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. This 21st Century version of ümlaut has been ranting since 2004 and is also the co-author of the book Murder In The Front Row.
My thoughts on Metallica's 40th Anniversary: At the end of the 2nd night Lars told the crowd that the first time the band played San Francisco in 1982 it was a couple of miles from Chase Center at The Stone. A couple of hours later at the After Show party, I reminded Lars that the first time I met him and the band was at that first show a couple of miles away from Chase Center at The Stone. We had this brief conversation while standing in the roof top bar of Chase Center, the newest skyline icon in San Francisco. It was a long fucking way from that dirty sidewalk in front of The Stone 39 years ago.
A couple of weeks before the shows I was contacted about being included in the video production for the 40th Anniversary shows. I'm not ashamed to say I got verklempt seeing some of the old photos taken by the much younger me projected on the ginormous arena rock video screens. I was told a couple were also used in a historical band timeline displayed on the wall backstage near the band's dressing room area. The production company even used an old photo of the much younger James and I air guitaring together at the Metallica Mansion circa 1983.
[Photo by Alex Matthews]
[Photo by Alex Matthews]
Amazing, right?!
Through all these years, Metallica has been a constant in my life but it's not something I've done on purpose. I listen to a lot of other music, but I still get drawn back into the band's sphere of influence via new people I meet or events like this past weekend's Anniversary. It feels like a reset button gets hit on this part of my life when it happens, which is a good thing.
Besides the band, I have to thank everyone who has worked in the Metallica organization over the years. They have always gone out of their way to send me swag or to include me in all of the shows, moments, and events that I've experienced over the band's history. This is shit I do not take for granted. This includes the time they gave me a sneak preview of newly restored audio from a damaged cassette found in Lars' basement. It was from a show where the band dedicated a song to me back in The Day (the recovered audio was included in the Ride The Lightning box set).
I still like a lot of their songs, both new and old. I think Moth Into Flames is one of their best songs ever. I still dislike some of their songs as well. I will never like Escape. It's still surreal for me to hear a Metallica song on the radio in the car, which is literally every time I turn on the radio... because Metallica, Zeppelin, U2, and the Stones seem to be the only bands "FM rock radio" plays now. At this point, haters will always hate, but I'd rather hear a Metallica song than most of the other programmed music that represents "rock radio" here in the 21st Century.
Anyway, 40 years and counting for a band who I first met via a cassette tape sent to me in the mail by a new friend in a faraway city. This was when I was a nerdy suburban teenager and finding this band and others like them gave me an identity. More importantly, finding this band gave me friends, many of whom I have now known for 40 years as well.
Backstage tonight in San Francisco in 1992.. Garth Brooks, Boyz II Men,
and M.C. Hammer were ahead of his band in the Billboard charts that
week. CDs were still sold in long boxes. The San Francisco Giants
were 15-11 for the month and the Dodgers ended up finishing in last
place that season. Dave Righetti was pitching for the Giants out of the
bullpen.
Metallica / Iggy Pop Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico March 3rd and 5th, 2017
Prior to leaving on this trip I traded messages with The Front Man and told him how seeing The Band in a foreign land has been on my bucket list for a long time (Vancouver doesn't count...). Not long after arriving in Mexico City I saw The Front Man in person and we chatted about me seeing the band in a foreign land for the first time again... and then later that evening The Front Man dedicated 'No Remorse' to me in front of a sold out stadium of 70,000 Latin Americans:
"This one's for Brian!" What. The. Fuck. Later at the after show gathering back at the hotel, The Front Man came over to me and asked "Did you like that?!" Fuck yeah, I did.. and my mind was blown for a couple of days, man. It was the emotional highlight of what was an epic 5 days south of the border.
These shows in Mexico City were basically "warm up" shows for Metallica to road test the latest version of their ginormous stadium stage they'll be using in U.S. baseball and football stadiums this Summer. The venue site was massive and felt downright medieval at times. Evidently Foro Sol used to be the home field for the Mexican national baseball team, but now it primarily hosts Formula 1 racing events.
