When Filter mainman Richard Patrick went into rehab in 2002, it marked the end of the industrial-rock band’s rad second line-up. That means it’s been about a decade since the Filter that made Title Of Record (super classic!) and The Amalgamut (epic!), and since then jeez I haven’t caught sight of Patrick’s old team like at all. Which is surprising, cuz drummer Steve Gillis is a stud (here) and guitarist Geno Lenardo co-wrote this phase of Filter’s biggest (here) and biggest-selling jamz (here).

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Photo by Clay Patrick McBride

Sebastian Bach’s new record is surprising and unsurprising. That is, no one who has witnessed the former Skid Row singer’s recent playdates with members of Asking Alexandria and Black Veil Brides could be shocked by Kicking And Screaming‘s slick, modern vibe. Plus, a clue was provided by each of Bach’s personnel moves, be it a 21-year old guitar prodigy, or a producer of tight radio rockers (Shinedown, Saliva) and lovable old guys (Iommi, David Lee Roth). And duh it’s 2011: For mainstream rock, the choice is big production or small potential. And there is nothing small about Sebastian Bach.

Anyway, those were my thoughts during the opening notes of Kicking And Screaming. But the album’s surprise element mounted with each song: He pulled it off! Yes, Bach is great at bright, pop-punkish hard rock throughout the totally lovable Kicking. Eventually it dawned on me that Bach might’ve been supplementing — not discarding — his OG fans via cavorting with scenebros, dissing of today’s Skid Row, and tabloid-friendly barroom antics. Via producer, boy wonder axeman, and his own snarling edge, his aim was a collection of jamz for both sensibilities and their overlap. Via classic Bach thrust and charm, Kicking is a Skid Row fan’s newest friend.

Last week, I spoke with Baz about Kicking And Screaming‘s creative team, singing high, being high, Steven Adler, John 5, Phil Varone, and tons more in an epic MetalSucks interview that crescendos from chill (excited new album chatter) to silly (an impromptu stoner giggle party) to rampage (invective against the Skid Row he never bargained for). Read and laugh!

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Spurred by a lazy crossword clue in The Onion (36 down, four letters: “Faith No More’s only hit”), MetalSucks contributor Anso DF dedicates every single day in August to celebration and exploration of the San Francisco alt-metal greats. Here we prove that history’s greatest band landed more than one commercial hit (crossword answer: “Epic” natch), we revel in FNM’s embarrassing wealth of winning album tracks (themselves often fit for chart topping), and we dip into the staggering best of the b-sides (ditto). Along the way, we survey the context of FNM’s big break (amid similarly seminal acts Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Ween) to the post-Nevermind, panic-based music commerce in which the brilliantly versatile, fearless powerhouse band operated until their 1998 demise. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Song ”The World Is Yours”

Written by Patton (L); Faith No More (M). Again, detail-knowers please internet me @AnsoDF? Cheerz!

Released 1998

Appears on the Who Cares A Lot? bonus disc and the recent UK collection.

Produced by Matt Wallace

Guitars by Jim Martin

Key lyric ”Faces on top of more faces/This bullet in your chest/The world is yours.”

Single? No. Outtake from Angel Dust sessions.

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If memory serves, the Spawn movie which came out in 1997 was pretty terrible, but we did get one great thing out of it: the soundtrack. It was pretty much like the Judgment Night soundtrack, only instead of combining metal bands with rap acts, it teamed up metal bands with electronica acts. And every song on it was innovative and amazing.

No, I’m totally kidding. The soundtrack sucked almost as bad as the movie.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week’s question was once again suggested by “Hipsters Out of Metal!” columnist Anso DF, and even though the Grammy nominations were actually announced last week, it still seemed like a fun debate to have. So:

WHAT ARE YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR BEST METAL GRAMMY?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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I still haven’t heard Filter’s latest album, The Trouble with Angels; based on Vince’s review, I haven’t felt like I was missing much. Vince did say that “No Love” was one of his personal favorite songs on the record, though, and having now heard it for the first time, I can understand why! It’s got a good beat and it’s catchy. And I’ve always been a really big fan of Richard Patrick’s voice.

