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Now, here is the podcast, Metal Heads Podcast.

Hello, and welcome to the Metal Heads Podcast.

My name is George.

This is Jay.

This is John.

This is Matt.

And that's everybody.

And then there were four.

That's everybody who's anybody.

I mean, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, those, you know, those, those B listers, but

Markisan is not able to make it today. And I wanted to note, this is the first time since Marcus sounds

been full time that he has missed an episode. So it is an auspicious occasion. And Will is on semi sabbatical for the time being. It sounds like he's going to be pretty busy and not have time for us. But he said he will at the very end of the day.

and whenever else he can.

So,

um,

and he's fine.

It's just,

yeah,

it's not like,

it's not like the cancer or anything.

It's just like work and stuff is just really busy right now.

So,

um,

you know,

it's a big fucking important guy.

Yeah.

So let's get kids and blah,

blah,

blah.

Yeah.

So,

you know,

he's just busy.

So yeah,

he'll be around eventually sometime in the future.

But,

uh,

tonight it's just the four of us and we're going to see if we can,

See if we can make this work. We got no guest. We just got a script. So cozy on up to the log at the campfire and let's light this bitch. Alrighty. Well, let's start off with ye olde t-shirt, beer, and coffee check. Yeah. Start off with Matt. Just the four of us. You and you and you and I. I've been doing some pre-gaming.

I'm going to list that. Surly, a local brewery to me, has something called The Bottle Project. It's like a quarterly bottle release. And I've had the first one today with my neighbor. It's called The Long Winter. It's an O'Shaughnessy Barrel Age Barley Wine Beer. Really good. Nice. After that was Fremont, a Brew 6000 from 2022. Also good. And then, John, in honor of you, I have a Blue Bloom, sorry, from Brewery Bahava.

lined up for later. Nice. And a t-shirt check. You guys probably can't see this all that well. Take it off. So this is a Perkis t-shirt that was specifically made for Psycho Vegas. I'm wearing for two reasons. Obviously, Jay and I are in a temporary suspended morning period for the postponement of Psycho Vegas. Jay, when I bought this shirt, it was probably midnight, one o'clock. I'd had plenty of cocktails.

And I did not think to try it on. And so once I got it home and tried it on, it's basically like spandex. And so I'm trying to stretch it out. Welcome to my world. The forecast in Las Vegas is always midnight, one o'clock, plenty of breakfast. That's right. All right, Jay, what are you not drinking? I'm drinking water. I just got home. I was out. Oops, I'm sorry. I guess it was John next.

Sorry. See, I'm all thrown off. Finish off, Jay. Finish him off. Running around today, we are having the unusual cold snap here. And so we went out and looked at snow and stuff today, which was fucking crazy. I just got home. It actually snowed here, too. It didn't really accumulate, but I was out walking in it. It was coming down pretty hard. And as John knows, we don't exactly have super high mountains around us. I mean, I'm not talking about the Sierras, but. So I had a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee on the way home, which is

Awesome. And then on my

t-shirt check is

just because it's so fucking cold

I'm wearing the Merciful Faith

Melissa Longsleeve.

Melissa Slayer Hello8's

Memorial

hoodie.

But all practical choices

simply because I'm fucking cold.

And a killer combo.

Yeah.

Well, extra heat from all hellfire.

Slaytanic.

All right, John. First off, Matt, what was that beer? You said it was for me, but I don't know what type it was. It was a dry cardamom triple. Oh, nice. Cool. Excellent. Yeah. All right. So in keeping with my drinking Belgians on the podcast, which I've been doing now for a little bit, or has it just been one episode? I don't even know. I'm drinking something called McShoof. If you know your gnomes, McShoof by

It's a Belgian strong dark. It's very good. And my shirt, they can see it. I'm wearing my 2018 Paradise Lost Tour shirt. Jay, Matt, you're free to welcome to leave at this point in the podcast. Go to the bar. Totally happy to never be able to live that day. My only hope is to literally see one song next time.

that somehow we can meet up with them beforehand and say, hey, can you dedicate your third song in the set to two people for us? Not that they'll get it. No. And they'll buy you beers afterwards for it. And so to elaborate for anybody listening, when we went to Cycle Las Vegas, I don't know if we've talked about it on the podcast. I think you did. Yeah. Well, that's right. We did. On our report, we talked about it. But anyway,

What is not able to be heard on the podcast is the sheer amount of shit we've got about it ever since. But we have embraced it. It's amazing the draw of a brewery. You know, when you're not by a brewery and you're like, well, we could be at a brewery right now. Like that. It's almost like the the what's the term from Star Wars? The tractor field? What is it? Dr. Beam of a brewery. That's no moon. Yeah, exactly. That's Will Sass.

It's Alpha Bravo Brewing. I'm starting to think... Abel Baker. I still have such pleasant dreams of that place. That rubber ducky is in my living room. I have to say, I'm starting to think that this whole brewery is just code for another quote-unquote establishment in Las Vegas. GH. Yeah, you know, sometimes you just, you gotta go back, it can't stop.

You know, sorry to take a right turn here, but for those that don't know, Matt was actually in our neck of the woods last week. Oh, yeah. And John and Will and I met up with him and his friend Aaron. Yep. And we got Aaron really drunk. But point being, you know, if you've ever been to Atlas or if you've ever heard us talk about Atlas, you've probably heard about

the infamous butt slaps. And I got to see Matt's first Atlas butt slap and he didn't see it coming and you should have seen his face. It was like, oh. The thing was, to me, it felt epic because I was thinking about it today. Literally, I was going to the bathroom and John said, hey, you said something to the effect of you'll see the hipsters about hipsters and you'll say, you'll see what it is when you go around the corner.

And I go around the corner and there are two people reading books at the bar. And they're not just reading books, but they have the books held up in front of them. At the bar. And I literally stopped, laughed. And I turned around to go tell John, like, John, I know what you're talking about. And before I could even finish the sentence, I was like, what is that warm sensation on my backside? Oh yeah. I just got slapped. Like the hardest I possibly could. It was great. By well. By well.

The infamous Atlas butt slap. Out of nowhere. Didn't those take place at the Goose Island Brewery? He wasn't pinching, Jay. He was slapping. He was open fisting. Anyway, George. So I am wearing my Decibel Magazine Metal and Beer Fest 2021 Philly shirt. Partly because it's a different shirt. I always wear like the same three shirts.

Also, because, you know, we're not that far out from the next Decibel Metal and Beer Fest in April. And I'm going to talk about them a little more later. But as far as what I'm drinking, I haven't started it yet. I received this from our friend Nick. And it is from Barntown Brewing. And it is a peanut butter and grape jelly sour. And I'm going to crack this thing right here.

right now and pour this.

And we will find out exactly.

Oh, it's purple.

You know, as you're opening it, just the three expressions from myself, Jay, Matt,

it's just, you're like, I'm going to open this now.

And Jay's just kind of looking off in wonderment because he's kind of.

It looks like grape juice.

Oh, but sniff the can and it's all peanut butter.

So let's see what we got here.

If I die, tell Will I love him. Mark a sign too. Okay, here goes. Wow. It literally tastes like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm getting the peanut butter. I'm getting the grape jelly. I wouldn't call it sour. It's like the world's worst wine tasting. I'm getting peanut butter. Are you getting peanut butter? There's no jelly in here. This is literally like I just took a bite out of a peanut

I just at some point do I just start screaming all right everyone settle down no one's

drinking a peanut butter and jelly sour except I am this is pretty damn good Nick thank you I'm gonna drink the whole thing got the joke all right no one's drinking we're not drinking Merlot oh no fucking Merlot yeah my bad enough with the fucking Merlot okay but we're not drinking any fucking Merlot huh I'm impressed with the ability to cover both of these flavors

and one beer. And it's not bad. It's got a sort of a grapey, like grape juicy aftertaste. That would be the, yeah, the jelly part of the peanut butter and jelly. Definitely. Wow. Okay. All right. Is it a Concord grape? It does not say. It is gluten free, however. Oh, wait, it does say with Concord grape. It says PB and

BB&J inspired gluten-free sour with peanuts and Concord grapes. So there you go. All right, Nick. I appreciate it. I will try and get you some of that Duclos Sweet Baby Jesus for Decibel. Bring that up. That was one of the first ones, I believe. I'm not sure if it was the first, but it definitely was one of the early beers that had peanut butter in them. Yeah. And that's a porter, which seems to match a little better.

I see this thing at the store called Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey. Yeah, that's good. You tried it? Oh, yeah, it's good. I got some. Okay. Barb bought me some. Yeah. I mean, if you like peanut butter, it's tasty, you know. I do like peanut butter. Yeah. All right. You know, like this and anything else that's flavored like that, you're not going to pound back a whole bunch of it, but it's nice for, you know, a taste. Weirdy tour. Yeah. Yeah. All righty then. Let's move on to the

the news.

Architects drummer Danny something or other I think his name was has suggested that bands go on strike over venues taking a cut of band merch.

What the hell?

Get your damn hands off my band merch.

I don't understand why venues would be taking

a cut from merch.

They all take a percentage.

Very common practice.

Really?

It's getting worse.

Yes.

It's been going on for years.

And it's bad enough for people like guys playing,

you know,

like the big Motley Crue Def Leppard bullshit tour.

But it sucks for people like chemists.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

I'm sure for their band,

it sucks.

I don't know them.

I know of them.

I don't know much about them.

And at first I was like,

wait a minute.

And it took me a second.

And then I realized, oh, I,

cause I, we all know people in bands, you know,

and I just, I've heard these stories. It's just horrible.

There's, I was, I thought,

I told George about this.

I read this and I cannot find where I read it because somebody in the

comments somewhere on, on ass book had made a breakdown of what bands get

off of their tours and their merch. And I was like, this is really detailed.

I mean, down to percentages and how much bands are probably averaging a night, these types of bands. And he says, oh, yeah, it's on my YouTube channel. I did a whole episode on this. And I forgot to open up the link just so it'd stay in my history so I could watch it later so I could have it ready for this so I could tell everyone. And I can't find it. I'm pissed. But if I can't find it, I'll put it out there. The breakdown was depressing. Bands are making absolutely nothing, even with merch.

Wow, because you know, you always hear about how bands get screwed by promoters and establishments about getting, you know, paid for, you know, attendance and, you know, the door prices and stuff like that. And how bands basically live day to day off of their merch sales. If you're taking their merch sales to what the hell are they supposed to eat with? Yeah, I know. They're frustrated with gas prices and stuff. Now the way they are.

I do know it's been around for quite a while because I remember hearing, I've heard various artists complain about it from time to time. And I want to say it's been around five years and maybe 10 and probably longer. I don't know. But I say, again, it hurts the guys down at the bottom the worst, just like it always does. Whatever, whatever the thing is. And it's too bad because to be fair, you know, some of these venues are struggling too. So it's, I don't know. I feel like the whole concert industry at a lower level is hanging by kind

Yeah, it's like, what do you, you know, how is striking going to help anything? They just got through the pandemic without going out of business. Um, so you striking isn't gonna, I mean, you're just both gonna suffer, you know, and then they're going to go out of business and then you got nowhere to play. Not that I'm siding with the venues, but you know, I know I, I'm not one to, to jump out right away and with the posters and march around saying, what do we want?

I'm not the person to jump out and do that. However, part of the problem here is that most of these venues, though, who do you think owns them? Live Nation. Right. And so I'm torn on this one because I understand what he's saying. I understand small venues are suffering. But at the same time, when 60-something percent of your industry is owned by Live Nation, I mean.

The Deal of the Devil is when Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation because Live Nation was all the marketing and promotion of radio. And now they had all the tickets. So the reason why you hear all the same music on the radio all the time? Live Nation. Because they own a majority. I think they own something like 67, 70% of all the radio stations. I could be wrong about that. And then all the tickets on Ticketmaster go straight to resale. Exactly. You know, and so I and I think he only said,

for a month. I think that was what his thing was, just to hit them one time. But I think you're right, George. We sort of have to pull the muck back to see who's really going to take the hit and who won't. They're literally not making anything. I mean, they don't get any cut at all whatsoever what's sold at the bar. They get zero, even though they bring all the people in for the show. That's a good point. That's a really good point, though. Unless they're at Atlas, and then they get free beer. Yeah. Why do you think everyone wants to play there? They don't take a cut of their merch and they get

Yeah.

But I mean, on top of the fact that, and granted we're years past this, but like nobody makes any money from a record label anymore.

Right.

You know?

Well, and you can blame streaming for that.

Streaming's completely destroyed that part of it.

So I've heard some people say, well, the best thing you do then is buy directly from the bands off their websites.

And so I'm thinking maybe bands need to start doing that.

Maybe they need to start offering some kind of pre-sale tour merch for people.

I don't know.

I don't know how they can. We're selling outside the fucking venue. Some musician who commented on the thing said, so what's stopping me from going down a block and a half, two blocks away and selling all my merch down there? Just come out to the show. We'll sell you anything you want down there. Yeah. On your Facebook page. You're going to need a permit probably and you'll probably get arrested by somebody in the city who's going to complain. So they got to pay bail. I just think it's an overall commentary or, you know, symptom of,

how brittle the system is right now. I don't know. I mean, there was such an interesting, well, I don't know if it was interesting or not. I didn't fucking read it. But there was an article in the San Francisco paper today, but the headline was basically restaurant owners weigh in to, for people considering opening one, don't. You know what I mean? And so, and that, I know when I talk about restaurants, but that whole kind of entertainment thing is a weird, still a weird place. You know?

I wonder if Decibel does this by the way if they take anything from it well no I guess it would be the venue yeah it would be Fillmore or wherever the other one is I mean I think that's why also we've seen that so many things going to the festival festivals I think those still make money I think the bands make money at festivals I think that's why all the especially European bands because they're already obviously over there I think that's why they do the circuit they'll play like

four or five festivals in the summer. And that's basically, that could be significant money for the whole year for them, for all band members, because they get paid so much. I once read an interview with Biff Blayford from Saxon. And he was saying, and this was like 10 years ago or something, you know, it was post whatever. And, and he was saying they love to come to America, but they only do it once, once every five years or so. And he said, it's because we really kind of lose money. He said, if we didn't play at the house,

We wouldn't be able to pay for the tour. He said, the House of Blues shows we play fill up. They're in cities that like us. That pays for the whole tour when we come home with, you know, we got to go to America. That's what happened. Yeah, that's crazy. Did you guys see, and kind of tying into this slightly from a different direction, I don't know which guy it was from the Diliger Escape Plan. Is the guy's name Ben Wiserman? Yep, Ben. Yep. I think it's him. I could be wrong.

He's apparently teaching musicians or he offers his help to musicians on how to make money in the industry. I suspect just from hearing him talk in the past that he's one of the few that actually makes money because certain musicians, they play all their cards right. Like Mike from Opeth, I know that's all he does. He makes enough money to be a musician. But there's people like him and possibly this guy from Deliger Escape Plan.

They're far and few between that can actually make a decent living by only playing music. Yeah. Well, they're Dylan's landscape playing breakups saying we're second turn of second break in even. Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Ben is, he's with suicidal now, I think, touring. Really? But I would, I would be very curious to see if there's something, some other way he's making money. I feel like Matt Heafy from Trivium. He probably does pretty well. How much money he makes on Twitch? Is it Twitch?

Yeah. Like the video thing. I was astounded. I mean, good for him, but like, so you're literally making all this money making videos for people. So I think he's playing video games. Yeah. Yeah. He, he, I think he said he makes just as much, if not a little more on Twitch than he does touring. I remember the number it was, he said he makes $10,000 a month on Twitch. Yeah. And I think he actually gives exclusive content also. He'll like play video games and he'll like give a song out and people go nuts for that shit. And I'm like,

More power to the dude. Now he's actually on, what is it, Liquid Metal. He's a guest host on there. Yeah. And they're a pretty big band, dude. But even he's going to have to come up with other streams of revenue. So, yeah, it sucks. Anyway. Anyway. So next up, we've got Voivod re-recording songs from their early albums to celebrate their 40th anniversary.

