Concert Review: Moshpit Addicts presents The Desolation Tour: Motograter Featuring Special Guests: ZombieKing, Bleed By Example, Blood Of Our Brothers and Wrath Upon The Skies : House Of Rock
Date: October 5th, 2017
Venue: House Of Rock, Corpus Christi, TX
Website:
https://www.facebook.com/houseofrock
Facebook:
http://www.texashouseofrock.com/
Tour Package: The Desolation Tour: Motograter
Local Support:
ZombieKing, Bleed By Example, Wrath Upon The Skies, Blood Of Our Brothers
Upon arriving I was greeted by Motograter’s band members including Noah, who I had been corresponding with all day, he walked me in and made sure my name was on the list and I was actually on two guestlists for this show. The door man, Scotty waved me on and gave me a fistbump and I was in.
First, I was led to the interview by Noah to James of Motograter and himself, it is as follows:
Toney: First, Give the readers of New Transcendence a nice Hello.
James: Well, Hello.
Noah: How you doin?
(We laugh)
Toney: So we will be talking about your new album, your tour, and just chillin.
James: That sounds cool with us
Noah: Yes
Toney: So I hear you guys filmed at the ‘Shawshank Redemption Prison’, How was that?
James: We did. That building is just phenomenal, spooky and enormous.
Toney: So it was just the right element?
James: Yes, As soon as we heard there was an oppurtunity to film there I was like, “We have to do it.”
Noah: We played the Ink In The Clink Tour with, Three Days Grace, Gemini Syndrome and a bunch of great bands and it just seemed like the perfect time to record the video.
James: Yeah, I heard MushroomHead toured there, and I was like, Oh really? Well, now we have to do it.
Toney: Are you guys not doing the paint tonight? (They were dressed normal)
Both: Oh yes!
Toney: Can you tell me how the tribal body painting came along?
Noah: A previous band member in the early days of the band named Joey experimented with various elements such as baby powder and show polish, and we use paint so it just kinda evolved into what you see today, it’s just become a staple of Motograter, and we are kinda an entity and it just works.
Toney: What band has been fun to tour with?
Noah: That’s tough, we’ve toured with Gemini Syndrome. Three Days Grace, Ill Nino, Dope, Flaw, American Head Charge, And Hed Pe.
Noah and James:
It would probably be American Head Charge.
(Intercom: Order for James)
James: That’s me.
(He returns with hot wings)
James: Boy, Those are hot!
Toney: What’s this I hear about a comic book?
Noah: Wait! How do you know about that?!?
Toney: It says you guys have use of a comic book artist, in your bio
Noah: Oh, you must be talking about comic book artist, Sam Shearon, yes he was our artist for “Desolation” and he did a great job. It’s funny you mention comic book, cause we have tossed the idea around, so I may have hinted to towards something in the future.
Toney: So what would be the biggest track you would say is the biggest triumph on the album?
(Noah makes a Dolphin like sound along the lines of: “Iiiieeyaiyai”)
James: Hmm biggest triumph on the album? Hard to say. I think they are all great, the song that’s sticks out cause it’s on the charts and on the radio is “Dorian“, it’s our first big single. but personally I would say “Daggers.”
Noah: As he mentioned, “Dorian” because it has had a tremendous jump on the Billboard Top Rock Chart, from 39, to 34 and finally to 20. We knew right off the bat we knew it would be a radio song. We are kinda tossing around “Daggers” as the next release because it’s time to transition to a new single.
Toney: How do you feel about House Of Rock – Corpus Christi – minus the Mosquitos?
James: Yeah! Mosquitos suck! It’s like home, not sure but I’m soon to find out. It is cool. Everyone has been nice.
Noah: Yes they have been. Well, based off what news and media sites were saying I was expecting to walk into some type of wasteland of despair. But it seems like this venue is doing well, and its badass.
James: I like the cobwebs, those are nice with the spiders.
(House Of Rock had decorated for Halloween with cobwebs on the walls and ceiling fans)
Toney: Well, I want to thank you guys for your time and have a great show, I’ll be taking photos of the performance so don’t mind me.
Noah: Some parting words: Our album “Desolation” is out now, wherever music is sold, Amazon, Spotify, Google. Get out and check this album out because we put our blood, sweat and tears into this and we are on this tour, The Desolation Tour promoting it because it’s 11 tracks of pure insanity.
