This week's cool shows: Weedeater, Cough and more!

With Labor Day coming up, and Hopscotch happening next week, this weekend is somewhat light on shows. But the shows that are happening are definitely worth your time.

On Thursday, Sept. 1, Cough, MAKE  and Swordasters of Ginaz will be at Casbah. I don't know anything about the Swordmasters, but Cough and MAKE have consistently been two of my favorite doomy bands over the past year.

Over at Motorco on the same night, DejaFest will feature American Aquarium, the Love Language's Stu McLamb, Prison Book Club and Gray Young.

On Sunday, one of my all-time favorite North Carolina bands from way back in the day, The Bad Checks, will be at JawsFest at the Station in Carrboro. And on Labor Day itself, Black Skies, Vaz and Pygmy Shrews will be at Casbah.

But the show of the week in my opinion is Tuesday's Weedeater, Saviours, Bison BC and Fight Amp show at Kings. I will admit to having never seen Weedeater or Saviours, but Bison BC and Fight Amp both put on an amazing show.

Also, there are two very different festivals happening this weekend: the annual ProgDay international prog rock fest at Storybrook Farm, and Bull City Rumble, a celebration of rockabilly and classic car/motorcycle culture, at Casbah.

Photos and video of Holy Grail!

I've been kicking myself ever since missing Holy Grail at the Lincoln Theatre back in December. They were opening for someone (can't remember who now) and playing at 8:45 p.m. -- right around the time I had scheduled a long-overdue get-together with three of my closest girlfriends. I love the metal, but that night I decided to stick with my girls. I was very glad I did. Sort of.

Anyway, I was very glad to find out they were coming back to Kings. The band's Crisis in Utopia has been one of my favorite albums of the past year. You know I'm a fan of NWOBHM from back when that genre was actually brand new. It makes me happy to see a band whose members weren't even alive when "Number of the Beast" was released giving classic metal their own interpretation.

Holy Grail is the best of these old-school-inspired bands that I've heard. Eli Santana (above) is an incredible guitarist, James Luna has a phenomenal voice, and the band puts on a great show. It was even worth getting punched in the back and having some dude who was covered head-to-toe in spikes fall on me.

Video from OCOAI

This is bad to admit, but I rarely wear earplugs. I do have a pair that I normally carry with me, and if a band gets a little too loud, I will wear them. That actually doesn't happen very often for me -- maybe a result of the hearing loss I've already experienced?

Anyway, the point of all this is that last night I did not have my ear plugs with me, and regretted that because OCOAI were loud. Really, really loud.

I didn't know anything about OCOAI (pronounced oh-CO-eye) until I got a Facebook invite for last night's show at the Dive Bar. I read up on them and found out that they are from Johnson City, Tenn., they incorporate cello, they're friends with U.S. Christmas, and every description of them (including the invite itself) referenced Pink Floyd. Sure, there's a lot of Pink Floyd in what they're doing, but also a lot of Deep Purple and King Crimson. And even though it was loud, the volume didn't get in the way of the music. There's a lot of really great psychedelic space metal coming out of Appalachia right now, but I think OCOAI is currently my favorite.

Yob, Dark Castle and USX at Kings

I think I said it best on Facebook during the show: Yob blew my mind Monday at Kings. They also blew out my little Flip cam, so this video is simply for anyone who wants to take a few seconds remembering the dark, overwhelming power of the band's show. So far I've been very happy with what I've gotten from the new Nikon, but it truly isn't good for video. Instead of taking the Flip cam, which just clearly doesn't work in situations like this, I'm going to start taking the Canon G9 and the Nikon. The G9 wouldn't have gotten better video of this show, but it always did capture fairly good audio, even of super loud shows.

A few folks remarked to me that they thought Dark Castle had improved significantly since their last show at Kings (with Nachtmystium in September). I don't think improved is the word because I thought they really good before, but they definitely put on a better show. 

U.S. Christmas were at almost full-strength, which is where I think they sound best.

Announcing: The Mann's World Day Party at Hopscotch!

Today The Independent released the list of day parties and other unofficial events taking place during Hopscotch. These are parties put on by local labels, websites, venues, etc., and not usually officially sponsored by Hopscotch itself. Like last year, there's going to be some good stuff happening during these parties.

And like last year, I'm throwing my own day party! This year's event will feature three of my current favorite heavy bands: Heavy local supergroup Righteous Fool, Boston's doomy Black Thai, and Durham's awesomely abrasive Lurch. This party, which will be sponsored by one of my favorite beers -- Big Boss, will take place during the day (I'll update the times later) on Saturday, Sept. 10, at Dive Bar, which, as you should know, is right on the R-Line. That's if you're too lazy to walk the four blocks from Hargett Street to get there.

I'm really excited about this show, and I hope to see you all out there!