Posts Tagged ‘jaxx’
King Diamond – August 16, 2000
In 2000, I still had my online music store (Acacia Music) and was still getting into shows free that had bands on Century Media and Metal Blade Records as they were my 2 main wholesale distributors. Lucky me. This King Diamond show at famed Jaxx Nightclub was certainly one of them. Shdaows Fall, Deep and Babylon Whores opened up this show.
After the show I was hanging out behind the venue hoping to meet the King. I did get to speak with Andy LaRocque for a little bit and had him sign a few CDs for me, including my Death CD that he played on. He saw that both Chuck Schuldiner had signed it and asked me where I got his signature. Cool dude.
Someone tapped me on the should and said, “There’s King!” He was getting in a car, no makeup on and I just put my hand out and said, “King, thanks for all the great music over the years!” He shook my hand as he was getting in the car and said, “Thanks! Gotta run, man. Thanks for coming.” Perfect. I was totally happy with that.
Meeting UDO/Raven – June 17, 2000
My good friend Nyk invited me to stay the weekend with him in Northern Virginia the same weekend that UDO and Raven were playing Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield. While I’m not the biggest Accept or Raven fan, I knew that we would be on the guestlist because at the time, Nyk was friends with John Gallagher of Raven. It would also be a good opportunity to get some more sigs in The Book. Raven’s drummer at the time was Hasselvander from Pentagram, a band that I am a HUGE fan of, so the chance to meet him is worth the trip in itself. And to be clear, I love Restless and Wild and Balls to the Wall but I’m not as familiar with their other albums. I owned Metal Heart and Russian Roulette at some point but I really don’t remember either one of them. And Raven? I’m not a fan…at all. There, I said it. Talented dudes, but not my thing.
The day of the show we have dinner with the Gallagher brothers and they were super nice guys. If memory serves me well, dinner was at an Asian place. A few Raven fans spotted them and came over to say hello. Honestly, prior to that day I wouldn’t know those dudes if they were standing next to me.
They take off for the show and we bum around for a bit then head there ourselves. We’re on the list and get to go in the “upper room” above the bar while one of the opening bands was on. Hasselvander was up there and let me tell you, he is one of the coolest dudes around. We talked about Pentagram quite a bit as he was still involved at the time and his connection with Blue Cheer and his new band, Hounds of Hasselvander. He was putting on some eyeliner and with it he can really pass for Ozzy. Fun dude. He signed the book as well the Gallagher brothers and I went back to put it in the car. It’s a bit of a pain to lug around all night.
Right as Raven was going on, we were just standing a ways back from the front and I turn to go get a drink or something and bump into this little stocky dude. I said, “Oh, sorry man. ” and he replied with “No problem.” And instantly it hit me. It was Udo! He must be about 5’1″ or so. I shook his hand and asked him to sign my ticket (see below).
Both bands put on great shows, no matter if I liked the music or not. The musicianship was top notch for sure.
Ticket signed by Udo...flip it over and you can almost make out his name.
Raven sigs in The Book on their page. (click to enlarge)
Voodoocult – Jesus Killing Machine (1994)
So here’s an odd one from my collection. To be honest I never liked this album that much. The only reason I bought it 
was because of who played on it…Dave Lombardo and Chuck Schuldiner (RIP). The music is pretty pedestrian thrash/death metal and even the drums are pretty boring. Some of Chuck’s solos are pretty good, but in general the album was boring.
That being said I kept this CD because I had both Dave and Chuck sign it on separate occasions. Both guys gave the exact same reaction…”This actually came out?” Chuck asked me to burn a copy for him and send it, which I of course did.
I was pretty sad when Chuck died. When we met him at Jaxx (Springfield, VA) on the Death/Hammerfall Tour, he came outside to meet everyone, soaking wet in a robe and flippy floppies and it was freezing outside. He was very cool. I met Dave at the same place when he was drumming for Testament on The Gathering Tour. Talk about a cool dude. I got to talk to him for a bit with his son. I handed him a stack of CD covers including the River’s Edge soundtrack. “We were on this?” I said, “Dude, it’s half the reason I wanted to see the movie in the first place!” Good times.
Tracks:
- Killer Patrol – 3:57
- Metallized Kids – 4:26
- Jesus Killing Machine – 4:32
- Born Bad and Sliced! – 3:58
- Albert is a Headbanger – 3:50
- Hellatio – 3:15
- Death Don’t Dance With Me – 4:08
- Art Groupie – 4:53
- Blood Surfer City – 5:03
- Voodoocult – 4:09
- Bitchery Bay – 5:32
Band:
- Phillip Boa – Vocals
- Chuck Schuldiner – Guitar
- Gabby Abularach – Guitar
- Waldemar Sorychta – Guitar
- Mille Petrozza – Guitar
- Dave Ball – Bass
- Dave Lombardo – Drums
Who’s behind the Door?
