Good morning to you dear readers of the PiercingMetal Blog, and welcome to our titanic third chapter in the “New Year’s Music Resolutions for 2013″. They say that the third time is the charm and I am good with that so let’s get right on down to business shall we. Proceed with interest more than any level of caution.

1. Keith Williams (Schism): My New Year’s Metolution: Be kind, be supportive, be happy, thankful, gracious & grateful…see more shows, perform better quality shows at quality venues, try and get paid what we’re worth perhaps?

2. David Ellefson (Megadeth): Play harder, play better!

3. Sam Roon (Hung): Thanks for including HUNG in this year’s festivities on Piercing Metal!!! I think for 2013 the entire Metal scene has a lot of work to do. The music industry has recognized the lack of support from the fans, and Ken, as someone who goes to every show in New York City, I’m sure you know all about the dwindling headcount. For 2013 my music resolution… or moreover, my musical mission, is to devote as much time as I possibly can to getting Metal in New York City back to the support strength that people from outside the area perceive us to have. It’s our responsibility to keep our scene alive, support the local bands around us, and to keep going to shows. Be a part of what’s happening. Twenty years from now when you look back at New York City at the time where you were a part of what was going on, you know you’ll want to be proud to have been a part of something. You were a part of a movement… a unique moment in time. The only way to achieve that feeling is to invest a little effort now, and THAT my friend, is my musical resolution for 2013. Thanks again for including HUNG and supporting the area Metal scene Ken. PiercingMetal has always been kind to the locals, and we respect you for it! For the readers, keep supporting this site and going to the shows in the calendar! Look for a new HUNG record early next year and SUPPORT LOCAL METAL!!! Happy fucking new year.
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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

Eddie Trunk's "Essential Hard Rock & Heavy Metal"

PiercingMetal.com had the honor of being one of the many guests of Eddie Trunk and the fine folks from Abrams Books at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square in order to celebrate the release of the radio/television personality’s first ever book –  ”Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal”.   For many years the general public has known Eddie from his radio shows both satellite and terrestrial and then as the main man on the VH1 Classic hit program “That Metal Show”.  Now he can add author to his listing of accomplishments.   The affair was not open to the general public but some of the shows fans were given the opportunity to win a spot in the room and also to receive a copy of the book to take home with them after it was all done.  Pretty cool eh? (continue reading…)

Charred Walls of the Damned is a relatively new Heavy Metal band and one that based on its membership roster has the makings of a Super Group.  The band not only features Richard Christy from Death and Iced Earth but also the amazing Tim “Ripper” Owens.  The guys would be playing a show at New York’s own Gramercy Theatre and bring a host of openers along for the ride.  To read that full concert narrative just click the bands logo below as that will take you to that on the main PiercingMetal.com website.  Then you can scroll further down in this blog posting to see some fun moments that we captured behind the scenes.  These are shots that you will only see here so enjoy them.

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It’s been far too many years since we found Accept on US shores and now with a new lead singer handling the vocal duties and a new CD on the horizon it was time to get back to business and remind the fans about just how important they are to the genre.  The show would be at the Gramercy Theatre tonight and you can enjoy our full report by clicking the bands logo below.  It will take you to the main concert narrative and all the photos on the main PiercingMetal.com site.  This was truly one for the record books in terms of reception and execution.

It’s been a long time since the Accept brand name has been on a NYC marquee so we wanted to make sure to snare the visual for many more people to enjoy.  While it’s not noted on said marquee, the event was sold out and packed to capacity.  Good for them.

Welcome to NYC Accept!!! It's Been Awhile

When the guys from “That Metal Show” came out to introduce the band one of their number was sporting a custom made license plate.  One had to wonder if this was actually someone’s plate or merely something made for the benefit of the show.  I imagine that this would sell good at the merchandise booth if they mass produced them.

Metal at the DMV

Here’s Don Jamieson helping out with the introduction of Accept.  Like the band really needed an introduction, the whole room knew who was coming up and was ready to go insane for them.

