Archive for February, 2012
7 out of 10 Republican Voters Believe Mustaine Endorsement of Santorum Is “The Most Important Factor” In Presidential Race
Posted by Keith Spillett in General Weirdness on February 28, 2012
In a recent Rasmussen poll of Republican voters, over 70 percent cited Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine’s endorsement of Rick Santorum as being the critical factor in their choice of candidates. Mustaine’s endorsement ranked ahead of the economy, international terrorism, the myth of global warming, contraception, electability, a woman’s right to vote, the return of the messiah and abortion as being the most important factor in who they will choose to represent the Republican Party in November. In spite of Santorum’s recent flood of absurd, borderline insane comments and Mustaine’s later remark that he had not, in fact, endorsed Santorum, the Megadeth connection has the former Pennsylvania Senator leading in the polls by as many as four percentage points.
Mustaine’s role as Republican king maker started back in 2004 when he announced his intention to vote for George W. Bush. Bush was victorious. Since then, many Americans have turned to Megadeth albums to help explain many of the difficult problems that face the nation. Mustaine, whose recent record Endgame railed against wireless tracking chips being put in people’s heads and Americans being forced into FEMA concentration camps, has become the snarling voice of the moderate wing of the Republican Party.
At a town hall meeting in Michigan, people were still abuzz with the news of Mustaine’s “endorsement”. “I feel like Mustaine and I have a lot in common,” said 83-year-old Jane Summerville of Ypsilanti, “We both support a candidate who doesn’t follow the instructions of the New Ways Evil Book of Rules. And that man is Rick Santorum.”
Agnes Murphy, 63, of Auburn Hills was even more impressed. “I have been unhappy with many of the Republican candidates this year. It’s like I told my husband, ‘If there’s a new way, I’ll be the first in line. But it better work this time!’ Santorum has some radically new ideas. I don’t care what the liberals say; it’s still we the people. Right?” announced Murphy while pacing, foaming at the mouth and waving her arms wildly.
According to James Sullivan, Santorum’s campaign manager in Detroit, Mustaine’s endorsement gives them an excellent chance to vanquish Obama, their hated foe. “Obama is like the Pied Piper, leading rats through the streets. And Americans are dancing like marionettes,” howled Sullivan at a room full of shrieking, Megadeth tee shirt wearing Republicans.
Mustaine’s foray into politics may be the most successful attempt for a metal artist to influence a major election, but it certainly isn’t the first. Quorthon, of Bathory fame, actually spent much of 1984 away from music helping to run Ronald Reagan’s Presidential campaign in Utah. Back in 1956, Slayer vocalist Tom Araya made history by supporting Adalai Stevenson in his battle against Republican incumbent Dwight Eisenhower. And who could forget when Tom Angelripper of Sodom threw his weight behind Rutherford B. Hayes in his election campaign against Samuel Tilden in 1876.
They’re Back!!!!!: 2366 Words With Mace Guitarist and Producer Dave Hillis
Posted by Keith Spillett in People Who Were Willing To Speak To Me on February 21, 2012
80’s crossover thrash legends Mace have returned to reek untold havoc on the eardrums of the metal world. Tyranny of Tradition got a chance to sit down with guitarist Dave Hillis in his first interview since the comeback began. Dave talked extensively about the state of modern metal along with his array of experiences in the Seattle music scene.
Tyranny: Let me start with the obvious question. The band has been apart 23 years, what made you decide to get back together?
Dave: I was 17 or 18 when we were doing those records and nobody was doing that kind of music at the time especially in our area of the world (a town outside of Seattle called Everett). When we were recording it the guy who was recording us was like “What is this?!?!” He had never heard anything like that.
We were naïve and didn’t know much about producing or producers. As time went on, I became a recording engineer and producer. I recently built a studio here in Seattle and I always wanted to revisit that stuff and do a real mix on some of them. I always felt like it never had a fair shake, sound quality wise. I found the old tapes in my mother’s garage. They were like 25 years old so I had to have them baked (a process where you literally bake old tapes in a conventional oven so that they are playable). We then moved them out to Pro Tools and I started remixing them. It was really fun to hear the old tapes again and give them better sound quality.
