The Days of Lore

Black Friday: Do NOT Deny the Sun

Friday, May 29th, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

I’m sitting inside a Starbucks, battling writer’s block, people watching, shoveling chocolate-covered espresso beans in my mouth, waiting for inspiration to come walking through the door and … good God of Thunder, it just walked in …

… and by it, I mean he. A heavier-set man—long, curly mane tucked under a red, white and blue bandana. Aside from the Stars and Stripes wrapped tightly around his skull he’s clad head to toe in black, which matches his tresses and sunglasses. He’s wearing a T-shirt with a fluorescent-green logo on the front—”Deny The Sun,” it says. On the back, the words “Gothic Romance.” Oh yeah, this guy’s in a band. A quick Google search reveals that Deny The Sun is, indeed, a band from Erie, Penn., but does not include this gent, who’s now sipping a grande caramel Frappuccino at a window table … still, this is too good to be true.

Deny The Sun has songs like “She Bleeds,” “Sad Song” and their “hit single”—”Night of the Lycan.” They’ve performed at a number of clubs as well as “private parties, and have appeared as special guests at haunted houses during the Halloween season.” Apparently this motley crue has won two, that’s two, RockErie Music Awards for Favorite Metal Band, and their music has been dubbed “Gothic Romance” by its female fans—and according to the band’s MySpace “where the ladies are, the men are sure to follow.” I’m not sure exactly what that means.

Because I have writer’s block, and I’m hopped up on espresso beans, I’ll let the video of Deny The Sun at its first RockErie Awards tell the story. I think these guys are going places.

Tags: Black Friday, Deny The Sun, Gothic Romance

Black Friday: Slayer hella likes to sing about Hell and Satan

Friday, April 3rd, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

… And Satan might be the nice guy among all the serial killers and Nazi war criminals that Slayer has sung about over the years. I found this video on one of my favorites MetalSucks. The metal mashup comes via Metal Injection and strings together every reference of “Satan” or “Hell” from Slayer’s studio albums (cover songs not included). Supposedly vocalist Tom Araya screams those unholy words a total of 88 times, not counting repeats. If you like this, check out the Metallica version: 81 mentions of the words “die,” “dying” or “death.” Happy Friday!

Tags: Black Friday, Metallica, MetalSucks, Slayer

Black Friday: Axl has a bad hair summer?

Friday, March 6th, 2009 | musiX | 2 Comments

Axl Rose announced the possibility of a Guns N’ Roses stadium tour this summer. Stadiums. One question: Can those glued-on cornrows withstand a long, hot summer? I think not.

Tags: Axl Rose, Black Friday, Guns N' Roses

Black Friday: Dylan Carlson … of this Earth

Friday, February 27th, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | No Comments

Guitarist/sometimes-vocalist Dylan Carlson has been the only consistent member of Earth since he started the band in Seattle back in 1990. But even Carlson disappeared for a stretch—OK, almost a decade—from 1996 to 2005, as he quit music and battled his own demons, namely a heroin habit he picked up from his longtime friend and one-time roommate Kurt Cobain. In fact, it seemed like at one point Carlson was destined to be forever known as the guy who bought the shotgun for Kurt (and talking about it in Nick Broomfield’s 1998 documentary Kurt & Courtney).

But Carlson re-emerged, and when he did Earth was bigger than ever, thanks in part to a couple of Earth fanatics who kept the name alive with their own band Sunn O))). Earth returned in 2005 with Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method—it was Earth’s first record in years, and marked a noticeable departure from the band’s glacial doom metal. Things got even more arty and weird in 2008’s The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull, a glistening, instrumental space-rock masterpiece that is as slow and heavy as the band’s name implies. The album featured ax-work work by jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and was the most critically acclaimed of the band’s career.

Earth is gearing up for a European tour before the members—Carlson, drummer Adrienne Davies (and Carlson’s girlfriend), bassist Don McGreevy and touring guitarist Steve Moore—head back into the studio to begin work on the followup to Bees. Earth will play a U.S. show tonight in Portland at Dante’s before heading across the pond on March 26.

