today in NYC
* Whiplash @ UCB
* Chicha Libre @ Barbes
* Tony Scherr Trio @ The Living Room
* Tinie Tempah @ Apple Store SoHO
* Eszter Balint, Chris Cochrane @ Barbes
* Les Paul Mondays w/ Ted Nugent @ Iridium Jazz
* Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen @ Littlefield
* Jim Campilongo Electric Trio @ The Living Room
* Chuck Ragan, Sharks, Sean O'Neill @ The Bell House
* Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra @ The Stone
* LAL8, J. Slusher Mr. Matthews Duo, Millions, Dimensions @ Silent Barn
* Machu Picchu, Whale Belly, Alyson Greenfield, Robin Bacior @ Mercury Lounge
* Sherlock's Daughter, Zaza, A Place To Bury Strangers (DJ set) @ Knitting Factory (free)
* J-Roddy Walston & The Business, These United States, MyNameIsJohnMichael @ Brooklyn Bowl
* The Toothaches, Cara Salimando, Midnight Spin, We Fought In Rome @ The Rock Shop (free)
* Cola Freaks, Sunshine SS, Flies Around It, Passive Aggressor, Cheesquake @ Death By Audio
* Photon Dynamo and The Shiny Pieces, Actualities, Wave Sleep Wave, Papercut, Claire Fuller @ Pianos
* From Knishes to Hummus: Tracing the past and the future of Jewish and Israeli Cuisine @ NYPL
* Le Sphinxx, Ah Moskva, The Magick Report, The Great Republic of Rough and Ready, Sonia Megias @ Cake Shop

Ronnie James Dio passed away one year ago today.

If you look closely at the picture of the 1986 issue of 'Hit Parader' above, you'll notice there is also an article in there about everyone's favorite gun advocate Ted Nugent.... who was spotted hanging outside Public Assembly Saturday night (he did not go in and watch any of Coliseum), and who is strangely the special guest at Les Paul night at the Iridium tonight.

J-Roddy Walston & The Business and These United States continue a residency at Brooklyn Bowl tonight.

The Great Escape festival in Brighton is now over. We'll have a bit of coverage coming soon, but in the meantime you can find the photos Tim has uploaded so far, at the BrooklynVegan Facebook page.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

Dio @ the theater @ MSG (more by Tim Griffin)

Message from Wendy Dio

Today my heart is broken, Ronnie passed away at 7:45am 16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all. We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us. Please give us a few days of privacy to deal with this terrible loss. Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.

- Wendy Dio

Continue reading "Ronnie James Dio, RIP "

The official Ronnie James Dio Twitter posted this message last night: "Don't believe the rumors, Ronnie is still hanging in there!!!" Hugs, Wendy Dio". The message was posted in reaction to rumors that Ronnie lost his battle with stomach cancer.

Update: RIP Dio

I already used the above picture on the top of Dave Hill's Best of 2007 post, but thought it deserved an encore performance in light of the recent bad news. Get well soon Dio!

Dave Hill. A man of many talents. Huge in more than just Japan (if you know what I mean). Check out what he had to say about 2009, 2010, 1989, naked dudes, murderers, rapists, Janeane Garofalo, and more. below:

Continue reading "an end of 2009 interview with Dave Hill"

Dio @ the Theater @ MSG in August (more by Tim Griffin)

Wendy Dio, the wife and manager of legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio (DIO, HEAVEN & HELL, BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW), has released the following statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:

"Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans.

"Long live rock and roll, long live Ronnie James Dio.

"Thanks to all the friends and fans from all over the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up."

Continue reading "Ronnie James Dio has stomach cancer "

words by Black Bubblegum, photos by Justina Villanueva

Ronnie James Dio commands his drink order from the stage

[Tony] Iommi credits his creativity for his undying love of riff writing, but his love for volume certainly plays a role, too.

"From day one, we were always louder than anyone," [Tony Iommi, guitarist for Heaven & Hell] said. "We certainly made sure no one could talk in our shows."

