My dear friend and brother passed away last night. He had been ill for sometime but that does not make it any easier when the time finally comes.
I have known Phil since he was 21 and he was one hell of a character. Fortunately, we made some fantastic music together and I have many many fond memories of our time together.
Rest in peace, Phil!
“Fast” Eddie Clark
Well….there’s no other way to put it…this sucks. I had no idea he was sick and of course there’s no cause of death yet, or least as I’m typing this. For those of you who somehow have no idea who “Philthy Animal” is he played drums in Motorhead’s classic lineup, which included Lemmy and “Fast” Eddie Clark, and can be heard on Motorhead’s classic and most important albums in the late 70’s and early 80’s, including their breakout 1980 album Ace Of Spades. As part of the classic lineup Phil’s drumming style along with Lemmy’s thunderous bass from hell would prove to be one of THE biggest influences on future thrash metal musicians…everywhere. Here’s a nice example of how right now. Most people are going to be blasting the title track to Ace Of Spades and that’s ok but THIS is how I’ll always remember Phil. Rest in Peace brother.
You see the guitar in the main picture? Yeah? Now look at the finish closely. All you see is a pink guitar? Look again…closer. See it now? Now, if you’re a guy under twenty you just jizzed yourself. Twice. If you’re over twenty you can’t stop laughing, but you still have control over yourself. You women though….oh, you….the mixed reactions you broads have given this guitar over the years…some of you are obviously offended…yet…some of you actually like it!! Really??? Um…ok!
I’ll never forget the first time I laid eyes on this thing back in the early spring of 2004, probably the end of March. My old music store, where I was no longer taking lessons at this point, was right next door to my shit job where I was working at the time so I took a visit until I had to go clock in. I looked to my right and immediately saw this…guitar…hanging on the wall. It was a B.C. Rich Bich, the one shape I’ve always wanted ever since I saw old clips of Dave Mustaine using it with Metallica on Megadeth’s VH1 Behind The Music episode three years earlier. But this one was…different…and not just because it was part of B.C. Rich’s Body Art Series either. The pervert in me immediately saw what a lot of people usually need a few looks to see. Holy shit that’s a chick’s ass in a thong! A chick’s ass is the finish of a guitar! What does this say on the tag? “Bich’s Back”? Yeah, I’ll say! Only $300? Hmmmm.
I was told by the store owner’s piece of shit daughter, who I won’t name because she doesn’t deserve the recognition, that there were two other guitars like that but they sold quickly as should’ve been expected. She then said that she arranged for B.C. Rich to recall the last one? Why? “Because I don’t want kids to come in here and see it.” I wish I knew what the big deal is, as far as I know she’s only music store employee I ever knew that would say something that stupid. It’s been more than eleven years since I heard that remark and I still can’t believe I heard it! So fuckin’ what if a kid sees it?? After much debating I asked this dumb bitch when B.C. Rich were supposed to come. “Friday”, she told me. “Yeah? Well call them and tell them to forget it. I’ll be back here when I get paid to put money down on it.”, was my immediate response. I had to get this thing.
The very next Friday I went back there right after I got out of work and used part of my tax return to pay the rest off and this baby was mine! As the store owner’s cunt of a daughter was counting my money she quipped in a pretty serious tone “I think you’re a pervert for buying this!”. Oh I have stories on this twat that could last a whole day’s worth of conversation; but then you’d have to knock me out to shut me up. But who gave a shit? They had $300 of my money since I was no longer taking lessons with them at this point anyway AND I had a guitar that practically screamed sleazy, filthy no condom fucking…with the risk of a few STDs. Twenty four frets for hitting those high notes to make this bich scream, a curvaceous body, that finish! The store’s owner offered to drive me to the mall since I wanted to grab some food before I went home since I didn’t have a car yet; while in his van I asked him if he thought I was a perv like his jackass daughter said I was for buying the guitar. “I think it’s the most macho thing you can buy!”, he quickly responded.
My time in the mall? Oh that was just fantastic! I was given an acoustic guitar case to carry the Bich in because of it’s abnormal shape and when I arrived at the food court to eat I ran into someone and I sadly don’t remember who the guy was. I showed him the guitar and he couldn’t believe the finish on this. At that very moment I was approached by this guy I’ve seen on and off at bus stops in his Fun Station USA work shirt. He had long hair in a pony tail with an under shave and he wanted to let me know that and he and his girlfriend both saw my guitar from across the way and he wanted to tell me he thought it was awesome. That was cool and he seemed like a nice guy. The problem? His girlfriend, who was giving me the death stare right behind him, was this lunatic who I was crazy enough to be friends with not even two years earlier and to say the least I was surprised she was still alive. I actually spotted her crazy ass a month earlier at a show and when I told my dad the next day even his response was “She’s still alive??”. So as much as her boyfriend – and future baby daddy – was cool, I could not wait to brush him off as quickly as I could!
It’s amazing, the kinds of people you can attract just by carrying a guitar. While I was on my way home I was waiting to transfer to my second bus when some homeboy asked to see my guitar. “Yo dat shit is dope!”, he yelled out with a big laugh. Then came this weird looking lady who clearly had to be in her late forties. She saw that I had a B.C. Rich and decided to tell me this story that I still don’t know if I want to believe, in which she saw Metallica with Mustaine on lead guitar at a show. According to her Dave was playing his first B.C. Rich guitar. He hated it so much that at the end of the show he smashed it and one of the wooden shards hit this lady’s neck, cutting it open. She then told me she would force it to stay open for weeks because she wanted to keep the memories. Ok….
The next day I finally plugged it in and I was kind of surprised to hear how weak the pickups actually were. I should’ve known, being that the guitar was kind of a novelty. The solution? Replacing them with EMG 85 and 81 pickups – problem definitely solved! Goddamn this thing was loud after that. I was playing it – and bragged about it – with a sense of pride for years. It just screamed “METAL!!” as far as I was concerned. I used it for years, I mean my next three bands. I saw it as an attention grabber and my ex-guitarist from my first metal band joked that the guitar is the one thing I’d be remembered for. Months before my second band’s debut gig in 2007 I decided the guitar needed a little extra kink if you will, so I went to Rudy’s on 48th St in Manhattan and got myself a Levy’s Leather Strap with chains going right down the middle.
Of course, not everybody liked the guitar. Typical scenario: I’d bring the guitar somewhere, where is irrelevant. I’ll take my guitar out and some woman will notice. “That’s an interesting guitar, bring it over here.” I bring it over. “It’s so interesting that you’d have a pink guitar. Wait…is that…oh…”. Just like that she’s grossed out. In fact the last time I had the guitar set up for it’s final shows in 2013, the female owner of the store I went to, Rustic Music Center, took one look and declared “that’s the funniest and grossest guitar I’ve ever seen” before calling the guys in the place to take a look at the finish. I auditioned for the thrash band Sun Descends in 2005 and when I took the guitar out the lead singer, ex-Exumer vocalist Mem Von Stein, immediately said to me with weariness in his eyes “You have another guitar…right?”
