Neil Diamond-The Greek Theatre-August 11, 2012

There I was, Saturday night alone at one of my favorite concert venues in the world...L.A.'s Greek Theatre.  Sitting high up in Griffith Park, the Greek's 5700 seat outdoor amphitheater shares its space with nature...beautiful trees, green leaves and grass, which all are lit up at night for all to see.  I love it there because it feels so intimate...and there's not a bad seat in the house.

Been going to the Greek for some 13 years now, and have seen some great shows there over the years...the original Bad Company, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, The White Stripes, David Bowie, The Raconteurs, Robert Plant.  So, it was a treat to return to the Greek this summer for one concert...and one concert only.  Few acts could tempt me out of my cave on a Saturday night to journey to the Greek Theatre alone.  Yet this was a must-see...THE act to see at the Greek: Neil Diamond.  Neil Diamond, you ask?  Yes, NEIL DIAMOND.

Why Neil Diamond you ask?  Well, the answer lies with my father.  Growing up in the 70s and 80s, my father used to play Neil Diamond songs all the time in the car during our many road trips.  I used to look at the old 8-track tapes, and stare at the strange covers as Dad blasted classic Neil Diamond tracks like "Cracklin' Rosie," "Song Sung Blue," "Holly Holy," "Cherry, Cherry," "Sweet Caroline" and others.  Though I am not 100 percent certain, I am pretty sure among those tapes was the 1972 classic album Hot August Night...which was recorded August 1972 at (where else?) the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

As I got older and became a rocker, I stayed clear of all things Neil Diamond.  My old friend Drew gave me 1980's "Love On The Rocks" single as part of a birthday present to me when I was 12, yet I was very dismissive of it.  As a teenager, I thought Neil Diamond to be a corny lounge singer of no importance who sang dated "Grown Up" music.  He didn't rock, as far as I was concerned...so I never gave him nor his music the time of day.  A friend in high school once brought up his love of "Cherry, Cherry," and informed me that The Monkees' 60's hit "I'm a Believer" was written by Neil Diamond.  Also, Diamond had a surge of popularity when he played a lengthy stint at Madison Square Garden when I was 17...yet still, I didn't care.

In the 90's, however, things changed.  Neil Diamond songs started popping up in movies.  PULP FICTION featured Urge Overkill's cover of Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon."  That same year, my girlfriend at the time made me a mixed tape with 1966's "Solitary Man" on it.  In addition to all that, my sister Pam told me about a band that she loved called Super Diamond, who performed fast, rock and roll versions of Neil Diamond songs.

It wasn't until years later that it all came flooding back to me...all of the Neil Diamond songs that I heard as a child in my father's car.  The power of suggestion knows no bounds, so it only made sense that eventually I'd find my way back to Diamond.  When I was 30, I picked up a copy of Hot August Night on CD, and loved it, and soon found myself buying other Neil Diamond discs, falling in love with songs like "Holly Holy,"and "Kentucky Woman." Finally I was ready to admit that Neil Diamond had written some great songs.

In 2008, I thought about seeing Neil Diamond in concert, as he booked a number of dates in the L.A. area.  Yet tickets were very expensive, and I just didn't think it was worth it.  However, Shauna...a lovely blonde I was dating at the time, invited me join her friends to go see Neil Diamond at the Hollywood Bowl.  Shauna and her pals bought a block of cheap tickets...and all was paid for.  All I had to do was show up.

...yet it was not good.  The concert sounded great, yet I felt as if I wasn't really there.  Shauna and I got to the Hollywood Bowl very late, and missed the first half of the opening song..."Holly Holy."  Our seats were miles and miles away from the stage...way up in the back of the Hollywood Bowl.  We had to squint just to see the video screens.  Much of the night was spent passing food around.  Shauna and her friends all bought picnic baskets, and tons of food to eat.  I think there were ten or so in our group.  So, I spent the night passing wine bottles and chicken around.  No, it wasn't a complete disaster...yet I didn't really feel as if I got to really experience a Neil Diamond concert.  I vowed that one day, I would right the wrong.

When it was announced that Neil Diamond would perform at the Greek Theatre for the first time in 25 years...to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Hot August Night, I knew I had to be there.  To see Neil Diamond in August perform at the very same venue where he recorded Hot August Night...an album I'm fairly certain my Dad loved...was a huge deal for me.  All the shows sold out fast, yet I managed to score a ticket...a very expensive ticket at that.

I loathe the cost of concert tickets these days.  Yet I when I had the opportunity to score a 14th row orchestra seat, I took it without thinking twice.  The price was extraordinarily high...yet as far as I was concerned, this was an EVENT...a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I knew would mean a lot to me.  This was going to be the one and only time I would see Neil Diamond at the Greek Theatre...and this may very well be the last time I ever get to see him perform.  I was going to make it count.

The drive to the Greek Theatre was nice and easy from my apartment...east on Sunset Boulevard, straight up Vermont Avenue, and I was there.  I parked my car in the stacked parking lot down the road, and walked uphill to the glorious Greek Theatre.  The venue was sparsely filled when I arrived.  Video screens on each side of the stage displayed various Tweets from people attending the show (who Tweeted to Neil Diamond via Twitter).  The mean age of the audience must have been 47 to 50.  I saw very few young people there.

The show began around 8:20pm.  The houselights dimmed, and the band began to play the opening strains of 1970's "Soolaimon"...a track that is unfortunately anathema to me.  You see, at my office, I am tortured daily with the same songs over and over again over our loudspeakers...to the point that I can't hear them anymore.  "Soolaimon" is one of those songs.  Nonetheless, the band played, and out Neil Diamond came...in the flesh.  At 71 years young, he looked and sounded great.  Okay, he looked old...yet still looked good, and sounded great.

Diamond had a huge band backing him...7-8 musicians, 3 backing singers, plus a full string section.  The big thing for me though, was Neil Diamond's drummer...the great Ronnie Tutt.  He's played with Diamond for over 30 years, yet before that...he played with another legendary singer.  From 1969-1977, Ronnie Tutt recorded and toured with Elvis Presley.  That's American royalty to me.  Almost hidden behind his trademark huge double bass drums, in full white beard, Ronnie Tutt played with a gentle finesse throughout the whole concert...never upstaging the main attraction.  I just stared in awe.