Iommi chuckles thinking about the early days

"We were always asked to turn it down," he remembered. "They'd tell us to turn it down or they wouldn't book us again. And unfortunately even now, and this is a sign of the times, there's a lot of restrictions on the sound... At one show in Bond, the limit was so low that I actually used only two (amplifier) cabinets of my eight. Bloody hell, I haven't used two cabinets since maybe the '60s." -[Boston Herald]

The pair of bands are closing in on the end of their tour together, parting ways on august 29th when H&H will head down to Atlantic City (tickets) while C&C breaks off to Buffalo.

More pictures, some videos, the setlists from the earlier Chicago show, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Heaven & Hell & Coheed & Cambria - MSG pics & video, Chicago setlists & more tour dates (Atlantic City) "

photos by Tim Griffin

"Gee whiz, man. Ozzy sold more solo albums than Sabbath? Wow, I guess that automatically means Ozzy's solo music is better, hunh?

That's YOUR math. Not mine.

By comparison, I guess Eminem and Britney Spears make better music than both of them, hunh?

Idiot." [Blabbermouth commenter 7/24/2009 10:15:53 AM]

Continue reading "Britney Spears, Dio, Tony Iommi & Geezer Butler @ MSG -pics "

Vivian Girls @ Whitney in July (more by Anna Scialli)

NIN @ Webster Hall the other day (more by Bao Nguyen)

tonight in NYC
* DANCE
* Amanda Blank @ Urban Outfitters
* Nine Inch Nails, The Horrors @ Terminal 5
* Heaven & Hell, Coheed & Cambria @ Theater at MSG
* Highline Piano Series: Phil Vassar @ Highline Ballroom
* My Teenage Stride, Surfer Blood, I'm Turning Into @ Silent Barn
* Vivian Girls, The Beets, Real Estate, Best Fwends @ Death By Audio
* Andy Friedman & The Golden Winners, Welcome Wagon, The Honeycutters @ The Bell House

Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath play the Theater at MSG as Heaven & Hell. Their first album in 17 years came out in April. Coheed & Cambria open.

Britney Spears is ALSO playing MSG tonight. amazing.

Queen Latifah's show tonight at the Nokia Theatre has been canceled.

Nine Inch Nails plays Terminal 5 with The Horrors tonight. They return to the venue tomorrow with Mew in the opening slot.

Vivian Girls kick off their N.A. tour with The Beets tonight at Death By Audio with Real Estate and Best Fwends. On the horizon, the Vivian Girls have a tenative Halloween show lined up for NYC.

You can also see Real Estate this Thursday at Insound's 10 Year anniversary party at the Brooklyn Bowl with Cymbals Eat Guitars, These Are Powers and The Drums.

The show tonight is your last chance to see Best Fwends on their current NYC run. They played with Das Racist at the Studio at Webster Hall, and at "Above the Auto Parts Store" on Saturday. A video from the latter show and a clip of the guys from 2007 are below.

Andy Friedman & The Golden Winners, Sufjan Stevens-produced band Welcome Wagon and The Honeycutters play The Bell House tonight. Welcome Wagon and Andy Friedman teamed up previously at a gig last December (at which Sufjan appeared) and one in January (where he did not).

Highline Piano Series contiunes with a performance by Phil Vassar.

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Tuesday?"

" [Dios member] Morales says that, even after the [2004] letter, he was still opposed to changing the band name [from Dios to something else], but went with Dios (Malos) after a long, arduous process in which Dio's lawyers shot down many proposed alternatives. "I thought we should've used the silliness of the whole thing to get our name out more, maybe not even change the name at all and let him sue us," says Morales. "It would've been hilarious and would've been a good story. But there were too many [wimps] in Camp Dios at the time, so no one wanted to go to war with me."

