Category: Gruesome Greg

  • 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…

  • All That is Heavy II: Ottawa is Doomed!

    When they did the first edition of this event, a fundraiser for local college radio station CKCU, I remember thinking, “Damn, that’s a great lineup!” Featuring four of Southern Ontario’s finest–Electric Magma, Gypsy Chief Goliath, Blood Ceremony and Sons of OTIS–there was really no reason that show couldn’t have happened in Toronto, cept nobody had…

  • Section 302!? Damn you, Iron Maiden Fan Club!

    Y’know, whenever I’ve seen Maiden at the ACC in the spring or the fall, I’ve always been able to get floors, but I’ve had no such luck at the Molson Ampitheatre. I was up on the Live Nation website as soon as the clock struck 10 this morning, and as a result of my efforts,…

  • A tale of two tours…

    In case you missed the last episode of Days of our Black Sabbath, the band has pulled out of all but one of its upcoming European dates, citing Tony Iommi’s health issues. Meanwhile, drummer Bill Ward issued a public statement that he still wants to take part in the reunion, but is still waiting for…

  • I’ve got these two Troubles troublin’ me…

    If Black Sabbath are the grandfathers of doom, Trouble would be one of its uncles (along with Candlemass, Saint Vitus and Witchfinder General). But while grandpa’s mad ravings have been grabbing headlines lately, what with the whole Bill Ward fiasco, Uncle Trouble has been through quite the shakeup himself. In fact, it seems that there’s…