Secret passage to the rock and roll hall of fame–congratulations to Metallica for pretty much pointing this out in the first place!
Archive for the 'Metal Current Events' Category
Reign in Pap
December 18, 2008
Look who’s gross now! Las Vegas sleazers Papsmear were the go-to local band for crossover acts touring across the desert during the key year of 1986. I don’t think anybody took these guys too seriously, but along the way they played seminal shows opening for Hirax, C.O.C., and Dark Angel, paving the way for more mass mayhemic destruction in Vegas by Goatlord and more importantly Righteous Pigs a year or two later. Papsmear released five demos between 1987-1992 of comically disgusting Slayer/Kreator thrash that showed they were paying attention. Then, because they hailed from Nevada where nobody could figure out how to give them a record deal, they split. Original vocalist Tony Costanza went on to play drums in Machine Head and Crowbar, and more recently the Dave Chandler/Ron Holzner project Debris Inc.
Fortunately, I can move these demos off my short list to post here on BazillionPoints.info because the first two tapes, a pair of 1986 and 1988 live shows, and a historically precious trio of 1986 live camcorder videos have just been released on a CD/DVD set called Music to Kill By. It’s taken a while, for fortunately for the Paps one of their early fans, Marco Barbieri, recently returned to Vegas after a lengthy, and I mean lengthy spell working at Century Media Records.
The tapes are out of the closet, the liner notes by Barbieri are installed, the bonus DVD is authored, and the fold-out collage of LVNV thrasher kids in Wehrmacht and Life Sentence shirts drinking beer in the desert is choice. Here’s what they sounded like:
PAPSMEAR – “Die Killing” from “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas” demo [6.7MB MP3]
The Music to Kill By CD/DVD is $12 direct from Metal War Productions. Why they don’t have any teaser videos on YouTube yet is beyond me!
Ravishing Breakfast
November 28, 2008
“Darkthrone Logo Found in Female Student’s Hashbrowns”
A Spud in the Homefry Sky!
Panzertoast!
Sunnyside-up Journey!
Bagelwielder!
Aske Browns!
SUNN (((Y side up!
or just
TRANSILVANIAN HUNGARRR!!!!
Thanks, Aaron Cantor, Elsner Nino, Ryan Lipynsky, and Teeth!
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:
METALION: THE SLAYER MAG DIARIES Anthology Book
November 24, 2008
Jon “Metalion” Kristiansen and Bazillion Points books are proud to announce that work has begun on a compendium of the best material representing twenty-five years of outrage from Metalion’s infamous SLAYER MAG. In addition to rare archival material unseen in decades, the book will include unreleased and exclusive interviews and artwork, historical photographs from Metalion’s personal archive, and never-before-seen portrait photography taken by Metalion himself during the 2000s. More than just reprinting the unattainable ‘zines, the book will explain the true untold story of long-running mag and the man behind it, as revealed by Metalion and longtime Slayer co-editor Ms. T. G. W. The epic METALION: THE SLAYER DIARIES will be available through Bazillion Points books in late 2009/early 2010.
Founded in 1985 in Sarpsborg, Norway, SLAYER MAG quickly rose to underground prominence by championing unsigned death metal pioneers, printing the earliest interviews with MORBID ANGEL, MEFISTO, SEPULTURA, NIHILIST, AUTOPSY, BATHORY, TERRORIZER, NECROVORE, DEATH, and especially local Norwegian act MAYHEM. The pages of SLAYER MAG became a written gospel for the fledgling global extreme metal underground, combining eye-ripping graphics, brutally honest writing, and a relentless and sick sense of humor.
As black metal rose to prominence in Norway in the 1990s, SLAYER MAG’s nearly-confidential interviews with MAYHEM, EMPEROR, IMMORTAL, DARKTHRONE, THORNS, ENSLAVED, and countless others remain the final word on the moods and motivations of those dark times. In recent years, SLAYER MAG has driven further into the heavy metal psyche, bringing overdue acclaim to unsung pioneers like ASSASSIN, NASTY SAVAGE, and HALLOWS EVE, alongside hell-possessed maniacs such as Sweden’s NIFELHEIM and Australia’s SADISTIK EXEKUTION.
Says Metalion: “I always have people contacting me regarding the old SLAYERs and how to get them. Since acquiring them through overpriced Internet auctions currently seems to be the only option, I thought that this would be a better deal for the die hards and uninitiated alike. It is very important to me that this book will be widely available in book stores, it would be pointless to me if it were as as difficult to get as the actual magazines. I remember Bazillion Points publisher Ian Christe trading magazines with me as far back as 1987. When I finally met Ian face to face at Oslo’s Inferno festival a few years back, he told me that he had actually seen SLAYER mascot Arne Babb earlier that day. Thus, when Ian offered me this chance to work with him, I had no doubt that this would be a great thing, an ideal partnership.”
“This is not a simple reprinting of old SLAYERs, but rather a deluxe version of the previous twenty-five years with some new elements. To accomplish that, not only Arne will be with us. I have recently resurrected SLAYER MAG for at least one more issue, bringing in co-editor T. G. W., who will be my biographer for this unique book. She began collaborating with me when I put together SLAYER 19 in 2004, and when both of us contributed to Peter Beste’s “True Norwegian Black Metal” book earlier this year. Her new and different perspective has proven invaluable for me in reflecting on the past two plus decades. After spending the long break since SLAYER 19 on photography education, I feel motivated to do new things now. A fire has been lit!”
Bazillion Points is “America’s smallest but heaviest publishing house,” founded by author Ian Christe (”Sound of the Beast”, “Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga”, host of the weekly “Bloody Roots” metal history show on SiriusXM). Currently in stores is “Swedish Death Metal” by Daniel Ekeroth, and upcoming releases include titles by Andy McCoy (HANOI ROCKS), Albert Mudrian (”Choosing Death”), and Jeff Wagner (Metal Maniacs).
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!
Non-Metal Dude Reading Metal Book?
September 15, 2008
BrooklynVegan posted this street scene from yesterday’s Brooklyn Book Festival, depicting Sonic Youth’s giant emeritus Thurston Moore flanked by two great accessories: Ian MacKaye, and the Swedish Death Metal book. If I could have been there, I would have given Ian Senior a copy of my Van Halen book (which outs him as a lifelong fan on page 55), so they could be a matched pair of metal-literate independent thinkers. Cheers all around–these two and their pals extolling the DIY mindset made this book possible.
Now I’ll sit back and wait for Sonic Youth to catch the fever and record a Bathory cover.
Photo by David Shankbone
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.
