Category: BOTM

Err, yeah. Kinda missed the boat for May as far as blogging goes, but might as well start where most months start: Band of the Month! It’s everyone’s favourite feature!

So as I may or may not have mentioned last month, May’s BotM is Damone. It’s not really a groundbreaking edition of the feature, as Freezepop was the first BotM with a female vocalist, but it’s important nevertheless because we rarely see chick-led bands here. Why? I guess mostly because I don’t listen to many, but that’s no excuse. And really, you know that since I’ve selected Damone as Band of the Month that I like their music, so we’ll skip that part and get into something a tiny bit deeper.

Question in point: Why is it not socailly acceptable for men to like chick bands, or even bands where the lead vocalist is female? Huh? I know I get shit every time I bring up how much I like Heart and The Donnas (which was once each for the record, but that’s not important), so I’m asking why exactly that is. As far as I can see, there’s nothing wrong with chick rock bands. If I were listening to some pop starlet bullshit, then yeah, okay. I’d even be making fun of my taste in music at that point, but we’re talking about legitimate rock bands here. If you listen to Damone for a couple songs, you’ll see that behind the immediately distinguishable lady-voice are intricate drum beats, wicked riffs, and some exemplary guitar soloing. And as opposed to the Donnas for example, the rest of Damone is comprised of men, so really, why not like them?

And now that I’ve got that tame-ass rant out of the way, here are some things you can check out for more info on the band, as well as a short 30 clip, because Last.fm is a musical cheapskate (which I will be incorporating into every BotM from now on to ease up on my own incoherent rambling):

Damone’s MySpace

Wikipedia article: Damone

Damone – What We Came Here For

April’s Band of the Month is quite likely one of the greatest bands ever, the oh-so-kickass Deep Purple. “Highway Star” and “Space Truckin'” are two of my most favourite songs ever, and all of the sane rock community will tell you that Deep Purple rocks. Kind of like how all punkers can agree on Bad Religion. In any case, the band really doesn’t need me to speak for them. “Smoke on the Water”, anyone? Yeah. Totally.

Anyway, I never really used to listen to them, but one day a few years ago, my buddy Tyler sent me the song “Lazy” and I was hooked. Then I heard “Highway Star” for the first time and I was fanatical. Really the best part of all is that “Hush” is on the Xbox360 version of Guitar Hero 2, and I totally didn’t realize it until I stared playing the song. It was a moment to remember, that’s for sure.

I think one of the things that really gets me about the band is that a lot of their songs are really great driving songs, and there’s nothing I like better than a good soundtrack to accompany my adventures on the road. Edwin, Steve and I are planning a road trip, and I can just say that they’d better like Deep Purple, because you can bet that’s pretty much all I’ll be playing while I’m driving. That and maybe Lostprophets, possibly some Damone to round out the playlist. They’re next month’s BotM by the way, just to spoil the surprise! I know everyone looks so forward to this feature!

Ba-ba-ba-band of the Month time, everyone! It doesn’t get any more half-assed than this one, either, so look out world!

I dunno. I guess stellastarr* is a pretty good band. They’re an alternative punk group, and their lead singer has a really distinctive voice and style. While it’s not the greatest act to ever grace this page, I think they’ve got an original sound and I like ’em.

Short story on this one. They’ve got a song on Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam. It’s called “Jenny” and I quite enjoy it. For more reasons than one, I had to go and download the song immediately. In the end, I scooped up the whole CD it’s featured on, and I’ve gotta say I liked what I got. I’d totally pick it up legit if I ever saw it at the Best Buy or something, because it’s a darn good CD. Not something that everyone’s gonna like, and I really emphasize that this time, but I’d suggest you give them a chance. It’s different and I like it. “Nuff said.

I guess I should probably have researched the band a little more before I did this thing, but I just stared listening to ’em this week, and I usually pick up on band info slowly as time goes by. If you really wanna know more, go check out their Wikipedia page. For samples, head on over to Last.fm. I’m out.

Uh oh. An album cover. Run for the hills, kids; it’s Band of the Month time!

This month we’re looking at The Living End, an Australian punk act. I may have first heard of them from Guitar Hero 2, and as “Carry Me Home” quickly became one of my favourite songs in the game, I knew that I’d have to search out more. As usual, I went around rounding up their various CDs, and all I have to say is “Huh?”

Okay, let’s start from the start. The sound quality in that video isn’t great, but you should still be able to make out that the song kicks a little ass. It’s all about rocking and rolling. I’ve listened to three of their five releases, and that isn’t really a recurring theme. No, The Living End, as it turns out, play out a lot more like what Green Day used to sound like (pre-Warning, AKA good), rather than ACDC or something that might just be trying to melt your face off. In any case, it’s good stuff. There’s a lot of quality punk sound here, with a little pop and some nice surf vibes scattered about. Big stamp of approval for that one. Oh! And there are even some psychobilly/rockabilly tones, which I especially like.

To keep it short, if you liked Green Day back when they were still respectable musicians, then you’ll like The Living End. If you like punk music in general, I’d say give them a shot. They might be a little more poppy than most die-hard punkers would care for, but they carry themselves well, and there’s a good variety of flavour in the music. Good stuff.

