Following Tim
One of Jeri’s friends, Tim (Stough) not my beer drinking friend Tim, motivated me to draft a few notes about music/musicians etc. that have played a role in my quiet little life. To begin, I would have to say mention that classical music in general played a huge role in my life. I started playing the violin at 4 and went on a downward spiral from there. Farily early on, I knew that what turned me on was hard, fast and very technical music. And once I discovered Paganini….holy shit. That was then end…and the beginning. Faster. Everything had to be faster, and then heavier.
And then faster.
And faster.
And then at some point (like within the last few years), I decided that I liked to cry when I listened to classical music. But really, you can have your cake and eat it too. For example:
- Kreisler’s Caprice Viennois (Joshua Bell)
- Paganini’s 21st Caprice (Massimo Quarta)
One day I was nosing through my brothers room and I stumbled upon an cassette by this “Anthrax” band. What the fuck? I snuck back to my room, and popped it into my ghettoblaster. This was completely unlike the “metal” I was accustomed to, the Black Sabbath, the Ozzy Osbourne or Iron Maiden. This was….this was “it”. As punishment for stealing his tape, my brother took a hammer to the tape while I pleaded to keep it. (See, he’s always been a dick). So, I had to maneuver my lardy self down and pick up “Fistful of Metal”. Sure, it had Neal Turbin, not Joey Belladonna, but somehow, that made it even better. This album, got the ball rolling for me.
- Deathrider Anthrax
I got him back though, I soon made off with his Stormtroopers of Death album (Anthrax w/Billy Milano on vocals….really the best line up….)
I will go ahead and insert the fact that Jeri has a mad crush on Scott Ian of Anthrax/S.O.D. fame. Mad crush.
Shortly thereafter I was corrupted my the true masters of the genre, Slayer. Kerry and his friends just blew me away. Totally and completely. They also blew Mother away with their overt approach towards religion, war and so forth. (Mother was in for a long ride.) While Reign in Blood is near the top of my all time favourite albums, I credit this track for both teaching me the proper mosh riff (to be brought up later), and how to “dance”.
- Chemical Warfare (Slayer>
Fine, toss in Metallica. How could you not?
At some point, I found myself gravitating towards the New York HardCore Scene. Everything that came out of there was so gritty, so real. Honest and simple. Agnostic (fucking) Front. That was my band throughout high school. My heroes. Sure, I was in the 2% of their fan base that was not a neo-nazi, and a metal fan. I got to chat with Roger Miret outside of Mudbugg’s before their show one afternoon. He was a real person, and I remember him asking a neo-nazi not to interrupt. I could see Vinnie Stigma, but he seemed pretty busy playing with his dog, and I was too chicken shit to go talk to him. I never got back into A/F after they reunited, but they will always have a place in my heart.
At this point, I was in the process of trading the violin in for the guitar. I set my sights fairly high, and didn’t waste any time learning songs I felt were “important”. No “Stairway to Heaven”, but rather a little tune by the Brazilian Masters….Sepultura:Dead Embryonic Cells. This track taught me how bad thrash could make your hands feel, and once again the sheer beauty of the mosh riff. (The mosh riff was prevalent throughout my days to this point, but the Brazilians simply rocked it. Pantera’s Cowboys From Hell and The Art Of Shredding” were not far behind.
Pantera deserves it’s own entry, as does Chuck Schuldiner (Leprosy), not to mention the entire range of the ultimate metal gods, Carcass (old: Exhume to Consume, to their “Swansong”: Ever Increasing Circles, Emotional Flatline.
(Johnny Winter, Rollins Band, And of course Fear Factory will all get their own entires, as their influence, was unshakable, and can’t be done in a paragraph…..interestingly, Gene Hoglan is now drumming for Fear Factory. He played with Chuck Schuldiner for a number of years, and is an amazing musician. Also, Dino Cazares is apparently back in Fear Factory; Christian Olde-Wombers and Ray Herrera are apparently pursuing their side project. Given the differing styles between Herrera and Hoglan, I’m very curious to hear new works.)
That’s all for now. Jessica, after listening to all tracks, you can comment on the prior entry. Kerry, you keep commenting on 2008 entries, Jeri, Captain of the Mountain View Neighbourhood Watch….. you eat your candy.