Unfortunately, I don’t find the video all that interesting, despite choreographed dancing, lesbians making out, and the presence of some scantily-clad extras who seem to have wandered in the orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut. But, y’know, there are way worse things to have in your video.

This clip debuted at Noisecreep, who also have video of the band performing an acoustic version of the track. Actually, I might like the acoustic version even better, and the quality of Patrick’s pipes live is a nice contrast from so many other modern singers who try to dupe their audience.  Go check it out.

-AR

A lot of serious music people turn up their noses at Filter, and shit, I don’t exactly blame them. It’s tough to tell that mainman Richard Patrick is a brilliant songwriter judging from the band’s high-profile Hallmark-ish singles. If Filter were some unknown entity, it’d be easier for non-wimps to give each Filter album — homes to at least a dozen of rock’s most compelling songs of the past ten years — a deserved day in court. Instead, car commercials and dentist offices poison the ears of would-be fans with Patrick’s detours into wheezy, airbrushed soft rock.

Which is fine, cuz set against Patrick’s heavy hitters (like this jam or this mega-jam), songs like “The Only Way (Is The Wrong Way)” and “Where Do We Go From Here?” provide counterpoint to the screamage and all that. Plus, popularity among download jockeys is way less profitable than licensing songs to Hummer. So Patrick’s not wrong, but yeah my point is that those songs taken singularly are misleading; thusly, I’m sick of saying defensive stuff like “Filter is awesome!” (i.e. “despite what you’ve heard”) when it should be “Filter is awesome!” (i.e. “Hooray!”).

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That’s right! One of MetalSucks’ most controversial voices — which is really saying something — is gonna be the DJ at tonight’s Heavy Metal Happy Hour at Arrow Bar (85 Avenue A). There are 2-for-1 drinks from 6:00PM until 9:00PM, so if you’ve ever wanted to get drunk and ask Gary “ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS OR WHAT?!?!” in person, here’s your chance!

Now the week’s highlights:

• We debuted new music by The Absence and Vanisher.
• We spoke to Accept’s Wolf Hoffmann and Sebastian Bach (but not really with that last one).
• We checked out new releases by Filter, Neurosis, and The Last Felony.
• Vince contemplated a Mike Portnoy-less Dream Theater.
• Sergeant D. contemplated the new Escape the Fate song…
• …while we couldn’t even pay attention during the new Oceano song.
• We considered bidding on the best band name in the world.
• As it turns out, Wormrot are really good live, too.
• Neil Young and Burzum are collaborating on a new album?!?
• Wanna see a fat man eat seven cans of ravioli in time to a Fuckshovel song? OF COURSE YOU DO!!!

As Eyal promised yesterday, next week will see the full-on return of “Jumping Darkness Parade.” Plus we’ll have more contest, more video and track debuts, more interviews, more everything. Be there or be ᄆ.

-AR

Richard Patrick strikes me as particularly bitter about the state of the music biz these days. Both times I saw the band in concert on their last album cycle (2008′s Anthems for the Damned) — at an intimate record release show at NYC’s Mercury Lounge and at a giant amphitheater opening for STP — he seemed to be having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that his audience was older now and no longer moshed / visibly got into the music / cared as much. I read an interview yesterday in which he was complaining that fans were complaining that albums were too expensive at $10. Dude, $10 is too expensive when you consider that the CD prices of yore were so high because they had to be manufactured and shipped (and yeah record companies were greedy) and that a [paid] digital download presumably cuts some of those costs out of the equation. And that recording technology is waaaay cheaper these days than it used to be. Times have changed, dude. Sure, the industry is way different, but so is the musical climate. Sounds to me like sour grapes… Filter ain’t as big as in their ’90s heyday, so Patrick blames it on the industry.

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Yes, that is John Locke on that poster. No, he will not be in the remake, too. He fired his agents and now he has nothing to show for it. Sorry.

Generally speaking, I like Filter very much. And I have a lot of respect for Richard Patrick. I thought that Army of Anyone was awesome. And that dude can really belt it live.

But Filter’s cover “Happy Together” by The Turtles is so bad, only Within Temptation fans could ever possibly enjoy it. (Although, in all fairness, it’s from the soundtrack for the remake of The Stepfather. So at least its pedigree wasn’t misleading.)

