Jerry Garcia during a recent live performance.

Jerry Garcia died sixteen years ago today from being an overweight drug addict, and the anniversary interests me mostly because I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Garcia was dead, and, holy shit, I can’t believe it was sixteen years ago.

But Shadows Fall front man Brian Fair is an actual Grateful Dead fan. And so he has commemorated Garcia’s death not by pining for his youth (and possibly scarfing down a tub of Cherry Garcia, Cathy-style), but, rather, by writing a guest blog for our friends over at Metal Insider, in which he basically seeks to answer this question: “Why should metal fans give a poo about Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead?”

Here’s a sample:

Click to read more…

We’ve been trying to get one of the dudes from Cannabis Corpse do a “Metalcal Marijuana” column for us for what seems like forever now, and they said they were gonna do it but never actually did, and now I’m finally going public with this request in the hopes that if enough of you post comments to the effect of “YES PLEASE DO THAT,” it will actually happen.

Then again, it’s hard to blame stoners for forgetting to do stuff. Especially when you’re a stoner who sometimes forgets to do stuff.

Speaking of blaming shit on bud: the band has a new song called “Blame it on Bud” that our, uh, buds at Brooklyn Vegan are now streaming. It comes from Cannabis Corpse’s new album, Beneath Grow Lights Thou Shalt Rise, which is coming out on July 12 via Tankcrimes. And if you still think of Cannabis Corpse as “just some joke band,” well, you oughta know that Erik motherfucking Rutan mixed the album, SO THAT SHIT IS SERIOUS.

So “get right,” as we like to say, and then go rock out to the song. But don’t toke up and then forget what you were gonna do next, you silly stoners!

-AR

Now obviously most folks associate Amsterdam with puffin some serious dank, but it’s important to mention that there is actually a pretty decent music scene there too if you’re lookin for it…

While being stuck in A-dam for the week I sought out plenty of live musical goodness; some of my favorite spots after the *cough cough* jump.

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Holy stony synchronicity!!!!!!!!

Have you guys heard about this crazy volcanic ash situation in Europe that´s grounding planes left and right?!?!?

Well guess whose flight got cancelled from AmstermotherfuckingDAM to NYC yesterday and is stuck spending the week smoking the world´s best hash and weed???

This is not going to be easy — I really appreciate your sympathy.

-KW

MS Maniac King Cheezit just sent us the following e-mail:

Dear the merry gentlefucks at Metalsucks,

I come to you as a fellow metalhead and enjoyer of the reefer. If you enjoy watching The Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, then boy oh boy do I have a suggestion for you! I just got out of Avatar in IMAX 3-D while completely stoned out of my mind, and there was only one ingredient missing (for me) and that was the sounds of Gojira. What a perfect way to blend such beautifully heavy progressive metal such as theirs with the intensely spiritual creation from Jame’s Cameron? Can you imagine the power of “From The Sky” during the fight scene in the end, or…well I won’t make any more suggestions to protect from spoiling said experience for anyone else, but I highly suggest the mixture of the three. Any other crazy interesting ideas to mix metal and weed besides just going to a show? I’d love to know, now that I’ve discovered this gem of an idea.

Thank you,

King Cheezit

Now, I actually hated Avatar. I know everyone loves it, but I was stoned outta my skull when I saw it, and I was still as bored as fuck. They really should have called it Avatard.

But His Majesty has a point: what are some good ways to mix metal and weed, besides just going to a show?

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Alright, so this really has nothing to do with metal and everything to do with my other great love, Mary Jane.

For some reason, I can never meet a girl who likes metal AND weed. It’s always one or the other. I don’t really believe in God, but if I did, I’d say He was fucking with me, because, y’know, what the fuck?

So when I saw this on Chronic Youth yesterday, my eyes welled up a little bit. The soundtrack is hip-hop, but there’s no dialogue, so I just muted it and blasted some Napalm Death instead. Dare to dream, Axl. Dare to dream.

(By the way – this is maybe not so safe a video to watch in your place of bidness. Just FYI.)

-AR

The fine metal journalism institution Metal Inquisition has done it again with an in-depth look at the union of our two favorite pastimes: metal and weed. We like to think that these two pleasures go together like two nuts in a sack, but Metal Inquisition proves otherwise; Six Feet Under, Black Label Society, Dope and others illustrate that when bands mix weed into their metal, the results aren’t always as desired. Read the two posts here and here.

We’ll still be the two dudes getting high at the back of the metal show.

-VN

Job for a Cowboy bassist Brent Riggs ended up being one of the most fun interviews we did at this year’s Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. For one thing, it may or may not come across in this transcript, but the dude has a really dry sense of humor that matches our own. For another thing, it seemed as though the dude barely wanted to talk about JFAC – he must have to talk about JFAC all the time, so it’s hard to blame him – but when the topics of weed and weightlifting arose, his eyes lit up like a little kid on Christmas, and he suddenly became quite garrulous. A man after our own heart.