But as I said earlier, some women thought it was amazing, including my brother’s ex-girlfriend as well as girls who worked at my college radio station. Speaking of my brother, one day a friend of his that I used to go to school with gave me a ride to the bus, I think. I had my guitar with me and when my brother told me to show the guitar his wannabe rapper buddy even he yelled out “What??? That’s AWESOME!!” Yeah, the guitar even transcends musical boundaries. At my first ever metal show some dope told me he wanted to have sex with my guitar. My bodybuilder doppelganger and friend Jon has even considered buying one of his own all because of mine!
Since then I’ve been retired from band life. So where’s the guitar been ever since I’ve moved to New Jersey? In the closet because my girlfriend doesn’t want to see it. Oh sure, I’ll take out from time to time. I think I’d like to give it another setup. I do know that if I ever got back into it and began work on the offensive metal project of my dreams there’s no better than my Bich’s Back to get the job done!
This was my second concert ever, just a few months after seeing Superjoint Ritual at L’Amour in Brooklyn just two months earlier, but this was my first ever arena concert – and goddamn what a way to start! A few months earlier my cousin Mike asked me if I wanted to see Motorhead, Dio and Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden in July. Now…I understood Maiden and even Dio playing at the Garden. But Motorhead? Yeah they have such a loyal following but they never held the stature of Maiden in ticket or even album sales. Either way I knew it would be amazing to hear a band THAT LOUD in the Garden. So do I want to go? Um…yeah!
I don’t really remember off the top of my head what my day was like leading into heading out to my cousin’s apartment but I do remember just thinking to myself “holy shit I’m seeing Iron Fucking Maiden tonight!” I’d been a growing fan since my senior year of high school, probably being the only one in my high school that even liked Maiden, or any real metal for that matter. I had heard “The Number Of The Beast” and “Run To The Hills” but once I heard “The Trooper” on WSOU one afternoon I was sold! Then Mike called me to let me know that he’d need an extra $50 when I got to his place because he was able to upgrade our seats and we’d now be right at the second row. How the hell did do that? Well…he wouldn’t tell me. Whatever. So I got to his place in the Superjoint Ritual t-shirt I bought at their L’Amour show, green cargo shorts and my boots, gave him the $50 and to the bus we went.
We got there and the place was the best mix of scalpers and some of the sickest battle jackets I’ve ever seen. When we walked inside my old friend Joe was doing security, and he definitely came in handy later. Motorhead were already playing when Mike and I got to our seats. Come to think of it I now get mixed emotions when thinking of any Motorhead show I’ve seen, mostly because of Lemmy’s health these days. Between him and Keith Richards why the hell is it that Keith was the one that did heroin and he appears to be doing better than Lemmy? Loud? Yeah…ok. Imagine their volume…especially Lemmy’s bass…but now it’s in an arena where you’re now blasting the ears of over 20,000 people. That whole set was an explosion. And from where wee were seated we were right at Lemmy’s side to the stage – the way it should always be! And Mikey Dee’s bassdrums went right through me and my cousin like a second heartbeat. Mike was not really a Motorhead fan but at that moment he definitely got a rush from the sensation of Mikey’s bassdrums. Their set list was filled with songs ranging from their entire catalog, from their biggest songs to their least known. It was my first time hearing their Ramones tribute song, simply called “Ramones”, “Sacrifice”, “Over The Top”, which Lemmy appropriately dedicated to himself, and then I finally heard them play “Overkill”. I’d heard Metallica’s cover of it five years earlier as did everybody else in the world but to hear THEM do it was the single greatest point in the setlist. After they got off stage I almost didn’t care about Maiden!
Dio was next. They were still on tour for their most recent CD, Killing The Dragon, the title track of which they even opened up with. This was to be my first of three times seeing Ronnie James Dio in concert – all three times with my cousin Mike no less! – and my first impression of the guy made me laugh so hard. I mean I never realized how short this guy was, first off. He came out wearing this black silk outfit, I mean black pants flaring out at the bottom and this black short sleeve shirt, decorated with a glitter cross. Now don’t get me wrong, he was amazing! His voice was so powerful on this night, just a few years before being diagnosed with the stomach cancer that eventually took him from us. I still miss him so much. But I know I wasn’t the only one that night wondering if he took dance lessons from a stripper either! In fact when I began my second year in college a little over a month later THAT was what my other friends who were there and I were talking about more so than even the music! He shook his ass and swiveled his hips way too good here.
Craig Goldy was back on guitar, replacing Doug Aldrich who left after Killing The Dragon to join Whitesnake…yeah I was confused about that myself. Why would anyone leave ANY band for Whitesnake?? I sure wouldn’t! Craig was damn good on guitar as he played through this setlist, which Ronnie himself dubbed “Title Track Night”, even though they still brought out “Rainbow In The Dark”. So while we were obviously going to hear “Holy Diver” and “The Last In Line” at some point they band also broke into “Heaven and Hell” to close his set.
Maiden…oh, Maiden. When the time came for the band to come on the lights went out and you almost immediately heard those now-infamous lines from Vincent Price about the number of the beast. We were about halfway through it when nearly everyone in the band minus Bruce Dickinson ran on stage ready to go. I just knew he was behind that crazy ass elaborate stage they had going on, and I predicted he’d probably not show himself until the band kicked in. After Vincent Price finished speaking Dave Murray started chugging away at the beginning of “The Number of The Beast”. You heard Bruce hit that scream….still no sign of him..the next verse kicks in…there he is!! In pure Michael Jackson style he was catapulted from beneath a platform on the stage and right away began jumping down the step with the energy of someone half his age. The whole band are playing away like their lives depended on it and this motherfucker is doing Olympic style hurdles over the onstage monitors while singing and not even screwing up a single note. He was in his mid-forties at this point – show me a younger front man from this time period that could do that shit too!
Oh right – the music! It was a trip hearing THREE guitarists playing an assload of classics originally performed by just two. Right after the first song finished Bruce just yells out in his high pitched wail “THE TROOPEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!” and all three guitarists broke in to the song that made me a Maiden fan for good. Bruce goes away for a minute while the crowd of 20,000 hears Janick, Dave and Adrian pull off a sick three part harmony before he comes back out in an army outfit. NICE! I really wish I could find footage of this show but I can’t because they did a bunch of classics, “Die With Your Boots On”, “Revelations”, “The Clairvoyant” (not one of my favorites). Then Bruce gave a speech about how the band didn’t give a shit about record sales our how we heard their music so long as we heard it, before playing “Wildest Dreams” off of their then-forth coming CD Dance Of Death, telling everyone to take it “…and download it to all your friends!”. Oh Bruce, you funny guy, you. The show ended with the encore, “Run To The Hills”, which I really wanted to do for other reasons when the show was done. But I cane say that this was one of THE best concerts I’ve ever been to.
