What's wrong with this country
First of all, shame on all of you who haven't seen "Grindhouse." I know there are a lot of you. While more Americans opted to pay for the pleasure of watching "Are We Done Yet?" last weekend, you can rest assured that the rest of the world will love "Grindhouse." First of all, you get two entire movies plus intermission entertainment for your ticket price, and the features are dissimilar enough to make you feel as if it's not all the same thing for 3 hours and eleven minutes. Believe me, there are people who consider such a thing an inconvenience, very likely the same people who bitch when they're paying $9+ to see a movie that lasts less than 90 minutes. At the nearly-empty Saturday night screening I attended, people actually got up and left after "Planet Terror"... they didn't even stay for the Tarantino movie! This is the kind of public we're dealing with, all in a hurry to get back to their kids and their workouts and their liquor cabinets and their boring goddamned lives. Nincompoops, each of them.
Then there's the content. "Grindhouse" has bad-ass women, bad-ass music, bad-ass cars, bad-ass fake trailers and bad-ass head wreckings. As a longtime afficionado of the stuff it's meant to evoke, I can say that although they took some liberties as professional modern filmmakers, both Rodriguez and Tarantino did an excellent job. Personally, I liked "Planet Terror" better because it's an out-of-control '80s gore flick, down to the droning synth score and melting faces (the shot quoting Romero's undervalued "Day of the Dead" cinched it). Yet, I can see how someone might prefer Tarantino's character-driven '70s hybrid of California hippie, car chase and stalker pictures, as "Death Proof" isn't nearly as goopy. Neither is a perfect flick, but both are riveting for different reasons, and I liked that Rodriguez's kinetic entry came before Tarantino's slow-building one. The cast is uniformly fine, packed with genre favorites who all seem to understand what they're doing here. Everything, from the individual films to the fake trailers and inserts, was conceived with considerable knowledge of classic drive-in/grindhouse conventions, as well as what makes them appealing to people like myself so many years later.
Your local mall cinema can never again replicate the brazen hyperbole of the advertising, the eagerness to revel in taboos, the raucous individuality unfiltered by corporate machinery, the lure of garish sights and sounds respectable moviegoers can only dream about seeing when they pay to see Hollywood horror or action or nudie pictures. Characters in "Grindhouse" fought in the current Iraq war and send text messages, yet everyone's heart is clearly in that bygone era. It is our own greed and addiction to technological fads that led our drive-ins to become golf courses and our fleabag movie theaters to be converted into yuppie lofts. If it were a runaway box office success, "Grindhouse" could have struck a cultural blow for the righteous, but everybody stayed home and colored eggs. If you want to see "Grindhouse" but are waiting for the DVDs like it's "Failure to Launch" or some other useless sitcom shit, you don't deserve to see it at all. You make baby terrorists smile.
In an increasingly rare situation for tours these days, I saw two metal bands I really love on the same bill last week. The Haunted and Dark Tranquillity, perhaps Gothenburg's best modern representatives, are wrapping up their tour of the States this weekend. It was a strong pairing and the Chicago stop was a great show, no thanks to the venue. It occured at Metro, which, for you out-of-towners, is located down the street from Wrigley Field and is one of Chicago's most legendary rock clubs. Every local garage band aspires to play there, and the list of now-famous acts that have stood on its stage while their star rose is endless. When big names deign to play smaller shows in an attempt to "connect with the fans," their Chicago stop is often Metro (note the recent solo appearance by Chris Cornell, the upcoming solo appearances by Ben Gibbard or next month's sole Midwest show for those greedy Emperor bastards). When I was in college and loving living in the city, Metro was the place to be. Now, it's a big pain in the ass.
Every time I've gone there in recent memory, something has irked me, and last Wednesday's show had all of it. First, it's standard practice for venues to screw metal fans because we're all ignorant reprobates. The most glaring example - practiced all over town and rarely replicated at non-metal shows - is making the first band on the bill start playing as soon as the doors are opened, so that by the time the last people in line are inside they've missed an entire set. Metro is even shadier. In this instance, the announced door time was 6 p.m., the announced start time 6:30. The first act on the four-band bill reportedly went on at 6:15. I say "reportedly" because I was naturally stuck in traffic, then looking for parking, which has gotten worse around that area over the years. By the time I entered at exactly 7:10, I'd missed half of the bands. Granted, I came for the co-headliners, but that was weak. I go to a lot of shows specifically to see the opening bands, but I will avoid doing so at Metro from now on. Especially if it's a metal show... as if they book many good ones there, anyway.
