The Cyclic Existence of Heavy Music - Part III, Full Circle

The nineties was the last decade that regular music video rotation would make or break a band. That same power directly influenced consumer decisions and he who controlled the spice video, controlled purchase decisions. Music video purveyors Music Television, better known as MTV, controlled the majority share during that era. Just below the attention of mainstream the underground scene changed by coming to terms with the fact that nobody in mainstream media likes them. It's not that the scene ever cared if mainstream showed love, but it helped to stop pretending that one day the rest of the world will realize what kind of awesome-sauce heavy music is and the nay-sayers are just super poopy pants for not listening to it to begin with. With the apex of the eighties long gone and remembrance of when the majors cavorted with metal a distant memory; the pretense of metal being a superior form of music shed it's skin to reveal a humble scene ready to write new music freed of mainstream expectations.

Metal's awkward teen years were dragged out into the public eye in music videos. We had eighties survivors Guns N' Roses putting out "User Your Illusion I & II" along with a prominent soundtrack slot on 1991's summer action blockbuster "Terminator 2: Judgement Day". The featured song You Could Be Mine carried over into 1992 and was performed live at the MTV Video Music Awards where Metallica won the Best Metal/Hard Rock category with Enter Sandman off of their heralded/hated self titled fifth studio record which came to be known as the black album. The growing pains in visual media continued with Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead as the archetypal shit sippers of metal fans wrapping metal videos around subtle social commentary. Headbanger's ball once a flagship show for MTV that demanded a three hour time slot felt the squeeze of alternative forcing its abrupt cancellation in the mid nineties. The combination of video and media dissemination along with quick fanfare exploit were the genesis of viral music marketing.

Metal wasn't completely out of national distribution during the waves of alternative and other mainstream heavy(er) music. Once upon a short time ago where heavy music carved out it's niche existence through indie labels, those operations have since grown into respectable smaller national labels and some becoming or newly launching as major label subsidiaries. I am about to start listing bands and I know that some of you will have your feelings hurt for not having your favorite band listed but keep in mind that this is about the cyclic existence of heavy music, not a chronological evolution of your favoritest band everz.

Pantera's 1990 release "Cowboys From Hell" showed the nineties that metal was't completely dead with Dimebag Darrell's badass solos while Rex Brown lays down some mean bass lines. Other brother Vinnie Paul with solid yet imaginitive drums and Phil Anselmo being Phil: mean sounding mother fu#&er. Machine Head started the Power Metal genre with 91's "Burn My Eyes" on Roadrunner records while Ministry released "Psalm69" that will go unnoticed until Beavis and Butthead airs the video for NWO two years later. Fear Factory's '92 debut "Soul of a New Machine" hits the scene, forever changing the standard for double bass and '93 had Sepultura release their third studio record "Chaos A.D." which was the first departure from their typical thrash sound. Mid nineties were busy years for Cannibal Corpse starting with a cameo on the '94 Jim Carey vehicle "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" than in '95 Bob Dole naming them among a few other artists for, "undermining the national character of the United States". In '96 a quorum made up of Senators Joe Lieberman and Sam Nunn along with activists William Bennet and C. Delores Tucker urged record labels to drop twenty artists that included Cannibal Corpse, citing them as having the most offensive lyrics. A testament to the DIY ethic of the hay day, Deftones managed to sell 220,000 copies of their '95 debut "Aderenaline" with absolutely no radio or video support through tireless touring and internet promotion along with good old fashioned scene word-of-mouth. Heavy music continued releasing records by bands that will retrospectively change the way heavy music will be played and viewed, but in the mean time we have to accept that during this era that metal is a joke thanks to embarrassments like Metallica suing Napster. Mind you, it's not that musicians standing up for revenue rights that's the issue, it's the way it was done (and Lars' whiny bitching did not help the cause).

Between alternative's dominance of music dissemination and consumer pockets, the major labels began to sign heavier acts after Metallica's commercialization demonstrated heavy music's sustainability in the market. Alternative's fringe existence had Faith No More's '89 release "The Real Thing" that went unnoticed until extensive video rotation for the single Epic in 1990 while Nine Inch Nails received a similar boost for video rotation off of "Pretty Hate Machine". 1992 brought Rage Against The Machine's politically infused rap/metal self titled debut which went triple platinum and Helmet releases "Meantime" to a very accepting audience considering the genre. Tool's acclaimed '93 release "Undertow" spawned controversy with their single's subject matter that broadened their audience, earning them a bump from second to main stage during the third Lollapalooza tour. This is the 'metal' that MTV fed the populous and were told as gospel to the masses that this is what we should buy and listen to. It's so obvious now how we all drank the kool-aid back then but seeing those videos among all the mainstream music, it felt like it was fighting back against popular culture.

