Tag: New Daisy Theatre

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Carcass, Crowbar, and More at the New Daisy

The New Daisy has already had some of the biggest names in metal come through their doors this year, but Friday’s show that features grindcore legends Carcass along with Night Demon, Crowbar, and Ghoul might be the biggest metal bill of 2016. Formed in 1985, Carcass have been at the top of the grindcore food chain for most of their existence, mostly due to the unprecedented success they experienced for the album Heartwork, the record that essentially landed the band a deal with Columbia Records. Carcass broke up in 1995 but re-formed in 2007, and as they are considered by many to be the fathers of grindcore, the reunion was highly anticipated by new and old fans alike.

Carcass

While all the supporting acts on this full U.S. tour are capable of filling the headlining slot on their own, Night Demon are certainly the newest band on the bill, having formed in 2011. With their massive fan base, they certainly belong on this all-star bill. New Orleans sludge masters Crowbar are no strangers to Memphis or the New Daisy, and their loyal fan base should make up most of the crowd at Friday’s show.

Rounding out this insane lineup is Ghoul, the punk/metal band that features members of Phobia, Exhumed, and Wolves in the Throne Room. Ghoul come from the same school of thought as GWAR, meaning they adopt stage names (Cremator, Fermentor, Digestor, and Dissector, to be exact) and often use props during their performance. This one should get nasty.

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All Hail the Purple One

This Friday, the two most prominent music venues in town will hold tribute concerts honoring the late, great Purple One. The New Daisy will host an evening of “Catalog Sessions” documenting the music of Prince with a performance of three different sets of his music, while Minglewood Hall will be hosting a “Memphis Does Prince” benefit with all the money going to St. Jude. Much like the Minglewood show, “Memphis Does Bowie,” curated by Graham Winchester, the “Memphis Does Prince” benefit this Friday features a ton of local musicians covering Prince’s music. On the other side of town, the New Daisy will have Larry Springfield along with Chris McNeil and friends on hand to perform Prince covers all night long. I caught up with Winchester to learn more about his tribute concert at Minglewood Hall this Friday. — Chris Shaw

The Memphis Flyer: How will this be different than the “Memphis Does Bowie” benefit?

Graham Winchester: The band lineup is very different, which I’m excited about. Through these “Memphis Does…” benefits, I want to incorporate as many local artists as possible. The music itself is also very different stylistically. Bowie definitely had some party tunes in his catalog, but not to the extent of Prince. I think this show will be one for the dancers.

Prince, much like Bowie, had a pretty unique, instantly recognizable style of music. Did that factor into how you picked the bands?

I definitely tried to pick bands that have an upbeat, funky vibe. There is also a strong need for great vocals and guitar work with this benefit. I didn’t get every band I wanted, but I got the main ones, and I’m happy with the results.

How appreciative was St. Jude about the Bowie benefit?

They were extremely appreciative and have been so helpful the second time around. I’ve had several meetings with employees at the hospital about not only this benefit, but how they can help with future shows as well. Everybody at St. Jude has been incredibly enthusiastic, appreciative, and even surprised at what is going on.

The Bowie benefit was a huge success. Do you expect a similar turnout?

I feel like the turnout may even be slightly larger than last time. I think there’s a lot of momentum and expectation going into this second benefit. My goal is to raise $25,000 this time.

Talk about the after party that’s 21 and up. What’s that going to be like?

My good friend Graham Burks is going to play the after party with his band mars HALL. It’s in 1884 Lounge, connected to the main room of Minglewood Hall, so it’ll be a great way to continue the Prince party without having to drive anywhere. There may be some impromptu collaboration involving all the musicians after mars HALL is done.

How will the show be formatted? How many songs does each band get to play? Will there be deep Prince cuts or solid hits all night?

Most bands will be playing three or four songs each. Toward the end of the night, my band is going to play seven or eight songs, and we’ve incorporated several special guests into our set.

After that Hope Clayburn plays for about 45 minutes, then Steve Selvidge plays the final 45 minutes. This time around I wanted to get a few headliners to play some solid, full sets so the night ends with a good flow. Overall, there are over 60 songs being played, so there is a good mix of hits and deep cuts.

“Memphis Does Prince,” featuring Steve Selvidge, Hope Clayburn, Winchester and the Ammunition, the Incredible Hook, Southern Avenue, Clay Otis and the Addults, Chinese Connection Dub Embassy, Lightajo, the Erotic Thrillers, Marcella Simien, Another Green World, Kitty Dearing, Jesse Davis, and more Friday, June 10th at Minglewood Hall. 8 p.m. $15-$17. All ages.