JFAC’s new album, Ruination, is out now on Metal Blade. After the jump, check out our full chat with Brent Riggs.

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Okay, fine — I’ll admit it: I’m on a non-weed kick. Or, lemme correct that — I’m on a non-weed buying kick. ‘Cause I’m still down to smoke from time to time but I get really compulsive about le ganj, and if me have a bag in me clutches, ima puffaleel every day of the week….which is all well and good in theory (not really), but seriously I’ve been doing that for way too long and I need to get ahold of myself before my brain dwindles down to a scant shred and I can’t properly form a sentence (let alone impart my wisdom to the youth of America). Will power, shmill power — that concept doesn’t really come into play when th’erb attaches itself to your lungs like black venomous goo on Spiderman.

And furthermore, in conjunction with all the painkillers I’ve been ingesting recently, it’s hard to drink whiskey AND smoke weed AND stand upright/keep my eyes open sometimes….so puffing before concerts and social outings has dropped to an all-time minimum for me lately. I don’t mind all that much, usually don’t miss the ol’girl, but shit yo, certain concerts have really been lacking for me lately, and I’m forced to wonder if smoking before a band goes onstage actually does make all the difference sometimes.

Is “stoner” rock/metal not even worth it without the pot?

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Here at MetalisNotGood, we take our stony music quite seriously.

Duh.

So clearly we’re rabid fans of the almighty Tee Pee Records, a label known for representing the best in stony bands from the US and abroad…..in this case, ‘abroad’ means Canada (why not?), and the band you oughtta check out is Toronto’s Quest For Fire. This is music for taking bong hits in the eye of a hurricane to — the songs shift from calm, haunting, almost-drony creepers to raucously boogie-stomping classic rock-ish ragers…..their self-titled album (due out on June 9th) definitely exhibits range in mood whilst retaining a specific ‘sound’ throughout.

Metal with a capital KILL, this is most definitely not — but fans of shweet/shwirly/shtony bands like Dead Meadow shan’t be disappointed.

You can currently catch these craysee Canucks on the road with The Pink Mountaintops…..tour dates on MySpace, but NYers be forewarned — they’ll be in Brooklyn this Friday night and Manny-Hatty on Saturday. Light em up!

Visit Quest For Fire on MySpace

-KW

Hey hey hey kids. In honor of the fact that it’s a) 4/20 and b) just one day before the release of Dååth’s awesome new album, The Concealers (read my review here), we’re teaming with the band to give away some special shit that I am now legally obligated to tell you is for tobacco use only. Seriously. One of you will win a bubbler and one of you will win a bowl, both bought and paid for by Dååth guitarist Eyal Levi out of his own pocket and the goodness of his heart, and you are not to use these items for anything other than the smoking of tobacco. Also, remember that God hates it when you masturbate.

ANYWAY, here’s what you have to do to win:

IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW, TELL US YOUR FAVORITE SONG TO GET STONED TO.

And that’s it. Eyal will personally select one winner, who wins the very cool bubbler, and MetalSucks’ own resident Song to Get Stoned To expert, Mr. Kip Wingerschmidt himself, will select the second winner, who gets the bowl.

Please make sure you register for our comments section with a real e-mail address, as all winners will contacted by e-mail.

This contest runs from midnight to midnight EST on 4/20, and is open to U.S. residents only.

AND DON’T FORGET THAT DÅÅTH’S THE CONCEALERS IS IN STORES TOMORROW.

Good luck everyone, and, y’know… smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

-MetalSucks (but WeedRules)

This has nothing to do with metal, but everything to do with laughing your ass off.

Thanks to Vince’s woman for finding the clip!

-AR

Check out the 2008 Metal Injection holiday special, “Season’s Bleedings,” below. It’s the timeless tale of two horny, weed lovin’ metal heads who want nothing more than to summon a succubus from the depths of hell so they can get laid. And who can’t relate to that, on a basic human level?

Download the hi-res iPod friendly version on iTunes so that you can jerk-off to that super hot chubby demon wherever you go.

-AR

Quite often, in interviews or just in conversation with random people, I am asked about my marijuana consumption. Imagine some nerdy Canadian metal journalist dude over the phone, going (read with accent) “DUDE, how much WEED did you smoke during the writing process for that record?” I get seriously annoyed by this, as I think it’s really immature to assume that pot has some magical power that actually writes the music for you. It reminds me of being 16 or 17, getting together at band practice, and someone coming up with the idea to “get really high and just jam” with the tape recorder running. 100% of the time, the result was a droney mess consisting of boring, meterless drum beats, monotonous “singing”, and one guitar playing an open E with a flange pedal left on at full blast. I just want to grab these people, throw them against a wall, hold them by their throats, and scornfully inform them that drugs are stupid, they themselves are stupid, and that it takes actual skill and thought to write interesting music.

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