I can’t think of a better follow-up to my post about Megadeth’s new album, Dystopia, than to talk about my experience watching them live at a recent Boston show. The music and the showmanship were all great, but the highlight of the night was when I got a picture with the band as part of a VIP package they offered. Soon after the release of Dystopia, Megadeth embarked on a North American tour and they also have a lot of shows lined up in Europe and South America. I saw them as part of the North American tour on March 21st, with opening bands Havok, Children of Bodom, and Suicidal Tendencies. This was my 4th time seeing them but because they’re my favorite metal band, there’s always excitement. There’s always an element of joy about the prospect of singing every lyric to every song at the top of my lungs. That’s what you do at your favorite band’s show! I’ve also seen them with a slightly different line-up every time. Now, that’s not always a good thing for a band’s career, but I gotta admit, for me it brought an element of surprise every time and I got to hear a different take from a different drummer or lead guitarist. I bought my ticket pretty much when it first became available for the public but there was one question I had to answer before. Was I going to go for the VIP package again? A lot of bands do this sort of thing with various different features, but a VIP package at a Megadeth concert got you a few signed items, as well as the perk of going into the venue before everybody else. The main draw, however, was the photo opportunity. It didn’t mean you were going to hang out with the band by any means, but the photo op for a fan was still a big deal. I'd met Megadeth at various meet and greets before but I'd never had a picture with the band. I tried the VIP package in December 2013 when the band played the same venue. I got in line, got my picture with the band, enjoyed the show, and started waiting for the photo to be posted online. A day later, I got a call from the company who organized this meet and greet. When the representative introduced herself, I thought they were calling me for a customer satisfaction survey or something like that. Turns out I was being naïve. She was calling me to tell me that there was a problem with the photos taken in Boston and they weren’t showing up on their computers. Basically, she was telling me that I was never going to see the photo that I’d paid good money for. I was pissed. I couldn’t understand how they didn’t know what happened to all those digital pictures when 5 year-old kids these days can fully operate smart phones. Second, their apology was even worse. Instead of refunding all my money, they offered the same photo opportunity if I caught the band on a different show on that same tour, completely ignoring the fact that I still had to pay for my plane ticket and I had to figure out how to take time off from work to make that happen in the first place. After the call, I wrote the company an email and I gave them all of my negative feedback in all of its detail. In the end, I got the full refund that I deserved. But there still was no picture with Megadeth. Fast forward to 2016 – the question was obvious. Would the same disappointment happen again?
After the meet and greet I went into the venue. Since we were admitted early, the place was fairly empty. So you could stand wherever you wanted and grab a good spot before everyone else came. I was originally planning to stand a little far back so I could focus on hearing the band and not be distracted by the mosh pits or crowd surfers. But when I got there I changed my mind. It was Megadeth after all! How could I not watch the show from the front-lines? That’s what I had done at the previous shows, so why not now? I was no stranger to being among hundreds of passionate metal fans, all trying to get a closer look at a band they loved. I wasn’t going to shy away now! And I stood my ground the entire time. I was not affected by mosh pits (there were some). The crowd surfers were annoying and ruined parts of the show for some people. But because I was vigilant (every time I saw the bouncers looking sort of concerned, I looked back, saw a crowd surfer coming, and got ready!) they didn’t bother me all that much either. As far as I’m concerned, it was definitely worth being super close to the stage. One friendly advice to readers who don’t go to metal shows too often. Every show you go, be realistic about the likelihood of mosh pits and crowd surfing, as well as people pushing to get a closer spot. That’s just the way it goes. It's metal, after all. If you don’t want any of that (which is completely okay – I don’t stay towards the front unless it’s Megadeth), then pick your spot accordingly. That way, there will be no surprises and everyone will have a good time. This, by the way, was the first time that I tried ear plugs at a live show. I'm so glad I did! The particular one I bought had a high rating on Amazon, and it really worked wonders. Not only was there no ringing in my ears afterwards, I could actually hear every instrument a lot more clearly. Do your ears a favor and get some ear plugs, especially if you want to be close to the stage. I see more and more people using them and I’m glad I’m now one of them. On to the show... The first band that took the stage was Havok. They are a thrash metal band out of Denver. I knew that Dave’s son, Justis, was managing them but that’s about all I knew. I was completely blown away by their performance – they were really good! Their stuff reminds me of early Overkill and Exodus. But the main reason why I was genuinely impressed was the fact that their stage presence was impeccable. They were running around, they were headbanging, they were smiling while playing… The whole set, they made it feel like Havok had been around for 30 years. That’s how comfortable and confident they were playing their music to a crowd that mostly wasn’t there for them. It’s tough being an opener – but they nailed it! Then came Children of Bodom… I know they’ve been around for a long time and they have a considerable following. Alexi Laiho, guitarist and vocalist of the band, is a remarkable guitar player in his own right. But I’ve just never been able to get into their music. It’s just not my thing. I was curious about their stage performance because sometimes even bands that you don’t normally like can put on a great show. It wasn’t the case here. There was barely any movement from any member of the band. Even Alexi himself didn’t really seem like he was having a good time. For a band of their stature, I was expecting a lot more. After CoB, it was time for Suicidal Tendencies. I’ve known about Suicidal for a very long time. Always liked them, mainly because they are not afraid to try different genres and every album can give you a taste of something different. Most of their setlist was comprised of songs I knew and that made it more enjoyable for me. And talk about stage performance! Mike Muir was on fire! Hard to believe he is 53. He was running around the stage, singing as well as ever. He had a great communication with the audience. He got everybody fired up right before the headliner. In that sense, I think Megadeth chose the perfect band to have on before they hit the stage. It was their last night of the tour (this particular run went on for another two shows without them) so at the very end of the night Dave brought Mike Muir up on stage to thank him for being a part of it. But of course I was there mainly for Megadeth. They hit the stage around 9:30 p.m. and played until a little after 11:00. They opened with Hangar 18, which was surprising to me, I thought they were going to open with ‘The Threat Is Real’ based on some reviews I’d read earlier. They did play 5 Dystopia tunes and I was pleasantly surprised about that. Bands sometimes prefer to play the crowd pleasers that they know will work; but that doesn’t leave too much room for newer material. Megadeth, especially because of frequent line-up changes, did sometimes stick to well-known tunes. But this time, we got 5 new songs! And the incredible crowd reaction to all new releases was the perfect testament to how well-received this album is! I think overall the band sounded the best I have heard them. I’m not saying it because this is the most recent I’ve seen them, but because I saw them reinvigorated and genuinely having a good time. Chris Adler was super enthusiastic the whole time and I love it when a performer is having as good a time playing as you do listening. No offense to Shawn Drover (the previous drummer) but I’ve always thought his stage presence lacked the energy that I’ve come to expect from Megadeth drummers. Adler, on the other hand, fits right in! As for Kiko, from where I stood he was right in front of me most of the show and he kept the crowd energy going the whole time! His playing needs no review, I mean the guy nailed every single solo he played. Whether it was his solos from Dystopia or from a previous Megadeth album, it didn’t matter, he could easily handle it. I like his melodic approach to lead guitar playing and I think his musical background is contributing a lot to Megadeth’s new sound. He and Dave form a great guitarist duo and I’m looking forward to hearing more from them. Dave’s guitar playing was top notch. I paid more attention to his solos because I love some of his lead work as much as I love the rhythm stuff, and his playing didn't miss a beat the entire time! You can say whatever you want about Dave, but you can’t take away his guitar playing ability. When it comes to writing thrash metal songs built around intricate riffs, infused with melody and layered