CD Review: Mastodon “Once More ‘Round the Sun”

Mastodon
“Once More ‘Round the Sun”
BMD Fox Records
Produced By: Nick Raskulinecz
Tracks: 11

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Don’t let the opening seconds of “Tread Lightly” fool you. While the acoustic guitar may lull you into a state of peace, the heavy guitar licks that Mastodon have meticulously churned out for over a decade lurk around the corner; ready to pound and enchant. “Once More ‘Round the Sun” pushes Mastodon farther from their murky sludge metal roots, but progresses once again into a more experimental sound that showcases their ability to mold, but remain durable to their changing appetites.

Lately Mastodon has created an accessible, mainstream appeal while continuously maintaining that heavy metal template they implemented back in 2002. “Once More ‘Round the Sun” is their most melodic release to date and solidifies the fact that Mastodon is still successful when sailing into uncharted territories because they never stray too deep. While remaining diverse, they’re still nestled into their own sub-genre they’ve seemingly created in a myriad of metal categories by blending thrash, doom and a stray pinch of alternative.

On their sixth studio album, they appear to be perfecting their guitar structuring and resurrecting more of their haunting hooks on solos. The drumming continues to be unpredictably manic and catchy, while the vocals have traveled into cleaner territories and set up camp. Straying away from the growls has big one of the biggest complaints over the years by fans, but this path has led to a more popular tone that’s more approachable to audiences. Mastodon has enlisted Nick Raskulinecz as producer to help craft a hard rock sound that slyly pays homage to some of the early 90’s rockers that were birthed during the post-grunge era. “Once More ‘Round the Sun” is commercially acceptable without forsaking any of the originality Mastodon has long cherished.

The track “Motherload” encompasses this album’s direction while “Chimes at Midnight” steps back into the ferocious sound that Mastodon has riled up crowds across the world with. Their hunger for experimentation is heard most in “Aunt Lisa”, a trippy song that fluidly changes tempo and cheerfully climaxes on a gleeful pep rally chant by the Coathangers. Every song has an epic flair built up by simplistic yet powerful choruses and juicy riffs that induce head bobbing. Mastodon is still a relentless beast that craves inventiveness with every evolution.

I’ve told people this Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye”: They are no longer a band for metal masses, but instead a treat that should be enjoyed by everyone who’s ever loved music; a possible gateway drug for someone looking to dip their feet into metal music. Mastodon’s expanding sound prevents them from being mundane, but it’s slowly filling a worrisome thought bubble in my head. I have to ask myself after another successful outing, when will Mastodon finally peak and release a bloated mess that’s unbecoming of their usual, beautifully woven metal masterpieces? If “Once More ‘Round the Sun” is any indication, it’s not anytime soon and it may never happen.

Track Listing:

1. Tread Lightly
2. The Motherload
3. High Road
4. Once More ‘Round the Sun
5. Chimes at Midnight
6. Asleep in the Deep
7. Feast Your Eyes
8. Aunt Lisa
9. Ember City
10.Halloween
11. Diamond in the Witch House

 

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Filed Under: CD Reviews Tagged With: cd, mastodon, review, sun

K.Flay talks about debut album “Life as a Dog”

Constantly changing, constantly evolving and constantly honing their craft is the sign of a good musician and K. Flay, is one of them. While in college, K.Flay found she had the chops to rap with some of the best and began to experiment, musically and lyrically. Since 2004, she has put out a myriad of music with everything from singles and EPs to collaborating with other aspiring up-and-comers like MC Lars. Her continuous, hard work has finally paid off as she releases her debut album, “Life as a Dog”. She’s also about to embark on the Warped Tour, a staple of the summer touring circuit. Media Mikes recently caught up with K.Flay about how she’s handling and preparing for these high marks of her career.

Jeremy Werner: When I was getting ready for this interview…I was a bit surprised how much music you had, in terms of singles, EPs, guest vocals, and other things spanning over half a decade. To me it’s crazy because you’re now just able to release your debut album. I’m sure all your fans, die-hard and new, who’ve recognized your hard work and talent over the years are seeing and wondering the same thing I was, which is why has it taken so long to be able to release your debut album?
K.Flay: I was actually just having this conversation with my drummer because we’re working on setlist stuff for Warped Tour this summer. But basically the reason is…I signed to a major label a little over two years ago and while I was on there, I put out a mixtape and a couple of EPs and singles and things of that nature. But I was never able to release an album. I was working on a lot of stuff, but I think they didn’t necessarily feel like anything was single worthy or ready to be part of an album, so I was kind of in this weird limbo while I was there. Which on some level was a really interesting experience in that I was able to do a ton of experimentation and really kind of take time to figure out more about the kind of music I like making and think about the music I was better at making than other kinds. It was sort of a weird process because I signed and wasn’t able to put out enough to show for a debut album, but I left the label in the fall and then worked on this.

JW: I’ve actually talked to quite a few artists as of late who’ve used online fundraising for their music and just like them, yours was very successful.
K.Flay: Yes.

JW: So I’m wondering…with no problems reaching your target goal, do you feel like this is your way of telling potential record labels, “I can sell music if give me a chance,” or is this your way of saying, “Fuck you guys. My music speaks for yourself and I don’t need you”?
K.Flay: You know, I think for me in large part, this is just about a personal goal as a human/artist in the sense of making a statement. And even if albums are becoming outdated in some capacity or whatever, I think having a statement and a body of work that has cohesive quality, to me, is really important on a fundamental level. But on the flip side of it, the experience on the label was at times, kind of frustrating and it felt like I was a little bit stuck. So it feels really good to return to how I began with music which is independently releasing things and having control over all aspects of the creative process. It just feels really empowering, really good and really natural.

JW: Is there anything with “Life as a Dog”, musically, that you’re doing different or for the first time on this album?
K.Flay: Ya know, I think this album is a little bit of shift in that it’s less like rap and it’s a little more…I don’t know…I try to be more conscious of melody a little bit. One of the things I discovered over the last two-three years it that I really do like singing and I like incorporating melodic components into the music. It’s definitely less electronic, less rap, but I don’t think in a super drastic way. It felt kind of like the natural, next step.

JW: Lyrically, when I listen to your music, it feels like there’s a lot of deep personal emotions attached to the music and it’s kind of a dumb, broad statement to say that because yeah…all music is personal. But while some bands like to play with words and allude to different ideas without completely giving themselves away, I feel like you’re more blunt and honest with what you say. What are some of things you draw from when writing lyrics?
K.Flay: Obviously there’s a lot of myself in the music and there’s always gonna be that component, but I think more than ever, especially with this record, I really tried to embody, even just for a few moments in a song, people in my life and people that I’ve met along the way. I think one of the compelling parts of being a full-time musician is the cast of characters, both bad and good, that you run into on a daily basis. I still use the first person pronoun so they feel like they’re about me, but some of them are really about people that I’ve met and experiences that I’ve kind of witnessed second hand. Which is really cool. I think it taught to expand my ideas of how to start a song. Usually for me, it starts with some kind of emotion I’m feeling at that moment. Which is interesting conceptually to experiment from a different perspective a little bit.

JW: Anything you’ve wanted to sing about, but you’re hesitant to?
K.Flay: Umm…not really. I guess there’s nothing in my life that I wouldn’t want to share. Obviously very specific details, but songwriting and performing is such a liberating thing in general and so I think that’s why I feel comfortable talking about a lot of stuff in that
capacity.

JW: Let’s switch gears. You are on Warped Tour this summer. Is this the largest tour you’ve had to tackle yet?
K.Flay: It is, definitely. I’ve done festivals before, but never anything of this kind of length or consistency. I’m really excited. I have a lot of friends who’ve done Warped in the past and literally everyone has great things to say about it. I know it’s gonna be a challenge…*laughs*…not to be covered in sweat constantly, but I’m really looking forward to it.

