Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Hopscotch roundup




(Subrosa at Lincoln Theatre)

(Valient Thorr at City Plaza)

(Demon Eye at Lincoln Theatre)


 (Brief Lives at CAM)


(Author & Punisher at Kings)


 (Colossus at Kings)


The Battery Electric at Berkeley Cafe, Sept. 5, 2014 from Mann's World on Vimeo.


Colossus from Mann's World on Vimeo.

As you can see, I haven't posted in a several months. My mother passed away in June, and it's been an incredibly hectic summer trying to deal with the arrangements. Plus, my heart just hasn't been into it. Honestly, I was feeling a bit tired of blogging before mom got sick, but now it's become a very low priority for me. I don't know if I'll eventually get back to posting as often as I did, but for a while I think it's going to be pretty quiet for me.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to cover Hopscotch, though. As in years past, I saw a lot of great bands, and managed to make a few new discoveries. I particular, I was excited to discover Brief Lives (featuring Herbie from Valient Thorr on vocals) and The Battery Electric, a trash/fuzz-rock group from Asbury Park, N.J. As far as heavy shows go, I ended up surprisingly loving Subrosa. I haven't been able to get into their recordings, so I wasn't expecting much from them live. I ended up being ver pleasantly surprised by how much I liked them.

The two videos were shot using my new GoPro. It's not a perfect camera, but it's light, compact, and records fairly good audio on its own (can add an external mic for about $60 or so). I like the fact that I can control it from my phone, and I plan to get a suction cup for it so I can stick it on a wall or amp and control it from across the room. I know that if I put it on a table again, I'll make sure NOT to get the table in the shot.

Not sure what I'll be seeing coming up. Planning to hit the Carcass show at Lincoln Theatre in November, and I've already scored my Maryland Deathfest tickets for 2015 (can't miss Ufommammut). Perhaps I'll see you out and about.