BOURBON & BEYOND: Friday [Review & Photo Gallery]

Bourbon & Beyond is back! Bigger and dryer than last year. As most know, last year’s two day event was shortened to one day by torrential rains that caused flooding and threats of flooding in and around Champions Park (last year’s venue). As they say that was last year, this year was a very different story! Not only did the festival move to a different venue it was expanded from two days to three and there was NO rain in the forecast. In fact the reported 91,000 plus fans were treated to what some people in Kentucky were calling 2nd summer with temperatures in the 90’s all three days. It was hot, temperature and music! Continue reading

Indian Death Metallers GODLESS To Decimate Europe This September!

Indian metal has been on the rise on the global platform for quite a while lately now. There are more number of Indian bands touring Europe than ever before. 2019 has been phenonmenal when it comes to Indian bands taking a leap overseas and showcasing their prowess to the wider audiences to much applause. GODLESS has been one of the most technical, cut throat and brutal bands that have made a huge mark in the Indian scene for the past couple of years now. They have been professional, powerful and also have been successful in cementing themselves as rising force in both Indian and global death metal scene.

If I still don’t sound convincing go ahead and check them out while they’re out on the road starting this September 7th, making sure their blend of nerve wracking death metal takes no prisoners. The boys from Hyderabad will be touring  seven countries, playing 18 shows over a stretch of 23 days on their aptly named tour, ‘Swarm Over Europe‘. Fellow German death metal band DIVIDE shall be supporting them in the entire European conquest. Check the dates down below.

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Bourbon & Beyond Festival Spotlight: +LIVE+ [Official Videos]

Photo: Janson Bulpin

+LIVE+ will be one of the upcoming acts at this year’s Bourbon and Beyond. The festival now has a new home. It is still in Louisville, Kentucky of course, but will call a new festival grounds home. This year, Bourbon and Beyond will take place at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo on September 20th, 21st, and 22nd. The previous location, Champions Park, had a terrible flood last year and day 2 of Bourbon and Beyond as well as Louder Than Life the following weekend was cancelled. However, to make up for that, Bourbon and Beyond is now a 3-day festival. This means an additional day of bands, bourbon and best friends! How awesome is that? This will be +LIVE+’s debut at the Bourbon and Beyond Festival. If you have never had the opportunity to check this band out, prepare yourself to be amazed! With that said, let’s discuss +LIVE+. Continue reading

LIVE & BUSH Extend The Alt-imate Tour!

 

LIVE and Bush are back on U.S. soil after a successful UK tour! And to top it all, it’s the original line-up of LIVE, featuring, Ed Kowalczyk (vocals, guitar), Chad Taylor (guitar, backing vocals), Patrick Dahlheimer (bass) and Chad Gracey (drums, percussion). The enough can’t be said about Bush who have been keeping ALT rock alive since the 90’s. Led by frontman Gavin Rossdale the band still sounds as good if not better than they did well over 2 decades ago.

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+LIVE+ Performs To Sold Out Crowd In London [Review & Photos]

+Live+

Tonight I was set to attend a sold-out performance by the band Live at the iconic O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. Arriving late but ready to rock on arrival, the venue was crammed full and the buzz in the venue for Live to hit the stage was unreal. The feeling from the fans was a decent, friendly vibe and you felt like you were among friends. Everyone was looking after each other and being polite as we all had one thing in common: we’re here to witness a classic performance by a band that was essentially the soundtrack of the 90’s; Live. Continue reading

IMMOLATION And BLOOD INCANTATION To Ravage North America This Fall

Immolation (Photo credit: Rodrigo Fredes)

Death metal legions, unite! This is gonna be one hell of a bad motherfucker of a tour. New York death metal giants IMMOLATION are pleased to announce “The Last Atonement Tour –  North America 2019”. Joining them as direct support on their headlining run are  Denver-based death metal merchants, BLOOD INCANTATION

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Spend New Year’s Eve At Ozzfest!

New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and what better way to spend it by rocking it out to OzzFest 2018 with some of the greatest acts in modern rock music. New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles this year will see the man himself OZZY OSBOURNE headlining along with ROB ZOMBIE, MARILYN MANSON and a few more acts that are ready to entice you.

This 31st night, the show will take place at Los Angeles at the famed The Forum, which also includes an indoor and an outdoor large stage, some fun and frolic festivities, and some good food trucks. Joining the headliners are JONATHAN DAVIS, ZAKK SABBATH, BODY COUNT(first OzzFest debut performance), DEVILDRIVER and WEDNESDAY13. If this doesn’t convince you to get on those moshing boots, then I don’t know what will!

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Grand RockTember VI Day 3: AUTOGRAPH, LYNCH MOB, HERICANE ALICE, TUFF, QUEENSRYCHE, TESLA

Tesla

Minnesota’s own HERICANE ALICE opened up the final day. In 1990 they released “Tear The House Down” and we got some of the great cuts off that album. The band is fronted by Bruce Naumann and also features Johnny Holiday (guitar), Johnny (Super J) Keyte (Bass) and Jerry Babcock (drums). The band opened with a cover of “Radar Love” but the crowd really reacted to “Tear The House Down” and “Wild, Young, and Crazy”. There is new material on the way and I know a lot of people looking forward to that. They were a great way to get the day started.

