Our (Sort of ) Guide to CMJ 2010!
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$ October 13 - October 20, 2010 Vol. 2 -577 NEWSSTAND PRICE: 2.00 FEATURE: Our (Sort Of) Guide to CMJ 2010! tHe SWORD BeeR tRailS: investigating e Port 44 Brewery Saying it With BORn RuffianS Plus: neil Young, Ronnie Wood & eric Clapton Reviewed, $2.00 e Sharp Hair Of Black Veil Brides, Why e ladies love Val emmich, Subcommittee, e fearless friends tour, audio insight, and More! PHOTO BY BRIAN TAMBORELLO by Daniel Alleva surface. Says Shutt, “It’s always dark E Since The Sword’s latest there, and it acts as a space port for R release, Warp Riders , the illegal trading and general debauchery. bangers from Austin, TX What better way to musically visualize U have been there and back a hard drinkin,’ pirate-filled space station T again, so it seems. “I’m than with an ass kicking rock song?” doing alright,” says guitarist This being considered, the song is A Kyle Shutt. “I have a touch somewhat of a departure for The Sword, E of the plane-lung right now sounding more like ZZ Top than F from all of the flying around anything commonly regarded as heavy we’ve been doing. We just got back metal. And overall, Warp Riders has from Australia, New Zealand and Japan less thrash elements to it then The supporting Metallica again. Fear Factory Sword’s previous work, but this seems was out with us on that run, too. We all to be something that Shutt and his had a great time.” Indeed there is much band mates are comfortable with. “The to celebrate. With countless shows mood of the music we wrote is lighter under their belt, now on this tour, Shutt and less aggressive than it has been says the response the band has in the past. There’s definitely heavy, received from fans hearing the new thrashy songs on the record, but the material from Warp Riders for the first attitude of it all is more positive than a time has been extremely positive. lot of metal bands around today. We’re “Everyone seems to dig it. When you not really angry people trying to spread look up at the crowd and people are that anger, or breed the hate if you will. bobbing their heads and smiling to We just write the songs we hear in our songs that they’ve never heard before, heads, and this time around a lot of you know you’re doing something right.” rock ‘n’ roll came out of us.” The Sword decided to do a few things There have been a lot of metal bands different on Warp Riders , this being throughout history, and metal has also their third studio release—a concept changed and evolved over time. But album with a science-fiction narrative. The Sword is perhaps the only band “It’s based on a story called The Night that has gotten close in spirit to what The Sky Cried Tears of Fire that JD American greats like Metallica and [Cronise] wrote,” says Shutt—Cronise Slayer did, without being imitators. is The Sword’s other guitarist, vocalist Having now toured with Metallica, and and primary lyricist. “The story itself is having seen what that band gets into somewhat of a mash-up of all our first hand, Shutt speaks on a personal favorite types of sci-fi and comic book note about The Sword’s major stories and movies that we all grew up influences. “Metallica and Slayer were with—sort of like, part Dune , part Star hugely influential to The Sword. Wars, part Heavy Metal , with a little El Metallica themselves are a bunch of Topo type imagery.” The dramatic really cool dudes that are actually into element of Warp Riders was so grand new good music and taking it to the in scope and impossible to cover entirely people. They treat all of the bands that within the confines of a rock album that open for them very well and that can’t Shutt explains the album as “more of be said about most of the legends still a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t THE around. We’ve never played with Slayer exist.... The music came first and before, but we will be in February during foremost, so even if you don’t care to the Soundwave Festival in Australia delve deeper into the story, it’s still a with Iron Maiden headlining. I absolutely solid slab of heavy metal and rock ‘n’ cannot wait for that.” O L roll.” L Still speaking from the heart, Shutt E R It makes one wonder what adding O also reflects positively on the place B M A T a narrative into the music does to a The Sword calls home, especially after N A SWORD I band creatively, but more specifically R spending so much time abroad, playing B Y for The Sword, what kind of challenges B shows out on the road. “Austin is a WARP SPEED AHEAD O T did a record like Warp Riders present O great place to live and be in a band. H the band? “We wrote all of the music P Rent is cheap—although it is rising, over the course of about six months, and it’s right in the middle of the country, and we had a lot of different sounding making touring out to the east or west songs that needed something to tie “We’re not really angry people trying to spread very easy and not as expensive as, them all together. Having a story to say, living in LA and touring up to NYC base all of the lyrics around really that anger, or breed the hate if you will. and back.” But with Warp Riders helped all of the music jell. Since JD receiving critical success and fans is the one that writes the lyrics, it was coming out to support The Sword’s easier for him to write about a common We just write the songs we hear in our thunderous live show, Shutt doesn’t theme with lots of different musical expect to see Austin anytime soon. palettes to use as inspiration, rather heads, and this time around a lot of “We fly out to L.A. tomorrow to start than just writing about random fantasy our US run of our world tour, and I can’t elements like he had before.” wait to see what the West coast crowds The Sword also worked with an rock ‘n’ roll came out of us.” are going to be like.” outside producer for the first time during the recording of Warp Riders , Shutt regular basis.” how we do things down in Texas,” says getting better with each record, and I described the decision as a way to The first single from Warp Riders , Shutt. “We have a certain swagger that think it shows on a track like that.” “ease the pressure of being in charge “Tres Brujas,” is a pretty accessible I think is sorely lacking in the heavy Later on in the album, the track “Night of everything.” He also adds, “When track from The Sword. Opening up the metal of today. The main riff and chorus City” brings the same sort of vibe that we had self produced, we would let album the way it does—from the writing, riff are mostly the same two notes, kind “Tres Brujas” has, pinning itself as the ourselves get away with things.... to the performance, to the production of like [Van Halen’s] “Ain’t Talkin’‘Bout album’s straight up rock ‘n’ roll throw- (Having an outside producer) only – the song has strong vocals and a big Love.” They really allow a lot of room down. The song is about a planet in made the album better, and I wouldn’t chorus that kicks the whole concept for vocal melodies, which JD is the same solar system as the main have done anything differently. behind Warp Riders into gear . “‘Tres becoming better and better at with planet of the story, Acheron, where Consequently, this is the first Sword Brujas’ was our way of showing people each album we make. Really, we’re all urban sprawl has claimed the entire record that I actually listen to on a T H E T H U N D ER RO LLS T H RO U GH N YC W H EN T H E SWO R D V I SI T S W EB ST ER H ALL O N O C T. 16. SWO R D O FD O O M. C O M. 14 ARTS WEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2010 www.theaquarian.com.