By Art Michalski, on May 14th, 2012
 Spindrift brings their spaghetti western influenced rock to the Berkley Front on Thursday. Odds are if you’re a fan of independent movies, you’ve heard the music of Spindrift. Forming in the early 90’s and relocating to Los Angeles later in the 90’s, the quintet became inspired by old spaghetti westerns and other western themed movies, the band took their music in a different direction.
Taking a cue from those movies, the music dove into a psychedelic meets folk direction, which has garnered the attention of Quentin Tarantino, who used the band’s music for the low budget biker flick which he produced, “Hell Ride”.
After a few year break due to exhaustion, the band reformed in 2009 and released “Classic Soundtracks Volume 1” in 2011. Taking a cue from the psychedelic and country folk aspects, the band sounds include music that is tailor made for a gun duel in the Old West with “Theme from Amboy” and “Roundup”. The psychedelic angle works best with “Theme from Drifter’s Past”, which sounds as eerie as spending an event sleeping out in some of those harsh western lands. With their music harkening a golden era of cinema, it’s safe to say there aren’t too busy bands tackling this sort of music these days.
Continue reading Spindrift Plays Classics in Berkley
By Art Michalski, on May 13th, 2012
 Watain brings their dark, grand ceremony to Harpo's this Friday (May 18th). It’s been a long while since Swedish death metal band Watain has hit the Detroit area. In that time with their absence, the band’s profile and propensity for metal infamy has only expanded. Gaining quite a reputation for a startling and incendiary live show, Watain is now primed for the big next step in the metal world.
Releasing their first album, “Rabid Death’s Curse” in 2000, Watain built their music to be a continuation or expanding of sonic horizons from what the Norwegian black metal bands did in the early 90’s and made the production and sonic palette that much tighter. With their 2010 album, “Lawless Darkness”- the band hit a creative stride that gained the band more notoriety in these parts. From the full on primal scream of “Reaping Death” to the truly haunting instrumental title track, Watain make sure to make the music a bleak and unsettling tone to the music- which in death metal means you’re doing something right.
Continue reading Watain Brings Total Darkness To Harpo’s
By Art Michalski, on May 13th, 2012
 Flux Pavilion brings the "Cannon" of sounds to Royal Oak this Thursday. These days, dubstep is everywhere and it’s undeniable. Whether it’s from the massive Ultra Music Festival in Miami every March, to TV commercials to even local venues- the hot craze of the moment continues to gain more and more traction with every passing day. Even though the States have caught up to the music form, it’s in England where the form has absolutely exploded.
One of the big names of the genre to come out of the U.K. is DJ and producer Joshua Steele, better known to his fans as Flux Pavilion. The 23 year old DJ got his start in 2008 and released his first single, “Boom” early in 2009. But where he got his real break was with the 2011 single, “Bass Cannon”, which made some waves of the U.K. Singles Chart. With it’s cowbell and ringtone-esque beginning, the song takes off from there and might scare the uninitiated into think a Martian lightray could be coming for them (yeah, I was watching “War of The Worlds” before I wrote this and immediately thought of it).
With his latest single, the highly catchy “I Can’t Stop” now out, Flux gives fans a taste on what to expect on his first full length album, which is due out later this year. But if these songs are anywhere near as big in the States as they were in England, guys like Skrillex might have some real competition.
Continue reading Flux Pavilion Can’t Stop Royal Oak
By Art Michalski, on May 13th, 2012
 Baroness show off new material when they play with Meshuggah at St. Andrew's this Wednesday. It was quite amazing to see the critical accolades from the metalsphere and well beyond give praise to the Savannah, Georgia based band Baroness for their “Blue Record” in 2009. It’s not everyday when you see mainstream rock magazines give much of a crap about metal, you have to call the respect that Baroness received for that album as a small victory.
It has been a steady climb for the band, as the band toured pretty relentlessly as a headliner or otherwise for a solid 18 months after the release of the album. But the band had laid low after the tour cycle as the band took some time off and went back to work on the band’s third full length record.
