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Beyond the Boys’ Club: Robin Wattie of Big|Brave
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. This month’s piece features an interview with Robin Wattie of Big|Brave. Montreal metal trio Big|Brave tackle the weighty issues of gender, race and feeling like one doesn’t belong on their new album, Vital, out April 23 via Southern Lord. The album’s lead single, “Half Breed,” finds singer-guitarist Robin Wattie sharing the experience of being of mixed race and the confusion and insecurity that can come with it. Wattie checked in with Heavy Consequence for the latest “Beyond the Boys’ Club” column to discuss how she and the members of Big|Brave quarantined together...
Serj Tankian on His New Elasticity EP: “I Definitely Thought These Songs Would Have Worked Out for System”
Serj Tankian has just released his new solo EP, Elasticity. The title is inspired, in part, by System of a Down’s landmark 2001 album,Toxicity, and the singer has made no secret about the songs being originally intended for his acclaimed metal band. The collection features five new songs, including the recent singles “Elasticity” and “Electric Yerevan”. One listen to the EP, and it’s not difficult to see how these tracks would have fit nicely into the System of a Down canon. Tankian approached System with these songs a few years back, and as he explained to Heavy Consequence, the band members even worked on a few of them. However, ultimately creative differences led to any recording plans coming to a standstill. We asked Tankian what he felt more: regret about not recording the songs with ...
KISS’ Gene Simmons Explains Why He Keeps Saying “Rock Is Dead”
KISS singer-bassist Gene Simmons made headlines several years ago when he declared that “rock is finally dead.” He recently doubled down on that sentiment just before the band played a streaming New Year’s Eve show to ring in 2021. At the time of his initial statement in 2014, he explained in an Esquire feature, “Once you had a record company on your side, they would fund you, and that also meant when you toured they would give you tour support. … There are still record companies, and it does apply to pop, rap, and country to an extent. But for performers who are also songwriters — the creators — for rock music, for soul, for the blues — it’s finally dead.” Heavy Consequence recently checked in with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer to discuss his new G² line of guitars with Gibson. At one...
Serj Tankian: I Respect John Dolmayan Very Much, But Not His American Political Views
Over the past year or so, a political divide has played out indirectly between System of a Down bandmates Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan. While Tankian’s views are strongly on the left, Dolmayan is firmly planted in the right, when it comes to American politics, in particular. Tankian supported Bernie Sanders during the presidential primaries, and repeatedly voiced his displeasure with the Trump administration. At one point during the height of the 2020 protests, the singer even called for the end of the Trump regime. And right before Trump’s presidency ended, Tankian declared, “I’ve never seen a president suck so much,” following a U.S. agreement with Turkey that appeared to minimize Armenia’s cultural heritage. Dolmayan, on the other hand, took to his Instagram account to label Democrats...
Benny Boom Talks ‘Tazmanian Devil’ Film & Bringing Birdman In As Executive Producer
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Filmmaker Benny Boom is well-versed in what it means to find camaraderie by way of shared experiences, even 30 years later. Recently, he celebrated the release of his latest collaborative work Tazmanian Devil with fellow Alpha Phi Alpha member Solomon Onita Jr. Houston-born, Dallas-bred Onita is the writer and director of Tazmanian—out now, available to purchase or rent via Amazon Prime—which tells the story of a young Nigerian immigrant, Dayo (played by Abraham Attah), who moves to Arlington, TX to live with his overbearing father while attending college. He ends up finding solace and hard-earned acceptance while pledging to the fictional Black fraternity Tau Alpha Zeta, or TAZ. Black boys are often thought of as “grown men” outside of our communities as soon...
Benny Boom Talks ‘Tazmanian Devil’ Film & Bringing Birdman In As Executive Producer
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Filmmaker Benny Boom is well-versed in what it means to find camaraderie by way of shared experiences, even 30 years later. Recently, he celebrated the release of his latest collaborative work Tazmanian Devil with fellow Alpha Phi Alpha member Solomon Onita Jr. Houston-born, Dallas-bred Onita is the writer and director of Tazmanian—out now, available to purchase or rent via Amazon Prime—which tells the story of a young Nigerian immigrant, Dayo (played by Abraham Attah), who moves to Arlington, TX to live with his overbearing father while attending college. He ends up finding solace and hard-earned acceptance while pledging to the fictional Black fraternity Tau Alpha Zeta, or TAZ. Black boys are often thought of as “grown men” outside of our communities as soon...
First Look: Preview the Rob Zombie-Helmed Chapter of Anthrax’s Among the Living Graphic Novel
In November, Anthrax announced the impending release of their own graphic novel, Among the Living, featuring a bevy of famous guest contributors. One of the chapters is being written by Rob Zombie, and we’re teaming up with Z2 Comics for an exclusive first look at five pages of artwork. The graphic novel chapters are inspired by the songs on Anthrax’s iconic 1987 album, Among the Living, with Zombie being joined by such guest writers as Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard and Mikey Way, Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman, comedian Brian Posehn, and more. Along with the sneak peek at the Zombie chapter comes news that all four current classic members of Anthrax — Scott Ian, Joey Belladonna, Frank Bello, and Charlie Benante — will be contributing to the graphic novel. Ian is pennin...
Trent Reznor on David Bowie: “He Helped Me in Those Dark Times Before I Chose to Get My S**t Together”
Editor’s Note: We continue our celebration of the life and art of David Bowie with an exclusive new tribute from Trent Reznor. Keep checking back all week for more content reflecting on our favorite Starman. And, if you’ve missed anything, you can experience it all again here. David Bowie’s impact on fans and musicians transcended definitions of genre, illustrated by the iconic rock chameleon’s influence on industrial heavyweight Trent Reznor. As the Nine Inch Nails mastermind tells Consequence of Sound, having Bowie as both role model and friend helped him through some very dark times. Nine Inch Nails had the honor of opening for Bowie on “The Outside Tour” in 1995, which saw Reznor and company remaining onstage to perform a handful of songs with Bowie at the beginning of the latter’s hea...
David Hasselhoff Offers Update on Kung Fury 2, Promises “I Am Going to Be Funny in It”
Five years ago, movie audiences were mesmerized by the DIY action film Kung Fury, which became an instant cult classic. David Hasselhoff, who sang the movie’s memorable song “True Survivor” and voiced the Hoff 9000 car in the original, tells us he’s back for the sequel and is “going to be funny in it.” Kung Fury was made by Swedish director, writer, and star David Sandberg on a shoestring budget. After self-producing a $5,000 trailer for the yet-to-be-filmed kung fu movie, he launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of reaching $200,000. By the time the campaign ended, Sandberg raised more than $600,000, and locked in Hasselhoff for the theme song and Hoff 9000 role. The outlandish homage to ’80s B-movies features Kung Fury (played by Sandberg) partnering with Triceracop, meeting the No...
Slash on Eddie Van Halen: “Any Instrument He Had Chosen to Play Would Have Been Phenomenal”
There have been countless tributes to the great Eddie Van Halen since his passing on October 6th. One of the millions of fans mourning his death is fellow guitar legend Slash. Van Halen released their groundbreaking self-titled debut in 1978, and by the time Guns N’ Roses formed in 1985, one can easily argue that Van Halen were the biggest hard-rock band on the planet — until GN’R took that title with their own masterful debut, Appetite for Destruction. We recently caught up with Slash to discuss the new Guns N’ Roses pinball machines, as well as his new custom collection with Gibson Guitars. While speaking with the GN’R axeman, we asked him for his thoughts on Eddie Van Halen, specifically what it was about the Van Halen legend’s playing that made him such an iconic guitarist. Slash graci...
CERTIFIED FRESH: Australian-American Rap Duo GUMBO Music Talk Debut EP, Expat Life & BLM
Source: Kai Godeck / GUMBO Nate Wade and Kev Hannibal of the Hip-Hop duo GUMBO Music were raised in North Carolina and New York City, respectively, but didn’t even end up meeting until they were both on the other side of the world. Now based in Australia, the two men have forged a friendship rooted in fatherhood, expatriate experiences and Hip-Hop. This ‘rap duo’ idea just happened to work out just as COVID-19 peaked worldwide and global shutdowns were already underway. “With most ex-pats, you just sort of gravitate towards those you assimilate with,” Nate shares. “So it becomes a group of African Americans, a very small group, there aren’t a lot of us, but we’ve known each other for so long, just being homies. The music thing didn’t start for us until six months ago.” Before t...
Slash on AC/DC’s New Album: “It’s a Great F**king Record”
AC/DC’s new album, Power Up, has been met with widespread acclaim by fans and critics alike. One of those fans is Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who tells us that the LP is “a great f**cking record.” In our own review of Power Up, we declared it AC/DC’s best album… Please click the link below to read the full article. Slash on AC/DC’s New Album: “It’s a Great F**king Record” Spencer Kaufman You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
