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The “Golden Gods” of metal will get their own special Grammies

By Alex Distefano

From Black Sabbath to Led Zeppelin, from High on Fire to Pantera, hard rock and heavy metal music have never strayed too far away from the sweet leaf. Appropriately enough, this year’s third annual Revolver Golden Gods heavy

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The “Golden Gods” of metal will get their own special Grammies

By Alex Distefano

From Black Sabbath to Led Zeppelin, from High on Fire to Pantera, hard rock and heavy metal music have never strayed too far away from the sweet leaf. Appropriately enough, this year’s third annual Revolver Golden Gods heavy metal awards show is scheduled to take place in L.A. on (ta-da!) April 20.

The program will feature host Chris Jericho and special performances by the original reunited Alice Cooper group, Asking Alexandria (featuring guest singer Sebastian Bach), Volbeat, DevilDriver, (doing an all-star tribute to punk legends Black Flag) and many more unannounced surprises. Mötley Crüe will be presented with the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award, while Alice Copper will receive the honorary Golden God award.

Bach, solo artist and former singer of the ’80s hard rock band Skid Row, is anticipating the event.

“I saw last year’s show on VH1, and thought it was just awesome!” Bach says. “It was amazing that Ronnie James Dio was awarded, and before he passed on, he got to know what an impact he made on the music scene. That was just beautiful. I’m honored to be part of it all this year.”

Bach’s love of heavy music runs deep.

“I grew up with KISS,” he reveals. “Those guys were just so amazing. They breathed fire, spit blood and were like metal superheroes. No one had ever seen anything like it. But I also was very into Van Halen in ’78, and then got into British metal bands like Motörhead, [Iron] Maiden, [Judas] Priest, Saxxon; and even now I’m really into bands like Hatebreed and Slipknot.”

“I listen to all metal, really.”

Revolver Editor-In-Chief Brandon Giest admits that the date of the show (at Club Nokia Live) is no coincidence, since cannabis culture and the heavy metal scene often go hand in hand.

“Not all bands smoke weed of course, but generally speaking, in my experience, metal bands tend to be stoners,” says Giest. “There is a deep connection between the two cultures—something about the idea of heavy thunderous riffing and being stoned that just go together. When I’m stoned I love to listen to riff-heavy, trance-inducing metal. Weed also opens the mind and makes you think outside the box, which is a lot of what metal stands for.”

But though the “stoner metal” tag is often thrown around to denote slower, doomy-sounding acts, Giest says faster bands fit the bill as well.

“People often associate smoking herb and metal with bands like Black Sabbath, Sleep, Eyehategod or Electric Wizard,” he says. “But there are also a number of faster, heavier, darker bands that also could be stoner-friendly. Take for instance many thrash, death metal and grindcore bands like Testament, Brutal Truth, Obituary and Cannabis Corpse, just to name a few.”

“Any heavy metal band can be a stoner band, as long as it has that groove, and headbang-ability to it. Whether it’s fast or slow, you just have to be able to trance out to it when you’re stoned.”

As for bands on tour, things can get tricky when you’re traveling with cannabis.

“It can definitely be a problem, and we see bands sometimes getting busted for possession of marijuana while on tour, especially when crossing international borders,” Giest says. “A lot of bands I know have run into some pretty serious legal trouble, and have been detained and had their touring vans all searched. People in medical marijuana states are lucky, and hopefully the issue of legalization comes to the forefront of issues in terms of our drug laws. It’s absolute hypocrisy for alcohol to be legal when it can make you reckless, violent and belligerent, while weed does the exact opposite.”

 

Third Annual Revolver Golden Gods at Club Nokia Live, 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles; www.revolvermag.com/beta/goldengods. Wed, April 20. 7:30PM. The show will broadcast on VH1 Classic on May 28.

Forever Youth Gone Wild

 

Sebastian Bach is currently finishing up a new solo album with a new backing band. “I’ve got this amazing younger guitar player, Nick Sterling, who writes great songs, and his playing goes well with my style of vocals. The new album will be out in the summer of 2011 and we plan to tour everywhere I just know fans are going to love this album.” At the Golden Gods awards, Bach will perform two Skid Row classics with up-and-coming metalcore act Asking Alexandria. “We’re going to play the obvious fan favorites: ‘Youth Gone Wild’ and ‘18 & Life,’ which is going to be killer!”

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