If you want to get properly schooled in the history of post-punk and industrial music – and the music industry machinery that has both helped and harmed it over the decades – don’t read a music blog or turn to some know-it-all bottom-feeding on social media for information. Instead, seek out a revered guru like Martin Atkins, he of Pigface, Ministry, Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd and Nine Inch Nails note.
Atkins is a prolific author of books concerning the music industry; the studies coordinator on the very subject at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois; and owner and operator of the Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music in Chicago. If you’re more inclined to enjoy Atkins making music instead of reading his tomes, look no further than The Howler: An English Breakfast, a record he issued on vinyl for the first time about three weeks ago.
Enjoy my lengthy conversation with Jeff Mueller, one of the four captains steering iconic Louisville band June of 44. From start to finish, you will learn the history of June of 44 and get a deep understanding of the band’s ethos and spirit. You’ll learn why reuniting was a transcendent experience in which the band members discovered new meaning in and appreciation for songs they had written decades prior. You’ll discover that a group of musicians who appeared stoic and even intimidating in their heyday are empathetic to the core. And you might enjoy a laugh or two — surprising for a band whose concerts were considered to be serious, chuckle-free engagements back in the day.
As the only remaining original member of Queens of the Stone Age, Josh Homme is synonymous with the band that boasts substantial critical repute, commercial success, and peer respect. But as QOTSA proceeds deeper into their 30th year, they’re preparing for two of their highest-profile tours yet this summer, with Foo Fighters in the U.S. and System of a Down in Europe, respectively. Since QOTSA’s inception, fans of heavy rock have always regarded Homme as the leader of the group, due to his authorship of the vast majority of its songs and his role as the project’s mainstay member as its cast rotated routinely over the years.
Indeed, Homme’s imposing presence and distinct appearance as a 6’4” red-haired front man adds to his band’s singularly striking presence in the rock universe. But not only are there well-founded doubts that QOTSA may not have lasted as long as it were it not for the other musicians who have membership in the band on their resumes, Homme’s ever-growing list of collaborations with the creme de la creme of mainstream music has boosted his prominence even higher than his often unconventional take on rock music alone would have accomplished.
“If you find it making you feel sexy, aloof and a touch sensitive, get your loose ass off your couch and come enjoy some music made for the soul.”
-Gozu frontman Marc Gaffne
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Sixteen years after their formation in Boston, stoner-doom metal band Gozu are finally swinging through Boise tonight for the first time ever. The Metal Blade maniacs are riding a wave of momentum after last month’s release of the band’s sixth album, which is named – you guessed it – VI. Distinguished by copious amounts of guitar-leading, ’70s-sounding riffs, Gozu relish grooves. And even though much of their material is of the doom variety, the band is all about having fun, especially when playing live.
Guitarist/vocalist Marc Gaffne indicated as such when he touched base with The Bad Penny today to get us – and you – wicked psyched for what Gozu have in store for their show at the Shredder tonight.
“Some dude came up to Jon while he had his shirt off and started licking him. I think the guy was yelling about doing it, so we were like, ‘OK, don’t talk about it, be about it,’ and he did it. It was insane.”
-Restless Spirit, recalling one of their crazier shows.
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Desert rock, stoner metal, prog and psych rock … Restless Spirit touch almost all the heavy-music bases on the self-titled album they released last month through Magnetic Eye. For further proof, Boise metalheads have the chance to witness the trio from Long Island up close and personal at The Shredder tonight.
As Restless Spirit’s recent interview with The Bad Penny indicates, guitarist/vocalist Paul Aloisio, drummer Jon Gusman and bassist Marc Morello don’t put up with bullshit. That comes through in both communicating with the band members and their honest and direct music, which isn’t fueled by anger as much as authenticity.
What follows is our full interview with the band ahead of their gig tonight.
Rey Roldan is one of the most prominent, amiable and successful publicists in the world of independent music – and he has the résumé to prove it. Now in its 22nd year, his company Another Reybee Production, Inc. boasts a stellar roster that includes The Alarm, Butthole Surfers, The Cranberries, Gipsy Kings, Candy Whips, Shonen Knife, Pansy Division and loads more prestigious artists.
