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ZZ Top

Billy Gibbons Giving You All His Loving
Billy Gibbons Giving You All His Loving

ZZ Top is an American rock band that was formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. With their mix of Texas blues, blues rock, boogie, southern rock and hard rock, ZZ Top had great success, especially in the 1980s, and filled concert halls and stadiums on extensive tours. The band members since 1969 are Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. Since the late 1970s, Gibbons and Hill have been wearing the long full beards that have become the group’s trademark, appear in long trench coats and wear heavily tinted sunglasses and stetsons.

After the end of Gibbons’ band, The Moving Sidewalks, he decided in the summer of 1969 to put together a new band with which he wanted to orientate himself more towards blues and rock music. Billy Etheridge, who had played with Jimmie Vaughan, offered to play bass. In addition to Gibbons keyboardist Lanier Greig and drummer Dan Mitchell joined the original line-up of the band, which shortly thereafter renamed itself to ZZ Top.

According to Gibbons, the name pays homage to his musical role models Z. Z. Hill and B. B. King. However, the combination ZZ King made too much reference to B. B. King, so he decided on ZZ Top. Top is an equivalent to King because a king is always at the top.

A little later Greig left ZZ Top. The remaining trio made their first musical attempts on a ranch in Texas and decided a little later to put the marketing of the band in the hands of a manager. The choice fell on Bill Ham, a friend of John Mayall. Shortly thereafter, ZZ Top recorded their first single Salt Lick / Miller’s Farm at Doyles Jones Recording in Houston. Since the record deal with London Records was not yet signed, Bill Ham released the single on his record label Scat Records. The single had modest success, aired on local radio stations, and given the group appearances across Texas.

Within a short time the line-up was changed again – Dusty Hill took over the bass and Frank Beard the drums. Both had played in American Blues. In this line-up, ZZ Top first appeared on February 10, 1970 in Beaumont. In the summer of 1970, the recordings for the debut album “ZZ Top’s First Album” followed, which was officially released in January 1971.

In the months that followed, ZZ Top toured with various Texan musicians and bands such as Doug Sahm and Sunny and the Sunliners, and the group supported Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Janis Joplin. During the tour, ZZ Top wrote the songs for the second album Rio Grande Mud and recorded it during the tour breaks. The album was released in 1972 and brought ZZ Top the first listing on the Billboard 200 at number 104. The single Francine reached number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Due to the success, the group made their first tours as headliners. With the 1973 album Tres Hombres, ZZ Top consolidated their image as a “Texan Braggart” and landed their first hit, La Grange. Following the album, the band toured the US for several years with almost no breaks, only interrupted by the studio recordings on the B-side of the 1975 album Fandango!.

This tour marathon ended with the 1975 Worldwide Texas Tour. For this tour, ZZ Top had its own stage developed, which thematically revolved around the state of Texas. The band took around 75 tons of sound and lighting technology with them to around 100 appearances in the USA. The highlight of the show was the presentation of animals native to Texas such as buffalos, bulls and snakes on stage. With the tour, ZZ Top made about 10 million US dollars.

Outside the US, the tour did not bring the hoped-for commercial success. Band biographer Jürgen Seibold suspects that this was not insignificantly due to the fact that the animals could not be brought abroad because of the quarantine regulations.

Gibbons described the years of almost uninterrupted touring as a “grueling and horrific experience” and after the release of Teja’s next album in early 1977, the three musicians took a break.

Frank Beard retired to the Caribbean, Dusty Hill to Mexico and Billy Gibbons to Europe. During this time, the musicians maintained loose contact by telephone or fax. Gibbons and Hill grew their full beards, which later became their trademark. The complete absence from the tour and the media fueled rumors that ZZ Top had broken up. In 1979 the Warner Music Group signed ZZ Top and released Degüello.

At the beginning of 1980, ZZ Top went on tour again after a three-year break. The appearance on April 19, 1980 in the Rocknacht of the WDR is seen as the initial spark for the commercial breakthrough in Europe. The show was broadcast by numerous European channels as part of Eurovision and it was the first time that ZZ Top was shown live on European television.

The final international breakthrough came with the 1983 album Eliminator. The band combined their guitar blues with modern synthesizers on this and some of the following albums. This approach to contemporary tastes and the widely acclaimed video clips in the then still young medium of music channels such as MTV resulted in sales of several million for the album. The most successful singles were Gimme All Your Lovin’, Legs and Sharp Dressed Man. ZZ Top finally became a top international act.

1983 turned out to be the most commercially successful year in the band’s history to date. The tour for the album recorded 56 stops in the USA with around 1.5 million tickets sold, and around four million copies of the album were sold worldwide. The musicians were particularly pleased with the commercial success that began in Great Britain on 1984, as English musicians such as the Rolling Stones or Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead were among the main influences of the band.

Also in 1984, Gillette offered Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill $ 1 million each for beards shaved off for an advertising campaign. The musicians refused the offer. With the 1985 album Afterburner, ZZ Top reached the climax of their musical career. In the USA alone, around 3 million copies were sold and the album reached the top ten in numerous national hit parades.

The world tour, which began in December 1985, comprised a total of 212 appearances. The tour concluded in March 1987 in Honolulu. During the tour there were disputes between the main sponsor Miller Brewing Company and the opening act The Black Crowes, because the band saw their independence restricted by the rules of the sponsorship agreement. Just a few weeks after the tour began, this led to the support band being kicked out.

After the tour there was a three-year break, during which the band barely appeared musically. Around 1987, the band’s management took legal action against a representation in the popular adventure game Space Quest I from Sierra Entertainment, where they were shown in a space bar, because of a copyright infringement. In order to avoid a legal dispute, Sierra voluntarily removed the relevant passage.

ZZ Top made further headlines when the musicians announced in October 1987 that they had booked three seats for the first passenger flight to the moon. In 1988, ZZ Top donated $1 million to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. The participation of ZZ Top in the film Back to the Future III caused further sensation. Initially, the band was supposed to contribute a song to the film soundtrack with Doubleback and for this reason visited the filming in 1989. Director Robert Zemeckis took this opportunity and shot a scene with the three musicians in which they played doubleback on traditional instruments in a saloon.

Recycler was released in the fall of 1990, followed by a tour of North America. The special thing about the album was that there were six tips on the inside of the CD booklet that could be used to save planet earth. Although the theses should not be understood as deadly serious, the musicians have developed a basic awareness of nature conservation, which they wanted to express with these theses.

The year 1991 was dominated by the murder of the wife of the band manager Bill Ham. In 1992, after the release of the best-of album Greatest Hits, the record deal with Warner ran out. ZZ Top won a new contract with RCA Records, which was endowed with a total of around 55 million US dollars.

The next album Antenna was originally supposed to be released in early 1993, but wasn’t released until January 1994. In the mid-1990s, ZZ Top was represented with two titles in the soundtrack of the feature film From Dusk Till Dawn. After the obligatory tour, the follow-up album Rhythmeen was released in 1996.

In 1999 ZZ released Top XXX, followed by an extensive world tour that took the band to Australia and New Zealand. After the tour ended, the band went back to the studio to record Mescalero, which was finally released in 2003. Also in 2003, ZZ Top took part in the TV show Crossroads, where country musicians met artists from other genres. ZZ Top’s partner was Brooks & Dunn.

In 2004 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On the occasion of the Billboard Music Awards 2006 Billy Gibbons played the song Tush from the 1975 album Fandango! Together with Nickelback and Kid Rock.

After a long break, the next studio album La Futura was released at the end of 2012. In 2019, a British-Canadian-American documentary was made with the title That Little Ol’Band From Texas.

