Music

Review: SLASH by Slash, w. Anthony Bozza (Dey Street Books)

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SlashMy second Guns ‘n’ Roses autobiography

Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I was the first album I ever bought for myself. It remains one of my favourite albums. I have always been interested in Guns ‘n’ Roses. After the initial break-up of the original line-up, I followed and waited for news about what the band would get up to. As with many fans, though, I eventually lost interest in waiting for new GnR music and found more enjoyment in following the members’ other bands — for example, Velvet Revolver and Slash’s Snakepit and, now, Slash’s eponymous solo-project (R&F’nR is one of my favourite albums of his music).

I recently read and loved Duff McKagan’s autobiography, It’s So Easy, which gave a fantastic, readable account of Guns ‘n’ Roses (relatively) short rocket to fame and stardom from the perspective of a single member. McKagan was respectful of others’ perspectives, and never guessed his bandmates’ opinions or positions, nor spoke for them. As soon as I finished It’s So Easy, I went out and picked up Slash. I think it’s safe to say that Slash is one of the greatest living guitar players, and I was eager to learn his side of the G’n’R story, and also read about his other music endeavours (Velvet Revolver, Slash’s Snakepit, for example). This eponymous memoir is very good, quite exhaustive (without being exhausting), brutally honest, and accessibly written. It has a few minor flaws, but it was certainly a good read. Continue reading →

Review: ROCKS by Joe Perry (Simon & Schuster)

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PerryJ-Rocks“My Life In and Out of Aerosmith” – A superb rock memoir

Before the platinum records or the Super Bowl half-time show or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Joe Perry was a boy growing up in small-town Massachusetts. He idolized Jacques Cousteau and built his own diving rig that he used to explore a local lake. He dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. But Perry’s neighbors had teenage sons, and those sons had electric guitars, and the noise he heard when they started playing would change his life.

The guitar became his passion, an object of lust, an outlet for his restlessness and his rebellious soul. That passion quickly blossomed into an obsession, and he got a band together. One night after a performance he met a brash young musician named Steven Tyler; before long, Aerosmith was born. What happened over the next forty-five years has become the stuff of legend: the knockdown, drag-out, band-splintering fights; the drugs, the booze, the rehab; the packed arenas and timeless hits; the reconciliations and the comebacks.

Rocks is an unusually searching memoir of a life that spans from the top of the world to the bottom of the barrel — several times. It is a study of endurance and brotherhood, with Perry providing remarkable candor about Tyler, as well as new insights into their powerful but troubled relationship. It is an insider’s portrait of the rock and roll family, featuring everyone from Jimmy Page to Alice Cooper, Bette Midler to Chuck Berry, John Belushi to Al Hirschfeld. It takes us behind the scenes at unbelievable moments such as Joe and Steven’s appearance in the movie of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (they act out the murders of Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees). 

This is an excellent memoir. After a somewhat shaky start in Johnny Depp’s introduction, Perry (with the help of David Ritz) gets on with telling his story. It’s quite the story, too: Perry takes us through his childhood in (upper-)middle class Massachusetts, his difficulties at school, his love for the outdoors, and eventual discovery of music and guitars. It’s a fascinating look into the life of a rock megaband, and one of the creative minds behind it. I really enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Review: IT’S SO EASY (AND OTHER LIES) by Duff McKagan (Touchstone)

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McKaganD-ItsSoEasyUSA superb memoir of Guns ‘n’ Roses and more

A founding member of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver — and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee — shares the story of his rise to the pinnacle of fame and fortune, his struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction, his personal crash and burn, and his phoenix-like transformation.

IN 1984, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY, Duff McKagan left his native Seattle — partly to pursue music but mainly to get away from a host of heroin overdoses then decimating his closest group of friends in the local punk scene. In L.A. only a few weeks and still living in his car, he answered a want ad for a bass player placed by someone who identified himself only as “Slash.” Soon after, the most dangerous band in the world was born. Guns N’ Roses went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide.

In It’s So Easy, Duff recounts Guns’ unlikely trajectory to a string of multiplatinum albums, sold-out stadium concerts, and global acclaim. But that kind of glory can take its toll, and it did — ultimately — on Duff, as well as on the band itself. As Guns began to splinter, Duff felt that he himself was done, too. But his near death as a direct result of alcoholism proved to be his watershed, the turning point that sent him on a unique path to sobriety and the unexpected choices he has made for himself since.

