Seeming as though there will never cease to be a supply of beginner and amateur bands in the world, I’ve written some of my Jumping Darkness Parade entries in their honor. A little bit of practical advice applied to whatever it is you’re doing can help move you a long way. Well, in this case I’m talking to any band, at any level, which is performing a gig and are NOT the final act of the night. If you’re in Metallica and the whole world plays by your rules, then congratulations and don’t bother reading this. But for the rest of us, stage etiquette is essential if you aspire to have an easy working relationship with your band mates, other bands on the bill, local crews, and beyond.

I want to focus on the dreaded changeover. This is the part of the night where either the pieces are laid into place to ensure an easy start to the show, or where things will begin to fall apart. How long you take to be set up and ready to play AS WELL AS how quickly you can get offstage will have a big impact on how your band is treated that night, and in the long run. If your set ends and your drummer decides to take apart his kit on stage while your guitarist sits in a corner on stage wrapping his cables, taking their sweet-ass time while another band is dealing with a fifteen minute window to get set up and started, then your band is fucking up. And also, your band is fucking up if it’s your turn to go and your drummer starts setting up his kit onstage, guitarist is fumbling with all his cables, somebody (bassist, vocalist, whoever) is nowhere to be found, and another guitarist who got his rig up quickly is noodling away annoying everyone.

Let me go on a rant for a second. Is there anything more annoying during a changeover than watching some dude stand up there and play fifteen minutes of guitar solos while the house music is still going amidst the general chaos on stage caused by everyone else trying to get the band set up? Is there a more eloquent way to say “YOU ARE FUCKING UP, SIR?” First of all, you look like a disorganized bunch of idiots acting that way. People take note. Second of all – and this relates to what I just said – you will lose the audience looking like a bunch of bumbling idiots. Third, you are most likely holding up the show and pissing off a) the headliner, b) the other bands after you, c) their crews, d) the club and their crews.

Click to read more…

Have you guys noticed how hard it is to find your favorite new metal releases in Best Buy, FYE, or any of the other big chains that are still remaining? Have you noticed that with few exceptions, bands that are used to posting respectable sales numbers are now selling fractions of what they used to? They still do great at shows. They still sell tons of merch. Everyone has their albums. Their fanbases don’t seem to be diminished. What the fuck is going on?

It’s a combination of things. Everyone knows that the market for purchasing CDs is way down. I don’t remember the exact figure, but believe me, it’s WAY down. This has caused many larger chains, like Tower, to become strictly online operations. I remember the days when going to Tower Records in any given city was always great, because they were huge and had amazing selection. Gone. Virgin is on the way out as well. The one in Paris is still kicking, but didn’t the mega store in New York City close down? [Both of the ones in NYC closed down last year. -Ed.]

With larger chains biting the dust, you can only imagine what this has done to mom and pop record stores. They’re dropping like flies. The ones that are still in business are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Right now, we’ve got a marketplace that has somewhere in the range of 40 – 50 % of the retail outlets it had only three years ago. So there’s a very limited amount of options for a CD to even be stocked. That’s one thing. Here’s the other thing. Big retailers are not interested in stocking metal releases unless there’s a guarantee of X amount of sales. For instance, if Best Buy can’t move 2,000 units of a given release in the first week they won’t stock it. This doesn’t affect the more successful bands, but what does this mean for bands that are still coming up? If Best Buy wont carry it, and most stores are R.I.P., then where do you go to get music by bands you love who aren’t necessarily huge?

Click to read more…

I’ve always hated top-whatever lists. Best guitarist, best band, best blowjob, best double anal with a horse, whatever. I think that those lists are pretty much all slanted by politics, or bought and paid for. I first got that idea in my head when Titanic won as many Oscars as it did. There were so many movies that year that were far more deserving of the title that my faith in the award system died.

Jump forward about ten years. I just got back in town from the Revolver Golden God Awards. I’ll just say that I’m stoked they exist. Metal needs that in the U.S. I have no issue with their nominees and obviously you can’t pick everyone so this is definitely not directed at them. Again, THIS IS NOT DIRECTED AT REVOLVER MAGAZINE, but the concept of picking “best shredder” or “shredder of the year “is just one of those things you can’t accurately do with the amount of talent that’s out there. You want to nominate Zack Wylde or Dave Mustaine? Okay. That’s cool. Those guys have earned it. But when you leave the circle of greats and legends, how exactly do you pick a BEST shredder? I mean am I alone in thinking that when so many amazing guitarists are overlooked that the award itself loses its meaning? What guitarists am I talking about? Okay… I’ll name a few. In my opinion these guys should be winning all the awards. If I left someone out, it’s because either I haven’t heard of them, I’ve heard them and I don’t think they’re among the very best, I forgot to mention them, or I’ve heard them and I know for a fact that what you think is shredding is just studio trickery.