with lots of solos, no one does it better than him. Live shows remind everyone why he is revered as a guitar icon – he is always in control and always having a good time playing the music he created. Dave mostly played his Dean VMNTs but also played a Dean Zero for a while. The guitar that was the most remarkable to me was the silver VMNT. The pictures don’t do it justice. That guitar looked spectacular under all those stage lights! I know he likes silver finishes in guitars (he had a few from Jackson with the same finish as well) and I can see why – they work so well on stage. Tuning the guitars down to D Standard significantly improved Dave’s vocals and he sounded great throughout the entire set. I said this before and I’ll say it again – tuning the guitars one step down was one of the best decisions Megadeth made in the last few years. Vocal ranges can change as you get older, there’s nothing wrong with trying out a different tuning to fit a different vocal style. It works for Dave, it works for Megadeth. I see no issues, really. For the full set list, check the link on Megadeth’s site. I was glad A Tout Le Monde was dropped. Great song, but a little overplayed. I would actually be okay if they dropped Trust, too, for the same reason. They played 5 Rust in Peace songs, with Holy Wars…The Punishment Due being the absolute favorite as the closer. That album, which was originally released in 1990, is still worshipped by all metal fans! She-Wolf, from the Cryptic Writings album, made a comeback and that song just works better live than it does on the album. It just becomes something bigger on a live setting. 5 Dystopia songs, as I mentioned earlier, also went over really well with the crowd. And of course we all sang every lyric to other favorites like Wake Up Dead, Peace Sells, Sweating Bullets and Symphony of Destruction … I mean, how can you not? These have become classics for a reason! All in all, if you have a chance to see them during this tour, do yourself a favor and do it. The band is having a great time, and so will you (“You’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth”, as Mustaine would say). The band is back on playing heavier songs, their stage presence has been re-energized with two new amazing additions to the line-up, and their newest album is universally acclaimed as one of their best work. I know I’m already looking forward to seeing them for the 5th time. Additional Reading & Information
http://www.megadeth.com/event/2016-03-21 http://havokband.com/ http://www.cobhc.com/site/ http://www.suicidaltendencies.com/ It’s been a crazy past two years for Megadeth but, as Loudwire called them, they are indeed resilient. For a while, it was hard to tell what was going to happen. No one knew if Megadeth was going to be able to release a new record that satisfied the majority of the fans’ expectations. But here we are. We now have the band’s 15th studio record, Dystopia, which in my view is the band’s best effort in the last decade. In 2013, the band released Super Collider that divided the fans as some did not like the direction the band had taken. I would still categorize the album as a whole as “metal” but the tempos were a little slower. The majority of the songs did not have the complex riffs, trading solos, and intricate drumming that fans usually expect from Megadeth. In that aspect, some considered it as another Risk (1999) type album. To be fair, I like Super Collider for what it is because I like it when bands take risks and try something different. Having said that, I definitely see where all those people are coming from. Reading the reviews in 2013, it was easy to see that a considerable amount of fans was disappointed. Everybody was yearning for a more traditional Megadeth album that fired on all cylinders! It turned out that the songwriting and recording had to wait. By the time they were ready to write new songs, Dave Mustaine had already gone through quite a lot. His mother-in-law had been battling Alzheimer’s disease and, in November of 2014, went missing near a campground in California. Unfortunately, when the search teams later found her about a month and a half later, she had passed away. This was of course devastating to not just Dave, but to his entire family. When this was happening, he was also in the middle of moving to Nashville to support his daughter’s country music career. But first, he had to support his family during this tragedy. The priority, naturally, had to shift. To add another complication into the mix, Shawn Drover (drums) and Chris Broderick (guitars) quit the band right around this time. I wrote about their departure in more detail on my first post. There was rampant speculation about the reasons but two main topics always show up in interviews: musical differences, and rumors about a Rust-in-Peace era reunion. The musical difference part is fairly evident as Megadeth is Dave’s band and ultimately, he makes the final decision on the music. And as we now know from Chris and Shawn’s new band, Act of Defiance, their music is completely different. As for the RIP-era reunion, it’s well publicized that the band tried that. They even jammed with Nick Menza for a while. But it fell through for obvious reasons – financial disagreement & creative differences. But Mustaine claims that even before Broderick and Drover had quit, the band's management at the time was already pushing for this reunion. It was another reason why those two felt unwanted and ultimately quit. No matter how you looked at it, the circumstances were not too good for the band right before they were supposed to record a new album. Two members left, the reunion idea didn’t pan out, and there is still an album to be done. Now what? Mustaine found the two players he needed after evaluating a few candidates. Chris Adler took over drums and Kiko Loureiro joined in on guitars. Adler is well known as the drummer of the successful metal band Lamb of God and he’s always been vocal about his love for Megadeth. Kiko, on the other hand, was a new name to me even though he’s actually well known in international metal circles as a member of the Brazilian power metal band Angra. Kiko was announced as a permanent member of Megadeth, but Adler was announced only as a session drummer to complete the album, because of his involvement in Lamb of God. The band said they were going to try to work it out with Lamb of God so he could do as many of the shows in the upcoming tour as he could. As of now, Adler has already played with Megadeth a few times and is scheduled to do most of the 2016 tour.
It's always divisive when Megadeth announces new members, but I was thrilled about Kiko and Chris even before hearing anything from the album. I thought Chris Adler was the drummer that Megadeth needed to re-introduce some exciting drumming into the band’s sound. And as for Kiko, upon listening to a few Angra records and pretty much becoming obsessed with his solo album “Sounds of Innocence”, I was already convinced we had a truly remarkable new lead guitarist. His style wasn’t just focused on showing off difficult techniques on the guitar, but on adding elements of unique melodies that made the solos memorable. In that regard, many fans were comparing him to Marty Friedman because both players are known for having such distinctive styles and making their playing about the melody, not about how “difficult” their solos are. After this long journey, we arrive to today. The new Megadeth album... Let's talk about DYSTOPIA. From a production standpoint, this is the band’s best sounding album since Countdown to Extinction. The instruments blend well together and the whole album somehow retains a “live” feeling even though the sound is polished enough. The guitars are aggressive, with great rhythm and lead tones, making the guitar-work truly shine! The best part of this album’s sound, however, is the drums! My biggest beef with the past few albums was with drums as they usually sounded either too digital for my taste or the snare didn’t have the attack you’d expect from a thrash oriented album. Dystopia has drums that sound polished, and sound high in the mix – but retain the natural sound. It highlights Chris Adler's drumming perfectly. The guitars are once again tuned one step down to D Standard. It fits Dave’s new vocal range better and he sounds really good on this album. People complained after Super Collider saying the guitars weren’t heavy because they were in D Standard but that had nothing to do with it. It’s about how you set your tone, not necessarily about your tuning! Dystopia is perfect proof of that. I hope Megadeth keeps using D live and in the studio. The album opens with “The Threat Is Real”, which sets the tone for the album right from the start. The song is as aggressive as it gets and I particularly love Dave’s vocals on this one! It’s hard to pick a favorite from this album but Threat… would be in the top 3 for sure. Great vocals, great guitar work, aggressive drumming, and superb solos! This is the Megadeth I love the most, because no one does it better than they do! “Dystopia” then shows the more melodic side of the band at the beginning, with really beautiful lead work from Kiko. The band goes into a heavier, groovier mode towards the end with some intricate drumming from Chris Adler. “Fatal Illusion” was the first song the band released as a teaser, and it still sounds as awesome as it did the first time! Some find the intro too long but I don’t, I like the build-up, and we get to hear an awesome bass lick from David Ellefson before the band goes into a thrash song with the complex riffing that we’ve come to expect from Mustaine. “It's a fatal illusion to think that evil ever dies” says the band as they finish the song with riffing and drumming that remind me of the Peace Sells era. Other highlights from the album are the instrumental “Conquer or Die!”, with a melodic acoustic intro from Kiko before Dave showcases his rhythm skills with a riff that grabs your attention right away, and Kiko launching into a long solo to take us through the rest of the song. “Lying In State” comes right after the instrumental (Mustaine said he’d originally thought of these two as one song) and it’s one of those straight-up thrash metal songs that’s aggressive, fast, and just never stops until the song is over. “Post American World” shows Dave pondering the question of “what will we look like in a post-American world?”