Reviews

Ryan Dunn Random Hero Celebration

Published

8 years ago

June 26, 2016

Josh Drespling

Ryan Dunn Random Hero Celebration

Featuring CKY, Mushroomhead & Bam Margera w/Fuck Face Unstopable At Agora Theater Cleveland, OH

Writen by Josh Drespling:
Photos by Jason L. Nelson:

Ryan Dunn

In 2011 I was working for a newspaper as a graphic designer. I was going about my daily duties and figuring out what glorious design I could release on the unwitting consumer who did not yet know they wanted to buy a car or have a pizza delivered. Then one of the girls from the editorial staff came to my desk and asked “You’re a Ryan Dunn fan aren’t you?” I thought this was an odd question to be asked at 8 am. I kind of gave her a weird look and said, “Ummm yeah, why?”

She told me that it just came across one of the news wire services that he was killed in a car accident. At first I thought she was joking or even mistaken. We both went downstairs to the editorial floor and stood staring at the text scrolling on the wire service screen in disbelief. Gradually the details of his death were trickling in to our newspaper as many of us realized the magnitude and significance that his passing was. We were silent and heartbroken to say the least. We spent the day watching YouTube videos of Ryan and showered the internet for any bit of information we could find about what had happened that gruesome night.

Bam Margera w/ Fuck Face Unstoppable Photo by Jason L. Nelson

Fast forward five years…
I’m standing on the floor of the Agora Theater in Cleveland Ohio with a group of friends and hundreds of complete strangers. We have all gathered in a city that, thanks to the Cav’s NBA championship has become a beacon of hope for the underdogs, the blue collar guys, the skaters, the punks, the freak, the ones who would rather rot and die than become a suit and tie guy. We are here to reminisce about, cherish, and fondly remember one of our own, Ryan “Random Hero” Dunn.

From the across the room I caught glances of Brandon Novak, Jess Margera, Bam Margera, and I swear I even saw Jesse Camp of “Wanna Be A VJ” fame. Black Cowgirl took the stage and delivered a quick set of backroad, guitar driven, stoner rock. Backwoods Payback followed with a sludgy and more distorted sound.

Fuck Face Unstoppable with Bam Margera drudged through a set of grimy songs that lasted way too long. Bam vocals were awful. He had zero mic control and the stage presence of a sloth that was slowly transforming into Don Vito. It was actually embarrassing watching him try to make jokes and be funny. He might as well had the mic down his throat because nobody could understand a word he said. Aside from the train wreck upfront the guitar player was shredding through some amazing riff while the keyboard player added unique flavor and depth.

Fuck Fack Unstoppable: Photo by Jason L. Nelson

Fuck Face Unstoppable:
Photo by Jason L. Nelson

They were joined on stage by an Australian violinist along with Brandon Novac, who stated to tell the story of how they met as he was traveling and asked the violinist to give him $500 for narcotics. Of course he refused, but later sent “an Asian man-boy” to his hotel room. Bam interjected “transvestite”. Novac went on to explain that he figured “what the hell”, but unfortunately he had too many Percocets and couldn’t “get it up”. Bam said, “What he really had was a little dick. Thus beginning the chant of “Little dick, little dick, let me cheat”. Novac and the band joined in to perform the best song of Fuck Face Unstoppable’s set “Little Dick (Let Me Cheat)”. They followed with the song “I’m Fucking” and wrapped up their set with the song “All My Friends Are Dead”.

CKY Chad Ginsburg;
Photo by Jason L. Nelson

Next up was the most anticipated set of the night. A revamped CKY took the stage for the first time in over 5 years. With Chad Ginsburg on guitar AND vocals, Jess Margera playing drums, and Matt Deis holding down duties on the bass. Before they played a single note Jess Margera approached the front of the stage grabbed the mic and said “We lost one of the coolest mother fuckers five years ago, we are gonna rock for him tonight”. And they did!

The 3-piece CKY tore through a set that included “Sporadic Movement,” “Flesh Into Gear,” “The Human Drive,” “96 Quite Bitter Begins,” and “After Worlds” with chants of “C…K…Y…” between every song. Before diving in to the next track they announced ‘This song is about Ryan, It’s call “Emerald”’.

Over all it was a solid set considering their line-up changes and long absence. Chad did look a bit uncomfortable in front of the mic. The few moments that he did step away to concentrate on his guitar playing let him show his strong points.

The headliners of the evening were the hometown heroes of Mushroomhead. I have had the privilege of seeing Mushroomhead countless times, but realized that this was the first time I would watch them on a full sized stage. I always managed to catch them in a small club, which produced amazing shows, but to see their full stage set was going to be a treat.

As the intro music rumbled through the Agora, J-mann took to the mic and said “This is for one on my best friends on this planet, Ryann was an amazing, humble and sweet human being. Lets do this for him!” and the building shook with the fury that is Mushroomhead.

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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Announcement/News

W.A.S.P. Album One Alive 2024 US Tour

Published

3 months ago

August 21, 2024

Josh Drespling

Hollywood, CA (August 20, 2024) — It is 2024, and W.A.S.P. is celebrating 1984! 40 years ago, the landmark debut album from W.A.S.P. was released on August 17, 1984, and the metal world was knocked on their ass!