So here it is. My personal list of whom I think should be winning all the metal guitar awards. Am I biased? Maybe. But I’d like to also think that considering what I do for a living that I’m a good judge of competency in the field. This is in no particular order. These guys all rule for different reasons. (DISCLAIMER: Sorry that there aren’t videos for every dude I mention, but sometimes finding quality footage is tough.)

Click to read more…

It’s no secret that the music industry is in shambles. What was once an industry that could stand neck and neck with Hollywood is now just a series of competing guerilla operations. Some richer than others. This is not news. This is talked about every day. All I hear about is how the sky is falling and there’s no hope.

Well… I beg to differ. I think there’s nothing but hope. You see, I attended an Opeth concert in L.A. two weeks ago. as well as one held by Muse in Atlanta about a month and a half ago. Both shows were completely sold out. The audiences were in awe of the performances. Both bands sounded incredible. Both bands had great staging. I’m sure both bands cleaned house in merch. The sorry state of the music industry didn’t seem to be affecting them too harshly.

I once read someone in Dream Theater saying something to the effect of, “We’re in a bubble that somehow protects us from what’s going on with the rest of the industry.” Why is it that some bands can clean house in any economic climate, while so many other bands that just two years ago were living the life, are now downsizing back to vans, getting real jobs, etc.? People point to the the sheer amount of tours leading to poor ticket sales. Other people say it’s just that people don’t have money due to the bad eonomy. Well, somehow they seem to have money when Opeth, or Dream Theater, or Muse, or Slipknot, or any other mega-band comes around. Kinda like your pothead friend that’s always broke, but can always find money for weed.

Click to read more…

-EL

Don’t we all just love our cute cuddly animal friends? Funny how just because they’re cute, we trust them.

This video is an oldie but goodie. Great soundtrack too. Moral of the story… animals are bastards. I love my dog, but I know full well that hairy fucker could turn on me in an instant. Emil and I were talking about this tonight: somehow we tricked these savage beasts into putting up with our bullshit. I’m cool with animals, but I never let my guard down around one. Even mine. Like I found out tonight… The worst part about enduring a dog bite isn’t the puncture wound, it’s your bones being crushed. Sucky.

-EL

I’m sick and tired of hearing that classical music and metal music are pretty much the same thing in different time periods. No, they’re not. Okay? They’re not. There are some similarities, yes, but to say that they’re the same thing is about as accurate as saying that a tank is the same thing as a Ferrari. Sure, they’re both mechanized vehicles that can get you from point A to point B. Sure, they’re both powerful pinnacles of engineering and human ingenuity. But same thing? No.

Click to read more…

You may know Emil and I from our band DAATH, my blogs on this site, Emil’s online guitar lessons, or just stumbling around Atlanta like the drunken bastards that we are. Axl and Vince were kind enough to let us hijack their site in honor of the release of our instrumental record, Avalanche of Worms. Even though the name of the project is Levi/Werstler, we feel that everyone involved was an integral contributor to what we feel is our truest artistic statement to date. That’s why today you’re not only going to get a glimpse into our world view, but you’ll also be able to read what’s on the mind of the entire team via their guest blogs. So that said, welcome to the 4/20/2010 Levi/Werstler Metalsucks Takeover!

-Eyal and Emil

I’ll admit it: I still do check Blabbermouth from time to time. Hard not to. It’s kind of a metal institution at this point. Here and there, when they publish first week numbers, I’ll read those if they concern a band I like, or am curious about for whatever reason.

I’m not a Demon Hunter fan, but I was down at Audiohammer when Jason Suecof was mixing their record, and so I’m familiar with their new record by twist of circumstance. (Believe me, I would have never gone looking on my own.) Anyways, when their first week numbers were published, I decided to check on that, and goddamn guys. 14k approximately. That’s what Suicide Silence does. That’s what DevilDriver does. That’s what bands that tour all the time and are always in the media do. Good for them. Congrats dudes.

Here’s why I find this interesting. Demon Hunter has never really been a touring act. They’ve never really been in the media too much before the present.  So what explains them selling records on par with bands that are always out there hustling? To answer this, I thought about what some bands in the past have pulled off without too much touring.

Click to read more…

I’ve never really wondered this about myself, but I guess it’s a good question:why the fuck am I still involved with metal?

