Jason Roche

The Best L.A. Metal Concerts To See In April

Tuesday, Apr 2 Ensiferum, Tyr House of Blues Sunset Strip The annual Paganfest tour has become one of our favorite regular metal tours. Finland's Ensiferum is grounded heavily in orchestral folk metal, but maintains a galloping pace that keeps headbangers moving in the pit. Denmark's Tyr has more in ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, March 29 Fol Chen BOOTLEG THEATER Fol Chen is one of the most creative bands in the local electro-pop underground, conjuring unusual sounds that flutter, mutate, shimmer and trail sparks just as colorfully as the flying fish and luminous butterflies in Oz the Great and Powerful. While the m ... More >>

Anthrax's Scott Ian on Why Horror Movies and Metal Go Together

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is playing songs from the band's 1987 thrash metal masterpiece Among The Living and their new covers record Anthems on tour right now. He's also taken on a second gig hosting Fangoria's Blood and Guts, a YouTube series on The Nerdist Channel in which he meets with masters ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See In L.A. This Week

Monday, March 25 Corima, Upsalon Acrux PEHRSPACE There are, in fact, thriving musical styles that have blessedly little to do with the latest pop trends. Roughly intersecting prog-rock and art-jazz is a thing called Zeuhl Music, a very heavy, propulsive sonic form whose roaring rhythm sections and ... More >>

The Top Ten Awesomely Absurd and Absurdly Awesome Clutch Lyrics

Throughout two decades and ten albums, D.C. rock outfit Clutch has evolved into one of the mightiest blues-rock bands around. One of the tangibles that make Clutch stand out is the lyrical output and delivery of vocalist Neil Fallon, whose lyrical output reflects his obsessions with conspiracy theor ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums of the '90s: The Complete List

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

The 20 Worst Albums Of The '90s: 20-11

Sure, you had the Bill Clinton blowjob scandal, OJ, Pakistan and India going nuclear, mad cow disease, the Rodney King decision, and Titanic. But what made the '90s truly awful was its music. That's not to say that there weren't bright spots -- early Beck, say, or Ok Computer and much of hip-hop's g ... More >>

The Best L.A. Metal Concerts to See In March

Saturday, Mar 2 Meshuggah The Wiltern "I Am Colossus" is both the title track of Meshuggah's 2012 album Koloss, and the mission statement of the Swedish metal group -- after all, their off-kilter polyrhythmic riffs and drums have influenced dozens of bands. Their sound is anchored by the fantastical ... More >>

Tomahawk's Duane Denison Is Tired of Your Questions

Tomahawk guitarist/founder Duane Denison is bored with questions about the six-year break between the band's new album Oddfellows and their last album, Anonymous. "I was in prison for manslaughter. I was in a laundromat. This woman was looking at my wife's underwear, and I shot her." See also: Wha ... More >>

Music Picks: Foxygen, Tomahawk and Nick Cave

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, February 1 Vieux Farka Touré, Fool's Gold ROYCE HALL Music critics often describe Vieux Farka Touré as "the Hendrix of the Sahara," but the Malian guitarist doesn't really sound much like Jimi Hendrix. Instead, Touré has a distinctively exotic style that's more similar to the music of hi ... More >>

The 20 Greatest Metal Albums in History: 20-11

If you count Black Sabbath's 1970 self-titled debut as heavy metal's birth, the genre is now over 40. It can no longer be called a fad. It can have adult children, and it can run for president. (Insert "presidental metal of freedom" joke here). See also: Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: The Complete List ... More >>

Bad Religion's Greg Graffin on Free Will, Which He Thinks Is Bullshit

[Editor's note: Yesterday, we talked with Greg Graffin, front man for Bad Religion, whose new album True North was just released. Turns out, however, that Graffin, who has a freaking PhD from Cornell University, said too many smart things to fit in one post. And so ahead of their show tonight at the ... More >>

Bad Religion's Greg Graffin Challenges Authority Through Fucking Science

For over 30 years, Bad Religion have carved out a niche as the thinking man's punk rock band. When they formed in Los Angeles in 1980, the inspiration for their lyrics came from the topic of corporate greed and the conflicts between philosophy, science, and religion. The band's 16th full-length albu ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, January 4 Los Cincos, Silver Daggers, et al, at The Smell's Quinceañera THE SMELL When a truly DIY, all-ages space lasts for 15 years, you don't celebrate a birthday -- you celebrate a victory! So let's salute L.A.'s Smell, which has survived and even thrived to become a hometown instituti ... More >>

Music Picks: Lord Huron, Matthewdavid, Smell 15th Anniversary Party

Our Most Popular Stories of 2012

It was a great year for the L.A. Weekly music section and our West Coast Sound blog. On the print side, we specialized in well-reported profiles, news stories, and essays that helped our readers understand better the music they love. On the blog we churned out compulsively-readable pieces that start ... More >>

