Ok, scene report.

Let's go back in time three months. We decide to set up a metal show, and book all of the bands within a few weeks. Settle on prices, got someone with a P.A. to come down, booked the venue. All is well.

In the meantime, we put posters everywhere we can and spread the word ad infinitum.

Then, the big day arrives. Except our P.A. man/sound tech is out of reach - not answering his phone. Eventually, after 30 missed calls, 15 minutes before sound check he calls back sounding superstoned "uh, see the thing is, my pa's fucked up, and some of my mics have been stolen". We tell him to bring whatever he has - "uh, well the thing is, I dunno how I'm gonna get there". Panic ensues. We call everybody in existance that owns a P.A. until succumbing to humilation and asking on the bands. Feemo and the other H.O.D./Neandertahl legends pull us through genearously bringing a big van of fucking everything, and after this everything calms down.

Heretic open, except their drummer bailed so they had to resort to a (admittedly well programmed) drum machine. Pretty ballsy music to play at what is essentially a thrash crowd - dissonant and somewhat experimental. For an unpaid opening band I was happy with their performance.

Neandertahl bump up the ante with their semi-progressive take on thrash-death, including an insane frontman going wild on a fretless bass (much to the amazement of many in the crowd). Great, heavy set, highly entertaining. Some guys I know actually wanted to buy cds but by the end of the night they were no longer out at the merch stand? Forwarding them onto myspaces etc. anyway.

Drunken McDan gets me excited about Seregon, praising them before their set even started. And they definitely raised the bar further. Really great, powerful sound, fantastic songs - especially great in the live context (I can still see James' wide-eyed grin staring down on the crowd before 'Kingdom of the Blind' thrashes out). Was planning on buying the cds but looks like I won them in a raffle, so yay for me.

And as expected, H.O.D. get up and wipe the floor with...well, with music itself. It's not only that the band are fantastic musicians (especially The Rev, who I overheard being compared to Halford by two strangers in the toilets) but highly entertaining performers aswell. The show was Arnie impersonation and fake Swedish accent galore - Let's Go Apeshit and White The Lightning in particular rocked my cock off.

Dan covers the floor in beer before being brutally finger-sodomized by...everybody in the carpark, we raise about £65 for Mike's family, the barman asks us if we can do a monthly metal night, and I wake up with a fucked up neck - the sign of a great night.

So now boys, what do we owe you for last minute P.A./kit rental? We we're initially paying the original "sound tech" (sic) £40, but he was a jobless bum so ended up being rather cheap, so it's your call. I'd like to say a big thank you to all bands, no one let us down and the music was fantastic throughout, and thanks to everyone that came along. Don't know why I'm doing shout outs when the only people reading this are about two members of HOD and Dan but goddamn it I tried!

Thanks to everyone, and if we try to book you in future, relax. We'll have our own full P.A. within a month's time and won't be relying on anyone else. Thanks again for an amazing night, and I really hope you all enjoyed it.

*EDIT: Heretic's music was ballsy, not balls.