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Westboro Baptist Church’s Protest at VCU Was Vastly Outnumbered By LGBTQ Counter-Protesters

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The notorious anti-LGBTQ hate group were met with widespread derision during their protest at VCU on Monday.

At VCU Monday, students, metalheads, and the general public came out in support of the LGBTQ community to counter-protest the Westboro Baptist Church’s visit to campus. Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) were in town to protest against the existence and political power of Delegate Danica Roem, the first transgender person elected to state-level political office in the United States.

Even before the protest took place, it had already resulted in unintended consequences for WBC. Their attacks against Danica Roem, who represents the 13th District in Virginia’s House Of Delegates, helped strengthen Roem’s campaign for re-election in November. Roem reported in a tweet Monday night that she was able to raise over $36,000 for her re-election campaign through her #WestboroBackfire online protest.

Police presence was large, and included two police officers on horseback. Over one hundred counter-protesters were present as well; some dressed in wigs, others dressed in pride flags, and one person even played a guitar. Members of local metal band Lamb Of God brought kazoos and other plastic instruments, intent on drowning out the WBC members who’d shown up.

Advance press for the event had focused on the fact that Lamb Of God vocalist Randy Blythe was encouraging fans to come out and denounce the WBC, but the bigger story was how many representatives of the VCU and RVA LGBTQ communities were on the scene. The gathering felt like a small Pride festival in itself, as counter-protesters chanted slogans like “Jesus was a bottom!” and “We’re here, we’re queer, nobody wants you here.”

Some counter-protesters voiced their problems with VCU’s reaction to advance notification of the WBC visit. Lily Hamilton of VCU’s Queer Action created a solidarity space away from the initial counterprotest, in which she critiqued both Westboro Baptist Church and VCU’s lack of transparency with the student body. She cited incidences in which VCU said WBC would have a spot reserved for them on campus, then later withdrew the statement.

Counter-protesters. Photo by Sage Cannady

VCU policy does allow for political groups, regardless of message, to reserve a space on campus to promote their agenda. The group may reserve space as little as five days in advance.

No violence occurred at the protest, though some protesters made loud use of profane language. However, the police presence was clearly intended to protect the WBC, who were highly outnumbered.

Plenty of media were on the scene to cover the story. However, most focused on the WBC themselves, giving them a great deal more interview coverage than the counter-protesters. Nonetheless, there was a strong sense of community among the counter-protesters.

“It was really heartwarming to feel the support of the counter-protesters,” said Anthony Belotti. “We outnumbered them by so much. It definitely reminded me that Richmond is my home.”

Written by Sage Canady and Marilyn Drew Necci. Photos by Alexandra Zernik, Capital News Service, unless otherwise noted.

Burning The Priest Again: Lamb Of God Resurrects Original Name For New Covers Album

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The name Burn The Priest might not be all that familiar to the denizens of today’s local music scene. After all, it’s been nearly 20 years since the band changed their name to Lamb Of God, and their fame has grown by leaps and bounds since. But if you were paying attention to the underground world of heavy music in Richmond in the 90s, you knew Burn The Priest was essential listening long before they changed their name.

Now, for the first time in two decades, Lamb Of God has returned to their original name for Legion: XX, an album of covers released last week on their longtime label, Epic Records. The album’s name seems to refer to Legion Records, the label that released Burn The Priest’s only previous LP in 1999 — 20 years before Legion: XX‘s release. But why return to the name Burn The Priest at all?

“The idea of doing some covers has been in our head since we were Burn The Priest,” vocalist Randy Blythe told me when I caught up with him. “But I think the main reason why we wanted to call it Burn The Priest is just because a lot of this stuff was music we were listening to when we formed the band.”

Blythe makes clear that to the members, the band is the band, regardless of which name they use. “Burn The Priest never broke up,” he said. “To us, there’s really no separation. We’re the same dudes, so we’re like, ‘Whatever, killer. This is music we were listening to at that time, so we’ll use our other name.'”

If you’re just thinking of Lamb Of God — er, Burn The Priest — as a metal band, the selection of songs they chose to record for Legion: XX might be a little surprising. The track listing is a mix of 80s hardcore classics and early 90s alternative rock touchstones, but doesn’t really feature any metal tracks — the closest is probably their cover of SOD’s “Kill Yourself.”

To Blythe, this makes perfect sense. “All of the music we covered is an offshoot in one way or the other of the punk rock scene,” he said. The members of Burn The Priest never expected to find themselves where they are today — a veteran metal band often given credit for helping start the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal movement. “When we started the band, we were never like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna go on to tour with Metallica, and go around the world!’ or whatever,” Blythe said. “We just wanted to be able to play with Sliang Laos or Kepone at Twisters.”

