lately I have been watching quite interviews / longs & shorts on Rick Beato's channel. I know some of you do as well.
i like his way of interviewing, he is really knowledgable and insightful. So I ran into his interview with Tool drummer Danny Carey and I was floored. Not only did he interview him great, Danny was such a pleasure to listen to. So humble and open. And what revelations! He played with Jeff Buckley even way back, how about that? And then running through his kit, some real eye openers there for me!

(and as a fan: Danny mentioned they have remastering AEnima, and he heard it on vinyl...so that means a re-release on vinyl FINALLY coming up!).

Stewart Copeland is another fantastic interview, although I have seen a lot of Stewart and was already a fan..

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it in case you hadn't noticed Beato and his 4.2 million ( ) subscribers.

https://www.youtube.com/@RickBeato/videos
And for shorter versions or excerpts:
https://www.youtube.com/@rickbeato2

https://beat-tour.com/

Well, I think the  musicians are very good, but I am not sure..
Pro: it has Belew & Levin,plus Danny Carey whom I admire greatly.
Con: you guessed, it has Vai, whom I also admire greatly but would not associate with KCs output in a million years. Then again, I would not have associated him with Whitesnake either and that worked..oh wait..

Right, the Dutch entry is known, and it's either hilarious or horrendous. Meaning he will either get 0 points or takes them all.
I am no Eurovision fan at all, but I do like it when artists at least try to use some of their own language. I know it's a disadvantage to some, but this character actually did just that and made it superDutch while making it more Eurovision than I thought would be possible. Put on the subtitles to sort of understand what he is doing, wth a lot of wordplay, mixing Dutch with all sorts of other languages to make rhymes.
To top it off, he has various well known Dutch artists cameo-ing in the video, but the real kicker is this: it's really a song about his father that passed away.

Oh well, go bold or go home I guess.

Bought a td11 some 7 years ago, liked it but was not over the moon. Have been playing it at home, mostly to keep up my skills.
Been doing some digging and found 2 sets of sounds made specially for the td 11 module. Td11 is a so called real acoustic sound module, and it has to be said, it really sounds like a regular kit if you tweak some settings.
But these new packages of sounds have really opened up the module and made it great fun. Digital copies of old Ludwig sets, DW studio sounds, I could go on. Fantastic.

Managed to order a pdx12 snare pad, the thing itself comes with 8" pads which is a bit small, that should arrive sometime this week. Once it does I am set up nicely.

Next up is subscripe to an app called Moises. It can split the instruments and lets you mute each of them separately. It also has an intelligent metronome and it recognizes chords. This will help me a lot study drum parts, really looking forward to work on some new material. And old of course, preparing for gigs later this year.

I am not familiar with all the technical background or skills required, but I am reading this is a sort of a revelation.
Converting a written prompt to realistic video.
It looks impressive. So far only available for a few researchers as I understand it, but the possibilities seem endless.

https://openai.com/sora

I have always loved that live debut album. Kick out the Jams is part of my musical upbringing even if it was released 2 years before I was born.

If you're not sure you ever heard it, well just go and listen. This was groundbreaking stuff, intense and influential.

The title song has been covered by just about everyone.

RIP Wayne!

https://www.rushbackstage.com/product/6XAMRU287/silver-surfers-neil-peart

Yes, it's a car book.

I have no clue which newspaper does what in the UK, so I just picked one, but I thought this was rather funny (plus I can't imagine anyone reading a Dutch newssite here...)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12986073/DPD-online-chatbot-rogue-swearing-calls-worst-delivery-firm-world.html

For those not familiar but curious to see what this is all about (sorry for the ridiculous long URL but this is from a mailing list, the page itself is not yet available on Bandcamp directly):
https://daily.bandcamp.com/scene-report/norwegian-prog-scene-report?utm_source=KARISMA%2BRECORDS%2BNEWSLETTER&utm_campaign=7414e32b29-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_12_19_09_16_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-5335f3723b-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&goal=0_87a8a093ca-7414e32b29-613099721&mc_cid=7414e32b29&mc_eid=f69adb93c5

Looks to be a nice summary for one of the leading labels: Karisma.

