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Pit Stories: The Sacrificial Dagger

Every Tuesday we have musicians from across the rock and metal spectrum share their most memorable mosh pit stories, covering everything from frisky show goers to ill-timed stage dives.

In nearly all circumstances a knife in the pit is a very, very bad idea (just ask Cattle Decapitation!), but in today's story from The Black Lantern, a knife ends up being a sacrifice to the altar of rock:

We grew up playing in bands and going to shows where the unspoken rule was something along the lines of, "if there isn't a pit, then the show ain't shit." The kind of shows where people looked at the resultant knee surgery they had to get as a badge of honor. As a performer, it's the ultimate thrill to see a pit stoke up, and as a concert goer, it feels good knowing that chaos is still a part of rock and roll.

While the Deafheaven and Refused shows we have attended had pits that were beyond our reach, in late 2012 ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead got us involved, whether we liked it or not. They are a huge influence on our band for the very fact that they embody a form of chaotic glory that is often lost in today's music world. When we saw them at the Echoplex, Jason Reece sung songs while participating in the pit himself. Andy stood at the back of the pit and held it in, while Jesse was closer to the stage with his back to it.

We kept each other in sight, occasionally giving the, 'this-is-fuckin-awesome-but-maybe-someone-will-die' glance. Then Andy noticed Jesse was out of sight. Some revelers perfectly executed the "sweep the leg" maneuver simply by falling into Jesse. When he got up, he and another guy were looking right at each other, and then at the knife in the other guy's hand. They both exchanged expressions that equally said "is this yours...what the hell do we do with this?" Coming to no reasonable answer, they decided to place it on the stage, as if it was a sacrifice placed on the Altar of Rock.

While no attention was paid to the knife thereafter, it seemed the sacrifice worked. For the encore Trail of Dead played "Richter Scale Madness," the first song from their first album (and the blueprint for all that they would do). The crowd responded to such greatness by flooding the stage. Reece had drumming duties, but was still returning to the stage from the pit. So a fan sat down and joined in. With at least 50 people on stage, it was impossible to see the transition from fan to Jason, and it was all of a sudden even more crazy on stage than the pit itself. The line between chaos and control was perfectly blurred, and the band guided us through blazingly.

The Black Lantern's "We Know The Future" album is out now and can be picked up at Bandcamp here or streamed in the player below. More...

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