Faster Pussycat Concert Review, Houston TX, 3/7/2013
I’m on temporary work assignment in Houston and saw last week that Faster Pussycat was playing right up the street from my hotel. I’d seen them a couple of times before including being able to open for them in 2003 when they were on tour with Pretty Boy Floyd and Enuff z’Nuff. That was a fun night for sure. On to last night…I had been sick all day and laid up in my hotel room from diverticulosis. Lucky me. By dinner time, I was feeling a little bit better and had enough energy to go and grab a bite to eat. I drove up the road to find the venue after dinner and hung out in my truck for a little while trying to decide whether I was going to go in or not. Ultimately (and obviously) I went in. Quite an interesting crowd at this north Houston venue. The groupie girls were definitely in full effect, most of whom are really past their prime. Sorry ladies, you’re looking rough these days.
While sitting there wading through some opening bands who were so horrid that they shall remain nameless, Danny Nordahl, bassist for Faster Pussycat, walked in. When we played with them in ’03, he and I talked for a long time, mostly about Thin Lizzy. The custom guitar picks I was using at the time had Phil Lynott on them and I gave him one, since he said he was out of picks. Last night I mentioned to him about that show and he said something to the effect of ‘you’re the dude that gave me that guitar pick with Phil on it. I still have that!’ Sweet! We hung out for a few while the last opener was clearing the stage and then it was showtime.
They were slated to go on at 10:30 but ended up being closer to 11. I was getting really tired but I stuck around for for about half of the set. Taime was his typical self. His voice sounded pretty good and the band was pretty solid. I think my favorite thing about the show was that Taime held an unlit cigarette in his hand the whole night. It was quite funny.
Faster Pussycat is one of the few “hair bands” that I like and their first 3 albums are pretty good.
I stayed for 6 songs, but could only recall 5.
Happy 48th Birthday Dave Lombardo!
Happy Birthday, Dave! By 1999, I’d seen Slayer only once, the Seasons In The Abyss Tour. But it wasn’t until he was touring with Testament on The Gathering Tour in 1999 that I got to meet him. My buddy Chris E. and I went up to Jaxx in Springfield, VA and got in free thanks to his connection with Steve DiGiorgio. We arrived early and got to meet Dave and his son outside the bus. I had Dave sign a few CDs and had him sign The Book. When he signed my River’s Edge soundtrack CD, he said, “We were on this?” It made me laugh. I then opened the book to the photo of Slayer and handed it to him. He lowered it down to his son and said, “Which one’s daddy?” He son looked for a second and pointed out Dave. That was pretty cool. It was a great meeting with one of metal’s most powerful and influential drummers.
I’ll be 43 in a few weeks and it doesn’t seem like Dave would only be 48. I guess as a kid when you’re listening to Reign in Blood, you think that the bands you love are so much older.
Dave. 1999
Testament, Overkill, Flotsam and Jetsam & 4arm Concert Review, Austin TX, 2/5/2013
Not too long ago it was announced that Testament, Overkill, Flotsam and Jetsam, and 4arm were coming to Emo’s. What a lineup! I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale.
Let’s just get right into this. You’ve seen me talk about The Book several times and my outer metal nerd was in full effect yesterday. I left work and went straight to the venue to do some hanging around trying to catch up with Bobby and DD from Overkill and the Flotsam guys.
There was a guy and his son hanging out as well who had made a nice huge canvas screen print of a current Overkill photo with their logo on it. When those guys rolled up, they signed it cheerfully. I had Bobby and DD sign the book and got the usual question of, “What the hell is this?” Right after Overkill headed to their hotel, Gene Hoglan came out of the venue and I spoke with him for a little bit. Ten years ago I gave him a ride from his Strapping Young Lad show to go see Nuclear Assault at another venue. We laughed about shoving his huge frame into my little Saturn wagon.
