Pt. 1

i had an amazing time. everybody was very nice and it felt good to be part of this amazing event...

Wednesday i went to newark airport to pick up Rene and Knut and Knut's lovely lady Christiana (sorry if i spelled your name wrong)... we had a good drive into manhattan, except for some evil traffic going thru the lincoln tunnel. i drove down to SSHQ, and after a brief rest to avoid more traffic, i got the fuck out of dodge...

Thursday i met everybody over at the Frying Pan around 3pm after spending the earlier part of the day finalising my set and dubbing some cassettes... the first person i met was Dave from the Grey Wolves. awesome bloke, very safe geezer, as they say...

this was my first time at the frying pan, and i was psyched. the whole place is rusty and dirty and metal and dark and industrial and i was in constant fear of what might happen if i fell down on a sharp piece of rusty metal... there was a catwalk above the main room, from where i jokingly suggested that i might perform my set... if the cord had been long enough, it woulda been cool... Sasha was there and the guys from the p.a. rental company were setting up the system, the weather was chilly and grey, and the choppy water made the big boat rock back and forth, i told Sasha she might need some dramamine by the end of the night for at least one person, i definitely felt like i was gonna puke, but i spent a good deal of my childhood on my father's sailboat, and i'd never gotten seasick, even on twenty foot swells...

Shane arrived a bit later with Mike from Con-Dom, then poppa Mantis, Etienne, and Fabian from Regard Extreme and Eric from LJDLP, Michael from Blood Box, so many people coming all at once, i don't remember who came when!!!

So... the beginning of the night was extremely stressful for all of us, trying to set everyone up all at once, changing the lineup a few times, figuring out all sorts of logistics, like where to put the projector, the white sheet we were projecting onto... we wanted to soundcheck the last band first, and go in reverse order, and the original lineup had called for Regard Extreme followed by NTT, but Regard Extreme and LJDLP were playing together, but LJDLP was supposed to play last, but since it was more logical to set them up first, we had to change the schedule. NTT was set to go first, despite my hesitation (when i opened for Noisex in '98, i had been moved from second to first and everyone who came to see me play walked in about five minutes before i finished). then, it dawned on me that since they were playing together, it was more logical for them to go first, since their gear was already set up onstage, and it would be easier than breaking it down again to set up the next band for soundcheck... argh! we revised the lineup, with Regard Extreme followed by LJDLP, followed by NTT, followed by Blood Box, followed by Inade...

we opened the doors about two hours late, but the performances were well worth the wait... Regard Extreme played a set consisting of militant live drums played over various backing tracks of droning synth chords with each song basically moving onto the next. i've never heard this project before, it was interesting...

then came LJDLP, a similar setup to Regard Extreme, with a similar tone, but a far more aggressive sound and a more active stage presence. any performance that ends with fire onstage gets my endorsement.

next came NTT (me!) with a more abrasive sound than i'm used to doing live, i had wanted this particular performance to be something different. for the first time in the history of NTT, i faced the crowd with nothing but air between me and them and let out some of the beast within... someone said i looked like i was going to "bust a nut" when i was screaming, Sasha said it was good to see me let go. i've always wanted to freak out onstage, and even though i managed to keep control over myself, i think i also got my point across. i received a lot of positive feedback from lots of people, Dave from the Grey Wolves kept telling me how good i was, Michael from death Squad planned his trip back from Amsterdam to come to the festival, and it was great to see him. he also had kind words about my set. i was very satisfied with the whole experience.

after NTT went Blood Box. Michael had some troubles early on in the evening when he realised he'd left a DAT with sounds for his set back at the hotel over in newark. he eventually found a ride from Grano and all was well... the Blood Box set was awesome. it went on for a bit longer than originally intended, but i'm told Michael has that habit (hee!) dense rushes of deep bass, tremendous crushing soundwaves which i simply can't find enough adjectives to describe. between the rocking of the boat and the heavy sounds, i felt weightless (this can be said of much of the festival). i enjoyed Michael's set so much i asked him to do an NTT remix/collaboration track.

the last project scheduled to perform was Inade, but it was so fucking late (around 3am!!!) by this time, and the crowd had dwindled to such a tiny number of people, we figured it would be best to ask the crowd if they preferred to stay or wait till the next night. Rene and Knut said they would do either, depending on that decision. so, Sasha asked and it was decided. Inade would go on first Friday night...

