Posts by Zach Johnson

News that Max Cavalera will be reviving his legendary 90s side project Nailbomb for a one-off show in Tempe, AZ, later this year no doubt came as surprisingly welcome news for fans of the (somewhat obscure) industrial-metal outfit. For those not privy, Nailbomb was a short-lived band consisting of Max and Alex Newport, who was […]

Wrapping up our tribute to the 30th anniversary of Woodstock ‘94 this week, for today’s Weirdo Wednesday, we’re spotlighting this peculiar performance from Porno for Pyros, which features, among other things, a circus clown (aka Bubba), a trapeze artist, and some truly spaced-out stage banter from Perry Ferrell on the subject of aliens and crop […]

Although Bob Dylan’s track record as a songwriter is practically unrivaled, even the most ardent Dylanites would have to admit that he doesn’t always deliver the goods in a live setting. In fairness, Bob has been making a habit of defying audience expectations his entire career, rarely giving us what we want, but that’s all […]

It was 30 years ago today that Woodstock ‘94 kicked off in Saugerties, NY, so we’ll be paying tribute this week by showcasing some classic performances from that legendary festival. Though not as iconic as the original Woodstock held in 1969, the 1994 incarnation was nothing short of epic, with some truly memorable performances thanks […]

Captain Beefheart knew a thing or two about the dog days of August. In fact, he spent most of his years residing in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Whether or not all that searing heat directly contributed to his notoriously eccentric nature is anyone’s guess, but whatever the case, it sure seemed to be […]

For all this writer’s grumbling about the heat this time of year, sometimes you just have to embrace it and, well, “Enjoy Yourself”. That’s what legendary 2-tone ska outfit The Specials certainly did a great job of back in their heyday. A case in point is this delightfully jovial and sweaty performance from the Montreaux […]

Although summer is typically a celebratory season for most folks, by the time the dog days of August roll around, even the most ardent warm-weather enthusiasts might admit the persistent heat can get at least mildly annoying at this point. In fact, it can feel outright oppressive, especially down in New Orleans, where the humidity […]

Was there a cooler MFer on the planet in the late 1970s than Elvis Costello? Technically, probably, there might have been (in fairness, there was no shortage of competition in that era of music). But, whatever the case, you could certainly make a strong argument for Mr. Costello, and perhaps Exhibit A in that case […]

Did anyone happen to catch Gojira’s epic performance at the opening ceremony of the Olympics last week? (if not, you should definitely check it out)! Granted, Gojira are no strangers to laying down impressive performances, so in honor of France’s favorite metal sons, we’re throwing it back to an old-school Gojira performance of “Flying Whales” […]

“Hey you, don’t watch that, watch this! This is the heavy heavy monster sound. The nuttiest sound around. So, if you’ve come in off the street, and you’re beginning to feel the heat, well, listen buster! You better start to move your feet to the rockingest, rocksteady beat of Madness. One Step Beyond!!!” Who can […]

For last week’s Tuesday’s Gone, we shared some old-school Sublime, a band who admittedly have never really been unanimous critical darlings (although this writer could make a strong argument in support of the band, we’ll save that for another day). Whatever the case, you could never argue they didn’t have great taste, which was most […]

Most Sepultura fans would probably agree their glory years came prior to 1996’s Roots, which proved to be their final studio album with founding vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera. And, in this critic’s opinion, they are probably right (that prior 3-album run of Beneath the Remains, Arise, and Chaos A.D. is indeed quite formidable/legendary), but have said that Roots was certainly no slouch […]

Keeping with the loose LA/So-Cal theme this week, it’s high time (pardon the pun) we paid tribute to the king of weird himself, the late great Frank Zappa. Suffice to say his reputation for weirdness preceded him, as he practically personified the notion to many people, at least musically anyway (he was always super articulate/intelligent/thoughtful […]

There are two types of people in this world: those who don’t like Sublime and those who like fun. Or at least that’s how most Sublime fans see things anyway. Kidding aside, the band has been in the news a lot lately, mainly because the late great Bradley Nowell’s son Jakob has effectively inherited the […]

Let’s talk about X. No, not the social media site formally known as Twitter, but the famed punk band from LA, of course!  X is a band that occasionally seems to get left out of the conversation when discussing some of the greatest punk bands of all time, which is interesting, considering just how great […]

It had been a while since Wand last visited The Windy City, but that wait came to an end July 10th as the band kicked off the summer portion of their headlining tour at Thalia Hall. The tour is in support of their long-awaited new studio album Vertigo, which is scheduled to drop later this […]

Today being Jack White’s 49th birthday, we’re throwing it back 25 years ago to 1999, when The White Stripes were just starting out playing divey venues to mostly sparse audiences. Imagine if you could hop in a time machine and tell that modest audience checking out this relatively unknown 2-piece band playing at the (now […]

With July typically being the hottest month of the year in most places, it’s a great excuse to blast some good old-fashioned American desert rock. Also known as the “Palm Desert Scene”, the genre came to prominence back in the 90s thanks to stoner-rock legends Kyuss, whose lead guitarist Josh Homme went on to start […]

Closing out our pseudo 4th of July tribute week, we’re offering up perhaps the most amusingly “patriotic” song of all time, the one and only “America Fuck Yeah!”, performed live at Red Rocks to close out South Park’s 25th Anniversary Concert from 2022. Here we have Matt Stone and Trey Parker performing alongside their friends […]

For our final Juxtaposed June edition of Weirdo Wednesday this month, we continue our unofficial salute to the beginning of summer with this peculiar video of The Kinks performing their classic summer ditty “Sunny Afternoon.” While admittedly not the “weirdest” song in the Kinks catalog (it’s actually one of their most accessible), the contrast of […]