BROOKDALE LODGE
Eat, Drink, Dance, Sleep!
5/15 Washburn & Klein/Rhythm District 5/16 Drool Pigs Festival Medicine Road Acoustic Shadow 2009 KHANTHOLOGY TOUR JUNE13 Driftin Compass 5/21 Jazz-Amanders SUNDAY of 5/23 Azul Drink the month: I 5/29 Washburn & Klein MIDOR MARGARITA 5/30 Chris Laterzo MONDAY BUD 6/5 Michael Smith PITCHERS $7 6/6 Stellar Corpses TUESDAY all WELL 6/12 Washburn & Klein DRINKS $4 Amnesia ESDAY E WEDN K O 6/13 Andre Nickatina KARAJO W/ 6/20 Bottom of the Ocean THUR SDA LIVE MUSIY C FRIDAY LIVE MUSIC SATURDAY LIVE MUSIC
Ask about special room rates the night of the show!
I Shot the Sherrif Hiroshima / Seryer
2009 BAND OLYMPICKS The Brookdale Lodge would like to thank all the bands that participated in the 2009 YMO!
6/26 The Live Dead Band / Matt Hartle 6/27 Tether Horse King Kongress / Nan
The Lodge at The Brookdale Inn & Spa
lZÉgZ ]ZgZ id ]Zae# X d [ [Z Z ZhegZhhd Yg^c`h iZVh X]V^ h b d di ] ^Z h WV`ZY \ddYh X d b e ji Z g h l ^ g Z a Z h h ^ ci Z g c Z i V X X Z h h
&,'( B^hh^dc HigZZi (,%& EdgidaV 9g^kZ &))( 8Ve^idaV GdVY lll#Xd[[ZZide^V#Xdb
Your one stop shop for the best glass and smoking products in California! Full service repair shop for all your broken glass needs! We will beat any price!
YMM STAFF CONTACT: Mike Lyon ☛Editor In Chief - (831) 477-0503 mikelyon@yourmusicmagazine.com Mike Garing ☛Director of Sales and Marketing Event Coordinator - (831) 247-8981 mikegaring@yourmusicmagazine.com Jake Student ☛ Online Sales and Marketing (831) 477-0503 jakestudent@yourmusicmagazine.com Jessica Ashley Skelton ☛ Managing Editor Jessica@yourmusicmagazine.com Itay K ☛Layout/Design/Staff Writer itay@yourmusicmagazine.com Vincente ☛ Editor vincente@yourmusicmagazine.com Ashley Lyon ☛ Assistant Editor Brian Crabtree ☛ Intern brian@yourmusicmagazine.com Contributing Writers ☛ Jon Hermison, Mat Weir, Tracy Forsyth-Lundy, Numerous, Dave Pirtle, Barb Rocks, Darien Lomeli, Brian Crabtree, John Lewis, Maxwell Barna, Holly English, Kimberly Johnson, Itay K, and Kevin Madness Contributing Photographers ☛ Cover photo by: Alan Ralph, Danny Lopez, Chris Pollard, D.J.Dougherty, Ron Arcaroli Computer & Tech Support ☛ Frank Jimenez Northstar - (831) 724-2083 Video ☛ Danny Lopez Ticket Sales ☛ Charon Garing, Kyle Cavanagh
Your Music Magazine ☛ 1515 Capitola Rd. Unit: M Santa Cruz, CA 95062 (831) 477-0503
www.yourmusicmagazine.com myspace.com/yourmusicmagazine myspace.com/yourmusicmagbooking
Copyright 2009 Lyon Entertainment Publishing. Your Music Magazine is a registered trademark owned by Mike Lyon. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced in any manner or form without prior written consent of the publisher. Lyon Entertainment and the Your Music Magazine staff is not responsible for claims made by advertisers. Your Music Magazine is published monthly by Lyon Entertainment. ISSUE #68 MAY 2009
Cypress Hill 4/20 @ The Fillmore TABLE OF CONTENTS PG.8 STATIC X PG.12 TECH N9NE PG.14 RICK WEBSTER PG.18 REALIZATION PG.20 CD REVIEWS PG.22 COMIC REVIEWS PG.24 TESLA PG.26 SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST PG.29 A PLEA FOR PURGING PG.30 YMO CALENDAR PG.35 YMO WINNERS PG.36 BLOOD PRINT PG.37 PARA LA GENTE PG.38 YMO SC FINALS PG.42 MY STUPID BROTHER PG.43 PARIAH FACTION PG.44 RELAPSE PG.45 BEERIJUANA PG.46 VICE ON VICTORY PG.50 PSYCHOSTICK PG.53 FRESHMAN 15 PG.54 THESE ARMS ARE PG.58
SNAKES
CONCERT CALENDAR
a few words with WAYNE STATIC photos & interview by: Alan Ralph www.photographn.com I heard that a drunk driver sideswiped your tour bus in Omaha last week – everyone alright? Yeah, we were on stage at the time. The bus was parked, so it sounds way worse than it is. I couldn’t even tell the bus was hurt; it just fucked up the door a little bit. But it all happened while we were on stage. I saw the bus parked around the corner; I guess that’s Burn Halo’s bus. The white one? It looks like it’s from 1975. Tera Wray: That’s The Flood’s bus. Burn Halo is in a van. Wayne: Oh yeah, that’s right. That was probably a really pimp bus back in the 70’s. It was probably like Journey’s bus or something!
On May 5, one day before Static-X was set to conquer San Francisco, I received an unexpected email confirming my photo credential to shoot the show, and was also asked to do an interview. On their sixth studio release, Cult of Static, the Los Angeles industrial metal quartet venture into dark thematic territory, crafting more expansive, epic tracks than ever before. Prior to their explosive set at the Grand Ballroom, I sat down with Wayne Static (and his wife Tera Wray) for a short conversation aboutCult of Static, ‘80’s hair metal, Journey, and of course, Wayne’s spiked hair and goatee.
8
The album’s press release calls ‘Cult of Static’ your “heaviest, most flammable work to date.” Did you consciously decide to make this your heaviest record, did it come about naturally, or what inspired it? Heavy is a term that some people…like everyone uses it differently. I would say this is our darkest record, and our moodiest record overall. I definitely wanted to push it in that direction while I was writing it. Part of it was just moving the studio to my house and writing the whole record at home and a lot of it was written in the middle of the night and stuff, so I think that kind of lends to the darkness of it. Yeah, so you recorded ‘Cult of Static’ at your new home studio. Since you weren’t paying for studio time, how did
that change the overall creative process and time frame for creating the songs and this record?
It’s great having him back. Right when he stepped back in, it was like he never left, the chemistry is all there, it’s great.
Yeah, I mean, as far as writing it, it allowed me to spend a lot more time writing. It was really cool to just whenever I want, you know if I’m fucked up or whatever, to go start messing around with keyboards and stuff, as opposed to having to drive to some other studio. That was always a pain in the ass! As far as recording, it was great to be able to just take our time and work on it whenever we want.
Are there any cities or countries where you will always play on tour and just can’t wait to get there? Yeah, the United States of America is a great country, I love playing there! Australia and Japan are also amazing. I guess those are probably the only other countries that I’m always excited to go to.
Why did you decide to cover 80’s hair metal – Looks That Kill, Still of the Night, and Talk Dirty to Me – and release those as the bonus tracks? Well, it seems like bonus tracks always end up being the tracks that weren’t good enough for the record, so I thought ‘well, ‘what’s the point?’ Let’s just have fun and do a bunch of silly songs and just scream them and play them and have a good time, and that’s what we did. Were you a fan of ‘80’s hair metal? No, not at all! (laughs) I don’t like any of that music. In the ‘80’s, I was a goth kid. I was into Sisters of Mercy and all that kind of goth, dance-able kind of stuff. So I didn’t even know, and like never even heard of the song ‘Still of the Night.’ Our producer John Travis was like ‘you guys should do this song,’ and he found it on YouTube or something, and I was like ‘oh, that’s fucking awesome, I’m going to do that song!’ That’s kind of how it was; you know, it was really a different kind of experience for me playing those songs since I barely know them. Does this lineup of Static X feel more complete with Koichi Fukuda, who is back after 5 years? Oh yeah! Well, he’s been back for a while now, since 2005, so it’s been 4 years now.
You have a side project called Pighammer, and I read that it is you writing songs with other musicians like John 5 and Al Jourgensen. Any updates on this project? I’ve just been writing by myself for it, and I think it’s going to turn into more of a thing where I have other people guest on it and stuff like that. I’ve been doing some writing, I have some ideas. It’s going to sound like me, but it’s not necessarily going to be Static-X though. How did you come up with the name Pighammer? It sounds like a Norwegian black metal band name. Dino from Fear Factory has this new band called Divine Heresy and they didn’t have a name, so I came up with that name for his band actually. I was like ‘dude, you should call it Pighammer.’ It would be perfect, you know, because their record was done and everything, and they still didn’t have a name. He didn’t like the name so I’m like ‘well, fuck it, I’m going to keep it for my side project!’ because I thought it was a cool name. I still think he should have called it Pighammer. Good for me, it’s mine now! (laughs) With most major record labels fighting a losing battle against downloading and the Internet, what do you think 9
readers – this is probably the question asked most – how long have you been growing the goatee, and what do you use to keep your hair sky high like that? Hairspray; you know, I just leave it up all the time. I just woke up an hour ago and it’s still up. It’s very simple, it’s not like I spend 2 hours a day and have a hair tech or anything like that! (laughs) The goatee has been growing since about 1996. I keep it at this length because otherwise it gets in the way when I’m playing. It starts getting caught in my guitar strings. Finally, a female reader wants to know if you plan to release any movies with your wife, in the same manner as Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard does with his wife Tera Patrick? Wayne: (laughs) about this and the current state of music in general? The record companies are screwed, I don’t know! I have no idea if they’re even going to be around or what the industry is going to look like, I have no idea. Has it helped or hurt Static-X? I think it’s probably hurt us more than it helped. The Internet is a great tool to get the word out about things, and all that, but I think overall, it’s just killed the music industry. You know, the record labels don’t have any money anymore, so they can’t spend any money marketing our record, they can’t give us any money to go play anywhere, so yeah, it really hurts more than it helps. Do you get more kids out at shows now because they downloaded your song or something like that? We get more kids out at shows because we’ve been touring so long and we’ve been putting out consistent, good material. It’s just an all-growing process, and we’ve been out for 10 years now, so it’s still growing. I wouldn’t credit the Internet with any of that. Just to get this out of the way as quickly as possible, to appease some of our
10
Tera Wray: I’m retired. (laughs) Wayne: She’s no longer working in that industry, so we don’t have any plans of doing that kind of stuff! Any final thoughts? Check out the record ‘Cult of Static’ and if you miss us on tour, check out the live DVD ‘Cannibal Killers Live’, which came out late last year. It’s a great representation of the show, so if you can’t make it to any of the shows this year, check that out.
