The Truth Winter Tour Review

The Truth Winter Tour 2006 Bleeding Through Every Time I Die Between The Buried and Me Haste The Day 2/26/06 HOB Reviewers: Maggie Solum & Karma E. Omowale Photos: Erika Kristen Watt

Normally we like to try to set up the review with a foreword but I think that Maggie Solum’s accounts from the pit was the perfect way to kick off our new segment: “Tales From The Pit”. Immediately following the Solum report, the chronicles shall continue from the rafters along with artist accounts by Karma E and photos by Erika Kristen. Remember our motto: Raw, Rough, & Real? Well we are living up to it with this jam-packed review and then some!! Ready? 

Tales From The Pit

What can I say about that horrible day at the end of February that left me with a bruised cheekbone, other than it was abhorrent? Well, I can say the bands' performances were extremely entertaining if I had any way to watch from the terror that was the floor. Haste the Day probably had the mellowest pit, though you could tell by the raging fire in every hardcore boy's eyes that they were just waiting to erupt into a mass of flying bodies. That was actually when I got punched in the face by a bandana-wearing skinhead with his eyes closed, just throwing uppercuts to where ever he thought "needed" it. It wouldn't usually matter, but if you think about it there's no need for you to be standing there, enjoying the show when all of a sudden you're eating someone else's knuckles. Think about that. Unless you're some tuff guy. I really, really enjoyed Haste's performance and it was the first time I had seen them with Keech as their lead man, let alone seeing them at all. They received quite a bit of slack for losing Jimmy without much of an explanation but I think Mr. Stephen Keech suits them very well as a singer and they will definitely seem “whole” now. The back-up singers, the two guitarists or the guitarist and the bassist, were very good and their melody was almost haunting it was so on pitch and so harmonic. I was about to move on to Between the Buried and Me and blab about their EXTREME PITS OF INJURY, but I forgot a few points about scene kids.

There were way too many and they were everywhere. I was not impressed and I was not happy. This crowd contains some of the meanest kids I have ever come across, and I'm sure others will agree. Also some of the most stupid. Tell me this – why would you have a purse while standing on the floor? Especially a big, red leather purse that jabs people in the chest because it just doesn't need to be there? I guess they carry ugly accessories to match their ugly llama haircuts. I'm sorry, but it's just not fun to have two blond, mullet-haired scene girls giggling and pretending to mosh in front of you. Soon the boys will catch on and then you're basically dead. Since this happened during Haste the Day, I did the dowdies a favor and gave them a rather gentle hand into the hardcore dancing pit. They enjoyed that for sure; their screams could've reached the ears of the men onstage. It's just intolerable sometimes and ridiculous. I faced that semi-mess alone and thankfully, a friend for the rest of the evening aided me.

On to Between the Buried and Me. Let's just say nine minute songs, 95% are breakdowns, don't go over well if you're only 5'4". I wasn't necessarily angry with the situation, the pummeling of my kidneys and stomach at the same time or the fact that sweaty llama hair was constantly in my mouth – but I don't see how hardcore kids can enjoy a show or performance when they're basically voluntarily getting beat up. I guess it isn't for me, and I don't think hardcore kids are stupid because I know a few - it's the scene kids that put on their angry face when they weigh 100 pounds and try to fend for themselves while trying not to mess up their fohawk or lose their purses. There were many points during this set where I thought I was going to end up on the floor-getting roundhouse kicked by a dozen boys at once. My friend was probably more fun to watch than the band; I remember at one point she grabbed a scene boy by the hood of his sweatshirt, punched him in the face, and threw him into the wall of the pit. I don't think I even caught a glimpse of BTBAM because I could never look up – it would let me guard down! And I would most likely get beat to the ground. But they had a sweet sound to them, a sound only safe to listen to alone in your car where you know you won't die.

Every Time I Die was what I had been looking forward to since the tour had been announced. Unfortunately, the growing amount of tension to lash out and destroy people from the boys destroyed much of the enjoyable aspects of the set. The funny thing was you knew there were more scene kids there than hardcore kids because things only got rough during Gutter Phenomenon songs and "Ebolorama", the only tunes the kids knew. I became severely pissed at this point, not because I wanted everything to be complete chaos like BTBAM's set, but because there weren't enough awesome Every Time I Die fans. There were enough, but the word scene and the presence of scene made me want to break florescent light bulbs over the kids' heads. You could breath about two breaths at a time before you were rushed forward and brought back with the force of the widening mosh pits (which there definitely wasn't enough room for). At one point, I was brought down with another boy on top of me and there was no aid there to lift either of us. In a panic at the thought of being crushed, we managed to get up, but that struck a nerve for me; there isn't a brotherhood in scene like there is in hardcore and metal, and I don't know where these kids come from because before that show I'd never thought Bleeding Through would bring in the scenesters. But somehow scene kids infect everything, like the rats that carried the bubonic plague back hundreds of years ago. For a llama-haired kid to read this, I bet it hurts. Stop taking over good bands and leaving them as bones after four weeks of squealing and obsessing because you got bored. You're disloyal. Stop it.

Anyway, I did enjoy Every Time I Die's set, from what I could enjoy and hear and see, I just wish Andy [Williams] would stop putting on that hard ass game face during his stage strutting. He's tough, but he's not too cool for school ;). Keith seemed a lot more into his performance at this show than at Sounds of the Underground (the last time I'd seen the band) and his vocals have improved, but now they aren't exactly made for the older songs they play – and that's a shame because the old is as good as the new and vice versa. Another thing I was worried about was the equal mix of old material and new material and I was please, they did a very good job at picking good tracks from both. What would've made it even better would've been a jog back to Logic of Crocodiles. My clearest memory of the set was Jordan's back landing on a group of kids’ right in front of me when he jumped from the front edge of the stage and onto the crowd. Over all that noise, I almost heard the smack of his body against their skulls. Then the shoving came so I couldn't give his messy fohawk a nice tug.

After this run in with fists and cracking ribs I decided I would watch from the safety of the sidelines for Bleeding Through. I am so glad I did. Two things happened – I didn't go home with any more battle wounds than what I'd already been blessed with and I met up with Mr. Williams. Talk about luck.

Do you really want to hear my opinion on Bleeding Through's set? Do you really? Can you take more pain? Good, 'cause I'm bringin' it! I honestly didn't enjoy it. I haven't heard any of their music other than very old material, and this didn't really do them any justice because all I heard was noise and I couldn't make out enough to decide if I liked it or not. And, their performance wasn't astonishing. But, I have to tell you I've never had outstanding passion for this band either so they probably would've had to have crystal clear sound and pyro effects to get out of the hole I had dug for them. So this isn't coming from an avid listener. I'm sure all the scenesters and hardcore ass-kickers enjoyed it, though. It looked like they were having a good time dying on their feet.

Overview: the merch hall was insanely unorganized and un-thought-through, haha. There was one line or maybe two between two tables in the merch hallway of the House of Blues. That is crazy. Other than water, I was not going back there for anything. And if anyone from the bands went back their to hang with fans they would've drowned. There was just so much wrong with this show. I'm sorry I'm not used to scene or anything like that - I just prefer being able to see, hear and live through four sets. My final words? Scene kids, watch your backs, you're going to die out like the dodo's you are. You kill music – music will kill you!

Maggie Solum

Chicago Cord / FourteenG

Lineup: Stephen Keech – Vocals; Devin Chaulk – Drums; Brennan Chaulk – Guitar; Jason Barnes – Guitar; Mike Murphy – Bass

To start the night out for Indiana born Haste the Day’s set, the song "Hope Overture" by the Kronos Quartet (from the movie Requiem For A Dream) piped through the PA in which a pit broke out during the PA blasting of song. Mind you this all happened before the band came on, one could only assume we were in for some shit! By now you’ve read Maggie’s account so you know we were!! By the way, the floor was more than full during the first act not to mention the crowd was into the band! Again, two major anomalies for Chicago!! However, to the untrained eye it appeared that way. Of course we knew better the rambunctious crowd was just wanting to stir up trouble!! The band immediately ripped into the first song of their set, “Fallen”.