Tuff

The Stevie Rachelle lead TUFF brought a great show to the stage next. Flanked by founding member Todd Chase on bass the band opened with “God Bless This Mess”. The roster was filled out with Jimi Lord on drums and Billy Morris on guitar. They were a lot of fun and Rachelle’s personality kept you dialed in. Some songs that made the playlist included “Spit Like This”, “Ruck A Pit Bridge” and “In Dogs We Trust”. Stevie gave a nice shout-out to Nicci Wikkid and dedicated “Good Guys Wear Black” to him. He was the guitarist for one of Minnesota’s most loved metal bands, Slave Raider, and sadly past away recently. “The All New Generation” and the anthem “American Hair Band” brought the TUFF gang’s time on the stage to an end.

Autograph

AUTOGRAPH launched into “Deep End” and then “Loud and Clear” to get people moving. Steve Lynch (guitar) and Randy Rand (bass) have been waving the Autograph flag since the beginning and have recruited drummer Marc Weiland and singer Simon Daniels to carry the band forward. They released a new album in 2017 called “Get Off Your Ass” and showcased the title track along with “Every Generation” and “You Are Us, We Are You” during the set. It’s hard to imagine an AUTOGRAPH without a Steve Plunkett on vocals but I’ve seen this line-up multiple times now and they have won me over. Daniels is a true talent and his vocals play well with the Autograph catalog. Your not leaving an AUTOGRAPH show until you get the built in closer, “Turn Up The Radio”, and it still consumes everybody within earshot of it.

Lynch Mob

George Lynch would make his second appearance of the Festival with LYNCH MOB. “Street Fighting Man” was the opener and then they jumped into “She’s Evil But She’s Mine” and “River Of Love”. Nathan Utz handled the vocals while Sean McNabb (bass) and Scot Cogan (drums) took on the rhythm section. A couple highlights for me were “Tangled In The Web” as loved that second LYNCH MOB record and the DOKKEN cover of “When Heaven Comes Down”. I not sure I’ve ever heard that song sound so heavy and epic, it was brilliant. Utz was very entertaining and was all over the stage and George put in another great performance to follow up the DOKKEN show the night before. The rest of the set included “Mr. Scary”, “It’s Not Love”, “No Good”, and the closer “Wicked Sensation”.

Queensryche

QUEENSRYCHE struck gold when they were able to replace Geoff Tate with Todd LaTorre. He is a true talent with a voice that perfectly fits within the bands sound. Every time I see them I’m still amazed how seamless that transition was. Michael Wilton on guitar and Eddie Jackson on bass are the only original members playing with the band now. Scott Rockenfield is still listed in the band but hasn’t played with them in some time as Casey Grillo has been filling in behind the kit. Guitarist Parker Lundgren was absent and Mike Stone took over those duties for the evening. The band opened with “Best I Can” with a rousing response from the crowd. I like hearing the stuff from the pre-mindcrime era and we got a few, “The Whisper”, “Queen Of The Reich”, “Take Hold Of The Flame” and “Screaming In Digital”. The staples of every set were also present in the forms of “Silent Lucidity”, “Empire”, and “Jet City Woman”. These guys never sound bad and they played a great set that was capped off with “Eyes Of A Stranger”.

Tesla

TESLA would close out the three-day festival. These guys seem to never come off the road and remain one of the busiest rock bands out there. With a ton of great material to choose from, the band opened with “I Wanna Live” and then “Hang Tough” and “Heaven’s Trail (No Way Out)“. There isn’t much left to say that hasn’t already been said but TESLA is simply a great rock-n-roll band. Jeff Keith on vocals, Brian Wheat on bass, Troy Luccketta on drums, and the twin guitar attack of Frank Hannon and Dave Rude powers the TESLA machine. The crowd loved every minute of the set that also included an acoustic section that included “Cumin’Atcha Live/Truckin’”, “Lazy Days, Crazy Nights”, “Paradise” and the ultimate sing-along song “Signs”. All the usual hits like “Love Song”, “What You Give” and “Little Suzi” were played but it was “Mama’s Fool” and “Edison’s Medicine (Man Out Of Time)” that got my attention. A perfect ending to the event was TESLA filling the nighttime air with “Modern Day Cowboy” and I’m sure I’m not alone in that thought.

Grand RockTember VI comes to an end after three days of some of the most iconic material written from a time period that so many hold near and dear to their hearts. The guessing game is already in progress to who will be on the bill in 2019 as hotels are already being booked for next years pilgrimage to the Grand Casino in Hinckley, MN. Let the countdown begin…

 

Texas Hippie Coalition, Kobra And The Lotus & More Bring Metal To Johnson City. [Review & Gallery]

 

The band of outlaws that is the Texas Hippie Coalition rolled into Johnson City, TN and The Hideaway with their friends Kobra and the Lotus, Brand of Julez, Granny 4 Barrel and Clockwork Asylum. The “Year Of The Bull tour” was about to be unleashed on Johnson City, TN. The intent was to tear apart The Hideaway and they came real close!!

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MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, EVERY TIME I DIE, Dominate Sold Out Show In Lexington [Review & Photo Gallery]

Motionless In White

 

It’s March in the Bluegrass which means everyone in the region has basketball on their minds. Although the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team is playing (which I listened to on the 2 hour drive north to Lexington) this day was about music. Not just any kind of music – Metal! Not just any normal volume – Very Loud! Continue reading