Bean Creek
www.beancreekbluegrass.com

Bean Creek was this year's co-winner of the Best Band Award at the Northern California Bluegrass Awards and band member Billy Pitrone is a five-time winner of the Best Male Vocalist Award. This widely acclaimed Santa Cruz-based band performs regularly at Phil's Fish Market and Eatery in Moss Landing, recently rated number one by the BBC on the World's Best Beach Restaurants. In addition to Billy Pitrone on vocals and guitar, the quartet consists of Sara Eblen on vocals and bass, Pete Hicks (former winner of the Best Fiddler Award) on vocals, fiddle and mandolin and Rob Horgan on the banjo. Bean Creek regularly performs at local festivals like the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Festival and UCSC's Farm and Garden's Fall Harvest Festival. The band's 2003 CD "Dirty Water" features originals songs like Pitrone's "Dirty Water" and classic country songs like Carlene Carter's "My Dixie Darlin'," June Carter Cash's "Losin' You" and Bill Monroe's "I'm Blue, I'm Lonesome." The group's latest CD is "Nightbird." Like its earlier release, it contains traditional bluegrass songs and originals.

Related: 2012 Sounded Good: The Best Breakout Music Acts In The South Bay

Harmony Grits
www.harmonygrits.com

A longtime Santa Cruz favorite, Harmony Grits has been performing bluegrass for more than 20 years and together as band members since 1985. The widely respected quartet consists of Mike McKinley on mandolin, Jim Lewin on guitar, Jeff Baldwin on dobro and Doug Marcus on bass. Harmony Grits has hosted the annual Santa Cruz Bluegrass Festival for the past 17 years and has appeared in many high-profile bluegrass festivals like the Strawberry Music Festival and the High Sierra Music Festival. In past years, Harmony Grits has performed as a back-up band to many legendary musicians, such as Neil Young, Ralph Stanley, Peter Rowan, Bill Monroe, John Sebastien and Gillian Welch. The band has had a long-running gig at the San Gregorio General Store.

Sidesaddle & Co.
www.sidesaddleandco.com

San Jose-based Sidesaddle & Co. has been performing for nearly 35 years and was the 2008 Band of the Year winner of the Northern California Bluegrass Society. Band members Lee Anne Welch and Lisa Burns both won top honors at this year's Northern California Bluegrass Awards, respectively for Best Fiddler and Best Bass Player. The rest of the band includes Rob Horgan on banjo, who also performs with Santa Cruz's Bean Creek, Kim Elking, a former Best Mandolin Player and popular DJ and Glenn Dauphin on guitar. The band's second and third albums, "Saratoga Gap" and "The Girl from the Red Rose Saloon," both reached the top 10 on the national bluegrass charts. More recently, the band's "Daylight Train" album received a National Indie Award nomination for "Callin' In The Cows." Sidesaddle & Co. has several upcoming performances scheduled at Sam's BBQ in San Jose.

The Tuttles with AJ Lee
www.thetuttleswithajlee.com

Advertised as the next generation of bluegrass music, Palo Alto-based The Tuttles with AJ Lee is a two-time winner of the Best Band Award from the Northern California Bluegrass Show. Band members include Jack Tuttle, a well known and respected South Bay bass guitarist and fiddler, his children Molly, Sullivan and Michael. Lead vocalist AJ Lee, at just 15 years old, is already a three-time winner of the Best Female Vocalist Award and recently described by Mother Jones as possibly the next Alison Krauss. Molly Tuttle is a past recipient of the Best Guitarist Award and Best Vocalist, while brother Michael won the 2012 Best Mandolin Player Award and father Jack Tuttle won the Best Fiddler Award. The band has a new CD "Endless Ocean" and has upcoming scheduled appearances at the Desert Bluegrass Festival in Tucson, Arizona and the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada. The elder Tuttle has been a music instructor at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto for over 30 years and is the music editor for Fiddler Magazine. Jack Tuttle and award-winning lyricist-musician John Kael lead another popular South Bay bluegrass band, Bluegrass Stomp.

Related: Best Singles Bars In South Bay

Randy Yagi is a freelance writer covering all things San Francisco. In 2012, he was awarded a Media Fellowship from Stanford University. His work can be found on Examiner.com.

Formed in 1990 by former Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today member Walter Schreifels (guitar/vocals), the quartet included other NYC hardcore vets ex-Beyond guitarist Tom Capone, drummer Alan Cage (also ex-Beyond and Burn) and bassist Sergio Vega (formerly of Collapse and Absolution). Crafting a tuneful style of concise, pulverizing music that echoed the intensity of Washington, D.C. band Fugazi and fellow New York City group Helmet, Quicksand wasted no time getting in the studio. Their eponymous four-song EP was recorded and released through independent punk label Revelation Records only six weeks after they came together.

The band hit the road, doggedly touring with a variety of like-minded contemporaries (the aforementioned Fugazi and Helmet, Rage Against the Machine as well as the more metallic NY standard bearers Anthrax and White Zombie) and eventually a deal with Polydor Records amid the early '90s alt-rock gold rush of band signings by major labels.

While it wasn't a huge commercial success when it was released in 1993, Slip would prove to be massively influential in the years to come between Schreifels' raging, angst-ridden vocals and the band's creative use of space and quiet/loud dynamics on such tunes as the ferocious album opener "Fazer," the brooding "Freezing Process" and "Dine Alone."

The band would return to touring with a vengeance, performing upwards of 250 shows to support the album and joining fellow upstarts the Offspring just as that group was starting to break out from the underground. By early 1995, Quicksand released its more accessible (yet still crushing) sophomore album Manic Compression, marking the band's first impact on the charts. But after five years of hectic recording and road work, the outfit would dissolve amid interpersonal conflict and fatigue.

While the members would immediately pursue other creative endeavors, Schreifels and company reunited for the first time in 1998, playing its first show back together in Osaka, Japan, prior to heading into the studio to record a third album. But after past tensions resurfaced, Quicksand went back on hiatus the following year. Much of the following decade was spent on other projects, most notably Schreifels' successful alt-rock band Rival Schools and Vega becoming a member of Sacramento rock giants Deftones after their bassist Chi Cheng suffered serious injuries in a 2008 car rash that left the musician in a coma (he tragically passed away five years later).

Quicksand would reunite again in 2012, appearing as the surprise guest at the Revelation Records 25th Anniversary in Pomona, performing a short five-song set. The original line-up would play additional shows before announcing the quartet's first tour in 15 years in January of 2013. More shows would follow, but the band was largely quiet, refusing to confirm rumors that the members were working on a new album. That silence was broken in the summer of 2017 with the announcement of a new North American tour that was later followed with confirmation that the group was issuing its first new recordings in 22 year with their album Interiors on Epitaph Records.

Mixing the band's trademark pulverizing grooves with moments of melodic shoegazing drone, Quicksand's latest might not quite measure up to its first two seminal albums, but shows Schreifels and company making a logical progression from the angst and knotty time signatures of their early work.

A fall tour previewing the material prior to its release unfortunately found Copone being arrested for shoplifting in Phoenix after relapsing into drug and alcohol abuse, leading the band to continue as a three piece. A three-song EP of tunes that didn't make the album entitled Triptych Continuum was released the following year.

While the COVID pandemic shutdown of touring activity for all of 2020 and part of 2021 may have delayed its release, that summer Quicksand issued another stellar new effort with Distant Populations, also on Epitaph Records. Featuring another round of tuneful and often crushing post-punk anthems including lead single "Inversion" and the moody, synth-drum powered cut "Brushed," the album stands as another creative triumph.

A series of live videos Quicksand recorded at Vinegar Hill Studios that announced the band's new addition to their touring lineup: second guitarist Stephen Brodsky. Best known as a member of Cave In and Mutoid Man, Broadsky additionally played in New Idea Society with Quicksand drummer Cage. That tour proved that the new line-up was just as potent and powerful as the original version of the band.

In February of this year, Quicksand announced the band was teaming with Boston-based imprint Iodine Recordings to release a 30th anniversary edition of Slip that would be remastered for vinyl using the original 1993 master tapes and includes the group's cover of the Smiths classic "How Soon is Now?" as a bonus track. The deluxe edition includes a 64-page hardcover book with photographs, images of concert posters, and comments from a variety of musicians on the scene including Broadsky, Scott Ian of Anthrax, Geoff Rickly of Thursday, Dennis Lyxzén of Refused and Tim McIlrath of Rise Against as well as a foreword written by Schreifels. 

For this show at Bimbo's 365 Club in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood Friday night, Quicksand will be joined by opening act Hotline TNT. The latest project from songwriter Will Anderson -- who previously played in noisy Vancouver-based post-punk band Weed and Oakland outfit Happy Diving among others -- the NYC shoegaze/dreampop group recently released its second album Cartwheel on Jack White's Third Man Records to glowing reviews. 

Quicksand with Hotline TNT
Friday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m. $30
Bimbo's 365 Club

Founded in Savannah, Georgia, in 2003 by guitarist and singer John Baizley, the group followed the artful lead of fellow Georgia metal mavericks like Atlanta powerhouse Mastodon and fellow Savannah band Kylesa (whose guitarist Phillip Cope would produce the crew's early EPs and debut album), weaving elements of progressive and psychedelic rock and post punk into their sludgy, metallic sound. The band quickly built a regional following and earned raves for the intricate songs of its seismic Relapse Records debut Red Album in 2007, getting awarded Revolver Magazine's Metal Album of the Year.

The follow-up Blue Record in 2009 was also met with universal critical acclaim. Another effort featuring Baizley's distinctive artwork on the cover (he would also create covers for Skeleton Witch, Kvelertak, Torche and Flight of the Conchords) and the band's dense riff architecture and complex dynamics, the album moved easily from ambient psychedelia to tandem guitar orchestrations by Baizley and new addition Pete Adams, playing almost more like a symphonic suite than a collection of songs.

Touring with such notable contemporaries as the Bay Area's own High on Fire and Metallica, Opeth and the aforementioned Mastodon, the band ascension to headliner status seemed assured. But Baroness would be hit with a major setback when, only a month after the release of their ambitious 2012 double album Yellow & Green, their tour bus plummeted off of a viaduct in England, with three of the band members suffering broken bones.

After a period of recovery, the band would undergo a serious transformation with the rhythm section departing the following year (Trans Am drummer Sebastian Thomson and bassist Nick Jost would take their places). But Baizley and company persevered, launching a successful headlining tours of the U.S. and Europe. The band would eventually return to the studio to produce Purple, the quartet's most tuneful and anthemic effort to date on their own new imprint, Abraxan Hymns. Baroness would earn its first and only Grammy to date with it's songs "Shock Me."

The band's long awaited fifth album Gold & Silver was released in 2019, the first recording to feature new guitarist Gina Gleason, who took over for the departing Pete Adams in 2018. Incorporating more synthesizers (especially on the short instrumental pieces scattered throughout the hourlong effort), the ambitious record earned Baroness another round of critical accolades. 

Last year, the group hit the road for its "Your Baroness" tour, performing an opening set of songs voted on by fans who had tickets for the show, followed by a second set of tunes selected by the band at smaller venues. Baroness had been discussing work on a new album long before that tour, noting that the members had written over 30 songs as of the fall of 2020 during Zoom meeting and through file sharing. The fruits of that productive period were narrowed down to the ten songs featured on the band's latest recording Stone that was finally released last month. The album has been hailed by some as the crew's most melodic and accessible effort. Baroness returns to the UC Theatre in Berkeley this Sunday night. Denver-based sludge/doom metal outfit Primitive Man, the slowcore/dream pop project of multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston known as Midwife and Los Angeles "ecstatic" black metal band Agriculture also appear. 

Baroness with Primitive Man, Midwife and Agriculture
Sunday, Oct. 29, 5:30 p.m. $32.50
UC Theatre

The Kings overcame one of the most imposing home court advantage to come away with the win. Golden State is 35-8 at home this season.

Sacramento never trailed after the opening minute of the second half. The teams will meet in a deciding Game 7 on Sunday afternoon.

"Everybody is down right now," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "The game just ended. This is all part of it. We've been through everything. We've won a Game 7 on the road before in the playoffs. We know we can do it but we've got to regroup and kind of fill up the cup and get our energy ready for Sunday afternoon."  

Despite foul trouble for Sacramento star Domantas Sabonis, who fouled out, the Kings rolled to a 19-point, 116-97 advantage with 3:45 to go in the fourth quarter on a Monk layup to send the sellout crowd to the exit.

Sabonis had seven points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 5:17 left.  

Rookie Keegan Murray scored 15 points with four 3-pointers and grabbed 12 rebounds for his first playoff double-double, and the No. 3-seeded Kings withstood every scoring surge the defending champions made on their home court and shined in nearly every facet of this one with their special season on the line.

Kevin Huerter, struggling with his shot all series — 20 of 52 coming into the game — hit a 3 with 6:23 to go and another with 4:58 left as Sacramento gave the state capital one more chance to Light the Beam.

Steph Curry had tried to rally the Warriors, scoring 11 of his team-high 29 points at the start of the fourth quarter. But only two other Warriors scored in double figures -- Klay Thompson had 22 and Wiggins 13.  But the two were an icy cold 13-of-33 from the field and Golden State shot 37.6 percent as a team -- their worst homecourt shooting night of the season.

The Warriors, among the league's best shooting teams from the free throw line, missed 10 shots from the charity stripe with Curry misfiring on three.

"I thought we played hard but we didn't play smart," said Warriors center Kevon Loony.  "We didn't execute our game plan. We know what we needed to do to win. All the small things, getting back in transition, the box-outs, the turnovers, different things like that, we didn't execute."  

Taking advantage of defensive shortfalls from Golden State's Donte DiVincenzo, the Kings successfully challenged the Warriors reserve guard all night long. 

Monk continued to punish Golden State, scoring almost at will. He had 11 points in the quarter to power Sacramento to a 90-80 lead headin into the fourth quarter and keeping the Chase home crowd silent.

Maybe it was the 5 p.m. tip-off time, but the Warriors offense was in a funk for the entire first half. They shot an anemic 35.6 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from the 3-point line.

"I thought the Kings were the aggressor from the start," Kerr said. "You know, putting a lot of pressure on us defensively and we didn't execute early in the game. There were four or five plays early where we just took quick shots or didn't pass the ball to the open guy, and I think at halftime we had eight assists. You know, so we just never got our rhythm. We never got into our game."  

Their icy touch even carried over to the free throw line with the normally dependable Curry missing two as the team hit on 14-19 in the first half.

While the Kings shooting touch was also a bit icy, their team speed kept Golden State's defense on its heels and the solid play off their bench powered Sacramento to a 58-51 halftime advantage.  Monk scored11 points and Trey Lyles 9 as the Kings second unit outscored their Warriors counterparts 28-10 in the half.

Thompson led Golden State with 16 points but he was a volume shooter, hitting on just 6-of-14 from their field. Curry added 11 points, but Wiggins hit on just 2-of-7 for 4 points.

Golden State also took advantage of 12 Kings turnovers. Fox scored 10 points but had 4 turnovers with his bandaged finger on his shooting hand. Sabonis added 7 points and pulled down 6 rebounds.

Led by SF expatriate Jason Finazzo and initially featuring former guitarist for Thee Oh Sees Petey Dammit, ex Bleached bassist Jonathan Safley and drummer Jason Gerkin (who played with Shiner, Hum and Molly McGuire), the high-octane band issued its ferocious Ty Segall-produced debut First 8 Mistakes on Ghost Ramp Records in 2015 to rave reviews. Blasting out of speakers at breakneck tempos, chaotic anthems like album opener "The Walls" and self-destructive celebration "Party Suicide" captured the frantic spirit of early efforts by Zeke, the Dwarves and REO Speedealer mixed with elements of '90s noise-rock that recalled Unsane and the Jesus Lizard (particularly on "Bricks").

Finazzo would eventually put together a completely different trio line-up with drummer Anthony Drinkwater (who also plays in LA psychobilly band the Rocketz) and madman Danish bassist Philip Neilsen (whose resume includes stints in proto-punk band Swarming Orchids, southern rock trio Grit and synth-pop group Tic Tic Boom among other projects), touring the U.S. extensively with the Coathangers. Legend of the Seagullmen guitarist Tim Dawson joined the Birth Defects in 2017, filling out the line-up that recorded the band's sophomore effort for Ghost Ramp, Everything is Fine, that was released in January of last year.

While still featuring some of the hectic punk mayhem that has become the band's trademark ("YOLF" and "Lost Control"), the new recording explores decidedly weirder sounds ranging from the heavily processed guitar on "Endless Pain" and the dramatic tempo shift on the sludgy "Dyelisiem" to the chanted vocals on the swirling psychedelic dirge "Sunday Morning Mantra" that closes the album.

The band went on an extended hiatus after touring behind that record, but has since reconvened as a trio with Nielsen and Drinkwater staying in the line-up. The Birth Defects have finished writing new material for their third album and begun the recording process. While Nielsen was tied up touring with the band Dopesick last time the group visited earlier this year, journeyman bassist Pancho Tomaselli -- who has played with everyone from War, Tower of Power, Eric Burdon and the Animals and monster metal drummer Dave Lombardo's band Philm -- ably filled in. Nielsen is back on board for this show with Thunderboys, a Bay Area scuzz-rock supergroup of sorts featuring members of Culture Abuse, Two Gallants, CCR Headcleaner and Banquet.  

Opening the show will be heavy krautrock power trio Terry Gross. Contrary to what one might expect from a band named after the unflappably calm NPR interviewer, the threesome bashes out a bruising, kinetic style of krautrock-influenced groove displayed on their debut recording Shameless Imposter, a two-song 10" vinyl EP released on Valley King Records in 2018.

Featuring the six-string heroics of Phil Manley, Terry Gross came together three years earlier when he started playing with his El Studio co-owner, bassist Donny Newenhouse (Film School, Hot Fog, Buffalo Tooth). The split of Newenhouse's band Peace Creep with talented drummer Phil Becker (Pins of Light, ex-Triclops! and Lower Forty-Eight) and Triclops!/Anywhere guitarist Christian Eric Beaulieu led to some informal jam sessions with Manley and the rhythm section at the studio, sparking the new project.

Digitally recording their freewheeling improvisations at El Studio, the trio began developing its unique chemistry that found the musicians exploring hypnotic extended grooves that at times recalled the droning motorik workouts of German rock experimentalists Can and Neu, but with the added heft of modern rock titans like the Melvins.

Terry Gross started playing live shows on both sides of the Bay, sharing stages with the likes of Big Business, reunited Oakland favorites Drunk Horse and Hot Lunch and establishing a reputation for dealing out their unusual style heady, muscular extended tunes. The band released a number of tunes via its Bandcamp page during the pandemic, drawing from rehearsal recordings and finding a number of extended pieces to offer fans in order to tide them over until their next official effort. 

Manley's connection with indie label Thrill Jockey -- which had released albums by Trans Am and Life Coach -- led the trio to a record deal. Using their studio as an editing tool much in the same way Can would piece together its songs by drawing from raw recorded material, Terry Gross distilled its best sonic exploration into the three sprawling tunes heard on it first full-length album for Thrill Jockey, Soft Opening, last year. Material for a follow-up effort is already in the works. 

The Birth Defects with Thunder Boys and Terry Gross
Saturday, Dec. 17, 9 p.m. $10
Thee Stork Club

Started by Bay Area musician Luis Vasquez when he was still playing with noted local neo-psych band Lumerians, the home-recording project that evolved into the Soft Moon was initially intended only for Vasquez and a few friends. Instead, the multi-instrumentalist reached a global audience with the bleak, hypnotic sounds of the act's self-titled 2010 debut, establishing a fan base that has only grown with each subsequent release.

