The Joe Vig Top 40
#1 Nightcrawler - film with Jake Gyllenhaal
Nightcrawler
a film review by Joe Viglione
Nightcrawler is
a surprisingly original movie that is disturbing, creepy and beautifully filmed
in all its grisly dark humor. A film
noir descent into psychosis and soul-less immorality that is more about
intellectual stimulation than it is about entertainment. Jacob
Benjamin Gyllenhaal – from a film family – is one of the most underrated
talents in Hollywood and this vehicle shows that, much like his movie-boyfriend
in Brokeback Mountain, Gyllenhaal is every bit the pliable actor the late Heath
Ledger was, though Jake has yet to give us a performance on the level of Ledger’s
Joker, this Norman Bates-meets-Wayne’s World comes close.
Creepy Louis Bloom from Nightcrawler is a
far cry from selfless hero Colter Stevens which Gyllenhaal played in director
Duncan Jones’ now-classic science fiction mind-twist Source Code. Nightcrawler revolves around newly-minted on
the scene news gatherer Bloom’s solitary genius and his pathological risky
behavior. The risk/reward prospect works well for the fast-talking,
smart but clearly off-balance Bloom, and for his unwritten partner in this endeavor,
Rene Russo. It was just 18 years ago the
60 year old Russo was the pretty wife of Mel Gibson in Ransom and that’s an
eternity in Hollywood where great acting emerges when the youth fades. Same for Bill Paxton - a far cry from his “punk leader” in 1984’s
first Terminator movie, he’s as almost unrecognizable in this as John Goodman’s
hippy drug dealer was for Goodman in 2012’s Flight.
Watching Bloom
stare at the camera in the police interrogation room is very much like watching
Norman Bates turn into “mother” at the end of Psycho when he/she asks for a
blanket. That Bloom suffers from
personality disorder is a given, and his no-rules lifestyle is clearly
dangerous, and ignored by those around him. READ MORE HERE in my column on TMRZoo http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63903/review-nightcrawler-deeply-disturbing-bit-top
press release
Nightcrawler is a new thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling — where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story.
Dan Gilroy is directing the film which also stars Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo, Ann Cusack, Eric Lange, Kevin Rahm, and Kathleen York.
Nightcrawler is out in the US and UK on 31st October 2014.
fILMOGRAPHY
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#10 On the road with Janis
#10 On the road with Janis
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11)BLUE COUPE LIVE AT THE BULL RUN, NOVEMBER 15, 2014
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bluecoupe2
NOSFERATU LIVE Norfolk CT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2dNtrJDLE
No More Mr. Nice Guy -Live at Infinity Hall October 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBAkIUFD-Io
I'm 18 Live at the Rhino in Buffalo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB9WGbsuz-0
Two hours AUDIO of LIVE IN CHICAGO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjkcr6ntfL0
Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
. This video is part of their Ottawa or Bust Tour that had the band not only performing in the 1000 Islands but also Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa Ontario Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjaxKvc8n80
11)BLUE COUPE LIVE AT THE BULL RUN, NOVEMBER 15, 2014
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bluecoupe2
NOSFERATU LIVE Norfolk CT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq2dNtrJDLE
No More Mr. Nice Guy -Live at Infinity Hall October 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBAkIUFD-Io
I'm 18 Live at the Rhino in Buffalo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB9WGbsuz-0
Two hours AUDIO of LIVE IN CHICAGO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjkcr6ntfL0
Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
. This video is part of their Ottawa or Bust Tour that had the band not only performing in the 1000 Islands but also Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa Ontario Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjaxKvc8n80
REVIEW, BLUE COUPE AT
BULL RUN
SHIRLEY, MASS.
SATURDAY 11-15-14
A packed house at the
Bull Run on Route 2A in Shirley, Massachusetts
*(215 Great Rd, Shirley, MA 01464
|
witnessed a tremendous
show from Dennis Dunaway, original Alice Cooper Group bassist, and guitarist
Joe Bouchard - bassist with Blue Oyster Cult - and his brother, original Blue
Oyster Cult drummer Albert Bouchard.
It was an enormous vibrations that cascaded from
the stage, and a power trio that sounded more like a full five piece, the three
of ten musicians (if you count all the members of the original Couper and
B.O.C. bands) rocking out and, most key, having fun with all their hits.