I wasn't too familiar with the second song of the night, 1976's "Beautiful Noise," yet 1979's "Forever In Blue Jeans" sounded familiar (maybe Dad played it in the car?).  I didn't know the next song "Hello Again," which is from the 1980 soundtrack to THE JAZZ SINGER, yet the next seven songs I knew too well.  "Love on The Rocks" was my 12th birthday present, "Play Me" and "Shilo" I knew from my Neil Diamond CDs.  "Red Red Wine" I knew mostly from UB40's cover of the song in 1983, and "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" I knew from PULP FICTION, and my HOT AUGUST NIGHT CD.  It was a true pleasure to hear Diamond sing all of these great songs...plus great classics like "'Cherry, Cherry" and "Solitary Man."

Next came "Glory Road," from 1969, followed by the iconic 1966 classic "I'm a Believer."  Neil Diamond dedicated the song to his wife Katie (who was at the show), saying "I'd like to say I had written the song with you in mind, yet you were not born yet.  You were in the works though.  I think your parents were dating at the time."  The song seems to have meant a lot to Neil Diamond, as he mentioned that it was his first number one song (of a song he had written).  He also mentioned that he just recently got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  On Saturday night, Diamond performed the song both slow and thoughtful, then later fast and fun.

"I love that song," exclaimed the older gentleman sitting to my left after Diamond performed a duet with one of his backing singers on 1978's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers."  Yet I was more excited about his next song, which Diamond announced was one of a group of songs he would play in honor of the 40th anniversary of Hot August Night (he already had performed no less than eight songs from the album).  Though it sounded softer than the Hot August Night version 40 years ago, I still loved hearing/seeing Neil Diamond perform "Crunchy Granola Suite"...the very first track off the classic album.

"Morningside" is unfortunately another office-torture song, so I perhaps didn't enjoy that one as much as I could have.  Yet it was soon followed by a great version of one of my favorites..."Holly Holy"...arguably the best track featured on Hot August Night.  Where do you go after "Holly Holy"?  "Sweet Caroline" of course.  Everyone loves "Sweet Caroline."  Even Elvis used to play it in concert. The Greek crowd sang along happily...and even Neil Diamond sang along when the crowd sang the traditional shout-out that's not officially part of the song...the "so good, so good, so good!" that occurs during an instrumental break in the chorus. Neil Diamond never wrote that part...it was written by audiences all over the world.  Diamond had so much fun performing "Sweet Caroline," that after the song was done, and he played half of the song again.  Still feeling the love, Diamond had the band play the chorus one more time...with just the crowd singing along.  To close the show, Diamond brought out his 1971 masterpiece that he slaved over for months...."I Am, I Said."  Needless to say, the crowd ate it up.

"Cracklin' Rosie" began the encore, and I was so very pleased that Neil Diamond played it.  It was the one Neil Diamond song I remember the most from those road trips in my father's car.  Before performing 1980's "America," Diamond spoke fondly about his grandmother, and her journey from Russia to Holland to the U.S.  I think she was the light of his life, and had a huge influence on him.

Diamond next did a great version of the 1969 classic "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show."  After a miscue with a riser (which Diamond almost fell off of as he was walking backwards), Diamond was lifted off the stage on the riser, as he preached the fast talk of the song.  The first lines of "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" seem to have been written specifically for the concert I saw on Saturday night (and were in fact the inspiration for the title of Neil Diamond's classic live album): "Hot august night, and the leaves hanging down."  Well, It certainly WAS a hot August night at the Greek Theatre, and the leaves WERE hanging down.  I was just too glad to be there to experience it.
 To close the night, Diamond played 1974s "I've Been This Way Before."  Not exactly a big finish, yet it was a sweet and gentle way of saying goodnight...and it was a Good Night. 

There I was, at the Greek Theatre, having just seen Neil Diamond in concert. There's no doubt my father would have loved the show, and would have appreciated all of the hit songs that were performed.  I wish he could have been there with me.  Perhaps he was...

Van Halen: A Different Kind of Truth

As published in RUKUS magazine:
http://rukusmag.com/2012/0312/album_review_van_halen.html

	Van Halen — A Different Kind of Truth

Van Halen A Different Kind of Truth
(Interscope) Release Date: February 7, 2012

Van Halen, A Different Kind of Truth
Rock Legends Unite

Written by Paul Lyons

Van Halen has an odd history. Bassist Michael Anthony, powerhouse drummer Alex Van Halen, charismatic vocalist David Lee Roth and virtuoso guitarist Eddie Van Halen ruled the airwaves and the charts in the early 1980s, then became even bigger with their second lead singer, Sammy Hagar. After a brief detour with Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone, they reunited with Hagar for a huge tour in 2004. Three years later, they kicked out Michael Anthony, hired Eddie Van Halen’s 16-year-old son Wolfgang to play bass, and re-hired David Lee Roth to sing lead vocals on a huge world tour. With this revamped lineup, Van Halen has released their first studio album in 14 years, A Different Kind of Truth.

Produced by the band and John Shanks, A Different Kind of Truth contains 13 tracks that sound very much like the songs you know and love from the Roth-era days of Van Halen II, Fair Warning, and Diver Down. Part of the reason for this is because seven of the album’s songs were culled from demos that date back to the 1970s. The other reason is because the band still sounds great.

“Tattoo” kicks things off with a bang, representing everything that’s great about Van Halen: heavy riffs, pounding drums, roaring vocals, silly, sexy, yet fun lyrics, a catchy chorus and a signature Eddie Van Halen solo. It sounds like something straight out of the band’s 1980 masterwork Women and Children First. This is followed by another strong track, “She’s The Woman,” which has a great dance groove, a pop chorus and lyrics that only David Lee Roth could get away with, like “She wanted something to regret tomorrow morning. This suburban garage-a-trois was worth exploring.”

The excellent “You and Your Blues” leans heavily on the past. David Lee Roth’s vocals have never sounded better as he belts out classic song titles like “Red House,” “Communication Breakdown,” “19th Nervous Breakdown” and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” coupled with a great Eddie Van Halen wah-wah-infused solo. “China Town,” on the other hand, is fast and furious filler, in the vein of past Van Halen nuggets like “Sinners Swing” and “Hang ‘em High.” The lyrics are silly, and the music is forgettable, yet somehow the song still rocks. 