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Amongst the more surreal moments of the Stone Temple Pilots’ show at the PNC Bank Arts Center this past Sunday – and there were many – was the band breaking into an extended jam of The O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money” just prior to final encore “Dead and Bloated.” The moment was chock full of inadvertent gallows humor for two reasons:

1. It’s fairly clear that at some point in the past few months the DeLeo Brothers and Eric Kretz all got together and said “Fuck it, let’s just try to make as much money as possible before Weiland dies.”
2. “Dead and Bloated” is exactly the state in which someone unlucky will discover Weiland by the end of 2008.

Put more simply, Weiland – and STP – gave an unprofessional, sloppy, disorganized, sad, pathetic and embarrassing performance on Saturday night, seemingly fueled by little more than commerce and Weiland’s junk habit.

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[First of all, big ups to Sam @ NoneLouder for not only supplying me with a ticket to this very special show, but giving up his own ticket so I could go. Above and beyond. And special thanks to Kristine @ MSO PR for making it happen. -Ed.]

“Sorry for throwing water all over you guys!” an apologetic Richard Patrick said from the stage as he was winding down his band Filter’s CD release party show at NYC’s Mercury Lounge last night, just moments before launching into set-closer “Hey Man, Nice Shot.” He continued, “When Filter first came to New York, you guys were moshing the whole time, so I came out tonight I was confused. But now I realize you guys just express your appreciation in different ways! That’s cool. So, sorry about that!”

Patrick’s foible was understandable; he seemed a bit frustrated, nay, perplexed, when the predictably staid New York audience of mostly well-connected 30-somethings and music industry heads failed to do much more than bob their heads to the beat throughout the band’s first several songs. So when Patrick took the stage to Title of Record opener “Welcome to the Fold,” he pulled the tried-and-true rockstar trick of spewing water all over the front row in an effort to get the kids riled up. Only they weren’t really kids, just very appreciate Filter fans happy to have the opportunity to see the band in such an intimate, special gathering. But ultimately it didn’t matter — the crowd was more than enthusiastic in “other ways,” to quote Patrick, vehemently shouting, clapping and giving endless applause after every song, even those from Filter’s brand new disc Anthems for the Damned which hit stores yesterday (read my review here). And as soon as Patrick realized that this audience wasn’t necessarily the moshing type but was no less appreciative, all was good in the Mercury Lounge and the band plowed through an hour plus set of old favorites, new jams and deep album cuts to the pleasure of all those lucky enough to be in attendance.

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For Richard Patrick’s fourth effort under the Filter moniker, he’s hired an all-star cast of musicians to back him up. But really it doesn’t matter, because Patrick is Filter the way Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails, the band in which Patrick got his start. And the core of Patrick’s patented Filter sound is intact on Anthems For the Damned, a dark sense of melody culled from the industrial scene in which Patrick earned his stripes mixed with songs alternatingly heavy and pensive. Anthems for the Damned runs the (amal)gamut across the sonic spectrum that has come to define Filter, from rockers reminiscent of “Hey Man, Nice Shot” to slower numbers closer to “Take a Picture” and everything in between, capturing the essence of the Filter sound but failing to exceed expectations.

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There’s a television ad for a new video game, Army of Two, featuring Mastodon’s cover of Three Dog Night’s famous “One.” The thing is, I had no idea that Mastodon had ever covered “One,” and I can’t seem to find the friggin’ thing anywhere.

I do, however, remember Filter covering the same song for the soundtrack to the X-Files movie. Below, find that Army of Two ad with Mastodon and Filter’s video for “One.”

And if anyone can provide us with any extra info on Mastodon’s version of the song – or, better still, an mp3 – drop us me a line at axl [at] metalsucks.net.

Army of Two Commercial Featuring Mastodon
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/larWIi0I0VA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Filter, “One” 
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/TViVNybcK9M" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR

Am I the only person hoping that the return of Filter would mean Richard Patrick was going to make more industrial-flavored alt rock? ‘Cause we’ve had no such luck: “Soldiers of Misfortune,” the new single currently streaming on Filter’s MySpace page, is more easy-listening in the vein of “Take A Picture,” a.k.a. “The Song that Makes Axl Rosenberg Wanna Murder Richard Patrick Every Time He Hears It.”

