Hard Drive Live Tour
Indianapolis, IN8 Second Saloon
10/15/2010
I am a strong believer that Sevendust is one of the most underrated nu-metal bands around right now. They have been putting out very solid albums for over a decade and also put on a great live show. This show, at the hillbilly center of the city, was no exception and another great 7D experience.
The History:
Sevendust and I go way back. I’d be lying if I said that I have been a fan since the self titled original release in 1994, but I’ve been a big fan for a long time. I first started listening to Sevendust when they broke through mainstream rock radio with the song “Enemy” in the late 90’s. At that point, well, lets just say my obsession with music was just developing. I never really dug any deeper than their surface material, and other than those few popular songs, they sort of fell off my radar. However, they came storming back onto my radar when I was in college, and little did I know they never really left. Now, on to a quick story that gives the “real” history of why I am obsessed with Sevendust….
While I was in college, my older sister was dating a guy who was a great musician who was always in a local band. After graduation, he moved to LA where he worked in a music studio. While he was in that studio, he met a guy named Mikey. Brad and Mikey became friends and decided that they wanted to start a band together. That Mikey turned out to be Mikey Doling, the former lead guitarist for Snot and Soulfly, who is a bit of a legend in the metal music industry. Their band, called Invitro (which is an entirely different post I’ll do sometime…but for those interested, heres Invitro’s best song.) got big quick because of Mikey’s connections, and toured the country with several different headliners. On their very first tour, the headliner was Sevendust.
Anyway, I’ve seen Sevendust live several times. If I’m counting correctly, I believe this was time number four…twice on the tour with Invitro, once at Rock on the Range right after Cold Day Memory came out, and then this time. Every time, they have put on a great show. Lajon, as small as he is in stature, makes up for it in the ever quantifiable “badassness” that he exudes. The band meshes really well, feeds off of each other, and even though their rhythm guitarist looks like a TGI Friday’s bartender, their show kicks ass. The cool thing about Sevendust is that they have such a HUGE library of music to pull from (I can think of 7 albums off the top of my head), you never really know what all they are going to play.There’s just something about meeting a band that makes you a bigger fan. Ever since I got to hang out back stage with Sevendust and watch their show an arms length away from the drummer, I have been a bit of a 7D fanatic. It’s like Lajon (their lead singer) and I go way back…….to that one time when he said three sentences to me. We are basically best friends. I’m sure we will go out for drinks after he sees this post.
The Venue:
8 Second Saloon is a really cool little bar tucked right in the middle of Stabville, USA. In all seriousness, its on the southwest side of Indy and is not in a great part of town. Its a country-western bar by nature, and every time I had been there before this concert, it had been a love-hate night filled with cheap drinks, line dancing, extremely drunk people from my high school that I have no desire to see, and mediocre live country music.
However, it did turn out to be a fairly decent place for a show. It’s certainly in the lower half of all small venues that I’ve been to, but not bad enough to keep me away from a good band. It’s difficult to even quantify why I didn’t like it that much…as it wasn’t something tangible (like poor sound or a bad crowd). It was just very mediocre. That being said, I was impressed at how seamlessly this place (that usually has a mechanical bull in the middle of the room) transitioned into halfway decent rock venue.
Venue aside, as always, we made our push, and after some half-witted smiles and a few “I know I’m tall and can see from the back, but I can also see from right here, so ESaD” type comments, the show was about to begin!
The Show:
First off, I know I try to focus these blogs on one band, but 10 Years opened for Sevendust, and they were GREAT. I’ve been a fan since I saw them in 2007 debut the song “Wasteland” and they were very one dimensional, but they have gotten a lot better. My eye is on you 10 Years. Keep up the good work.
