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So much of this week ended up being devoted to the Big Four that I honestly don’t wanna think about any of those bands again for at least the remainder of the year. So to wrap this shit up, here’s everything Big Four-related we did this week:

• We live snarked the Big Four show at Yankee Stadium.
• We went to an Anthrax press conference.
• We went to the Metal Masters clinic and saw Phil Anselmo jam some Pantera with various Big Fourers.
• We debated the merits and demerits of Anthrax’s Worship Music.
• We listened to Lars Ulrich on Howard Stern.
• We had fun at the expense of Dave Mustaine’s faith.
• We had a Big Four edition of Show Us Your Metalsucks.
• We helped Metal Injection with their Big Four-themed Livecast.
• I also made an appearance in Metal Injection’s Big Four video recap, which you MUST watch because a) it’s awesome and b) I’m so handsome!

I was just talking with a friend earlier this week about how much I miss Howard Stern. See, I used to wake up to his voice each and every morning while we were living together before he left me for that bitch Beth Ostrosky before he made the move to satellite radio, which, to this day, I do not have. As it stands, it’s literally been years since I’ve heard Howard’s show.

And I miss Stern all the more now that I’ve gotten to listen to the interview he did with Lars Ulrich this past Tuesday. It’s a great interview, even if it requires you to ignore Stern’s over-appraisal of Ulrich’s drumming skills. (The funniest part of The New York Times‘ review of yesterday’s Big Four show: “Rhythmically, [Slayer] swung, unlike Metallica, whose rhythm often grew unstable and plodding.”] There’s lots of juicy gossip in here, including how Ulrich is self-taught (shocking!) and had to take drum lessons for six months in-between Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning, how he stole Dave Mustaine’s woman, how his wife left him, and how Hetfield isn’t exactly a social animal. Bonus: the great Richard Christy (Charred Walls of the Damned, Death, Iced Earth) — a drummer with, like, a gajillion times more skill than Ulrich — even gets to chime in.

Here’s part one…

…and you can listen to the rest after the jump.

Click to read more…

I guess it’s “oldie-but-goodie” interview day here at MetalSucks.

So: in 1989 Howard Stern found out which hotel Axl Rose was staying at in NYC and gave him a call to try and find out about – what else? – who he’d shtupped, or who Slash had shtupped, or, y’know, just pretty much any good sexual gossip. But the thing that makes it really worthwhile is that Stern woke up Axl, and Axl is audibly groggy throughout the entire thing.

There’s all sorts of funny stuff in here, including Axl sounding surprisingly democratic about how pay is divided up amongst the band, and joking that “I leave the group every three days.” Of course, there’s no way Stern could have known he was predicting the demise of GN’R when he encourages Axl to ditch the other members and go solo… is there?

-AR

If all Richard Christy ever did was play drums on Death’s phenomenal final album The Sound of Perseverance, it would be enough to secure his place in heavy metal Valhalla. That death metal classic gained so much from Christy’s nuanced performance that it’s almost criminal that he isn’t mentioned alongside your Lombardos, Reinerts and Dailors as one of the most creative drummers in extreme music. But you won’t find Christy complaining about lack of recognition, especially since he’s been so busy in the decade since Death’s demise. To fill in the gaps between his film directing and acting gigs (Christy played a Ku Klux Klansman in Harold and Kumar Go To Guantanamo), Christy has drummed for Iced Earth, Incantation, Acheron and Demons and Wizards. Of course that was all before he began his tenure as the resident prank caller on The Howard Stern Show. In fact, the only thing missing on Christy’s CV is a successful musical project of his own. That’s all looking to change with the forthcoming debut album by Charred Walls of the Damned, his new metal band with the ridiculous lineup of guitarist Jason Suecof (member of Capharnaum; producer/mixer for The Black Dahlia Murder/Trivium/All That Remains), bass god Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus/Death/Autopsy) and caterwauling vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest/Iced Earth). Christy took some time to yak with MetalSucks about his many career paths and the truly bizarre genesis of that band name.

Click to read more…

Metal Inquisition posted the below video of former Death drummer/current Howard Stern lackey Richard Christy on CNN having a serious discussion about Lehman Brothers’ declaration of bankruptcy. And by “having a serious discussion,” I mean “making out with another dude.”

Well, at least he didn’t yell “Baba Booey.”

-AR

Our boy Jimmy Duff (pictured, left), namesake of the vaulted metal palace of Brooklyn, recently did a late-night, Pabst-fueled interview with ex-Death, ex-Iced Earth drummer (and current Howard Stern show comedian) Richard Christy. Christy talks about Amon Amarth, drinking, his job with Stern, horror films, and more. An excerpt from the chat:

I met Chuck [Shuldiner, of Death] at a bookstore in Altamont Springs in Florida, and I just told him I was a huge fan, me and the guitar player from Burning Inside we were both there and we were freakin’ out, we were like “Wow, there’s Chuck.” And he was the nicest guy in the world. He stopped and talked to us for a long time. And then after that, my goal was, after I moved to Florida, I moved there with Burning Inside, but I always had this dream in the back of my head, wow, it would be so cool to jam with Chuck and play in the band Death. And, through some good friends of mine, Rick Rinstrum, and BC Richards who played in a band called Wicked Ways in Orlando Florida, they introduced me to Chuck … When Chuck was looking for a drummer, and I auditioned. Luckily I had been practicing Death songs for about 6 or 7 years at the time because I was a huge Death fan. So, Chuck hired me for the band and that was like a dream come true because Death was my favorite, favorite metal band, and Chuck was a super nice guy, we had so many great times on tour… And it’s an honor to have played with my favorite metal band.

Read the entire interview at Duff’s Website.

-VN