(hed)PE and a new favorite...Sunflower Dead!

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014
(hed)PE, Sunflower Dead
The Warehouse Bar and Grill, Clarksville, TN
$18

I know that a lot of Juggalos are in disagreement about (hed)PE, with some really liking them, and some definitely not liking them at all. Well, I fall into the former category since I've really enjoyed their music and live performances for years. I actually consider them to be one of my top few favorites in the underground as far as putting together albums that I can listen to all the way through. That being said, I was disappointed when I went to their most recent local show in Clarksville, TN on 3/19. I had to work that day, so after leaving work at 7:00pm, I grabbed my friend Marlie and we arrived at the venue shortly after 8:00pm, after a few of the openers had already performed. Our friend Izzy was already there, so we grabbed some drinks and mingled until the next band was ready.

We were all camped out at the bar, and pretty soon, we started to hear this loud, slow accordion music fill the whole club. There was a guy who had come onstage who had an entirely white head with gray veins and blacked out eyes, slowly but very loudly playing his accordion while staring into the crowd. It was so loud and out of the ordinary that it seemed like everyone stopped and watched him until he was done. After putting down the accordion, the rest of the band members came out onstage and I decided to walk up a little closer and get a better look at them. Each one had their own face paint design, and each one looked awesome. Wow...they were definitely unique, and from just the few minutes I'd been watching, I was really digging it.

Who was this band?? How had I never heard of them before?? And why was I falling in love with them so instantly when I was there just to see (hed)PE??

This was SUNFLOWER DEAD!

It's pretty rare for me to see a band or artist live and immediately be a fan, but that's just what happened here. They were so unique, and very, very entertaining. Each person in the band had that certain something that made me watch him during the performance.











The lead singer and accordion player Michael has this incredibly intense and almost scary air about him, where his blacked out eyes stare right through you when he looks at you!





Lead guitarist Jaboo is so fascinating to watch, partly because of his makeup, and partly because he was TEARING IT UP on the guitar. He definitely had an old school hair metal vibe going on, with his long curls hiding his face and the manner in which he was playing.





Bassist Jamie has long dreadlocks that he swings around during the more intense parts of the performance, which I love <3







They were just very entertaining, and very fun to watch.

Their music was also exactly what I like as well, with lots of heavy metal and hard rock influence, but with actual lyrics that you can understand (I've never been much into the heavy metal that is just constant screaming). Since I wasn't familiar with any of their music, everything they performed was new to me except for their version of "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. During the set, the lead singer motioned for a few of us to come closer to the stage, then proceeded to bend down and stare at me for what seemed like forever haha It was genuinely intimidating, I must say, but I loved it.

I'm not sure if Sunflower Dead is a band that the average Juggalo would like or not, but I certainly think they deserve a chance. I mean, not everyone likes (hed)PE, but they still have a pretty strong Juggalo following. All I can speak for is myself, in that I LOVED what I saw of them, and will certainly be following them in hopes of our paths crossing again.

After their set, Smile Empty Soul was up next. I've seen them a couple of times before and think that they're awful at performing live, so Izzy, Marlie and I headed outside for a breather. On the way out, we ran into Jaboo and Jamie, and we all gave them our kudos for a performance well done. Afterward, since we had some time to kill before (hed)PE, we ran to the corner gas station for some drinks. I ended up with a Colt 45 because I told my friends I'd never tried one before, and they insisted. Bad idea, especially when I'm not much of a beer drinker hahaha But oh well.



By the time we made it back, we were just in time to get hit on by some guys in the parking lot. After making our escape, we went back inside, and were just in time to catch (hed)PE come on stage. From the get go, I could tell that something was really off. None of them seemed to have their normal energy, and they seemed to just be going through the motions of performing. The crowd had thinned a little after Smile Empty Soul, so apparently the crowd wasn't doing much to hype up the band either. Jahred stayed a lot further back on the stage than normal, and didn't seem very animated.

