Soulfly & Havok at BB Kings 10/16/13

I will begin writing this article with a fore-warning. B.B Kings Blues Club & Grill is notorious for hosting rock and roll or metal shows with two unthinkable stances in policy. The first, is that there is no photo pit for photographers or press working for musicians who are approved by their public relation offices. This reason is SOLELY because of the fact that any person who purchases a ticket of admission can bring a D-SLR camera to the show and shoot photos or video. The second (And this I learned the hard way) is the NO MOSHING!!! signs posted on the walls and corridors of the venue. Surprisingly enough, both of these rules were NOT upheld together. Security teams broke up circle pits and mosh pits during Soulfly and Havok sets respectively. The other part of this equation was that there was a barricade for photographers this time around WHICH WAS UNAVAILABLE BECAUSE SECURITY WOULDN’T ALLOW US TO UTILIZE IT UNTIL WE HAD TO SPEAK WITH THEM ABOUT OUR ROLES IN THE MUSIC COMMUNITY. There are venues in this city that frown upon jounrliasts and our ability to provide PRESS and IN-DEPTH articles that will either BOOST or HINDER your place or performance. This too goes with the same aspect in kind to performers. You can only guess how I feel about B.B Kings. The good news, is that this was the ONLY negative aspect of the night.

Havok opened their set with utter chaos. Moshers and headbangers joined hand in hand as the band began playing songs off their current album “Unnatural Selection” The PERSONAL BEST highlight of the night was when lead singer David Sanchez started talking to the crowd about the “No Moshing” signs posted throughout the venue. The crowd began booing and chanting “F**K that S**T” It was then that David announced “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” and a circle pit ensued as he stated and I quote “The venue said no moshing, but they didn’t say anything about circle pits!!!” a hysterical challenge only to be shut down by venue security who have never been so focused on keeping audience members obedient. There was no set-list posted but some songs that were played are as follows: From their Unnatural Selection album”Give me Liberty or Give me Death”, “Under The Gun”, “I am The State” From the “Point of No Return” EP “From The Cradle to The Grave” and from the “Time Is Up” album “D.O.A and of course “Afterburner” from the 2009 Album “Burn” Havok held a very close thrash audience together and a lot of head banging and windmilling was going on. The guys were amazing to shoot live as well. Making funny faces and interacting with me as I shot photos throughout the night. I also caught lead guitarist Reece Shruggs guitar pick. I managed to talk to David and Reece after the show. Exceptional people and performers. If you haven’t checked out Havok’s “Unnatural Selection” off Candlelight Records then YOU NEED TO DO SO RIGHT NOW.

B.B Kings main attraction of the evening was my personal round two bout with Max Cavalera and his band “Soulfly” comprised of Tony Campos, Max Cavalera and Mark Rizzo, with Max’s son Zyon Cavalera on drums. In my opinion the natural drumming machine, Zyon kept the steady flow of hits fresh with signature face making and a strong passion and fluidity for the music. I have shot Soulfly before at The Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. It was then I only had a APS-C crop Canon camera at the time. Those photos did not do the justice my updated Canon 6D made for me that night. The photo pit was opened and being able to walk in was a breeze. All the members interacted and I even gave Max a pound as he threw water at the audience and high fived everyone. Max is very easygoing and relaxed live. There is an aura this man has that compels the audience to continuously stay intrigued. As I was shooting photos of him I began to submit myself to this theory. The crowd was drawn in to a well over TWENTY song set-list. Sirius XM Satellite Radio host Jose Mangin of Sirius Octane got up on stage and sang a song with Max as well just like he did at the Maximum Cavalera Tour show back at Gramercy Theatre back in March of this year.

The set-list is posted below the article. And, is an actual photo. The end of the show was phenomenal where Tony played Max’s signature ESP guitar, Max played drums and Zyon played Tony’s bass. They played samples of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” and closed out the set with Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” Max has kept his family well in tune with the passion of music and he CLEARLY brings this family oriented talent to the stage. Its a beautiful thing seeing this occur and leaving a set knowing that you just watched a man, who not only loves making music, but has an entire family behind him that does the same and meshes those qualities together. Metal is a brotherhood without a doubt. Check out the photo galleries below.

Tony Campos Bass Pick (Right)
Reece Shruggs Guitar Pick (Center)
Metallica Pick I got in a trade the same night (Right)