JW: Besides being stupid hot, Warped Tour is also known for jamming nearly every act they can on to stages. Will it be hard trying to condense what you want to express into a limited setlist?
K.Flay: I think it is gonna be a really interesting challenge. There is such a large catalog and I want to represent the new album and I also wanna represent some of the old stuff. And obviously play music that is emblematic of where I’m at, but also music that will appeal to people. I think it’s gonna be a little bit of messing around once we get started. The live shows have always been a real focus for me and touring is a place where I feel really comfortable and I’m really comfortable with experimenting. I think the first week, we’ll probably test about a bunch of different stuff. More than anything, not like anybody else wants me to, but I kind of wanna play for two hours and go through everything. It’ll be an interesting little experiment.

JW: Have you factored in fans? I mean obviously you have…but the typical Warped Tour attendee is traditionally, a punk rock enthusiast and it’s definitely changed over the past decade.
K.Flay: Totally. The show has always had a punk spirit to it. There’s headbanging and a lot of jumping around and kind of more archetypal rock moments in it. So obviously something within that spirit. I’m kind of excited to try some new stuff.

JW: Big tour…debut album…with all this success…do you see yourself being a music artist for the long haul or is there something you still wanna do or try?
K.Flay: Ya know…I don’t really know. I get asked this sometimes and I kind of have no fucking clue. Which is strange because you’d think it’d be good to have a back-up plan, but I just decide on something and I just do it. So I think I’m still in that mode of perspective where this is what I’m doing and I think if I really started to consider other viable options, it would probably be a bad sign. So I don’t know. I read a lot…so maybe something with books. That’s all I can think of at the moment.

JW: My last question, a bit random, and you don’t have to answer this, but I’ve noticed a couple of other female artists, entertainers and others have said it’s bothersome when they’re told by fans, “Oh you’re my favorite female comedian…artist…”. Things like that.
K.Flay: Right.

JW: I think this boils down to where we’re at in a society right now and how we’re starting to mold how we view gender. But I’m curious, does it bother you if a fan tells you that you’re their favorite female rapper instead of just simply saying you’re their favorite rapper.
K.Flay: I know there’s like something I got sent earlier about Neko Case talking about this, but I wouldn’t say it happens all the time. Usually people say I like you’re stuff or whatever, but I think any time you’re a little bit in the minority, I think that that’s an unfortunate byproduct. Although I am a woman and have a gendered perspective to a certain extent, just like anybody else, when I write, I’ve always just sort of naturally wanted to create music that didn’t feel super gendered, if that makes any sense. But I think it can certainly undermine what you’re doing a little bit. I’m honestly happy anyone listens to it (laughs) I’m just always stoked if anybody’s checked it out and trying to find out about what I’m doing.

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Film Review “Think Like a Man Too”

Starring: Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara and Meagan Good
Directed By: Tim Story
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 106 minutes
Screen Gems

Our Score: 2 out of 5 stars

Remember when the “Brady Bunch” went to Hawaii (the episode was called ‘Hawaii Bound’)? It was one of those television moments that wasn’t meant to advance plot or propel the Bradies as characters, but stood as a disposable piece for fans of the cheery 70’s family. It takes a cast, fans know and love, and drop them into an exotic location to create their own shenanigans with complimenting inside jokes that only loyal fans would understand. “Think Like a Man Too” could definitely be lumped into that category since it’s an unnecessary sequel to 2012’s favorite group of couples. This time they’re heading to Vegas for another serving of chuckles and groan generating gender stereotypes.

I guess I should have prefaced everything with: I haven’t seen “Think Like a Man”. I blindly went in to this sequel with the notion that I didn’t need to see it to really understand anything about the mess of adorable characters. You could say I know about as much about these people than Steve Harvey has well thought out critiques of human relationships. I shouldn’t be too mean to the current host of the “Family Feud” since he is an incredibly charming guy, but when I see this is based off a relationship advice book of his called “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man”, I roll my eyes at the man who’s had more divorces than I’ve had marriages.

This movie follows four couples that I don’t feel like meticulously retreading over. All you need to know is that the main couple, Candace (Regina Hall) and Michael (Terrence J), is getting married in Sin City and have brought along their quartet of coupled friends, each with their own separate problems. One couple has to worry about the male’s reputation as a sexually deviant freak, another is conflicted about their own independent careers paths and the final two couples have problems…I think…not really. Then the eleventh wheel of the group, Cedric (Kevin Hart), is going through a messy break-up and ready to loudly hit the playing field again. You can understand my predicament on recapping a sitcom season worth of subplots.

I know I’ve ragged on Hart in the past, but this time he’s well cast, give or take a few moments where the creators are clearly cashing in on his loud squealing. Instead of being the Chris Tucker for millennials, he’s allowed to be the pompous, yet lovable short guy with funny quips and a dash of sarcasm. While he’s not a part of the emotional drama, he’s definitely a recurring centerpiece to comedic scenes, which just implies his relevance in today’s pop-culture. I actually like every actor and actress in this movie despite a couple of cheap celebrity cameos and “Oh, that’s what’s their face from that one thing.”

Hart is also used as the narrator to this movie, which I could have easily done without. The narration adds nothing new or sets anything up since the proceeding scenes basically tell the audience what the voice over just stated. I don’t think that shows much faith by the writers in the intelligence level of their audience. That might also be why some of the so-called advice in this movie comes off as sophomoric with a masculine-leaning bias. I will however give credit where credit is due. The archaic view of “women need to be ladies” is trashed on in lieu of a more modern idea that women can have the same “Hangover”-esque escapades and not be called derogatory terms in the process.

I chuckled and was surprised by some of the witty jokes that were spit out by some of the actors. I feel like director Tim Story is just inches away from making a movie I finally can recommend, but “Think Like a Man Too” feels more like fan service instead of something a mainstream audience can pack in and see. If you saw “Think Like a Man” and loved it, I can’t stop you from seeing this sequel, but to those who haven’t seen it, stay home.

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Film Review “How to Train Your Dragon 2”

Starring the Voices Of: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler and Cate Blanchett
Directed By: Dean DeBlois
Rated: PG
Running Time: 102 Minutes
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

In a year void of anything new from the geniuses at Pixar, you’d think there would be an animated vacuum where the gap would be filled with shameless sequels and lazily written cash grabs (to be fair, there is the sequel to “Planes” coming out this summer). So it’s understandable if the average movie patron is worried that “How to Train Your Dragon 2” could wind up in that category. But I’m happy to say it defied my low expectations and soared to insanely creative heights with another superb story.

It’s been years since the hairy, broad shouldered Vikings of Berk have made peace with the dragons they once feared. They’ve successfully integrated everything in their society with their newly acquired winged friends. Hiccup (Baruchel) continues to break the Viking stereotype by using his brain more than his brawn. He also seems more in sync with his dragon, Toothless. Despite these recent successes, Hiccup is a bit apprehensive because his father, Stoick (Butler), appears to be grooming him as his successor so that he can be the next chieftain of Berk. Hiccup doesn’t believe he’s ready and he’s more focused on scoping out new dragons and new lands.

This constant thirst for more knowledge about the surrounding territory brings in a new threat. He comes across a dragon trapper, who tells him of Drago (Djimon Hounsou), a man who is amassing a dragon army. Drago views dragons as a scourge that he must eradicate by enslaving them. His quest for dominion over dragons sadly comes at the cost of human casualties along the way. Things are further complicated by a mysterious figure that seems to have a bigger attachment to dragons than Hiccup and appears to be at odds with Drago, but it’s uncertain if they’re a friend or foe.

I was worried that a lack of Chris Sanders, director and writer from the first movie, might actually defang what momentum a sequel would have, but Dean DeBlois gets to fly this one solo and doesn’t hit any turbulent air. He keeps the merriness of our dragons intact. While the story goes on, dragons are constantly acting like playful dogs or cats in the background, giving them a more relatable quality when they are consistently acting like our affectionate household pets. The voice acting is once again spot on and having Cate Blanchett on board adds another flavorful spice of adventure.

