March 28, 2024
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Gathering Review from the Myzery camp!

Oh, so you didn’t get enough flavor out of My Gathering Review?  Well never fear, because we got a Gathering Review sent in from Hodge of the Myzery Camp!  Hodge went in on his review too, detailing everything from getting in and out of the grounds, to meeting up with other artists, his meet & greet, performance, and lots more!  He gives some insight into the highly anticipated Demon Angel album, and why it didn’t debut at the Gathering this year. It’s a good read, though lengthy!  So set aside some time and check it out!

Myzery Camp’s Gathering Review

So after a one year hiatus from the GOTJ scene, the Myzery Camp was once again in attendance at this year’s festivities.  Being our first time at the Thornville location, we were really surprised to discover how much more accommodating the new location is versus the Cave-In-Rock spot, which basically required some kind of fabled Goonies map to even access its scarcely rumored existence.  The OH spot also came equipped with many luxuries like- decent phone signal, easy access from the highway, nearby hotel accommodations/restaurants/shopping centers, and locals were well aware of concepts like electricity/fuel injected automobiles/any time of day past 8pm/and paved roads.  Another perk of the new location was that any artists or staff could enter/exit the grounds via an alternate entrance, versus slowing cruising through the beaten path, which consisted of oblivious pedestrians.  Pedestrians who moments before any slow paced vehicular manslaughter, would prefer to give vehicles a Faygo car wash, high five your whip (straight outta the roadside port-a-johns), or even imitate a dusty human speed bump…and get furious at the audacity of anyone attempting to avoid the court case by driving around them.  So yeah, the alternate entrance prevented a lot of forced awkward moments.  By the way, we actually witnessed the human speed bump guy eventually get bored of that tactic and instead resorting to running behind and Goldberg style spearing the bumper.  The intent of this effort is still a mystery and it never seemed to go in his favor

The people working the gates must’ve been well versed at dealing with such an infamous audience.  What I mean is that they were always very respectful to the entire crew.  That’s not to say that the act of actually getting our passes was simple, as it was a nightmare, well at least for us anyways.  The new location also posed a new hurdle that luckily rappers like Myzery weren’t faced with.  See, as I was walking to my car on the first night, I noticed a furious rocker type dude hop out of his massive RV and aggressively rush the gate attendant.  I attempted to help deflate the situation for both parties, and learned that the angry driver was from a rock band by the name Underground Fight Club, that was scheduled to perform later that night.  After receiving conflicting intel from every angle, the artist realized that the act of getting his RV full of rock equipment to the Pendelum Stage  was in fact an impossible feat, as it wasn’t even accessible by any roads other than a dirt foot path barely wide enough to accommodate a golf cart.  So yeah, UFC’s 8 hour drive to attempt to rock the GOTJ was a total wipe, forcing them to barely maneuver their giant RV back through the narrowly laned Chanty Town, well, after somebody helped to get their overheated RV up & running again.  I full recognize that car troubles are gonna happen now and then, but when these poor guys asked a big circle of cops for a simple jumpstart, I witnessed them get straight laughed at.  I was actually proud of dude for not blowing a gasket at that point.  But yeah, a gate worker actually radio’d a buddy to help them, while the cops just opted to laugh at the band’s misfortune.  I think it’s safe to assume that that’s one Gathering act that won’t be in any rush to come back.

I did witness another “downed motorist” situation that spanned over the next few days.  This one serves as a good learning point though.  Always make sure to inform your bank of your travel plans in advance, or they just might freeze your shit when they see charges that are outta your normal shopping spots.  On the first day I immediately heard a chick giving her bf the business, and I’m not talking a slight commotion either.  She put him on blast in front of any and everybody camping over near the stagnant cow pond area.  Now I can only speculate the details of their drama, but I’m assuming that it had something to do with the nearby sedan that was buried up past the axels in some chunky mud.  It kinda looked like the quicksand scene from that 80’s cult movie “Krull”.  The car woulda been promptly freed up, but from what I could hear, the tow truck man wouldn’t budge until the couple’s bank lifted the freeze that occurred when the driver attempted to charge their card.  A freeze applied because of the odd location the card was being used no doubt.  I’m not sure when the mud baked car was actually freed, but I know it was still there the next day.  Again, and while in plain view, the nearby cops did nothing to assist in the matter.

My first observation of the Legend Valley location was the absence of the notorious “Drug Bridge” of Gathering’s past.  I know some (maybe many) will disagree with me on this one, but that shit was wrecking people’s minds.  It was always sad to me to see people so blitzed outta their minds that they missed out on all of the great happenings around them.  That area of the old spot actually made the GOTJ look like some sad backwoods moonshiners madness.  It was the first place media/press would race to gain embarrassing footage for the rest of the world to judge.  I actually did chat with somebody else that shared my sentiment about the bridge.  About a week after the Gathering I ran into WWE Legend and former DX and nWo mainstay Sean “X-Pac” Waltman.  While chatting about his experiences wrestling for JCW, he had a bunch of fond memories.  However, he had a pretty strong distain for the drug bridge.  Now, X-Pac has never claimed to have a squeaky clean past, so he doesn’t take his sobriety or that of his peers very lightly.  He talked about how disturbing it was that the first answer to boredom (while awaiting the 3AM wrestling events), was often met with trips to the infamous drug bridge, which led to his peers either falling off the wagon, or being forced to sweat it out during the long hours leading up to the early morning wrestling shows.  He seemed more than relieved when I explained to him that the new location doesn’t have any such bridge.  All in all, X-Pac was a really personable guy and seemed to have a lot of respect for ICP and the entertainment empire they’ve created.  He also reminisced a bit about working with Vampiro all over the globe and how rewarding it was to have been a part of some really special vamp matches in Mexico and on MTV.  X-Pac has always been a really solid talent and I hope to see him on more JCW events in the future.

