Local Metalhead Hangs with Suicide Silence & Walking Corpse Syndrome

Our homey and sometimes station photographer, Miss Emily Haacke, recently had the opportunity to tour with Suicide Silence and Walking Corpse Syndrome. She had a blast, here's her recap.

I don’t think it matters who you are – if the bassist of deathcore metal giants Suicide Silence asks you for fashion advice, you give him the best fashion advice you can muster.

And that’s exactly the situation I found myself in on Wednesday, November 15, at Diamondz Event Center in Jerome, ID.  I had traveled from Missoula with Walking Corpse Syndrome, our own local metal giants who had scored the opening support slot for Suicide Silence's show that night.  Walking Corpse Syndrome were squarely in the middle of their fall tour - adorably titled the “Trash Panda” tour – and they had invited me along to document their travels for a story I was working on.

Before the Suicide Silence show, the Trash Panda tour hadn’t been without a few rough spots.  Losing their bassist just two shows into a ten-city run was an issue that could have ended the tour, but the band pushed through with a guest bassist for their Missoula show and ultimately decided to finish out the last seven shows without any low end.  Illnesses, bad weather, and a number of other roadblocks had all made their mark on the tour, but despite the negative forces the band made it to Jerome to provide support for one of the biggest metal bands in the world, and I was along for the ride.

Which is how I somehow found myself staring into Dan Kenny’s piercing eyes after talking my way backstage at the show, as he asked me whether he should cut his sleeves lower on the shirt he was altering before Suicide Silence took the stage.  Surprised, I stammered the most intelligent, thoughtful and helpful response I could come up with (which was “I think they look awesome the way they are...”).  He smiled at me and threw on the shirt before turning back to the rest of the band to finish their pre-show rituals.  

I could hear the crowd churning in anticipation through the stage curtains.  It had been a great show already. Walking Corpse Syndrome had killed their set that night.  Killed it.  The venue was packed an hour before the show started, but during the lagtime between doors and show time, I noticed the crowd somehow felt less energetic than I was used to, being from Missoula where metal crowds tend to have more energy than puppies on meth.  But the show started and WCS worked them in quickly, putting everything they had into their set and nailing it.  Pretty soon that sluggish Idaho crowd was responding in kind, throwing everything they had back at the band.  The other two support acts, Prison and Upon A Burning Body, both did well to keep up the momentum WCS had ignited before Suicide Silence took the stage. 

I watched as Dan, Eddie and the rest of Suicide Silence climbed the stairs to the stage, ready to finish off the night that Walking Corpse Syndrome had begun.   And man, did they finish it.  They ripped through a dozen songs and came back for a six-song encore, culminating in the destruction of half the gear onstage.  The crowd ate it up, and by the end of the set I was dodging people somehow flying through the air as the mosh pit expanded to encompass the majority of the venue floor.  It was hilarious, it was dangerous, and it was beautiful.

I’ll be publishing more on Walking Corpse Syndrome's Trash Panda tour for you soon!  Follow Walking Corpse Syndrome on Facebook for updates.