Norma Jean's The Anti-Mother Tour
By Levi Macallister
LeeMarie and I are meant to be together. That’s the just the way it is. She even gave me a water bottle with my initials to prove it: LM. Get this - my initials are LMM – Levi Morgan Macallister. And if we got married, hers would be LMM – LeeMarie Macallister.
It’s a sign from God. It’s supposed to happen.
What I’m thinking is how I always find the perfect way to make every introduction completely awkward. What she’s thinking, as she nods and smiles, is “Oh God, this kid’s a creeper.”
“It’s different, you know, being the only punk band on the tour,” says my wife. “But it’s so much fun, and the rest of the bands are so awesome…” Different or no, kid after kid offered encouragement, became a fan, and offered a thank you to the threesome throughout the night, proving that Children 18:3 is so, so much more than just a punk act with a chick lead.
But here is the part where the brutal honesty comes out. This is the part where I become the jerk. I only caught the last song of the set. Do you know how much I wish I could have heard them play “Homemade Valentine?" Do you? Lord! Just that song! But I got this for you so you could see the list from the hands of LeeMarie Macallister herself:
I tried. P.S. - Thank's everyone, for putting up with my humor (or lack thereof). Maybe the only one who laughs is me...
I’ve seen MyChrildren MyBride a couple times before, and let me say that, after a punk show, with a bunch of kids ready for a hardcore show, San Antonio’s White Rabbit just kind of exploded into this frenzied mayhem of energy and Windmills and Cobwebs and whatever other hardcore dance move you can imagine, and a few you can’t. Two songs into the set and a kid nearly broke his arm, ran to the bathroom, came back out with paper-towels full of blood, and got back in the pit. I mean, have you seen the lineup for this tour? Have you? This is like a dream tour. You don’t miss this tour.
Metalhead, anyone? “RISE! And at the sound our standing the earth will groan!” The Showdown killed it. Picture old school documentary films of thrash metal where you see the pit running in huge circles and the kids at the front of the crowd violently banging their curly haired heads to the music. Perfect. Picture man music. Picture tank-top-wearing-man-men-growling-man-music. Picture beautiful shreds on a beautiful stars-and-stripes-pointy-guitar-dripping-with-the-sweat-of-my-man-brow-man-music. PERFECT! It’s like chaos at its finest. Front to back. Even the people who are too cool to get into the theatrics are into the theatrics…
and the energy only continues to rise with the body count of people who start to bleed…
(and you think I’m only being dramatic…)
I have to say something about this girl. If only I had a picture. Haste the Day begins and this girl goes nuts. Boys, if you are very insecure about your hardcore dancing skills, you might to watch your step, because this girl is better. There’s no other way to say it. This girl is the best hardcore dancer I have ever seen, and she puts you to shame. And it’s not like you can hit her in the face if she makes you mad – she’s a girl. She can windmill kick you in the face like B. Hathaway all-get-out but you’ll never be able get back at her. You’ll never be able to one-up her. She does freakin’ spins like a top with legs that destroy everything – horizontally. She knows every move in the book. No – she created every move in the book. She is the Matrix.
Haste the Day played a gorgeous set with everything from Jimmy’s old passion to their incredible new record that earned them the feature story in HM’s latest issue. The stage presence is just so good. “On the count of three, I want everyone in this entire building to scream, ‘IT’S PARTY TIME!’”
“I never should have let you go. I never should have let you slip through my arms.” "American Love." They played it. The thing about music is the unity it creates. Once the calamity of the songs subside you have this beautiful, melodic chorus of a sweaty, disgusting crowd with arms raised, lifting up the vocal drone as the words pour from our lips. Classic HTD… into the quiet… and right back into the rain of gut-wrenching breakdowns and storms like a heavy wind blowing its people in all directions to come back into this place, this mutual understanding of their passion for something real.
That unity is real.
And we all take a breath of fresh air before the headliner just kills us completely.
First it was punching babies. Now it’s stabbing pandas. Cory Brandon has said it before and I’m sure he’ll say it again, “This is the most pissed off record we’ve ever made…” If you have any doubts, check out a show; count the number of fights that break out. The only thing lacking was the creepy video real that usually adorns the backdrop of every Norma Jean set.
“YOU WEAR THAT CROSS LIKE A CROWN! YOU WEAR THAT CROSS LIKE A DAGGAR! OH MY GOD!!! COME DOWN FROM THAT TOWER! NOTHING WILL BE THE OUTCOME!!!”
The thing about lead singers of bands screaming, “Now kill somebody!” just before the grinding power of songs like “Surrender Your Sons," “Blueprints For Future Homes," “A Small Spark Vs. A Great Forest,” and “Robots 3, Humans 0” – is that I’m usually the “KILL – EE.” I am the trampled. I am the one who dies. It’s hard to take pictures between sweaty, shirtless, violent men and a three-foot tall chick in front of you that you’re trying not to crush. There is no “fight fair!” like the band chants. And when they break into “Birth of the Anti-Mother” with lyrics like, “Choke that witch out! Suffocate her! Choke her out!” and breakdowns that could materialize into a Samurai sword and cut your body in half, its not like you can avoid the onslaught without running to the back of crowd.
A huge fight broke out during the last (and possibly heaviest?) song on the new album, “And There Will Be a Swarm Of Hornets." Apparently, this is a regular occurrence (a buddy back home called to tell me the same thing happened two days later at the show in Albuquerque). Twenty people, arms swinging, fists meeting, beyond dancing, with vicious intent. Security guards. Flashlights. Spewing in anger.
“You guys want to fight!? Take it out in this!” yells Cory, trying to get the crowd to settle down, trying to bring it back to the show. “WHAT YOU CAN’T PULL FROM ME, PULL FROM YOURSELF! I am ruined! I need to be saved! Pull me up and I’ll find my way back home, I swear!!!”
People don’t chant for “encores” at Norma Jean shows – they chant “Memphis”. I wonder if the day will ever come that they return to the stage with a different song to play. It’s beautiful. It’s heavy. It’s the completion we wait for every time.
And all of this is an understatement.
What I think of the is general schpeal about how anyone can scream and, “well, you can’t even understand the words” and “there’s no message in that, it’s too vague and they’re too angry." But these bands are water to these kids. These bands are hope and inspiration. These bands are the Maiden’s to the group. These bands provide an outlet of praise. I know they don’t have the typical church sing-along lyrics. I know fight’s break out. I know it’s not something everyone understands.
Not a single band Friday night failed to give mention and adoration to Jesus Christ, whether through a “God bless you” or a full on “We are doing this for Jesus” - But shows like this are a place of comfort to so many. People have told me that they find God in these shows more than they’ve ever found him in any other part of life.
Dare I say it?
This show topped the list for the year so far.
©2008 HM Magazine. All rights reserved
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Comments
Wow, this was amazing. I can't wait for the tour to come to Chicago on the 30th.
Wow. Great review. I can't wait to see this show in San Antonio. It's coming to the White Rabbit on the 10th! I'm so stoked!!!
love this. really epic.
epic review levi.
so glad you got to go to this. way to remember your camera too :)
I saw all of these guys when they came to Albuquerque on the 12th.
That show was epic. It was like the screamo side of Cornerstone festival all wrapped up into one night.
LeeMarie--and all of the Hostetter kids--were really nice. I bugged them half the night, I think, because they were the only ones actually at their table.
Awesome show. Awesome review.
rock on.
Great review Levi! God in ya, on ya,through ya. HM Magazine ROCKS!