Back to the GOTJ review.  Now, after I got my bearings of the actual grounds, I made my way to the Main Stage to see my first live performance of the festival.  I normally woulda liked to have seen KMK’s set, but was in no rush this year, as the whole crew still feels a bit burned by the whole Daddy X going “AWOL” on Myz’s Demon Angel album thing.  The first performance I was able to catch was that crazy native ABK.  To me ABK isn’t just an act you have to hear, but to really get the full hatchet warrior experience, you just gotta see dude do his thing.  He gave another high intensity performance, which really had the crowd pumped.  A side note on ABK from the rest of the GOTJ, he is truly everywhere at once.  It’s actually quite impossible, but on a few occasion we would pass Killa somewhere on our cart, and then like clockwork we would pass him again in a few minutes…but we would still be headed north and he would still be headed south.  It makes no sense I know.  At one point we stopped our cart to chop it up for a second, and he was in full face paint.  Then in what seemed like only moments later, we passed him in the completely opposite direction from where he had been going and he had done a full wardrobe change and looked as if he had never had makeup on to begin with.  That’s some Shaman mystery skills right there.

Next up was Hopsin, followed by Tech N9ne.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Hopsin.  I’ve never disliked his music either.  However, his live performance definitely opened my eyes to his talent.  Myz’s hypeman Fuego Flamez has always tried to put me onto Hopsin, but after catching his set this year I was sold on the idea of looking into a bit more of his back catalog.  His stage dive, better yet “stage flip” was pretty gutsy also, as there was a big gap from the stage to the crowd.  He definitely pulled it off though.

Tech N9ne came out shortly after and put on the best Tech set I’ve ever seen.  I personally loved the energy that the live band brought to his sound.  Of course big Krizz Kaliko was in the house.  They are truly one of raps greatest duos.  People might not agree with this either, but I’ve always felt like Kali is just as, if not more talented of a musician as Tech, so as a joint package I’ve always felt like I’ve lucked out to see both super forces during a Tech set.  Of course Tech’s song selection was meticulously arranged to evoke a wide range of emotions from the crowd.  In fact, some of the emotion Tech’s music drew out of people was actually quite puzzling, but very entertaining at the same time.  During a more party-ish song like “Areola”, I watched in awe as a tall skinny dude moved around like some sort of overly dramatic evangelist.  I’m talking eyes closed tight, tearfully singing along, and having the same type of overly exaggerated reactions that WWE had Kurt Angle doing when he first came on the scene.  Google/youtube that shit.  Kurt Angle would defeat a nobody like Funaki and have an emotional breakdown on both knees, crying, and arms out wide like a condor gripping fist-fulls of air.  It was a stunt done purely as a humorous nod to his dramatic 96 Olympics win.  But this dude hadn’t won any gold, instead he was acting this same way while listening to a Tech N9ne song designed to get girls up on shoulders to flash.  Odd and awesome at the same time!

Another Technician caught a lot of unwanted attention during Techzilla’s set by going straight spazmatic on bystanders.  I’m assuming he had something else besides blood coursing through his veins.  He all the sudden began violently trying to rip his hair out then charged full speed into a couple, a couple that was just trying to get lost in the moment.  After he ricocheted off of them, he belly flopped onto the muddy ground and tucked his knees tight to his chest.  Then he let out the most piercing scream I’ve ever heard a guy skreech.  Myself and a few other concerned people approached him to see if he was in need of some help.  He quickly grabbed a guy by the collar and screamed directly into his mouth about being some sort of human turtle, and not to touch him.  A few moments later he hoped up and very femininely pranced over to a couple of guys enjoying Tech’s set.  Without warning he began to choke one of them.  BAD IDEA!  Both guys instantly snatched him up and attempted to molly wop his ass, but of course the spaz collapsed to the ground again into his turtle routine…and began weeping uncontrollably.  Not the epitome of a tough guy at all.  I’m hoping dude avoids whatever it was the triggered all that that asinine charade.

Of course what’s a Tech set without countless mentions of being the #1 Independent rapper in the world.  In fact, he does it so much that I’m starting to feel like he doesn’t think we believe him or something.  In an interesting side note, he did say that one of his most famous songs “Caribou Lou”, is finally free from all legal nonsense now.  He was saying how the coffee company came at him with papers, and that he was advised by everyone to abort mission.  Not Tech though.  He mentioned being so rich that the company didn’t spook him a bit, and that he actually fought the giant and won the lawsuit.  Overall, it was an awesome set, and I feel that the live band enhanced everything about it.

I happened to pick up on a few new trends with the crowd that I hadn’t recalled seeing during the 2012/2013 Gathering experiences.  The first was like a domino effect of new “what up” daps.  Instead of any creative high fives or fist bumps, I witnessed a bunch of people greet each other with sloppy thumb wrestling contests.  It was always a pretty harmless and goofy way to say hey I guess.  The other trend noticed wasn’t one of brotherly love and unity at all, in fact, it was the ambush act of complementing ones hatchet gear, then aggressively proclaiming that they were sellouts by buying ICP shirts at Walmart.  It was somewhat funny, but I still prefer the age-old act of BOFA.  You know, “Hey man you gonna go check out BOFA???”…huh, who’s that?…BOFA DEEZ NUTS!!!”.  Luckily I am well versed at the schoolyard game of BOFA, and got to unleash it on fools that tried to get me first.

I finally made my way over to Kuma’s Blacklight Ninja Party.  I figured it would be like your standard GOTJ DJ party’s with tons of club bangers, Wolfpac dancers, and glowpaint.  What I didn’t expect was some of the best mash-ups I’d ever heard outta Psychopathic.  I mean, at any afterhours club you’re pretty much guaranteed to hear songs like “turn down for what”, STAGE GOTJ 2015but I wasn’t excepting such flawless versions featuring ICP and Company.  Kuma killed it all night long.  Best Psychopathic mash-ups of mainstream music you could ever imagine.  The tunes were so on point that they even had host Kevin Gill (a professed Punk Rock fanatic) straight cutting loose the whole time.  A good time was definitely had by all in attendance.

