I used to work as an usher at Bill Graham concerts for over two and a half decades. I worked at the Warfield, the Kabuki, The Fillmore, Wolfgang’s, the Old Waldorf, the Greek Theater and many other venues. I got to see almost every major touring band you could think of: The Stones, The Who, The Dead, Metallica, U2, Tom Petty, Santana, and countless others over the years. One of my favorite privileges was getting to see bands when they were still playing at really tiny clubs, before they later become coliseum-fillers. Getting to see a band’s very first public gig is even more of a privilege.

A few weeks ago, at Thee Parkside, I was lucky enough to catch the first gig of newly-formed San Francisco crust/death metal band, Vastum.

“wow”

1st video here (2nd video after the jump):
Vastum – at Thee Parkside – 3.12.2010 – (1st.gig)

roseman (kevin) | MySpace Video

Want more of them? Check out Vastum’s profile

Luckily, Leila, the singer/guitarist from Saros (who also plays in Vastum) gave me advance warning of their first gig.

From Saros’ blog:

“Leila, still active with Amber Asylum, has teamed up with three members of SF’s Acephalix to form crust/death metal crossover Vastum.”

The second video contains a lot of the newer material they are recording this month (April 2010):

Vastum (2nd clip) – at Thee Parkside 3.12.2010 (first gig)

roseman (kevin) | MySpace Video

I keep visualizing the poor, defenseless microphone quivering in its holder, just waiting for a break, so it can sneak away and go running scared from all the energy coming its way…

This is like an all-star band, with a lot of talent in it.

–roseman