Leonard Smalls

The situation is different in each EU country, some require permits,some sort of do. But either way there's a whole level of unnecessary complexity: https://abo.org.uk/assets/files/Advice-and-Fact-sheets/Touring/FTA-briefing-24-Feb-21.pdf And for furriners coming to Britain,firstly you have to prove you're a "professional" musician - i.e. one who earns the majority of their income playing music. Kind of puts paid to little bands coming over and playing little gigs at grassroots venues! https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/450237/Entering_the_UK_Arts_Ents_leaflet_August_2015.pdf

The redneck look is not, and never has been, cool... James Dean and Steve McQueen will be spinning in their graves!

Aye.. I definitely aspire to double denim and a moustache last seen on the hunk fixing the washing machine for the scantily-clad lady in that dodgy movie. 😁

It's too heavy for me!

Indeed. All music has equal validity... 😁

Haven't seen much in the way of disrespect, just expressions of love it/hate it and of course, pointing out how metal (sometimes ironically but not always!) becomes a parody of itself... I see far more vitriol toward rap (which also suffers from the same same-ness and occasional daftitude)! Just shows how one man's "hey that's awesome in the truest sense of the word!" is another's "wtf is that awful racket, kids nowadays don't know how to make music" etc...

Me likey too...

I always felt they missed out the most important descriptive bits out of their name... It should probably have been "The very middle of the road and rather dull Band unless you're a fan of 70s Americana and blokes who no doubt now wear double denim"

I've done some piano noodles (or are they doodles?) in the style of "My First Book of Jazz", plus some funky electric piano and clav, with an idea for wah guitar too... Drum programming, bass and search for horn samples next. Not sure if working the opposite way round from my norm will require more or less glitter and coats of varnish?

😁 While we're on interesting but heavy that doesn't sound like anyone else:

That sounds to me like a Finnish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest! I much prefer this, which is both heavy and like nobody else - like a Cardiacs of the metal world! And performing in a clothes shop, with no black clothes for the whole band!

Over a million copies of The Satanic Bible sold! Still, never read it... Though I suspect it doesn't contain any road-drill double bass drum, growling, or spotty oiks in Decomposing Baby In The Living Room t-shirts. Or perhaps it does?

They would have nowt to do with any form of sardonic wrath, more like Dionysian frenzy! Because the Church of Satan is about hedonism and carnality, not devils, gods and anti-gods...

Now that's what I call a good cover! And talking of Painkiller, I tend to like much of Mr Zorn's stuff - saw him once with Bill Laswell on Bass and Dave Lombardo on drums, and the only bit I didn't like was Lombardo's double kick drum stuff. Anyway, this is my sort of heavy - Naked City, varying from smooth dinner jazz, to free jazz to absolute screaming racket:

While it undoubtedly takes skill, the melodic bit could be one off many bands and the growly bit is like a comedy interlude. It's like you can only be metal if you do the silly growling!

I can cope with challenging music, in fact I prefer music to be interesting and not too formulaic (unless of course, it's The Funk), but I find most metal to be a bit too much by-numbers. They've all got the same fonts for the band logos, songs are usually about some sort of horror imagery, then there's the annoying constant double bass drum like a road drill, there's sometimes a melodic vocal followed by bizarre growling and the same sounds for guitars - it's all just a bit identikit. I've got nothing against any of those bits in isolation, with occasional use, but when every song by every band could have been done by any other band in the genre, I say PLEASE DO SOMETHING JUST A BIT DIFFERENT!!!! I mean, I like Girlband, Rolo Tomassi, CTL DRP and other bands that use lots of guitar noise, even growling, but that's because they're individual and not just blind followers of the flock...

My Wal's probably nearest to this:

Bit of The Funk before work...

Or they could be called Homeopathy, as in no better than Placebo 😁

I don't think thickening either guitar or bass sound is necessarily needed during a guitar solo, just keeping rhythmic interest... Here's one of my favourite solos, admittedly with sax and piano too, but it comes in beautifully trading melodic lines with the sax, then when it gets going, bass and drums play the main song groove, with regular rhythmic stabs by bass drums and piano. Works beautifully! Helps that the band are seriously good too - this is live:

When the guitarist starts with his solo I usually nip off, put on a baked potato, have a bath and I'll be back in time for his final orgasmic crescendo, where he's standing on a balanced spike, juggling 3 chainsaws and a double-handed highland sword, and is rubbing 2 Les Pauls together like Cockchafer beetles rutting in May...

Probably because they sound brilliant!

Fancied a bit of Baroque Bassoon this morning!

Bit of Scouse new wave: Followed by more scouse-ness:

Not the joyful ode, "Hamburger Lady"?