Twisters is now known as Strange Matter, and Kepone — the 90s-era project of GWAR’s Michael Bishop and celebrated local artist Ed Trask — has played a series of rapturously received reunions over the past five years or so. But Sliang Laos, a Richmond band active in the early 90s who became a crucial influence on Burn The Priest’s early sound, is all but forgotten today.

On Legion: XX, Burn The Priest does their best to change that, covering Sliang Laos track “Axis Rot.” “It was the cover we probably altered the least,” Blythe said. “It’s such a brilliant tune, so we wanted to do a faithful version of it, and hopefully expose that music to a wider audience.”

The Burn The Priest version of “Axis Rot” will actually be the first to see the light of day, even before the original. “We have the Sliang Laos album, and I’m sure other people in Richmond have it, but that song was never released,” Blythe said. Indeed, he and the rest of Burn The Priest hope that by covering the song, they can change that. “My dream is to find some… it doesn’t have to be a big record label, but maybe a medium-sized or small record label, and get someone to put out the Sliang Laos record. I’ve had it for years and it never came out, and I think that music needs to be heard. So if anyone reading this wants to put out the Sliang Laos record, hit me up!”

The Sliang Laos cover recently gave Blythe and the band the opportunity to reunite with Sliang Laos vocalist Andrew Siegler, who came to see Lamb Of God twice on their recent tour. “I hadn’t seen him… oh god, in like, 20 years or something,” Blythe said. “He was such a big influence on me as a frontman. A lot of the weird creepy shit you see me doing directly comes from him. And we opened with a song called ‘Omerta’ [from 2004’s Ashes Of The Wake], and there’s parts in that song that are directly Sliang Laos ripoffs, even in the guitar style. All of us used to go see Sliang Laos, and that certainly filtered into our music, so it was cool that night to open up with that song.”

Backstage, the band played Siegler their cover version. “He really dug it,” Blythe said. “Me and Mark both really wanted to do that song. It was us showing respect to Richmond as well, because there’s so many great musicians, particularly around that time, in Richmond.”

The band’s influences from beyond Richmond are reflected in the covers chosen for Legion: XX as well. Blythe has never hidden his huge love for DC hardcore pioneers Bad Brains, and it shows in Burn The Priest’s cover of “I Against I.” “They’re my favorite band of all time, and they’re friends of mine. It was really important for me to get that one on there,” Blythe said. “We’ve been talking about covering [that song], maybe since we were Burn The Priest? I remember, clearly, sitting in a truck with Mark up in the mountains — we were all up there camping — and listening to the song ‘I Against I,’ and I was singing along with it. He was like, ‘Damn, you can sing that, we should actually cover it.'”

But Blythe wasn’t the only one picking songs for the album, and at least one of the choices threw him for a loop. “I came to the studio one day, and they were like, ‘We recorded “Jesus Built My Hot Rod” by Ministry,’ and I was like, ‘You did? Really?'”

Blythe is a Ministry fan, but “Jesus Built My Hot Rod” is not the song he would have picked. “I would have chosen something off of Land of Rape and Honey, or The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste — something a little bit more abrasive and political,” he said. “I was really reticent about it. Because — with all due respect to [Ministry leader] Al Jourgensen, I think he would agree — that’s a really silly song.”

The original version of the song mingles samples from drag racing footage and the 1979 film Wise Blood with vocals contributed by Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes. “It’s nonsense. [Haynes] showed up at the studio drunk as shit, sat there and mumbled into the mic for a couple of hours, and Al Jourgensen spent two or three weeks editing tape to make the song,” Blythe explained. “So when they first told me they had done that song, I was like, ‘I don’t know about that. That sounds like a bad idea.'” He laughed. “And then I started recording the vocals for it, and it was just so much fun, it was ridiculous.”

Rather than re-using the samples on the original version, the members of the band recreated them in the studio themselves. “That’s one really cool thing about that song, is that it’s the only song in our band’s existence that has all five members of the band with a vocal part on it,” Blythe said.

The process of picking the album’s 10 songs also involved the entire band. “That was kind of the whole point of doing the whole thing, was for us to have some fun,” said Blythe. “Because there’s a lot less pressure when you’re doing covers. You already know the song is good.” He laughed. “It’s not like you have to write it and then question yourself.”