“Blood and Fire” is among the best of the new songs. One can’t help but note its autobiographical tone with the chorus of “We came, we came, we came through blood and fire” and lyrics like “Told ya I was coming back.” It even features David Lee Roth’s signature catchphrase (which he uses at every public appearance and concert), “Look at all the people here tonight.”

You can hear the ghost of “Ice Cream Man” (from 1978 album Van Halen) in “Stay Frosty,” a fun and bouncy acoustic number with religious themes, that turns into a bland full-band blow-out. “Big River” is pure filler that sounds like an Aerosmith outtake with a big chorus, yet no real song to speak of. Thankfully, A Different Kind of Truth closes on a high note with “Beats Workin’,” a commanding track with a raw, AC/DC feel, and a catchy chorus of “This beats workin’, baby, ‘cause I’m red hot, baby, like it or not.”

Although by no means perfect, A Different Kind of Truth is a terrific album, with plenty to offer. Similar to Van Halen albums of years past, it functions as a great dance partner who pulls you out on the floor and shows you how to have fun. It’s good-time party music, suitable for birthdays, football games, keg-bashers and strip clubs alike. Undoubtedly, A Different Kind of Truth is what Van Halen does best.

Guns N' Roses - Hollywood Palladium - March 9, 2012

http://www.ocreloaded.com/concert-reviews/459-guns-n-roses-at-hollywood-palladium.html

Guns N' Roses Rock The Hollywood Palladium

Written by Paul Lyons

Monday, 12 March 2012 19:40 Would you attend an all-general admission, standing room only concert, that began past midnight, and featured DJ Ashba, Frank Ferrer, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, Tommy Stinson and Dizzy Reed?  Maybe?  No?  What if this same concert featured a certain William Bruce Rose Jr. (aka Axl Rose) on lead vocals, and the band called themselves Guns N' Roses?  That might inspire you to go, right?  It certainly inspired the 4000 or so men and women who packed the Hollywood Palladium Friday night to rock out into the wee hours of the morning.

The music of Guns N' Roses has stood the test of time, sounding just as strong today as it did when they first emerged on the scene in the mid-1980's.  The sad things is, the band now exists not so much as a "they," but as a "he."  The "he" being Axl Rose, who has single-handedly kept the Guns N' Rose name alive for the  past 15 years.  What was once a powerful quintet  featuring Axl Rose on vocals, Slash and Izzy Stradlin on guitars, Duff McKagan on bass, and Steven Adler on drums…is now a one-man show featuring a charismatic singer and his talented 6-piece backing band.  No, this is not the same band that recorded classics like Appetite For Destruction and the Use Your Illusion albums, nor is it even the exact line-up of musicians who helped Axl Rose record the last Guns N' Roses album: 2008's Chinese Democracy.  That said, this new, revamped version of Guns N' Roses is quite good…very good indeed. Epic.  That is the best way to describe Friday's Hollywood Palladium concert, epic.  The other word that comes to mind is "exhausting."  Starting at 12:20am, Axl Rose and the band played for a ferocious three hours, ending the show close to 3:30 in the morning.  Had the show started earlier, say 10, or 11:00pm, the crowd might have appreciated the concert to its fullest.  Yet the wild energy the audience might have had at say…midnight, was fairly depleted by the show's half-way point at 2:00am.  However, you can't fault Rose and Co. too much.  They could have easily played a fast 90 minutes, and everyone would have been pleased.  Instead, Guns N' Roses chose to play a much longer show, containing nearly ALL of the songs that people wanted to hear.  At about $97.00 a ticket, everyone at the concert undoubtedly got their money's worth…and then some. Opening with "Chinese Democracy," Guns N' Roses played a very healthy sampling of their back catalog.  Eight songs were performed from Appetite For Destruction, plus two songs from G N' R Lies, three songs from Use Your Illusion I, and four songs from Use Your Illusion II.  Their latest work, Chinese Democracy, was represented by no less than seven songs.  The Appetite material brought the biggest cheers…especially "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine."  Deep cuts like "Night Train" sounded great, and also lifted the crowd up.  People sang along to "Used To Love Her" and "Patience," and cheered hard for classics like "November Rain" (featuring Axl Rose on piano), "Don't Cry," "Civil War," and "You Could Be Mine."  Axl and the band also performed a great version of the 1978 AC/DC classic "Riff Raff." So as not to make it the "Axl Rose" show in its entirety, bassist Tommy Stinson got to step up front to sing a song called "Motivation," from his 1994 solo album Village Gorilla Head.  Rose left the stage for Stinson's song, and left it again while Dizzy Reed took center stage to perform a solo piano version of The Who's 1971 classic "Baba O'Reily."  Rose departed once more to give the stage to DJ Ashba for a guitar solo, and left again when Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal performed a solo to Henry Mancini's 1963 "Pink Panther" theme.  Rose left the stage often during instrumental breaks throughout many of the songs performed Friday night.  What he was doing off-stage, is anybody's guess. No matter what you think about Axl Rose, you can't deny how much he gives of himself in concert.  Late-start aside, Rose and the band were nothing short of fantastic.  This was everything you'd want out of a Guns N' Roses show (minus the original line-up, of course).  Axl Rose must have taken great care of his voice over the years, as his singing Friday night was spectacular, his voice sounded exactly as it did back in the 80's.  He was active, he was animated.  Rose ran around the stage, stood up high, danced, and even shook hands with the crowd. By the time the band broke out the final song of the night (the majestic "Paradise City"), and the canons blasted the crowd with millions of pieces of red confetti, (what was left of) the Palladium audience was more than ready to leave for the night/morning.  There were no calls out for "more! more!"  How could there be?  Guns N' Roses had already given everything they've got, and everyone was happy.  What more could one ask?

Interview with Allen Epley from The Life and Times

As published in RUKUS magazine:

http://www.rukusmag.com/2012/0212/interview_allen_elpey.html?utm_source=RUKUS+MAGAZINE&utm_campaign=4484df1bd2-RUKUS_February_20122_17_2012&utm_medium=email


Allen Epley interview, in full:

February 2, 2012

Guitarist and frontman Allen Epley is no stranger to the music scene, having spent over ten years in the Kansas City-based indie band Shiner.  In 2003, Epley formed The Life and Times with bassist Eric Abert and Chris Metcalf, and they've since gone on to release 3 EPs, and 3 full albums…including their brand new release, NO ONE LOVES YOU LIKE I DO.  I caught up with Allen Epley during a break on the band's 2012 world tour.

