Category — Bootlegs

When I was in grade eight my friend Jason bought a Guns N’ Roses bootleg that had a really shitty recording of a live show, along with a couple of unreleased demos. I got a dub of it and played that sucker frontwards, backwards and sideways. I’m not kidding. Somehow the tape got all twisted around and the only way it would play is in reverse.

Here’s a copy of “Shadow of Your Love” from that bootleg. I can pretty much guarantee will not get chewed up in your walkman and will only play in one direction.

Guns N’ Roses - “Shadow of Your Love”

I admit it. I like having this Internet thing sitting here, ready to give me whatever I want. It has been an amazing tool for allowing me to discover and access new music. But in some ways I miss how things used to be.

Case in point, the release of Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy this month. I should be extremely excited about it. Excited like I was in 1991 waiting for the release of Use Your Illusion I and II. But I’m not. I’m not excited because I know practically everything about Chinese Democracy and have heard most of it before buying it.

Yeah I know, seems like a dumb thing to say. People download entire albums before their release date all the time now. I’ve done it myself. But this time it’s supposed to be different.

I want to count down the months, weeks, days and hours until the release date. I want to rush to the record store on the day the album comes out. I want to have no idea what the artwork will look like until I pick it up. I want to hear it for the first time not knowing what to expect. I don’t need these things for every new album I’m looking forward to. It would just be nice to experience them again occasionally.

But it’s different now and I wouldn’t change things even if I could. The same tool that ruined the experience of buying a new album, also gave me a chance to hear what I may never have had the chance to buy. For all I knew Chinese Democracy never was going to come out. Leave it to Axl Rose to actually do what everyone thought he never would.

So on November 23rd I will know what the artwork for the new Guns N’ Roses album will look like and I will have heard nine of it’s fourteen songs. But I’ll still be there to buy Chinese Democracy the day it comes out. It won’t be the same. But as much as everything has changed, some things about me never will.

For those who care or might even have this on a shitty VHS tape from when it aired on MuchMusic or MTV back in 1988, here’s Guns N’ Roses live at the Ritz in New York:

1. It’s So Easy
2. Mr. Brownstone
3. Out Ta Get Me
4. Sweet Child O’ Mine
5. My Michelle
6. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
7. Welcome to the Jungle
8. Nightrain
9. Paradise City
10. Mama Kin
11. Rocket Queen

Download Guns N’ Roses - Live at the Ritz, New York 1988 (zip-91mb)

My first introduction to Dax Riggs was through the dark Louisiana sludge of Acid Bath. However, it was actually his next band Agents of Oblivion that really caught my attention. Their lush, psychedelic sound may have lacked some of Acid Bath’s heaviness, but it did allow Dax’s unique voice and lyrics to stand front and center. The band’s one and only self-titled album is highly recommended.

Dax’s next project, Deadboy & the Elephantmen expanded even more on the sounds mapped out with Agents of Oblivion. Their first album If This is Hell, Then I’m Lucky was a dark, layered affair that utilized a number of instruments and sounds. While it’s follow-up We Are Night Sky was more stripped down with a focus on guitar, drums and voice.

After announcing any future projects would be put out under his own name, Dax released his first solo album, We Sing of Only Blood or Love in 2007. It continued down the same path explored with We Are Night Sky, only with more of a full band feel.

Do yourself a huge favor and check out all of the above mentioned bands. If you are on this website, then there is something Dax Riggs released you will like. He is a great talent, who has flown under the radar for years and deserves to be heard.

If you like what you hear or are already a fan, here is a recording of one of Dax’s solo shows from February 23, 2008:

1. Intro
2. Stop, I’m Already Dead
3. Dethbryte
4. Dax Don’t Make Sense
5. Wall of Death
6. Living is Suicide
7. 13 Cannot Be Divided
8. Dressed in Smoke
9. Terrors of Nightlife
10. Misadventures of Dope
11. Perfect Dreaming Skull (Partial)
12. Dog Headed Whore
13. Fly on the Eye of the Lamb
14. Night is the Notion
15. Sleeping With the Witch
16. No Train to Stockholm
17. Andy
18. To Hell With the Moon
19. Thing in a Jar
20. If You Go Away
21. Andy’s Drum Set
22. Radiation Blues
23. Skulls

Download Dax Riggs - Live February 23, 2008 (zip-96mb)

Speaking of Hanks Williams III, here is a great bootleg of his April 3rd 2006 show at Alley Katz in Richmond, Virginia. It was recorded right off the board, so the sound quality it top notch.

As always, it includes a full set of country songs, followed by a 12 song set by Assjack that will rip your face off.

1. Intro
2. Straight to Hell
3. Trashville
4. Thrown Out of the Bar
5. Smoke & Wine
6. D. Ray White
7. I Don’t Know
8. Mississippi Mud
9. Pills I Took
10. Lowdown
11. Longhaired Redneck
12. My Buckets Got a Hole in It
13. Hoedown
14. Cocaine Blues
15. Crazed Country Rebel
16. Long Hauls & Close Calls
17. Not Everybody Likes Us
18. Outskirts of Life
19. Nighttime Rambling Man
20. Don’t Wanna Go Home
21. Praying For a Heart Attack
22. Life of Sin
23. Go Fuck You
24. White Trash Pt. 2
25. Hellbilly
26. Interlude
27. Gravel Pit
28. Cocaine
29. Trepanation
30. Cut Throat
31. Punch, Fight, Fuck
32. Redneck Ride
33. We Take Pills
34. Choking Gesture
35. Black Destiny
36. Death Comes Ripping
37. No Regrets
38. Rise To Die

Download Hank Williams III - Live at Alley Katz (zip-185mb)