Stolen KATATONIA Guitars Recovered By St. Paul Police

Sweden's Katatonia posted yesterday on their website that the two guitars stolen from Station 4 in St. Paul on Saturday, September 18 have been recovered by the St. Paul Police. The band states that "We won't get into the murky ugly details right now as the priority was and is that we get them back on the road for our shows and then onto the competition winners, so let's celebrate that for now while the police continue to do their job." It sounds like the investigation is ongoing, and this is certainly great news for the band.

Share Tweet

DIVINITY Embarking On Canadian Tour

For the Canadian readers, the technical death metal band Divinity is about to set out on a Canadian tour to promote the release of their second album, The Singularity. This is one amazing album! The Singularity is hands down one of the best technical death metal albums to come out in some time. The band released the album themselves at the end of 2009, and it was recently given a proper release through Candlelight Records. Get the album, and if you live in Canada get to one of these shows! The best that US fans can do is if you happen to live in Detroit and can make it to the show in Windsor. Here's the complete list of current Divinity tour dates, and I've embedded their "Beg To Consume" video to view.

September 25 - Calgary, AB, MacEwan Hall, Noctis IV Festival

September 30 - Chicoutimi, QC, Le Bunker w/Beneath The Massacre

October 1 - St-Hyacinthe, QC, Bar Le Trash, Trash Metalfest w/Beneath The Massacre

October 2 - Victoriaville-Warwick, QC, Salle Du Canton w/Beneath The Massacre

October 3 - Québec, QC, L'Impérial De Québec w/The Black Dahlia Murder, Goatwhore, Arkaik

October 4 - Rimouski, QC, L'Aprés-Match w/Dischord

October 6 - Saint John, NB, Sunstar Lounge w/Panic And War

October 7 - Sherbrooke, QC, Bar Le Magog w/Deciet's Embrace

October 8 - Montreal, QC, Foufounes Electriques w/Endast

October 9 - Toronto, ON, Hard Luck Bar w/Hallow Die

October 10 - Windsor, ON, Coach And Horses w/Goliath, Reasons Lost

October 11 - London, ON, Moon Over Marin w/ Darkness Rites

October 12 - Guelph, ON, Club Vinyl w/Terrorhorse, Darkness Rites

October 13 - Brantford, ON, Ford Plant w/Terrorhorse, Darkness Rites

October 14 - Cambridge, ON, The 515 Concert Club w/Terrorhorse, Darkness Rites

October 15 - Trois-Rivieres, QC, Batisse Industrielle, Metalfest 10 w/Depised Icon, Misery Index

Share Tweet

Two Great Local Shows This Weekend

There's certainly a huge number of national and international bands coming to town in the next couple of months, but you shouldn't forget about the killer local metal bands we're fortunate to have here. There's two great local shows coming up this weekend that you should make every attempt to attend.

Tomorrow, Friday, September 24, there's a rare metal show at Star Bar & Grill in Columbia Heights. Ill-Gotten, Alation, Ugly Beauty, and Bloodtrust are all on the bill. I'm a big fan of Alation (demo review and update, show review w/video and pictures), and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. I haven't seen the other three bands yet, so it should be a fun night.

On Saturday, September 25, local Metal Blade recording artist Epicurean returns to live action at Robert's in Mounds View. They've lined up an equally heavy bill with Dying Euphoria, A Moment Without, Iron Thrones, and North Sky. It's been a while since Epicurean has played live, and they're billing this as their "comeback show". Hopefully we'll get the chance to hear some new songs they've been working on for their second album. If you were planning on going to Kamelot on Saturday, head out to Robert's instead since Kamelot has postponed their show.

Share Tweet

Two Minneapolis Stores Make Rolling Stone's Top Record Stores List

A blurb at the City Pages website brought this to my attention. Rolling Stone has published "The Best Record Stores in the USA: The Top 25 Spots for Unique Vinyl and CDs", and two Minneapolis stores made the list: Electric Fetus and Hymie's Vintage Records. City Pages notes that the author, Michaelangelos Matos, is a "former Minneapolitan and onetime City Pages contributor." Congratulations to Electric Fetus and Hymie's are certainly in order.

I know that Electric Fetus is iconic here in Minneapolis, but the Uptown location of Cheapo's is a far better shop. Cheapo's easily has the largest selection of used CDs and LPs, and their prices are great. Anyways, go check out the list to see if a store in your city made the cut.

