scene but not herd

It seems that years have passed by since I had a good night's sleep. I woke up around 6:00 this morning and I couldn't fall back to sleep. I decided to go for a walk for some exercise being that I need to lose some lbs. One nice thing about being up early is that there is hardly anyone out on the streets. I kind of like the quiet and the solitude. I took my I-Pod and the second song that came on was Helmet's "Turned Out." After their second album came out, from which this song is taken, I started to rapidly lose interest in them. The first single, "In The Meantime," was great, but the rest of the album didn't really do much for me. The sound was much more "song oriented" and it has a cleaner sound whereas I was much more interested in the raw sound of the first album. That first album was just the perfect blend of hardcore with the more agreeable aspects of metal. Maybe I felt that the second album was starting to lean more into straight ahead metal. In 1993 my friend Sarah and I went to see Helmet at UC Irvine. We left after a few songs. Neither of us was feeling anything as they played and it just seemed like a waste of time. This is in sharp contrast to the great shows we saw them do at places like Bogarts, Jabberjaw, and the Whiskey. For awhile we must have seen just about every show they did when they came into town. They were such a tight band that it was pretty amazing to witness. They had a pretty brutal sound too and they put a lot of "hard" bands to shame. I always liked the fact that that they looked like regular guys as well. They didn't need any stupid clothes or hairdos or tattoos to prove anything. But all that was basically forgotten that night at UCI. Maybe it was the fact that the opening band, Jesus Lizard, blew them off the stage. That was probably the best show I ever saw them do and that is saying something. Three great musicians fronted by a wild man. After their set that night nothing could compare. I see that Helmet has a new album coming out and they will be touring also. I wonder if it is the original line-up? I wonder if I even care anymore? I have to admit that I have a little curiousity, but I don't know... Page Hamilton worked on the last Limp Bizkit album and the new Helmet album is called Size Matters. How dumb is that!?!