The amazing Failure debuted a brand new song at South By Southwest in Austin, TX this past weekend. As Ken Andrews said in the introduction this is the opening track from their forthcoming new album.
Failure- Hot Traveler
Cover Comparison: Aaron Lewis vs Corey Taylor (Alice In Chains)- Nutshell
Alice In Chains is one of my favorite bands of all time. I’ve heard a few covers of Nutshell over the years and thought these two guys have been the closest to nailing it. What one do you think is better, Aaron Lewis or Corey Taylor?
Aaron Lewis: Nutshell
Corey Taylor: Nutshell
New Release: Wild Throne- War Is A Romance
Today the very talented Wild Throne released a new song entitled “War Is A Romance,” and have announced their debut album will be titled Harvest Of Darkness to be released August 18th from Roadrunner Records. This song is great. Loud heavy rock with a great sense of melody but not in the commercial way.
Take a listen and you’ll hear just why these guys are sooooooo good!
http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2015/03/18/393636929/vikings-choice-wild-throne-war-is-a-romance
https://www.facebook.com/wildthrone
By: Brian Lacy
Video Rank: Deftones
Last week I did a top 10 ranking of Nine Inch Nails. It was quite fun to read what you all thought. Today I thought why not rank another of my favorite bands videos. Here are the top 10 Deftones videos!
10. 7 Words- Adrenaline
9. Bored- Adrenaline
8. My Own Summer (Shove It)- Around The Fur
7. Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)- Around The Fur
6. Minerva- Deftones
5. Diamond Eyes- Diamond Eyes
4. Beauty School- Diamond Eyes
3. Digital Bath- White Pony
2. Change (In The House Of Flies)- White Pony
1. You’ve Seen The Butcher- Diamond Eyes
Album Anniversary: Radiohead- The Bends
A bands second album is usually met with such high expectations if their first is filled with lots of praise that a lot of bands fail. Though sometimes the second album is beyond what you would expect. At the start of 1994, Radiohead began working on song arrangements for The Bends. The band nearly broke up due to the pressure of sudden success of Pablo Honey, as the tour extended into its second year. The band chose John Leckie to produce their new album. Leckie had been the producer on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, and The Stone Roses debut. The engineer Nigel Godrich would later go on to become Radiohead’s go to producer for all albums to come. The band found the first two months of work on the album difficult. The band’s record label, EMI, had set an October 1994 release date for the record, which later proved unrealistic. EMI also suggested Radiohead should record the album’s lead single first. No one could agree on what the lead single should be, so the band worked on four tracks they considered candidates: “Sulk”, “The Bends”, “Just”, and “Nice Dream”. This proved to be counter productive and slowed things down. Jonny Greenwood would also add to the slow down by experimenting with several rented guitars and amplifiers in order to discover “a really special sound” for his instrument, despite Leckie’s belief that Greenwood already had one. Also during this time tensions were coming to a boil between Thom Yorke and the rest of the band. So John Leckie suggested to Thom that he record some songs by himself on guitar. During this time the band had taken a short break to do a small tour and recharge. The break for the tour proved to be just what they needed. Radiohead completed recording the album at Abbey Road Studios in London, where Leckie also mixed some of the songs. The Bends marked the start of a gradual turn in Thom Yorke’s songwriting approach from personal angst to the more cryptic lyrics and social and global themes that would come to dominate the band’s later work.This would also be the last Radiohead album to me predominantly “raw” and without any electronic elements.
The Bends has long been my favorite album of Radiohead. Don’t get me wrong I love OK Computer and Kid A, but this album a a whole is fantastic. The songs, the way they were written and then the track listing make this a perfect album. From the first note of “Planet Telex,”to the swooning “High and Dry, the more upbeat almost rocking, “Just,” and the perfect closer in “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” The Bends is a masterpiece and after 20 years still holds just as though it were released today.
Radiohead- The Bends:
By: Brian Lacy
Band Of The Week: The Everyday Losers
It’s really nice to hear the resurgence of loud rock bands coming back to the forefront. Bands that have a knack for being able to write solid rock songs with melody. I present you Indiana’s The Everyday Losers. Combining their love for heavy hard rock and 90’s alternative, especially Nirvana, Silverchair and Bush. The Everyday Losers released their debut EP “Songs for Us All” in June 2011 and their second EP “Social Paradise” in January 2012. The band released their debut album “Revel in the Chaos” in June 2014 with 2 singles released so far. They have toured nationally with Saliva and Future Leaders of the World, and shared the stage with some of the bigger radio rock bands from the last few years. These guys are radio ready but without the silly generic sound that comes with all those bands. In February they released a new EP entitled “Underexposed – Live and Acoustic” via Dead Industry Records.
The Everyday Losers- Underexposed Live and Acoustic:
Listen on Reverb Nation:
https://www.reverbnation.com/theeverydaylosers
https://www.facebook.com/theeverydaylosers
By: Brian Lacy
Cover Thursday: John Frusicante (The Bee Gees)- How Deep Is Your Love
A friend of mine recently showed me this gem. I’ll admit I can’t stand the Bee Gees, but this is actually really good. I never
thought I’d enjoy a Bee Gee’s song. John Frusciante is way underrated as a guitarist and his rendition of this is outstanding! Thanks for the recommendation Patrick!
John Frusciante- How Deep Is Your Love?
