Droves of fans flocked to the annual host of all things rock, metal and horror as Rock And Shock 2016 invaded Worcester, Massachusetts last month. The annual event at The Palladium and the DCU Center for the convention is hosted annually by Massconcerts, and the entire weekend is wall to wall scary good fun!Continue reading
When Alan Robert isn’t busy with his band Life of Agony he shines in his alter ego of Alan Robert, comic book creator. With his growing collection of titles from publisher IDW, such as Crawl to Me, Wire Hangers, Killogy and The Shunned One. All of which he wrote and drew, he’s found time to make an amazon best seller coloring book. Just in time for the Halloween season, The Beauty of Horror: A GOREgeous Coloring Book.Continue reading
Artist and Life Of Agony bassist Alan Robert will appear at New York Comic Con this weekend, promoting his recently released Amazon Best Selling coloring book for adults The Beauty of Horror: A GOREgeous Coloring Book (IDW Publishing). Already on its second printing, the Beauty of Horror… went nationally available in bookstores everywhere in the USA this week. Continue reading
Long running Heavy Music and Horror event Rock And Shock takes over Worcester MA once again this month. The annual event see fans of rock and metal and horror movies and pop culture flock to both the Worceter Palladium for the show and the DCU Center for the convention. Organized annually by Massconcerts, scores of musical acts, personalities, costume contests, discounted tickets for Servicement and Women, tattoing, and vendors make for an unforgettable experience.Continue reading
Another year, another Rock and Shock Festival arrived on the scene to get us even more in the Halloween mood. A terrific lineup of iconic personalities, and amazing vendors at the DCU Center along with a strong lineup of music titans over at The Worcester Palladium made this a year to remember. I have been to eight of the eleven years of this great festival and it gets better and better every year. This was one of the years where the convention ran slightly ahead of the show for me in terms of love, but that is less about the bands and some the horror giants that were in attendance, among my favorites in the genre, ever.
Friday was marred slightly by the typically shitty I -90 traffic heading out to the venue, taking almost 2.5 hours to arrive from Boston. Not only did we miss a tight group of local bands, I missed some of the bands I really wanted to see like Brick By Brick and Shattered Sun. Getting there in time to catch some of Soilwork at least made up for it. Not only did they play some more recent tracks from The Ride Majestic (Nuclear Blast), they played the throwback classic cut ‘Bastard Chain’ which was amazing.
Following Soilwork it was time for some more old-school jams with Sanctuary and Soulfly. The reactivated power metal/thrashers Sanctuary were super tight and sounded great. Better than I expected or remember. Soulfly also put on a great show. Max Cavalera and crew played a lot of hits as well as Sepultura classics and even a little Nailbomb jam. Maybe about the best Soulfly set I’ve ever seen. Max is just really great at extolling the crowd to move: screaming, rapping, or playing some percussion instruments, the guy does it all.
As expected Hatebreed’s career spanning, 20th anniversary set was as great as could be. Jamey Jasta and his crew have boundless energy and played an almost two-hour set. Track after track of classic beat-down songs and deep cuts from every era of the band rained down from the speakers. Many times Jamey jumped into the barricade and had fans screaming along with him. It was epic feeling and people were just throwing down all over the venue. It was a pretty amazing time and Jamey made sure everyone new Hatebreed is coming back with a new album in 2016.
Getting up early on Saturday, we made sure to spend a lot of time at the convention at the DCU center and really get to see and do everything over there. There were many awesome vendors, specifically a lot of local businesses, which was great to see. There were also several dog rescues and pet adoption tables with people doing great work to find some puppies and kitties new homes in the middle of all this metal and horror greatness. While I was only able to get glimpse of George A. Romero, some of the movie personalities I got to chat with made up for it such as Doug Bradley (Hellrazor), William Sanderson, Bill Mosley, Traci Lords, and especially Stephen Macht and Michael Mackay from Monster Squad. Most of the band signings were happening here, with the longest line I saw being for Superjoint.
Saturday’s lineup was a little deeper and more eclectic than most years too. The second stage had an array of diverging styles represented by The Relapse Symphony, Byzantine, Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein with his solo band, and Eyes Set To Kill among others. The main stage was led off by doom masters Witch Mountain. New singer Kayla Dixon has a tall order to fill replacing the much adored Uta Plotkin, but Kayla has amazing pipes and stage presence. She does justice to all of Uta’s material, the other past material of the band, and definitely brings her own style to the table too. I am so looking forward to a new WM album with her at the mic.
