AUSTIN — Throughout their musical career and, presumably, their lives, Aidan Escalante and Andrew Salazar haven’t been unlike most brothers in that they have their share of disagreements. But there’s no arguing one simple fact: all the infighting they’ve done over their band Donella Drive is now worth it.
The San Antonio duo, along with new drummer Landis Chisenhall, are headed to The Viper Room on Hollywood’s famed Sunset Strip on Saturday, May 7, for the Wacken Metal Battle National Final after defeating nine other bands to win the Texas state final last Sunday at Come And Take It Live (watch Alamo True Metal’s Facebook Live footage of the winning announcement here). The winning artist at the nationals will represent the United States at the world’s most renowned heavy metal festival, the three-day Wacken Open Air before roughly 85,000 fans in August in Germany.
“We argue, we get in fights about the music, but we try to make the best music possible, and now it’s finally starting to pay off,” Salazar, the bassist and backup vocalist, told ATM in the euphoria of victory. “We’re very driven people. Me and my brother, we work our asses off. And we’re just gonna keep rehearsing. keep practicing and keep getting better. That’s all we can do.”
For emphasis, Escalante chimed in: “A lot of arguing.”
Each band throughout the Wacken regionals, state and national finals is allotted 15 minutes. The artists perform alphabetically (see 64-photo slideshow and ATM videos below). And that just happened to indicate Donella Drive would go on first at 5:30 p.m. With apologies to the winners, ATM arrived right after their performance of “Ozell,” “Golden” and “Keep You Waiting” / “Uncertainty Of Now” despite leaving San Antonio 2 1/2 hours before showtime with a quick bite to eat. So, of course, it stood to reason the only band missed would be revealed as the state champion five hours later.
“Keep You Waiting,” incidentally, recently peaked at No. 24 on The Billboard Rock Indicator Chart and No. 10 on The Foundations Chart.
But not even Chisenhall was around for the winning announcement. Salazar said Chisenhall, who joined Donella Drive two days after Steven Rodriguez quit in October and was only playing his sixth gig as a member Sunday, barely made it in time either.
“He was actually on tour with another project he was in, and he was coming in from Dallas when we were loading in,” Salazar said. “By the time we were done, he hung out for a bit and was dead tired. I just sent him a text that said, “Pack your bags, ‘cause we are going to L.A.”
Enjoying their 10th year as a band, Escalante and Salazar have persevered through ups and downs. Once having employed a female singer, Escalante ended up shifting to lead vocals along with guitar. The stepbrothers are the backbone of the band, original members and main songwriters. But their dream could’ve ended five months ago with the drummer switch.
“We had no idea what we were going to do,” Salazar said. “We just asked around, found Landis, and he’s in. And now look what’s happening.”
While Donella Drive’s devotion to its music is paying off, one need look no further than the other nine artists on the bill to see dedication exemplified. Not every state in the country held a Wacken regional, so bands in such a predicament had to travel to another state to begin their road to Wacken.
Among the bands advancing to Austin were two non-Texas groups: Eye from Albuquerque (ATM Facebook Live footage here plus video below) and Immortal Synn from Denver (watch here and below) — just to strut their stuff for 15 minutes. There was also intense Spanglish trio Psycho Pact from Houston with their bloody war paint and bongo drum, thrashers Sadistic Force from Austin, young thrashers Toxic Priest driving 9 1/2 hours from El Paso, metalcore act Trench Rat out of Amarillo and heavy rockers Wellborn Road also from Houston. Sadistic Force, incidentally, will be headlining Paper Tiger’s side room tonight (tickets here).
A pair of area bands that also took part had peculiar situations and circumstances surrounding their sets.
First, melodic rockers Hanna Barakat, performing on their home turf, were easily the sentimental favorites for a pair of reasons. The quartet won the 2020 Wacken Metal Battle at Come And Take It Live, only to have their trip to the nationals in Hollywood snatched away by the following week’s nationwide Covid-19 shutdown. On Sunday, the band’s namesake sang on one leg due to complications that arise periodically from a fracture she sustained at a gig seven years ago in Houston when a brick fell on her toe.
From the 2020 to 2022 event, Barakat enlisted a new bassist and lead guitarist. With her former bassist on hand to show support, as well as Disturbed bassist John Moyer — who produced the band’s 2019 album Siren — Hanna Barakat performed “In the Night” (ATM footage below), “Wanting to Go Home” and “Dangerous Game.” Hanna Barakat will headline Fitzgerald’s on Saturday, April 23 (tickets here).
Meanwhile, San Antonio’s other state-finals entrant Jessikill had a bit of a conundrum. In between the regional and state competitions, the band landed a monster national tour in the spring opening for Yngwie Malmsteen (details here). The trek conflicts with the May 7 nationals, as Jessikill is scheduled to support Malmsteen that night on the other side of the country at the famed Gramercy Theatre in New York. Jessikill bassist Arturo Knight told ATM prior to Sunday’s performance that should his band have emerged victorious in Austin, he and his mates would’ve tried to award the nationals berth to the runner-up.
While most of Sunday’s groups squeezed in three tunes, with a couple able to play four, Jessikill was the only one of the 10 to only play two. Watch them below on “Lightning” before they followed up with “Metal Knights.”
Some artists enter the Wacken Metal Battle without an emphasis on winning it. They may simply be trying to spread the word of their music, gain new fans and sell some merch along the way. Others are genuinely disappointed they didn’t make it all the way. And some, like Denver’s Immortal Synn, are good sports and come up to the winners with congratulations while graciously joking, “We shared the stage with Donella Drive!”
Alas, the night belonged to a set of brothers from San Antonio and their new drummer. Donella Drive will now follow in the footsteps of 2019 Texas state final winners Nahaya in representing the Alamo City at nationals. Nahaya lost out to San Diego, California, band Monarch for the right to play at Wacken during the inaugural battle.
“We’re always challenging ourselves,” Salazar concluded in exultation. “We don’t try and repeat the same things. We love all kinds of music. We love taking it all in in our filters and our minds. I can’t believe I’m here!”
And now Donella Drive will have the opportunity to write a Hollywood ending . . . with German subtitles.
