Special Report from Portland - Klingon Metal at Dante's on 1/12!

Initially, the purpose of this blog was to provide recaps of concerts that take place in the Los Angeles area only but I happened to see a band called Stovokor play on my last trip to Portland and decided I absolutely had to write about them. These guys are a Klingon metal band that has fully immersed themselves in the Star Trek Klingon mythos. This band doesn't seem to tour much so if you're ever in the Portland area and they happen to be playing a show you HAVE to go!! Alternatively, you can contact them online and beg them to come play a show in LA. Seriously, I feel like I need to circulate a petition or something! I might even be willing to find them accommodations at Gene & Angela's Half-Way House for Traveling Bands.

Dante's was a pretty cool venue. I get the feeling that Portland is more of a punk rock town than a metal town because the times I've visited it seems to be mostly punk bands playing shows. Stovokor actually played in between two punk bands as well but there were several metalheads in attendance so it wasn't a totally punk crowd. As soon as the first punk band finished the metal fans lined up at the front of the stage.

Prepare yourself - Stovokor plays in full Klingon makeup. They have three guitar players, a bass player, vocalist, and drummer. I imagine that all of the Klingons in Portland are probably in this band. (Klingons seem to be sort of a minority.) But they were highly entertaining and had great stage presence! Musically speaking, I'm not sure I'd categorize them in any metal subgenre or call them anything but "metal" but I mean that in a good way.

Klingon guitar player. "For the Glory of Qo'nos!"

Klingon bass player.

Klingon vocalist. The rest of the band did a pretty good job hiding from the camera.

The only bummer was that the band disappeared quickly after their set was over because they had to move their gear out of the venue so I wasn't able to get a photo with anyone in Klingon makeup as I had requested. I also didn't get a chance to buy any merch because I didn't see any for sale. That sucked because I always try to buy merch and support the band. Hopefully I'll get a chance to grab a CD the next time I see them!

Be sure to check out Stovokor on facebook or stalk them in person in Portland! 

The next event on my concert calendar is Lighting Swords of Death at Footsie's tonight, 1/22.

Gypsyhawk, Ex Mortus, and Holy Grail

Last weekend was one of those concert weekends that I hope will go down in music history as the humble beginnings of something huge.  If so, I will be able to look back on it and say that I was there. Gypsyhawk kicked it off on Friday at Vacation Vinyl with their record release party for their new album Revelry & Resilience. (Have you heard it? It's totally bitchin - like 70's rock injected with heavy metal power and epic guitar solos.  So far, my favorite track on the new album is The Fields but Galaxy Rise is a close second.) Vacation Vinyl was completely packed with head bangin' fans and the Grill 'Em All truck was parked out front representing heavy metal cuisine. After party was at 4100 Bar. Awesome night!

But the awesome didn't stop there. Saturday night Holy Grail and Ex Mortus played a free show at Footsie's in Cypress Park. I've spotted Ex Mortus' name on the moshking.com concert calendar several times but I've shamefully never checked them out, mostly because I suspected they were probably a black metal band, which is not my thing. INCORRECT! Ex Mortus turned out to be a shockingly impressive thrash metal band with virtuoso guitar talent. These guys laid down impeccable and energetic neoclassical guitar solos left and right. The bass player and drummer were amazing, too. Everyone who got to watch can now claim that their existence has been improved a little bit.

Holy Grail wrapped up the night at Footsie's by playing some of their awesome new stuff, as well as some of their equally awesome not-so-new stuff (I wouldn't quite call it old stuff, yet). They had kind of a rough start due to sound system issues but when you're playing in a bar parking lot with your amps facing out of the back of two pickup trucks you can't expect the sound to be perfect. Regardless of sound issues, Holy Grail still kicked ass and I'm sure they still made new fans out of anyone who was seeing them for the first time.  

The next event on my concert calendar is Saviours at Los Globos this Thursday, August 30th.