That was so much fun I decided to try a new song, just for the heck of it. The singer Kirk and I started talking and I told him what I was doing and we pulled some guys together and did one just for fun. From there it just snowballed. I hadn’t been playing much, I had been behind the scenes engineering and producing so I had to dust off the cobwebs to try to play that fast.
I never thought we were going to put it back together. Then, we started playing for people and we got excited and said “What the hell!” There wasn’t a real definite plan, but it has turned into one now.
Tyranny: Things are very different since you recorded the Mace stuff. I’m sure there are a million things you can think of, but in what major ways has music changed since then?
Dave: So many different ways, from how it’s distributed to how it is recorded. In the time we were doing it, there was no internet. We were pretty ambitious. Everything was done through tape trading and writing letters. We would pick up punk and metal fanzines, see addresses and write to people. We started writing to Death Angel, Possessed and all the bands in the Bay Area and becoming pen pals with them. A lot of our first shows were done that way. We played in Frisco a lot because the Bay Area was starting to happen for crossover and thrash. We’d say to them that if they wanted to play some shows in Seattle or Portland we’d put a bill together. Then we’d come down there and open for them. That’s how we started touring.
We used to play Berkeley, Ruthie’s Inn, where Exodus and Metallica were hanging out. We became friends with Pushead, from a band called Septic Death, and he was a big supporter of us doing the thrash crossover thing. He ended up doing the artwork for Damage Incorporated for Metallica. We really got into that circle.
In Seattle, we got shows through the punk thing. We opened shows for The Circle Jerks, D.O.A., D.R.I. and C.O.C. In the suburbs, we put on all ages shows and that would be more of a metal crowd. We really had to travel to San Francisco to get noticed.
We mailed our stuff to everywhere overseas. We were getting fan mail from Eastern Europe and they were selling our tee shirts in South America. It was really DIY. It seems like you could do that more with the internet, but people don’t seem as ambitious.
Tyranny: You’ve been pretty busy in the time in between. It’s not like you’ve been sitting around collecting pictures of Al Roker or anything. Talk about some of the things you’ve worked on between when you stopped working on Mace and now.
Dave: I wanted to get into different types of music. Everything from industrial to shoegazer type music and I started experimenting a lot. I also started getting into the production aspect of music. I got a job at London Bridge Studios working as an assistant for Rick Parashar, the producer. I was really thrown into the fire right away. My first record was a band called Love and Ice, one of the first signings to Interscope. Right off the bat, I was working on major label records. Right after that were demos for Mookie Blaylock, who eventually became Pearl Jam, along with some of the Alice in Chains stuff.
When the grunge thing happened, I was at one of the top studios in Seattle working as Rick’s engineer. We were doing those records not knowing they were going to be that big. I knew those guys from around town. We shared rehearsal rooms, played the same parties, and chased the same girls. When we were recording them, nobody knew any of this was going to sell. It was like recording friends. Nobody was famous yet.
Tyranny: Do you think if Pearl Jam stuck with the name Mookie Blaylock, he’d be in the Basketball Hall of Fame right now?
Dave: (laughing) You have to wonder, huh! I know they weren’t into using his name. When we were demoing that stuff they were putting it together on the fly. They didn’t even have Eddie Vedder yet. Once it solidified and they became a band they had to start thinking about what to really call themselves.
Tyranny: I always liked the name Mookie Blaylock better than Pearl Jam, to be honest. I loved him when he was at Oklahoma.
Dave: Jeff (Ament) is a huge basketball fan. As a matter of fact, he was a great basketball player. I think he was a college player. He’s crazy good.
Tyranny: It had to be a surreal experience looking around at all these guys you grew up with and all of a sudden they are ridiculously famous.
Dave: It took a long time to even grasp it. When it was going on I wasn’t that into it. I didn’t even own any of the records. After they blew up, you really didn’t see them much anymore. They were gone and on the road.
Years later, I produced a band that Stone (Gossard) signed to his label called Loosegroove. I got to know him better than. Otherwise, you just didn’t see them as much. It’s not like the local kegger parties were still going on or anything.
I did get to know Jerry (Cantrell) a lot when I moved out to LA. He ended up taking over my apartment in LA and I moved next door. We got to jam together and hang out a lot. I saw him more in LA than I ever did in Seattle.
It’s so different than people imagined it was. Nobody expected any of it and when it did happen it’s a whole different scenario.
