Getting ready to return to the touring lifestyle they’ve grown accustomed to, Ohio-based Metalcore and Hard Rock group Beartooth presented fans with the next best thing to seeing them from the barricades. Bringing their new album Below (Red Bull Records) to life with elaborate visuals and booming sparklers, The Journey Below livestream reminds us what rock shows are all about in case anyone has forgotten.
Recorded in front of twelve thousand rabid fans at the Berlin Velodrom in December 2012, Louder Than Noise… Live in Berlin (Silver Lining Music) is the sound of British rock legends Motörhead doing what they did best. Playing rock ‘n’ roll at the loudest possible volume and making lots of drunk people bang their sweaty heads until they either threw up or passed out. Motörhead shows were fantastic, weren’t they?
Led Zeppelin has partnered with YouTube for a special streaming event of “Celebration Day”. Recorded live at London’s O2 Arena on December 10, 2007, the film captures a two-hour-plus tour de force of the band’s signature blues-infused rock ‘n’ roll that instantly became part of the legend of Led Zeppelin. Founding members John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant were joined by Jason Bonham, the son of their late drummer John Bonham, to perform 16 songs from their celebrated catalog, including landmark tracks “Whole Lotta Love”, “Rock And Roll”, “Kashmir”, “Stairway To Heaven”. “Celebration Day” and more will be streamed in its entirety for three days only on the official Led Zeppelin YouTube channel, premiering this Saturday, May 30, at 8 p.m. GMT / 3 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. PST.Continue reading
Music, throughout history, has had a way of influencing the social behavior and norms found in human societies. Music is a universal language that is capable of bridging the gap between disparate people and entire social classes, cultures, and continents. Music can also be a tremendously personal thing, a song that has certain significance to one person may hold no meaning for the next. The current immeasurable dissonance in the social climate that spans the entire globe seems to push lost souls to seek comfort in music. In my humble Skullgurl opinion, that reason alone is why the world needs more bands like the four I saw on the second day of October 2019.Continue reading
Let’s face the facts, folks, the music industry has changed drastically in the last 30 years. I firmly believe that change is inevitable and most of the time I embrace change with open arms. The recording process has been completely revolutionized to the point that musicians can produce their own albums right from home on their computers. The problem with having the ability to record and release music so easily is the plethora of music that is flooding the market that just does not stand the test of time. Think of some of the current songs you hear on Fm radio stations, most of them will spin themselves out of rotation and vanish to the isle of forgotten songs within 6 months of their release. Career longevity has become an elusive beast in the music industry, so when an artist who released his first album over thirty years ago is touring and selling out venues, a Skullgurl must pay attention. Of course, I am talking about the original untamed mane rock star, Sebastian Bach.Continue reading
I just love getting new albums to review, seriously, hearing new music pouring out of my earbuds exhilarates me like nothing else. I almost feel like I have stumbled into a secret treasure trove that the world has yet to experience. As I started to listen to the new Doll Skin album, Love Is Dead And We Killed Her (Hopeless Records) I began to feel the sensation of euphoria surging through every cell in my body. Seriously, the right side of my brain said to the left side of my brain, “here, hold my beer, this is all me”.Continue reading
When you get an album with the band name Texas Hippie Coalition, you have a set of expectations about what it’s going to sound like. A mental image of the music pops into your brain. Texas Hippie Coalition did not disappoint with High In The Saddle (Entertainment One). True to form, it’s Texas-style southern rock with a scruffy “edge” to the lyrics and followable 4/4 beats. If you like listening to Down, Black Label Society, or Southern Train Gypsy, Texas Hippie Coalition is almost but not quite totally unlike that. High In The Saddle straddles the line of rock and roll and country and does so admirably. Continue reading
Once in a blue moon does a band come barreling onto the music scene that makes every person who hears them go, “If Heaven had an in house band, it would be these guys”. Joyous Wolf is a once in a blue moon band, no-foolin’. The band’s debut EP, A Place In Time (Roadrunner Records), is proof positive that Rock and Roll is not just alive and well, it is kicking ass and taking names. Continue reading
Tim “Ripper” Owens and Rudy Sarzo are bangin’ in A New Revenge. The new album, Enemies and Lovers (Golden Robot Records), serves up some good old-fashioned Rock n’ Roll-cum-Heavy Metal hybrid that is sure to get played on repeat for years to come. The songs are timeless in they have a distinctly “Classics” sound already. The music is infectious and it’s easy to sing along with; so many of the songs sound wickedly familiar – just little snippets here and there of guitar work or the cadence of the lyrics.Continue reading
Two-piece South African heavy rockers Hellcats just dropped their badass new album The Hex And The Healer. With just eight songs over 22 minutes, the album is an adrenaline spike to the heart of furious riffs, raucous rhythms and sweltering vocals. Basically a lot of what is missing from today’s cleaned up, watered down excuses for rock. Hellcats are comprised of Alessandro Benigno on drums and vocals and Warwick Rautenbach on guitar. Recorded by Craig Hawkins at Audio Militia in Johannesburg, the band worked closely with producers Nick Argyros, Paul Norwood, and Craig Hawkins. The band has also announced two festival appearances, Up the Creek and Saggy Stone Beer Festival, and a new tour opening for The Cure to support The Hex And The Healer is available for purchase or streaming below.
The band commented on the album:
“Recording with Audio Militia you get three producers, each with a great guitar, vocal and drum influence respectively – so each instrument was pushed as hard as it could have been.”
Drummer and vocalist Alessandro added:
“Nick is a wizard drummer and he helped me a lot with my style and even set up. He’s also a great vocalist and helped a lot with vocal hooks too. I appreciate the fact that he doesn’t take shit – if it’s kak you’ll do it again and again until he’s happy.”
Hellcats tour dates:
8 Feb – Up the Creek Jägermeister presents Up the Creek 2019
9 Feb – Saggy Stone Beer Festival Saggy Stone Beer & Music Festival 2019
22 Feb – Mercury Live w/ Shadowclub A Club Called Hell (Cape Town)
23 Feb – Aandklas w/ Shadowclub A Club Called Hell (Stellenbosch)
1 March – Pretoria w/ Black Cat Bones & Shadowclub Shadowcats FT Shadowclub, The Black Cat Bones, Hellcats
16 March – The Cure JHB The Cure Live in JHB | Rock on the Lawns 2019
21 March – The Cure CPT The Cure Live in CT | Rock on the Lawns 2019
28 March – JHB album launch & Online march store launch (vinyl, USBs, badges & tees) TBA
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