Aaron Lande is a different kind of Renaissanceman-a subversive jack-of-all-trades, if you will.
The 28-year-old runs a small catering operation from his Greeley home. He also plays violin with various orchestras throughout Colorado and Wyoming. And when he’s not sporting a cummerbund, he rocks the drums for Followed by Silence, a determined death metal band set on breaking free of its restrictive northern Colorado roots.
But tonight, all his worlds crash together at the Greeley Metalfest + Goatroast. He will put his classical training and musical upbringing to the ultimate test: keeping time in the complex world of death metal after spending the morning and afternoon marinating and roasting a whole goat. After all, “a goat’s about as metal as metal gets.”
Roasting a goat in the parking lot of a Greeley rock club is pretty punk rock, but Lande and his crew aren’t going the full route they could, given their death-metal backgrounds and the genre’s emphasis on crypts and carnage.
“A surprising number of people are asking us, ‘Are you sacrificing it?”‘ said Lande, a working musician and son of Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Art Lande. “I have to tell them, ‘We’re not sacrificing the goat, man. We’re getting it from a Longmont packing plant.’ But ultimately they can tell people what they want to tell them.”
The goat roast, which will feature five Colorado death metal and black metal bands, was Lande’s idea. They seemed to go together, he said, and it also made sense to gather the various bands to celebrate the music they love.
“Death metal and black metal, it’s not the same as classical music,” Lande said, “but what is the same is the amount of concentration it takes to play both. It takes an insane amount of intensity to play black metal.
“Playing drums in a rock band is one thing, but it’s another thing to do that in a black metal band, with the flying meter and time-signature changes and everything else. It’s a lot of brainwork to keep everything tight.”
Lande comes alive when he talks about his nights spent in dirty rock clubs and sweaty rehearsal spaces, but he’s equally taken with the flip side of his double-life. As the associate concertmaster at the Greeley Philharmonic, he is happy making a living with his violin and proud of the training that began in his childhood.
“I always knew that I was going to be a musician,” said Lande, whose mother is also a musician. “I knew that at 5 or 6 years old. It seemed natural to be in music. I always thought I was going to be a drummer, especially when I was 7 and 8.
“I started studying Middle Eastern and Latin hand drumming in Switzerland when I was there with my dad, but then I came back here and I picked up the violin,” he said. “But the drums never disappeared.”
Lande’s not timid about his band or his left-leaning political beliefs, no matter the shared company. He brings Followed By Silence CDs, which boldly bear a pentagram in the band’s logo, to symphony rehearsals – to mixed responses.
“The reaction there has been interesting,” he said. “Some have been really cool, like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you can do this,’ and others have given me the CD back, saying, ‘I need to talk to you,’ and, ‘I can’t buy this because of the pentagram that’s in the logo.’
Lande acknowledges that he is a bit of a provocateur.
“I think this country has had a plethora of problems because of the brainwashed right-wing Christian thing, and the last election was a direct result of too many people not thinking for themselves,” he said.
“I’m definitely in the band more for the music – I’ve always been intrigued with the rhythmic aspect of death metal – but I also like to poke and prod. Maybe our music is blatantly anti-Christian, but our main message is that people should be thinking for themselves, because I really do think the whole Christian thing has gotten a bit out of control.”
Followed By Silence is fleshed out by guitarist Gore Hammer, “the brains of the operation and the guy who writes most of our songs,” Lande said; bassist Forest of Evil, who has a double master degree in composition and bass performance and a Ph.D in composition from the University of Colorado; and singer Joe Pickett, “who can do the really low death-metal, grindcore stuff and then go into the high-pitched banshee vocals, too,” Lande said.
The year-old group has an impressive demo, but its determination and sheer musical skill will doubtless take it further than Greeley’s city limits. With black metal still far removed from mainstream aesthetics, Lande & Co. are working on introducing metal laymen – including their families – to the art form they’ve dedicated their nights and weekends to.
“My dad’s reaction to the whole death metal thing has been interesting,” Lande said, typifying most people outside the sub-genre’s initial response. “He’s intrigued at the musical aspect of it, but he’s a bit turned off by the vocals.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Metalfest + Goatroast
DEATH METAL & BLACK METAL|The Study Hall, 2812 11th Ave. in Greeley; 7 p.m., today|$5 for 20 and under, free for 21-plus|at the door. Information: followedbysilence.com.
3more
PINBACK I’m not sure why, but each time I see Pinback I feel like I’m watching The Police in their early days. The indie pop is luscious and smartly done. Find out for yourself tonight at the Fox.
THE BELLRAYS It would be impossible for The BellRays’ music – an intoxicating tonic of R&B and garage – not to rock. The band opens with the Violent Femmes for The Pixies on Sunday at Red Rocks.
GLASS CANDY AND THE SHATTERED THEATRE It’s time one of Denver’s best rock rooms got an all-ages license, and Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre – the glam-oriented, ’80s-fronting disco freaks from Oregon – is helping the Hi-Dive celebrate its new freedom on Tuesday.
– Ricardo Baca
