LIVE AT THE STARLAND BALLROOM IN SAYREVILLE, NJ
In my nearly three decades of being a dingy, dirtball, heavy metal-loving degenerate, there are a handful of bands I have never had the pleasure of seeing live. One of those bands was W.A.S.P. For a number of reasons (usually because I didn't have anyone to go with and/or I didn't want to get up off my dead ass and drive to see them), I kept missing them when they would come into town. We've
reviewed plenty of their music, and we just did a big interview with frontman
Blackie Lawless. As it turns out, that interview is what facilitated us getting into the
Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ to see the band...as well as a photo pass to capture the depravity.
Rob from
Paragon Music Magazine, being the strapping fella that he is, agreed to come along with me to the show...Actually, in all honesty... he was the one who invited ME to go (and for the same reason; he didn't have anyone willing to shlep out there to see W.A.S.P.)... Rob also had the camera... so it was just a few Italian men from North Jersey, helping each other out.
Paragon Rob:
OK, I know what you’re thinking, "W.A.S.P. is still around? Holy Shit!" Yes, W.A.S.P. is still around (as you probably noticed in our last issue when we interviewed Blackie). This show was pretty hellish because it was supposed to start at 8 PM, but it didn’t start until 9 PM. Also, I thought there were only going to be 2 opening bands, and there were 3.
Steve C:
From what I initially had been told, the show was to start at 7pm. Well, the first (first of FOUR) band didn't hit the stage until 9:00. Considering I had only gotten three hours of sleep the night before and was surviving mostly on fat burner pills and some ephedrine I had left over from last year...this was shaping up to be a looong, sleepy night of metal. Because of all the chemicals racing through my veins, and the fact that it was really hot... I was sweating like crazy. So I left my over-shirt in the car, and just went in wearing what in retrospect was a bad choice of shirt... it was a black tank top the Gorilla brought back from an
Iron Maiden show last summer (one year to the DAY! Sheesh) that read "666: The Number of the beast" on top of "664: the Bloke next door"... a winning conversation piece on my tattooed chubby ass.
Since I had some time to kill, I figured I'd kill time by doing what any normal fella in my position would do; chain-smoke, drink, and talk to the cute bartender (yes, it was a chick)...which, by the way, the
Starland Ballroom has no shortage of. They were all over the damn place. More for me. Yay.
The first act to the stage was New Jersey's own
ARCTIC FLAME, and the second I saw them, I knew they looked familiar. I think they had sent me a demo to review last year, but the website wasn't online, or the artwork wasn't finished...something prevented me from posting it. I think... I THINK...the reason I held off was that I didn't want to knock them too hard. I remember not being impressed with the music the first time I heard it and last night's performance confirmed it. Arctic Flame consists of competent musicians, and a singer with a decent range, but their songwriting leaves a tremendous amount to be desired. One guitarist looks like comedian Artie Lange in a wig, and the bass player...well, let's just say it takes BIG BALLS to walk out of the house in knee-high Peter Pan boots and a frilly-sleeved shirt. Huge ones. The kind of nuts you have to carry around in a wheelbarrow. They definitely play well, but nothing they played stood out as a memorable track.
Ladies and gents, Peter Pan!
Paragon Rob:
If they really did come from the Arctic, they should have stayed there. They sounded like IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST had a baby, only problem is that even when two attractive people have a child, it doesn’t always make an attractive baby.
Artie Lange on Lead guitar!
Steve C:
Next up was Jersey's
HAT TRICK OF MISERY, and I was expecting them to suck (not because I had any advance information, but because I'm a cynical, negative asshole who likes to shit on everything before he hears it - at least I'm honest about it)... but I was pleasantly surprised. What blew me away were the two newest additions to the band; drummer Scott Zyris and lead guitarist Gary Roz, formerly of ZYRIS. Rob mentioned something about ZAKK WYLDE playing in Zyris before joining up with OZZY OSBOURNE, but then again, Rob masturbates to Zakk Wylde's chin whiskers, so who knows if it's true
*. HTOM, while not earth-shattering, put on a show worthy of any top-notch local act. Honestly, I think Gary Roz's guitar playing stole the show. I also think there was a fair number of people from Gary's family in the crowd, because upon scanning the VIP area, you saw a number of rather old men and women in traditional old-man-and-woman clothing, not often associated with a W.A.S.P. concert. Also, I saw Gary walking one of these ladies backstage after the band's set. Who knows? Might have been his mom. Anyway, the point is that I was all set for them to suck...but they didn't. I also chatted briefly with the singer Steve after their show, who was walking around handing out demo CDs. Nice guy, and seems to have all the right reasons for wanting to be in a band; pussy, pussy and more pussy. After listening to the demo, I think they're good enough to pack houses as a local act, but not ready for anything national yet.