Earlier on in the day I ran into the one and only Syn of Zug Izland.  We kicked it for a bit, and he mentioned being open to collaborating with Myz.  Rap/Rock fusions seemed to really spark his interest, and he was confident that the two parties could produce something worthwhile.  All and all, he was just as laid back and chill as ever.  I made sure to catch his set later that night on the Carousel Stage.  I’m a big fan of Zug Izland from way back when.  In fact, I personally feel that “Cracked Tiles” is one of the best albums from Psychopathic’s back catalog.  Zug came out with their unique brand of theatrics, as only Mike P. can pull off.  Dude was in a costume that looked like a straight up Destro mask form the G.I. Joes era.  It felt like they performed their entire freshman album, and with precision!  I know that the trend in Underground music has been gravitating mostly towards hip hop, but damn, I wish there were way more rock acts like Zug Izland popping up out there to spread that diversity amongst acts.  Great performance and a really good turnout from MYZERY n SYN 2015all the Zug loyalists.

Day 2 started by meeting up with the Myzery Camp for some grub and to get them their passes.  After we entered the campground we headed straight over to the JCW tryouts.  These are always fun to see.  I miss the days when Vampiro served as the coach, but the Ring Rydas seemed worthy to fill his boots.  To me Vamp always seemed to add that global legitimacy to JCW, even when surrounded by all the Oddball themes.  Anyways, the training had already begun by the time we got there.  This was obvious as hell, as the trainee’s chests (and mid-sections for some reason) were lit up like jellyfish victims.  Fuego Flamez (Myz’s hypeman) told me that he wanted to join in the training, but at the exact stature as Jack Skellington, he figured his talents are best saved for the mic.

Half the time our chauffer was missing, but nobody really minded the trek from spot to spot.  Besides, this is that prime people watching that you only get to see once a year.  You’d be hard pressed to find a more creative collection of people.  Even creative with their sunblock applications.  I’m not exactly sure why, but people were applying it in a camouflage manner this year.  I’m not talking about just running low or being smeared off.  I’m talking very precise placements of globs of sunblock.  So yeah, you saw a lot of pink and pale mixtures…walking in half pain/half comfort.  Can’t blame lake hepatitis this time either, as the OH campgrounds doesn’t really have one.  One sunblock incident that really cracked me up was when a guy in a Mushroomhead shirt started loudly fussing with his girl.  She wanted to put sunblock on his arms.  He claimed that she was dumb and he didn’t need any, because his arms were already covered in tattoo’d sleeves.

We eventually made our rounds to all corners of Legend Valley.  While en route to all of the hot spots, we took in quite a few sights.  For instance, over near Mike Busey’s camp, we came upon a large circle of gawkers, but they weren’t interested in his chicks (which must be seen in a dim light to better appreciate).  Instead they were all pointing at an object in the center of the road.  Upon further inspection, it was a military issued grenade!  And who was the closest person pointing it out, a familiar underground emcee…who didn’t have any legs.  Not far from the road grenade (which we didn’t care to learn more about), was a fresh dollar bill, just sitting there.  Except this dollar was a ploy in an old “Married with Children” gimmick, where Al Bundy had a buck rigged on a fishing line, and used it to lure dumb strippers towards him at the Jiggli Room.  It was impossible not to watch people continue to chase this dollar down the road.

While headed towards our girl Molly Gruesome’s set, we briefly ran into the big homie Big Hoodoo.  Our encounter was cut short though, as a ninja shouted “Yo Hoodoo…FUCK YO CART” so he just kept it moving.

We were wondering how Molly’s turnout would be, seeing as how she was scheduled on the 3rd stage at 4:30 in the afternoon.  Apparently either 4:30 in a great time, or Molly has a MYZERY n INSANE POETRYdecent grip of fans, because she had a pretty packed house.  Molly tore it up.  She has that “it” factor combined with a very conscious stage presence.  She had killaz who were painted up like, well, some straight up killaz, but looking like some love struck souls.  She put on one hellava show and definitely gave it her all, as homegirl was drenched in sweat as she got off the stage.  We kicked it for a minute, but opted to let her go bask in her patiently awaiting fans.  As we were about to head out I noticed a familiar face backstage.  It was another Myzery Camp associate, Insane Poetry.  We were psyched to see him, cause I didn’t notice him on the bill this year.  Apparently he performed on Day 1 as part of a label Supergroup called “50 Shades of Snuff”.  I wish I woulda knew about that one, but it didn’t matter anyways as the time it took to get our passes on the first day would have caused me to miss his performance anyways.  It was great to run into him though.  He provided one of our Camp’s favorite collabs on Myzery’s “Demon Angel” album.  Make sure you peep his verse on the track “possessed” with Bizarre (D12) and Myz.

After kickin it backstage for a bit with Insane Poetry and Molly G, it was now time for the next act to perform.  Up next was Liquid Assassin, who put on a very impressive set.  I don’t know much of his stuff, aside from a handful of collabs he’s appeared on with some of my favorites.  I tell you this though, he really had his shit together.  Definitely glad we were on hand for his set.  We also ran into AMB in the backstage area of the Pendulum Stage.  It was a bit awkward though, because, as you may recall from Myzery’s interview from a few weeks back, Myz was a little bit bothered about AMB “no showing” on the Demon Angel guest feature.  Everything was cordial and all, just still kinda a sore spot for the crew, as every AWOL MYZERY n MOLLY GRUESOME 2015feature held up production in a big way.  Still more to come on this.

With like 6 hours until Myzery was scheduled to perform, we decided to head into town and grab food and kick back at the hotel for a bit.  Of course all the hotels were booked up well in advance, so we ended up some 11 miles away from Thornville.  The most bizarre thing happened as we arrived back at the hotel, a guy spots us from like 50 feet away started shouting about how he knew we would be staying there.   He could tell all of this from the background of the photos that Flamez had posted from the parking lot earlier in the day.  That shit blew our minds.  Harmless no doubt, but still some Dick Tracy efforts applied by this homie.