. It’s a great song that brings together some mid-tempo heavy metal through most of the song until the band kicks into high gear with trading solos between Dave and Kiko. “Bullet to the Brain” is probably one of my favorites on the album, it starts with an unusual, eerie riffing that goes excellently with the lyrics, and then gets into a heavier groove with the chorus. I love the singing during the chorus part too! The whole song just makes me want to hear more of the melodies – it’s a modern metal side of Megadeth, something a little different than the other songs and I think they executed that greatly. I also want to give a mention to “Last Dying Wish” – one of the bonus tracks – because it features one of the best riffs Dave has ever written, a super catchy, intricate, groovy riff at the 1:48 mark and it is the prime example of why Dave has the reputation of being one of the greatest riff writers of this genre. The other tracks are also very well executed and all of them offer something unique and interesting. I only mentioned some of the tracks to highlight the common themes and the musical direction but you can't go wrong with any of them if you are a fan of the riff-oriented, heavier Megadeth. The focus on this album was definitely not radio success, it was all about putting together the best possible album. The funny thing is, this album actually did excellent with chart success because the album came #3 in the Billboard 200 chart, their highest since Countdown to Extinction in 1992, and topped most of the rock and metal charts around the world. When you think about the fact that this is a metal band that's been around for 33 years, it’s a remarkable achievement. Some didn’t like Mustaine’s lyrics, especially the politically charged ones, but I think all songs are well written on Dystopia. All themes they chose to explore fit the aggressive music perfectly. The overall vibe is gloomy - as the album title and artwork would suggest - but that's nothing new to Megadeth. Their 1986 album Peace Sells But Who's Buying?! shows the United Nations building blown to pieces. The beloved 1990 album Rust In Peace dealt with dark themes as well, with the title track talking about a nuclear warhead called Polaris. 2004's The System Has Failed showed politicians getting in line in front of the Supreme Court building and buying a "not guilty" verdict from Vic Rattlehead. There are a ton of examples - but the point is, this band is known to explore these themes. The Threat Is Real got the majority of the criticism because it deals with modern terrorism, the recent atrocities, and how countries are trying to deal with the aftermath. What some reviewers carefully ignored is that, as a musician, if you choose to talk about this, it doesn’t mean you’re against refugees, or you hate a certain group of people. It just means that you’re shining a light on what goes on in the world. All rock bands are known to do that. Especially with Megadeth, it is well known that a lot of times, the lyrics are tongue in cheek to make a point. To provoke thought. Not everything is meant literally. The Quietus described it best (and I fully agree) – “Megadeth are at their best when Mustaine is antagonized and disgusted by socio-political issues, and his lyrical commentary on 'The Threat Is Real' - which surely deals with modern day terrorism - adds a suitable dimension of reality in light of recent atrocities. Mustaine may be conservative in his political stance but his lyrics appear to come moreso from the view of a concerned humanitarian…” It would also be unfair to say that it's all about politics on the album. There's actually a good spread. There are a few songs that deal with politics, as outlined above. But there's also personal lyrics (Look Who’s Talking, The Emperor, Me Hate You), a few that tell interesting fictional stories within the song (Fatal Illusion, Death from Within, Bullet to the Brain), one that asks the listener to ponder on a hypothetical question (Post American Word) and one that is more emotional and deal with a person’s past haunting them (Poisonous Shadows). I think most songs are well written, and I find them more engaging than those in the past few releases. The album definitely has something for everybody to check out. As I mentioned earlier, Loudwire magazine described Megadeth as "resilient". I agree. No matter what you may think of them, the fact is that Megadeth is still relevant in the metal arena after 33 years. And with Dystopia, they've delivered one of their strongest albums to date. It is the aggressive sounding album with impressive guitar work, changing tempos, trading solos, intricate drumming, and passionate singing most fans have been waiting for. No ambiguity or hardship could stop this band. No internet troll could distract them from getting their work done. They're Megadeth. They take no prisoners! Sources and Additional Reading:
- Metal Hammer, Issue 280, February 2016 - http://thequietus.com/articles/19605-megadeth-dystopia-review - http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/dave-mustaine-on-new-megadeth-lp-and-rust-in-peace-reunion-that-wasnt-20150514 - http://loudwire.com/megadeth-dystopia-album-review/?trackback=fbshare_top_flat_4 - http://insider.ticketmaster.com/megadeth-dave-mustaine-interview/ - https://uknightedblog.wordpress.com/album-reviews/megadeth-dystopia-2016-review/ When you hear of a “metal” or “rock” blog, just like mine, you probably don’t expect to see Lady Gaga’s name in one of the posts. After all, Gaga is known for her hugely successful pop music career, and most of her songs sound nothing like the heavier music that is featured on blogs or sites like this. Having said that, I find her extremely talented but more interestingly, I’ve come across a lot of interviews and pictures of hers that suggest that she actually is a genuine fan of heavy metal and hard rock. I want to highlight her love and open-mindedness for heavy metal for two reasons; 1) Lady Gaga, one of the biggest performing artists of the last 10 years, prefers to be known “as the next Iron Maiden” as opposed to “the next Madonna” and that speaks volumes about the kind of respect she has for metal and its fans, and 2) people who have a ridiculous negative bias against metal but accept pop music as “fine” need to see that even their biggest pop idols appreciate it and they should keep an open mind too. I remember hearing “Poker Face” when it was getting super popular. Must have been around the time the album came out. It was hard to avoid it because it was playing everywhere. And it was so catchy! But for the longest time I didn't know who sang it. When the song became so popular that it was featured on practically every TV show, then I had to do some research and find out. The name was Lady Gaga. A stage name, obviously, but it was hard to forget. And it sounded strange to some; but I noticed something that, from the beginning, signaled she and I may have something in common: being fans of the rock band Queen. The word gaga officially means “overexcited or irrational”, like “driving someone gaga” but honestly, that was nowhere near what popped into my head. It was the Queen song “Radio Gaga”; a Roger Taylor penned tune released as one of the singles from “The Works” album in 1984. Now, as far as I'm concerned, Queen is the best rock band that ever existed. I’ve been a huge fan of theirs since I was 10. So you can imagine how intrigued I got when I heard the name Lady Gaga. I wanted to know if this was indeed a reference to the Queen song or if there was a completely different reason to this stage name. Turns out this stage name, as is well known by this point, is indeed influenced by the popular Queen song. Rob Fusari, the producer/songwriter who worked on Gaga’s first couple of albums, noted that it first started as a joke. During the early stages of her career, before she had released any material, Lady Gaga (then going by her real name, Stefani) played a song in the studio that, according to Fusari, was “like this super-Beatles/Queen theatrical ballad”, and he said to her “God, you’re so Gaga” and the name kind of stuck as it became a running joke. Fusari would start singing the Queen song every day when Stefani walked into the studio. The “Lady” part of the name came a little later. Fusari notes that it happened because of a text glitch when he typed “Radio Gaga” (most likely as part of this running joke they had between them) and autocorrect changed the word “Radio” to “Lady”. The timing of this incident could not have been more perfect because Stefani Germanotta was searching for a stage name. It sounded exactly like what she was looking for. She texted back “That’s it.” Fusari says after that day, she was Lady Gaga. I personally didn’t pay too much attention to Lady Gaga’s music at first. Of course I knew “Poker Face” and I knew that she was a genuine Queen fan; but those were not enough to generate an interest