Band patches, stickers and pins are so yesteryear. Check out artist merchandise running the gamut from the hilarious to the bizarre in my latest FLOOD feature.
Archive for Mastodon
PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Mastodon, Lil Nas X, Orville Peck: Wacky Merch
Posted in Features, Mementos with tags Lil Nas X, Mastodon, Orville Peck, PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth on 01/11/2024 by Kurt OrzeckDoppelgängers: Mastodon and Metallica
Posted in Doppelgängers, Features with tags Mastodon, Metallica on 02/17/2023 by Kurt Orzeck
Metallica, the biggest metal band ever; and Mastodon, one of the best metal bands of this century, share a lot in common.
For starters, Mastodon started publicly crediting Metallica as major influence shortly after the Atlanta crew became a band in 2000. Six years later, Mastodon covered Metallica’s instrumental classic “Orion” for a tribute album tied to the 20th anniversary celebration of Metallica’s Master of Puppets.
James, Lars and the gang returned the favor a couple of years after that. The thrash gods gave the Atlanta sludge-rockers a huge break by crowning them as the openers for two of Metallica’s European tours. For good measure, 2009’s Guitar Hero: Metallica featured Mastodon’s “Blood and Thunder” as one of its playable tracks.
But the common bonds don’t stop there. There’s a truly uncanny coincidence in two songs by the metal bands, both of which deserve to sit on the Iron Throne. The numbers will be familiar to fans: “Welcome Home (Sanitarium),” from Metallica’s best (or second-best) record, 1986’s Master of Puppets; and “Megalodon,” a gem of a track from Mastodon’s breakthrough record, 2004’s Leviathan.
Continue readingASG: Psycho Las Vegas Preview
Posted in Interviews with tags ASG, High on Fire, Mastodon, Psycho Las Vegas on 07/30/2022 by Kurt Orzeck
If you’re a) Going to Psycho Las Vegas 2022; b) Wanna witness a guaranteed, badass rock and roll set; and c) Need to bathe yourself in melodious singing after too many hours of screaming vocals … well, make it a point to see ASG on Sunday (August 21).
Hailing from Wilmington, North Carolina, the lovable-but-lethal Psycho vets deliver about as reliably righteous a show as they come. Thanks to tautly written songs that drill into the brain like the Bugs in Starship Troopers, the Relapse Records band never disappoints.
That’s not to say ASG haven’t faced their fair share of hardships, however. The Bad Penny caught up with frontman Jason Shi on Thursday, and he opened up about some of them. Oh, and his love of Blind Melon, too.
Continue readingBest Albums Of 2017: War On Drugs, Queens Of The Stone Age
Posted in Lists, Sound Off with tags Cannibal Corpse, cloud nothings, Mastodon, Ne Obliviscaris, Oneohtrix Point Never, Pallbearer, Power Trip, Queens of the Stone Age, War On Drugs, Woe on 06/10/2018 by Kurt Orzeck
1. War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding (Atlantic)
2. Queens of the Stone Age – Villains (Matador) Continue reading
The Violent Sleep Of Reason Episode 5, 4.19.17
Posted in MP3s, The Violent Sleep of Reason with tags All Hell, Coltsblood, Dragonforce, Enterprise Earth, Epi-Demic, Hellwell, Karma to Burn, Katakomb, Loathe, Mastodon, Nathorg, Naudiz, Necrowretch, Nightbringer, Novembers Doom, Oceans Are Zeroes, Pyriphlegethon, Rotting Christ, Shores of Null, Suffocation, Tombs, Varg on 04/29/2017 by Kurt Orzeck
Varg’s Götterdämmerung album cover
The Bad Penny’s new program through Radio Free America, “The Violent Sleep of Reason,” focuses on new and upcoming heavy-metal releases. The show’s fifth installment featured new cuts by Varg, Necrowretch, All Hell, Tombs, Suffocation and Coltsblood.
The Violent Sleep Of Reason Episode 3, 4.5.17
Posted in The Violent Sleep of Reason with tags 1476, Amon Amarth, Bereft, Blame God, Dargar, Demon Hunter, Falls of Rauros, Gruesome, Mantar, Mastodon, Narcotic Wasteland, Novembers Doom, Piss Angel, The Royal, Troubled Horse, Vanum, Warbringer, Windswept, Wormwitch on 04/05/2017 by Kurt Orzeck
Mastodon’s “Emperor of Sand”
The Bad Penny’s new program through Radio Free America, “The Violent Sleep of Reason,” focuses on new and upcoming heavy-metal releases. The show’s third installment featured new cuts by Mastodon, Warbringer and Falls of Rauros.
An Extremely Long Conversation About Extreme Metal With Albert Mudrain
Posted in Features, Interviews, What You Readin' For? with tags Accept, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Behemoth, Black Sabbath, Botch, Brutal Truth, Carcass, Converge, Dark Tranquillity, Darkthrone, Deicide, Dissection, Emperor, Entombed, In Flames, Job for a Cowboy, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Mayhem, Megadeth, Metallica, Monster Magnet, Morbid Angel, Neurosis, Nile, Opeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Pig Destroyer, Radiohead, Repulsion, Scott Kelly, Slayer, Suicide Silence, the Beatles, the Dillinger Escape Plan on 01/02/2010 by Kurt Orzeck
There is horror cinema. And then there is splatter cinema.
There is drug use. And then there is drug addiction.
There is heavy metal. And then there is extreme metal. Continue reading
Best Albums Of The 2000s
Posted in Lists with tags 3 Inches of Blood, David Cross, Electric Six, Isis, Lamb of God, Mastodon, Murder City Devils, Nirvana, Queens of the Stone Age, Silversun Pickups, Sweep the Leg Johnny, System of a Down, the Mars Volta, Tomahawk on 12/31/2009 by Kurt Orzeck
1. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf (Interscope)
2. Isis – Oceanic (Ipecac)
• Bad Penny interview: “Isis’ Aaron Turner In ’02: Oceanic Is ‘The Best Material We’ve Ever Written’ ”
• Bad Penny essay: “Isis’ Oceanic: Mystery Revealed?”
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Mastodon’s Brent Hinds And Actor J.C. Quinn: Doppelgängers
Posted in Doppelgängers, Features with tags Brent Hinds, Mastodon on 12/30/2009 by Kurt Orzeck
If the name “J.C. Quinn” actually rings a bell, then you’ve probably seen “Turner and Hooch” way too many times. Which is to say, even once. The poor dude – he died in a car crash in 2004 – also appeared in “The Abyss” (pictured to the right), “The Prophecy” and “Barfly.” Plus he was slated to appear in the subsequently scrapped TV pilot “How I Met the Mother of Mastodon’s Brent Hinds.”
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More Doppelgängers:
Best Albums Of 2009
Posted in Lists with tags Baroness, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dååth, Dethklok, Double Dagger, Isis, Job for a Cowboy, Kylesa, Mastodon, Pissed Jeans, Prize Country, the Family Curse, Them Crooked Vultures on 12/30/2009 by Kurt Orzeck
1. Mastodon – Crack the Skye (Warner Bros.)
• “Doppelgängers: Mastodon’s Brent Hinds and Actor J.C. Quinn”
2. Dethklok – Dethalbum II (Williams Street)
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