Being that they are basically a Swiss band they do not travel these parts often (well, not as this band maybe… as Eluveitie… ok, fair enough).  But that said when I first got into Eluveitie it was a little (very) late in the game, in fact when I started googling them they had just broken up ! doh!  So… the sometimes lead singer (the amazing Anna Murphy) and two members of Eluveitie (Merlin Sutter, drums and Ivo Henzi, guitars and bass) broke off and formed… Cellar Darling (the name is also the name of Anna’s quite excellent solo album)… so with all that tedious groundwork laid out….

The venue? A legendary (to some), mysterious to others (me) spot located in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, I am very familiar with the area (one of my accounts is literally up the street) but I had no idea this venue (which seems to specialize in the heavier side of the musical spectrum -yay!) even existed… and the beast is called “St. Vitus“… go ahead and check out the link, I’ll wait for you… It looks a lot worse than it actually is inside, I was sort of amused and bemused that there is absolutely no sign on the building, I kind of just drove down manhattan ave until I came to the approximate address… so I just parked… I went to where the place SHOULD be and found THE door that music was behind… and entered…

No pat down (which I was expecting, like the dork I am I wanted to bring a journal and one of my fancy metal pens… oh well, just have to use the ole noggin instead!).  Lots of cute satanic stuff adorns the walls but that is just amusing to me… I mean if you believe in satan you are acknowledging some other “good” god, unless you are of the Anton LeVey strain, but that is all a different matter and I do not want to venture off onto another tangent (as I am known to do)… on first glance you think dive bar, but this is a dressed up dive bar with actual clean corners if you look around and inspect, plus they had a good tap menu (although a beer was $8, I know it is a stone’s throw from NYC proper (ie manhattan south) but damn… either way I still tip at least a buck when I buy a drink)… I wound up having a couple of Victory Prima Pils (excellent beer)… I did not want to get buzzed in any fashion as I had a good hour drive home (god bless (or curse) the BQE and the Staten Island Expressway, oy…)… plus it was humid as balls so water was the later option (I know, ruining my party animal image…).   The room itself (stage etc) is pretty small, they say capacity is 250…woah, that has to be pushing it…. forward, I might imagine you can fit 300 in here, but only if you include the bar area (which honestly would not be the worst thing in the world…).

So I scoped out the room, picked out a spot, and anchored myself, luckily the crowd was light so planting a flag and defending my turf was not a necessity on this night, I used to be that guy who had to be up front… but with age I just want to hear everything the best I can (and finding THAT spot is a thing, being right in front sucks… trust me even though I get the urge).   So there was time to kill.. so of course I people watched (as I am known to do)… there was huge metal guy (with his denim vest from 198? with all the patches from iron maiden forward, sort of like a metal war flag of where he has been, and damn that dude is always like 6’2 or bigger, but there is always one of THAT guy at every metal show, then there is the people competing to wear the oldest concert shirts to show off their metal cred, then there is the disinterested girlfriend dragged there by their totally into metal boyfriend (I totally have been that guy), then there is the spiritual old guy with the fanny pack raising up his hands like he just don’t care with the newly bought band t-shirt tucked in, not sure if he knows where he is, then there is the friends of the local openers, easy to spot, maybe I am cynical and have been to too many concerts? nah… even though I was scoping out the soundboard setup… again I am too into this… I just was in a t-shirt and jeans with my semi soft looking merrells (they are comfy!)… besides I have been all those things I laugh at, so… not judging, more reminiscing…

So I had no idea who the opening band was… usually I could care less (or they stink worse than the skunk that died up your ass 4.5 months ago)… turns out the opener friggin ruled !  They are called Seven)Suns (apparently the “)” thing matters… they played as a trio instead of their usual quartet, which, to me made no difference because I had no idea who the hell they were anyway, so anyway… they basically are excellent classical musicians who are into the heavy stuff and cover same.. ferociously on their instruments (and I do mean ferocious!)…. now, I know not everyone (or more than 14 people at times…) read my blog but I love classical music, I also have always been under the belief that death metal and really technical metal is closer to classical music than most people understand/realize (challenging, exciting, fast, tonal changes etc etc)… so this absolutely blew me away… I think most of the audience was a bit bewildered (by observation) but I totally got it.  Nothing like banging your head to classical instrumentation…  they played a few “covers” (as if they don’t sound so original..) they had me like “what the hell is that?? I KNOW that!!??!?” for parts of the songs.  Their cover if “It’s Love” by Pantera was really damn cool, apparently they don’t like to play it because Phil Anselmo (the lead singer of pantera) did something I have no idea about and frankly am too lazy to google at the moment (I’ll get to it… but cmon, that song rules), they had great vibe and personality, Earl was very amusing and real, Jennifer and Amanda were also great.

(end part 1, I am tired man…)