{"id":11842,"date":"2016-07-07T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T04:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/?p=11842"},"modified":"2016-07-08T17:11:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-09T00:11:58","slug":"decks-druids-rock-n-roll-inaugural-magic-metal-con-takes-place-in-ventura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/2016\/07\/07\/decks-druids-rock-n-roll-inaugural-magic-metal-con-takes-place-in-ventura\/","title":{"rendered":"Decks, Druids & Rock N’ Roll: Inaugural ‘Magic & Metal’ Con Takes Place In Ventura"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Cliff Montgomery<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"mnm_marquee\"<\/a><\/p>\n

July 2nd 2016, Majestic Ventura Theater, Ventura CA: <\/strong>The realms of heavy metal and fantasy have always had an interlinking bond, whether it be in lyrical themes or imagery, and both metalheads as well as\u00a0fantasy\/magic\/video game\/comic book fans\u00a0can perhaps be considered nerds\/geeks in equal measure, because let’s face it, neither is supposed to be ‘cool’ in popular culture. Combining these two worlds into one is the main concept behind the Magic & Metal Con, and its inaugural edition took place at the Majestic Ventura Theater in the cozy little beach town of Ventura, California last Saturday July 2nd 2016.<\/p>\n

Vendors selling a variety of clothing, jewelry, art and other wares set up shop early on in the morning, and doors to the theater were opened at 1 PM. The $20 day pass granted ticket holders entry to the entirety of the event, while the $10 concert ticket gave access to merely the live music and entertainment which commenced several hours later. Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering card-playing tournaments were being held in a room upstairs, and attendees were allowed to sign up for free with event sponsor Hypno Comics at their booth. DJ Also<\/a><\/strong> was spinning the rock and metal jams all day long, until the clock struck 7 and it was time for the on-stage activities to begin in full swing. Starting off was stand-up comedian Ron Swallow<\/a><\/strong>, followed by the first musical act Aaron Orbit<\/a><\/strong>. I wasn’t quite able to pay close attention to either of them\u00a0because of other commitments during that part of the evening, but I did catch a sizable portion of (mostly) instrumental stoner rock trio Brilliant Machine<\/a><\/strong>‘s set and was impressed by what I heard. Despite the near complete absence of vocals, their set was compelling and dynamic, and fans of the genre would be well-served to give this band a try.<\/p>\n

\"Brilliant<\/a>
Brilliant Machine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next up, adding the Los Angeles flavor to the mostly 805-centric proceedings at this event were stoner doom quintet Sisters Ov The Blackmoon<\/a><\/strong>, who easily turned out to be the most ‘metal’ band that participated in this edition of the Magic & Metal Con. I’ve seen this band perform on much smaller stages at LA venues like Viper Room, Whisky and Complex, but they took upon the challenge of this massive theater stage and new environment expertly and not only handled being out of their typical LA\/Hollywood ‘comfort zone’, but succeeded in impressing one and all in attendance. Heavy riffs abound, catchy hooks galore, and a powerful lead singing voice at the forefront, Sisters Ov The Blackmoon have everything it takes to play stages of this size on a much more regular basis. Their trip to Ventura for this gig was most certainly not in vain.<\/p>\n

\"Sisters<\/a>
Sisters Ov The Blackmoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next up was perhaps the nerdiest and most comical portion of the evening, as Kirby’s Dream Band<\/a><\/strong> took the stage to perform a set of video game themes and indeed fully brought each tune to life. I wasn’t familiar with a lot of what they were playing but the manner in which the band presented these tunes actually compels even those that aren’t video game fans to engage and explore. Kirby’s Dream Band is the ideal blend of musical talent and entertainment, and is recommended to just about anyone and everyone reading this site.<\/p>\n

\"Kirby's<\/a>
Kirby’s Dream Band<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And lastly, headlining and closing the show were hometown nerd-themed boogie rock quartet Gygax<\/a><\/strong>, who much like Sisters Ov The Blackmoon had only performed on far smaller stages up until this gig. Having toured with them on their 9-show ‘Quest In The West’ through the U.S. West Coast, which ended two days prior to this event, I have seen Gygax play tiny bars and clubs, some of which aren’t even as big as this stage, leave alone the theater. It was refreshing and intriguing to witness them in this setting, and they emerged triumphant with what was probably their best-sounding set till date, as the theater’s sound man knew exactly what he was doing, not always the case when dealing with in-house sound crew. Folks in attendance were clearly in awe of this band and years down the road, would recollect memories from this evening and consider themselves fortunate for being witness to what could be the metamorphosis of Gygax.<\/p>\n

\"Gygax\"<\/a>
Gygax<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the flip side, the turnout at this event left a whole lot to be desired, and can be attributed to late booking and lack of promotion, partly due to the fact that Gygax was on tour during the critical two weeks in the lead-up to it. In hindsight it could have been held at a smaller venue, but the temptation of the ambiance and infrastructure that the theater provides was probably too hard to resist. That said, it’s a novel concept that has tremendous scope, and will hopefully be organized again in the years to come, because in all likelihood it will be far more successful than its inaugural edition.<\/p>\n

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Review by Andrew Bansal, photos by Cliff Montgomery July 2nd 2016, Majestic Ventura Theater, Ventura CA: The realms of heavy metal and fantasy have always had an interlinking bond, whether it be in lyrical themes or imagery, and both metalheads as well as\u00a0fantasy\/magic\/video game\/comic book fans\u00a0can perhaps be considered nerds\/geeks in equal measure, because let’s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Decks, Druids & Rock N’ Roll: Inaugural ‘Magic & Metal’ Con Takes Place In Ventura”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11842"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11858,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11842\/revisions\/11858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/metalassault.com\/gig_reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}