This past Sunday, Frank and I arrived at Irving Plaza to get some interviews shot for our Summer Slaughter coverage. Frank and crew had already went down to Baltimore, to the ever-awesome Sonar, to shoot live footage of most of the bands, so this night was more about capturing the backstage vibe. After hanging out back there for the whole day, I would have to say vibe was pretty much "Let's get fucking blitzed!"
I'll try to keep this story as accurate as possible, but please keep in mind that many a brain cells were fried during the night. We'll be posting a proper show review in the coming days; this is just a review all the pot seshs happening backstage during the show.
As soon as we arrived at the venue, we smelled pot smoke as some of the bands were setting up merch. A good scent to start of the day. We learned that since the show is in New York (where there is never any parking) and since some of the bands are sharing buses, the buses actually went over a bridge to New Jersey to park for the day. That means a lot of the bands were stuck hanging out in the venue. To make matters more interesting, the backstage area could be mistaken for a NY studio apartment, two medium sized rooms on the second floor of the venue. This led to a vibe very similar to that of a house party. Except the party was attended by dudes in bands. Awesome bands.
Things got off to a great start in the backstage area when Suffocation bassist Derek Boyer arrived with a special green delivery for his friends in Veil of Maya. Somebody whipped out a Cephalic Carnage-branded bowl and the smoking commenced. How could I turn this down? It was delicious. I remember walking out of the backstage area at this point to hear Decapitated sound checking to "Spheres of Madness" and "Winds of Creation". I cannot begin to describe how awesome it sounded at that particular moment.
I'm trying to remember what happened next but things get a little hazy at this point. Can you blame me? A few joints were passed around by the Decrepit guys. I'm pretty sure we did a few interviews. One with all of All Shall Perish, and one with all three members of Animals As Leaders. The All Shall Perish interview could be barely called an interview, lots of goofing around, but the the AAL talk was a fun conversation where I really felt like I got to know the dudes behind the shred.
There was a bit of downtime at this point as we were waiting for some of the other bands to arrive, so what better time to pull out my one hitter for a quick sesh with me, Frank, Eddie from All Shall Perish and Marc from Veil of Maya. One hit was just enough to get all of us to a more comfortable place.
After some delays, I interviewed Cephalic Carnage frontman Len, who I asked to kindly show off their Cephalic Carnage Silver Surfer vaporizer. When Len from Cephalic is sparking you up, you know that shit is serious. I was lifted to an entirely new stratosphere. Later, I remember a young girl in the room, who I assume was a fan, rolling a blunt with some NY Sour Diesel. She knew what she was doing. When would this smoking end? Not anytime soon.
Shortly after the sesh, I interviewed Vogg of Decapitated and he was incredibly nice. It was a bittersweet moment because I realized the last time we had seen the band was on Summer Slaughter three years ago, when they co-headlined and I interviewed Covan, who he mentioned was still in a coma. But he seemed in good spirits, and they did crush that night, so it was great to see the band back in action.
After the Vogg interview, I remember a spliff being passed around. Then, Greg Weeks and Gunface showed up for our interview and which ended up being the most obnoxious interview with The Red Chord we have ever done. We positioned ourselves in front of the entrance to the backstage area. Whenever anybody entered the room, we stopped the interview and the two of them proceeded to interview whoever walked in leading to some situations too funny to describe. The final video may seem a bit hazy because everybody else was smoking copious amounts of weed at the time.
Between all the smoking, we did actually get to catch some music. The dressing rooms were positioned right by the balcony, so I was able to see the stage and the entire pit from up high (pun very much intended). Animals As Leaders totally blew me away, as I knew they would. Veil of Maya created the most movement, as a pit opened from side to side. They were great. The Red Chord killed as always, and it was fun to see the crowd try to figure out a way to mosh to some of their parts. All Shall Perish absolutely came through with a killer set, and are also a sight to see live. Ultimately, none of the bands disappointed. It seemed like every band was trying to outdo the previous, leading to an entertaining bill of metal.
The coolest moment was walking backstage after Veil of Maya played and seeing Suffocation guitarist Terrance Hobbs walking in to congratulate Veil guitarist Marc Okubo on a great set. Marc replied with 'That's all I need to know' and really what better compliment could there be for a dude in a death metal band? We then proceeded to smoke some more in celebration.
At the end of the night, we were all saying our goodbyes and heading out. I thought this was the end of the line when it came to smoking, but I was wrong. By the load out exit, there was a brand new sesh going on. A bunch of dudes in a circle smoking. This was happening on 15th st, a block away from Union Square. I was a little worried at first, but nothing really happened.
Well, something happened. A random female walked by, smelled all the pot and proceeded to let us know that she has medical grade shit on her right now. Intrigued, Eddie from All Shall Perish asked if she wanted to smoke. She declined saying she just wanted to use the bathroom. Being the gentlemen/opportunist he is, Eddie escorted the lovely lady backstage to use the facilities, only to come back with her having packed a bowl for us. It indeed tasted like medical-grade shit. The girl yapping talking and she confessed to us that she was a 37 year old and she looked so young because she had never been married or had kids. Oh, and she turned out to be a total psycho. But at least she had great weed.
We were able to pry ourselves away from the party. We said our goodbyes and went home. I don't think I have ever smoked more, in so many different ways, in one night. Eddie told me this was a special occurrence just because everybody was forced to be holed up with each other and usually it's much quieter. But one thing was very obvious: everybody got along, there were no egos, and everybody was there to have a good time and rock. But on that particular night, for me… this was no Summer Slaughter tour; this was the Summer Stoner tour!
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for live footage from most of the bands as well as interviews that took place at this show!