LYON ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS:
MONTEREY CALENDAR Friday 5/29 @ Monterey Live
Saturday 6/6 @ Monterey Live PRIDE SUBJECT-PRAETORIAN ACCION TERRORISTA - tba
Friday 6/12 @ Monterey Live
“Best Vocalist” Event-THE DEAD RINGERS WASTED NOISE-PARIAH FACTION
Saturday 6/13 @ Carbones BLOOD PRINT-PSYCHOS IN LOVE MISERIA-tba
Schedule Subject to change
2009 BAND OLYMPICKS
REALIZATION -VIBRANT EYEris
Friday 6/19 @ Carbones PARA LA GENTE - D MINUS-tba
YMO FINALS Friday 6/26 @ the new Planet Gemini
TOP 6 VOTE EARNERS
SAN JOSE CALENDAR Saturday 6/20 @ Britannia Arms
JADE OF DAYS-WHATEVER FITS LETTERS MAKE WORDS-RELAPSE
BEERIJUANA-MODERN RUINZ
Thursday 7/2 @ The VooDoo Lounge
Friday 7/10 T.B.A. Friday 7/17 T.B.A. Thurs. 7/23 @ The VooDoo Lounge A THOUSAND KINGDOMS-tba
YMO FINALS 8/7 @ THE VOODOO LOUNGE-TOP 6 VOTE EARNERS
GOLD COAST TATTOO
Schedule Subject to change
Thurs. 6/25 @ The VooDoo Lounge
By: Jake Student
Most people would have given up on this interview, seriously. To make this conversation happen, I had to wait in the back of The Catalyst (Santa Cruz) for over 3 hours with the groupies (they were hot indeed, but it was substantially degrading to my professional character). But…I eventually got in to the “coveted” behind the scenes location (at two in the morning) and it was well worth it. What’s up with (your new album) Sickology 101? It just came out last Tuesday, chargin like crazy. We sold double what we thought we were gonna sell. We didn’t put much push behind it cuz it’s like our mixtapes but it’s a wonderful thing. Gotta continue to sell… And continue to entertain… Yeah, people are gonna keep on buying it ‘cuz it’s real music. So you never got with the industry per se. You’ve been keepin’ it independent and you’re doing really, really well right now. What do you think has attributed most to your success over the years? Touring. Getting out there doing show after show. The industry never fucked with me cuz they’re scared of me. That’s why I call ‘em punks. But getting out there, shakin’ hands with the kids, that’s what it takes to have a loyal fan-base.
12
What’s coming up in the future; you working on any studio work?
I actually have to write “K.O.D” on this bus...I’m not having too much luck with that right now. It comes out October 27th, it would be in our best interest to make that date. So we’ll see if I can create a miracle and write while I’m on this tour bus. The “Strictly Strange DVD” is coming out soon. It’s a live DVD that everybody’s been waiting for. And…we just signed Brotha Lynch Hung… Yeah I heard about that…any plans to get him touring soon? I’m sure he’ll be touring when it’s time. What’s your favorite thing about touring? Girls. What do you hate most about touring? Dudes (laughs) Nah..Haters. You still deal with that a lot? Yeah like a mother fucker. They don’t like me for some reason… But you’ve never really given a fuck about that… Nah, the haters, they gotta hate from afar.
They’re like a balloon to a blimp. That’s a good analogy. You’ve written a grip of songs. Do you find it hard to come up with concepts to talk about? No man, life tells me what to do. There’s no such thing as writers block, all you have to do is go out and have something happen to you or read a book. So I live life cuz I haven’t had time to read a book. I can’t remember what the last book I read was…I think it was about the illuminati or some shit. I read the dictionary all the time, and I still read the bible. Every once in a while I wanna see something and make sure I’m using the words in the right context. I don’t ever have trouble coming up with stuff to write about…just style…how you wanna do it, that’s the challenge… Delivery… Yeah your delivery. That’s one of the things I admire most about your style. You mix it up a lot… Yeah man, it’s got to be a rollercoaster ride. That’s why they say “This Ring” is the best song I ever wrote…it starts off with wordplay: “This ring…Got me a top notch Straight hot fox We sought rocks And the Ewok Slot Was caught Got dropped two Playing hopscotch On the block Ought not twat plot Yo for hops knot I brought dots” Then I switch it up: “Everybody Wanna be down with a nigga Women get a whiff of the money. Thinking of
taking it from me They get up in the club Giving the love Throwing the pussy Full of liquor and bud” Multis like a mother fucker. Is there anything you do on your personal time to help progress yourself as an MC? Yeah man…go out and do some fucked up shit. (redneck voice) I like to get drunk and do some fucked up shit too! (laughs) But yeah man, I just go out and have stuff happen to me. Hopefully I live to talk about it, so far so good. I’ve heard some of your work with rock music and I don’t know what it is, but you fit really good with that. Any chance of you doing more work like that in the future? I love rock music…I LOVE rock music, especially good rock music. I love loud shit…. Well you already got that rock energy on stage, almost like a lion roaring. Is there any particular music you’ve been listening to recently? Yup, Jamie Foxx. I always listen to Collie Budz. I had to do my myspace tracklist of 15 songs and number one was “Rebel without a Pause” by Public Enemy and number two was “Come Around” by Collie Budz. Collie’s whole album was good to listen to front to back.
MAKE SURE TO VISIT: WWW.YOURMUSICMAGAZINE.COM to watch the full video interview with TECH N9NE as well as an Exclusive Freestyle with YMM’s Numerous!
13
An Interview with
Rick Webster of GOLD COAST TATTOO If you’re in Monterey and want to get a quality tattoo be sure to check out Gold Coast Tattoo at 639 Lighthouse Avenue. Mat Weir sat down with amazing artist Rick Webster to do a little background check. What got you into art? Well I was first tattooed at eleven, and that was the beginning of it all for me. My mom is a biker, so I saw it everywhere. I made the decision to get tattooed at eleven. I got three tattoos that first day. I talked enough and learned enough to go home and get my own tattoo machine. That was how it all began. That’s sick, what were your first tattoos? A wizard on my chest, sitting on a mushroom smoking a joint; single needle biker shit. What type of pieces do you like to do on your own time? I don’t. I only do tattoos. What I do is paint tattoos, I eat tattoos, I shit tattoos, that’s it. When I’m not tattooing, I’m out on my motorcycle going somewhere to tattoo. I don’t really have days off. When I do I am painting stuff for the upcoming week. Since you apprenticed under guys that apprenticed under the real guys, did they give you a hard time? They didn’t give me a hard time, but they helped me to have better fundamentals. The attitude is different; it is not the way I was originally taught. A lot of them are nine to fivers. They come in, do their work, and go home. They don’t think and talk tattoo. The first couple days of my apprenticeship it was all about talking about tattoos. Tattooing is not a job; it is a lifestyle. If you’re not willing to live it then you’re not going to make it. They’re the 9-5 guys that are not doing art work, but only put on tattoos for eight hours a day. That’s not how I was brought up. It’s not the way it should be. You were raised in the biker scene, when did you start riding? I was young… I would say fourteen when I got my first fifty. It carried over from there. My dad taught me on his Harley at sixteen; after that I started stealing his ride.
14
WWW.GOLDCOASTTATTOO.COM
Discreet Online Shopping at www.frenchys.com Spend over $69 and get a free t-shirt.
ROCKIN YOU
Ok, let’s do some introductions: Your name and role in the group? Foot: Manager/ MC with the group. eSik: Vocalist with Realization. We also have a drummer and a bassist that are not here today. So, what is your group composed of, what are the pieces? eSik: We normally do the live beats or percussion stuff that we make ourselves, all original. So what we do is incorporate the live music over the beats, and now we are trying to incorporate a guitar player and want to add a bass player. It started with the original beat and then adding some reggae, hip-hop, or soul, whatever it is to generate a positive message, and then adding the live elements to create a live sound. To get the crowd moving? eSik: Yeah, but even the transition is in effect. It doesn’t take away from the powerfulness of the music. Whether we are on the beat only or add the band, the transition is smooth. What are some of your topics lyrically, what have you been talking about? eSik: The topic I choose are struggles but I get through it. I don’t like to get too depressed about it. You always have to find the light in darkness. If you are not looking for light in the darkness, then you are looking for hope in life, it is a struggle and process. I have people come up to me after a show and say
18
your music is about struggle but it helps me get through it. It makes me want to dance. The key thing to that is to bring back the spirituality and hope. Foot: At the same time we call it feel good music. Since it is feel good music, it makes you want to dance. It’s got this message but it has a swing to it. You see people get out there and dance, and they feel it. It feels like they catch the message and we are not just pounding their brains out. We throw all this darkness, but show them the light. So it feels really good. Over the years how has weighing out content over delivery been for you? What do you put first, the delivery or lyric content? Foot: You have to deliver, but substitute one for the other, you are killing yourself. The delivery always has to be there, but the content is so important that if you’re not saying anything, you’re not saying anything. eSik: Delivery has to be real. You have got to be real with the delivery to convince people that you are real. So what I try to do is express the passion of what I have wrote. Delivery reflects content? Foot: Yeah, but you’re still putting on a show, so it is entertainment and you need to get the fans out there. Some
groups just get up there and explode on it and don’t get the message across. With a good message people take something home with them. Sometimes people forget who you are. Tell me about some of the shows you have coming up and other stuff that you have been working on alums? eSik: Ok lets talk about the album “Mind Shift.” It’s dark but peaceful.
People ask how we do this? I reply you have to come to the shows. Friday May 15th at the Blue Lagoon. May 8th at the Plant in Seaside, Ca. Where can people go online to check you out? Foot: They can just go to: www.RealizationSound.com. Go get a feel for the music and come out to the show!!
Save & Continue Perfect Violence
Backstage Passport DVD
Independent
Fat Wreck Chords
I am always impressed when an independent band puts the time and work into their studio time to ensure a professional quality album, and Save & Continues’ new album, “Perfect Violence”, does not disappoint (props to Jay Trammell at Fat Cat Recording Studio also). I’ve been impressed with Save and Continue since I first met them in ’06, and “Perfect Violence” is an impressive culmination of their talent and hard work. Their one cover song on the album, “Zombie”, is in my humble opinion much better than the orginal Cranberries version. Although I’d classify S&C as an alt. rock band, they really rock much harder than that generic description suggests. Billy Schult has an amazing voice, and he transitions smoothly from soft (track 10, “Another Way”) to hard (title track, “Perfect Violence”) and back again. Their music is creative and multi-dimensional, and each song stands alone with it’s own identity and energy. S&C is one of the most talented bands currently calling the Sacramento area home, and it would be a cryin’ shame if you don’t check their music out ASAP, either live or online (www.myspace. com/saveandcontinue). Very few bands can appeal to a tough guy and his sensitive girlfriend, so either way you can’t go wrong poppin’ “Perfect Violence” into the CD player, in the car or at home. Or catch a live show, perhaps? - Mike Garing
20
NOFX
Documenting some classic NOFX moments, this DVD set is a must have for any NOFX fans. First of all, the DVD itself has HOURS upon HOURS of amazing never before seen footage of NOFX’s adventures across several continents and the hi-jinks they get themselves into. Inside is a mini-booklet with some great photos of their trip along the way as well as emails detailing the misadventures of shady international promoters. GO GET IT… NOW!!!! - Jake Student
The Pat McCormack Group Risk Thrill Factor Independent I’ve personally always enjoyed the surf rock genre that Pat McCormack features in his newest release, Risk Thrill Factor. Any one of his current tracks could be dropped into a surf/skate video or even a good action/adventure flick and be an instant hit. From their title track “Risk Thrill Factor’ to my favorite “The Double Shot”, you (the listener) will be instantly drawn in to pulsepounding guitar riffs and mesmerizing solos, and trust me, Pat is an extremely talented and established guitarist who has been plying his trade for over 25 years. From being top 5 in the L.A. Guitarist of the Year Competition in 1988 to designing theme music for featured thrill rides at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz (currently for the rides “Double Shot” and “Wipe Out”), Pat McCormack has proven his talent and versatility for longer than most of you have been alive. He’s one of the best, so show him the respect he deserves and check out his music and website today (www.thepatmccormackgroup.com). He may not be the originator of the surf rock genre, but he is the standard against which to measure others. - Mike Garing
GOLD COAST TATTOO
www.GoldCoastTattoo.com
639 Lighthouse Ave Monterey, CA 93940 (831) 642-9404
By Itay K
Kick Ass w. Mark Millar a. John Romita Jr. Marvel Okay, so I guess it’s finally time for Mark Millar’s Kick Ass to get a quick mention in here. As 2008’s breakthrough series, whose first four issues sold out immediately and were forced into second, third, fourth, and umpteenth printings (along with variants and a special “must have” issue containing the first three books), Kick Ass continues to shock and entertain, be it very, very slowly and with months of waiting in between issues. You see, this property was snatched up by the Hollywood big-wigs faster than a fat guy eats donuts. And lucky us, the movie’s already set to come out this year starring Nicolas Cage, amongst others! We’ll see...remember what they did to “Wanted”?... So, what’s the story about, you ask? It’s very simple: 1 - Nerd dreams of being a Superhero 2 - Nerd becomes a Superhero 3 - Nerd gets his ass kicked.... now quiet on the set... aaand, ACTION!
