Combichrist at The Galaxy, Santa Ana, CA - May 19th, 2011

Hi kiddos!

I just finished uploading a bunch of videos from a Combichrist show I went to a little over a week ago (check them out below!). For those not in the industrial/aggrotech/EBM scene, Combichrist is a band founded in 2003 by Norwegian Andy LaPlegua (founder of the band Icon of Coil). The current touring lineup consists of Joe Letz and Trevor Friedrich on drums, Z-Marr on keyboards and Abbey Nex (Genitorturers, Psyclon Nine) on guitar.

The Santa Ana show was held on Thursday, May 19th at The Galaxy, a venue just down the street from my place. It was definitely a convenient drive, but unfortunately the crowd wasn't as energetic as I'd hoped. That might have been due to the shitty bands were were forced to sit through (all except Whiteqube - those dudes rocked it!) or the fact that Combichrist didn't go on 'til about midnight. Unfortunately, we had dinner reservations and had to get there by 7pm, or else we would have shown up MUCH later. It was definitely a weird line-up, from the boring Blackcentr to the NIN/Marilyn Manson rip-off Starkiller to the just bizarre and grating AmeriCon (who replaced iVardensphere)...the only opener that didn't suck was the previously mentioned Whiteqube, especially impressive since this was their first show!! Their electronic beats, energetic performance and glow sticks made everyone smile!

Combichrist finally played to a pretty lethargic crowd. Maybe it's an Orange County thing, but the crowd definitely sucked for the most part. I felt bad for the band, who must be used to more of a reaction from most crowds (can't wait to read Joe Letz's blog on this show!). However, in true Combichrist fashion, they still gave it their all! And I was especially excited to see Abbey Nex with them on this tour! He fit right in and I hope he becomes a more permanent fixture (especially since Psyclon Nine's future is up in the air at the moment). Special guests were also brought out for a few songs...the always enjoyable Brandon from Bleeding Through did guest vocals for "Follow the Trail of Blood" and Sin Quirin of Ministry and AmeriCon came out to play for a few songs as well. For some ungodly reason (probably because she is dating Sin Quirin), Lacy Conner, best known for being the batshit insane redhead from Bret Michael's Rock of Love, did guest vocals for "Kickstart the Fight" and "What the Fuck is Wrong With You".

Below you'll find vids of the show...not the best camera work by any means (and I apologize about the audio on some tracks), but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Please visit Combichrist's official site and check out their music on Amazon!