Followers of this blog might have twigged at some point that I’m somewhat of a Fear Factory fanatic. The band was added to the Big Day Out for 2010 AFTER the event sold out, and with no other metal in the line-up other than Mastodon, not my favourite band, the fact that we weren’t going to be going to see them was pretty much a done deal.
However, the best editor in the world, Leticia from Metal As Fuck, set up a face-to-face interview with Dino and Burton in Perth on the day of the show, and Dave, struggling to find a reason to tag along, suggested we video it. So, what I’m linking to below is not only my first video interview, but Metal As Fuck’s first video interview.
Although I was nervous as hell the night and morning beforehand, as soon as Dino wandered out, shook our hands and started gossiping my nervousness disappeared. He and Burton were great people, really friendly and we ended up hanging around for nearly an hour after the interview ended talking shit about metal with them and Brandon, who I believe is from Revolver magazine.
Check out the videos, laugh at me, and then leave a comment!
Nashville Pussy left to right: Blaine Cartright, Karen Cuda, Jeremy Thompson, Ruyter Suys Photo credit: Frank Mullen/Matteblack
I interviewed Nashville Pussy guitarist Ruyter Suys for FasterLouder a few weeks ago, and she was an absolute riot. Unfortunately, due to length constraints, not all of our conversation made it into the final article, so I thought I’d share some “deleted scenes” so to speak.
I know Ruyter and in fact the whole of Nashville Pussy are massive Bon Scott fans, and while they’ve been to Australia a few times, they’ve always stuck to the east coast. We got to see Nashville Pussy at Wacken 2008, and they are a ton of fun live. I thought it worth mentioning the fact that Bon Scott is buried in Perth, so that perhaps they’ll include the west coast next time they come down under so we can see them again. What I found out was that the band desperately want to make the trek, but keep getting told by booking agents that it’s too far off the beaten track.
As well as the bits about the Bon Scott experience that made it into the article, Ruyter also shared this little gem:
‘For years our drummer has been using this line, it’s supposed to be like a pick up line for girls. He’s like “I got a go-kart, let’s go to Perth”. And if a girl actually gets his little joke, his reference to Bon Scott in “I’ve got a go-kart that will take us all the way to Perth” – I don’t think any girl has laughed yet, but when he finally meets the one that does, she’ll be a keeper. ‘
I also asked Ruyter about road stories.
Given the band’s reputation as rock and roll partying machine, I wonder if Ruyter has any road stories from Australia to share. She pauses to think for a moment, but it turns out she has plenty of material.
‘We tried to buy cocaine once, that was really expensive. I was like, we thought they were lying! You’re kidding me that’s how much it costs! What kind of money is this you’re talking about, it can’t be Australian dollars! That’s a good story.’
Fortunately that incident wasn’t the only memories Nashville Pussy took home from the land down under. ‘We played with [the late] Pete Wells one time, from Rose Tattoo, in Melbourne. That was fucking awesome. He came up on stage and just went up to my amplifier and rolled his hand across all the dials so everything went up to 10. And then, I think it was the same night, that we wound up partying with the bass player from Rose Tattoo, we didn’t even know he was in the band. He was just some really cool guy that we met. And we managed to get him kicked out of a pub in Melbourne. And he got kicked out of this really square sportsbar pub, with Nashville Pussy, and he was like “I haven’t been kicked out of a pub in 25 years” and I’m like “you’re partying with Nashville Pussy now!” That was pretty good.’
We talked a bit about Ruyter’s inclusion in Elle magazine’s top female guitarists list, and I asked what she would be doing for a crumb if she wasn’t a rock and roll guitar goddess.
‘I dunno man. When my husband met me I was doing bronze casting and driving a tractor.’
Driving a tractor?
‘Yeah, driving a tractor in Canada. You know, on a boring old wheat farm.’
Wow.
‘And uh, quite enjoying myself to tell you the truth.’
