The first band that came on after I got there was Though He Slay Me. They were pretty tight but lost points on the non-metal looking front. I know, I know, the music doesn’t really have anything to do with the look but is it reaqlly that hard to change out of your street clothes?

The next band up was one I’m going to call The Band After Though He Slay Me because they never said their fucking name. Anyway, the set was tighter and they had the look down better (although its pretty hard to look like a really BAMF when you’re a 17 year old suburban white kid) but I didn’t like the music quite as much.

The next band was Steryle from Roxboro. These guys rocked. The performance was tight and the music was good. I’ definitely planning one catching these guys again.

After Steryle was on, something else came up and I left before the last bands played. Sorry. Shit happens sometime.

First up let me say again PIMP YOUR SHIT. I have no idea who the first two bands were but all five were what I would call mathcore/experimental/hardcore. I’m about 100% sure one of them was Christian (which is fine) but since one of the components of mathcore is unintelligible vocals we’ll never know for sure. The first band was good and their drummer was amazing. I talked to the bass player for a little while at the merch table and he told me their name but now I’ve forgotten it.  So now I’m beginning to think pimp your shit should include business (music?) cards to give away at shows since some of us destroyed our short term memories in the 70′s and 80′s.

Knife the Glitter played without any vocals. I think they said something about why but I was getting a beer and didn’t hear. They sounded good regardless.

The Number Twelve Looks Like You was on next. They’re  seriously mathcore. They were technically excellent. The problem is that I have to be in the mood for mathcore kind of like jazz fusion and I really wasn’t feeling it on Friday. Again, the band was technically excellent and the energy level was high.

Dillinger Escape Plan was the headliner and they lived up to expectations (see above disclaimer). They tore it up on Black Bubblegum.

It was one of the largest crowds I’ve seen at The Brewery lately which is pretty impressive considering it was a $16 show. Of course for me half of the fun of live music is people watching and this show was no different. My favorite two moments were the really hot girl in the very short denim shorts and fishnets that bumped into me then asked if I had touched her ass.  I said I had and that if she’d warn me next time I’d grab it instead  which she clearly wasn’t prepared for so she hung around and we talked for awhile. The other was the chick that was standing in front of me late in the show with her boyfriend. She was clearly there because he was and very clearly not enjoying herself. I should have shot some video since she was a case study in pissy body language. Every time somebody bumped her from behind she acted like they were trying to dry hump her.

At one point she looked at her bf and said “Is he saying ‘I want your soul’? it sounds like he’s saying ‘Iwant your soul’. (He was). The best part was when somebody up in the mosh pit threw a partially full bottle of water back our way. It didn’t come within more than about 10 feet of us but she freaked and looked at him and said, “I don’t like that. What was that?” He kind of ignored her the whole time and I was thinking to myself ‘Dude, you’re going to be paying for this for weeks.’

If you happen to be reading this my only advice to you is: Dump the stiff and find somebody who’s into the same things as you. Life is too short, dude.

Anissa Rodriguez

The second band was Eyes Set to Kill from Tempe, AZ (essentially Phoenix, was it Arizona night at the Brewery?). They were really good. Jammin’ songs, good sound and an interesting hook… Eyes Set To Kill was formed by 2 sisters which is something you just don’t see every day in the world of metal. I think March of the Dead is my favorite track off their new CD. For the record,  I’d like to note that Anissa Rodriguez is my new favorite female bass player. Seriously talented and really pretty. I was sort of hoping to talk to them after the show. Anissa walked by and said ‘hi’ and Brandon wandered back and forth a couple of times to the merch table but it was while SEA was playing and trying to have anything resembling a conversation while a band is playing in The Brewery is an exercise in futility.

Next up was In Fear and Faith, they had a really interesting line-up… two full time vocalists. It would have been cool if you could have heard either one of them. For this beginning of the first song I thought they were having mic problems then I realized whoever was running sound just didn’t have it turned up enough. It’s a shame really because from the stuff on myspace they both have really good voices and use the vocals to their advantage. As usual, it’s hard to tell whether that’s the fault of the band or the Brewery.

Sky Eats Airplane closed up the show. They did a passably good job.  They did an exceptionally cool cover of Nookie by Limp Bizkit. It was fucking miserably hot in The Brewery by the time they came on. All things considered it was a really good night. I took a couple of pics with my fly new camera but haven’t pulled them off yet. Today is the first 2009 Downtown Live with Candlebox headlining so I’ll get a bunch of pictures and post them tomorrow. Toodles.