Now, a big trend among the more corporate music venues in Chicago has been to ban smoking. The entire city goes smoke-free in January of next year, but real "rock n' roll" spots like Metro and House of Blues did away with it well beforehand. As a smoker, this is inconvenient to me, but I have no problem going outside in shitty weather for my habit. It's not everyone else's fault that I smoke, and they shouldn't be forced to be stuck in a room with me when I am. However, I have a major problem with places that won't even let you leave to smoke, such as, oh, real "rock n' roll" spots like Metro and House of Blues. (For the time being, Metro will let you smoke in a closed-off area of the adjacent Smart Bar, but what time they open it is completely random from show to show.) If I'm paying money to see a concert and choosing to miss part of it in order to indulge my naughty habit, what business is it of theirs? What, they can't control the influx of people coming and going? With all that cash and staff, I find that hard to believe. If one doorman at a little joint like Beat Kitchen or the Empty Bottle can handle a capacity crowd going in and out with the help of futuristic technology known as the "hand stamp," surely these rich fucks can afford the same.
This being an all-ages show, the curfew was 10 p.m., but memories of Metro in happier times tell me that all-ages headliners usually play until about 9:58, then come back for their encore and finish by about 10 or 10:15. At this particular show, The Haunted left the stage and the house lights came up at 9:55. When the fuck did Metro become stringent about the curfew? So, they started the show earlier than the announced time, only gave the openers a pittance of stage time, wouldn't let anyone smoke until they felt like it and kicked everybody out early. Other complaints: You can be the only one drinking at an all-ages show and the waitresses will still ignore you. If you want beer, it will cost you $6 a pop, more if you believe in tipping, a buck less if you believe in paying $5 for carbonated piss. The bathrooms are a clusterfuck. If Metro's sold out and you leave your spot to hit the clusterfuck bathrooms because you've been drinking $5 carbonated piss, you have little chance of actually seeing anything when you get back because they pack that place to the doors. Man, I used to love Metro... either I was naïve, or it has really started to suck. I suppose when they're at a really cool club, patrons will put up with any old shit, but I'm too old to find being treated like cattle attractive. I should have seen this tour in Milwaukee.
A radio host made an offensive remark? That this shocks anyone in 2007 completely blows my mind. I have never listened to Don Imus in my life. You could have told me he was syndicated in Chicago and I would have believed you. Unless you count NPR, I avoid talk radio like the stentorian, headache-inducing plague that it is. However, prior to this recent incident, what I did know about the guy is that he looks like a mummy and that he's a professional cage-rattler. Like many of his ilk, he made the big bucks precisely because he raised listeners' eyebrows. Does anyone really think Imus called those girls what he did out of true hate or even true ignorance? Furthermore, do news outlets really think that repeating his comment fifty times a day in the context of "analysis" somehow makes them better than him? Because he didn't swear or even use a word deemed non-broadcast-friendly, all this fucking circus has done is cement the phrase "nappy headed hos" in every American's mind. (<-- Look, I just helped their cause!) I predict Imus will get a job on satellite radio within six months. In other recent news, some guy no one's ever heard of knocked up a talentless but healthily-bosomed addict who was considered a washed-up joke half a decade ago, and Kurt Vonnegut died. Which one did you hear more about? Fuck a pile of shit on the floor, do I loathe the mass media.
Here are some things I wrote about metal lately - reviews of the new Type O Negative and Chimaira CDs and my full interview with Paul Kuhr of Novembers Doom. Have a sparkling weekend!
posted by SoulReaper at 2:04 AM
4 Comments:
Type O Negative, Dead Again (SPV) ***
You wouldn't know it from their gloomy image, but Type O Negative has a great sense of humor. How else to explain the quick tempos found on the first two tracks of their sixth LP, which seem to signal a return to the band's roots as a goth/hardcore mutation? Are they trying to scare away fans expecting candy-coated, tooth-rattling gothic doom metal?
