Lina LecaroSee also: Henry Rollins: The Column! The Time I Drank The Sweat From My Socks Onstage
Drop in the Bucket benefit
Henry Rollins, Scott Ian, Mike Watt, Corey Taylor, Dave Navarro and others
Avalon
11/30/11
Last night handfuls of heavy musicians took the stage for a worthy cause, Drop In The Bucket, which funds water wells, sanitation systems and other programs in the ravaged regions of South Sudan.
Punk god and Weekly columnist Henry Rollins was the ringleader for the affair, which provided a non-stop assortment of music and words. It was all punctuated by a mostly metal mashup at the end of the night that left everyone exalted and exhausted.
Watt and Roessler; Credit: Lina Lecaro
Unlike some shows for a cause, Drop In The Bucket struck the right balance between educating and electrifying. This was mostly thanks to Rollins, who came out in between each act to talk about the situation in Sudan and reminisce about his experiences with individual performers.
He spoke about his conversation with Iggy Pop about the reformation of the Stooges. Rollins warned Pop to think long and hard about the bassist, an essential component of the band's sound. Mike Watt, he said, was one of the few that everyone could agree on. Then Dos, featuring Watt and Kira Roessler (former Black Flag) came out. The short and sweetly disonant duet set was a vociferous highlight of the show. (You can see Watt again tonight at The Stooges' rescheduled show at the Palladium, along with Le Butcherettes.)
Jesse Hughes' Boots Electric came on early, and the group had grooves to spare. The Eagles of Death Metal singer's new band has an almost soulful quality that's utterly charming. Hughes, known for his wacky, flirty charisma on stage, shook his ass non-stop while his very solid band provided a rhythmic base. Later, backstage, he told us, “It's all for the ladies.”
These boots are made for lovin.'; Credit: Lina Lecaro
The same could not exactly be said for Corey Taylor's ferocious free-for-all — for the most part a testosterama of metal classics from Van Halen, KISS, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Alice in Chains, and Foo Fighters.
Axe attack: John 5 and Dave Navarro; Credit: Lina Lecaro
Some renditions were ear-blistering perfection, some were sort of a hot mess, but most every cut was highly entertaining.
And why not? The players who traded off guitars and drum sticks are some of the most compelling musicians to take rock stages: Anthrax's Scott Ian, Slayer's Dave Lombardo, Jane's Addiction's Dave Navarro, Weezer's Scott Shriner, former Marilyn Manson/current Rob Zombie guitarist John 5, and members of (disbanded) punks Black President.
Then there was Taylor himself, who is definitely transcending his best known role as Slipknot's masked shrieker. He's currently in the middle of a spoken word/solo acoustic tour.
The crowd: Mostly Ozzfest types.
Personal bias: We've seen way too many Camp Freddy jams.
Random Notebook Dump: The scene backstage was almost as fun as the show. See our Nightranger slideshow for a glimpse, up soon.
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