New York City is a vibrant place that is loaded with things to do and people to meet. There is literally always something amazing going on and no matter where you go to whatever it might be you will meet actors, musicians, photographers, writers and much, much more. It’s pretty cool if you ask me and that brings me to this particular blog posting. Not long ago I met the publisher of an independent paper called “The Passenger” and it was through this connection that I was invited to The Great Frog NYC this evening. Check it out…..

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Can you believe that my Metal fiends? Yep, it’s the Big 10th Season for a Metal program and that is pretty cool in my humble opinion. Of course let’s immediately get this out in the open that the show while running for ten seasons has never had a season that showed more than ten episodes and its only been on the air since November 2008 which is not quite four years as of this posting. If you were to use shows like “Big Bang Theory” or “CSI” as an example, their first seasons were 17 and 23 episodes respectively. In addition to that there are many fans who feel this is more of a Hard Rock show than it is a Metal show and I can see where they come from based on some of the episodes that I have seen. These fans should try to realize that this is on VH1 Classic and that means we are not going to see Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir or Kamelot on any time soon.

For those in the dark or returning from a faraway land and needing some background on the program, the show is now an hour in length and hosted by radio personality Eddie Trunk with comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine as his co-hosts. It features an interview format along with a few special segments that allow the hosts to banter at length. There is a live musical guest who brings them to commercials and while its been guitarists and bassists since they started, with season ten they shall bring out guest drummers. As a former hobbyist skinbasher I kind of like that idea. The later seasons actually found the hosts interacting with this guest more than they did in the earlier broadcasts. Outside of that there is no true musical guest performer doing a song from a new album or anything. It’s probably a cost issue. Oh yes, the show is recorded in Los Angeles as opposed to New York City where it started.

So what does everyone think of the show so far? Are you loving it? Are you hating it? What parts make you feel a certain way and what do you wish they would do differently? Me? I guess I can admit to liking parts of the show but I agree with those who feel there is too much banter time happening but that is to be expected when you have three hosts. Losing a little of that might allow for longer interview time and that benefits the artist and the fans that are interested in learning what is up all the more. For me as a supporter of the Metal scene I don’t find a lot of the bands that I consider of vital importance to the sound today being represented but I don’t really expect them on VH1 Classic anyway. Yes I love the old stuff but as many Metal fans point out on the forum board sites and news feeds, we don’t need a show to tell us how Judas Priest, Alice Cooper, UFO and Thin Lizzy are bands that we should be listening to. Yet for those fans who are locked into the traditional side of things the show rules since it caters right to that preference and only deviates every once in awhile. It’s nice to have something related to Metal on the air, but I still very much miss Talking Metal on Fuse and hope we find something new and perhaps even edgier coming on somewhere soon.

I’ve met Eddie Trunk a number of times on my own adventuring around the Metal Realm, so I do send congratulations to him on the 10th Season. It has to be a nice feeling. Here is to your 11th, 12th, 13th and etc.

Watch Full Episodes HERE if you are curious about it. Comments are open on this post to let us know what you think about the show.

Official Website: http://www.eddietrunk.com

Attention all guitar players, bass players, and any of those who just love to tinker around on the six or four string implements of music, have we got an event to tell you about. Check this out my axe slinging friends as we are just one week away from the 2nd Annual Brooklyn Springtime Guitar Show that will be held at the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NYC.

In case you didn’t see the date, it’s indeed on April 1st 2012 and that is no joke. I wouldn’t do that to you wonderful readers at all. The event is FREE OF CHARGE and will run from 11am until 5pm and will be your place to buy, sell and perhaps even trade your instrument with another interested party. I attended last year with my colleague in arms Skeleton Pete and together we found lots of awesome guitar craftsmen, technology innovators and those who took a usual way of doing something and turned it into something much more different and effective. My instrument of choice is drums, but that did not stop me from meeting some really cool people and enjoying the fun filled day. You can check out my coverage via this LINK. Skeleton Pete’s narrative can be viewed HERE in the event that you want to take a look and I think that you should In case you were curious, we both shall be covering the event again.

