Back in the 20th Century, ümlaut was a xeroxed fanzine that existed from 1992-95. Despite limited distribution, loyal readers ranged from coast to coast and included Rock Stars of various credibility, including Neurosis, Sonic Youth, Melvins, and Metallica. To quote The Cramps: “I dig that goddam Rock ‘N Roll.. The kind of stuff that don’t save souls.”
Longtime readers of this space know that Nick Cave has been my favorite songwriter for, like, a million years. It's been 20 years (!) since his first novel And The Ass Saw The Angel... but his second novel The Death Of Bunny Munro will finally hit shelves in September!
Click HERE to pre-order it. Umlaut friend in the publishing industry Mr. Sanchez reports that there will also be an audio book (read by Cave!) and a Limited Edition version of the book as well.
Irvine Welsh says: "Put Cormac McCarthy, Franz Kafka and Benny Hill together in a Brighton seaside guesthouse and they might just come up with The Death of Bunny Munro. As it stands though, this novel emerges emphatically as the work of one of the great cross-genre storytellers of our age; a compulsive read possessing all Nick Cave's trademark horror and humanity, often thinly disguised in a galloping, playful romp."
The Metal Masters Tour headlined by Heaven And Hell was one of Umlaut's favorite concerts last year. Fast forward to now and the new Heaven And Hell album The Devil You Know is released today. As fate would have it, Umlaut friend South Bay Bret was one of the lucky 100 or so attendees to Heaven And Hell's dress rehearsal down in Southern California this past weekend.
The Mighty Sabbath Takes Over Van Nuys - April 26, 2009 Submitted by South Bay Bret
Black Sabbath, or Black Sabbath presents Heaven And Hell - whichever you prefer - took over a rehearsal studio in Van Nuys, CA on 4-26-09 - giving some local rabid fans a taste of the new material live.
I flew from Oakland to Burbank - and keeping in tradition of Oakland airport spottings (my last flights have been shared with Eric Kretz, Billie Joe Armstrong, and a James Hetfield cameo thrown in) - this time Nick 13 of Tiger Army - but I digress....
A crazy taxi cab ride at Mach 4 led me to the Van Nuys studios, where I found So. Cal Sabbath fanatic Black Sabbath Mark scoping out the scene. Then we were ushered into the smoky warehouse-like studio - and the show began!
(All pics by South Bay Bret)
EVERYONE- TAKE ONE STEP BACK:
The mighty Sabs plowed through a 4 song set - 3 off the new LP: 'Bible Black', 'Fear', and 'Follow The Tears' - all which had coordinated visual displays - and 'Time Machine' from Dehumanizer thrown in as the 4th song. The 'Time Machine' visuals:
The band set up at a stack of amps after their set and signed for the masses:
These posters were passed out:
It was a killer show in a terrific setting- from legendary metal masters Black Sabbath!! Hope the band was able to find parking o.k.
THANKS South Bay Bret! I still can't get my head around the fact that you watched Iommi at eye level, man... The Dio version of Black Sabbath has always been Umlaut's favorite incarnation of the band. Click HERE to find out just how Music Geek I am about them.
For the record, Umlaut had an amazing Music Geek month of April! The exciting sequel to Metal On Metal!
As I posted a couple of weeks ago, the Anvil documentary is amazing; you do not have to be a Metalhead to appreciate its story of musicians driven by their passion to follow their hearts and play their music. That being said, I’m not going to explain the movie in detail here because I simply don't have the patience right now... but if you need convincing check out the review posted on the Movie Industry sounding board Ain’t It Cool News. 'Nuff said.
In a twist of good karma, Umlaut's old co-worker friend Jedi Pablo at Lucasfilm invited me to attend a lunchtime Q&A session with the film's director, Sacha Gervasi, at the company's Deathstar Compound in The Presidio, San Francisco. The session was a follow up to an employee screening of the film that happened the night before.
The session was held in the same theater where Umlaut saw Ken Burns give a preview of his World War II documentary The War a couple of years ago. Gervasi's session was hosted by a Lucasfilm handler who guided the conversation and also presented 6 clips from the Anvil movie.
As the session unfolded, my Inner Metalhead started to freak out because the more he talked the more I realized something: In addition to having a successful career as a Hollywood screenwriter (The Terminal) and as a filmmaker, Sacha Gervasi was ONE OF US: He was OLD METAL! Some random geek notes from the hour long session:
Gervasi told some great stories about his own history with Anvil and Old Metal. He first became aware of the band via a cover story on the band in the old U.K. magazine Sounds (R.I.P.)… and when he described the cover I got chills because I remember that issue!
After seeing Anvil on their debut U.K. Tour (including a Marquee Club show), he became a member of their road crew while still a teenager. The nickname the band gave him was "Tea Bag" since he was English and his story about bringing the band home to meet his Mum was hilarious (Mum: "They have to leave now!")..
During his conversation, Gervasi referenced ALL the right Old Metal things… NWOBHM.. Diamond Head... Riot… how his Iron Maiden shirts made him an outcast at school, etc.
He did a great job explaining how different things were in the early-80's with Metal vs. Punk.. In 1982 he attended a Clash show at The Lyceum in London and was punched by a Skinhead for wearing a Motörhead shirt. The Skinhead told him he couldn't "wear that hippie shit around here". Back then anyone with long hair was a "Hippie" to most people and the Metal vs. Punk thing was real, especially in England.
I’m still buzzing from what a huge Music Geek experience this hour was… The Anvil documentary is an inspiring story, but I find the director’s story just as compelling. Gervasi went from a Metalhead > Metal Roadie > successful Hollywood Screenwriter. When his agent told him not to pursue the Anvil project, he fired his agent and financed the movie himself! Gervasi wanted to pay tribute to his old friends, who are also his old heroes.. In the process, he also captured the essence of what it means to keep a fire going inside yourself that allows you to stay young at heart. In our case that fire is Old Metal.. Amazing and profound, man.
On top of the Old Metal war stories, Gervasi also gave some back stories to scenes in the movie... some of them were mindblowing.. but I don't want to spoil the movie for The Newbies.. but at least one of the stories gave me chills, man; so emotional. Hopefully alot of these details will be included in the DVD release of the movie later this year. He also noted that in the wake of the movie's success, the band are now represented by (1) Slayer's management, (2) Metallica's attorney, and (3) Coldplay's booking agent.. and they're being courted by no less than 3 record labels. A major tour is also being scheduled for later this year. METAL.
After the Q&A I was able to chat with Gervasi for a moment and I geeked out that I remembered the issue of Sounds he had mentioned… That I had bought Metal On Metal when it came out in 1982.. How his film really struck a chord with me, etc. etc. He seemed genuinely appreciative and I thought it was funny that his Lucasfilm handler said “OH WOW!” in reaction to my Old Metal outburst.
Old Metalheads: Gervasi > Umlaut
Afterwards, I had lunch in the Death Star Compound's food court / dining area.. Ironically, the Death Star Compound sits on pretty much the same location where Starfleet Academy will be built in the 22nd Century... Of course, this presents profound continuity issues for both Star Wars and Star Trek, right? Discuss amongst yourselves. A huge THANKS to Jedi Pablo and Jedi Frank for their hospitality.
Prior to the show I had the worst allergies all fucking day, and they lasted right up until show time.. To be honest, I was more caught up in the historic nature of this show versus any real fandom I have for Throbbing Gristle. The band was playing their first shows in the U.S. since 1981 and the final show before they broke up 28 years ago was in S.F. at Kezar Pavilion. As a result, this night was sold out well in advance.
I'll cut to the chase: I didn't get it. I was expecting something that didn't happen. I was prepared to experience a sensory event that didn't materialize. I was annoyed they kept the houselights on for the entire performance. At one point, Genesis P-Orridge sang the line "Someone else's history, someone else's mystery..." and ironically that summed up my experience perfectly.
I can only say that my reaction to Throbbing Gristle was the complete opposite of what I felt after Amebix earlier this year; both bands were gone for over 20 years and then rose again. I stumbled out of Amebix inspired and in awe of the power of music. Several members of the Umlaut Nation in attendance had the same experience from Throbbing Gristle's performance, but this wasn't my scene, man. This wasn't my scene.
