From The Vault - SUICIDAL TENDENCIES

UPDATE: Scan of the ticket stub and Mike Muir autograph from their show with Queensrÿche on May 14, 1991 was added.

Suicidal Tendencies is playing in Minneapolis tonight - they always put on an entertaining show so get out and see them. Here's a few things I pulled out of my archives of stuff. The new album, 13, is a good one - check out my review here.

The Welcome To Venice compilation from 1985.

First up are pictures of my copy of the rare vinyl LP Welcome To Venice, a compilation released by Suicidal Records in 1985 that features Suicidal, Beowülf, Los Cycos, No Mercy, and Excel. This was only released on LP and cassette and has never been reissued in any format, so copies sell on eBay in the $50–100 range. I bought this in the mid-80s from one of my cousins, who sold me a stack of punk/hardcore albums including the first Suicidal albums as well as ones from C.O.C., Circle Jerks, Excel, and Descendants.

The first chance I had to see Suicidal was on the tour for Lights...Camera...Revolution opening for Queensrÿche on the Empire tour on May 14, 1991 at the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. An odd billing, to be sure, but Suicidal went over surprisingly well with their short set. They mainly played songs from Lights...Camera...Revolution, including "You Can't Bring Me Down", "Lovely", "Alone", and "Send Me Your Money". I think "Pledge Your Allegiance" and "How Can I Laugh Tomorrow" rounded out the set, but I was shocked that nothing from the first two albums was played - they were definitely trying to appeal to a metal crowd. Before Queenrÿche started I spotted Suicidal vocalist Mike Muir on the edge of the arena floor by a dressing room door and was able to get his autograph (above).

Suicidal Tendencies performing in 1998 at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kansas. Click on the live pictures to see more photos from this show (11).

Their set list changed dramatically the next time I saw them on November 9, 1998 at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kansas. This was a co-headlining show with Infectious Grooves right before Suicidal released the Six The Hard Way EP. I wasn't a fan of Infectious Grooves, but their live show was impressive. Now Suicidal ignored all their radio and video hits from the last four metal albums and focused on the first two. It was awesome to hear all those songs, and the show definitely signaled a change in the band back towards their punk roots. All of the live pictures here are from this show, and were the best I could get with a crappy old camera in a packed club.

The last time I caught Suicidal was in early 2000 at Cane's in San Diego while promoting the weak Freedumb album. Surprisingly, this is the show I remember the least about. What I do recall were some songs from Freedumb alongside ones from the first two albums. It still was an excellent show, just not a memorable one for some reason. I had an off night with my camera for I just have a roll of film that's entirely out of focus - too bad, because these could have been some great pictures.

Promotional picture from 1999 to promote Freedumb.

Suicidal Tendencies performs tonight, Tuesday, April 16 at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with support from DRI and Waking The Dead. In Defence plays a free (with ticket) pre-concert show downstairs in The Nether Bar.

From The Vault - CLUTCH

Off the wall heavy rockers Clutch are out now promoting their new album Earth Rocker so I dug through my archives to present the findings from early Clutch shows up through The Elephant Riders. My first live exposure to the band was when they were out supporting their debut album, Transnational Speedway League, on a crushing bill that had them sandwiched between Sepultura and Fear Factory on March 29, 1993 at Big Dog's in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sepultura was riding high on the Chaos A.D. album, while Fear Factory was promoting Soul Of A New Machine. From my recollection, Clutch ripped through most the debut album, including "Earthworm", "A Shogun Named Marcus", "Rats", and "El Jefe Speaks".

The only time I remember seeing Clutch on the road for their second, self-titled album was in 1995 at The Hurricane in Kansas City on a co-headling jaunt with Tad with Far opening the show. Clutch and Tad was a great pairing, and both bands put on intense performances.

Two promotional pictures of Clutch from 1998 for The Elephant Riders album.

Clutch hit the road heavily for their third album, The Elephant Riders, during which time they played Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City a number of times. March 11, 1998 had them playing The Beaumont Club in Kansas City on an unlikely tour opening for Limp Bizkit with Sevendust. The crowd was respectful but seemed largely indifferent. That same year, they did a phenomenal headlining show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence as part of a short tour with support from Shine (who later changed their name to Spirit Caravan).