Worry not, ye willowy vampyre types; bassist/vocalist Peter Steele occasionally resurrects his old band Carnivore to exorcise his punk-metal fits. Yes, Dead Again moves at a quicker pace than expected, its apex the nearly brutal "Some Stupid Tomorrow." Otherwise, from the green-and-black cover art to Steele's steely, textured bass tone to the band's inimitable mix of Black Sabbath gloom and Beatles swoon, this is still Type O Negative.
What sets this band's records apart from each other are their unique quirks. This one has the occasional speed. There's no cover song, a staple of their records since their breakthrough, 1993's Bloody Kisses. There's even a misstep in the goofy pop-punk-ish "Halloween in Heaven."
"She Burned Me Down" includes a bizarre Laibach-esque military marching interlude. The verses of ballad "September Sun" are exceptionally lush and pretty. The velvety shoegazer lope closing "Hail and Farewell to Britain" (and the album) is disrupted by the sounds of dive-bombing war planes. In the midst of a bluesy boogie breakdown in "An Ode to Locksmiths," Steele hollers "Come on!" and quietly counters with a bratty "You come on."
There's that sense of humor at work, the major Type O component that no other goth metal act has been able to replicate. More than a case of smiling through the pain, the teeth in these grins are formidable weapons.
*******
Chimaira, Resurrection (Ferret) **
The fourth LP from Cleveland post-thrashers Chimaira welcomes original drummer Andols Herrick back to the fold. Other changes are afoot as well.
Chalk those up to guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries, whose chug-a-lug stomp gets a little breathing room here. Indeed, it is their occasional injection of guitar melody ("No Reason to Live," "The Flame") that keeps the disc from sinking into the morass of petulant, tuneless Pantera/Machine Head wannabes somehow still surviving in this day and age.
Check out the ruthless, breakneck thrashing that kicks off "Worthless," leading to a tough groove in the chorus which is embellished by clanking mechanical sounds by Chris Spicuzza (credited with "electronics"). The only flaw in the gleaming armor is the chorus itself, vocalist Mark Hunter crossly hollering "Worthless! You're worthless!" Meh.
It's inconsistency that's keeping Chimaira from the upper echelons. Every song on Resurrection has attention-grabbing moments - see the long and tuneful piano-laced guitar solo in "Six" or the creeping, doomy intro to "Black Heart" for more. But no song combines those moments into a standout track, and waiting to get to the cool parts gets old.
While never particularly innovative or emotionally affecting, Chimaira is a technically proficient ensemble that does chunky American aggro as well as any in 2007. Fans will likely be thrilled with its amount of variation, although a casual onlooker would be excused for considering Resurrection electro-tinged Lamb of God Lite.
*******
Doom departure
Veterans Novembers Doom expand Chicago metal horizons
Say the word "doom" to metal fans, and they will tell you it means "dark, heavy and slow." They will point you to epochal bands such as Black Sabbath and Pentagram, St. Vitus and Trouble, Candlemass and Paradise Lost, Sleep and Sunn O))).
They might even mention Chicago veterans Novembers Doom. After all, the word is there in their name, and for more than a decade, the band built a solid international reputation as a quality doom/death metal act in the morose, melodic European tradition. However, in 2007, the quintet has surely outgrown the confines of the term.
Their new CD, The Novella Reservoir (The End), is often dark and heavy, even occasionally slow. Vocalist and founder Paul Kuhr continues to offer the extremely personal perspective that Novembers Doom delivered on previous efforts such as The Pale Haunt Departure and To Welcome the Fade.
However, the surge of energy that hits listeners in opening track "Rain" rumbles throughout the disc. Faster tempos and punchier rhythms dominate, the results invariably engaging and remaining unique. When the lilting acoustic ballad "Twilight Innocence" beams like sunlight through the gray, it's clear that these guys have expanded their horizons. The band fits under no classification except the wide umbrella of "metal."
