The first concert I ever went to was the Thrill Kill Kult, Impotent Sea Snakes and the Genitortures at Club 5 in Jacksonville, Florida. In the mid 90s I was 14 years of age and had never been to a concert in my life. My parents, strict LDS father-knows-best parents, could not understand why I liked the music I liked or why I would want to go out to a concert so late at night. Furthermore, they were against me listening to “modern music” and had, on several occasions, purged my CD collection of inappropriate material. There was no way in hell that I would have been able to go.
Weeks before the show, a friend and I concocted a scheme to get me out of the house and to the show. Essentially it consisted of the old standard of lying about spending the night at someone else’s at then going to the show. So at age 14, no previous concert experience and the only real rock bands I “liked” at the time were Primus and Nine Inch Nails, I headed out to Jacksonville determined to go to my first concert.
When we arrived at Club 5 as I was a little scared. I was probably the youngest kid at the show and I was wearing Old Navy clothing and some boat shoes while everyone else was dressed in leather or fetish gear. I quickly snuck into the venue and waited nervously for the show to start.
The Impotent Sea Snakes came on first and were goth rock with tons of cock to spare (and some vagina too!). The Impotent Sea Snakes are a PT Barnum and Bailey circus of carnal debauchery that included topless women getting “bum rushed” by nuns, fire breathing, etc…it was the whole kit and caboodle of the sleazy side show in the back alley.
The Genitortures came on stage next and took the debauchery to a whole new level. While the music was loud, seductive and dirty the stage show was worse. It consisted of people getting genital piercings on stage, spankings and whippings and a frenzy of homoerotic showmanship.
While the music wasn’t spectacular in the first two bands, the show was shocking. I don’t think that they try to play music persay as much as practice the visual shock and awe of doing naughty things on stage. For a boy of 14 years old, a sensitive disposition and a nascent LDS background this totally floored me. Good thing the Holy Ghost goes to bed at midnight or else I would have had a heart attack by the end.
Thrill Kill Kult, the last band on, seared through a fantastic set but by that time I felt so dirty and trashy that I don’t remember much of what happened when they played. There were flashing lights, cage dancers and the crowd was in a lustful frenzy of rubbing each other down and violently clashing.
When I walked out of the venue my eyes were on fire, seared with what back then could only be construed as evil and filthy images. Not only were my eyes burning but my mind was emblazoned the mongering energy of what live music could induce in someone. That night, instead of turning me off to music, it made me that much more crazed for it. What a rush and thrill!
Needless to say, my parents found out of my scheme and grounded me for a month for lying to them. I should have known they were going to call my friends parent’s but that night was un(w)holy satisfying.
Erik Lopez
Associate Editor, SLUG Magazine
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