A total of four metal bands of various levels of volume—all of which ear splitting—played at The Tavern on Saturday, March 17 to a group of devoted metal heads. The lineup consisted of the Stonecutters, ElderSun, Troll Skull and Cranial Exsanguination.
Chris Graham, owner of The Tavern, said, “I love The Tavern. It is like home. Some of my regulars look of it more as going to the cool uncle’s house and not going to a bar. The people that come here have become a really close-knit group.”
The Stonecutters have seen many changes over the band’s 12year career; however, guitarist and vocalist Brian Omer said they have kept the same spirit alive since the beginning.
Omer said that they are working on their fifth album that is anticipated to be released later this year. Omer said, “[This album] will be one of our heaviest yet.” Omer credited his guitarist Nick Burk for helping with writing. Omer said, “[Burk] helps me out. It doesn’t put it all on me. [collaborating] pushes us to write strong material.”
Three-piece metal group Troll Skull has been playing together for a year and a half, but have been in various bands previously to forming this one. Bassist of Troll Skull Robert Johnson said he quit caring about success in the music industry long ago. “[Success] taints the whole process. You end up with fights.” He said, “We’re just having a good time. We are addicted to metal and we can’t stop playing it or we’d lose our minds. This is mental health through insanity”
Brian “Sweets” Cooper is the bass player of the instrumental metal band ElderSun. ElderSun has been spontaneously playing together for six years, but Cooper said they are planning on playing more often.
“We’ve had several things happen over the course of time that, normally people would just start a whole new band” Cooper said, “We’re just going to keep going. Every member, except our guitar player has been replaced.”
“The current group has been together so long that we know how to play with each other,” Cooper said. “We know where each other is going and since we don’t play full bore, blistering metal, there is a lot of room for us to do what we want. I don’t want to get too weird and say, ‘You just flow with the music.’ Honestly you just start playing, and then you don’t worry about whatever else is happening,” Cooper said.
Cranial Exsanguination is a small project between two—soon to be three— musicians that play “brutish, slamming death metal.” Anthony Wheeler, guitarist, said that this band was to take a break between other project and just have fun.
Fans of metal can see Cranial Exsanguination on April 13 at The Tavern.
