Iron Maiden + harps + blonde chicks

I am not sure whether to clap and shout how awesome this, or just start cracking up.  Hot blonde twins, Camille and Kennerly, both play the electric harp and both are fans of metal.   When you put this combo together, you get a pretty great cover of Iron Maiden's "Fear Of The Dark" via harp duo.   Check this out:

It's a Slayer kind of Day

This video is simply awesome:

NY Area Concert Listings

Shit.  I am way overdue for a concert update, so there are a TON of shows that have been added.  Some highlights include: Cradle of Filth, Marduk and Sully Erna.

JANUARY

-1/28 - Johnny Winter w/ Jamie McLean Band @ BB Kings (Manhattan)
-1/30 - The Used w/ We Came As Romans, Crown The Empire, and Mindflow @ Best Buy Theater (Manhattan)
-1/31 - For Today w/ Memphis May Fire @ Irving Plaza (Manhattan)
-1/31 - Gin Blossoms (why am I posting this?) @ BB Kings (Manhattan)
-1/31 - Eye Empire @ Ollies Point (Amityville, Long Island)

FEBUARY

-2/1- Discipline @ The Acheron (Brooklyn)
-2/2 - Kansas @ The Paramount (Huntington, Long Island)
-2/2- Brutal Bitches presents Visceral Discorge, Abonormality, Short Bus Pileup, and Animals Killing People @ The Acheron (Brooklyn)
-2/4 - Dora w/ Sister Sin @ BB Kings (Manhattan)
-2/6 -Turisas w/ Firewind and Stolen Babies @ The Gramercy (Manhattan)
-2/6 - Uli Jon Roth @ Stage 48 (Manhattan)
-2/6 - Swans @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
-2/7 - Swans w/ Devendra Banhart @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
-2/7 - Blackberry Smoke w/ Drake White @ Irving Plaza (Manhattan)
-2/8 - Gojira w/ Devin Townsend , The Atlas Moth , Devin Townsend Project @ Irving Plaza (Manhattan)
-2/10 - Yob, Hull, and Bezoar @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-2/11 - Yob, Batillus, and Sea Of Bones @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-2/11 - Emmure and Whitechapel w/ Unearth, Obey The Brave, and The Plot In You @ Irving Plaza (Manhattan)
-2/12 - Dead Kennedys @ The Gramercy (Manhattan)
-2/14 - Testament (this is a wonderful Valentines Day gift to me *hint hint*) w/ Flotsam & Jetsam, and 4Arm @ Best Buy Theater (Manhattan)
-2/15 - Testament and Overkill w/ Flotsam & Jetsam, and 4arm @ The Paramount (Huntington, Long Island)
-2/15- The Casualties, Agitator, and Sad Boys @ The Acheron (Brooklyn)
-2/17 - Hatebreed, Shadows Fall, Dying Fetus, and the Contortionist @ Ollies Point (Amityville, Long Island)
-2/22 - Emilie Autumn @ The Gramercy (Manhattan)
-2/22 - Dope w/ The May 4th Massacre, Starke, Kore Rozzik, and Xombiew @ The Studio at Webster Hall (Manhattan)
-2/22 - Cockney Rejects w/ Youth Brigade, Murphy's Law, and The Templairs @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
-2/22 - Enslaved w/ Pallbearer, and Ancient VVisdom @ The Bowery Ballroom (Manhattan)
-2/23 - Marduk w/ Moonspell [Early show, doors at 5:30] @ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)
-2/23 - Lil Monsters Heavy Metal Disco w. Lady Starlight & The Dirty Pearls [Late show, doors at 11:00] @ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)
-2/27 - Flyleaf and Drowning Pool @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY)

MARCH

-3/1 - Howl w/ Samothrace and Pilgram @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-3/2 - Krallice Sacristy, and Imperial Triumphant @ The Acheron (Brooklyn)
-3/2 - Torsche @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-3/6 - Deftones @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY)

