As any regular reader of this piece of webspace knows, I live near the eastern tip of Kentucky, near the border of West Virginia. This geological environment doesn’t typically attract metal acts, so I have to drive four hours in any direction to see a decent metal show. So imagine my surprise when I drove out to Louisville, KY for Born of Osiris‘ The Discovery Tour to end up in a shithole worse than my own home town. I’m talking destroyed trailer parks, several shady porn stores, bars, and strip joints PER STREET, and where the local metal venue doubles as a flea market, where not hours before the show, there was used furniture lined up in front of the stage where I was to be standing soon enough.

This was literally a block away from the venue.

It was a charming place, and my fear of getting mugged was only second to how nauseated I still get prior to interviewing bands. I spent the hours leading up to showtime with two friends of mine, browsing what could have been bootleg DVDs, getting sick at White Castle (where we awkwardly shared our meal with a sheepish homeless man, who was rudely yelled at by an employee), and anxiously awaiting the arrival of French deathcore band Betraying the Martyrs, where I was to interview bassist Valentin Hauser (coming soon!). I’ve got to say, Betraying the Martyrs are one of the most humble and friendly bands I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Their live show decimates, but a little more on that later on.

Now, I wasn’t given one of those neat and coveted laminated passes or anything, but since I was in the venue before any of the band members and I was seen interviewing Valentin earlier, I just hung out in and around the backstage area and was never asked to leave. I meandered about, bouncing between watching Born of Osiris soundcheck to befriending the young local opening act of the evening, deathcore band Internal Affliction, who were out back anxiously gathering their equipment. Being on the inside really gave me a first hand look at what goes into production, and it’s not an easy task. This evening was to be riddled with technical difficulties, which was foreshadowed by Logic crashing on BoO’s Mac during soundcheck. I overheard a member of Carnifex (his name and position escapes me) chuckle, “this should be interesting.”

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