Since the 1970s, cars have been the second essential component of the band’s image, alongside the flair for attractive women. The first vehicle was a Ford Coupé, built in 1933, which ZZ Top had restored from the mid-1970s and converted into a hot rod. As the Eliminator Coupe, the vehicle graced the cover of Eliminator. The second vehicle that caused a stir was the Leapin’ Limo, which was first seen in the Velcro Fly music video. It was a Pontiac Streamliner “Silver Streak” from 1948, which was stretched 40 inches by a Californian tuning company. Frank Beard competed in various IMSA races from around the mid-1980s.

In addition to their cameo in Back to the Future III, the band made short appearances in various television productions. Billy Gibbons played the father of Angela Montenegro in the US TV series Bones between 2005 and 2011. ZZ Top also made a cameo on the television series Two and a Half Men. In Season 7, Episode 21 (The Grandfather Clock) they appeared twice to drugged Charlie Harper at his beach house.

ZZ Top songs have also been used in wrestling series. In 2002, Kid Rock covered the song Legs for the WWF sampler WWF Forceable Entry. Wrestler Jimmy Valiant was inspired by ZZ Top for his outfit and appeared in fights as a Boogie Woogie Man with a full beard like Hill and Gibbons.

I took pictures of ZZ Top at Stage 13 music festival in Camrose, Alberta, Canada on July 11, 2004:

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Bands

Sum 41

Deryck Whibley Being Himself
Deryck Whibley Being Himself

Sum 41 is an Alternative Metal band originally from Ajax, Ontario, Canada. The band was formed in 1996 and is currently comprised of Deryck Whibley (rhythm guitar, keyboards, lead vocals), Dave “Brownsound” Baksh (lead guitar), Jason McCaslin (bass), Tom Thacker (lead and rhythm guitar, keyboards) and Frank Zummo. (drums). In April 2013, drummer Steve Jocz announced his departure from the band. More than 10 million Sum 41 albums have been sold worldwide.

In 1999, Sum 41 signed an international record deal with Island Records. They released their debut album, All Killer No Filler in 2001, and achieved commercial success with their first single from the album, “Fat Lip“, which reached number one on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and remains the most successful single on the band to date. All Killer No Filler has been certified platinum in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The band has released seven studio albums: Does This Look Infected? (2002), Chuck (2004) Underclass Hero (2007), Screaming Bloody Murder (2011), 13 Voices (2016) and the most recent work Order In Decline (2019).

Sum 41 has been nominated seven times for the Juno Awards and has won twice (Group of the Year in 2002 and Rock Album of the Year in 2005). Sum 41 was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song “Blood in My Eyes”, however they lost to the Foo Fighters.

Sum 41 noted that in the beginning they were strongly influenced by NOFX. Another influence on their music were Beastie Boys especially on the album All Killer No Filler. On the other hand, hip-hop and rapcore influences were found in the singles Fat Lip and What We’re All About. Later with the album Does This Look Infected? the band commented that it had music influenced by The Offspring, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The Chuck album offers a number of songs influenced by Metallica. More recently, Deryck expressed his fascination with the great vocal range of Queen’s Freddy Mercury. Indeed, Sum 41 sometimes performs a version of ‘We will rock you’ in their shows.

History

Sum 41 was formed by singer-songwriter Deryck Whibley and former drummer Steve “Stevo” Jocz under the name Kaspir. A year later Dave “Brownsound” Baksh joined as lead guitarist and, after playing with several bassists, they recruited Jason “Cone” McCaslin to complete the group.

The group, then Kaspir, used to cover the band NOFX. The members of the group decided to change its name for a Supernova concert on September 28, 1996, when it was then forty-one days after the beginning of summer.

In 1998 a demo was recorded on compact tape which they sent to record companies in the hope of landing a recording contract. The tapes in this demo are rare and the only known recording featuring original bassist Richard “Twitch” Roy.

From 1999 to 2000 the band recorded several new songs. The DVD’s Introduction to Destruction, Cross The T’s and Gouge Your I’s contain self-recorded footage and include a dance performance for “Makes No Difference” in front of a theater.

Sum 41 released the EP Half Hour of Power on June 27, 2000, under the Big Rig and Island labels. It reached positions 176 and 36 on the Billboard 200 and Top Heatseekers charts respectively, both in the United States. The band’s first single released was “Makes No Difference“, which features two different music videos. “Makes No Difference” was ranked 32 on the Modern Rock Tracks tally in the United States. In April 2003 Half Hour of Power was certified gold in Canada.

Sum 41’s first full-length album, All Killer No Filler, was released on May 8, 2001.7 It had a good commercial reception: it ranked in the top 50 of the major charts in Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand. In addition, it received gold disc certification in Australia, platinum in the US and UK, and triple platinum in Canada. The first single from the album was “Fat Lip“. It reached number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100, and on Modern Rock Tracks it reached number 1. A music video for “Fat Lip“, directed by Marc Klasfeld, was released on March 20, 2001. The second and Third single from the album were “In Too Deep” and “Motivation“, respectively.

In 2001, Sum 41 participated in that year’s edition of the Vans Warped Tour, so their song “Tables Have Turned” appeared on the Vans Warped Tour 2001 Compilation. By September of the same year, Sum 41 was on tour with Blink-182, but after the incidents on the 11th of that month, the last dates were canceled. Later the canceled shows were rescheduled and held in February 2002. In April of the same year the group did a tour of the United States to promote All Killer No Filler.

On November 26, 2002, the band’s second studio album, Does This Look Infected? was released.

Sum 41 released the album Chuck on October 12, 2004. The first single was We’re All to Blame. The album was named after Chuck Pelletier, a member of the United Nations peacekeepers who saved the lives of the band members and 40 other civilians while the band was filming a documentary about the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo called Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo.

The band released a live album shortly before Dave’s retirement, which they titled Go Chuck Yourself. This disc is the recording of a show in Ontario during the tour of the same name. During these years, the band began a stage of “maturity“, with the lyrics touching politics, and Deryck marrying the Canadian singer Avril Lavigne.

On May 11, 2006, Dave Baksh announced his retirement from Sum 41 to work in his new band called Brown Brigade.

On July 24, 2007 the album Underclass Hero was released, featuring the homonymous song Underclass Hero as the first single. During the recording of this album and their subsequent tour, they were joined by a new guitarist, Tom Thacker.

On this album they take up the ‘punk’ sound, leaving behind Chuck’s ‘metal’ sound.

On August 7, 2008, McCaslin announced in a journal on the band’s official site that he is currently taking time off from touring to do other things. Later, they began working on a new studio album for the band. McCaslin worked on the second album of his side project, The Operation M.D., Jocz toured as a drummer for The Vandals, and Whibley was touring with his then-wife Avril Lavigne.

Sum 41 announced in a press release that due to the success of Underclass Hero, Universal Music made the decision to have Sum 41 produce an EP in 2009. However, Deryck stated that the new EP was quickly becoming an LP, due to the amount of music they had recorded, which was more than expected. The band entered the studio in late 2008 with the plan of releasing the album sometime during 2009, and with a supporting tour in the summer.

On November 26, 2008, Sum 41 released 8 Years of Blood, Sake and Tears, a greatest hits album, in Japan. The album includes an unreleased song, “Always“, and a DVD, which contains each of the band’s videos. In February 2009, the band said that due to the success and demand for the greatest hits album, which they had, they decided to release it around the world, albeit with a different title and artwork.

In early 2009 the band released All The Good Shit, similar to the compilation released in Japan.

Screaming Bloody Murder went on sale worldwide on March 29, 2011, presenting a darker and rockier Sum 41, with a sound quite similar to their fourth album Chuck.

On April 8, 2013 drummer Steve Jocz announced his retirement from the band. On August 20, 2015, the return of guitarist Dave Baksh was confirmed on social networks.

On March 22, 2016, the band announces on their official Facebook page that Sum 41 will be playing in the 2016 Warped Tour and on March 23, 2016, they announce their participation in the Amnesia Rock Fest, along with NOFX, Blink-182 and Rise Against, among others.

On May 11, 2016, Sum 41 announced that they have signed with Hopeless Records. On February 19, 2017 Deryck Whibley announced through social networks that they would record a live CD on the 22nd at the Zénith room in Paris, France.

On April 23, 2019, the band announced via social media that they were returning with new music. On April 24, they released their first single titled “Out For Blood” via Hopeless Records. On the same day, the band also announced their seventh studio album, Order In Decline, which was released on July 19, 2019.

I took pictures of Sum 41 when they performed at Stage 13 in Camrose, Alberta, Canada on July 11, 2004:

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Bands

Evanescence

Amazing Hair on Amy Lee
Amazing Hair on Amy Lee

Evanescence (from Latin evanescere: “to disappear”) is an American alternative rock band from Little Rock, Arkansas.

The group was founded by lead singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. The two met at a youth camp in Arkansas, where Moody heard Lee perform the song I’d Do Anything for Love by Meat Loaf on the piano.

When the two discovered that they were both fans of the singer Björk, they began writing pieces together – starting with Solitude (by Amy Lee), followed by Understanding (by Ben Moody), Give Unto Me (by Amy Lee) and My Immortal (by Ben Moody). The songs were modified lyrically and musically by Lee, which earned both equal recognition for the compositions. When picking the band name, Lee and Moody considered, among other things, “Childish Intentions” and “Stricken“, and then decided on “Evanescence” (Disappear). Amy Lee liked the name because it sounded mysterious, yet beautiful – exactly what she wanted to achieve.

Two of the songs (Understanding and Give Unto Me) soon found their way onto local radio stations’ programs, which also earned them requests to perform. At a concert in 1998 they released their first EP, limited to 100 discs, under the title Evanescence, followed in August 1999 by a second EP, limited to 50 discs, called Sound Asleep. The first album Origin, which, like the two EPs and the subsequent promo EP Mystary, is no longer available, was released on November 2, 2000 on the local label Bigwig Enterprises in an edition of 2500 copies. For this reason, Lee and Moody also stated in interviews that fans should download this material from the Internet.

It was with the inclusion of John LeCompt, Rocky Gray and Will Boyd in early 2003 that a line-up was created that could also perform live. Together they began to rework the existing material, and they were discovered while mastering a new demo recording by producer Pete Matthews. This got them a record deal with the New York label Wind-Up Records.

The recordings for the album Fallen began. Two of the songs prepared for this album – Bring Me to Life and My Immortal – were used on the Daredevil soundtrack, which marked the breakthrough for Evanescence. Bring Me to Life, in which Paul McCoy from 12 Stones sings as a guest musician, was a worldwide hit and reached number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number one in the British charts. In addition, the band received at the Grammy Awards 2004 in addition to the nomination as “Best New Artist” for this single, the award “Best Hard Rock Performance“. My Immortal made it to number seven on the US charts and likewise number seven in the UK.

In March 2003 the album Fallen was released. It entered the US album charts at number seven, climbed to number three and spent a total of over 100 weeks in the charts. Overall, the album sold over 14 million copies and earned the band platinum and gold awards in over 35 countries.

During a subsequent European tour, co-founder Ben Moody suddenly left the band in October 2003. He was succeeded by Terry Balsamo of the band Cold, which appeared in 2003 as opening act for Evanescence.

In 2004, after long touring in the new formation Evanescence released Anywhere But Home, a DVD / CD compilation which, in addition to a concert in Paris, also contained some background material and a hitherto unreleased song.

The recording for the next album began in September 2005. Shortly after a recording session, guitarist Terry Balsamo had a stroke in November 2005, which was probably caused by a clot in a cervical artery that was caused by headbanging. This incident, which left Balsamo half paralyzed for a long time, and the move to a new manager delayed the completion and release of the album. On July 14, 2006, bassist Will Boyd announced that he would be leaving the band to spend more time with his family. On August 10, 2006, his successor Tim McCord (ex-The Revolution Smile) was announced.

On October 3, 2006, the album The Open Door was released in the United States and Canada. In the first week it sold 447,000 copies in the United States alone and immediately rose to number one in the US album charts. The following months up to December 2007 the band spent mainly on world tour.

On May 5, 2007, Wind-Up Records announced that guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray were no longer active with Evanescence. Will Hunt and Troy McLawhorn (both members of Dark New Day) joined the band as replacements. Lee announced that they would only borrow the two for some time, but their band should remain. Troy McLawhorn stayed in the band for barely a year and did not return as a permanent member of the band until 2011.

Former members Ben Moody, John LeCompt and Rocky Gray founded a new project called “We Are the Fallen” together with new singer Carly Smithson (former participant of American Idol) and released their first single in 2009. The music style is very similar to the style of Evanescence – the name of the band is therefore probably not coincidentally based on the name of the first Evanescence successful album Fallen. The first album was released on May 11, 2010.

A song entitled Together Again was released by Evanescence for the benefit of Haiti. This track was originally intended for The Open Door, but is not included in the album for unknown reasons. The song has been available digitally since February 2010.

The third studio album Evanescence was released on October 7, 2011. According to Amy Lee, the album should represent a new side of the band and has nothing to do with the genre of the two previous albums.

On August 9, 2011 What You Want was released as the first single from the new album. For the film Underworld: Awakening, the band contributed the title Made of Stone. After the 2012 tour, Amy Lee announced that the band would be taking a creative break.

In 2015, guitarist Terry Balsamo was replaced by Jen Majura, who was born in Stuttgart, Germany.

On November 10, 2017, Evanescence returned from a creative break with the new album Synthesis, which, in addition to some new songs, mainly contains old songs with an orchestral arrangement. The new single Bring Me to Life (Synthesis) was released on August 18, 2017. The second single Imperfection followed on September 15, 2017.

The band’s influences include Garbage, Living Sacrifice, Type O Negative, Portishead, Counting Crows and Sarah McLachlan.

Although Amy Lee claims to be a Christian, as a band, Evanescence has distanced itself from the Christian music scene since the release of their album Fallen in 2003.

Likewise, although the group is often given the collective term Gothic Metal due to their popularity in the black scene and their corresponding appearance, they distance themselves from the Gothic scene.

I took pictures of Evanescence at the Stage 13 festival in Camrose, Alberta, Canada on July 10, 2004:

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Bands

Motörhead

Wind in Lemmy's Hair
Wind in Lemmy's Hair

Motörhead was a British heavy metal band founded in 1975 in London by bassist, vocalist and songwriter, Lemmy Kilmister, along with guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox.

Motörhead had great success in the early 1980s with several singles on the UK charts. The albums Overkill, Bomber, Ace of Spades, Iron Fist, Orgasmatron, Bastards and particularly No Sleep ’til Hammersmith cemented their reputation as one of the most prominent bands on the British heavy metal scene.

Although Motörhead’s music is routinely labeled heavy metal, speed metal, or thrash metal (and often regarded as a fundamental influence of the latter two), Lemmy Kilmister has rejected the latter two labels, preferring to describe Motörhead’s style as “rock and roll“, which fits with some of the versions of classic songs that the band has been doing during their career.

Motörhead’s lyrics generally speak of the struggle between good and evil, war, abuse of power, sex, substance abuse, and life on the road. The band’s logo, Snaggletooth (sometimes called War-Pig), a mixture of gorilla, wolf, and gigantic horned dog with helmet, chains and spikes, was created by Joe Petagno in 1977 for the cover of their debut album. Snaggletooth appeared with variations in almost all of their albums.

Lemmy Kilmister, leader and founder of Motörhead, passed away on December 28, 2015. Following his death, drummer Mikkey Dee confirmed the dissolution of the group.