At around midnight we headed over to the Carousel Stage to get prepared.  First thing we noticed when we went into the dressing room was a large arrangement of fancy champagne’s and refreshments.  Of course, we quickly realized that it was for the world’s fastest rapper, Twista.  But Myz didn’t really mind, as he had previously told Psychopathic that all he required was a mic and an opportunity.  The stage itself was actually very impressive.  It was located in a high traffic area of the grounds, and even offered bleacher seating in the back corner.  As the Soundman was getting everything situated, we began to notice a small crowd starting to form at the front of the stage.  This was cool, because there was still about 20 minutes until “go time”.  There was a bit of drama when trying to get the sound levels adjusted.  The drama revolved around a member of another act attempting to set up their equipment prior to Myzery’s set, in an attempt to work out any kinks well before they were due on stage (like 2 sets later).  Thankfully this campaign was short lived, as the soundman surprisingly held his ground and remained steadfast that no act would be setting up the stage besides the ones schedules to perform right then and there.

After a few brief mic/sound checks, to ensure that we were clear of any equipment fiasco’s that hampered past GOTJ experiences, it was time for Myzery to finally rock the stage.  After a one year absence from the Gathering scene, Myz compiled a very calculated set list in an attempt to leave a lasting impression, and hopefully even rally some new fans on board.  Myzery was afforded around 40 minutes to perform, and put fourth every effort to ensure that not a single moment of this opportunity was wasted.  As Myzery ripped through a wide array of classics and new joints alike, we noticed the crowd begin to grow thicker and thicker until it reached almost the furthest corners of the yard space.  Myz had fans in the front row chanting along to damn near every song he rocked, which showed us how dedicated they are to his back catalog, as much of the material came from albums that were either long out of print or were released in very limited quantities to begin with.  Many songs from his newly released Demon Angel album were performed, which included “Like This”, “Passion”, and “Don’t Make Me Angry (the pre- Slaine, Opio, Scarub, Mastamind, and Edo-G mix)”.  Of course the more known classics joints like “Stimulated Dome”, “Witching Hour”, and “Rebirth” probably garnered biggest reactions.  A crew highlight wasn’t even peering out into the audience and seeing other artists like ABK, AMB, Molly G, and Skitzo rocking out and enjoying themselves, it wasn’t even the fireworks in the distance that were cascading down through the night sky and giving the stage that unique neon backlit effect.  No, it was actually the loud “MYZERY – MYZERY – MYZERY”, ovation the crowd gave him in the minutes after he exited the stage.  Real talk, that warm reception will follow Nene throughout the remainder of his life no doubt.

After Myzery’s set he was met by the side stage area by a dozen or so fans eager to give props or snag an autograph.  The coolest part is that most of these fans that met Myz over by the fence were fans of more than 15 years now.  Nearly all reminisced about seeing him on tour with the clowns, Psycho Realm, and House of Krazees way back in the 90’s.  Some had all of his albums, and the cd binders to prove it.  I know that was heartwarming for the big homie, as his last two Gathering sets were plagued by either awkward show times, equipment malfunctions, or up against huge acts or popular events.  In fact, in 2013, the equipment malfunction was so disruptive that as soon as his show tape began, Myz’s mic went completely dead!  The soundman tried to improvise by giving Myz his hypeman Napalm’s mic, subsequently forcing Napalm to use a corded mic, which was so long that looked like Napalm was holding a cowboy lasso on stage.  The cord went everywhere Palm went and served as a tripwire throughout the whole performance.  So yeah, with mishaps like these during his last 2 GOTJ appearances, Myzery was curious if anyone would even care to come by and check him out this year.  The turnout, the crowd participation, and the properly working stage sound/equipment made for Myzery’s favorite Gathering experience since his 2001 Main Stage set.  To those that hung around afterwards to kick it, he thanks you for your patience and support through the years.  Extra thanks to Scottie D and Xanarki form Faygoluvers for coming out to show their support.  Both stand up guys and always helpful and supportive.

We then made our way over to the homie DJ Clay’s party at the Funhouse tent.  This ended up being an important event for Myzery Camp, as Mike P. and AMB were also in the house.  Both of which were eager to clear the air.  I approached Mike P and asked to speak with him about this past winter’s drama surrounding Myzery’s song “Knockin on Heaven’s Door (featuring Violent J)”.  Mike P was very apologetic about jumping to conclusions and proclaiming that Myzery had stolen the track from him and rapper Fisty Cuffs.  If you’re unfamiliar with this mishap, Myzery was given the beat by Psychopathic and opted to use it for the collab with him and Violent J.  Well, unbeknownst to him, the same Mike P. beat was subsequently sold to Fisty Cuffs.  This caused a lot of strong allegations against Myz on social media from both parties.  While there was never any wrongdoing on Myzery’s part, his name was dragged into the controversy nonetheless.  Myz is not the type of person to put people on blast on social media, or air his business for the masses to see.  Mike P appeared genuinely sorry for confusion and the two were able to resolve any tension between them.  Myzery also met with Fisty Cuffs later on at the GOTJ and ironed out any differences as well, as Myz hasn’t been about any music drama shit in a long time and didn’t wanna be perceived like that any longer.  He’s actually made great efforts to have a more positive perspective over the last few years.

MYZERY n DJ CLAY 2015I mentioned earlier that AMB was also in the house for Clay’s party.  This was another perfect opportunity to bury the hatchet, regarding their absence from Myzery’s Demon Angel album.  As I approached Bonez Dubb to clear the air, he was just as eager to explain some personal happenings/circumstances going on in his life at the time that kept them from doing the guest feature.  Circumstances that made sense and also dissolved any animosity that may have been lingering.  Bonez admitted to having much respect for Myzery and the whole crew and suggested revisiting collaboration talks in the near future.  He said that he and his bro grew up on Myzery’s music and would gladly welcome another opportunity to work together.  He kicked it with Myz for a bit and further squashed any tension that may have existed.  Shortly after the peace was restored, Bonez introduced us to a rapper named Safety-K, from his side label Canonize Records.  This same talented Emcee would go on to win the Flowmaster Rap Battle that took place over the next few days.