RUKUS:  The Life and Times"…where does that name come from?

Allen Epley:  "The Life and Times."  I was always kind of perplexed by that phrase growing up.  I don't know why.  Not only was it just the life of someone, but the times…always felt that to be a little redundant or something.  Although its not, necessarily…you hear the life and times of whomever you're hearing about.  I liked the ring of it.  I liked the fact that it was kind of open-ended.  We weren't called "Flower Factory."  We also weren't called "Scar Factory."  We wanted it to be open.  We didn't want it to define us in just the name alone.  So that was the reason, we liked the ring of it, we liked the imagery you could put along with it.   

RUKUS:  Let’s talk about how The Life and Times began.  You’re originally from Louisville, Kentucky, correct?

Allen Epley:  Yeah, great town.

RUKUS:  What brought you to Kansas City, Missouri?

Allen Epley:  Oh, college.  I got a free ride at this college where my Dad was teaching.  It’s called William Jewel College, just north of KC.  It was an offer too good to turn down.  I took it; we had tuition-free school.  That was my ticket to Kansas City.

RUKUS:  …and Kanas City is what brought you to Shiner.

Allen Epley:  Indeed, yeah.

RUKUS:  Was Shiner formed at school?

Allen Epley:  It wasn’t.  It was right after school, with a buddy of mine whom I had been in a band with, and who now directs all of our videos…and does all that stuff.  His name is Clayton Brown.  He and I had a band called The Industry in college.  After that broke up, we started playing with another guy, and started Shiner.  Then that morphed into several different things, different line-ups and stuff…until about 2003.  So it was about basically 92-93 to 2003 for Shiner.

RUKUS:  What brought about the end of the band?

Allen Epley:  I think we felt like we were creatively…not feeling it.   There was some internal stuff, but nothing more than any other band.  It wasn’t something crazy.  There wasn’t fistfights or rampant drug use, or that kind of stuff.  I think we were not really stoked about each other at that moment…and needed a break, honestly.  It just was time.

RUKUS:  How did you meet up with Eric Abert and Chris Metcalf?

Allen Epley:  Eric had a band called Ring, Cicada from St. Louis., that were a really great instrumental band.  We had played some shows together.  They were just  a band that we had toured with here and there.  Chris I had known from his band in town called The Stella Link, and he was just a really talented guy.  Honestly, we had tried out so many drummers for like six months.  It was kind of comical.  We went through ten guys trying to find…it was like "this isn't that hard."  This shouldn't be this difficult.  Anybody I could out-drum is not allowed in the band.  I needed somebody who could inspire me.  Chris is just an amazing drummer.  We just feel lucky to have him.   

RUKUS:  The interesting thing about Chris is that his drumming is almost purposely evocative of Zeppelin's John Bonham…using a 26 inch bass drum, and the incredible 16th-note patterns he's playing on it.  This makes me feel that your sound feels like a great combination of Radiohead and Coldplay mixed with the heaviness of Led Zeppelin, particularly on the rhythm…on the bottom.

Allen Epley:  That was a really great compliment; I will take that!  That is really cool, and wouldn't you want to to be in that band too? (LAUGHS).  That sounds awesome.  Chris is influenced by so many radical different areas, but Bonham obviously is a big one.  He's obviously a big Stewart Copeland fan, and is a student of everyone.  He's seriously the best musician I've ever played with.  He's a really talented guitarist.  Chris is a bass player in another band that he has called Simple Lines.  He is just so musical, it never turns off.  He fits in so well.  He takes suggestions so openly.  It's just amazing.

RUKUS:  You certainly favor Chris in the mix, particularly on the new record.  You can really hear that kick drum.  There's a real natural resonance to it.

Allen Epley:  That was definitely intentional.  We wanted to get the best sound possible.  Our friend Casey D'Orio helped record us at Matt Talbot's studio.  Matt is the singer in the band, Hum.  He has a studio in Champaign (Illinois).  It's just awesome.  I've worked there several times and I've recorded other bands there but…Casey just got great sounds.  We wanted very realistic, hyper-realistic sounds.  We wanted to hear the paper on the drums, you actually want to hear the actual…see the stick marks on the drum kit., and really feel that.  It's important.  Same with the sound of the bass guitar.  I want to hear the strings kind of grind against the wooden neck..  You can almost picture his wooden neck.  Same with the voice.  You want to be very present, and almost hyper-realistic.  I don't want to say Rick Rubin kind of sounds, but kind of, you know what I mean…kind of like…way up there, everything very present.  When we do use a reverb, and delay…use it very deliberately, not just as kind of a bass makeup thing, but just kind of like as a very obvious kind of…splash of purple on the canvas.

RUKUS:  When you started The Life and Times, was there a deliberate effort to make it sound different than the kind of music you made with Shiner?  Shiner was really straight-ahead raw rock and roll, while The Life and Times has a more orchestral, bigger sound…yet still with that heaviness to it.

Allen Epley:  Yes, I think that's pretty accurate.  I certainly didn't want to try to compete with what Shiner did.  It wouldn't have made sense; the fans didn't want to hear it..  At that moment it was definitely time for a palette-cleanser, and so we went for something prettier, like bigger, exactly like you're saying…more orchestral, more maybe symphonic…but also still with this kind of…blown-out, distorted, beautiful sound on it.  It's like the sound of a piano going on forever.  Bands like Flaming Lips and My Bloody Valentine were definitely what we had in our minds.  (Also) Swervedriver, even U2…their sense of efficiency and economics as far as the bass.  Adam Clayton, his part is the bottom end, is the melody.  The Edge is the Edge part, and the drums are there.  They're three separate entities.  We really wanted to hold down our own thing, and not overdub rhythm guitar.  We wanted three separate parts that held their own without a lot of overdubbing.  Although we do overdub, but it's not for a traditional thickening sort of thing like "I feel like the bass part's too thin.  I'm going to lay down a rhythm guitar track, and power cords that's playing the bass part."  I wouldn't do that.  I don't want to hear that.  It sounds like something that I don't want to hear.  Instead, I would rather just turn the bass up, put a little distortion on it, and make that its own part…and have the guitar represent its own part, play some high notes on top…and have the drums carry their own weight, which they do beautifully.  I think that was the initial intention, but we also wanted this grandness, this sense of really pretty orchestral blown-out…kind of distortion.  