Well, doesn't that just make you feel old when you were a way fan from back in the day? I sure hope they're doing Cordill the Exterminator. So it's my understanding. It's Killing Technology, Dimensions, Nothing Face, and the one before Killing Technology. They're going to focus on those albums predominantly. Before Killing Technology was Roar, I think. Roar, I think, yeah. Which would be Cordill. Really, they're going all the way up to Nothing Face. I'm surprised they would touch.

that one. I mean, you know, Warren Payne, I get Roar, maybe Killing Technology. I wouldn't go any further than that. Yeah, I even Killing Technology is pretty perfect as is. I would just record stuff from the first two albums. Yeah, I'm curious to see what I'm very ambivalent about this. Not them. I'm saying in general, because most bands don't do a great job where they're doing it because they're pissed at their old singer. So we'll show them. We'll record another album with all the other music from that person. It's interesting, assuming it's a mix.

things.

Because whenever a band re-records an album like Twisted Sister did with Stay Hungry or Manowar did with Kings of Metal, was it? That's just wrong. That's just trying to rewrite the past. I know I'm pretty sure Twisted Sister did it because of the record label thing.

Yeah, I think so. But still, you know, but something that's just sort of a let's go take some stuff that's really old from across a few albums and do it for fun. I'm behind that. Yeah. So I've only known two bands that I've ever, like three, I guess, sort of. Amorphous recorded new songs from a bunch of different albums with Tommy as the singer from the early days. I'm a little, I mean, I love an orcist. I was like, I don't know how I feel about that. I listened to them. I was like,

Fuck, these songs are awesome. But I know people not liking that. But the only two times I've really felt good about it is when November's Doom reissued a bunch of their albums. They, I think, remastered and remixed the albums, but they included the original album. So it was a double album that they released for each one. So you got the new one, but they kept the old one with it. I was like, that's cool. Yeah, that's cool. And then this band called Andromeda, they're a prog metal band, I think from Sweden. When they, on their first album, they had one singer, the new singer came in. They re-recorded that whole first album with the new singer, but they included the new singer.

the first album with the original singer. I was like, okay, that's cool. I can get behind that. If you're going to include both of them, then I'm down with it. I'm not cool when they rerecord, like you said, George, an album with even sometimes different musicians. And it's like, you're basically just cashing in on your old stuff. Unless it was horribly recorded, you know, and like Evermore's album. Jay, do you remember that? The reality album that there was such a bad recording. They had to go back and redo the whole album because it was just that bad. And it was the reality, I think is what it was.

They didn't actually, you're right, and not to be like nerd alert or something, but they didn't actually re-record it. They gave it to Andy Sneed. Oh, did he remix and everything? Yeah. Okay. But it was a massive, I mean, it was a, he tore it down and built it back up again, and it is a very different record, though. Yeah. The performance is the same. Right. And apparently I'm going to try to make every news story about Saxon today, but they did one a few years back called Heavy Metal Thunder that had a long list of their old best

stuff type tracks and it was fucking awesome dude like that was one of the was one of the only ones i've ever heard that i still put in where i was just like you know what this is fine and it doesn't detract from the older tracks which i would also still listen to but they've been such a different band personnel wise for so long that i was like totally okay though i approached it with caution but when i heard it almost every one of them is so well updated you know but and still

I could still go back and listen to the old version of Machine Gun or something and be like, no, this is still fucking great too. So anyway. Such a cool tune. I listen to this. If there's a band who's got integrity and is probably going to do it right, it's probably Boy B. I mean. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. His voice is so terribly different. So that's going to be a very different thing. You know? Yeah. It should be interesting. He's thinking pretty different now. Yeah. You know, I'd like to hear like, not like a re-recording, but a remixing.

of like old misfits stuff, you know, cause the, it's like, well, you know, we love the misfits stuff and it, we knew it was shit when it was because that's what it was, but you know, it was seventies, eighties. Um, but it would be interesting to hear it like remixed if they had the original tracks and could, you know, like digitize it and, and, uh, you know, just make it cleaner and louder. And, and maybe it's funny. You said that though, George,

because I bet you they are gone. In the punk rock world, I'm sure they were reusing tapes. Probably. But there are no masters. Yeah. For those. Yeah, that'd be neat too. But, you know, that was one of the reasons seeing them, one of the Iranian shows was so exciting because, you know, obviously the production values were so different, you know. I mean, they played a fucking arena when I saw them. The big sound system and blah, blah, blah. So. Yeah.

All right, so next item, members of Typo Negative and Crowbar have formed a new project called I Am, spelled E-Y-E-A-M, and I know Kirk Winstein is part of this. I don't, it was Johnny Kelly, maybe. I didn't read the article, so I don't remember who all the members were, but sounds like a fun time to me.

Two guys from Typo, Kirk Winston, and then some slightly more anonymous person. There's always an anonymous person in one of those. Maybe not with you guys. It might be some of you guys know, but it was somebody that didn't ring a bell with me. And was it the drummer from Typo as well? I can't think of his name. You know, I get mixed up because one of those guys has a project with Rick Hunnall that's getting ready to come out from Exodus. And so he's in this weird,

with somebody from Typo and something else. It's a band called Dihumane. They've just released the first two tracks. And it's kind of a little bit, it's not, that's the word I'm looking for. You know, like what, what is, what kind of band is Ministry? Industrial. Industrial. It's slightly industrial, which I guess you could kind of say about Typo. So maybe that's the Typo influence going on, but. Yeah. It's interesting that they're all resurfacing. It's Kenny Higgins.

from Typo and Johnny Kelly Drums from Typo.

Yeah.

With Kirk Weinstein and Todd Strange of also Crowbar and Down.

Oh, okay.

Kelly is, he's the drummer for Quiet Riot too, I think.

Is that right?

Yeah, because I saw him this summer and like they did this kind of interlude in the middle of it.

They went into Black No. 1 and I basically lost my shit.

Yeah.

Because there's like no original members in Quiet Riot now that, what's his name, died.

He was an original member. Sorry, you're right. The last of the classic lineup members. His name escapes me. There's the drummer and then Jizzy Pearl is the only person. He's the singer, which is not the original singer. Oh wait, didn't Rudy Sarzo come back though? I thought he was playing with them. Just recently, like in the last six months or so. I think so. I think he actually started playing with them again. Yeah, you're right about that. I don't think he's a member, but I think he's just like... Just touring with them?

or something. Okay. Yeah. That's wild. Rudy Sarzo is the thing I, I think I bring up every time his name comes up, which is not often, but Rudy Sarzo is famous with me for being in so many really good bands, but not managing to be on any of their fucking records. He's just, he's always in the band. He's not on the quiet riot record. He's not on Ozzy's records. I don't think he's on the white snake record that he toured on. He might be on one of the white snake records, but these were all bands where he came in after,

their bass player left and became famously known as their bass player but he didn't play on any of these fucking things no it's really funny because he left quiet riot when before they recorded that record he was the original guy and then he came came back after the record came out and i think quiet riots got an uh opportunity here since pretty much it's a given that anybody can be in quiet riot at this point they ought to just crowdfund like their next tour and be like hey you know highest bidder gets to be the drummer this tour and

you'll be in a band called Quiet Riot. And, you know, that's what it is. Yeah. Casinos. I've seen them twice. I don't think I've ever seen them because I would not have. I mean, unless they were at M3, but I don't think they were. Well, I've never seen them without any members that have passed away. So hint, hint. Hint, hint. All right. So our last news,

I did not ever think that would happen because of Marty's attitude towards Dave and Megadeth. And I didn't actually read the article, so I don't know if there was any discussion about how this came about and how it went over. John, do you know anything about this? I honestly just briefly looked at it and saw a couple comments and I didn't get into

of detail because when we were talking about news items, I was busy doing something with Jen at the same time. And I never went back to it. But like you, I'm like, the only thing I did see is I think that they actually have been planning this for a little while. Yeah. Yeah. I think they're just, I think they're at least somewhat friendly now. And he just invited him. He said, yes. I mean, that was it. He lives in Japan. So yeah, it was just one of those things finally where they were like in town and he must've been like, you want to go and play? You know, ahead of time, I would say, like you said, they planned it.

And the same thing happened with, uh, what was the original guitarist, Chris Poland? Uh-huh. Same thing eventually happened in the early 2000s, mid-2000s. They finally got back together. And of course, that didn't last long, but, um, so who knows? I was happy to see him back. Sorry, Jim. No, I was just saying, it's just cool that he played with them a little bit. That's cool. You know? He's an interesting case, too. I don't know a lot about that guy, and I don't care about his music or anything, with all due respect. But he makes, like, a real living in Japan in some sort of... Yeah. I don't know if he does sound

or what he's doing, but he's like a guy over there. It's like he moved over there and never looked back. He got married. He speaks fluent Japanese. He's been involved, I think, with baby metal a little bit. Yeah, that's right. I think he just always has loved the culture and the lifestyle there and got married and stayed. Obviously, his wife is Japanese, is what you're saying. I would assume so, yes. I think so. Yeah, but I guess he's making a real honest to get a slow one over there.

I've seen him on some television shows, you know, talking and everything. And yeah. He's turning Japanese. I really think so. That song, I'm referencing the song called Turning Japanese by the Vapors from the 80s. And, you know, I like that song. It's a cool, catchy song. But you listen to that song now and I'm like, man, it just sounds wrong. It's like, that's not politically correct at all.

But still a cool song. Neither is WAP, but apparently it was a highlight at the Grammys. True that. Oh, man. I guess I'd have to read the lyrics, not to WAP. I read those lyrics. Are you talking this year, John? Because I felt like the unholy thing was really what caused the WAP. Oh, that was the big stink this time. Yeah, with Sam Smith. I didn't see it, but I heard about it from my mom. Well, I do tell him. I watched it. My mom, she was complaining about it saying, like, oh, it's like satanic. I'm like,

So you know the music I listen to,

she's like,

oh,

that's different.

And then she went on about it.

And like,

so I went and got my venom record.

Welcome to hell.

I'm like,

you know,

and granted,

that's probably not the best example I could use,

but for somebody who doesn't know about satanic metal,

that works.

No,

that's the best example you can use.

No,

that's a completely different.

That's not the same thing.

I'm like,

I'm pretty sure it's not the same thing.

Cause I'm your kid.

Cause it's the same thing.

I think what she was saying was,

is that no that album is really cool yeah and this guy at the grammys was an ass clown

she was like i don't like him he's gay and she's trans and they're dressed up like devils

stupid outfit with the hat and everything else it's like dumb i i loved it i i you know i didn't even

i i watched it and uh i i you know m smith's a good singer i didn't i don't knock the guy um i don't know

What's her name that he did the track with? I wasn't familiar with her beforehand. But when they were playing this, I was like, damn, this is so metal. It's all dark and evil looking. And he was like, I mean, he was like fat Satan and horns and stuff. Not to fat shame Sam Smith. I'm fat with your brother. But, you know, it was kind of campy, I would say.

Okay. Interesting. And, uh, that's what I wondered. But we had this discussion during the Superbowl halftime show, which is like, nobody lost their clothes or anything like that. So, right. Well, I, I, I, I would venture to bet that people were more offended by the fact that, uh, about her being trans than by how they were dressed. Okay. Uh, gotcha. No, I was offended by just being low hanging fruit to shock everybody. Yeah. Cause yeah, it wasn't shocking. It wasn't even told the end of it that I was like,

Oh, I wonder, you know, like, you know, if this was metal, this would be totally getting, you know, people's panties in a bunch of those like, nah. But first of all, it wouldn't be on there. Yeah. The Grammys ratings are so bad. They're so low. Literally, the majority of people don't give a shit about that show anymore. And this is all in my opinion. It's just just a way to get people in the cheap seats. You know, I mean, they don't even do the rock.

section on air anymore. Even rock isn't good enough to be on the Grammys. Yeah. Well, nothing's good enough to be on the Grammys because it's all shit like that. Yeah. Well, I thought it was cool just because of how, you know, like tweaking the cheek of the industry and the networks and everybody because, you know, clearly it got the response that they were probably expecting that it would. Now the networks love it. We got to get that guy back next year. Yeah.

So.

Yeah.

Satan's been on television for 20 some years every night on South Park and nobody says a word about it.

Yeah.

You know, so.

They just need to have Venom play at the Grammys.

That would be fucking awesome.

All right.

Shall we move on to the new releases then?

This week's new releases.

Yeah, they are.

Yeah, I think I can get myself another beer, too, while we're doing that. Oh, yeah. Alrighty. Let me just pull up my bag. Oh, nice. It's close. Yeah, and it's cold still. Warm that bag up. Put your hands between your legs. All right. All right. So, first one up. It's not actually out until next week, but we've already heard it, so we can talk about it. And that's the 16th

Album from Enslaved Heimdall. Or as I like to call it, Album of the Year. Yeah. I always like to say, thanks, 2023. Next. Yep. Well, it's difficult to even talk about it. I mean, I'm not sure how to even approach their stuff at this point because like in the sort of like, let's try to say something new. Right. And that's not an insult. I mean, they just are so consistently good, you know what I mean?

Have you guys spent a lot of time with the album?

Because I haven't heard you say much about it already.

I probably have like three spins.

And it really is like, I mean, their last album was my number one album.

I felt like their last album was a slight departure from the prior.

And honestly, I felt like their last album was exactly what I needed to hear at that time,

which is not a real shock for Enslaved.

I went through a period where I just was like tired of Enslaved.

and I went back and I think it was the album three and listened to it and you know is that kind of old absence was it uh absence makes the heart harder and I just don't feel like I've looked back ever since like I just there's like they just can't do anything wrong for me um no matter what they do they they take all the elements that make up their music that you know other people do but they just do it a little bit better and um I mean even just down to when you see them live and watch the singer talk on the microphone

I'm like everything he says is perfect. And so, uh, but, but that aside, just talking strictly about the album, I just, I think it sounds fabulous. I think it's a continuation of the last album. And again, definitely what I want to hear. But it's heavier. It is heavier. Absolutely. It's, it's stylistic. It's, um, its structure is very similar to the last album. Yeah. It expands a little further on the, the atmospheric side of that last album. And it starts off with elephant farts.

It's not an elephant fart. I told you. I think those are those big old horns they blow in Tibet. I was interested to hear Matt's comment because I did the same thing with enslave. I was crazy about them. And then I think it was around the one I pronounced Ritter. I didn't get it or something. I don't mean I didn't understand it. I didn't buy it. And then I was doing something else at the time. Somebody,

I think it was

was there one between that

and E? In Times.

Oh, In Times. Yeah, In Times was the one that

brought me back to the fold and I was like, I'll probably get the

Ninnislave record. And then I was like,

okay, I better go back and get the one, the Ritter.

And ever since

then, just like you said, Matt, they

just don't let me down and I don't know why I took a break

because I've loved

them since the last place. Because their output is

almost too much at some point.

Well, it wasn't just albums. It was like, I mean, they were in town here like three times a year, which at times I was saying that like, that's a bad thing. Like, no, it's great. They were on every tour. Yeah. Maybe a bit about oversaturation for sure, George. But for me, it was Ritter and In Times. I was just like, oh, you guys are great, but whatever. And then there was probably a two or three year gap for me. And then three came out or is it three or E? I can't remember what the character was, but I listened to him.

E.

E.

