Ripple Field Trip - Lord Huron

Look sideways and avert your eyes away from the stage at your run of the mill smallish SRO concert venue, and what do you typically get a glimpse of?  Maybe a pile of shattered Budweiser bottles oozing in the corner; or an intriguingly spattered wall with hastily affixed posters advertising the next gig; or some ashtray-laden poker tables with rickety chairs offered for those souls not quite hardy enough to stand for a few hours.  Well, not at the recent First Friday show at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum you didn't, gloriously headlined by KCRW faves and local rising stars Lord Huron.  That's because the show took place before an enthusiastic crowd in a well-appointed display room richly imbued with dark woods and endowed with enough stuffed mammals behind glass to shake a drumstick at.

So if your eyes wandered away from the stage, either during Wildcat! Wildcat!'s thoroughly capable opening set or Lord Huron's spirited run-through of such standouts from their recent acclaimed Lonesome Dreams cd as "She Lit A Fire", "I will Be Back One day", and "The Man Who Lives Forever", you'd come face to face with a coyote poised to devour a sumptuous rabbit carcass or a herd of deer looking like they're staring into the oncoming glare of a well-endowed Hummer.  But what might seem at first like a bit of an odd milieu for the hipster set to roll out the red carpet for one of Southern California's own proved to be fabulously fresh and satisfying, as patrons segued seamlessly from wandering the museum's display halls and patronized a smattering of gourmet food trucks outside the colorfully lit exterior of the museum while the musical entertainment unfolded in the main hall.


Lord Huron is the brainchild of Michigan-born Ben Schneider, who impressively played all the instruments on the band’s first two EPs, 2010’s Into the Sun and Mighty.   Schneider recruited a few Michigan-born long-time friends to play on Lonesome Dreams, and the band’s folk-infused, multirhythmic sound melded beautifully with lush harmonies, both on the more uptempo tracks mentioned above and the beautifully meditative, harmonica-inflected “Ghost on the Shore”, perhaps the highlight of the entire evening.  By the time the veterans of 2011’s Lollapalooza and SWSX festival closed with a moving and eminently crowd-pleasing rendition of "Auld Lang Syne", it was clear whoever dreamed of pairing innovative, high quality music with the hallowed halls of wooly behemoths is truly on to something special.  Plus, anything that gets the people into a museum can't be all bad.

--Rhythm Slayer

Ripple Road Trip: - On the road to Frederick, MD December 15 2012: Featuring Pale Divine, Nitroseed, Admiral Browning, Wrath Of Typhon,Trilogy, and Puricist

After a 10-hour drive "back home" to Maryland from Tennessee my wife Kesha and I got to spend a day and a half with some of our best friends especially Mamma D, Evil Fanny and Jaks before show time at Cafe 611 approached. Krug's used to be THE joint for doom shows in Maryland but was sadly shut down early in 2012 and Cafe 611 has taken over a lot of their business. It is a nice small venue very suitable for a gig like this although the Amy Winehouse wanna-be bartender messed up just about every drink. Oh well, at least the beer was $3 cheaper than down in Tennessee...the little things.

On to the actual show, which was held to celebrate our friend Dustin's birthday, with Puricist kicking things off. They play old school-sounding thrash with distinct hints of death metal and weren't bad at all. However, they were plagued by technical problems throughout their entire set which naturally frustrated them. Still they battled on and did good.

Next up was a fairly new Maryland trio, Trilogy, featuring Fez on bass guitar and this was the first of three bands he played with this evening, talk about a marathon runner! The band is rounded up by Jason Sheldon Barker - vocals & guitar and Tony Saunders - drums, and they got the groove going with a real nice bluesy heavy rock. And of course, the steadily increasing crowd loved it, yours truly included. Having just recorded their debut cd, which is being mixed as I write this, you could tell they wanted to play live and they simply crushed. By the way, record companies with any sense and an ear for great music should take notice and pick them up immediately....you hear?!

Third band on the bill were four hooligans from York, PA, called Wrath Of Typhon and they brought the fury to Cafe 611 alright. No-holds-barred punk-infused metal is their forte and do they deliver. A still somewhat smallish crowd banged their heads to smithereens to this apocalyptic soundtrack as the band tore the place up. I have seen them live several times before and they never fail to bring the goods but after this display they show they have grown a lot and are so tight, heavy and good. No let me rephrase that....great!

