Kyuss Lives Bring Rock Extravaganza To Los Angeles With Extended Set & Fantastic Opening Bands

By Andrew Bansal

Nov. 18th 2011, The Wiltern, Los Angeles CA: In late 2010, Kyuss announced their return to touring for the first time in 15 long years. They started touring under the monicker “Kyuss Lives!”, with Bruno Fevery replacing Josh Homme on guitar. After doing a European tour in November of that year and other territories worldwide this year, they did a North American tour with support from The Sword and MonstrO. This tour came to an end at the Fox Theatre in Pomona, on October 8th. The performances of the bands were great, but that show left a lot to be desired because of the horrible bass-heavy sound mix the venue had that night. Even though the evening was completely ruined, I was glad to know that the second leg of the tour was due to start soon. Continue reading “Kyuss Lives Bring Rock Extravaganza To Los Angeles With Extended Set & Fantastic Opening Bands”

Corey Taylor Talks About Future Plans, Performs Acoustic Set To Kick Off First Ever Solo Tour

By Andrew Bansal

Photo by Stephanie Cullen

Nov. 14th 2011, House of Blues, Anaheim CA: To be completely honest, I’m not the biggest Slipknot or Stone Sour fan by any means, but when I heard about Corey Taylor’s first ever solo tour and got a chance to check it out, my curiosity took over and I went to the first show of the tour at the Anaheim House of Blues. I arrived at around 7.30, with half an hour to go until the scheduled start of the show. The line was long, and there was a huge number of people already inside. I wasn’t sure what kind of turnout this show would draw, but it was good to see the Slipknot and Stone Sour faithful showing their support for Taylor. As expected, the stage set-up was very minimal, with two microphone stands, two acoustic guitars, and a backdrop with the letters “CMFT” on it. The scene was set for an interesting evening. Continue reading “Corey Taylor Talks About Future Plans, Performs Acoustic Set To Kick Off First Ever Solo Tour”

GWAR, Every Time I Die & Warbeast Plunder Pomona, Snooki Violated

By Andrew Bansal

Nov. 13th 2011, Glass House, Pomona CA: Shock rockers GWAR have been around for 27 years. They have never stopped, and never will, no matter what. Even if one of the members dies in the middle of a tour. Yes, on their current North American touring run, GWAR went through the extremely sad and sudden loss of guitarist Cory Smoot, AKA Flattus Maximus. But still, they didn’t back out from the rest of the tour, and continued as a four-piece. This is sheer testimony to the fact that GWAR truly love playing music and entertaining their loyal fans. So, after Cory’s memorial service which affected merely two shows, the horde of GWAR, Every Time I Die and Warbeast resumed in Hollywood on Saturday night. They continued to invade Southern California with a stop at the Glass House in Pomona last night, a show I was fortunate enough to witness. Continue reading “GWAR, Every Time I Die & Warbeast Plunder Pomona, Snooki Violated”

Exodus Gives Hollywood A Free Lesson In Violence

By Avinash Mittur

Nov. 12th 2011, The Roxy, Hollywood CA: On a dreary, overcast, Saturday afternoon, metal fans from all over Southern California flocked to the Roxy in Hollywood to see four bands for the amazing price of zero dollars and zero cents. All hailing from the label Nuclear Blast, the bands gave worthy performances and reinforced their company’s reputation as a champion for bands representing a wide spectrum of metal. For a price that couldn’t be beat, Scion A/V gave metalheads an immensely fun way to kill a Saturday afternoon.

Decrepit Birth started off the show with thirty minutes of solid old-fashioned death metal. The band, who I came to the concert completely unfamiliar with, delivered a brand of death metal reminiscent of classic acts such as Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse. Lead guitarist Matt Sotelo contributed surprisingly melodic, yet amazingly fast solos to the songs, and his playing was a certain highlight of their set. Vocalist Bill Robinson worked the crowd well enough, and repeatedly encouraged audience members to stage dive and participate. Although Decrepit Birth’s music didn’t resonate with me much, their performance was respectable and energetic, and warmed up the Hollywood crowd for the madness that would follow. Continue reading “Exodus Gives Hollywood A Free Lesson In Violence”

Anthrax, Testament & Death Angel In Dallas: An Unforgettable Night

By Andrew Bansal

Oct. 28th 2011, South Side Music Hall, Dallas TX: Anthrax recently embarked on a much-awaited headline run across North America, with Testament and Death Angel rounding out what truly is one of the strongest touring packages to have graced our part of the world in recent years. Due to scheduling conflicts, I had to miss the LA and San Diego dates of this tour. Having not traveled outside of California in almost two years, I’ve had a burning desire to do so. I figured this would be a good time to do it, and in hindsight, I couldn’t have picked a better show for my first ever visit to Dallas, Texas. Continue reading “Anthrax, Testament & Death Angel In Dallas: An Unforgettable Night”

Judas Priest In Bakersfield: Two-And-A-Half Hours Of Heavy Metal Heaven

By Andrew Bansal

Oct. 25th 2011, Rabobank Arena, Bakersfield CA: October has been an insanely busy month for metal shows, and as a result of attempting to cover as many different shows as possible for the sake of the bands that played these shows and for the readers of this website, I had to miss Judas Priest’s San Bernardino show last Saturday, their only LA area show of the tour. But this being Judas Priest’s final large-scale tour, I wasn’t about to let it go through without catching it at least once, and here I was, arriving in Bakersfield on a lovely afternoon. Even though San Bernardino is relatively closer to where I live, traveling to see a metal show adds even further to the whole experience, and when it comes to a band like Judas Priest, no distance is too long. Besides Priest’s epic show, I was curious to see the modern day version of Thin Lizzy, and I was also hoping that Black Label Society would put on a better show than the last couple of times I’ve seen them. So, there was a ton of things to look forward to. Continue reading “Judas Priest In Bakersfield: Two-And-A-Half Hours Of Heavy Metal Heaven”