Offering up a pulsing, synthesizer-driven sound that mixed driving Krautrock rhythms with the post-punk angst of Suicide and Bauhaus as well as touches of modern dark-wave influences, The Soft Moon earned rave notices from fans and critics on both sides of the Atlantic. While the debut was recorded with Vasquez playing every instrument, he would assemble a live band to recreate his songs onstage.

The Soft Moon toured extensively, delivering a stark presentation of the music that at first was powered by just a drum machine and accompanied by nearly seizure-inducing projections. Vasquez recorded the follow-up Total Decay EP before his proper sophomore effort Zeroes in 2012 took the Soft Moon sound into even darker, more claustrophobic territory. A new live line-up of the band become a popular live attraction in Europe with continued touring on the continent.

Vasquez took his time with the next Soft Moon effort, assembling songs after decamping from Oakland and moving to the mountains outside of Venice in Italy to record with producer Maurizio Baggio. The resultant album Deeper came out in late March of 2015 and was hailed by some as the most compelling Soft Moon effort Vasquez has produced yet, matching some of his bleakest soundscapes yet with beguiling melodies.

Two years ago, the Soft Moon was slated to return to the United States for an extensive tour supporting iconic British post-punk band Killing Joke, but health issues with one of the headliner's members led to a cancellation. Instead, Vasquez decided to embark on a headlining tour of his own, delivering his intense, strobe-light heavy live show to fans across the country.

On the Soft Moon's fourth album Criminal (and his first for noted indie label Sacred Bones in 2018), Vasquez conjured up a sound that is perhaps even more desperate, channeling elements of classic Gary Numan (album opener "Burn" strongly echoes Numan's hit single "Berserker") and Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails. That effort was followed by a pair of EPs featuring remixes of those songs by such noted artists as Imperial Black Unit, Sarin and the Horrorist. 

Vasquez would go quiet for several years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, but eventually resurfaced in 2021 with the largely instrumental album A Body of Errors released under his own name and drawing inspiration from the soundtrack work of Goblin, John Carpenter and Nine Inch Nails principle Trent Reznor. The album again found Vasquez working with engineer Baggio, recording in a variety of locals including Berlin, Havana, Fougères in northwestern France, Southern California (in Los Angeles and his new home in Joshua Tree) and Tijuana in addition to Baggio's home base in Italy.  

This fall, the musician released his first new album as the Soft Moon in four years with Exister. The recording pushes further into the industrial sounds Vasquez has explored since Deeper, while the songs if anything reveal a broader vocal palette as he continues to try to exorcise his personal demons. The album also is the first to feature guest collaborators with vocals from fish narc and singer Alli Logout of incendiary New Orleans punk band Special Interest. The current live line-up of the band returns to the Bay Area Saturday to play fan favorites and songs from the latest record at the Independent in San Francisco, sharing the stage with Italian/American dark-wave/synth-pop trio Nuovo Testamento.

The Soft Moon with Nuovo Testamento  
Saturday, Nov. 26, 8:30 p.m. $23-$25
The Independent

Organized by noted Italian psychedelic rock imprint Heavy Psych Sounds, the festival first came to the Bay Area in 2018 in partnership with local show promoter and design company Subliminal SF. The epic weekend of heavy music marked the only two-day stop for the inaugural year of the U.S. edition of the festival featuring headliners Red Fang and Nebula along with a host of other acts taking over the Bottom of the Hill for a full weekend of loudness.

While the second edition of the festival scheduled for 2020 was derailed by the pandemic, reduced COVID concerns have allowed organizers to put together a new line-up of bands for the two-day celebration of heaviness that will take place outside at Thee Parkside on Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, the risks taken by touring bands are once again coming into play, with four of the bands scheduled for Saturday -- Weedeater, High Reaper, Butthole Surfers/Melvins bassist J.D. Pinkus and local band HTSOB -- all having to bow out due to testing positive while on the road. However organizers were able to pull a hat out of their rabbit (as it were), finding several quality bands to fill in -- desert-rock all-stars the Freeks featuring former Fu Manchu/Nebula drummer Ruben Romano and ex-Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell, and local acts Theya and Highwinds -- so the show can go on. Sadly, the COVID hits kept coming, with the Freeks being forced to cancel even more last minute due to yet another case of the accursed virus. An adjusted updated schedule for the festival appears below.

The festivities actually kick off Friday night with a pre-party at Thee Parkside featuring headliners Older Sun along with two new local bands. Making riff-driven monolithic tunes indebted to the classic '60s and '70s sounds of Cream, Free and Montrose since 2012, the band released their debut album in 2018 on Anchorite Recordings after issuing a pair of singles for Valley King Records. That album marked the end of a chapter for the band, presenting its last songs recorded with departing lead singer Chris Wagner. The group has since expanded to a quintet and is now fronted by new singer Kelsey Guntharp.

The other two acts playing Friday are newly minted all-star aggregations of Bay Area metal and heavy-rock players. Vindula is fronted by Susie McMullan of acclaimed SF doom juggernaut Brume and features members of Two Gallants, Disastroid and Squalus, while Maggus makes its live debut with musicians from Hazzard's Cure, Androgygnar, Badr Vogu, Owl and Ansia.

Saturday at noon, the gates open for the main event with the live music beginning at 1 p.m. Late festival additions Theya and Highwinds will play first before sets Texas riff rockers Warlung and local favorites Hot Lunch. A force on the San Francisco underground scene for going on 15 years, the band was founded by singer Eric Shea after the split of his potent retro-rock outfit Parchman Farm in 2006. 

Shea managed to put together an all-star quartet of talented players, including former Mensclub guitar hero Aaron Nudelman and the pulverizing rhythm section of drummer Rob Alper -- ex-The Sermon (he also played guitar with Sacto garage-punks SLA and is currently plays in agit-protopunk band Very Paranoia) -- and bassist Charlie Karr, who was best known for his work with the Alternative Tentacles band Harold Ray Live in Concert.

Unlike the many acts who mostly mimic the sonic template of influential early '70s proto punk/metal bands like Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad and the MC5, Hot Lunch wove in elements of skate punk, psychedelia and prog rock into their unique sound. Over the course of its 16 years of of making music, the quartet has released a number of singles and EPs in addition to a pair of acclaimed albums -- most recently their 2019 sophomore effort Seconds on Tee Pee Records. Though Shea and Alper have both relocated outside of the Bay Area in recent years, Hot Lunch continues to reform Voltron-like to storm stages here and abroad.

Saturday's line-up will be rounded out by New Jersey heavyweights the Atomic Bitchwax (which also features guitarist Ed Mundell, doing double duty after playing with the Freeks earlier) and headlining Madison-based  Bongzilla, who released their latest fuzzed-out sludgefest of an album Weedsconsin last year on Heavy Psych Sounds Records. It marked the band's first full-length effort in 16 years following an extended hiatus.

On Sunday, the headbanging resumes at 1 p.m. with performances by fiery local noise/sludge merchants Disastroid -- whose corrosive sound has as much to do with early '90s Amphetamine Reptile and Touch & Go punk as it does with stoner rock --former Bay Area residents and currently LA-based stoner/psych power trio Mountain Tamer, Spokane, WA-based Sabbath worshippers Kadabra and SoCal sludge/metal crew -16- leading up to an anticipated set of grungy, heavy psychedelia from Portland, OR band Hippie Death Cult.

Next up is fellow Portland, OR psychedelic glam/prog/metal outfit Danava. Led by guitarist/singer Gregory Meleney aka Dusty Sparkles, the group became a staple of metal and stoner-rock tours in the late 2000s, hitting the road with the likes of Voivod, Acid Mothers Temple, Melvins and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats over the years. While they haven't released any new music since their blistering Tee Pee Records single "At Midnight You Die" in 2016, the band's always intense stage performance is sure to make them a Sunday highlight at the festival.

One of the early exponents of stoner rock returns to SF for Heavy Psych Sounds when SoCal greats Nebula takes the stage. Founded by guitarist Eddie Glass and aforementioned drummer Ruben Romano when they split from seminal SoCal stoner quartet Fu Manchu after contributing to the band's first three albums in 1997, Nebula mined a similar but more expansive style of Stooges-influenced heavy psychedelia on its early EPs for Relapse Records and Man's Ruin. The band's popularity would only grow after releasing albums for Sub Pop and Liquor & Poker through the 2000s before going on hiatus .

Glass  would put together a new line-up of the group in 2017, with Heavy Psych Sounds releasing the band's first new album in a decade when it issued Holy S--t in 2019 to solid reviews. Last year, the group put out a new live recording as part of the Stoned and Dusted Festival's pandemic concert series filmed in the Mojave Desert and released on vinyl, CD and blu-ray.  

The Heavy Psych Sounds festival will come to a close Sunday with Tempering hefty, bong-hazed riffs with equal doses of dreamy guitar drones and transporting melodies, talented power trio Dead Meadow has been making its unique style of heavy psychedelic rock for over two decades. Founded in Washington, D.C. in 1998 by guitarist/singer Jason Simon, bassist Steve Kile and drummer Mark Laughlin, Dead Meadow crafted a sound that managed to appeal to Sabbath-worshipping metal fans, greybeard hippies and shoe-gazing indie kids alike.  

Built around Simon's languid, fuzzed-out guitar (and fueled by liberal use of his wah-wah pedal), the trio's self-titled debut album on Fugazi bass player Joe Lally's stoner-rock focused label Tolotta Records fit in comfortably with the imprint's other releases by Philly-based instrumentalists Stinking Lizaveta and several of doom icon Scott "Wino" Weinrich's bands. Gaining momentum, the band quickly followed up with a second studio album -- Howls from the Hills -- for Tolotta as well as a live album produced and mixed by neo-psych maven Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre that documented one of drummer Laughlin's last shows with the group before leaving to attend law school. 

The band would move to indie label Matador Records for Shivering King and Others in 2003. That album showed Simon and company further refining their deft touch with hazy atmospheres and sprawling psychedelic guitar epics. Dead Meadow would add second guitarist Cory Shane for the recording of their next collection of songs -- Feathers in 2005, but that album found the group in it's most restrained and pop-minded mode yet.

While the expanded line-up did not last beyond that album and tour (Shane would depart in 2007), the trio would soldier on, relocating to Los Angeles and exploring new creative avenues including the live film/soundtrack project Three Kings in 2010, a brief collaboration with like-minded Australian guitarist Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother and a reunion with original drummer Laughlin. While there were occasional tours after the group issued it's 2013 double album opus Warble Womb to keep fans satisfied, Dead Meadow in 2019 marked two decades of making music with its first new album in five years, The Nothing They Need.

Featuring contributions by former guitarist Shane and all three of the band's drummers including new timekeeper Juan Londono, the latest record finds the crew churning out some inspired heavy psychedelic rock that shows a significant debt to the sounds of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The band has yet to issue a follow-up to that studio album, but last year Dead Meadow partnered with Austin, TX-based psych festival Levitation to release a spectacular live performance recorded at the Pillars of God outdoor amphitheater at Camp Mozumdar in San Bernardino in 2020 that featured returning drummer Mark Laughlin back behind the kit.

In addition to the epic line-up of heavy psychedelia and stoner rock, the HPS Fest block party will feature vendors selling records and clothing, food from Thee Parkside kitchen and full bar. Attendees should note that the fest will be all cash, but there will be ATMs available. For more info and tickets, visit the festival's website.   

Heavy Psych Sounds Festival
Saturday-Sunday, May 28-29, 12 p.m. $50 (two-day pass $80)
Outdoors at Thee Parkside

Event: Bake For Ukraine

Wednesday May 11th

As Russia's war on Ukraine enters its third month,  Chef Dominique Crenn is partnering with World Chefs, to lead the Chefs for Unity "challenge" to bake and break bread together on Wednesday May 11th. All proceeds support José Andrés' World Central Kitchen, which has now served more than 16 million meals and delivered more than 8 million pounds of food in Ukraine and neighboring countries. Bake in Unity on Wednesday.

https://www.ateliercrenn.com

Learn: Futuristic Foods At Chabot

Friday 6pm - 10pm

Chabot's Space and Science Canter's First Friday series continues tonight with a special theme around Futuristic Foods. Enjoy a taste of the future and explore how new advancements in space, robotics, climate and biotechnology will influence tomorrow's food. Snack on flavored insects, plan a meal on Mars, watch cocktail bots in action, learn about how scientists are growing meat and more. Bring a healthy curiosity to a delicious First Friday at Chabot in Oakland . Prices are $15 adults, $10 kids/seniors and $5 members.

https://chabotspace.org

Music: Willie Nelson

Out now: "A Beautiful Time"

Country music legend Willie Nelson has a new record coinciding  with his 89th birthday. Among its many musical delights, A Beautiful Time introduces a variety of newly written future pop-country classics including five new Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon compositions and contributions from some of Nashville's finest contemporary songwriters. The collection also premieres Willie's heartfelt and insightful covers of Leonard Cohen's 'Tower of Song' and the Beatles' 'With a Little Help from My Friends.' Happy Birthday Willie. 

https://willienelson.com

Concert: Paul McCartney

Friday & Sunday 8pm

The legendary former Beatle Paul McCartney brings his Got Back world tour to Oakland Arena tonight and Sunday. Expect a three hour, non-stop hit parade from his Beatles days to Wings to his impressive solo career. Some tickets are still available for both shows.

https://www.paulmccartney.com/news-blogs/news/extra-date-paul-adds-special-mother-s-day-performance-to-got-back-tour

EAT: Mothers Day Brunch at Berber

Sunday 11am - 3pm

San Francisco's Berber will offer their first high-tea party Sunday for Mother's Day and adds a contemporary twist - a spiced tea flight, caviar and North African bubbly. There will also be live music. A Mother's Day dinner is another possibility. A fun one for mothers - who should all be celebrated this Sunday.

https://berbersf.com

KCBS reporter Liam Mayclem provides KPIX 5 users with a weekly weekend tip list of Bay Area entertainment, music, film and online entertainment.

EARTH DAY
Friday
Celebrate all things Earth today. Around the Bay and across the country we are being reminded about the need to be better stewards of the world we live in. Earthday.org's mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide and has been steadfast in that mission since the first Earth Day in 1970.
earthday.org

MUSIC: COLDPLAY LIVE AT LEVI's
Saturday
British music darlings Coldplay perform at Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara on Saturday. The feel-good foursome is currently in the middle of a North American tour; they say it will be their last for a while, really? The tour, delayed due to COVID, takes them around the world to promote their last album, the highly acclaimed 2021 offering Music of the Spheres. Coldplay's live concerts are always an in-your-face mash of music and lights, lasers galore, and sonic perfection. See you at Levi's on Saturday.
coldplay.com

FESTIVAL: SAN FRANCISCO GREEN FILM FESTIVAL
Through Sunday
The San Francisco Green Film Festival with SF IndieFest continues this weekend, live and virtual with shorts and features. Eighty-five new independent films about our planet, its inhabitants, and our environmental challenges use cinematic storytelling to celebrate the blue marble we all live on while confronting the issues we face in maintaining a livable planet. All movies are playing at the Roxie Theatre in SF's Mission ... or go green, log on and drop out online.
sfindie.com/sf-indiefest-presents-green-film-fest/

FESTIVAL: SFFILM
Through May 1st
Enjoy more than 130 films from 56 countries at San Francisco's premier film fest. Since 1957 the SFFILM Festival has been celebrating the best in film from around the Bay and around the world. The festival is deeply rooted in the culture and process of film appreciation—film as an art form and as a meaningful agent for social change—and is an important showcase for the most searching and innovative films from around the globe. By supporting SFFILM you are also supporting indie film and the next generation of movie-makers. See you at the movies.
sffilm.org

FILM: EXPOSING MUYBRIDGE
A new documentary written and directed by Bay Area filmmaker Marc Shaffer tells the story of British photographer Edward Muybridge, from his early days photographing U.S. military conflicts with Native Americans in the West to how he came to revolutionize photography with The Horse in Motion (1878)—and how one patron tried to take all the credit. The film is fascinating and is playing around the Bay at various festivals.
muybridgethemovie.com

BOOK: COASTS OF CALIFORNIA
Out now
This beautiful book by Obi Kaufmann takes you on an epic, gloriously illustrated journey up and down California's shoreline.
Obi, author-illustrator of The California Field Atlas and The Forests of California, now turns his attention to the 1,200 miles of the Golden State where the land meets the ocean. Bursting with color, The Coasts of California is in Kaufmann's signature style, fusing science with art and pure poetic reverie. And much more than a survey of tourist spots, Coasts is a full immersion into the astonishingly varied natural worlds that hug California's shoreline. Everyone in the state should have this gorgeous book on their bookshelf.
coyoteandthunder.com

EAT HERE: YO YO's
Monday - Friday
9am to 3pm
Joseph and Lydia run a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in San Francisco's North Beach district. They almost shuttered when their landlord posted a notice of a rent increase. Neighbors rallied, KPIX reported the story and the landlord relented. The little to-go-only restaurant serves Japanese comfort food like noodles, potstickers and sushi, and thanks to community support will remain open. Their mochi is a delish sweet treat, especially the mango, and a steal at $4. Everything on the Yo Yo's menu is under $10 making this not just a tasty spot but an affordable spot to eat for all. I love Yo Yo's and the lovely couple behind it and have been a customer for almost 20 years. Go on drop in and taste what the fuss is all about.
places.singleplatform.com/yo-yos/menu?ref=google

THEATRE: TOOTSIE
Through Sunday
If you are seeking some laughter of the LOL variety then Tootsie is it. This riotous love letter to the theater tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but difficult actor who struggles to find work until one show-stopping act of desperation lands him the role of a lifetime as Tootsie. Featuring a hilarious Tony-winning book by Robert Horn and a brilliant score by 2018 Tony-winner David Yazbek (The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). Catch performances this weekend only as Tootsie trots off into the sunset after Sunday performances.
broadwaysanjose.com/shows/tootsie

Follow me on social @liammayclem

Email me: liampmayclem@gmail.com

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- One of SF's most compelling combinations of furious metal and snarky, self-deprecating humor, mechanical metal outfit Captured! By Robots headlines a Passover celebration at Thee Parkside Saturday night.

Founder JBOT (aka musician Jay Vance, who had played in the ska-punk groups the Blue Meanies and Skankin' Pickles) came up with the idea for Captured! By Robots after he got sick of dealing with his human bandmates in 1997. However, after building his new crew of collaborators -- the percussive pair of androids DRMBOT 0110, and AUTOMATOM and guitar/bass robot GTRBOT666 -- JBOT was enslaved by his creations.

Forced to front the band in chains, JBOT has been dragged across the U.S. on multiple tours featuring the band berating the singer between raging death metal songs and into the studio to record several albums of the group's apocalyptic death metal laced with the bots' misanthropic sense of humor. While the line-up of the robot musicians would shift of the two decades in operation -- the loving Ape Which Hath No Name and the Headless Hornsman both were part of the show for a time -- JBOT and company have grown to become a cult attraction with its collision of comedy, metal and performance art.

While the band's sole human member would be taking a break from C!BR in 2015 to concentrate on another project -- the revived Teddy Bear Orchestra -- a couple of years later JBOT returned to his earlier group with a decidedly more political stance inspired by the Trump presidency and humanity's impending doom from the climate crisis. Captured! By Robots celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017 with a national tour playing songs from the band's latest and arguably darkest album Endless Circle of Bull--t along with classic tunes from throughout its career.