Day 3 started as we hit up the Psypher auditions.  Myz’s hypeman Fuego Flamez has become quite the polished emcee over the past 3 years and had every intention of schooling the Psypher.  However, he was met with a lot of strong competition, and stumbled on a few bars, not realizing that his competition would be using written raps versus off the top.  No biggie though, we still really enjoyed catching other acts like NATAS disciple Skitzo straight murder that shit.  I should also mention that Skitzo and Myzery are already in the early stages of a joint project.  The album title will be called “Massive Aggressive” and production is already underway.

From there we made our way to the Carousel Stage and kicked it backstage with longtime friends The Rude Boy, Mad Man Pondo, and DJ Carlito.  First off, Rudy is always as cool as can be.  Always happy to see Myzery Camp and always equipped with awesome wrestling anecdotes.  I asked him about rumors floating around about his old wrestling nemesis and WWE Hall of Famer Abdullah The Butcher being flat broke because of the aftermath of the lawsuit by Indy wrestler Hannibal.  For years Hannibal has been vocal that Abby’s unsafe ring practices are responsible for his struggle with Hepatitis C.  Rudy said that the “broke” and “Hepatitis” rumors are completely false as the man is loaded and all of his former wrestling rivals (including Rudy) have tested negative.  Myz and Rudy then reminisced for a long time about road stories and such.

With both of us being avid horror movie connoisseurs, I had a long chat with Mad Man Pondo about any lost horror gems that I should know about.  Pondo is the ultimate resource of obscure horror cinema.  We mostly discussed newer flicks we’d enjoyed like the reboots of “The Town that Dreaded Sundown”, “Mother’s Day”, and “2001 Maniacs (which he happened to appear in)”.  He also floored me by probably being the only other person (who I hadn’t loaned it out to) who had not only heard of, but was also a fan of the 1981 film “The Pit”, about a weirdo 12 year old boy who pushes all of his enemies into a giant hole in the forest…to get devoured by little creatures called Trolologs.  It’s basically a dark comedy.  Anyways, I had interviewed Pondo for a website like 10 years ago, and it was great to catch up with him and talk horror again.  In a Pondo related side note, the mention of horror icon Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees 7-10, Hatchet 1-3, etc) occurred in conversation and Pondo commented that he’s been pushing for Kane to guest host at the GOTJ for years.  This was an awesome coincidence because I’ve known Kane for over a decade now and explained to Pondo that Kane has also admitted on numerous occasions that he would be honored to be involved in the Gathering in some fashion or another.  While Kane has more recently appeared in Twiztid videos, he actually first appeared in ICP’s “Another Love Song” video back in the 90’s and has been itching to work with them again ever since.  Will the real Jason Voorhees ever get the opportunity to stalk the Gathering Campground?  I talked to him last weekend and he said that all it would take would be for the clowns to approach him and he’s game.  By the way, Pondo really lucked out and found the perfect chick for him, as she’s even more of a horror nut than he is.

Next up for Day 3 was the Flow Master Rap Battle aka Battle Rap Tournament.  Now if you’re unfamiliar with the customs of the Battle Rap culture, it’s not your candy-coated radio rap.  The only close comparison would be the legit battles captured on youtube or maybe the extra features on the “8 Mile” film.  Now, back to the tournament details.  All you had to do to enter was to be one of the first 20 contestants to sign up.  Fuego Flamez was one of the first entrants in the competition.

The first half of the event had some really stacked competition, mixed with some seemingly misplaced farmers who appeared legitimately confused about where they were.  But yeah, MYZERY n SKITZOfor the most part, the participants came correct as fuck.  We all actually expected our NATAS homie Skitzo to enter, but when I texted him to find out his whereabouts, it was apparent he was gonna be too late to sign up.  He did show up to lend his support to Flamez though.  Truth be told, it wouldn’t have surprised any of the crew if SKitz woulda have not only entered, but swept it as well.  See, although he wasn’t on the Bill to perform at the GOTJ this year, he replaced a last minute cancellation, and probably had one of the most commanding stage presences of anybody we observed in all 4 days of Gathering performances.

As for the outcome of Day 3’s competition, Fuego won both battles and advanced to the Semi Finals scheduled for Day 4.  One thing I noticed that really solidified her spot as a Judge, was Sugar Slam’s textbook observations about the art of Battle Rap.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it was obvious that she knew her shit.  She was joined of course by fellow Judges Myzery and Bonez Dubb (AMB).  I know what you might be thinking, and and how is this competition unbiased with Myzery as a Judge?  You’d have to take my word for it, but Myzery is probably Flamez’s toughest critic.  I’m talking, make most grown men hang up the mic, get a mule, and retreat to the mountains never to be heard from again.  Even after Flamez defeated 2 opponents in a row, he got nothing but jabs outta Myz for the rest of the day.  With the Semi-Finalists announced, the competition would pick back up on Day 4 to crown the 2015 Champion.

After the Rap Battle we were off to catch Funk Volume’s own Jarren Benton on the Main Stage.  On the way over we took in a lot of interesting sights.  For starters there were quite a few very  pregnant women in attendance this year.  Like ready to burst.  I’d bet that a few lil ninjas were born at the GOTJ this year.  They didn’t outnumber the unsettling amount of house pets that people lugged around with them.  It wasn’t only nervous dogs darting around with each firework blast or balloon pop, but I actually witnessed a guy getting his pet rabbit autographed by ABK!  Also, and mixed within the legions of intoxicated homies staggering around like wild west gunslingers on their last leg, we recognized plenty of Gathering mainstay attendees like- The faux Raven guy (circa 2004), big fat dildo Batman, Driven By Boredom Guy, Flame Thrower Chicks, and the Passed Out Juggalos crew.