Great drummer, first heard him on the Kingdom Come album and he went on to play with the Scorpions for decades.
Actually saw him up close when the band I was in opened for them in '97.

He had some issues, got him fired from the Scorps, looks like it got the better of him.
Just 61 years old, another sad loss.

I knew it! All those years our feline friends spent on Youtube finally paid off! As an added bonus it ws done using Laser, serious Dr. Evil vibes here...

Our Nasa friends streamed video from space to earth, it's all here:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-tech-demo-streams-first-video-from-deep-space-via-laser

Ah yes, it's that time again. Because I listen to a lot of music - old & new - this is when I try to make sense of the year. I usually fail because I forget things I heard (maybe not that good after all?), but what I do remember I will continue playing.
Again apologies in advance for the long list, I overdo things like this (I am aware, don't call for help, it won't work).

So here goes in completely random order (except for the number one album)

And that number one album is different, very different: London Brew. And ode to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew brought into the modern age. I mentioned this one before, so just go and listen and if it's not for you, than so be it!
https://londonbrew.bandcamp.com/album/london-brew

Bluesrock - Gov't Mule - Peace..Like a River, recorded during the same sessions as Heavy Load blues it's a classic Mule album. Strong compositions, well balanced and you can hear how much the guys enjoyed themselves. Top effort!
https://govtmule.bandcamp.com/album/peace-like-a-river

But wait, over here in our little country we have DeWolff - Love , Death and In Between released early this year has made a lasting impression. Feast yourself on the epic "Rosita" clocking in at 16:30, it is fantastic:
https://dewolff.bandcamp.com/album/love-death-in-between

If you like your music dark and melancholic, try everyone's favourites sad willows: Katatonia. They say beauty is in decay, if that's true for music then "Sky Void of Stars" is yours for the taking:
https://katatonia.bandcamp.com/album/sky-void-of-stars

This years winner for the "Is it Led Zeppelin or is it not?" contest is Westing - Future (more like Past):
https://westingband.bandcamp.com/album/future

I get it, sometimes you just don't want to wake up from a lovely nightmare, that's kind of what Blut Aus Nord sounds like, try it if you want to hold on to that feeling the entire day:
https://blutausnord.bandcamp.com/album/disharmonium-nahab

What used to be Metal might not be more now, what remains is fantastic music, really something! Baroness - Stone:
https://baroness.bandcamp.com/album/stone

There is no category to describe David Eugene Edwards and his ever ongoing trip towards the apocalypse, this time it's acoustic and it hits hard, but it is oh so gorgeous!
https://davideugeneedwards.bandcamp.com/album/hyacinth

The album everyone expected to be good, it exceeded expectations: Queens of the Stone Age, maybe the best live band currently around:
https://qotsa.bandcamp.com/album/in-times-new-roman

My personal heroes do it again, like they do it every year. This time it's lovely songs suited for all: Motorpsycho's Yay!
https://motorpsycho.bandcamp.com/album/yay

Guaranteed to have a good time - the most fun album this year: Arjen Lucassen's Supersonic Revolution, and ode to the Golden Age of music, the early '70s - a must hear!
https://supersonicrevolution.bandcamp.com/album/golden-age-of-music

Last but not least, a recent release, the new Spidergawd - IIV. That first single is just pure gold and might very well my song of the year. It has been stuck in my head for a month now. So now I need you to hear it as well, and watch the video, because that is great 
https://spidergawdnorway.bandcamp.com/album/spidergawd-vii

One more thing: the archival release of the year goes to John Coltrane, such a fantastic find & release. That music can still surprise you after being archived for 62 years, that's what it is all about!


That's it, roll on next year: The Smile will issue their new album, I am soooo looking forward to that.

-   The Spectrum, Philadelphia June 17, 1986

"Attack!", Ronnie James Dio shouts, holding up a sword three times his size, pretending to slay a 20 ft dragon in a spectacle of a show that cost the same a 2 family homes at the time.  Heavy Metal is hot and Dio is has the best ticket in town.  Not too long ago Dio was trying to set up his own brand combining the heaviness of Black Sabbath with the European melodies of Rainbow, and pleasing his ego by naming it after himself.
This is peak level and with all things at peak level, you don't know you are there unless you start sloping down. Halfway across the country and three months earlier the up-and-coming band has just released its breakthrough album Master of Puppets. The band: Metallica. The band that was at the birth of a new genre of metal: Thrash.

