goddo

REVIEW: Hollywood Monsters – Thriving On Chaos (2020 Japanese/bonus track)

HOLLYWOOD MONSTERS – Thriving On Chaos (2020 Voice Music, Japanese import)

Supergroup?  Or just a good time?  Singer/guitarist Steph Honde, drummer Vinny Appice, and bassist Ronnie Robson gathered a load of friends and recorded a fun heavy metal album of originals and covers.  There is also a healthy helping of Canadian content (such as Robson in the core trio)!

Opener “A Scream Looking For a Mouth” is a raging heavy metal track along the lines of vintage high-voltage Motorhead.  Hell of an opener.  Add Deep Purple’s Don Airey on guest Hammond organ solo, which just hits the right spot amidst all that raging.  “Speak of the Devil” continues the heavy, though not the speed, thankfully, or you’d be seeing a chiropractor from all the headbangin’.  A catchy chorus and solid riffing make it another instant winner.  Solid metal.  A chunky riff kicks off “Something Wicked”, a really fun uptempo rocker.

Things get slower and darker on the monumental “Running Up Hill”, which is instant hit material.  Ted McKenna on drums.  Instant classic, with a chorus that kills.  Regardless of the daily struggles we face, Honde reminds us, “Never surrender!”  It’s a message of positivity, and the best track on the album.

“Numb” is another good one, grinding out a riff slow an’ easy.  The added keyboards provide texture.  Even better is the beautiful acoustic ballad “In This House”.  Honde has an excellent acoustic album called Empire of Ashes, and this track easily could have fit on it.  Though he’s a rocker, he is exceptional at tender acoustic ballads.

The first cover is “I Don’t Need No Doctor” featuring Jim Crean on backing vocals.  It kicks all the expected asses, and Honde’s guitar soloing is tasty as hell.  Next up:  Canadian content with the Goddo cover “Drop Dead”, featuring Greg Godovitz on co-lead vocals and Tommy Denander on lead guitar.  It smokes, and that lead solo?  Set phasers to stun!

“Thriving On Chaos” is another impressive original.  It has a slow, dramatic riff that is somehow familiar.  Excellent songwriting, and hard to pigeonhole.  It’s followed by a very Maiden-esque song called “Fortune Teller”, which has a vibe very similar to some of the tracks on Fear of the Dark.  Fred Mika plays drums on this tempered-steel monster.

The final cover (and Canadian guest) is the Thin Lizzy cover “Cold Sweat”, as sung by Danko Jones.  Danko is the perfect guy for it!  He nails the Phil vibe, yet with his own snarl.  And the Steph Honde guitar solo?  Call the fire department!  This alchemy of Jones/Honde/Appice/Robson is pure combustion.  You can seldom go wrong with a Thin Lizzy cover, but here everything goes so, so right.

Always a surprise when the Japanese bonus track is one of the highlights.  The heavy, thumping “I Am the Best You Can Get” slays!  “Heavy” is an understatement!  Vocalist Steph Honde goes from scream on the verses, to growl on the chorus.  The droning chorus is the best part!  This one features (Canadian) Glen Drover on lead guitar and Alexis Von Kraven on the relentless drums.  The Japanese CD even comes with a printed interview with Steph Honde – though I cannot read Japanese!

Pick it up – shell out for the Japanese if it’s within your means.

4/5 stars

Part 14: Record Shows, Parties, and Quiet Riot
You do strange things when drinking

You do strange things when drinking

RECORD STORE TALES Part 14:   Record Shows, Parties, and Quiet Riot

Guys from record stores do know how to party.  The only true allnighters I ever pulled happened during the years at the record store.  Everything else I called an allnighter, I actually slept for a couple hours.

But trust me folks…guys from record stores play the best music when they party.  One night in London (Ontario) we stayed up for what seemed like forever, playing the dumbest fucking drinking games.  My drink was Captain Morgan’s (spiced) and Coke.  However we were playing this stupid fucking card game.  I think it was called Kings in the Corner or something?  Each card was a rule?  2 of anything meant you take two drinks, 3, meant you take 3 drinks, etc.  And then on some cards, like 6, you’d GIVE 6 drinks to someone else.  And a joker meant you took a shot of Wild Turkey.  Here’s the photo of my first shot of Wild Turkey from that very night.

r-l: Me, Tom, Meat

Like I said, we knew how to party.  From that night forward, when I got loaded, my nickname became “Jim”.  And as I took a shot, they’d say, “Here comes Jim!!” Anyway, who gives a crap about that?  There’s loads of people who partied harder.  We party better. 

