Tempos - the Rock Soup Kitchen

Luck was on my side as Berny and I managed to find a way to get to Tempos yesterday for the Rock Soup Kitchen gig. This time we got dropped off by her brother Martin, while her younger brother, Brydon, joined us for this long day full of some of the coolest bands in SA. Having won two tickets to the event earlier this week, Berny and I were VIP guests, how cool is that? It felt weird to be there so early – it was just after 13:00. Munkinpure was already setting up on stage, doing sound check. We got some drinks and settled at a table in front of the stage. Travis, the lead singer came over to say hi. Last time we saw him was at the Friday the 13th Fest and we were totally smashed. So this meeting was a bit weird, with us being sober.

Being the first band to play on stage is never the best thing on earth, especially when its 13h00, there is a rugby match and FA Cup final on the way and only a handful of people watching. But this didn’t seem to trouble Munkinpure, as Travis said to us, this is mainly a metal gig, and since they are anything but a metal band, they’d rather play first before the hardcore metal bands get there, lol. I enjoyed their set and recognised two of their songs that have been getting a lot of radio play in UJfm, “Breathe” and “Beautiful Day”. Stunning.

After that, it was Tony Danza’s turn. No, it wasn’t the big nosed Italian actor from “Who’s the Boss”, haha. Instead it was a three man band, who did some interesting covers of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and a Deep Purple Song. Their new song, “Road Rage” which apparently they had written the night before, had me in stitches. The singer didn’t know all the words to it, so he had a sheet of paper sprawled in front of him.

We skipped the next few bands so we could watch the Super 14 final inside by the bar. Naturally, Berny and I supported the Sharks (due to personal reasons, I can never bring myself to support the Bulls) and sat at the edge of our seats during this tantalising, nail-biting match. I was getting annoyed with some loud-mouthed, pompous Bulls supporters and fought to keep my glee as the Sharks were in the lead during the dying minutes of the match. Unfortunately, Habana scored a try for the Bulls just after the siren went off, and Hougaard converted, putting them in the lead and crowning them the new Super 14 champions. Needless to say, Berny and I got out there fast enough.

We watched the last few minutes of Far Beyond Driven – really hardcore band but unfortunately I was too distracted to pay attention. Most of the evening bands were starting to arrive so I had a bit of a catch up session and every now and then I went in to the bar to check the FA Cup score. It was 0-0 for the entire match, which went into extra time, right up until five minutes before the end when Chelsea scored and ruined what was supposed to be a great sporting weekend. Kerran from Inersha was in his element, a proud Chelsea supporter. Anyone who listens to Sam’s show on UJfm will know that they had a little wager about who was going to win. Looks like Kerran is the winner.

Knave was on next, I enjoyed every minute of their performance, as well as Namuh’s after that. When Inersha came on, I was surprised to see my brothers arrive as well as Martin and Shawn. I never thought they’d actually come so it was cool to have them there. Berny reminded me this morning of the drunk pirate that came on stage (yes, a pirate) and took the mic away from Fred before he could sing. That wasted about 2 minutes, until he finally gave the mic back. What a noob, lol.

The band that I was really waiting to see was Torment. They were sure on form that night, they were KICKASS!!! I cannot wait for their CD to come out. My throat still hurts from all the screaming. Next on was Chromium, who I always enjoy. I managed to score more drumsticks from Hannes, and a pick from Matt. I also got half a stick from Charles from Torment, so I didn’t have to fight Berny to the death with a wooden spoon for it, my weapon of choice.

Soon after that, Berny and Martin left, so I sat down and watched Agro, the next band. I hadn’t seen them since Woodstock 6, so it was really cool to see them again. By then I was feeling really tired, hungry and halfway between sobering up and falling asleep, but I still enjoyed the band.

Last but not least was Insek. These guys have such cool masks! A little bit freaky, but really cool. Their set was surprisingly short, or so it seemed to me, but it was alright since all I wanted to do is get into bed and die. I thanked Bianca for putting together such a great show, got in the car with my brothers and slept all the way home. Yesterday I recovered indoors, and watched 300 again. Im still a bit fragile though and makes me wonder just for how much longer I can keep this up. Lol. But hey, at least I have fun!