Easy Action / Against The Grain Finish off The Sanctuary 10th Anniversary weekend.
John Brannon of Negative Approach/ Easy Action - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
Not quite as cold as the night before, and without my crew (I guess Friday night wiped them out), I was back at The Sanctuary on Saturday for night two of the 10th Anniversary weekend. Tonight would be Mazinga, Winds of Neptune, Edison Hollow, Against The Grain, and Easy Action (for a total of 10 local bands, over 2 days). Unfortunately, I arrived late and missed Mazinga (but 9 out of 10 ain’t bad). I walked in to Winds of Neptune being on stage. A few years a go I would have walked in, bought some merch, watched the rest of the band, and then headed back to my car to drop stuff off and get some air. Times have changed over the 10 years since they opened. The Sanctuary now has a metal detector to walk through, a pat down if it goes off, and there is no re-entry after the first band starts. Tickets are scanned, wrist bands are used to determine who can drink, and they even removed the tables by stage. But the staff is great, the venue is incredible (both space wise, and sound), and I'm not going to knock them looking out for our safety.
Winds of Neptune were no where near the punk or speed rock sound that I'm looking for, but the audience loved them and they sounded great. They mentioned a couple of new songs, and if you like slower but solid rock-n-roll with technical leads and great songwriting I'm guessing you would be a fan. Same as the previous night, the lights were low and the smoke machine was going. Tonight wasn't sold out, so the crowd wasn't as big, but it seemed appropriate for the difference in the sound (tonight's bands would not induce a mosh pit, there would be no fighting or stage dives, and I'd have a much easier time getting up to the stage for photos). It was a perfect setting for Against the Grain and Easy Action, which were coming up.
Edison Hollow
The big surprise of the night was Edison Hollow. I was initially expecting them to be similar to Winds of Neptune, but I noticed that the bass player had a NOFX shirt on from the final tour so maybe punk? It turned out that they were more of straight up rock-n-roll, but in the best possible way. They played a great set, and I was glad that I didn't miss it. I talked to the singer (Tyler) afterwards and he mentioned that he also plays in Busby Death Chair so I'm planning to check them out as well.
Against the Grain (photo signed by the band)
I brought a photo from their show at The Magic Stick with Fear, and luckily Against The Grain was there early to support the other bands. I was able to get all of their signatures on the photo, and score some great merch. They ripped into a 14 song set that included a new one "Shattered", as well as most of their classics (“Surrounded by Snakes”, “Rolling Stone”, “Livin’ A Lie”, “Get In The Van”, “Night Of The Wolf”, etc.). “Armadillo” was noticeably missing, but I’m sure they will include that one next time. The word is that they are going to lay low for a while after this show, and work on a new album. It will be well worth the wait.
John Brannon of Easy Action
Finally, the weekend came to an end with Easy Action taking the stage. As previously mentioned, it's the same four guys that make up Negative Approach but playing a different set and to some degree with a different sound. John Brannon is still John Brannon, so the angry growls, lite beer, and mostly unintelligible screaming was still present (with no complaints from the audience, that was what we were here for). They showed us why they were the headlining band, and left us walking out satisfied with our choice of entertainment for the night, and for the weekend. I can only hope we are all still here for The Sanctuary 20 year reunion so that we can do it again!