Thrash Metal, what is it? Is it still alive? Is Metallica a Thrash Metal band?
Three excellent questions and inquiring minds want to know, so here goes:

Thrash Metal is an evolved form of Heavy Metal, to be more specific a mix of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and American Hardcore Punk. Ask any of the Thrash pioneers what they listened to you will hear he same: British Heavy Metal and American Hardcore.
It is still very alive however, as with grunge, there is no Thrash boom going on, it is the mainstays that are here, with every now and then a great new band popping up.
Metallica, a household name, started as a Thrash band, that is quite clear. A bit different perhaps than other Thrash bands simply because there was no blueprint to follow, so they created their own. In essence they paved the way for a lot of other bands; when they gained some success record companies all wanted their own Metallica. And also: thy are at the beginning of at least 2 of the greatest thrash bands of all time, themselves & Megadeth.
But of course Metallica were not alone in the early days.

It started in the Bay Area, around San Francisco, and regardless how many other Thrash hubs there were, by far and away most bands of any fame are from here. The list is endless, but these names should ring more than one bell:
Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, Death Angel and the mother of them all: Exodus. Bonded by Blood is possibly the blueprint for all thrash albums that came after. Unfortunate timing though: Metallica's Kill 'em All beat them when it came to the release date. But if you want to understand anything about the scene at the time, this is essential listening.
The documentary Murder in the Front Row makes what happened in those days tangible, see the trailer here: (the music is Exodus Bonded by Blood)

Of course there were other scenes: the East Coast had Anthrax, Overkill and Nuclear Assault as most important exponents and was more hardcore influenced, Germany had the Teutonic Thrashers: Kreater & Destruction, but also Sodom remains quite popular.
UK had its' own Metallica/Slayer hybrid: Onslaught, and perhaps the most exotic one of the bunch came from Brazil: Sepultura (who just announced after 40 years they will quit after a last world tour).

What do all these bands have in common? Well in one word: Energy. Complex rhythms played at breakneck speed, demanding the audience attention, rebel against anything 'fake' (at the time the popular Hair Metal movement was a favourite target). Lyrics often quite engaged, to downright fatalistic (remember this is the time when the Cold War was in full force – a huge amount of songs deal with subjects as post nuclear attack, dystopian fallout worlds etc.). Not all bands however stuck to that, Slayer for instance was much more drawn to the occult and wanted to shock with subjects that involved torture, dismemberment and Holocaust horrors de facto laying the foundation for nearly all Death Metal (and related genres) lyrical content to come.

What does it sound like? The speed aspect is important, it creates a sense of urgency and the burst of energy demands attention even when listening at home. The musicians are usually well accomplished. Drummers rolling the double bassdrum patterns, guitarists playing flashy and fast solos. Most, if not all, bands have 2 guitarists, double soloing is omnipresent. The vocals in the beginning were very rudimentary, as a sort of controlled screaming (we all heard Hetfield sing on those first Metallica albums), gnawing and gnashing (Mustaine (Megadeth)-like), hitting high notes deliberately a-tonal (Araya – Slayer). But as time progressed, vocalists became better and better. Death Angels' Mark Osegueda is not just a thrash singer, he is a very accomplished vocalist for instance. 

I can imagine people not taking to it at all though, I was there at the birth of a genre, I even played in a thrash band for a couple of years and am quite fond of the genre. However, it's not always the most well known bands I fell for, yes I liked Metallica, Slayer etc. but many bands that have long gone and in some cases only released a few albums have a special place in my collection. Anyone can go and listen to Testaments Titans of Creation – one of the best albums in the genre recently - , Sepultura's Quadra, as it turns out now: their swansong, or better yet, find their breakthrough album Roots that mixes thrash with Latin American Tribal music, you can pick up Kreators' earlier classics, or Destructions's debut mini LP Sentence of Death, but the real beauty for me lies in finding the early output by bands such as Blessed Death, Hallow's Eve or even Whiplash (very much a thrash hardcore hybrid hailing from New York, aka "the 3 Tony" band). Listen to Nuclear Assault's Game Over, the band name is a dead giveaway of the subject matter.
One of my all time favourite's remains Voivod although I always struggled to see them as part of the same movement, they did tour with all the well known names. Canadian and very much in a world of their own.

