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/

Passion, Defined

Let me start off by saying that I am not a writer or a reporter, and not quite yet a musician – I am merely a fan. 

Freddie, Brian, Roger & John need no introduction

“A fan of what?” you may ask.  Well, I am a fan of great music.  Now this is always a subject of extreme contention, so I am not going to get on my soapbox and launch into a debate, because in my opinion the only “good music” is music that speaks to you, moves you and touches your soul.  If a piece of music does not do that for you in some way, it is merely a bunch of notes strung together by someone with no imagination or inspiration.  You may be thinking that I am overly harsh in my opinion – so be it, but consider this honestly: Which piece of music inspires and moves you more? Britney Spears – Baby One More Time or Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody…  Ok, that wasn’t entirely fair of me, because you just do not compare anyone with Queen – but, that just made my point….

Great music is a balm for the soul, a band-aid for your hurt, an outlet for your exuberance; your “motivational speaker” even an anger management class. The right tune at the appropriate time can be wielded like a magic wand to make the impossible or unthinkable happen.  Music is force of nature and it has been rampaging through the ages, defining generations.

A proper education

Music has always been in my life.  Growing up, I remember sitting on the floor in the living room in front of my father’s Blaupunkt stereo playing records and singing to all the songs; everything from The Bee Gees and Boney M to The Kinks and Creedence Clearwater Revival.  My musical education was diverse and in depth and it sparked a passion in me that would very possibly have lain dormant in me otherwise.  Music is part of me, part of who I am and at (most) times an extension of my personality. 

Washburn WIN14

Earlier I told you that I was not a musician – the only instrument I can play is a stereo – and I have always felt that was just wrong, so over the years I kept promising myself that I would one day learn to play an instrument to further enhance my enjoyment of music. So two weeks ago I finally went and bought the thing I have wanted for an extremely long time: my first electric guitar! 

Now regular readers of this blog will know that RifferBoy is a musician, and he very graciously offered to help me learn to play the guitar and for this I am more grateful than he will ever know.  Since starting my lessons I have come to a conclusion: it is not as easy as the rock gods make it look!  My fingers hurt all the time from the strings and until now, they stubbornly refuse to do what my brain tells them.  I have a new found deep seated respect for the musician – good or mediocre…

Let me leave you with these parting words on my favourite music genre – in the immortal lyrics of Manowar – The Gods Made Heavy Metal

The Gods Made Heavy Metal off the Louder Than Hell Album

In The Beginning There Was Silence And Darkness
All Across The Earth
Then Came The Wind And A Hole In The Sky
Thunder And Lightning Came Crashing Down
Hit The Earth And Split The Ground
Fire Burned High In The Sky

From Down Below Fire Melted The Stone
The Ground Shook And Started To Pound

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell
We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It's Over With You Know That It's A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It's Never Gonna Die

We Are The True Believers
It's Our Turn To Show The World
In The Fire Of Heavy Metal We Were Burned
It's More Than Our Religion It's The Only Way To Live
But The Enemies Of Metal We Can't Forgive

Cause We Believe In The Power And The Might
And The Gods Who Made Metal Are With Us Tonight

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell
We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It's Over With You Know That It's A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It's Never Gonna Die

We Believe In The Power And The Might
And The Gods Who Made Metal Are With Us Tonight

We're Here Tonight For Heavy Metal Are You Ready In The Hall
They Have Chosen Us And We Have Heard The Call
Gonna Tear The Roof Off With Out Sound

Crack The Walls And Shake The Ground
Fight Tonight For Metal One And All
Cause We Believe In The Power And The Might
And The Gods Who Made Metal Are With Us Tonight

The Gods Made Heavy Metal And They Saw That It Was Good
They Said To Play It Louder Than Hell
We Promised That We Would
When Losers Say It's Over With You Know That It's A Lie
The Gods Made Heavy Metal And It's Never Gonna Die

For me, that makes all the pain and frustration worth it…

Keep rocking

~J~

The Parlotones: Radio Controlled Robots

I mentioned in "A sick state" that I will be doing a post on one of the biggest names in SA music at the moment, The Parlotones. Having taken the country (and world) by storm since their formation in 1998, the “biggest rock band in SA” has fallen under my magnifying glass and I will report my findings here.

From the word go I want to ensure that there are no misunderstandings with regards to this post. I despise The Parlotones, and let us be honest, you can hardly call the sounds emitted by this megaphone yielding group as “rock”. ‘So why then do a post on them?’ you may ask. The method behind my madness is this: The Parlotones enjoy the acclaim they have purely because of their excellent, never failing, can’t-put-a-foot-wrong marketing and public relations team at Sovereign Entertainment and not, by any stretch of the imagination, because of their music. And from there my gripe with them has its roots...

 

What a Caracter

Hi Guys,

Rifferboy is truly blessed as far as friends are concerned. I mentioned a few of these in an earlier post called "An Eclectic bunch..."

Now I would very much like to introduce you to another of my eclectic counterparts. Having remained friends throughout our schooldays, (both primary and High school) I have always been quite aware of his exceptional talents. He has a degree in engineering, and is currently studying Law, but despite his stellar education, my fondest memories are of early Saturday mornings spent watching the X-Men animated series on TV with a close friend. In amongst his many talents, he has an uncanny ability to draw Caricatures that capture the essence of the subject without being to overbearing.

I offered to post this drawing on my blog, to which he agreed, but with one request: That I give him a suitable pseudonym. Being the multi faceted individual that he is, I can think of no better alias than “X-Man”.

So with no further ado, I present the first (of hopefully many) drawings by X-Man for The Lounge Critic:

Caricature of Tom Morello - guitarist extraordinaire. By X-Man - Artist extraordinaire