Vocalist Stephen Keech addressed the eager for trouble crowd (as you could see the glint in their devilish eyes) with the classic spiel, “What’s up Chicago? How you guys feeling tonight? Ready for some fun? So for those of you who don’t know who we are, we are Haste The Day! This song goes out to the pit, it’s called "The Perfect Night”. Of course, the pit got wider, bigger, and meaner. It was a nightmare. These kids were not playing nice-nice. Perhaps the goal was to bloody as many noses as possible. We believe in mosh pits as much as the next metalhead, however the sole purpose of a pit is to celebrate the songs being performed, not picking fights in them! Where has the principal of unity in the pit gone? Well since we are the subject of pits and whatnot, the first crowd surfer crossed into the barrier more hostile territory better known as the HOB security. Well folks, they SERIOUSLY will earn their pay from tonight!! The band does a very cool 'headbanging in synch thing". Keech goes one way, and the strings go another with guitarists Brennan Chaulk, Jason Barnes and bassist Mike Murphy.

“Between the Buried and Me will shred your face off then we have Every Time I Die and Bleeding Through. We dedicate this next song to all of them; it’s called “Walk On”!” Nice to know the song was received well by the jackals! To intro the next song “Blue”, Keech said, “All right Chicago I wanna see this place move from the back to the front from side to side”. Well the band should have been proud, the entire floor open up (from the exception of the wallflowers on all sides on the perimeter floor), it was as if someone dropped a bomb on the floor. We have NEVER seen anything like it before. At the conclusion of “Blue” Keech set-up the next song and making a many jaw drop in the process with his next intro, “We have two more songs left. Just so you know, we love Jesus Christ very much. If you have any questions about that, just ask us!” Oh remember we spoke of a bomb being dropped on the room earlier, well here was a double dose of it!! Keech’s comment shocked and actually angered the majority of the crowd the others booed, hissed, and jeered. Hope you weren't expecting more from those heathens! One would believe that a negative response would ensue from the crowd. The band ripped into “Walls and Fear”, hmmm…interesting segue into the song if you sit back and think about it, right? Kudos to Mr. Keech for this one! The backing vocals were just as strong as Keech’s. They sounded amazing! More brutality continued in the pit as the band played on. To conclude their set, Keech thanked the crowd then said, “I wanna see a circle pit right now Chicago!” believe it or not that they did, without music too! During “When Everything Falls” Keech who was singing to the crowd on the riser had to dodge three surfers that crossed the barrier.

It was nice to see all the cacophony on the floor did not affect the band's performance. We were quite impressed with their level of mastery on how well they performed and how they handled the crowd. You could clearly hear every instrument and the backing vocals complimented Keech to a tee! It was one “h” of a set! We definitely look forward to seeing this band again of course in less hostile circumstances!

Haste the Day Setlist: Fallen; The Perfect Night; Closest Thing to Closure; Walk On; Blue; Walls and Fear; When Everything Falls.

Click thumbnail to enlarge photo

Lineup: Tommy Rogers – Vocals / Keyboards; Paul Waggoner – Guitar; Dan Briggs – Bass; Dusty Waring – Guitar; Blake Richardson - Drums

Next up we have Victory Record’s Between the Buried and Me. The crowd never died down from Haste the Day’s set. In which time, the room somehow filled up more. Out the chute, vocalist Tommy Rogers addressed the crazed crowd, “What’s going on people? We’re BTBAM, thanks for watching!” The venue erupted. The band then began to play “Autodiadact”; during the first chorus of the song, a surfer crossed into the unknown. The band sounded amazing it was just too bad Rogers vocals were drowned out. The vocalist had the the newly turned calmer and tamer audience clap during his keyboard parts. It was quite interactive. For the outro for “Shevanel” Rogers exclaimed, "Give it up for Haste the Day!”, the audience cheered loudly. “And for Every Time I Die!”, the audience died down considerably. “Now for Bleeding Through!”, the crowd started to explode with ovation. “We are very happy to be here with them!” Rogers then introed the next selection, “Selkies: the Endless Obsession” a FourteenG favorite. Rogers vocals came through loud and clear on this one. The seven plus minute song is a strong indicator that Dream Theater served as a musical influence to the band. We were not the only ones into the song, the entire floor swayed. During one of the slow parts, some of the members in the audience broke out their lighters. At the conclusion, the audience gave up mad love and deservingly so!!

