Death Angel End of Tour
- Bleeding Priest
- Jul 11
- 6 min read
Milwaukee Metal Fest! Feels like we were here last year…wait a second…WE WERE!! I think this might be the first time I’ve ever played the same festival 2 years in a row. Certainly with Death Angel. No complaints from me though. Death Angel had a great time last year and this one was more of the same.
The MMF has come a long way from the borderline white power fest it was slowly becoming by the late 90’s. I went twice back then, once in 94’ or 95’ and again in 97’. The second time I went I couldn’t believe the amount of racist/nazi acceptance going on. The grab bag (every person through the front door received one) included a couple of copies of Resistance magazine.
A white power music rag. I was heartbroken when Unleashed had a feature interview in one. The comp cd that was also included in the bag featured a number of blatant racist bands. There were even vendors selling Nazi paraphernalia with screens showing Hitler highlights all day. It was a real bad trip. I didn’t want to go again and I didn’t.
The fest dried up some time in the 00’s and honestly I wasn’t sad to see it go. But in recent years Jamie Jasta of Hatebreed started it back up and has really turned it around. What once was a fest that reeked of hate and phobia was now a party. Very welcoming and inclusive to all. It’s a wonderful thing. I would recommend any Metalhead who hasn’t attended to do so. It’s truly experiencing a renaissance.
The only band I was able to catch before we went on was Gasket. These guys blew my fucking head off. These dudes from Baltimore played a raging set of well played, pissed off hardcore with a touch of Grind for good measure. They were basically Napalm Death Jr. which is not a bad thing at all. I would see them again in a heartbeat.
Last year we played the midsized room at The Rave. This time we played the main ballroom. Moving up in the world. It was one of my favorite sets of the tour. The energy from the audience was second to none and pushed us to play that much harder. Last year’s response was awesome. This year’s was ten levels above that.
After us was Obituary. It was a real treat seeing Ted and Damien’s tech Kenny do his thing with Obituary (he’s the lead guitarist). We were all lined up along both sides of the stage cheering him on. Kenny and the boys ripped the place up as Obituary always does. Honestly, they should’ve been the headliner, not Acid Bath.
Later on that evening I got to catch most of USBM legends Nunslaughter. I haven’t seen these dudes live since the early 00’s at Lucifer’s Hammer in SF. I love these dudes. They’re 100% pure of heart and the real deal. The years have been kind to them as well. They sounded even more vicious and hateful than before. Drenched in blood and corpse paint they sounded as ugly as they looked. It was fun talking about their Bay Area shows from 20 years earlier. Super nice guys.
Lastly, I caught some of Acid Bath. Look, I’m a fan. I’ve been listening to When The Kite String Pops since it was released and the follow up is rad as well but I don’t quite understand the hysteria revolving around them since they reformed. I watched a good 4 or 5 songs and they put on a good show but it seemed Obituary had the larger, louder audience.
I would’ve watched more of their set but the band had a closed stage and security were being dicks about where you could stand to watch them. There wasn’t an issue with any other band, just them. That kinda put a damper on things as well. I don’t know, I would definitely see them again if they ever rolled through so I can give their set the full attention it deserves. It's emotionally charged, intense music that I need to go all in with.
I failed to mention that we got to the fest a day early and The Giants were in town playing The Brewers. I went with our tour manager Andrew (who’s a total Dodgers nut) and a couple of the guys from the Beatles/Metallica mashup band Beatallica. The Giants won something like 12 to 9. I saw a grand slam!! Good times.
Wichita had a gem of a Metal shop called The Gate. This place was a Heavy Metal time warp complete with magazine racks with old Kerrrang’s, shelves full of Metal vhs tapes, 80’s Metal poster slats and leather…lots of leather. I hit it off with the owner (who’s name eludes me at the moment) and we talked about Wichita Metal bands (Manila Road, Dead Orchestra, Dementia etc.) for like an hour. I’m stoked I went and I sold a few records to boot.
In Colorado Springs I went to a pretty neat Record Store called What’s Left Records. This place reminded me of the infamous old SF record store Mission Records…without the meth and scum punks living in the walls. It was a total DIY type of shop with lots of stock and a great selection.
What was really cool was the stage at the back of the store. They have shows there and the stage was bigger than the one Death Angel played on across the street at the “official” venue. They provide a backline as well which impressed the hell out of me.
The craziest thing is that Erik from Old Grandad was performing there a few days later. It’s not crazy he’d play a record store, the guy would play a funeral in the woods if it paid….joking, joking. Seriously, he plays lots of off the beaten path type of spots. It’s just crazy he was playing a couple of days after I was there. What are the chances?
When we hit the West Coast all shows were off the hook minus San Luis Obispo. That show was rough. We played Sac the night before and being that we weren’t hitting The Bay on this run that was pretty much our hometown show and it certainly felt like it. And we DEFINITELY played like it. That was probably the best gig I’ve ever done in Sacramento.
Thanks to bands like Parabellum (and others) there seems to be things brewing in our state capitol. Sac has always been hit or miss, and even when it was a hit it was only a double. Definitely never a home run. That seems to be changing because that gig was RAGING!! So needless to say we were all pretty beat when we got to SLO. Not to mention the seven weeks of touring behind us. But we gave it our all though. Good thing it was more of a “selective audience” down there.
The SoCal gigs were awesome, especially Santa Ana which came as a bit of a surprise. The place was on the larger side but the crowds came out and they brought it. I think that was the show Brian Posehn came out to. Always great catching up with him. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to get into Star Wars. We might still be there.
The final show in Santa Cruz was a perfect way to wrap things up. Friends and family came down and there was definitely a sense of accomplishment amongst the band and crew.
Speaking of the crew, they were hands down the best we’ve ever had. A fun bunch of scallywags if I’ve seen one. A complete mirror opposite from the miserable, asshole crew we had on the first US leg. Everybody got along. No, scratch that, everybody had a BLAST!! Things ran so smoothly, I never had to worry about a thing.
I don’t know how my tech Zack parties as hard as he does til 5 am almost nightly and still does such an outstanding job. I guess I was his age once and you can count your chickens that I partied just as frequently and as hard. I get it.
So that’s a wrap! Actually not really. As soon as I got home I jumped into the world of Nefarious. To be continued…
–Bleeding Priest
