1 LIVE REVIEWS: 4 Days in the Life

Skelator at Chop Suey

Rocktober was sort of a let down but the beginning of November has already made up for the lull in killer live action. Not to brag, but I love my life.

Thursday November 3rd

It all began on November 3rd where Smooth Sailing took on Great Falls in the latest Grudge Match: Rock and Roll Family Feud event. The game show / rock show happens the first Thursday of each month and is hosted by ex-Bloodhag frontman Prof. Jake Stratton. Great Falls murdered Smooth Sailing by close to 800 points. It was a shellacking of epic proportions but that didn't stop Smooth Sailing from bringing the thunder as only they can. Great Falls tore through some of the new tunes recently released on their Coextinction Records digital EP. Coextinction is an all digital label project owned and operated by musicians Dave Curran (Unsane, Players Club, Pigs), James Paradise (Fresh Kills, Players Club, Pigs), producer Andrew Schneider (Slughog, Pigs) and Chris Spencer (Unsane) It's worth checking out for the roster alone.

Friday November 4th

This was the night of the big release party for The Spits' 5th LP. Chop Suey was sold out by the time The Spits hit the stage in orange prison jumpsuits and kicked everyone in the face, as they tend to do. The Spits are the greatest, but they also had some stellar opening acts. Seattle's purveyors of true fucking heavy metal, Skelator, unleashed a shredtastic and impressive onslaught of old school  metal. They also have one of the best all-around metal vocalists in the city. Skelator is fucking badass, check them out! Also on the bill were Mouthbreathers and Deadkill.

Down the street at Healthy Times Fun Club Monogamy Party and MNTSS were throwing down as part of the final week of shows the DYI venue was having before being closed down by the city. Get those two bands together on the same stage and all hell typically breaks loose. Monogamy Party played a new song that blew my mind.

Saturday November 5th

After spending the day at Red Room Studios hanging with the Absolute Monarchs as they laid down tracks with Matt Bayles for their debut record, it was off to KEXP to hang with Monogamy Party, who were doing an in-studio on "Sonic Reducer". It was a blast slugging beers with my right hand man Mr. Howard at KEXP studios (and all weekend for that matter), and the guys killed it of course. The session should be available on kexp.org in the near future.

Me at Red Room w/ Shawn and Miki of Absolute Monarchs

Monogamy Party at KEXP

After the in-studio it was off to the Funhouse for the amazing bill of Sirhan Sirhan, Android Hero, Rabbits, and Deadkill once again. This night proved to be one of the best nights of live music I had seen in some time. One after another each band on this stacked lineup outdid the next in shear sonic mind crushing power. This was my first time seeing San Diego's Sirhan Sirhan live, and they were incredible. Android Hero played one of the best sets I've seen from them ever! AH had a new limited edition CDEP available at the live show. It features 3 new songs and two excellent covers; Tacocat's "UTI" and a scorching rendition of Big Black's "Steel Worker". These are limited to 100, so don't miss out.

Sunday November 6th

I almost slept on the Mastodon show at Showbox Sodo but a last minute hook up had me through the door and front row when Red Fang hit the stage. Red Fang kill it every damn time, and now that they are opening for the biggest bands in metal and playing giant stages it only makes those rowdy Sunset Tavern shows all the more special. The dudes are kicking ass and taking names, and it seems metal heads everywhere are as stoked as we were the first time we heard the band. Dillinger Escape Plan was the only bummer of the weekend. I'm so over their boring technical screamo BS. Great players but sooooo played. Mastodon ran through a bunch of the catchy new tunes and played a surprisingly large amount of "Blood Mountain" before I called it a night. They ruled of course, but having "Blood Mountain" producer Matt Bayles tell me behind the scenes studio stories about that recording experience during the show was the real capper to an extremely eventful weekend.

Posted by Nik Christofferson