Live music review: Squid Pisser hosted packed metal lineup at Lost Well
Los Angeles hardcore supergroup Squid Pisser hosted a packed lineup at Austin metal stronghold The Lost Well on Thursday, August 27, bringing their horror-infused attack to town. The masked outfit shares members with GWAR, Cancer Christ, Duck Duck Goose, and more. The Lost Well’s Airport Boulevard location is thoroughly broken in now, the bookings keep stacking up, and the underground metal scene keeps flourishing under the ownership of longtime Austin venue operators Marcello and Tasha Murphy.
I missed opening act Throat Piss, but based on their reputation for a mind-altering live spectacle, drop-tuned guitars and saxophone included, they likely delivered the usual.
Austin noise rockers Tortures took the reins next, with frontman Aryn Jonathan Black in his usual shirt-and-tie getup. Black, who owns and operates Crow Bar in far East Austin, has kept the band on a roll since day one. Guitarist and backing vocalist Jay McDowell, a longtime Austin musician, rounds out the lineup and works alongside Black on Crow Bar’s concert calendar, one of the city’s most prolific: movie nights, underground music mini-fests, and more. Tortures’ sound splits the difference between the experimentalism of Swans and the unchecked fury of Whores, Lightning Bolt, and The Jesus Lizard. Between the interpretive, politically satire-adjacent stage show and old-school DIY grit, the madness of Tortures is only beginning. With an EP on the way and more stacked bills on the calendar, they’re shaping up to be one of Austin’s best in no-holds-barred brutality.
Local black-metal-infused hardcore specialists Sexcult put their expected relentless sonic delivery on full display, pulling from the extremity of Venom and Nausea and the blistering raw power of Motorhead. When a touring heavy band can come through Austin and stack an opening bill entirely with local acts matching that intensity, it says the local scene is in a fruitful spot. By this point the venue had filled up, and fans swarmed the stage for the main event, masks and on-brand horror tropes in tow.
Squid Pisser took the stage in masked form, entering through the front door with flower bouquets in hand for the women in attendance as they waded through the crowd to take their places. Their sound was stripped-down compared to their members’ other projects, and they wasted no time tearing through a brief but mind-bogglingly intense set. With August 27 falling on the eve of their new record Throat Slave‘s release, Austin became the impromptu release party.
The crowd’s excitement was palpable, a raucous response to a headlining set that barely clocked 45 minutes. Despite the brief onslaught, fans appeared to walk away satisfied, a tight set leaves more room for mayhem than a bloated one ever could.
Squid Pisser stays on the road through September before joining The Dillinger Escape Plan’s final “Calculating Infinity” reunion dates in October. Tickets can be found via the band’s website.
All photos by Troy Gonzales
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