For this special Passover-themed show the Last Schmaltz (aka The Matzos Mash) at Thee Parkside presented by RWS and Subliminal SF, C!BR will be joined by self-described Oakland "Yidcore" band Jewdriver. First formed by a group of East Bay punks in the '90s to ridicule Nazi hardcore group Skrewdriver, the savage parody outfit takes the notorious white nationalist band's racist tunes and subverts them with strictly Jewish lyrical themes and song titles like "Hail the Jew Gong (For Chuck Barris)" and "Our Blame Is Goyim Glee." Hysterical one-man groove tornado and former Bay Area resident Chaki the Funk Wizard brings his mix of deranged funk and punk covers and unhinged original songs to open the Saturday night show. Local comedic illusionist duo Matt & Paul Magic also appear. The bar will serving Passover and Easter-themed drink specials to go along with additional holiday fun and surprises.

The Last Schmaltz with Captured! By Robots
Saturday, April 16, 9 p.m., $13-$15
Thee Parkside

KCBS reporter Liam Mayclem provides KPIX 5 users with a weekly weekend tip list of Bay Area entertainment, music, film and online entertainment.

SF GIANTS: Opening Day
1:35pm first pitch
A big day for Giants fans and local businesses as Oracle Park welcomes back the faithful orange and black. A tasty day too for foodies with new Carnival-style food offerings at the ballpark; Mission-style bacon-wrapped hot dogs, a Frito pie, boozy slushies and a popcorn stand with choices from ghost pepper to grape! There will be no #28 Buster Posey behind the home plate but the 2021 NL West champs will be ready and amped to play ball and take on Miami Marlins. See you at the ballpark.
https://www.mlb.com/giants

EVENT: SF Restaurant Week
Through Sunday
Get your reservation now for San Francisco Restaurant Week running through Sunday. Celebrate the flavors of San Francisco's unique and diverse cuisine through special prix-fixe menus for lunch and dinner. It's a great way to explore new restaurants in new neighborhoods and support those who during the pandemic supported us and continued to make our tummies happy. Head to the website for a list of participating restaurants and menu details.
https://www.sfrestaurantweek.com

BOOK: Horn BBQ
Available Now
James Beard nominee and pitmaster extraordinaire Matt Horn has released his first cookbook. It's awesome and thanks to Chef Horn, now any backyard cook can master genuine smoke-cooked BBQ. There are 70 amazing recipes plus a stack of tips, tricks, and down-home BBQ wisdom. Matt Horn, one of Food & Wine's ten "Best New Chefs" for 2021, is the most exciting new talent in American barbecue in years. Enjoy his BBQ in person at his brick & mortar joint (former home of Brown Sugar Kitchen) on Mandalay Parkway, Oakland.
https://www.hornbarbecue.com

BOOK: Shaq's Family Style
Available Now
A basketball legend and successful businessman who can now add cookbook author to his resume. Shaq loves comfort food: mac & cheese, grits, grilled cheese sandwich, fried chicken & more and his faves are now yours for the making.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673384/shaqs-family-style-by-shaquille-oneal-with-rachel-holtzman-matthew-silverman-and-matthew-piekarski/

TV: Beat Bobby Flay
Rock star Chef Mathew Dolan of 25 Lusk in SF took on the big dog in Beat Bobby Flay on the Food Network this past week. To get to the final was something and the way Chef Dolan performed was nothing short of impressive. His lobster taco seemed to win the vote of the judges but then the moment of truth - our hometown Chef was defeated by Flay. However, Chef Dolan is a fighter and at Thursday's viewing party at Local Tap he won over many hearts. Team Dolan all the way. See the final moment with Chef Dolan V Bobby Flay here:
https://youtu.be/ZWUdk76PYfc

EVENT: CMT Awards
Monday 8pm
Get ready to go country this Monday at the CMT Awards from Nashville. The line-up is stacked to the gills with a roster of some of this year's nominees and some winners from awards shows past. In music news it's just been revealed that Kenny Chesney will close out the show, marking his first return to the CMT stage in seven years. The country crooner will be performing his hit song, "Beers in Mexico. Good luck one and all and Yee haw!
https://www.cmt.com/cmt-music-awards

FUNDRAISER: Beyond Differences
Thursday 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Celebrate Beyond Differences 2022 Spring Gala "Rising to the Moment". Enjoy an evening out at one of the Bay Area's most popular new restaurants, The Bungalow Kitchen by Michael Mina or join us virtually and participate in real-time from home! I am honored to serve as MC & Auctioneer.
https://give.beyonddifferences.org/event/rising-to-the-moment/e389758

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Two of Canada's most celebrated modern-rock bands make a San Francisco stop on their current tandem tour Saturday when METZ and Preoccupations share the stage at the Independent with acclaimed Chicago post-punk outfit FACS opening the show.

One of the leading lights of punk in North America in the past decade, Canadian trio METZ was formed in Ottowa in 2008 by guitarist/singer Alex Edkins, bassist Chris Slorach and drummer Hayden Menzies. The band quickly developed its tuneful take on noise-rock indebted to the sounds of the Jesus Lizard, Drive Like Jehu and early Nirvana through its early live performances and a string of singles recorded for Toronto-based imprint We Are Busy Bodies Records.

Those kinetic, pile-driving tunes and the band's reputation for ferocious onstage delivery would earn the group a deal with Sub Pop Records, which released METZ's eponymous debut album. Clocking in at just under a half an hour, the explosive effort earned the band wide praise and was nominated for Canada's Polaris Music Prize in 2013.

Over the course of the trio's subsequent three albums for the label, METZ has largely stuck to its original template of mixing corrosive, desperate riffs with flashes of surprisingly catchy melodies while working with a couple of noise-rock icons along the way. They collaborated with Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt guitarist John Reis on a two-song single in 2016 and had legendary engineer Steve Albini record their third album Strange Peace that came out the following year.

Sub Pop issued the compilation Automat that collected some of the threesome's hard-to-find singles and unreleased early material in 2019 to appease fans while METZ worked on their fourth album. Atlas Vending was released last year and pushed the band's into more experimental territory -- sometimes recalling Sonic Youth -- while retaining its signature locomotive energy. Amid the pandemic shutdown that kept the band home when they would have been touring, Sub Pop this past summer released Live at the Opera House, an audio and video document that ably captures the relentless intensity of a METZ performance.

METZ finally returns to the Bay Area for the first time since playing the UC Theatre in support of Refused in March of 2020 when this tour with fellow Canadian outfit Preoccupations arrives at the Independent. Rising from the ashes of star-crossed Calgary-based band Women (who had gone into a holding pattern after an onstage fight in 2010, two years before guitarist Christopher Reimer died suddenly in his sleep), bassist/singer Matt Flegel and drummer Mike Wallace formed a new quartet called Viet Cong with guitarists Scott Munro and Daniel Christiansen in 2012.

Nodding heavily to the brooding music of goth forebears Bauhaus (whose song "Dark Entries" they covered), Joy Division and the Cure, Viet Cong quickly attracted attention given the members' pedigree. The following year, the group self released a cassette (appropriately entitled Cassette) that soon stirred interest in a number of independent labels with its terse, guitar-driven tracks tracks like "Throw It Away" and "Structureless Design." A fiery set at South By Southwest in 2014 would lead to the group signing with Canadian label Flemish Eye and U.S. indie imprint Jagjaguwar.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/rvOuQjPEMTY
In 2015, the band garnered still more acclaim with its self-titled debut and even got some airplay on college radio with the churning intensity of "Continental Drift." However, the group also started getting some unwanted attention because of its name. Criticized for being culturally insensitive, the band made headlines when a promoter pulled the plug on a planned gig at Oberlin College in Ohio because of the name. In April of 2016, the group announced that it would switch its moniker to Preoccupations.

Issued that same year, the outfit's eponymous debut under the new name earned the quartet another round of overwhelmingly positive reviews. Drifting away from the angular guitar riffs that had marked their earlier work, Preoccupations delved deeper into pulsing synthesizer drone and Eno-esque ambient soundscapes, especially on the dreamy, epic 11-minute track "Memory" featuring guest vocals from Dan Boeckner, the leader fellow Canadian contemporaries Wolf Parade.

The group would spend a busy summer playing festivals and touring with cinematic instrumental rockers Explosions in the Sky before spending most of 2017 off the radar, writing and recording songs for their second effort as Preoccupations. Released on Jagjaguwar Records in 2018, the aptly titled New Material continues the band's embrace of chilly atmospheres and urgent, post-punk throb but features some of Flegel's most accessible vocal melodies yet. The band announced just over year ago that it had completed recording instruments for its fourth album and only had to finish working on vocals. Fans could get a preview of the new material Saturday.

The two Canadian bands will be joined by FACS, a like-minded band from Chicago. Formed by Brian Case (ex-90 Day Men, Ponys), Noah Leger and Jonathan van Herik of the acclaimed post-punk group Disappears after that band called it quits in 2016, FACS crafts a similar murky, minimalist style of art punk that recalls British experimental pioneers This Heat and krautrock greats Faust.

Relentlessly prolific since releasing their first album Negative Houses on the Trouble in Mind label in 2018 (their only album before the departure of van Herik), the band would recruit Alianna Kalaba (Cat Power, We Ragazzi) to play bass on the trio's sophomore album Lifelike the following year. Case and company have maintained a steady output of new music that continuously pushes the band's intense, claustrophobic sound forward. Their latest effort Present Tense came out earlier this year to some of the band's best reviews yet.

METZ and Preoccupations with FACS
Saturday, Nov. 20, doors 8:30 p.m., show 9 p.m. $20
The Independent

While a number experimental noise-rock acts emerged from the East Village post-punk underground in the late '80s, none matched the corrosive vitriol and brutality of Unsane. Founded in 1988 by Spencer and the original rhythm section of drummer Charlie Ondras and bassist Pete Shore while the members were attending Sarah Lawrence College, the band mixed the dissonance of Sonic Youth and Swans with an aggressive NYC hardcore attack.

Infamous for their cover art using graphic crime-scene photos that matched the punishing, cacophonous menace of the band's music, Unsane quickly became an integral part of the vital New York noise-rock scene with contemporaries like Helmet, Cop Shoot Cop and Surgery. The band earned solid reviews for the droning, vicious sludge punk heard on its eponymous 1990 debut for Matador Records and a subsequent singles collection before being dealt a devastating blow with the heroin overdose death of Ondras in 1992.

The band regrouped with drummer Vinnie Signoreli (who has previously played in Foetus and Swans) to record Total Destruction, their first release handled by a major label due to a deal Matador struck with Atlantic Records. Shore would depart in 1994 and was replaced by bassist Dave Curran, who made his recorded debut with the band on Scattered, Smothered & Covered, the group's first album for Amphetamine Reptile Records. Unsane managed a minor MTV hit with the lo-fi clip for "Scrape" that featured band footage interspersed with raw video of skateboarder wipeouts.

Following an extended hiatus, Unsane returned stronger than ever in 2005 with their first Relapse Record release Blood Run. The band continued to put out compelling new music over the next decade and a half for a variety of labels -- notably Mike Patton's artist-friendly Ipecac Recordings imprint, which released the blues-tinged 2007 album Visqueen, and Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles, who issued the equally punishing Wreck in 2012.

Though the trio had issued another celebrated effort with Sterilize on Southern Lord Records in 2017 and toured extensively into the following year, last summer Spencer announced during an interview that Unsane was over and that he would be focusing his creative energies on a new project, Human Impact. A group featuring longtime friend, keyboardist/sampler/sound designer Jim Coleman (formerly of Cop Shoot Cop), drummer Phil Puleo (Swans, ex-Cop Shoot Cop), and bassist Chris Pravdica (Swans, ex-Xiu Xiu), the quartet made its live debut in late August at Brooklyn's Union Pool.

Tempering the noise-punk fury of Unsane with Coleman's cinematic soundscapes and industrial drone, the band ushers Spencer into new sonic territory that hearkens back to the music Gary Numan made with Tubeway Army, early Killing Joke and Celan, the guitarist's 2009 collaboration with Einstürzende Neubauten's keyboardist Ari Benjamin Meyers and Oxbow guitarist Niko Wenner. Having signed a new deal with Ipecac to release the band's eponymous first album that came out on March 13th, Human Impact was set to make its first trip to the West Coast supporting Oregon-based spiritual doom trio YOB when the growing coronavirus pandemic derailed the planned tour. In this recent interview conducted prior to the tour cancellation, Spencer spoke with CBS SF about how Human Impact came together and the fruitful creative partnership he has discovered with the new group.

CBS SF: You're getting ready to do the album release party there in New York, and then you'll be heading out to west meet up with YOB for the tour.

Chris Spencer: Yeah, that's about right.

CBS SF: I guess the first thing I wanted to ask about was the genesis of Human Impact and how the band came together. I figure you have at least known some of these guys for quite a while since you came up in the New York scene at the same time during the late '80s...

Chris Spencer: Me and Jim were actually friends before -- I was  kind of playing with the guys, but it was before Unsane or Cop Shoot Cop really got started. We used to hang out in the Lower East Side area. He was doing electronic stuff then, We would kind of fool around with tape loops and stuff. So we were friends from way before, and then both our bands started touring and stuff like that. Then in about '97, Cop Shoot Cop broke up and I actually asked the guys in Unsane if they would they would consider having Jim join the band doing like samples and noise, but they wanted to stay a three piece.

And we were doing a lot of touring at the time, so it would have been kind of hard. So then a lot of time passes; Jim was doing like weird sort of Forensic Files-type TV shows and electronics and stuff like that. I kind of lost touch with him for awhile. And then about a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago, he came to an Unsane show and just asked me if I wanted to do something. Which, you know, of course! I'd wanted to work with Jen since I first met him. Yeah. So it's been a long time coming.

CBS SF: So it sounds like the gestation period, for you at least, goes back a ways. How long of a time passed between when you decided, "Okay, we're doing a band," and that first show last August? Was that a couple of years of getting material together and sort of feeling each other out?

Chris Spencer: Yeah, initially Jim just started sending me stuff via the Internet and we both have a home studio set ups. So. I started working with him on that stuff. We really didn't know where it was going. We just kind of were just tossing ideas back and forth. And then he brought in Phil and Chris Pravdica, who were available at the time.

So he let me know, "Hey, these guys are willing to do it." Some of the ideas were just really raw, but we kind of got together with those guys at our practice space in Brooklyn and just kinda sort of working things out. It was about, maybe like a year, a little bit more prior to that first show that we played at Union Pool.

CBS SF: Had you already recorded the album at that point? Or did you record the album after the live debut?

Chris Spencer: We had basically recorded it by then and had already sort of scored the deal with Ipecac [Records, the label owned by Bay Area singer Mike Patton]. We had a full record, but then some of it was the early, kind of raw stuff. And once we started playing together, things really developed, you know? we could sort of see where the sound was going and what we were looking at.

So we had to deal with Ipecac, but then we actually went back into the studio because they couldn't get it out until next week [March 13, 2020]. So we had quite a while to wait. We had noticed that stuff was getting better, at least in our opinion, so we wanted to just keep working and do more and try and make the record better from what we had initially. So we went back in and did I think four or five newer ones, which turned out really good. So those all ended up on the on the record. We kind of took the record we had sent to Ipecec and went like, "Hey, can we just substitute these for these?" Which I think really helped the record.

CBS SF: As far as the songwriting process, was it you and and Jim had sketches for the basic ideas or basic songs and then you flushed them out with the whole band?

Chris Spencer:  That's generally how it...I mean, yes and no. It's about half and half. Some we write. Like me and Jim have an idea, but then we've done multiple sessions where we all get together and kind of bounce around maybe five or six ideas. But then some have just been written hanging out at practice space. Like Chris wrote "E605" and that bass line fade-in thing, and then we just took that and ran with it.

So there's been other sessions where we show up and I just was like, "Hey, look, you guys just go wild. You know, do your thing." Came in with no preconceived ideas or anything. So it's gone both ways. But generally a lot of it is Jim will send me something or I'll send you something and we kind of hash that out. So we have some stuff to get going on right when we see the guys, you know?

CBS SF: And are you writing the lyrics yourself, or is that collaborative too?

Chris Spencer: Yeah, I'm writing all the lyrics. I do this thing where I send Jim -- this is very embarrassing a lot of ways [laughs] -- but I just send Jim what I'm thinking, what kind of treatment I'm thinking and lyrics and stuff. And he and his wife will listen to them and give me their critique, and then I do a little bit of editing.

CBS SF: How does the songwriting partnership compare as far as what you would do with Unsane? It seems like those songwriting credits were generally collective, where it was attributed to all three members...

Chris Spencer: Yeah, by the end of Unsane -- and a lot of reason made sort of came to an end -- was by the end like doing Sterilize, I wrote a majority of that record just kind of by myself entirely. They just kind of showed up and it was becoming really one sided. And so now, man, this is a great thing to walk into. Jim has this just giant arsenal of sounds doing samples and electronic stuff. So for me, it's like a whole new world. Jim is super hyper creative and so are Chris and Phil. So now I'm in an over-productive, over-creative environment, whereas before things were kind of like same old, same old, you know? And that ended up with me writing a lot of s--t.

So it's great. It's really good. Everybody's super creative in this band. I mean, we kind of played music because we just wanted to play music together. We didn't do this because we wanted to start a band and get out and do s--t, you know? I mean, well, obviously we do, but at the same time, it really started just because we all wanted to work together creatively.

CBS SF: Unsane had a connection with Swans through Vincent and this band now has two current members of Swans making up half the lineup, which I'm sure at some point might complicate things a little bit. But I guess if you schedule things out far enough that it shouldn't be an issue. I know those guys are coming to San Francisco to play the Fillmore coming up in June...

Chris Spencer: Yeah, they are. They have a lot of touring coming up. Initially, when we started the band, Michael [Gira, Swans founder and main songwriter] had said he was doing a whole new lineup and those guys were not going to be in the band...

CBS SF: Right, that's what I'd heard too...

Chris Spencer: So then we were like, "Oh, cool! Well, those guys are free." You know? But then he pulled them back in and, you know, that's a hard gig to refuse. But those guys are cool and we're all friends. And luckily our manager, Todd Cote, actually manages Swans as well, so we can sort of just work around Swans stuff. Our record is coming out this week, we were doing this sort of short tour and then Swans go out. And then when they're done, Human Impact does the States, and then Europe in like September and November, December. So when they're done, we take them.

CBS SF: I was wondering if, given the connection with Swans, is there any kinship you feel with Michael Gira beyond your shared background and geography. You came up in the same place at close to the same time, and there are certainly some parallels in what Unsane did and what Swans do as far as creating this kind of heavy, really visceral, emotional music with, in some cases, a lot of vitriol...

Chris Spencer: For me personally, there, there honestly is not that much of a connection with Michael Gira. I had seen him around a couple of times, but him and Vinny and those guys were kind of the generation before me, you know? Unsane was a much younger band when Swans had already been around for, I don't know, maybe eight or ten years by the time we really got going. They were way ahead of us.

But in terms of [stylistic similarities], that kind of boils back to the old New York in the early '80s, late '80s, early '90s when things were crazy, the city was broke and s--t was really pretty violent and disgusting and dirty. Now it's like a shopping mall. I mean, there's similarities that were maybe more geographic than actually scene wise. When Vinny played was Swans, that was kind of their mellow phase, you know?

CBS SF: Did you know, going into Human Impact that you would kind of move in a different direction from Unsane? There are some parallels there, but it's definitely a less aggressive and more cinematic, more atmospheric...

