Tumble Core

I dug up some awesome stuff in my mom's basement during the Xmas holidays and uploaded it to this thing called Tumblr. Sneak preview below. Check out all the hot shots here!

Bring H.E.A.T. to the U.S.A. ! !

H.E.A.T. has been one of the shining stars of modern Swedish AOR based on their first two albums featuring the vocals Kenny Leckremo. He sadly left the band a few years ago due to health issues.

We were as surprised as anyone to hear that former Swedish idol contestant Erik Gronwall had been tapped as Kenny's replacement, especially after witnessing the judges severely constipated reaction to his stellar Skid Row cover.



Things certainly seemed to be on the upswing by the time he unleashed his Iron Maiden cover.



But I did not expect to see him fully transform into the budding Gram Bonnet he's developed into as H.E.A.T.'s new vocalist.



So why am I upset? Because back here in the "good ole" USA, there is NO H.E.A.T. on Emusic, NO H.E.A.T. on Spotify, and only the FIRST H.E.A.T. album on iTunes. Now, it's a good album, but their sophomore album "Freedom Rock" is a GREAT album, and it'll run you $30 bucks for an import!

I think Lock Nut may have been onto something when he stumbled into the room in his sweat pants last night screaming: 

"Oh sure, if you want to watch faux hawked posers stomping their feet in front of the bespectacled creative class there's no shortage of THAT available"



"How about New Yorkers churning out mounds of licensable "down home music"? Yeah, we've got plenty of that to go around too!"



In a true open market we would have access to the music of our choice.
We need H.E.A.T. in the U.S.A. ! !

Oil Rig Mosh

What's up with this warning on my Obituary "Frozen Alive (In Poland)" DVD?

"The copyright proprietor has licensed the programme (including its soundtrack) comprised in this digital versatile disc for home use only.  All other rights reserved. The definition of home use excludes the see of this digital versatile disc at locations such as clubs, coaches, hospitals, hotels, oil rigs, prisons and schools" 

 ??

I could've sworn there was a former Dokken/current Foreigner bassist versed in music rights laws that could clear this up, but maybe I'm thinking of someone else.

I Don't Understand Hardcore

Even though they only had one good song, I think we'd all agree that Crossfade was one of the best Southern post grunge acts of the mid-aughts. These guys had an air tight snare drum sound and one of the best backup singers in the genre: Tony Byroads.

  

So my little cousin Bobby sent me this, knowing I've been a long time Crossfade fan. Is this a joke or are they actually into Crossfade? He also told me this was a STRAIGHT EDGE band. That means NO drugs, NO drinking, and NO smoking!

 

L.A. Guns Get Covered in (Saddle) Ranch

Here at BlogMaGogRoxx we try to stay current with our little tidbits of info...however this can prove to be somewhat of a daunting task when most of our time is spent in a blackout.  All I can really remember about the past few decades is some horrible dream that David Lee Roth got replaced in Van Halen by that dude from Chickenfoot...

(My dreams are so vivid they sometimes end up on YouTube)

Country tried to expand its target demographic with a big black "hick-hop" train..

Live Review: Warrior Soul and Spread Eagle live @ St. Vitus 12/07/12

Friday night, we (the Professor, Locknut, and I) went out to see this band... Remember this?

I was pretty excited since I had recently gotten a chance to revisit Kory's stellar appearance at Foundations Forum 1991:

 So we went to Greenpoint and....

More Harper's in Metal

Wow, Professor Black was talkin' Harper's in a "zine"! Is it still called a "zine"?

So I was reading Harper's...

...and I went straight to Thomas Frank, as I am wont to do. Appetite for Destruction?

Sure, so it is about the end of the Mayan calendar, our obsession with the apocalypse, etc... Ok, BUT THEN......

Whoa. Now that is pretty good.

Leave Chris Holmes' alone!

Every scenester in the blogosphere has been dogging the Chris Holmes Project, but I'd like to see you top the arsenal of lock nuts listed at the bottom of his wiki. Not sure I should've read this though.

He and Philthy Phil also have a great thing going with Hard Drive. I was a little confused at first because Chris said the name of the band was Ghettoblaster on his personal page, but in either case I think people need to shut up and let him do his thing! Wait..stop the presses..the album is out!?

Crazy Lixx "Only the Dead Know"

I really like when they say "and they're never tellin' me"

This is one of the more powerful ballads to come out of the NWOSGM in quite some time.

I love it!!

Love/Hate Live in Long Beach 1994

Ever since my old lady moved us back to the east coast I've been hating this shitty New York weather. I like to think back on those times Tee Top and I had pouring Jim Beam into our Slurpees on the way to see Jizzy Pearl and the boyz tear it up. One of the best shows they ever put on was an outdoor gig back in '94. I could've sworn it was in Temecula but apparently it was Long Beach? I do remember it was a chili cook off.

Van Halen Concert Leads to Ancient Civilization Discovery

(New civilization discovered at 12:18...you're welcome) 

New Americans "Rock & Roll T-Shirt"

A Rock & Roll T Shirt...On!


The dude on vox painted the place I was renting back in the Rancho days. Landlord was kind of a pain in butt on that gig but thank God he dropped me a demo because it kicks ass!

New Pantera Demo Song Discovered from Far Beyond Driven Sessions

While "Piss" was a welcome addition to the Vulgar Display of Power reissue, Lock Nut and I have been greatly anticipating the re-release of Far Beyond Driven and the potential bonus tracks from those sessions.  During a guitar clinic by the mighty Dimebag Darrell, he previewed what we believe to have been his vocal debut during the FBD sessions a la Ace Frehley and the Kiss' cover of the Buckcherry classic "Lit Up"...retitled as "Shock Me" on the Love Gun album.

We can't wait to hear what the official recording sounds like, but until then, feast your ears on this early solo live performance (skip to 23:01 for the sneak preview)!

Call the cops, 'cause this track is going to burn the house down!

NYC Sandy Update

Yeah man, shit is starting to get back to normal here, but if we don't start changing our environmental policies..we're fucked!

Rappin' Lemmy

During one of my daily listening sessions of the Last Action Hero soundtrack, I got to thinking about what Energizer Battery guy had been up to in recent years.  Then I remembered that he had hair, and I was actually thinking of Mr. Clean.  Of course, I still had to investigate Jacko, and it turns out that he is quite an individual…

Logic can easily be applied to the video, If SYNTH > SHRED, Then SUCK * ∞, Else FIST PUMP.

Let’s just say, I didn’t fist pump.

Korey Clarke is back..again!

Thank god St. Vitus is finally getting a good show. They have been hosting a lot of lame hipster metal there but THIS gives me hope for the future!

Dear Brooklyn guitarists, if there are any left..

Please stop torturing me with angular post punk, false art metal and white washed world music.Put in the work!

Album Review: Devin Townsend Project "Epicloud"

I first heard of this guy when he was fronting Steve Vai's kick ass outfit Vai. '93 was a tough time for good music. There was a lot of alterna-bullshit floating around Kurt's wake, and tasteful commercial heavy metal was in short supply. Sex and Religion was truly a breath of fresh air for me as a struggling undergrad at George Mason University, in my second and final semester there. "Down Deep in the Pain" was a great blend of funkiness and hard melody that really got me pumped up to go to Jaxx, where Devin and the boys properly laid waste on the Sex & Religion tour. So what's up with Devin these days? Apparently he's become a bit of a cult figure amongst nu-progressives such as BTBAM, Periphery and Protest the Hero. Let me start by saying I am NOT a fan that style of ADHD Axe FX II wankery. To me it's all over the map and just not my cup of Arizona iced tea. Let's check out the lead-off track: Five seconds in and I'm feeling this. The chick has a bit of Taylor Dayne meets Swedish pop thing goin on, and it sounds pretty hot. When DTP kicks that chorus into full throttle things get full blown and I am ready to cruise down to Richmond with the top down! Verse is pretty tight, although around 1:45 I'm hearing some BS I'm not into. Not sure if this is a modulationing or whatever but it sounds like one of those AXE FX II bands. Getting psyched for that chorus to come back though. Now we're at 2:25 and I feel like I've stumbled into the Summer Slaughter tour. Not digging this. Now we're at 3:00 and the chick is getting into some real dissonant shit. At 3:24 I think I'm hearing a "Let's tear it up" and am ready for that bad ass chorus but they seem to be drifting into some choral outro. No dice! Devin, if you want to write a tune it's ABAB(solo)B. Maybe BABA(solo)B. This might fly on a Dream Theater package tour but it's not going to get any decent airplay. I know you have the talent to write some kick ass material, I've HEARD it!

Live Review: New Order @ Roseland 10/20/12

This show sucked so hard. The dude had a sweet a SG but most of the time he was playing basic barre chords with a lot of chorus. The bassist used a capo on a few songs which was really lame. Apparently the singer of their old band died and they covered one of his songs at the end. Weak!

Welcome to Blogmagog

I'm so stoked we've launched this bad boy, and am ready to start posting some bad ass content. Tee Top has been cranking on his post below so I don't want to steal any of his shine, figure I'll just jam on some Northern Kings and read what he has to say.


Damn it sucks living in America sometimes. Were I Finnish, I would've made sure these guys made it to the Eurovision Finals.

The Adventures of Lil' Willis

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If you are like me, you probably ask yourself on a daily basis, "what ever happened to that little person that was in Def Leppard?  What was his name…something Willis?" 

Continuing that thought, "He should totally hook up with Paul DiAnno!  I'm sure they have a day or two to spare, right?" Given that 3 Doors Down was able to write their mind blowing hit "Kryptonite" in 20 or so minutes (I was literally floored when I found out that the lyrics were not only written in record time, they were also penned by a 15 year old), surely a couple of days could yield some hits 48x better (assuming an 8 hour "work" day).

Well, we need ask ourselves no more.  As it happens, they got together and cranked out some true sonic gems, and in the process added some glittery goodness with none other than Iron Maiden's future prancing pixie guitar player,Janick Gers.  Much like what 3 Doors Down was able to do with "Kryptonite", Lil’ Willis, Prancer, and Di’Anno along with two other dudes produced three timeless classics that answered once and for all our incessant self contemplation.

They tackled some hard hitting issues, that until I heard this EP, had never thought of, much less was able to make sense of.  Issues like: "if I got stuck in a fucking time warp, what would it be like?"  Of course, thanks to Di’Anno I now know that time warps are in fact, boring. 

“Living in a fucking time warp
I'm living in a fucking time warp

Boring, it's so boring
Boring, it's so boring”

In LA, there is actually a very well known “time warp” where for only $10 anyone can travel back to '86 any night of the week called “the Rainbow.”  Here you can be sure that your Rainbow Warp experience will be complete with sightings of at least one Appice brother, numerous non-ironic-guys-with-a-mullet-and-a-fanny-pack, and probably Tom Morello.  Speaking of Rainbow Tom, I'm pretty sure that in '86 he still had hair, so presumably Rainbow Tom should look like this

(when I last ran into Rainbow Tom outside the Warp bathroom, he did not have any hair…presumably this is just a minor Warp glitch).  That said I’m not sure what time warp Di’Anno is referencing, because my experiences in the Rainbow Time Warp have been nothing short of amazing.  Di’Anno then goes on to say…

“Cooking in a heat wave, freezing in the ice
there's nothing new for me, my jaded appetite is tired, tired”

My best guess is that Di’Anno is referencing the limited cuisine available in his homeland of “Ye Olde America:”

Which has been eaten since the middle ages by the non-LARPA versions of these guys:

“Really!!??  Sheep heart-liver-lungs stuffed in animal stomach again!!!  SOOOOO fucking BORING.  Its like I’m living in a fucking time warp!!” said Di’Anno.  And then “Living in a Fucking Time Warp” was born…

Not content to put out just a single, Di’Anno trudged on with his guild of fantasy creatures drawing inspiration from some socio-political issues that cried for the added awareness that only guitar solos can impart (I can only assume that Lil’ Willis provided the actual solos while Prancer acted them out through interpretive dance in the control room).  This song was to become “Its Illegal, Its Immoral.”

“Don't put that weed in your mouth, boy
Take that sweet young thing off your lap”

First up for our consideration: putting weed in your mouth and lap dances.  Here in America, weed is most commonly consumed by smoking from what I have read, though it seems Di’Anno’s preferred method of consumption is more akin to chewing tobacco.  Given that the only legal sustenance available in Ye Olde America is animal entrails, I can understand why he would go to any length to get that taste out of his mouth…even going so far as to ruin some perfectly good weed by sucking on it like a breath mint.  Di’Anno goes on to echo the establishment’s argument that while he does in fact like them, these two things are not only illegal, but that they are immoral and unhealthy.  If Di’Anno’s goal here to have me call these common views of the establishment into question, then question I will!  Okay…to be perfectly honest, he had me at smoking eating weed and lap dances…shear awesomeness will always trump issues of legality, morality, and health in my book.  That said, I find myself questioning Di’Anno and his Fantasy Creature Crew (primarily Lil’ Willis) more than balking at “the Man.”  Having partaken in read about both activities (and yes, at the same time…REALLY awesome btw), I question whether or not partaking in any amount of either would result in looking like this:

All I’m saying is that Lil’ Willis may be detracting from the intended irony of the song’s message.  To be fair, it is equally possible that Lil’ Willis missed the second verse and had not been warned to avoid putting his foot down too far…or for that matter not to mess where he wanted not to mess.

“Don't put your foot down too far now
And don't mess where you want not to mess
Either your health or society's protector
Is going to catch up with you one day, boy”

Which in his case presumably went something like this:

(That’s gonna leave a mark…)

I’d also question how many people have actually received a “long term prison rap” for smoking eating weed and receiving lap dances. 

“If you survive this antisocial behaviour
you're going to have to face a long-term prison rap”

Maybe things are different in the Land of Entrails, but here in the good ole’ US of A lap dances are a God given right (I think they are directly mentioned in our Constitution’s 2^nd Amendment somewhere after that part about militias and before the Right to Bare Acrylic Shoes and Pedal Exorbitantly Overpriced Drinks).  USA! USA!

Then there’s the final song of this epic EP.  This last creation might be considered something that should be illegal and is definitely immoral and unhealthy (or just really awesome depending on your point of view)…

Okay, this is not the third song of the Gogmagog EP (“I Will Be There” was the actual track…a cover of the old Russ Ballard “hit”), though in a perfect world it would have been.  From the first time I put on Iron Maiden’s eponymous debut and heard Di’Anno, I knew he was destined for something more…something much more, well, funky.  There is no denying that the funk is rather strong with Di’Anno, and much like “Kryptonite,” I could listen to this track all day long. If only there was a means to warp back through time that wasn’t so boring, then maybe this EP could be warped into greatness.  Alas, until warps become a more entertaining means of time travel, I’m afraid this is all we will ever hear from the mighty Gogmagog.