History

The story of Motörhead is inextricably linked to that of singer and bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister. Born on December 24, 1945 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, Ian Kilmister, son of a Royal Air Force field chaplain and a librarian, played bass with the British space rock band Hawkwind since 1971. During a tour of North America, he was arrested on the US-Canadian border in May 1975 for possession of amphetamines. The band bailed Kilmister and flew him to Toronto to perform because they couldn’t find a replacement quickly, but he was fired after the concert.

Kilmister returned to England and immediately began putting together a new band. He knew guitarist Larry Wallis from joint appearances with UFO and the Pink Fairies, drummer Lucas Fox was recommended to him by a friend. Lemmy played bass and did the vocals.

Originally the band was supposed to be called Bastard, but the band manager at the time, Douglas Smith, did not consider the name to be suitable for the media. Lemmy then chose “Motörhead” as the band name. The name comes from US slang, meaning “speed freak” and is also a synonym for users of amphetamine-containing drugs. At the same time, “Motorhead” is the title of the last song that Kilmister wrote for Hawkwind. This song was originally released as the B-side of Hawkwind’s single Kings of Speed. The use of the letter ö, which is not common in the English language, goes back to the group Blue Öyster Cult.

On July 20, 1975, Motörhead made their first appearance at the London Roundhouse in the opening act of the band Greenslade and in October 1975 the band played as the opener for Blue Öyster Cult at the Hammersmith Odeon.

United Artists, Hawkwind’s record label, signed Motörhead and in the spring of 1976 the band went to the recording studio to record their first album, On Parole. During the recording there was already tension with drummer Lucas Fox, who could not keep up with the lifestyle of the other musicians, which was characterized by excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Kilmister met Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor through a mutual friend, and after a jam session with him, Fox was fired, replaced by Taylor and the recordings completed with this line-up.

In 1976 Kilmister came up with the idea of ​​adding “Fast” Eddie Clarke as a second guitarist to the band. Larry Wallis showed up several hours late for the first rehearsal and then left the band. As the main reason for his departure, Wallis later stated that he had lost interest in Motörhead because of the problems with the recording and the feeling that Clarke had been intended to replace him from the start.

At the end of 1976 United Artists released the band from the existing contract. Without a valid record deal, Motörhead decided in spring 1977 to break up due to unsuccessfulness and to give one last concert. Ted Carroll from Chiswick Records was present during this concert and offered the musicians a record deal for a single. The recordings for the single became recordings for a full album, which was released in September 1977 under the title Motörhead. It ranked 43 on the British album charts, and marked the band’s first commercial success.

After the break with band manager Tony Secunda in mid-1978 because he had canceled his contract with Chiswick Records, Douglas Smith took over the management again and got Motörhead a contract with Bronze Records. The first result of this collaboration was the single Louie Louie, which was released on August 25, 1978 and reached number 68 in the UK singles charts. After a tour in the fall of 1978, the album Overkill was recorded and released on March 24, 1979. It reached number 24 on the album charts in Great Britain and received a “Silver Record” for more than 60,000 discs sold

After completing the Overkill tour, Motörhead recorded the next album, which was released on October 27, 1979 under the title Bomber; it reached number 12 on the British album charts. With this, the musicians achieved for the first time income from which they could live and invested a large part of the royalties in the equipment of the band.

In the fall of 1979, shortly after Bomber and the associated commercial success, United Artists Records released On Parole, which had been recorded in 1976. Since the rights to the album were held by the record label, they did not need the band’s consent.

During the tour to Bomber, four tracks were recorded live and appeared in May 1980 as EP The Golden Years, which reached the British Top Ten with 8th place. The rigors of touring life took their toll when Kilmister collapsed after a concert at Stafford Bingley Hall in July 1980. After a short recovery period, the band began recording Ace of Spades in early August, which was released on November 8, 1980. The album was Motörhead’s greatest success in Great Britain, with No. 4 on the album charts and gold status for more than 100,000 units sold. The single Ace of Spades reached number 15 on the UK singles chart.

In November the Ace-Up-Your-Sleeve tour of Great Britain and Northern Ireland began. After a performance in Belfast, Phil Taylor injured his cervical spine, so that the performances planned for early 1981 in Europe had to be postponed. During this time, Motörhead and Girlschool recorded the EP St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, which included Please Don’t Touch, a cover version of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. The EP reached number 5 in the charts. In March 1981 the tour continued. During the performances in Leeds and Newcastle, the recordings were made that can be heard on the live album No Sleep ’til Hammersmith, released in June 1981. This album entered the UK album charts at number 1 in the first week of the chart. For the album Motörhead received their last gold record in Great Britain to date.

After completing the US tour with Ozzy Osbourne, Motörhead returned to Europe and began recording the next album, Iron Fist. During this time there were differences between the management and the band, as the members of Motörhead suspected that they had been cheated on finances. These problems were reflected in the recordings because management did not provide the £10,000 required to produce the album. Kilmister then decided that Eddie Clarke should produce the album.

After Kilmister had obliged Clarke to produce the recordings for the Stand-by-Your-Man EP with Wendy O. Williams during the ongoing tour of the Iron Fist album, there was an open dispute between the two musicians in the studio, as a result of which Clarke left Motorhead. Clarke played two outstanding shows in New York and Toronto, but was no longer an official Motörhead member at the time.

Clarke was replaced by Brian Robertson (formerly Thin Lizzy), whom Kilmister had known for years. Because he was available at short notice, the band had him flown from Europe to Canada. After a short rehearsal, he played the first concert with Motörhead in Detroit in June 1982. This was followed by further appearances in Japan and Europe, before the recording of Another Perfect Day began in March 1983. The album is due to Robertson’s guitar work not typical of Motörhead, and contains more refined and extravagant melodies than the other albums. With the album released in June 1983, the commercial success of Motörhead began to wane, it no longer reached the top ten of the album charts and did not receive an award for the number of sales. The fans of Motörhead initially disliked Another Perfect Day and accused the band of pursuing more commercial than musical interests. The collaboration with Robertson lasted until the fall of 1983. During the current tour, he initially refused to play old Motörhead songs. The scandal came after a concert in Hanover, at which Robertson sang the song Another Perfect Day three times, despite a warning from Kilmister. Kilmister then fired him and canceled the rest of the tour.

In an interview with the music magazine Melody Maker, Kilmister announced that Motörhead was looking for a new guitarist. Phil Campbell and Michael “Würzel” Burston were selected from the large number of applications. In order to be able to choose one, Kilmister set an audition to which drummer Taylor did not appear and instead declared that he wanted to quit. At the suggestion of the band manager he was replaced by Pete Gill (formerly Saxon), whom Kilmister had known since touring with Saxon in 1979. It was also decided to continue the band with two guitarists. With this line-up, Motörhead continued the tour that was interrupted in autumn 1983 in the spring of 1984. To promote the new line-up, Bronze Records released the best-of album No Remorse in September 1984, which, in addition to previously released tracks, contained four new tracks recorded by the current line-up. Due to problems with the label, which according to Kilmister “was no longer interested in the band“, Motörhead left Bronze Records in late 1984, but was prevented from releasing a new album until further notice due to legal disputes. During this time, the band made various appearances, including the tenth anniversary in June 1985 at the Hammersmith Odeon.

In November 1985, the dispute with Bronze Records was settled, and band manager Douglas Smith signed Motörhead to his own record label GWR Records. The studio album Orgasmatron, recorded in early 1986, was released on August 9, 1986, followed by a tour. In early 1987, the shooting of Motörhead’s cameo in the film Eat the Rich took place. While shooting, Pete Gill was fired due to personal differences, and Phil Taylor returned to the band. With him Motörhead recorded the next album Rock’n’Roll in June 1987, which was released in September of that year.

The following tour took the band to the USA in 1988 as a support act for Alice Cooper. In July 1988, a concert in Hämeenlinna, Finland was recorded at the Giants of Rock and released as the live album No Sleep at All. After a short break in early 1989, the band began songwriting for the next album. Its release, however, was postponed considerably because Motörhead parted ways with their manager in the fall of 1989 and thus also with his record company GWR Records. The reason for the separation was the suspicion of financial irregularities, which ultimately led to a breach of trust between Smith and Motörhead.

In 1990 Motörhead found a new manager in Phil Carson, who had worked for Robert Plant. Carson got Motörhead a record deal with WTG Records, a sub-label of Sony Music. The headquarters of the company was Los Angeles, which is why Kilmister moved his residence there in June 1990, while the other band members remained in England. Shortly thereafter, recordings began for the album 1916, which was released in February 1991. During the subsequent tour, manager Carson broke up with the band because he got a better offer. The management was initially taken over by Sharon Osbourne, who, however, blamed financial irregularities during the Japan tour on the band and terminated the contract.

Motörhead went on tour through Australia without management. This was followed by the Operation Rock’n’Roll tour through North America, organized by the Sony Group. In addition to Motörhead, a total of five bands – Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Metal Church and Dangerous Toys – took part, all of which were under contract with various Sony group labels. Towards the end of the tour Motörhead found a new manager in Doug Banker. In early 1992, the recordings for the album March ör Die began, while drummer Taylor was fired.

The Swede Mikkey Dee, who Kilmister knew from a joint tour with King Diamond, was hired as the new drummer. Dee can be heard for the first time on March ör Die, which was released in August 1992. Motörhead changed management again and Todd Singerman became the new manager. At this time, the bankruptcy of the WTG label became apparent. In early 1993, the band switched to the German label ZYX Music, which specializes in dance music, because it made the best financial offer. In November 1993 the next studio album Bastards was released. After the tour in support of the album, Motörhead and ZYX separated ways and the band switched to CBH, the label of their German promoter Rainer Hänsel. For the album Sacrifice, released in March 1995, a distributor for the markets outside Europe could only be found with CMC Records afterwards. Shortly thereafter, guitarist Michael “Würzel” Burston left the band. Motörhead decided not to look for a replacement for Burston and has since been active as a trio in the line-up of Kilmister, Campbell and Dee.

After a tour, the next studio album, Overnight Sensation, was released in October 1996. The accompanying tour took the band to Russia for the first time, where they made four appearances in Moscow, Rostov and Saint Petersburg. In March 1998 the album Snake Bite Love was released. On the tour that followed, an appearance in Hamburg was recorded and released in 1999 as the live album Everything Louder than Everyone Else. Also in 1999, the fifteenth studio album was recorded during the breaks from the current tour. We Are Motorhead was released on May 16, 2000, followed by a year-long tour.

A turning point in commercial terms was the album Hammered, which was released in April 2002. Motörhead sold more copies of the record within a month than of the two previous albums put together. Since the band was booked again for larger concerts, this meant a financial upswing for the musicians. This was followed by a record deal with the renowned German independent label SPV and in 2004, the album Inferno was released. Motörhead also recorded the song You Better Swim for the SpongeBob SquarePants movie in 2004. For their title Whiplash, a Metallica cover version, Motörhead received the 2005 Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category.

On June 16, 2005, the band’s 30th anniversary was celebrated at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. The long-time companions Saxon and Girlschool opened for Motörhead. Also in 2005 Motörhead played at the Vaya-con-tioz farewell festival of the Böhsen Onkelz at the Lausitzring.

Motörhead has worked with the American wrestling promotion company World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) several times since 2000. Three songs were recorded (The Game, Line in the Sand (Evolution) and King of Kings), which were used as entry music for the wrestler Triple H. In addition, Motörhead had appearances at Wrestlemania 17 (April 1, 2001) and WrestleMania 21 (April 3, 2005), where they accompanied Triple H’s entries live.

In August 2006, the album Kiss of Death was released – the first since the 1992 album March ör Die, which was placed in the British album charts. In Germany, it entered the album charts at number 4 in the first week of the chart. In 2008 the album Motörizer was released. For part of the American tour in 2009, ex-Guns-N’-Roses drummer Matt Sorum was hired to replace drummer Mikkey Dee, who was not available due to participation in the Swedish edition of the jungle camp. In the course of the preparatory work for the 20th studio album The Wörld Is Yours, which was released in December 2010 on the occasion of Lemmy Kilmister’s 65th birthday and the band’s 35th anniversary, the band founded their own record label under the name Motörhead Music. During the tour for the album The Wörld Is Yours, a performance in Santiago de Chile was recorded on July 9, 2011 and released in November 2011 as DVD The Wörld Is Ours Vol. 1: Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else. The concert was recorded by Sam Dunn’s production company Banger Films.

Motörhead has been offering its own beverage collection since 2011. It consists of the red wine Motörhead Shiraz, a rosé and a vodka called Vödka. Various accessories such as wine and whiskey glasses are also offered.

Due to Lemmy Kilmister’s health concerns following an operation and a fall, Motörhead canceled all subsequent festival appearances of the year on July 2, 2013. Nevertheless, the band performed at the Wacken Open Air 2013; the concert was canceled after 30 minutes due to Kilmister’s health. Kilmister’s health problems also overshadowed the recordings of the 21st studio album Aftershock, which was released on October 18, 2013. Due to persistent health problems, the European tour planned for winter 2013 had to be postponed to spring 2014. This European tour was also canceled in January 2014. Lemmy Kilmister’s health problems due to his diabetes were cited as the reason.

In 2014 Motörhead recorded the song Starstruck with Biff Byford for a Ronnie James Dio tribute album. It was released on April 1, 2014 and is called This Is Your Life. In the same year they had a concert in Birmingham, where they appeared again for the first time with Phil Taylor and Eddie Clarke. These had a guest appearance on Ace of Spades. In September 2014 the first Motörhead cruise took place under the title The Motörboat Experience.

In an interview with Rock Hard magazine, Kilmister announced a new studio album for 2015. This was published with the title Bad Magic on August 28, 2015. It reached number 1 in the German album charts in the first week after its release, making it the band’s first number one album after No Sleep ’til Hammersmith, which reached number 1 in the British album charts in 1981. On the eve of the album’s release, Motörhead had to cancel a concert in Salt Lake City because Kilmister complained of breathlessness. The concert in Denver the following day was also canceled for this reason. Further concert cancellations followed at the beginning of September 2015, the reason being the altitude sickness that Kilmister is said to have contracted in Salt Lake City. On September 8th, Motörhead continued the tour in St. Louis.

Lemmy Kilmister died of cancer on December 28, 2015. In an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen, drummer Mikkey Dee said that with the death of the singer, the band would no longer exist. He categorically ruled out future tours and new albums, which officially sealed the end of the band.

UDR Music announced that they want to release Clean Your Clock, a live album by the band on May 27, 2016. The album, which shows material from their shows on November 20 and 21, 2015 at Club Zenith in Munich, was released on DVD, Blu-Ray disc, CD, vinyl and as a box set. The band’s last concert took place on December 11, 2015 in the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin after it was postponed from November 27, 2015 due to an illness of guitarist Phil Campbell.

I took pictures of Motörhead at Red’s in West Edmonton Mall on April 18, 2005. Their opening acts were 3 inches of Blood and Corrosion Of Conformity:

R.I.P. Lemmy Kilmister

Categories
Bands

Corrosion of Conformity

Pepper Keenan Also Collaborated with Metallica and Is Friends with James Hetfield
Pepper Keenan Also Collaborated with Metallica and Is Friends with James Hetfield

Corrosion of Conformity (better known as COC) is a stoner metal band from North Carolina formed in 1982.

COC began playing hardcore punk in 1982 in Raleigh, North Carolina, with Reed Mullin on drums, Woody Weatherman on guitar, Mike Dean on bass, and Benji Shelton on vocals. COC were the pioneers of the crossover thrash genre in the ’80s.

They stood out with No Core as their main compilation and made their premiere in 1983 on “Why Are We Here?” compilation with other North Carolina bands like Blood Mobile, Stillborn Christians, and No Labels.

Benji soon left and was replaced by Eric Eycke for the LP “Eye for an Eye“. While they were still playing hardcore punk, the band was steadily getting into heavy metal and began playing with bands like Slayer.

Shortly after, Eric left the band and COC recorded the LP “Animosity“, considered one of the classics of the “Crossover” genre. Animosity garnered rave reviews got them noticed by punk and heavy metal fans across the globe.

In 1987, COC recruited Simon Bob Sinister from the Carolina band Ugly Americans. The band’s 1987 EP “Technocracy” featured the hectic sound of COC’s musical thrash with a clean voice they had in the past.

Mike Dean left Corrosion of Conformity in 1987 and Simon Bob soon followed, leaving COC in a state of flux for a couple of years. The remaining members redesigned the lineup and looked for a new singer, revealing to Flipside magazine that they will have a singer similar to “James Hetfield or Ozzy Osbourne” to carry on with their new sound.

After much searching, Karl Agell was recruited for vocals, Phil Swisher for bass, and Pepper Keenan as second guitarist. By 1991 they released the album “Blind” rank them as a heavy metal band. Blind was the first COC album to receive the needed media attention. The video for “Vote With A Bullet” was released on MTV and the album cracked the Billboard Chart in early 1992, selling over 250,000 copies in the USA.

In 1993, Agell and Swisher left the band to form Leadfoot, Dean returned and Keenan took over the lead voice. The following year COC signed with Columbia Records, and the release of Deliverance saw the band’s movement into southern metal – a sound they also brought to “Wiseblood” and “America’s Volume Dealer“.

Singles “Albatross” and “Clean My Wounds” from the 1994 album “Deliverance” made in to the Top 20 of radio rock charts and the album spent almost 4 months in the Billboard 200, peaking at 155. On the Heatseekers card, they peaked at No. 5 and lasted nearly a year on that particular card. US sales for the album exceeded 440,000 by the end of 2005, making it COC’s most successful.

“Wiseblood” was released in October 1996. Despite reaching the top 30 on rock radio with “Drowning In A Day Dream” and the band touring with Metallica, the album failed to match the sales of its predecessor.

Corrosion of Conformity was nominated for a Grammy in 1998 in the category “Best Metal Performance” with the song “Drowning in a Day Dream.”

Shortly after the release of “Wiseblood“, Columbia withdrew the contract from COC, and the band switched to Sanctuary Records. Their first album on the new label – “America’s Volume Dealer“, was released in November 2000. The album was worse commercial failure than “Wiseblood” but still managed to clinch the Billboard top 200, and the single “Congratulations Song” made the band sneak into the top 30. They did not make any videos for this album.

Mullin left the band in 2001. Since then the band has worked with a number of drummers: Jimmy Bower from Eyehategod, Raleigh’s percussion teacher Merritt Partridge, Stanton Moore from Galactic, and Reed’s former technician Jason Patterson who previously played in the Raleigh band Cry of Love.

In April 2005, COC released “In The Arms of Gods” to critical acclaim. The album debuted at No. 108 on the Billboards 200 and topped the Heatseekers chart. The album also achieved a similar success on the radio. A video was made for the song “Stonebreaker” which was broadcast on MTV2 on the recently revived Headbanger’s Ball.

The band spent the rest of the year touring the US and Canada, opening for Motörhead and Disturbed, and they also continued to make tours with Crowbar, Fu Manchu, Alabama Thunderpussy and Danko Jones. A European trip was scheduled for September and October 2005, but was later canceled, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans. In January 2006, COC toured England with Clutch.

In recent years COC has mixed the elements of stoner rock with its metallic sound. They have also collaborated with a number of artists: Metallica’s James Hetfield contributed vocals to the song “Man or Ash” on Wiseblood; Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers’ Band and Gov’t Mule played guitar on “Stare Too Long” from America’s Volume Dealer album; and Galactic’s Stanton Moore played drums on “In the Arms of God“.

I took pictures of Corrosion of Conformity when they opened for Motorhead after 3 Inches of Blood at Red’s in West Edmonton Mall on April 18, 2005:

Categories
Bands

Megadeth

Blackmail the Universe on Dave Mustaine's ESP Guitar
Blackmail the Universe on Dave Mustaine's ESP Guitar

Megadeth is an American thrash metal band, formed in Los Angeles, California. It was created in 1983 by Dave Mustaine (lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter), after he was expelled from Metallica, where he held the position of lead guitarist. Megadeth is one of the Big Four of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax.

Megadeth is known for its distinctive style on guitars, Mustaine’s peculiar way of singing, the musical complexity shaped by the great technique that his music contains, and the themes of his lyrics, often about anti-establishment, politics, war, and on occasion – romantic relationships.

Through its more than 30 active years, Megadeth has had a large number of official members, with Mustaine being the only permanent member, and the main composer. Bassist David Ellefson has participated in most of Megadeth’s albums and tours, being absent for only 8 years. In all this time, the band has released fifteen studio albums, three EPs, and two live albums.

Megadeth had a number of platinum and gold albums (six in a row in the United States), including the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated album Countdown to Extinction in 1992. The band has received a total of twelve Grammy Award nominations and earned one in 2017 for the song “Dystopia” from the self-titled album. In addition, it has appeared several times in the top 10 of the Billboard charts, selling more than 50 million copies worldwide.

The group disbanded in 2002 after Mustaine suffered a serious injury to the nerves in his left arm as a result of falling asleep on it, but after intense physical therapy, the guitarist reunited the band in 2004 and continues to lead it to this day. Since the disbandment, Megadeth has released 6 studio albums and has undergone constant line-up changes.

History

When Lars Ulrich searched for a permanent guitarist for Metallica in a local newspaper in 1982, Dave Mustaine answered and showed up at an audition, whereupon he was admitted to the band. The following year he was fired from Metallica for drunkenness and violence when the band was in New York. Mustaine took a bus to Los Angeles, and during a week-long trip, he got the idea for the band and the name Megadeth, which he saw in a magazine article about the nuclear war. Expression “Megadeath” means “a million dead“, but Mustaine chose to drop the “a” to make the name “their own“.

Dave Mustaine met bassist David Ellefson, who was eighteen years old at the time. Since both Mustaine and Ellefson are named David, Mustaine ended up calling Ellefson “Dave jr.” They considered calling the band “Fallen Angel” which was the name of an earlier project by Mustaine, but settled on Megadeth.

They later found a drummer, Lee Rausch, and an additional guitarist, Kerry King. The latter also played at some concerts, but soon returned to the thrash metal band Slayer of which he was originally a member. Guitarist Greg Handevidt came in for a few weeks. The next guitarist was Chris Poland, and together they recorded the demo Last Rites. Drummer Lee Rausch left the band and Dijon Carruthers became the new member shortly before Gar Samuelson took over. Megadeth’s first concert was held on February 15, 1984.

In early 1985, the band received $8,000 to record their debut album, which they produced themselves. “Killing Is My Business … And Business Is Good!” was recorded and released in May 1985. The album was well received by both the press and metal fans. Next year, Megadeth released “Peace Sells … But Who’s Buying?” with the crew consisting of Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson, Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson, but they thought the record company Combat Records had given them small budget, and switched to Capitol Records, which bought the rights to the upcoming album. In November 1986, the album was released.