Random Notebook Dump: The Year In Metal 2012

A lot of monumental things in metal this year. Some of them involved actual music. Many did not. In honor of the year's end, we gave our notebook a good shaking to help us remember the most important stuff. Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums of All Time -Lamb of God vocalist Randy Blythe was jailed for a mo ... More >>

The Best Los Angeles Metal Shows of 2012

A live heavy metal show can be one of the most visceral experiences a music fan can experience. Our top five L.A. metal shows of 2012 have made it really fucking hard to go back to watching some dude strumming an acoustic guitar while sitting on a bar stool. See also: Top Ten Los Angeles Metal Albu ... More >>

The Ten Best Los Angeles Concerts of 2012

10. My Morning Jacket The Wiltern, September 11-13 The ever-electrifying My Morning Jacket held a three-night stint at the Wiltern this past September and didn't repeat a single tune. That's right. Three nights and no repeats. It takes one heck of a repertoire not just to have that many songs, but t ... More >>

The Top 10 L.A. Albums of 2012

Los Angeles music was a big part of the national conversation this year, from Frank Ocean and Miguel's artisan R&B to Top Dawg Entertainment's hip-hop dominance to the electronic inspirations of Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer. Picking but ten albums from this crop as the West Coast Sound writers ha ... More >>

Top Ten Los Angeles Metal Albums of 2012

Twenty twelve was another strong year for Los Angeles metal bands. What's especially cool is that we're not just kicking ass in one kind of metal -- L.A.'s got it going on in just about every metal sub-genre. Without further ado, then, here are our top ten Los Angeles metal albums of 2012. See also ... More >>

Touche Amore's Southeast Asian Tour Diary: "I Cannot Put Into Words How Terrifying the Drive Was"

Los Angeles hardcore group Touche Amore is sharing their tour diary from their recent trip to Southeast Asian. Yesterday vocalist Jeremy Bolm described their wild times in Singapore and Malaysia, and for part two today he talks on their time in Indonesia. See also: Touche Amore's Southeast Asia Tou ... More >>

Touche Amore's Southeast Asia Tour Diary: "Little Regard for Our Personal Well-Being"

Full of emotion and earnestness, Touche Amore's 2009 full-length debut ...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse was a walloping punch to the gut of the hardcore scene. Their 2011 follow-up Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me kept the jabs coming. The Los Angeles group's popularity has grown in large p ... More >>

The Best L.A. Metal Concerts to See in December

Sun, Dec 9 Gravehill, Behold! The Monolith Cheetah's On December 9th the spiked leather armband crowd and the bearded denim vest crowd will gather together...at a go-go club. Orange County's Gravehill plays to the former with uncompromising, blackened thrash metal with a bludgeoning focus on brutali ... More >>

The Best L.A. Metal Concerts to See in November

Fri, Nov 9 Von The Black Castle On November 9 San Francisco's Von celebrates the release of their debut album Satanic Blood by headlining the Ritual of The Black Mass festival. The group was one of the earliest American bands to adopt a black metal sound in the early '90s. They broke up after recor ... More >>

The Melvins vs. George Thorogood: A War of Words Erupts Over Claims of a Record-Setting Tour

The Melvins are in the midst of an ambitious tour, performing in all 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.) in only 51 days. Pretty impressive, considering the legendary band soon will be entering their fourth decade. One of the pioneers of the 1980s Seattle scene that later birthed Nirvana and Soundgard ... More >>

The Creepiest, Goriest, Most Terrifying Heavy Metal Album Covers

Halloween is the time where it's acceptable to wallow in the creepy, the crawly, the dark, and the macabre. Sounds like the themes of heavy metal, year-round! Here then, are those most spine-tingliest metal album covers, for your All Hallow's Eve viewing pleasure. Step inside... Helloween Better Th ... More >>

Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: The Complete List

When it comes to discussion of the top metal scenes, Los Angeles never gets its due. Maybe it's because we're not known for being pioneers of a single subgenre (Bay Area thrash and Florida death metal for example), but there's still no doubt that the city has been vital in the evolution of metal. ... More >>

Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: 10 - 1

See also: Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: 20 - 11 Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums The Ten Most Unreadable Metal Band Logos 10. Slayer Seasons in the Abyss (1990) Seasons in the Abyss is nothing fancy, just pure, sore-neck, eardrum-stripping metal. Full of brutal drum barrages, massive caliber guitar as ... More >>

Top 20 L.A. Metal Albums: 20 - 11

When it comes to discussion of the top metal scenes, Los Angeles never gets its due. Maybe it's because we're not known for being pioneers of a single subgenre (Bay Area thrash and Florida death metal for example), but there's still no doubt that the city has been vital in the evolution of metal. ... More >>

