Between his personal struggles with drugs and alcohol, his stint in Velvet Revolver and his reunion with his old band Stone Temple Pilots, it's hard to believe that Scott Weiland’s last solo record came out 10 years ago. It’s been a decade of ups and downs for the singer, but with the reunion of STP firmly in place, it was a stable time in Weiland’s life and career to release his second solo album. Happy in Galoshes was released back in November and is closer in the vein to his days in Stone Temple Pilots than with Velvet Revolver. The album is perhaps a bit more stripped down than his efforts with STP. Songs like leadoff single “Missing Cleveland” (which I don’t know if anyone is capable of doing that) would find itself fitting right in with the later STP album. But even with that song, the album goes off in many different directions: “Big Black Monster” has almost a 70s funk feel to it, and “Killing Me Sweetly” has a minimalist, acoustic approach to it.

Galoshes features guest spots from Paul Oakenfold, and all members of No Doubt not named Gwen Stefani. It comes off as an album that may be all over the place at times in its influences, but its showing that Weiland is far from a one dimensional singer and has several facets to his musicianship. Going out on your own is always a tricky prospect after you’ve had the success that Weiland has had, but at this point in his career, he’s probably owed that chance.

Weiland recently kicked off the second leg of his tour on January 16^th and will be in Detroit before the tour ends on February 7^th in LA. Weiland hits St. Andrew’s Hall this Wednesday, January 28^th for an evening of his solo jams, and maybe, just maybe a few of the major songs you know him for. But you’ll never know unless you head down to the show.

Scott Weiland plays St. Andrews Hall this Wednesday, January 28^th. Tickets are $35 and are available at www.livenation.com. Additional dates can be found at www.scottweiland.com.

Talk about something that flew under my radar for a while, and probably shouldn’t have. The L.A. based band Low vs. Diamond delivers powerful alt-rock and swings for the fences on their debut record, which was released last April. The band was formed in 2002 by lead singer Lucas Field with friends Howie Diamond and Tad Moore when the guys were students at the University of Colorado. Upon graduation, the guys moved to L.A. to try and conquer the big city.

After years of slugging it out in the L.A. club scene, the band received interest in 2006 from Dominic Hardisty- who helped the Killers get signed originally. A demo was record and their self titled debut came out in 2008. The album is lead by the critically acclaimed single “Don’t Forget Sister,” which sounds arena-ready with a full and rich sound to it. “Heart Attack” has an Oasis meets Coldplay vibe to it, and might just be the highlight of the record. Other tracks worth checking out are “Killer B” and “Wasted”- the songs on the record are more focused on good harmonies and melodies but never get mopey or anything.

The band is out on a tour at the moment on a co-headlining jaunt with Nickel Eye (that’s Strokes bassist Nikolai Frature’s side project) and will be on the road through February 2^nd in California. But in the meantime, they will be hitting the Magic Stick in Detroit on January 21^st. Definitely don’t want to miss a chance to see a band who made Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Singles of the year and let them fly onto your radar- you won't be disappointed.

Low vs. Diamond co-headlines the Magic Stick on Wednesday, January 21^st. Tickets are $12 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates can be found at www.lowvsdiamond.com.

Now, that I’ve awoke from my heavy metal induced hangover, I’ll will be the first to say that even though it's only the first few weeks of 2009, we already have a candidate for show of the year. The show at Joe Louis Arena proved not only that the long-time metal kings are not dead and buried, but excelling in today’s hard rock world. Playing in front of a just about sold out crowd of 21,000, the band launched into “This Was Just Your Life,” the opening shot on the stellar new Death Magnetic record. Playing in the round, the band made sure to give every side of the arena its due with Kirk Hammett’s punishing riffs and Lars Ulrich’s still way on point percussion.

