Alakazam! Demo cassettes all of a sudden appear futuristic.
Archive for the 'Ian Christe' Category
Life in a Grave
November 26, 2008
Recently I got the chance to write a quick tribute essay about Grave for a collection covering their Century Media years. I’ve been as guilty as the next man of overlooking and taking Grave for granted, but gazing into the six-foot-deep pit holding their full output, the words of praise came quickly.
Here’s the tribute:
And here’s the collection for eight bucks:
HEBI METARE: Sound of the Beast Japanese Edition
November 14, 2008
Finnish publisher Johnny Kniga’s ultra-rugged hardcover edition of my heavy metal history book Sound of the Beast has just been scorched and stomped by a real monster from Japan’s Hayakawa Publishing. A sack these deluxe 600-page beasts arrived unexpectedly this afternoon like a storm of Ultraman villains, complete with chrome-embossed cover, matte black-on-black skull print on actual book beneath cover, gunmetal grey woven ribbon bookmark, and gonzo uber-metallic and detailed cover painting by Hayakawa Designs. (At least, that’s what I deciphered the katakana text to say).
If you’re keeping track, this joins American, British, German, Czech, French, Finnish, and Spanish editions of this book. Soon to come are Croatian, Serbian, Italian, and Brazilian editions. Yes, it’s fair to say that the success of Sound of the Beast has matched my wildest dreams. But of course there was never any question that the world needed a comprehensive overview of heavy metal like this.
Of course all of this is now fuel for Bazillion Points books. We’ve now got about twelve books in the incubator; everything from Andy McCoy’s ribald tales to Jeff Wagner’s dazzling prog metal book to the unannounced Slayer Mag anthology that has roared into life in the past couple weeks. And ANUS.com just did a lengthy joint interview with me and Swedish Death Metal author Daniel Ekeroth that talks about the origins of all this madness.
If your local Shane Embury toy source doesn’t carry SOTB-JP, here’s the LINK to Amazon.jp.
And domo arigato to book translator Yuka Nakajima!
Bazillion Points in Time Out New York?
September 4, 2008
Time Out New York has splashed a bucket of cool water on the ongoing gnawing heat of anxiety and alienation in my individual stretch of bones. Just look! In less than a page, the esteemed Elisabeth Vincentelli finds things to like about my creaky old Sound of the Beast metal history, the new Swedish Death Metal book, and in fact the entire modus operandi of Bazillion Points Books. So now I guess I have to live up to something and publish some more books. Or go swimming. In my experience, the calming effect of a nice piece of press lasts a few days– but I’ve honestly never had one this nice. I think the Nightwish book will be out in December, the Andy McCoy book in January, and Jeff Wagner’s magnum opus next summer–when he’s done swimming in the prog metal ectoplasm.
The Gear of Satan
July 9, 2008
Demolition Hammer’s excellent “Skull Fracturing Nightmare” sits here ready for rescue, but I’ve been battling my infernal analog-digital converter for over a month now. Stupid Yamaha. The box is outstanding, but the software completely sucks. New firewire card on the way, for no logical reason it’s supposed to restore stability. So then we will rage.
UPDATE [7/26]: Okay, enough whining, problem sorta solved by routing the Yamaha inputs through a second firewire box. Let the hammers ring!
Deranged in Spain
May 10, 2008
Does the place where you hang out and listen to metal have a massive garish wall mural covering its entire fucking face, and make you feel like you live in a Sepultura or Iron Angel album cover from 1985? Unless you answered “Si!” — I don’t think so. Tyrant is one of several total metal clubs ringing the open sublevels of a housing complex northwest of downtown Madrid, Spain. Exactly across the courtyard is Club Lemmy, a hard rock bar open since 1980, boasting its own eight-foot tall picture-perfect Motörheadbeast mural.
Unfortunately for me, Spanish bars and restaurants open and close seven times a day — just in case the Moors decide to invade again. I missed the action at Tyrant several times, but I went on a 14-mile walk instead and watched a bullfight, found the squatters at an enormous street fair, took a nap in a park, ate fried bacalao and drank tiny beers and cava, and stumbled onto a mythically cool building that turned out to be the General Society of Authors and Editors [SGAE]. Madrid is a great sprawling maze of a city, an easy place to get lost and find a prize.
New Van Halen Book Interview
April 8, 2008
Thanks to Neil Daniels [author of the recent The Story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith (Omnibus Press)] for posting a brief, to-the-point interview with me about my Van Halen book at GetReadyToRock.com. Somehow, he broke me down and got me to confess my burning desire to raise goats and bees. Man, I must have been in a weird mood.
Swedish Death Metal Awaits…
February 26, 2008
The demo digitization program has slowed a little lately while I prepare the the US edition of Daniel Ekeroth’s outstanding Swedish Death Metal for press. This is the first book through my new indie publishing house, Bazillion Points, and everything takes twice as long the first time through. I’ll unveil the appropriate hoopla in the next couple weeks–for now let me just say this is the best document of any underground music scene that I’ve ever read. More soon…