RUKUS:  You can really hear that on "Shift Your Gaze," one of my favorite tracks from the first Life and Times record, SUBURBAN HYMS.  That feels like a mini-masterpiece of sorts.  It really reaches out and grabs you, even from the first couple of notes.

Allen Epley:  Thank you so much.  That was written at the very end of Shiner, when Shiner was still a band.  Ostensibly, it could've been a Shiner tune.  I just listened to SUBURBAN HYMS the other day for the first time in years, and I was struck by that tune.

RUKUS:  Your new album just came out in January.  It's called NO ONE LOVES YOU LIKE I DO…a very provocative title.  The curious thing is that the song titles are listed as days, and numbers.  The opening track is called "Day 6," the closing track is "Day 8," they're not in any sequential order per say.  Is it true that you recorded the album as a project?  You wrote a song a day for twelve days?

Allen Epley:  Yes, but I should note that the twelve days were spread over…maybe a year.  So, it wasn't twelve days in a row.  We would hook up, and write for like three or four days before a tour.  As we would write and record, we figured we had to get something done since we all live in different cities.  Eric was living in New York, I was in Chicago, Chris was in Kansas City, and we figured we had to use the most of our time, get the best out of it.  So we had mikes set up every time we rehearsed, and just actually record everything we ever played.  So by the end of the day, we figured we'd whittle it down…and at least if we didn't have one fucking song or idea at the end of the day, then what are we doing here?  "Day 1" was the first idea that we had, and that was what the album was built off of.  The reason its not in sequential order is that we felt like the album had better flow this way.  We could have named the album each of the song's titles.  "Day 5" could have been the title track "No One Loves You Like I Do"…"Day 9" could have been "Needle and Thread" or whatever you want to call it.  We felt like it had a certain a certain sense of poignancy as far as the lyrics..  We liked the way it read.

RUKUS:  So you recorded the entire album at Matt Talbot's studio?  

Allen Epley:  We ended up doing most it, the great bulk of it, down in Champaign at Matt's.  We recorded it there, then we would do overdubs back at our home studio here in Chicago.  It's called Electronical.  It's a tiny little studio in the shadows of Steve Albini's Electrical studio.  Only by proximity do we call it "Electronical."  So we finished it all there, and then we mixed it…sent it to Jason Livermore, who's an old friend.  He's worked with Shiner.  He mixed our last record, TRAGIC BOOGIE.  He works with all kinds of bands., and he mixed out at the Blasting Room, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

RUKUS:  You have an album that deals with a lot of really deep, personal, romantic pain…more than joy.  There's a pleading kind of feel to it.  Yet the songs themselves, there's almost a detachment with the songs, because of the titles.  You have one song pleading "I can't get you out of my head," but the name of the song is "Day 12."  Was that a conscious decision?

Allen Epley:  I think that may have been an unconscious decision.  I like the way even though it was "Day 12," it kind of forced us to listen to the lyrics about what it was about, if that makes sense, without laying on a pre-conceived notion about what the song might be about; you tend to really make up your own mind about what the title of the song might be.  I'm down with that idea, because it does create some sort of independent thought on that.  There's a lot of themes of obsession, and desperation of this unrequited love, but also just, true love…deep down.  There is a sense of snapped detachment that's happened.  It's almost as though this person has kind of, snapped.

RUKUS:  The dark side of obsessive love.

Allen Epley::  Absolutely, that's true.  There's a couple I know.  I realized that I wrote from…afterward I kind of found myself writing from the girl's point of view in this relationship.  There's a guy and girl I know; all of these songs apply very deliberately to their relationship, especially from her point of view.  The guy just could not get free, and she just was not hearing it.  She didn't understand that the guy wasn't getting' it.  She was like "I'm the one.  You don't even understand.  I'm the only one."  It was a very strange scenario.

RUKUS:  This a real couple that you knew?

Allen Epley:  Yeah, and I know them now.  

RUKUS:  Have they listened to NO ONE LOVES YOU LIKE I DO?

Allen Epley:  Yes, although this hasn't been discussed among everybody.  Surely it hits home.  The guys knows, but the girl does not know.

RUKUS: The name of the album is NO ONE LOVES YOU LIKE I DO, which is very commanding, yet the cover of the album is, what looks like, two aliens shaking hands.

Allen Epley:  Exactly.  The title of that piece from the artist is "The Embrace/The Grip/The Proposal."  So as I saw that piece, this artist William Test, from here in Chicago, it struck me as perfectly appropriate.  It's difficult for me to tell from the two robots, the two aliens, whether its a proposal, or it's actually the grip…like he's got him on his knees…or it's actually a loving embrace, or maybe its all of those things.  I found it perfectly appropriate for the music.

RUKUS:  Where did you find the piece?

Allen Epley:  I was aware of his work from a friend of mine, who has a band called Sweet Cobra.  He turned me on to William Test., and I was able to look through some of his work and I was like "That's it."  We liked the idea of it not being "perfect."  It's kind of scrawled, kind of one line drawing, but its also really purposeful and highly artistic.  There's a lot detail to it, intentional detail that we were really drawn to, that was really iconic.

RUKUS:  I noticed the songs are best experienced when you listen to the album as a whole., because it's really one musical piece, as the songs flow into each other.  The best example are my two favorites: "Day 2" going right into "Day 12."  Was that a conscious decision as well?

Allen Epley:  Yes, it absolutely was.  I'm a fan of kind of getting on with it.  I certainly wasn't worried that people would get bored by any means, you don't get bored in a three second pause between songs.  I liked this idea of just constantly moving forward, and this sense of contiguousness between the songs.   I think its just really interesting. I liked the way songs lay together, the bass parts between "Day 6" into "Day 9" into "Day 1"…and "Day 5 is kind of an echo of "Day 1," and then it bleeds over into "Day 3" between the two.  It just seemed to work very well.  So I took the opportunity to take advantage of that.  It kind of spoke to us, and we just literally listen to whatever speaks to us.  There's no other larger guiding force, honestly.  If we like it, we generally just use that as our guiding muse.

