Wednesday 13, Holy Grail, Death Division
FUBAR
07/24/2015 07:00 PM CDT
$14.00 - $16.00
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Supporting Acts: BlackDeth, Murder Machine
Wednesday 13
Bolt your doors, seal off your windows, and turn off your radio it's a scary world out there, full of mindless zombies and equally mindless rockstars, self-righteously preaching and self-indulgently whining to the herd. But help is on the way, as Wednesday 13 stands ready to shock the rock status quo out of its brain-dead coma. Equal parts artist, horror and TV addict, and riveting frontman, Wednesday 13 refuses to be your typical messiah. I don't like anyone preaching to me that's why I've never gone to church. says Wednesday. For me, music has always been an escape from real life. Whatever problems I had, I could always go home, put on a record and just escape all of that shit. So in my own music, the only thing I'm serious about is not being serious!
Though best known for fronting the Murderdolls, Wednesday is a rock veteran who's been playing in bands since he was 15-years old. He adopted his stage moniker in 1995, naming himself after Wednesday of The Addams Family and the address, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, of The Munsters. A year later he formed his now-deceased horror-core band Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, named in the spirit of legendary B-movie director Ed Wood. The band put out four independent albums between 1996 and 2001, and played countless local shows. Frankenstein Drag Queens was Wednesday's baby, and he slaved away for his undead offspring - writing the songs, booking shows, working low-wage jobs (delivering everything from newspapers to furniture), and generally putting all his money and energy into the band.
In 2001, the 'Drag Queens independent releases and loyal underground following caught the attention of national artists, as Wednesday was asked by the (since departed) Murderdolls guitarist Tripp Eisen to join the band. Wednesday started in the bass slot, but his talent and showmanship quickly resulted in a move to the lead vocalist position. It was he and band founder Joey Jordison of Slipknot who collaborated on the writing of the band's debut album, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls. The Murderdolls quickly built a fiercely devoted following, through repeated world tours (including 30,000-person shows in Japan, opening slots for Iron Maiden throughout Europe, and other choice tours), and worldwide rock press acclaim and album sales followed. As 2003 came to an end, Beyond had earned silver-status in the UK, sold over 100,000 units in the U.S. alone, and garnered accolades including Kerrang!'s Readers Choice Award Best New Band and Album of 2002 and Metal Hammer's Thank God They're Not Good Charlotte award in 2003. Predictably, the success of the Murderdolls resulted in Wednesday disbanding his first band. But since the Frankenstein Drag Queens' demise, it has ironically won a worldwide cult following. Wednesday can't help but laugh: "In the beginning, the 'Drag Queens were inspired by Ed Wood. In the end, the band was like Ed Wood in that he wasn't popular until after he died either.
Murderdolls, meanwhile, was put on hold in 2003 as Jordison returned to the studio and the road with Slipknot. Wednesday returned home, immediately locked himself in his basement, and emerged with over 100 songs written. In June 2004, he began work on his first solo album, playing all but the drums himself. True to form, Wednesday has stitched together a morgue-full of influences horror films, cartoons, punk and heavy metal into a spook-tacular monster-mosh of an album, Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying and the Dead. Fans of White Zombie, Rob Zombie, AFI, Alkaline Trio the aforementioned 'Dolls, as well as metal, punk, and horror in general will find the record at once refreshing and outrageous. With his sallow complexion and raven dreadlocks, Wednesday may look like a grim goth at first glance, but the singer/guitarist is more a throwback to the days of Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister, when rock music had no more pretentious aspirations than being over-the-top, escapist fun.
The song I Walked with a Zombie, for instance, was inspired by the 1943 horror movie of the same name. It's one of the first movies that dealt with voodoo, the singer/guitarist explains. But I just went in a totally different direction the song is actually kind of a love song about a zombie.
The song Elect Death for President, meanwhile, was inspired by the TV news. I was watching CNN last year, and I was like 'You know, this is scarier than any horror movie,' Wednesday recalls. I'm not a political person, but it doesn't take a genius to realize that there are problems. So I started making up sarcastic lyrics about a campaign where Death was actually running for president. I felt kind of weird afterwards, like Did I just write a political song? Or not?'
The recording now behind him and the bloody, infectious results commited to tape, the singer/guitarist is burning to sink his fangs into the rock world's throat once again. Despite his writing and performing the record himself, Wednesday 13 is a band, which includes Wednesday on vocals/guitar, Ghastly on drums, Kid Kid on bass and Pig on guitar. Once the record was done, the band immediately hit the road, playing a 16-date club tour of the UK/Europe to warm up the new material. The tour was a great success, drawing thousands of fans and affirming Wednesday's ability to connect with fans, whatever the project.
Growing up a little blonde kid in the middle of the Bible Belt (North Carolina, where he still resides), Wednesday escaped at an early age into a world of creature features and rock gods. I'm the perfect example of what television and rock 'n' roll can do to a kid with no plans to be a doctor or fireman, says Wednesday. I still sort of live inside of a television. My songs stem from movies and things I've seen on TV. It seems natural, then, that each track on Transylvania 90210 is an episode in the outrageously shocking mini-series that Wednesday 13 created. Tune In: Wednesday 13's debut album will be your new guilty pleasure.
Holy Grail
Formed in Southern California in 2008 when vocalist James Paul Luna and drummer Tyler Meahl diverged from Pasadena metal squadron White Wizzard and teamed up with San Diegan guitar hero Eli Santana, the band was called Sorcerer until it became clear that the moniker didn't quite capture the rarefied nature of the members' collective talents. Sorcerer became HOLY GRAIL. The band became so unstoppable that California just couldn't contain them and now, like their spiritual forefathers in Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Dio, HOLY GRAIL are poised to bring their hook-laden shred anthems to an arena near you.
HOLY GRAIL are heavy metal personified, possessing a seemingly infinite arsenal of mind-blowing riffs, skyscraping vocal melodies and devastating drum dynamism. Not mention the kind of six-string acrobatics and straight-up power-shredding that would make Yngwie Malmsteen chuck the proverbial goat in sweep-picking solidarity. "We shred and we're serious about it," Luna offers. "This is not a tongue-in-cheek thing. It's not throwback or retro. HOLY GRAIL is a modern band with a new twist on the best of old-school metal with death metal riffs, modern breakdowns and power-metal singing. We just tried to pick stuff from all our favorite bands and make the best blend of metal we could."
But don't take our word for it—or Luna's. The fine folks at Decibel magazine knew exactly what they were talking about when they hailed HOLY GRAIL as "the most exciting prefix-free metal band to come out of L.A. in the last two decades." The esteemed editors at UK's Metal Hammer nominated the gentlemen of the Grail for the magazine's "Best New Band" award at their annual Golden Gods ceremony before HOLY GRAIL even had an album out. But a certain tall, handsome genius over at Thrasher summed it up best when he proclaimed, "HOLY GRAIL are the reason that heavy metal will never die."
After basking in the glory of last year's critically acclaimed "Improper Burial" EP, HOLY GRAIL have finally unleashed their full-length debut, "Crisis In Utopia." The title comes from a short story that Luna found in a 1930s-era sci-fi mag. Inspired, he transposed the tale's apocalyptic theme to the band's L.A. stomping grounds. "The way I envisioned it, it's about what would happen to Hollywood in end-times, the fate of all these people who have no idea how to survive without modern conveniences," he explains. "Then all the humans are killed off and the next species forms from their parasites. It was kind of a sick pleasure to write."
Produced by former Nine Inch Nails member and A Perfect Circle collaborator Danny Lohner, Crisis In Utopia is loaded with instant fist-pumping classics like the title track ,"Call Of Valhalla," and revamped versions of Improper Burial's modern classics "Immortal Man" and "Fight To Kill." Opener "My Last Attack" is especially impressive, showcasing Luna's soaring pipes over a dizzying series of scorching twin leads and white-hot hooks. Insanely catchy jams like "Hollow Ground," "Requiem" and "Chase The Wind" set an impossibly high standard for the next decade's would-be arena anthems. Meanwhile, the instrumental interlude "Nocturne In D Minor" features guest shots from Anna Murphy and Meri Tadic of Swiss folk-metal luminaries (and recent tour mates) Eluveitie.
Triumphant performances at the UK's Download Festival, Japan's Loud Park and Germany's Wacken Open Air have recently spread the HOLY GRAIL gospel overseas, while North American tours with metal monoliths Amon Amarth, Exodus, 3 Inches Of Blood and Blind Guardian have left the home front in a sweat-drenched state of HOLY GRAIL fever.
Yeah, you say, but What Does It All Mean? What it means is that you've been reading this thing for way too long. Just press fucking play already.
Holy Grail is:
James-Paul Luna – Vocals
Eli Santana – Lead Guitar
Alex Lee – Lead Guitar
Tyler Meahl – Drums
Blake Mount – Bass
Death Division
Los Angeles based metal band Death Division formed in 2012 by bassist Jerry Montano and lead vocalist/guitarist Sean de la Tour. The two immediately began writing music "We basically locked ourselves in a rehearsal room, started writing songs and just hammered it out the old-fashioned way, just like we used to do when we were teenagers. We really spent a lot of time refining the songs," confirms Jerry.
That name may indeed sound familiar as Jerry Montano is a veteran in the metal world and as a bassist his catalog of works has sold over two million records worldwide. Montano played bass in several prominent metal bands over the last decade including Nothingface, Danzig, and in 2006 Jerry, along with Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell and Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray created the metal supergroup Hellyeah with the addition of guitarist Greg Tribbett, and former Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott. Jerry was one of the key songwriters in that band and in 2007 the self-titled album from Hellyeah debuted at #7 on Billboards Top 200. Jerry also played bass for The Deadlights and desert rock band Unida, featuring former Kyuss vocalist John Garcia. Sean De la Tour is also the son of a heavy-blues guitarist who was introduced to the world of rock and roll by his father that passed onto him two cassette tapes, Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason and Metallica's Master of Puppets. As Sean states, "those tapes became the soundtrack of my youth and really shaped me as a guitarist and songwriter." Combine all this with Jerry's passion for punk rock, country , metal music and you have one unique and well-versed metal band!
Death Division just released a 5-song independent EP fueled with aggressive riffs and melodic vocals supplemented with memorable hooks and choruses. And unlike so many of the modern metal recordings released today, this band really strived to capture an organic sound and vibe when it came to the recording process and looked to artists such as Led Zeppelin, The Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and Down as inspiration. As Jerry states, "Even though we're considered a metal band, I take a very rock and roll approach when it comes to songwriting." This is clearly evident in songs such as "We Are The Fallen," about the rise and fall of fame and fortune, and "I've Had Enough," which Sean describes as a double-edged sword; claiming, "Jerry wrote that song about relationship and I added in this dark, underlining twist to it. At first listen you may think it's simply about a relationship gone awry, but if you read between the lines you will find a much darker message."
This EP found its way into the hands of Justis Mustaine, son of notorious Megadeth frontman and Gigantour founder Dave Mustaine, at the 2013 NAMM Show. Fast-forward just a few short months to present and you'll find that Death Division are currently tearing it up on the road as the opening act on the Gigantour 2013 North America Tour giving unsuspecting metal-heads a dose of riff-roaring, pile-driving metal. So as you can see, Death Division wastes no time bringing their unique brand of metal to the masses, with this band it's full-throttle all the way!
"This whole thing has been about timing and I am a firm believer that when the planets and stars align correctly, things start to happen, asserts Jerry. "being in a band can sometimes be a real struggle but with this band it came together really easy and everything just fit in place so nicely, both musically and personally." Jerry concludes by affirming, "having Justis as our manager has just been amazing and Dave (Mustaine) has really become our mentor on a business level. It has just been an incredible ride so far and I can't wait to see what the future holds for Death Division".
You can currently catch Death Division on Gigantour 2013 along with Megadeth, Black Label, Device (featuring David Draiman of Disturbed), Hellyeah, and Jason Newsted. You can expect a full-length album from Death Division in early 2014.
Venue Information
FUBAR
3108 Locust St.
St. Louis, MO 63103
http://www.fubarstl.com/