I'm in this for the ass.
Paragon Rob:
One of the only things they had going for them was that their drummer and guitarist were both ex-members of Zyris. (Zakk Wylde fans would know Zyris as being the band he played in before going on to play with Ozzy.) The vocalist had a good voice but I don’t think it suited the music very well, but the guitarist was absolutely phenomenal.
Grrr...shoulda been ME playing with Ozzy.
Steve C:
Next up on stage was former ANTHRAX frontman
Joey Belladonna...who in all seriousness, looks like he's seen better days. He was in the coat check signing autographs before the show, and oh MAN, that guy looks old...and his hair...while it might not be...looks fake. I don't know if he's behind the kit for good with his new band, but for this show, Joey was playing drums AND singing. Now, say what you will about his music or his hair, etc... but for a guy to play drums AND sing with the range he sings with, well that's impressive as hell. Belladonna's set was Anthrax-heavy, and the crowd was into it. I'm sure he did some of his own material, but I wouldn't have known which tracks were his solo material unless there had been a sign glowing on stage that read "SOLO MATERIAL NOW BEING PERFORMED". He's playing with a bunch of younger guys too, one of which looks like I used to look when I was younger, fatter, and had longer hair.
Yep. That used to be me.
Paragon Rob:
The short-and-skinny of Joey: His voice has stayed in tip-top shape, he played his own drums rather well, but he looked like a haggard old lady. I wasn’t overly impressed, but that might have been because it was already 11:30 and I had expected to be leaving at that time.
Skin bashing and screaming like a banshee - Joey Belladonna.
Steve C:
W.A.S.P. hit the stage around midnight, and I was just about ready to fall asleep. I was making snide comments to a young lady I'd met about the large chrome skull/spine microphone stand Blackie Lawless uses on stage, and I probably thought I was charming as hell...in reality, I'm sure she was a mere second away from calling security on my ugly ass. 'twas fun while it lasted.
MUST get this for living room.
In keeping with the "We're headlining so we're cooler" rule of headlining, W.A.S.P. took up more of the stage, had more lights, and played louder than the three previous bands. Blackie, despite pushing fifty, is an energetic frontman. Bassist Mike Duda spun like a top for the bulk of his time on stage. I had a side bet going with this one woman I was talking to that he was going to fall on his ass before the night was over. I lost. Former TUFF guitarist Darrell Roberts fits right in with W.A.S.P. Granted, he's no Chris Holmes, but considering Holmes is 80% dead and looks like a corpse, that might not be such a bad thing.
screw it, my bills are getting paid. Gimme that grease pencil.
Stet Howland's drum riser was a good five feet above the stage, and his playing is as thunderous as ever. Their set was filled with classics: "Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)", "I Wanna Be Somebody", "On Your Knees", "Wild Child", "Chainsaw Charlie"... basically just look at the track list on
The Best Of The Best: Volume One, and you've got their set list. A few tracks from
The Neon God: Part 1 were thrown in, but just enough to let the crowd know there was a new album. Blackie's not stupid though; he knows he's playing to the people who loved him 20 years ago; there weren't too many new W.A.S.P. fans in the room. After an encore that included "Blind In Texas", the place cleared out peacefully around 1:30.
Mike Dude is the spinningest bass player ever.
Paragon Rob:
They busted out some great classics that included "On Your Knees," "Animal," "L.O.V.E. Machine," "Wild Child," and of course, the encore: "Blind In Texas." Before they played "Blind In Texas" Blackie came out and did a 10-minute acoustic set which was just incredible. Blackie had an awesome custom-made mic stand which looked like a giant spine with a skull and cross-bones at the top of it. He was able to jump on it and rock back and forth, and I must say, watching a guy near his 50’s move around that much is VERY entertaining. Blackie had a black guitar with a Raiders logo on it and wore a black Raiders football jersey, along with his spandex pants and cowboy boots. A little mismatched, but hey man, whatever floats your boat!
You know we have a new record, right? Right? Is this thing on?
Steve C:
There were only about 500 people in the place, or so said
'Metal Mike' Chlasciak, who was hanging out at the bar I was at. Nice guy; we're going to try and get an interview with Mike up on the site in the coming weeks.
By the time I got Rob back to his place, and carted my own ass home, it was almost 3am, and I was fucking exhausted. I definitely don't have the stamina for shows that I used to... Thankfully, Rob got some decent photos that made this whole trip worthwhile.
* -
Chin whiskers my ass! - Rob
