Last night I went to Slims to see Death Angel perform with my coworker Greg. We had a few cocktails and enjoyed a fantastic evening of serious heavy metal!
Back in the 80s, San Francisco was the world’s capital for thrash metal. Bay Area bands leading the scene included Testament, Exodus, the world famous Metallica and this band of young guns known as Death Angel. These 5 guys had a few things that made them unique. All members of the band are Filipino-American, all cousins, were much younger than the other bands and incidentally went to my highschool. Drummer Andy Galleon was 14 when the band was touring the world with Metallica…can you imagine that? I actually rode the bus home with Andy for the first two years of highschool.
Anyway, they disbanded in 1992 and after teaming up in various incarnations and side projects they reformed at a benefit concert in 2003. Since then they have continued onward, recording their first new album in 14 years and touring almost nonstop around the world.
It was a 1st-class-amazing show. Funny thing is, that Monday Kristen subbed a 2nd grade class and the drummer, Andy Galleon’s daughter was in class writing in her journal about what she did this summer. She wrote about watching her dad’s band play at the club and that it was very loud!