to actively follow her career. Then I came across a YouTube video. I don’t remember when I saw it for the first time; it must have been late 2009 or early 2010. The clip was posted on a heavy metal forum I frequently visited. I took notice because I knew those forums really well and I knew how unusual it was to see a topic about a pop artist. The topic creator highly praised the video he posted, and urged fellow metal-heads to keep an open mind. It showed Lady Gaga performing an acoustic version of her hit song “Paparazzi” at a radio show. She was playing the keyboards and singing the song. There was nobody else singing or playing. There was no playback. It was just her bare voice and her playing. I will be honest, I was absolutely shocked. This version of the song sounded incredibly amazing to me. I loved the fact that the video highlighted her voice – much more so than the original version – and put it at the center of the performance. Not many pop artists can pull off this kind of thing. But there she was; giving the listeners another taste of her talent and how much more she was capable of doing than what appeared on her album. Now I was interested in discovering more about her and her music. At the first chance I got, I bought “The Fame” and a little later “The Fame Monster”. For full disclosure I must admit that the style explored in these albums is not really my cup of tea so I can’t say that I was blown away by the music. However, I did get a much better sense of why Gaga was so different than other pop singers and I have been following her new releases ever since. First of all, Gaga wasn’t just a singer, she was a composer, an instrument player, an arranger and a producer. She did collaborate with other people on most of these things, most notably with Rob Fusari, but she definitely was a major part of the creative force that generated these songs. I don’t think that’s common in the pop music world and right off the bat I had a lot of respect for Gaga for that. The second thing you noticed was the diversity in the songs. I think both “The Fame” and “The Fame Monster” have a lot of elements of electronic music; but there were also songs that highlighted acoustic instruments or saw Gaga singing in a different style. Of course she's now super popular and is able to take more musical risks, so she’s explored a lot more new genres and ideas since then. But even before all that, even with her first two records, there definitely were hints of what was to come. Lady Gaga's musical style has been covered a million times so I won't go into more detail on that. What is much less publicized is the fact that she knows her shit when it comes to rock & metal and she is a genuine fan. A lot of pop stars cite Queen or some other rock band as an influence; and to be fair, perhaps those bands are influences to them in a certain way, but it's really difficult to see it, either in their musical styles or in the creative choices they make. Gaga, on the other hand, means business and it's becoming more apparent as she gets more vocal about her love of heavy metal. The first action I saw from her that showed she meant what she said when she cited Queen as one of her favorites, was getting Brian May to play guitar on one of her tracks called "Yoü and I" from her album "Born This Way". The collaboration didn't stop there. The pair also performed the song together at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards as Gaga, or in this particular case her alter-ego Jo Calderone, was showing her influences beyond the pop music spectrum to the whole world by playing with a rock guitarist. After this performance there would be rumors flying around that Gaga would front Queen on a tour. Brian May even confirmed that Gaga's name was talked about when they were discussing singers for an upcoming tour. That never happened (Adam Lambert eventually became the singer), but the fact that her name was considered by Queen was a big deal in and of itself. It’s great that she’s a genuine fan of Queen; but Queen was so unique and covered such a wide array of genres that it’s hard to conclude that somebody might be a fan other hard rock or heavy metal bands. So imagine my surprise when I read that Lady Gaga was not only a fan of Iron Maiden; but she actually volunteered to be a roadie for their Tampa, Florida show in 2011. According to some sources who were there, she did this for no pay and she actually did do roadie work and didn’t use her pop star status to try to get backstage access. Even back in 2011 there were signs that she loved Iron Maiden and this kind of appreciation, dedication, and love for Iron Maiden was unheard of from a pop singer. Needless to say, I was super impressed. The metal sites started to talk about Gaga more now. There were pictures of her with Bruce Dickinson and Nicko McBrain after the Tampa show. The prize after a full day of roadie work? Hanging out with her favorite metal band! Since then, Lady Gaga hung out with rock legends like Alice Cooper and Rob Halford, invited Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and his daughter backstage and got a picture with them, declared her love for New-Wave-of-Brisith-Heavy-Metal legends Saxon and had her picture taken with the band’s frontman Biff Byford, declared her favorite metal song as “Black Sabbath” from Black Sabbath and had her picture taken with Ozzy Osbourne, and was photographed many times wearing a metal band’s t-shirt. But for me and for a lot of other heavy metal fans, the boldest declaration from her came when, in August of 2015, she said that she was "the next Iron Maiden". This may sound like not that big of a deal; but when you consider the fact that she is a major pop star and Iron Maiden probably is not that well known by most of her fans, it is a big deal! Unlike some other pop artists who occasionally wear a metal band's t-shirt only to look cool, she actually has a passion for the genre. There is no question about it, she is a genuine fan of metal - especially Iron Maiden!
Why did I list all of these connections and all these quotes? It is not to suggest that hard rock or heavy metal is the “best” genre, nor is it any kind of statement that claims one’s artistic worth is determined by one’s love for metal. No, that’s not where I am going with this. I want to highlight a mega pop-star’s love for heavy metal because that’s not what you usually read about her, but it's worth noting. A lot of people assume that metal cannot be mainstream; yet mainstream artists are big fans of it. I’m sure she’s not the only one either – she’s most likely just the most vocal. After all, saying you’d like to be known as the “next Iron Maiden” is not exactly the kind of thing that’d make you a “sweetheart” in the hearts of teenagers and parents alike. But this is Lady Gaga. She’s never really cared about being that “sweetheart” anyway; she never fit into a certain pop star image from the beginning. That has likely made it easier for her to be more vocal about all of her musical influences, compared to some other mainstream pop artists. But above all else, I think the real reason she is so different than other pop artists is because she gets the passion that metal listeners have towards the bands of which they are fans – because she, too, is a fan! Lady Gaga has been busy with her acting lately - but I have read recently that she has started working on her new album. She'll likely have some guests and I know Elton John has confirmed that he will contribute in some capacity to the album. I like it when she takes risks and tries new things. The album she did with Tony Bennett (Cheek to Cheek) is simply amazing and shines yet another light on how diverse her singing style is. Who knows what else she'll do in the future? My wish? It's the same as Alice Cooper's: "Now, if I was her, I would make a really hard rock record right now." Sources and Additional Reading:
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/lady-gaga-im-the-next-iron-maiden/ http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/lady-gaga-turns-roadie-for-iron-123811 http://gagadaily.com/story/news/lady-gaga-alice-cooper/ http://www.guitarworld.com/video-queen-guitarist-brian-may-performs-lady-gaga-mtv-video-music-awards http://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-cooper-explains-his-admiration-for-lady-gaga/ http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2010/01/lady_gaga_her_outrageous_perso.html http://www.contactmusic.com/lady-gaga http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6851032/elton-john-lady-gaga-new-music
To be perfectly honest, I’ve never considered myself the biggest fan of Slayer. I’ve always known of their music because I discovered them at the same time I discovered all the other so-called “Big Four” bands (Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax) – and as much as I’ve always loved certain songs from the band and appreciated their live performances, they’ve always been my least favorite out of the Big Four. Especially upon hearing “Diabolus in Musica” years ago, I remember thinking their style was really not my cup of tea and I lost interest in Slayer for a few years after that. What got me interested in them again was “Christ Illusion” from 2006. I still think it’s a solid album and I have been actively following their new releases ever since. I was particularly interested in writing about Slayer at this time because we now have their newest album – Repentless – and I think it’s their best work in a long time. It’s all the more amazing to me since it came at a point where the band was forced to go through major changes and question whether they would continue or not.