After the show was done Mike and I waited for my friend Joe to get out so we could go home on the ferry together. I’d love to know how the fuck we wound up walking to the train with this weird looking gay couple, one of the two guys talking to me, randomly switching subjects from why James Hetfield had to go to rehab to how his boyfriend’s family was the cause of his ulcers. Right… While on the train I saw some in shape looking guy with this nasty looking chubby chick with John Lennon’s signature tattooed on the back of her neck. Once we got off the ferry Joe drove us both home, which was a hell of a lot better than possibly taking the bus that late at night. That next morning I felt fuckin’ pumped! I woke up a lot earlier than I should’ve and hit the gym before going to work. Getting of the bus from work I recognized this chick with a John Lennon tattoo on her neck – it was the chubby chick from the train. “You were at the show last night”, I said. So we spoke for a minute until she said the words that made me think she lost her fuckin’ mind: “Motorhead SSSUCKED!” WHAT?!?! Bitch have lost your fuckin’ mind?!?!?! Oh it gets better: “Lemmy looked like he was sucking a dick the way he had his microphone positioned too!”. I have to admit, I did find that part a bit funny…but sucked?? I can happily say I haven’t seen her since!
This past Saturday my girlfriend and I went to Day 2 of the three day Rock Carnival put together by WDHA and WRAT at Oak Ridge Park in Clark, NJ. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to go to this because the only bands I’d give a shit about at all were King’s X, Sevendust and especially Black Label Society, hell, Anthrax wouldn’t be playing until the next day and the lineup for that day was shit compared to what we saw the day we went; but Courtenay REALLY wanted to see King’s X and she REALLLYYYYY wanted to see all the food trucks. So we went.
It was a nice day out, especially with it being the last day of summer. First off – I call absolute BULLSHIT on having to pay $20 to park on the field for the day. Second, it looked real nice when we got there; they had a ferris wheel, four stages tents everywhere, a beer garden and of course, food trucks. But the set up was so fucked up and unorganized. We felt like we had to go through a fucking maze to go from one stage to another, or from the beer garden back to the one of the two main stages. Fucking stupid!
The first band that was on when we arrived was this shit emocore band called Bad Case For Big Mouth. Someone should tell them the they a real bad case of playing some really shitty music. I also think anyone with whinny vocals should just chop their balls off. Hell…whoever the first fuckface was who decided it was ok to whine like a bitch should just fucking go and kill himself now – you reading this Morrissey???? So after seeing that shit we ditched their asses immediately to check out the rest of the carnival.
While walking around we saw a tent. The closer we got I remember seeing that Game Changer Wrestling was on the bill. The closer we got after that I noticed someone a little too familiar to me. Yeah…it was Jaka…
My little backstory with him is something I’ll get into another time. The important thing is if I saw him I knew before he even told me that was definitely going to see this guy…
Chris Dickinson…wrestler turned drummer turned wrestler again. I actually played guitar in his very first band but that was about eleven years ago now. Around the time he had gone back to wrestling he and Jaka were feuding but now they’re part of Team Pazuzu and the two of them will actually be wrestling The Steiner Brothers in Manville, NJ on October 16th. Anyway, I decided to stick around to see Chris wrestle since I hadn’t since I was a ring announcer in a no holds barred match he had against Jaka six years ago.
Here’s the match:
I caught him for a few minutes after the match ended before he and the rest of Team Pazuzu had to drive off to Connecticut for another match that night. So we walked around a bit more until 5pm when Skid Row were about to go on. I personally could give two flying fucks about them without Sebastian Bach but Courtenay was curious to see what they sounded like with their brand new singer Tony Harnell, who sadly used to sing for TNT. New Jersey is the band’s home town so the old school crowd that probably saw them in bars turned up for this shit. They were not that bad but dude…their singer was in TNT. Done. Over.
After they got off they were setting up for Sevendust while methhead led Puddle of Mudd were on the other stage – I’m surprised Wes Scantlin even made it out to the gig without getting arrested again! Too bad you still sucked ass. Courtenay, being a towering 5 ft wanted to get as close to the stage as she could before anyone showed up or she knew she wouldn’t be able to see Sevendust, since she could barely see Skid Row; so there we were, standing there, subjecting ourselves to Puddle of Shit until Sevendust were to come on. The most entertaining part of the wait was the way the crowd cheered as Skid Row’s banner was being brought down. Puddle of Meth took FOREVER to finished their lame as fuck set. Of their entire catalog most people only know of one shitty CD and they just dragged it out to death.
Then…a REAL band came on:
Lajon Witherspoon? Corey Glover on steroids. The guy is still a BEAST on the mic, one of the best singers of my generation, criminally underrated. Morgan Rose…I want his drum kit…now. I lost my way with Sevendust for a long time and it’s not their fault. Starting with their 1997 debut – which I have on cassette – they were pretty much lumped in with the nu-metal movement, most likely because of their grooves but in reality they thankfully are nothing like that. Sometime in between songs Lajon decided to talk about how he’ll always be the guy that talks to all the fans and how grateful the band are to us because they’d be doomed without us. When I hear people say things like that I automatically assume they’re just full of shit. Or was he?
After Sevendust finished up I immediately took Courtenay by the hand and rushed us to the other main stage to see Black Label Society. This was going to be the seventh time I saw them and I wasn’t going to miss shit. Zakk Wylde is GOD. There was no one else that night that could play worth a shit compared to Zakk Fucking Wylde, not Slash, not the Skid Row guys, not even Ty Tabor – no one. The band’s set were intense as usual, hell, ever since he got sober the band’s shows have been like religious experiences and this was no exception.
Here are the first two songs:
Considering each band had just fifty minutes to play I found it amusing that Zakk managed to fit a brief solo section into the set. “Now this is just meedly meedly stuff”, said Courtenay. Me? It’s the best meedly meedly you can get here. After we finished watching Zakk pound his chest like Captain Caveman we relaxed a bit before we walked over to the “Birch Hill” stage to see King’s X. No way we were seeing Stephen Pearcy. Fuck him. Fuck him and every single washed up glam rock asshole that was there. But while hanging around I noticed a tent with a bunch of middle aged metalheads raffling off bass drum heads signed by 80’s thrash bands as well as selling some nice rarities. Oh shit is the Old Bridge Metal Militia really back from the dead as a result of mid life crisis? I think so! But I have to admit, it was nice to see them out. No, I didn’t talk to them. I wasn’t even born yet when they were giving Metallica a home when they came to Old Bridge from California. What was I going to say to them??
After Ratt’s washed up ex singer finally shut the fuck up we walked to the stage. That’s when I noticed dUg’s bass cabinets and had a real bad Beavis and butthead moment:
Huh huh, hey Beavis, look at the letters on his amps, huh huh.
This was going to be my first time seeing King’s X, what an honor…just too bad Eddie Trunk had to announce them on stage. Ok we get it, you were there for everything that happened…a million years ago. I used to love listening to him but he caters way too much to his age group. The band came on…dUg Pinnick looks really good with a goatee, makes him look a lot younger than 65…it’s good to see Jerry Gaskill still doing this after enduring two heart attacks and the loss of his home to Hurricane Sandy. Ty Tabor is an incredible guitarist and he showed his ability to keep up with dUg and Jerry during some long jams.
