I am still feeling the effects from this past weekend's events and insanity and another big weekend looms ahead...
Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday night to support the Martial Canterel, Population, Anatomy of Habit show. It was great to see so many friends there and the response to the night has been overwhelmingly positive, both for the event itself and for Anatomy of Habit's performance. We debuted two new songs -- finally -- "The Decade Plan" and "Radiate and Recede" -- and things seemed to go pretty well. It felt good to get that first public airing under our belts. Population sounded fantastic, and even a bit more urgent than the previous times that I have seen them. Martial Canterel... well... I love Sean to death and it was so great to be right up front in the icy blue fog. Thanks to the folks who played with us. Thanks to Whitney and The Viaduct Theater, for hosting us. Thanks to Shawna, for her sound engineering expertise! It was great to have Isidro, James, and Pieter all under the same roof (two nights in a row!) with me, but the full-on BLOODYMINDED session was sadly missing Xavier's presence. The night went on and on, with a very late trip out to our favorite pozoleria, before we all finally crashed. After brunch on Sunday, we had an impromptu synth workshop at the house (previously illustrated) but I think that James and I were too foggy to fully reap the benefits of Sean's modular wisdom. Then it was off to Milwaukee for night two. I was pleased to be back up there so soon after the February BLOODYMINDED show and it was great to hang out with friends there, especially without the distraction of having to perform. Cages opened up the night and they were excellent. I cannot wait for them to play in Chicago next month with Anatomy of Habit (7/16 - Empty Bottle). Dave's guitar and oscillator work was an great foundation for Nola's captivating vocals/performance. Dark, tense and uncomfortable stuff... Stacian was up next and Dania played a great set of minimal synth with some mesmerizing melodies and patterns. Martial Canterel hit the stage and played what I would call a more urgent or more focused set, compared to what he did in Chicago. Was one better than the other? I cannot say. They were definitely different types of sets. Both nights, "Three Days" really hit the spot for me, but the two versions had their differences. What a great song! Isidro and I had to say our goodbyes right away, which was very hard to do, but as it was, we still did not hit Chicago until after 3:30 AM and I made it home by 4:00. We played hookey from The Fortieth Day practice last night, but tonight, Anatomy of Habit practice is on and we have some rudimentary parts of a new song to revisit.
Coming up in Chicago: Orange Goblin, Nachtmystium, Bible of The Devil, Buried at Sea, Solace, and Zuul play at the Double Door on Saturday night. You read that correctly, BURIED AT SEA are playing. I will be bummed to miss Sword Heaven and Sickness that night but the metal calls... Wolvserpent play at Pancho's on Sunday night (but I am iffy on availability). Tombs and A Storm of Light play at Pancho's on Monday night. That one is also a must for me after practice.