They asked the audience
if they wanted the long ending to "I'm 18" or the edited 45 RPM
version and those in attendance demanded the long, drawn out cataclysm that
some might remember from the debut of the old IN CONCERT TV series where the
Alice Cooper Group did the original “I’m 18” with its eerie keyboard intro. Dunaway told us of the song's evolution
backstage in an interview for Visual Radio. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
bassist told this writer that the original "I'm 18" was a bluesy song
– much longer - that producer Bob Ezrin
heard and truncated, turning it into the Top 40 Classic that it is
The three encores
included "Don't Fear the Reaper," “Angel’s Well” from the CD Tornado on the
Tracks, with exquisite guitar playing by Bouchard (in his interview he
mentioned that it is Robbie Krieger of the Doors on the Blue Coupe release) and
a great “Kick out the Jams” MC5 cover to conclude the show.
Along with the February 6, Beatles tribute at
the Apollo Theater in New York (with Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Kitoto Von
Hebb, Lloyd Price, Barbara Harris of the Toys, Margaret Ross Wilson of the
Cookies) and Aerosmith on July 16th at Great Woods X-Finity Center
in Mansfield, Mass., this was one of the best shows of the year so far. You have to see this group to feel the power.
___________________________________________________________________________________
#12 THE MONKEES BOXED SET
Review from guest journalist Ed Wrobleski
The Monkees - self-Titled deluxe 3-cd boxset
(Friday Music)release date 11-4-2014 rating 2 1/2 stars
reviewed by Ed Wrobleski on 11-20-2014
This is a definitive 3-cd hodgepodge of the Monkees first album, put
out by Friday Music which is a subsidiary of Rhino Records, and if
you're a die-hard Monkees fan as I am personally Rhino Handmade had put
out 3 out of the 5 box sets like this now and basically continued where
they had originally left off on their 2-cd deluxe cd sets they had
started with in 2005.
So on this box we have 3-cds as i said disc one
is the basic album in the mono and stereo format for the first 24
tracks and there are some great tracks most of these titles i'll
mention you would have seen and heard them do in the television show we
started with the basic theme to the show, Saturday's Child a great hard
rocker for them, I wanna be free we get the slow version and then the
faster version shows up later on this set, but the true gems on disc
one follow after the basic stereo and mono versions of the album with
such things like the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart version of the Theme
from the Monkees, possibly the first worked up version of the song of
You Just Maybe The One a great Mike Nesmith penned tune that shows up
on their third album Headquarters, This Just Doesn't Seem To be My Day,
Take A Giant Step, All the King's Horeses. The Kind of Girl I could
Love another great Nesmith vocal on this one and shows up on the second
album More of the Monkees, a radio ad for the monkees on NBC
television, Saturday's Child, One of many Kelloggs Jingles, another ad
on the radio for the Monkees with the Monkees themselves promoting the
show and a give-a-way contest, and then we close out the disc with
Theme from the Monkees the way it closed out the television show every
week for the first season, the songs I mentioned after the main album
plays in stereo and mono are alternate versions they recorded
specifically for the show and never appeared on any official
compilation until now as for the song All The King's Horses that's
another great Nesmith penned song but never did appear on any Monkees
album or b-side of a single and i could never understand why.
Now on to disc two of the set this disc is what I call the scraping
the bottom of the barrel disc for the simple fact that all the tracks
on here are mainly backing tracks as the record company calls them I
call them instrumentals and on a few of these tracks right after the
backing track you'll hear a vocal take on the song but it's mainly the
songs on the album which is basically disc one. There are a few gems
that never ended up on any Monkee albums or Singles but some version of
some of these did show up on the Missing Links series Rhino had
released but these versions didn't appear on those either songs like I
Don't Think YOu Know Me At All with Micky Dolenz on the lead vocals
there are several versions of this song with all four of the monkees
taking a shot on the lead vocal and they're all good ones at that, then
we have the song So Goes Love and that's a Davy Jones tune nice bluessy
number again never made an actual album except one of the Missing Link
albums but interesting story on that is The Turtles did record it on a
album never made a hit out of it but it does appear on one of their
albums. The next gem on disc two is a great song again penned by Mike
Nesmith and it's called I Won't Be The Same Without Her now the
interesting fact on this song is that it was recorded in 1966 with the
rest of this album and it doesn't show up until the album Instant
Replay which was an album they did when they became a 3-piece band and
Peter Tork had left them, then there's I Can't Get Her Off of My Mind a
basic song and dance song for Davy and a very early mix on this album
we don't see the finished product on this song again until the album
Headquarters, another great gem on here is yet another Mike Nesmith
tune which is Mary Mary it's a little faster then the finished product
of the song but the way the Monkees did it may as well been a surf song
for The Beach Boys or Jan and Dean, the version i like of this song is
by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the next gem is a song called Of
Your great song again never made any Monkees albums or singles back in
the day a version did appear on Missing Links volume 1 and that would
have been the finished product on the Missing Links album. Now the
best gem I think on Disc two is the song I Prithee (Do Not Ask FOr
Love) with Davy Jones vocals on this track now through out the series
of these deluxe boxed sets we've seen this track appear in many forms
and various versions with different lead vocals like Micky Dolenz and
Peter Tork again this song was kicking around in 1966 and it doesn't
get used until the Monkees would make their Ill-fated television
special which would appear in April of 1969 with Peter's vocals and
this is how Disc two closes out.
Disc three the final disc of this hodge podged set for a first album
box is the album David Jones yes you read this right it's Davy's first
attempt at an album made and put out before he was a Monkee now I don't
understand why we need this in the box set of the Monkees first album
because it's not the Monkees on this disc at all it is Davy's first
album presented in Stereo and Mono with two bonus tracks on the stereo
portion and then when you listen to the mono segement they don't
appear most of these songs are very hokey as i'll put them there are a
few songs that are okay on this set for instance Davy's version of the
Bob Dylan penned song It Ain't Me Babe is great it's a faster version
then the Turtles version now i know Davy didn't have a hit with it but
it's a damn good version I Think, then we have Dream Girl, Take Me to
Paradise, and The Girl From Chelsea those are probably the best songs
on the David Jones Part but wait there's more there are some tunes on
this disc by Michael Blessing.....yes I said Blessing it is Nesmith but
that's the name he went under before he was a Monkee and his songs are
rare and hard to find on vinyl so these are definitely gems for the die
hard Monkee fanatic or afficianado and the songs are as follows Until
it's Time For You To Go, What Seems To Be The Trouble Officer?, I've
Never Done This Before, A Journey with Michael Blessing (instrumental),
Who Do You Love?, and Get Out My Life Woman, now it's nice to have very
clean remastered versions of these songs and the last two I mentioned
i've never heard but definitely great early Nesmith tracks all the
other solo Nesmith tracks have appeared on many different pre-monkee
solo bootleg cds or vinyl of Mike's the last track to close out disc
three is a mono take of Davy singing with an acoustic guitar of I Wanna
Be Free. If you're a die hard fan it's a must have for the collection
but if you're not it's not worth the $69.98 plus the shipping on it
from http://monkees.net
http://www.monkees.com/article/world-premiere-2-i-wanna-be-free-overdubbed-demo-take-two-from-the-monkees-super-deluxe
Here's a good read on a music forum
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-next-monkees-box-set-a-proposal.270513/
#12 THE MONKEES BOXED SET
Review from guest journalist Ed Wrobleski
The Monkees - self-Titled deluxe 3-cd boxset
(Friday Music)release date 11-4-2014 rating 2 1/2 stars
reviewed by Ed Wrobleski on 11-20-2014
This is a definitive 3-cd hodgepodge of the Monkees first album, put
out by Friday Music which is a subsidiary of Rhino Records, and if
you're a die-hard Monkees fan as I am personally Rhino Handmade had put
out 3 out of the 5 box sets like this now and basically continued where
they had originally left off on their 2-cd deluxe cd sets they had
started with in 2005.
So on this box we have 3-cds as i said disc one
is the basic album in the mono and stereo format for the first 24
tracks and there are some great tracks most of these titles i'll
mention you would have seen and heard them do in the television show we
started with the basic theme to the show, Saturday's Child a great hard
rocker for them, I wanna be free we get the slow version and then the
faster version shows up later on this set, but the true gems on disc
one follow after the basic stereo and mono versions of the album with
such things like the Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart version of the Theme
from the Monkees, possibly the first worked up version of the song of
You Just Maybe The One a great Mike Nesmith penned tune that shows up
on their third album Headquarters, This Just Doesn't Seem To be My Day,
Take A Giant Step, All the King's Horeses. The Kind of Girl I could
Love another great Nesmith vocal on this one and shows up on the second
album More of the Monkees, a radio ad for the monkees on NBC
television, Saturday's Child, One of many Kelloggs Jingles, another ad
on the radio for the Monkees with the Monkees themselves promoting the
show and a give-a-way contest, and then we close out the disc with
Theme from the Monkees the way it closed out the television show every
week for the first season, the songs I mentioned after the main album
plays in stereo and mono are alternate versions they recorded
specifically for the show and never appeared on any official
compilation until now as for the song All The King's Horses that's
another great Nesmith penned song but never did appear on any Monkees
album or b-side of a single and i could never understand why.
Now on to disc two of the set this disc is what I call the scraping
the bottom of the barrel disc for the simple fact that all the tracks
on here are mainly backing tracks as the record company calls them I
call them instrumentals and on a few of these tracks right after the
backing track you'll hear a vocal take on the song but it's mainly the
songs on the album which is basically disc one. There are a few gems
that never ended up on any Monkee albums or Singles but some version of
some of these did show up on the Missing Links series Rhino had
released but these versions didn't appear on those either songs like I
Don't Think YOu Know Me At All with Micky Dolenz on the lead vocals
there are several versions of this song with all four of the monkees
taking a shot on the lead vocal and they're all good ones at that, then
we have the song So Goes Love and that's a Davy Jones tune nice bluessy
number again never made an actual album except one of the Missing Link
albums but interesting story on that is The Turtles did record it on a
album never made a hit out of it but it does appear on one of their
albums. The next gem on disc two is a great song again penned by Mike
Nesmith and it's called I Won't Be The Same Without Her now the
interesting fact on this song is that it was recorded in 1966 with the
rest of this album and it doesn't show up until the album Instant
Replay which was an album they did when they became a 3-piece band and
Peter Tork had left them, then there's I Can't Get Her Off of My Mind a
basic song and dance song for Davy and a very early mix on this album
we don't see the finished product on this song again until the album
Headquarters, another great gem on here is yet another Mike Nesmith
tune which is Mary Mary it's a little faster then the finished product
of the song but the way the Monkees did it may as well been a surf song
for The Beach Boys or Jan and Dean, the version i like of this song is
by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the next gem is a song called Of
Your great song again never made any Monkees albums or singles back in
the day a version did appear on Missing Links volume 1 and that would
have been the finished product on the Missing Links album. Now the
best gem I think on Disc two is the song I Prithee (Do Not Ask FOr
Love) with Davy Jones vocals on this track now through out the series
of these deluxe boxed sets we've seen this track appear in many forms
and various versions with different lead vocals like Micky Dolenz and
Peter Tork again this song was kicking around in 1966 and it doesn't
get used until the Monkees would make their Ill-fated television
special which would appear in April of 1969 with Peter's vocals and
this is how Disc two closes out.
Disc three the final disc of this hodge podged set for a first album
box is the album David Jones yes you read this right it's Davy's first
attempt at an album made and put out before he was a Monkee now I don't
understand why we need this in the box set of the Monkees first album
because it's not the Monkees on this disc at all it is Davy's first
album presented in Stereo and Mono with two bonus tracks on the stereo
portion and then when you listen to the mono segement they don't
appear most of these songs are very hokey as i'll put them there are a
few songs that are okay on this set for instance Davy's version of the
Bob Dylan penned song It Ain't Me Babe is great it's a faster version
then the Turtles version now i know Davy didn't have a hit with it but
it's a damn good version I Think, then we have Dream Girl, Take Me to
Paradise, and The Girl From Chelsea those are probably the best songs
on the David Jones Part but wait there's more there are some tunes on
this disc by Michael Blessing.....yes I said Blessing it is Nesmith but
that's the name he went under before he was a Monkee and his songs are
rare and hard to find on vinyl so these are definitely gems for the die
hard Monkee fanatic or afficianado and the songs are as follows Until
it's Time For You To Go, What Seems To Be The Trouble Officer?, I've
Never Done This Before, A Journey with Michael Blessing (instrumental),
Who Do You Love?, and Get Out My Life Woman, now it's nice to have very
clean remastered versions of these songs and the last two I mentioned
i've never heard but definitely great early Nesmith tracks all the
other solo Nesmith tracks have appeared on many different pre-monkee
solo bootleg cds or vinyl of Mike's the last track to close out disc
three is a mono take of Davy singing with an acoustic guitar of I Wanna
Be Free. If you're a die hard fan it's a must have for the collection
but if you're not it's not worth the $69.98 plus the shipping on it
from http://monkees.net
http://www.monkees.com/article/world-premiere-2-i-wanna-be-free-overdubbed-demo-take-two-from-the-monkees-super-deluxe
Here's a good read on a music forum
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-next-monkees-box-set-a-proposal.270513/
_________________________________________________________________________________
20) LIVE ON TAPE with Ron Cox
Worldwide television debut of Malden resident Fil Ramil's new video ANYTHING YOU WANT (WITHIN REASON, featuring Kate O'Connor) 11/3/14 at about 7:45 PM.
__________________________________________________
MATV's Live On Tape was a most complete show. With David Letterman retiring in 2015 and Jay Leno visiting Jimmy Fallon this Friday (November 7, oh the indignity of it all) - one of the last durable talk show hosts still standing is MATV's Ron Cox.
On Monday, 11/3/14 at 7 PM Cox invited Malden Fire Chief. John 'Jack' Colangeli as well as chef David Stein of the
Stock Pot and comedian Johnny Joyce.
Malden's Fil Ramil performed "On and On" live on the
show, participated in an interview, unveiled the
television debut of his new video, and then performed a
third song, "Lost Forever" which concluded the show.
Fil Ramil's new video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZJ2RJ8tCM
EP RELEASE CONCERT THURSDAY NOV 13TH, HENNESEY'S UPSTAIRS ROCK CLUB, 25 UNION ST BOSTON MA 7:30-10:30
Directed by Ken Schmidt c/o Ugly Duck Studios
From the EP "NightFall"
Copyright 2014 filramilmusic
filramilmusic.com
cdbaby.com/artist/filramil
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fil-Ra...
20) LIVE ON TAPE with Ron Cox
Worldwide television debut of Malden resident Fil Ramil's new video ANYTHING YOU WANT (WITHIN REASON, featuring Kate O'Connor) 11/3/14 at about 7:45 PM.
__________________________________________________
MATV's Live On Tape was a most complete show. With David Letterman retiring in 2015 and Jay Leno visiting Jimmy Fallon this Friday (November 7, oh the indignity of it all) - one of the last durable talk show hosts still standing is MATV's Ron Cox.
On Monday, 11/3/14 at 7 PM Cox invited Malden Fire Chief. John 'Jack' Colangeli as well as chef David Stein of the
Stock Pot and comedian Johnny Joyce.
Malden's Fil Ramil performed "On and On" live on the
show, participated in an interview, unveiled the
television debut of his new video, and then performed a
third song, "Lost Forever" which concluded the show.
Fil Ramil's new video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZJ2RJ8tCM
EP RELEASE CONCERT THURSDAY NOV 13TH, HENNESEY'S UPSTAIRS ROCK CLUB, 25 UNION ST BOSTON MA 7:30-10:30
Directed by Ken Schmidt c/o Ugly Duck Studios
From the EP "NightFall"
Copyright 2014 filramilmusic
filramilmusic.com
cdbaby.com/artist/filramil
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fil-Ra...
Cassandre McKinley with Fil Ramil - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvhsCBNbjwc
Jun 25, 2014 - Uploaded by Cassandre McKinley
You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video. Download it ... Jun 25, 2014. Cassandre McKinley and Fil ...Fil Ramil - Anything You Want (ft. Kate O'Connor ) - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=daZJ2RJ8tCM
4 days ago - Uploaded by filramil
You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video. Download .... Cassandre McKinley with Fil Ramil by ...
Article in Malden Observer
 | |||||||
Fil Ramil's got a 'Ship to Sail' - News - Wicked Local - Boston ...
www.wickedlocal.com/article/.../3021093...
Feb 10, 2009 - Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Fil Ramil is a busy guy. ... The Malden Observer recently sat down with Fil Ramil and asked him a few questions ...
Community Newspaper Company
- ...
MEET MATV’S PRODUCERS See it ‘Live on Tape’
_________________________________________________________________________________
25) The Ted Show on NPR
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/03/11/173816690/new-voices-for-the-voiceless-synthetic-speech-gets-an-upgrade
37)Easy Action, ALICE COOPER
http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/easy-action-mr0001244783
38)Neil Smith of Alice Cooper Group
INTERVIEW
GOING TRACK BY TRACK with the album by Neal Smith of the original Alice Cooper Group. The writer saw the Alice Cooper Group at the Boston Garden for the Billion Dollar Babies tour and has recently interviewed Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, who also backed up "The Coop." We'll invite Neal to visit Visual Radio soon.
_________________________________________________
When was the track "Leave Me Alone" conceived?
(NS) My KillSmith CD "Sexual Savior" took four years to complete. It was written and recorded in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007 it was completely mixed and mastered for an early 2008 release. "Leave Me Alone" was written and conceived in 2004 during the early stages of the CD.
Joe V: Did "Sexual Savior" and the other 10 songs come together at the same time, or was it a long process?
(NS) The vast majority of the "KillSmith" songs are new songs that were written and conceived between 2004 and 2005. There were only two songs on the CD that have been kicking around for years and mutated into the musical gems that they are today, the title track "Sexual Savior" and the only acoustic guitar track "Beware Of The Dog."
Joe V: Are all the tracks, including "Disturbed", by the same musicians and how long has this particular group been together?
(NS) There are only two principle musicians playing on every song. The first is my partner in crime, Peter Catucci (aka Peter The Cat), who plays bass guitar and does reinforcement and background vocals. In addition Peter engineered and recorded all of the KillSmith music in his Connecticut studio "Rock Wall Studios." KillSmith is actually the third CD that Peter Catucci and I have worked on since 2001. The other two were called Cinematik and they are a completely different musical style that KillSmith.
The second musician is me, Neal Smith. Naturally I (aka Rattlesnake Smith), played all of the drums and percussion on the CD, but I (aka KillSmith), also played all the rhythm guitars on every track and I (aka Fingers Smith) played keyboards where they appear. I also wrote the music, lyrics and I (aka KillSmith), sang the lead vocals on every song.
Our additional our three guest musicians were Pete "Keys" Hick, playing great keyboards on "Beware Of The Dog." The amazing lead guitar work on the CD was by Lord Bryan Morrell and Tommy-Gun Crowley. Brian and Tommy are credited in the CD on the songs where they soloed.
All five musicians came together for the first time during the recording of this CD, my second solo endeavor. My first being "Platinum God."
Joe V:"Beware Of The Dog" seems like a sequel to "Ballad of Dwight Frye", where did this theme come from?
(NS) In creating the fictitious character "Dog" in "Beware Of The Dog" I wanted him to have a combination of qualities. The first having the ruthless primal killer instinct of "The Wolfman" and the second being a shrewd business powerhouse like "The Godfather." Musically there could be possible connection, but conceptually and lyrically "Beware Of The Dog" has no similarity to the classic song from our "Love It To Death" album written by Michael Bruce and Alice, called "The Ballad Of Dwight Frye."
Joe V: "Naked and The Raw" won't be getting mainstream airplay anytime soon, hard metal, Goth and borderline Death Metal seems to be going through a geological shift. Do you see the market for a songlike this in Europe or are American kids still reacting to this style?
(NS) "Naked And The Raw" is my death metal, Goth, power disco song and like many, not all, but many of my songs on this "XXX Rated" CD, it will not be getting any mainstream airplay soon. I did not jump on any musical bandwagons or trends, I'm just doing what I love and if the fans, young or old dig it, even better. As this collection of songs final resolve was to meet my standards, my only target market first and foremost was me. Just like the our groundbreaking band Alice Cooper, it was up to the fans to love us or hate us. But yes, I do sell a tons of CDs to the European market.
My inspiration was some great bands of the 90's and early 2000's, like Shirley Temple of Doom, Pigface, Tapping the Vein, Kings X and Ramstein to name a few. Peter Catucci and I saw these bands live in New York City and KillSmith was the results.
Every song on the CD was inspired by that heavy metal, industrial spirit. I also wanted my songs to celebrate the dark, deranged and sexual side of our original Alice Cooper Band. With the sexually expectant, "Naked And The Raw," I went on a fantasy journey that every young red blooded American boy can relate to, and that is being with two women at the same time. But in this case, the two women are famous Hollywood Sex Goddesses from the silver screen.
