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| Rants >> Waiting for Times to Change |
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So it’s been awhile since I’ve written an article for Virus. A year or two perhaps. As most of you (who keep up with natural disasters hitting the U.S.) probably know, New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. When one hears about those things, one never really takes into consideration the effect it has on a music scene. So, here is what is happening in New Orleans metal/hardcore/etc. scene post-Katrina. |
 Spickle |
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First and foremost, we’ve all lost friends through
relocation, and through tragedy. Former Soilent Green
vocalist Glenn Rambo, who was in the band from it’s
beginning in 1988 to 1993 drowned with his mother at
their home in Violet, Louisiana. Though Glenn was a maniac onstage (often spewing beer/vomit onto the stage and whoever happened to be close enough to get anything on him and at times performing while wearing some crazy costume , like wrapping himself in gauze and sticking used tampons all over himself), he was a kind gentle, very down to earth soul. I still find myself looking for him while I’m hitting the stretch of bars on Decatur St. He is sorely missed. |
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 Eye Hate God @ Checkpoint Charlie |
 Die Rotzz |
| A few venues have been destroyed by the flood waters, namely Dixie Taverne, where I had been booking shows once or twice a month for the past 8 years. The owners plan on rebuilding, but catering to a different clientele. Yes, there are other places for bands to play, but none had the filthy hole in-the-wall charm that the Dixie had. | |
| But, there is still loud, noisy music being churned out in New Orleans. Since the storm, I’ve seen Resurrection Man (metal!), Suplecs (heavy stoner rock), Spickle (instruMETAL… they played a party in the backyard behind Ear Candy Tattoo), Sufferstream (tight, technical metal), Hawg Jaw (sludgy hardcore… their vocalist has relocated to North Carolina for now, but will be coming back to N.O. for shows), Hazard County Girls (heavy, doomy rock ), This Side Down (metal core), Face First (fast, pissed punk), Rise Above (old school hardcore), Mangina (crazy punk with a vocalist who makes attending one of their shows a safety hazard… I was hit in the head with a swinging microphone), Die Rotzz (punk ROCK), We’re Only In It For The Honey (kind of like Iggy Pop singing for The Rolling Stones doing Stones covers.), Slow The Knife (metal with a bit of hardcore thrown in), Hooves (chaotic metal along the lines of Mastodon and Botch), and Eyehategod (who have played several times in recent months, but my most memorable performance by them was in a gutted out building powered by 3 generators, back when parts of the city still didn‘t have power). I even managed to crank out another issue of Paranoize in the last few months. |
 Mardi Gras |
 Suplecs |
Mardi Gras this year was very necessary for all of us
to try to put everything aside and just get caught up
in the revelry. As with most New Orleanians, the
Saturday before until Fat Tuesday, it is tradition for
me to numb my brain with various intoxicants and kind
of stumble around the city. Eyehategod played a free
show that Sunday (which was mostly instrumental: since
the vocal p.a.there wasn‘t strong enough to push over
the volume of the rest of the amps, Mike decided to
just watch for the second half of their set)., then
Suplecs played Mardi Gras day (Durel was “guitarded“). Though bands are either split up due to members relocating, or on indefinite hiatus, scene will not die. New bands will form, new venues will open, and there will still be loud, noisy music being made in New Orleans. |