Corrosion of Conformity has been consistently rocking out for a couple decades.Seeing them is always a good time, but when they are paired up with classics like The Obsessed, Crowbar and Mothership, that just makes for a darn good time.The show at the Orpheum in Tampa was not as rowdy as the last show with Power Trip and Cannibal Corpse where I had my knee taken out by a rouge stage diver who took a running leap and flipped off the stage onto me and my friend – who wound up getting
seven nasty infections in his eye from whatever that guy had on his shoe – but that’s ok by me.
There was still quite the crowd packed in, enough people that once you got a good spot, you better plan on camping out there all night, as the wave of people would simply overcome your spot if you dared to move.Yes, they still got rowdy and got the mosh pit crashing around like the waves of the ocean eroding the shoreline.Ride the ebb and flow of people pushing around you.
Mothership I had not seen in years, so it was a pleasant surprise to see them on the bill.They rock with a stoner rock type of vibe that has a little more of a grungy, but not quite doomy, rock vibe.Their melodies have always captured me, and they have a great groove if you’ve never seen them.
The Obsessed is another band that has been around for years.I think Woody said that C.O.C. first played with them in like 1984?Or am I just thinking of that book?
Either way, both bands have been around for quite a while, not only earning their dues, but schooling the younger generation on what it’s like to really rock out.Of course, Crowbar must also be thrown into the mix.I know both Pepper and Woody of C.O.C. have schooled me in music, as has Kirk Windstein, like when he was playing in Valium Knob, as opposed to with Pepper in Down.
Years ago, I took a soldier to see C.O.C. when they were playing with Disturbed.This was before they did that remake of Simon and Garfunkle.Instead of watching most of Distrubed’s set, the soldier and I opted to chill on the C.O.C. bus and watch a video of Mike Gordon from Phish giving bass tips.
Most people probably wouldn’t think of Phish and C.O.C. in the same setting, but Woody from C.O.C. always stressed that people in music should appreciate all genres, turning me onto Dwight Yokum.Think back to when Galactic’s Stanton Moore had been drumming for C.O.C., and fans might see that the jam scene and the rock scene might be more connected than people realize at a glance.Sure, there’s that NOLA connection between the two, but many were shocked when a jam band drummer took the stage in the rock scene – only to be even more shocked when he could rock out, too.
Kirk Windstein and Jimmy Bowers had some interesting thoughts on Ween, as we have had conversations about them in the past, and Woody also had an appreciation of the band that seems to try a new genre with every album they produce.It’s funny to sit back with guys from the rock genre to talk about jam bands with ease, but it’s not always the same to go to a hippie festival and try to talk about Slayer. Then again, it really depends on the person that you're talking to...
Without further ado, the man that I was talking to, Woody Weatherman, talked not only about music appreciation, but other topics of delight. You should really watch it. Just click play.
If you are a virgin to any of these bands, check them out. Pop the cherry. Discover new music.
In a top secret location in Helsinki,
Finland, Children of Bodom recorded their Halo of Blood at the Danger
Johnny Studio with Mikko Karmila and Peter Tagtgren. Their album
Halo of Blood lit up the DTE Energy Music Theatre on the
Mayhem Festival in 2013 when they headlined the Musicians Institute stage
alongside Rob Zombie, Mastodon, Machine Head, Five Finger Death Punch
and more. Since, they have continued to crank hard-hitting music
that inspires people to mosh and vent their frustrations, and you can
pre-order their new album I Worship Chaos
through their website, or plan a trip to Florida for February 4th
when they will be performing at the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise in
Miami alongside My Dying Bride, Lacuna Coil and a slew of other mteal bands that will leave you thrashing so hard you make waves in the ocean.
Author Marisa Williams: What is your
home town, and is that where you live now?
Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom: We
come from Helsinki. I live half time there and half time in Los
Angeles. Basically, most of the time, I'm on the road anyhow. I
move around a lot, but I like it better like that, because I get
restless.
Marisa: How did you get started in
music? Did you come from a musical family? What were your biggest
musical influences?
Alexi: My family was very musical.
Everyone played an instrument. My dad played the keyboard, and my
mom played the keyboard, as well as the flute. My sister played
piano, and I started piano at five, but it didn't pan out, so I
picked the up violin at seven. I got that down pretty fast, and I
played that for four or five years. I got my first guitar at 11.
When I got the guitar, I didn't give a shit about violin anymore. I
started going to music schools when I picked up violin, so I took
musical theatre as a kid. At 13, I got into this music school and
went there for five years. When I was super young, my dad was
playing either classical or classic rock. That's pretty much what
was played in our house, everything from Credence and the Beatles to
Mozart and Bach. My sister got into hair metal. She'd play me the
tapes, and I got into that at a young age. At seven, I was into
WASP, Guns n' Roses, Skid Row, Poison, and I still like those bands;
they're awesome.