The band didn’t hesitate playing tracks such as “Cyanide” and “End Of The Line” along with the true and true classics. The fan energy during the two hour set was electric and it reached huge heights as the band went two decades back into the catalog for cuts like “Welcome Home (Sanitarium),” “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and "Enter Sandman." But the show went into a whole 'nother level when the band blasted through the immortal “Master of Puppets” and the underplayed and sometimes under-appreciated track “Damage Inc.” towards the end of the set.

B-Sides and very old school tracks ruled the encore, with the Misfits cover of “Green Death” and “ Blitzkrieg” before the ending “Seek and Destroy.” For a band that most people had written off after the Napster/Some Kind of Monster/St. Anger era that nearly destroyed the band and its legacy, Metallica made sure that Death Magnetic and its tour had to be something big time. Give Hammett and Ulrich the most credit, at this point in the game, they are the reasons why Metallica still sounds the way they do. I don’t know too many people who thought their resurgence would ever happen and thought the band had destroyed their once pristine reputation. Well, the band has made sure that they won't be trying to recapture their glory by keeping up with the kids or trying to put out double disc concept records about Nostradamus (thanks, Judas Priest).

Metallica has proven that they can get their mojo back the old fashioned way, by pummeling their fans with stellar riff after riff and still create great new material and live performances that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

At the end of the band’s biography, Chicago based band Born of Osiris promises to “be your favorite new band this year.” Well, anytime someone tells us that - we have to keep a careful eye on them. Sometime the hype is justified, and other times, it's something just awful. But for the teenage Chicago quintet, they just may have something here within the death metal world. The band is still out supporting their debut record (released in October 2007), The New Reign, but are preparing to release some brand new material this spring.

Most in the metal world like to talk about time signatures and more technical stuff, but let’s be honest, unless you are a guitar player, it goes in one ear and out the other. Let’s just say the material on The New Reign is a pummeling exercise of machine gun style drums and vocals that would make your eight-year-old sister cry (and yes, that’s a good thing.). Tracks like “Bow Down” and “Abstract Art” show off the blissfully scary vocals from Ronnie (no last names here), and the quite intricate and stylish guitar work from Lee & Matt (once again, no last names).

The band will be starting a tour right here in Detroit with Unearth and Emmure this Friday (January 9^th) when they all invade the friendly confines of St. Andrew’s Hall. The band will tour on this bill through the end of the month on the East Coast. February will bring a tour with the revamped lineup of Darkest Hour and the release of their upcoming record A Higher Place sometime this spring.

But before the new record comes out, get in out of the cold and start the metal concert year off right with Born of Osiris showing us some Windy City love. They need it, especially after the Blackhawks choked not once, but twice against the Wings.

Born Of Osiris will play St. Andrew’s Hall with Unearth on Friday, January 9^th. Tickets are $16 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates can be found at www.myspace.com/bornofosiris.

You and I both know it; living in Detroit these days isn't pretty. The economy is in the toilet, the ex-mayor is sitting in jail, it's freezing cold and the Lions are the laughingstock of professional sports. So, it’s a great place for the malcontent to rage out and develop some quality metal in the Motor City.

Ferret Music’s latest signing from the Detroit area is Hellmouth, who takes some punk rock sensibilities and give them a metal makeover. The band has just released their debut full length record Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing. Following a self titled demo EP back in May of 2008, Hellmouth was quickly picked up and signed by Ferret.

Destroy Everything is a complete get down and dirty record; with punk/metal hybrid raging tracks like “More Fire” and “Heathen Son In The Eyes of Blood.” Another poignant track is “Drop Out and Destroy,” in which the band wails “The System F---ed Us/You F---ed Us” speaks volumes for the millions are people in this country disillusioned with the way things are going right out. The opening track “Pick A Coffin” lets out a pummeling riffs along the lines of classic black metal artists Venom and Celtic Frost.

