Van Halen

OC's Wild Child Picked to Perform on "The World's Greatest Tribute Bands"

Though they're normally used to being sought after on the local level at venues like the Coach House or House of Blues Anaheim, OC native Dave Brock and his Doors tribute band Wild Child are taking the art form of playing another band's songs to a whole new level. The band have recently been selecte ... More >>

Five '70s Metal Bands Who Are Better Than Black Sabbath

By: Nicholas PellOk, we get it. You like Sabbath. Everyone does. But there's a whole big world out there of '70s metal bands that goes beyond Sabbath -- even beyond Sir Lord Baltimore, if you can believe that. The '70s offered so much in the way of doom-and-gloom heaviness that it's criminal so many ... More >>

Margaret Cho Gives Us the Top Five Macho Bands That Lesbians Are Secretly Into.

Comedian Margaret Cho would like you to know something about the musical taste of the average lesbian. It's not just k.d. lang and Tori Amos shuffling around in their iPods. Their musical tastes can vary as much as anyone's. And sometimes they're looking for tunes with some serious balls. As a celeb ... More >>

On The Line: Todd Henderson of The Queen Mary, Part Two

Besides their on-board dining options, Chef Henderson pointed out their newest seasonal exhibit about to debut: CHILL, a wintery collection of ice sculptures, activities, and festive food and drink for all ages. Read our interview with Todd Henderson of The Queen Mary, Part One.And now, on to Part T ... More >>

Top Five Funniest Songs from '80s WWF Album 'Piledriver'

See Also: *Jerry "The King" Lawler's Top Five Musical Moments (Get Well Soon!)*Going for the Gold: Five 2012 Rap Songs To Inspire Our Olympic Team*Monday Night Raw's Six Most Memorable Music Moments Last week marked 25 years since the release of Piledriver: The Wrestling Album II. While its predece ... More >>

Iron Maiden - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - 8/9/12

Iron Maiden Verizon Wireless Amphitheater 8/9/12 See Also: *Aerosmith at the Hollywood Bowl *Van Halen at the Honda Center *Quicksand at the Glass House Southern California is a second home for the British based heavy metal legends, Iron Maiden. Their classic live album, Live After Death was recor ... More >>

Van Halen - Honda Center - 6/12/12

Van Halen Honda Center 6/12/12 It only takes milliseconds to recognize Eddie Van Halen's ferocious guitar tone. Like sonic bullets from a gun, "Unchained" riddled into the audience with its runaway freight train guitar riff as the Honda Center exploded with Van Halen's triumphant stop in Anaheim f ... More >>

Van Halen

Honda Center

Concerts Sprawling With Sound

[Summer Guide 2012] The perfect aural schedule for your OC summer

The Black Keys Vs. Nickelback and The Death of The Rock Feud

​This week, Pat Carney of The Black Keys 'apologized' to Nickelback regarding his 'controversial' yet true comments about the Canadian quintet. In my eyes, the drummer of the Akron-bred band had no reason to apologize, true or not true. Over the past decade or so, rock (not hip-hop, which deserves ... More >>

Top Five Hits: Pepperland Music in Orange

​Here are the top five this week from Pepperland Music, 850 N. Tustin St. in Orange, (714) 639-0909.This week's top seller is the new Paul McCartney album, Kisses on the Bottom, on vinyl -- the guys at Pepperland have been selling a lot of vinyl lately.

Van Halen at the Forum Last Night

​Van HalenFebruary 8, 2012The ForumSome secret shows tend to be bigger than others. I've been fortunate to catch a few in my concert going years but last nights friends and family dress rehearsal show with Van Halen is definitely top five. Things started off great when it turned out the Forum wasn ... More >>

Van Halen Announce Tour Dates: Staples Center on June 1, Honda Center June 12

​Van Halen finally announced their tour dates today, and it is massive. The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees announced the dates at an intimate performance in New York's Café Wha?. The tour will begin on Feb. 18., with Kool & The Gang joining Van Halen for select tour dates. And as the ... More >>

Atomic Punks; Motley Inc.

