We Can Be Heroes: Mark Menghi And Metal Allegiance


Metal Allegiance, by Omar Cordy/OJC Pics

Metal Allegiance, by Omar Cordy/OJC Pics


We caught up with Mark Menghi of Metal Allegiance, in the middle of hellishly busy week for him. He was rehearsing for a tribute performance to Deep Purple’s Made In Japan album at Saint Vitus Bar, in Brooklyn. We has also rehearsing for their first UK performance ever, at Bloodstock Open Air 2016. So when Mark squeezed us in for a chat, we were pleasantly supposed by his calm, humble demeanor. Mark talked a lot about the profound losses to the music world that led the band to create their new EP, Fallen Heroes (Nuclear Blast).

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Interview: Shiloh Elkins of Alley Music Studios


Shiloh Elkins of Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Shiloh Elkins of Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Shiloh and Bill Elkins founded Alley Music Studios in 1973. Since opening its doors the famed rehearsal studio has been a magnet in Los Angeles’ NOHO Arts District for a who’s who of music legends. Now that Alley Music Studios is going to be the subject of a documentary film in 2016, we thought it was a good time to check in with co-owner Shiloh Elkins. In an interview with Melina Dellamarggio for Ghost Cult, Shiloh filled us in on the back story of this underrated L.A. music mecca, a namecheck of all the artists who led to its rise to prominence, the basis for the film and her dreams for the future of the business and much more. You can view the interview at this link or below:

 Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 

 Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 

 

 Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 

 Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 

 Wall of Autographs at Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Wall of Autographs at Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 

 Wall of Autographs at Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

Wall of Autographs at Alley Music Studios, by Melina D Photography

 

INTERVIEW, VIDEO, AND PHOTO SET BY MELLINA DELLAMARGGIO

 

The creators of the project are still seeking production partners, directors, and contributors to the film of artists with memories of Alley Music Studios to share. You can contact them here:

The Alley Music Studios online

The Alley Music Studios on Facebook

Executive Producer Todd Bellina

415-450-7176


Famed Los Angeles Studio Alley Music Studios To Be Profiled In A Documentary


Photo credit: Alley Music Studios

Photo credit: Alley Music Studios

Legendary Los Angeles music studio and rehearsal space Alley Music Studios will be the focus of a documentary film, planned for release in 2016. Executive producer Todd Bellina and his team have been collecting footage, interviews with artists, and archival photos from the owners Bill and Shiloh Elkins, who have built and run the venerable studio used by a who’s who of headline acts for forty years, since opening its doors in 1973. The location continues to be a favorite of modern artists as well, as an alternative to the typical Hollywood studio experience.

The producers of the film have shared their synopsis of the film:

In the NoHo district of North Hollywood, California, quietly hidden behind a small burger joint, is a very unique and very special musical venue known as “The All3y”, a music rehearsal studio that has attracted some of the finest musical talent of the last four decades. From David Crosby to The Red Hot Chili Peppers to Jackson Brown and many more.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, photo credit: Alley Music Studios

The Red Hot Chili Peppers, photo credit: Alley Music Studios

Photo credit: Alley Music Studios

Photo credit: Alley Music Studios

Among the plans for the run up to the films’ release includes up to a 12-part mini series of episodes and live streaming. A partial past client list of the studio can be found on Alley Music Studios website, and some of these artists will be involved with the documentary:

David Lindley
Kiss
Deftones
The 4 Seasons
Ziggy Marley
Julian Casablancas And The Voidz
Lita Ford
Aimee Allen
The Black Crowes
John Bonham
Terry Bozzio
Jackson Browne
Lindsey Buckingham
Rosanne Cash
Stanley Clarke
Vinnie Colaiuta
Michael Des Barres Band
The Doobie Brothers
The Eagles
Melissa Etheridge
Little Feat
Bryan Ferry
Mick Fleetwood
Rayford Griffin
Joey Heredia
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Billy Idol
Etta James
Jim Keltner
Robby Krieger
Russ Kunkel
Jean Luc Ponty
Steve Lukather
The Meters
Rod Morgenstein
Steve Morse
Michael Mcdonald
Leo Nocentelli
System Of A Down
Nigel Olsson
Ozzy Osbourne
Gram Parsons
Missing Persons
Simon Phillips
Iggy Pop
Jeff Porcaro
Smashing Pumpkins
Bonnie Raitt
Billy Ray Cyrus
Chris Robinson Band
Linda Ronstadt
Katey Sagal
Carly Simon
Steve Smith
Steve Stevens
Mike Stinson
The Stooges
James Taylor
Stone Temple Pilots
Toto
Eddie Van Halen
Jack White
Lucinda Williams
Gary Wright
The Young Royals
Dweezil Zappa
Warren Zevon

The creators of the project are still seeking production partners, directors and contributors to the film of artists with memories of Alley Music Studios to share. You can contact them here:

 

The Alley Music Studios online

The Alley Music Studios on Facebook

Executive Producer Todd Bellina

415-450-7176


Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors


 

Royal Thunder Crooked-Doors album cover

When Royal Thunder appeared on the scene a few years ago, there was much hype and early praise for the band. It was a well deserved frenzy of high-profile tours and fests that made them a “buzz band”. You had to stand back and marvel at their music; unafraid to take tried and true elements of rock, blues, and proto-metal and not fall to into the cliches so many others do. Then an interesting thing happened on the way to album number two: coping with being band growing up under a microscope, and the implosion of a relationship within the band. Rather than crumble apart or mail it in for Crooked Doors (Relapse), you have the emotional maelstrom of a finished masterpiece.

Don’t be fooled by the beautifully picked guitars and dolefulness of ‘Time Machine’, the lead track of the album. What ‘Time Machine’ has done by starting with the direct rock approach and almost four-on-the-floor beat is a clever device to lull you in. After the verse, chorus, verse of the first few minutes you are left with transformative middle passage not unlike classic Pink Floyd that doesn’t prepare you for the anguish to come. It’s not about feeling sorry for oneself either. The remainder of the song is a triumph of pained, passionate vocals and wah-soaked guitar leads.

 

The supremely heavy ‘Forget You’ is more in the style you are accustomed to if you have followed the band from the beginning. Vocalist Mlny Parsonz shows off her range and advanced harmony vocals. She can deliver a bruised, bluesy line with the best of them, including the final refrain of “you better run for your life”. The bands has really learned how to build drama musically to unbearable levels. Guitarists Josh Weaver and Will Fiore weave parts in and out of each other, adding layers upon layers of motifs, adding to the tracks without ever sacrificing the heaviness. ‘Wake Up’ is another track steeped in dynamics and killer performances. Drummer Evan DiPrima is a silent assassin behind the kit. He never over-plays, but has equal moments of bombast and grace. Musically the DNA of this album is similar to the leap in maturity seen by a Mastodon, Baroness or Kylesa over the years, with the members of Royal Thunder knowing just how to transmute their songcraft into something new without ever feeling forced.

There are no throw away songs on this album, and every track rewards with repeated listens. From the dusky vocal lines and neat rhythms on ‘Forgive Me, Karma’, the rough cadences of ‘The Line’, to the classic “Desert Rock” charm of ‘Glow’; each song is an exploration to an inner-space of the bands’ resolute psyche. ‘Ear On The Fool’ is Crooked Doors‘ pièce de résistance. Almost tear rendering, anyone who has ever lost the “love of their life” and lived to tell about it, this track has your name all over it. The track also has the late era-Zeppelin vibe mixed with some of the better guitar interplay of a band like The Eagles down pat.

Closing out the album with the ‘The Bear I’ and ‘The Bear II’, they are less like the prog epic you might have imagined, and more like a funerary march, melting into a torch song. Crooked Doors is the sound of pressure cooking sand into glass and then into diamonds, all with with an alchemy fulled by magic and loss.

9.0/10

KEITH CHACHKES