Last night I put my “metal shoes” on for the first time in a VERY long time.

The occasion: A secret show with Cleveland/Strongsville homeboys Chimaira.

The band are currently in the midst of working on their next album for Ferret Music with producer Ben Schigel producing for an expected release in 2009.

I got wind about two weeks ago that the band would be doing an unannounced show under the name “Pure Hatred” with longtime friends 2nd Half and The Ohio Sky at Roc Bar Cleveland. Priced at $5 a ticket, the show was a quick sellout with only a few tickets held back to sell on the night of the show.

The guys and I go back quite a ways, and I hadn’t seen them in quite a while, so it seemed like a good excuse to go out and catch up a bit. As a fellow Strongsville “native,” Chimaira shows are often like a family reunion where I see a lot of Strongsville friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. That was certainly the case last night, and then some. I saw not only Strongsville friends, but also a lot of random other people as well.

Scene comrade D.X. Ferris dropped by, fresh from checking out Yngwie Malmsteen at the Agora (with Ripper Owens on vocals,) and we talked about a number of things while waiting for the band to take the stage.

As the set was wrapping up, I was about to leave when I saw my buddy Corey (i.e. the last person you’d ever expect to see at a Chimaira show) heading for the exit. He had stopped by Roc Bar after a visit to The Garage, “just to see what was going on.” We spent some good real world time catching up for once in a way that didn’t involve phone or email.

T’was a good end to the night.

Oh yeah, the show. Pretty awesome. They floored me by opening with “Pictures in the Gold Room” off The Impossibility of Reason – seemed like an odd opener, and indeed according to guitarist Rob Arnold, it was the first time they’ve ever opened with that one. The setlist was a good hour long mix of mostly older stuff, with a sample riff from the upcoming album thrown in in between “Inside The Horror” and “Resurrection.” Good tight set with not a bit of rust evident, even more impressive since they were using a stripped down setup that incorporated sharing some equipment used by the openers.

Probably the most pleasant surprise of the evening was that yes, the show was “sold out,” but not uncomfortably packed. Roc Bar has a capacity that probably tops out around 250, and there were no more than 100-150 people there – plenty of people to fill the room, but also plenty of room to move around and enjoy the show comfortably.

Everybody that was there had a good time for sure, and there is good news for those that were not there, longtime Chimaira video dude Todd Bell was there capturing the evening’s events on film, so chances are good that you might see some of the footage pop up on the band’s next DVD.

Roc Bar is a cool venue btw – been there for a few shows, and I’d love to see it stick around – some good folks are involved with the joint, and hopefully some events like this will start to get the word out there a bit.

Show thoughts from Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter:

well we did it.

for the first time in our history last night we played a secret show for a few fans and our friends and family.

the idea for the show came from rob and i talking about when we were younger and were excited to just play for our friends, and how it was so fun calling up and trying to get your own show. i said “what if we do that now?” we called, made up a band name and the next day we had a show. it was awesome.

last night was a great way to get back to how it felt the first time we played a show. just jamming and not worrying about anything that comes with being in a known band.

this was the most fun we’ve had in a long long time.

wish you could have been there, but it really wouldn’t have been much of a secret now would it?

Photos by Dirk Zeiser – see the complete photostream here

Chimaira – Pictures in the Gold Room

Chimaira – Fascination Street (Cure cover)

Setlist:

Pictures in the Gold Room
Power Trip
Cleansation
Inside The Horror
Resurrection
Severed
Nothing Remains
Dehumanizing Process
The Flame
Pure Hatred

Relevant Links:

Chimaira official website

Chimaira’s studio blog

Purchase Resurrection from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase The Impossibility of Reason – CD or MP3

Purchase The Dehumanizing Process documentary – DVD