With the genre booming many crossover projects arose as well, he one I listened to most is perhaps the best known: S.O.D. (Stormtroopers of Death). Half of Anthrax, Nuclear Assault bass player Dan Lilker (a pivotal figure in the NY scene) and Billy Milano blurt out the most politically incorrect lyrics on a less than 30 minute album containing 21 songs. Some of the first blast beats by Charlie Benante can be heard on this one (fun fact: Benante and not Scott Ian is the most important songwriter in Anthrax). A perfect blend of Metal and Hardcore makes up for an album that is impeccably produced for its' time. Fun stuff like Anti Procrastination Song (6 seconds), What's That Noise? A minute of noise and swearing and the Ballad of Jimi Hendrix (5 seconds of Purple Haze, lyrics: 'You're Dead') spoke to this 15 year old. Album title? Speak English Or Die!

In more recent years the dinosaurs that remained have turned out decent albums, not all of them are still thrash, I mentioned Metallica earlier, but Megadeth for instance are still quite thrashy and less fortunate bands have stayed true to their roots. Slayer has stopped and Anthrax through various incarnations is still playing its' tunes.

To this 15 year old the genre was a lifeline, something different from the 20 year olds that listened exclusively to Maiden, Saxon and Priest. This was something I could make my own and so I did. I played drums and tried molding myself after (mainly) Dave Lombardo of Slayer fame, landed a gig with local band Sorcerer (no, not the Sweish doom metallers) and started playing and recording. Fun times! My first ever gig was in May 1987, in Belgium no less!

But as years went by, the interest waned, new genres rose and drew interest. I never stopped listening to the old thrash, but the newer bands always appealed less to me. There are of course exceptions, I really like Machine Head (The Blackening is a beast of an album!) and more recently Australian melodic thrashers Meshiaak did some interesting work. But for the large part it remains a much cherished 'secret': I listened to Thrash, from the very early days on!



Essential albums

Metallica - Kill' Em All (1983)
The mother of them all, classified as Thrash, Metallica turned out to be heavy & fast as well as melodic. Lyrics dealt with all sorts of topis, but the essence is energy, and trying to evoke a feeling of 'we are in this together'. Metallica would go on to deal with much more personal topics lyrically, Hetfield working through his personal demons in his lyrics.

Slayer - Reign in Blood (1986)
A 30 minute masterclass in effectiveness. It runs you over and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened...? The double bassdrum break in Angel of Death is legendary. Slayer lyrically is the most brutal of the Big Four: Christianity is not spared, WWII horrors galore and serial killer fantasies roam the Slayer world. Not for the faint of heart.

Anthrax - Among the Living (1987)
Thick chugging guitars, supertight drumming, actual singing (courtesy of Joey Belladonna, found as a local coverband singer where he sang Journey songs) and the most energetic band on stage. Wearing shorts, colourful shirts, having fun all the time. Lyrically the songs are based on Stephen King books (Among the Living, A Skeleton in the Closet), The demise of comic John Belushi (Efilnikufesin, N.F.L. (aka Nice Fucking Life)). Comics (I Am the Law that RIFF is monstrous!) and the dire fate of the indigenous people of America (Indians).

Megadeth - Rust in Peace (1990)
Mustaine started the progressive thrash movement with his intricate guitar parts and complex song structures. Lyrically these were anti-establishment in concept, bordering on conspiracy stuff but always sharp. Has had so many line up changes it is difficult to keep up. This album though is fantastic a and true classic, even for me personally he better topped Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? (1986)

Sepultura – Roots (1996)
After honing their craft playing Slayer infused thrash on Chaos A.D and Beneath the Remains the band dug deep and found their influences to be more native than they could have ever imagined. Roots is a deeply spiritual album mixing elements of Thrash metal with Latin  and tribal rhythms and musical instruments.  Cited as a big influence on the Groove / NuMetal genre due to its percussiveness.