End of part one...

(Part two coming soon, i'm tired)

holy shit!!!

i totally forgot to write about Vlk!!!i'm such an asshole! i'm so sorry guys!!! After trying to convince the Vlk members of how great their set was, like an asshole i fogot to include them. please forgive me, as i said i'm tired...

immediately following NTT was Vlk, two of the greatest people i've ever met in my life. i love them like they're my own family.

Theirs was truly a great set, well composed and meaningful. (no, i didn't forget you on purpose!!!) the visual presentation which was prepared by Destruchuch Vision Division (also the composer of my video) fit along perfectly with Vlk's concept of spiritual patriotism. the lyrical propaganda flowed as tanks crushed through forests, and called to mind images of soldiers dying on snowy hills. this was a fantastic performance, and certainly it deserves to be remebered, not forgotten, and i apologise again for my omission...

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Pt. 2

Okay, considering that STUPID mistake i made on part one (so fucking sorry, guys!!!), i figured it might be best to get it all out tonight. after a brief rest and bathing myself in depression (watching American Beauty and ruminating on the pathetic state of my existence) i'm ready to go...

Friday. woke up around 2.30ish, made my way slowly into consciousness, drove down to the frying pan. we had less setting up to do, but it seemed like more work since we'd decided not to set up Inade's equipment until today, we were simply too tired to do it the night before...

Thomas from Control arrived with Michael from Blood Box, as well as Jonathan from Deathpile. Piero of CazzoDio shortly followed, as well as many of the gang from thursday night (oh, and i also forgot to give a shout to Butch and his brother who were present thursday night) my memory is fuzzy, so i'll spare you the ramblings and cut to the chase. Besides, i had to do a lot of driving back and forth between SSHQ and the Frying Pan, and that's not anything i really want to remember...

Inade. awesome. beautiful. swirling darkness and a rocking boat. intense. altered states, dimension-hopping, body swapping. black atmospheres.

Ex.Order went next, since we figured (again) it would be easier than moving their gear off the stage for the next performance. Knut and Rene returned to the stage after their fantastic set to blow the roof off and start riots in the streets.

who went next? if memory serves it was the crushing power of Control, wicked harsh evil sexual torture. Thomas' sick distorted sounds were accompanied by sick distorted visuals, i especially enjoyed the porn where this guy pours entrails and blood all over this chick and then fucks her. brutal! i got myself the Control cd-r on Troniks and the 7inch i've been craving on LSDO... now i really really want that fuckin boxset!!! good stuff all the way!!! i also asked thomas to do an NTT remix/collab, so things are coming together, baby! "i realise what i have is a sickness, but i can't stop"

up next was The Grey Wolves, featuring Mike of Con-Dom... Dave is awesome on stage, totally insane and as wild as only an Englishman can be!!! at this point i was almost in tears because i'd left my earplugs in the pocket of the pants i'd worn the night before, and boy was i missing them!!! Soft War=Hearing Aid!!! Dave screamed his head off about religion, and by the end of his set, i was praying for my ears to stop hurting...

no such luck, i was in for more punishment when Con-Dom went on... utter anger, socio-political rage... i had to cover my right ear because i was right next to a speaker... i can't deal with high end anymore, it really really hurts me now at certain levels... Sasha said i was a pussy, but i guess i'm a pussy who wants to keep hearing... my friend Al was very confused about exactly what message Con-Dom was attempting to express... but, let's not get into it here, i think we're all tired of THAT discussion...

WORK FASTER!!! WORK FASTER!!! WORK FASTER!!! WORK FASTER!!!

at the close of the set, Mike took off his shirt and began to paint his body and face with black shoe polish (maybe???) and came down off the stage and painted a few gracious audience members' faces as well...

and... last, but not least...

Slogun. the first US performance of this native New Yawka... John was joined onstage by Sasha and Shane, who provided the constant barrage of noise for John's improvised serial killer rants. also abetting were Jonathan Canady of Deathpile and Mark Solotroff of Bloddyminded [ex-Intrinsic Action]... madness, chaos... John was in full tilt Brooklyn mode as he paced back and forth at the front of the stage, kickin' it old school freestyle...

so, to wrap it up, i had an amzing time, met lots of great people, and i don't know what to say beyond that...

