Music

Sunday Metal – Trouble

/ hsoi

Trouble’s a cool band. I dig their early stuff, but I think “Manic Frustration” was my favorite album.

Here’s “Memory’s Garden” from “Manic Frustration”

Here’s “Assassin”, from “Psalm 9″… and recorded on public access TV! Get your exposure wherever you can. 🙂

And here’s “At The End Of My Daze”  from their self-titled album:

“Plastic Green Head”, a more recent song:

Got to see them live during a CMJ Music Marathon back in the early 90’s, including doing a meet and great. They were nice guys, a little tired at the event, but very nice.

I must admit tho, I prefer Eric Wagner’s singing. While I dig what Kory Clarke did in Warrior Soul, his vocals are just so radically different and it doesn’t really fit the vibe of what Trouble means to me (and apparently a lot of other fans). That’s why I put a lot of Eric-era videos in here, so you could hear how the band sounded with him singing.

Here’s Kory singing “Come Touch The Sky”

And while it’s not an exciting video, here’s the original recording, with Eric Wagner singing:

Here’s Kory singing on a new track called “Hunters Of Doom”:

Sorry. It’s just not the same. Granted, I guess the band doesn’t want to sound the same, but it’s hard to hear the old songs sung so differently. I’m not saying they should do like Journey and get a guy that sounds exactly like Eric, because other bands have switched vocalists and did alright (Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Van Halen). But sorry… Kory just isn’t doing it for me. 😦

Time to spin my old albums…

Sunday Metal – Jason McMaster

/ hsoi

Check it out!

Jason McMaster is going to get a star on the South Texas Music Walk of Fame! More details here.

Pretty damn sweet.

Broken Teeth – “Undertaker”

Sad Wings – “Green Manalishi”

Watchtower! (an interview, and “Social Fears”)

Dangerous Toys – “Sticks and Stones” (but rock and roll will never hurt me!)

Been a long time since I rock and rolled…

/ hsoi

Daughter has been asking me to teach her to play guitar.

About a week ago she pulled one of my guitar’s out of the rack. Mind you, I haven’t seriously touched my guitars in years… they’ve mostly been collecting dust. 😦   But she pulled out the classical guitar, I tuned it up, and showed her an E chord and sent her to practice it.

Last night I rummaged through a box and found a “new” set of strings and restrung my steel-string acoustic. Now I’ve taught her an A and a D.

She knows 3 chords. She can officially start a rock band now. 🙂

Our fingertips are hurting, but had a lot of fun. Played a lot of Led Zeppelin for her, some Badlands, John Cougar Mellencamp, even some stuff I wrote years ago. Amazed at how much I remember.

Time with my kids, teaching them, seeing the look on their faces as they discover and grow… hard to beat that.

Sunday Metal – AC/DC

/ hsoi

AC/DC doing “Sin City” on The Midnight Special

With bonus intro by Steven Tyler and Ted Nugent. In retrospect, it’s strange to hear AC/DC being talked about like some up-and-coming band.

Sunday Metal – Danko Jones

/ hsoi

I wouldn’t classify Danko Jones as heavy metal (they’re not Iron Maiden or Cannibal Corpse), but they are pretty hard rockin’, so good enough.

Besides, Lemmy’s in the video:

And someone needs to teach Elijah Wood to keep his finger off the trigger unless the gun is on target.

Wingo update

/ hsoi

The Austin Chronicle has an interview with Trivett Wingo about his departure from The Sword:

OTR: What exactly is the issue?

TW: Not to get too specific, but my level of anxiety pertaining to being on tour got to the point where medication was not the answer. You can crunch Valiums all the time, but at a certain point you have to ask yourself if you should just be staying at home. I had been medicating myself to be on tour, and I realized that psychiatric help wasn’t the answer. I was very deeply unhappy. I didn’t want to sedate myself and do something that I wasn’t enjoying. I figured it was better for me to finally listen to my inner voice and strike out on my own. I wanted to finish it all. If I had known what point I would break, I wouldn’t have planned anything beyond that, but I reached my own personal breaking point as far as my panic and anxiety. I was living in a mental hell. I think it was really starting to affect my performance as well. I really officially completely burned myself down to a nub.

