CVLT Nation Exclusive
Chaos in Tejas
Day Three

Text and photos by Adam Murray

Woke up at the crack of 5pm. Walked into town a little worse for the wear, took down a couple slices of pizza, forehead-slapped myself for missing Mauser at Beerland, but I check out a Japunkcruster band called Zyanose – two basses noised out to the maxx, releasing soaring banshee feedback bursts between songs that were also very bursty. If the pizza didn’t wake me up (which it didn’t), these guys certainly did. I enjoyed it considerably. Then it was back down the street to Mohawk to see Thou give everyone a supreme sonic headbutting, followed by a very rousing performance from Ceremony.
Here’s where it started getting tricky – there were just too many good shows happening this evening. I darted a mile or so out of the main venue area to Hotel Vegas. Lineup here was unreal: Theories, Batillus, Cross, Whitehorse, Cough, and Dragged Into Sunlight all under the same small roof, a lil’ converted house/bar with a nice backyard to relax in. Theories and Batillus totally killed it. Time to head back to Red 7. Knowing I would see Whitehorse in L.A. a month later, I sacrificed them and Cross so I could try to get as much at Red 7 as I could (two stages = more bands for the buck).

Ghoul put on a fantastic show: a plentiful helping of blood, banter, creeps and chords. Moshing upon moshing ensued, Killbot busted some heads, riffs and leads whipped and ripped. On the outside stage, Ringworm was making it look easy, giving everyone the tough stuff. They had one of those big open pits where most people just watched and “sat this one out” but you know they were just scurred. Keeping constant watch of the clock and schedule, I figured I could take in most of Midnight’s set and then jam back over to Hotel Vegas for the last two bands. Not an easy decision – I always have a blast seeing Toxic Holocaust, but I knew this time I would have to skip it.

Anyway, when Midnight took the stage, the already totally pumped and bloodied post-Ghoul crowd erupted into full-tilt nutjob mode. The temperature jumped about 100 degrees and it became a room of actual hell. We were snug in the arms of the Goatfather himself. The hooded maniacs ripped relentlessly through their set, doling out brainblisters to the masses, who responded by going apeshit on each other. I dashed the mile back to see Cough, but with almost comedic timing, they played their last note as I walked through the door. I’m a total fan, but I have yet to see this band live. Dragged Into Sunlight turned my frown upside down when they laid total skull-buggering waste to that little room. They had a strobe show that synced up very well with the tunes, and I had a little fun with it. Well, I guess that about does it! If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading and viewing. Thanks to Cvlt Nation and Chaos In Tejas. May the MetalPunk Brotherhood live long and strong!