0 ALBUM PREVIEW: Listen to a track from X Suns' forthcoming The Greys EP!

It seems that any time a genre comes into fashion, we eventually see a vast number of bands climbing into the ring, putting up their dukes and battling it out to find some way to separate themselves from the rest of the fracas and stand atop the heap of the weaker sound-alikes and wannabes. It takes something special to survive under these circumstances, and with the rise of the instrumental post-rock/post-metal sound, this war is occurring as we speak.  Seattle's X Suns are currently poised to be one of the very few bands in this particular fight able to throw down their instruments of destruction...

1 Show Preview: SRG's CHBP (and MORE!) Schedule

WHAT'S NOT WEAK THIS WEEKEND - a rock show roundup from SRG Yay, it's summer!  And for Capitol Hill's denizens, that means you're going to have a bitch of a time getting anywhere this weekend, as the neighborhood's artistic community throws its annual Block Party.  It's as big as ever this year, with a range of bands every bit as diverse as you might expect to see perform in such a boho borough as the Hill.  We all know that heavy music doesn't exactly appeal to the fattest cross-section of casual showgoers, you might be wondering if there is anything worth banging your head to at this...

1 SHOW PREVIEW: James' (Seattle P.A.) Birthday Show! Smooth Sailing | Crawlin' | Cascabel | The Great Goddamn

CLICK HERE FOR EVENT INFO You would think that a couple of heavy music fans, both of whom have chosen to espouse their praise of the very same local music scene on the very same internet, would gnash and snarl at one another over each piece of the succulent rock flesh they can wrest from each other's grasp, and yet, we here at SRG and the crew over at the Seattle Passive Aggressive remain buds.  The reason is not simply that this town is big enough for the both of us, nor is it that a little friendly "competition" never hurt anyone; it's that we're both just super geeky...

0 TICKET GIVEAWAY: Ancient Warlocks | Witch Mountain | Mos Generator | Severhead

  CLICK HERE FOR EVENT INFO You know those photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the giant stalagmitic gas clouds millions of light years away?  Those are the remnants of huge clouds of gas and dust carved into pillars by the barrage of ultraviolet light from a newborn star.  If you replace that intense UV light with bitchin’ riffs, and those gas clouds with your freakin’ MIND, then Ancient Warlocks would be the newborn star, eroding the dust that covers your joyless existence.  All that is left of you after their set is a eyeful of wonderful pinks, oranges, and purples, and an enormous erection – four...

3 Lord Dying "Greed Is Your Horse"

Lord Dying delivers the big riffs. Damn, these guys kick a lot of ass! Holy shit! Watch this video and get a taste of last night's SRG shin dig. Lord Dying does not mess around....

0 SHOW PREVIEW: Lord Dying | Glose | Tacos!

CLICK FOR EVENT INFO Once in a while, a non-heavy music fan may stumble across a blog like SRG and read about some of the bands mentioned within, and begin to think that there exists a homogenous collective of heavy music purveyors and fans—eager to simply rock out to any distorted drop-D riffage backed by a pummeling barrage of blast beats, barked bellows and bass chugs—but the truth is that the heavy scene is as diverse as a gameboy rainbow – ranging all the way from very light gray, to raincloud dim and murky dusk, and on into midnight black. As much as this geographically-isolated music community strives to be supportive...

0 Watch or Die #30 - Federation X, The Valley, and Tacos!

The flyer hinted at brain wash, but none of us needed the sesh. Hell, we might even request our eye lids taped open after several tall cans of goodness.  Kick us in the pants, smash our faces - we dig it. Let's start with the headliners: Federation X. These fellas deliver and heavy music lovers eagerly await their next record. Make sure to check out guitarist/vocalist Bill Badgley's guerrilla flavored doc about the mighty, mighty KARP.  But in case you have too short of an attention span right at this moment, check out their live jam, "Maybe We'll Die Young". Let's get this straight from the get go - I dig The Valley. I like...

0 SHOW PREVIEW: Grenades (Record Release) | Smooth Sailing | Serial Hawk | Mercy Ties

CLICK HERE FOR EVENT INFO Have you ever heard the phrase, “Patience is a virtue not of the wicked, but of the chaste?” No? Maybe it's because I just made that shit up (unless some puritan asshole actually did say that – I'm not gonna google it). It's kinda true though! The problem is, not a one of us prides ourselves on chastity, and unfortunately, sometimes it does take a little patience for us wicked folk to finally get a fix of what we are truly craving. It's why we drink so heavily.  Well, it is with utmost relief that I can say that the debut album from perennial SRG faves, Grenades, Heaven is Empty, is finally...

0 SHOW PREVIEW: CHOICE FEST II, NIGHT 3: Lozen | Bad Powers | Tacos | Elk Rider

CLICK HERE FOR EVENT LINK One of the saving graces of the mid-'00s for this writer was the Brooklyn-based Made Out of Babies. And while I enjoyed the frantic vocal histrionics of frontwoman Julie Christmas, it was actually the powerful, steadfast burl brought on by guitarist Brendan Tobin, bassist Cooper and drummer Matthew Egan that made the connection for me. I listened the shit out of their tunes. Now, come to find that Christmas decided to go about her own business, leaving the rest of the dudes to make a (now obvious) plea for Seattle's own Megan Tweed (The Family Curse) to join up and vocalize. After giving Bad Powers' debut...

