Ghostemane & Dana Dentata, Auckland NZ, 2019

Ghostemane & Dana Dentata

22nd May 2019
The Studio, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Doug Peters.

The term Soundcloud rapper has been thrown around a lot over the last few years, ask any member of the audience in attendance last night to name one and at least half a dozen names will spill from their lips. Familiar themes can be found running through the heart of most of their music, whether you are referring to $uicideboy$, Lil Peep, Bones, scarlxrd, XXXTentacion or Pouya etc. death, depression and nihilism, all have a foothold in there somewhere.

Florida rapper Ghostemane aka Blackmage aka GASM or if you want to turn the clocks back about six years when he still looked and sounded like an Eminem knock-off, Ill Biz, hit Auckland last night for his first ever NZ show, The Studio heaving under the stomping feet of just under six hundred.

Bringing along a couple of friends for the ride, ex-stripper turned muso Dana Dentata opened the show with a set that left more than a few jaws hanging. Formally the frontwoman of Canadian metal band Dentata, Dana is all grown up now and riding solo courtesy of a co-signed deal between Kanye West and Marilyn Manson (check out her guest vocals on the title track of Mansons’ last album, Heaven Upside Down).

When it comes to stage presence it certainly seems to be more of a Manson influence shining through as Dana stalked her prey in thigh high pvc boots, matching gloves and fishnets. Dropping tracks from her 2018 album DANAVI$ION (‘3VIL’, ‘XXXTINA)’ she oozed across the floorboards in a haze of dominant sexuality, at one-point simulating pleasuring herself with a knife before pulling out a bullwhip and swinging it above her head.

Accompanied by a female dancer who periodically would play guitar as Dana gyrated at her feet (or ended up under one), her set was heavy on her latest style of mixing hip hop with solid trap/industrial, a sound that Dana herself refers to as “hard-ass shit’. Her wish? For it to be music that women can feel both free and supported to. Finishing her short but punchy performance with ‘TND’ (Yes it stands for ‘Trust No Dick’. No Dana is not a misandrist. In fact, she loves men, especially if they have muscles and BDE), Dana left her kiwi devotees wanting more.

Bridging the gap between Dana and Ghostemane was the heavily inked and cybergoth mask wearing Parv0 an ex hardcore/punk scene kid from Dallas Texas, who through the fortunate hands of fate ended up as Ghostemanes touring DJ after originally working merch. Right place, right time. A producer and artist in his own right (check out his EP S.W.I.M) he is influenced by artists such as Sliink, Salem and Shlohmo to name but a few. But for the Auckland crowd last night he gifted a mix that included scarlxrd’ ‘Heart Attack’, Lil Pump ‘Boss’, and Lil Toe with ‘FWYH’. However, the track in his short but killer set that easily got the biggest reaction was ‘Beamer Boy’ by Lil Peep, an artist that more than a few NZ fans would have like to have seen play here before his untimely death in 2017.

Audience sufficiently hyped it was time for Ghostemane who arrived bang on time with not only a live drummer and guitarist but a stage performer who wore a mask and black boiler suit combo that eerily made him look like an earlier and younger version of Slipknot’s Corey Taylor.

Sporting a cut off Alice in Chains t-shirt over a bondage style outfit of black and decidedly white shoes, Ghostemane’s intro was a cacophony of industrial feedback and a woman’s screams, the blacked-out lights giving way to strobes as he smashed out ‘Nihil’ from his latest album N/O/I/S/E. Ghostemane has more than his fair share of musical background, beginning his life as a musician playing both guitar and drums in various hardcore punk and doom metal bands. An admirer of the likes of Deicide, Mayhem and Carcass, one of his biggest influences was none other than black metal band Bathory. Despite this, his latest work pulls far more from the industrial genre and old school masters such as Nine Inch Nails and My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.

Originally joining up with artists such as JGRXXN and Lil Peep (Schemaposse collective) Ghostemane soon found himself associated with $uicideboy$ and hometown rapper Pouya, their affect coming through thick and hard last night where at times Ghostemanes faster upper octave raps sounded almost identical to that of $uicide Leopard himself, Ruby De Cherry. Still credit where it’s due, Ghostemane can rap full verses and sound just like his recordings, not an easy feat when expending as much energy as he does performing live.

Playing for just over an hour fans got to hear everything they could have wanted and more as Ghostemane threw down ‘Rake’, ‘Hack/Slash’ (w/ Getter), crowd favourite ‘Dread’ and ‘Ballgag’ which he dedicated to all those in the mosh who like leather, Dana even making a reappearance to slither about with a full face mask on.

Circle pits, mosh pits, a wall of death for ‘Kybalion’ and a request for anyone and everyone to crowd surf to the stage to touch Ghostemanes hand before diving back off kept the horde at peak ferocity levels; a somewhat expected but never the less slightly strange pause in the Ghostemane cyclone coming with a request for all lighters and phone lights to be held high as he performed an acoustic version of ‘Acrylic’ from his freshly released (like six days ago fresh) EP, Opium, strains of a late Kurt Cobain hanging in the shadows. Screamed appeals for ‘Squeeze’ were granted as were two encores that followed some serious rave music from Parv0, ‘Mercury’ and ‘Venom’ finally closing out the night.

Verdict? Worthy of witnessing live.

Ghostemane:

Dana Dentata:

Were you there at The Studio for this darkened industrial-rap gig? Or have you seen Ghostemane or Dana Dentata perform live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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