Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Australia certainly doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to cuting-edge music, but one thing they do well is old-fashioned riff rawk, and the latest export to ride that big wave of hype all the way across the Pacific to North America is about as dumb as hard rock can get, but it's also enormously fun. In fact, Airbourne doesn't hide their AC/DC/Rose Tattoo influence one bit, and I say good for them. Modern rock has been stagnating so badly this decade, that I'll take any upbeat, fun guitar-based rock music that comes my way, no matter how trite. Their second album is instantly gratifying, but the riffs are first-rate and the hooks are incredibly catchy. Not a lick of originality, but when it's done this convincingly, who the heck cares? Read my review, sample the tracks if you haven't heard these guys before, and get the album. It's a good one.
Ever since first getting into them back in 2000, I'd always wanted to see Queens of the Stone Age. I had a chance last year but balked, and I did the same thing a month or so ago when they booked a show at the Odeon. I had second thoughts and looked into ticket availability, but not surprisingly, it had sold out. Late yesterday afternoon, though, I had a cool stroke of luck, as a BraveBoard acquaintance had a ticket to spare. You can't pass up a serendipitous moment like that, so before I knew it, I found myself at the Odeon, crammed in with a thousand or so energetic folks.
The opening band was a fascinating one, Iceland's Mugison. I was never a big fan of his DIY albums in the past, as they came off as sort of a bland Beck/Grandaddy/Beta Band knock-off, but this time he was with a full band, and they really blew me away with their selection of songs from the latest album Mugiboogie. Perhaps aware of their audience on this tour, the band really played up the riffs and the volume, and they were downright ferocious at times, the tunes going over really well with the crowd. I picked up a ten dollar copy of the album, which turns out to be much like the stuff we heard onstage, emphasizing the band thing as opposed to the solo multi-instrumental thing that sounded sort of played out. Plus the design on the album is cool, a faux/leather envelope with a CD and hymnal-style booklet inside. Interestingly, that's the original Iceland version, as Ipecac is releasing it domestically in July...
As for Josh Homme and Queens of the Stone Age, they delivered, big time. It was as good a rock show as I've seen here in ages, in fact. Normally, when a band comes along and emphasizes newer material over old it's usually tougher to get into the whole spirit of the experience (case in point, Ministry), but QOTSA's last two albums, especially 2007's Era Vulgaris, are very sneaky in their catchiness, to the point where it took both albums a good six months to really get into my head. So although the band left out such classic tracks as "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret", "Go With the Flow", and calling card "No One Knows", so deep is their catalogue, you hardly noticed there were any significant omissions. The new stuff killed, actually. "Medication", "Little Sister", and the awesome "The Blood is Love" from Lullabies to Paralyze and Era Vulgaris selections "Turnin' on the Screw", "Sick, Sick, Sick", "Make it Wit Chu", and the great "3's & 7's" were all highlights from the hour and a half-plus set. Still, though, it was really cool to hear songs like "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" (what a scorching opener!) and "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar But I Feel Like a Millionaire". Plus the extended jam of "Song For the Dead" was a cool way to end the show. When all was said and done, we were absolutely drenched...like the Montreal Paganfest, it was the hottest I'd ever been at a show. It was so hot, in fact, that there was a fog of steam in the entire venue. It's not every day you get to see a band like this in such a cozy place these days, and I'm extremely glad (not to mention thankful!) that I was lucky enough to make it to this show. Amazing time. Here's the setlist:
Feel Good Hit of the Summer
Medication
Avon
You Would Know
3's & 7's
Do it Again
Someone's in the Wolf
Little Sister
In the Fade
Make it Wit Chu
Turnin' on the Screw
Blood is Love
Misfit Love
Burn the Witch
Sick, Sick, Sick
I Think I Lost My Headache
Encore:
Millionaire
Song For the Dead
Saturday, May 3, 2008
As mentioned yesterday, I have a ton of new writing to mention. Finally! There's been quite a backlog of stuff, so it's good to see it appearing at last.
I wrote at length about the recent Killing Joke reissues here a couple months ago, and I ended up using those posts as the jumping-off point for a mammoth feature piece for PopMatters. While two of the albums haven't exactly aged well, the other two, 1983's Fire Dances and 1985's near-masterpiece Night Time have withstood the test of time, and the new, sparking remasters really emphasize this band's trademark punch. That mid-80s period is definitely my favourite of Killing Joke's many incarnations. Essential listening.
