Performance By 'Satan's Blood' In High School Battle Of Bands Doesn't Go Over Well
"Satan's Blood", a five-piece band described by 16-year old founded Dwayne "Skulltor" Campbell as "evil metalcore", was not at all well-received at the Pine Hills High School Battle of the Bands this past Friday, receiving last place at the competition's end.
The poor performance "baffles" Campbell, who says that he doesn't understand how the band did not achieve a higher placement.
"We easily had the best image there," he said. "I noticed that right off the bat. We each had on matching black pants and shirts, and we all painted our faces white with some blood drawn at random places. It was so much cooler than those sell-out posers who didn't even change their clothes for the performance."
Campbell stated he was "positive" that the band's speedy, dark sound and "evil" lyrics would win the crowd over as well.
"Some of those words I sang were just really intense, like 'Satan is now all around/He came to us out of the ground'," Campbell said. "Or how about, 'All of the preppies will have to die/Satan is an evil being.' That's frightening and disturbing, and people were supposed to like it."
Instead, many sources describe the crowd's reaction as "confused" and "baffled", and Campbell himself even admits that things didn't go as well as he'd initially envisioned.
"In between songs, I said, 'We're singing songs about the devil! Who likes the devil?'" he recalled. "I was kind of expecting some kind of answer to that, but there was pretty much silence. One kid said, 'I don't like the devil,' though. That's something."
The core problem, according to Campbell, is that the kids at Pine Hills High are too infatuated with "image" and "shallow existence" to appreciate the deep complexity of Satan's Blood.
"Those kids are all like, brand names and shit," he said disgustedly. "All they cared about was how the other bands looked. Well guess what, Pine Hills? We shopped at Hot Topic, not Abercrombie and Bitch!"
Campbell's verbal twist, intended to attack the clothing company Abercrombie and Fitch, is just one aspect of Satan's Blood that turns off the "white suburbanites" who populate the high school, he said.
"These kids lead pampered lives," said Campbell with a dismissive wave of his hand. "They don't know the evil lurking in our world, where Satan rules everything and there's conglomerate stores, you know, telling you what to buy and stuff."
Campbell's mother, Patricia, said that although she may not agree with her son's assessment of the world, she is behind his musical efforts 100%.
"Dwayne's music is really keeping him out of trouble," she said in an interview inside the Campbell's medium-sized house in one of Pine Hills' many suburban sprawls. "He looks so happy with his little guitar and his wacky, silly makeup."
"Shut up, mom!" Campbell said furiously from his room in the basement. "You're totally ruining my image, which means nothing to me!"
"Don't cast another spell on me, sweetie!" Patricia said with a knowing grin. "Dinner's starting soon!"
Although the Battle of the Bands this year didn't turn out well for the band, Campbell is pinning his hopes for Satan's Blood on 2005.
"I think next year, we'll actually have some cow's blood on stage, or something cool like that," he said excitedly. "Or maybe we'll even follow the emo fad and change our sound! Who knows?"
