Metal Skool
So I went to Metal Skool's LAST SHOW EVER (at the Roxy) last night. What is to become of the greatest 80's metal cover band to ever grace the Sunset Strip? They're moving their act to the Key Club...which is practically next door to the Roxy. More on them down below. Not only a 'historic' show, but also an especially cool show to me because the band that went on before Metal Skool was a great and relatively unknown group called Skumlove. More on them, too, down below. Oh yeah, and apparently the people on Sunset Plaza Drive finally wised up because the city put in "No Parking 8PM to 8AM" signs up all over that road. If I ever went to a show on the strip I always parked on SPD because it was in reasonable walking distance to all the clubs and it was FREE. Just a couple weeks ago I went to a Godhead show and parked there...but alas, those days are over.
First, let's talk about opening bands. The first opener was some lame, wanna-be hardcore, steaming hunk o shite called something like Time is the Enemy or Time is my Enemy...something about Time and an Enemy...I think...aw, Hell, I don't care. They sucked. In between every assault (and not in a good way) on my ears, the lead vocalist (the crappy rhythm guitar player was on vox as well) felt the need to talk to us between songs...I hate this 'life story' stuff. I'm talking about the whole "THIS HAS BEEN ALL OF OUR DREAMS SINCE WE WERE ALL YOUNG...(blah, blah, blah)...WE'VE BUSTED OUR ASSES TO GET HERE (yeah, you and every other band out there trying to make it) TO PLAY OUR MUSIC IN FRONT OF CROWDS...(more blah, blah, blah)...IF YOU DON'T LIKE US, WE DON'T CARE, FUCK YOU." Well, if you don't care then shut your mouth, finish your set (PLEASE!), and get off the stage...and oh yeah, fuck you, too.
The next offering was a band called Lockestar. They sucked, too, and they have a website which I refuse to list here, so if you're that curious then look them up on your own. They were punk-pop, wanna-be metal guys who came out wearing fur coats and glittery shirts. They also had feathered boas decorating the bass and guitar players's mic stands and the singer/guitarist had a glow in the dark purple bicycle chain strapped around his mic stand...um, yeah. I think I've actually seen this band before, but I'm not sure as most of these lame opening bands tend to sound/look the same after a while. I won't get all that much deeper into this crapfest, but they did close their set with a punk-pop rendition of Skid Row's "I Remember You" which was just wrong.
Now, on to Skumlove. I first saw them down in San Diego like two years ago when they opened for Godhead at a small, but totally cool 21+ venue called The Brick by Brick. During their crowd-pleasing and set closer "I Am Your God" Skummy likes to pull hot girls from the crowd up to dance. In San Diego he tried to get my girlfriend at the time to get up on stage but she didn't. While it would've been hot (because she is), I understand why she didn't, and quite frankly, I wouldn't want my girlfriend up there with dirty rockstars and drunk floosies. But I digress...sort of... SL was founded by lead singer Skumlove and guitarist Robyn Sin. They've never had a record deal yet they've opened for national touring acts like Godhead, Type O Negative, and Professional Murder Music, among others. I really respect these guys. They have a great sound (it's like industrial metal fused with 80's new wave, punk, and electronica) and they do everything on their own: writing/distributing the music, promotion, merchandise. Also, before the band line-up was solid several famous guest musicians played with Skum and Robyn like Dino Cazares from Fear Factory, Justin Bennett (one of the best drummers to watch live) from Professional Murder Music, and Frank Mercurio of Cypress Hill. They're down to four members now (there used to be two guitarists, now there's only Robyn) but even without the extra guy they sounded AWESOME. Skummy is a great frontman. He really knows how to work the crowd...although the lady in her 40's (she was there for Metal Skool) standing next to me was not all that impressed...I always giggled whenever Skum would stand in front of us at the edge of the stage and rock out because this lady would just cringe...hehehe...but they played four new tracks including the bad-ass, first time ever live number called "My Machine". I'd say "Go check them out!" but then again, I don't think a lot of people who are in to that kind of metal read this blog...but whatever...Go check them out! (Their link has been added to the right)
Now, on to Metal Skool. For those who don't know them, they are, as mentioned above, an 80's metal cover band. You might have seen them as Danger Kitty in a Discover card commercial a few years back. They basically dress up and act like 80's rock stars...but they are a tight band, very technically talented, and it's a fun show. Here's some of the songs they played last night so you can get an idea of what to experience at a Metal Skool show: "Nothin' but a Good Time" and "Every Rose Has its Thorn" by Poison, "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns n' Roses, "Photograph" by Def Leppard, "The Final Countdown" by Europe, "Live Wire" by Mötley Crüe, "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC...I'm missing a few tunes, but they closed with "Jump" by Van Halen. The singer and the guitarist from AFI guested on "Live Wire" and some guy from ESPN got the bouncers to let him up on stage because he was showing off the Super Bowl Championship ring one of the New England Patriots...at first I was like "Huh?" but then he actually brought two of the Patriots up on stage. I'm not sure but I think it was a Linebacker and an Offensive Lineman (if those are real positions), but yeah, I couldn't hear the introductions all that well...although I really don't care. The football players did guest vocals on "Highway to Hell"...one of the guys only new the chorus line which is basically the title of the song but the other guy did an amazing job on the vocals...but then he tried to do the rock star leap off the drum kit stage and almost fell flat on his ass. There was also a very spikey haired guy who looked like he was in his early 40's who did guest guitar on "Sweet Child O'Mine"...I have no idea who he was but he was wearing a New York Dolls shirt.