It was those fringe major label bands in the early nineties that are commonly noted and blamed for setting the path to 94's Immortal/Epic signing of Korn and the self titled release that has been attributed with the birth of nu-metal. After their initial lukewarm reception Korn toured tirelessly and garnered radio spins and video rotation. Korn was the inertia to the nu-metal domino giving labels a push to sign competing bands such as Limp Bizkit (god damn you Fred Durst) who begat Staind (Be sad about everything) and so on. I confess that I still have a soft spot for Korn's first record but I guess it's like all of those stories that end with , "you had to of been there". When their first record came out there was nothing like it and it was refreshing to have something so heavy but capable of surviving in the mainstream, it was hope to a dying genre of music back then (keep in mind it wasn't called or considered nu-metal yet).

Contempt for nu-metal built up throughout the nineties when it was cast out like a heretic. Branded inauthentic less than a decade after it's inception by the very scene that bred it despite giving way to heavy music's acceptance that we see today. Those that are turning their nose up may not want to hold themselves accountable for it but it's true, Korn's first tour was with Biohazard and their follow up tour with Sick of It All. Next time you want to point fingers on who's fault nu-metal is, start with a mirror.

Mainstream sales and marketing of nu-metal continued into early 2000's culminating with Evanescence receiving two Grammys and Linkin Park's debut record "Hybrid Theory" certified Diamond by RIAA for sales over ten million copies. Those of you that say you NEVER liked them even a little bit is the same liar-liar-pants-on-fire who also said that you didn't like NKOTB, but secretly had a poster on your closet door. It's OK, I won't judge you.....much. Considering the current trend for eighties metal nostalgia one can extrapolate the trend to a resurgence of 90's top 40 rock, but than again the songs haven't left radio thanks to the alternative radio format as well as satellite radio already having dedicated stations to the nineties. My youth's worst nightmare is coming true where I find myself yelling, "what the f is this sh!t" at the radio and the songs I grew up with are being aired as classics on some stations. Mark my prediction: nostalgia format for rock and metal that span eighties to nineties.

While mass media pushed nu-metal and alternative the underground scene did what it once thought was impossible, the wall between hardcore and metal came down. Where the two genres were sworn enemies vowing never to mix, we began to see mixed genres on the same show and even going as far as combining aesthetics of each genre into a single song (gasp you say, I know!) to what will eventually be known as metalcore. It's like Martin Luther King Jr. and Adolf Hitler sitting down for dinner with Jesus and Buddha, or interspecies porn with uncomfortable looking creatures (think porcupines, jellyfish and you). Where California was home to the frontier of punk last time, the evolution of the genres happened on the east coast in the rather out-there Western Massachusetts scene.

Western Mass has it's charms despite it's already weird existence far removed from any major civilization with Boston a two hour drive and NYC a further four to six hour drive. Northampton had the Pearl St. night club that booked locals as well as nationals in a larger club venue. Hadley had Katrina's on Rt. 9, but when that closed the scene moved to Infinity's (The Fin!) in Springfield. When the Fin closed it's doors it was another move over to Fat Cat's Bar and Grill on Worthington street in downtown Springfield. Fat Cat's decided that the heavy shows were an insurance and safety liability (because house music, hip hop, and wanna be gangstas from Springfield aren't) and it was yet another move over to The Waterfront Tavern in Holyoke.

Shows cropped up at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls with Greedy Edna and Greenfield's old theaters with Under Falling Skies while Northampton's own industrial/metal Collapse Into Reason booked non-traditional venues such as goth clubs. Springfield became the home to all of the scene's bands but many started out of there such as Shoot the Dancing Bear, edgar, and Aftershock to name a few. 6thirty7 and All That Remains called the basement and hall shows of Holyoke home. The scene extended into the border towns in Connecticut where we had Simple, Grey Cell Green, and Still Life showing how it's done in CT at Webster Theater as well as many bars and clubs that promoted local artists. Mike Haze at 97.9 FM out of Northampton and the WCCC crew at 106.9 out of CT were the first radio stations that would play local music that went onto change heavy music.