The pictures below were all taken at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas on October 28, 1998 as direct support to Sevendust together with Stuck Mojo and Ultraspank. Again, Clutch seemed out of place on this tour, but they still rolled through a great set as only they can do.

Clutch performing October 28, 1998 at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas. Click on any of the live pictures to see more photos from this show (20).

Clutch performs tomorrow, Wednesday, April 10 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Orange Goblin, Lionize, and Scorpion Child.

From The Vault - SEVENDUST

I saw Sevendust a number times from 1997–2000 out on the road promoting their first two albums, Sevendust and Home. Here's a number of pictures and promotional items from that time.

A 1997 promotional picture signed by the band.

The first time seeing Sevendust was on July 19, 1997 at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kansas soon after the release of their debut album. I've already posted the audio of this show for download here, where you can read more details about this show. They were on the road supporting Coal Chamber, but Coal Chamber cancelled to attend an MTV Awards show. Refunds for the show were offered, but Sevendust went ahead with their own headline show anyway for about 30–50 people.

Click on the picture to download the complete audio recording of this Sevendust concert from 1997.

Another promotional picture from 1997.

Sevendust came back to the Kansas City area for a show with Coal Chamber (Dayinthelife... had cancelled, I believe) on February 12, 1998. I honestly don't remember much about this show other than it being a completely packed house.

The next time seeing them was on March 11, 1998 at The Beaumont Club in Kansas City supporting Limp Bizkit and Clutch for a sold-out show. By this time Sevendust was taking off, and touring continued with a run with Clutch, Stuck Mojo, and Ultraspank that brought them back to Lawrence on October 28, 1998 at the Granada Theater.

Advertisement for a 1999 show in San Bernardino, CA - I wish I had been at this one!

A 1999 promotional picture for the second album, Home.

My final time seeing Sevendust during this time was June 18, 2000 at Cox Arena in San Diego where they were direct support to Creed with Nickelback opening (I previously posted Nickelback pictures from this concert here).

Sevendust performing in San Diego on June 18, 2000. Click on either of the pictures to see more photos from this show (18).

Sevendust will be performing Monday, April 8 at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with support from Coal Chamber, Lacuna Coil, and Candlelight Red.

SEVENDUST - July 19, 1997

This is a completely new, remastered edition of a show that I originally posted a couple years ago. For this I went back to the digital transfer of the original VHS-C video tape to remove a large amount of the tape hiss. This version has far superior sonics and captures a complete Sevendust show on one of their earliest tours in 1997. I've also created new artwork.

Soon after the release of their debut album in April 1997 Sevendust hit the road in an RV supporting Coal Chamber and Powerman 5000. Shortly before the this date in Lawrence, Kansas, Coal Chamber canceled to attend some type of MTV awards show. The show went forward without Coal Chamber, but Powerman 5000 didn't make it either (I believe due to their bus breaking down). So this left Sevendust to perform an unexpected headlining show with no supporting bands to a small crowd of about 30–50 people that didn't take a ticket refund.

Sevendust was completely on fire this night and ripped through the entire debut album over the course of an hour. They also goofed around on a covers medley where they mashed together riffs from King Kobra, Dio, Ratt, Powerman 5000, Coal Chamber, and Dio. It was an awesome show, with "Prayer" and "My Ruin" being major highlights. The entire band spent a lot of time hanging out with their fans in the bar after the show and they were genuinely appreciative of the people that showed up.

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

Sevendust

Loco In Lawrence

July 19, 1997

Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck

mp3@192 kbps, 76 MB zip file (artwork included)

1. Black (7:06)

2. Speak (3:49)

3. Terminator (5:23)

4. Will It Bleed (5:25)

5. My Ruin (5:39)

6. Wired (4:55)

7. Born To Die (4:22)

8. Face (5:12)

9. Prayer (4:22)

10. Too Close To Hate (5:06)

11. Cover Medley (3:07)

12. Bitch (4:26)

Total time - 58:52

Sevendust performs Monday, April 8 at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with co-headliner Coal Chamber with support from Lacuna Coil and Candlelight Red.

