Heavy Street

2010 is shaping up to be a good year for Vancouver B.C’s finest Gravemaker. They recently signed to Victory Records, and will have a new album entitled Ghosts Among Men coming out on June 22nd. I spoke briefly to their vocalist Jon earlier this year, and he said that the direction of the new album is gonna be a big departure from their last full length Bury Me At Sea. Also said the new songs off Ghosts sound way more heavier than any of their previous material.

I cant wait til this f**king album finally comes out as I’ve completely worn out Bury Me At Sea. Personally I love the new path that Gravemaker is on. I have heard one of the newer tracks “Vlad The Impaler”, and it’s total balls out mayhem that hearkens back to late 90′s Hatebreed and a lil’ bit of early Terror.

The boys are now out there spreading their message in the US opening for  those thugs Donnybrook (man I wish that tour came up to Van C!!). Witnessing Gravemaker live is a religious experience, as they are intense as f**k on stage and have a loyal following that is just as rabid. I found this out when I went to see them perform for the first time a few months back. I was totally awestruck at how much they bring their songs to life when they perform live. Gravemaker are the new breed of  bands that represent the future of hardcore, and best of all…..their from friggin’ Canada! So get used to it.

Dubbed “Causing Vapors:Legalise It 2010″….this is gonna be the tour of the summer. The rasta come Bad Brains punkism of Slightly Stoopid will be flavored up with the original LA street merchant rap kings Cypress Hill, with support coming from the new dancehall king Collie Buddz.

This is a pretty diverse package, and not many tours of this ilk are happening in this day n’ age, this is why Causing Vapors 2010 is a breath of fresh skunk air. I’m hoping they eventually bring this tour to the West Coast later in the year. Also for those of you who are going to one of the dates below, get there early to check out Collie Buddz, as he is truly bringing the hardcore dancehall vibes right now like no other.

July 21, 2010 Wednesday    Glen Allen    VA    Innsbrook Pavilion

July 22, 2010 Thursday    Boston    MA    Bank of America Pavilion
July 23, 2010 Friday    Boston    MA    Bank of America Pavilion
July 24, 2010 Saturday    Danbury    CT    Ives Concert Park
July 25, 2010 Sunday    Asbury Park    NJ    TBA
July 28, 2010 Wednesday    Raleigh    NC    Boutique Amphitheatre
July 30, 2010 Friday    Portsmouth    VA    nTelos Pavilion
July 31, 2010 Saturday    Philadelphia    PA    Penn’s Landing
August 01, 2010 Sunday    Buffalo    NY    Rocks The Harbor
August 04, 2010 Wednesday    Detroit    MI    Fillmore Detroit
August 06, 2010 Friday    Columbus    OH    Promowest Pavilion
August 07, 2010 Saturday    Chicago    IL    Lollapalooza
August 08, 2010 Sunday    Minneapolis    MN    Cabooze Outdoors (No Cypress Hill)
August 12, 2010 Thursday    Kansas City    MO    Crossroads
August 13, 2010 Friday    Omaha    NE    Anchor Inn
August 14, 2010 Saturday    Denver    CO    Mile High Music Festival
August 18, 2010 Wednesday    Myrtle Beach    SC    House of Blues
August 19, 2010 Thursday    Atlanta    GA    The Tabernacle
August 20, 2010 Friday    Orlando    FL    Hard Rock Live
August 21, 2010 Saturday    West Boca Raton    FL    Sunset Cove Amphitheatre

There was a period in time long ago when Ratt ruled the world. Where Robbin Crosby was the “king” and Stephen Pearcy made Tiger Woods look like a boy scout. Seems like a long bygone era now. A period where bands like Motley Crue and Ratt were perched up top on the 80′s hard rock throne. Now both bands are just a shadow of their primed past.

Baltimore DC’s favorite stoner rock sons Clutch will be doing a string of live dates across Europe this summer. This will come at the tail end of their live DVD release called Live at the 9:30 which will be out on May 11th.

Clutch is a working man’s band as I have seen them live seven times from 1994 – 2008 and each show has been consistently good. Their albums have sometimes been a hit and miss (I prefer their early material), but Clutch have never faltered on the live end of things. I would definitely recommend checking them out, as if slow, southern fried, barbeque on a sunday afternoon, “pass the grits ‘ma”, stoner rock you seek, you shall receive on stage.

Plus you will get to see my favorite drummer ever Jean-Paul Gaster annihilate the songs with his down home rhythmic delivery. This dude is a behemoth behind the kit and has kept the in-the-pocket groove intact throughout Clutch’s illustrious career. So to all you European Clutch fans, run outta the house, and go see em’….but don’t spill the bong water on your way out.

Jul 16th – Slottsfgell Festival – Tonsberg, Norway

Jul 17th – Bukta Festival – Tromsco, Norway

Jul 19th – Sticky Fingers – Goteborg, Sweden

Jul 21st – AN Club – Athens, Greece

Jul 22nd – Magnolia – Milan, Italy

Jul 23rd – Rock Planet – Pinerella Di Cevia, Italy

Jul 25th – High Voltage Festival – London, England

At 81 years of age, Owen Brown still loves all that is metal. After watching this, I got a little glimpse into my future of old age. Even at thirty seven years, my mom and dad still ask when I am going to get out of it. My wife couldn’t STAND heavy metal when we first met, but she is slowly coming around. During our first year together, we were driving to her aunt’s for Christmas dinner. I popped in Obituary’s Slowly We Rot into the CD player. Half way during the first song she turns to me and says “What is this shit!”, and then she persisted to mock the fine vocals of John Tardy. Fast forward three years later, I see her wearing my Behemoth tshirt, and saying to me that if Gallhammer ever comes to town, she wants to see them. Aaaahhh…..how things change.