I was a huge fan of El Perro Del Mar's debut album a couple years ago, and it's great to see that Sarah Assbring hasn't lost a step on her new one. In fact, From the Valley to the Stars is a bit more ambitious, going for a more keyboard-based sound instead of the last one, which was written on acoustic guitar. While there are no songs that equal the downtrodden majesty of "God Knows", they're still very lovely, as Assbring continues to wallow in her own misery. A bit of a grower, though, so if this one doesn't quite grab you at first, just give it time.
Back to the topic of folk/pagan metal, I've admired Korpiklaani for the past three years or so, as they've taken the obscure sound of Finnish humppa music and blended it perfectly with fast, thrashy metal arrangements. It's more of the same thing on Korven Kuningas, and that's all we ever want from these guys...but if you ask me, their last album Tervaskanto is just a little bit better. But hey, there's no such thing as a bad Korpiklaani album, so be sure to check this one out.
While on the subject, Korpiklaani played the European leg of Paganfest just last month, and while on my road trip I was told about "Korpiklaani Coffee", a potent but apparently yummy concoction the guys in the band drink constantly, comprised of 2 cm Jagermeister, 2 cm Bailey's, and 2 cm vodka...
Lastly, my umpteenth Rush review went up this past week. This time around, it's for the excellent Snakes & Arrows Live album, a splendid two-disc set recorded in Holland late last year. Not only is it probably my favourite of all of Rush's live albums, but it's a great little appetizer for the big Rush concert in Regina in three weeks. Aside from four changes to the setlist, it's pretty much what we'll get, which I'm more than happy with, as I'm still hugely into the last album, which has turned out to have incredible staying power.
Although I knew about my Paganfest trip for two whole months (I was offered the gig the day before I left for Norway), I never bothered to check to see who else was playing at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in Worcester. It just never occurred to me to bother checking. When I finally did a week before I left, my jaw hit the floor. Appearing right after the Paganfest bands was...Meshuggah and Ministry. Only one of the best live bands on the planet, with arguably the best metal band in the world today opening. I kept hoping and hoping I'd get the chance to take in the shows, and when I found out that we'd be leaving Worcester at 2 am, inside I was doing backflips. So after doing the writer/observer/shmoozer thing for much of the day, I became a Meshuggah geek for an hour, right in the middle of the very energetic crowd.
Waiting for the 9:45 start time, things didn't bode well early on, as a flying beer bottle came within a few feet of my head (why sell obnoxious Massachusetts hardcore thugs bottled beer at shows???). Being an uninsured Canadian in America, and having just watched Michael Moore's Sicko just a few days prior, visions of astronomical hospital bills flew before my eyes. I seriously considered moving to a safer place, like in front of a wall or something, but thankfully, when the band took the stage, everyone settled down and had some good friendly violent fun. And although the sound could have been just a little louder, it was nonetheless glorious, with songs like the astonishing double-kick workout "Bleed", Nothing classic "Rational Gaze", and the ferocious live staple "Future Breed Machine" among the highlights. Drummer Tomas Haake was his usual brilliant self, and Fredrik Thordendal was amazing, especially during his solos, which are the band's secret weapons, little moments of clarity and expression amidst such cold, technically challenging arrangements. It had been six years since I'd last seen Meshuggah, and it was a huge thrill to enjoy their set in such a unique situation. I savoured every minute. Here's their setlist:
Perpetual Black Second
Bleed
The Mouth Licking What You've Bled
Electric Red
Pravus
Rational Gaze
Straws Pulled At Random
Future Breed Machine
Ministry, on the other hand, was quite a big disappointment. All the bells and whistles were there, from the chain link fence separating Al Jourgensen and his bandmates from the crowd, to the provocative projected visuals, to the strobe lights, to the cool mic stand, but considering how the crowd had been there for something like 11 hours already, starting the show off with an hour of new material was not a wise move. The more new songs they played, the more apathetic the audience became, including yours truly, who had retreated to a seat in the balcony. With so many classic songs to choose from, it was criminal to not give the fans what they wanted. And when they finally did pull out the oldies (two of which were performed excellently by Fear Factory's Burton C. Bell), it was at the tail end of their set, which had to be cut short because of the 1 am curfew. Their 2004 show was far, far better...check out the October 04 archive for the brilliant setlist. Here's what Al and co. pulled out on this night, however:
Let's Go
The Dick Song
Watch Yourself
Life Is Good
The Last Sucker
No "W"
Waiting
Worthless
Wrong
Rio Grande Blood
Senor Peligro
Lieslieslies
Khyber Pass
Encore:
So What?
