Record Recap: Marilyn Manson/The High End of the Low

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 17 days ago.]

First let me get this out of the way- I HATE the cover art for this album. What is going on there?

On the other hand, I kinda like the album name. Mostly because I think it’s a good descriptor of the album itself (it’s not good but it’s not bad), Manson’s state of mind (coming out of a depression), and hopefully, a foreshadowing for his career (on the upswing from a low point, perhaps?).

I actually liked Eat Me, Drink Me. I thought it was a good change of pace, ‘Manson Unplugged’ if you will. However, I expected this next album to go back to the angry industrial Manson, when it actually is sort of splitting the difference. The result is a couple great songs, a couple terrible songs, and an all around lack of cohesion. It’s already been said, but there is a lot of repetitive stuff going on in this album.

Arma-blah-blah: I kinda like the beat, the psycho surf trip start, but the lyrics just kill me. All of them. No fucking and eating it for me, thanks.

Blank and White: It’s ok…..not terrible, but not memorable. It feels too shallow lyrically.

Devour: Me likey this one. Feels like it could have fit on EM,DM. The chorus is a bit generic and odd for Manson’s vocals, but I appreciate it. It ends strong, but the sudden cut off kinda bugs me.

Four Rusted Horses: Unexpected and I like it. It’s got the acoustic element blended with the industrial element and it sounds pretty powerful and unique.

I Have to Look Up Just to See Hell: This is an album of insanely long song titles. The beat is good- strong drums, bass, sounds more like old school Manson here.

I Want to Kill You Like They Do In the Movies: My favorite song by far. I’m sad they will probably not play it when I see them considering it’s nine minutes long. I like the way that Manson’s voice and the guitar seem to be in a race, fighting for the lead throughout the song.

Into the Fire: These lyrics REALLY bother me. I ain’t even gonna repeat it.

Leave a Scar: It’s a really poppy song for Manson lyrically. It’s catchy, but I feel like it is for the wrong reasons.

Pretty as a Swastika: I have mixed feelings about this song. It’s a good metal song, but it feels very surface level shocking, ya know what I mean?

Running to the Edge of the World: Starts out almost like ‘Wild Horses’….which is weird, then it turns into a Monster Ballad…Like Extreme ‘More Than Words’ style. Also weird.

Unkillable Monster: The title made me think I was getting something different than a slightly angry ballad.

We’re From America: Extremely catchy, extremely repetitive. Kinda tired of this theme right now.

Wight Spider: A solid song. The pace of it makes it stand out from the rest of the tracks. The name intrigues me….as do the lyrics. Hmmm….

WOW: Has Manson been playing World of Warcraft? This song is fucking weird. It has Jeordie written all over it. Which means there is something sort of endearing about it, but I’m scratching my head a bit. And shaking my ass a little.

15: I really want to like this song. But I feel it is lacking something and I don’t like hearing Manson talk about his birthday. It’s just too soft for me.

Because HRC has something chemically weird about her, and tends to not fully understand songs until she has seen them live….we’ll see how my two date following of Manson goes in early July…

Genre(s): Thoughts on Albums

2238Comments (5)2009-06-01+06%3A33%3A14hardrockchick

The Prodigy Packs a Punch, with Tenderlions @ The Warfield, 5/28/09

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 20 days ago.]

When I was getting over grunge, I spent about a year engrossed in the club kid scene in Austin in the mid nineties. Prodigy’s Fat of the Land had just released, and it bridged the gap between my industrial roots in NIN and Manson, and the dance/trance Keoki style music that accompanied a couple of raves I snuck into. I have always heard that The Prodigy puts on killer live shows, and over ten years later, here we go.

I saw Tenderlions do an opening set earlier this year. They look a bit more comfortable, tweaking dance tracks and playing live drums…but my general impression remains the same. I don’t think the live drumming adds a ton. I also don’t think they drastically overhaul the songs they are spinning. They also play for too long for an opener- I’m not left wanting more at all here.

