Jay Ruston photo by Josh Reeder; Brian Posehn/Brett Anderson photo by Susana Capra

Producer, engineer, and mixer Jay Ruston loves a challenge. He’s the guy whom Anthrax hired to save their troubled Worship Music album. He’s the guy who spit-shined their Sofia Big 4 performance for DVD release. He’s also the dude who helped silly Steel Panther craft the decade’s most seriously memorable album, and also the dude enlisted to surpass expectations for Feel The Steel‘s sequel and follow-up (due out October 18). He’s a whiz who has worked with intimidatingly successful producers (Desmond Child, Peter Asher, Jack Richardson) and intimidatingly hot rocker foxes (The Donnas, Pearl Aday, Brian Posehn). And Ruston is a friendly dude who at a moment’s notice devoted his Monday morning to spilling sexy insider details on the abovementioned Steel Panther and Anthrax projects (and tons more) to MetalSucks. Want the real story on an album’s making? Ask the producer!

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This morning, MetalSucks’ own Corey Mitchell made Vince and myself aware of Andrew O’Neill, who, as the headline states, is an occultist transvestite black metal stand-up comedian from New Zealand. And having now watched the below video (in which O’Neill even dons an Altar of Plagues shirt) from the BBC, I don’t actually think the dude is all that funny (Brian Posehn’s status as the premiere heavy metal comedian remains unchallenged, as does Frankie Palmeri’s runner-up status), but it is interesting that such a performer even exists and is apparently gaining some acclaim… especially in light of the fact that we were just discussing the possibility of metal becoming increasingly mainstream. Would audiences have ever even given this dude a chance in the old days? I guess, in all fairness, none of his humor is metal-specific, although he certainly does play up the whole Satan angle.

There’s probably some societal significance in the fact that he’s a transvestite, too, but Eddie Izzard was probably the real trailblazer there.

Check out the clip below and see if you find more humor in this than I did.

-AR

Making fun of juggalos is passe at this point; been there, done that, 100 times over, and everyone gets the point. But posting the annual infomercial Psychopathic Records puts out to promote the Gathering of the Juggalos is something of a ritual, always good for a few lulz, and possibly even entertaining.

Once you get through the so-uncool-at-this-point-that-maybe-it’s-cool-again Star Wars-style intro, you’ll discover that Vanilla Ice has sunken to an even lower low and is now a juggalo. In addition to the usual assortment of interchangeable clown-faced rappers, this year’s lineup also brings a whole new set of artists scraping the bottom of the barrel that’s become their career: CKY, Dope, Saliva, Vanilla Ice (obvs), Xzibit, Kittie and M.C. Hammer. In the “Are you sure you really want to stoop so low?” department we have Ice Cube, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars and Busta Rhymes, who all must be getting hella paid. And last but not least, the comedy stage will feature Brian Posehn and classic wrestlers Iron Sheik and Rowdy Roddy Piper (zuh?).

Should be an interesting one. Perhaps an MS reader braver than us can go on an anthropological mission on August 11-14. I already had the juggalo experience of a lifetime, and I think that’s enough for me.

-VN

I love music, but I am first and foremost a fan of comedy. If you were to spy on my iPod, you’d see that I spend 90% of my time listening to Joe Rogan and Adam Carolla’s podcasts. Music is cool and all, but you can only hear so much before the novelty wears off and you just want to hear an insecure nerd droning on and on about airport security, his nagging wife, or whatever comedians talk about these days.

With that in mind, I am a huge fan of bands who combine both worlds: COMEDY METAL, although the subgenre is (to say the least) a mixed bag. Bands like Gwar, Ugly Kid Joe, and Shat are geniuses, while others deliver, uh, less than satisfactory results.

In this post, we will attempt to answer this question: Lots of bands try to be funny, but which ones succeed, and which ones suck eggs???

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I haven’t needlessly lumped self newly-released videos together in awhile, and these three clips were all released pretty much at once, so I figured, “Hey, why not?” After the jump, check out the latest audio-visual offerings from Torche, Helloween, Linkin Park, and Your Demise… plus my usual bullshit commentary, of course.