Fables w. Bill Willingham a. Mark Buckingham / Var.
A LIST OF 25 CURRENT COMIC BOOK TITLES THAT YOU SHOULD BE READING! Army of Darkness (Dynamite) Atomic Robo (Red 5) Bad Dog (Image) Battlefields (Dynamite) The Boys (Dynamite) Crossed (Avatar) Destroyer (Marvel) Echo (Abstract Studios) ExMachina (WildStorm) Four Eyes (Image) Fringe (WildStorm) The Goon (Dark Horse) Groom Lake (IDW) House of Mystery (Vertigo) Ignition City (Avatar) Incognito (Icon)
Vertigo Possibly the greatest series currently on the shelves, Fables re-imagines both common and obscure fable characters throughout human history in a modern day setting. Abolished from their lands by an unrelenting evil adversary long ago, the remaining fable characters have been forced to live amongst the normal folk while attempting not only to protect their secret identities, but to live peacefully amongst themselves. Superb artwork, brilliant storytelling...this series is a MUST READ!
22
Locke & Key: Head Games (IDW) Mysterius The Unfathomable (WildStorm) No Hero (Avatar) Northlanders (Vertigo) Soul Kiss (Image) The Sword (Image) Umbrella Academy (Dark Horse) Universal War One (Marvel/Soleil) Walking Dead (Image)
Tesla @ Fox Theater April 2, 2009 Review and images by: Jon Hermison
TESLA ROCKS OAKLAND! What comes to mind when you hear Tesla? Sacramento? 80’s hard rock? Cougar City? Or “D”, all of the above? For most that can be a easy question, but for a man, or as the Tesla fans referred to me as “Just a baby” like myself, it was a little difficult. When I was first informed that I was given the opportunity to photograph Tesla at the Fox Theater in Oakland and write a review I was childishly giddy. Then I stopped and noticed that I barely knew who this band was. Feeling somewhat ashamed of my lack of knowledge, I decided to do some research before my journey to Oaktown. Starting in Sacramento, California, under the name City Kidd in 1984 and shortly later changing their name to Tesla, which is in dedication to a 19th century inventor, Nikola Tesla, the band has continued on to record eight studio albums, three live albums, and organizing over a dozen tours. The band is formed by Jeff Keith (vocals), Frank Hannon (guitars and stuff), Dave Rude ( guitar), Brian Wheat (bass), and Troy Lucketta (drums). This current tour, entitled the Forever More World Tour, is following their latest studio release, also entitled Forever More, which was released on their own record label, Tesla Electric Company Recordings. Amazing, right? With all of this advanced knowledge I felt prepared and went on my way to the beautiful and safe Oakland, at least during the day. After only getting lost once, I found my destination safe and sound with plenty of time to spare, and while walking up to the wildly lit venue with two cop cars parked in front, and overhearing a man hurrying by me yelling into his phone “Ay dog, the cops just got Oscar!”, I knew this would be a great show. I quickly got my ticket and pass and entered the classic Fox Theater. As I walked through the theater I paid attention to the decorative walls, the typical hard rock opening band, noted good spots for shooting, waved my photo pass like Wayne and Garth, and then noticed that I was still, besides the camera, empty handed. So I walked to one of the many bars and asked myself quietly, “ What would a Tesla fan get?”, so I ordered myself a chilled High Life and blended right in as everyone’s son. After the first band, the crowd started to thicken so I hurried and found a spot near the stage to the left. As I stood there waiting, camera in hand, three middle aged woman ambushed me with questions and snide remarks. The first one to speak was Debbie: “Who do you work for, and do you even know who Tesla is?” “He wasn’t even born yet. How’d you even get in? You’re just a baby.” slurred in Sandra who was the more aggressive of the three, and probably more drunk. As I politely responded to their questions, telling them where I was from, giving them answers they didn’t want to hear, I waited for the third one to say something, but she seemed to busy smiling, and surveying the land. Then Sandra leaned in with a thumb pointing towards here friend, “That’s Megan, we got her high, you want a hit?” Before I could respond another lady approached from the opposite side tapping my elbow to get my attention, I was completely surrounded, and frightened. “My name is Jen, could you email me some of the photos? Wow you’re young.” I smiled and nodded my head, and Jen reached in the pocket of her wranglers and headed me a piece of paper with her email already on it. As I grabbed it from her, the trouble trio turned me back towards them, and forced their emails onto me like a hot murder weapon. So there I was, standing in between a group of woman getting emails, since numbers are useless in this new era, feeling pretty lucky, except all of them being my mother’s age. After the second band performed, and Sandra pointing out how “gay” she thought they were, and with one foot drenched after Jen spilt her scotch on the rocks on my shoe, I noticed that the ladies remarks were becoming more sarcastic, probably due to the alcohol and the fact I was not a Raiders fan. Feeling the mood turning a little sour I decided to tell a joke: “What has nine arms and sucks?” All four ladies looked at me and each other with curious glossy eyes. With a great smile I answered, “Def Leppard!” Debbie quickly replies: “Watch it, fragile boy, these Tesla shows can pretty rowdy!” “I know.” I said. “You can fall down and break your hip, that would suck!” With that said I was left alone for the remainder of the show, mission accomplished. While I laughed to myself on the recent events, the lights were cut and screams covered the air. This is why they invented baby sitters.
Tesla opened strong with a few new songs from the newest release, Forever More, which consisted of some positive reinforcing anthems with a lot of energy and heavy riffs including “I Wanna Live”, “My Way” and the title track. The crowd was very energetic and awkwardly tall, making it a tad difficult to get good photos of the band without it looking like hands are grabbing their junks. After battling with Raider fans and fierce clawed cougars I bounced towards the perimeter and continued shooting. Jeff Keith took the crowd into his hands while Frank Hannon and new addition Dave Rude battled back and forth with intense guitar solos and quick finger play. Picks were tossed into the crowd, horns were thrown, fans dancing and spilling, and Tesla took the audience through two decades of music in just an hour and a half. Between the songs and guitar changes, Jeff kept the crowd entertained with theories on how the Raiders can be better this year and an occasional solute to the military forces over seas. After a couple fast songs, band slowed the tempo down with a few instrumental segments, guitar battles, and their hit 1989 single “Love Song”. The crowd was immediately back to it’s energetic self and Tesla brightly followed with the popular and much more loud cover of “Signs”, and Jeff allowed his lungs some rest, letting the fans take over most of the song. Feeling brave I made my way back into the pit area for some closer shots. I made center pit when I was grabbed by a woman who desperately wanted her photo taken. Over the loud music, I tried to explain that the image would not come out well due to the lack of lighting on the floor. Not being entirely pleased by my reply , she looked at me screaming “Take a picture of this!”, while thrusting her shirt over her head and flashing me. I immediately returned to my safe haven on outer perimeter. Tesla finished their last song and thanked the crowd, but no one headed for the exits. A steady chant began amongst the crowd. No hard rock band denies an encore! And Tesla was no exception. They came back on with two more tracks and finished strong and hard, exactly what you would expect from a band that has an album entitled Bust a Nut. After the show most of the band stayed on the stage shaking hands and signing memorabilia, while people slowly paid their bar tabs and spilled into the streets of cold and dark Oakland. Before entering the Fox Theater that night, I barely new Tesla and their following. Now I feel like part of the family, putting age and football team preferences aside of course. When on stage it is apparent that every member of the band truly loves what they do, and the entertaining part just comes second hand. As I drove home to Sacramento with a Rockstar on my side I was singing Tesla songs feeling a little high and mighty, mostly high form the venue air, and secretly waiting for the band to tour again. Well done Tesla, well done.
to release his music documentary “Passing Strange”. There was a noticeable difference downtown on Wednesday the 18th, the first day of music. People just continued to stream into the city, and that first day of music was absolutely loaded. Austin punk rock legends The Dicks played, followed by Alejandro Escovido at the Austin Music Awards Show, while down the street, Grouch & Eligh played with Brother Ali, and at almost the same time, The Circle Jerks were taking the stage warming up for actress Juliette Lewis and her newest band, The New Romantiques. That night, 80’s legends Echo and the Bunnymen headlined. If you could be multiple places at once, at that same time you could be catching LA punk rockers The Bronx, or actor Billy Bob Thornton and his band The Boxmasters, or The Decemberists, or Peter Bjorn and John, whew… As it has every year since 1987, the South by Southwest Festival settled into downtown Austin, Texas early this March. The annual multimedia event is best known for being a music festival, and that aspect is certainly no joke, but before the music started on March 18th, there was almost a week of media industry conventions, interactive media seminars and a burgeoning film festival, making this event a must attend for many industry insiders and representatives of the entertainment world. Unlike most festivals, where the majority of attendees are the market’s consumers, customers who are revelers and music/film enthusiasts, the majority of the SXSW patrons seem to be there (at least officially) representing a company, label, band or some business entity who is, by the way, footing the bill for the week. From March 12-16, SXSW Interactive started drawing people into town, featuring days of seminars, keynote speakers and readings exploring the current state and future of communications and entertainment technology, and culminating in the 12th annual Interactive Web Awards ceremony. Also on the 12th was the beginning of the film festival, running 7 days, and featuring a tremendous selection of mostly independent and foreign films, as well as speakers such as director Robert Rodriguez, Jon Favreau and Morgan Spurlock, to name a few. Paul Rudd’s “I Love You Man” was the featured mainstream film release, along with Seth Rogan’s “Observe and Report”, and other highlights included Mike Judge being on hand to present Office Space, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary, and Spike Lee being on hand
26
Fortunately, the layout for SXSW makes each event within fairly close proximity to the next. Of course you still can’t be in more than one place at a time, but with careful time management you can manage to catch all the live music you could want. The festival is centered around the 6th Street bar and club district downtown, where nearly every building seems to serves as a music venue during SXSW. A couple of venues are off the beaten path, a few blocks from the center of all of the activity, but they’re the exceptions. Depending on the popularity of the act, certain venues would often fill to capacity, requiring patrons to get there early to ensure admission. One notable exception to the standard bar/club venue is Auditorium Shores, just a few blocks from downtown and 6th St. on the beautiful Lady Bird Lake. Thursday evening featured a free show by The Cold War Kids and M Ward while Saturday’s featured a guest appearance by Erykah Badu followed by a fireworks display that lasted nearly 20 minutes. All of this under the vast Texas sky on a perfect spring night made for a nice short break from the packed scene downtown…which, come Thursday, was still amassed with concert-goers, and as the evening progressed, the crowds on 6th St. and in the clubs seemed to just keep growing . While it was still early you could catch The Oak Ridge Boys, or The Von Bondies, or The Cold War Kids outdoors. About 6 city blocks were closed to traffic, as they were each night, and at peak hours were literally filled with people, partying and hurrying from venue to venue. There were just too many shows for you to miss while you
were attending every band’s performance. For example, Big Boi of Outkast played to a huge crowd, while The Gourds rocked a few blocks south. Santa Cruz locals SambaDa and groups like Camp Lo, Akron/Family, and Reflections Eternal (Talib Kweli and DJ Hi Tek) all tore up their respective stages. The Rhymesayers showcase, located on an outdoor stage with a chain link fence drew way beyond capacity, with many viewers taking in the show from outside the venue. Down the street, The Meat Puppets were reliving their glory days as they opened for Ben Harper. And at the Playboy party, one of the unannounced highlights of the weekend was a Jane’s Addiction reunion. The list of artists was far outside the scope of anything I could even try to put in this synopsis. Look online, see who played for yourself. I guarantee that regardless of your genres of choice, you will be able to find something you would want to see next year. That’s what this event was: a gathering of a little bit of everything. There was stand up comedy at two venues, with each comedian doing a 15-20 minute set, and even those places were packed. The sheer size of the event and the massive number of bodies trying to occupy the same space at the same time did create some issues. Also, there are different levels of access at SXSW; different levels of badges, which signify a specific priority level for access to specific events, some costing up to $1000 (in many cases purchased by a corporate/commercial entity). Then there are bracelets; some being specifically for artists allowing certain access, and some being for the general public. Higher priority badges always get first access to all shows, so there was often a line of general access bracelets outside a venue waiting to be allowed in while people with badges could jump the line. Most events seemed to be accessible to everyone and it was only the most popular acts that drew beyond capacity, so the key would be to get to the venues early, sit through the opening act and you’d be golden. A few more highlights… FRIDAY NIGHT: Everyone and their mom were trying to see Devo on Friday night, but only after Metallica played a tiny outdoor stage at a BBQ joint to promote the release of Guitar Hero. What else? – Metallica, which was immediately, and curiously, followed by an hour and a half set by
DJ Shadow. Also, Dinasour Jr, Austin locals Okerrvil River, punk legends The Queers, and there was a New York Dolls reunion. SATURDAY NIGHT: Kanye West surprise set, with guest appearances by Common and Erykah Badu. Dead Prez was a huge ticket on Saturday, as was Austin’s favorite son Daniel Johnston, who got the ball rolling with Speeding Motorcycle, Austin locals The Mother Truckers and The Riverboat Gamblers, The Used, Marcy Playground, and Bay Area locals Dredg. Buck 65 played an amazing set opening for Sage Francis, you had the The Indigo Girls, The Devil Makes Three and Santa Cruzan Greg Camp. And these were just some of the artists that most people would recognize by name. There was so much more. Peelander Z, a Japanese trio out of NY, packed a tiny little venue called Headhunters literally to the rafters. There were people perched on beams looking down on the pseudo punk band, and within a foot or two from them on the stage area, while people still waited outside for the chance to participate in the mayhem inside. At one point each band member handed their instruments to members of the crowd, instructing them to hold down a steady beat while the band engaged in some audience participation. Definitely the kind of show you can be thankful you stumbled upon. And there were so many experiences just like that one, as hundreds of bands, from the relatively unknown, to the world reknowned, settled into small, intimate venues and played small, intimate shows. It’s that kind of accessibility, seeing your favorite artists from 15 feet away instead of 150 feet, performers each attending other performer’s shows and being a part of the crowd, all for days on end, that helps makes SXSW a unique and a thoroughly worthwhile experience. All in all, close to 1000 bands (including many peripheral events) in over 75 venues (not including non-affiliated parties) over 5 days, with a street party atmosphere in a city that’s actually well prepared for an event of this scale and actually encourages the live music culture equals a damn good time! If you plan on attending next year, plan early, as hotels in close proximity to downtown are impossible to find as the event gets nearer, and do your research on who will be playing - where, and when - so you’re sure to catch at least the majority of the bands you come for.
27
Alright, well first off, we’re just conversing. I’m not down for the interview process today! Sweet! We’re just chillin’! Exactly! Well I have to say your new stuff is sounding pristine. What’s the whole writing and recording process like for you guys in general and how has it differed this time around? Man, this time around it was way different than normal. With this one we secluded ourselves for like 4 months in the basement of this like lake house that one of the dude’s parents owned. We just sat there for a few months and wrote this record. Blake, our guitar player, is like the primary dude. He’ll just put together a song or a bunch of riffs and we’ll all just come together and hash it out. So we just spent those months down there writing and meshing then spent a month recording in Indiana with a producer named Joey Sturgis. Well I’m personally very stoked seeing as tonight will be the first time I see you boys live. So what should I and the other first timers expect to see? Umm, just rock-n-roll. Uh, a whole lot of sweat and spitting. I’m pretty positive you’ll spit on me. Andy- No way! Yeah, it never fails. I always get spit on some how. Aww man, well I’m really gonna try not to! It’s all good. If it happens I’ll still walk away with a smile. Right on. Well I’ll try not to. But yeah, just a lot of sweat and spit. Oh and a lot of hair flying. Not mine though; I don’t have any... and lots of fat dudes running around onstage in clothes that are too small. Oh man, now I really can’t wait! So you guys are Christian band. Sure are. What would you say to a kid to reinforce the fact that being young and having a relationship with God is nothing to be ashamed of? Umm, it really says plain and simple in the Bible to just not be ashamed you know and not to hide God. Why be ashamed of…like the creator of the whole world, you know? Why be ashamed of the creator of YOU? That’s just like huge! We’re really supposed to fulfill
Interview by Kimberly Johnson this great commission. As far as metal bands go it’s not like God needs any more metal bands or needs this scene, but he does need passionate people who are willing to talk about God, however it may be. Well I see some ink here, I’m diggin’ it. What would you say to those people that sort of have a set belief that tattoos are purely wrong? If they can show me in the Bible exactly where it says not to get tattoos I’ll be fine, like, going to get laser removal or whatever. They can try and spit out some Leviticus Law, but it’s majorly misquoted when people try to say that. I mean I’m ignorant on some parts of the Bible and in Christianity, but when I’m ignorant I don’t try and force those things that I don’t know about onto people, so I hate when people try and tell me about something and they don’t even know what they’re saying. So I really just don’t listen to them. I just try and shake it off. Well one thing that I love about you guys is that you’re humorous guys in a scene that gets just so amazingly serious sometimes. Where do you find time to have such great humor? We’re really just dudes hangin’ out. We’re really not the type of dudes who try to be oh so serious and oh so tough or whatever. Metal is like really too stupid to take too seriously, know what I mean. It just seems dumb to get arrogant about how serious and tough you can be. We’re just hangin’ out being crazy! Any more tour plans? Umm well we have a headlining tour in April and May that we’re doing with a bunch of fun bands like The Great Commission, We Came As Romans, Burden of a Day, and This or the Apocalypse so it’s gonna be freakin’ sweet, so come hang out when we’re near your town!
29
fickle some metal fans can I continue to be baffled at how pan them for doing the they e, styl a to ks stic be. If a band tries to advance their d ban a If r. ove and r same thing ove gs up. In the latter thin g ngin cha for them style, they pan commended for are they rts, reve d ban a n case, if or whe doesn’t make any just It e. styl sic clas r thei returning to that band, the most famous sense. I’m not referring tofrom the Bay Area. That was rge eme r eve metal band to has absolutely nothing to just a general rant, and in fact the NorCal Metal Report – of ion edit th’s do with this mon ction. odu intr the as ing except for serv
By Dave Pirtle
After going to press last month, the scene was hit with the sad news of the passing of Age of Aggression vocalist Will “Big Wu” Johnson. In the official statement, his bandmates stated “There was never a more driven man in his position, doing his best to get [us] noticed, becoming an important member of Bands4Bands, and never giving up on his dream. You would always find him out at shows or at his favorite bar, the Lucky 13 on Park St in Alameda.” The band has announced that they will carry on, but not without Johnson’s memory permanently marked in their sound. On May 23rd, BritanniaArms Cupertino will host “Metal For a Cure,” featuring performances by Better Left Unsaid, Repaid in Blood, Left of Christ, and Kinetic. All proceeds will benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation Livestrong, which “unites, inspires, and empowers people affected by cancer.” I would say more, but really, how many chances does one have to see some killer metal and call it philanthropy? That should be enough. Cancer is nobody’s friend. The resurrection of epic metallers Total Eclipse continues. Although they are still looking for a committed bassist to round things out, vocalist Andy Giardina (who is also currently handling guitar duties) and drummer Brian Davy have been logging hours of studio time laying down tracks for their third album at Faultline Studios. Song titles will include “Where Your Body Lies,” “Slaughtering the Whore of Babylon,” and “Avenger,” a rough demo of which can be heard at the bands MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/ teclipse114). In fact, that would be a good place for you bassists to visit if you’re looking to hook 30
Age of Aggression up with a band that bleeds metal. You may have seen it coming, and now its official: Ghosts of Lemuria is no more. The band’s mastermind Fernando Gallegos has disbanded the group following numerous lineup changes and extended periods of inactivity. Ghosts of Lemuria was an incredibly ambitious project, incorporating a number of different musical styles and instrumentation along with lyrics based in mythology and folklore. After a period of self-discovery, Gallegos is returning with an equally ambitious endeavor, Taripay Pacha, which will have a similar musical blueprint but with a foundation in Native American culture. He is currently looking for a group of musicians to help him realize his vision. Check out some early demos at http://www. myspace.com/taripaypacha and drop him a
line if you’re interested. Unconventional Thought Process frontman Sean Edmondson has recovered from a shattered left leg, an injury suffered at the MACLA in San Jose last September while attending a Whitechapel show. This is not unusual – the band is known for their chaotic onstage antics, which in the past have left bassist Adrean Ortez with a broken collarbone and drummer Kevin Michel with a broken hand. With the healing process complete, the band is now making their way back to the live circuit, looking to raise some more hell with a few new songs in tow. More changes are afoot over in the world of In Virtue. New to the fold are drummer Eli Vogt and bassist Devin Reiche (both of Ancient at Birth.) The band will drop the Delusions of Grandeur EP later this month, which includes the three tracks from the original release with rerecorded vocals by current frontwoman Corinne Reif along with four new tracks. In addition, the band has already completed writing and begun pre-production for their debut full-length, which should see a release by year’s end.
In The Eyes Of A Mistress
In The Eyes Of A Mistress have hit the studio to record the follow up to last year’s self titled EP released on Dead Royalty Records last year. There have been some changes in the lineup, however, that has left the band as a two-piece. Undeterred, the remaining members (frontman Alan Sykes and guitarist David Hlusak) will record the new album and perform live with drum machines and samplers. Illucinus is a Redwood City-based band formed by ex-members of the defunct Concealed Damage (guitarists Petr Oplatka and Cameron Stucky.) They take an experimental, almost progressive approach to death metal without ever veering too far
into one direction or another, which sets them apart from the dime-a-dozen brutal bands that have saturated the genre. Although they do not have an official release yet, you can hear a few demos at their MySpace page (http:// www.myspace.com/illucinus.) OK, I’m done. No grandstanding, no fancy words – just a reminder that if you have news you’d like to see printed here, or have any related questions/comments, you can e-mail me directly at norcalmetal@ksjs.org. Kodak would call it a relationship based on mutual support; the big difference is that I won’t ask you to spend any money.
NORCAL UNLEASHED
Top 10 Playlist for period 3/19 – 4/16 (NorCal Unleashed airs on 90.5 FM KSJS on Thursday nights from 11pm-midnight. Contact madman@ksjs.org for information on how to submit your music for airplay) 1. The Dust - Twenty-Two 2. Desecrater - Demo 2009 3. Beercraft - The Demo 4. Les Claypool - Of Fungi and Foe 5. Sol Asunder – Mechanize 6. Geryon - Aspirations of a Great Demise 7. Beerijuana - S/T 8. BURNriverBURN - Demo 2009 9. War Prayer - Assume the Offensive 10. Repaid in Blood – Follow the Blood Trail QUICK BITS: The Death Angel show originally scheduled for April 17th at San Jose’s Voodoo Lounge has been moved to June 5th . . . with bassist Tyler Jensen moving to guitar, Early Graves has added new bassist Matt O’Brien (ex-Grace Alley/ The Sick) to their lineup . . . God’s Outlaw is in search of a singer and a drummer – and a band to share studio space with at The Burning Burro in Livermore . . . Girthwind & Firewater (yes, you read that right) have parted ways with vocalist Remi Rodburg, and recruited Kyle Aeschliman (Paris Is Burning) to fill the position on an interim basis . . . Laceration recently entered the studio to begin work on a new four-song demo . . . the new album from Fresno’s HateFX, entitled The Holy Frail, is now available.
31
GOLD COAST TATTOO
www.GoldCoastTattoo.com
639 Lighthouse Ave Monterey, CA 93940 (831) 642-9404
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS SANTA CRUZ WINNERS “LIVE PERFORMANCE” Event MY STUPID BROTHER - Gold Medal ARCHER - Silver Medal THE DEVIL HIMSELF - Bronze Medal
“BEST VOCALIST” EVENT James Durbin - WHATEVER FITS Jacklyn Partida - JACKIE ROCKS
S AC R NU TZ A
Shane Geslin - CYLINDER
“BASS SOLO” COMPETITION Isaiah - ARCHER Michael Pickens - WHATEVER FITS De ‘Andre - JACKIE ROCKS
“DRUM SOLO” COMPETITION Duke T McB - ARCHER Joanna - Jackie Rocks
Britannia Arms
Kyle Malone - WHATEVER FITS
“GUITAR SOLO” COMPETITION Dylan - ARCHER Jacklyn Partida - JACKIE ROCKS Paul - PARIAH FACTION
Parish Pub
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS-LIVE PERFORMANCE EVENT
M O N T E R E Y
GOLD COAST TATTOO
Video Interview by Mike Lyon with BLOOD PRINT 5/09/09 from YourMusicMagazine.com
Mike L: Okay, let’s start from the left; Ralph: I play guitar. Mike L: What kind of guitar do you play? Ralph: A Fernandez Baritone. Mike L: Who are your favorite guitar players? Ralph: Dave Mustaine, Tommy Victor from Prong, and numerous others. Mike L: What other bands have you been in besides Blood Print? Ralph: Bullettooth, THC, too many other little projects to mention. Mike L: Bullettooth, right on, they were big winners back in the day. Ralph: Yeah, winners from the 1st Monterey event (2004). Mike L: Lets move on; on vocals we have… Gerardo: That would be me. Mike L: How ‘bout some of your influences; who do you like? Gerardo: I’d say Tom Araya, James Hetfield; classics, you know. Mike L: Alright, let’s move down the line… Smoko Ocho: I’m Smoko Ocho, I play drums like a man (laughter) and I sing like a girl (even more laughter). Mike L: Who are your favorite drummers? Smoko Ocho: I’m a big fan of Primus so I like Tim Alexander and Brain, I’m also a big fan of Terry Bozzio (from Frank Zappa). Mike L: What other bands have you been/ are you in? Smoko Ocho: I was in Dirt Circus for awhile, I was in a band called Deathica in Boston, and I also do my own thing under Smoko Ocho. Mike L: So who’s next? Victor: I’m Creeper Vic, I play bass and do backing vocals. Mike L: How long have you been playing? Victor: I started playing bass in 2002, with a band called Asyst. Mike L: That takes us to Mike; how ‘bout you, what do you play? Mike: I play guitar, baritone, Sector; best guitar ever! Mike L: What about your amp? Mike: I had to get a nice Line 6 or Ocho was going to quit the band! Smoko Ocho: These two (Ralph and Mike) had the worst amps ever when I joined the band; I brought in a high end drum kit and told these two I was going to quit if they didn’t get new amps (everyone laughs). Mike L: What’s the Hateness?
Mike: The Hateness is about hating everything, hating everybody… Victor: It’s about ball sweat. Mike: It is not! You see, that’s why we can’t let him talk. Mike L: So to clarify, it has nothing to do with sweaty balls, unless you hate sweaty balls. Victor: I like the way they slap on a girl’s ass… Mike L: That’s the one good thing you’ve said tonight. Quick subject change, what’s going on with CD’s? Victor: C D’s nuts? (everyone laughs) Mike L: Well, that’s enough of that. Victor: I’ve been waiting to use that shit for 10 years! Mike: We’ve been working on our debut album, it’s in the final mixing stages… Mike L: What’s it called? Mike: It’s called Kick’em in the Face. Smoko Ocho: You know, the other title is Open Your Ass to our Hate… Victor: Or, Beat You ‘Cause I Love You. Mike L: When’s it due out? Victor: It was supposed to be out last month, but… Smoko Ocho: Aaron from Pride Subject is helping us produce it, but he’s busy going back and forth to L.A. right now. Mike L: Let’s move on. How do you guys prepare for a show? Smoko Ocho: Usually, one of us gets stabbed, and then we’re ready to go. Mike L: Yeah, need a little blood loss to get ready, huh? Smoko Ocho: Stab the weak link! Mike L: Who does your guys’ art work, flyers? Mike: I do. Just like P. Diddy, I just remix something and throw it up. Smoko Ocho: He’s a great thief. Mike L: What’s coming up in the future? Mike (and others): More shows, more Hateness… Smoko Ocho: These guys keep trying to get me to go do shows in Fresno and Bakersfield, but it’s too hot for me, see how white I am?! Mike L: They have air conditioning there… Smoko Ocho: But you still got to get from the van to the door… Mike: We (Jerry and I) are going to wear turtlenecks on stage to prove a point to this guy! But back to shows, June 5th we’re going to be playing at Coaster’s Lounge with Sexciety (YMM’s 2007 Sacramento YMO silver medal winners). YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS LIVE PERFORMANCE DATE IS JUNE 13TH @ CARBONES!!
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS-LIVE PERFORMANCE EVENT
Video Interview by Numerous with PARA LA GENTE 5/06/09 from YourMusicMagazine.com
Numerous: I heard you guys a couple years ago, and I was blown away by what you had to offer. But before we get into that can I get your name and role in the group. Cambio : MC in the band and one of the original members in the group since day one, been grinding at it awhile now. Zack: Bassist and quasi-manager and also core member of the group since the beginning. Numerous: What about who’s not here? Cambio: Aaron; our lead guitar player, Leon; another guitar player, and Omar on the drums from Salinas. There are five of us. Numerous: So how long have you been a band for? Cambio: Over five years. Zack: Yeah about six years. Cambio: Going on six years. I think the longer we keep going the more we want to say two years (laughs). Zack: It’s taken us this long to truly find our sound. We’ve been working towards the point where we are all really happy with the way we sound. Numerous: What would you say your sound is in your own words? Zack: Live, uplifting, conscious hip-
hop. When we started we were a rap/metal group similar to Rage Against the Machine, really hard-core kind of sound. Now it is becoming more fluid, more universal, and taking elements of 90’s hip-hop and today’s hip-hop; these are all parts of our style. Cambio: When we started in college, we were more aggressive. We were reading all these new books and becoming really aware of issues that were going on. We were young people and our style reflected our situation. Now that we have grown, have families, and are chillin’ a bit, we are more aware of what we say.. Now… we are trying to create a really good vibe that reachs across cultures, race, gender and politics where people can just enjoy the music. We are all now musically content and lyrically we are really excited about the music. Numerous: What do you find different about your writing now compared to back then? Cambio: I think the issues are still similar, but before… we would state the obvious: war, immigration, poverty, race, and things like that. And now we pulled back, not stating the obvious, but telling stories for people to relate to across those lines. I think it is also just more refined. People are going to feel moved when they come to the show. Zack: When we were thinking of the concepts for our album, People Living and Growing. How we got to it was by redefining PLG. We have always been Para La Gente But now we’re P.eople L.iving and G.rowing to show that we broadened our description to living and putting out good music. YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS LIVE PERFORMANCE DATE IS JUNE 19TH @ CARBONES!!
M O N T E R E Y
GOLD COAST TATTOO
SANTA CRUZ YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS
S C A R NU TZ A
Britannia Arms
Parish Pub
Saturday May 2, 2009, Your Music Magazine hosted the Your Music Olympicks Finals Competition featuring six of Santa Cruz’s finest groups of musicians and one local MC. Taking over the main stage at The Catalyst Nightclub, the Olympicks Finals brought a variety of bands from all over Santa Cruz together to compete for two thousand dollars cash, Epiphone guitars, studio time at Indigital Recording Studios, and promotion in Your Music Magazine. This year’s YMO was made possible by supportive YMM sponsors: California Hydroponics, Epiphone Guitars, More Music, Indigital Recording Studio, Coffeetopia, Frenchy’s Adult Novelty Store, and Red Bull energy drink; without their help the Olympicks would not be possible. This year’s Finalists varied in many ways, from age to talent to musical style, but each had their chance to rock on the biggest stage in downtown Santa Cruz. The show included preteen youngsters Almost Chaos and formerly preteen (now teenage) rockers My Stupid Brother; both groups started off the show with good energy. With a combination of old and new members, the Naysayers followed with a powerful stage presence; then a literal who’s who of Santa Cruz music veterans (The Devil Himself, Honest Mistake, and Archer) rocked the house; and the night
FINALS AT THE CATALYST MAY 2ND 2009 ended this year with editors choice MC Alyssa Kayne battling for the chance to win the coveted ’09 YMO “Live Performance” Gold Award. The competition started off with Almost Chaos breaking into a much better than expected set featuring covers of established rock classics. The youngest group as a whole in the competition, Almost Chaos started the show by putting on a stellar performance, especially considering their age. My Stupid Brother followed with a wild and energetic performance. The highlight of the set was when bassist Henry Chadwick stripped down to a black and yellow smiley face Speedo to finish out the show. The high-energy pop rock sound of My Stupid Brother was an act worthy of the main stage, and thanks to their talent, dedication, and hard work they were crowned as the 2009 YMO “Live Performance” Gold Award winners. Congratulations guys, you deserve it! MSB was followed by local rap-rockers The Naysayers, who combine several powerful MC’s with the sounds of a live band to create a new, attractive sound that incorporates many different elements. As the main room filled to capacity The Naysayers closed their set with enthusiasm and authority; look for them to be a force in the local scene this summer (and beyond?). Coming into the Finals as the top seeded group this year, The Devil Himself owned the stage with a powerful presence that was aided by visual effects from projectors, laser lights, and smoke effects. Every year one or two bands rise above the norm and generate that “it” factor, where even the casual listener takes notice, and The Devil Himself definitely had this affect on the audience. Although they finished 3rd in this year’s event, they more than doubled their votes from the ’08 event, and they are definitely a band on the rise, so keep an eye on The Devil Himself this summer. Next on the stage were
S AC R NU TZ A
Photo: Brian Crabtree
Photo: Brian Crabtree
Britannia Arms
Parish Pub
SANTA CRUZ YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS FINALS AT THE CATALYST MAY 2ND
S C A R NU TZ A
Photo: Brian Crabtree
Britannia Arms
Photo by: Brian Crabtree
Parish Pub
YMO veterans Honest Mistake, and as usual they didn’t disappoint. Their fun loving “mountain rock” set was full of audience participation opportunities, and many fans in attendance sang along to song after song as if they were an established national act. No one draws the audience into their set as well as HM and they deserve recognition for their longevity and their continued success. Archer followed and was impressive, as usual. One of the most successful local bands to participate in this year’s event, Archer was our runner-up Finalist in 2007 and has just recently completed a tour with Black Label Society. This band is not only talented but also understands the importance of an effective stage presence, and they killed it again this year. But, as in 2007, Archer again had to be content with 2nd place, as MSB showed that their 3rd place finish last year was no fluke. Local Hip Hop artist Alyssa Kayne may be the newest performer on the scene in this year’s Finals, but she doesn’t lack in talent or initiative. With a strong, smooth voice and decipherable lyrics, she is the 1st female rapper to grace the main stage in 9 years of YMO Finals in SC. Very few rappers last here in Santa Cruz, but AK may start to change this trend. We wish her much success now and in the future. Your Music Magazine would like to thank everyone involved in this year’s Santa Cruz Your Music Olympicks: without the support of all the bands, venues, sponsors, fans, and you, our readers, Your Music Magazine and the Your Music Olympicks would not be possible. Be sure to check out our website (www.yourmusicmagazine. com) and our myspace (www.myspace. com/yourmusicmagazine) for more info, pic’s, and video from this years SCYMO Finals. You can also get info about our upcoming YMO events in Monterey, San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento from our online services. Thanks again, and we’ll see you next year for our 10th Annual Santa Cruz Your Music Olympicks!
LYON ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS:
MONTEREY CALENDAR Friday 5/29 @ Monterey Live PRIDE SUBJECT-PRAETORIAN ACCION TERRORISTA - tba
Friday 6/12 @ Monterey Live
“Best Vocalist” Event-THE DEAD RINGERS WASTED NOISE-PARIAH FACTION
Saturday 6/13 @ Carbones BLOOD PRINT-PSYCHOS IN LOVE MISERIA-tba
Schedule Subject to change
2009 BAND OLYMPICKS
REALIZATION -VIBRANT EYEris
Saturday 6/6 @ Monterey Live
Friday 6/19 @ Carbones PARA LA GENTE - D MINUS-tba
YMO FINALS Friday 6/26 @ the new Planet Gemini
TOP 6 VOTE EARNERS
SAN JOSE CALENDAR Saturday 6/20 @ Britannia Arms
JADE OF DAYS-WHATEVER FITS LETTERS MAKE WORDS-RELAPSE
BEERIJUANA-MODERN RUINZ
Thursday 7/2 @ The VooDoo Lounge
Friday 7/10 T.B.A. Friday 7/17 T.B.A. Thurs. 7/23 @ The VooDoo Lounge A THOUSAND KINGDOMS-tba
YMO FINALS 8/7 @ THE VOODOO LOUNGE-TOP 6 VOTE EARNERS
GOLD COAST TATTOO
Schedule Subject to change
Thurs. 6/25 @ The VooDoo Lounge
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS-VIDEO BLOG INTERVIEWS
S C A R NU TZ A
Britannia Arms
Parish Pub
Video Interview by Mike Lyon w/ MY STUPID BROTHER 4/28/09 from YourMusicMagazine.com YMM: Which one of you is the smart brother? Henry: We all trade off. YMM: So then, who is the smartest? Henry: George. He’s going to college. YMM: Let’s start with some introductions: Henry: Bass player. YMM: What kind of Bass? Henry: Fender P Bass. YMM; How long have you been playing? Henry: Short time, what time is it? YMM: Influences? Henry: Donnie and Marie Osmond. YMM: Next, on the Drums? Jesse: Jesse YMM: What kind of drums do you play? Jesse: A Gretsch set. YMM: I heard you’re pretty awesome. We were trying to get you to do the solo drum competition; you were getting a lot of props. What are your influences? Jesse: Pancake at the disco. YMM: Last on guitar: George, What kind do you play? George: I play a Firebird. YMM: Last year, you got the bronze metal at the 2008 Olympicks. Didn’t you win an Epiphone guitar? George: Yeah we did. The SG Prophesy series. YMM: How old were you when you first started jamming together? Henry: It has been a long time. I don’t know; really young. George: Since we popped out. Henry and I have been playing together for a long time, since we were three or four. Jesse has been in the band for about two years, but it feels like he been in it the whole time. YMM: So, you grew up jamming together? Where did you get that influence? Band: Our parents are musicians and come from musical backgrounds. Henry: Our dad is a big help with everything we are doing. YMM: I hear you are working on a new CD, which would be your second? Henry: Yeah, it is due out sometime this year.
We are hoping for the end of summer. It should have fifteen tracks. YMM: What is it going to be named? Henry: We don’t know yet. The working title is “What You Need.” YMM: And your first CD was self-titled? Band: Yeah. YMM: Where can people get your first CD? George: Our first CD you can get at Streetlight records. You can get it on Itunes, CD baby. com or you can check it out on Myspace/ mystupidbrother. George: You can just type My Stupid Brother in Google, and it comes right up. YMM: So back to your second CD; where are you recording it? Henry: The drums were recorded at a Private studio in Los Angeles, The rest of the album was recorded and is being mixed at Hale Kua Studios in Santa Cruz County. YMM: Who is producing it? George: Tony Sales (Bass and BGV’s for Iggy Pop including the “Lust For Life” album and Bass and BGV’s in David Bowies band “Tin Machine”; also Soupy Sales son). Greg Camp (guitar player and songwriter in “Smash Mouth”) has been advising on the album. With Producer/Engineer Darren Chadwick and Engineers Richard Karst and Chas Ferry also. YMM: What do you have planned for the rest of 2009? Henry: We have shows posted up on our Myspace. We are looking to put on a tour after the CD is out along the West Coast, some festival shows, and we may have some shows in Japan. We are going to be on a couple tribute albums, including the Velvet Underground Tribute Album. The song is “I’m Stickin’ With You”. Also the Jonathan Richman Tribute Album. The song is “Ice Cream Man.” The band was contracted for both albums by Rock Talk Records in Los Angeles. YMM: How can people contact you for booking? Henry: You can contact us on Myspace, you can email us at mystupidbrother@gmail.com, and you can call our number on the web page. YMM: What is your band motto? Band: I don’t know... Jesse: Fuck it, man! Henry: No just, life is all we got, so lets live it. What’s a motto? Like a saying? George: Start the show? Henry: No, time fly’s like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas? YMM: Last words to your fans: Henry: Thank you for coming out, and keep coming out!
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS-VIDEO BLOG INTERVIEWS
Video Interview by Mike Lyon w/ PARIAH FACTION 4/21/09 from YourMusicMagazine.com Introductions: Paul: Guitar Player, plays Jackson and Ibanez guitars and has been playing for over 15 years (6 or 7 in bands). Influenced by old school metal, Priest, Maiden, UFO, Scorpions and Michael Schenker. Past bands nothing notable, mostly garage bands. Nick: Bass Player, Ibanez sound gear with SWR and David Eagle equipment, and have been playing for over 30 years (in a band for 23 years). Back in the 80’s was in Skullduggery in Santa Cruz, Nude Bomb (I was the only white guy in the group, the rest were from Japan), Scape Goat, and Easy Tard. Influenced by Getty Lee, Les Claypool, Primus and John Denver. Morgan Pax: Vocals and Rhythm Guitar, also plays an Ibanez guitar, and has been playing for around 15 years. I started in some groups in Hawaii: Five Sticks, and Crazy Fingers. Influenced vocally by Chris Carnell, Eddie Vedder, Robert Plant, Jim Morrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon. What else did you ask? YMM: What’s your motto? Nick: Don’t stop ‘til your balls hit the chair.
Morgan: Yeah! hahahaha. YMM: So, do you have a CD out? Nick: We have a demo CD. We have fourteen songs in the can, but not yet mixed. YMM: So you are working on that full length CD? Band: Yeah… YMM: When do you think that will be out? Nick: Six months ago. HAHAHAHA. By the end of the year. YMM: How are you recording? Nick: We’re recording at two studios. Greg Camp’s studio over on the West side and Reeds Recording over in San Jose. YMM: Who is the lead song writer and what influences your lyrics? Nick: We all get ideas and throw them all together, then argue and fight till something is worked out. We are all pretty much creators here. Morgan: Lyrically I would say that struggles, trials, and tribulations from my past influence our lyrics. My message is “walk through it and get to the other side.” YMM: I would just like to congratulate your group for competing in the solo vocalist and guitar competitions within the Your Music Magazine Olympicks. I like your sound, like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Any last words? Paul: Thank you to our fans. Thanks for coming out Saturday at the Brookdale Lodge, we appreciate it. YMM: How can people reach you? Nick: myspace.com/pariahfaction
S AC R NU TZ A
Britannia Arms
Parish Pub
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS-VIDEO BLOG INTERVIEWS
S A N J O S E
Video Interview by Numerous with RELAPSE 5/06/09 from YourMusicMagazine.com Jake: We’re out here at Guitar Showcase; first let us start off with your name and role in the group? Needles: Drummer and back up vocals. Phil: Lead vocals and lead guitar. Ryan: Bass. Jake: How would you describe your sound? Phil: There’s so many genres, but I would say rock. But we have punk, blues, funk; just a little bit of everything. We like all kinds of music so we don’t really try to generalize to a certain type. Jake: What are your songs all about? Phil: Sometimes we will title a song before we even write lyrics. It helps guide the writing. Ryan: I would say, we write a mixture of ballads and stories, kind of like a rapper. Jake: Is hip-hop an influence for you in any way? Band: Yeah for sure. Jake: What kind of hip-hop? Phil: Underground. Ryan: Bay Area. And I am not just saying that, we came from up there. Jake: So, do you have any shows coming up? Phil: We’re playing the Funk The Bands’ CD release party on Friday May 8th, and next Friday we’re playing on May 14th for West Coast Live. We have a few shows in July. We have all the info on our Myspace. Jake: Where can our readers go to see that? Phil: www.myspace.com/relapseinc. Jake: Speaking of Your Music Olympicks,
last year Relapse was our Bronze medal winner in the “Live Performance” event. So I’m now going to award you your medals (Jake hands them each a medal). Rock it with pride. You also have a Silver metal for best bassist, Ryan. So, have you changed up your approach now that you have participated in the event? Phil: Yeah, I think this time we want to be more aggressive; hoping that you (YMM) will be a good outlet to inform people about the shows. Myspace is always good. But passing out flyers in certain local spots and making our presence known is important, or at least making it available to people. Jake: What would you say are some of your goals and ambitions are as a band? Ryan: To finally put out an album. It’s taken us a while. We do have some demos but to start off goal-wise… an album. Jake: What is the challenging part of making your album? Ryan: Finishing it. That would take longer than five minutes to explain. But the album is going to be like our greatest hits and we’ll throw twenty tracks on it because we have taken so long. Yeah, it should be like two or three bucks, so look out for our first album “The Greatest Hits: Volume Four” (laughs). Jake: How has fan support been for you? Needles: It’s been awesome, it has picked up a lot. Now we have a good solid following. Great stuff. YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS LIVE PERFORMANCE DATE IS June 20th @ The Britannia Arms (Cupertino)
YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS-VIDEO BLOG INTERVIEWS
Video Interview by Numerous with BEERIJUANA 4/22/09 from YourMusicMagazine.com
YMM: Let’s jump right into it. What is your name, position and how long have you been playing? Zack: I’m the drummer. I have been playing for about 15 years. Paul: Vocals. Coming up on 20 years. Frank: I have been playing for about 23 years. And I play guitar. Alex: Hi I’m Alex. I play bass, blah, blah. I have played for around 10 years. YMM: What are some of your influences? Frank: Oh man, real quick I would say Slayer and Pantera. All kinds of punk rock, Black Flag, everything. A lot of weird stuff too. UGK, just music in general. Paul: I’m pretty mellow most of the time. I listen to country. Zack: I listen to a lot of reggae and metal. A lot of Bob Marley, Slayer, Pantera and Iron Madden. Classic Rock like Skynard; things of that nature. We’re all over the place. YMM: Well do you feel that your influences shine through in the music you play? Frank: Definitely. Zack: To a point, I think we still sound like us, because we come from such a scattered range of influences, but the influence pulls through our music. YMM: Like a unique blend? Paul: Well put. YMM: What do you think of the Metal scene in San Jose and the Central Coast area? Zack: It has its high points and its lows. There are some good bands out there trying to do their thing, but at the same time there is a lot of bullshit out there that you have to deal with that makes it hard. Like trying to find an all ages venue in San Jose makes it difficult. Even an 18 and up is hard to find. So hard to get out there and find the younger audiences. There are only 21 and over bars.
Frank: Even when you get those 21 and up venues they’re worried about making money at the bar. To try and do the wristband thing is out of the question. YMM: How do you feel about having to balance more of the business side of things, and not have as much time to focus on your art form? Paul: I think it is kind of fun. This is the first time I have been in a band that has included outside influences: money skim’s, advertising. You know, talking to clubs. We have brought outside people into the area. Zack: We all have been in bands before, but now it is different than when you were 15 and think that ten years later you are still going to be rocking out doing your thing. I think coming in we knew that we needed to market ourselves in addition to having a good time. We knew what we were getting into. YMM: So, what shows do you have coming up? Frank: On the 30th we’re playing in San Jose at Johnny V’s in Santa Clara. We’re trying to link up with House of Desperation from Sacramento. Zack: Looks like we have a show at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz. That would be excellent, get our foot in the door. YMM: Well you have a minute left. Are you working on any albums, demos or material for release? Zack: We are constantly writing as a band. There is no shortage of new material. Right now we have a new album in stores, or check the Myspace. Or if you see us at a bar hit us up. Frank: Go to shows, don’t be scared. Zack: Yeah, but we have our new album and we’re proud of it. We’re definitely going to do a second one but not anytime this year. Now were going to focus on shows, but the way we write as a band is really cool. But we are a live band, and Metal is a live act. Beerijuana.com, or on Myspace. YOUR MUSIC OLYMPICKS LIVE PERFORMANCE DATE IS June 25th @ The VooDoo Lounge
S A N J O S E
Interview by Kimberly Johnson What’s the story behind the formation of the band and the name? We all found each other on CRAIGSLIST...The band name really doesn’t have a specific meaning... we just liked the letters VoV ... we just filled it up with Vice on Victory. Being a female fronted band, do you find unnecessary attention drawn even more towards that…for example, this question? We get a TON of comparisons to Paramore. We find it flattering since they are such a successful band. We just sometimes wish people would be more open minded and look past the people in the band and LISTEN to the music... it’s very, very different. Your album, Glitter and Gold, was released recently. What was the writing and recording process like? It was a really exciting and exhausting process. We wrote most of the songs within the two weeks leading up to actually recording. We had to hurry and get it done so it could be released in March. We even wrote a few songs in the studio. We had so much fun actually recording the album. It was amazing to hear the music that was playing in our heads come to life... For someone who hasn’t seen you live yet, how would you describe your live shows? We try to make our live show as interactive and dancey as possible, and our crowd always suprises us... we see kids dancing, twirling glowsticks, moshing, it changes everyday, but its always fun!! Speaking of live shows, you guys just started off a tour recently, how have the first few nights been looking so far? We’ve played about 4 dates of the Dancefloor Disastour and they have been great! We are so lucky to be on tour with some really amazing bands who have great music and an established audience. We couldn’t have asked for a better first tour so far. Is there anywhere in particular you’d love to play in the future? NEW YORK! We have been around the U.S. twice now and still haven’t played New York. If there was one band (active or non-active) you’d like share the stage with, who would it be? Forever the Sickest Kids, hands down. How was the Columbus, Ohio music scene like for you all growing up? Most of us are not from Columbus so we didn’t see the scene growing up, but recently the scene is getting bigger and bigger. There are TONS of good bands coming out of Ohio so it really keeps us on our toes. Are there any bands or musicians who we’d be surprised you’re inspired by? We are really scattered when it comes to our inspiration. We get ideas for our music from so many bands it’s hard say if they would be surprised. I could name a million but we were listening to Oceana and Forever the Sickest Kids when we wrote the songs for Glitter & Gold. Metal, country, techno, it’s really all over the place. What plans do Vice on Victory have that we should look forward to? We just plan to get on the road and stay on the road!! Just keep checking www.myspace. com/viceonvictory for our schedule! Any parting comments? Pick up Glitter & Gold or download it from iTunes! And come to our shows because we LOVE to meet the people who support us!
46
YMO!
By: Itay K Rising from deli counters everywhere...it’s delicious metal! Psychostick are not your average metal band, with songs that preach the band’s love of food & liquor...particularly tacos... delicious tacos... Coming off the breakthrough success of their album “We Couldn’t Think Of A Title”, with its hit “BEER”, a brutal ode to the band’s beverage of choice, their newest effort, “Sandwich” is as tasty as the title implies. I had a chance to ask guitar player and ninja warrior Josh Key a few questions about the band... How long has the band been together? How would you describe your sound? Psychostick first got together in 2000. Our sound recipe (yes, I’m using a food analogy) takes ingredients from all over the heavier music genres, centering somewhere between metal and hardcore. Where it lands depends on what style best fits the subject matter of the song. The vocals are what make us stand out the most, with Rob’s ridiculous and hilarious, yet totally metal vocal characteristics. 50
How does Sandwich compare to your previous releases? How’s the response been? The response has been ridiculous. It’s been several years since we released a full length album, and we made sure that our fans would be rewarded for their patience and loyalty. It seems to have worked... we’ve been getting message after message saying how much they love the album, and that we have definitely surpassed “We Couldn’t Think of a Title.”
Is the band planning to tour in support of the album? Oh yes. Nearly 100 shows in a tour over 4 months long hitting every nook and cranny of the US. Then we’re going to keep touring. Possibly with other bands, possibly over in Europe. That’s still off in the future though, and we’re focused on the tour at hand. If you could tour with any other band, who would it be? Primus. PRIMUS PRIMUS PRIMUS PRIMUS PRIMUS.
Guitarist / Ninja - Josh Key
At what point during the recording of this album did you realize that you were in fact writing a sandwich? We’ve had this Sandwich planned for quite some time. We were very aware of it’s Sandwich-ness before we even started preproduction. So, it’s simply always been a Sandwich. Why do you think so many of your songs are about food? Especially tacos....why does Rob have such an affinity to tacos? It just kind of happened. Singing heavy songs about food just seemed very funny to us. And who doesn’t have an affinity for tacos? We also found that with the “Beer” song, everyone always wanted to buy us beer. We’re hoping that with this album, people will want to buy us food. Who are some of your influences? Pantera, Nothingface, Hatebreed, Primus, Mr. Bungle, Weird Al, Machine Head, Meshuggah, Dillinger Escape Plan, Sevendust, South Park, Monty Python, Family Guy, Bruce Campbell
51
by Kimberly Johnson Let’s start off with who you are and what you do in Freshman 15. My name is Davey! I sing and play the gitfiddle! And I write the angelic sounds that come out of your speakers. I hear you guys used to go by the name of Xzamen. How’d you decide on the new Freshman 15? That should be completely obvious! Ha We were in high school when we started this band and that name seemed awesome...but then we turned 19 and realized that is terrible! Freshman 15 is when a college student gains 15 pounds in beer and stress... and that’s just awesome. So there’s a plethora of fun pop punk bands out right now. What sets you guys apart from the batch? We are probably the hottest guys in the biz right now. We are extremely sexy...ha no but for real.. What’s the process like for creating a Freshman 15 hit? First step is - take an awesome Blink song. Next, completely rip it off! “Throw up Your Hands For One Night” Stands hit stores this February. What was the process like creating a whole album of those Freshman 15 hits, recording them, then sending them out into the world? Writing songs is a bit therapeutic for me! Every song on the CD is a real experience I have had! I have a shitty ex in Phoenix! The love of my life moved to California! So I hope everyone will enjoy peering into my life for 40 minutes. What can someone expect to see when attending a Freshman 15 show? Lots of dirty words and three part harmonies that make you need to change your thong. How’s the tour life been treating you boys? Any interesting stories you’d like to share from the road? Touring is our favorite thing to do ever. Period. We love it sooo much, and apparently people actually like to listen to our music because somehow someway there are always people at our shows haha! We actually had a girl request a song off our CD that wasn’t in our set the other night, so we took her outside and played it acoustic! And she started crying! It was crazy! Did you guys ever get to make those phone calls to fans who bought the record? If so, how’d that go? We always think it’s a good idea to call people and stuff just to get to know our fans, but most of the time they don’t really know what to say so it can be kinda awkward. So it always just ends up with us bantering and blabbing with gay jokes and stuff while they laugh and listen. What can we all look forward to from you guys for the future? Incredible awesomeness. Next question. No but really we actually just recorded our own version of MIA’s Paper Planes that we’re going to be releasing very soon, and we’re super excited! Any last comments? Come see us! We promise if you don’t like us we will at least make you laugh!
53
Photo and interview by Jon Hermison
54
Watch out humanoids! Seattle is invading the music scene once again and this time it’s manned by a mob of crazed musicians, aka, These Arms Are Snakes, and these vandals are issuing all the broken vans, celebrity make-out sessions, broken ribs, hard-hitting riffs, and math rock the universe can handle. Since emerging from a handful of hardrock/metal bands, such as Botch and Kill Sadie, in 2003, These Arms Are Snakes (TAAS) have been going strong with three full lengths including their latest release, “Tail Swallower and Dove”, with Suicide Squeeze Records, joining longtime friends and fellow Seattleites, Minus the Bear. TAAS creates a unique sound that is piercing, loud chaotic, but not sloppy by any means. The screaming and extreme power is carefully underlined by solid drumbeats courtesy of Chris Common, mastered overlapping guitar riffs by Ryan Frederiksen, mind splitting bass from the hands of Brian Cook, and off metered rhythms that would make any avant garde hippie burn his cloths and weep on his body pillow. TAAS brings musical innovation to a new a level. And I’m not talking ‘Pet Rock’ innovation, I’m talking like ‘Space Station’ innovation just with a lot less complications, at least I hope so. Although very fierce and fervent on record and stage, TAAS is a group of individuals like you and me, but with more talent and creativity, and I got the privilege to sit with headman Steve Snere and the gang, before their Sacramento show at the Blue Lamp, to
discuss the 2009 US tour, new album, label and other matters at hand. How’s the tour going so far for you guys? Steve: It’s going pretty good, we’ve been well taken care of, besides our van just breaking down in LA. Ah man, bummer! How much of the tour do you guys have left? Steve: This is actually the last show, so the van almost made it all the way through. Brian: Yeah, we were actually talking in Arizona that we were surprised that is got us this far. She’s been through a lot. So was it a sad departure, like a death of a band/family member? Ryan: Definitely, she will be missed. You guys took the tour through Texas for SXSW this year, how was that? Steve: It was fun. It was hectic as always, but we expected that, so it was still fun. This was our third year there. We seem to go every other year. How’d you guys choose a venue to play at for the festival? Steve: Well, Suicide Squeeze Records hosted shows at Red Eyed Fly, and it had a good turn out and we played with some good bands How has the switch from Jade to Suicide Squeeze been for the band? Brian: Great, man. Steve: Yeah it’s been good, they’re taking good care of us. You guys are now on the same label as some longtime friends, correct? Steve: Yeah, Minus the Bear is on there with us, we’ve been friends for quite some time.
Erin Tate stepped in momentarily to drum on some tracks for you guys? Steve: Yeah, he’s a good guy, he helped us out on our first album, Oxeneers…, then Chris Common came on fulltime.
We’re not going to let one thing stop us.
On the latest release, Chris helped with the engineering and production. Did that give the album a more personal feeling? Steve: I guess you can say that. Brian: Yeah, we basically got rid of the middle man, it gave us more control. Steve: Chris took on a lot of responsibility. We all did what we normally do for recording and he took it from there and it turned out great.
How’d you guys like the European crowds and venues? Steve: Some crowds were pretty intense, they just seemed more intense than in the states. The venues were fun as well. I like when there’s a small separation between crowd and band because some people feel like they have the right to do things like spit on you, hit you, and that gets annoying.
How has the feedback for the album been so far? Steve: It’s been really great, people seem to be loving it. The second one didn’t seem to have the same reaction.
I saw some photos of the Russia tour, the crowd seemed ridiculous! Ryan: The crowd was crazy! Brian: Yeah it was an interesting crowd, very mixed, and there was a lot of flying fists. Steve: Yeah, it was pretty rowdy.
Almost a “Sophomore Curse”? Steve: Yeah, almost. I mean we liked it, or we wouldn’t have put it out, but sometimes it just doesn’t transfer over to the listeners that well. But it didn’t kill us, thankfully, we pushed on and now we have this album that’s doing much better, so we just kept going and got through it.
