2011 was an amazing year for The Great Southern Brainfart. This was a great year for pleasant surprises. Denmark’s Anubis Gate’s self titled album was an album that I almost looked past while Sweden’s Graveyard managed to put out my single favorite album of the year with “Hisingen Blues.” Despite not touring the states in ’11, the band floored me and has me looking forward to their North American tour in 2012. While it seemed that so many great bands were coming from our brothers and sisters overseas, leave it to the good ol’ USA to produce some amazing Metal in it’s own right. New Jersey’s Symphony X proved that they could do epic Metal every bit as good as our buddies overseas. Los Angeles based instrumentalists LoNero put a new hat on guitar based instrumental music while Virginia based progressive Metalers Brave gets the “better late than never” award. I had never heard of Brave before and have since become a huge fan of the band. Not to be forgotten, even some local acts here in Atlanta such as Six Shot Revival and Gnomonaut put out two of this years best releases which opened my eyes and made me realize that there are some pretty amazing things happening right here in my hometown. Time to wake up and start digging around to see what else I can unearth.
Not only was this a great year for albums but the live scene was a really happening scene. The large scale arena/theater tours were a dead scene this year. This summer’s Mayhem Festival failed to even come close to being as fun and engaging as last years festival showcasing a roster of washed up “nu metal” acts with the only saving grace being a powerful but abridged 30 minute set from Megadeth. The place to be this year was the clubs as bands like Holy Grail, White Wizzard and Symphony X rolled into town to melt faces in the small and intimate Masquerade here in Atlanta. Five Finger Death Punch brought an impressively huge production to The Tabernacle to a sold out crowd while Sabaton proved that an audience of 300 or so can out rock any audience three times it’s size. I have to say that this was an amazing year for Metal fans to see some of the best bands out on the road in a small room packed full of energy.
2011 was an amazing year for me as an interviewer/journalist. I learned so much this year and I feel like I really came into my own as an interviewer. With the help of reading books by Lonn Friend and Chuck Klosterman, I learned how to just be myself and to go in there and engage the artists. I had the opportunity to talk on the telephone with childhood heroes such as Lenny Wolf of Kingdom Come and former White Zombie bassist Sean Yseult. Getting to ask her if she ever got my invitation to be my date to my senior prom was pretty damn funny. A phone call with Rachel Bolan of Skid Row was pretty surreal and had me wishing I could go back in time and tell my 16 year olfd self all about it. Sitting backstage talking Gus G and what it’s like playing with Ozzy Osbourne was a great time as was talking with Russell Allen of Symphony X about everything from Van Halen drinking games to his lengthy career as a knight at Medieval Times in New Jersey. I got to catch up with my boys in Holy Grail over a six pack of Sweetwater 420 as we talked about the growth and success of the band. The highlight of my interviews this year was without a doubt my interview with Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess. In past interviews that I had read, every interview seemed to be focused on the recording of the new Dream Theater album and what it was like to play with new drummer Mike Mangini. Instead of going into already chartered waters, I decided to focus mainly on Jordan himself which seemed to surprise yet flatter him. We really made a connection as we talked about his past solo projects, his present and future solo efforts and I even got to be one of the first people ever to play his new Geosynthisizer app for the iPad and iPhone. I knew things were going well when his manager game in after 15 minutes and Jordan says, “We’re going to keep talking. I’m having a good time with this one.” That was my defining moment and that was when I realized I was doing it right.
While I had all of these amazing interviews and all this great music to listen to, it would have never been possible without the great people behind the scenes that work endlessly to get the word out on these awesome bands. Loana Valencia and Charlies Elliot at Nuclear Blast, Jon Freeman at Freeman Promotions, Carise Yatter at Prosthetic Records, George Vallee at Sumerian Records, Amanda Cagan at ABC-PR, Lilly Ryden and Amy Sciarretto at Roadrunner Records, Randi Tucker at Wild Bill’s, Aaron Arthur’s at EMI and Mark Phillips at Prospect Park were all instrumental in getting me access to all of the interviews and reviews that you all read this year. Without these awesome, hard working folks none of my content would have been possible. These folks get very little recognition in the public eye so just remember then whenever you read a great interview or review, without these folks you wouldn’t be reading it. Thank you all for all of the great work you do and thank you all for working with me.
2011 was an amazing year for me and I’m already looking towards 2012. I can only wonder with excitement what lies ahead for me as far as interviews, new music and new concert experiences. I would also love to thank each and every one of you for checking out the blog and participating in all the fun over at the Facebook page (www.facebook.com/thegreatsouthernbrainfart). I really enjoy the comments (good and bad) and I really love the fact that so many of you are very vocal about how you feel about the blog. It truly makes me happy and makes me see that I am heading in the right direction. I look forward to bringing you all some more fun editorials, reviews and interviews in 2012 and I hope you will continue to visit the blog. Please spread the word and again, from the bottom of my Metal heart, thank you all!
Happy Holidays and see y’all in 2012!
Don de Leaumont
Editor – The Great Southern Brainfart
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