(I turn to James)
James: I completely agree with what he said.
I checked out the merch booths to see what was available. Here are my spoils:
-Motograter Sticker
-Making Waves Magazine
-Bleed By Example T-Shirt
-Wrath Upon The Skies T-Shirt w/CD
-Motograter Autographed Set-List
Artist: ZombieKing
ZombieKing, or ZK, is a heavy metal band from Robstown, Texas. ZK was formed in 2013 by guitarist Eddie Salinas, who would later recruit vocalist Juan Manuel and bassist Andrew Garza. Their unique style of music is the result of many traditional heavy metal influences, as well as some contemporary metal/rock acts. ZombieKing is currently working to record and release their first EP through Pavement Entertainment. ZombieKing brought some “A” game to this show. They have some really big heavy hitters with their new drummer Chris Lopez. Their performance was fluid and well executed. The band seems solid which is definitely one reason they were recently signed to Pavement Music alongside SOiL and Powerman 5000 and Tantric. The guitarist, Eddie Salinas had some phenomenal solo skills getting the crowd amped literally with every solo. Leadman Juan Manuel has the vocals to match and take them higher with this new record deal. The sky is the limit. I urge everyone to stay tuned for this local band hit big-time.
ZombieKing On Social Media
Reverbnation|SoundCloud|Instagram
ZombieKing is
Juan Manuel — Vocals
Eddie Salinas — Lead Guitarist
Chris Lopez — Drums
Andrew Garza — Bass
Artist: Bleed By Example
Bleed By Example was an interesting band to see live. Bleed By Example is a metal band from Portland, TX. The band has just released, “Exit Wounds” as their second single following, “Reawakening” and as for their performance, it was top notch and vocal delivery by Leadman Joe Magnusson. Each band member of Bleed By Example were very musically sound and on point. Seemingly having some slight influence by All That Remains, Bleed By Example are vocally and lyrically solid. Their YouTube channel sums up the sound of the band as “..bringing the flavor of Texas Metal to your ears..” And I would have to hands down agree.
Bleed By Example is
Joe Magnusson – Vocals
Eric Perez – Guitar
Matt Perez – Drums
Nathan Bales – Bass
Jonathan Gallegos – Guitar
Bleed By Example On Social Media
iTunes|YouTube|Instagram
Artist: Motograter
Now it was time for the Main Event. And the crowd was anxious to see the stage entry of the band chanting “Motor!”, “Motor!” Til the emerged clad with their tribal paints as promised earlier and the crowd was crazy cheering. I was offered a backstage entry during the third song on the setlist which was, “Dorian“, which I waited patiently for. Opening with “Parasite” and having a intense stage presence started rocking out and engaging the crowd. The guitarist “Nuke” was wailing and really into the energy of the crowd. They constantly gave off a spooky yet energetic performance.
And the quarter end of “Get Back” I was led backstage by Laura, who was awesome and Noah’s girlfriend and was generous enough to help get me a couple great shots of the performance of their hit single, “Dorian” live. This song has it all, it’s not hard to see why it is climbing the charts and even live, it really packs a punch with the intense drum and guitar solo intro to James echoing vocals. The track is solid, on the album and live.
Nearing the end of the set they played “Daggers” which is catchy and melodic, it has a midsong break down that was just amazingly executed and the double bass brought it all together. It’s definitely going to be another hit once released as the next radio single.
Motograter’s last song to perform was “Suffocate” and it did not disappoint. This song was a full on onslaught of intensity. The Motograter was very noticeable in this song with subtle cues throughout. Motograter delivered this with aggressive lyrics and top notch energy that was non-stop.
Motograter is
James Anthony Legion – Lead Vocals
Matt “Nuke” Nunes – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Jesse Stamper – Guitars
Mylon Guy – Bass
Noah “Shark” Robertson – Drums
Dustin “Skunk” Anderson – Motograter
Motograter on Social Media
|YouTube|
Overall, Motograter and the Desolation Tour along with supporting bands ZombieKing, and Bleed By Example and local showcases, Wrath Upon The Skies and Blood Of Our Brothers definitely pulled out all the stops and gave every bit into their performance from beginning to end. All bands were accommodating and respectful and professional. I enjoyed meeting each band and enjoying a few laughs and fistbumps along the way.
Photo Extras:
Article written and photos by:
Toney Emmons, Admin
New Transcendence
Journalist/Photographer/Interviewer
