This weekend, 15 Ames and Des Moines-area bands pounded out set after set at Gross Domestic Product, a show put on by the Greater Des Moines Music Coalition.

“I don’t care what anyone says – we have the greatest f-ing music scene on the f-ing planet,” said Matt Nyberg, lead singer of metal band FACECAGE, the closing act of the concert.

First Half – 6:50 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The opening band, Down Cast, consisted of six students and a teacher from Des Moines’ Scavo Campus, an alternative high school. They had plenty of support – family and friends in droves – but it was their first show.

“Is it heavy metal? I don’t know,” said Karen Kinkel, mother of lead singer Monika Kinkel, before the show.

Their set consisted mostly of cover songs, drawing heavily from Guns N’ Roses’ works, including “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Despite the band’s obvious nervousness, their playing was competent as they maintained a somewhat slow tempo through all of their songs, increasing in energy through their set.

Oh Possum created a horrifyingly eclectic blend of conventional and electronic instruments, including a pair of keyboards, a drum machine and a turntable. This was coupled with a stuttering, surreally distorted video featuring old horror film footage and stop-motion animation. The effect is creepy ambient music – a soundtrack for a world grinding to a halt.

“We try to have instrumental tracks that are easy to listen to,” said Nick Lambert, who runs the turntable and drum machine and also plays xylophone. “But we still try to create a wall of sound.”

Jake Nelson of Oh Possum, junior in elementary education, is the rare student who balances a band with his other obligations. He is also married and lives in Des Moines.

“I’m busy all the time – driving nonstop,” Nelson said.

Rap duo Des Moines Boyz, decked out in big sunglasses and gold chains, gave a lackluster by-the-numbers performance. Their crowd was rather small – most of the attendees had been driven to Oh Possum’s concurrent performance.

Five-piece outfit Beside Nothing, sounding like a louder version of Something Corporate, brought an upbeat pop-rock performance to the stage. They kept their energy flowing by constantly rotating vocalists between mics.

$trick9 poisoned the Grand Ballroom with their bizarre guitarless rap/funk. $trick9’s MySpace page lists the group as partially comedy, perhaps excusing their desperate attempts to get the crowd involved with their song “Mushroom Clouds.”

The Horseshoe Spatulas charged out of the darkness with a triple-guitar onslaught, echoing New Wave Of British Heavy Metal greats such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Backed by a frenzied strobe and black light show, the band’s dark, sleazy drone was the first to get the crowd moving – even if the movement was limited to nodding heads and tapping toes.

“That’s the most you get out of shows any more,” said guitarist Tommy “Jailbird” Janklefingers.

Surprisingly, the band’s influences include a lot of punk rock, such as the Vandals and Bad Religion.

“We like ’90s punk, before it all turned to sh-t,” said vocalist Martin “Martini” Ini.

Hot on their heels was Only, serving a metal soup with punky chunks. With their uniformly black attire and high degree of animation onstage, the band presented a AAA-caliber show.

“It’s just the blend [of genres] that comes across. We don’t try to formulate a certain genre,” said vocalist Sol Bales. “It ends up all just sounding like a Frankenstein.”

Only has some experience under their belts, having won the 2003 Veishea Battle of the Bands. The band also took advantage of their 8:55 p.m. time slot and the more-intoxicated fans who showed up.

“We like playing to those drunk crowds,” said lead guitarist Erich Tran.

Second Half – 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Hip-hop trio Pushovers, featuring Aeon Grey, played next, followed by break-dancing troupe The Floor Spiders.

Poison Control Center entered the Grand Ballroom, decontaminating the area following $trick9’s performance. The perpetually popular group finally got the crowd to start moving, exhorted to action by guitarist Devin Frank’s theatrical gesturing. Vocalist and guitarist Pat Fleming huddled over his guitar like a wounded machine-gunner, picking out riffs, before launching a bayonet charge into the massed audience. Driven back onto the stage by the rallying audience, he continued his guitar antics, playing over-the-shoulder and slinging the instrument around the stage.