This fantastic affair will be hosted by DJ Uncle Mike and Lisa Sharken. For directions and to get a better idea about the space itself and the food offerings in there, I have pasted their Yelp! page below.

Brooklyn Bowl on Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/brooklyn-bowl-brooklyn

Guitar Show Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BrooklynGuitarShow

Some of the dealers that are scheduled to attend are Pigtronix, Mountain Cat Guitars, DR Strings, Hahn Guitars, La Bella Strings, Louis Electric Amplifiers, Lang Amplifiers, Cobra Guitars, Main Drag Music, Vigiere Guitars, Southside Guitars, Rivington Guitars, First Fret Guitars, My Generation Guitars, Indigo Amplifiers, Lazy B Cigar Box Guitars, and many more.

See you there Legions……

I am pretty much a lifelong KISS fan and can safely say that I have been behind the Motley Crue initiative since their first album so when it comes to an announcement like this I tend to geek out for a little while. You cannot blame me for this because when it comes to me being a fan of music, KISS is kind of the reason that I started following the heavier side of life way, way, way back in the dawn of my own upbringing. That being said many of my earliest memories of flipping around on the radio dial come flooding back to me when I hear a particular KISS track. With Crue I remembered first hearing of them when a band I knew was attempting to do “Public Enemy #1″ with their Metal band because they had just heard this new bands album. I rushed out to get a copy even though their take on the tune was not all that great. As we have said before, every now and again we like to use the Official Blog for PiercingMetal.com to broadcast event items of note because it sparks up some of the fans and keeps people talking about the live scene. That is never a bad thing. That being done, how friggin’ cool is it to envision KISS and Motley sharing the same stage. I say its pretty damn cool and to me makes much more logical sense than when KISS and Aerosmith co-headlined a tour back in uhmmm, you know, back when they did this a few years ago. Check out the super cool poster.

The dates for this massive happening will begin in June I am reading and while some are curious/concerned over who is actually headlining, I think its safe to assume that KISS will close out the run of the dates. They will likely each be doing a 1.5 hour show and believe me that lets everyone focus on their very biggest hits. You are not going to risk hearing a whole lot of new stuff at a show like this outside of maybe a tune or two. These bands know full well what the audience is clamoring for and they always deliver in spades. KISS as a concert for me is a religious experience and while two of the original lineup are no longer in the costumes, I still manage to have a great time at their shows. When it comes to Motley Crue, I last caught them in the summer of 2011 and felt that they were back on their game and kicking some serious ass again. I had been unimpressed by one or two of the performances I caught previously but I can be a fuss given the whole concert reviewer status I have now at 8.5 years as press. I will guarantee that the fans will not be disappointed at all and leave with smiles from ear to ear and probably a whole lot of tour merchandise.

Tickets for this major Metal happening will start being sold on March 23rd and obviously given what we have seen from each band in the past there will be some exclusive (and expensive) VIP stuff to indulge in as well should you have that level of cake to play around with. Sometimes these VIP things are awesome as you get a really good seat, a bag of coolness and get to be photographed with the band as well. I do hope that the photograph is only you and the band and not some cluster f**k of other fans because that is hardly fair to do based on the price that it commands.

So what do you think? Are you excited for this one or could you care less? I will admit that I am, even though I fully realize that trying to be media for this kind of affair will be a daunting task for almost any web resource. These seem to be the kind of shows that make everyone come out of the woodwork for and make the same demands of the press contacts in case you were curious as to how it all works. We might have a whole lot of you global readers interested in our views and photographs but we still fall way down on the food chain when compared to some of the heavies out there. Should the higher gods that work the big machine be in our favor we shall surely offer up the kind of quality documentation that you expect here on PiercingMetal.com – That much I promise.

Closing up let me just make sure that any of you new visitors to the planet who have somehow not yet experienced any KISS or Motley Crue music have a couple of leads. These are two solid recommendations to purchase if you have a few extra bucks.