During the break, an older man starts chatting me up. He’s been into the band since the beginning, seeing their first SF show at DNA lounge with 40 people at 3 in the morning…or something like that. He decides to adopt me, fetching me water and explaining how the show will work. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’m a concert vet, but it was a nice gesture. Looking back on it, I think he knew I was about to get mauled.

Right before the show starts I am surrounded by Prodigy groupies- English bitches who think they own the place. They want more drugs- asking me for some with their Cheshire cat eyes. They want me out of their way bad, but I’m not moving. “But these are me mates”. The lights dim, the smoke pours into the crowd. Some of the people on the rail next to me get that look on their face- probably the same look I had all last week. Ecstacy.

The Prodigy would rank high on my list of intense performers. Their overall energy and stage movement is propelled by their extreme eye contact, pointing, and crowd interaction, coupled with the level of fucked-upness of everyone on the floor. One of the English bitches pops in front of me at the beginning and pogos for at least 6 songs straight while the security guard stands face to face with her. Her friends are behind me arms flailing to reach out to the band over my shoulders. I wanted to kill them all.

I’m not familiar with the new album yet, so the first song or two I spent throwing elbows and pulling hair trying to get these bitches off me. But by ‘Firestarter’, I decided that I couldn’t beat them and joined them.

I had a side quest for this show- suss out Rob Holliday. I’ve seen him with Manson twice, but I’ve always been focused on either Tim Skold/Manson or Twiggy/Manson, and haven’t had a chance to form an opinion. Plus I think he’s touring again with Manson this summer, so I’m interested. I perched in front of his main post, though he does move around the stage quite a bit, or leaves completely for the songs that don’t require his services.

Well, I got my impression alright. It’s hard to judge his skills as a guitarist with this kind of music. I wouldn’t go put him in my top ten list at this point. But as a performer, he’s pretty entertaining. He does a lot of jumping. He likes to spray water in your face by putting the bottle by his crotch and squeezing the water out…..yeah. He sticks his tongue out. He’ll walk up to you, reveal the back of his guitar, where the words ‘DIRTY CUNTS’ are scrawled out on pieces of tape, and point to them, then point to you. Then he’ll throw his guitar in the crowd on top of you, allowing you to cut your fingers on the strings as you hold it up while everyone grabs for it.

The frontmen, Keith and Maxim, are very very intense. Keith walked the rail like a balance beam, Maxim would climb speakers along the sides. They would come and crouch down and just stare at everyone in the front row. They really work the crowd- it’s like they are watching and encouraging the audience to perform as much as we are them. At one point, Keith strums the guitar while Rob did the finger work….which looked dirtier than it really was.

The energy peaked during the encore’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’. This was when there were so many hands around me reaching in the air, that I took an elbow to the lip and head from two different people simultaneously. Not a good feeling. But the energy during that song helped me get over it.

This was when the bitches surrounding me decided that they wanted to crowd surf. They attempted to organize, but it never came to fruition. Good thing- one was in a dress and they all had big purses.

I left with a huge welt on my arm, and a very bruised knee cap. Casualties were almost worse than NIN/JA all last week…..something is not right here.

OVERALL: 8/10
The Prodigy performance: 8.75/10
venue (The Warfield): 8.75/10
crowd/scene: 6.5/10
value ($36.50/ticket): 9/10
memorable: 8/10

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

2231Comments (6)2009-05-29+08%3A54%3A19hardrockchick

Top 5 She’s Songs

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 21 days ago.]

She’s Lost Control/Joy Division:

She’s In Parties/Bauhaus:

She’s Gone/Brian Jonestown Massacre:

She’s Hit/The Birthday Party:

Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)/Led Zeppelin:

Genre(s): Lists

2227Comments (1)Top+5+She%27s+Songs2009-05-28+07%3A32%3A39hardrockchick

“Don’t Post This on a Blog- or We’ll Kick Your Ass!” says Perry

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 23 days ago.]

My NIN friend Victoria caught this on film at the Vegas NIN/JA show…Perry looked right in the camera. Hilarious!

Jane’s Addiction – Blushing Pictures + Blog = Kicked Ass – Las Vegas, NV from victoria w on Vimeo.

See more of Victoria’s lovely videos here.

In all seriousness, though, please don’t kick my ass, Perry!

Genre(s): Rockin' Videos

2221Comments (3)2009-05-26+04%3A15%3A14hardrockchick

NIN/JA Tour Diary 5- Mountain View- Then She Did

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 25 days ago.]

I’m very happy to share with you all one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

sabrina and jme

My friend and I made the $1000 donation to help out Eric. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of- the total as of now is somewhere around $600K in three days. That’s the power of a strong community!

We thought we were running late getting to MV, but everything ended up being perfect timing- picking up tickets from Corey, heading through security with JT. We were towards the back of the line, but we stood in a row of seats and the soundcheck started immediately. We were able to hear 4 songs- I’m Afraid of Americans, Meet Your Master, The Good Soldier, and Dead Souls. TR thanked us, commented on their ‘casual attire’, and also made a remark about how it’s hard to play the xylophone and sing at the same time. My friend and I were totally dancing around, while most people were motionless…I don’t get it. There are clips of each song below.

Then we stayed to watch the Street Sweeper Social Club soundcheck. Carl Restivo came out first, playing a few chords of ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’, when Perkins came out and played a couple of beats on the drums (there’s like a 3 second clip below). Perkins left, and Carl was quickly joined by the rest of the band. A girl in front of me shouted, “I love you Tom!”, to which he replied, “You don’t even know me”, to which she replied “I could get to know you”. I don’t think Tom plays like that. I believe they soundchecked four songs as well- including one not in their normal set that I don’t know the name of…yet. They ended by Tom saying, “June 16th!” and “see you again in about 25 minutes with some snazzy jackets!”.

We were then herded into the massive line for the meet and greet. Again, we were towards the back, but luckily we were able to have a friend go get us Wave Goodbye posters to have signed. Once we finally made it up to the band, it all happened very fast. I rounded a corner, there was Brett asking for my camera, the band standing against a wall, my arms are full of purse-coat- poster-my original PHM CD slip-and a silver pen. I throw my stuff on the ground, say hello or something, and start passing my poster down while I mention last week’s airport encounter to Trent, who seemed to remember right away. The other band members were like “what?”, so he told them the story. Then I asked him to sign my PHM cover- I’ve been carrying it with me to shows since the beginning- so mission finally accomplished! It’s all beat up, but I said, “would you sign this, because this is where it all began”, and he said, “this is where it all began, isn’t it?”. Then we took our picture, and he put his arm around me (! wasn’t expecting that!). I must’ve jumped, because he said something like “sorry to encroach”. Haha! Then I asked Robin to sign the NIN tour journal that a few ladies have started this tour, since he wasn’t at the meet and greet the day before. Then I said hi to Ilan, and told him that I write HardRockChick.com and he did an interview awhile back with me. He seemed to remember, and thanked me. The irony!

So, that was 2 minutes I’d been thinking about for years. I waited for Sabrina to finish with her time (she got hugs- jealous!) and on our way to grab some food at catering, I got to say hi to Dave Navarro, and then the SSSC guys walked by on their way out to the stage. I got to say hi to Tom Morello, who proceeded to tell me “you were rockin’ out out there!” (at their soundcheck). Then he told us to hurry up and get out there as they were about to go onstage. It’s amazing how much can happen in the span of 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, we did miss their set as my friend needed to eat. I did, too, but I have been so worked up all week that I’ve barely eaten a thing. NIN/JA diet! So I watched them on the TV screen in the back.

We waited at the side of the stage for NIN to come out. I’ve always been in love with watching the band take the stage, and to see your most favorite band do it was really stellar. They do a little ‘whoop!’ yell before going out. I caught their entrance on video below.

Since we had third row seats, we watched the set from there instead of the side. Great seats- really nice to not be squished but still be close! It was great to watch the sun set during their set. Kinda symbolic really. I’ve seen NIN play their last With Teeth show on this stage, and Trent did his Bridge School performance there as well. While those were both amazing, this one was the most personally relevant for me.