Don Jamieson from "That Metal Show"

This past week was the annual CMJ Music Convention and like many before it would again invade The Big Apple and deliver more music than any one person could easily absorb.  To say that there is something for everyone at the CMJ convention would be an understatement and while I would have loved to partake in a lot more that was happening, the time was just not there for me to do so based on a hectic week of Metal concerts that required my coverage.  One of the things that I did manage to enjoy was the annual Skateboard Marketing music showcase which is hosted by the company’s founder Munsey Ricci.  I’ve been working as an ally in Metal media with Munsey for about five years now and was eager to help him and his friends celebrate the company’s 18th year of doing this kind of showcase.  This years hang would be at The Bowery Poetry Club (across the street from the location that once housed CBGB’s) and it was sure to be a good time of familiar faces, cold beers and loud music.  I was certain that the bands would be something interesting because one year we found the legendary Fear Factory performing at it, while last year we got both Autumn Black and Ionia.  Tonight there would only be one act delivering out the Metal and their name was Texas Hippie Coalition, and while I had only heard their name a couple of times, I had heard that they were along the lines of your Southern Fried Metal genre and let’s face it, a lot of that stuff rocks.   I shot a lot of photos and documented the performance which can be enjoyed on the main PiercingMetal.com site by clicking the bands logo below but before you do that, please keep on reading to see some of the candid moments captured during the showcase.

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The other night VH1 Classic gave us a brand new program that is dedicated to “all things Hard Rock and Heavy Metal”. It’s name is “That Metal Show” and its hosted by radio personality Eddie Trunk (from the “Friday Night Rocks” and some Sirius XM stations) along with comedians Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine.

Initially I was surprised to see this happening on VH1 Classic but then again the original station along with MTV are more about R&B/Rap styles and “reality” programs about teen pregnancy, sobriety or how to find love if you are an aging music personality these days. Sigh. I remember the days when MTV first showed killer videos and then you at least had VH1 when the original station stopped. The times they are a changing eh? I guess this was the only place it had to land.

So what’s the premise? OK, the show is done in a talk show format with Eddie and his co-hosts discussing a number of Hard Rock or Metal related topics and of course since two of them are comedians there is a lot of ribbing on Eddie being done. They also do a quick interview with a guest of the week and the debut show found eighties rocker Lita Ford which I found to be a little bit of a surprise on a debut show. If I had the ability to launch something like this I would have really tried to get a super power lead off and not someone who most Metal fans stopped being curious about ages ago. Perhaps Lita’s new album had something to do with it. In this episode the guitarist shows her appreciation of the support she was given on her touring return and we even get a quick appearance by her husband Jim Gillette. I posted a review of the NYC appearance of Lita a few months ago which can be enjoyed HERE. There was not the biggest crowd to be quite honest so maybe that had me wondering why she was the first guest. There was also a rant from Eddie and a segment they call “Stump The Trunk” where Eddie tests his Metal cred against the viewing audience who pose questions to him. If the audience wins the shows “Miss Box Of Junk” comes out and gives them a prize. The show is filmed in NYC and runs for one half hour. I will be honest and say that the show moves very quickly especially if watching on DVR and bypassing the commercials.

Thoughts On It? Well, it is nice to have another Hard Rock and Metal related program on television and Eddie has been around long enough to deserve being the host. I am not sure what I think about the presence of the comedians after only one episode and only hope that they do not have too much banter and hence time wasted that could have been used on interviews and things of that kind. Upcoming guests for the season are said to be Yngwie Malmsteen, Rush and Twisted Sister along with many others. Good and legendary artists for sure but nothing that is pushing the envelope as far as bands are concerned. The show is very different when compared to the no longer running “Talking Metal On Fuse” which I really liked (and not only because I was one of their couch guests for an episode – seen HERE).

I’ll remain hopeful that the show will offer some insight and attention into a bunch of things that make Metal a special genre to me and that we don’t get the same old same old. Congrats to you Eddie and good luck with the show.

Official Websites:
Eddie Trunk: http://www.eddietrunk.com
That Metal Show: http://www.vh1.com/shows/that_metal_show/series.jhtml
Don Jamieson: http://www.donjamieson.com
Jim Florentine: http://www.jimflorentine.com

Skid Row was appearing at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square as a part of Eddie Trunk’s Halloween Party and since the band was on a label that I cover extensively I was able to secure some access and present some of the fun to you all. Click the bands logo to be taken to the article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

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