They Are Gutting A Body Of Water at the Austin tunnels

 By Lillian Jones 

Station Manager

A five minute walk through the woods behind Stephen F. Austin High School lies something unexpected. Once making your way over a wooden bridge that is much sturdier than it looks, you will find yourself in the heart of Austin’s D.I.Y music scene. 

On Thursday, Oct. 9, music lovers of the central Texas area gathered in the tunnels for a magical night of music presented by none other than San Marcos very own booker Hannah Baratang (AKA superh*llarad) as well as the NYC based Kerwin brothers. What made this night special in particular was that it was a part of Philly band They Are Gutting a Body Of Water’s three night “free generator show” run to promote their upcoming album, LOTTO. 

Trekking through the forest, I found familiar faces of the music scene and chatted as our shared excitement bubbled over. As time went on, the area became more packed and we found space front and center to stand our ground. 

BLANK HELLSCAPE 

Starting off the night 30 minutes past schedule was the one-of-a-kind Blank Hellscape. Blank Hellscape is an experimental noise trio reigning from Austin. They recently went on a U.S tour following the release of their fourth album, Hell 2 – a whirlwind of sound sure to make one dissociate. 

Being front row I began to freak out as I realized I had forgotten to pack my ear protection once again. Luckily someone from the crowd had brought a spare and let me borrow them, allowing me to enjoy the show without the worry of severe hearing loss. As the music grew louder, vocalist Andrew Nogay began his performance. While Nogay isn’t adding vocals, he is entertaining the crowd by contorting his face and pulsing his body as if the music happening behind him is electrocuting him. Off to the right side of Nogay is guitarist Max Deems. With an array of pedals and noise machines in front of him, Deems changes the sound of his guitar periodically throughout the set until he eventually got tired of it and threw it at the speaker behind him. 

Blank Hellscape’s unique sound and stage presence makes them a must-see band of the Austin music scene. Bonus: a little birdie told me one of the members is a KTSW alumni! 

AT FIRST, AT FIRST

From two hours down the I-35 corridor comes San Antonio screamo band, At First, At First. I had previously caught the tail end of one of their sets at the recently deceased house venue, Scissor House. Having not been given the full experience of their set, I was left with curiosity about the band. 

By this time, I had made my way from the front of the crowd to the other side, inside of the tunnels to chat with some of my friends. The music had started without me even realizing and I became stuck in the tunnel area, unable to join the rest of the general crowd as they crowded in around the band. This actually turned into a beautiful situation as I had more room to move to the music and actually enjoy the show. 

At First, At First is a 5 piece that took on a circular stage plot for this show with the guitarist and bassist facing the drummer. Instrumentally, the band reminded me of music from classic emo bands such as Cap’n Jazz while the lead vocalist added the more rough and raw elements as she screamed and got the crowd rowdy. During the last song, she had disappeared into the crowd starting the first mosh pit of the night. The tunnels’ rough, uneven concrete and rocky ground caused multiple people to take a tumble as they pushed each other around. Eventually, the lead vocalist made her way back to the microphone to say thank you and end the set. 

T.A.G.A.B.O.W.

Finally, it was time for the main event! After At First, At First finished, me and the others in the tunnel cleared out to make space for the bands to transition. I made my way back into the crowd to find my footing front and center, directly behind lead vocalist and guitarist, Douglas Dulgarian. 

When the set began, the crowd immediately filled with electricity. Headbanging, dancing and pushing ensued. At first, I enjoyed my time dancing to songs like “Eightball” until the people behind me started pushing me directly into Dulgarian. Scared that I was going to tumble over the lead member and ruin the set, I tried my hardest to hold everyone back behind me until I gave up and left the crowd. Jokes on the rowdy people behind me because I found sanctuary under the tunnels again with the best view of the performance. While I got to avoid the moshpit, I still was faced with violence when a man got fed up with dirt being kicked down by people above the tunnels, throwing a water bottle and hitting the culprit dirt kicker square in the face. 

Luckily, this was the last of the distractions caused by the crowd and I was able to focus on the performance from T.A.G.A.B.O.W. The band played their usual circle formation, giving me a perfect view of Dulgarian as he grimaced in focus at the drummer, giving facial cues of tempo and riffs. In between songs, crunchy electronic beats played to fill the silence as the band tuned their instruments. Giving time for people to comment on the set with people around them, catch their breath and prepare for the next song to ensue. Throughout the set, the crowd died down as they played chiller songs, however it picked back up to full force for their last song, “The Chase”. This was one of their recently released tracks off of their upcoming album set to release in three days on Oct. 17. The new track proved to be even more head-bangable in person! So much so, Dulgarian lost his focus when performing his spoken word poem because two crowd members were bumping into him and knocking over the mic. Dulgarian laughed this off and ended the song instrumentally. 

With the night coming to a close, the crowd cleared out of the tunnels, making their way back through the forest to the Austin High School parking lot. Of course, some people stuck around to chat with the Philly band and get autographs, including my friend Dillon who got the setlist written out on an empty Lonestar box. Overall, it was a very special night and one unique to Austin as T.A.G.A.B.O.W. only played free generator shows for three cities – the other two being their hometown Philadelphia and NYC. 

If you missed They Are Gutting A Body Of Water this time around, don’t worry! They will be back at 29th St. Ballroom on Nov. 18 with Cashier and Stab.