Oh, yeah. Yes, exactly. He is for enslaved. Yep. And that was probably one of my first podcasts, like that year end where he was my jam. And he just sat back in and was like, man alive. Like, why was I not listening to it? I can hear the opening track of that album in my head. I think there's some horses and stuff and then it just, it's magic. He had some extra pepper on it, though, for one. And then, and End Times is really good, actually. There's something there called Building with

I love so much. And Ritter's great too. Well, anyway, I agree with you. And this is all to say that the new one, any kind of fatigue I had has been gone since E at least. And I'm super happy with this record. But like you've only spun it three times. But that's partially because I think I'm going to wait until it comes out now and then just buy it. Yeah. I mean, to your question, John, sometimes I compare them to Aranci Pazuzu because

There are elements that Aronsi does that are really cool to me, almost in a psychedelic element that I feel like Enslaved does as well, but better, just because they're so much more into their craft, which is why I gravitate towards them so much more, even though their style has changed so much since, you know, what the hell is the album we watched them play live at Decibel? Frost. Which one? Frost. Oh, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, it's funny that we're talking about this too, because I think I mentioned

that I, for some reason, I got a new vinyl remaster of Dark Side of the Moon and was, I've been listening to that quite a bit. Not so much right now, but like a few weeks ago, I listened to a bunch, which inevitably made me go put Vertebrae on, because that was, you know. My first. And he says, Ivar says that's, that

Dark Side is his favorite of all time. It's his favorite album. And that, um, vertebrae is the one that embraces that the most. Anyway, I was just sort of reminded of what a kind of fucking masterpiece that record is, man. It's so fucking good. What I like about this album, um, well, one of the things I like about this album, um, I don't think Will could really complain about the mix of clean and harsh vocals because it's, it just gels so well on this album that it's,

It sounds so fucking good. This is what I expect from everybody doing black metal now is, you know, these sound like Dark Throne 93 era fucking black metal vocals, but you can, they're well produced. You can hear them. They're sitting up on top of the mix and it's so fucking cool to hear that. It's just, it's tight.

You know, actually, in addition to that, though, and this is not utterly related to what you just said, but there are certain guys who sing in that fashion who have such a unique timbre to their voice that they really are unique vocalists. I would call out both Groodle or Griddle or whatever his name is. And like, Bath is the same way to me. They have these real unique approach, and it's just the way their throat's made, probably. I don't know.

You said I like their voice. You know what I mean?

Like it's not just a death vocal. It's a death vocal I like. And it seems to have its own personality. Yeah, its own personality. Perfect. That's a perfect way to put it. And that is so they're one of those lucky bands where there's just like all these really cool ingredients, let alone just the absolutely top notch quality of the writing. Well, they have four singers now because the drummer that came in, he sings. His cleans are really good. The keyboardists who replaced their other keyboardists who did all the cleans before. His vocals are amazing.

You know, and then you gotta, we all forget that Ivar does their death vocal stuff. When they go that direction, he does a lot of them. So they got four people singing now. The only person not singing is Ice Tail. Yeah. Well, who was, by the way, the other guy in metal who never wears a shirt. Which is weird, because I've seen him in shirts recently. I'm like, what is going on? It must be like freezing there. Exactly. Yeah, I told George, I said, this album,

So jacked because you know I've already I was already listening to three of the songs

and George I want listen to them I know they're out there I'm like you gotta listen to these songs

they're fucking awesome I wanted to hear them all together I know especially the song Forest Dweller that

that part where they start with that kind of early Pink Floyd-ish kind of folky thing and then you hear the drums come in out of nowhere they sound so out of place and then they just rip into this amazing black metal section and I kept saying this fucking song is amazing then the album comes out and then like George said

here in context. But yeah, I don't know. I lost my train of thought. They're off the charts. Oh, I told myself I was happy for the album, but I'm also, this album's kind of bombing me out because my year's over for one, probably. We'll see. It's going to be tough. He won the year, he won the podcast the year it came out. Yeah. Heimdall did not win the podcast, but it. Well, because it hasn't come out yet. Yeah. Good guard didn't, but it was up there. Oh, excuse me. Thanks. But I was told,

There's a band that I love. George, you surprised me in your semi-inebriated state last time because you were really funny. You were like, I'm feeling pretty good. Then I mentioned the band Ice Age. You're like, wait a minute. I know that band. I don't know if you remember that. I do. I was not. Okay, I was pretty drunk. You all of a sudden just like, I know that band. And I'm like, wait a minute. Well, that's because I bought that CD like 20 years ago. I'd never heard of the band again.

Yeah, well, that's because they disappeared. Anyway, they have an album coming out. I was like, really bummed. I was like, I was really hoping this would be my help of the month, and now there's just no chance. So doors always open for a different number one, but I don't know. For me, it's going to be tough. Yeah. I like that you mentioned the folk thing, Joan, because that's probably where I was going when I said the psychedelic, because it's like, there's psychedelic, there's folk, there's other elements of metal, like sub-genre elements that you just take in, and they enslave them. I want to say they black metal them, but it's not the

Same thing. They enslaved them. Can I just say, so far, nobody's said enslave it? We're saving that. Exactly. Pretty grand. You know, the other thing, too, is they are incorporating a lot of the psychedelic stuff. Like, you know, if you listen, go back to like Mania mentioned, there's a lot of that on that album. And they've kind of sprinkled it throughout. But there seems to be a little extra on this one. I don't know what you guys thought. A little extra mustard? A little extra. So.

Yeah, another knife into the jar. I'm going to grab a beer. I'm going to do the same thing. You're listening to the Metalheads Podcast. Don't you have any self-respect? All right, let's move on to our next new release, which is a band called Host, and the album's called Nine. And this is the first album from a band featuring Nick Holmes and Gregor McIntyre,

of Paradise Lost.

So if you're hoping for Doom, though, look elsewhere.

This is not Doom.

This is not even really metal.

It's electronic and clean vocals.

Gothic synth wave.

Gothic synth wave.

And it's pretty cool.

I like it.

I do.

What do you think, John?

Yeah, I think it harkens back to their, was it Host and Believe in Nothing period?

Yes.

Paradise Lost. So George told us we had this in the box a while ago, and I didn't get to it until this afternoon for the first time. So thank all your classic bands in this era of that type of music. You hear a little Depeche Mode type influences. But I will say, the opening track and a few others sound like Paradise Lost songs stripped down without the metal guitars and the heavy bass. If you put the guitars on top of them,

It would sound like Paradise Lost type songs. Like one second kind of? A little bit, yeah. Which was kind of cool because I was like, oh, this is kind of even better now than I thought because it's stripped down. Yeah. And I think our friend Dan Clancher said the same thing. I think he said he was digging the album. Yeah, that seems like the kind of thing he would like. Yeah, I thought it was cool. I have to give it more spins to see if it'll have any staying power with me because I don't generally listen to this type of stuff. It's not really.

eligible for a lister, but, you know. Still, I mean. And speaking of which, Depeche Mode has a new album coming out. What, two of them now, right? Two main people in the band left? Yeah, yeah. One of the guys died not too long ago. Yeah, yeah. So, I don't know. It's cool. I mean, I know for Jay and Matt, they don't give a crap because these guys are from Paradise Lost, but, you know, I don't know. Maybe they might like it. I don't know. They just got up and walked away. I guess that. I don't know. They literally both did the same thing.

time hit mute on their mics as we went to this album.

And they're both eating chips. They've got to be in the same room.

I literally spoke people who can't actually see us, but nobody can.

When we got to this one, I made a sandwich just now.

I don't know. You guys might dig it if you're looking for a palate cleanse or something different.

Have you listened?

I think I've gone through it once, and honestly, the whole thing that was resonating in my head was like,

I left after two beers. So I don't think I gave it really the time that it deserves. So I'll keep it on the list to spin. Subconsciously, you knew this was Paradise Lost and you just had to put it down. Yeah. What was the other band that Gregor McIntosh had? Strigoy. Strigoy. I feel like I saw them live and you left. No, I didn't leave, but I didn't love it. I think that's a great album. I thought the album was good.

was medium, but again,

that's kind of the mindset I was in.

So I just needed to stop being a bitch and just go listen to it.

Stop being so bitchy.

Anyway.

All right.

All right.

Well, let's move on then to insomnium and their ninth album.

Anno 1696,

some Finnish mellow death,

not really a style that I've been into for quite a while.

Though I've listened to Insomnium since the band began, off and on. And I will say that I did listen to this thing front to back. And, you know, for what it is, it's good. It's not, like I said, the style that I'm really going to reach for. But when I put it on, I didn't turn it off. Yeah, I'm not a fan of Melodeth that much either. You know, I have a few bands alike, like Bellcore-like a little bit. Yeah, they're cool.

Some of the morning, early stuff was a little mellow death-y, but they still do some other things. And I, Winter's Gate, I think, was my number three when that came out in 2016. I loved that album, but that was like their kind of prog album, though, for them. And I listened to this, and I was like, first time I was like, I'll give this a spin because I got nothing else to listen to right now for this coming up week. And I dug it on the first spin. I've been spinning this thing, and I'm like, fuck, I actually like this.

a lot. It's not like the early stuff. See, I don't like, I don't know how you guys feel about Melodeth. I don't like when they're constantly got that guitar, the guitar soloing during the choruses and the verses. And it just gets a little repetitive. And after a while, you're like, dude, it's like the guy, it's like the metal bands that have the, like, they play the acoustic piano over metal riffs. And after a while, you're like, it was cool. Like the first 47 songs we can, we can stop now. Yeah. So, but this one, I think,

I thought was really well balanced for their sound. I like it. So it may contend to this month for me actually too. I hear Melodeath's making a comeback. And they're definitely one of the better bands if you like that kind of music. So we'll turn it up. I have not spun it yet, but I plan to. All right. Next we have the second album for Megaton Sword, Might and Power. A Swiss epic heavy metal band.

that if Markisan was here, I know he would enjoy, or at least, well, although I don't know, we were talking the other day and I wasn't entirely sure his take on it, but in the past, anyway. He's more excited about something else. He was just like, it's not my album of the month, but. Yeah. It's actually my third, second full length, third release. Second full length, yes. Yeah. And I, this, this, their last one is my number one record of whatever year that was, two years ago or something. I'll say what John,

I've only listened to Warrens, but John P.T. heard it three times before I had the chance to. And my first assessment matches his, which is some of what's on there is better than anything else they've ever done, and some of what's on there is not as good as some of the other stuff. I thought it started pretty strong. And then a little towards the middle, it was just kind of okay. I haven't finished it yet, so I don't know how it ends. Don't tell me that. I think I need to wait to truly say what I think about it, but at this moment,

I think it fits in between the other two. It's better than the first one. Maybe doesn't get quite as good as the second one. But I also kind of hold off on my final thoughts. I've only heard it once. I just like his voice so much. Their strong structures are kind of weird in the best kind of way. And yet it's like utterly traditional and stuff. I don't know. So Jay, I got a question for you about them. I haven't latched on them as much as you guys have. I know at least you and Markisan.

are really high in them.

And I like the last album, but I never gravitated to them.

So they kind of fall in this weird space between traditional metal and kind of a, they're not East or European power metal.

They're more US power metal.

They have that vibe to their sound, but they kind of don't do either one all the way.

And there is a slight difference between just regular traditional metal and this US power metal.

It seems like they kind of weave in and out of those two a lot.

I know we're cutting fine lines here, but. It's what we do. And that's why I think my issue with the album was, I didn't dislike it. I thought it was pretty good, but I felt like they kind of, they veered a lot between the two. I have a suspicion about it, though. It's merely a suspicion. First off, I think they live in a weird bubble, and I think it's not really influenced by anything.

It's just what comes out when they play. I don't think it's a nod to traditional metal at all. I think this is just kind of what they wanted to do. It's fairly neutral. I don't know how to explain it, except it also has this weird X factor to it, which is partially his voice, the power with which he delivers some of the material. And the mic. And it's deeply basic. I mean, there's nothing froggy about it by any strong sense. Oh, no. Yeah.

That's why I made sure to say US power metal because I know George and I have had conversations about this, but there is a big difference between US power metal and European power metal. They're two different worlds completely. The singer's phrasing is so weird and different. I don't know what it is. They have an extra magic X factor to me. And I don't know if you know this, but all their records take place in the same fictitious fantasy world that they've created. So they're delusional. Or they're just very good

And also, I feel like this stuff is sort of like in this weird minor key, the vocalist approaches it, and they don't really have these big, huge shouty choruses, which would be more of an American thing. Yeah, that's what I do like about them, is that it's just him, and if there are backing vocals, they're kind of balanced better, I think. There are no gang singing on them, which I actually did like. And not even really like,

too many cut and dry actual courses where it's sort of like

like we will we will wrap it there's none of that it's just like this weird thread of

narrative that goes through the whole song i think the guy's he's a little eccentric and some about it

really works but i would like to hear them live because i felt like the guitars were a little muted

on this one compared to the last one and i'm not at all banging on the album i thought it was pretty

good i'd just like to see them live because i bet they sound better live or at least heavier live

I felt like... This one also, John, the tones are a little more processed on the guitars, which I actually was not super thrilled about. Okay, so I did get something like that. Okay, good. I mean, it's like a Mesa Boogie Mach 4 type sound-ish, which is a weird step beyond the traditional thing they kind of have done. So whatever, but there's no way it's not going to be on my year-end list. It just remains to be seen how high. Yeah, I figured this is going to do well on our list.

And rightfully so. Again, I thought it was pretty good. Yeah, there's a lot of bands that do a traditional metal kind of thing, and some of them are really good, and some of them are really average. Not so good. Or even not so good. And yeah, I think Megaton Sword is one of those bands that just, they just do it right. Actually, and I have, here's my very brief theory about that. A lot of those guys, like Eternal Champion and stuff, no offense, but I'm telling you, it's a little tongue-in-cheek

to them. They think what they're doing is a little bit funny.

These guys fucking believe in what they're doing.

Like, they are totally into this.

That's because of that whole extra new world that they created in their head, and they're invested.

Exactly.

They're not looking down at it from an intellectual, superior, punk rock fucking perspective.

They fucking love it.

They're always the trailer parks like we were, and this is the fucking music that I love.

Well, look, if you're going to walk around with a sword that weighs more than the five band members combined body weight, you're going to take your shit very serious. And you're going to you're going to be. Yeah, you're not going to tongue in cheek it because that sword is huge. One of the guys name his band name is like Chris the axe. Yeah, remember. And they sent me an autographed copy because I asked for an autographed copy. And it says Chris the picture. Awesome. Very cool. Yeah.

I suspect it'll it'll fare very well in our mid and year end list. I would think so. So next up we have the new Ulthar third and fourth albums. Anthronomicon, Helionomicon. I feel like the ocean's lurking around somewhere. Did somebody from the ocean join the band? Did Rob from the ocean join? Yeah, they're a US like Black Death band and you know I've heard their stuff before.

I was never dragged in and like, oh, wow, this is great.

And it was just sort of a, yeah, this is cool.

But I listened to both of these albums en route to DC on the way to Atlas,

where we met up with Matt and John and Will and Aaron.

And I was like, damn, you know, the vocals are extreme vocals.

You know, there's nothing spectacular about that, but the music is pretty damn good.

And I got there at the T-Atlas and I was telling John about, you know, what I listened to on the right end. And he was like, so which one did you like better? Because one album is like, I don't know what, like eight songs? Yeah, and one's two. And the other one's two. And I expected, when I noticed the difference in lengths, I was like, okay, so this one's like two 20-minute songs and there's like eight regular length songs on this other one. I assumed that the one with eight tracks would be the one I liked more.

