"Like a Bear Whose Cubs Have Been Ravished, the Artists on the Dirty Black Summer Tour Ripped the Entrails of the Onlookers at Mokena's Pearl Room" 

Pure decimation was the result when the Dirty Black Summer Tour hit Mokena's Pearl Room on June 25th, 2005. At first glance, it looked like a scene from the Taste Of Chaos gig at Milwaukee’s Eagles Ballroom. The audience was comprised of underage kids for the exception of the band members, security, the servers, some parents, and yours truly. Scrawled on the backs of the patrons were tee shirts from bands like Norma Jean, Underøath, HIMSA , Hopesfall, and The Red Chord. Their haircuts were reminiscent of the terrible dos from the eighties. Gotta love the suburbs! Despite the obvious stuck in the past fashion faux pas, the Pearl Room seemed to be the place to be tonight. It looked more like a high school dance that only a cool Parent Teacher Association could produce by lucking out and landing a big ass hardcore tour to play for their brooding teens.

Headliners, HIMSA, are on tour with direct support from LA hardcore metallers Scars of Tomorrow and Oklahoma boys The Agony Scene. Openers Full Blown Chaos and The Esoteric would get the night started promptly at 6:30pm. The aforementioned bands treated the crowd to a magnificent set. All bands in attendance could feel the love from the under aged crowd. As luck would have it, we arrived to the venue halfway through The Esoteric’s set, you can conclude on your own; there will not be a review or photos of that’s right you guessed it, Full Blown Chaos. Since they are seemingly getting the shaft from the universal timekeeper, we do have an interview with the band.

Lineup: Cory White - Guitar, Eric Graves - Guitar, Anthony Diale - Bass; Steve Cruz - Voice, electronics; Marshall Kilpatric - Percussion

Post hardcore rockers, the Esoteric, brought the crowd alive with their hard hitting riffs and bass lines. Currently, in support of their latest disc With the Sureness of Sleepwalking, this band has been tearing it up since their inception in '96. This Lawrence, Kansas quintet has performed with the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, Killswitch Engage, Clutch, Thursday, In Flames, Shadows Fall and Isis. In true DIY fashion, the band has self-financed their own tours in the past just to bring themselves to the forefront. During their nine years, they have also managed to release nine albums and/or demos with various indie labels before finding a home with Prosthetic Records.

Apparently, their hard work has paid off since tonight’s crowd seemingly enjoyed their set. Lead singer Steve Cruz, is a good front man and holds his own with the best of them. During the set, White entertained the crowd with his wit by referring The Agony Scene as "sexy" and to the headlining act, “The Almighty Himsa” as he showed his appreciation for his tourmates. Much to the crowd’s delight, they even did a Misfits cover. The crowd ate up “Ram-Faced Boy” in which the video has been seen on Headbangers Ball as of late. Before leaving the stage, Cruz thanked the crowd for supporting them over the years and promised they would be back through the Midwest soon. Make sure that you come to the show early to catch The Esoteric perform on the Good Music For Bad People Tour this autumn with Every Time I Die, High on Fire, and The Red Chord; you will not be disappointed.

Click here for interview with Steve Cruz

Lineup: Michael Williams - Vocals; Chris Emmons - Guitar; Brent Masters - Drums; Steven Kaye - Guitar; Brian Hodges - Bass

Next up were Oklahoma’s finest, The Agony Scene. Recently, they released their latest CD off Roadrunner Records called The Darkest Red, following up their self-titled debut. Since their start in 2002, they have changed band members a couple of times until recently finding a lineup that clicked. Just a mere three months ago, the band took part in RR's Roadrage Tour along side other new and emerging bands: Still Remains, Trivium, and 3 Inches Of Blood.

Lineup: Mike Milford - Vox; Carlos Garcia - Guitar; Bob Bradley - Bass; Dave Rodriguez - Guitar; Chris Warner - Drums

Since we missed Orange County's Scars the last time on the Thick As Thieves Tour, we made sure not to miss them this go round. In support of their latest CD on Victory Records entitled Rope Tied To A Trigger the band have enjoyed much success as other west coast bands have as well. However, their hardcore style fits the mold of other bands in their genre and tonight they gelled well with their tour mates. The thing that really stood out about this band was their infectious energy. In the beginning it was hard to get a decent shot of the guitarists, Carlos Garcia and Dave Rodriguez.

