All posts in Featured

Heavy music is often at its most powerful when, on a creative level, caution is thrown to the wind. But you don’t generally expect bands to smash open the doors of riff-centric perception on their debut album. Therefore, it seems reasonable to infer that IOTUNN are not like other bands. Not least due to the magical vocal presence and charisma of HAMFERÐ’s Jón Aldará, “Access All Worlds” is, from start to finish, an immersive, spine-tingling feast for the ears. Audaciously tricky to pin down, this Danish crew have conjured something wonderfully distinctive here. Marrying the epic bluster of black and pagan metal to the lysergic rush of space rock and the strident melodies of the prog and power worlds, they’ve conjured something simultaneously fresh and familiar, not to mention colossally epic in a way that most supposedly epic metal records can only dream about.

Opener “Voyage of the Garganey I” was released as a single recently, and it set the scene for this extraordinary album perfectly with seven minutes of grandiloquent, shimmering, melodic metal. Spiritually rooted in extremity but blessed with grand theatrical flair, IOTUNN sound like the house band for some unfathomable intergalactic voyage through alien dimensions and swarms of marauding spaceships. The reported concept behind “Access All Worlds” seems to hint at a collective love of dark science fiction and the philosophical turmoil that often comes with it, but there is also something thrillingly joyful about the immaculate, stirring bombast on display here.

The title track is even more astonishing: with its glacial gait recalling “Twilight…” BATHORY, but with the emotional depths and fizzing crescendos of WHILE HEAVEN WEPT at their sky-rending best, it’s progressive and perverse in equal measure. There is even a hint of frostbitten black metal tension pulsing in the background, as Aldará’s multi-octave sermonizing swirls across a maze of riffs and tearstained motifs for 12 fascinating minutes. It all sounds vast, as if beamed across galaxies by some metal-friendly cosmic deity, but still with a sturdy backbone of brutal precision.

Throughout it all, IOTUNN sound delighted by their own limitless imaginations. From the dense and sprawling “Waves Below” and the pitch-black gothic squall of “The Tower of Cosmic Nihility” to the blastbeat-boosted, psychedelic futurism of 14-minute closer “Safe Across the Endless Night”, the sheer strength and sophistication of the Danes’ musical vision — at, it probably bears repeating, the first attempt — is worthy of celebration. Something special is happening here, folks.

Two-time-Grammy-nominated group RIVAL SONS has announced the launch of its very own label, Sacred Tongue Recordings, with distribution through Thirty Tigers. The band recently regained the master rights to several of its early releases and will reintroduce them to the world by first remastering their independent full-length debut LP, “Before The Fire” (2009), and self-titled EP “Rival Sons” (2010), on all DSPS, CD and vinyl — for the first time — on March 26. Limited-edition vinyl variants are available for pre-order at www.sacredtonguerecordings.com. They’ve printed up an exclusive run of 1000 copies of both “Before The Fire” and “Rival Sons”. “Before The Fire” will come in an orange splatter variant, while the EP is available in a clear with gold splatter variant. There will also be indie retailer exclusive color-ways of each release in translucent orange and crystal clear, respectively.

Regarding Sacred Tongue Recordings, the band commented: “We’ve talked about creating our own record label from the very beginning. It’s about creating a good home for our back catalogue as the RIVAL SONS community continues to grow together worldwide. The band has always maintained a stance of independence and sole custody of our early works was the long game. Introducing Sacred Tongue Recordings, a RIVAL SONS record label.”

By looking back, RIVAL SONS also leap forward again as they continue working on more music and the follow-up to 2019’s “Feral Roots”.

“Feral Roots” not only garnered 2020 Grammy Award nomination in the category of “Best Rock Album,” but also yielded a Grammy nomination for “Best Rock Performance” for the top 10 rock track “Too Bad”, as well as the No. 1 rock radio single “Do Your Worst”. Produced by multi-Grammy Award winner Dave Cobb at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, and the equally legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, “Feral Roots” is available now on all streaming platforms.

Since their emergence in 2009, RIVAL SONS have quietly reignited and recharged rock ‘n’ roll with towering vocals, uncompromising riffs, and thunderous grooves. Following the independent release of their full-length debut “Before The Fire”, they were handpicked to perform alongside everyone from AC/DC to BLACK SABBATH. Working with longtime producer Dave Cobb, the band delivered a series of critically acclaimed albums — “Pressure & Time” (2011), “Head Down” (2012), “Great Western Valkyrie” (2014) and “Hollow Bones” (2016) — as they headlined sold-out shows on multiple continents. 2019’s “Feral Roots” broke new ground for the band. “Do Your Worst” shot to No. 1 on rock radio as their first chart-topper at the format. It also scored 40 million-plus streams and counting. They delivered an electrifying performance on “The Late Late Show With James Corden” and earned acclaim from Billboard, Rolling Stone, and many more.

Even the most dedicated brutality fan would struggle to plough through everything that is released under the death metal banner. The modern, well-produced end of the DM scene is particularly guilty of churning out bands that sound identical to one another, but the upside of that scenario is that a band like SUMMONING THE LICH instantly stand out as something superior. This St. Louis, Missouri quartet make no bold claims to be reinventing the wheel on their debut album, but the sound of a band with (a) songwriting chops and (b) massive cojones is unmistakable.

If you want spectrum specifics, SUMMONING THE LICH owe plenty to THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, a little too early deathcore greats like ALL SHALL PERISH and DESPISED ICON and a generous amount, in atmospheric terms at least, to the storytelling malice of CRADLE OF FILTH. But these are comparisons available via any blank-eyed algorithm. The information you really need about “United in Chaos” is that it is gripping from start to finish, comically overstocked with lethal hooks and grand dynamic twists, and brilliantly thuggish and nasty in the best possible way. Production-wise, we have been here before many times, but SUMMONING THE LICH transcend their adherence to standardized sonic values with the sheer, joyous flair of their songwriting.

It’s obvious from “The Nightmare Begins” that this is no exercise in aspirational box-ticking: with a grimy, hypnotic chorus and more than enough venom and violence to appease most blast-freaks, it’s a ballsy and hyper-confident opening statement. From that point, it’s wall-to-wall coffin-smashers: “Demon of the Snow” is a riot of razor-sharp riffing and theatrical horror; “Predatory Reflection” is a wicked, pummeling waltz into the endless deep; recent single “Descend” is an immaculate, four-minute fist-flurry to the ribcage, with frontman David Bruno sounding like eight people at once. Elsewhere, SUMMONING THE LICH further indulge their obvious penchant for horror (a lich, in case you were wondering, is an undead creature from fantasy fiction) on the vicious but fiendishly catchy “Hymns (of the Witches of the West)” and closer “The Lure of the Necromancer”, which ends this blistering debut on its heaviest and most gleefully deranged note.

All it takes to refresh a formula is brilliant songs. SUMMONING THE LICH have seen the light, and “United in Chaos” deserves to be one of this year’s most celebrated debuts as a result.

SUNBOMB, the project featuring L.A. GUNS’ Tracii Guns and STRYPER’s Michael Sweet, will release its debut album, “Evil And Divine”, on May 14 via Frontiers Music Srl. The lyric video for the first single, “No Tomorrows”, can be seen below.

According to a press release, “Evil And Divine” is “an absolute blinder of a heavy metal album, melding influences of classic metal bands such as BLACK SABBATH and JUDAS PRIEST, with Tracii’s love of metal subgenres, specifically doom metal.”

Initiated and conceived after Serafino Perugino, president and A&R director of Frontiers Music Srl, reached out to Tracii about working on a new musical project for the label, the idea of a classic heavy metal-sounding album was born. The music style on “Evil And Divine” is much heavier than what one would expect from these two musicians and is firmly planted in the “metal” category. While Tracii wrote the music for the album, the fact that Michael Sweet has been writing/playing in an increasingly heavier style in the latter era, and extremely well-received STRYPER albums made him a very logical choice to sing for the band. And since doom metal, often known for having powerful singers like Messiah Marcolin from CANDLEMASS, was a massive influence on Tracii’s songwriting here, Sweet’s ability and range were a perfect match.

Tracii says: “SUNBOMB was an idea, then an experiment. When I heard the first vocal completed, I was blown away by Michael’s voice. It’s an exciting album.”

Michael says: “Hard to believe that I met Tracii for the first time just a few years ago. We hit it off right away and we obviously share the same love for metal.

“Tracii sent me a song and I loved the vibe and then he eventually asked me to sing on the entire album.

“What I love about it is it’s definitely different not only for me, but for Tracii as well. I think fans will love this album, and although it’s reminiscent of some of the greatest metal bands of the past, it also has a fresh spin to it. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it! I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Tracii leaked the news of the new project in a March 2019 tweet, where he described the project’s debut LP as “the metal record I would have made when I was 17 years old.” In May 2020, he mentioned on “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” that “the SUNBOMB record is really kind of like [L.A. GUNS’ 2019 album] ‘The Devil You Know’ times three. It’s more on the heavy side of ‘The Devil You Know’ album. And Michael Sweet, he’s a really fantastic metal singer.”

Drums on the album were handled by Tracii’s old L.A. GUNS bandmate Adam Hamilton, and bass was recorded by Mitch Davis, with the exception of the track “They Fought”, which features current L.A. GUNS bassist Johnny Martin.

“Evil And Divine” track listing:

01. Life
02. Take Me Away
03. Better End
04. No Tomorrows
05. Born To Win
06. Evil And Divine
07. Been Said And Done
08. Stronger Than Before
09. Story Of The Blind
10. World Gone Wrong
11. They Fought

Recording lineup:

Tracii Guns – Guitars
Michael Sweet – Vocals
Adam Hamilton – Drums
Mitch Davis – Bass
Johnny Martin – Bass (on “We Fought”)

CANNIBAL CORPSE’s David Brodsky-directed music video for the song “Inhumane Harvest” can be seen below. The track is taken from CANNIBAL CORPSE’s 15th studio album, “Violence Unimagined”, which will be released on April 16 via Metal Blade Records.

Guitarist Rob Barrett comments: “‘Inhumane Harvest’ takes a look inside one of organized crime’s more sinister activities: the human organ trade. Desperate buyers will pay a high price for a much-needed organ transplant to either save themselves or a loved one from certain death, which makes for a lucrative business in underground crime rings.”

Comprised of eleven tracks, “Violence Unimagined” is state-of-the-art death metal played with passion and breathless precision, making for another flawless addition to what is inarguably one of the premier catalogues the genre has thrown up. “It really follows the path we’ve been going down for a few years now,” states bassist and founding member Alex Webster. “I think we approach the writing in a similar way most every time: each of us try to write the heaviest, most memorable songs we can. We want each song to have its own identifiable character. Showing my age, I like to say you can ‘drop the needle’ on any point of one of our albums and quickly tell which song you’re listening to.”

While they continue to do what they do with aplomb, the one substantial change to CANNIBAL CORPSE is the addition of guitarist Erik Rutan to their ranks, joining Webster, founding drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, guitarist Rob Barrett and vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher. Known for his roles in MORBID ANGEL, RIPPING CORPSE and most notably fronting the mighty HATE ETERNAL, Rutan has long established himself as one of the most dynamic forces in contemporary death metal. Simultaneously, he has built up a reputation as one of the most in-demand producers in metal, having previously produced four CANNIBAL CORPSE albums (in addition to “Violence Unimagined”), alongside the likes of GOATWHORE, SOILENT GREEN and BELPHEGOR. Filling in live on guitar since 2019, in 2020 he became a full member, contributing to the writing process.

“I think the most noticeable difference on this record will be the addition of Erik to the band. He wrote three full songs for the record, music and lyrics, and his song writing and guitar playing have added something new, and I think his musical style integrated into ours very well,” Webster enthuses. This is not all that he brings to the band. “He’s a great friend of ours, so on a personal level, he’s been a perfect fit, as we knew he would be. Beyond that, he’s one of the hardest-working people I know, in music or otherwise, and he maintains a high-energy, positive demeanor in challenging situations where other people might go in a negative direction. This energy and great attitude rubs off on the rest of us as well. That’s really a perfect situation to have when you add someone to a band, or any kind of team: someone who’s great at what they do, and also inspires the people around them.”

Already well known for the level of extreme technicality they bring to every record, on “Violence Unimagined”, CANNIBAL CORPSE has further upped their game, particularly in Mazurkiewicz’s drumming.