Video Rank: Nine Inch Nails
There are lists devoted to ranking a bands best albums and songs, and not enough that rank the bands videos. So I thought why not do a ranking of a bands videos. Since Nine Inch Nails is my favorite band, here is the ranking of 10 of their best videos.
10. Into The Void- The Fragile
9. Only- With Teeth
8. Head Like A Hole- Pretty Hate Machine
7. Wish- Broken
6. We’re In This Together- The Fragile
5. The Hand That Feeds- With Teeth
4. March Of The Pigs- The Downward Spiral
3. Survivalism- Year Zero
2. Closer- The Downward Spiral
1. The Perfect Drug- Lost Highway
<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/3612941″>Nine Inch Nails: The Perfect Drug (1997)</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/ninofficial”>Nine Inch Nails</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Live Review: Coal Chamber at House Of Blues
In front of a packed house and playing in front of your home town crowd, you know that you have to deliver the goods. Coal Chamber did just that on Saturday night at the House of Blues. Their 75 minute set was blisteringly heavy and pleased everyone in attendance. This was the second time Coal Chamber has played Los Angeles since they announced their return, only this time they were tighter than they had ever been and were playing with such a passion that it seemed like they never left. Their setlist included songs from all their albums including two new ones from their new album Rivals (their first album in 13 years). The new songs “I. O. U. (Nothing)” and “Rivals” were very strong, heavy and what you would expect new Coal Chamber to sound like, not to mention they will be crowd favorites for a long time to come. Dez’s vocals are still ferocious and unrelenting. Meegs still has the knack for the down tuned riffs. Mike Cox and Nadja are tighter than they ever were live before. Some highlights from their set included opening with “Loco,” “Big Truck,” the always fun sing along “Rowboat,” “Not Living,” “I,” and closing the night was “Sway.”
Also playing the night was Filter. I’ve been a Filter fan for a long time and was really looking forward to seeing how this would play out for them in front of this audience. Well it didn’t go that great. Richard Patrick just couldn’t get the crowd going and engaged until the final song of the night. His new band was sloppy, kept having technical problems and who ever was doing their sound needs to be fired for the mix he put up. Their short set was so so. Though they did open with “You Walk Away” from their album The Amalgamut which was a nice surprise. I thought they would have opened with something like “Welcome To The Fold” instead. They did play “Jurrassitol” from The Crow: City Of Angels soundtrack. Closing their set was “Hey Man, Nice Shot” with special guest guitarist Brian Liesegang (who was in the original incarnation of the band). Filter is a good band but not the right fit for this tour.
The second band of the night was Combichrist. I’m not very familiar with them at all. And as entertaining as they were, I couldn’t get into them. Musically they have an industrial tinge to them, but it sways more to the EDM side of things. Their singer looks like the type of guy that would front a hardcore band, not a band like this, I will give him props for being really engaging with the crowd. The band did have a lot of energy and you could tell that a lot of people in attendance were big fans of the band. I’m still not sold on them.
Opening the night was American Head Charge. They were one of my favorite bands that came out of the scene in the early 2000’s and it was really great to see them back on stage. They came out strong and brought the heavy. Their very short set did include a brand new song off an album they said would be coming out in June.
This was a great night full of nostalgia in the Sunset Strip area where a lot of bands from the late 90’s and early 2000’s made their name (along with countless others dating back to the 60’s). It’s also sad to know that soon the House of Blues on Sunset will be torn down to make room for some monstrosity of an expensive hotel. The thing that stuck out to me this evening was the sheer excitement and enjoyment everyone in attendance had to see Coal Chamber back on stage killing it.
Coal Chamber Set List:
1. Loco
2. Big Truck
3. I.O.U. Nothing (New Song)
4. Fiend
5. Rowboat
6. Something Told Me
7. Clock
8. Drove
9. Not Living
10. Dark Days
11. I
12. Rivals (New Song)
13. No Home
14. Oddity
15. Sway
Filter Set List:
1. You Walk Away
2. Can’t You Trip Like I Do
3. We Hate It When You Get What You Want
4. What Do You Say
5. Jurrassitol
6. Dose
7. Hey Man, Nice Shot
By: Brian Lacy
Photo By: Jim Morris lifeisaphoto.net
Band Of The Week: The Broken Stems
Nestled against the cliffs of San Diego, The Broken Stems are bending genres and captivating audiences. Their blend of classic rock, blues and reggae has developed into a sound that emits positivity in a world with so much negative energy. The Broken Stems are Jesse Gawlik (Vocals/Guitar), Chelsea Baker (Bass/Vocals) Brad Sweet (Keyboards/Vocals), and Andrew Bache (Drums). With influences stretching from Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin to Dave Matthews Band, The Dear Hunter and more modern groups like Alt-J, the members have boundless amounts of space to create music. The bands musical connection and constant flow makes this band stand out. Each member brings out a different creative aspect in the other, allowing the music and lyrics to be at the fore front.
The Broken Stems deliver a style that remains true, emotional, and original while including the elements that make the listener want more. Having played packed shows throughout the San Diego area, including sold out shows at the House of Blues. The Broken Stems are leaving their stamp on the music scene. Currently, The Broken Stems are gearing up to record the follow up to 2013’s We Are Home EP. The message of The Broken Stems’ music, more than anything is to live a music filled life, rich with the people it touches and the effect we know it can bring.
https://www.facebook.com/thebrokenstems
By: Brian Lacy
