This blog specializes in heavy metal music and how it relates to Washington DC and the surrounding area. Featuring info on upcoming metal concerts in Washington DC, Baltimore and Virginia, as well as info on local bands, area concert venues, reviews of live gigs, and lots of give aways.
We promised two great contests this week and now here’s the second one! The masters of stoner metal riffage, Sleep, are going to be making a rare appearance in Washington DC on Sunday, June 26th at the 9:30 Club and you don’t want to miss it! We’re going to give one of you lucky DCHM readers the chance to win a free pair of tickets to this sure to sell out show. To enter just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite stoner band of all time is. At 5pm EST on Monday, April 4th, 2016, the contest will end I’ll pick a winner at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Ticket Fly for just $30 here.
Sleep is known for their incredible ability to summon a very Black Sabbath vibe through some of the fuzziest stoner riffs out there! Guitarist Matt Pike spends most of his time in High On Fire these days and this Sleep “tour” only includes 7 North American dates, so getting to see Sleep in DC is a rare thing indeed, something that hasn’t happened in a decade. The the opener for this show is a perfect choice! Richmond based Windhand play some of the catchiest slow riffs in the modern doom metal world which blend perfectly with vocalist Dorthia Cottrell’s haunting voice. Now check out these videos of the bands below while you tell me in the comments what your favorite stoner band is!
If you’ve ever been to one of our heavy metal nights at a brewery then you definitely know that we here at DC Heavy Metal love craft beer almost as much as we love metal! When DC Brau announced that their 5 year anniversary celebration was going to be an outdoor metal show we started counting down the days! On Saturday, April 16th the parking lot area at the brewery is going to be fenced off and a stage is going to be set up with a killer line up including The Sword, Kvelertak, Torche, Serpent Throne and locals Loud Boyz. In addition, the brewmasters at DC Brau have teamed up with the brewers at 5 different breweries to make 5 special collaboration beers just for this anniversary show! We hope you are as excited about this line up of excellent bands and beers as we are and so we’re doing a special give away for this one. One of you lucky DCHM readers will get a pair of general admission tickets to this very event and another one of you with even better luck is going to be getting a pair of VIP tickets to the event (you must be 21 or older to win the VIP tickets)! To enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me which band you’re most excited to see at this show (if you don’t know any of them check out the videos at the bottom of this post). On Friday, March 25th at 5pm EST the contest will close and I’ll pick two winners at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries. The first winner will get the pair of general admission tickets and the second winner will get the pair of VIP tickets. If you are under 21 please specify so because I will not be giving the VIP tickets to a minor but you can still win the general admission tickets. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from a selected winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random.
And what exactly do the tickets get you? The general admission tickets will get you into the event where you can watch all of the the bands perform, buy beer and food and generally have a great time. The VIP tickets include all of that as well as access inside the brewery for a VIP-only bar, catered barbecue, complimentary unlimited beer, and guaranteed access to all the collaboration brews. If you don’t want to wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this then you can purchase tickets either at the 9:30 Club box office (to avoid fees) or online from Ticket Fly for $45 (GA) or $200 (VIP) here.
Now, here’s a little bit more about the bands and those special collaboration beers. The Sword is a groovin’ doom metal band from Austin, Texas, and they’ll be headlining this show. Kvelertak is a high energy rock/metal band from Norway that incorporates elements of punk and black metal into a unique sound that is all their own and they’re known for their wild live shows. Torche is a band from Miami, Florida, and they call their heavy yet catchy music thunder pop which actually makes perfect sense when you hear them. Serpent Throne is an instrumental stoner band from Philadelphia and they’ve got a ton of sick riffs. Loud Boyz are a local party rock band that formed from the ashes of the party thrash band Warchild. That’s a pretty sweet line up, but lets not forget those 5 exclusive collaboration beers. Cigar City in Tampa, Florida is known for making one of the best stouts in the world, Hunahpu Imperial Stout, so I’m pretty excited to see what kind of big stout they’ve cooked up with the DC Brau guys, a beer they’ve named The Wise And The Lovely. Alexandria brewery Port City‘s collaboration with DC Brau produced a dunkel, which is a German style dark lager (dunkel is the German word for dark) and while it won’t be a heavy as the aforementioned stout this beer, Zehn von Zehn, will surely be quite refreshing. They aren’t all dark beers though, for example the collaboration with Sun King in Indianapolis, Indiana is a double IPA brewed with rye and named Ripa the Dipa. The collaboration with Austin Beerworks in Austin, Texas is an India style lager (so expect it to be more hoppy than most lagers) named Celestial Garden. Last but not least the collaboration with St. Louis based Perennial Artisan Ales is a Belgian style saison with rose hips and hibiscus added to give Pink Pallet Jack a pink hue.