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so, i fucked up on part one, why not fuck up part two, as well???

so, this time i forgot to mention the amazing performance by CazzoDio, heavy rhythmic distortion at its best! Piero later told me he'd had many technical problems (as he'd also had during soundcheck) but i sure as shit couldn't tell during the show, and i don't think anyone else did either...

sorry for leaving him out, i'm tired, it's a good excuse, and it happens to be true...

so, thanks again to everyone for being a part of this important event in our little corner of the globe...

time for sleep...

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16.-17.11.2K.NYC. ACHTUNG AMERIKA!

November 16th Dark Ambient
Regard Extreme (France)
salute with drums to call the batle!

Les Joyaux De La Princesse feat. Regard Extreme (France)
are the first who took the fire!

Navicon Torture Technologies (US)
showed no mercy

Vlk (US)
veni vidi vici

Blood Box (US)
was full of narcises and put the audience to sleep

November 17

Power Electronics

Inade (Germany)
let the heimat gruesen

Ex.Order (Germany)
leaders in power electronics

Control (US)
result of influence and worship, long way to go

CazzoDio (Italy)
better dead than red.

Grey Wolves (UK)
we were waiting for you!!

Con-Dom (UK)
power outlets of the universe!!

Slogun feat. NoizGuild and special guests (US)
finaly they joined!

Two nights of the best of dark ambient and power electronics the world has to offer!! Presented by Malignant Records and World War IV .

French legion drummers of Regard Extreme entered the battlefield with marsch and Les Joyaux De La Princesse unsheathed the swords to let Navicon Torture Technologies take care of first hostiges. Nobody expects mercy from them,and Vlk executed those traitors and drained their blood into Blood Box where it clots. Armastece.

Next day. Achtung Amerika! Young guard from Inade and Ex.Order are joining the battlefield! They are clear in their ideas - there are no compromises to righteousness. CazzoDio, swearing about lost ideals, tries to sabotage the crowd with dirty tricks. But here are Grey Wolves and Con-Dom - they know what the hell is going on and took over those believers! No doubts! Now it's time for real lustkillers from Slogun, who won't hesitate in crime scenes and won't let marodiers Control. Festival aproved that.

The three finger salute was great! Loud and powerfull!! It was the best Dark Ambient & Power Electronics festival in those United States. Many bands and most of them were briliant in presenting Power Electronics and Dark Ambient in NY. Especialy the new project from NYC Vlk, who showed great deal of variety and brought fresh live noiz to the festival. They made the boat shiver and gave ganzehaut to Grey Wolves. Be aware, Vlk is coming!

All together We want more!!

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i brought my laptop and took some notes so expect a better review to come when the pictures are scanned. for now, here's a quick breakdown of what i saw.

venue

the frying pan was the best possible place to hold a show like this. the boat was mostly covered in rust on the inside. a beautiful thing to behold. all sorts of foreign ship-like fixtures in different states of rust/decay. you'll see it in the pictures.

day 1

regard extreme - yawn. prerecorded sounds w/ live drumming. eric from ljdlp did all the tricky bits

ljdlp - just like regard extreme but w/ some theatrics and outfits. made it much better somehow

ntt - power electronics & gross video. delayed vocals & noise, not much stage presence (aside from his own stature)

vlk - uh, noizguild. played ljdlp & added noise and vocals. did some other noise stuff. about half their set was good.

blood box - fell asleep after about 10 minutes. woke up at the end. dark gurgling ambient you'd expect from bb.

day 2

inade - wow. everything dark ambient should be live.

ex.order - wow. everything power electronics should sound like live. no theatrics though..

control - power electronics & gross video. good noise. still unsure how i feel about the vocals (wails) by nice.

cazzodio - blew a speaker. had earplugs in for all of this one. unfortunately no vocals. 'nuff said.

grey wolves - yet another wow. knocked my socks off. mike (con-dom) on noise, dave on vocals & noise. aggressive, loud and intense.

con-dom - tore the roof off the place and spewed holy hell into it.

slogun - moves like a rapper. anyways, slogun kicked some ass. guest vocalists jonathan canady & mark solotrof (first & last songs, respectively). noizguild on noiz. crime scene tape was a nice touch. slogun's got some pictures up at his fine website. http//www.slogun.com/

it was a great show overall, got to meet some cool people from the list and other lists and see some bands i didn't think i'd see. congratulations go to sasha, shane & jason for pulling it all together.

best,

grey (hoping it happens again.. february 2001 perhaps?)

