Music It Will Set You Free

Music My Saviour

It has been a long time. I have been busy working so I never got the chance to write a new blog in a while. But I have been thinking about writing this one for a while now. I think it came to me while I was being subjected to the worst radio station anyone could hope to never want to listen to. It was the same playlist every hour. I swear you would hear the same songs at least five times a day. And get to hear it all again the next day. Luckily we were allowed to listen to our own iPods or phones (how much music can you fit on a phone? I've been through this before) or any music box you might have.

Play this Playlist as you read:

It was this juxtaposition of my own awesome music compared to the drivel on the radio that gave me the idea to write this blog about music in general. Now I know everyone has different tastes in music and not everyone can be as enlightened as me but since this is my blog I can write what I want. If you don't like it then you can write your own blog and I won't read it.

I came up with some very insightful stuff and amazing analogies to describe music but I forgot to write them down because I thought my enormous brain could store it all but I think it's all gone now. Oh well. If it comes back to me I'll put it in here.

I believe that music can make you feel something. Shit music can make you feel hatred or pity towards the people "singing" it. But REAL music by actual talented artists can make you feel something more within than without. Does that make sense?

One of the things I love to do is to walk through town listening to Amon Amarth. I am alone and an outsider to the people in town but I don't feel alone because I am in my own world. It's the best place to be. To some, music is an outlet or it has helped them through hard times. While I have never really had a hard time to get through I have found that certain music by certain bands have made me feel... INVINCIBLE.

Of course Ash went to the guy with a bigger beard than mine.

Walking through town listening to Amon Amarth I feel this way. Songs about Vikings and their battles makes me feel like one of them. I have no problem singing along as I walk and to hell with anyone who notices. They can't stop me. Lamb of God do it for me too. I think it's because of the emotion and aggression that their songs exude. Take their song "Overlord" for example, You would never think it was Randy Blythe singing but it just shows the talent the man has. After years of growling vocals he comes out with some clean singing. This also gives the heaviness, that the song veers into, even more impact.

But metal doesn't always need to be aggressive. It can be fun. It can have a groove to make you move. Check out "Bricks and Mortar" by Cancer Bats. A song that also has the message to save the record stores. But I guess they've never tried looking for anything decent in a record shop in Ireland. It's no wonder HMV went under. The fucking shit they sell. And they have fun with their videos. "Sabotage" for example has the band looking for The Beastie Boys to be in their video.

Music doesn't have to be serious either. There are so many different genres of metal and they all have their own style which makes it easy to take the piss out of them. Evil Scarecrow are a metal band but they write songs about robots, mutant crabs and going crazy in space. If a pop act tried to satirize metal they would get their ass handed to them. But because Evil Scarecrow are a metal band formed by metal fans they can get away with it and we respect that and we're all in on the joke because it's our lifestyle to make fun of.

Red Fang have some of the best videos. "Prehistoric Dog" is one of my favourite songs and videos from them. And in "Wires" they just drive their car into a bunch of stuff. We are serious about our music but we know how to have fun with it too.

"Darkness Within" by Machine Head is a love song. Not a typical "I miss you and I think you left our love child in my heart" kind of love song. But a love song to music itself. You may lose your faith in a god but music will always be there for you.

"Because god is in these clef and tone
Salvation is found alone
Haunted by its melody
Music it will set you free"


It's all these feelings that music gives us that has made it one of the most shared and argued about forms of art. I do respect other people's taste in music. I mean, I probably would never have listened to Tom Waits if it wasn't for Aishling. But then she may never have gone on a musical journey with Mastodon if it wasn't for me. And this is what music is about. Showing people that there are more forms of this art out there. Giving people another way to feel things. It may not be the same as what we feel but then that is what makes us individuals.

"Yeah, He knows who's drivin'"

I will not, however, acknowledge pop music as an art form. Some may argue that some acts are real "artists" but that's your retarded view to live with. Pop music is just like McDonalds. It's mass produced with nothing of value in it just to be consumed and shit out ready for the next sad excuse of a meal. There's no point in arguing that with me because I am too stubborn to listen. Plus, it's just scientific fact.

If you listened to the playlist I left at the top, and if you read slow enough, then you should be onto Down as I finish this now. I decided to end on Down because out of all the bands I love and listen to only Down has ever made me feel something no other band has been able to do. Or not made me feel. Whenever I am upset, angry, annoyed or whatever, I can listen to Down and I always feel better. I find it impossible to be sad when listening to them. I guess they centre me. Don't ask me why but that's how it is.

I like to ask people that if they could only ever listen to one song for the rest of their lives what would it be? No matter what music you heard anywhere, in a shop, on a radio, you would only ever hear that one song. Stone the Crow by Down is mine. If you want you can comment what yours would be. Maybe you will introduce me to new music in the way that I may have done for you.