The second trio of the night to take the stage, Admiral Browning, featured the second performance by bass maestro Fez. This is his main gig in many ways since he helped form the band with Tim Otis - drums and Matt LeGrow - guitars, effects and vocals back in 2002. Even though I'm not the greatest sea urchin in the world I do love this band of pirates and I have seen them countless times throughout the years. Once-instrumetal they do write vocal songs now which has expanded and pushed them forward. The focus is still on instrumental progressive metal/doom though and that excels live. Every time I see them they have tweaked the songs slightly making every show different and....amazing!

Fifth band to hit the stage were Nitroseed from Laurel, MD, and they feature ex-members of Earthride and Wooly Mammoth. Despite having a new album out in January 2013, their first since 2006, they probably played their last show ever on this night which is a shame if true. Mainly instrumental these guys absolutely crushes on stage. Stoner rock without vocals played this well is all I need on any given day but they went on like a bulldozer on a rampage and I'm amazed that Cafe 611 hadn't vanished when they were done.

Last band out and one of my all time favourite ever, Pale Divine. This was the first time I've seen them play since the release of their excellent album Painted Windows Black and the first time with the addition of Fez on bass guitar, so my anticitpation and excitement were running very high indeed. As always with The Pales though I shouldn't have worried at all because they were absolutely amazing. One of the best songs off of Painted Windows Black started their set, the fantastic Black Coven and to see them play with Fez, who made his third appearance of the night, is nothing short of brilliant. The focus was mainly on the new album and it was a joy to hear Angel of Mercy. However they did surprise us pretty good by playing two brand new songs, Curse The Shadows and Shades of Blue and an old previously unrecorded song, Chemical Decline. All three were great and but it was especially fun to hear the brand new tracks knowing they are working on new material. Yes, that's all I can say...yes!

Unfortunately an amazing evening and an amazing homecoming weekend had to come to an end. 10 hours on the road back to our new turf in the deep South loomed and it was with great sadness my wife and I left. We did have a great time watching some great bands and seeing great old friends and hopefully we'll be back up "home" soon. A big shout out goes to Jaks and Evil Fanny who let us crash at their places; to Mamma D, Fez and Shannon Diener for making the Sunday breakfast awesome; to Doug and Joe, two of my best friends!

Ripple Field Trip - Damaura: A Tribute to Dimebag Darrell

It was only during the Metroplex Heavyfest in Dallas last year that I got my first real taste of the legacy left by Dimebag Darrell.  To be honest, I'd never been a fan of Pantera; not because I didn't like their music but because I'd never really heard them. Remember, graduate school kept me busy for most of the late '80's and early '90's, so I simply missed that boat.  I'd heard a few songs here and there, but nothing that I really "listened" to.  I was outraged and saddened by his shooting in 2004 like I would've been for any senseless murder of a member of our rock family.  I knew he was talented and looked upon with respect.  But I never felt that loss.

That all changed in Dallas last year.

Dallas/Fort Worth has a tight metal/rock community and the spectre of Dimebag (and Pantera) hangs thick in the air-- as a funeral shroud but also as a beacon of love and respect. It feels like the essence of Dimebag clings to the very fabric of Dallas metal today, like his DNA has infused the genes of every tattooed rocker who's picked up a guitar since his death. Being there at a heavy rock/metal festival gave me a whole new appreciation for the man and a reason to stock my shelves with Pantera CD's.

So I was ready to go when Mike Davi, the merciless drummer for Damaura (who's debut "Fall Before Me . .  .Leave No One" I reviewed last year) asked me if I wanted to be a fly on the wall at their 4th annual "Tribute to Dimebag Darrell" concert, held each year near the anniversary of his death.  Without hesitation, I trekked the 40 minutes out to Antioch and found myself lost in a sea of bearded humanity, upstairs at the Mutiny MFB Bar Grill and Rock Club.  Antioch is a small town, way on the outskirts of being a suburb of San Francisco; kinda stuck between the big City and the state Capital, Sacramento, to the North.  So I wasn't sure what kind of rock/metal scene I was gonna find there, but let me be the first to say, from what I saw, Antioch has something going on.  Mutiny isn't the biggest place in the world, and the stage set up is a touch non-functional, with the audience area divided by a bar, a wall, a staircase . . . and whatever other obstacle they can come up with; but the crowd that was there squeezed themselves into every nook and cranny of available space, including a decent sized pit in front of the stage.  And the crowd was ready.  They were into metal.  They were into Damaura.  And they were into Dimebag.