For a bit of consistency, the next three bands had a common thread in Wednesday 13, New Year’s Day and The Rocking Dead, all bringing an old/new take on horror punk, glam rock and metal. Wednesday performed the best, NYD had the most fans in the house, and The Rocking Dead was beautiful wreck. Both the later two performed with The Rocking Dead, an all-star collection of talented folks playing all covers. It was exciting to see and hear Doyle and Taime Downe of Faster Pussycat jam out to some great songs, but the band hadn’t rehearsed at all and the sloppy performance was not amusing.
Prong was up next and were one of the best bands of the weekend. The band seems reinvigorated by some new blood in the band and performed a mix of old-school (‘Beg to Differ’, ‘Unconditional’) and new-ish (‘Revenge Best Served Cold’) tracks. Props to Tommy Victor for pulling double-duty this tour with Danzig. I’m waiting patiently on that new Prong album in early 2016 too.
After catching a little bit of Veil of Maya’s performance, we had to grab some provisions (beers and food) and do a final sweep of the band merch for the weekend. Then it was time for Superjoint to open up a total can of whup-ass on The Palladium. Easily the most brutal set and pits of the entire weekend by far. Between Phil Anselmo’s between song levity, the amped up playing it was a really fun time. With an excellent blend of hardcore, doom riffs and heaviness, the band was actually tighter and better than they were back in the day to me.
Finally the set changed over for Danzig. As always he had an impressive stage set up and props, with the ominous “Skull Horns” mascot emblazoned on everything. The backdrop and stage were definitely the best of the entire weekend in contrast to the other bands except for maybe Soulfly. The band came out strong with ‘Skin Carver’ and ‘Hammer of The Gods’. Glenn still has a mighty voice live after all these years. The good thing about being an enigmatic artist and not touring all the time is that people are not burned out on seeing you. Even the songs you have heard a million times on record sounded good live. Feeling every note and dramatic beat, the front man flung himself around the stage like a much younger man. While this challenged him to keep his breath and tone steady, he held up well. The set list was also pretty eclectic with three new cover songs from his new Skeletons album (Evilive/Nuclear Blast).
One thing that was a bummer was the much talked about photo policy. As everyone now knows, Danzig hates photographers; professional or otherwise. I saw at least 25 people kicked out of the show by security for taking pics or videos, and that number may have been 3-4 times that number from what I have been told. Although I admit this policy is extreme, Danzig has a point. Everybody put your phone down and watch the goddamn show! Plus there were signs everywhere and it wasn’t exactly a secret since security guys were warning people all night and stopping the from filming.
Overall Danzig’s set was pretty sweet, although some people I talked to after quibbled with the song choices. He did mix it up well with 15 tracks spread across 7 albums. And I might have chosen a different closer than ‘Brand New God’ from Danzig 4P (American), but no matter. If it’s the last time I ever see the guy live, it’s all good to me.
See you next year Rock and Shock!
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PHOTOS BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY
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Once again it’s on at the annual Rock And Shock Festival at Worcester MA this weekend, October 16th, 17th and 18th. The amazing horror convention slash- music concerts is one of the best combo experiences and certainly one of the dominant concert events on the east coast yearly. Bands now route their tours just to align with the festival and this years biggies are Hatebreed, performing a special 20th anniversary show, Danzig’s Blackest of The Black Tour, and the We Sold Our Souls To Metal Tour featuring Soulfly and Soilwork. Ticket information can be found at this link:
Many people come to Rock and Shock just for the horror convention element, one of the best organized and heavily attended of its kind. The collection of talent, vendors, and films premiering on display are enough to satisfy the most discerning gore-obsessed fan. While there is a big presence of major stars and mainstream film coverage, it is the chance to meet (or is it meat?) the biggest names in celluloid axeman-ship and scream queens galore that will keep you coming back. Luminaries of the bloody sliver screen such as Tobin Bell (Saw), industry legend George A. Romero, director Adam Green, Naomi Grossman (American Horror Story), Samantha Mathis (The Strain, American Psycho), William Sanderson (Blade Runner, True Blood), Bill Mosley (The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween) Derek Mears Friday The 13th) Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), and Traci Lords (Blade) are just the tip of the iceberg. Many will be meeting fans, taking pictures and signing autographs most of the weekend. There are costume contests, tattooing, discounted entry for America’s Armed Forces servicemen and women and much more.