Ruyter laughs at the idea that tractor driving is always a skill she can fall back on. ‘Yeah exactly. As long as I can still drive in circles at 9 miles an hour, no problem.’
One of the coolest insights into the band came when Ruyter mentioned that they’d recently played a show for their 17th anniversary as Mr and Mrs Nashville Pussy.
As testament to that, they played a show in Denver on their 17th anniversary in January. ‘I saw some video from it, and it was really cool to see what a good time we have on stage,’ she says. ‘It was really nice to see both of us smiling at each other, having a really good time, and you know it’s kind of a relief that wow, 17 years and we’re still going, we still really like this, and we like each other too.’
I mention that it seems a bit odd that she has to watch a video of the show to see how it went, but Ruyter says that on stage, she goes into her own zone. ‘When I play I barely even see what’s going on around me.’ She tries to explain further. ‘It’s like I’m hypnotizing myself or something like that with the volume, and I’m just breathing in really deep and I just fill myself up with the volume. I have my eyes shut half the night and I basically see obstacles if I’m lucky, like “don’t hit your head on this” and like “don’t step in this hole in the stage” or whatever. I know where things are, but usually I just “go away”, I just disappear into the music, I don’t know what the fuck is going on while I’m up on stage, I just kinda like to… yeah I dunno what the word for it is.‘
It sounds almost like a religious experience.
‘Oh yeah. I would assume a religious experience should hopefully be as good as this.’ She laughs. ‘From what I’ve been led to believe! It’s up there with like really good sex, you know.’
When I was about 11 or 12, I found a compilation tape amongst the family stereo equipment called New Wave, from 1977 (the esteemed year of my birth). I don’t know who owned it originally or how it came into our household’s possession, but I took a listen and got my first dose of punk: Ramones, The Dead Boys, New York Dolls, The Runaways, The Damned, Talking Heads, and a whole ton more. There was also Patti Smith’s awesome Piss Factory which was a bit of a head trip for me at the time. [After writing this post I found it on ebay UK, on vinyl, so of course now it’s on its way home to me. This infernal web of distractions will one day be my undoing.]
Looking back, most of the bands on the New Wave compilation are not what is now generally accepted as "new wave" but anyway, it was a fantastic introduction and I love all those songs and bands to this day – especially The Runaways, who had a big influence on chicks in metal in the ‘80s. They were very cool and had this really raw teenage sexy vibe that was obviously appealing to someone of my age at the time.
So what I want to know is… how did I not hear about the movie they’re making? I read about it today on Reverb (which I mostly read for Duff McKagen’s posts). I checked out the official web site, the IMDB entry, the trailer (embedded below), the soundtrack and GODDAMN it looks good. I’m a little surprised at the casting – I don’t know much about Kristen Stewart playing Joan Jett) apart from the fact that she’s in Twilight, but I’ve never watched or read any of that tripe so I don’t know what kind of role she plays in that. And Dakota Fanning (playing Cherie Currie) has had, up until now, a very squeaky clean child image, so I’m sure that she’s trying to do something about that with this role.
Hoping this one gets a cinema release in Australia!
Last week, Soundwave 2010 rolled around to our little corner of Australia. And what a day it was – 39 degree heat (that’s Celcius – 102F for you old scale country peeps), five stages, a crowd of 35,000 and Blue Steel oval Bassendean, which only just managed to squeeze all those people in.
This was the fourth year for the festival and as in previous years, we spent most of the day in front of stage four, the metal (\m/) stage.
Baroness First up for us was Baroness at 12.50pm (i.e. just as the day was just starting to heat up). This is a band I’d been hanging out to see and they didn’t disappoint – in fact, they impressed so much we picked up their album the next day. Groovy, heavy, stoner metal (Wikipedia says sludge) with just a touch of prog. Got people moving (and the sweat starting to flow). A nice easy start to the day.
