Under The Covers

Slash / Taking Dawn
The Warfield, San Francisco
August 29, 2010

The last time Slash and Umlaut were in The Warfield at the same time was just over 6 years ago when Velvet Revolver played there the day before the band's 1st album was released. It was a weird show because, outside of a couple of Guns 'N Roses and Stone Temple Pilots tunes, the audience had never heard any of the songs before. However, it was a surprisingly good show and it was MUCH better than the Velvet Revolver show I saw a year later at the Bill Graham Civic that was profoundly underwhelming. Fast forward to 2010 and Velvet Revolver has imploded and Slash is doing his solo thing again.

Prior to the show, Skychick and I had a nice, easy dinner at Out The Door. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways and I found myself attending this event for professional reasons with Skychick coming along despite her doubts about the show. Long story short, upon arrival at The Warfield I became annoyed by a situation... but instead of throwing my toys out of the pram and going home we found a spot on the main floor where I could chill and have a beer.

Taking Dawn are a new band who cop everything from 80's Cock Rock. They have the right look, the right poses, the right lame stage banter, the right sneers and bare chests; Taking Dawn has everything except songs. Do you remember when Grunge eviscerated Hair Metal and left it for dead in a ditch? Taking Dawn made me want that to happen all over again. The final straw came when the band said they were going to go "Old School" and I would have cut them some slack if they'd busted out a cover by The Cult or Skid Row... but they went "Old School" with a cover of..... Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain'??! I am not kidding... To top it off they butchered it. Now don't get me wrong, 'The Chain' is a good song, but Sleepy Sun has already done an awesome cover of it, and Taking Dawn are out of their league with it. Smells like teen spirit...

Skychick really didn't want to be at this show but she stuck it out like a trooper for me. Slash hit the stage with his new band right on time at 9:15pm and the set caught fire on the 3rd song with 'Nightrain'. Oddly enough, even though Velvet Revolver had 3/5 of GNR in the lineup, I have to say that the old GNR songs sound better when performed by Slash's new band. This band plays looser than Velvet Revolver did, which lends itself to the old GNR classics. However, on the flipside, when Slash and his new band played Velvet Revolver songs they sounded like a cover band playing cover songs by another cover band for some reason; it just sounded weird.

Note: The singer, Myles Kennedy, was in Alter Bridge, which was basically Creed without their singer Scott Stapp, and he was rumored to have been considered to replace Robert Plant in a "new" version of Led Zeppelin... which makes Kennedy, like, the King of Cover Band singers these days: Creed, GNR, Velvet Revolver, and (maybe) Zeppelin. Kudos to him for finding his niche... I guess.

Slash's new songs actually sounded alright live and whenever he launched into a solo during any song it sounded GREAT. Slash is one of those guitarists who has a tone and sound that's completely his own and I respect him for that. However, I could sense Skychick's impatience with the show and also the crowd. The couple directly in front of us represented the core demographic tonight: 30-ish Affliction douchbag muscle dude and his tiny blond girl. THE most annoying thing about them was Affliction dude "danced" the entire time in that douchbag way: Thrusting his hips into his tiny blond girlfriend in front of him and doing a motion with his 'roid arms that was a combination of flapping his arms like wings and punching the air with his fists. He also slapped his girlfriend on the ass during EVERY SONG; I am not exaggerating... EVERY SONG. At one point I said to Skychick "This is why I go to so many Death Metal shows..." True.

Our evening spiked when Slash and the band launched into the Guns 'N Roses double shot of 'Civil War' > 'Rocket Queen'... which was the best part of the night for me... but as they started another Velvet Revolver cover I could tell Skychick was done. As we exited The Warfield, Skychick stated her point perfectly: "It was too much like a cover band... I need to hear new stuff.." and in the Prius on the drive back to Casa de Umlaut she played The Dead Weather LOUD. You can't argue with Skychick because she saw Led Zeppelin (5/19/77 - LSU Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana); cred like that trumps everything.

I didn't do a merch audit, but Slash's merch company did a good job... whoever that might be. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags. I was kind of bummed that we left before Slash and his band played their cover of his signature song 'Sweet Child 'O Mine'... but I'll get over it.

It Might Get Roud

Boris / Red Sparowes
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
August 26, 2010

This bill almost made me do a spit take when it was announced; Boris with Red Sparowes?! It seemed like an odd combination to me, especially since Red Sparowes have headlined this venue on their own in the past. However, it made more sense once the bands hit the stage. Prior to the show Johnny and I met up with Joey Acid King, Rafa Black Cobra, and Ref for a pre-show drink at The Homestead. Then we few, we happy few, bounced over to the venue.

A couple of years ago, I was really into the Red Sparowes and I'd seen them a couple of times when they supported Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in S.F.. For the newbies: Red Sparowes play instrumentals accompanied by artful video montages projected on a large onstage screen that's set up above and behind them. We were still outside waiting in the Will Call line at 9:45pm as the band started their set. After grabbing a beer I settled into watching their performance and, while it was good, I had to admit that I'm not in the same head space that I was a couple of years ago when I was ga-ga about them. Because of the way they perform, Red Sparowes are a band that engages an audience in a passive aggressive way.... and I wanted a band to engage me and not a multi-media presentation. However, I will say that the Red Sparows / Boris bill made more sense in person than it initially did on paper; they both create sonic paths that can be profound at times. However, with Red Sparowes, I didn't feel like being "shown" their path via video... I wanted to interpret my own path tonight.