Band members from various projects hanging out with one another sharing ideas and forming side or new projects promoted growth. Phil's exit from Shadows Fall resulted in the formation of All That Remains and Adam and splitting away from him and his brother's band Aftershock eventually formed Killswitch Engage. Slo from 6thirty7 will go on to play guitar for Unearth and Scott Lee who never played but was a huge proponent for supporting and booking in the scene went onto start Metalfest and to book for Mass Concerts. After the main stream silence of heavy music, all of the pieces within the Western Mass scene were in place and it would begin with Shadows Fall's signing to Century Media.

As it is said so often in recounting history that something was the start, Shadows Fall was only the tip of the iceberg that is the Western MA scene. They spent years playing locally as well as branching out regionally through tireless self promotion and self release of their records on guitarist Matt's indie label Lifeless Records. It was hard work and good music that got the attention of indie metal labels. Once Shadows Fall was signed, the metalcore cat was out of the bag and soon after Killswitch Engage followed. Those two bands spread metalcore nationally though constant touring and set the stage for the next round of bands to be signed. Soon after we saw Lamb of God out of Virginia and That Remains out of Springfield MA signed to Prosthetic records.

Metalcore began to see commercial success with the same help it once received, video rotation and movie sound tracks. The only difference is that it wasn't MTV that dictated your purchase but YouTube and free will (albeit great marketing). With mainstream insertion of an underground sound the once indie bands were soon being tracked on Billboard charts. The mainstream attention would have those same bands nominated for Grammys and all of this begins the cycle of commercial acceptance and success of heavy music. That's right, metal is back bitches.

It was refreshing to have new material to listen to after the metal drought but the competitive nature of the record industry will force labels be the death of metal again. It's a catch 22 that without competition there is no way to gauge the value of a product, but an over saturated market dilutes the product's brand and value. Labels will sign band after band putting out records by varying artists with mixed results. It became a land grab of the genre and you start to see labels formed tailored to the genre or a label converting to the genre. Soon the identity of metalcore will be lost and become as generic as calling all heavy music metalcore instead of metal. Where once we had the pretty definitive Big 4 in the 80's, it may simply be too soon to say who the progenitors are but those bands that began the wave of metalcore will continue on while the gazillion metalcore bands we now have will only serve to destroy the scene again never to see the success promised by the mainstream pipe dream.

So now we come full circle where we have too many of the same thing and not enough change. While metalcore rang in the era of being able to play your instruments again where nu-metal just had caveman riffs, the evolution of heavy music continues with bands like Animals as Leaders who forsake vocals to deliver music virtuosity on eight string guitars. We are hearing less and less screams in music as it is becoming a tired out sound already and giving creed to people who can actually sing again. It's time for music apoptosis again and I for one look forward to the death of metalcore and will not mourn a second of it as I will be too busy looking forward to what music tomorrow will bring.

The Cyclic Existence of Heavy Music - Part II, Other Than Metal

The eighties were also the height of American punk, but punk's inability to break into the mainstream forced the Do It Yourself (DIY) movement. Independent record labels started by band members and scenesters came into existence to distribute music that the major media wasn't interested in. An example would be SST Records started by Greg Ginn; then frontman of Black Flag. Ginn recorded a record with his previous band Panic and had no luck securing a record deal and decided to release it himself by establishing his own label. SST Records then began distributing music from it's home of Southern California's thriving punk scene.

Hardcore remained an underground music while punk experienced a revival in the nineties as 'Pop-Punk' with bands like Green Day. Punk resisted assimilation into the heavy music category by shying away from association with hardcore and especially metal with pop friendly branches like Ska. Granted, there are punk bands that remained true to it's roots but like any music that was taboo in it's heyday, it too had to give way to new music. An example would be when jazz faded from music played in brothels in New Orleans as music you heard while you got some 'jass' into easy listening AM radio stations.

Indie label's distribution was limited and did not have the clout nor financial prowess of the major labels to take advantage of traditional marketing techniques such as securing an end cap display at a retail chain. Instead of competing directly with the majors, indies took a community based approach such as releasing split records. The idea of a split record is to feature two bands, one on each side. The record typically has a few tracks from each artist and one of the bands would be the draw intended to entice listeners to try another band based on association.

It was through compilations from reputable indie labels that many fans heard new bands. Without distribution into retail locations, labels relied on the dying mail order system where you requested a catalog, picked items and sent a check for the merchandise (plus shipping and handling) then awaited its arrival; all correspondence via USPS. Some mom 'n pop record shops would carry these records but they were typically scene specific and traditional distribution was a thing to come.