Basically, if you grew up in the 80's and listened to heavy metal hair bands, you would love this show. In between songs they do a lot of banter amongst themselves and with the audience. There's a lot of talk about doing drugs, boobs, having sex with groupies, boobs, drinking, boobs, making fun of Lexxi the retarded bass player (who I think is the coolest guy in the band)...did I mention boobs? It's all crude, but still very funny for the most part. They also like to get girls on stage to flash the audience. In the past one angry punk chick even got up, dropped her pants, and rubbed her 'clitosaurus' a bit. At this particular show, some dorky girl who looked like she was only 15 kept getting up on stage but refused to flash the audience, but that's ok because I didn't need to see that anyways...so her friend jumped on stage and made out with her instead. Some heavy-set and definitely drunk lady even jumped on stage and it looked like she was bitching out the guitarist all the while trying to grab his balls. It took FOUR security guards to get that lady out of the venue...she was a fighter...
The venue was PACKED...TONS of people at this show. I read on Skumlove's 'day after' update about the show that there was a line of like a hundred people lined up down the block trying to get into this show. Damn, it was hot in there... I happened to be sandwiched between the aforementioned lady in her 40's who hated Skumlove to the right of me and Metal Skool's 'Slut of the Month,' a girl named Karissa, to the left of me... Need background info? Ok, every month girls send in pictures to the band and the guys pick one girl to be their 'Slut of the Month.' If you go to Metal Skool's main page, there's a link on the left for the 'SotM'...if you're reading this in the month of August and beyond, the pic has changed and I don't think they archive the 'Slut' pictures...
After they finished with "Jump" they sold CDs and DVDs from the stage. I picked up one copy of each at ten dollars a piece. Wait, a cover band has CDs and DVDs??? Yup. Both are available at their web site or at their shows, obviously. The CD is called "Hole Patrol" and features an intro, four original tunes (Big Boobs, Hell's on Fire, Fat Girl (Thar She Blows), and Stripper Girl), three comedy interlude bits, and a cover of "Cleveland Roxx." The DVD has their video of "Fat Girl" as well as backstage prep, interviews, and alternate takes/deleted scenes from the music video. It's all quite funny.
So yeah, that was my evening. I didn't get home until about 2:30AM and only got about three hours of sleep...so I'm crashing right about now.
"Listen, there is no fucking ice cream in your fucking future!"
First, let's talk about opening bands. The first opener was some lame, wanna-be hardcore, steaming hunk o shite called something like Time is the Enemy or Time is my Enemy...something about Time and an Enemy...I think...aw, Hell, I don't care. They sucked. In between every assault (and not in a good way) on my ears, the lead vocalist (the crappy rhythm guitar player was on vox as well) felt the need to talk to us between songs...I hate this 'life story' stuff. I'm talking about the whole "THIS HAS BEEN ALL OF OUR DREAMS SINCE WE WERE ALL YOUNG...(blah, blah, blah)...WE'VE BUSTED OUR ASSES TO GET HERE (yeah, you and every other band out there trying to make it) TO PLAY OUR MUSIC IN FRONT OF CROWDS...(more blah, blah, blah)...IF YOU DON'T LIKE US, WE DON'T CARE, FUCK YOU." Well, if you don't care then shut your mouth, finish your set (PLEASE!), and get off the stage...and oh yeah, fuck you, too.
The next offering was a band called Lockestar. They sucked, too, and they have a website which I refuse to list here, so if you're that curious then look them up on your own. They were punk-pop, wanna-be metal guys who came out wearing fur coats and glittery shirts. They also had feathered boas decorating the bass and guitar players's mic stands and the singer/guitarist had a glow in the dark purple bicycle chain strapped around his mic stand...um, yeah. I think I've actually seen this band before, but I'm not sure as most of these lame opening bands tend to sound/look the same after a while. I won't get all that much deeper into this crapfest, but they did close their set with a punk-pop rendition of Skid Row's "I Remember You" which was just wrong.