Maybe halfway through the set, the real issue surfaced when Jahred made a comment about how they shouldn't have come back to Clarksville so soon (since they were just at this same venue in December). He looked kinda pissed when he said it...but I mean, that's not our fault. That's your booking manager's fault for booking you at the same small town venue twice in three months. Why cop out and give us a below average performance just because you're pissed off that you're back so soon? Later he even made a comment about how "shows like this...35 people in a club...don't make a tour." Pretty sad that something like that would affect their performance.









But y'know, every group is allowed to have their off nights, so lets hope that this is a one-off and not a consistent thing with their post-Subnoize performances. One thing they did do which I thought was kind of cool was that they took a couple of requests. Someone yelled "RTO!" and Jahred said "I'm not your personal karaoke machine...or am I?" then they played RTO anyway. The same thing happened with Sophia, and later they played CBC after calling out some dude who was humping on his girl in the crowd haha

After the set was done, the band went back to their merch booth and signed some autographs, but pretty quickly made their way out of the venue. It was very obvious that they didn't want to be there, which is a real disservice to their fans, IMO.


Izzy gets her drumstick signed


Marlie and Jahred

So yeah...I came to this show excited to see (hed)PE, but Sunflower Dead totally stole the show! For anyone who might want to check out something by them, here are a couple of links for their videos:
The Point of Decision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edwvktyK9GE
Make Me Drown (with the accordion intro): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6aW01Hz3ho
Every Breath You Take: http://youtu.be/v8Hq7S1klTk

-Julie

Twiztid's Abominationz Tour, Atlanta, GA

Friday, November 9th, 2012
Twiztid, hed(PE), Potluck
The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA
$27

November 9th marked the third time I have made a trip to Atlanta to go to a live Twiztid show. It's about a 4 hour drive for me, and I always end up thinking that it's well worth the effort to get to their shows, despite the drive, the gas money and the hotel costs. I was particularly excited to catch this show since Abominationz had just been released and I wanted to hear their amazing new stuff live. My friend Krissi ended up going to this show with me as well, which was awesome since I go to so many shows alone these days! It was great to have someone to talk to in the car and hang out with!

When we arrived for the show around 7:30pm (after some rough Atlanta traffic...but what's new there) and had to park in a little lot about a block away from the venue since apparently something is being built in their old lot.


Odd hand stamps being given out at the door

Once inside, we both grabbed drinks and I headed up to the stage to see how close I could get. I missed the local opener Maverick the Ace, but was just in time to catch Potluck go onstage.

To be honest, I'm not that familiar with Potluck's music, though I did end up meeting them at the 2011 Gathering. Their set was really fun, and UnderRated did an awesome job with his fast rapping! I really enjoyed their set, and the crowd showed them a lot of love, repeatedly chanting FAM-UH-LY with them.









Once they were done, it was time for Lil Wyte. So at last year's Hopsin show in Nashville, Lil Wyte showed his ass something terrible to the Nashville Juggalos, so I wasn't happy at all to have to sit through his set. I didn't want to leave my spot since I was so close to the front, so I just stood there and flipped him off for his entire set. I didn't even dignify him with any photos since he's not worthy to be on my blog again. He didn't seem to get as good of a reception as he probably wanted, which I was fine with.

Thankfully, Lil Wyte soon left the stage and it was time for hed(PE)! I'm a big hed(PE) fan, so I was super excited to see them opening for Twiztid! The first time I saw them was at the Gathering this year where they played at the outdoor Freakshow stage, so I was also excited to see them in a small venue. When they took the stage, the crowd chanted their name and they were all smiles at the warm reception they got. Their set was awesome, and there were plenty of times when the crowd was bouncing enough to feel that familiar Masquerade floor bounce!















During Amerikan Beauty, he held the microphone out to the girl in front of me during the female part, and she sang the entire part back to him! She was so excited! I really love and respect hed(PE)'s music, and I think they are great at what they do. I could stand to do without the religious commentary at their shows, but besides that, I love their live shows and this one definitely didn't disappoint.