-3/6 - Today Is The Day, KEN Mode, Black Tusk and Fight Amp @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-3/6 -Dita Von Teese "Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!" Variety Show @ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)

-3/7 - Dita Von Teese "Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!" Variety Show @ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)

-3/8 - Dita Von Teese "Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!" Variety Show@ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)
-3/8 - Today Is The Day w/ Black Tusk, KEN Mode and Fight Amp @ The Studio at Webster Hall (Manhattan)

-3/9 - White Widow w/ Heartless @ The Acheron (Brooklyn)

-3/9 - Dita Von Teese "Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray!" Variety Show @ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)

-3/10 - Nile w/ Winter Nights, and Dark Empire @ BB Kings (Manhattan)

-3/10 - Queensryche w/ Magus Beast and What The Hell @ The Emporium (Patchougue, Long Island)
-3/12 - Dropkick Murphys @ Terminal 5 (Manhattan)
-3/13 - Dropkick Murphys @ Terminal 5 (Manhattan)
-3/14 - Soulfly w/ Incite and Lady Kong @ The Gramercy Theater (Manhattan)
-3/15 - Soilwork w/ Blackguard , Jeff Loomis , The Browning , Wretched @ The Gramercy (Manhattan)
-3/15 - Devourment @ The Place Bar and Lounge (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-3/16 - Coheed & Cambria @ Radio City Music Hall (Manhattan)
-3/16 - Brutal Truth, Total Fucking Destruction, Psychic Limb @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-3/17 - George Theorgood & The Destroyers @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY)
-3/20 - As I Lay Dying and The Devil Wears Prada @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY
-3/21 - Aaron Lewis (of Staind) @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY)
-3/21 - KMFDM @ Irving Plaza (Manhattan)
-3/23 - Y&T @ Stage 48 (Manhattan)
-3/23 - Sully Erna (of Godsmack) @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY)
-3/24 - Author & Punisher w/ A Life Once Lost @ The Acheron (Brooklyn)
-3/26 - Bad Religion @ Terminal 5 (Manhattan)
-3/38 - Cradle Of Filth, The Faceless, Decapitated and Agnostic @ The Paramount (Huntington, NY)
-3/29 - Wayne Hancock [None More Country show] @ Knitting Factory (Brooklyn)
-3/30 - Incantation, EVOKEN, Derketa, and Rellik @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)

APRIL

-4/4 - Robin Zander (of Cheap Trick) w/ Randy Jackson (of Zebra) @ BB Kings (Manhattan)
-4/5 - Kix @ Ollies Point (Amityville, Long Island)
-4/6 - Yes @ The Beacon Theater (Manhattan)
-4/9 - Volbeat w/ Danko James @ Best Buy Theater (Manhattan)
-4/10 - Absu @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-4/11 - Absu @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
-4/15 - Muse @ Madison Square Garden (Manhattan)
-4/16 - Muse @ Madison Square Garden (Manhattan)
-4/17 - Sevendust w/ Coal Chamber, Lacuna Coil and Stolen Babies
-4/19 - Muse @ Madison Square Garden (Manhattan) @ Best Buy Theater (Manhattan)
-4/20 - Black Breath w/ White Widows and Mutilation Rites @ Knitting Factory (Brooklyn)
-4/29 - Goatwhore, 3 Inches Of Blood, Revocation and Ramming Speed @ Saint Vitus (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)

MAY 

JUNE

-6/17 - Paul Di'Anno (rescheduled show) @ BB Kings (Manhattan)

Some Quotes from last night's Roast Of Dee Snider

The title says it all- here are some of the best quotes from Dee Snider's Rock N Roll Roast:

Dee Snider: "Jim Norton's career is going so poorly, he's opening for my son, Shane."
Eddie Trunk: "You can feel Twisted Sister's love for Dee by their complete lack of attendance tonight."
Eddie Trunk: "Dee, you're in great shape. Maybe from running from your good career choices."
Zakk Wylde on Mark Metcalf: "His voicemail just says, 'Yes, I'm available. BEEP.'"
Zakk Wylde on Shane Snider: "Man, those are some big gay shoes to fill."
Craig Gass on Zakk Wylde: "Zakk, Sons of Anarchy called. They want you back at the clubhouse."
Lita Ford to Dee Snider: "I hope menopause hasn't affected your singing voice."
Alice Cooper (via video) to Sinder: "Congratulations on your regionally successful music career."
Jim Florentine: "I thought Scott Ian came to my house, but it was a garden gnome."
Jim Norton: "You can tell Lita is a Ford because no one has wanted to get inside her since the early '80s."
Penn Jilette: "Lita Ford is one of the best female guitarists. That's kind of like being the world's tallest jockey."

Dee Snider's Roast live tonight!!

So it's that time of year for another "Rock & Roll Roast", and this time's victim is none other than Long Islander, Dee Snider.  The roast takes place TONIGHT at the Grove in Anaheim, California.

The Twisted Sister frontman, and this year's venerable Roast honoree, was recently named one of the 100 greatest living rock stars by Revolver magazine.   .......I would like to add that he might only be in the top 100 living rock legends, but he is definitely in the top 3 for living rock legend with the best hair.

The event, which is sponsored by Epiphone and Monster Energy Drink, is one of the highlights of the 2013 Winter NAMM weekend.  However, unlike the NAMM Show, the Roast is open to the public, and it will air live on AXS TV at 9 p.m. PST (Midnight for us folks in NY, and those other states that surround NY).

Roastmaster Penn Jillette and other luminaries such as last year’s Roast honoree Zakk Wylde, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Lita Ford, WWE legend Mick Foley (also a Long Islander!) and That Metal Show host Eddie Trunk, plus comedy and roast veterans Jim Norton, Craig Gass, Jim Florentine and others will take aim at the singer and reality-TV icon, best known for his outspoken personality, golden locks and appearances on The Celebrity Apprentice.  Jose Mangin (of Sirius/XM and Headbanger’s Ball fame) will be on hand to serve as the evening’s DJ.

Says Snider: "Roasters, remember: P.A.M.F. Payback’s A Mutha F**ker!”

Says Rock & Roll Roast Executive Producer Josh Bernstein: “They say you only roast the ones you love, but with Dee Snider, we’ll be making an exception.”

A portion of the proceeds will benefit MusiCares, a nonprofit organization of The Recording Academy that provides emergency financial assistance and addiction recovery resources to music people in need.

Dave Navarro Shows His Tender Side

Dave Navarro loves his makeup - but not as the price of injecting bunny rabbits eyeballs with harmful chemicals.   In all seriousness, animal testing is unnecessary and there are a tons of companies that don't test on animals AT ALL. NEVER.  ZILCH.  So check out this little behind the scene's video of Jane's Addiction guitarist, Dave Navarro speaking out on the importance of knowing what products you are buying.   Way to go, Dave!  You just went up a few notches in my book.

Band Of The Week - AVATAR! (Plus their new video)

This weeks BOTW is both Swedish and avant-garde, whilst maintaining their industrial-death metal integrity. Sound too fabulous to be true?  Meet Avatar, who are not new to the metal scene at all, but have just released an official video for their upcoming single “Smells Like A Freakshow”, which is from their fourth studio album Black Waltz.  The Johan Carlen-directed video shows each member of the band playing the role of the tormentor and the tormented, inflicting one horrific pain after another upon themselves.  This is like a big orgy for me, considering its a theatrical combo of metal and horror.......  and their Swedes!   Check it out below.

Frontman Johannes Eckerström states, “The video illustrates inner conflict in an explicit manner, using abuse of unjust power in different contexts. The lyrical themes of downfall, embracing of decadence and failed attempts to escape are pointed out by the fact that ultimately the bad guys win.“

Mastodon's Troy Sanders Stars in Orange Amps commercial

Alrite, I'll admit this little video commercial bit is pretty dumb, but I can't deny the fact that I also sorta love it.  The video shows Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders in a new advertisement for Orange Amplification. He plays a cocky rockstar whose equipment goes bust, thus leading Orange to heroically save the day.