“I figured I’m not gonna be that good of a guitar player, so I have to do something to equalize the playing field,” Fleming said.

On A Pale Horse lived up to its name, grinding out death with a heavy double-guitar attack. Their performance marked an end to the excellent metal performances of the evening until close FACECAGE took the stage.

Pop-punk group North of Grand opened up with some percussive guitar tricks, grating the strings across mic stands and cymbals, then launching into a Weezer-esque set. The band’s name is actually an accurate descriptor; they live north of Grand Avenue. in Des Moines.

General Sherman, with its two student members, was Iowa State’s premier representative. Keyboardist and vocalist Becca Smith, sophomore in music, and guitarist Dana Halferty, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication, led the band through its laid-back indie-pop set. Sporting a headband to cover a pair of cuts on her forehead, Smith looked like a keyboard commando.

The band, like the rest, is an ardent supporter of the Gross Domestic Product project.

“It’s kind of neat that they’re able to combine so many genres, and people seem to still like it,” Halferty said.

Radio Moscow, with its 11:20 p.m. time slot, took full advantage of changing circumstances in the audience. An older crowd, reinforced by expatriates from a show at the House of Bricks, combined with increased alcohol consumption, was perfectly prepared to absorb the band’s blues wailings.

Guitarist, vocalist and driving force Parker Griggs was at the top of his game – it was all bassist Zach Anderson and drummer Keith Rich could do to keep up. Griggs made it all look easy, switching nonchalantly between three different guitars much like a golfer switches clubs.

The sound setup for Radio Moscow was absolutely fantastic – Griggs’ vocals, having been buried in the mix at previous shows, stood out prominently. The audience responded, swing-dancing like crazy.

“That’s the best crowd response we’ve ever gotten,” Griggs said.

On the other hand, Ames band Keepers of the Carpet fought problems with their sound mix from the start of their set. Even after having their vocal monitors turned up, the vocals remained buried and muddy within the mix.

The Keepers soldiered on, however. After a few atypically loud tracks, three members of Poison Control Center joined them onstage, forming a horn section for the track, “Glued,” off of their new single.

The Keepers, as the last band in the State Ballroom, ended their set spectacularly by destroying their instruments.

“It was pretty f-ing fun,” said Jordan Mayland, multi-instrumentalist frontman. “I hope someone got it on tape.”

FACECAGE closed the show with a set worthy of its own concert. In the darkened Grand Ballroom and wearing custom-tailored outfits, they unleashed an annihilating metal assault. Vocalist Matt Nyberg exhorted the crowd to thrash in the pit, and joined in himself.

The band’s intensity nearly caused several onstage collisions, as well.

Bassist Fred Missouri got a chance to show off his considerable skills during a short solo piece.

“Everyone in the band is an accomplished musician,” Nyberg said. The members each have 10 years’ experience on their instruments and practice a minimum of five times a week.

The final song of the evening, “Seduction,” saw the pit encompass most of the audience, leading to several minutes of protracted slam-dancing.

At the end of the show, everyone was ready and willing to leave, pleasantly exhausted.

The Venue

The show took place in the Hotel Fort Des Moines, 1000 Walnut St. Two bands played at once, each in a separate ballroom. A central lobby housed a cash bar, cash concessions and a coat check.

The Grand Ballroom was the larger of the two rooms. With hardwood floors, chandeliers and curtained windows, the room was the more inviting of the two – at least until FACECAGE’s performance. The stage was flanked by stacks of speakers and a pair of light towers.

The conjunction of the Capital Room and the State Room formed the second venue. This area was darker, brick-walled and windowless, creating a darker, more oppressive atmosphere. The stage setup was more elaborate, with an overhead rack supporting a variety of lights, including strobes, spinning lights and black lights.

Each ballroom also housed the merchandise booths for the bands playing that room.