Clash of the Titans revisited

Clash of the Titans was a tour by thrash bands that began in 1990 with a European leg featuring Megadeth, Slayer, Testament and Suicidal Tendencies. There was a second leg in 1991 in the United States and Canada with a slightly different lineup, this time with headliners Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, and supporting act Alice in Chains. I missed the original Clash of the Titans tour but got to see the reunion tour this summer at Baltimore. Anthrax opening for Megadeth who opened for the almighty Slayer. Heavy metal nirvana if there ever was one.

Scott Ian shredding


Anthrax in full tilt with Caught in a Mosh


Megadeth kicked off with Holy Wars


Guitar god Dave Mustaine


Kerry King lays down Slayer's monster riffs

Rockonomics - An Indicator of Socio-Economic Development

Guest post by fellow music lover and economic whiz kid Debashish Bose. This post was written after a recent article in the Mint on the development of an indie rock music scene in India and how the upcoming bands are trying to support themselves:
http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/26203912/Rockonomics.html

Debashish:
In my opinion the development of a rock music industry is inherently tied to the growth and evolution of a nation and hence is something I would track very closely if I were to be a longer term investor in any nation. The disclaimer is that I am possibly heavily biased being a bit of a hard rock / heavy metal fanatic and having played in amateur bands before.

Much like trying to "follow the money" when it comes to investing, I will try and go through the process which leads to the formation of a band and the development of the eco-system to attempt to articulate the same.

The roots always lie in it being a middle class movement and the reasons for the same are:

• Whether one considers what might be emerging now in India or what happened in the western world in the 60s, Rock music almost always is and will be a relatively more acquired taste given that it is not the simplest form of music out there. It takes a while for the ear to appreciate it and that cannot come without a certain degree of
  education and evolution of the mental process.
• The musical instruments required to play the same are neither cheap nor something which can be done without a significant degree of training and practice. Also as one goes into the essential accessories like effects pedals, mixers, quality amplifiers etc, the availability and affordability of the same is not easy in India, (though significantly better than 15 years back!)

Now lets delve a little deeper into the social aspects of the same:

• The music is inherently disruptive compared to the prevalent popular music of the time. Think - the change which the likes Elvis and Little Richard presented, or what the Beatles came up with, or further what the sounds of Black Sabbath & Led Zeppelin brought out as compared to the Beatles. In the Indian context, the big names to define the movement has not happened yet, however the texture of the music is in stark contrast to what is popular music ie bollywood music. This is an extremely important phenomenon since disruptive change is only likely to occur when society is at an inflection point in its developmental process.
• Rock music is possibly one of the most honest forms of music in terms of an expression of a heavy dose of realism in its lyrical content and the channelling of animalistic aggression through a musical process. This is in complete contrast to popular music of its time. Bollywood music for eg presents a sugar-coated, escapist veneer which is perfectly suited to forget the harshness of life in the real world. However for realism to become popular, there needs to be a certain degree of comfort with the realities of life, which in turn is nothing but a pure function of a certain amount of affluence seeping
  through society.

Which in turn brings us to the context of forming a band:

• A rock band is almost guaranteed to go through a period of intense struggle surviving on just about nothing or a day job until commercial success can be achieved. While the musicians may well be renegades influenced by idealism, the reality of the situation will no doubt hit sooner or later. Going back however to the first part which I mentioned that the movement is inherantly rooted in the middle class, what is interesting to see is how greater numbers slowly start emerging wanting to form a career in the field. This is inherently linked to a belief that an audience maybe developing for their music and that the musicians themselves are somewhat comfortable with what other future possibilities hold for them should their musical career fizzle out...ie a degree of comfort in being able to take career risks.
• A rock band is just like any entreprenuerial start up venture which is initiated with a strong idealistic framework and with the hopes of bootstrapping its way to success. This starts with the fact that there are 3-5 individuals brought together by an idea and then needing to execute on all parts of the process themselves ie the creative aspect - composition, song writing, playing; the business aspect - arranging gigs, haggling with club owners, procuring equipment, logistics etc. and the management aspect - managing egos & "creative differences". Entrepreneurship combined with middle class roots is exacly what you are looking in a developing economy.

And next we move on the development of the eco-system, which ofcourse starts first with the audience. While a big name, mainstream Western band is almost guranteed a sellout show in India given the complete lack of access to them in the past and hence the consequent pent up demand, its quite another thing for home grown bands to think about the possibility of an audience for their original music. The fact that this belief seems to be growing is a direct
reflection of an evolution of tastes in the broader consumer segment for something disruptively different from the norm and the elements of acquired taste which I initially mentioned - almost exactly the same aspects which you would look for to define emerging consumerism. A whole industry is slowly starting to develop around it which includes the record labels, the rock clubs which host live acts, the musical equipment manufacturers, the merchandising industry etc.