“I think we all pushed ourselves a bit technically on this one, with Paul probably pushing the hardest,” Webster says. “This album is probably the most drum-intense album we’ve done yet. Part of that could be a result of Erik joining the band. His songwriting style often features technically challenging drumming, probably owing to his years of experience in high-speed death metal.” And with typically dark and warped lyrical content, Mazurkiewicz came up with the fitting title of the record, “summing up what the band is about in every facet, and taking violence to another level of extremity.”

With Rutan in the band, having him produce the record was a no-brainer at Mana Recording in St. Petersburg, Florida — his central base of operation. Using the studio for pre-production, rather than their rehearsal space as usual, was a great benefit early on, allowing them to come into the actual recording process better prepared than ever before. However, their plans to record the album entirely together were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Webster forced to record his bass tracks in his home studio.

“I live on the other side of the country now, and that hadn’t been an issue prior to the pandemic, I was still able to go to Florida whenever I needed to,” Webster says. “So, I was scheduled to fly down for the recording in early April 2020, and of course that was at the very beginning of all of the lockdowns and travel restrictions in the USA, so I didn’t go. Fortunately, I have a lot of experience recording bass tracks at home, so it didn’t affect the sound of the album at all. I stayed in close contact with Erik and the other guys throughout the process, and it actually wound up being quite smooth. Of course, I’m looking forward to tracking in the big studio with the guys for the next album, but I’m glad this option worked well for us.” And it would not be a CANNIBAL CORPSE album without striking artwork from Vince Locke, and “Violence Unimagined” is no different — this time, the cover featuring a mother eating her own baby, though Webster concedes that for censorship reasons, they have had Locke do a complementary piece that will be more widely released.

Now in CANNIBAL CORPSE’s thirty-second year of existence, Webster still has the same hunger to tour, and though unable to do so while the COVID-19 crisis continues, the bassist hopes that not too much more time passes before they are able to get back on the road. Regardless, he is looking ahead and not to the band’s past.

“We’re very excited to continue this new chapter of the band with Erik on board,” he says. “I think that a band should always be working to improve and trying to make whatever they’re currently doing the best thing they’ve done, so that’s what we’ll do.”

“Violence Unimagined” track listing

01. Murderous Rampage
02. Necrogenic Resurrection
03. Inhumane Harvest
04. Condemnation Contagion
05. Surround, Kill, Devour
06. Ritual Annihilation
07. Follow The Blood
08. Bound And Burned
09. Slowly Sawn
10. Overtorture
11. Cerements Of The Flayed

CANNIBAL CORPSE is:

Alex Webster – bass
Paul Mazurkiewicz – drums
George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher – vocals
Rob Barrett – guitar
Erik Rutan – guitar

Photo credit: Alex Morgan

Adam “Nergal” Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH has launched the “Ordo Blasfemia” campaign which he says “will help fund a sustainable legal challenge to squash the existing and incoming bogus prosecutions” of artists who do “not conform to the archaic religious laws” of his country.

Nergal says in a statement: “My name is Nergal and I am an artist from Poland. For over a decade I have been confronted with numerous attempts to permanently destroy my career on the basis that I have harmed ‘religious feelings’. It sounds absurd and I can assure you, it is.

“Many Polish artists, including myself, have been dragged into court rooms, at our own significant costs, to defend ourselves against nonsensical blasphemy laws made by archaic Politicans. Their intent is to censor anyone who does not conform to the archaic religious laws of our country. The time has come for Polish artists to fight back — join us in the Ordo Blasfemia.

“Your donation will help fund a sustainable legal challenge to squash the existing and incoming bogus prosecutions. Help us reach the target so we can distribute to other artists facing their own legal challenges.”

Donate and find out more at this location.

Earlier this month, Nergal was convicted for offending religious feelings by a court in Warsaw. The charges stemmed from an image the Polish musician posted on social media showing a foot stamping on a picture of the Virgin Mary.

According to Notes From Poland, Darski was ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 złoty (approximately $4,000) and court costs of almost 3,500 zloty (approximately $942). However, since Darski has contested the judgement, the case will now go to trial.

After Darski shared the image on his social media in September 2019, an ultraconservative legal group, Ordo Iuris, and an organization called the Patriotic Society (Towarzystwo Patriotyczne) notified prosecutors that Darski had “offended the religious feelings of four people,” including a local politician from Poland’s conservative ruling coalition.