I missed the opening band of this four-band bill, and came in at the start of JBD's set.  Featuring two members of Damaura; Bernt Strom on drums (guitar and vocals in Damaura) and Dan Cutt on bass, plus singer/guitarist Jared D.  JBD tore through a set of doom-laden thrash that riled the crowd into a frenzy ending with the show stopper, "Jarhead" (?).  What caught my ear was the way the band mixed it up enough, played with dynamics enough, to always keep things interesting; tearing into a thrash riff one second, then dropping the bottom out to a doomy dirge and back again.  Good stuff and worth checking out here. 

By the time Damaura took the stage, the place was packed and when the band broke into "Fucking Hostile" the bar went volcanic, hair flying in a sea of male and female headbangers, prostrating themselves in ritualistic adulation for their hero.  With Damaura, Bernt takes his spot on guitar and backing vocals, Dan stays on bass, Mike Davi helms the drum seat, and Chris Black takes the frontman spot on vocals and lead guitar.  Looking a touch like Dimebag himself, Chris proved  himself in an instant, tearing through "Fucking Hostile" with abandon, whipping the crowd into a frenzy and leaving scorch marks on his Dimebag guitar frets.

It's been said that Pantera fashioned the post-thrash era of "groove metal" with their riffing, Texas-influenced groove and hardcore vocal attack.  That came through loud and clear as Damaura smashed through a set that included Pantera staples, "Floods", "Domination" "A New Level" and "Cemetery Gates."  They also tossed in a blitzkrieg version of Damageplan's "Pride" which brought the house down in a sea of sweaty bodies.  Mixed in with the Dimebag love was a handful of Damaura originals from the debut album, "Min Mardrom" "Vendetta" and Catastrophic Ending" which sounded perfectly placed in the set, and underscored the theme here.  Damaura aren't a cover band or a tribute band. They're a metal band paying homage to a fallen hero.  Toasting at midnight on the day of Dimebag's death to a lost brother and a metal innovator.

No metal concert would be complete without something bizarre, so when Jared D, from JBD, came back to the stage to take vocals for the final set, the swirling red lights of cop cars outside seemed a fitting mood setter.  Apparently, some cat out front was videotaping an Antioch police officer making a traffic stop, when the officer objected, the man refused to stop, and the next thing you know we got 11 Antioch Police cars descending onto sleepy 2nd Ave, their lights flashing through the sky like a enemy air raid. "Ignore the cops" Chris screamed out, and tore into "A New Level."   Middle fingers flashed into a police authority salute, Mike smashed his kit, Dan brought on the low end, Bernt went ballistic and the crowd lost themselves in skull crushing metal all the way to the roof blowing closer, "I'm Broken."

I can't say how well the guys played each song compared to the original, but that wasn't the point.  On one foggy Friday night in Antioch, a couple thousand miles from Dimebag's hometown in Dallas, the legacy of a man and his music lived on.   Just as I felt last year in Dallas, the love was there, the respect, the loss.  With the crowd dripping sweat, calling for an encore, and the police lights still knifing through cracks in the curtains, I had a feeling that the metal scene of Antioch was alive and vibrant.  Not yet to the size of a place like Dallas, but pulsing.  Give it time.  Give it time.

Today, December 8th, is the 8 year anniversary of the murder of one of metal's legends.  Based upon what I saw last night, Dimebag would've been proud.

