Earlier today, it was confirmed that the we lost another guitar God. The almighty Jeff Hanneman of Slayer passed away around 11am this afternoon. It's never an easy thing to type this sort of blog, as Hanneman's guitar riffs have inspired millions worldwide. Today, the music world mourns this loss. Obviously, Slayer is one of the mainstays on the Metal Shop playlist, and because of this, we will pay tribute to Hanneman's legacy by playing some of his most memorable contributions to the metal world.
Former Metal Shop host Kevin Jacober had this to say about Hanneman's passing...
"RIP Jeff Hanneman. You wrote some of the best riffs and songs of all time, and inspired me as a musician greatly. You be missed by all.
I took this photo on December 11th, 2004, when Slayer came to the Showbox Sodo in Seattle with Killswitch Engage and Mastodon. I was allowed to get between the stage and the crowd to take pictures and noticed a small piece of black duct tape on the bottom corner of Kerry King's guitar that had 'RIP Dime' hand-written on it. This show was 3 days after Dimebag died. A rather sad coincidence to discover upon viewing this folder of photos for the first time in years. RIP Jeff. RIP Dime. Sad memories today." - Kevin Jacober
Sad memories indeed. But memories nonetheless. Join us in celebrating a true legend of metal this weekend as we pay our respects with a very special tribute episode of Metal Shop.
Pantera is unquestionably one of the most influential and important metal bands in the history of music. Together, Phil, Vinnie, Dime and Rex had something more than your average metal band, their time-tested camaraderie with each other truly made them stand apart. They really were the Cowboys from Hell. The thing is, up until now, whenever you see or read a Pantera interview; it’s hardly ever from the perspective of Rex. There’s no shortage of opinions and recollections coming from Phil and Vinnie, but finally, “Official Truth: 101 Proof: The Inside Story of Pantera,” shares with us the view from the oft-overlooked badass bassist himself. Co-author Mark Eglinton followed Down on tour to document Rex’s current life alongside the tales of his past. Eglinton will be joining us in the studio this Saturday, fielding questions, talking Pantera and promoting the book.
Interested? Here’s a quick audio trailer to check out to prep you for the show.
With a little help from my famous metal bassist friend David Ellefson (Megadeth), we headed over to the Aria Guitar section at NAMM to see the revealing of the Aria Pro II Cliff Burton Signature Bass. We didn't have much time since both of us had to get back upstairs to the Samson booth for David's autograph signing, but we had enough time to record a quick video and also get some photos of the bass and with Cliff's dad Ray. Cliff Burton was Metallica's bassist for their first three groundbreaking albums, Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets. Cliff died on September 26, 1986 in a tour bus accident (watch story here) but his legacy and style of playing bass live on even to this day. His famous bass solos featuring a Morley Wah pedal (along with a Big Muff Distortion) were inspirational to millions of Metallica and metal fans around the world (see solo video with original Aria bass).
Check out this video I recorded with David Ellefson introducing the new Aria Pro II Cliff Burton Signature Bass replica for the first time (view exclusive video here) at NAMM '13!
For the official bass press release with spec info please click here!
Now let's have Megadeth's bass man David Ellefson talk about his new Jackson Signature Kellybird coming out soon!
Check out the two videos below. This bass is so cool looking! I was lucky enough to have shot David live last year with his prototype.
Keep up-to-date on the latest Jackson guitar/bass news and this Ellefson Signature model release at: http://www.jacksonguitars.com
With Christmas just around the corner, it’s that time of the year where you can’t escape the grasp of Holiday cheer by way of overplayed sugar-filled songs. Wherever you go, the Little Drummer Boy follows alongside a couple of Santa Baby’s. Guess what. We’re tired of it. Quit bombarding us with your false holiday cheer. It’s time to fight back. For this reason alone, two years ago, we dubbed this next month, “Death Metal December.”
Each week, we will be devoting a full hour to pure, filthy death metal – from classic Floridian bands like Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel , to Swedish death metallers At The Gates and Entombed , brutally gore-soaked slam bands like Cephalotripsy and Devourment and local stuff like Drawn and Quartered and Phalgeron. Make sure you listen all this month and help us fight back in the name of death metal.
