I got the pleasure of traveling down to San Antonio, Texas with Cutthroat Conspiracy last weekend. We all met up at around 7 a.m. Saturday morning, sleepy eyed and ready to hit the road. The band was invited by The Recasts to play Zombies Bar and Live Music Venue and they asked me to tag along for the adventure. We left in a flurry. Yes, I meant flurry, not hurry. It was snowing very heavily…in Texas…the night after tornadoes. We hit the road after a snack and beverage stop with a full van of the Cutthroat entourage. The van was a buzz of energy as everyone was excited to get the fun underway; jokes were cracked, music played loudly, and we were officially south bound. It is roughly a four to five hour drive, if Austin isn’t a complete mess of traffic and the never ending construction on 35 hasn’t bottlenecked to a standstill. The drive went effortlessly with only a couple stops along the way, Buc-ee’s being an obvious must.
We arrived at our Airbnb around 2 p.m. and everyone filed out of the van and laid claim to their sleeping arrangements for the evening. Armando Gutierrez of The Recasts welcomed us to his home for a pre-show barbecue. Once they finished practice, the Recasts crew let Cutthroat do some maintenance on their instruments and warm up before the show. Armando treated us to some delicious chicken and potato salad, along with all the refreshments you could drink. After several hours of socializing and great conversations, it was time to head up to Zombies and get the show going.
Around 9:35, To Witness A Murder, a death metal five-piece, kicked the night off. They are heavy with almost no clean vocals and a technical aspect to their instrumentals. The crowd was starting to fill in to the interestingly set up venue. Tables are parallel to each other running perpendicular to the stage for the full length. “No Moshing or Slam Dancing” signs are posted all over, which is a little strange for a venue that hosts mostly metal shows. Metal without moshing is cookies with no milk; yes, its enjoyable, but it could be better. Nonetheless, the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves in one place.
The Recasts graced the stage around 10:20 to a very loud round of applause. They’ve put a lot of work into finding a unique tone to both the vocals and instruments. Armando Gutierrez uses a classic style microphone that has a lot of grit to his sound. They bring an almost rockabilly style to a thrash-esque sound and it combines beautifully. Songs about zombies and tearing people limb from limb bring in a horror theme to their overall appeal. They may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if whisky is more your thing, I’d try them on for size.
Cutthroat Conspiracy started their set around 11:15 pm. They frequently play San Antonio, but this was only their second time playing Zombies. They got a hefty round of applause and cheers from the solidly filled-in crowd, who was becoming more and more energetic as the evening progressed. I don’t know if it was the fact we were in another city or that we had been in a van all day, but they all threw down extremely hard. Jeremy Rico, Cutthroat’s newest member, has started to relax and look more comfortable on stage. He is replacing Matthew Franks on guitar, who will still be writing, but has stepped back from performing. The crowd enjoyed their set feverishly and exploded in cheers and whistles at the end.
The final band of the evening, and honestly the most interesting, was Destroyer Of Worlds, a five-piece with a vocalist, a bassist, and three guitars. It wasn’t exactly my taste, but to each their own. They are very heavy and the vocals are mostly growls and very low. Instrumentally, I feel like there is so much going on that everything just kind of muddies together to the point that you must really listen to dissect what is actually happening.
We closed out the evening and I took my position in the driver’s seat. We headed for one of my favorite places in San Antonio, Mama Margie’s, a 24 hour Mexican food place with some of the best bean and cheese tacos I have ever had. We filled our bellies and made our way back to the house exhausted, happy, and full. Some of the group stayed up having drinks, but it was after 3 a.m. and a 21-hour day for me. It was bedtime.
I woke up Sunday at 9:45, which felt like an ungodly hour after the night before. Once we had a much needed caffeine kick-start, we packed our things and headed to another one of my favorite food joints: Philly’s Phamous Cheesesteaks. This is a must-have every time I am in San Antonio, would highly recommend to any cheesesteak fan. After a great meal, we spent about an hour downtown checking out the Alamo, and scouting some promotional photography locations for the band, before we finally hit the long road home. I had a great weekend traveling with some of my best friends. I am lucky enough to call it “work.”
– Brently Kirksey