What made these Mexico City shows extra special was having Iggy Pop as the support act. IGGY. POP. The fact that Iggy was on the bill, and it was NOT a festival, was a complete "when worlds collide" event for me. At one point before the 2nd show I wandered around the venue and watched Iggy's band soundcheck without him. When my iPhone took this picture the band was running through 'Gimme Danger' into 'Search And Destroy':
Oh yeah, and Henry Rollins was there hanging out with Iggy, taking photos, and just being Hank. I've seen Iggy live around a dozen times over the years, but never in front of a massive crowd like in Mexico. However, any doubts I had about Iggy translating to a massive Metallica audience disappeared during his sets as he worked the entire stage (He's 69 years old!). He stormed onstage with 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' and kept it going for a solid hour each night.
Oh, and Iggy (He's 69 years old!) dove into the crowd each night. When I grow up I wanna be like Iggy! It's easy to forget how many songs he's written or co-written as hit after hit after hit kept coming. 'Lust For Life'.. 'The Passenger'.. 'Repo Man' (!).. 'Some Weird Sin'.. and of course Stooges songs like 'Down On The Street' and 'Loose'. Hands down one of the best support acts Metallica has ever hosted. SO GREAT.
As part of this tour, Metallica have curated a traveling museum of memorabilia that is displayed at the venue. When I first heard about it I thought it would be lame, but in reality it's pretty fucking cool.
The hidden treasures of the exhibition are found in the road case drawers that are labeled simply with their contents such as "Cliff".. "Fanzines".. "Tour Passes". When I opened the Fanzine drawer I had a pleasant surprise when I saw my old 'zine Whiplash displayed with issues of the legendary Bob Muldowny's Kick Ass Monthly and Ron Quintana's Metal Mania
I had forgotten that one of my Hetfield photos was on the cover of that issue of Kick Ass Monthly back in 1984-85 Peace in Rest, Bob.
Get this, the traveling museum also contains the ORIGINAL artwork (aka PAINTINGS) for Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets! Holy shit, right?! I can't believe they're shipping these priceless items around the globe for fans to see.
At this point you can cue 'Wherever I May Roam': Since I was at the venue early on the show days I killed time wandering around the venue, eating the catering food, and chatting with friends.. and walking past random shit like this:
At one point during the weekend I found myself on the other side of a room divider from the band's tuning room. For awhile I was serenaded by the sounds of The Bass Player practicing by himself and singing his band's new (and excellent) song 'Confusion'. Needless to say, I now have a difficult time listening to that song without hearing The Bass Player's voice. Awkward.
I'm not being dramatic when I say these shows in Mexico City were life changing on a certain level. I can be the most jaded mofo when it comes to this band, but seeing them in front of massive crowds in a foreign land was inspiring. Metallica sold 200,000 tickets to these 3 shows.. TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND tickets in ONE city!
The Latin American fans were not there to pose or sit in a VIP area sipping expensive drinks and taking selfies of each other. Each night, 70,000 were there for THE MUSIC and their love of THE BAND. I don't think you can have that kind of authentic concert experience on this massive scale in the States anymore, at least for a Metal band.
It's hard for me to articulate how passionate the Latin American crowd was towards the band. Before they came on, and even between songs during the sets, the entire stadium would start a soccer-style chant of "Ole!! Ole! Ole!! Ole! Me-tal-lica!!" At times during the shows you could feel the ground and the stadium itself moving as the crowd went bonkers especially during vintage anthems like 'Harvester Of Sorrow'. In addition to the entire general admission stadium floor pogoing and going nuts, several times I looked up to the farthest, deepest part of the stadium and even the fans in the very back nosebleed seats were going off. It was amazing.
On the 2nd night I was down at the front dodging thrown beers but getting hit by at least two. When I turned around during 'Battery' this was the crowd action going down behind me:
How do you say "Battery is found in me" in Spanish?
I like the new Metallica album quite a bit and I like how the band has their swagger back again. 'Moth Into Flame' and its groove is one of my favorite Metallica songs already, and live it's even better. As I said earlier, Mexico City was a warm up for the band and crew to dial in the stage, production, and set... and as such there were some minor awkwardly weird moments. Such as during 'Now That We're Dead' the band formed a drum circle mid-song (each of them on a drum facing each other) and attempted a tribal vibe moment. That sort of thing works for Neurosis but not so much for Metallica. In Latin America it kind of, sort of worked because the culture there loves drums. However, if it continues in the States this Summer I can see it being the bathroom break in the Midwest. A drum solo is a drum solo. Honesty is my only excuse.. Anyway, kudos to the band for trying something different.
