HVYMTLMOM.COM - R-DD 031508

I got to Mojo Room early, my meet & greet info that I got from The Wretched (Devildriver Fansite)

said to be there by 4:15 and I didn’t want to miss it! The email also said it would probably be a "hurry up and wait" situation which it definitely was...as it turns out we had to wait till almost 7:00, right before doors opened. But it wasn’t so bad because I got to hang out with some cool people...some that I knew and some that I had just met. There were only 8 of us doing the meet & greet and they led us through to the back by the bus. All of the Devildriver guys were so nice! We all got photos with them, I got my cd booklets and the photos I took at Ozzfest signed.

Mike didn’t like his picture that much-said he looked weird in it . When I told John that I didn’t have a photo of him, he shrugged and said hardly anyone does. I always feel bad for the drummers...they’re all the way in the back-too difficult to get a good shot of! Miller wanted to see the photo taken of us together to make sure it turned out ok (it did

). Jeff said he didn’t like the Culture Room where I’d seen them play twice before (and both times were CRAZY) ...could have been because of security-or lack of. But he said he was sorry I had to drive 2 hours to see them that night. Dez wasn’t feeling well but still signed, posed for pics and did a TOTALLY awesome thing for a couple of friends...not sure if I should elaborate, so I won’t LOL

After a while we went back inside, just in time to take up the last few spots on the rail...just to the left of center. First to play was Invitro. I’d seen them before and liked them...a little strange at first with the foil masks but they only last for a song or two.

I had brought an Invitro beach ball with me that I got when they were throwing them into the crowd at Family Values. I was hoping to get it signed, but left it in the car....along with the photos I had taken of them there. Cameras were allowed so I snapped away, but no matter what setting I used, I couldn’t get any photos that did justice to the beautiful baby blue/grays on the singer! *sigh* They’re really a fun band to watch, I’d love to see them again sometime.

Straight Line Stitch was up next and I was sooooo fucking happy it wasn’t Walls Of Jericho (originally scheduled for this tour). I wasn’t too thrilled when I found out they had a female singer or when I heard them on MySpace. But live they weren’t bad at all. Not something I’d normally listen to, but definitely tolerable.

Next was 36 Crazy Fists. They were good-it was my first time seeing them and I only have one cd of theirs, but somehow I was familiar with a lot of the songs they played.

During their set was when the crowd started gettting a little wild...and it continued through the next band...

Napalm Death-I had heard OF them, but never heard much of their music...other than the quote I have from their song Food Chains in my MySpace "heroes" section. Not my usual type of music, but definitely high energy and I came away liking them. I also came away with their setlist!

Finally Devildriver hit the stage! They started off with Not All Who Wander Are Lost and didn’t let up till End Of The Line thirteen songs later. Dez was awesome as always (my fourth time seeing them).

Miller’s circle headbanging was mezmerizing.

There were a bunch of crowd surfers and at one point Dez asked security to be more gentle with them...also asked the crowdsurfers to be nicer to security. It was kind of hard taking photos & getting video since there was a lot of surging towards the front whenever one of them would come close to us-which was quite often... but I tried:

My only regret-not bringing my "good" camera for videos. If I had, the sound on these wouldn’t be so shitty!

Clouds Over California:

End Of The Line:

As with all good shows, it seemed to end way too quickly. We went around to the back afterwards and waited to meet them again. Dez got setlists for all of us, Miller signed mine and my shirt.

I met Barney, the singer from Napalm Death. He signed my setlist as did the drummer.

I hung around a bit more but it was getting late & I had a long drive ahead of me so I left around 1:00. Mojo Room is now my new favorite venue: no problem getting up front, cameras allowed, no parking fees, security aren’t assholes, being able to meet the bands afterwards, even the sound system was good-I was actually able to hear the next day. Unforgettable night!