Now, on to Skumlove. I first saw them down in San Diego like two years ago when they opened for Godhead at a small, but totally cool 21+ venue called The Brick by Brick. During their crowd-pleasing and set closer "I Am Your God" Skummy likes to pull hot girls from the crowd up to dance. In San Diego he tried to get my girlfriend at the time to get up on stage but she didn't. While it would've been hot (because she is), I understand why she didn't, and quite frankly, I wouldn't want my girlfriend up there with dirty rockstars and drunk floosies. But I digress...sort of... SL was founded by lead singer Skumlove and guitarist Robyn Sin. They've never had a record deal yet they've opened for national touring acts like Godhead, Type O Negative, and Professional Murder Music, among others. I really respect these guys. They have a great sound (it's like industrial metal fused with 80's new wave, punk, and electronica) and they do everything on their own: writing/distributing the music, promotion, merchandise. Also, before the band line-up was solid several famous guest musicians played with Skum and Robyn like Dino Cazares from Fear Factory, Justin Bennett (one of the best drummers to watch live) from Professional Murder Music, and Frank Mercurio of Cypress Hill. They're down to four members now (there used to be two guitarists, now there's only Robyn) but even without the extra guy they sounded AWESOME. Skummy is a great frontman. He really knows how to work the crowd...although the lady in her 40's (she was there for Metal Skool) standing next to me was not all that impressed...I always giggled whenever Skum would stand in front of us at the edge of the stage and rock out because this lady would just cringe...hehehe...but they played four new tracks including the bad-ass, first time ever live number called "My Machine". I'd say "Go check them out!" but then again, I don't think a lot of people who are in to that kind of metal read this blog...but whatever...Go check them out! (Their link has been added to the right)
Now, on to Metal Skool. For those who don't know them, they are, as mentioned above, an 80's metal cover band. You might have seen them as Danger Kitty in a Discover card commercial a few years back. They basically dress up and act like 80's rock stars...but they are a tight band, very technically talented, and it's a fun show. Here's some of the songs they played last night so you can get an idea of what to experience at a Metal Skool show: "Nothin' but a Good Time" and "Every Rose Has its Thorn" by Poison, "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns n' Roses, "Photograph" by Def Leppard, "The Final Countdown" by Europe, "Live Wire" by Mötley Crüe, "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC...I'm missing a few tunes, but they closed with "Jump" by Van Halen. The singer and the guitarist from AFI guested on "Live Wire" and some guy from ESPN got the bouncers to let him up on stage because he was showing off the Super Bowl Championship ring one of the New England Patriots...at first I was like "Huh?" but then he actually brought two of the Patriots up on stage. I'm not sure but I think it was a Linebacker and an Offensive Lineman (if those are real positions), but yeah, I couldn't hear the introductions all that well...although I really don't care. The football players did guest vocals on "Highway to Hell"...one of the guys only new the chorus line which is basically the title of the song but the other guy did an amazing job on the vocals...but then he tried to do the rock star leap off the drum kit stage and almost fell flat on his ass. There was also a very spikey haired guy who looked like he was in his early 40's who did guest guitar on "Sweet Child O'Mine"...I have no idea who he was but he was wearing a New York Dolls shirt.
Basically, if you grew up in the 80's and listened to heavy metal hair bands, you would love this show. In between songs they do a lot of banter amongst themselves and with the audience. There's a lot of talk about doing drugs, boobs, having sex with groupies, boobs, drinking, boobs, making fun of Lexxi the retarded bass player (who I think is the coolest guy in the band)...did I mention boobs? It's all crude, but still very funny for the most part. They also like to get girls on stage to flash the audience. In the past one angry punk chick even got up, dropped her pants, and rubbed her 'clitosaurus' a bit. At this particular show, some dorky girl who looked like she was only 15 kept getting up on stage but refused to flash the audience, but that's ok because I didn't need to see that anyways...so her friend jumped on stage and made out with her instead. Some heavy-set and definitely drunk lady even jumped on stage and it looked like she was bitching out the guitarist all the while trying to grab his balls. It took FOUR security guards to get that lady out of the venue...she was a fighter...
The venue was PACKED...TONS of people at this show. I read on Skumlove's 'day after' update about the show that there was a line of like a hundred people lined up down the block trying to get into this show. Damn, it was hot in there... I happened to be sandwiched between the aforementioned lady in her 40's who hated Skumlove to the right of me and Metal Skool's 'Slut of the Month,' a girl named Karissa, to the left of me... Need background info? Ok, every month girls send in pictures to the band and the guys pick one girl to be their 'Slut of the Month.' If you go to Metal Skool's main page, there's a link on the left for the 'SotM'...if you're reading this in the month of August and beyond, the pic has changed and I don't think they archive the 'Slut' pictures...
After they finished with "Jump" they sold CDs and DVDs from the stage. I picked up one copy of each at ten dollars a piece. Wait, a cover band has CDs and DVDs??? Yup. Both are available at their web site or at their shows, obviously. The CD is called "Hole Patrol" and features an intro, four original tunes (Big Boobs, Hell's on Fire, Fat Girl (Thar She Blows), and Stripper Girl), three comedy interlude bits, and a cover of "Cleveland Roxx." The DVD has their video of "Fat Girl" as well as backstage prep, interviews, and alternate takes/deleted scenes from the music video. It's all quite funny.
So yeah, that was my evening. I didn't get home until about 2:30AM and only got about three hours of sleep...so I'm crashing right about now.
"Listen, there is no fucking ice cream in your fucking future!"
posted by Scott at 1:59 PM
1 Comments:
I LOVE Metal Skool!!!!! Why are they moving again????? They used to be Metal Shop and played at the Viper Room but fell out with their management, changed their names (and the name of their band) and moved to the Roxy.
So the Key Club, Monday nights? Are they still with National Lampoon?
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