After a year in the studio, Baroness is primed to release the double album, “Yellow & Green”, which is due out in July on Relapse Records. When talking with guitarist and co-vocalist Pete Adams, it sounds much like the album will be one of those ‘every and the kitchen sink’ type of records, letting all of their influences and styles run wild.
With the album still a couple months away from being released, Baroness hit the road with Swedish math-metal giants Meshuggah. The band was about a week into the tour when I had a chance to talk with Adams in Anaheim about the band’s decision behind the double album and how the band dealt with being one of the few metal bands on the usually indie rock dominated Coachella and Bonnaroo festivals.
Here’s my interview with Pete:
Continue reading Interview w/ Pete Adams of Baroness
By Art Michalski, on May 9th, 2012
 Mayer Hawthorne and the County play a huge hometown show at the Majestic on May 15th. Tickets are running out fast. Yeah, yeah- he’s originally from Ann Arbor and even though Detroit isn’t exactly Mayer Hawthorne’s hometown- it’s close enough. The neo-soul singer has been on a conquest the past few years, as the singer’s profile has grown from intriguing regionally known singer to now major label, club packing star on the rise.
After his debut, “A Strange Arrangement” wowed fans and critics back in 2009, Hawthorne released another batch of equally infectious throwbacks to the 60’s and 70’s as “How Do You Do” was released last fall. Even though some people will try to say Mayer is focusing on one particular era (mostly 70’s era soul) on this record, there is still enough on the band to please neo-soul fans and fans of current R&B and soul. Whether it’s the laid back approach of the opener “Get To Know You” to the nod to the golden era of soul in “Finally Falling”, Hawthorne has proven that he stands stand out in a pop world that values substance over style and Mayer’s desperately trying to change that rhetoric.
Continue reading Mayer Hawthorne Comes Back Home
By Art Michalski, on May 8th, 2012
 Fear Factory brings their still futuristic sound to the Crofoot on May 15th. Let’s face it, if you were a Fear Factory from their time in the mid-90’s- there was a time in the mid-00’s that most fans thought that the longtime industrial metal band was tapped out creativity. Sitting through albums like “Archetype” and “Transgression”, it just felt like the band was trying to keep up with the current metal scene, instead of sticking to their roots. With lead singer Burton Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares not speaking and both working on different projects, it just felt like the Fear Factory era was over.
But with the friendship between Bell and Cazares renewed, the guys brought back Fear Factory in early 2010 for the album, “Mechanize”, and a renaissance was reborn. Now, this wasn’t quite the sales renaissance that would have rivaled their 1999 gold album, “Obsolete”- but from a creative standpoint, “Mechanize” have the band’s resurgence in place and assured fans that things were going to be just fine. After getting their issues aired out and their other musical interests out of the way, “Mechanize” was a powerhouse that topped some critic’s top 10 metal albums in 2010 (gee, I wonder who I’m referring to).
With “Mechanize” in the rearview mirror now, the band returns for a second go-around under the new Fear Factory regime as the band returns with “The Industrialist”, due out June 5th. If you’ve had a chance to check out the new single “Re-charger”, it’s pretty safe to say that fans of “Mechanize” wont be disappointed and the band has fully found their roots once again with the past two albums. Bell and Cazares have brought in former Chimaira bassist Matt Devires to help out the four string duties and it sounds as crushing as ever.
Continue reading Fear Factory Industrializes Pontiac
By Art Michalski, on May 8th, 2012
 Now a label free agent, Bonded By Blood bring the old school thrash to Blondie's on Saturday. Named after a classic Exodus album, it’s easy to say that the LA area based band Bonded By Blood wears their heart on their sleeve. Decked out in the thrash metal grab that their heroes in the first wave of thrash metal in the 80’s, the guys in Bonded By Blood pay homage to the past. But over the past several years, many bands have adopted the sound and look and brought back a throwback sound to those early days of thrash.