Machine Head – The Blackening (2007)
Eight tracks long Machine Head manages to captive thanks to very strong songwriting. A triumphant return to form after a few lackluster efforts, Rob Flynn pushes the boundaries of his bands abilities. Lovely acoustic intros that explode into Thrash monsters: this album has everything that makes the genre exciting.

Did I forget bands or albums? Sure I did, I could go on, the list is endless:
Flotsam and Jetsam's Doomsday for the Deceiver, Metal Church's self titled debut, East Coast  heroes Prong with their proto groove metal, Dark Angels' Darkness Descends, Canada's Annihilator and Exciter, Sacred Reich, Blind Illusion and perhaps the one most discussed in the genre at the time (did they or did Death invent the Death Metal genre?) Possessed's Seven Churches.
In the end it doesn't matter, it is all good.

But maybe I should leave the final word to one the genre's recent heroes, sadly fallen due to the untimely death of the bands' vocalist – Power Trip:
https://powertripsl.bandcamp.com/album/nightmare-logic

Last night was the last ever Kiss show - by their own admission. But Kiss is not Rush, when they stated it was over, it was really over.
What did Kiss do right? Well, they ended it where it all began for them: New York City. I often wondered why Rush decided to end it where they did instead of doing it in Toronto.

So is it really over? I don't think so. This is what I am contemplating:
Private gigs - they did them in the past, if a bag of money is dangled in front of them they will bite.
Kiss Kruise - they have been doing this for some 10 years and it will continue. Now who would go on a Kiss Kruise without getting the main attraction?
And lastly, the so-called 'new era', they have been 'immortalized' as avatars, same way that ABBA did. I am sure this will be touring the world, at least once to test the waters. And the first time will probably be succesful as well. It might become a Las Vegas staple, I wouldn't be surprised. Biggest thing for me: they used Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, understandable but it would have been a great gesture to the fans and original band if they had brought in Ace & Peter for this endeavor.


So, are we done with the band? As a touring entity: yes they are 100% done.
Now, will I go see the avatar thing? I am on the fence. On the one hand I think: Money Machine, on the other hand I am really curious what they came up with.

Anyway, only time will tell, here is the avatar clip thingy:

I don't play guitar, but I think they look cool.

https://lerxstamps.com/

From rushisaband.com

Prog-rockers TOOL played a show at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto last night, and concertgoers were treated to a special appearance from Rush's Alex Lifeson, who joined the band at the end of their first set for their performance of Jambi. They led into the song with a little snippet of Rush's A Passage to Bangkok, then inserted a bit of 2112: Overture in the middle. Alex also did some soloing towards the end. Geddy Lee had been mentioning in interviews and on his book tour that Alex had been having some health issues and had surgery recently, so this must mean that Lerxst is about fully recovered. Great news! This bodes well for the possibility of some kind of musical collaboration from Ged/Al in the new year.

Today, ESA's Euclid space mission reveals its first full-colour images of the cosmos. Never before has a telescope been able to create such razor-sharp astronomical images across such a large patch of the sky, and looking so far into the distant Universe. These five images illustrate Euclid's full potential; they show that the telescope is ready to create the most extensive 3D map of the Universe yet, to uncover some of its hidden secrets.

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness

I love Stewart Copeland, I rate him highly as a drummer, a musician and he is funny as hell in all of his footage. I enjoy the series he has made and the 'Everyone Stares' homevideo, and now he has a book, The Police Diaries.
I am tempted to buy it, need to have a think. It's 50EUR plus shipping, but steep but OK, it's fair I guess.
Enjoyed this Guardian fragment:
https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/16/punk-sting-and-electrified-zombies-high-on-glue-stewart-copeland-on-how-the-police-formed?fbclid=IwAR2tFNSoPFb238gn6qMBbvbgIpLIcMEvBj1JUf-UwyX73h_1EkX6-od-ah8

Anyone have it? Read it?

Well, 83 is a nice age, have to admit I thought he was long gone already..being the popular Rocky character since the beginning I thought he'd be a lot older.