Next weekend, the band takes the stage of Mokena's Pearl Room as part of Chicago Powerfest 2007, an event now in its fifth edition and which underwent its own renovation this year. Once a classic metal showcase, this year's fest offers a wider array of styles.
Powerfest organizer Rob Such says, "This is without a doubt the best lineup we've ever had. Hopefully, this will be the year that puts the fest on the map, that will make people look forward to it every year regardless of who's playing."
Among their co-participants are thrashers Shatter Messiah, traditional doomsters Solitude Aeturnus, Canadian technical death metal band Martyr, prog metal icons Lethal and cult Danish doom/death act Saturnus. In a coup de grace designed to define Chicago Powerfest as a destination festival, the weekend is capped by one of the final live appearances of briefly reunited jazz-death legends Atheist.
Paul Kuhr recently spoke with me about Novembers Doom. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.
Q: Tell me about The Novella Reservoir. Are you satisfied with it? I've seen nothing but positive reviews.
A: Absolutely. The reviews have been actually much better than we expected. When we made the album, we thought taking a step outside the box a little bit, out of the comfort zone of what people were expecting, we thought might have more of a negative effect on some people than it has. Surprisingly, I think the reviews have been better for this album than anything we've done.
Q: There's definitely more aggression in the songs. I don't think you could call it a straight-up "doom" record at all. There are, what, two doom metal songs on it?
A: I wouldn't necessarily call those doom. We've really tried over the last few albums to step away from that genre. You'll always hear the doom metal influence and the dark side of things in our music, but we don't want to be pigeonholed into one specific style. I think you're alienating fans. There's a huge metal market out there, and we're trying to reach as many of those people as possible, and just playing one style has locked us into a specific genre. I think we can offer a lot more than just that.
Q: Do you really think this record will reach out to new listeners? If so, to whom?
A: We're hoping so. I'm not sure. The problem comes in because we have this preconceived stereotype of what out music is going to sound like. There are so many people who might not like that style of music that won't even give us the chance. For this album, what's really important is word of mouth and a lot of people helping to spread the word. The reviews and things like that are definitely turning people's heads. I've noticed personally, just from e-mails and things like that, we have definitely brought in a lot of new fans this time that admittedly would say they wouldn't have given us a chance in the past.
We've been around for so long, and we're all in our mid-30s. I think a lot of bands in our situation, who have been doing this for a long time, tend to turn their backs a little bit on the young generation of metal fans just because of what kind of metal is most popular these days. I definitely think that there could be more crossover fans. I think a lot of these young kids who are into metalcore and things like that, I think if they’re exposed to and shown more metal like this, there's that possibility where you can convert some of those younger fans to your music.
Q: Sure. Everybody who listens to metal started off with something more mainstream. Everybody starts on Metallica or something, you just don't pick up Anathema right away. But at the same time, I think the doom genre has changed a lot. Over the last decade, it's really become a diverse style in and of itself.
A: Yeah, it's really strange because it's one of the only styles of metal that has so many different subgenres, you get specific fans of just certain subgenres of that. So, the "true doom" fans don't like the "death/doom" stuff... it's so separated within its own genre, it's just ridiculous.
Q: It seems like extreme vocal styles are more accepted by younger fans. When I first got into metal, I was turned off by death metal vocals for a long time, but nowadays a kid could get into Lamb of God or something and already be used to the "growling" sort of vocals by the time they hear real death metal. And your vocals are very discernable. A listener can make out what you're saying. Whereas someone not attuned to extreme vocals might assume it’s all growling, your style is very approachable. Do you make a point to do that?
A: It was the main goal when I started the band that long ago, absolutely. It was one of those things where my influences back in the day, when I decided to start doing this, were... I don't know if you remember the Chicago band Sindrome?
Q: Oh, yeah. I've got their demos.
A: And Devastation, and all those Chicago bands. They had such power and strength in their voice and a little bit of the raspiness, yet it was extremely clear and understandable. At the same time, I was hearing bands when they were first starting out like Grave and things like that. So, my intentions were to have the deep growl like a band like Grave, only with the clarity of a band like Sindrome. It's definitely something I've worked on from the very beginning.