--Racer

Ripple Field Trp - Origin & Decrepit Birth: May 12, 2012 Studio 7 Seattle

I attended this show on the eve of Mother’s Day, so I just want to take a moment to recognize what moms do for us.  Sure enough, at this show I saw a mom who had brought 3 boys, looked like early teens, and this poor lady was the definition of long suffering.  You could tell that she was not enjoying herself in any way, yet she was there for them, to make sure they were able to enjoy themselves.  I don’t know if she was mom to all 3, but I hope that which ever of them were her sons that they took care of her on Mother’s Day.

This was actually one of those shows that I rant against.  They happen a lot here in Seattle, and probably just about everywhere that metal shows take place.  My problem is with a show that starts at 4 in the afternoon because there are, like, 9 bands on the bill.  I love metal, and that is too much for me.  So show promoters, take note.  Three or four really good bands on a bill is much better than three or four good bands, but you have to wade through 4 or 5 shitty bands to get there, and maybe you don’t make it and you go home, but you remember who put that show on and you don’t go to any more shows from that promoter.

By the time Decrepit Birth took the stage, I was ready.  They were 3rd to last, so I had waited through some not so enjoyable music.  Decrepit Birth totally delivered.  I’m not going to pretend that I’m a massive fan and know their discography forward and backward.  But I do like these guys a lot and their performance just increased my liking of this band.  Very solid, very well performed, great at working the crowd and excellent at melting faces.  Heavy death metal band that completely brings it in a live setting.  If you haven’t seen these guys before, get out and see a show soon, especially if you love you some death metal.

Origin, the headliner, put together a very solid performance as well.  Again, don’t know every song inside and out so I can’t tell you exactly what the set list was, but that’s why God invented the interwebs anyway, silly.  I had seen Origin once before a few years ago at a tiny little club in Tacoma, and I have to say that they seem to be much more together now.  Origin are all about technical death metal, so there is a lot of music that goes by in a blur.  They play fast, they play loud, and they play well.  Totally dug their set and left the venue very satisfied.

If I had to choose, I’d give a slight nod to Decrepit Birth because they were really on and really got the crowd into it, but it was a great show all the way around.  And I must give a tip of the cap to the venue, Studio 7 in Seattle.  They have a great sound system and always have sound guys who are on their game, which can make all the difference in a smaller venue.

- ODIN 

Yob - Live 1/23/12 - The Bourbon Theater, Lincoln, Nebraska

Yeah, I may be getting old but I can still rock out the hell out. I certainly don't feel 42 most of the time and I still get excited when a band I love comes to town. I saw that doom masters YOB were gonna be here before hitting the road with Tool, and knew it was maybe my only good chance to see the band that made my number-one album last year.

It was on a Monday, so that sucked, but I still couldn't pass it up. After all, this was gonna be up-close and personal. Intimate.

The Bourbon Theater in Lincoln, Nebraska is a tiny one but it still draws some pretty big names in heavy rock music, believe it or not. Clutch and The Sword come to mind. I don't know why it surprised me so much that YOB would also be appearing there. I guess I just never expected it.

I got there early, not so much to see the opening bands but more to browse the merch. I'm glad I hadn't ordered Atma on vinyl yet 'cause there it was, all shiny and new. I grabbed one, plus a shirt, and then noticed an album cover I hadn't seen before. It wasn't one of the band's regular releases. Turns out it was one of only a few vinyl demos the band had for sale so I got one of those too.

"Lucky you got one," the guy behind the table said. "Only 3 left and then they're all gone. Totally."

Sweet. I took the stuff out to the car, had a small break and headed back inside. By the time the first two bands finished the place was getting crowded and I decided to grab a spot as close as I could. Yes. A little stage-right from the drum kit.

YOB come out with smiles on their faces and acknowledge the crowd - maybe 100 people. This is gonna be an epic night. I couldn't believe I was about to hear this band in such a small venue. The whole stage is maybe seven or eight feet deep and 15-20 feet across. Barely enough room for the band and their equipment. And there I am, with my nose literally 12 inches from the mic stand. The stage comes up to the middle of my shins and I'm braced with the front of my thighs pressed up against huge Yamaha speakers.

I'm ready. Let's do this!

After a short sound check YOB tears into "Prepare The Ground", the first earth-trembling track from Atma. I'm not prepared. I had a thought about grabbing a pair of ear plugs earlier that day at work but that's as far as I got. A thought. Too late now. After the first couple riffs it doesn't matter anyway.

