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Pit Stories: The Crowd Turns On The Hardcore Kid

Ready for a new bout of pit mayhem today, metal heads? This week pit story comes courtesy of Ontario-based outfit Black Absinthe.

We've all seen the hardcore kids throwing the windmills and fighting invisible ninja, which the more casual show-goers generally don't care for. They might be obnoxious, but you can't fault their enthusiasm at a live show.

Black Absinthe shares this tale of one such individual who unfortunately reaps what he sows... but soldiers on anyway:

The first few formative years of the band, we played a lot at a place called 751. Located on 751 Queen St. in Toronto this was our preferred and beloved dive bar for many years. Cheap beer 'n shot combos combined with dirty metal shows in the basement made it an ideal spot to start playing.

Our bass player Kyle Scarlett was working there as a bartender and privy to a front row seat of the bloodbath that occurred before we had a chance to grace the stage. It was the second band of a four four bill, good and crowded in the basement. Given that the capacity down there was something like 50 people max we had a good crowd of about 70 throughout the night.

The earlier bands were more on the hardcore end. And with hardcore you're gonna have some motherfucker throwing down. I'm all for getting worked up to the music and givin' 'er (windmilling at shows with dreads has led to some altercations) but the dude was just pushing everyone out the way that wasn't about to do Super Saiyan back at him. You could feel the crowd feeling the same thing like, "fuck can someone just give the dude a decent elbow and we can all get back to watching the show without guarding from a random clock in the face?”

So the vibe against the kid is turning, sitting behind the bar I can just feel it. Then eventually BAM! He finally gets a hit that launches him over to the wall (which I should mention was fairly stuccoed. If I had to give it a description I’d say...coarse?). Seeing the kid after I immediately take back whatever past feeling I felt about hoping he 'gets it' because this kid got it hard.

As I get a look at his face I see this front pepperoni slice sliver of his nose is hanging straight off the bottom of where it should be. Straight up figure 8 of fucked up face. Dangling, asking to be ripped off like a ticket from a skeeball machine. The open bit is gushing plenty of blood to clear out the room until the next band sound checked but I will credit the kid with being hard. He wanted to stay for the whole show. Pained me to tell him go to the hospital, stitch the front of your fucking nose back on, and that we'd be back another time.

Black Absinthe's upcoming album "Early Signs Of Denial" was produced by Dave Baksh (Cross Dog, The Mahones) and mixed and mastered by Frank Gryner (Rob Zombie- Hillbilly Deluxe). Set for release on May 13th, 2016, the album is the band's first professional recording and follows three self recorded EPs.