As I was filming their set Courtenay pointed out to me the back of someone’s dreadlocked head. “Lordy lordy!!!” he yelled out with a big excited smile as he was talking with other people during the show. It was Lajon Witherspoon; I thought he was just bragging for the sake of image when he spoke about his love for the fans and not being afraid to go out to the crowd but there he was in the flesh. In fact he was standing right next to me at one point and when I said the band were amazing he talked to me about them. Wow. After King’s X ended their AMAZING set I approached Lajon, told him I’d be honored to take a picture with him and Courtenay. “Let’s do it!” was his immediate response. Amazing guy, very down to earth, more people should be like Lajon Witherspoon.
Then there’s that parking lot bullshit. We tried to leave after our selfie with Lajon but it wasn’t happening. In fact there was a line that just didn’t move. At one point Courtenay just parked her car all over again to save gas because we were going nowhere. People were increasingly enraged, drunk, both. So I walked to the nearest parking lot attendant and asked him what the fuck was happening. “None of this would be happening if the police just listened to us.” was his answer so I realized that the police were directing traffic JUST one way. This was absolutely disgraceful. It was over two hours before we finally got the fuck out of there. Hell, my friend Maureen from Brooklyn said fuck it and took car service back to her hotel and left her car in the lot just to avoid the bullshit. I also know there were a lot of complaints the next day and I also know that I’m not going back until WDHA and the Clark Police Department figured out how to safely organize and run an event like this.
The show was nice…just really fucking disorganized from start to finish.
Jason Becker was a rising guitar shred G.O.D who had it all coming to him. To say he mastered the guitar at a young age would be the biggest understatement in all of shred. His father, Gary, taught him the basics and Jason took it up about twenty levels. After steadily building a reputation just by making everyone shit their pants with his abnormally original style he nailed the gig of a lifetime as David Lee Roth’s new guitarist, replacing Steve Vai. And then, just like that…he had problems walking right….then came any musician’s worst nightmare, he lost feeling in his hands…it was then that he discovered he had ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. And just like that…it was all over for Jason Becker…or was it?
Since moving in with my girlfriend in New Jersey a little over two weeks ago we connected my Amazon Prime account to her TV when she searched through the documentaries section and discovered the documentary Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet. We both knew there was a documentary on Jason but neither of us ever saw it but we were tired so we finally got around to watching it two nights ago. Watching it my mind was flooded with every emotion that can be pulled out of you from a watching a documentary on a guy who should’ve been dead years ago.
The film opens up with a home video of a teenage Jason Becker getting ready to play the Bob Dylan “classic”, “Mr. Tambourine Man” (that’s right I quoted the word classic because the song is garbage!). This scene alone summarizes the underlying theme of the entire movie, that of a close bond between father and son, a bond between son and a family that would find itself going to the ends of the earth to find a way, any way, to save their ungodly talented son’s life. It almost makes the story of his career and undeniable musical influence completely irrelevant. But of course it’s still covered anyway – why would it not be??
As I said earlier, his father was the one to teach him how to play guitar, albeit the basics, and Jason obviously ran like fuck with it. The movie goes into great detail with this, along with showing 8mm and vhs home videos of Jason practicing at home, listening to the likes of Van Halen, covering Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Black Star” at a school talent show where, well, lets just say the school’s population generally liked hip hop. And I will also go ahead and say his version sounded even better than the original! And no that’s not because I can’t stand Yngwie either.
Another gem in this movie is the interviews with several of the people in Jason’s life from his family to the guys he worked with including David Lee Roth drummer Greg Bissonette, ex-Cacophony bandmate/future Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman, as well as peers such as Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney, who hooked Jason up with Marty to start Cacophony, Steve Vai, Ritchie Kotzen and Joe Satriani. It’s an absolute privilege to hear their stories of how they all met Jason, the accomplishments they all made together, their takes on his playing, watching him transform into this in-demand guitar genius who’s creative mind knew absolutely no boundaries as far as anyone knew.
It’s actually a fun ride, watching Jason’s rise to the top through the interviews, the videos, the music….that other worldly guitar!!!…blaring in the background. You see it all, his recording alongside Marty in Cacophony, his desire to break out on his own with the legendary Perpetual Burn, and what really should’ve been his big break with David Lee Roth. Hell, it’s one thing to worship Eddie but to be the right hand man of the guy who sang on those first six records during that time period?? Score! Right??
But this was were the fun sadly ended. And by the time he was diagnosed with the crippling ALS he was just hoping he could at least get a tour in with Diamond Dave before his imminent departure and full on nerve degeneration began. That now iconic picture I posted here of Jason kissing his Carvin guitar? Yeah, he’s on his knees because he already was having a hard time standing up without a cane. Fucked up but it’s still a true story. Judging by how positive a person his family and friends portrayed him as he most likely would’ve toured with Roth had he not lost feeling in his hands. That did him in. His future as a guitar god to a more mainstream audience familiar with Eddie Van Halen? Over.
From here we see how hard it must have been to lose the ability to do anything at all. For those of you who don’t know, those with ALS generally don’t survive. His parents, and caregivers – who ironically are both ex-girlfriends (Jason! You devil you!) – show more love and support to him than most families would. His father showed he has a lot of patience because he designed a geometric letter system that’s used for him and Jason’s mother to communicate with Jason using Jason’s eyes in preparation for Jason’s eventual inability to talk ever again.
He lost all hope when his doctor asked him if he even wanted to live anymore, as his throat began swelling up. He shockingly said he DID want to live. He wasn’t ready to give up yet! So he was fitted with a tube in his throat to help him breath and take in food. And even better? He’s still writing music with the help of a computer. He’s released a few albums since he’s been robbed of his amazing ability yet he still has the mental strength to carry on?? How???
Jason’s story up until a certain point is almost similar to that of Randy Rhoads’. A hot young guitar player who works hard until he gets the gig of a lifetime, makes everyone shit their pants with his playing only for it to be cut short before he could ever reach his true potential. There is one major difference though. The thing is, I don’t know how I’d react if I found out I could never play guitar again because I was diagnosed with ALS. I’d much rather crash a plane into a house and die like Randy did than EVER have to suffer like this poor son a bitch has to do everyday. Fuck it – I’d refuse to leave the hospital unless I knew I could be euthanized right there and then. Yeah, I said it.
He’s been in a wheelchair unable to physically do anything for maybe 25 years now – pretty much his entire adult life! Once again, he has an incredibly devoted support system in his family and two exes turned caregivers (this guy must’ve been the best sex either of them ever had for them to give up everything to take care of him!). But here’s my problem. His parents are getting older now. I think his parents are the only two people who know how to communicate with Jason the way they do. So what would happen then if they go before he does? What if anything were to happen with his caregivers? Sure, the easy answer is a nursing home but things will undeniably never be the same again. The diet he’s currently on alone is the reason this guy happens to look so healthy. He won’t get that in a nursing home. I also worry that once his inner support system is gone he’ll eventually be taken advantage of. I’d know from experience. My grandfather, who suffered brain damage thanks to a stroke, had a caregiver. Guess what? My father discovered that the rotten piece of shit was taking his clothes and shipping them off to her family back in Granada. See…point is anything can happen. I almost want Jason to die just so he won’t experience this shit because I think it will happen.