RUKUS:  On the new album, it's just you, Eric and Chris…no fourth member of the band.  Yet there used to be, right?

Allen Epley:  There was for a year.  In about maybe July of 2010, we were playing with a lot of loops.  We had been writing, and we were coming to the point where we wanted to play these live, and we started to wonder how we were going to do this?  A lot of the times, the loop that I was playing on a piano or something.; it requires a larger thing.  We either have to like, get us all on a click-track where we're wearing in-ears, this necessitates this larger operation that I wasn't sure we were really willing to get into.  We had known Rob Smith, who's a great drummer in a band called Riddle of Steele, and he has his own band Train Dodge.  We've known them for a long time.  He's also a real talented keyboardist, and guitarist.  So we asked him to come and make noise with us, ostensibly to join the band.  We did do that.  About a year into it, we'd just kind of changed our minds.  Through no fault of his own, we really were missing the three-piece vibe.  We had kind of figured out how to do some of the the key parts, and they had settled into some of the songs in different ways.  We in fact did end up using a click-track, and we used some backing tracks on a couple of different things.  We were just really, honestly what it comes down is we truly enjoyed being a three-piece, and that sense of economy…and streamlined songwriting, streamlined everything.  Sitting in the van together, eating dinner together, hotels and the whole deal; we just truly enjoyed the three-piece vibe.  Rob was a prince of a man, and certainly there's no complaints on any side other than the fact that we didn't necessarily need anybody after a while.  I know he was disappointed, but he's also a super talented guy and has a lot of other irons in the fire. 

RUKUS:  How has the tour gone so far?

Allen Epley:  The whole tour was amazing.  Historically it’s probably our best tour.  We’ve had a chance to kind of build up our crowd, and it’s kind of paying off.  We laid a lot of groundwork from our last record, but I think we’re seeing the payoff more now, honestly so…I thought the show in L.A. was pretty well attended...and that was pretty representative for the rest of the tour.  So, it’s good.

RUKUS:  How are the new songs coming together in concert?

Allen Epley: Very well.  There's a live sense of vibe that we go for.  We never try to emulate everything on the record.  We want the live experience to be its own organic thing, where if you record it, you get a cool live version of it, not just a really stripped-down version, but something that's really interesting on its own right.  It is a little more stripped-down, but there are some embellishments and things that we do live that are not on the record, that give its own weight and worth.  Its really fun, the show, we're doing I think 7 or 8 songs from the new record every night.  That's a lot to ask for an audience to sit through, but everyone has been very, like I said the tour's been crazy…everyone was very receptive, already had the record. Many people were already singing words at us already.  That was nice.

Exclusive Interview with Brian "Head" Welch

As published in Rukus magazine.

http://www.rukusmag.com/2012/0112/interview_brian_head_welch.html

Exclusive Interview with
Brian "Head" Welch
by Paul Lyons

Guitarist/singer/songwriter Brian Welch has been through it all. Known as “Head” to his friends and fans, he rose to fame and fortune as one of the founding members of Korn, living out everyone’s rockstar dream. Yet the price of success took its toll, and Head struggled with bad relationships and heavy drug addiction. A journey of his own choosing, he went down the darkest of roads. Coming up for air, Head decided in 2005 to leave Korn and become a born-again Christian...letting his faith be his guide.

He’s since published three books about his life and faith. Yet, if you think this has stopped Head from playing heavy rock and roll...you’d be sadly mistaken. As evident by his 2008 album Save Me From Myself, as well as his new single “Paralyzed,” Head still rocks as hard as he ever did.

I recently caught up with Head, who’s been busy recording a yet-to-be titled EP to be released in March.

RUKUS MAGAZINE: You were in Korn for over ten years, yet in 2005 you left the band due to your new-found devotion to Christianity, as well as for the sake of your daughter. Looking back now, do you have any regrets at all?

BRIAN “HEAD” WELCH: I think it was all meant to be, you know? I mean, I think that I handled some stuff wrong, cause I was coming off the drugs, and I was really excited about my change, and I was stoked that I wasn’t going to die of the drugs, cause I was scared that I was gonna die from drugs for like, a year. So I was acting kind of a fool, cause I was so happy and then my mind was like...wasted from the drugs. So, I would’ve took back some of the stuff I said, and did, but it’s all good now. So I don’t really don’t dwell on it.

RM: Do you feel had you stayed in Korn, you may not have survived?

HEAD: No, I would’ve made it, because, you know what, I stopped the drugs and everything, but I just didn’t want to stay there anymore, you know? I just didn’t want to be in that band. You know what, I was there in the most awesome years of Korn. So it was like, I lived it. I already lived it. So I’m thankful for the good years that we had when things were goin’ good, and the songs were just at their peak, you know? So I was just thankful for that. But I was like...I was ready to go.

RM: What is your relationship like these days with the members of Korn? There was at one point an issue with royalties, yet you took the high road with that by dropping the lawsuits and being friends with them again.

HEAD: Yeah, totally, I mean, I think I got treated unfair in certain ways, but like...why go to court and drag something out for five years of your life when you only have a certain amount of years? So why do that? There’s a few times when I wanted to, just because I thought I was treated unfair and I thought I was, but at the same time I made decisions, and I was ignorant with the business back then so I didn’t pursue the stuff and just like I said before, it all worked out good. I didn’t want any bitterness for them against me, and me against them, you know?

RM: You’re on friendly terms with the members of Korn to this day?

HEAD: Yeah, I’m going to see the singer in a couple of weeks, for Christmas. And I saw him a couple of months ago. But that’s the first time I saw him in, like, six years, so I mean, we haven’t been real close but, we always got good things to say about each other and everything. It’s just like, we needed to separate for a while. But now, you know, it’s good to be friends and everything.

RM: Have they heard the music you’ve been making the last couple of years?

HEAD: Yeah, I think so, but I’ve only heard one comment, and that’s on the new song “Paralyzed” I put out a month ago. Cause I’m talkin’ to him again, Jonathan (Davis) texted me, and said he loved the song.

RM: Do you find yourself listening to the music Korn’s made since you left?

HEAD: Yeah, I checked it out. Actually, we played in Bakersfield, California; we were on tour. Korn lives there now. They got the old Buck Owens studio there, that they rent out and everything full time, and I went over there and he played the whole album of The Path of Totality, the new one that is coming out. He played the whole album for the whole tour. We went over there and hung out for a couple of hours. It was pretty cool.

