By Andrew Bansal
September 12th 2015, Complex, Glendale CA: Australian grindmasters King Parrot released their second full-length album ‘Dead Set’ via Housecore Records earlier this year, and in the leadup to a North American support run with Cattle Decapitation, they announced three album release headline shows in California with local support acts, starting with Fresno and then driving down to the Los Angeles area before hitting San Diego. King Parrot arrived at Complex in Glendale on Saturday September 12 2015 for a Church Of The 8th Day presented event featuring Crowned By Fire, P.D.P. and Grand Lord High Master as openers. On an extremely busy concert night in town, locals were putting their faith in King Parrot by choosing to attend this show, and the band proved to be more than worthy of it.
Doors opened at 8 and the show started at 9 as Grand Lord High Master played a short set to give the audience a taste of their intriguingly strange brand of musicianship which creates an equally strong impression whether they’re sharing the stage with a band like Castle or King Parrot. Unlike the two bands that followed them, they were an appropriate support act for this show, and for that reason, perhaps should have been at least one slot higher on the bill. They are one of the rare entities in the Los Angeles scene that are successfully able to combine technical prowess with an entertaining live show, as most other local/hometown bands seem to posess either one of those qualities, not both. Besides King Parrot, Grand Lord High Master turned out to be the only worthwhile part of this event.
Next up were P.D.P., and just like Grand Lord High Master, their last gig in the area was also as an opening act for Castle at a Church Of The 8th Day presented Loaded Hollywood gig, but while on that occasion they had their local fans cheering them on, they failed to make a positive impact on this Complex audience and a majority of attendees trickled out of the door into the smokers’ alley outside. P.D.P.’s Meshuggah worship did not strike the right chord with this audience.
Unfortunately for the unsuspecting attendees, things got only worse when the next band Crowned By Fire took the stage with their Sabbath/BLS/Pantera inspired style of music. Taking inspiration from bands that have inspired countless others is one thing, but executing it is another, and Crowned By Fire did not succeed in doing so with this performance. Audiences at Complex are usually very open-minded towards diverse lineups and definitely do not expect every band to sound like the headliner, but Crowned By Fire simply did not do anything to hold anyone’s attention. The door kept opening every few seconds as people exited the venue at a rapid rate. By the mid-way point of the set, the smokers’ alley was more densely populated than the insides of Complex and was indeed a living nightmare for the handful of non-smokers but in the end, it was still more tolerable than the band on stage.
The anxiety and anticipation for the headline act grew tenfold as a result of the zero-impact sets by the two bands preceding them. King Parrot hit the stage at 11:40 for an 18-song set comprising as many as 8 from the latest album, and delivered the kind of performance only they themselves are capable of. They succeeded in extracting a response from the audience livelier than ever seen before at this venue, as mosh pits rolled constantly throughout the set, with some people even daring to crowd-surf and stage-dive, which almost never happens here. The band had a case of bottled water at their disposal, and by the end of the set, frontman Matt Young had gone through all of it, not by drinking it but by pouring it onto the audience. It was clearly very important for him to engage the entire venue, and he compelled everyone to get involved in the show, roaming the room in the middle of a song and screaming in people’s faces at one point. Unless you’re passed out cold, like one drunk dude here was, if you’re at a King Parrot show, you are definitely doing nothing else but watching King Parrot.
That said, King Parrot is by no means all about the visual antics. Musically, the band has already achieved expertise in combining grindcore with other elements like thrash, punk and sludge in a manner that has an appeal and reach beyond the grindcore fan-base. ‘Dead Set’ is second to none in this year’s extreme music releases, and has empowered King Parrot to a live show that’s more menacing and entertaining than ever. In addition to Matt Young’s insane frontmanship, bass player Slatts kept the humor quotient of the set high throughout, and together the five members combined to put forth an unforgettable show.
It was heartening to note that the turnout here was far, far better than King Parrot’s last LA headline show at the Satellite in 2014, and even though the band deserves bigger stages and audiences, hopefully they will still continue to do smaller shows because the intensity and entertainment value would be slightly lost otherwise. I could have gone to any one of ten different shows on this date, but I absolutely do not regret choosing King Parrot over shows featuring ZZ Top, Stryper, Social Distortion and Teenage Time Killers, as nothing could have possibly matched the insanity of King Parrot. This was one for the ages.
Check out Arturo Gallegos’ video coverage of the entire show here.
Set List:
01. The Stench Of Hardcore Pub Trash
02. Epileptic Butcher
03. Anthem Of The Advance Sinner
04. Need No Savior
05. Sick In The Head
06. Home Is Where The Gutter Is
07. Cold Steel Probe
08. Dead End
09. Hell Comes Your Way
10. Like A Rat
11. Lizard
12. Psychotherapy And Valium
13. Blaze In The Northern Suburbs
14. Dead Set
15. Bozo
16. Tomorrow Turns To Blood
17. Shit On The Liver
18. Silly Ol’ Mate
Remaining Tour Dates:
Headline shows:
09/13 – Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
The North American Extinction Tour w/ Cattle Decapitation, Black Crown Initiate, Dark Sermon:
09/15 – Boardwalk - Sacramento, CA
09/16 – Analog - Portland, OR
09/17 – El Corazon - Seattle, WA
09/18 – Rickshaw Theater - Vancouver, BC
09/19 – Level - Kelowna, BC
09/20 – Nite Owl - Calgary, AB
09/21 – Starlite - Edmonton, AB
09/22 – Exchange - Regina, SK
09/23 – The Zoo - Winnipeg, MB
09/24 – Q & Z Center - Ringle, WI
09/25 – Reggies - Chicago, IL
09/26 – Macs - Lansing, MI
09/27 – Hard Luck - Toronto, ON
09/28 – Mavericks - Ottawa, ON
09/29 – LAnti - Quebec City, QC
09/30 – Les Foufounes Electriques - Montreal, QC
10/01 – Club Metronome - Burlington, VT
10/02 – Basement Transmissions - Erie, PA
10/03 – Broadway Joes - Buffalo, NY
10/04 – Cafe 611 - Frederick, MD
10/05 – Brighton Music Hall - Allston, MA
10/07 – Masquerade - Atlanta, GA