Guitarist Chris Poland struggled with substance abuse problems, and during the 1985 tour had to stand over, while Mike Albert took his place. Chris Poland was fired two years later on suspicion of stealing the band’s music equipment and selling it to fund his heroin addiction. Drummer Gar Samuelson also left the band, and was replaced by Chuck Behler. Now Megadeth was looking for a new guitarist and had several auditions. Jay Reynolds joined as a guitarist for some concerts during the 1987 tour, before Jeff Young took over as a permanent guitarist.

This lineup recorded the album “So Far, So Good … So What!” in 1988, but as soon as the next tour was over, both Jeff Young and Chuck Behler were fired.

Marty Friedman and Nick Menza then took over and this lineup lasted for eight years. Together they recorded four albums. In 1998 Nick Menza left the band due to a knee injury.

Albums “Rust in Peace” (1990) and “Countdown to Extinction” (1992), were both a success, followed by another well-received album, “Youthanasia” (1994).

After Youthanasia, Mustaine changes producer to Dann Huff, but the next album, called “Cryptic Writings” (1997) received relatively mediocre reviews in the heavy metal scene, but reached a wider audience. Megadeth’s music became popular on the radio for the first time.

Nick Menza was replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso. The album “Risk” he participated on was talked down by most fans and media, and was a commercial failure.

After Risk, Marty Friedman left Megadeth in favor of the Japanese rock band Aikawa Nanase. He was replaced by Al Pitrelli, and “The World Needs a Hero” (2001) was recorded.

On April 3, 2002, Dave Mustaine told fans he had to leave Megadeth due to a nerve injury in his arm. The doctor had told him that he would never be able to play the guitar again. The rest of the band would not continue without Mustaine, and the band’s time was over.

As Mustaine received treatment for his arm, it got better and he started writing new songs that would become an album originally named “Blackmail the Universe“, but this name was changed to “The System Has Failed” (recorded with Dave Mustaine, Chris Poland, Jimmy Sloas, and Vinnie Colaiuta).

Megadeth then saw more changes in the lineup, this time consisting of Dave Mustaine (guitar and vocals), James MacDonough (bass) and the brothers Shawn (drums) and Glen Drover (guitar) from Eidolon.

In February 2006, bassist James MacDonough left the band. He was replaced by James Lomenzo of the White Lion and Black Label Society.

Megadeth released the studio album “United Abominations” on May 14, 2007. In June 2007, the band started its own tour called “Tour of Duty“, which continued as “Gigantour“.

On January 13, 2008, the band announced that guitarist Glen Drover was leaving the band to focus on the family. He was replaced by Chris Broderick (former member of Nevermore and Jag Panzer).

In January 2009, Megadeth began recording their new album “Endgame” in Dave Mustaine and Megadeth’s own studio, Vic’s Garage. In March, the band took part in the Priest Feast tour, which consisted of the heavy metal band Judas Priest as headliner and the thrash metal band Testament as the opening band.

In April, Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mustaine was not part of it, but was invited.

On February 8, 2010, former bassist David Ellefson rejoined Megadeth. In June 2010, Megadeth played for the first time with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, the other three bands from the “Big Four“. This happened under the auspices of the Sonisphere Festival, a festival that travels around Europe in summer. The event first took place in Warsaw, Poland on June 16 in front of an estimated 80,000-1,000,000 fans. In total, The Big Four played in seven cities around Europe and the concert in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 22 was filmed for a DVD / Blu-ray release. Here, members of all four bands played the Diamond Head song “Am I Evil” as part of Metallica’s set.

Megadeth’s thirteenth studio album was produced by Johnny K, due to the fact that Andy Sneap, who had produced their two previous albums, was not available. The album was titled “Thirteen” and contained previously unreleased songs such as “Sudden Death” and “Never Dead.”

It was released in November 2011 and peaked at number eleven on the US Billboard 200 chart. The first single “Public Enemy No. 1” received a Grammy nomination for best hard rock / metal performance, which they lost to the Foo Fighters song “White Limo“.

Shortly after the album was released, Dave Mustaine commented that after four years of hiatus, Gigantour would return at the beginning of 2012, and would also include Motörhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil.

Album “Super Collider” was released on June 4, 2013 through Mustaine’s record label Tradecraft, and distributed through Universal Music Group after the band’s contract with Roadrunner Records ended. This album reached number 6 in the United States, as well as number 7 in Argentina and Norway, while in Canada and Finland it reached number 4. As part of the promotion of the new album, the band performed at the Gigantour with Black Label Society, Device, Hellyeah and Newsted. At the end of the festival Megadeth performed with ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted “Phantom Lord“, an original Metallica song written by Mustaine when he was a member.

In November 2014, Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover announced their departure from the band. On March 28, 2015 it was announced that Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler joins Megadeth as studio drummer. Later on, Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro officially joined the band. Even though not a permanent member, Chris Adler appeared in the official photo of the band and played in concerts.

2016 album “Dystopia” has received very good reviews from fans of the band, claiming a return to the classic sounds of Megadeth. It debuted at number three on The Billboard 200 chart, making Dystopia the band’s second-highest album on this chart, after Countdown to Extinction, which peaked at number two in 1992.

On May 21, 2016, ex-Megadeth drummer Nick Menza died at a show with his new band OHM at Baked Potato in California. In front of a large number of fans, he suffered a cardiac arrest while the group played their third song. He was pronounced dead a few hours later.

Megadeth’s drum technician Tony Laureano alternated on drums with Chris Adler when the latter couldn’t play due to his commitment to the Lamb of God tour. Swedish band Soilwork’s drummer Dirk Verbeuren later joined Megadeth.

In 2017, after twelve nominations, Megadeth won a Grammy in the category of Best Metal Performance, for the song “Dystopia“, prevailing over Baroness, Gojira, Korn, and Periphery.

I took pictures of Megadeth on November 23, 2004 at Red’s in West Edmonton Mall. Their opening act was Exodus:

Categories
Bands

Exodus

Grimace by Rick Hunolt
Grimace by Rick Hunolt

Exodus is an American thrash metal band from the Bay Area, California. The band was formed in Richmond in 1981 and is signed to Nuclear Blast. The band’s discography includes ten studio albums. Unofficially, Exodus are considered to be the inventors of their style and inspired bands such as Death Angel, Testament and Vio-lence.

Exodus was founded in 1981 by drummer Tom Hunting and guitarist Kirk Hammett. The “head” of the band Gary Holt first worked as a roadie with Exodus and only later became the band’s guitarist. A short time later, singer Paul Baloff and bassist Jeff Andrews joined the band.

At first, the band played melodic hard rock. Since the band did not have a record deal, the further development of the band was delayed. Andrews left the band in late 1982. Hammett followed shortly afterwards and switched to Metallica. Both were replaced by Rob McKillop and Rick Hunolt respectively. Musically, Exodus worked on a new, more aggressive sound that was influenced by British bands such as Motörhead, Iron Maiden and Raven. At that time, Exodus was gaining a large fanatical fan base.

The first album was recorded at the beginning of 1984 and ready for publication. Nevertheless, the album was on hold for almost a year. In the spring of 1985, Bonded by Blood was finally released via Torrid Records and became a timeless classic of the genre. On the following tour with Slayer and Venom, Exodus earned the reputation of a great live band.

The band was not happy with the contract with Torrid and switched to Combat Records. A short time later, Baloff dropped out due to personal and musical differences. His enormous alcohol consumption did the rest. In September 1986 Exodus introduced Steve “Zetro” Souza, their new singer, who had previously sung in the band Legacy, which a short time later renamed itself to Testament. Souza was initially not accepted by many fans and was often pelted with beer bottles at concerts.

The recordings for the second album were delayed. The producer Mark Whitaker was fired and some songs had to be re-recorded. Pleasures of the Flesh was finally released at the end of 1987. In early 1988, Exodus toured with Anthrax and M.O.D. In April of the same year, the major label Capitol Records took over the contract. For legal reasons, the third studio album Fabulous Disaster from 1989 had to be released on Combat. The album contains one of the band’s most famous songs, including “The Toxic Waltz“.