“In the course of proceedings, the aggrieved parties were questioned and they clearly stated that their religious feelings were offended,” said the spokeswoman for Warsaw district prosecutor’s office, Aleksandra Skrzyniarz.

Prosecutors also consulted an expert in religious studies, whose “opinion clearly concludes that treading with a shoe on the image of the Mother of God is an offence against religious feelings,” Skrzyniarz added.

Article 196 of Poland’s penal code says that “Whoever offends the religious feelings of other persons by publicly insulting an object of religious worship, or a place designated for public religious ceremonies, is liable to pay a fine, have his or her liberty limited, or be deprived of his or her liberty for a period of up to two years.”

Amnesty International has previously called on the Polish authorities to repeal or amend legal provisions, such as article 196 of the Criminal Code, that criminalize statements protected by the right to freedom of expression.

According to Human Rights Watch, international human rights law permits states to impose certain restrictions on the exercise of the right to freedom of expression only if such restrictions are provided by law and are demonstrably necessary and proportionate for the protection of certain specified public interests (national security, public order, protection of health or morals) or for the protection of the rights of others (including the right to protection against discrimination).

This is not the first time Nergal has encountered legal problems in Poland related to his social media activities. Back in January 2018, it was announced that Nergal was being formally charged by Polish authorities in a case involving BEHEMOTH’s “Republic Of The Unfaithful” tour artwork and merchandise, which was said to be “insulting” to the national coat of arms of Poland, a stylized white eagle with a golden beak and talons, and wearing a golden crown, in a red shield. Nergal and Maciej G., who, as the band’s webmaster, promoted the tour online, were accused of publicly affronting the Polish national emblem, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Also charged was Rafał Wechterowicz, the graphic artist who worked on the BEHEMOTH artwork. Three months later, Nergal posted an update via Instagram, revealing that “all the absurd charges” against him were “dismissed.”

In 2011, Nergal was acquitted in Poland on charges he insulted religious sentiment when he called the Catholic Church “the most murderous cult on the planet” during the band’s September 2007 performance in Gdynia and tore up a copy of the Bible, calling it “a book of lies.”

Rock icon Rob Zombie will release his seventh studio album, “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy”, on March 12 via Nuclear Blast. In the first part of the animated interview series “Zombie Interviews Zombie”, Rob’s wife Sheri Moon Zombie interviews him about the meaning of the album title. Check it out below.

Rob says: “I like to try to think of an album title that you’ve never heard before — even though it’s probably one that you cannot remember. ‘Cause nothing bothers me more than when I see the same title on multiple records. I’m, like, ‘C’mon, man. There’s a lot of words out there.’ And I don’t just string crazy stuff together, even though it sounds like it… I spend a long time on the title, and it changes constantly. When I first start the record, I don’t know what anything is gonna be called, I don’t know what it’s gonna sound like. And then as the record starts forming, I start coming up with multiple titles, or ideas for titles. And then, by the time the record’s done, I usually have what I think might be the title. And everyone’s, like, ‘What’s the title? What’s the title?’ And I’m, like, ‘Ehhh… I don’t know yet,’ even though I do know. And then I start messing around with the artwork, and then I’ll change the title again, because I’m, like, ‘Oh, now that doesn’t look like that. It doesn’t fit.’ So, as random as it may all seem, I spent a lot of time trying to [find the right title for the record]. And hopefully, when you’re done listening to the record, what may sound like nonsense before you hear the music, after you’ve heard all the music, you can think to yourself, ‘Well, of course, the only thing this album could have been called is ‘The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy’.”

“The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” marks Rob’s first new album in nearly five years. The follow-up to 2016’s “The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” is a classic Zombie album to its core, with high-energy rages like “The Eternal Struggles Of The Howling Man” and “Get Loose” to heavy-groove thumpers like “Shadow Of The Cemetery Man” and “Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass”. The new album is produced by Chris “Zeuss” Harris.

In November, Rob released an exclusive seven-inch, featuring the new single and B-side “The Serenity Of Witches”. Order the new single and pre-order “The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” here.

