Counter Clockwise

Monterey’s favorite head banging group, Counter Clockwise, is celebrating the release of its second album, Dance on My Grave, on the scariest night of the year. The Halloween date fits its zombie-themed cover and hauntingly heavy content like a customized coffin.

On the album, a titillating biker babe barely escapes the evil hugs of the undead as she zooms away on her chopper. (Nothing says Halloween like an onslaught of decomposing corpses slinking away from their graves to scour for fresh brains.)

And Counter Clockwise lead singer and lyricist Roman “the Samoan” Sevaaetasi – who wears a bright orange Mohawk and has a perpetually intimidating look in his eyes – says the album is much darker than the group’s first.

“We’ve been working on [the album] for about two years and building it with our souls,” Sevaaetasi says. “Lyrically, I’ve gone to hell and back.”

The 11-track album delivers the same intense, heavy instrumentation of their debut album, but the themes of the songs are quite different. They’re more introspective, more personal.

“Our first album was more happy-go-lucky; it was more about partying,” Sevaaetasi says. “Lyrically, the new album is much more poetic.”

And Dance on my Grave certainly isn’t “happy-go-lucky.” “My Silence” is about a deep depression Sevaaetasi braved. The track has a quiet-then-loud Alice in Chains feel, upheld by its appropriately indecisive lyrics: “The darkness fills that void inside/ soft and comforting, I don’t know why.” The last track of the album, “Edge of the Blade,” is about a friend of Sevaaetasi’s who committed suicide.

There are still partying moments, though they hit a little heavier than past anthems. “Kool Aid” deploys the thick rapid guitar progression of a motorboat accompanied by gut-pounding percussion. “It’s about going out every night drinking, watching your friends take face plants onto the ground,” Sevaaetasi says, “and waking up with consequences.”

The industrial metal band Spacehooker opens, along with the Santa Cruz metal quartet 20 Grit and Granted Earth. Each purchase of Dance on My Grave at the show includes a free shot of Jameson Whisky.

Counter Clockwise plays 9pm Saturday, Oct. 31 at Jose’s Underground Lounge, 638 Wave St., Monterey. 655-4419. $5 in advance at Vinyl Revolution; $8 at the door. For more on the other shows see the Calendar. - Monterey Counter Coast Weekly

A lot of bands have a central focus, a message, if you will. With Counter Clockwise, the focus is about good times, life experience and making every show into a party. Jason, Counter's guitarist says, "We're a party band, we just want to get along and have a good time with everyone." Greg, the bassist of the group tells us, "I'd say our message is don't shit from nobody, f---in' heavy riffs, killer rhythms. We're not like, f--- you to the government or f--- you to this or that cause. It's all about good times and experiences we've had. It's a positive message."

"If you want to read into the lyrics, it's life, it's living. It's not too emotional, none of that oh I'm hurt, feel sorry for me. It's more upbeat, it's like going in with no regret. It's about doing things without thinking, but knowing that there's consequences you have to pay. To me, our music boosts the integrity.", says lead singer Roman Samoan.

Counter Clockwise came together like a line of dominoes falling into place. Jason met Reggie through an ad, Reggie met Greg at Wise Music, and Greg met Roman at Costco. "Yeah, I met Roman at Costco, and he was just oozing rock & roll, and I asked if he was a singer, and like 10 seconds later we had exchanged numbers and whatever.", says Greg. "And then, a week after we had our first practice with Roman, we played the Monterey Rock and Art Festival, and that was the summer of '06 and it was a good show, yeah.", adds Jason, the band's guitarist.

Asked about their most memorable show, the band can't pick just one. "Every show is memorable some way, we could down the list of shows we've played and pick some memorable moment from each one. Playing at The Pound in San Francisco, playing Bloodfest here at Jose's. The bar made $4000 dollars just that night, it was great. There was a show we played in Sacramento, there were literally 4 people there, and half of them weren't there for the band. But even that show, I'd say had a good memory, because one of the guys there drove all the way out there from San Francisco just to see us play.", says Roman. "Definitely the power of MySpace there."

Having been to several Counter Clockwise shows myself, I can say that the band is definitely right in saying that each show is memorable. This isn't a band who performs the same routine every night. The interaction with the crowd is one thing that I see very few bands do as well as they do. One night Roman read us some prose that he'd written. The crowd was blown away, and then the band seamlessly segued into the next song, which perfectly commented the words he'd just read us. The band members will sometimes tell stories, and I've never heard the same story twice, even when going to consecutive shows. You can tell that these guys are really enjoying what they're doing.

Another thing you might notice when you go to a Counter Clockwise show, is that drinking, in particular whiskey, is a big part of the show. In fact, if you visit their MySpace page, you'll notice the "Powered By Whiskey" slogan right away. When asked why whiskey, Roman explained, "Well for me, I can't stand the taste of vodka. Jager is like, instant blackout. Rum is instant anger, it just turns me into an angry pirate. Whiskey enhances my superpowers, it turns me into this crazy happy, crazy guy. The song 'Drink' explains it all."

The band is currently beginning to realize their rock star dreams, as they should be just returning from a West Coast tour. Touring has long been one of the dreams of the band members, along with playing arenas and large festivals like Ozzfest. However, if money and resources were no object, Roman says his dream gig would be, "To have NASA throw us up into outer space. Playing in outer space, playing on the moon, that's just like a crazy outrageous fantasy gig." The arenas are definitely the next step for the band though. "I'd love to play at the Budokan in Japan, especially if Ozzy was there.", says Jason.

Every band has their reasons for playing their music, whether it's the hope of fame and fortune, or a desire to entertain. So what makes Counter Clockwise tick? Why do they do what they do. "I do it for the constant hard on.", says Roman. "Yeah, I would say the fans. When you're playing stuff that you wrote, and the crowd is singing it back to you, it does give you a hard on man. It's awesome.",elaborates Jason. "Writing and rehearsing is great, we have a lot of fun with that, but getting out there, playing live and kicking ass, words can't describe it. I wouldn't give that up for the world.",adds Greg.

Counter Clockwise will be wrapping up a tour of the West Coast when this issue goes to print, before returning to the Central Coast. For updated show dates and tour info, you can find them at http://www.myspace.com/counterclockwiseworld. If you'd like to see videos of the band, check out

http://www.youtube.com/user/CounterClockwise2006. - Live En Vivo Magazine

It may be hard to play last, but you wouldn't have known it to watch Counter Clockwise close the show. One of my personal favorite bands, CC is a unique, talented hard rock/metal act that holds nothing back and has one of the best vocalists in Monterey (Roman). They hit the stage at 1:20AM, but almost no one left the club until they were finished. At 1:50 in the morning the audience begged for an encore. Over 150 people can't be wrong, so here's their myspace (/counterclockwiseworld); you know what to do.
All in all, one of our best and most successful Monterey events ended with the club staff having to "subtly encourage" the fans to head for the exits. Thanks once again to all of the bands, fans, and sponsors; without them Your Music Magazine and the Your Music Olympicks would not be possible. - Your Music Magazine