This movie continues the relationship building between Hiccup and Toothless, but creates a more substantial scenario for Hiccup to grow and better understand the relationships he experiences. There’s also some hefty emotional weight attached here, made heavier by some surprisingly mature content that shows DeBlois is not afraid of taking some risks to further enchant the audience. With so much plot to trudge through, other directors would have simply gotten lost or stuck to the ‘boy and his dragon’ cliché, but DeBlois gives the dragons just as much psychological depth than the humans.

Visually, Dreamworks is going toe to toe with some of the best in the industry once again and holding nothing back. Viewers are definitely going to be swept away in every battle sequence and get lost in the flying sequences that are nothing short of incredible. While the first “How to Train Your Dragon” feels like a fantastic stand-alone movie, the sequel showcases the ability to create a living, breathing franchise that may actually have the wings and power to push forth. I say that because a third is in the works and after seeing how daring and original they are, it’s a safe bet to get your expectations out of the gutter and put them near the top for “How to Train Your Dragon 3” in 2016.

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Film Review “The Fault in Our Stars”

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Laura Dern
Directed By: Josh Boone
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 125 minutes
20th Century Fox

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Cancer is still one of the touchiest subjects in pop culture. One has to slowly tiptoe around it or find a way to perfectly skate along the razor wire topic and avoid many offensive pitfalls. “The Fault in Our Stars” hits the right chords perfectly with this topic. At times it’s our source of laughter, in multiple instances it’s our plot motivator, and most obviously, it’s the one thing that ready to viciously rip out our hearts and stomp on it.

Woodley dazzles once again, this time as the sardonic teenager, Hazel Grace Lancaster. She’s a terminally sick girl who continues to stave off the cancer that crippled her lungs, with an experimental treatment and an oxygen tank from a bag she pulls behind her. She’s in denial of her own growing depression and is heavily pushed by her ‘smile through the tears’ parents into a cancer support group run by a complacent dweeb with an acoustic guitar. She catches the fleeting glances of an astute and charming boy by the name of Augustus Waters (Elgort), but Gus for short. He has defeated his cancerous foe, but at the cost of his right leg. Rarely do I remember people’s names without writing them down, but these two constantly say each other’s full names with such affection it wasn’t too hard to remember this time around.

Hazel is repeatedly laying down some unspoken life truths that are a mix of harsh realities and sarcastic quips, which is sometimes the best way to come to terms with such a terminal predicament. Woodley once again proves she has some superior acting chops; everything from wordless facial expressions to the emotional complexities of such a strenuous situation. Her near perfect performance is so fantastic, the cracks in Elgort’s acting sometimes show when he has to provide an array of reactionary emotions. Hazel and Gus will obviously fall in love, but their story is a grand one for the current generation of young adults and teens that smile from flirtatious text messages and have a live in the moment motto.

Despite Hazel’s power to blatantly accept her untimely end, she’s unable to bear the notion of affection from others, referring to herself as an emotional grenade waiting to go off. That’s where Gus comes in, to counteract that inclination and channel her gloomy acceptance of death into wanting to live before death comes knocking and accept that the inevitable heartbreak will happen, but they need to enjoy what time is left. Of course nothing is that simple. A wrench isn’t simply thrown into the young love life of these two, but an entire damn toolbox.

The two writers, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, have had some success portraying imperfect romances with “The Spectacular Now” and “(500) Days of Summer”. They have a knack of creating equilibrium between the sappy moments we’ve come to expect from romantic movies with that authentic sorrow that comes from the flaws of everyday people. The plot and characters are so heartwarming, yet despondent; I’m willing to forgive a lot of the typical tropes it employs.

Don’t be fooled though. Between every cutesy smile and lighthearted joke lies some thought provoking philosophies about our personal experiences and demise. Hazel and Gus represent a multitude of attitudes in their over two hour runtime. The last 30 minutes is a cascade of some of the most depressing, yet uplifting scenes I’ve seen all year. If this movie doesn’t remotely pluck at your heartstrings, you definitely have no soul.

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Dog Fashion Disco’s Todd Smith talks about new album “Sweet Nothings” and Summer Tour

Back in late 2006, the experimental metal band, Dog Fashion Disco, announced to their fans that they had decided to call it quits. They had just spent the last 12 years constantly pushing themselves to be more creative and crazy, playing different styles like ska, piano, and metal with many calling them circus metal. They had recently just released their sixth studio album, Adultery, and were reaching more fans than ever before. Since then, they have played a couple of reunion shows running through a marathon of fan favorites and keeping the camaraderie alive amongst the bandmates. In late 2013, the announcement was made that not only would DFD get back together, but they would be putting out a new album, called “Sweet Nothings”. They would then launch a highly successful Indiegogo campaign and realized that fans not only wanted a new album, but that they want two new albums, a music video and some overseas shows in Britain. Media Mikes recently caught up with the lead singer, Todd Smith, about their upcoming summer tour, the release of “Sweet Nothings” and the hectic schedule they’re about to enter.

Jeremy Werner: I guess the first thing that automatically comes to mind is what was it that lead you guys getting the band back together and put out another album?
Todd Smith: Since the break-up, we’d done several reunion shows and we’re all friends…so because the demand was still there and people were planting those ideas in our head about doing another tour, another album, so forth and so on, we figured why not? Like I said, we’re all very close friends. We enjoy creating and performing music together. It was just like a reunion with old friends who happen to make music together. It seemed like a no-brainer really.

JW: Your last album, back in 2006, “Adultery”, was what a lot of fans and critics would say is your best album. Was there any pressure heading back into the studio to match that same level or was it just business as usual?
TS: For the most part it was business as usual. Of course, opinions are subjective. I’m flattered that people love “Adultery” so much and are pleased that we went out on a high note, and I think we’re reemerging on a high note as well. Everyone who’s heard “Sweet Nothings”, is gushing over it and saying they love it. Will it be as well received as “Adultery”? I have no idea, but I think people are definitely gonna think it’s a solid release. I definitely do, the rest of the guys in the band do. The engineer that we recorded with said it was the best sounding he’s ever had come out of his studios. There’s a lot of positive things being said about the new album.

JW: Going back to the people who’ve heard it. You guys played the full album for a group of people that paid a certain amount towards your Indiegogo campaign. Was the room just ecstatic?
TS: Oh yeah, absolutely. There were loud cheers and applause after every song. A lot of smiles. As far as the comments when we were mingling after we played the record, they were gushing as well. They were really digging it. It’s a lot to digest in one sitting, but the reaction we got was very positive.

JW: Did the crowd have any favorites?
TS: I mean…they all seemed to be well received, but as for a crowd favorite…it’s kind of hard to tell. I had quite a few glasses of wine. (laughs) The memory’s a bit spotty, but I remember we all had a great time and they seemed to like every song, so I really can’t pinpoint a favorite.

JW: Now I remember a while back you mentioned that you guys might avoid playing new music on your upcoming tour, is that still true?
TS: Jason and I had a conversation that we totally misunderstood each other. I was saying that I would entertain performing two new songs, but we have such a catalogue of music, that I think giving people just a hint of a few new tunes and then just playing through a retrospective from each album we put out would probably be more pleasing to the crowd. So we’re going to do two new songs for the most part, every night. If for some reason we decided to just do one new song a night, that might happen as well.

JW: Going back through all your songs, what are some of the songs that you might be playing that you have rarely, if ever, played?
TS: Let me think…I mean we haven’t played in so long, I don’t remember what was in rotation back then, but we’re gonna revisit “Satanic Cowboy”. I’m trying to think what else…”Dr. Piranha”, we haven’t played that in a while. “Valley Girl Ventriloquist”, we’re gonna do that one. Pink Riots, we’re gonna do that one. Besides the reunion shows, they haven’t been played in many, many years. There’s gonna be plenty of songs to choose from every night. We’ll try to cover all our bases.