The best stimulant imaginable is music, and I heard some of the best music ever at those parties. The first time I ever heard Kyuss was at the party at Tom’s place in London.  He didn’t start with Kyuss, though.  He started with some bootleg Black Sabbath video from 1970.  It was taped in some…well, it probably was a highschool cafeteria.  That’s what it looked like.  It was awesome.  It was easily in the top five times I ever truly had my mind blown.

During “Black Sabbath” itself, Ozzy got this crazed look in his eye!  You could see it!  Then he just started going mad on stage, thrashing about, that leather jacket of his flailing about him.  Ozzy’s said before he has another person inside him when he gets crazy, someone they call “Him”.  Maybe what they captured on tape that night was an appearance by “Him”?  Who knows?

The cool thing though is another of my top five mind-blows of all time happened that night too.  Kyuss. I made a nice bed on the floor out of pillows and blankets and stuff, and I passed out in front of the stereo.  I woke up a short time later, as some of the guys were heading out (walking) to catch last call at the local pop shop.  I just kind of laid there listening to the music…I was falling in and out of consciousness to this heavy, drony music.  It was awesome.  I didn’t know who it was.

I was told the following morning that it was Kyuss.  Tom told me he left the Kyuss / Queens of the Stone Age split EP in the player.  From that I pieced together that the song I must have heard was “Fatso Forgotso”.   I still remember how it rolled over me like a wave that night.

We had to be up fairly early the next morning, as we were hitting a record show in London.  If you don’t know what a record show is, I’ll take a moment to explain.  If you do, skip the next paragraph

A record show is usually held in a large room like a conference room in a hotel, for example.  Dozens of vendors gathered their best, their overpriced, their rare, and their shelf warmers for you to pick through and haggle over.  They are a record store dude’s dream, and his VISA card’s nightmare.

Just to give you a taste, here’s some of my best finds.

  • At the show in question, I actually found the first two Japanese Quiet Riot albums with Randy Rhoads.
  • Elsewhere, I found a great book about Alice Cooper called Billion Dollar Baby that we’ll talk about another time.  I later found out it was worth many times what I paid.
  • LP of Faith No More’s incredible Angel Dust album which came with an exclusive remix of “MidLife Crisis”.
  • Oh, this isn’t a find, but we did see Greg Goddovitz (Goddo) at one.  He was wearing socks and sandals.

We had a greasy breakfast (sausage, eggs, toast, OJ) and headed out.  I remember it was freezing.  Then you get to the hotel, pay your admission (usually somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 or so) and go in.  And then you’d be sweating your parka off in this crowded room full of long-hairs, skullets, and mohawks.  Guy to girl ratio:  About 4-1.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I found these two Quiet Riot albums with Randy Rhoads.  I want to post a more detailed blog about this later on, because I truthfully don’t know if I bought a bootleg or a promo.  As far as I know there has never been a CD release of these two albums.  Yet, that doesn’t exclude that Sony might have pressed some sample copies as a prototype before deciding not to proceed.  Or perhaps they were threatened to be sued, who knows?  Metal Health was released on Pasha/Columbia which later was absorbed by Sony.  My CDs are marked as Sony promos.  Everything about the CDs screams “official” except that I am certain they didn’t officially release a CD anywhere at any time.

Regardless, they sound great and I paid what was then a fair price for a bootleg, which would have been $30 for a new, mint bootleg.  I would have been willing to pay up to $35 for a good sounding bootleg and they would always let you sample it anyway.  So I consider this one of my best scores.  I’ve never run across any other copies, bootleg or otherwise, since then.  It was meant to be.

We drove back to Kitchener tired as hell but it was worth it.  I’m sure there are people out there who don’t understand how you could pay $30 for a bootleg CD when you can just download it for free.  And I’m sure someone else could explain it to you better than I can, because I don’t really have a good reason why it’s worth it.

Except I fucking love music, and when you fucking love music, especially when it’s one of the first bands you ever liked, that’s what you do.