Chris Spencer: Yeah. I mean, I was hoping, to be honest with you. After doing Unsane for 30 years, I wanted to do something else; you want to try other stuff; creatively. I don't just want to go out there and do the same s--t again with different guys in the band. And having hung out with Jim a lot and worked with him before, I knew that that was more where he was going. So I knew I had to kind of change it up. I don't want to just scream my ass off forever.

CBS SF: Yeah, I imagine it's hard on the voice. This definitely brings a whole different set of dynamics to the music. I was really happy, in fact, to hear like a couple of things I love from my history, things I've been into since I was a teenager, like early Killing Joke and Gary Numan, especially the earlier Tubeway Army stuff. Sonically it's this sort of like dystopian future style punk. I was wondering how much of an influence those bands were? Or were there other influences you were drawing on when you were coming up with the music for Human Impact?

Chris Spencer: I mean, nothing intentional. Nothing pre-thought out. But of course, for me, a band like Killing Joke is always going to be there somewhere, you know what I mean? I'm like you. When I was a kid, Killing Joke were way up there on the scale of bands. So maybe you're hearing stuff from my influences in general. And Jim too. Jim and are from the same generation, there's going to be sort of that '80s dystopian punk kind of influences, especially with the electronic stuff.

CBS SF: And he's playing some keyboards as well, besides the the sampling and electronics? There were a couple of places where I heard a little piano bit that's mixed into the music...

Chris Spencer: Yeah, Jim is very accomplished. I think he was trained classically, to be honest. I think he studied French horn as a kid and hung out with jazz greats. His dad, I think, was a jazz musician. Jim can play pretty much anything. It's really cool, because with a lot of his samples and the noise stuff, it seems as though maybe it's just sort of hitting a button, you know?

But no, there's a lot of of interplay between me and him with the guitar and the synth where we're playing with microtonal dissonance that I really like. For me, is part of the fun of it is working on stuff where the guitar and the synthesizer are doing this weird s--t where I'm bending [the strings] and he bending slightly, maybe in another direction. And then, again, he has this huge arsenal of his sounds. So he can use those keyboards in any way he wants. I've referred to it as "synth crack" [laughs].

CBS SF: Given that Unsane has been put to bed from what you've been saying in other interviews...

Chris Spencer: Yeah, it's done.

CBS SF: I was wondering if, since the bands shared a couple of members, is this sort of the end for Cutthroats 9 too? I always thought of the group as the bluesier, West Coast version of Unsane and always enjoyed seeing that band when you would play SF. Do you see that band getting back together at some point?

Chris Spencer: I don't know, maybe? We might get together for a few shows. I've seen Will [Carroll, the band's drummer] around a couple of times. He's mentioned it. Cutthroats still maybe is a possibility, because it's is kind of like my underground source of fun [laughs]. And Will is so good. And then we have Tony who is now in LA, Tony Baumeister playing bass. Or we had it last time; he played on that last record. But that's more just getting together with your friends and having fun. I'm always open to that.

CBS SF: Right. And I know Will's dance card is really full. I can't believe how much Death Angel is on the road these days. This last year for them, their touring schedule was relentless. So I'm sure it's a matter of him squeezing in the time.

Chris Spencer: Yeah. With Cutthroats, it's usually pretty spontaneous. It's like, "Hey man, I got a couple of months. You want to do something?" And I'm like, "Yeah, sure. Let's do it."

CBS SF: I can't remember if we talked about another one of your projects, and I'm guessing on the pronunciation, Celan. You did one album back in 2009 with Einstürzende Neubauten's keyboardist Ari Benjamin Meyers and Oxbow guitarist Niko Wenner. Is that something you would consider reviving or was that more of like a one off thing?

Chris Spencer: Well, Berlin seems like a long way away right now. At the same time, I could be open to that. But I've kind of got a lot of s--t going on right now. Whenever I think I have downtime, Jim sends me five ideas, you know? [laughs] So every time I think I'm going to have a little spare time, I don't. It's pretty cool. It's kind of amazing actually. So it's always possible, but I kinda doubt it, to be honest with you.

At the time I was living in Berlin and was given the chance to work with with Ari and those guys. And work in the Neubauten studio, which I could not turn down. I was like, "Aw, man, let's go try this." So we did it. We hung out for a year. I mean, winter is a little rough in Berlin. It's pretty dark all the time. But who knows? Maybe down the line, but I sort of doubt it anytime in the near future.

CBS SF: It sounds like from all the material that's coming up, you must already be working on a second Human Impact album, if there's that much of a flow of ideas going back and forth between you and Jim...

Chris Spencer: Yeah, a couple of days ago, just finished mixing four new ones, so we're sending those out to get mastered probably this week. We've got four really strong new songs for the next record or whatever. Now these days, the way Ipecac works, they tend to do sort of teaser singles for a while and then the full record comes out. So while Swans are on tour, there'll be a few singles, I would assume. And then some new s--t after that.

CBS SF: If the new material is together enough to have already been recorded and being sent out for mastered, are those songs that you'll be playing on the upcoming tour? I guess that also depends on time, since you are in the support slot with YOB...

Chris Spencer: Yeah, we'll be doing a shorter set for the support thing with YOB. At Saint Vitus on Saturday, we will be doing a longer set, obviously, so we're doing a few new ones. We'll probably do  I think probably do two of the newer ones that aren't on the record. We trying to squeeze them in there, but like you said, time-wise, you gotta be careful.

CBS SF: I think the pairing with YOB is really interesting. I love Mike Scheidt and have been a huge fan of YOB for ages. How did you guys ended up linking up with them for the tour?

Chris Spencer: They just kind of hit us up, honestly. They just kinda went, "Hey dude, does Human Impact want to do West Coast shows with us?" And by chance, that was right before the Swans take off. So it was like, "Yeah, let's get this done."

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Offering up a pungent mix of noise rock and punk injected with guitarist Chris Owen's corrosive six-string squall, Bay Area band Musk has been making a furious racket since first coming together in 2011. Inspired by Australian punk bands like the Scientists and feedtime -- Owen (ex-Killers Kiss) bonded with singer Rob Fletcher at a San Francisco reunion show by the latter band as both lamented the lack of real hostility in modern garage punk -- as well as the roots-focused sounds of the Chrome Cranks and the Cramps, the group was soon forging its uniquely malevolent sound.

The band's unhinged early demos featuring Fletcher's demented howling and Owens' hyper-distorted guitar abuse led to the debut Musk album coming out on Holy Mountain Records in 2014. A solid approximation of what the Jesus Lizard might have sounded like if iconic instrumental great Link Wray took over on guitar, the band's menacing self-titled effort produced by regular John Dwyer studio collaborator Chris Woodhouse earned a slew of rave reviews, as did their woolly, chaotic live performances at clubs on both coasts.

While it took some time for the band to get together a follow-up, in 2016 the even more caustic sequel entitled Musk 2: The Second Skumming finally surfaced on 12XU records. Introducing elements of downtown NYC jazz skronk reminiscent of John Zorn's Naked City, the band produced an even more baleful cacophony that balanced against woozy, Neil Young and Crazy Horse-style lament "Weathervane."

After a period of working in new members Warren Huegel (drums) and Jim Vail (of the band FNU Clones on bass), the band has increased its activity over the past year. Musk played a number of notable gigs including a show with former Lubricated Goat guitarist Stu Spasm's new all-star outfit the Art Gray Noizz Quintet and a slot at this year's Burger Boogaloo right before avowed inspiration the Scientists in July that featured a special five-member line-up with Vail switching over to second guitar. Musk also recently issued its first new music in ages with the ferocious "Animal Husbandry" 7-inch single for Total Punk Records.

This Thursday night, the band returns to the Knockout in San Francisco, sharing the stage with equally noisy local electro-punk minimalists the Tunnel (who released a pair of corrosive EPs in the past year that recall the dark foreboding sounds of Killing Joke, Bauhaus and Scratch Acid) and the skronking, saxophone-driven SF experimental punk band Blank Square.

Musk with Blank Square and The Tunnel
Thursday, Aug. 22, 9 p.m. $10
The Knockout

Adding the speed and aggression of hardcore punk to the metal and hard rock styles being perfected by British bands like Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and UFO during the mid-to-late 1970s, a group of young musicians spurred an exponential leap forward for heavy music in the early '80s with the rise of thrash metal. Metallica is commonly thought of as the Bay Area's biggest proponent of the newly emerging sound, but many don't realize that the band got it's start in Los Angeles before moving north at the behest of new bassist Cliff Burton in 1982 to the welcoming embrace of what was already a well established and thriving underground movement anchored by early groups including Exodus and Blind Illusion.

Using the remarkable 2012 photo book Murder in the Front Row: Shots From the Bay Area Thrash Metal Epicenter that featured kinetic pictures taken by early devotees Brian Lew and Harald Oimoen as a jumping-off point, documentary director Adam Dubin has delved deep into the primordial soup of SF's thrash metal history for a new film. Murder in the Front Row: The San Francisco Bay Area Thrash Metal Story features extensive interviews with not just key players from Exodus, Slayer and Metallica, but testimonials from the rabid fans and scene figures who served as the initial disciples of a style of metal music that would one day have a global reach and influence.

A private screening of the documentary is being held on April 20th at the Kabuki Theater, which back in the '80s was one of the key San Francisco music venues of the early thrash era, long before getting converted to a movie theater. The film is being screened in conjunction with an appearance by all-star group Metal Allegiance at the Fillmore later Saturday evening. MitFR interview subjects including Testament members Chuck Billy and Alex Skolnick, Exodus mainstay Gary Holt, Vio-lence guitarist Phil Demmel and Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson are set to perform onstage, playing some  classic songs from the thrash-metal cannon. The band line-up is rounded out by powerhouse drummer Mike Portnoy, co-founder and bassist Mark Menghi, Mastodon bassist/singer Troy Sanders, Armored Saint/Anthrax singer John Bush, current Exodus singer Steve "Zetro" Souza and classic-era Exodus guitarist Rick Hunolt.

CBS SF recently spoke at length with director Dubin, discussing his early experiences making seminal music videos for the Beastie Boys before he relocated to Los Angeles to direct and shoot videos with bands from Rick Rubin's Def American roster and his long career working with Metallica as well as the process of making the new Murder in the Front Row documentary and plans for the film to have its world premiere in San Francisco at the SF Doc Fest in late May.

CBS SF: So are you working on the final details with the movie in New York? Or are you in LA or here in San Francisco?

Adam Dubin: We're in Brooklyn actually. I'm a New York-based filmmaker and very happy to be doing this very Bay Area story. But I'm a New Yorker through and through. The post-production has been in New York. I do have to say that a lot of the interviews -- over 80 percent -- were shot in the Bay Area, and particularly in Fantasy Studios. This, to me, points up the importance of doing this work from a history perspective, because we shot all this great stuff at Fantasy Studios, and since then, we come to find out that Fantasy was unfortunately closed. So many great records and recordings from this scene and from all of San Francisco history.

CBS SF: I wanted to discuss your early history a bit. I saw the Beastie Boys book tour last year that you came up in when they talked about making the "Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" and "No Sleep till Brooklyn" videos. Did you have any experience outside of NYU film classes when you co-directed those videos? Or was that your entry point?

Adam Dubin: I had definitely worked in film. I started studying at NYU in 1982, specifically as a film student. I wanted to make films. And it happened to coincide with the rise of MTV, which had started maybe the year before. Not everybody even had MTV at that point. That's one of the classic stories, that it wasn't even that widely available. I loved that mixing of film and music. It was perfect for me. So I was working on all kinds of student films during that time, even including something with Rick Rubin on one occasion.

I've always said I have no doubt that Rick Rubin would have directed those Beastie Boys videos, except he was eyeballs deep in directing Tougher Than Leather, the Run DMC movie. So he was unavailable at that time and MTV needed a video badly. I don't have to tell you how valuable heavy rotation on MTV was back at that time in the mid-80s.

So Rick Rubin turned to my co-director, Ric Menello. He was basically the guy who worked the front desk at our dorm, but he was a film savant. Menello wanted to direct, but he had never directed anything before and I had. So Menello turned to me -- we were friends from long before that -- and it kind of all came together. We went and wrote those videos with the Beastie Boys. It was just us. There weren't a lot of people around.

So "Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" was shot over Thanksgiving Day weekend in 1986. A few weeks later it was on air and was the top video. It was amazing. And then a couple of months later, we went to do "No Sleep till Brooklyn." We shot that at a club called the World, which was a very famous club in New York on Houston and Avenue C, definitely a bad section of town at that time. But you could see already that there were suddenly people coming in and sitting behind us and giving notes when we were doing the second video.

Because by then, the Beastie Boys were a hit and famous and suddenly the record company was taking a lot of notice. There were people from Columbia Records there and hangers-on. It's what happens when things start blowing up quickly. And some of that was what the Beastie Boys were ultimately rebelling against when they up and left and went to the West Coast and took their operation over there. They've been very vocal about that kind of stuff in their history.

So my association with them was really just for that brief time and then they left Def Jam for their own reasons and that was it. I didn't have any further association with them, but I did see that show they did for the book and I thought it was tremendous that Mike and Adam were going around showing everyone how it happened. I loved the show. They actually just did it here again at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn.

CBS SF: Yeah, I would love to see it again. I hope they make a DVD or do something with it. It was a really beautiful bit of music history to experience. They and Run DMC were my point of entry for hip hop, just like a lot of suburban kids. Even though I was also listening to thrash metal AND going to see the Grateful Dead growing up here in the Bay Area.

Adam Dubin: Which you could be! This may even answer something for you. As I said, I was born and raised a New Yorker, so as the scene in Murder in the Front Row was going on, I was not really aware of that. I knew who some of the groups were, but I didn't know it was all tied together. But in New York, I was part of the rising hip-hop scene that the Beastie Boys and Run DMC came out of. I was hanging out wherever Rick Rubin was going.

So the one thing I think I brought to it was the understanding of the scene; that these things happen when there's a group of people getting together and there's an energy building around a new type of music that is not yet recognized by the mainstream. It's really being held together and supported by a core group of fans. So at that time in New York, hip hop was that thing.

As was hardcore punk, which was what the Beastie Boys rose out of. I saw Adam Horowitz so far back that he wasn't even in the  Beasties yet. It was so far back that he was a punk rocker playing in the Young and the Useless. I would go to the hardcore matinee shows and he was there with that whole gang of kids like Dave Skilken. You wouldn't have thought, "Oh, those guys are going to be famous." They were just some of the kids who were part of the scene and you knew who they were. It was pretty cool. A different place and a different time.

CBS SF: I was curious about what you did between making those videos with the Beastie Boys and connecting with Metallica. Looking at your website that features some of your other early work, I saw videos you made for Def American artists like the Black Crowes and the Four Horsemen, who I think were one of the real unsung bands from LA in the late '80s and early '90s. Did you sort of end up being the house video director for the label there in LA?

Adam Dubin: That's pretty much it. After the Beastie Boys split, Rubin left. He didn't really say goodbye. Nobody knew that he was going to stay in LA, but work started taking him there. But I think basically you could sort of see Def Jam splitting up even while they were there. Rubin wanted to do something like Slayer and he had other ideas. I knew he was going to do something with Danzig long before that first album because I went and shot some stuff of Danzig.

Basically Rick and Russell did what they did for that certain period of time and clearly, as the success started to happen, their musical tastes varied and they both wanted to go in their own direction. The fact that both of them were successful in their own direction just shows how they were capable of doing something.

So Rubin's direction at that point...he'd done what I think he'd wanted to do with hip hop. To me, the last amazing thing was that Public Enemy record It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, and LL Cool J doing "Goin' Back to Cali." Those were just amazing pieces of work to sign off with. And then Rubin went to the West Coast and I followed him essentially.

I wouldn't say I was the house video director, but I wound up working with a lot of acts on Def American.  I did the music videos for the Four Horsemen -- those guys became friends at the time -- and I did a band called Wolfsbane. I did two videos for a band called Trouble. So I was doing a lot of hard rock and heavy metal stuff and I was doing a lot of shoots for Danzig, although I never directed one of his videos. We would shoot a lot of his live shows. And all of that stood me in good stead for working with Metallica.

When my name got dropped in the hat to possibly shoot a documentary of what they were doing, the fact that I'd worked with Danzig and Rick Rubin putting in a good word for me, that was all good for my credibility with Metallica. But ultimately I had to go in there and pitch my idea of how to do the documentary and not interfere with what they were going in to do, which was to go in and record the next album after And Justice For All... 

Nobody really knew what that was yet, but it promised to be something really cool. And then it ended up being better than cool; it turned out to be the biggest album they ever had, which was the Black Album. So I was in there doing a lot directing and a lot of shooting. And all of that led to an audition with Metallica. And thankfully they said, "Yeah, we can tolerate this guy being around us every day with his camera." And I just kind of melted into the woodwork and they took to me and it all worked out.

I'm still working for them 29 years later. It was October of 1990 when I walked into their studio, so literally coming up on 30 years. I'm just now reediting a bunch of stuff that will be part of the Black Album reissue package, so it's kind of nice being back with them and doing it again. And it's certainly nice to have this cherished relationship that we've had. It's wonderful.

CBS SF: To get to the documentary, you've already touched on what led you to use the Murder in the Front Row photo book as a framework for the film. He had mentioned that you had met – I think – at the Metallica Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a couple of years before the book came out?

Adam Dubin: Yeah, he's right. We met in person at the Hall of Fame induction for Metallica. They had a party and I knew he was part of this core group of fans, you know? Almost fan #1 really, but I didn't know the whole backstory. And then a few years later we ran into each other and he gave me the book. The simple answer is I just fell in love with the book. I was a great story. I still feel blessed that no one has done this story. It was almost like coming upon the story of CBGBs or something and nobody having touched it.

This for me was even better. I came into Metallica's world in 1990. I always want to go back and see where they came from. They didn't just arrive. They built themselves. And the way Metallica and the other bands in the Bay Area scene were able to build themselves was because of this wonderful group of fans who got what they were doing and would go to the shows and make the flyers.

If they weren't the musicians, they were doing all these things to support the musicians and the scene. Any early band needs that kind of support, but in the Bay Area, it was really cool because the musicians would support each other. And that's why there was this kind of movement.

It was a wonderful scene. It's been a fantastic experience working on this film. Brian and I have become friends. We first met through our associations with Metallica, but once he showed me that book, I was literally grabbed by it. It sat on my nightstand table right next to my bed for several years. I would just thumb through it. I knew I had to make this documentary. Those photos have so much energy, they're so alive, you can feel the sweat from them. I just had to do it. So eventually, I got everything together and approached Brian and he said, "Yeah! Let's go do this!"

And to me, what speaks volumes is that Metallica shows up in the Bay Area in the fall of 1982 and by early '83, fully 50 percent of the band is Bay Area musicians with Cliff and Kirk joining the band. And they lived there as well, though as Brian likes to point out, they never were home much because of all the touring. But they were definitely a Bay Area band. But I don't want to dwell on Metallica, because the other history is so rich. That's the part I didn't know and that's what really attracted me.

I mean, I kind of knew about Exodus and that Kirk had formed the band, but I didn't know much about them. And what I came to find out was this wonderful other band that kind of became the house band of the town. Exodus was the go to band if you wanted metal, because Metallica was away. Exodus was playing shows and building the world of thrash and inspiring other musicians. So what you have is people would see Exodus and pick up a guitar themselves and start to play in all these amazing bands that started developing in the Bay Area.