Honestly, I don’t have an answer besides to say that no matter what I do, I’m always drawn to it. It’s almost akin to a sexual preference. You don’t choose it. It is what it is. People choose their sexual preference as much as they choose their fetishes, which is not at all. Well, I think tastes in music and art follow suit. Sure, you get college lesbians as much as you get people who take on the musical tastes of their significant others or social circle, but at the end of the day, I don’t think you can really choose what your tastes are. I think there’s some sort of brain wiring involved which dictates our taste preferences, and I’m just not privy to the actual process.

Click to read more…

How many of you actually listen to guitar solos? How many of you actually pay attention to the musicianship involved in a project? How important is that for you? I’m curious to hear about this from musicians’ and non-musicians’ perspectives.  I know that for me, as a listener, amazing technicality alone is only interesting for about two minutes, and then my mind wanders.

Actually, it’s more like ten seconds now. When I was a teenager learning to play guitar (still learning, by the way), I could stomach shred records in doses. Usually, there would be that one cool track where it was obvious that some feeling and time went into the composition. The rest of the album would be wank filler. There’s some exceptions, like the first Yngwie record or Jason Becker’s Perpetual Burn, but by and large that is a boring-ass genre. I can’t geek out to that stuff. I don’t care about the Olympics, let alone the Guitar Olympics. Boring!

Click to read more…

Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a peaceful guy. I have no violent tendencies and avoid fights at almost any cost. I know plenty of people who would be happy to hospitalize someone for me, and that helps me rest easy. Violence is not really something I concern myself with. That said, it is certainly a reality of life. Turn on the news, read the newspapers, or live in a poor neighborhood and you’ll see just how much a reality of life violence is. Understanding that human on human violence is a fact of life brings up the subject of categorization. These categories are simple. Are you justified to beat the fuck out of someone? Well, it depends. Right? Sometimes it’s all right. Sometimes it’s the right thing to do. And sometime it’s not the right thing to do. How do you decipher?

Click to read more…

In my last blog I talked about selling out and what I really think it means. For those of you who don’t feel like reading last week’s rant, I’ll say it again: I think it means changing your sound in an unnatural direction in order to make more money. A bunch of you had opinions on this matter. I appreciated your comments. Very well thought out, and honestly a lot less mindless trashing than I was expecting.

Sometimes I write a blog and the comments are the only response I get. Sometimes I get e-mails and text messages for days with people sharing their thoughts on something I write. Well, this was one of those blogs. Who would’ve thought that a blog about selling out would get people from the metal community to share their thoughts?

Anyways, I talked about how a great record is a moment in time for the team working on it, and it can never be recreated. A friend of mine brought up the point that a great album is also a place in time for the audience receiving it.

Click to read more…

“They sold out.” Three words that have been said about so many bands. But what does the phrase actually mean?

I know what I think it means. I think that selling out means changing your artistic direction drastically and unnaturally in an attempt to make more money.

Notice I said “unnaturally.” I said that because artists and bands change directions all the time. I know that some fans take this very personally. They can feel very strongly, and usually in a negative way, when their favorite band changes their sound or direction. A true artist follows their inner muse and nobody can predict where that shit will take them.

Click to read more…

Well, you’ve done it! Once again, you guys have shown that when it comes down to it, metal is still about spreading the word.

So most of you know about some bands out there that you feel should have a shot for whatever reason. Some more legitimate than others. I’m sure some girlfriends posted about their boyfriend’s band. I KNOW of some band members that posted links to their own band even though I said not to do that. Hey, it’s a free world and all, but c’mon dudes and one dudette I know of. Can you hang up the self-promotion for one night? The idea was to let OTHER PEOPLE promote you.

Regardless of that, I also know that a good majority of these links are genuine recommendations. And that fucking rules. I gave this list to some A&R dudes at some labels and whether or not they listen is up to them but hey, they have the list and its mostly based on people’s recommendations. Over the course of the next few weeks I’m going to go down the list, and every band that is up there due to a legit posting is going to get a listen. And when I’m done I’m going to figure out if there’s any way possible to help spread the word further about them.

In the meantime, those of you who posted links to your friend’s band should take it a step further. Send your favorite tracks to ten of your friends. Burn some CDs for friends of yours. Whatever. Just help go beyond this list. This list is staggering to people because its so long, and I guarantee you that outside the music industry most people won’t check out every band (i.e., potential fans). Therefore, if you really care, you will put this in some people’s hands and help open their minds to it. Talk to you all soon.

-EL

Visit Daath on MySpace and become their fan on Facebook.

When I wrote my last blog, I wasn’t expecting a huge response. I was expecting pretty much what I got. A few people sharing their experiences at NAMM, and a few people calling me a negative nancy mainly because they weren’t there so they had no real concept of what I was getting at. I know it sounds negative and whiney but, hey, I call things like I see them. Not everything in life is fucking awesome, and some things are downright annoying. I illustrated a few of those things.