The album spans a good deal of territory, none of it predictable — but “Kerosene” might be the least predictable choice of all. It was originally recorded by producer Steve Albini’s 80s-era band, Big Black — a drum-machine fueled group with very little obvious resemblance to Lamb Of God, or for that matter, Burn The Priest.

But to Blythe, Big Black is an important piece of what made them the band they are today. “They’re just super cerebral. Really smart punk rock,” he said of Big Black. “They were the first band that showed me punk rock could be not just angry, but super smart at the same time.”

Blythe’s a pretty smart cookie himself; he’s shown himself to be a talented writer with his bestselling 2015 memoir, Dark Days. At one point during our conversation, I remind him of a much earlier writing effort — his mid-90s zine, Cruentus Odium, in which he was billed as “Randy Hatred.” While he chuckled embarrassedly at the mention that I’d seen his pre-Burn The Priest band, Furious George, he was not at all upset to think of Cruentus Odium. “Issue number four is in the VCU Zine Library, so if anybody wants to go check it out…” he said.

I mentioned that I traded him my very first zine, Nothing Is Cool, for a copy of Cruentus Odium at a show in 1995. “I think I remember it,” he said. “I probably still have it. I have a box of zines from those days.” I admitted that it wasn’t very good — an 18-year-old’s first stab at music journalism, writing about Lollapalooza and such. “That’s still the greatest thing about fanzines,” he said. “I miss that time.”

Blythe is still involved in solo creative endeavors, but these days, he’s focusing mainly on photography. “I’ve been shooting for about seven years now,” he said. “I just had an exhibit in the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, and I have an exhibit coming up in the fall in New England.” Which raises an obvious question — when will he have an exhibit in Richmond? “Nobody has asked me!” he said, laughing. “People are like when are you going to exhibit in Richmond? And I’m like, when a gallery contacts me! I’m not gonna walk down Broad Street waving my pictures around, saying ‘Look at this!'”

The new Burn The Priest album, Legion: XX is available for purchase in vinyl, cassette, and CD formats from the band’s website. Check out Randy Blythe’s photography — and hit him up if you’re interested in putting out the Sliang Laos album or giving him a gallery show in Richmond — at his website, randyblythe.net, or on Instagram at @drandallblythe.

Photo By: Travis Shinn

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

GWAR-B-Q 2016: RVA’s favorite shitshow reminded us metal runs on blood and heart

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This year’s GWAR B-Q was a certified shit show, a sweaty, grimy gathering of filthy (but friendly) bohabs and metalheads all indulging in one thing or another during the most anticipated RVA Saturday of the summer.

It was a day where fans were drenched in fake blood, splattered by cosmic green jizz, and battered in the many mosh pits, and they loved every minute of it. In retrospect, what got me through that near-cloudless, 90 degree weather day wasn’t responsible hydration, but rather the collective energy and excitement that oozed from the pores of other GWAR B-Q goers… and alcohol. Lots of alcohol.

The morning started off like any normal day – I woke up early and hungover from B4BQ the night before, finished off a bottle of El Jimador with a friend and cracked a beer. It was a good, sensible start to what I knew would be a full day of drinking and debauchery. With my trusty smartphone and digital voice recorder, I had the tools to remember what the booze would make me forget. Good fortune had granted us a designated driver, and by 11:00 am we were in the muddy, overgrown field that was Hadad’s Lake parking lot, where surly looking people were crushing cheap beers before the clock had even struck noon. It was time to rage.

After wisely applying sunscreen, we took a bare-bones shuttle bus with no AC to the water park, got some drink tickets and started boozing. I started with a bloody mary, a truly awful concoction that the bartender had kindly (or mischievously) made overpowering, filling at least half of it with GWAR’s own vodka. Once we had our first drinks in hand, we were ready to face the music, mischief, and whatever else GWAR B-Q had in store for us.

The first thing we checked out was the very end of Eat The Turnbuckle’s set, where we found ourselves stuffed into a crowded little pavilion with other sweaty degenerates. The band was an intimidating sight: a bunch of large, tattooed and half-naked men with a penchant for real violence – only amongst themselves, thankfully. To give you an idea of their sound, they play a self-proclaimed brand of “ultra-violence” music, an interesting mix of violent death metal and professional wrestling. While I didn’t get to witness any onstage wrestling (which I’ve heard utilizes Mexican wrestling masks), their short, intense final songs inspired crowd surfing in the small enclosure, and by the end of their performance, the band had their own blood covering their faces. Yeah, they were some hardcore motherfuckers.

