altarofplagues-tourreportsummer10-thumbnail

Tour Report: Altar of Plagues

I’ve been a fan of Altar of Plagues for a few years now, and have cheered them on as more and more people have begun to notice them and sing the praises of their emotional heft and swirling black alchemy. I wrote about their flawless 2009 full-length, White Tomb, for a few publications like Terrorizer and Noisecreep, and pouted over the fact that I hadn’t gotten a chance to see them play while I was living in England – a hop, skip, and a jump away from their home base in Ireland.

When I heard that they would be playing not once but twice at the 2010 edition of the mighty Roadburn Festival, and that they’d be playing White Tomb in its entirely, “stoked” doesn’t begin to describe my reaction. They played to packed crowds both nights and damn near moved mountains with their performances. While Altar of Plagues were onstage, we forgot about the looming shadow of volcanic ash that was to keep many of us stranded far from home, and simply drank it in. The boys and I hit it off and kept in touch. When they headed across the pond for their first ever US tour, alongside Velnias and Castevet, I decided to tag along for a week and document the madness.

— Kim Kelly

. . .

TOUR REPORT: ALTAR OF PLAGUES
Through Peril Towards Atlantic Light

. . .

BALTIMORE, MD
THE HEXAGON

. . .

For those of you who haven’t been to Baltimore or have never seen The Wire, let me drop some knowledge on you: it is a SHITHOLE, and this is coming from someone who’s lived in West Philly for years. The irate cops and yellow caution tape in front of the building beside the Hexagon, a sorta-DIY art gallery/show space, drove this point home, as did the pools of blood (seriously) and blatant evidence of a struggle. Good ol’ Bodymore, Murderland. As I greeted Altar of Plagues with hugs and tried to reassure the Irishmen that, “No, really, this is the nice part of town!” they continued to look skeptical; I believe “aghast” is the appropriate term. The Velnias and Castevet crews were no less nonplussed, but all assumed that things would look up once the show started. Er, no. Tonight’s gig had been hastily thrown together, as was made apparent by the disappointing number of bodies in the audience.

All three bands gave it their all, though, and didn’t let the situation affect their performances. This was my first time seeing Velnias in several years, and, armed with a few new members (Twitch and Paul) and a brand new, twenty-minute epic of black doom gold, the Colorado mountain men proceeded to kill it dead. I couldn’t help but giggle when a crowd member entreated the band to “Play something rockin’!” and was met with a flat “No”. Castevet were impressive, as always, and seeing Altar of Plagues in such a stripped-down setting – with barely any light at all and bare feet on the floor – was an experience in and of itself.

The fourth face in the Altars gang was new to me. Guitarist J. Spillane had left the band since I’d last seen them, and Eric Netto of excellent California black metallers Lake of Blood had stepped in to help out on this tour. Vocalist/guitarist James Kelly explained,

“Jer moved to a different country and was no longer able to commit to the band. It is unfortunate, but people must do what they have to. [I] was first in contact with Eric a few years ago, as we shared a mutual interest in each other’s music, and we got along well. We later met when I was a roadie on a Thou/Leech tour. He was the first guy to come to mind when we needed to find a guitarist for the tour and, fortunately, he was immediately on board”.

Over the course of the tour, James was able to reunite with his Thou buddies for a string of shows down South as well as share performances with a number of killer bands (that I wish had made it to the East Coast!). The Altar of Plagues tour kicked off in Seattle and spanned nearly the entire country, which is impressive enough for any band’s first American tour. What made this one even more so, though, was that it was entirely self-booked!

Kelly explained, “It is how we have always done things, although we now have a booking agent in Europe, and that certainly takes some of the headaches out of touring. As for the US, we had a number of contacts ourselves and had little trouble booking shows, and we also had an agent over here offer some assistance, too. Rather than having to rely on a middleman, we just wanted to deal with everyone directly and control every facet of the tour. Although we booked it ourselves, it was far more of a venue tour than a DIY tour (i.e., the number of basement/house/squat shows was minimal, though we always like to have such shows)”.

. . .

“Atlantic Light (excerpt)” (from Tides EP)
[audio: ALTAROFPLAGUES_ATLANTIC(EXCERPT).mp3]

. . .

Ironically enough, the gigs that the band members mentioned most favorably were house shows – save for the gig with Fauna in Portland, OR, which drummer Johnny King couldn’t stop talking about. Kelly told me, “It was one of my personal highlights, as I have been listening to their work for a long time. Fauna shares a ritual performance, and I have never seen a more real and honest performance in my entire life. It was a truly incredible experience”.

