#MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog: Metal View 209Metal 2000-2010

 209Metal View

The "209" Metal Scene 2000-2010

By Mike Vanek

Hey there friends and neighbors. Its your old friend Mike Vanek and I still suck!! I've come out of hiding to talk about possibly the best ten years in the history of the Modesto area metal scene 2000-2010. Now I can write a book about the events that happened within these ten years but here is a quick review. This was a life changing ten years. In the year 2000 I was a new father that was obsessed with local music. Bands of the day incompassed a wide area that streched from Stockton to Merced and all towns inbetween using Modesto as a base. We had legandary bands like Built, Infestation, Rubberfinger,Epidemia, Counterbore, Burial Ground, Sundays Dilemma, Bind, Shrine, Dam, Two-O-Nine, and more but the biggest story of the day being Depswa who had formerly been known as Carcinogen. With three members from the valley this central valley favorite moved to southern California added a guitar player and a name change that landed them a major record deal. At this time I began writing a small fan zine out of the Turlock library called 209Metal NEWS. We slowly evolved as bands and venues desolved and places like Homers and Birdies in Turlock, Tees and Greens in Modesto and the Fatty Mocha in Merced gave way to The Dome in Los Banos, Magoo's funhouse, Season Tickets and The daily grind in Turlock, and The Dirsty Duck in Modesto. New bands emerged like Stigmurder, Cursed, Morbius, Makeshift Grey, Unknown Statue, Captive8, Crypt Orchid, The Shambulls, Solice, Zero Tolerence and more! In 2003 venues evolved and I made the move to Modesto. I stopped the news letter and started booking bands at a small bar on 9th street called the Palm Gardens where many bands emerged like Bitter Legacy, Nothing But Losers, Liquid Conscience, Deem and many others raged in this tiny bar/restaurant that was transformed in to a venue after hours. We had so many bands play here including hardcore legends 25 ta life and Michale Graves from the Misfits. After a year of doing Palm Gardens I was invited to start booking at the legendary Fat Cat music House & Lounge. Bands like Fallen Sleepless, SEIP, Sickle, And All Was Lost, Beyond all Brutality, California Medication were just a few of the bands that would not only play local shows but opened for major headliners. Other estabished bands eveolved. Bands like Nothing But Losers, Cursed, Stigmurder and Better Left Unsaid gained new memebers and continued to grow and the popular band Dam started playing their heavier songs as Levy. As the Fat Cat's popularity grew so did the scene and the the calibur of shows. I can close my eyes and I'm there! Watching people hang from the rafters for Killswitch Engage, Devil Driver, Static X jsut to name a few and trust me I can go on. Another venue that emerged in the more underground elemets of our scene was the Workshop in Ceres which was literly a auto repair shop made in to a death metal venue that hosted the most brutal death metal and hardcore shows with bands from all around the world in Tiny little Ceres California. If the Fat Cat was the main stream then the Workshop was most definatly the Underground!! Other spots like Banana Joes and Sidelines came and gone then a all ages spot emerged. Modesto Virtual was a game changer!! A all ages venue that catered to the growing hardcore and metal core scene. Huge shows in a small space included The Faceless, Whitechapel, Abigail Williams, Suffocation, Sworn Enemy and a very infamous show that featured the band ALL SHALL PERISH and a ton of Violence that ended with the cheif of police standing over a bledding hardcore kid laying in the gutter. Another small venue at the time was the Pizza Factory a small pizza spot across from MJC. Catering to a more main stream metal audience we had rad shows there from a wide aray of bands that included Cattle Decapitation, Primer 55, The Mentors, Warbringer and many others all with local bands that made this a great all ages venue till it sadly closed. It was at this time where bands like Kranial Damage, Mnuemonik, Etched in Stone, Mutilate The Dead and Broken Trojan hit the scene!! Towards the end of the decade the town and the scene began to change. The Fat Cat started reaching its winding down point as far as metal was concerned. It was still host metal the our music was driven across town to Yosemite Blvd to what would be know at the 2 bars or the Strip. Settled next to each other in the same strip mall was The Other Place and The Spinnaker Lounge aka Spinnakers. Bands like Forever Obscured, Sworn to the Black, Brutal Innocence, and many more emerged but most of all a revamped Nothing But Losers made this their home venues and began to grow in poplarity as the number of shows grew that they played. This also happened with bands like Stigmurder who went to play spots at Meyhem tour and a show with Distured thanks to a sponsorship with Jagermeister and The Band Better Left unsaid on their 4th singer signed with Jamie Jasta from Hatebreed's label Stillborn records and toured the country for the remaining years that they were a band. Now alot more happened that I either forgot or didn't have room to print like Chuck Gaither's horribal accident where he damn near lost his leg and the horriffic house fire that took my mothers life and the metal scene came together at The Dirty Sanchez Ranch in Newman Califonia to benefit my family, or 2 huge Misfits shows at Carver Hall and that dosnt even begin to describe the history packed into these ten years. Also we need to mention bands from other necks of the woods that made our area a second home like Nuclear Rabbit, Hostility, Kaos, Luxt, Zero Ground, Mystic Rage just to name a few. I'd also like to take a second and and talk about something very important to our scene and that is X Fest. X fest was important not only for the community in large, or the bands that played but lots of local stage hands got their start working at X fest. Working X fest was a right of passage for alot of us and playing it was a honor that all that did it relish with a sweet fondness. Ive gotten to meet and greet with many of my musical heroes at X Fest and I've gotten to see many of my good friends play X Fest espesially my famdamily in the band DAM. Ive seen them play X Fest a number of times on legendary 104.1 The Hawk stages and I'll remember every one like it was yesterday...

 Like I said this dosn't even begin to cover all the history of these great 10 years but I hope this gives you a good idea of what the ten best years of my life were like...

This Artical is dedicated to the memories of Terry Sterner of The Nor Cal plastics, Underground rapper and singer for 17Ten Joe Young, Abraham Guererro of Brutal Innocence and my Mother Kristy Soult may they all rest in peace. 

#MIKEVANEKSUCKS

Metal View's Ultimate List of 209 Metal bands 2000-2010

Compiled by Mike Vanek and the members of the 209 Metal Community...

Zero Tolerance 

Cursed

Liquid Conscience 

Rubber Finger

Sunday’s dilemma

Bitter Legacy

Burial Ground

Thr3efold 

Built

Bind 

Captive8 

Shrine

Better Left Unsaid

Diferential 

Redlock 

Morbius 

Eyecon 

Epidemia 

And all was lost 

Seip 

Sickle

This times brutal 

Two O Nine

Infestation 

Hogbeast 

Fallen sleepless 

The Venting Machine

Suicide Hands

Mutilate the dead 

The shambulls 

Etched in stone 

Stigmurder

Crypt Orchid

In the absence 

Makeshift gray 

Nothing But Losers

Rebels mother 

Beyond all brutality 

Like Fire 

Isolate 

Solidify 

Return from Exile

Meats$&@s 

Unknown Statue

Fissure

Maus 

Dam/Levee 

Sand which mafia 

Long drive home

EyeWill

Aurora Minus

Infestation 

Optimus 

Carcinogen/Depswa

Lifted 

Slug

Serial Killher

Unother 

Angst

Forever Obscured 

Counterbore 

Kranial Damage 

Let this die 

Scattered fall 

California Medication 

Disfigured 

Decomposition 

Obsidian 

Left hand black

Deem 

Amaora 

Solice

Oblivion 

Man down

Nine hours later