Connect with us

Interviews

Fear Factory, Soilwork, Spades & Blades – Demanufacture 20th Anniversary Tour

JJ Ulizio

Published

on

-by JJ Ulizio
Photos by: Jason L Nelson

On 04/12/16 Fear Factory came through Pittsburgh’s Altar Bar on tour with Swedish label mates Soilwork in celebration of the fan favorite album “Demanufacture” turning 20 years old. Joining them on the tour as opening acts were Martyrd from New York City and Spades & Blades from Los Angeles California.

Starting off the evening the line for entry stretched the length of the block as the Altar Bar opened its doors for a sold out evening of metal music. Martyrd and Spades & Blades had a few fans sprinkled through the crowd but it was obvious who the majority of the crowd was there to see.
Martyrd was up first and played a tight but solid set, followed quickly by the LA metal-core quintet Spades & Blades whose vocalist was honest about having issues with his voice but that didn’t stop them from powering through their set and visibly winning over some fans in the process. After the conclusion of their set their merch booth promptly appeared to be bombarded with concert goers picking up shirts and CDs.

soilwork001

Björn “Speed” Strid of Soilwork

Next in the lineup came the “Swedish melodic death metal” powerhouse known as Soilwork, led by founding member and lead vocalist Björn Strid. They began their set with the title track from their newest album “The Ride Majestic” and flowed right into fan favorites like “Nerve”, “Let This River Flow” & “Bastard Chain” amongst other songs spanning their 18 year career. Through the course of their set they relentlessly pummeled the crowd, as the crowd erupted and pummeled each other, with song after song. You could see the intensity they were giving through the sweat that seemed to consistently pouring off of them. They gave it their all, and the crowd gave it right back. They closed their set with the title track from their 2005 album “Stabbing the Drama”. The band tore their way through the thrashy grooves of the song as the crowd sang the chorus loud enough that you could not hear Björn belting out the lyrics. Once the song finished it was almost an eerie silence for a second or two before the house music came on. Björn promised that they would be back this fall, I recommend anyone who missed them to keep an eye out for that date.

Fear_Factory_002

Tony Campos of Fear Factory

To close out the night Fear Factory took the stage and in celebration of their sophomore album, Demanufacture, turning 20 years old they started their set with the title track and played every song as it appears in order from the album including the 1995 single “Replica” which from my perspective was the peak of the performance, after that it seemed that the majority of the crowd started losing their energy, I felt it too. The fans didn’t appear to have the same kind of engagement or participation like they did for replica until they completed the “Demanufacture” set and came back for the encore. This had included other fan favorites such as “Archetype” & “Soul Hacker”. I saw some of their energy spark back up during their performance of “Edgecrusher” when a few of the members from Spades & Blades came out to do backup vocals on it which had gotten the crowd singing along and amping them back up for their closeout with the 1992 song “Martyr.”

 

Fear_Factory_003

Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory

Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory have done well over the years; the fact that Demanufacture is as popular as it is to this day is a testament to that. They played a solid set, not a technical or musical fault that I could see and still a lot of fun but in this fans opinion Soilwork stole the show that night with an energy and intensity that could not be matched.

This tour runs through May 7th where they’ll finish up in Los Angeles. Fear Factory will begin touring internationally beginning in June and they will be out on the road until the end of the year. Soilwork will embark on their own tour of Europe and Asia that will carry them through until mid-August. Spades & Blades and Martyrd wrap up with the end of this tour with nothing currently announced as of press time but I’m sure neither band will sit still for long.

 

Fear_Factory_001

Dino Cazares of Fear Factory

Overall if you have an opportunity to attend one of the dates on this tour then I recommend you do, it was a great time with some great performances.

soilwork025

Soilwork

Fear_Factory_004

Burton C Bell-Fear Factory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This set was shot one night before the Pittsburgh Date

A pro shot Fear Factory show from Resurrection Fest 2015 (Viveiro, Spain)
Much better quality that the fan shot video above, but this one has a completely different set list.

About Author

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH OF VIRTUE

Ron

Published

on

By

Where does the band name come from? Wanting to be the best version of yourself at all times. The name is a reminder to hold ourselves accountable.

How is the music scene in Michigan? The Michigan music scene has always been vibrant and in my opinion, important. Do we get the credit we deserve? Absolutely not. But for the state that brought you Motown, Eminem, Lizzo, The White Stripes, I Prevail and so many other incredible artists – it’s kind of hard to believe that Michigan remains a hidden gem.

How’s the reception from the fans of the latest album “Omen”? It’s been incredible. From seeing people singing along at shows to us seeing new supporters of all different ages, colors, and creeds joining the journey. Omen has been a pivotal album in our career and we’re proud of it!

