Mann's World

Currently listening to: Probot, the new Dave Grohl metal project

Dave has an impressive list of metal luminaries on this CD: Lemmy, Cronos from Venom, Tom G. Warrior from Celtic Frost, King Diamond, Raleigh's own Mike Dean, just to name a few. I'll give it a proper review after a few more listens.

Mr. X took me to task for saying that Urge Overkill was "serious." After a friendly debate about the whole thing, we agreed that Urge Overkill was more ironic than serious, while The Darkness is satirical. The next logical step would be to call Satanicide a parody, especially since, according to rumor, Satanicide was told they couldn't play with The Darkness because Satanicide is a parody and The Darkness isn't. I read an interview (which, unfortunately I can't find right now) in which Justin Hawkins said The Darkness wanted to get the music note-perfect so they could goof off with the lyrics and the image.

A couple of weeks ago, The Independent ran an article on the death of Chapel Hill musician Randy Ward. Ward, who was best known as a guitarist for Family Dollar Pharaohs and Metal Flake Mother, died in late January after a short bout with cancer. I didn't know Randy, but I am still a big fan of Metal Flake Mother, who, for my money, was one of the best bands ever to emerge from this area. I've been listening to their CD, Beyond the Java Sea, and remembering a time when people actually thought Chapel Hill was going to be the next Seattle. Two MFM alums, Jimbo Mathus and Tom Maxwell, went on to form Squirrel Nut Zippers, whose success led local Hep Cat Records to re-release Beyond the Java Sea in 1997 (it was originally released on Moist Records in 1991). Several local benefits are planned in memory of Randy.

Also recently, well-known local metal promoter Dio (not Ronnie James Dio) was injured during some sort of altercation. I don't know exactly what happened, but I will say that Dio is one of the nicest, most unassuming people I've ever met. A benefit is planned for March 7 at Lincoln Theatre to help defray his medical costs. A who's who of local metal, including G'n'R tribute band Appetite for Destruction, is scheduled to play.