Rock Doesn’t Need to Be Saved by Greta Van Fleet

I'll be honest. I'm not a fan of Greta Van Fleet, the trendy young band of the moment who sound more than a little bit like Led Zeppelin. That said, I don't begrudge them their success. The singer does a mean Robert Plant impression, the band can play, and in the greater scheme of things there's plenty of music out there that's worse.

However, I am tired of hearing about how GVF are supposedly “saving” rock n roll. Or even more ludicrous yet, given their retro affectations, that they are the “future” of rock n roll. The implication, of course, is that there aren’t any other new(ish) bands playing genuine honest-to-goodness rock music in the classic mold. 

I call bullshit.

Roky and Roll: A Review of the Roky Erickson show at the Beachland Ballroom March 6, 2010

Sorry I haven't been updating this blog much recently.  The last month has been kind of crazy.  I meant to have this review up sooner, but this is the first time I've really had to sit down and blog in a while.  Anyway, enough with my whining.




This concert was part of the Beachland Ballroom's 10th anniversary weekend, and what better way to celebrate than with a rare live performance by Texas rock legend Roky Erickson?  The show started off with local band Living Stereo, a band that straddles garage rock and eightes power pop.  The songs were catchy and the band was tight, but they just didn't have enough grit for my tastes.


Next up was The Alarm Clocks, a sixties garage rock band from the Cleveland area who have reunited to play the occasional show in the past few years.  I'll be honest, before they started to play I was a bit worried.  I thought to myself that the bass player looked like half the home improvement salesmen I used to work with.  But as soon as these guys started playing, all doubts vanished.  There's a certain attitude any good garage rock band has to have that just can't be faked, and these guys have it.  There sound was sort of a cross between the raw fury of The Sonics and the more sophisticated garage rock of Them.  Very good stuff, and I will definitely be picking up whatever recordings I can find from these guys.

Then it was time for Roky.  If you know Roky's personal history, it's a miracle that he's back on stage playing at all, so I had my expectations set a little low.  And I'm not gonna' lie, there were definitely some rough spots in the show where Roky seemed to get a little lost.  Fortunately he had a good backing band who were able to go with the flow and get things back on track whenever that happened.  Roky stuck mainly to his hard rocking horror-themed material from the eighties.  He opened the set with "Cold Night For Alligators" and continued on with a rousing "Creature With the Atom Brain".    I don't remember the exact order, but Roky and his band went on to play "Don't Shake Me Lucifer", "Night of the Vampire", "Stand for the Fire Demon", "The Wind and More", "The Beast" and "Bloody Hammer".  "Starry Eyes" was the only song representative of Roky's quieter side.  It would have been nice to hear at least one more ballad in the set, but I'm not going to complain.  As expected, Roky also played his best known hit from his days as singer for The 13th Floor Elevators, "You're Gonna' Miss Me".  Considering how many times he must have performed this song, it was kind of surprising when this one went off the rails and almost fell apart.  Luckily the final song of the night, "Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)" came off much better.

All in all it was a pretty damn good show.  Roky's voice has gotten a bit rougher with age, but still sounds pretty good.  As a fan, I was more than happy with the performance.  Here's hoping he comes back again after his new album, True Love Cast Out All Evil, is released in April.

March Music Madness in Cleveland, OH

March is shaping up to be a pretty good month for rock & roll here in Cleveland, at least for me.  There are a number of really good shows coming to town, and there’s no way I can catch them all.  Here’s a rundown of the ones that are tempting me to get out of the house the most.

Jesco White the Dancing Outlaw
Friday March 5^th at Now That’s Class


Jesco does his thing




Pere Ubu
Friday March 5^th at The Beachland Ballroom

The current Ubu line-up doing “Non-Alignment Pact” in 2010





Roky Erickson, The Alarm Clocks, and Living Stereo
Saturday March 6^th at The Beachland Ballroom

Roky at his best performing “Two Headed Dog” in 1980







Kreator, Voi Vod, Nachmystium, Lazarus A.D. and Evile
Wednesday March 10^th at Peabody’s

Super cool classic video for Voi Vod’s “Tribal Convictions”




Super cheesy video for Kreator’s “Hordes of Chaos”





Psychedelic Horseshit with Casual Encounters, Big Bruise, and Kill the Hippies
Wednesday March 17^th at Now That’s Class

Kill the Hippies live at Bela Dubby from earlier this year






The Black Lips
Wednesday March 31 at The Beachland Tavern

Promo video for The Black Lips’ “Oh Katrina”





And I might as well do a little shameless self promotion.

Murdercoaster, The Ethiopian Hillbillys and Gimme Dat Shoe!
Saturday March 20^th at The Five O’Clock

I play guitar and sing in Gimme Dat Shoe!,  We go on at 9pm.  Come out and say hi if you’re in the area.