JW: Please tell me “Darkest Days” is one of those.
TS: One of those is “Darkest Days” (laughs)

JW: (laughs) Awesome, I love that song. With DFD’s music, it’s always been experimental. Sometimes it’s different from song to song or completely changes tempo within the song. It’s very Mr. Bungle with how you guys can just flip on a dime. So I gotta ask, with the new album, what kind of musical ideas went into this or is there a running theme on “Sweet Nothings”?
TS: There’s definitely not a running theme. The album is all over the place. It starts out with a jazz…smokey lounge…kind of 1940’s kind of vibe and then ends with a song that starts out acoustic country…mellow…goes to dub and ends with a three minute section of stoner rock doom metal. So it’s all over the place. We have a short attention span and we like a lot of different types of music so we tend to write a lot of different styles and try to incorporate them into an album. Even several styles into one song as you know. A lot of twists and turns, and I think our fans love twists and turns. They’re fun to perform live.

JW: I see you guys haven’t released a single yet. Is there a song you’re looking at as your first single?
TS: As far as I know, the first single would be a song called “Taste So Sweet”. It kind of goes back to maybe, “Committed to a Bright Future” era with a catchy hooky chorus, lots of horn lines. We’re making a video for that in July. So that’ll most likely be our first or second single. We had talked about a song as a lyric video, initially a song called “We Aren’t the World” which is more of an “Adultery” vibe. It has tons of horror lines, cello, lots of moods, lots of twists and turns, a big epic chorus. That would probably be the first one we do a lyric video for just to get something out there because we’re not available to do the video shoot and release the “Taste So Sweet” video until July.

JW: I want to touch upon your Indiegogo campaign for a bit. A lot of bands will put it up and will slowly watch the money crawl to their goal, but with you guys it was extraordinary how fast and how many people latched on as soon as it was live. I bet as a band, it’s a great feeling to reach your goal that quickly.
TS: To meet our goal of $30,000 in 27 hours was completely unexpected. I remember going about my day, that first day, and just seeing the totals just go up and up and up and up. I hadn’t checked in a few hours and they were way up. Our fans are absolutely incredibly and I don’t just say that lightly. Granted we’d possibly still be making music if we had no fans because we enjoy it, but they keep the train rolling. We’re very humbled by the generosity of everybody and how much they actually cared about DFD getting back together and how they care about whatever project we do. We’re very lucky in that respect.

JW: I’m sure before starting you guys didn’t have stretch goals in mind, but after that response, you got to. Even more amazing is reaching all of them. Didn’t you guys break the top 10 most successful Indiegogo music campaigns?
TS: Yeah. I think we’re in the top 10. In regards to the stretch goals, once we hit $30,000 and added the first stretch goal of $50,000 for the video, I mean I thought that was gonna peak and it just kept going and going. We ended up at $85,000 which is a staggering amount. Shows how much people love Dog Fashion Disco.

JW: You guys are incredibly busy with side projects like Polkadot Cadaver, El-Creepo, Knives Out and other things…and with such an impressive and positive response to DFD…do you think DFD now deserves your undivided attention and everything else kind of has to sit on the back burner for the time being?
TS: I would say that everything is on the back burner now. The last stretch goal was to do two albums to be released within a year of each other. So with all the tours we have coming up, there’s really no time to devote to anything else besides Dog Fashion Disco, which is fine. We just wrapped up, mixed, mastered, put a nice little bow on “Sweet Nothings” and we’re already psyched to get back into the studio, wishing it was happening next month. Everybody will go into their little corners and start writing and then we’ll reconvene in December and have another album out by next May or June.

JW: Might be too early, but do you have any ideas for the next album?
TS: Not really. I definitely wanna utilize the horns a lot like we did on “Sweet Nothings”. I mean, they’re just too good not to have. So ya know, a lot of twists and turns. Maybe have more extremes. I’d like to do like a 50’s doo-wop kind of song and then a song that’s just the heaviest thing we’ve ever done. Just a lot of polar opposite dimensions and dynamics to the album. And really like there are no rules, not like there are any rules on “Sweet Nothings”. Going into it, wanna try to do something new and push the envelope as far as what we’ve done before.

JW: So what is the future now of Polkadot Cadaver, El Creepo, Knives Out and other projects?
TS: It’s really hard to predict. I would love to do another El-Creepo record. Something that’s a little more acoustic and mellow. That’s always fun to do. Polkadot has a handful of shows that we’re doing until the end of this year. We’re going out with Bam Margera and his band in August, doing a run on the east coast and then doing a full national tour with him in October and November for Polkadot. So that would be the next in line to revisit after the next DFD record considering that that band tours as well. Kind of like a missed opportunity if we don’t put out a record and do more shows. I would say DFD and Polkadot would work simultaneously and then maybe El-Creepo would be the next thing to get to. As far as Knives Out or anything else, I would seriously doubt that there would be another album that we would put out with Knives Out. It doesn’t make any sense. The band doesn’t tour and the members aren’t available to do shows, so it’s like…what’s the point?

JW: Looking at this upcoming year, in terms of tours, it looks like the one big thing of note is that you guys will be heading across the big pond for the first time.
TS: This would actually be our second time. The first time Dog Fashion went over there was 2001.

JW: Oh shit, I guess my Dog Fashion Disco history is a bit rusty…so I guess the obvious dumb follow up question would be are you excited?
TS: We’re extremely excited and psyched that the first two shows have been sold out and that the third is on it’s way to being sold out. So that’s incredible, it’s gonna be a lot of fun. The weekend is gonna be a blast. We’re looking forward to it.

JW: Because it’s doing well in ticket sales, do you see yourself branching out in Europe?
TS: Our agent overseas is actively seeking out a support band for Dog Fashion Disco. Most likely that would happen next year. I would love to go deeper into Europe. That would be blast. So hopefully that will happen next summer.

JW: I’m out of questions, any last thing you wanna tell the fans?
TS: I just wanna say thanks for all the support on Indiegogo and support they constantly give us. Spread the word: the new Dog Fashion Disco album, “Sweet Nothings”, is coming out July 22nd. We’re psyched to be back on the road and hearing people’s reactions to the new album.

You can check out Dog Fashion Disco on their summer tour, ‘The Merica F*ck Yeah Tour’, playing alongside Psychostick and The Bunny The Bear, at the following dates:
May 29th: Amityville, NY
May 30th: Albany, NY
May 31st: Pennellville, NY
June 1st: Watkins Glen, NY
June 2nd: Trenton, NJ
June 3rd: Providence, RI
June 5th: Westland, MI
June 6th: Cleveland, OH
June 7th: Cherry Valley, IL
June 8th: Joliet, IL
June 9th: Minneapolis, MN
June 10th: Merriam, KS
June 11th: Waterloo, IA
June 12th: Des Moines, IA
June 13th: Lincoln, NE
June 14th: Denver, CO
June 16th: Salt Lake City, UT
June 17th: Sacramento, CA
June 18th: West Hollywood, CA
June 19th: Las Vegas, NV
June 20th: Tuscon, AZ
June 21st: Scottsdale, AZ
June 23rd: San Antonio, TX
June 24th: Houston, TX
June 25th: Fort Worth, TX
June 26th: Oklahoma City, OK
June 27th: St. Louis, MO
June 28th: Indianapolis, IN
June 29th: Columbus, OH

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: album, discos, dog, fashion, nothings, smith, ...

Film Review “The Hornet’s Nest”

Starring: Carlos Boettcher and Mike Boettcher
Directed By: David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud
Rated: R
Running Time: 97 minutes
Freestyle Releasing

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I remember where I was, and what I was doing on September 11th, 2001 and oddly enough I equally remember my exactly location, and activity the day we started our war in Afghanistan. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 12 and a half years since we first set foot in the rugged Middle Eastern country. While I’m sure there will be plenty of future documentaries and dramatizations to come after we have our final soldier leave, “The Hornet’s Nest” will be a part of the pantheon of important films documenting the sacrifice American troops made.

“The Hornet’s Nest” pulls no punches with its depiction. From the very first frame, we’re implanted right in the maelstrom of war. We hear the violent hiss of bullets whizzing by (sometimes too close for comfort), while troops quickly take cover and return fire. There’s even a couple of gripping moments as they search for IED’s in the dirt paths littered about the countryside. Moments showcasing the lives, thoughts and feelings of the soldiers we watch are embedded in between their multiple near death encounters. With such an unflinching look, it’s a little unnerving when the fire fights start. You’re never quite sure what horrific twists and turns lie ahead or what tragedies the camera might catch.