If you could tour with 2 bands, which bands would you want to tour with? Spiritbox and Bad Omens. They’re both making waves, changing who the metal audience is, and surely they’d be fun to hang around with.

Where do you draw inspiration for the lyrics? Honestly, the lyrics are our stories. The stories of our struggles, our trials and our tribulations.

What’s been your favorite tour or show? We just got off of a tour with our labelmates, Any Given Day. They treated us to a handful of sold out shows over in Europe, which at this point we call our second home. Those were great shows, but any show we’ve done in Europe is typically one for the books!

If you could bring back a dead musician, who would it be? Prince for sure. An incredible musician I would love an opportunity to chat or make music with!

About Author

Continue Reading

Interviews

INTERVIEW WITH TWIN TEMPLE

Ron

Published

on

By

Being Married and being in a band together. Do you feel that makes it easier or harder?

We love to do the Devil’s work together so for us its a match made in hell. 

What’s your favorite horror movie?

That’s hard to narrow down but the first few that come to mind are Rosemary’s Baby, The Devil Rides Out, Wickerman, The Devils Reign featuring Anton Lavey, Mario Bava’s Black Sunday, anything starring Vincent Price. We also got to see an advance screen of “Late Night with the Devil” featuring a very evil performance from our friend Dave Dastmalchian. We’re also looking forward to Bryan Fuller’s “Dust Bunny” and are positive it will be a new favorite. The list goes on…..we are huge horror fans.

Favorite Non Horror Movie?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (which is horror/noir adjacent) and The Burbs (also horror adjacent…haha.)

All of Quentin Tarantino’s films- our latest favorite is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, because 1960’s LA…

What misconception of Satanists would you like to educate people on?

We’re not here to proselytize, force our beliefs on people, or educate people on them Selves, Satanism or anything else. If people are interested in exploring Satanism, we encourage them to do their research and question everything. 

If you could bring back any dead musician, who would you pick and why?

We would have loved to do a song with Ronnie Spector who recently passed. Also would have been amazing to collaborate with Jack Nitzsche who arranged so many amazing songs. 

If you could tour with any 2 bands, who would you want to tour with?

The Ronnettes & The Shangri-Las.

What has been your Favorite Tour so far?

The God is Dead Tour that we’re currently on is definitely the most evil and blasphemous tour yet. We find it very pleasurable to be able to continue expanding the rituals and seeing our nightmares come true on stage.  

You were on “Dragula” with the Boulet Brothers, how was that experience?

It was a fiendish delight to collaborate with some of our fav monsters. 

What was it like Touring with Danzig?

Another nightmare come true! We’ve both been fans for a long time and we’re obviously inspired by the wicked world Glenn has conjured. So to get to spend time with him and watch him live every night and to now call him a friend is completely surreal. He’s a legend— but was also one of the coolest, kindest, most unholy people we’ve had the carnal pleasure of touring with. 

How’s the reception of the last album “God is Dead”?

Personally, we love the record and are very proud of what we’ve accomplished. As far as other peoples’ reactions…. we don’t know and don’t care! We pleasured ourselves and that’s what matters most.

What got you interested in the style of music you play? And how would describe your music?

We’ve always loved classic American music from jazz to blues to country to rock and roll and so on. We also love the pageantry of heavy metal and theatre. So for us it was a very organic culmination of our obsessions. Rock and roll has always been the devils music. 

Have you visited the Satanic Temple in Massachusetts?

No we have not but Lucien did attend one of our rituals so we had a chance to share where we get our babies blood and all things Satan. 

Have you had any bad encounters at shows because of the misconception of satanism?

No! We purposefully foster a live show environment where all are welcome, all should come being the most important person in the world which is themselves, whatever that may be. Even Christians! We believe music is meant to bring joy, transcendence… We just want to share the things we love; pink, rhinestones, big hair, great rock ’n’ roll, Satanic ritual, you know…  but we have had churches assemble outside our shows, screaming through distorted PA speakers that God is not dead & wishing us all a “terrible time”.  Why would their God not want us to have fun? This kind of behavior is only makes us more proud to be who we are and do what we love.

About Author

Continue Reading

Interviews

FIRST JASON: LOVEDRAFTS INTERVIEW

Ron

Published

on

By

EMPIRE EXTREME GOT TO SIT DOWN AND TALK TO ARI LEHMAN OF FIRST JASON AND TALK ABOUT STARTING THE CULT OF JASON VORHEES FANS

About Author

Continue Reading

Trending

%d bloggers like this: