Wednesday, July 12. 2006
Syd Barrett, co-founder of the legendary rock band Pink Floyd, died this week. After he founded the band with Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright in 1965, he left the group in 1968. He was involved in the writing and playing on both The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets. He also is the person credited with naming the band, borrowing names from the bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. Barrett became heavily involved with psychedelic drugs, and it's believed that mental illness, aggravated by heavy LSD use, was the main reason for his leaving the band. Barrett was replaced by David Gilmour. He went on to produce two solo albums The Madcap Laughs and Barrett (both released in 1970) before withdrawing completely from public life. Opel, released in 1988, was his final music release. It consisted of previously unreleased material. 
It is believed that Pink Floyd songs "Brain Damage" and "Shine on You Crazy Diamond," as well as the album Wish You Were Here, were Pink Floyd tributes to their fallen band mate. David Bowie recorded a cover of "See Emily Play.". Bowie named Barrett as a major influence in his song writing.
Barrett reverted to his given name of Roger Barrett and lived a quiet life in his hometown of Cambridge, England, for a little over 30 years. While no cause of death has been given, it is believed that he succumbed to complications relating to diabetes. A spokewoman for Pink Floyd said a small, private funeral would be held.
Wednesday, July 5. 2006
 Country legend Johnny Cash died almost three years ago, leaving behind a wealth of unreleased material recorded prior to his death. This is the fifth in a series of albums of this work, produced by longtime Cash collaborator Rick Rubin.
American V: A Hundred Highways is the final volume in this series and was released on July 4. From the Amazon.com review:
The ethical questions surrounding this final album in the American Recordings series are as unavoidable as they are, ultimately, peripheral. While the vocal tracks were recorded in the months just prior to Johnny Cash's passing in September 2003, the arrangements weren't undertaken until two years later. And though producer Rick Rubin had become a trusted friend, the Man in Black wasn't around to approve or disapprove, let alone guide, the final sessions. However, if the pure power of these recordings doesn't quiet the skeptics, nothing will. With Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench and slide guitar session pro Smokey Hormel on board (all three of whom appear on earlier Cash albums), along with guitarists Matt Sweeney and Johnny Polansky, the sound is stately and acoustic, but rarely staid, even as the dynamics of earlier recordings in the series are absent. Instead, the songs have a measured, elegiac intensity, the sound of musicians choosing their notes carefully and making just the right choices.
Saturday, July 1. 2006
 Hot on the heels of the announcement of the Back Room's closing, Austin's Redrum picks up the (spiked) ball and runs with it, hosting the Extreme Texas Metal Fest III this weekend. With twenty-three metal bands over three days, the black leather and spikes were out in force to show that Austin still has a sharper edge. We will have pics from this show up in the gallery on Monday. For more information on Extreme Texas Metalfest III click here.
Thursday, June 29. 2006
I just came across this on YouTube. This is from Megadeth's 1984 debut show. Can ANYONE tell me who the guitarist is?
When you figure it out, check out the full story at Blabbermouth.
Tuesday, June 27. 2006
 Talk about getting a case of the munchies. In another strange tale from Axl Rose's surrealistic fight club, according to police in Sweden Axl bit - yes BIT a hotel security guard on the leg. Axl was promptly arrested by Swedish law enforcement. According to Swedish health authorities since he was unable to provide his vaccination records, Axl's head will now be removed and sent away for rabies testing.
This of course follows Axl's now infamous foxy boxing episode with Tommy Hilfiger in a New York night club. One is left to ponder who is next on the Guns 'n' Roses lead singer's hit list or whether Rose's career plans include professional boxing as a featherweight.
Saturday, June 24. 2006
 I got a review copy of a British documentary about pop star George Michael, he of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and extremely bad 80s hair and fashion fame, and was surprised and even a little dismayed to not only think it was a really good movie, but to find myself re-evaluating the man and his music.
No, I'm not going to try to sell you on the idea that "Young Guns" is a song that stands the test of time. But if you get a chance to see George Michael: A Different Story, you might want to set your prejudices aside and check it out. It's a tight, intelligent, almost subversive look at a very shy yet articulate artist who is a lot more (good and bad) than tabloid fodder and the maker of puerile bubblegom pop.
Comments from Sting, Noel Gallagher, Mariah Carey, Martin Kemp, Boy George, Elton John, ex-Wham! bandmate Andrew Ridgeley, Simon Cowell, and others are interspersed with some excellent concert footage (especially his historic appearance with Queen at a memorial tribute concert for Freddie Mercury), amusingly bad 80s video clips, and astonishingly compelling interviews with Michael himself.