OK I know I’ve been more wordy on this post than my contests usually are but there’s a lot of info for this event! If you’d like even more info you can check out the official Facebook event page for it here or go read DC Brau’s announcement post here. Now check out these videos below and tell me which band you’re most excited to see on April 16th at DC Brau’s 5th Anniversary Celebration!
On Friday, February 12th, the 9:30 Club is going to be invaded by Swedish rockers Graveyard. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, we’re going to give away a pair of tickets to the show to one of you lucky DCHM readers to get your Valentine’s Day weekend started off right! To enter: leave a comment on this post telling me what the best show you’ve ever seen at the 9:30 Club is! Please include details, I’m going to enjoy these. If you haven’t ever been to the 9:30 Club you can just say that you hope Graveyard will be the best! At 5pm EST on Friday, February 5th, 2016, the contest will end I’ll pick a winner at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. Please note that this is an early show, doors open at 6pm, so if you can’t get there in time please don’t enter. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Ticket Fly for just $25 here.
Graveyard plays a very catchy blues influenced style of hard rock than any fan of the heavy can enjoy. If you haven’t checked out their modern classic album Hisingen Blues I highly suggest it as a great starting point for getting into the band. Their latest album, Innocence & Decadence is pretty damn good too. And while Graveyard has played in Washington DC before, never have they played in the District on a stage with the size and sound set up like the 9:30 Club’s. The opening act is Spiders, a rock band also from Gothenburg, Sweden, that was formed as a side project of Graveyard drummer Axel Sjöberg though they have now come into their own. Now check out these great videos by the bands below and let me know what was your favorite show ever at the 9:30 Club!
Well all our year end posts have put me a bit behind on things but better late than never I suppose. On Sunday, December 27th I was at the 9:30 Club to see Clutch play along with Crobot and Valkyrie. There was a film crew there so it is very likely that this show, or at least parts of it, could wind up on a future Clutch video.
I got there early to make sure I could catch Valkyrie. The band is from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and is probably best known for sharing a guitarist with the band Baroness, Pete Adams. However it is Pete’s brother Jake Adams that is the driving force behind Valkyrie. The band’s sound is steeped in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with Jake’s vocals often pausing for several extended dueling guitar solos between the Adams brothers. Riffs abound and the chemistry between the brothers is as apparent as the fun they were having while performing on the 9:30 Club’s big stage. These guys have been something of a regional secret and it’s about time the word gets out about them. Hopefully this winter mini tour with Clutch will lead to bigger and better things for them.
The next band to play was Crobot from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. They’re a relatively new band, having formed in 2011, though they obviously see themselves as some sort of 70s throwback band. I’m generally ok with throwback bands but I’ve got to admit these guys just didn’t do it for me. I found their songs overly simple and the vocalist, Brandon Yeagley, was running around on stage striking poses like a coked up Steven Tyler. His voice was reminiscent of Geddy Lee, which is probably a good thing to some and bad thing to others, but honestly his stage presence was so annoying I quickly lost interest in not just him but the entire band.
Finally it was time for local favorites Clutch! This was the first time the Germantown, Maryland, based band would play to a local audience since the release of their latest album, Psychic Warfare, back in October. The album was well received and Clutch played the entire album throughout the course of the night, though not in order. A giant sized banner with the new album’s cover artwork hung behind Clutch while they performed their new songs with some older tunes thrown in throughout as well, and what a performance it was! The band hit the stage hot and seemed to fly through their set list without a whole lot of talking between songs. Clutch has really perfected their sound and live performance over the years and shows like this one make it obvious that they aren’t slowing down any time soon. Many bands at this stage of their careers start to lose a step or three but Clutch seems to only be getting better. It’s a rare quality that makes their energetic live shows special every time they play to their home crowd here in DC.
Below are my shots of the bands that night, you can click on any of them to see them full sized.
Pack some Visine with your ear plugs this weekend because Bongzilla is headlining the Metro Gallery on Saturday, October 24th (that’s this coming weekend). To help you stoner metal fans motivate for this show we’re going to give away a free pair of tickets the show! To enter: leave a comment on this post telling me what you favorite stoner metal song of all time is (I’m half expecting all entries to be Dopesmoker by Sleep) and this Thursday, October 22nd at 5pm EST a winner will be chosen at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to receive two tickets to the show! Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. Please do not enter if you are under 18 because this show is for ages 18+ only and winning tickets from me will not get you past the door guy asking to see your ID. If you can’t wait to see if you win, or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from right now for $20 from Ticket Fly here.
Bongzilla is a Madison, Wisconsin based stoner metal band that has been pretty quiet for the past 10 years. They’ve been added to next year’s Maryland Deathfest bill but you don’t have to wait until May to see Bongzilla play live! If you’re into stoner metal then you don’t want to miss the return of Bongzilla to our area this weekend! In addition, there’s some great stoner/doom local bands on the bill as well including Baltimore’s own Corpse Light, Slagstorm from Hagerstown (featuring members of Fortress) and Northern Virginia based Foehammer, who you may remember played the DCHM holiday party last year. Now check out these sweet songs by the bands on the bill and let me know what your favorite stoner metal song is.
