With Support: Metalfier, Anaka
Set List:
Borrowed Time
Bones
Lightning to the Nations
Diamonds
Helpless
Set My Soul on Fire
In the Heat of the Night
To Heaven From Hell
Starcrossed (Lovers of the Night)
Shout at the Devil
Sucking My Love
The Prince
Shoot Out the Lights
Shoot Out the Lights
It's Electric
Am I Evil?
Encore:
Streets of Gold
Sundays are a rough night for bands to play out. Everyone is broke and hung over. It didn't help that the entire city felt like
it was trapped in a wind tunnel for the past 48 hours and the weather was
generally miserable.
Webster Hall is divided into several “rooms” depending on
the type of event and anticipated crowd.
Originally billed to be at the 500 capacity “Marlin Room” - my friend/
photographer Rachel and I were a little off put when we were directed to the
slightly smaller (400 capacity) space “The Studio”. I filed that in the back of my mind and hoped
there would be a crowd. I've spent
enough gigs watching legendary NWOBHM bands play a blistering set to me, four
people and a dog- I was hoping that wouldn't be the case tonight.
The Studio is tiny but not cramped, and there are neat
little nooks and crannies were you could comfortably hang out between
bands. Rachel and I perched ourselves on
a bench near the restrooms where she rationalized if anyone we knew was at this
gig – we would definitely run into them.
By the time Anaka came on there were less than 100 people milling
around. The band's friends and fans made
up a good part of the crowd and were enthusiastically headbanging. Anaka are a local Brooklyn band who've I've
always said I would check out but just never got around to it. I really liked them – their singer had a nice
clean voice and great, comfortable stage presence. They reminded me of a mix of Priest and Black
Label Society. I am definitely going to
check them out again!
The room was staring to fill up a bit and we went back to
our spot. Some of the guys who were with
Anaka started talking to me about my Motörhead tattoo and about Lemmy's
lifestyle. We decided that switching from Jack and Coke to the “healthier”
Vodka and OJ may have been what killed him.
Metalifier were up next.
Another band whose name I'd seen but never managed to check out. Right
off the singer/ guitarist reminded me of Tony “Demotion Man” Dolan from M:Pire
of Evil and Venom Inc. He was great at
getting the now growing crowd going and was the quintessential true metal front
man. They live in the NYC area and
include members from Poland and Columbia and definitely have an “international
metal” feel. Think Accept meets Venom
and Iron Maiden with a little bit of WASP thrown in. In the middle of their set Rachel turned to
me, verified which band this was – and disappeared. She was so impressed with their set she
bought a shirt!
Another break and I thought there would be another band
before Diamond Head so when the classical music came over the PA by the stage
we didn't bother leaving our spot by the rest room – then I heard the opening
of “Borrowed Time” and we ran out to watch Diamond Head.
The first thing I noticed was rhythm guitarist Andy “Abbz”
Abberley wasn't with them. Singer Rasmus Bom Andersen told me after the show
that Andy had to leave mid-tour to go back to his day job. It was disconcerting at first not to see him
but the songs didn't suffer from his absence – although it would have been nice
to see him play again. Then again the
band was always a four piece (excluding
Canterbury) until the 2005 album “All Will be Revealed” .
Gone too since I last saw the band in 2011 was bassist Eddie
Moohan who I was told was no longer interested in playing heavier music. So I wasn't going to witness his wacky
audience interaction and goofy faces tonight.
Dean Ashton was a more than capable replacement, and I watched him from
my usual spot at a gig – in front of the bassist.
Also missing were Brian's signature White Flying V – which
we were later told doesn't travel because airport security have a tendency to
not be too gentle with musical equipment.
He was playing a Les Paul.
The set was a good mix of material from the band's newest
release, simply titled “Diamond Head” with all the classics you would expect to
hear from the band's 30+ year old catalog.
One thing I observed when the new tracks were played, the crowd didn't
thin out because of unfamiliar material.
The enthusiasm level was still way up, and I noticed I wasn't the only
one singing along. After Ras proudly introduced one of the newer
tracks, and mentioned they were indeed selling the new album at the merch stand
– along with signed VINYL copies. A few
of the guys standing next to me RAN to buy it
– that's how impressive the new material is.