Slayer, for the most part, had a pretty consistent line-up over the years, except for drummers. You had Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on guitars, Tom Araya on bass and vocals, and the drummer was either Dave Lombardo (who’s the better known drummer in the band) or Paul Bostaph. This, of course, is taking only studio albums into account as the band had other drummers like Jon Dette who helped them on some live shows. It’s an impressive stat considering the fact that metal bands go through a lot more line-up changes than that! This consistency was immensely helpful as the band was able to develop a certain sound that they became known for over the years while establishing themselves as a killer live band. After “World Painted Blood” was released in 2009, things seemed as good as they always had been for the Slayer camp. They were never going to be a huge commercial success like Metallica - few metal bands can - but they had a considerable following and were drawing big crowds anytime and anywhere they played.
In 2011 news broke out that Jeff Hanneman, a co-founder and a major contributor to songwriting in the band, was going to miss out on the upcoming tours because he had contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria, as a result of a spider bite. He was in a bathtub at a friend's house when it happened. He went to the hospital a few days later and it was as serious as it looked. When Kerry King was on Chris Jericho’s podcast, he mentioned that it was so bad that “it didn’t look like an arm” to him when Jeff sent some pictures. Hanneman’s doctor said “first I’m gonna try to save your life, then I’m gonna try to save your arm, then I’m gonna try to save your career”. That’s how bad the situation was.
When this happened, Slayer was about to go to Australia to play a few shows. They were also committed to almost an entire year’s worth of touring all around the world after that. They didn’t know when, if at all, Jeff would be able to come back. So if they didn't want to cancel any performances, they were going to need a replacement for all 2011 dates. It’s important to remember that the ambiguity surrounding Jeff’s situation wasn’t the only reason they felt like they had to find a way to fulfill their contractual obligations. Tom Araya, in 2009 and 2010, had severe back problems to the point that he had to go through operations; and a lot of shows had to be cancelled because of that. To have to cancel a whole bunch of shows all over again, one tour after another, would have put the band in a very difficult position with promoters and fans – not to mention, it would have cost them a lot of potential income as metal bands make most of their money from touring.
For Slayer, only one name came to mind: Gary Holt. Gary has known the guys in Slayer for a very long time as he is from the same generation of musicians who started the early thrash metal movement in the '80s. Since then, he has been the guitarist and main songwriter of Exodus, a legendary metal band in its own right. He is indeed super talented and has the respect of pretty much every metal guitarist you can name out there. Kerry King said he believed that Gary was not getting the recognition he deserved because he wasn’t in a “popular enough band” but that he was an “innovator” just like Glenn Tipton (one of King’s heroes). It turns out King had called Holt before, in 2010, just to ask “if I ever do anything, would you be into it?” when there wasn’t even any music or live shows to talk about. Holt said yes. In 2011, right before the tour in Australia, King called him again, this time to ask him if he would want to join Slayer for the 2011 tour – and Holt said yes to that too. That’s how it all started. 4 years later, Holt is still touring with Slayer and remains an active member of Exodus as well.
Another major development in the Slayer camp happened in February 2013 when Dave Lombardo, long-time drummer of the band who had come back to Slayer in 2001 after quitting in 1992, revealed that he was not joining the band on their Australian tour. He posted a message on his Facebook page that basically pointed to a huge financial disagreement over the distribution of tour income. He said he was hopeful that the issue could be resolved; but that never happened because the rest of the band saw the issue differently. Tom Araya said in a later interview that Lombardo had been given a contract that would have worked for everybody but he refused to sign it. When Slayer decided to fire Dave Lombardo over the financial disagreement, they were about to go to Australia for another tour and according to Kerry they only had 8 days to find a replacement. What was more challenging is that they needed somebody who also already had an Australian visa as there was not enough time to start a new application. Luckily they found Jon Dette; he was filling in for Charlie Benante in Anthrax on the same festival and he had already briefly played with Slayer in the ‘90s so it all worked out. After the festival, Paul Bostaph, who had played in the band for most of the ‘90s up until he quit in 2001, came back into the band as a permanent replacement and he still remains as an active member.
Slayer had already had to deal with a lot of changes and hardship by early 2013 but everyone always expected Jeff to come back. There were positive signs here and there too. In April 2011 Hanneman joined Slayer on stage for two songs during the “Big Four” show in Indio, California. And in 2012, even though he still sat out the tours in that year, the band announced that Jeff had been in rehab doing exercises to regain strength in his arm and that he had been playing guitar. So as far as the fans were concerned, we were getting positive news – at least positive enough to suggest that it was only a matter of time before Jeff came back into the band he had co-founded. Unfortunately that never happened. News came on May 2nd 2013 that Hanneman had passed away due to liver failure, at 49 years of age.
I remember being super shocked – especially after having read all the positive indications in the press. I was also confused about the “liver failure” cited in the news articles. I knew Jeff was recovering from all the skin grafts he had to go through and he was trying to regain muscle memory; but what did all of this have to do with his liver? Fans found out later that his death, while in a way triggered by the flesh eating bacteria, did not have all that much to do with it. The official cause of death was revealed a few days later as “alcohol-related cirrhosis”. That, to me, was another surprise; but it turned out that the band and those close to him were kind of aware of what was happening. They knew that things were not really okay with Jeff.
Later interviews with bandmates showed the darker side of the picture. Drinking was always a part of Jeff’s life and it got worse as time went on. Kerry King noted in a Guitar World interview that while they both drank (referring to the two of them as “Drunk Brothers”), he didn’t need a beer as the first thing in the morning; but Jeff “didn’t know how not to drink.” His wife Kathryn, who married Jeff in 1989 and was always there with him until the day he died, said that she would voice her concerns and Jeff would scale back on the drinking for a while; but then would go right back to it. At some point, she said she noticed “that Jeff was relying on alcohol to start off his day” and even though she tried to help him she said she couldn’t because “he just relied on it too much to get him through the day.” Things got particularly worse when Jeff’s father, with whom he was very close, passed away in 2008. In the same Guitar World interview, Kathryn says “that was the hardest thing he ever had to face in his entire life.” And after 2011 when he had to sit out multiple Slayer tours with no real prospect of getting back to playing, he was struggling both physically and emotionally. No one could convince him to go to more rehab or therapy. He wanted to do this on his own terms; but not being able to play with the band, not being able to play guitar as well as he used to, and having to deal with the pain of recovering from that awful disease all took a toll on him. Combining all of these with dependence on alcohol brought the final decline. Tom Araya and Kerry King have both also suggested that they tried to help, but they weren’t able to. They knew what was happening; and they knew the kind of bad news they would someday receive. They just didn’t know when.
On Jeff's father's passing in 2008:
"That's when things really started to go downhill for him. It was probably the hardest thing he ever had to face in his entire life. When I met Jeff he didn't have all that great of a relationship with his father. But as time went on, they became very close. So that took a toll on him. He was never quite the same after that. I just don't think he cared anymore." -Kathryn Hanneman, August 2013- Read the full article here.
After Hanneman’s death, there naturally was a big uncertainty in regards to the band’s future. Kerry King openly said that he had intended to continue. He’d already written a whole bunch of songs before Jeff passed away since he wasn’t sure if Jeff would ever be back in the band. If they ever decided to go back into the studio, King wanted to be ready with new ideas. Tom Araya, on the other hand, was hesitant about it. He thought it would be “like starting over” and, considering how much Jeff had contributed to Slayer, wasn’t sure “the fans would be accepting” if the band were to continue. Araya later also said that part of his hesitancy was due to the fact that he and Jeff had good chemistry writing songs together, but he hadn't done much of that with King. If you look at Slayer’s discography, you will see a lot of songs with Hanneman and Araya sharing the songwriting credits. He just wasn’t sure how it was going to work out with Kerry because his main songwriting partner was not going to be there. If Slayer was going to continue, Kerry would have to be open to Tom’s ideas.