That being said, I have nothing but endless respect and admiration for Jason Becker. The documentary, more than covering his outstanding career and subtly highlighting his special bond with his incredibly strong and loving family, sends an important message. If this guy, who should’ve died at least 20 years ago, is still finding the inner desire to live life everyday in the face of this crippling disease, then you can do anything. Tony Iommi was introduced to Django Reinhardt after he lost his fingertips. Django’s hand was crippled in a fire and he could only play with two fingers. But not even that story holds a candle to Jason Becker’s. Life is short and as Jason learned things can be taken away in a heartbeat. In a cruel twist of irony he’s recorded telling his mom that he feels weird that he was the only guy in Cacophony with nothing to bitch about. “When is something bad going to happen to me?” He asked. Well, we know how that ended. But he fought through it all and will continue to fight.
Over two weeks ago Roadrunner Records released the new music video for the title track to Trivium’s upcoming October 2nd release Silence In The Snow. The only reason I even gave it a listen was just so I can say that it sucked balls. I was a fan of them starting in 2005 when I bought Ascendancy and thought that these kids had a shitload of potential and that as they progressed their shit would get better – and it did for a while! Their next two CDs, The Crusade and Shogun were far more metal sounding and far more mature than Ascendancy and you either supported them for growing up and doing different things or you refused to grow up, understand that no band can do the same thing forever and move on. That’s exactly what happened with Trivium.
Starting with The Crusade I was hearing a lot of bitching from people: “This sucks! Ascendancy is better because it’s more metalcore!”. “Fuck these posers, trying to sound like Metallica all the time!” And by the way, you dumb motherfuckers who made those Metallica complaints…please…just…open your ears and tell me if you really think that Kirk Hammett in his prime could play any of Matt Heafy’s or Corey Bealieu’s leads – and without raping that fucking wah pedal! Tell me that Lars in his prime could handle Travis Smith’s drum patterns. Ok, so maybe Matt sounded a tad like James in the singing department but I’d rather that than just screaming to breakdowns all the time and not developing to become a better vocalist.
Then something happened. They seemingly gave into those immature fuckheads that bitched and moaned about their music because it wasn’t Ascendancy parts 2, 3, 4 and 5, and decided to please these “fans”, or so it seems, by pretty much dumbing down everything they had done before. The result? In Waves, probably the worst regression I’ve ever seen in a band. Ever hear the title track? The opening breakdown broke my heart…so metalcore…I immediately had visions of stupid kids with their hair super glued to the side doing stupid dance moves. I heard a few other tracks to try and give it a chance but I couldn’t get into it at all. Worse? Their next album was produced by none other than David Draiman. So I totally wrote Trivium off.
Then this video was released two weeks ago:
Pretty different…pretty much avant garde…but what the fuck is with Corey circle headbanging blindfolded? Is Matt just randomly bleeding? What’s with the cute Asian not being told how to properly hold a guitar? And while bleeding too? But more than that…doesn’t Matt sound a slight bit like Myles Kennedy here while singing the verses? Oh shit his singing voice is suddenly WAY better. No screaming at all…not even a bit? Ok…so the riffs are still simple as fuck…but damn are they heavy! What’s that? This was inspired by the band’s time touring with Heaven and Hell, you say? This song was originally written during the sessions for Shogun?? Score!!!!!
Then came this other leaked song just this past week:
Uh oh…this sounds really good too. This musically speaking is a really good mix of old-school playing with modern edge guitar tones. Just listen to that slow part – goddamn! And Matt’s voice? Great work harmonizing with himself! Great singing altogether! I don’t know that ditching screaming altogether will work out in the end but we’ll all have to wait until October to find out for sure. But for now, not bad boys, you just might win me back as a fan – just don’t fuck it up again!
New Maiden…And I Like It!!
That shouldn’t be a surprise to any REAL metalhead worth a shit; but truth be told, I’ve been kind of disappointed with Iron Maiden for 12 years. When I was 16 Iron Maiden v4.0 was THE SHIT. Bruce and Adrian were back and they now were a six-piece with THREE guitar players since they chose to keep Janick Gers with them. That’s awfully nice of them but let’s face it – if Janick were gone tomorrow most people would cruelly show just how much happier they’d be just because it was Adrian and Dave again. I’m not one of them though. Why? Because I liked Brave New World. It was a fantastically written, thought out album. The title track alone is incredible as is the lead off single, “The Wickerman” – that track is just badass!
Three years passed and they released their next album, Dance of Death. Dude…what the fuck? I get that bands need to evole to survive and/or feel excited for years to come but this…this was just weak as FUCK and absolutely boring. The epics on it…I used their longest epic for a bathroom break during my days as a college DJ several times but man it was such a dramatic decline because their most memorable shit is the epics. It’s sad when Bruce’s next solo album, Tyranny of Souls, had WAY more balls to it than his own band’s material! Three years later we were given A Matter of Life and Death. I was officially scared and I blame producer Kevin Shirley because he encouraged the band to “loosen up”. I feel like in “loosening up” the band completely changed, they became too rock and roll for my taste. I could NEVER hate Iron Fucking Maiden, but I didn’t know that I’d ever buy their shit again and I haven’t since 2003.
Then I heard this!
Holy shit does this sound old school as FUCK! Am I listening to something from Piece of Mind??? All that’s missing here are the crazy ass guitar harmonies, but you can’t get everything. Right? But at least we know that they’ve still got it! Listen to Bruce hitting those notes! How many people pushing 60 do YOU know that can still sing as amazingly as Bruce Dickinson? I’ll wait.
Another Reminder of Changing Times
I took my girlfriend to Manhattan for her birthday this past weekend because she wanted to go to the Museum of Sex and see Funland, which is a boobie bounce house. I shit you not this does exist. Here’s the proof:
You – yes, you! – can bounce around in plastic titties for an extra $15! I’d still prefer the real thing though! But before we walked all the way there from Port Authority I really needed to eat something so we got Pizza across the street from 2 Brothers, which is doing really good at expanding their stores with $1 Pizza. The problem? One of the guys behind the counter was playing the most annoying Reggaeton you could find. Bad enough that shit is just horrid to begin with. I like a lot of different kinds of music…but…Reggaeton, like Dub Step, is to music what rape is dating, like Kobe Bryant was to the hotel employee in Colorado, just a nonstop fucking assault – but to your ears. And it just…won’t…stop. That same, annoying “beat” is pounding away worse than even house music ever could, and possibly with even more bass!! That shit was stuck in our heads for a while.