In the same year ex-singer Paul Baloff founded the band Piranha (named after a song from the debut album Bonded by Blood). The demo was produced by Metallica singer James Hetfield. Hetfield also wanted to produce Piranha’s first album, which never happened due to the many line-up changes. Piranha eventually dissolved.

After the tour for the album Fabulous Disaster, the drummer Tom Hunting left the band because of a heart defect. He was succeeded by John Tempesta. Together the band recorded the fourth album Impact Is Imminent, which was released in early 1990. A year later McKillop left the band and was replaced by Mike Butler. In the same year, the best-of album A Lesson in Violence and the live album Good Friendly Violent Fun were released. A European tour planned for 1992 was canceled.

The fifth album Force of Habit was released in November 1992. Musically, the band took their foot off the gas pedal and focused more on groovy songs. A short time later, John Tempesta left to join to Testament but later ended up with White Zombie. Exodus then broke up. Holt founded the band Wardance together with Jack Gibson, Tom Hunting and the singer John Miller, which broke up after only one demo.

In 1996 there was a brief reunion with alto singer Paul Baloff. Except for bassist Jack Gibson, the band now consisted of the original line-up of the Bonded By Blood album. Exodus toured North America and Europe, including an appearance at Dynamo Open Air. The following year, Another Lesson in Violence, another live album was released via Century Media. Because the album was poorly advertised and a video-recorded concert was not released, the band ended their collaboration with Century Media. Since the band members were struggling with massive drug problems, the musicians decided to let the band rest.

Another hiatus followed until September 2001, when Exodus took part in the “Thrash of the Titans” benefit festival for the benefit of will singer Chuck Billy, who was suffering from cancer. After the festival, the band began to write new songs and played individual concerts in and around San Francisco.

Efforts were abruptly interrupted when Paul Baloff died of a stroke on February 2, 2002 in an Oakland hospital. His mother had succumbed to the same doom at the same age. Baloff was artificially kept alive for a while. Since Baloff had no relatives at the time, the band had to decide whether or not the life support machines should be turned off.

Instead of giving up, Exodus brought Souza back into the band and played “Tribute to Baloff” concerts and played at Wacken Open Air for the first time. Rumors about a new album quickly surfaced. Together with British producer Andy Sneap, Exodus recorded the comeback album Tempo of the Damned, which was released on February 2, 2004 on Nuclear Blast. The album on which a cover of the AC / DC classic “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” appeared hit like a bomb and catapulted the band back to the forefront of the thrash metal movement. Exodus headlined Europe while opening North America for a much younger bands like Sum 41.

In 2005 there was another upheaval. Shortly before leaving for concerts in Mexico, Souza abandoned his colleagues. At short notice, the Exhumed singer Matt Harvey jumped in for the remaining concerts, who had previously played with Hunting and Holt at Wardance. Tom Hunting left the band for health reasons, Rick Hunolt for family reasons and drug problems. Lee Altus (Heathen, ex-Die Krupps) and Paul Bostaph (formerly with Slayer, Testament and Forbidden) were signed as replacements. The new singer was the previously unknown Rob Dukes, who until then worked as a guitar technician for the band.

Together they recorded the album Shovel Headed Kill Machine, which was released in autumn 2005. In mid-2007 Hunting returned to the band. Paul Bostaph joined the band Testament. Many new songs were created during the studio time, so the band decided to release two new albums within a few months. The eighth album The Atrocity Exhibition – Exhibit A was released on October 26, 2007, but the second part, Exhibit B: The Human Condition, was not released until May 2010. In the summer of 2008, Exodus performed at the Summer Breeze in Dinkelsbühl.

In addition, a new recording of the debut album Bonded by Blood was released in October 2008 with Let There Be Blood. From February 2011 on, Gary Holt also helped out with the band Slayer after their guitarist Jeff Hanneman was unable to play guitar due to a spider bite. Rick Hunolt, who dropped out in 2005, helped out for the Exodus concerts in summer 2012.

In June 2014, the band announced the separation from singer Rob Dukes. Steve “Zetro” Souza returned to Exodus to replace him. Gary Holt justified the change of singer in an interview with differences of opinion about the sound of the tenth studio album Blood In, Blood Out, which was released in October 2014. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett contributed a guitar solo to the song Salt the Wound.

I took pictures of Exodus on November 23, 2004 at Red’s in West Edmonton Mall where they opened for Megadeth:

Categories
Bands

DJ Dervish

Facial Piercings Adorning Face of DJ Dervish
Facial Piercings Adorning Face of DJ Dervish

DJ Dervish is an Edmontonian with passion for electronic and industrial music. He used to guest DJ at New City Liqwid Lounge, and host Gothic Debauchery Balls.

I took pictures of DJ Dervish when he opened for Left Spine Down and Sangsara:

Categories
Bands

Sangsara

Shane H - Founder of Sangsara
Shane H - Founder of Sangsara

Hailing out of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, Sangsaga was an alternative music band playing a mix of electronica with specific focus on industrial rock.

The name of the band – Sangsara (sometimes spelled Samsara) – derives from the Sanskrit word for the opposite of Nirvana. Whereas the latter signifies the state of being free from suffering and the cycle of reincarnation, the former describes the world of suffering and dissatisfaction connected to the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

I took pictures of Sangsara at New City Suburbs in Edmonton, Alberta when then opened for Left Spine Down:

Categories
Bands

Left Spine Down

Kaine Delay Greets Me from Cage
Kaine Delay Greets Me from Cage

Left Spine Down (also known by the acronym LSD), is a band based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. LSD plays a style of music called cyberpunk that fuses the sounds of industrial, metal, punk and electronica.

The band featured Jeremy Inkel of industrial music legends Front Line Assembly and Noise Unit, and also Denyss McKnight, the former bassist of Vancouver punk band the Black Halos.

Left Spine Down released their first album titled “Smartbomb EP” in June 2007, and it was met with a positive reception from fans and critics around the world. The EP was produced by Chris Peterson of Front Line Assembly/Noise Unit/Unit 187.

Their full-length release “Fighting for Voltage” saw the band combine efforts with mastering by Shaun Thingvold of Skinny Puppy/Strapping Young Lad/Lamb of God/K-os, as well as again with earlier mentioned Chris Peterson

The album was released in Canada on April 22, 2008 by the Canadian label Synthetic Sounds and distributed in Canada by Indie Pool. In the USA, the album was released on September 23, 2008 by Bit Riot Records/WTII Records.

On March 3, 2009, LSD released “Voltage 2.3 Remixed and Revisited” with one original song, covers of Nirvana’s “Territorial Pissing” and Joy Divisions’ “She’s Lost Control.“, and remixes of music by Tim Skold, KMFDM, Revco, Combichrist, XP8, Download, 16 Volt, The Birthday Massacre, Angelspit, Led Manville, and DJ? Acucrack.

The group toured intensely in North America with Revolting Cocks, SNFU, 16 Volt, Rabbit Junk and Chemlab, and opened in concert for groups like The Birthday Massacre, Combichrist, DOA, Genitorturers and Front Line Assembly.

In May 2011, Left Spine Down signed with Metropolis Records. They released a second album “Caution” on August 23, 2011. The album was produced by Dave “Rave” Ogilvie and features the group as a quartet, compared to previous albums which featured them as a sextet. At the end of 2011, Nivek Ogre of ohGr – side project of Skinny Puppy, announced a North American tour comprising nine dates with Left Spine Down.

In 2012, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult announced a special 25 years tour with 30 American dates alongside Left Spine Down.

I took pictures of Left Spine Down in October 2008 at New City Suburbs in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Canada:

I also filmed and put together a live video of Left Spine Down’s hit song Last Daze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KWA4DL-_wM