Metal Sludge Tour 6/03

Part 8 in my review series...

"WOW! What can I say? This MSX Tour rocks! Metal Sludge Tour Extravaganza it is! I'm from Des Moines and J-Dub and I made the travel last Thursday night to Clear Lake, IA. I've never been before and hadn't really known that it was the last place Buddy Holly played. J-Dub and I work at Best Buy in Des Moines (he's a manager and I'm a lowly computer tech) and we try to hit a few shows in Iowa, such as Def Leppard in Council Bluffs, Journey/Styx/REO in Ames, and maybe Alice Cooper at Clear Lake. He's the one that introduced me to Sludge and also gave me a T-shirt. As a matter of fact, we were the only ones wearing Metal Sludge T's at the Clear Lake show.

On the way up to Clear Lake, we passed an SUV with two chunky girls who had their video camera out. I'm not sure what for, but we were passed a few times and filmed. Maybe it's because J-Dub was drinking and I was driving. Maybe they wanted a beer, too. I don't know. We thought they might be headed to Clear Lake, too, but we didn't see them. We lost them when J-Dub started having to take pee breaks. No, he wasn't drunk. This is just a natural thing when having an alcoholic beverage of choice. Besides, who would show up to a show like this wasted only to not be able to take in every single thing that was going on? Oh, there was one guy...

When we got to the Surf Ballroom there was a small line outside. We read on their site that the doors were to open at 7pm, but it was after 7:30pm that the doors finally opened. It didn't matter much since there was no hint of a crowd. I was really disappointed at the turn out. These bands deserve a lot better crowd. We finally got in and checked out the merch table. It was really weird seeing Pretty Boy Floyd had so many more T-shirts available than either Faster Pussycat or Enuff Z'Nuff. There were tons of signed drum heads, several CD's that were NOT band CD's, signed drum sticks, and more. There was a DVD that had the Newlydeads on it, a CD that Chip produced, two CD's from Monaco. There wasn't a single Faster Pussycat CD. No Pretty Boy Floyd CD's, except for the 3 song promo disc they readed for their European trip, and one Enuff Z'Nuff CD. (Well, I did see one CD, Animals With Human Intelligence, that they put on the table when I pointed it out.) I bought the Pretty Boy Floyd disc, over-priced at $10 (hey, I'm a fan and was willing to support them, but it's still high for 3 songs), the EZN CD Welcome To Blue Island (probably under-priced with 14 tracks, but it was pretty fair since they covered that awful band Nirvana), and the FP 8x10. Oh, and J-Dub and I got the two Sludge pins! Everybody from the bands signed my stuff, except Danny, FP's bass player. He wasn't anywhere to be found after the show. I would have loved to see even a teaser CD of new FP material and/or some full PBF CD's.

After a while, I lost track of time, the show was underway. PBF came out and totally shook everyone awake. These guys just tore it up! Lesli and Chadpole hit the front of the stage running. I've never seen these guys before, but am glad I caught the lineup that night. Chad was bleeding shortly into the set all over his guitar. Steve still has his voice and led the 100-150 people there (maybe I'm over-estimating) into the best set of the night. I got to take one strum on Chad's guitar as he stuck it over our heads and Steve stuck the mic in my face for a quick line in a chorus. They did this to several people and had everyone totally into their music. I got to visit with each of them afterwards (especially Chad) and asked them about the new stuff coming out later this year. I told them all that they sound great when going for a punk style vibe. Steve's voice sounds killer on the stuff that has that punk edge to it. These guys really aren't a Pretty Boy band. They rock like their lives depend on it. Dish explained the song 727 to me when I had them autograph their CD. Sorry to hear that news, but Dish, I really listened to it on the way home and several times since and you were right about each song. F$ck The Rock is better than you give credit, though. Chad, keep rocking out, man. You and Lesli give so much energy when you swing those axes. Steve was the consumate frontman and was very cool to visit with. It's a shame you guys aren't so much more popular! Keep giving it your all!

Enuff Z'Nuff was up next and I gotta admit that I was visiting with PBF through about the first 1/3 of their set. I could hear it fine, though. Monaco really is the voice that everyone has written about. I heard She Wants More and kinda perked up and turned around during that song. I finally made my way back to the floor and EZN sounded so tight. They don't have the energy of the other two bands, but certainly have some great songs. Ricky was quite the showman on drums and Chip looked on with his usual laid back cool. I think that bass of his is actually 12 strings, not 4 or 8. That was my count anyway. These guys are certainly tight and had all the harmonies down pat. Monaco seems a little quiet for a frontman, but he certainly didn't make you miss Donnie much. All three were very kind after their set and autographed my CD. It was their bus that most of the partying was happening on, too. Steve had to take a break from that bus because he was "tired of looking at ugly chicks and visiting with dudes". Of course, this was way after the show and he did look like it was time to hit the hay.