Moving on, when Sevendust’s show starts out, there is immediately three things come to my mind:
1. Lajon is such a badass. I’m getting a huge bar through the middle of my nose.
2. I totally forgot how awesome this drummer was. For so many reasons.
3. I cant freaking WAIT for their closer. (more later)
The open their show with the song Splinter off of their latest album, Cold Day Memory. This is such a great opening song for a live show, because the first few measures sound like they could be the opening to Braveheart. When the song settles in, its hard hitting, and I spend the whole song acting like I knew every word, when in reality, all I know is “You think you KILL ME” Doesn’t matter, the way this song’s rhythm goes, it makes you feel like the entire song like you are struggling not to go crazy. I lost that battle at this show. HA!
Interestingly enough, I only remember two other songs off of their new album that they played at this show (Unraveling and Strong Arm Broken). Not that I don’t like the new album, but its so refreshing to run into a band that is comfortable enough with itself that they don’t feel like they have to cram their new material down their throat to stay afloat. In addition to those, they also played all of their classics, like Enemy, Denial, and Praise, as well as a few odd balls.
The most interesting and personally satisfying moment of the concert for me was halfway through when I thought they were going to take a break, but Clint Lowery (lead guitarist) and Lajon came back out with acoustic guitars and sat down on stools. The entire crowd relaxed and sang along as they sat and strummed the song Angel’s Son (which was written for the Snot album “Straight Up”, which was dedicated to Lynn Straight, one of Mikey Doling’s best friends). This is the first time I have ever seen that song live, and I spent the greater part of the song trying to hold up the front part of my shirt that said “Invitro.”
Often times metal bands refuse to slow down their show because they are afraid they will lose pace and not be able to get people up and moving. Sevendust came out of their slow-paced portion flawlessly, with Black (the first song off of their self titled album), and they almost immediately had the crowd jumping. I don’t love the song Black, but it I distinctly remember thinking “this song is really good live”.
(If my memory serves me correctly, this was precisely the moment that the dude behind me punched the dude next to him in the face. Props to Shane for pushing my head out of the way).
Moving on to band members, two people in the band amaze me every time I see them. First and most obvious is Lajon. He is such a talented singer (vis a vis when he paired up with the other members of Sevendust, they had to convince him to leave his R&B quartet to join Sevendust….) and he is one of the best in the biz at owning a stage during a rock show. Say what you want, but if you don’t play an instrument, it takes talent to look like you belong on stage, and not everyone can pull it off. Lajon should teach lessons.
Secondly, the entire show, I am reminded how good their drummer is, especially live. Not only is he technically excellent on a kit thats more complex than most drum sets, but he head bangs the ENTIRE show, does all the backup screams for the band, AND has silver dreads. Very impressed by this dude.
I’ll wrap up by saying that the highlight of EVERY Sevendust show is when the close the show with Face to Face as their encore. The crowd goes nuts, everyone is jumping, and halfway through the song, when the lyrics stop for a second and then scream F*** YOU, I feel like my head is going to explode. Its a perfect storm of music and intensity. One of my top live songs in existence. I’m listening to Face to Face as I type this, and if you were here, I’d probably want to kick you in the teeth.
The Afterparty:
We stayed at the venue for a bit and drank a few beers, but the place cleared out amazingly fast. As it did, we realized that a friend had come to the show to join us last minute, but got confused at the ridiculous “VIP” system and bought the wrong ticket, so he couldn’t stand with us.
We then hit up Denny’s on the way home, and called it a night. After all, we were in a “3 concerts in 7 days” span, and I need all the energy I can get.
Afterwards, I had a friend say “How many times are you going to see Sevendust live?” Not sure exactly how I responded, but I’ll answer here: Every time they come through Indy. And probably a few more than that.
Slainte!!
“Whats real is real, its time to step up to the plate again. Swing batter batter swing batter batter SWING”
(Side Note: For some reason I think that band abbreviations are really cool, and I use them all the time. I realize that this is not the case, but I can’t help it. I apologize in advance for all the A7X, 5FDP, AtR, and KsE’s that you have to put up with in the future. Just chalk it up to me being a tool).