Halestorm Win Grammy
Congratulations to Halestorm, who took out the best hard rock/metal Grammy for Love Bites (So Do I). They were up against some pretty stiff competition too: Megadeth, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Lamb of God and Marilyn Manson. Within seconds the online commentary went into megadrive, both for and against the decision. I can see the point of those against the win: Anthrax in particular had put in a very strong showing with Worship Music, where the nominated track I’m Alive came from. But at least unlike that Jethro Tull-beating-Metallica debacle from 1988, Halestorm fits the category. That and Halestorm live it and mean it. Would it be nice to have Megadeth, Anthrax, LoG or Maiden take out the Grammy instead? Fuck yeah! Manson? Eh, maybe. But as they say, it’s an honour just to be nominated, and in that respect it’s awesome that the other folks are also getting prime-time exposure out of this award.
Black Sabbath Ready ‘Satanic Blues’
There isn’t really much to say right now about the forthcoming Black Sabbath album 13, except that Ozzy Osbourne has just gone on record as saying that it sounds like ‘Satanic blues.’ That’s also a great way to sum up Sabbath’s first four albums, so this bodes very, very well. If you haven’t heard yet, drums on the album are handled by Rage Against The Machine’s Brad Wilk, I guess because they’d already made up ‘BW’ bass drum skins for Bill Ward before he backed out over a contract dispute.
Ballarat Beat Rockabilly Festival
Check out the Ballarat Beat Rockabilly Festival this weekend, Friday February 15 to Sunday February 17. It’s the latest and greatest installment from Rockabilly King Arthur Matsakos, who has brought you the exponentially growing Camperdown Cruise Rockabilly Festival over the past five years. The event will take over the streets of Ballarat with everything Rockabilly, kicking off with a very limited “WILD Pre-Party” on the Thursday night at Karova, featuring all international acts in a jam session to get you warmed up for the weekend. The festival will showcase an impressive number of standout international music acts including The Desperados (USA) and Omar Romero (USA), as well as amazing local artists such as The ReChords (VIC), Sun Rising (VIC) and The Yard Apes (VIC). There’s also the Rockabilly Burlesque Show, held at Haida Lounge, featuring international beauty Miss Rockwel De Vil. And of course there will be classic cars and hot rods lining the streets, illustration artists from every corner of the globe, and plenty of trade stalls containing a huge range of specialty clothing, music, magazines and old world trinkets. Sun Rising’s David Cosma says the band’s show follows a sort of narrative arc which traces the history of Sun Records. “Sun ran for many years with hundreds of artists. We focus primarily from day dot, the early 50s til about 57. In that time so many artists came through there. We run it chronologically – your Ike Turner, your Howlin’ Wolf – then it kicks in with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis… and there’s a lot of dialogue and explanation throughout the show too. There are some amazing anecdotes and stories that go along with the show.”
Frankenfest
The Bendigo Hotel is set to hold Frankenfest; a night that will appeal to all the heavy rock’n’roll lovers out there who have been deprived of pure metal rapture for far too long. Headlining this monster five band lineup show is Emerson (who have just returned home after touring with Northlane), Asperity Within (who will be performing songs from their infamous collaborative EP Triptych), Reeds Of The Temptress, Your World In Ruins and Hands Of Hope. Immerse yourself amongst the home-grown metal talent this Saturday February 16 from 8pm. Free entry.
NEONCITY Wanna Get Unearthed
Check out Albury’s NEONCITY, who are currently on triple j Unearthed with their latest single Forever from their forthcoming album. You can see the video for Forever as well as previous single The Moments on the band’s site, neoncity.com.au.
Hatchet Dawn Hit The Studio With Mader
The mighty Hatchet Dawn are about to hit the studio to record the next release to follow up their Rebirth LP. It’ll be produced by Logan Mader (ex Machine Head/Soulfly) in Los Angeles USA at Dirty Icon Productions. That’s where Mader has produced past releases with Fear Factory, Gojira, Soulfly, Devildriver, Caverlera Conspiracy, Divine Heresy and Five Finger Death Punch. Original founding member Howsie Noise will carry on the Hatchet Dawn legacy with continuing Rebirth line up member Billie-Jade, who has moved into the role as the bands lead vocalist.
Doom At The Bendigo
Hypnotic Dirge Records and Metalobsession.net presents a dual album launch for two of Australia’s best doom exports, Lycanthia and Subterranean Disposition, ably supported by The Veil and Okera at the Bendigo Hotel on Saturday February 23. Formed in 1996, Lycanthia are a six-piece metal band based in Sydney, playing dark and emotional metal in style that would be best described as a fusion of doom, classical, gothic and rock, launching their new album Oligarchy live, performing in Melbourne for the first time in many years. Starting life as the solo recording project of Melbourne metal veteran Terry Vainoras, this will be Subterranean Disposition’ debut live performance as a four piece band, with extra special guests. Launching the debut album, played in its entirety. Their sound is a mixture of equal parts doom, death and sludge with hints of the experimental. Hailing from Sydney, The Veil are a dynamic quintet whose songs are multi-layered and complex yet driving and intuitive. Their music draws influence from doom metal to post-punk, black metal and folk with a strong cohesive sound exclusively theirs. Rounding out this strong and eclectic line up, Melbourne’s Okera is a band that has their roots firmly grounded in melodic doom metal, though they certainly don’t limit themselves to the one genre.