To tell you the truth, I totally lost myself somewhere in the middle of that first song. I didn't have anyone shoving me from behind and no one was brushing either of my shoulders. It was almost like I was the only one there and YOB was playing just for me. My own little private concert in Nebraska. Fucking awesome. I had plenty of room; my body was writhing and contorting to the thunderous grooves being laid down.

I didn't find myself until maybe the third song, I think it was "Atma", when Mike S. broke a guitar string. He apologized and took a couple minutes to fix it himself. No guitars techs at this show, but I didn't mind at all.

"I needed a break anyway," I thought to myself. Maybe I do feel old - my neck sure does. Damn.

YOB tear it up. During a couple songs I find myself fixating on drummer Travis Foster, who has a focused, determined look on his face as he's bashing away. His arms contort in ways I didn't know were possible as he apparently tries to beat his drum kit to death with two wooden sticks. Not since WEEDEATER have I seen such a punishing performance.

A good hour or more after they started, YOB follows up with a cool TOOL cover and then finish the show with "Quantum Mystic", off The Unreal Never Lived. I wipe my face with my shirt and then rub my eyes. Is it over? Wow. That's when I try to clear my ears and remember there's nothing in there.

The crowd fizzles out and I notice the band members tediously breaking down their equipment. "Now would be a good time to go get those albums from the car," I thought, and so I did. All three guys signed them for me without hesitating and listened graciously as I thanked them for coming to little old Lincoln. Great bunch of fellas. I wished them luck on the rest of their tour and told them I hoped they have fun.

"We already are," Mike said and then thanked me and my friends for coming out. He expressed that he's also a little nervous about thousands and thousands of people staring back at him in the coming month. Unexpected bodily functions are a possibility, he joked. Still, go see 'em if there's a show anywhere near you. I can only hope your experience was a great as mine.

To me, this show wasn't just a little warm-up before their big arena tour on the east coast with TOOL. It was special. It was an intimate night with YOB and I'll never forget it.

--Heddbuzz

4Minute's Manila Showcase

I've written my pieces on OMGKPOP and The Kpop Nation but those were all very news-y - no biases, little comments here and there. But this post is different - none of that journalistic crap. This is what I REALLY thought of the showcase.

The girls were here and I don't necessarily like them but they're Korean and I had to cover the event for OMGKPOP and The Kpop Nation. Did I have fun? No, I didn't.

I don't like 4Minute to start with and I wasn't really gonna go but as the showcase drew nearer, I said why not. So I told the blogs I write for that I was going and asked for some kind of press pass to help get me a good spot. They didn't work though. At least Allkpop wasn't on the supposed 'press list' as well - I would've blown up if they were.

The staff members I talked to were uninterested and glare-y and it's like they didn't want the press coverage. I don't think they know how many people internationally visit the blogs I write for and how a damn good review along the blogs circuits can make a difference. It's not that I'm saying this just because I didn't get a front-row spot or had to buy an EP I didn't really want just to get in, it's that the staff didn't seem like they were interested in the event.

So I got in an hour before the concert was supposed to start. I was in the supposed VIP section about halfway in and I couldn't get any further in. Crap support act singing crap covers I don't even want to mention and cheap hosts speaking wannabe American English.

I was surrounded by a couple of wannabes and fanboys singing Hot Issue in what they thought was Korean when it actually wasn't. If you can't sing it, do your research before you go a to a concert and start screaming along to the singing.

The announcer guy got some terms REALLY wrong but I can't really remember so I won't bother.

So I was there and the girls finally came on stage at around 5:30 only to mime about 85% of the time. I'm not really sure if they mimed their cover of Stick Wit U but either way, I wasn't really interested in watching - I just shot the video and took pictures for the articles I had to write.

Gah. Media from the showcase:

PICTURES

VIDEOS

My more 'professional' articles are on OMGKPOP and The Kpop Nation.

I did not have fun today.