From The Vault - NILE Part 1 of 2

Death metal kings Nile played Station 4 in St. Paul last week, so here's the first of two posts of some old pictures of the band. First are pictures from March 28, 1999 at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas that had them opening for Stuck Mojo. A strange billing for sure, but Nile had just wrapped up one the final tours in support of their earthshaking debut album Amongst The Catacombs of Nephren-Ka. The band was slated to drive across Kansas on their way home so the promoter added them since Stuck Mojo lacked a national support band.

Click on either of the pictures to see more live photos of Nile from 1999 (8).

Nile went over better with this crowd than you might expect, and they ripped the place up before Stuck Mojo took over. I interviewed Nile mastermind guitarist Karl Sanders before the show, too. He certainly seemed road-weary, but he was extremely kind and really went out of his way to make me feel at home as we chatting in the RV. Pictures going this far back were taken on a old crappy camera so excuse their low-budget nature.

From The Vault - KID ROCK Part 1 of 2

If anyone is hated in metal more than Fred Durst, Kid Rock would be near the top of the list. Sure, he put out a couple rap-rock records, but not much qualifies him as metal. There was a time, however, when the metal community embraced him (over 11 million copies of Devil Without A Cause were sold in the U.S. alone).

Click on any of the pictures to see more photos of Kid Rock in 1999 (11).

I'll throw a couple Kid Rock posts out here anyways since he just played the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul with Bob Seger this past Friday (March 15). First up are some pictures of Kid Rock playing a club date at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas on April 16, 1999 - right before Devil Without A Cause took on a life of its own. To be honest, I went to this not knowing who Kid Rock was. I was there for opener Staind, whose major label debut Dysfunction had just come out a couple days prior. I had been given an advance, unfinished mix copy of Dysfunction in late 1998 and was really enjoying it so their label was eager to have me see them.

Not knowing anything about Kid Rock I was stunned that this 500–600 seat venue was sold out. Everyone was going crazy for him and you could tell that something big was about to happen. I've never been a fan, but I'll give him credit for putting on a very lively, entertaining show. As you can tell, I didn't have a decent camera at this time - yeah, these pictures aren't the best but I did with them what I could.

SEVENDUST - JULY 19, 1997, LAWRENCE, KANSAS

Sevendust was in the area a couple weeks ago playing a show in Mankato with Disturbed, Korn, In This Moment, and Stillwell. This seemed like an opportune time to dust off from my vault of uncirculated concerts a gem from the early Sevendust days.

Click to watch Sevendust open the show with "Black".

Transferred directly from the master VHS-C tape, this show captures Sevendust when they were a baby band just trying to survive on the road soon after the release of their debut album. This show was in the midst of a tour supporting Coal Chamber with Powerman 5000, but both bands canceled on this night. Coal Chamber bailed to attend an MTV awards show for which they were nominated, and I believe Powerman 5000's bus or van broke down. Ticket refunds were offered, but Sevendust's dumpy RV showed up and they played as a headliner for little or no cover charge. Being the last band standing on the bill, Sevendust stepped up and delivered an hour-long set to about 30 people where they played every song from the debut album. During their "Covers Medley", the band has some fun and riffs on King Kobra, Dio, Ratt, Powerman 5000, Coal Chamber, and Black Sabbath. Despite the poor attendance, the band played like the bar was full and were genuinely appreciative of the support as they hung out to chat with everyone after the show. The stage lighting in the video is poor, but the sound quality is excellent. Most of these songs haven't been in Sevendust's live set for years, so this is a real treat if you're a fan of old Sevendust!

Click to watch Sevendust perform "Prayer".

Click to watch Sevendust play around during "Covers Medley".

Sevendust - July 19, 1997, Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck

Loco In Lawrence

Set list:
1. Black
2. Speak
3. Terminator
4. Will It Bleed
5. My Ruin
6. Wired
7. Born To Die
8. Face
9. Prayer
10. Too Close To Hate
11. Covers Medley
12. Bitch


Click on the link to download the text file that contains download links for both the audio (mp3@192 kbps) and video (mov, H.264, 640x480) files for the entire show. If you prefer, all the video can be streamed over on my YouTube channel. As always, please share the link to this post rather than the text file - it's much appreciated!

https://rapidshare.com/files/457593095/sevendust_19970719.txt