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When you tune into the premiere broadcast of The Second Annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards tomorrow night on VH1 classic, you’ll see the final public appearance of our beloved Ronnie James Dio. You’ll also see Jerry Cantrell and Mike Inez of Alice In Chains, winner of roughly half of the meaningful awards, enjoying the metal community’s validation of their potentially dicey comeback effort, the magnificent Black Gives Way To Blue. You’ll see metal codgers like Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, and Lemmy bathe in much-deserved adulation. You’ll also see potentially ho-hum performances pumped up by mega-drummers: Rob Zombie with Joey Jordison (in his debut performance), Fear Factory with Gene Hoglan, Brian Posehn with John Tempesta (and Brett Anderson girl call me srsly) and Slash with Dave Grohl.

But at a mere 60 minutes, the broadcast can’t capture all of the April 8 event’s super moments and silly gaffes. Here’s a few things you won’t see:

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Topless Robot – which has to be one of the funniest nerd sites on the web – just posted a list of “The 10 Best Sketches from Mr. Show,” the great, now long-defunct HBO sketch comedy series which served as my formal introduction to one Mr. Brian Posehn. All the sketches are great, but the one below, about a fictional metal band called Titannica, is especially metal-worthy. I don’t want to give too much away in case you’ve never seen it before, but… man, is it funny. Why can’t SNL be this good?

-AR

We knew that there would be a video for “More Metal Than You,” the song Brian Posehn co-wrote with Scott Ian for the former’s new album, Fart and Wiener Jokes, and here it is. (Also worth noting: the song features additional guest appearances by Lamb of God’s Mark Morton, Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, Armored Saint’s Joey Vera, Dethklok’s Brendon Small, the always fashionable John Tempesta, and The Donnas’ Brett Anderson.) The animation style is fairly simple, but there are some real gems in here – including a moment when Posehn head-butts Sharon Osbourne, and then Ozzy gives him a high-five. Oh, if only Ozzy really did recognize that Sharon is a problem.

True story: when I first heard this song, I thought Posehn was saying “My cat’s name is ‘metal.’” In fact, until five minutes ago when I watched this video, I didn’t realize he was saying “Manowar.” Still really funny, though.

Fart and Wiener Jokes is out now on Relapse. I’m giving a copy away for this week’s Completely Unreadable Band Logo contest, so enter that shit now. Also, if you haven’t done so already, check out my interview with Posehn right here.

-AR

Congrats to MetalSucks Maniacs Aric Robles, Tre Winchester, John Pewo, Keith Carbaugh, John Whitley, and Frank Rodriguez. They all correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band Guttural Intoxication, and all win a CD/t-shirt combo back from Hatefor their troubles. Enjoy those, dudes! And don’t forget that Hate are about to embark on their first U.S. trek as part of the MetalSucks/Metal Injection co-sponsored A Taste of Extreme Divinity North American Tour 2010, which also features Hypocrisy, Scar Symmetry, Blackguard and Swashbuckle. Visit Hate on MySpace to get all the dates!

This week the folks at Relapse Records have supplied us with an awesome prize to give away: a copy of Brian Posehn’s new album, Fart and Wiener Jokes! It not only features recordings of Posehn’s brilliant stand-up, but also an original song he co-wrote with Anthrax’s Scott Ian (“More Metal Than You”) and a metal cover of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” with guest appearances by such all-stars as Jamey Jasta, Mark Morton, Mark Oseguenda, John Tempesta, and Russ Parrish. This album rules!

All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select a winner and announce his or her name next week. But don’t forget that you can always order a copy of Fart and Wiener Jokes here. And if you haven’t yet read my interview with Brian Posehn, well, go do it now!!!

Reader David Foust once again provided this week’s logo…

-AR

What. A. Douche.

Excuse me if there are a lotta typos in this post – it’s hard to see the monitor through my tears. Why am I weeping as I type this? Because I just read the following on Blabbermouth:

Former ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna was seen with ANTHRAXdrummer Charlie Benante and bassist Frank Bello this past Wednesday (April 28) at the FOZZY concert at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City, prompting speculation that he is in talks to rejoin the band in time for the group’s upcoming “Big Four” shows in Europe withMETALLICA, MEGADETH and SLAYER. (Belladonna lives in upstate New York while Benante is a Chicago resident, making it somewhat unlikely that this was simply a chance encounter.)

Oh dear sweet God, I’m sorry I ever doubted your existence. Please stop punishing me. Please please please make it so Joey Belladonna is going nowehre near fucking Anthrax ever again. Unless it’s the disease and not the band, in which case, y’know. Rock on.