Band: Clutch Album: Psychic Warfare Release Date: 2 October 2015 Record Label: Weathermaker Music Buy CD ($9.79) or digital ($9.49) from:Amazon
Clutch has come a long way since their days on a major label. They show no signs of slowing down now that they release their albums through their own label, Weathermaker Music. DCHM writer Buzzo Jr breaks down the blue collar heroes’ latest call to arms in the following review of Psychic Warfare. Be sure to check out the music video at the end of this post.
For over 20 years Clutch has built up a dedicated cult following in the DMV area and beyond with their hard hitting brand of rock n roll. Now Maryland’s favorite band is back with their eleventh album Psychic Warfare, the much anticipated follow up to the immensely successful Earth Rocker from 2013. Like their previous album, Psychic Warfare is jam packed with high energy, blues driven stoner rock that’s begging to be played loud and is sure to get your head banging.
After a short intro track entitled “The Affidavit,” where frontman Neil Fallon’s deep voice asks the listener to take a seat and “Just start from the beginning,” the album gets off to a powerful start with “X-Ray Visions” which is filled to the brim with groovy riffs and hard hitting drum beats. The next track, “Firebirds,” is a song with an unbelievably catchy chorus aided in no small part by Neil Fallon’s fantastic vocals. Fallon is arguably one of the most charismatic and talented frontmen in music right now, with his deep, bellowing vocals and imaginative lyrics. His singing gives every song on the record its own sense of character; its own unique feel. Clutch start showing off their blues influences on the track “A Quick Death in Texas.” The blues laden riffs give off an undeniable ZZ Top vibe, but at the same time guitarist Tim Sult manages to inject his own style into the mix, perfectly blending melodic soloing with just enough grittiness in the riffs to ensure that at the end of the day it still sounds like a Clutch song. Tracks like “Sucker for the Witch” and “Your Love is Incarceration” has bassist Dan Maines utilizing his skills by laying down some infectiously funky bass lines that work in flawless unison with Sult’s guitar work. Fallon’s aforementioned lyricism is front and center during these two tracks, with great lines such as “It goes against my Catholic upbringing, I admit it, I’m a sucker for the witch!” or “As to the charges of gettin’ it down, Hey! Before the court, how do you plead? As to the charges that are laid before me: I confess, I am guilty in the first degree!” that are prime material for the crowds to chant along with the first time these tracks are played live.
The album comes to a slow interlude with “Doom Saloon;” an atmospheric instrumental reminiscent of the western inspired tunes on Earth’s album Hex; or Printing in the Infernal Method. The instrumental flows seamlessly into the beautiful “Our Lady of Electric Light.” The track is almost melancholy sounding with its slow tempos and clean melodies, and showcases Fallon’s vocal range by having him hold back his usual booming hollers in exchange for a reserved, southern croon. The tempo soon gets back into overdrive however with “Noble Savage.” Definitely the fastest song on “Psychic Warfare,” the track has the band playing at top speed with Fallon belting out lyrics like the life of his almighty beard depended on it, Sult letting solo after solo come loose, and Jean Paul Gaster beating his drum kit like it owes him money. JP’s drumming is the final piece of the puzzle that makes Clutch who they are. His drumming manages to work in influences from the area’s past music scenes such as the speedy kick pedal work found in the DC hardcore scene, and the simple yet effective beats found in gogo music. The next two tracks “Behold the Colossus” and “Decapitation Blues” continue on with the same great quality found on previous songs, with plenty of groovy riffs and foot stomping beats continuing to drive the album forward. Finally the stage is set for the closing track “Son of Virginia.” Clocking in at seven minutes in length, it’s their second longest track ever, surpassed only by the twelve minute “Dragonfly” from their Elephant Riders album which was released back in 1998. “Son of Virginia” is definitely what one would call an epic; starting out with a clean, southern tinged guitar line working in unison with Fallon’s ever so powerful voice that soon builds up into a tumultuous cascade of riffs and deep bluesy bellows, leaving us with the parting words of the album repeated as if it were a form of mantra: “Truly we are living in an age of wonder.”
While I think this album falls a bit short of Earth Rocker in terms of overall memorability, Clutch’s newest output is still one of the best records I’ve heard all year, from a local band or otherwise. Whether you’re already a fellow Clutch fan or this is your first time hearing about them, I highly recommend this to you either way. I can say with absolute certainty that I’m going to have Psychic Warfare playing on repeat for a good amount of time. And then probably Clutch’s entire discography. Pick up Psychic Warfare and turn up those speakers, because you’re in for a damn good time.
DCHeavyMetal.com 