Look: I know Patrick ain’t gonna turn around and make a Cannibal Corpse album – and I wouldn’t want him to – but is another “Hey Man Nice Shot” or “Welcome to the Fold” too much to ask?

-AR

VAST was a pretty big deal for a minute in the late ’90s in the wake of the heavy industrial rock boom. Nine Inch Nails’ bursting popularity in the middle of the decade ushered in a record label feasting-fest on a hundred Sister Machine Guns, Gravity Killses, and Filters. VAST, aka 13-year old Jon Crosby, was the beneficiary of a nice-little major label bidding war after building a name for himself with his guitar chops and home-recorded demos which received some local radio airplay. A band was hastily assembled around Crosby after he decided to sign with Elektra, and his debut album Visual Audio Sensory Theater came out in 1998.

Vast – “Here”
Vast – “I’m Dying”
Vast – “The Nile’s Edge”

Though the ranks of VAST members have rotated quite a bit, Crosby has always found ways to innovate and keep his brand fresh. In 2006 he released the band’s newest album April recorded all in one take; he then spent two months mixing the proper version himself and released that in May of 2007.

VAST may never have reached the label’s expectations and was dropped in 2000 after their second album Music For People, but Crosby carved out a nice little niche for himself (several VAST videos on YouTube are over or approach 100,000 plays) and he continues to consistently record new music and tour.

-VN

Music video for “Free”
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MTV.com published an interview with Richard Patrick this morning in which the Filter main-man only-man revealed more details about the upcoming fourth Filter record, Anthems for the Damned, tentatively scheduled for release in late March. Tracking was completed in about two weeks with producer Josh Abraham (Slayer, Velvet Revolver) manning the boards.

Business first; Patrick says Army of Anyone (his project with the DeLeo brothers of STP who put out a record last year) is “now on hiatus,” and that he’d love to “do more records with them in the future.” Patrick said it was playing old Filter material during live sets with Army of Anyone that convinced him that the band had to be resurrected:

“But this is not a comeback. Filter’s my legacy. It’s just like Al Jourgensen with Ministry. This is something I took very seriously, something I quit Nine Inch Nails to do, and it has allowed me so much freedom as an artist. I would never turn my back on the thing that has always been the #1 thing in my life. And the core fans that I have, they’re expecting a great record. I knew I’d have to return with the goods, and I’m absolutely convinced that that’s what I have with this record.”

Patrick has recruited an all-star cast of collaborators for this effort; Josh “I’ve played drums on every record ever” Freese, former Marilyn Manson / Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 (who co-wrote two of the album’s tracks), and… ex-Limp Bizkit/ current Black Light Burns guitarist Wes Borland???? Given, Borland was always the most intruiging member of Limp Bizkit, but what??? Maybe it was a political move to solidy Filter’s burgeoning market in Jakarta.

-VN

This news is a few days old but will certainly be of interest to some of our readers; Richard Patrick has announced via a voice message on his MySpace page that he is working on a new Filter record, his first since 2002′s Amalgamut. The news is pretty much the final nail in the coffin for Army of Anyone, who released their album, did one tour and then… nothing. Says Patrick:

“It’s official: I am totally cramming on a new Filter record. I’m working with some amazing people — all new people… A-list producers — actually, one A-list producer. The only person that’s old, or from the other records, is a little guy named Rae DiLeo. This is absolutely the most amazing stuff I’ve ever done, and I’m really proud of it. We’re looking sometime into 2008 — probably, maybe springish.”

Rae DiLeo of course produced Filter’s Amalgamut and Title of Record, and bears no relation to Army of Anyone collaborators Dean and Rob DeLeo (ex-Stone Temple Pilots). No official word yet on Army of Anyone, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that management-company-turned-record-label The Firm fucked that one up royally. I, for one, am excited about another Filter record – Amalgamut was excellent, and I’m looking forward to hearing how Patrick’s newly improved, sober vocals will add to Filter’s dense music.

-VN