Giving us this harrowing glimpse of chaos is Mike Boettcher, a Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist, who still looks haggard from his time over there. He’s joined by his son, Carlos, a rookie in the journalism field, who is a constant worry for Mike. Equipped with a couple of hand-held cameras, they conceal themselves amongst the U.S. military. They join them on one of their most dangerous missions yet, Operation Strong Eagle III. It’s not altogether clear what the specifics are, but the gist of the operation involves eliminating the Taliban presence in parts of the Kunar province where local Afghans are still trying to find a way to prosper economically.

The focus seems a bit uneven at times with an unnecessary side story involving our documentarians, Carlos and Mike. This should be a vehicle driven by the brave men and women of the United States, but at times the troops take a back seat to a quasi-emotional and divested look at the father-son relationship of Mike and Carlos. I know that these two are putting their lives on the line along with our troops to bring us this fine look into the warzone, but it feels a bit disingenuous to take even a fraction of the spotlight from the military. Luckily that perspective fizzles out halfway through.

When we are left with the footage of combat, there’s no contesting the raw power it holds. The emotional clutches of “The Hornet’s Nest” doesn’t come from any on-screen violence, but more from the heart wrenching moments. There’s these unbearable moments like when the realization set’s in on the troop’s faces when someone has just died. It’s made even worse when a flood of sadness slams into their demeanor when recollecting their last fleeting glimpses of their friends they’ll never see again. “The Hornet’s Nest” isn’t a political piece nor is it a propaganda vehicle ready to stir patriotism, it’s a powerful human reminder of what the past 12 and a half years have been like for hundreds of thousands. We should never forget these people.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: film, hornets, nest, review

Psychostick’s Rawrb talks about the band’s summer tour, “The ‘Merica F*ck Yeah Tour”

Psychostick is probably best known for their song “BEER!!”, the heavy metal anthem to irresponsible drinkers everywhere that made the rounds on the Internet back in the early 2000’s and popped up frequently on active rock stations across the country. They’ve had their tongue firmly planted in their cheek for nearly a decade and a half and now they’re about to enter a new chapter in their band history. After a successful Indiegogo campaign, Psychostick was able to raise the funds to build their very own studio in their home. That means they’ll be able to put out more music and content to their rabid comedy-metal fans. Media Mikes had a chance to catch up with the lead singer, Rawrb, about what kind of plans they got in the works and their upcoming summer tour with Dog Fashion Disco and The Bunny The Bear.

Jeremy Werner: I know the first thing people will wanna know is everything and anything about the new album you’re working on. So, is there anything new about the album you’d like to share with us that people might not already know about?
Rawrb: The only thing that’s been released about the new album has been “Obey the Beard”. The actual title and track listing hasn’t been announced yet because we’re still going back and forth on a lot of that stuff. We’ve recorded a lot of songs and it’s coming together. Once everything really starts to get finalized. We’ll really start releasing more info.

Jeremy: Do you guys have an estimated release date?
Rawrb: Hopefully early fall…I’m guessing.

JW: Now I know during the Indiegogo campaign, one of your stretch goals, if you raised the money, was to release a covers album. Sadly you guys didn’t reach that goal, but is a cover album still in the cards?
Rawrb: We talked about it, but we still might do it eventually. We were gonna do it sooner than later if we hit the stretch goal but we definitely want to. It’ll just be longer before we can.

JW: So you’re about to hit the road with Dog Fashion Disco and The Bunny The Bear…can fans heading out to the shows expect a new song on this upcoming tour?
Rawrb: We’re going back and forth on that one too. There’s one in particular we wanna play, but I’m not sure if we’re gonna have time. We’re a little bit short on the set for us, but I think we’re gonna try and squeeze another new one in there. We’ll see.

JW: A short set-list? It’s not a co-headlining tour with Dog Fashion Disco?
Rawrb: No, probably not, it’s pretty much their tour. They invited us out and we were very ecstatic to do that because .they still have a huge fanbase. I don’t know if you saw their Indiegogo, but they just blew it out of the water.

JW: Oh yeah. It was really impressive. It’s good to see both of you guys hitting your initial goals without a problem.
Rawrb: Yeah, so honestly, it’s not a co-headlining tour. We’re the opening act for them the whole tour.

JW: Now I saw they’re heading overseas for the first time to play three nights in England…so is that a sign that maybe you guys are heading overseas for the first time?
Rawrb: We’re trying. We’ve made a few new contacts and it’s the closest it’s ever been so I’m pretty optimistic. I think it will happen, maybe this year or maybe next year, hopefully. I’m hoping that it will happen later this year because we’ve been overdue for this for a long time. We have a pretty good following overseas and we’ve just never had an opportunity jump over there because of…silly reasons like money (laughs).

JW: So going back to the new studio you guys were able to build…what exactly does it mean for the future of Psychostick?
Rawrb: We’ll be able to produce music more frequently. One of the biggest challenges and why it’s been so long since we’ve had a new album, is that we tour so much and don’t have the resources to sit down and just crank out another album on a more frequent basis, but now we’ll be able to do that. I’m hoping we’ll release more music, more frequently. Instead of waiting three years, it’ll be a year and a half or less. We live in our studio too, so we can wake up and write a song and record it then and there. It’s really nice to be able to do that. A lot of the obstacles have been removed so we can get a lot more done and there will be a lot more stuff coming.

JW: What musical direction will you go with now that you have this studio? Will you be focusing on cranking out more albums or maybe a couple EP’s here and there or will it be like the video posted a while back…your cover of “Reading Rainbow”?
Rawrb: We put out the “Reading Rainbow” cover a couple weeks ago and that was just us testing out the studio. We just wanted to see how it was gonna work. It happened really fast and we were super excited. We’re gonna do full length albums and little tidbits like “Reading Rainbow” We’re gonna try and do more covers too because we have a great idea and we can’t sell it because it’s owned by somebody else. So since it’s a cover, we can just go crazy with it. There’s no limits to this now, except for time…(laughs)…we’re excited.

JW: Now that you have your own studio, are you guys thinking about dropping from your label and creating your own?
Rawrb: We haven’t really thought about it. We’re very happy with Rock Ridge. We handle all of our own production, they don’t have any say in that and that’s part of the reason why we love them is because we can do what we want. We built the studio so we can crank out whatever we want and when we want.

JW: Is there anything else you want your fans to know?
Rawrb: We’re working on new stuff and there’s gonna be a lot more content like videos and gags and things like that, that we got planned. When it hits, you’ll know. It’s gonna be non-stop and there’s gonna be more music from us now that we have a studio. So we’re excited about all these things and I think our fans will be really happy with what we come out with because we are. And that’s the first step, we have to like it, before we let it out…(laughs)…it’ll be good.

You can check out Psychostick on their summer tour, ‘The Merica F*ck Yeah Tour’, playing alongside Dog Fashion Disco and The Bunny The Bear, at the following dates:
May 29th: Amityville, NY
May 30th: Albany, NY
May 31st: Pennellville, NY
June 1st: Watkins Glen, NY
June 2nd: Trenton, NJ
June 3rd: Providence, RI
June 5th: Westland, MI
June 6th: Cleveland, OH
June 7th: Cherry Valley, IL
June 8th: Joliet, IL
June 9th: Minneapolis, MN
June 10th: Merriam, KS
June 11th: Waterloo, IA
June 12th: Des Moines, IA
June 13th: Lincoln, NE
June 14th: Denver, CO
June 16th: Salt Lake City, UT
June 17th: Sacramento, CA
June 18th: West Hollywood, CA
June 19th: Las Vegas, NV
June 20th: Tuscon, AZ
June 21st: Scottsdale, AZ
June 23rd: San Antonio, TX
June 24th: Houston, TX
June 25th: Fort Worth, TX
June 26th: Oklahoma City, OK
June 27th: St. Louis, MO
June 28th: Indianapolis, IN
June 29th: Columbus, OH

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music Interviews Tagged With: bands, fck, merica, psychosticks, rawrb, summer, ...