Also, it would seem that Canada rules.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately… no one really cares, but I figured I’d apologise just in case. Anyway, the whole “work” thing is really cutting into my “screw around on the internet” time, so I dunno. I’ve been posting a lot over the last couple months, but that’s gonna tone down a bit.

So October’s upon us now, and while that’s all good and Halloween, it’s Band of the Month time today. And it’s one of those rare months when the Botm isn’t a band, but a single artist. And that artist is Dweezil Zappa, son of none other than the legendary Frank Zappa. The name Dweezil is kind of odd, but it’s actually the most normal of all the names of F. Zappa’s kids. Certainly you’ve heard of at least Moon Unit (the remaining two are named Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Muffin). I actually quite like it myself. But BotM is not about the name! It’s about the music! I first heard of Dweezil from the Conker Live & Reloaded Soundtrack, where he and Nile Rodgers cover the “Surf Punks” track. That was always my favourite track from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, and holy smokes do they ever make it awesomer.

Maybe a year later it hits me to actually look up some of Dweezil’s other stuff, and aside from the fact that he’s a bit obscure (even though his name’s Zappa), there was plenty to pick at. Frank Zappa was true guitar legend, and that’s something tought to live up to. Dweezil is very, very skilled with the guitar, and I’ve gotta give props to some of the songs where he just shreds, like “The Return Of the Son Of Shoogagoogagunga” and “Confessions Of A Deprived Youth.” The only issue I’ve got is his vocal work. Now, the Dweezil’s got a decent voice, it’s just that he doens’t use it quite properly all the time. That or the lyrics are poorly written and make the vocals sound bad, evidenced by how covers like “Anytime At All” (The Beatles) and “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama” (Frank Zappa) sound excellent in all aspects.

So yeah, definitely look into Dweezil’s stuff. I can’t say you’ll be thrilled by everything you find, but I can tell you that the album Confessions in particular has a bunch of really great songs on it. If you pay attention to the guitar work more that the vocals, I’m sure you’ll be able to appreciate the bulk of what’s out there. Also, he’s got really sweet hair, just check out those killer sideburns. Let’s see… sweet hair, cool name, awesome guitarist… yeah, I totally want to be this guy.

So my brothers are really into this band, Avenged Sevenfold. Now, they’ve both come a long way as far as their taste in music goes, so I decided to give them a shot. I “borrowed” City of Evil to take a listen (and get a good feel for “The Beast And The Harlot” as it’s gonna be on Guitar Hero 2), and I have to say I was more than disappointed. It started off okay, but I later noticed that I had to constantly check Winamp to see what song I was listening to, because lo and behold, all their songs sound the damn same. Each one relies on the same schtick of heavy dual guitar riffs and solos punctuated by melodic choruses. Or something like that. Anyway, I have to take serious points off just for their lack of diversity alone. It’s basically different lyrics to the same music over and over. I’m pretty sure that if I looked up the lyrics, they’d all be pretty similar too. Needless to say, I don’t get the infatuation.

I’m not sure why I’m talking about Avenged Sevenfold when the band of the month is Fall Out Boy. Yep. Ya heard me. Incase you haven’t been paying attention to my blog, I’m basically as emo as fuck, so yeah. Don’t get me wrong, though. I think everyone who dresses emo and cuts themselves should fall off a cliff and die (but then again, what else is there to being emo?), but complaining about bullshit is human nature. I’m not going to pretend I don’t do it. And you know what? Fall Out Boy doesn’t suck because of the emoness. Hell, if they dressed in tight ripped jeans and flashy vests and were 20 years older, they’d probably qualify as a rock ‘n’ roll band. All the emo in FOB is in their appearance (and videos). Their music isn’t half as whiny as half the emo bands out there. So I guess what I’m saying here is that if you dislike a band because of their image (and I know so many do), you’re a dickweed. If you don’t like the music, that’s one thing, and totally acceptable. But please, for your own sake, don’t discount a band because of stupid buzzwords.

Hmmm. I seem to be in kind of a ranting mood today. I guess it’s just because FOB seems to be the butt of every emo joke these days, and it’s kind of an unfair generalization. Well, I think I got my point across anyway. I like Fall Out Boy. Under The Cork Tree is a smashing album, and I highly recommend giving it a try. A bonus is that you can tell where one song ends and the other begins. Start taking notes, Avenged Sevenfold.

Time for a quick BotM here. This month, I’d like to pay some tribute to the greatest cover artist ever: Richard Cheese. And he’s not your regular cover artist either, he redoes all sorts of popular songs lounge style, and it’s usually a pretty sweet result. Some particular favourites include Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” and Sublime’s “Smoke Two Joints”. One thing that really makes him awesome is that when remixed as lounge songs, a lot of the tracks he chooses end up sounding absolutely hilarious. Take Disturbed’s “Down With The Sickness.” Not even the Vandals have any songs that make me laugh that much, and I’m pretty surre that’s what they’re out to do.

so yes, Richard Cheese = awesome lounge remixes. Check him out if you haven’t yet (I’ve already preached this to many of my friends), as I’m pretty sure it’s a kind of music that anyone can enjoy. End.