Dave Grohl

Album Review: Tenacious D – Post-Apocalypto

Tenacious D Post-Apocalypto
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Tenacious D have long been a guilty pleasure of mine. They’re misogynistic, juvenile and crude, but at the same time I do find some of their content funny, and they know how to rock. I guess the same could be said about Jack Black, who has had gold moments throughout his acting career (namely School of Rock), but mostly boasts lemons. He’s a slightly more reliable Adam Sandler, but I still have a soft spot for his work.

Post-Apocalypto is their fourth full length album. Like The Pick of Destiny, it is a soundtrack. It follows a YouTube webseries that has played out over the past month, featuring the songs and snippets of dialogue from the show.

Both Black and partner Kyle Gass are comedic actors, so writing funny songs with narrative suit their strengths. I’ve seen them play three times, and although it can feel slightly forced, the story arc that carries through their shows is fun, and allows them to play with theatrical flair.

The narrative for this record doesn’t quite work though. I still enjoy the skits from their first record, which were silly stand-alone pieces. But the skits on this new album are just snippets from the web series used to advance the story. This should help to provide context for those who haven’t watched the series, but there isn’t enough to fill in all the plot points of the story-line. I think they would have been wiser to have an all-or-nothing approach, and should have left the snippets out, instead of sprinkling an inadequate amount throughout.

Post-Apocalypto (the web series) was a painful watch. Like I’ve said, I’m a fan, so forced myself through it, but didn’t feel rewarded for my efforts. I hesitate to call it an animation, but more a selection of Black’s hand-drawn stills to give visual reference for the audio. It’s a sci-fi series that explored Tenacious D trying to survive in a (you guessed it) apocalyptic wasteland. Along the way they adopt a three-headed dog, battle genital monsters, fight Nazis and travel to space.

Tenacious D have always been crass, but I was shocked at the many gratuitous sex scenes. But then again, it’s exactly what I should have expected – it was just visual this time. It’s a political show too, with The D taking shots at Trump and Nazis. I guess the timing is appropriate, with approaching elections in America, but only time will tell how fast these political and pop culture references will date the album.

The songs are short. It makes sense, they fit within short episodes. And The D have plenty of short, furious songs with impact. But still, this entire album lasts half an hour, and that’s with skits padding it out. They could have at least fleshed out a few of the songs so that the album lasted longer. The title theme offers plenty of potential for extension, but feels incomplete as is.

And they’ve done their fair share of ballads in the past too, but almost all of the songs on this album are ballads, leaving me wondering what happened to the band that once won a Grammy for “Best Metal Performance”.

It’s not all bad though. Black’s voice acting shines through. You really feel for Terminator’s lament in “Robot” (despite the odd Arnie-esque accent). The redneck Nazi’s sound so thick that you really want to believe that they’re all really that dense.

“Hope” is arguably the best of the ballads, and most rousing. The D explore new musical horizons with “JB JR Rap”, rapped in a hoarse voice and complete with an autotuned section. To be honest, most of the album is Classic D, albeit shorter and less rocking.

The D have a long history with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl. Grohl has drummed on all of their records to date, and the trio have featured in a number of each other’s videos. The first time I saw The D live was opening for Foo Fighters at Western Springs in Auckland, where the crowd jumped up and down enough to trigger minor earthquakes [It sounds absurd, but it’s true!]. Black has also guest starred on one of Grohl’s Probot tracks, “The Warlock“.

As you’d expect, Grohl’s drumming is on point. He’s long been known as a powerhouse drummer since his Nirvana days, and has collaborated with such a range of rock royalty that it has almost become a meme. You can hear unmistakably in the title theme – a rehash of an old unreleased bridge (Rolling Thunder) that the band cut from their song “Rize of the Fenix” (off their last record). “Daddy Ding Dong” also has Grohl written all over it, one of the few stand-out rock of the soundtrack that venture into metal territory, as does “Woman Time”, with awesome Dio-esque vocals.

In short: Post-Apocalypto not a great album. Just as their other soundtrack, Pick of Destiny doesn’t compare well to the other albums, this one feels weak too. It is entirely in keeping with the Tenacious D brand, being puerile and budget, but doesn’t rock enough. Only the most loyal fans will appreciate it, and I doubt even they will revisit it after the initial listens. If you’re interested in it, at least watch the web-series so that you can hear the songs with context. I hope this isn’t the end of The D, but if they do release new music in the future, they’d be best to write without a constraining concept.