OTR: Is the relief immediate?

TW: I feel sad and confused that I’m not with the band anymore. I can’t say that I don’t have some regret that I couldn’t make it work, but I do feel like a weight is off me in knowing that I’m not getting on that bus again. It’s going to take me a long time to get over it and unwind all of the stuff in my mind. It’s a change in identity for me. I realized that I couldn’t be in a touring band, even in a couple years from now. It’s been hard on everyone. People think it’s really easy to just ride around and fly on airplanes and play rock & roll shows. What they don’t realize is that you completely give up your entire personal life. All of your meaningful relationships are thrown into a pile and neglected. You’re not there for your friends or your family, the people that you love. Meanwhile, you’re thrust into this void where you sit around and jerk off for 23 hours waiting to play one hour of music. That just killed me. I was dying on the road. I can’t deal with that amount of downtime everyday and being disconnected from everything. I decided it was time to work 9-5 and rehabilitate myself. I just want a fucking “normal life,” with a dog and a wife and a kid and the whole deal.

I’m sorry to hear that, but I can’t say I blame the guy. It’s good that he realized it and is taking the steps for his sanity and well-being.

Glad you’re taking care of yourself. Wish you the best, Trivett.

Trivett Wingo leaves The Sword

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Austin’s The Sword just played the Austin City Limits music festival this past weekend. They were all set to embark on more touring behind their new album.

Suddenly, the European tour was cancelled. Then the US dates quickly followed. Reasons were vague, but now the reason comes out: Trivett Wingo, drummer for the band, is leaving. 😦

 

On the heels of the cancellation of their European tour, Austin, TX’s The Sword are also regretfully canceling the remainder of their scheduled US dates due to the departure of their drummer, Trivett Wingo. The split is amicable and both Trivett and the rest of the band wish each other the best of the luck with their respective plans. The Sword are already working diligently to reschedule their European and US dates.

Trivett explains:

“It is with deep sadness that I am announcing my departure from The Sword. After nearly seven years and some of the most amazing adventures of a lifetime, I have arrived at a place where I am physically and emotionally unable to continue on as part of The Sword. If I could go any further, I would as I love the music and JD, Bryan and Kyle are people that I deeply respect, but I have reached a point where I just can’t do this anymore. I would like to thank the wonderful people who made this experience what it has been: the fans, the people that I have worked and all of the bands and musicians that have inspired me over the years. I thank you and apologize for any disappointment that this may cause anyone, not least of which The Sword.” – Trivett Wingo

Here is an official statement from The Sword:

“We wish Trivett nothing but the best, and it is with heavy hearts that we bid him farewell. He is a phenomenal musician and has been an integral part of this band’s success. He helped to lay the foundation that we will continue to build upon, and we wouldn’t be where we are without him. We wish he could continue the adventure with us, but we understand that the life of a touring musician is not for everyone. It’s been a hell of a ride, and we’re sad to see this part of the journey end. The show must go on, though, and will be back on the road as soon as humanly possible.” – JD, Kyle & Bryan

 

 

Bummer. There was no way I could see them at ACL because they’d be the only band at ACL I would have cared to see (other than The Eagles). But that was the only Austin show for the foreseeable future. Still, I wanted them to do well on the tours because they’re building up a strong following and I’d like to see them succeed.

This is merely a bump in the road, hopefully just a small setback. They’ll find a new drummer and forge ahead.

Best of luck to JD, Kyle, and Bryan, and to Trivett as well.

 

Sunday Metal – new Anthrax

/ hsoi

Check it out. A brand new Anthrax song called “Fight ’em ’til You Can’t”

Joey’s singing.

And apparently a new album is coming… I assume with Joey singing, but it’s Anthrax so who knows. 😉