Well oh-KAY! Here’s a tour I can get behind. According to The PRP, The Red Chord will hit the road this march with Gaza and Trap them in tow.

If you read MS on a regular basis, you already know we’re huge fans of The Red Chord, and I’ve yet to see them give a bad performance. Gaza — who are signed to TRC front man Guy Kozowyk’s label, Black Market Activities — are also what the kids call “devastating” in the live arena. And while I seem to be one of five people who doesn’t cream his pants at the mere mention of Trap Them, I do enjoy their shows more than I do their records; in concert, they feel legitimately dangerous, like either a member of the band or a member of the audience could actually get hurt at any moment. (Just a few weeks ago, I saw TT vocalist/one-time MetalSucks contributor Ryan McKenney kick off a show by throwing his mic stand right into the crowd, hard; just a few songs later, he bashed himself in the skull with his mic, and spent the rest of the performance bleeding from the head.) And that’s an increasingly rare, and thus increasingly exhilarating, feeling.

So, yeah, these shows should take that lil’ critter you see above and just push a spike right through its guts. Take that, you huge-eared freak.

The PRP only has three dates right now, but says that the tour is scheduled to run through March 25, so sit tight for a complete itinerary. In the meantime, those initial dates are as follows:

Click to read more…

Here we had this entire week devoted to hair metal, and I feel like we only scratched the surface. Let’s do this again real soon, okay?

Here’s some of the fun we had this week, be it hair-metal related or not:

• Cynic’s Paul Masvidal taught us to be mind-less, Antagonist’s Carlos Garcia taught us about the song “Sasha Grey,” and Trap Them’s Ryan McKenney taught us more about corporate-sponsored live shows.
• Anso and Allyson from Bring Back Glam! counted down the Ten Best Must-Have Glam Metal Albums.
• We counted down the Top Ten Bands Most Often Miscategorized as Hair Metal.
• Vince spoke with Serj Tankian, Gary spoke with Frankie from Emmure, and Sergeant D. spoke with Samantha Maloney from Brother Clyde/Shift/Hole/Motley Crue/every band ever.
• We debuted a new track by The Binary Code!
• Leyla Ford counted down the ten worst and best hair metal band names.
• Sammy checked out the new release by Eibon.
• Dave Mustein checked out The Cool Tour.
• Someday, this little girl is going to make Sergeant D. very, very unhappy.
• I can’t tell the difference between all the members of Mushroomhead, can you?

I wanna especially thank Allyson from Bring Back Glam! for all her help this week — we love you, Allyson! Come back anytime.

Monday we return, but we’ll have a little less Aqua Net in our hair, a little less eyeliner on our lids, and a lot less skip in our step. See ya then.

-AR

Last week, as part of his recurring MetalSucks column, Blogronaut, Intronaut’s Sacha Dunable asked the question: “Are corporate-sponsored metal shows killing the live concert market?” The blog garnered a large and impassioned response, not just from our readers who left comments, but from industry insiders who e-mailed us their thoughts directly. One of those people was Trap Them vocalist Ryan McKenney, who, with no prompting whatsoever from us, wrote the below. And since we like to think of MetalSucks as a place where all kinds of points of view can be weighed and considered, we’re running it! We hope you enjoy…

Long time reader, first time caller… that’s how they say it, isn’t it? I’ve gone through great efforts to not invest too much time into internet blogs and messageboards regarding extreme music of any genre. I’m more of what they call a troll, I believe. Except, I never say anything at all, while many will at least chime in once in a while to give an opinion that is consequently ripped apart.

I’d like to at least make an attempt at responding to Sacha Dunable’s write up about corporate fests and whether they are ruining the live concert market. I consider it an important issue on many fronts. The truth is, ask a hundred people their opinion on this, and you’ll probably get a hundred different answers. Unless, of course, you ask the question to people in groups of five or more… if you do that, the odds are only one or two people will give their honest view and then the rest will just say, “Yeah… what he/she said.” I’d like to put my two cents in on the subject. Some may understand what I’m saying, and some may consider me an asshole, which I’m okay with. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard it lately (or even today).

Click to read more…

Of all the cool shit I’ve heard so far this year, not much of it has been of the reasonably-straight-forward rock variety. But Norway’s Kvelertak just changed all that. The band – whose debut album features John Baizley art, in case you couldn’t tell – is streaming a new song, “Offernatt,” on their MySpace page, and it rocks n’ rolls like Fred Flintstone’s car.

Musically, I’m not even sure if it’s fair to call this metal – it’s very much along the lines of harder-edged Baroness. But the vocals are definitely metal. So maybe think about what it might be like if Tomas Lindberg fronted Baroness. And it’s insanely catchy – this might be that good weather music I was looking for. (So, of course, it’s fucking freezing out today.)

As a bonus, the song also comes with guest vocals from Trap Them’s Ryan McKenney. I’m not a big Trap Them fan, but I know a lot of you folks are, and if his presence gets more of you to check this band out, I’m all for it.

Seriously, give this song a listen – it’s pretty cool. Kvelertak’s debut album (which I’m assuming is self-titled, since I can’t find the name listed anywhere and there’s no mention of it in the press release) comes out in Europe on June 21 on Indie Recordings, and… I guess the rest of us will just have to go fuck ourselves. No, I kid. I’m sure it will, ahem, somehow find its ways to our shores sooner rather than later. The band is also touring Europe with Converge and Kylesa, which makes perfect sense.

-AR