8mm Overdose remains true to thrash metal
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| 8mm Overdose, a hard-core thrash band, is hosting a trio of concerts this weekend, beginning tonight at Pink Cadillac.
8MM Overdose with Arsinic, Khrinj, Shadows of Sanctity, Debauch, Lushion At Pink Cadillac 7 p.m. today $5 (21 and older), $7 (under 21) 946-6499 At Kaneohe Bay Metal & Hardcore Festival, Kahuna's Ballroom, Marine Corps Base Hawai'i 7 p.m. Saturday Free At Metal Mulisha, Wave Waikiki with Arsinic, Khrinj only 8 p.m. Sunday $10 (21 and older), $15 (18-21) 941-0424 |
How about the last time you checked out local hard-core thrash bands throwing it down live at a local club?
Thought so.
So you can see the reason Honolulu-based metal thrashers 8mm Overdose rarely play more than one live show a month on O'ahu, despite growing national and international touring success. It's simple economics.
"The style we play is hard-core thrash. It's very fast. It's really heavy. And it's not what you would call mainstream heavy metal," said 8mm guitarist/vocalist Jack. (Band members eschew surnames.)
"In Hawai'i, it's difficult to draw consistently if you play every weekend. ... We don't play every weekend because there just isn't the crowd to support it."
The band hopes to change that.
8mm Overdose hosts three multi-act live hard-core thrash shows this weekend, tonight at Pink Cadillac, Saturday at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i's Kahuna's Ballroom and Sunday at Wave Waikiki. Sharing the stage tonight and Saturday are local high school bands Shadows of Sanctity, Debauch and Lushion. On the bill at all three are Bay Area hard-core purists Arsinic and Maui thrashers Khrinj.
The goal for 8mm, now around for a decade, is encouraging younger bands with a love of thrash metal to stick together and build a scene by giving them more opportunities to play live.
"A lot of the bands that we're playing with and helping out now are high school bands," said Jack. "These kids are really good. We were amazed when we started playing with them."
8mm Overdose was born in a fairly active early-'90s thrash scene when venues like the former Jazz Cellar on Lewers Street hosted hard-core bands every weekend. Known as Machine back then, the future 8mm's first gig was an opening slot for Brazilian metal legends Sepultura at After Dark in 1993.
When the scene tapered off in the late '90s, so did the band's regular gigs, as it refused to change musical styles or play covers. Still the band got a couple of key breaks, playing 2000's Los Angeles Metalfest and winning corporate sponsorship from Jagermeister in 2003.
Metalfest got them recognition, respect and their first sponsorships. Jagermeister, a huge sponsor with a real interest in promoting live music, could also book them on national and international tours with other company-sponsored thrash bands like Killswitch Engage.
The band's gigs have doubled since hooking up with Jagermusic; they now tour Japan and Europe annually and the West Coast regularly. 8mm even opened for Jack's high school music heroes Slayer on the thrash legend's Jagermeister-sponsored tour in December.
"A lot of the bands now coming up in high schools are playing metal," said Jack.
"The scene is picking up. We're just trying to do as much as we can to get things going out here."
Reach Derek Paiva at 525-8005 or dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.