But so far, what is it? Helionomicon is the one that's grabbing my attention. Me too. It's the same for me. And I was talking to James Lewis from Decibel, and it was the other way for him. So it's interesting. Yeah, I have the same history with them as you. The first two, I was like, eh. The last one I know people liked, and I was like, this is better than the first. And then I list these two, I was like,

I like these considerably more than the other ones. I don't know how they'll stay with me, but I was like, yeah, I could go back to these every so often and see if they're going to stick with me for the year. Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to do that. Yeah, but this takes time because it's a lot of music. Yeah. You know, so, but they're cool. I think they're, it's pretty good. I think they're going to blow up now with this. Yeah. So 20 bucks Ben's got another winner in their hands. Yeah. I mean, they've already had them, but this one I think is going to set this, this band.

I've only given them like an initial spin and I hate to say it but I've developed a bit of laziness with labels like 20 bucks spin. I know that anything they put out I'm probably going to like and so I just kind of set it aside and don't give it its due time but especially after George you mentioned Atlas like hey I had time to listen to both these albums and admittedly I was confusing them with over for a second. I didn't want to listen to it like oh shit this

This is a newer,

for sure.

Sounds really good,

but definitely worthy of more of a deep dive.

Yeah.

Speaking of deep dives,

after that enslaved conversation,

I really want to come back and just like listen to everything front to back.

It's been a long time since I've heard some of those.

Yeah.

I don't know if Jay had anything to say.

I guess he had to make another sandwich.

So why don't we,

since Jay is not drinking,

why don't we do another round of what we're drinking?

There you go.

Since we all got beers.

All right. Matt, what you got to drink? I am pouring another Belgian. It is a Saturnalia ale from OEC Brew. I got myself a little. I made myself a little monster in Minneapolis and I'm loving it. Please do not age. Please recycle things. Saturnalia is our interpretation of a Belgian Trappistile quad. It is brewed using authentic

Belgian Pilsner, pale ale, special bee, and caramel to this hopped with laurel and styrian golding in the boil to balance that massive malt body. Finally, the beer undergoes a warm fermentation using classic Belgian Trappist yeast strain. I haven't touched it yet, but I'm sure it will be amazing. I like hearing that. John, what you got? So, maybe I'm starting a trend here, at least for Matt and I. Maybe I get the rest of you to do this. I'm also drinking another Belgian beer.

This is not some new fad. I absolutely love these things. But I've kind of like you guys was enslaved. I kind of took a step back for a couple years. Now I'm back in full force. I'm drinking a classic golden drach. Oh, nice. But it's the 9000 quadruple. It's an amber quad, which, you know, see, look, look at the amber. Amber waves of gold. Amber waves.

Yeah. This is a good and rock is a very well-known name. Uh-huh. Uh, they make good stuff. And, uh, I can drink a lot of these and they're, they're big, they're big kids on the block in terms of ABVs, but just so good. Nice. So John in, in Jay's absence, how do you feel? So using that time, how do you feel about Barley wines? Okay. I'm just, it's been about,

three years and I have been just gangbusters on Belgians and barley wines. I love barley wines because barley wine is first of all it's like that's an old dinosaur of beers now people don't care about them because all these hipsters with their little buns and their little trimmed beards and their fake flannel shirts and their little pre pants I'm sorry if that's you that's a figure you know you know internet you but yeah

Barley Wines are outstanding. It's a beer that you have to take your time with. It's like your favorite band. It comes out with a new album and you're like, what are they doing here? And you got to spin it like nine times just to grasp it. That's what a Barley Wine is. But once you get hooked. Once you drink nine of them. Yeah. You can drink eight too. I mean, it's okay. Here's the thing. If it's 100 degrees up, you can still drink a Barley Wine. I'm not going to be drinking this out when it's 100 degrees out. You can. Same thing with the Belgian. You're going to see.

You're gonna sweat a little

If you can

If you can get the

Tsukaba from

Firestone Walker

It is just

I can't even

It's so good

The barrel aging on it is just outstanding

Me Tsukaba, you Tsukaba

Yeah, it used to be called

It used to originally be called Abacus

And I think they flipped the name over

So that one's outstanding. I love barley wines. I wish more breweries made them, but

you know, it's everything is like a pastry stout now or a hazy IPA, which kind of just, that's why George, you saw my message when you said, oh yeah, look at this cool name for this beer. It's a milkshake IPA. And I was like, yeah, you're not buying that, right? Well, I'm not buying this.

But I did buy something else from them. But it was from Nepente Brewing, which first caught my eye because Nepente is the name of a song from Sentenced. And it was a milkshake stout and it was called What Did You Do, Ray? Which, of course, is a line from Ghostbusters. And it had a picture of like a demonic marshmallow man on there.

And I was like, oh, that's so cool, but I'm not buying that. No. No. But I did get something else from Nepente. And I've previously on here, I've had their alpaca fracas, which is a double IPA. This is their alpaca ruckus, which is a triple IPA. And these fuckers look mad. They're like, fuck your shit up. Yeah. These are like zombie alpacas. So, and, uh, you know,

It doesn't say on there whether it was hazy or not. I was giving the guys at the store grief because they kept trying to sell me hazies. And I was like, no, man, I want a West Coast. But it didn't say. And I was like, it's probably a hazy. And it is. But it's still good. So I just, Jay, I know you're going to disappoint me when I ask you this. But are they even referring to traditional IPAs in California as West Coast IPAs now? Because that's, you know, Oregon, Washington, and California. That's what the West Coast.

Those are the original IPAs. They're the early ones that started that got real big. We're out there. I do see it. I do see it on some things, but now it's good. I think it's sort of like, which kind of makes sense if you think about it, because they're like, you're here. I don't need to tell you where you're at. Where does that sound? I mean, because I did get some whiny and stuff a week or two ago. Does Russian River have a hazy?

I think they do now. No, they didn't. Well, if they have it, I haven't seen it, but it might not be possible. Good. I hope it's somebody else I'm thinking of then. Good. Which, by the way, we are coming up on younger days. I thought that was maybe it's either February or May. Have you ever had younger? Nope. I've had it once. Our friend Ben, who is now working at the Grand Canyon, he works for the Park Service. He called me.

was out of town and he just real quick he called me and said hey i got some beers when i was out in california because he used to be he used to work at yosemite i think how the fuck did he get it though i know yeah i know he got it he's really good friends with someone who owns a bar out in that area and i don't know how he got them he says come on i got some good stuff he even had kern river and i was like oh my god it's amazing and he brought out plenty and he had younger and he put it right in front of me and i just literally froze like do you remember remember indiana jones when he's like with the

like this and he's measuring the weight of the bag before he swaps it out. I was just like looking at him. I was just running my fingers like and I felt like this is gigantic light behind me lighting them up and I was just like that's a bottle of plenty younger and it was everything it's built up to it was. Yeah. It was fucking incredible. The hazy thing. It depends on where you go here but it's not as crowded with hazies as it was.

six months ago.

That's a good reason you live in California.

Some stores, it's all hazy.

But there's a few different places I go to get my stuff in.

I think it's maybe starting to fade here a little bit.

Well, the stuff that Looch always gets for us, that he brings down for all the metal fests,

I mean, that stuff is all good because that's all the originals.

But everyone's making these crazy milkshake hazy IPAs.

I'm like, I don't even know what that is.

Let's do our last new release.

And this is the fifth album from Venomous Concept. It's called The Good Ship Lollipop. And this is a multinational band. I don't really know what to call them stylistically. It features members of Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, and Cancer. Previously, I would have called these guys a grindcore band. However, this album is not remotely grindcore. It's still heavy.

But it's got like clean vocals. And a lot of the vocals, I was talking to James earlier. This album, by the way, is the first full album, studio album released by Decibel Records. Oh, cool. You know, Decibel releases the Flexies all the time, every month. And they did do a Dead Guy live album last year. But this is the first full studio album from Decibel Records. So, congratulations.

to those guys for doing this. And with such a cool band too. And anyway, I was talking to James about it because I was like, where's the grind? It's not grind. It's definitely more punkish. This is their fifth album and they've all been pretty grindy. I mean, it's like, you know, Brutal Truth, Napalm Death. What are you going to get? Grind. But this is way more accessible. And I told James, I said, the vocals

Remind me. Initially, they reminded me of Ministry, Al Jorgensen. And then I got Rob Zombie. And he was like, yeah, somebody else wrote that too. And I looked it up and I found it. And somebody else in a review said the vocals are reminiscent of Rob Zombie. So clearly not Grindcore. But at the same time, this is not like pop sellout weirdness. It's just kind of undefinable to me. It's kind of punky, but it's

Definitely metal. Kind of catchy sometimes.

You know, I was kind of disappointed when I first heard it.

Well, so I broke the Enslaved rule, and I listened to some of the tracks that came out before the album.

And I was very confused, and I didn't understand.

And then I listened to the album, and I was like, all right, well, it's all like this.

And James said, it takes like two or three listens to get it. And I think it only took me two. And I was like, all right, well, I'm not entirely sure what this is, but it's really fucking cool. And since this is the first release from Decibel Records, studio release, full album, you should pick it up. Now, I'm guessing nobody here is listening to this. Crickets? I have not. I'm such a Napalm Death fan, but I've never really put my finger on these guys.

I mean, if you like Napalm Death, you should at least like the previous Venomous Concept albums. Yeah. Well, I think I listened to snippets of that one because I think it might have been your album of the month or something once upon a time. Yeah, probably. They've always been on my radar. I just have not taken time to listen to this beast yet. Yeah, I mean, if you listen to something like Poison Apple from like, I think it's like our second album, that's a lot more like Napalm Death. And they did, they,

What was the last album called? It was a Trump-related thing. It was like Politics and the Erection or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when we're saying Napalm Death, are we saying Shane Embry? Of course we are. Who's in Venomous Concept? Yes, Shane and Kevin. The drummer used to be in Venomous Concept. He's not now. The guy from Cancer is the drummer now, I think. Okay. And Kevin Sharp from Brutal Truth. From Brutal Truth, yeah. Right on.

And both Kevin and Shane do vocals on here. Oh. I'm sorry. You know what, George? I'll stick my head in the window and see what I think. Yeah. I'd be curious to know. Despite it not being what I thought it was going to be, I still like it. You know, a lot of people, well, if an album comes out and it's not what they expect it to be, they're just like, fuck you, you suck. But I said, well, it's not like they went and did a, you know,

A Motionless and White album or a Parkway Drive album or something. It's still heavy. It's just not what I expected. And it's certainly more accessible and catchy, but it's pretty heavy, too. So check it out. Shane Emory must just sit and write guitar riffs from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed for the sheer volume of his output. Yeah. Including just the amount of riffs that appear in any given Napalm Death song. I mean, he's got two kids now, though, so.

They probably help him. Daddy needs some riffs. Yeah. So prolific. And so prolific that he needs, obviously, outside outlets to, it's crazy. It's crazy. Little child, write me a bass riff, please. Well, and I think he does guitar on this one, too. Does he? Little child, write me a guitar riff. Yeah. Make it sound like Deep Purple. But we're crying. Daddy,

I wrote some more.

I doubt anybody listened to it but me, but that isolated Richie Blackmore on Highway Star Track was so cool, dude.

Like, I don't know if you saw, but the link was actually to this article that said, here's Richie's isolated Guitar Track, and he's even better than we thought he was.

It's exactly true if you listen to it.

It is so good in some places, so far ahead of its time.

But Jay, this is my response.

Fucking Blackmore.

You know, it's funny because

having

he's one of like my big

five, you know, and

and it's funny because

with Jeff Bechdine recently, I was thinking

who also is in my big five.

How much different I'll feel

when it's Richie Blackmore because there's two things that play

there. One is he's amazing

and two is he's a complete prick

and three is he's amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it'll just be so interesting to see how differently I feel when he goes.

Plus he spent the last.

This is the BBC.

We're covering Richard Blackmore's funeral today.

And so far,

nobody's showed up.

I like with Blackmore.

And again,

you know,

you guys know where I am in the timeline of life and Madeline,

all that jazz.

But like,

I really struggled to dislike Blackmore based on the fact that he's a prick.

Because some of the stuff he does are just so good.

I mean,

Yeah, he's so good. He's a genius tonight. But I mean, it's just him in no way in my eyes. Yeah, but I skip ahead to him now and he's like this slightly old, decrepit person. And I put that in quotes because he's not, but it's like, you know, he's got this like 30 year old girlfriend and they're making music together. And it's like, you bastard. Good for you. Yeah. We'll get to our lists, but it's relevant to our list that he's one of the guys that I have never seen.

Sure. Would love to see, but you can't even see him in the right context anymore because he just doesn't. Blackmore's Night. And that doesn't count to me. So that boat passed me by. I never had a chance. Yeah. You know, I did. It could have been my first concert. Deep Purple was coming to town for The Perfect Strangers. And I was like, Mommy, Daddy, can I please go see Deep Purple? And they were like, no. And so it wasn't my first concert.

But I wanted to go.

I said, there's no post on Sunday.

You can't go.

If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding.

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

Easily one of my top three Breandian records, dude.

Fuck, that's a good record.

I love Perfect Strikers.

I was telling you guys today over message on Ozzy's Boneyard,

they have these little snippets between songs where the DJ people will say stuff.

And he's like, here's a little interview.

clip from Ian Gillian from Deep Purple. And I've heard this several times now, and I'm like, it's not Gillian, you fucking dipshit. It's Gillian. Ian Gillian. Gillian. Dude should be fired for saying that. Seems like Gillian at-ass. Exactly. Ass hat. I know. I got the joke eventually. I was driving. Give me a break. I was like, how can he not get that joke? I was driving because I heard it on the radio.

I'm glad you brought him up though, George, because I did get to see him. So I saw him get on the same person. So that's something. Yeah, I've seen that twice. Yeah, twice. Yeah, he actually was okay when George and I saw him. I thought he wasn't great. But he still had majority of his stuff he had. He couldn't do his highs anymore. I saw him back in the 90s too. Child in Time has been sung for the last time. Yeah, no congas. You know, I wanted to see the congas. I got to see the congas in 98, you know, so. Well, he had to do that.

Yeah, while the, you know, twiddly-widly was going on. He didn't have anything to do for six and eight minutes. Hey, at least he didn't walk off stage pissed because, like, I got to disappear for 12 minutes. So, like, yeah. All right. What are we listening to?

¿Qué?

Decapitation. We Eat Our Young, as I believe the only track out so far, but looking forward to that May release. A band called Ignominy. I believe they will be in, like, they potentially could be a pretty solid Tech Death entry. I don't know when the album comes out. I don't have the number of them. Probably a dozen. They're made up, aren't they? No. Maybe. Yes. Okay. Also, Tithe. Inverse Rapture has been pretty solid. I've been listening to the two,

The Alther Tracks moderately need to do a deep dive. A band called Hexer. They have an album called Abyssal. Really good. Hell Ripper. Listened to one track. Kind of liked it. Listened to the whole album. Loved it. Also, Chrome Waves has a new album coming out, Earth Will Shed Its Skin. I listened to the first track off of that. So, much like 20 bucks spin, I avoid Hanger as a label that I feel like anything they put out, I should at least listen to.

to two bands,

a temporal,

they have an upcoming release called thorn Genesis,

as well as a split from the condition and surmented.

Both of those are worth listening to.

Um,

I mean,

if anything,

they're just weird.

And when I say weird,

um,

I'm talking about something like ESOC Trillium weird,

which weird,

but really good.

Uh,

a band called fester decay.

They have an album called reality rotten to the core,

complete carcassion,

and because Carcass is my band, I worship. A band called Hypnos, where the S is a five. They have a band called Shield. Kind of dug that. Something from yesterday, Mormon Yon, and the album is Wastelands. Kind of dug that. Megaton Sword. I've only listened to it once. Liked it. Want to listen to it more. One I know you mentioned yesterday, John, Omega Infinity. That's fucked up. Only listened to it slightly.