How did these kids hear about these new bands before the internet? The answer is the under ground magazine, or zine to the initiated. Zine's were put out either by individuals who had close ties to the scene or by indie labels. Zines evolved to take on subscribers and some of these DIY publications were nationally distributed through the postal service. Other than the zine it was word of mouth and live shows that spread the word. As time pass and indies grew in national recognition, they began taking out ads in publications that fans read like Hit Parader and Guitar World.

Necessity being the mother of all invention, DIYers of the era understood the geographical limitation of a scene as well as indie labels. Where major labels planned tour logistics and offered support, these bands got a van and crammed as much gear, clothing, and merch as they could afford and hit the road. It was a slow process with no guarantee of success but it was those that braved it that paved the way for many to come. A great book on this topic is Get in the Van: On the Road With Black Flag by Henry Rollins.

During the nineties when pop punk was making the top twenty charts, the punk bands of the past began to resurface with their back catalog picked up by a new and younger audience who wanted to hear where it began. Bands like Bad Brains suddenly became a household name where in the past it lived in relative obscurity to the mainstream media during the peak of it's career. The punk revival was in full swing with it being used in extreme sports events, game and movie sound tracks, even ivy league colleges were having commencement speeches by political punk alumni.

Hardcore remains the underground redheaded stepchild of heavy music. The bastard descendant of punk diverged on it's own when it became too heavy for punk's liking where traditional punk fans shunned it while the new hardcore fans accepted it's roots. Built on the DIY ethos of it's punk roots and strengthened by the tight knit scene, hardcore thrived underground where it fostered the creation of independent record labels that distributed with fierce brand loyalty. Once upon a time fans could rely on Victory Record's brand to deliver true and good hardcore.

The broader reaches of the World Wide Web in the beginning of nineties combined with the DIY attitude exposed hardcore to new, previously inaccessible fans. The music being heard for the first time by those without a local hardcore scene found themselves becoming immersed into hardcore culture via the internet; giving rise to new momentum by giving indie labels and unsigned bands the tools to strike against major media with the ability to release music worldwide without the need for traditional distribution channels.

With both punk and hardcore heard by a global audience, we wait for those with new gripes, frustrations, politics and scenes to form a new voice to express what that local culture has to say. In part III we will be hearing how those voices will influence music to come.

Check out the next article; The Cyclic Existence of Heavy Music - Part III, Full Circle

The Cyclic Existence of Heavy Music - Part I, From the 80's to the 90's

Just like yourself, I listen to a broad range of music. When asked what kind of music I listen to I tend to fall back on metal, hardcore, industrial, and the various sub-genres that may be difficult to differentiate without being a fan. However, as both a songwriter and a fan of the genre I am not disillusioned into thinking that it will last forever. This may irk some of you but let's face it, music is an industry because it makes money and heavy music represents a small segment of the market.

As far as the recording industry is concerned the popularity of any song is based on the purchasing power and attention span of the core demographic. Still nay-saying? Consider what radio formats exist today and if there are any formats dedicated to metal, hardcore, punk, etc. Sure there are radio stations that play heavier music outside of popular music, but it's relegated to late night slots at a college radio station.

As metal died towards the end of the eighties we had Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax that represented the 'Big 4' of metal bands. When these bands started out they each made a distinct mark on metal - with Metallica being the popular example of Bay Area thrash; Mustaine's departure from Metallica came Megadeth as the rival feud; Slayer as the extreme end of thrash; and Anthrax representing East Coast metal.

There were plenty of bands outside of the Big 4 that saw moderate to good success but the problem with a small business segment is that there is only so much room for competing products. When the metal scene became popular, bands seemed to suddenly appear playing similar material and eventually what started as a proliferation of metal became a saturation of metal and the bloated segment in music became unsustainable in the market. There simply were too many damn metal bands that didn't offered anything new, and to make it worse the scene was beginning to fragment and divide into different camps of metal.

The end of the eighties was when metal and hard rock cemented their symbiotic relationship. Guns N' Roses' Appetite foe Destruction was released in 1987 to obscurity until David Geffen asked favors to include the record's first single, Welcome to Jungle which had an accompanying video to be included in MTV's late night rotation. This was the defining moment when video became as important as the single it's self in a band's survivability in music merchandising and advertising. So important was it that MTV began the Best Rock Video category at their annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1989 with Guns 'N Roses' Sweet Child 'o Mine as the winner up against Aerosmith, Def Leppard, and Metallica. The inclusion of the category helped break in heavier music to the masses.