We only touched on some of them because there's only so much you can do in a movie, but we certainly talked about Testament and Possessed and Death Angel to name a few of them. But there are many more. And I love what Gary Holt says in the movie: "If your own area wasn't welcoming to you, we would be." And what he meant by that was, bands like Slayer and when Dave Mustaine got Megadeth going, he brought them right to the Bay Area. These bands knew where to take thrash music. In the Bay Area, the young people there, got what they were doing. And you could have great shows. And they did!

CBS SF: Yeah, it was a ready-made audience for those bands. To what extent did the connections you'd made working with Metallica pave the way to the musicians you ended up talking to and how much of that was through Brian and Harald? I imagine you would have met a number of the members of the Big 4 over time, but did they provide you with a list of some of people from the early scene to talk to?

Adam Dubin: I have to say that Brian Lew was like my co-pilot on story issues the entire time. There was an initial meeting with Brian and Harald once I optioned the book and they threw all their ideas together. My job as a filmmaker was to craft what would be the story. It could almost go in a hundred directions, so I had to pick one and make it go. And through that, I started to get acquainted with a number of the early core fans who are interviewed in the movie.

One thing I could bring to the movie was this relationship that I had with Metallica, but we were all very clear that there was no point even interviewing Metallica until we'd interviewed a whole bunch of fans. I must have been 30 interviews into the process before I even approached Metallica. By that point, I'd interviewed a lot of people who had been in the early scene, many of them folks who Metallica had known coming up. Only then would I request that the band sit for me, and one of the things I'll always be grateful for is that all four of them very generously gave me their time.

Slayer sat for us, which was tremendous. Separately I got Dave Lombardo, which was tremendous. It was great because we were going back to talk about such an early time that, whatever personal things may have happened later on in the long lives of these people, this was all before that. They were all kids. So the interviews weren't about whatever Dave Lombardo thinks about Slayer now or what they think about him. It was all back before that, when they were just one band trying to get ahead with what they were doing.

I'll tell you this. There was a kind of magical thing that I would do when I did these interviews. I would print pictures from the book. I scanned pages from the book and printed the pictures on like a hardback card. So I'd bring maybe five or so pictures to each interview. What I found was it was amazing to see what happened to people.

This worked just as well on rock stars as non rock stars. I'd kind of do my main interview and then ask, "Can I show you some pictures?" And everybody was, "Yeah, sure." And I'd show them the pictures from the book and you would watch somebody who was basically 50 years old melt away. Suddenly they were staring at their younger selves or the scene. Maybe it wasn't a picture of them, but it was a bunch of the old gang, and you would watch them transform before your eyes into the young person they had been.

It was emotional for them. It's emotional for me, just thinking about it. It transformed them and put them back in that moment. And on some occasions, people would not turn the picture around, but some people would hold the picture up and show it to me and describe things in it. In every case, it worked like a charm. It was a wonderful device. And it just goes right back to those fabulous pictures of Brian Lew and Harald Oimoen.

CBS SF: That's a great interview idea. I was going to ask how you prepared to do the interviews and how different they were from person to person. I mean, a musician, you know their history or you can research it pretty easily, where as a lot of the people in the scene, you're having to dig a little deeper and they're probably not as used to doing interviews. So that makes perfect sense that you'd use the photos to evoke a response...

Adam Dubin: In every case, I prepped for every interview. I feel what I bring to it is the kind of research that a book author would be doing in a deep dive for a subject. It's up to me to be prepared. Of course, I would lay out some ideas that I wanted them to touch on, but I also know when to back off. If somebody is developing an idea, don't interrupt them. Let them go. Sometimes you get some wonderful stories. Basically, what you're doing is jogging these people's memories of that time.

And there was something interesting about it. I realized during the process that everybody was ready to speak about this now. I think if I'd approached this material ten years ago, I don't think everybody was ready yet. But everybody right now is at this time when they realize that it was really important. That they were involved in something that was culturally important. That it was a movement.

And I think we all realize that sort of thing as time goes by and you get a little older. Maybe not everybody's here with us who was there then, and you start to realize that, wow that was really a cool time. You might not have felt great the whole time, but you realize you had these people around you that made you feel good. And that's what I got, I think, from everybody. Everybody expressed that.

And of course, in some cases, we had to have people speak for other people who couldn't be there. Very poignantly, Durelle Ali speaks for her father, Wes Robinson, who ran Ruthie's Inn. Wes Robinson is beloved by all the people who I spoke to, but it was wonderful to have her come and speak on his behalf and kind of remember the importance of what he did in providing this club for people to be able to play and gather together.

CBS SF: Had you stayed in contact with Kerry King since first working with him on the "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" video? Or was the interview for the film a reunion?

Adam Dubin: I had not. I did not have a connection with Slayer during all these years. I came in kind of cold and only at the end of the interview did I remind him that we'd once shared a stage. Kerry King and me in a gorilla suit! So he's forgiven for not recognizing me. It's been a lot of years. But he was very cool and he was generous with his time. It's great to have the great Kerry King sit before your camera. He is a charismatic presence, the same thing that he is onstage. He's amazing.

CBS SF: The movie focuses on some of the major events in Bay Area thrash history like several landmark shows by Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth, Day on the Dirt and Metallica appearing at Day on the Green with the Scorpions. One thing that wasn't covered was the Thrash of the Titans benefit for Testament singer Chuck Billy and Chuck Schuldiner of Death that led to several local thrash bands reuniting, including Testament, Exodus and Death Angel. Was it just a matter of wanting to keep the movie focused that led to leaving out later developments?

Adam Dubin: I think you just said it, but I'll say it this way: The movie at any given time could go in 50 directions, and my job as a storyteller is to keep it on a path. I keep thinking about showing it, not to people like yourself who know the story, but really to people who don't. The movie should stand as a testament to what happened here. So I'm trying to keep that together. I knew about the benefit for Chuck Billy and I think it would have been a good angle.

At some point, I think it was in 2017, I went to a Metal Allegiance show. I think it was a NAMM show in LA. And what I saw in front of me was very special. At that show, I saw a gathering of musicians and a good chunk of them were Bay Area musicians, but a lot of them were from other places and bands. And they were playing a lot of music and a lot of it was Bay Area thrash. And it seemed to me that what Metal Allegiance was doing was like a living, breathing modern day representation of what the Bay Area thrash scene was. At least half of the musicians were Bay Area folks and they were doing a lot of the catalog.

And during that time, Ray Burton Cliff's dad got up and was honored there by Marc Menghi, one of the Metal Allegiance guys. And I just thought, "Wow, this is a great example of these guys wanting to be together and have fun playing together." It was happening right in front of my eyes.

So the following year, when the did the same thing for NAMM in 2018, we filmed the concert. And there in front of my camera, I've got all these Bay Area guys. Chuck Billy and Gary Holt and Alex Skolnick and Mark Osegueda from Death Angel. And they're all just kind of swapping stories like guys who've known each other for all the years that they have. And you add in all these other great rockers and you have kind of this mixing and melding of all kinds of styles and musicians having fun playing together. That was a pretty cool way, in my mind, to kind of take it into the now.

CBS SF: So a lot of the film moves in a fairly linear way as far as the time line, but as the film progresses, there is a little jumping back and forth. Beyond the brotherhood that's a central theme and how you are able to see what a strong connection the fans had as a community, it's pretty clear that Paul Baloff and Cliff Burton emerge as these central characters who were the heart and soul of the scene. Without those two members of those two bands, it seems like a lot of what happened wouldn't have happened.

I guess that's something I've always kind of felt as a longtime fan and someone who followed both Metallica and Exodus. It must have been difficult to figure out where you were going to put in Baloff's story and how it ended. I thought the scene of Gary and Tom visiting his grave was one of the truly touching moments of the film. Was determining where that was going to end up in the movie in relation to Cliff's passing one of the bigger challenges of editing the film?

Adam Dubin: Yeah, it was a challenge to figure out where stuff fits in. Believe it or not, that scene at Baloff's grave with Gary and Tom moved a bit during all of this. Cliff's death was always where it is. We tell the story and it comes up to this sad thing that we all know took place. But Baloff kind of moved around, because we didn't want to have the two scenes about their passing stacked up on each other.

So that moved around a little bit until we found a place where it was proper and respectful to this guy who was definitely a larger than life character and was so beloved by all these people in the scene. I made a decision while making the movie that I didn't want to go into drinking and drugs and stuff. I don't mind mentioning some drinking, but this wasn't going to be a Behind the Music type documentary.

I just wasn't interested in going there, because there was too much good stuff to talk about to waste any time with that stuff. So we didn't really focus on it. For some people, it may come up a little suddenly that Baloff is not with us any more, and if they want to find out the reasons why, that's their own business. But I think I wanted to put it in the right place where it was respectful to his memory and still make sense

I had one day, really just a few hours of a day, where Gary and Tom were generous enough to give me some time. And we just decided to go back to their old haunts. But I have to tell you, it was not my idea to go to Baloff's grave. They suggested it and I was like, "Yep. Let's do it." But we just had time to visit three places. It was Baloff's grave, Alvarado Park -- where Exodus had played as 16-year-old kids --and of course, revisiting the closed doors of Ruthie's Inn. And that seemed to elicit the kind of interesting and thoughtful stories and funny stories that they told, some of which were on camera.

CBS SF: Well, you again covered a couple of additional topics I was going to ask about. As someone who was there for part of the scene, the absence of drugs -- speed in particular -- in the movie was striking. I don't know if you'd say it was intrinsic to the tempos of the music that was being played, but I think it had something to do with it. But I also understand the approach you took as a creative choice that you're making about the film.

Adam Dubin: Yeah, I can agree with you. If you were there, you know there were a lot of things going on. But, ultimately, you make a choice. And this is something I'll say about Metallica also; I've been interviewed about Metallica a million times, and some people have tried to go into the band being called "Alcoholica" and what about the drugs. And what I'd say about them and about the whole scene: Don't ever get too distracted by the salacious stuff -- the sex, drugs and rock and roll part of it -- because really what came first was the music. And that's what I found; a dedication to music in all of these guys.

With the guys in Metallica, the music came first and I noticed it again with these musicians who I didn't know personally but was meeting and learning about. And Gary Holt was honestly very open about some of his drug use, but I just chose not to put that in the movie because there was nothing really to talk about it was that interesting, in the end. What was more interesting was what he said about the music, so I chose to follow that. So I never get too waylaid by that. That all starts to reek of Behind the Music type stuff that I want to stay away from. It just didn't interest me.

CBS SF: The animation that you used in the film is really great. Some of it is used to recreate moments that are pretty well known to fans, some just illustrates what was going on with humor and style. Were these animators you had worked with in the past through what you've done with Metallica?

Adam Dubin: Let me tell you about them. There's this wonderful animation studio in Brooklyn called Augenblick Studios and this guy Aaron Augenblick runs it. He's got a chief animator named Mike Wartella who did all that key animation and they just got it. We knew each other and I knew Augenblick Studios, but I did not do a job with them before this. But I knew they were there and we had a meeting. And during the meeting, they just got it.

I don't know how else to say it. They loved the music, but more than that, they got the feel of it. There's something about that style of animation, that R. Crumb style of craziness fit with what we were doing. So initially we started out with like six animations. But it was when they did the one big one about Rich Burch, the sketch where he's the guy with the boombox.

Several people described to me about how he was like a pied piper or a Johnny Appleseed. He was walking around with his giant boombox blasting Motörhead. Lars remembers him, Erik Lannon remembers him, Harald Oiman remembers him. Everybody had a memory of him. And I said, "Well, we've gotta do something with this guy." He's not alive any longer, unfortunately.

And Augenblick Studios drew this great animation of this guy wearing a denim jacket with a Thin Lizzy back patch, blasting Motörhead so loud that his hair was blowing from the sound of it. When I saw that animation, I thought there was a dozen other places where we could use animation. So they got it and just ran with it. They do a lot of stuff for Adult Swim and animation for things like that. They do great work there and I just knew that they would be a great partner for us.

CBS SF: I guess the last bit of business I wanted to talk about was your plans for the movie. I know there's a private screening coming up on April 20th at the Kabuki in San Francisco's Japantown in the afternoon before the Metal Allegiance show happening that night. I'm guessing it's a private screening, because the San Francisco International Film Festival is also happening, but I didn't see anything connecting the two. If that's not a public screening, when are you going to first show it here and what else do you have planned as far as film festivals and a theatrical release?

Adam Dubin: So we're having a private screening at the Kabuki followed by the Metal Allegiance show. That's something that's going to be for a lot of family and friends for the film. I know we've done some contests and stuff that are getting people in, but it's basically a private thing. However, while we are not part of the San Francisco International Film Festival, we are going to be in the San Francisco Doc Fest.

Tickets for Doc Fest will go on sale May 1st on their website when that opens for business. Our screening of Murder in the Front Row that will be the first public screening for the film is on May 31st at 9 p.m. at the historic Roxie Theater in the Mission District. We're really excited about that. We figure as soon as the tickets go on sale, we'll sell out the theater at least one time and they'll probably announce some more screenings after that.

CBS SF: I would bet you guys might be able to fill the Castro Theatre with the fan base that's here.

Adam Dubin: That would be really cool. We decided for this first screening we wanted to something cool and historic. And the Kabuki which has seen and hosted so many of the metal shows from that day before it became a movie theater seemed like the perfect place. And it was right down the street from the Fillmore, which is also historic and cool. To that worked for us geographically. But we're really proud to be in the San Francisco Doc Fest. That's going to be a great show. I'm going to come back to town for that one and do some Q&A after the screening. I'm proud that the movie is doing it's world premiere in San Francisco. It's exactly where it should be.

CBS SF: Do you have any other festivals planned currently that you can talk about?

Adam Dubin: There are some that are way out, kind of out into the fall. I don't have anything that I'm promoting yet. There's one in Mexico and one in Athens and somebody just reached out to us from Barcelona. What's very interesting is that it's coming from all over the world. As people have found out about this film, the outreach has become international. I think that speaks about the music more than anything else. People love the music and they want to learn about it. And that's what our film can help do.

More Information: Murder in the Front Row website

Anthrax would craft its own unique template by mixing hardcore punk's breakneck tempos and shouted gang vocals with brutal guitar riffs, eventually bringing monster drummer Charlie Benante into the fold and getting signed to record store owner John Zazula's then fledgling label Megaforce. After putting out their highly praised debut Fistful of Metal in 1984, there would be some major changes in the band with Likker departing to be replaced by Benante's nephew Frank Bello on bass before the group eventually hooked up with singer Joey Belladonna. That version of the group (rounded out by lead guitarist Dan Spitz) would produce some of the timeless classic thrash albums of the decade like Spreading the Disease and Among the Living that were powered by mosh-pit inducing tunes "Caught in a Mosh," the Judge Dredd tribute "I Am the Law" and "A.I.R."

After the underappreciated 1990 gem Persistence of Time, the band had an acrimonious falling out with the singer in 1992, which led to the hiring of former Armored Saint vocalist John Bush for well over a decade. While Anthrax would switch back and forth between the two singers for a number of years after initially reuniting with Belladonna in 2005, the lanky singer has been a constant with the band ever since they participated in a series of "Big 4" European concerts with fellow thrash titans Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth in 2010 (there would subsequently be two U.S. concerts held at Yankee Stadium in New York and in Indio where the Coachella Music Festival is held).

The following year, the group released Worship Music, the first album to feature Belladonna since Persistence of Time and the band's first new recording since 2003. Featuring some of the most indelible songs of the band's career, the effort marked a brilliant return to form without sacrificing an iota of the band's characteristic aggression. The band has continued it's creative hitting streak ever since, issuing  the covers EP Anthems (featuring covers of classic tunes by AC/DC, Rush, Thin Lizzy and more) before finally offering fans a follow-up to Worship Music in 2016 with the critically acclaimed For All Kings.

Things have stayed busy for Anthrax this year. In addition to the group releasing the live album and DVD Kings Among Scotland recorded in Glasgow that featured Anthrax performing Among the Living in its entirety, the band has joined fellow thrash-metal icons Slayer on the two U.S. legs of the group's current farewell tour. CBS SF spoke with Anthrax bassist Frank Bello at a stop in Montana to discuss the current jaunt across the country that also includes '90s thrash revivalists Lamb of God, Bay Area favorites Testament and British grindcore greats Napalm Death ahead of the leg coming to a close at SAP Center in San Jose this Sunday, Aug. 26.

CBS SF: Hi Frank! How's it going?

Frank Bello: I'm great. I'm in Missoula, Montana. One of the places I really love after touring through here so many times. It's just a really great, really cool place to just vibe out in. I'm just walking around and enjoying the day. It's a little rainy, but that's OK. We have a headliner here tonight.

CBS SF: So this is one of the free days you had to book your own show? It looks like you're keeping up a pretty hectic schedule...

Frank Bello: Yeah, it's been a long run. We've been going at it quite hard, so we're looking forward to some time off soon.

CBS SF: I didn't realize until I was sorting through information for the interview that the San Jose show was the last date on the part of the tour. So technically the last Slayer show in the U.S. as of right now...

Frank Bello: Of this leg, yes. Anthrax has some one-off shows coming up in September and October, but the next leg of the Slayer tour is November 1st in Europe. And we're on that until December 8th, I think. So we'll have a little time to be with our families before we're off again. But we've been going pretty hard since the album [Kings Among Scotland] came out. But it's great to be touring so much. I'm glad people want to see us!

CBS SF: The last time I talked to someone with the band was an interview with Scott when Worship Music came out in 2010. I think the tour I saw for that album in San Francisco at the Warfield with you headlining was also with Testament and Death Angel...

Frank Bello: Well, they're all our good buddies, both Testament and Death Angel. We're all good friends. Everybody is very close. It's a very cool, tight knit metal community.

CBS SF: I guess that was one of the things I wanted to ask about. Given all of the history you have with Slayer and Testament as far as touring in the '80s and the '90s, I'm figuring those times might have been a little wilder. Have things changed a lot from back as far as hanging out after shows or what you do socially?

Frank Bello: All of the bands on this tour have toured together a lot. Let me put it this way: the other day, we had a day off and I went with our guitar player Jon [Donais of the band Shadows Fall, who joined Anthrax in 2013] to have a couple of drinks after dinner, and then we went to go meet Kerry King at a tequila bar [laughs]. And we had a great time! Not hammered; we just had a good time.

I'm pretty good friends with Kerry. He's probably one of my better friends in the metal scene for a long time. I'm often in their dressing room after their show having shots. It's not crazy. It's under of control, because of course, you have that next show is the next day and you've got to be up for it. The last thing I want to do is be hung over and feel like s--t. So it's all done in moderation, you know? You've got to be smart.

If you see all the shows that we're doing, there's no time after the show to really be doing that much partying, because we're off to the next show. And you've got to be ready. That's the truth. We did seven in a row; we did five in a row. One stretch we did 17 shows in 20 days with our headliners in between the Slayer shows. So you've got to keep up on it, man.

CBS SF: I'm sure there's a certain intensity to these shows with it being the last go-around for Slayer. Has there been anything on the tour that has stood out in terms the most insane, reckless displays by fans as far as stage diving?

Frank Bello: You know, the security has been so tight on this tour specifically, which I'm really happy to see. Because no one gets hurt that way. On either side. You don't see a lot of that, because it's all very controlled. Slayer has really great security. They have really taken care of the whole tour. This dude Chris on this leg, he's just been awesome. He cares about everybody and watches out for everybody.

And these are big places; arenas and amphitheaters and they are packed houses. If they're not sold out, it's packed. The crowds have been insane. Nobody expected this. The other night, we had 17,500 people. It was just incredible. That has been the biggest factor. The people have really been showing up for this tour. It is the hot tour, which I'm proud to say. It's been a great tour for everybody. We're all getting in front of a lot of people.

