Category — Live Music

I live in the woods. Therefore I usually have an hour plus drive on my hands to get home after checking out some live music. I don’t mind that, but sometimes it would be nice to be a little closer to the action. Well, a couple of evenings ago I was.

Buried Inside just did a tour through Atlantic Canada and decided to hit a basement that happened to be 10 minutes from my house. This would be my second time seeing the band. The first was in a slightly larger venue, but still a rather intimate setting. At that show, they shut all the lights out and played in complete darkness. They did the same this time, but being in a room the size of my kitchen and having roughly 15-20 people in attendance, made it a very unique setting. Pretty much like seeing them at my own house. Only without the inconvenience of neighbours complaining,  or a bunch of strangers hanging around.

The set mainly consisted of songs from Spoils of Failure. Which was fine by me. Through repeat listens over the past few weeks, it’s greatness has been revealing itself layer by layer. Definitely some highly recommended next level shit.

The band is headed to Europe soon with Relapse label mates Tombs. If you live across the ocean or anywhere else they happen to be playing in the near future, go see them now.

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)

It’s official. Montreal’s Trigger Effect rule.

I was out to check out Iron Giant on the weekend, but it was Trigger Effect’s set that totally floored me. Normally my tastes tend to lean toward slow, thick heaviness rather than brute force. But I’ll always have a soft spot for a fast, in your face live show and Trigger Effect brought that big time.

Ceilings were punched, projectiles were thrown and the line between the stage and dance floor was non-existent.

I picked up their full length Dare to Ride the Heliocraft before leaving and guess what? It’s damn near as good as their live show.

Go listen to this band or see them live now.

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)

As we all know, music is primarily digested through your ears. However, I always find it interesting to see how bands choose to represent their music visually as well. Be that though the use of traditional graphic design, the internet, video and even in the live setting.

One such band who has always excelled in this area is Nine Inch Nails.  Wired has posted a great article about the technology behind the stage show of the bands current tour. It is a very interesting read and offers lots of insight into the inspiration behind what they are doing, along with the technology behind it.

Also go download their new album. After all it is free.

Saw Buried Inside on Saturday with Whitey and a couple of guys from his posse. The band was awesome. A wall of sound that was LOUD. Lots of buildups, feedback, noise and flat out heaviness. It was great to finally see them.

The reason I posted this is because of the accompanying photo that I just found. What is cool about it is, first it was taken by my friend Jon Hutt, who I haven’t seen in years. He was five feet in front of me taking this and I didn’t even recognize him. And second, believe it or not, this show was played in total darkness (and in a space the size of a large rec room). Never know it by the photo, would you?