Verbal Abuse

So I went to Verbal Abuse on Friday and on Saturday, and despite everything I had a good time at both shows.

Friday started by me driving out to Richmond to get fingerprinted so that I can go to school, then I went over to Eric from Direct Control/Government Warning and his girlfriend's place to hang out and eventually go to the show. Now, this is something that will certainly alter my perceptions of how the show went. We started drinking at like 4:30, then went to the show for about 6:30 or 7 or something and I dunno about everyone else, but I was far from sober. By far from sober I mean totally fucking gooned. When we got to the venue I was totally taken aback by how many people there were there, I tried to take pictures but due to the drunkenness everything is slightly blurred. I was told that this was almost assuredly all for Municipal Waste which bothered me. I can't imagine going to a show with a legendary band and having no clue who they were. I talked to some kids about who they were there to see and when they said Municipal Waste they were so sure of how awesome it was to be there. They asked us who we were there to see and when we said Verbal Abuse they were clueless. "I've heard of them but can't think of who they are" or something. I said Slayer covered them and they then said that must've been where they heard it. I was bummed.

So whatever, we wait around in line and then finally get in as Witchhunt was starting out. I had a good time watching them here, as I did watching them in Barclay House a while back. The dude was wearing the MK-Ultra shirt again and again I was bummed that it wasn't the good MK-Ultra. They played well and helped me spend too much money. PBR was only $2 so it wasn't that bad, but I spent waaaaaaaay too much money on beer there. I don't think I watched the next band at all. Maybe one song by them, and then outside to go have a beer and shoot the shit with Nicki Sicki about everything ranging from how much of a bunch of assholes Bitzcore was for putting out the VA album that everyone I know has, to Slayer's covering the songs that they did on Undisputed Attitude. I was super stoked to know that they totally hooked him up and helped him out in regards to payment for that shit, got him a good chunk of cash and got him hooked up with some company that gets him all kinds of royalties for anything that ever had to do with Verbal Abuse. We talked about downloading, which as anyone who knows me realises is pretty high up on my list of things to talk to band people about, and he echoed the sentiments that I (and a lot of other people) have on the subject. He'd just rather have the music out there and have people listening to it. I got made fun of for asking interview questions when we were just supposed to be hanging out having a beer and slurred out some excuses about conversation or interest or something. We hung out for a while and then the lot of us stumbled back to the club. I say the lot of us stumbled in hopes that I wasn't the only wastoid there.

We got back to the club and went in I think there was a band playing, but I paid them no attention. I had a beer and talked to some folks for a while and then probably went outside again and talked to people for a while or something. Made fun of crust kids maybe.

Verbal Abuse was on next and I was getting more and more pumped as the dudes moved on stage. As soon as I saw the setlist laid down in front of me my I just started smiling. I'd been waiting for this for 8 years and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to lose my mind to it. We'd been warned several times in the night about how the drummer had just been flown in from California and that he didn't know the songs, and that shit wasn't going to be as good as it should be and what not, so I was kind of worried. I was also really drunk so it didn't matter too much. They opened with Verbal Abuse which had been going through my head all day and I was stoked. It was awesome. Super sloppy, and a bit more Japanese sounding than the recorded version. Vocally at least. Everything was super clipped and screeched instead of shouted out. It was good but not what I was expecting. Leeches came up next and was more of the same. Then came I Don't Need It, which is the song on the record that I don't listen to, so I didn't care about it. It's too slow and not fun for the rest of the record. Social Insect came next and was probably the worst played song of the set. I Don't Feel Right was next and I've got no clue where this is from so I had no clue what it was all about, same thing with the next song; Shit Happens. Then they did Paranoid by Black Sabbath and that's really all there is to say about it. It was clipped and spat out without much melody, but was probably the most together song of the night cause, really, how can anyone not know Paranoid on their respective instrument. I mean, I fucking hate Sabbath with Ozzy, but I still know the words. Paranoid led into Free Money which was done alright. I lost my mind when they played the last four songs starting with Free Money, but looking back on it I'd say that it was largely because I was wasted. Next up was I Hate You and it ruled. This song was probably the closest to sounding like I was hoping for. A tad slow perhaps, but totally rad. Next up was their favourite Slayer song, disintegration, which was radical. It was fist banging mania for most of the crowd, and everyone that was on stage behind and beside the band was stoked and smiling and singing along. They wrapped up with American Band which was way slow. Everyone aside from the Drummer knew it too, despite his being told to play faster during the intro, he did not.

After Verbal Abuse was finished the band they were touring with(?) Eyes Of Hate jumped on stage to do a quick set with VA's gear. The house music was turned on as soon as they set up the drums to play, so they just played over it. They managed to get a song out with everything but the Mic working, at least I couldn't hear it if it was in fact was, that I had fun to and then get part way into their next song before all power to the PA was shut off and the stage lights were turned off. Then two of the dudes from Municipal Waste got on stage and were super aggro looking and totally yelled at the dudes about jumping on stage. It wasn't as if they were cutting into their set time since from what I was told earlier VA was only doing half what they said they were going to do so there was at least 20 minutes before the Waste were supposed to go on. I was totally bummed about the shit as it seemed really rock starry to me at the time, and still does now. I guess it sucks having people crash the bill and whatever, but if a band's only playing half their set then what does it matter if another band uses their gear and only does a few songs? Whatever, it was lame.

I went to sit outside 'til Municipal Waste got on. They went on and I decided I didn't want to go in yet, so I sat there for a while and eventually fell asleep. Daniel from Dead metaphor came out and woke me up after he walked out, and was telling me about some fight that just happened inside. Sure enough the cops showed up and told us to go inside or go home. We opted for inside. He said he wasn't sure what happened, and nobody else seemed to be too sure either. I watched the last couple Waste songs from the side and kinda shook my head at the idiots in the crowd. The music was good, but man, whenever something gets the slightest bit of metal in it, the fans turn to morons.

After the show we went back to Eric's place and hung out with the dudes from Verbal Abuse and then drove up to DC with them for the show there. The show there was the same set list, but was much better, and much tighter than the night before. The crowd however, was much less into it and much smaller.

All said I had a great time at both shows and I wish I could see them again after their drummer has had a chance to practice with them. Eric made me take this picture cause he wanted the world to know he had breakfast with Verbal Abuse.