Q: The Novella Reservoir is not a concept record with a story and all that, but the songs do seem connected via the artwork and lyrical imagery.
A: Absolutely. Even Pale Haunt was kind of the same way. I like to consider them to be themed. They're not concepts, the only concept CD we ever did was The Knowing and it was a difficult process, so I don't think I ever want to touch a concept album again. But I do enjoy themes that kind of tie things together so you know basically what album it comes from. That's exactly what it is. The theme of this album, I used water as the linking source between all the songs.
Q: I know you did some of the artwork. You're a graphic designer, right? Is that what you do for a living outside the band?
A: Actually, it's what I did do for many, many years. It's what I do by trade, I still do it freelance. Technically, I'm retired. I have a spine disease, and my spine disease has put me on permanent disability. That's one of the reasons that the band is as limited as it is, there's only so much I can do.
Q: Does that affect touring?
A: It affects everything. From getting out of bed in the morning, it affects everything in my life. It affects touring. It affects quality of life all around.
Q: I'm very sorry to hear that.
A: Thanks, man. I've been living with it for about eight years now, so it's just become part of my daily routine, something I've got to deal with.
Q: Anyway, I was asking about the artwork. Travis Smith did most of the art, but some of the pieces were yours. Did you want to leave your visual mark on these particular songs? Why did you combine your efforts?
A: It was time issues. Everyone always asks why I don't do my own artwork for the band. The simple answer to that is that I'm so over-critical of myself and my own work, on the CDs I have done for Novembers Doom, I can never enjoy it. Even when I get the finished product and I look at the cover, I always look at it and think, "Ah, I should have done this, I should have changed this color, I should have done that." I can never fully enjoy the finished piece, so I started using outside artists to do it, so when I pick up the album, I can enjoy it.
This time we hired a couple of different artists, and no one could quite get the vision I was looking for. When I went to Travis and had him start working on things, we had a deadline to meet. All the work I needed Travis to do, he just couldn't get it done with his schedule and get it in to meet that deadline. Basically, I just had to jump in and help him out, fill out a couple of the songs so we could make sure we got the CD handed in on time.
Q: Is the city skyline on the cover supposed to be Chicago?
A: No. It's funny, because everybody keeps drawing that conclusion. I keep getting asked that. I don't know, to be honest, because Travis did the cover. I don’t think it's intentional, but it kind of looks like it, so we could say, "yes." (laughs) It might be, to be honest with you. Knowing where we're from, he might have used that as his springboard to create it. I'll have to ask him that, actually. Now you've got me curious.
Q: You put out a limited version that comes with a book with all your lyrics, or explaining all your lyrics. I didn't get a copy, it sold out too quickly...
A: Actually, the book is still for sale. You can get it on our site. The only thing the limited edition was, it was the book, the CD, a poster, a signed photo, a sticker, and it all comes in a velvet bag. That was what was limited. The book itself, that's still available. We'll be selling it at shows.
Q: You had a pretty famous team working on the mix and mastering, the same people as last time. Do you prefer to have different people handle different parts of that process?
A: We tried it on Pale Haunt and what I think worked so well about it... I mean, we had the opportunity to work with Dan Swanö, and most of us in the band being such longtime fans of his, it was an honor to be able to work with him. I contacted him out of the clear blue. I e-mailed him and I said, "We're fans of yours, I know you used to do recording and things like that, would you be interested in mixing our album?" And he said, "You know, it's funny you e-mailed me when you did because recently I've kind of started thinking about doing this again." So we were the first band he started doing on the outside again, and I think we kind of kicked him into mixing other bands again. I'm kind of proud we got him out of retirement.
Q: Yeah, I heard he'd reopened Unisound...
A: Yeah, yeah. I like to think we helped that quite a bit. It's one of those things where we've done CDs out here on our own, we've recorded, we've mixed, and something was always lacking at the end. We'd listen to it and go, "Ah, something's missing from that." We came up with the idea to record everything here and give it to somebody else to mix who had a completely fresh set of ears and fresh ideas who hasn't heard the material yet. Each time Dan has mixed the album, he's added a little more to it, maybe tonally, maybe something he does with an echo or a reverb or an effect, something that we hadn't thought of. It added that element that we always felt was missing.
