Post by Father_Doom on May 23, 2002 11:16:29 GMT -5
Alabama Thunder Pussy, Orange Goblin
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
May 21, 2002
A perfect spring day, and I was speeding down the highway to pick up Moondog, concert stalwart that he is. A few hours later and we were pulling up to the degraded premises of St. Louis’ Creepy Crawl, purveyors of many a fine stoner/doom show. The first person we saw was ATP’s Bryan “Big Shirley” Cox, so we spent some time talking things over, then got on Moondog’s cell phone for some enjoyable taunting calls to Hellride’s own Chris Barnes. About the time that stonerrock mailing list regulars Brad and Diana pulled up with their son, we knew it was time to head inside. The first two bands on the bill were forgettable death metal. I took advantage of this to go out in back and talk to Lou Gorra of Halfway to Gone, who’s driving the van for Orange Goblin. Affable as ever, he informed me of Halfway’s big plans, which involve touring the US and Europe through the end of the year. As we were talking, Bryan and ATP singer Johnny Throckmorton approached us, looking pissed-off because of the lack of free beer for the bands. Let me tell you, this is no trivial matter! I learned that Orange Goblin was pretty pissed about the situation as well, and had adjourned to the bar next door. So after exchanging some wisdom on the sorry nature of popular music, I wandered over to talk. I found OG remarkably soft-spoken and polite, though sullen at the beer situation. I set them up with draws, and exited to smiles all around. And in case you were wondering, they like America just fine, but don’t like how everything is so far apart. Good guys!
By now it was time for the third band on the bill, St. Louis’ own LoFreq (that’s pronounced “Low Freak,” ha ha). I had never heard these guys, although they’ve opened for some of the best shows in the area; they’re opening for Monster Magnet this weekend. Brad had mentioned that these guys kicked some ass, and it turned out to be true. Great, great riff-rock with distorted vocals. I picked up their demo afterwards, and they’ve really come a long way since then. Suggestion: clean the vocals up just a bit and add in some guitar solos. These guys could potentially give Nebula a run for their money, and in fact would make great openers for them. Oh, and they’re good at marketing themselves, too.
Next up was ATP. This was the fourth time I’ve seen them, and they get better every time. How do they do it? I dunno, but its working. They kaned the crowd mercilessly; ‘Whore Adore’ in particular brought on lots of head bobbing and horns throwing. I noticed that this time around there was a lot of great guitar soloing, courtesy of new member Randy. Damn, that guy can play! The rest of the band was bringing it like this was their last concert. The last song was a welcome change of pace: Jethro Tull’s ‘Hymn 43,’ from the upcoming ‘Sucking the 70s’ comp.
ATP Setlist:
Esteem Friend
Whore Adore
Ambition
Motor-Ready
Shape Shifter
When Mercury Drops
Heathen
Dryspell
Ol’ Unfaithful
Hymn 43
Finally it was time for the group we’d all been waiting for: Orange fuckin’ Goblin baby! If you’ve read any other live reviews of this tour, you know how people have been raving about them. Tonight was no exception. Start things off with impeccable song selection (though I do wish they’d done ‘Nuclear Guru’), a good long set; tight musicianship; and a charismatic frontman in the form of the maniacal Mr. Ward, and you’ve got it all. Ward got fists pumping and hands clapping, egging the crowd on with insane facial expressions that gave Rev. James Rota of Fireball Ministry a run for his money, then proceeded to swing the mike stand and knock holes out of the acoustic ceiling tile above the stage. At one point, for some reason known best to himself, he even spent some time carefully adjusting one of the light bulbs in the ceiling! Whatever. Its just cool to see people pumping their fists out of genuine enthusiasm, instead of some bogus arena-rock “put your hands together” thing. The Goblin played like they were taking some hellish mixture of alcohol and speed; there were few of the quiet moments that pop up on their albums. And the encore was as cool as it was unexpected. Suffice it to say that if you know these guys, live within 100 miles of the venue, and miss it, its your fault.
Orange Goblin Setlist:
Scorpionica
Man Who Invented Time
Rage of Angels
Whiskey Leech
Acquatic Fanatic
Cozmo Bozo
Monkey Panic
Turbo Effalunt
Getting High on the Bad Times
Solarisphere
Magic Carpet
King of the Hornets
Quincy the Pig Boy
Red Web
Your World Will Hate This
Blue Snow
Encore-‘Freelance Fiend’ by Leafhound.
