Tonight - (HED)P.E. in St. Paul

(hed)p.e. performing at the Tattoo The Earth festival in San Bernardino, CA on August 12, 2000. Click on the picture to read the From The Vault post with more pictures (22).

Happy Easter everyone! Easter brings no relief from the onslaught on shows, so here we go. Long-running rap-core band (hed)p.e. brings their show to Station 4 in St. Paul tonight with local support from Nuisance, Strate-Jak-It, and Angry Room. This is an all ages show that starts early at 6:00; tickets are $15 at the door. Check out my earlier posts where you can download audio of (hed)p.e. live in 1998 and pictures from the Tattoo The Earth Festival in 2000 as part of the From The Vault series.

If you're in the south metro area, it's not too far to Mankato to see local industrial metal band Screaming Mechanical Brain at the What's Up Lounge with Candy Machine Guns from Milwaukee and Evasive Maneuver. This is an all ages show that starts at 8:00, and is $8 at the door. I reviewed SMB's The Policy Of Unilateral Hate album here (9/10), and Candy Machine Gun's show opening for Red Lamb at Station 4 in St. Paul here.

Check out the video for "Salt The Earth" (demo version) from Screaming Mechanical Brain (lyrics not work friendly).

Candy Machine Guns performing March 24, 2013 at Station 4 in St. Paul. Click pictures to see more photos of Candy Machine Guns (17).

Lastly, local band Apocalypse Theatre has their Revolution Circus show with a variety of performance artists at G.B. Leighton's Pickle Park in Fridley.

From The Vault - (HED)PE

Click on any of the pictures to see more photos of (hed)p.e. playing on the Tattoo The Earth tour in 2000.

(hed)p.e. is playing tonight at Station 4 in St. Paul, so here's another trip back in time to the band's earlier days. I previously posted audio of (hed)p.e. opening for Stuck Mojo in Kansas City in 1998. Here are some photos of the band taken on the Tattoo The Earth festival tour on August 12, 2000 at the Orange Pavilion in San Bernardino, California. Around this time, soon after the release of the second album Broke, (hed)p.e. seemed poised to break into mainstream success and they were touring with all the big buzz bands of the day. Here's an advertisement for one of their shows with Slipknot and Mudvayne. I saw (hed)p.e. probably a half dozen times during this time, but I'll limit the pictures to this one show.

Tattoo The Earth was a festival-style tour during the summer of 2000 headlined by Slipknot that also featured a number of tattoo artists. There were something like 20 bands playing on two stages all day. The bands playing varied a bit on each date, but this show had Slayer, Mudvayne, Professional Murder Music, Famous, Nothingface, and many, many others. San Bernardino is out in the middle of a desert, so an August day there is blistering. Fortunately I was able to stay out of the sun backstage between sets, and remember hanging out for a bit with Coal Chamber bassist Nadja Peulen, some of the guys from Slipknot, and someone claiming to be Insect On Acid from Mentors (I don't really know if it was actually him or not!). It was an exhausting day, but a lot of fun.

(HED)P.E. - February 24, 1998

(hed)p.e.

February 24, 1998

N. Kansas City, MO, Roadhouse Ruby’s North

Huntington Beach rapcore band (hed)p.e. has always been a curious lot with their albums spanning a pretty unique space into the rap-rock world. Somehow these guys have managed to survive the great purging of rap-metal bands about 10–12 years ago, and they’re coming back to town for a headlining show this Sunday.

Here’s a show from one of the band’s first tours to promote their debut self-titled album. This particular jaunt had them opening for Stuck Mojo with Skinlab. Awareness of (hed)p.e. wasn’t high at this point of their career so they did their best to convert a crowd only there for Stuck Mojo. The audio here was taken from the digital transfer of the original VHS-C video recording. I had the videos post on YouTube at one time, but for this release I’ve remastered the audio to minimize tape hiss and get a much improved sound. I imagine that most of these songs aren’t played anymore so enjoy this show from when (hed)p.e. was at an early stage of their career.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

(hed)p.e.

Flyin’ High Live

February 24, 1998

N. Kansas City, MO, Roadhouse Ruby’s North

mp3@192 kbps, 47.8 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. P.O.S. (4:44)

2. Ground (3:20)

3. Serpent Boy (5:27)

4. 33 (6:45)

5. Circus (3:07)

6. Ken 2012 (10:08)

Total time: 33:31

(hed)pe performs Sunday, March 31 at Station 4 in St. Paul with support from Nuisance, Strate-Jak-It, and Angry Room.