I like what I heard. Why is it fucked up? It is like

it's like you're getting

it's like

space black metal as you're getting sucked

into a black hole.

And the thing is the first thing I thought of was

the cover says it all.

Yeah.

Really unique stuff.

It's one guy from

Neabla Viscaris. Is that how you say the name of the band?

It's one of the guys from the band.

Okay.

Cool. Yeah. Good stuff.

Also, Wretched Fate has a name called Carnal Hearsay, and then Big Brave Nature Mortar. Also, off of the new release path, I felt like I saw something from Atlas Moth on Bandcamp, so I went back and listened to their catalog. I am totally an Egg for Distance guy. I like Coma Noir, but me at Egg for Distance, Old Believer, even their first album, which I cannot think of the name of.

I really love Comor Noir, but I feel like they kind of got rid of some of the psychedelic elements that were present on Inakness. I feel like we haven't heard from them in a long time. Yeah. It's been a while. 2017, 2016. So I think, you know, hopefully what, whatever they did on Bandcamp was like a precursor to that they have an album coming out. So that's me in a nutshell. All right. Sean. Cool. All right. So we've already mentioned some of these. So Enslaved, Insomnia,

I will not be able to pronounce the name of this band because

I think this might actually be Matt's band. They admit they made this name up.

It doesn't mean anything. So however it's pronounced.

I'm going to do my best. I'm butchering this for what I think it might be.

But Cara Utse

Their album is called Nocturnes of the Incarcerated

It's a progressive death band from Germany

I thought it was a pretty cool listen

I've listened to it two or three times

I might go back to it again

So we'll see

The new Soul Mass came out earlier in the month

Let Us Pray

Third album Death Doom Band from Florida

Which features Brett Winnagel of La Scales Shroud

We've all bought some of their stuff

Some of us have

It's cool

I like them

I actually think I might like soul mass a little more

I don't know it depends on what the release is

he's a very prolific

soul mass sounds heavier

yeah and it's death doom but it seems deathier

I don't know this time around

so it's cool

let's see

void ceremony out of nowhere

dropped a new song yesterday

what the fuck

I get more than all the other stuff

so I'm looking forward to that

Jay, you might appreciate this. Maybe you won't, but I think you might. Way down the rabbit hole on Mahavishnu Orchestra recently. I very much appreciate that. Yeah, I've been spending, I mean, if you don't know them, they're probably one of the better well-known fusion rock jazz bands. And wow. Yeah. So I spent a lot of time with them, especially the early period that featured Yon Hammer. If you don't know Yon Hammer, he played with Jeff Beck, but he's also the creator of Miami Vice theme song.

Which is funny because he used to be a jazz fusion guy early on. So one of the only real guys that intimidated Jeff was John McLaughlin. And he does, what's the name of that fucking, one of the tracks on, I don't know, Levered 20 Scots is from Birds of Prey or Birds of Fire. Anyway, I love the Mahavishnu stuff. It's fucking great. John, he also, he has a,

He's a real, not super active Facebook guy, but he posts on Facebook. He's such a nice guy. And he's out there touring, man. He's playing constantly. He's got to be in his mid-70s now. He looks good, though. He looks healthy and stuff, man. Yeah, and I'm going to start venturing into another Return to Forever, which is a Chick Corea offshoot, but that features another great guitarist, an Al Demiola. So I've been down to Fusion World. And then I'm kind of bringing back my classic album.

for this part of the podcast.

I just got recent reissues on vinyl of amorphous eclipse and silent waters.

And so I spun eclipse today and just for me, that album is, that's my favorite amorphous album.

It's the first one with their current singer who has now been with them for God, what?

Almost 20 years.

So that's, that's my spins recently.

I've been trying to keep them close to the podcast date. I'm trying to keep all my listens to that because if I had to go back and tell you everything I was listening to, it would take forever. I had a guitar teacher in San Francisco a few years back. I keep in touch with him. He's a great fucking guitar player and makes his money playing guitar. We were talking about players one time and I asked him, I said, how does John McLaughlin do that, dude? He goes, he's fucking Bakwan Mahavishnu John, dude.

He's like, he's magic, you know, anyway. Yeah, just unbelievable player. And the whole band is amazing. Everyone's played with him is amazing, so. So, um, I've been listening to, I always listen to stuff that gets posted to the thread, so, post stuff there, and then, um, obviously the Enslave record, Megaton Sword record. So, try not to beat either of those into the ground. Megaton Sword, I will. Now that it's out, I'll listen to it a lot more.

And then a lot of stuff here and there. But the honest truth is I'd be lying if I didn't say, even since the last podcast, the thing I've listened to more than anything else is Jetpack. I keep, I just have been doing such a deep dive with him and, um, cause I didn't have his whole catalog, um, of stuff and it's getting worse. Cause now it's like the more I listen, the more I understand the subtleties of some of what he was doing and how hard it is and how nobody else can do it and how music is.

It's a good cross-section of

his career and also i think in ways it's my favorite band he ever played with because

they because they had to tone it down for that small space sure um like i bought the video john for um

the line with the hollywood bowl one yeah which is awesome and he even plays some of the same tracks on

it but i just prefer that i've they had to put those weird throttle on everything for that so he stands out

It's funny when you consider that, excuse me, Vinny Caluto's on drums, and he's no slouch. I mean, that dude bangs away. Yeah. Oh, I mean, I actually just mean sonically more than. Oh, no, I know. I mean, they did. They sort of had to. It's a small room. It's a small room. It's a small stage. And his band is awesome in that. I watched that again recently, the Smirag Scouts one, and I sort of lost count of how many famous people are in the audience.

Plant was there. Even like Imogene Heap, whom I've loved separately, but to have her come up and play with Beck, like, holy shit, this is amazing. Yeah, he got it, man. So, anyway, I guess that all goes into me just saying that. Honestly, I still spend so much time with him, and I'm more likely to put on a Jeff Beck record right now than anything else. And, uh, whew, I'm gonna go play. I'm not passing it off to you, George. All right. Satan.

So none of my list has been mentioned, which is not surprising because we're all very different. And yet we are the same. So my first one is a band called Bizarre Cult with a K, all one word. Nice. And their second album, Den Topda Kriegen. They're a black metal band from Norway via Russia is what it says.

I feel like I saw somebody on our one of our Facebook

posts talking about this and it was an interesting name so I went and I checked it out

and it's some really damn good black metal I mean this is like it's not going to be my album of the month but it's definitely a contender

so you know check this out

next up is a band called Conjureth

And their second album, The Parasitic Chambers, they're a death metal band from San Diego. Nothing out of the ordinary here. It's just some cool death metal. Then, so recently I watched a movie and it was called Elvis. And so then I read a book about Elvis called The Last Train to Memphis. Shit, I forgot. I think that's what it's called.

which documents Elvis's life from birth through when he went to Germany in the army. And so needless to say, I've been listening to a lot of Elvis Presley. I listened to the first album based on recommendations from my bros. I also listened to the comeback special. And I've been just listening to various and sundry singles of as they come up throughout the book. And, uh,

I am now definitely firmly in the Elvis Presley believer camp. So there you go. He's been turned into a punchline, but that's not, not who he was. And, um, I would really like to recommend, that's why I'm cutting in here. I apologize. HBO did probably one must be the definitive documentary about him. It's called the searcher. And I highly recommend that it'll walk you through his career in the best way.

and you'll understand him better than you've ever understood him and blah, blah, blah.

So far.

So far anyway, obviously throughout the late 50s, dude seemed like a really nice guy.

Yeah.

You know, it's like he cared about his parents ridiculously, probably obsessively much.

And, you know, he loved his friends and wanted them all around him all the time, hence the Memphis Mafia.

And he just was not a dick. And he wasn't racist either. He grew up loving all the black gospel singers and blues. Yeah. And it was actually his true love of music was gospel. Yeah. And it's like, in the 50s, a white, famous, good-looking singer dude that wasn't racist? What? So that was really cool to me.

I haven't gotten to the second half of his life yet, but I was curious. And so I did some Googling about how he died and it just, it still boggles my mind. I mean, as somebody who has known about Elvis all my life, but it was never really into it because he died when I was young. It seems like he was, you know, you see everybody talks about fat Elvis and it's like, Oh, he was probably like, at least in his like fifties or whatever. And he was only 42, which is ridiculous that the dude did so much before he was 42.

And so I looked up how he died and everybody talks about, oh, the king died on the shitter, you know, had a heart attack and died because he was fighting to drugs. But I read a medical report that said that he did die because of heart failure based on the drugs that were in his system. But they were all medically prescribed drugs and all at reasonable levels. It was more of a Heath Ledger kind of thing where they just didn't.

You couldn't mix them. Yeah. Like he wasn't. I mean, he may have been abusing them, but he was not taking them at above prescription level recommended levels, but he was taking painkillers with Valium with antidepressants and and it just killed him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's funny, too. And you mentioned that he did so much. But the irony is that this big chunk of his career that got cut out really because he got signed into the stupid fucking movie contract.

by the Colonel and was stuck at Universal Studios for 10 years. I mean, and all the music he made before that and after that is bitching. The stuff he did during the movies is just popcorn bullshit. And if he'd had those 10 years to himself, that's why the comeback special was such a big deal. It's amazing. Fucking coming back. Yeah, and they did that pretty well in the movie about how he just bucked the Colonel and was like, I'm not playing these fucking Christmas songs. He didn't say fucking, I don't think. But he's like, I'm not playing these Christmas songs.

I can play these other things.

And,

uh,

but he was so into the Colonel,

like,

so like,

it was like a second father to him.

And it's sad because the dude just fucking used him up and threw him away.

Yeah.

And he didn't understand him.

You know,

he just,

he just,

he's clearly just saw him as a product that,

that was marketable.

and I don't think he even understood how talented he was. The guy was dripping with talent. He was one of the most talented musicians of the last hundred years. For sure. I totally agree with that. I know this is the Elvis Hedges podcast, but fucking A, man. It is tragic. And he served his country. And he did. George, I'm happy you jumped because Jay and I have been going on and on about that comeback special. Yeah, I listened to that because of you guys. I was like, damn, that's good. He's in that leather outfit and he starts

I'm like oh this is gonna be good

you should watch it too George if you haven't watched it

yeah

and that

live

video version of him singing

that the song from

Dirty Dancing

on Chained Melody

on Chained Melody

and the dude is standing

there in front of the piano with the microphone

And he's just fucking lighting that song up. It was amazing. And it was like one of the last performances he did. That's right. And he looks terrible. There's no question about it. It's the fat Elvis, blah, blah, blah. But he is still, that's, the guy could sing like a fucking opera singer. Yeah. And that's a beautiful version of that song. Yeah. It was amazing. I've watched that exact video a million times. I will say the greatest remix of any song ever. I stand by this hands down.

It is like the perfect song for just rolling into Las Vegas and running with that song. I don't know if you guys have ever, if you know the song I'm talking about. Yeah, I just, yeah, every time I hear it, it's cowbell, some, you know, it's not Belouster Cole, you know, but yeah. I mentioned this to you too, and this would be my last recommendation, but one of the other things I really recommend is probably my favorite record of his, which is a live record called Prince from Another Planet. And it was,

After the comeback special, he did sort of a comeback tour. He recorded, he was doing two shows a day, like the afternoon and a night show. There's two shows at Madison Square Garden. The best one is called The Prince from No Other Planet. And it's like he does all the hits and he does like Suspicious Minds. He does the American Trilogy. If you've never heard that, it's fucking amazing. He does, you never close your eyes anymore. That song, When I Kiss Your Lips, that's Righteous Brothers thing. You've lost that love and feeling.

He does that. It's... Fuck. There's nothing better than hearing him play Burning Love and Suspicious Minds and the white fucking jumpsuit. It's the greatest thing you'll ever see. The Thin Elvis. The early Hawaii tour stuff is just unreal. You know, one of the things I found interesting was all the... The context for the era of the 50s. Because, you know, he started out on Sun.

And shortly after he started, there was this young upstart named Johnny Cash that came along and was like hanging out at the studio with him. And Carl Perkins, which... And then one day they were in the studio and this kid came in to play piano. Some guy named Jerry Lee Lewis. I don't know. It's crazy what's going on back then. Yeah. And when he went out to Los Angeles to be on the Milton Berle.

show. He met this guy there named Nick who ended up being a friend of his. And he'd hang out with Nick and his roommate. A guy you might have heard of named Dennis Hopper. I'm like, fucking Dennis Hopper hung out with Elvis. Dennis Hopper is in Rebels Out of Cause. I mean, he hung out with fucking James. What's his fuck? James Dean, yeah. So, you know, as if Dennis Hopper could get cooler, apparently he can. So. You know, he.

That's the thing about Elvis is you have to understand his context. That's part of it. And it's too hard to go backwards and go, oh, that's happened since then. But just as one matter of example, If I Can Dream, this is the last song on the comeback special. Yes, the protest song, as they say. Well, that was added after Kennedy, the second Kennedy. Robert Kennedy, yeah. And they were like, how are we going to fucking close this thing? Now it's tasteless and everything. And it's like going to air next week or something. And Elvis was like, I got it.

That was brilliant. He knew that song from, but it was his idea to do that. Anyway, so I'm going to say, again, the context thing matters. Yeah. The thing about the comeback special, too, is you know the Beatles, the Stones, all those guys were sitting in front of their TVs going, fuck, he's back. Oh, yeah, because they were all fans of him. They were fans of Chuck Berry, Little Richard. They were fans of all that stuff.

I loved all of them.

Oh man, you know, they were all sent in front of their television sets going to you. Are you fucking watching this dude? Yeah. And you know, and based on him, that branched me out into other things that I listened to, like, uh, you know, Buddy Holly, which, Oh my God, how tragic is that? I mean, obviously we know the day music died, blah, blah, blah. Dude was only like 22.

Unbelievably talented for his age, you know? And you know, they, they talked about him running into Buddy Holly and, and so I was listening to Buddy Holly and Bill Haley and the Comets and, uh,

stuff like that.

I think Buddy Holly might be the first

proto proto proto metal guy.

Yeah.

Yeah like listen to Peggy Sue and stuff like

Yeah.

Yeah.

Fucking Steve Harris march to it.

Uh huh.

You know he should I don't know if you know the Dave Clark

five but you should check that.

Dave Clark five.

You know it's interesting thinking about this that we're all

old enough to remember those songs still playing a little bit

when we were kids.

Yeah.

You'd still hear them and I'm sure we have listeners that

this is like a whole different world to me, but

it really is worth going back. Even if it's still not your jam, your music,

just so many. I heard Fats Domino on the radio today. I was like,

fuck, I haven't heard this in years. These guys were all so talented.

Yeah, he hung out with Elvis too.

From all different worlds back then. What's that?

He hung out with Elvis too and Little Richard and

somebody else I'm going to talk about later.

And Little Richard is another one that unfortunately,

He's a caricature of himself now. Yeah. You know, with all the theatrics. His early stuff, nobody played like that guy early on. To the fruit. Yeah. I mean, it's fun to kind of go back. Like you see those Time Life commercials here when you're like after the podcast, you're a little lit. You go down and put the TV on for a few minutes. It's like, hey, I'm here with Sean Cassidy or somebody and we're going to go over Time Life's greatest hits from the 50s. You're like, this is stupid. Then you're stuck in that loop for like,

two hours watching the same thing over and over again.

Because you want to hear the songs.

It's just, there's something about that period.

There's somebody that has a radio show here that I run into from time to time.

And it's only when I'm driving through a certain area.

I don't even know what station it is.

I just happen to find it sometimes.

And he plays 50s.

Oh, it's when I'm driving out to our rehearsal studio.

And he, um.

You have a band?

