Fast food and Transformers is a combination that’s worked on me for as long as I can remember; many of my best childhood memories took place on Saturday mornings with cartoons and a McDonald’s McGriddle. On November 9th, 2023, Mac Sabbath and The Cybertronic Spree teamed up at the Zony Mash Beer Project in New Orleans to deliver a sweet combo that left me in a musical food coma reminiscing about the late 90s.
I have my dad to thank for introducing me to both of these bands, so the opportunity to see the two of them in person with the guy who always bought me McGriddles and showed me ’80s cartoons was a uniquely special experience.
The Cybertronic Spree
The Cybertronic Spree is a band of assorted Transformers who show their dedication to their cartoons and films by covering a variety of hit songs from the Transformers universe live on stage. Both my curiosity and the energy in the room grew as they each rolled out individually to strike their signature poses before assembling as a squad, ready for a spree of action. Once assembled, their neon metallic armour beamed under the stage lights and I knew we were in for a treat. While this Canadian band includes eight Transformers in total, the five members who performed that night were more than capable of fully convincing me of their talent and dedication to their craft. Autobots Arcee and Hot Rod took the lead with their incredible vocals; Arcee especially seemed to enjoy surprising us with how much range and talent she had at her disposal, something she did numerous times throughout the night. However, The Cybertronic Spree is made up of far more than Autobots: Shockwave, the aptly named Decepticon, decimated the drum set while staring us all down with his gold cyclops eye. And Unicron, the Lord of Chaos, and a mysterious Quintesson balanced good and evil in a series of guitar solos, riffs, and baselines that felt truly otherworldly at times.
The Cybertronic Spree is a perfect opener for Mac Sabbath. Their energy, creativity, and good old-fashioned musical talent set a very high bar, and between sets I found myself wondering if the headlining act would be able to keep up. But this was naive of me, and it simply meant that I was completely unprepared for the steaming MSG-fueled fever dream Mac Sabbath was about to serve.
Mac Sabbath
For the uninitiated, Mac Sabbath is a Black Sabbath tribute band specializing in their own house recipe of heavy metal covers with a side of drive-through debauchery. Formed in Los Angeles in 2014, it’s made up of four members: Ronald Osbourne, Slayer MacCheeze, Grimalice, and the Catburglar, whose combined talents and personalities created and established the genre of Fast Food Metal.
Mac Sabbath is an experience you can’t recreate and you won’t forget. As the lights dimmed, twin Ronald McDonald heads on either side of the stage lit up with red lasers for eyes as smoke began to pour from their mouths. Then the drive-through nightmare truly began as the curtain finally fell to reveal Mac Sabbath in the flesh, like a full collection of horrifying kids’ meal toys. The caped Catburglar on drums, Grimalice’s insane hulking figure wielding a bass, and guitarist Slayer MacCheeze with his steel-tusked burger for a head all combined for a perfect, terrifying ensemble that could only be matched by Ronald Osbourne himself, who might as well have been the mascot from the McDonald’s in hell.
Part of what makes Mac Sabbath so much fun is their stage performance. I got to shoot the first few songs from the barricade before I had to retreat for the safety of my gear, as Ronald was wielding twin ketchup and mustard bottles and spraying the audience with water from them liberally. Throughout the night, we were also peppered with confetti, hamburger beach balls, and occasional accidental PBR overspray, all of which simply added to the hilarity and energy of the experience.
However, Mac Sabbath has more to offer than a unique stage presence and series of sideshow gags, and what surprised me the most about the show was how good it was. Cover bands aren’t always musically talented and parody songs aren’t always well-written, but Mac Sabbath has both. For example, their song “Sweet Beef,” a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf,” was objectively fantastic, and performed with the same energy and showmanship that would be expected of the original.
Honestly, I’m still trying to put together everything that I saw that night. And while it’s an experience that I find almost difficult to describe, it’s one that I’ll never forget. So if you’re ever in need of a childhood Saturday morning flashback, grab a burger in a bag, turn on some cartoons, and let Mac Sabbath and The Cybertronic Spree take you back.
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