N.W.O. (w/ Burton C. Bell)
Just One Fix (w/ Burton C. Bell)
Thieves
And speaking of Meshuggah, Cosmo Lee recently mentioned the band's "Bleed" contest, in which fans could send in video clips of them attempting to duplicate Tomas Haake's intricate drum work. There are plenty of cool performances by talented drum geeks, but it's the more creative finalists that won me over the most. Especially this one, which makes me laugh every time I see it. It's so brilliant, it deserves to win.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Well, I'm back home after spending six days away, traveling across the Northeast with the four bands on the Paganfest tour. I really should have blogged from the road like I said, but I was either too busy being accosted by my new Faroese Viking buddies, watching live sets, piecing together my Metal Edge article, or just lollygagging and chatting with musicians. And being passed out, exhausted, on a swanky tour bus.
Needless to say, it was great fun, but very, very tiring. Five days on a bus alone is tough enough, but an entire month-long tour? That'd drive me insane. It's a tough, tough life. I left for Toronto last Friday morning, and took the insanely long bus/subway/streetcar trip from the airport to The Opera House, where I hooked up with the bands I'd be traveling with: Ensiferum and Turisas from Finland, Tyr from the Faroe Islands, and Eluveitie from Switzerland. As it happened, Eluveitie was unable to make it to the two Canadian shows because of visa hassles, which disappointed a lot of people, so we ended up hooking up with them in Worcester, Massachusetts a couple days later. I ended up riding with Tyr and Eluveitie for the entire trip, as the Ensiferum/Turisas bus was already over-full, and that arrangement turned out great, as both bands were exceptionally friendly.
Specific details of the tour exploits will eventually appear in my article, but here's a slapdash account of each five day...
Toronto, ON: Tons of kids, so many of them dressed up as Vikings, with plastic helmets, swords, dresses, kilts, pelts, carpet swatches posing as pelts (!), and warpaint. It looked like BiMonSciFiCon, not a metal show. Each band was well-received, but this night was all about Turisas, who tore the place apart, led by their now-famous cover of Boney M's "Rasputin". Chatted at length with Pete from Ensiferum and Mattias from Turisas...for a guy who looks like a burly warrior onstage, and who is a consummate metal frontman, Matthias is a surprisingly reserved dude offstage. So much so, you'd never know he was the lead guy...and many kids didn't make the connection. Sleeping on the bunk was an adjustment, but I quickly got used to the rumble of the highway travel.
Montreal, PQ: When we got to Le Medley late in the morning, there were already kids waiting in line, and with more than 1500 tickets sold, everyone knew this would be a big show. I did some wandering around the old part of Montreal...it was my first time there, and I really enjoyed what I saw of the city. Plus, it was on the day of a Habs game, and the city was positively buzzing, with Canadiens flags everywhere. The show itself was NUTS...the energy was astounding, every band going over huge, merchandise selling out quickly. And the heat was oppressive...I spent much of the show on a balcony part facing the crowd and just watching their reactions, but it wound up getting so hot, that I had to keep ducking outside for air, and I ended up watching Ensiferum from backstage, where it was cooler. Brooklyn band Gwynbleidd opened, and were tremendous, and I ended up bumping into them a couple of times. We had a beer with the guys in Tyr, they gave me their recent CD, and I promised to keep an eye out for their new album, due out this year. Things got even crazier after the show, but that's for the article. You'll just have to wait.
