Doyle with Mushroomhead Concert Review

Doyle with Mushroomhead Concert Review

~Mojoe’s Joliet, Illinois

Mojoe’s embraces metal and hardcore music and is a venue for the fans to get up close and personal with the artists.  Mushroomhead continues to tour in the small venues and have gained a huge following by being accessible to their fans.  Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein who has been in the industry for over thirty years has gained an impressive following as well.  He started his career with the Misfits, created bands like Gorgeous Frankenstein, and now transitioned to the self-named band DOYLE.  The fans at this show spanned ten to sixty because of the lengthy careers of both Doyle and Mushroomhead.

The opening bands were heavy and are a testament to metal music thriving in this country.   In today’s radio market, it takes a lot more work to gain a fan base than rock or pop bands.  Social media tries to connect bands to fans but really live shows are the best way to connect the bands to their fans.  Here is another way that Mojoe’s supports metal by getting local bands to open for nationally touring bands.

 

Consume The Divide

Consume The Divide

Consume The Divide was first band to take the stage.  They had a short but impressive set.  The band is based out of Chicago, Illinois.  If you like Machine Head and Dope, you should check out Consume The Divide.

https://www.facebook.com/consumethedivide

Psychopathic Daze

Psychopathic Daze

Psychopathic Daze from Chicago was next.  They were brutal metal similar to Suicide Silence or Chimaira.  Their set was phenomenal.  The crowd loved almost every song.  Their energy got the pit going.  A tempo perfect for a savage pit.  The more mature people had to be upstairs or step away from this pit.

https://www.facebook.com/psychopathicdaze

The third opener was With Our Arms To The Sun, a band out of Sedona, Arizona.  They are self-described as a cinematic experimental music.  Vocals are sparse in their set and they seemed to play a slower, methodical tempo.

http://www.withourarmstothesun.com/

Finally, DOYLE got to the stage.  The band consists of vocalist, Alex ‘Wolfman’ Story, also of Cancerslug, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, formerly of the Misfits, touring bassist, Die Trich Thrall, also of Beauty In The Suffering, and touring drummer, Anthony ‘Tiny’ Biuso.  The guys dwarfed the tiny stage at Mojoe’s, especially the larger than life Doyle.   Doyle WVF definitely speaks softly but carries a big f☠cking axe.  His guitar is a custom designed Rand Annihilator.

The band’s sound is rooted in punk but the sound is definitely thrash metal.  Their set consisted of Dreaming Dead Girls, Cemetarysexxx off of the “Abominator” album.  They also graced the fans with Misfits’ tracks.  Despite the small setting, Alex Story ripped it up by moving around on the stage, cutting himself to bleed, and writhing on the floor during the performance.   The bleeding is explained on Cancerslug’s website:

“Alex is always very spontaneous live. He has been known to use knives, broken bottles, ripped beer cans, or other items to open his flesh during performances. He views it as a nod to shamans, medicine men, and voodoo priests who believed that blood must be spilled in order to commune with the old gods of the spirit world.”

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Click to view Doyle Photo Gallery

The fans loved the energy that DOYLE brought.  Some were there exclusively to see DOYLE.  We got to speak to Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein before their set and tasted the hot sauce they were selling.  Best Rock List also got to meet the newest member of the tour, a Chihuahua named Brutal.


Mushroomhead started the evening with Qwerty.  The water toms had cherub angels, crucifixes, and bible pages for this tour.  Getting all nine members onto the tiny stage was a feat at Mojoe’s.  That is part of the experience of a Mushroomhead show.  The smaller the venue, the wetter you get from the water drums.  The band was formed in 1993 and hails from Cleveland, Ohio.  That math is over twenty years doing what they are doing today.  Their set also contained Solitaire/Unraveling and Kill Tomorrow and Our Apologies.  Robert Diablo took to the crowd and did some surfing.

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Click to view Mushroomhead Photo Gallery

 

The tour continues.  You can see all the dates here.

 

Mushroomhead Concert Review

Mushroomhead Concert Review

The Castle Theatre Bloomington, Illinois

Mushroomhead is on tour with Erimha, Unsaid Fate, and Thira. The Castle Theatre is one of the most intimate venues in the Midwest. When you see a show here, you are always up close and have a great view.

Local band PREY For US from Peoria, Illinois started the evening and had a solid set. The band was certainly trying to engage the crowd by asking them if they were having enough to drink. The singer was also trying to get some movement from the crowd. The crowd seemed to have planted their feet or were saving their energy for MRH.

PREY for US

PREY for US

 

 

Thira took the stage next. They are an industrial metal band based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The name Thira originates from an island off of Greece. The band’s costumes consisted of steam punk jackets, hats, and goggles. Their sound is industrial heavy metal and with two heavy vocalists.  The music kept coming hard. They performed songs off their album Vein 1: Varying States of Decay.  Watch for our interview with Kayden of Thira band.

Thira

Coz of Thira

Thira

Thira

Thira

Kayden of Thira

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band Unsaid Fate was along the lines of hard rock. Female fronted by a thin young woman whose voice has power that is deceiving of her diminutive size. Jackie LaPonza came out looking like a rapper with ball cap pulled low, a half shirt with Wolverine, and Spiderman leggings. She is also the fiancée of Skinny from Mushroomhead and is a guest vocalist on Mushroomhead’s album. Their set appealed to the mainstream rockers in the crowd. “Always” was a song paying homage to loved ones we have all lost. They performed a cover of “Killing In The Name” by Rage Against The Machine.  You cannot go wrong with such a great song and it was a respectable cover.

 

Unsaid Fate

Jackie LaPonza of Unsaid Fate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erimha is a black metal band and were the hardest of the bands of the evening. They finally got the pit going for the first time that evening. Their style was one of decay and darkness. The vocalist, Gore, wore an animal skull on his chest. I was unsure of the actual origin of the animal but assumed it was a squirrel or similar sized animal.  Their name means “army” or “legion” in Sumerian culture.

Erimha

Erimha

 

Mushroomhead is the most underrated band in metal right now.  Their live show always amazes their fans and the friends brought along to the shows.  Out of all the live shows I saw this year, this show was in the top two.  That is out of shows like Slayer, Judas Priest, Korn, Five Finger Death Punch, and Avenged Sevenfold.  The band was out on Rockstar’s Mayhem Festival this summer and wowed the crowds there.

The stage at The Castle Theatre is small.  The band surprisingly fit quite nicely on the stage considering there are nine members.  That was a feat of intricate placement of every member.  Mushroomhead wears amazing masks during their shows.  This tour the masks are neon and black lights make them glow.  In addition to masks,  the members painted themselves with neon paint. The band is also known for performing with water drums.

The evening started right out of the gate with their hit song “Qwerty”.  The band has three vocalists and they compliment each other so well.  When they performed “We Are The Truth”, Jackie LaPonza, of Unsaid Fate joined them onstage.  That is the track where she guests on their album The Righteous and The Butterfly.  Waylon did some crowd surfing for fun.  Many of their fans had driven many miles to see them and planned on driving more to see them at other venues.  The band keeps every tour fresh with new masks and props.  I cannot wait to see them again.

Click to see the complete photo gallery below.

Skinny of Mushroomhead

Click to view Mushroomhead Photos Gallery

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