w/ Seven Witches, Sacred Oath, Infernophonic

Sept 11th: During the tour planning Nicky our publicist in the UK suggested contacting another band of his, Infernophonic, for some ideas about a gig in New Jersey, as that’s their home base. Turns out that not only is Kevin from Infernophonic a great guy and a big help with a lot of little things re the gig at Dingbatz in Clifton, but in the early/mid 90’s he was a member of Non-Fiction! When I lived in the East Village I actually saw them play at some short lived club on Ave A. Great band and a shame they didn’t go further than they did. His new band Infernophonic jumped on the bill pretty quickly, then later Seven Witches was added, though the 4th slot alternated between several bands before settling on Sacred Oath, a cool Queensryche-ish thrash band from the 80’s recently reunited. This show was obviously going to be the highlight of the tour.

Since we could head down to NJ fro Mass fairly leisurely, Matt and Stacy took us out to breakfast. Food was great and the hangout was greater. M&S are such good people. Runtt had driven the entire day before and did not mind continuing. In fact, he drove for the entire tour, which thrilled me, as I do not care for driving – I’m more the navigator. On the way down we plugged Jenny’s ipod into the van’s stereo and listened to comedian Mitch Hedberg (and almost drove of the road several times he was so funny.) Good times.

Hotel was ok – at least the rooms were big enough to fit the gear in at night. In Jersey, if you leave your gear in the van at night it will not be there in the morning. We didn’t need to be at the club until later, so the guys yapped while the girls napped. Later at the club we found it to be a really cool place with a big stage. Seven Witches wanted all the openers to use their drum kit, and before the tour there was some apprehension about that, as supposedly the 7W drummer had a kit with a giant and un-ergonomic kick drum. When we got to the club we found he brought his more sensible (and great sounding) Slingerland jazz kit. Runtt was very pleased. So as everyone was setting up we got to meet the guys in Seven Witches, nice fellas and all in multiple bands such as Hellstar and Symphony X. Infernophonic and Sacred Oath drifted in, and some of our fans/friends arrived right before we went on.

We of course totally crushed and the sound onstage was great! Sarge the soundman did an awesome job. Runtt had no problems at all on the other guys kit, and I noticed at certain points Cruella sang “to me” during the set. She did that in Worcester as well, and it actually felt rather dramatic on my end. Afterwards it was compliments all around. My old band mate Victor compared us to a more metal Alice Cooper, and Sue the bartendress (and possibly manager?) exclaimed that we have to book another show there and bring everyone lobsters! When we tell anyone we’re from Maine, they comment on our delicious lobsters. 7W vocalist James Rivera was particularly complimentary, commenting on our dramatic-ness. Coming from him that means a lot.

Of course I had to spend some quality time with my peeps at the show (My youngest sis Regina, her husband Dave, aforementioned Victor, old co-workers Dominic and Sylvana, and Syl’s husband Jimmy) so I missed Infernophonic. The rest of the gang raved about them and later Runtt and I chatted with Elaine the vocalist who was a total sweetheart. We encouraged them to come play a gig in Maine at some point – they would go over pretty well here.

Finally Seven Witches took the stage and we’re pretty smoking. Guitarist Jack Frost had amazing tone and technique, and James Rivera’s voice was absolutely incredible. He sounds sort of like Tim Ripper Owens of Iced Earth and he performs a bit like Ronnie James Dio. Mike Lepond on bass and drummer Taz Marraz (yes, that IS his name) were very polished. Their songs were very classic metal, though personally I wish the arrangements were a bit more adventurous. But overall they were pretty stunning.

Unfortunately a lot of the crowd left after 7W, and those who stayed sat at the bar (truth be told it was quite late.) Sacred Oath took the stage and really cranked it out. The two guitar players did the harmonized leads thing and added a nice new aspect to it. The best part, however, were the songs – really well written with catchy choruses and interesting middle parts/riffs. Really good band – i just wish they went on before 7W so more people would have seen them.

All in all we made $150 bucks at the show – enough to cover our gas bill for the entire tour. Yes! Time to celebrate with a late dinner at the Tick-Tock Diner down Route 3 from the hotel. The food Jersey diners is always great – and filling. Once back at the hotel we crashed pretty quickly.