Seattle, don't forget this Sunday Swiss New Wave of Folk Metal pioneers Eluveitie play El Corazon! This KISW Metal Shop sponsored show is gonna be epic! Also on the bill is Finland's Wintersun, an extreme progressive metal band with a new amazing album titled "Time I" (hear full album) and German Viking metallers VARG.
What's exciting about Eluveitie on this tour is they are playing their new concept CD "Helvetios" (hear full album) in it's entirety each night! Never thought a metal band with flutes, violins, hurdy-gurdies, mandola, mandolin, whistles and bagpipes could be so awesome! Add some hot chicks oozing with talent in the band and you have a dual combination of male/female diversity for the big time! "Helvetios" is one of my favorite album releases of the year. Between Chrigel Glanzmann's razor rasp and Anna Murphy's angelic vocals, there's something for every metal fan with Eluveitie! Eluveitie alsoreleased a second record this year with The Early Years, a collection of re-rerecorded and re-mastered early material.
Meet both bands at a pre-show in-store signing at Silver Platters in Northgate (Sunday, December 2nd 3 - 4 PM Silver Platters 9560 1st. Ave. NE Seattle, WA. 98115 (206) 524-3472 www.silverplatters.com)
Time to get your Celtic mosh on! ;) Buy tickets online now for the show..nearly sold out as most of tour is already! See ya there! Iron Mike
Dearest members of the Northwest metal tribe.....Whattup !
Hell yea, it's Friday! Today we bring forth a few little tidbits of metal news to get you ready for this hours excursion into the underworld of Metal Shop.
Lamb Of God is seeking photos of US military members to be incorporated into a video tribute for their upcoming US tour. They have asked “Please keep the photos under 2MB and include the soldier’s name, military branch, and a brief description of where the soldier is serving or has served. Send photos to logvideocontent@gmail.com
West Coast death metal goliaths Exhumed recently entered the studio to record to the follow-up to 2011’s "All Guts, No Glory". The band is currently tracking drums at Trench Studio in Corona, California with John Haddad (Hirax, Abysmal Dawn, Intronaut). Expect to hear something from them on Relapse Records sometime next year.
Our favorite Scumdogs of the Universe GWAR have announced the newest member of their space pirate troup with the proclamation that long lost cousin of Flattus, Pustulus Maximus, has officially joined the band in the position of lead guitarist, and will join with the group on their upcoming "Fate or Chaos" tour. Pustulus offered his first words to the press with the following, "At this point I have nothing to say to the press, even though I am talking to you. I will let my guitar speak for itself. But let me add that I am bloodsworn to honor the legacy of the great Flattus and indeed the whole Maximus tribe. I didn't come here to f**k around. HAIL FLATTUS!"
So that's what's up! See y'all on Saturday! Horns up!
Remember how awesome Pentagram was last year? How about Red Fang? Or maybe you missed out and you're trying to make up for it!? Either way, it's almost time for Bumbershoot, where we will be hosting the 2nd annual Metal Shop/Loud and Local stage on Saturday, September 1st. The awesomeness will go down this weekend at the Exhibition Hall, and the lineup is straight up stacked! Starting things off will be a badass local rock band that I'm sure you know and love, the Spittin Cobras! From there, the headbanging metal assault will begin with the almighty Black Breath...And while that will surely be enough to get your neck sore, we present you with two more bands to whet your metal appetite - New York legends PRONG and New Orleans sludge masters EYEHATEGOD. Plus, keep in mind, if you buy yourself a ticket to the madness at the Metal Shop/Loud and Local Stage, you have access to the entire event, including over 250 performances and artists of all kinds. If you're there, make sure you stick around for mainstage headliners Janes Addiction! Get your tickets and more info at bumbershoot.org. Eyehategod
This past Wednesday, Summer Slaughter went down at the Showbox SoDo. Starting at 2pm, the summer's biggest and most brutal fest raged harder than ever, with everyone from openers Six Days Of Darkness to headliners Cannibal Corpse and Between The Buried and Me tearing the audience a new one. We will be premiering out interviews with BTBAM and Cannibal Corpse this weekend on the show, but first, we wanted to give you some pictures so you can relive all the Summer Slaughter awesomeness. All photos were taken by Jesus Martinez, whose other photos you can check out here .
