Author: Gruesome Greg

  • COC still sounds good to me!

    COC still sounds good to me!

    Alas, while they’re neither classic rockers nor 80’s hair band royalty, Corrosion of Conformity has been going strong now since 1981. And I gotta say, the three founding members, they’ve still got it–and then some!

  • If you only see one band at NXNE this weekend…

    Post-ambient shoegaze drone doom duo (for lack of a better term) Nadja make their triumphant return to Toronto at The Garrison this Sunday. This is literally the only NXNE gig I’m attending this year. Yes, it’s that worthwhile.

  • Man, Electric Magma’s still got it, man…

    Last nite was the first time I’d been to the Bovine Sex Club in nearly 10 months.  I can’t say I really missed the place, but I do miss some of the bands I used to see there regularly from 2006 to 2008.  Though it was never really known as the home for Toronto’s heavy…

  • If you only see one female-fronted doom metal gig in Toronto this summer, make it this one!

    Witch Mountain plays the Hard Luck Bar June 13th with Blood Ceremony and Castle. Consider this your two weeks’ notice!

  • Toronto is Doomed? Not anytime soon!

    Last weekend, I was in Ottawa for the All That Is Heavy II doomfest, a six-band shindig featuring Blood Ceremony, Iron Man and Revelation, to name a few. This was the second notable doom-metal festival in Canada over the past few years, after Montreal is Doomed in December 2010, which happened to be Pagan Altar’s…

  • Ginger Baker’s a crazy guy. Great drummer, but a crazy guy…

    If the Bobby Liebling doc Last Days Here was a testament to a man hitting rock bottom due to drugs, once could say that Jay Bulger’s new doc, Beware of Mr. Baker, shows the heights one can ascend to while totally whacked out on smack. But unlike Liebling, who got by with a little help…

  • New venue, same Acid Mothers Temple…

    For the past four or five years, I’ve counted on Japanese spaced-out psych merchants Acid Mothers Temple coming through town in April. They always seem to take a trip over here right when spring starts to bloom. Well okay, so spring was a little late this year. Also of note: this gig wasn’t at the…

  • Finally, a way to combine football and heavy rock without a single note of “Don’t Stop Believing!”

    As a die-hard sports fan, I’m often disappointed by the musical selection at sporting events. For every time that a stadium DJ might play “Run to the Hills” or “Hit the Lights,” there are at least a couple hundred renditions of “Don’t Stop Believing,” “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” “Blitzkrieg Bop” and whatever Nickelback’s latest…

  • Bobby Liebling is NOT on drugs.

    Although he came off as a coked-out space cadet on the two occasions I’ve seen him perform, and I’ve read many an interview where he clearly appears to be off his rocker, I can safely say that Bobby Liebling is not on drugs. Because I’ve seen him on drugs, in the Last Days Here documentary,…

  • You’re dead to me, Canadian Music Week!

    Canadian Music Week has always been the first weekend in March, and as such, I’ve adjusted/cleared my schedule accordingly for the past few years. But this year, they’ve decided to make a change, moving the event to the fourth weekend of the month. The official reasoning I’ve heard is they want to have it after…