Psycho Las Vegas back with fiery lineup
THE mayor of Psycho Las Vegas is on the line, chatting about
Sir Francis Drake, the British Royal Navy and 16thcentury buccaneers.
“The Royal Navy chased a bunch of pirates who did their bidding,” High on Fire frontman Matt Pike explains. “The pirates were employed by the Royal Navy, so the Royal Navy had something to chase. The pirates would lay waste and (the navy) would come and take over whoever survived it, ‘Hey, now you’re a part of Britain, not India anymore.’
“If you had told somebody in that day that the pirates were working for the throne, they’d tell you that you were a conspiracy theorist. But that was a true conspiracy.”
Pike knows a thing or two about conspiracies — he’s branded himself a conspiracy “fact-ist,” not theorist — and has penned thunderous heavy metal rippers about shadowy reptilian Illuminati types, aliens impregnating humans and the ever-watchful Big Brother.
The Royal Navy anecdote serves as the basis for “Freebooter,” a stampeding, gargoyle-voiced rager from High on Fire’s new album, “Electric Messiah,” due out in October.
The record is a beast:
Two of the first four tracks are epics, “Steps of the Ziggurat/house of Enlil” and “Sanctioned Annihilation,” intricate, multipart rock operas that challenge attention spans as well as Pike’s forearm stamina.
Pike is one of metal’s greatest riff masters, and he and bassist Jett Matz, who also contributes guitar parts, outdo themselves here: Songs such as “Spewn From the Earth,” “God of the Godless” and the title track pummel relentlessly.
The latter tune is an homage to Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, who passed away in 2015 and whom Pike has often
SOUNDING
of DLVEC, the D Las Vegas and the Golden Gate. “We didn’t know how to sell tickets. We didn’t know how to communicate to people where it was located. Nobody had ever been there.”
Another force of nature would give DLVEC its first big break that October. Rocker Sammy Hagar moved his annual birthday bash to DLVEC after Hurricane Odile hit his Cabo Wabo Cantina in Mexico.
“When he came, he was able to bring all the people who booked for his event,” says Stevens, a flamboyant presence known for donning a new, eye-popping suit for each show and often taking the stage to introduce bands.
“It got us into the business of trying to locate sand,” he chuckles. “I think we brought in a 100 tons of sand.”
Since the up-and-down start, DLVEC has developed into a busier and better venue. It hosts annual festivals such as Las Rageous and Punk Rock Bowling and has become a destination for bigger-name bands, bringing a different caliber of acts to downtown Vegas while also hosting sports viewing parties and other events.
It hasn’t been easy,
Stevens acknowledges, but he sat down recently to chronicle DLVEC’S path.
Review-journal: Prior to the launch of the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, open-air venues didn’t have the best track record in Vegas. What made you think something like this could work here?
Stevens: There was a great, great model, going way back, for an outdoor venue in Las Vegas (Caesars Palace’s now-shuttered amphitheater). I actually attended a whole lot of events there. It’s not there anymore, because that’s where the pool is. In the old days, there were some of the most star-studded events in Vegas history there.
You had (Riddick) Bowe vs. (Evander) Holyfield there. You had fights with (Thomas) Hearns, (Marvin) Hagler and Larry Holmes.
I always thought to myself, “Man, these outdoor venues are really something. The electricity in the air is a little bit different.” And I think today, as much as ever, people love being outside a little bit.
When did you begin conceptualizing DLVEC?
I think it was the end of 2012/the beginning of 2013 when we built the Traverse City Patio (an outdoor space at the D that overlooks downtown) and were able to look down on the Clark County Courthouse and thought, “Man, if we could get rid of that thing, you could put anything there better than an abandoned courthouse.” It didn’t attract anything positive and it was kind of an eyesore. There was no energy there, so that’s when we kind of pushed to see if we could purchase it. Once we were able to, that’s when we got under the gun as far as figuring out what we were going to do with it.
When did you start to feel like, “OK, this is actually going to be successful”?
I always thought we would get there. The question was how long it would take. We started with a stage, a sound system, and I’m a big believer in great restrooms, so we had clean, ample, air-conditioned restrooms. That’s what we started with. And I think those restrooms play a big deal in it as well. Everything outside is based upon port-a-potties.
Last year seemed like a turning point for the venue.
In 2016, I think we did a lot of learning. In 2017, we did the joint deal with Live Nation and Las Rageous; that was a big step. Bringing Punk Rock Bowling over there, that was a great step. That pushes you. The Vans Warped Tour we did this yearch was awesome.
What kind of learning curve was there for you launching this venture?
It was a struggle. … The first couple of years, a lot of the concerts that we tried to get, the entertainers weren’t necessarily interested in playing in a new venue.
They wanted to know what your resume was, they wanted to know who else had played there, because they don’t want to be known as the group that played in a parking lot or something. It took a long time to be able to develop a credible reputation that the venue’s a decent venue.
I get the benefit of talking to tour managers when we’re going through meetand-greet and stuff like that. Some of them work on one tour, then the next summer they’re on another one, and the word of mouth kind of goes on where you can start building some credibility. It takes a little while to gain a reputation that we’re putting on a fair, safe, clean, good venue.
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0476. Follow @Jasonbracelin on Twitter.
“It just really speaks to the fun-ness of the movie,” said Jeff Goldstein, the studio’s distribution chief, who added that the marketing campaign “didn’t take itself seriously and really played into the popcorn nature of the film.”
Starring action vet
Jason Statham as a deepsea rescue driver who is the only man capable of defeating the 70-foot carnivore, “The Meg” cost at least $130 million to produce, according to estimates, and is based on an obscure 1997 pulp novel. It earned a B-plus rating on Cinemascore and a 49 percent “rotten” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
In second place, Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — Fallout,” now in its third weekend, added $19.4 million for a cumulative $161.3 million.
Disney’s “Christoper Robin” came in third, adding $13 million in its second weekend for a cumulative $50.6 million.
Sony Screen Gems’ horror movie “Slender Man” debuted at No. 4 with $11.4 million. The film earned a rare D-minus score on Cinemascore and a 15 percent “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rounding out the top five, Focus Features’ drama “Blackkklansman” opened with $10.9 million, director Spike Lee’s third-best debut.