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EVERYBODY SING WITH ME NOW: “I FEEL PRETTY, OH SO PRETTY, I FEEL PRETTY, AND WITTY, AND BRIIIIIIIGHT!”

No West Side Story fans in the house? No one? Okay, fuck it. Here’s what happened in the world of FUCKING METAL this week:

• We’re streaming Mantric’s The Descent in its entirety.
• We’re giving away new tracks by Nevermore and Heaven Shall Burn.
• We debuted a new video by Karma to Burn.
• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal meditated on unexplained healings, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa gave us a refresher on L O S T, The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley thinks it’s okay to enjoy music by scumbags, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable wants your help naming his new band, and Eyal from Daath and Levi/Werstler wants you to start ordering CDs online.
• We spoke to Mike Patton and Brian Posehn.
• Slayer and Megadeth are both doing full album performances on their American Carnage tour; Testament, not so much.
• Rose Funoral just can’t live down their past.

Next week brings so many interviews and exclusives it’ll make your head explode. See ya then!

-AR

Like a lot of people, I first became familiar with Brian Posehn because of his time on David Cross and Bob Odenkirk’s brilliant HBO sketch comedy series, Mr. Show, for which he was also a writer. A few years after that show went off the air, my then-roommate and I went to see Posehn do some stand-up at a comedy club here in New York. I don’t think we were even there to see Posehn specifically – if memory serves, David Cross was the actual draw for us – but he was so funny that I actually laughed so hard I became winded and fell out of my chair. Since then, he’s been on a very, very short list of stand-ups that I never miss the chance to check out when they come through town. Mr. Show sketches about a fictional band called “Titannica” led me to believe that someone on the series’ writing staff was a metal fan, but I didn’t know that it was Posehn until later – and the revelation that he was just as obsessed with metal as I was only made him that much cooler.

Fart and Wiener Jokes, Posehn’s second album for Relapse, comes out today (and you can order a copy here). Like its predecessor, Live: In Nerd Rage, it features not only recordings of his brilliant stand-up, but also an original song he co-wrote with Anthrax’s Scott Ian (“More Metal Than You”) to poke fun at some of metal’s more regrettable foibles. It also has a metal cover of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” and between the two music tracks, Posehn has managed to rope in guest appearances by such all-stars as Jamey Jasta, Mark Morton, Mark Oseguenda, John Tempesta, and Russ Parrish. Assuming you love great comedy and great metal, there’s no way you’re not gonna dig Fart and Wiener Jokes.

A few weeks ago I got to talk to Posehn about putting comedy albums out on a metal label, what it’s like to be friends with some of his boyhood heroes, the state of metal today, his take on the Anthrax vocalist situation, and more. He even turned the tables at the end and asked me a question! Read the complete transcript of our chat after the jump.

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So I interviewed Brian Posehn about his new album, Fart and Wiener Jokes, last week, and one of the things I asked him was whether or not there were any new (not nu) metal bands he enjoyed. I thought the dude responsible for “Metal By Numbers” would be a cranky old man who didn’t like anything recorded any later than rougly 1990 or so, but I was wrong – Posehn likes plenty of younger bands.

One band that he cited is Icarus Witch, who he praised simply for “trying the traditional metal thing.” Well, these metal traditionalists have just announced via MySpace that they have a new singer:

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Brian Posehn is easily one of the funniest stand-up comedians alive. I have never missed a chance to go see him live, and he has – quite literally – made me fall out of my chair from laughing so hard. Add to that the fact that the dude loves metal, and, well, he’s just so damn sexy I can’t handle it.

Posehn is the only comedian I’m aware of currently signed to Relapse Records. He’s that fucking metal. And he’s going to release another album through that label, entitled Fart and Wiener Jokes, on April 27. That too-small image above is the cover art, which is absolutely fucking EPIC.

Needless to say, I am insanely excited about this album, which, in addition to some sure-to-be uproarious comedy, is going to feature two songs – “More Metal Than You” (!!!) and a cover of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) – which will feature guest spots by Posehn’s buddy Scott Ian, Jamey Jasta, Mark Morton, John Tempesta, Russ Parrish, and, according to a press release, “more.”

So clearly, this is gonna own all our asses in April. You can pre-order the album in a variety of nifty packages here.