Roldan doesn’t just represent musicians, though – he also takes care of two rescue dogs (Cillian, a 3-year-old Australian Cattle Dog; and Saoirse, an 11-month-old Australian Cattle Dog); as well as a 24-year-old Sun Catfish of the horabagrus brachysoma species. In between working tirelessly as the president of Reybee, Roland granted us some time to talk about his pets.
It was at that point that we came to our senses: Top 10 lists are all therage these days, and that fine and dandy – but the people putting together those lists should be the ultimate authorities on what they’re ranking. Ergo, we have reached out to bands from foreign lands to learn directly from them which musical acts from their home countries really belong on GOAT lists.
The latest edition in our series, which targets Portugal, should have the word “Ultimate” with a capital “U” attached to it. That’s because the musician who put together this top 10 list is, by leaps and bounds, the most talented and iconic metal musician in the history of his country. Like most leaders of metal bands – or at least melodic death metal bands, or at least melodic death metal bands hailing from Europe – Moonspell vocalist Fernando Ribeiro is sweet to the core, extremely smart, musically gifted and charismatic.
The Bad Penny is grateful for having interviewed Ribeiro three times now, as he reminds us of the good fortune we have to live in the present moment (and all the more time we have to listen to music, my dear). Ribeiro’s list of the 10 best heavy metal bands in Portuguese seems just about perfect, save one crucial error: Moonspell, the country’s greatest contribution to metal, isn’t on it. So if you had any doubts as to whether Ribeiro is one humble, rad dude, they’ve no evaporated.
Now let’s enjoy Ribeiro’s guided tour through the history of metal bands that Portugal has produced, shall we?
Gaerea is the pride of Portugal. A band from another cosmos, with such taste and personality that defies the gods. Their private concept of pain and release keeps getting more and more to the point and Loss just cristalizes that beautiful yet heart-wrenching tension.
Roughly one month ago, The Bad Penny caught up with mainstream-rock band ENMY, which consists of four guys who live in Cincinnati, Ohio. (ENMY isn’t to be confused with the now-shuttered British music publication NME, even though pronouncing their letters in succession leads to the same result.
“We’re kind of in the same vein as Linkin Park, Korn and Limp Bizkit, who all spell their band names wrong,” vocalist Brady Reis disclosed. “So, it’s like, the people who are into those bands will make the connection that we overlap with them a bit.”
Nine months after his shockingly sudden death, tears are still being shed for Tomas Lindberg, frontman of massively influential Swedish metal band At the Gates. One of the most well-read, warmhearted and respected musicians in melodic death metal – regardless of country – his skills remain unparalleled and might not be bested for quite some time. In the months subsequent to his passing, metal icons who – like Lindberg – were instrumental in giving birth to MDM in Scandinavian have publicly professed their sadness over his loss.
The latest member of MDM royalty to join the chorus and sing the praises of Lindberg is Greece’s greatest contribution to melodic death metal: Marios Iliopoulos. He helped develop the subgenre during his nine years playing lead guitar for Exhumation, then developed even more acclaim for his subsequent band Nightrage, which he co-founded with Gus G of Firewind in the same year that Exhumation split: 2000.
It was at that point that we came to our senses: top 10 lists are all therage these days, and that fine and dandy – but the people putting together those lists should be the ultimate authorities on what they’re ranking. Ergo, we have reached out to bands from foreign lands to learn from them which musical acts from their home countries really belong on GOAT lists.
Today, Swedish progressive power-metal band Prime Creation pipe up with what they consider to be the best heavy bands that originated from their homeland, with comments from drummer Kim Arnell. While many of the selections on their list overlap with the groups we named as our favorite Swedish melodeth acts, Prime Creation’s list contains a few bands that belong to a different subgenre – and one that isn’t even considered to be a metal band (hint: Their biggest song was also the favorite tune of Gob Bluth in Arrested Development.)
They have their own style and act as a bridge between death metal and heavy metal. Irresistible growls, unforgettable songs – and they make 60,000 people jump up and down at the same time.
2. Candlemass
Masters of doom. Unique sound. So dark and heavy. Nightfall is one of my favorite records of all time.
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