After going to the Museum of Sex and discovering that fake titty land was closed, probably for maintenance, we decided to go towards St. Marks Pl. It was during that long ass walk that my girlfriend let me know that Trash And Vaudeville were finally closing shop and relocating after forty years in that block. I was aware that they were being stubborn about ever doing it, being that they were the one piece of the old St. Mark’s that I remember that’s still standing, they weren’t going anywhere. But, like most historic places in Lower Manhattan, the pressure of increased rent was finally seeping in. And as we arrived at the block I can see why. The whole block has pretty much become yet another tourist trap: restaurants, a Barcade, Karaoke, Bongs and even a 7 Eleven. Yeah, that’s not a mistype. I first discovered St. Mark’s Pl. had a 7 Eleven in 2012. St. Mark’s Pl. and the Village as a whole used to have so much more character than THIS. And if you’re in you’re early 30’s like I am or even older you know how awesome the place used to be.
I remember getting a good chunk of my metal shirts from places in the Village that are no longer in business because of rent and because of the faggot ass hipsters that came in. I used to love hanging out on W. 8th St. I met some really amazing people there. Of course most of them were strange as fuck but some of them were fucking awesome. I bought my first leather jacket there, as well as my leather vest, which I still have, and even my first real biker watch at this place called Leather Master, which along with the comic store I used to go to and the places I used to by my clothes at, are all gone thanks to increased rent. The Mars Bar, an infamous punk rock dive bar I discovered through this crazy chick that frequented the place a lot…closed and is now Jupiter 21, a nice 12 story condo. Although I feel the beginning of the end came around the tail end of 2006 when Hilly Kristal, after years of dodging eviction, finally caved in and shut down CBGB. Even being landmarked by Mayor Bloomberg of all people couldn’t save the place, so what does that tell you??
I never bought anything from Trash and Vaudeville, I always found their clothes too extreme for my tastes. But I understand and respect the history it provides. It may be relocating to a cheaper and safer building (from what Bobby, a store employee told me), and that’s great. But in the end it just puts the final nail in the coffin of a place that began loosing it’s character a decade ago. Sure, Sounds is still there. But that place seems to me like just another generic music store, although it does have more Henry Rollins CDs than I’ve ever seen anywhere else. Around the time the Mars Bar went out of business someone spray painted on a wall “THE EAST VILLAGE IS DEAD”. Well, that person is absolutely right and it kills me to see what it’s become. My only hope now is that Bleeker St and the streets surrounding it remain the way they are for years to come. It’d be a shame to lose The Bitter End! I played there once in 2012, what an honor that was. Café Wha? is another place like that. It’s a landmark much like CGGB was but we saw how much that mattered, right? It’d also be huge blow to lose Generation Records, a record store I find to be the equivalent of Vintage Vinyl in New Jersey. It’s bad enough Bleeker Bob’s finally went under two years ago. I was there the day before they closed, the owner told me he was hoping to relocate but I still haven’t heard of that happening and I sadly am not holding my breath either.
When I think back to when I was the happiest going to the gym I immediately think about two places, the weight room at my college and Bally Total Fitness. One was where I got my start as a clueless weightlifter, not knowing my ass from my elbow about anything and just using machines because they had instructions on them, and the other place was that major step up. It was like my college weight room but it had more of everything and therefore I no longer needed to wait for someone to finish up or improvise by doing something else. But what they both had in common is that they both had great, strong support groups, we all looked out for each other, helped each other to reach our goals. It was incredible and I’ll forever be grateful for those days.
It was a year into my time at Bally Total Fitness when I met Mike Stanlaw in the fall of 2008. He was a brand new trainer and I saw him watching me as I struggled with cable rows with the corner of my eye. So in between sets he began talking with me, and I wasn’t sure what to make of him. It wasn’t personal – I stopped trusting personal trainers after my experience with the jerks at LA Fitness. But the more we talked I slowly began to see that not only did he actually know what he was talking about, but – GASP! – he actually liked what he was doing. I even let him show me a variation of the barbell row! Needless to say he made a great impression on me pretty quick!
Over the next two and a half years Mike trained me on and off (I think I was the first person in Bally’s he introduced to Dogg Crapp Training, which some guys like to use when taking a break from Max Overload Training and he tried to get me to hurt as much as possible with Calf Raises but he had no luck thanks to my calves already being pretty damn strong from years of being a pedestrian). During this time Mike also became the head trainer at Bally’s. Then, things changed. He got a job at New York Sports Club in Bayonne, NJ, which is much closer to his home, and Bally’s sadly closed down and is now a Planet Fitness. That’s when you know something’s wrong with the world.
Mike texted me last year, letting me know that he was getting ready to open up his own personal training studio in Bayonne and I immediately thought to myself that if you love something you’ll do anything in your power to make it a reality and that’s what he was about to do. Things were delayed due to legal issues that I’m sure I can’t discuss here but Stanlaw Fitness finally opened up shop nearly three weeks ago. I finally found the time visit the new place just two days ago and man it looks great.
GREATEST. CLOCK. EVER.
Holding true to Mike’s love of fitness, Stanlaw Fitness offers several kinds of training, from Bodybuilding contest prep to Zumba to Youth Training and so much more. As of my seeing him he told me he already has 60 clients. What was most awesome part was he took time out of his crazy ass schedule to train chest with me like old times. We did five sets of bench, a set of pushups to failure, and then we capped it off with five sets of dumbbell bench with a Dogg Crapp style static stretch after the final rep – and all while hearing two of Randy Orton’s theme songs on Mike’s ipod! My upper body hadn’t felt that tired in a long time!
If you live in the Bayonne area or you want to train with someone who is the real deal, who lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps health and fitness give Mike Stanlaw a call right now. Yesterday, even. For more info here’s the link to his website.
It’s been a few weeks since this show happened but I took awhile to finally do this blog partially because of time constraints, partially because of the fact that a lot of things happened at this show, partially because I was sure some drunk piece of shit blatantly sabotaged one of my video of the Black Breath set but as I now know she failed. But I’ll get to her. I’m doing this post a little differently than my other posts because there was a lot to cover so I’m going to recap this as quick as I can and then list the bands and I’ll add their pictures and videos that way.
So I arrived at the bar a good half an hour before the show was supposed to start and within maybe ten minutes of my being there I recognized the woman I was standing next to during the Crowbar show just a week earlier. She had checked on me after the psycho fanboy kicked me in the back of the head and she now revealed to me that her legs at that moment we were talking were still bruised all over from that night. We both spoke for a bit about the crowd as a whole that night, how brutal that show in general was because that pit wasn’t really a mosh pit – it was one big fucking fight! See the video on my post about that night see what I’m talking about!
The first band of the night was a band called Theories, who are out promoting their latest album, Regressions. I recorded the first few songs of their set which I will post. They weren’t bad. I don’t know that I’d buy their stuff but but I’d definitely see them again. I’d say that their singer should definitely work a little more on coming out of his shell with his stage presence. I imagine it will happen over time.