Friday night is the a fore mentioned Hatebreed retrospective set. The Palladium is basically a hometown type show every time the band plays there, so expect chaos. Following right behind are Soulfly, Sanctuary, Soilwork, Decapitated, Shattered Sun, and Brick By Brick. They will be joined by a host of local bands on the Upstairs stage.
Saturday is the day of Danzig’s Blackest of the Black tour with Superjoint, Veil of Maya, Prong, Jeremy Saffer’s The Rocking Dead all-star jam (Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein–The Misfits/Doyle, Alex Story–Doyle/Cancerslug, Wednesday 13–Murderdolls, Kyle Castronovo–Wednesday 13, Ace Von Johnson–Faster Pussycat, Taime Downe–Faster Pussycat, Ash Costello–New Years Day, Nikki Misery–New Years Day, Mike D’Antonio–Killswitch Engage, Acey Slade–Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, and Bret Von Dehl–The Relapse Symphony), New Year’s Day, Wednesday 13, and Witch Mountain on the Main stage. Upstairs features Get Scared, Eyes Set To Kill, Doyle, Hatchet, Byzantine, and The Relapse Symphony.
Sunday features horrorcore rappers such as Twiztid, Blaze, Boondox, Prozak, Wolf Pac, Scum, Kissing Candice and many more. There is also an after party performance too.
The orgy of gore, music and horror and just great culture in general collide this weekend in Worcester, MA for the 11th Annual Rock And Shock Festival. The event is always the highlight of the fall concert and horror convention season and is once again using the Worcester Palladium and the DCU Arena and Convention Center as its home base.
The weekend of music kicks off Thursday night with fests pre-party night featuring the triumphant return of King Diamond. Our spies at the few few dates of the King’s first headline tour of America, complete with full stage production, has been just sick! Hand picked openers Jess And the Ancient Ones are sure to be a treat for unsuspecting American audiences.
Friday brings headliners Overkill (stepping in for Machine Head and their tour cancellation). The Kill is always prime live and it will be great to hear some new songs from White Devil Armory (eOne) added to the set of thrash classics. Backing them up is the one-off supergroup The Rocking Dead, hand picked by photographer Jeremy Saffer. Led by Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Alan Robert (Life of Agony), Virus (Dope), Ace Von Johnson (Faster Pussycat) and Kriz DK (Device, Dope) will play a set of covers of The Misfits sure to delight festive fans. Also on the Friday bill are Battlecross, Brick By Brick, Arsis, Jamey Jasta’s namesake solo band, Avatar, Zire’s War and a bunch of great locals.
Saturday might be impossible to top with the GWAR Eternal Tour adding weight to the bill. And by weight we mean Blothar, the new co-frontman of GWAR, along with Vulvatron and the rest of scumdogs searching for their lost leader Oderus Urungus (RIP). Joining them will be a reactivated Life of Agony, fresh off of their recent sold-out comeback show in New Jersey last month. Other bands doing damage to your brains will be Palladium favorites like Unearth, Dying Fetus, Darkest Hour, Decapitated, and Carnifex all on the main stage. The small stage will be full of torturous mosh pits for Origin, Thy Will Be Done, American Shark, Tomorrow Will Fall, Conforza, and Swarm of Eyes.
Sunday has Juggalo protegees Twiztid and a bunch of similar acts if that is your thing. There is a also very cool free entry for Armed Services veterans Sunday too!
The Horror Convention part of Rock and Shock is always a fun time for the entire family (yes, really) full of celebrities, tons of vendors, a Film Festival, guest panels and Q & A sessions, Tattooing, contests and many photo op sessions. In addition to the signings by movie icons, The Rocking Dead people will be doing signings and photos. Not only that but Jamey Jasta will have a booth sponsored by his Hatewear clothing company and will be joined doing a signing with Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, Mike D’Antonio of Killswitch Engage/Death Ray Vision and Skateboard legend/Actor/Black Flag front man Mike Vallely.