Tyranny: I want to get into Mace, because I have been obsessed with “Process of Elimination” all week. I’ve been playing it non-stop and annoying my wife and kids to death. They don’t really grasp the type of music I like.
Dave: When we made it, nobody grasped it either!
Tyranny: (laughing) Nice! For someone who hasn’t heard it, how would you describe Mace’s sound?
Dave: We were heavy metal kids who met in high school. Got into the British wave of heavy metal. Then, we got into hardcore and punk rock and became friends with the band The Accused. They were punk rock from the day they were born and all of a sudden they started to get into metal. They got into Exodus and Metallica. We both started having the concept of crossing them over and creating a new sound. We were putting punk aspects and political ideas into metal. The guitar work was more metal in a way but also sloppy and blurry like punk. There was such a divide at the time. You were either punk or metal. We’d play a punk show and they’d be yelling at us because we were too metal and we’d do a metal show and we were too punk.
Tyranny: I love some of the Mace lyrics. Particularly “Drilling For Brains”. I’ve been running around screaming the lyrics at strangers. It’s a lot of fun. For 17 and 18 year old kids, you were writing some pretty bright stuff. Particularly, Room 101 which is a great homage to Orwell’s 1984. When you wrote it you didn’t know how things were going to be in 2012, but do you think today we are closer to a 1984 type society?
Dave: The timing couldn’t be more right, particularly the political angle. It’s funny how much of it has become real. The Patriot Act put that into reality. When we were happening the Reagan era anti-heavy metal stuff and the Satan stuff was big. I can’t believe how I’m seeing it again during these Republican caucuses. It’s the Falwell era all over again.
Tyranny: You cover that pretty well in the song The Evil in Good. The lyric “change under the guiding light of the new Religious Right.” That was pretty accurate.
Dave: I know. It’s pretty shocking to see it happening again. I have to pinch myself to see what decade we are in. I thought we were over that. I was very surprised that birth control issues have been big again.
Tyranny: Right! I saw that. Let me ask you about the whole Metal Massacre V CD thing. This confused me a bit. You had a song on that compilation that was actually called “Marching Sacrifice”, but the CD listed it as “Marching Saproyites”. Help me understand this.
Dave: Right, that one has been going around. That was the one of the first things we came up with. It was written in Crafts class in High School. It was the easiest class so no one was ever doing anything. It’s a sci-fi thing. Saprophytes are maggot type things. There was a story we made up about giant saprophytes marching through a town. Somehow it got misspelled on one of them. We were on the Northwest Metal Fest that same year which was a compilation out of here that we were on with other bands like Metal Church. Everybody was spelling it the wrong way. Then, another pressing came out and corrected it. The correct title was “Marching Saprophytes”.
Tyranny: I like Marching Saprophytes better. The image of giant maggots running through the streets is hilarious. It’s much better than Marching Sacrifice.
Dave: That’s the one that people got wrong. I think they thought Marching Sacrifice sounded more metal.
Tyranny: Marching Sacrifice makes less sense. I don’t know why a sacrifice would be marching. Especially if it’s already been sacrificed.
Dave: Exactly.
Tyranny: You have a new song called HAARP Strings. I was excited about this because I love conspiracy theories. HAARP is the gov’t project that has been linked to changes in weather patterns, mind control and earthquakes. Tell me a bit about your ideas on this. Do you think the theory is legitimate?
Dave: That was what Kirk (the singer) and I were wondering about. We had both seen the Jessie Ventura conspiracy theory show and we were talking about it. We were really getting into it. I think it’s highly possible. The whole Tesla thing. I think it’s something to question and wonder about. We both have really gotten off on that conspiracy things as well. How much do we really know?
Tyranny: When you were first out, there was no other Mace. Now there is P Diddy’s sidekick. Are you worried you are going to get people at your shows that want to hear ‘Mo Money, Mo Problems’?
Dave: When I first heard of him when he came out I laughed about it. I kind of forgot about it, then someone wrote a comment on the Blabbermouth article about us talking about the rap song. I thought “Oh no, are people really going to think that?” I don’t know. What can you do?
Tyranny: Mase wasn’t bad. He could rap without moving his mouth, which I thought was fascinating.