Worcester, MA: Pure and utter chaos, something the tour manager wasn't exactly thrilled to deal with. It was Day 3 of the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, where band after band after band would play a quick, half hour set with a changeover of ten minutes, which made for madness backstage. Plus with no dressing rooms, bands were confined to their buses all day. And a lot of the bands were of the metalcore variety, making for quite a boring, repetitive afternoon. Luckily, I bumped into buddy Sean Palmerston, who introduced me to a ton of people I know through music writing, but had never had the chance to meet. met writers, publicists, record label folks, and bands, from the cool guys in Hemlock at Subway of all places, and Meshuggah at a private shindig. Not surprisingly, Viking/pagan/folk metal was a tougher sell on this night, but Eluveitie came on and won everyone over. The reaction was incredible, as people responded to the positive vibe of the music, which combines melodic Swedish death metal with fiddle, hurdy-gurdy, tin flute, and bagpipes. It was an eye-opener for me, too...I was already a fan of their most recent album Slania, but I had no idea they'd be able to translate the two disparate styles so well in a live setting.
Springfield, VA: After a wonderfully decadent 3 a.m. Quarter Pounder meal at a huge truckstop on the Massachusetts Turnpike (is it me, or does McDonald's always taste better in America?), I went to sleep while crossing into Connecticut, and woke up as we were crossing into Delaware on I-95. Delaware looks boring, Baltimore looks as depressing as The Wire makes it out to be, but once you get to the DC-Virginia area, it becomes surprisingly nice. And green, with more trees than I ever expected to see there. The Jaxx club in Springfield was an odd location, in a strip mall, but it was adjacent to tons of stores and restaurants, so that was good, Unfortunately, it was raining buckets for much of the day, so I couldn't go for much of a walk. Got to know Eluveitie better, though, and I also met some folks from a Norse pagan commune in Maryland who'd driven down for the show. They were extremely friendly, their 60-something leader exuding an ebullient Jerry Garcia vibe, but the longer we chatted, the more surreal it all became. They were accompanied by a young, skinny girl they claled their Berzerker (I am not making this up) who was completely silent and stone-faced, projecting a scary, Squaky Fromme-type vibe. As for the show, unlike Woosta, the smaller venue (which was long sold-out) was jumpin' from the get-go. I ended up missing much of Ensiferum's set because I was too busy having potent drinks foisted upon me Terji and Gunnar from Tyr, who were determined to get me as wasted as they were. And they did a pretty good job of it, I might add. Anyway, much fun was had. That was a great night, and ended up having a good chat over wine with Anna from Eluveitie and tour manager Dave as we waited for Terji and Gunnar to return from goofing around.
Cleveland, OH: Collapsed to sleep in Virginny, and woke up somewhere in Ohio, and groggily had a sammich from a Wal-Mart Subway. Arrived at Peabody's in the early afternoon, watching a goofy James Vanderbeek movie with a few band members about a giant killer squid that was so obviously filmed in Manitoba. People were pretty persnickety on this day...for instance, the girls in Eluveitie were sick to death of American venues having no showers and demanded a hotel room just to clean up, which just gave the tour manager just one more thing to do on his already massive to-do list. And I waited and waited for 4:00, which was when I could check into my hotel. When I did, I relaxed for a bit, enjoying the quiet, had a gloriously yummy baked meatball sub, and wandered back to see the show one more time. The Cleveland crowd was slow to get going for every band, and the merch wasn't selling as well as the other cities, so it was a bit of an off night. After the pace cleared, I went and said bye to everyone from the bus, and when I gave the tour manager my laminate, I said I was going to buy a couple shirts, and he said, "No, no, no...give this guy anything he wants." So I got an Eluveitie hoodie, and Ensiferym and Tyr shirts, all of which are snazzy. I then grabbed a couple slices from the pizza place next door, went back to the hotel, took the longest shower ever, and took it easy.
Cleveland's a cool place, not as dumpy as people often presume. I regret not going to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, but my backpack was so heavy, I couldn't handle walking further than I already did. I did walk across the Cuyahoga river to the Great Lakes brew pub, where I had my first proper, sit-down meal in ages, and got some good pics of the downtown skyline. After that, it was off to the airport, and after a Toronto connection, I got back home at 10 pm.
So I'm still trying to get my energy back...I have some new writing to plug, plus a Meshuggah/Ministry show to mention, but that will have to wait until tomorrow, I can't go on any further!