When it was finally time for Twiztid, the crowd compressed and the chanting started again. One fabulous thing about Atlanta Juggalos is that they seem to be pretty well mannered, and they don't go too overboard on the alcohol. No one likes for people to be drunk and belligerent, and thankfully that has never been an issue at any of the Atlanta shows I've been to. Everyone always seems to be happy and friendly, which is yet another reason that I don't mind making the drive there.

Soon, all the lights went out, and the speaking intro of Bad Side came on, followed by Madrox and Monoxide slinking their way out from behind the backstage curtain. But once they began to sing, they came out full force and never let up through the whole set. Where I was standing was off to the left of center, which was a perfect spot since they constantly swap sides through the set. One of them was almost always standing directly in front of me, which made for GREAT photos!

They sang a great mix of their best older songs as well as quite a few from Abominationz. Of course they sang Bagz, First Day Out and They Told Me, which seem to be favorites of theirs for live performance. But we also heard Triple Threat, Bella Morte, Krossroads Inn and Diemuthafuckadie among many others. And from Abominationz, they sang exactly the four that I would have expected...Bad Side, This is Your Anthem, Rep That Wicked and Lift Me Up...a great selection, though they couldn't have gone wrong with any of the songs from the album, IMO.






























Probably my favorite shot of the year, right there!!















One song that I particularly loved was Murder Murder Murder. During Monoxide's part where he says "Again and again, and now she's screaming like I care," the beat dropped out and it was just him yelling into the mic and making stabbing motions at the ground. It was so intense and graphic, and the lack of sound aside from his voice just intensified that.



Monoxide looked absolutely maniacal at a lot of points, and his eyes and smile just looked possessed by the music. They are both such incredible performers, and bring intensity like that every single time they're onstage.

As the main part of the set wound to a close, they sang LDLHA-IBCSYWA and brought all of the VIPs onstage for a while. At the end of the song, all the VIPs were escorted off and Madrox and Monoxide went out to the barricade and started giving some daps and handshakes. Madrox ended up on my side of the stage and stepped out toward the crowd right in front of me! He slapped my hand, then paused for a few seconds, and everyone started to touch his arms or stomach as he stood there.



So I ended up with a quick picture of my hand touching Madrox on the stomach haha Once they went back onstage, they did their normal little comedy routine, with the funniest part being accusing Prince of having "little man syndrome" haha.






Madrox shows what you'd have to do to look Prince in the eye

They ended their time on stage by bowing to everyone who had attended, then heading backstage.

Once the show was over, I caught back up with Krissi and we headed outside. As we stood around chatting with a couple of local friends, I spotted Madrox pop out the side of the venue and head towards his bus. But then he stopped as a few people approached him and started to sign autographs. So Krissi and I very quickly decided to run over to him and see if we could greet him as well. He was obviously trying to go as quickly as he could so he could get to everyone in the area, so I just got my ticket signed, and asked if I could snap a quick photo with him. How awesome!!


Me with Madrox!


My signed concert ticket

They are definitely not known for hanging around and chilling with fam after their shows, so it was a fantastic, unexpected little treat to get to meet him for a moment. One guy was even so excited that he ran back toward his friends screaming "Oh my God! Guys! I just HUGGED MADROX!!!" It was too funny! After a few more moments, he ducked back inside his bus, and Krissi and I decided to head back to the hotel for the evening.

Once again, as I walked back to the car, I felt like every dollar I'd spent to get to that show was completely worth it! Gas, hotel, tickets, meals...totally worth it when the show you're going to see is THAT good! Twiztid are true showmen, and are so incredibly talented in both live performance and album production. Basically...Twiztid is the muthafuckin' shit :-) If you have the opportunity to get to a show on the Abominationz tour, do it! You definitely won't be disappointed! Whoop whoop!