RM: What is it strange for you, that first gig you did as a solo artist supporting your own music?

HEAD: It was definitely weird. There’s been times where I just wanted to go do something else besides music, you know, but I feel there’s something in me just telling me “keep going,” you know. There’s somewhere. We’re heading somewhere. I don’t know know what it’s gonna look like when I get there, but I’m heading somewhere, and keeps getting better. When time passes, you know, it just keeps getting better. I’m in a great place right now; it’s awesome.

RM: So far you’ve made Save Me From Myself, as well as a new single called “Paralyzed.” How would you describe the music you’re making now, compared to the music you made with Korn? Does it all cover the same territory?

HEAD: It’s definitely in the same territory, but there’s a purpose behind everything on it. I went through so much where I feel like...I’m not the best singer, but I got a lot to say. I’m learning how to sing better and better, but I didn’t want to just play guitar in a band anymore, cause I got too much to say. I just didn’t want to get behind someone else, you know, for the remaining years that I’m gonna be in the business, you know. I felt like I want to communicate something, and I’m still figuring that out because lyrics are hard. I’m working on them like crazy and they’re difficult; they drive me insane.

RM: Is “Paralyzed” a feeling you once felt, or is that a feeling that you sometimes feel to this day?

HEAD: To this day… Man, I’m a man that struggles with depression and anger sometimes, you know? I’d say over half of my time, I’m pretty good. I’m like, I got peace, and I’m happy. But there’s like 30 percent or something, that where I just get clouds of depression and stuff and stuck in life, you know? And when the clouds come, it’s really dark, you know? I just feel really, really bad sometimes, and I explode with anger and stuff. I definitely go through it now, man. Just because I got my faith and everything does not mean I got it all worked out. I’m still a struggling human.

RM: Do you miss the rock star life you had with Korn, or the heavy drug use, and just the wild days you once had?

HEAD: You know what? There’s part of us, all of us, that likes to be bad, you know? And sometimes I have thoughts about that. “Remember this?” or whatever and, of course, for a second, it’s like, “Oh, that was fun.” But I know that it was wrong, and it messed a lot of stuff up for me and others that knew me. So the thought just leaves real quickly.

RM: You’ve written three books. Have they been helpful for you in a cathartic way? Have they been more beneficial, or more painful?
HEAD: It was painful when I was doing it, cause I was like “my mom’s gonna read this book” and I just basically confessed that I, you know, I had sex with my wife when I was mad at her, she didn’t know it and when I was finished, I beat her with a skateboard. You know I was like, “my mom’s gonna read this, my daughter’s gonna read this!” It was painful to write it, but at the end, it helped me because I confessed it, got it out in the open, and could be done with it. You know what I mean?

RM: You mention in your book that you had two very destructive relationships in the past. What’s your relationship status these days? Are you single?

HEAD: Yeah, I’m single. I went on some dates but I just...I’m really happy single and I’m so busy with my daughter and music and traveling all the time so...I’m good just how I am.

RM: You’re three books have chronicled your storied past, in relation to your spiritual journey. What do you think will be the next evolution of your journey that you have yet to write about?

HEAD: I went through a lot of stuff to where, basically, I came down to very little in my life, as far as things. I lost my Beamer, I lost my house in 2009 and I was like, what’s goin’ on, because royalties dried up. There was royalties that I didn’t even know I was due, and I wasn’t getting them, ya know? So I went through a dry period. I wouldn’t mind writing something about coming down to nothing, and building back up. So when I get to that place where I’m really built back up, I’d like to write about my story of getting just brought to nothing and just climbing back up that ladder.

RM: Do you have any more engagements coming up in terms of giving speeches, or are you just focused on recording right now?

HEAD: Yeah, I’ve got a couple. I’m going this weekend to the south side of Seattle to speak at a place, and then I’m going somewhere in Atlanta around the 10th. One thing exciting we got is a show with Alice Cooper and Cheap Trick at Alice Cooper’s Christmas Pudding fundraiser he does every year. So we’re gonna play, like, 20 minutes there. It’s gonna be cool to meet him, and do that whole thing.

RM. That’s fantastic, and big plans for 2012?

HEAD: Yes! We’re going to Europe; we’re going to South America. The record’s coming out. It’s just...it’s exciting. I can’t wait.

For more info go to:
BrianHeadWelch.net

Megadeth: TH1RT3EN

As published in RUKUS magazine:

http://www.rukusmag.com/2011/1211/album_review_megadeth.html

Lucky TH1RT3EN
Photo by Travis Shinn
Written by Paul Lyons

If you travel 35 miles north of San Diego, you might run into a seemingly quiet California town called San Marcos. Founded by the Spanish in the 18th century, the city covers 24 square miles, and hosts a variety of notable businesses such as UPS, Costco, and Vic’s Garage. Never heard of Vic’s Garage? Perhaps, then, you might be familiar with the “garage” owners; a thrash metal quartet from Los Angeles called Megadeth. You’ve heard of them, right? Well, Vic’s Garage happens to be the name of Megadeth’s recording studio, and they’ve cut a brand new album there called TH1RT3EN.

Lead by the legendary singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Mustaine, Megadeth has had a variety of lineup changes over the course of 28 years. For its 13th studio release, Mustaine holds court with Chris Broderick on guitar, Shawn Drover on drums, and back in the fold after an 8-year absence, original bassist David Ellefson.

Produced by Johnny K (a.k.a. John Karkazis), TH1RT3EN presents Megadeth as you’ve come to know them best: loud, hard, fast, angry, unforgiving and downright brutal. Listen to the first cut, “Sudden Death,” and you’ll hear 55-seconds of wailing guitars against a Bolero-style drum march. And this is just the intro. The song proper is a hardcore fist-pumper that talks of evil and divine punishment. Continuing on the path of evil deeds, TH1RT3EN’s first single comes next, an Al Capone-inspired gem called “Public Enemy No.1.” You wonder with lyrics like “I’m unbeatable/My mind is untreatable/Crimes unrepeatable…” if the character in the song is confessing or just boasting about his not-so-noble attributes?

