Mushroomhead
December 14, 2015
Whisky A Go Go- Los Angeles, CA
Mushroomhead is a band from Ohio, USA and unlike most bands that wear stage attire, Mushroomhead wear masks on stage to give their live performances a spooky yet cool vibe. Their music is an impressive sound ranging from metal, to industrial, and even electronic. Mushroomhead released their eighth album titled The Righteous and the Butterfly on May 13, 2014. Still actively touring to help promote the album, Mushroomhead made one of their tour stops at the world-famous Whisky A Go Go. The only difference on this tour from their previous tour earlier this year was that one of their three vocalists Waylon Reavis and keyboardist Tom Schmitz were no longer part of the band. Dedicated fans were eager to see one of their favorite bands and were ready to get their hands filthy!
At a quarter to midnight, the seven members of Mushroomhead made their way to the stage where fans cheered and shouted their names. Mushroomhead started the show with Qwerty from the newest album giving the band a chance to show their political lyrics from the song that say, “…When the rich rage war and the patriotic whores dig their own grave for their own sake”. The highlight of the band’s performance has to be their water drums. Percussionists Rick “Stitch” Thomas and Roberto Diablo on certain songs played each have two drums with water coming out of them and both Diablo and Thomas would hit the drums with drumsticks and the water would rise up like a geyser and makes for a sight you’ll never get tired of seeing.
Qwerty was the first song and right away Thomas and Diablo took their spots on the water drums and started playing along with the song while twirling and tossing their drumsticks in the air giving a cool performance on the water drums. The second song was the fan-favorite Sun Doesn’t Rise from their biggest selling XIII album which always has fans singing along to with its catchy chorus. Next up on their setlist was the first track from the newest album, Our Apologies and it continued letting Thomas and Diablo rain down water on fans with their water drums. The newest album has Unsaid Fate vocalist Jackie LaPonza as a special guest on multiple tracks. Coincidentally, Unsaid Fate are on tour with Mushroomhead so Mushroomhead used this to their advantage and played We Are the Truth which is one of the songs she guests on so she was brought on stage to sing with Mushroomhead. Fans were screaming with joy to be treated to such a special occasion.
Plenty of other fan favorite songs made the band’s setlist including: 43, Solitaire/Unraveling, Damage Done, and Before I Die. Since Mushroomhead had LaPonza at their disposal, they utilized her female vocals and took the opportunity to sing their ballad, One More Day. LaPonza and vocalist Jeffery “Nothing” Hatrix took center stage and sang the song beautifully while Thomas performed the keyboard parts in the back as well as the other members staying in the back and the side of the stage. LaPonza came out to the stage wearing a bridal dress and masquerade ball mask to match the hauntingly beautiful song and she executed the female vocals on the song perfectly. Becoming Cold (216) was the next song and is one of their best songs which had fans singing along to, “Becoming Cold…how did we get here?”.
Nearing the end of the show, Mushroomhead did something special for the fans. They played the track Among the Crows which is featured on the mixtape soundtrack for the fifth season of Game of Thrones. This is the first tour where they’re playing this song so it was definitely a special song to be played. With the show coming to a close, drummer Skinny switched places with Diablo so Diablo could be on drums and Skinny himself got a chance to get up close with the fans and join Thomas on the water drums while they performed their cover of Pink Floyd‘s Empty Spaces. It set the tone with its eerie sound as fans watched or sang along as the band moved from Empty Spaces to the closing song Born of Desire. The band members went all out for this song as Skinny and Thomas went berserk on their water drums and the other members perched themselves on the water drums and hit them with their bare hands to have their own fun at splashing fans. Mushroomhead finished their show and fans were left screaming for more as the band members shook hands, threw drumsticks, and guitar picks into the crowd.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