“We have two more songs left…”. Of course, one would had to have been under the influence of crack to believe the crowd would behave! Things were going too smooth, we must admit that!! Next thing you know some ignoramus shouts, “Slayer”! WTF!! Rogers rolled his eyes as he the rest of band ripped into “Camilla Rhodes”. Something even more unbelievable occurred during the song, two (2) separate pits broke out simultaneously. It was a complete and utter hot mess! For their last song Rogers said, “Thank you very much for coming and for watching us tonight! This is our last song, it’s off our new album [Alaska] it’s called “All Bodies”!” For the majority of the song, Rogers stood on the lip of the barrier and sang to the crowd. The interaction between him and the crowd, it was so cool. The band received prolonged applause once their set was over. What an awesome set!

Between The Buried and Me Setlist: Autodidact; Shevanel Cut a Flip; Selkies: the Endless Obsession; Camilla Rhodes; All Bodies.

Lineup: Keith Buckley - Vocals; Michael Novak Jr. - Drums; Andy Williams - Guitar; Jordan Buckley - Guitar; Chris Byrnes – Bass 

The now almost filled to capacity venue chattered loudly during the brief changeover. As soon as the curtains parted, all mayhem broke loose but in a controlled manner. Ratboy aka Michael Novak opened with a drum solo then the rest of the band joined in. As soon as the infamous tiger sound byte rang through the PA, the crowd lost it, Every Time I Die’s set had officially commenced with “Kill The Music”. The crowd happily bopped along to the tune. The band sounded incredible; Keith Buckley’s vocals were quite enjoyable! The band then ripped into the second song of the night, “Bored Stiff”. Not like anyone would be bored rigid from a set like this. Of course, bassist Chris Byrnes entertained the crowd with his gyrations and immense energy. Guitarist Jordan Buckley got into the act jumping from any available elevated surface he could find. Then we have guitarist Andy Williams, who was sporting a new "do", a buzz cut. He seemed determined yet subdued, probably was the facial hair that was holding the loveable looking Grizzly Adams back. Sorry, that could not be avoided! The crowd ate it up! Chris jumped into the crowd without missing a note during the last part of the song. Talk about pure showmanship!

For the third song baby Buckley finally addressed his adoring public, “This song is for all of you who have seen us before, this song is called “Floater!” Goddamn is all can be said. After hearing the band perform this particular selection, believers were officially made out of FourteenG; they slayed. At the conclusion, Buckley spoke again, “House of Blues my ass, this is the house of mother fuckers!” The venue erupted in uproarious laughter. Amen Brother Keith, no truer words have ever been uttered, especially on a night such as this! The lively frontman continued his standup routine, “How’s everybody doing? I wanna thank the other bands tonight. Another stellar band called BTBAM, Haste The Day and of course ETID!”, the crowd roared. Buckley then started on a dissertation about his father. During the monologue, someone had tossed an ugly drab army hat onto the stage at which time Keith looked down at the monstrosity and said, “That’s a nice hat!” and proceeded to throw the eyesore by the drum kit. He continued, “The next one is off our new one Gutter Phenomenon. If you don’t have it, you can buy it here. This one is Champing at the Bit”!” The pit got riled up again as security was forced to toss out one of the vicious mongers out of the venue during the song, justice had been served!

On to “Romeo A Go-Go”, you know it’s almost excruciating to hear Keith “sing” their older material. Brother Buckley has come a LONG way with his vocal prowess, to the tune of his voice not fitting the older material. During the middle Buckley screeched, “Sing it along with me Chicago!”, the fold happily obliged during the chorus. They also helped on the “1-2-3” part as well. Full of witticism Keith introed the next by saying, “Andy grew a beard to try to top the last show here in Chicago!”, the crowd laughed. “The next one is a fast one so I want to see the slowest circle pit this place has ever seen”, he then laughed himself and exclaimed, “I don’t know! This is “She’s My Rushmore”!” The crowd exultantly sang along to the chorus. On the outro Buckley graciously thanked the crowd, “Thank you so very much! We are ETID!” He then looked down by his mic stand and noticed a rogue shoe. “This must be a very intense set tonight because someone lost a shoe!” Keith proceeded to dedicate the next song “The New Black” to Bleeding Through. An obvious inebriated lady from the front section brashly shouted, “They rock!” Keith retorted, “They do!” with a devious sparkle in his eyes he continued, “This song goes out to that lady. She’s already drunk so this song is dedicated to the man that’s taking her home tonight!” the crowd howled; the band ripped into the "The New Black". During the lull after the band finished performing the aforementioned, Andy wrapped a white bandana around his head. Keith obviously had a couple of wisecracks left, he looked at Andy and said, “It is a hardcore show right?” “Well this is “I’ve Been Gone So Long”! This song is dedicated to those that were ugly!!” Huh? Okay Keith, you lost us there buddy! There were surfers d’jour on this number.

