FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Overheard at the bar at the Blood Ceremony gig the other night: “Dude, you know Fu Manchu? Blah blah blah stoner rock blah blah Kyuss … They’re playing Lee’s Palace March 15th, you should check it out.”
While I initially joked that the price of the Kyuss Lives New Year’s Eve gig was a joke, I eventually gave in and bought myself a 200-dollar ticket. I don’t normally go out for NYE–frankly, I think it’s a rather pointless holiday–but I figured that for the founding fathers of stoner rock, I could make an exception. And I certainly don’t regret it, especially since a couple months later, Kyuss would live no more…
As High on Fire made their return to Toronto after a 2 year absence, Hellbound’s Renee Trotier was their to cover the return of Matt Pike, the endlessly touring Goatwhore, as well as a Brutal Truth/Mastodon collaboration. Read on for the full report…
Anyways, I was looking at Rotate This’ concert tickets page to check if they were selling tix for Deep Purple (negative!), when I saw something interesting. Apparently, Kyuss Lives! is doing a second show in Toronto this year–on New Year’s Eve, no less–at tiny Queen & Bathurst bar Cherry Cola’s. Aye, but here’s the rub. This “once in a lifetime opportunity” will set you back a cool 200 big ones.
Last nite, Kyuss Lives! kicked off its North American tour in Toronto, with support from The Sword and MonstrO. To say that the venue was a little out of the way would be an understatement, and the support was a little underwhelming, but I woulda given a kidney to see 90 minutes of Kyuss tunes in the flesh. I’m just glad I didn’t have to!
As a long awaited reissue, the new 2011 version of this album is about as good as it gets.
By Gruesome Greg The early 70’s were the golden years of heavy rock, with bands banging out loud, bluesy, psychedelic jams with the support…
While this is a pretty decent record in its own right, I’m somewhat saddened that Zoroaster has moved away from its own unique take on
southern sludge towards a sound that can be filed next to Farflung, The Atlas Moth, and countless other bands.
Picture a buncha hipsters jamming to Kyuss and The Stooges along with Mark Farner and company in a Brooklyn basement, and you’ve basically got the idea.
Humo del Cairo (Egyptian Smoke!?) is a primarily instro trio from Argentina, with occasional vocals provided in Spanish. You can hear shades of Kyuss (check out “Panorama”), The Jimi Hendrix Experience (“Nimbo” and the opening of “Fuego de San Antonio”), their Argentinian countrymen in Los Natas—or even Sergio Ch’s side-project Ararat (the harmonica and chanting of “Errantes” wouldn’t sound outta place on Musica
de la Resistencia…).