Starting out in the LA suburb of Pomona in 2005, the band formed and starting jamming and playing gigs in the area- winning a battle of the bands contest that jump started the band. Releasing their debut, “Feed The Beast” in 2008, the teenagers in Bonded By Blood and were part of the new wave of thrash metal infecting the States and beyond. Over the past few years, the band has underwent some changes, replacing original lead singer Jose Barrales, and their guitarist Alex Lee- who went to join Holy Grail.
Continue reading Bonded By Blood See The Aftermath
By Art Michalski, on May 8th, 2012
 Destruction brings the best of Teutonic thrash to the I-Rock this Friday night. It is still hard to imagine the thrash metal scene being around 30 years already at this point, and it just means we are all getting a hell of a lot older. If we’re been listening even at least half or more of that time period, you gotta imagine how the guys in the German thrash originators Destruction feel at this point.
Making the European crowd and beyond ears bleed since their first release in 1985, the band is now considered one of the major three German thrash bands, along with Kreator and Sodom. After a slew of releases, the band was signed to Nuclear Blast Records at the turn of the century and continue to pummel their fans with their attack. The band’s latest, 2011’s “Day Of Reckoning” just reaffirms how much fury and rage the band still has in it’s system after all these years. The single for “Hate Is My Fuel” became a favorite last year on Sirius’ Liquid Metal station, but check out other tracks like “Destroyer or Creator” and “Devil’s Advocate” to demolish their fans.
Continue reading 30 Years of Destruction
By Art Michalski, on May 6th, 2012
 Vinny and Kill Devil Hill make their debut Michigan appearance this Friday at the Machine Shop in Flint. Vinny Appice is one of those guys who’s played with tons of big bands, but casual fans may not recognize the longtime in demand drummer. His resume includes stints in Dio, Black Sabbath (as well as the more recent Heaven and Hell moniker) among many others- which 99.9 percent of drummer would kill for a resume like that. But one thing that Appice has never really done is form a band of his own. So, after Heaven and Hell took a break from touring before the untimely death of the legendary Ronnie James Dio in 2010, it left Appice to mourn the loss and gave him some time to pursue his vision.
Enlisting guitarist Mark Zavon (W.A.S.P.) and ex-Pantera bassist Rex Brown, the band Kill Devil Hill was formed. After some delay in the studio and on the release date, the band’s self-titled debut is due out on May 22nd and features a wide range of metal on the debut. It is easy to say when talking with Appice that he has finally seen his vision for his own band come to fruition with the band and plans to forge ahead.
With the album finally coming out, the band is teaming up with another band that could be labeled as a supergroup in Adrenaline Mob, featuring ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy. The bands play on several dates in May and before that tour got going, I caught Appice at home as we discussed stepping out with his own band and his time with the legendary Dio.
Here’s my interview with Vinny:
Continue reading Interview w/ Vinny Appice of Kill Devil Hill
By Art Michalski, on May 6th, 2012
 Now that Bloodsimple has went their own ways, Monstro rises from the ashes with a sold out tour with Clutch. As time goes on in the rock world, there seems to be a yearning to return to the hard rock and metal of the old days. Shunning the sometimes trappings of some of the sub-genres of those worlds can get for a more straight forward and tried & true, some musicians flourish in that environment.
For ex-Bloodsimple members Kyle Sanders and Bevan Davies and ex-Torche guitarist Juan Montoya, the need was there for something different. In this, the guys bonded to form in 2009, but didn’t get started on writing their full length debut until 2010. Finally released later in 2011, Monstro’s self-titled album is an ode to much of the rock ranging from the 60’s to 90’s. From the Deep Purple-esque riffs and pacing of “Anchors Up”, to the almost grung-ish “Olympia”, Monstro’s debut is something that would have felt comfortable as much 20 years ago as it would now. Sanders’ vocals fit well within all of the songs, and that’s a testament with the bouncing around of sub-genres that Monstro does within their debut.
Continue reading Monstro Keeps Things Retro in Detroit
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