A friend of a friend sent over this screenshot to prove that she lives in the same Hollywood apartment building as Señor Lemmy Kilmister, wrangler of one-armed bandits and possessor of the gruffest of gruff singing voices.
“He probably has the speediest connection.” Ha!
Any guesses what his password is?
Thanks, Brian!
Heh heh ha ha… I pretty much lost interest in the popular “Who Are You?” [search below to catch 'em all] series of posts here after Adem Tepedelen started his excellent Test Your Metal blog a while back. But Adem yanks out old band photos, not pics of old buildings. So here you go!
Why is this structure of utmost significance to the history of heavy metal? Looks like a lovely place for a swim, doesn’t it?
Wow, suffragette city! As the latest in our ongoing series of people engaging in metal behavior before heavy metal was invented (see recent post of Velvet Underground in grim corpse paint in the mid-1960s), here’s a gaggle of gals experimenting with cryptic hand gestures in North Berkeley about a hundred years ago. Of course I’m in love with the necromistress in the solid hat, but I’m also making morbid claws in the general direction of the woman with the giant bow tie who seems to be studying and feeling out Madam X’s metallic approach. Perhaps they were psyched, knowing that in 11 more years they’d be allowed to vote. And the rooster?
Photo sampled from the book Berkeley 1900: Daily Life at the Turn of the Century by Richard Schwartz. This is less than a mile from Amoeba Records on Telegraph Ave., modern day spawning ground for Von reissues, Asunder splits, and Master’s Hammer box sets.
Thanks, Mathieu!
No, this isn’t from a recent Immortal get-together. This is Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison of the Velvet Underground gettin’ grim in the film Venus in Furs, 1965.
from the book The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side
Bazillion Points Books has been a harsh taskmasker this summer, stemming the demo tide a little bit. Well, here’s a trickle before the floodgates reopen. This is producer Russ Russell’s wrist presiding over the mixing of Napalm Death’s The Code Is Red…Long Live the Code album at Foel Studios in Wales.
In case you’re wondering why your grindcore project doesn’t sound very good—it’s probably because you don’t have the UUURGH and AARGH channels properly tweaked!
Photo by me, sometime around spring 2005.
Artist Mark Riddick—of Logos From Hell, Slayer, Metalocalypse, Devourment, ad nauseous nauseum design fame—is pointing his pens toward a worthy cause:
In March 2009 my one-year-old son, Nathan Riddick, was diagnosed with a very rare genetic disorder called Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus (NDI). By purchasing this limited edition signed print and T-Shirt package ($25), you will be making a monetary contribution to the NDI Foundation in support of research for this rare condition that affects four of one million people.
So glorify your bodily temple and the walls of the temple you live in with the inspirational power of skulls, larvae, leeches, grubs, worms, and viscera. I did. And I’d like to think that next year the NDI Foundation will commission Mark to design all their fundraising materials.
Former HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST mainman Tom Gabriel Fischer and Bazillion Points Books have announced November 2009 as the publication date for of ‘Only Death Is Real: An Illustrated History of Hellhammer and Early Celtic Frost.” Authored by Fischer with cooperation from HELLHAMMER/FROST partner Martin Eric Ain, the deluxe large-format 288pp hardcover will feature over 300 astonishing high-quality photos by Csaba Kézér, Martin Kyburz, and Andreas Schwarber documenting the very dawn of death metal and black metal.
Five years in the making, this extraordinary artifact sets an audacious new historical standard in heavy metal literature. Further information and sample photos are available RIGHT HERE.
HELLHAMMER’s adolescent hardships were played out in dramatic and sometimes violent episodes set in small villages around Zurich, Switzerland, during 1983 and 1984. The ultimate insider document of the earliest era of death metal and black metal, ‘Only Death Is Real’ documents this unique and cataclysmic moment in modern music history with hundreds of never-seen vintage images, classic artwork reprinted by kind permission of HR Giger, a full visual reference to HELLHAMMER promotional material, flyers, and memorabilia documenting the birth and evolution of extreme metal—all supported by sharp-tongued oral accounts direct from Tom Gabriel Fischer, Martin Ain, Stephen Priestly, Steve Warrior, and other members of the HELLHAMMER inner circle.
UPDATE 08/10/09: Last-minute photo additions will delay the release. Details to follow.
UPDATE: 10/17/09: Only Death Is Real is now prepared for press. We expect to announce an early 2010 release date and begin accepting pre-orders in the near future.
Last weekend I was digging out Hanoi Rocks articles from old Kerrang!s to include as backstory with Bazillion Points’ upcoming press mailing of Andy McCoy’s autobiography. I got sidetracked looking for this long-lost photocomic battle between Cronos and Thor, the historic details of which must now immediately be brought to light.
Firstly, this bout ‘tween the “God of Thunder” and “Venom’s Black Metal King” leaves no question about the show business side of heavy metal in its peak years. Cronos looks evil as ever crawling over a castle ruin in his leather underwear—but he’s battling a force of good in a Crazy magazine-style realm laced with bad puns and fake blood! That the battle is waged over Thor’s wife Pantera reminds me that she was the most famous Pantera in heavy metal until about 1991.
Read ‘em and weep with laughter. Courtesy of Kerrang! #68, May 17-30, 1984.
I have a hard time convincing skeptics of the fury of Van Halen in its prime, and the band in its current non-incarnation isn’t helping any. Like I just told main Everybody Wants Some photographer Kevin Estrada, the upcoming VH Guitar Hero game is far short of the kind of polishing these guys need to be giving their blazing legacy.
For his part, I believe that David Lee Roth understands this. He’s just unleashed a riptide of vintage Van Halen photographs that are charming, exciting, and casually posed to make everyone insanely envious. Davidleeroth.com is hosting about 100 pics all told, ranging from shots of Michael Anthony as a young raging bull, outtakes from the first album photo sessions, Eddie as a teenager, Alex in his first pair of expensive sunglasses, and many shots of the band collapsed on couches. There might even be a photo of Roth with former Radio 1990 host Lisa Robinson in there.
Now to the rest of the band—get up!
Thanks, VHND!
Here’s my rough attempt to capture the spectacle of 42,000 Iron Maiden fans streaming into Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before losing their minds on March 28. Click that image for the full 3240-pixel-wide panorama. Actually, there should be another panel to the right to show the rear seating section — another giant flank of 8,000 or so fans.
This entire experience could not have been more huge. My intrepid she-woman and I walked many miles to the outskirts of the city, limping the last mile or so. We could hear Sepultura playing inside as the sun went down, but had to negotiate a line about two miles long before entering. Everyone arrived late—turns out Argentina was playing Venezuela in soccer. Of course Maiden knew that, and they stalled until well after the game was over. Hilarious.
The crush as the intro tape rolled was intense. You can see a tall chain link fence in the photo. Three small doors in that fence were the only passage to general admission. People were losing their heads pressing forward while Churchill’s voice rang out through the dusk. The funny thing was that this show was part of a Quilmes beer-sponsored music festival — but they didn’t sell beer. We accidentally entered through the wrong door, and access to our better seats (on the left in the photo) was blocked by a tall barbed-wire fence and a moat.
Then came Iron Maiden, playing classics to a sold-out crowd of 42,000 South Americans. Imagine a Superbowl game with every spectator cheering the same side, and without any dull moments. People were crying. The mood was a cross of jubilation and reverence. Since there was no room to move, a few thousand people just pogoed during the fast guitar bridge, evidently triggering earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the world in the weeks that followed.
Bruce Dickinson had his usual sharp words for Madonna fans and the authorities, but let’s face it — Iron Maiden has really conquered each and every country in the world like no other metal band.
