This week's cool shows: Weedeater, Cough and more!

With Labor Day coming up, and Hopscotch happening next week, this weekend is somewhat light on shows. But the shows that are happening are definitely worth your time.

On Thursday, Sept. 1, Cough, MAKE  and Swordasters of Ginaz will be at Casbah. I don't know anything about the Swordmasters, but Cough and MAKE have consistently been two of my favorite doomy bands over the past year.

Over at Motorco on the same night, DejaFest will feature American Aquarium, the Love Language's Stu McLamb, Prison Book Club and Gray Young.

On Sunday, one of my all-time favorite North Carolina bands from way back in the day, The Bad Checks, will be at JawsFest at the Station in Carrboro. And on Labor Day itself, Black Skies, Vaz and Pygmy Shrews will be at Casbah.

But the show of the week in my opinion is Tuesday's Weedeater, Saviours, Bison BC and Fight Amp show at Kings. I will admit to having never seen Weedeater or Saviours, but Bison BC and Fight Amp both put on an amazing show.

Also, there are two very different festivals happening this weekend: the annual ProgDay international prog rock fest at Storybrook Farm, and Bull City Rumble, a celebration of rockabilly and classic car/motorcycle culture, at Casbah.

Photos and video of Holy Grail!

I've been kicking myself ever since missing Holy Grail at the Lincoln Theatre back in December. They were opening for someone (can't remember who now) and playing at 8:45 p.m. -- right around the time I had scheduled a long-overdue get-together with three of my closest girlfriends. I love the metal, but that night I decided to stick with my girls. I was very glad I did. Sort of.

Anyway, I was very glad to find out they were coming back to Kings. The band's Crisis in Utopia has been one of my favorite albums of the past year. You know I'm a fan of NWOBHM from back when that genre was actually brand new. It makes me happy to see a band whose members weren't even alive when "Number of the Beast" was released giving classic metal their own interpretation.

Holy Grail is the best of these old-school-inspired bands that I've heard. Eli Santana (above) is an incredible guitarist, James Luna has a phenomenal voice, and the band puts on a great show. It was even worth getting punched in the back and having some dude who was covered head-to-toe in spikes fall on me.


Holy Grail -- "Immortal Man" from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Video from OCOAI

This is bad to admit, but I rarely wear earplugs. I do have a pair that I normally carry with me, and if a band gets a little too loud, I will wear them. That actually doesn't happen very often for me -- maybe a result of the hearing loss I've already experienced?

Anyway, the point of all this is that last night I did not have my ear plugs with me, and regretted that because OCOAI were loud. Really, really loud.

I didn't know anything about OCOAI (pronounced oh-CO-eye) until I got a Facebook invite for last night's show at the Dive Bar. I read up on them and found out that they are from Johnson City, Tenn., they incorporate cello, they're friends with U.S. Christmas, and every description of them (including the invite itself) referenced Pink Floyd. Sure, there's a lot of Pink Floyd in what they're doing, but also a lot of Deep Purple and King Crimson. And even though it was loud, the volume didn't get in the way of the music. There's a lot of really great psychedelic space metal coming out of Appalachia right now, but I think OCOAI is currently my favorite.

OCOAI from Mann's World on Vimeo.