With the sun beaming down in full force by this point, we caught American Nightmare on the Scumdog Stage, an influential old school hardcore band formed in Boston in the 90’s. Their one-armed singer was a notable presence, with his high energy antics pumping up the crowd and his sharp screams evoking cheers. Though I was on the outskirts of the crowd, the dust cloud I saw in the middle of it (one of many that day) was a clear indicator that there was moshing going on. This should have been a premonition, but I was concentrated on getting down the hell juice they told me was a bloody mary.

When we realized it was almost 12:50, we hauled ass over to the beer tent to restock our booze. I had to take a photo with the gigantic PBR can man, as I generally only see normal-sized ones, and then we hauled ass over to August Burns Red (seen below), a band which I knew little about.

My friends were stoked to see them, but all I knew was that they were a metalcore band. We found ourselves situated near the side of the stage, next to a suspiciously open space in the middle of the crowd. Why would people knowingly leave all that room, instead of getting closer to the stage? I found out about five minutes later, when August Burns Red exploded into their first song, “Empire.” My god. The mosh pit never died down the entire forty minute set, and though I kept a watchful eye on the bodies that were being shoved around, my attention was focused on the music. They had an explosive, badass set, and the band members were all impressively technically proficient on their instruments. It was head banging inducing, with the sweat-soaked singer swinging his mic around like some kind of metalcore lasso.

The people near me were interesting to watch: One girl was missing at least three teeth, one guy got decked in the face and laughed about it, one dude had a “Legalize Murder” shirt; these were seasoned veterans of the mosh pit. By the end of the set, blood had been spilt, and I left with one clear impression: August Burns Red is fucking sick.

The Dillinger Escape Plan was next, and it held some very unexpected things for us. I found out from someone in the crowd that their singer’s flight was cancelled, and that he wouldn’t be present. Well, that sucks, I thought, but I’m sure they’ve got someone to fill his shoes. His replacement was not another vocalist, however, but a baritone saxophone player (seen below, left), imitating the singer’s growls with the sax the entire set.

I found this absolutely hilarious and insanely cool at the same time. It was those kinds of unpredictable moments on the road that likely inspired the writers for Spinal Tap, I thought.

The music was relentless and heavier than lead, and the band was amped up like they had snorted a pile of cocaine Scarface style. The guitarist climbed on the unstable equipment and incited the crowd to get even crazier. But the best part, and one of the most memorable moments of GWAR B-Q for me, happened during the last few songs.

The band brought up a long-haired guy from the crowd, and he screamed with them with such skill that the crowd went nuts. I thought they had surely planned beforehand for this guy to perform with them – but I found out that was not the case at all. It turns out that he was a diehard fan who couldn’t stand the fact that the singer wasn’t going to make it, and man did he make a great replacement.

I met up with the guy, Dylan Shane Lawson (seen below), after the set, fighting through the awed people surrounding him to have a chat.

“They’re one of my absolute favorite bands,” Lawson said, “and when I saw that they didn’t have Greg I was like, ‘What the fuck, man!’ I took my ticket and my sharpie marker, and wrote on it, ‘I know all your songs, please let me play.’ Next thing I know, Ben’s like, come on up here. I don’t want to sound like I had some sort of supernatural experience, but it’s not every day you get to sing for one of your favorite bands! I’ve never felt more alive in my life.”

It was a very touching moment, and it was still early in the day, barely 2:00 pm. Beneath all the sweat, grime, crushed PBR cans and joints, GWAR B-Q had a big heart. It wasn’t about getting fucked up from day drinking – though that was certainly an appeal – but about the music that people loved, music that was a very important part of their lives.

For many of the fans, the GWAR B-Q was responsible for memories they would never forget, some as unreal as getting onstage with one of your favorite bands and absolutely killing it. As I mused on this, I remembered day drinking was an appeal, and got another brew.

Eyehategod, featuring Phil Anselmo of Pantera fame, was one of the bands that were highly anticipated. Asking numerous people who they were excited to see, Eyehategod was on the list every time, so of course I was excited too.

Eyehategod had a very Sabbath-inspired sound, with slow, sludgy riff-driven songs that Anselmo meshed perfectly with. It was right up my alley, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Anselmo harassed the crowd in good fun, asking, “You having a good time at this cocksuckin’ motherfucker?” And barely a half hour from the touching moment where a fan sang with one of his favorite bands, came another heartwarming moment: Phil gave Jesus a hug, and then told him to get the fuck out.

