With Christmas now out of the way and Chanukah pretty close to ending as well our minds gets focused on the plans for the coming new year. We seem to always strive to change something in ourselves or do things a little differently from before when a new year begins and this got me to thinking a little bit. I wondered aloud about what the New Years Metal Resolutions for 2012 might be for some of the talented people that I have been fortunate enough to meet or communicate with in my role as founder of the PiercingMetal.com website. With that in mind I put the question out there and asked them to complete the sentence “My New Year’s Metal Resolution for 2012 Is….”

The first few responses are below and I’ll be adding a new post each day as 2011 counts down toward its close. I hope you enjoy them.

Carmine Appice (legendary drummer of Cactus, Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra, Blue Murder (whew…): My New Year’s Musical Resolution for 2012 Is to play with an even wider variety of artists and musicians.

Zak Stevens (lead vocals for Circle II Circle): My New Year’s Metal Resolution is to bring my music to as many fans in the world as possible this year. This is one of those “be careful what you asked for” years….Even though the task is daunting, it’s time to bring things to a new level in 2012! Horns up and pierce the world with metal!!

Brian Tatler (lead guitar for Diamondhead): My New Years Metal Resolution is… to keep looking out for new and interesting bands and to keep the Diamond Head flag flying for as long as possible. Thanks.
(continue reading…)

And now for something completely different

It’s without question that Finland has been delivering some seriously amazing Metal bands to the scene for the last few years and while there are numerous favorites among the fans, I have to cite that Nightwish was my first foray into their provisions.  I first heard of the band in 1999 and was not even doing my Metal Scribe thing yet but they remain one of my own personal top picks to this day.   From this point I began to look into some of their other groups such as Sonata Arctica, Finntroll and so on.  All of these wondrous sounds would come in handy to my mental musical palate once I began to write about it.  Since becoming the Master and Commander of the PiercingMetal universe I have attended a score of concerts that the Finns have brought to our shores and based on the coverage on the site have been fortunate to meet a lot of wonderful musicians from this faraway land.

Today this bountiful provider of Metal celebrates their 94th Independence Day and I just wanted to send them all a hearty “Happy Independence Day” and raise my glass with a very loud “Kippis”.   To celebrate the occasion I copied the tag for “Finnish Metal” which was used on every concert piece that features one of their bands.  Clicking the Finnish flag below will launch that search and you can enjoy the findings.  My hope is that most of you know all the bands already but if you do not, then it is high time to do a little research and eventual purchasing.  I am pretty sure you will like what you hear.   The core website can be searched for those bands via the main page.

Click The Flag To See "Finnish Metal" Postings

One day I will get myself over there and absorb a little more of their culture.  Having seen some of my friends photos and knowing there is even more cool music makes me pretty firm in this idea.  When I do that you can be rest assured that there will be both Metal and Personal blogs written up about the journey.  Of course I will need to learn a little Finnish but luckily I have Sammy The Ambassador to help me along in that regard. Stay tuned.

New York City was going to get a little darker tonight as the legendary Helsinki Vampires returned for a killer performance at The Gramercy Theatre down in the Chelsea Area of the Big Apple. The band was celebrating the release of the album “Back In Blood” and touring in support of it with special guest openers Dommin and The Becoming. We made sure to get there nice and early to better capture the whole night in photo and commentary and should you want to learn and see more just click the logo below to be taken to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

Now that you have enjoyed the concert report, please enjoy some of the after show festivity that took place as the bands friends and fans mingled with them until the dawn sent them all back to their crypts and onto the next stop on the tour.

Ronnie Sweetheart (The Throbs) & Queen Vixen (Cycle Sluts From Hell)

Among the many other creatures of the New York City night that came out to see The 69 Eyes we found Ronnie Sweetheart who sang for The Throbs and right next to him is the one and only Queen Vixen of The Cycle Sluts From Hell.  These two have been friends with the Helsinki Vampires for years and are often seen when the band comes into town to bring us music.

Filthy Diamond, Gothic Hangman & Ronnie Sweetheart

It was cool to meet Ronnie as he was a pretty awesome dude to talk to and he asked for this shot to be taken of The Gothic Hangman, and a lovely Finnish Lass who they call Filthy Diamond.  The Gothic Hangman is an artist who does some really interesting stuff which you can feast your eyes on and research a little deeper into by clicking HERE.  Just leave the light on when you do so as we are not responsible for your safety after you leave PiercingMetal HQ.   The Finnish Lass hated the brightness of my camera flash so much she borrowed the Piercing shades for a moment.  I must say that they look smashing on her.

