Videos of In the Year of the Pig and Caltrop!

Last night Jess and I drove out to Chapel Hill to check out Caltrop (pictured above) and In the Year of the Pig at Nightlight. Thrones was there too, but my main concern was with the local bands, so that's what I captured. I seriously cannot remember the last time I went to Nightlight (which used to be called Skylight Exchange regardless of what time of day it was) but the place had changed not one bit. I'd be willing to bet that at least 95 percent of the books in that place were there when I first went in 1991. Anyhoo, it looks like I do need to live up to my constant promises to go to Chapel Hill more because some of the heaviest music in the Triangle is coming from there. I think there's also a new rule that you can't be a dude in Chapel Hill unless you have a big bushy beard. I don't think I've seen that much facial hair in one room in my whole life. At one point Jess sent me a text saying "BEARD ALRET!" which in Jess-speak meant "Alert," though I'm not sure who among the multitude the "Alret" was supposed to indicate. Caltrop, who played second, lived up to my expectations and more with their super heavy sludge. If it wasn't raining -- and the ticket price wasn't $15 -- I would go see them again tonight at Volume 11 with ASG and Helmet. But they'll be at Reservoir next Friday, so until I can get someone to book them another show in Raleigh, I can make do with that. Here's the video, which given the fact that Nightlight's stage lighting consisted of one red bulb, came out a little better than expected.

Caltrop from Mann's World on Vimeo.

In The Year of the Pig, who played first, was the biggest surprise for me. I'd heard they were HEAVY, but I was not prepared for how heavy they actually were. Dave Cantwell, who is a powerhouse on drums, is one of two guys playing drum kits. They also have two bass players -- one of whom only has two strings on his bass -- and a guitarist. This video did not turn out well at all (they were set up in front of Caltrop's equipment and so missed the weak benefits of having the red bulb shine directly on them). But if you look closely toward the end you might be able to see drummer No. 1 get his stick caught in the headstock of bass player No. 2's bass.

In the Year of the Pig from Mann's World on Vimeo.