I really enjoyed this book. Despite being a huge Guns ‘n’ Roses fan (my first CD was Use Your Illusion I), McKagan’s story was mostly unknown to me. The first music magazine I ever bought was an issue of Hit Parader which included a long interview with and feature on McKagan and his music, but beyond that I don’t believe I’ve read anything else about him. After finishing Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself, I wanted to read another music biography, and this one came highly recommended. I can certainly see why: it’s gripping, extremely well-written, sometimes amusing, and brutally honest. Continue reading →

Quick Review: DANCING WITH MYSELF by Billy Idol (Touchstone)

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IdolB-DancingWithMyselfVital Idol reading…

“I am hopelessly divided between the dark and the good, the rebel and the saint, the sex maniac and the monk, the poet and the priest, the demagogue and the populist. Pen to paper, I’ve put it all down, every bit from the heart. I’m going out on a limb here, so watch my back.” — Billy Idol

An early architect of punk rock’s sound, style, and fury, whose lip-curling sneer and fist-pumping persona vaulted him into pop’s mainstream as one of MTV’s first megastars, Billy Idol remains, to this day, a true rock ‘n’ roll icon.

Now, in his long-awaited autobiography, Dancing with Myself, Idol delivers an electric, searingly honest account of his journey to fame — from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to the decadent life atop the dance-rock kingdom he ruled — delivered with the same in-your-face attitude and fire his fans have embraced for decades. Beyond adding his uniquely qualified perspective to the story of the evolution of rock, Idol is a brash, lively chronicler of his own career.

A survivor’s tale at its heart, this sometimes chilling and always riveting account of one man’s creative drive joining forces with unbridled human desire is unmistakably literary in its character and brave in its sheer willingness to tell. With it, Billy Idol is destined to emerge as one of the great writers among his musical peers.

Billy Idol’s music has been pretty much a constant in my life. His albums were among my father’s eclectic collection; “Dancing With Myself”, “Rebel Yell” and “Mony, Mony” were frequently on tapes he would put together for road trips. So, it was perhaps inevitable that Dancing With Myself caught my eye. It’s a great rock biography, one that charts the rise of not only the author, but punk in general. He was a pioneer of so many styles and quirks that we take for granted today. An essential read for all fans of his music, but also for anyone interested in the evolution of rock and punk music. Continue reading →

Slipknot Continue to Release Great Songs with Messed Up Videos…

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I’ve liked Slipknot’s music since the beginning, really. I was going through my angry teen phase when their eponymous album was released (although, without the “angry” side – I was always more curmudgeonly than angry). Their musical aggression and interesting interviews always kept them on my playlists. As new albums were released, and the band evolved, they remained there. Side-projects emerged – Stone Sour the best by miles. But always Slipknot remained waiting in the wings to drop a new album just when fans were starting to get impatient.

Their fifth album, The Gray Chapter will be released on October 21st by Roadrunner Records. Two singles have already been released: “The Devil In I” and “The Negative One”. Both, naturally, have really messed-up, horror-influenced music videos. And may even one-up Marilyn Manson, this time around. Here they are:

THE DEVIL IN I (the better of the two, in my opinion)

New Asking Alexandria Music Video…

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… shows the band’s ‘softer’ side. Unlike “The Death of Me”, which is one of the best hard rock/metal songs ever written, “Moving On” has a bit more of an ’80s ballad vibe, with an added modern sheen. The song is also from From Death to Destiny, and is one of my favourites from the album. Here’s the video:

Guest Post: “Where Writers Get Their Groove” by Sebastien de Castell

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deCastell-AuthorPicBy far the most common question you get asked as an author is, “Where do your ideas come from?” Of course, my ideas come from the same places as yours do: the crazy parts of your brain intersecting with the crazy parts of the world around you. Human brains are hard-wired to find patterns even when there are none and those little synaptic misfires are part of what makes us creative beings.

Now, the question I never get asked is, “Where do you get your groove from?” Maybe this sounds like a silly question. After all, books don’t have a groove, do they?