People in Umlaut's circle seem to either love or hate Boris. There are those who simply label them as Melvins clones (Well, they did take their name from a Melvins song...) and there are those like me who revel in their eclectic brand of volume. Me love Boris long time.

The Japanese construct a wall of cerebral volume that sometimes comes out of nowhere. At times their set was so quiet you could hear a pin drop... and then from out of the smoke and darkness a riptide of volume knocked my brain sideways. Onstage the core trio of Takeshi (vox + double neck bass / guitar), Wata (Les Paul + vox), and Atsuo (drums + vox) are bolstered by touring guitarist Michio, who also plays in the band Ghost.

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

The last time I saw Boris was 4 years ago because I've missed them the past 2 times they've come through town. Watching and listening to them this time was like following a runaway volume dog and trying to grab its leash. Their set started off under a veil of smoke and lights and for the entire set I felt like I was running to catch that volume dog as it sprinted ahead of me... The beast barked LOUDLY and then careened back towards me to lay down just out of my reach as the set went into some ambient Drone parts... and then that volume dog exploded into a scream of feedback and bolted further down that path of noise with me still chasing it.

Guitar tone is something that's sacred to Umlaut and Wata is the Far Eastern Guitar Goddess of Tone. When she hits her wah-wah and fuzz and goes off part of me wants to point at the sky and say "Aiii!! Godzirra!!!" but Wata's TONE crushes me under its heavy foot of volume. I hate to state the obvious, but how someone so small can create such a huge signature TONE is another one of those bizarre things from the Oriental World, like using chopsticks and eating dogs... (Note: Before any readers go all PC on my ass you should know that Umlaut is Yellow... and for the record I'd eat a human but I would NEVER eat a dog.. Seriously..).

Boris took over the stage at exactly 11:00pm and ruled it as their kingdom for a solid 90 minutes with songs like 'Electric'... '1970'... 'Statement'. Something seemed a little odd at the end of the set... and according to Sensory Abuse (who was standing closer to the stage than Umlaut) Boris' amps blew out the stage power during the last song. Their tape loop was still playing but the lights on the bands' amps went out and the stagehands freaked out. It was at that point when Atsuo climbed over his drums and dove into the crowd... Wata waved... Takeshi said "Thank you!"... and the volume dog from The East finally ran so far ahead of me there was no way I was going to catch it. Sayonara!

Atsuo's Dive
Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

I didn't do a merch audit but Boris had 25 or 26 (!) different CD titles for sale; their discography is insane. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. I didn't roll back into Casa de Umlaut until around 1:00am... and I wanted some sushi but had to settle for a bowl of cereal.

Tour Book Time Machine

When I was a kid I didn't have a lot of disposable income; when I went to concerts I generally only had enough money for the ticket. Because of this I didn't buy many concert shirts compared to my friends (which is ironic given what I do for a living here in the 21st Century). However, one merchandise item I did try to splurge for was tour books. Since I'm as big of a History Geek as I am a Music Geek, concert programs appeal to me because they are a document of a specific time in a band's history. In most cases, ALOT of the information and images from these old concert programs has disappeared into the ether of time and can't be found anywhere else... even here in the 21st Century with The Internets. Sorry kidz, you can't find everything online.

Umlaut has been wanting to do this post for a long time so I finally took time to crack open the Umlaut Archives and pulled out some of my favorite tour books from the past and the present. For the full Music Geek experience, I've noted the exact show where I bought programs where applicable. Okay? Here we go...

THE FIRST ONES

You never forget your first... and these were my first concert programs:

• Cheap Trick - Dream Police Tour - Oakland Coliseum Arena - December 27, 1979
• The Who - Who Are You Tour - Oakland Coliseum Arena - April 20, 1980

The Who were an important band for me in my pre-Metal Days, but it's too bad I missed seeing the band with Keith Moon by 19 months. Umlaut is still a huge Cheap Trick fan. Several years ago someone posted a MINT copy of that same Dream Police program on Ebay and I snatched it up. So now I have a "reading" copy AND a pristine copy that no other human will ever touch. "Surrender... but don't give yourself away."

VAN HALEN

• Women and Children First Tour - Oakland Coliseum Arena - October 10, 1980.

For a couple of years I was completely fanatical about Van Halen; hearing 'Runnin' With The Devil' for the first time changed my life in my pre-Metal Days. This was one of the most fantastic concerts I saw in my Salad Days and it made a HUGE impression on me. It was David Lee Roth's birthday and they wheeled a huge cake onstage and a stripper jumped out of it. Lock 'N Loll! David Lee Roth also said the show was being recorded for a live album, but nothing was ever released. Where are those tapes now!? I was obsessed with the live photos in the pages of this program...


According to the Umlaut Archives this was the 6th concert I ever attended. Van Halen were completely larger than life onstage and in the weeks after the show I stared at the pages of this program as I listened to my Van Halen albums trying to relive the magic of that night. I also saw Van Halen on their next tour (Diver Down 1981 Tour - Oakland Coliseum Arena - June 12, 1981) but I traded the '81 concert program to a penpal in England a couple of years later. NOW I wish I still had it... Oh well. The Women and Children First album still rules! Listen to 'Romeo Delight' and try to disagree with me, mofo! "I'm takin' whiskey to the party tonight and I'm lookin' for somebody to squeeeze.."

