review by: Roberto Martinelli

This show was a curious one in that the bands seemed to get worse as the night went on. Maybe that didn't come out quite right. What I meant to say is that Fireball Ministry ruled. This four-piece from Hollywood, Cal. (as the male singer/guitarist kept reminding the crowd) featured two women: an attractive blonde on guitar and Hammers of Misfortune's own Janis Tanaka on bass. Hang on… Hammers of Misfortune are a Bay Area band. Tanaka must do quite a bit of flying from San Francisco to L.A.

The whole night featured bands that had different takes on the stoner/ 70s thing. Fireball Ministry (pictured at left) were the heaviest and doomiest, and I daresay the most metal. The grooves were infectious and satisfying, and it was great to see the band really get into it as they headbanged in unison to the thick and deliberate doom parts. Tanaka was a show in of herself, contorting her body with the rhythms, holding on to a bass guitar that at some points looked as big as she. Her energy and enthusiasm played a big part in carrying the band. The drummer kicked ass, delivering the hard-hitting shit necessary to drive home the bluesy, evil grooves. The highlight of Fireball Ministry's set was undoubtedly the last song, which was the slowest and most doom metal. One of my classmates who had come along to the show, Matt Furber, thought the last song was the best too. I wish I could have caught the name of it.

Altamont came on. They were a three-piece, and featured some pretty dodgy headgear. The drummer had on something that would be best described as "the hat the Skipper from 'Gilligan's Island' wore"; the bass player's hat wasn't much better. The band kinda looked like some dudes up there on stage.

Altamont (right) took a little time to get used to. At first they struck me as annoying somehow. It might have been because they were much less hypnotic and warm than the doomy Fireball Ministry, instead being more noisy. About halfway through the set, though, I started to like them better. By the second to last song, they had grown on me. Better late than never.

Then it was Spirit Caravan (left), featuring the legendary doom metal figure Wino Weinrich. This band was definitely the most rock band of the night. Matt totally loved them, if only evidenced by how many damn pictures he took of Wino. By the time I noticed and took the camera away from him, he had snapped nine shots. I thought they were the least interesting band of the show. Weinreich's solos all seemed to be the same, and the drumming was uninspiring. The guy did have a far-out design on his drumhead, though. The music seemed too light and not metal enough. It somehow struck me as being the hippy version of doom. Maybe it was a combination of these elements plus the one of me being physically tired, or maybe I had reached my saturation point for stoner rock. We left about 2/3rds of the way through Spirit Caravan, feeling satisfied and happy to have checked out this enjoyable show.

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