Hex and Violence

The Hex Dispensers - 'Winchester Mystery House'

Winchester Myster House, the new album from Austin, TX's Hex Dispensers, is 12 songs of kick ass punk rock minus the mach posturing of hardcore, the whininess of emo, and the syrupy sell-out of MTV mall punk.  This bad boy sets its sharp and shiny barbs into your brain and refuses to let go right from the start with “Doomsday Romantic”.  “O-B-I-T” and “It’s Your Funeral, Minion” bury you six feet under, before “Get Your Doppelganger On” digs you up just to insult your fashion sense.  I’d go through and single out every song on here for praise, but I’m running short on clever metaphors.  As far as what this sounds like, The Hex Dispensers combine the punk rock rawness of The Ramones with the weirdness of Devo, with just a touch of sixties garage rock and eighties alternative by way of The Pixies and Sonic Youth.  Think The Spits if they were better musicians and a little more intellectual in their lyric writing.  The whole thing is capped off by a killer cover of Devo’s “Gates of Steel” that gives the song that forgotten gem the hard rocking edge it always cried out for.  I don’t like much of what passes for punk rock these days, but I really love this album. 

Here’s a clip of The Hex Dispensers performing “Doomsday Romantic” and “O-B-I-T” live.  Sound's a bit muddy, but not too bad for what is essentially a bootleg recording:

Back From Black

After the death of vocalist Layne Staley and the passing of 14 years, I never expected to hear a new Alice In Chains album.  When I heard that there was one, I really never expected it to be this good.  But Black Gives Way to Blue is every bit the sludge metal masterpiece that Dirt, the group’s previous high water mark, was.  Like AC/DC with Back In Black, this album takes tragedy and turns it into amazing music.   New co-vocalist/guitarist William DuVall may not be a dead ringer for Staley, but he has a strong voice of his own, and when it blends with guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s voice, the resulting harmonies are unmistakably Alice In Chains.

The album opens with “All Secrets Known”, a powerful declaration of rebirth that addresses the trials the band has been through while looking to the future.  “Check My Brain” hits hard with an ugly but catchy riff and darkly melodic chorus, while “Your Decision” shows the band’s equally compelling acoustic side with Cantrell taking the lead vocal.  In an album full of great songs, the stand-out track is the seven minute epic dirge “A Looking In View”, which effortlessly shows what inferior imitations bands like Godsmack are.  It’s nice to have the real thing back.  If you’re still skeptical, check out the video for “A Looking In View” on Youtube.  Embedding was disabled, so you'll just have to click through to the page.

The Night of the Vampire

Okay, I realize I've slacked off majorly on my attempt to do a new horror related blog every day in October.  What can I say, I just got bogged down with other stuff.  Anyway, tonight I found out that Roky Erickson, one of my all time favorite musicians and horror rockers, was playing a show in Detroit.  This is about the closest this living legend has come to Cleveland in a long ass time.  Had I known, I would gladly have driven, or even walked, to see this show.  Interestingly enough, my brother and my friend Charles (owner of My Mind's Eye Records, best record store in Cleveland) were both going to this show, and neither one thought to mention it to me.  But I digress.




The reason I rate Roky at the top of the horror rock heap is because he sings this shit like he really and truly believes it.  Here he is from 2007 doing one of his classic songs, "Night of the Vampire".  If you're reading this on Facebook, click on the "view original post" link to see the video clip.

A Boy Named Alice

They seem pretty tame by today’s standards, but when Alice Cooper first came out in the early seventies they were considered the kings of shock rock.  You may notice I’m saying “they” and not “he”.  That’s because from 1968 until 1974 Alice Cooper was not just the stage name of vocalist Vincent Furnier, it was the collective name for the band. 

It would be wrong to say that Alice Cooper was a horror rock band, but they certainly had their share of horror rock songs.  And the band’s stage show incorporated various grisly effects like Alice being electrocuted, hung, and decapitated by a guillotine. 

Why these guys haven’t  been nominated for the Rock Hall, let alone inducted, is beyond me.  KISS is actually in the running this year, but whatever their merits as a band, KISS wouldn’t even exist as we know them if it hadn’t been for Alice Cooper’s influence. 

And Alice Cooper wasn't just a cool image and a crazy stage show.  The band’s music still holds up.  Everyone knows the well known hits like “School’s Out” and “Eighteen”, but since this is part of my month long Halloween blog-a-thon, I’m going to share a few of Cooper’s more morbid numbers.  If you’re reading this on Facebook, be sure to click on the “view original post” link to see the clips.

“Ballad of Dwight Frye” This song was on Love it to Death, but I’m not sure what year this performance is from.  Judging by Alice (the singer)’s physical appearance and style of makeup, I’m guessing it’s circa 1973, though.  Alice sings this one wearing a strait jacket.

“Under My Wheels” from 1972.  One of the band’s hits, sort of a love song, but with a weird obsessive edge to it. 

“I Love the Dead” live in 1973.  This song features the decapitation gag, which was designed by magician/skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi.  It looks more convincing that a lot of what you’ll see in horror movies of the time.

And one last one from 1973, “Sick Things”.  Snakes and general weirdness.