Even though I was never really a follower of their music at the time of their inception, The Melvins were surely a band that influenced many with their blend of Punk and Metal. Formed in 1983 by Buzz Osborne the band has had a number of lineup changes over the years and currently finds Buzz along with Dale Crover, Jared Warren and Coady Willis bringing their material to new generations of fans and influencing them as well. Thanks to the folks at Scion A/V, the bands latest EP can be enjoyed for free by clicking the download link that I have posted. There are five songs to this “The Bulls And The Bees” EP and I am sure that you will like it even if you are just a casual fan like myself. I view all legally obtained free music as something that is very, very cool. Don’t you agree?

To download the free EP all you need to do is click HERE.

Official Melvins Website: HERE

PS: There is a TON of stuff to download over on the Scion A/V site so please do yourself a favor and surf around their page to see what else you can add to the collection. I am pretty sure you can still find the Enslaved, Immolation and Wormrot EP’s and if you cannnot I suggest emailing them to ask how you can get them. Have fun.

Perhaps I should not have been surprised about this but I guess that I actually am just the same. It seems that the folks at DC Comics will be offering fans of the legendary maxi-series “The Watchmen” a series of titles that let us know what happened before that whole store went down. The title is “Before Watchmen” but before you ask, neither Alan Moore or Dave Gibbons who created the original story will not be involved in the series run.

I loved the original series and have read it several times over the years but I kind of felt that what was done was done. I am not too sure that I agree with doing prequels for many of the characters without the guy who created them in the first place, but DC Comics thinks we will enjoy it. Despite my reservation about the whole thing, I do think that the characters they selected will make for some interesting tales and am willing to give them a shot. Starting in June we shall see the following titles come out at comic shops and specialty stores everywhere. I’m pretty sure that we shall see trade paperbacks coming out to collect them all in one place because that is what has been happening for a few years now.

Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1
Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #1
Before Watchmen: Comedian #1
Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1
Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #1
Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1
Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan #1

Here are a couple of relevant links related to “The Watchmen”; If you’ve not yet read the amazing story or seen the very entertaining live action version then please use these to get up to speed. You can learn more about the original “Watchmen” series from the Wikipedia entry HERE.

Hank 3 is the grandson of the legendary Hank Williams who was a Country Music super stars super star.  The name has been held in high esteem for decades and the family name has kept in music for generations now so it would be awesome to see for the very first time this much acclaimed performer. Tonight’s show was being presented by Metal Wreckage and was totally free and I found that to be a better way to spend my Saint Patrick’s Day than just dealing with the binge drinkers all around the city. Click the logo below to be taken to the full concert article and a whole lot of photos, then come back to the blog posting to see some of the side images we captured for your viewing pleasure.

Click Image for Concert Report & Photos

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While not as much an ancient as Barnabas Collins, I grew up alongside the original show and remember it fondly. As result it retains a special place in that corner of my mind that is generally reserved for those things that “go bump in the night”. I’m not lying about this. My mother loved the program and I would eventually get to enjoy its premise when I got older and could see it in syndication. I had to say that I preferred the happenings of the vampire Barnabas much more than anything else that was offered up on afternoon television (the mainstream soap operas and win big game shows). Well, outside of the classic Monster Week on the 4:30 Movie at least. It’s premise was unusual for its time and while I never felt the program was the strongest in every acting role, it was still much cooler than what else was out there. It appealed to the young comics and horror fan that I was inside.

That being said I had some excitement when I learned how there would be a new “Dark Shadows” feature film coming out in 2012. I learned this from the folks at Hermes Press who I met at the Book Expo America last year. “Cool” I said, “Who’s Barnabas going to be played by…..Johnny Depp????” The publicist at the table smiled and said yes. That made sense since he is in almost every Tim Burton movie that ever happens. Since I liked Depp as an actor I felt he might do some justice to the role and I would await the trailer like the rest of the fan boys or should I say “Fang Boys”? (I’m sorry that was too easy). The other day I learned that the trailer was online and I am posting a link to it here for you all and well, please judge for yourself.