For us, it's been the perfect combination. Working with Chris Djuricic in Wisconsin, I don't think Chris gets enough credit. Everyone hears the finished piece and they always say, "Wow, Dan did a great job." Dan did a phenomenal job, but Dan couldn't have done the job he did without the recording. The recording's the foundation. If you give Dan shit to work with, it's going to sound like shit. It's been a process of great people from the beginning to the end. When it gets to James Murphy for mastering, James has got an ear, he hears things that most people don't hear. He hears things in frequencies that ten people will listen to and go, "James, I don't know what you're talking about," but he hears it and he fixes it. When you compare the two, you hear a difference. You don't quite know what it is, but you know one's better than the other. So, we've been blessed to work with phenomenal people.
Q: Is Chris playing bass with you guys now? He's on the record.
A: Yep. He is actually now a full-time member of the band. We were going in to record and we said, "Yeah, we don't have a full-time bass player, [guitarist] Larry [Roberts] is probably gonna do all the bass." He said, "Hey, let me do it." We said, "All right, we'll check out the tunes, see how you do." He did a great job, they sounded awesome. We did a European tour, he volunteered to come with us and do the tour, and things just clicked so well that we discussed it and decided to make him a full time member.
Q: Now, three of the four bands from that tour are playing at Chicago Powerfest this year.
A: Absolutely. And then we're going out on the road for, like, four days, the same three bands just kind of continuing the tour over here.
Q: It's cool that people in the States will get to see it. I'm personally really looking forward to Saturnus. I'm not familiar with Thurisaz...
A: Oh, they're great. A great bunch of guys, too.
Q: How did Novembers Doom go over on your first European tour?
A: It was phenomenal! We went over there expecting very little. We were just so excited to play Europe, we said if we played for 50 people a night, we would be happy. We were even told in some areas, going into Germany they were telling us, "Pre-sales are real low, you've only sold sixteen tickets in Berlin so don't expect a big crowd..." and 250 kids showed up! It was unbelievable. We did not have one bad night on the entire tour. Belgium, 450 people. It was amazing. It was the greatest experience we've had on the road.
Q: You didn't play any festivals while you were over there?
A: No, it was just a tour... we played ten dates. It was pretty short because all of us have jobs and things like that in the band, and it was difficult to get anyone away longer than two weeks. Our tours have to be kind of short. We headlined the tour, Agalloch was direct support, Saturnus was on half the tour and then Thurisaz was on the entire thing, so the bill itself was really strong.
Q: I saw you last year up at the Heathen Crusade in Minnesota...
A: Excellent.
Q: ...and you're on Powerfest this year, and you're playing the Alehorn of Power at Double Door in June.
A: Then we're playing with Mayhem in July at Joe’s.
Q: Awesome! I didn't hear who was supporting them yet. That definitely speaks of the different crowds to which you can play. Are there any more local shows lined up?
A: No, those are the only ones we're focusing on. After the summer, we were offered a Canadian tour in August we're considering, and we're talking about going back to Europe for another two weeks in November. Our guitarist Larry gets married in October, so there's a lot of preparation and things like that and we've got to be careful with our schedule this year a little bit. We're being really selective in what we do. We're trying to get the most impact that we can because of our limitations, so when we do play shows we want to make sure that they're definitely going to win us over a few new people.
Q: How long has Novembers Doom been around?
A: We formed in 1989.
Q: What keeps you going after all this time?
A: It's the love of the music. We’ve never looked at this as a living or for financial gain. We have always considered and openly admit that Novembers Doom is a glorified hobby. I think going at it with that attitude for so long has kept us grounded; it's kept us faithful to our style. There are a lot of bands that start out in one style and they realize, "You know, if we soften up, if we do things a little different, we can make more money." We've never done that because we've never approached this band in that way. After this amount of time, it becomes something that helps define who I am. It's something that we all enjoy so much and get along doing.
