In what might be America’s last true rock band, Clutch brings a hard-hitting rock show every single time they perform. They’ve been at this for 20 years, and it shows in both their writing and their performing.
This show at the Egyptian Room had the biggest crowd I’ve seen for a Clutch show in Indianapolis, and Clutch fans are nothing if they aren’t die-hard. The show was raucous and energetic, and the intensity of the show never wavered.
Rock on the Range 2016 started out with a bang on Friday (coverage here). Saturday stacked up to be just as good – bands like Parkway Drive, Lamb of God, Five Finger Death Punch, and Rob Zombie made the lineup feel a bit more metal-focused than the first day, at least on paper. That being said, the day was still chocked full of variety, with bands like Lacey Sturm, Aranda, Pop Evil, and Clutch to cleanse the pallet. We headed to Mapfre Stadium from our hotel, stopping at Kroger (as we do every single ROTR day) for a made-to-order breakfast and the ever-crucial Monster Rehab. I grabbed a poncho on the way out of the store on a whim, juuuust in case it decided to rain on Saturday. Best decision ever: As painful as it was to wear something with an Ohio State logo on it, it was totally worth it. (Sorry folks, but The Music Pill is in Indianapolis, in the heart of Hoosier country).
It rained pretty much all day on Saturday, but try as she might, Mother Nature couldn’t put a damper on Rock on the Range. Saturday’s crowd was every bit as rowdy and engaged as the crowd from the day before, in spite of the cold and rainy weather. As the day progressed, it turned into a sloppy mess, but that didn’t stop it from being a fantastic day of music.
Speaking of music – lets get to it! Following a similar format as the Day 1 (Friday) blog, I’ll discuss the shows that were rock solid first, and then move on to a few that were slightly disappointing. Finally, I’ll explore the shows that really blew my mind in a bit more detail, and try to describe what made them so great.
Day 2. Let’s do this!
I don’t really fancy myself as an album reviewer (guys over at sites like Sputnik do just fine at that). However, I have a real passion for sharing music, and love the thought of putting something in front of people out there that might not have heard it yet. Because of that, and because the albums I love fuel my concert decisions, I wanted to share some of my favorite albums from 2015. Last year featured releases by countless big names in the industry – names like Trivium, Sevendust, Three Days Grace, Halestorm, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine, and on and on. However, many of these releases landed somewhere on the scale between mediocre and very good. None of them, however, really stood out as impressionable.
However, 2015 was definitely not void of spectacular albums. As I looked back at my catalog and reviewed countless other “top albums of 2015” lists to make sure I didn’t miss any albums, I had a more difficult time than usual whittling down to the top 5 albums. In fact, I couldn’t, and so what you’re left with below is 5 really great runners up, and one album of the year.
Hope you enjoy!
Rock on the Range released it’s lineup on Monday, and after two days of letting it marinate, I had to get some thoughts down on what is sure to be a fantastic, record-setting weekend in Columbus. Rock on the Range is North America’s biggest rock festival, and they are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. For the eighth straight year, The Music Pill will be gathering our crew and heading from Indianapolis to Columbus to participate in the chaos.
Here is a breakdown of the lineup, including my opinion on the headliners, a breakdown of many of the middle-of-the-pack bands, a few bands that have something to prove, and some can’t miss bands that you may never have heard of. Hope you enjoy!
Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity, and The Shrine
Psychic Warfare Tour – Oct 13th, 2015
The Vogue Theater – Indianapolis, IN
Anytime I get the chance to see Clutch, I take it – no questions asked. They are veterans of the stage, with over two decades under their belt and the original lineup in tact. Their music touches just about every genre on the planet – maybe most evident by a relatively new song called DC Sound Attack, that features a killer Go-Go beat on a cowbell as a prominent theme. Seemingly nothing is out of bounds for Clutch – Metal, stoner rock, blues, southern rock, and many more fall right in their wheelhouse, and the result is a seemingly endless catalog of fantastic songs, and albums that range from solid to absolute classic. However, in my humble opinion, their real brilliance only comes to life during their show. Oh man that live show…
My most recent opportunity to catch them live was at The Vogue in Indy, which is a great small venue in the Broad Ripple neighborhood of Indianapolis. (Recently, Nonpoint and 10 Years performed there). Clutch was on tour supporting their latest (eleventh!) album, called Psychic Warfare, and hit Indy on a rainy October day. To open up the night, The Shrine and Corrosion of Conformity both put on really good shows, and my initial introduction to both bands was one of pleasant surprise. As CoC finished their show, I snagged one last Sun King WeeMac and headed to the front of the venue. Something told me that the mob was about to go wild… My expectations couldn’t be higher Clutch – let’s do this.
A few months back, when I was scouring the internet looking for concerts that looked awesome, I found a festival I’d never heard of in Madison, Wisconsin called JJO Bandcamp. Bandcamp is an annual festival put on by a local Madison radio station (WJJO) that has been around for about a decade now. The bill for this year was chocked full of really good smaller bands, like Pop Evil, Egypt Central, Dope, and Anew Revolution, and had three of my top 10 bands as major acts – All that Remains, Clutch, and Five Finger Death Punch. Seeing as how a good friend from college who loves concerts lives about an hour south of Madison, we finally had that excuse we’d been looking for to head up and visit him.
So, once again, the Indianapolis crew hit the road, driving roughly 400 miles north in search of the next great metal show. This blog will hit some of the highlights of the show, discuss some new bands we discovered, and talk about how WJJO may single handedly be keeping my faith in the radio. Enjoy!