I’ll be honest and say that I am less than thrilled with this as the output. Yes the show had some camp moments to it but that was by accident and not design. I really wanted to see a development from what we got when Ben Cross had played the role of Barnabas in the 70′s for the stellar drama series. That show lasted 13 episodes and can be owned in full on a 2 DVD edition while the classic original series in its entirety is coming out soon. That one will be pricy but something right up the fans alley. I’ve pasted links to Amazon.com so either one can be ordered. So what did you readers think of the clip? Am I wrong about thinking this is dreadful? Should this be treated as a farce instead of something edgy and dark? My problem is that I don’t see the classic fans being supportive of this at all as it insults the memory of the show and its characters. I like Tim Burton but cannot stand by him with this one. What’s next Tim? A Broadway sing along redo of “The Highlander”?

It’s been awhile since we’ve found our no longer new Finnish friends in Naked doing a New York City gig so when the chance to check them out once more came up I was very happy to participate in the fun. It was St. Patrick’s Day in New York and you can read that as overall mayhem and serious drinking that leaves people numb for a couple of days afterward. It’s honestly not a day that I generally head into the city, but since I needed to be there for the evening’s Hank 3 show, I replied to the text from “The Muff” and said that he could count on our coverage. What better way to celebrate one’s Irish heraldry than with some good old fashioned Finnish Glam Rock. The interesting thing about this show was that it would be held at the Riff Clothing store and be a “stripped down” version of the band (meaning only The Muff and his other guitarist Zack Schleidecker). Please click the logo below to see the full on concert report and enjoy the photos taken, but then get back to this blog posting to enjoy the side images from the event and some video that was taken.

Click Logo To Read The Concert Review

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Thirty years ago today the Heavy Metal music scene lost one of its most inspiring and acclaimed guitar players. Yep, if you are old enough to remember this event happening, it has been thirty years since Randy Rhoads was killed in a tragic and altogether stupid, unnecessary accident. He was twenty five years old at the time of his death.

While I realize that I am dating myself, I will admit to the first time hearing Randy play was when I was turned onto the “Blizzard Of Ozz” album that had just come out. My Metal and Rock friends used to regularly convene at the local record shops and my neighborhood had two of them. We had Record Factory and the Little Record Store and while the first one was the larger supplier of stuff, the smaller shop always seemed to have the Metal stuff there a little earlier than the others. When you listened to Randy do what he could do on the guitar you were instantly floored. It was so good, and so interesting and for its time so very, very unique. It was another case of the musicians doing something that was not often done at this time, and we had experienced something similar only a few years ago when the first Van Halen album had come out.

Back in these bygone years everyone was paying attention to the Ozzy debut release and its followup “Diary Of A Madman”, well if you were a Metal head that is, and these became a very important albums in the collections of so many fans based on how hard it hit us and just how solid and strong the playing was across the board. The depth of guitar work we heard Randy doing instantly inspired legions of guitar players and resultant of that the instructors of the time had their work cut out for them as many students showed up wanting to learn “what Randy was doing”. His creativity surely gave them a run for their money and made them earn the lesson fees that they were charging.

It’s very easy to decry the incident that took Randy’s life and let’s face it, it was an absolutely foolish and stupid prank that went horribly wrong and not only killed the the talented musician but also two other people in the process. Rock and roll mayhem does sometimes come at a terrible cost when fueled by alcohol and other substances. What a shame. It’s the kind of story that ends the musical chapter far too early where Randy was concerned and one has to wonder what kind of music that he would b delivering in this day and age had he still been alive and even performing for that matter. The adult Ken feels that he would not be playing anything even resembling Metal at this time as he very likely would have felt that he had done all that could be accomplished for the genre. Perhaps he would have gone Classical or even Progressive Rock or maybe just became an in demand studio session player or respected producer. Sadly we shall never know and the “What If” case scenario is something that only plays out in the comic books. What a shame.

Last year Epic Records re-released two incredible remasters of the first two albums by Ozzy Osbourne that nothing short of “must have in my collection” pieces. They feature bonus tracks and expanded artwork and the special edition of “Diary” even gives us an unreleased live concert that staggers the Metal senses. I’ve placed links for your perusal below.

Let’s never forget Randy’s musical and Metal memory, especially today. Thanks for the music that you left us with Mr. Rhoads, I hope you are watching what it has set in motion since you left.