It’s almost absurd to have to try to explain what happened at The Echo in L.A. last Thursday night. First, I personally couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a packed house for the first of three bands. Shows like this don’t get much attention in L.A. for some odd reason. The city is so damn big, so there’s gotta be at least a few dudes and chicks who’d like to get treated to some good ol’ heavy music, right? Well, I was very pleased. And as the lead singer from Danava told me after the show, “We finally had a good show in L.A.!”
For me, and many others, this was a triple-headliner bill. First you got the Portland’s epic hard rockers Danava, then Oakland’s metal mercenaries Saviours, and closing it out are Sweden’s psychedelic rock connoisseurs, Witchcraft. All with new records recently released or on the horizon, it was a flawless evening that left uncovered ears bleeding, the same way it must’ve at some grungy club in London cirque 1974.
The common thread among these three bands is that they’re not afraid to play songs over 10 minutes. For Danava, they managed to play 5 songs that lasted 45 minutes. Reassuring the crowd at the end of his set, lead singer Dusty Sparkles says, “We got one more. Don’t worry, it’s a long one…like 12 minutes.” For some bands, that’s about 4 measly songs. Danava blasted through a few cuts from their Kemado-released self-titled album, including “By the Mark,” “Quiet Babies Astray in a Manger” and “Maudie Shook.” They played two new ones that seemed to go on forever, but I personally wished they never ended. The rhythm section consisting of Buck Rothy (Drums) and Dell Blackwell (Bass) was like watching a locomotive barrel through everything in its path, leaving everything perfectly destroyed. Dusty a shredder. He’s a bona fide Guitar God who solos like a madman, plays lead and rhythm guitar simultaneously and hits vocal notes that haven’t been heard live in over 30 years. New album March 2008, stay tuned.
There was a short wait as Saviours made their way to the stage. “Killer. Thanks.” is all lead singer/guitarist Austin Barber has to say before pummeling the crowd with their NWOBHM meets punk meets prog meets another 50 million things rolled into one huge, perfectly executed sound. Most of the set consisted of songs from their soon-to-be-released sophomore album, Into Abaddon (Kemado). “Cavern of Mind” was perhaps the most evil moment of the night. There’s a minute-long intro before you can do nothing but bang your head like the metalheads of yesteryear (more specifically, me 20 years ago). A few songs in, someone from the audience sarcastically yelled, “Turn it up!” to which Barber replied, “It’s as high as it gets man!” That pretty much sums up why I still can’t hear. Other new ones included the prog-laden riff monster “Raging Embers” and the machine-gun assault of “Into Abbadon,” which has drummer Scott Batiste pulling off some crazy shit on the snare in the intro. But the crowd favorite was “Circle of Servants Bodies” from their debut album, Crucifire. It’s perhaps one of the coolest metal songs I’ve heard in a long, long time. Its power and fusion smacks you on the face with a sledgehammer—in a good way of course. Their set was a little short, but beggars can’t be choosers.
We were all able to get a little bit of a breather when 70s rock brethren, Witchcraft, made their way onstage. They are currently in the middle of a tour consisting of roughly forty dates in the U.S., supporting their latest release on Rise Above, The Alchemist. That title is muey apropos for the show, and from what I gather, the entire tour. Listening to the album a day or two before the show, I kept thinking how lead singer Magnus Pelander sounds like a younger, Swedish-er Glenn Danzig, but live, he sounds more like Sabbath-era Ozzy Osbjorn. Their set lasted a little over an hour, filled with new cuts like the mind melting “Hey Doctor,” the pop-metal jam, “Walk Between the Lines” and the psychedelic tripper, “If Crimson Was Your Colour.” After snapping off a few photos, I was able to stand back and actually “hear” what the hell was going on. Pelander’s vocals were pure and perfect, and a perfect match to the 70s fuzz-rock that emanated from the rest of the band—John Hoyles (guitar), Ola Henriksson (bass) and Fredrik Jansson (drums). The crowd ate this shit up, and for good reason. On a night filled with LONG songs, Witchcraft claimed they had “one more,” but the catch was that it happened to be a 15-minute song. Luckily they played a few more after that because no one was even thinking about the front door, where they’d get transported back to 2007 with its choking traffic, over-eager cops and bacon-wrapped hot dogs.
This was a monumental night to say the least. For one, getting a venue packed for a few underground hard rock and metal acts in Los Angeles is quite a task. Secondly, every single band on the bill performed perfectly to a crowd hungry for some good fucking rock music. It’s a rare occasion when something like this happens and I was just glad to be a part of it. I really hope it wasn't as rare as I think it is.
More on Witchcraft: www.witchcrafthome.com
More on Saviours: www.myspace.com/saviours666
More on Danava: www.myspace.com/danava