Isis Next up were Isis, a band in much the same vein as Baroness, but turning the "prog" dial up just a bit further. They were interesting, but it wasn’t really the right kind of venue to see them in – too hot to concentrate!
Glassjaw Next up on the metal stage was Clutch, a band I was quite keen to see, but over on stage 3 was a band I was even more keen to see: Glassjaw. These guys are kind of a guilty pleasure band for me. I don’t know how to classify them other than "post-somthing" and maybe a bit screamo (actually Wikipedia says that they are actually post-hardcore, experimental, alternative, progressive and screamo, and who can argue with the big W?) and while normally I would be dishing heaps on bands like that, for some reason Glassjaw have always resonated with me. I have both their albums and I know every post-something screamy bit. They had broken up a few years ago and them getting back together (in some form, anyway) was a big deal, so I dragged Dave off to stage 3.
Now, stage 3 was actually undercover. Faced with 39 degree heat, "undercover" sounds like a good thing in theory, but I’m here to tell you that in actual fact it was hotter under in the canvas tent then it was in the full sun. It was absolutely cooking.
Dave zoned out a bit for a while but as soon as Glassjaw started I couldn’t pay attention to anyone else – they were riveting. Screamo, definitely. Slammin’, quite a bit. Totally fucking cool. They played all their best songs – I know the songs well but not really the song titles – plus one new song from their as yet unreleased album. Can’t wait for that to come out!
Anvil and Placebo, not really After coming out into direct sunlight for some release from the heat (that just sounds wrong, doesn’t it?) it was back to the metal stage. Up next were Canadian veterans Anvil.
Now, Anvil. I have not seen the movie. I probably will at some stage – people tell me it’s great – but it’s not real high on my todo list. So anyway Anvil were rocking out, old-school, and having a great old time on stage but that kind of watery metal is not my cup of tea, so we went in search of a shady spot to chill for a few minutes. We wandered down to catch a few minutes of Placebo, mostly for curiosity’s sake and also to snap some photos for Dave’s second cousin in Poland who is devoted to them the way only a 14 year old can be, then it was back to home base, the metal stage.
Meshuggah I have heard the hype. I have heard their albums. I don’t dislike their tricksy mathcore prog, but it’s not something I’d put on to chill out to. I saw them headline last year in Perth, and I wasn’t feeling 100% well at the time, and while I thought they were very good, I wasn’t in the mood for an all-out conversion. But today, I think I realised just how goddamn heavy they are, and after the lightweight Anvil it just seemed very fucking cool.
Due to some messing around with equipment, Meshuggah started about twenty minutes late, which is never a good thing for a festival. At the time when their set *would* have ended, had it started on time, a stage tech appeared and tried to indicate that it was time for them to get the fuck off, but they were having none of it. They played out almost their full original set time anyway. I think I’m beginning to understand the hype.
Anthrax Meshuggah’s late start and late finish meant that the next band up, the almighty Anthrax, were also late starting. These guys were probably the most anticipated band on the stage 4 lineup and all I can say is WOW.
I’ve seen each of the other members of the so-called "Big 4" thrash bands of the ’80s and ’90s – in fact, I’ve seen Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth twice each, and Testament, which is sometimes included in Anthrax’s place, once. We thought we would see Anthrax last year at Wacken but then they pulled out at the last minute when they fired another frontman (this time it was Dan Nelson’s turn). Now that I’ve seen Anthrax I can say I’ve seen all four (although, not on the same show – although nobody in the world has YET) and die happy.
John Bush is back in the jinxed frontman spot, possibly permanently although that hasn’t been confirmed. We didn’t get to see Bush when his other band, Armored Saint, opened for Death Angel in Perth last year, because he was sick. The band played anyway, with the bassist and guitarist taking turns with the singing and doing a really kick arse job of it too.
