Reign in Blonde [noun; plural] - Two tall, blonde chicks who bring the metal. We're not know-it-alls, and we don't 'report' unbiasedly. This is our blog where we simply discuss what's on our brutal minds. Bon Appetit.
Straight off my missed connection with Walter Schreifels, Vince from MetalSucks has done posts on Walter bands TWO days in a row. Once for Rival Schools, and the other time for Quicksand. I was happy to see such a good response to these posts, since, most MetalSucks commenters flip a shit if they’re not talking about something totally br0000000tal. After all, there is more to life and heavy music than just Slayer and Iron Maiden. I’m a big fan of some good solid post-hardcore. Walter has definitely been an icon in this realm, and the man’s had a very diverse career. As I’ve noted before, hardcore dudes like him tend to go soft after a while. With every new project Walter came out with, he slowly became less and less heavy. It happens a lot. People just stop being angry, I guess.
Recently, I was revisiting a post-hardcore band I was into a few years ago called mewithoutYou. I interviewed them once for my college newspaper and was super stoked at how nice they were. I feel like not that many people in the metal world ever knew about these guys. Probably because they’re Christian. But they’re not one of THOSE Christian bands…they just really like Jesus. It’s cool..whatever. mewithoutYou definitely have a lot of Quicksand influence….as well as a little At the Drive-In and Jawbox. It’s really solid stuff. Singer Aaron Weiss has a unique shout/sing style that tends to make people love or hate the band overall. But I like it. It’s very authentic. Aaron seems like a really passionate guy, so it works.
But over the course of just a few years, mewithoutYou underwent quite a transformation from hardcore/post hardcore wonder to something that quite resembles a “kumbaya” sing along. We see changes in artists of every genre, but to watch a band emerge from the hardcore bubble as a happy-go-lucky bunch is something that I find really fascinating. For those of you who have never heard mewithoutYou, here is a brief overview:
Blood and Shutter recently brought these limited edition Daughters t-shirt designs to my attention, and they are creepy as hell. They all feature a different girl crying…tissues and all. You can purchase them on the Hydra Head online store. Their new self-titled album (which features similar art) is out today!
I often wonder how my mother would react if she saw merch items like this. I remember back a few years ago when I had this tote bag with a picture of a bloody Marilyn Monroe on it and my whole family thought it was the most gruesome thing they had ever laid eyes on. Since then, I’ve made sure to avoid wearing anything around them that might cause them to make annoying comments. Band t-shirts, shiny black leggings….I’ll even cut down on the black altogether. I don’t even own anything THAT bad…nothing all that bad at all, actually. (No unreadable logos for me, thank you). But that’s how we whiney “tribe” families tend to operate. My mom even thinks my Tom Jones tee is weird. Seriously.
Do any of you also tone down your “style” when you’re with your family?
I’m chiming in quite late about this…but there’s been lots of talk about Andrew W.K. in recent weeks. Is he or is he not the same guy he was when 2001’s I Get Wet was released? Is Andrew W.K. just some “personality” dreamt up by some record company? And who the hell is STEEV MIKE?? Well, Andrew was put through the ringer at a recent Q&A here in New York when these very topics came up. I cringed at how much the guy was stuttering. It’s so sad. Obviously he is legally bound and can’t quite reveal what exactly is going on. So why badger him? Bottom line…I love I Get Wet. That album, to this day, is still my JAM. Andrew W.K./Steev Mike/whoever he is, made pretty much the most epic party album EVAR. So let’s just appreciate it for what it is and move on.
So now I ask this question… What is your ultimate party album? As in GET CRUNK / TAKE SHOTS / MAKE OUT WITH YOUR COUSIN ON A SLIMY COUCH kind of party. Besides AWK’s masterpiece, I’d have to go with Every Time I Die’sHot Damn!. That album is so “college” for me. What about you guys? Pick one. Only one.
Normally I do not approve of silly things like air guitar competitions, but my own alma mater has been on a roll with breaking world records over the past couple years. In 2008, the Rutgers University World Record organization broke the record for largest gathering of people dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and in 2009 it was the record for largest gathering of people dressed as Where’s Waldo. And this year….
Rutgers University (in New Brunswick) will attempt to break the record for largest air guitar ensemble this Friday @ 8 pm at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Admission is $5, and some air guitar champions will be in attendance….if that means anything to anyone. Details can be found over the the World Record website.
If you’re anywhere near NJ, be sure to get on out and support the cause. I won’t be there, however. I got my fill of air guitar of Major League Dreidel.
All in good fun, but go pick up real guitar, kids.
