Lloth73's blog: "Bands at The Mainzer Theater"

What an interesting evening, I arrived at felony 1 Studio not knowing what to expect. Located in the downtown region of Hollister Ca. a generous sized venue with the capabilities of hosting a large crowd of all ages and good sound quality. There was already an eager crowd of about 20 or so waiting for the nights show to start as we arrived, and about 40 or more to show before the night was over. I was told this was a slow night so a much larger crowd can normally be expected. I met a lot of the staff running the event and was treated with kindness and courtesy I am unused to at such events. I was very glad I made it to this show though one band (Half Past Sik) had to cancel the others were well worth it. Now on with the bands.

First up was Retribution with an old school sound to guitars they brought me back to the old days of music when metal and mayhem ruled the planet. They have a very high energy and confident stage performance. Clean and Clear vocals only enhanced their sound and I found my attention was brought to their song “Join Us to Die” very intense lyrics, heavy bass lines, and speedy drums I must say I favor this song. Though I do not know much about this band as of yet I do plan attending future shows at the felony 1 studio and getting to know them better.

Second up was Ideal Machine another high energy band with screamo style vocals heavy guitar riffs and speedy drums. I found there volume a bit over powering but after listening to them outside this band has great potential. Gypsy Tour was the second song played and this song drew my attention the most, I loved the lyrics and the guitar lines were well fitting along with clean clear bass and drum rhythms. They did a good job covering “Seek and Destroy” off the “Kill em All” album by Metallica. I will enjoy following the progress of this band.

Once again this unique sounding group had brought passion and aggression to the stage. Yes that’s right Stigmurder tore it up. Though they had a recent change in line up with Berto the percussionist leaving the band their sound was even more astounding than before. Their outrageous stage performance had the crowd in awe and joining in on the occasional chorus. Not lacking in energy either I enjoyed watching the sweat drip off and they ground out guitar solos and heavy bass lines and clear precise drum beats. Playing their new release chrome I was astounded at the tenacity in the vocals and rhythms as their music is becoming more aggressive than some of their previous yet well liked tunes such as “Reflections“ also one of my favorites. I am so glad I have had the opportunity to follow the progress of this band as they have came a long way since the beginning.

I was sorry to see this evening come to a close as all the bands were very pleasing to listen to. I think the crowd had the same sentiments as I noticed quite a few hung around afterwards to mingle and ask questions from the bands such as “When is your next show?” “I cannot wait to see you play again.” Scott the owner and his crew worked well together to keep the peace and nothing uneventful happened. Though next time I would like to see a much larger mosh pit. I will be very pleased to attend upcoming events at this particular venue.