19991999This year, we were welcomed back to the Elks Lodge (with the extra special help of Patti (thanks!) ) for the third time now. The sound and lights for this show were rented from Pianos & Stuff in Pittsburgh, PA. And to run the sound this year, we were able to snag Matt Miller, of Telefunkin Two-Tones & Noise Buffet fame -who really knows his stuff when it comes to sound. With all of these things taken care of, we eagerly awaited the start of the show.
Things started off with Geeker ( band profile is the works ), a speed punk outfit that gave a set of fast and furious beats that quickly won the crowd over. This band from St. Marys, PA said that they were ill-prepared for the gig, with a mere 2 practices before the show. However, this went undetected by most of us, including myself. The Happyface crew felt that they were great, even offering up an awesome cover of the Ramones' classic "Blitzkrieg Bop".
Unfortunately, they fell victim to the obvious danger of playing first: there are less people there to hear you. Not that it mattered much, I think everyone there was fairly impressed. Next time, we'll have to switch them to the center position. Not only that, but having started out the band a little earlier than we should have, Geeker burned through their powerful set quickly and we were all surprised it was over so fast. They only used a half of the time allotted to them. This wasn't their fault, but instead ours, because we had just assumed they had more material without finding out for sure. (I know: "way to go")
To buy some time for the next band to set-up and wait for more people to file in, we decided to play some CDs through our sound system. The crowd soon tired of this, though -they clearly came to see live bands, which I thought was great. Once we learned that people were starting to leave because of the pause, we gave 3 Days of Darkness ( band profile is the works ) the go ahead.
The lights down and the band on stage, the crowd pulled up close to the band in hopes of getting another big dose of some loud and fierce live music. They weren't let down. By the third song of the band's all original set, 3 Days of Darkness had the crowd's attention -quickly apparent by the mass of people (big guys, a few brave girls, little guys, and some even littler guys) spinning around in the pit in front of the band.
I can honestly say that I have never seen such a reaction to a band in the history of Hallowpalooza. People were throwing themselves into each other, falling down and then body slamming each other, people moshing while riding pigback on someone else's back, people being thrown up in the air, getting dragged around on the floor and -most amazingly, I thought- someone was even hoisted high enough up the air to almost grab some ceiling... the Ball Room's ceiling is about 20 feet high! It was a truly insane scene.
3 Days wrapped up their set and everyone took a much needed breather. The crowd, this time however, didn't stray very far from the hall, probably because there was a considerably smaller gap in between bands this time -and, of course: local faves Mad Cows were up to bat.
As the Mad Cows took the stage, some individuals grabbed a table placed near the sound stage and decided it would be better to have it in front of the band, so that the crowd could jump off of it. Needless to say, when people started to climb on it, we took action as the party-poopers and turned the table on it's side in front of the stage. This acted like a barrier between the band and the crowd, but a very small one. The audience was right up in the faces of the band members, something else which has never occurred in a Hallowpalooza show. One could easily tell that their set was going to explode the Ball Room.
And explode it did. As I said, I have never seen such a forceful reaction to a band in a Hallowpalooza show prior to 3 Days of Darkness, but now I would have to say the same thing in regard to the Mad Cows at this year's show. The crowd, though beaten, sweaty, and tired, continued to mosh, dance, and roar to an intensity which equaled and at times surpassed the reaction of 3 Days. With the sounding of the first note, the room went into chaos. People were swarming about in the mosh pit, throwing others and being thrown in all directions. Almost immediately people were being tossed into the barrier erected in front of the Mad Cows, as well as the lights and speakers. This caused an immediate reaction on our part, but rather than shut down the show for a while, 3 Days' Andy Hood, my brother Ryan, and myself were able to form a human blockade in front of the threatened equipment. With this taken care of, the show continued to rock for the next hour and a half.
The crowd reacted the most, in my opinion, to the band's original material -which are some of the most catchy tunes I've heard. (I'm still humming most of them). I have never seen these guys not give 100% to their performance and are one of the most tightly polished bands around, in my book. They also really know how to interact well with the audience and the audience made sure the band knew that they loved the attention. By the end of the Mad Cows' set, after giving up all of their energy to the band, some people were sitting in a heap on floor, others were leaning against the wall trying to catch their breath, and one individual at the end of the show was seen propped up only by the table we had set up as a barrier in front of the stage.
Something worth noting
Josh Cameron, Mad Cows's drummer, played for this extended amount of time with a foot that he couldn't even walk on. It seems he had an accident earlier in the week where he stepped on a nail and it had since become so painful that he couldn't stand for a while. I don't think anyone noticed: he didn't skip a beat.
| Something else worth noting 3 Days of Darkness are in the process of recording a demo tape. It's worth checking out, I swear. |  |
The Aftermath
This year's show was another great success and is probably one of my most favorite shows that we've had while we've been running Hallowpaloozas, even though I didn't have a band in it this time around. I got just as much satisfaction from just running the show. But with the bands that took part in the event this year, the show really ran itself. All of the bands were more than helpful and everyone sounded great and got along without any trouble, as far as I know. Hopefully, they all keep in touch with us for future shows.
And the show wasn't a success just because of the bands involved. The crowd that showed up this year (and really every year since 1996) was an outstanding group of people as well. True, there were a couple of moments where I became extremely concerned about certain people and also was afraid of damage to equipment, but for the most part, everyone looked out for each other and kept things under control. And this year, again, nothing was broken, except possibly for one audience member's nose (yikes!).
I was so glad that things turned out okay at this year's event, as were all of the bands that participated this year. It's important that when the people of the area are given something constructive to do on a Saturday night, that nothing goes wrong, so we avoid getting a bad reputation from the people in charge. And the area's bands really need these gigs, too. As you probably know if you live in the area, events like this have become scarce because of a few bad incidents involving "the kids" in the past. Nobody wants to take a chance on us anymore and that's incredibly sad.
Because crowds have been so responsible, I think that Hallowpalooza is hopefully helping us to gradually overcome this stigma and gain the confidence of the town, but it's important that we make an effort not to ruin it by acting irresponsibly. Any problems that might occur in the future put this event in serious jeopardy and might mean the end to anything like this for a long time, something that would be very detrimental to us all, both as bands and as a community.
If you feel strongly about this topic (and we all should) then I encourage you to fill out the GuestBook form and post your opinions on this subject. This idea comes at the suggestion of Charlie Gambino, formerly of Vinal. The two of us think that it's important for us to show the town that we're capable of being trusted and worth investing time in, to give us things to do constructively and responsibly. I'm going to continue to speak to him and other people involved in this event to see what else we can do to overcome this resistance by the area's officials to allow the younger members of this community some opportunities to have fun in a constructive way. I'm willing to post any editorial remarks or essays that I receive on the subject, with permission of course, so that others can read and get an impression of how we feel about the subject. I might even print them up and present them to the town if we get a good response. So make sure to check back to the Happyface and Hallowpalooza 1999 websites for more news on the subject.
And that covers Hallowpalooza 1999. Thanks to everyone involved. I hope you had a great time if you showed up and if you didn't, you'll get another chance� Hallowpalooza 2000!! Watch for it.
| Follow this link to see art constructed for this year's show. Follow this link to see art constructed for previous years' bands. Follow this link to buy some treats at the Halloween Store Follow this link to see photos of this year's bands.
Follow this link to sign the Hallowpalooza Guest Book. |  |
copyright � 1996-2000 David Kauffman: [email protected]