Despite the brief warm up gig moments, the band completely owned Mexico City. No band is better or sounds as good as Metallica on a massive stage in front of a massive crowd. I've said this before, the bigger the crowd, the better the band performs. For the Sunday show I wanted to experience the show from the middle of the seething metal masses so we made our way to the platform attached to the front of house lighting desk. My iPhone took this picture during the "Die!! Die!" chant in 'Creeping Death':
I had an epiphany moment as I watched the 3rd show from the lighting desk. As 'One' started I ducked off the platform to use a porta-potty located next to it for the crew and guests... and as I stood inside of it the song's intro pyro was going off outside. Okay.. on second thought.. maybe it wasn't an epiphany but it was a surreal moment.. Being in a Mexican porta-potty as 70,000 people are losing it around you and stage pyro explosions and gunfire recordings from the PA are going off. Metal.
Away from the shows, it was a reality check to see how so many fans camped out at the band's
hotel hoping to get a glimpse of their Rock God heroes. It was a
profound seeing fans who were not jaded, who probably
don't read Blabbermouth, and who simply love THE BAND and THE MUSIC. Pure
and easy. It was straight up inspiring seeing that kind of devotion again, the kind
that I used to have a million years ago. Latin America es mas Metal. I should also say that, away from the shows, I had the best time hanging with friends doing stuff and drinking stuff. Epic good times.
Anyway, in the 35 years (!) that I've been following Metallica I've been fortunate to have witnessed many amazing moments. On the 3rd and final night one of those amazing moments happened again as the first song of the encore:
Full circle amazing and I loved how this collaboration was unexpected but made complete sense. The charisma and intensity of Iggy onstage was a contrast to him at the after show party back at the hotel bar. Seeing Iggy wearing glasses, comfortably slumped in a big leather chair, laughing and chatting is an image I'll always remember.
Yes, this blog rant is about something that happened over a month ago, but better late than never I suppose. To be honest, much more happened in Mexico City and my head has been too overwhelmed to attempt to document everything... Plus, real life shit meant I couldn't spend a lot of time trying to fill this space with words. So, I've simply tried to capture the vibe of my Metal time in Mexico City with my favorite band.
Number of Murder In The Front Row fans who recognized me in The Snake Pit during a show in Mexico City = 2.. Amazing! On the way back to the United States, some pimply-faced teenage TSA agents called me a fag. Who knows what other Metal adventures await over the next year now that Metallica are back on The Road..
Where I was tonight in 1982 in San Francisco: A band from down south returned to S.F. to headline their first show here on a Metal Monday night. Also on the bill was Exodus with KRK. The nervous headliners taped a note to a monitor to remind them what to say to the audience. Adorable, right?
Afterwards at the hotel it raged late and I lied to my parents that I was crashing at a friend's house and would be going to school in the morning.
I didn't go to classes the next day and instead hung out with the band all day in S.F. as they added a last minute 2nd show the following night at the Mabuhay Gardens as a benefit for Ron Quintana and his Metal Mania fanzine.
My obligatory favorite band released their first new album in 8 years (!?) today. Cliff was in the band for only 3 years and they wrote and recorded Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and Master Of Puppets in that time. I know it was different times, the band guys were different people.. etc. etc. but still.
That being said, I haven't been this close to a Metallica album release since Ride The Lightning. It all started 2 years ago when I was asked by the band to assist with the deluxe reissues of their first two albums and then being asked to be involved in a Spotify thing for the releases. It was a trip being part of that historical process with a band who I've known since they only had a cassette tape demo out. The Metal Godz work in mysterious ways.
Fast forward to almost 3 months ago and I was invited to hear the new Metallica album at their HQ in Marin. I went straight from the airport after landing
from a business trip in Dallas. I was running on fumes but when The
Metal calls you must abide.. but at least it also included free pizza and beer.. but then I couldn't talk about it publicly until a couple of weeks ago... which was fine.
