SteveXFR

One level down from smart casual racism and a lot more relaxed than formal racism.

Crack the Sky was their peak but what they made after that was good as far as mainstream metal goes. I'd say they're still making better music than Metallica.

Prehistoric Dog - Red Fang

I love some of the early Metallica stuff but Black onwards is all bad. On the odd occasion they wrote good music, they ruined it with dreadful production. I honestly don't understand why they're still huge when there's so many other bands making much better metal music. It's about time Mastadon or Baroness too their place as hard rock/metal giants

Scott Reader from Kyuss did audition with Metallica. I think Scott was too good for Metallica as well.

I think Cliff would have been amazing in a stoner metal band. Who knows, maybe he'd have lead them in that direction if he'd lived long enough to hear Kyuss or Fu Manchu

Possibly a bit controversial but Jason Newstead was the best Metallica bassist. Cliff was an amazing bassist possibly better than Jason but I think Jason suited Metallica better

Trujillos audition was amusing when he suggested playing Battery and Lars questions whether he can play that fast without a pick, it's just obvious that he's worried he can't drum that fast any more.

Some kind of monster is just car crash viewing. It was commissioned by the band and I don't understand how they watched the finished product and thought "yeah we come across well, let's release it"

An extra heavy bass could double as a weapon to fight your way out of really rough venues. If I ever play a flat roof pub, I'd rather a Peavey T40 than an Ibanez SR just in case things get a bit lively.

Are YOU having a problem with the weight? If not then don't worry about what others think

F**kin up - Paul Young

Yeah, I think maybe I'm just not the right person to be in a band

My final gig tonight and I didn't go out on a high. Hand cramp meant I could barely hold my pick in the last few songs and my playing sucked. We were opening for a Motorhead tribute and unfortunately, the crowd weren't in to our stoner/sludge metal. Not a good night. Even the drive home was horrible with the wind and rain.

It's an Ibanez SRMS805 in brown burst. I like it but the close string spacing means it's not for everyone. Brown burst does sound like result of a bad takeaway

We had a great one last night. Our disgusting racket seemed to go down well. Everything went right and we really enjoyed ourselves.

I'm just about there now. Gigs tonight and tomorrow night and that's me done.

I've seen some fairly big metal bands using a vintage pro live. Cult Of Luna was one that was particularly memorable, his bass tone was huge. I sold mine to the current Hawkwind bassist

To be honest, I associate Rex more with Spector than a Thunderbird

I'm a big Rex fan, a huge Pantera fan and I loved my old Thunderbird but £1400? Not a chance. I paid a third that price for a new Vintage Pro only three years ago and that thing was brilliant. I really wish I still had it.

Bullet with butterfly wings - Smashing Pumpkins