The beginning of the nineties mourned the death of metal, but really it was an inevitable end that had to occur in order to force it underground where it could be rediscovered among new blood with new ears and new ideas. During this transition, rock birthed the weird off spring that is Alternative, which had an impact on future musicians that was to become the next generation of metal and hardcore songwriters. Until the nineties it was faux pas to listen to metal and popular music which stunted the growth of metal for years, but with metal submerging underground again, it fostered a new scene with new rules. Alternative bands such as Alice in Chains and Sound Garden, who had heavy sounding guitars blended with pop sensible-yet-metal-ish vocals, helped the paradigm shift in the attitude towards what became acceptable in heavy music.

As the nineties progressed we saw new acts added to rosters of metal labels like Road Runner and Metal Blade, with bands such as Machine Head, Candiria, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Major labels were signing heavier bands occasionally to tout them as 'alternative metal' and 'nu-metal' along the way. It was these bands in the nineties that were the front runners that changed the way heavy music was perceived. Without the Big 4 poisoning it's progeny that desperately tried to fit an already overflowing mold of what the major label audience wanted them to sound like, music again took precedence and gave way to creativity over profit.

Now we have to let metal percolate in the melting pot of music and watch it change into something new, bringing in the next generation of musicians to write and play songs that become the anthem of the moment. We will have to wait another decade for that to happen. In the meantime, we will be taking a look at what else is happening in heavy music outside of metal in Part II.

So I'm thinking blues harmonica next

I have been playing in a band with my friends and the project is along the lines of 50's 60's rock (but not that hippie non sense) and rockabilly type material and it has inspired me to pick up the harmonica. In Japanese primary schools, harmonica is one of the first instruments that you are introduced to and I used to be able to sort of play it when I was a wee lad, and in my adult life finally find harmonica 'cool' again (bow ties are cool...)

The vocalist for said project (for which we do not have a name yet), Vadim Akimenko jams on the blues harp in a tune and we recently were writing/rehearsing and I considered a moment on the harp and this is where it all started. So days later I hop onto Amazon and order this set of three harps to start, the price seemed appealing and being a prime member, pulled the trigger on the order and here I sit, eagerly awaiting their arrival.

If any of you reading this has any suggestions on where to start to teach myself how to play harmonica, I'm all ears.

Sparrow Rat Rod customized

I often get questions asked on my guitars when I play out so I thought that I would cover one of my guitars here. I typically play a Gibson Les Paul but in the recent years, the kind folks over at Sparrow guitars has endorsed me and have been playing them since 2007 now. The model I play is the Rat Rod which I had them custom paint two of them, one which you will see here is the all white finish and the other is a reverse silver burst.

On nearly all of my guitars, and certainly all of them I have toured with; I remove everything except for the bridge pickup and the a volume knob (and these days, I have been contemplating removing the volume knob as well). The reason for the unconventional wiring is the following;

1) I have less path variables between initial string vibration and amp
2) Typically see an average of 4db gain
3) As close to the pure tone of the guitar it's self.
4) Less things to break on the road

I have been using Duncan JB as my bridge pickup of choice but have switched to pickups made by Mick Manlius of Manlius Guitar, the model I use is the Modern Vintage PAF+ after speaking to Mick and discussing my needs with him. The pickup is simply incredible, you can hear it on an upcoming record that I am finishing up with Force Fed Lies very soon.

I imagine you must have your doubts as to the pickup configuration, is it really louder? does it change the tone that much? etc....well, yes to all. I had a chance to play identical model Les Paul side by side, even lent my Les Paul to my friend Brandon to try since he is the owner of the identical model and see what the difference is and the difference is obvious.

The wiring is straight forward, its one pickup and one volume knob out to the jack, there isn't much to say further on that topic.

I have on the guitar pictured added waterslide decals on the head stock and pick guard, the same type I used for my watch dials and on the guitar, sealed with Krylon satin clear. I also painted a lot of the plastic parts (pickup ring, pick guard) white to match everything as well. The neck pickup hole is covered with a piece of Lexan I cut to shape and paint what will be the inside of the plate white and screwed down using the original screws. The holes from other knobs and pickup selector is covered using flat cap head bolts and washers, also painted white to match all of the parts.













Thanks to Sparrow Guitars for my endorsement and to Mick for making some seriously bad ass pickups.

All of my guitars are cosmetically beat to every loving hell because I play the guitar, not just collect it and watch dust collect on it. As for do I know just how dirty my guitars are? yes, this blog is called iwanttomakeeverything, not iwanttocleaneverything. on the bright side, I did wipe the blood off from the last time I played...