Lineup: Johnny Pettibone - Vocals; Derek Harn - Bass; Chad Davis - Drums; Sammi Curr - Guitar; Kirby Charles Johnson - Guitar

HIMSA was one hell of a treat for us as well as the rest of the Pearl Room audience. This Seattle quintet made sure the anticipation heightened, it seemed like it took the band forever to take the stage once their gear was set up by the venue's ever-diligent stagehands. The suspense eventually started to heavily wear on us. The last time HIMSA rolled through Chicago during the MTV2’s Winter Headbangers Ball Tour with Cradle of Filth, Arch Enemy, and Bleeding Through in 2004, we unfortunately missed the majority of their set. In the meantime, their latest CD Courting Tragedy and Disaster has been in heavy rotation in the FourteenG home office. As far as their sound is concerned, they place a spin on their obvious heavy gothic influence by replacing brooding vocals with punishing and agonizing screams, which is still in line with theme of doom and gloom. Its AFI meets Bauhaus. Well suffice it say, HIMSA far surpassed all expectations. The audience had grown impatient as well. They started to chant “Himsa, Himsa, Himsa…” Finally some fifteen minutes later after set-up, the band took the stage, the crowd went nuts. Front man Johnny Pettibone ran out to the front of the stage to thank his adoring minion of "petticlones"! From this point on, the band never let up! There was enough energy in the venue to choke a horse. As the minutes passed, you could feel the temperature rising. Good thing Pettibone doused himself with water before he began his searing deliverance.

As said stated earlier, Curr may have been all the cameras; however, Pettibone wanted no parts of the photographic fanfare. As he was belting out “Rain To The Sound of Panic” the singer was caught amidst a sea of crazed fans singing along madly. He just so happen to in mid stride of while the surrounding fans were screaming along to the open mic. Out of no where a camera popped up a mere inch away from Johnny’s face. With cat like reflexes, he blocked the shot by placing his entire hand over the lens of the camera right before the flash went off. Guessing those years of bouncing for bars (El Corazon in Seattle) have paid off. At the end of the set, the band stuck around to meet and greet their adoring fans, a perfect way to cap off the evening. HIMSA will return in the fall with Danzig (guessing the "Dirty Black Summer Tour" was a dry run) on the Blackest of the Black Tour. Make sure you place your local date on your calendar; this will not be a show to miss.

Partial setlist (not in exact order): Kiss or Kill, Dominion, Rain To the Sound of Panic, A Girl In Glass, Cherum, Destroyer, Rain To The Sound of Panic, When Midnight Breaks.

Click here for new interview with Johnny Pettibone

&

Here for previous interview

2005 "Dirty Black Summer" Tour Dates:

HIMSA with support Scars of Tomorrow, Full Blown Chaos, The Agony Scene, and The Esoteric.

6/13 Sacramento, CA - Boardwalk
6/14 San Francisco, CA - The Pound
6/15 Pomona, CA - The Glasshouse
6/16 Hollywood, CA - Whiskey
6/17 San Diego, CA - Epicentre
6/18 Tucson, AZ - Skrappys
6/19 Phoenix, AZ - Brickhouse
6/20 Las Vegas, NV - Roadhouse Casino
6/22 El Paso, TX - T Lounge
6/23 Dallas, TX - Galaxy Club
6/25 Mokena, IL - Pearl Room
6/26 St. Louis, MO - Creepy Crawl
6/28 Milwaukee, WI - Rave Bar
6/30 Grand Rapids, MI - Ten Bells
7/01 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small
7/02 Toledo, OH - Headliners 1-31H
7/03 Cleveland, OH - Agora Front Room
7/05 Lancaster, PA - The Chameleon
7/06 Farmingdale, NY - Downtown
7/07 New York, NY - CBGB
7/08 Albany, NY - Saratoga Winners
7/09 Springfield, VA - Jaxx
7/10 Virginia Beach, VA - Club Live
7/11 Spartanburg, SC - Ground Zero
7/12 Jacksonville, FL - Jackrabbits
7/13 Tampa, FL - State Theater
7/14 Orlando, FL - Back Booth
7/15 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
7/16 Nashville, TN - Exit/In
7/17 Springfield, MO - Rockwell
7/18 Kansas City, MO - El Torreon
7/19 Denver, CO - Rock Island
7/20 Salt Lake City, UT - Lo-Fi Cafe
7/21 Boise, ID - Impart Store
7/22 Seattle, WA - El Corazon

All photos Copyright © 2005. Pictures may not be used without the written consent/permission of FourteenG