Charm City Devils - Let's Rock N Roll!

I have to hand some credit to my glam rock lovin' friend Harry. His conviction to keep it conservative in music left me a link to the old ways. That is not to say I've been busy searching for New Wave Of American Metal stuff, but the deal is that you can comb all forums in the net and not be directed to any worthwhile material. Funny thing is, all these crazy sites are poppin' out of the woodwork to 'bring metal to the masses' while most metal sub genres are now getting heavier- albeit all in the wrong directions. Case in point, copycats of the already ridiculous Scandinavian extreme metal.

Chickenfoot was as well brought to my attention through Harry's research. Though I might have seen its big banner in the local music bar (which I now regret not buying the real deal cos its got sum big poster freebie!), it was handed to me in a what-can-you-say-bout-this manner as the stuff was playing. With it, are bands relatively new to the scene: Endeverafter, Beautiful Creatures and Charm City Devils.

Hailing from Baltimore is this new bunch of recent recruits to the Nikki Sixx fold via The Eleven Seven label. Also they were billed in for the second round of Crue Fest mayhem (get the glam connection?) which I firmly believe will be less visible to me on the dvd cover having seen Drowning Pool and Godsmack! I think I've seen Papa Roach somewhere there as well..

Nevertheless, go troop down to wherever you get your cd's or mp3's and hear all tracks from this magnificent album. 'Let's Rock N Roll' is sure to grab you by the balls as it is one solid hard rock offering we've come to love before. It may not be that complex hard rock, but its not as basic as usual 1-4-5 blues. It sure has got the energy of the old guard, and more importantly, the reckless abandon of real rock n roll.

It's got some good hooks too, if that's what you're waiting for me to say!

Emerson Knives and Emerson Brand Apparel- all about Rock!

Lest I be a Ted Nugent mockery, I said I wont post here any of my other leisure pursuits parallel to this music I embrace. If you drop in on Ted's website you will see that there are two portals you are given entrance to - Skip to Rock N Roll or Skip to Hunting. Truly he has made a statement to his fans of how his love for both of those passions is in equilibrium.


Problem is, though Hunting may be an all-American culture, it's not all Rock N Roll. So is the love for guns, or any firearm for that matter. Now I am left to ponder on what other passion, hobby or lifestyle is on the same page with heavy music.


Tattoos- definitely in sync with rock n roll. It is ours and ours to love. Regardless of how many rappers rip those old english characters and make ghetto statements out of it, the ridicule is upon them. The tattoo culture is not closely related to us, it IS us. Period.


Surfing? Not so. Billabong may throw in some skulls or gothic script here and there, but it appeals only to a select few. Most surfers, usually the hard core ones, are only into surfing.


Mixed Martial Arts? about 95% metal. Megadeth plays on Affliction fight nights, and the crowd are all up on those devil horns like the UFC is some Iron Maiden concert. The shirts, the skin art. Metal.


Harley and the biker life? Without a shred of doubt.


Knives? Not merely. But there's this one brand I got hooked into recently that is so undeniably Rock N Roll.


Enter Emerson Knives. Recently the cutlery world is rocked on its edges as this particular brand introduced the patented waive feature (a hook that snags the side of your pocket as you pull the folder out, instantly opening it) and a world-class 'built like a tank' craftsmanship. Knife enthusiasts are now flocking to the Emerson booths on conventions, leaving the other giants like Benchmade and Spyderco almost unattended. They all want a piece of the custom-made ones. And they all want to meet Ernest Emerson.

The charismatic CEO is not only a knife maker but is also known as a top martial arts instructor, Defense contractor and a musician. In the Emerson myspace account, the music slate states "rock and anything that rocks hard!" Like, hell yeah! The music player as well on top of the profile has AC/DC's Rock N Roll train playing the last time I checked it. And I noted too on Wiki that he's now making custom guitars.
He then released a series of t-shirts, dubbed Emerson Brand Apparel, to promote his works, maybe his music in mind as well.


All the designs you can wear as you play on stage, or in attendance to a heavy metal slugfest.















The shirt design shown below (read front: it's only rock n roll , back: but I like it) even had a narrative of how much Mr Ernest loves this music. In his website he stated 'I am a Rocker and will always be till the day I die..'















On the media page, they basked on the glory and how thankful they are in a photograph sent to them as Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God wore them loud and proud in the Hell Or High Water shirt:







Another shirt design newly added to their line up cant be more rock n roll than anything your imagination can get a hold of:

Chickenfoot - another smash collaboration!