Carlson took some time to talk to The Days of Lore about the idea of doing soundtracks and why he is such a fortunate man.

TDoL: Have you ever been approached to do a soundtrack?
Dylan Carlson: We haven’t been approached to do a soundtrack, but one of our songs is going to be in the new Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man, Coffee and Cigarettes) film. So, that’s going to be the first movie with one of our songs in it. But no one’s asked us to do a full soundtrack unfortunately. [Note: The Limits of Control is due out May 22 and stars Isaach De Bankolé, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton]

It sounds like something you’d like to do …
Yeah, definitely. It is something I’d really like to do at some point.

Are you writing any new music right now?
We’re gonna be doing a European tour at the end of March and all of April, and then when we get back we’re going to be looking at studios. Hopefully within a couple of months of getting back we’ll be working on the next record.

What kind of songs have you been working on?
It’s going to be kind of a different style in some ways like, the the bass and the piano are going to be the main [instruments] … I kind of want to move away from the guitar being dominant. Everyone follows the guitar and the guitar riff. I want the guitar to be more melodic, or doing little stuff in between. Kind of an atmospheric approach or coloring approach rather than “OK, here’s the riff,” and everyone’s hanging on that.

Will there be any vocals?
No, I still don’t foresee any vocals. Maybe if we do a cover.

What are you listening to right now?
Right now I’m really into this band from Mali called Tinariwen. They’re like my favorite thing in the world right now. I’ve been listening to a lot of that one Sly Stone record There’s a Riot Going On. A lot of King Sunny Adé. And then I’ve also been listening to a lot of Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple and Rainbow. John Abercrombie. He came out of Berklee [School of Music] around the same time as Bill Frisell.

Are you going to work with Bill Frisell again?
I don’t know. There are no plans right now, but who knows. Usually I base that kind of thing on who I think would do something cool. Right now there’s no one in particular in mind.

I read that you’re constantly playing the guitar. Are you still pretty disciplined?
Yeah, I’m fortunate enough as of March of last year to not have a day job. So I’m able to devote more time to guitar and working on music.

You’re excited about making new music …
The new record has done really well. It’s our biggest selling album. Yeah, everything is going really well.

Is it interesting to look back at the fact that you stopped for years, and when you returned the band was bigger than ever?
It’s weird. You know, a lot of people go away and no one gives a shit. While I was gone people were still into it, and Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley kept the name alive. We’ve also been fortunate in that we’ve attracted a whole bunch of new people, too. And we’ve been lucky to include a bunch of new people without losing the original fans. I’ve been really, really fortunate.

“Omens and Portents I: The Driver” - Earth

Tags: Bill Frisell, Black Friday, Dylan Carlson, Earth, Kurt Cobain, Sunn O))), The Bees made Honey in the Lion's Skull

Black Friday! Anvil! The Story of Anvil! Greatest rock doc ever?! We shall see!

Friday, February 20th, 2009 | fliX, musiX | No Comments

Canadian metal band Anvil got its start in the early-’70s when guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner decided they were going to play metal. Forever! Well, it’s been forever, and Anvil is more popular now than they were during their days playing stadiums with Scorpions and Bon Jovi in the ’80s. You’ve never heard of Anvil, have you?

Well, Anvil released a number of records including the classics Hard ‘N’ Heavy, Metal On Metal and Strength of Steel. Still nothing? That’s sort of the basis for Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a film that follows the band in their eternal quest to make it as the “demigods of Canadian metal.” There was a time when Anvil was being touted as the next Metallica. Everyone knows how that turned out.

Director Sacha Gervasi’s film debuted at Sundance last year and has received lots of press—some see it as an emotional triumph of following your dreams; others as sad and ludicrous as This is Spinal Tap. It’s probably a little of both, a story that’s been played out a million times … I say why not let it be the gents in Anvil who find that elusive success by telling their tale? Anvil! The Story of Anvil will show in select U.S. theaters in April, including in Portland at Cinema 21 on April 24.

