On Friday, I was surfing around some band’s Myspace pages and I noticed a show happening in Buffalo, MN. In case you are unfamiliar with Minnesota, let me tell you Buffalo isn’t a hotbed of musical activity. Rarely do artists ever visit any place other than the Twin Cities. I was floored to find a show happening in Buffalo.
There was a simple explanation for this freak occurrence, however. Sonshine, a 3 day Christian music festival, was taking place not too far down the road and almost all the bands had played on Friday or Saturday night there. It was probably a no-brainer for them to only drive an hour or two to get to their next gig. Besides that, this was the first ever show at The Vault. I’m sure they wanted to kick things off with a big show and this was their golden opportunity.
Anyway, there were a few bands I’ve wanted to see for awhile (Means, Nodes of Ranvier, and War of Ages namely) and it was only $15 to get in. I couldn’t pass it up.
I showed up about an hour late and to my surprise no one had even played yet. In fact, it was another 45 minutes before Of Sound and Fury took the stage. After I was there for a short while, I found out about the grand opening part. Let’s just say I could’ve shown up a little later. Of Sound and Fury wasn’t that great and it was a full hour before Death Sentence played their first note. Most of the wait was due to the one and only sound man becoming the one and only lights man. And my lights man, I mean unboxing some utility lamps and running some extension cords from the back of the place. The track lights they had at the front of the homemade stage weren’t too impressive either.
I’d never heard of Death Sentence, however, most of the crowd had and the hardcore dancing was in full force. They played 5-6 songs and were out. After Death Sentence, the set changes got a little quicker, but in between bands I still had time to get my bearings in the surrounding area. As I stepped outside, I noticed 2 cops talking to someone who seemed to be in charge. I figured they had a noise complaint already, but it wasn’t the case. Actually, there was some sort of no loitering law in Buffalo which was being violated by concert-goers standing outside. Lame, I know, but the simple solution was to have us just walk around if we were outside.
No Wings to Speak Of were up next. Before they even started playing, I noticed a familiar face. The vocalist was once a member of Foreknown, a band out of Duluth that I’d seen probably 4-5 times up on the Iron Range. I really like Foreknown, so I was hoping this new band would have a similar sound. Not quite. Still, they were tolerable and were into it enough to make for a good set.
I have to admit, at this point my memory of who played next gets a little fuzzy. There were 14 bands in total at this show and I may have mixed up the order a little after this. I’ll say that Children 18:3, a recent singing of Tooth and Nail Records, was next. If I was to judge them on looks alone, I would’ve walked out without hearing them play a single thing. The lead singer/guitarist had black eye makeup on. I’m talking way more than just guyliner. He was trying to imitate a raccoon or something. The bassist chick looked like something straight out of an 80’s hair metal band. I can’t say anything about the drummer other than he was with these 2 clowns (literally) on stage. While their music wasn’t to my liking, a more punk oriented White Stripes you might say, their musicianship was impeccable. The drummer was what first caught my eye. He was twirling his sticks between eat hit and not missing a beat. Their guitar player could just shred and the bassist girl wasn’t half bad either. Even though I didn’t like their music, I could’ve watched the drummer play all day long.
At that point I had to pee and I was getting really hungry, but there was no way I was going to risk missing any of Means. I’ve taken quite a liking to their debut and they were probably the band I wanted to see the most out of the whole lineup. My only gripe about their set was its length. It could’ve been twice as long. They were every bit as good in person as I’d hoped. After their set, I made my way to the merch area (which you had to go around to the side of the building and up a narrow ass flight of stairs to get to). As it turned out, they were at the end of their tour and out of all shirts in my size. I was told they’d be back in the fall with It Prevails and Across Five Aprils; a must see show.
A local band, Venia, was up next. I’d heard good things, so I checked em out. They were pretty standard hardcore/metalcore, and I probably could’ve skipped them without disappointment. In fact I took off as they were finishing their last song to find a bathroom and some food. I found a Subway which also had a bathroom (obviously). I returned to The Vault to find xLookingForwardx on stage. Another straight edge, hardcore band that I could’ve skipped.
After another extended set change, For Today began their set. They played through their set and also played the only encore of the day. I’m kicking myself for not buying their 3-song demo because they were really good. Both of their guitar players were absolutely crushing. Ironically, it was one of those guys who gave the longest “I love Jesus” speech of the day. I politely kept my mouth shut when he exclaimed how he, only a year earlier, “hated God,” but then “felt the warmth of Christianity in his heart.” The sub I ate earlier was clawing it’s way out in protest, but I kept it quiet.
At this point in the day, I was pretty exhausted having head-banged my way through 8 bands already. I took a seat at the side of the stage and watched Call to Preserve and Seventh Star do their thing. They had these not-so-comfortable bench seats on one side of the wall, but it was better than sitting on the floor.
Feeling somewhat rejuvenated, I was ready to go all in for War of Ages. They did not disappoint. They opened with my favorite song on their newest album, “Strength Within.” They continued ripping through another 3 songs before their vocalist had his little “Jesus talk.” I had all but closed my ears when he started to talk about how his father was the leader of a white supremacy gang and a drug dealer. I thought to myself, “OK, this guy has my respect now.” I more than showed it through the rest of their set giving them as much energy as I could muster.
Burden of a Day and Nodes of Ranvier were still set to play and by that time it was not quite 10PM. I sat there debating on whether or not I should stick around and ultimately, I decided if I was going to make it in to work the next day that I should leave. It killed me to miss Nodes of Ranvier but, but I valued my rest more. Besides, I had seen enough bands for my $15 and Nodes would surely be back another time.
I, of course, brought my camera with me and managed to get some sweet shots of Means and War of Ages in addition to a few of No Wings to Speak Of and Death Sentence.