Share Tweet

Jerry Raskin's Needle Doctor Relocating To St. Louis Park

I came across a couple items in the local newspapers here this week that are of interest. First, if you're a vinyl junkie like me, then you've likely heard of Jerry Raskin's Needle Doctor (www.needledoctor.com), a Minneapolis-based retail and mail order shop that claims to have the world's largest selection of turntable equipment including turntables, needles, cleaners, and DJ equipment. Tucked away in the Dinkeytown neighborhood, it's a cramped little store always bustling with activity. Think vinyl is dead? It's amazing to walk into the store at any time and see around ten people hunched over computers, processing internet orders and talking with customers on the phone.

The Needle Doctor has outgrown their current location, and will shut down this Friday to relocate to more expansive space at 6006 Excelsior Blvd. in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. The new store is slated to open this Monday, September 27. If you have a pile of vinyl but need a new turntable, needle, or any supplies, this is the place to go either in person or online. You can read a recent article about the shop at the Minnesota Daily.

Share Tweet

TOMMY STINSON Launches Charity Auction

Current Guns N' Roses and Soul Asylum bassist and Minneapolis native Tommy Stinson has organized a charity auction to benefit the Timkatec schools in earthquake-ravaged Petion-Ville, Haiti. Charitybuzz is hosting the auction; a link the plight of Haitians and what Tommy is doing to help is here, and the list of all 14 auction items is here.

Included in the auction items are two vacations in the Bahamas, a couple of Tommy's basses and stage clothes (I love the plaid suit!), a guitar signed by The Replacements, a Chris Mars art package, and packages of tickets to shows at First Avenue and the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis.

Share Tweet

GUNS N' ROSES Archive Story

Slash is bringing his solo band to the Medina Entertainment Center in Medina tonight, Thursday, September 23, and I had to use this as an excuse to tell a story about a Guns N' Roses show in Iowa City, Iowa back in 1993 on the Use Your Illusion tour. Here's a scan of the flyer for the show and my backstage pass.

I was helping out with the production company, and was initially supposed to be an usher for the concert. When I got to the arena in the early afternoon, the caterer needed an extra hand so I quickly volunteered. This had to be more interesting than standing around on some stairs all night. This turned into one of the most bizarre concert experiences I've had. Basically, I did all the crap work for the caterer that was brought in from Chicago - I washed dishes, set up meals for the band and crew, and dashed around doing odd errands.

Things quickly turned funny when I had to help set up the band's dressing rooms. Carver Hawkeye Arena served as a hub for athletics at the University of Iowa, and I first saw the band's crew ripping down every athletics picture, plaque, and lettering off the walls. It was later reported that at least $10,000 in damage was done to the backstage area. Cases of beer were stacked floor to ceiling along the entire wall in the dressing rooms but apparently this wasn't enough. Since I was the only local person there, several hundred dollars were stuffed into my hands and I was given a list of hard liquor to buy. The caterer whispered to me to also buy some porno mags, so of course I got the most nasty, sick ones I could find and set them prominently out on the band's tables! After we finished setting up the dressing rooms, the highlight of the night was spotting Queen guitarist Brian May as he entered the building and getting to briefly chat with him, axe in hand.

I never did see any member of G N' R in the backstage areas, but at least I was given a cool crew tour T-shirt. The only break I had was being allowed to watch about 30 minutes of the show from the soundboard area, but I was too exhausted to care at that point. More dishes had to be washed! I vaguely remember finally leaving the venue around 2 or 3 in the morning, completely drained and physically sore. I think the caterer did give me a wad of extra cash at the end of the night, but it's the memories from this that live on!

Share Tweet

Earache Offers Free ANNIHILATOR Download Compilation

This is simply too good of a deal to pass up. Head on over to the Earache Records website (http://www.earache.com/totalannihilation/) to download a free, 14-track compilation from the long-running Canadian technical thrash band Annihilator. Entitled Total Annihilation, this compilation is to promote Earache's reissue campaign of six Annihilator albums: King Of The Kill (1994), Refresh The Demon (1996), Remains (1997), Criteria For A Black Widow (1999), Carnival Diablos (2001), and Waking The Fury (2002). These six albums cover a broad range of creative styles and sounds, not to mention a revolving cast of band members centered around guitar phenomenon Jeff Waters. Even on an album like Refresh The Demon, not Annihilator's best album by any means, you can always be guaranteed to hear amazing riffs and innovative solos. "City Of Ice" is my favorite track from that album. Hands down the best in this reissue series is Criteria For A Black Widow and Carnival Diablos. Criteria For A Black Widow ranks up there with the first two albums, Alice In Hell (1989) and Never, Neverland (1990), as a bonefide thrash classic - be sure to check out "Loving The Sinner" and "Bloodbath". After Never, Neverland Annihilator seemed to drop off the face of the earth in the US, and it's a real shame that they aren't more widely known here. Alice In Hell was actually Roadrunner's top-selling debut album for ten years until Slipknot came along, and Annihilator continued to tour Europe with the likes of Judas Priest and Pantera. Jeff Waters also nearly joined Megadeth on two different occasions - imagine having to choose between Jeff Waters, Diamond Darrell (as Dimebag was then known), and Marty Friedman for your band! Total Annihilation serves as a great introduction to some key parts of the Annihilator catalog that are worth your time, so go download this now.

