GORELEONE + MARROWED + SERÄNÄ
FRI MAY 15 | 7 PM | THE PORTAL ARCADE
To free Johnny Fontaine, the thinly disguised Frank Sinatra analog in The Godfather, Don Vito and Luca Brasi visited the bandleader who owned his contract. Luca put a pistol to the man’s head while Vito assured him either his signature or his brains would be on the release. That was the textbook example of making “an offer he can’t refuse.”
Were the same scenario played out with Goreleone instead of Mr. Corleone, the threat would likely be slower and less merciful than a single gunshot and closer to the makings of a Carcass song, with slow flaying, untrained vivisection, and hours of agonizing torment part of the mix.
The Valdosta metal band is super heavy, but more controlled than the onslaught of metalcore bands putting chaos ahead of song structure. Their judicious use of electronics on the single Insanity is a nice surprise, and the choral vocals of This is the End might remind you of thrash metal gods like Metallica, Manowar, and Exodus opening songs with classical bits to keep listeners on their toes.
Marrowed, from Frederick, MD, in the DC-Baltimore vortex of corruption, have a clean death metal sound. It might be considered technical metal if the riffs were more complicated. Thankfully, they are not, because they work and give lead vocalist George “George” George room to growl and threaten.
The alt-grunge of Savannah’s Seränä is infected with the local strain of sludge metal, upping the toxicity of that sub-subgenre to levels never seen before.
DROPOUT KINGS + LOST IN SEPARATION + KENT OSBORNE + VOLITION//IMPULSE + CORRUPTED EMPIRE
THU MAY 14 | 7 PM | DISTRICT LIVE
With ‘90s nostalgia all the rage lately, there’s room for more than just Smashing Pumpkins and grunge revivalists. The end of the millennium saw bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, 311, Kid Rock, P.O.D., and even the execrable Vanilla Ice make bank on a blend of 7-string guitar staccato riffs, samples and loops, and hip-hop vocal delivery. Results were undoubtedly mixed, but there were standouts and you can’t argue it wasn’t immensely popular.
Dropout Kings formed in Phoenix in 2016, kept that style intact while it was dormant in the mainstream, and are hoping to ride the new wave of everything ‘90s while the crest is peaking. If it’s your thing, they do it well. With all the subtlety of Gene Simmons singing “my love is in her hands,” the songs are a nonstop barrage of hollering, aggression, emoting, and absolute chaos.
There’s a live band, two MCs, endless electronic adornments, and the feeling you’ve died and woken up on an Insane Clown Posse tour bus with Marshall stacks for seatbacks. It’s not hard to tell why their hits move the crowd, but even the deeper tracks lacking a major hook hit like a Vegas strip club at full tilt.
A slew of support acts packs this District Live show with value for your hard-earned dollar bill, y’all. Lost in Separation, from Dallas, bring the obligatory metalcore of the progressive/melodic variety. Fans of Underoath and Bring Me the Horizon will surely approve.
Atlanta rapper Kent Osborne, now LA-based, is in a similar lane. He calls it “trap-metal.” It’s raw and aggressive, with heavy guitars and tons of energy, far more intriguing than the current vocoder mumbling and mewling about “all de dings ah been thru” (join the club, chief) that has all but destroyed modern hip-hop.
Two local metal bands get the shitshow started. The metalcore of Volition//Impulse is made much more interesting by co-vocalist Anna who can sing clean or summon the harsh demons. The ultra-reliable Corrupted Empire juxtapose the relative smooth of groove metal with raging hardcore and plenty of anger.
THE HOUSE PARTY – CANTON JONES + N.M.O. + TEIONA GUNN + MONÁE
FRI MAY 15 | 7 PM | SENTIENT BEAN
Hip hop, soul, and R&B aren’t the norm at the Bean, but there’s no reason it shouldn’t be. This show doubles down on organic diversity because Christian music is even less common in a Forsyth Park coffee house that typically features underground heavy music, delicate singer songwriter stuff, and poetry events. Starting out as a church kid, Canton Jones began his professional career mixing gospel and hip-hop in the early aughts. Nominated for a Grammy Award in 2012 for the song Window, he’s been a stalwart of the style for two decades.
The show also includes “Kingdom-focused” hip-hop trio Not My Own, abbreviated as N.M.O. (see what they did there?). They collaborate with Jones, creating traditional rap with Latin trap elements. Teiona Gunn, from Kansas City, is also part of the Jones orbit, singing mostly pop, gospel, and R&B styles. For local flavor, SCAD’s Monáe opens the show.
CLOWNVIS + CPS + MONCHICHI
SAT MAY 16 | 6 PM | COASTAL EMPIRE BEER CO.
Modern life is increasingly defined by the narrative-based crowd arguing with the reality-based crowd over low-grade heroes and villains who promise the moon and often deliver pebbles. You can almost hear the calliope music and the ringmaster babble, and it bites even harder if you’re self-aware enough to notice it while in one of those debates.
Obviously, Clownvis is the artist needed to bring clarity and purpose to our lives. Starting as a Craigslist clown 20 years ago, the times have finally caught up. The alter ego of St. Louis rockabilly scenester Mike Leahy, Clownvis uses the show as a vehicle for karaoke so bad it’s good, comedy, stage banter, and magic.
For context, Clownvis has toured with novelty act Mac Sabbath, anti-comedian Neil Hamburger, the expected Insane Clown Posse, and actual rock bands The Blasters and Supersuckers. Variety shows, once ubiquitous, are nearly gone. Clownvis is on a mission to keep them alive with countless reasons to not take any of it seriously, which is a good idea on how to approach the aforementioned useless debates.
Supporting this anti-schism effort is New York City duo CPS. Switching from guitar and drums to bass and drums, depending on the song, their progressive metal and math rock has a garage rock vibe, if that garage is located on the busiest stretch of Manhattan’s FDR Drive. Busy and relentless, it’s a lot of sound to keep up with from just two dudes.
That said, even more chaotic and ferocious is the emoviolence of Monchichi. Named after the cutest little plush monkey dolls from Japan, the local trio combine the least melodic bits of screamo with the instantaneous explosions of powerviolence. Anyone…mature….enough to remember Savannah pv act Feeding Tube fondly will love this.
However, compared to the sub-half-minute “songs” pv is known for, aficionados will find Monchichi’s tunes of epic length, with one clocking in at almost three whole minutes. It could clear a room fast, unless you’re open-minded enough to buy a Clownvis ticket in the first place or willing to brave anything to drown out those pointless arguments.
GUNWALES
FRI MAY 15 | 7 PM | STARLAND YARD
Pronounced “guh-nuhlz” and not “gun-walz,” the local rock band plays rock music, free of any style prefixes. No -core this or alt- that, just rock. That shouldn’t be a problem for anyone, and it doesn’t seem to be one for the band. The quartet give it to you straightforward with two guitars, bass, and drums.
Similar to how REM distilled the post punk and New Wave music dominating university playlists down to the Byrds and Big Star roots, or when grunge took over everything and Pearl Jam refined it back to a more traditional rock sound, Gunwales isn’t trying to reinvent anything. The foundation that the 8,531 verified genres of rock rest upon are more than sufficient.
Not to mention that a free outdoor rock show during the best weather in one of the country’s most livable li’l cities is, to borrow a phrase from a previous blurb, an offer you can’t refuse. Note to band: one clean photo somewhere online would help get the word out. Thanks!
By Frank Ricci