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Bad photo by me, PhotoShopped until it was slightly less bad by Tom Ryan
"I hate zombies..."
Francis - "Left 4 Dead"
There’s no challenge in a band going out on stage to play for an audience that paid good money to see them. The true test of any band’s mettle is seeing how they handle themselves in front of an audience that paid to see someone else entirely. I’ve seen it go horribly wrong, as when Warrior Soul’s Kory Clarke told a sold-out Boston Garden full of Queensrÿche fans to “shut the f—k up and listen to the lyrics!” I’ve also seen it go gloriously right, with White Lion rising to the occasion and earning thunderous applause from a crowd that started out just wanting to know when AC/DC was hitting the stage.
As far as the audience was concerned, the deck was stacked solidly against Vagiant at their midnight show last Saturday at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. To put this in perspective, the punk quartet was the first act in J. Cannibal’s “Feast of Flesh VIII,” opening for the horror-themed Black Cat Burlesque before a showing of the Italian zombie flick, “Cemetery Man.” A good chunk of the audience was in full costume and make-up and I was mortified to learn that my “Aces High” shirt didn’t qualify me for the costume contest, despite Eddie being the world’s most instantly recognizable ambassador of zombie-kind. Just to make things a little more challenging, the folks from the Coolidge came out at 12:10 to inform the line that we were still standing out in the 38 degree night because “the band was still doing sound check.” As far as pep talks go, it was a little short of “you wanted the best, and you got the best…”
So, with the audience of chilly zombies storming the gates at 12:15, looking for their undead fix and nothing else, Vagiant went with the best option available to them: play fast, play loud, and don’t stop long enough for anyone to register any complaints. In accordance with the event the band came dressed in full Misfits-mode by way of Alice Cooper (though I don’t think the Coop ever tried dying his tips electric pink). Front-woman Helen “The Hellion” McWilliams glibly introduced the band and their new look, telling the crowd that “we’re into zombies and s—t, or whatever’s cool these days.”
If you’ve just heard the band’s debut album, “Public Display of Infection,” seeing them now is literally seeing a different band, or at least a half different band. On lead guitar, Smokey (my daughter’s favorite…it’s the hair) may not interact with the audience much, but she’s a sonic presence that was sorely missing from the early recordings. This was the first time I’ve seen the band live, so I had never made the connection between LoWreck’s style on drums and Torry Castellano's. There’s a strong resemblance in the way they both handle a kit, and as a card-carrying Donnaholic, I mean that as good thing.
The full band wasn’t in attendance due to Ivahna Rock having a prior commitment, but if you’ve got to replace your bass player, who better than the bass player from the last band you toured with? Razors in the Night’s Swid sat in for the night and fit in just fine, introduced by The Hellion with “normally we have four vaginas up here, tonight we have…five.” Speaking of The Hellion, she was definitely on her game Saturday night; intense, funny, and taking on any hecklers with a smile and “f—k you” charm. (It is in fact possible to tell a heckler “you’ve been warned sir, you’re going to have to eat a d—k now” and have it sound like the most polite thing in the world.)
The show kicked off right with “Sugar Daddy,” one of the new tracks previewed on the band's MySpace page. At least I think it did. The band was onstage literally as soon as the doors opened, so by the time I got inside and fought my way through the line of guys using the air dryer to warm up their hands in the bathroom, I could have missed a couple of songs. The set was a mix of new, old (“F—k the Kells,” “Angel of the Morning”) and covers. I’ll admit that I didn’t know a few of the covers, with the notable exception of “Thank You for Being a Friend (Theme from The Golden Girls),” which The Hellion dedicated to her “favorite zombie, Estelle Getty. The show wrapped with a guest appearance by Troy from Razors in the Night sitting in on a Samhain cover. One track that particularly stood out in my mind was the new “Trash Candy.” If you asked me what it sounded like, I’d have to say it sounded like pure...Vagiant. It’s always a good sign when a band starts sounding like themselves instead of just their influences.
It doesn't matter if the audience is 100% behind them when a band is so obviously having as much fun as Vagiant does. You can pay $200.00 a pop to see a group of guys who were sick of each other 20 years ago, or you can pay $10.00 to see a band who clearly love doing what they do. To steal a poker analogy, it’s easier to play a good hand than to play a bad hand well. With an audience who wasn’t there to see them and couldn’t get out of their seats even if they wanted to, Vagiant was dealt a pretty bad hand at the Coolidge. They raised when they could have folded, and on Saturday night four queens trumped a full house. Wait no…with Swid I guess that would be three queens and a king, or maybe three queens and an ace, or…
Crap. Ivahna misses one show and my poker metaphor gets shot to pieces.
***
The band’s got two shows on deck (sans zombies):
May 2nd @ The Brickhouse in Dover, NH, 8:00PM
May 16th @ Unit 11 in Allston, MA, 8:00PM
If any readers run into me at either show and mention Examiner.com, I’ll buy you a drink.
Not a top shelf drink, mind you, but something.
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