Hello there Autolatry fans! Sorry once again that we haven’t
been the most diligent on our blogging schedule. We’ve been making 9 hour
drives regularly and there hasn’t been much down time. Well in any event, now
it’s time to recount the story of Omaha, Nebraska.
The drive from Denver to Omaha is serious. Never make this
drive if you can help it. It is obscenely flat and full of corn. The drive
itself had almost nothing good to offer besides the welcome return of the lush
green grass, healthy deciduous trees, and abundant farmland that we are so
accustomed to in our native New England. However all of Nebraska is very, very,
very flat and stinks like a leak of propane. Although the rest stops of
Nebraska had little to offer, when we arrived in Omaha, we were surprised to
find a little downtown area near the venue that was actually somewhat charming.
Lots of young people filled bars and theaters on the Saturday night. Definitely
a good stop to make if you’re bored in corn country.
At first we had some trouble spotting the venue. It’s called
The Lair for a reason. We ended up finding this place in an alleyway behind
Subway; an unlikely spot. However, once we entered the place, it became quite
evident that it actually is a really nice place to play. The stage was nice and
clean, big, high off the ground, and the soundsystem was fantastic. The place
was run by the Nebraska NYDM chapter. I must say, they definitely do a good job
keeping the place up. There was ample time to load our gear into the venue, set
up right on stage, and then do some very necessary guitar maintenance (Dave
broke a string on his guitar during the first song).
Autolatry was added to the bill EXTREMELY last minute. In
fact, we got confirmation about this gig right after we finished playing the
Denver show. Because of this late addition, we were to open the show. With 6
bands set to play that night, we were ready to play quite early in the night.
We had all of our shit set up for awhile on stage, just waiting for it to be
the right time to play. We did a soundcheck at 8PM and then got right to our
set. This was NOT a good decision. One thing that we’re not good at doing is
waiting around to play. Typically we always play right after soundcheck.
However on this particular night, there wasn’t a soul in the venue besides the
sound guy when we started playing. Being a black metal band playing an
overwhelmingly death metal concert who was added at the very last minute is not
ideal, but you have to deal with that when you’re on tour. Not a surprise, not
a problem. About halfway through our set, the two members from Drowning in the
Platte, and a nice fellow wearing a hammerhead shark mask (he wore that the
WHOLE night) came to watch.
Next up was Drowning in the Platte, a two piece death metal
act. They had an interesting sound comprised of pounding guitar riffs, and
layered vocals. Big thanks to those guys for buying some merch from us! After
their set, Skinned, a brutal death metal band took the stage. They captivated
the death metallers in the crowd with their sound. Next up was Abolishment of
Flesh (their guitarist is actually the drummer of Skinned). They played a very
similar style. At this point, there were supposed to be 2 other bands on the
bill who never gave notification of their absence. The completely flaked out on
the management, didn’t give any word, didn’t show up. Everyone, including us,
was very pissed because we played so fucking early (without anything of a
crowd) to accommodate the later flakester bands who had been scheduled to play.
The closer band went on early. I have no idea what they were called because
they never announced their name on stage. However they were probably the most
creative and talented death metal band that played that night.
Joe, Sean, and I (Matt here) exited the venue to pack up and
go in search of wifi. However we ended up just searching around the local
restaurant dumpsters for food since at that point all of us had no food left
and we were desperately hungry. Joe ended up with the remains of a slice of
Pizza Hut pizza that was apparently akin to the sensation one gets from
satisfying a camel.
By the end of the show, everyone was exhausted and
absolutely ready to leave that place. We got the fuck out of there and headed
to a rest stop on the interstate to sleep. Next on the schedule was Chicago, a
show we’ve been looking forward to for a very long time. Stay tuned for
extravagance in Chicago and additional dumpster diving desperation
explorations.
Peace!
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