Back in The Day an "album leak" was called an "advance tape".. but we still bought the album when it was released. In those salad days we bought the album mainly to feel part of something. The experience of going to a record store and holding the album in your hands, opening it, putting the disc on the turntable, and reading the liner notes during that first play bonded you with that band and that music. I know, old man talking.. but we all interact with music differently now here in the 21st Century including me. For the record here's how a Metallica album release day has been for Umlaut over the years:
Kill 'Em All - The Record Vault, San Francisco
Ride The Lightning - Tower Records, Mt. View, CA
Master Of Puppets - Tower Records, Mt. View, CA
And Justice For All - Tower Records Stonestown, San Francisco
The Black Album - A Record Factory, San Jose, CA
Load / Reload / St. Anger / Death Magnetic - I didn't buy any of these on day of release...
Hardwired - Metallica website (for the deluxe CD) and Amoeba Records (for the indie only red vinyl)
When
Ride The Lightning came out I heard Tower Records in Mt. View had a copy in the Import section the night before release so I drove to the store at around 10:00pm to get
it... and I still have it. I couldn't wait a minute to get it
I still have a vivid memory of walking into the same Tower Records for Master Of Puppets and being greeted by their full end cap display for the album and thinking "What the fuck.." I had been going to that Tower for years discovering the music that changed my life.. and now a band who I knew (actually Metallica were the first band I ever became friends with..) were having an album release of this magnitude there. Crazy, man.
Times have changed and trivial events like an album release are now something you can participate with on your phone while sitting on the toilet. However, deep down inside my Inner Teenage Metalhead is still excited today and remembers when this was how a Metallica album release day felt and looked like:
In honor of my obligatory favorite band releasing their new album today: This is my old friend Rich "Bang That Head That Doesn't Bang" Burch
(R.I.P.) outside of The Record Vault in San Francisco on the day Kill
'Em All was released. From the pages of Ron Quintana's legendary Metal Mania fanzine.
Bang that head that doesn't bang, forever. Forever.. and, yes, I do like the band's new album. Quite a bit actually.
Four months ago back on 4/20 (Dude!) Umlaut found himself at Metallica HQ in Marin County, California in front of a professional film crew from Spotify talking about *that band* again. It was a long afternoon but a fun experience. The results are launching today as a 4-part, 27 minute long documentary called Metallica: The Early Years as part of Spotify's new Landmark video series.
Take 3...
Honesty is my only excuse: I've never used Spotify... but everyone I worked with during this project from the company were very nice and appreciative. Spotify also licensed the use for quite a few photos from Murder In The Front Row for the film which was much appreciated by my co-author Harald and I.
So.. now whenever I see something on the Internets ranting about Spotify destroying the "music industry" or something like that I'll be conflicted and confused. Anyway, you can watch the first episode on the Spotify Facebook page and all 4 episodes only on the Spotify mobile app (non-paying members have access to them).
It's taken me awhile to realize that Lemmy's death affected me more than I realized. This week will mark 6 months to the day that he left this mortal coil.. and it's still very weird that he and his band no longer roam the Earth. Things seem boring now. Trivia: The "Motörhead Delivers" design is from the final tour last year and was based on a sketch that Lemmy did himself.
I attended Lemmy's 70th birthday party in December. I attended his funeral in January. The emotional swing and magnitude of both events was obviously profound. To be invited to both events celebrating someone who had been my hero since I was a teenager was mind blowing and I did not, and never will, take the honor for granted. His funeral and the private reception afterwards was a sad, surreal, and amazing experience. I honestly can't imagine ever visiting The Rainbow again.
Ironically, both Lemmy events coincided with the first "career" change I've experienced in almost a decade. However, The Rock Godz work in mysterious ways, and as one door closed another one opened for me. I'm now in a different (but also not that different) part of the "entertainment" industry. Thankfully it is one that is more rational and stress free than my recent past professional life. I'd like to think my Karma Bank deposits over the years finally paid off... and my colleagues now include such badass dudes as Yeti Wing Kong.
