Nikki Sixx has taken a lot of shit over the years.  Say what you will, but you should have as much experience and success under your belt when you turn 50.  Besides the infamous Motley Crue, Sixx has also been in Brides of Destruction and is currently pulling double-duty as he records and tours with his other band, Sixx A.M.  Not only that, but he’s also written a book, written songs for Meat Loaf and collaborated with Alice Cooper and, with Kelly Gray, formed the Royal Underground Clothing Line.

He’s also done more drugs and slept with more hot women than the rest of us can dream of and it’s kind of a miracle that he’s still alive and made it to the big FIVE-O.

Fuck you, Nikki.  Happy Birthday!

“Enter Sandman” by Metallica and “Shoot to Thrill” and “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC are listed as some of most played songs used during “U.S. Military Interrogations” (torture to you and me).

Guantanamo Bay’s music director should probably pick a track off of St. Anger if they really want to inflict some pain.

Other songs used include, “I Love You” from the “Barney and Friends”, “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen, “Babylon” by David Gray, “White America” by Eminem, and the Sesame Street theme song. Queen, Pantera, and Nine Inch Nails has also been heard blaring over Guantanamo Bay loud speakers.

The intent is to “to create fear, disorient … and prolong capture shock.”

Well yeah, David Gray does all those things to me.

Some musicians are speaking out about the use of their music as a tool of torture.

I wonder if the US Gov is paying ASCAP and BMI for the songs they are using.

Reactivated late 1980s Portland, Oregon-based thrash metal/hardcore band WEHRMACHT has issued the following update:

“For the last two months, Marco Zorich [guitar], Shann Mortimer [bass], Tito ‘Mezzy’ Matos [vocals], Brian Lehfeldt [drums] and myself, John Duffy [guitar], have begun rehearsing all the old WEHRMACHT material and are booking shows for the beginning of the year. Yes, it’s actually all five original members. Unbelievable!!! I honestly have to say that we sound even heavier and just as fast as in the old days and the material is coming along well. We haven’t played together since ‘91, so it was a little rusty at first.

“The set list as of today is:

* Balance of Opinion
* Night of Pain
* Radical Neck Dissection
* Beirmacht
* Drink Beer, Be Free
* Gore Flix
* You Broke my Heart…
* Shark Attack
* BOS
* United Shoe Bros.
* Napalm Shower
* The Wehrmacht
* Suck My Dick
* Muncheez
* Fast as a Sharko (ACCEPT cover)

“We are all very excited and there is a definate brotherhood experience between all of us.”

Wehrmacht were noted for their emphasis on silly fun in a genre that sometimes took itself way too seriously. Musically, they were comparable to bands such as D.R.I., the Accused, Cryptic Slaughter and Suicidal Tendencies. I saw them open for Slayer in 1987 on their South of Heaven tour and they were a blast. Clods of Sodom welcomes back - WEHRMACHT!

Cesare Bonizzi is a monk who sings in a heavy metal band. His band, Brother Metal appeared in the 2008 Gods of Metal festival in Italy, along with giants such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Slayer. At 62, Cesare Bonizzi belts out some nice Italian Metal vocals, touching on classic metal topics like sex, drugs, alcohol, god, and faith with a Catholic Monk Spin.

Um… I actually don”t have a lot of smart ass comments. They totally rock.

Brother Metal’s second album “Misteri” (Mysteries) has just been released.

A misstep in 7-inch heels is a sight to behold, indeed.

In a career fraught with ridiculous moves, one glaring example stands out: KISS -Music From the Elder.

Arguably, the first serious mistake made in the KISS camp after five years of pretty solid rockin’ was the ill-advised release of four seperate solo albums in 1978, all of which, with the exception of Ace Frehley’s (which is quite good and even garnered a top-ten hit with “New York Groove” - man, that must’ve chapped Paul and Gene’s hides) were unqualified disasters.  Then to follow up with an extended hiatus and a “comeback” that began with the horrendous disco-influenced single, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” from the Dynasty album - well, it was apparent that the members of KISS had lost touch with all reality.

And yet, more lunacy was to come.  Unmasked saw a move toward even more poppy, Top 40-ish, maudlin craprock (again, with the exception of the two Ace-penned songs, “Torpedo Girl” and “Two-Sides of the Coin”), the firing of original drummer, Peter Criss, who didn’t even play on the album (and barely showed up for Dynasty) and overblown, exceptionally cheesy costumes.  But, as lame as that album was, no one was prepared for the insanity to follow.

Music From The Elder was initially an attempt to get KISS back on the right track and bring the band into the 1980’s.  Maybe the idea of a concept album based on the “characters” that the members of KISS had created (Criss’s “Cat” character being replaced on Elder by new drummer, Eric Carr’s, um…what was he a “fox”?  Yeah, let’s say “fox” character) seemed like a good idea to somebody, but it’s hard to imagine why.  I mean, concept albums in general rarely work.  Okay, Rush’s 2112 is good.  And Alice Cooper’s efforts have always been interesting.  But KISS?  Even when their music was heavier and rocking, their lyrics were hardly anything to write home about.  And for a successul concept album you have to be able to make that concept come to life through the lyrics - you have to be able to tell a story.  A coherent story.  The “story” of Music From The Elder is a convoluted mess, which kills it right from the start.  The album is unquestioningly Paul and Gene’s baby - Ace was so disgusted with the whole thing that he threw his initial copy against the wall when the product was finished, and his writing contributions were for the most part discarded by producer, Bob Ezrin (who has since stated that he was so fucked up on cocaine at the time that he barely knew what he was doing), thereby insuring even more schmaltzy ballads and middle-of-the-road pop instead of the heavy metal bombast that brought KISS their legions of fans in the 70’s.  It was also the first KISS album that did not feature the foursome’s garishly made-up faces on the cover.

The album was released to the collective confusion of fans and the overwhelming uninterest of everybody else.   KISS tried one more time to regain their majesty with Creatures Of The Night, an album that finally brought back the hard rock they were famous for, but it was far too late and with the departure of Ace Frehley (who didn’t play on Creatures, although Paul and Gene begged him to let them use his visage on the cover, hoping that it would help sell more albums) the final death knell had tolled for the original, makeup and fire-breathing, blood-spewing band.  Their next album would be 1983’s Lick It Up, which was the first to feature the band sans-makeup.  But since Gene and Paul were the only original members left nobody much cared.  They soldiered on through the 80’s and early 90’s with three new guitarists and another drummer after the death of Eric Carr, before finally reuniting in 1995 with Frehley and Criss.

Then they released Psycho Circus…but that’s a misstep story for another time.

The 2009 Musink tattoo and music tour has been canceled, siting the current economic climate as the reason. The US leg was due to launch January 30, 2009 with Motorhead and Social Distortion on the bill.

Bummer.

Last year, they kicked off the tour in Orange County, CA in February, with over 15,000 people in attendance for the three-day lifestyle event and 300 of the best tattoo artists in the world.
Kat Von D (think LA Ink), co-producer commented

“I’m sad that this year’s festival will not go on as planned, but I’d rather the fans not be disappointed, as there were key elements that did not come together as originally designed,”

We’ll see about 2010, but don’t hold your breath.

Red Fang - “Prehistoric Dog”

The careers of musicians are  too often ones of stagnation and mediocrity - bands are generally content to rest on their laurels and continue to churn out album after album that, while sufficient musically, lack any real new direction or surprises.  Sometimes this works - case in point, the mighty Motorhead.  But for many, you just eventually lose interest if a band doesn’t show some spark of creativity.  So any attempt to chart new territory or explore the avant garde for interesting musical ideas should always be respected and applauded, right?

Well…maybe not.