*

A while ago, I heard news that Noizguild and Malignant Records were planning a concert to end all concerts (well, as far as American concerts go) - a two-day festival of power electronics and dark ambient from around the world. In America! I wanted to believe it, but I didn't think it'd really happen. If anyone could do it, Noizguild and Malignant were the people, but the pessimist in me (all of me, that is) figured all the bands would end up cancelling, etc. etc. etc. Time went on, details solidified, and I decided I had to get my way over to New York...

DAY ONE: 11/16/00
At around eight PM, I got inside the boat and met some friends, checked it out, and looked at Jason's merchandise table. The venue, which is an old boat called the Frying Pan, sunk to the bottom of the sea, stayed there for about three years, and then for some reason unknown to me was dredged up and docked permanently to serve as a club/concert venue thing. Pretty strange if you ask me, but great as well; this rusty, dirty, grimy old boat was the absolute perfect location for the music played on these two nights. Picked up some goodies at Jason's well-stocked table (he sold out of nearly everything on the first night!), waited around, and then went down to the main stage at 10PM for the first band (an hour late).

REGARD EXTREME - Prior to the show, I had only heard this band on the album with Les Joyaux, Die Weisse Rose. I was not very impressed there, and I was quite underwhelmed at the show, too. Fabianne and Eric K. of LJDLP were on stage and beating large drums while synthy backgrounds accompanied them. Not so bad, but each song was nigh indistinguishable from the one before it and this made for a set that got old pretty quick.

LES JOYAUX DE LA PRINCESSE - Once again, Fabianne and Eric. Now, I must say before the review, my expectations of LJDLP's live set were much, much too high. I also believe Les Joyaux is better suited to the home environment, not live, but that's just me. Anyway, they were once again mainly pounding on those big drums (albeit in much spiffier outfits), but Eric took the time to do some things that enhanced the set greatly - read from a scroll and later a book, and then light this death's-head contraption on fire at the end of the set. I was a tad disappointed with the music - typical LJDLP fare, although I don't believe I recognized any discrete songs. Nice very noisy piece midway through the set, as well. I have nothing but praise for LJDLP recorded (one of my favorite bands, easily) but I was expecting a little something more from the live show.

NAVICON TORTURE TECHNOLOGIES - Wow! To sum this set up in a word: painful. Leech warned the audience before the show that he had blown several sets of speakers preparing this set, and I thought I'd play tough and skip the earplugs. Bad idea. Leech grinded through an intense set of noise, ambience, and bizarre visuals (Russian documentary on surgery.. quite explicit). It also seems this is the first time Leech really "let go" on stage, and you could see - he screams like a maniac and his rage was very much prevalent. Frankly, he ought to lose control more often - he does it well.

VLK - Vlk was the only band I hadn't heard of on the festival's roster, but once I got to the show it was pretty obvious why. Vlk is a Noizguild sideproject, and I believe this is its first time in a live setting. I believe Sasha and Shane were planning on staying "anonymous" throughout the set, but due to the setup of the stage, this proved difficult and they just grinded through a set. What a set it was - at first some watery, churning dark ambience, later punctuated with the repetitive rhythm of soldiers marching and the staccato shots of machine
guns. Fantastic set.

BLOOD BOX - Well, Michael had thought to have been forced to play on the second day due to forgetting a DAT tape at his hotel - however, luck pulled through and he was able to snag the tape and play on the first day. I hadn't heard Blood Box in a live setting before, and didn't really know what to expect - what I got was a way-too-long set of above-average dark ambience. His set began around 1:45 AM, so it was getting late, and his set grinded to a stop a ways past 3:00 AM. By the end, the whole audience was exhausted... and his set got a little old after a half-hour or so. I would definitely have appreciated it more had he decided to cut it short by a little.

Finally, around 3:15 AM, the first day ends. I was totally overwhelmed, deaf (thanks to NTT), and couldn't wait for the next day. I have time for about six hours of sleep, then it's another day in the city...

DAY TWO: 11/17/00
Once I return to the familiarity of the boat, I find myself even more psyched than last night - Inade's going first! Since Blood Box took so damn long last night, Inade decided to reschedule their set for the first performance of the second day.. a very good choice. They also start pretty early, around 8:45...