"Come on. Leave a comment"

Get Your Ass in Gear - Clutch @ The Academy, Dublin, 9th of May 2014

Clutch

 

"Doctor or Lawyer, I'll Never Be"

Friday 9th of May 2014 marked the first time I got to see Clutch play live. And it was worth the wait. I remember hearing Clutch for the first time in 2004 while playing the Hitman: Contracts video game. Their song Immortal featured on one of the levels when you enter a biker bar. There's no better song to kill people to. It has the heaviness and the lyrics "I am immortal" are sung , and stick in your head, while you slaughter everyone. It makes quite an impact.

It wasn't until a year later that I really got into Clutch. The video to Burning Beard was played non-stop on Scuzz (the metal music channel from the UK that has kind of gone down hill in the last few years. You have to wait until night time to hear anything decent and even then you still have a lot of shit stuck in the middle. It's like a nightclub DJ who plays so much crap until they finally get to the 3 song attack of Queen, Bon Jovi and T-Rex and you think to yourself: "maybe things are picking up here" but then they go back to playing the same shit again) and myself and my friend, "E" let's call her, couldn't stop watching the video.

It was a crazy song that made no sense but it was something new and different compared to the Emo bullshit that was taking over at the time. I would have sacrificed many Emos to bring Nu Metal back and not have that asymmetrical hairstyle, woe-is-me, rich kid, "let's go on a black parade", what-the-fuck-is-a-black-parade? bunch of fuckers around any more. Needless to say I bought the album, Robot Hive/Exodus, as soon as I got the chance.

So 10 long years later we finally got to see Clutch play live. And they didn't disappoint.

"Life of a Drifter - Only Life For Me"

 

 I had spent the last two weeks leading up to the gig checking Clutch's set lists from their UK tour dates and while most bands will stick to the same set list for the duration of a tour, or even for a year or two, Clutch never played the same set twice. They may play the same songs a few of the nights but they were never in the same order. The only constant was that they played 19 songs in total. You never quite know what you will get so it's always best to listen to all their songs in preparation. Which isn't a bad thing as they have never written a bad song.

Supporting them was a band called Lionize. I listened to a couple of their songs beforehand and I enjoyed what I heard. But it's a different story when you see them live. They are great musicians and really impressive at what they do. I think I will be getting some more of their stuff in future.

Clutch kicked things off with The Mob Goes Wild. And appropriately enough the mob in attendance did go wild. They followed this with the already classic Earth Rocker and Unto the Breach. I'll stop here to tell you that if you haven't already picked up the Earth Rocker album then you must immediately go and get it. You can finish reading this if you like but you should definitely get the album as soon as possible.

It was nice to be at a gig where the majority of those in attendance actually knew the band they were seeing. Twice last year I had been to gigs where, during Orange Goblin, two people decided that a heavy metal band provided the best music to have a conversation to. They spent the whole time talking right beside me and Aishling until Ash dragged me away after I asked them if they were gonna continue to be ignorant assholes. The answer was yes.

At Red Fang last summer it was hipster central. I don't understand why these skinny jean wearing fuck nuts buy tickets to bands they have no clue about. They only ever know the one or two songs they heard on youtube the night before. In the end I put it down to the venue. Both of those gigs took place at notorious hipster hangouts. Luckily Clutch was in a good venue that while not exclusively for metal bands they do have a good mix so the hip-tards (hipstards? - comment below) avoid it because it's "too popular".

"You Can Have Your Riches, All The Gold You Saved"

Back to the gig now. I can't tell you what it meant to me to finally witness one of my long time favourite bands play a few feet away from me. To see Neil Fallon act out his lyrics as he sang them and a few times during the night we got to see him show off his guitar skills with the brilliant The Regulator, the sombre Gone Cold and the classic Electric Worry. He's got some cowbell skills too.

The rest of the band - JP Gaster on drums, Tim Sult on guitar and Dan Maines on bass - were, as you'd expect from a band that has been together for nigh on 25 years with no major personnel changes (they did once have a keyboard player for three years), all extremely tight and highly skilled. Tim can play those bluesy riffs like it's nobody's business.

It's hard to convey just how amazing Clutch are live. If they ever play near you then you owe it to yourself to go see them. And bring all your friends. If life was fair Clutch would be selling out bigger venues around the world. But life isn't fair so we're stuck with Robin Thicko rape songs and gyrating disease monkeys. Call me selfish, but I'd rather keep Clutch to myself than share them with the type of people who listen to that kind of stuff. And if you are one of those people then hit yourself over the head with something hard. Repeatedly. Not to forget that you read my blog but just because you deserve it. And I'm too far away to do it for you.

The Brain of Light

"Cause’ Ain’t Room For One Thing In Everybody’s Grave"

Here are the shirts we got at the gig from the nice merch guy who I hope got to finish his ham sandwich.
Also thanks to Aishling for the photos she took which I have used here. Check out her Facebook photography page and/or Photography blog page.

That will do it from me this time. Just my recommendation left:

Pumpkinhead

Ash wanted  to watch Pumpkinhead last week and I know it didn't disappoint her. She can't stop talking about it. You don't need to know if what she says is good or bad. Just know that she said something about it. It stars Lance Henriksen so that should be good enough for you.