Having just wrapped up their most extensive tour run yet, it's a good time to play catch-up on what St. Ignace deathcore quartet Heavy Lies The Crown have been up to as of late! Before said tour began, the guys played a one-off concert in Alpena (almost 3 hours southeast of the Soo) on April 4th, where they opened for Living Unwell at Friendly Foodees, with singer Brandon West and guitarist Jaxon Massaway updating "you filthy crowners" about the show before they hit the road in this video. The Max Headroom-esque post-production effects and pitch changes didn't really seem necessary for a 49 seconds-long concert plug in a vehicle, but hey, it's different! The show reportedly went well but media from it was not immediately forthcoming on Facebook. After a couple weeks' break, Brandon and Jaxon filmed another promotional video on 4/20, where they plugged the tour ahead.
You also get a clip of their friends & tourmates in Influence, plus a cameo from Brandon's dog (always welcomed!), and while there is a lot of superfluous camera zooming, it got the word out for fans near the tour stops! Two days later, H.L.T.C. revealed on their Facebook page that we "are throwing most of our songs aside for this run", opting to instead play 20 minutes of established songs before "running improv and changing who plays what" (remember, Brandon, Jaxon, and Blaze can all play multiple instruments). This may be due to new bassist Bubba Hillz being unavailable for the tour run, as he's not pictured in photos from the shows, and they revealed that they were utilizing guest bassists during the tour, but they never made a statement as to why he missed out. Hopefully all is well, and Bubba is still pictured in the band's current profile photo! After posting this video of helicopters flying overhead, we did get a live video from show #1!
A brief video shot in vertical "selfie" mode by Influence frontman Brandon Billups was uploaded from the Eaton Rapids Craft Company concert, which features H.L.T.C. mid-breakdown during their set. The guest bassist here was Emily Barnett from the Athens metalcore band Fault Of The People, who played the early stops of this tour. Alas, this clip is vertical, 15 seconds long, has the band deep in the background, and isn't crystal clear anyway (and I have no idea why the cartoony cowboy hat in the upper left corner and the caption were necessary in post), but what we hear sounds brutal, and the fans moshing are definitely having fun, so give this a watch below!
After sharing a video of the guys passing a bunch of cops at night on the highway, Heavy revealed that their fill-in bassist for the Influence HQ concert in Taylor on April 25th was Greg Lanier from their friends in Detroit metal band Nothing After This (guitarist Rob Vandewiele had filled in on bass with H.L.T.C. last fall already). As teased in this video with Jaxon looking at a bass drum outside, the guys were heading out of state for a show at Legacy Ink Tattoos & Body Piercings (seriously) in Lima, Ohio on April 26th. You can see the interior of the venue in this video of between-set mingling, but good thing it didn't feature actual performances, as it was uploaded sideways. For an actual video, the guys posted this 40 seconds-long clip of them playing their song "Friend" with a friend of the band on guest vocals, namely Nothing After This drummer Jay Clemons, who was touring with Influence on this run.
Jay was singing (well, screaming) on stage while Brandon made the rounds inside the parlor with mic in hand. Given the length, the quick camera movements, and the (sadly) vertical orientation, I can't tell you who the guest bassist was in Lima, and I didn't even see one on this particular song. Not an ideal look at this song in progress, but Jay delivers some brutal lead vocals here, and Legacy Ink sure looks like a fun venue for concerts with very distinct art on the walls, so check it out below!
After a day off, the guys and Influence hit the road for their Illinois debut at Magoo's Bar in Bedford Park (outside of Chicago) on April 28th, with Brandon and Jaxon again getting the word out in this video. While mostly hyping that night's show, Jaxon did reveal that he bought a new guitar, and that Heavy Lies The Crown would be posting vlogs after the tour ended. It has since ended, so has that come to pass? Stay tuned! Along with assorted photos and a brief video of Justin Luebeck from the Chicago death metal band Dead & Buried, they finally featured drummer Blaze Beairl in a new post that wasn't concert video after the Chicagoland date, with this photo showing Blaze's bandaged hand after their set (he also sang at one point, as part of H.L.T.C.'s plans for members to switch instruments for much of it). The band's next two shows were in Manitowoc and West Allis, Wisconsin on April 29th & 30th.
Media from these shows (nor their return to The Delft Theater in Escanaba) wasn't immediate beyond this 7 seconds-long clip of what appears to be silent B-roll that was used on the video screen at one of the Wisconsin dates. We'll close with a 6+ minutes-long video from the tour finale at The Jordan Inn in East Jordan, Michigan (2 hours south of here) filmed by Blaze's mom/ex-Exit 808 bandmate Amy Beach, featuring no guest bassist at all, but Jay Clemons was guesting on vocals again early. This captures the role switching angle well, as everyone is singing at points here! As this is a live-stream, you likely have until around June 3rd to watch it, but it's a fun glimpse (if a vertical one), so check it out below... while you can!
There's more to touch on from Heavy Lies The Crown now that the tour is over and they can get their media from the run online, so stay tuned for more from then hopefully soon! Thanks everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment