VOS Interview: A Drummer Double Feature! Molasses Barge vs. Vulture!

Hello folks, and a happy Friday to you! Just when it felt like it would never happen, the weekend’s finally here. I’ve got a feeling this is going to be an especially good one, because there’s a ton of amazing shows and events happening! I’ll have more on that later, so stay tuned.

One of them in particular stands out, though — tomorrow night at the 31st Street Pub is the first date on the joint headlining tour between Relapse Records artists 16 and Tombs. That by itself is reason enough to get excited, but opening the show will be two of my absolute favorite local bands, the heavy doom armada that is Molasses Barge and Steel City sludgelords Vulture!

I’ve only seen Molasses Barge once before (and it was over a year ago! — read more about that here), and (believe it or not) although I’ve been listening to Vulture for a long time, I’ve never had the chance to see them play live yet! So needless to say, I’m really looking forward to this show. I’ve already got my tickets (they can be ordered here) but if you don’t, it’s just twelve bucks when you show up at the door. More info on the show itself can be found here.

Anyway, in anticipation of this event, I decided to get a couple of interviews lined up. If you’ve been reading my reviews for a while, you may have picked up on the fact that I often tend to focus on drumming while listening to music. It’s just the way I hear things, I guess — and I don’t know if it’s because I play drums (occasionally) or if I chose to play that instrument because it’s something I pay a lot of attention to.

In either case, the drumming in each of these bands’ genres is one of the main things that attracts me to those particular styles. So, it only seemed natural for me to talk to the two bands’ drummers. Here, then, are the questions and answers from Molasses Barge’s Wayne Massey and Vulture’s Kelly Gabany

 

 

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh Tonight (10 October 2012)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls of All Ages, the Valley of Steel blog is pleased to present your OFFICIAL GUIDE to what’s happening in the city of Pittsburgh tonight!

Yeah, yeah, it’s Wednesday. Well, that’s just one of the reasons the Burgh is perpetually named among America’s most livable cities: there is such a vibrant night-life that there is something going on all the time!

Okay I might be exaggerating just a little bit, but there honestly are a few interesting shows happening tonight that you may like to check out. I’ve got all the relevant information for you right here.

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh TONIGHT (7 October, 2012)

 
Hey sports fans! Here’s a real quick update, while it’s halftime, to let you know what’s going on out there after the football game ends…

Celebrate a Steelers victory by heading out to Garfield Artworks to enjoy an evening of live music — since this weekend has been sort of less eventful in Pittsburgh than most.

 
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Git Ahtta Tahn! (Your VOS Travel Guide for 5 October 2012)

For those not native to the Pittsburgh area, or in general, for anyone who doesn’t speak fluent Pittsburghese — this article’s title can be literally translated into English as “Get Out of Town,” a phrase which has two different meanings in the local dialect.

The first is an idiomatic expression, used in response to someone who has said something surprising or unbelievable, equivalent to “are you serious?” or “no way!”; the second usage would be if you were actually telling somebody to leave the city.

In this context, I’m intending the second meaning: I’ve got a couple shows to tell you about, each of which features a Pittsburgh-area band, but either one would require a little bit of driving to attend (about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours from here). 
 

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Kosher Metal is Giving Away a Copy of the Rock Science Trivia Game!

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TONIGHT (Thursday, the 4th of October), the Kosher Metal radio station is throwing a birthday party for the one-year anniversary of the Metalocity live show with Stack the Ripper and Steven Steel!

To celebrate this milestone, they are going to be giving away a copy of the Rock Science rock trivia game!

 

 

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Incantation Reveals: a New Album is Coming Soon!

 
After more than two decades, American death metal pioneers Incantation just keep going and going, showing neither any signs of slowing down nor any inclination to follow the latest fad or change their style… despite the fact that sole original member John McEntee is now working with (if my counting abilities are accurate) the three-hundred-eighty-seventh different line-up of the band since its inception in 1989.

In the years since then, Incantation has made its mark as one of the very first bands signed to Relapse Records (growing alongside that label during their decade-long relationship), and as one of the originators of the New York Death Militia sound (remaining very close to former labelmates Mortician, and even sharing bandmembers with their NYDM brethren from time to time). In addition to having an ever-shifting cast of characters, the band has also called various locations its home — New York, Ohio, and Johnstown, PA.

Throughout this history, Incantation has put out numerous demos and EPs, participated in countless splits and compilations, and released a total of eight LPs. After a trek through Brazil earlier this year and several stops at European festivals during the summer, the guys have returned home to the States and announced that album number nine would be arriving sometime next month via the label that has handled their past few releases, Listenable Records.

 
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Download a Free Track from Titans Eve!

Titans Eve: Jesse Hord (Bass/Vocals), Brian Gamblin (Lead Vocals/Guitar), Casey Ory (Drums), Kyle Gamblin (Vocals/Guitar)

 
Canadian thrashmeisters Titans Eve, whose second album Life Apocalypse was released to huge critical acclaim back in July (at least from this particular reviewer) are now offering you the chance to download one of the tracks from that album for FREE!

(Also, at the end of this post, there’s a list of dates for the band’s upcoming European tour — after spending the past few months on the road going back and forth across Canada, first with Anvil and then Kill Devil Hill, now Titans Eve will be venturing across the ocean for the first time in support of Arch Enemy.)

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (29-30 September 2012)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Steel City metropolitan region, I am pleased to once again present you with your list of weekendly happenings in the area!  Read on, become informed, and then go support your local music scene!

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh This Week: Part 2 (26-27 September 2012)

Hello again, readers. As promised yesterday, here’s your to-do list for the remainder of this week (covering Wednesday the 26th and Thursday the 27th). Read on, and then party on. Or something like that.

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What To Do In Pittsburgh This Week: Part 1 (24-25 September 2012)

Wow, sometimes it feels like all I ever do anymore is write these “What To Do In Pittsburgh” posts. It might look that way, but don’t worry — there’s some cool stuff brewing behind the scenes around here, some big changes and announcements will be coming shortly. In the meantime…

Usually I end up covering a weekend’s worth of events with these things, but it seems like this week there’s an extraordinary amount of stuff going on in between the weekends. So that’s why I’m throwing together this special two-part weekday edition — there’s some stuff to keep you busy each evening from Monday through Thursday this week! This post will cover tonight and tomorrow night (Monday the 24th and Tuesday the 25th) and stay tuned for the rest to be posted tomorrow…

 

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