Dave: I think the story is he got religion and just walked away from his career.
Tyranny: If you do Mo Money, Mo Problems as a thrash song that would be incredible.
Dave: It’s a total possibility. I might have to take that as a challenge.
Tyranny: Tell me what’s up next for you guys. A tour? An album?
Dave: It took off on us. We are talking about playing in Oakland at the Opera House in the summer. We were looking to play the Northwest Metal Fest down in the Tacoma area. We are starting to get some offers. At least this year if not next year we want to start hitting some of the festivals in Europe. We are talking to a couple labels. Two in Germany, Metal Blade and Century Media about doing something in the states.
I’m still producing bands so I have some records that I am still scheduled to do and I will fit in a new record for us. We are going to release the five songs we remixed plus the new song first to let people know were back and to let other people know what we are like. Our first show back is going to be May 10th at the Showbox here in Seattle. Tommy, the guitar player for The Accused, is going to come on and play a song with us. We are going to start it off and see where things go.
Danzig Gives Birth To Identical Twin Girls
Posted by Keith Spillett in General Weirdness on February 20, 2012
When rumors first came out a few months back about Glenn Danzig taking a break from touring because of his pregnancy, most people thought it was just a publicity stunt or a very strange joke. However, on Friday at 5:34 AM, after being in labor for 18 hours, Danzig gave birth to two beautiful daughters. The girls, Christina and Sistinas, both weighed nearly seven pounds and were in great health. Danzig, overcome by the beauty of the moment, broke into an soulful, impromptu version of “Mother” as he lay prone on the operating table.
While male pregnancies are not common, thanks to medical technology they are becoming a bit less rare. Danzig, however, needed no help from doctors in order to spontaneously grow a womb and ovaries. He simply willed it.
Danzig, who is planning on creating a master race of Danzig children all sharing his superior DNA, knew that he couldn’t rely on his wives to help create perfect beings. In spite of the fact that he is currently married to 64 women, including actress Meryl Streep, he claimed in a recent interview that he refused to “diminish his essence” by procreating with others.
Danzig is not a stranger to bizarre birth stories. He was, in fact, born in a laboratory in Lodi, New Jersey in 1955. Dr. Helmut Neumann, a German scientist who immigrated to the US after World War 2, created Danzig by mixing the DNA of blues singer Robert Johnson, Russian mystic Rasputin and an Alaskan Grey Wolf. The result was a human who carried a nearly godlike voice, the ability to make women fall in love with him by simply breathing and the power to control the minds of feral animals. Some Danzig fans have claimed that his sweat is capable of curing lupus if ingested once a week for two consecutive months, but this has yet to be independently verified by scientists.
In spite of the fact that they are only three days old, the Danzig girls have already not only exhibited the ability to talk, they have already learned how to deny the possibility of a full Misfits reunion. The twins have received a great deal of attention around the nursury for their famous father and their matching devilock hairstyles. MTV has already approached the babies about doing their own reality television show called “The Danzig Sisters” which should be on television starting in the fall.
Day of The Expanding Man
Posted by Keith Spillett in General Weirdness on February 16, 2012
Over the past hundred years, human beings have grown dramatically in both height and weight. Many of our greatest Americans, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, stood less than 2 feet tall. Some scientists believe that our recent growth spurt is because of hormones and steroids in our milk, while others believe that better nutrition and health care have been the major factors, but it is an incontrovertible fact that humans are becoming enormous.
The average American male today stands 5 foot 10 and weighs 190 pounds, while his female counterpart is around 5 foot 4 164 pounds. If you look at the numbers in 1900, it may surprise you. Did you know just over 100 years ago the average male was a mere 3 foot 8 and 90 pounds? Women were even more diminutive, standing a shade under 3 foot 3 and weighing 64 pounds. This amazing statistic grows frightening when graphed on a curve. By the year 2025, it’s expected that most American men and women will be larger than 8 feet and over 500 pounds.
A larger sized American will mean the need for more food consumption. Several solutions have been proposed, but the most commonly accepted possibility, proposed at the UN only last month, is the eating of all natural born German citizens. Germans are high in protein and contain the most calories per human of any possible cannibalistic meal. Not only is a diet high in Germans filling, they are also extremely healthy. Germans contain more Vitamin D than any current race and, as we know, without Vitamin D most humans quickly devolve into bloodthirsty, raging werewolves.
Some doctors are proposing radical solutions for the recent trend in human size. A shrinking procedure, first created by Doctor Julius Sandberg in 1998, has allowed giant people to reduce their height by as much as 5 inches. The procedure, which involves humans beings trapped in large machines similar to dryers and put on spin for over three hours, has produced reliable results. Another more controversial technique, which involves eating the pituitary glands of baby elephants, has gained some popularity in the news but has yet to yield the same results.
These solutions, however, have come at a great cost. Over 40 percent of those who participated in the size experiments have began taking on mime-like qualities, including a pale face, inability to speak and the unnatural urge to pretend they are in an invisible box. Several patients have spontaneously exploded while on airplanes during takeoff. One patient even had her forehead expand rapidly until it was more than 5 feet long and 3 feet wide.
The rapid growth of human beings could cause untold suffering to people as they struggle with the aches and pains of a frame and a world holding well more than it is supposed to. However, the economic benefits that would come from the aggressive augmentation of the human form far outweighs the problems. Doctors, hospitals and insurance providers will make billions as bones snap under the pressure of the added size. The construction industry will be revitalized as buildings are reshaped to house the new race of giants. A whole new economic boom based on the resizing of nearly everything could create a golden age for these gravity-taunted monsters. The future is sure to be very big and very bright.
Varg Vikernes Creates Secret Weather Control Device; Threatens to Destroy World
Posted by Keith Spillett in General Weirdness on February 13, 2012
After his recent release from prison for the murder of Mayhem frontman Euronymous, Varg Vikernes seemed to be saying all the right things. He was going to retire to a quiet life where he would write music for his band Burzum and work patiently in his garden on his prized daffodils.
He had become a devout reader of Nicholas Sparks novels, particularly “The Notebook” which he called “the most bittersweet, poignant tale of young love he had ever encountered”. He had bought a farm just north of Trondheim where he planned to work with sick goats and even open a petting zoo for young children.
People had thought that the bizarre, horrifying saga of Varg was finally coming to a quiet end. They were wrong.
Last Wednesday, Varg sent a letter to the Sandefjord Daily Examiner, claiming that since his release in March 2009 he has been secretly working on a weather control device that could “rain the fury of the gods upon our world.” The device, which he referred to as Odin’s Hammer, is capable of creating tornadoes and hurricanes, along with other types of obscure and bizarre weather events.
As a show of its strength, on Monday Varg claimed to have caused the freak blizzard that covered Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with 12 inches of snow. He also claimed responsibility for the freak frog storm that interrupted Saturday’s football match between Manchester United and Liverpool. “I’ve shown you I can make frogs fall from the sky,” said Varg in a letter released on Sunday, “you will bow down before me…..YOUR BLACK METAL GOD.”
Interpol has been tracking Varg since the first message made it to the newspapers. Several sources claim that he has slipped out of Norway and hidden in North Korea under the protection of the slightly bloated leader of that nation, Kim Jong Un.
Another source claims that Varg had originally offered to sell the device to Iran for 100 million dollars, but decided against it when he learned that several prominent Iranian clerics preferred more mainstream black metal bands like Dimmu Borgir.
Varg claims he will not use Odin’s Hammer if several demands are immediately met. The list of demands range from the slightly bizarre to the unbelievably ridiculous. First of all, he wants a fleet of 200 World War 2 Sherman Tanks at his disposal at all times. He has asked that Wednesday be renamed Heimdall, in honor of the Norse God whose horn will announce the end of the world. He demanded a worldwide ban on the use of ukuleles.
Finally, he asked for the ruins of the Roman Coliseum to be filled with 500,000 pounds of gluten-free cupcakes. Authorities are confused by Varg’s request and some believe that it is possible that these requests might, in fact, be signs of mental illness.
In America, one of the targets for potential attack named by Varg in his last letter, responses were mixed. Several prominent politicians called for an immediate program creating billions of dollars in subsidies to corporations that create gluten free cupcakes.
However, some politicians, like former Presidential candidate Scott Walker were not impressed with Varg’s threats. “We all know that it is impossible for human actions to affect the weather. That’s just preposterous,” said Walker in Wednesday’s interview on The Sean Hannity Show.