The Maiden England World Tour 2012-13, which is based around the video of the same name finally hit the Seattle area Monday night! If I told you in the early 80's as a kid listening to Iron Maiden's Killers album (you know the plastic vinyl that spins around on a turntable with a needle in the groove making better sounds than todays CD's/MP3s) that in 2012 I'd be seeing them in concert and better yet, shooting the band, I would've told ya you're nuts!
It's amazing this band is still touring the world and bigger than ever! Hell they even have their own Boeing 757-200 airplane flown by singer Bruce Dickenson called "Ed Force One" to tour the world! The secret, its not album sales or radio airplay, it's the live show that brings the millions and millions of fans to its concerts. You have over 30 years of older fans like myself and then add their kids and you have a non-ending cycle of fans not many bands in the history of metal have ever achieved.
Two years ago when Maiden played the White River Amphitheater I was really disappointed with their setlist. It was like the anti-favorite songs (except for a few here and there) setlist but this time around THEY KILLED IT! Look at the setlist difference from 2010 to 2012!
6/22/10
The Wicker Man/Ghost of the Navigator/Wrathchild/El Dorado/Paschendale/The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg/These Colours Don't Run/Blood Brothers/Wildest Dreams/No More Lies/Brave New World/Fear of the Dark/Iron Maiden Encore: The Number of the Beast/Hallowed Be Thy Name/Running Free
7/30/12
Moonchild/Can I Play With Madness/The Prisoner/2 Minutes to Midnight/Afraid to Shoot Strangers/The Trooper/The Number of the Beast/Phantom of the Opera/Run to the Hills/Wasted Years/Seventh Son of a Seventh Son/The Clairvoyant/Fear of the Dark/Iron Maiden Encore: Aces High/The Evil That Men Do/Running Free
See the difference? The crowd was in a near frenzy from start to finish with that set. The Trooper, The Number of the Beast, Phantom of the Opera & Run to the Hills all back-to-back in the set was amazing and add they also played The Prisoner and Aces High! This was Iron Maiden at it's best! The guys were energetic running around (more so than bands 1/2 their age) and Bruce Dickenson still kicking those vocals and screams like many years ago. Is there a more iconic band mascot to band ever than Eddie? Think not! Eddie appeared in many forms throughout the set in either stage backdrop or huge prop figures. See the video below for some of the cool Eddie festivities! Also view show photos here at KISW.com (CLICK HERE) or on KISW's Facebook page (CLICK HERE). One of the greatest concert bands of any musical genre ever, Iron Maiden deserve all the success!
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to head down on a mini road trip to sunny Santa Barbara California for four days of stage dives and sing alongs with Sound And Fury, an annual hardcore, punk and metal music festival. I had visited the fest before, back in 2007, but it was held at a venue called The Alpine in Anaheim. While there were tons of incredible bands schedule to play, the two out of forty bands I was most excited to see over the weekend were Earth Crisis and Xibalba. The new Xibalba album, “Hasta La Muerte” is absolutely crushing, blending groove-tastic doom, crushing hardcore and riff heavy death metal into a thunderous SoCal burrito of awesomeness. I couldn’t wait to hear the songs live. As far as Earth Crisis goes, they’re just downright one of the forefathers of metalcore, bringing the heaviness wherever they roam.
After a 16 or so hour drive, which was fueled by two stops at a SoCal staple – In N Out – we made it to our hotel just in time to unpack, take a quick dip in the pool, then head on over to the Sound and Fury pre show. It was awesome to see two Tacoma bands getting some California love, both Wreck and Oblivion had killer sets that showed SoCal how the NW does it. But it was New Jersey’s Suburban Scum that completely leveled the room, setting the pit off in a major way with their huge, stomp-worthy riffs. My body was already aching as I headed back to the hotel, and it wasn’t even day one of the fest yet. I made sure to get a solid nights rest, as there would be plenty of pitting in the next few days.
It would be near impossible for me to sit here and recollect all the bands that played great last weekend, so I am just going to share a few of the moments that really stood out to me from the 3-days.
