By Andrew Bansal
August 18th 2013, Five Star Bar, Los Angeles CA: As they say, whenever someone or something goes missing for a while, you start to realize their importance, you truly miss them, and you want them to come back, even though you took them for granted when they were actually around you. For me, the same can be said about Los Angeles-based extreme metal band The Funeral Pyre. Ever since vocalist John Strachan joined Early Graves, The Funeral Pyre has been a bit on the back burner, and don’t get to play shows anywhere near as regularly as they used to, even around the LA area. In the meanwhile, Early Graves guitarist Chris Brock also joined The Funeral Pyre. Last night, the band played their first show in a long time, and for me it was the first time seeing them since they played with The Secret at the good ol’ Blvd in April of 2011. The venue appropriately chosen for this occasion was the Five Star Bar, and in support were Primitive Man, Reproacher, Skinfather and Humanerror, for a show once again brought to us by the tireless local promoters in Thee Static Age. For fans of The Funeral Pyre and for the LA underground faithful, it was time to get stoked.
Recently, I’ve found myself guilty of arriving at shows much later than usual and ended up missing the opening bands as a result. That’s really not my style because I’m not your typically jaded LA concert goer, and I felt bad. So this time, I ensured I got to the Five Star Bar to catch the entire show.
I reached at around 8:10 PM as the bands were still setting up their merch stands and the first band of the night, Humanerror began their set at 8:30. This band from Dallas, Texas, gave the show a great start with their blend of hardcore punk, doom, death and grind. They were probably the only band that’s ever played this venue to make use of the depth of the stage, with the bassist actually positioned behind the drummer. They channeled their collective angst into the music very well and presented themselves excellently for people who might have been seeing them for the first time. The band has been around since 2009, and I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of them.
HumanerrorTX.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/HumanerrorTX
Southern California’s own Skinfather were up next. They provided a change in musical style as compared to the previous band, with some death/thrash/doom alternating between slow and fast passages. The vocalist of this band stood in front of the stage rather than on it, to be closer to the crowd. I did enjoy the thunderous bass sound and the rhythm guitar parts, but the bass was a little too loud and was washing away the guitar sound almost completely. The lead guitarist on stage left looked like he was doing some sweet solos but unfortunately we couldn’t hear much of it. Despite the imbalance in sound, the band’s music and attitude still came across pretty good.
Skinfather.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/Skinfatherofficial
twitter.com/SkinfatherCA
Reproacher, a band literally from the middle of nowhere in the USA, i.e. Cheyenne, Wyoming, took the stage next and obliterated this place with their brand of hardcore. This was a true exhibition of hardcore, done through the music alone and not requiring any stage antics whatsoever. But even under the guise of hardcore, there was plenty of diversity in their music, and there was an unmistakable flow to their set as it moved between varying types of passages. Sound-wise too, they got their mix right. This band is yet another proof of the fact that no one in our community can be Mr./Ms. ‘Know All’, because when there’s talent in places like Cheyenne WY, there’s obviously a lot left to explore in the American metal scene.
Reproacher.com
facebook.com/Repr0acher
twitter.com/Reproacher
Denver, Colorado-based doom/sludge trio Primitive Man followed, for their first ever live appearance in Los Angeles. This band is fronted by vocalist/guitarist Ethan Lee McCarthy who was previously in the band (hold your breath) Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire, and since that band became inactive, Primitive Man started out in early 2012 and released their debut full-length ‘Scorn’ via Relapse Records earlier this year. Their stage setup was interesting, with Ethan and his bassist standing in front of the stage but with their backs to the audience. It was like a weird triangle formed between them and their drummer as he was the only one facing us. But the trio laid down some crushing tunes and even though they cut the set short because Ethan was visibly having technical issues with his guitar and tried to fix it during the set, their performance was still impressive for anyone who’s even remotely a follower of this sub-genre and I’m almost certain that Primitive Man made some new fans on this tour of theirs.
PrimitiveMandoom.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/PrimitveMandoom
twitter.com/PrimitiveMane
Unlike some past shows at this venue, things moved along rather swiftly as each of the support bands played a short set, and the setup time between bands never exceeded 20 minutes. Our headliner The Funeral Pyre were ready to go at 11:15, with the vocalist, two guitarists and bassist standing off and in front of the stage, right in our faces, and the drummer being the only one on stage. They began their onslaught, knocking back this small crowd with their monstrous wall of sound, which is not an exaggeration because that’s exactly what it felt like. John Strachan was a complete maniac on the vocals, and granted that Early Graves has been his main band in recent times, I can honestly say that he truly looked more ‘at home’ as the vocalist of The Funeral Pyre. The combined sound of the guitars, bass and drums was great even though the guitars could have been louder. The depressing, bleak melodies in The Funeral Pyre’s lead guitars were heard more clearly during vocal-less parts. They played one new unreleased song as a taste of what’s to come from the band on the next album. I look forward to that release and only wish they could have played more new songs.
The Funeral Pyre commonly gets categorized as black metal, or even worse ‘hipster black metal’, but it only takes one look and listen of their live show for anyone to realize that their music has a bit more to it than your typically generic black metal. This was by all means a successful comeback gig for the band, and we can only hope for more shows soon.
TheFuneralPyreisdead.com
TheFuneralPyre.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/TheFuneralPyre666
twitter.com/TheFuneralPyre
instagram.com/FuneralPyre
Overall, this was another great show at the Five Star Bar. The venue and the promoters it works with simply never disappoint. I commend Thee Static Age for bringing The Funeral Pyre back to life and for roping in some killer touring bands from places far elsewhere as support acts. But, it was extremely sad to note the poor turnout, which has unfortunately become a trend at shows such as these. The so-called ‘metalheads’ in LA flock to see the bigger shows but do not care to support local, underground, $5/$8 shows at places like the Five Star Bar. For the sake of the promoters, venues and bands partaking in spreading true local/underground talent, I really hope the attitude of the LA crowd changes, because without that we won’t have an actual ‘scene’.