Dapper Bandit

Well, this looks enormously good fun! Hope mine arrives in a timely fashion...

Medeski, Martin and Wood - Shack Man Primus - Sailing The Seas of Cheese Mr. Bungle - California King Crimson - Discipline Cynic - Focus Parliament - Mothership Connection The Pacific Breeze compilations released by Light in the Attic, wonderful City Pop comps!

Another Gruvgear Solo Neo 4"er here, it is a monster of a strap! Although, just to confuse things I also picked up a Neotech strap last year which is nearly as good, which considering it was both cheaper and easier to find is no faint praise!

I, having spent an enormous chunk of my existence kicking around the cloisters of the extremely broad church that is heavy metal, can only agree. My favourite metal bands seem to be the weirdos that other metal fans I've spoken to have recoiled from in horror! For example: Sigh. An oddball Japanese black metal band that have taken a Zorn-ian approach to composition, although more long form than Naked City. Their Imaginary Sonicscape album is quite frankly the great black metal/psychedelic rock album you never knew you wanted! Maudlin of the Well / Kayo Dot: another band that presents as metal with a kaleidoscopic range of influences that has veered from very metal through to prog-synth-pop by way of post rock and modern classical music. Painkiller: free jazz / dub / grind power trio that blew my young mind and made an awful lot of extreme metal seem dull and conservative.

Kendrick Lamar is a current rapper of high standing/ quality as well! I can find gems in any and all genres. Any and all artforms will have features that are interest to somebody and as such have validity. To restrict one's diet is to miss out on some truly bomb stuff which would be a shame. All I require is that undefinable "it" that is unconstrained by form, genre or even easy definition. So my listening in unabashadly eclectic, for that 'it' is everywhere.

Supported Conan a few years back. They were punishingly, unpleasantly loud. Bassist ran two full stacks, guitar ran 4 full stacks. Their first note pretty much cleared the shelves behind the bar! As braggadocio, it worked splendidly but this was a small bar. Couldn't differentiate between notes and the only hint of rhythm came from the triggered kicks being pumped through the PA at top volume. Must have been in the region of 120db+ in what was essentially a village pub. Not fun. I also saw Motorhead once and they were obviously very loud.

The very same! A wonderfully odd lineup that confounds expecation. The interesting and not disappointing version of Shrinebuilder.

Yeah, not sure I'd pair off funeral doomers and eccies! And as I'm on the thread again, some more bands come to mind Evoken; funereal death doom heavy hitters, slow as a slow thing Mourning Beloveth; A Disease For The Ages is a crushing disc. Heavy and melodic but not in a twee gothic kind of way. Pelican; have Pelican been mentioned? They were very, very good. The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw received a lot of playtime back in the day, cinematic metal for sure Warhorse; As Heavens Turn to Ash was a banger. Crucial release! Corrupted; glacial, elephantine sludge from Japan. Asva; arty drone/minimalism featuring Trey Spruance! Lovely, heavy, interesting.

I forgot all about YOB! Hypnotic for sure and probably not a band to chuck on shuffle, they need your attention. I keep hearing about Inter Arma (fell out of the doom game a while back), will have to give them a listen...

And more bands came to me overnight Floor - How could I forget these guys? Like Electric Wizard and Cheap Trick had a baby. The s/t album is a blast, so heavy. Such melody. Torche - The current group of Steve Brooks, hookier and more stonerish than Floor and if you like riffs and having a good time, Meanderthal is the album for you! Harvey Milk - the Melvins' weirdo art-college cousins. Heavy, strange and thought provoking. Special Wishes is a thick ol' slab of a record that is alternately bludgeoning and uplifting. Burning Witch - an oft-overlooked Southern Lord band, we're talking crawling tempos, heavy riffs and a bleak, bleak atmosphere. Khanate - oh my, not a band to listen to if you're not feeling secure in yourself. Unrelentingly grim, punishing stuff. When you're mad at the world, nothing else quite touches this. Goatsnake - proper bluesy doom. Fantastic riffs and vocals. Karma to Burn - instrumental stoner rock that riffs the heck out.

If you like your death metal, I would probably recommend Coffins from Japan - specifically their delightful album Buried Death which is essentially like an Obiturary 45 played at 33rpm. Might be a good stepping stone but it's a certified banger nonetheless.

