Interview: Bob Wayne

Though his music is very much set in the world of traditional country, filled with banjos, fiddles and, for the most part, nary a distorted guitar to be found, Bob Wayne is not what you’d call a traditional country musician.

He curses like the proverbial sailor, sings songs about the party life, rubs elbows with heavy metal bands and really doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him. He’s a songwriter that lives for the story and a wanderer that lives for the road. Pick a night, and you’ll find him in a dive bar on the corner, or maybe opening for a metal band in a larger venue. He’s on stage 300-plus nights a year and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Freebies: Get the title track of Amon Amarth's upcoming LP

Listen to and download "Deceiver of the Gods," the title track of Amon Amarth's upcoming new album.

Saturday Shuffle: Hank Jr., Van Zant, Jesse James Dupree, Savatage, Kiuas

We open this week’s shuffle with a decidedly Southern-flavored trio of songs.

Hank Williams Jr., “Sometimes I Feel Like Joe Montana.”  From the album Stormy (1999). This song is pretty typical of Hank Jr.’s later period. It’s not a bad song about longing for the glory days, but it certainly doesn’t live up to his classic material. Then again it could just be that, as a Saints fan, I still have bad thoughts about Joe Montana and those 49ers from the NFC West days. That could cloud my judgment.

Review: Suicidal Tendencies, "13"

Most metal fans are probably looking a little more forward to another album titled 13 later this year from a barely known band called Black Sabbath. Me, too, but I was also quite intrigued by Suicidal Tendencies’ album of the same title.

I was a big ST fan in the 1980s, both the energetic hardcore punk of their self-titled debut and the thrash sounds of their later albums in the decade, like Lights, Camera, Revolution. The 1990s were a bit shaky for the band, though, with the very commercial The Art of Rebellion (which I haven’t revisited in quite a while, but seemed anything but rebellious to me at the time), the more metallic and underrated Suicidal for Life and a couple of uneven albums in Freedumb and Free Your Soul … And Save My Mind, both of which had their moments, but were fairly unmemorable.

Review: Anthrax, "Anthems"

After hearing Joey Belladonna’s cringe-inducing vocals on Anthrax’s version of Rush’s “Anthem,” I didn’t have much hope for this EP of covers from the thrashers, especially considering the rest of the lineup included covers of Cheap Trick, Journey and Boston.

The good news is that “Anthem” is far and away the worst thing on this record. The bad news is that it’s still a mixed bag.

For the most part, this is hard rock karaoke. Anthrax doesn’t take any chances with any of the songs here. They don’t play them in their own style or try to do anything different with them. They deliver note-for-note renditions of the originals with maybe a little extra crunch here or there, but not much else.

Saturday Shuffle: Amon Amarth, Sabbath, Metallica, Charlie Daniels, Alice in Chains

From Amon Amarth to Charlie Daniels in two songs. That path creator thingie online has nothing on me.

Amon Amarth, “A Beast Am I.” From the album Surtur Rising (2011). The day always goes better with a little Amon Amarth. I’ve always loved the blend of death metal and very catchy melodies and hooks that Amon Amarth delivers, and “A Beast Am I” has those. It’s like death metal for non-death metal fans.

Review: Adrenaline Mob, "Coverta"

I kind of chuckled when I saw that Adrenaline Mob had chosen three Ronnie James Dio-related songs for its eight-song covers EP, but now I get it.

As a fan of Symphony X, I knew that Russell Allen was a hell of a singer. In fact, I thought he was sorely underutilized on much of Adrenaline Mob’s debut album Omerta. When I played the version of “Stand Up and Shout” on Coverta, I had to do a double-take and make sure that I had not accidentally clicked on the Dio version.

Allen pretty much channels the legend on the track, and follows suit on the cover of Rainbow’s “Kill the King” and Black Sabbath’s “The Mob Rules,” though those don’t hit as close as “Stand Up and Shout.”

Freebies: New track from King Diamond and Volbeat

King Diamond and Volbeat are offering a free download of the track "Room 24" from the upcoming Volbeat album "Outlaw Gentlemen and Shady Ladies." Click here to get it it.

Still Spinning: Metallica, "Metallica"

OK, I guess it’s about time I delivered a mea culpa on this record after all of my years of badmouthing it. It’s actually not a bad album.

There, I said it, as foul as those words taste in my mouth.

I’m joking, of course, but not entirely.

When Metallica’s self-titled album came out, it was a shift in my musical landscape. When I picked it up, on release day naturally, I initially liked it, though not as much as past works. The simplicity of the songs was a bit of a turn-off, but there were some pretty catchy tunes there.

It didn’t take long for my opinion to change drastically. All of a sudden all of the people around me — many of whom had made fun of me for years for liking heavy metal, Metallica, in particular — were driving around with their windows down blasting this album. It was more than the angst-filled teenage version of me could take.