Ever wonder, with the recent Van Halen reunion tour, whats been brewing in the Hagar camp? As you may have gotten word that it was the Guitar God's son Wolfgang who played bass on that tour, also you may speculate that original bassist Michael Anthony may have been busy with other projects. In actual fact Hagar and Anthony had joined forces to create what may be dubbed as a super group. Along with Red Hot Chili Peppers skinman Chad Smith and of course virtuoso Satch on the axe. You heard me right. The Satch Joe Satriani is back and this time he's in a real band albeit not a tour stint with Deep Purple. This is as real as it gets and you can check all their vids on You Tube.


Shredders beware! Though personally I'm quite having a spin of fun with this offering, it fell short of the expectations of some of my more 'technically gifted' friends. For what particular reason I cant fully grasp yet- I was more interested with the riffs and hooks so maybe, just maybe, it has something that has got to do with the solos. Im having a blast anyway, so grab a beer and do try listening to it as well! Ill bet my bottom peso there's not one track you'll skip in this whole record.


Here's one at The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. Notice how they brandish that insignia in their instruments. Like they're in some serious gang! Man I hope they last. By the way, Chad's shirt says 'i am not will ferell' HAHA!

Viva Les Paul

" Les Paul died Thursday of pneumonia. He was 94. "

Just got word on this right after I had uploaded the blind man video. Checked it at CNN.com and indeed it was an acrimonious truth.

As my first entry was a saved file, I reasoned I should put the original date. I could have raised that goblet to Les Paul had it not been a drafted one. Stretching my guilt further was another window open as I was doing that first entry- checking out a new Fender! It was a 'Road Worn' Strat that my brother was showing me in all its beat up glory. But man, that's a tale or another day.

Les Paul was 94, but I'm not one to say 'old enough'. The worst comment you can ever get from someone 'bout your granny who passed away will be that. You need not be Plato to rationalize on that. Hell, Les Paul could have lived to a hundred! But being the genius that he is- gracing us the sound and images from Jimmy Page, Joe Perry and Slash- I bet he'll live hundred years over.

So cheers mate.

Long Live Heavy Music!!!

Aug 13! Happy Anniversary UP Beta Sigma Fratenity Los Baños Chapter! Yeah its already 59 years of being the most bad ass berserkin cowboys in Sin City campus!!


HaHa!

Raise your goblets, dear brothers, and celebrate the vibrant longevity of the existence of the music we so dearly love!

Let this be the portal of all those who are lost in search of good heavy music. Be it classic rock n roll or the new wave of american heavy metal, it is now my resolution to share with you every band or project I will come across as I continue to explore what popular music cant provide us. May this also be the venue for which I shall scream, in all glory of the devil's horns, what new music I have synced since the journey of my iPod updating has begun. Just so I can slim it down a bit, the genres I will be attempting to cover are only those that trudge along the conservative line of rock and metal- nothing way out of the league that has brought us those stupid turntables and geek sensibilities. Also I will throw in some REAL Filipino "Pinoy" Rock treats as this is my homegrown screech of rebellion. While chunks of everyday annoying stories shall serve as the fuel for this inspiration of anger!

As music video channels and most radio stations have stopped their selfish jumping on the bandwagons of hard rock and heavy metal, I, along with other defenders of the faith, have been relentlessly communicating about what we've been listening to recently. While the means of how we discover such bands may be nothing special, this site may save you the hassle of searching, and worse, the crap of seeking other listener's opinions unworthy of your time.


Ain't no better way to start this than with Black Stone Cherry's Folklore and Superstition.



I must shamefully admit that I had stumbled upon this great record in a music store. In a scruffy little corner of 'new releases' (used to be a whole floor of only 'rock' category shelves in the early to mid-nineties, later decreased to 'pop/rock' and now what?) along with revitalized remnants of the almost rudimentary nu metal terminology- 3 inches of blood, Disturbed, Mudvayne - this cover easily snagged my periphery and the subconscious of a classic fanatic. Except that it's not all classic. Save me the arduous job of doing the Wiki work, you can do research and find these boys were'nt even born before '83. Yet the sound they have created is a coalescence of black crowes and black sabbath. Somewhere in between maybe, coz it ain't too laid back bluesey and not as dark and gloomy. I would best put it in the hard rock class, in all the grandeur of the southern US feel.

Hear them, for after all any genre is just an opinion. What may be metal to our old folks can just be plain ear candy to them Norwegians.



Here's "Blind Man" , which, I believe, is the video for the carrier single and the record's first track: