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LOU’S NEWS FLASHES…….
What Is Lou Ruining His Hearing With This Week?
Five Finger Death Punch War is the Answer,
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band Between My Head and the Sky,
Alice in Chains Black Gives Way to
Blue,
Green Day
21st Century Breakdown,
David Gray Draw the Line,
Colin Gawel Chemotherapy,
Slipknot All Hope is Gone, Halestorm Halestorm,
Rancid Let the
Dominoes Fall, Chevelle
Sci Fi Crimes,
Cheap Trick
The Latest, Lacuna
Coil Shallow LIfe,
Reba McEntire Keep On Loving You,
All That Remains
Forever in Your Hands
New hardDrive
& hardDrive XL Stations
hardDrivemaina continues unabated around the nation!
Newest hardDrive Stations:
102.5 The Bear in Waco TX,
The Buzz in Houston TX,
Rocky 104.9
in Altoona PA,
100.3 The Edge in Little Rock!!! Newest hardDrive XL Stations:
103.5 The Bear
Blacksburg VA,
98X Nags Head NC, 103.7 The Crow Sioux Falls SD,
100.1 The Edge Antelope Valley CA, Rock 108 Waterloo Iowa,
99.3 The Rock Mitchell NE, Z 102 McCook NE and Thunder 103.1
Ravena NE. See ya every night from 7p till 12 midnight!
Coming Up on
hardDrive
with Lou Brutus...
This weekend on hardDrive with Lou
Brutus the guest list includes Alice in Chains, Sick Puppies,
Chevelle
and Red. Get Plugged In with Like A Storm, a
hardDrive Concert Report on Rockstar Mayhem Tour and find out
What's in Lou's MP3 Player. This weekend on
hardDrive
with Lou Brutus.
This Week on
hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus
It's a Monday thru
Friday night version of hardDrive!!! Hit the official site at
harddrivexl.com for more! You can phone Lou at
877 MUSIC 11. Vote the best new song of the week with Smash
or Crash. Features like the Rant O' the Day, Ask Lou, XL
Dirt, The XL Shoutbox and Poetry Corner! Coming up
Featured Artist of the Week...Chevelle!!! The guest list also
includes
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, Flyeleaf, Powerman 5000
and
Chevelle.
The Ballad of Reba
and David and Yoko
An incredible week
of musical diversity even by Lou's standards! It began with an Artist
Confidential taping with David Gray, ended with an Artist
Confidential taping with Reba McEntire and in between featured an
interview with none other then the great Yoko Ono! Wow.
The David Gray taping wrapped up with Lou passing on some very touching
words regarding his friend and original Artist Confidential host George
Taylor Morris who recently passed away. Yoko's conversation with
Lou was very intense covering her new music, continuing efforts for world
peace and some thoughts about John Lennon. The taping with Reba
was an absolute joy as she was her usual brilliant, beautiful, talented
self. Brutus thanks all three of these astounding artists for an
amazing week!
hardDrive Live
Tour 2009
It's official!!!
hardDrive with Lou Brutus is sponsoring its first ever concert tour:
hardDrive LIve Tour 2009. The featured artists include All That
Remains, Lacuna Coil, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, From Sword to
Sunrise and Taking Dawn. You can find out tons more at the
official tour site:
harddrivelivetour.com. Read all about
the tour here:
Pollstar,
Pure Grain Audio,
The Gauntlet,
FMQB,
Metal Examiner and
Chicagoland Radio.
Artist
Confidential: Testament
They are one of
the most legendary metal bands on the planet...Testament! They
recently performed and spoke with LB as part of the SiriusXM Artist
Confidential series in NYC. Read all about it from
Piercing Metal,
antiMUSIC,
Metal Insider and
NoiseCreep. It will air soon on
SiriusXM's Liquid Metal.
I'm Brutus, Fly Me
Believe it or not
you can now hear Lou Brutus hosting SiriusXM Artist Confientials when
you fly United Airlines. Just hit the Exclusive Music
channel and you can drown out the jabbering of fellow travelers while
listening to LB speak to Graham Nash, Fall Out Boy or any other of a
number artists. Upcoming Artist Confidentials tapings for Lou include
Testament, Reba McEntire, David Gray, Smokey Robinson and many more.
No Sleep Till Bandcamp!
It was another
weekend of rock and roll debauchery as Lou invaded Madison WI for WJJO's
yearly bacchanal known at Bandcamp! Thunder, lightning and
general madness could not stop the show and Brutus recorded interviews with
much of the bill including Mudvayne, Lacuna Coil, Hurt, Dope, Red, Hed
PE, Static X, Pop Evil and more. Photos on
FaceBook
and audio to be heard coming up on hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Cruefest=Loufest
Lou will be
backstage for the opening night of Cruefest 2 in beautiful, scenic Camden
NJ. He'll be speaking with Motley Crue, Godsmack, Rev Theory,
Theory of A Deadman, Drowning Pool, Cavo, Charm City Devils and 16
Second Stare. Hear it all in an upcoming special edition of
hardDrive.
Oak Ridge Boyz in
the Hood
In an incredible
edition of the SiriusXM Artist Confidential series, Brutus spent
close to an hour and a half with the Oak Ridge Boys. The band
did seven tunes including their kick ass cover of White Stripes "Seven
Nation Army." It was a show for the ages. Watch for airtimes in
the coming weeks.
The Little Show
That Could
Many thanks to everyone as hardDrive with Lou Brutus celebrates its 13th
Birthday this weekend. You can't imagine how much fun it is to do
every week even when you consider that it doesn't allow much time for
rest! To all of you who listen and support the show I offer you my
most sincere thanks. To everyone who works on the show with me (Roxy,
Zak, Tix, Bill, Andy, Nik and everyone else) I offer a laurel and hardy
handshake. I also thank the thousands of artists who have been so
giving of their time and support. Let's do this for 13 more years/Lou
Brutus July 2009
Artist
Confidential Updates
It's a busy run
for Brutus as host of Artist Confidential. He just hosted a taping
with Rob Thomas. Other upcoming shows include The Oak Ridge
Boys, Testament, Ronnie Milsap, Reba McEntire, Smokie Robinson, John
Legend, Tori Amos and more! Keep an eye here for airtimes on
SiriusXM!
Blah Blah Blah
Blah
As Brutus does
nothing but talk all day anyways its good that he gets paid for it.
This week found him doing fresh interviews with Joey Kramer of Aerosmith
about his great new book Hit Hard. He also had his first
ever chat with Steven Archambault of Craving Lucy who are new to much
of the country although you guys in New England prolly know all about 'em.
LB also had an incredible Artist Confidential taping with the great Ziggy
Marley.
Yakkity Yakkity
Yakkity Yakk
Another busy week
for LB. Besides his usual on air work he taped an Artist Confidential
in NYC with the legendary Kenny Loggins on Tuesday which will air on
SiriusXM next month. He also got on the horn with Chad Grey of
Mudvayne and got the scoop on the forthcoming new Mudvayne and
Hell Yeah records along with info on the Pedal to the Metal Tour.
Plus, he spoke up with the guys from Evans Blue to get caught up on their
warm up shows.
Kissin' Time
He is one of Lou's
favorite human beings...Gene Simmons of KISS. Check out
Lou's conversation with Gene on the new season of Family Jewels, the
new KISS album, the upcoming tour, parenting, sex and a whole bunch of other
stuff. You can listen over the course of the week on The Boneyard
(Sirius 19/XM 53) at 5pm Eastern Monday thru Friday.
It Was Actually A
Manic Tuesday, Not Monday
El Brute was just
at the SiriusXM studios in New York City to tape an upcoming Artist
Confidential show with The Bangles. Vicki, Debi and Susanna
tore thru half a dozen tunes and chatted with LB about all things
Bangleonian. Times and dates to be announced soon.
One Brutus, One
Scotch and One Beer
It's a full hour
of live music and interview with George Thorogood and the Delaware
Destroyers as Brutus hosts another show in the legendary Artist
Confidential Series on Sirius XM. George performs about half a
dozen tunes as Lou quizzes him about his music, thoughts and time in minor
league baseball. Catch it on the Boneyard (Sirius 19/XM 53)
Wednesday at 12 Noon Eastern with replays on Saturday and Sunday.
Raging Ranging and Rocking with Rock on the Range
It was an amazing
weekend of interviews even by Lou's standards. Over the course of the
two days of Rock on Range in Columbus LB managed to score interviews with
Motley Crue (all four!), Alice in Chains (all four!),
Slipknot, KoRn, All That Remains, Black Stone Cherry, Chevelle, Crooked X,
Duff McKagan's Loaded, Flyleaf, Halestorm (he's kinda crushin' on Lizzy
these days), Hurt, Rev Theory, Saliva, Static X, Avenged Sevenfold
(only interview of the tour!), Shinedown, Buckcherry, Saving Abel,
Hoobastank, Framing Hanley, Cavo, Pop Evil, Sick Puppies, Burn Halo, Royal
Bliss, Adelita's Way and Charm City Devils. You can heart it all
on upcoming editions of hardDrive and hardDrive XL!!!
Rock on the Range Redux
Lou heads back to
the Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio this week for what has become
the preeminent hard rock festival in North America. He be backstage to
interview pretty much the entire lineup with well over 40(!) artists lined
up for him including Slipknot, KoRn, Alice in Chains, Shinedown and
others too numerous to mention.
The Sweet Life of
America's Suitehearts
LB hit the New
York City studio's to host another Artist Confidential show.
This time with Fall Out Boy. There was no talk of any tabloid
bullshit just great conversation about music and songwriting. Listen
for Patrick, Pete, Joe and Andy (who was funny as fuck) upcoming on
SiriusXM.
Yes, He Gets Paid
to Do This
A psychotically
crazy week for LB as he interviews all the bands on the Music As A
Weapon including Disturbed, Lacuna Coil and Killswitch Engage.
Then its a chat with Mike of the newly reformed Spineshank.
After that its off to the Sno Core Tour to speak with Static X,
The Flood and Burn Halo. He'll also squeeze in a talk with
Ivan Moody of Five Finger Death Punch to get a studio update on where
they are with the new album. Of course, he'll also be out to
photograph baseball games with the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia
Phillies, Florida Marlins, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves and
Chicago White Sox. Oh, lets not forget rocking the world from
coast to coast on the air. Does this guy ever sleep?
Lou Brutus is Going to The Show
Lou will be back
again as a Major League Baseball on field photographer. His
pictures are used by Sirius/XM as part of their partnership with MLB
and can be seen in various places including the official web sites.
This will be LB's third season in "The Show." Last year, he
managed to photograph every team in both the National and American Leagues
and will attempt to do so again this year.
On the Guest
Horizon
Lou just competed
another Artist Confidential show in New York City. This one was
with the Indigo Girls. Amy and Emily of the group were
wonderful to chat with and did seven songs including several from their
brand new album "Poseidon and the Bitter Bug." You can read a
review about recording the show
here. LB will be back in NYC again
soon for an Artist Confidential with Billy Ray Cyrus.
We'll get you air dates for these soon. He's also just done interviews
with Chris Brown of Trapt and Chandler who is the new singer
for Evans Blue. Both of those in new editions of hardDrive &
hardDrive XL.
Tinted Windows:
Mystical Shaman in the Forbidden Arts of Power Pop
Once upon a
time, in a musical galaxy far, far away there was a wonderful (if somewhat
sugary) variety of tuneage called Power Pop. It was based in
guitar driven rock music (think the Beatles at the peak of their pre-flowery
powers in 1966) but with unashamedly hearty heaps of heavenly
harmonies and more hooks then Colonel Blake wore in his fishing cap.
Peaking more or less in the early to mid 70's, it was believed to have been
a forgotten art until this year with the emergence of the band Tinted
Windows. Who were they who would dare practice this most happy go
lucky sounding of forgotten aural crafts? Enter Taylor Hanson
(Hanson), James Iha (ex-Smashing Pumpkin), Adam Shlesinger
(Fountains of Wayne) and Bun E Carlos (Cheap Trick). It is an
ear friendly throwback to when pop practitioners wrote their own songs,
played their own instruments and sang their own parts. What a concept.
Now while I still live and work mainly in the hard rock world (and its many
permeations) I still hold Power Pop high in my estimation and the fact that
four such gifted gentlemen would join their not inconsiderable talents to
record rock based pop music (its mostly been R&B driven beats for too long,
kids) fills my heart with unblemished joy. Again, this is not a rock
record but a pop record based in rock. A friend of mine said he
thought the first single ("Kind of A Girl") sounded "bubblegum." I
told him, "That's the point, its supposed to!" For those who may be a
bit reticent about it allow me to point out that...this record is a total
fucking joy to listen to. So if you're looking for a straight up
rock record look elsewhere but if you wanna hear four craftsmen immerse
themselves in the funnest style of music pop has ever known then seek ye out
Tinted Windows. They may become the greatest (guilty) musical
pleasure you have ever known.---Lou Brutus 04/04/09
Radio Ireland: St. Patrick's Day
Once again, Brutus
has pulled a surprise out of his musical bag putting together the Radio
Ireland channel for Sirius-XM. This is old school Irish music with
some acoustic Flogging Molly and heart wrenching Pogues thrown
in for good measure. It's one day only so listen while you can!
Sirius XM
Mandatory Metallica
Lou Brutus has
once again been hand chosen by Metallica to captain Mandatory
Metallica. It's the all Tallica channel taking over Liquid Metal
for a month at Sirius 27/XM 42. Lou has done hours of exclusive
interviews with James, Lars, Robert and Kirk for it.
You'll also hear him interviewing other bands about Metallica like
Rush, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Disturbed, Judas Priest and many others.
The channel launches 6pm Eastern on Saturday March 14th and runs for about a
month. A channel link
here. You can also write to
metallica@siriusxm.com or call 877-SO WHAT-1. The first
song, as requested by Metallica was there cover of the old Anti
Nowhere League tune "So What."
Octane Air
Force
Wanna have a say
in what Lou and everyone plays on Octane? You need to join the
Octane Air Force. You'll great to rate songs and stuff on the
channel so go to the Octane page
here and click on the Air Force
tab!!! Don't forget to check Brutus out mornings on Octane from
6am to 9am Eastern time.
Rush, The
Veer Union, George Thorogood & More
Some of the latest
interviews for Brutus include newcomers The Veer Union who you'll
hear for Plugged In on an upcoming hardDrive, Geddy Lee of Rush who
you'll hear on the Boneyard and George Thorogood who Brutus will
speak to in NYC for an upcoming Artist Confidential! Details coming!
I Don't Wanna Be Buried in A Met Sematary
Lou Brutus is a
long time fan of the New York Mets whose original home, Shea
Stadium, has finally been torn down. As that last remaining piece of
Shea looked to him like a stadium sized gravestone it spurred him to write
the following lyrics to the tune of the Ramones "Pet Sematary" (with
no apologies to the Ramones since Johnny Ramone was a Yankees fan).
MET SEMATARY
Under the arc of a weathered scoreboard
Ghostly players once adored
Float cross the lines like in seventy nine
The air filled with the smell of pine
And at night as the jets fly by
You can hear their haunted voices cry
I don’t wanna be buried in a Met Sematary
I don’t wanna die in Shea again
I don’t wanna be buried in a Met Sematary
I don’t wanna die in Shea again
Follow Casey’s ghost to the sacred mound
Past Mets rise up from the ground
Marvelous Marv and Bobby Bonilla
Andrew Young and Jose Lima
Hear them spate, “Though we weren’t great
We didn’t choke like two thousand and eight”
I don’t wanna be buried in a Met Sematary
I don’t wanna die in Shea again
I don’t wanna be buried in a Met Sematary
I don’t wanna die in Shea again
All of a sudden, I feel flesh crawl
At the sound of a batted ball
Bill Buckner damned for eternity
Sees the ball go between his knees
He’s doomed forever to repeat this play
And in the moonlight you can hear him say
I don’t wanna be buried in a Met Sematary
I don’t wanna die in Shea again
I don’t wanna be buried in a Met Sematary
I don’t wanna die in Shea again
Brutus Crackers
for Graham, Rambles with Nash
Its a brand new
edition of the SiriusXM Artist Confidential series. This time,
Brutus spends an hour with the legendary Graham Nash. They
discuss Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, his songwriting and every facet of
his nearly 50 year career. At times fall down funny and at others very
touching its a phenomenal hour of music and song with Graham doing five
tunes including Teach Your Children, Marrakesh Express and Our
House. It will air the week of Feb 16th on Classic Vinyl and The
Loft. Check sirius.com or xmradio.com for a full schedule.
NYC Gets All
Knotted Up
Just wanted to say how proud I am of the Slipknot guys. You know I'm a
huge fucking fan and have been from before Day One. They're as good a
group of people as I've ever met in my twenty years of doing this shit.
That's why I was so glad to see them hit the stage at Madison Square Garden
this week. It's the most prestigious place you can play on the planet
and one of the toughest to get in to. Well, after ten years of busting
their asses they made it and had one of the best shows of their lives.
I could not be happier. Sometimes the good guys (even if they're evil)
come out on top-Lou Brutus February 2009
Wy Knot Fray
the Moanes
Madness prevailed
(as usual) as Brutus hit NYC this week. First it was an Aritst
Confidential interview and performance with Wynonna. She
was amazing and actually hit it off really well with Herr Brutus. The
following day is where things get weird...Lou hosted another Artist
Confidential, this time with The Fray. Then Slipknot
popped by for some interview time. Wynonna stopped back over in
the middle of Knot's visit to chat. Then Marky and Tommy Ramone
said they wanted to meet Slipknot so that was hastily arranged.
Then it was over the Madison Square Garden for Slipknot, Coheed & Cambria
and Trivium. Then there was the post show party. Didn't even
mention the preshow party. Hard to believe he gets to do this shit for
a living. We'll have air dates for the Artist Confidentials soon.
Snow Patrol Artist
Confidential
Taped up in New
York, the Snow Patrol are the next up to be broadcast in the Artist
Confidential series with host Lou Brutus. The
interview/performance debuts Monday Feb 2nd at at 9pm Eastern on Alt
Nation (Sirius 21 XM 47). Encore rebroadcasts will continue thru
the week on Alt Nation, The Spectrum and The Pulse.
Hit sirius.com or xmradio.com for the full sched.
Graham Nash
Rambler
A stellar taping
with the great Graham Nash as Brutus hosted another Artist
Confidential taping at the Sirius/XM complex in NYC this past week.
It will debut in a few weeks with details forthcoming. Graham covered
many facets of his 50 year career and did performed five songs.
An amazing show. In the next week Lou will return to NY for Artist
Confidential tapings with both Winona and The Fray.
Everywhere That
I'm Not
Busy days for LB.
He's just nailed down interviews with J Loren of Hurt, Zoltan of Five
Finger Death Punch and Mudvayne. He'll hit the road for
Slipknot in Madison WI where he'll sit with Corey Taylor to find
out about his upcoming solo project among other things and then its off to
NYC to host an Artist Confidential show with the legendary Graham
Nash. All this while holding down the fort on hardDrive, hardDrive
XL, Octane and Boneyard.
OcYard
Lou is finally
returning to some regular airtime on SiriusXM, the first since the
demise of his beloved Fungus 53 channel last fall. Starting
Thursday January 15th catch him from 6 to 9am on Octane playing the
best new rock and then afternoons from 3 to 6pm playing old school hard rock
on the Boneyard. All times are Eastern. See you there.
Patrolling for
Snow Patrol
Another Artist
Confidential to look forward to on SiriusXM will be with Northern
Ireland band Snow Patrol. Lou recently hosted the broadcast
taping in front of a select audience at the NYC studios. No air date
yet but we'll post it as soon as we have it!
Sweet Baby Lou
With Brutus taking
over as host of the Sirius XM interview/performance series Artist
Confidential, the coming days will be filled with him using his skills
to being out the best in an incredibly wide range of artists. Next up,
legendary singer/songwriter James Taylor. James and Lou will
talk for a full hour with James playing mix of classics and new tunes from
his recent Covers album. The show debuts on The
Coffee House channel on December 15th at 9pm EST. Plenty of
replays after that with the full schedule at sirius.com or xmradio.com.
All Hope is Gone Gone Gone
Listen for Brutus
on dozens of stations around North America as the host of the All Hope is
Gone World Tour Special. He'll speak to the members of the band,
play exclusive live cuts from the recent European Tour and be the
first on the planet to give you the new Slipknot tour dates. Check
local listings for time and day!
Grand Poobah of
Rock
A quick note to
let you know that Brutus has been named Senior Director of Active Rock
at the newly combined Sirius XM. He'll be overseeing the music and
direction of channels like Octane, Faction and Liquid Metal.
He will also continue to put together special music channels like
Mandatory Metallica and the Led Zeppelin channel. More news
as we get it.
Meet the New Game
Mudvayne
has chosen LB to host their worldwide radio special to celebrate their
forthcoming new album "The New Game." Recorded with the
entire band in New York City it will be your first chance to have your
earhole dug out with new Mudvayne sounds. It will air on
hundreds of radio stations around the planet. Listen for days and
times.
This One
Time...at Bandcamp
It is one of the
biggest rock and roll parties of the year. It is 94.1 JJO in
Madison WI annual concert from hell called Bandcamp! Brutus never
misses the show and will backstage this weekend talking to tons of bands
including Seether, Shinedown, Hurt, Ra, Theory of A Deadman, Neurosonic,
A New Revolution, Deaf Pedestrians, Red, Bobaflex and Blackstone
Cherry. He'll also manage to get over to Milwaukee to shoot the
Brewers versus the Astros while he's in town.
Duck Season!
Fire!
While in Madison
this weekend Brutus will be throwing out the first pitch at the Madison
Mallards baseball game as they host a grudge match against blood rivals
the Waterloo Bucks. Game time is 6:05. After the pitch LB
will be photographing the game from the field and will then head to Reverend
Jim's for the big pre-Bandcamp shindig.
Projekt
Revolution Meets Exit 119
It would have to
be a good show for Brutus to brave a 5 hour drive each way thru
thunderstorms and tornadoes. It was. LB hooked up
with everybody on the Projekt Revolution Tour at the Garden State Arts
Center (fuck its current corporate name) just a few miles home from his
family's ancestral estate in Englishtown, NJ. He spoke with Linkin
Park, Chris Cornell, The Bravery, 10 Years, Atreyu, Street Drum Corps
and Armor for Sleep. You can catch it all in a couple of weeks
on hardDrive and hardDrive XL.
Brutus Invades Bay Area for Mayhem and Baseball
It was a whirlwind
weekend for LB as he made his way back to the San Francisco Bay area for the
first time in over a decade. Upon arrival to San Francisco he
immediately hopped in his rented black Mustang (ala Steve McQueen in
Bullet) and got over to Oakland to photograph the Athletics and
the Angels. The following day it was down to Mountain View to
catch The Rockstar Mayhem Tour! He spoke with Slipknot, Disturbed,
Five Finger Death Punch, Mastodon, Walls of Jehrico, Airbourne, Dragonforce
and other bands on the bill. You'll hear it all upcoming on
hardDrive and hardDrive XL.
Forget Me Knot
Brutus hit Des
Moines, Iowa and met up with Corey Taylor and The Clown of
Slipknot to record an FMQB album premiere special for the
forthcoming opus All Hope is Gone. The interview was done in the
studios of Lazer 103.3 with many thanks to Ryan Patrick and
Andy Hall of the station. You can hear Inside Slipknot: All
Hope is Gone on radio stations around the country the weekend of
August 23 and 24th. The album will hit stores on August 26th.
Brutus was trusted with the only copy of the album outside of the band and
will post some thoughts on it in the coming days.
Brutus Bears Down for Cubs
While in Des
Moines recording with Slipknot, LB took up an invitation from the
Iowa Cubs and threw out the first pitch at their game against the
Albuquerque Isotopes. While he did not hit the mascot, he missed
the catcher by a good ten feet and beaned a cameraman from the club.
Injures were minor and closed up with only a few hundred stitches. The
team, no doubt spurred on my Lou's pitching, promptly gave up nine runs
in the first few innings and went on to defeat. Thanks to Kenny Hauser
for the setup!
Tallica! Tallica!
An
amazing 30 hours for Brutus in Tennessee as he interviewed all four
members of Metallica over the course of nearly three hours!
Besides seeing their set at Bonnaroo he was also one of the
select few invited by the band to see them play in Grimey's Basement.
The total audience was less then 100. He's posted a few pics from
the Grimey's gig on his
Facebook and
MySpace
pages.
Of Wolf and Hippie
Brutus
will be jetting off to Manchester TN to hook up with Metallica at
the stinking hippie fest known as Bonaroo! He'll be doing
exclusive interviews with each of the band members. We'll keep you
posted on more details as soon as we get 'em!
Getting Distrubed
Lou
Brutus is the host of the hour long radio special celebrating the new
album from Disturbed entitled "Indestructible." All
four members of the band give their thoughts on this incredible record
in this landmark broadcast. You can hear this on radio stations
around North America before the record release date.
Check your local station
for day and time of the broadcast.
The
impressive list of stations that will carry it include:
WHJY/Providence,bWCYY/Portland,
WLZX/Springfield, WHEB/Portsmouth, WGIR/Manchester, WEDG/Buffalo, WRAT/Monmouth,
WIYY/Baltimore, WQXA/Harrisburg, WXQR/Greenville, WOBX/Nags Head, WRCQ/Fayetteville,
WCHZ/Augusta, WTZR/Johnson City, KATT/Oklahoma City, KNCN/Corpus
Christi, WRXW/Jackson, KEYJ/Abilene, KBZS/Wichita Falls, WCPR/Biloxi,
KWDQ/Woodward OK, WFTK/Cincinnati, WXDX/Pittsburgh, WTFX/Louisville,
WZRX/Lima, WAMX/Huntington, WZJO/Charleston, WIIL/Chicago, KXXR/Minneapolis,
WJJO/Madison, WZOR/Appleton, WWWX/Green Bay, KBOB/Quad Cities, WRQT/La
Crosse, KQYK/Mankato, WHMH/St Cloud, WQLZ/Springfield, WILD/Roseau MN,
KPNT/St Louis, KDJE/Little Rock, KZRQ/Springfield, KFMW/Waterloo, KDDX/Rapid
City, KCGQ/Cape Giradeau, KIBZ/Lincoln, KJML/Joplin, KRWK/Fargo, KRWN/Farmington
NM, KILO/Colorado Springs, KRZQ/Reno, KDOT/Reno, KBAZ/Missoula, KZZE/Medford ,
KATS/Yakima, KXTE/Las Vegas, KJEE/Santa Barbara, KCXX/Riverside, WHDR/Miami,
WTKX/Pensacola, WHHZ/Gainesville, WRUF/Gainesville, WRIF/Detroit, WRZX/IndianapolisWBYR/Ft.
Wayne, WRBR/South Bend, WKHY/Lafayette IN, WGBF/Evansville, WJXQ/Lansing,
WWVR/Terre Haute IN.
Scars on Broadway
Brutus
just finished an in depth interview with the normally press shy Daron
Malakian. They were talking about Daron's newest project
Scars on Broadway which also features fellow SOAD member
John Dolmayan. You can hear it all soon on hardDrive
and hardDrive XL. Many thanks to Daron, not only for the
interview, but for following up with an unexpected call to say that he
hates doing interviews...except when they're with Brutus!
Rock on the Range
It's
the Summer concert season's first major blowout and (of course) Brutus
will be backstage for it all. Year Two of Rock on the Range
will find LB doing backstage interviews with STP, Distrubed, Staind,
Killswitch Engage, Serj Tankian, Shinedown, Finger Eleven, Filter, 10
Years, Red, Theory of A Deadman, Ashes Divide, Airbourne, Kid Rock, 3
Doors Down, Seether, Papa Roach, Flyleaf, Alter Bridge, Sevendust, Five
Finger Death Punch, Black Tide, Drowning Pool, Bobaflex, Rev Theory and
Saving Abel. With him doing all these interviews the chances
that he'll actually see anyone play are pretty slim. Boo fucking
hoo for him. Hear it all in upcoming special editions of
hardDrive and XL.
Getting Disturbed in Fort Wayne
This
week Brutus jets off to the bustling metropolis known as...Fort Wayne!
He's hooking up with Disturbed to get the inside story on their
forthcoming new album Indestructible. After that, he
travels with the band to Columbus OH and the Rock on the Range
shows! Listen for it on hardDrive & XL.
All Systems Go! P-H-E-N, O-M-E-N, A-U-T-S! Phenomenauts!
Galactic pioneers The Phenomenauts roll in to XM to tape a
special performance this Monday! A short list of invited cadets
will be attendance for this show that will be heard in June on
Fungus 53! Go for launch!
Brutus' Baseball Blog
Hey
Kids! Lou has begun contributing to XM's baseball blog.
He'll be adding his thoughts and observations throughout the season from
his perspective as an on field photographer. Read the first
installment
here.
Ivan the
Not Terrible At All
Be listening
to hardDrive and hardDrive XL for Lou's exclusive, in
depth interview with his bud Ivan of Five Finger Death Punch.
You'll get the definitive word on Ivan's vocal chord rehab, the
forthcoming new music from the band, his thoughts on this Summer's
Rockstar Mayhem Tour, what really happened with Motograter
and a whole lot more. Ivan is one of LB's fave peeps in the rock
world so be prepared for awesome conversation.
"I'm Going to The Show!"
This
week marks Lou's return to Major League Baseball as an accredited
on field photographer! He's planning on shooting upcoming games
between the Orioles versus the Mariners and the Nationals against the
Marlins. He'll then continue to be down in the photo pits at games
around the country throughout the season. Let's Go Mets!
Phenomenauts Are Go!
They
are one of LB's favorite bands. They are not of this planet.
They are ntergalactic go getters, mind melting musical meteoroids,
cosmically crazed cacophony cadets, rip roarin' retro-rockabilly
rocketeers of rockin' rock. None other then...The
Phenomenauts! Their new album, For All Mankind, enters
Earth's atmosphere this Tuesday April 8th. The band was not only
kind enough to give Lou a thank you on the record but they also used and
credited him for one of the inner sleeve photographs. It's of the
band huddled over the glowing screens of XM's Satellite Command
Center in Washington, DC! Be sure to pick up the disc which
features soon to be classics as Man Alone and Make A Circuit
with Me (currently the Number One most requested song on
Fungus 53). Also, stay tuned for your chance to attend a
private concert broadcast by The Phenomenauts at XM in May!
Time Again for Time Again
It was
an incredible set from Time Again earlier this week at the XM
Performance Theatre in DC. Brutus hosted as the band tore thru a
dozen songs including many from their latest disc Darker Days. It
will debut on Fungus 53 on April 28th at 8pm Eastern. Keep an eye
out for details.
USA Today: I Am Legend
Be sure to pick up the Friday March 28th
edition of USA Today to check out an article on Lou’s latest
creation, The Play Ball channel on XM! Play Ball is
a two day channel that airs as a celebration of the Opening Day
of Major League Baseball. Tons of great songs, classic calls and other
baseball related audio. Much of it is rare and all of it is great.
There’s a full article complete with a very disturbing picture of LB
with a baseball shoved in his mouth on page 3 of the Sports
section. Read the text online
here
or download a copy for the full effect
here. Lou, whom USA Today
refers to as a "legendary rock deejay," (ummm, ok) is
getting tons of other press for the channel including
The Pittsburg Post Gazette,
The Chicago Sun Times,
The Topeka Capital Journal,
The Bergen Record,
Florida Today,
FMQB, Detroit
News,
NY Daily News and
Orbitcast.
Also, check out this massive article in
the
Miami Herald. Brutus will also be covering the Major
League Baseball season as a fully accredited on field photographer!
Watch for him at a baseball park near you.
3 Doors Down
in NYC
It was like a
fucking high school reunion at Lou met up with the guys from 3 Doors
Down for an in depth conversation recently in New York City. Brad
Arnold, Matt Roberts, Todd Harrell, Chris Henderson and Greg
Upchurch were all there talking about the new album 3 Doors Down,
the current situation on the Gulf Coast, UFOs and a bunch of other
stuff. You'll hear it all on hardDrive, hardDrive XL and
the upcoming Inside 3 Doors Down radio special. We'll alert
you to times and days. Thanks again to the guys.
Rush: Inside
Snakes and Arrows Live
Geddy Lee
and Alex Lifeson of Rush will once again be heard chatting
with Lou Brutus from coast to coast on the new radio special
Inside Snakes and Arrows Live. The special, produced by
FMQB, will have the band taking you thru the songs on the group's
new live opus. Anyone who has heard LB with Rush before
knows how well he can bring out their humor and good nature. The
special will air on radio stations around the country from April 11th to
April 14th. We'll post a full list as soon as we get it.
Yakkity Yakkity Yakkity Yak
Tons of
interviews lately for Brutus including 3 Doors Down, Rev Theory,
Hurt and Scary Kids Scaring Kids which can soon be
heard on hardDrive and hardDrive XL. He also
recently spoke to his old friend Monte A. Melnick, the longtime
tour manager for the Ramones which you can hear on XM's Fungus
53.
Theory of A
Deadman: Inside Scars and Souvenirs
This is the
weekend! March 29th and 30th find Tyler, Dave and Dean from
Theory of A Deadman broadcasting from New York City with Lou Brutus.
Actually, they recorded it a few weeks back. The show, which is
put together by FMQB is entitled Inside Theory of A Deadman's
Scars and Souvenirs is airing across the country. Check
your station for day and time!
Rock Over
London, Rock On Chicago!
It was ten
years ago now that the legendary Wesley Willis recorded what will surely
go down as his most obscure song..."Lou Brutus." Its
available on the incredibly hard to find album "Rock and Roll
Jackflash." Without a doubt, the album kicks a llama's
ass. Sadly, Wesley passed away a few years ago but not before
Lou got to thank him for the honor of writing and recording the song
about him. As the album and song are almost impossible to find,
Lou has put an excerpt of the song on his
MySpace
page to celebrate the anniversary. Check it out here.
Many thanks to Wesley. We miss you and the honky joy rides.
Artist
Confidential Redux
In case you
missed them the first time around XM Satellite Radio is re-airing
many the Artist Confidential shows hosted by Lou Brutus in the
coming days. On Monday March 10th its a show with Perry
Farrell's Satellite Party and another show featuring Smashing
Pumpkins. On Monday March 24th Lou hosts separate performances
with Megadeth and KoRn. All of these will air for 24
straight hours on XM channel 02, XMX.
Turn Me On Mr.
Deadman
Lou was just
in New York City to hook up with Tyler Connolly, Dean Back and Dave
Brenner from Theory of A Deadman. Not only will
you hear interview audio from their session, it will also be used around
the world for the official FMQB album premiere special for their
latest release Scars & Souvenirs. The special will air on
radio stations around North America the weekend of March 29th and 30th.
We'll post a list of stations soon. Album out April 1st!
You're Not
Invited Concert Series News
The end of
February saw two of Lou's fave Fungus 53 bands stop in for live
performances at XM in DC. The Horrorpops were in Studio One
while Steve E Nix and the Cute Lepers tore it up in Studio Two.
Both of these shows will be featured in upcoming editions of The You're
Not Invited Concert Series in early April. Dates and times soon!
Other upcoming bands in the series include Time Again and The
Phenomenauts.
The Atreyu-Easton
Five Star Challenge
This week
hardDrive XL listeners get a crack at The Atreyu-Easton Five Star
Challenge. You can snag an autographed Atreyu CD along
with an Easton hockey stick signed by NHL stars like
Nick Lindstrom and Chris Drury. Tune to LB on The XL to
find out how!
Tantric's Hugo
A Go Go
Hugo
Ferriera of Tantric spent a good chunk of an afternoon last week
with Lou talking up the latest news on the band. Find out about
the new Tantric album, the band changes and a lot more coming up
on hardDrive and XL.
High Times
with Airbourne
Minutes after
finishing his recent interview with Airbourne, Lou Brutus was
heard to say, "That was so funny I almost pissed in my fucking pants."
Lou had interviewed Joel and Ryan O'Keefe of the band for nearly
and hour. Hilarity ensued. They talked about drinking,
booze, alcohol, girls, drinking, the time the band saw a UFO in
Australia and, oh yeah, drinking. You can hear it all coming up on
hardDrive and hardDrive XL.
Hello, My Name
is Mudvayne
It was a
lengthy, in depth interview with Matt McDonough, drummer for
Mudvayne, that LB conducted this week. They spoke about the
forthcoming new album, how Matt's been keeping his chops up while being
off the road, the state of the music biz and a whole lot more.
You'll hear it all soon on hardDrive and on hardDrive XL
where Matt will soon be The Featured Artist of the Week.
Get Faced
Because you
don't see his ugly mug online enough, Brutus has set up his new
Facebook profile. If you're on Facebook and you're his
friend then send him a request to be his Friend. (Please
Note: Being a MySpace or Facebook "Friend" of Lou's does not mean you
are actually his "friend." Chances are you would not want to be
anyway as he is incredibly selfish and nasty.)
Get Well Hung
with Wes Borland
hardDrive XL listeners to Lou Brutus on 94.1
JJO in Madison Wisconsin have a chance to get "well hung" this
week by becoming a piece of art!
All this week, Lou is giving
you a chance to have your portrait painted by none other than
Wes Borland! You've heard Brutus rave about Wes' painting on
the air, now its your chance to become part of his portfolio.
Check out hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus all this week
for details on Solid Rock 94.1 JJO!
Theory of An
Interview
It was a great
in depth interview that LB conducted this week with Tyler Connolly of
Theory of A Deadman. They talked about the the recording of
the new album Scars & Souvenirs with producer Howard Benson,
the lyrical stories behind the songs and what happened with (what
little) downtime they had. Listen for it coming up on hardDrive
and hardDrive XL.
The Lou Brutus
History of Roadrunner Records
A few years
back someone at Roadrunner Records thought it would be a good idea to
have Lou Brutus write the label's "official" history. He polished
off a couple bottles of absinthe and went to work. We found the
file on a hard drive Lou was attempting to smash with a hammer and,
while never used by the label, we present it here for your perusal...
Since
1980, ROADRUNNER RECORDS, Inc. has been synonymous with the fiercest and
most awe inspiring rock music in the history of civilization. For over
a quarter of a century, the very mention of its name has caused women to
wail like banshees and grown men to fall to their knees weeping,
overcome by their impotence in the face of its all encompassing power.
It will eventually melt the polar ice caps and engulf all life on this
planet in an unstoppable tide of rock. Resistance is futile. You will
be assimilated.
This
worldwide juggernaut of musical madness and fierce business smarts was
formed by current chairman Cees Wessels in Amsterdam, after he was
visited by the patron saint of the city’s artisans Vincent Van Gogh.
The late painter appeared in a dream to the young man pointing to his
one good ear proclaiming, “I, who have given up my other ear for art,
proclaim that you shall create art for the ears of others.” Having been
given this mandate, Wessels began his near holy mission by licensing
U.S. hard rock for the Euro market including Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth
and others. Yes, ROADRUNNER brought the metal but it also brought other
bastard genres left for dead by the evil corporate types by repping
seminal U.S. rock, punk, and alternative labels like SST, Taang!, Triple
X, Twin Tone and Relativity--home to artists as wide ranging as Black
Flag, Sonic Youth, The Replacements and more. This
maniacal desire for diversity lives on at ROADRUNNER to this day with a
mind boggling array of successful artists in all rock subgenres as well
as enough surprising catalog items to dizzy the brain of even the most
ardent music geek.
It
was in November 1986 (after months of planning that dwarfed even
Eisenhower’s plans for D-Day) that ROADRUNNER first arrived in New
York. Appearing suddenly out of the early morning Hudson River fog,
landing craft filled with rock soldiers began discharging their heroic
cargo on America’s shores. Fighting was vicious thru lower Manhattan as
the debauched, jack booted troops of the music industry tried in vain to
keep the righteous ROADRUNNER freedom fighters from their new digs.
These offices, actually a series of underground, titanium encased
bunkers, were set up in NY for two reasons. First, to sign, record and
produce the greatest rock music that America could provide. Second, to
directly handle the marketing of the artists here in the U.S. These
offices became the company’s most significant A&R source causing other
labels to gnash their teeth in jealousy. The international
headquarters, perhaps more important to mankind than the United Nations,
are in Holland while the company also keeps outposts to serve the
teeming, rock starved masses in England, France, Germany, Japan and
Australia.
Much
of ROADRUNNER’S success is built upon its unmatched foresight in joining
forces with artists who not only become staples of the company but of
the very genres and cultures they have come to define. King Diamond,
whose operatic vocals, lyrical genius and ghostly white faced paint
ushered in a movement that lives on today in artists as diverse as
Marilyn Manson and Avenged Sevenfold. Rhythm crazed metal
warriors, Sepultura whose integration of their homeland Brazilian
sounds into the genre have inspired mosh madness from St. Petersburg,
Florida to St. Petersburg, Russia. It was in the late 90’s that many of
ROADRUNNER’S early plans for world domination came to glorious fruition
in the form of Brooklyn based Type O Negative whose “Christian
Woman” single commando styled its way stealthily onto radio airwaves
and became the label’s first Gold-certified act. Type O was followed in
quick Gold-blessed succession by “spooky core” heroes Coal Chamber
and the genre defining, electro-thrash wickedness of Fear Factory.
Then, all hell broke loose when the company hooked up with a nine man
aggregate of lost souls from the previously bypassed artery of the
American Heartland…Des Moines, Iowa. Satan himself wet his panties in
horror at the site of the malevolent, masked marauders known as
Slipknot. Their army of fans, a charming group of human flotsam
known as “maggots,” overran the known world, pillaging record stores at
will and leading to ROADRUNNER’S first Platinum certification.
In
1999, the company made a strategic move that rivaled the appointment of
George S. Patton to lead the U.S. 3rd Army in World War 2
when it chose Jonas Nachsin as President. This move resonates to this
very day as his previous four years as G.M., coupled with his background
in Sales & Marketing, continues to create a synergy among all of
ROADRUNNER’S departments that brings any entity foolish enough to tangle
with it to their knees.
The
year of 2001 saw the odyssey of ROADRUNNER continue forward at light
speed beginning with the announcement of its partnership with Island Def
Jam for distribution in many territories through Universal Music and
Video Distribution (UMVD). Being allied with Island Def Jam and working
together as sworn blood brothers of rock allowed the major to complement
the inner workings of the label and lend tactical support where
necessary. At the same time, ROADRUNNER unleashed a musical pincer
movement upon the world that solidified its position as an unstoppable
force in the galaxy. It released the sophomore album by Slipknot
entitled Iowa which shipped Platinum, debuted at #3 on the
Billboard Top 200 and shamed the feeble minded critics of the band as if
they were dogs who had messed upon the carpet. Only a month later, the
label let loose the second half of the pincer in the form of
Nickelback’s Silver Side Up. The album blitzed its way to a
#2 debut on the Billboard Top 200, went on to quintuple Platinum status
and ushered in a new era for the entire label. ROADRUNNER was now no
longer just the pre-eminent metal label on Earth; it was also a major
player across the entire rock spectrum. Nickelback’s “How You
Remind Me” went on to become the most played song of 2002 across all
formats of commercial radio and rallied rock fans around the world to
the band’s clarion call helping set up the triple Platinum success of
their next two releases, The Long Road and All the Right
Reasons. It also opened a Pandora’s Box of musical phantasmagoria
for the label foreshadowing the radio success of both Stone Sour
and Theory of A Deadman.
Meanwhile back in the
label’s titanium encased bunkers, the powers that be refused to rest on
their laurels. Preternaturally sensing the coming need for an online
presence previously unseen on this planet, they hired a renegade group
of technological outlaws to spearhead ROADRUNNER’S electronic assets.
The fruits of their insidiously industrious labors wore born in the form
of
www.roadrunnerrecords.com.
From its seemingly humble beginnings, it has worked itself into an
incredibly diverse online community with a tenfold growth since 2001.
Contributor’s like Blabbermouth.net and Infernal Combustion
have become the envy of the online music scene.
The
label currently features the following RIAA U.S. certification:
Nickelback Silver Side Up (5x Platinum), Nickelback
The Long Road (Triple Platinum), Nickelback All the Right
Reasons (Triple Platinum), Slipknot Disasterpieces
Home Video (Triple Platinum), Slipknot Slipknot (Double
Platinum), Slipknot Welcome to Our Neighborhood Home Video
(Platinum), Type O Negative Blood Kisses (Platinum),
Type O Negative October Rust (Gold), Nickelback The
State (Gold), Fear Factory Obsolete (Gold), Coal
Chamber Coal Chamber (Gold) and Sepultura Chaos
A.D. (Gold).
In
the once untouchable world of Grammy Awards, ROADRUNNER RECORDS artists
now swarm the ceremonies like Orcs attacking Minas Tirith in Tolkien’s
The Lord of the Rings. Grammy highlights for the label include
five nominations in 2004 (a staggering 3 out of 5 noms in the Metal
Performance category were ROADRUNNER titles) and picking up its first
ever Grammy Award in 2006 when Slipknot brought home the Metal
Performance award for their bold, bleak and beguiling behemoth Volume
3: The Subliminal Verses.
In
2005, ROADRUNNER RECORDS celebrated its Silver Anniversary with a party
that would have made Caligula himself blush with envy. The show,
entitled Roadrunner United, was held in New York City and
featured an all star array of label artists from throughout its storied
history. A Who’s Who of the music and media worlds needed to screw
their eyeballs back into their sockets after seeing the musical
bacchanal that was presented. Emergency rooms throughout NY were filled
with rock fans whose bodies were overcome by overdoses of metal that had
entered their bloodstreams through their eardrums during the show.
Along
its path to glory, ROADRUNNER has made its name a brand unto itself to
which consumers, artists and marketing partners alike are drawn like
frat boys to a kegger. All kidding aside, this success across all
artistic and consumer groups is because the label was formed and is
continued to be guided by people who in their heart of hearts are music
fans. This fact is why the inner fire is still lit to fight with
unbridled determination to keep ROADRUNNER true to its core base and to
expand its knowledge of the broader rock world thru vision and
experience. It is this love and respect of all music that has put
ROADRUNNER where it is and will lead it to even greater victories in the
future.
Empires have risen and fallen, trends have come and gone…but ROADRUNNER
RECORDS remains. It is both the Alpha and the Omega. It will never
die.
Rock and Roll's Last Hope: Watershed
One of
America's greatest straight ahead rock and roll bands is Watershed.
They are old friends of Brutus' and they are back on the road for a
limited time including some rare East Coast appearances. If you
wanna see rock the way its supposed to be than get your ass out to a
show, start slamming boilermakers and rock the fuck out to Watershed.
You can see all the dates and find out about the band at
watershedcentral.com or on their
MySpace.
The 2007 Lou
Brutus Christmas Activity Book
Instead of his
usual Christmas compilation CD, LB has put together his first ever
Christmas Activity Book! Written by Lou and illustrated by Alan
MacBain this twisted Christmas card features The Britney Spears
Panty Maze, The Paris Hilton F-Word Search, The Amy Winehouse Jailhouse
Letter Mad Lib, The Rip Snortin' Lyndsay Lohan Picture Puzzle and
the Where in the World is Chinese Democracy Coloring Page.
If you haven't got yours in the mail don't worry! You can download
your very own copy by clicking
HERE!
Artist
Confidential with Duran Duran
Check out XM
channel 02 XMX all day on New Year's Eve Day to hear Lou Brutus host
XM's Artist Confidential Series with Duran Duran. The band blasts
thru half a dozen tunes both new and classic while LB leads queries them
on their long, illustrious career.
Brutus' Top
Ten hardDrive Tunes for 2007
Based solely
on his own selfish tastes, here are Lou's Top Ten harddrive Tunes for
2007...
01.
Tarantula The Smashing Pumpkins
02.
You Wouldn't Know
Hell Yeah!
03.
The Bleeding Five Finger Death Punch
04. Soldiers
Drowning Pool
05.
Driven Sevendust
06.
Holy Diver Killswitch Engage
07.
I Get It Chevelle
08.
March of War Nonpoint
09.
Lie Black Light Burns
10.
Famous Puddle of Mudd
Fungus 53 Top
Ten Songs for 2007
Based on
airplay and requests, here are the Top Ten Songs for 2007 on XM's Fungus
53...
01.
Into Action Tim Armstrong
02.
Flannigan's Ball Dropkick
Murphys
03.
Terminal Boredom Steve E Nix and the Cute Lepers
04.
Requiem for Dissent Bad
Religion
05.
Hee Haw Hell Dash Rip Rock
06.
Far Behind Social Distortion
07.
Nekrohigh Nekromantix
08.
Melatonin Smoke or Fire
09.
Your Ass is A Stereotype Les Hatepinks
10.
Stop Drop and Roll Foxboro Hot Tubs
Brutus Reports on Led Zep in London!!!
In case you
missed his blog he wrote shortly after the show, here's Lou's late night
take on what he witnessed at the Led Zeppelin reunion. His
thoughts on the gig have also been picked up at
FMQB.com.
It's late here in London. Almost 1:30am and I'm on a plane back to the
States in just a few hours. Here is a quick overview of the Led
Zeppelin reunion show. More later!
Band personnel-instrument (onstage look)
Robert Plant-vocals (jeans, black shirt, curly mane of
hair and stubby beard)
Jimmy Page-guitars (began show in long duster length
jacket, vest, white shirt, sun glasses, long white hair)
John Paul Jones-bass guitar & keyboards (dark shirt and
pants, short hair, very 'normal' looking)
Jason Bonham-drums (black t shirt and dark pants)
Set list:
Good Times Bad Times (9pm local time)
Ramble On
Black Dog
In My Time of Dying
For Your Life
Trampled Underfoot
Nobody's Fault But Mine
No Quarter
Since I've Been Loving You
Dazed and Confused
Stairway to Heaven
Song Remains the Same
Misty Mountain Hop
Kashmir (Main set ends 10:51 local time)
(Encore 1)
Whole Lotta Love
(Encore 2)
Rock and Roll (Show over at 11:03 local time)
Overall:
An incredible show. The first three numbers suffered (very) slightly
from some microphone feedback, a less then stellar house PA mix and what
appeared to be the band taking a bit of time to find their footing.
From the 4th song on it was full steam ahead and they continued to pick
up momentum until the end. Once they found their groove it was obvious
that they were enjoying themselves immensely. The crowd was riveted
from the moment the lights went out. As the show opened the air seemed
to go out of the arena and it almost seemed like the 20,000 attending
were in a slight state of shock at the site of the band finally
playing. A simply breathtaking night. Very well played with exciting
musical and emotional moments.
LB & LZ: Lou Brutus Covers Led Zeppelin in London!
Brutus is winging
his way to London for the biggest musical event of the year...the return of
Led Zeppelin!!! You can hear his reports from the event across
the XM dial. More details and a complete recap of the show here
soon!!! We just hope he refuses to take the rumored $15,000
that English scalpers are offering for tickets!
P Roach, Uncut Roach
Before their
touring ended for the year Brutus caught up with Papa Roach's lead
singer Jacoby Shaddix. He got the dope on the band's upcoming
new year, information on the forthcoming new music and a whole lot more.
You can hear it all coming up on hardDrive and hardDrive XL!!!
Trace Trace,
Duran Duran
Late November
found Brutus up in New York City to host two separate tapings for XM's
Artist Confidential Series. The first was country superstar
Trace Adkins. The second with legendary Brit band Duran Duran.
You can hear them both on XM channel 02 XMX. Trace Adkins on
Monday December 17th and Duran Duran Monday December 31st. Each
special will air all day.
XM LED The
Zeppelin Channel
XM has launched
The Mothership of All Channels. It's a dedicated Led Zeppelin
channel called XM LED and Lou Brutus is at the helm! It's
nothing but Led Zep, solo music from the band members, cover versions of LZ
songs and live stuff out of the archives. Lots of other surprises as
well at XM channel 59. You can read more from
XM,
Business Week,
FMQB,
Metal Underground,
AOL News.
Nikki and
Benji
Another busy week
for Lou. He hosted Nikki Sixx during a taping of XM's guest DJ
series Offstage in Washington. He also spent a good chunk of
time on the hardDrive Hotline with Benji from Skindred.
Watch this space for schedules on when you can hear them both in November.
LB on
HBO?!?!?
No one knows why.
No one knows when. No one knows how. Lou Brutus will be featured
all next month on HBO!!! However, he will not be Lou Brutus but
someone else. Who could he be if he is not he? WTF???
Pretty As A Picture
Heads up!
New photos have been added to the 00's section of the Rogues Gallery here on
the site. Stare in wonder at Lou's slack jawed gaze with Smashing
Pumpkins, Saliva, Harry Connick Jr. and Eddie Money. Plus,
Alice Cooper is back with another assassination attempt photo with
Brutus.
KoRn and
Brutus from NYC on XM's Artist Confidential
Be sure to check
LB out all day Monday on XM as he hosts KoRn in performance and
conversation as part of the XM Aritst Confidential Series. It
was recorded live at the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New
York City. The one hour interview and concert airs continually, all
day Monday October 15th on XM channel 02 XMX! Be sure to listen
for other upcoming Artist Confidentials that Lou will be hosting including
Perry Farrell's Satellite Party (10/25), Blue Man Group (11/5)
and Megadeth (11/12).
I Shoot Into
the Light
Wanna check out
some of Lou's baseball photography? XM is using shots LB took this
summer while working as an accredited Major League Baseball
photographer on the front page of
xmradio.com. To date, every team they
have used pictures of (Mets and Phillies) have been eliminated from
contention. Is it The Curse of the Brutbino?
Artist
Confidential with Smashing Pumpkins
Lou is your host
as XM kicks off the fall season of the Artist Confiential Series with
Smashing Pumpkins. It's a hybrid concert performance and
interview that may be the greatest show you ever hear from one of the
world's great bands. Catch it on XMX which is XM Channel 02 this
Monday September 17th looping for 24 straight hours!
Nice, Nice,
Very Nice
It was a busy week
for El Brute featuring interviews with Chevelle, Fair to Midland, Blood
Simple and Trapt. Besides the rock stuff Lou has also been
continuing to work in his spare time as a photographer on the field at Major
League Baseball games! He's recently shot the Mets, Nationals,
Orioles, Twins, Yankees, Red Sox and Giants. Look for him
in the on field pits thru the playoffs and World Series, too!
Popper Pops
Off, Diamond Cuts and Brutus is "Going to the Show"
A friend of Lou's since childhood, Steve Popper is the
premiere baseball writer in the United States and covers the New York
Mets. As Brutus is a baseball fanatic and devout follower of the
Mets he often contacts Steve to beg for tickets, autographs and slightly
used protection cups.
Steve has kindly mentioned Brutus in his latest blogs
which you can read at
http://njmg.typepad.com/metsblog/.
However, he has not gotten Lou any cups. BTW, many of you have
commented on LB's incredible baseball photography. It's so good that
you'll soon be seeing some of it on the XM Satellite Radio web site.
He will also be, as they say in Bull Durham, "going to the show" and
covering select Major League Baseball games this season as an
accredited photographer! Let's see...he gets paid to go to concerts
and interview rock stars AND go to baseball games to be on the field and
take pictures. Lucky bastard! One final baseball related note...Lou
will be contributing two cuts to the latest edition of
"Diamond Cuts" albums. These are a series of discs that collect the
greatest baseball related songs and spoken word pieces. LB's epic poem
of the Chicago Cubs postseason collapse "Bartman at the Ball" and his
six second long punk rock ode "Cal Ripken Played the Longest Streak in
Baseball History" will both be included. The album should be
released in time for the World Series.
So This One
Time...At Bandcamp
This weekend,
Brutus returns to Madison WI for another incredible Bandcamp show
sponsored by his longtime hardDrive and hardDrive XL affiliate
94.1 WJJO. He'll be speaking to all of the bands on the bill
including Stone Sour, Sevendust, Nonpoint, Finger 11, Kittie, Black Light
Burns, Skillet, Dope, Burden Brothers, Godhead and Dirty Little
Rabbits. You can hear it all on upcoming editions of hardDrive
and hardDrive XL.
KoRn Devolves with
LB in NYC
It was one for the
ages as Lou interviewed KoRn in the breathtakingly beautiful Jazz
at Lincoln Center Allen Room studio overlooking Central Park in NYC.
The taping took place in front of a small group of KoRn fans and will be
broadcast on XM as part of the Artist Confidential Series. The show
lasted over an hour as Brutus quizzed the band over every facet of their
career in between five KoRn tunes that were played live and electric.
We'll post the air date as soon as we have it!
Lou in Saint Lou
for Family Values
It was an amazing
day of coverage for Brutus as he was on hand backstage in St. Louis for the
volume and laser soaked opening of the Family Values Tour 2007.
He spoke with virtually the entire bill including Jonathan and Munky of
KoRn, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Lacey of Flyleaf, Chad Gray
and Vinnie Paul of
Hell Yeah, Alex of Atreyu and Ivan of Five Finger Death Punch
along with members of Droid, Invitro, Neurosonic, Trivium and Twin
Method. Among the many pieces of news that Lou picked up is that
KoRn will do a second tour leg after Family Values and that they will
continue to feature Joey Jordison on drums, the recording of the new
Mudvayne
album is finished but the mastering is not and while the band still expects
to get it out this year it may be later than the October release that had
been anticipated by many. After the set Brutus had an exclusive
conversation with Joey Jordison who told him that the members of
Slipknot met up in Des Moines last week to discuss future plans.
Apparently, a lot of new music is already written and once they finish with
their side projects thru the end of this year they expect to begin recording
the new album early in the new year. He also said the loose plan is to
hit some of the European festivals next summer before touring America but
that it's not set in stone yet. He believes that this will be a
"metal" record much in the vein of Iowa and that the band will not be
taking nearly as much time to record the new record as they did with
Subliminal Verses. You can hear all of this and MUCH more
in an upcoming Backstage at Family Values Tour 2007 special
edition of hardDrive with Lou Brutus. There is also word afoot
that LB will be hooking up with KoRn again soon to record an
interview & performance in the
XM Artist Confidential Series. Details soon!
Brutus Family
Values
LB is off to Saint
Louis for the opening of the Family Values Tour this weekend! He'll
interview KoRn, Evanesence, Flyleaf, Hell Yeah, Atreyu, Five Finger Death
Punch, Neurosonic and all the other bands on the tour. You can
hear it all in an upcoming special edition of hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Artist
Confidential: Smashing Pumpkins
It was an
unbelievable afternoon for about thirty lucky Smashing Pumpkins fans
as they watched Lou host the band in XM's seminal Artist Confidential
series. LB quizzed the group at length about the new Zeitgeist
album along with a multitude of other subjects. This was only the
second radio interview done in America by the band and they've both been by
Brutus!!! The band performed six songs acoustically during the show
including a killer version of "United States" and you can hear it all on XM
with the TTBD.
Smashing Pumpkins
FMQB Album Premiere Special
Brutus recently
flew to Asheville NC to hook up with Smashing Pumpkins to record the
official radio special celebrating their new album. This was the only
interview done by the band for American radio to date. Now's your
chance to hear it! FMQB Presents Inside the Smashing Pumpkins
Zeitgeist can be heard from coast to coast on the following radio
stations. Check stations for times and days of the broadcast...
KACV/Amarillo, TX
KATS/Yakima
KATT/Oklahoma CIty
KBAZ/Missoula
KCCQ/Ames/Des Moines
KCLB/Palm
Springs, Ca.
KDGE/Dallas
KDJE/Little Rock
KEDJ/Phoenix
KEYJ/Abilene, TX
KFMA/Tucson, AZ
KFMW/Waterloo-Cedar Rapids
KFNK/Seattle
KHBZ/Oklahoma City
KILO/Colorado Springs
KISS/San
Antonio
KITS/San
Francisco
KJEE/Santa Barbara- Ventura Oxnard
KKDO/Saginaw, MI.
KNCN/Corpus Christi, TX
KNDD/Seattle
KNRK/Portland, OR
KRNA/Cedar Rapids
KRZQ/Reno
KUCD/Honolulu
KWOD/Sacramento
KZZE/Medford
WAMX/Huntington, WV/Ashland, KY
WAVF/Charleston, SC
WBCN/Boston
WBSX/Wilkes Barre
WCHZ/Augusta, GA
WCLG/Morgantown, Fairmont, Clarksburg, WV
WCNR/Charlottesville, VA
WCPR/Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
WEDG/Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY
WEQX/Albany, NY
WHDR/Miami-Fort Lauderdale
WIIL/Chicago
WIYY/Baltimore
WJJO/Madison
WKHY/Lafayette, IN
WKTG/Madisonville, Kentucky
WKZQ/Myrtle Beach, SC
WLFR/Atlantic City/Pomona, NJ
WLRM/Memphis, TN
WLRS/Louisville
WMMR/Philadelphia
WNNX/Atlanta
WPLA/Jacksonville
WPTQ/Bowling Green,KY
WQXA/Harrisburg
WRCQ/Fayetteville NC
WRIF/Detroit
WRRV/Poughkeepsie/Middletown NY
WRTT/Huntsville, Al
WRWK/Toledo
WRZX/Indianapolis
WTPT/Greenville-Spartanburg
WWWX/Appleton-Oshkosh
WXDX/Pittsburgh
WXEG/Dayton
WXPN/Philadelphia
WXSR/Tallahassee
WXTB/Tampa
WYSP/Philadelphia
WZNN/Green Bay
WZOR/Green Bay
KHTR/Spokane, WA
KZGL/Flagstaff, AZ
KFEB/Poplar Bluff, MO
WPNH/Manchester, NH
KLHI/Maui, HI
KMRJ/Palm
Springs, CA
WJZJ/Glen
Arbor, MI
London Calling
This weekend
Brutus is in London (the one in England) for backstage coverage from
the Live Earth shows on XM Satellite Radio. You can hear it all
on Saturday the 7th on various XM channels. Hit
xmradio.com
for the full channel description.
Uncle Sam is
Who I Am
Lou has put
together another amazing microchannel for XM. This one is especially
themed for the 4th of July and its called Uncle Sam. You can
find it on XM 120. It's sort of a musical melting pot of songs about
America regardless of genre or type. You may hear James Cagney
singing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" followed by the Grateful Dead's "U.S.
Blues" followed by John Wayne reading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Check it out. Lou's summer channel special, XM Summer, has
gotten rave reviews in the press including a mention on
CNN.com. Also, happy birthday to
Lou's grandmother who celebrates her 100th on the 4th of July!!!
Happy Birthday to Ba!!!
Smashville
Pumpkins
LB was on hand for
part of the nine night stand the Smashing Pumpkins made in Asheville,
NC at The Orange Peel. He taped an exclusive interview with founding
members Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain that are being used for the
group's official FMQB album release radio special "Inside Smashing
Pumpkins Zeitgeist." It will air on close to one hundred
stations around the country. We'll post the list of stations soon.
Lou Man
Group
LB hit the stage
of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City to tape an XM Artist
Confidential show with Blue Man Group. The Blue Men and
their band performed while Lou interivewed BMG founders and music directors
in between the tunes. Listen for it on XM with the schedule time TBD.
LB in KC
Lou was backstage
from dawn till dusk for the madness is that 98.9 The Rock's Rockfest
in Kansas City. He interviewed the entire lineup including
Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Chevelle, Saliva, Drowning Pool, Buckcherry,
Breaking Benjamin, Sevendust, The Exies, Operator, Burden Brothers,
Blackstone Cherry and Puddle of Mudd. As a bonus he also did an
exlusive interview with Tony, Robbie and Shannon of Godsmack regarding their
forthcoming side band Another Animal. You can hear it all
coming up on a special edition of hardDrive.
Satellite Party
with Satellite Party
Brutus made his
way to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Performance studios to host a special
edition of XM's Artist Confidential Series with Perry Farrell's
Satellite Party. The show was attended by less than 40 members of
Perry's fan club. The band performed seven tunes with Lou, Perry and
the band (which features one of Lou's fave musicians Nuno Bettencourt)
chatting in between the music. You can hear it upcoming on XM.
Annie Liebovitz He
Ain't
As Lou gets to go
to a lot of cool events he often takes his trusty Nikon D50 camera
along with him. He's set up a bunch of his concert and sports photos
at his MySpace page for your perusal. He also wants to thank the guys
from Time Again for using one of his recent shots of the band on
their web site and MySpace page. Check out the pix at:
myspace.com/loubrutus.
Megabrut
Friday May 18th
2007 was a historic day at the XM studios in Washington, DC as
Megadeth recorded a live interview and show as part of the Artist
Confidential series with Lou as the host. Dave Mustaine
touched on all aspects of his music, lyrics and life. Along with that
the band shredded tunes from their new United Abominations album and
an older tune that Dave let Lou pick out. Listen for it in the coming
days on XM.
No Sleep Till
Camden
Along with his
Megadeth meeting, Lou has also recently spoken with Evans Blue
and Twin Cam. On Sunday May 20th its up to Camden NJ for
interviews with Velvet Revolver, Evanesence, Chevelle, Flyleaf, Fuel, The
Exies and Buckcherry. Listen for all that on upcoming
editons of hardDrive.
Class In
Session at Nekro High
Brutus was the
host for legendary psychobilly band Nekromantix as they hit XM for a
performance in The You're Not Invited Concert Series. It will
debut on Monday June 4th at 8pm Eastern. After the taping, Lou headed
up to the Ottobar in Baltimore to check out the band as headliners on
the Hellcat Tour where he also saw great sets from the Heart Attacks
and his buds Time Again who played him their new CD that won't hit
till January. Great stuff.
Brutus Gets A
Major Rush on XM
Beginning at 12
Midnight EST this Monday and running into the wee hours on Wednesday
morning, listen for Lou on XM as the host of Rush Hours. It's a
special looking at the new Rush album Snakes and Arrows where.
Listen for a segment every hour across three XM channels including The
Boneyard, The Verge and Deep Tracks. Find the
schedule at xmradio.com.
Brutus Doubles His Rushes
Lou steps up this
weekend to host the official album premiere special for the new Rush
album Snakes and Arrows which hits stores this Tuesday. LB
spent several hours in NYC with the band's Geddy Lee and Alex
Lifeson getting an intimate look at the making of the record.
Entitled Inside Rush: Snakes and Arrows-A World Premiere Event,
the show is produced by seminal radio publication the Friday Morning
Quarterback. Check your local station for time and day. You
can hear it across the country on the following radio stations...
KBER/Salt
Lake City
KCDL/Weatherford OK
KCLB/Palm
Springs CA
KCOC/Bend
OR
KDKB/Phoenix AZ
KDOT/Reno
NV
KGB/San
Diego CA
KGON/Portland OR
KHTB/Salt
Lake City UT
KHYT/Tucson AZ
KJFX/Fresno CA
KKED/Fairbanks AK
KKEZ/Fort
Dodge, IA
KKZX/Spokane WA
KLOS/Los
Angeles CA
KLPX/Tucson AZ
KOOP/Central TX
KRNA/Cedar Rapids IA
KRZR/Fresno CA
KSAN/San
Fran/San Jose
KSHE/St.
Louis MO
KYBB/Sioux Falls SD
KZOZ/San
Luis Obispo CA
KZRK/Amarillo TX
WAMX/Huntington WV
WAQX/Syracuse NY
WBBB/Raleigh NC
WBZT/Greenville SC
WCLG/Morgantown WV
WCMF/Rochester NY
WCSX/Detroit MI
WCWP/Long
Island NY
WDHA/Morristown NJ
WDVE/Pittsburgh PA
WEGR/Memphis TN
WEGW/Wheeling WV
WEOS/Rochester NY
WGIR/Manchester NH
WGRF/Buffalo NY
WHEB/Portsmouth NH
WHJY/Providence RI
WHLK/Madison WI
WIIL/Chicago IL
WIRX/Benton Harbor MI
WIYY/Baltimore MD
WJXQ/Lansing-East Lansing MI
WKHY/Lafayette IN
WKLC/Charleston WV
WKLR/Richmond, VA
WKQQ/Lexington-Fayette KY
WLFR/Atlantic City NJ
WLUP/Chicago IL
WLVC/Warminster PA
WLVQ/Columbus OH
WMHB/Central Maine
WMMQ/Lansing MI
WMMR/Philadelphia PA
WMXT/Florence SC
WONE/Akron OH
WOUR/Utica-Rome NY
WPDH/Poughkeepsie NY
WPTQ/Bowling Green KY
WPXC/Hyannis MA
WPYX/Albany NY
WRAT/Monmouth-Ocean NJ
WRCQ/Fayetteville NC
WRIF/Detroit MI
WRKF/Baton Rouge LA
WRKI/Danbury CT
WRKR/Kalamazoo/Battle Creek MI
WROV/Roanoke/Lynchburg VA
WRSU/New
Jersey
WRXR/Chattanooga TN
WSMS/Columbus/Starkville/Tupelo MS
WSOU/New
Jersey
WSUE/Sault Ste. Marie MI
WTUE/Dayton OH
WXFX/Montgomery AL
WXKE/Fort
Wayne IN
WXMM/Norfolk VA
WZZO/Allentown PA
10 Questions with Lou Brutus
Recently, radio industry
website All Access asked Brutus to take part in their seminal 10
Questions feature. This was the outcome...
1) What was your first job
in radio? Early influences?
I began
as an intern at WMMR/Philadelphia. From there I became morning show producer
and then the first intern to ever become a member of the airstaff in the
station's history. On the Rock radio side I was always a big fan of the WMMR
staff, especially Joe Bonadonna, Earle Bailey, Bubba John Stevens and
Michael Tearson. From out of New York I loved WNEW-FM, particularly Scott
Muni, Allison Steele and the great Vince Scelsa. Steve Lushbaugh, the
longtime Production Director at WMMR, has always been someone whose work
I've admired . I have certainly learned much of what I know about creating
radio audio thanks to him, as well as WMMR's Pierre Robert and John DeBella.
Outside
of the radio world, Frank Zappa was a big influence. He taught me different
ways to look at the world and how to listen to and shape audio. I still miss
speaking with him. George Carlin, Warren Zevon, Monty Python's Flying
Circus, Looney Tunes and The Firesign Theatre were also very important to
me. They all had genius ways of approaching word play, word craft and, in
the case of Firesign Theatre, audio manipulation.
Finally, I have to mention Hunter S. Thompson. If you want to learn how to
master the English language in its most twisted and violent form, Hunter is
your man. One day I will write a book about my adventures with him. Soon
after, I will be carted away to jail where the guards will beat me
mercilessly and snarl viciously as they drag me down to a windowless cell
where I will meet my bloody doom. Res Ipsa Loquitur.
2) What led you to a career
in radio?
Radio
is all I've ever wanted to do since I was a little kid. Growing up in
Central New Jersey allowed me to get all of the New York stations and all of
the Philly stations as well as the Jersey stations. I remember my mom
listening to William B. Williams on WNEW-AM in New York and thinking that it
must be a pretty cool gig. It was when I became enthralled with the staff on
77 WABC in New York that I knew I had to be in radio. Harry Harrison, Ron
Lundy and Cousin Brucie are all true legends. These were guys that had
millions of listeners hanging on every syllable. They were Jolly Green
Giants walking the Earth -- with microphones.
If I
had to pick my favorite of all time, it would have to be Dan Ingram. He is
simply the best DJ who has ever lived. The rest of us are not fit to lick
the soles of his Florsheims. I think a lot of my sensibilities of how to
meld multiple ideas into a single, cohesive break (and do it quickly) go
back to what Dan does. He is a giant. He is a God. I would kill for him.
3) What career path would
you be following had it not been for this industry?
I think
I would like to work in a hat store. "What size do you wear? No, I'm sorry.
We don't have that." I think I could do that. What are the hours?
4) Where
do you see the industry and yourself five years from now?
The
industry and I are opening a haberdashery together on Martha's Vineyard.
We've taken a lease out on an old, converted church. We're going to call it
Hats in the Belfry.
5) What can we be doing
with our station web sites to better our stations as a whole?
Less
clutter, more info. I bail on some station sites before I actually see
anything as there is so much crap slowing the page down. Also, more hats and
hat-related items. Maybe the site sections with buxom women could be spruced
up if the gals were in hats. Nothing says class like a half-naked harlot in
a derby!
6) What is the biggest
change that you'd like to see happen in the business?
Well, after killing all
the lawyers, I believe the rock end of the business needs to get its act
together much in the way that country did when it comes to making artists a
more integral part of each radio station. Management and labels need to step
up and make their artists available to the stations. On radio's end, you
must do a great job every time an artist is taking time out of their
probably already overworked schedule. We on the radio have got to make the
artists feel like they have to be on the air with us or they're missing out
on something. Both sides need to respect each other, help each other and
feed off each other.
7) Tell us what music we
would find on your car or home CD player (or turntable) right now.
I have
not let up on the new Stone Sour album since it came out. It's one of my
favorite records -- ever. Hell Yeah, Shadows Fall, Sevendust and My Chemical
Romance are getting a lot of listens. Other stuff like Shock Nagasaki, Time
Again, Street Dogs, Dead Schembechlers and The Briefs. Also, the new Dash
Rip Rock album "Hee Haw Hell" which is a Cow Punk Rock Opera based on
Dante's Inferno which I conceptualized and co-wrote. Finally, a great tune
called "My Rifle" from an Italian band called The Manges that takes the
"this is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine" scene in
"Full Metal Jacket" and turns it, line for line, into a song. It's
brilliant.
BTW, Cheap Trick is
still turning out some of the best records in the world. The "Rockford"
album proves it. If they don't go into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame soon,
I'm going to Cleveland to start busting heads. It's shameful that they and
KISS are not in.
8) What is the one truth
that has held constant throughout your career?
You can
get more with a kind word and a gun then you can with a kind word.
9) What is the best advice
you would give to young programmers/promotion people?
Never
try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
10) As you look back over
your career, any regrets?
That I
didn't make out with Paula Abdul when I had the chance.
BONUS QUESTIONS
Who would be your dream
guest on the show?
Benjamin Franklin. He could discover electricity, down a flagon of buttered
rum and bang four courtesans -- all at the same time. He was like the Vinnie
Paul of the American Revolution.
What was the first song or
full-length release you purchased?
The
Beatles' "Revolver." It's the best album ever recorded if you don't count
"Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy."
How do you stay in tune
with your audience?
I have interns place
giant seed pods under the listener's beds. The pod absorbs their very soul
and being. We then run the data collected from the remains and argue about
what the breakouts mean. We later take the rotting human husks and process
them into Soylent Green. Mmmmmmm, Fergasoylicious.
What's the best piece of
advice anyone's ever given you?
If
you're going to shoot, shoot. Don't talk.
Yakkity Yak!
LB has just done
interviews with Keith Nelson of Buckcherry and Caleb Oliver of
Decyfer Down. You can hear both interviews on upcoming editions of
hardDrive and hardDrive XL. Next week, he's heading up to NYC to chat
with Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush! He will record two
separate interviews with them. The first for the Snakes and Arrows
album premiere special being put together by the Friday Morning
Quarterback which will air on radio stations around the country!
We'll post a list of stations in the coming weeks. You can read more
about that Rush special
here. Lou's second
Rush interview will air as a multi hour special on XM channels The
Boneyard
and Deep Tracks. Times and days to be announced soon.
Play Ball!
Brutus has put
together another ultra cool channel for XM Satellite Radio. It's
called "Play Ball!" It celebrates the Opening Day of
Major League Baseball with four days of baseball songs, classic calls, rare
baseball related audio, classic baseball comedy and long form baseball
themed shows from the Golden Age of Radio. You'll hear the best of
XM's Baseball Confidential specials, too. It runs thru Monday at
5pm on XM 200.
Mookie Hearns, Arf! Arf! Arf!
To make a long story short, Brutus is
playing a practical joke on his old neighbor by setting up a
MySpace page for the
woman's
DOG!
There's a theme song and
everything. Lou needs your help. Go to the site
here and sign up as a MySpace Friend for
the dog who's name is
Mookie Hearns!
Be sure to leave a comment. Something really creative and nuts about
how the dog has changed your life. Yeah, Lou needs to get a life.
Just do it, huh. Again, the site is
www.myspace.com/mookiehearns. Pass it on!
Bezeball Been Berry, Berry Good to Lou
To celebrate the
opening of the Major League Baseball
season XM is doing a special channel of
nothing but baseball songs and audio. Brutus has been chosen to put it
together as he's the resident baseball nut and collector of rare audio.
The channel is called Play Ball
and will be on XM 200
from Friday thru Monday. Lou is
celebrating by making his epic poem of the Chicago Cubs most disasterous
moment "Bartman at the Ball"
available on his MySpace page. Just go to
www.myspace.com/loubrutus.
Brutus Sez "Fuck Yeah" to Hell Yeah
Hell Yeah the new supergroup
featuring members of Mudvayne,
Nothingface and
Pantera.
Lou scored a major interview with the band's Vinnie Paul
and Tom Maxwell
this week. They talked about how the group came together, recording
the record and each gave some hilarious road stories including one where
Vinnie fucked a groupie
underneath Mike Borden's
drum kit during
an Ozzy set set
at Ozzfest.
We shit you not. You can hear it all coming up on
hardDrive and
hardDrive XL.
Shadows Fall on Brutus
LB hooked
up with Brian Fair
of Shadows Fall
for nearly an hour on the hardDrive Hotline
this week. They had a deep discussion regarding the forthcoming new
Shads album Threads of Life, the current Jager Tour
with Stone Sour & Lacuna Coil
and lots more stuff. You can hear it all on upcoming editions of
hardDrive and
hardDrive XL.
Brutus Gets NJ Press Love
The Irish
music channel that LB has put together,
XM
Green: Radio Ireland,
is getting rave
reviews from both listeners and the press. Check out this article in
the
Bergen Record.
Lou Brutus Goes to Hee Haw Hell!!!
Here's the latest "Hee Haw Hell" press release..
Radio legend Lou Brutus has added
yet another feather to his creative cap...co-creator of the world's first
cow-punk-rock-opera. It's based on Dante's Inferno and is entitled "Hee
Haw Hell."
"Hee
Haw Hell" is the new album by country punk rockers Dash Rip Rock,
best known for the novelty hit "Let's Go Smoke Some Pot" plus their decades
of hard touring and hard living. Brutus had written the lyrics for a
song called "Hee Haw Hell" and called the band's Bill Davis about
contributing the music. After hearing the results and going over
the lyrics for some other new Dash Rip Rock songs, Brutus suggested
tying the tunes together as a rock opera based on Dante's Inferno. The
band agreed and went ahead with recording their new tunes while it was Lou's
part to write the "cantos" or short poems to tie the songs together in a
coherent piece of audio theater.
The
album tells the story of the narrator "Donkey" (Dante) meeting with Ol' Virg
(Virgil) and crossing the river Sticks on a flatboat into Hee Haw Hell.
They encounter various demons, dead southern rockers and others in a send up
of the New South who are voiced by a variety of underground music stars
including Dead Kennedy's founder Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon
who plays Beelzebubba, the demonic leader of Hee Haw Hell.
As each
part of Dante's Divine Comedy, including Inferno, ends with the word
"stars," the last words spoken on the album are by a demonic Casey Kasem
soundalike (voiced by Brutus) who exhorts Donkey to "keep reaching for the
stars" as he escapes Hee Haw Hell.
"It was
an absolute pleasure to work with Bill Davis and Dash Rip Rock on this
album," said Brutus. "To be able to take part in the creation of
something so sick and twisted and then release it to the world is a
nightmare come true."
The
album is available now. The band will tour through the rest of the
year. Lou Brutus will be part of special shows in New York and Washington,
DC where the opera will be performed from in its entirety
Hee Haw Hell Clicks with Hicks in Styx
The new Dash
Rip Rock album is in stores now! It's entitled "Hee Haw Hell"
and is a cow punk rock opera based on Dante's Inferno.
Brutus created the concept, wrote the cantos the tie the story
together and co-wrote the title track and its reprise. Here's the
write up from Amazon.com:
Considering today's Red State Blue State dialectic, you'd think Alternative
Tentacles with our "San Francisco values" and a Southern-fried party band
from Baton Rouge (which translates to "RED stick"), Louisiana would be like
oil and water an assumption that couldn't be more wrong! AT and Dash Rip
Rock continue the joint enterprise that began with their twenty-year
retrospective Recyclone (Virus 329) in 2005 with Hee Haw Hell, an all new
album by the undisputed kings of Southern country punk. Hee Haw Hell blows
any stereotypes about Red staters, punks, and country rockers out of the
water with the genius of its conceit: it's a country punk opera based on
Dante's Inferno! With spoken parts and good ol' rock-n-roll, Dash Rip Rock
tells the story of Donkey's tour of Hell (populated by ghosts of Lynyrd
Skynyrd and hippie jam bands) with Ol' Virg. As if a country-punkified
version of a 14th century Italian epic poem isn't over the top, guest stars
Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra among others guarantee that Hee Haw Hell will be
a thespian and musical piece de resistance. If you can party to a Southern
rock legend AND learn about Dante by osmosis at the same time, then what you
got there is called a win-win situation.
The Luck of the
Irish
LB has been chosen
to program the upcoming XM channel celebrating the St. Patrick's Day
weekend XM Green: Radio Ireland. Brutus promises nothing but
traditional Irish music and authentic Irish voices between the songs with no
goofy leprechaun nonsense. You can hear it on XM 200 Friday
March 16 thru Sunday March 18.
Show Me the Eddie
This Monday March
05th Brutus will be the host for the latest in the XM Artist Confidential
Series. The guest will be the legendary Eddie Money.
It will debut this coming spring on XM.
Lots of Shit Going On
Busy week
for Brutus including interviews with My Chemical Romance, Bullet for My
Valentine and Anberlin which can be heard on hardDrive and
hardDrive XL. He'll also get set to tape an XM Artist
Confidential with Eddie Money in DC next week.
Grammy Redux
It was a
historic run of broadcasts for LB on XM's Grammy Radio. On Grammy Eve
he was on the Red Carpet for the Grammy Legends Awards speaking with the
likes of inductees like Robbie Krieger of The Doors, Mickey Hart of
Grateful Dead and Joan Baez. The following day it was the
Red Carpet at the Grammy Awards! He spoke to an incredibly diverse
group of artists including George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic, Phil
Lesh of Grateful Dead, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Buckcherry, Ministry,
Wolfmother, Mastodon, Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Red, Imogen
Heap, The Klezmatics, Howard Benson, Alan Parsons and about two dozen
more! We're still sifting thru all of the recordings!
Grammy Boy
LB is in
Hollylollylollywoodywoodypeckerpercker (as Frank Zappa would say) for the
49th Annual Grammy Awards. He will once again be on the Red
Carpet reporting live on XM. Check out XM 200 Grammy Radio for it
all.
Interview Boy
Lou's a busy lad
the last week or so with interviews with Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger
of The Doors about going into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Those interviews will air on XM 200 Grammy Radio and across the XM
dial. He's also been talking to Army of Anyone, Bullet for My
Valentine and Stone Sour. All of those interviews will be heard on
hardDrive and hardDrive XL.
When Harry Met Louie
Brutus hooked up
with Harry Connick Jr. and his orchestra at the historic Right
Track Studios in NYC recently. They taped an edition of XM's
Artist Confidential. It will debut on XM on Valentine's Day.
Mastodust
Today, Thursday January 18, 2007,
Brutus will be hooking up with both Sevendust and
Mastodon
for upcoming editons of hardDrive. Both bands have headlining tours on the
way soon to lots of
hardDrive
towns!
It Came from Planet Grammy Blog
Brutus will
be reporting from the Red Carpet next month at the 49th
Annual Grammy Awards at The Staple Center in Los Angeles on XM. As part of the lead up to the coverage
he was asked to contribute Grammy related blogs on XM’s web site.
See all of the XM blogs here. Lou’s
blogs
are as follows…
Barbarians Thru the Gates
Ramones
and The Clash Overrun Grammy Hall of Fame
Memo from the Rock Desk
By Lou Brutus
Senior Program Director Active Rock
Cluster
And so it came to pass in the year 2007 A.D. that two of the greatest albums
in all the history of recording would finally be welcomed into The Grammy
Hall of Fame. What are these two behemoths of The Industry? Multi-platinum
soft rock releases celebrated with $200 anniversary tour tickets on the
arena circuit? Albums by golden voiced femme fatales bedecked in jeweled
finery and studio polished perfection? Naaah. Just
some filthy punks.
The self titled debut album by the
Ramones
and London Calling by The Clash
have been announced as additions to The Grammy Hall of Fame. Fuck
yeah.
As with anything Grammy related some people are going to yap endlessly that
it means nothing, it means too much, it means the wrong thing, it’s too
late, it’s too early, it’s too this, it’s too that and other such
meaningless, mindless, meandering moronicisms. The
fact of the matter is that two of the finest musical entities to ever exist
are getting some well deserved respect. End of discussion.
Wanna hear one of the coolest pieces of musical
trivia ever? The instrumental piece the band opened many of their shows with
entitled Durango 95 was named by
Dee Dee Ramone after the
model of car that Alex and his droogs stole in the
beginning of A Clockwork Orange.
The tune is originally found on the group’s most underrated album (and
that’s saying something) Too Tough to
Die. That album also holds the distinction of having arguably greatest
cover of all time. When it came time for me to launch the first ever, all
punk rock radio station in history (XM’s Fungus
53) I chose Durango 95 as the inaugural song. No
other tune deserved the honor.
I have always loved the Ramones. From the moment
my school chum Steve Baise (later a member of the
legendary Devil Dogs) first played them for me I thought they were perfect.
Just perfect. I saw the Ramones in concert fifty
times. I have the tinnitus to prove it. Actually, the night I realized that
my hearing was pooched was a
Ramones
show at The Living Room in Providence, RI. I had intro-ed
the band and darted offstage to go out into the crowd to get drunk and
sweaty. Even though the set was underway I was able to walk within a few
feet of the stage to a good spot to catch guitar picks. After a few moments
I noticed that no one was standing around me. There was actually no one
within about seven or eight feet of me. “How odd,” I thought. It was then that I realized that I was
half standing inside the speaker column and that my body was being thumped
into chitlin by the savage throb of band. However, it did not
seem to hurt my ears. The volume was just right. In hindsight that should
have perhaps set off a warning flag or two but I was too busy guzzling a
highball glass of Jack Daniels and shouting out the words to Teenage Lobotomy. The lumps of useless
flesh that used to be my eardrums still ache painfully at the memory.
My friends and I would go anywhere and everywhere to see the Ramones. I remember taking the Lincoln Transit bus up New
Jersey’s Route 9 (yes, the one from Born to Run) from near my family’s home
in Englishtown up into New York to catch another bus back into Jersey to get
to the Capitol Theatre on Monroe Street in Passaic for the Ramones, David Johannsen Group
and Shrapnel. I still have the program from that gig. John Scher used to give out programs that had really cool cover
illustrations that looked like woodcuts at the shows he produced. I have a
few dozen of them from various concerts. They are worth more than gold to
me. I also gripped the front of the stage and held on for dear life seeing
the band at The Ripley, The Chestnut Cabaret and the Tower Theatre in
Philadelphia. I also caught them on the Paramount Theatre and the Stone Pony
in Asbury Park, NJ plus a zillion other joints. When I got into radio I
always made sure to volunteer to emcee the shows as it not only meant free
tickets but a chance to get all my Ramones stuff
autographed.
The guys in the band (alternately Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee,
Tommy, Marky, CJ and Richie) and their tour
manager (the long suffering but incredibly decent Monte A.
Melnick) were always hospitable. I was never anywhere near being a
band insider or anything like that but they did get to know me a bit as I
could always been counted on to show up like a bad penny at any shows within
a hundred miles of wherever I was living at the time. The guys were also
aware and very appreciative of the gobs of airplay I gave them. I still
fondly remember the unhappy shrieks of my Program Director at WHJY in
Providence, R.I. Bill Weston as I would launch into thirty to forty five
minutes of unscheduled, unapproved Ramones music
on show days. I was rewarded several times from the stage by Joey giving me
a shout out and having “Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio” dedicated to
me. I also always had a blast producing and voicing over the top concert
commercials for the shows. “More powerful than a pool of Jack Daniels…the
Ramones” or some other such nonsense was used as the opening line.
Stupid? Perhaps. Still a ton of fun for me to produce though.
Actually, one of the first dates my future wife Geri and I went on was to a Ramones concert at the Tower Theatre (technically in Upper
Darby, PA. Not Philly). As she was (and still is) an upstanding, politically
right leaning, church going conservative (very opposite of meself) she had never dreamed of going to see such a
motley display of musical flotsam. I remember her incredulous tone as she
said, “The Ramones? Aren’t they…punk rock?” The
inflection she used while speaking the words “punk rock” were her shorthand
way of saying, “These beasts play a sadistic form of audio abuse that can
only be called music because seedy fools like yourself insist on referring
to it as such and I would rather have my eyeballs plucked out by Satanic
crows in a Hieronymus Bosch painting then attend such a sordid affair.”
However, my wheedling insistence on her attendance was finally, begrudgingly
agreed to and we went to the show. Monte answered the stage door, gave me a
warm welcome and happily pointed towards…the chest. The
Ramones
always had a chest of Yoo Hoo
backstage. No water. No Gatorade. Just Yoo Hoo. It was always the pre-show highlight for me. I
introduced my date to the band and she struck up what became a thirty minute
conversation with Johnny on his far flung knowledge of the Philadelphia Phillies minor league pitching prospects for that season.
Seriously, that guy knew more about baseball than anyone who has ever lived.
If ESPN’s Peter Gammons ever had to go mano y mano versus Johnny Ramone in a
baseball trivia fight he would be reduced to a piddling puddle of petrified
pilings by the guy with the white Mosrite guitar.
She was blown away by his hospitality and geniality after expecting to be
vomited on by a bunch of weirdoes. When the band later hit the stage she
shoved her fingers in her ears and asked me, “When is the nice fellow’s band
coming out?” I laughed and pointed to the mop of hair madly bobbing at stage
right.
The downer part of that evening came as we had just left the dressing room.
Geri said, “They all talked to you but never said a word to each other.” It
was sad but true. For whatever reasons, the guys did just not seem to like
each other. I cannot/will not explain it myself. I
would heartily encourage you to read Monte’s phenomenal book on his
adventures with the group On the Road with the Ramones
to learn more about that and other, happier things. A friend once mentioned
that he thought that they would all die early. When I told him that was kind
of crappy thing to say he explained that he was not trying to be funny. It
was just that they seemed to hate one another so much but spent so much time
together that the stress of it all would manifest itself into early deaths
for them. Unfortunately, he was proven right.
The Ramones always had a fatalistic sense that
they would be come larger than life shortly after their lives ended. I
chatted with Johnny Ramone backstage before the
band’s last gig in Chicago and he seemed resigned to the fact they were well
on there way to immortality…just not soon enough. “We’re
gonna
be bigger after we’re gone then we ever were while doing a hundred shows a
year,” he said. He didn’t seem too happy about it. Joey had stopped by the
studio for an on-air interview earlier that day and, while not too ecstatic
about it, he seemed a little better with what he saw as the too late wave of
glory. I did a rather lengthy interview with Johnny about a year before he
passed away and he seemed more upbeat at that time. The compilation of Ramone’s covers, lovingly assembled by his friend Rob
Zombie, had brought another wave of fans and he was feeling pretty good
about it. I talked to Joey a couple more times before he passed away. A
wonderful person. I still have his phone number programmed onto my cell
phone as it would only break my heart to delete it. I was supposed to have
interviewed Dee Dee about his book Lobotomy but
was unable to make it up to New York on the assigned day. “No worries,” I
thought. I’ll see him again and get it done. He died soon after. I still see Marky and Tommy from time to time. Monte, too. I still act
like a geeky, dopey fan whenever I see any of them. I would not have it any
other way.
BTW, did you ever think that the Ramones were a
lot like KISS? I do. They both came out of the same basic scene at the same
basic time. They were both horribly misunderstood because of their
respective, iconic physical images. They both did short, catchy songs that
should have been hits. Think about it. The Ramones
were actually more sped up oldies music than punk (I mean that as a
compliment). Songs like “I Wanna Be Your
Boyfriend” would have fit perfectly on New York’s WABC-AM or WCBS-FM. KISS
was more bubblegum hard rock then heavy metal (I mean that as a compliment,
too) in the same way as Sweet (who had a nice gaggle of Top 40 hits).
And now we move to The Clash. I never got to seem them nearly as many times
as the Ramones nor do I have the volume of
meandering anecdotes about them but I do have probably the only story that
involves Joe Strummer and a horde of Grateful Dead Heads. No, really.
I had seen The Clash a few times. Once with Burning Spear as the opener at
the Class of 1923 Skating Rink on the University of Pennsylvania campus in
the Center City section of Philadelphia. Shitty PA sound, great show. The
walls there were concrete. Ouch. I also caught two of the shows where they
opened for The Who. One at JFK Stadium in Philly and the other during the
run of shows at Shea Stadium on Long Island. Anyway, I was working as an
intern for WMMR in Philadelphia when Joe Strummer brought the Mick
Jones-less version of the band to town to play the Spectrum. As fate would
have it the Grateful Dead were also in town that night for a show. It was
late on a Saturday morning and I was answering the request lines for DJ
Pierre Robert. I seem to remember him being a big hung over that morning but
perhaps not. Pierre was looking forward to going home for a long nap to get
rested up for the Dead that night. Normally, I would have gone to see them
too (I’m no genre snob and will go see anyone good) but Clash shows were few
and far between compared to the Dead so I was chomping at the bit to go to
the Spectrum. Just a few minutes short of the moment when Pierre could
exit…the hotline rang. It was Program Director Charlie Kendall. He brusquely
informed Pierre that Joe Strummer was on the way over and that he had to do
the interview. I got to help him quickly coddle some questions together and
we awaited his arrival. It was then that something very strange happened. We
were looking out of the third floor studio window that overlooked
Rittenhouse Square and the lovely park therein. With the Grateful Dead in
town the park had been taken over by Dead Heads who were using is as a free
camp ground. Then, from across the square, we saw the orange
mohawked
visage of Joe Strummer himself entering the park. Suddenly, he was
surrounded by Dead Heads! Dozens of them! The Lord of Punk and the gaggle of
hippie kids were face to face! What would happen? What were they saying? We
were too far away to tell. When Joe walked in the studio I asked what the
Dead Heads wanted to know. He said, “They asked if was coming out tonight to
jam with The Dead. I told them, ‘No, man. I ain’t
got no fucking acid!’” I hope it’s as funny in print as it was when he said
it with his accent. He said it in such an over the top fashion that we were
on the floor. The interview went fine and afterwards Joe asked if he could
bum one of my smokes. He reached into my box of Marlboro reds and took out
two. He put one in the corner of his mouth and the other behind his ear,
“For later,” he happily blurted out. Before he left I had him autograph a
piece of WMMR letterhead to me. I still have it. It’s a kind of a personally
bizarre Grammy kismet for me that The Clash’s London Calling goes into the
Grammy hall the same year the Grateful Dead their Grammy honor. Weird.
I never met Mick Jones but did a long phone interview with him a couple of
years ago. Nice fellow and very open to talking about anything. Although he
and Joe had differences Mick did get to play with Joe one last time when he
ran onstage at a benefit gig Joe was playing in the U.K. I believe it gave
him a great sense of closure and (my guess) made Joe’s tragic death a lot
easier to handle.
Better minds than my own have written thousands (millions?) of words about
the Ramones’ debut album and The Clash’s London Calling. Suffice to say here
that my life would have been a lot less interesting and somewhat different
in tone without them. Both groups have certainly been woven into the fabric
of my life.
As for the Grammy honor…too little too late? I think not. I say, “Better
late then never.”
Weir and Loathing at the
Grammys
A
Savage Journey to the Heart of the Staple Center via Englishtown, NJ
Memo from the Rock Desk with apologies to HST
By Lou Brutus
Senior Program Director Active Rock
Cluster
It was recently relayed to me that the Grateful Dead would be honored with The
Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Ye Gods! Pigs are
flying by a moon over Marin. There is a fly in the ointment and a shadow on
the land. There are also reliable reports of a peacock in the woodpile and
the inmates taking over the asylum. However long and strange the band’s trip
to Grammy immortality I cannot help but ask myself whether it is mere chance
or the planning of dark, freakish forces of nature that the honor comes
during the 30th anniversary year of the band’s historic concert in my tiny
hometown of Englishtown, NJ.
It was Labor Day Weekend of 1977 and I was but a broth of a lad immersed in
the usual summer doings of our backwater community. My friends and I had
spent the previous months throwing eggs at cars, cow tipping and lolling in
the fields trying to ignore the stench of manure. We were simple people in a
simple land with little of the outside world to invade the blissful
ignorance of our single digit IQs. However, our serene stupidity was brashly
invaded on the morning of Saturday September 3rd by the unexpected reek of
patchouli oil wafting on the morning’s soft summer breeze. This odd affront
to our nostrils was only the olfactory outrider of the full array of over
powering; hippy smell that rose to choke us by late morning as over 150,000
Dead Heads from around the world arrived to besiege our one horse town and
its two man police force.
From the air, the tie-dyed Technicolor spectacle must have looked like some
giant being had just vomited several tons of Skittles on the usually quiet
fields of Central New Jersey. Rasta curled
fans, their heads come alive like trippy Medusa,
danced like marionettes on acid (a half truth) in clouds of gigantic Jersey
mosquitoes which then flew crazily thru the sky after ingesting the hyper-resinated hippy blood. The entire spew of half naked
humanity was enough to cause the two Barney Fifes of the local constabulary
to weep like scolded schoolgirls. Their judicial impotence in the face of
this crush of long haired law breakers broke the spirits of these two legal
giants who had spent their entire law enforcement careers writing up little
old ladies for doing 26 in the 25 mile per hour zone on their way home
Sunday mornings from Our Lady of Peace Church on Main Street.
In the middle of it all were the Grateful Dead doing what the Grateful Dead
did best. Orchestrating not only the wonderful and bizarre musical cacophony
that some people swore by and other people swore at but also the magical
ability to bring together a medium sized city’s worth of people in a
hitherto unknown place to jump around like loons with like minded strangers
for a day of unbridled weirdness.
I stood around with my mouth wide open wondering what planet I had been
transported to.
Judas goats on both sides of the musical spectrum may bleat out that the
Grammy honor for the Grateful Dead is some kind of lunatic travesty. The
cold hearted music biz types will dismiss them as a freak show with no hit
records to speak of who do not deserve to stand in the hallowed presence of
the musical giants who have gone before. Other elements will say that the
band were always outsiders from the rest of the musical scene who will
besmirch their legacy by accepting. I say a pox on both those arguments! The
Grateful Dead has been one of the most unique and interesting chapters in
the annals of music bar none. I hope you got to see the whole shebang at
least once as there was nothing like it before or since in this portion of
the galaxy. It was as exhilarating as the extravaganzas of ancient Rome without all the fuss and muss of
someone being messily devoured by ravenous lions. They deserve the honor as
much as anyone has and perhaps more than most.
I, for one, look forward to chatting with the surviving members of the
Grateful Dead on the Red Carpet outside of the Staple Center. Will it be
weird talking to them in that setting? Hell yeah, but no weirder then them
showing up against all hope and reason in the previously music starved
hamlet of Englishtown so long ago. I am sure I will have a grin a mile wide
as they hit the stage but I might not be looking at them. I may not even be
scanning the faces of the crowd to who’s delighted, who’s not and who’s just
plain wigged out. I just might be seeing a flashback in my mind’s eye of a
New Jersey kid standing around a usually quiet field just a couple of miles
from his house thirty years ago wondering how he got so lucky as to have the
strangest circus in history come to his town.
Hee Haw Hell
He's worked behind the scenes on some
incredible music projects before but the time has come for Lou Brutus to
step up...and...well, he's behind the scenes on
this one, too. Lou has come up with the concept and written a large
amount of material for the upcoming Dash Rip Rock album
Hee
Haw Hell. It's a cow-punk-rock-opera version of Dante's Inferno.
No, really. Along with Dash Rip Rock there will be special
appearances by Jello Biafra, Mojo Nixon, Supagroup, The Upper
Crust and a ton of others including...Lou Brutus. Look for a March
2007 release and a full performance of the opera at South By Southwest in
Austin, Texas that is rumored to have the whole cast. You can check
out a preview of the disc at www.myspace.com/heehawhell.
Grammy Fo Yo Mammy
It was a pretty surreal scene as Brutus
interviewed the cream of the pop music world during the Grammy Awards
nominations in Los Angeles at The Henry Fonda Theatre. Lou found
himself chatting with Ludacris, Mary J.
Blige, James Blunt, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Amy Lee, Corinne
Bailey Rae and K.T. Tunstall.
The entire thing was broadcast on XM so we know we didn't imagine it.
Fucking weird. He'll be back in L.A. in February to broadcast live
from the Red Carpet at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
Godsmackdown
Brutus conducted the final major
interview with Godsmack on the current
round of touring and it turned out to be one of the most in depth. He
chatted with drummer Shannon Larkin for nearly and an hour and a half
prior to the band's show at the Mariner Arena in Baltimore. You can
check it out on an upcoming edition of hardDrive
with Lou Brutus.
On the Horizon
Two rock and roll travel tips for
Brutus in the coming days. He'll be in Providence, RI on November 15th
to record a backstage hardDrive special from the opening night of the
Music As A Weapon Tour. He'll interview all of the bands including
Disturbed, Stone Sour, Flyleaf and Nonpoint. From there he
heads to Columbus, Ohio to cover the yearly Hate Michigan Rally at
The Newport Music Hall featuring the legendary Dead Schembechlers
with
Watershed and B.A. Baracus. That show will be the night
before the titanic Ohio State versus Michigan football game which Lou will
also attend.
P Roach, Uncut Roach
LB hooked up with longtime friend of
hardDrive Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach. They talked up
how Lou's birthdays would also mark P Roach's first ever gig at Madison
Square Garden in NYC. They're the opener for Guns and Roses.
Lots of other cool band stuff, too. Check it out on an upcoming
edition of The World Famous hardDrive.
Over Wave and Over Dale
This Friday November 10th is Lou's
birthday and he's celebrating with one of his favorite artists of all time
Dick Dale the King of the Surf Guitar. DD will join Lou at 12 noon
Eastern on XM's Fungus 53 for the surf show Kowabunga Uber Alles.
It will be repeated that night at 9pm.
You're in the Army Now
Earlier this week, Brutus did a loooong
interview with longtime hardDrive friend Robert DeLeo of Army of
Anyone. Robert's been doing the show since his days in Stone
Temple Pilots and he gave Lou and incredible amount of information on
the new band. They spoke at length about working with legendary
producer Bob Ezrin, how he and his brother Dean hooked up with
Richard Patrick and a wealth of other topics. Hear it on
hardDrive.
Lindsey with an "E" on XM AC with LB
Fans have been waiting with baited
breath and the time has finally come. Check out Lindsey Buckingham
on XM's Artist Confidential series hosted by Lou Brutus. The two
chat in front of a live audience while Lindsey plays several tunes
from his storied career. Hear it Monday the 6th on XM 50 The Loft at
6pm E and Wednesday the 8th 9am E on XM 40 Deep Tracks.
Tool Time Once Again
Brutus has once again been hand picked
by Tool to do an interview with the band. This time, it will be
Danny Carey chatting with Lou about the latest doings with the group.
You can hear it on an upcoming hardDrive.
Alice the Pumpkin King
You can check Brutus out on Halloween
Day with the legendary king of shock rock Alice Cooper! They
team up for nearly two hours of Halloween sounds on XM 41 The Boneyard
at 12 noon E with encores at 6pm E and 12mid E.
All Work and No Play Makes Brutus A
Dull Boy
Busy, busy, busy days for LB! In
just the last week or so he's interviewed Sparta, Weird Al Yankovic,
Sully from Godsmack, Alice Cooper, Dick Dale, Lars from Rancid and
Danny from Tool.
Brutus Gets Under Lindsey's Skin
On Sunday, October 8th Brutus will host
another prestigious edition of XM's Artist Confidential series, this
time with the incredible Lindsey Buckingham. His latest album
is one of Lou's faves for 2006 Under the Skin. His previous
solo work and his music as one of the leaders of Fleetwood Mac is
also the stuff of legend. You can here this interview/performance soon
on XM.
Lou Gets to the Point w/Nonpoint & Into
the Head of Godhead
A busy week for LB with interviews for
hardDrive. He'll chat with Nonpoint and then with
Godhead. Hold it! Almost forgot the Sparta interview
as well. It also looks like he will be returning to his old stomping
grounds of Providence, RI next month to cover the opening of the Music As
A Weapon Tour with Disturbed, Stone Sour, Flyleaf and Nonpoint.
You can hear all of this in upcoming editions of hardDrive with Lou
Brutus.
Dash to NO Fo' Dash
In an act of extreme bravery, Lou
Brutus will be heading down to New Orleans, Louisiana on Friday Sept. 28th
to hook up with his longtime partners in musical stupidity Dash Rip Rock.
The bravery part is the fact that he's actually going to try and party with
them on their home drinking turf! Lou will head with the band up to
Sharpy's in Shreveport, LA on Friday night and then head back to New
Orleans to work on a musical project with the band for the following three
days.
Mountain Climbing
Brutus was the host as longtime rock
gods Mountain recorded a live show at the XM studios in DC.
They were there as part of the Then Again: Live series to do a note
for note recreation of their classic "Climbing" album. You can
catch it later this Fall on XM.
It's Melvin!
If you missed the September 22nd
edition of The Chicago Tribune you didn't see a fab article on legendary
band The Melvins. Writer Steve Knopper called Brutus about the band
and quoted him in the article. You can check it out by going here.
Another Nick in the Wall
Interviews with members of Pink
Floyd are few and far between but Brutus is on his way to NYC to chat
with Nick Mason. Nick, drummer and founding member, will talk
with Lou for two entire hours about the new Pink Floyd DVD
Pulse, his fantastic new Pink Floyd biography Inside
Out and other Floyd minutiae. It will air next month on
several XM radio channels. Lou has also been invited to see Nick play
with old band mate Roger Waters at Madison Square Garden the prior night.
Rockets, Robots and Rock & Roll
Check out Brutus on Fungus 53 this
Labor Day for visits from space traveling rockabilly cadets The
Phenomenauts. They'll host the Hee Haw Hell segments at 12
noon, 6p and 9p (all times Eastern). To learn more of their travels
here on the Earth check 'em out at www.phenomenauts.com.
Cheap Labor Weekend
To celebrate one of his favorite bands
Cheap Trick, Brutus has put together an incredible Labor Day weekend on
XM 41 The Boneyard. The Cheap Labor Weekend feature two
specials Cheap Trick recorded with LB in Atlantic City this Summer.
The first is XM Liner Notes: Cheap Trick's "Rockford" where all for
members of the band walk you thru their latest album track for track.
The second is XM's Offstage
where Rick, Robin, Tom and Bun E. guest DJ for an hour of their fave stuff.
The third day of the weekend is capped with an encore presentation of
XM's Then Again Live: Cheap Trick Live at Budokan
where the band recreates the original track for track in the XM Performance
Theatre with Brutus hosting.
KoRn in Kanada: Brutus at Family Values
This Monday August 28th will find
Brutus winging his way to Toronto, Canada to record a backstage at the
Family Values Tour Special for an upcoming edition of hardDrive.
He'll speak with KoRn, The Deftones, Stone Sour, Dir en Grey, Bullets &
Octane, Deadsy, Bury Your Dead, 10 Years and Flyleaf. Check it
out next month on hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Rancid! Rancid! Rancid!
During their three night stand in
Washington, DC Rancid basically shook the town down to its evil
roots. The shows also featured Ducky Boys, H20, The Ghouls, Theo &
the Skyscrapers and The Heart Attacks. Everyone kicked ass!
There was a cool poster done for these shows that Brutus schlepped around
for three straight nights until he had every musician in every band sign it.
He is a poster collecting geek! The Rancid boys were kind
enough to send out onstage shout outs every night to Brutus and Fungus 53.
Plus, on the final day of the shows, they all came by the XM studios in DC
and recorded acoustically for over four hours! They did eight songs in
all that will be featured on Fungus 53 in The You're Not Invited Concert
Series. It will air in late September with exact dates forthcoming
Thanks again to Matt, Brett, Tim and Lars for all of the
hospitality. Thanks also to their kick ass crew.
Lord of the Inerviews
As only Lou Brutus could, it is a
stretch of interviews with the cream of the rock world over the next few
days. Friday August 4th finds LB in Camden, NJ for Ozzfest
2006. Here he'll interview Ozzy Osbourne, System of A Down,
Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, All That Remains, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Zakk
Wylde and
Atreyu. Saturday is a travel day and then it's WJJO's Bandcamp 2006
in Madison, WI where Brutus will chat with Staind, Hinder, Dope,
Nonpoint, Three Days Grace, Crossfade, Hurt, Flyleaf, Wicked Wisdom and
Deaf Pedestrians. Think that's enough? Wrong! LB travels back
to DC on Monday and then on Tuesday hosts XM's Artist Confidential Series
with legendary group Chicago. We're pretty sure he's the only
guy interviewing Ozzy and Chicago in that same stretch but
we'll check.
Thanks for the Thanks
Many thanks to the great Jim Root
of
Stone Sour (Slipknot, too!) for including me in the thank yous on the
new Stone Sour album Come What (ever) May. I know a lot
of people however I don't have too many friends...but I count Jim as one.
He's one of the good ones. BTW, the album is simply fucking superb.
I recommend it higher than anything and I mean anything that is available to
man or beast. Get it and listen over and over again and let it sink
into your head. You will be glad you did.---LB 7.27.06
Bitching for Butch
I'm not one for reviewing records or
any of that shit. Artists have a hard enough time without having to
deal with assholes who don't make records giving their (often bitter) little
diatribes about how to make records. Often times a review can really
give a royal screwing to the person who made the record. That does not
seem fair. The artist should be able to challenge unfair reviewers to
duels. Pistols at ten paces. Blow the fuckers brains out or a
least scar them with a flesh wound. That'll show 'em. Limp
around for the rest of your life you gimpy little toad! Well, I'm not
here to review the new Butch Walker record. I just wanna tell
you how much I love it and why I think you should drop everything in your
life to go out and get it. The full title of the album is The Rise
and Fall of...Butch Walker and the Lets-Go-Out-Tonites. Yeah,
that's a bit of a nod to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the
Spiders from Mars. Maybe you didn't know that. One extra
music geek point if you did...but only if you're under 35. It wasn't
THAT trivial a piece of trivia. BTW, don't let someone treat you like
a lesser person just because you are not steeped in arcane rock and roll
knowledge. A large portion of the (mostly) guys who are, tend to be
unhappy loners with large calluses on their palms from jacking off their
entire lives because they discovered far too late that they ain't gonna get
no wang dang sweet poontang by whipping out their vast knowledge of Big Star
vinyl imported from Japan to impress some lovely young devotchka.
Trust me, I know...and I have the calluses to prove it. However, I
digress. The record harkens back to a bunch of cool glam rock shit
from the early seventies (like the aforementioned album by David Bowie) but,
as is usual with Butch, there's a lot more going on. Listen and you
may pick up bits of Bowie, T Rex, Queen and others. The beginning of
one reminds me of Elton John's "Captain Fantastic." I could
point out a lot of specific things in the songs but I'm too lazy to type
that much. I'm sure there's also a lot of stuff flying by my ears that
I'm not geeky enough to ID. Don't worry if you've never heard any of
that old stuff though. You will love the record even without insight
into transgender pop music played by heavily made up men in platform boots
from thirty plus years ago. The plentiful hallucinogenic drugs back
then may have made some of that stuff a tad bit more palatable although I
would not want to try to explain to a tripping friend why Bowie had the
lower body of a canine on the cover of "Diamond Dogs." My older
sister had that album and the artwork fucked up my dreams for months.
Chased by cartoon Bowie dogs! Help, ma, help!
Anyway, Butch Walker always has made great records. Solo stuff,
SouthGang, the Marvelous 3. Fuck! I loved the Marvelous 3
records. He also does a phenomenal job producing and/or writing for
the likes of Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Pink and tons more. Yeah, I
know. Some people like to shit on those artists. Fuck that
nonsense. I'm no snob. Those records are making someone happy.
Who am I to rain on their parade? When I was a kid I listened to KISS
every day. Critics and hipsters thought KISS sucked. Maybe they
did but I knew I liked KISS and the critics be damned. All of those
worms and gnomes can have lunch at Le Dome and get a gigantic circle jerk
going until they drown in each others jizz. However, I
digress...again. The bottom line here is that I think the new Butch
Walker is one of the best things I've heard in a looooong time. It's a
joy to listen to, sing along to or try to figure the influences if you're
into that stuff. Great songs, great playing, great everything.
Go buy it and if he plays your town go see him cause that's going to be
great, too. He's one of the best there is. Now go buy it and
thank me later. Oh, one last thing, ten extra geek points for picking
up on the Warren Zevon lyric I filched.---Lou Brutus 7.20.06
Brutus Off to Find Mary Richards
Well, not really. It's kind of
ironic that a guy like Brutus has a schoolboy crush on Mary Tyler
Moore's old TV character. We doubt he will speak to her on his
trip to Minneapolis this week but he will talk to Jared Leto of 30
Seconds to Mars, Jim Root of Stone Sour, Dragon Force, Lacuna Coil,
Disturbed, Crossfade
and a bunch more. It's all part of a series of concerts to celebrate
the 10th anniversary of hardDrive with Lou Brutus. BTW, when he
gets back he'll be hooking up with Brian of Shadow's Fall for an
interview.
MXPX Clix with Guitar Pix
Many thanks to the lads from legendary
punk combo MXPX. They stopped by the Fungus 53 studios at XM to
tape an edition of The You're Not Invited Concert Series with Lou.
Following their set, opening band on the tour Whole Wheat Bread
popped by to tape an interview with Brutus. Hear Whole What Bread
on Fungus next Wednesday at 1pm Eastern. The MXPX set will air
next month.
Cheap Click
Wow! Not many of us knew that
Brutus was such a great photographer. No, really. We're not
kidding. You can check out a bunch of shots Lou took of Cheap Trick in
Atlantic City, NJ in June right on the band's official web site. Check
out the shots of Rick, Robin, Tom and Bun E right here.
hardDrive with Lou Brutus 10th
Anniversary Article
Radio industry publishing giants
FMQB
have posted a tremendously cool article on the 10th Anniversary of
hardDrive. Read it right
here. Many thanks to everyone at FMQB for their
massive support thru the years!
Only Complete Morons Don't Love Cheap
Trick
This Friday, Brutus will begin the 4th
of July weekend with one of his favorite all time bands Cheap Trick!
They're playing The Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, NJ and Brutus will be
there taping an upcoming XM Offstage special and an upcoming XM
Liner Notes show highlighting the band's new album "Rockford."
Lou had the following to say, "Well, once again I'm saddling up to hit
the road and head off to do stuff with Cheap Trick. I can't tell you
how much I love this band. They are simply the finest straight ahead
rock and roll band that this country has ever produced. On top of the
fact that they have continually recorded and performed phenomenal music for
over thirty years they are all nice, genuine human beings. I don't
understand people who don't love them. They have everything you could
ever want from a band including stellar song writing, incredible performing
ability and a wicked sense of humor. If you have not picked up their
latest CD "Rockford" yet then we could probably never be friends.
I would only snicker at you behind your back for your lameness in not
leaping out to pick up their latest. I would later put lye in your
coffee just like Eric Roberts did to The Bedbug at the end of "The Pope of
Greenwich Village." I would be doing you a favor. Don't let this
happen. Just get it. Then I won't have to kill you.
The Greatest Thank You
List...Ever!!!
This 4th of July, hardDrive with Lou
Brutus will celebrate its 10th anniversary as the greatest radio program
in the history of Western Civilization. Lou would like to thank all of
the listeners around the world without whom the show would not exist.
Thanks to the over 110 radio stations that carry the show each week.
He also thanks everyone in the hardDrive crew including Producer Roxy
Myzal, Executive Producers Andy Denemark & Nick Verbitsky,
and Engineers Kelly Kramer, Dave Lacey & Chris Caufield.
Finally, he thanks the following short list of guests who have appeared on
the show with him in its first decade...10 YEARS, 40 BELOW SUMMER, 6 GIG,
A DOZEN FURIES, A PERFECT CIRCLE, ACCIDENT EXPERIMENT, AC/DC, ADEMA,
AEROSMITH, afi, ALICE IN CHAINS, ALIEN ANT FARM, AMERICAN HEAD CHARGE,
ANDREW WK, APARTMENT 26, APEX THEORY, APHASIA, THE AQUABATS, ARMY OF ANYONE,
ATOMSHIP, ATREYU, AUDIOSLAVE, AUDIOVENT, AUNT FLOSSIE, AVENGED SEVENFOLD,
BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, BETTY BLOWTORCH, BLACK LIGHT BURNS, BLACK SABBATH,
BLACK STONE CHERRY, BLANK THEORY, BLINDSIDE, BOILER ROOM, BOY SETS FIRE,
BREAKING BENJAMIN, BREAKING POINT, BUCKCHERRY, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE,
BULLETS & OCTANE, BURDEN BROTHERS, BUSH, CANDIRIA, CANDLEBOX, JERRY
CANTRELL, CAROLINE’S SPINE, CHEAP TRICK, RICHARD CHEESE, CHEVELLE, CINDER,
CKY, CLOCKWISE, COAL CHAMBER, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, COLD, COLLECTIVE SOUL,
CHRIS CORNELL, CRAVING THEO, CRAZY TOWN, CREED, CROSSBREED, CROSSFADE,
DAMAGE PLAN, DANKO JONES, DARK NEW DAY, THE DARKNESS, DARWIN’S THEORY,
DEADLIGHTS , DEADSY, DEAF PEDESTRIANS, THE DEFTONES, DEPSWA, DEVIL DRIVER,
DISHWALLA, DISTURBED, DOGFIGHT, DOPE, DOWN, DOWN THE SUN, DOWNSET, DRAGPIPE,
THE DREAMING, DROPBOX, DROWNING POOL, DUST TO DUST, EARSHOT, ECHOBRAIN,
ECONOLINE CRUSH, EIGHTEEN VISIONS, ELEMENT EIGHTY, EPIDEMIC, EVERCLEAR,
EVERLAST, THE EXIES, FAKTION, FALL AS WELL, FEAR FACTORY , FILTER, FINGER
ELEVEN, FIREBALL MINISTRY, FINGERTIGHT, FIVE BOLT MAIN, FIVE POINTE O,
FIVESPEED, FLAW, FLYBANGER, FLYLEAF, FOO FIGHTERS , FROM ZERO, FULL SCALE,
FU MANCHU , FUEL , FULL DEVIL JACKET, FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, FUTURE LEADERS
OF THE WORLD, GLADYS PATCHES, GLASSJAW, GODHEAD, GODSMACK, GONEBLIND, GOO
GOO
DOLLS, GRADE 8, GRAVITY KILLS, HARVEY DANGER, HATEBREED, HEADSTRONG, HED(PE),
HELMET, HIM, HOLE, HOOBASTANK, HOTWIRE, HUCK JOHNS, THE HUNGER, HURT, ILL
NINO, INCUBUS, INJECTED, INSTITUTE, INTANGIBLE, JIBE, JUDAS PRIEST, KILL
HANNAH, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, KISS , KITTIE, KORN, LENNY KRAVITZ, LACUNA COIL,
LAMB OF GOD, TOMMY LEE, LEISUREWORLD, LESS THAN JAKE, LETTER KILLS, LIFER,
LIMP BIZKIT, LINKIN PARK, LIVING COLOR, LOCAL H, LOUDERMILK, LYNAM, MACHINE
HEAD, MAD AT GRAVITY, MADSIDE, MANMADE GOD, MARILYN MANSON, MAYFIELD FOUR,
MEGADEATH, MERCY FALL, MESHUGGAH, METALLICA, MINISTRY, MOMENTO, MONSTER
MAGNET, MOTLEY CRUE, MOTOGRATER, MOTORHEAD, MUDVAYNE, THE MURDERDOLLS,
MUSHROOMHEAD, NEUROTICA, NEW DISEASE, NICKLEBACK, NO ADDRESS, NO ONE, NO
WARNING, NOISE THERAPY, NOTHINGFACE, NULLSET, THE OFFSPRING, OLEANDER,
ONESIDEZERO, OPIATE FOR THE MASSES, ORANGE 9MM, ORGY, OZZY OSBOURNE, SHARON
OSBOURNE, OTEP, OUR LADY PEACE, P.O.D., PACIFIER, PANTERA, PAPA ROACH, PEARL
JAM, PILLAR, PITCHSHIFTER, PORCUPINE TREE, POWERMAN 5000, PRIMER 55, PRIMUS,
PROJECT 86, PROM KINGS, PULSE ULTRA, PURE RUBBISH, PUSH MONKEY, PUYA, QUEENS
OF THE STONE AGE, RA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, RAMMSTEIN, REACHAROUND, RED
HOT CHILI PEPPERS, REVEILLE, REVELATION THEORY, THE REVOLUTION SMILE,
RIDDLIN’ KIDS, RUSH, SALIVA, BRETT SCALLIONS, SCREAMING TREES, SEETHER,
SEMISONIC, SEPULTURA, SEV, SEVEN MARY THREE, SEVENDUST, SHADOWS FALL,
SHINEDOWN, SILVERCHAIR, SILVERTIDE, SIMON SAYS, SINCH, SINISSTAR, SINOMATIC,
SKINDRED, SKRAPE, SLASH, SLAVES ON DOPE, SLAYER, SLIPKNOT, SLITHERYN, SLOTH,
SMASHING PUMPKINS, SMASHMOUTH, SMILE EMPTY SOUL, SNAKE RIVER CONSPIRACY,
SNOOP DOGG , SNOT, SOAK, SOCIALBURN, SOIL, SOUL ASYLUM, SOUL WAX, SOULFLY,
SOUNDGARDEN, SPEAK NO EVIL, SPINAL TAP, SPINESHANK, SPIRACELL, SPONGE,
STABBING WESTWARD, STAIND, STATIC X, STEREOMUD, STONE SOUR, STONE TEMPLE
PILOTS, STORY OF THE YEAR, STRATA, STRUNG OUT, SUBMERSED, SUNNY LEDFURD,
SUNSET BLACK, SUPERJOINT RITUAL, SWITCHED, SWORN ENEMY, SYSTEMATIC, SYSTEM
OF A DOWN, TANTRIC, TAPROOT, THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH, TOADIES, TONIC, TOOL,
TRAPT, TRUST COMPANY, UNION UNDERGROUND, UNLOCO, VAUX, VELVET REVOLVER,
VERUCA SALT, THE VERVE PIPE, VIDEODRONE, SCOTT WEILAND, WHITE ZOMBIE,
WOLFMOTHER, ZAKK WYLDE and ROB ZOMBIE.
Sonic Youth Will Set the World on
Fire
This just in...Friday June 16th the
legends of feedback Sonic Youth will be performing absolutely live on
XM 47 Ethel and Brutus has been asked to host. The show will begin
at about 6pm Eastern time and will run until the band stops! We're
pretty sure LB will be doing some Q&A with the band but we won't know for
sure until it happens.
Supreme Allied Commander of Rock
Congratulations are in order for Herr
Brutus this week. Lou Brutus has been named as Senior Program
Director of Active Rock at XM Satellite Radio. While LB
will continue to program and host his groundbreaking punk channel Fungus
53, he will now also oversee things on The Boneyard (arena rock)
and Liquid Metal (which plays Metal, duh!). Lou celebrated his
promotion with an entire case of cough syrup!
Buzzcocks and NOFX Jack Brutus
Tuesday June 20th will be a busy day
for LB on Fungus 53 as he welcomes two legendary bands to the studio.
First, Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle of The Buzzcocks
will join him. They are part of the original wave of punk bands and have
been kicking ass for over thirty years. Then, its Fat Mike and
Eric Melvin from NOFX who will lark about and pick tunes for a
couple of hours. Lark about? Ye Gods! Who uses terms like
that anymore? Anyway, ch-ch-check it out.
Allman Joy
How's this for a fairly interesting day
at work? Brutus hopped into the private plane of XM Programming
Guru Lee Abrams (the legendary XM101) in Manassas, VA. They flew
two hours to Savannah, GA where they hopped in a cab and went the the home
of...Gregg Allman!!! LB hosted an upcoming "XM Offstage"
special with Gregg that they recorded over the course of three hours while
sitting on the couch in Mr. Allman's living room. Don't you wish you
got to do this shit for a living, too? A pic of Gregg and LB on the
couch can be found in the Rogue's Gallery section of the site.
Deadwood Star Names Brutus
Official "Cocksucker from Yankton"
He is one of Brutus' favorite actors
and one of the stars of Lou's all-time favorite TV show. He is
William Sanderson, E.B. Farnham from Deadwood!
Brutus ran into him recently at XM while William was in DC visiting troops.
Taking time out of his busy schedule, Mr. Sanderson named Brutus an official
"Cocksucker from Yankton" in recognition of his devotion to Deadwood.
You can hear a snippet of this momentous audio here.
Thanks again to William who is truly one of America's finest actors!
Hell, besides Deadwood the guy was in Bladerunner for fuck's
sake! BTW, don't mention to Brutus about this being the show's last
full season as he may try and feed some of the HBO execs to Wu's pigs.
Attack of the Aquabats!
Brutus is Lobsterman?
Masked, marooned, musical marauders
The Aquabats recently took time from their This Better Work or We Are
Dead Tour 2006 to stop in to Fungus 53 to spend a couple of hours on
air with Brutus. The entire band including MC Bat Commander, Ricky
Fitness, Crash McLarson, Jimmy the Robot and newest member Eagle
"Bones" Falconhawk all showed up to pick out gnarly punk/ska tunes.
After that it was over to club Nation in DC to rock out a sell out
crowd of Aquacadets but after the show one question remained.
Who was it onstage in the enormous six foot tall lobster suit
appearing as super villain Sizzler the Rock Lobster?!?! While
the world may never know we have posted a picture of this half man-half
crustacean mutation and it sure looks like Brutus under that stuff!
Check the Rogues Gallery section of the site and decide for yourself!
Be sure to catch the tour with Whole Wheat Bread
and The Aggrolites while you still can!
All in the Family Values
Beginning this weekend Lou Brutus will
be heard on dozens of radio stations coast to coast as host of the FMQB
Family Values radio special. His guests include all of the bands from
the tour including KoRn, Stone Sour, Deftones and
Flyleaf. Here is a list of radio stations carrying the show.
Check locally for when you can catch it. WIIL Chicago, WYSP
Philadelphia, WRIF Detroit, WBZY/Atlanta, WMMS Cleveland, WHDR Miami, WXDX
Pittsburgh, KCXX San Bernadino, WRZX Indianapolis, KISS San Antonio, WEDG
Buffalo, WPBZ West Palm Beach, WBSX Scranton, WBZX Columbus, WLRS
Louisville, WPLA Jacksonville, WHRL Albany, WBBB Raleigh, KQXR Boise, WWIZ
Youngstown, WRWK Toledo, WCHZ Augusta, WXQR Greenville, WCYY Portland ME,
KJEE Santa Barbara, WZOR Green Bay WYBB Charleston SC, WJXQ Lansing,
WSFM Wilmington, KNRQ Eugene, WZBH Ocean City MD, KZRK Amarillo, WWCT
Peoria, WCLG Morgantown, KZZE Medford, KRNA Cedar Rapids and WPTQ Bowling
Green.
To Yak and Yak Not
A couple of busy days this week for
Herr Brutus. May 17th finds him hooking up with Mark and Moose of
Bullet for My Valentine. The following day he heads up to Philly
to speak to Coheed and Cambria, Avenged Sevenfold and 18 Visions.
You can hear it all in an upcoming edition of hardDrive.
Slipknot and Brutus on eBay
Just a heads up to the radio geek
types who collect stuff like this...a copy of The Slipkont Live 9.0
Radio Special hosted by His Brutness is now up for auction on
eBay. Click here to check it out.
Brutus Does Liner Notes for New
CD from The Methadones
In case you haven't heard Chicago punk
stalwarts The Methadones invited Brutus to write the liner notes for
their new cover song album "21st Centure Power Pop Riot."
Lou, a huge fan of the band and the tunes they were covering, gladly agreed.
You can hear tunes from the album premiered on XM's Fungus 53 this
Tuesday during the cover song show "Duped" at 12 Noon and 9p Eastern.
Here's the notes that Brutus wrote for the disc...
POWER POP.
IT DIDN’T MEAN THEN WHAT IT MEANS NOW.
YOU ATTACH THE WORD “POP” TO SOMETHING THESE DAYS AND YOU
IMMEDIATELY GET A GROTESQUE MENTAL PICTURE OF SOME DOLLED UP TART LIP
SYNCHING HIS OR HER WAY THROUGH AN EXCRUCIATINGLY UNINTERESTING PIECE OF
MUSIC THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO WRAP YOURSELF UP IN CHAIN LINK FENCE AND ROLL
YOURSELF OFF OF A PIER WHERE YOU WILL BE SUCKED DOWN INTO THE DEPTHS, DOWN
INTO THE COLD SILENCE OF SWEET, BLISSFUL DEATH WHERE YOUR EARS CAN NEVER
AGAIN BE ASSAILED BY THE HIDEOUS SOUNDS OF THE WORLD OF THE LIVING.
IT WASN’T ALWAYS THAT WAY.
WHEN THE PUNKS FIRST BUSTED THE DOORS DOWN, THEY CHANGED
THINGS IN MUSIC BUT ALL THAT SHIT ABOUT CLOTHING AND HAIR WAS JUST A
SIDESHOW. THE REAL CHANGE WAS A RETURN TO SIMPLICITY. THE SUDDEN
COLLECTIVE REMEMBRANCE THAT ROCK SONGS COULD BE BOILED BACK DOWN TO TWO
MINUTES. NO LONG SOLOS, NO MEANDERING LYRICAL CRAP, NO EXTRA ANYTHING.
BOIL THE FUCKER DOWN TO ITS MOST ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS, RECORD IT, SLAP IT ON
A PIECE OF VINYL AND GET OUTTA THE WAY. SURE YOU COULD LOAD THEM UP
WITH GREAT MELODIES AND CATCHY CHORUSES. THAT WAS THE POINT.
JUST KEEP ALL OF THE EXTRA MUSICAL BAGGAGE OFF THE TRAIN SO IT COULD
MOVE…FAST.
MANY OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE SONGS FROM THE GOLDEN
AGE OF PUNK FLAVORED POWER POP IN THE 70’S AND 80’S ARE HERE COVERED BY THE
METHADONES. THE BAND HAS DONE RIGHT BY MANY OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS
FROM MY ILL SPENT YOUTH AND WITH ANY LUCK THIS DISC WILL INSPIRE YOU TO
DISCOVER (OR RE-DISCOVER) SOME OF THE GREATS. NICK LOWE, ELVIS
COSTELLO AND JOE JACKSON, WHO IN MY MIND MAKE UP THE HOLY TRINITY OF THE
ERA’S POWER POP. THE MAN WHO’S JUNGLE BEAT GANG VOCALS ARE SHOUTED BY
MILLIONS AT SPORTING EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD EACH DAY, GARY GLITTER.
THE RECORDS, WHO’S SONG “STARRY EYES” IS HAILED BY SOME AS THE GREATEST
POWER POP SONG OF THE AGES. CHEAP TRICK. I FUCKING LOVE CHEAP
TRICK. THEY ARE AMERICA’S GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND. THEIR
“HE’S A WHORE” MAKES MANY SONGWRITERS FALL TO THEIR KNEES AND WEEP LIKE
SCOLDED SCHOOL CHILDREN AT THEIR MUSICAL IMPOTENCE IN THE FACE OF THE SONG’S
GREATNESS. THERE’S LOTS MORE. CRASH STREET KIDS, POINTED STICKS,
SCANDAL AND OTHERS. MAYBE NOT HOUSEHOLD NAMES ANYMORE BUT WHO GIVES A
SHIT ABOUT THAT? WHEN THEY GOT THEIR SHOT THEY MADE GREAT MUSIC AND
THE METHADONES ARE HERE NOW TO REMIND US OF THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE.
BEFORE THE WORDS “POWER POP” WERE HIJACKED BY THE SWILL
MERCHANTS.
LOU BRUTUS
FUNGUS 53 OVER LORD
XM SATELLITE RADIO
WASHINGTON, DC
More Schtuff on the Way
It's been hard keeping up with Brutus
of late but we know he's hooked up with Bullets & Octane and Stone
Sour among others. He got a thank you on the new Time Again
album and his liner notes will grace the inside of the forthcoming the album
from The Methadones. He is also going to be the host of the
upcoming FMQB Radio Special highlighting the Family Values Tour.
It will be a one hour show airing on hundreds of radio stations around the
world! The tour will feature KoRn, Stone Sour, Deftones, Bullets &
Octane, Dir en Grey and Flyleaf. We'll get details on all
of this shit as soon as Brutus tells us what the fuck is going on.
Very Vocally Valiant Venusians
He claims to be from Venus and
who are we to say otherwise? Valient Himself lead singer of
Valient Thorr will join Brutus on Fungus 53 for a special edition of the
hardcore show Slam-A-Lot on Wednesday May 3rd. While he's there
Valient will world premiere the forthcoming new Valient Thorr
album. No one outside the band has heard it yet so check it out!
Brief Briefs Briefing
The Briefs will join
Brutus on Fungus 53 on Monday May 1st 8pm E.
Down with System
It was an intense one hour interview
for LB at the Armenian National Committe headquarters in DC with John
and Serj of System of A Down. The band was in to talk to
Congressional members about their crusade for the US government to recognize
the Turkish genocide of Armenians during the First World War. You can
hear it all in upcoming editions of hardDrive.
The Long Good Friday
It was a gnarly 24 hour span in mid
April leading into Good Friday as Brutus found himself eyeball deep
in rock star types. Gogol Bordello gypsy rocked the shit out of
the 9:30 Club in DC on Thursday. Then on Good Friday it was the same
venue for Anti Flag, Casualties, Smoke or Fire and
The Unseen. Many thanks to the bands for all of the shout outs to
Brutus from the stage. Brutus interviewed a bunch of other bands too
but we lost track.
This Was the Week That Was
A pretty fucking crazed week for our
intrepid Mr. Brutus even by his exhausting standards. It began with
Lou catching the legendary Ray Davies of The Kinks at the 9:30
Club in DC. A couple of days later LB had his first chance ever to
interview Ray. The two went toe to toe for over an hour and a half as
RD opened up about his life and career. A day later Brutus was in
Baltimore for KoRn, Mudvayne and 10 Years. Then, the next day,
it was into DC for a lengthy interview with Rob Zombie. Lou
also did some hang time with Andrea and Cristina of Lacuna
Coil. Then it was off to the show with Zombie, Lacunca Coil
and Bullet for My Valentine. Then Lou collapsed.
Yadda, Yadda, Yadda
Brutus was his usual yapping self this
week. Two lengthy interviews were done back to back. The first
with Danko Jones. The new CD hits North America soon but is
already blowing up in Europe. Danko called in to the hardDrive
studios from Gothenburg, Sweden. They'll hit the USA and Canada again
in May. Right after that it was onto a call from Lajon of
Sevendust. hardDrive was the first ever national airplay the band
had and they've never forgotten. LaJon and Lou spoke about the new
single "Failure" and a whole bunch of other cool shit.
You can hear both interviews in April on hardDrive.
Walk, Don't Run '06
After waiting his entire life, LB
finally managed to see another band on his short list of artists he has
always wanted to see but never had...The Ventures! If you
are not hip to
The Ventures you should know they are one of THE most successful
and influential groups of ALL time. Check it out, they have
sold over 100 MILLION records! We shit you not. Their
surf leaning instrumental prowess has produced some of the best known hits
of all time including "Walk Don't Run," "Telstar," "Surf Rider" and
the theme from "Hawaii Five-0." Brutus got to chat them up
prior to their gig at one of the great clubs in North America, The
Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. He spoke with the entire group
including Don Wilson, Nokie Edwards, Bob Spalding and Leon Taylor.
These guys are all uber legends. You can hear the it all on an
upcoming edition of Lou's surf spectacular Kowabunga Uber Alles on
XM's Fungus 53. Thanks to the band, Fiona and Michael & Ben at the
club.
Fuck of the Irish
Most people would be
happy
with seeing one of the great bands of all time. They would go
home...happy and content. Not Brutus. After catching
the entire set from The Ventures he hopped in his car and drove like
Goggles Pizanno up the Baltimore/Washington Parkway
and arrived at Ram's Head Live just in time to catch The Dropkick
Murphys! The band was their usual brilliant selves. They drove
the sell out crowd into an orgy of musical madness and drunken mosh pit
abandon. Brutus spent him time between the pit and the bar where he
was
free basing entire cans of Red Bull. Thanks for the band for all
of the kindness since they began their tour last year with a stop by XM to
perform on Fungus 53. They now get ready for their annual St.
Patrick's Day mind fuck in Boston. Don't wear your good
shoes.
Go Waste, Young Man
LB just got back from yet another
journey to Los Angeles. This time it was to hook up with rock
legends Joe Walsh and Rick the Bass Player. Reports also
have circulated that he met up with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart.
The lunch with Jane Wiedlin of the Go Go's. We heard he also
went back out to visit Stone Sour again as they cut their new record.
Then he got back and immediately recorded something for broadcast with rap
legend DMC. Are all of these "talks" related? What could
possibly be on the way? What does Brutus have to do with it? For
now its none of your fucking business!
Frank Vincent of The Sopranos
Beats the Crap Out of Brutus
No, seriously. Legendary actor
Frank Vincent (Sopranos, Goodfellas, Raging Bull) recently
stopped by the hardDrive with Lou Brutus studios to chat with our
intrepid hero about his new book "A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man."
Things went well until Lou became what Mr. Vincent described as
"disrespectful." Frank than taught Lou some manners by picking up a
chair and beating some sense into him. We think it was all in
fun. We hope so anyway. We'll ask Brutus as soon as he gets
out of traction and off the morphine drip. Check it out
later this month on hardDrive and check out Frank's book which is great.
Then go get yer fucking shine box.
Grammy Behind the Eight Ball
It was an absolute triumph for our
intrepid hero as Lou Brutus stormed Grammy Week in Los Angeles with
microphones blazing! Basing himself in the pimp-like luxury
of the Beverly Hilton, LB began his Cali time on Sunday by lunching
with his old friend (and not so secret crush) Louise Post of Veruca Salt.
He hooked up that night with Kelly and Luis of The Dollyrots who gave
him an advance of their forthcoming new album (it's great btw). On
Monday LB attended an early morning Grammy Conference at USC
where he spoke to Jimmy Jamm, super producer John Shanks and
Randy Jackson of American Idol. That night it was off to the
Music Cares Person of the Year Award ceremony for James Taylor.
Brutus interviewed James on his way in and then caught the show that
featured performances by Bruce Springsteen, Carol King, Sting, Bonnie
Raitt, Allison Kraus, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Paul Simon
and James Taylor. The following day it was off to visit Stone
Sour in the studio (more on that below) and then a broadcast from the
biggest shindig of Grammy Week...The Clive Davis Party!
LB hosted the radio portion which featured performances by Rod Stewart,
Barry Manilow, Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, Rob Thomas with Santana, Jamie
Foxx, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Anthony Hamilton, Heather Headley and a
whole bunch more. Then it was finally Grammy Day! Brutus was on
the Red Carpet (actually green this year) and spoke to Audioslave, Linkin
Park, Mudvayne, Shadows Fall, Trey Anastasio, Fall Out Boy,
Evander Holyfield, India.Arie, Jars of Clay, Keane, Kitaro, Michael W.
Smith, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow, Red Grammer, USC
star Reggie Bush, Redney Jerkins, Tierney Sutton and Tom Chapin.
However, the highlight was an emotional talk with Clown, Sid, Joey and
Paul of Slipknot. Brutus started going off about how it was their
time and that he guaranteed they would walk out of the building as
Grammy winners. Guess what. They did. For the actual
awards Lou spent his time floating between the backstage area, the press
area, the sound trucks outside the Staple Center and the audience. He
ran into Green Day after their upset win over Mariah Carey but
he was too pleasantly shocked that they had won to actually say anything to
them. Following the awards Brutus headed back to the Beverly Hilton,
stripped, jumped in the pool and downed a pint of raw ether. It
fucking rocked.
Sly and the Family Stone Sour
The day prior to the Grammys found
Herr Brutus heading out to the foul suburban sprawl in the valley north
of Los Angeles. His mission? To get an exclusive interview with
the members of Stone Sour! He found them hunkered down with
producer
Nick Raskulinecz at Studio 606 working on tracks for their
sophomore album. LB got to hear some basic tracks (they've been
working on drums mostly to this point) and to get a quality time on tape
with both Corey Taylor and Jim Root. Besides getting the
scoop on the new music and tour plans Brutus pleaded with Corey and Jim to
attend the Grammy Awards as he felt they were a lock to win.
Neither of them ended up attending. Much of the audio can be hear on
XM Satellite Radio
and will also be available on an upcoming editon of hardDrive with Lou
Brutus. Many thanks to Corey, Jim, Josh, Sean, Joel, Nick, Scotty
and Hugo the Wonder Dog for all of the hospitality! Hugo thanks
Lou for the belly rubs. Be sure to check out pics from the
studio in the Slipknot section of the Rogues Gallery here on the
site!
Moon Over My Grammy
In a bizarre turn of events that has
sent shock waves thru the recording industry...Lou Brutus is going to
be on the Red Carpet for the Grammy Awards! Yeah, we just got
a mental picture of him biting a cast member of Disney's "High School
Musical" on the ass, too. How in God's name could such an
abomination be foisted upon the media? Well, LB has been chosen as
one of the hosts for the massive Grammy coverage on XM Satellite Radio.
You can hear it all on Channel 200, Grammy Radio. He will spend
nearly a week in LA broadcasting from the Grammy rehearsals at the
Staple Center, the ultra chic Clive Davis party at the Beverly
Hilton, several other celebrity events and finally the Grammy Awards!
Following his badgering of famous people on the red (which is
actually green this year) carpet he'll be backstage to report on the
hi-jinks. Next week, stop down to this space for the full
rundown of what goes down.
Viva Las Brutus!
In what may have been his most twisted
trip yet to The City of Fear and Loathing, Doktor Brutus was at the
center of a 72 hour whirlwind in Las Vegas the likes of which had
never been seen before by man nor beast! LB rolled into LV with
XM for the Consumer Electronics Show which is like an evil wet
dream for gadget geeks. Covering an area larger than 28 football
fields with the latest in technical marvels it is attended by hundreds of
thousands of pocket protector wearin' mutha fuckas from around the
globe. On his first day on the XM stage Brutus was joined by Snoop
Dogg, Farrell of The Neptunes and XM's Leo G. Later
that night it was one of Lee Abrams' famous whacked out dinners with
Todd Rundgren, Kevin Bacon, Jon Anderson of Yes, famed rock managers
Eric Gardner and Toby Mamis plus none other than...Donny
Osmond!!! Yes, it was as if Brutus had entered a bizarre
portal to an alternate universe of mind eclipsing weirdness as he chatted
with Donny over a pleasant dinner. The next day found Lou onstage with
his old friend Weird Al Yankovic but, later that night, it was
another incredibly strange dinner with Brutus dining with Weird Al, David
Coverdale of Whitesnake, Todd Rundgren, Jon Anderson and...Cal
Ripken! As if that were not odd enough Brutus ended up at the bar
far into the night scarfing down drink with Todd to keep off the
desert chill while Ripken
sat at the same table. The final day of the show LB had a full slate of
onstage interviews including Kenny Wayne Shepard, Levi Kreis from The
Apprentice and an incredible session with music legends Quincy Jones
and Herbie Hancock!!! The dinner that night topped them all with
Quincy, Herbie, Jane from the Go Go's, Christopher Cross, Kenny Wayne
Shepard, Levi Kreis, Jon Anderson and whole bunch more that for reasons
of security cannot be mentioned here. Brutus was heard to say, "It
was as if I was living on some far away bizzaro planet of celebrities.
I believe I was the only non-millionaire at the table." Following
the dinner, just to make the night weirder, Brutus headed off the The
Venetian Hotel and Casino to catch Blue Man Group and then the
2006 Pornography Awards where he drank till dawn with silicone
injected midgets. He was still trying to recover from the trip.
hardDrive with Lou Brutus Now on
MySpace
Are you a MySpace junkie like
Brutus is? If so, head over to the new MySpace page for hardDrive
with Lou Brutus. You can get there simply by going here.
Don't blame us if you become horribly addicted to it.
Viva Las Brutus
El Brute is off to Fear and Loathing
Central...Las Vegas. He's there as one of XM's hosts for the
Consumer Electronics Show. LB will be on the XM stage interviewing
the likes of Quincy Jones, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Weird Al Yankovic,
winning musician from The Apprentice Levi Kreis and a bunch
more. Keep your ears tuned for highlights this week on XM.
Ol' Dirty Brutus Scores Holiday
Write Up in Washington Post
As one of the world's foremost experts
on bizarre holiday music Brutus is often called upon by media
organizations to wax poetically in regard to whacked Christmas music.
On Christmas Day, Lou was featured in an Washington Post article
written by Marc Fisher. The piece touched on several of Lou's
faves including Woody Phillips, The Del Rubio Triplets and Leon
Redbone. The article also focused on Lou's yearly holiday CD that
he produces and his blind hatred of the song "Grandma Got Run Over
By A Reindeer." You can check it out here. Thanks to Marc for the nice write
up.
Brutus' Holiday Hook Up with XM
Public Radio
For the second straight year Lou Brutus
is a guest on XM Public Radio with the legendary Bob Edwards.
As XM's resident Christmas music guru LB will be on discussing his favorite
obscure holiday tunes. He picked out songs by Keith Richards, The
Ventures, Aimee Mann & Michael Penn, Leon Redbone and David Grisman.
Check it out all day Friday on XM 133. Also, check out the
Christmas edition of The Washington Post as we're expecting LB to be
quoted at length in a holiday music article!
Brutus in the New York Fucking
Times!
As the creator of XM's revolutionary
Special Xmas holiday format, Brutus is becoming quite in demand by the
press around Christmas time. The following is taken from an OpEd piece
in Sunday's NY Times...Satellite radio, with its ability to devote
channels to specific music genres, has broadened listeners' tastes as well.
At XM Satellite Radio there are five holiday music channels, said Lou
Brutus, an XM programmer. ''It's not the same old dreck that's pulled up
every year,'' he said. ''There's a huge untapped reserve of people who think
they don't like holiday music but who would like it a lot if they weren't
force-fed the same 20 songs." Check out the entire piece here.
The Best of Fungus 53 2005
Lou Brutus and the Fungus 53 listeners
have chosen the channel's best for the past year. The following are
the top albums and songs for 2005...
FUNGUS 53 TOP 25 ALBUMS FOR 2005
(LISTED ALPHABETICALLY)
AGAINST ME! “SEARCHING FOR A FORMER CLARITY”
ALKALINE TRIO “CRIMSON”
AQUABATS, THE “CHARGE!”
BANE “THE NOTE”
BRIEFS, THE “STEAL YER HEART”
DROPKICK MURPHYS “THE WARRIORS CODE”
GO BETTY GO “NOTHING IS MORE”
GOGOL BORDELLO “GYPSY PUNKS UNDERDOG WORLD STRIKE”
HORRORPOPS, THE “BRING IT ON!”
JELLO BIAFRA W/THE MELVINS “SIEG HOWDY”
LAGWAGON “RESOLVE”
LETTERS ORGANIZE, THE "DEAD RHYTHM MACHINE"
MILLENCOLIN “KINGWOOD”
MXPX “PANIC”
MIRET, ROGER & THE DISASTERS “1984”
PENNYWISE “THE FUSE”
PROPAGANDHI “POTEMKIN CITY LIMITS”
REAL MCKENZIES “10,000 SHOTS”
SUICIDE MACHINES “WAR PROFITEERING IS KILLING US”
SOVIETTES, THE “LP III”
THROW RAG “13 FT. AND RISING”
TIME AGAIN “TIME AGAIN”
TRANSPLANTS, THE “HAUNTED CITIES”
UNSEEN, THE “STATE OF DISCONTENT”
YUPPIE PRICKS “BROKERS BANQUET”
LOU BRUTUS’ TOP 10 FUNGUS 53 TUNES FOR 2005
01. NOFX “FUNGUS 53”
02. DROPKICK MURPHYS “THE WARRIORS CODE”
03. AQUABATS, THE “FASHION ZOMBIES”
04. SOVIETTES, THE “MULTIPLY AND DIVIDE”
05. GO BETTY GO “SATURDAY”
06. BRIEFS, THE “GENITAL GENERAL”
07. GOGOL BORDELLO “I WOULD NEVER WANNA BE YOUNG AGAIN”
08. TIME AGAIN “I GO BACK”
09. AGAINST ME! “PROBLEMS”
10. THE WALDOS ‘SORRY”
Roadrunner United
It was a who's who of metal as
Brutus was on site to cover the 25th Anniversary show for Roadrunner
Records:
Roadrunner United Live. Just a partial list of LB's guests is
pretty fucking amazing including Jordan Wheeler of Still Remains, Jeff
Waters of Annihilator, Glen Benton of Deicide, Joel, Justin & Mike of
Killswitch Engage, Brian of Shadows Fall, Trivium, Adam Duce of Machinehead,
Joey Jordison of Slipknot and a host of others. Lou also managed
to hook up with Disturbed and a number of other bands who were there
for the shindig at the Nokia Theatre in NYC. A good time was
had by all. You can hear it on an upcoming edition of hardDrive
with Lou Brutus.
Deck the Mutha Fuckin Halls
It's that time of year again.
Yes, the time when Lou changes from puking vodka all over his shoes
to
puking absinth laced eggnog all over his shoes! That means its
also time for Lou's yearly holiday release! What started as a hand
made cassette tape many years ago has snowballed to a
professionally produced CD with original artwork by Alan MacBain.
The secret of the cover art and the music on the disc is always carefully
guarded but word has leaked out that the cover will have a King Kong
theme in honor of the upcoming film by Peter Jackson. Only 150
copies of the disc are produced and as much of the recording and radio
industries vie for copies they become instant collector's items.
As Brutus is considered by many to be one of the world's foremost
authorities on
bizarre Christmas music it should come as no surprise that he has
recently been interviewed for upcoming articles on Christmas music by both
The New York Times and The Washington Post. We'll let you
know when the articles will be in print.
Night of 100 Friends
Poor Lou! He lives a pretty
straight edge life only to find himself addicted to surfing on
MySpace.com. Hopefully, you've already signed up as one of his
MySpace friends at myspace.com/loubrutus. Now Lou has
opened up a MySpace site for Fungus 53 listeners. Go to
www.myspace.com/fungus53
and sign up as a friend. You can also hear some cool Fungus audio, check
out photos of various punk stars visiting LB and get the info on how to save
big bucks by joining the XM Friends and Family Plan. Lou is
accepting the friends sign ups now but won't 'approve' them until Friday so
get the word out to your buds between now and then! We'll see how many
we can do by then.
NY, NY, A City So Nice He's Going
Twice
Brutus returns to his home spewing
grounds with two big trips to NYC in December. On the 7th and 8th
he'll be there as co-host of XM Satellite Radio's coverage of the
Grammy Award Nominations. We would pay money to see him hitting on
Mariah Carey until her security detail beats him to a fruit, juicy
pulp. You can hear it all on XM Live Channel 200 throughout
the morning of Thursday December 8th. The following week LB
returns to The Big Crapple to cover The Roadrunner United 25th
Anniversary show. Lou will be interviewing the greatest array
of rockers ever assembled including with virtually ever major and minor
act in the history of the label. Listen for that on an upcoming
special edition of hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Brutus Gets the Skinny on the Fat
Tour
It's been one of the major concert
events of the year for Lou on Fungus 53: Fat Tour 2005.
He interviewed all the bands on the tour at its Baltimore stop including
The Soviettes, The Epoxies and Smoke or Fire. The
headliners on the tour, Against Me, actually came by XM earlier that
day to tape a performance in The Fungus 53 You're Not Invited Concert
Series. That show will debut Monday, January 2nd at 8pm Eastern.
Many thanks to all of the bands involved in the tour for doing a kick ass
job on the air with Lou.
Holy Snapping Turtleturks!
Brutus on "The Apprentice"
Lou Brutus will be
appearing this week (Thursday Nov. 17th) on The Apprentice!!!
How in God's name did this happen? Well, XM Satellite Radio
is part of the featured task on the show. We can't say much more than
that because of the uber secret nature of the show and the fact that
if we do huge lawyers will show up to beat Lou on the kidneys
with sticks causing him to piss blood for several weeks.
Honestly, no one knows other than the show's producers what it will look
like week so Brutus will be as surprised as anyone. Check it
out Thursday night on NBC!
Brutus Finally on MySpace!
After a bunch of people writing and
complaining that he did not have a site there to stalk him on (he owes
most of them $$$) Brutus now has MySpace page. The address
is
www.myspace.com/loubrutus
or just click here. Please feel free to pass it on to
any of your MySpace friends and be sure to also pass on the details
of the XM Friends & Family deal, too. That site will be updated
in the coming days with pictures and audio from LB's career.
XM Close, Personal Friends &
Family
If you've always dreamed of
being able to hear Brutus say the word "fuck" on the air
without being bleeped then you need to hear him on XM!
Now's your chance to save a bundle of $$$ while getting signed up.
Just click go to the super, secret XM Satellite Radio Friends & Family
page. The address is http://friends.xmradio.com. Be
sure to enter Lou's email address of lou.brutus@xmradio.com
as the sponsor email address!!! You will then be
able to access super low prices on XM radios that are far below
what you would pay anywhere else! Get an XM2Go for just $99,
a
Sky-Fi2 for just $39 or an XCS9 for free. All
you've gotta do is sing up for three months of service.
Be sure to forward this deal to all of your buds, just make sure that they
enter LB's email address as their sponsor address!
Don't You Wish This Was Your Work
Week...
This week Brutus is up in Philly
for Slipknot's make up show there. Sincere condolences to
Clown on the loss of his Dad. Get well to Jim Root who
fucked up his hand prior to the tour. After that, it's up to
NYC to interview Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool of
Green Day for a multi hour special you can hear next month on XM.
Brutus will also be at DC's 9:30 Club this week to hang with his pal
Tom Jones. TJ and LB will crack open some champagne at
midnight to celebrate Lou's birthday. If some rich fan is
reading this please buy Lou a 1962 GS 160 Mark II Vespa scooter as a
present. That or just blow him. Whichever works for you.
Thanks!
Slipknot: Live Brut.0
All around the nation this weekend,
zillions of radio stations will be airing the Slipknot: Live 9.0
radio special hosted by Herr Brutus and produced by FMQB.
Clown and Corey of The Knot regale LB with tales of the last 20
months on the road and insight into how the album was made. You can
hear it this weekend on the following radio stations...WXTB Tampa Bay,
WXDX Pittsburgh, 98 Rock Kansas City, WAZU Columbus, KXTE Las Vegas, WRZX
Indianapolis, WPLA Jacksonville, KHBZ Oklahoma City, KATT Oklahoma City,
WNVE, Rochester, WXEG Dayton, KFRQ McAllen/Brownville, WJBX Ft. Meyers, WRQC
Ft. Meyers, WKLQ Grand Rapids, KRZR Fresno, KRAB Bakersfield,
KDJE Little Rock, KAZR Des Moines, WJJO Madison WI, KILO Colorado Springs,
WXTW Ft. Wayne, WBYR Ft. Wayne, WCHZ Augusta, WWIZ Youngstown OH, WJXQ
Lansing, WZOR Appleton, KNCN Corpus Christi, WOBX Nags Head, KEYJ Abilene,
KFMW Waterloo-Cedar Rapids, WQLZ Springfield IL, KDAM Fargo, KASS Casper,
KBAZ Missoula, KZZE Medford OR, WGBF Evansville, WECS Willimantic, WAMX
Huntington WV, WYYX Panama City FL, WRXS Ocean City MD, KZRK Amarillo, KCGQ
Cape Girardeau, XTRE Salt Lake City, KATS Yakima, KIWR Omaha, WCLG
Morgantown WV, WRQT LaCrosse and WHSN Bangor. Check local stations
for times!
hardDrive's Halloween Hootenanny
It's baaaaaack! It's LB's fave
show of the year hardDrive's Halloween Hootenanny! As usual, rock
stars sit with Brutus and give him their fave stories of horror on the road.
The list this year includes Audioslave, System of A Down, 10 Years, Five
Bolt Main, and Mudvayne. Plus, the show turns the spotlight
on the new film Saw 2 and Brutus spends quality time with its star Donnie
Wahlberg (who was fucking great in Band of Brothers!).
Veruca Salt Tours, Brutus Stalks
(The Seether is Louise)
After a lengthy absence from touring
here in the U.S., Veruca Salt is back on the road! The band is
not only one of Brutus' faves but he also has been desperately in
love with the group's leader Louise Post for several years.
He has spent much of his on air career reading her love poems over
the airwaves and incessantly following the band on tour.
Seriously, the guy is a wreck when she's around. Louise was
kind enough to
throw a rose to the lovelorn Brutus at the band's show in Springfield,
VA. He then followed her around like a puppy dog following the
show. The next night at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore there was
no flower for him so he wept at her feet until removed
by security. Ms. Post is reportedly a bit unnerved by the
incident but is carrying on with the tour. Make sure to check out the
band here
and get thier phenomenal new disc Lord of Sounds and Lesser Things.
Check out a couple of pix of the night in Baltimore by going here.
Here, There and Everywhere in
D.C. (The Walrus was Paul)
Finally! After being a fan since he was
five years old (and whining about never meeting him ever since) Brutus has
met Paul McCartney!!! Paul was at XM before his DC tour stop to
do a private show in the XM Peformance Theatre for an
invited audience of only twenty five!!! Lou was one of the
lucky few! Sir Paul performed tunes from his latest opus
Chaos and Creation in the Backyard while taking audience questions
in between. El Brute did the first set of questions with him
and damn near peed his pants when he did. When asked what he
asked McCartney
after the broadcast Brutus replied, "I don't remember. All I can
recall thinking was 'Holy Shit! Paul McCartney is talking to me!'"
Following the radio program Brutus managed to hop a ride in one of
McCartney's vehicles traveling to the gig at the MCI Center. Brutus
recalls, "It was like being a a presidential fucking motorcade! We
were led by a phalanx of police motorcycles with lights flashing and sirens
screaming. We were doing about 60mph thru downtown DC without having
to stop for traffic lights. When we got near the gig there were
hundreds of fans down the entire block screaming and yelling over the noise.
For just a few minutes it was just like getting to be in A Hard Day's
Night. It was a few of the most exciting minutes in my life.
Later, I threw up."
N.Y. Daily News Names Brutus the
Best!
In the September 22nd, 2005 NY Daily
News article on satellite radio writer David Hinckley named Lou
Brutus as XM's "Best Homegrown Talent" from the New York area.
Brutus is, of course, a Jersey boy having been born in Tony Soprano's
hometown of Newark, NJ while growing up in Englishtown, NJ.
Thanks to the NY Daily News and David Hinckley for having such
good fucking taste.
Thanks to Danks! Jello Got
Mellow!
Our intrepid hero found himself at DC's
9:30 Club once again, this time to interview Toronto's Danko Jones.
The band and LB got along swimmingly as they are all fans of
KISS, Dead Kennedys and AC/DC just like Brutus. You can
hear the interview next month on hardDrive with Lou Brutus. More
recently, it was off to DC's Black Cat Club to meet up with Jello
Biafra and The Melvins who are touring on their latest disc together
Sieg Howdy. The show was great and afterwards everyone got
laid.
Big Apple, Big Easy, Big Lou
Much to his own surprise, Brutus was
the co-host for the nationwide broadcast of "From the Big Apple to the
Big Easy" benefit show at Madison Square Garden in New York City on
September 20th. He found himself backstage rubbing elbows with the
likes of Paul Simon, Allen Touissant, Irma Thomas, Bette Midler, Jimmy
Buffet, Cindy Lauper, Aaron Neville, Elton John, Bill Clinton and lots
of others who never thought they would have to rub elbows with the likes of
Brutus. Thankfully, he didn't say anything stupid to any of them
during the interview segments. You can catch rebroadcasts this weekend
on XM.
Brutus To Stalk Kirsten Dunst in
Miami at MTV VMA's
Well, he's supposed to be
their to interview rock stars and movie stars backstage at the MTV Video
Music Awards but he has kind of a crush on Kirsten Dunst.
She's scheduled to be there so he hasn't stopped brushing his teeth
and gargling for over a week. Jeez, he's pathetic! Like
some monobrowed shit like him as a shot at her?!?!? He's living
in a dreamworld! Why we wouldn't be surprised if the Miami
Police beat him on kidneys with their nightsticks causing
him to piss blood for a few months. However, if you see him
there....be kind. He obviously will just have had his heart broken
by Kirsten who no doubt will react to meeting him much like Fay Wray
meeting King Kong. BTW, we're glad he doesn't read his own site.
Aquacadets, Space Men, Punks and
Chicks in Heavy Makeup
Saturday August 20th found our foul
mouthed hero at The Ottobar in Baltimore for the Son of
Teenage Pajama Party from Outer Space Tour. Who in the hell would
call a tour that? None other than LB's pals The Aquabats!
Actually, the band met up with Lou at the XM studios in DC
earlier in the day to tape an on air special for October. That night
it was one of the most raucous nights of rock known to man or beast!
Time Again, a smokin' punk band on Hellcat Records began the
night. Next up, easily one of the most wonderfully bizarre bands
Brutus has ever seen...The Phenomenauts. Think of them as a
rockabilly band dressed as space explorers from a 1950's
sci-fi film with tunes about rockets, galactic pioneers and robots.
They were fucking brilliant! Next up the three sisters who make
up The Eyeliners tore it up and then...The Aquabats! The lads
were their usual maniacal selves with a great mix of old and new
tunes in addition to an incredible array of stage theatrics including an
attack by ultra villain Armani Ape! If you have not picked up their
latest slice o'madness Charge!
than you need to broaden your horizons!
Looking for The List or Audio or
Pix???
If you're looking for the list of
artists that Brutus has seen and interviewed you will want to know that it
is no longer at the bottom of the page. We have moved it to its own
part of the A Twisted Life section of the
site. Wondering when the fuck we were going to fix the audio in
the 4 Yer Earhole section? Well it's fixed, wiseass!
Finally, because the Rogue's Gallery section had gotten so large
we've broken it down into separate sections! Just go to the
same area and then click what you wanna see according to era or subject.
Yeah, we've gotten so many fucking Slipknot/Stone Sour pix that they
get their own section. More photo & audio from the archives will be
added soon!
Warped Pix Now Available for Your
Gawking Pleasure
We just added a plethora of pix
from LB's travels with Warped Tour 2005. You can check them out
in the Rogues Gallery section of the site.
This One Time, At Band Camp
It was a knock down, drag 'em out, rock
and roll to fight to the finish for Herr Brutus as he returned to Madison,
WI for hardDrive affiliate 94.1 WJJO's yearly opus...Band
Camp! It's basically 10,000 hard rockers from Wisconsin getting
fucked up, eating Brats and rocking the fuck out. Brutus
interviewed many of the band's on the lineup including Sevendust,
Chevelle,
Taproot, Dope, Life of Agony, Nonpoint and A New
Revolution. The weather was perfect Brutus took to the stage with
the WJJO staff throughout the day to a hero's welcome from the crowd.
LB wanted to thank Randy Hawke, Ozz and the rest of the WJJO
staff along with the thousands of hardDrive listeners who were there
making him feel at home. See you sick bastards next year!
Killing Like Champions at Warped
Wednesday August 11th found LB once
again covering the power and the majesty of The Warped Tour at Nissan
Pavilion in Bristow, VA. It was a killer day as Brutus interviewed an
incredible list of artists including The Offspring, Rancid, Transplants,
The Vandals, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Dropkick Murphys, Thrice,
MXPX, Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, Millencolin, Story of the Year, Mae,
Bedouin Soundclash, Skindred, Riverboat Gamblers, Go Betty Go, Saosin,
Strung Out, Dr. Neptune and the breakout artist of the tour Valient Thorr!
We think there may be more artists but who can keep count of all of this!
Many thanks to Kevin Lyman, Vizion and the rest of the Warped Tour
staff along with the dozens of artists who were so good with their time.
We'll have a bunch of photos up in the Rogues Gallery section soon.
Also, a big FUCK YOU to the moronic Bristow Police and to the
venue for having the most idiotic traffic patterns the world
has ever seen. We hope someone pisses in your breakfast
this morning.
Is “The Aristocrats” For Real?
Well, it’s just an idle thought but I wonder if we’re all being duped. In case you are not aware a film
entitled “The Aristocrats” opens tomorrow July 29th. The whole film is basically every stand
up comedian you’ve ever heard of telling the same joke…but this isn’t just
any joke. It is the most
obscene, disgusting, profane and vomit inducing joke known to man. The joke always begins and ends the
same. A family act walks into an
agent’s office. The agent asks
them what their act is. Now this
is the point where the joke differs as each comic offers their own take on
the family performing the most
incestuous, obscene and degrading acts imaginable.
When the agent asks what they call the act the punch line is always the
same…”The Aristocrats!”
According to the film makers this joke has been told for nearly one hundred
years since the vaudeville days.
Penn Gillette, one of the funniest people on the planet, is one of the
people behind this film but that got me thinking.
What if this joke never really existed before?
What if, like much of the material in Penn & Teller’s act, it’s all a
bunch of bull shit which will have them laughing at us harder than we are
laughing at them? What if all of
the comedians are in on the fact that the whole history of “The Aristocrats”
joke was made up by Penn Gillette to pull the wool over the eyes of an
unknowing public? Either way,
I’m all for it! Penn Gillette is
one of the coolest people ever in show biz and voraciously honest about the
world which is kind of ironic as he cons us for a living.
I wonder if “The Aristocrats” is his greatest con of all.--LB 07/28/05
I Just Wanna
Be with Lou
It was a phenomenal weekend in NYC as
Brutus finally came face to face with power pop legends The Raspberries. It
was the Raspberrie’s first New York gig since
their legendary night at Carnegie
Hall
in 1973. LB managed to interview
all four of the original band members including Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim
Bonfanti. There was some hobnobbing going on to
as the show attracted audience members like
Jon Bon Jovi, Little Steven and even Jeopardy uber-champion
Ken Jennings. You can hear
LB’s Raspberries special next month on XM as a prelude to the airing of
Saturday’s show.
Hob Nob with
Rob
Also while in New York, Brutus managed
to track down Rob Thomas. Rob, lead singer of Matchbox 20 as well as a platinum selling solo artist, sat with LB
at XM’s studios at Lincoln Center. You
can hear this special across several different XM channels in September. We’ll keep you posted.
Live 8 Pix Clix
with Hicks in Sticks
Like the headline says. Pics of LB
with just a few of his many interviews at Live 8 in Philly including The Dave Matthews Band, Stevie Wonder, Paula Abdul, Def Leppard,
Sarah McLachlan, Jon Bon Jovi
and a bunch more.
Proof of A Loving God: Brutus Gets to
See The Raspberries
Brutus has seen thousands of bands. He
can count the ones he has wanted to see but has missed on one hand. This weekend
(July 23 &24) he will see the band at the top of the list of those he never thought he would get to see…The Raspberries! Who are The Raspberries?!?!
They are the early 70’s power pop sensations from Cleveland, Ohio who scored droves of hits with brilliant tunes
like “Go All the Way,” “I Wanna Be with
You,” and “Tonight.” The four original members Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley
and Jim Bonfanti
have reformed for (so far) a handful of gigs.
Lou will be in NYC for their two shows at BB King’s. He will
also interview all four band members
for a special to air on XM prior to a nationwide broadcast of the opening New
York show next month.
The Great and Powerful Ozzfest
Once again, Brutus rode into the belly
of the beast to talk to the bands of Ozzfest. He
made the show in Camden, NJ where temperatures at the 2nd stage
reached nearly six thousand degrees! Among others, LB caught up with Rob Zombie, John 5, Shadows Fall, Gizmachi, Soilwork, Killswitch Engage, A Dozen Furies,
Trivium, Wicked Wisdom and Mudvayne.
After the interviews Brutus dropped his pants and burned off his hemorrhoids by scooting his ass on the hot pavement. Listen for it all on an upcoming
special edition of
hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Dash Rip Rock Rips and Rocks with A
Dash of Ripping, Rocking Rock
Legendary cowpunk
band Dash Rip Rock stopped by the XM studios on July 05th to
tape a performance in the Fungus 53
You’re Not Invited Concert Series. The band’s leader,
psychobilly
kingpin Bill Davis, is an old
friend of LB‘s and co-wrote the Hee Haw Hell
theme with him. You can hear Dash
rip and rock during the first week in August.
Watch for a new CD in the Fall!
It Was 20 Years Ago Today…Brutus
Backstage at Live 8 Philly
Nearly 20 years to the day of covering
his first major concert event, Live
Aid in Philadelphia 1985, Brutus returned to the City of Brotherly Love as host of XM’s nationwide broadcast.
Lou interviewed virtually everyone backstage including Stevie Wonder, Natalie Portman, Jimmie Smits,
Kaiser Chiefs, Maroon 5, Paula Abdul, Keith Urban, Jars
of Clay, Rita Marley, Sarah McLachlan, Josh Groban, Def Leppard, Jon Bon Jovi and the entire Dave Matthews Band. He
also spoke with caterers, police, fans and producer of the show Larry Magid
of Electric Factory Concerts. Larry was also the producer of the
original
Live Aid in Philly. Many thanks to those who made this
historic broadcast possible.
Lots of pics in the Rogues
Gallery soon!
Marooned Masked Marauders The Aquabats Set Off Nerd Alert
They proudly categorize their music as
nerd-core. They are The Aquabats and Brutus had them drop by
the XM Performance Theatre to
tape a live show for lucky Fungus 53
listeners on June 29th.
The band, in front of only about two dozen invited guests, powered
their way thru a set that included new hits like Fashion Zombies and Plastic
Lips as well as old faves like Pizza Day and Pool Party. You can
check out a couple of pics from the day in the Rogues Gallery section of the site and
here the broadcast in late July.
The Dropkick Murhpys
Open Tour, Brutus Insults Yankees
Friday June 17th found
legendary Boston punkers The Dropkick Murphys at the XM Performance Theatre in DC for a
show in the Fungus 53 You’re Not Invited Concert Series. Brutus began the musical festivities
with a rousing introduction that included the line “they are the band personally responsible for jamming the fucking
chicken bone down George Steinbrenner’s throat in the Fall of 2004.” You can hear the performance on Fungus 53 during the week of July 24th. Make sure to catch The Dropkick Murphys on the Warped Tour and pick up their
phenomenal new album “The Warriors
Code.”
Brutus Shacks Up with Shed
It was Brutus teaming up with his old
partners in musical crime Watershed
on June 14th to add to their long legacy of musical mischief. First, the band recorded two of their
latest gems “Obvious” and “Small Doses” for
XM’s
Unsigned channel. Then they were
joined by Brutus to record another batch of punk promo ditties for Fungus 53. The station tunes they did included “I Listen to Fungus When I Do Your Mom,”
“Anarchy in the XM,” “Viva Las Fungus,” and “Rancid Radio.” Listen
for ‘em on
Fungus 53 and make sure to pick up the brilliant new Watershed album “5th
of July” on Idol Records. You should also hit their web site
watershedcentral.com.
Busy, Busy, Busy
This Friday June 10th is a
busy on air day for LB at XM.
He’ll do a set of requests for the hardcore XM addicts from xm411.com then welcome Joe
Esclante of The Vandals to the show and then The Fungus 53 Gala Musical Tribute to
General Burkhalter. Yeah, you read that right, Fritz!
Leon
Askin, the actor who portrayed the General on Hogan’s Heroes passed away last
weekend so Brutus will celebrate his legacy with the greatest anti-Nazi songs of all time including
Nazi Punks Fuck Off by Dead Kennedys,
Nazis Shouldn’t Drive by MDC and Stalag 13 by the Mentally Ill. Hard to believe he does this shit
for a living, huh?
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It
Brutus, decked out in a black Armani suit and fire red sunglasses,
was in the Big
Crapple
on June 1st as XM
opened it’s new studios at Jazz at
Lincoln Center with a massive shindige.
Herr
Brutdog found himself face to face with the likes of
Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett before he had the good sense to get the fuck out of
there and over to the Russian Vodka
Room where he could behave like an animal. All in all a splendid time considering the night before LB was out late as he
lived out a lifelong dream by finally seeing German synth
pioneers Kraftwerk
life in concert. Sehr gut!
Gabba, Gabba, Hey Ho Let’s Go!
Today is May 19th, the
anniversary of the birth of the great
Joey
Ramone.
Brutus is celebrating on Fungus
53 with 24 hours of Ramones
called Ramonesmania. Every song ever recorded by the Ramones along
with covers of the
Ramones, songs about the
Ramones
and interviews with the band, crew, family and other musicians sharing their
thoughts about the
Ramones! Guests include Tommy Ramone, Marky
Ramone, P.J. Soles, Pennywise, Anti Flag, Mojo Nixon, Maria Bartiromo
(Joey wrote a tune about her!), The
Lawrence Arms and even Joey’s mom!
Lou Do That Voodoo that Foo Do So Well
May 14th found Herr Brutus up in Baltimore to catch
the big shindig featuring Foo Fighters
and a host of others. Lou chatted
on the record with Dave Grohl and
Taylor Hawkins of the Foos about the
forthcoming new album, the possibility of a tour later this year with Weezer and about Beatles cover
band The Fab
Four playing Dave’s wedding.
You can hear it all soon on hardDrive with Lou
Brutus. LB also talked with David Johansen after the New York Dolls’ set. Sadly, he and David mostly spoke about
the recent passing of Frankie LaRocka the original drummer for the David Johansen Group. There was also hang time with others
including Garbage, Jimi Haha of Jimi’s Chicken Shack and Baltimore music
legend
Val Yumm.
Rolling Stone Gathers Fungus
If you pick up the May 19th
edition of Rolling Stone magazine
(with Orlando Bloom on the cover)
make sure you check out the article that names Fungus 53 among the best
music in satellite radio!
Says RS about Fungus, “Mostly underground
punk, including Misfits, NOFX and tons of bands you’ve never heard before.
Weekly shows include an all-ska segment and a program hosted by the members of Rancid.” Much thanks to RS for the love.
Nice, Nice Very Nice
A busy week for Brutus. After arriving back from Madison, WI it
was right on the air with visits by
The Dollyrots, Mark of The Unseen and The Yuppie
Pricks performing in the You’re Not Invited Concert series. This coming Monday looks like LB will
hit NYC to check out System of A Down.
Mad Sons of Madison
The last show of Slipknot’s tour with Lamb
of God and Shadow’s Fall will
go down in history as one of the most
depraved
chapters in rock history. While we
may never be sure exactly what happened on that fateful April weekend in Madison, Wisconsin rest assured it
will be enough to consign those involved to the infernal regions beyond the
river Styx. What we do know for sure is that the
weekend began with Brutus
arriving in town on Friday and stopping by for a visit with hardDrive affiliate 94.1 JJO. Lou hung with his old friend Randy Hawke and chatted on the air
with radio legend Blake Patton. Lou, Randy and JJO DJ
Ozz
then went out boozing until the wee hours of the morning. The trio may or may not have made it
south to see Cheap Trick’s Bun E.
Carlos and
Rick Nielsen jam with Velvet Revolver in Rockford, IL. What we are sure of is that the first
night in the area for Lou passed fairly quietly.
However, on Saturday all hell broke loose. Brutus apparently rose early that day
and dressed from head to foot as
Hunter S. Thompson. Green
Las Vegas visor, amber hunting glasses, cigarette holder, Hawaiian shirt,
khaki shorts, white socks and white
Chuck Taylor high tops. What
you must know is that when LB dresses like this,
ugly things can happen.
Answering only to the name
Doctor Gonzo, Brutus stalked down State Street until he found the one
thing missing from his wardrobe…a fly
swatter. With it, he
accosted passersby on the thoroughfare until the local police stepped in. Lou then hustled into a cab and went
off in search of Slipknot. He found the band at the Reliant Energy Dome (or whatever the
fuck corporate name the joint has) and proceeded to stalk about like a madman. Mentally, things were no better for the
bands as they stared down the final night of the tour together. This would be a weirder closing night than most.
The concert began with a special unannounced guest…80’s KISS. This
KISS
cover band (whose hysterical between song banter had several in the crowd urinating in their own pantaloons) may
or may not have been made up of Joey
Jordison on drums, two of the guys from Shadows Fall on guitars and Slipknot
crew member Sully on bass. Brutus had been invited to emcee the
beginning of the set but was quickly uninvited when he began smacking the
band members with his fly swatter and locked himself in a dressing room
screaming about, “those goddamned giant bats.”
The 80’s KISS set ended with
Sully flying on a cable thirty feet over the band where he was promptly left
for the next half an hour.
Things began to get weirder during
Shadows Fall’s set with several inexplicable guest appearances onstage. One of which was Slipknot’s DJ Sid
going onstage dressed as his alter ego
Fuck You the Clown. Yes, it
was Sid dressed in a full clown
costume…bashing the band members in the head with a bowling pin. No sooner
had the group pulled themselves back together than the most argued about
moment of the night occurred.
A man, naked save for his private parts which
were wrapped in what appeared to be duct tape, ran out on the stage!
Who was it though? Was it the Grammy award nominated lead singer for the headlining band whose
name will not be printed here until the
statute of limitations expires?
No one could tell as his face was covered by a
black mask and his hair was pulled back in
pigtails. As the naked body reached the center of
the stage another person ran out in front of the band…Doctor Gonzo! He ran
after the naked man, screaming like a
banshee and smacking the members of
Shadows Fall with his fly swatter.
He chased after naked man until the two disappeared off stage.
Brutus/Doctor Gonzo was then accosted by several members of the Wisconsin State Police demanding to know just what the hell was
going on! Brutus/Doctor Gonzo
then set off a smoke bomb and
disappeared into the resulting chaos
backstage. As he was hiding
beneath a tour bus, Lou was not able to tell us much more about the rest of
the show other than that someone from
Slipknot
sent a remote controlled toy truck onstage with a tray full of drinks during Lamb of God’s set. When someone from Lamb of God sent a remote controlled vehicle onstage during Slipknot’s set it was beaten into pieces with baseball bats
by Sid and Clown. Brutus
retrieved the pieces following the set and gave them to
JJO’s
Blake Patton for on air giveaway.
The evening ended with Brutus and the JJO staff running up a four thousand
dollar bar tab at a local watering hole and Brutus making
lewd gestures with his fly
swatter. Brutus managed to slip by the police
dragnet the next morning and flew safely back to the East Coast. We hereby apologize for any and all of
his actions that may or may not have happened on this trip of which we claim
no direct knowledge. Photos
cleared by our lawyers have been posted in the
Rogues Gallery.
A Sure Sign of the Apocalypse
Earlier this week in his Sunday column
Arch Conservative George Will
mentioned LB’s XM punk channel Fungus 53! No, seriously. He was writing about alternative medias
to traditional newspapers mentioning
XM
generally and Fungus
specifically. We now fully expect
to also soon see flying pigs, a
concert appearance by
Axl Rose and the repayment of the French war debt!
It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Madison
World
We
wanna send a quick head’s up to Brutus listeners in
Madison, WI especially longtime hardDrive listeners with Solid Rock 94.1 JJO.
It seems that LB is flying out to your town this weekend for Slipknot, Lamb of God and Shadows
Fall. It’s the last gig on
the tour (at least in the U.S.) so Brutus wants one last chance to catch The Knot. If you want to find LB while he’s in
town he’ll be holding up the bar with
Randy Hawke!
Grateful Deadwood
While Brutus does not watch much television he is totally addicted to HBO’s Deadwood. He says, “if for no other reason than it has brought
the term ‘cocksucker’ back into
popularity, Deadwood is arguably
the greatest show in the history of the medium.” When recently contacted by a listener
who was looking for a name for his garage band Brutus came up with several
inspired by the show. Here is
Brutus’ list of band names
inspired by Deadwood:
The Bastard Sons
of Seth Bullock
Cocksuckers from Yankton
Swijjin
The Heathen Dirt
Worshippers
The Leering
Celestials
The World Ends
When You’re Dead
Balls of Dope
The Junkie Faro
Dealers
E.B. Farnum and the Moist Palms
The Degenerate
Tit Lickers
Maddie’s Dead Now
Pussified Shooting Instrument
and our favorite…Mr. Wu’s Pigs
Aqua-Cadets Versus the Download Zombies of Doom!
Disaster struck the Cadet Community
of Aquabania earlier this week when the evil Download Zombies of Doom began their
malicious spreading of new tunes from
The
Aquabats that had been world premiered by Brutus
on Fungus 53. Here’s a translation for those of you
not down with the Bat-speak: The Aquabats
and Nitro Records were kind of
enough to give Brutus an advance copy of the forthcoming new album from The Aquabats
entitled Charge! Sadly,
misguided souls were taping the tunes and putting them up on the net. To stop any damage to a band he really
loves a lot LB has pulled the songs off the air at the request of the group.
Luckily, the first single, Fashion Zombies, will continue on the
air in heavy rotation. The album
hits stores in June and Brutus
personally recommends that you pick up the album and see The Aquabats when they play your town in
June/July. They are one of his
favorite all time bands and he has tirelessly supported them on the air for
many years. In a related note,
LB will neither confirm nor deny rumors of a private Aquabats performance at XM in
June. There is talk of a “Cadets only” show that would be
broadcast across the U.S. but
when we ask him about it Brutus will only scream, “Take me back to my Happy Land!”
Brutus to Get Happy?
The
Brutusdogg
gets on the road with
Mudvayne,
Life of Agony, American Head Charge and Bloodsimple
this week. He’ll hook up with the
bands at DC’s 9:30 Club and then
at their (very intimate) gig at Jaxx in Springfield, VA.
This is a kick ass bill and
you should see it if it gets to your town before you find yourself having to
go see these bands in arenas.
You can hear the interviews on a special upcoming edition of hardDrive with Lou Brtutus.
Prick Your Finger or Finger Your Prick
It was a whirlwind two days as
Brutus welcomed his close, personal friends
The Yuppie Pricks up from Austin, TX.
The band, who wear tennis whites
and sing punk songs about how great it is to be rich, on cocaine and demeaning
to poor people, stopped by XM to
tape a performance after their sold out show at the Velvet Lounge. You can
hear the show on Fungus 53 the
week of May 09th.
Brutus personally recommends their
Alternative Tentacles debut album
Brokers Banquet so hit their site
yuppiepricks.com
to get it!
Slipping Into Hartford, Knotting Up in Philly
The opening night of the Subliminal
Verses Tour and Herr Brutus
was there! LB flew into the
bustling metro of Hartford (yawn) to catch Slipknot,
Lamb of God, Shadows Fall and Gizmachi. LB went from the airport to the hotel
to meet the band who had been in Hartford for the previous couple of days
rehearsing with new stage gear and theatrics.
They all then hopped into tour buses and went to The Meadows for the final rehearsal and sound check before the big
first gig. Watching the sound
check was phenomenal as the band were in street clothes and bantered back and forth as they
polish their performance. The
crew worked like mad dogs to not
only get all the sounds down but also dealing with all the stage theatrics
being incorporated into this tour.
Even with all the work there was plenty of time for fucking around backstage.
Heavy wagering occurred as Corey
Taylor perfected his putting game in the latest Tiger Wood’s opus on X-Box. Then it was time for E/A baseball where Joey Jordison’s
sloppy defensive play led to an ass
whooping of Biblical proportions as the hands of Chris Fehn. LB also managed to hook up with his old
friend, New England radio legend Rick
O.B. and his son Matt (who is considered the best young drummer in the
state of Rhode Island). Oh, and
then there was a concert! All of
the opening bands killed on the first night with Gizmachi making the best of the
tiny area of stage left for them. Slipknot roared out of the gate and
never looked back. We won’t ruin
the surprises for you by putting a set list here but rest assured you will
hear your favorites on the tour along with some previously un-played tunes
that will have you soiling yourself. After the show LB and Jim Root chowed down on cold KFC on
board the “Enemy of the Party Bus.” This is the bus on the tour for more
straight edge living. Then it
was down to Philly. Brutus slept
in a bunk on the bus, waking up in the parking lot of the Spectrum in Philadelphia.
This is Lou’s
fave
large arena for a show as he’s been going there since he was a kid and has
seen hundreds of shows there. This was a work day for El Brute and he did lengthy interviews
with openers Lamb of God, Shadows
Fall and Gizmachi. LB then did a great interview with Corey Taylor prior to the show and a
late night (2am!) interview with The
Clown after the show. BTW,
as good as the performances were in Hartford, the show in Philly blew it out
of the water. The pit on the
floor was sick and the bands responded with incredible sets.
Lamb of God in particular
knocked everyone’s dicks in the dirt and then Slipknot damn near blew the place up.
Many thanks to everyone on the tour for making Brutus feel so at home. He’ll join back up with the tour in DC and Hampton, VA then will attend the last show of the tour in Madison, WI with his buds from hardDrive
affiliate 94.1 WJJO. See you there! Make sure you check out the Subliminal Verses Tour Special on hardDrive with Lou Brutus. It airs Easter Weekend!
Ready or Knot
The
Subliminal Verses Tour gets under
way this Friday night and Ol’ Dirty Brutus
is gonna be there!
Lou flies into Hartford for the tour opener and will then travel with healiners Slipknot
for the opening salvos on the tour in Philly and NJ. Along the way he will interview every
band on the trek including Lamb of
God,
Shadows Fall and Gizmachi. It’s all part of an upcoming special on hardDrive that
takes you backstage on the best
fucking tour of 2005! Look
for reports and photos from the road here next week!
Yak, Yak, Yak
A
chatty assed Brutus finds himself
sitting down to talk this week with
Flogging Molly, Hot Water Music
and Theory of A Deadman
for upcoming interviews on hardDrive and Fungus
53. Airtimes to be posted
soon!
Mark the Shark Drucker
This is turning
into a rough week. First Hunter
and now Mark the Shark Drucker. When I first broke into radio I was
writer/producer for John DeBella’s show at WMMR in
Philadelphia. The news
guy/co-host on the show was Mark.
He helped teach me the ropes and without his guidance early on I certainly
would not have achieved the things that I have achieved.
Sadly, Mark passed away today at the age of only 48. I believe that he was such a great
radio personality because of his quirky nature.
He was certainly not the type to just read cards. To my knowledge, Mark was the only
reporter that boxer Mike Tyson liked.
Seriously, Tyson fell all over himself when Mark did interviews with
him which is kind of cool since Tyson has eaten most reporters he faced. Mark was also the only person I knew
who paper trained his rabbit. It
was the damndest thing to watch.
I just wish to send out my best to Mark’s daughter and to his other
family and friends. Terrible,
terrible news.—LB 02/23/05
Fuck, Fuck, Fucking, Fuck, Fuck!
And so it comes
to this. Hunter S. Thompson has
blown his own fucking brains out. Ahhh, and what brains they were. The greatest writer of our time and one
of my favorite people on the planet.
No one knows why he did it. My
first thought was that he had a horrible disease and didn’t feel like
sticking around to coddle it. Maybe
he just wanted to go out like Hemingway.
Whatever way it turns out that the deal went down it puts an
exclamation point on one of the wildest rides ever undertaken by a mere
human. I first met Hunter in
1988 at the Sommerville Theatre in Cambridge,
Mass. My dear friend, the radio legend Rick
O.B. and I had taken a limo to see Hunter do one of his “speaking
engagements” there. We were
waiting in the dressing room for him when he literally fell into the room. As I was standing nearest the door he
approached me first. I held out
my hand and said hello as he held what I assumed to be an umbrella close to
my chest. After a few seconds of this he smiled,
embraced me and asked me my name.
He replied, “Yes, Brutus the Warrior.
Brave, brave Brutus. We
must drink, you and I.”
With that he began pouring a bottle of Chevas
Regal down my gullet. Later, when
I expressed my surprise at such a warm greeting to his publicist I was told,
“Of course he liked you! That
was no umbrella. He held a
fucking stun gun to your chest and you didn’t even flinch!
He thinks you have balls of pure brass!” Rick and I returned to the same theatre
to see Hunter again the next year knowing he would never remember us but the
first thing he said when he walked in the room was, “Brutus, great to see
you again. Sorry about the stun
gun.” That’s a true story. I would call Hunter about once a year,
usually late at night, to say hello.
He would always take a little time out to chat even though I barely
knew the guy. It seemed to my
limited knowledge of him that when he wasn’t busy being the crazed character
that everyone expected he was a real Southern gentleman. I, for one, am going to miss knowing
that he’s around. I’m happy to
have stomped the Earth with him and to have drank from the same bottle as
he. I don’t really drink much anymore and
have not even smoked a cigarette for a couple of months but, perhaps, I will
go out tonight. I will put on a
straw hat and a loud shirt, slip a Dunhill into a cigarette holder and drink
rancid firewater. Ho, ho! It
could lead to me jumping onto a police car, urinating on the windshield and
the vicious scum beating me like a rented mule but it would be good for a
grim laugh in these dark times.
You see, I feel a strong urge to do something weird because I think it
possible that Hunter is still out there somewhere.
Maybe on some strange and savage mission known only to a few select angels
and demi-gods.
Perhaps Hunter was called up by God himself to wrestle with Richard Nixon in
front of the Pearly Gates with our nation’s soul as the prize for the
winner. I can see it now…Nixon locked in a
death dance with Hunter. On one
side it’s the demons of Hell howling like banshees for Nixon to win so the
can obliterate what is left of the American Dream. On the side of righteousness and good
is Hunter, totally naked save for his amber hunting glasses and a cigarette
holder. They move at one another
but, look out, Hunter! Nixon is
fighting dirty by calling on his dog Checkers, now become a fire breathing
hell hound, to menace Hunter from the rear!
Hunter slashes backwards with preternatural strength and slices Checkers in
his foul haunch. With the vile
cur removed from the battle Hunter moves in towards Tricky Dick…how will it
all end? Whichever
way the battle goes, wherever Hunter may be, I am not going to rest until I
find him and can gnaw on his skull with my own teeth. Because it still hasn’t gotten weird
enough for me. Res
Ipsa
Loquitor.—Lou Brutus 02/21/05
Back in the New York Groove
Old Dirty Brutus
is back up to his old spewing grounds in
New York City for a quick jaunt.
On Valentines Day he’ll attend the
rehearsal and performance for
Unwritten Law on The Late Show
with David Letterman.
Following that it’s over to catch the new
Monty Python
musical Spamalot. The evening will probably end poorly with LB hanging with his Russian mob friends at the Russian Vodka Room into the wee hours.
On the 15th it’s over to the legendary recording studio
NOLA
where Lou will host a performance with
Unwritten Law that can be heard on
Fungus 53
as part of the You’re Not Invited
Concert Series. The show
will air in March.
Knots in His Head
The Bruttenhoffer’s close, personal friends in Slipknot are hitting the road again
soon which means that LB will forego
his own life so as to catch as many shows is humanly possible. The band will be ready to go coming off
the
double dip of a great tour in
Australia coupled with getting fucked
out of winning a Grammy
(again!). Lamb of God and Shadows
Fall will be providing main support on the tour so get there on time.
Brutus will be at opening night in Hartford along with shows in
Philly,
Fairfax and the tour closer in Madison, Wisconsin. As he’ll be doing a lot of interviews
along the way you can hear a lot of cool stuff coming up on hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Well It’s About Fucking Time!
With a CD
collection numbering about 10,000 (most of it autographed) you would think
that I have every CD I ever wanted.
Well, I had every one I did want…except one…and now I finally own it! Derringer Live is the 1977 opus by guitar god Rick Derringer. Since I was a kid this was not only one
of my favorite all time records but also one that I thought was criminally
underrated. Sure, when people
talk about great live albums from the era they rightfully mention things
like KISS Alive, Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive and
Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo but precious few make
mention of Derringer Live. It’s now available for the first time
ever on CD and this weekend was the first chance I’ve had to listen to the
album in about 20 years. It
still rocks the living fuck out of my head.
If you want pure, unadulterated, undiluted, uncompromising and
unconditionally kick ass guitar munching musical madness with marvelous
melody then seek thee a copy of
Derringer Live. You’ll thank me later.---LB 02/13/05
Come Back Johnny
Just wanted to
bid a fond farewell to Johnny Carson.
A total class act and one of the driest wits on the planet. It is sad news but he certainly lived
as cool a life as you can have.
I remember when I was a kid and the first time I stayed up late enough to
see him on The Tonight Show. It
was like finally getting to join a super secret club.
Johnny Carson was not only the most relaxed person in front of a
camera, he was also gifted with some of the best comic timing this side of Groucho Marx’s brain.
If you’ve ever tried to tell a joke you will always envy his timing.
So long, Johnny!—LB 01/23/05
Whuttup with Ol’
Dirty Brutus?
Busy days for ODB lately. Chats recently with Unwritten Law, Justin Sane
from Anti-Flag and Randy Jackson from American Idol who kindly did a funny
show open for hardDrive
with Lou Brutus. Brutus
was also stoked to have both Me First
& the Gimme Gimmes
and Rise Against by the Fungus 53 studios at XM for upcoming performances in thy You’re Not Invited Concert Series.
Unwritten Law, Dash Rip Rock and
The Pietasters will be by for performances in the not too
distant future.
Vomiting Into the Night in the Land of Fear and
Loathing
It is no secret that Lou’s fave book is Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It should then be no surprise to hear
of the depraved activity that
filled his nighttime hours during a return to
Las Vegas in January. Brutus
was there to attend the techno-uber-geek wet dream known as The Consumer Electronics Show.
Basically, every electronics company on the planet shows up with stuff
you’ll never be able to afford.
Shit like TV screens the size of
football fields and electric nut scratchers.
Anyway, XM was there so the
company honchos invited LB out to
help host the XM stage. He introed a great live set from Shinedown, interviewed Weird Al Yankovic,
hung out with Cal
Ripken
Jr. and a host of others.
However, the highlight was hosting a 45 minute Q&A session with Gene Simmons of KISS. Gene is currently being followed around every waking moment by a film crew
putting together a reality show
about his rock star life. Brutus
is worried about that since he kissed
Gene’s ass incessantly and will look like a total fucking dork if he makes it onto the show. We’ll keep you posted. The rest of the time in Vegas was spent
by Lou drinking, gambling and trying not to
vomit
on his own shoe’s when stumbling into the men’s room. He was not always successful.
Merry Whatever It Is You Celebrate!
I’ve has never
been very particular about caring about people’s religious beliefs, racial
background or sexual orientation.
Everyone should be free to celebrate whatever they want with who they
want. If some folks in the world
were not so hell bent on trying to make everyone else think and act like
they do then there would probably be a lot less misery in the world. So, whatever the fuck it is you
celebrate, have a good one! ---LB 12/25/2005
The Invariable Year End Lists
The end of 2004 is nigh which means LB has compiled lists of both listener
favorites and his personal faves for the year. How did you match up with Ol’ Dirty Brutus and the rest of the crowd? Read on…
LOU BRUTUS FAVE OVERALL ALBUMS FOR 2004
01. SLIPKNOT VOLUME 3: THE SUBLIMINAL VERSES
02. BUTCH WALKER LETTERS
03. THE GAMITS ANTIDOTE
04. TOM WAITS REAL GONE
05. GREEN DAY AMERICAN IDIOT
06. FLOGGING MOLLY WITHIN A MILE OF HOME
07. DEAD SCHEMBECHLERS ROCKET TO ANN
ARBOR
08. GO BETTY GO WORST ENEMY
09. MIKE KENEALLY BAND DOG
10. VELVET REVOLVER CONTRABAND
Rounding out the Top 20: Chip
Robertson Looking Ahead, Mary Prankster Lemonade Live
at the 9:30 Club, Chevelle This Type of
Thinking Could Do Us In, Guttermouth Eat Your Face, Rise Against Siren Songs of
the Counter Culture, Jello Biafra w/The Melvins Never
Breathe What You Can’t See,
Nirvana
With the Lights Out, Brian Wilson Smile, Lamb of God Ashes of the Wake, The Who New York City 22.05.04
LOU BRUTUS’ TEN FAVE hardDrive
SONGS FOR 2004
01. SLIPKNOT
DUALITY
02. SLIPKNOT
VERMILLION
03. MARILYN
MANSON PERSONAL JESUS
04. KORN
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
05. CHEVELLE
VITAMIN R
06. RAMMSTEIN
AMERIKA
07. METALLICA
SOME KIND OF MONSTERS
08. GETTING AWAY
WITH MUDER PAPA ROACH
09. GREEN DAY
AMERICAN IDIOT
10. VELVET
REVOLVER SLITHER
THE FUNGUS 53 TOP 25 ALBUMS FOR 2004
01. GREEN DAY
AMERICAN IDIOT
02. DESCENDENTS
COOL TO BE YOU
03. THE GAMITS
ANTIDOTE
04. FLOGGING
MOLLY WITHIN A MILE OF HOME
05. BAD RELIGION
THE EMPIRE STIKES FIRST
06. GUTTERMOUTH
EAT YOUR FACE
07. JELLO BIAFRA
W/THE MELVINS NEVER BREATHE WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE
08. THE VANDALS
HOLLYWOOD POTATO CHIP
09. THE BRIGGS
LEAVING THE WAYS
10. GO BETTY GO
WORST ENEMY
11. VOODOO GLOW
SKULLS ADDICION, TRADICION, REVOLUCION
12. HOT WATER
MUSIC THE NEW WHAT'S NEXT
13. THE MATCHES
E. VON DAHL KILLED THE LOCALS
14. SUM 41
CHUCK
15. RISE AGAINST
SIREN SONGS OF THE COUNTER CULTURE
16. THE F-UPS
THE F-UPS
17. TIGER ARMY
GHOST TIGERS RISE
18. ME FIRST &
THE GIMME GIMMES RUIN JOHNNY'S BAR MITZVAH
19. THE
DOLLYROTS EAT MY HEART OUT
20. THE
EXPLOSION HERE I AM
21. MAD CADDIES
SONGS IN THE KEY OF EH
22. ONLY CRIME
TO THE NINES
23. THE
CASUALTIES
ON THE FRONT LINE
24. THE
SOVIETTES LP2
25. TSUNAMI BOMB
THE DEFINITIVE ACT
LOU BRUTUS' TEN
FAVE FUNGUS 53 SONGS OF 2004
01. DOTTES LINES
THE GAMITS
02. AMERICAN
IDIOT GREEN DAY
03. HOT DOG TO
THE HEAD GUTTERMOUTH
04. TEN
THE SOVIETTES
05.
PLETHYSMOGRAPH
JELLO BIAFRA W/THE MELVINS
06. STATE OF THE
UNION RISE AGAINST
07. C'MON
GO BETTY GO
08. SEVEN DEADLY
SINS
FLOGGING MOLLY
09. WORE OUT THE
SOLES OF MY PARTY BOOTS NOFX
10. FEED ME, PET
ME THE DOLLYROTS
THE TEN MOST
IMPORTANT PUNK ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
(AS VOTED BY FUNGUS 53 LISTENERS)
01. NEVER MIND
THE BOLLOCKS HERES THE SEX PISTOLS SEX PISTOLS
02. FRESH FRUIT
FOR ROTTING VEGETABLES DEAD KENNEDYS
03. RAMONES
RAMONES
04. LONDON
CALLING THE CLASH
05. COMPLETE
DISCOGRAPHY MINOR THREAT
06. NO CONTROL
BAD RELIGION
07. YOUNG, LOUD
& SNOTTY DEAD BOYS
08. SLIP IT IN
BLACK FLAG
09. DOOKIE
GREEN DAY
10. AND OUT COME
THE WOLVES RANCID
Brutus Appears with Public Radio Legend Bob
Edwards?!?!?!
Did we actually just type those
words? Apparently, yes!
On Thursday, December 23rd LB was a guest on XM Public Radio with broadcast legend
Bob Edwards to talk up his role as
the architect of XM’s Special X-mas. It’s holiday
programming made up of the most
bizarre Christmas goodies ever committed to disc.
They talked up many of Lou’s faves including
Spinal Tap’s “Christmas with the Devil,”
Judith
Owen’s jazz cover of it, Art Carney’s “Twas the Night Before
Christmas” and whole slew of others. Lou thanks Bob and his producer Melissa
for the invite.
Lou’s World!
Lou’s World!
What’s coming up in Lou’s World? Well, besides heading to Denver this
weekend for The
Gamits, he’ll host
hardDrive’s Nightmare Before Christmas which can
be heard across the nation. Then
next week on XM’s Fungus 53, LB welcomes Go Betty Go to the studios for a
performance in the You’re Not Invited
concert series. As if that weren’t
enough Brutus will be joined on
Christmas Eve in the Fungus
studios by Lars Frederiksen
of Rancid and Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards. They’re dubbing it Larsmas Eve and will be a couple of hours of Lars and Lou shooting the shit and playing the
coolest punk and holiday music you’ve ever heard.
Why Do Shitty Bands Continue But Great Ones Break
Up?
The above is the question LB has been asking this week as he prepares to act
as emcee at the final performance of
The Gamits. As
the finest band
to ever come out of Denver, The Gamits (led by Chris Fogal) have been tearing it up on the punk circuit for
years. This Saturday, December
18th
the band will give their farewell performance at the Bluebird Theatre in Denver.
As a huge fan, Brutus knew
he had to make it for the show.
If you can’t make it to the gig not to worry.
It will be broadcast on Fungus
53 next month and will also be apart of the forthcoming box set from The Gamits
in mid ’05.
What the Fuck?
“’What the fuck’
is the only question I can ask in regard to the death of Dimebag Darrell of Damagplan/Pantera. I could weave you a few tales about
boozing, whoring and tattoos but you’ve probably heard better stories like
those about him from others who were closer to him. I will only say that I’m proud to have
stomped the Earth with him if only on a few occasions. What a mother fucking shame. He was the real article and a fine
Southern Gentleman to boot.
Could play that fucking guitar, too.”---LB 12/2005
Lou Brutus’ Best Rock Albums of 2004
Here it is! LB has laid out his fave albums for the year. Keep in mind that
these are his overall picks
regardless of genre and is
separate
from best of lists for hardDrive with Lou
Brutus and Fungus 53. And now the list…
01.
Slipknot Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses
02.
Butch Walker Letters
03.
The Gamits Antidote
04.
Tom Waits Real Gone
05.
Green Day American Idiot
06.
Flogging Molly Within A Mile of Home
07.
Dead Schembechlers
Rocket to Ann Arbor
08.
Go Betty Go Worst Enemy
09.
Mike Keneally Band
Dog
10.
Velvet Revolver Contraband
Rounding out the Top 20: Chip
Robertson Looking Ahead, Mary Prankster Lemonade Live
at the 9:30 Club, Chevelle This Type of
Thinking Could Do Us In, Guttermouth Eat Your Face, Rise Against Siren Songs of
the Counter Culture, Jello Biafra w/The Melvins Never
Breathe What You Can’t See,
Nirvana
With the Lights Out, Brian Wilson Smile, Lamb of God Ashes of the Wake, The Who New York City 22.05.04
B for Butch, B for Brilliant
It’s a few minutes after 1am on Monday, December 06th
and I’ve just gotten home from the 9:30 Club in D.C. where I bore witness to a
rock show worthy of the heathen Gods of old. Butch Walker. Excuse me, I meant to say Butch FUCKING
Walker. Holy snapping turtle
shit. If this wasn’t one of the
best performances I’ve ever seen then I hope to be gang raped by an angry
flock of Canadian geese with a nasty case of dysentery. Butch, backed by American Hi-Fi, is out on the road these days in support of his latest
album “Letters.” This album is
so good that I want to grab people who haven’t bought it yet and poke them
in the eye. I believe that those
who neglect to get it will have their names erased from The Book of Life and
that their souls will be tossed into a burning lake of fire where they will
roast for all of eternity while being forced to listen to Clay Aiken’s
holiday album. I’m not fucking
around here. I’ll be honest, I
have seen thousands…no, wait...fuck that.
I have seen TENS OF THOUSANDS of performers thru the years. You name the greats and I’ve seen ‘em play. Frank Zappa, Frank Sinatra, Bruce
Springsteen, Black Sabbath, Ramones, Elton John,
Paul McCartney, KISS. I’ve seen
‘em all and I can tell you straight up that Butch Walker
can stand toe to toe with any of them and give as good as he gets. You reading
what I’m writing here, motherfucker?
This guy is so great that his birthday should be celebrated as a national
holiday where everyone lines up to bitch slap lip synching twats like Ashlee
Simpson. As a matter of fact, it
may be a good idea to just douse her backing tapes in kerosene and set them
on fire. Butch and the Hi-Fi lads could play a rousing set while we all dance around
the cheery blaze. Hold it. No, no, no.
Perhaps that would be too easy.
We should just get some guys from the pipe fitters union in New Jersey
to rub down the inside of her thighs each day with some extra coarse sand
paper. Yes, that’s it. A life of brutal discomfort is what’s
called for here. However, I
digress. The show tonight was an
exercise in just how compelling music can still be when you have a guy who’s songs are so catchy that he probably defecates hook
shaped turds in the bathroom and who has charisma
oozing out of his pores like pimple oil at a Junior Prom. I mean, the only time the show stopped
was right before he played “Mixtape” so he could
introduce some guy in the balcony who promptly dropped to one knee and
proposed to his girlfriend.
Later, he sang “Best Thing You Never Had” to some hapless bastard over the
cell phone of the bastard’s jilted ex who had handed Butch their phone. Butch rocked out and also melted down. The centerpiece of the show was him
alone at the piano. He did a
gorgeous version of John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas,” followed it with “Radio
Tokyo” and then launched into the uber emotional
new one “Joan.” I’d list more
highlights but there were too fucking may of them.
Well, I should actually mention the encore of “Sunday, Bloody, Sunday,”
“Freak of the Week” and “Lights Out.” Fuck, it was great. Anyway, do yourself a favor. Go out and get “Letters” and see Butch
when he gets anywhere close to your town.
While you’re at it you may want to grab any radio programmers and
record company execs who are not supporting the
album and beat them into submission with a penny filled sock. Keep in mind that if you do this then
you should hit them on the soles of their feet where you won’t leave marks. Ho, ho!
No police records for us for we are quick and clever and we shall one
day dance around Ashlee’s burning tapes together while singing “#1 Summer
Jam.” One last thing. If someone you know complains about the
lack of great music these days tell them to shut the fuck up, stop whining
and seek out Butch Walker. They
will later blow you in gratitude.”---LB 12/06/04
The Nightmare Before Christmas Returns
It’s the 7th editon of hardDrive’s holiday horror
show! Lots o’ rock stars share
their worst holiday memories with LB. Catch members of Metallica, Slipknot, Breaking Benjamin and a shitload
more during the weekend of December 17/18 on the world famous hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
Go Betty Go, Go, Go
The girls from Go Betty Go tore
it the fuck up! The band took
time off from their tour with Voodoo
Glow Skulls
to join Ol’ Dirty Brutus for a performance in
the Fungus 53 You’re Not Invited concert series. While they featured tunes from their
debut EP Worst Enemy they also
broke out some new stuff from their forthcoming new album that will hit in
Spring 2005 before they go out on the
Warped Tour. Hear their set Christmas week on XM’s Fungus 53.
An Incredible Christmas
Each year, instead of sending out some
boring assed Christmas card, Brutus puts together a phantasmagorical CD from his collection of thousands of rare holiday recordings. This year is no exception with the
release of his new opus Incredible
Christmas: The Lou Brutus Holiday CD 2004.
Some of the highlights of this year’s disc include the Evolution Control Committee’s Christmas Wrong which uses fancy
editing to re-work Nat King Cole’s Christmas Song into horrific tune about
reindeers being shot and missiles being fired into the sky. It also includes hard to find ditties
by Art Carney, James Brown, The Beatles
and Christmas comedy from one of Lou’s faves Eddie “The Old Philosopher” Lawrence. This CD is unavailable in stores but,
if you’re on the list, look for one in the mail before Christmas!
The Ten Most Important Punk Albums of All Time
Over the four day Thanksgiving Weekend be listening
for LB on XM’s
Fungus 53 with The Ten Most
Important Punk Albums of All Time.
These are the albums voted by Fungus
listeners as the most indispensable pieces of punk perfection ever. They include (in no particular voting
order) Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks Heres the Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, Ramones Ramones, Bad Religion No Control,
Black Flag Slip It In, The Clash London Calling, Green Day
Dookie,
Rancid And Out Come the Wolves,
Dead Boys Young Loud & Snotty
and Minor Threat Complete Discography. Listen for these albums all weekend on Fungus 53.
Brutus Recovering from Near Blinding By Wolverine
Blood
LB was on hand in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month for the return of
seminal Wolverine Hatecore band the Dead Schembechlers. This band of wretched miscreants
performs only songs about their hatred of the
University of Michigan Wolverines football team and their love of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Well, Brutus got a little too close to
the edge of the stage at the end of the set when Dead Schembechler’s front man Bo Biafra bit the head off of a Wolverine and blood soaked everyone nearby.
LB got an eyeful of Wolverine
blood and was treated at the scene by an emergency medical crew.
Lou wishes to personally thank
those who treated him and saved his eyesite. He has
no comment on what it feels like to be
covered in gore. To learn
more about this nightmarish scum of a band click here.
hardDrive with Lou Brutus
Has Thanksgiving Covered
It’s an all cover song version of hardDrive with Lou Brutus coming up for the
Thanksgiving Weekend. Metallica does
Queen, Recoil does Phil Collins
and Local H does Britney Spear!?!?!
Yikes, pass the Tums on the
way to Grandma’s house!
The Ten Most Important Punk Albums of All Time
Well, what are they? Brutus is
taking votes at fungus@xmradio.com
for
The Ten Most Important Punk Albums
of all time special that will air during
Thanksgiving Weekend on Fungus 53.
Take some time to put your list together and email them to LB.
Brutus Rises Against His Own Birthday
LB celebrated the anniversary of his arrival on this planet (November 10th!)
by hosting the guys from Rise Against
on XM’s
Fungus 53. The entire band
took a night off from their tour with Bad Religion to fly in for the
festivities. Following that, Brutus was off to
Baltimore to catch a show with his buds in Motograter.
Thanks also to The Explosion who
popped by recently!
Dia M for Metallica
in Montreal
Brutus found his way north of the border to the gorgeous city of Montreal to
hook up with
Metallica! The band was in the middle of a sold
out, two night stand with
Godsmack
which almost made the city forget losing the Expos. LB spoke with James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett
and Robert Trujillo…yes, the whole
band! Brutus also chatted up key
members of the band’s crew about how they bring this massive production together.
You can hear it all in an upcoming special edition of hardDrive with Lou Brutus.
So Long, Fats!
Well, once again
it is my painful duty to tell you of the passing of one of my heroes. Scott Muni was a New York radio legend who ruled the biggest roost
in the biz since the 1960’s. He
was on a first name basis with The Beatles and The Stones and was as cool as
shit. I grew up listening to
Scott on WNEW-FM although he had already been a star on other stations
around the NYC radio dial for years.
I first got to meet Scott when I was breaking into radio working at WMMR-RM
in Philly. WNEW was our sister station and we were
all pooling resources to cover the Live Aid show in Philly in 1984. When Scott learned that I knew a lot of
the backstage crew (they were mostly local Philly guys I hung with) he told
my Program Director (Charlie Kendall) that, “The kid is with me!” With those words, I became Scott Muni’s personal henchman for the biggest concert event in
history. During a break from
chasing down rock stars in the searing heat we retired for a few minutes to
the broadcast trailer that had been set up.
Dying of thirst, I picked up Scott’s apple juice on ice glass and asked
for a swig. He said, “Hey, wait
a minute, Fats! That’s the real
hooch!” I smelled the glass and
realized that what I thought was apple juice was actually Johnny Walker. Not wanting to appear as a lightweight
I asked Scott if I could have a slug.
He agreed and seemed amused at my effort. I almost choked to death. The Live Aid coverage went great
and when the vast show was done and over Scott invited a number of us out
for drinks to celebrate. Seven
of us made our way to the parking lot where WMMR’s
Kevin Gunn’s car was. Well, it
was a Dodge Dart that could comfortably hold no more than four people. As the crowd of seven began to surround
the car Scott turned to Kevin and very smoothly said, “Well, Fats. I guess we know where we’re sitting!” Five
of us in the back with Scott and Kevin up front in comfort! None of us would have had it any other
way. It was one of the great
days of my life and it ended with Scott drinking us all under the table and
picking up the tab to boot.
Later, during my tenure at WMMR, I paid tribute to Scott by doing a
character based on his voice.
Scott Money (and his one hundred two point seven agents) was a regular
character on Pierre Robert’s show.
It was fun to have a chance to do Scott’s incredible voice for fun on the
air. I am honored to have gotten to work
with him but most of all am lucky to have gotten to listen to him. He was a giant. He was the real fucking deal. He conquered like a champion. So long, Fats! Thanks for making a kid from New Jersey
feel on top of the world!—LB 09/29/04
A Bushmill’s with A Wee
Bit O’ the Stout
Sunday Sept. 26th found our humble protagonist spending the day
with his favorite group of drunken, Irish music playing loonies Flogging Molly. The
band, who came in to XM to tape a performance for Lou’s “You’re Not Invited”
concert series, wailed through a set of tunes from their phenomenal new
album “Within
A Mile of Home.” Then
the entire group of seven sat down with Brutus for some in depth
conversation. The opening band
on the tour, The Briggs, came by
XM the following day to tape a performance and interview with LB as well. You can hear it all throughout the
month of October on Fungus 53. Be sure to catch Flogging Molly while the
tour lasts.
The Late, Great Johnny Ramone
“It just breaks
my heart to be sitting here at my desk in the middle of the night writing
about the passing of Johnny Ramone. He may very well be the most overlooked
guitar player in the history of rock.
Had it not been for Johnny’s balls out style than punk rock never would
have sounded, or happened, the way that it did. I began seeing the
Ramones
when I was a kid, got to roadie for them at Six Flag’s Great Adventure, emceed
about a dozen shows and saw them fifty times in total. I was always glad to talk to Johnny as
he was a huge baseball fan, seriously it was like
an addiction for the guy. He
also made sure that there was cold Yoo
Hoo
backstage. That’s the truth. If you walked in the dressing room at a Ramone’s show there was quite often nothing else to drink
but Yoo Hoo. Anybody who could invent punk rock,
talk knowledgeably about baseball AND serve Yoo Hoo is A-OK in my book.
I’m not kidding. Johnny Ramone was someone who’s every note I’ve hung on for
thirty years. I’m glad I got to
know him if only a little bit. There are a million other things I could
think to tell you but I think I would rather go listen to “It’s Alive.” Do you have that? If you don’t than your life has been a
waste up until now and I recommend you go get it today. So long, Johnny! Tell Dee Dee
I’m sorry I missed him that last time!”
LB 09/16/04
El Bruto Named “Fan of
the Week”
Brutus has been named fan of the week on the
Suburban Home Records web site.
It’s the label of one of Lou’s fave bands The Gamits. Click
here to go to the
site where you then click on the Fan
of the Week link. You’ll see
a pic of Lou in his home music library holding up his
autographed Pete Townshend Gibson
SG guitar. Lucky bastard!
F-Up, Up and Away!
In one of the strangest moments of his career, Brutus found himself standing
between punksters The F-Ups and members of
The Fifth Dimension. How was
this possible?!?! Was it a
ripple in The Force? Well, LB
was hosting The F-Ups in the XM Performance
Theatre as part of the upcoming “You’re
Not Invited” concert series on
Fungus 53 when he looked up from the studio mixing console only to see Marilyn McCoo
and Billy Davis, Jr. walking
inside. Totally nice people who
even laughed when they heard they had walked in on a punk band. Brutus managed pictures but although
not all together, damn it! See
them in the
Rogues Gallery.
Knot Again!
El Bruto is down to
Virginia Beach this weekend to catch the
Slipknot
lads headline a show at some amphitheatre named after some big assed company that likes to see
their name all over everything.
No interviews, no sound or video equipment, just sitting around on the tour
bus watching Tod Browning’s
‘Freaks’
on DVD. See ya
there.
Damnit!
It’s The Gamits!
Lately, Das Brut just spent a goodly amount
of time with his fave band out of Denver…The Gamits. He first went up to Baltimore’s Ottobar to catch the band on tour with The Queers and Ten Foot Pole. The Gamits
then went to the XM studios in DC to record the opening performance of the “You’re
Not Invited” concert series on
Fungus 53. They kicked arse! Listen
for the debut performance in late September on XM!
Alice Cooper Tries to Murder Brutus!
Sure, we’ve all dreamed about wrapping our hands
around Lou’s neck and squeezing until his eyes rolled up white in their
sockets but Alice Cooper actually
did it! Don’t believe us? Just go to the Rogues Gallery section of the site and check out the photographic evidence. The shot was recently taken at XM when Alice stopped in for a
performance and interview.
Following the incident Alice and
his band took Lou out to dinner at DC’s
Capital Grille where they all
goofed
on the Senators and Congressmen.
Freakin’ Frantic Fungal Fun
Lots to report on the Fungus 53 front
as Brutus gears up the nations first and only punk rock station for some
new
schtuff.
LB hooks up with Stiff Little
Fingers in DC on the 18th at the Black Cat. The
following day he’s up in Baltimore’s Ottobar to check out
The Queers and The
Gamits.
Antidote
is the latest bit of punk perfection
from The Gamits
and Lou highly recommends it! The Gamits
will stop in to play in XM Performance
Studio 2 to record an interview
and live performance on the 21st. Brutus also reminds XM listeners of the
impending debut of Rancid Radio
on
Fungus 53. It’s a one hour weekly show hosted by
the members of Rancid! They pick the music, do the DJing and conduct the artist interviews.
Rancid Radio kicks off Labor Day Weekend.
As if that weren’t enough Lou has lined up XM visits in the coming
weeks with Flogging Molly, The Fuck Ups, The Briggs and Go Betty Go. To learn more about the miracle that is Fungus 53 click here.
O’s Get the Runs, Trick Provides the Hits
Saturday August 07th found LB at
Camden Yards in Baltimore.
The O’s pulled out a win versus the Rangers in the sun and then Cheap Trick rained down hits on a
crowd of ten thousand after the
game! It was the usual brilliant
showing by Rockford’s finest who
have just released the brilliant “From
Tokyo to You” DVD. Get it,
damn you! Thanks to Carla and
the boys!
Getting Warped On Warped
Herr Brutus rolled into the Warped
Tour 2004 at Nissan Pavilion in Northern Virginia and killed like a champion!
LB interviewed over a dozen bands on the bill including Bad Religion, Tiger Army, Anti Flag, The Vandals, Flogging Molly, The
Matches, The Casualties, Army of Freshmen, Authority Zero, The Briggs,
Bowling for Soup, Taking Back Sunday, Audiokarate
and Rise Against. There were a lot more but we can’t
remember them all! Listen for
all of the highlights in the coming days on XM’s Fungus 53!!!
Viva La Projekt
Revolution!
When
Linkin Park’s Projekt
Revolution Tour rolled into the Philly area Brutus was there to greet it!
Lou hooked up for interviews with Linkin Park, KoRn, Funeral for A Friend, downset, DJ
Z Trip, Less Than Jake, No Warning and The Used. The
highlight of the day was LB’s fir | 
