Category: Gruesome Greg

  • Hotter Than Hell: Chicken Wings on Bloor St. (Toronto)

    When I heard that a chicken wing joint was opening two doors down from St. Louis on Bloor, I thought that was a dumb idea. A few months later, when another bar specializing in wings opened at the corner of Bloor and Walmer, well, I figured that was a really dumb idea. Yet I found…

  • ZZ Top: The Most Unlikely Arena Rock Band

    Back before the “Steven Tyler falling off the stage” incident, ZZ Top and Aerosmith were scheduled to tour the football stadiums of the CFL’s Western Division. What with the pissing match that ensued, Aerosmith haven’t made up the dates yet, but ZZ Top came to Calgary for a headlining gig at the Pengrowth Saddledome, just…

  • My return to radio starts TONITE!

    After an eight-month hiatus, Gruesome Greg returns to the airwaves with Smokin Green’ now occupying a new timeslot: 1-3 am Saturday nites on CKLN 88.1 fm!

  • My pre-teen dream was nearly dashed by a shitty soundsystem…

    When I was 10, the holy trinity of hard rock bands consisted of AC/DC, KISS, and…wait for it… Nazareth. The Scottish rockers had a shoulda-bin stadium stomper in “Hair of the Dog” and turned Joni Mitchell’s “This Flight Tonight” into a hard-rockin’ hit. I actually used to draw pictures of myself wearing a Nazareth T-Shirt.…

  • My AllThat’sHeavy haul has arrived!

    Labour Day Weekend is gonna be another Long Weekend of Doom for me. There aren’t any shows going on, but I’ll be slow-motion headbanging to the large shipment of CDs I just got from AllThat’sHeavy.com.

  • NEBULA vs The Entrance Band? That’s not even a fair fight!

    And in this corner, with 12 years, five albums, three EPs and countless tours under their belts, NEBULA! And in the opposite corner, with 3 years as a trio, touring in support of their first album, The Entrance Band!

  • How I made it into issue number two of the Born Too Late doomzine

    So, last Tuesday I was checking my emails before calling it a nite, when I noticed a message from John Gallo via the Hellride Music Forum. He said he wanted my Top 10 doom metal albums for issue number 2 of his zine, and that he had to have it by the end of the…

  • Behold, the long weekend of DOOM!

    The closest thing to a stoner/doom festival we’ve had in Toronto was the 4/20 Sunday Stoner Rock Spectacular, a overambitious 10-band lineup put together by me and a buddy of mine. The lineup was all local, the attendance was mediocre, and the ElMo was pretty empty. Still, it was good times. So, when I heard…

  • Buffalo’s finest heavy rock band hitting TO this weekend…

    I know a guy who books a couple bars in Buffalo, and considers himself the king of their scene. (Well, he told me that in an email once, but I dunno if he was serious.) When I couldn’t get his band to play the Sunday Stoner Rock Spectacular last year, since it fell on a…

  • Farewell to the 3Tards…

    If you live in Toronto, and listen to any kind of rock music, chances are you’ve at least heard of the 3Tards. The ‘Tards are a local punk rock institution, gaining notoriety over the past eight years for (among other things) conducting an on-stage marriage ceremony between their bass player and singer–who are both guys–and…