“The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy” track listing:

01. Expanding The Head Of Zed
02. The Triumph Of King Freak (A Crypt Of Preservation And Superstition)
03. The Ballad Of Sleazy Rider
04. Hovering Over The Dull Earth
05. Shadow Of The Cemetery Man
06. A Brief Static Hum And Then The Radio Blared
07. 18th Century Cannibals, Excitable Morlocks And A One-Way Ticket On The Ghost Train
08. The Eternal Struggles Of The Howling Man
09. The Much Talked Of Metamorphosis
10. The Satanic Rites Of Blacula
11. Shower Of Stones
12. Shake Your Ass-Smoke Your Grass
13. Boom-Boom-Boom
14. What You Gonna Do With That Gun Mama
15. Get Loose
16. The Serenity Of Witches
17. Crow Killer Blues

In September 2019, Rob told NME that his new LP was “the best record” he had ever made. “It’s a very big, crazy and complex record that I’m really excited to finally be able to release,” he said.

Asked if this is his favorite of ZOMBIE’s records that he has played on, guitarist John 5 told Revolver: “Well, this is definitely the most musical — meaning there are a lot of different changes, and it’s very unorthodox how the structure is, you know? I have to be careful because I know people will take a little snippet of what I’m saying. So we’ll go with a very heavy, hooky ROB ZOMBIE record.”

Back in 2018, John 5 compared ROB ZOMBIE’s upcoming album to THE BEATLES’ groundbreaking LP “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, saying that it is “by far the best Zombie record that he’s ever done.” He added: “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it’s just our greatest record,’ and I don’t say that. Whatever I say is so honest when I’m doing interviews. So I think it’s our best record.”

“The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” was the second consecutive effort to feature Zombie and John 5 alongside bassist Piggy D. and drummer Ginger Fish.

Photo credit: Travis Shinn

Seattle punk pioneers THE LIVING, featuring iconic multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Duff McKagan, are sharing their debut recording for the first time. “The Living: 1982” is set for release on April 16, 2021 via the Seattle-based Loosegroove Records, a label owned by fellow Seattle luminaries Stone Gossard (PEARL JAM) and Regan Hagar (SATCHEL, BRAD). THE LIVING featured a 17-year-old McKagan on guitar, frontman/vocalist John Conte, Todd Fleischman on bass, and Greg Gilmore (MOTHER LOVE BONE) on drums.

The recordings were unearthed by Gilmore who spearheaded the idea of releasing the music in some fashion. It made perfect sense to take the collection to the Seattle-based label Loosegroove, who had just resurrected the imprint September 2020. As Gilmore explains: “THE LIVING was the beginning of all things Seattle for me — a turning point in my life. I joined a band and a community. These guys are still my brothers. I’ve cherished these recordings since the days we made them. This record is a fantastic document of a loaded moment. I love it.”

Featuring seven original tracks penned by McKagan, the album will be available in three different color variants of vinyl: white, canary yellow and translucent Ruby. First single “Two-Generation Stand” is out today with pre-orders available now.

The Seattle grunge scene has been well documented, but now, for the first time we trace the spark that ignited the early punk movement in the PNW. It started in a basement, like every Seattle music story does. The future GUNS N’ ROSES bassist McKagan, at 17, had already appeared on 45s by FASTBACKS and the VAINS (even penning his first song “The Fake”) before starting THE LIVING with Todd Fleischman on bass, John Conte on vocals and McKagan taking on guitar duties. They found drummer Greg Gilmore after placing an ad in the local music paper The Rocket. The band channeled THE CLASH, GERMS, GENERATION X, with originals by McKagan and punk-fired covers like “Beg, Borrow And Steal” (OHIO EXPRESS) and “You’re A Better Man Than I” (YARDBIRDS/SHAM 69).

They opened for DOA in Vancouver and Seattle. “DOA was basically like my KISS,” McKagan recalls in awe. With the band in top gear, they went into a studio for a day, with no plans or ideas how to release it. The resulting session attests to the furious power of THE LIVING at their peak. We are left with seven McKagan originals, delivered in pure blasts of adrenaline. The killer arrangements belie the youth and relative inexperience of the members. The angst, anger and energy in protest songs like “Live By The Gun” and “Two Generation Stand” are delivered with conviction, while “A Song For You”, with its tight hooks, takes a more personal approach.