One of the things I touched on in my last blog was the inefficiency of handing out demo CDs at an event like that. What’s the point of giving out your music to people? Obviously it’s to get them to listen to it. To spread the word, if you will. If you play a numbers game, obviously the more you give out, the more people will hear and possibly listen to your music. The more that actually listen, the more that may possibly like it, and will be that much closer to becoming a fan.

I’m not claiming to be a master of statistics, but it seems to me like that numbers game will be slanted in your favor more if you hand those demos out to a group of people who want to hear new music in the genre you are closest to. For instance… if you play in a black metal band and you hand demos out to the crowd after a Behemoth show, there’s a decent chance that if you are good that somebody will pay attention. That’s a target market. If you are just handing out demos to people at an industry trade show, you are basically just taking shots in the dark. What use does an A&R rep at a huge amp company who doesn’t listen to metal have for your black metal CD? Coaster. If that.

That’s not the way to go about getting your music heard.

Click to read more…

“Went to NAMM, fucked a bunch of bitches, did a ton of blow. Life is good…”
–Anonymous Somebody, NAMM Convention – Anaheim 2010

The above statement may or may not be entirely true, but it pretty much summed up the vibe over at the NAMM show last weekend. You could simplify things and call it a five day long blackout, but I do remember a few things, and did come away with a few thoughts.

Click to read more…

Yesterday I had an experience that actually gave me some hope for the metal.

After some all out insanity caused by the arctic blast that came all over this country’s face I actually made it out to a show last night. Me going to a show isn’t what gave me hope by the way. I’ll get to that. Even though I don’t go to many shows anymore (try giving a shit about shows when you are involved with three digits worth of them every year), I went last night because Cynic were playing and I was basically helping them make sure that the first week of their tour wasn’t absolutely jacked for them.

What I mean by that is just that they got completely fucked on the travel due to weather. Three of them got stranded in LA, three of them got stranded in Chicago, their merch was never delivered, etc. See, it snows once a year in Atlanta and when it does this city goes to total shit.  Roads shut down, the airport shuts down, emergency services get stretched to the limit, businesses shut down, it straight goes to hell.  This place is not equipped to handle any sort of freezing winter weather incidents. Originally the idea was that Cynic would arrive on Friday and I would pick them up and we’d hang out a bit then they’d play a show on Saturday.

It turned into their management calling me Friday afternoon in the middle of a very professional freakout and telling me that on top of nobody knowing when the band was going to arrive into Atlanta, if at all, that UPS suspended all shipments that day and could I please go to the UPS headquarters and pick up 14 boxes of merch or they will not have any merch for who knows how many days into the tour. And by the way, the dudes are landing at midnight maybe, and by the way more of the dudes are landing tomorrow at noon possibly. None of this would be a big deal at all if the Atlanta roadways weren’t completely covered with ice. I mean sheets of ice. It’s not fun. I almost wrecked a few times. At one point the DAATH van did a 360 on ice and I promise I was going 10 mph.

Click to read more…

I guess that by now it’s old news that the drummer from AX7 is taking the celestial dirt nap for undisclosed “natural causes,” but I just realized that something is bugging me about this whole situation.

First of all, let’s establish something. I am NOT a fan of AX7. Never was, most likely never will be. I think that they’re killer musicians, especially their lead guitarist with the silly stage name, but that doesn’t make me a fan.

I’m not going to specualte as to why a 28 year old suddenly died because I know full well it was probably drugs, but I also know full well that not everyone actually lives out their image in real life. He could have had an un-diagnosed heart condition, or any other number of things that suddenly kill people of any age. So I’m not going to really sit around and guess what did him in, and honestly, I don’t really care.

Here’s what I do care about for some reason: the metal community once again showed me that with some exception, it’s just a lonely, dorky, socially inadequate boy’s club. I know that I’m going to get some hate for this, but whatever. Hear me out.

Click to read more…

Hello all. No year end list or rant about the state of bullshit… I just wanted to wish all you MetalSucks readers a Happy New Year from my hotel in NOLA. Emil is here as well as some other friends, and we’re just enjoying chilling after making an album that was basically like a three month long drag-out, blow-by-blow fight. Can’t wait for you guys to hear that stuff.  Should be soon. As we enter the studio for the next DAATH album this spring, that record should be hitting stores.  I’m also looking forward to blogging it the fuck up over the next year and interacting with all of you more. I’ve got a lot on my mind and I’m sure you guys do, too. So ’til then, party safe, and remember not to take Tylenol for your hangover. Stick to Advil.

Cheers,

Eyal

Ring in the New Year with Daath on MySpace.