“Catalog Sessions” with Larry Springfield and Chris McNeil, Friday, June 10th at the New Daisy Theatre, 8 p.m. $30.00.

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Music Music Features

Q&A: George Clinton is Still Funkin’

The New Daisy is turning 74 this weekend, and to celebrate, George Clinton will be on hand to make sure the party goes well into the night. The venue will be mounting memorable show posters on the walls throughout the night, including the Bob Dylan concert flyer, and a Big Star show poster. While those shows definitely deserve recognition, the real draw here is George Clinton. I caught up with Clinton over the phone last week to talk about the show and how he manages to keep it funky at the age of 74. — Chris Shaw

The Memphis Flyer: How often are you performing these days? Are you able to tour as much as you’d like?

George Clinton: I generally tour all the time. We live on the road. We’ve been doing a 30-day tour in the states starting tonight. Then we go to Europe for 30 days, and then we come back here and do the same thing. We’ve got a couple new records out and a new video with Kendrick Lamar and Ice Cube that we’ll be promoting.

George Clinton

You’ve worked with a lot of rappers throughout your career. Is there any current artist you’d like to work with that you haven’t yet?

The group Alabama Shakes. I really like them, that’s the rock side of me. The hip-hop side of me [would like to work with] J. Cole. My grandkids show me what’s hip, there’s about five of them in the group now, and they keep me up to date on what’s going on. Flying Lotus is who I’m touring with right now.

Your ties with Stax Records and Memphis run pretty deep.

Al Green, Isaac Hayes, and the Bar-Kays have all been on tour with us. I go way back with all of that. In the ’60s, those were our touring buddies, and we were united with Stax and a lot of other Memphis connections. It’s always good to play Beale Street Music Fest.

Back in ’76 we had the Mothership, and it really blew a lot of minds to see the spaceship landing, and people were freaking out when we brought to Memphis. The Mothership in ’76 and ’77 pretty much freaked everyone out across the country.

How do you feel about your music being sampled by so many artists over the years?

I’m proud of being sampled. The corporations that try to own the music is what I have a problem with. That’s the part I’ve been fighting, and I’ve got a documentary coming out about that. My latest album is going to tackle all these pharm drugs you see on TV that are actually worse than street drugs. It’s going to be called One Nation Under Sedation.

You’ve been clean for a while now. Can you still get funky now that you’re sober?

Definitely. As soon as you find something better than the habit, you don’t need it anymore. All that rehab shit is just for people to make money. I smoke weed. I got my medical marijuana card, and I get higher with that than I ever did smoking crack. The weed nowadays gets you much higher than the crack I used to smoke. I sprained my back and they gave me these painkillers, but I won’t take that shit. I’m happy being clean, and I’m not bragging. I’m just happy to be over with it, and I know people need to hear these things without being preached at.

What’s been the secret to your longstanding career?

I feel lucky, but coming through the ’50s when rock-and-roll was coming up and then working at Motown factory with the best songwriters in the world, you learned to respect all the different music coming along. I’m not afraid of the kids coming along today. I’m not afraid of them putting me out of business. I’m trying to work with them. I get on YouTube with my grandkids and hear their mix tapes, and then I work with them.

It keeps me relevant, just like when I worked with Kendrick Lamar. We are basically doing R&B with this 21st century dance concept. Snoop and all them from that era, they didn’t identify with R&B the way they do now. They are all really proud of R&B now, and so the younger generation respects the music itself. The new era of rappers appreciates blues and R&B. That’s what keeps the music alive.

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Still Creepin’

Cleveland’s Bone Thugs-N-Harmony first came together at the beginning of the ’90s under the highly unlikely (and wisely scrapped) moniker, The Band Aid Boys. The then five-member group of MC’s Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie Bone, and Flesh-N-Bone adopted the B.O.N.E. Enterprises name for the recording and release of their underground debut full-length CD/LP, Faces of Death. It was made under the studio guidance of then-mentor (and older brother of Krayzie Bone) Kermit Henderson, who released the album in 1993 on his own small label Stoney Burke. The group pushed itself to many labels and throughout the industry and eventually endeared themselves to former N.W.A. member and Ruthless Records owner Eazy-E through a live audition in his dressing room. Eazy was impressed enough to get serious about the group and sign them to Ruthless with the caveat that they be known as “Thugs-N-Harmony,” though a middle ground was met and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony would soon be one of the most distinctive and important mainstream hip-hop groups of the ’90s.