I didn't want to like it, or him, but I did.
Wednesday, June 21. 2006
 According to Michael Barnes over at the Statesman, long time music landmark, and ex-smoky dive The Back Room, will close on July 29th, victim of Austin's ravenous development. Metal fans across Texas are encouraged to wear black leather or T-shirts to note the bars demise and it's becoming just another footnote in Austin's music history. In its 30 year battle millions of braincells were killed and potentially hundreds of children conceived on its premises.
 Over the years The Back Room has hosted literally thousands of bands on its stages, and it's closure will leave a great venue gap in Austins metal scene. The Back Room can be added to that list of dead venues now marked by the cold steel and concrete headstone of developement that has already claimed such famous venues as the Armadillo World Headquarters and Liberty Lunch. Luckily other stalwart clubs such as The Continental Club and Emo's have survived, and newer venues such as Stubb's and La Zona Rosa have come onto the scene and risen to the legendary status. Lets hope that Austin's metalheads find a new place to call home.
A very very partial listing of some of the bands that have appeared there include the following:
- Cheap Trick
- Guadalcanal Diary
- Sugar Cubes
- the Plasmatics
- Public Enemy
- Linkin Park
- Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones
- King’s X
- Ace Frehley
- Slash
- Pantera
- Warren Zevon
- George Clinton & the P Funk All Stars
- Dangerous Toys
Sunday, June 18. 2006
 Welcome all the guys and girls over at Metal Blade Records to club.kingsnake. We like all different genres of music here, including of course all flavors of metal, so Metal Blade's support of our web site is much appreciated. We approached a number of record companies and Metal Blade jumped in with both feet. We are glad to have you on board.
We will be working with Metal Blade to bring you lots of neat stuff like reviews of their shows (including Ozzfest) and their artists (like Cannibal Corpse) and podcast interviews with some of their artists. HOPEFULLY we can talk them into letting us give away some neat Metal Blade swag along the way.
For those of you not familiar with Metal Blade Records, their first release contained songs by some then-unknown bands called Metallica and Ratt, and the label has been the home of many of todays bigger metal acts, like Slayer and Gwar. Started by Brian Slagel in 1982 on a shoestring and a dream, Metal Blade has been an important influence in the careers of many bands.
A special shout goes out to Michelle at Metal Blade, who not only has a thing for metal, but is also a ball python owner (natch!) and was able to hook us up with press access, photo badges and more, making our job so much easier. You guys at Metal Blade should give her a raise, she talked us into giving her all our prime ad spots. ;)
Friday, June 16. 2006
Korn Front Man Jonathon Davis is down for the count with a rare blood disease called ITP (Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura). While I am not a fan of Korn, I really don't like hearing of someone being that ill.
From www.famliydoc.org:
ITP stands for idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. "Idiopathic" means that the cause is unknown. "Thrombocytopenic" means the blood doesn't have enough platelets. "Purpura" means a person has excessive bruising. You may also hear ITP called "immune thrombocytopenic purpura."
The following singers stepped in at the Donnington Festival for Jonathon: Corey from SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR, Dez from DEVILDRIVER, Jesse from 10 YEARS, Benji from SKINDRED, Shadows from AVENGED SEVENFOLD, and Matt from TRIVIUM.
Jonathon expects to be back to normal shortly. For more information, click here
Thursday, June 15. 2006
 According to Pollstar, a blood disease has sidelined Korn's lead singer, Jonathan Davis, sending him to the hospital and forcing Korn to cancel the remainder of their summer tour. Snow Patrol's lead singer Gary Lightbody's throat problem has not improved forcing them to cancel the remainder of their tour as well.
Those looking for that cure to the summertime blues might try looking at the new Beavis & Butt Head Collection DVD that released on Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 6. 2006
 6-6-6
The number of the Beast. Evil is to reign.
Or not.
Deicide was to release their new album on this day. Earache states the Deicide album isn't ready for full release and is releasing an EP on ITunes as well as a video through You Tube instead.
Slayer was to release their new album and kick off their tour, but had to postpone the start of their tour so Tom Araya could heal from gall bladder surgery. Slayer is, though, releasing an EP through Hot Topic stores and a special t-shirt commemorating the day.
Maybe the bands can write it off as divine intervention?
Also on 6/6/06:
It's International Slayer Day. KFK Industries is slated to release their new album. The Omen remake is being released this day.
And here's a link to Slayer's Kerry King's guest chat with us at kingsnake.com.
Thursday, June 1. 2006
 Tony Jones has joined our staff to cover the live music scene in and around the U.K. Based in London, Tony is a well positioned to write about one of the greatest live music scenes in the world and we are glad that we can extend our coverage across the pond. Tony just got back from touring a bit with New Model Army around the U.K. and though he's a bit bruised and bloodied he's back and ready to write.
We always are looking for new writers to join our staff. Right now we especially need authors and photographers to cover the live music scene in Southern California and New York City, but really we are interested in the live music scene around the world. If you like alternative music, punk, metal, indie, like to go clubbing for live bands, like to write or take pictures, and are interested in joining our music community as a staff blogger, contact us. This is a lot of fun!
Saturday, May 27. 2006
All month long VH-1 has been celebrating what they call Metal Month. The month will end in an awards show that I'm pretty sure Jethro Tull will not win an award at. Super Group debuted this past week (and it was mildly amusing., but can someone tell me, did Sebastian Bach try to have surgery or is that just age?). They have a 4-part documentary called Heavy: The Story of Metal. I have seen the first episode. While I feel that they are kinda on track on how the music spread the way it did, I think they had a bit of narrow-minded-ness. To them Metal spawned from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. While in some respect I can see that, Metal also spawned from Alice Cooper (grandfather of the now Goth Movement) and even as much as I regret saying it (Dynasty anyone), and Kiss (forefathers of the glam movement). The series episode titles seem to cover it all. "Welcome To My Nightmare" (episode 1), "Looks that Kill" (Glam Episode), "British Steel" (70s British Rock), and "Seek and Destroy" (as they word it, "A walk on the dark side").
One thing I notice (and perhaps that will change this evening) is that the heavier end of the spectrum is left in the lurch. While I love the mainstream glam as much as the next gal, I must say there has been little to no mention of harder stuff. Everything they are playing is mainstream safe music. I think something like this would have been better suited to FUSE rather than VH-1. I have yet to hear a mention of the heavier side of metal, even the skater punk music of the 80s (hell Suicidal was in Encino man), the thrash end has been well, vanilla, and heaven forbid I have yet to hear a mention of death metal. I don't know if they feel playing Some Kind of Monster covers their butt on that end, but if you didn't like Metallica before, watching them cry will make you like them even less.
Anyhow, I'm babbling, Rock Honors will be Wednesday May 31, 2006 and the honorees are Kiss, Queen, Judas Priest, and Def Leppard. No mention which members will be in Kiss makeup. Am I thrilled with the choices? Not necessarily. Will I watch? Yes. Bands performing that evening will be Foo Fighters, All American Rejects and Godsmack. There is also an Air Guitar Championship.
I think for nostalgia's sake it will be fun. The whole month has been. But as always I'm left feeling a bit miffed that many of my favorites have been left by the side for the vanilla side of rock. The month is almost over, but if you find yourself sitting around the house doing nothing this holiday weekend, kick back and relax with the older stuff. Nothing ground breaking here. You may find some laughs. Of course remember to watch the Pantera BTM Friday night. Our touch of sprinkles on the vanilla sundae of Metal.
Friday, May 26. 2006
No longer the little label that could, Roadrunner Records signed Megadeth on May 16. What does that mean for those of us who yearn for the Vic of old? Well, I am pretty sure we will NOT be hearing a new version of "Crush." Of course Big Dave has always been best at times of political strife, as well as when he can really get angry about something. Well, times of political strife are here, so get angry, Dave, and hit us hard.
From Roadrunner Records:
Mustaine says of his new home "It is exciting to be some place you are respected, understood and appreciated. The truth is there's a lot of people I've known there over the years. I'm stoked we're all coming back together again to work on this project."
Megadeth is in the process of planning Gigantour 2, and the line up is still pending, but let's all hope Dave and the boys are able to get angry enough to hit us with some hard core old skool thrash.
Saturday, May 20. 2006
Well it wasn't a fight worthy of HBO, nor was it a title bout, but according to press reports fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and Guns 'N' Roses front man Axl Rose had an altercation at a new club in Manhattan, which ended with Hilfiger bitch-slapping Rose for moving Hilfiger's girlfriend's drink "He just kept smacking me," said
Rose to radio station KROQ.
No word from Rose's camp as to whether he is planning on letting other fashion designers bitch-slap him but rumor has it the boys from "Queer Eye" are waiting to take him out back for launching that whole bandana fashion trend.
More here.
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