Book of Black Earth

Check out that band logo behind the singer in the first photo, it's the scribbliest metal logo I've seen in a long time. Book of Black Earth contain a couple ex-members of Teen Cthulhu who I was a big fan of (I was geeky enough to play punk D&D with some of the other T.C. members about a decade ago over a case or two of Black Label one weekend). They play keyboard and guitar-laden black metal that's pretty brutal, yet totally catchy. Hear them lay it down here. These photos are from King Cobra last Thursday, February 28th, 2008. One fatal flaw though about this band though, check out the keyboard player's white tennis shoes. That's not metal.

Funhouse Comp Thing 2!

Brian Foss over at The Funhouse (Seattle's punk rock club) has outdone himself. He's put together a second Funhouse compilation release and this time it's two CDs... that's 50 bands! The release show is March 15th, at where? Funhouse of course. Take a look at the track listings:

CD 1

1) Spits - Beat You Up
2) Aaiiee!! - Lose The Gimmick
3) Pleasureboaters - Death And Sex And Gambling
4) Intelligence - Partman Parthorse
5) Artificial Limbs - Your Little Scene
6) Chinese - Lego Bunker
7) Warning : Danger! - I Hate Bills
8) Coconut Coolouts - Tireshredding
9) Pierced Arrows - The Wait (Live)
10) Leaders - Bad News
11) A-Frames - Primitive Life
12) Toe Tag - House Of Shame
13) Le Shat Noir - Pushing The Weed
14) Strap Straps - Kill For Jesus
15) Nice Smile - Ain't For You
16) Pist'uns - Out With The Tide
17) Fucking Eagles - Being Numb
18) Bill Collectors - Never Satisfied
19) Reptilian Civilian - Beat Up Your Baby
20) Stuck-Ups - Juvenile
21) SuperDestroyers - Driller Killer
22) Aurora Roarers - Stitches
23) Snacks - Dippin' Sauce
24) Pyramids - Switch
25) Partman Parthorse - Magic

CD 2

1) Steel Tigers Of Death - The End
2) Cute Lepers - Young Hearts
3) Paper Dolls - What You Told Me
4) The Girls - Fixing The Chairs
5) Anxieties - Radiation Nation
6) The Heels - Pink Eye
7) TacocaT - U.T.I.
8) Autolite Strike - Shopping Makes You Stupid
9) The Headliners - Sketch City
10) RC5 - Ritchie Stone
11) Pure Country Gold - Bitch
12) Generation W/ Monica Nelson - Chase
13) Jaguar Paw - Relate Her
14) Zack Static Sect - Your Salvation
15) Howlin' Houndog & The Infamous Loosers - Yer Ugly
16) Android Hero - Bad Breakup
17) Digger & The Pussycats - Liar Liar
18) New Luck Toy - Ichiban
19) Reptilian Civilian - Evil Basket Weaver
20) The Hacks - Tiny Bones
21) Pranks - Get Up And Get It
22) Thee Manipulators - Paper In My Pocket
23) Space Cretins - Rockets On!
24) Teenage Harlets - Only 1
25) The Hands - Rock 'n Roll Is Dead

Crocodile's Legacy Will Live On at University of Washington!

Jim Anderson, sound engineer for Seattle's recently closed Crocodile Cafe, has had much praise heaped upon him by bands who played the Croc, as well as fans who attended shows there. For good reason! He seemed to get a great sound out of bands given the box-like show space, plus he's just a nice guy. One of the cool things Jim did was make recordings from the soundboard and offer bands a copy after their show. Ever wonder about that collection of soundboard recordings? It's mammoth. Anderson has accumulated 10+ years of soundboard recordings on CDs of some of the best live shows to happen in Seattle in the 1990s and 2000s. It's a digital library of thousand and thousands of bands and shows. In the months since the Crocodile Cafe closed, Anderson has been negotiating with the University of Washington to find a home for this collection. The project is still in the works, but it looks like the UW may acquire the massive soundboard collection with hopes to open it up to the world as streaming online archives. Fantastic! What a great way to remember the legacy of the Croc, Jim, and all the wonderful bands that played there. You heard it here first!

I'll update y'all when I have more info.

Longtime Northwest record label, Empty Records, calls it quits!

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2night: 3 Inches of Blood!

To say I'm a 3 Inches of Blood fan is a bit of an understatement. I loved only certain metal bands in the '80s. I leaned more towards Metallica, Megadeth and Exodus rather than the more popular hair metal bands. That and crossover bands like DRI, the Accused, Verbal Abuse and Nuclear Assault. These days, sure I can laugh and rock out to a Motley Crue song, but that's just pop music to me. The best metal bands for me in the past few years have been Early Man, The Sword and 3 Inches of Blood. Bands that have insane guitar riffs straight from the '80s, harsher vocals, and bring a sense of irony and humor to their music do it for me. More rock, less fashion, and they don't take themselves as seriously as a lot of death metal bands. 3 Inches of Blood are the total package and they have two singers, one that does the high metal parts and one that does growlier hardcore parts, which works great. The band has had a few line-up changes in the past year (the screamer fucked up his voice during the Ozzfest tour and had to be replaced), but it sounds like they are just as awesome as ever. Want to hear them? Go here.

Last June the band released their second album, "Fire Up the Blades." The album rocks, but I still find myself going back to 2004's "Advance and Vanquish." I'm stoked to hear songs from both albums live tonight, when 3 Inches of Blood headline the opening live show at King Cobra in Seattle. The openers are no slouches either, local Plaster always put on a great rock show and also from Seattle, Book of Black Earth, promise to inject your veins with your week's black metal fix. This show is going to be brutally awesome.

Show details:
3 Inches of Blood
Book of Black Earth
Toxic Holocaust
Plaster
$10, 21+, doors @ 8pm
King Cobra, 916 E. Pike Street

Chow Nasty (tonight at Nectar in Fremont)

A self-described soul funk band from the East Bay, Chow Nasty brings the party with them. They rocked The Funhouse a few years back when I took this photo, and tonight they rock Nectar in Fremont with Velella Velella.

The Make Out Choir

Along the lines of The DTs from Bellingham, who I posted about earlier, as well as Seattle band Thee Emergency, was a hard soul band from a few years ago called The Make Out Choir. 2001-2003 seemed to be their hey day when they played a ton of great shows. The band featured people from a bunch of other bands, including Dave from New Fangs, with Lisa up front in I think her first band. They had a fun combination of rock and soul going on, with great female vocals up front. These photos are from a show at the Comet in late 2001 or early 2002.