Oh shit. I had no idea, until doing the research for this article, that Vomit Fist guitarist Nick “Vürdoth” Didkovsky is also the six-stringer for the decades-running stalwarts of NYC weirdo rock, Doctor Nerve. Besides the fact that I enjoy the Doctor’s music quite a bit, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for that band due to a record review in the sadly gone Metal Maniacs magazine. The writer was fascinated but ultimately turned off by the group’s sound, and thusly penned my favorite critical zinger that I’d read in my formative years. I have to paraphrase because I’m going from memory, but it was something to the extent of: “Doctor Nerve’s sound is hard to define, but if I had to peg ’em, I’d do so with a brick.”
Vomit Fist sound nothing like Doctor Nerve, if you hadn’t guessed from the name. And logo. And corpse paint. Yet the bands share a commonality of instrumental talent mixed with the freedom of experimentation. Vomit Fist’s core is the father/son duo of the elder Didkovsky and his son Leo “Lurkrot,” plus the addition of “Skrag the Screecher,” who shares the dual roles of screeching and not screeching, alternated in rhythm, to create a vocal effect.
Nick gave us the goods on his guitar rig, which is nice and compact, like a fist, yet spewing metal, like a vomit… well, a machine vomiting, I guess. That 50-watt 5150 (why did they bail on the opportunity to brand that thing the 515050?) paired with a couple of Harry Kolbe 1×12 cabs makes for an awesome little micro-stack. Give a watch to the video below, and procure a copy of the band’s Forgive but Avenge record at Wayside Music if you’re the physical media type, or otherwise the Vomit Fist Bandcamp page and Amazon have the digital goods that you crave.
