Brian Posehn is a lifelong heavy metal fan in addition to being a popular actor, comedian and comic book writer. It would only make sense then; for Brian to team up with metal musician pals like Scott Ian (Anthrax) Satchel (Steel Panther) Joey Vera (Armored Saint) and John Tempesta (White Zombie, ex-Testament) to record two songs for the 2006 Relapse Records release "Brian Posehn - Live In: Nerd Rage" album. A disc that showcases the stand up routine of heavy metal's resident funnyman alongside his first musical output. The result is hilarious to say the least, with the single "Metal By Numbers" gawking at "Nu-Metal" and "Emo" posers. The single even spawned a very silly music video.
Now riding a generous wave of notoriety from his work on the hit Comedy Central program "The Sarah Silverman Show" Brian is gearing up to record a follow up record. I caught up with Brian recently on a particularly drizzly afternoon at the second day of this years "Fun Fun Fun Fest" in Austin, Texas where he was performing his stand up routine on an eclectic bill that also featured headliner Danzig and crossover legends D.R.I. amongst indie rock, alternative and hip hop acts.Brian filled me in on how he originally got into metal music, his plan's for his metal band "Posehn" the upcoming season of "The Sarah Silverman Show" and his recently released zombie comic "The Last Christmas" You can expect quite a bit from Brian next year including a new album, touring and more laughs. Be sure to catch him live when he comes to town!
Once again darkness descended over Helsinki when a two night black metal festival was arranged at the Dante’s club in Hellsinki. The line-up looked utterly brilliant for every true black metal maniac. Above all, the headliner of the last night, Blasphemy, was truly beyond the wildest dreams of every raw black metal worshiper. Therefore it wasn’t any surprise that there were people who had traveled all the way from Russia and Italy to feel their true blasphemous attack.
Back in the days Mr. Big was one of the few "shredder" hard rock metal bands that prized song craft as highly as virtuosity. The seeds for the group's formation were sown when bass player extraordinaire Billy Sheehan (ex-David Lee Roth band, Talas) began piecing together a new outfit with former Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert, drummer Pat Torpey (Ted Nugent, Impellitteri, Robert Plant), and singer Eric Martin, the latter of who had issued a couple of solo releases in the mid 80's. By 1989 the band inked a recording contract with Atlantic, resulting in the release of a self-titled debut the same year. The album was a success, especially in Japan, and it included the MTV hit singles "Addicted to That Rush” and ”Wind Me Up”. Their sophomore album LEAN INTO IT was released in 1991 and it was a bigger worldwide success with the help of the mega hit ballad "To Be with You". Their third album BUMP A HEAD came out in 1993 and although it included another hit single "Wild World" (a cover of an old Cat Stevens classic), it failed to reach its predecessors sales figures. During next month’s years Mr. Big did a lot of touring including a tour with Aerosmith in Europe, they had three sold out headline shows in Tokyo's classic Budokan arena, and played a show in Sao Paulo in front of 100 000 people. HEY MAN was released in 1996 but soon after everybody in the band started to concentrate more and more on other stuff than Mr.Big and as a result the band was on hold for nearly two years. In 1999 Mr. Big decided to reform but at that point Paul Gilbert refused to come back so Mr.Big decided to continue with a new guitarist Ritchie Kotzen (ex-Poison) and later on they released two more albums: GET OVER IT (2000) and ACTUAL SIZE (2001) before they called it quits after a farewell tour in 2002. In February of 2009 it was announced that the original line up of Mr. Big would do a reunion tour in the summer in Japan to celebrate its 20th anniversary of their debut album. As expected, that tour proved to be highly successful and they decided to continue the tour outside of Japan. A twenty-date European tour started on the 9th of September in Tallinn, Estonia. On the next day the band arrived in Helsinki and I had a chance to sit down and talk with Mr.Torpey about the past and possible future of Mr.Big amongst other interesting topics. Read and learn on!
This years garden party had already sold out months before the July. The nearest camping ground to the festival area was already full when we arrived around 2 pm thursday afternoon. Also as there were probably more people at the festival than ever, all the services (espicially food stands) were way too crowded with customers. Speaking of the stage area, I did not want to see some bands I don't know so well because there were just too many people blocking views and movement. Funnily, few of our camping neighbours probably did not even want to see any bands. Damn caravaners! Maybe all this because Wacken is next weekend just around the corner?
In 1979 when the classic NWOBHM band SAXON was formed its ranks consisted of five members, singer Biff Byford, guitarist Paul Quinn, guitarist Graham Oliver, bassist Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill. Now, thirty years later only Byford and Quinn remain under the SAXON banner. However, Oliver and Dawson have since joined together to carry on their part of the SAXON legacy. First, in 1996, under the name SON OF A BITCH, with Pete Gill on drums, and later, mainly to appease the promoters, as OLIVER/DAWSON SAXON. Read on to learn, straight from two founding members of SAXON, about the various stages in the history of one of the most celebrated metal bands to have emerged from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and the falling apart, piece by piece, of its classic lineup through the years.
