The hard rocking sounds of a Bakersfield Saturday night - By N.L. Belardes
Last Thursday night I attended the Peter Pan sweat fest. I thoroughly loved the quaint theatre, the bubbly children and swashbuckling Lost Boys. But the heat. That horrible Bakersfield heat was just pounding away at the walls. And my night didn’t end there. Afterwards I saw the Filthies, Hit By a Semi… Peter Pan was just a tune up, as me and cohort in blogger crime, Matildakay, headed into the heart of darkness after having seen such happy frolicking children. But that was last Thursday… I was exhausted the next day… and then the heat wave smacked down, and Friday night’s show at Chencho’s was a sweltering casserole of sound baking in a hot oven. And then there was Saturday’s show…
The heatwave made me stare crazily at this...
If you haven’t guessed it yet there was a big metal/post-hardcore show over at the Montgomery World Plaza. Studio 99 was putting on a show with Level being the headliner. But then Level was a no show. Now that’s disappointment and not a good sign of camaraderie between a band and a promoter. But the fans were still in force.
When I arrived, From Ritual to Romance was in the house. Big Daddy Screamer Ruben Val Verde was in his strongman pose all lit up by the stage lights and doing his thing. Get out of his way everybody. Get out of the man’s way!
There were the usual kids tearing it up in front of the stage. I snapped a few pictures wondering just when From Ritual to Romance was going to record their first CD. These guys all have a lot of energy, and a lot of kindness for fellow Bakersfield bands, fans and more. Gotta dig their enthusiasm. They have a lot of shows coming up, from out of town to the Kern County Fair, Vinnie’s and more… If that’s not enough, I think I just might crash their CD recording sessions when they do have them. I just have one complaint: Make smaller online flyers! Sometimes my myspace comment section is as big as their hardcore sound…
The night got even darker just before Endrio took the stage when Daniel of Studio 99 says to me, “You have to hear this band. They’re a hidden gem. Not enough people know about them” I was thinking I would just have to see for myself, but then Endrio powered up. I don’t mean they just flipped on their amps and began playing a little soft metal lala riff. No way, these guys are hardcore, head-banging, neck breaking, sweat-pouring, full force coming-at-you-with-deafening-sound rockers, as they went zero to sixty in point-two seconds.
Of course the schedules were kind of crazy because of businesses closing late so the Internet flyer I looked at was outdated and I missed my homies in Give Impulse because I went to go eat dinner. How disappointing. Later, after I came back Corey from Give Impulse asked if I’d seen their show and had I missed it completely. I was looking forward to doing another Give Impulse review, N.L. Belardes style. Instead I had to look Corey in the eye, give a half-smirk and tell him I’d missed it.
By this time the Bakersfield heat was catching up to me (so was the margarita I had with dinner) and I grew super tired as My Dysfunctional Me had sound problems setting up. These things happen and as they soon got into their angry set, I was turning into the old tired man of the music scene. I used what little energy I had left for the night to go snap some cool pictures of Steve in his spiky hair singing to the crowd of crazed My Dysfunctional Me fans…
I grew tired, the music got louder, and I thought it was funny how I didn’t recognize Steve when I arrived because he didn’t have a bandana on… I just have one thing left to say: Who needs Level to rock hard in Bakersfield?
The heatwave made me stare crazily at this...
If you haven’t guessed it yet there was a big metal/post-hardcore show over at the Montgomery World Plaza. Studio 99 was putting on a show with Level being the headliner. But then Level was a no show. Now that’s disappointment and not a good sign of camaraderie between a band and a promoter. But the fans were still in force.
When I arrived, From Ritual to Romance was in the house. Big Daddy Screamer Ruben Val Verde was in his strongman pose all lit up by the stage lights and doing his thing. Get out of his way everybody. Get out of the man’s way!
There were the usual kids tearing it up in front of the stage. I snapped a few pictures wondering just when From Ritual to Romance was going to record their first CD. These guys all have a lot of energy, and a lot of kindness for fellow Bakersfield bands, fans and more. Gotta dig their enthusiasm. They have a lot of shows coming up, from out of town to the Kern County Fair, Vinnie’s and more… If that’s not enough, I think I just might crash their CD recording sessions when they do have them. I just have one complaint: Make smaller online flyers! Sometimes my myspace comment section is as big as their hardcore sound…
The night got even darker just before Endrio took the stage when Daniel of Studio 99 says to me, “You have to hear this band. They’re a hidden gem. Not enough people know about them” I was thinking I would just have to see for myself, but then Endrio powered up. I don’t mean they just flipped on their amps and began playing a little soft metal lala riff. No way, these guys are hardcore, head-banging, neck breaking, sweat-pouring, full force coming-at-you-with-deafening-sound rockers, as they went zero to sixty in point-two seconds.
Of course the schedules were kind of crazy because of businesses closing late so the Internet flyer I looked at was outdated and I missed my homies in Give Impulse because I went to go eat dinner. How disappointing. Later, after I came back Corey from Give Impulse asked if I’d seen their show and had I missed it completely. I was looking forward to doing another Give Impulse review, N.L. Belardes style. Instead I had to look Corey in the eye, give a half-smirk and tell him I’d missed it.
By this time the Bakersfield heat was catching up to me (so was the margarita I had with dinner) and I grew super tired as My Dysfunctional Me had sound problems setting up. These things happen and as they soon got into their angry set, I was turning into the old tired man of the music scene. I used what little energy I had left for the night to go snap some cool pictures of Steve in his spiky hair singing to the crowd of crazed My Dysfunctional Me fans…
I grew tired, the music got louder, and I thought it was funny how I didn’t recognize Steve when I arrived because he didn’t have a bandana on… I just have one thing left to say: Who needs Level to rock hard in Bakersfield?
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Thursday, July 21, 2005.
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