Number of Amebix back patches = 1. If you bought one of every Throbbing Gristle merch item you would have paid $55. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. I'm trying to remember the last time I was at a concert where they kept the houselights on the entire time... I can't remember exactly.. but it might have been Fugazi at Pier 3.
Gallows are one of Umlaut's favorite bands, not only because they are "The Real Deal" onstage, but because they *get* what being a Music Geek is all about. During their debut album cycle the band released some of the most beautiful 7" singles in recent memory (full color gatefold cardboard sleeves, laser etched vinyl, etc). I also love the band because they're English and they are not afraid to wear that on their sleeves and fly the Union Jack.
In advance of their next album, Grey Britain, the band are ratcheting things up for their Music Geek fans:
The ultimate 'Grey Britain' special edition – pre-order now!
Only 500 will ever be made and each set comes wrapped in a 20" by 30" Grey Britain poster flag and includes:
CD (13 tracks) / DVD (with full length Grey Britain film)
Pull-out Frank Carter designed poster
Exclusive "5 Crowns" T-shirt design
A set of stills and production shots from the Grey Britain film (x5 - shots vary in each pack)
Click HERE for Umlaut's past rant about the band's records. Click HERE and HERE for Umlaut's past rants about the band's live show.
The lads are on tour in the U.S. this Summer as part of Warped Tour 2009, so be there or be square.. Gallows are one of those rare bands who really do lay it all out there and leave some blood on the stage, either literally or figuratively, at every show. They're one of the truly great live bands going right now, man.
At one point in Umlaut's not too distant professional past he was responsible for this project on behalf of "The Only Band That Matters"..
Just looking at this picture makes me feel dirty and ashamed; I don't think Joe Strummer would have been into seeing his band recreated as miniature plastic figures made in China. In the end this product was cancelled and never produced, but the sting of guilt still weighs heavily on me.. although it does look good on my resume.
Almost 4 years ago to the day, Umlaut and Mastodon were both HERE..
Mastodon / Kylesa Great American Music Hall, San Francisco April 19, 2009
According to the Umlaut Archives, this was the 6th time I've seen Mastodon, but I have to admit that my fandom probably spiked back in 2005 with the Leviathan album. In the meantime, Mastodon has built a solid fanbase and this show sold out a month in advance. Impressive.
There was some last minute ticket drama that found me holding 2 extras, but it was nothing some text messages couldn't solve.. THANKS to Alan and HRC for helping me find worthy takers. Better feast than famine, right?
Umlaut is of the opinion that as good as Mastodon have been, they initially copped alot of their riffs and style from Neurosis.. However, there doesn't appear to be any hard feelings since Scott Kelly has appeared on the last 3 Mastodon albums.. and Dave Ed was at the show tonight. Yet, it's another example of that timeless Lock 'N Loll irony of the band who copies being more popular than the original. I just hope Mastodon says a prayer to Steve von Till's beard before they go onstage this Summer opening for Metallica in Europe.
In a scenario that was eerily similar to last week, Mastodon performed their new album Crack The Skye in its entirety. I had been listening to the new album for the past month, but it just wasn't clicking for me... However, on the morning of the show I put it on over Sunday morning coffee... and... the new songs finally clicked with my brain. Weird. I then listened to it 2x more over the course of the day to get my head around it a bit more. Evidently the story that Crack The Skye tells involves astral travel, wormholes, and Rasputin......... Well, okay then!
Whether the story translated to the live stage or not is a subject to debate, but this was easily the best Mastodon set that I've seen in 4 years and the use of a fancy LED video screen behind them took their presentation to another level.. The band was much more focused while playing the new material then I think I've ever seen them before... and the encore set of older material put the new songs in perspective and acted as a thunderous conclusion to a pretty epic performance. However, they didn't play 'Blood And Thunder'.. which I thought was odd since it's the closest thing to a "hit" Mastodon has had to date. Oh well.
Trivia: The visual presentation for Mastodon's show was designed by Josh Graham... who is the full time visual artist for... Neurosis. Remember what I said earlier about Mastodon "borrowing" from Neurosis? I'm just saying...
It was the hottest day of the year in S.F. so far... which meant it was a fucking sweatbox inside the Great American.. There was also an unusual amount of sweaty Bay Area Metal Royalty in the venue tonight including Jason of Black Cobra, Dave of Neurosis, Matt of High On Fire, 2/3 of Totimoshi, Rob of Machine Head, 1/2 of Metallica, and 107.7 The Bone Metal Zone DJ Nikki Black (who I finally introduced myself to; I had sent her a buncha Metal swag last year..). You don't see that much Metal talent all in one place very often.. Oh, and Jello was there too; he's now been stalking me at 6 of the 18 shows I've been to this year so far. Here we go again.
However, as good as Mastodon were, Kylesa made the show for me; I fucking loved them! Normally 2 drummers onstage would irritate me, but Kylesa utilizes this band configuration (2 dummers, 2 guitarist, bass) to create a heavy Tribal Metal Groove thing rather than the generic riffs that most other Metal bands generate these days. I started typing this rant after I got home.. It was after midnight and I cranked the latest Kylesa CD that I bought at the show.. It was 78 degrees inside Casa de Umlaut due to the heatwave and Buggers The Kittie played with the cellophane wrap from the CD as I got sucked into Kylesa's volume all over again. Unexpected magic is the best kind. Ironically, 2 years ago I had a different reaction to the band. Hmmm.
It's always nice to attend a show where you know that if you got into a fistfight there would be people who have your back.. so a shout out to Ray, Old Metal Tim (not to be confused with Timo), Jason, Alan, and HRC.
I was crazy from the heat and wasn't in the mood to do a merch audit, but Kylesa only charged $20 for a shirt AND a CD! Unexpected bargains are the best kind. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. THANKS to Old Metal Tim for letting me skate into the show as his +1... For The Newbies, some history:
Umlaut friend Ray and I arrived about 5 minutes before Amoeba opened.. There was already a sizeable crowd waiting for the clock to strike 10:30AM, and several slack jawed Record Dork guys aggressively made sure they were at the front so they would be the first ones into the store on this special day. The expressions on their faces made it seem like they were about to see a chick's tits for the first time or something.. Kinda scary and pathetic.
It was a good thing we arrived at Amoeba early, because the feeding frenzy around the limited edition Record Store Day releases was in full effect immediately. Number of girls in the initial Record Dork feeding frenzy = 2. Number of guys in the initial Record Dork feeding frenzy = around 15. Hey girls, you gotta like those odds, right?
There were a couple of those aggressive Record Dorks who stuck their elbows out so no one else could look in the 7" single bin with them... such bullshit.. so I did what any seasoned Music Geek would do and said "EXCUSE ME!" and pushed past their elbow. Fuck those guys... Buddy, I could give two shits about that Decemberists 7".. Besides, dude, I don't give a shit about the Elvis Costello and Springsteen either so just go wrestle the other Record Dorks for a copy. Ray and I were mainly there to snag the limited edition SLAYER 7" single for their new song 'Psychopathy Red' (a ditty about Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo).
It cracked me up that the Record Dorks were almost fighting over the Elvis Costello and Springsteen records (yawn...) when the SLAYER 7" was easily THE coolest Record Store Day exclusive: The sleeve is done like a Russian police crime file folder, complete with a string tie at the back... and the inner sleeve recreates another Russian police document AND the 7" single itself is BLOOD RED.Indie Rock sucks... SLAYER!!
For those keeping score, Umlaut returned to Casa de Umlaut with the following Record Store Day exclusives:
Dead Weather (featuring Jack White and members of The Kills and Queens Of The Stone Age) - Hang You From The Heavens 7"
Jesus Lizard - Inch 7" Box Set (#494 of 2,000)
Leonard Cohen - The Future b/w Suzanne (live) 7"
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams b/w Motor City Is Burning 7"
SLAYER - PSYCHOPATHY RED 7"
The Stooges - 1969 b/w Real Cool Time 7"
Tom Waits - Live From The Glitter & Dome Tour 7"
Another benefit of arriving at Amoeba early was scoring the "deluxe" gift bag with my purchase that included an Amoeba t-shirt and assorted other swag like Amoeba buttons, magnets, stickers, and coupons plus various sampler CDs... and a poster for the new U2 album. Umm... one of these items is now in the garbage can.. Can you guess which one?