He plays 50 songs that I don't know.

Like songs like that were probably like, you know, third tier hits, but they were hits and on the radio. And he plays so much stuff I didn't know. And I'm always like, this is so fucking good. This fucking thing. Yeah. I mean, they, they were the foundation bands for our bands that we really got into from the late sixties, early seventies. Yeah. That led into all the bands that were now diehards of. One of the things that I knew from before I was a big L

was that there was like controversy about Elvis appropriating black music and culture. And I'm like reading this stuff and I'm going, nah, man, he was, this was all like an homage to the stuff that he loved. And it ain't his fault that he was white and the white people loved it, you know? And he was, and he grew up in that neighborhood. Yeah. That's where he, that's where his family was. They were poor. Yeah. So he didn't know the fucking difference. And so he, that's,

That's why I kind of get annoyed at this conversation of, well, who's the true king of rock and roll? Is it Elvis or Chuck Berry? Both of them. They both are. You know, I looked up that the first technically considered rock song is Rocket 88. I forget the name of the guy that did it, but he ran in Elvis's circles anyway. And so I went and listened to the song and I was like, yeah, I get that. You know, it's a rock song.

And Bill Haley was another one that they were like, you know, his rock around the clock was technically predated like Elvis's coming onto the scene. So, but yeah. And Chuck Berry, of course. So, yeah. You know, listen to, to, you know, Elvis could get weird sometimes like, and listen to like the original recording of Blue Moon. It's fucking psychedelic, dude. Almost. It's so fucking weird. And so beautiful.

and haunting.

Cause he just like,

it was like somebody turned on an echo thing and he was like,

this is cool.

Let me have fun with this.

And he just does it.

And it just,

he just does all these beautiful high falsetto notes and stuff.

And it's just such a haunting track.

That's,

that's off the first record.

You know,

they were talking about in the book about how it's on records.

They didn't have a,

what's it called?

Slapback echo yet.

And so,

Oh,

it's terrible.

I can't remember the guy's name, but the owner of Sun Records and the guy that recorded his stuff, what he did to get that was he put an amplifier down the hall with a microphone. And so when it was playing live, it would record in the room, and then a few seconds later down the hall, and it would have this reverb kind of effect. So that was pretty cool. Anyway, Elvis is fucking cool. And it's a good thing Will's not here, because he'd be like,

What the fuck have you guys been talking about for the last half hour? It's true. And like I can see Matt's eyes glazing over over there and he's just like, huh? If it wasn't for those musicians, we probably wouldn't like what we like. Exactly. That's what I love doing is taking where we are now and listening backward. I mean, that's why I've always been into the blues for most of my life. And, you know, all of this stuff comes back to stuff like this.

And the evolution of music from, you know, the fifties really. And, you know, the blues that came before that is just amazing. And it's totally interesting. So if we grew up, then we'd be driving around in one of our cars, listening to that music. Yeah. And yelling out McFly. It's funny that it was on TV today. I was going to say, I watched that today. They just, uh, the cast just did a reunion together. I don't know if you guys saw the pictures online.

It was kind of cool to see them all together. So if you're like an extreme metal

fanatic and you're like, come on guys, stop talking about this shit.

I understand, but come on.

This stuff came from somewhere and it's a really interesting

path to follow back to the beginning.

So, you know.

Just bear with us.

I used to have a t-shirt that I bought from Elvis.com actually.

Yeah. And it's the famous quote from John Lennon. Chuck Berry and those guys notwithstanding, but the quote from John Lennon is, before Elvis, there was nothing. Yeah. That's true. He doesn't, you know, he means musically. It was like my fucking, well, Bob Dylan said when I heard Elvis the first time, it was like I got out of jail. Yeah. Yep. I understand now. All right. I still have two more things that I listened to. Let's do it. Let's do it. And they are metal.

metal adjacent. First up is Frozen Dawn, The Decline of the Enlightened Gods, fourth album from a Spanish melodic black metal band. These are just one of those bands that, you know, they're not doing anything totally unique, but it just hits the mark and I dig it. And then the album you've probably been waiting for me to talk about. This is a band that, if you're American,

You probably pronounce it pill and boo, but it's an origin band. And to the best of my butchering, it's actually called P.O.

Boo.

And that is actually the translation is arrow and bow.

So bow and arrow, but P.O.

is P.O.

is the arrow and and boo.

Obviously, is the bow. And anyway, this band, this is their fourth album. It's called Special Agents. It's kind of like a heavy rock metal sludge thing. I've heard of them before. I've never really listened to them. Wasn't really in my wheelhouse at the time, but we got the promo for this and I was just like, let me just put it on for a song. See what it's like. I don't know what they sound like.

And then the next song played.

And then I went back to the beginning because I was like, this is really good.

And this album blew my mind.

It's, I tried to get James, Jezebel James, to listen to this.

And soon as the vocals started, he was out.

And I was like, dude, this is like, it's like Rush meets John Arch.

You know, he sings really high.

If you're not into high vocals, if you don't like King Diamond, it's not that high. But, you know, it's definitely high. But he holds those really long John Arch style notes that totally drew me in. You know, I don't know. I don't know. I can't do it. But damn. And I've listened to this album. I can't even tell you how many times over the last couple of weeks. So if I have some time alone, I put on this album and I listen to it.

And I went and bought the whole catalog right away. Does the rest of it live up to them? It's all good. And it definitely, like, each one gets better. Okay. To the point where this is obviously their, you know, their best one so far. And I know Marcasson is a fan of this band because we talked about it a little bit and he was like, duh. Oh, yes. Okay. Yeah. So if nobody else has my back on this one, at least I know.

He probably does.

And I've been trying to get John and Jay to listen to this.

And I don't know if they have.

So I did.

I did.

I liked it.

I,

I'm not as freaked out about as you are,

but I liked it.

I totally got it.

I understood everything you said about it.

I probably should listen to it more,

but it's definitely a cool vibe.

And I'm not even sure of the possible two or three bands they remind me of.

Okay.

So I'll,

I'll try to come up with a better,

there was a little bit of sword in there for me,

possibly vocally,

but there's somebody else.

And it was just like with the

kettle decaf vocal.

It's just right there, and I'll find it.

Yeah, like the David Wayne thing.

Exactly.

It was bugging me.

Exactly.

And that's why I came up with the John Arch thing.

I was like, oh.

Yeah, that doesn't solve this one for me.

All right.

I mean, that works for you,

but there's some other singer out there

that he's calling to mind for me.

I'll listen to it some more now.

All right, report back.

I did listen to it, George.

Okay.

All the way through.

Although I had to stop in the last song because I had to do something. But I thought it was cool. The things I liked about it, it's a hard rock album. I think that's where its foundation lays. And then they push the boundaries into metal a little bit. It's heavy. It's not not heavy. I'll tell you what I... No, I mean hard rock. I mean on the upper ends of hard rock, not on the low ends. What I liked is there's blast beats in there. There are moments I'm like, okay,

Hard Rock Blast Beats. They got balls. I like this. I will say, I did not get the John Arch. What? Hold on. In tone. Meaning, it doesn't remind me of John Arch in terms of how John Arch sounds. His command of his voice reminds me of John Arch. Okay, yeah. Yes. That's fair. So, I actually, on the song, and I wrote this down just for you, and it's the mellowest song with the cool ending,

And that's in the middle of the album, When You Wake Up, Do You Stop Dreaming. That's totally not John Archer, but a very cool song. No, but it reminds me of the band Don Walker a little bit. So they, I'm not saying they're post-rock, but they kind of just touch little areas within the hard rock that I think is a nice touch. His vocals remind me a little bit of the guy from Don Walker. He's got way more command and he goes a little higher, but the pitch is a little similar. And when I heard that, I was like, I know this sound from somewhere.

Now, that's the only song that reminds me of Don Walker. The rest of the album doesn't remind me of them. But I thought it was kind of cool that you mentioned Sludge a little bit because Don Walker has a little bit of Sludge. So I, again, they don't sound like each other. I just, I hear certain things that remind me of the two bands. I thought it was cool. I liked it. I spun it. I listened to it a little bit more today. So. Awesome. Well, I'm glad. I didn't want to say anything because you were like, dude, John fucking Arch, listen now. And I was like, I'm going to wait. I'm going to hold this.

Just a little walker.

Yeah.

I know.

When I get excited, I get a little excited.

Oh, no.

It's nice to hear a band, because hard rock doesn't exist anymore.

I'm sorry if people get upset by that, but it's true.

So it's nice to hear a band that has its roots in rock, but incorporates other parts to give their sound something new.

Because let's be honest, rock does get a little boring sometimes.

So you got to do something a little different. And they, they give you that little something different. His vocals, they're very eighties, like, but a contemporary sound being eighties vocalists had that range a lot more than some vocalists do today. They could sing back then. They just could. Yeah. It's not a knock on current singers. The range is different today. It's, it's so, yeah, I don't, I just feel like, um, you know, I, I, I go from genre to genre and I like,

I'm like the Borg or something. I just like, or like Independence Day or whatever. I just like, I mine it until it is dead. And then I move on to the next genre for a little while. And, and, uh, right now I'm like, you know, what I really miss is some good hard rock, something that's heavy, not like necessarily extreme metal, but something that's got some balls and that has some hooks. And that's just cool, you know, like, you know, some seventies,

classic rock type stuff. And there's another band. I can't remember the name of, we got the promo the other day. I'm put it anywhere. Cause I haven't listened to much of it yet, but it sounded kind of cool too. Not as cool as this, I think, but I think it's like a super group kind of thing with people from different bands. So more on that later, maybe. One last quick thing. Most hard rock now is very corporate. There's, there's no, I mean, hard rock in the 70s is still corporate,

But there was so much of it.

And nowadays, it just seems like if it's not the White Stripes or the Foo Fighters,

let's be honest, there are two big names you hear.

You just don't hear much about Hard Rock.

Even the darkness you don't hear about anymore.

No.

But they had a hot minute.

They still have new records.

Yeah.

They had a hot minute.

They're good records, but nobody cares.

Yeah.

And so it's nice to hear.

Even if I don't listen to this a lot, it's just nice to know it's there.

Yeah.

You gotta cleanse the palate. You have to. There was a point where it was... The last few Darkness records were all really good. He's another one who's a freaking great singer. Yeah. So good. You know? Yeah, there was a point where it was like, oh, I don't like that rock music because it's stupid. I like metal. And now rock music has sort of died. Yeah. Unlike metal. You know, because metal's so underground, it's not going anywhere. Whereas rock music kind of depended on some level of popularity.

and support. And so most people aren't doing it anymore. There's singer-songwriters that come close to being rock maybe. But in terms of hard rock stuff, it's like not really out there now. And so when I hear something like this, I appreciate it now. Because it's like, shit, nobody's doing this. You know, it was pretty good and I didn't buy it, I admit. But I heard the stuff and I was like, hey, he's fucking pretty good. Eddie Van Halen's kid. He's got a cool hard rock band. Yeah, yeah. The Mammoth record. Yep. All the videos I saw from that, I was like, fuck, dude.

This is fucking right there. It's just this rattly, fucking cool, edgy, hard rock music. And in case anyone's wondering, he can play. He can totally play. There's no bullshit there. He can play. Not to mention that he played Hot for Teacher. For the Taylor Hawkins thing? Yeah, it sounded great. Yeah. Did he open with I'm the One? What did he open with? Honestly, I've just watched that isolated. And it was, I was like, this dude's got balls, man.

That is good.

He's got the genes.

It's their few and far between now.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, look, Greta Van Fleet got a huge push early on.

And then you listen to it.

I guess it's kind of cool.

And then you listen a little more and you're like, this is Led Zeppelin.

Yeah.

It's like Led Zeppelin's song a little too high.

Did you ever see Robert Plant's reaction to that?

No.

Yeah.

They played it for him.

And he's sitting there.

He's getting interviewed.

And they played it for him.

And he said, it sounds a little bit too much like a guy I used to know. That's a clever and polite response. He was putting him down. He was like, fuck these guys. But yeah, that wasn't the only thing he said. This will take just one quick second. I heard a great story. A musician responding. It has to do with ACDC. And somebody commented, they were trying to come on to Angus really hard and say, you know, your album's

So you're like your last 10 albums they all sound the same I mean what do you have to say about that critique and Angus thought for a second he said I I actually disagree with that completely I would say our last 11 albums sound exactly the same yeah I just had you mentioned Robert Plant that made me think of Angus Young so who was the band who opened for Black Sabbath on their farewell tour oh on the wish tour on the farewell tour their farewell the last one to me it feel like falls into what

We're talking about like rock. Oh, wait. Was that Black Veil Riders? No. No. Actually, when I saw them, I think it was fucking Andrew WK like DJing. That was one tour. He did. Yes, he did open. Oh, no, Matt, you're right. But Black Veil Riders was one of them. That's not the one I'm thinking of. Black Star Riders. Black Star Riders. Is it right? The Thin Lizzy thing. Rival Sons. Rival Sons. Oh, Rival Sons. They're all right. But they're another one. Yeah.

Yeah. A little bit. Yeah. Okay. Um, the black star writers is just sin. Lizzie. We saw them with, um, juice priest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't like everything black star writers does, but some other stuff I like a lot. So I like Scott. I think Scott Gorman's good guitar player and stuff. And they, I like that singer. Who was the singer? I forget his name. It's not that miles Kennedy. Isn't it? No, no, definitely not. Um, he's a good singer though. I liked him. Yeah. Um, Oh, Ricky Warwick.

Yeah, yeah, Ricky. I have a suggestion for you, George. What's that? Check out the last few, and I'm not joking, way different than the old stuff. Check out the last few Uriah Heep albums, dude. They're fucking really good modern hard rock. Dude, Uriah Heep literally came up in a conversation this week. How often does that happen? Yeah, exactly. Check out Wake the Sleeper. They have a record called Wake the Sleeper.

He's such a good singer and

there is that's one of my favorite harder

records last 20 years like the sleeper by

right here but it's nothing like gold

right here it's very different but it's

just straightforward hard rock you

know cool but what's but with a European

edge to it you know it's not like

shouty choruses and shit cool let's do

this damn last yeah top five list

So this time,

John and I were going back and forth on what we should do.

And I think I came up with this. Oh, and I know why I came up with this. I'll mention that later. But this is our top five deceased artists we're glad we saw live when we could. But can we reference our messaging? Like the both of you had 20 and I basically struggled to get even five. Yeah, there's going to be a lot of honorable mentions. I was nowhere near 20 either. I was.

I give Ozzy another couple weeks. There we go. I told John that was going to come up. I got 24 names. I have 25 of which are on my list. So they're not. Some of them are just people I forgot about. But yeah, let's let's let's peel this bandaid off and find out because I'm dying. Let's let's make it raw that we're depressed. These people are not with us anymore. Yeah. All right, Matt. Number five.

I am a Black Dahlia Murder fan. I was happy to see them with Trevor Sternad in his time. Have I seen them? I don't know if I've seen them. I don't think I have. I guess I will be though, right? But without them. They've been supporting for like a ton of tours I've seen. Yeah, they have. So you probably have, George. I probably have. And the reality is for me, I probably mentioned this, like, they were the first band I saw where I, like, they played and I realized like, fuck, you guys are like my age.

