“Alright, this is another fast one… but aren’t they all?”
(more…)

Here’s a plumb pulled from the written portion of Murder in the Front Row:

In upcoming SF thrash metal photo book MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter, by Harald Oimoen and Brian Lew, guitarist Gary Holt of Exodus (and currently Slayer) claims that the bruising scenes seen nightly at metal shows everywhere first came to thrash metal from punk at Ruthie’s Inn in Berkeley, CA.

“From our first show together with Slayer,” Holt writes, “to all the shows with everyone from Death Angel, Possessed, Violence, Legacy, and many others, Ruthie’s Inn lives in infamy because it’s the one and only birthplace of violence becoming part and parcel to an Exodus show. I had never seen a stage dive, a pit, or anything coming close to resembling that before Ruthie’s. It was born there, with the help of Wes Robinson and the Exodus Slay Team, and anyone who says different doesn’t know what they’re talking about or they’re lying to you. While the rest of the metal world would later come around and learn the joys of a little good friendly violent fun, it all started there at Ruthie’s, end of story.”

Holt’s full essay joins over 400 color and black and white live, candid, and studio photos in the large-format hardcover MURDER IN THE FRONT ROW book, an untouchable eyewitness viewpoint into the sometimes violent mid-1980s San Francisco metal scene that launched Metallica, Exodus, Testament, Death Angel, and Possessed, and first supported Megadeth and Slayer. The book will be available December 2011 wherever books are sold, including directly from Bazillion Points with a limited two-sided exclusive poster-size dustjacket.

See this location for page samples and preorder info: http://www.murderinthefrontrow.com

Click image to enlarge.

Here’s an image that—when viewed at full size—will consume all oxygen in any size space, leaving a dangerous sulfurous near-vacuum and causing dizziness in all but the most steeled of hearts. Like the headline sez: Every single issue of the legendary Slayer Mag, plus all six copies of Jon Kristiansen’s immense work METALION: The Slayer Mag Diaries known to exist as of today…

Ker–plopp!

OFFICIAL BOOK SITE

I think it’s worth mentioning that a wax museum exists in this world where within ten feet of each other stand life-sized statues of Robert Fripp of King Crimson, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, and James Hetfield of Metallica. This heartwarming tableau brought to mind Jeff Wagner, author of the Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal. I mean, isn’t this a prog metal man’s wet dream?

“Wax museums are creepy,” replied spoilsport Wagner.

Well, to learn Jeff’s more advanced and eloquent views on the progressive rock and heavy metal sexmash as witnessed in the music of Rush, Cynic, and Celtic Frost, read his Invisible Oranges interview. And keep paying attention to right here, as Wagner joins several other Bazillion Points authors in beginning to post regularly to this blog.

(And you should really see the wax statue of Guru Guru’s Mani Neumeier!)

Since the release of Annick Giroux’s ingenious Hellbent for Cooking: The Heavy Metal Cookbook, a popular outcry has clamored for sample recipes from the book. Part of the problem with that has been selecting one stellar recipe from among the hundred-plus dishes on display. So here’s a simple solution—check out the lead-off recipe from the Appetizers section, the first blast of culinary warfare on display. Voila! Chris Reifert of AUTOPSY’s simple but deadly masterpiece: Mummified Jalapeño Bacon Bombs.

As Reifert himself says: “I usually manage to eat myself sick on these when they are around.” I can vouch for that on my end—at least three times I’ve exceeded the recommended dosage, and suffered happily.

Click above to enlarge, expand, print, duplicate, share, and serve. For more info on Annick’s book, with its 101 recipes from 32 countries, including bands like Thin Lizzy, Trouble, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Accept, Slough Feg, The Gates of Slumber, Anthrax, Sepultura, Gwar, Sigh, and many many more… CLICK HERE for http://www.hellbentforcooking.com .

And while you’re struck helpless by Reifert’s masterful bacon bombs, squirm over to the resurrected Autopsy’s MySpace site for new music and info on their upcoming 2011 album, Macabre Eternal.

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.