Which is terribly nice of them, let’s be frank.

Check out the video, which also features a heroic dog, below:

TODAY's HEADLINE: 6 Year Old Writes Grindcore Song

Musician Blackula (aka Adam Young) decided to record a song with his six-year-old daughter to celebrate her love of pancakes. He even let her come up with the band name (Sockweb). It’s a really cute song, especially when the two of them start arguing about her being grounded or not. Check out the song below for some heartwarming father/daughter music time.

More Genius leaks out of Yoshiki

I know I was just gushing over the ridiculous amount of awesome that oozes out of Yoshiki..... Well, I think he heard me, because he's been on his little ol' facebook page a ton recently posting updates like crazy.   As you know, Yoshiki is once again set to orchestrate the theme for the Golden Glove awards.

X Japan drummer and songwriter Yoshiki composed the theme for the upcoming Golden Globe awards, and we all will have the pleasure of hearing all about it from the man himself.  Let's all say a big HELL YES, and check out this video:

Yoshiki chats away about about how he came up with the part-classical, part rock ‘n roll Golden Globe Theme — including the time organizers told him it was “too beautiful.”   (JUST LIKE EVERYTHING THIS MAN DOES!!)

Look out for the Golden Globe Awards — and the theme music — on January 13!  ....which happens to be my birthday (and Megadeth's James LoMenzo's).  Coincidence?  I think not.  Thanks for the bday gift, Yoshi.

The word is out on the new Dave Lomdardo/Casey Chaos/Gary Holt project!

And the word is that Nick Oliveri (the bald dude from Queens Of The Stone Age) is also in this band!!!!
Check out this WONDERFULness:

Word had been brewing that Casey Chaos, Dave Lombardo and Gary Holt joined forces... but  no one knew the details.   Well the word is out -Nick Oliveri (who seems to be doing well for himself lately).  Not only has the oft-embattled bassist made up with his old bandmates in time to contribute to their forthcoming sixth album, he's now been invited to join a thrash metal supergroup dreamed up by producer Ross Robinson (Deftones, Korn, Machine Head).  After mastering the art of facebook-stalking Amen singer Casey Chaos' page,  it became obvious that Exodus axe-slinger Gary Holt, Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and, yes, Oliveri are in an as-yet unnamed band that began recording together the week before Christmas.

"We've all been in the same room together breathing the same funky man-air!" Holt said, rather awesomely, of their time at Robinson's home studio in Venice, Los Angeles. Metallica's Robert Trujillo visited them while they were recording. "The creative process on this has been phenomenal. I shit you not. If we came in for two weeks of just riff-writing and another two weeks of putting it all together, we'd have an album that would knock people for a loop. They wouldn't know what hit them ... I'm as proud of this stuff as anything I've ever done."

Robinson was inspired to bring the group together after watching Holt on stage with Lombardo, as he was filling in for Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman who is recovering from a spider bite that nearly took his arm. Video director Dean Karr (Marilyn Manson, QOTSA, Cypress Hill) and producer Sean E. Demott had approached Robinson about providing music to their upcoming documentary about Pantera singer Phil Anselmo's New Orleans haunted house, House of Shock. In Holt and Lombardo, Robinson saw, "Fire, energy and wisdom."

Holt explained: "Whenever Dave and I would get on deck for soundcheck, we'd go up there first and jam make up stuff every day. It just comes easy for us. We're both into being spontaneous and improvising. We probably have an album's worth of material." He described one of their songs as "a combination of all of our bands with Discharge and the Exploited and GBH on it. Really, really punk. Super crunchy and super brutal ... There's a beat and a riff and Casey starts spewing some venom on top of it. It's awesome!"

