Decibeles Ritual: Corpse’s Tour Diary Part the 1st: A Whimsical Introduction

When I woke up on the morning of August 18th the first thing I thought was, “Where am I?” My second thought was, “Whose room is this?”

It turns out I was back home at my apartment and in my own room. But for that split second of confusion, I thought I was still on the road crashing at someone’s house or in a strange hotel.

Tour life is odd when you don’t go out on the road a lot. For Gravehill, most of our tours consist of West Coast gigs that start Thursday night and end Sunday. Short jaunts with friends or as support for bigger bands that actually like us. The long tours are few and far between.

2010 marked the first big Gravehill tour that had us out on the road with our label mates at the time Cardiac Arrest and Hod (we were on the Ibex Moon roster). Spanning about two weeks, that was a rough introduction (for me at least) into long drives, sparse shows, shitty convenience store food, and debt. Don’t get me wrong, there were great times as well. Meeting new people, traveling the U.S. and visiting cities I had never been to, and being in the company of great friends to name a few.

2013 had us back on the road with Deceased which was a bit more lucrative, not as long (about a week), and had some real fun moments. Touring with one of my favorite death metal bands was a dream come true and I was a fan boy the entire time.

The 2015 tour with fellow Dark Descent label mates Ghoulgotha was our first outing for any significant length of time in 5 years. We would be revisiting cities played before and trying out new locations for the first time. This tour was extremely important as well since Gravehill first announced its new lineup back in May. This wasn’t just another tour. This was a proving ground and trial by fire. We had to get back out there and let people know that even though the front man, bassist, and lead guitar had changed up, we were still the same entertaining assholes everyone was used to.

This is an after action report of the entire tour. Most of this is based on my fuddled memory alone so some parts may be exaggerated but all of it is true. I won’t be calling anyone by their stage names either. I went on tour with my friends, not stage personas. But for the record, just in case you don’t know the cast of characters, here it is for your convenience. Note that we give out tour nicknames. Some people don’t like their nicknames but unfortunately you can’t pick them yourself. Shit happens when you party naked.

GRAVEHILL: