Crowbar • EYEHATEGOD • Papsmear – FCC – DTLV

Thursday, March 26th, 2026 – Going out on the town for some Louisiana metal has become a sort of time-honored tradition in the Pretre-Ware household. Like a box of my go-to comfort dish to make at home: a box of Zataran’s dirty rice with added bell peppers. Except it’s louder and (often but not always) slower. Far more references to misery, drug additction and social decay. It’s hardly anything like dirty rice now that I think about it. Never mind that – let’s talk about the show and not my stomach.

The gig was moved from Bizare Bar on Main St. to the eight-hundred and fifty person capacity Fremont Country Club due to high demand for tickets. Thank fuck too cause I actually know where the latter actually is. Good memories of this place with Mrs. Pretre – Jesus H. Christopherson no one else call her that, she might kill me – as I was saying many great memories of this place as well as Backstage Bar & Billiards next door. Let’s add one more.

There’s some sacred about a promotor taking something that has soul and purpose such as a night of New Orleans sludge metal and doing something so crazy and fucking ridiculous as to throw in a Las Vegas thrash metal band celebrating the anniversary of their formation more than forty fucking years ago! Except there is a bit of a stroke of brilliance to this move that’s worthy of Pulsar throwing his dick around. I don’t know if Pulsar or anyone else who brought this tour to Las Vegas knows, but before the Melvins’ influence slowed them right the fuck down, New Orleans actually had a burgeoning thrash metal scene.

I know right? This here onion has unexplored layers of complexity. Enough to bring a tear to your eye.

Papsmear from my (particularlly shit) research formed in 1985, released a quintet of demos from 1986 to 1992 only to break up at some point, release a compilation of their material in 2008, and to reform in 2017 to live out the trope of getting the band back together. Seriously though I’m thirty-five years old, am I still allowed to aspire to grow up to be these guys?

Anyway that compilation I mentioned ‘Music To Kill By’ is streaming on Spotify (and I’m sure other places too) or do what I did and add their whole discography to your Discogs wishlist.

How would a teenage Ethan describe what it’s like listening to EYEHATEGOD for the first time? This was when Pandora was the greatest thing to be found on the internet for a young metal head who just wanted to listen to all the bands including EYEHATEGOD and Crowbar as well as the rest of the tangled mess of the New Orleans metal scene.

Thinking back on Mike Williams’ vocals I liken it to watching your friend get dangerously drunk and just puking all over themselves. Over the intervening years I’ve come to see this as a good thing. When you’re that drunk it’s just for the best you puke sitting against a wall, just all over your shirt and the crotch of your pants and just stew in it for good measure.

At the time I was still young enough to find some of the music I came across as frightening and it wouldn’t be until I fell in love with Acid Bath soon after moving back to Louisiana in my late teens that I felt I could ‘get’ EYEHATEGOD. As a grown ass man I’m so jaded that I’m more afraid to try and use a fuzz pedal to achieve the same Jimmy Bower guitar tone than I am listening to any sort of music. Still when I’m feeling particularly bitter, EYEHATEGOD has often served as a cathartic release.

Check out an EYEHATEGOD album – their latest release was ‘A History of Nomadic Behavior’ released back in 2021 on Century Media Records.

As a young teenager Crowbar was an easier swamp to swim through than EYEHATEGOD but still uncompromisingly heavy once my wee wittle frontal lobe had developed enough to want something more than faster, faster, faster. I still remember hearing the guitars on “Planets Collide” and the beautiful arpeggios and chord changes paired with Kirk Windstein’s deep powerful voice conveying the sounds of a broken man.

Truthfully I feel like I talk about Crowbar a lot more than I realize because when my wife chose to get a tattoo to represent me on her fucking arm she chose a Crowbar fleur di lis to do so. Or maybe it’s simply my French ancestry.

Anyway if you’re looking for a Crowbar release to see if they’re your glass of sweet tea I’m actually inspired by Papsmear to suggest listening to another compilation ‘Setlist Classics’ as a quick and dirty way to familiarize yourself with their music.

So to conclude, did I have any criticism of the show itself? Not really no. It ended up being exactly what I wanted. Courtney might have said she wishes the lighting was better on EYEHATEGOD but she’s a photographer and if she cares to speak on that at length she’s welcome to.

On a tangential note a question for the touring gods, how much must I sacrifice so that we see Acid Bath do a show in Las Vegas that’s not Sick New World?