Spent many years deeeep in a doom hole! Some bands I have loved that I've not seen mentioned: Candlemass: I mean, really! Epicus Doomicus is a flawless album. In fact, I don't know if they ever put out a duffer. Iron Monkey: Nasty, nasty sludge. To my mind they were like Eyehategod but with less filler. The aurual equivalent of a fight in a crack den. Graves at Sea: More sludge but slightly cinematic, almost? Their first album is one of my favourite doom cuts of all time, please check it out folks! Reverend Bizarre: Proper old school doom done right nice. So Long Suckers is one hell of a goodbye album! Those bands leap immediately to mind, more may come to me later!

I think Cliff's most important contributions to Metallica were the hardest to pick out. Anaesthesia is impressive (for the time and genre) but the real jaw dropper is when you look at the leaps forward they made between Kill em all and RtL and then again with MoP. He had a solid grounding in music theory (which the other guys always admitted to a lack in) which really allowed the group to spread out, compositionally. And according to interviews he had veto against the Ulrich/Hetfield train which you can really feel the lack of as the band's career continued after his demise. This isn't to detract from his capability as an instrumentalist at all but for me he will always be the guy the dragged Metallica from garage to stadium. Would have been fascinating to see what the next 5 albums would have been like with him still aboard! I imagine the trajectory would have been the same but probably with far fewer duff tracks.

A proper MIJ ESP is truly a thing to behold, my Amaze is the bestest bass I've ever held! So I would agree that the trade sounds like a good one.

These new EBMMs seem to be very expensive outside of the US now, this much is true. That being said, they have always been a bit pricier than Fender as I believe that a core principle of the company is to pay decent wage to staff based in a "developed" nation ie: not peanuts. This affects RRP massively. This has benefits such as an impressive level of QC (I have seen maybe a handful of clunkers from EB compared to, say Fender or Gibson). You can get a Sire/Cort/Ibanez for a lot less because they are built in Indonesia/Korea/China where lower standards of living are leveraged against the final selling price. If budget is the primary concern, then a full fat EB - brand new - is probably not going to be a box that gets checked. Also, cost of international freight has risen enormously. A company I deal with (in an unrelated sector, admittedly) has recently increased their prices significantly as a result of a 600-1000% increase in shipping costs! Could EB's increase in cost reflect this earlier than a larger corporation due to a smaller/quicker production process, perhaps? Finally, while I'm not offended at all I do find the dentist/lawyer remark confusing. I thought all those guys played PRS and Gibson? Can't see many of those guys jamming the obligatory Dream Theater albums that come packaged with every new musicman!

Had a super experience selling my Rusty Box (stop laughing at the back!) to Antonio. Super prompt payment, was patient with delivery and let me know when it arrived. Pretty much the ideal buyer, then!

Sad news indeed, Focus is to this day an immense album that stands alone.

I tend to have some sort of reaction straight away, not let me down yet. Hearing Philip Glass when I watched Candyman for the first time? Instant yum, hunted down more. Similar reaction when I heard Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint. Babymetal's Gimme Chocolate - whole lot of fun, some quality thrash riffing. I don't particularly enjoy most country (although Dolly Parton is one of the finest songwriters ever) and to my ears, some 90% of rock and metal is frankly boring. I listened to the Yes Album once and I knew it wasn't for me. An album of merit and worth? Certainly! Something I enjoy? Afraid not. All of which is to say, I listen to something and if it tickles my pickle then it's in! If I feel nothing then it's not for me. If I feel ambivalent then it may be something I stumble across again another time.

There are an awful lot of people who rank "skill" above all other aspects of playing. People who watch solos rather than performances. They like to learn scales. All of which (to me) amounts to thinking John Virgo is the best snookerer because he done some right good trick shots. This will be a wonderful thing for them to watch and participate in. Good for all of them, I hope they have a lovely time!

I liked the 3mm stubbies, back when picking was a large part of my repertoire. Lasted a good amount of time because there was so much material to wear through!

Time to get contentious! Steve Harris - writes the same song over and over, has a distinctive yet limited approach to playing. Cliff Burton - Composition was on point, I must confess but Anaesthesia is indeed very much like pulling teeth to listen to.