LIVE WIRE: The devil drives a rickshaw.

(DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara was once aware of shampoo. That was 20 years ago. © 2010 Dustin Wood.)

I'd made it very clear to my coworkers that I needed to be off work at a certain time. Of course, we close up shop late, which means I'm now driving like a madwoman to get to The Rickshaw by 10:30. I enter just in time to see DevilDriver start to play "Before the Hangman's Noose", their second song of the night. What I missed, apparently, was the drunken groupie flashing her rack before DevilDriver came onstage. We have pictures, technically. But we're a family website.

For non-metalheads, a name like DevilDriver might conjure up images of dirty underground venues and darkness. And though that's not far off the mark, DevilDriver's begun to establish itself in the mainstream market, with songs like "Devil's Son" and "Driving Down the Darkness" appearing on NBC's Scrubs, and other tracks available for download on Rockband.

(According to his neck tattoos, we might assume that Fafara gets his kicks on Route 66. © 2010 Dustin Wood.)

Frontman Dez Fafara got the crowd going rowdy and loud, screaming things like, "I want to see you all moving!" while using his middle finger to excess. His animalistic growls led an entire legion of crowd surfers and stage divers; more than I'd seen at a single show in probably my entire life. Along with bass player Jon Miller, drummer John Boecklin locked into intricate groove metal beats reminiscent of early Metallica. Finishing on "Meet the Wretched", it was a short but hard-hitting set, perfect for a post-work circle mosh.

Also, despite the size and age of the venue, the sound quality was fantastic. Hats off to the sound guy in charge of the mix.

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DevilDriver played The Rickshaw on January 13th, 2010. Special thanks to Live Nation.