Film Review #2 “A Million Ways to Die in the West”

Starring: Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron and Liam Neeson
Directed By: Seth MacFarlane
Rated: R
Running Time: 116 minutes
Universal Pictures

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

There are actually some lofty expectations for “A Million Ways to Die in the West”. Weird, right? Two summers ago Seth MacFarlane put out the comedy sleeper hit, “Ted”. It combined his “Family Guy” style of random, filthy humor with the likeable personas of Mila Kunis and Mark Wahlberg coping with the next step of their relationship. Once again MacFarlane throws everything and the kitchen sink from his bag of humor in the hopes of pulling a throaty laugh from his audience and for the most part he succeeds. “A Million Ways to Die in the West” also stirs up a worthy farce of Western movies.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and hail the second coming of “Blazing Saddles”. MacFarlane is the lead, which deters him from drawing some of the biggest laughs in the movie. As Albert, a spineless sheep farmer, he does have some very good quips, but the supporting cast padding is what makes “A Million Ways to Die in the West” a comedy gem. Friends of Albert, Edward (Giovanni Ribisi) and Ruth (Sarah Silverman), are a Christian couple who are waiting until marriage to make love; which is constantly complicated by the fact that Ruth is a prostitute with customers who continuously find more unique ways and inopportune times to tell her to get upstairs and bang them. Louise (Amanda Seyfried) is Albert’s ex-girlfriend who is the butt of jokes, but is now dating the master of mustaches, Foy (Neil Patrick Harris). NPH is an absolute pleasure in every scene, selling every moment more than anyone else in this movie.

Then there’s the warm and beautiful Anna (Theron). A smart, quick trigger gal who finds her way into Albert’s slice of hell town called Old Stump. Upon meeting and slowly falling for each other, she fails to mention to Albert that her husband, Clinch (Neeson), is one of the most dangerous and deadly outlaws in the west that has a sadistic code of ethics when choosing who to kill. Anna and Albert complement each other with their smartass remarks and craving to be with someone who appreciates them for who they are. MacFarlane and Theron sport some decent on-screen chemistry which probably comes as a shock for the thousands who were up in arms over MacFarlane’s “We Saw Your Boobs” at the 2013 Oscars.

The characters in this movie have an odd, child-like approach to plenty of crudeness which makes it all the more humorous and ridiculous. Comedic scenarios feature a combination of sight gags, one-liners and a visually gross punctuation. Also slip in the unnecessary violent death to further accent the title of the movie. With such a palette of absurd and juvenile humor, there’s something for everyone in this rapid fire executions of jokes, at least anyone who isn’t afraid of a little inappropriate, sexual and racial provocation. Some of my more favorite scenes feature a hyper violent bar fight and the interactions between Albert and his aging father who speaks his emotions through expletive hyperboles.

While “Ted” was a perfect blend, cast-wise, “A Million Ways to Die in the West” feels incomplete. The lengthy running time starts to show as we continue to wait for the climactic showdown between Albert and Clinch. Also I can’t quite heap on the same amount of praise to MacFarlane that everyone else got. He isn’t admirable enough to be the improbable hero. He has a low level of smugness that ruins the high octane levels of every-guy so we don’t quite see him as amiable. NPH would have been miles better in the lead role and it’s a puzzle as to why no one pointed this out to MacFarlane when the script was being read. Regardless, “A Million Ways to Die in the West” is the comedy to beat so far this summer.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: die, film, million, review, ways, west, ...

Film Review “Blended”

Starring: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore and Bella Thorne
Directed By: Frank Coraci
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 117 minutes
Warner Bros.

Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars

I remember talking with Media Mikes co-founder, Michael Smith, at the beginning of the summer about the chemistry between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and how the duo have probably put out the better of the Adam Sandler comedies; “50 First Dates” and “The Wedding Singer”. While he saw the potential for Barrymore and Sandler to perfect their trio of romantic comedies with “Blended”, I simply saw “Adam Sandler and Friends Go to Africa and Make Fart Noises with Their Mouths”. I’m here to say that Michael Smith was right.

“The Wedding Singer” is by far one of the diamonds in the rough in the Adam Sandler collection while “50 First Dates” was made watchable by the magic of the two. This time around, they do it again. “Blended” is the story of two single parents, Jim (Sandler) and Lauren (Barrymore). Jim has three daughters while Lauren has two sons (they’re just one child short of a Brady Bunch reunion) and while they’re both suitable as stressed out single parents, they’re both lacking a set of skills to deal with their children of the opposite sex.

A blind date brings these two together and it goes nothing short of an ocean liner hitting an iceberg. First off, the date is at Hooters, then they can barely make eye-contact, and they’re both plotting an early exit and I haven’t even gotten to Jim knowing each waitress on a quick first name basis. It’s obvious these two are going to cross paths again (and they do a couple of times), but the story needs to really cement a ludicrous predicament for them to be stuck somewhere. How about a trip to Africa? A trip to Africa it is. Although I find it odd the movie never tells us the country…or city that the trip takes place…as if the intelligence of our characters only goes as far as believing the entire continent of Africa is just one big country.

It’s quite fascinating that if you were to cut out the gross out humor, like rhinoceroses banging, this is a very good comedy. There’s a lot of surprising laughs, provided by the children, and when Jim and Lauren take jabs at each other. Now that Sandler has aged and isn’t violently screaming for laughs, he is quite charming as a humble father of three who adds a level of sorrow because he’s afraid to move on past his first wife who’s dead. He’s shockingly believable as an apprehensive man who’s still in love his wife who has passed on.

My list of groans and cheers are about at equal length. While the running time definitely stretched this well beyond its means, I’m glad the movie took the time to slowly create the bond between Jim and Lauren. When the movie isn’t forcing a product placement in front of us, there’s actually a thoughtful reason why Jim loves going to Hooters (maybe the first in history). I know I’m beating a dead horse, but Sandler and Barrymore were the reason I inched to the positive side. I’ve never seen Barrymore this funny or Sandler this heartwarming. You almost forget both are happily married with their own children in real life when on-screen sparks fly between them. I guess Sandler just needed a break from his usual drab, but I’m sure he has some more head-shakingly bad movies in the works. Until then, enjoy “Blended”.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: blended, film, review

Concert Review: Slayer – Uptown Theater – Kansas City, Missouri

Slayer
Uptown Theater
05/13/2014
Kansas City, Missouri

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

I guess you could say this is Slayer’s way of squeezing out a few pennies before the onslaught of summer tour dates and finishing up their 11th studio album. It’s understandable that a band, especially with the resources at a hand, wouldn’t mind going on a little stint across the U.S., but this is the first time since 1990 that Slayer has toured with Suicidal Tendencies (I was two when that tour tore across the states) and they have Exodus to boot on this trek. If this is what Slayer does for a “short tour”, they need to do it more.

If you’ve never been to Kansas City, then I shall fill you in on the absurd weather that we receive. During the seasonal transition months, it can be stupid muggy or ridiculously brisk. This was one of those Spring/Summer evenings that was quite chilly, so reluctant to say, a bunch of heavily pierced and leather wearing men were ready to pack in like a sardine can into the Uptown Theater and sweat it out. A line outside literally stretched a block as Exodus began it’s sound check. So it’s obvious who people were there to see.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Exodus and they didn’t disappoint. A small collective of hairy men were near the front going insane while die-hard fans rode the barrier wall up front. For three bands that highly respect each other and have a good four to five hours of play time to split amongst them, it’s a bit weird that Exodus would only be allowed a little less than half an hour. Would have loved to see them at least play one new song off their last three albums, but once “Piranha” came on, I was livid with joy that’d they play the first song I heard of theirs many, many years ago.