I have friends throughout the years who have gotten married, had children, and left it all behind. I feel if you truly love something, it becomes a part of you, and not something you were into one summer. This is what separates Metal fans as opposed to fans of other genres….true loyalty and not trend jumping. Don’t even get me started on the indie rock scene, they wear the crown for being the worst culprits. It’s like one minute they love a certain band, then the next day their like “I don’t listen that shit anymore”, and they move onto the next big thing. Truly disgusting. Anyway…I could ramble on forever about these Iron & Wine loving nitwits, but I’ll save it for another post. In the meantime check out this video of my new hero.

The totally raw Detroit garage rock twosome Rachel Nagy and Mary Ramirez are in the studio working on a new record, but are taking a break by doing four shows this spring. Detroit Cobras have not released any new material since the excellent Tied And True album in 2007, so the new album is a little overdue. For those not in the know, these sexy greasers take really old R&B gems and rock the f**k outta them…..while doing it with tons o’ soul. That’s all you really need to know. For those of you lucky enough to live in the midwest, these not to be messed with supervixens are playing a batch of shows starting this weekend. So get off your ass, check them out and while you’re at it, buy ‘em a beer.

April 23rd – Beachland Ballroom – Celeveland, Ohio

April 24th – Mickey Finn’s – Toledo, Ohio

May 14th – Nelsonville Music Festival – Nelsonville, Ohio

June 5th – Eleanor Tinsley Park – Houston, Texas

Like a perfectly aged wine, Nitro’s video for their song “Freight Train” just gets better with time. For those of you who haven’t seen it, you can thank or strangle me later. The video was released around 1988 and no other band has since touched this musical visual masterpiece. Jack White only wishes he could come up with these riffs and this idea.

The vocals of Jim Gillette pierced my tender ears the first time I heard this, as those high pitched screams could shatter glass. In regards to the guitars….. Yngwie Malmsteen never produced this quality of high end cheese like Michael Angelo. Can you imagine the guitar player from Radiohead or Coldplay getting away with this shit?!?!….I think not. If you wanna argue with me, what other respectable guitar player in the last twenty years had the balls to play with a four neck guitar on stage like Mr Angelo.

As corny and over the top this stuff is, I miss the days where bands could create this type of work, get away with it AND be taken seriously. This video was Nitro’s small shining moment (we wont talk about their horrendous cover of Cat Scratch Fever), as it was shown a few times on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball & MuchMusics’s Power Hour. Nitro didn’t really play live on any major tours back then, during the two albums they put out.

The band’s musical history might have been forgotten, but this video will live on forever. If you talk to any self respecting 80′s metalhead, he/she will know who Nitro was because of this video, and for those youngins out there….go to bed knowing that the musicians of the 80′s invented pure grade A cheese and the indie rock and emo bands of today as MC Hammer would say “just cant touch this”. Aqua Net & Cowboy boots fo’ life y’all!!!

The first time I heard of Type O Negative was when I saw the “Black No.1″ video back in 1993 on the MuchMusic Power Hour. I had never seen anything like it at the time. The video was dark, and ominous, but had a fun vibe to it at the same time. It was probably the best video which came out that year. What struck me the most about this visual piece, was the lead singer / bass player Peter Steele. He looked like a gargantuan seven foot tall vampire. After seeing the video, I decided to pick up the Bloody Kisses album, and completely fell in love with Type O’s brand of gothic tinged metal. Type O Negative’s music didn’t sound like anything I had heard before at the time. It was like a head on collision of The Sisters Of Mercy and Black Sabbath.

Even though I HATED the last album The Damned The Shamed, I have not given up on these hardcore vikings. The Damned was some pretty weak ass, soulless shit, but I still have faith in Mr Vogel and the boys. Their first record Lowest Of The Low is their ultimate crowning achievement.

For some reason they have never been able to maintain the sheer intensity of that classic album since then. Don’t get me wrong, One With The Underdogs and Always The Hardway had their bright spots, but as a whole were not complete records like Lowest Of The Low was. I have heard some bits and pieces of Scott Vogels side project Snakes Of Shiva, and it blows away anything on the last two Terror records. I hope he is not spreading himself too thin. I don’t want whats happening to Hatebreed, to happen to Terror….so many band members having side projects that sound similar to their main band that it dilutes the product.

Terror live though is a whole other animal. I have seen them five times so far, and each time they have totally annihilated the place. Terror bring a sense of fun and danger, that I don’t see in most other bands live these days. As for their new album that will be released this year…like that dude from Wham says “I’ve gotta have faith”.

Let’s face it, the nu-metal / rap rock movement of the nineties produced a lot of dreck (remember Primer55?), and most metal heads ended up throwing the baby out with the bath water on that scene. Great bands like Stuck Mojo, hed p.e., and Downset got lumped in the nu metal movement, and never fully recovered because of it. Funny, cause these bands wiped the arse of most of their peers from the nineties.