By now the doors had opened. I had arranged to meet Jordan R A Mills, another mad Combichrist fan I’d become friendly with on Facebook and who lives in Glasgow. He was going to 3 of the CC gigs on this UK tour. The barrier is about 2 ft from the stage, has steps and gives a free run for the band on the other side. First on is Aesthetic Perfection. As soon as the first song starts I know I’m going to like them. The singer Daniel Graves starts off in a long white jacket but it’s soon off and I see Joey standing at the side of the stage wearing it. Every song is throbbing electro beats, instantly catchy and I’m immediately nodding my head and dancing along. Like them? No I love them! I know I’ve found a new band I’d better get listening to and buying their CDs. There were a couple of real stand out songs I particularly liked. One of them was “The Siren” and I don’t know what the other is yet – but I will be finding out. Being right at the front and so close to the band is brilliant. Daniel has a really strong voice and screams out every lyric as if his life depends on it. Jordan had made a comparison between AP and Combichrist saying there are some similarities with how the drummer and keyboard player try too hard to be like Joey and Trevor. (See his blog later for a class drummer line) Yes I could see it but to be honest I was too busy enjoying the music to really care. I’m definitely going to go and see them again when they come back for their own UK tour later in the year.


Next is Mortiis. Jordan has been keeping me entertained telling me about Norwegian trolls and churchburnings so I have no idea what the heck is going to happen. As their intro music blasts out first the drummer appears then out come the two guitar players who stand and stare at us and look as menacing as f*ck. I can’t stop looking at the blonde dreads of the bass player – and his hollow cheeked facepaint and his massive starey eyes. So I don’t even notice where the singer comes from until he suddenly materialises right in front of me. So this is Mortiis! No prostetic face parts tonight but dreads, more facepaint and tattoos.Once again the music starts pounding out, but this time it’s much heavier, more aggressive. I like it. Mortiis (I’ll keep calling him by his stage name for now) keeps jumping up onto the steps on the other side of the barrier, engaging the crowd and headbanging. I’m right in the middle so he seems to end up sticking his belly and crotch in my face every couple of minutes as he leans over me. I’m smelling baby power He pours bottles of water over his head and over us everytime he jumps up too. I’m absolutely wringing, but glad of it cos by this point I’m roasting. He goes out of his way to very slowly and deliberately pour a full bottle over the head of a girl wearing a white fur coat…she looks like a drowned rat. (oh and did I forget to mention there was a guy there dressed as a Storm Trooper?)


On one of the occasions Mortiis jumps up in front of me and stands with his arms thrust in the air I get brave and rub his bare belly. Next time he reaches down and grabs my head and shakes it. Jordan says something to me but I can’t make it out. I find out later that Mortiis has headbutted him. Well we ARE in Glasgow so he must think a Glasgow kiss is the local greeting lol. I hear later it hurt him more than it hurt Jordan so much so that he could hardly remember the words to the next few songs. The bass player (Levi) is the other person I’ve been watching. He’s gone from looking menacing to hypnotising me with that hair – especially the one rebellious dread sticking straight up and quivering like an antennae in the spotlight. Oh and he just happens to be a feckin fantastic bass player. So turned out I loved Mortiis too – and all too soon they’re over. What a full on performance again. I can see why people came just to see them.


Combichrist. I can’t wait to hear and see the new dynamic with Abbey on guitar and am really looking forward to the “Making Monsters” songs. Andy has ditched his blond hair and gone back to black. As this is “Monsters on tour” they are all going overboard on the stage make up. Joey has gone through several looks and has settled on a half white face with huge black contacts – sort of great white shark meets zombie. If you didn’t know they are such nice guys they would scare the cr*p out of you. A special mention to Abbey here. He looked scarey as fu*k – like a super skinny 7ft vampire. Blood red lips like Munch’s “The Scream” and hair that could stab you. (Well that was until I noticed the miniscule shorts he was wearing and I had to stop myself from laughing too much.)


Andy also keeps jumping onto the barrier and singing into the crowd. They play songs from “Making Monsters” including the stomping “Follow the Trail of Blood”. But also a lot of the older favourites. The crowd sing (scream?) along to every single song. Andy announces they are going to play the song they haven’t played live before and we are treated to the spectacular “In the Pit”. The guys look as if they are having a blast on stage, especially Andy and we certainly are in the audience. They come out to do 2 encores and finally trash the place to “WTFIWWY?”