Sick Drummer Magazine

UK Tour 2010 - February 1st, Birmingham UK
By: Matt Holland of Man Must Die

Welcome to the first of many tour blogs from Matt Holland of Man Must Die, coming to you from the UK tour with Decapitated and Kataklysm. Check back daily for more blogs and possibly some photographs or short videos!

Early start! Up at 3.30am to get to Glasgow and meet with the rest of the band for our transport down to Birmingham, for the first show. We're the first to arrive at the venue, The O2 Academy, which has 3 different size halls. Lacuna Coil are playing the large hall the same night, but we are disappointingly shown to the smallest room and told the show is there because of the number of pre-sales.

Kataklysm turn up with the headliner, they've been on the road for a month already in europe with Belphegor and have come from Amsterdam. Decapitated have flown direct from Krakow, Poland.

We set the stage up with the backline Kataklysm have brought. The kit is a Pearl Masters BRX, 8", 10", 12" 16" and (2) x 22" in black sparkle finish, with a Pearl rack. Very similar to my setup, so I'm happy to see it! The drums sound great even after being battered for a month.

Decapitated souncheck first with no real problems and Kerim, their new drummer showing off some good skills.

We're first on so we set up and get a decent soundcheck before doors open. 7:30pm and we go on. There's a good crowd in, maybe 200 and any worries about bad turnout dissapear. When our intro starts and we walk on we get a good cheer and already people are shouting for songs from 'No Tolerance For Imperfection', which really fires me up. Our set starts with 'This day is Black' and goes really well. 'Gainsayer' is second, and is a really tough song as it's relentlessly fast and pretty long. I've been pacing it back by a few bpms in rehearsal and it's made it a lot tighter live. 'It Comes in Threes' is a nice breather and gets the crowd moving together, it really gets heads nodding. The title track from the album is next, and again I've been working on getting the gravity blasts consistent, and tonight it's really smooth. Last up is 'Kill It, Skin It, Wear It'. We've done a small chant, long intro-type thing for it, as a lot of people love the song. Most of the crowd go crazy and are pumping their fists in the air along with Joe our singer. The song is killer tonight and the long middle section with constant 16ths is for the most part, spot-on!

All in all it's a great start to a tour and all the bands are pretty happy. Kataklysm are up next and get good crowd reaction with their set. Decapitated are last and the crowd explode when Kerim gets up and starts to line-check the kit. Their set lasts for an hour and the whole band really go for it. The drumming is phenomenal! Kerim's playing style and also his look really remind me of Tim Yeung.

So, the gig is over and we load out. Everyone is really tired from traveling, so an early night is in the cards. We have beer together and look forward to heading North to our hometown gig in Glasgow.
 
Cheers Sick Drummers! Will send the next blog tomorrow...

Matt