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I’ve been meaning to write about Skull Fist for a while. Vince mentioned them awhile back, and they made Bob Cock’s 2011 year-end list, but I think they deserve a whole article all to themselves. So here we go!
Italy-based label Frontiers Records released two of 2011′s awesomest glam metal records, Sebastian Bach’s surprising Kicking And Screaming and Forevermore by Whitesnake, one of this year’s very very awesomest (read here). So Frontiers was already hot when two Tuesdays ago Beggars & Thieves’ new record We Are The Brokenhearted came out. The jam I heard was sweet and holy fucking shit that’s Jake E. Lee doing the solo and and AND appearing in the funny “Right Now”-style video (above at 2:17, with cameos from members of Slaughter, King Kobra, Kiss, Keel, plus a lady with huge jammerz and Kevin Churko).
Lee’s appearance in the video falls in line with recent rumors of an imminent-ish return from near-invisibility with a new project, which is an exciting prospect turned mega-exciting by his great performance on this B&T song and his seeming good health. I’m always begging anybody who has ever been in Lee’s proximity for contact info and it looks like the B&T team is next on my list. Which is a relief in a way cuz I was contemplating asking Paul Gilbert to introduce me to his Racer X bandmate and onetime Badlands drummer Jeff Martin in hope that he has Lee’s number. That sounds like a longshot but it’s not even close to my most desperate gambit so far for an interview with the dude. Jake CALL ME.
-ADF
Get Beggars & Thieves’ new album We Are The Brokenhearted here.
I get that the internet is still a new and evolving thing that we’re all getting used to. Over time, we’ll improve at clearly expressing ourselves, at not overreacting to good/dumb stuff, and at non-paranoid interaction with our peers. It’s a certainty. The name-calling and nit-picking and reflexive negativity and misspeaking will fade away as we all smile up a bit. Let’s go for it!
I bring this up cuz I occasionally offend people right here on MetalSucks. But it’s usually when a subject or reader rushes to a conclusion or otherwise assigns his/her own meaning to words I use. For example, anyone can state a judgement of value (e.g., Mustaine’s solos reek) but that doesn’t mean we can by fiat stretch that statement however we wish (e.g., Mustaine reeks). That’s just bad logic :)
On top of that, I don’t get why it’s so hard to remember that even if one states that Mustaine reeks, or even Megadeth reeks, it doesn’t even mean anything! It certainly doesn’t follow that one dislikes or dismisses or wishes away Megadeth or Mustaine or his guitar solos or, not least of all, his fans (you)! No, we’re all permitted to point out weaknesses of great things (crappy chops on Megadeth classics), and strengths of wack things (great production on Lostprophets albums) without wider implication. And we’re all allowed to like crappy stuff! I could go on and on but hey my thrust here has already been summed up neatly by Slaughter (above): Let our default setting be cheerful respect and good reading comprehension!! Hugz!
-ADF
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 recording industry 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 “From Out Of Nowhere”
Written by Patton (L); Gould, Bottum (M)
Released 1989
Appears on The Real Thing album
Produced by Matt Wallace
Guitars by Jim Martin
Key lyric ”Don’t know if I’ll laugh or cry.”
Single? Yes, The Real Thing’s first. And so life began.
It’s kinda common knowledge that Steel Panther is the best live show like ever. If you disagree, that means you haven’t seen their show or that you hate fun, equally odious offenses at this point. So, to approximate the Steel Panther concert rapture, just remember your most cherished, slamming, no-dip-in-momentum live experience, then augment it with hilariousness and toplessness and drugs and great hair and a flying guitar solo and celebrity guest bloopers. That’s Steel Panther live. It is a manifestation of heaven on earth.
The fun stuff is fun, but most importantly, Steel Panther is a musician’s band. It’s tightness that allows S’Panther to slay all those hair rock classics thereby transcending bad karaoke or wedding band hell. It’s harder than it looks. My most boner-bending Steel Panther gig opened with “Panama” (smack in singer Michael Starr’s DLR wheelhouse) and “Up All Night” (goosebumps) and then “Shout At The Devil” (suck it, Vince Neil), but it’s with great sadness that I report that I’ve never seen them make fuck to Whitesnake’s titanic jam “Still of the Night” (above). Lexxi Foxxx owns!
–ADF
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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means we’re taking off early today and won’t be back ’til Monday. We’re sorry to leave non-American readers high n’ dry, but PLUS ONE FOR FREEDOM, MOTHERFUCKERS.
ANYWAY, in honor of the holiday, we decided to do a special Turkey Day-themed QOTW designed to make you feel all warm and cuddly inside:
WHAT (IN METAL) ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?
The MS staff’s answers after the jump.
I saw Vince Neil’s solo band live once… I think this was around 2001/2002ish, but don’t quote me on that. Anyways, the show was at B.B. King’s, a venue that holds roughly 500 people (or so I’m told — it actually looks way smaller to me), and it was reasonably crowded — tickets were like twenty bucks or something reasonable like that. Vince’s voice sounded like shit, which is nothing new, but he took advantage of the small space by playing a requests-only show. I’m totally serious: The band opened with “Kickstart My Heart,” but after that, Vince literally let people in the crowd shout out song titles, and then the band played ‘em. I think they only turned one person down ’cause they didn’t know the song; for the most part, they were like a Motley Crue jukebox, with a real-live member of Motley Crue leading the charge. So even though we were all watching a fat, winded version of an old hero, it was still pretty fun, ’cause Neil wisely made the show as fan-friendly as he possibly could.