On to the next selection, “Apocalypse”…hey Keith wrote it down! Jordan jumped into the crowd whilst still playing. The audience went nuts. On the last song of the night “Ebolarma”, Mr. Buckley addressed the fold, “Chicago, we’re Every Time I Die from Buffalo, NY. Now we need you to do us a favor and clap your goddamn hands. I wanna see some crowd surfing on this one!” The ever-obedient crowd did as their ringleader commanded; multiple surfers crossed the barriers at the same time. Keith stood on the lip of the barrier and sang to the crowd while a throng of surfers passed by, one nearly clipping the singer in the face. The charismatic frontman thanked the crowd after the high-energy set had concluded as the crowd gave up mad love to the band. Keith Buckley proves to be one of the most entertaining frontmen as the band is ever evolving. Make sure to see them next time they roll through your port. If you were not a fan previously, you will be shocked to find how quickly your opinion will change!

Every Time I Die Setlist: Kill The Music; Bored Stiff; Floater; Champing at the Bit; Romeo A Go-Go; Off Broadway; She’s My Rushmore; The New Black; I’ve Been Gone; Apocalypse Now; Ebolarma.

Lineup: Brandan Schieppati - Vocals; Marta Petersen - Keyboards; Scott Danough - Guitar; Derek Youngsma - Drums; Brian Leppke - Guitar; Ryan Wombacher – Bass

During the insanely long changeover the sold-out venue bustled with chatter, some of which we overheard many saying it was a “good lineup throughout”, well we concur! The venue definitely committed a boo-boo booking a hxc show on the same night as having a late show which immediately followed with a hip-hop thing with Common. We felt it was bad business to mix the two crowds regardless if the two passing ships had extended contact with one another. The HOB made an announcement about the next scheduled show so, “Go get your merch now before the band takes the stage!” Huh? Goes to show corporate HOB is all about the almighty $ damning the rest! After 25-minutes the band finally took the stage. Frontman Brandan Schieppati manned the manic stricken crowd, “What’s up Chicago?” They immediately ripped into “For Love And Falling” with the classic lyrics of "I don't give a fuck!" The crowd suspended multitudes of surfers during the song; it was the one time unity rang out amongst the crowd. During the break, Schieppati screamed, “All right, open up this shit!” The floor parted like the Red Sea, it was an unbelievable sight.

During “Love Caught in a Hail of Bullets”, Schieppati demanded a “Circle pit!” immediately following the command a massive pit erupted and the entire floor sang along. The energy the crowd emitted was stifling. Brandan had gone on to tell the crowd that his mother and father were in the audience along with his *girlfriend*. We’ll get back to that in a bit. In which Mrs. Schieppati was rocking out the entire time. Brandan then introed “Sweet Vampirous”… This was our final stop on The Truth Winter Tour, as we needed to continue the interview ETID’s frontman, Keith Buckley that got interrupted since the BT camp was finally available to talk.

As promised, since this tour is entitled “The Truth” we would be remiss not to deliver a quick hot dose of it! We would like to take this time to apologize to you, our readership, for not being able to corral a setlist and obtain the pre-arranged interview with the man himself, Brandan Schieppati. Reason? Schieppati passed me off to bassist Ryan Wombacher (not that I minded talking to him as I am appreciative of Ryan taking the time to talk to me in Schieppati's absence, click here for the interview) and at the last second as they were late by 35-minutes in hooking with me up at our originally scheduled time. To add injury to insult, Brandan felt hanging out with his girlfriend was more important than speaking about their new album and the ins and outs of the direction/progression of Bleeding Through... Only 15-20 minutes of his time would have been taken as he was the only one that could have answered these questions along with a query from one of his best friend's in the Industry, Johnny Pettibone of Himsa, had for him. Needless to say, we were not able to give you what we hoped be able to deliver due to the obstacle of Brandan's "hard to get a hold of while on tour" ethics. Better luck next time! In the meantime we hope you enjoy the photos.