Marisa: That's so funny you should
mention WASP. One of the coolest things I saw was the one drummer
from WASP, Stet Howland, playing this small little bar in Fort Myers,
Florida. He was playing in a cover band, but he did this 20 minute
drum solo using beer bottles. It was amazing and just completely
unexpected. When I talked to him, he said he was actually making
more money playing covers than he was touring with WASP on the last
run he did with them.
Alexi: That's pretty cool. At least
he's still playing something. That's what's important.
Marisa: Yea, just had to throw that in
there, but I'll get back to business. How do you go about writing
music? What comes first for you: drums, guitars, vocals or something
else? Has the process of writing changed for you over the years at
all?
Alexi: It changes a lot. How the song
comes about, it's usually with a guitar riff or keyboard. Sometimes,
I'll get a melody playing in my head, and I'll take a guitar and
start playing. I'll figure out the chords, so it changes a lot, but
as far as the song writing process, it hasn't changed that much from
the first album. I'll read the music, like riffs and stuff, take to
the other guys, and we jam on the riffs for a little bit, putting the
song together as a group. So, they help with the arrangements and
stuff, but I write everything, and it has always been like that.
Marisa: What's the coolest thing about
your latest project?
Alexi: That it rocks. This time
around, the whole session was pretty smooth. There were no obstacles
of any kind. I mean, there's always something going on, but this
time around, it was pleasant. It's always stressful, but it was fun
anyway. I had fun with the vocals and stuff. Peter was there to
produce and record. We'd have a schedule to start around 6 p.m., and
we'd wrap up around 8 in the morning. It's a cool thing to do your
vocals at night. It feels more natural that way.
Marisa: You sound like a guy after my
own heart. I always write at night, so I can feel ya on that.
Anyhow, what is the biggest difference between playing in the United
States, versus playing Europe?
Alexi: It's really... it's really not
that different. The States, in general, it's more about circle pits.
In Europe, we have that, too, but they're into singing along, more
like waving their fists in the air, being super fucking loud, it's
insane. Japan is different. They go crazy during the song, but
after the song, it's like dead silence; nobody says a peep. The
first couple times we played, it felt kinda awkward. You know,
people always yell random stupid things in the middle of the song, so
it's never quiet, but it is in Japan. They're so polite, they don't
want to say anything in between songs.
Marisa: What is the scariest thing
about being on the road?
Alexi: I feel really safe on the road.
I feel safer when I'm on the road, versus just being off. I don't
know about scary, but annoying... It annoys the shit out of me when
you have to fly to places; airports and flying in general is a pain
in the ass, everything around it. I hate it, fucking hate it, but
then again, most of the tours, we're in the tour bus, so it's all
good.
Marisa: Best or worst tour moment?
Alexi: I'm sure there's a bunch of
them, but the best stories are the ones you don't remember, because
you're too fucked up. That's that. Worst, like I was saying, worst
moments happened at the airports. Like you get stuck somewhere after
being up for 30 hours, stuck in Mexico or God knows where, and you're
so overwhelmingly exhausted, but you have to go straight to the
stage. With the music business, you can't just call your boss and
say you're sick; you have to get out there and get it done. After
being up for 40 hours, it's not exactly good time, but when you hit
the stage, you forget for an hour and half. Being on stage is always
fun.
Marisa: What's your favorite place to
travel to, and is there anywhere you have not been to that you would
like to go to?
Alexi: We have covered pretty much the
whole world except for Africa, and I would want to play South Africa
for something new. Favorite places, of course, there's Japan and
certain cities in the States, of course. I measure it by how awesome
the crowd is, so a lot of Canadian cities - that's one country that's
always good for us. There's a lot of places, and there's a lot to
go.
Marisa: What's your biggest musical
fantasy?
Alexi: Well, it would've been awesome
to tour with Pantera back in the day; it's not going to happen now,
but fantasy...
Marisa: If you were an unicorn, and
you could be any color but white, what color would you be and why?
Would you have any special powers?
Alexi: Well, I would be black with hot
pink stripes, and my special power would be to drink as much as I
want and never have hangovers. That'd be one rad unicorn.
Marisa: If you were yogurt, would you
be mixed fruit, fruit on the bottom, what flavor and why?
Alexi: I would make a White Russian
yogurt, Kahlua on the bottom, fuck yeah.
Marisa: Describe yourself as either a
dog, a cat or a cartoon.
Alexi: I guess I'm like partially like
a devil duck, because I have a short temper, and I feel it when I'm
amped. As far as a cat, they're lazy, and sometimes I love being
lazy, so I'd love to just lay on the couch and do nothing; that's an
awesome way to spend some free time. The dog, I don't know, I love
to run around and other stuff. I like to keep moving.
Marisa: Do you collect anything?
Alexi: No, not really. I'm really
into cars. I have five cars all together, but I wouldn't call it
collecting, because I do drive them. I've never been into collecting
things, but as a teenager, I collected cigarette packs - but I don't
do that any more.
Marisa: Do you have any hidden talents
or special skills?
Alexi: Hopefully. I don't know what
they are yet, but I guess I'll find out if I do or I don't.
Marisa: What's the most important
thing to remember?
Alexi: A year ago, I'd say don't go
anywhere without any alcohol, but that's not the case anymore. Let's
pretend that it is a year ago though, and we'll use that as an
answer.
Marisa: What's your most insightful
moment?
Alexi: I guess when I discovered
guitar and what it sounds like. I don't remember the exact moment,
because I was a kid, but that must be it.
Marisa: If you were not doing music,
what would you be doing?
Alexi: Probably living in a box
somewhere. Most likely.
Marisa: What are three things you must
have with you when you are on the road?
Alexi: Music, so iPod, if instruments
don't count, because that's way too obvious. A bottle of something,
anything, with alcohol in it, and something to wash my hair with. It
goes a long way.
Marisa: Any advice for musicians
starting out?
Alexi: Keep on practicing and be
committed, if you want to make it. You have to be committed. You
can't let anyone, or anything, come between you and the music; end of
fucking story.
Marisa: Closing thoughts and
additional comments?
Alexi: Pretty sure we covered
everything and then some, so I think we're good.
My mother always told me all that
matters is health and happiness; you can't buy either one of them.
When I had interviewed Tom Maxwell of Hell Yeah, he was having a
little time off of the road after an injury. Little did I know that
I would be seeing Tom perform at Mayhem, sitting with his hoof in a
boot, and I surely did not expect to have my own health issues after
covering Mayhem, but life happens.
Even though we were both excited about
Mayhem, we had to talk health matters for a bit. “I shattered my
ankle,” Tom said. “I wound up falling off back, hurt both sides
of my ankle, had surgery, was in the hospital for three days. I went
home on the third day.”
Still, he had a chipper outlook on the
whole ordeal. “It's amazing. I'm not in pain. I had a surgeon in
Germany. Flawless. My podiatrist looked at it back home and was
super impressed by the quality. There's swelling and discomfort, and
it may continue to swell into next year.”
He had mentioned, “even though I'll
be back on the road, I'll be sitting down at the pedal board and
throwing down as hard as I can. I'm at stage left usually, but I'll
switch sides with Christian, hang out with Kyle. Plus, since I'll
really be concentrating, I'll play the way we wrote it. Most of the
time, sitting live is easier to play.”
His upbeat advice: “if you're handed
lemons, make lemonade.” We chatted about the bands on Mayhem, how
he had played with White Chapel previously. Hell Yeah had been
playing the “Blood for Blood” record with some previous shows,
but they are looking to promoted the new record now.
Our conversation changed upon
reminiscing about how the Mayhem Festival last year coincided with a
festival that Hell Yeah had played in Wisconsin, Rock USA Oshkosh.
The Milwaukee stop of the Mayhem Festival was at a ballroom adjacent
to the Ambassador Hotel, and Tom surprised me with his knowledge of
the area. “I'm familiar with the Ambassador Hotel,” he said, “we
tried to find the haunted room.”
Of course, the Ambassador Hotel is
where Jefferey Dahmer had killed one of his victims, but Tom clued me
into a darker past of the area, including the ballroom where Mayhem
had been held. “Kids drown in the pool there, and in the 40's, it
had been a shelter for neo-nazis. It has an insane history.”
We swapped stories of haunted history,
then got back to the music. “I've pretty much been touring since
last year. We have Mayhem, then Australia. We'll tour the album
16-18 months. Concentrate. In September, we'll come back, breathe,
then me and Vinny will start out laying ground for the next record
later this year, release next year.”
Like fueling up a tank, replenishing,
this is the work of an honest record. They'll get deeper in songs.
Music is like a machine taking them into battle where they will rage
on for thousands across the globe.
In any battle, there are fallen heroes.
We chatted about Dimebag for a moment, as I had brought up how he
had collaborated with unexpected types, like from the country genre.
I questioned Tom on whether this type of activity continued when
working around his brother Vinny.
“We're involved with a lot of stuff.
There's always fun people who want to collaborate. Usually, it's the
same genre. We've not been approached by any country or jazz
musicians to collaborate, but we're not pigeonholed,” he detailed.
He shared about the band comprised of
his buddy Tommy Sickles from Nothingface. “Todd and Jason; one
record, fun ways to keep grounded. There was one circulated of a
string section that did a cover of “You Wouldn't Know” with
nothing but cellos and violin. I'd love to add that to some of our
music.”
As far as his biggest musical fantasy,
Tom dreamed of headlining Download in a form of musical world
domination, changing career for the better, pulling in 80,000 fans,
and being supported by bands like Nine Inch Nails, Motley Crue and
Ramstein. If you missed them on Mayhem, you can still check them out
online. Visit www.hellyeahband.com,
www.facebook.com/hellyeahband,
and www.myspace.com/hellyeah.
