Metal and Hardcore

Killing Joke Starts a Frenzy at the Fillmore, 5/3/13

Killing Joke Friday, May 3, 2013 The Fillmore Better than: Seeing New Order, the Cure, or any other British post-punk contemporaries of Killing Joke still in operation. In terms of sheer breadth of influence, few bands from the post-punk era can approach the reach of Killing Joke. The brooding, a ... More >>

Sylvie Simmons: S.F. Music Journalist, Rock 'n' Roll Detective

NOFX at 30: The Band's 10 Craziest Moments

Reassuring us once and for all that turning 30 doesn't mean you have to start behaving like an adult, NOFX -- the West Coast punk icon/touring kegger that never winds down -- announced this week that they'll mark the end of their third decade in existence with a limited edition box set of deluxe LPs ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

The Five Best Concerts in San Francisco This Week

Sunn O))) @ Mezzanine, Tuesday, Dec. 18 Over the 14 years that Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley have run Sunn O))), the pair have eagerly tested threshold after threshold. The Seattle-born drone metal project's songs are long -- the shortest track on 2009 LP Monoliths & Dimensions is 9 minutes, 42 ... More >>

Dulc-i-Tone Records: The Longtime Label of Mantles Bassist Matt Roberts

Name: Dulc-i-Tone, although the label was founded as Yakamashi. Founded: 1998 Owner: Matt Roberts Headquarters: Mission District, San Francisco Label one-sheet: Dulc-i-tone is the current name of Matt Roberts' 14-year-old record label endeavor, which he has dutifully operated throughout many pha ... More >>

Red Fang Approves of Drinking Beer in the Shower

Portland-based quartet Red Fang has proven itself to be one of the hardest-working bands in metal over the past few years. Since the release of the group's ferocious self-titled debut in 2009 -- and the hysterical beer-soaked, Ren-Faire-battle-gone-horribly-awry video for "Prehistoric Dog" that went ... More >>

Bridge School Videos: Guns N' Roses Play Some Classics, Jack White's Full Set, and More

So Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit concert went down at Shoreline Amphitheatre this weekend, bringing artists like the Flaming Lips, Jack White, Guns N' Roses, Eddie Vedder, and many more onstage for an all-acoustic show. Somewhat surprisingly, Guns N' Roses actually showed up, apparently ... More >>

Lady Gaga Blew Chunks: The Top 5 Onstage Pukers

There are few more undignified actions in the world than regurgitating the contents of your stomach in public: The watering eyes, the full-body-gag, the blowing of chunks. Even when we do it alone, we feel slightly embarrassed. So pity poor Lady Gaga, who hurled all over her own stage in Barcelona t ... More >>

Bridge School Benefit Lineup 2012: Guns N' Roses, Flaming Lips, Jack White, and More

The lineup for the 2012 Bridge School Benefit concert is out! Big names for this year's benefit include Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Guns N' Roses, the Flaming Lips, Jack White, and Foster the People. The annual concert -- which helps support the educational institution for individuals with severe sp ... More >>

How to Watch Kiss and Motley Crue Tonight Without Feeling Shame

That's right, folks. Tonight, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012, Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheatre is playing host to absurdist rock royalty, Kiss, and its even sleazier counterparts, Motley Crüe. Obviously, it will be a spectacle for the ages. But how does one go and bear witness to this riot of ridic ... More >>

Lars Ulrich Talks Outside Lands, the Next Metallica Record, and Playing S.F.

Ahead of Metalica's headlining Saturday-night set at Outside Lands this year, drummer Lars Ulrich held a conference call with reporters to talk about Metallica's preparations for the festival. Answering questions from numerous media outlets, Ulrich spoke about his love for the Outside Lands festival ... More >>

Live Review, 7/16/12: Five Things We Learned at Last Night's Mayhemic Trash Talk and SpaceGhostPurrp Show

Trash Talk SpaceGhostPurrp Monday, July 16, 2012 Slim's 333 Club Better than: Shows where they don't find random shoes, watches, and other detachable items strewn about afterward. Last night, the rising Sacramento hardcore band Trash Talk and freaky Florida rapper SpaceGhostPurrp shared an unusual ... More >>

Going for Guinness: Five Artists Into Breaking World Records

If there was a chart depicting competitiveness in the world of music, there would be three levels on it. Stage 1: The Pearl Jam -- for artists who neither want nor need your stinking awards, and will merely shrug at the world when they accidentally win one. Stage 2: The Taylor Swift -- for artists w ... More >>

Live Review, 6/5/12: Sleep Forcefully Exhales at the Fox Theater

By ALEE KARIM Sleep Oxbow Kowloon Walled City June 5th, 2012 The Fox Theatre Better than: The rest. And rest. Thankfully. The San Jose-based metal band Sleep is part of a pre-Internet coterie of bands that gained an astonishing reputation in their absence. For every Soundgarden reuniting to cash ... More >>

The Top 15 Most Cocaine-Influenced Albums of All Time, Nos. 15-11

"Cocaine," as Rick James famously said, "is a helluva drug." Yup: The white powder's effects have left an influence that's both sublime and downright hideous on decades of pop music. So what happens when you give already-famous musicians a quick burst of energy, ego, paranoia, and euphoria? Most of ... More >>

Noh Mercy: Show Preview

Rank/Xerox: Show Preview

Peter Murphy: Show Preview

Finding Redemption in the Horrors of Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu

​Don't Kill Lulu Yet: No, there is not one conventionally good song on Lulu, the 87-minute, hyped-to-infinity, Frankenstein's monster of Lou Reed babble and Metallica chug that came out the day after Halloween. Not really. This is a batch of 10 challenging pieces that average more than eight m ... More >>

Photo: GWAR Is Not The Answer

​ No, no. This is all wrong.

Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu: A First Listen

​ What pisses me off is not that Lou Reed is collaborating with one of the more overrated bands of my lifetime, or doing his batshit Lou Reed thing (I rather enjoy his batshit Lou Reed thing) -- it's that he hasn't made a normal record since Ecstasy, one of my favorites of that year. Animal Se ... More >>

Don't Relieve the Hype: Watch Two New Trailers for Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu

Lou Reed, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich​ We know, we know: Another day, another hype-inflating crumb of information about Lulu, the forthcoming collaboration album between Lou Reed and Metallica. Well, today, we get two new tidbits, both in the form of videos. One is a trailer that feels mor ... More >>

Meet Your New Favorite Band (to Intensely Dislike): Black Veil Brides

Calibree PhotographyBlack Veil Brides at the Warped Tour​ At first we thought that was KISS strutting up at us from our slideshow of this weekend's Warped Tour at Shoreline Amphitheatre. But no -- monstrous black-and-white makeup aside, those guys are way too skinny to be in KISS. Turns out ... More >>

Motley Crue Plays a Literally Explosive Show with Poison and the New York Dolls at Bill Graham Civic (Photos)

Gil RiegoMotley Crue​ Motley Crue Poison The New York Dolls June 15, 2011 @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium Looking at those names above, how could it not have been a wild night? Brett Michaels and Tommy Lee in one giant room -- not to mention punk legends the New York Dolls? Plus, a contraption ... More >>

Lightning Bolt: Show Preview

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Soul-Funk Outfit The Budos Band Wants To Harsh Your Mellows, Hippies

Lotsa people, lotsa attitude.​You've got to love New Yorkers for their blatant honesty. Speaking to Jared Tankel, baritone saxophone player in 10-piece Staten Island global-funk group The Budos Band, he makes it clear to aspiring rappers that his instrumental band is not interested in collaboratin ... More >>

Sub Swara: Show Preview

Folk for the Gamer Generation: Powerglove's antics elevate videogame metal

Watch: This Year, Soundtrack Your Christmas Lights with Slayer

​Sure, you could be like everyone else on the block this holiday season and set the automatic music-synch on your tacky Christmas light display to "Jinglebell Rock." But why do that when you could also set it to a face-melter like Slayer's "Raining Blood"? Watch the Christmas carnage that ensues w ... More >>

The Five Dumbest Songs By Artists Glen E. Friedman Has Photographed

The Dead Kennedys, photographed by Glen E. Friedman​As you may have seen in the Nov. 3 issue of SF Weekly, legendary photographer Glen E. Friedman brought his long-running "Fuck You All" exhibit to 941 Geary this past weekend, where it will happily live for the rest of 2010. We are so thrilled we ... More >>

Scientists: Why Are Ozzy Osbourne and Keith Richards Still Alive?

The Stone Foxes canceled dates, but their July 17th CD release party at Cafe Du Nord is still on.​S.F.'s The Stone Foxes cancel tour dates due to one member having to receive an emergency appendectomy. But the band's announcement doesn't say which member is having surgery. [Pollstar]Neil Young's f ... More >>

Metal God Worship: A How-To by Space Vacation

In memoriam to Dio, S.F. metal band Space Vacation dedicates their show tonight at the Hemlock to the beloved singer, saying he had "a voice so powerful, that I never realized I was maced when I saw him play at Metal Masters!" With their arena rock harmonies, dramatic vocals, and a tendency for ... More >>

Ex-Metallica Bassist Jason Newsted's SF Art Exhibit

Jason Newsted's "Absenthe Won" (Acrylic, ink, dry pastel on canvas) ​ As we all learned in Some Kind of Monster, Metallica's big shredders harbor sensitive sides. The therapy doc introduced the headbanging public to the ways these dudes deviate from the hard rock tough guy st ... More >>

New High on Fire Video "Frost Hammer"

Local metal gods High on Fire released a bad-ass little video for their single "Frost Hammer" today. The clip involves snakes and swords, lava and lightning, Jesus and the Devil, and a shirtless Matt Pike, the frontman with a growl to level lesser shredders. Or, more succinctly, in the words of t ... More >>

Augury

Kid Koala reimagines heavy rock with the Slew

Cold Cave

Last Night: Pissed Jeans at Bottom of the Hill

​Pissed Jeans, Mi Ami, Hissing WoundTuesday, Aug. 18, 2009Bottom of the HillBetter than: Yer typical '90s nostalgia.On record, Allentown, PA's Pissed Jeans are feral. Frontman Matt Korvette could be singing about getting a massage ("Request for Masseuse") and the tension in his voice could hammer ... More >>

Will the Real Ronnie James Dio Please Stand Up and Shout?

Devilish: Heaven & Hell​With the possible exception of Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio is probably the greatest heavy metal singer of all time. Dio's a bit of an anomaly to metal's usual Satanic shtick--he's an Italian-American Roman Catholic--though that hasn't stopped him from r ... More >>

Pentagram

Experiment in Terror

Crash of the Titans

Native American healer cures Testament

Ozzy Osbourne: Famous Batshit Dad/Rock Star Storms Oakland

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