The first surprising thing was that he came out wearing a white Loony Tunes tshirt. Over a long sleeved undershirt of some description. While it was now past 6pm, it was by no means cool and um – white? That’s not very metal is it? That aside though, he does a fantastic job as frontman and the rest of the band were damn, damn, damn, damn good. So much energy. Scott Ian is a madman. Frank Bello is dorky cool. Charlie Benante is a machine. Nuff said.
Jane’s Addiction, Trivium and dinner Because of the stacked up late starts on stage 4, we missed all of Jane’s Addiction. As teens of the ‘90s, we had been hoping to see them but we did catch them at the Big Day Out a few years ago so it wasn’t worth missing any of Anthrax over.
Next up were Trivium. Not being such a fan myself, I took the opportunity to grab a bite to eat although we did see the last few songs (Dave does like them. But he has other redeeming features that make up for it, honestly). They were… Trivium. They lied about how the audience was the best one of the entire tour and indeed the loudest fuckin’ audience they’d ever heard in their entire fuckin’ lives, etc etc etc, and played lots of cheesy songs with big melodic choruses. They also threw in a cover of Sepultura’sSlave New World and it wasn’t terrible. That’s the best I can say about them.
Faith No More Dinner ingested, it was time to fight our way down for a spot on the main stage for Faith No More. Last year Soundwave made a teenage dream come true by bringing Alice In Chains down under, and it was nothing short of an emotional experience (yes, I cried, I wasn’t the only one, no, I’m not embarrassed). This year they continued the trend with Faith No More, and band no one expected to get back together again.
Yet here they were, larger than life on stage wearing lounge suits. Mike Patton was hilarious. Those were songs that needed to be heard live. I’m sorry, but you really just had to be there.
Here’s a highlights video someone compiled from the Perth show. Watch for a couple of minutes in when Patton demands to security “squirt my ass” – so funny.
They also threw in a Bee Gees cover – I Started A Joke – and goddamn it was bloody funny.
A big shout out to all my peeps who helped make it a smashing day – Anne, who was suffering from a variation of the plague but who managed to fight her way through the day anyway; Al and his houseguest Amie, all the way from Melbourne; Mick and Mihaila, proving that only people who weren’t born in Australia walk around in 39 degree sun wearing a bikini top and no hat; Simone, who I spotted from 30 metres away by the stars tattooed on her back (I wasn’t actually looking for her either); and my gorgeous cousin Stef who was so busy being fantastic that I didn’t even meet up with her.
On the organisational front, the food situation was not the best. I had a pretty good plate of Hare Krishna food but pretty much everywhere else had huge lines for overpriced chips and not a lot else. At least two of the more interesting looking food joints were already out of stock and closed by dinner time. I drank one and a half $4 cans of coke zero – they were icy, icy cold and as such a welcome change from the litres of warm water I was ingesting otherwise but yikes, 4 bucks?
Also, the mobile phone reception was shockingly bad. This is a problem at events like this and I don’t know how it can be fixed, but text messages are pretty much the only way anyone can find anyone else and the overloaded phone towers meant that I was getting “where u? Im lhs front stage 4” messages finally coming through 36 hours later – not particularly helpful!
On the whole though, I’m very proud of Soundwave, the little festival that fuckin’ could. When we went to the first one four years ago at Robinson Pavilion there were not even 10,000 people there. Now it rivals the Big Day Out (kills it in terms of cool factor) – and without the benefit of mainstream popular bands or any of the kinds of bands that the indie snob Triple J set adore.
This makes me very happy indeed: Danzig has announced that the title of his new album will be Deth Red Sabaoth and while he hasn’t said when it will be out, their show on April 24 in Phoenix, Arizona will be in support of it so presumably the album will come out some time before then.
We saw Danzig in Sydney in 2006 and at the time, he said in interviews that he was too old to be bouncing around the back of a bus so would only be doing occasional one-off shows. He’s playing the Sweden Rock Festival on June 10 and Sauna Open Air in Finland on June 11, which is unfortunately nearly two months before our European assault for 2010 begins. Bugger eh. I probably won’t get to see him live again.