In the end, all of these discussions ended in agreement. They worked it out and Slayer released “Repentless”, their twelfth studio album, on September 11th 2015.
The album contained many firsts – first without Jeff Hanneman, and first, in almost 15 years, without Dave Lombardo. But it also was the first without the backing of Rick Rubin’s American Recordings (formerly known as Def American) since “Reign In Blood" was released in 1986. The band was not happy with the lack of responses from Rubin leading up to the recording of the album, so they went with a popular label from Europe that is home to many metal artists: Nuclear Blast. The band also intended to work with producer Greg Fidelman, who worked on “World Painted Blood”, but according to Araya, Rubin took him to work on other projects, possibly on what will become Metallica’s next record. The band was not pleased at all. But I think it led to a collaboration much more suited for Slayer’s sound as Terry Date, whom I knew from the Pantera albums he had produced, ended up getting the job. I think Terry made a big difference! The overall production of this album is pretty awesome – that was the very first thing I noticed when I listened to it. The guitars sound much more aggressive and they are a little louder in the mix, while the drums retain a natural sound so it gives it almost a "live" vibe. Seriously, the moment the album kicks in, you can tell that you'll be hearing something very different compared to the last few albums.
Of course it’s not just the sound that makes me think this album is definitely worth a listen. I think the songwriting is really good too. The reality of the situation is that if you’ve never liked Slayer, not even their most popular albums from the ‘80s, I can’t see you enjoying this one either. But if you liked Slayer at some point, and then stopped paying attention because you didn’t like the direction the band took in the ‘90s or later, then I would highly recommend checking this one out. It is unmistakably Slayer and I think the songwriting offers a lot more variety than before – variety in Slayer terms of course, don’t expect a blues song in the middle! There’s unapologetically fast songs like the title track, slower songs that showcase the groovier side of the band, there’s some with a punk vibe in certain songs and lots of guitar solos. On the topic of solos – I think one of the reasons why Slayer has never become a big favorite of mine over the years is that I’ve never really liked the soloing in the band. On this album, Gary Holt, who didn’t contribute to songwriting but did play leads, brought a fresh approach to soloing for the band which I really loved hearing.
There is one song on the album written by Jeff Hanneman called “Piano Wire”. It was intended for the “World Painted Blood” sessions in 2009 but didn’t make it to the album. The band liked the song a lot so they re-recorded it. Unfortunately Jeff doesn’t play on the song – Kerry King has been playing all rhythm guitar tracks in the studio since the ‘90s and because the album was recorded after Jeff’s passing he wasn’t able to play any solos either. But it’s still great to know that you get to see Hanneman credited for a song on the new Slayer album! King confirmed there is one more song that Jeff had started but they didn’t have time to add it to this one so hopefully we’ll hear at least one more from Jeff.
Reading all these online reviews on other sites, I can easily tell that opinions are hugely divided on this album. Some love it, some say it’s boring. It is to be expected with any metal release, so I’m not surprised. It’s all a matter of taste, right? But no matter what you may think of the album, I think you’ve got to appreciate what the band was able to do given the circumstances of the last few years. They almost broke up; but instead came back with arguably one of their best work and they are still touring around the world, playing new material as well as the classics. Of course, some people just think that Slayer should have broken up because Jeff and Dave are not there. I totally understand where they come from; but I think it’s a little unfair. Kerry King and Tom Araya are also founding members and they wanted to keep going. King was determined to continue all along. It took Tom some time to come around; but eventually he and Kerry saw eye to eye and made the decision. That doesn’t mean Jeff’s memory is gone. Also think about the prospect of their careers. If Kerry and Tom had broken the band up and tried solo albums or other collaborations, that never would have sold a lot of copies and never would have been enough to go on successful tours – whether you like it or not, Slayer is a brand name in the world of heavy metal and these people have to make a living, just like you and I. That does not make them greedy. It’s easy to say “break up the band” because we as fans tend to get a little carried away when it’s about our favorite bands - but in Slayer's case, I understand why they wanted to continue and I wish them nothing but good luck.
Kerry usually gets the “blame” on most decisions these days. I know sometimes he comes across as extremely arrogant because he has a super chilled attitude in general (watch any interview) and he is a very blunt man. These make him look like he doesn't care about anything or anyone; but if you look at what he is saying, you know that's not the case. You definitely don't have to agree with the moves he's making, or like his music for that matter, but it is unfair when people call him names or accuse him of not caring about his band-mate of almost 30 years just because he didn't react to certain situations the way they expected or spoke candidly on his relationship with other people. I have read tons of interviews where people from the metal community said Kerry King was actually one of the nicest people they'd ever met. Gary Holt, who has his own band and was already an established musician before joining Slayer, has no problem working with Kerry. That goes to show you that social media comments on metal musicians do not reflect who they really are - it is always better to read the interviews yourself. Kerry's focus has solely been on new Slayer music and he absolutely didn’t want anything to get in the way of that. Plus, when you maintain a band for more than 30 years, you are bound to make some tough calls and have some difficult conversations. You will not be popular for them; but someone has to make those calls. That's how you move forward. When the band needed him to write an entire album on his own, he pulled it off. The band needed that to carry on. I certainly respect him for that.
So there it is. A new chapter for Slayer. Time will tell if they will do another new album but as for right now, they remain an active band. They are currently on tour and everyone in the band seems to be having a good time. I hope they continue to release new material and I hope they allow Gary Holt to contribute to songwriting next time too. Slayer is a big name in metal – has remained that way for more than 30 years – and that is impressive and most certainly, rare.
“No looking back, no regrets, no apologies.
What you get is what you see. Live fast, on high, Repentless, let it ride!"
Sources and Additional Reading:
http://www.guitarworld.com/tribute-complete-untold-story-slayers-jeff-hanneman http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/slayer-guitarist-recovering-from-flesh-eating-disease-20120502 http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-big-4-put-aside-their-differences-for-spectacular-metal-show-20110425 http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=539333 http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/slayer-interviewed https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=447262618678275&id=124433877627819 I've been working on a different blog post lately; but just this past weekend I had a chance to attend a session that Victor Wooten hosted; and his words were so encouraging to all musicians that I wanted to share this as quickly as I could. Wooten has such a remarkable background that it's impossible to summarize shortly; but it's safe to say that if you are interested in music and in certain instruments in particular, there is no way that you never heard of his name. He's also collaborated with so many musicians - which is truly awesome - that there is a good chance you've seen him jam with some of your favorite musicians too. He made so many great points that I wanted to share them here hoping that it will also be helpful to somebody else. I found out about the clinic a day before it happened. I work for the online school of Berklee College of Music and I am realizing more and more every day that there is always something cool taking place around the campus. I was going to be at one of the buildings last weekend to help with whatever the organizers needed at the Berklee Onsite event (an event designed to give some of the online students a chance to experience the campus life for a few days) and part of that day’s events was Victor Wooten’s clinic. I was asked if I wanted to attend and of course I said yes to that opportunity! I’m not a bass player but I’ve always known about Wooten. Music is my favorite hobby and I am a guitar player myself. I always appreciate talented musicians and I'd seen many videos of Victor Wooten blowing his audience's minds with the control he has over his instrument - I wasn't going to miss a chance to meet him and hear his opinion on various topics. His clinic was geared towards developing your skills on your instrument and performing in general, so it wasn’t just about bass guitars. I was able to get some tips for my approach to playing from what he shared so that was great! I hope I can devote enough time to my playing to follow some of his advice because the points he made were highly encouraging. He really understands what goes through a player’s head and what some of the common obstacles are. I liked his suggestions for possible solutions too. I think it can be helpful to all musicians out there - whether you're playing just for hobby or you're in a full-time band - so I’m going to end this post with some of his points and recommendations. I hope they'll be useful for folks who play or perhaps want to start playing an instrument. Before I get to those notes, I want to also add that Victor Wooten was really down to earth, super friendly and had a great sense of humor. I have nothing but respect for highly accomplished artists who maintain that great attitude! Note: In the below bullet points, I am paraphrasing as I am recalling from memory as best I can, so these are not direct quotes.