CBS SF: I know Slayer fans are not always the most generous when it comes to their patience with support acts. I'm imagining that the history that Anthrax and Testament have as far as touring with the band takes that out of the equation…

Frank Bello: No, the Slayer fans are awesome. And most of them are Anthrax fans. It's metal! It's about the metal fans and metal fans rule, period. Everybody knows that it's a great community of people getting together. And that's not a kiss up, because I'm a metal fan. I know how it is and I love that I'm involved with this thing that we've chosen since we started a whole bunch of years ago.

CBS SF: That reminds me of something Steve Souza from Exodus once told me in an interview. He said, "People don't say, 'Yeah, I remember that one summer I listened to Slayer.' If you listen to Slayer, you listen to Slayer!" It's a lifetime thing. You're either in or you're out. That's it. I'm kind of sad to see them go. I've been seeing them play live for over 30 years, but it's good to see them going out on top.

Frank Bello: Exactly. And there's always going to be Slayer to listen to. That's the way I look at it. I'm very close with these guys. You don't say goodbye. You say, "I'll see you next time."

CBS SF: One thing I wasn't aware of as much prior to researching for our talk was the hand you have in writing the vocal melodies for the songs. I was curious how that works. Are you sitting down with Joey and working out ideas once the songs are taking shape, or is it more of a full band collaboration when you get that part together?

Frank Bello: Well the beginning of the writing, working out the song structure from the riffs, that begins with Charlie, Scott and myself getting together in a room and banging it out. It's kind of like making a cake. You make the batter, you bake it and then you put the frosting on top. So the vocal melodies go on top of it once you have the structure of the song. You have to work out the verses, the chorus and the bridge.

And, quite honestly, it's about what's best for the song. We've been doing it for so long now. You've really got to get rid of your ego and just think, "What's best for the song?" You've got to swallow some s--t sometimes. That's the bottom line. What's best for the song is all we want. And what's going to get people moving. If it gets us moving and it gives us a fire in our bellies, then we're pretty sure -- and hopeful at the same time- that people will feel it too.

CBS SF: I was really happy to see the cover of Joe Jackson's "Got the Time" on recent set lists, especially since you only have a limited time onstage for this tour with five bands playing. But it got me wondering. Given the band's full-album performances of Among the Living on recent tours, have you considered the idea of doing a similar performance retrospective tour for Persistence of Time? To me, that's probably one of the greatest Anthrax albums of all time and a personal favorite...

Frank Bello: It's funny, a lot of people ask about that record. It's between that one and State of Euphoria. And that song, "Got the Time" is really a punch in the face. It gets the crowd going. We start that song, and all of a sudden, it's on! And for this specific tour, we just want to come out and rage. It's non stop. And everybody knows there's another record that's got to be written and all that stuff.

I mean, I'd love to do everything from the latest record. I'd love to play every song from For All Kings, but there's not enough time in this set specifically. Who knows about the future? I look forward to doing more, even from Persistence. We have talked about doing more songs from that in the future. I'm sure that's going to come around.

CBS SF: With all the time being taken up touring, do you and Scott and Charlie try to work on new material for the next album while you're on the road?

Frank Bello: What happens on the road, you can't really get together right. You just have your own personal thing, maybe putting down some ideas on your iPhone or tape recorder or whatever you write with. I usually just use my iPhone. So if you have riffs and you have melodies, you remember them; what's good and what's going to stick. So that's what I do.

We have some tentative time that we've got booked in January to try to get together, Charlie Scott and I. But I also have another record coming out with this side project coming up in January. It's with Dave Ellefson from Megadeth called Altitudes & Attitude. I have to deal with that too, so I'm going to be a little bit busy. But I like that kind of busy.

CBS SF: As much stuff as will be going on, do you see yourself having time to tour with Dave in Altitudes & Attitudes once the album is out? I know from the clips I've seen, when you've performed while doing bass clinics, you've played as a two piece, but I figure you'd go out with a full live band...

Frank Bello: That's a good question. Now, as we speak, we have a tentative release date of January 18th for the record. We're pretty excited and Megaforce is loving the record. I'm happy to hear that. It's just straight up hard rock with melody. It's a hard-rock record, it's not metal. But that's what we wanted to do and what have a good time doing. Anybody who has heard the EP we did a few years back, it's more along the lines of that.

But we are working on some tentative dates. Right now we've got a booking agent looking into it. It's not going to be long, extensive dates, because that just won't work with our day jobs in Megadeth and Anthrax [laughs]. That's first priority. But we are looking at when we have time to book some shows.

CBS SF: In the past, you've also talked about going to open mic nights to try songs out with just a guitar. Are you also working on material for a projected solo album somewhere down the line?

Frank Bello: That's sort of what A&A is; those songs are part of it. But yeah, I've done the open mic nights for years. There's nothing more raw than standing in front of a mic by yourself with an electric guitar. And I love that. Just trying stuff out in front of people you don't know, and they don't know me.

It's not like I'm a big star or anything. I don't say, "I'm Frank Bello from Anthrax!" I just say I'm Frank...I don't remember what last name I used! Just so I can get stuff out and experiment. And a lot of people will come up afterwards and acknowledge it and that's a cool thing. I appreciate that kind of openness. It's a good time. And I just want to have good songs. That's what it's about really.

CBS SF: This is probably not something you can discuss in any official capacity since there hasn't been any announcement yet, but there have been rumors that Slayer might continue touring in 2019 with either a revival of the Clash of the Titans tour with Megadeth and you guys as well as the possibility of the Big 4 doing more dates. Is there any credence to any of that? Or that all still under wraps at this point?

Frank Bello: I wouldn't say it's under wraps because I don't know about it. But I would absolutely love for the Big 4 thing to happen again. That would be the right thing to do for everybody. I would love that. I mean, as far as Slayer goes, I'm sure they're going to do more shows next year, but I don't know if we'll be on them, because we do have our album to write. It's all about scheduling and agents and all that. But we'd be open to any of that, specifically the Big 4. I think all four bands that were involved with the Big 4 would love to do it again. But that's totally up to Metallica.

CBS SF: I'd say really make a day of it and add Testament and Exodus and Death Angel. As someone who grew up in the Bay Area, I would love to see that.

Frank Bello: A lot of people would. And believe me, we'd love to do it. But it's not our game. It's Metallica's decision. When they're ready. They're doing alright by themselves right now [laughs].

Formed by guitarist Brian James (who had played in proto-punk outfit London SS) and drummer Rat Scabies (aka Chris Millar), the initial line-up of the band was filled out by singer Dave Vanian (born David Letts), and bassist Captain Sensible (aka Raymond Burns). The quartet played its first show supporting the Pistols at the legendary 100 Club in July of 1976, but beat the band into record stores with the October release of their debut single on Stiff Records of their classic anthem "New Rose."

The Damned would join the Sex Pistols along with the Clash and former New York Doll Johnny Thunders and his band the Heartbreakers on the notorious "Anarchy Tour of the UK" in December of 1976 that found a majority of the dates canceled by promoters or authorities. The Damned issued their proper debut album Damned Damned Damned in February of 1977.

Produced by pub rock veteran Nick Lowe, the album featured a raw set of blistering future punk classics like "Neat Neat Neat," "Born to Kill" and "Messed Up." The band's maiden voyage to the U.S. that spring was marked by a tendency to ramp up the already fast tempos, a move that's credited for inspiring early bands of the West Coast hardcore punk scene.

The band's follow-up effort Music For Pleasure found the band making the unusual choice of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason as producer after mentally fractured Floyd founder Syd Barrett was unavailable. Though now considered another classic, at the time it was dismissed by critics and fans. Already at odds with each other during the tracking of the album, the failure of Music For Pleasure got the Damned dropped by Stiff Records and group split up for the first time shortly thereafter.

The individual members would delve into other projects before eventually reforming without James, initially with Motorhead bassist Lemmy Kilmister temporarily filling in for performances under the monikers Les Punks and the Doomed after Sensible switched to guitar before scoring a new deal with Chiswick to record as the Damned. The band rebounded with the garage-rock infused gem Machine Gun Etiquette in late 1979 featuring the hit singles and future classics "Love Song," "I Just Can't Be Happy Today" and "Smash It Up."

The band would go on to record a string of influential '80s albums, branching out into early gothic punk on the ambitious 1980 effort The Black Album (featuring the epic 17-minute track "Curtain Call") and delving into a mix of goth rock and punk psychedelia with subsequent classics Strawberries (Captain Sensible's last effort prior to an extended departure for his own successful solo career) and Phantasmagoria.

The band split up again in 1988 after a farewell concert, but it didn't take long for Vanian and Scabies to reunite and tour with new recruits the following decade, with Captain Sensible returning to the fold in 1996. While the Damned have only issued a handful of studio albums in the past two decades, the group has toured regularly and remains a fixture of punk festivals on both sides of the Atlantic.

More recently, the outfit was the subject of the raucous 2016 documentary by director Wes Orshoski entitled The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead that explored the band's early roots and took a closer look at the bond that has kept Vanian and Sensible on the road four decades later. Last year found the Damned celebrating its 40th anniversary with an extensive tour and completing their first new studio album in a decade after an online crowd-funding campaign. Recorded with legendary producer Tony Visconti -- who worked with David Bowie, T. Rex and Thin Lizzy to name but a few -- as Strawberries-era bassist Paul Gray, Evil Spirits was released on Search and Destroy/Spinefarm records this past spring to wide acclaim, with some critics calling it the band's best effort since the '80s.

The group has been busy with a recent string of European and British tour dates promoting the new recording, but Captain Sensible was kind enough to take the time and answer a number of questions via email about Evil Spirits ahead of the Damned's upcoming headlining set at Burger Boogaloo in Oakland's Mosswood Park on Sunday, July 1.

CBS SF: Were the songs for Evil Spirits written over the course of the decade since So Who's Paranoid? Or was there a concentrated period of writing ahead of the recording sessions?

Captain Sensible: Before we discovered crowd funding, there weren't queues of record labels chasing us waving contracts. The Damned have always been quite curmudgeonly in that we only make the music we like, regardless of considerations of commerciality. Record company people don't like that sorta thinking.

But once we'd raised the funds, it was time to come up with a bunch of songs so the whole band went at it in a competitive way, all attempting to write the first single. That may be why the album sounds like a "Best of" hits compilation.

CBS SF: The songwriting credits are spread fairly evenly across the band members, but the overarching lyrical themes of edging towards the apocalypse and distrust of the powers that be run through the whole album. Was there any discussion of song subject matter as a group? Or were you all on the same page given the planet's current precarious state politically and otherwise?

Captain Sensible: Mr Vanian wrote the album's opener, "Standing On the Edge of Tomorrow," which has a despairing "stop the world I wanna get off" vibe.

We all know the lunatics are running the asylum, so as a band, you either play boy meets girl songs, exorcise your demons or have a rabble rouse, which we decided on this time round. And why not? We are a punk band after all.

CBS SF: Musically, Evil Spirits seems to lean more towards the gothic drama and hooky, Love-influenced psychedelia of the band's '80s output like Strawberries and Phantasmagoria. Did you look to any of the Damned's earlier works as a touchstone for this album?

Captain Sensible: For inspiration, Dave and myself went back to the records we bought as kids, when first getting turned onto music. So, as we grew up listening to Merseybeat, psych and garage, there's a lot of that in Evil Spirits. We always had a soft spot for the Left Banke and Love, which we were listening to when recording Strawberries, so maybe as you say this album does follow that one style-wise.

CBS SF: What was your experience working with Tony Visconti? Was it hard not to get bogged down plying him for stories about recording David Bowie and T. Rex?

Captain Sensible: Who doesn't love a good Marc Bolan story? The guy was totally out there and Tony recorded all his hits so [he] saw some extremely wacky stuff. But it wasn't all one way traffic; we had a choice selection of Bolan anecdotes ourselves, seeing as we'd supported T Rex on their last UK tour.

Which sounds unlikely, a snotty young punk band gigging with a glam superstar. But Marc was smart and could see fashions were changing. With a cranked up setlist, he played high-velocity shows each night, which pleased our fans, while Dave grabbed the T Rex aficionados' attention with his sense of drama.

As for Tony, the great thing was we were all on the same page in our desire to make a classic sounding album, with the raw edges left on. Some modern records are maximised, auto-corrected and polished to oblivion. Rock 'n roll was never meant to be perfect.

Oh, and when I asked for Small Faces tape phasing, he knew exactly what I was talking about, which made me smile.

CBS SF: I was reading that the album used only about half of the songs you demoed for the label. Do you have any immediate plans for that material, or will it just be set aside for possible use on the next Damned album?

Captain Sensible: Since we've learned how to write songs again, it'd be a bit rubbish not to do another album sometime, so yes.

CBS SF: Were there any newer tunes of yours that didn't make Evil Spirits that could possibly end up on a future Captain Sensible solo album? Or do you see yourself focusing on the Damned for the time being?

Captain Sensible: It takes about two years of work getting an album together... so not something you just wave a wand at and it suddenly appears. So to keep my stress levels as level as possible, I'll be concentrating solely on the Damned for the time being.

CBS SF: Some of the band's more recent tours in 2016 and 2017 focused pretty heavily on songs from Damned Damned Damned and Machine Gun Etiquette. Did revisiting those albums live have any influence on the writing or recording of Evil Spirits?

Captain Sensible: Performing those albums was a serious workout and whipped us into shape as a live band. I think you can hear that on Evil Spirits. Drummer Pinch and bassist Paul Gray were immense as a rhythm section, which gave Monty and myself a lot of freedom to  think a bit more on the epic side.

[Editor's note: New bassist Jon Priestly will be playing with the band at Burger Boogaloo]

CBS SF: Do you foresee featuring other albums from the catalog like The Black Album or Strawberries more heavily on the road in the future?

Captain Sensible: The difficult thing with the Damned is that we are three bands crammed into one: having been there at the dawn of punk, having a hand in the creation of goth, and also dabbling in a little psych whenever we feel it appropriate (or think we can get away with it!). So writing setlists can sometimes be difficult.

CBS SF: You suffered an injury during the band's last U.S. tour that required a few postponed shows, but you managed to soldier on after some recovery time. Did the spill lead to you reigning in the abandon of your onstage performance?

Captain Sensible: I hate stage barriers, even more so now since I fell onto one last year and broke a bloody rib. The thing is, gigs are just so much better when the audience and band are up close, so (and as our tour manager will attest) I'm always complaining about barriers, and the distance they are from the stage.

That's how I fell, 'cos I was tippy toeing on the edge [of the stage] -- showing off, my colleagues might say. But we are that kinda band, all trying to grab a little more than our fair share of the spotlight.

CBS SF: You've never made a secret of your admiration for Syd Barrett. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on your old producer Nick Mason getting together a band to play early Floyd songs?

Captain Sensible: Surprisingly Nick has done just that, putting together a band to go out and play Syd's songs, so good luck to him.

I know he produced us at a difficult time, when the first Damned lineup was imploding badly, hardly talking to each other. But forget the comments like "he couldn't mix a gin and tonic" and the like; Nick actually did a pretty good job of Music For Pleasure. I read the following on Julian Cope's website yesterday and subsequently listened to a couple of tracks. Surprisingly, I have to agree with the reviewer. They don't sound half bad either!

The Damned headline Day 2 of Burger Boogaloo at Oakland's Mosswood Park this Sunday, July 1. For more tickets and information, visit the Burger Boogaloo website.

(LIVE 105) – There's a national holiday for seemingly everything these days & while some might go unnoticed (shout out to National Situational Awareness Day on September 26!) there's plenty that are celebrated widely. For instance, this Friday (September 29) is National Coffee Day & that means you can score some deals on your daily brew, or even free cups.

Dunkin' Donuts

You can get a FREE medium coffee on Friday with the purchase of any medium, or larger hot coffee. It's a good way to celebrate this week's opening of the new store in Fremont (5255 Mowry Ave.)

Krispy Kreme

The donut shop is offering free coffee all weekend starting on Friday. Get a free hot coffee in any size, or a small iced coffee for free...no purchase necessary.

Starbucks

While Starbucks won't be giving away free coffee they will be changing all of their signage to reflect the brand's ethical sourcing commitments & coffee farmer support.

Peet's Coffee

On Friday, Peet's coffee beans will be 25% off & you can get a free drip coffee, or tea with purchase of the beans.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
25% off coffee & capsules on Friday morning

McDonald's
Download the My McCafe app to get a free McCafe latte or frappe.

By Dallas

©2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved.

After honing it's material and celebratory live performance that frequently featured the band marching through audiences while chanting and playing percussion instruments in California clubs, the group released it's self-titled debut album on Almo Sounds in 1998. It was that line-up of the group with two members of rising LA hip-hop act Jurassic 5 (rapper Chali 2na and turntable wizard Cut Chemist) that helped establish Ozomatli as a powerhouse stage group.

Songs like "Cut Chemist Suite" and "Super Bowl Sundae" became fan favorites and garnered some radio and video airplay, while dates supporting iconic Latin-rock band introduced the group to a more mainstream audience. By the time Ozomatli had issued its sophomore effort Embrace the Chaos on the unfortunate release date of September 11, 2001, the rapper and DJ had moved on to focus their attention on Jurassic 5 (though Chali 2na and Cut Chemist have reunited with the band onstage and in the studio since then).

Ozomatli would continue its tradition of progressive politics with it's outspoken opposition to the subsequent war in Iraq. The band's line-up expanded to ten members for a time with the addition of trombonist Sheffer Bruton, drummer Mario Calire, new MC Jabu Smith-Freeman and replacement turntablist DJ Spinobi. Their follow-up album Street Signs in 2004 earned the group it's first Grammy Award for best Latin Rock/Alternative Album as well as the band's first Latin Grammy as they introduced more global elements to their sound. Two years later, Ozomatli became official cultural ambassadors for the U.S. State Department, further expanding the members' collective horizon with a series of sponsored international tours that spanned the globe.

By 2010, Ozomatli had introduced a more stripped-down line-up and started exploring other avenues including a children's album Ozomatli Presents Ozokidz (an effort that mirrored the group's regular family matinee shows offering discounted admission for children), soundtrack work for film, video games and television (they served as the house band for comedian Gabriel Iglesias on his show Standup Revolution) and giving the first ever TED Talk involving a musical group.

For the band's latest effort Nonstop: Mexico to Jamaica, Ozomatli has teamed with legendary reggae producers Sly and Robbie to dramatically recast a wide array of songs from Mexico with a distinctly Jamaican flavor. Material ranges from traditional standards ("Besame Mucho," "Volver Volver") to more modern tunes (Cafe Tacvba's "Eres" and Selena's "Como La Flor") to a trio of songs that will be more familiar to non-Spanish speakers (Santana-via-Willie Bobo hit "Evil Ways," Redbone's smash "Come and Get Your Love" and the '60s garage-soul favorite "Land of 1,000 Dances"). Guests on the album include American jazz/pop trumpet legend Heb Alpert, Mexican rockers Juanes, funky modern bluesman G. Love and returning rapper Chali 2na.

CBS SF recently spoke with guitarist and founding member Raúl Pacheco about how the band came up with the songs covered on the new recording ahead of Ozomatli's upcoming performances this weekend at the New Parish in Oakland and the Mystic Theatre in Petaluma.

CBS SF: Did you know going into making the album that you were going to be drawing from such a broad range of Mexican songs from traditional to modern?