Tonight - AS I LAY DYING; SUM 41 in Minneapolis, IMPALER in St. Paul

Christian metalcore band As I Lay Dying headlines at First Avenue in Minneapolis tonight, March 30 with support from The Devil Wears Prada, For Today, and The Chariot. Tickets are still available for this all ages show, and it will cost you $25 at the door. Get there early - showtime is 5:00.

Check out As I Lay Dying's video for "No Lungs To Breathe" from their latest album Awakened.

Tonight also marks the return of pop-punk band Sum 41 with Hollerado with a show at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis. This is a 16+ show that gets underway at 8:00; tickets are still available for $25 at the door.

Here's Impaler on July 17, 2011 opening for Lizzy Borden. Click on the picture to see more photos of Impaler (10).

Local shock-gore masters Impaler top a local bill with Mordwolf, Mastiff, and Compassion Dies at Station 4 in St. Paul. This is a 21+ show and is only $5 at the door.

Album Review - CRASHDIET

Crashdiet – The Savage Playground

Frontiers, 2013

7/10

Sweden’s Crashdiet are most commonly described as a glam rock band but they’re nothing of the sort. These guys are just straight-ahead, no-frills rock that doesn’t try to impress with technical flourishes or sheer heaviness. Because of their glam/sleeze image Crashdiet will always draw comparisons to 80s bands, however, musically they have more to do with Sleeze Beez and Sea Hags than Poison and Warrant. The Savage Playground is the band’s fourth album and first for Frontiers. This had the potential to be a great album, but I found myself losing interest about midway through. One surprising strong point is the use of layered background vocals on songs like “Change The World” and “Anarchy”, which are reminiscent of the techniques employed by the sadly forgotten T-Ride. The boogie rock single “Cocaine Cowboys” is a great song that would sit well on rock radio and is one of the highlights. “California”, the second single from the album, has a nifty groove that leads into a melodic chorus that slows down a bit before picking up again. “Circus” and “Sin City” round out the first half in a pleasant way, but then things begin to turn a little stale. “Got A Reason” and “Drinkin’ Without You” chug along uneventfully and regretfully suck some of the life from the album. Things never fully recover, and I found myself wishing the album had eight songs instead of 14. The Savage Playground is a convincing album with flashes of brilliance, but not all of the songs stand up to the standard set during the first half. With a little more focus Crashdiet stands poised to make major headway here in the U.S.

Crashdiet performs Wednesday, April 3 at G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park in Fridley with support from Crucified Barbara and Snakeskyn Whiskey.

WINO & CONNY OCHS - August 16, 2012

You can read my review of this show here, but this was quite different from what you'd expect from one of the godfathers of doom metal, guitarist Scott "Wino" Weinrich. He's not letting up on his recent delve into acoustic music, and he and singer/songwriter Conny Ochs teamed up for this tour in support of their Heavy Kingdom album. This is quality stuff, so if your mind's in the right place this is pure, mellow enjoyment.

The download link is here. As always, please share, but share the link to this post rather than the direct Mediafire link. Enjoy!

Wino & Conny Ochs

Guitars & Voices

August 16, 2012

St. Paul, MN, Turf Club

mp3@192 kbps, 93 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Somewhere Nowhere (5:00)

2. Labour Of Love (4:56)

3. Dust (4:06)

4. Dark Ravine (3:44)

5. Adrift (4:53)

6. Heavy Kingdom (2:32)

7. Hellbound Train (5:19)

8. Angels And Demons (5:20)

9. Old And Alone (7:00)

10. Crystal Madonna (5:29)

11. Here Comes The Siren (3:48)

12. Manifesto (2:44)

13. Vultures By The Vines (4:27)

14. Hotel Vast Horizon (3:37)

15. Isolation (4:36)

16. Find The Cost Of Freedom (1:36)

Total time: 69:07

Concert Announcements - March 29, 2013

There's not much in the way of new shows to announce this week:

Intronaut comes back to town on Tuesday, June 11 with Scale The Summit, Mouth Of The Architect, and The Astaea Complex for an all ages show at Station 4 in St. Paul.

It’s been a long time since anything has been heard from rock band Everclear, but they’re back topping a strong bill with Live, Filter, and Sponge at Myth in St. Paul on Sunday, June 23. Tickets go on sale today, Friday, March 29.

Valient Thorr takes over the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on Monday, June 24 with Gypsyhawk and Ramming Speed. Tickets go on sale today, Friday, March 29 at 12:00 noon.