INADE - Oh man. I don't even know where to start. Well, I guess I can start by saying that this was definitely the highlight of the show for me. Absolutely incredible. My expectations were quite high, and I can say without a doubt they were met, exceeded, and then some. Rene and Knut performed an incredible set of dark ambience, done like only Inade can do it. I believe they played some new material, although I did recognize these songs: "Quartered Conclusion" & "Crackling Void" off the latest MDP pic-7", "Cherub" from Saturn Gnosis, "VITRIOL pt. II", and another I'm too tired to think of right now. My only complaint? Too short. These guys could have gone on for the rest of the night, if I had any say in it.

EX.ORDER - Another great fucking set from the duo of Rene and Knut. Instead of Inade's ritualistic dark ambience, Ex.Order grinded through a punishing set of brutal power electronics of the highest order. A very rhythmic set, complemented by Rene and Knut's awesome vocals - not to mention the excellent visuals. Another excellent set.

CONTROL - Another band I hadn't heard from prior to this, I was quite nicely surprised by Thomas's noisy set. Good old fashioned
power electronics were the order of the day here, accompanied by Thomas's howling vocals - high pitched, eerie, and loud. Topping it
all off were the visuals, which fit the music quite well and were extremely screwed up - a chick getting fucked with a gun, lots of Japanese bondage, etc. etc. etc...

CAZZODIO - Definitely the most rhythmic set of the festival, Cazzodio performed his unique form of power electronics and impressed me greatly. I enjoyed him on CD, but live he was much more powerful and intense. Metallic percussion, samples, and noise mixed together and sounded great. However, like Blood Box, I think Cazzodio could've used a little editing.. His set went on for too damn long. Still, very much enjoyable.

THE GREY WOLVES - Hell yes! A great set. I'm not usually a fan of British power electronics but the Grey Wolves are one of my favorite acts - evil, noisy, and even tongue-in-cheek. Mike Dando/Con-Dom provided the noise while Dave performed the vocal attack - and God, he is great on stage. He writhed and rolled about, screaming his lungs out, through a fantastic rendition of "Victory Through Violence" and "New Religion." The set ended with a somewhat folky-sounding sample that was, interestingly enough, used in a greatly-slowed-down version by Nocturne on their second 10"...

CON-DOM - Holy Christables, this man can scream. Con-Dom's set was absolutely brutal, and he looked (and sounded) very, very pissed off. While he read (screamed) from a scroll, the music was suitably accompanied by a video of the KKK and various Nazi footage - wonder how the black guy in the audience felt. Midway through the set he rips off his shirt and leather jacket to reveal the classic "White Label" t-shirt, performs a few more songs, and then proceeds to strip to his bare chest for the finale of the show. Taking black paint, or ash, or something, and smearing it all over his body, he jumps down into the crowd to perform the last song. He wipes some black shit on the faces of a few audience members, and ends his set doing what he does best - screaming.

SLOGUN - I'll admit I'm not that big of a fan of Slogun when his material's recorded. My expectations were pretty low, and I was getting tired, so I sat down, preparing for a somewhat subpar set. John was joined by Sasha and Shane of Noizguild for this performance, and he started interestingly enough - as everyone was milling about, talking, he yelled into the mic, startling everybody and getting them ready for what was coming.. and then, BAM! Sasha and Shane incite an enormous, punishing wall of noise which formed the backdrop for John's lyrics. His set began with Jonathan Canady of Deathpile and Hollow Earth (HELLO FROM THE GUTTERS OF NEW YORK CITY!) and continued, till Mark Solotroff of Intrinsic Action and Bloodyminded came on stage for something like a cameo. Wearing leather pants, no less. He screams and writhes effectively, and John is a great madman - although sometimes the noise got so bassy and thick it all but drowned out his voice. A superior set, much better than I was expecting, and one of my favorites from the festival.

And then, voila! At 3:15 on Friday night (Saturday morning), the concert was over. I was blown away. This was, easily, the best concert I've ever been to. It will also probably stay that way, since the lineup of these two days was nearly unstoppable - only missing a few certain German bastards, but I'll see them live soon enough, hopefully...

Day two was definitely my fave, featuring a string of excellent performances. However, I was only disappointed by Regard Extreme and Blood Box overall, and the trek to the Big Apple was more than worth it for the concert of this order. Two nights I will certainly never forget... and a huge thanks to Jason/Malignant, Sasha + Shane/Noizguild, all the bands involved, and everyone else who contributed to making this concert a once-in-a-lifetime event.

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