So far, every song released from Greg Puciatio’s debut solo album, Child Soldier: Creator Of God, has been remarkable. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the newest single released today, “A Pair Of Questions” is right up there with the other three. This one has bit of a vibe from Greg’s other band, The Black Queen but, with just the right amount of space from it to standout on its own. Seriously, I’m beyond excited with what I’ve heard so far. This is definitely already going to be album of the year worthy. You’ll find yourself going back to this song a lot. October 23rd can’t come soon enough.
2020 sure has been a rough year. It’s like we are living in a really crazy episode of The Twilight Zone mixed with Idiocracy. Yesterday, it was announced that Riley Gale the singer of the band Power Trip had passed away (no cause of death has been mentioned as of yet). It’s incredibly sad and unsettling. Over the past few months, I had really started to get into his band Power Trip. The bands album, Nightmare Logic has been in constant rotation while I work from home. They had a real knack for making great thrash metal with the right amount of groove to it. And from all the live videos I’ve watched, they put on one hell of a show. Riley was on his way to being one of the best frontmen as well. His presence on stage and energy was undeniable. It’s truly a shame that he has passed. It kind of hits home a bit since he was so close to my age, which is a major bummer. Hopefully, if he was in any sort of pain, he can find peace now. I know I’ll be blasting his bands albums for a couple days!
In 2015, the surviving members of Mad Season, Mike McCready and Barrett Martin reconvened for an evening to celebrate the band and it’s album, Above. This special concert titled “Sonic Evolution. At this show they were accompanied by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. The late Chris Cornell filled in on vocals for the dearly departed Layne Staley and Duff McKagan filled in on bass for the late John Baker Saunders. This concert is quite poignant and emotional. The songs picked for this show were quite interesting and the performances by each person really stand out. It just goes to show how great these songs are and how much of a lasting effect they still have. Enjoy this show!
By now I’m sure everyone knows about Temple Of The Dog. The one off band/album that was created by the late Chris Cornell as a tribute to the late Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone. Of course everyone know about the song “Hunger Strike” and the classic pseudo-duet between Cornell and Eddie Vedder. There is one song though on the album that has always stuck out to me and that is the opening track, “Reach Down.” This is one of the songs that is directly influenced by the death of Andy Wood but, that’s not the reason why it hit me. It’s the badass guitar solo that is in it. The solo which was done by Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam) is over 5 and a half minute long and it’s sensational. According to the story, this Temple Of The Dog album, was also the first recording studio experience for both McCready and Vedder. Regarding McCready, Cornell said, “You almost kind of had to yell at him to get him to realize that in the five-and-a-half-minute solo of ‘Reach Down’, that was his time and that he wasn’t going to be stepping on anybody else.” And the end result, well, you’ll just have to take it all in.
The wait is finally over. Deftones have announced their new album, Ohms, will be released on September 25. The first single from the new record is the title track and it’s quite good. Sure there might be some bias on that since it has been a while that we’ve had new tunes from the band. Based on the sound of this track, it seems to bridge the gap between White Pony and their 2003 self titled album. Check out the song.
Over the past few years, I’ve really come to enjoy Chelsea Wolfe more and more. I remember seeing her open for Russian Circles way back and at the time, I wasn’t too into it. Perhaps it was because of the band before her and their energy on stage was so electric that by the time it was her set, the drop in energy just dropped. That’s not to say she and her band weren’t awesome. Anyways, a couple years back, Chelsea released the album Hiss Spun, and it all finally made sense to me. One of the songs that instantly caught my attention was “16 Psyche.” This track and video are stunningly superb. This track and album are also the perfect introduction to getting into the greatness that is Chelsea Wolfe.
Yesterday evening, I was on a Deftones rabbit hole and found myself looking up a lot of Adrenaline era live videos. While on this trip, my interest in the song “Teething” peaked the most. I will always remember the song from being a part of The Crow: City Of Angels Soundtrack (great soundtrack but, terrible movie). I especially remember that they are in fact featured in the movie playing the song. “Teething” most definitely should have been included on the Adrenaline album. It’s such a cool song. So, enjoy some Deftones today!
Back in 2014 when Nirvana was inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Shame, the remaining members performed with a bunch of guest singers. Joan Jett, Lorde (for some reason I can’t ever understand why), St. Vincent and my personal favorite of the set, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. I especially liked Kim joining them onstage because she sang my favorite Nirvana song, “Aneurysm.” This was also the most “punk” thing the band did that night and it was glorious. A few interesting tidbits about this performance, the dress Kim wore on stage is actually the same one she wore when Nirvana and Sonic Youth toured together in the early 90’s. Also according to Kim’s book Girl In A Band (which you should totally read), during this performance she channeled a lot of her anger over her divorce with Thurston Moore (also of Sonic Youth) and the grief over Kurt’s passing into this performance. This explains a lot when you put it all in context.
Back in 1993, Metallica released their live box set, Live Shit Binge & Purge. It was the bands first official live release and the contents of this set are truly something special. Besides the live audio CD’s/cassettes, there were 2 filmed shows in the box set as well. One from the LA Sports Arena in 1992 and another that has now become legendary from Seattle in 1989. The Seattle show in particular was from the bands Damaged Justice tour. This show is an absolute gem not only for the set list but for the unholy and ruthless approach the band had at the time. It’s all right there from the way the band played to their attitude. It’s truly one of those shows that if I had a time machine, I would most certainly go back and see. If you’ve never seen this, you are in for quite a treat. If you have, well, watch it again because it’s awesome!
Quicksand is one of those bands that has been a huge influence on a slew of bands whether you know it or not. Their first two albums, Slip and Manic Compression are quintessential albums that any rock or heavy music fan should listen to and have in their collection. Quicksand is one of the best bands to come out with the now described as “post-hardcore” sound. Recently, I went back through the Quicksand catalog and came to the realization that I can’t figure out what album I like best between Slip and Manic Compression. So, naturally, I thought why not bring it here and let you all help deceide what is the best album. So here we go.
Slip, the bands debut full length came out in 1993. This album features songs like “Fazer,” “Dine Alone,” “Lie and Wait,” “Omission,” “Transparent” and so many other great tracks. This album is what many bands often refer back to as one of those that really influenced and inspired them. The tones on this album along with the songwriting is absolutely astonishing. It’s no wonder that this album left a mark on so many people.
Manic Compression, is the second full length and came out in 1995. This would be the bands last album until 2017’s Interiors. This record features songs such as “Thorn In My Side,” (which was featured in Empire Records), “Delusional,” “Landmine Spring,” “East 3rd Street,” and “Supergenius.” To some, this album is the more influential album. I can see why as the production on this is quite better thanks to Wharton Tiers, who worked with Helmet, Sonic Youth and many others.
It’s a pretty difficult decision to pick one or the other but, If I really had to I’d probably go with Slip but, only by a smidge. Slip to me just has this more organic and raw approach that still has bits and pieces of where the members of the band came from before with their respective bands. Also, the songs just hit me harder than the ones on Manic. Perhaps too it’s because it was the first album I heard from them. I still remember seeing the videos back on MTV (oh how I miss when MTV played videos). Both are stunningly great albums and it all comes down to a matter of preference.
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