SSS, Hail Hornet, C.O.C. asheville nc 2012

[cat shepard]

Hail Hornet were excellent last night. Great sound, good tone, and very well played. It was weird to see the guys of the group in that configuration as I have seen all there bands before and some of them several times, but what did it for me was that rather than assign them the roles that my brain wanted to and with it all of the implicit expectations,  I just took it in for what it truly was to me a new band, and I didn't worry about the movie, having spent my entire existence in the south and having lived and or lived through most of what was being shown onscreen firsthand, I just really welcomed the escape the band provided from the akwardness that the movie in a show environment vibe that I somehow put on myself. It wasn't that I was closed to the movie it's just honestly that I spent my entire childhood and adolesence fighting dudes who were always wearing rebel flags and I don't know how much of the movie I missed but alot of it was focused on that flag and it's meaning within the context of the southern steel scene or whatever, and I don't have anything but respect for those bands regardless of our differences of opinion over certain matters. The statement that "Buzzoven was my punk rock" is one that I could really connect with as that was a part of my formation as an individual. Back to Hail Hornet they had a long droney intro and then jammed out with alot of fast material meshed against sludgey metal riffs with semi intelligible screamed vox. Dixie provided an admirable selfless stance on the bass and it was somewhat emotional to watch him up on that big stage as I think back to a time of gigs in very small dives or even shops that weren't even good fits for weedeater and were put on knowing that they or we wouldn't be allowed back as a result of having manipulated them into said venue only to have him puke everywhere and horrify the regular clientele into disgust all the while 7 or 8 of us just laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the goings ons, in other words they were like a true super group of stoned out southern bands and I dug it. It was pleasant to see them getting there deserved due.  Got cold chills in one song and forgot the name of it , the chills came during a rave up part that broke into a lead over the bass doing a bunch of fast high on the neck stuff for a few bars and then back to the fast part and then back into the lead. I thought Zoroaster was going to play but if they did it was before the movie but I don't think they did.
   C.O.C. imploded a couple of times, it was kind of like a passing of the torch for NC metal royalty or something.
I suggest that people check this out, Lest my take on the movie be misconstrued as a slam, im sure people all over the country and even the south will dig it, it received a lot of applause last night, I am just a dude that grew up in a very redneck area and have spent many minutes in viscous hand to hand combat with ignorant red necks so I am still dealing with my southern demons or something. In the spirit of no shit storm,
but still ignorant redneck hatin and in agreeance of Dixie's statement in the movie of "racism doesn't stand up to thought"
cat shepard

[black]

Fun review of the Hail! Hornet set and the other goings on, man. I also enjoy learning a little bit about folks that post here. Thanks for both.

[khoomeizhi]

honestly, i half-expected some ignorant redneck to take issue with some of the anti-racist statements in the movie. i could feel some discomfort from some there, anyway. i'm originally from the north, so i recognize that my view of the rebel flag as an emblem is different from a lot of the locals...and while i still doubt i'll be donning it any time soon, i may be able to 'get' it a bit more now. i think it might be hard to do a documentary on nasty southern metal and not mention the confederate flag, since it's one of the more obvious things about some of those bands (to the uninitiated, at least).

either way, i enjoyed the movie. how high did the dude who's not in zoroaster anymore look in that one scene with the drummer talking? beyond time and space, maaan.

hail!hornet ruled...clearly a bunch of professionals. watching dixie have time to do all the knee-walking and ballet is great. i love how hip-hop so much of t.roy's stage show is with them (mostly the bumpin' to the beat with one hand out while he screamed). dug it.

the 'new' coc...i could dig it when they played the old stuff, but quite honestly, my girl and i went home and watched star trek: next generation on netflix instead of staying 'til they were done.

seriously, i liked the movie a lot...but when is rwake going to tour again already?!? i get the conflict of interest thing, but their absence in the movie was conspicuous. bring me rest on tour, please, when this is done.

[Metal and Beer]

I'm missing this right now; I'm getting so good at missing shows, it's becoming second nature   

[khoomeizhi]

someone stopped me at work today to declare that they saw me at this show, and how disappointing was COC? said they dropped it in vote with a bullet...this was a 40-something lady i didn't see or expect to see there.