A fan dressed as J.C. came up onstage and headbanged to the music, filled with the spirit of sludge and clearly choosing to ignore the name of the band. It was a memorable moment for everyone in the crowd, drawing laughs, cheers and jeers. After a short time onstage, Jesus went back into the hellbound crowd to rock out. What a guy! Anselmo strapped on a guitar for the last song, told SJWs to fuck themselves, and that was that.

Another beer and I was feeling good, good enough to venture into the dark green waters that looked suspiciously like GWAR slime, waters I had sworn I would not enter. I had heard stories from past GWAR B-Qs – someone puked in it, a dude was bleeding out in it – but I had consumed enough alcohol to not give a shit. We took a break from the music to drink more, grab a bite, and hurl ourselves from the rope swing into a dangerously shallow part of the water that would have safety inspectors pulling their hair out.

The infamous Blob was present, but I didn’t feel like signing a waiver to experience it. I had a great time in that unnaturally dark green water, and I don’t want to know what was in it.

I met GWAR fans old an new that day. One such fan had been going every year since day one, when it was held at the Bike Lot seven years ago, and I was fortunate enough to speak with him before I became entrapped in the crowd of people surging to see the main attractions.

Justin Laughter, from Richmond, told me about the history of Gwar B-Q and how far the event had come since its early days.

“Gwar B-Q started out over a decade, fifteen years ago, as sort of a friends and family party,” Laughter said. “It’s amazing to see where the festival has gone from seven years ago at Bike Lot to here now, with the two stages. Hell, they filled in half the lake to make this happen. Hadad’s actually made structural improvements to host the festival.”

We met some cool people by the pool and were having so much fun, we didn’t realize how much time had flown by. GWAR was coming on in minutes, and I was out of drink tickets. We quickly hauled ass, pounded drinks (another bloody mary – why!?), and pushed into the crowd to get a good look at GWAR.

They were every bit as awesome as I had expected.

They were on point musically, and I still have no idea how they played so well in those bulky costumes. The saws came out and hacked off limbs, and blood spurted out into the crowd relentlessly.

Repeatedly, people from the crowd retreated with a hilariously traumatized look on their faces, covered in green slime and fake blood. The best moment was when GWAR pitted presidential candidates Hillary and Donald Trump against one another, their twisted version of a debate that was more akin to a deathmatch. Trump ended up getting his head cut off by Hillary, and drenched the crowd with his billionaire blood.

The final act of the evening, and the most anticipated, was Lamb of God. At long last they were taking the stage, and the drunk and high denizens of the GWAR B-Q shuffled and pushed as close as they could get to the stage. Most people there were without a doubt most excited to see Lamb of God, and had waited all day for this moment. They showed their appreciation by firing up another crazy mosh pit, one that I was once again dangerously close to.

Like August Burns Red, the moshing never ended during the 75-minute set, and expanded nearly all the way to the front of the stage. “Engage The Fear Machine” was responsible for plenty of injuries in the pit, and “Walk With Me in Hell” garnered a great crowd response, and I couldn’t help drunkenly air guitaring and banging my head. Everyone around me was suitably hammered – one woman gave me a funny, trying-to-be-coy sort of look and put my cigarette to her lips, still in my hand. I don’t speak gibberish, so I really have no idea what she said to me.

I thoroughly blew out my voice cheering for the most anticipated group of the festival, a group that, being from Richmond, were the prime candidates to end the night. Their melodic but heavy, speedy riffs were a perfect end to what had been a hell of a day. They ended with their classic, fan-favorite “Laid to Rest”, leaving the rabid fans cheering, screaming and circling violently in the mosh pit.

Was GWAR B-Q everything I expected? Yes, but it was more than that. There was a sense of community and oneness I hadn’t anticipated. We were all in it together, day drinking and hitting shitty joints, headbanging to the many great acts, catching new diseases in the lake and sharing in each other’s fun.

I had always known that the metal scene in Richmond was tight-knit and close, yet accepting of everyone and GWAR B-Q drove it home for me. Throughout the entire day, I saw no altercations or disagreements, no negativity, only people a great time at the festival they’d waited an entire year for. I’m one of those people now, and I’ll be waiting patiently until next summer, when I get to experience GWAR B-Q again.

See your favorite metal bands, a Trump/Hillary bloodbath and GWAR fight for world domination at GWAR B-Q this weekend

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Calling all Bohab heads, worshippers of evil, and metal maniacs: Back from the depths of Hell, is the one and only GWAR, bringing with them a bloody weekend of murder, mayhem, debauchery and of course music for their annual GWAR B-Q.
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