Tenacious D links:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/tenaciousD

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tenaciousd/

Website: https://www.tenaciousd.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealTenaciousD

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tenacious/

 

Buried Treasure: Probot – I am the Warlock (hidden track)

Probot Album Cover Warlock
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Buried Treasure is a semi-regular feature that explores some hidden musical gems – the rare and forgotten B-sides, covers, hidden tracks, live versions and alternative takes that deserve some recognition.

Probot – I Am The Warlock

The big single from the Probot album was the track ‘Shake Your Blood’, featuring Lemmy from Motorhead. The first time I’d ever heard the track was when Lemmy came onstage to guest on the song on the Foo Fighters Hyde Park DVD. I hadn’t heard of Probot at the time so I was confused about why I couldn’t recognise the song. I had every Foo Fighters album, so why didn’t I know this song?

After some further research I learnt about the Probot album, one of Dave Grohl’s  many, many side projects. The basic premise behind the album is that Grohl had written a bunch of material that was too heavy for Foo Fighters, so he decided to make a dedicated heavy album featuring frontmen from some of his favourite metal and hardcore bands.  Because if you’re rich and famous and bored, why not make a metal album of with the most influential singers of your childhood?

In many ways, this paved the path for later Foo Fighters releases like Sound City and Sonic Highways, both of which featured guest musicians heavily.

The Buried Treasure from this album is the hidden track ‘I am the Warlock’, featuring Jack Black. It’s the last song on the album, playing after four minutes of silence after the final listed track ‘Sweet Dreams’. It’s funny because even though I know that the song is coming, it always gives me a fright when it starts.

Black and Grohl are long time collaborators. Grohl drummed on Tenacious D’s studio albums, and Grohl and Black have featured extensively in each other’s music videos. Tenacious D also opened for Foo Fighters when they set off earthquakes in 2012 at Western Springs.

‘I Am The Warlock’ is predictably juvenile, like almost anything that Black touches, but hey, it’s metal, so not worth taking too seriously anyway. If you can get past the crass content, the sludgy metal is pretty cool.

During the bridge you can hear weird whispers that remind me of something you’d hear in a horror movie (maybe something like Deathgasm?).Grohl has done this another time. The bridge in ‘Everlong’ by the Foo Fighters features three unidentifiable recordings played over each other.

It’s no secret that Black has musical skills. School of Rock was brilliant, and having seen him front Tenacious D in both rock and acoustic settings, I can confirm that he’s very talented. It seems a shame that he chooses to make such a joke out of the music he creates, but at least it’s fun.

Joseph James

Buried Treasure: Foo Fighters – A320

Godzilla Soundtrack
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Buried Treasure is a semi-regular feature that explores some hidden musical gems – the rare and forgotten B-sides, covers, hidden tracks, live versions and alternative takes that deserve some recognition.

The Godzilla film that came out in 1998 was crap. The soundtrack that came with it was also fairly weak.

It starts off badly. First we have Bob Dylan’s son stripping David Bowie’s song ‘Heroes’ of any appeal. This is followed by P. Diddy posturing and say “uh” a lot over the top of Led Zepplin’s ‘Kashmir’.

With the exception of a few OK tracks, this album must be a collection of the lamest songs that existed in the  90’s “alternative” scene. Even the Rage Against The Machine song “No Shelter” ironically critiques the film it was commissioned to be written for. The best song would have to be a remix of Green Day’s ‘Brain Stew’, although I find it humourous that the remixing consists of a drum pattern played on the bell of a ride cymbal and Godzilla roars and growls scattered throughout the song.

Why did I bother to buy the CD then? Two reasons:

1) it only cost me $1

2) it features a rare Foo Fighters song called ‘A320’.

‘A320’ is a long song (almost six minutes long). It is also quite unlike anything else the Foo Fighters had released, at least until Dave Grohl decided to double the size of his band in 2006 for the Skin and Bones tour. The main things that sets this song apart is the inclusion of a string section. It’s soft and slow building, almost like a lullaby. To be honest the song is pretty unexciting until it hits the breakdown. This is when the going gets good. During the breakdown the Foos grunge it up with a filthy distorted riff, sloshy cymbals and squealing guitars. This follows on from then on. The grungy rock band actually sounds pretty good coupled with the orchestral string section.

Foo Fighters fans should find ‘A320’ fairly interesting, seeing as how it’s a departure from their usual sound. It’s not the most exciting song that they’ve ever written, but it sounds pretty epic by the time it comes to an end.

Joseph James

Live Review: Foo Fighters at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland

Foo Fighters Rise Against Mt Smart Auckland Sonic Highways World Tour
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Foo Fighters

w/ Rise Against (USA) & Miss June (NZ)

Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland

Saturday 21 February 2015

 

I am a huge Foo Fighters fan. I saw them put on three-hour show across two stages at Vector Arena when I was 16 years old. It was (and is likely to remain) the greatest concert I had ever been to. The second time I saw the Foos the crowd collectively triggered an earthquake by jumping up and down to the music.