Quote of The Day by some Record Dork as he greedily clutched Record Store Day exclusives to his chest: "I'm going to sell these for alot of money.."
Despite the "Only 1 Copy Of Each Record Per Customer" policy for the Limited Edition records, Ray and I dropped our initial purchases off at the Prius and returned so we could snag extra copies of the SLAYER single for friends... 'cause that's what Metalheads do.
Afterwards, Ray and I retired to The Irish Bank for the obligatory Saturday afternoon pints and fish 'n chips... and we sat outside as the sun broke out over San Francisco and the afternoon blazed. A perfect day! SLAYER!!
BONUS TRACK: Tour Manager Doug reported from SoCal about Record Store Day 2009 there and his quest for the SLAYER single:
Boy, that was complicated...
Slayer’s website lists 3 indie stores in my end of The Valley, I called the one close to my house, but they didn’t answer the phone. Since I needed to go to Trader Joe’s and it’s close to them, I stop by and am told that they didn’t get sent any. He suggests another store (that’s not particularly close).
I called the other place that’s close, but they don’t carry vinyl. I called the 3rd place, which is the same one that the first guy suggested, but they don’t answer their phone, even though they are open until late tonight.
I feel for the first guy, Atomic Records, the owner (I assume) seemed to be a combination of bummed and pissed that he didn’t get sent any Slayer singles, actually it sounded like he may not have gotten any singles. The second place, Back Side, should carry vinyl if they want to be “indie”. The third place, Freakbeat, should answer their phone regardless of whether they want to be “indie”, or not. How can you run a business with a generic computer voice answering your phone and taking a message?
So, I went grocery shopping, dumped the food at the house and went into Hollywood where Amoeba is its usual busy self (maybe because they carry vinyl and presumably answer their phone). The lot under the building was, as usual, full but I parked in a loading zone on the street. Walked in, grabbed the single, jumped in line, 30 seconds until I’m at the register, pay in cash, out the door. 3 minutes tops in the store, maybe closer to 2.
Gene Simmons was walking in as I was walking out. I was surprised that he would spend part of his non-touring time walking around Amoeba in full costume carrying his bloody axe shaped bass, I also was surprised that he seemed shorter than me in his boots.
2 hours out of the house, I listened to the Dodgers win #7 in a row on my way home. As I was walking out of the store some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. If I had bought one of every item in Amoeba I would have maxed out all four platinum Amex cards in my pocket and a couple of relatively famous bands, who I don’t actually work for at the moment, would have wondered what the hell I was doing.
Oh, all that, and I don’t have a record player. Hahaha!
METAL.
Note: Evidently Ace Frehley was doing an in-store at Amoeba Hollywood this afternoon.. which sort of explains why "short" Gene Simmons was there.
THE FLIP SIDE: H82WAD reflected from Milwaukee about Record Store Day 2009 there:
Your story made me sad as the shop my sis and I frequented has gone under (Atomic Records). They were one of 2 independent shops that sold tix for the shows I produced while at UW-Milwaukee. Rich was very passionate about his biz.
Umlaut never visited Atomic Records, but I'm lucky enough to have a couple of their cool t-shirts. R.I.P. Atomic Records.
For the record, Umlaut is having an amazing Music Geek month of April so far...
Leonard Cohen The Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA April 15, 2009
Umlaut was introduced to Leonard Cohen via Nick Cave's covers of 'Avalanche' and 'Tower Of Song' way back a million years ago.. However, I missed Cohen when he last toured 15 years ago, but it must be noted that Cohen's music was part of my soundtrack during my "What The Fuck Am I Doing With My Life" period circa the late-80's / early-90's.
To be honest, I wasn't sure I was in the mood or mindset to see Leonard Cohen.. For the past week, Umlaut had been completely caught up in Green Day's Power Pop Punk Fury and their Bay Bridge Tour. Anyway, this was the final show of Cohen's 3-night stand in Oakland... and on this night Umlaut wore his Anvil (Toronto) - Metal On Metal shirt to honor Cohen (Quebec) and the other Canadian musicians. Oh, Canada!
Despite the rave reviews I heard about his first 2 Oakland shows, I had no idea what to expect from a 75-year old (!) Cohen. However, all doubts vanished after his band took their places and Cohen literally ran onstage and gave a flawless performance over the next 3 HOURS, with only a 25 minute intermission in between. Holy shit.
All I can say is: THAT VOICE and THOSE LYRICS... Songs like 'Chelsea Hotel #2'.. 'Bird On The Wire'.. 'Famous Blue Raincoat'.. 'So Long, Marianne'.. 'The Partisan'... 'Hallelujah'.. and, my favorite, 'Suzanne'.. WOW. I realized that this was the perfect time for me to be seeing Cohen since it balanced out my previous 8 days of Metal and Power Pop Punk Fury experiences.
(Pic by Umlaut)
Although I was fortunate to be sitting only 15 rows back, I'm sure Cohen's charisma and humor projected back to the upper seats of the balcony.. and his band were all top notch and sublime in backing his performance. Indeed, a very grown up event.. but also one that engaged my brain in a profound way. Halfway through the performance I was thankful that my brain allows me to go from Metal > Power Pop Punk Fury > Leonard Cohen and appreciate it all. Music, man... Is there anything it can't do? Seriously.
THANKS to The Sheriff for inviting me to be part of his posse for the show. Trivia: We were sitting directly behind Victor Krummenacher of Camper van Beethoven; for a moment I wanted to take the skinheads bowling.
Anvil shirts = 1 (mine). If you bought one of each Leonard Cohen merch item you would have paid around $500.; he had a shitload of merch, man! After the show, The Sheriff and I walked around the corner to check out the scene at the latest Green Day sneak show at The Uptown...
Evidently this was the final show of Green Day's week-long Bay Bridge Tour.
I was planning just to say "Hi" to Tour Manager Doug (TMD) and then split for home.. Instead, as we walked up to The Uptown at around 11:25PM, TMD was actually working the door and slapped wristbands on us, so we entered the tiny club that was a packed sweat box. I'm keeping this short so this space doesn't become a Green Day fan site and I lose even more of my overrated cred with Metalheads.
Yes, they played the entire new album again but we only caught the last 3 songs. Yes, they opened the encores with a great cover of The Buzzcocks - 'Ever Fallen In Love'. Yes, they also played 'Ziggy Stardust' (sort of..) and 'The Midwest Medley' (Cheap Trick - 'Surrender' > The Replacements - 'Bastards Of Young'). Yes, it was fun watching The Kidz go off when they launched into 'Basket Case'. Yes, a kid climbed on the PA and jumped off after Billie Joe told him "Don't be a pussy! Jump!!"
I noticed David Fricke from Rolling Stone watching the band and jotting notes down on his old school journalist notepad.. I stopped to tell him we had met in Cleveland and he may or may not have remembered me, but he said "Right! Cool, man!" anyway. If he really did recognize me, hopefully he didn't think I was stalking him.. since this was the 3rd time we'd been in the same room in 2 weeks... but I think he was wearing the same clothes that he wore to Metallica's party and at The Fox.
After about an hour I decided it was time to go home; 6 shows in 8 days (including 4 Green Day gigs) had caught up with me and I was tired. I didn't realize I was that tired until I almost ran into a barback carrying a bucket of ice on my way out. Sorry, dude.
As always, THANKS to Tour Manager Doug. Keep it real out there, my brother.
If you bought one of every Green Day merch item you would have paid $80. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. I walked into Casa de Umlaut at around 1:00AM; I had traversed decades of my Music Geekdom in the course of one night with Leonard Cohen > Green Day.. which was pretty fucking cool. Music, man... Is there anything it can't do? Seriously.
Green Day The Fox Theater, Oakland, CA April 14, 2009
After two sneak club shows, Green Day played a real show to kick off their new album and tour cycle. I'm keeping this short so this space doesn't become a Green Day fan site and I lose even more of my overrated cred with Metalheads.
Despite this being the hottest ticket in town, the Umlaut Nation was nicely represented by Skychick, Teri, Ray, The Sheriff & Mrs. Sheriff, Valerie, Raymond, The Man, Chris, and Erik.
Yes, some greedy fucks were trying to sell tickets for $575 EACH on Craigslist. Yes, it was cool seeing the band perform the new album with the full stage production for the first time. Yes, the contrast between the club shows and this show was profound. Yes, they handed out a theater style playbill with the lyrics to the new album. Yes, there was a free poster to commemorate the show. Yes, the excitement inside The Fox was thick enough to cut with a knife. Yes, the show was being filmed for "later broadcast". Yes, they played 'Going To Pasalacqua'. Yes, the final encore was the rarely played 'Homecoming' performed by the band in their hometown. Yes, it was perfect.
THANKS to Tour Manager Doug (TMD) and Green Day Security for their hospitality... Although it would have been more Lock 'N Loll glamorous delivering a bag of drugs to TMD backstage instead of a bag of homemade cookies.
Prior to the show at 7:44PM, Paschke sent me a text from Slayer's recording studio that said: "This Slayer album is, ummm, FAST!!!!!" Thanks for the reality check, my brother.
The leg room in the reserved balcony seats of The Fox is like being in 1st Class at 40,000 feet. If you bought one of every Green Day merch item you would have paid $80. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. David Fricke from Rolling Stone was backstage, but I didn't have a chance to remind him about meeting in Cleveland; I think he was wearing the same clothes that he wore to Metallica's party.
As part of the programming for last week's Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction, Fuse produced a documentary called Metallica: In Their Own Words. Evidently this was shown prior to the network's induction ceremony broadcast. For those who care, Fuse licensed the use of some of Umlaut's old photos and memorabilia for the program; bonus points if you can identify them.
Compared to some of the other MTV, VH1, etc. programs that have used my stuff, this is one of the better ones.
Part One
Part Two
Note to The Kids: If you're friends with a band now, don't throw anything away! They might become famous and the crap you have will pay off years from now. For the record, Umlaut's old Metallica photos and crap have been used in the following ways over the years: Books:
2009: To Live Is The Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burtonby Joel McIver (Jawbone Press)
2004: So What! The Good, The Mad, & The Ugly: The Official Chronicle of Metallica - Edited by Steffan Chirazi (Broadway Books)
2004: Forkaelet med Frihed: Lars Ulrich - og hans band Metallica (Translation: "Spoiled by Freedom: Lars Ulrich - and his band Metallica")- by Jens Jam Rasmussen (Lindhardt og Ringhof). An authorized biography published in Denmark.
1992: Metallica Unbound - by K.J. Doughton (Warner Books)
Magazines:
Classic Rock
Kerrang!
Metal Hammer
So What! (The Official Metallica Fan Club magazine)
The story of Anvil dates back to the early-80's and all of us Metalheads who were into Metallica and Slayer back then were also into Anvil. Unfortunately, they were one of those bands who never made it out of the underground and, to be honest, I haven't thought about the band since around 1985... Nevertheless, the band's core members Lips (guitar / vocals ) and Robb Reiner (drums) have never stopped playing, even when some Metalheads grew up and forgot about them (guilty.. sorry guys..).
Fast forward to the 21st Century and Anvil is now the subject of a highly acclaimed documentary that has sparked new interest in the band. This resurrection has included the band being signed by Slayer's management and getting a proper merchandise company behind them. METAL!
This event was part of a 6-city tour featuring a screening of the film followed by a performance by Anvil themselves. Due to the obligatory Zombie Jesus Sunday family obligation, I missed half of the film that proceeded the band's performance. I ducked into a darkened and nicely packed Slim's and joined Tour Manager Doug as the film was projected on the screen lowered in front of the stage.
A couple of Old Metal friends had already seen the film and raved about it, and what I saw supported their enthusiastic reviews. It's everything that Some Kind Of Monster wasn't: The film portrays a band still hungry after years (decades!) of toiling in the shit of the music industry but, despite the fact they have little to nothing to show for their hardships, they can't let it go because playing Metal is their passion.
As soon as the credits were finished, the screen rose and Anvil roared onstage for a 40 minute set that included '666', the instrumental 'March Of The Crabs', and closed with 'Metal On Metal' and a curtain call of 'Mothra'. Dude, I have not thought about those songs in so long! Also, Lips talking to the audience through the pickup of his guitar was straight up old school showmanship... but, for better or worse, he didn't break out a vibrator for his guitar solo ala 1983.
Seeing Anvil rejuvenated after all these years was cool, but THE coolest thing about the night was all of the Old Metalheads who were in attendance... and there were alot of us there, including Tour Manager Doug making a rare hometown area appearance:
After Anvil's set ended the band hung out at the front of the stage and at the merch table talking to fans. At the same time, the Old Metalheads hung around for a good 30 minutes chatting with each other, just like we used to do after shows back in The Day. A week ago a couple of us had been in Cleveland, so it was a nice continuation of that Old Metal vibe.
Poser Hipsters will see the Anvil movie and compare it to This Is Spinal Tap; I've already read about people who think the movie is a mockumentary and Anvil isn't a real band. Fuck the Poser Hipsters! For this Old Metalhead, it's cool to know that sometimes Old Metal doesn't rust and fade away; sometimes it might just be indestructible like Anvil.
It must be noted that Tour Manager Doug (TMD) bought the latest Anvil album off the band's website BEFORE there was a movie about them... which is why TMD is more Metal than Umlaut. I forgot to do a merch audit, but TMD reported if you bought one of every Anvil merch item you would have paid around $80. Also, it's funny how Anvil brand blank shirts were used for Anvil's shirts. Anvil's merch company is pretty badass, man! On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. This was as close to 1983 as you could possibly get without an old denim vest. Time travel does exist.
"Metal on Metal... It's the only way.."
Kerrang! #43 - June 1983 (From the Umlaut Archives)
Umlaut's old friend John Marshall has a long personal and professional history with Metallica. Here is his perspective on Cleveland from The Red Carpet and VIP Tables:
For me this incredible journey started almost exactly 26 years ago—the week of April 1st, 1983, when my friend Kirk got the call to fly out to New York to audition for Metallica. At the time, he thought it may have been some kind of big prank, an April fool’s joke or something. That’s obviously NOT what it was. What it was, was the start of something so huge and amazing that it still boggles my mind.
I don’t want to say that Metallica being inducted into the RRHOF is a “culmination” of the last 26 years, because that makes it sound like an ending. It’s more of a stepping stone, another launch point for Metallica to continue their career long after many said they couldn’t. One thing I’ve learned from being around Metallica is that their milestones—first gold record, first Grammy, first sold out tour, first platinum record, etc. are not high points or endings—they are merely rungs in a ladder that is allowing them to continue to climb higher and higher. And I just don’t see the top rung yet. I don’t think there is one.
One of the things that I keep thinking about is how wrong the public’s perceptions of Metallica truly can be. Living your life under the microscope of public scrutiny is incredibly difficult. Our society pokes and prods at our celebrities, then passes judgment on them based on their reactions. ‘Some Kind Of Monster’ was an unflattering look at these guys at one of the lowest point of their lives, yet that is all people choose to remember of them. Some of the silly common misconceptions about Metallica -- that they are rock star assholes, they tour with a psychiatrist, etc. -- are so blatantly wrong that it’s ridiculous. I’m not naïve, I am aware of the realities of stardom and public perception, but trust me—unless you KNOW Metallica, what you think you know about them is probably untrue. Nothing proves that point more than this weekend.
OK, enough of the analyzing — this weekend was absolutely incredible! Umlaut has already provided many details, which I will avoid repeating here (I would also highly recommend reading Steffan’s account here: http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=602170). Instead, I will just give as many of the good points as I can remember:
I got the call from Kirk in January, saying “keep that weekend open”. I immediately asked him if my wife could join me, and he said yes. As April approached, it dawned on me that I was probably the only one of the invited guests that was allowed to bring a friend or spouse, on Metallica’s dime. This fact has not been forgotten……
Flight 254:
Umlaut > Ian Kallen > John > Ron Quintana In the weeks leading up to April 3rd, I started to have visions of this flight being like the now-legendary booze-soaked flight to Moscow that had both Ozzy’s and Motley Crue’s band and crews on board. But in the end it was like any other flight, with the exception of getting to meet up with old friends. Stories and memories started flying as soon as we reached the gate and sat down to wait to board the plane. Ian pleaded Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when I reminded him about our “Bowling With Yngwie” adventure, claiming he didn’t remember any of it. Must still be giving him nightmares. Apparently all of his Yngwie memories are like that.
The Party:
The party was almost a direct continuation of the flight, seeing more and more faces and friends I hadn’t seen in literally two decades or more. Trading war stories with Dave Marrs, Metallica’s first drum tech was a high point. Dave, Mark Whittaker and myself were the crew from the fall of ’83 until March of ’84, when the band started recording Ride The Lighting. Other fellow crew members in attendance: Gem Howard, the tour manager from the Feb. ’84 European tour with Venom. Andy Battye, James’ guitar tech for years. Ian Jeffries and Jake Berry, tour manager and stage manager from the ’92 tour when I played. Tony Smith, assistant tour manager from ’92 who later became tour manager. I still keep in touch with Tony, a super gentleman. John Broderick, Lighting Director for many years; he still does light design (the Death Magnetic show is his), but doesn’t tour. Bobby Schneider, who started as a drum tech on Ride The Lightning and ended up as tour manager on Master Of Puppets. Somber note: Bobby was the one who told me “Cliff’s gone, man” (something I had assumed, but hadn’t absorbed yet) as we lay on stretchers while nurses fussed over us in the emergency room at a hospital in Sweden in Sept. of ’86.
I didn’t get the chance to say hello to my old friend Jimmy Page, but since we’d been holed up together in a studio in London for the last month (he asked me to help him write some material for the new Zeppelin release........), I thought it best to let him mingle with some other people for a while.....
More fun: explaining to my wife the difference between the two Brians I had just been speaking to: Brian Schroeder, a.k.a. Pushead, and Brian Sagrafena, the drummer from Echobrain, Jason’s first post-Metallica project.
Pushead > Brian Sagrafena > John Metal Joe and Ray Dill from the Old Bridge Militia — many war stories from Metal Joe’s house, Command Central for Metallica for the end of ’83/early ’84. Stories from that place are probably best kept under wraps! Hanging with Ron McGovney, a way cool dude. Ron kept reminding me of the time when I drove with James to L.A. to visit the Jackson Guitar factory to pick up a guitar in my “piece of shit little car”. That night there was a party at Ron’s old house, one that was about to be razed. Nothing more fun than throwing a bowling ball through a wall! For the record—the car was a 1974 sky blue Ford Pinto station wagon with no heater. Hey man, Yngwie Malmsteen rode in that car too!
As the night wore on I tried to find as many people as I could that I knew and say hello to them. I think I did well. The vibe was loose, open and happy. The fact that this would never happen again was what made it special.
To quote Umlaut, it was a fucking GREAT party.
The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame:
I don’t believe in the RRHOF. I must echo Umlaut's sentiment that it’s a lot like the music industry patting itself on the back. I mean, having a place to show old rock and roll mementos is cool, I guess. Maybe it’s just the name—“Hall Of Fame” sounds like stats and wins and losses and such. Call it something else please.
After looking for breakfast in the wicked cold of a ghost town that is downtown Cleveland (and finding only shopping mall food court crap), we headed to the HOF. Because of the induction-day free entrance fee, there was a long line waiting to get in. While waiting in line we spotted on the ground a rusty old safety pin ("Living in sin with a safety pin! Cleveland Rocks!"). Once we got in it was obvious that wasn’t going to be a leisurely, enjoyable stay. There was a crowd 2 and 3 bodies deep at each exhibit. We did see an interesting short film about songwriting, but that was about the only thing we wanted to stay for. (One note—Cliff’s red Rickenbacker and James’ Explorer touched a nerve... I used to tune, restring and care for those instruments, and now they’re being put on display like icons of history! Mind boggling.) So we left.
The Induction Dinner and Ceremony:
In our best black-tie outfits (and man, we looked GOOD) we hopped the shuttle from the hotel at about 5pm to head to the Public Hall for the Cocktail Party and Induction dinner. We were dropped off at a tented entrance that turned out to be the red carpet—as in THE red carpet, lined on either side with paparazzi for about 150 feet leading into the building. When the photogs realized that we were nobodies (which was pretty much instantly) they promptly ignored us. We walked the carpet into the building and got our table assignment.
Also seated at Table 74: Johnny and Marcia Zazula, Ron McGovney, Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, Jim Martin, Steff and Vickie from the MetClub, and Metal Maria. The conversations were varied—from discussing with Scott and Charlie what songs Metallica might play (we all thought “Trapped Under Ice” would be cool, but I thought 'Escape' might just be Metallica’s way of spicing up the event), to discussing with Jim Martin the intricacies of growing championship pumpkins and tomatoes. The food was pretty damn good—chicken and tenderloin of beef, with mashed potatoes and veggies. Being diabetic, I tried not to eat the “giant chocolate tower thing”, but failed miserably. It was stunningly good. Each seated guest also received a goodie bag, complete with a program, HOF baseball cap, HOF journal (which I called a “dairy” in a harried text to Umlaut), and a CD with music from each inductee (the Metallica tracks are 'Enter Sandman', 'Nothing Else Matters', and... 'Fade To Black'!?). It was a bit unnerving eating dinner while the public filled the seats above us, but I was OK with it. I had friends up there. Someone commented that it was like being monkeys in a zoo, to which someone else replied—“Does that mean we can throw poo at them?”
A couple of good points of the show: I was really impressed by Little Anthony and the Imperials. I’m not sure what it was — maybe it was because they were the first act that performed, but they were good. Real good. Rosanne Carter’s speech was funny, especially the jokes about Wanda Jackson and her father. I was floored to hear some of the keyboard parts that Spooner Oldham had recorded—I had no idea! Some of the best musicians ARE the sidemen and session cats.
Jeff Beck — the film intro to Jeff Beck’s induction had one of the funniest moments of the evening — as the film jumped between interviews and moments of Beck’s history, it suddenly cut to the dressing room scene in 'Spinal Tap’ where Nigel Tufnel is admonishing Marti DiBergi — “Don’t point at that guitar, don’t even look at it!” Funny! The Jeff Beck/Nigel Tufnel connection has been cemented in history! After being inducted by Jimmy Page, Beck came out with his band and roared into ‘Beck’s Bolero’. As the sound of his guitar filled the auditorium, it was like “THERE it is!” I’ve been listening to THAT guitar for decades, and it was like a familiar old blanket…just amazing. Then Page came back onstage with a guitar and they went into ‘The Immigrant Song’, before jumping back into ‘Beck’s Bolero’. What’s cool is that Page played rhythm guitar on the original recording of 'Beck’s Bolero' over 40 years ago, and here they were doing it again. Way Cool.
The choice of Flea to induct Metallica seemed at first to be way off… but his speech was HAPPENING. It was very articulate with an almost hippy-like twist, interspersed with phrases like “violent beauty” and “Metallica fucking ROCKS!!!!” I welled up with tears when he talked about Cliff Burton. I don’t think anyone could have done it better than Flea. It was perfect.
The speeches were all good—more tears during Ray Burton’s speech. And again when Kirk thanked his brother for the guitar when he was an “angry confused young teen”. James’ dedication to the people “stuck in an image”, daring them to fail, was good.
The song choices of 'Master Of Puppets' and 'Enter Sandman' were perfect, I thought. Those two songs probably best represent the band’s entire career, and having both Rob and Jason playing them was the only way it could have been done properly.
The hugest moment of the evening for me came during the all-star jam at the end. As I was watching ‘Train Kept a-Rollin’ I realized that my friend Kirk was up there with Page, Beck, Ron Wood and Joe Perry— four of our biggest heroes! It took me back to Kirk’s bedroom more than 30 years ago, where we used to play that song and dream of bigger things. By the end of it tears of pride and joy were flowing big time.
There was a large portion of the crowd that didn’t react when Metallica was playing --- and it brought home a point for me. To quote Flea, Metallica is still “outsider music”, and I think it always will be. They will never fit into the establishment. I mean, one listen to the first track off of Death Magnetic will confirm that. I could just imagine many people in the audience thinking, “Oh so THAT’s who Metallica are, THAT’s what they sound like.” They’d probably heard of them but never bother to check them out—and after this night they will probably never listen to Metallica again. And that’s what makes this whole thing great—is that as we grow older it’s still cool to like Metallica. Much like in ’82-’86 when they were the best underground band that no one had ever heard of, they are still the best underground band that everyone’s heard of. Hope that makes sense….
Without my connection to Metallica, I can easily say that I would be living somewhere else, doing something else. They have literally, unequivocally changed my life. Seeing them at this level is just incredible for me. And as with pretty much every part of my life that is connected to Metallica, this event was truly one-of-a-kind and special.
It was basically the same drill as the other night: Show announced > Show sold out in less than 5 minutes. I'm keeping this short so this space doesn't become a Green Day fan site and I lose even more of my overrated cred with Metalheads.
Yes, they played the new album in its entirety.. Yes, the songs are amazing... Yes, they played over an hour of encores.. Yes, they were pulling songs out of the ether and audience requests. Yes, it was fantastic.. Yes, the singer for AFI ran onstage to sing 'Going To Pasalacqua' with them. Yes, Billie Joe told a little boy to stage dive and he did. Yes, a girl got onstage and sang 'Grouch' for the band when B.J. forgot the words. Yes, Billie Joe did an insane stage dive into the crowd while playing his guitar.
Unfortunately Skychick had to sit this show out as she recovered from some dental work, but ironically the band offered up the rarely played 'Give Me Novacaine'! That was either a great coincidence or ESP really does exist.
Backstage Wristband
Please don't use the above image and attempt to counterfeit a backstage wristband. It won't work.. Besides, backstage is BORING. The strippers, the cocaine, the champagne, the midget jello wrestling... YAWN. Also, don't fuck with Green Day Security 'cause he has a memory like an elephant and will remember you 4 years later.
Before the show, Umlaut had dinner with Rich Laminate who dished up some juicy vintage Metal war stories, which I enjoyed while eating a delicious pork chop. Who knew Buffalo, NY had such crazy groupie action back in The Day!? "Come on in, the water's fine.."
Thanks to Tour Manager Doug for doing what he does; he could take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile. Krokus, etc. etc.
If you bought one of every Green Day merch item you would have paid NOTHING because there was none for sale. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. Green Day is THE greatest live band going right now and they do it without a revolving drum riser.
In Cleveland last weekend, Umlaut connected with several Old Metalheads who he's known for 25 years but had never met before. One of them was the legendary Metal Mike of Aardschok in Holland.
A quarter of a century ago (!!), Mike and I traded cassette tapes via something called "The Postal Service"... This required us to:
Take the envelope to a place called "The Post Office" and do something called "Send Via Air Mail".
Wait weeks or even months for a reply.
Fast forward to the 21st Century and Metal Mike and I had the following exchange via The Information Superhighway the other day: 1:28PM, umlaut wrote: Hey - It was SO COOL to finally meet you after all these years!
1:30PM, Metal Mike wrote: I'm now at my radioshow at www.kinkfm.com you can listen live to me :-)
1:31PM, umlaut wrote: I just logged on and listening... Do you take requests? Cheers.
1:32PM, Metal Mike wrote: What do you wanna hear?
1:33PM, umlaut wrote:: HA! In honor of Cleveland: 'Trapped Under Ice' - Metallica
1:35PM, Metal Mike wrote: your wish is my command
1:37 PM, umlaut wrote: HAHAHA! I'll get ready to do a stage dive off my desk...
[A station promo by James Hetfield airs, followed by 'Trapped Under Ice']
For the record, Umlaut is having an amazing Music Geek month of April so far...
Green Day The Independent, San Francisco April 7, 2009
Let this be the first post of Umlaut's Stalking Tour Manager Doug Tour 2009-10! For the newbies: Click HERE for the details about the last time Umlaut stalked Tour Manager Doug (TMD) around the world while using Green Day as an excuse; the tally was 6 shows in 4 cities and 3 countries.
When this show went onsale online at 3:00PM (a mere 5 1/2 hours before the doors opened) it sold out in less than 5 minutes. It takes a show like this to get Skychick out of the house, but it takes TMD to make it magical! This time TMD waved his magic laminate and Skychick and I found ourselves watching the soundcheck for Green Day's first show in 3 years with maybe 15 other people (most of them band crew):
(Pic by Umlaut)
As the band sorted out parts of new songs before the doors opened, I couldn't believe that we were among the very first people outside of the band's circle hearing the new songs for the first time. I almost soiled myself... figuratively speaking of course. Hmm, during soundcheck the band had an awesome new banner hanging behind the stage featuring a martini glass / upside down cross and a Satanic goat's head... but it was taken down and not seen again that night. Hmmm.
Green Day jumped onstage for the first time in 3 years at around 10:30PM and kicked into 'Welcome To Paradise'... and followed it with an hour of new songs; basically the entire new album I assume. For the record, I think American Idiot is a perfect album; every song is amazing and it's an old school album (i.e. a musical journey where each song tells a chapter of a story) versus simply a collection of songs. The new songs felt exactly the same way; they seemed to be telling a bigger story, but individually they were so great.. Amazing: I think Green Day might have struck music gold again! My initial thought was "This is what it must have felt like when people saw The Who play Tommy for the first time, before the songs became ingrained in music history".. I couldn't believe we were in the first audience hearing these songs. Mindblowing.
The new material was causing "The Who" to pop into my head.. and another song had a guitar part that caused "Mott The Hoople" to pop into my head.. I've been saying this a lot this week, but my head was spinning, this time from the catchiness of the songs, the power of the songs, and the variety of stuff going on in the songs. Also, the 2009-10 version of Green Day has an additional 3rd guitarist (!) in the lineup for the new songs, which makes them the Skynyrd of Power Pop. What song is it you wanna hear? For those stuck in 1994, Green Day haven't been a 3-piece onstage for awhile; they are now a full blown ROCK band with 6 musicians bringing the volume.
After debuting the new album, the band came back and played over an hour of hits and requests from the crowd... starting with 'American Idiot' > 'Jesus Of Suburbia'. Holy fuck! Seeing those songs being played in a club was like seeing an old friend again who I haven't seen in several years, but it felt like no time had passed. Just like at their epic show at The Warfield in 2005, Billie Joe took requests from the audience.. 'F.O.D.' was my fave request.. but 'J.A.R.' was a good one too. They also threw in other oldies like 'Christie Road' and, of course, 'Longview'. After almost 2 1/2 hours, Skychick and I stumbled out onto Divisidero... where we immediately ran into The Sheriff and Mrs. Sheriff.. and The Sheriff was then interviewed by some guy who claimed to be from Spin magazine. Weird.
Green Day are one of those great live bands who don't develop that often... They may have started as Punks, but Green Day here in the 21st Century are a Frankenstein-like hybrid of Punk > Classic Rock > Power Pop all driven by an incredible chemistry between the band members. People who are stuck in 1994 and think Green Day are merely a "Punk" band are completely missing out on one of the greatest ROCK bands ever. Oh well..
According to the Umlaut Archives this was my 11th time seeing Green Day dating back to 1991... and The Independent was the smallest stage I'd seen them on since back at Brave New World (R.I.P.) and that art warehouse space in The Mission; what was the name of that place? Me love Green Day long time.
Thanks to TMD for sorting out my +1. For the newbies: Legend says that Umlaut and Tour Manager Doug met at a Krokus show in 1982... which may or may not be true, but our Inner Metalheads definitely had many playdates together.