Again all this is still at a very nascent stage but I will insert a quote here from the article I cited initially to sum up what am attempting to describe in this rambling text:
"Tambe remembers attending an OML-organized "unconference" in November. "One British music producer speaking there said that the vibe and energy in Indian rock right now is very similar to Britain in the late 1960s, around the time the pub bands became international superstars," he says. "Something's about to happen. The indie music scene is going to explode. We're just turning the corner."

Happy reading!

Planting a Flag in the Ground

Moosh often calls the heavy metal fans at the gigs I go to my "tribe". The concept of metal fans as a tribe is not new, and the visual identifiers of the tribe are pretty obvious - long hair, black clothes, tattoos, piercings etc. For this tribe, heavy metal t-shirts are the equivalent of planting a flag in the ground - it says, this is what I listen to, its great if you like it, and if you don't, I really don't care. I have my fair share of heavy metal band t-shirts, and while Iron Maiden and Slayer t-shirts are the most common at concerts, I've been surprised by the two that garner the most attention.

Cro-Mags: This t-shirt gathers the most attention, with people at concerts and also in every day life coming upto me and talking to me about the Cro-Mags and how much they love old school New York hardcore.



D-Low Memorial Show: The D-Low festival is an annual metalcore concert in Phoenix, AZ held in the memory of Dana Wells, Soulfly and ex-Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera's stepson. Not many metal fans even know about this show, yet everytime I wear this t-shirt to a show, people come up to me and talk to me about how much they love Soulfly/Sepultura.

Anthem AVM 50

My old trusty Acurus ACT 3 developed an intermittent connection problem with the amplifier, so I ended up getting a new pre-processor, the Anthem AVM 50.



Anthem has always been known for making very high end audio/video gear along with their twin Paradigm speaker line, and this pre-processor is no different. Video processing duties are handled by Gennum VXP Digital Image Processor that provides truly broadcast quality image processing. On the audio side, theres the usual bullet proof D/A @ full 24-bit x 192 kHz resolution along with 2-channel balanced inputs, and 7.2 channel balanced outs (capable of 2 zones).

I have an audiophile set up rather than a full on HT, and even then the accoustics of the house aren't very good to begin with. Here's the current rig:

Speakers (5.2):
RBH 1266SE/R (front tower; pair)
RBH 661 SE/R (center)
RBH 66 SE/R (surround; pair)
Axiom EP500 (subs; pair)

Amp: Parasound 5250 (5 channel amp, 250w per channel @ 8ohms)

Pre-Processor: Anthem AVM 50

Transports:
Denon 2910 (CD, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD; HDMI to AVM 50)
Sonos (mp3; coax audio connection to AVM 50)
PS3 (HDMI to AVM 50)
Western Digital Media Player (HDMI to TV; coax audio connection to AVM 50)
Cable box (HDMI to TV; coax audio connection to AVM 50)

TV: 65" Panny plasma

The last two transports hook up to the TV directly via HDMI so that we can watch TV/movies without the whole set up on.

In its current set up, this rig is an audiophile dream.

These go to eleven

Most definitely the best scene from This is Spinal Tap.

Excitement

W.A.S.P. performing the entire Crimson Idol album on February 15.
Iron Maiden on March 14.
Megadeth at Gigantour on April 26.

What a great way to start the summer! Can't wait!

And the award for the happiest band goes to...

As you've probably guessed by now, I love concerts. There's something about a band or DJ hanging it all out there for the audience. By baring their souls to the listener, the band gives the concert goer the rare opportunity to share a deeply personal connection, a 'moment' so to speak, with them, inspite of being surrounded by a sea of humanity. Concerts also allow bands to present a version of the song not constrained by radio edit requirements, so in effect listening to songs you know and love in a concert is like being reacquainted with a long lost friend who has changed just a little - sometimes for the better, sometimes not.

I've been to quite a few memorable concerts this year, which got me thinking - which ones did I enjoy the most and why? If I love all these bands shouldn't enjoy their concerts equally? So here's my list of great live bands that I have seen, and why you should see should the opportunity ever present itself.

The most intense concert - Soulfly. Hands down, no questions asked. They played a one hour set with no breaks at all. The audience was in a frenzy by the end of the hour. Moosh is not a heavy metal fan, yet she rates the Soulfly concert to be the best one she's ever been to.

