Rage Against the Evil Empire
Man, memory lane, I was at this show in 1995 but I wasn't an active taper at the time. This is the time of the cassette, living up to the name of taper... What's funny is I became friends with the person who tape this and see him at shows all the time.
I was driving in my pick up truck at the time headed home from school (my ole and recent alma mater, CSUN) and was listening to the radio and tuned into KROQ, when in between a song Tami Heidi whispered, "Rage Against the Machine is playing the Hacienda Real, get your tickets now..." I immediately re-routed myself to the nearby Tower Records in Westake Village and within 10 minutes of that SOS I had 2 tickets to the show.
What's funny about this show is that the Hacienda Real was a Chinese Restaurant converted into a venue in the basement of a highrise. From what I remember there were these huge red pillars for support, boy would it be annoying to run into those when you're in a pit full of angry college kids. The ambience of the restaurant was RED, like it was a motif for RATM to have a show there... blood red pillars, red painted walls, damn, every thing was red! It was definitely the theme especially with the words that Zach was screaming in the key of F. What a time, this show was one where you couldn't be static or standing still unless your back was against the wall.
Holy shit, listening to "Revolver," wow, the energy in the band at this time was unmatched by any other band, nor will it ever be. I remember the air was electrified with the sounds of these four guys, just the immense fire power from what they were performing. The setlist was a mixture of the self titled and their forthcoming album, "Evil Empire." I have to say though, that "Evil Empire" became my favorite record by them at the time (actually just looked it up, 4/16/1996 was when this alb came out). "The Battle for Los Angeles" is a tie breaker cause the ideas that Morello concocted on that record are beyond mortal guitarists...
Oh yeah, the openers, I think there were 4 bands maybe or 3 openers. There were two that stood out to me and of course I remember local act, Lava Diva, and another band that piqued my interest was Spinewire. Lava Diva was a local favorite from the San Fernando Valley which I followed for awhile. I ponder, I don't own any of their music and need to reach out to Johnny who played bass for Lava Diva whom I still keep in contact with. Hmm, a thought just crossed my mind, maybe Johnny has a cassette still?
Spinewire I can't even recall much but I was impressed enough that I still have their flyer from that show. I need to contact my buddy to see if he recorded their set and the other openers which I have a slight feeling that he didn't tape any of the openers. Oh yeah, the Spinewire singer had Patton-esque vibes and definitely was influenced by FNM and Mr. Bungle, yet I can't even remember what they sounded like. Hope to find someone who knows the Spinewire guys cause I would like to trace back their cassette that they were selling at the time... yeah, that may be a long shot. Tom might have produced their demo actually which was one of the reasons they were on the bill... hmm, perhaps Johnny has a cassette of this too...
Almost wrapped up mastering this, it's a bit on the hot mic side, so please bare with this output from moi.
I was driving in my pick up truck at the time headed home from school (my ole and recent alma mater, CSUN) and was listening to the radio and tuned into KROQ, when in between a song Tami Heidi whispered, "Rage Against the Machine is playing the Hacienda Real, get your tickets now..." I immediately re-routed myself to the nearby Tower Records in Westake Village and within 10 minutes of that SOS I had 2 tickets to the show.
What's funny about this show is that the Hacienda Real was a Chinese Restaurant converted into a venue in the basement of a highrise. From what I remember there were these huge red pillars for support, boy would it be annoying to run into those when you're in a pit full of angry college kids. The ambience of the restaurant was RED, like it was a motif for RATM to have a show there... blood red pillars, red painted walls, damn, every thing was red! It was definitely the theme especially with the words that Zach was screaming in the key of F. What a time, this show was one where you couldn't be static or standing still unless your back was against the wall.
Holy shit, listening to "Revolver," wow, the energy in the band at this time was unmatched by any other band, nor will it ever be. I remember the air was electrified with the sounds of these four guys, just the immense fire power from what they were performing. The setlist was a mixture of the self titled and their forthcoming album, "Evil Empire." I have to say though, that "Evil Empire" became my favorite record by them at the time (actually just looked it up, 4/16/1996 was when this alb came out). "The Battle for Los Angeles" is a tie breaker cause the ideas that Morello concocted on that record are beyond mortal guitarists...
Oh yeah, the openers, I think there were 4 bands maybe or 3 openers. There were two that stood out to me and of course I remember local act, Lava Diva, and another band that piqued my interest was Spinewire. Lava Diva was a local favorite from the San Fernando Valley which I followed for awhile. I ponder, I don't own any of their music and need to reach out to Johnny who played bass for Lava Diva whom I still keep in contact with. Hmm, a thought just crossed my mind, maybe Johnny has a cassette still?
Spinewire I can't even recall much but I was impressed enough that I still have their flyer from that show. I need to contact my buddy to see if he recorded their set and the other openers which I have a slight feeling that he didn't tape any of the openers. Oh yeah, the Spinewire singer had Patton-esque vibes and definitely was influenced by FNM and Mr. Bungle, yet I can't even remember what they sounded like. Hope to find someone who knows the Spinewire guys cause I would like to trace back their cassette that they were selling at the time... yeah, that may be a long shot. Tom might have produced their demo actually which was one of the reasons they were on the bill... hmm, perhaps Johnny has a cassette of this too...
Almost wrapped up mastering this, it's a bit on the hot mic side, so please bare with this output from moi.
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