Saint Vitus: Addiction Still Fuels Their Fire

When their 1986 album Born Too Late was released, it's fair to say not many had picked up on the genius of Saint Vitus. Check this YouTube clip of a performance at the Palm Springs Community Center that year, for example. It appears to have been attended by fewer than a dozen people. Today, Born T ... More >>

The Best Metal Concerts to See in L.A. This Month

Fri, Oct 5 Gypsyhawk The Viper Room Pasadena's Gypsyhawk deftly blend metallic guitars and fantasy/science-obsessed lyrics with a rock and roll boogie swagger. On the group's new album Revelry & Resilience, the raspy shouts of bassist/vocalist Eric Harris and the blistering yet warm solos of guitar ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, September 24 Lavender Diamond THE ECHO Lavender Diamond are back, and they come in peace, as usual, and also with synthesizers, which is a bit more unusual. The heartbroke piano-folk they made on their one-and-a-half beautiful albums about five years ago is still there on the new Incorrupti ... More >>

Music Picks: Dublab Anniversary, Ladyhawke, Flying Lotus

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, September 10 Katisse Buckingham Oddsemble SEVEN GRAND Trendy downtown whiskey bar Seven Grand has quietly become a late-night, early-week music hang over the last couple of years under the direction of booker/trombonist Justin Kirk. While seating is at a premium, the jazz and blues offered ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, September 7 Fresh & Onlys THE ECHO San Francisco's Fresh & Onlys have always been a formidable little band, but sometimes it seems they get a little squished between local-to-them indie giants like Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees. However, let us tell you -- this new album Long Slow Dance has g ... More >>

Music Picks: As Blood Runs Black, Kelly Hogan, Regina Spektor

Also, Agalloch, Antibalas, Power of the Riff and others

Deftones - Troubadour - 7/28/12

Deftones Troubadour 7/28/12 Better Than...flying across the country to see Deftones in sports arenas on the East Coast next month. For a band whose lyrics are ridden with angst, Saturday night's Deftones show was filled with smiling faces, from the stage to the crowd. The Troubadour is a far cry ... More >>

Comments: Warring Over War Horse

Slutwave, Tumblr Rap, Rape Gaze: Obscure Musical Genres Explained

Everything You Wanted to Know About Metal but Were Afraid to Ask Top Ten Metal Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Metal Top Ten Jazz Albums for People Who Don't Know Shit About Jazz Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop In our music feature this week, Jason Roche ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums of All Time: The Complete List

*Top 20 Worst Bands Ever: The Complete List *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List The history of Los Angeles punk is largely composed of a series ... More >>

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums of All Time: 20-11

*Top 20 Worst Bands Ever: The Complete List *Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time: The Complete List *Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List The history of Los Angeles punk is largely composed of a series ... More >>

James Brown III Was Leading Adventure Tours in Alaska. Then He Moved to L.A. and Formed a Black Metal Band

With bands like Liturgy and Wolves in the Throne Room nabbing headlines and igniting heated debates about authenticity, black metal is all the rage. It's also a conflicting period for James Brown III, the 39-year-old guitarist of savage, crusty L.A. black metal trio Harassor, who play at B.I.P. toni ... More >>

The Most Popular Music Posts Of 2011

Josh "CuriousJosh" ReissPeople are freaking psyched about this post​Man, y'all did some clicking this year. You must have had, like, a lot of time on your hands, or not been interested in advancing in your professions or hanging out with your family. Well, we at West Coast Sound salute you! We ... More >>

Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: The Complete List

​See also: *Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums One day I was sitting around thinking I want to write a song about ménage a trois...and the line 'love in stereo' came into my head. Inspiration can happen anywhere at any time. -Jani Lane, Hit Parader magazine History has not been ... More >>

The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #10-6

​See also: *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #20-16 *The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of All Time: #15-11 ​10. Warrant Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich (1989) RIP Jani Lane. Warrant's lead singer, who was found dead in Woodland Hills this summer, didn't have the strongest voice, ... More >>

The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #15-11

​See also: The Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: #20-16 ​15. Spinal Tap This Is Spinal Tap soundtrack (1984) Rob Reiner's brilliant mock-rockumentary sends up longstanding hard-rock obsessions like Druids and getting super-heavy. (Aspiring local hair-metal god Paul Shortino of Roug ... More >>

Best Posts Of The Week

Jena Ardell​"It's fucking Halloween, do you know where your skull is?" Glenn Danzig asked the crowd at Gibson Amphitheater on Monday night. Actually, it was his skull that was showing up in strange places this week, as Jena Ardell imagined what scenes from famous movies would look like if Danz ... More >>

Top Five '90s Shows MTV Should Bring Back

True Life: I used to play music.​MTV turns the big 3-0 today. You know what that means: No more twin beds, Froot Loops or takings shots on a weekday. It's all back pain, fiber cereals and apple-picking trips from here on out. But seriously though -- the "music" channel hasn't aged well. It on ... More >>