At Jarren Benton’s set I was distracted by a strange site moving closer and closer out of the corner of my eye.  Some resourceful minds must’ve decided that the sun was too strong and devised a way to bring the shade to them.  In unison, a group of people would each lift the corner of one of those big merch tents and inch it forward little by little until they could enjoy both a good view of the stage and protection from the sun.  That was the first time I believe I’ve ever seen a walking merch tent, but hey, it worked.

Another Gathering reoccurrence I observed a lot of this year, especially at Benton’s set, was the rise of Bullhorn Thugs.  I’m not sure what to make of these guys, but I’m just sorta puzzled that this trend hasn’t gone the way of laser pointers and died down yet.  I mean, let’s face it, the bullhorn provides tons of opportunity to be clever and hilarious…but as far as I’ve ever been able to tell, zero Bobby Heenan’s were in attendance.  I mean, how many times can a guy shout remarks, without any kind of reaction from the crowd at all?  And I noticed that many of these Bullhorn Thugs had their girlfriends holding the actual speaker, either out of laziness, or to divert any aggression towards their gf’s instead I guess.  I even started to feel like some of these bullies were so short on new material, they couldn’t help but fallback on tired old jargon.  For example, I’m not quite sure the constant “show me your butthole” chant shouted at Jarren Benton was actually reserved for him…or were perhaps carried over from an act like Nova Rockafella.  I also hear a lot of “you dropped your pocket” shouts throughout the GOTJ.  Of course a Gathering couldn’t possibly be free from the annual “Lathering of the Buffalos” bullhorn action.  Again, in the five Gathering’s I’ve attended, I have yet to see that score a reaction of ANY type.  Some practices are just diehard I guess.  In fact, the only bullhorn shout I heard any reaction to occurred as Sugar Slam began to introduce MADCHILD, and a bullhorn gangsta shouted “Shut Up Yoko”.  That Beatles throwback reference seemed to catch the crowd really off guard and they popped in a big way.

Fast forward to the late night events of Day 3.  While en route to DJ Hoppa’s Full Throttle Party we had our eyes violated by a couple of rather large guys, guys who felt compelled to wear skimpy women’s bikini’s (not unlike Jackass’s Party Boy routine) and stand to the side of the road and twerk themselves at passersby.  I don’t know, maybe Day 3 had this odd type of effect on people because not far from the obnoxious bikini duo, of course,  we would come across an outdated Borat impersonator (in his trademark neon 1 piece swimsuit).  You would think that the urge to dress in this provocatively odd fashion would be to fulfill some sort of self satisfaction right.  If not, then why do it.  However, this guy didn’t look amused or fulfilled at all.  Go figure.

Next up was Wolfpac’s highly anticipated set.  As Sugar Slam aptly introduced them, Wolfpac are the described as the Gathering’s own Vietnam Vets.  These guys have GOTJ tenure, and may have more sets racked up than any other artists, aside from the members of Dark Lotus of course.  As always, their performance was electric.  They rocked the stage with their unique blend of hip hop, industrial, and classic covers.  Of course they maintained their signature Mad Max and post apocalyptic stage ensemble of Wolfpac girls and lord humongous roadies.  One noteworthy incident that occurred during the beginning of Wolfpac’s set was pretty alarming, especially for their whole stage entourage.  A few minutes into their performance a firework (which looked like a large stick of dynamite) was lit and launched from the crowd directly onto the stage.  Now either Wolfpac had either come to terms with their impending death, had the firework spot staged, or just have nerves of steel.  The firework was spinning, popping, and sparking for a good 30 secs or so, but the band just powered through nonetheless.  To my knowledge, Wolfpac hasn’t released a whole lot of albums, and I recognized most of their songs as being from either their debut album (Jenna Jameson cover) or their 2013 LP.  As expected from a Wolfpac set, it was a rowdy good time filled with all of the debauchery, shock lyrics, and nostalgic covers that we’ve come to know and love from these Gathering mainstays.

Closing out the Carousel Stage on Day 3 was the one and only MADCHILD.  Before he even hit the stage we had to catch up with him backstage and tell him how appreciative we were HODGE n MADCHILD 2015for the perfect guest feature he lent to Myzery’s “Internally Bleeding” track.  You could tell that MC’s focus was all the way turned up, so we dipped out quick to let him properly finish preparing.  From a nice side-stage view (alongside ABK, Underrated/Potluck, and Big Hoodoo) we were able to witness Madchild straight murder that shit!  At one point a fan dressed up in an erotic Batgirl ensemble waved me over to help her get over the barrier and onto the stage with MADCHILD.  Some artists don’t appreciate strangers on stage cramping their space and distracting them, so I politely told her that I couldn’t.  Don’t ask me how, but within minutes she managed to evade everybody’s radar and was on stage dancing the night away.  She wasn’t solo for long though because somebody’s grandma soon joined her.  Again, nobody saw her hop the barricade at all, but like some mysterious mist, she just appeared there.  The two of them remained on stage for damn near his entire set.  MADCHILD remained down in front of the barrier to better interact with the crowd for pretty much the rest of his set.  It was quite the spectacle.

During MADCHILD’s performance he covered ground from several old Swollen Members hits, solo joints, and a grip of new bangers from his album “Silver Tongued Devil”.  He had the audience in the palm of his hand.  A few times he asked his guest DJ, Bukshot (Underground Avengers), to stop the music to personally address the crowd.  MADCHILD spoke out against addiction, and admitted that at the height of his Swollen Members stardom, had burned through 3.5 million dollars on substance abuse and hollow possessions.  At this point somebody handed him a beer, lol.  He couldn’t help but laugh and crack jokes that a Miller Lite was the best they could come up with.  At the sight of a rather large Canadian flag, MC explained that while he will always have love/pride for his Vancouver roots, Los Angeles is his home now.  He explained that this was in an effort to surround himself with stronger musical influences, in the pursuit to always better his craft.

