American Head Charge, Bloodsimple, Assesino, and Static-X 8-15-05 - Roseland Theater in Portland, OR
By Robin Steeley
Bloodsimple takes the stage first and just destroys the whole room amazingly enough, the band is every bit as good live as they are on their debut release “A Cruel World”. When I interviewed them they were remarkably candid and easy to talk to. I love the dynamics of their music, the seething heaviness alternating with crushing melodies. This is my favorite find so far this summer, their CD has been rotating in my car since the day it came in the mail and their live performance only confirms what I originally thought, this band is WHITE HOT and I predict will quickly climb to the top of the metal community. This is probably my favorite band since Pantera. And considering what Pantera means to me, that’s huge.
Asesino is next ,born out of the ashes of the Brujeria empire, Tony Campos, (Static-X) Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) have joined together to blast you with some serious Spanish metal unlike you have ever heard. The name means “Assassin” in Spanish and they come right out on stage and do just that. Assassinate. You could tell that some of the crowd got it and some of them did, but once you have it it will move you. They have brutally raw and aggressive songs entirely in Spanish. They are all wearing crazy looking masks to complete the image. This band was a big surprise for me.
American Head Charge is up next and it is their last night on the tour so I expect some pranks to go down, knowing the tradition of harassing your fellow musicians on their last night. When I asked Bloodsimple earlier if anything was planned they told me no, but I had a feeling they might be hatching a plan. The band comes on stage and blasts into their song and pretty soon Tony Campos comes out on stage, still in his mask he walks around to each band member pouring shots of Jack Daniels down their throats. He keeps giving them shot after shot and next the whole crew comes out, members of all the bands, and proceeds to camp out in the middle of AHC’s set, right in the middle of the stage, with a TV on an amp, a coffee table, chips and dip, people getting high and smoking cigarettes, all of this going on while the band tries to continue their set, and I have to give them props because they played on like nothing was happening, except for trying to get away from the massive doses of JD Tony was trying to give them. Some scantily clad girls get up on stage and sit on the guys laps, somebody from Bloodsimple jumps up and moons the crowd, I’m telling you it was a full scale riot. There was like twenty people on stage and by now the band is so hammered that Cameron is staggering around, although he had no problems hitting all the notes. They play “Loyalty” and Tim from Bloodsimple jumps in, somebody else on guitar, there’s so many people on stage now you cant tell who’s doing what. There’s like ten people playing instruments. They played “Seamless” and it was absolutely SICK. Everyone on stage started throwing stuff at the crowd, and the crowd started throwing it all back. It was a melee, and a fitting end to the bands 68th day on the Static X tour. After it was all over, the band jumped over the barricade and showed a little love to all the fans.
You would think anything after all that insanity would be anticlimactic, but no way. The second the set began to change for Static X the anticipation level in the room began to build until it was tangible. Static X is Evil Disco sonic fry. They opened their set with “Bled For Days” followed by “Permanence” and my own favorite off their latest release ‘Start a War’, the insane anger tirade “I Want To Fucking Break It”. This is a full on in your face rock show with blazing lights and Wayne Static’s signature vocals. Its also a pleasure to see Koichi back in the band, he adds some serious rock star presence to the bands line up. He fits back in seamlessly.
It was almost eerie when they played “Cold” as the lights turned way down and the music started. The crowd came close to worshipping the band and its not hard to see why. Their music is catchy yet hard and driving and they all seem to be having so much fun on stage, taking breaks to do shots. The tour managers came out and threw glitter and confetti everywhere during the set and said “Here’s to everyone partying with Static X tonight!” and what a party it was. Static X never fails to deliver.
