So, a scant week or less after my whole Ozric Tentacles tour experience, along comes another show by friends of mine. Busy week!
As you've probably read before, my roommate Tim and I had already become pretty good friends with Godhead, a 4-man goth/techno/industrial band from the Baltimore/DC area. They'd stayed at our apartment before on tours when they couldn't afford to get a hotel room, etc. So naturally we were all terribly excited they were finally coming here again after about a year's drought. (They'd played seven shows here within the space of about two years, so we were getting a little restless!)
This time would be a lot different. Now signed -- finally -- to a major label, they'd actually have a tour bus to call their own. No more touring across the country in nought but a cramped van and trailer, trying to keep up with the tour's headlining band, who are safe and snug in their tour bus. The downside is that they're not quite as mobile as they used to be, and thus -- although they would have loved the opportunity -- they weren't able to drop by and relax and take showers. :)
On this tour Godhead were opening for Marilyn Manson, the guy who signed them to his brand-new label, and they were the "low man" on the totem pole as far as the tour went. We were a little annoyed that the second band, The Union Underground, had the slot we thought Godhead should have had, but there's sense to it: they have a new CD out, while Godhead's is still a few months away.... As low band on the totem pole Godhead's guest list would be extremely restricted, so we weren't surprised at all when Jason Miller, Godhead's frontman, told us they'd only be able to get me and Tim on their guest-list singly, with no "extras." Still, tickets were $33, and we were grateful they were thinking of us, since I didn't really want to spend that kind of cash just to see Our Boys play for 32 minutes. :)
The show was on a Tuesday, normally a workday for me, but as soon
as the showdate had been confirmed I'd told my manager I wouldn't
be at work that day. I worked 'til 1:30 in the morning on that
Tuesday and got home by around 2am. I figured I could sleep a bit
late and then head down to the Tabernacle at around 2 or 3 to find
the boyz.
At about 2:15 the phone rings. It's Jason Miller from Godhead,
calling from the tour-bus, just getting underway from Charlotte, NC,
where the previous night's show was. "Paul, are you working
tomorrow?"
"Fuck, no! Work on a show-day? Never...."
"Cool. We're gonna need to run some errands...." Turns out that,
at the Charlotte show, drummer James had busted his bass-drum beater,
and then Chris, their tech, had accidentally trod on James'
headphones while trying to fix it, so they'd need to be replaced before
show-time. "Can you be down at the venue by 12:30? Knock on the
door, we'll be in the blue bus."
"Of course, we'll see you then!"
So, now that I'm all "up" from the phone call and anticipation, I don't actually fall asleep until later anyway. It's okay, I had a few things to pack. :)
Morning comes too early....
Tuesday was Election Day, and since I was up and tottering about by ten a.m., I figured I'd go vote before things got crazy. I'm not sure why I bothered, now... :) That took about 45 min. and then I returned home to pick up my backpack (with change of clothes, camera, etc.) and Tim to head down to the Tabernacle. We got there a little after 12:30 pm, drove into the lot, parked, and knocked on the blue bus door. Nothin' doing! No answer.
From their past stays at our apartment, we were familiar with Godhead's usual sleeping arrangements ("Let's get to bed by 3am" and they're still up at around 6 :)), so we figured they were all still asleep aboard the bus. We rang Jason's and Mike's cellphones and left messages that we were here, then walked inside the Tabernacle.
Tim and I both had our old 1999 tour Godhead laminates on, and Tim knows a lot of people at the Tabernacle and on the local crew, so we had no problems. We checked out the catering -- Tim knew some of the production people, as always -- and scoped out the dressimg room arrangements with interest, since the Tabernacle has a lot of rooms inside for dressing rooms, etc. When we first looked, a dressing room had been marked for Godhead, but within a few minutes the sign had been torn down. Turns out that Marilyn Manson wanted three dressing rooms for the band, so that was that. Later, they hung a little curtain in the hallway to shroud their sacred demesnes in mystery. Or something....
Tim and I hung out inside for a while, then we decided to go back
to the car (which had to be moved across the parking lot anyway; we
were blocking the area where Marilyn Manson's bus would be parking).
While we were sitting inside my car resting our feet, my cell-phone
rang; it was Matt, Godhead's sound guy and now their tour manager,
who we'd met the last time they came through town. He didn't know
we were already at the venue:
"Hi, Paul. How soon can you be here?"
"Uh, about thirty seconds or so."
"?!"
Aboard Godhead's bus we're treated to a frightening sight; everyone's
just waking up, bleary-eyed. We exchanged tired greetings with our
friends -- Chris, their tech, had also been part of the crew on their
previous visit -- and chill on the bus for a while, watching
Braveheart on the DVD. (It's not just a great movie; it's a
chance for me to spot, mostly in the background, the
swords my friends' blacksmithy
makes. :)) After a while it's time for the day's business to begin in
earnest, and James and I head off to Guitar Center to pick up a new
bass-drum beater and two new pairs of headphones.