Bone Thugs’ debut for Ruthless was 1994’s eight-song EP, Creepin on ah Come Up, which circulated amongst gangsta-rap audiences for a short time until breaking through to the mainstream and peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart on the backs of the hit singles “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” (No. 22 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Hot Rap Tracks charts, respectively) and “Foe tha Love of $” (No. 4 on Hot Raps Tracks). The latter featured a verse by Eazy-E, who would go on to mentor and guide Bone Thugs’ career for a year until succumbing to complications from AIDS in March of 1995, though Ruthless Records continued to be the group’s label during their highly successful run throughout the ’90s and into the next millennium. 1995’s E. 1999 Eternal, the first proper full-length album by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, upped the ante considerably by becoming an absolutely massive hit and the group’s biggest selling title.

The singles “1st of tha Month” and “Tha Crossroads” truly introduced to a large-scale, mainstream audience what was a style of hip-hop that went way beyond “horrorcore,” G-Funk, and gangsta rap elements and combined into something musically unprecedented at that level. Bone Thugs’ popularization of their signature “chopper” style of hip-hop was truly one of the seven phonetic wonders of the MC’ing world when it hit big in the mid ’90s. In between extremely catchy choruses sung in the G-Funk style was the group’s lightning-speed rapping, itself so fast that it seems stream-of-conscious (far from it and masterfully crafted lyrically) as it undulates to and fro, taking on the role of an additional primary melodic hook for each song.

E. 1999 Eternal (the “E” being in tribute to Eazy-E) and its follow-up, the epic-length The Art of War (1997), were categorically huge hip-hop releases that rebirthed at an above-ground level the violent lyrical content, which had run its (first) course by the mid-’90s, typically associated with gangsta rap. It was during this era that the “Mo Thugs” entity was established as a collective and record label focused on up-and-coming or affiliated Cleveland-related artists, and five albums were released by Mo-Thugs (which numbered almost 40 members, including the Bone Thugs MCs) between 1995 and 2009. Art of War‘s “Look Into My Eyes” showed up on the Batman & Robin soundtrack and peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart, while “If I Could Teach the World” won an American Music Award in 1997.

Bone Thugs also dealt with the continuing absence of member Bizzy Bone later in the ’90s and prior to this a feud with our own Three 6 Mafia over what was at the time considered stylistic cribbing, as both groups had a similar sound and Three 6’s had actually been in place since 1989. (DJ Paul explained last year on Blurred Culture’s Live With Steve Lobel that the whole thing was essentially a misunderstanding and not “a real beef.”) 2000’s BTNHResurrection did not repeat the success of its predecessors, and internal conflict with Bizzy Bone (over his own issues with Ruthless Records) soon meant solo albums by Bone Thugs’ members, but the rappers returned in 2002 with the shockingly graphic and very much politically charged departure, Thug World Order, their final album for Ruthless Records. 2006’s Thug Stories signaled a new label relationship with Koch Records and did better than the previous two by selling almost 40,000 in its first week and peaking at No. 25 on the Billboard 200, not to mention that it was first album Bone Thugs made as a trio (minus Bizzy Bone).

The next year’s Strength & Loyalty (on Interscope imprint Full Surface Records) kept the comeback coming, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and featuring guests like Mariah Carey, the Game, will.i.am, Akon, Bow Wow, and others.

2007 saw Bone Thugs-N-Harmony win the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Band, Duo or Group. In 2010, following an official reunion of all five Bone Thugs members (Bizzy Bone returned after years of acrimony, and Flesh-N-Bone was released from a prison stretch), the album Uni5: The World’s Enemy was released by the group on their own label BTNH Worldwide (distro’d by Warner Bros.), but only Layzie, Bizzy, and Flesh Bone would be the core members on 2013’s The Art of War: World War III.

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Dropkick Murphys at New Daisy

Dropkick Murphys will return to Memphis on February 24th to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary. The Celtic-punkers formed in Massachusetts in 1996, and, after signing to the independent label Hellcat Records, the band gained recognition after five albums and heavy touring. Dropkick Murphys didn’t enjoy mainstream success until 2004, however, when the band’s single “Tessie” became one of their highest charting songs to date. “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” a song released on 2005’s The Warrior’s Code, was featured in the Academy Award-winning film The Departed and would become the band’s first and only single to go platinum. Dropkick Murphys have long-been politically active and use their music to raise awareness for charities as well as various issues. Showing support for American labor, the band only sells union-made T-shirts and has close ties to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Additionally, they released a two-song single in 2005 to honor the memory of Andrew K. Farrar Jr., a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who died in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dropkick Murphys

In 2007, the band started Born & Bred, an imprint label supported by Alternative Distribution Alliance, and released three albums that landed on Billboard charts. 2007’s The Meanest of Times debuted at No. 20 and 2011’s Going Out in Style caught even more attention at No. 6. Signed and Sealed in Blood, their 8th album, debuted at No. 9 in 2013. Now after 20 years of touring, the band is stopping at the New Daisy as part of a stacked late winter lineup that features Whitey Morgan, Ghastly, Bryson Tyler, and Atreyu all making stops at the Beale Street venue. Tiger Army and Darkbuster will support Dropkick Murphys on all dates.

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Cannibal Corpse Live at The New Daisy

No resurgence of a venue that has a long history of catering to metalheads would be complete without an appearance from a band like Cannibal Corpse. Cannibal Corpse might not be the type of band you put on your car stereo while taking your grandma to Kroger, but the band’s longevity is definitely something to behold. Personally, I’ve been a fan of Cannibal Corpse’s extremely recognizable artwork since I was old enough to appreciate the artistic genius it must take to depict zombie corpses performing medical experiments on each other. While most bands that have been around since the ’80s have gone through some kind of aesthetic makeover, the artwork created by Vince Locke for Cannibal Corpse is one of the few examples of a band’s presentation being more recognizable than the band’s music.

Cannibal Corpse

Shocking artwork aside, the Cannibal Corpse résumé is pretty impressive. Since forming in 1988, the band has released 13 albums, were accused of undermining the integrity of the United States by Bob Dole, and even made a cameo in the 1994 Jim Carrey movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. They’ve also sold over two million records, making them the best-selling death-metal band of all time. Not bad.

Touring with Cannibal Corpse is Soreption, a Swedish tech-metal band celebrating a decade of existence this year. Soreption’s 2014 album Engineering the Void was released last year on Unique Leader Records, and the band has been touring extensively overseas and in the U.S. since then. Also on Wednesday’s bill is Cattle Decapitation, who released their seventh studio album The Anthropocene Extinction earlier this summer. If grind, death metal, tech metal, (or just plain death) are words you use to describe your musical interests, the New Daisy is the place to be on Wednesday.

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Hometown Throwdown II at the New Daisy

This Saturday, six local bands will attempt to revive the local modern hard-rock scene at the newly renovated New Daisy Theater on Beale Street. The Hometown Throwdown is now in its second year, but the premise is simple: throw a single night showcase that features some of the best of the harder rocking bands in Memphis (known in some circles as Guitar Center rock). Festival promoter Gary Segars (and member of the band Prosevere, who headline the event) said that the main goal of the Hometown Throwdown II is to prove that people still care about hard rock in Memphis, which is alive and well here.

“The Memphis music scene used to have Crippled Nation and Piston Honda and Logic 34, and they could play to several hundred people any time they performed,” Segars said.

“Now it’s really difficult for kids to go and see shows because everything is 21 and up. The New Daisy was one of the only places younger music fans could go to see local bands.”

So far Prosovere, One Less Reason, Empire City, Surrender the Fall, the Passport, and Devices Divide Us have been announced for the one-night-only event, and the gig also serves as a coming-out party for the new local label Tattooed Millionaire records.

“Basically, we want to showcase the local rock scene and show that we can still pack this place out,” Segars said. “We want to give these local bands a chance to play in front of a new, all-ages crowd, to get them in front of new fans, and show that there are still a lot of different things going in Memphis.”

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New Look for the New Daisy

CREDIT: Wes Youngblood

The legendary New Daisy Theater on Beale Street is undergoing a major transformation, and next weekend’s concert featuring the Chris Robinson Brotherhood will be the public’s first chance to see what the music venue has in store.

Since announcing that he would be taking over the New Daisy, music mogul Steve Adelman has been hard at work restoring the iconic Memphis theater.

In the midst of the major renovations, the New Daisy secured booking partnerships with Live Nation and Disco Donnie Presents, a move that Adelman hopes will bring more than 150 concerts to Beale Street annually.

From the removal of the stage backdrop to major improvements in lighting, sound, seating, and bar access, there’s a lot to look forward to at the New Daisy.