The track listing for the newest installment of the Punk Goes series was recently released. This time they’re goin’ classic rock. (Oh jeez.) Here are the songs that will be featured:
1. Hit The Lights “More Than A Feeling” (originally recorded by Boston) 2. VersaEmerge “Paint It Black” (originally recorded by The Rolling Stones) 3. The Almost “Free Fallin’” (originally recorded by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) 4. Mayday Parade “We Are The Champions” (originally recorded by Queen) 5. The Summer Set “Rock ‘n Roll All Nite” (originally recorded by KISS) 6. We The Kings “Caught Up In You” (originally recorded by .38 Special) 7. A Skylit Drive “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (originally recorded by Journey) 8. I See Stars “Your Love” (originally recorded by The Outfield) 9. Pierce The Veil “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” (originally recorded by Blue Oyster Cult) 10. Forever The Sickest Kids “Crazy Train” (originally recorded by Ozzy Osbourne) 11. The Maine “Pour Some Sugar On Me” (originally recorded by Def Leppard) 12. Envy On The Coast “All Along The Watchtower” (originally recorded by Jimi Hendrix) 13. Every Avenue “Take Me Home Tonight” (originally recorded by Eddie Money) 14. Never Shout Never “Bohemian Rhapsody” (originally recorded by Queen) 15. blessthefall “Dream On” (originally recorded by Aerosmith)
I’m not sure if many of y’all out there know these bands, but I know a good chunk of them…and MAN will this be interesting. Both Hit the Lights’ “More Than a Feeling” and FTSK’s “Crazy Train” are bound to sound a bit whiney. But maybe it’ll be kinda cool to hear “Paint it Black” and “Rock ‘n Roll All Nite” sang by chicks…? Uhhh…we’ll see. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this “Bohemian Rhapsody” one, though. Incase you’ve never heard of Never Shout Never, here they are:
Anyone who knows me knows I love to bust on Shadows Fall. I just think they suck…and I always have. I remember first hearing them back in high school, and even my wittle ears back THEN knew that they sucked. But alas…they’re popular…they make money….“THEY SELL!!” as any PR/manager type will tell you. Yeah, yeah…. I still love to hate them.
Anyway, as the phrase Shadows FAIL quickly becomes a staple of my everyday vocabulary…I discovered something. The name has (sort of) already been taken. Behold: Norway’s own Where Shadows Fail.
There’s not much else to say besides, well…they suck too, and no one will ever be able to listen to or read about them without thinking of (duh) Shadows Fall. I never realized someone could shadFAIL harder than shadFAIL, but…there it is. Way to go, dudes.
If I had to make a list of summer festivals that I’d rather attend over Mayhem Fest, I’d even go as far to include Cornerstone, the annual CHRISTIAN music festival. Because at least I could see cool jams like mewithoutYou, The Chariot, or Living Sacrifice. But as I perused the rest of this year’s lineup, I noticed a crap ton of funny lookin’ tuff dude bands, and decided to check some of them out for a laugh. No surprise that most of these dudes suck, but oh man do they brings the lafffz with their merch. I’m not sure why people will ever think their belief in God or Jeezus makes them so “badass” to the point of them having to plaster creepy phrases across their chest, but…to each his own. Whatever, doesn’t mean I can’t think they’re funny!
The shirt above is a Demon Hunter design. I quite like reading it in a doom vocals voice. Check out some more below:
**For those asking…Yes, I have seen the picture of Mike Patton’s “woodpecker from mars.” Have a look for yourself over at MetalSucks, if you haven’t already. But it’s now being reported that the photo was fake. Looky here to see what I mean. Anyway, onto important shit…
I don’t really go to whole lotta “old school” hardcore shows. But lately, my buddy Gary Suarez has been inviting me to some, and I’ve discovered a couple bands that I actually quite like. Last night we went to Killing Time’s record release show at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. They had one opener I really dug, which was Deathwish’s own Reign Supreme, who consist of members of a bunch of other legit hardcore bands like Blacklisted and such. I feel mad late jumping on this bandwagon, but…whatever. I’m endorsing them now, and that’s all that matters. Here’s one song they played last night called “Persevere and Overcome.”
Kinda makes you wanna punch someone in the face, does it not? Well, you’ll never guess what happened…
Not sure if many of you were keeping up with the Olympics this time around. But I have, so let me quickly get you up to speed on one controversy:
In the mens figure skating competition: Champion Russian skater Evgeni Plushenko (who took silver in Salt Lake in 2002, and gold in Turino in 2006) was was bumped back down to silver once again in the Vancouver games by US skater Evan Lysacek. (Who is apparently straight. Riiiiight…) Plushenko’s been kind of a sore loser about the whole thing because his whole schtick is that he can do a QUAD jump. That’s four whole turns in the air….a trick that very few skaters can do. So alas, he feels that he deserved gold, and has expressed this to many of his Russian news sources over the past week or so. He’s even started claiming that he did not win the SILVER medal, but rather the PLATINUM medal. As much as I don’t want to start a war of words with the great country of Russia…this guy sounds like kind of a jerk.
So…now that we live in the post-YouTube and post-internet meme age…of course, people have started crackin’ jokes on him. Here’s one that The Daily What just posted in which the “Ice King” skates a routine to “Battery” by Metallica while holding a battle axe. It’s pretty funny, and about as close to “epic” and “metal” as mens figure skating will ever come. Enjoy:
****THE VIDEO WAS REMOVED, BUT I FOUND IT AGAIN AND REPLACED IT! WATCH IT QUICK BEFORE IT GETS TAKEN DOWN AGAIN!!!
But, with that said. I kind of fell in love with the Russian dude when I saw he had previously done this routine:
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