All of this being said, nothing has been inspiring me this year. Yes, I've still been hitting gigs fairly regularly.. but I've also passed on a good number as well. For the record I've been at these shows so far in 2016:
January:
Rancid / OFF! / The Interrupters - The Warfield
Metal Allegiance - The Whiskey, Los Angeles, California
Melvins / Dusted Angel - The Ritz, San Jose, California (Pre-tour warm up show)
Slayer / Testament / Carcass - The Warfield (2 nights)
Satan / Night Demon / Hellfire - Elbo Room
Abbath / High On Fire / Skeletonwitch / Tribulation - The Regency (Decibel Tour)
Iggy Pop - The Masonic
April:
Metallica - Rasputin's Records, Berkeley, California (Record Store Day)
Saviours / Ides Of Gemini / War Cloud - The Chapel
May:
Napalm Death / Melvins / Melt Banana - Slim's
The Cure - Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California
June:
Armored Saint / Metal Church - DNA Lounge
I haven't been a recluse, but I also haven't been motivated to write about much. I had the epiphany that posting on my personal social media has marginalized the "creativity" I used to channel into this space. Cutting back on that white noise posting chatter needs to happen I guess. There were definitely events that I should have captured here.. THE major one was Record Store Day 2016 that featured Metallica performing live at Rasputin's in Berkeley and immediately afterward hosting a private party for invited guests at 3132 Carlson Blvd.. aka The Metallica Mansion.
The party was to thank those old friends and associates who helped the band with the massive reissues of Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning. At some point I intend to document my involvement in this project, which began with me sitting at a kitchen table with Jaymz and Larz over a year earlier and them revealing their reissue plans and basically hiring me to be a consultant on them. Full circle. Anyway, until I do that they say a picture is worth 1,000 words... so here's 4,000 words to hold you over about this.
Top photo by the teenage me: December 28, 1982. Bottom photo by the adult me: April 16, 2016:
Two Motörhead fans recreating that photo from Summer 1983 taken in that exact same spot:
If you really need to know what happened on that magical day and night right now, click HERE for what the band posted about it. I'll get around to documenting the profoundly full circle experience of being involved with the reissues.. even though it's already old news.
Truth be told, baseball is the only thing I really give a shit about at the moment... and I'm annually obsessed with the San Francisco Giants at this time of the year anyway but I'm more ratcheted up this season because it's also the 30th Anniversary of the amazing 1986 team. That 1986 team is my favorite Giants team ever.
Anyway, that's basically where my head has been this year so far. I needed a reset... and I'm not sure I've gotten one yet. On the way back to the blog, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. This space has been running since 2004... 12 (twelve!) fucking years of ranting about shit. There are some major things in the works.. some happening soon.. others happening further down the road. All are pretty fucking cool.
Eventually I'll remember how to put words together in an interesting way again. Hopefully sooner than later. To quote Motörhead: "Don't sweat it. Get it back to you."
Metallica AT&T Park, San Francisco, California February 6, 2016
I know.. I know.. It's been almost 2 weeks since this show.. but better late than never. Long story short since this is old news: There were some who thought Metallica should have played the clusterfuck that is the Super Bowl halftime show since it was being hosted here in The Bay Area. Yada yada...It didn't happen and instead they were booked into playing their own show at AT&T Park as part of the festivities surrounding the game. It would be Metallica's first proper non-festival, non-fan club only, non-corporate event headlining show on their Bay Area home turf in 7 years.
The show sold out in 28 minutes.
Fast forward: The band did their soundcheck the night before the show in front of around 300 friends and fan club members. I've seen a couple of Metallica tour rehearsals in years past but it was interesting to attend this; Umlaut tends to geek out on the production side of concerts in his old age. Obviously it was pretty cool to see a glimpse of the "nuts and bolts" side of a huge Lock 'N Loll show so intimately without thousands of drunk fans falling into me. I arrived at the designated time and, long story short, found myself inside the stadium ahead of most of the guests.. which really didn't matter.. but it was still a nice experience.