With the release of the album, Hellmouth is starting their touring with several dates in Michigan. The first of which is this Thursday (January 8^th) down in the Garden Bowl at the Majestic Theater complex. So, you may want to play a few frames that night (Hopefully, you’re better than me) and check out some new hometown metal courtesy of Hellmouth.

Hellmouth will play the Garden Bowl on Thursday, January 8^th. The show is FREE!!. Hellmouth also plays the Token Lounge in Westland on January 9^th. Additional dates can be found at www.myspace.com/666hellmouth.

Dallas Green is known for being a highly energetic, push the pedal to the metal front man of the popular underground Canadian band Alexisonfire. But, being away from the road and the rabid fanbase of Alexisonfire, Green shifted majorly for his side project, City and Colour. In 2005, Green started working on material far different from the bombast of Alexisonfire. Armed with an acoustic guitar and his wide-ranging vocals, Green decided to give the solo project a try. His first album under the City and Colour banner, Sometimes, was a surprise success in Canada, going platinum in the Great White North as well as selling substantial copies in England as well.

After touring behind Alexisonfire’s last album, Crisis, City and Colour came out as a more formalized project with a set group of musicians and released Bring Me Your Love earlier in 2008. The 12-song album seems more thought out than its predecessor and is lead by the soaring single “Sleeping Sickness.” The somber chorus of “Waiting…” is thrown off by the fairly upbeat tone of the song. It is quite a departure from Green’s earlier material, but it shows some decent depth to the man as an artist and the evolution of his career.

City and Colour are finally touring the U.S. behind the release of Bring Me Your Love and plan to tour behind the record in the States through the end of January. But for now, City and Colour hits Detroit this Friday (January 9^th) as headliner of 93.9 FM The River’s Winter Icebreaker Concert at the Fillmore.

So, before Dallas heads back to the raging masses with Alexisonfire, check out City and Colour for a different side of Dallas Green's talents.

City and Colour will headline the River’s (93.9 FM) Winter Icebreaker show at the Fillmore Detroit on Friday, January 9^th. Tickets are SOLD OUT but may be available at the door. Additional dates can be found at www.cityandcolour.ca.

One night back in 2005, the man formerly known as Aaron Smith, Shwayze grabbed the mic at the famed Malibu Inn and busted into a freestyle, proclaiming himself as the “only black guy in Malibu” he easily won the crowd over. That night, he also caught the eye of Whitestarr lead singer and So-Cal local celebrity Cisco Adler and started work with the rapper on his debut record.
And after nearly two years of recording, Shwayze released his self-titled debut record back in August. The 13-song album debuted at #10 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts and came with a barrage of pre-album promotion. MTV featured Shwayze with his own reality show, entitled Buzzin, prior to the album’s release which featured Shwayze and Adler pounding the pavement to promote the record. The single for "Buzzin'"and the very easy going and laid back track “Corona and Lime” helped the album reach the heights that it has now. But there are plenty of other tracks on the debut record worth checking out, such as the cautionary tales in “Hollywood” and “Flashlight.” It’s in those two songs that the stories that Shwayze and Adler discuss the not so glamorous side of the supposed quality of life out in California. Adler was at the helm at the production of the record, and has received more exposure from working with Shwayze than with his everyday band Whitestarr (who are no strangers to reality TV, thanks for a VH1 reality show back in 2007).
Shwayze was supposed to be headed to Detroit back in October on a tour with Metro Station, but decided to do his own tour instead. He is in the home stretch of dates and will wrap up the tour December 22^nd in Cleveland. But the night before that (December 21^st), Shwayze will head to Pontiac, as he plays the Eagle Theatre at the Crofoot complex.
With the way this weather has been going lately, we could use a little Malibu style around here these days. So, make sure to check out Shwayze this Sunday and forget about the sure to be frigid temperatures outside.

Shwayze with Cisco Adler will be performing at the Eagle Theatre this Sunday, December 21^st. Tickets are $16 and are available at www.ticketweb.com. Additional dates can be found at www.shwayze.com.