A few minutes later I saw a friend of mine who works at the venue and he went ahead and walked me in with him before they started letting people in. Testament was doing their paid meet and greet on the patio and I was standing at the merch booth when Eric AK from Flotsam walked up. I shook his hand, talked to him about my F&J history of seeing them in Virginia. He remembered both venues saying something to the effect of, “The Peppermint Beach Club? Cool place on the beach? Loved playing there. But the Boathouse was a dump.” Mustaine said the same thing about the Boathouse when I met him in ’06. I loved that place (RIP), but whatever. Mike Gilbert came up as we were snapping a picture and photo-bombed it. I then had both guys sign the book and again a “WTH?” reaction. Eric said, “Come find us after the show, we’ll get Kelly and Ed to check this book out.” Sweet!
The doors open up and a small crowd shuffles in. Australia’s 4arm was the opener at 645PM. I had just listened to a few of their songs earlier and while not overly impressed, I didn’t think it was awful…other than their name. They had a 30 minute set of standard thrash and were solid. I heard a little Slayer meets Bay Area Thrash in their sound. They were solid enough, but nothing groundbreaking.
Up next came Flotsam and Jetsam. They sounded great and to be honest were the band I was most excited about seeing. The last time was 1992 opening for Mercyful Fate. They were only given 35 minutes for a set and just came on and killed it. They sounded great in general, minus some sound issues from Ed Carlson’s amp…snap crackle and pop were all in attendance. Haha. They played Hammerhead and Escape from Within and 3 others. They were super solid, though. Kelly’s drumming was still as spot on as it was 20 years ago. I stood about 3 people from the barricade with a huge smile on my face the whole time they were on. Just great. Eric’s vocals started a little rough in the first song, but by song #2, he was in full AK mode sounding great and powerful. I’m ready to see them again ASAP and hopefully with a longer set. Eric told me after the show that they’d definitely add Der Fuhrer and She Took An Axe when they tour on their own. I almost squealed like a little girl.
Overkill was up next and to be honest I wasn’t enthused about it. I absolutely love Feel the Fire and Taking Over and a few tracks each from Under the Influence and Years of Decay, but without Rat Skates’ insane drumming and Bobby Gustafson’s uniquely styled riffs, they lost a lot. That this man’s opinion. Overkill hit the stage and I got what I expected, a cross section of their long career. They did Rotten to the Core and Wrecking Crew and while I love those songs, they just didn’t feel right last night. Way too fast and a tad sloppy. Almost like ‘let’s just get through these as fast as we can’. I’m such a curmudgeon. They also played Elimination and Fuck You, but I only heard them from outside the venue and my friend Carlos who was getting ready to interview Flotsam called me to their bus to get Ed and Kelly to sign the book. Score! I’d missed Overkill the last 2 times they were here and I had heard that they were both good shows and that they had even played Deny the Cross(!!!). But not last night. Oh well.
Last night was my 7th time seeing Testament since ’87 on The Legacy Tour opening for Anthrax. They’ve never put on a bad show in my opinion and tonight they were on it. I think Chuck Billy’s voice sounded better than it has in years. He used his cleaner voice more than the rough voice he’s done a lot live in recent years. The setlist was a good mix of old and new with all of the usual suspects except for one, and to me it’s a major one…Disciples of the Watch was not played. To me, that is the defining Testament song. I can’t have everything, right? But overall the band was great. The new album is good and a lot better than Formation of Damnation. Gene Hoglan was on the kit again for this tour and the guy is so incredibly awesome that it hurts my soul a little. He’s so fluid in his playing that it makes it look like he’s not even trying. Skolnick’s playing was spot on as always but I always get the feeling that he’d rather be doing his solo jazz thing these days.
Overall it was a great night for $20! I bought a shirt from both Flotsam and Testament, Overkill didn’t have a design that I liked. Saw lots of friends and made some new ones. Flotsam said they’ll be doing a US tour after their new album, Ugly Noise, comes out in April. I hope they can make some Texas dates. Great to see Austin continuing to get some quality metal tours.
I didn’t get any shots of Overkill or Testament as I was playing the “old man” and hung out near the back of the venue.
4ARM
More Flots
Erik AK says, “Horns up!”