But I guess he’s not doing that anymore, ’cause Metal Insider’s Bram Teitelman caught his gig at the 1,800 person capacity Irving Plaza last week, and does not have nice things to say. For one thing, tickets were $35, without a name opening act, and while the setlist had ten songs on it, the band only played nine. Nine songs for a $35 headlining set. Sheesh.
But wait! It gets worse. Says Teitelman:
Read Leyla’s list of The Top Ten Worst Hair Metal Band Names here.
All right, this was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and for a while I considered just doing a part two of bad names. But, like hair metal itself, there are always some gems floating amidst the crap, and with a little borrowing from other overlapping genres, ten candidates were found for the best of hair band names. So you’re safe for now, Trixter, Tora, Tora, Kix, and Stryper…
The only time I ever saw Slaughter live, there were so few people in the crowd that Mark Slaughter (real name: Schlomo Slaughterowitz) was able to run through the audience high-fiving people. That’s a long way to fall from being on MTV and having the cock-eyed chick from 90210 in your video.
So I guess Mark Slaughter needs money, ’cause according to Bring Back Glam, he’s joining Nelson as their lead guitar player for their twentieth anniversary tour. Fucking NELSON. Man, I never knew anyone who liked Nelson. Like, I’d much rather be in Slaughter. In 2010. On tour with Winger and Enuff Z’Nuff and Jani Lane. That’s how bad it sucks to be in Nelson.
Of course, what Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum really need to do is get a Vinnie Vincent Invasion reunion going. Now that’s something I’d pay a shitload of cash to see.
-AR
Since Ratt’s awesome Infestation release party took place at The Key Club on Sunset Strip, the birthplace of hair rock, one could conclude that nostalgia was inevitable. And probably intentional. Even knowing that, it still was easy to get choked up at the sight of Ratt guitar stud Warren DeMartini partnering on a harmony solo with a tall, blond guy. That hasn’t happened since cordless phones were invented and late guitarist Robbin Crosby hadn’t yet been ravaged by hard drugs.
And even though Ratt’s setlist relied on early singles, the event was firmly rooted in the present (contrary to my pathetic wishes). For one thing, there were a ton of 4/20 revelers, and the hot rock chicks present eschewed the timeless appeal of a loose florescent tank top for complicated tattoos and blinding douchewear. But honors for loudest outfit go to the singer, as it should be, as Stephen Pearcy was rocking leather pants that I guess become jeans at the knees.
When I sat down to watch “Tattoos and Tequila,” the new video for the title track from Vince Neil’s forthcoming solo album, I was expecting something terrible. But I gotta hand it Vince Neil – he always finds creative ways to reach new platitudes of suck. This video is ridiculous, which is fine, but you really, really need to listen to the lyrics to get the full “What the fuck?”ness of it all.
Jeff Blando (from Slaughter) does an okay job with the generic, wah-heavy guitar solo, but really, the only cool thing about this is his awesome drummer, Zoltan Chaney (no, not that douche bag). I’m obligated to tell you that the album will be out in May, but you’ve probably already forgotten what you’re reading about right now.
-AR
The one and only time I saw Slaughter live, they were the first group on a four band hair metal package tour at Jones Beach (or Hilfiger at Jones Beach or Nikon at Jones Beach or whatever the fuck it’s called now). That’s a good sized venue – to give you some sense, everyone from Aerosmith to Kiss to Motley Crue has headlined there in recent years – but, at something like five in the afternoon (on a weekend, if memory serves), the place was empty enough that Mark Slaughter was able to run through the stands, giving the few of us who had actually shown up high fives – with no security detail whatsoever. The show was packed by the time Cinderella went on later in the day, but while kids will show up at 10 am to hear whomever play the second stage at Ozzfest, Slaughter couldn’t muster enough enthusiasm from their aging fan base to get people to show up on a Saturday afternoon.
ANYWAY, here’s a video I saw on Blabbermouth of Mark Slaughter sounding like absolute dog shit. Maybe I’d feel bad if I’d been a bigger Slaughter fan back in the day – but really, I just want to point and laugh. If his glass-shattering pipes ain’t what they used to be, then Mark Slaughter – and, by extension, his entire band – truly have nothing to offer anyone anymore.
-AR
Does this ever happen to you? It is SO FUCKING IRRITATING, and I wish my mind didn’t work that way; but someone in my office just told me they’re exhausted because “I was up all night,” and now Slaughter’s “Up All Night” is stuck in my head.
So here’s the video. Share my pain, damn you! SHARE MY PAIN!
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-AR
With the dawn of a Presidential election year and the much-hyped Iowa caucuses coming up tomorrow, it’s about time for some Rock the Vote nostalgia. Because if the kids won’t listen to political guru Mark Slaughter, who will they listen to? [BringBackGlam]
-VN
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