We are at the final month of 2020 and thank the Heavens. I hope 2021 sees an end to Covid, but not an end to my music buying. This month we have another treasure trove of stuff I have obtained over not just the month, but the last 6 months as a couple things I ordered in prior months finally arrived. And being December, there is everything I got for Christmas that is music related.
First up this month are a couple things I bought back in April/May timeframe, right when Covid started. My brother saw these on the Facebook market from a friend of his and knew I would like it so I told him I wanted them and he bought them (I paid him back of course). I told him to hold them and I would be down to Atlanta soon and boy was I wrong. We are now in December and I haven’t been down. I eventually asked him to mail them. I got another Kiss Tour Book and this was from the Alive/Worldwide Tour (1996-97) and the other is The Ultimate Kiss Fanzine Phenomenon 1976-2009 hard back book. They are both awesome and will be reviewed in detail in 2021.
October wasn’t even over before I bought more records, however, the October Purchase post was already done and I wasn’t about to go back and update, too much work. I wrote the post on the October Record Store Day and there was one album I didn’t get that I wanted (well there were two, but I didn’t get the second one). I did get it through another local record store. And when I went and picked it up on that Sunday, I saw another record I didn’t have that was in the new arrival used bin and it was sealed and less than $20 so I bought it.
The RSD record was from the Joe Elliott band Down ‘N Outz…I love the cover with the eerie clown and it almost looks 3D at this angle.
We see lists all the time of the best guitar, the best drum set, the best of whatever you can think of. Well, I thought, what are the best and the coolest microphone stands in Music? I did a lot of digging and it was not the easiest thing to find. When you google best microphone stands, you get pictures of the industries best microphone stands. Not the coolest or most badass, but basic advertisements selling really good mic stands. I don’t want that. So, I kept digging and digging and I have now come up with some of the coolest microphone stands in music.
We will start with the most obvious….Steven Tyler. Steven is known for walking this way with a mic stand draped in scarves and a lot of them. It is simple, but it is easily recognizable as Steven Tyler’s microphone stand.
Next up, we will go to the pop world with Brendan Urie of Panic at the Disco. It isn’t really cool or awe inspiring, it is kind of quirky. It is a microphone stand of a hand holding a mic…but at least it is not the typical stand.
Another month has come to a close and another Friday of not a lot of releases. It has been an incredibly slow start for me this year. There has only been a few I have liked so far and have had any interest in. This week is no different. There are a couple I will try (highlighted in Blue), but nothing I am super excited about, hopefully that will change once I hear it. So, sit back and go through the list and let me know if there is anything interesting for you. Also, let me know what I missed on the list so everybody can know. Thanks and have a great weekend.
Five Finger Death Punch – F8 – (Better Noise Music): I am not overly excited about this one. They are kind of like the Nickelback of heavy metal music and my interest has waned over the years. However, I will give it a try as usually I get a couple songs worth keeping and adding to a playlist. I like to think of them as tough sounding music to make you feel like a badass even though you are not…that is me in a nutshell!!
The Classic Crime – Patterns in the Static – (Criminal Records): An alternative rock band that gets lumped in to the Christian label because they were signed to Tooth & Nail label which is mostly Christian acts. They are more a pop/rock band than anything…no real label. Always some solid stuff so this will get a spin…or two!!
I was surfing the web and noticed a lot of hate for Five Finger Death Punch or FFDP. I was surprised…okay, no I wasn’t. However, it made me think why I haven’t roasted them on the Tuesday’s memes collection. I know, I have been slack lately, I apologize. I am here to make up for it. So I gathered some of the better memes (or at least ones I could find). Sit back and get ready to receive a Five Finger Death Punch to the face.
Happy Friday. Not a ton of releases that have caught my attention this week. There are two that I will be diving in to and they are at opposite ends of the spectrum for sure. There are a couple more I will try out eventually, but the first two will get most of my attention. All the releases I will be checking out are highlighted in Blue. Take a look around and see what else you might like and let me know in the comments. If you want to see all the new releases coming in the universe over the next several weeks (or months), CLICK HERE.
James Bay – Electric Light – (Republic Records): Finally, the super talented James Bay is back with his sophomore release. Is the sophomore jinx in place or not, we will have to hear it first to decide. I have heard three singles so far and the first was completely different than his last album which can be good and bad as you don’t necessarily want to alienate the fans you built off that sound. The next two were a little more in the wheelhouse we expect. He is a great songwriter, singer and guitar player so we will check this out. In the meantime, have a glass of “Pink Lemonade”
Five Finger Death Punch – And Justice for None – (Prospect Park): Now for the other end of the spectrum, there is Five Finger Death Punch. The music is just that, a death punch to the face. Every now and again, I like it hard and I like it loud and this is exactly what I need right now. So prepare your ears to be decimated.
I have been wanting to see Hired Gun since it was announced as a documentary in the Summer of 2017. Thanks to Netflix, I finally got that chance. If you don’t know what it is, I will tell you.
‘Hired Gun’ is a documentary about those musicians singers and bands hire to be in the band whether to help make an album or to do a tour. They are the “hired guns” and they aren’t actual members of the band. For me, that sounded like a very interesting story to be told. What do these musicians/artists go through to get the gig and to actually keep that gig.
The people they interview are incredible musicians. You might not know them all by name, but you would probably recognize a lot their work. They are as follows:
We are now in December and only 24 more days until Christmas. Here are some great gifts to give…new album releases!!! There is a wide variety of music this week so there might be something for everyone today. My picks are highlighted in Blue. What do you see that you like and want to get from Santa??? Let me know. Also, if you want to purchase an album, you can easily click on the link below the album and it will take you straight to iTunes.
Chris Stapleton – From A Room: Volume 2 – (Mercury Nashville): I am so glad there is a Volume 2 because ‘From A Room: Volume 1’ was sensational. I am looking forward to what he taps into for this one because if it is anything like the outlaw country / southern rock vibe of the first one, you will be in for a treat.
Down ‘N Outz – The Further Live Adventures of… – (Frontier Records): Joe Elliott from Def Leppard returns with his side project that celebrates the music of Mott the Hoople, British Lions & Ian Hunter. This time it is a live concert and another reminder of how great their music was. It deserves to be celebrated. As a Joe fan, no brainer for me.
I’m honored to have been nominated by fellow blogger Jeff Archuleta at Eclectic Music Lover to participate in the ‘My Very First Post’ challenge. I don’t normally do these little things and just stick with my normal schedule, but I figured it is Jeff and one of the first bloggers that followed me, so I owed him that much.
I created my music blog on April 17th of 2016 on the encouragement of my lovely wife. She felt I needed an outlet to talk about my passion for everything music. I love all types of music, but so far my focus has been in the Rock, Pop & Christian genres. I will crossover into other areas if something moves me. I do album reviews, playlists, artist spotlights, song spotlights and talk a lot about my vinyl collection that I started as a result of this blog. A lot of it focuses on my family as well and what they might be listening to and concerts we might see.
Now when I started my blog, I had 10 posts that day and they didn’t pop up in the order I wrote them. The first one I wrote was a Matt Nathanson Artist Profile, but what posted first was my Road Rage Playlist which is what I will repost here as it shows as my first on the site. I hope you enjoy.
Here are the rules for this challenge:
No cheating. (It must be your first post. Not your second post, not one you love…first post only.
Link back to the person who tagged you (thank them if you feel like it or, if not, curse them with a plague of crickets).
Cut and paste your first post into a new post or reblog it. (Either way is fine but NO editing.)
Put the hashtag #MyFirstPostRevisited in your title.
Tag five (5) other bloggers to take up this challenge.
Notify your tags (don’t just hope they notice a pingback somewhere in their spam).
Feel free to cut and paste the badge to use in your post.
Include “the rules” in your post.
Please feel free to participate. Of course, there is no obligation (and I dont’ think they will do it anyway)! I nominate the following bloggers to participate:
Everyone gets Road Rage at some time in their driving life. It is unavoidable. Sitting in Atlanta traffic or even Charlotte traffic now can raise your blood pressure. And how many times have you just wanted to ram your car right into the asshole that just cut you off or rode your bumper. I have too many times to count. When I get that feeling, I have a playlist that I have to put on that will let me just vent my frustration and anger. Maybe you can try it out.
Five Finger Death Punch – “Under And Over It”
Texas Hippie Coalition – “Turn It Up”
Rev Theory – “Justice”
Rob Zombie – “Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown”
Hollywood Undead – “Been to Hell”
Red – “Release the Panic”
Filter – “We Hate It When You Get What You Want”
Adrenaline Mob – “Psychosane”
Disturbed – “Ten Thousand Fists”
Five Finger Death Punch – “Mama Said Knock You Our (featuring Tech N9ne)”
Yes, I have to start and end it with Five Finger Death Punch. Why wouldn’t you??? When this is finished playing, I feel so much better and you will too. What are your Road Rage songs? I am always looking for more.
2017 is upon us and always fun anticipating what new albums are and will come out in the year. There are quite a few we already know about, but some haven’t been officially announced or even a date set yet. From what I have gathered around the internet, here are the bands that should have new albums out in 2017, but no dates announced yet. The ones I want will be highlighted in Blue.
