HELMET
 

yesterday i went to see helmet (well, i know it's "helmet" now that john and henry are not in the band) and fuck it was amazing!!! it was the best and most punk show i've been in a while. i seriously had my doubts about them pulling it off but man, it was fucking awesome!!! and page is the man, he stayed onstage talking to people one on one, just talking. they were everything i expected them to be if i saw them in the mid or late 90's.

besides, recognition most be given to the band that brought us strap it on and meantime.

i got to interview page before the show, we talked about working with glenn branca, a bit about his stint with band of susans, about working with wharton tiers and albini and all those other producers, about battles, about amp rep...i was told he was only going to give me 15 minutes but we ended up talking for a good half hour.

so yeah, helmet.

ps: their "reunion" albums don't count, big suckiness factor. but this new band he has, fuck, the drummer can play in stainer's helmet style, they are pretty capable.

I love their cover of bjork's "human behavior". And I love their records too (never heard that reunion one).

I was just talking about Helmet the other day (well I was really talking about how everyone calls early Silverchair 'grunge' when Freakshow was a blatant Helmet influence). Great band. Diet Aftertatse is one of my favourite albums of all time, even though I seem to be the only one. I remember buying that album whenit came out and loving it to pieces, so to speak.

John Stanier is still playing with the Mark of Cain. Who are also really good. His Helmet-esque drumming doesn't go to waste in that band.

strap it on is one of the best albums of all time. "sinatra" is AMAZING, and "Bad mood" has my favorite guitar solo ever in it. great great great.

I saw 'em support Ministry many many years ago (I think - or it may have been Beastie Boys). Damn brilliant - they were probably at their peak then.

I'm a fan too. Whoooo!

meantime is great. betty is pretty good. thats where my liking thing gets paused

yeah, aftertaste is not all that (although i see it has it's fans, talking about norma j here), i still like it, spotty for sure, but some amazing songs in there. afterwards, i've heard really awful songs from their "reunion" albums, although live they didn't seem out of place and as heavy as the vintage shit.

i seriously recommend that if you see helmet playing near you, go check them out, page knows how to replace musicians with people in the same league as the originals.

the one i've been rocking the most lately is born annoying, fucking brilliant, i consider it their first album, although it covers ground until meantime really. still, the one teeny disappointment of the show was that they didn't play "born annoying", but they compensated on something else...

and page is a brilliant, brilliant guitarist, can play note perfect or noisy and chaotic without sounding fake or forced in either one.

i just love how strap it on (and lots of their other work.. but mainly strap it on) is 2 detuned guitars and 1 bass trained to play the same thing.. it's just.. such an impenetrable wall of riffage. amazing.

they are, for the lack of a better comparison (and it's good because it's very universal), the ramones of metal or heavy guitar whatever. dudes' got rid of everything, just two chords with one finger, making everything heavier.

they also influenced everyone right after them and everyone way after them that matters.

ps: about the silverchair thing, totally. i remember reading interviews with daniel johns talking about how much helmet were an influence.

TMOC were also around a long time before helmet - mid-late 80s wasa the start

I saw them for the first time when they supported Ministry in 91.
They had already started when I walked into the venue. All I could think was, wow! Great sound!

mark of cain and helmet started pretty much at the same time.

same here.

practice what you preach

i searched, there wasn't a thread about helmet.

besides, it's only two threads, not ten.

if this offends someone, sorry.

what oldies did they play?

blacktop, in the meantime, ironhead, turned out, wilma's rainbow, milquetoast, tic, just another victim, pure (opened with this), driving nowhere and unsung (by request, page told me he doesn't rehearse that song with the band anymore and actually asked the crowd if someone knew the song because he didn't want to play it, but he played it amazingly)

to their credit, the crowd were shouting for other songs but when they realized it was already encore and unsung wasn't played yet, everyone shouted for it.

drum intro in I know is megafantastic.

I'm pleased to see Helmet thread in here (what about DRI?). I think I'll put my meantime poster on the wall again, hehe.

I get to see them with the Melvins and Zebulon Pike this saturday... should be cool.

you lucky, lucky man...