BLACK SABBATH

I got some of the Sabbath programs via trades with overseas penpals back in The Day or I bought them at the local Record Factory store when they got in leftover tour merchandise to sell.

Front row:

• Mob Rules Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - April 17, 1982
• Mob Rules Tour - 1982 U.K. Program
• Never Say Die Tour - 1978 U.K. Program
  
• Born Again Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - January 25, 1984

Back row:

• Reunion Tour - HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA - January 8, 1999
• Mob Rules Tour - 1982 U.S. Tour
  
• Heaven & Hell 2007 Tour- Sleep Train Pavilion, Concord, CA - September 30, 2007

Not many bands do tour programs now, but back in The Day it used to be interesting to get a band's programs from different parts of a tour. The Mob Rules programs that I have are from 3 different legs of that tour, with the "1982 U.S. Tour" coming from early in that tour and featuring live photos from the previous 1980 Tour. The program I bought at the Cow Palace features photos of the band from those earlier Mob Rules shows. Interesting, right?! "If you listen to fools... The Mob rules!"

OZZY

I was a massive Ozzy fanatic when he released his first 2 solo albums, mainly because of Randy Rhoads.

• Blizzard of Ozz Tour- 1980 U.K. Tour
  
• Blizzard of Ozz Tour - Oakland Stadium - July 4, 1981
• Diary Of A Madman Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - December 30, 1981

When Randy Rhoads died I stopped listening to Ozzy and literally haven't owned any of his solo albums since... It's true. I'm thankful I saw Rhoads destroy on guitar in person twice in his brief time on Earth. Randy's 2-page section in the Diary Of A Madman program is a cool photo spread of him live and shredding onstage. "Don't ask me... I don't know.."

JUDAS PRIEST

• Point Of Entry Tour - Oakland Auditorium - May 22, 1981
• Screaming For Vengeance Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - November 19, 1982

The Screaming For Vengeance program features a Q&A with each member of Priest. Trivia: Halford's favorite movie in 1982 was... Cheech & Chong's Things Are Tough All Over!? "Electric eye... in the sky.."

MOTÖRHEAD

Although I bought my first concert programs at shows I attended, I eventually met some like-minded Music Geek penpals in Europe and we traded concert merchandise since bands who toured in Europe didn't have the same merchandise when (or IF) they toured the States and vice versa. For the newbies: This was a million years before The Internets. Having a "penpal" meant doing something called "writing letters" and sending these "letters" via something called a "post office". Communication and trading sometimes took months; it required something called "patience".

• Ace Of Spades Tour - "Ace Up Your Sleeve" October / November 1980 U.K. Tour
• 30th Anniversary Tour - 2005 U.K. Tour (Acquired for Umlaut by Tour Manager Doug who attended the London show on the tour... THANKS again TMD!)
  
• Iron Fist Tour - 1982 U.K. Tour

The Iron Fist program has photos of the band wearing the War Pig masks from the cover and Lemmy sporting the Iron Fist on his hand. Where are those props now?! "Devil's grip... The Iron Fist!"

SLAYER

• Reign In Blood Tour - 1987 U.K. Tour

It's trippy seeing Kerry King with hair, isn't it? Trivia: All of the photographs in the program were taken by Glen E. Friedman. "Raining blood... from a lacerated sky.."

IRON MAIDEN

No band has done more magnificent tour programs than Iron Maiden. None. Nobody.

Front row:

• Number Of The Beast Tour - Oakland Coliseum Arena - September 4, 1982
• Powerslave Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - March 21, 1985
• Killers Tour - 1981 European Tour

Back row:

• Piece Of Mind Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - July 2, 1983
• Somewhere Back In Time Tour - Concord Pavilion, CA - May 28, 2008
  

Iron Maiden's tour programs have always been the benchmark against which I compare other bands' tour programs. The attention to detail and the amount of information that Maiden gave to their fans via their programs is one thing that has kept me a fan all these years. All of the early programs had extensive messages written by band members or their manager Rod Smallwood detailing what the band had been up to since their last tour; to a teenage Metalhead it was like Maiden were communicating directly to ME... and that's the beauty of Maiden. They've ALWAYS done things right by their fans... ALWAYS. Another endearing aspect of Maiden's vintage tour programs is they always featured photos of their road crew along with their names and what they did. Fast forward to the 21st Century and some of those guys are still with Maiden and, because of those old tour programs, I still recognize them at Maiden shows. Crazy, right?! In 2005 Maiden reprinted their vintage 1980-83 tour programs as one volume that they sold on their Summer Tour (which included OzzFest in the States). It's beyond cool... and now I have a "reading" copy of those old programs so I don't have to disturb the originals from their archival slumber.

• The Early Days Tour - Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA - August 13, 2005

It was a brilliant move since Maiden were only playing songs from their first 4 albums on that tour! Dude, Maiden were so amazing on that tour and wiped the stage with all of the other OzzFest acts (including the original Black Sabbath). After the 'Ides Of March' intro tape Maiden opened with 'Murders In The Rue Morgue' and the set also included 'Phantom Of The Opera'! My Inner Teenage Metalhead completely lost it during their set. The 2005 program included a reprint of the Iron Maiden Tour program from the 1980 U.K. Tour, which I had never seen before!