The W.A.S.P. “Album ONE Alive” Tour celebrates the debut album by playing the album in its entirety, from start to finish.

To give the fans something every week to celebrate W.A.S.P. is giving away…

• 10 pairs of tickets a week for the length of the US tour.

• Silver Award – Blackie is also giving away each week of the tour two personal meet and greets in his dressing room. In HIS dressing room!

• Gold Award – One lucky fan will win Blackie’s personal certified RIAA award for the debut album.

• Platinum Award – And the Grand Prize, one fan and a guest will be provided airfare and a luxury Hollywood hotel to the final show in Los Angeles, meet the band and stay for the after show, end of tour party.

W.A.S.P. can only celebrate 1984 once and they want to do it big!

To enter all you have to do is visit and enter your email address:
https://forms.gle/WU5wE3K4BbmaBSQv9

It was recently announced that Armored Saint will be replacing Death Angel on the tour. W.A.S.P. issued the following statement: “W.A.S.P. is pleased to announce that Armored Saint will now be joining the “Album One Alive” Fall 2024 U.S. Tour. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Death Angel will no longer be able to be a part of this tour. We all wish them the best going forward.”

Tickets and VIP packages available at WASPnati on.com/tour

THE ALBUM ONE ALIVE WORLD TOUR 2024 DATES:

10/26/24 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theater*

10/28/24 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater

10/29/24 Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre

10/30/24 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre

11/01/24 Calgary, AB The Palace Theatre

11/02/24 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory

11/03/24 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

11/04/24 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot

11/05/24 Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre

11/07/24 Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore

11/08/24 St Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre

11/09/24 St Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre

11/10/24 Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre

11/11/24 Toronto, ON @ History

11/13/24 Montreal, QC @ MTELUS

11/14/24 Quebec City, QC @ Theatre Capitole

11/15/24 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre

11/16/24 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center

11/17/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall

11/19/24 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theater

11/20/24 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE

11/21/24 Stroudsburg, PA @ The Sherman Theater

11/22/24 Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore

11/23/24 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore

11/24/24 Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live

11/26/24 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium

11/27/24 Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern

11/29/24 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues

11/30/24 San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre

12/01/24 Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum

12/03/24 Little Rock, AR @ The Hall

12/04/24 Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion

12/06/24 Albuquerque, NM @ REVEL

12/07/24 Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee Theatre

12/09/24 Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto Theatre

12/10/24 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues

12/11/24 Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra Resort and Casino

12/12/24 Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl

12/13/24 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield

12/14/24 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium

* No support acts.

About W.A.S.P.

Few bands in the history of rock n roll have ever incited the love, the hate, and the raw emotional effect this band has had on the world. From the very beginning, in the small venues of Los Angeles, California, and later to the numerous countries worldwide that banned these Winged Assassins from performing live, the band’s unique style of shock and rock caused religious organizations, local city councils, parliaments, and the Washington D.C. Senate to hold hearings in an effort to bar this group from selling records and trashing stages everywhere they played.

The band’s founding member, frontman Blackie Lawless, has led the group as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social, and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for 4 decades.

https://www.waspnation.co m

https://www.facebook.com/W.A.S.P.Nati on

https://www.facebook.com/groups/waspnationofficialgroup/
https://twitter.com/waspofficial
https://instagram.com/waspnationofficial

https://youtube.com/@WASPNationOfficial

@waspnationofficial

https://www.threads.net/@waspnationofficial
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/7553

About Author

Josh Drespling

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CD Reviews

Them Damn Kings “Shown With A Fist”

Published

6 months ago

May 20, 2024

Ron

Them Damn Kings from NJ just released a new single “Shown With a Fist”.
If you like your music in your face with a touch of old school rock and roll this is the band for you. It’s got gritty vocals and pounding drums adding in some killer guitar shreds.
It’s a song that you listen to when you want to get into a bar fight or want to drive your car really fast down the highway.
It’s worth a listen, check out the lyric video below with a little bonus guitar mortal kombat shred off.

THIS IS A SPONSORED REVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAG PUBLICITY

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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CD Reviews

Ashes to Omens “Feed Me More”

Published

6 months ago

May 8, 2024

Ron

Ashes To Omens are a band from Georgia who’s latest single “Feed Me More” has a great sound to it. It reminds me of bands around the mid to late 2000s. They have a good mixture of sound. The song is a perfect blend of hard rock and metal with the vocals very crisp and delivered with passion.

The song “Feed Me More” has a great melody and works well with the bands style and genre of music. It also is a great title to a song because after listening to it I wanted more of the band.

Some will say that it’s very radio rock/metal and sometimes I do have issues with that but I felt that this song even though it does have that feel to it, isn’t just a radio rock song for the sake of being a radio rock song. I think this single is worth a listen to and could possibly be a track that might make your playlist.

THIS IS A SPONSORED REVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAG PUBLICITY