By Hans Fink
As we are all by now aware, Hell apparently froze over long enough for the Grammys to see something other than familiar radio-friendly pop acts bringing home the awards. In fact, one of the standout oddities of this year’s Grammys included avant-garde indie outfit ARCADE FIRE winning Album of the Year for The Suburbs. To the excitement of anyone who loves music, the group has announced tour dates, starting with a headlining slot at this year’s Coachella.
Also on the topic of Hell finally freezing over, the “Big Four” of metal will be hitting Indio the weekend after Coachella. That’s right . . . METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX all on one stage. Given the history of feuds between Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and, oh, everybody else in the metal world (the most infamous of these being with James Hetfeld and Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and a lesser known feud with Kerry King of Slayer), this news comes as a welcome shock. Apparently the bickering is behind them, as the Big Four have already completed seven successful dates in Europe and, if the Indio date is successful . . . well, we can speculate, can’t we?
Punk Rock Bowling makes its way back to the streets of Vegas for its 13 year. Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Three days of live punk music . . . and bowling. That’s 168 teams to be approximate. I hate being exact. This will take place in the end of May, but you should probably start planning now, even though I know making reservations in advance is not very punk rock. This year’s lineup includes DROPKICK MURPHYS, STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, AGGROLITES, DESCENDENTS, ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMME’S, BOUNCING SOULS, COCK SPARRER, KILLING JOKE and more. If you can’t bowl, then you can at least stand around and get faced while enjoying live punk music.
In other sort-of-but-not-really punk rock news, we see punk go hillbilly as punk label Fat Wreck Chords has charted on the Billboard bluegrass charts with OLD MAN MARKLEY, a bluegrass pastiche of musicians from bands such as YOUTH BRIGADE, ANGEL CITY OUTCASTS and BLUE COLLAR SPECIAL. I’m talking full-on banjo, washtub bass, fiddles and even a fellow that plays the washboard, I reckon. Their debut album Guts n Teeth is another sign of the times that the indies are trumping the majors. Refer to my earlier “Hell freezing over” comment.
SHINY TOY GUNS is expecting to release their third album, cleverly entitled III. Of greater significance, the band’s original singer, Carah Faye Charnow, rejoins the group for this album. Having left to focus on her other band, VERSANT, Carah Faye is apparently now pursuing both bands full time, and III will also see contributions from Versant bandmate and husband Daniel Johansson.
RADIOHEAD has released 8 album King of Limbs, sort of. Currently, it’s only available for purchase exclusively on the Radiohead website. Options include downloading it as an audio file, or spending the extra coin to acquire a special deluxe edition that includes two clear 10-inch vinyl records, a CD, a digital download and exclusive artwork in some sort of special format that blippety blah blah blah is so friggin‘ special it makes the tangible act of having the album a more visceral experience than just listening to the music. Following these initial sales, the album will be available to all other major music stores and online retailers on March 28. Listen, vinyl you can see through is awesome. It’s every bit as useful as Crystal Pepsi. Remember that? It was Pepsi, only it was somehow better because it was clear. That’s it. It was so awesome it had a VAN HALEN song in the commercial. Clear vinyl is superior to regular vinyl, even though it’s the exact same thing, just without color.
