ASKA
The Wild Salmon, Lafayette, LA
December 29, 2012
My wife was raised Catholic, and still attends mass on a regular basis. I
was not, and do not. Nonetheless, Jen does exert her positive influence
to cause me to darken the door of a place of worship from time to time, most
notably for Christmas Eve Mass. Over the years, I’ve noticed that a
recurring theme in those homilies is that Christmas is a time of new
beginnings. Never did this phrase ring more true than last Saturday
night, when I undertook the four-hour drive to Lafayette, Louisiana to witness
the rebirth of Texas true metal stalwarts ASKA.
2012 was something of a lost year for ASKA. Although a new album has been
in the can for some time, frontman George Call was occupied by his recording
and touring obligations with Banshee. Much worse, for the first time in
years, ASKA suffered lineup instability this year, as bassist/co-founder Keith
Knight and longtime guitarist Daryl Norton exited the ranks. Live
activity was reduced to almost nothing this year, and ASKA has simply been
absent from the scene. Still, as the curtain falls on 2012, ASKA emerged
from the ashes in a reconstituted configuration. French-born axeman Chris
Menta (ex-Violent Storm), who joined the band in 2011 as second guitarist when
Call switched to vocals exclusively, is now handling Norton’s guitar parts,
with Call once again strapping on the six-string to play the parts previously
covered by Mehta. And a new blond-haired bassist named David (whose last
name I unfortunately never caught) has taken over the bottom-end duties.
Drummer Danny White remains a rock-solid fixture behind the kit.
To help rev up the ol’ engine, ASKA booked a pair of dates for the final weekend
of 2012, including a Friday night hometown engagement in Dallas and a Saturday
night show in Louisiana. The latter is where I caught up with George and
the boys. The Wild Salmon is pretty much a hole-in-the-wall dive,
decorated to resemble a swampy, boggy fish camp. Signed memorabilia covers
the walls, including numerous 70s-80s sports figures (glossy 8 x 10s of Andre
Dawson, Ron Guidry, Jose Cruz and others), twiggy swimsuit models, and
actors/actresses (Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Barbara Eden(!), etc.).
Interesting stuff. To call the stage tiny would be to glorify it.
Smushed into a corner of one room, the postage-stamp sized “stage” stood about
6-8 inches above the ground, illuminated by three or four dim cans
overhead. Moving around the stage was impossible, as there was barely
enough room for band members and equipment. Still, the sound was pretty
good, with vocals and guitars coming through loud and clear all night long, so
that’s a plus. Not much of a crowd. I’d estimate 40-50 paying
customers in the building at most, with many of them hanging out in the main bar
area (a separate room from the stage) for much of the night.
A trio of local openers (some good, others not so much – one in particular
offering up a series of cringe-worthy covers of Tom Petty, Van Halen, Foo
Fighters, some rap shit, and that damned “Smooth Criminal” song) were afforded
generous set lengths of between 45 minutes and 70 minutes, mostly playing to an
apathetic room consisting of a handful of seated patrons whose faces were
illuminated by the glow of the smart phones that monopolized their
attention. Finally, it came time for ASKA to hit the stage just before
1:00 a.m. They lit up the room like a firecracker from the first chords
of “Angels of War,” getting folks off their lazy asses and rocking out at the
front of the stage like a proper metal show. As ASKA blazed through a
veritable greatest-hits selection of cuts (“The Stalker,” “Longships,”
“Leather”) and I rocked out just inches away from them, it came to me in a
flash that, notwithstanding the dormancy and turmoil, ASKA is still the
same. A locomotive that’s had some its parts changed out is still the
same fire-eating locomotive it always was. And ASKA is still the
same. Musically, everything sounds perfect. Visually, the trademark
synchronized Accept-like parts aren’t there, but I’m sure they’ll come in time
as the revamped ASKA gets some more gigs under its belt.
Although he couldn’t hear himself sing because of a poor monitor mix, my longtime friend
George Call remains one of the finest vocalists in the genre, and he sounded
awesome tonight. It did my heart good to see him back on guitar too,
stepping off the stage from time to time to rock out in the midst of the
audience members during the instrumental parts. He gets extra points for
introducing “Leprosy” as being about “something I picked up last time I was in
Alabama,” as a shout-out to his out-of-state guests. Danny White
(exhausted from handling the lion’s share of the seven-hour drive from Dallas
after a late-night gig the day before) once again proved that he is an
underrated, versatile drummer, whose patterns on tunes like “Her Ghost Remains”
are nothing less than awe-inspiring. Chris Menta (despite suffering from a
nasty stomach bug) is a gifted guitarist who performed flawlessly. And
Dave did a fine job on the bass and backing vocals, although I must confess that
I missed seeing and hearing Keith Knight over there on the left side of the
stage. That’s not Dave’s fault though.
