ROCKIN’ WITH ASKA IN CAJUN COUNTRY (abridged version) The Wild Salmon, Lafayette, LA August 3, 2013 by Kit Ekman Jen and I were chillin’ at the hotel in Lafayette waiting to head down to the gig when the phone rang. Jen answered it. The caller identified herself as being the hotel front desk and asked if there were any problems with our room. Jen said no. The caller then asked if we’d noticed any bedbugs because the room’s previous occupants had complained about them. The color drained from Jen’s face and she frantically stripped the comforter and sheets back from the bed in search of those nasty insects. Then the caller asked about fleas and said they’d sprayed the room earlier that day. By now, Jen was mortified. “What about the rat traps?” the caller asked next. I thought Jen was about to cry. She was at the end of her rope. That’s when it hit me. I spoke up, “Is that George?” The laughter on the other end of the line told us all we needed to know. Sure enough, my wife had been punk’d by our pal George Call from ASKA, who was killing time in his room while waiting for the show. Fortunately, my poor traumatized Jen did not kill George, so there was a show that night after all and I didn’t have to bail her out of the Lafayette City Jail. But it was quite an auspicious start to the evening. The Wild Salmon, on the outskirts of a residential area in Lafayette, is sort of the antithesis of these antiseptic, corporate House of Blues type music venues that are springing up all over the country. It’s a ramshackle, authentic venue with all kinds of faded sports and entertainment memorabilia hanging on the walls, abandoned soda machines sitting in the back of the room, stuffed mammals perched atop ancient video games, and so on. The place has personality, without a doubt. It also has a tiny dimly lit stage, a well-stocked bar, a basically non-functioning air-conditioning system with exposed ductwork everywhere (on a sweltering, steamy early August night in Louisiana, you bet your ass it was a sweatfest), and an amazing kitchen where the chef dishes up yummy bowls of spicy Cajun gumbo with black beans and sausage. Demographics of the club’s patrons are all over the map too. You’ve got old and young, rednecks and rockers, metalheads and good ol’ boys, all coexisting. It’s quite a place to see a gig, and about the last place on Earth you’d expect to see a Grade A, top-notch old-school heavy metal band like ASKA performing. But Lafayette’s only a four-hour drive from my metal-less home base, so I jumped at the chance to see ASKA here, just as I did when they performed at this very same venue last December. Entering the stage at a few minutes past midnight with their traditional “Angels of War” opener, ASKA were firing on all cylinders right from the start. The band’s lineup (now featuring a Conan-shirt wearing George Call on guitar/vocals, French-born Chris Menta on guitar, blond-maned bassist Dave Harvey, and drumming titan Danny White) has clearly had time to gel since I last saw them 8 months ago. Even on a postage-stamp size stage like the Wild Salmon, the band members seem much more comfortable around each other. They interact with each other more, they seem to have more fun, they play together better, and they’ve added a visual aspect (in terms of those Accept-style synchronized headbanging parts that were such an integral part of the Keith Knight / Daryl Norton era) that had been missing in December. As a live unit, this quartet has grown by leaps and bounds in 2013, no doubt a product of substantial live experience in the interim. ASKA also benefited from a surprisingly clear and punchy sound, and a crowd that was brimming with enthusiasm and support for the Texans. Unlike last time, ASKA were allowed to play their full 80-minute, 13-song set tonight. The setlist was a classic “best-of” approach, hitting the high points of the last three albums, including two tracks from the newly-rereleased ‘Nine Tongues,’ five from ‘Avenger,’ and four from ‘Absolute Power.’ There were no shocking exclusions, although this might be the first time I’ve ever seen ASKA not play the AC/DCish “Leprosy,” and the recently-favored “Killashandra” and “Her Ghost Remains” were absent. When you’ve got evergreens like “Longships” and “Leather,” “Freedom” and “Valkyries,” though, you’re all about winning. And “Blood of the Wolf” (probably my earliest fave ASKA track dating back to when I first heard the band in 1998) made a welcome reappearance in the set after a long absence. Aside from the originals, ASKA kept with recent tradition by offering up a pair of covers, the predictable but fun “The Trooper” and a surprising but beautiful choice in “Children of the Sea.” George Call’s Dio impression on the latter track was superb (far better than mine when he handed me the mike near the end to sing a couple of horribly off-key lines – I acquitted myself better on the small chunk of “Valkryries” I got to sing, though). All indications are that ASKA’s new album, ‘Fire Eater,’ will drop as early as next month on Germany’s Pure Steel Records, but the band opted not to give us any teasers tonight, instead sticking with the tried-and-true. Who could blame them? There were plenty of funny/amusing moments during the set, too. How about the part near the end of the set when a seemingly random woman jumped onstage, grabbed the mike, and coaxed the band to play a few bars of what was a rough approximation of Lita Ford’s “Kiss Me Deadly”? The “it ain’t no big thing” line then elicited cries of “that’s what she said” from the audience. Oh my. Or when George did a hilarious, intentionally over-the-top Ozzy impression and sang a bit of Sabbath’s “Snowblind”? Or when a guy in the crowd kept calling out for obscure ‘Nine Tongues’ track “Captain Crunch” until George & Co. finally relented and played a little bit of it (couldn’t do the whole thing because they hadn’t rehearsed it)? Or when George went into one of his patented diatribes about Kanye West, Jay Z, Beyonce, etc. etc., while rallying all the true metalheads in Lafayette to the cause? Ah yes, ASKA shows are at their best when that fun element is pushed to the forefront, and it was definitely there in spades tonight. What was most impressive about this gig was the level of showmanship and professionalism displayed under what were, let’s face it, not optimal circumstances. It was hot as a freakin’ furnace in the Wild Salmon, yet the band members were up there with studded vests and leather trousers, rockin’ out and sweating under the lights like nothing was amiss. Drummer Danny White (playing his righteous ‘Absolute Power’ kit which I was seeing for the first time this evening) had a cold and was laboring under the sauna-esque conditions, but he never let it show. Under the circumstances, ASKA might have been forgiven for delivering a perfunctory set, collecting their fee, and getting the hell out of dodge. But they didn’t. Somewhere in a cow pasture in northern Germany, the Wacken Open Air festival was going on tonight, with something like 100,000 people in attendance. Judging by the intensity of their performance, you’d think ASKA were playing the True Metal Stage at Wacken, not the Wild Salmon. It was a max effort, max performance by all of them. And it was awesome. After the last glorious strains of “Crown of Thorns” rang out, the band stuck around, signed autographs, took photos and talked with every person there until the club was empty. Finally at close to 3:00 a.m., they loaded up their gear, accepted a doggie bag of gumbo and devil’s food whoopie pies from the kitchen, and headed back to the hotel. The takeaway lesson is that this new configuration of ASKA are at the top of their game now. They’re great guys and killer musicians, and they’ve got a top-shelf catalog of superb U.S. metal songs at their disposal. Hopes are high that ‘Fire Eater’ will expand that canon in short order and catapult ASKA ever onward, ever higher. You have been warned. Just watch out for those bedbugs and fleas in your hotel room … Setlist: Angels of War Stalker Longships Leather The Trooper Blood of the Wolf Imperial Rome Legions Freedom Children of the Sea Invasion Valkyries Crown of Thorns
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 08:30:19 +0000
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