MetalSucks

Of the startling number of bands who build a following, get signed and are allowed to successfully pursue their dream of becoming a touring/recording artist, many don’t make it too far. Some don’t progress much further and get dropped after an album or two, while some grow too stressed from the fatigue-inducing schedule and straining lifestyle, ultimately splitting up as a result. Such is the case involving the Bay Area act Light This City. After three well-received albums drummer Ben Murray and vocalist Laura Nichol could no longer accept the rigorous schedule and exhausting requirements of being in a band. As such, Stormchaser is the last CD we will see under this moniker, released posthumously by Prosthetic Records after the band’s breakup. While this is a shame considering how far this band has progressed in the past five years, it isn’t as though they’ve ever offered up a legitimate reason to be granted the status of “legendary” or even “memorable,” and unfortunately for them, Stormchaser is no different.

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“Sand and Snow,” the new song by Light this City, is currently streaming on the band’s MySpace.

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I am currently in the midst of a signing tour for my latest book, PURE MURDER. Nothing helps me keep my sanity more when I am on the road paying outrageous sums of money for gas, dealing with complete fucking morons behind the wheel, and trudging through Texas-sized traffic jams than listening to heavy metal at full volume.

Here are some quick reviews of some of the metal I cranked on my recent trip to Houston for a booksigning, and then to Huntsville for the execution of one of the killers from my book.

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The Touring Problem

After doing the open letter to Light This City, which I don’t consider a true blog, I saw that The Fresh Meat Tour that Metalsucks sponsored was canceled. It didn’t surprise me at all considering the money problems we had on the latest tour we just finished. In my past blogs, I talked about how we went over budget on tours because of dumb mistakes. On this tour I can say we didn’t make any dumb mistakes. We were totally on budget but what put us over budget was the fact that gas went up about 50 cents a gallon in about a 5 week period. Diesel actually was close to 5 dollars a gallon towards the end of our tour.

One night on the road I was HAMMERED and we stopped at a rest stop to go get food after a night of drunken shenanigans. It was daylight and as I stepped out of the bus I looked at the price for diesel and I immediately became sober. It was like getting hit by a fucking car. This was two weeks ago and gas was cheaper then than it is now.

At that point, I realized that the touring world and the metal touring world specifically was in a very shaky position. I knew that God Forbid was not going to be able to tour. We’ll go on tours if we’re a little over budget these days because we generally do well enough on merch to balance out those sorts of things but with the oil market it’s just too much of a risk to go out there and piss in the wind. Now imagine going out as a band who doesn’t have the name to be able to go out and headline and must rely solely on support tours?

Fucking impossible.

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Open Letter To Light This City

Tonight was the last night of the “In Thrash We Trust’ tour with Death Angel, Arsis, Soilent Green and Light This City. The first thing I want to do is thank every single person who came out to this tour and rocked out with us. Some shows were packed and some shows weren’t but in the end none of that matters. The shows we played were for the people who came out to rock! I sound like a broken record but we get to play a show every day. Most of the people who come out to the show make this their one time of the week, their one time of the month — hell, their one time of the year to escape and lose themselves in some heavy fucking metal!

To those people, I THANK YOU!

After this six week run a lot of things have happened. No matter how many tours you do you never have the same story. You are always surprised. It could be the people you encounter that you haven’t seen in a long time. It could be the new bands you meet on tour who become new friends. There is a bond that is established between everyone on tour; from crew, to promoters, to bands, to fans. It really is an amazing animal. Honestly, if any of you out there are scientists in behavior you’d do well to do a study of the rhythm and mechanisms of a tour. I bet you’d find some anomalies that may coincide with the patterns of weather currents.

It is true energy.

Unfortunately, Light This City had to leave this tour early. It really sucked because I really liked everyone in the band. When a band leaves a tour prematurely it can affect you. Soilent left the tour early to do the Dethklok/Chimaira tour. I was happy as hell for them because that tour is kicking ass and they deserve to play for new people. When Soilent left we felt it. It was a blow. It was like our package had to reset itself.

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The band name “Light this City” has never made much sense to me. I assume that the rest of that thought would be “On Fire,” but maybe they just live in an Amish town with no electricity?

ANYWAY, the band has dropped off a couple of tours, including their current support stint for God Forbid and Death Angel, and the rumor is that they’re dunzo.

I’ve never really heard enough of this band’s music to formulate anything resembling an intelligent opinion (hold your jokes, please), but I do like their single “The Unwelcome Savior,” which just happens to have a video directed by Soren.

So here is that video. I hope it brings some comfort to the band’s fans during these troubling times.

-AR

Thanks to all the people and unsigned bands who entered our contest (also sponsored by Nonelouder and Cocaine Energy Drink) to win free God Forbid / Death Angel tickets! The winning bands were really good, but unfortunately one winner was disqualified because he didn’t live close to any tour dates.

So rather than go through and chose more bands, we’re doing it the old fashioned way. If you’d like a free pair of tickets to any of the God Forbid / Death Angel / Arsis / Light This City shows listed below, simply email news [at] metalsucks.net with your full name, the show you’d like to attend, and the reason you think you should win the tickets! Make ‘em funny, and Axl and Vince will chose the winner tonight and notify them by email. The winner’s name will be placed on a guest list at the venue, with a +1 for a friend.

Eligible dates:

Wed 06/04/08 Sauget, IL Pop’s
Thu 06/05/08 Columbus, OH Alrosa Villa
Fri 06/06/08 Mokena, IL Pearl Room
Sat 06/07/08 Detroit, MI Harpo’s Concert Theatre
Sun 06/08/08 Toronto, ON Opera House Concert Venue
Mon 06/09/08 Montreal, QC Les Foufounes Electriques
Tue 06/10/08 Quebec City, QC L’Anti
Wed 06/11/08 New York, NY B.B. King’s Blues Club

So over the weekend our bastardly brothers over at Metal Injection posted some footage of everyone’s favorite New Jersey metal mammoths, God Forbid, playing a brand spankin’ new song live during a recent stop on their current “In Thrash We Trust” tour with Death Angel, Soilent Green, and Light this City (and sometimes Arsis). And while the audio quality is, admittedly, not the greatest thing ever, well, it’s a new song by God Forbid! Those dueling Doc n’ Dallas Coyle guitar solos alone make giving it a listen worth your time.

Is it weird that I’m more excited about the new God Forbid album than I am about the new Metallica album (or, for that matter, the new Anthrax album)?

-AR

For reasons I’m not entirely clear on, Soilent Green will no longer be playing all of the dates on the “In Thrash We Trust” tour with Death Angel, God Forbid and Light this City. That would be a serious bummer (not that Death Angel and God Forbid alone shouldn’t be enough to get your ass out of the house, but the more the metaler), but luckily Arsis are stepping in to save the day on those select dates. Affected shows are as follows:

June 04 – St. Louis, MO @ Pop’s
June 05 – Columbus, OH @ Alrosa Villa
June 06 – Mokena, IL @ The Pearl Room
June 07 – Detroit, MI @ Harpo’s
June 08 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
June 09 – Montreal, QC @ Foufounes
June 10 – Quebec City, QC @ L’Anti
June 11 – New York, NY @ B.B. King Blues Club

The MetalSucks posse will be at the June 11 show, if anyone wants to buy us some beer, some weed, or some hookers.

If for some reason you’re not listening to Arsis, you should definitely check out their latest, We Are the Nightmare (read Vince’s rave review here). And while you’re at it, why not check out our interview with Arsis bassist Noah Martin? You’ll like it, and it will make us happy.

-AR