A tour program can be a time machine: When Dennis Stratton and Dave Murray shared the stage! MAIDEN... ALWAYS. "Iron Maiden's gonna get you... no matter how far.."

METALLICA

Metallica were profoundly influenced by Iron Maiden during their climb to becoming the most successful band of their generation. This influence affected the way Metallica approached their merchandise... including how they've always done excellent tour programs that mirror Maiden's in many ways.

Front row:

• Death Magnetic Tour - Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA - December 8, 2009
• Master Of Puppets Tour - 1986 European Tour
• ... And Justice For All Tour - 1989 U.S. Tour
  

Back row:

• Black Album Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - May 9, 1992
• Black Album Tour - Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA - October 3, 1992 (same as the previous tour book but with additional tour dates listed)
  
• St. Anger Tour - HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA - November 28, 2004
• Load Tour - Cow Palace, San Francisco - December 30, 1996

Even when Metallica lost me (specifically between 1996-2007), I would still go see their gigs and their tour programs remained top notch. The St. Anger tour program was basically a photo book by legendary photographer Anton Corbijn and that alone made it worth getting. Fast forward to the 2008-10 Death Magnetic tour program and it was cool that the band recreated the vibe and look of their classic 1989-1992 tour programs with it. It was even cooler that Maiden's Steve Harris wrote something for the program and revealed how he first saw Metallica at Lars' invitation in 1983 in Staten Island, NY and thought they were weak! Full circle, man.

Of course, it's the Master Of Puppets program that is my most treasured. As I said at the beginning of this post, tour programs are like time capsules that (when done well) capture a specific moment in a band's history... and the 1986 program does that and MORE. It not only shows the band when they seemed young and invincible, but it also offers a glimpse at what could have been for them.


CLIFF... ALWAYS.

"They're dirty, obnoxious, noisy, ugly and I hate them... but you can't deny their success." - Dave Roberts, Faces Magazine, March 1986

What could have been: The tour dates listed in the program include the ones that were supposed to happen after that ill-fated night in September 1986. According to the program's itinerary, the Master Of Puppets Tour was scheduled to run until a final show on November 27, 1986 in Sydney, Australia. That means the band and crew would have spent Thanksgiving '86 in The Land Down Under; what could have been, man... As it turned out, Metallica didn't visit Australia for the first time until almost 3 years later. "Needlework the way... never you betray... life of death becoming clearer.."

OTHER FAVORITES

• Blackfoot Marauder Tour - 1982 U.K. Tour
• Scorpions Blackout Tour - 1982 U.K. Tour
  
• Thin Lizzy Black Rose Tour - 1979 U.K. Tour
• Frank Sinatra - Circle Star Theater, San Carlos, CA - April 27, 1991

Click HERE to read about Umlaut's Blackfoot fandom. The penpal in England who I got the Scorpions program from stuck his backstage pass on the cover; pretty cool, right? The Thin Lizzy program includes a Q&A with the band. Trivia: Phil Lynott said his favorite drug in 1979 was "Angel Dust"..... SINATRA! YES I did see Sinatra in concert and it was one of THE best gigs I've ever witnessed! SERIOUSLY! For the newbies: Sinatra was a Rock Star before there were Rock Stars. Even at 75 years old he had so much badass cocky attitude onstage. I'm really thankful I saw The Chairman in person. "Regrets... I've had a few.. but then again.. too few to mention."

Oh, here are a couple of other favorites from the Umlaut Archives:

• Girlschool Demolition Tour - 1980 U.K. Tour
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand Tour - 2008 Tour
  

I got the Girlschool program from a penpal I had in the U.K. back in The Day and it's autographed by all of the band members. For the newbies: For awhile Girlschool were the greatest all-female band ever. No bullshit. I saw the Robert Plant / Alison Krauss tour twice (in New York City and Berkeley) and this program is a BEAUTIFUL hardcover book; a classy program from a classy tour. It really is quite a stunning publication...

OH, AND THEN THERE'S THESE...

• The 24th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony - Cleveland, OH - April 4, 2009

Longtime readers know that Umlaut attended this event as a guest of a certain Bay Area Metal band... If you don't know the story already, click HERE for all the gory details. Anyway, only guests in the VIP Tables were given copies of the ceremony's program... and Umlaut didn't rate to be at a VIP Table on that night. However, thanks to the management of that certain Bay Area Metal band, I was able to get a copy of the souvenir program afterwards.

The program is a really nice book that honors each of 2009's inductees and the Metallica portion is pretty cool. I couldn't help but get misty when I saw the band photo they used as the main image. Scroll back up and read about Metallica's own tour programs and then chew on the historical nature of this one. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways, man. "Enter night... Exit light.."

... and FINALLY there's this program from the Umlaut Archives:

• Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert - O2 Arena, London - December 10, 2007

This show is otherwise known as the LED ZEPPELIN REUNION SHOW. In case you don't remember, there were less than 20,000 tickets available to the general public for this event that were distributed via an online lottery. The lottery reportedly drew 1,000,000 (ONE MILLION) people registering for the chance to see Zeppelin fly again. I don't know what the odds are, but Umlaut knows 5 (FIVE) people who were at this once in a lifetime epic concert. The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways and one of those 5 people scored me this souvenir program from the show (THANKS again John!). I should also note that James Hetfield attempted to "steal" this from me. True story.


This program is another BEAUTIFUL hardcover book and it includes a DVD of the documentary about Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records called Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built. The film has been released commercially on DVD and every Music Geek should watch it to see just how grand and magical the Music Industry used to be. It goes without saying that this program is a prized possession and guarded by dogs and demons within the safe confines of Casa de Umlaut.

ANYWAY... I think you get the gist of it: Umlaut digs concert programs. These aren't all of the programs in the Umlaut Archives, but these are the ones that I cherish the most. The Geeks shall inherit The Earth!

The Boys Are Back In Town

Black Cobra / Howl / Lions Of Tsavo
Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco
August 15, 2010

The Road Warriors finally returned home. It's hard to believe Black Cobra have been on tour for most of the past 11 months. In that time, Jason and Rafa have laid waste to Japan, Australia, the U.S. (3x I think), and Europe (including Poland and Hungary I think). Grueling, man. This was my 4th Black Cobra performance since they started this tour / album cycle and it's interesting how all of the touring has affected them. For instance, after 11 months on The Road, Rafa had turned into Cat Stevens...

Joey Acid King > Rafa Black Cat Cobra Stevens > Umlaut

Lions Of Tsavo (Austin, TX):

I knew absolutely nothing about Lions Of Tsavo except that they had been on the last 5 shows of this tour. They had a different vibe compared to other bands I've seen playing in the 3rd slot at shows recently; their songs were solid and they delivered solid. The drummer played with more of a swing rather than simply bashing away... and the guitarist played solos in songs that were not bad at all. The band just seemed like they had more going on than most unknown bands that I've seen recently. After their set I chatted with the bassist and got info about the band; they recently recorded with Umlaut Nation friend Billy Anderson. Hmmm... Yes, I bought their CD too. Footnote: While looking up some info on Lions Of Tsavo I found out they had opened one of the showcases I attended at this year's SXSW in their hometown of Austin. DOH! Sorry I missed you guys back then...

Howl (Providence, RI):

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

I had heard positive things about Howl from friends who live east of The Rockies, so I paid attention as they took the stage. As Howl started their set I kept trying to figure out the origin of the bass player's weird guitar because it looked like it had been made in wood shop class by a Stoner. I don't mean that in a negative way, but it's just a very odd looking instrument, dude. Anyway, Howl were the most "Metal" band on the bill tonight and they lit up Sunday night pretty nicely. The main guy plays a Dean Flying-V so you know their goal is to be Metal... and they do a good job of it. Yes, they have a female guitarist but that's not even relevant, man. A good guitarist is a good guitarist. Footnote: While looking up some info on Howl I found out they played a showcase at this year's SXSW the day after I left Austin. DOH! Sorry I missed you guys back then...

Black Cobra (San Francisco):

Photo courtesy of Photo Ray

According to the Umlaut Archives this was the 9th different Bay Area venue that I've seen Black Cobra destroy over the past 4 years. I've ranted about Black Cobra so much in this space that it’s pretty much crossed over into bromance, but what can I say. Black Cobra live are as close to a force of nature as you'll ever experience via a band. It’s been nice watching the lads grow up over the past several years into the fine upstanding men of Rock that they became with the Chronomega album. Umlaut doesn’t have kids, but Black Cobra are sort of like the offspring I never had… They’ve done all the right things to make me proud without even asking… and then they take the family car out and wreck it in the loudest possible way… but they always buy me a beer afterwards. Anyway, dudes, let's hang out soon now that you're home. For the record, Black Cobra closed out their U.S. Tour with this setlist:

• Five Daggers
• Kay Dur Twenty
• Red Tide
• Machine
• Lightning In His Hand
• Omniscient
• Sapphire Falcon
• Chronosphere
• Negative Reversal
• Below the Cusp
• Glacies En Spiritu
• Storm Shadow

It was cool they opened with an old song like 'Five Daggers'... and for those keeping score: 6 songs off Chronomega, 4 from Feathers And Stone, and 2 from Bestial. The End.

I didn't do a merch audit because I was too busy talking to people and forgot. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. When I got back to Casa de Umlaut I discovered I was almost out of milk for cereal... almost.

Houses of the Holy

Lovers of Covers: The Album Art of Storm Thorgerson
San Francisco Art Exchange
August 14, 2010

Sometimes my job has its advantages. A colleague is an old friend of the artist Storm Thorgerson, who was a member of the legendary English art design collective Hipgnosis. For the newbies: Hipgnosis designed an insane number of the iconic album covers in the 70's and 80's. The company's influence and portfolio is beyond staggering and includes classic albums by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, T. Rex, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Nazareth, Styx, Wings, AC/DC, and Scorpions among MANY OTHERS. Every Music Geek probably has more than a few albums in their collection that features Hipgnosis' cover art... and Storm Thorgerson created some of their most famous works.

Joining me on this excellent Music Geek Saturday adventure were Skychick and Sensory Abuse. Prior to the exhibition's opening we met for a drink at Storm's hotel and were introduced to Storm privately. It was pretty surreal meeting a legend under such casual circumstances; as I introduced Sensory Abuse and Skychick to Storm he said with dry English wit "You brought the whole family, didn't you?" HAHA.

After our meet 'n greet we were able to walk around the gallery privately while the staff did last minute setup and before the invited guests arrived. Seeing so much of his work gathered together had my Music Geek mind reeling from the overload of his contribution to Music / Rock History. In recent years, Storm has created well known album covers for Audioslave, Muse, and the Mars Volta. However, as part of Hipgnosis in the 70's and 80's, Storm was PERSONALLY responsible for creating SO MANY iconic album covers!! Albums such as:

Dark Side of the Moon > Houses of the Holy

In Through The Out Door > Wish You Were Here

Presence

Since we had over an hour to kill before the exhibition started, we hiked over The Irish Bank for food, pints, and conversation. Upon returning to the gallery we found the space to be filling up quickly with the 200 or so invited guests. I was so glad we'd had our private time with the collection earlier, because it was harder to appreciate the art in the same way with the space crowded with humans. However, Umlaut was still able to geek out on some of Storm's other iconic works. Albums such as:

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstacy

Rainbow - Difficult To Cure

During our earlier private viewing of the exhibition, I was very disappointed that none of Storm's iconic art for UFO's albums were included. However, upon our return to the gallery we noticed a dark hallway at the back of the room... and in that dark hallway was hung:

UFO (!!!) - Phenomenon (!!)

We couldn't believe that the legendary UFO art was hung almost as an after thought in the back hallway where the light didn't even work! Shocking...

Storm held court behind a small table in the middle of the gallery and he was given constant attention by guests. Thankfully, Umlaut was able to have some quality one-on-one time with Storm to follow up on some things we'd talked about in our earlier meet 'n greet and also to go off on a Music Geek rant about how his work with UFO and the Scorpions were incredibly iconic with people. He didn't seem to believe me... but when I said I was saying this because I'm mainly a "Hard Rock / Metal" person Storm looked me in the eyes and said "I could tell..." WOAH!

At one point in our conversation we were interrupted by Aubrey Powell, who was one of Storm's creative partners in crime at Hipgnosis. Powell was personally responsible for the design and all the photography for some Led Zeppelin album called..... Physical Graffiti. Maybe you've heard of it?

Umlaut geeking out > Aubrey Powell with Storm Thorgerson

Umlaut is from the generation of Music Geeks that learned about Rock Music via the radio and record albums. In a lot of ways, the cover art of record albums was as important as the music because it was something else that engaged your imagination. Music was an all encompassing escape from reality as you listened to the music (preferably on headphones) while you stared at all of the details of the album art. Here in the 21st Century, simply downloading an audio file is not the same experience.

I was completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of seeing so many iconic album art pieces in one space... and realizing that they all came from the crazy creative mind of one man... and that man was in the same room as me.

Unlike other iconic album cover art from the early days that were taken from paintings (most of which were done in the same size as an album cover), Hipgnosis art was photography-based so "original artwork" doesn't really apply since they used darkroom tricks, multiple exposures, etc. and not paintings; their "original art" would be a film negative and not a drawing or painting. The mindblowing thing is that Hipgnosis did all of this decades before computers and Photoshop; chew on THAT for awhile!

There were some pieces that you could call "original" art but they are closer to being mixed media pieces because they had elements taped onto the photo element. Because of the technique and medium, all of the pieces are big and the pieces on display were made from the original photo negatives. The images were sharper with more depth then you'd ever get from an album cover. Also, seeing some of the images in their original size and layout (such as Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and Zeppelin's Presence albums) instead of on a 12"x12" album cover was a revelation. I didn't recognize The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway until I read the placard next to it because I was so used to seeing the images individually on the album's gatefold sleeve and not combined together. Amazing stuff.

The only bummer of the night was that Umlaut's favorite Storm album cover wasn't included in the exhibition: The original "bubblegum" art for the Scorpions' Lovedrive album... but it was represented in the exhibition's poster art.


I did talk to Storm about the Lovedrive art and while it's NOT one of his favorites (he made a face when I told him it was probably my favorite cover that he's done) he admitted that he did think "it was funny".

Amazing.

Dude, it was an insanely magical night standing so close to what is left of the original fire that was Rock 'N Roll in its glory days... before imagination and creativity was neutered out of so much of it. To quote Zeppelin:

"Let The Music be your master... Will you heed The Master's call?"

(Photos 1-3 by Skychick and Umlaut. All other photos courtesy of Sensory Abuse.)

Rage

Corrosion Of Conformity / Goatsnake / Eagle Twin / Black Breath / Righteous Fool
DNA Lounge, San Francisco
August 10, 2010

Earlier in the day, Toby Rage, one of the absolute legends of the original 80's Bay Area Metal Scene, passed away from injuries he suffered in a jet ski accident. It was ironic that the original lineup of C.O.C. were playing tonight since I'm sure Toby created mayhem at many of their shows back in The Day.

Toby onstage with Exodus - Berkeley, August 1984
(Photo by Umlaut)

R.I.P... Kidz these days don't... even... know.

Practically next door at Slim's was the other Metal show in town tonight featuring Devil Driver / Kataklysm / Saviours / Skeletonwitch... and I could have done a doubleheader... and my name was on the headliner's guest list... but I decided to keep it simple and stay at the DNA especially since my night was going to involve an intermission of sorts.

I arrived late but just in time to catch the last song of Righteous Fool's set, which is a band made up of Mike (bass) and Reed (drums) of C.O.C. and another guy on guitar. I can't say much more than that since I basically missed them... Oh well.. but 1/2 of C.O.C. onstage bright and early in the show was different.

Black Breath:

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

I've been wanting to see Black Breath for at least a year since I picked up their excellent Razor to Oblivion EP (4-songs... 15 minutes..), but I kept missing them. Their latest CD has been getting a good amount of spins on Umlaut's stereo and you can't go too wrong with a band who takes their name from Tolkien (For the newbies: Black Breath is the toxic aura given off by the Nazgûl). The band hit the stage hard and generated some good heat during their 30 minutes with a slice 'n dice selection of older and new songs. The space wasn't terribly crowded this early so Black Breath attempted to ratchet things up a notch when Neil the singer jumped off the stage to generate some better pit action. Nice attempt, lad. At the end of the day, I'd have to say I need to see Black Breath when they're playing a smaller room like Thee Parkside where they can get in the face of an audience instead of being removed from them on a big stage... I also need to get The Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-Ray.

Eagle Twin: This is where my night got kind of crazy (but not in a bad way). I watched 1 song of Eagle Twin's Doom Duo Sludge (Black Cobra do the volume duo thing better IMO) and then had to bail for a quick trip back to Casa de Umlaut, then to SFO to pick up Skychick, then back to Casa de Umlaut to drop her off. Then I raced back to the DNA, parked, saw a couple of friends outside smoking and ducked back inside in time to see...

Goatsnake:

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

I'm guessing that I probably missed no more than 2 songs of their set; thankfully the show was running a little behind schedule. After I ducked inside I zigzagged my way up to the front and stood in front of Greg Anderson as he laid down his 6-string tone and then I remembered that it was fucking Scott Reeder (Kyuss!!) on bass and Greg Rogers (The Obsessed!!) on drums. Having members of Kyuss, The Obsessed, Sunn O))), Wool, and Scream onstage together was one of the highlights of the year for me. Umlaut is a Doom Guy and I'm totally down for a set of black groove like Goatsnake. Their set was exactly what I needed to hear on this day of death and reflection on the past. Remember when Kyuss played The Bottom of the Hill? Me too. After Goatsnake's soul shattering set I had to get my head back together after my mad airport dash... so I got a beer and ran into some old friends to pass the break with until...

Corrosion Of Conformity:

Photo courtesy of Sensory Abuse

When C.O.C. first came onto the scene it was around the time in my life when I was starting to listen to other music beyond Metal (Bob Dylan and Nick Cave mofos!) so I didn't latch onto them during the Metal / Punk Crossover of the late 80's. I'm more of a fan of the Pepper-era stuff just because that's when I started listening to them and seeing the band live. Hey! I'd rather be honest than a poser, man. However, even I knew the Animosity lineup of the band would bring people out of the woodwork... and it did, but it was mostly Old Metalheads and not very many Old Punks. Thankfully C.O.C. lived up to everyone's expectations. Woody's axe tone was dead on... Reed on drums was old school killer in that deceptively minimalist way... and I'd forgotten how great Mike is on bass. It sort of felt like a show from back in The Day except the pit action never got out of hand thanks to the DNA security running The Pit... which is so wrong. Let The Pit police itself! Number of kidz thrown out during C.O.C.'s set = 1.

According to the Umlaut Archives this was my 50th show of 2010. The night was like a collision of Umlaut's World past and present; sort of like the time machine that Rush used as a theme the night before! There were at least 6 people in the room who I've known since I was a teenager and there were alot of Umlaut Nation members and close friends in the house as well. Given the earlier passing of Toby Rage it was kind of eerie having so many eras of my life meeting in the DNA on this night. Trippy, man.

I had so much stuff going on in my head that I completely spaced on even looking at C.O.C.'s merch. Oh well... On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. When I got home I stayed up until 2:00am for no good reason...

Limelight

Rush
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
August 9, 2010

I've never been a big Rush fan, but I've always had their albums in my collection even if they've never been in heavy rotation for me. Before tonight, the only other time I'd seen Rush was in 1994 when I was a guest of the Melvins. The majority of the 17,000 Rush fans in the Cow Palace HATED the Melvins... and I mean REALLY HATED them! I've never been in an arena where the booing was so loud between songs; the Melvins played slower just to piss the crowd off more.

(From the Umlaut Archives)

Fast forward to 2010 and I recently watched the new Rush documentary Beyond The Lighted Stage and it made me a Rush fan. Seriously. The band's story is pretty epic and the band members are... TOTAL GEEKS. I had no idea that one of the most successful Rock bands ever were such dorks... Just like me! WOW. The Geeks shall inherit The Earth.


I didn't know I was going to the show until less than 24 hours before, but The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways. Long story short: I found myself in Sec 101, Row A, Seat 6; sometimes my job has its advantages.


The theme of the current tour is "Time Machine" and the stage design was all Steampunk with Neil's drum kit looking more like the inner workings of a Steampunk clock than a drum kit. The rest of the stage design was deceptively simple but once the show started it was one of the most magical Rock shows I've ever seen. Rush do not do anything half ass and while other bands who play huge venues like Shoreline go for over the top bombast, Rush's approach was subtle to the point of being sublime. The stage was so detailed I can't imagine more than a few hundred people out of the 20,000 in the house even noticed everything.

