If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Kelly Davidson Studio Buffalo Tom are coming up on their fortieth year of being a band, and the Boston based trio just released a brand new single. "Helmet" could be a lost B-side from the 90's. It has that alt-rock with some hints of country that Buffalo Tom perfected thirty years ago, although I never would have admitted that back then. This one is just under two and a half minutes of a rambin' kinda mid-tempo rocker that is going to press the nostalgia button for a lot of us despite being brand new. It's a little bit slower than most of Buffalo Tom's classic songs, but that's to their credit with "Helmet."  Guitarist Bill Janovitz says of the new single: “As with most things in Buffalo Tom, we have a chemistry and a natural sound that emerges no matter how we try to manipulate it. ‘Helmet’ is a prime example of this phenomenon, a song that could be at home on any of our previous records, but I associate it mostly with the layered cris...

Starting off the North American portion of their "30 Years x 30 Cities x 30 Song Set. No Openers" tour in Boston, Helmet took the stage fifteen minutes later than the announced time. Page Hamilton later joked that the venue wouldn't let them start on time since so many people had yet to show up. The audience did seem shockingly thin around 8:00 pm, but the extra time helped fill it the Paradise. (Also, it was a ridiculously stacked night for live rock in Boston, with Starcrawler, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Flipper with David Yow, and Against Me all playing shows Wednesday night.) And anytime you can see one of your all time favorites play for two hours and still be out by 10:15 pm on a work night, we'll be pretty happy at our advanced age. When a band is celebrating their thirtieth anniversary of being a band, you expect to hear the classics and favorites. Helmet delivered that. 30% of the setlist was from 1994's Betty , and another 16% was from 1992...

To mark the Australian co-headlining tour of Helmet and the Melvins (WHY NO US DATES!!?!?!?!), the two bands have released a split 7", and you can hear the Helmet side, "Anything and Everything" right now. The song is damn good, probably their best work of this century. Paige Hamilton hasn't slowed a bit even after multiple decades in the biz and this stands right up with their earlier work. The song slows down a bit too much right in the middle, but the beginning and the absurd firecracker of an end more than makes up for that. As always, check out Helmet's website here , and see the dates for the Helmet/Melvins tour below. Damn you, Australia. Oct 11   The Canyon Theater   Agoura Hills , CA Oct 12   The Date Shed   Indio , CA Oct 13   The Yost Theater w/ Weapon-X     Santa Ana , CA Dec 08   The Hi Fi w/ Melvins    Brisbane, Australia Dec 09   Northern Hotel w/ Melvins      Byron Bay , Austral...

Forgotten Fridays is a weekly feature here at If It’s Too Loud... where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mix tapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good. I think the thing that annoyed me most about the whole rap metal movement of the late ‘90s was hearing report after report that this was the first generation of kids that were raised on both rock and rap. Apparently none of this “critics” ever heard of the Anthrax and Public Enemy team up for “Bring tha Noise” or Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 debut album. Hell, the first cassettes I ever bought with my very own money were Appetite for Destruction and He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper. The album that best personifies the early ‘90s rap/rock hybrid was 1993’s Judgment Night soundtrack.   This album – the soundtrack for the Emilio Estevez and Denis Leary action movie – wa...

Forgotten Fridays is a weekly feature here at If It’s Too Loud.. where we go back and find the lost records of our glory days. We played these on our college radio shows, put them on countless mixtapes, and then forgot they existed. Once a week we go back and remind you, and help decide if they were any good. Cashing in on the 70s nostalgia kick of the mid 90s, Saturday Morning Cartoon’s Greatest Hits features 19 cartoon classics as performed by bands of the moment. It’s a pure novelty album that made perfect sense then, but just feels silly now. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The quality varies wildly between songs, with perfectly fun, infectious tracks right next to one of the worst things you will ever hear in your life. One of the most fun qualities of the album is hearing acts that are normally considered serious artists letting loose and having fun. Right off the heels of Whipsmart, Liz Phair teams with Material Issue for “The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Ban...