Garage Days Pre-Visited: The $0.00 Blog Post

Secret passage to the rock and roll hall of fame–congratulations to Metallica for pretty much pointing this out in the first place!

Heavy Metal Basketball Court

On January 20, 1969, Led Zeppelin played at the Wheaton Youth Center in the Maryland suburbs north of Washington, DC. At least, so claims filmmaker Jeff Krulik of Heavy Metal Parking Lot fame, and his modern-day footage of kids shooting hoops after school set an early Led Zeppelin soundtrack is pretty funny. Let’s just say the long-haired spirit of revolution is tough to feel in this ultra-boring location. If you were there that fateful night (and skipped the Nixon inauguration in downtown DC), Krulik wants to hear from you.

CONTACT: jeff@jeffkrulik.com

Thanks, TimD!

A Message of Peace From Above

Thanks, Adam!

Many Empty Lawnchairs

My temperature rises for vintage videos of Overkill slaying the New York legions at L’Amour in Brooklyn, or Exodus goading the Slay Team to new heights of depravity at a classic SF show. But I grew up in several different middles of nowhere, and every single headbanger at what few shows did happen was not so cool. So it floats my goat with pride to see this kind of 1988 conquering of a Houston waterpark by early Earache Records outcasts Confessor, the learned metal and tiny shorts scourge of Raleigh, NC. How many members of Watchtower lay lounging in yellow chairs watching Confessor on this day at Fame City Waterworks, wishing they had stuck together (or feeling glad they didn’t)?

Catch up with more recent exploits of Confessor along the tangled math path HERE.

Thanks, Capt. O’Malley!

Drill Baby, Drill

Friends of the world, if you’ve ever wondered what American Republicans talk about when they get together, here’s a hint: It starts with a high-pitched whine. 

Thanks, Rob!

The Mad Baker

If you’re familiar with the concept of gingerbread men, you’ll love this mostly silent footage from a Thai bakery where human body parts built from lumpy dough are a specialty. See? It’s easy to play God. And just relax if you see a small child eating a human hand on the streets of Ratchaburi — I’m almost sure it came from this shop. Well, almost…

Thanks, PatD!

Nihilist -> Entombed -> The Hellacopters -> Death Breath -> The Solution

Larvaes and germs, we have The Solution, the latest project of Nicke Andersson, one of the main originators of Swedish death metal (and cover artist of the Swedish Death Metal book). This dude keeps going and going and going, and he’s always wearing a sharp lid. Vocals by Scott Morgan of The Rationals and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band. This clip for the song “You Gotta Come Down” was shot on one roll of Super-8, as director Jim Heneghan explains: “A roll of Super-8 runs for about 3 minutes and 20 seconds of moving pictures. The song ‘You Gotta Come Down’ runs 3 minutes and 23 seconds. So Super-8 was a perfect choice for a one-shot, one-take Super-8 promo film.”

MYSPACE LINK

Secrets of Swedish Death Metal Revealed

Here Daniel Ekeroth, author of the massive Swedish Death Metal book (not to mention bassist of TYRANT and INSISION), unleashes a short session explaining the classic Swedish death metal guitar sound invented by Leif Cuzner of NIHILIST and perfected at Studio Sunlight in Stockholm on albums by ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, and countless others. As you can tell by sunburned face, this is on day ten of a recent trip to New York. As soon as he finished making this clip, his body was chopped into pieces and sold as drugs to other Swedish tourists. That’s how we roll in New York…I guess.

When Lemmy Dreams, He Dreams of Shadows

My dad doesn’t historically have the coolest taste in music, but a funny thing happened when he came to New York last year for a visit. I took him up to Sirius for a survey of the 36th floor view and more importantly a gorging on gear, glamor, and satellite tech photo ops. While we were talking to Jose Mangin, telegenic Hard Attack metal channel founder and prophet, a dapper clean-shaven Andrew WK walked in and started shaking hands. Before Mr. Hard Party Kit Kat could get a word in edgewise, though, an idea popped into my dad’s head and he sprung into a lecture to us young ‘uns about the Shadows and Hank Marvin, the original guitar hero. That’s Hank with the long face with 1960s instrumental outfit the Shadows up above.

I inherited a Shadows CD somewhere, but I really only knew them from interviewing Tony Iommi for Sirius. Turns out he’s an unsung hero of the Sabbath sound, I think his rapid-fire approach to the Strat is an overlooked indirect influence on metal guitar playing. Joe Satriani covered a Shadows song, so he knows. Tony Iommi knows. Look at the synchronized steps the Shadows use in the video — you can bet the Scorpions know. The suspenseful James Bond theme used from Moonraker through the N64 Goldeneye game is played by Hank Marvin, so 007 knows. Now you know, too. I’m impressed that the Shadows were a hit machine as an instrumental guitar group, that’s uncommon. I guess I like the gunslinger approach to the six-string, from Hank Marvin to Link Wray to Andy McCoy. Add your own distortion, and those triplets are Slayer.

Hip hop music cut its teeth on the drum break in “Apache.” So did Lemmy Kilmister, who began his life on stage doing Shadows covers. If you see him at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in Hollywood, and want to drag him away from the video poker, pull his ear about Hank Marvin.

Swedish Death Metal Book Trailer

The book is always better than the YouTube, but with a few weeks to go before Daniel Ekeroth’s Swedish Death Metal book is available, at least this video preview offers a quick fix.