I’ve always loved Zebra and considered them a severely underrated rock band. I first heard them on the radio when I first heard Who’s Behind the Door on Norfolk’s K-94 in 1983. I was instantly hooked
That debut album is pretty righteous from beginning to end. Randy Jackson has a great vocal range and is a solid guitar player. The album flows very well.
A year later they release No Tellin’ Lies which was not quite as strong of a release. They had some minor success with the slightlygoofy song Bears (worst video ever?). Sure, I like the song but it was a bit silly.
For me they struck gold again with their third album 3.V in 1986. I bought the cassette at Roses department store for $6.99 and was immediately hooked. It’s a very polished album and pretty radio friendly, but the hooks are there.
Zebra IV came out in 2003 and again they released another quality album. Highly recommended if you’re even mildly a fan.
I was fortunate enough to see the 3.V tour in 1986. I’ll never forget it. Cold rainy night…torrential rain even…A former friend from high school didn’t want to go out in the rain and get his hair messed up(just kidding) so i went alone. I already had really bad hair back then so it was no big deal to me. Plus it was $5! FIVE BUCKS! (Ren and Stimpy reference). The lineup Alcatrazz (post-Yngwie/Vai era), Rough Cutt (Duke Fame!) and Zebra headlining. I think there may have been 100 people there if that. It was at the Boathouse in Norfolk, VA which held about 2000 I think. For some shows there they put the barricade up so only prople in the beer garden could stand in the area in front of the stage. This was one of those shows. So there I was wedged up in the front stage right corner between the speaker mains, the stage and the beer garden barricade. My buddy Kirshon was standing behind me and was the only other person there that I knew.
Alcatrazz came on and was quite possibly the most boring band I have ever seen. i swear I fell asleep standing up during their performance. Some squid woke me up. Then comes Rough Cutt supporting their Wants You! album. I had that cassette and their debut and liked them a lot so I was familiar with their material. They kicked ass. Royally. Amir Derakh was great. He’s a killer guitarist, plain and simple. They rocked from beginning to end and got a great response from a crowd that had no idea who they were. Then comes Zebra. Perfectly refined, in time, in tune. They played a seemingly flawless set and mixed up the harder stuff with some acoustic songs. Unfortunately they played a Zeppelin song or 2 but I suffered through it. It was a great show.
Years later (1996 I believe) by wife at the time and I went to the va Beach Amphitheatre to see the Virginia Symphony tribute to Led Zeppelin. Yes, I don’t like Zeppelin but Randy Jackson was fronting the band so I had to go. We got 4th row center and got there pretty early. of course I brought all of my Zebra CDs and Randy’s solo album CD. Before the show started, I saw a woman walking around on the stage and she obviously was someone “in charge”. So I left my seat and walked up to the stage and asked her if there was a way for me to meet Randy before or after the show. She looked at me for a second and just said, “Wait here.” Ten minutes later she came back out and said to come to the back stage gate after the show and Randy would come out. Eureka! During the show, Randy did a fine Robert Plan imitation. It was a fun show, Zep fan or not.
So afterwards my wife and I are waiting for about 20 minutes by the backstage gate and out comes Randy, freshly showered. I shook his hand, introduced my wife and me and talked with him for about a half hour. It was an afternoon show so no one seemed rushed to get out of there. I told him that I saw the 3.V tour and he said he remembered that particular show because of the rain and poor crowd attendance. he signed all my stuff and was very appreciative of my “fanboyness”. haha. He stated that I was the first person out of the 20 or so shows to recognize him and/or bring stuff to get signed. He was super cool.
In 2000 my former guitarist and I went up to Jaxx in Springfield, VA to see them. Moderate turnout and a great show. I got to meet Felix and Guy before the show and got permission to film it. The picture came out great. Unfortunately, something screwed up on the camera and no sound was recorded. I was pissed. I got to meet randy again afterwards and reminded him about the symphony gig from a few years prior. He remembered talking to us and asked where my “pretty little wife” was. I just said, “Ancient history, man.” It was cool seeing him and the band again. I hope to catch them again sometime. On the way home (3 hour drive), Reggie fell asleep…and so did I. He just happened to wake up right before me and yell. I woke up just in time to steer away from hitting the entrance wall to the Monitor-Merrimac Tunnel. Scary shit!
It’s unfortunate that they won’t allow their studio vids on YouTube.
The Metal Files 
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