Okay!
More Pictures......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Neither of these genius men would be considered metal, but if you dont like them, you can kindly fuck off this blog.  And if you dont recognize, you can take your hand, make a fist and knock yourself out.

Happy birthday to two men who made HUGE musical influences on all genres.

I want one!!!!!!!

One of my sick obsessions - Yoshiki of X Japan - now has his own CREDIT CARD!   How amazing is this man!!!  I totally want one.

I'm amazed by this man.... If I made a cartoon of the word "epic" and put it in an adorable human body form, you'd be left with Yoshiki.

His comment about releasing this picture of the credit card: 

"...YES, this is the " YOSHIKI VISA CARD"
but people who have this, please don't post it on the internet haha!"

New online trend....

It's starting to feel like this photo (and many others like it) is haunting me online.  Everywhere I go, someone posts, or tweets, 'likes' or whatever it is those kids do nowadays about this photo:

Awesome?  ...Or annoyingly hipster?    Seeing as I have a teeshirt with Elvis is black metal corpse paint on it (I painted this onto a plain tee about 10 years ago), I have no choice but to go with awesome.  

Geoff Tate doesn't take shit! (from his "coward" ex-bandmates!)

As everyone knows, I absolutely LOVE it when musicians talk smack about each other.  I get to spread the word around and gossip like a school girl about it without any sort of repercussions.  It's the best of both worlds.  Well, today Queensryche's  Geoff Tate is affording me the ability to do just that.  In a recent interview with BigMusicGeek.com  Geoff had some fabulously insulting things to say about his former bandmates.

BigMusicGeek.com: At this point, is your goal to reconcile with the other members of [Queensryche]? Is that really even possible? 

Geoff:  I think the situation has deteriorated quite badly.  It would take quite a bit of communication with all of us sitting in the same room having discussions for any type of reconciliation to occur.  Honestly, I don't see that happening from their side. I don't think any of them have the balls to sit in a room with me and be honest about how they feel and works towards some sort of understanding.  They're way too cowardly to do anything like that.  That may come across as cold and brash, and I apologize if that offends anyone, but that's my honest opinion on the matter.  They didn't approach me in a friendly, gentlemanly friendship way when they fired me.  They did it behind my back through a lawyer, ya know?  So I really don't have any high hopes that they'd have the integrity to sit in a room with me now and try to come up with some sort of compromises for our situation. 

BigMusicGeek.com: Prior to them dismissing you, were there any obvious indications that everything wasn't going very well?  I can remember reading interviews with the group during the '90s where the group seemed like a brotherhood...  

Geoff:  No.  There was nothing like that.  A band is a democracy and if it had to come down to a vote, I'm only one guy, ya know?  You probably read an interview with either (former Queensryche guitarist) Chris (DeGarmo) or myself. Our main focus was always to create an image that the band was cohesive and a band that was as close as brothers, ya know?  In our minds, that was the best way to project our band and our project, ya know?  Whatever dirty laundry or disagreements wasn't talked about in public.  We were always very, very interested in presenting a positive image, ya know?  The image that Chris and created is the image that most people saw and that's how people formed their opinions, ya know? Through the images Chris and I conveyed.  We switched gears throughout our entire career.  That was the whole goal.  The whole motto that Chris and I had when we started writing together was "no limits." Naturally, we weren't interested in being limited by any imaginations except our own, ya know? So we drove that vehicle with that in mind.  We were always trying to change things up and bring different things into the compositions, stretch out as much as we could musically and keep pushing, pushing and pushing the envelope on the musical chemistry that we had.  After he left, I always held that goal in mind. The problem was that I was the only one who had that idea at that point. [laughs] The other three were very non-committal musically and didn't stand by their belief system when it came to music. They were very influenced by the opinions of others around them and didn't really trust their own musical integrity. I was constantly being limited by their lack of imagination and their unwillingness to stand on their own convictions. They were always very interested in being what other people thought they could be.

Everyone loves a good bitch-slap and I am no different!! Well done, Mr. Tate.  Read more of the interview after the jump...