Thanks Victor for all the advice and I hope I bump into you again some time. To end this post, here's a quote from an interview which summarizes his philosophy greatly: It's about the music. It's all about the music... "How has your playing evolved over the years?" "I think the instrument has taken a backseat. It's not about your instrument - it's about what you have to say. Your instrument happens to be the one you use - it might be a bass, voice, an alto or soprano - but who cares? It's all about what you're saying with it. Right now, you're not thinking about how your lips are moving or the physics of your talking, you're just speaking. That's how I approach the bass - by approaching the music instead." Full interview can be found here. Jason Becker’s story is truly a remarkable one. It's about staying positive no matter what, fighting every day to continue doing what you love most, and sharing your creativity with people around the world despite all odds. To say that he’s a huge inspiration to thousands, if not millions, of people around the world is not an exaggeration. I first heard about him when I was 14 years old. I was getting into heavy metal music and Megadeth had already become my favorite metal band. I was obsessed with the “Rust in Peace” album and how brilliant the guitar playing was. To this day "Rust in Peace" is still my favorite Megadeth album. One of the key band members of that album was a guitar player named Marty Friedman because it's rare to hear anything quite as unique as his lead guitar work. In addition, his style seemed to work perfectly with Dave Mustaine’s rhythms. Marty was a new guitar player to me and being the music junkie that I am, I wanted to check out some of his other works so I could hear more of his playing. I started with Cacophony, his band before Megadeth. That led to the discovery of another gifted musician: Jason Becker. While Jason was recording the album, he started feeling what he described as a “lazy limp” of his left leg. He was ultimately diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ( aka "Lou Gehrig’s" Disease) and was given three years to live. As the ALS progressed to affect his hands, he was only able to complete the recording of the album using thin strings. After the release of the album, he was unable to join the tour and was replaced by Joe Holmes (Jason helped David Lee Roth with guitarist auditions before the tour). In a 1990 interview, he described his situation to Guitar Player magazine.
Unfortunately Jason’s situation worsened from that point on. He gradually lost the ability to walk and play guitar. Between 1996-97, he also lost the ability to speak. Today he is confined to a wheelchair. Living in his Richmond, California home his parents and close friends care for him on a daily basis. Jason’s life has been a very difficult one. It saddens me to think that if he didn't have ALS, he’d have likely become one of the most popular guitar players around the world. He would be doing clinics, meeting fans, releasing solo albums, exploring different musical styles, touring around the world- everything you can imagine from a guitar virtuoso. He was on the brink of all of this when he was diagnosed with ALS. It's a heartbreaking situation, but Jason is a fighter. Somehow, despite all odds, he was able to stay connected to the music world. He is truly an inspiration and it's music, not the disease, that defines him. After he was diagnosed with ALS, Jason kept composing music. If there were notes in his head, he wasn't going to let anything get in the way. The fruit of his labor came in 1996 with the release of his second solo album, "Perspective". It features 9 songs and is one of the most unique and diverse albums that you can ever hear. It really is impossible to put a genre label on it so I won't attempt it. One thing that is quite apparent is that even with instrumental music you can tell what he was going through while working on the album - some guitar work, especially on "Rain", reminds me of Brian May's guitar work on Queen's "Innuendo" as they were recorded while Freddie was very ill. It's mostly an instrumental album (with the exception of the Bob Dylan cover "Meet Me in the Morning") and still features a lot of guitar, just not in the same "shred" vein as his previous works. Speaking of the guitar parts, unfortunately Jason was gradually losing muscle strength as he was working on the album, so he could only play guitar on 5 of these songs and he had some guest musicians, such as Michael Lee Firkins and Steve Perry, who played on the other 4 and put Jason's vision into notes. He switched to keyboards after a while; but when he was no longer able to play any instrument, he used a specially designed computer software where he was able to enter notes using eye movements. It's why you also notice that there's a lot more keyboards on this album and a lot more "classical" feel to certain songs, compared to his earlier work with Cacophony or his previous solo album. Each song stands on its own; but the opening track, "Primal", is definitely my favorite on the album. It's got a haunting melody and is just one of those songs that hits you hard, especially when you know what must have gone through the mind of its composer at the time. Jason is 45 years old today. According to the family, the doctors gave him a few years to live when he was first diagnosed; but his condition has remained stable since 1997 and he is still with us today. He needs 24/7 medical care to keep him alive and his family and close friends are always there to give him huge support. Despite this situation, Jason is able to communicate with the rest of the world through a system his father, Gary Becker, developed. Jason uses a hand-painted geometrical eye chart where he spells by moving his eyes to the letters in the separate sections of the board. If you watch some of his recent interviews, where a family member becomes his “voice”, it’s easy to tell that the family has gotten so good with reading Jason’s eye movements that they don’t even need the board and can spell out what Jason is saying quite rapidly. This way he remains connected with the world. He can still smile and raise his eyebrows so he retains that genuine smile you see in his videos from the '80s. No matter what happened in his life, he never lost his sense of humor either! After "Perspective" he released "The Raspberry Jams" (1999) that contained previously unreleased demos and "The Blackberry Jams" (2003) with some demo tracks and alternate versions of some songs. In 2008, he released "Collection" with three new tracks along with older recordings. He also still collaborates with other musicians, sometimes recruiting their help to get his musical ideas played on a guitar, other times contributing a song or an idea to somebody else's album. In fact, he recently collaborated with Marty Friedman on Marty's latest album, "Inferno", on a track called "Horrors" and Marty said of Jason's situation and working with him again; "His spirit is just perfect. (...) And now people will hear the incarnate of something that we've done together in 2014, and I'm just so glad that it's happening. And it's a very important part of my record. I mean, it's a big, important part of the record." I called him an influence earlier and there is a reason for that. Marty explained it best - his spirit is perfect! Reflecting on what he had to go through you can see the extreme physical and mental pains when he was just so young and on the verge of launching a global music career. He could have easily given up and no one would have blamed him for it. He could have chosen to fill his days going between anger and sorrow and not be in touch with his friends. And he admits that in the '90s, when the disease was getting worse and worse everyday, he did go through these negative emotions for a bit - but his "desire to live with vigor" remains with him to this day. He is still composing music; communicating with other musicians using the eye chart and telling them what notes to play into a computer software and he then works with producers to arrange the notes and arrive exactly at the sound he had in his head. If there is any melody in his head, he simply won't let anything get in the way.