Grave Robbing for Jesus

For the past 5 years I sang for Cleveland horror rock band Horror of '59, so this will be the first Halloween weekend in quite a while that I won't be spending in a club playing music.  On the one hand it's kind of nice to be able to relax and just enjoy the holiday, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of miss it.  One of the things I miss the most now that my band is broken up is getting to watch the other cool horror rock bands we shared bills with.

One of my favorite bands that we played with several times (although never on Halloween, strangely enough) is Fort Wayne, Indiana's Grave Robber.  Aside from their excellent songwriting and musicianship, the one thing that stands out about these guys is that they are a Christian band.  The message is there once you know to look for it, but it never comes across as in your face or preachy, which is good for a dyed in the wool heathen like myself.  Check 'em out in this Youtube clip performing the song "Altered States" from their most recent album Inner Sanctum.  If you're reading this on my Facebook page, be sure to click the "view original post" link to see the video.

Bob's favorite music of 2008

I used to look with disdain on those music fans who dismissed new music out of hand, preferring instead to keep listening to the same old bands they grew up listening to when they were teenagers. But looking back at the albums that caught my ear in 2008, I find a sizeable portion of the artists responsible for them have been around for at least a couple of decades. There’s still a few newer bands on here so I guess I can pretend I’m not getting old a little bit longer, but I’m afraid the writing is on the wall. Anyway, here’s my picks for the best rock and/or roll music released in 2008.



10. Judas Priest – ‘Nostradamus’
This 2 disc rock opera is way too long and bombastic for its own good, but if you could cut it down to about 50 minutes you’d have a killer Priest album.



9. Alice Cooper – ‘Along Came A Spider’
I still don’t care for the slick production, but the songs are classic Cooper and the album has kind of grown on me.



8. Tarja Turunen –‘My Winter Storm’
The former Nightwish vocalist’s solo debut is too long and a bit heavy on the slow numbers, and the less said about her cover of Alice Cooper’s “Poison” the better. Still, there’s enough killer tunes on here to keep me coming back.



7. The Drive By Truckers – ‘Brighter Than Creation’s Dark’
This band has been around for a while, but this is the first album of theirs I listened to. Maybe I better do some catching up, because this is some pretty good country rock.



6. The Raconteurs – ‘Consolers of the Lonely’
This may be a new band, but the music would sound right at home on classic rock radio. Hard hitting bluesy rock done right, courtesy of Jack White (The White Stripes), Brendan Benson, and two members of The Greenhornes.



5. TV on the Radio – ‘Dear Science’
After their somewhat disappointing sophomore album, TV on the Radio gets back on track with this collection of experimental yet catchy numbers.



4. Portishead – ‘Third’
They may take forever to make an album, but at least when they do it’s a good one.



3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – ‘Dig Lazarus Dig’
The New Zealand singer/songwriter and his band seem to have been energized by their one-off album as Grinderman. Cave writes some great lyrics to complement the deceptively simple song structures laid down by his band. The result is a top notch album of compellingly gloomy rock.



2. Metallica – ‘Death Magnetic’
These guys recovered from the death of founding member Cliff Burton to reach even greater success with ‘…And Justice For All’ and the self-titled “Black album”. Then they seemed to get lost for about 15 years. ‘Death Magnetic’ marks a welcome return to form, and this video for “All Nightmare Long” is pretty cool in its own right.



1. Volbeat – ‘Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil’
Technically this is a 2007 release, but it didn’t get released in America until 2008. The band has already followed it up with an even better album that is currently available as an import only.

Artificial Serial: Alice Cooper’s Along Came a Spider

In the early seventies Alice Cooper was the name of a band and not just its lead singer. They released a steady stream of hit singles and classic albums, and Alice the singer was certainly a big part of that success. Since going solo, however, Alice's career has been spotty at best. Although a gifted lyricist and front man, he's more performer/personality than musician. This leaves Alice at the mercy of the musicians and producers he’s working with at any given time, a state of affairs that has far too often led to sad attempts to make him sound contemporary.

So what’s the verdict on ‘Along Came a Spider’? Well, “I Know Where You Live”, “Feminine Side”, “I’m Hungry”, “Killed by Love” and “Salvation” are strong tracks that call to mind Alice’s classic seventies sound. Lead off single “Vengeance is Mine”, however, goes for a more modern vibe and features Slash on guitar. Album closer “I Am the Spider” sounds damn near industrial, and doesn’t really feel like it belongs on here, but it’s not a bad song. The rest of the album consists mainly of so-so filler, with only “Wake the Dead” crossing the line to full on crappiness.

Overall, ‘Along Came a Spider’ boasts a pretty strong batch of material, and Alice is backed up by a solid group of musicians. Unfortunately, the (over)production by Greg Hampton & Danny Saber and an overly compressed mix damn near ruins it for me. So I’m left sitting on the fence with this one. I want to recommend it for the songs, easily some of the best Alice has had in years, but the artificial sounding production is so grating to me that I almost can’t get past it. It’s a real shame because this is so close to being the “comeback” album fans of the seventies era Alice have been waiting for.

Here's the video for "Vengeance is Mine".