Ringworm were next and all I can say is…OW!! There’s a reason James Bulloch is the “Human Furnace”. Damn. The band as a whole were absolutely brutal…so much so that that this where the circle pits and even some idiotic dancing began! I stood to the side of the room while filming to avoid getting hit but some retard who was dancing around like a spaz threw himself in to the guy next to me, who obviously bumped in me, hitting me right in the ribs and forcing my thumb to turn the camera off. Within a minute or two of starting over I knocked into again twice, tailbone first in to the wall both times so this time I just got out until the band finished. Again…OW!!! By the way as of this writing my tailbone STILL hurts.
Black Breath…where shit went down. What’s in a name? That’s what I need to remember when it comes to Metal bands because these guys shattered all my expectations and fucking killed it! I couldn’t even use the word brutal to describe their intensity on stage. They were PERFECT!! So what was the problem? I had gotten a brand new Droid Maxx just a few days earlier so I was unaware when filming that there was an automatic light that I had to remove. So while I was filming there was a light on the whole time so I was a little confused when the woman in front of me began giving my phone the finger and then gave me the finger. Of course I gave her the finger back. She then turned to me and told me that the light on my phone was really bothering her and I was “making everything suck”. I understood and kindly asked her to give me a minute so I could find a place to move and I guess that wasn’t good enough for her so she pushed me.
I didn’t do anything only because I assumed she was a bit drunk but the fucking bitch did it again! When I was done filming she and her much calmer boyfriend thanked me. I politely approached her and told her that there was no reason to push me. “Well I tried to reason with you and you wouldn’t listen so I’ll push you all I want!” was her immature reply. I called her out on it and she declared “I’m not afraid of you!”. I never threatened her. She then tried to insult me again and gave up. It’s incredible, how tough women act when their boyfriends/husbands are around, although part of me thinks that this drunk bitch wears the pants in the couple. And by the way you dumb twat, if you’re reading this I hope you get shot repeatedly in your fuckin’ head! I do have to acknowledge the guy behind me, who saw everything and offered to lend me his spot so I could continue filming, but I was already finished at that point. If you happen to be reading this, thank you bro, it obviously wasn’t forgotten.
After I took a few deep breaths in amazement that I didn’t punch the drunk bitch in her throat I got ready for Goatwhore. I slowly got more in the mood the longer I heard Venom’s song “In League With Satan” blasting through the speakers…so bad but so good! I was getting ready to film again and when I saw the guy in front of me looking up at my phone I decided to stop and look at the problem. That’s when I discovered the light and turned it off – it still doesn’t justify some dumb bitch pushing me.
Goatwhore got on and they fucking tore it up! I personally feel that leaving Crowbar was the smartest move Sammy Duet ever made; he’s a totally brutal, loud, heavy guitarist. Let’s face it – he never would’ve been able to truly express himself had he stayed. That’s no disrespect to Kirk Windstein, but when the band you’re in is the product of one guy’s sole vision you’re not going to have an easy time getting your ideas out there. The good news here was I was in a spot were I was able to avoid injuries this time and STILL see the band!
This is actually the third time I’ve seen them in the last eight years and the second time I saw them while on tour for their latest album, Constricting Rage of The Merciless, an album I recommend HIGHLY. Someone once said that Goatwhore is exactly what Venom would have sounded like if they weren’t such a joke and I couldn’t agree more. The place really came apart near the end when the began their song “FBS” (right….I don’t know why they didn’t just label it what it is.), of the new CD. At the end of the night everyone knew what is was to get Fucked By Satan…and they loved it.
…ok so maybe that dying part is a bit exaggerated but if it got you to read this then my job is done! Suck me.
Sludge GODS Crowbar came to town this past Monday night on their Summer of Doom tour, taking along with them Lord Dying and Battlecross. It took so long to write about this because I needed a whole day to recuperate from the insanity that I’m going to write all about. Then I had a very hard time uploading all my pictures and videos. Why? I couldn’t tell you, but I finally upload everything last night. My videos from the show have been up for the last day or two though and I’ll put the link to them here of course.
I arrived there maybe before 7:30 so I could eat something. I was walking up the block to find food and who’s coming toward me in the opposite direction? None of than Crowbar founder/vocalist/guitarist Kirk Windstein! I shit you not! He and two other guys were headed back to the bar with food and I had a slight fanboy moment so I went up to Kirk. He shook my hand and said hey in that gruff, raspy voice of his before going back to his conversation with his buds. No big deal since I wound up with a souvenir from him later in the night anyway.
So I go back to the bar later and upon looking at Crowbar’s merch table I found this shirt.
This is so fucking true! I myself wound up buying two shirts from the table but no this wasn’t one of them, although I think I should’ve gotten one for my girlfriend as a hint!
Not too long before the first band of the night, Carcosa, went on, I tried to talk to a few people and it felt a bit weird. There were times where I felt like because these people didn’t know me they wanted nothing to do with me. Not that I give a shit at all but this is something about metal that pisses me off. It’s cool that there of groups of metalheads that found each other because that’s so hard to do; but what’s with the cliques? I did met this one guy in a Down t-shirt who was a HUGE Crowbar fan. Nice guy when I met him but as it turned out he was one of those pyscho fanboy types…you know the ones…there’s one at every show and that idiot always knows every little thing about the band including it’s day to day personal activities. Well he turned out to be one of them.
While waiting outside I met Alex Bent, the current drummer in Battlecross. We had a long conversation about all things music. He and I and the crowd including the psycho fanboy were reminiscing about how we each discovered Crowbar and I good chunk of us said by watching Beavis and Butthead. “Huh huh, I’d hate to meet this guy in an alley Beavis. Huh huh.” After a while it was time for him to go back in but he was cool enough to take this photo with me before he did.
I walked back in as Carcosa began their set. They’re a band out of Long Island and this just happened to be their first show. If I could describe their music I’d say a sludge/hardcore hybrid, not like Crowbar does but they were pretty heavy. For their first show they were spot on, as if they rehearsed a lot. I spoke to Tim, their lead singer at their merch table after they finished and he said this wasn’t even supposed to be their first gig but when they got the call how the fuck could they say no???? They’re one of many bands I’ve noticed selling their music on cassettes, primarily because they’re cheaper to make than CDs according to what they guys in Ajax told me last July. For $5 I got a cassette with a free digital download card along with two stickers. To hear it for yourself go to http://www.carcosali.bandcamp.com and you’ll find the entire demo.
I had more pictures and even a video but for some reason my memory card filled up quick and I didn’t even have many pic taken yet at that point. This would be cause for a lot of frustration throughout the night.
Next of was Lord Dying. This is was a close as we were gonna get to Crowbar before Crowbar even hit the stage. It was heavy and sludgy…but with harmonies and solos. They actually impressed me a lot and I will but their shit. Erik Olson’s vocals were angry as FUCK and the music just pounded you.
At the end of their set I spoke to Chris Evans, their co-guitarist, who let me take a picture of him with that beautiful custom made guitar you see both guys with in the video I posted. He even let me hold it, that thing is light as a feather. I wanted to try and balance it one finger!
Battlecross were next and the last band before Crowbar. This was the thrashiest, fastest and most melodic band out of the entire lineup. They were still intense but in a different way and it’s safe to say the definitely have a following because this was the time when the room were in in truly began to full up. From “go” the band were non-stop. Their music was fast and while i had heard some of their songs before this night just so I could be familiar with them, they really impressed me live. Also, it’s good to know there are bands out there with a sense of humor because Kyle Gunther was absolutely hysterical at times. When I met him afterwards I should’ve suggested he try standup comedy.
Here’s where problems began. My phone’s battery was dying so my video for Battlecross was cut off after a minute and a half and my camera’s memory card was mysteriously full. I’d fix the camera issue later but I couldn’t charge my phone obviously. But here’s the video I made because it did come out good, at least.
Some people were crazy enough to clear the room after Battlecross got off the stage. I guess they wanted to get one last smoke break, I don’t know. I just know that there was a great open spot right at the front of the stage and I took it quickly. While Alex was taking down his massive drum set – the biggest one of all the bands! – I befriended the guy standing next to me, also named Mike. Turns out he’s huge Crowbar fan – no not like the psycho fanboy. Kirk Windstein got on stage to set up and he drops the setlist on the floor and reading it Mike and I got real giddy, like teenagers, just knowing that shit was going down tonight. I mean…just…just look at this fucking setlist!
After just ten minutes Crowbar finally hit the stage. I think you can just look at the picture above to figure out just how fucking crazy shit got based on the song being played but trust me, seeing is believing. I was only able to take a few pictures because I got banged around a bit being that I was at the front. I mean I was right in front of Kirk Fucking Windstein and practically getting an upfront guitar lesson! If I can’t play any of Crowbar’s shit after this show I need new glasses now. So here are the few pictures I was able to take, just to get it out of the way.
So when the band began playing the place turned into a heavy metal lion’s den of dudes jumping off the stage – especially that psycho fanboy! He kept on trying to push his way in and knocking me away from the front but I wasn’t letting that happen. But I did pay for it because his breath smelled like fucking shit! Mike smelt it too as did the woman standing to my right! I have a video of the the second and third songs they did: “Planets Collide” and “All I Had (I Gave)” and before the “All I Had…” ended the fucking camera stopped on me again! But I’ll tell you what…as crazy as we all were – I mean Mike and I were laughing so hard at how crazy everybody was and how heavy as FUCK the band were – shit really went down at the breakdown to “All I Had…” It’s as if nothing else matters after that song. This was where the whole fucking place just caved in. For real. Here’s the video of it. The sound’s fuzzy because I’m right in front of Kirk but just fast forward to the 8:16 to see it all.
It was an extremely intense show. And if shit couldn’t be more out of control the band broke into the intro to “The Lasting Dose” and played it even slower than it already is. That just made everyone’s blood boil because they just wanted the band to kick in so they could beat each other up some more. I fucking loved it! I’m pretty sure it was that song were some jackass jumped of the stage and landed right on my shoulder. And not even five minutes after that I felt someone kick me in the back of the head. The woman next to me asked me if I was ok and I saw that psycho fanboy crowd surfing, so I immediately figured out that it was his foot that hit me. She and I both wanted to fuck him up because he kept on jumping our direction AND his breath smelt so fucking rancid. Rushing to the stage to show he knows every single word before jumping on us again and again. I was ready to hurt him.
The show was SICK. Crowbar were so fucking heavy. This really is the music you listen to to get fat! If I wasn’t sick I would’ve totally been motivated to lift weights the next day because they gave me such an adrenaline rush. This is the music you shit dead babies to. Fuck it – this is the music you EAT babies to! They ended the night with “Existence is Punishment” and just when you thought the crowd were tired from beating the shit out of each other they got right back into it just like that. I’ve never seen anything like it in all the years I’ve been to shows. I’ve seen things close to this happen but the difference was that at all those other shows the crowds calmed down at least a little after a few songs. Here? No. Just…no. At the end of the show I jokingly thanked Kirk for the free guitar lesson. “Free guitar lesson, huh?”, he asked on the mic in the raspy ass fucking voice of his. He then let out a smile and gave me this sick looking guitar pic out of his pocket.
This again was such a fucking sick show…the single most intense show I’ve ever gone to so far. I plan on going back to Saint Vitus this Monday to see Goatwhore, which ironically enough was formed by former Acid Bath and Crowbar guitarist Sammy Pierre Duet. That’s a band that puts on a sick show but I know that it won’t be the same as this.
“High On Fire are gods to a generation of bikers, barbarians and beardos, and luminiferous is one of their finest hours.”
That’s what I saw when I bought High On Fire’s latest album, Luminiferous this past Friday, and for once I might actually agree with Rolling Stone on this one. Just one question: what the fuck is a “beardo”? Is it meant just to describe someone with a big beard? If so then I understand because I saw a few on those when I saw High On Fire at Webster hall back in October 2007. But if it’s meant to say dudes with beards are weird then fuck them because as far as I’m concerned Rolling Stone’s core audience are a bunch of dirt bags who probably don’t even shower. It’s bad enough Rolling Stone as a whole appears to forever be stuck in the 1970s!
I wonder if Matt Pike was looking for irony when he named the band’s new CD Luminiferous because there sure as fuck ins’t that much light being carried through here. I’ll never forget when I first heard the band back in 2004 and decided that this was what Master of Reality-era Black Sabbath would’ve sounded like had Lemmy joined them and sped up the tempos greatly. On Luminiferous it’s probably even MORE intense as it ever was and that especially goes for Blessed Black Wings!
I put this in my car and my ass was immediately kicked by “The Black Plot”. The whole band immediately came in with a great mid tempo chug that quickly turns in to some of the greatest sludge thrash I’ve ever heard from them. Matt Pike as far as I’m concerned is the king of fast paced sludge; his guitar sound is so strong, so heavy, yet you can still hear everything he’s doing. Des Kensel does a fantastic job of keeping up with the riffs. His double bass work and his fills highlight the guitar and bass parts without overshadowing them, which is so important when you’re in a band.
There are some tracks like “The Falconist” where the band show their ability to write solid mid paced songs that may not be as frenzied as what they’re known for but are still heavy as FUCK. I recommend that track alone. I also recommend “The Cave”. Jeff Matz – who I once saw opening up for Motorhead with his old band Zeke, ironically enough – opens up the song with this bassline that offers a brief sense of calm before the rest of the band kicks in and fucks everything up. Since this song alone is nearly eight minutes long I have to say now that I appreciate the fact that the guys are able to keep shit from getting absolutely boring, finding the right spots to changes things up.
Another thing I appreciate is that the band’s recording process hasn’t changed that much. Sure, things sound clearer but matt Pike still appears to be recording his solos live without any backing tracks, which provides so much of a live feel. I’m pretty sure the last time I remembered a band doing that was Pantera starting with Vulgar Display of Power. It actually makes the album sound even heavier in a way. I just found out that High On Fire will be playing The Williamsburg Music Hall in Brooklyn, NY on August 18th. I’m sure I’ll be going!
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Confessions of an Angry Metalhead 