April 30th, 2016 Music Factory, Battle Creek
The Music Factory is a very small venue in an almost industrialized area of Battle Creek, Michigan. Merchandise booths setup along one wall, and staffed by many of the band members themselves, allowed for fans to get up close and personal throughout the evening. First up in the evening was a local band by the name NuSkin. A larger band with several guitarists and vocalists, one gets the vibe that these are longtime friends just jamming out. A conversation with one of the members revealed that they were recently a “basement band.” Hoping to get picked up by a label, they were happy to be playing as opener for some bigger names.
What were you doing at 16, 17 and 19? Dollskin, a group of teenage girls from Phoenix, Arizona, is touring the country with their parents staffing their merchandise booths. Sporting punk hair colors in green, blue, red and orange- these girls had just as much spunk in their stage presence. Reminding fans of their age they made a plea for them not to be creepy. I was impressed by the maturity of their sound and adored their cover of Uninvited (originally done by Alanis Morissette). The crowd clearly enjoyed the performance as much as I did likely due to the obvious natural abilities of Dollskin. They are definitely going places-and fast. I’m sure we will be hearing much more from them.
Through Fire of Omaha, Nebraska, formally known as the band Emphatic, took the stage next. While their sound could be described as tight and clean, it didn’t feel contrived. With an almost rock ballad approach, the band utilized the entire stage while engaging the crowd. The animated expressions of the members helped convey the emotion behind their songs. It was clear this band brought a lot of experience to this performance.
Next up was the performance that my inner nerd had been looking forward to. September Mourning’s story in full costume and characters was everything I thought it would be. I made sure to grab a copy of the first issue of their comic book. The band tells me issue #2 should be released this summer along with their full album. Their recent single “Eye of the Storm” is currently available on iTunes. They also released a music video of the song to complete their desire to use a trans media approach. September, Emily Lazar, is a human-reaper hybrid dressed in a leather strapped corset-like body suit. Her dark makeup and expressive dancing across the stage complete her fantasy character. Joined by reapers Rich Juzwick (Riven), Josh Fresia (Stitch), Jeriah Eager (Shadou) and Kyle Ort (Wraith), they act out the story line through song and performance art.
Otep finished the show hard. Coming on strong with her recent top 5 Billboard Hard Rock chart breakthrough, you could feel her energy in her performance. Singing songs off of “Generation Doom” and pumping her fists while moshing across the stage, she got the crowd fired up. The response after her song “Zero” towards the beginning of the set really set the tone for the rest of the night. With a backdrop of war posters outlined in red LEDs, one mic stand donning a rainbow flag and the other with what appeared to be baby doll heads, she pumped out song after song with the same enthusiasm she started with. Her guitarist, Ari Mihalopoulos jammed shirtless (yum) with a roman helmet while the bassist Andrew Barnes and drummer Justin Kier appeared in minimal costume. Several props appeared throughout the set including a bat with spikes and pig head. She closed the night with an interactive rendition of Confrontation off of her 2007 album Ascension.
