Catch it While You Can

Santa Fe/Denver metal quartet Carrion Kind reunites after too many years

The last time local metal legends Carrion Kind were all in the same room together was roughly 2019—which was also when they played live last. Since then a lot has gone down, from the production of a new record that’ll hopefully drop soon, a whole-ass pandemic and, in the case of singer Jayson Grace and his wife, a new kid on the way. That’s why the band is taking the opportunity to show up and shred down before Grace enters dad-dom, and Santa Fe metal fans are reaping all the benefits.

“Other than Jayson, the rest of us are all here, and we’ve actually had a new album written and ready to go,” guitarist Augustine Ortiz tells SFR. “Some of it has already been recorded, and what we’ll probably do is remote track vocals—it’s kind of the new wave.”

In case that’s unclear, Ortiz, who also produces the band’s records from his Decibel Foundry recording studio in Santa Fe, can actually preside over a production session with Grace without the singer ever leaving Denver, where he moved some years ago.

“This show also serves as a way to get back into shape and play songs we haven’t played since 2019,” Ortiz adds with a laugh. “It’s going to be our last show, not ever, but for a while. It’s going to be a mix of the old stuff, the hits, the new stuff from the next album. For me personally, I didn’t play hardly at all during the pandemic, so I’ve got to relearn how to play these songs.”

Carrion Kind is a bit of an interesting project. Featuring current and former members of Santa Fe hitters like Dysphotic, One Down and Casso Vita, think of them like a straightforward but brutal overview of the history of metal. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to nail it to one specific sub-genre, particularly since the classifications of metal have become absurd at this point. Find thrash, death and even some doom elements to their sound; find plenty of reasons to bang your head. And, since new babies and metal don’t generally mix, find your last chance to catch ‘em for a minute.

“Things have changed,” Ortiz says. “I want to say we were more live-oriented, but I think it might switch now to more of a studio project—though the reality of metal is that while we can do that and it’ll be great, there’s gotta be a live component. I’d like to finish the new album and focus on three-day, four-day runs where we do mini-tours or something like that.”

Even so, you should catch Carrion Kind while you can—like in Santa Fe this Tuesday, for example, with local shredders Nightsoil and the inimitably heavy Street Tombs. (Alex De Vore)

Carrion Kind with Nightsoil and Street Tombs: 7 pm Tuesday, Sept. 27. $10. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

Great Scott!

Some movies transcend time, both as pieces of art and in their subject matter. One such movie is Back to the Future, that most excellent tale of time travel gone awry. In the 1985 Robert Zemeckis-led sci-fi-lite film, young Marty McFly (Michael J Fox at the height of his powers) somehow befriends a geriatric scientist with a time machine. An interrupted experiment hurtles Marty back to 1955, where he must ensure his parents bone lest he be erased from the space-time continuum. It has everything—skateboards, bullies, Chuck Berry songs and borderline incest jokes. Different time, the 1980s, but you can still enjoy it with your kids or other nerds. Attend, lest ye be called forever a chicken. (ADV)

Nostalgia Movie Night: Back to the Future: 5 pm Thursday, Sept. 22. Free. Santa Fe Public Library La Farge Branch, 1730 Llano St., (505) 820-0292

Shreddy Kruger(s)

Way back in 2006, your old pal Alex worked in a record store in Northern California, and Mexico’s now-massive guitar shredder duo Rodrigo y Gabriela released their first-ever record—a self-titled affair we couldn’t possibly keep on the shelves no matter how hard we tried. A strange combo of flamenco, mariachi and straight-up metal riffage, the crossover pair culled from so many disparate styles, in fact, that you could never nail down what their fans might look like. This is music you can share with your grandma or rock hard to alone at the end of a bad day (or good day). It is guitar mastery of the highest order, and a testament to how collaboration, experimentation and a healthy thirst for world cultures can become greater than the sum of their parts—all while melting faces so hard no one even knows how to respond. (ADV)

Rodrigo y Gabriela: 7:30 pm Saturday, Sept. 24. $35-$92. Santa Fe Opera, 301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

Bring Out Your Dead

Surprise! The Santa Fe/Madrid area is home to all kinds of people who love the Grateful Dead! Naw, just kidding—it’s the least surprising thing ever, what with the hippie population and all. It’s still worth noting that Madrid, that weirdo little town outside our own, will play host to a smattering of tribute bands who might love the Dead more than your dad (or SFR’s Jeff Proctor, who literally followed them around for a million years). Anyway, find Albuquerque bands The Deal and Lonn Calanca Band offering their jams at the Jerry Garcia altar, as well as Santa Fe’s crazy-popular Detroit Lightning, which features members of Mary & Mars and D Numbers, both of which are just kind of killer bands. Boiled down? If you like the Grateful Dead, you’ll like this, we bet. (ADV)

Madrid is Dead Fest: 1-9 pm Sunday, Sept. 25. $35. Mine Shaft Tavern, 2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid, (505) 473-0743