Faster Pussycat set the stage for one creepy, punky show laced with attitude. They had the hanging lights and tons of fog. I'm just glad the fog wasn't laced with anything or we wouldn't be able to remember that show! It was a constant thing all through their set. I did suggest to their drummer later that some variation would have been cool, but they did start out with that creepy effect they were going for. FP did the classics and some new tunes. I missed Little Dove, but I'm sure that will be added as they go along. Taime was full of attitude and still remained nice. He even tried to give some really drunk guy props, but the drunk was so stupid that Taime finally had to poke a little fun. He tried to get the guy to sing along, but the guy was slurring so badly and just giving it up for anything that Taime did, that Taime finally made up some gibberish instead of the regular stage rap to which the guy kept hollering and pointing at Taime. This drunk guy was so totally wasted and made such an ass of himself. A few idiots kept hollering between songs for FP to do their "only good song - Babylon", which annoyed the hell out of me, but FP kept smiling instead of using the mic stands to bash a few skulls. I had the chance to talk to their drummer, Chad, before and after the show. I told him that FP stood out on the songs with more of a punk attitude, just like PBF does. He just about busted trying to contain his enthusiasm when I said that. He just kept saying "wait til you hear the new tunes" and told me to get up front for their set. At first, I didn't really realize he was the FP drummer, as I'm a bit out of the loop sometimes. I suspected he was when I first talked to him, but was still unsure. What a great guy with a great attitude. He was right on about the new tunes and the show in general. Afterwards, he talked mine and J-Dub's ears off! More on that in a bit... The FP show was proof that these guys should be headlining bigger venues, too. It's a shame that most CD buying people turn out for the "pop" stuff instead of great music. FP totally rocks. Danny held down the bottom end with Chad as they grooved along. Xristian stood above everyone with his guitar swagger. Brent just played it cool with that Les Paul of his. They all came right to the front of the stage and got the crowd into it. Taime stuck the mic in my face for a chorus line and Brent gave the girl holding the video camera a tip or two on what to shoot. (Apparently, they were going to shoot their upcoming DVD at the Surf Ballroom.) It was during their set that one girl right behind me and J-Dub decided to let the top down (ok, it really went up) and two other girls decided to get onstage and dance. Taime implored them, as did the crowd, to take it off, but they just danced. When Taime realized that no clothing was coming off, he had the band go ahead and kick into the song. After Babylon, they left the stage. A few of us wanted an encore, but there just weren't that many people there to make it loud enough for them.

Afterwards, I got the chance to visit with Brent and ask him about his switch to a Les Paul from the Fender he used to play ("meatier tones, man") and visited with Chad a ton. Chad told us about the Bang Tango/Beautiful Creatures (he said to grab their new CD the day it's out) situation. We talked about his friends in some obscure bands (Eric Singer, Joe LeSte, Brides Of Destruction...ok, maybe not that obscure) and I think he was surprised to know that J-Dub and I were fairly current with knowing who was where. None of us could figure out who was playing drums in Alice Cooper's band, though. J-Dub happened to spend a week or so in Hollywood and got to see, but not meet, Taime, Kelly Osbourne, and Matt Sorum when Taime DJ'd at the Viper Club on Metal Shop night (did I get the right club?). When J-Dub brought this up to Taime, he remembered that night because there was some GNR tribute band there. Chad said he was there that night, too. It's a shame that J-Dub didn't get to meet them then. Taime was the last one we visited with on the way out. He was pretty much hanging on his own bus until most everyone left, I think. We just caught him coming back into the building when most of the equipment seemed to be packed up. He was very gracious and even though he said from the stage that it would be 4 years until the new CD, he said they hope to have it out before year's end, seriously.

Metal Sludge, you guys have a great tour on the road. J-Dub and I represented in our Metal Sludge T-shirts and J-Dub should be sending in some pics as he took several of both of us with various band members. Get out and support this tour so we can see more shows like this one. Oh, and even though Des Moines has pretty much been blackballed from most tours, you might get a bigger crowd here than in Clear Lake. Buy the merch, Sludgeaholics, and support these guys so they don't disappear into obscurity on us! Get some new tunes, FP and PBF! Keep up the great attitudes and keep these lineups in tact! You guys are hitting on all cylinders!