cloud rat/yeung/bruxism/water torture/thedowngoing, grand rapids, michigan, 11/22/12, show review

hey! sorry ive been off and on on this thing for a while......just alot of shit im occupied with........anyways im gonna talk about seeing the cloud rat/downgoing/water torture tour kickoff show on thanksgiving night a couple weeks ago.........i was down in south bend visiting my sister and had planned on being at this show a while in advance.....it was at the new grenada rec center right nextdoor to bartertown cafe (where thunderdome used to be)  when i got into grand rapids, it was raining and i ended up waiting outside the venue for an hour before the doors opened with some drunk punk dude who kept asking me to drive him to the ATM so he could get money fro the bands...(i offered him $5 for the door but he refused to take it) anyways the doors finally opened and we sat milling around for another half hour before the dude (chris) in yeung set his stuff up and proceeded to rip through maybe 5 or 6 songs of him playing blastbeats and shouting over samples......one man sample grind....not bad, but not really my forte either, his set was short, maybe 5-10 minutes and then he moved his stuff to the back while bruxism set up........bruxism is a name ive seen on alot of flyers but had, until then, never experienced live....their set was decent, long rockin sludgy songs interspersed with shorter grindy ones.....they were decent, but IMO, nothing to write home about....maybe it was just that i was feeling shitty that night and i wasnt really "on" (meaning i wasn't feeling the energy like i usually am at shows) but their set just didn't catch me.......the drunk dude i talked about earlier seemed to be enjoying himself and was ambling around back n forth, sometimes shouting random things......that was kinda funny.........i think he might have been the one who puked all over the ground outside the door later.....not sure though.......anyways water torture was up next....talked to madison for the first time that night just before their set too....always love talking to madison.......anyways they added another bassist since the last time i saw them and their sound was alot fuller and more intense for it....they were much better as a band this time around and i was into their set......good stuff........the only way their set could have been better was if they did the song with madison on vocals..................anyways the aussies in the downgoing were up after WT and surprised the hell out of me with some burly dirty fucking tech grind ala early pig destroyer or discordance axis.......so much noise was produced it was hard to believe it was only two dudes makin all the racket.........first aussie band i'd ever laid eyes on too....good dudes to boot! hopefully they are enjoying their tour and selling as much merch and records as possible......a band everyone should watch out for in the future.........finally cloud rat set up to end the night with their patented brand of  spatial beautiful grind.......madison's fiery oratory combined with rorik's scorching chords and adrian's superb skin-pummeling is a sight to behold at all times......never a dull moment with cloud rat, even when i was feeling less than enthused much of the night, they injected me with a much needed energy boost and saved my night.....half a dozen times ive seen them and they NEVER let me down, even if the night starts out slow, just being with them means that it will end magnificently.......rorik asked me what song they should play to end the set, like a dumbass i got tongue-tied and came up with nothing... (they ended with powerlines) i made a promise to myself that next time, they will end the set with "sinkhole", hahaha! anyways their set was great, my night was saved, we talked for an hour or so after the show and i was re energized for the drive back to my sister's place in south bend.......cloud rat/downgoing are currently on tour together on the west coast, playing oakland tonight (for the second night in a row) to be precise...... they've already hit western canada and gone through the lions share of the west coast, but you can check the remaining dates here: http://cloudrat.blogspot.com/...............even though i got to see the kickoff show of this tour, im still jealous of everyone who will be seeing them on tour....... appreciate my friends people, seeing them live is almost a semi religious experience........easily the most excellent people i've had the pleasure of building relationships with in the last 5 or so years of my life.......




and now for the pictures:



yeung

bruxism

water torture

the downgoing

cloud rat