With a new record label, Buddyhead, supporting them, Dios is back to their original one-word name, boldly announced in the title of their new album, 'We Are Dios,' which drops in late July." [Spinner]

Tickets go on "Venue/Promoter/Radio Presale" pre-sale for the Heaven & Hell show at WaMu Theater At Madison Square Garden today at 10 AM EDT. The PASSWORD for that show, and all the others on Ticketmaster, is DEVIL.

by Black Bubblegum

Warning: frontmen in this picture are shorter than they appear.

Heaven & Hell, aka Black Sabbath: The Dio Years, will hit the road with Coheed & Cambria for a 15 date summer tour, playing an NYC date at WaMu Theater at MSG (it's still called that?) on 8/25. Ticket info is currently unavailable.

C & C will accompany H & H throughout the US of A, except in Seattle, where they will be replaced by Neurosis... Neurosis instead of Coheed. Damn you Seattle.

Heaven & Hell recently dropped their first album in 17 years, The Devil You Know, which includes the single and the corresponding video for, "Bible Black" (below).

Neurosis recently played Roadburn (check out JJ Koczan's great blow by blow here) and are currently touring Europe. We recently interviewed Scott Kelly.

Coheed & Cambria have a few solo dates as well, including the sold-out Starland Ballroom on May 29th with Kylesa.

All dates below...

Continue reading "Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath w/ Dio) - 2009 Tour Dates"

Munetaka Higuchi, the drummer and co-founder of the Japanese heavy metal band Loudness, passed away on Sunday [November 30th] at about 10:00 a.m. in a hospital in Osaka, Japan. He was 49. Akira Takasaki, the guitarist who met Higuchi during high school before forming Loudness, announced the news on his personal website on the same day. The official website for Loudness had announced in April that Higuchi had been diagnosed with liver cancer, and later reported in September that Higuchi went through two rounds of chemotherapy. Higuchi left a message on the website on October 16 that acknowledged that his condition had gotten worse, despite an operation to remove half of his liver. [Anime News Network]

In 1997 Munetaka also released the album "Free World" under the name "Munetaka Higuchi & Dream Castle". It featured "Steve Vai, Stanley Clarke, Billy Sheehan, Ty Tabor, Terry Bozzio, T. M. Stevens, Ronnie James Dio, Richie Kotzen and others". The Dio song, "Crazy Night" by Loudness, and another video, below...

Continue reading "Munetaka Higuchi, RIP (drummer of Loudness)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Bloodbath - "Slaughter The Will To Live" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Samothrace - "Slaughter The Will To Live" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: North - "Eidolon" (MP3)

Attila Csihar of Mayhem, The Winterdemon (metalnorge)

Highly influential black metallers Mayhem have announced that they will tour the US in spring of 2009! The 21 date tour will be announced soon, but in the meantime, look for the band to announce a new guitarist to replace departing axe-slinger Blasphemer. Mayhem's Attila Csihar lent his unholy vokills to the new Jarboe record Mahakali due Oct 14th on The End. Skip on down for video of Thurston Moore discussing Mayhem.

Doomriders are currently grinding away at their new album due on Deathwish in 2009! In the meantime, look for the band to hit the Autobahn on a European tour with Disfear & SSS. SSS is currently streaming two new tracks from their upcoming record The Dividing Line. Doomriders recently played Europa.

Metallica is streaming six tracks from Death Magnetic. Check out my review for their new record below.

Guitarist Kris Norris has left Darkest Hour and is "actively pursing some producing routes and any band that might want a guitarist".

Corrupted LIVE (tawaraya)

The extremely elusive Japanese doomers (in fact, the above is one of the only pictures I have ever found of them), Corrupted announced a brief West Coast tour with Asunder, check out the flyer here. Asunder's Works Will Come Undone recently dropped on vinyl via Kreation Records, pick it up here. Corrupted's (current? these guys are elusive I tell ya!) bassist Lowell Isles's old band, YOB recently reformed.

Vikings Amon Amarth are streaming a new track, "Guardians of Asgaard", from their upcoming Twilight Of The Thunder God.