MYZERY n MADCHILD 2015We kicked it for a little while longer after his set and he seemed eager to discuss music video potential for “Internally Bleeding”.  Our homie Skitzo followed up these talks with MADCHILD the next day, in which Bukshot, being a big supporter of Skitzo’s talent, gave a big endorsement towards.  So with any luck, a Myzery/MADCHILD/Skitzo video could actually materialize!

While exiting the campground on Day 3, we witnessed one more entertaining tidbit for the day.  Over at one of the food vendors, we saw another one of the Flow Master emcee contestants getting in a heated exchange with the guy working the grill.  Apparently a $5 “polish”, wasn’t what he was hoping for, and felt pretty duped when it was explained that a “polish”, as written on the sign, was referring to a Polish Sausage and not a thrifty deal on a sex act.

Day 4 started rather early for us (2pm), as far as GOTJ time is concerned anyways.  Myzery was scheduled for a joint autograph signing with Big Hoodoo.  Never having had an official autograph signing gig before, and being one of the few non-Psychopathic acts booked for one of these signings, Myz didn’t know what kind of turnout (if any) to expect.  However, the turnout was far bigger than expected and would maintain a steady line for just under an hour.  One might also assume that the bulk of this crowd was in response to Big Hoodoo, being an official Psychopathic act and all, but that wasn’t the case.  In fact, Myzery was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of fans that came prepared with ancient ICP & Myzery tour fliers, Para La Isla merch (CDs, Cassette’s, Posters, and even a rare vinyl), and a fairly wide range of looooong outta print Myzery classics.  Many of the fans admitted to having waited years to be able to chat with Myz.  All stories of being in attendance for Myzery’s sets way back on ICP’s House of Horrors tour were pretty remarkable to hear, as those shows must’ve made quite an impression on people, especially to be able to recount precise details some MYZERY n BIG HOODOO 201517 years later.

While everybody who approached Myzery for an autograph was extremely respectful and polite, of course he would field the age-old inquiries about a possible return to the Hatchet, and the whereabouts of the new Demon Angel album.  As for the latter, it appeared that the “Demon Angel Sampler” that dropped a few weeks prior had sparked a lot of interest, especially about all of these other voices appearing all over it.  As most inquiring minds suspected, yes you did hear- ICP, MADCHILD, Slaine, and Twisted Insane.  The other voices that people couldn’t quite pinpoint from the sampler were that of- Opio (Souls of Mischief), EDO G (Special Teamz), Molly Gruesome & ill E. Gal, and Insane Poetry.  But yeah, as far as the physical copies of the album goes (which also contains features from- Bizarre (D12), Skitzo, Danny Diablo (Scarhead), Freddie Foxx, Scarub (Living Legends), Kuma, Mastamind (NATAS), and more), we ran out of a very short supply on Day 2.  The reason for the shortage was due to a longtime Myzery hypeman “no showing” at the last moment.  He was also in charge of transporting the merch.  The only CDs that made it to the Gathering were a few dozen courtesy copies for friends and contributors.  This mishap was as frustrating as could be, as the album was years in the making and Myzery was ecstatic to get it out to everyone that’s been patiently waiting.  Those that haven’t entirely given up hope for Demon Angel, please pardon the many delays and thanks for your patience.  Please know this though, because of the persistent fan suggestions that Myzery bring in all kinds of suggested guest features, he did just that for this album.  In the past you have heard him appear with a very select group of friends and peers, but never anything like the features on this album.  With over 16 different features comes, well, logistical complications and delays.  And that’s aside from the other dozen or so artists (Digital Undergound, Pharcyde, Kool Keith, Killah Priest, etc.) that were in negotiations at one point or another.  However, Myz is certain that you will find that the end result has been worth the wait.

One especially unique encounter during Myzery’s autograph signing included a handcrafted family keepsake that was handed down from Grandfather (yes Grandfather) to Grandson.  What was this unique keepsake that the grandson guarded so fondly?  Believe it or not, but this Juggalo’s Grandpa had hand carved an impressive miniature wooden coffin.  When cautiously inquiring about the contents of the very guarded coffin, he explained that it was to protect a 25 year old glass Faygo bottle, one that may or may not have shown signs of supernatural powers through the years.  This whole encounter was just awesome.  Not only was this piece of ICP’s folklore extremely important to protect to this particular fan, but it had been significant for generations throughout his family.  I don’t believe that any other act in the world could invoke such cherished traditions as those existing within the Dark Carnival.

It was now time for the Flow Master Finals.  En route to the Finals, Myzery was temporarily derailed by a really enthusiastic fan.  It was funny because this dude was genuinely obliged to meet Myz and couldn’t have been more friendly.  It wasn’t until a few minutes after meeting him that we realized why he looked so familiar.  He was one of the ruthless killaz we had seen straight clobbering dudes at that unsanctioned Bare Knuckle Boxing Event.  By his peaceful demeanor towards us, you would never have suspected that homeboy had just spent part of his GOTJ experience busting lips and taking names.

Back at the Flow Master Finals, the competition had definitely been narrowed down to the elite few.  No more misplaced corn-hole contestants or whatever a few of the contestants were IMG_53361on Day 3.    These boys meant business.  Fuego Flamez definitely made his reservations for hell on this day as he unleashed an onslaught of despicable bars, mostly related to his opponent’s lack of legs.  He scorched him with vile bars to the effect of- “c’mon, give me a standing ovation”, “you’ve got 10 seconds to walk into this ring and face me”, and “how you gonna kick my ass with no feet” and countless other blatant attacks about dudes legs…or lack thereof.  His assault was so malicious that it actually commanded the audience’s reluctant respect.  As hard as his opponent fought back, the damage was irreparable at that point.  Another competitor got upset with Judge Myzery later on in the tournament.  Myzery caveat’d his vote against him by stressing that using written verses is far less impressive in the battle rap arena.  In what first appeared like a humble attempt to thank Myzery for his constructive criticism, quickly became obvious that this brazen young emcee was gonna try and challenge Myz’s expertise.  Being very familiar with Myzery’s history of handling, or better yet manhandling disrespect, Young Wicked (AMB) immediately yanked this homie’s mic and gave him his walking papers.  Smart move, because while Myzery is no longer that guy looking for trouble, a case of sass-mouth will still result in a painful day no doubt.  Good save by Otis right there.