So all over the internet, news about the Saturdays visiting my home country were circulating. Ken reported it first (as far as I know..) and soon people followed suit. I wanted to go so badly - The Sats are and forever will be one of the best UK girl groups we've heard. I was depressed yesterday because one, I was so tired and two, I couldn't go see The Saturdays. I woke up this morning, told my parents that the girls would be in Megamall (one of the gigantic malls here..) and planned to go. I checked the time on multiple websites - SIX IN THE EVENING. So OK, I'd leave the house at 4 and get there 4:30, walk around, get some Starbucks, relax and go watch my favorite (active) girl group perform brilliant pop songs.

So I left the house at 4, right on time. Me, being a time-freak who always gets there 30 minutes to an hour early for everything.

Lo and behold, when I got into the mall at exactly 4:30...

THE CONCERT WAS DONE.

All that was left was the autograph signing. So just to make my trip worth it, I bought an album I already have, almost cried in front of Mollie and didn't get to enjoy dinner and going around the mall.

Frankie wasn't there. I completely forgot to ask why because I was so pre-occupied with the fact that I MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO SEE THE SATURDAYS LIVE EVER AGAIN. NEVERR.

MCA Universal, the next time you bring someone here who isn't Lady GaGa or Rihanna or someone who makes crappy, boring, annoying and worthless music - PLEASE GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT. I was there 1 1/2 hours early for the time YOU TOLD ME and I was STILL late. WHAT KIND OF RECORD COMPANY DOES THAT? Then you made me PAY to get their autographs and talk to them and actually make my trip somehow 'worth it'? HOW MONEY-HUNGRY ARE YOU?

I'm not angry at the girls - they were lovely, my opinion on them hasn't changed. I told Mollie about the fact that I was late because Polydor gave me the wrong time, told Vanessa about the fact that I'm a music blogger and I wanted to give them a good concert review and they were sympathetic - considering that they knew nothing about me and had never met me before that 1 minute encounter.

4/5 of The Sats signed my second copy of Chasing Lights and 3/5 of them signed the crappy 'free' poster of an old promo pic that was released months ago that I got.

I'm furious at MCA. I dragged my parents to a gigantic mall only to get autographs? I know people kill for them but I'd rather see the girls sing live than get their signatures on an album jacket. I love music - seeing them live would tell me whether my adoration for them is worth it.

Craig David. Is. BRILLIANT.

I'm sorry for not posting my review earlier but my exams are finally finished and I only have one project to finish so by the seventh I'm all yours - blogginggggg! haha. Let's get on with this.
I don't have any videos and I don't have any pictures, all I have is a crappy recording of the show but everything's for a reason. I didn't take any videos because I was afraid that I'd become too pre-occupied with the video that I wouldn't pay any attention to the actual artistry and brilliance that I was certain would be displayed that night.

I got to the venue half an hour early for the show so we got popcorn and drinks before finding a good seat because unlike all the other concerts I've been to, we weren't in the SVIP or VIP sections - we were at the back. We found our seats, got a good view of the stage and just waited. At 8 PM 'till about 9 we were barraged with these crappy, second-rate Filipino front acts. I'm not generalizing my own culture - there are some brilliant artists from here but it's just that almost everyone in the R&B arena here is just a big wannabe. The last support act was MYMP, a big cover band here and yes, the girl has a nice voice but they won't get anywhere creatively if they keep on doing crappy covers of American songs.

So at about 9 PM, the band started coming onto the stage. 15 minutes later, the show started with either 6 of 1 Thing or Hot Stuff(Let's Dance) and then the other one. I was just so engrossed with the whole show because now I know what a brilliant band can do to brilliant songs - miracles. The show was like nothing you could get on the record because the drums were real and everything was real - no fabricated and processed drums with a brilliant band and Craig David.

That's what I liked about this concert - it was real. No messing around, no lying, just Craig and his band. It was the first concert I saw where I actually really, really liked the artist and it's by far my favorite concert since ever. I loved every bit of it and I didn't want it to end.

For maybe two or three days after the concert I didn't want to listen to the recorded versions of the songs he sang because the live ones were waaaay better.

I forgot the order of the songs but what I do remember is that he sang Insomnia, What's Your Flava?, Fill Me In, All The Way, Take 'Em Off, 7 Days, Unbelievable, Walking Away, Rise & Fall, Friday Night, the two songs from Trust Me I stated earlier and his encore was Rewind.