In 1988, after establishing themselves as one of the most unique and brutal of the hybrid thrash/death/doom bands in existence, Celtic Frost (albeit a completely different line-up of the band, with Tom G. Warrior the sole remaining original member) released the lamentable Cold Lake to the confusion and violently negative reaction of long-time fans.  The band abandoned all their previous darkness and experimental leanings for a perplexing glam-metal direction, which included the disconcerting photo of one of the band members proudly displaying his auburn tuft of pubic hair peeking through the fly of his britches.  Warrior teased out his hair until he looked like Malcolm Young auditioning for Poison.  And the music itself?  Gone are any attempts to reach new musical heights.  The songs are in the main pointless rehashes of light-weight hair-metal bands like Ratt or Dokken.  They don’t even reach a level of sleaze and bombast that makes Motley Crue listenable.  Hearing Warrior “sing” lyrics like “We are drowning in purple wine/Standing as one, as one we line/Gold and light did stop their dance/A fever obscene, a wicked romance” seems like a slap in the face.  Even when he throws in his trademark “Ooh!” it is painfully apparent that he has completely lost track of what made Celtic Frost special to many fans. The album signaled the death of Celtic Frost (with the exception of a last attempt at saving face, the Vanity/Nemesis album, which tanked) until Warrior resurrected it in 2001 and produced the astounding Monotheist.* But when Frost reissued their back catalogue, recently, Cold Lake was conspicuously absent.  It had become Warrior’s red-headed stepchild.

Tom G. Warrior has since broken his silence on the matter:  “I was too eager to simply have a good time, I was too happy to have new musicians who actually wanted to write and who didn’t leave me with the immense burden of writing and producing the entire album (as it had been for the first three Celtic Frost albums). I therefore loosened control (of material and quality) too much. And I was too glad to let the darkness go – right down to the band’s image. The original concept for Cold Lake as outlined was now taking on its own dynamics and our focus became totally out of control. What was going to be a far more melodic (commercial) album by the original line-up became an overblown steam release valve for past frustrations, recorded by new musicians who didn’t yet understand the legacy of Celtic Frost. Tony Platt’s faulty production and the hefty disagreements he had with us contributed to this. The mistakes are countless. Just two here: we didn’t let go of Tony because we wanted a major name attached to the album – after all, that was what Celtic Frost always requested from Noise Records and had never gotten. Now it was possible. And Celtic Frost’s traditional complete ignorance of what was appropriate now backfired when we did Cold Lake in this totally inappropriate way.”

Strangely, Cold Lake now sells for up to $70 on eBay.  Some people are just morbidly obsessed with a good train-wreck, I guess.

*Warrior had another hissy fit this year, however, and again disbanded Frost amidst a torrent of dramatic blog entries.

Barry Spencer Scrannage is auctioning off some of his person collection of Ozzy, Black Sabbath and other weird ass stuff you collect over the years as a now 50 year old heavy metal drummer.

“My career started at school in Dorset with a band
called “The Shakedowns” and the changing world of
the 60’s. I left school and returned to Birmingham,
where I was honoured to meet and to befriend the
late, great, John Bonham. I started a band with
Glenn Tipton; “Merlin” and we were lucky enough
to play at the original Cavern in Liverpool.

I was part of the formative days of “Light and Sound
Design”, who were part of the biggest lighting
company in the world and supporting some of the
biggest tours. This would lead me to work on the
AC/DC “Highway to Hell” tour, to name but a few. I
was then lucky enough to support them with my
own band “Starfighters” on the “Back in Black” tour.

I later lived with Ozzy Osborne just after he left Black
Sabbath, to form “Blizzard of Oz”, with Randy
Rhodes and Bob Daisley. Ozzy; a great “frontman”
with a crazy sense of humour and madness; the
talented Bob Daisley and the delicate genius of
Randy, who tragically left us all too soon.
I have played and met many, many more famous
musicians in their formative days and have many
tales to tell.”

The auction is being handled by Fieldings Auctioneers in Stourbridge, UK, as part of their Christmas Sale.

Check out the item #830

BLACK SABBATH (1968 - Present)
English rock band -
A large stage prop crucifix in steel with open apertures to accommodate a full lighting rig with partial wiring remnants as used by Black Sabbath in various world tours with associated letter signed by Terry Lee.
£800 - £1200
“The Black Sabbath Cross was given to me by Terry Lee a director of Light and Sound Design who were responsible for the lighting on the tour”.

And lots of cool posters, tapes and other stuff that Ozzy probably snorted coke off of.

Check out the catalog here (be warned, its a PDF).