The sold out crowd seemed mostly into it, though it’s funny that I can look and see the most movement from my fellow NIN followers sprinkled across the crowd. Two guys in front of me sat down for a bit, but they stood up again before I could kick the back of their chairs.

TR backed up into the mid stage keyboard/synth set up and had to catch himself. He threw a mic stand at the back of the stage once, and Robin took out a front light at one point. Otherwise, there weren’t any tantrums to report- which I’m glad, because that means the set went off without a hitch.

I filmed parts of The Becoming and Gave Up, below. There were so many people hardcore filming and photographing around me that I felt like I was dancing in the middle of the paparazzi. It was kinda weird. But I expect my hair and arms might make appearances in many images from this show.

And I wore heels again. Didn’t I just say I wasn’t going to do that? Luckily TR was standing on a ramp or something during our picture.

We went backstage again. I could really get used to this. We watched the Jane’s Addiction set from the side of the stage. That was cool to do once, but I missed the energy of the crowd a bit. Not too many people were up there at this point- though there was a guy tripping balls. He whispered to me, “Do you see Perry Farrell? Is he trying to hide from us?”. Fucking hilarious.

I couldn’t hear all of Perry’s speeches, but it sounded like he likes SF. His jumping around looks even crazier from this angle- I can’t believe he hasn’t injured himself again. Perry hugged a sixty year old man in the front row, and Dave went into the audience and played for a bit. I also finally got to see the screens or the first time (I’ve been too close otherwise)- Natural Born Killers…

Afterwards we hung out for a bit before making the drive home. It was a lot of the west coasters last show of the tour. I’m lucky to take a little break, and hit two more up in a couple weeks. Though I just checked flights to Noblesville next weekend…hmmmm…..

Three Days
Whores
Ain’t No Right
Pigs in Zen
Then She Did…
Mountain Song
Thank You Boys
Had a Dad
Been Caught Stealing
Ted, Just Admit it…
Ocean Size
Summertime Rolls
Stop!
Jane Says

Stats tracker:

Combined waiting time for four shows: 28 hours (Chula: 7am-7pm, Las Vegas: 9pm-4am, 7am-10am, 6pm-8pm, Santa Barbara: 1p-4:30p, Shoreline: 4-4:30p)
Number in line- Chula: #6, Vegas: #2, Santa Barbara: #30ish?, MV: didn’t matter!
Total number of times seeing NIN: 13

Genre(s): HRC loves NIN, My Musical Adventures

2212Comments (2)2009-05-24+05%3A56%3A07hardrockchick

NIN/JA Tour Diary 4- Santa Barbara- Broken

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 25 days ago.]

TR quote: “Welcome to Brunch with Nine Inch Nails”

NIN/JA Tour Diary 4- Santa Barbara- Broken from hardrockchick on Vimeo.

As you can see below, Sin was indeed played- this just shows how garbled your brain is after getting brutalized in the pit…

NIN Setlist:
1. Home
2. Somewhat Damaged
3. Sin
4. March of the Pigs
5. Piggy (with Trent in the pit screaming,didn’t miss a beat!)
6. The Beginning of the End
7. Discipline
8. I’m Afraid of Americans
9. Burn
10. I Do Not Want This
11. Gave Up
12. La mer
13. Non-Entity
14. The Downward Spiral
15. Wish
16. The Good Soldier
17. Suck
19. The Hand That Feeds
20. Head Like a Hole
21. Hurt

Jane’s Addiction Setlist:
Three Days
Whores
Ain’t No Right
Pigs in Zen
Then She Did…
Mountain Song
1%
Been Caught Stealing
Ted, Just Admit it…
Ocean Size
Summertime Rolls
Stop!
Jane Says

Stats tracker:

Combined waiting time for three shows: 27.5 hours (Chula: 7am-7pm, Las Vegas: 9pm-4am, 7am-10am, 6pm-8pm, Santa Barbara: 1p-4:30p)
Number in line- Chula: #6, Vegas: #2, Santa Barbara: #30ish?
Total number of times seeing NIN: 12

Genre(s): HRC loves NIN, My Musical Adventures

2210Comments (3)2009-05-24+01%3A59%3A35hardrockchick

After almost 2 decades of following…..I finally got my picture with Trent Reznor!