Trailer for Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Tags: Anvil, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Black Friday, Robb Reiner, Sacha Gervasi, Steve "Lips" Kudlow

Black Friday: Metalligrandaddy

Friday, February 13th, 2009 | musiX | 1 Comment

Sometimes I feel a little guilty because I still enjoy me some heavy metal. It’s not the center of my rock ‘n’ roll universe like it was when I was a pimple-faced teenager … or a pimple-faced 20-something for that matter, but dammit if a good dose of Slayer doesn’t still do me right … it’s good for the soul.

Owen Brown lives in the UK with his wife. His favorite band is Megadeth. In fact, he’s going to see the band this Saturday night in Birmingham. Owen Brown is 82. His nightly ritual doesn’t include warm milk and Glenn Miller, but rather heading out to the garden shed with a cup of tea and a platter of Sabbath … bloody Sabbath. And he owns about 70 records from classic heavies like Deep Purple, KISS and Judas Priest. Owen Brown’s grown children didn’t think his fascination with metal would last, and his great-grandchildren are usually telling him to turn it down. As you will see, he’s much cooler than his son Pedro.

Brown also likes Iron Maiden … and I think he may have been around when the iron maiden was being used to execute coin-forging lowlifes.

Tags: Black Friday, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, KISS, Megadeth, Owen Brown, Van Halen

Black Friday: Mëtal is gäy

Friday, January 23rd, 2009 | musiX | No Comments

Metal is still afraid of The Big Bad Evil Gay. In metal, coming out of the closet is akin to losing your luxurious locks … maybe it’s no small coincidence that Rob Halford is both openly gay and openly bald.

Not much has changed since Halford came out more than a decade ago. Metal—a style of music built around “taboos”—is one of the only genres that still keeps its distance from anything gay. Hasn’t metal always been about going against the grain? Disdain for Christian values? Sticking it  … um … to the man?

It’s more an issue with metal fans. I could understand why it wouldn’t be easy being a gay man in a metal band when you realize that 95 percent of the fanbase is made up of white, straight males who are generally pissed off at everyone and use the word “gay” in the Eminem sense. But I still find it funny that Freddie Mercury pranced around testosterone-filled arenas for decades wearing sequined dresses and tight, white shorts. As with Halford and Judas Priest, Queen’s XY-chromosomed fans were either completely oblivious, or in total denial.

Pop, indie rock, even punk have remained relatively open about homosexuality. The Queercore movement started in the ’80s and included bands that either had openly gay members or simply supported sexual diversity. What about metal at that time? The ’80s was the most machismo-laden era of hard rock—ironically, a time when men literally tried to outdo each other in the hair and makeup departments. If you came out of the closet at the height of hair metal you would have been pelted with bottles of Aqua Net.

But maybe the times are a-changin’. A few months ago Gaahl—vocalist for Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth (Lord of the Rings nerd alert)—went public about his homosexuality: “It doesn’t feel to me as if I’ve outed myself because up until now the whole thing was a non-issue for me. All this evolved very naturally. I feel how I feel and I’ve never made any secret about it.”

As you can see, Gaahl is no Freddie Mercury onstage. Anyway, this could be seen as a giant step, although Gaahl’s announcement has been met with negativity. Gaahl’s close friend Dave DeVero, who encouraged the singer to come out, told Norway’s second largest newspaper that he has received threats from some Gorgoroth fans.

So yes. Metal is the Republican party of music. I think metal fans just need to lighten up … except maybe fans of PINK STËËL.

“Delivering the Goods” - Rob Halford and Skid Row (live)

Gorgoroth live performing “Revelation of Doom”

Tags: Black Friday, Freddie Mercury, Gaahl, Gorgoroth, Judas Priest, PINK STËËL, Queen