All four of them, as well as the Velnias crew, were eager to talk about their Salem, OR show with Plutocracy, Fell Voices, Galdr, Ash Borer, Mania, Hell, and Anadonius. “The highlight of the tour for me personally was a basement show in Salem, Oregon, at a place called the Burial Grounds”, Kelly told me. “I have never witnessed so much shared passion and energy at a performance in my life (I actually have been comparing it to a Lightning Bolt show in terms of energy). It was a one-of-a-kind show”.

Tonight’s show was definitely nowhere near as awesome as that one must have been, but at least they got a few stories out of it, especially after a very friendly gentleman pushing his little daughter in a stroller sauntered up and started talking drums with Andrew, Velnias’ drummer, and nonchalantly mentioned the furious gang activity that consumed the area. I also got to hear Dave [Condon, Altar of Plagues bassist/vocalist] sputter, “America is terrifying!” in his thick Cork accent for the first of many, many times.

. . .

WASHINGTON, DC
THE BLACK CAT

. . .

Virginia doomhaulers (and Profound Lore labelmates) Salome were due to play with Altar of Plagues, Velnias, and Castevet at DC’s Black Cat. Before we even left for the venue, though, we got the absolutely terrible news that Rob Moore, Salome’s guitarist, had been beaten and robbed on his way home from work the previous night and would be unable to perform that evening, forcing the band to cancel. Poor guy! I got in touch with Aaron [Deal], the drummer, who assured us that Rob was OK, just a bit shaken up. With slightly lowered spirits, we went off to sightsee around the capital, splitting into two groups that managed to see more or less exactly the same thing, as often happens in massive, touristy, memorial-strewn areas (though Johnny and I totally got to see dinosaurs at the Smithsonian, and the other dudes missed out. Suckers!).

The show went pretty well despite some technical difficulties, much better than the previous night’s. There was an actual crowd this time, which was encouraging. Quite a lot of fans stuck around after Altar of Plagues’ set to chat with the bands (Paul from Velnias had brought a small distro of his various projects, and was surrounded by uber-kvlt black metal dudes all night). We also discovered the source of the incredibly loud Bollywood music that had been blaring through the walls backstage all night when one of the lads pulled open a door to reveal a huge dance party! We shimmied on in, executed a couple slick dance moves, then conga’d right back on out (fun is fun, but that stuff will suck the soul out of you)! After load out, a handful of the dudes went off to explore the “Exorcist Stairs” that had been used while filming the legendary creepfest, and came back with stories of, well, stairs (and one or two members’ daring escapades at the top of them). Spooky.

. . .

PHILADELPHIA, PA
KUNG FU NECKTIE

. . .

The short East Coast drives came as a welcome relief to the Altars lads, as they’d been dealing with nine (or more!) hours at a stretch out West and down South. “The drives can be a great deal longer than in Europe. In the US, we passed through hours of nothing, so there is no opportunity to fill long drives with shows. Such things are more rare in Europe. I also found it near impossible to eat well when touring in the US”, Kelly admitted.

Well, we may be violent, but at least you’ve only got to drive three hours before you’re in an entirely new graffiti-and-gun-plagued city out here!

Philly’s a rough town, but it’s got its charms – namely, cheesesteaks, which the lads were very interested in, despite their utter despair at the grease-laden American cuisine they’d encountered along the way. My buddies The Green Evening Requiem opened up the show with a thunderous amalgamation of black, death, and doom metal, and did a lovely job of waking up the still-sober punters who’d made it to the venue already. Kung Fu Necktie is one of Philly’s best venues, but has an infuriating habit of double-booking metal shows with DJ nights, thus requiring the longhairs to finish up by 10pm so the hipsters can start trickling in.

Tonight was no exception. Everyone played, everyone ruled, but the gig could have done with some more planning and at least another Altars of Plague song (I’m allowed to bitch ’cause I’ve put on early shows at that venue before). Philly’s a tough town for live music, but the bands sounded amazing, and the gig served as a nice warmup for the madness that tomorrow’s NYC show was sure to bring. Castevet headed home to NY after the gig, and I took Velnias and an Altar out to Chinatown for cheap eats, while the other Irishmen went off in search of cheesesteaks. Once I’d collected all the out-of-towners, both remaining bands and I squeezed into my buddy Shawn from Rumpelstiltskin Grinder’s place and slept off the MSG, booze, and residual road rage (maybe that was just me…).

. . .

NEW YORK CITY, NY
THE STUDIO AT WEBSTER HALL

. . .

Philly to New York City was the most eventful drive of the tour, as far as I was concerned. The traffic and asshole drivers were a given; what was not, however, was getting rear-ended by a giant SUV in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic and then being bought off by a frantic Long Island wise guy named Ronnie who was clearly terrified of having to deal with insurance, or worse, “fuckin’ cops”. Two hundred bucks for a scratch on a bumper and a moment of panic? Good deal.

