By Andrew Bansal
May 1st 2014, The Echo, Los Angeles CA: In an endeavor to continue spreading their devastation, Oxnard CA power violence tyrants Nails embarked on a five-date US West Coast run, starting with a hometown show at the Echo in Los Angeles last night. Accompanying them on this tour are Washington-based bands Iron Lung and Bone Sickness along with fellow Southern California outfit Skinfather, and as special local guests for this particular show, LA death/grindcore veterans Nausea were thrown in the mix as well. Presented by FYF, Numbskull Productions and Vacation Vinyl, the show attracted its expected amount of buzz as the LA hardcore/grind/power violence/crust punk fans turned up in good numbers to show their support.
Doors opened at 7 and promptly at 7:30, Skinfather opened things up with a non-stop 25-minute barrage laden with riffs, grooves, breakdowns and death metal vocals. Theirs was perhaps the most riff-based set of the evening and they certainly stood out amidst these five bands in that sense. I saw them open for The Funeral Pyre at the Five Star Bar last year, and as much as I love the Five Star, this set at a bigger, better-sounding Echo was a more accurate indication of their musical style stage presence. Their debut LP ‘None Will Mourn’ just released via Streetcleaner Records, and for fans of the bands on this touring package that are also into music leaning towards a riff/groove-based death metal approach, check out Skinfather on this tour.
Skinfather links:
facebook.com/SkinfatherOfficial
Skinfather.bandcamp.com
twitter.com/SkinfatherCA
Next up, Olympia WA’s Bone Sickness played a set of a similar duration and were a notable change in comparison to Skinfather, with a generally more violent and chaotic brand of extreme music, although it did consist of tempo changes even within this short amount of time. Their drummer Mitch did most of the vocals, with bassist Sam sharing some of the vocal duties as well. They seemed to get a decent response from the Nails fans gathered here, and their participation in this lineup seemed very much justified.
Bone Sickness links:
facebook.com/BoneSickness
The show was running quite swiftly and before we knew it, it was time for Nausea to hit the stage and present their brand of old-school death/grind. The Oscar Garcia-led quartet pummeled the Echo with a solid representation of their long history, including a couple of tunes off of their new full-length album ‘Condemned To The System’, their first in 23 years. Aside from Garcia’s ever-strong efforts on guitar and vocals, longstanding drummer Eric Castro, guitarist Leon del Müerte and bassist Alejandro Corredor played crucial roles in collectively laying down an absolutely crushing sound. This was a better Nausea live experience as compared to their set at the Observatory opening for Carcass in March, as the smaller size and the generally more tight-knit nature of the Echo and its crowd allowed the intensity of their performance to be heightened tenfold. The release of the new album has definitely spurred them onto being more active and playing shows on a regular basis, which is great to see as they’re undoubtedly a great live band. More to come from Nausea in the near future, I’m sure.
Nausea links:
facebook.com/NauseaLA
Iron Lung, a two-piece band from Seattle WA, took the stage next and lent their interpretation of extreme music to this show with a blend of hardcore punk and power violence. Based on the evolution of the rock/metal genre in the past decade or so, it’s clear that two-piece bands are the new phenomenon, as bands in this category, Indian Handcrafts, Black Cobra and Tweak Bird coming to mind straightaway, are doing greatly creative and unique things with their music. Iron Lung succeeded in forming a positive first impression on me with their 20-minute set led by Jensen Ward on drums and vocals and supported ably by Jon Kortland on guitar. They’ve been around for almost 15 years now, and they showed their experience through the sheer strength of this particular performance. It’s hard to see why a fan of extreme music wouldn’t appreciate what Iron Lung is doing.
Iron Lung links:
LifeIronLungDeath.blogspot.com
And finally at around 10:25, Nails got their turn to do what they’re best at. They obliterated this venue when opening for Bl’ast earlier this year, and this time was no different in that regard as they once again brought forth their vicious brutality to appease their hometown fans. Vocalist/guitarist Todd Jones with his new hairdo carried a Phil Anselmo-like presence, at least when viewed from a distance, and gave it his all to portray Nails’ music exactly the way it requires to be, with excellent support from this three band mates. After starting out with a few fast ones that got the mosh pits rolling at full tilt, the latter half of this Nails set decidedly took a turn towards a doom-based sound, as a result of some of the longer tunes off of their latest LP ‘Abandon All Life’. As much as they’re known for the fast power-violence style, I can really appreciate their slower, heavier side as well, and to me this set showed that they’re equally great at both. They’re almost as much doom as power-violence, at least with the set they play these days. But throughout the set, the guitar tones sounded delightfully dirty and massively heavy, while the rhythm section dictated the tempo. They ended on a slightly different note, closing the evening with a short encore consisting of a cover of Straight Ahead’s ‘Breakaway’. Nails continue to bring a sense of pride to the LA extreme music community, and they’re a band I couldn’t possibly ever get tired of.
Overall, this was another fantastic display of extreme music at a sold-out Echo, and if this short tour is coming to your town in the next four days, do yourselves a favor and attend it.
Nails links:
AbandonAllLife.com
facebook.com/NailsOxnard
twitter.com/NailsOxnard
Remaining tour dates:
5/02/2014 Constellation Room – Santa Ana, CA w/ Violent Reaction, The Flex
5/03/2014 Bottom of the Hill – San Francisco, CA
5/04/2014 Star Theatre – Portland, OR
5/05/2014 El Corazon – Seattle, WA w/ Gag
The Echo links:
TheEcho.com
facebook.com/EchoLA
twitter.com/TheEchoLA
instagram.com/TheEchoLA