It wasn't about old dudes playing or even just people who are rock stars. It was like literally kids are touring the world. By the way, that drummer is the guy who's going to drum for sludge. He basically begged them to let him be in the band. And Will knows him. Smart choice. I can't think of his name off the top of my head. Alright, so I've got a lot of names on my list for a lot of different reasons and I struggled to

I could easily go eight deep on this, nine deep, and all of them should be on my top five. So my number five, you might think is low, but it's just the way it played out because I have reasons for how I set my top five up. My number five is Ronnie James Dio. I was very lucky to see him in 1982 on the Mob Rules Tour. I asked him that old, and I did get to see that tour, but then I got to see him on this,

Wonderful little tour with Iron Maiden, Dio, and Motorhead. Yeah, that was a good tour. Just an un-fucking-real tour. And then I got to see him with Heaven and Hell. So I got to see him in three different versions, although Heaven and Hell and Black Sabbath were the same band. Yeah. Thanks, Sharon, bitch. But he's my number five. I just knew that I was going to be so jealous of y'all's lists, and that only speaks to what I'm saying.

Just you wait, sir. Just you wait. And I will state right now that probably these guys will mention people I completely forgot about, which I'll feel bad about. I think that's true for all of us. Likewise. So my number five is somebody that this one comes with some regret because I didn't get to see this band and or person in its original form, which is to say two of its very important members died.

But I did get to see Lemmy with Motorhead. And, you know, I wish I had seen Lemmy, Phil, and Eddie. Never saw that. That was, you know, they were gone before I ever had a chance to go to shows. But I did see Motorhead and got to see Lemmy play. So, saw that multiple times. And I do fucking love Motorhead. So, glad I got to see him before I get it. Nice. Yeah. So, my list is not necessarily metal.

I don't think we mentioned that but

you know there's metal and then there's not metal and

my

my five is actually mostly not metal

almost

completely not metal now that I look at it

my number five is Kurt Cobain

and Nirvana

saw them at the Michigan State

Fairgrounds October

1993 six months before he died

wow

And yeah, you know, considering Nirvana was really only around for like two and a half years before he died in terms of people knowing about him, that was like a lucky show to hit. So yeah, it's my number five. Back to Matt. Hey, my number four. I got to see Guar with Dave Rocky. Nice. Before he passed. Very good. And I dig that.

I've only seen them without him.

Okay.

I was happy to see them in like a small club setting where no matter where you are, you could get slimed.

So I haven't seen them since his passing.

I don't know if it's the same type of show, but.

It's still a good show.

Yeah, but I mean to see him with the OG of Guar to me is, you know, that's definitely a band of sea.

And being in this area, it's kind of criminal that I haven't seen him.

But I did see

Bodorous Youngas'

Viking funeral.

So I got to see that.

Well, that's next level, dude.

Yeah.

And I have a piece of his

funeral barge sitting

over here to the left of me.

Sweet.

All right, Gian.

All right.

So my number four

is not metal at all.

But

he was

in my mind, still one of the greatest guitarists ever to live. And he, when his passing happened, we all have these moments in our lives. You know, it's, I think, made famous by, where were you when JFK was killed, right? Well, he's one of mine. In my dad's sack. Yeah. Swimming around. This is one of mine. I remember where I was when I heard the news that he had died. My number four is Stevie Ray Vaughan. I was absolutely devastated when he died,

because I was a huge fan of his whole career at that point. Both his work solo, you know, with his band Double Trouble, and then obviously his work with David Bowie. So yeah, I remember when he died. Absolutely. And, and yeah, there, he had played the Michigan theater in Ann Arbor, you know, within a reasonable time before that. And I didn't go. So it was a bummer. Isn't that somewhere around where he died? No, it was Wisconsin.

I think it's closer to Matt it's all Matt's fault really it was I was a huge fan too and I was a huge fan when he died and to the point where I was working at this bookstore and I walked in the next morning and I didn't know he died and somebody was like we got to tell Jay like that's yeah as well and I was a stear rager and somebody said Jay I don't know if you heard man I was like what they said Stevie died and I was like wonder and they were like no I'll never forget it oh man yeah and it's interesting that this topic came up

because we've been having a little sidebar talk about Jeff Beck and it's kind of gone down the rabbit hole to Steve Ray Vaughn a little bit too and it's just like fuck. Actually I thought you were going to say and maybe you still will but this was somebody I forgot to include on my list because I did get to see him but Eddie Van Halen is dead. Is he? I didn't even think of him when I was making my list but I did get to see him. He's on the list somewhere. Somewhere okay. The Steve Ray Vaughn stuff was amazing as well. Like holy

Yeah. One of my favorite things of his, I mean, I liked it all and I owned it all, but one of my favorite things was that's the best MTM, MTV unplugged is Steve Ray Bonds. Oh, yes. Good. His and I was never a huge Nirvana fan. Theirs was really good. And Eric Clapton's, those three were just, oh, of course, Alice in Chains. Those four were amazing. I'm reading the Alice in Chains book and I haven't got to that part, but still. Yeah. Those are, those four are great. Yep. Good book.

Because I mean, it's the same one. It's depressing as shit. Yeah. So my four is another fabulous performer who was part of a larger whole, but one of the fucking greats. Gotta be glad that if you got to be in the same room twice when Neil Peart was playing drums. So I got to see Neil Peart play live twice and, you know, fucking awesome. It was great. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And, you know, that is like the one band you go see where everybody is playing air drums.

at least everybody in a certain t-shirt. Yep. The greatest moment you can ever see is when Spirit of Radio starts. If you see the whole front sections, literally you can see old, fat, drunk dudes all synchronized their drumming. And it's amazing how they can be that drunk and they can still air drumming. And drum that well. Yeah, and drum that well. Georgie. Hi, my number four. Sorry, Matt. Lane Staley, Lollapalooza.

1993.

Oh God.

Fuck.

I didn't even think of.

Sorry.

And that was such an amazing set because it wasn't just a set.

It was an outdoor set.

And I probably told this story 12 times on this podcast,

but you know,

it was an outdoor thing at the Milan dragway speedway thing in Michigan.

And so it rained.

They stopped the show in the middle of Alice in Chains set.

And then they came back and played rain when I die.

And I was like,

Was it on a tour for Dirt? Yes. Yeah, Dirt is just so fucking good. Yeah. In my book, in the book, not my book, the book, they have not recorded Dirt yet, but like Dirt is my kind of be-all, be-all, end-all. You don't have any like Alice in Chains tattoos from Dirt, do you? Maybe two. I don't know. Just checking. Love that album. So good. All right, back to you, Matt.

Oh, back to me. Uh, okay. The Paul brothers, Vinny and Daryl. Oh, I have not seen them. Okay. You know, and like, if we're going to talk about current events, I don't know that I would see the Pantera reunion live purposefully. Um, there, I know they're on the Metallica tour, which I don't know that I'll go to because I don't feel like dropping that kind of coin.

before, you know, all the bullshit went down. So yeah. Very cool. Join the boy. All right. So my third spot, I had somebody else in it and I actually removed them and I may get some flack for it later, but I moved. This is actually two people. I moved them into this spot because number three, because I only got to see them play together once.

But I've seen both of them play live twice. Once each separately and once together. And I just... It just is kind of sad that I won't get to see these guys ever again play because I think this is one of the greatest metal backbones of a band ever. And so I'm going to cheat and put two names on here. But I think you'll see why. Sean Reiner and Sean Malone from Cynic. I got to see them. I got to see them together.

One Time Together. And then I saw Cynic with Sean Reiner another time, but Sean Malone wasn't with them. And then I saw Sean Malone play with John Wesley, who used to be Porcupine Trees, live guitarist. So, yeah. I originally had them in my honorable mentions. I was like, that's one of the ones I didn't get to see that often that I felt was really special. Had you said this last weekend, John, I would have maybe punched you. I don't know.

Yeah. Nice. Crazy. So my third one has already been said, but it had to be on here. And in theory, it could and should be higher, but my other two are pretty important. And I'm going to cheat and put both iterations in, but it would be Ronnie James, both with Theo. And then I think more importantly in my case, even though Theo was amazing, but the Heaven and Hell lineup. Motherfucker.

Well, the mob rules line up with Black Sabbath because Bill Ward isn't heaven and hell. But something I never thought I'd get a chance to see and to see him sing live at all, you know, it's amazing. I got to see both iterations. So it's fucking killer. That's awesome. Yeah. Love Ronnie James. Yeah, I didn't include him on my, well, he's on my extended list. But I have reasons. I got reasons. Leave me alone.

That's how many. Metal is reasons. My third reason, my number three, not remotely metal, but definitely rocking, was B.B. King in 2008 at the Strathmore. Oh! You know, I mean, fucking B.B. King. Okay, so he ties back to the Elvis story because he was friends with Elvis

on, back when B.B. was skinny.

He was just B. King.

Exactly.

He was only one B. He wasn't like three B.

Not B squared.

And the Strathmore in Bethesda is one of those.

Yeah, it's not a rock concert venue.

It's more of a symphony orchestra sort of place.

It's a very fancy place.

And, you know, 2008, B.B. was getting up there.

at this point and quite rotund.

And they just brought out a chair.

BB sat there with his guitar, played songs.

And then between songs, he would just talk about stuff.

And that was just so much music history sitting right there in front of me that I'm so happy to have been able to see that.

It's just that is that is history right there.

That's like being able to see Elvis or something like that.

He was just massive. And so that definitely meant a lot to me. That's awesome. I saw him one time also, too. Yeah. And he played at the... Jay, you might know this, the Concord Jazz Festival. Have you ever heard of it? I don't know if they still do it out there. And I went to it, and like Spyro Gyro played, and I can't remember who else was there. But he played. And so if his set was, let's just say an hour. I don't know how long it was. I'm just making it an hour. And he played for 15 minutes.

Not even exaggerating, like the last 10 minutes was his band leader coming out and saying, ladies and gentlemen, BB King. All right, let's get him again. He must have said BB King about 40 different ways. BB King. And everyone clapped. He goes, BB King, ladies and gentlemen. It just went on for like 10 minutes. I literally was laughing hysterically. And he's just standing there, you know, smiling and everything. Yeah. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. Very cool. All right,

at number two.

Jeff Hanneman of Slayer.

Jeff Hanneman of Slayer.

Okay.

Yeah.

I mean,

I've seen Slayer like a thousand times,

maybe 75% with Jeff Hanneman.

And honestly,

I love Slayer.

So are you hating on Gary Holt?

I love Gary Holt.

I'm just kidding.

But I've also loved Gary Holt in Exodus.

And honestly, it was, I mean, let's be honest, you guys shouted out, hey, Matt's probably not going to have many people on his list. And that's true. And so as I scanned through, I have a, not a spreadsheet, but a Word doc of all the concerts I've been to. And as I scanned through them, I was like, gosh, not a lot of you dudes have died. So. You're younger, man. It's all right. But, but like, I love the Hanneman. He was like number four. And then I was like, no, wait, that's Jeff Hanneman.

He's definitely number two. Absolutely. You know, so Jeff Hanneman Slayer. All I gotta say is, you know, in the coming years, be prepared to lose some, to lose some heroes. I know. I like, and that's the flip side of it. Like you guys have experienced a lot of shade loss. Me, it's all coming for me. Like right now, everything y'all have mentioned is RJD. He is definitely, uh, you know, missed. Uh huh. Yeah.

All right. My number two comes from 2006. Did John do his? Oh, I'm sorry, John. Sorry. It's okay. It's fine. It's okay. It's okay, buddy. You guys know my number two comes from 2006. It's okay, baby. Come on in. It's all right. It's all right. I'm just going to let you go, and I just do mine afterwards. No big deal. No, no, no. Go. Matt, for your concert list, setlist.fm. I was on there for this, too. I go there. I go there.

Get on there, brother. So this is someone who's been mentioned already, so I won't say much. You guys already know how I feel about him. My number two is Neil Peart from Rush. Saw them 17 times, and I've met Alex and Getty and talked to them, but I've never had the chance to meet Neil, so. I hate to say it, but you're not going to. Travesty. Well, and you weren't going to back then either. I wasn't back then either, yeah. So.

That's awesome. I wish I had so many opportunities and I never did. And I'm kicking myself because I never got to see them. I mean, literally, I think it's one of the few bands where you go and literally everyone's watching the drummer. But then you then deviate over to Getty because Getty's playing like 47 instruments and singing at the same time. And then you, I mean, the only band where I think you watch every musician equally when they did play. So. Yeah. All right. Now, Jay.

My number two comes from 2006. It was, I still think this person was so important to the other half of what took place in this band. And he's dead. Now, arguably the more important member to some people is still alive, but I got to see Celtic Frost with Martin A. I'm telling you, that monotheist, the presentation, what he brought to the stage, what he brought to that record,

was so important. And so, you know, I'm just, I'm so glad I got to see that iteration of that band. And it doesn't ever matter who the drummer in Celtic Frost is. Those are the two guys you needed to have present. I know, I promise. But nevertheless, I'm so grateful I had that opportunity. And it's still one of my favorite shows ever. So full disclosure, because we've had a fuck ton of snow, I've been at home.

And yes, I've been at home, but what that means is that I left my iPad at work and that's usually what I read off of. So I had to go to the actual like hardbound books that I have. And one of which is only death is real. And strangely enough, Jay has been with me the most times where I've been drunk and bought stuff. And not that I would be, have to be drunk to buy that book, but, um, it's like, literally it's a physically, it's a big book for me to actually hold that fucker above my head at night. That's a bit of a task.

Can I do it? But, um, like Tom G and Eric Martin name, they're untouchable to me. And I'm excited to be reading that. And so super happy. That's you. Number two, Jay. They were, they were counterpoint to each other and Tom still does wonderful things. I'm just saying that that was a magic. Honestly, this week, uh, every Friday at work, I wear a heavy metal shirt. So I show my boss and he's like, Oh, cool. And so today or yesterday was tripticon. And I mentioned that

We watched them and the following day it was the

Elhamer cover band and you and I did the

selfie with the bass player from

Trypticon and I showed you a photo

and he's like, whoa, that's so cool!

And I was like, yeah, but she had to fix her hair

before she took the photo.

Really?

That's why we look so good.

Dot, dot, dot.

Yeah, I'm glad we got to see that too, by the way.

Totally, good times.

Totally glad we got to see that.

Yep.

All right, so my number two, uh, you know, not unexpected, um, not going to be on anybody else's list, but, uh, this is, uh, my butchered pronunciation of Finnish Mika Tenkula from Sentenced. Uh, I saw Sentenced back in September of 2002 and I, this is why I was on set list. I looked up Sentenced only ever played 13 sets in the United

States. One of which was a, was a fest in like 2000. So they did 12 dates with dark tranquility in 2002. And I got to see one of those and you know, it's still one of my top favorite shows of all time and one of my favorite bands of all time. And so to be able to see them and to see him while he was still alive with the band was fantastic. Cool. Nice. Yep.

Yep. Number one. That's you. Where's markers on? So you were talking, George, reminding me of probably an honor motion for me, which I will save to the honorable mentions part. But so my number one, let me motorhead summit Valken. Nice. They only played for about 30 minutes. They had to pause. And then somebody came out after about 20 minutes of pause and said, Hey, we're done.

And that was kind of around the time Lemmy was getting sick. And all I could think of was like, and strangely enough, I think they actually played the following year and it was fine. But I just felt like that, that time, like I am going to take this 30 minutes and feel fortunate to have seen Lemmy because I don't know how much of that time is left for him and bless his heart. So one Lemmy and Motorhead. Right on. All right, John. All right. My, uh,

Number one is definitely not metal, but I would be willing to bet, what is the expression, dollars to donuts, that he influenced a lot of metalheads. I can think of one in particular, at least industrial metal. My number one, I got to see three times, so I'm pretty happy I got that. That's David Bowie. I knew it. Bastard. Yeah. You're talking about Trent Reznor.

Yes, definitely.

Reznor was influenced by him.

I'm afraid of Americans.

Yeah.

I got to see him at 87 on the Class Spider tour, which is probably not his finest moment album-wise.

But Peter Franto was his guitarist on that tour.

What?

Yeah, so it's kind of cool.

