Some call it stoner rock – perhaps due to how the songs give way to occasional low tuned, psychedelic jams; or maybe because the lyrics depict dark winter landscapes filled with rising souls and flying falcons.  Whatever the case, the label doesn’t do justice to the heavy, blues driven rock that defines the Lords of the North.
Rising from the dark cold regions of the Pacific Northwest, Lords are bound to make their presence known in Seattle.  The Lords of the North bring a heavy and dark sound that is a refreshing throwback to the early Black Sabbath days.  Likewise, though only a three piece band, Pat Kearney, James Roche and Tony Tharp manage to deliver a powerful performance with the raw authenticity of a Bleach era Nirvana. 
I caught their debut show at the Rendezvous last week, which incidentally, was also their CD release party.  Though I could sense they are just beginning to pull together their game face when it comes to playing live together, they still played a great set and the crowd was amped.  Lords of the North are definite up-and-comers, so check them out while you can still see them in a small venue.  They play Wednesday night (April 2nd) at the Comet and will be live on KEXP from the High Dive in May.  Check out their Myspace site or buy their album online from Amazon (DRM free).
While at their show, I captured a recording with a ZOOM micro-recorder I had stashed in my pocket.  If this was their first official show, the clips below must be the first official bootlegs (disclaimer: since these tracks were recorded from my pocket, I highly suggest that you only use these recordings to supplement the Studio album).  Enjoy.

If you’ve listened to the CrapMonkey Podcast for any length of time you’ve probably heard me mention the Talking Metal Podcast.  In the podcast, Mark Strigl and John Ostronomy cover rock and metal from many different angles.  Not only do they have impressive back stage access to metal legends; they are also well suited for spotting and exposing new talent on the horizon. 

On February 22nd, the Fuse network will premiere the first Talking Metal television episode that “will feature exclusive interviews and field packages in the podcast’s signature style.”  The show will air at midnight Eastern (9pm Pacific) and I already have my DVR locked and loaded and hope you’ll do the same. 

As a podcaster, a metal head and a media consumer, I’m proud of these guys for a few reasons.  From a Podcaster perspective, they took their passion for metal and ran with it.  It was and is a labor of love.  The fact that others have taken notice validates everything Podcasting stands for: broadcasting your passion and finding your audience.  As a metal head, I’m impressed that they marched ahead, even as pop-culture was turning their nose up at metal.  As such, the Internet proved to be a great medium for pulling together the metal audience from disperse geographies.  Likewise, over the couple of years in which they’ve been podcasting, the tides have shifted some, and the new television show is evidence that Metal is making its way back toward the mainstream.  Perhaps Talking Metal played some role in that shift, but regardless, Mark and John held fast and did their thing until the world took notice ( first iTunes and now the airwaves).  Finally, as a media consumer who pays over $100 a month for cable, I’m excited that their will be a new show in town that was not slapped together by some douche bag producers following a formula for capturing an advertising demographic.  The Podcast is testament to the fact that this is a real show with a real soul that is simply being ported to television. 

So again, be sure to catch the premiere on February 22nd.  Congratulations Mark and John, and if you ever find yourself in Seattle, allow me to give you a tour of some of the incredible breweries we have out here 🙂 – Rock on!

This weekend we traveled out to the Gorge in George to take in Ozzfest 2007.  We started the journey at about 1pm on Friday.  Wendy and I met up with our friend, Art, at Pyramid Alehouse and then hopped onto I-90 to head east.  It was a simple plan: Wendy and Art would take the day off of work at Pyramid and we would camp out in the desert near the amphitheater in order to ensure a timely arrival at Ozzfest on Saturday.  The plan was perfect with the exception of one unforseeable flaw…  Ozzy’s band (Ozzy not included) decided to roll into Pyramid for a beer at around 3pm Friday afternoon.  As we pulled up in the 103 degree desert, we got the call on our cell telling us about the celebrity encouter at Pyramid.  Throughout the day, we continued to get updates from the folks at Pyramid telling us that the guys were still in the bar, that Zakk Wylde was totally cool, that they were signing autographs and taking pictures, and on and on it went until they finally headed back to their Seattle hotel sometime after 10pm.  Of all the weekends not to follow our usual routine of hanging out at Pyramid!!!

All was not lost, however, in turn for the hospitality shown by the fine folks at Pyramid, Zakk agreed to put us on his backstage pass list.  I was pleasently suprised when, indeed, the three backstage passes were sitting at the gate for Art, Wendy and I.  Very cool for the band to do that for us!  It was awesome to hang in back with the tour buses and it was really impressive to watch the shows from the side of the stage.  Unfortunately, we did not get the opportunity to meet Zakk or Ozzy.  Zakk (and even Sharon Osbourne) were floating around back stage, but the buses arrived very close to show time and they didn’t seem eager to do the fan thing,  so we left them alone to prep for the show.

Even though we were cooking in the Eastern Washington Desert instead of drinking IPA’s with rock stars, it was a great weekend.  The show was awesome, the Gorge was beautiful as usual, and we learned that our rock idols are not only cool and down to earth, but they also have great taste in beer.  Below is some brief video I recorded as I wandered around the fest.  Check it out if you have 3 spare minutes.  There’s no polish on it, but I recorded a brief snippet of Lamb of God, Ozzy and Zakk.  Also thought it was funny that, while poking around on the stage, we noticed that Lamb of God is using a Dangerous Toys flight case.

Jeff Fielder played the Nectar the other day (opening for Sunday Morning Music) and had some fun playing slide guitar. I really enjoyed this clip so I figured I’d share. Look for a clip from the Sunday Morning Music performance in the near future.

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