We were a bit late getting to the venue, thanks to the accident and the unholy horror that is Manhattan traffic, but everything worked out well enough, and I was able to wriggle my way up to the very front in time to see my friends in Man’s Gin‘s debut performance. Erik Wunder’s voice is simply haunting, in a husky, whiskey-drenched, late night regrets kind of way, and the other musicians he’d enlisted (Joshua Lazano of Jarboe/Inswarm, Fade Kainer of Jarboe/Batillus/Inswarm, and Scott Edward) brought his melancholy visions to raw, trembling life. Alt-country, folk, neo-grunge, and ballsy rock ‘n’ roll melded together into something quirky, inviting, and just a little dark. A wonderful performance, though one that made absolutely no sense next to Castevet’s jagged black progressions, Velnias’ ethereal black/doom, and Altar of Plagues’ atmospheric black conjurations. Ya can’t fault the promoters for putting together a Profound Lore All-Stars show, though!

This was the last stop of the tour for Castevet, who brought the fucking noise with pure fury and delivered their strongest performance of the week. The crowd didn’t quite seem to “get” Velnias, especially Twitch’s habit of crouching down and screaming his throat raw once the music had faded, but I thought they ruled. Altar of Plagues were amazing; they could clearly feel the energy in the room building as they launched into their set, and by the end, there wasn’t a body in the joint that wasn’t swaying, nodding, or screaming along. A truly impassioned performance, and one of the strongest I’ve seen from them to date. The New York show was a triumph, and I’m sure the packed house will be even fuller next time they roll through.

. . .

NEW YORK CITY
DAY OFF

. . .

My phone was dead, and the Altars guys had only one phone between them, so it’s a bloody miracle we all ended up in the same place at the end of a busy day filled with sightseeing and culinary delights. Andrew from Castevet came over and decided to show the boys a good time, and, well… What do you get when you take three Irishmen, a Californian, a Long Islander, and a South Jersey transplant, add whiskey, and set them loose on Manhattan’s Lower East Side? You’ll have to use your imaginations there – details withheld to protect the absolutely guilty!

. . .

BOSTON, MA
GREAT SCOTT

. . .

I hadn’t intended on going up for the Boston gig, but Andrew suggested a road trip and I was powerless to resist the thought of one more night of Altar of Plagues and Velnias awesomeness. The drive up to Boston sucked hard, but the city itself was pretty cool. Dave from Revocation came out to be a badass, and the show went really well. This was now my sixth time seeing Altars of Plagues, and I was still right up front losing my mind like it was the first time. They just do not get old.

That’s from a fan’s perspective, though; I’m not the one who’s got to play those riffs night after night. James Kelly is: “We have been performing material from White Tomb and Tides. In a way, we are somewhat looking forward to taking a rest away from the White Tomb material, as we have been performing it for some time now. We of course enjoy it, but I would hate for me to become tired of the music”.

We ended up with Boston filth kings Panzerbastard at some rock bar after the gig that wouldn’t let an ID-less Johnny, who is clearly over 21 (he’s 6’4″ with a beard) come in until one of the bouncers saw reason and stepped aside. A few beers and horrible drunk food ended that night for half of us, landing us back at Andrew’s place. A few ill-fated bottles of booze and some truly awful kung fu movies later, the motley crew passed out one by one, and the morning light started creeping in.

. . .

“Earth: As a Womb (excerpt)” (from White Tomb)
[audio: ALTAROFPLAGUES_EARTH(EXCERPT).mp3]

. . .

All in all, the lads seemed satisfied with their first foray onto North American shores, and it’s safe to assume that their fans were more than grateful for the chance to catch them in small, intimate settings. Even the Dirty South was kind to these tattooed, longhaired foreigners, and the boys have fond memories of New Orleans, in particular. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Johnny packed up his kit and moved on down to Bourbon Street.) “We received a very warm welcome everywhere that we went”, Kelly recalls. “Even in the South when a handful of people may have been initially hostile – I’m of course referring to people you meet in passing, not people at shows – they were filled with questions once they found out where we were from”.

They will be back soon enough. Kelly revealed that they plan to head back to the States sometime in 2011.

“For the meantime, we want to put our focus on writing and our own lives. We will record our second album in September, and after that, with the exception of an upcoming show in Paris, we will focus on our own endeavours for a while. We have committed a lot of energy towards touring over this past year, so we are happy to be getting back to our own lives. For me, it is important to keep balance and I love my home life as much as I love my life away from home”.

That balance contributes to the biting truth of Altar of Plagues’ music. Nothing is contrived, everything is heartfelt, and the art breathes and evolves on its own, without pressure or stress. The ends justify the means.

. . .