When they did “Lightning to the Nations” I had a moment of
zen. There was Brian Tatler, who is a
legend in metal, a man who gave Metallica the blue-print to be in the upper
echelon of the genre – and he was standing less than 20 feet away from me. Later on the singer from Metalifier said that
in his native Poland – there is no way he'd be able to get that close to a band
of Diamond Head's caliber. Here was a
band that was headlining festivals in Europe – but playing to a 80% capacity
room in New York City on a Sunday night.
What is wrong with this picture???
So much has already been written about the almost
Shakespearean scale tragedy that is the history of Diamond Head so I won't get
into it here. But as I felt during the
middle of Saxon's set last year – where's the justice???? And Iron Maiden, who in my opinion haven't
made a decent album since 1988 are constantly headlining Arenas – meanwhile
Diamond Head's newest release blows “The Book of Souls" out of the water and...
Oops sorry started ranting again...but this was all running
though my head at the time – and then, as would happen many times that evening
– I got hypnotized by Brian's playing.
“Helpless” was one of
first Diamond Head songs I ever heard and was really looking forward to
enjoying it when out of nowhere –these three older women pushed their way to
the front, spilling their beer all over the stage and screaming
“BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAANNNNNNN” louder than Ras was singing. The guys near me who at first happily let
these hags in front of them – shook their heads and I could tell by their faces
they were fed up too. Thankfully they
disappeared after that song.
From where I was off to the side I could definitely hear
Karl Wilcox pounding his “AM I EVIL” drumkit but could barely see him. Every once in awhile I would pop my head
around the side and see a flurry of drumsticks flying around spiky blonde
hair. He's as solid and powerful a
drummer as they come.
The band dedicated the rarely played “Starcrossed (Lovers of
the Night)” to a fan who had seen them over 100 times. Too cool!!
At some point in the night Ras expressed his love for New
York city – how he was so so excited when Karl pointed out the Manhattan
skyline on their way into the city. You
could tell Ras genuinely meant it and his whole face lit up when he talked
about how comfortable he felt in New York.
Up next were four classic tracks in a row. Ras was a blur, at one point I thought he was
going to stage dive off the monitors and into the crowd – that's how caught up
he was. By the way, loved the purple
skinny jeans – and apparently so did the guy who yelled “Nice ass” from the
back of the room. Hehe.
“Sucking My Love” was dedicated to us females in the
audience. Thank you – that's so
romantic.
My favorite Diamond Head song - “The Prince” has everything
I want in a metal song. A great riff,
intelligent lyrics – and above standard guitar solo. Even back in my metal infancy days when I
didn't know who or what the NWOBHM was I always liked this song since I taped
it off a college radio station when I was still in high school . Holy shit cassettes. Definitely one of the
highlights of the gig for me.
The penultimate song of the evening was of course “Am I
Evil” which is Diamond Head's “Ace of Spades” so to speak. Even if it irks me
that people still think its DH covering Metallica, I'm sure Brian and original
DH singer Sean Harris have the last laugh every time they check their bank
balance.
The band briefly left the stage only to return a few minutes
later as Brian strummed out the opening of “Shoot out the Lights” When the song
was over, Karl came out to thank the crowd for being so dedicated to them over
the years, you could tell he wasn't just hamming it up – he was actually pretty
emotional and really does appreciate all of us who have stuck with the band
through the years.
After the house lights came on and people started heading
towards the exists, Rachel spotted Brian standing by the side of the stage ,
ready to talk to the fans. I had a nice
little catch up with him and actually there is a photo of me physically glowing
when he told me he remembered doing the Skype interview for The Ripple Effect
and how he quite enjoyed talking to me!
Swoooon....
I thanked Ras for all his help, we'd been in contact on the
band's Facebook page. He really is such
a good fit for the band, very professional and a great “kick in the arse' as
Brian had said.
Rachel went back for one more photo with Brian “You just
want to cuddle again don't you?” he joked.
Yes, yes we do Brian.
-Rys
Diamond Head official website: http://www.diamond-head.net/
Diamond Head on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiamondHeadOfficial
My interview with Brian:
http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2016/04/interview-with-brian-tatler-from.html
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