I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with Michigan's nastiest, insanely technical dealers of homegrown death-metal, Gutrot. These guys have been friends of mine since about 2006-7, so I was more than prepared for the amount of vulgarity and debauchery that took place, on the road, between Zach Gibson's house and Louisville, KY. At least I thought so anyways. Bus call was 5:30 am, thought we got started a little late. By 6 am, we were on the road and almost a cannon of a joint deep when the sleepiness wore off for a minute and then the jokes and stories came out. A lot our time, in the van, was spent smoking and listening to music off of Zach's mp3 player. I spent most of the ride on the same bench as Gutrot's Brian Bourque (vocalist), the band's conceptualist and lyricist. Most of the conversation centered around multiple types of sexual deviation/oddities. These guys were full up on the crudest, most inappropriate jokes I've ever heard or will hear. As we got closer to our destination, Diamond Pub and Billiards, I couldn't tell you if I groaned or laughed more.
We arrived at Diamond Pub, an oddly shaped Sports Bar with a music venue attached in the back of the bar. The show in question, the Louisville Death Metal Fest, was a stacked deck of different kinds of bands. Some of the more local and independent bands that played the show had a newer brand of Death Metal to offer (i.e. Cattle Decapitation, Necrophagist, etc), some of the older bands clearly were there to teach us all a lesson. Bands like Artificial Brain and Malignancy brought the old school flavor. I was reminded of old Cryptopsy, Entombed, Autopsy, Gorguts, Cannibal Corpse, and some Morbid Angel. There is no reason to lie, I'm very new but very astute in learning about genres that sound interesting, so this was a great learning experience in what I don't know. After some hanging around and drinks, we retreated to a friend's house to catch some sleep. In typical fashion, everyone found a surface of some sort and spread out for the night. The following morning, we found a place to grab some morning snacks. It was this great little spot in town called Nord's Bakery. Now, I don't like doughnuts but they had one with bacon so naturally…my hands were tied. We got back in the fan and slowly started making out our way to Cleveland which was only 2.5 hours away. I recall smoking at least two cannons (joints) with the band then passing out for a little bit (can't get sleep on couches like I used to). Cleveland always seems a little different each time I go there, though I think it's cause each time I go, I see a different side to the city.
I guess there is a tradition in the band that if they play a show or to see a show in the area of Cleveland, they stop at Happy Dog (Euclid Tavern) for some dogs before the show. $9 gets you a quality dog with toppings that range from chunky peanut butter, to a fried egg, to bourbon pork and beans, to coleslaw, to a pear chutney. I could easily spend all night in this place getting drinks and eating dogs. The show was at a venue called The Foundry a sort of dive-like bar in Lakewood, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland). The bar which has been under current management for just shy of a year was a bit smaller and seemed almost familiar in that it had elements of other bars I have come to know during my years as a booking agent/promoter. Unlike your standard dive bar, their beer selection was pretty solid. Can't go wrong with any establishment that sells 24oz bottles of anything by Stone Brewing from San Diego. Two locals played, then Malignancy, and then finally Gutrot. As I said before, Death Metal is very new to me. Seeing Malignancy two nights in a row just proved they are one of the best bands in the genre. Such a tight, unforgiving live band. It's rare when you can say the band sounds better live, that their studio albums do them no justice as a band. This is the case with Malignancy and now I'm a fan. In typical show fashion, by the time the last band went on (Gutrot) a lot of people left. This didn't seem to bother the band and it for damn sure didn't bother me. Gutrot is a band that makes what they do look insanely easy per their comfort in the material they play live. Where most people struggle, these guys absolutely do not. The time to load out and hit the road came and just as quick as Gutrot left their mark, we were gone again on the dark road that lead us home. More doobies were smoked after we got on the highway and just about everyone but Chris, who drove home, passed out. It was some time after 3am when we got back. Kirbey, who did most of the driving, Russ, Brian, and I rolled out of the back and said our goodbyes. Chris's gf was out for most of the time that we spent peeling stuff out of the back of the van. Everyone was still very stoned and partially asleep when we finally parted ways.
I've known the guys in this band for some years and it was a true honor riding with them. Finding out that they are indeed the most disgusting metal band I've ever dealt with was exactly a surprise as I would come to find out the day after I got back and read some of the lyrics. Holy fuck. Here's a little taste…
This human waste, absorbs into my face
Aroused and not amazed, better than getting laid
(And that's not the worst lyrics I've seen either)
