Posts Tagged ‘virginia’
Buzzard – Exercises & Transmutations of the Applicable Techniques for the Chrome-Plated Mystical Squeegie of Destiny (1998)
OK, this Buzzard album is even more rare and obscure than Churp!!! I have heard many of these songs live at shows and 
at their practices and hearing the studio versions for the first time today is absolutely making my brain hurt. Patrick Walsh & Co. deliver another fine prog-metal-jazz-science fiction teenage crap album that really should get a proper release on CD and not just around the blogosphere.
The songs on here are all very short but transition into each other a lot like they did on Churp!!! It’s an album that certainly needs to be heard from beginning to end. I hear some things on hear that I didn’t really hear on the previous album…Goblin! You know Goblin, right? Italian prog rock band whose music was used for a ton of classic Italian horror flicks? Maybe it’s just me, but I can hear some of that in there.
If you’re into odd timed, whacked out, progressive jazz, fusion, metal etc, then this album may even appeal to you more than Churp!!! does.
- The return of the Son of the 35-8Solution
- Blind daughters of Polyphemus
- Harvestors of Cust
- Cranial fist stench
- The dreaded deep doodoo motif
- Pythagoras
- The 35-8 solution
- Peeyurmp
- The coronation of King eggplanthead
- Exile for the house of flounderface
- The sun of flounderface as the rightful heir
- Full brown exile
- The Lament of simon Magus
- Quantum flux bedris field
- Probe M 87
- Pungent crust metaphor
- Circus Plantia – I. Watched them fall from the sky
- Circus Plantia – II. Time is like water to him
- Circus Plantia – III. The Corinthian picks his teeth
- Circus Plantia – IV. Light still bends to him
- Sweet grey Chitterlings
- Blind daughter of Polyphemus
- Mr.Spocks ancient vulcan secrets
- I. ChicknFingrFuckr
- II. ChicknFingrFugato
- III. The stuccato Fugato Mulato
- The potato wedgie Mulato
- Mr Spocks Fragant Vulcan secret
Guitars – Patrick Walsh
Drums – Mark Henry
Bass – Kevin Anderson
Thanks to hofee (Germany) for getting these in my hands.
Paul Dianno is coming back the the USA?!
According to published reports, Paul got his visa cleared to do a US tour. I guess I will try to go since he will be playng a few blocks from my apartment.
My history with seeing Paul live is pretty interesting, well to me it is.
The first time was Battlezone/Obsession in 1987 at the Boathouse in Norfolk, VA. I loved the Battlezone records and got stoked on seeing 2 bands that I loved. The whole time Battlezone was on stage, we were hanging out with Obsession and I never really got to check them out. Pity.
The second time was in 1993. The bill was Paul Dianno’s Killers and Solitude Aeturnus at the original Peppermint Beach Club in Virginia Beach, VA. At this point, I was a HUGE Solitude fan and was more stoked on seeing them than seeing Paul. I thought his Killers stuff was terrible. I get to the venue early that afternoon as I was always prone to do to get some stuff signed and Solitude was inside hanging out. I had them sign both of my cassettes(!!!). Super cool guys. Shortly thereafter Paul and his band came in and I had him sign my Battlezone LPs, Iron Maiden’s Live +1 (Greek pressing) and a compilation called The Best of British Rock which featured Dianno’s first post-Maiden band “Dianno” doing Antigua which was a great song. That album also had Persian Risk on it which featured some of the guys that were in Battlezone/Killers. Paul called his bandmates over and they all signed it and we hung out for a while. Paul asked me if I played pool and drank beer. Yes! We shot pool together and drank a few pitchers of beer and just talked about stuff. I never talked about Maiden with him other than to say that I was a big fan. He was pretty cool. Now, if you’ve read his book “Beast”, you’d see the other side of Paul that it seems most people saw and I got to see later than evening.
After Solitude Aeturnus played to a crowd of a whopping 30 people or so, I helped them get their gear offstage and ended up hanging out backstage with them during Dianno’s set, missing him play one more time. About ¾ through the set we hear the music stop suddenly and one of the Solitude guys opens the backstage door. On stage you see Graham Bath holding his jaw and Dianno says, “We’ll start playing again as soon as my guitar player stops playing like a c*nt!” I remember looking at John Perez of Solitude and thinking WTF? John said it was a common occurrence. Paul talks about his habit of fighting people over stupid stuff quite a bit in his book. I feel lucky to have survived my few hours with him unscathed!
So…2 times I’ve gone to see Paul play and missed him both time. Hopefully in February I’ll actually get to see him play.
It was a cold night in February 1988…
…when I met Nicko McBrain. He had come to town to do a drum clinic for Sonor Drums and Paiste Cymbals. As a zit 
-faced, poofy-haired kid who loved Iron Maiden more than just about anything, this clinic was like a taste of Heaven. There were only about 30 people there as Whitesnake were in town touring for the ’87 LP. I was one of 2 people who actually got to get up on stage and play his drums with him standing right there. It was awesome. During one of his rambles, he mentioned the size of the crowd being small due to Whitesnake being in town. Under my breath from the front row I said “Fuck Tommy Aldridge.” Nicko stopped his speech and said, “Steve, give that man a beer!” So his tech handed me an ice cold Heineken which I had Nicko autograph after the show. I still have that bottle, unopened and it’s all chunky inside. I didn’t drink at the time so there was no reason to open it.
