Tony Gomez has been in the Corpus Christi metal scene since 1979. That was the year he rode the C101 party bus with his two aunts to see Kiss on the Dynasty Tour — the last tour with the makeup — watched Gene Simmons, and decided that was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
Over forty years later, he's still at it. He's fronted or played in Malignancy, Sintegrity, Killamora, War Cult, Annihilator, a Pantera tribute called Vulgar Display of Power, an AC/DC tribute called Mighty Unclean, plus cover bands and a couple of other originals depending on the year. He also hosts The Tony Gomez Show, a podcast where he interviews musicians with something happening — a new single, a video, a big show coming up.
His first show ever was with a punk band called Aggravated Assault, around 1985. The opening band was Annihilator — the same old-school Corpus Christi thrash band he would eventually join decades later. His dad came to that first show. His dad was a cop. The band played a song called Cops Suck. The singer, Tim Abel, announced it into the mic by name. Tony watched his father stare at him from the crowd and felt like he might not make it home that night.
He's been doing Tony's Twisted Christmas Spectacular for seven years — a 20-piece band called the Harbor City Allstars made up of musicians from across the local scene, playing Christmas classics with an 80s metal edge at the House of Rock every December. This year it's December 21st. They've raised over $10,000 and around 100 pounds of food for the Coastal Bend Food Bank. It started the year his grandson Grayson was born because he felt like it was time to give something back.
The conversation goes deep into the early Corpus Christi metal scene. Final Assault, Devastation, Hypnotic State, Anchor Watt. Phil Salazar of Nighthawk Entertainment renting out the Stardust Ballroom off the access road between Kostorff and Heirs and packing in 500 to 600 kids at a time. The Elks Lodge downtown, until a group of San Antonio skin heads showed up looking for trouble and left without finding it. Zeros. Equalize. EJ's Pizza on Norton Street, where Tony put a three-foot hole in the sheetrock during a pit and handed over the entire door to pay for it. The Warehouse at Staples and Baldwin, which hosted Crumb Suckers from New York, Cryptic Slaughter from the West Coast, and ALL (ex-Descendants).
He also talked about Anchor Watt's guitarist Danny Lohner, who went on to play with Trent Reznor in Nine Inch Nails and is now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And about the Santa Emeralda eight track his dad had in the garage — the one featuring Roland Gomez — that his dad told him was their cousin who made it big. Two decades later, Tony found out his dad and uncle had made the whole thing up. He had been inspired by a fictional cousin for twenty years.
On the podcast side, The Tony Gomez Show is approaching episode 100. He's had Mike Dean from Soulfly, Marcus Liao from Shattered Sun, El Niño, and Swim the Current, Casey Lane from the House of Rock, and recently a band from Colombia called Cartel Psycho who found the show through three degrees of separation while watching a different interview. His rule is simple: have something happening and be someone he's interested in. Nobody's offered him money to be on the show. He doesn't want it.
Annihilator just put out a vinyl called Death is Calling on Extreme Music out of Spain. It went worldwide. A second album is being written.
His parting words: keep live music alive. Keep the original stuff going. And for tribute and cover bands — keep rocking it. High tide raises all ships.
Find The Tony Gomez Show wherever you listen to podcasts. Tony's Twisted Christmas Spectacular is December 21st at the House of Rock.