vitus as well. They, along with most of the bands from the other show, had hopped down the street to catch the legends in action. It was a big name night in New Orleans, Everyone was out.