Here it is:
Arsis – Starve For The Devil (2010)
I’m really excited to hear the new album from these guys. Their last one, We Are The Nightmare, is my #1 pick for 
2008. I still listen to it regularly. I love Arsis. I have from the first time I laid ears on them.
They’ve uploaded a track from the upcoming album Starve For The Devil called Beyond Forlorn. Pretty good song. I’m really stoked that Mike Van Dyne is back in the band. He’s a great drummer. He’s got a different style than Darren Cesca, but I think he fits well with Jim Malone. Those dudes have done a lot together.
I can already predict what my #1 of 2010 is going to be, especially since I hate most all newer metal bands.
Tracklist for the latest album:
- “Forced to Rock”
- “A March for the Sick”
- “From Soulless to Shattered (Art in Dying)”
- “Beyond Forlorn” – 4:01
- “The Ten of Swords”
- “Closer to Cold”
- “Sick Perfection”
- “Half Past Corpse O’Clock”
- “Escape Artist”
- “Sable Rising”
Limited edition additional bonus tracks
- “A Pound of Flesh (For the Hell of It)”
- “The Lake” (King Diamond cover)
C’mon…Hafd Past Corpse O’Clock is one of the greatest song titles ever!
Buzzard – Churp!!! (1993)
Here’s another rarity for you fine readers out there. Buzzard’s debut album Churp!!! on Hellhound Records. 
I remember back in the early 90s going to see these guys at Kings Head Inn (RIP) on Hampton Blvd in Norfolk, VA. A buddy of mine said, “Dude you have to see this band. They are insane. Their drummer is phenomenal and he’s only got one leg!” So I went. I was completely floored by everything that this band was doing. They were tight. They were erratic. They were brilliant. They were ugly. Dudes that looked like street urchin gutter punks with beards and dreads. Never got close enough to see if they smelled badly. Didn’t matter. They were a machine. A force to be reckoned with. I went to see them whenever I knew that they had a show. With that original era of the band I think I saw them 4 or 5 times within a year or 2. Every time I was blown away. Never really tried to speak to the guys as they all pretty much looked like they didn’t wan to be spoken to.
Buzzard was on Hellhound Records which was primarily a doom metal label…but Buzzard was anything but a doom band. They mixed metal with jazz, punk, Miles Davis, Zappa, Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever…
Their live show was pretty mind-numbing. Odd times signatures, stops and starts, no real cues given to each other. They all knew what they had to do and when. At that time they consisted of Patrick Walsh (Guitars), AJ Long (Vocals), John Finney (Horns), Andy Brown (Bass) and Joey Rudacil (Drums). Just insane I tell you.
Several years later I am hanging out with some friends and see Patrick Walsh from Buzzard come in the bar I was in. I was there with his sister and didn’t realize that they were related. Buzzard was reformed at this point as a 3-piece with Kevin Anderson on bass and Mark Henry on Drums. Patrick and I quickly connected and started hanging out a lot. Ultimately he became one of my best friends. Brilliant guy. Phenomenal guitarist. Helluva a nice guy. We jammed together briefly with Joey Rudacil and Todd Owens. It only lasted about 3 or 4 practices but it was fun. I ended up in another band with Joey a few months later and had a blast but we could never secure a singer.
Anyway, I was working the door at the Taphouse in Norfolk and Buzzard was scheduled to play their first show in 7 years. I was fortunate enough to get to sit in on several of their practices and was blown away even more by how much their sound had progressed. It went from the Mahavishnu-esque psychojazz to a math metal thing like Watchtower on meth. people came from up and down the east coast for this show and the place was over capacity with a line of people out the door and wrapped around the building trying to get in. It was an incredible show. They have done some subsequent shows but I think the last one may have been in 2007. It’s time for more!
I keep praying that they put out a new record with the newer songs on it. They recorded a 2nd album several years ago that never really saw the light of day. You can listen to some of it on their website.
Churp!!! is one of the toughest releases of Hellhound’s to find nowadays. I fortunately have 2 copies that I cherish. The album is an incredible piece of music…of art…an experience. AJ’s vocals are simply incredible. If you download this, please listen to the album as a whole. Don’t skip any of the 16 tracks. You’d be doing yourself a great disservice.
Tracks:
| 1. | Cyclops | 02:28 | |
| 2. | Shadows Without Substance | 03:03 | |
| 3. | The Fellowship (varieties) | 04:45 | |
| 4. | The Given/Grinding Wheel (including, but not limited to the following) | 08:38 | |
| 5. | Ear To The Ground | 03:44 | |
| 6. | His Descent | 01:35 | |
| 7. | Carpetbaggers | 05:13 | |
| 8. | Fluorescent Orange Bag O’Goodness | 02:09 | |
| 9. | Thirteen o’clock (frumpy smokes a fattie) | 05:21 | |
| 10. | Escape From The Island Of Misfit Toys | 06:01 | |
| 11. | The Secret Doctrine According To Simon | 03:36 | |
| 12. | Grand Poo-Bah | 00:48 | |
| 13. | The Return Of Frumpy And The Scrubby Jazz Hippies | 01:55 | |
| 14. | Musica d’Apocryphonica (no. I adagio) | 00:48 | |
| 15. | Savage Paisley Vortex (part I) | 00:59 | |
| 16. | Savage Paisley Vortex (pert II) The Ritual Dance And Initiation Of Chicky Boy | 07:01 |
Check out the vids from back in the day…
The Metal Files 
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