Bloodbath, the death metal supergroup featuring Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Anders "Blakkheim" Nyström (Katatonia), Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), Martin "Axe" Axenrot(ex-Witchery, Opeth), and Per "Sodomizer" Eriksson, will drop their new studio album The Fathomless Mystery on Oct 28th via Peaceville Records. Filled with ""nothing but hateful brutality", check out "Slaughtering The Will To Live" available for download above and stream another track, "Mock The Cross", at their myspace.

Bloodbath's cover art, plus news on Danzig, Celtic Frost, Landmine Marathon, sunn 0))), Necrophagist, Immortal and so much more....

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (09/15/08)"

Metal Masters Tour tickets are on sale.

by Black Bubblegum

Hells. Yeah.

"Metal Masters" Halford and Judas Priest have top billing, but they'll share the stage with legends Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath with Dio singing), Motorhead, & Testament!

The NYC-area shows will happen at PNC Back Arts Center in Jersey on August 9th ($75.25, $50.25 and $25.25) and then the next day at Jones Beach in Wantagh ($75.00, $50.00 and $25.00). Tickets go on sale Saturday April 26th @ 10am.

Judas Priest's new album "Nostradamus" is out June 17th. You can hear the title track at their site. All tour dates below....

Continue reading "'Metal Masters Tour' confirmed - 2008 Dates (Judas Priest)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: The Sword - "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Soilent Green - "Antioxidant" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Iron Maiden - "Intro", "Aces High", & "Two Minutes To Midnight", Live in Tokyo Feb 16th, 2008 (VIDEO, WMV)

Neurot Recordings have announced details for THREE Neurosis-related releases in the next two months! First up, a new solo album from the mighty Scott Kelly, who will release The Wake on May 5th, his first release in the seven years since his debut Spirit Bound Flesh. Two weeks later, the world's most intense elementary school teacher Steve Von Till drops A Grave is a Grim Horse, his first non-Harvestman release in six years (Harvestman recently collabo'd with Fear Falls Burning). More details on A Grave Is A Grim Horse can be found here. The third we knew about, but has now gone official: A Storm Of Light's debut And We Wept the Black Ocean Within will be released on June 2nd. Read our recent interview with Josh Graham here.

Tickets for the previously mentioned second At The Gates show go on sale Thursday April 3rd at 10 AM here. Tomas Lindberg's other band, the mighty Disfear, have announced a few more dates, including another show in Brooklyn at Europa on May 22nd with Trap Them and Bloodhorse! Ticket info for Disfear at Europa isn't available, but there are still tickets for their show at the Knitting Factory. New tour dates are down below.

MUCH MORE..............

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (04/02/08)"

the first in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Dave Hill is a great man. He's a very busy musician, comedian, actor, writer, and taste-maker. He's got his own show on Mojo called King of Miami as well as a recurring live comedy/variety/chat show in NYC called The Dave Hill Explosion. You can also catch Mr. Hill tearing his audience a new one as guitarsmith for the band Children of the Unicorn. Mr. Hill took time out of his insane schedule to give BV readers his list of the best music to come out of 2007. -Klaus

---

It usually takes me a couple years to realize that an album has come out, but here is some of the stuff I managed to discover in a timely fashion this year:

BLACK SABBATH, The Dio Years- No matter what someone might be talking about, if they are able to make reference to “the Dio years” at some point you know it’s got to be pretty magical. In a perfect world, “Heaven and Hell” would just blast repeatedly from loudspeakers everywhere, all the time. Also, people would carry torches.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, Release the Stars- Rufus is one of few musicians today that people will still listen to in a hundred years and stuff. Plus, he wears lederhosen on stage, which just makes everything sound better if you ask me.

HIGH ON FIRE, Death Is This Communion- There are so many hot riffs on this record that I feel like whipping my dick out or something.

NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, Challengers- There are so many hot melodies on this record that I feel like whipping my dick out or something.

DOWN, Over the Under- This is not the best album by this band. Still, I think it’s important to support evil (and heavy riffs played by men with beards while wearing black sleeveless T-shirts) in all its forms, so I’m standing behind this one.

Continued below....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Dave Hill"