Jason had a chance to share his story with a wider audience thanks to a 2012 documentary called "Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet". Released in November 2012, the film was directed by Jesse Vile and was shown across many film festivals around the world. I bought the DVD as soon as it became available and really appreciated the work the team behind the documentary put into it. It starts from Jason's childhood and through old footage and interviews with family and friends, provides a comprehensive view about what Jason has had to go through. Having said that, it also shows you that his sense of humor is intact and his passion for music still gives him all the strength he needs to keep going. I have to also add a note about his incredibly committed caregivers; his parents from day one and all his close friends that helped over the years. I have the utmost respect for them as they have been making selfless sacrifices so they, along with his fans, can keep sharing moments with him. I think that it's important to know Jason's story because he shows you that you can keep following your passion with a positive attitude no matter what. Think about some of the things that we complain about on a daily basis... You can argue that it's human nature to complain about certain things in life. Especially when things don't go our way for a period of time and we tend to feel like we won't ever finish what we originally intended to do. But that's exactly why it's important to know who Jason Becker is and what he has been able to accomplish, despite all odds. He had this awful disease that got in the way of so many things. But he never gave up, never stopped having fun, never quit making music, and he refused to let ALS take away his desire to live. There is a lot to learn from him and I think that's why he is such an inspiration to many people around the world. If you feel like circumstances are not allowing you to follow your passion, don't let that bring you down. Where there's a will, there's a way. Ask Jason, he'll tell you! "I have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It has crippled my body and speech, but not my mind..." Sources and Additional Reading:
http://jasonbeckerguitar.com/ http://jasobrecht.com/jason-becker-complete-1990-interview-david-lee-roth-cacophony-2/ http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Musician-Jason-Becker-refuses-to-let-ALS-silence-4816989.php http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/jason-becker-super-hero/22307 http://www.popmatters.com/review/beckerjason-perspective/ http://xombiewoof.blogspot.com/2014/09/jason-becker-still-not-dead-thank-rock.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_u9TtGdyfk
Well, wish I could write my first blog post in a long time about a new Megadeth album; but the band is going through yet another line-up change and it is a big one. The first announcement came from Shawn Drover. It was a brief statement where he said he wanted to pursue his own musical interests. When I first saw his statement posted, my immediate thought was that this was definitely a good thing for the band. He is a nice person and perhaps a reliable drummer; but I've never found his drumming spectacular – something I can say about all other Megadeth drummers, especially Gar and Nick – and I think his playing lacked enthusiasm and often times sounded plain and boring. So I thought that his departure could pave the way for a new and better-fitting drummer and I was excited about it.
What I didn't really see coming was Chris Broderick’s announcement which came soon after Shawn’s. A lot of the articles that mentioned both Chris and Shawn were published the next day; but Chris announced his departure just a few hours after Shawn did. The reason why it was more shocking than Shawn’s announcement wasn’t because we were hearing about a member’s departure - Megadeth has had so many line-up changes that it’s not really a surprise anymore – it was because two members quit right after one another, which many people took as something bad happening behind the scenes.
Turns out it really was about musical differences. At least that’s the explanation we’re getting for the time being. You never know what else will be out there in time. Both Drover and Broderick gave interviews a few weeks after their original statements, saying that they wanted to explore their musical ideas that didn’t really fit Megadeth. Knowing that the decision maker in Megadeth has always been Dave Mustaine, you can also argue that Dave wasn’t really into the music Chris and Shawn brought to the table.
Anyone who is a fan of Megadeth knows that this band is a very well established one – i.e. it’s not a new band trying to find its identity or sound. They also know that Dave Mustaine – as the founder, main songwriter, guitarist and vocalist of the band – has the final say when it comes to the direction the band will take. For better or worse, this has always been the case and to expect otherwise is just not knowing the history of the band. Yes, line-up changes are hard and you never know if the new members will have a good chemistry with the rest of the band; but I’m actually excited about what’s next for Megadeth. I’m particularly thrilled about the possibility of hearing a new drummer in the band – Shawn just wasn't a good fit and I know I’m not alone in thinking that. Chris and Shawn have since announced they had formed a new band called Act of Defiance. There’s some fan speculation that they deliberately chose this name as a reference to their departure from Megadeth; and who knows, it might be true but I doubt it. Based on what we know so far, they left on good terms – both players especially have a good relationship with David Ellefson who remains in the band. To be honest, whatever the story is behind the band name, it sounds a little cheesy but then again not many band names are true originals. The duo also announced that they had hired former Scar the Martyr frontman Henry Derek Bonner as their lead singer and former Shadows Fall member Matt Bachand as the bass player. To be fair, I think these are all good moves on their part. If Chris and Shawn didn’t think that in Megadeth their music was getting the attention they thought it deserved, then choosing to pursue their own project is the right way to go. I don’t think anyone can blame them for it, really. Act of Defiance has released a teaser for one of their songs called "Trowback" from their debut. Like I said, I get why they are pursuing their own project and I do think Chris is a talented guitarist, but this sample sounds a little generic and I didn't find it all that interesting. It’s not different than any of the newer metal bands out there. To me, it's another example that just because you can play the fastest, craziest solos doesn't mean that you'll be great at creating good, original music. Of course it’s just about a minute and a half sample from only one song of the album; so I will still listen to the entire record before I make a full judgment, but this doesn’t sound promising to me. They need to stop trying so hard to be the most metal band out there – they just need to let things flow and see what happens. I think they’d have a better chance of getting their names out there that way. Here's the YouTube video of the teaser, see for yourself.
As for the Megadeth side of things, the remaining two members have pretty much been silent on the issue, except for teasers here and there that don’t really shed much insight. There are so many rumors going on right now that it’s hard to keep up. Of course, a lot of fans want to see a reunion of the “classic line-up”, the 1990-1998 line-up with Marty Friedman and Nick Menza, but it’s a difficult reunion to achieve. Nick Menza has stated that he’d be willing to do it (I’d love to see him back in the band!) but I don’t know if Nick and Dave have patched things up after the fallout in 2004 when Nick very briefly did re-join the band. Marty, on the other hand, poses an even trickier situation. He lives in Japan, speaks Japanese fluently and hosts various TV shows, plays with a lot of different musicians and basically has the artistic freedom to do exactly what he wants. He’s a huge celebrity in the country! Granted, he plays some metal here and there; but he’s not the kind of musician who likes to be labeled as a “metal guitarist” or a “shredder” or any kind of label that might stick. Getting him back in Megadeth is financially and artistically a difficult negotiation – and I’m not sure if he’s ready to leave what he’s got going on in Japan yet.
Another route is hiring two new guys; and, as expected, rumors are abundant on this front too. Jeff Loomis, Kiko Loureiro, Jeff Waters, Alex Skolnick, Mike Portnoy, Chris Adler and many others have been rumored as possible replacements. Of course the longer the Megadeth camp stays silent, the more names we’ll see pop up and since none of these rumors have any sources, no one should spend too much time on them without an official announcement from the band. Dave Mustaine has tweeted recently that he is starting rehearsals for the new album (he also tweeted last week that he was going to audition “one of his picks” for the guitarist position), so the implication is that the new members are pretty much determined. We'll just have to wait a little longer for the press release.
So all in all, Megadeth is in the studio right now, with two not yet announced musicians, recording their 15th studio album. I’m actually excited about the future of the band; I don’t think Drover and Broderick were necessarily the right people for the most creative sound so new members can give the band some new energy that will hopefully result in interesting riffs, memorable solos and original drumming. The way we like it from Megadeth!
Sources and Additional Reading:
http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/drummer-shawn-drover-quits-megadeth/ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/guitarist-chris-broderick-quits-megadeth/ http://www.revolvermag.com/news/interview-chris-broderick-talks-leaving-megadeth-and-new-projects-with-jose-mangin.html http://loudwire.com/shawn-drover-confirms-henry-derek-bonner-singer-new-band-chris-broderick/ http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/rumor-megadeth-taps-lamb-of-god-drummer-angra-guitarist-for-new-album/ |
AuthorHi, I'm Alper and I'm a big fan of hard rock and heavy metal. This blog is for my thoughts on some of my favorite bands, albums and news updates. I also play guitar and will post about electric guitars every now and again. CategoriesArchives
April 2016
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