The first day started with a band called Disgrace doing a badass cover of Machine Head’s classic jam, “Davidian”, which got the kids wild in a frenzy. From there, I took a bit of a break, but made it back in time to check out one of the Northwest’s most solid and hard working hardcore bands today, Ill Intent. If you haven’t checked them out, get on it. While their slot was early in the day, they had the biggest reaction up to that point. Alongside there bouncing New York-hardcore influenced riffs, their vocalist, Jake, killed it, as he unleashed his vicious yell to the dozen or so kids singing along and grabbing the mic.
As I previously mentioned, the first band I was extremely excited to see was Xibalba, and goddamn, they sure didn’t disappoint. I had seen this band play a handful of times up in the Northwest, but there’s nothing like seeing a band in their hometown, truly playing in their element. The pit was a nonstop frenzy as they slowed down the pace of the fest with mammoth riffs and hammering double bass. I shot video of the entire set up until they played “Cold,” when I had to stage dive and jump in the pit and sing along.
For me, Saturday was all about Earth Crisis, Bane, Terror and H20. After falling straight on my back and elbows during a botched stage dive during the killer set from LA’s Nomads (specifically during their cover of Sepultura’s “Biotech Is Godzilla), I decided to take a little time to myself to recuperate, eat some of California’s best burritos and prepare myself for the warzone to come.
It was a good idea to take a breather before Earth Crisis, because the full-on-metallic onslaught of that band was enough to knock the wind straight out of me. Back with a 2-guitarist lineup, Earth Crisis sounds full, heavy and as strong as ever. It was rad to see a true 90’s institution in hardcore play to such a feverishly excited room, yelling the words and destroying the room as they ended with their classic, “Firestorm.”
Here’s an interview I conducted with vocalist Karl Buechner a few hours before their set.
Watching Bane is always refreshing to me. Since the mid 90’s, this melodic hardcore band has been writing anthemic sing-along worthy songs and they are showing no signs of letting up. While sets at Sound and Fury are somewhat short, varying from 25 to 30 minutes, Bane used all their time wisely, igniting a sea of pile-ons and stage dives as they played both classics like “Can We Start Again” and new jams like “The Bold and The Beautiful.”
I’ve been watching Terror play insanely high-energy sets since I was 17 years old (10 years), but, much like Xibalba, there’s nothing like seeing them play in their hometown. Terror plays a solid mix of crossover thrash with a straight up in your-face hardcore style. These guys bust their asses year round on tour and it truly showed last Saturday, as the band played a ridiculously tight set that was mostly comprised of fan favorites like, “Keepers Of The Faith” and “Stick Tight.” Vocalist Scott Vogel is truly the man, as he commands the crowd with a presence matched only by motivational speakers.
Next up was New Yorks’ own H2O, a band that I’ve been listening to for a long long time. I had just seen H2O for the first time ever at Rain Fest in Seattle back in May, so I knew what I was in for, a great time! Vocalist Toby Morse’s little kid, Max, came out and introduced the band, “For those who don’t know, H20 GO!” From there, it was all smiles and stage dives.
By far, the highlights of Sunday for me were Harm’s Way and Black Breath, two killer bands that blend metal and hardcore together flawlessly. After a solid day of beaching it up, I made sure to be standing side stage as Harm’s Way warmed up. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the violence about to occur in that pit. For 25 straight minutes, Harm’s Way bludgeoned the audience with straight up meat-and-potatoes brutality.
It’s no secret that Black Breath stood out like a sore thumb at the festival. Rocking long hair, metal shirts and huge beards, as opposed to mesh shorts and crew cuts, these dudes showed up to party – and party is exactly what they did. Playing jams off both their full lengths, “Heavy Breathing” and their newest effort, “Sentenced to Life,” Black Breath charged the audience full of metal fury with their Entombed-esque buzzsaw guitar riffs!
Like I mentioned before, there were so many amazing bands that made up last weekend’s Sound and Fury, most of whom I didn’t even mention. If you ever have the opportunity to head down to California and check out a killer fest, make sure you give Sound and Fury at least a second thought. With lineups that spanned all genres of underground music, S&F 2012 is a fest I won’t soon forget.
Dearest members of the Northwest metal tribe.....Whattup !