Just before Christmas we were discussing frontman Chris Cornell’s cringe-worthy new Timbaland-produced album in the office. The consensus that we came to was that a restraining order needs to be slapped on Mr Cornell immediately, forbidding him to do anything new at all, musically speaking, lest he trample further on his own musical legacy.
While it sounds drastic, we decided it would be in his own best interest, as well as the best interests of the countless 30-something-year-olds who grew up in the grunge-era. “Come along quietly, Chris. We think you’ve done quite enough damage as it is”.
One possible exception that did come up in our imaginary restraining order was a full Soundgarden reunion. But here’s the thing: do we really trust Chris Cornell – the man who released a cover of Billie Jean, for fuck’s sake – with a Soundgarden reunion?
It’s true that there are precedents. Alice in Chains have reformed – with a new singer, no less – and released a very worthy album with Black Gives Way To Blue. They’ve walked a difficult line and managed to be both true to the sound and spirit of the band and respectful of the memory of the late Layne Stayley, while still moving forward with new musical ideas. Just how they managed to do it, I have no idea – it’s a modern musical miracle as far as I’m concerned (as well as a kick-arse album).
Faith No More is another great example. They haven’t recorded any new material or indicated that they will, but their live shows on the 2009 European festival circuit have been greeted with almost universal fan approval. We’ll get to check it out ourselves when they headline the Soundwave Festival in Australia in just a few weeks.
The difference between Alice In Chains, Faith No More and Soundgarden is that the aforementioned legends had not been doing anything to piss on their reputations while not active, while Chris Cornell seems unable to stop himself from doing the same.
What do you think? Will a Soundgarden reunion suck or not? Should Chris Cornell be banned from any further musical collaborations, or will Kim Thayil et al be able to keep him in line?
Here’s some thinking music for you while you decide:
I don’t care what you call it, I’m absolutely loving it. Their fifth album Superfreak was released only a couple of months ago and I’m madly trying to track down retailers that stock it.
I was pretty sad to hear that Rose Tattoo guitarist (and one of the founding members of the band) Mick Cocks passed away earlier this week, after a battle with liver cancer.
Mick becomes the fourth Rose Tattoo member to die from cancer in the past four years, after Peter Wells and Ian Rilen in 2006, and Lobby Loyde in 2007.
Here’s the Tatts in happier times, with one of the greatest rock and roll anthems ever written:
After cancelling headlining shows in Australia originally scheduled for August 2009, the new Fear Factory line up (Burton C Bell, Dino Cazares, Byron Stroud and Gene Hoglan) have announced that they’re playing the Big Day Out festivals across Australia and New Zealand in early 2010.
I am not paying through the nose (and believe me, everything to do with the Big Day Out is expensive) to go to a shitty hipster music festival when the only two heavy bands on the bill are Fear Factory and Mastodon. Hell, I’m not even a Mastodon fan.
Fear Factory have also announced sideshows – in Sydney and Melbourne. But not Perth, of course, even though the festival tickets are already sold out everywhere except Auckland.
The last time they played the BDO was 2004, and that was the year when I boycotted because Metallica was headlining. I have enough emotional issues with Metallica to keep a therapist amused for months, so I’m not going to go into any of that now. But that was really the beginning of the end of the BDO for Dave and I – the amount of heavy bands has dramatically decreased every year to the point where it’s just not worth going anymore. And we used to really look forward to it. At least now we have Soundwave.
So cmon Fear Factory, how about a headline tour that your actual fans will get to see, instead of just a bunch of annoying indy kids that don’t give a shit about you anyway?
This is without a doubt the coolest thing I have seen this month, and quite possibly this year. Dee Snider has launched a campaign to TAKE BACK THE METAL HORNS from misuse by country musicians, teeny bopper try hards, and general inappropriate throwing.
Dee Snider, thank you. You are proving once more that you are willing to stand up and fight for metal, in times when metal has been done wrong. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.
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