The Devil Wears Prada (and fake eyelashes)

“We’re not better than you…”

(…we just happen to play metal music that is crushing most of our competition)

The Devil Wears Prada is on a rage. They’re on a roll. The audience just keeps growing and growing and the band shows no signs of slowing down. It was cool to catch them at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas. They were on tour with Killswitch Engage and playing to a packed crowd in the outdoor venue. Young and old converged at this event to enjoy some of the best metallic sounds of today and tomorrow. KsE is one of the torch-bearers for the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal (or NWOAHM for short, a nod to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal from the ‘80s) and The Devil Wears Prada is, if you believe publications like AP and Revolver, on top of their class of today’s metal scene.

TDWP took the stage to the roars of many young voices. I brought my 14-year-old daughter with me as a day-before-her-birthday present. We both had photo passes. I let her use my 5MB point and click digital camera, which does a surprisingly good job for me in situations like this. This was a full-on traveling road show with professional crews, a barricade and tight security. Squeezing through the hangers-on at the edge of the stage to get to the “photo pit” is not easy, and once we’re in we have to worry about boots and fists and other flying things coming over the backs of our heads as bouncers help bring crowd surfers down from the hands they’re plane-ing on back to the ground. It’s not uncommon to get a foot to the shoulder.

Guitars were wailing away at bent notes held with lots and lots of volume carrying them high above the audience noise. The drums and bass kicked in, as did the shrill keyboards and a greeting by Mike Hranica, “Good evening, Austin, Texas!” And the band moved quickly around the stage and in place as the energy seemed to spiral in intensity. It’s always a thrill to catch a band when they’re blowing up. The anticipation of the crowd is a little bit higher and the band seems to feed off that and give a little bit extra as if they’re not quite satisfied and still feel the need to prove that they belong.

Before the last song Hranica announced in his winded voice that they believed in Jesus Christ, but clarified that they said this not because they were any better than anyone else, but that they cared enough to share what they believe.