Eric AK and I being photo-bombed by Mike Gilbert
Sigs from “Blitz” and DD of Overkill in The Book
Peter Criss From Makeup to Break Up Book Review
The Crying Catman?
I’ve gotten into reading the autobiographies of some of my favorite musicians. So far I’ve read the books by Ronnie Wood, Lemmy, Paul Di’Anno, Waylon Jennings, Tony Iommi, Ace Frehley and have just finished Peter Criss’ “From Makeup to Break Up”. Much like Ace’s book, it was cool to read about the early KISS days and how they forged on through tough times until their imagery and music caught on to make them millions of dollars. And typically in these sorts of stories, most of the money gets blown away up the nose, through the arm (not so much in Criss’ case), on women and extravagant living. Criss talks about being the tough half-Italian kid who got in a lot of fights and hung out with mobsters yet cries like a baby almost every night. I swear he talks about crying on almost every other page of the book.
Peter takes every opportunity to bash and insult Gene, who probably deserves it. He also speaks a lot about Paul Stanley’s sexuality. He calls Paul gay in just about every way possible without saying the actual word.
It was primarily an enjoyable read but throughout the book it was “Gene did this to hurt me” and “Paul did this to hurt me” and “Ace did that to hurt me” and “Fuck Gene”. His claim of being taken advantage of through his stints in KISS, in my opinion, is more his fault than anyone else’s although he lays most of the blame on Gene, then Paul, then his ex-wife Deb and finally Ace. This victim mentality drives me nuts and Peter rides that through the book. He took poor decisions and he paid the price for them. He could have also walked away early on, but chose not to.
If I was to recommend this book compared to Ace’s, I’d say go with Ace’s, even though his is probably a little more embellished than Peter’s. Gene has a few books out now but I’m not really interested in them. Paul supposed has one in the works, and I’m definitely picking that one up.
Jack Russell’s Great White & Broken Teeth Concert Review, Austin TX, 12/30/2012
The last time I saw Great White was in 1991 with Scorpions and Trixter (blech!). They played a short set, but I remember them being enjoyable even thought they didn’t play anything from their first 2 albums. A close high school friend had originally turned me on to Great White by loaning me their first EP in 1986 and I was hooked (pun intended). By the time Twice Shy came out in in 1989, I was done with them. Their cover of Ian Hunter’s Once Bitten, Twice Shy was the catalyst. To this day, that song still makes me want to hurl.
About a month or so ago I caught word that Jack Russell’s Great White was going to be playing a smaller Austin venue so of course I bought a ticket. Not to mention I wanted Jack’s signature in The Book.
Broken Teeth opened the show with their new bassist and played a revamped set which included a new song called “Devil On The Road”. They also played a couple of songs live for the first time including “All Hail The Altar” and “Spitting Nails”. The band was in fine form and this was the first show in about 6 months since the sudden passing of their now former bassist, Travis Weiss (RIP). It was great to have them back!
Great White used Teeth’s backline and opened the show with Call It Rock and Roll. I was pleasantly surprised to hear how good Jack’s voice was. He’s been dealing with some health issues in recent years and he looked a little on the frail side…but he got on stage and did a great job. Three songs in and they played On Your Knees from their first EP. That was certainly the highlight song for me. They also played Face the Day, Save Your Love and Rock Me, all songs that I do like a lot. They also mixed in some later Great White songs like House of Broken Love, Mista Bone (ugh) and Desert Moon. They of course closed with Once Bitten, Twice Shy.
The show was lightly attended, maybe 125 max but the band rocked it. Most everyone cleared out immediately after the show. I hung around for a bit to see if I could get Jack to sign the book. He came out for a minutes, signed the book and my friend’s poster then high-tailed it to his bus/van. The tour manager said he wasn’t feeling well.
It was a fun show and it brought out some folks that I hadn’t seen in a while. It was a fine closing to a year of seeing a ton of concerts.
Happy New Year!
Jason McMaster
(photo by Dave TeeVee)
Jack Russell
Jack Russell
The Metal Files 
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