The band ran through around an hour or so of songs here and there, but it was really about them working out stage cues and other entertainment details of the show. Trivial: AT&T Park is only 2 miles from where the teenage me took the following photo back in the last century:
The Stone, San Francisco - March 5, 1983 [Photo by the teenage Umlaut - From the Umlaut Archives]
Every now and then I still trip out on how far Metallica have come from that homemade plywood drum riser. Crazy, right? Anyway, probably my favorite moment of the entire weekend was finding myself alone as the only non-crew person in The Snakepit directly in front of the stage as the sound was checked:
Umlaut View of the Stage
Stage View of Umlaut [This photo courtesy of Jeff Yeager / Metallica.com]
How this happened I kind of have no idea.. but it was special.. and also kind of awkward when I made eye contact with the various members of the band as they made there way around the pit's ramp. Cue 'One'. This also happened:
Is it baseball yet?!
The next day was the big Rock Show and the area around AT&T was buzzing and crowded like a Giants game day on steroids. As I approached the stadium it was surreal seeing thousands of people wearing Metallica t-shirts on the streets with thousands of people wearing various NFL team jerseys and gear. It made me realize that San Francisco was literally the center of the professional sports world at that moment. It's too bad the Niners suck so bad these days.
Anyway, long story short since this show is old news at this point, the evening for me was like a high school reunion as I saw friends old and new from near and far. One thing led to another and I found myself in the deepest bowels of the stadium in the dressing room area... where there was a really amazing art piece on display that was a gift to the band from the promoter:
... but, aside from grabbing some cold water bottles from a 'fridge and some snack items from the catering table, this is pretty much as exciting as backstage got:
However, one exciting moment did happen when a trio of SFPD officers with a BOMB SNIFFING DOG entered the dressing room area to make sure our homeland security was secure. After some tense moments of "searching" all they found was Sammy Hagar.. who posed for selfies with them and the dog. Thank you for your service.
Fast forward: One thing led to another (again) and I found myself back in The Snakepit in front of the stage. This time there were around 300 other folks with me while another 45,000 or so packed the stadium behind and on either side of us. Obviously, unlike the night before, I was not alone but it was once again special as I was standing with a half dozen or so old friends this time. My favorite moment of a Metallica show is when the houselights go off after a traditional old school song from our salad days is played over the PA (that song tonight was 'The Boys Are Back In Town') and they start 'The Ecstasy Of Gold' intro tape accompanied by The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly footage on the screens. The fact that they've used this same intro tape since literally Day One back in the clubs at their first shows still gets me emotional. Tradition, man.. Then they stormed onstage with 'Creeping Death' and for the next 2 1/2 hours Metallica owned San Francisco lock, stock, and barrel as hometown heroes should.
Long story short since this show is old news at this point (you can read legit media outlet reviews about the show on The Internets.. Google it..), but my favorite song of the show was the first encore of 'Whiskey In The Jar' dedicated to Cliff that featured Kirk playing the iconic Greenie Les Paul onstage.
So cool... and the other highlight for Umlaut were the heartfelt things each band member said to the hometown crowd after the final encore ("I was born 5 miles from here!" - KRK). I think it was smoke from the fireworks or something in my eyes... Home cooking always rules, man.
If you bought one of every Metallica merch item you would have spent around $500. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced football fans called me a fag.. but before I returned to the car this happened: One thing led to another (again) and I found myself at the After Show party not far from the stadium at a restaurant called Tres with a couple of hundred other folks who had the required wristband. The atmosphere was extremely bubbly given the open taco and alcohol bars and it was a nice way to end the weekend with the old friends in attendance. Yes, band members were there but THE Rock Star moment of the weekend happened when my San Francisco Giants fanboy brothers and I worked up the courage to approach Larry Baer.
For the newbies: Without Mr. Baer there would be not be an AT&T Park, 3 championships in 5 years, etc. etc. He is also a born and bred San Franciscan who knows all about and appreciates local roots. The best part was being about to thank him for everything he's done... and despite our initial nervousness, Larry could not have been cooler! He even said "I like your shirt.." when he noticed my
bootleg Giants Misfits tee. He even adjusted his Giants World Series
ring to make sure it showed in the photo.
Honesty is my only excuse: I care more about baseball than I do about Metal at this point in my life. Is it baseball yet?! This year's annual Metallica Night at the San Francisco Giants game is May 6th... and it cannot come soon enough. Hit 'Em All!
