It’s been quite some time since I’ve covered a show at a venue for the first time. I feel like I’ve been pretty much living at the Belasco, for example, so getting an address for a different venue is always a nice change of pace, especially when it’s somewhere I’ve never been. Boomtown Brewery has been kicking in DTLA north of the arts district for a while now, but they recently started a show booking partnership with The Knitting Factory, which hopefully will bear more fruit for future shows! So I left work half an hour early to brave the even rush hour traffic across town for an evening of hardcore metal music–shocking, I know–and some tasty beer.
First up for the evening were LA locals Hyper Psychic, and let me tell you, these guys are badass. With their set pushed pretty far forward on the stage, frontwoman Molly Scarpine took over the floor in front of the stage and owned it. The band was incredibly tight and blasted through their set with all the fury one could want, perfectly setting a mood that would soon take quite a turn as they were followed by another local outfit.
Deep Within is . . . interesting. Their stage getup is somewhere between King Diamond and Insane Clown Posse, and their sound mixes a plethora of influences and subgenres of metal, from NU to Glam to Hardcore. It was a rather strange tonal shift from Hyper Psychic, but the band was full of enthusiasm, continually engaging with the crowd and enticing them to move forward toward the stage. While perhaps not my cup of tea, that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth a listen!
Following Deep Within was Florida’s stoner deathgrind outfit Bodybox, and they were–as Nathan Explosion would say–brutal. They have an offbeat sense of humor, exemplified best by their merch, which irreverently pokes fun at staples of their home state, such as Gator World, Disney World, etc. One thing I should probably point out at this point is that this was a Tuesday evening, and the crowd was pretty small throughout, not to mention reluctant to get close to the stage and engage, but that wasn’t about to stop the band from ripping ferociously through their set.
Of course, the band of the evening was Go Ahead and Die, which, as would be pointed out to us, is the brainchild of Igor Amadeus Cavalera, whose father is none other than metal legend Max Cavalera. The band took to the stage, going hard, and did not let up from start to finish, with Igor front and center bursting with energy and fire, flanked by Max and bassist Jackie Cruz and supported by drummer Johnny Valles.
I was reminded throughout the performance of my old local punk/hardcore scene in Humboldt County and felt a lot of nostalgia for it. In spite of the small crowd –which I’m told is just a Los Angeles thing– GAAD kept up the underground spirit, not giving a shit about the crowd size and putting on a hell of a show, including a cover of Ministry’s “NWO” with Harry Brown from Bodybox. I hope that next time around, they will be greeted by larger numbers; I know I’ll be there.
