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Southern Swarm Catching up to Mark Osegueda and the gang in East Texas By Sarah Quelland FORTUNATELY THE FIRE ANTS were in hiding during my stay in Texas. I did have the rare experience of witnessing the red lights of the aurora borealis as they stretched all the way south to the rural East Texas sky. It was an interesting trip. One of the highlights was Swarm's performance with Comes With the Fall and Jerry Cantrell at the Engine Room in Houston. I was looking forward to seeing an unfamiliar crowd's reaction to one of my favorite Bay Area bands. The club was sold out, and the audience (made up mostly of grabby males) cheered all three bands, though Cantrell's delivery of old Alice in Chains material and covers of "Hey, Joe" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" generated the loudest response. I spoke with Swarm frontman Mark Osegueda and Swarm drummer Andy Galeon after their successful set, and they were thrilled to announce that they'd been picked up for the second leg of Cantrell's tour. I also ran into M.I.R.V.'s Bryan Kehoe, who plays guitar in Cantrell's band, and he reported that M.I.R.V. will be filling Comes With the Fall's spot (which means the M.I.R.V. show scheduled for May 1 at the Cactus Club has been rescheduled for June 1). This change shifts Cantrell's band lineup, and the second leg (which kicks off April 20 in Portland, Ore.) will feature Kehoe on guitar, Craig McFarland (also of M.I.R.V.) on bass, William Duvall (Comes With the Fall) on guitar and vocals, and Bevan Davies (also of Comes With the Fall) on drums. There's still no word on when Cantrell's two-disc solo album, Degradation Trip, Vol. 1 and 2, will be released. San Jose's Insolence performs tonight (April 19) at Maritime Hall with Soulfly, Ill Niño and Will Haven. The band's Maverick Records debut, Revolution, is due on shelves May 22. The band will also headline the Cactus Club on April 27 with Divided and others. . . .Vamp Magazine and KMBY-FM (104.3) present the finals of their Battle of the Bands this Friday-Saturday (April 20-21) at Palookaville in Santa Cruz. Robot God, the Fire Sermon, Sneaky Creekans, Deadweight, Vincent's Ear, Sapos, Muertos, Ribsy's Nickel, Leveler, Herbert, the Strange, Dub Congress, Lonely Kings and It will duke it out for a prize package worth $10,000. Salmon, the Chop Tops and Wyrm are also scheduled to appear. . . . Dreams of the Fall holds its farewell show this Saturday (April 21) at the Minnow at 1700 Clement St., Alameda. The Shadow Cabinet and Mop Birffday will also perform, and DJs Christine Death, Cutter and Kermit will be spinning gothic, industrial and '80s music. Prince brings his Hit 'n' Run tour to the Oakland Arena on April 28. Blues Traveler will be performing at KFOG's KaBoom on May 12 at Piers 30-32 in San Francisco. . . .The pseudo-fictitious Spinal Tap makes a special appearance at the Warfield on June 10. . . .Pantera, Slayer, Static-X, Morbid Angel and Skrape bring the Extreme Steel tour to the Compaq Center (formerly the San Jose Arena) on July 23. . . .Depeche Mode will perform on Aug. 4 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. The band's new album, Exciter, is scheduled for a May 15 release. . . .Weezer's new album is also due out May 15, but the band will not be participating in this year's Van's Warped Tour as previously announced. . . . Smash Mouth has a new self-titled record coming out around the end of June. . . .Poison (named the top hair band of all time by VH-1) is taking Bullet Boys, Great White, Warrant, Vince Neil, Enuff Z'Nuff and Quiet Riot out on the Glam Slam Metal Jam 2001 this summer. There's been no word of a Bay Area date yet. PLAN AHEAD: U2 and PJ Harvey, April 19-20 at the Compaq Center; Fear and Agent Orange, April 20 at the Cactus Club; xBxRx, Anti-45, the Sissies, Quest for Quintanaroo and the Muckrakers, April 21 at the Fishbowl in Sunnyvale; Riff Raff and Curbside, April 21 at 420 Bascom Ave.; the Januaries, April 22 at Fuel; Bon Jovi and SR-71, April 23 at the Compaq Center; Operator: Generator and Woodshed, April 24 at Club Lido; Slow Gherkin and MU330, April 26 at the Cactus; Sift, Ground, Oddman and Local ODdity, April 28 at the Cactus; Iggy Pop, April 29 at the Fillmore in San Francisco; Rocket From the Crypt, May 2 at the Great American Music Hall; Papa Roach, Fear Factory and Alien Ant Farm, May 8 at the Warfield; Ozz Fest 2001, June 29 at Shoreline; Backstreet Boys and Shaggy, Aug. 13 at the Compaq Center; Barenaked Ladies, Aug. 16 at Shoreline. [ San Jose | Metroactive Central | Archives ]