Joe V: "Can't Get You Outta My Skull" is like Lou Reed meets Iggy Pop by way of Armand Schauobroeck, is this pop/metal and is it indicative of KillSmith?
(NS) Having a pop sounding song in a metal vein is certainly one of my goals. After all I have written or co-written hit singles like "I'm Eighteen," Elected," School's Out" and "Teenage Lament 1974" in Alice Cooper and Buck Dharma (from Blue Oyster Cult) MTV hit song "Born To Rock."
This is the only song on the KillSmith CD that came to me in a dream. I immediately got up in the middle of the night and started writing and recording it. The tragic untimely death of a teenage lover is in the tradition of the Shangri-La's "Leader Of The Pack," or Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel." You can make your own analogy about Lou, Iggy and Armand. In the past they may have been rival contemporaries in the Alice Cooper platinum era. However I doubt it as we really had no rivals at that time. My inspirations are for the most part drummers and guitarists of the distant past. KillSmith is very nasty and sings like he sings. He's so nasty that he would eat Lou, Iggy and Armand for breakfast and then have Alice for desert!
Joe V: "Monsters In The Attic" would be great for a 1950s Science Fiction movie - and with bands like The Lemonheads ending up on film re-releases like The Graduate have you thought of pitching this to DVD companies who specialize in the release of those vintage movies?
(NS) I have not been trying to find other medias for "Monsters", but that's a great idea! However I am currently working on placing some of the other songs in television, cable and movies. I think that there is some bad ass shows out there that would be the perfect match for my KillSmith music.
Joe V:"How Do You Bleed" begs the obvious question, is this a response to "Only Women Bleed?"
(NS) "How Do You Bleed" has no more to do with Alice's solo song "Only Women Bleed" than it does with the Rolling Stones song "Let It Bleed." The only common denominator is the word "Bleed." My song is about my pro capitol punishment views, which are pro victim, pro justice and pro death. People that say the death penalty is not a deterrent, I say that's bullshit, it's kept me from killing several people I can think of in my lifetime.
Joe V: "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill" doesn't sound like it will appeal to feminist groups. Is there any flack against the album for the in-your-face approach to the lyrics?
(NS) Again, I guess a person can find any meaning that they like in song lyrics. I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks about my views and I never have. However if any group or critic thinks that "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill," is antifeminist or condoning violence against women they are completely wrong and would totally have misinterpreted the lyrics. I for one would never tolerate that kind of behavior and would love to kick the shit out of any man that hurts a girl or a woman. In actuality "Thrill, Thrill, Thrill Shoot To Kill" is about killing sperms when they are swallowed during oral sex or killing them when they are shot over a woman's body during male ejaculation! Pro Sperm Lifers may have a problem with that, but if that was the case ever male over twelve years of age would be guilty of "Sperm Homicide.
Joe V:"Dynasty Of Darkness" fits in nicely with the hard metal scene in Finland, any plans to play over there?
(NS) It's funny you mention Finland. I have visited there seven of the last eight years. I haven't played there, but I think KillSmith would go over extremely well and they would love "Dynasty Of Darkness." Maybe I could get that band of monsters from Helsinki called "Lordi" to open for me.
Joe V: What is "Human Evolution" all about?
(NS) In December of 1999, not only was the 2nd millennium ticking down, but so was the 20th century. I ran across an incredible article in the newspaper that listed the top 100 events of the last 100 years. I was inspired at that moment to work on a song that would be a verbal time-capsule of the good, the bad and the ugly of the 20th century. My challenge was to take these 100 events and incorporate them into a heavy hip-hop/rap style song sung by KillSmith in his rough evil voice. I'm a song person and I'm not to crazy about or inspired by contemporary hip-hop and rap, although there are some shinning moments. But I had to try to create a song with that feel. I also wanted to incorporate sound effects to emphasize the lyrics. With Peter's great help in the recording studio we were very successful in achieving that goal. "Human Evolution's" finale highlights the sounds of a fireworks display celebrating an amazing and historic century...my century, the 20th century! I'm particularly proud of this epic song.
Thanks for your time Neal
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 2009 IN A MAGAZINE JOE V. EDITED; CONTENT COPYRIGHT 2013 JOE VIGLIONE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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