www.twistedmusic.net/showprofile.php?ArticleID=64 www.garageband.com/artist/The_Venting_Machine www.powerslave.com/showreviews/showreview.php?showreview_id=277&from=archive Wailing Tunes at Waves Melissa Evett - November 10, 2003 Waves Smokehouse and Saloon -- Monday night gave way to Waves Smokehouse and Saloon in San Jose the opportunity to put on a free show for local metal heads. Rock Stars and Bitches at Waves presented three great metal bands to a fairly large crowd considering it was a Monday night. The saloon gave listeners the pleasure of experiencing Mindeye, The Venting Machine and Borderwars. Mindeye took the stage first and tore through a set of six amazingly powerful tunes, and also got the opportunity to introduce their new drummer, Jason Burtis. The band just recently returned after a two-month hiatus after parting ways with their previous drummer. Burtis definitely proves his worth with his powerhouse double bass and insane all-over-the-place tom work. He immediately shows it off on their opening tune, “Sams,” which bursts forth with a clinging drum solo and crashes through with grinding riffs and Disturb-like vocals by singer Eddy Carnes. Guitarist Ryan Fuller writes melodic and forceful verses that instantly grab your attention and force you into the song. One definitive attribute of the song is Fuller and Carnes’ “Page and Plant” style of singing the same notes that the guitar plays which seem to slowly fall down the fret board, making for a great and teasing bridge to the song. Bass player Scott Bowers provides fast finger-work by playing in between dramatic pauses between riffs and adds the emphasis to the intensity of the song. Carnes finishes the song off with vein-popping screams after the band builds up to the final climax. On “Control,” Mindeye changes it up a bit to play a creepy intro with taunting lyrics as Carnes explains that the song is about control freaks. The song has great head-bobbing riffs that get you moving as Carnes screams over and over “Control!” Mindeye shows their sensitive side with a song dedicated to Carnes’ mother who died last year on Valentine’s Day. It has a Pink Floyd-like intro with tweeky, slow guitar work and great effects by Fuller while Bowers adds the icing on the cake. Carnes asks “tell me why” and offers a soulful-eyed toast to the audience and glances up into the rafters of the club. They end the set with “Treason,” which compelled the audience to bob their heads along. Carnes makes a circle through the audience, grabs a drink at the bar (all this while singing), and returns to the stage to finish it off with a scream. Mindeye is a stoner-metal type of sound that offers great musicianship and brutally honest vocals. Second to take the stage, was The Venting Machine out of Tracy. They introduce themselves with their signature song, “The Venting Machine” and force you to pay attention. The riffs tear at your rib cage and singer Josh Hoover digs along as his eyes roll back into his head. It only took a song and a half to get the first moshers going for the evening as they ripped through “Pica,” a metaphorical song about having an abnormal desire to eat inedible things, like rocks, nails, chalk, etc. Next, Hoover introduced a still-wet-behind-the-ears new song called “Perineum,” which Hoover delicately explains is the piece of skin between ones anus and genitals. (Who says metal isn’t educational?) Guitarist Jeremy Epp gives an insanely fast, “holy crap” guitar solo half way through the song that is reminiscent of their older solo-filled tunes off of their debut album, “The Still Point.” Drummer Joe Tobin bangs away on his snare as you worry whether or not he’s going to break it. The Venting Machine got a great response from the crowd as Epp and Tobin gave a teaser by playing the beginning of Slayer’s “Raining Blood.” They cut the song short however, and crashed into “War Paint,” a devilish revenge song that has a very tribal-like intro between the drumbeats and guitar work. A silent pause lets Hoover whisper as The Venting Machine-faithfuls scream along: “left all alone/left by myself, which is nothing at all!” Another relatively new one, “My Friend Apathy” has jumpy riffs and droning vocals. Tobin’s crash cymbal work makes you move and bassist Chad Murphy provides the spinal chord with his great bass work. The band has great crowd interaction with Epp’s aggressive, seemingly pissed-off facial expressions and Hoover’s penetrating glares. Murphy and Tobin swing their blonde locks around, and you can’t help but feed off of the band’s energy. Hoover introduces their spinal chord friendly song “Potty Mouth” as “the crowd pleaser.” Proving it true, the audience closest to the stage was banging their heads along with Hoover as the music becomes a poltergeist on your spine and forces you to move. Just when they thought they were done, Security’s Dave Gary told them they could play one more and the audience erupted. The Venting Machine played what was going to be their title track off their sophomore album, “The Neverending,” but has now been changed to “The Diablo Demo.” “The Neverending” just may be their fastest song yet and it’s impressive how they end their energy-intensive set with their fastest. In the midpoint of the song, Hoover screams out a grueling 12-count yell that makes your belly ache and your face turn red just from watching him. Always intense, and seemingly better each time, The Venting Machine took Waves by storm. Last but certainly not least was Borderwars, a new band to the scene – about a year old. This trash-metal-inspired trio opened their set by covering a few Sepultura songs, including “Refuse/Resist” (featuring Arsinic vocalist Jeff Danner), “War for Territory” and “Propaganda.” Guitarist and vocalist Vinz Graham was incredibly accurate and precise along with his partner-in-crime, bassist Frank Grengo. Borderwars is a great metal jam band that got the late Monday night audience moving. Drummer Andrew Merrik is a phenomenal drummer and plays a mean metal sound. The three men tore through great jam songs and played out “The Four Horsemen” by Metallica. Even brief technical difficulties with Graham’s microphone didn’t stop them from continuing on with the song as Grengo gave the back up. Graham strums and harmonizes his guitar faster than you can watch his hand move. Quite the energetic and exciting show to watch, this was my first time seeing Borderwars, but I would definitely go to another gig. Despite being a fairly new band, you can tell individually they’ve been at it for a while. The Venting Machine’s Jeremy Epp joined the band onstage for a few grunts of his own as he held a fresh beer. He was invited back up to sing the lyrics as Borderwars offered their own teaser by playing the beginning to Pantera’s “Walk.” They didn’t finish though, but instead offered a simple explanation. “The difference between The Venting Machine and us,” laughs Graham, “is that they practice and we don’t.” The Rock Stars and Bitches show at Waves was a great success that offered a lot of fun. I was impressed so many people showed up on a Monday night and that there were so many familiar faces to the local music scene. It’s good to know that there is still faithful support coming from around the bay. http://www.powerslave.com/articles/article.php?article_id=160