Raúl Pacheco: Yeah, I think that was the concept Justin [Poree, percussionist and rapper] had. He asked us what our favorites songs or most popular songs were, and between us all that was a large group. We kept brainstorming that, and from there we make like 20 something demos and then kind of whittled it down with the help of Sly and Robbie.

But we did figure over 100 years, we wanted to make a really broad range of music both in terms of the time period of the Mexican songs, but also in terms of Jamaican music in general. We're referencing ska to one drop to reggae to more electronic styles of Jamaican music that are more modern. So we viewed it as this expansive history of both regions.

CBS SF: How hard was it to narrow down your choices?

Raúl Pacheco: It was hard. People just kept naming things. But it was between us and the help of Sly and Robbie that we figured out which ones were working as songs in terms of the way we decided to present them. So it was a combination of those things.

CBS SF: Did you plan from the outset to work with Sly and Robbie?

Raúl Pacheco: We had worked with them on a song on their last record [The Reggae Power 2 from 2015] that was called "Affinity" that was kind of the single for that. So we already had a relationship with them. When the idea came up, we went straight to them thinking, 'Well, if they're into this, that would really make it cool.'

Because us doing a record like that, there were some questions about it. Not all of us were totally convinced it was something necessarily worth doing. But when they came on board, then everybody automatically said 'Yes!" Because I think just the opportunity to have some kind of interaction with them was something that got people really excited.

CBS SF: Was the collaboration on "Affinity" a file-swapping scenario or were you were actually in the studio with them?

Raúl Pacheco: It was the same [as Nonstop Mexico to Jamaica]. It was a lot of computer work and being on the phone and talking to the engineer and talking to them and kind of letting them do their thing. We turned in all those demos and we just let them tweak them and play on them and do different things.

So then we just edited and made sure that everything was cool and that was it. It was pretty cool. Everyone was super straight forward. For us to have that kind of authenticity on this record was really important to us.

CBS SF: So this album was more of a remote situation? Was there any point where you got together in the studio with them in person?

Raúl Pacheco: No, we didn't go into Miami, where they work out of. And they were in LA, they were working on other stuff. So it was actually easier for them to tell us, "Hey, make these tracks. We're going to do this to them and we're going to play on this. We want you to check this out." So we had those kind of exchanges.

CBS SF: Given that you started with a larger number of songs that you narrowed down, do you feel like there were enough ideas you might do a second volume?

Raúl Pacheco: I don't know. We're already writing the music for our next record. It's all original, funk-based music, and that means different things to us. The concept that we did like with this record that we feel could possibly carry on to the next record it that there is at least a general genre. We'll go through all these different types of music on one recording, but what we're finding is that we would like to probably explore a genre with a little more focus.

That was something we did on this record that we liked. So will the next record be an all funk record that references the '70s and '80s or will it be different? Who knows. But generally, that's what we're doing. I don't know if we'll make another volume of this music, but we'll probably let those songs be heard at some point.

CBS SF: How much of this album will you be playing live on the tour that's coming to the Bay Area?

Raúl Pacheco: We'll do at least a medley that includes five or six songs from the new record where we play them all in a row and kind of give a sampling. And then we'll also play one or two songs in complete form. So it's probably about a third of the show that features the new stuff.

CBS SF: As a Latin band that has always had a substantial hip-hop element to your sound, did you consider including any Latin hip-hop covers, either songs by Mexican hip-hop groups like Molotov or more Latin-influenced hip hop like Mellow Man Ace or Cypress Hill?

Raúl Pacheco: There were some of those songs, but they just didn't make the cut. When we had done it all, these were the songs that seemed like they fit and did what we wanted them to do the most.

CBS SF: I was going to ask why you included "Land of a Thousand Dances," but remembered there being some sort of Latin connection. Once I looked it up, I saw that both the Cannibal and the Headhunters and Thee Midniters from East LA had big hits with it...

Raúl Pacheco: Yeah, it was more of the Chicano connection. For us, Mexican music, there's a history to it with the different regions and different kinds of styles. In our upbringing as Mexican Americans, those songs have a meaning for us. They're kind of included in that. So that's what it was about. We kind of extended it to that. It felt like it fit in on a certain level, so we just decided to do it. That's why those songs are on there.

CBS SF: One song that doesn't have a Latin connection that I'm aware of is Native American band Redbone's hit "Come and Get Your Love." How did that song end up on the album?

Raúl Pacheco: Actually, those guys are Mexican American too.

CBS SF: Oh really? I didn't know that. Ozomatli has never shied away from political messages, but this collection of covers seems to step away from that at a time when things have never been more political in America. Was there any thought to trying to inject more of a political element in the record?

Raúl Pacheco: We felt that this was a record where most of the songs were in Spanish. With all of the talk of cultural borders and compartmentalizing today, we felt we're going to be very proud and play these Mexican songs in Spanish. For us, I think it was a cultural act. There is all this talk about immigration, but here is a slew of songs that generally are from Mexicans. And some of them are known the world over, like "Besame Mucho." That's one of the most translated songs.

So we made this statement, "Here is a country that has produced all of this music that we all can be proud of." I think that's kind of what it became. We saw the relevance in highlighting certain cultures that are not traditionally American. There are plenty of those cultures that have influenced this country with their communities. So it became an affirmation of all that.

CBS SF: Ozomatli has had a turnover of members, but you've always maintained the current core of six members. Is there any secret to getting along over 20 years after first coming together?

Raúl Pacheco: I think the thing that has kept us together is that the band has become a conduit for our own personal desires to play music. And I think that has always been bigger than any kind of conflict we've had with one and other.

We're had plenty of conflicts. We're grown men, but we kind of grew up together. We went from being young to being family men and you learn as you go along how to interact with each other. Musicians have egos, especially when they're younger I think; how do you satisfy that dynamic so it's enjoyable? You have to work on all these basic things that are important in any relationship. I think that we've gotten through some really difficult moments with one and other. We're adults and we're generally pretty happy and we generally like what we're doing. So I think we found a way to survive.

Though they only released four studio albums between the founding of Bauhaus in 1978 with singer Peter Murphy and bassist David J (Haskins' older brother) and the band's abrupt dissolution in 1983, the quartet achieved a level of impact unmatched by many groups that emerged in the wake of punk rock's initial explosion in England. Imitated by many and matched by none, Bauhaus crafted a dark vision that held sway over so many disciples that the band entered a rarified echelon occupied by the likes of the Velvet Underground and Black Sabbath in terms of the breadth of their reach.

While Bauhaus eventually reunite for two rapturously received tours in 1998 and 2005 prior to recording one final album -- the celebrated swan song Go Away White in 2008 that led to a last acrimonious split -- Ash and Haskins also hit great heights of commercial and critical success with David J in their trio Love and Rockets. Reviving the spirit of late '60s psychedelia with their nuanced songwriting and gifts for hooky, hypnotic tunes, the band made alternative rock before the genre even existed. They managed one huge MTV hit in 1989 with "So Alive," but it was the body of work the band created over 15 years starting in 1985 that earned them a rabidly loyal cult of fans.

Love and Rockets would also enjoy a high-profile reunion in the late 2000s, playing lucrative festival gigs at Coachella and Lollapalooza before Ash announced in no uncertain terms in 2009 that he wasn't interested in reviving the band again. Ash put out a handful of solo recordings since then (including the career overview Stripped in 2014 that found him offering up new versions of classic songs) but it wasn't until recently that he reached out to Kevin Haskins with the idea of returning to the stage and revisiting the songs of Tones on Tail, his early '80s experimental project with roommate and Bauhaus roadie Glenn Campling on bass that eventually included Haskins on drums once Bauhaus had split.

Recruiting Haskins' daughter Diva Dompe to play bass and keyboards, the new trio began playing live shows under the moniker Poptone earlier this year to great acclaim. Though the band touches on a handful of Ash-penned Love and Rockets tunes and a sole Bauhaus song (with the odd Adam Ant and David Bowie cover getting thrown into some sets), the bulk of the Poptone repertoire is drawn from the minimalist "doom and dance" pop experimentation tracked by Tones on Tail during their brief existence between the musicians' other two bands.

In 2017, CBS SF spoke with all three members of Poptone ahead of their then current tour, discussing the musical heritage of Tones on Tail and the different approach the new trio has taken in exploring that history onstage.

CBS SF: To go back to when Tones on Tail started, Daniel had already been working with Glenn Campling and putting out music under the name prior to Bauhaus splitting up in 1983. Had their been any thought or discussion prior to that of Kevin joining as a third member?

Kevin Haskins: No, I joined after the split. I think Daniel kindly invited me to come on board and I was very happy to do so.

Daniel Ash: Glenn and myself were getting bored with the drum machine. We needed the injection of Kevin's magnificent talent.

CBS SF: So Kevin, you had already heard the material that the band was putting out and were familiar with it?

Kevin Haskins: I was a big fan as Daniel and Glenn were releasing all those EPs. I loved the music! I thought it was great, so I was really excited when I was invited to join.

Daniel Ash: You don't sound very excited [laughs]. I'm just joking...

CBS SF: There are some points of reference in Tones on Tail like the use of acoustic 12-string guitar that connects the sound to what you did in Bauhaus, but there is much more that departs from your musical past. How conscious were you about moving in a different direction from Bauhaus when you started the band in 1982?

Daniel Ash: It's not a conscious thing at all. It's the chemistry of the people working together. If you look at the different bands, it's always the same people give or take a member of whatever group. So Glenn's bass playing was totally different from David's bass playing and his taste in music is pretty different as well. So the chemistry of those three people in Tones on Tail is very different. Tones on Tail's music was very bass heavy, but Glenn's playing was very original and not the obvious sort of thing; a lot of bass players would just follow what the guitar was doing.

Glenn was the opposite. He would never do that. I would often work around him. He would get the killer riff and I would work around that riff. And the only way I could get it to go into a chorus would be to drop him out, go somewhere else, and then drop him back in. It's very unusual. Once he locked into a rhythm, he wouldn't change, in a good way. He would not go into the corny chorus or the corny middle eight. I know Glenn always hated that sort of songwriting style. He thought it was really old fashioned.

So he would just lock into a riff and that had a big influence [on Tones], whereas David was the complete opposite of that. He loves middle eights and choruses. With Tones, it was a really quirky, motley crew, us three. We're really different, the three of us, but we definitely complemented each other. I think  Tones' music has aged really well. I think it sounds like it could have been recorded last week or it could have been recorded 35 years ago.

CBS SF: One thing that struck me listening to the Tones on Tails material was how much of what sounds to me like guitar being played with an E-Bow, particularly on the more ambient instrumental tracks. It reminded me a lot of Robert Fripp and Andy Summers, so I was wondering if they had an influence on that sound.

Daniel Ash: Fripp, to be honest with you, hasn't been a huge influence on me, though I was a big Brian Eno fan. As far as guitarists go, I'd have to say there's Jimi Hendrix and Mick Ronson and that's about it really. I just love the fact that Mick Ronson in particular just howls on one or two notes rather than shredding. I have no interest in shredding, unless of course Jimi Hendrix is doing it, and then that's on a totally different level.

But going back to the E-Bow thing, I remember very specifically that Kevin and myself, and in fact I think the whole band Bauhaus, walked into a music shop. And Kevin wanted one of these Synares, which was one of the first electronic trigger drum pads. I think the guys in New Order had one and he really wanted one too. So we were in the shop and I saw this little chrome thing on the shelf -- and I love anything that's chrome -- so I saw it and asked, "What's that little thing on the shelf?" And they said, "Oh, that's called an E-Bow."

And he explained to me what it did [it is an electromagnetic device that vibrates an electric guitar string without touching it, producing a sound similar to that of a string bow], I thought, "Oh my God! That's a dream come true!" It basically turned the guitar into a keyboard or a violin. Apparently it had been sitting on the shelf for two or three years, and I asked "How come nobody has bought this thing?" And it's the funniest -- a very Northampton thing, It was about £99 or around $120, and they said nobody would buy it because they weren't going to be paying £99 for something so small! [laughs]

It was a beautiful compact little device, but they don't make the chrome ones anymore and they have to have a switch now to switch them on. Before you would just put them over the pick-up and they would fire up. So that would have been back in 1978 or 1979. They're pretty much exactly the same. I think the big difference -- besides the switch -- is you have two octaves you can use. But it's one of the best inventions ever. It can take the guitar into a totally different area, because it keeps the strings sustaining.

CBS SF: Another aspect that I enjoyed about Tones on Tail was how the sound at times almost seems to split the difference between a couple of '80s UK contemporaries: the synth-pop of Gary Numan and the harder, punk edge of Killing Joke...

Kevin Haskins: I remember Glenn being a big fan of Gary Numan and Killing Joke, so that could be where that could be coming from. He was also the guy, in addition to playing bass, who was taking care of the keyboards. So the keyboard stuff on "Lions," that's all Glenn. He was a big fan of both of those bands I remember.

CBS SF: One of the biggest songs for Tones on Tail after the fact has been "Go," mostly because of how extensively it has been used in movies and television. There are a number of danceable Tones on Tails songs, but that is the once certifiable dance floor classic in the catalog. It's so distinct from the band's other work. Do you remember how the song took shape? Did it all start with that amazing bass line?

Daniel Ash:  I don't know if Kevin remembers with this one, but I don't remember the exact making of that track. I remember doing the words for it. I remember getting those together, because I used the cut-up method. I took magazine and newspaper headlines as Bowie had done and William Burroughs.

But as far as the riff, I imagine on that one it would have been a case of Glenn coming up with the bass line. He was probably fooling around with our $50 drum machine and he came up with that riff. I remember back when we were playing in the cellar where we first lived, we'd just click the buttons on the drum machine and start going with a very simple beat and jam around that. He would come up with those killer bass lines and I'd just start adding lyrics and vocal melodies and guitar riffs.

Kevin Haskins: It would have to be that way, because I can't imagine you could build that track without having the bass line first. I just think it's remarkable that I had that many cowbells so I could play a melody [laughs]. They were all kind of perfectly tuned to Western scales, like in the same key.

Daniel Ash: I can understand that they were all in tune in a Western scale, because you bought them in the west. But here's an example of the Tones' quirkiness we injected. Kevin coming up with that really quirky bit on the cowbells, you would never get most rock bands to do that. Unless it was somebody like the Pixies; they look at things differently and that's why they're interesting as well.

But that's an example right there. You've got that killer bass line from Glenn and then that quirky combination of cowbell notes that's very cartoon like. It's got a bit of humor to it. And that, I think, is the beauty of the band. There's juxtapositions between the serious elements and the real quirky elements and they're joined together. There's the formula. But having said that, you can't manufacture that formula. That's a natural thing that has to do with those three individuals working together at that period of time to make that music. It's predestiny.

CBS SF: When I told friends on Facebook that I was going to be talking to you and solicited questions from the hive mind, that was one of them: how did you come up with that weird cowbell sound on "Go?"

Daniel Ash: People think it's just one cowbell that got vari-tuned or something with effects in the studio. But how many was it Kevin?

Kevin Haskins: I think it was five. I think it is like what Danny just said; sometimes it's just predestined. Sometimes things just happen in the studio where ideas come out of left field and things just work like that. I sometimes think there is a higher power or some other element that's coming into play.

CBS SF: Another song that really seemed to resonate from the Tones on Tails catalog is "Rain." A few friends brought it up as something they listened to over and over when they were kids. Did you realize when you were recording that song that you were tapping into teenage angst and melancholy?

Daniel Ash: As far as the lyrics go on that, I was a moody little bugger. I had extreme mood swings from really high to really low. They've got a name for it now, haven't they? Bipolar. But I was definitely one of those guys, especially with the weather in the UK. If you're lucky, you would have a couple of moments of sunshine and a lot of rain. And human being's environment will determine their state of mine, that's for sure. That's why everybody in California is so happy. That's been my theory up to now anyway.

But as far as the lyrics go, definitely. I don't think I would have written that in Malibu, for example. But it's definitely very English. It's got that grayness to it. On the recording of it, at first it wasn't working. I remember I probably wanted to do some reverse guitar with reverb on it. So when we turned the tape over -- in those days we used two-inch tape -- when we turned it over and ran it backwards, it sounded more interesting than forwards. So we kept it backwards and wrote around the backward track instead of the forward track.

There again you have that experimentation we used to do in that band. There was no commercial considerations in Tones on Tail. The record company never asked us for a single. We never made any videos for Tones. It wasn't even talked about for some strange reason. I must say, for myself, I was still very much trying to get a Top 10 hit on the real charts. Not the alternative charts, because that didn't mean anything to me, and it still doesn't. I was always thinking it would be fantastic if we had a hit with Tones on the real charts. The ones that everybody knows about, not the indie stuff.

So it's funny. Although we never made any videos and we were never asked to create a single that would be a hit -- and, mind you, that was never Beggar's Banquet's style anyway. They never asked for hit records, they just asked for great records. And that was always great about them.

CBS SF: Diva, I know you have some band experience playing with your sister Lola in the group Black Black, but I was curious how far back your interest in music went and if you and Lola were playing music with your dad as you were growing up?

Diva Diompe: Kind of, yeah. We just grew up around music all of the time and a lot of my parents friends were musicians. They were always playing new music they were interested in. My dad gave me drum lessons every once in a while. So I would pick things up and always had a lot of love for music and a deep connection to it.

I've been writing songs since I was a little kid. When I was 13, Danny got me a bass guitar for my birthday and I started learning that and started playing in some punk bands with friends. I was in a punk band in high school that I actually played drums in, and after that I did Black Black. And then I've been in a few bands since Black Black as well; that ended ten years ago. And I've done my own solo music too. I have three solo albums out and more forthcoming and some other projects as well. Other solo projects under different names. So I've been doing this my whole life.

CBS SF: Was Diva the first person who came to mind to play bass and fill out the trio when the plan hatched to put together a new band?

Daniel Ash: Well, in a nutshell, yes. When I made the decision and was able and wanted to do this -- because I hadn't really wanted to do any live stuff -- once I'd made that decision, the first thing I said to Kevin was, "Alright, great! Who's playing bass?" And he suggested Diva, and as soon as he said that to me over the phone, I had this huge lift up inside me. I thought, "Oh my God, that would be a dream come true! If Diva can pull this off, it couldn't be more perfect." Both on the visual level and a musical level.

And she got the gig! The big test to me was if she could play the bass line to "Go," and she nailed it. And that was it. That's when she got the gig. But as soon ask Kevin suggested Diva, I thought, "Well, in a perfect world, that would be fantastic." But I didn't know her capabilities as far as how good she was on the bass. But she's totally nailing all these riffs. Problem solved. So it couldn't be a better combination. The way we look and the chemistry when we're doing the gigs has been really strong. It's been great. Better than ever. So I'm knocking on wood. Or at least picking up a twig in the garden. We're having a lot of good luck at the moment and hopefully it carries on.

CBS SF: So how much input did Diva have as far as the song selection of what you're covering? I know from the setlists I've seen that you're not doing "Rain" which will bum some of my friends out, but it does seem more of a rock show...

Daniel Ash: We couldn't do "Rain" live anyway, because there's all the backwards tapes and everything.

Diva Diompe: I asked for "Rain" a lot [laughs]. A few times at least, but it wasn't happening. But I did get "Lions" in there. We weren't going to do it, but then I figured it out and played it for them, and they said, "OK!"

Kevin Haskins: Also "Performance" as well.