That’s good man. Where is the band headed after this tour? All: We have no idea!
So do crowds like that help the battle wounds accumulate pretty quickly? Steve: Oh yeah man. The cuts and bruises are always there on tour. None of them too serious thankfully, although, one of my ribs feels like it’s broken right now.
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/THESEARMSARESNAKES
San Francisco The Fillmore
5/17 Chickenfoot 5/18 The Kills 5/21 BB King 5/22 Fischerspooner 5/23 The Pharcyde 5/27 Ben Harper 5/28 Jenny Lewis 5/29 Jenny Lewis 5/30 moe. 5/31 moe. 6/02 Gavin Rossdale 6/04 Queensryche 6/05 Del Tha Funky Homosapien 6/08 Camera Obscura 6/12 Testament/Unearth 6/13 Tragically Hip 6/14 Tragically Hip 6/17 Guitars & Stars 6/20 Femi Kuti
The Warfield
5/21 Santigold 5/27 Pepper/Pennywise 5/28 Prodigy 6/06 Erykah Badu 6/09 Neko Case 6/10 Neko Case 6/11 Reik 6/19 PJ Harvey
Bottom of the Hill
5/20 Obits 5/22 NOMO 5/23 Zepparella 5/27 Big Business 5/28 Black Moth Super Rainbow 5/29 Lydia 5/30 Thermals 5/31 Thermals 6/01 Jens Lekman 6/02 Jens Lekman 6/04 Scott H Biram 6/05 Holy Fuck 6/06 Air Show Disaster 6/07 Fuzztones 6/10 No Use for a Name 6/11 Love is All 6/12 Telepathe 6/13 1990s 6/17 The Queers 6/18 Viva Voce 6/19 Trainwreck Riders 6/20 Polkacide
Santa Cruz The Catalyst
5/15 The Cataracs 5/16 Bassnectar 5/17 Andre Nickatina 5/21 Dredg 5/22 Gogol Bordello 5/23 Gogol Bordello 5/24 The Skawflaws 5/27 Aggrolites 5/28 Tomorrows Bad Seeds 5/29 Dirty Heads 5/30 Taxi Project 6/02 Supervillains 6/04 Still Time 6/05 Mother Hips
6/06 Del Tha Funky Homosapien 6/09 Passafire 6/11 Womama 6/12 FTB 6/13 California Honeydrops 6/19 Easy Star AllStars 6/20 7th Street Band
Brookdale Inn and Spa
5/15 Washburn & Klein/Rhythm District 5/16 Drool Pigs Festival Medicine Road/Acoustic Shadows/Driftin Compass 5/21 Jazz-Amanders 5/23 Azul 5/29 Washburn & Klein 5/30 Chris Laterzo 6/5 Michael Smith 6/6 Stellar Corpses 6/12 Washburn & Klein/Amnesia 6/13 Andre Nickatina 6/20 Bottom of the Ocean/I Shot the Sherrif/Hiroshima/Seryer 6/26 The Live Dead Band/Matt Hartle 6/27 Tether Horse/King Kongress/ Nan
Coasters Lounge
5/15 Vibrant Eyeris 5/22 Bay Area Heat 5/29 Beaver Fever 6/05 Blood Print 6/12 Villains of Vinyl 6/19 Pariah Faction 6/20 Honest Mistake
The Crows Nest
5/15 The Voodudes 5/16 Extra Large 5/19 Lara Price 5/20 Yuji Tojo 5/21 Our Satori 5/22 Joint Chiefs 5/23 The Refugees 5/27 Cooper & Jenkins 5/28 Rise of the Revolution 5/29 Stormin Norman 5/30 LeStrange
Britannia Arms
5/16 Michelle Chappel 5/19 Songwriter Contest 5/21 Larry Hosford 5/23 Nigel and Clive 5/24 Snap Jackson 5/26 Songwriter Contest 5/28 Larry Hosford 5/30 Live Music
San Jose Barb Rocks
5/15 Left Coast Live Lyrics Born/Booker T/Miggs The Mumlers/Good Hustle/KungFu Vampire/MonkeyJade of Days 5/23@ Britannia Arms – Cupertino Left of Christ/Repaid In Blood Better Left Unsaid/Kinetic 6/06@ Britannia Arms - Cupertino Flexx Bronco/The Fourfits My New Vice/Vie Victus 6/12@ Catalyst - Atrium Stage FTB/Aivar/Powder Train
0<;02?A 0.92;1.? 6/17@ VooDoo Lounge The AODub/Audible Smoke Signal Northern Son/Stormy Strong 7/2@ Britannia Arms - Cupertino Barb Rocks Birthday Show Death Valley High/T Minus 7 This Is War 7/15@ VooDoo Lounge Your Divine Tragedy/One Over Eight Boom Boom Stereo
Shoreline Amphitheatre 5/22 Nine Inch Nails Janes Addiction 5/24 Styx/REO Speedwagon 5/30 War 6/06 Live 105s BFD 6/13 Food & Music Fest 7/30 Crue Fest-Motley Crue Godsmack/Drowning Pool 9/2 Def Leppard/Poison Cheap trick
Sacramento Club Retro
5/15 Pow Owo Days 5/21 Expansion Show 5/22 Fate Under Fire 5/29 Hazel & Vine 6/12 Battle of Midway
The Boardwalk
5/15 A Sky Lit Drive 5/16 Dance Gavin Dance 5/17 Rock Inc Showcase 5/20 Twiztid 5/22 New Logic 5/23 La Circa 5/24 This Old Pistol 5/28 Relient K 5/29 The Higher 5/30 Tyler Hilton 6/02 Forgive Durden 6/06 Kate Voegele 6/10 King 6/12 Resolve to Burn 6/13 Hey Monday 6/14 Unearth 6/16 Dr. Acula 6/17 (hed) p.e. 6/18 Kill Whitney Dead
West Hollywood The Whisky
5/24 Live Evil 5/26 Dark Moon Benefit 5/27 Lo-Pro 5/28 Heart Brake Kid 5/29 Roads of Rome 5/31 T.O.R.N. 6/01 Zarathustra 6/04 Desillusion 6/05 Rock Slide Jones 6/06 Cardio Line 6/09 Carnifex 6/10 Warbringer 6/11 Shaun Kama 6/13 The Magpies 6/17 Lost Patrol 6/19 Spine Shank
The Key Club
5/17 Grouch & Eligh 5/18 Petty Cash 5/20 Surfrider 5/21 The 88 5/22 Soja 5/23 Bajaga 5/24 Gojira 5/25 Petty Cash 5/26 Morbid Angel 5/27 Carnival 5/28 My Life With 5/29 Vast 5/30 Tribute to Traci Michaelz 6/01 Steel Panther 6/02 Cro-Mags 6/03 2 Live Crew 6/04 Captains Cabin 6/05 Kings X 6/06 Kingspade 6/08 Steel Panther 6/09 Michael Schenker 6/11 Balkin 6/12 Midnite 6/13 Datarock 6/16 Easy Star Allstars 6/18 Shpongle 6/19 (hed)p.e.
Monterey Monterey Live
5/15 Reed KD 5/16 Café Musique 5/17 Tribute to Duke Ellington 5/20 Scarlet Symphony 5/21 Culanns Hounds 5/23 Delirio 5/24 Jesses Sunday Jam 5/26 Low Budget 5/29 YMM Olympicks Realization -Vibrant EYErisSmokey the Giant 5/30 Dani Paige Band 6/6 Pride Subject-PraetorianAccion Terrorista 6/12 Vocalist Competition w/ The Dead Ringers Wasted Noise-Pariah Faction
Carbones
6/13 YMO-Blood Print 6/19 YMO-Para La Gente
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Music Festivals & Events: *Joshua Tree Music Fest Joshua Tree, CA 5/15-5/17 *Delfest Cumberland, MD 5/22-5/24 *Bonnaroo Music & Arts Fest Manchester, TN 6/11-6/14 *Harmony Festival Santa Rosa, CA 6/12-14 *Salmon Aid Festvial Oakland, CA 6/20-6/21 *High Sierra Music Fest Quincy, CA 7/2-7/5 *Gathering of the Vibes Bridgeport, CT 7/23-7/26 *Tellurid Blues & Brews Fest Telluride, CO 9/18-9/20
Fri May 15 @ downtown San Jose venues Left Coast Live, the premier bi-annual downtown San Jose music event, featuring: Lyrics Born, Booker T, Miggs, The Mumlers, Good Hustle, Kung Fu Vampire, Monkey, Jade of Days, and much more! Sat May 23 @ Britannia Arms - Cupertino Livestrong Benefit Show with Left of Christ, Repaid In Blood, Better Left Unsaid, Kinetic Sat June 6 @ Britannia Arms - Cupertino Breast Cancer Benefit Show with Flexx Bronco, The Fourfits, My New Vice, Vie Victus Fri June 12 @ Catalyst - Atrium Stage FTB , Aivar, Powder Train Wed June 17 @ VooDoo Lounge The AODub, Audible Smoke Signal, Northern Son, Stormy Strong Thurs July 2 @ Britannia Arms - Cupertino Barb Rocks Birthday Show with Death Valley High, T Minus 7, This Is War Wed July 15 @ VooDoo Lounge Your Divine Tragedy, One Over Eight, Boom Boom Stereo
For Booking please send email to:
barbrocks@gmail.com
More info online: www.barbrocks.com www.myspace.com/barbrocks
Upcoming Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Music Festivals and Events: *Joshua Tree Music Festival* www.joshuatreemusicfestival.com
Joshua Tree, CA May 15-17 *Delfest* www.delfest.com Cumberland, MD May 22-24 *Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival* www.bonnaroo.com Manchester, TN June 11-14 *Harmony Festival* www.harmonyfestival.com Santa Rosa, CA June 12-14 *SalmonAid Festival* www.salmonaid.org Oakland, CA June 20-21 *High Sierra Music Festival* www.highsierramusic.com Quincy, CA July 2-5 *Gathering of the Vibes* www.gatheringofthevibes.com Bridgeport, CT July 23-26 * Wanderlust Festival* www.wanderlustfestival.com Squaw Valley, CA July 24-26 *Telluride Blues and Brews Festival* www.tellurideblues.com Telluride, CO Sept 18-20
Fox Theatre- Boulder, CO www.foxtheatre.com
LYON ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS:
2009 BAND OLYMPICKS
MONTEREY CALENDAR Friday 5/29 @ Monterey Live
REALIZATION -VIBRANT EYEris PRIDE SUBJECT-PRAETORIAN ACCION TERRORISTA - tba
Friday 6/12 @ Monterey Live
“Best Vocalist” Event-THE DEAD RINGERS WASTED NOISE-PARIAH FACTION
Saturday 6/13 @ Carbones BLOOD PRINT-PSYCHOS IN LOVE MISERIA-tba
Schedule Subject to change
Saturday 6/6 @ Monterey Live
Friday 6/19 @ Carbones PARA LA GENTE - D MINUS-tba
YMO FINALS Friday 6/26 @ the new Planet Gemini
TOP 6 VOTE EARNERS
SAN JOSE CALENDAR Saturday 6/20 @ Britannia Arms
JADE OF DAYS-WHATEVER FITS LETTERS MAKE WORDS-RELAPSE
BEERIJUANA-MODERN RUINZ
Thursday 7/2 @ The VooDoo Lounge
Friday 7/10 T.B.A. Friday 7/17 T.B.A. Thurs. 7/23 @ The VooDoo Lounge A THOUSAND KINGDOMS-tba
YMO FINALS 8/7 @ THE VOODOO LOUNGE-TOP 6 VOTE EARNERS
Schedule Subject to change
Thurs. 6/25 @ The VooDoo Lounge
Every Tuesday The Santa Cruz Singer Songwriter Contest
Saturday Band Lineup
May 16th Michelle Chapel May 23rd Nigel and Clive May 30th To Be Announced June 6th The CLamtones Aug 15th Vibrant EYEris