“This building had a lot of issues and needed a lot of work done to it — things like issues with plumbing and air conditioning,” Adelman said.

“We fixed all of that stuff to get a base for us to work from, and then we had multiple teams of engineers and lighting people come in and assess what we needed to do.”

One of the first things concertgoers will notice at the show on Saturday will undoubtedly be the new sound system. Major scaffolding has been erected onstage to support the new speakers and lighting system, giving the venue a much-needed updated look. By partnering with the sound company Funktion One, the New Daisy now has a sound system so modern that Adelman said the equipment isn’t available for mass production yet.

“People are definitely going to notice how much the room has changed,” Adelman said.

“It’s always been a great room, but the entire thing has gone through a major upgrade.

“I don’t know that people are used to seeing state-of-the-art stuff in this room, and I think that’s going to take a lot of people by surprise. Sound and lights are what it’s all about when it comes to today’s concert experience, and we aim to be the best.”

While the bare-bones charm of the New Daisy is still present, the seating and bar areas also received major makeovers. The venue now features three bars instead of one center bar, and a smoking lounge is being built on the side of the venue, giving patrons the option to smoke on a patio or walk out on to Beale Street.

The balcony at the New Daisy is also in the process of being renovated into a VIP area with plush seating and private boxes available. Christened the Big Star Room, the VIP balcony area will be curated with Big Star memorabilia handpicked by Big Star drummer Jody Stephens.

While the Big Star Room won’t be ready for next weekend’s concert, Adelman said that portion of the club should be open by September.

The Big Star Room will also have a private entrance from Beale Street and have its own bathrooms. A membership must be purchased to access the room, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting musicians’ health care and other charities of Stephen’s choosing.

Adelman said he expects the Big Star Room to be one of the main attractions of the New Daisy.

“The balcony here at the New Daisy is amazing. I know in a lot of places the balcony is the last place someone wants to sit, but there’s something about this room that makes the balcony just perfect,” Adelman said.

“I don’t want to give too much away, but it should be a very plush experience. Live Nation already has this type of thing in some of the Fillmores that they operate, and it works very well. Companies will be able to buy corporate boxes up there, which is another added dimension that we’re going to unveil. It’s going to be a loose membership club, but it will all be reserved seating.”

With more than 20 years in the music industry, Adelman has operated clubs in Los Angeles, New York, and Boston. While he insisted that operating clubs is a similar business no matter where they are located, Adelman did acknowledge that the New Daisy and Beale Street in general have a history that no one can deny.

“We want bands to come through Memphis and say, wow, that’s the room to play,” Adelman said.

“Live Nation is our booking partner, and they also help out with some of our marketing. But the New Daisy is an independent room with a certain history, and no one wanted to mess with that. We just wanted to expand it. We are all about being able to improve the band’s experience as well as the patron’s experience.”

The public’s first experience with the transformed New Daisy will come on July 31st when the Chris Robinson Brotherhood performs at the renovated venue.

Most notably known as the singer for the Black Crowes, Robinson’s stop at the New Daisy will be toward the end of a tour that took him through the American Southeast. Adelman said that the “sneak peek of the New Daisy” couldn’t happen during a better concert.

“When we decided to work with Live Nation, we wanted a certain vibe and a certain act to get our feet wet, and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood fit what we were trying to do perfectly,” Adelman said.

“We got lucky with Chris Robinson, but sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Friday, July 31st, at the New Daisy Theater. Doors open at 7 p.m. $20.

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Calling the Bluff Music

“This is Memphis” Music Festival Showcases Local Talent

Sounds of live rock, country, folk, and hip-hop will flow through the New Daisy Theatre this Saturday during the first annual “This is Memphis” music festival.

Blue TOM Records, a label spearheaded by University of Memphis students, is presenting the culture-filled event. Among the diverse lineup of artists slated to perform include Mason Jar Fireflies, Mary Owens, Austyn Michael, Deering and Down, and Drew Erwin.

Tickets can be purchased for $5 in advance, but on the day of the event tickets will be $7. There are also V.I.P. tickets available, which provide exclusive access to the venue’s lounge area as well as a plate of barbecue.

All of the proceeds from This is Memphis will be split among the performing acts.

“We just wanted to give back to the artists because the industry is so tough,” said Misty Ingram, publicist for Blue TOM Records. “We just wanted to let the artists know they are appreciated. ‘This is what you earned. The people came to see you.’”