I don’t know a lot about Suicidal Tendencies and they’re not necessarily high on my list of go to music in the car, but I have a great amount of respect for a band that really helped mold a fluid hardcore/thrash metal sound. These guys must have gotten straight out of a time machine because their energy was through the roof. I didn’t know any of the songs right off the bat, but after the first time hearing the chorus, I couldn’t help but mouth a couple of their violent anthems. I think their youthfulness is bolstered by the new addition, Thomas Pridgen, at drummer. He hasn’t even performed on any of their albums and yet he played with such manic enthusiasm, you’d think he was fighting for a spot in their line-up. Ironically they continued the trend of not playing a single new song on the night.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen Slayer, but that rush of adrenaline before they get on stage never goes away. Their stage staple is always an upside down cross and yet they find a new way to present it or light it on fire. Gary Holt, who’s replacing Jeff Hanneman, is solid and Paul Bostaph, who’s back in the band for a third time, is also good. Hanneman and Dave Lombardo will definitely be missed and it felt awkward watching a band that only performed songs featuring those two previous members. I can’t tell if it’s a tribute to their contributions or not. Give the fans what they want though, anything before 1990 is classic Slayer.

While I got to hear plenty of songs I’ve never heard before live like “Chemical Warfare”, “At Dawn They Sleep”, and “Black Magic”, I wouldn’t have been upset if they slipped in God Hates Us All or Hate Worldwide. I even heard their newest single “Implode” online and thought that was definitely something they’d shred. Nope, they stuck to their first five albums. I’m still waiting for the day I at least here one song off of Diabolus in Musica. Maybe it’s because I saw the insane energy of Suicidal Tendencies just an hour before, but the energy of Slayer just wasn’t there. The go-to band of the metal community was upstaged at their own headlining show.

Outside of a pair of gentleman, there’s not a single ounce of young blood on this tour. While it’s great to see these guys who are pushing towards their 50’s chug out some old tunes, I would have loved to see some new music. For someone my age, it’s not necessarily nostalgic to hear some of the best 80’s pit music, but I understand it’s what made you popular and it’s what people know. While Slayer is planning on putting out their new album this year, it doesn’t show a lot of promise when they don’t play the single they released before embarking on this tour (and from what I read didn’t play it at Rock on the Range). Are they simply appeasing to fans or worried that they’ve been spent the past two to three decades making garbage? Maybe I’m overthinking it…or maybe I’m worried Slayer’s about to hit a slump.

Exodus Set-List
Bonded by Blood
Piranha
War is My Shephard
Blacklist
The Toxic Waltz
Strike of the Beast

Suicidal Tendencies Set-List
You Can’t Bring Me Down
Trip at the Brain
War Inside My Head
Subliminal
Possessed to Skate
I Saw Your Mommy
Cyco Vision
Pledge Your Allegiance

Slayer Set-List:
Hell Awaits
The Antichrist
Necrophiliac
Mandatory Suicide
Captor of Sin
War Ensemble
Postmortem
Altar of Sacrifice
Jesus Saves
At Dawn They Sleep
Die by the Sword
Hallowed Point
Seasons in the Abyss
Chemical Warfare
Dead Skin Mask
Raining Blood
Black Magic
South of Heaven
Angel of Death

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Filed Under: Concert Reviews Tagged With: city, concert, kansas, missouri, review, slayer, ...

Film Review “Stage Fright”

Starring: Allie MacDonald, Meat Loaf and Minnie Driver
Directed By: Jerome Sable
Rated: R
Running Time: 89 minutes
Magnet Releasing

Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars

If there’s one musical slasher to see this year, it’s “Stage Fright”. Or maybe it’s this summer’s gory ode to musicals. Or maybe it’s 2014’s catchiest, disillusioned fantasy about someone who wanted to see all the theater kids at their school slaughtered. Regardless of the movie’s intentions and lack of settling on a genre, “Stage Fright” is one of those guilty pleasures that combines two unlikely affections, Broadway and horror.

I must admit these are both guilty pleasures of mine. I have “Wicked” on my iPod and “Cannibal Holocaust” in my DVD collection. While “Stage Fright” doesn’t quite meet the satisfying highs that both of these make within the context of their own category, it manages to stitch together a working piece of parody that provides some hearty laughs and a string of snickers during songs. At times it’s surprising how much more fulfilling the corny songs are than the eventual killings.

The movie presents us with two siblings, Camilla (MacDonald) and Buddy (Douglas Smith), the children of a murdered opera diva, Kylie (Driver). She’s stabbed to death by a freak wearing the mask of the villain in the musical she’s performing in, The Haunting of the Opera. The murder goes unsolved and the young ones are taken in under the care of one of Kylie’s former lovers, Roger (Meat Loaf). Fast forward to 10 years after these events, the two children are all grown up and toiling in the kitchen of Roger’s dilapidated summer camp for theater kids. The deeply in debt camp allows it’s summer time students to put on their own plays and this summer, they’re putting on a Japanese version of The Haunting of the Opera. Once again another psycho, this time donning a Kabuki mask, stalks the sets and bides his time before he can kill the young campers.

The cheesiness seeps into nearly every line of dialogue and shows that director Sable has a deep appreciation of horror and the musical styling of theater. For every reference to “Hellraiser” and “Friday the 13th”, there’s an obvious nod to “Phantom of the Opera” and unforeseen wink at “Glee”. While the blueprints are obvious, Sable’s final product is a bit shrouded. The straight face acting would lead you to believe this is a parody, but to the astute viewer, the potpourri blend of humor, theatrics and midnight frights are an homage to Sable’s influences. I can understand why this can be off-putting to viewers hoping for one or the other.

Despite having to play the shy girl that eases out of her cocoon throughout the running time, MacDonald really blossoms when panic sets in. And if that’s her actually singing in this movie, I can’t believe this incredibly attractive 26-year-old actress only has 20 acting credits to her name. While Minnie Driver gets her name near the top, her short screen time and quick murder appears to be a bow to “Psycho”. Meat Loaf really steals the scenes he’s in and in my humble opinion, needed more opportunities to really belt one out and stretch those monster vocal cords of his. Not that I’m complaining that Sable was able to nab Meat Loaf for another rare on-screen singing role.

“Stage Fright” is far from perfect and definitely needs to be refined, but the nucleus of this movie is fun enough to turn a blind eye to its predictability. I wouldn’t actually mind seeing a stage performance of this movie with a lengthier amount of time given for silly songs and a splatter zone for audience members. It worked for “Evil Dead: The Musical”. Sable’s next project will be featured in “The ABC’s Death 2”, which might show us which one of his talents is stronger, music or violence. Until then, relish in the absurd tongue-in-cheek goodness that “Stage Fright” gives in every octave.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: film, fright, review, stage

DVD Review “Locker 13”

Actors: Krista Allen, Rick Hoffman and Tatyana Ali
Directors: Bruce Dellis, Jason Marsden, Matthew Mebane, Adam Montierth and Donovan Montierth
Rated: R
Studio: Brothers’ Ink Productions
Running Time: 95 minutes

Our Score: 0.5 out of 5 stars

I’d never heard of “Locker 13”, but after one grueling hour and a half, I still wish I hadn’t. After a doing a bit of research, I found out that “Locker 13” is the baby project of five misguided directors who took their dreams to Kickstarter, in the hopes of finding some s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶r̶s̶ contributors. It’s ironic that they raised the bare minimum ($25,000) and that’s how much of an effort I feel they put into this. I really hate to rag on an independent movie with good intentions, but “Locker 13” is simply one of the worst anthology movies I’ve ever seen.

“Locker 13” features four short stories with a wraparound story. So like most anthology movies, what’s the common running theme in all of them? It’s a haphazard ethical argument about making the correct life decisions. The wrap around story involves a newly hired janitor at an Old West themed park (a story that’s been begging to be heard *eye roll*) being told multiple stories about the random items they encounter that all gravitate towards a mysterious old locker. The enveloping tale doesn’t ever really tell us why this sagely old employee is recounting all these stories or how he even knows about them. He just does.

