Sorry Monkeys, I didn’t come through on my update last night. Jam went long, and then pizza and yadda yadda.

Let me tell you about the show on Saturday.

My good friend and longtime metalhead came with me to check out Malevolent. The show was at a venue I hadn’t been to before, called Paper Box. It was probably an old paper factory or something. It was sort of a pain to get to (out in Bushwick), but once inside I liked it immediately.

There were two stages set up, one in the large entry room, and one in a side room. There was a large open air space in the back for people to light up whatever they had.

I saw my friend who plays for Malevolent right away and he called my name out. DUCCCCCKKKK in a nice metal growl. I went over and we did that dude hug and I introduced him to my other friend. It was at that point my metalhead friend realized that everything I had been saying about my friendship with the Malevolent guy was true.

He brought me back stage and we had a some beers, one band to go before he had to take the stage. The rest of the band was back there, but I didn’t even know what to say to them. In the presence of metal greatness, I am especially humble.

Eventually it was time for them to go on. They came out on stage for sound check and people filled the main room quickly.

The crowd was mixed. The original Malevolent Creation was formed in 1987 and they released some great records in the early-mid 90s. Because of their early origins, there were fans at the show who were probably in their 40s, which is less usual at a death metal show. For other metal it’s very normal to see every kind of person imaginable, but death metal is usually a little more particular. You either hear it, or you don’t, and unless you grew up with it, you probably don’t, which means the crowd is typically very young.

But at this show, there were plenty of long-time fans, mostly wearing the jacket of the early death metal scene in NYC. You might have seen it before– adorned by biker-looking people. It’s a giant “X” with N/Y/D/M written  in the quadrants, very gang-looking. But it’s just for the music.

The NYDM gang weren’t the only ones there, though. The new generation of death metal fans were there, in great numbers. Young angry men and the occasional metal babe, all eager to finally see Malevolent play. They’re way more popular in Europe and are constantly touring there.

With no introduction the band launched into a classic and everyone went ballistic. I stayed front and center and my friend on guitar locked eyes with me constantly, which I must say was a bit of a thrill.

The fans got violent and people smashed into everyone and everything. I stayed on one edge the pit that continually formed and both took and gave some good shots. One taller metal head came gunning for me at one point and I straight armed him in the neck and he went up off his feet and landed flat on his back on the ground. People rushed over to pick him up before he got trampled. When he got up I averted eyes and just looked at the stage, enjoying the music, and there was no further issue.

The band completely tore it up, doing 75 minutes. By the time they were done, the audience was exhausted and dehydrated, stumbling around like they’d just sprinted for an hour straight. The band was in the same state. I followed my friend backstage again.

“How was the sound from the floor? The monitors sucked.”

“It was sick. You guys destroyed the place.”

“Awesome, man.”

The lead singer came in and gave me a big hug, which was disgusting and perfect. He was drenched in sweat and smelled like Jack Daniels, which he had been sipping throughout the set, straight from the bottle. All I could muster up to say was “Thank you”, and he said “OK brother”, and that was all.

I sat back there and hung around for a while and we chatted but everyone was completely spent, which is the way it’s supposed to be. I left to find the friend I came in with and we took off, allowing me to preserve my Sunday for all the work I had lined up.

It was a thrill, and a great privilege, but it doesn’t end there.

The Malevolent guy texted the next day. They leave on tour Tuesday (today) and come back Oct. 11 and when he gets back, could we get together and work on some new material, a new project.

I said fuck yes.

He said he was thinking something really dark, something to make The Shining seem like Katey Perry. I said something to make a rotting funeral mishap look like Mardi Gras. He said to come up with a name and I said I would. He said we need to do at least three songs for the demo, and that he’d take care of the rest. I said let’s do it.

So, in addition to trying to finish my dissertation, and do two full time jobs, I’m now working on a dark metal project with the lead guitarist of Malevolent Creation. We begin writing in the second week of October.

I’m not sure how I’ll be able to handle everything, but this is the kind of thing– a kind of experience– to make time for. So that’s on the way down the pipe.
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I had excellent training last night before jam. I’m up to 225lbs for 20 reps on deep squats, which was something I never thought I’d be able to do. My legs are huge and muscular now, intensely vascular from all the high rep work. They’re probably getting too big, although I still feel fast and my kicks are as good as ever.

Talk soon,

Duck