Since then Dave Grohl and his cohorts have released two great documentaries with fairly weak soundtracks (Sound City and Sonic Highways). This tour is the first in New Zealand to have not sold out in the past decade. Ticket prices have been lowered to less than a third of what they were to entice more people to the show. This all begs the question: have the Foo Fighters lost it, or are they still as brilliant as they ever were?

 

 

I can’t be contested that Foo Fighters are one of the best live bands around, but I prefer listening to Rise Against. They were my ‘gateway band’ that first introduced me to punk music.

Rise Against have managed to carve a musical career by blending punk politics, attitudes and ethos with melodic rock sensibilities. In 2008 they signed to a major label and managed to break into the mainstream without compromising their sound and values. I respect them for being one of the few bands played on the radio with messages actually worth taking note of.

Tonight was the fourth time I’d seen Rise Against onstage. I was pleased that almost half their set was older (pre-major label) material. They had large glowing letters spelling out RISE onstage but we all know that it isn’t about how cool the setup looks, it’s about the energy put into the music and delivery. They played with the expected intensity. Guitarist Zach Blair was doing his signature punk jumps all over the stage. The songs “Help Is On The Way” and “Savior” both featured dynamic extended bridges.

Front-man Tim McIlrath invited Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett onstage to join the band. I’m assuming that Shiflett has been friends with Rise Against since his punk days, when he played for No Use For A Name. Together they covered the Jawbreaker song “Kiss The Bottle”

I really like Rise Against

I really like Rise Against

Auckland based opening act Miss June also played well. The drums stood out as sounding especially good. Although at first, they seemed a bit shy and shoe-gazy, after they had warmed up Miss June appeared right at home, delivering a short set of garage punk. Front-woman Annabel Liddell flung herself around the stage channeling Joan Jett. I half expected to hear “Ch, ch, ch, ch, CHERRY BOMB!”

 

 

I was confused by the Foo Fighter’s opening guitar line. “Skin and Bones”? Surely they’re not opening with an acoustic song? Actually, no. It was “Something From Nothing”, from the most recent album, Sonic Highways. I swear those two songs have near identical riffs.

“We’re not here to play a two hour set!” Grohl roared “Not two and a quarter, not two and a half! We want to put on the best show we can! I wanna play songs from the first record, the second record, the third record…”

And sure enough, they played for three hours, with a set including material from every album. Every song was a single, save for a few from the new album (that are likely to become singles) so there was a wide enough spread to please fans old and new.

One highlight was “Monkey Wrench”. It started off as usual, but turned into a sprawling psychedelic number come the bridge. The lights slowly dimmed until there was complete darkness, leaving the audience to drink in the sounds without distraction. Another was “These Days”, which grew and grew into a rousing sing along. Songs like these are when the Foo Fighters truly shine, when they turn playing into performing, with musical and visual dynamics.

The moment that they started to lose it was when Grohl walked to the end of the catwalk to play to those at the back of the stadium. This signaled a lull in the set. Those of us at the front couldn’t see anyone playing and the songs were acoustic. The energy had dissipated. People standing around me started checking their phones.

Grohl talked about his promise to play Auckland Town Hall the previous night. Unfortunately that show needed to be cancelled almost as soon as it had been announced. A truck carrying the band’s gear from their previous show in Christchurch had crashed near Taihape on the way to Auckland. “I guess this makes me look like an asshole” he grinned “so I tell you what: if you do something for me I’ll play two shows at the Town Hall next time I come, to make up for it.”

He started strumming “Wheels”. “Last time I made a deal that if you sang along to this song I’d play that Town Hall” he continued, “Well that didn’t work out, so the new deal is if you don’t sing along, then I’ll come back and play those shows.” Of course people still sang along.

“This is the first time I’ve ever told the crowd to shut up, to not sing along. And you still can’t even do it!” Grohl grinned, pretending to chide his audience.

When we first arrived I pointed out to my girlfriend why “the D” (The term used at Big Day Out for the fenced of area at the front, shaped in the shape of a letter D) was split in half.”That’s the catwalk,” I explained, “They run up and down it as they play so that they can get closer to the audience. At the Vector show they actually lowered a second stage from the roof with all the instruments on it so that the band could walk come down the end to play an acoustic set. But obviously that won’t happen tonight, because there is no roof to lower a stage from.”