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 25 days ago.]

Details coming soon!

Genre(s): HRC loves NIN, Miscellaneous

2206Comments (4)2009-05-24+00%3A35%3A12hardrockchick

To tide you over until NIN/JA Diary 4….Jane Says

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 26 days ago.]

Genre(s): HRC loves NIN, Rockin' Videos

2204Comments (1)2009-05-22+21%3A24%3A31hardrockchick

Slightly Horrified by The Horrors set, w/ The Kills, The Magic Wands @ The Fillmore, 5/19/09

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 28 days ago.]

What the fuck was I thinking sandwiching this show into my NIN/JA week!

Seriously, though, I was stoked to be seeing The Horrors, and had these tickets before my NIN/JA tickets. They look like mods with a flair of The Ramones, and sound like The Birthday Party…yum.

Of course I didn’t know that there was another opener- The Magic Wands. The two piece wear sunglasses, dress in eighties, and have two stuffed tiger’s heads on poles on stage. I don’t know why. But I actually liked their sound- like Siouxsie with drum machines.

The Horrors take the stage after their luche libre mask wearing stagehand sets everything up. They exude a kind of unpredictable danger- the kind HRC finds very intoxicating. My beef is….the second album sounds nothing like the first. Which is fine. But they didn’t play any of their first album. And the show wasn’t advertised as a ‘performing Primary Colours in its entirety’ kind of set. If I hadn’t known the first album, I might have loved this Joy Division-esque music. But I, along with several people around me, was miffed.

Does anyone know what was on the piece of paper that Faris put on his stomach halfway through the set? I also saw him open his water bottle, put some in his hand, and drip it on someone….curious.

I think I made it through most of The Kills set. I’d actually heard some not great things about their live sets, so I had avoided them. They were much better than what I’d heard….I only left early because I was starting to hallucinate due to lack of sleep and eat. Oh, and the fucking hipster crowd was getting on my last nerve.

Their performance is pretty sex. For two people they make good use of the stage, going to the side speakers often. There’s just something about it that felt a little subdued…but that is most likely a product of comparisons with the other things I’ve seen this week. And the music is a bit light for me.

Did I miss a poster?

OVERALL: 7/10
The Kills performance: 8/10
The Horrors performance: 7.25/10
The Magic Wands performance: 7/10
venue (The Fillmore): 9/10
crowd/scene: 5/10
value ($22.50/ticket): 8.5/10
memorable: 6/10

Genre(s): My Musical Adventures

2199Comments (4)2009-05-21+03%3A27%3A14hardrockchick

NIN/JA Tour Diary 3- Las Vegas- Worth the Wait

by hardrockchick [about 9 months, 28 days ago.]

So…no before and after commentary video for me this time. Why? I was too tired to string together sentences.

The last 4 days have been completely amazing. I’ve met great people, and really have been able to submerse myself in the moment of everything.

After arriving in Vegas, we scoped out the venue and verified what we already knew- we can’t line up, but we can play penny slots by the door until the box office opens. Knowing that for the Vegas LITS show people lined up at 10p the night before, several of us found ourselves congregating by the doors at 9pm. We talked it over, and ended up making a list and numbering our hands, and making one person from each party stay in the area so we could sleep in shifts. I know, crazy right? But I was number 2 on that list.

I played some Mona Lisa penny slot until 4 in the morning, went to sleep until 7:30a, and then played more until 10am, when we were given wristbands. I have to commend NIN security man- JT- on making this system available to us- if I had to continue playing that slot machine until 7pm, I wouldn’t have made it. Once we got our tickets and wristbands, I crashed for a few more hours.

At 6p, we went back to the venue and were lined up in a room inside it according to our numbered wristbands. We were led down a bunch of stairs to another holding area before being let on the floor.

The stage is curved and low, and it was difficult to judge exactly what was front and center, but we guessed right. We immediately recognized the security guy from the LITS show. Smoke starts to roll out, and it’s pretty thick in there, when the smoke alarms go off. Luckily, they got it under control pretty quickly.

