MetalSucks

Add “David Lee Roth on the Eat ‘Em and Smile tour” to the list of tours I’d visit if I had a time machine. The Vai / Sheehan / Bissonette lineup was definitely Diamond Dave’s best… if you disagree, I’m happy to engage in an e-fight to the death.

Here’s that lineup playing “Shyboy” in Detroit in 1986. Skip to 2:10 for the Vai/Sheehan double-shredathon if that’s what you’re in it for… but I can’t imagine why you’d possibly want to miss out on DLR’s stage antics.

-VN

Last week we posted a call for questions to ask Metalocalypse creator / Dethklok frontman Brendon Small, and you all gave us your best questions in the comments. Later that day we hand-picked our favorite ones and got on the phone with Brendon to pass them along. Your questions his answers, below.

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Okay. So here’s a great example of the ways in which the mind works.

Last week Vince and I were talking about Devin Townsend, as we do from time to time. And later that night, I got a song from Vai’s Sex & Religion album stuck in my head. I used to listen to that album all the time when it came out in 1993, but I have no idea where the hell the cassette I once owned now resides, so I searched the net to see if it was posted somewhere.

Well, as it turns out, the song has a video. And I’m watching this video, and I realize, “Holy shit, that’s Devin Townsend doing vocals!” I have no conscious memory of every being aware that Townsend was the vocalist for that album, but I must’ve known; that’s why the song got stuck in my head in the first place, right? Psychology is weird like that.

By the way, even though they’re not in this video, Terry Bozzio played drums and T.M. Stevens played bass on Sex & Religion. TOO WEIRD!!!

What an amazing discovery. I feel so much cooler now. “Oh, yeah. I’ve been listening to Townsend since before anyone knew who he was.”

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When I was a wee lad of 12 and just getting into the guitar, my dad sat me down and made me watch Crossroads, the 1986* classic take on the old Robert Johnson story. Of course I was only mildly interested until the end, when Steve mothafuckin’ Vai has an epic guitar battle with classical wunkerkind Eugene, played by Ralph Maccio.

According to Idolator, Vai has a role as Hank Williams in the upcoming film “Crazy” which about Hank Garland. The trailer looks pretty awesome, but nothing can ever reach the badass level of this:

Watch the whole fuckin’ thing. So worth it.

-VN

*please note, I was not 12 in 1986.

This is the news that Axl, myself, and approximately 7 other guitar dorks worldwide have been eagerly awaiting. Steve Stevens — Billy Idol’s guitarist for years, Vince Neil’s guitarist on the Exposed album, and king Brooklyn Jew (birth name: Steve Schneider –take a look at that shnoz!) — will be releasing a new solo album, Memory Crash, on January 29th via Steve Vai’s Magna Carta record label. Doug Pinnick of King’s X makes a guest appearance lending his soulful voice to one track, as does Billy Idol / ex-Ozzy bassist Brian Tichy.

Those who have followed Steve Stevens closely over the years as I have — and I’m guessing there’s maybe one of you who has — know what an underrated and incredible guitarist he is. In addition to writing all those classic Idol riffs (”Rebel Yell,” “White Wedding,” etc etc etc), Stevens absolutely tore it up on Vince Neil’s Exposed record, his 1993 post-Motley solo debut. He wrote some amazing songs, and fuck did he ever go nuts on the guitar on that album. He’s also done a bunch of experimental stuff over the years (Bozzio / Levin / Stevens) and some studio work here and there.

Stevens says about the record, it’s “a journey through another dimension, It’s virtually musical cinema.” Citing influences such as prog-rock giants Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, he continues, “I’ve always loved that about the prog records, like Dark Side Of The Moon. You enter this little theater of the mind. It’s a true headphone experience.”

Cool.

-VN

What do images of Hitler, 9/11, a baby, fire, tacky computer generated images of the cosmos, crosses, and rocketships have in common? Being in a video for a wordless song by a virtuosic guitar shredder, of course! Hibernum reminds us of the awesome talent of Steve Vai copycat Bane Jelic, who is heralded by at least one YouTube user as “One of the up and coming shredders of our time.” Let the 1/64th note shred runs do all the talking.

-VN

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