DATELINE: 11:10 PM - July 24, 2011
Pouring over the copious amount of notes I made from the Central Illinois Metal (CIM) Fest, I see that I mostly wrote the following:
- A rough picture of Mike's beard with two eyes that are crossed.
- A pentagram. I was obviously feeling very metal.
- "Where all the white chicks at?"
- "This pen feels buttery slick."
- "Black and white cat, black and white cake."
- An accurate representation of Cthulhu.
- Several games of Tic-Tac-Toe. Except instead of "Xs" and "Os" they were multiplication symbols and zeroes.
I was reinvigorated with new energy on Sunday. I had been drowning in a vomit-filled vat of misery since early Saturday morning and now I was awake, hungry, and ready to get the hell out of the hotel room because the corpse I found lying next to me started smelling like an Asian grocery. Rhett, Lili, Mike, Tom, Jill, and myself all decided to head across the street to this family run restaurant to get our grub on. We met up with the guys from Exhumed (and Cephalic Carnage and Withered I believe) and soon the restaurant was filled to the brim with out-of-town Hessian degenerates. The owners didn't mind at all since we were paying with cash for once and not small trouser buttons and pieces of lint as is usually the case.
Belly full, we left for the venue around 4:30 PM to catch our friends from Texas, Hod, take the stage to crush and kill. They did as such, playing some newer material as well as older stuff. They were definitely one of the highlights of the fest for me. I even bought a shirt. After about five minutes of digging, Dustin from Hod found a suitable size Large. By the way, that Celtic Frost shirt I bought? What a fuckin' ripoff! $20 and the Large I bought shrunk down to almost a medium. Cheap-ass t-shirt fabric is bullshit guys and dolls! T-shirts are a BIG part of the heavy metal scene correct? Sure, music will always be numero uno, but t-shirts sell just as much, if not more, than the music itself! You'd think the people who decide to get into the business of selling heavy metal merch would produce something of quality instead of finding the cheapest grade shirt available and slapping a band logo on it. Take a little pride in what you sell ya stingy fucks!
Let's see, where was I...oh yeah, just bought a t-shirt from Hod! After that, I mostly hung out at the bar with my friend Deedee who was working with Exhumed as their merch person and also Bodybag Bob Babcock (Gravehill/Exhumed for those not in the know). I started drinking but not as much as Friday. I was still haunted by the past two days so needless to say, my beer consumption was considerably lower. Bodybag certainly tied a few on and a few hours later he wanted to either wrestle you or kiss you (gender isn't of specific concern to Bodybag in either case hahaha). I'm used to his drunken antics by now after being in a band with him for 3 years so it wasn't too bad. The strangers he wanted to wrestle probably were a little more put off though!
As the night wore on, I caught Engaged in Mutilating (TX) who were good but I can't remember anything from them that particularly stood out. By this time, The Canopy Club was getting sparse. Like masturbating five times a day, 3-day fests are always a test of endurance. With the heat and humidity punching everyone in the nuts and the constant eardrum imploding sounds of death/grind/hurble-scurble metal for two days straight, by Sunday, most people were tired and started the drive back to where ever their hometowns were in the wasteland of the midwest. I stuck around and caught Flesh Parade (LA) who were grindy as hell but since I'm not much of a grindcore head, they didn't do much for me either. The band that did stand out was Embalmer (OH) which had Lou Spencer from Manticore playing bass. The dude's a madman and is such a pro on the bass that I wish he lived closer so I could get lessons. Apparently Embalmer has been around for years but this was my first time seeing and hearing them. I was impressed as it was a nice old school death metal sound which was a considerable change of pace since Hod took the stage hours earlier. I think their set was just a bit long though.
Unfortunately Mike and I had to prepare to leave the fest early as we had to wake up, turn in the rental car and be at the Bloomington airport on time the next day. We slowly but surely extricated ourselves but it wasn't an easy task as there were a lot of people to say goodbye to. Despite my disastrous Saturday, I still had a good time and always love events like this. I feel more at home amongst my own Hessian friends than I do anywhere else. And that includes my family who live 3,000 miles away.
The next stop on the Gravehill train is in Wyoming for the one-day Wolves of the Apocalypse Fest on August 20. We are actually headlining! Hahaha Well, hopefully there will be some people there. If not, then we'll make it a party anyway!
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