Famed rock ‘n’ roll artist/musician Jerry Lee Lewis is among the sponsors for This is Memphis, donating $1,000 toward the event.

Although this is the first installment of the event, Ingram said she hopes This is Memphis will blossom into a music festival known for showcasing some of the best up-and-coming talent Memphis has to offer.

“It probably sounds cliché, but I want [attendees] to embrace what Memphis is all about,” Ingram said. “I want them to know that there are artists out here that are talented and are gifted. I want them to just come and have fun and experience the whole ‘This is Memphis’ culture.”

Doors at the New Daisy open at 7 p.m. for This is Memphis. Live performances begin at 8 p.m. 

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GWAR: It’s Alive

After the death of lead singer, founder, and last-remaining original member Dave Brockie (aka Oderus Urungus) this past April, most people considered GWAR to be finished. The band was 30 years into a career that spanned 13 albums and more than 20 live films and long-form music videos. They surprised everyone at Riotfest in Chicago last month when they showed up with their newest member in tow, Vulvatron, an imposing Amazon whose massive prosthetic breasts sprayed the crowd with goo through most of the band’s set. Kim Dylla, lead singer of kabuki-clad Kung Fu Dykes, depicts the time-traveling cybernetic female assassin.

Apparently, Vulvatron and new lead vocalist Blothar (portrayed by former bassist and Beefcake the Mighty originator Michael Bishop) arrived on earth through the same wormhole. Blothar gives his account of being jettisoned through the space time continuum: “I went into a trance of blinding rage. I must have killed a million space apes. I was sleeping it off, and I woke up with a piss boner. I figure, why waste it, you know? So I’m rubbing one out, and the next thing I know, I’m on stage with GWAR in front of thousands of hideous, acne-ridden teenaged humanoids. I was promised there would be wifi, but it’s hit or miss…”

GWAR rolls through Memphis with a show on Wednesday at the New Daisy. Rhythm guitarist BalSac the Jaws of Death describes it: “Dark clouds of war and ill omen have gathered around GWAR. In our hour of greatest peril, Oderus has left us and our enemies stand poised, ready to strike while they sense weakness, but we shall no longer cower in our Antarctic stronghold awaiting destiny’s final blow. This fall, GWAR sets out on the most trying quest of our career. We shall scour our leader’s favorite stomping ground, North America, leaving no city unsearched, no venue unraised, and no sheep unmolested. GWAR will venture to the depths of hell or to the very end of time itself, and though I fear what we may encounter out there, I know that we can never return home until we have the answer we seek: ‘Where is Oderus Urungus?'”

Bassist Beefcake the Mighty gave a heartfelt summation of the their upcoming 52-date tour: “Dave was our friend and anchor for as far back as anyone can remember. He’s held us together, and sometimes he drove us apart. He is our brother, and we love him. Unlike a lot of prominent musicians, he was friends with all of the fans. He made GWAR fans feel special on a personal level. The fans love Dave as much as we do and the GWAR Eternal Tour 2014 is our way of getting together and sharing that love.”

Most of mainstream America was introduced to GWAR during a 1993 episode of Beavis and Butthead. The series was a continual champion of the band and frequently showed their videos. GWAR was also a pivotal part of the 1994 Beavis and Butthead video game, wherein Beavis and Butthead had to search the town looking for the remnants of their GWAR tickets which had been ripped to shreds after a neighbor’s riding mower ran over them. The band popped up on daytime talk shows by Joan Rivers and Jerry Springer during the 1990s to discuss their brand of outlandish entertainment. Springer even attended one of GWAR’s concerts and was consumed on stage by a giant space worm. In 1995, the band popped up in the movie Empire Records when stoner store employee Marc eats some pot brownies and hallucinates that Oderus Urungus invites him through the TV to join the band. He then watches himself play guitar onstage with the band and be complimented on his skills before being devoured by the same space worm that engulfed Springer. From 2009-2010, Brockie portrayed Urungus on Fox News’ Red Eye as their intergalactic correspondent.

Make sure to get down to Beale on time to see American Sharks. The Austin trio are one of the best hesher/metal/stoner bands of the past few years. They’ve been touring behind their excellent self-titled debut that came out last year. The band has joined heavy hitters Clutch and fellow Austin retro riffers the Sword, whose bassist Bryan Richie recorded their LP, for extended stints on the road. For fans of Fu Manchu, St. Vitus, and C.O.C., don’t forget to wear a crisp, new white tee so Vulvatron can cover it in her mammary spew.