As the tournament progressed and the finalists started to take form, it looked like it could be anybody’s ballgame.  After weathering another serious contender, Flamez toppled his fourth opponent to narrowly advance to the Finals.  So yeah, this is the point of the story where I’d like to announce that Myzery Camp’s lucky streak continued, but unfortunately for Fuego Flamez, the Finals wouldn’t be his lucky day.  In fact, Myzery’s most notorious Gathering albatross, “The Epuipment Malfunction”, reared its ugly head yet again.  In what should have been a final round, 1 minute a piece finale, turned into five 1 minute performances divided by 2 thirsty emcees.  Flamez, of course, had 3 of those back-to-back performances, and just plain ran outta that lyrical fire that originally got him to the finals.  And with traditional Battle Raps, it’s not your best bars; it’s your last bars that count.  And in case anybody is wondering about any type of conflict of interest with having Myz as a Judge, he freely gave up his Judge’s spot and had DJ Clay sub for him in the Finals.

This almost brings me to the end of my 2015 GOTJ review, I say almost, because of course we had to stay to see the Underground Kings take their rightful thrones.  I’m talking about ICP’s set of course!  After about a year’s worth of hearing people claim that ICP had lost a step, as far as their Gathering performance is concerned, we witnessed the exact opposite.  They rocked that bitch they always have (with some welcomed tweaks here n there).  I personally loved the addition of the huge monitors displayed on the side of the stage.  They used the monitors to blend in vids of some classic hip hop dance sequences into their music.  Being a huge fan of the late Michael Jackson, ICP even included a seamless mash-up of “Billy Jean” into their set.  For what seemed like over an hour, the audience was spoiled with a relentless playlist of crowd favorites (some nearly 2 decades old) like- “Southwest Voodoo”, “F*ck the World”, “If I was a Serial Killer”, “Bitches”, “My Axe is my Buddy”, “Let’s go all the Way”, “Scream”, etc.  In true Gathering fashion, the concert was enhanced by a steady display fireworks, Chinese Lanterns, and a legion of psycho clowns to close out the show with a signature Faygo Armageddon finale.  One unexpected sight during ICP’s set was the use of a video drone to capture their performance from all the best angles.  The funny part is that the drone was eventually spotted by the crowd, a crowd that then made it their business to launch Faygo projectiles at the mini UFO.  They eventually had so many close calls with the drone that it had to abort mission, or risk getting shot out of the sky.  See, just when you think you’ve seen it all at the GOTJ, a device that resembles a mini flying saucer (that’s successfully been able to navigate around a steady stream of fireworks), is finally forced to succumb to the determined aim of the Faygo-wielding Juggalos!  I hope the video crew managed to capture ICP’s performance though, as it was definitely worth watching again.

To even attempt to describe the tapestry of sensations and memories that accompany a genuine GOTJ experience would be a huge injustice to its lasting imprint on a person’s life.  Sounds a bit dramatic I know, but the collage of GOTJ memories are some of the most enduring/endearing of my life.  While some of the details I’ve covered in this recap might appear as offbeat, disturbing, or perhaps even revolting, that opinion would probably be shared by only those on the outside, those looking in.  See, for Myzery Camp, a Gathering experience would just seem counterfeit without the good, the bad, and the offbeat.  At the Gathering, the wild sheds its working class (for at least four days anyways), the alienated become the masses, and once the rest of the world goes to bed…the Main Stage becomes our Epicenter.  And while maybe 1% of the time this isn’t the case, the most spellbinding theme isn’t that of the neon lights form the carnival rides piercing through the night air or the lightning bugs curiously drawn to the fire dancer’s routine, but to us, it’s actually the unwavering credo of acceptance amongst all.

The most lasting Gathering impression for me this year was that of a sign I noticed during ICP’s set.  And yes, while I was ecstatic at the turnout and audience interaction at Myzery’s set this year, I was still moved more profoundly by this one particular sign in the audience.  At some point during the clowns performance I noticed a girl with a life sized poster of a young man.  I didn’t recognize the homie on the poster, but she was very passionate in her task of waiving it high and proud.  It almost seemed as if she was desperate to have her sign seen by the performers.  My curiosity got the best of me and I asked her who was on her sign.  She hesitated, before mentioning that the sign was a poster that she had made for her brother…who recently passed away.  Without missing another beat, and while fighting back her tears, she proceeded to faithfully wave her sign even higher and prouder than before.  As you probably already guessed, the image of the young man on the poster was indeed that of her recently departed brother, but, her intention had nothing to do with getting noticed by ICP.  It became very clear that her motivation was to give her brother the best view in the house.  It definitely meant something special to her, and that moment really spoke volumes about the kind of company we keep at the Gathering.  While corny to most, to a more tolerant breed of people, it could serve as a beautiful reminder of the strength it takes for one to provide her family with a special send-off…one that maybe they planned, but was just out of reach while he was still here with us.  I can’t say for sure, but by the look on her face, she had realized something very important on this night.

Now, if anybody made it to the end of this everlasting GOTJ review, I thank you for your patience and hope that you enjoyed it.  To those of you that made the trek over to the Carousel Stage on Thursday and shared in this big moment for Myz, your support is MUCH appreciated and he truly hopes he delivered for you.  To the fellow performers who showed love and kicked it with us, just know that the pleasure was all ours and that Myzery always has your back.  Lastly, as always, our deepest gratitude to the Staff at Psychopathic Records for once again inviting us enter their empire and allowing Myzery to fulfill his goal of rocking with the world’s most devoted fanbase!

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