When the band hit the stage, it was hard not to pass out from being so close (well, there was also the not eating and sleeping thing). We got an amazing setlist: Somewhat Damaged, Heresy, Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now), I Do Not Want This, The Downward Spiral, The Day the World Went Away, and Physical (You’re So) were the highlights. Yeah, I know that’s like half the setlist…it was that good.

I believe it was during Terrible Lie that TR threw his guitar and demolished some mics again. MOTP provided the crush of the evening per usual, but it was otherwise fairly tame. There were band introductions- a lengthy one for Finck- and a ‘last tour’ speech thanking us for our support. I hate those damn speeches.

I know that the open camera policy is TR’s doing, but it’s still hard to hold the camera in his face….which is why I only record a few select things.

If Chula Vista was super dramatic Reznor, Vegas was a pensive one. There were multiple times he went to the back of the stage and hung out in the shadows looking at the crowd, seeming to take it all in.

I loved this set so hard.

When Jane’s hit the stage, I became highly aware that I was in Vegas. This band was made to play this city. Perry’s glitter pants were just icing on the cake.

I enjoyed this set much more than the Chula Vista show, partially because I hadn’t spent the last 75 minutes being sandwiched between a barrier and a 1000 people. The entire band just seemed on fire. Perry humped a speaker, jumped around on every surface possible, and performed his dance moves that are somehow reminiscent of one of those old fashioned metal wind up toys that dance around, eyes blinking crazily. Eric and Perkins seemed to be in a particularly good mood that night. And then of course there was Dave being Dave.

Perry described a homoerotic dream, picked up a large bra thrown on stage (insert BFT reference here), and threw it back, instructing people to fill it with wine and return it to him. Apparently Perry was having an anti-blogger evening, as he kept saying, “don’t go and post this on a blog”…ha!

Being that this was my second time seeing them, I have begun to establish each band member’s signature moves. Perry has his robot dance, jumps, and maraca shaking. Eric stomps around like he’s circling his prey. Perkins is wiley, all smiles, standing up towards the end of the set to show the crowd he’s playing in his skivvies. Dave, when not rocking in his wide legged stance, spins like a dancer and kicks his leg back. Gotta love Barbie standing back there on the speaker, too.

The precious balance that this band is able to maintain is becoming very apparent to me- incredibly dark lyrics presented in a fun and somehow upbeat way. It’s a combination that could easily go awry, but is pulled off in a way that is so unique that you can’t help but respect it.

My only complaint about this show was no SSSC. It was odd to not have an opener for NIN. But, I am 1/3 done with my tour, and I can easily say that the NIN/JA tour is absolutely everything I expected and more.

Video montage of the Vegas signage, list creation, smoke alarms going off, and Heresy and The Downward Spiral.

The Day the World Went Away

NIN Setlist
01. Somewhat Damaged
02. Terrible Lie
03. Heresy
04. March Of The Pigs
05. The Frail
06. Piggy
07. Metal
08. The Big Come Down
09. Gave Up
10. The Fragile
11. I Do Not Want This
12. The Downward Spiral
13. Wish
14. Survivalism
15. The Day The World Went Away
16. Physical (You’re So)
17. The Hand That Feeds
18. Head Like A Hole
19. Hurt

Jane’s setlist:
01 “Three Days”
02 “Whores”
03 “Ain’t No Right”
04 “Pigs”
05 “Then She Did”
06 “Mountain Song”
07 “Had a Dad”
08 “Been Caught Stealing”
09 “Ted Just Admit It…”
10 “Ocean Size”
11 “Summertime”
12 “Stop”
13 “Jane Says”

Stats tracker:

Combined waiting time for both shows: 24 hours (Chula: 7am-7pm, Las Vegas: 9pm-4am, 7am-10am, 6pm-8pm)
Number in line- Chula: #6, Vegas: #2
Total number of times seeing NIN: 11

Genre(s): HRC loves NIN, My Musical Adventures

2191Comments (5)2009-05-21+01%3A48%3A16hardrockchick