Kevin McHugh
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
May 21, 2002
A perfect spring day, and I was speeding down the highway to pick up Moondog, concert stalwart that he is. A few hours later and we were pulling up to the degraded premises of St. Louis’ Creepy Crawl, purveyors of many a fine stoner/doom show. The first person we saw was ATP’s Bryan “Big Shirley” Cox, so we spent some time talking things over, then got on Moondog’s cell phone for some enjoyable taunting calls to Hellride’s own Chris Barnes. About the time that stonerrock mailing list regulars Brad and Diana pulled up with their son, we knew it was time to head inside. The first two bands on the bill were forgettable death metal. I took advantage of this to go out in back and talk to Lou Gorra of Halfway to Gone, who’s driving the van for Orange Goblin. Affable as ever, he informed me of Halfway’s big plans, which involve touring the US and Europe through the end of the year. As we were talking, Bryan and ATP singer Johnny Throckmorton approached us, looking pissed-off because of the lack of free beer for the bands. Let me tell you, this is no trivial matter! I learned that Orange Goblin was pretty pissed about the situation as well, and had adjourned to the bar next door. So after exchanging some wisdom on the sorry nature of popular music, I wandered over to talk. I found OG remarkably soft-spoken and polite, though sullen at the beer situation. I set them up with draws, and exited to smiles all around. And in case you were wondering, they like America just fine, but don’t like how everything is so far apart. Good guys!
By now it was time for the third band on the bill, St. Louis’ own LoFreq (that’s pronounced “Low Freak,” ha ha). I had never heard these guys, although they’ve opened for some of the best shows in the area; they’re opening for Monster Magnet this weekend. Brad had mentioned that these guys kicked some ass, and it turned out to be true. Great, great riff-rock with distorted vocals. I picked up their demo afterwards, and they’ve really come a long way since then. Suggestion: clean the vocals up just a bit and add in some guitar solos. These guys could potentially give Nebula a run for their money, and in fact would make great openers for them. Oh, and they’re good at marketing themselves, too.
Next up was ATP. This was the fourth time I’ve seen them, and they get better every time. How do they do it? I dunno, but its working. They kaned the crowd mercilessly; ‘Whore Adore’ in particular brought on lots of head bobbing and horns throwing. I noticed that this time around there was a lot of great guitar soloing, courtesy of new member Randy. Damn, that guy can play! The rest of the band was bringing it like this was their last concert. The last song was a welcome change of pace: Jethro Tull’s ‘Hymn 43,’ from the upcoming ‘Sucking the 70s’ comp.
ATP Setlist:
Esteem Friend
Whore Adore
Ambition
Motor-Ready
Shape Shifter
When Mercury Drops
Heathen
Dryspell
Ol’ Unfaithful
Hymn 43
Finally it was time for the group we’d all been waiting for: Orange fuckin’ Goblin baby! If you’ve read any other live reviews of this tour, you know how people have been raving about them. Tonight was no exception. Start things off with impeccable song selection (though I do wish they’d done ‘Nuclear Guru’), a good long set; tight musicianship; and a charismatic frontman in the form of the maniacal Mr. Ward, and you’ve got it all. Ward got fists pumping and hands clapping, egging the crowd on with insane facial expressions that gave Rev. James Rota of Fireball Ministry a run for his money, then proceeded to swing the mike stand and knock holes out of the acoustic ceiling tile above the stage. At one point, for some reason known best to himself, he even spent some time carefully adjusting one of the light bulbs in the ceiling! Whatever. Its just cool to see people pumping their fists out of genuine enthusiasm, instead of some bogus arena-rock “put your hands together” thing. The Goblin played like they were taking some hellish mixture of alcohol and speed; there were few of the quiet moments that pop up on their albums. And the encore was as cool as it was unexpected. Suffice it to say that if you know these guys, live within 100 miles of the venue, and miss it, its your fault.
Orange Goblin Setlist:
Scorpionica
Man Who Invented Time
Rage of Angels
Whiskey Leech
Acquatic Fanatic
Cozmo Bozo
Monkey Panic
Turbo Effalunt
Getting High on the Bad Times
Solarisphere
Magic Carpet
King of the Hornets
Quincy the Pig Boy
Red Web
Your World Will Hate This
Blue Snow
Encore-‘Freelance Fiend’ by Leafhound.
Kevin McHugh