Although the audience was dwindling (George hypothesized that it must have been
folks who had to go tend to their diarrhea, or the “cool motherfuckers” who
decided to go sit in the other room instead), the room was rockin’ and ASKA
were firing on all cylinders by the time they raced through a rippin’ cover of
“The Trooper” (huge audience participation on lead vocals) and a super-energized
“Imperial Rome” (always a great song, but this time delivered with more energy,
more kick, and more aggression than I ever recall hearing it before). The
soundman picked this triumphant moment – a mere 40 minutes into the set – to
announce that ASKA had 10 more minutes to play. Booooooo. ASKA had 8
more songs on the printed setlist, too. Couldn’t the bastards have trimmed
the time from the local openers so their headliner could play a full gig?
No, I guess it was more important to hear some hacks stumble through “Last Dance
with Mary Jane,” “Hold On Loosely” and “Smooth Criminal” than to hear one of
America’s best metal bands dish out a full set of pure molten metal bliss.
Ah, well, that’s how it goes. George and the band took it in good cheer
like the pros they are, and actually managed to cajole three more tunes from the
sound man and club owner before the proceedings came to a close. That trio
was a killer barrage of “Her Ghost Remains,” “Freedom” and “Invasion” (all
culled from the ‘Absolute Power’ platter). George turned the microphone
around for me to inflict misery on the audience with some guest “vocals” on the
choruses of “Freedom” and “Invasion.” Much to my shame and embarrassment,
I screwed up “Invasion.” Oh, I had the words right, but somehow in the
excitement of it all (can’t blame the beer, as I’d not imbibed a drop all night
long) I fouled up the timing of the second “Chaos! Fury! Invasion!”
part so that I was done before the band was. Bummer. At that moment,
I was very happy that the band didn’t have any vocals in their monitor mix, so
that (i) they couldn’t hear me butcher that ass-kicker of a song and (ii) I
wouldn’t throw them off their parts. It’s not like I don’t know the song
either. “Invasion” is one of my favorites.
With that, it was over, just 60 minutes into the gig. The omissions stung,
too. No “Valkyries.” No “Crown of Thorns.” No “Legion.”
But, hey, I’ll take what I can get, and what I got was a stellar live dose of
ASKA, which is way more than I ever thought I’d experience in 2012. So
mark my words and spread the news: ASKA are back. Christmas is a
time of new beginnings, and this year it’s the new beginning of ASKA. To
hell with what the Chinese calendar says. I say 2013 will be the year of
the Fire Eater (the forthcoming ASKA disc on Pure Steel Records). Hide
your kids, hide your wives, and batten down the hatches for a full-scale ASKA
assault in the new year. I can’t wait.
Setlist: Angels of War, The Stalker, Longships, Leprosy, Leather, The Trooper, Imperial
Rome, Her Ghost Remains, Freedom, Invasion.
~ Review by Kit Ekman ~
The Wild Salmon, Lafayette, LA
December 29, 2012
My wife was raised Catholic, and still attends mass on a regular basis. I
was not, and do not. Nonetheless, Jen does exert her positive influence
to cause me to darken the door of a place of worship from time to time, most
notably for Christmas Eve Mass. Over the years, I’ve noticed that a
recurring theme in those homilies is that Christmas is a time of new
beginnings. Never did this phrase ring more true than last Saturday
night, when I undertook the four-hour drive to Lafayette, Louisiana to witness
the rebirth of Texas true metal stalwarts ASKA.
2012 was something of a lost year for ASKA. Although a new album has been
in the can for some time, frontman George Call was occupied by his recording
and touring obligations with Banshee. Much worse, for the first time in
years, ASKA suffered lineup instability this year, as bassist/co-founder Keith
Knight and longtime guitarist Daryl Norton exited the ranks. Live
activity was reduced to almost nothing this year, and ASKA has simply been
absent from the scene. Still, as the curtain falls on 2012, ASKA emerged
from the ashes in a reconstituted configuration. French-born axeman Chris
Menta (ex-Violent Storm), who joined the band in 2011 as second guitarist when
Call switched to vocals exclusively, is now handling Norton’s guitar parts,
with Call once again strapping on the six-string to play the parts previously
covered by Mehta. And a new blond-haired bassist named David (whose last
name I unfortunately never caught) has taken over the bottom-end duties.
Drummer Danny White remains a rock-solid fixture behind the kit.
To help rev up the ol’ engine, ASKA booked a pair of dates for the final weekend
of 2012, including a Friday night hometown engagement in Dallas and a Saturday
night show in Louisiana. The latter is where I caught up with George and
the boys. The Wild Salmon is pretty much a hole-in-the-wall dive,
decorated to resemble a swampy, boggy fish camp. Signed memorabilia covers
the walls, including numerous 70s-80s sports figures (glossy 8 x 10s of Andre
Dawson, Ron Guidry, Jose Cruz and others), twiggy swimsuit models, and
actors/actresses (Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, Barbara Eden(!), etc.).
Interesting stuff. To call the stage tiny would be to glorify it.
Smushed into a corner of one room, the postage-stamp sized “stage” stood about
6-8 inches above the ground, illuminated by three or four dim cans
overhead. Moving around the stage was impossible, as there was barely
enough room for band members and equipment. Still, the sound was pretty
good, with vocals and guitars coming through loud and clear all night long, so
that’s a plus. Not much of a crowd. I’d estimate 40-50 paying
customers in the building at most, with many of them hanging out in the main bar
area (a separate room from the stage) for much of the night.
