Macabre and Destroy Everything 12/23/05 at Double Door

Friday night I went to see Macabre and Destroy Everything (along with two other bands) play at the Double Door here in Chicago. While I like Macabre, my main reason for going of course was to see my punk brothers (aka: my beloved Klowns) in Destroy Everything play a show, as it always promises to be a good time, and this was no exception.

I (along with my lovely companion for the evening) got down there early because I was tasked with taking some photos of the stage, however that ended up not really happening due to the other bands’ soundchecks going late and Destroy Everything getting cheated out of doing a sound check. After a quick trip to Potbellys for dinner, and an even quicker trip to Reckless just to say hi to youngdave, we got back to the club and hung out for a bit waiting for the show to start.

Ion Vein

Ion Vein

Ion Vein were first. Picture your typical late 80s underground metal band and you pretty much have the picture of what they were like. They weren’t bad, but I’m just not a real big fan of that stuff. They played about 35 minutes or so. I really felt like I entered a time machine and was back in 1988 or something.

Destroy Christmas nativity

Destroy Everything

Next up was my reason for being there, Destroy Everything. For the Xmas occasion, they recreated the nativity scene for their stage show. Cheddar Nines, Stiff Mittens and Senor Citizen were the wise men, Cocoa Hole was the Virgin Mary sans-breasts and Hanover Fist was the Baby Jesus. It was a sight to behold and it was really funny.

Destroy Everything

The Baby Jesus (Hanover Fist), and the roadie of Jesus (Jay M)

The costumes and stage props looked great and the people in the audience were pretty amused by it. At first, most of the crowd which consisted mainly of metal heads, were standing back and didn’t have any interest in some goofy punk band, but after a couple songs, a bunch of them were warming up to the band and the front started filling in a lot more. They were so entertaining, the threat of the Baby Jesus’s junk slipping out of his little diaper couldn’t even scare them off! They played a couple new songs, and some of the hits from the first two albums. Sadly their set time was cut a little short for reasons unknown. They left the stage and the people seemed to have really enjoyed it.

Destroy Everything (The Wise Man Nines and Wise Man Citizen)

Destroy Everything (Wise Man Mittens)

Next up were Usurper, who I believe are from around here as well. They played some loud, angry metal which also seemed to at time harken back to the days of the late 1980s/early 1990s. They played for what felt like an hour and a half. After every song, the singer kept saying they had a couple more. Perhaps he lost count and that is why they played so long. I didn’t mind them at first as I can take that stuff in small doses just fine, but after what seemed like the first dozen songs, I was done. The singer kept going for the cheap babyface pop by saying how they love Chicago and are so happy to be there with the fans, and all that usual stuff. It was fine once, but he kept going for that cheap pop like every other song. If they played five less songs, I would have thought they were pretty good, but the length of their set was just fatiguing. They seemed to have their fair share of fans though, so those who are into that genre must enjoy them, and this was before they went for the “we love Chicago” promos to gain the cheap pop from the crowd so clearly it was just the fact that I’m not much into their style of music that was at fault, and not the members on stage.

Usurper

Usurper

Finally Macabre took the stage. I’ve liked those guys since they sent me their first LP back in 1987 to review in my fanzine. They never fail to entertain the crowd with their brand of Murder-Metal (which they may have actually invented) and their stories of the serial killers they sing about. On top of that, they have one of the fastest and most intense drummers in the history of the world. They played a fair share of songs from their Dhamer album, along with some songs from their other records.

Macabre

Macabre

Sadly, I was so wiped out, as was my lovely companion for the evening, so we split a little early. Overall it was a very fun night out and at least two of the bands were entertaining, and they’ll think I’m just saying this because of them being some of my best friends, but I mean it when I tell you that Destroy Everything stole the show that night.

Macabre

Lots more photos of Destroy Everything and Macabre after the jump.

Destroy Everything

Macabre