0 SHOW PREVIEW: CHOICEFEST II, NIGHT 2: Princess | Fist Fite | Pipsqueak | Skies Below

Click HERE for Event Info My duty as a loyal supporter of local music is so easy this weekend, thanks to Choicefest. If I haven't made clear my feelings about Friday night's headliner, Princess, then let me reiterate one more time how deeply their frenetic noise-rock strains, wall-to-wall rhythm section, and boisterous frontmandering hits me in the tender, ticklish nethers. They're ridiculous, exciting, and a shining example of the contemporary PNW rawr. As always, they alone will smash the show into the favorite memory folder in your hard (drinking) drive, but Mr. Bass has programmed a full evening of entertainment for those...

0 SHOW PREVIEW: CHOICEFEST II, NIGHT 1: Skarp | Transient | Don Peyote

Click Here for Event Link   Last year's Choicefest allowed longtime promoter/superfan Adam Noble Bass to spread his thrusting, fist-pumping wing and fly like the jovial, gregarious eagle of the PNW heavy music scene that he is.  Due to the success that his promotion company, Ladies' Choice, saw last April with the “No All-Dude Bands” theme, it has now become an annual event – one WORTHY enough that SRG will devote a show preview to each of the three spectacular events he has lined up again for this coming weekend.   It all starts on Thursday with the resounding clang of some of the heaviest metal our fair...

1 Final Push for Helms Alee's Pre-sale Campaign for "Sleepwalking Sailors"

Photo by Nik Christofferson Hydrahead alumni, Helms Alee, are holding a pre-sale for their upcoming 3rd full length titled 'Sleepwalking Sailors', to be released by their own record label, Rolf Neslund, in fall 2013. They chose the kickstarter format to raise the money to pay for recording, manufacturing, etc... and set their goal for $5000, which they hit in about a week. Anyone who still wants to help play a part in the outcome of the release has until Monday April 22nd to buy a copy HERE. The record bought in the pre-sale comes with a limited edition hand silk screened cover.  If nothing else, the video is worth a laugh.  ...

0 PREMIERE: Prizehog - "Irrevelant"

  As reported here on SRG a couple weeks ago, Portland based, Rabbits run Eolian Empire is releasing a mega-comp featuring 26 tracks by 26 of Portland’s heaviest, weirdest, and downright exciting underground bands. The label gave the 26 participants 10 weeks to write, record, and turn in their respective tracks and behold 99 minutes of crushing and chaotic beauty has come to fruition and is set for distribution on May 1st, 2013. Quite an amazing feat if you ask me. Upon a quick glance of the track list provided HERE, you may recognize many of the bands, as a number of them have graced the pages of SRG in the past including -- Lord...

1 INTERVIEW: Jodi Ecklund of Chop Suey

  “I just want it to be a rock and roll city again.  That’s what I hope for.”    From the late nineties into the first few years of the new millenium, a venerable dive bar and rock/metal venue known as The Breakroom inhabited the current location of Capitol Hill’s Chop Suey on the corner of 14th and Madison.  A short walk from what could have been arguably lauded as the cultural center of Seattle—the short vein transecting the hill and flowing down Pike and Pine streets toward Downtown—The Breakroom put on many of the best shows offered during the “post-grunge” years.  At the time, The Stranger columnist,...

1 TICKET GIVEAWAY: Yob | Lesbian | Samothrace

Perhaps it's the weather, or perhaps it's the relative distance and geographic isolation from the rest of the country, or perhaps it could even be the locale at the brim of the continent, with only the vast ocean to gaze upon... whatever it is, the Pacific Northwest has always been a fertile breeding ground for really doomy tunage.  In fact, it is not so bold to say that we have been home to some of the darkest, heaviest, and best doom bands to ever, you know, drearily march toward a gate to hell, in armor with chains and shit, oh, and with some sort of large anachronistic weapon slung across their spiked shoulder plates, or...

0 NEWS: Eolian Empire to release worthy PDX compilation

We just received word that some of our buddies in Portland are preparing to release one badass mofo of a comp. Here's the catch phrase:Eolian Empire KEEP OUR HEADS Compilation: 26 Portland Bands, 99-Minutes Of Bedlam Bedlam, indeed. Almost 100 minutes!   It's going to be available in two formats on May 1, digital and (*drum roll*) cassette. Yeah, man! You can totally burn it down the highway with this shit in the deck bangin' out fresh cuts from the likes of Crag Dweller, Diesto, Drunk Dad, Fist Fite, Gaytheist, Honduran, Hot Victory, Ix, Lord Dying, Nasalrod, Norska, Order of the Gash, Prizehog, Rabbits, Towers, and a bunch more!KEEP...

0 SHOW PREVIEW: Federation X | The Valley | Tacos!

Hey, look at that, we have a show for you at the Sunset on Saturday!  We at SRG do our damnedest to bring only the most worthy bands to the stage, and this lineup is no exception. Bellingham heroes, Federation X, have had a long history of rocking faces around the globe, and are coming back and gearing up for a long-awaited follow-up to their 2005 release,  Rally Day. And they're bringing power.  Check this shit out: But, oh, what about The Valley?  Solid stoner jams.  I normally just try to not be lazy and to actually talk about the bands, but all these guys can speak for themselves better than I ever could....