By the time we returned to the Tabernacle, a crowd had started gathering, including a few Christian protestors. We took turns taking a look at the, err, festivities, and we showed Mike the way around the inside of the Tabernacle. (It's almost maze-like.) Back at the tour-bus, Jason and Matt asked me to take Darrell, their driver, to an auto-parts store to get a filter for the bus, and we headed to a nearby NAPA store. Darrell, a cool black guy with a diverse musical taste, really enjoyed the band I had playing in my car-stereo -- my friends from the British band Ozric Tentacles, who I'd travelled with just a few days before. I happily supplied him with a list of likely CDs to pick up; I love hooking people up with great music. :)
Loaded down with a heavy box of stuff for the bus, we arrived back at the Tabernacle, where things were really starting to crank up. By now the line snaked from the front doors down the sidewalk and around the corner -- it would grow much longer before the night ended. Manson's bus finally arrived, to the delight of the assembled Manson fans by the buses (perhaps 20-30), but the band ducked up the ramp and inside so fast, most had time to snap only a few long-ranged photos. Gotta love that rock-star attitude, sheesh.
--And speaking of attitudes.....
Me and Tim and Mike and a few others were chatting with fans and hanging
out by the yellow tape that separated the "backstage area" from the rest
of the crowd when a fracas developed. Marilyn Manson's drummer,
John 5 (I think; I'm no Manson expert), got stopped by venue
security because he wasn't wearing his tour-laminate. He threw
a nasty hissy-fit right there in front of a bunch of fans, crew, etc.,
including, I was told, his mom and dad. He stormed off, yelling that
he wasn't gonna play the show, etc., and Godhead's James and others were
trying to calm him down. Pretty damn embarassing! If you want to hide from
fans with heavy security, fine....but at least respect the people you're
entrusting to keep you from being buried knee-deep in fans backstage and
let them do their job properly -- the hapless security guy was just
doing his job.
Now it was edging closer to show-time, and time for the guys in
Godhead to don their stage apparel. I'd asked previously if I
could change into my concert garb on their bus and gotten the green
light, so I ran to the car, grabbed my backpack, and changed into
my PVC, etc. This is also when I began taking some photos, since
my camera had been in the backpack in my car. Unfortunately by now
it had gotten dark enough outside that the camera had some low-light trouble.
Here's a shot
of Godhead's tour bus -- the first of many, we hope.
There's also a very dark shot of a
Christian protestor.
You can barely make out the big cross he was carrying, just left of
the center of the frame.
Here's a shot of
the band and me
-- Tim took it outside, and I wish he'd stepped a bit closer.
James looks like he's about to kiss me on the ear. :)
On the tour bus, Matt took a pic of
Mickey, Mike Miller and me :).
Oh, well, it's the only "decent" pic for the whole night. So much
for Godhead's nickname for me, Paul W. "stands for WantAnotherPic" Cashman.
:)
By now the line has snaked all the way around the block. Doors opened at 8pm and Godhead were slated to start at 9. (Actually 8:58, since their set was precisely 32 minutes and the whole concert was being THAT rigidly timed.) Security was realllly strict for people entering the club: chains, spikes, etc., had to be taken back to your car, or dropped in a box outside the club. The security people said "if it's still there after the show, fine; whatever's left we'll either keep for ourselves or throw away." Nice.
All the local ads for the show said:
So when Godhead took the stage, there were a lot of people already in the club, and more trickling in by the moment. The line still snaked around the block, but the security checkpoint slowed everything down, and so the venue was only about half-full when they started. Damn shame!
Even with only 32 minutes to play with, they still managed to squeeze in 8 songs, all from the forthcoming CD, 2000 Years of Human Error: "Inside You," "I Sell Society," "2000 Years of Human Error," "Sinking," "Penetrate," "Eleanor Rigby," "The Reckoning" and "Break You Down." Two of the titles will be familiar to those who already have Godhead's Power Tool Stigmata CD; "Eleanor" and "Penetrate" are being re-worked for the new CD.
Godhead's set included all the intensity they're known for in a
live setting and there were clearly at least 50 of their fans in
the audience even with the early start and delays in entering, so
they had a decent crowd response on the floor. I watched the show
from about 20 feet away at stage-left, since there was already a
pretty thick pack of flesh down front and center. :)
During the last song
"Break You Down," where Mike renders Marilyn Manson's vocal part,
his mike was completely out. We could hear the bits of feedback as
Matt, back at the soundboard, tried cranking the gain on that line
to the max, but to no avail. Oh, well. It sure -looked- like Mike
was giving it his all..... :)
After Godhead's too-short set was over, I ran into several of the folks from Sins of Lust, who had gotten inside during Godhead's set, or right at the end of it. I chatted with them a while and told them about the situation backstage (basically, that there wasn't one), so we'd probably end up hanging out on the bus after the show.
By this time the club was starting to get truly full and hot from all the bodies, and Union Underground were line-checking. The PA was turned up high enough that the hairs on my arms were vibrating with each beat of the kick-drum, and I decided to go back outside to the bus, since I didn't realllly want to blast my hearing to cinders for a band I wasn't familiar with. :) Besides, PVC jeans get hot real quick, and the show was a sellout, so I knew it would only get lots worse inside the club. :)
I stepped outside and hung around the front entrance for a while, scoping out the still-looong line of people trying to get inside. By the +++ Godhead weren't in their bus, to my surprise, but Matt was, and we just chilled for a while watching The Blues Brothers and waiting for the guys to return. Eventually they did, after Mansons's set was over ...to be continued, with show review and after-show fun....