Share Tweet

STAIND Vocalist Aaron Lewis Lines Up Solo Acoustic Tour

The complete list of solo acoustic dates for Staind vocalist Aaron Lewis has been released. The routing includes a stop at MPR's Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul on Tuesday, October 26. Tickets for the St. Paul show are already on sale. Here is the full tour itinerary:

October 7 - Boston, MA, House Of Blues

October 8 - Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom

October 10 - New Bedford, MA, Zeiterion Theater

October 11 - New York, NY, Best Buy Theater

October 12 - Philadelphia, PA, TLS

October 14 - Portland, ME, Merrill Auditorium

October 15 - Baltimore, MD, Ram's Head Live

October 17 - Hershey, PA, Hershey Theater

October 18 - Cleveland, OH, House Of Blues

October 20 - Chicago, IL, House Of Blues

October 21 - Munhall, PA, Carnegie Music Hall

October 23 - Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater

October 24 - Indianapolis, IN, Egyptian Room

October 26 - St. Paul, MN, MPR's Fitzgerald Theater

October 28 - St. Louis, MO, The Pageant

October 31 - Dallas, TX, Palladium Ballroom

November 1 - Houston, TX, Verizon Wireless Theater

November 2 - Abilene, TX, Paramount Theater

Share Tweet

MUTINY WITHIN Cancels Tour Supporting NEVERMORE

Roadrunner Records recording artist Mutiny Within has officially cancelled their upcoming tour supporting Nevermore on a massive North American trek. Mutiny Within is currently looking for a full-time drummer, and the "slow visa process" derailed the rehearsal time needed for the temporary drummer hired for the tour. Mutiny Within's self-titled debut album was previously reviewed here (7/10). The tour kicks off this Friday, September 24 in Seattle, and will hit Station 4 in St. Paul on Sunday, October 31. Warbringer and Hatesphere are still on as support acts for Nevermore and there's been no word on whether Mutiny Within will be replaced. The full itinerary for Nevermore, Warbringer, and Hatesphere follows:

September 24 - Seattle, WA, El Corazon

September 25 - Portland, OR, Hawthorne Theatre

September 26 - San Francisco, CA, Slim's

September 28 - Hollywood, CA, Key Club

September 30 - Santa Ana, CA, Galaxy Theatre

October 1 - Ramona, CA, Ramona Mainstage

October 2 - Mesa, AZ, UB's

October 3 - Tucson, AZ, The Rock

October 5 - Denver, CO, Bluebird Theater

October 6 - Tulsa, OK, The Marquee

October 7 - Ft. Worth, TX, Ridglea Theater

October 8 - San Antonio, TX, Scout Bar

October 9 - Houston, TX, Numbers

October 11 - Austin, TX, Emo's Annex

October 13 - Atlanta, GA, The Masquerade

October 14 - Raleigh, NC, Volume 11

October 15 - Springfield, VA, Jaxx

October 16 - Worcester, MA, The Palladium

October 17 - Philadelphia, PA, Trocadero Theatre

October 19 - New York, NY, Gramercy Theatre

October 20 - Montreal, QC, Les Foufounes Electriques

October 21 - London, ON, London Music Hall

October 22 - Toronto, ON, Opera House

October 23 - Cleveland, OH, Peabody's Downunder

October 25 - Pittsburgh, PA, Diesel Club Lounge

October 26 - Louisville, KY, Headliners Music Hall

October 27 - Detroit, MI, Blondies

October 29 - Chicago, IL, Reggie's Rock Club

October 30 - Milwaukee, WI, The Rave

October 31 - St. Paul, MN, Station 4

November 1 - Winnipeg, MB, Royal Albert Arms

November 2 - Regina, SK, The Exchange

November 5 - Edmonton, AB, Pawn Shop

Share Tweet