The loudest concert - Slayer. I have never seen that many Marshall amps stacked together in my whole life. They music hit so hard, it physically drained you by the time the 90 minute set was over. Add to the fact that Slayer is just a great live band, and you have all the ingredients to be overwhelmed.

The most gifted band - Dream Theater. Dream Theater are musicians beyond compare. Every time I see them, I am simply blown away by their technical ability. Most technical bands aren't usually great concert bands, but Dream Theater takes technical ability to a whole new level and reels in the audience because of their sheer skill.

The happiest band - Tesla. This is an odd category. I've been listening to Tesla for a long time but only recently got a chance to see them live on their reunion tour. Tesla has to be the happiest band on the planet - genuine smiles and warmth just radiated out of these guys. Imagine going to a concert and coming back feeling elated!

Low car + 25mph + freak bump on the road = Ouch!

I hurt my downpipe really badly last Sunday. I drove over a freakishly high bump and the car took off with a gusto that would have bought me instant cred with the rally boys. Unfortunately, the dampers on my lowered car aren't valved for jumps and promptly bottomed the front of the car out on landing. The result is a damaged downpipe that'll cost $500 to replace. Put the car on a lift to check for any other damage. Finally decided to leave the downpipe as is - given the state of roads on the east coast the chances of the new one getting damaged too are pretty high.



A pic of the hooptie:

Some concert pictures

I took a couple of pictures with my camera at the Queensryche and Tesla concerts. Nothing much to really write home about, but thought I'd post them all the same.

Queensryche flag:



Shots from the Tesla gig:

Matisyahu

I guess I found him a bit late, but this Hasidic reggae singer blew me away. Here's Matisyahu at Stubbs (Austin, TX):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EBiei21-C8

Here's an interview with him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPcu810X0uU

From NYC Hardcore to the Indigo Girls

I've been listening to a lot of NYC hardcore ever since Scott sent me some VOD songs after our trip to SoCal - mostly Biohazard, Cro-Mags, MOD + SOD, and VOD. So guess where I'm going this Sunday? Yup, to an Indigo Girls concert! They're one of Moosh's favorite bands and since I've been dragging her to all of my heavy metal concerts, its time for me to return the favor. I'm sure I'm going to hear about this from Scott for a long time, especially since I gave him such a hard time back in LA.

On a different note, Pyaare's wedding is just two weeks away. I took my first shot at writing the speech, but its already been shot down for being inappropriate for the audience. Now what do I do?

Bob Saget, Louis C.K., and Carlos Mencia

Saw Bob Saget, Louis C.K., and Carlos Mencia and a bunch of other stand up comedians as part of Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus tour last night. Saget was the bomb! He did a guitar/song routine that had the crowd in splits. Louis C.K. was pretty good too, though he didn't have much material on his family which I think is his funniest stuff. Jim Norton was hilarious though this probably wasn't his crowd - his viciousness is not for everyone. Carlos headlined, but got off to a rocky start as the crowd heckled him for selling out (i.e., his Mind of Mencia show on Comedy Central). He became old school Carlos and really turned the heat on. At the end, he had the entire crowd with him. All in all, a great evening of laughs.

Raining Blood

The definitive Raining Blood video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb-DTrMG4vs

Slayer pwns joo!

A Summer of Concerts

I've been to quite a few shows this summer. It started off with seeing George Carlin and Russell Peters perform in DC. The musical experience so far has been:
1. Rush at the Nissan Pavillion, Bristow
2. Poison and Ratt also at the Nissan Pavillion, Bristow
3. Slayer and Marilyn Manson at Merriweather Post Pavillion, Columbia
4. Dream Theater at Pier 6 Pavillion, Baltimore

Upcoming shows:
1. Queensryche at the Ram's Head, Baltimore
2. Tesla also at the Ram's Head, Baltimore
3. Megadeth at the 930 Club, DC
I'm also seeing Opie & Anthony's Traveling Virus (Bob Saget, Louis CK, Carlos Mencia) this weekend.

So far, the Slayer gig was the most intense (are you surprised?) while the Dream Theater show was probably the best overall show (Dream Theater remains my #2 favorite live band after Soulfly). Now if only Rage Against The Machine did an east coast tour...

Jon Stewart

I saw Jon Stewart perform last night at the Merriweather Post Pavillion. Funnier than the one liners on the daily show, but a little disappointing when compared to stand up mainstays such as Chris Rock or Carlos Mencia. Worth watching none the less.