Hellyeah roles into baltimore with "Balls" tour

In a musical age where chart-topping songs include completely electronically generated instrumentals and risqué lyrics, it is refreshing to see bands getting back to the basics of rock and roll.

On Wednesday at Ram's Head Live, southern rocker/metal super group Hellyeah hit Baltimore full-force, with self-played instruments and self-written, meaningful lyrics. The band, which has made headlines because of its lineup, is currently on their Balls, Volume and Strength Tour with New York hardcore fiends Bloodsimple and the LA-based metal driven, spoken word-inspired Otep.

Hellyeah released their debut self-titled album earlier this year, and already sales are topping a quarter of a million. This may be due to the fact that the band is made up of a wide array of metal gods. Former Pantera and Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul is a crowd favorite at every live show. When Paul was still in Damageplan, a drunken fan at a show shot down and killed his brother and band mate, not to mention legendary guitarist, Dimebag Darrell Abbott. Hellyeah is the first band that Paul has played in since this incident. Former tattoo artist Bob Zilla is Hellyeah's bassist, also from Damageplan. Guitarist Greg Tribbett from Mudvayne has also worked with Otep on their latest album, helping to both write and play in the recording process. Tom Maxwell of Baltimore-based Nothingface is the second guitarist, rounding up the heavy sound. Finally, Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray provides the power-driven, dirty rock feel of the whole band.

The concert opened up with a guttural adaptation of The Doors', "The End" playing. This signaled the entrance of Bloodsimple, who sauntered out, drunken and flawless in stance. Wearing a plaid shirt with ripped off arms, vocalist Tim Williams roared during each song, never once taking a break to breathe or wet his lips. Although lacking in a lot of stage movement, Bloodsimple instilled heated screams and jumps from the crowd, warming up for Otep and Hellyeah.

Otep, in sharp contrast to Bloodsimple, was all about stage props and theatrics. With each song came a story, with the physical performance of lead singer Otep Shamaya matching up to the intensity of the shocking lyrics. The three instrumentalists, bassist Evil J, drummer Brian Wolff and guitarist Aaron Nordstrom were all clad in Otep-brand hoodies and sunken eye makeup, setting a mood of deep ambience.

Opening with fast moving T.R.I.C, off the band's "Jihad" EP was a smart move. Combining hip hop roots with heavy metal bass lines, the acronym stands for "The Revolution is Coming" and encourages people to strike against society with poetry and spoken word.

After the audience was high from this initial verbal battle remedy, Otep moved into one of their newest songs, "Confrontation." Off "The_Acension," which came out on October 30th, the song is a commentary on striking back against "the tyrant race." With lyrics like "Stand up, speak out, strike back!" it was clear that this song was written to inspire fans to take a stand against suppressing figures of authority. Standing on a bass drum-shaped platform covered with stickers and artwork, Shamaya pumped her fist in rhythm with the song.

Soon after, "Confrontation," Shamaya donned a muslin bag over her head while singing the crowd favorite "My Confession" from the band's first full-length album, "Sevas Tra." After this, she fake struggled to move the platform, almost mime-like, before singing the short song, "Tortured." Although lyrically shocking, the song provided a little bit of humor as Shamaya provided a stuck up middle finger, smiling towards the audience when singing the lyric "so I didn't have to go to church that day."

Another highlight of Otep's set included a Nirvana cover, "Breed." Shamaya sung with signature Cobain style sunglasses, and enveloped the audience with her individualized finger pointing and winks. Another interesting prop was a black fishnet stocking that Shamaya wore over her head during the metaphysical, "Ghostflowers," and a George Bush-inspired mask thrust on a stick and held up during, "Warhead."

After bowing and prancing offstage theatrically, Otep finished up their set, paving the way for Hellyeah.

The entrance of Paul provided more cheers, whistles and "Hell Yeah!"s from the audience than any other entrance or song of the night. The set opened with Chad Gray freely admitting that he was incredibly hung over and drunk at the same time, as well as sick, and that the front row of people should be prepared for flying snot.

Hellyeah sang every song from their album, leaving the audience shaking with adrenaline. One of the first songs they sang was the rough, loud "Nausea," which, according to Gray, "represents what all of us are feeling right now." Gray thrust his arm and fist towards the audience several times, pounding the arms of some lucky fans. Fan favorites "Goddamn" and "Alcohaulin' Ass" induced moshing and crowd surfing, with Gray's vocal strength driving people wild.

With a somber tone, Hellyeah dedicated the slow-moving "Thank You" to the men and women of the armed forces. Paul stood up from his looming drum kit at the back of the stage and encouraged the audience to cheer louder, so "my man Dime upstairs can hear y'all." This was a good tactic, as hundreds of Pantera fans started screaming loudly, warming up the temperature at Ram's Head.

As the show wrapped up, Gray mentioned how awesome the tour was going. "We've just been getting drunk every night, playing hung-over every evening, and having a whole lot of fucking fun. And we're going to continue to do that. Thank you. You've been great."

With bands like Hellyeah keeping the music full of energy and positive work strain, the charts might be able to redeem themselves after all.

Before the show at Ram's Head, I was able to talk to lead singer Otep Shamaya of Otep as well as bassist Bob Zilla of Hellyeah. Turn to page 14 for opinions on the modern music and cultural scene from some metal greats.