I was wrong though. Sure, there was no roof to lower a stage from, so they had a secondary stage next to the catwalk that rose up from the ground instead. This was the covers stage, where the band paid homage to bands who had initially inspired them, like Rush, Kiss, and AC/DC. The best was their rendition of the classic Queen/David Bowie collab “Under Pressure”, with drummer Taylor Hawkins taking on Freddie Mercury’s parts and Grohl taking on Bowie’s.

“Under Pressure” revived the show. And if it hadn’t, “All My Life” certainly would have. By the penultimate song, “Best Of You”,Grohl was clearly starting to lose his voice. They finished off with the obligatory “Everlong” (The rock version, not the acoustic version that they have tended to play live for the past several years).

 

 

So to answer my question from before: have the Foo Fighters lost it, or are they still as brilliant as they ever were? It was an excellent show. Three hours from one of the world’s best rock bands is hard to fault. But it did feel like they were going through the motions. They played song after song, but that was it. The extra performance aspects I had come to expect were largely absent. The extended jams didn’t feature too often. There were no guitar duels and long drum solos.

If this was the first time I had seen the Foos play I would be raving about how amazing it was. But I have seen them play twice before, and the third time just wasn’t as good.

Foo Fighters played two sold out shows at Wembley Arena in 2008. I think that is when they peaked. They are by no means bad, but it looks to me that they are resting on their laurels rather than continuing to push the envelope. The documentaries they have released are great, but the new music and the Mt Smart performance fail to inspire me.

 

Joseph James

 

Live Review: Foo Fighters at Western Springs, Auckland

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Foo Fighters

w/ Cairo Knife Fight, Fucked Up, Tenacious D

Western Springs, Auckland

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Fucked Up

Canadian hardcore act Fucked Up brought the party. As far as openers go, these guys definitely knew what to do to hype an audience up. The band played well; energetic and fast paced. The five musicians stuck largely to their own spots on stage, while vocalist Damien “Pink Eyes” , spent a majority of the set walking throughout the crowd interacting with the punters. A beast of a man, topless with his hairy belly hanging out and a cup sitting atop his head, he threaded though the sea of people at random, sharing the microphone, giving hugs and high fives, even picking up one guy and carrying him around on his shoulder for a period. Most songs sounded the same due to the terrible live mix, but braving the moody weather and arriving early enough to catch the set definitely paid off.

Tenacious D

Tenacious D arrived onstage to a more rapturous reception. Their set was entirely what you’d expect if you’re at all familiar with the band: that is, two fat men with acoustic guitars singing songs about rock, weed, and all things crass. They gave a faux-storyline to the set, so that they could incorporate some of the narrative styled songs from their second album into the mix, along with some light drama to match.

With the help of their band, Kyle and Jack played a good mix of songs from both albums, as well as a yet unreleased song dedicated to their roadie, and a medley of Who songs. The backing band was great, each having a solo when being introduced to the crowd. I particularly enjoyed watching drummer Brooks Wackerman (of punk band Bad Religion) playing drum parts that were originally played by none other than Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl. The set was juvenile, but entertaining nonetheless.

Foo Fighters

From the moment they charged onstage to the palm-muted strums of All My Life, to the final lingering notes of set-closer Everlong, Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. It’s almost as if even the rain subsided for him, because as he came into view scores of people removed their flimsy plastic rain ponchos and threw them into the air or started spinning them above their heads.

A Foo Fighters show is one hell of a ride. Hit after hit, both old and new, complete with lengthy solos, guitar duels and extended jams galore. They have some cool screens and lights, but the strength of their performance comes from the great music and crowd interaction. A lot of the charisma came from Grohl, who, after 17 years of fronting the Foos, knew how to work the crowd like a seasoned pro.

The band seems to have a genuine love of New Zealand; quoting a show they did at the Auckland Supertop years ago as one of the favourite they’ve ever played, and having done a charity show at the Auckland Town Hall earlier this year to raise funds for the Christchurch earthquake. Grohl loves playing Auckland so much that he chose to film the crowd for a live music video for the song These Days. He also showed a real appreciation for his fans, specially playing a few acoustic songs for the people way down the back, and sincerely thanking everybody involved, before the band finished.

After doing a bit of bartering with the crowd via a video camera backstage, Grohl came out to encore with some acoustic numbers like Wheels and Times like these, before rocking out a few final tunes with the band (including a cover of Queen’s Tie your Mother Down featuring guest appearances by Tenacious D wearing nothing but underwear and suspenders) and inevitably ending with the classic hit, Everlong.

All up the Foos played for just under three hours. With live shows such as this it’s little wonder that they’ve lasted so long, and built up such a large fan base. I just wonder how they’re going to fit everybody in next time when they play Auckland Town Hall.

 

Joseph James