Block Party With Excess Baggage

 
The City of Hampton (in Virginia) hosts block parties every week-end during the summer months. Actually, I don't frequent those parties since I don't live in that city but my family and I went there last night to check out the free show there featuring EXCESS BAGGAGE.

If you've been following my blog, you might've noticed my frequent posts about VANQUISH - my favorite local metal band. Well, you know that the band bade us farewell at the very end of 2009 (yes, it still breaks my heart). But Greer Cawthon, who sang lead for Vanquish, has been very busy with his new band EXCESS BAGGAGE. I took a few pictures which I thought I'd share here.

The band was awesome! Greer's voice is so versatile. He was excellent with Vanquish, but the variety of songs that he sang last night with Excess Baggage really demonstrates the range of his vocal talents. The backing vocals provided by the other band members blended in really well with his voice, too. I must say, the audience was really getting into the groove. You could see people of all ages having fun dancing and singing along. The energy of the band seemed endless.

If you get the opportunity to catch a show with EXCESS BAGGAGE, I can guarantee you will enjoy the performance and have a great time, too. You probably won't be able to sit still because their rocking sound is gonna make you wanna get up there and sing or dance (or both!). Check out the band schedule at Excess Baggage Rocks on Myspace. You can also find them on Facebook.

Sneak Peek at Vanquish's Upcoming Album

Photo by Vanquish Fan Graphics
My favorite local band from Richmond/Hampton Roads, Virginia is Vanquish. I mentioned them in one of my earlier posts and post updates as I can. I manage a fan page on myspace dedicated to promoting this awesome metal band. The page promotes other local musicians and other bands I like as well but mainly, it's there because I wanted to bring more exposure to this talented group of musicians.


Photo by Vanquish Fan Graphics
The band has been working hard for over a year now on putting together their second album and will soon be releasing the album. They've uploaded two tracks from the new album on their official myspace page so their fans can get a preview and give them some feedback. One of the songs they posted is Lost Cause, which you can listen to (the demo version) and watch them perform in this video clip my sister took for me during one of their NorVA performances. I uploaded it to my YouTube page, along with a few other videos I have of them from their shows.



I figure I ought to post some of the collages I put together of the band members to introduce my readers to the band members. (After all, I am a Photoshop artist myself).






Please be sure to visit the band's myspace page and listen to their music! If you're a myspace user, please be sure to add them to your favorite band friends, too. And don't forget to check out the gydget I created for metal music lovers like myself. I have the narrow version displayed on the right hand column of this blog.

Necare

Here's some trivia about a member of my favorite local heavy metal band, Vanquish. Greer Cawthon, their lead singer and keyboard player, played drums, keyboard, and guitar in a doom metal band called Necare.
Necare (pronounced "neh KA reh") released an album through a record label from Finland called Firebox Records some years ago. If you google the band's name, you'll actually still be able to find the album for sale through several outlets, including amazon. While this band is actually no longer playing or recording together, the album they released continues to gain attention around the world for its remarkable contribution to this type of music.



These are the tracks from that album:
1. Stillborn Twilight
2. Rite of Shrouds
3. Desire (The Dawn & The Chrysalis)
4. Canto XXXIV
5. Ruin
6. Celia
7. Gethsemane
8. Waters of Quiet
9. Touching Eternity

Readers who might not be familiar with doom metal must be wondering what exactly is doom metal? Metal music, after all, has so many classifications and in my opinion, not all of them accurately describe the music at all. After listening to Necare today, all I can say is that if you like gothic music (not to be mistaken with that screaming out your blood and guts kind of stuff), then you will enjoy listening to the almost hypnotic yet haunting melodies of Necare. As defined in wikipedia, doom metal "typically employs very slow tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much 'thicker' or 'heavier' sound than other metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom."

This is the description of Necare's music that I read in their biography:

Necare's sound can be best described as atavistic: they craft a raw, melodic soundscape eerily reminiscent of three early '90s UK doom/death bands (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost) that were influential to so many - while adding to the mix a substantial dose of tranquil atmosphere.

If you want to see what music critics and reviewers mean about the lyrics of doom metal songs, take a look at the lyrics of Necare's title track from the signed album RUIN:

Ruin

Falling, sightless, the final hours have passed.
The soul becomes flightless.
The silence of the grave, the evensong.
Bereft of form and void.
Deadlights dance in the séance obscure.
And the damned lick the black tendrils of hastur.
Conjoined amidst the circles nine.
The prophecy of the soil and secret rites of the worm.
An ossuary of flesh amongst all our living tombs.
Crawling, limbless, through the pale valleys displaced of time.
Our lidless eyes forward to the ever-fixed mark.
This worm-web known as mortality.
A single, labyrinthine tier across the yawning abyss.
Whose walls are featureless and purchase - impossible.
And so begins the litany of the lie.
Scraping the precipice toward the slough of despond.
I have found strange purity in this oblivion.
Impending dissolution brings no pause.
Upon ashen splinters is my body - which is given for you.
I call the vermin to their feast, and the worms to paradise.

Then go to their myspace page and listen to their music. I assure you, you will not be disappointed.