Gia Genocide, Ronnie Sweetheart, Jyrki 69, Queen Vixen, Jussi 69

The band had finished decompressing after the show and soon came out to see their friends.  The photo above shows another friend of the band in Gia Genocide and once again Mr. Sweetheart.  We also see Jyrki 69, Queen Vixen and Jussi 69 who is always camera shy as you can see here.  Jyrki’s sporting of The Throbs t-shirt is bound to send some of his young vampire legions out to search for music from the band.  You can’t buy press like this. If you feel like entertaining your auditory sensors with some music of The Throbs to learn why they are so important to Jyrki, feel free to order a copy of their album Language of Thieves & Vagabonds. I am also sure that after seeing so many photos of ladies like Queen Vixen and Vas Kallas in these narratives of mine that you are super curious as to what in the world the Cycle Sluts From Hell were all about;  so if  you are also having a problem with some surplus cash that needs a home, perhaps you can order a copy of their sole recording Cycle Sluts from Hell and educate your brain.

Jyrki 69 & Ronnie Sweetheart

When he had the chance Mr. 69 asked me to snap this shot of him and Ronnie.  He was insistent that I had missed the logo that his own shirt prominently displayed but I told him that I would not have missed that on him and managed to do what he required of me.  Singers, there is no arguing with them…they always find ways to be right even when they are not   After snapping this one I made a quick exit and left the band to spend some quality time with their friends.  The bus would be leaving in a few hours for the next stop on the tour so they did not have a lot of time to bond.  I am sure that they will come back and I was happy to be there for them again.

Jussi 69 & Ken Pierce

Of course actually leaving takes forever when there are a bunch of people to say “ciao” to and before I did Jyrki 69 took my camera to try his own hand at being one of the Metal Photographic Scribes.  He insisted on taking a shot of drummer Jussi and me which I quickly allowed with no argument.  It’s not wise to have a conflicting opinion with the King of the Goth ‘n Roll vampires after all.

PiercingMetal.com adventured with The 69 Eyes when they came to town for an exclusive fan and media listening party at the Arrow Bar on the Lower East Side. Sink your sharpened fangs into that story HERE.

While I cannot claim to have supported The 69 Eyes since their humble beginnings some twenty years ago, I have to say that I have been a fan for more than three quarters of the time that I have been a Metal Media adventurer and photographer. I began my own support of the band with their seminal release “Blessed Be” and have continued on with each consecutive album all the way up until their latest studio recording “Angels” which was released in 2007. They released the tour for that album with the live “Hollywood Kills” recording and around this time we also saw their entire back catalog being delivered by Cleopatra Records. This fact allowed many of the fans of the band to catch up to what they might have been missing or holding back from purchasing based on pricy imports. The band is now signed in the USA to The End Records, a label that has already given us the Monster Madness of Lordi, the Symphonic Gothic Virgin Black and the ever unpredictable Unexpect, so I am sure that great things are at the ready for our favorite Goth Rockers. The band was back in the New York Groove to celebrate this new signing and to treat both media allies and fans alike to an advance listening of their latest release entitled “Back In Blood”. The advance press emails about the album lined out that the band was planning on delivering their heaviest and darkest album to date and moving steadily away from the Hollywood Glam vibe that they had recently adopted. I was afforded a little more time with the guys before the listening and bring those who might have missed the event the full scoop.

(continue reading…)

I might have been a latecomer to the tunes of The 69 Eyes, but since that time I have made up for it and managed to catch every appearance that the guys do when they come into town. I’ve spoken with the bands charismatic front man a number of times as well and with each meeting find him to be one of the most engaging and interesting purveyors of the Gothic Hard Rock & Roll scene.

We met up with Jyrki 69 on his tour bus this time and found the singer just getting back from the local comic book store and from CD shopping. He is a big fan of that sort of activity and its fun to realize our musical heroes have the same hobbies as many of us. The interview took place in the summer of 2007 and found the band on tour with Wednesday 13 as their direct support. Check out the full conversation by clicking the band’s logo below.

I had heard this band only a few brief times before this evening based on their catalog not being readily available in the states, but thankfully their newest release Devils was and I had enjoyed it quite a bit. The 69 Eyes had been together something like fifteen years already and yet have never come across to our side of the fence to do a proper tour until this release and I had to say that it was a welcome thing to find them in the Big Apple for a gig. Shortly before the show I sat with lead singer Jyrki 69 and we talked about his new music and life as Lord of the Rock and Roll Vampires. Click the bands logo to be taken to our full discussion on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

The 69 Eyes are a very appealing band and while we were originally latecomers to their sound, we have made up for lost time in the support of their unique brand of Gothic Hard Rock. This would be our third time seeing the band and the added plus would be the opening slot by Wednesday 13. To read and see more about this show just click the link below to be brought to our item on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

Cradle Of Filth had returned to NYC for a devastating night of Metal. The rather oddly mixed selection of bands as their support found both The 69 Eyes and 3 Inches Of Blood appearing as openers and we were there to see everyone tonight. To learn and see more just click the logo below to be brought to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

Well its about time you boys managed to get some gigs over in this region and yes I am talking to you members of The 69 Eyes who have never before played a tour over here. Isn’t that amazing to think of when one considers how a band has been together for over a decade and yet they still remain a mystery to the mainstream music public. Tonight we would get our goblets fill of dark delights as The Helsinki Vampires made an appearance at The Bowery Ballroom and did so with Damone as their direct support. Program The Dead also played but I would not catch them I am sad to say. Click the logo below to be taken to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.