There was so much detail! Such as the little video screens in the orbs on the drum riser that showed different animated graphics depending on the song... A marker moved between Real Time > Half Time > Bass Time > Sausage Time on the Steampunk meat grinder behind Geddy; a roadie in costume came out several times during the set to put more "meat" in the grinder and sausages came out of the machine the entire set... and the meat grinder was even miked.. HAHA! A Steampunk style date counter came onscreen when they played an old song and would dial in the year of the song before they launched into it.. Time Machine Tour! Geddit? They also showed short animated film clips to introduce other songs which gave the concert a theater feel... and the band's strategic use of pyro and flames onstage was downright classy.

The show opened with a clever short film about a time machine featuring the members as various characters. It was actually hilarious and extremely well done... and it segued straight into the band almost casually coming onstage with 'Spirit Of The Radio' and for the next 2 1/2 hours it was full-on Rush World.

'Spirit Of The Radio'

As a Music Geek, there was so much to take in that it was overwhelming... The musicianship... The production. To be honest, I'm having a hard time remembering everything. The first part of evening was an 11-song set that included older songs, recent songs, and a new song that played into the time machine theme of the tour: past, present, future. Since I'm a casual Rush fan I can only claim to have known 4/11 of this set but it obviously hit a chord with the hardcore fans because a couple of longtime Rush Geeks told me it might have been the best hour of a set they'd ever seen the band play. Nice... I guess.. but I don't know 'cause I'm a poser.

After the 1st set there was a 30 minute intermission and the time machine year counter was shown on the video screen behind the stage. As the intermission ended the houselights went down, the counter clicked over to "1980", and the band returned to the stage to play the Moving Pictures album in its entirety. Right before the band came onstage another short film was shown that depicted a movie set with Geddy as an "English" filmmaker and Alex as a fat "German" filmmaker. As a trio of German Beer Maids walked past them carrying trays of beer, "German" Alex said "Look... Moving PITCHERS!" RUSH ARE SUCH DORKS!! I LOVE IT!

Best Quote: "Play that Mark Twain song!" - Umlaut Nation friend Junior.

Since I grew up on FM Rock Radio it was hard not to get caught up and enthralled as Rush delivered 4 of their most famous songs consecutively: 'Tom Sawyer' > 'Red Barchetta' > 'YYZ' > 'Limelight'. Dude, where's the bong!? My personal geek moment came as 'YYZ' ended and the opening riff of 'Limelight' lit up the night. I've always liked the opening riff and 'Limelight' is still the best song ever written about a "normal" person dealing with fame. Admittedly, the last 2-3 songs of Moving Pictures after 'Limelight' sound dated to me, so I spent a good bit of this time watching the crowd who were obviously way into it. I noticed a woman on the complete opposite side of the amphitheater who was jumping up and down and singing every lyric. Impressive... and despite the cliche that chicks don't dig Rush the crowd was pretty Milf-tastic. I'm just saying that maybe this particular cliche isn't true anymore.

Photo courtesy of Photo Ray

It should also go without saying, but the level of musicianship that Rush displays is almost beyond human comprehension sometimes. Even for a casual Rush fan like myself, the musicianship transcended the songs at times. Plus, they've played as a band since 1974 with no lineup changes; somehow I don't think bands like Avenged Sevenfold will be in a similar position or have as great of a musical legacy in 30 years... and if I'm wrong come and find me in 30 years.

Anyway... I can't stand drum solos, but the way Neil Peart shows off his stick skills was cool. His onstage kit is basically 2-3 different kits ringed around him on the riser; as I said earlier the drums looked more like the inner workings of a Steampunk clock than a musical instrument. As Peart's solo spot lifted off, the drums rotated so he could do different things: Rock... Tribal.. and some jam thing with sound triggers. I couldn't sit through it every day, but it was at least interesting. It was also impressive how the stage design included strategically placed cameras above, below, and on the drum kit to give all the Neil Peart Geeks a complete view of his show on the video screens. Dude, where's the bong!?

Right after the drum-gasm, Alex played a brief acoustic interlude that dovetailed into 'Closer To Heart'. NICE. However, that went into the '2112 Overture' > 'The Temples of Syrinx' Rush Geek-gasm and that's when I saw heads exploding in the crowd. Dude, where's the bong!?

One of the best parts of the night was noticing Robert Trujillo of Metallica totally geeking out in front of Geddy during the first encore 'La Villa Strangiato'. He was jumping up and down, pumping his fist in the air, taking pics with his cell phone. It was cute; even Rock Stars have heroes. The night closed with an extended version of 'Working Man' and that... was... it. Then it was exit stage left and Rush were gone as magically as they had appeared.

Exit Stage Left

After they left the stage, another short film was shown, this one featuring the actors Jason Segel and Paul Rudd. It was both a slap in the face and a homage to their über fans. It was hilarious... and heartwarming. WOW! Are Rush, like, the coolest band ever? Maybe. (Note: Umlaut Nation friend Micki informed me that Segel and Rudd reprised their characters from the movie I Love You, Man for this short film... I haven't seen it! Next stop: Netflix queue..).

If you bought one of every Rush merch item you would have paid around $675. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called us fags... but glittering prizes and endless compromises shatters the illusion of integrity.... yeah.

Click HERE to see Photo Ray's shots from the evening.