So just this evening before recording, Barb was telling me about a David Bowie song she heard on the radio today.

And I was not familiar with it. So I want to see if John's familiar. Obviously, John's familiar with it. It's called Loving the Alien or Aliens. For the Tonight album. Yeah. 1983. Yeah. She heard it on the 80s channel and she was just like, this is really cool Bowie song I heard. And I played the video and I was like, oh, yeah, it's very 80s. Well, it was. That's the album has blue jean. Okay. Yeah. I knew you'd know it. I just wanted to test you.

I only had two honorable mentions, so I'm actually going to do mine real quick. Nah, nah, it's still John's turn. Oh, I thought it was David Bowie. No, no, no. Wait. Oh, it was David Bowie. Sorry. It is your turn, Jay. I will fuck off now. These were just people I was trying to get onto this list. I couldn't, and one of them was Slayer. I couldn't get Slayer on the list, and Jeff Hamming most specifically, but having the fortune to see Slayer as the original lineup with Dave and Jeff.

So that was cool. One, I wanted to find a place here for, but I couldn't. And it's Leonard Cohen. I'm so happy I got to see him. Oh, shit. Okay. He's on there. It was just so good. But, and this is not just because of current events. I promise you this, but my number one, so glad I got to see Jeff back before he died. Yeah. I think it's been a good event. I got to see him on the Grammy tour, which was amazing. So good. And again, current events,

Notwithstanding, I still think that would have been my answer.

All right.

Very good.

My number one, all the Ramones.

They're all dead.

Although, technically, I only saw two of them.

I saw Joey and I saw Johnny.

DeeDee, I don't think was playing with them the first time that I saw them.

And I know it was Tommy.

Sorry, not Tommy, but Marky when I saw them.

I never saw Tommy, but so at least Joey and Johnny Ramone I have seen. And, you know, like my number one favorite band of all time that is not metal. So, yeah. Nice. Let's do some of these. Can I do my arm roll? Yes, you may. That's where I was headed. Which happened during this conversation, but that was Alexi Leho from Children of Bodom. Yep. Yep.

conversation? Basically about 20 minutes ago. Damn, I thought he was already dead. Okay, cool. Glad he got that little bit extra time there. All right, that's all you got? Yes. Wow. Okay, all right. All right. I got a George size what I'm listening to list. Yeah, let's hear it. Big old mushroom cap. All right. So my first one of my honorable mentions, these are my next tiers.

All could have made my list easily. My first one is Jeff Beck. I did get to see him. And I bounced him out of my top five for the very reason that I had plenty of opportunities to see him more and I didn't go. When did you see him? What was the circumstance in there? What did you sound like? I saw him in 1983 on the Ronnie Lane Arms Tour. Oh, cool. So he played Ronnie Lane, used to be in The Faces with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood. Is his sister named Penny Lane? Potentially.

And they did a benefit tour for him because he was sick. And Bill Graham somehow was part of this. He got the thing to come to San Francisco. And it was Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page all did special sets during that thing. Yeah. And so I saw that in 83 and I bounced him out because I could have seen him more times than I didn't. And I know it's a silly reason to do it, but I put in Sean Reiner and Sean Malone because they hardly ever played.

You know, after the initial breakup of the band, and I didn't go see them enough. And so don't try to reason with me on that. My next, Eddie Van Halen. Got a chance to see him twice. And then the trifecta here of great guitarist, Alan Holdsworth. It's just unreal. I've never seen anyone play like him before. I don't know. I mean, he might be the best guitar player I've ever seen in my life. I'm going to sort of butcher his name, but Peter,

Andrew Grudzinski from Riverside. I got to see him play a bunch of times, which he's people wouldn't know his name, but he was an amazing guitar player. This is a double Alan White and Chris Squire from Yes. I saw them a gazillion times, but I'm really fortunate to see them. Lemmy, of course. Yep. And then a guy named Andrew Mack McDermott, which was the lead singer of Threshold, which is a prog band from England. They don't come to the States often. They only come to play festivals here. And I got a chance to see him.

And I got now an honorable mentions list of other notables that I got a chance to see. Some of these I like. Some, eh. I still got to see them. I want to recognize that I got to see them. So Dave Brocky from Gwar. I got to see him. Steve Clark from Def Leppard on the Pyramania tour. I saw them. A name that I didn't know if anyone would bring it up, but I got to see them a bunch. War Aldane. I saw them both with Nevermore and Sanctuary. Me too. Yeah.

much, but got to see him. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. Jerry Garcia from The Dead, Grateful Dead. This one's a little, but I got to see them with Dave Holland from Judas Priest. Mike Howe from Metal Church. Oh, shit. John Lord from Deep Purple. Yeah, I did not. And then Christine McPhee, she recently passed from Fleetwood Mac.

It reminded me of BB King. So, and I'm sure there's others, but yeah, the older you get, they start to happen more and more, you know? So, yeah. Jay, what you got? Um, just honestly, Slayer and Leonard Cohen were the ones that I left off. I did see Eddie Van Halen was glad to have seen him. Never saw world. I would have liked to have seen him. Um, I think John named a couple I'd seen. Um, but the big ones were, were the ones I already mentioned. Um, and honestly, like the one, the one,

Really almost should have been on the list was Leonard Cohen, but he's so far from metal that I thought not leaving. Yeah, no, but still. One of the best shows I ever saw. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And he died in that. Well, no, he died in good ways after I saw him. I think I saw him in 2008. Something like that. Whatever that tour was. Yep. All right. I've got a reasonably big list, and surprisingly, a lot of these people haven't mentioned. But I did add a few based on y'all. First up, Dusty Hill.

from ZZ Top. Not a well-known one, but Whit Black from Yesterday's Saints. Oh, yeah. I saw him, too. Yeah. Yeah. Really good. Good dude. Good player. Great band. Unfortunately, not around anymore. Moving it up a notch now, Eddie Van Halen. You know, I think you've heard of him. Didn't thought I might hear this one, but Peter Steele. I've never seen him. I've never seen him.

One of us that's even seen him. Okay. Mitch Lucker from Suicide Silence. Not a huge Suicide Silence fan until I saw them live and met him after the show. And the live show was so fucking amazing that I became a fan. By the way, I have one that we all left out. So far. Chris Cornell from Soundgarden. This is literally my next dude.

Chris Cornell from Soundgarden. Wow. It's weird. You both had that. You saw Soundgarden or Artie the Slave? No, I saw. I saw Soundgarden on Lollapalooza, so it was that Pearl Jam Soundgarden year. I saw Soundgarden too. And then actually they went to the side stage and did this Temple of the Dog stuff. God damn it. Oh, wow. Yeah, that was so long ago. But what even, that was the Jesus Christ Post record, right? That'd be bad, Motorfinger. Might have been before that then.

whatever it was 10 just came out pearl jams 10 just came out i mean bad motor finger came out

before 10 yeah like sure way before 10 or like no like maybe a year or 20 minutes but in any case

and so i got to see him do the temple of the dog stuff too that's nice look god damn it

Next up, Jeff Hanneman, of course. World Dane, who I saw, as mentioned, both with Sanctuary and Nevermore. I did see him with Matt, although I don't know if Matt actually was there for it, with Sanctuary at Valken. Who was I watching? I don't know, but I was the only one there. Y'all, like, fucking left me in the rain. It was raining. I was up on the rail watching Sanctuary at Valken.

by myself. So Matt was probably fucking off somewhere. And he died not that long after that. God damn it. What did I watch? I don't know. And then Avi, Lemmy, and also on the first time I saw them, I'm pretty sure I saw Filthy Phil and Wurzel as well. Oh, wow. He was around. He was around through.

Orgasmatron and maybe Rock and Roll. I'm trying to remember when he left. Well, according to what I looked at, 1916, they played on that as well. Well, he may have left and come back. But anyway, that's awesome. But it's about Lemmy anyway. I just added them because it said they were there. Nick Menza from Megadeth. A guy named Ronnie James Dio. John mentioned Christine McVie.

L.G. Petrov from Attombed. What? Alexi from Children of Bodom. And then added at the end here Leonard Cohen and Mike Howe. Oh, you saw Leonard Cohen. I did. I have the concert poster out in the bar there. It's on Merriweather. It was fucking amazing. So good. And I had the good fortune to meet Mike Howe. It was so nice to me. And when

They did the Amon of Marth thing. He just came out and watched and me and Sergei hung out with him for a minute. It was super nice to us. Nice. Yeah, that's sad. It was sad. I forgot. They got somebody again and we talked about it last time. I'm trying to remember who they picked up. Did I see? Go on, Jay. Sorry. I was just trying to remember. We talked about it last time. Metal Church picked some singer up. Or no, maybe me and Sergei were talking about it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because that was when I thought that

Ross the Boss joined Metal Church, who's the singer for Ross the Boss guy. Yeah, Mark Lopez is his name. Yeah. Anyway, sorry, John. George, did I see LG with you also? Yes, you did. Ah, Adam and Lust. Fillmore, yeah. That was when Will walked into the fucking, the, the, uh, parking garage thing. Yeah. I forgot. That was with Amon Amarth. Yeah, I forgot somebody real quick. Uh, you guys probably don't know him, but Tony Thompson, the drummer,

with David Bowie and the Power Station. I think it was part of this band called Chic. Oh, yeah. I was a big fan of his drumming. Wow, my list keeps growing. Damn it. Well, it's going to get a lot longer pretty soon, John. Stop mentioning names, Jay. But we are in a very unfortunate generational moment. I know. One of the news items I didn't add because I knew

what Jay would say was that Ozzy has retired from touring and you know I think he's contractually obligated to say I don't think Ozzy's going to be with us in much longer. In a good commercial for work day. That was an awesome commercial. He looks so rough man. His voice sounds weak to me and everything. He's looking rough right now. He sounded good in the better half of the commercial but the first half like.

By the way,

has anyone seen recent pictures of Tony Iommi?

No.

He doesn't look like he's 75, does he?

No, he doesn't.

Fucking Tony.

I saw a very new one.

Somebody's doing, of all things,

I think it was a ballet

to several classic Black Sabbath songs,

and he's sort of tied up in the project somehow.

So I saw this picture,

and I think it's at Birmingham.

How ballet is going to work with Sabbath, I don't know. And I don't even know how it's going to be orchestrated. But I didn't bother to read the article. But Tony looked 50. Wow. He's just got a book coming out. Yeah, I can't wait to read that. I believe is what it's called. Yeah. I'll be looking forward to reading that. He's so quiet that I don't know what his perspective is going to be. He's got all the secrets. He's the quiet one. Yeah. Who is the quiet one, George? Huh?

One. Who's the quiet one?

And he sings a song called The Quiet One.

Yeah, John Atmosle.

Yeah, I was going to say.

Yeah, you remember that?

On Face Dances, there's a song called The Quiet One.

Yeah.

Everybody calls me the quiet one.

Yep.

It took me a minute.

Well, I didn't get the name.

But I mean, I knew the name.

But I'm.

So, yeah.

But I knew it.

Face Dances, by the way.

That's a good fucking record.

I know you guys when I was reading the Pete Townsend book

I was listening through the albums and I remembered

both you and John going yeah

face dances

so I was like alright let me listen to that

it's got like Eminence Front on it how can you do it

when it's on there

Eminence Front it's on it's hard

ah it's hard to remember that

Jay

Face Dances has

you better you bet another tricky

day

Okay, another tricky day and how can you do it alone? Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. We are almost to the end here. Wow. One thing we got to do, though. Oh, hold on. Oh, damn it. I just knocked over my copy of Leviathan. Damn it. Joe, fuck you. I'm editing that out. It doesn't count. It's real. All right, fine. Album of the fucking episode.

It's a contract. Yeah. I'll have a get it. Leviathan. By the band. Mastodon. Damn you, Jay. Thank you. Thank you. All right, John. Just waiting for the time when he comes out and says the album is Mastodon by the band Leviathan. I'm waiting for that.

Mine's gonna be Amorphous Eclipse. I really enjoyed spinning that today on vinyl for the first time and it reminded me of when we did our best of post 2000 top 15 list or whatever and I feel like I want to revisit that again soon when we have like 25 years of albums we can go back to. That was before you and Matt and Markisan we did a top I think top 15

Yeah. Yeah. And at some point next year will be 25 years since the world was supposed to end. So it'd be kind of cool to revisit that. Yeah. You know, I was going to say live at Ronnie Scott's, but I'm not going to. And then I thought maybe I'll say Birds of Fire, but I changed my mind. And it's because we talked about a record that I really do love. And I was glad to think of it again. Enslaved. Vertibuy.

Oh, you mean in Slavic. My first enslaved album. Very fine record. In Prague, yes, that's for sure. Yeah, I think so. Well, I'm going to have to go with my album of the month for February. P.O. Boo-ah. Or Pilt and Boo. Yes, Special Agents. That just fucking blows me away.

That's awesome. Nobody else. Clearly, I'm an idiot, but that's my choice. Not at all. I have a couple albums to spend. I'm close. I'm close with mine. So I should have mine hopefully tomorrow. Okay. By the way, just offering this out there, but I ordered, it just occurred to me that I ordered, these are those enslaved things that came out during the month. I got them. Yeah. And they have, and I downloaded them, but I bet my download

I used mine. I mean, it's the video of the show, George. Okay. Okay, I'll find it and I'll put it up. I mean, unless somebody else wants it. I doubt it's limited to one. I bet it's not locked like that. Well, if it is, I'll look and see if I can dig mine out then, because I didn't even realize those were in there. Nice. Okay. While we had a great time, we did miss Jay and Markisan with Matt and his buddy.

Aaron came and met us in DC.

It was fun.

What was your motivation to be on the East coast?

Just fun.

So my buddy,

who I went to high school with has moved kind of back and forth throughout the country because of government jobs.

And we've always talked about DC.

And so he actually is a big fan of impractical jokers.

And they had a thing going on there and I was like,

Hey,

let's meet up and go to their show.

And so we made our plans and that was kind of, well, probably like 18 months ago. And I realized like, gosh, all y'all live out there. Let's hang out while we're on there. And so it's kind of how that came to be. Cool. It was fun. Yeah. And surprisingly, all the places that we went to were not really crowded. There were hipsters, but it wasn't crowded. No, I had an absolute awesome time at

as well as Church Key. Based on what we talked about, you know, John, you said, hey, it's going to be usually packed all the time. We went there and it was like, I wouldn't say it was dead by any means, but like, we could easily get a table for the, you know, five of us to sit at. And they had like a beer event going on, which we could kind of capitalize on after the fact. So it was a good time. I'm still jonesing about the fact that you went to Brezio or Beck and it was decent.

And I'm like, I'm going to go tell Jen, if she's still up, I'm going to tell her, say, Matt, what's that? We got to go. Yeah. Brasier back. Fabulous. Honestly, they have probably, what did I say? Eight Belgian beers on tap. You don't see often. No, but a whole book full of others that are, you know, bottles. And we actually went during happy hour. So we got like dollars off what we were buying. Plus we could order food off the menu. Awesome.

Not have to worry about like, you know, I was a little bit intimidated when I looked at it on, you know, Friday, Saturday, because the menu feels, what would I say? Well, smarter than me when I look at it. And then you go and the happy hour menu is much different. We just did like a charcuterie plate and fries. And I was like, this is awesome. And then, like I said, prior to us recording, I was like, dude, we're not leaving after like three beers. So let's do this.

It's actually freets, Matt, when you eat at a Belgian restaurant. I'm sorry. Freets. Freets. Which were fabulous. And soccer on the big screen. Oh, yes. Yep. All right, bro dudes. Thank you for showing up. Love y'all. Talk to you later. I see you guys. Peace. Bye.

You know, your night's not complete until that ass gets hit. We're not done until Jay's butt hurts.