Three Inches of Blood / Pride Tiger / A Javelin Reign
Bloodstone
April 28th, 2006

I was on my bike, probably as far back as Venables, when I heard the inviting sounds of half-drunken chatter and guitar bellows carrying up Clark Street. Another night of getting ragged at Bloodstone was upon me. It was just after 11:00 and Pride Tiger was mid-way through their set. Always the gracious hosts at 642, they were kind enough to hit the stage first. I made a B-line for the front and watched them rumble through ?This Old Louse,? ?What It Is? and the freshly written ?A New Jones.? Matt Wood was holding it down on his drums. While Sunny, Mike and Bobby kept pretty much still throughout the set (occasionally nodding heads to their groove as if they agreed with it); Matt was all over the place. I don?t know of too many drummer/lead singers who have the energy (or fucking lung capacity) to belt out their lyrics while maintaining such a strenuous beat. A lesser man would try but he?d be singing the last few songs with a mouthful of blood. I?m sure Matt?s a tough shit, but you never see him get proud (ha) about it on stage. He slams away on his drums and hollers his Phil Lynott-esque vocals with unfettered exuberance and always a big, fat smile.

By the time they finished off with ?Six Four Two? (the Bloodstone song) my neck was ground beef. If I wasn?t such a fool it might have bothered me that not too many people were willing to get rowdy. The same thing happened during the A Javelin Reign set. These guys were pure energy and maybe seven dudes seemed to give a fuck. Never a band to let an indifferent crowd rob them of their enthusiasm, AJR held fast and played a vigorous show. Kevin Keegan stalked the stage like an animated serial killer made of elastic bands, Sean Hawrluck tossed his mane around, and Dan Donald just plain beat the fuck out of his drums. It was great.

True to form, Three Inches delivered a sturdy live treatment of their D&D inspired metal. The guys were sporting brand new Madison heads with matching cabinets and you couldn?t have asked for a thicker sound. Unfortunately, this show was a lot like most Three Inches of Blood shows I?ve gone to. I?d never seek them out if I was after a band bent on doing new things. They?ve definitely carved out a comfortable niche and it?s plain to see that after several years, they?re still doing the same thing. This would be troublesome if they didn?t write such consistently punishing music.

I?ve seen better shows at Bloodstone but this was no musicians fault. Everyone seemed to be on the sleepy end of the drunk spectrum.

It was a good time until some meathead threw full beers into the crowd. That shit?s not funny.