Our stories include: A boxer with lethal gloves, but he doesn’t seem to regret the deadly powers they give him. We have a secret society that tells bad jokes and smokes cigars and like all standard exclusive clubs, there’s an initiation process. There’s a random suicidal individual on a rooftop, whose choice to end his own life is interrupted by an arbitrary stranger. Then there’s a misogynistic story that I won’t even bother you with. One after another, they play like a string of rejected “Twilight Zone” episodes.

It feels as though each individual director/writer built their story without any perception of what everyone else was working on, nor did they seem to concern themselves with tying up their pieces to boost the overall wrap. This is evident by the third story where a man threatens to kill a suicidal individual to show him how much he actually values life. I actually re-watched it thinking there was some meta-commentary on this preposterous situation, but I was wrong. It’s just terrible writing.

I wasn’t going to fault the acting in a movie with a $300,000 budget, but once Jon Polito (Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink) showed up, I felt the directors could have at least gone big or just stayed at home and refunded their Kickstarter faithful. I’m sure there are other fantastic cameos in this movie, but they’re crammed in between so many disposable dime store performers, their skills are hindered.

I feel like there’s a poor salute being made to other anthology films as well as B-movie storylines. While some material is tongue in cheek, the majority of it feels like unwanted short stories or art school projects used to help hone the craft of filmmakers. Simply put, the stories never engage the audience or seem concerned about constructing a storyline that can thrill, scare, and intrigue or even amuse the audience. Instead of just going back to the

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Filed Under: DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews Tagged With: 13, dvd, locker, review

Film Review “The Final Member”

Starring: Sigurour Hjararson, Pall Arason and Tom Mitchell
Directed By: Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math
Rated: R
Running Time: 75 minutes
Drafthouse Films

Our Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I literally stared at the computer screen for a couple of minutes not typing and thought to myself, “How do I even begin to describe “The Final Member”?” By the way, I know that’s my job smartasses. I could easily make a couple of penis puns or I could switch things up and talk about how this will be the only documentary you will ever see where male genitalia is on full display in all its severed glory. So let’s just give this the ol’ college try.

Miles from the Arctic Circle in an Icelandic town I can’t pronounce, Husavik, sits an incredibly unique museum. It is the Icelandic Phallological Museum, the world’s only penis museum. I’ll just go ahead and let that sink in for a moment…still with me? Good. Its founder, Sigurour Hjararson, has spent just over 40 years collecting ding dongs from all over the world, from every animal and species. Mounted on the walls are towering animals dongs and in jars lined across the store one can view an assortment of male animal genitals. It is truly the showcase of a lifetime of work. It’s just missing one mammal in particular. It is missing the penis of the most self-conscious creature on the planet, the human. Still with me?

You would think in this day and age of traveling skeleton, human body exhibits and people touting the corpse of King Tut, it wouldn’t be that hard to find an unused penis just lying around somewhere. Not only do you have to deal with some hefty legal work, you also got to deal with some massive egos attached to your future specimens. Hjararson has landed a local legend in terms of sexual promiscuity, Pall Arason. He’s an aging man who has nothing, but the memories of his sexual conquests of hundreds of women and the blushing whispers of women saying that he’s well endowed. Although in one of the most awkward documented moments, a plaster cast of his pecker proves futile as he can’t quite maintain an erection.

Size does matter in Iceland too. Anything below the five inch mark is considered useless. Not only is it a common belief that the recommended length is five inches (or 12.7 centimeters for you folks across the big pond), but it is also a well-known piece of folklore that you might as well just lop off your wing dinger if it’s less than those solid five. With people calling into question Pall’s length, that’s when Tom Mitchell enters the fray. His mindset is, “You don’t have to wait until I die, I’ll gladly snip my monster off now and let you have it.” He even gets the stars and stripes tattooed on the head of his manhood so that future museum goers will know that that’s an American penis. “The Final Member” in just the first couple of minutes instantly becomes a fleshy “mine’s bigger” battle.

While there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, “The Final Member” provides a subtle humility to our genital obsessed gentlemen. The idea of mortality is a big theme even though it faintly hovers in the background. Pall is at death’s door and shows signs of worry. Will he actually be remembered as a living, walking, sex-machine? That’s really all he has left. After a couple of moments with Mitchell, you can tell he has a seriously unhealthy relationship with his own penis. He’s borderline obsessive about having his wiener on display. While both of their reasons seem a bit bizarre, that’s how they’ve lived their lives. They’ve spent years being proud of their dangly parts and want to be immortalized in Hjararson’s museum. It’s like a writer wanting his works publish, a filmmaker wanting their work produced or a soldier crying as his name is etched into a memorial wall. Hjararson himself hopes he can complete the museum before he meets his untimely end so that his life wasn’t wasted on collecting the male anatomy.

“The Final Member” is an immensely engaging documentary that really showcases how vain men can be. It’s one of the few movies that I loved, but I don’t know if I can really recommend it to the average person. I can already see the scrunched up faces of disgust as I lay out the purpose of the documentary. I can hear the laughs, but at the same time I can visualize the waning interest. If you don’t mind constantly seeing penises, I would definitely recommend you watch “The Final Member”.

NOW PLAYING EXCLUSIVELY AT AN ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE THEATRE NEAR YOU

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: film, final, member, review

Film Review “Brick Mansions”

Starring: Paul Walker, David Belle and RZA
Directed By: Camille Delamarre
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 91 minutes
Relativity Media

Our Score: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Has Hollywood reached that point where they see Luc Besson’s name and automatically write the check? He has 24 screenwriting credits over the past decade and off the top of my head I can’t come up with one good movie he has penned. His latest is “Brick Mansions”, a remake of “District 13”, which he also wrote. From what I’ve read, he didn’t change much with the story. He’s either getting lazy or he knows studio executives will automatically respond with, “Shut up and take my money.”

“Brick Mansions” has a fairly promising premise. We’re dropped into a crime-ridden, dystopian Detroit in 2018 (not too far off or inaccurate). In this not so bleak future, the powers to be have built a tall thick wall around the problem spot of the city, known as the Brick Mansions. A ruthless drug kingpin, Tremaine (RZA), controls the area under his iron fist, even though he’s only seen cooking and making aimless threats. He has two problem spots in his territory. One is an undercover cop, Damien (Walker), who fights the scum of the street that he incorrectly blames for his father’s death. The other is Lino (Belle), a scrappy fighter who fights for the common good because…who cares because the script certainly doesn’t.

One can surmise that is going to be a rough and tough action movie and while that is true to a certain extent, the fights never evolve beyond mildly amusing. You’ll begin to realize that each battle is actually just one chase after another with Lino pulling off his best Jackie Chan escape moves and Damien following suit. I have to give credit to Belle, who appears to do most of his own stunts besides the insane story high jumps and landings that would shatter anyone’s fibula and tibula. “Brick Mansions” can never quite agree on whether or not it wants to be an insane silly romp through the urban jungle or a serious crime movie and instead settles on cheap action gimmicks and choppy storytelling.

When it does try to be serious, you realize there was never an adequate set-up provided to propel the characters forward or enough sound reasoning to suggest that risking life and limb is worth chasing down these common street thugs. RZA is the weakest choice for acting I’ve seen this year. His emotional range is that of an enraged adolescent, constantly thrashing about while blaming other people and never realizing the consequences of his actions. Halfway through the movie RZA randomly picks up a Jamaican accent which he has a hard time verbally articulating if the script calls for him to speak above a whisper. The most frustrating aspect, without giving away the ending, is that Tremaine never meets a suitable punishment, but is instead revered in the most ludicrous way.

“Brick Mansions” is a technically sound movie. The choreographed escapes and fights (when there is one) are solid and the scenery of our future ghetto is more entertaining than the characters inhabiting it. “Brick Mansions” will be a box office draw because it is Paul Walker’s final role after he tragically died. In one aspect, “Brick Mansion” sadly symbolizes what his career was, one forgettable movie after another, but his on-screen time does remind the audience that he had the potential to do so much better.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: brick, film, mansions, review
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