Blog Archives

Aftershock Preview II - RED FANG

8/7/2015

The Top Band on My Aftershock List: Red Fang (drinks beer)

If there is one band playing at Aftershock this year that I am chomping at the bit to see it has to be Red Fang. This band is simply amazing and plays the type of music that hits me in the sweet spot and just keeps pounding away. Red Fang, from Portland Oregon, is four crazy guys with a combination of musical talent, an indescribable sense of humor and a unique imagination. Take fantastic rock and roll, awesome guitar solos and then perform them to the most entertaining videos in history, and you get an idea of what Red Fang has to offer.

The best way to introduce yourself to Red Fang is through the following video, which I would say is perhaps the most entertaining video ever written.

Let me ask you, what would you do with a $5000 check that included the note; "Hey Guys, Don’t Blow It.” Please tell me you noticed the check came from the Madoff Bank. And 80-gallons of milk? I guess there are a lot of cows in Oregon.

Red Fang has toured and visited Los Angeles a few times in the past couple of years, and every time work gets in the way. I guess my boss wants me to show up coherent the next morning. I sense a conspiracy.
Since their videos are so hysterically funny, here are a couple more for you.

Watching and listening to Red Fang has me thinking about the two best live shows I have seen this year, Crobot and Karma To Burn. Red Fang seems to have put together a combination of the incredible guitarmanship of Karma to Burn with the funky exciting tunes of Crobot to create something that is a whole lot of fun.
Red Fang was formed in 2005 and they have three albums out; Red Fang (2009), Murder the Mountains (2011) and Whales and Leeches (2013). All three are awesome. The quartet is made up of guitarists Bryan Giles and David Sullivan, bassist Aaron Beam and drummer John Sherman.

Red Fang; Four incredibly funny, talented and creative guys makes this band one-of-a-kind.

From their videos they seem to be a close-knit group of friends who have a great deal of fun making music. My sense is that their live shows are equally exciting. They are at the top of my “must see” list at Aftershock. But first, enjoy this:

For those of us who absolutely love this genre of music, Aftershock also has The Sword, which I would consider to be the gold standard of stoner metal music. The Sword has a new album coming out soon, and has released a couple of tunes, which I will cover in the next installment of Aftershock Preview 2015.

Dan Adler was raised in Southern California to a mom and dad, one of whom appreciated Creedence and left wing anti-war politics. By the teenage years, Dan became obsessed with Black Sabbath, listening to the same seven albums repeatedly for 5 years. During this time, his favorite concert experience was seeing Metallica open for a bunch of bands that no longer exist and winning the 1st ever Santa Cruz Air Guitar contest. After several years in Africa listening and dancing to Chimurenga music, Dan returned to have the two best children in the world, one of whom spends a lot of time at concerts with him. What a lucky dad!

0 Comments

Aftershock Preview I - RavenEye

8/3/2015

0 Comments

Blues Metal Band RavenEye; A Band Not to Miss at Aftershock

If you are a rock and roll fan who loves blues guitar, then RavenEye is the Aftershock band for you. Listed as the first band to play on the opening day, RavenEye is a talented blues-metal outfit from from Milton Keynes, England. Led by successful blues guitarist Oli Brown, and including bassist Aaron Spiers and drummer Kev Hickman, RavenEye may be a new band, but they are anything but rookies to the music scene.

One listen to the title track of the new EP “Breaking Out” will show you just how great this band is. This is a band led by a 25 year old guitarist who brings in visions of Stevie Ray Vaughn and Kenny Wayne Shepard. The music is hard and heavy for us metal fans, but everything about it, the deep vocals, the epic guitar solos and the backing bass and drums tells you, this is music from the heart of a bluesman.

RavenEye’s first European tour was in support of another epic guitar god, Joe Satriani, and coming late this summer is RavenEye’s first trip to this side of the pond supporting Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators. Oli Brown belongs in the conversation with the great guitarists of modern music. The 5 song EP is a brilliant display of musical talent. This does not come out of nowhere, however, since there is a long library of incredible blues tunes Oli Brown put together over the past ten years of solo work. It is definitely worth your time to listen to some of this music as it shows just how far RavenEye can go with the talented musicians that make up the band. Watch a few minutes below of the young Oli Brown, and head out to the 2:30 mark "Manic Bloom." This guy is a blues virtuoso who is making his talents accessible to those of us who prefer metal.

If the order of the lineup on the website is representative of the order of the bands performing on Saturday, I can guarantee that I will be in that line early, as I will not want to miss a single chord of this outstanding new band. I only hope their set is long enough to give Oli Brown the opportunity to dazzle us with one of his skilled solos.

Website
Facebook

0 Comments

Aftershock 2015' California's own Rocklahoma

8/2/2015

0 Comments

Aftershock 2015: Less Blistering Heat, More Blistering Rock

California’s own Rocklahoma, Aftershock, is only a couple of months away, and it is a show you do not want to miss. The lineup, as is tradition with Aftershock, is absolutely incredible. With headliners like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Faith No More and Deftones, there is star power extraordinaire. Aftershock is great at bringing in a variety of heavy music, and this year is no exception. For the metalcore fan there is Beartooth, Bring Me The Horizon, and Issues. For the stoner metal fan (myself), we have The Sword and Red Fang. For those of us who love the Seattle Sound and all it has spawned there are Seether and Stone Temple Pilots. And lastly, there is a plethora of outstanding, interesting and entertaining bands from a wide variety of genres, including Coheed and Cambria, Eagles of Death Metal and Hollywood Undead. Add to this list one of my favorite live bands ever, All That Remains, and Aftershock 2015 is going to deliver something just like last year; utter exhaustion that lasts weeks. Oh how I love festivals.

Looking back at last year’s Aftershock Concert, one is left with two overwhelming thoughts: what an unbelievable lineup, and, what an unfathomably hot day. Sacramento in the sun in September can either be a pleasant day with changing leaves and cool evenings, or it can be a furnace bordering on hell. Last year’s incredible heat seems to have spurred promoters to move the concert to a month later. Also, probably because of its popularity, the promoters have moved it out of town to a bigger, seemingly more inviting site. Add camping and an incredible lineup bordering on the unbelievable, and this year’s Aftershock event is set to be the best ever.

Last year’s Aftershock event had headliners like Rise Against, Rob Zombie, Seether, Five Finger Death Punch and other amazing bands and musicians. This year, likewise, is a great line-up. But also wonderful this year is the line-up of new musical groups and musicians. I've been checking them out on youtube, and it is obvious that Aftershock’s organizers put as much work into finding and inviting new musicians as it put into securing another great headlining lineup.

Aftershock 2014 introduced me to a number of great bands, none more spectacular than Dead Sara and Dig the Kid, both bands that have provided many nights of amazing live music in the past year. This year’s opening bands have an amazing amount of promise as well, and starting tomorrow, I will begin to introduce you to musicians you may not have heard of before who will be playing the Aftershock stages.

0 Comments