You know you’ve reached an apex when you have a joke made about you on The Simpsons, and that’s exactly where Insane Clown Posse fans found themselves on last night’s season finale of the long-running cartoon. “If I ever seeCarl again, i’m going to freeze him, chop him up into ice cubes and scoop him into the urinal trough at the Gathering of the Juggalos,” Moe said on the show after discovering money missing. Actually, most Juggalos won’t take that as an insult. They like peeing. It’s not the only musical reference on the episode; both Bjork and Sigur Ros had cameos on the show, with Sigur Ros playing on it.

[h/t Gawker]

Who: Page Hamilton (Helmet), Derrek Hawkins (Stabbing Westward, Ace Frehley), Harley DiNardo
What For: Shampoo and Death film, soundtrack
Seeking: $77,000
Collected: $15,530
Days Left: 14
Chance of successful campaign: medium

Crowd funding makes the most sense when there are tangible rewards at stake: thanks on an album you helped fund, knowing you played a part in getting a film made, getting something (like a smart watch) before anyone else, or a one-of-a-kind memento from what you’re helping fund. Those factors, combined with helping someone’s dream become a reality, is why there have been so many crowd funding initiatives in the past few months. Many of those are in play for Shampoo and Death, a horror film that’s the brainchild of musician and hair salon owner Harley DiNardo. Since DiNardo is an accomplished musician in his own right, he’s lined up a solid group of collaborators, including Helmet’s Page Hamilton, to make the soundtrack for the film.

Shampoo and Death is set in 1977. It’s about a fading rock artist that opens a hair salon to placate his wife who’s nagging him because she knows he’s getting too old to play. With the punk movement on the horizon,when a punk rock kid shows up at his salon for a job, the salon owner takes interest in him. When he passes the kid’s demo off to a columnist for Creem as his own music, all hell breaks loose. Helmet’s Page Hamilton has signed on to co-write songs for the soundtrack, which DiNardo is working on in addition to writing, acting and co-directing. Hamilton joins other acts for the soundtrack including guitarist Derrek Hawkins (Stabbing Westward, Ace Frehley), Rodrigo Lopresti, and Jonny Dubowsky.

While the $77,000 that DiNardo is seeking is a little steep, it’s relatively inexpensive for a film, especially one that will come with an original soundtrack. There are some pretty cool perks being offered as well. One of the biggest-ticket items is a 1980 Vespa that was will be used in the film (for only $3,500). You can also be a producer, get a coffee table book of the artwork hanging in the salon during the film, or even a haircut from DiNardo himself at Jersey City’s Shampoo, his salon that part of Shampoo and Death will be filmed in. Check out a personal appeal from DiNardo after the jump, as well as a trailer for the film. DiNardo still has a ways to go to meet his goal in two weeks, but funding is starting to pick up. Do your part here.
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Over the last few weeks, Queens of the Stone Age have been teasing the shit out of us. They’ve been  releasing pieces of their forthcoming album, …Like Clockwork, via their website in advance of the album’s release on June 4th. Perhaps even more compelling has been the visual component. UK artist Boneface and animator Liam Brazier have concocted a dark animated landscape that accompanies what we’ve heard of the album so far very nicely. Now you can see the whole 15 minute version of the film. Check it out after the jump. (more…)

Nashville, TN’s Exit/In played host to Norwegian Black ‘n Rollers Kvelertak with support from the mighty Cancer Bats and Black Tusk.   I was really surprised at the demographic that they drew out that night, ranging from folks in their early 20′s to a 60-year-old couple!

The venue started to get pretty full just as sludge trio, Black Tusk took the stage!  These guys really know how to work the crowd and have a really big sound for a three-piece.  They blasted through a set of hard-hitting “swamp metal” that got people moshing and headbanging early-on, with tracks from their latest release Set The Dial and earlier releases as well.

Hardcore act, Cancer Bats were up next after a quick set-change, and wasted no time, launching into a blistering set featuring material both new and old, including my personal favorite tracks, “Bricks and Mortar” off of their newest release Dead Set On Living, and “Hail Destroyer”, the title track off of their 2008 release.  Fun fact: Cancer Bats are one of Devildriver vocalist Dez Fafara’s favorite bands (per a conversation I had with him back in 2011), and it’s easy to see why!  Yeah it’s not polyrhythmic metal in some weird low tuning and odd time signatures, but it’s fun music.  And that’s really all that mattered, the crowd seemed to love them and I had to dodge mosh pits in my efforts to get some good photographs of the guys (see photos below!).

Cancer Bats proved the perfect band to warm the crowd up for the antics of the six silly Norsemen in Kvelertak.  It’s hard for me to list out songs they played because while I know some of their discography, it’s all in Norwegian….however I did recognize the anthemic “Bruane Brenn”, which they had released a hilarious video for back in February.  The band played for over an hour, and things got so rowdy in the audience that at one point someone had to be carried out (not sure about the extent of their injuries).  Vocalist Erlend Hjelvik was in top-form, prancing about the stage, swinging his beard around, and emphatically raising his fist as he belted out his vocals.  Both Hjelvik and guitarist Maciek Ofstad seemed to have a game that they had established to see who could spit higher in the air and catch it while playing….Odd?  Yes.  But it just added to the hilarity of their live show, which after the incident(s) in the audience, really felt like some crazy Norwegian bar-room brawl. Definitely some of the most fun I’ve had at a show in a while, catch Kvelertak on tour while you can, they’re only in North America through May 22! Check out photos from all three bands’ sets in the gallery below. (more…)

Australian prog-metallers Karnivool have returned with a song from their forthcoming third album, and it’s a good one. The band have been playing “The Refusal” live for the last two years or so, but the studio version made its premiere last night on Australian radio station Triple J, and is available as a free download here. It’s much heavier than anything that was on their breakthrough sophomore album, Sound Awake, starting out with screamed vocals reminiscent of Refused before reaching a more subdued coda after the midsection. It’s still melodic and proggy, though. The new album, which is unnamed and has no set release date yet, was recorded last year with producer Nick DiDia (Mastodon, Rage Against the Machine). If this is any indication of the rest of the album, we’re looking forward to it immensely.