But what is truly funny, in a violent kind of way, is how he went about in the Sopranos. He had one little role there, playing a retired hitman that needed to do one more hit. It turned out to be his last...

GRAPHIC VIOLENCE WARNING

And then of course, the inevitable happens...

Finding some recent rehearsal room recordings made me wonder: what was the first time I heard myself playing? Well, to find that out I need to go back a bit.
My first interest in any musical instrument was the piano, my father played it and it was prominently displayed. I can remember him playing, mostly classical and he recorded himself on cassette tapes. He was an avid radio and hifi home builder (maybe I'll dive into that some time, but not now) and so I came to learn that it was even possible to record yourself. I was very young though: my father died when I just turned seven. Those tapes were something tangible he left behind, but honestly everything in the house was like that. So they disappeared over time, that's just how things go.

Back to the recording bit then. I was aware it was possible and I was always experimenting with equipment, up to the point where I recorded the audio of early video tapes, very rudimentary, by simply holding a cassette recorder to the speaker of the television while playing an early Betamax tape of Venom's 7th Date of Hell tape. It wasn't available on LP so I figured, let's do this, so I can hear the music whenever I want and I don't need to occupy the tv set in the living room. I won't recommend anyone trying this, it took a good 60 minutes, with a break in the middle to flip over the tape, of sitting very still and being very quiet. But I managed, that tape I surely held onto for years!

It wasn't long after that, that I tossed the idea of playing a musical instrument. My family at that point being a bit dysfunctional (again perhaps later), thought it would probably be good – it got me out of the house – so I took up drumming lessons. It was there that it dawned on me: I can record myself and listen back what I am doing.
Biggest problem: I had no drumkit. It took a month or 6 before it became clear it wasn't a fluke, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the teacher, a young and aspiring drummer himself, informed my parents I was sort of talented, other than just knowing how to keep time. Fortunately, there was some money on a separate account (aka, the inheritance) that could be turned to and so – with the help of said drum teacher – I purchased a massive (no really massive!) drumkit. It was a Rogers Big R, gloss black, with 2 absurdly 26" bassdrums, 7 toms ranging from 12" to 20" (!!) and a slew of cymbals, mostly Paiste. The best part, if someone asked what it looked like, I could point them to LP cover of Dutch heavy metal band Picture, because it was that kit I bought.
I set it up in the attic and the whole neighbourhood got to enjoy it...



Fast forward a year or so, quickly progressing, I switched schools and ran into a fellow long haired metalhead. Low and behold, he played in a band! And their drummer just left. He wasn't the right fit anyway, being a good 10 years older than the rest and when you're 16 that's a huge age gap. Whether I could let them hear what I did, how was my playing? I knew all the right bands, so it was just down to that.
And that, was when I thought: How the hell am I am going to do that? I need to record myself.
I thought back to everything I knew and had seen and brought up my stereo. It included a tapedeck and somehow I needed to figure out how to make that work. Don't ask me why, or how, but I managed to plug in the homemade headphones from my late father into the mic in, turn the shells inside out and play my heart out. I went as fast as I could, fill after fill, pushing up the pace, bouncing off the walls banging those double bassdrums like a boy possessed. And it worked! I listened to the tape, and again, and again. It actually worked, I had a tape recording of myself playing the drums!
The next day I brought to school, handed it over and impatiently waited. I impressed upon him I wanted that tape back, it was the only one I had plus on the flipside was a demo recording from a local band I had been given.
Over the weekend the other guys had listened and when I returned to school on Monday I was invited to come over the next Sunday evening for an audition. The audition itself is a story for another time, but I got the gig!
This was in October / November 1986 and today still, the guitar player and I are together, making music.

We have recorded so much music over the years, it would be impossible to remember all of that. I do remember most of the recording set ups we used though. I will try and expand upon that in the near future.

Let me end with a link to a song I uploaded some years ago, that was maybe recorded in 2015 or so. Note this is more or less in line with the type of music we are playing currently. It used to be a bit different. But I'll get to that later as well...

For now:
https://lemoncrush1.bandcamp.com/track/100-funeral