And I think I’ve posted this before, but it never gets old so fuck it:

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When he’s not fucking up Halloween, I’ve actually enjoyed some of Rob Zombie’s cinematic work in the past – particularly The Devil’s Rejects. And these 34 seconds of his new, R-rated cartoon, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, look potentially promising – although knowing that Paul Giamatti (as “Dr. Satan” – aka the main villain from House of 1,000 Corpses), Rosario Dawson, Danny Trejo, and comedian/metalhead Brian Posehn all contributed voice work definitely helps.

Less helpful is knowing that the film has been completed and sitting on a shelf for awhile now. That could mean the movie just isn’t that commercial, or it could mean the movie licks bear balls. I guess we’ll find out when Anchor Bay finally releases the movie on DVD next month.

Meanwhile, Shock ‘TIl You Drop is reporting that Zombie is now returning to his mysterious (and apparently dinosaur-free) Tyrannosaurus Rex project now that Halloween II is complete. More to follow…

-AR

I haven’t watched any of Sam Kinison’s old stand-up in years, so I have no idea how his work holds up – but when I was a younger, I thought he was just about the funniest human being that had ever lived, and when he died, I was really, really upset about it.

I heard recently that HBO is making a TV movie about Kinison’s life – which is why I was thinking about him again – and I suddenly remembered Kinison’s video for his cover of “Wild Thing.”

Today the video seems vastly inferior to Brian Posehn’s “Metal by Numbers,” because a) that song is actually about metal, b) that song isn’t a cover, and c) that song doesn’t have Tommy Lee in its video. But at the time, this clip was the shit – I mean, in addition to the aforementioned Lee, it also features Slash, Billy Idol, Richie Sambora, members of Aerosmith and Ratt, and Jessica Hahn’s tits.

-AR

I am currently sequestered away in my cave hammering out my next book, so I don’t have any time to look shit up. Regardless, I have a few questions niggling at the back of my brain about some issues in metal. Maybe you can help me out.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO…?

• Sounds of the Underground- I caught the first tour and it rocked. Second one, not so much (Trivium headlining over In Flames?). The third year’s line-up looked lame so I took a pass. Correct me if I’m wrong, but was there no SOTU this year?
• Ozzfest – Free in 2007. One show in 2008. WTF?
• Headbangers Ball – Reduced to one hour a week. No host. Time slot changes seemingly every week. Too many of the same videos played week after week.
• Metallica – No, seriously. WTFH2 these guys?
• Brian Posehn - Okay, I cheated here. This isn’t a WTFH2, but rather a request from me for one of you MSManiacs to create a YouTube clip of Brian Posehn’s metal moments on The Sarah Silverman Program. Please? Pretty please? BP is the fuckin’ man!

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If you’re not familiar with Continuum’s 33 1/3 book series, you should be. Each entry is written by a different music critic and/or journalist, and each one is devoted to the study of a single, seminal album. There’s a wide range of types of music covered by the series – everything from the Beastie Boys to The Velvet Underground – but metal hass, up ’til now, been criminally unrepresented. There are entries for albums by Guns N’ Roses and Nine Inch Nails, but those aren’t metal bands in the strictest sense and, obviously, both groups have been wholly accepted by the mainstream; there was a book covering Sabbath’s Master of Reality recently, but, weird though it may be, at this point Sabbath are pretty much as accepted and unrebellious a metal band as we’re likely to get.

So D.X. Ferris’ recently release tome on Slayer’s Reign in Blood is the series’ first honest to God (or honest to Satan?) book covering a metal album. And it’s an AWESOME read – fascinating, intelligent, informative and insightful, you’re likely to blow through it record time, and then feel depressed as you realize you’ve reached the last page. Ferris not only takes a critical look at the album, making astute observations and pointing out little musical nooks and crannies you might have never noticed even after your gazillionth spin of the classic record, but he also managed to interview everyone and anyone who was involved with the album – from the band members themselves to producer Rick Rubin to engineer Andy Wallace to cover artist Larry Carroll and a few hundred other people I’m forgetting about – as well as loads and loads of musicians and artists who are fans of the album (Henry Rollins, Tori Amos, Gary Holt, and Paul Romano among them).

After I wrote this blog about Slayer and their continuing relevance in the metal world back in June, Ferris actually e-mailed me basically just to say “thanks” for the shout-out to his book. I asked him if I could shoot him some interview questions, and luckily for us, he agreed. After the jump, read what Ferris had to say about the process of putting the book together, things he learned about both Slayer and Reign in Blood while working on the book, and the state of Slayer today.

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