It started off like many college-town parties do around these parts: little groups of 20-somethings eyeing each other nervously across a backyard, four kegs in the garage, and a lone guy playing acoustic guitar on the porch.  We originally thought we were gonna play at 6, so naturally we showed up at 4 to get two solid hours of getting fucked up under our belts before we went on.  Not knowing about the kegs, we also had to kill a 30 pack of PBR...

Bowls were packed, beers were drank, and references to obscure doom metal bands were made.  No one really knew what was going on, except that there was a grill being prepped with coals and there was a good chance it might rain.  And then out of nowhere, FOREST shows up and was like "yo bitches, lets start this shit."  Actually that's not entirely accurate, there was another band playing in the garage by that point, but it was really Kaveh, Ross, and co. that kicked shit into overdrive and got things started.  They played one hell of a set and had gotten a lot tighter since the first time I saw them almost a year ago.  Though they claim to be a "noise" band, they're too good for that.  I heard some THRONES mixed in with some of FLIPPER's faster songs, and some NO TREND.  It wasn't so much blackened as it was Rusted, but hey, we're in Ohio so there you go.

Right after them was ORBITING FORMATS, a band (really more like a one-man wrecking crew) that has a lot going for it.  Unfortunately, the sunn pa that was hooked up just wasn't clicking or something, but from what was played it was solid and doomy as fuck.  At that point we had transported our PA into the garage since it looked like rain, and unfortunately I didn't catch as much of the set as I had hoped.  I guess we'll have to play a show...

After we set everything up in the garage, Nick and Corey from GIGANTOPITHECUS came in and started setting up.  Having seen the band multiple times, I thought I knew what to expect.  It was especially intense because the guys had just recently recovered from a hit-and-run bike accident, both Nick and Corey suffering some trauma after some asshole in an SUV blindsided them a couple months back.  But instead of starting slow, they came out of the gate fucking strong, playing some of the craziest and technically challenging music you'll ever hear.  I don't know what to call it, really: psychedelic instrumental jazz metal? how 'bout good fucking music instead. Nick seemed like three guitarists rolled into one, and Corey's drumming was a lot crisper and carried much more punch since the last time we played together. 

At that point there was some confusion as to whether or not to keep things set up outside or to just move everything into the garage.  Everyone was pretty pissed about the wind, and the grill had already been knocked over.  We decided to keep the PA in the garage. While we were getting our gear, PAINKILLER set up in the garage.  It was basically KURT RUSSELL plus Derrick on lead guitar, which meant that at the very least, it was gonna be loud and fucking brutal. It was.  Neuman's drumming was frantic and double-speed, and I have no idea what Dan, Derrick, and Coakley were tuned to but it was somewhere in the vicinity of heavy.  While they played we decided we might as well get ready to play.  It was around 7:45 and a decent amount of people had shown up.

While we set up and everything, we heard this crazy drumming coming from the backyard and went out to see it.  FONZ of LEFT-HANDED SOPHIE fame was freestyling with another guy (sry didn't get your name) beating the shit out of an aluminum trash can.  I looked closer and apparently he was using the latest issue of FREE MINDS as a mic.  Hey, whatever works. At the finale of his set, one of his friends with an "I heart NY" neck tattoo came up and smashed the trashcan into his head repeatedly.  Definitely not the guy you want to have pissed off at you by the end of the night.

So with that we set our shit up and RED SUN started playing...for about 5 seconds.  I guess my input cord had got soaked in beer because it got scratchy as fuck and we had to start over.  For a minute, I felt like absolute shit: fucking up right off the bat at probably the first big party of the summer.  But then for some reason the scratches stopped coming out of my amp so I guess things worked themselves out.  Tommy Peitch of KID DYNOMITE (the comic book) was pretty happy we named one of our songs after his zombie apocalypse comic, and we gave away the rest of our case to ppl watching us.  We played a new song "American Woodland Ape" (or Sasquatch Drives a Semi, we were really high when we wrote the fucker and we still can't decide on a name) and then My War by Black Flag. Somewhere after that, Derrick stuck a pipe in my face while we were playing Saturn V and we finished with another new song "Ragnarok".

EL JESUS DE MAGICO and KURT RUSSELL played a little after us but honestly we were all really fucked up by that point and I for one don't remember much else of the night....post your comments and finish the review if you want.  It was a great time and huge thanks to Lauren and everyone else living at that house for letting us play.  It was a great time and hopefully won't be the last.  Anytime I get to see Swass turn into BroMo is a good night.

~Zach G.