Daniel Ash: Also Diva definitely had an influence it what we look like on stage. I had it in my head that we'd do this and be really simple and just wear black. And Diva said, "No. I want to wear white." And I thought, "What? You can't wear white." But then a few days later, I decided it could be great if we could pull the white thing off, because it's different and it's not that boring, old fashioned rock and roll mentality. All black now to me seems like old and crusty. We're bright and fresh! We're like an alternative Tide advert I think [laughs]. You can get your clothes this white if you use Tide!

Dealing out such spectacular rock anthems as "Terminator," "Predator," and "Total Recall," the dynamic outfit led by charismatic vocalist Graf Holzfeuer (pronounced holz-FOY-er) has built a rabid local base of fans while cultivating an international following with regular UK and European tours. In addition to 2015's reissue of the group's 2005 debut Greatest Band of All Time (made available on vinyl for the first time through Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label), ArnoCorps also teamed with AT to release the "Two More" 7-inch single which featured the pump-inducing tributes to the Austrian bodybuilding fable that Schwarzenegger would plagiarize for his '70s film Pumping Iron.

Last year, Holzfeuer and company announced the band's next recording project, The Unbelievable EP. Answering the longtime demand of their fans to take back some of the more humor-filled tales of the Austrian mythos exploited by Schwarzenegger during the 1990s like Kindergarten Cop, Twins and Jingle All the Way. A Kickstarter crowd-funding effort for the album was met with a resounding response with disciples contributing over $20,000 to the cause. CBS SF recently spoke with the band's singer about the forthcoming EP, working with SF punk legend Biafra and their upcoming co-headlining show at Slim's with fast-food focused metal tribute act Mac Sabbath scheduled for Friday, January 27.

CBS SF: The Unbelievable EP finds ArnoCorps tackling a different sort of subject matter with some of the more comedic tales of Austrian mythology. Has the content and tone altered the approach the band has taken for those songs?

Graf Holzfeuer: Well, that's a fantastic question right there. And I'll tell you, as far as the subject matter impacting our sound, we have shown in the past it happens. For example, with The Fantastic EP, we decided to go for a heavier sound because it was the Riddle of Steel! So of course, ArnoCorps is always drawing inspiration from heavy metal and punk rock and combined it for the most perfect combination of action-adventure hardcore rock and roll.

It's like a gauge going from one side to the other. So with The Fantastic EP, dealing with ancient tales of Conan and Hercules and all of these kinds of things -- Red Sonja -- we decided to be a little more metal. With The Unbelievable EP, we're actually returning to a more right down the middle sound. We're possibly a little more melodic in there, but we're just as heavy I think as we've always been.

But I'll tell you something: The only reason that we waited all these years for these stories is the people weren't ready yet. You gotta understand, when ArnoCorps is coming out and we're saying we're taking these fantastic heroic stories back to the people, if we came right out of the gate with songs like "Junior," "Twins" and "Jingle All the Way," people would say, "Wait. Those are goddamn comedy movies!"

You and I know that these are Austroploitation films, but people at the time did not know that. So we had to make sure the subject matter would be taken a little bit more seriously by our audiences. But now, ArnoCorps has been around how long -- in the United State, performing for over 15 years. So people are ready. They understand to take ArnoCorps seriously. We have a proven track record now! People know!

Even people that are new to ArnoCorps, they can Google ArnoCorps. They can do research and can see -- Whoa! These guys are serious! They take their mission seriously. We've been around so long and have gotten this critical acclaim around the world, whether it's in a large international heavy metal magazine or the BBC in the UK. People think "ArnoCorps. These guys are fantastic!" And they know to take us a little more seriously than they might think at first glance. We're not low foreheads! We know that people misperceive ArnoCorps all the time! So we're always fighting that.

But now, people are ready for these stories, and you're going to hear just as pump-inducing music as you've ever heard from ArnoCorps and, most importantly, just as inspiring and motivational! We take a look at all these heroic archetypes and -- even though these ancient stories were exploited and bastardized in Hollywood, the archetypes are still there. You can still look at the underlying stories, the arc of the heroic timeline and all of that. So we are pumped on this new music that we are putting out. We predict it will be the greatest record that ArnoCorps has ever released.

CBS SF: You had a really astounding response to the Kickstarter campaign, raising almost three times what your stated goal was for the campaign. What is that going to mean for the fans? I saw that fans who contributed $100 are going to get copies of all three EPs, but what else is the additional money going to allow you to do?

Graf Holzfeuer: It's fantastic, because what happens now is for each additional amount of money they put in there, there's a reward. So for example, everyone who put in $100, we're actually giving out more than what the retail value would be. We've always striven to give the people a deal. Unfortunately, the downside of that is the more money we get, the more we have to deliver, so we don't actually end up with any surplus at the end to do a whole lot of extra.

But the primary thing for ArnoCorps? More time in the studio. We were able to get in there with our producer and engineer Michael Rosen and we were basically able to rewrite all of the songs from when we originally went in there. We sat down with him as a group in one room and just feel the pump with all this music and test it out! We had Inzo [ArnoCorps bassist Inzo Der Barrakuda] in the corner doing squats while we perform to make sure he's going to get at least two more reps than normal and all these kinds of things!

We do performance tests to make sure it is absolutely the most pump-inducing music that it ever could be! And that is what we did. We're now finally finished recording, but we're going to have a guest vocalist in there. So we're right now working out schedules to get that in there, but no spoilers! I can't tell you who it is, but we're going to get some guest vocals on ArnoCorps music.

CBS SF: Is that a first for a studio recording for the band?

Graf Holzfeuer: Absolutely! It's a first. We might even get two guests on there. Of course, this is for the backing vocals. Nobody's going to take my spot! On lead vocals? Come on!

CBS SF: So are vinyl copies of the earlier EPs going to be available for fans to buy too?

Absolutely. Those will be available to the collectors and everyone who enjoys ArnoCorps' music. Maybe the timing wasn't right and they couldn't get onboard with the Kickstarter. There is this perception with the Kickstarter that these are donations or something. ArnoCorps accepts no donations! Come on! Everything on there is of value for those who contribute, so by getting in early, they're getting a far better deal. And of course there are exclusives in the Kickstarter as well, with the patches and t-shirts that will not be available anywhere to buy. But the new vinyl records, absolutely!

CBS SF: The ArnoCorps mission has always been to take the stories depicted in Austrosploitation films back for the people. How do you feel about the many fan-edited videos on YouTube that set footage from those films to your songs?

Graf Holzfeuer: It is unbelievable, let me tell you. Of course, our first take is we laugh at them. With laughter. I mean, it is hilarious. It always looks funny. Secondly though, we love it, because it is almost like if you went into a lab and wanted to prove the point of ArnoCorps -- that these ancient stories were bastardized and exploited -- by putting ArnoCorps' music onto the footage of these Austroploitation films and showing how perfectly they matched up! It's like proof, right there. Everyone can look, "Holy s--t! They're right!"

So it's very educational for people. You know, we would never encourage doing that, because I think using the footage there's copyright issues and all that. ArnoCorps would never do that. But if the fans want to do that, and the movie studios want to let them do that, hey no problemo! Go for it! It's good exposure. People who see that who originally thought, "Hey wow! ArnoCorps wrote a song about 'Total Recall' or 'Predator!' And they will be thinking it was about the movie film!

But then they'll do their research and discover what we're really doing is retelling these stories the way they were meant to be told! Though action-adventure hardcore rock and roll! They were passed down through the generations! And the way that we depict them, people can appreciate it to a whole different level and apply it to their lifestyle! It's fantastic!

CBS SF: The band seems like a perfect fit for Alternative Tentacles. Why did it take so long for Jello Biafra to get into the ArnoCorps business?

Graf Holzfeuer: Well he has asked that same question himself. He wondered why it never happened earlier because, you're right, we're a very good fit. And, come on, it's one of our favorite record labels of all time right there! So for us, we were so much in heaven getting on the label and all that. But it was like anything else in life; it was timing. We were on two different labels before that ran their course, so by the time we were free from our previous labels, around 2012 or 2013, we decided "Hey, come on! We are running completely independent now!"

We did our first Kickstarter. Our fan base came through that time as well and we really didn't need the back-end structure and support of a record label. However, like you say, it was a good fit and historically with ArnoCorps being based in the Bay Area, we love having the link to another iconic mainstay of the San Frantastic Bay Area, Alternative Tentacles Records. So it just felt like the right thing. And also, the timing worked to put out vinyl.

And when it comes to putting out vinyl, I don't think anybody does it better than Alternative Tentacles. Their whole approach is unbelievable. The detail and everything. They allowed us to do a full gatefold with the Greatest Band of All Time LP. It was unbelievable. It's a perfect partnership! We could have done it earlier, but logistically it just didn't make sense at the time. But hey, come on! It all worked out perfect.

CBS SF: ArnoCorps has a definite affinity with wrestling between some of your t-shirt designs and the headlining shows you've done with Hoodslam. Do you have plans for more collaborations or wrestling-themed concepts?

Graf Holzfeuer: No more than the fact that we're aware that much of our fan base follows professional wrestling. There's like an overlap there. And I don't think it's coincidence, because ArnoCorps, in our performing style, we have always been influenced by professional wrestling from the golden age. We admired the fact that these performers could captivate an audience with their pure physicality. So when we're in the band coming up with a strategy as far as conducting an audio assault, ArnoCorps getting up there and performing and making sure that the audience is engaged, what better inspiration right there?

I think that a lot of bands out there will only look to bands that came before them. You know, just peer to peer. So for example, if somebody else was starting a band similar to ArnoCorps, they might only look at bands like Kiss or Gwar or Alice Cooper. Any band that you would perceive as being entertaining as far as a performance goes. But with ArnoCorps, we didn't want to follow in those kinds of footsteps or follow any formula. We wanted to be innovative and take a look at the big picture. How can we engage an audience with our physicality?!

So of course we looked back at the greats of the squared circle. And this comes across when we're onstage. And naturally there are fans of professional wrestling who have gravitated to becoming ArnoCorps fans. So we acknowledge that and we embrace it, but it will never affect our subject matter as far as songs go. We often get asked if we would do any wrestling-themed songs or anything like that. That won't happen.

The only thing that we'll do is the occasional cover tune. We used to do "Real American," which was the Hulk Hogan entrance theme song. We used to cover that because we knew that we were going to be performing on Independence Day, the Fourth of July, in London England. So we thought, "How fantastic would it be to be in London, England, the country that the United States broke from to create Independence Day, if we had that whole crowd singing 'I am a real American?!'" How fantastic! So we went in there and we did that and it was unbelievable. But as far as the influence of professional wrestling, it has more to do with performance and approach to making sure the crowd feels the pump every time and gets engaged with what we're doing and has an unbelievable time out there.

CBS SF: I know in the past that Arnold Schwarzenegger has been something of a sore point for you and the band given his career in Austrosploitation films...

Graf Holzfeuer: Wait. Arnold who?

CBS SF: Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Graf Holzfeuer: Oh! That guy...

CBS SF: Yeah, that guy. I know he raises your ire sometimes. But what is your take on the former Governator taking over the reigns of the reality show "The Apprentice" from President-elect Trump? Any chance that will someday be depicted in song form?

Graf Holzfeuer: Well, let me tell you: over the years, you're right, ArnoCorps has had a very conflicted relationship with Arnold Schwarzenstrudel! Because it has been for years our perception that he has sold out his own homeland's culture and that he has exploited it to rise to financial gain and political gain. However, over the years, we are starting to see a pattern here. We're beginning to wonder. We're starting to step back and think, "Goddammit! Maybe it is not him this whole time! Maybe he has been a puppet. Maybe he has been used. Maybe he is the victim here! Along with the ancient lore!"

That is the question that we don't have the answer to yet. Maybe we will figure it out over time. But we are starting to see a pattern here where we might step back and re-evaluate our position on him. We will see. As far as Schwarzenstrudel taking over this "Apprentice" tv show, I haven't had the time to take a look at what's going on in there. I never saw it, because I hate this Trump guy. For years, long before he was involved in politics, I've hated this guy's style! Come on! What's going on with that low forehead there?!?

I hate his whole emphasis on value as being associated purely on monetary gains. What is going on there? For me, in my mind as a student of mythology and folklore and archetype, it is clear to me that this Trump character is very much patterning his life after the archetypal villain character. Now, does that mean he is a villain? I don't know! All I know is he is patterning his behavior after the pure archetype of a villain. I'm not sure what the motivation is there.

So maybe there is a chance that Schwarzenoodle here is trying to position himself as the hero character, which he has done in the past. So if he is standing in opposition to Trump, we're going to step back and watch like everybody else. This is unfolding in front of our eyes right now. We can look at history and look at ancient lore and mythology and look at the pattern of what's going on! That can give us some insight. We don't get involved in politics, but we can step back and look at the archetypes and the way that people are utilizing these to present themselves.

So I find it very interesting that we have somebody who is representing themselves as more of the villain character. But this has been done before! For example, the antihero. This became very popular for a while when people liked the antihero. So maybe that's what this Trump character is doing. I mostly hated Trump because in the '80s, he took Wrestlemania from being a massive event at the Pontiac Silverdome to his unballsy tiny Atlantic City casino venue. He screwed up Wrestlemania for a couple of years there with the whole atmosphere! What's going on?!? That's my biggest gripe with that character! Come on!

CBS SF: It is starting to feel like we elected Cactus Jack as president...

Graf Holzfeuer: Ha! The Villain! You are familiar with this ancient tale! We will be addressing that, of course, on The Unbelievable EP.

CBS SF: Yes, I was very excited to see that.

Graf Holzfeuer: Not many people are familiar. I am impressed that you know of Cactus Jack, the villain. Most people think of Cactus Jack as Mick Foley. A totally different guy there!

CBS SF: Arnocorps has always railed against being labeled a "gimmick" or "tribute" band, but your upcoming co-headlining show at Slim's in San Francisco is with Mac Sabbath, a band that has been called both of those things. What is your take on what Mac Sabbath does and how did you end up on this historic bill with them?

Graf Holzfeuer: Well, it's unbelievable, because this is what ArnoCorps has to deal with all the time. And maybe it's not so bad. Maybe it's because at ArnoCorps shows, everybody has a good time. And we will never argue with that. That is absolutely true! We educate people and we pump them up and motivate them. We get them inspired and improve people's lives out there!!

However, we are one of a kind. I will say that, in all modesty, ArnoCorps still is to this day one of a kind. You cannot really directly compare what we do with any other band out there. So because of this, how can you ever book ArnoCorps with similar bands? You can't! There's no such thing as similar bands to ArnoCorps. So what people want to do is book ArnoCorps with similarly entertaining bands! And a lot of the time, the most entertaining bands seem to be these tribute bands or these concept bands.

I would label Mac Sabbath as a concept band. Because they've got some dark humor going on in there! On the surface, they look like they're celebrating fast-food culture. But if you take a look deeper at all the lyrics and what they're doing, the way that they're portraying and re-contextualizing Black Sabbath music, they're really exposing the truth: That fast-food culture is evil and dark and one of the worst things going on in our culture as far as health and fitness.

When you're talking health and fitness, who else are you going to talk to but ArnoCorps! The experts in this matter! So we can come in there and join forces with Mac Sabbath in exposing the fact that all this junk food in our culture is absolutely detrimental to the pump! That's the connection right there.

When we were at our show down in Southern California in Glendale recently, I talked to [Mac Sabbath manager and spokesman] Mike Odd about the upcoming show, and he was really pumped. They had wanted ArnoCorps to play the last time Mac Sabbath performed in San Frantastic, so they've been waiting for this for a while. They figured we would be a good team. We had performed with Mike Odd's old band Rosemary's Billygoat years and years ago with Thor, the Canadian rock warrior. So we go back as far as performing together.

Preparing to Stay Put

"The most important thing you can do is prep your home," urges Purcell, who recommends thinking about the steps you would take to child-proof your home and using those as the bones of your earthquake-proofing strategy. Must-do action items include:

• Anchor heavy stuff to the wall – Appliances like the water heater, refrigerator, washer/dryer and oven may come with anchor kits you can use, but you can also buy kits at any hardware store. Anchoring appliances, wall units and bookcases to the wall not only keeps them from sliding around or falling during an earthquake, it also enhances your home's physical structure via mutual stabilization. The wall holds the appliances or units in place, which in turn hold the wall in place.
• Install cabinet latches – Safety locks and grip mats will keep your breakables in, protecting both the possessions you value and your safety. If the latches pose a problem for arthritic or hurried hands, opt for those which activate when an earthquake's motion is felt.   
• Reinforce shelving and paintings – Anything that hangs on your wall can fall off during an earthquake. Measure the size and weight of each item prior to hanging so you can choose the right drill bit, anchor and screw sizes. This will help to keep wall hangings, shelving and paintings up on the wall where they belong. Industrial-grade earthquake gel or putty can also supply an added layer of hidden protection. Even if you have taken the utmost precautions, don't seek shelter under any object which might loosen or fly loose when an earthquake hits.       
• Enhance roof structure – Part of your roof's job is to keep the entire structure of your home intact. As your roof reaches the 10- to 15-year mark, have it evaluated by a professional contractor every two years to identify fragile areas in the sheathing, covering and frame and to identify any potential problems which could make it, and your entire home, vulnerable to an earthquake.    
• Storm proof glass windows and doors – Storm proof any glass surfaces with protective film that is at least 4 mils thick to avoid the glass shattering.
• Assess Electronic Devices and Lighting Sources – Televisions, computers and other electronics which rest on furniture surfaces should be fastened and secured down. Also assess your ceiling and lighting fixtures to determine if they should be secured with safety cables or chain straps. Install plastic sleeving over fluorescent lighting to stop the glass from shattering.
• Create a safe room – "Creating a safe room is an additional major step towards securing your family's safety during an earthquake," says Purcell, who suggests using a lower floor closet or interior, enclosed room which is enhanced by ripping off the sheet rock, putting in 2x4 uprights and replacing walls with marine plywood. "If you resurface the area, you can't tell the work has been done. This type of retrofit creates a stable, heavy box in the middle of your house," he adds. If you wish to use the bathroom instead of a closet, make sure it has a heavy tub and solid copper pipes and is situated in a central, interior location of your home.
• Create a safe space in every room – Every room should have a place of easily identifiable protection and your family should know ahead of time where to duck and cover in each room. This should be away from any objects which might dislodge or shatter and under a heavy piece of furniture, like a dining room table. Teach your family not to run for the exits, as door frames do not typically supply added protection or support.

If your budget allows, you should also have a contractor assess your entire home for an earthquake retrofit. Other areas of focus should be the chimney, particularly if it is un-reinforced, cripple and wood-framed walls, your floor system and any room additions added to the original structure.

Preparing to Evacuate

• Create a plan – "There are four distinct time periods you should plan for," says Purcell. "These are daytime, when you are at work or school; evenings at home, when the family is mostly together and relaxed; leisure time, when everyone may be scattered in various locations; and night time, when you are home but unaware. A solid evacuation plan takes each time period into account and is centered upon specific rendezvous points and your plan for connecting and meeting up."
• Teach Your Family Situational Awareness – The entire family should be taught to duck and cover and wait for any aftershocks to subside. Your evacuation plan should also include common sense tips, like staying off of elevators and away from glass windows, doors or other structures. Cracked pipes and gas lines as well as dangling electrical wires are easily ignitable so also make sure that everyone knows not to utilize candles or any type of illumination device that is not battery powered after the earthquake.
• Have an emergency kit prepared and easily accessible – Your home may shift during an earthquake, prohibiting you from getting to your go bag if you stow it in the back of a closet or a hidden cubby hole. Store a well-stocked emergency kit in as open an area as possible so you can still get to it if your home is severely damaged.

Additional Sources:

Disastersrus.org