A trio of local openers (some good, others not so much – one in particular
offering up a series of cringe-worthy covers of Tom Petty, Van Halen, Foo
Fighters, some rap shit, and that damned “Smooth Criminal” song) were afforded
generous set lengths of between 45 minutes and 70 minutes, mostly playing to an
apathetic room consisting of a handful of seated patrons whose faces were
illuminated by the glow of the smart phones that monopolized their
attention. Finally, it came time for ASKA to hit the stage just before
1:00 a.m. They lit up the room like a firecracker from the first chords
of “Angels of War,” getting folks off their lazy asses and rocking out at the
front of the stage like a proper metal show. As ASKA blazed through a
veritable greatest-hits selection of cuts (“The Stalker,” “Longships,”
“Leather”) and I rocked out just inches away from them, it came to me in a
flash that, notwithstanding the dormancy and turmoil, ASKA is still the
same. A locomotive that’s had some its parts changed out is still the
same fire-eating locomotive it always was. And ASKA is still the
same. Musically, everything sounds perfect. Visually, the trademark
synchronized Accept-like parts aren’t there, but I’m sure they’ll come in time
as the revamped ASKA gets some more gigs under its belt.
Although he couldn’t hear himself sing because of a poor monitor mix, my longtime friend
George Call remains one of the finest vocalists in the genre, and he sounded
awesome tonight. It did my heart good to see him back on guitar too,
stepping off the stage from time to time to rock out in the midst of the
audience members during the instrumental parts. He gets extra points for
introducing “Leprosy” as being about “something I picked up last time I was in
Alabama,” as a shout-out to his out-of-state guests. Danny White
(exhausted from handling the lion’s share of the seven-hour drive from Dallas
after a late-night gig the day before) once again proved that he is an
underrated, versatile drummer, whose patterns on tunes like “Her Ghost Remains”
are nothing less than awe-inspiring. Chris Menta (despite suffering from a
nasty stomach bug) is a gifted guitarist who performed flawlessly. And
Dave did a fine job on the bass and backing vocals, although I must confess that
I missed seeing and hearing Keith Knight over there on the left side of the
stage. That’s not Dave’s fault though.
Although the audience was dwindling (George hypothesized that it must have been
folks who had to go tend to their diarrhea, or the “cool motherfuckers” who
decided to go sit in the other room instead), the room was rockin’ and ASKA
were firing on all cylinders by the time they raced through a rippin’ cover of
“The Trooper” (huge audience participation on lead vocals) and a super-energized
“Imperial Rome” (always a great song, but this time delivered with more energy,
more kick, and more aggression than I ever recall hearing it before). The
soundman picked this triumphant moment – a mere 40 minutes into the set – to
announce that ASKA had 10 more minutes to play. Booooooo. ASKA had 8
more songs on the printed setlist, too. Couldn’t the bastards have trimmed
the time from the local openers so their headliner could play a full gig?
No, I guess it was more important to hear some hacks stumble through “Last Dance
with Mary Jane,” “Hold On Loosely” and “Smooth Criminal” than to hear one of
America’s best metal bands dish out a full set of pure molten metal bliss.
Ah, well, that’s how it goes. George and the band took it in good cheer
like the pros they are, and actually managed to cajole three more tunes from the
sound man and club owner before the proceedings came to a close. That trio
was a killer barrage of “Her Ghost Remains,” “Freedom” and “Invasion” (all
culled from the ‘Absolute Power’ platter). George turned the microphone
around for me to inflict misery on the audience with some guest “vocals” on the
choruses of “Freedom” and “Invasion.” Much to my shame and embarrassment,
I screwed up “Invasion.” Oh, I had the words right, but somehow in the
excitement of it all (can’t blame the beer, as I’d not imbibed a drop all night
long) I fouled up the timing of the second “Chaos! Fury! Invasion!”
part so that I was done before the band was. Bummer. At that moment,
I was very happy that the band didn’t have any vocals in their monitor mix, so
that (i) they couldn’t hear me butcher that ass-kicker of a song and (ii) I
wouldn’t throw them off their parts. It’s not like I don’t know the song
either. “Invasion” is one of my favorites.
With that, it was over, just 60 minutes into the gig. The omissions stung,
too. No “Valkyries.” No “Crown of Thorns.” No “Legion.”
But, hey, I’ll take what I can get, and what I got was a stellar live dose of
ASKA, which is way more than I ever thought I’d experience in 2012. So
mark my words and spread the news: ASKA are back. Christmas is a
time of new beginnings, and this year it’s the new beginning of ASKA. To
hell with what the Chinese calendar says. I say 2013 will be the year of
the Fire Eater (the forthcoming ASKA disc on Pure Steel Records). Hide
your kids, hide your wives, and batten down the hatches for a full-scale ASKA
assault in the new year. I can’t wait.
Setlist: Angels of War, The Stalker, Longships, Leprosy, Leather, The Trooper, Imperial
Rome, Her Ghost Remains, Freedom, Invasion.
~ Review by Kit Ekman ~