Ramones! Ramones! Ramones!

 

Leon Made a Video

My boo 4 life (and friend of 16 years), Leon Del Muerte, has been in a million bands. OK, maybe not a million, but he's played bass for Intronaut, Impaled, Exhumed, Murder Construct, Phobia—plus a host of other projects. Yet he only just appeared in his first music video. The lucky outlet? D.I.S. (Destroyed in Seconds), his crusty-punk/grind hybrid.

So without further adieu, kindly check out D.I.S.'s "Lamentations." That's him at 1:48.

Hank III - Live in Brooklyn

There are many artists clamoring for the now-vacant title of Hardest Working Man in Show Business, but my vote goes unquestionably to Hank Williams III. The reason is simple: I've never seen another performer play three completely different (yet equally raucous) sets without taking a break in between. So when his tour pulled in to Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg on the eve of my birthday, I knew I had to be there.

Williams has always been a creative soul with an identity crisis, balancing his love of heavy metal and punk rock with his country pedigree. His approach to expressing these genres is a methodic one: tackle each style, one at a time. Starting off with a tradition country set and a band that included fiddle, banjo, stand-up bass and steel guitar players, Williams took the audience on a musical tour of the American South, churning out both original and classic yarns based on tales from West Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee. The most rancor was reserved for the latter, particularly Nashville's Grand Ol' Opry for refusing to grant his grandfather, the country legend Hank Williams, a posthumous reinstatement. [For more info or to sign the online petition, click here.]



From there, he ramped things up by changing hats (literally) and going into the Hellbilly part of the night with Assjack, bringing out singer Gary Lindsay to help belt out rockers like "Six-Pack of Beer," "Country Heroes" and "Life of Sin." Of note: after many years of circulating official bootlegs, Assjack will finally be releasing their official debut on Curb Records, due out on August 4.



It really wouldn't be a Hank III show without a final punk rock set, though at this point most of the crowd had cleared out. Paying particular homage to GG Allin and the Murder Junkies (GG's brother Merle and drummer Dino took the stage for a song), the band went through several hellacious, industrial-strength tracks and teased the audience with riffs on Slayer's "Reigning Blood" and Ministry's "Stigmata." After much sound and fury—not to mention equal parts spilled beer and blood—the show came to a frenzied, sweaty end.



For more photos, check out the gallery here.

Stoned & Droned: Witch and Earthless Live

It's odd hearing people break out into applause over a drummer's sound check. But I guess when that drummer is slacker legend J Mascis, all bets are off. Which would also justify the amount of paparazzi-like sleuths who snuck in snapshots of the gray-haired Dinosaur Jr. founder as he set up his kit. Then again, maybe all the attention was appropriate since tonight's bill of Mascis' Witch, plus Earthless and Children was completely drummer-centric.



Though I neglected Children due to a Lost-induced time suck, I managed to get my ass to the Music Hall of Williamsburg in time to see the brilliant stoner psychedelia of Earthless. The instrumental trio were a joy to watch, and it's no wonder why they placed drummer Mario Rubalcaba's kit dead center on the stage. Even with his minimalist, rose-glitter setup, the guy rocks like Animal, and sets the tone for Earthless' sunny but trippy freeform sound. Earthless inspired tons of head-bopping and hippie dancing in the process; easily reminding me that these guys are pure West Coast flower power. I look forward to seeing them again at High Times' Doobie Awards (and putting Rubalcaba on my make out list).



Headliners Witch took a very different approach. Sounding like a modern day Grand Funk Railroad with punk sensibilities, the newjack heshers ripped through tracks from both their self-titled debut as well as their brand-new opus, Paralyzed. More thunderous and dirty than Earthless, Witch are the perfect band to grind to—which would also explain the tons of skateboards I saw at the gig. Overall, it was a great night of stoner rock with nary a boring moment. Light 'em if you got 'em—and be sure to check out Earthless next month if you're in Austin.

For more crappy pix, click HERE.