Think about those big moments in a story when your eyes are racing across the page to find out what comes next. If the author is doing their job every line should be moving the story along at the perfect speed for the action taking place. Remember back to one of those heart-rending passages where your eyes suddenly freeze on the last three words of a sentence as the implications of an emotional turnaround hits you. That strange, almost magical timing is pacing. It’s rhythm. It’s groove. My first experiences with storytelling were as a touring musician, so I often go back to music for the inspiration in finding the right pacing for key scenes in the books I write. Here’s a few that helped put Traitor’s Blade onto the page. Continue reading →

Two New In Flames Music Videos

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In Flames have long been one of my favourite metal bands (ever since Reroute to Remain came out), and I’ve been enjoying the band’s evolution over the years. For the most part, anyway – there have been some albums that past me by without leaving much of a footprint (Sounds of a Playground Fading, for example – an album that I have found utterly forgettable). In September, the band will release their latest album, Siren Charms. Two music videos have already surfaced for the first two singles: “Rusted Nail” and “Through Oblivion”. They’re both good songs, as well as being surprising. They’re more rock than metal, and are more melodic offerings than I’ve come to expect from early-for-an-album In Flames singles. Check them out…

RUSTED NAIL

Music Saturday: HEARTIST and ASKING ALEXANDRIA (a bit of a rambling piece…)

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As I’ve mentioned in the past on here, one of my other passions is music (in fact, this is a passion that has dominated far more of my life than books and reading). I used to spend hours each day investigating new bands, albums, songs – subscribing to multiple magazines (even importing them from the US). I even ran a little fanzine, “MWRI” – a Terry Pratchett reference, “Music With Rocks In” (even then, I was a SFF fan). Recently, however, I’ve been listening to less new music.

Partly, this grew from an impression that things were starting to stagnate a little in the rock and metal communities. “Heavier and Louder” were the order of the decade, it seemed. I like plenty of groove and melody, though, so when ever some of my favourite bands started to conform to the “bludgeon thy listener unto death” gospel of rock, I lost ever-more interest, narrowing the number of bands I followed religiously. True, this is just a personal impression resulting from exposure to what felt like endless hardcore clones. Nevertheless, I felt slightly disillusioned with the scene I had called home since I bought Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I and Iron Maiden’s Fear of the Dark as a kid (I should thank Chris Green, a school friend, for lending me his discman and these two albums when I was ill – eternal gratitude). Although, I think Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA was the first album I loved (not as “hard” rock, but still part of the same larger community, I’ve always thought).

20140524-HeartistAskingAlexandria

Over the past couple of years, though, melody and groove seem to be making a massive come-back, as bands and fans remember that it’s rock and roll, and that there’s nothing wrong with writing hooks. One of my favourite bands, Five Finger Death Punch, have been releasing consistently excellent (and progressively better) albums each year. Trivium rediscovered their love of classic, Metallica-esque metal, and released a stunning album. And so on. Recently, I finally discovered to new (for me) bands that write in the bounds of my tastes: HEARTIST and ASKING ALEXANDRIA.

Heartist-2013

HEARTIST is actually a new band – their debut EP, Nothing You Don’t Deserve was released last year by Roadrunner Records (to whom I used to be a staunch, buy-everything devotee). I have a great many fond memories of interviewing RR bands, getting into their gigs for free (I was, quite literally, “On the guest list” – which made me feel oh-so-special). Nothing You Don’t Deserve is a pretty solid EP, too – a perfect introduction to their music, if you haven’t come across their music videos on YouTube – as, I’m sure, most people now do when discovering new bands (remember MySpace? Yeah…). The band mixes a lot of influences into a very modern-sounding punk-rock-metal melange. “Heart of Gold”, for example, has elements of Linkin Park and Funeral For A Friends more radio-friendly sounds, but still sounds different enough to not be a rip-off. Probably the best two songs on the disc, which meld a number of their influences and tempos, are “Where Did I Go Wrong?”…

… and “The Answer”.

If you get the chance, I’d recommend them very highly.

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AskingAlexandria

ASKING ALEXANDRIA are a pretty well-established metalcore band, but I only sat up and took notice when I stumbled across their video for “The Death of Me”, from their latest album From Death To Destiny (Sumerian Records):

As it turned out, this is actually the Rock Version of the song – the main album version is a fair bit heavy, with melodies that are more understated, but by no means absent.

These guys have added a hell of a lot more groove-elements and melody than in their previous albums. And it works really well. They’re still firmly in the metalcore camp, but damn they can pen some catchy songs. Some songs on From Death To Destiny are far more commercial and less aggro – such as “Poison”, “Moving On” (reminiscent of Bon Jovi, this one), “White Line Fever” and “The Road”. But the aforementioned “The Death of Me” and “Run Free” are sufficiently heavy to please metalheads of yore. Here’s the video for “Run Free”, which highlights perfectly their heavy groove and soaring melodies…

Dead Cat Bounce… [Musical Interlude]

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DEAD CAT BOUNCE – I learned about this band today. I went to school with the lead singer. Haven’t spoken to him since school (too many years ago to admit to…). This is kinda surreal. But they’re funny, and actually talented… So check ’em out.

First, a song for Movember…