Shifting gears, TH1RT3EN’s third single (and arguably best song) is “Whose Life (Is It Anyways?), a catchy number that thrashes hard with a pounding rhythm and scornful lyrics like, “You tell me how to live, but who asked you anyway?” You can really hear the bitterness in Dave Mustaine’s voice when he sings “You hate everything you’ve seen in me/Have you looked in a mirror?”

The mid-tempo “We the People” and the ruthless “Millennium of the Blind” both delve into two of Megadeth’s favorite subjects: politics and war. On “We the People,” Mustaine sings “Our founding fathers are rolling in their graves/The land of liberty needs a regime change.” On “Blind,” Mustaine belts out “Blind follow, blind lead/All our hopes and dreams washed out to sea.” These are serious words from a serious band, yet Megadeth shows a hint of mercy on “Guns, Drugs & Money” as Mustaine sings “Poverty will turn the life of any good man bad. All love and mercy ever learned, he’ll soon forget what he had.”

“Never Dead” (TH1RT3EN’s 2nd single) hits you with rapid beats as Mustiane sings ambivalently, “It’s right to be feeling wrong.” “Fast Lane” is another standout track, which employs various rhythms before going for full-on thrash mode at the end. In a trick of clever album sequencing, the song merges perfectly into “Black Swan,” a 4/4 barnburner with a killer chorus of “Just like a churchyard shadow, creeping after me/It’s only there to terrify my mind, a black swan keeps haunting me.”

To close out TH1RT3EN, Dave Mustaine goes for broke with the album’s title track, “13,” an autobiographical account of his life’s work. He sings “At thirteen I started down this path/Fueled with anger, music was my wrath.” Megadeath has always been Mustaine’s band, and he’s survived multiple line-up changes, drugs, alcohol and severe nerve damage to his left arm.

TH1RT3EN is a fierce and commanding celebration of everything Megadeth was, is and always will be. If you’re a fan, this is the album you’ve been waiting for.

Anthrax at Club Nokia - October 22, 2011

As published in Rukus magazine:

http://www.rukusmag.com/2011/1111/concert_review_anthrax.html

There are concerts, and there are experiences.  A concert can best be described as a formal affair, where performers stand on an elevated stage, and an audience sits or stands in a designated area to watch and listen to a performance.  An experience, on the other hand, has little to do with the formal, and everything to do with the visceral.  Such was the case on October 22nd, when legendary thrash-metal band Anthrax invaded Los Angeles with a ferocious concert at downtown’s 2300-capcity Club Nokia.

It’s been 30 years since Anthrax first got together.  Despite many line-up changes, the quintet has always stayed strong and alive.  The great news is that the definitive Anthrax line-up is now back in place:  Scott Ian on guitar, Frank Bello on bass, Charlie Benante on drums, Rob Caggiano on lead guitar, and Joey Belladonna on lead vocals.  Better still, Anthrax upped the ante this year by unleashing a brand new album called WORSHIP MUSIC, considered by many as their best album ever.

The lights went down at 10:20pm.  The drone of “Worship” slowly crept in…warning the crowd about what was about to happen.  Like lightning, Anthrax exploded on stage with a double-shot of WORSHIP MUSIC tracks: the barbaric “Earth on Hell” and the forceful throbbing sound of “Fight ‘Em Till You Can’t.”  The music pounded you in the face with its hard and fast rhythm, beating you into submission.  It was wickedly awesome, and Anthrax was just warming up.

To mosh, or not to mosh, that is the question.  For stuffed shirts like me, not so much, yet for many loose-limbed fans, moshing and bodysurfing at an Anthrax show is a must.  On classic songs like “Caught in a Mosh”, the pit area in front of the stage was in full-mosh swing.  Men and women alike walked around in circles…pushing and shoving each other in a rough, tribal bonding session.  It was an incredible sight to behold.

Before performing their 1985 classic “Madhouse,” Joey Belladonna yelled out “I’m lovin’ this place man, this is our first time here.  We’re back 30 years man!  Anthrax is alive motherf*ckers!”   Belladonna gave off a warm, friendly, appreciative vibe throughout the concert, and his vocals were fantastic.  Scott Ian rocked loud and hard, giving everything he had to the music.  Rob Caggiano’s stoic presence was contrasted with his wicked and wild guitar solos.  Frank Bello hung low and high as he prowled the stage with his deep bass playing.  Charlie Benante was the unsung hero of the night, as he pounded out crazy fast rhythms on his double-bass drums.

The moshers went wild when Anthrax broke out the 1987 AMONG THE LIVING classic “Indians.” The pit area soon turned into a violent storm…a tornado of bodies crashing into each other.  When the moshing got way out of control, Scott Ian stopped the band.  One thought that perhaps he was going to ask the crowd to calm down, yet that would have been foolish (this was an Anthrax concert after all).  Instead, Scott Ian applauded the moshers for how much they rocked!  Unfortunately though, this would not be the last time Anthrax had to stop the show.

The encore began pleasantly enough with “Eflnikufesin (N.F.L.),” yet when the band launched into “Metal Thrashing Mad” (from Anthrax’s first album FISTFUL OF METAL), Joey Belladonna was knocked over by a giant, 250-pound security guard.  You see, a fan somehow made his way onto the stage, and Belladonna gleefully walked over to greet him.  Yet the security guard mistook Belladonna for a stage-crasher, and tackled him hard and fast to the ground.  The band stopped the song.  Frank Bello was in a rage, and had to be held back as he screamed and yelled at the security men.  Scott Ian was furious, and walked up to the microphone to publically blast the security people for not recognizing the fact that Joey Belladonna was in the band.  

Belladonna eventually got up on his own, though he was in pain.  A pro through and through, Belladonna suggested picking up “Metal Thrashing Mad” where they left off.  Yet it was clear he needed a break, so they abandoned the song, and Belladonna went behind the drums to play percussion with Charlie Benante on a one-minute instrumental version of “Refuse/Resist”…a 1993 song from Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultra.  

To close out the night, Anthrax sealed their domination over the crowd with another AMONG THE LIVING classic: ”I Am The Law”…a fitting song for the night.  There was no doubt that Anthrax was judge, jury and executioner for the evening.  The band slayed their new converts with pure metal mayhem, and reminded the old fans that they haven’t lost any of their edge.  As proven at Club Nokia, Anthrax are back in their prime…and as heavy as they’ve ever been.