But it wasn’t to last. “Things happened so fast in those days,” mused Gilmore. Details are sketchy to the band’s demise — and likely best forgotten. McKagan and Gilmore turned to TEN MINUTE WARNING, the missing link between punk rock and proto-grunge (whatever that is), before leaving to L.A. and the fables/foibles of history. Gilmore returned quickly to Seattle and helped form MOTHER LOVE BONE and eventually established the artist-centric label First World Music. McKagan has gone on to an amazing career, a lifer with staying power. 1982 stands tall and proud among the class of early-’80s Seattle punk.

Reflecting back, McKagan wonders: “Would this even ever get out of our basement? We had something magical then, and it was ours, so who gives a fuck!” After 39 years, THE LIVING is out of the basement.

“The Living: 1982” track listing:

01. A Promise
02. Two Generation Stand
03. Live By The Gun
04. A Song For You
05. No Thanks
06. Live Is A Terror
07. I Want

Photo by Marty Perez

A GoFundMe page has been launched on behalf of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar tech Tom Weber to save his home in Butler, Kentucky. As of Tuesday, it has raised more than $14,000 of its $35,000 goal. Sandy Espinoza, of the nonprofit group Roadiecare, organized the fundraiser.

Though in demand in normal times, the last few years have been especially trying for Tom, not just with the passing of Eddie Van Halen, an employer and friend, but also with the loss of his business after his guitar repair shop was forced out of the building where it had been located for 25 years. The loss of the business has been compounded by the sale of two other buildings where what remained of Tom’s business has been stored. One of the buildings was sold recently, which makes it necessary for him to move yet again, at a time where there is no income, and no potential for work on the horizon in the foreseeable future due to the total collapse of the live entertainment industry because of COVID-19.

“I’d try to get back into a shop if I wasn’t in a position to lose my home,” Weber said, but with the coming expense of having to relocate or lose what’s left of what was supposed to be his eventual exit from touring, and ever-growing debt on his family’s home, it will soon be a choice between one or the other.
“Things are looking pretty bleak at the moment, I won’t lie,” Tom said. “I have been looking for employment, but am told I am over-qualified for the jobs that are available in the area I live in or that the job is more suited to a younger candidate, and now with the uncertainty about the house, it feels like I am chasing my tail… I’m most worried about how this is affecting my family and the uncertainty each day brings. I just don’t know.”

Weber, who worked with VAN HALEN in 2007 and 2015, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that he was scheduled to tour with country star Reba McEntire in early 2020 before hooking up with POISON as the support act on MÖTLEY CRÜE and DEF LEPPARD’s “The Stadium Tour”.

“It was going to be one of those years where my family wasn’t going to see me, but it was going to be a $200,000 year. And I thought, ‘This will allow me to pay off my house. It’s going to be amazing,'” Weber said. “And, of course, it went from a banner year to zero income overnight [due to the pandemic].”

Weber also spoke about his relationship with Eddie, who died last October at the age of 65.

“As far as special to work with arguably the greatest guitar player of our time,” he said. “As a guy, I don’t want to say we developed a fast friendship, because that’s not how Ed worked, but we were family, and basically he developed a trust in me for what I did for him and my insight into what things should have been on a daily basis.

“The last conversation I had with him, we were discussing when we would potentially go out again, and he said, ‘Whatever happens, you’ll be my first phone call, because I’m not leaving the house without you.'”

Weber previously praised Van Halen’s playing technique, saying: “Ed is a force of nature. I understand the math behind how a guitar works. Ed does things on the guitar that defy the math. I’ve sat with him and watched him do things that you can’t do. Ed doesn’t play guitar, the guitar submits to Ed’s will. It’s truly an amazing thing. It’s a very inspiring place to be.”

Eddie Van Halen played his final concert with VAN HALEN on October 4, 2015 at at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It was the last show of the band’s summer 2015 tour, which marked VAN HALEN’s third time hitting the road since David Lee Roth rejoined the group in 2007.

Eddie died at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California.

The iconic VAN HALEN axeman passed away from complications due to cancer, his son confirmed.

Eddie and Alex Van Halen formed VAN HALEN in 1972 in Pasadena, California, with Roth on lead vocals and Michael Anthony on bass.

VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

After undergoing hip replacement surgery in 1999 due to a chronic joint problem, Eddie was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had to have part of his tongue surgically removed. He later battled throat cancer and reportedly had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. It is believed that his heavy smoking over the years contributed to his long battle with cancer.