Disturbing news out of British Columbia - Devon Clifford, drummer for dance-punk band You Say Party! We Say Die! collapsed and died onstage during a show in Vancouver. He was 30. In a statement posted by his band's record label, Paper Bag, his family said he died of a massive brain hemorrhage. Here's an excerpt from the family statement:
"Devon Clifford was an extremely gifted drummer and determined character. He loved his family, loved his band, loved traveling, loved being on stage and loved meeting people around the world. He was smart, witty, passionate, and music meant everything to him. He was also incredibly generous with his love and respected everybody he came into contact with."
RIP dude. Here's "There is XXXX (Within My Heart)," a slowly-building banger from their latest disc, XXXX:
In honor of the late Peter Steele, here are a few off-beat, yet somehow infectious, covers that kick ass in one fashion or another:
Type O Negative - "Cinnamon Girl" (Neil Young)
This is what a cover song should be - ballsy, true to the original's spirt and yet original enough in its own right to make it an entirely new song.
Biz Markie - "Benny & the Jets" (Elton John)
The Beastie Boys combined forces with the golden age of hip-hop's clown prince and made one of the funniest fucking tracks ever. Biz Mark knows about four of the words . . .
Machine Head - "Message in a Bottle" (The Police)
The Burning Red is widely considered a low point for Machine Head but I don't give a fuck what anyone says, this cover kicks ass.
With his diminishing skills and knack for landing in shady deals, how long will it be before Papi will be broke as hell and become a sad, cautionary, rags-to-riches-to-rags tale a la Leon Spinks?
How long 'til we read something like this:
Stuffed into a tattered easy chair in a dust-strewn shanty in this rural Dominican Republic outpost, the once-iconic slugger and star of the 2004 and 2007 world champion Red Sox looks weathered beyond his years and blames the steroid scandal and "bad business dealings" for his current predicament. And so on and so forth . . .
Peter Steele was a lot of things but dishonest was not one of them. This interview below gives just a small snapshot into the complex, tortured Type O Negative frontman. RIP dude . . .
The rock star dream apparently faded long ago for Pete Steele.
"I just wanted to have enough money to have a house, wife, maybe four kids. I'm not at that place right now and I really don't see things changing very much," said Steele, the hulking, vampiric frontman for Brooklyn goth metallers Type O Negative.
"That's the main problem, is what am I doing here? I'm 41 years old, and rock is for youth."
While many bands spend interviews gushing about their latest albums, praising their bandmates as their best pals or thanking their lucky stars to be playing music for a living, Steele is brutally disenchanted and blatantly depressed. A former New York City Parks Department worker, he said he rues the day he gave up the salaried job to front the brooding metal outfit.
Now 10 years and five albums into the Type O experiment, he still lives in the same basement apartment, has no girlfriend and describes his life as one of disappointment and frustration. He claims he stays in the band only because of contracts and because he made a promise to the rest of the group: keyboardist Josh Silver, guitarist Kenny Hickey and drummer Johnny Kelly.
"I do it because I made a commitment to my so-called friends in this band that we would see this through to the end. I didn't realize it would be a life sentence," he deadpanned.
Formed in the bowels of Brooklyn's early 1990s goth scene, the group slithered out of the shadows and made its mark on the black- metal underground with 1993's "Bloody Kisses," a spine-tingling offering that went platinum. The group, which headlines the Worcester Palladium tonight, followed up with 1996's "October Rust" and 1999's "World Coming Down," neither of which lived up to "Bloody Kisses" commercially or in the eyes of fans.
Their latest, however, the aptly titled "Life Is Killing Me," is an instant classic, bursting with hypnotic, melodic hard rock, tongue-in-cheek potty-mouth speed punk and their signature dead-to- the-world metal. Brimming with bleakness and unflinching honesty, the album is burning up college radio and metal charts, but Steele isn't impressed.
"I wouldn't buy it," he barked.
While some songs, such as the mind-numbing "Anesthesia" and the crushing title track, portray Steele as a tortured intellectual on the brink of suicide, others, like the homophobic "I Like Goils," use black humor as a weapon. Musically, the disc sounds like Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath unleashed at an Irish wake. Lyrically, shrinks could write volumes analyzing the subject matter. Fresh off a miserable, if slightly profitable, European tour, Steele is candidly unexcited about heading out in a bus with his three brethren for a U.S. tour.
"It's like four people being married and all of them having their period all the time," he said of the band. "There's an old saying about husbands and wives getting on each other's nerves, like fighting about stupid things, like leaving the cap off the toothpaste. Well, let's just say the cap is always off the toothpaste."
Beyond the bus, he said, he detests playing the same songs every night: "I can't imagine how Ozzy (Osbourne) does it. I mean, how many times has he had to play `Paranoid'?
"I really hate being onstage," he continued. "It's usually a balmy 130 degrees onstage and I've got these french fry lights burning on my back. I don't like traveling. I just don't get anything out of it."
Fed up and angry? Yes. Giving up? Never. In fact, there's a clear, revenge-driven method to Steele's madness.
"I feel like I've been disillusioned," he explained matter-of- factly. "But it's no one's fault but mine. No one made me do this. Now my goal is to complain, annoy and irritate everyone around me until I get out of this band, die or someone kills me. My motivation is aggravation."
And check out a live performance for "Anesthesia" from 2003's Life Is Killing Me:
This is hilarious - so it turns out, the dude former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got in a tussle with aboard a flight last week was Sky Blu from electro group LMFAO! There's not much to say that's not said in the video . . . best line: "If he drinks, I'll take a shot with him." Hahahahahaha!!! Romney's a Mormon bro - no booze!!
Anyone who was at the sold-out Killswitch Engage show at House of Blues in Boston a few weeks ago will be shocked to learn that vocalist Howard Jones has left the band. Howard was on fire that night and appeared to be having fun. Anyone who knows him, knows this is not due to drugs or booze, as he's straight edge. But this is too bad because KsE is at the top of its game right now and is really one of the biggest bands in metal. My sources tell me it's unclear if Howard will return or if he's quit the band for good. For now, Phil Labonte from All That Remains is filling in but there are rumors that Jesse Leach - KsE's original singer - could come back into the fold. Jesse and KsE guitarist Adam D are close friends and have been working on a side project in recent months. We'll see what happens but here's hoping these Massachusetts metal warriors keep battling . . . Here's my latest report on this from the Boston Herald:
Killswitch Engage vocalist abruptly replaced for Westfield band’s tour
By Dave Wedge
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones has abruptly and unexpectedly left the Westfield-based band’s current headlining tour to deal with “personal” issues, thrusting the metal kings’ future into turmoil.
Jones has been temporarily replaced by All That Remains singer Phil Labonte, another western Massachusetts-bred headbanger who formerly sang for fellow Bay Staters Shadows Fall.
In a statement, the band said: “It became overwhelmingly obvious to all of us around Howard that he is in no condition to be on tour right now and that he needed to get off the road and get himself better. It’s a personal matter and while we understand everyone’s curiosity and concern for Howard and the band, we appreciate everyone respecting Howard’s privacy at this time.”
I'm a journalist who's covered news, mayhem, hacks, gender-bending killers, rock stars and tragedy, among other things, for the Boston Herald since 1999. I also write for DigBoston.com, SocietePerrier.com, Esquire.com and Lambgoat.com and have been a contributor to Revolver and Boston magazine. My first book, called "Boston Strong" (with co-author Casey Sherman), will tell the incredible stories of heroism and survival at the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. It will be out in fall 2014.
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