“Never stop yearning. Never stop learning. Never stop fighting. Never stop trying.”~ Kash Sarkaria of Fear Control
Minutes after CASKET OF CASSANDRA and immediately after Echoes In Oblivion came a band that I was able to see the Friday before for the first time at the HoT Rock Fest stages.
These guys totally captured my attention.
And this is the exact reason why I say that there’s no harm or foul in going to these kinds of shows where many bands are playing and to check them out instead of just seeing who you want to see and then leave.
Supporting the music industry is what it is all about.
So on Friday the 14th of March here was this local band called Fear Control. They were hard. They were fast. And most importantly they were completely brutal.
Damn. Who are these redheads that you draw to your stage? And the rest of the party animals too???
I had never heard this kind of metal before. At least not live. Fear Control got up there and everything was passion-fueled and full throttle, balls to the wall heavy metal music.
People who had been out there for hours and probably most of them drunk or drinking lost their minds and just went into their own little worlds and enjoyed the crap out of the show.
Several times for my own safety, I had to roll far away to the left of the stage because impromptu mosh pits kept popping up and I didn’t want to get hit by anyone. Especially if they were drunk or drinking.
Nonetheless the music alone captured my attention and I was hooked and reeled in. And yes, the eye candy was pretty good!!
Kudos to Fear Control on that one. And my apologies if I am offending anyone’s girlfriend/wife.
For a good half hour was hardcore and thrashing music. Something that I hadn’t heard all day long. And knowing that I was going for a band that wasn’t that hard… it was different to my ears but it was a GOOD different.
After the show I just felt so compelled to talk to them. Or at least to the lead singer. I threw the horns up at the bass player and then the head nod and then the thumbs up. He reciprocated.
Ladies and gentlemen: That right there is a full conversation from beginning to end, in the heavy metal world.
The weather started to suck but Fear Control made it through. Their headbanging style was incredible. Their musical abilities and talents were beyond what I had even thought possible. I really was liking this friggin’ band. And I was still going to be around for a while.
So I had my five minutes in the sun with Kash Sarkaria and I felt like a childish dork with words stumbling out of my mouth. Thankfully he probably realized that I was still in awe of the band’s music and was relishing every moment of it and he gave me a break. Kash is a rather nice man. Funny as shit too!
At the end of our conversation he gave me a t-shirt, for FREE. His only rule was that I wore it. Well when I found out that they were going to be playing along with CASKET OF CASSANDRA two days later, that was a no brainer.
These two bands together at one show? How fortunate could I have been???
Frankie Rodriguez (left) and Kash Sarkaria (center) of Fear Control playing at Dirty Dog Bar.
I really have enjoyed Fear Control’s music live though. I rolled on throughout the rest of the week and I remember passing by Kash and he asked if I had even left the stage area.. and I jokingly told him that I had slept on stage overnight. You know, because that would be so metal.
Sunday the 16th at the Dirty Dog Bar it took a couple of passes by Kash for him to realize that I was there. The rest of his band mates noticed me and said hello as well. It was like a funky groovy family reunion that had only been separated by 48 hours. But that was okay.
It was more of the same goodness that I had heard on Friday.
The exception was that I was again front and center on the stage. I remember giving Franke and Kash both the horns and they flared them back at me. It was so awesome. I love it when I am able to interact with people on stage one way or another. It just shows that they are seeing and caring about those who have come out to hear them.
I sat there with my new Fear Control t-shirt and just soaked it all in. Until they got to the end of their set and then Kash was giving lyrics for singing instructions for their final song called “Off With His Head.”
However someone struck a guitar chord during the explanation of the lyrics and I could not hear what they were so I could not really sing along.
Off with his head …
……… something.
Whomever played that chord? Step into my office, ‘cuz you’re fuckin’ fired!! 
I jest. As well as digress. I asked after the show what the lyrics were. But by then it was too late to sing along.
I looked over and saw members of CASKET OF CASSANDRA screaming and headbanging and raising their beers into the air off to the left of me and I thought about how that was cool of the band members to come over and support this new (to me) band.
Kash gave me their EP, and I could’ve just hugged the man. But hey, keeping it metal….
Now I’m addicted to the song “Off With His Head” and I haven’t stopped playing it today.
I cannot wait until they know when their next show is going to be. Apparently they play at the Dirty Dog a lot. And since I kinda know the place it won’t be that difficult to manage. Just sucks having to take that long 30+ minute bus ride each way.
But Fear Control was a band that I picked up during the SXSW Festival this year. I think that they’re going to stick just like POC NATION did.
Rock on and always UP THE HORNS!!!!!!
Fear Control’s Facebook Fan Page
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