When I was 11 I listened to Kiss Alive! for the first time.  It was mind blowing.  I felt like I was at a Kiss concert, in my mind I visualized what was going on the stage.  Anyway the point here is Black Diamond.  On the Alive album it is amazing.  The slow intro building into Paul yelling hit it.  Peter's raspy voice and Ace's solo.  After hearing that song I knew 3 things.
One, Kiss was the greatest band in the world.
Two, I had to be involved with music, more than just listening to it.
Three, I had to play guitar. 
Now 37 years later, yeah i'm old, nothing has changed with numbers 2 and 3.  As far as number 1, well I still love Kiss but .....
Anyway, gotta run and play my guitar

Been a long time

I haven't blogged in so long.  Sucks, I've been busy but that is no excuse.  I am going to blog at least once a week from now on.  I will post tonight and talk about what I've been up to.  I can tell you I've been playing massive amounts of guitar and of course listening to all kinds of music.  Especially older stuff.  I'll elaborate tonight.  

Jersey is f'n hot!

It's been hot as hell in Jersey the past few days.  Which really sucks if your central air isn't finished being installed.  So it sucked and I haven't felt like doing a damned thing.  But today I am going to post.

I know I haven't posted a review of the new John 5 yet, part of that is the fact that I can't stop listening to the new Slash.  It really is great.  I might be obsessed with it.  Anyway I started to work the new John 5 into the rotation and I'll have a post up shortly.  I need to really listen to a cd before I comment on it.  LOL.  That usually helps, right?

I'm still on a bit of a Maiden kick and would really like to see them on this Maiden in England tour, but the price for a ticket is over 100 bucks.  I just don't think I can spend that right now.  So it looks like I might have to pass.

I still don't have my Epiphone Zakk Wylde Bullseye guitar.  Was originally supposed to ship May 25th.  I call and now it's June 6th.  I hope I'm not getting the run around.  In the meantime I'm working on fixing this old guitar I found in the basement when I moved into my house 16 years ago.

The action was too high and the neck was not quite straight.  So I am going to raise the neck a little and hopefully be able to straighten the neck.  I've replaced the pickups and the machine heads so far.
Funny thing about this guitar, it's a Montaya, it's the exact same as the first electric guitar I had as a kid.  Exact same, even the color!!  Strange right?

Anyway check back soon, i'll review the John 5 cd.  I promise.

Peace out Earthdogs!

Slash and John 5

I have in my possession both new cd's from Slash and  John 5.  I've listened to them both for a few days and wanted to put up a quick review of each.  Let's start with Apocalyptic Love from Slash.

The cd starts off with a bang and never really lets up.  I love the first four songs, Apocalyptic Love, One Last Thrill, Standing in the Sun and You're a Lie.  Great riffs, Slash is killing it.  So right off the bat you're hooked, which is what all great cd's do.  I'm listening to it as I write this, did I mention Slash is at the top of his game here???

When I listen to a cd I usually group the songs in blocks and listen to it like that, slowly adding more of the cd.   So the first few times I would listen to the first four songs and go back and play them again.  Then I finally let the whole cd play and it really is great from start to finish.  Halo is a highlight, very GnR sounding, riffy tune.  It has that feel that it was just jammed on and recorded.  No retakes and overdubbing.  Actually the whole cd has a live, raw feel to it.

I could go track by track here and rave about each one, this cd is that good,  Anastasia is great, song just kinda builds and has tempo changes, classic Slash.

Listen the bottom line here is if you like a kick ass Rock and Fucking Roll cd this one is for you.  If you're a fan of Slash's sound, and who wouldn't be fan of a Les Paul and a Marshall played by the legend in the top hat, this cd is for you.  Buy it, crank it and get blown away.

I'll get you a John 5 Gold Told Me To review up later.

Play the guitar,

play it again, my Johnny.

Check out the video for the new John 5 single Welcome to Violence.  It is fucking hardcore.  I can't even count how many times I've watched it.  I'm hold his new cd in my hands right now.  It comes with a DVD that I scanned through real quick.  It has a bunch of video of him in the studio recording the cd.  Super cool stuff.  I only know the one song so far, I plan on listening to it tomorrow.  I'll report back in, but I can pretty much guarantee that it's going to be great.

Dancing with Death

As you know from reading my blog that I am a huge Iron Maiden fan and I buy everything they come out with. For some reason I skipped over  Dance of Death.  It's only recently that I've gone back to listen to it.  Damn its good a cd.  I don't know why I missed out on it.  I do that sometimes and then I go back and listen to it.  In fact i'm going to put it on right now.

My favorites right now are RainMaker, No More Lies, Paschendale and Dance of Death, but really the whole cd is great.











I got my tickets for Slash in August, that's going to be a great show.  I've heard some of his new stuff that he  is streaming on his Facebook page.  Doesn't blow me away, but I may need to listen to it a few times for it to grow on me.  He had a concert on HDNet over the weekend.  Slash was on fire, his playing was tight.  I think you can buy it, it's called Slash - Made in Stoke.  I DVR'd it but I think I will pick it up.

I'll try to get some cd reviews up soon.  I should have the new John 5 soon.  In the meantime I'm listening to The Art of Malice.  Truly amazing stuff.

Thanks for reading fellow brothers in METAL!

Rob and Dave

It's about time i'm blogging about Megadeth and Rob Zombie show I saw last Friday.  Been a little busy but that's no excuse so let's talk about the concert.  First here's a pic of me hanging out with Vic Rattlehead before the show.  

Talking politics and the state of the free world after many adult beverages.

As we got to our seats I still had no idea who would be going on first, well that was quickly decided as soon as I sat in my seat Megadeth came on.  Now before I get into the Megadeth show I have to preface it by saying I've probably seen Megadeth more than any other band.  Starting with the Peace Sells tour at L'Amours in Brooklyn in 1986.  So when they launched into Never Dead to open the show I wasn't sure what song it was.  That just doesn't happen to me at a Megadeth show.  I'm not a huge fan of the new cd Thirteen, it's a good record but not compared to it's predecessor Endgame.  Anyway,  he followed that up with Hanger 18, Wake up Dead and In My Darkest Hour.   Needless to say the place went nuts.  One thing about Megadeth live, there's no bullshit just one great fucking song after another.  No crazy stage show or long solos.  Mustaine brings it every night, I've never seen him have a bad show.  He closes out his set with Symphony of Destruction, Peace Sells and Holy Wars.  He ends it with his customary " You've been great, we've been Megadeth".

Another great show by Mustaine and company.  My seats were right in front of Broderick and he makes shredding look effortless.  So after a quick piss run I was ready to see what Rob Zombie had in store.

Seeing Rob Zombie live is like listening to a soundtrack while watching a movie.  There are movies playing on the screens behind him while they perform.  Explosions, fire and strange creatures wondering around the stage.  The complete opposite of Megadeth.  Which makes this a curious pairing for a tour.  The tunes are cool and he did the obligatory ones, More Human then Human, Thunder Kiss 65, Living Dead Girl, SuperBeast and Dragula.  One cool surprise was the  song Pussy Liquor.  Like all Zombie tunes it has a cool, groovy beat to it.  The best part of the show was John 5's guitar playing.  It was hard to get a good picture with all the flashing lights but here's my best shot.

Overall Zombie put on an entertaining show but it's no contest when compared to Megadeth.

We'll talk again soon, Metalheads!