The benefits are basically, we've now had the opportunity to travel Europe and, so, whereas I can't feed my family with Novembers Doom, I get to see things I would maybe never have the opportunity to see. The payoff is different, but there's great benefit in it. I'm just thrilled that something that we do, that we love so much... I know it sounds cliché, but that anybody would go out and buy our CD and like this band is just a benefit because we truly just do this because we love it.
Q: All of your music going way back has a lot of emotion in it. Most of it's pretty dark...
A: It's a personal therapy. It's a release for all of us. You can tell where our minds were when we were writing certain songs for certain CDs. When we started writing To Welcome the Fade, that's when I was diagnosed with my spine condition, so there are a lot of personal things going into the lyrics from that album on.
Q: One of my favorite songs on the new one is "Twilight Innocence," it's really beautiful. It's about your daughter, correct?
A: Yes it is.
Q: It's so peaceful and hopeful. It's not at all what someone would expect from a band with the word "doom" in its name.
A: It's one of those songs that we know going into, writing and recording it, you can usually tell what song you're gonna catch the most slack for. That's one of those songs where people either love it or felt that it's completely out of place and does not belong on the record. "How dare you put a song like that on a metal CD! It's a total puss song!" It's like, you know what, man? (laughs)
Q: It's 2007!
A: Exactly. I'm not doing this to please everybody. We do it to please ourselves, and when you've got five guys in a band with so many different influences, we try to make things different. I also think it helps break up the monotony of the CD. If every song sounded like "Rain" from beginning to end, it would be a pretty boring CD. I think doing stuff like that helps show another side of what we can do musically. Then there's guys who are more open-minded today and can appreciate that too, and it just helps for a more well-rounded, balanced disc.
Q: That's all my questions for you, Paul. Anything else you'd like to add?
A: Just that fans should come out to Powerfest and support us. You'll get to see bands like Saturnus and Thurisaz for their first time on American soil. It's gonna be a great opportunity, it's gonna be fun. Definitely get out there and see Powerfest!
Your commentary, as always, makes one wish you were at the helm of FOX news instead of the satanic goat that is currently in place. Thank Gorgo I listen to NPR 12 hours a day--they had a plethora of Vonnegut stories. I learned that Billy Pilgrim was not actually abducted by aliens, but went insane! I only appreciate news if it makes me feel stupid, not superior. That means it's doing its job.
First: Jeff, the two week delay after a month of daily posts was interminable. But shit, you sure covered everything.
Second: I saw "Grindhouse" opening night in an auditorium that wasn't sold out but most certainly came close. And yes, as soon as "Planet Terror" ended, about six people left. Apparently, this phenomenon happened all over the country. Weinstein said "I don't think people understood that we were giving them two movies..." The question, then, remains: How come YOU AND I understood that? I humbly submit the answer: Because we are not retarded. So! What have the Weinsteins, in their infinite wisdom, decided to do about this situation? Bump up the marketing a little, perhaps, to reiterate the double feature? Or maybe, feature ANY online advertising AT ALL? No, none of those. They're talking about pulling "Grindhouse" from theatres and releasing it as TWO seperate movies with some extra goodies thrown into each. So instead of offering us TWO movies for the price of ONE, they're going to give us the EXACT OPPOSITE -- ONE movie for the price of TWO (at least for those of us who have already seen "Grindhouse").
Speaking of which, I need to add some clarification to a statement you made: "The rest of the world will love Grindhouse... you get two entire movies for your ticket price." In actuality, outside of North America, "Grindhouse" already WAS cut up and released as two seperate films. I guess they were under the impression the Europeans wouldn't "get" the "concept" of a double feature... oh, the irony.
SS: Thanks, glad to have you back.
KT: I was a little burnt out and have been working on my awesome screenplay, hence the delay.
I'd heard that the original plan was to release the "Grindhouse" movies separately overseas, but that that wasn't the case anymore. The IMDB tells me differently... except for Australia, it seems to be split up everywhere else. I suppose that if Bob & Harvey are planning to separate them here, it makes sense that they'll do it everywhere. The DVDs are coming out separately for sure, possibly with the "missing reels" inserted. So, once again, see this thing now before you can't.
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