R.I.P Cliff Burton (10 February 1962 - 27 September 1986)

Cliff Burton live on the Damage inc. tour

It was 25 years ago today that Metallica bassist, Cliff Burton passed away. And it is purely by coincidence that I have been busy researching and writing a full length post on the old-school masters of Metal [so check back soon for that...]

Album Review: Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You

Now I’m not the biggest RHCP fan but must admit I have spent many lazy afternoons listening to what’s probably my favourite album of theirs, Californication.

During the 2 year hiatus after touring for the award winning album, Stadium Arcadium, the band members took some time to do their own thing:

I'll get by with a little help from my friends

You must have noticed that there are 2 new opinionistas writing for The Lounge Critic. And as far as debut postings go, I could not have asked for any better...

That being said, I believe it pertinent to introduce the two new contributors - both to give you, the reader, some insight as to their credibility, and to welcome them to the blog.

Newsflash: My Chemical Romance sacks drummer

My Chemical Romance has kicked-out tour-drummer Michael Pedicone - for stealing from the band...

Not-so-scary emo/punk band, My Chemical Romance

Disturbing the Devil

"I've felt the hate rise up in me
Kneel down and clear the stone of leaves
I wander out where you can't see
Inside my shell, I wait and bleed"

As the drums kick in the sound is injected into my ears and received like a junkie taking a long awaited fix. 

The music flares up into what can only be called: nirvana

This is who I am. The fan, the music addict. I am the Goth Girl and I offer my opinion as a dedicated music fanatic.

I would like to kick off my contribution to this blog with an amusing bit of news in light of the recent Disturbed break-up.

Disturbed

David Draiman of Disturbed made the mistake last month of touching on a subject that has been picked on more times than a freckly ginger kid with some lunch money. In an interview with Billboard.com about Disturbed’s hiatus he quoted that “there is a demise of hard rock and metal right now”

Metal fans from all the corners of the earth flooded Draiman’s Twitter account with insults and accusations. When one fan got somewhat personal with his comments, David responded with:

“FUCK OFF. GO BACK TO YOUR BASEMENT; WHERE YOU’LL NEVER KNOW THE WARMTH OF A WOMAN, AND LISTEN TO YOUR COOKIE MONSTER METAL”

You can imagine that the above statement stepped on more than just a few toes. Devil Driver's Dez Fafara, who's cookie monster voice we all know and love from Coal Chamber days still,  posted on Twitter: “Draiman was addressing almost every heavy band on the planet! If I had a white glove I would slap you!".

Devil Driver

David later then defended his statement by saying that he was referring to the fact that the genre was relatively ignored by the mass media and that it is a very difficult time to function as a musician within the music industry.

Well, the overwhelming response that followed Dramain’s slip-up is enough to prove that even if he meant his initial ‘demise of hard rock’ statement, this is definitely not the case and even if the media is giving metal the cold shoulder, the fans are well aware of what is going on.

David has since resolved the issue with Dez and thus avoided a glove-slapping.

Perhaps he has forgotten that the metal genre has always been the underdog. Rockers are often criticized and find themselves in a position where they have to defend their taste in music as discussed so brilliantly in post: Standing in Defence of that Which I Love

Just read now that Sevendust started a rumour about breaking up as well.  Drummer Morgan Rose recently Tweeted: “So guys — the whole farewell thing is bein ‘talked’ about,“We love each other, there’s no issue with us. We just miss our families. No decision yet.”

Just to be followed by: “We’re not goin away. Not for years. Were 4 sure doin another record n 2 years of touring. We knew the rumors would go nuts.”

You started the rumours with your first tweet, Dipshit.

Battle of the Bands

If you live anywhere near Johannesburg’s East Rand, you will already be familiar with the battle of the bands contest held at The Keg and Lion, Kempton Park.

It’s been a while since I’ve attended this festival of new and yet undiscovered music, but I dully performed my duties and attended the 1st leg of the Kempton regional battle this past Sunday. Whilst enjoying lunch, and a man-size ale, and just before the speakers were cranked-up for the first band; I had the pleasure of sitting around a table with Elbie Raats, the event promoter.

Since this was my first visit to this event, in more years that I care to mention, I asked for some background...

The battle of the bands has been hosted at The Keg for around 6 years now, this year though, they’ve changed the format ever so slightly. The logistical and time implications of having the entire battle hosted at one venue have been eliminated by having regional battles at different venues.

One of these venues is Woody’s Bar in Edenvale. The Edenvale regionals drew to a close on July 2nd, and Twi Shi emerged as winners for the region. 

Twi Shi - proudly displaying their awards after emerging as victors.

The competition is well organised in that the promoters provide a complete front of house, as well as on-stage sound and lighting system, including engineers behind the desk. Bands that enter are vetted before the time and there exists a stringent score sheet. The competition is open for bands of all genres, acoustic and plugged-in alike.

The goal of the battle is solely to promote new talent in the local music scene and with a non-profit promoter running the event, there should be no reason for new and unsigned bands alike to get much needed exposure.

The competition on Sunday featured great (and not so great) performances from unsigned and newly formed bands. Some of the bands on stage were:

2nd Life – a 4 piece band (sadly, bass was provided by an iPod) that, honestly, quite impressed me. The lead guitarist is technically fantastic and the drums are solid, but the frontman / vocalist of the band was a pleasure to watch and listen to. A good mix of powerful vocals with great usage of falsetto and vocal effects.

City Monks – A grunge / punk triplet out of their era. This fresh-out-of-the-garage, garage band is nothing much to write home about, but then neither was The Clash, Ramones or Nirvana – clearly City Monks’ influences - in their early days.

The last band participating in the battle of the bands was by far the highlight of the competition. Use Your Words is a screamo rock/metal band with a fresh twist - they have a girl as alternate vocalist. The band is solid musically, with a decent stage presence.

Although Use Your Words should (in my humble opinion) be the clear winners of this, the 1st stage of the competition, the guest appearance by Because of Betrayal blew the roof off that mother. Their energetic stage performance planted a seed in me that continues to grow. And therefore, there will soon be an in-depth interview and opinion piece on them right here on The Lounge Critic. Stay tuned...

For more info around entry, rules and prizes for the Battle of the Bands, contact Elbie Raats at elbie@alwin.co.za

The Kempton leg of the competition takes place at The Keg and Lion, every Sunday afternoon from around 2 pm. So go out there and have a good time while support the bands.

\m/