Bleeding Through partial setlist: For Love and Falling; Love Caught in a Hail of Bullets; Sweet Vampirious, Kill To Believe.

Related Links of the Acronyms

• Click here for Interview with BT's Brandan Schieppati

• Interview with BT's Ryan Wombacher (New)

•  Photos / Review of BT on the Sanctity of Brothers Tour

• Interview with ETID's Keith Buckley (New)

• Interview with ETID's Andy Williams

• Interview with ETID's Keith Buckley

• Interview with BTBAM's Tommy Rogers

• Interview  with HTD's Brennan Chaulk

• Review of HTD on the Silver Bullet Tour

• Photos / Review of ETID on Warped Tour

• Photos / Review of ETID on Good Music For Bad People Tour

• Photos / Review of BT on strHess 2005 Tour

• Photos / Review for ETID at SOTU 2005

• Photos / Review BTBAM on headlining tour

• Photos / Review of BT on Headbangers Ball Tour

"The Truth" Winter 2006 Tour Dates

Bleeding Through w/support Every Time I Die, Between The Buried and Me, Haste The Day 

02.11.2006 - The New Oasis - Sparks, NV
02.12.2006 - The Clubhouse - Las Vegas, NV
02.15.2006 - Avalon - Hollywood - Hollywood, CA
02.16.2006 - The Pound SF - San Francisco, CA
02.17.2006 - The Pound SF - San Francisco, CA
02.18.2006 - Loveland - Portland, OR
02.19.2006 - NEUMOS - Seattle, WA
02.21.2006 - The Venue - Boise, ID
02.22.2006 - Club Sound - Salt Lake City, UT
02.23.2006 - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom - Denver, CO
02.24.2006 - Sokol Auditorium (The Underground) - Omaha, NE
02.25.2006 - Station 4 - Saint Paul, MN
02.26.2006 - House Of Blues - Chicago, IL
02.27.2006 - Gabe's Oasis - Iowa City, IA
02.28.2006 - Pop's - Sauget, IL
03.01.2006 - Headliners Music Hall - Louisville, KY
03.02.2006 - Saint Andrews Hall - Detroit, MI
03.03.2006 - Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY
03.04.2006 - Peabody's Down Under - Cleveland, OH
03.05.2006 - The Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, ONT
03.06.2006 - Club Soda - Montreal, QUE
03.08.2006 - Saratoga Winners - Latham, NY
03.09.2006 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
03.10.2006 - Worcester Palladium (Showroom) - Worcester, MA
03.11.2006 - The Stone Pony - Asbury Park, NJ
03.12.2006 - Theatre Of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
03.14.2006 - Nation - Washington, DC
03.15.2006 - The NorVa - Norfolk, VA
03.16.2006 - Tremont Music Hall - Charlotte, NC
03.17.2006 - Ground Zero Spartanburg, SC
03.18.2006 - Rocket Town - Nashville, TN
03.19.2006 - Fuel - Jacksonville, FL
03.21.2006 - Hard Rock Live - Orlando, FL
03.22.2006 - Culture Room - Fort Lauderdale, FL
03.23.2006 - The Masquerade - Tampa, FL
03.24.2006 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
03.25.2006 - Gypsy Tea Room (Ballroom) - Dallas, TX
03.26.2006 - The Meridian (Prime Room) - Houston, TX
03.27.2006 - White Rabbit - San Antonio TX
03.28.2006 - The Zone - El Paso, TX
03.30.2006 - Marquee Theatre - Tempe, AZ
03.31.2006 - SOMA - San Diego, CA
04.01.2006 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
04.02.2006 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
 

All photos Copyright © 2006. Pictures may not be used without the written consent/permission of FourteenG