If you bought one of every Green Day merch item you would have paid NOTHING because there was none for sale. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. The Rock Godz have blessed Umlaut this month already, first with Cleveland and now Green Day. Ironically, TMD sent me a text afterwards that The Drummer was visiting his band's dressing room. HAHA!! Man, with all due respect, The Dane should retire and give Tré Cool his rotating drum riser. All the young dudes, carry the news..
The first time I met Metallica was as they arrived in front of The Stone on Broadway in San Francisco on September 18, 1982; they had just driven up for their first show outside of Los Angeles. I had received their demo tape via a friend a couple of months earlier and had talked to Lars a couple of days before to arrange meeting them at the club. Lars was driving a green AMC Pacer that had a U-Haul trailer hitched behind it containing the band's equipment. If you're interested, click HERE if you must know the rest of the story.
The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame opened in 1986, but it took 11 YEARS for them to recognize a Hard Rock band when Led Zeppelin was finally inducted in 1995. Since then, the only other Hard Rock bands that have been inducted are Aerosmith, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen. So, it was weird when this bastion of the mainstream music industry decided that Metallica was up there with those bands (the bands who we grew up listening to...) and elected them into the Hall Of Fame's Class of 2009. Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, and Metallica are the only Hard Rock bands alongside the otherwise lame Hall Of Fame drivel like John Cougar Mellancamp and Billy Joel.. WTF, right?
Indeed, the concept of the "Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame" is elitist bullshit and reeks of a music industry circle jerk... but the old school manner in which Metallica approached this "honor" was pretty fucking cool. Rather than making the event their own self-congratulatory circle jerk, the band used the event as an opportunity to have a reunion of old friends and associates who supported them in their earliest days.. People like the first fanzine writers and editors to original roadies to journalists to photographers to record company people. They used their moment of glory to honor those people who appreciated them when they were unknown pimply-faced teenage Metalheads. Pretty... fucking... cool.
On February 27th I received a voicemail from Metallica's management that left me speechless. As part of their Hall Of Fame induction the band wanted people who were there in the beginning to be in Cleveland with them, and that included me... all expenses paid. Over the next week I helped management get in touch with Old Metalheads from a list the band had given them. The list included some people who the band only remembered by nicknames ("Bulldozer Bob"..) and, in some cases, only by their first names... Incredible, right? Now, no matter what you think or want to think about Metallica (Napster lost, dude..) you cannot deny how insanely cool it was for them to basically seek out the people who they thanked in the liner notes of Kill 'Em All. In the end management was able to contact everyone on the band's list except one guy (Where is "Dave Lights"?). Unfortunately a couple of people are no longer alive, but it was cool the band remembered them (R.I.P. Bulldozer Bob...) and in the end around 150 people were invited to Cleveland on the band's dime.
A couple of weeks later formal invitations were distributed: Balcony seating for the band's friends and table seating for the band members, former band members, family members, management, etc.:
It was obvious the band was not doing this half ass... and, long story short, Continental Flight 254 left S.F. for Cleveland full of old Metalheads. For the old S.F. Metalheads, besides Umlaut the passengers included Ron Quintana, Ian Kallen, John Marshall, Harald Oimoen, and Rick Brackett among others. Oh! In an amusing sidebar, we met Dr. Phil Towle as we were boarding. Yes, The Sweater was a guest in Cleveland too.
The Party: Dude, JIMMY PAGE was one of the invited guests to the band's private pre-induction party at The House Of Blues... and at one point I found myself standing 5 feet away from him and Joe Perry... JIMMY PAGE!!?
Personally, the party for me was defined by how I was greeted by Kirk, James, and Lars in almost exactly the same way but at different times during the night: They all shook my hand, gave me a hug (awww...), thanked me for coming (Lars also specifically thanked me for helping them locate people), and then they all said a variation of "You're wearing a fucking Record Vault shirt!??"
Umlaut with The Drummer (Pic by Ian Kallen)
Old School San Francisco Metal representin'! Metallica may be Rock Stars, but they do still remember; it was cool to just hang with them again and chat. It wasn't like seeing them backstage at a show where they're basically "at work" and sometimes that's how they interact with people; for one night they were just The Guys again.
The vibe of the party was really, really cool... No egos and most people were approachable and open to having a conversation with a stranger; I finally met the infamous Jonny and Marsha Z. and was talking with Pushead for around 5 minutes before I realized who he was... DOH. The band had flown in Old Metalheads from all over the world for the celebration; there were so many old friends and faces in attendance my head was literally spinning... Old friends who now lead normal lives.. Old friends who are now heavy hitters in the music industry... SO MANY OLD FRIENDS!! People such as K.J. Doughton (who sent me Metallica's first demo and introduced me to them..), Dave Marrs (original roadie and the person who called to tell me Cliff had died..)... Ron McGovney (their first bassist who I hadn't seen since his final show with Metallica in November 1982..)... Ron Lafitte (who was Metallica's first merch guy..), John Marshall (original roadie and stand-in guitarist.. who I actually talk to all the time but I need to name check him anyway)... It was beyond surreal. Yes, time travel does exist.
Dave and John relive their roadie days on the 1984 Tour (Pic by Umlaut)
However, despite how approachable most people were, I didn't have the balls to approach one person: JIMMY PAGE! Regrets.
All of the Rock Stars and old friends was cool and once in a lifetime, but another awesome aspect of the party for me was meeting a lot of the old school Rock / Metal journalists. Many of these writers date back to Circus, Sounds, and Kerrang! in the late 70's and early-80's; these are writers who helped shape my musical aesthetic by introducing me to bands or who I liked because they wrote about my favorite bands. Meeting and chatting with scribes like Xavier Russell, Sylvie Simmons, Ben Liemer, Lonn Friend, and David Fricke really had my head spinning. I was completely taken aback when I was introduced to Lonn Friend and he said to me "I heard you on NPR this morning!"... and I think I geeked out a little too much with David Fricke of Rolling Stone because, among many other things, he wrote the liner notes to SubPop's Radio Birdman compilation.
David Fricke of Rolling Stone with The Dork
A highlight of the night came when Umlaut's Old Metal friend K.J. showed Steffan Chirazi a copy of his first Metallica article (circa 1984 in Sounds):
(Pic by Umlaut)
I have a vivid memory of reading that article back in 1984; it was Metallica's first appearance in a major publication outside of the U.S. and I remember thinking "How the HELL did Metallica get into Sounds!?" Fast forward 25 years, and here was that very article bringing us Metalheads together again. Amazing.
However, my major epiphany about the night was this: There has never been a larger gathering of people in one room who actually knew Cliff Burton (including myself). Chew on that.. Also, Cliff's dad and relatives were all wearing a Cliff tribute t-shirt. "Bass Solo, Take One.."
Yes, there was delicious food... Yes, it was an open bar. Yes, we stayed up well into the wee hours of the next morning. Yes, there were ice sculptures:
Umlaut and Ron with Evil Ice (Pic by Ian Kallen)
It was a fucking GREAT party..
The Hall of Fame Museum: The next day we visited the museum and there is a criminal lack of Metal in this supposed Hall of Rock. The only items that impressed me enough to make me write them down were:
The Lynyrd Skynyrd display with Allen Collins' cream Explorer, Gary Rossington's red SG, and Ed King's cream Telecaster all in a row. Dude, THAT'S the Explorer Collins' would play the solo to 'Freebird' on every night..
Randy Rhoads' iconic homemade polka dot Flying-V.
The handwritten lyrics to 'Highway To Hell' in Bon Scott's handwriting.
The handwritten lyrics to The Clash's 'Clampdown' in Joe Strummer's handwriting.
The handwritten lyrics to Metallica's 'Hit The Lights' in James' handwriting.
Of course, that last item got my inner 1982 Headbanger's head spinning: How the fuck did Metallica get here!? However, the one item that completely blew my mind, but NOT in a good way, was seeing Cliff Burton's old red Rickenbacker bass behind glass. To be honest, it freaked me out and it was almost like seeing Cliff's corpse on display. There's a no camera policy at the museum, but I snuck a picture anyway:
(Pic by Umlaut)
Also on display was a letter Cliff had written to someone, his leather belt inscribed with "Black Sabbath", and his Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell jersey. Profoundly weird, man.. Profoundly weird. I took quite a few photos of Cliff playing THAT Rickenbacker back in The Day. "Bass Solo, Take One.."
Cleveland: This was Umlaut's 2nd visit to Cleveland (yes.. I'd been there before..) and I don't want to talk too much shit about the city... but, man, the downtown area was unbelievably dead... AND we could NOT find a fucking Starbucks or decent coffee anywhere! It was unreal... Thankfully, Umlaut friends (and Cleveland residents) Jim and the lovely Rose saved our asses by picking us up and taking us to the Great Lakes Brewing Company for a proper meal and beers before the ceremony (THANKS Jim Rose!). Trivia: Famed Untouchables leader and crimefighter Eliot Ness was once involved in a shoot out in the space; bullet holes from that incident can still be seen in the bricks behind the bar.
The Ceremony: To be honest, Wanda Jackson and Jeff Beck were the only other inductees who I gave a shit about. The vintage film of Wanda in her prime was so cool... and Beck's set was awesome and included an instrumental version of Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song' with JIMMY PAGE playing with him and his band! DOH!! It tripped me out during Page's induction speech for Beck when he said they had known each other since they were 13 or 14 years old. WOW.
We had great stage left, lower balcony seats that gave us a good angle and vantage point to watch the proceedings and to check out the action down in the fancy black tie VIP tables. For those who care: Down in the front row Jeff Beck > Jimmy Page > Joe Perry were sitting next to each other at a table. Flea > Ron Wood were at the next table with some of Run-DMC's posse (including Russell Simmons). Metallica and their families were at the 2 tables next to them. I don't know what was on the fancy black tie VIP dinner menu, but for dessert each person was given some giant chocolate tower thing.
Okay, the actual induction of Metallica was alot more emotional than I thought it was going to be.... Some random thoughts:
I was sitting in between Ian Kallen and Ron Quintana with K.J. Doughton sitting behind us... These are the specific guys who I started the Metal journey with in 1982 that led me to Cleveland. Surreal.
Flea: He's an old school Metallica fan!? Who knew?! I think everyone agreed his induction speech was amazingly old school and the fact that he ranted about Cliff for much of it was really amazing.... plus he was the first person onstage all fucking night to use the F-word! Yay Flea!
Ray Burton: This moment was beyond emotional, especially when Mr. Burton mentioned Cliff's deceased mom as "Cliff's biggest fan"... I flashed back to the first show Metallica played with Cliff at The Stone in S.F. (March 5, 1983); Mr. and Mrs. Burton attended to support their son and his new band and Mrs. Burton was wearing a Metallica - "Metal Up Your Ass" shirt. "Bass Solo, Take One.."
Jason: His speech had the unique perspective of someone who had been both a fan AND in the band.. and I was glad he participated and all of the drama in the wake of Some Kind Of Monster was laid to rest.
Rob: As he was giving Mike Muir props in his speech, Umlaut friend Ray sent me a text about seeing Suicidal Tendencies at almost the exact same moment in San Jose! Irony.
Kirk: The Lead Guitarist's time at the podium was probably the most emotional of the band guys. Man, his mom was sitting directly in front of him as he spoke.. and when he thanked his brother for urging him to pick up a guitar to channel his anger as a kid, his brother was sitting right there too... woah.
Lars: His words had the most impact on me since he was the first band member who I ever talked to and befriended. When he mentioned the party the band had the previous night, and he thanked all of us who were there with them at this moment, the ghost of my old denim vest cried. You can talk shit about The Drummer, but he brought the past 26 years all the way back around with his time at the podium.
James: It ruled how he started his speech by running off a list of "suggested" bands for the Hall Of Fame to induct now that they've recognized Metallica... such as Rush, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Motörhead. Also, it was pretty intense for me to see him give Lars a huge brotherly hug after his speech; all of the drama in the wake of Some Kind Of Monster was laid to rest and it was like they were those pimply-faced teenage Metalheads who started the band again.
The only thing I'm going to say about Dave Mustaine's legacy with Metallica is this: Yes, he was with them in the beginning, but he never played on a Metallica album. He was invited, but he didn't attend. Done. However, I met Lloyd Grant in Cleveland and he was super cool. 'Nuff said.
I don't want to rant too much about the band's performance, but it was perfect how they had both Jason and Rob play bass. The song selection ('Master Of Puppets' > 'Enter Sandman') made complete sense given the mainstream nature of the occasion (one old song from The Cliff Days > Their signature song). However, it was funny how the vast majority of the folks down in the VIP black tie tables (the tables cost up to $50,000 each!) were like dead fish as Metallica performed.
(Video by Umlaut)
It was funny how, despite the respect the band was getting from the Hall Of Fame, Metallica (and Hard Rock / Metal in general) are still outsiders to the mainstream music establishment. I'm sure everyone in the VIP black tie tables were on their feet and dancing when lame ass Billy Joel was inducted in 1999... but for Metallica in 2009 just about the only people down front who looked like they were rocking out were Lars' son and Jimmy Page (who was nodding his head up and down to the Metal in an almost-headbanging like motion as they played). I guess it was too much for me to expect the people at the back of the floor to rush the stage as 'Master Of Puppets' blasted from the stage.. I guess it was too much for me to expect to see tables, chairs, and bodies flying from the mayhem. Oh well... Tuxedos do cost a lot of $$ I guess.
However, the show closing version of 'Train Kept A Rolling' more than made up for my disdain of the black tie crowd: Metallica onstage with fucking Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Ron Wood, AND Flea was THE most amazing concert experience for me!! First of all, it rocked so hard. Then there was the whole symbolic nature of it: Kirk playing onstage on the greatest night of his career with the guitarists who he listened to as a kid! Come on! It doesn't get more amazing than that, man! Trivia: According to an Umlaut friend who attended the soundcheck, it took the super group around 90 minutes to work out the version of 'Train'.. so now you know.
The Hang Time: Of course, all of the Rock Star stuff was cool and once in a lifetime.. but the best aspect of the weekend was the hang time I had with Old Metalhead friends, some of whom I knew 25 years ago and had never met before! People like Metal Joe from the legendary Old Bridge NJ Metal gang and Metal Mike and Andre of the mighty Aardschok magazine in Holland. I used to trade tapes with Metal Mike back in The Day and to finally meet him was astounding, especially since here in the 21st Century Aardschok is one of Europe's premiere Metal magazines and concert organizers.
While the band and other "celebrities" stayed at the Ritz Carlton, the rest of us were at the Hyatt Regency. From what I heard, the bar at The Ritz was beseiged by fans trying to get a glimpse of their heroes, so security was all over that place. Fuck that! The Hyatt was super mellow and quiet and we could just hang out, have drinks, and do things like order pizzas at 1:00AM and have them delivered to us in the bar. METAL!
The cool vibe of the entire weekend spiked in the Hyatt bar after the induction ceremony, when Metallica's management, old and current road crew, and a bunch of us Old Metalheads all ended up there. Metallica's co-manager Cliff Bernstein even stopped at our table to chat with us; all mellow... all good.. It was that kind of weekend.
Another cool moment during that last hangout for me was when Adam Dubin came up and said he wanted to meet ME; he liked an article I had written a couple of years ago about Metallica and wanted to tell me. WOW.. My Music Geek alarm went off since Adam did the documentary A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica and also directed THIS landmark music video in which he also uttered the immortal dialogue that begins with "Do you like parties...." I was gobsmacked he knew who I was and we had a nice conversation about the 3 M's: Metal, Metallica, and Music... You gotta fight for your right to party, dude.
I'm still processing everything from the weekend and my head is still spinning, either from the memories or from the fallout of two consecutive nights staying out 'til 4:00 in the morning.. Probably a combination, right? METAL.
On the flight to Cleveland I sat across the aisle from Jim Martin, and on the flight home I sat next to Jim Martin. On the way back to San Francisco, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. It was an amazing weekend... and I can't believe I've been friends with Metallica for well over half my life now... and I can't believe that they are literally this generation's Led Zeppelin. Cue Fade To Black..
Click HERE for John Marshall's coverage of the weekend from his Red Carpet perspective!
