I'm a Thorrier !!!!

Last weekend I was home again on the Red River side of downtown Austin,Texas. The Red River music venues, with the exception of Stubb’s outdoor and Emo’s outside, are where Austin’s lesser known or up and coming bands can be found. Bands range from metal, punk rock, indie, psychedelic, and garage rock. Saturday I made the trip to Red 7 for one of the better metal touring acts right now, Valient Thorr.

(Valient himself with Austin's own Deanna Marie of Velvet Brick)

I discovered Valient Thorr a little differently than I usually discover bands. Typically I find a band on myspace, a music magazine, or though word of mouth. None of the above applied here. As odd as this may sound, I discovered Valient Thorr on a t-shirt Kyle Shutt of The Sword was wearing at The Sword’s January show at Emo’s. Now do you believe in product placement? Shortly after The Sword show, I befriended Valient Thorr on myspace as a reminder to check them out later. I honestly didn’t listen to them at that point on time.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I was listening to something online, can’t remember what exactly now. Whatever it was, there was a bumper or sound bite of Fat Mike from punk rock mega stars NoFX. Fat Mike said the following on that bumper: “I fucking hate metal, but I love these guys”. I didn’t catch who he was talking about and I was online and curious. So, I “Googled” the quote. As it turns out, he was referring to Valient Thorr. I immediately opened another tab and pulled up Valient Thorr’s myspace. This time I listened to their music, I mean really listened.

After listening to what was on their myspace, I couldn’t believe I didn’t own their CDs already. Looking back at the page again, I saw that they were touring and coming to Austin to play at Red 7. Honestly, I was surprised they were playing there and not at a bigger venue. Red 7 certainly was a good venue for them none the less. Red 7 (also the black t-shirt capital of Austin) is one of the last of Austin’s hard rock venues. Metal, punk, and anything intense or underground gets pushed to the back burner now. It didn’t used to be this way, but with the death of venues like The Back Room, The Metro,Rock City Ice House and Liberty Lunch being long gone there isn’t a lot of options. Oh well, Red 7 it was Saturday.

I got there at Red 7 and was astonished to see that it wasn’t more packed than it was. However, many of Austin’s metal heads were probably in Dallas for Ozzfest. It was no big deal for me as I couldn’t have been happier to be where I was at. I even got to chat with “Valient himself” as he was walking amongst the crowd. He was very approachable and quite the humble guy. As I watched people come up to him all night, he seemed to be the same way with everyone else. That is really cool and speaks well of him.

After listening to two decent bands before Valient Thorr, I was glad they finally took the stage. By that time there were more people in the crowd and Red 7 looked packed. The mosh pitters in the crowd were warmed up and ready to get going again "Thorrier" style.

Once Valient Thorr started, they immediately started kicking ass and taking names. They have such intensity, crazy energy and can play the hell out of their instruments. Plus I haven't seen beards that sweet since ZZ Top. The ZZ comparison stops there as Valient Thorr's music is more political, intense and maybe even controversial to some.

Their political consciousness and fearlessness to say whatever they feel is what I love about them. Not since Rage Against the Machine, NoFX or Public Enemy have I heard such conscious rock done right. Hear it for yourself on "Exit Strategy" and "Goveruptcy", both of which they performed Saturday. Another song I liked they played was "Heatseeker". Don't go through Valient's mail. That is all I have to say about that. Listen to their album "Legend of The World" album and you will see what I mean.

After about an hour of a crazy hot set, after all the sweat and mosh pits I could handle I had to go home. I forgot how good and bad a metal show feels. On my way out I bought a t-shirt as Valient Thorr has some of the coolest and most artistic shirts around. Their album covers are just as well done.

If you want to see a clip of the show from Red 7, check out my You Tube channel. Before you do, check out their video for "Man Behind the Curtain" to get a feel for Valient Thorr in case you are unfamiliar. Once you do, join me and the rest of the "Thorriers" as we rock to Valient Thorr. I only wish I were on the West Coast right now as they are playing with The Misfits and Motorhead. I bet my body would seriously ache after that show.

Under The Gun at Rock City Icehouse

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Saturday at Rock City Ice House, local Austin based punk rock act Under The Gun performed to a small crowd for what was another Austin Insite night. Although the night was about some metal/rock band called Point of Contact, I was there for some punk rock. The fact that it was an Austin Insite night helped in my decision to head out as Insite nights always seem to have a couple good bands on the bill worth checking out.

I was there super early as the flyer advertised Under the Gun going on at 8:30. Well at 8:30, there wasn’t anyone on stage. I am not sure what happened, but it turned out that Under The Gun didn’t play until closer to eleven. It was worth hanging out though as Under The Gun is always an energetic and excellent live.

Due to the scheduling or booking mix up, they had to keep their set short. It was solid none the less. “Triple A” and “Drinking My Life Away” are my personal favorites. As always they ended their set with “Six Pack and a Bong”, a punk rock party song with a little bit of a reggae vibe to it.

Under The Gun exudes the spirit of the old Warped Tour I used to go to in the 1990s when I was in high school. You will never catch them in skinny jeans or with any kind of guy liner. Will Campbell (bassist) can’t fit in skinny anything at 6’4 and 235 lbs.

They sing about drinking and “the end of apathetic ass holes”. For a three piece, they come hard despite Will and Dennis Mauk’s (guitarist and lead vocals) silliness. I think if their current album “Drinking My Life Away” had come out in 1995, I could have seen them on Warped Tour. For now, you can catch them around the Austin and central Texas area. Show up early as they worth drinking to.

I wanted to conclude by saying that I have a lot of respect for them. They play on despite recent drummer changes, switching from a five piece to a three piece band, and other of life’s obstacles that have been thrown their way. That’s real punk rock. They will continue on as long as they have a place to play and a bar tab. Real punk rock fans will love them. They are just one of many solid punk rock bands the Austin scene has to offer. Hang out on Red River with me any given day and see for yourself.