CHARIOTS OF THE GODS Issue More Updates From Latest Voyage

Canada's Chariots Of The Gods guitarist, Mathieu St-Amour, has sent The gauntlet another Captain's Log road report from the band's latest voyage.

Captain's log, Star Date 20062013 : On familiar grounds; Hamilton.

A rough night it was. There was a lot of twisting and turning on my part. Sleeping on a hardwood floor isn't the most invigorating thing, but the crew and I made the most of it. I awoke at 01030 hour and from there the others slowly woke up around me. After a good shower and a quick bite, we rounded up our sleeping apparels. Slowly making our way down, we felt the cool river breeze caressing our faces as we walked to a shaded area where the USS-Rutilante was laying dormant; waiting only to be revved-up. High was the moral when embarking on the ship; for our destination was Hamilton. A vast port city where we had once played and were well received. Turning the ship Westward, with maps laid out and ready to go, circa 01200 hour, we headed out again on the vast torrents of the HW401.

The space-ways weren't too crowed and we were thus making "great time". We entered space quadrant TO, but, riding the streams of the HW401, circumnavigating around the megacity, out we came to the other side. Slightly after passing city center, we encountered the area where, in our last trek, we had been crippled down; nearly loosing a wheel and robbed by space-mechanics who took advantage of our being in dire straits! But not this time; No! We sailed on to the other side, cheering on as we passed those cursed grounds; windows down, arms out, flailing our middle fingers at this karmic cemetery. We knew, this time, we would be victorious!

Out Southward on the HW403 (by now I guess you can figure it out for yourself), we encountered some space traffic. This considerably slowed down our journey, but no worries, the show only starts at 02100 hour. After an hour or so, things cleared up and we were back; making great time and arriving on familiar grounds, Hamilton. The venue we we're playing at was, again, "The Doors Pub". Nice little vintage bar, with again, a lot of wood and many leather bound books. We docked on the side parking, exactly like last time, grabbed our bags and walked straight to the hotel; it was now around 01600 hour.

Our sleeping quarters were, once again, the beautiful Hamilton Sheraton. Luxury you say? Yes, but let me tell you dear friend, we have very good deals because of Renaud; he works for the mother company. There, we lounged a bit in the room and then decided to go down to the gym where Payam, Reno and myself trained for about 30 to 40 minutes. After that we swam in the pool and hot tub and then air dried on the sun deck. After the night we'd had, that, was quite invigorating. We ate sandwichs and other things we had brought in our coolers and at around 01900 hour went back to the venue to find the organiser Tristan. A great guy he is! It was our first time doing business with this gent, but be assured, it won't be our last.

From there on, we unpacked our gear, again, and proceeded to set up. Early on in the evening, there was already a fair amount of people. The show seemed well organised and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Here are the bands that played with us. The first band, "Ischemic", is what I'd describe as a Trance/Black metal. Very atmospheric stuff with very long songs and a cute female vocalist. The second act to come on are called "Profaner". They are a mix of thrash metal with slight elements of death in it; they had some harmonies and solos as well, which I always like to see, personally.

Then came our time to go on. We performed to a cheering crowd. The set went well and 40 to 45 minutes later we we're done and packing up again. We hung around a bit since the Sheraton isn't far from the venue. We went back to our room and slept like babies. They have the most comfortable beds we've ever had the pleasure of laying our bodies upon. That night, we slept a deep and restful sleep; for we knew that in the morning, more road lay ahead. We had to go back Eastward to the factory planet of Oshawa; we're we had never been before.

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Captain's log, Star Date 21062013 : Shadowy streets; Oshawa.

Well rested from the night before, we awoke to another bright and beautiful morning. Renaud and Payam went back to the gym for one more quick workout while the rest of us lounged in our comfortable beds. At about 01100 hour we started packing our clothes and whatever else we had brought to our sleeping quarters from the ship. After a 10 minute walk we came back to the ship, still intact, without any parking violations. We loaded up our gear and I inspected everything once again; adding some grease on our interstellar hitch. Today, we would set course for Oshawa. A place we had passed over a couple of times but where we had never actually stopped. Once we had re-fuelled the USS-Rutilante, we were ready to fly away.

Riding the HW401 Eastward, we sailed the stars, passed many ships and small space-ports until, finally, we had reached our destination; Oshawa. We went directly to our motel, which was right by the HW401. There, we unpacked and rested some more; watching Television and the News, getting briefed on what was happening back on Earth. At 01800 hour, we took what we needed for the night's performance and left for the venue. Flying through the streets we soon arrived and found, once again, prime docking location, right on the side of the venue; "The Atria". We went in and inspected the grounds. The promoter wasn't there yet but we we're told we could start bringing in our gear; so we did.

After all was set up properly in the corner, we met a couple members from the other bands that we would be sharing the stage with tonight. Nice fellows. Then, Renaud and I went out to eat a little something. We had been told the night before of an ancient burger joint which served the most suculent and juicy burgers ever; we just had to find it. Not far from the venue, we stumbled on a place called the "Burger Shack". Not knowing if it was the right place, we decided to take a chance and try it out. I tell you, good sir's, we were not disappointed. Be it the fabled burger joint or not, they sure were delicious.

After our little culinary adventure, we returned to the venue where we waited some more. People had started to arrive. Then, Payam and I decided to go out on a small reconnaissance mission about the town. As we roamed the streets, we luckily stumbled upon a comic book shop that was not yet closed; as it was probably around 02030 hour. It was like entering heaven or a long lost piece of memory from my youth. There on the walls were hundreds and hundreds of old action figures and toys I recognised from when I was a child; either for having them or have wanted them. They also had a lot of old back issues of vintage magazines and really old comic books. On the shelf, still in its box, I found a "Silent Bob" action figure. One I had wanted about 10 years ago but had no money to buy it and then had been sold out. Thus, for 15$, I was now the proud owner of a "Silent Bob" action figure that I now prominently display on the shelf at home. After this great discovery, Payam and I went back to the venue where the first band had already started their set.

"Black Concept" was their name; they seemed inexperienced. Probably one of their first show. But nothing too exciting there. The second band, "Darkness in Aurora", was pretty good. They brought the energy up in the room and their singer was really good; he's also the promoter for our next show. Then came "Buried out Back", a power trio would played some technical death with insane drumming and really cool and intricate guitar playing; but I must say, I wasn't fond of the vocals. Now it was "Fatality"'s turn to play. It was their new CD release show. They are a thrash/rock band with punk-ish vocals. They we're good but their songs we're too long for my taste; 7 minutes per song it seemed like. And then came our turn to play, finally, for it was getting late and we were getting tired of waiting around. We went on stage and performed a great set. Some songs seemed faster than usual, to me, but from peoples reaction, all looked or sounded fine. We quickly packed our gear after the set; talking to people here and there. We had some issues with the promoter but nothing can be perfect can it. From there we left the venue to go back to our motel where a fine bed was waiting for us.

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Tags:  Chariots of the Gods, tour blog   

Jason Fisher    July 03, 2013