Death Angel (Vintage 1987)
To try out my new scanner I pulled this old picture out of a photo album I had lying around.
The year was 1987. I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area so the farthest I ever had to travel to a concert was about 30 miles. But in 1987 I was living in Utah and decent shows were few and far between. A buddy of mine and I hatched a plan to drive 800+ miles (each way) to see a band virtually no one had heard of but we loved, Death Angel. Their first CD (yes CDs were out in 1987), The Ultra-Violence, had recently been released and we couldn’t get enough of it.
I’m not positive of the date, but I know we listened to the Twins win the World Series on the car radio on our way back to Utah so the concert was probably on October 23 or 24 (notice the jack-o-lantern on the riser next to the drum kit). The venue was the old Mountain View Theater, which, until earlier in the same year, had been a movie theater for its first 61 years.
I did not know what the members of Death Angel looked like. I only knew that I loved their sound and that they were all younger than I. I was 19. The drummer, Andy Galeon, for instance, was only 15 at the time. So it was with great embarrassment that I struck up a conversation with Mark Osegueda, the lead singer, in the bathroom before the show while not knowing it was him. He had on a The Legacy (pre-Testament) t-shirt as you can sort of see in this photo. We were peeing next to each other, and I commented on his t-shirt. He said something like, “You like them too?” I told him I went to high school with the former drummer, Mike Ronchette, which when I saw him walk out on stage 15 minutes later and realized who I had been speaking with caused me to think I had said something really stupid.
Anyway, to make a long story shorter, the show was fantastic, and I’ve been waiting decades since for the chance to see them again. That may happen this summer when I will be in Copenhagen, and they will be playing in Sweden. It may be time for another road trip.
January 22nd, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Thanks for the awesome photo of DA!
When the “Ultra-Violence” came out, I remember thinking, “Man, this drummer’s like only a little older than me” And he was, as you mentioned, like 15 years old then. One side note, back then, Japan had “Rental Record” stores and I used to rent vinyls for a couple of days and record it on cassettes tapes. Now I feel old.
Anyhow, I now live in Bay Area where the DA started and have caught their show a couple times after they reunited.
Post more DA photos if you have them, please.
January 22nd, 2011 at 10:03 pm
That’s a terrific photo! If only I had the chance to see Death Angel back in the day. Bought Ultra-violence” on vinyl and subsequently on CD with their other releases. Finally had the opportunity to see them live for the first time last year in Chicago. Was great to talk to Mark Osegueda and tell him I’ve been waiting 25 years to see them. Haha. Thanks for sharing this story. Great memory.
November 2nd, 2012 at 3:52 pm
It would have on the 24th of October 1987. The flyer from the show is on this website. Great picture by the way!!
http://www.metallipromo.com/da.html