Five Of Van Halen's Not-So-Memorable Moments Since 1996

The new new new Van Halen​As we posted yesterday, Van Halen is going to be touring in 2012, with tickets going on sale Jan. 10. The mysterious announcement didn't say when and where they'll be touring, but this is just the latest in a string of odd behavior from Van Halen since they fired Sammy Ha ... More >>

Van Halen to Tour in 2012 With David Lee Roth

​Unless you were awake at 12:30 am PST or a part of their mailing list, then you'd be surprised to know that rock icons Van Halen announced they are going on tour in 2012, with tickets on-sale January 10. What happens from here no one knows since there aren't any dates or cities listed, only three ... More >>

Ten Musician Stamps We'd Like To See

​ The US Postal Service, desperate to stop 15 years of bleeding caused by email and private competitors, announced that it will soon feature living people on stamps (the post office has long had a policy of placing only the dead on postage). Of interest to this column, the USPS will consider fe ... More >>

Tag, You're It: Singer Justin Suitor From Railroad to Alaska Interviews Singer Brandon Seger From OMAHA

Tag, You're It is Heard Mentality's weekly interview feature. The concept is simple: One local artist picks another local artist to interview, then the interviewee becomes the interviewer of an artist of his or her choice the following week.Christopher Victorio/OC Weekly​Upon meeting Brandon Seger ... More >>

Alien or Abductee? Five Extraterrestial Musicians (Other Than Sammy Hagar)

​This week, former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar claimed that he had been abducted by aliens. Overnight, lame jokes about Hagar suffering from tequila-induced psychosis flooded the Internet and open-mic comedy stages, positioning the laid-back "I Can't Drive 55" singer as buffoon of the month. F ... More >>

Sammy Hagar Coming to Huntington Beach to Sign His Book

​Yup, Sammy Hagar wrote an autobiography. Called Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock, it's set for release on March 15 via It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. This momentous news prompted news blogger Matt Coker to ask, "When they ask Sammy when he'll be ready to sign, will he yell, ... More >>

Quiet Riot

Galaxy

TGIF: The New Year's Lowdown

Myspace.comAtomic Punks Irvine Lake Festival July 10, 2010​Friday night is New Year's Eve--we know what you'll be doing, and we know what we hope we'll be doing, at least. So out of the eight million options available, we want you to start out with Rebelution NYE at the House of Blues in Anaheim, ... More >>

Atomic Punks

Atomic Punks

Comics Writer Charles Soule Talks About '27' and Death, You Know

Renzo Podesta; Inset: W. Scott Forbes​​There's a perverse romance to the rock 'n' roll aesthetic of living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse. The fatalistic edict is both empowering and life-affirming, even if it's ultimately just an over-the-top, immature "fuck you" to one's mort ... More >>

Kaki King, Inadvertent Guitar Goddess

Playing guitar comes easy, overcoming boredom is hard

Over the Weekend: Ratt on Saturday at the House of Blues, Anaheim

The Hype: With massive rock geek fest NAMM in town, the House of Blues Anaheim wisely booked 1980s glam metal faves Ratt. In case you missed the memo, the San Diego band (or at least that's where they formed back in the '70s) is gearing up for the release of Infestation, their first album in over ... More >>

Legends of Rock Festival

Irvine Lake

Incoming: Jet at the House of Blues Anaheim

Hey, you remember Jet. Right? Australian dudes? Sound (and look) kind of like a more '70s rock-oriented Oasis? Pitchfork posted a review of their 2006 Shine On album that was simply a nine-second video of a monkey drinking his own pee? Sure, now you remember. Well, the band that spawned all those mi ... More >>

David Spade

Irvine Improv

NAMM Stories: Reports From the Frontlines

Photo by Andrew YoussefBY RYAN RITCHIEApparently, scoring a ticket to the NAMM show is like the hair farmer version of acceptance into Disneyland's Club 33. Just ask my friend Brian, who was turned away from the event on Saturday even though I pleaded with the press people using my otherwise indefen ... More >>

[Sound Guy] The Best Tribute Bands to Never Exist

Last Night: Pinback and El Ten Eleven @ Samueli Theater

By Andrew Youssef Pinback, El Ten Eleven at Samueli Theater, Costa Mesa, July 31, 2008 Better Than: Questioning the trade of Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Download: “From Nothing to Nowhere” from Pinback’s homepage [http://www.pinback.com/mp3/From_Nothing_to_Nowhere.mp3] San Di ... More >>

Last Night: Gigantour at the Long Beach Arena

Better Than: Watching the American Idol Finals. Download: "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" from Megadeth's Myspace page Shred is still alive and continues to thrive as the Megadeth curated band, Gigantour unleashed the demons of heavy metal at the storied Long Beach Arena. Megadeth is one of the o ... More >>

Pseudo-Reunions

Van Halen

Ace of Spades

David Spade

Steep Learning Curve

Don Caballero’s Jazzbo Metal Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

Re-running With the Devil

Van Halen Reunite—Just in Time for Their Excellent Unauthorized Bio

For Those About to Schlock . . .

KNAC/DC supply the metal, you shout at the devil

A Spoonful of Sugar

Forward into the past at Disneylands Storybook Memories exhibit

Rage Against Irrelevancy

Does RATMs left hook still have punch?

Patent Pending

If we're to believe the idealists out there, rock 'n roll is still (and always was) a hotbed of innovation and creativity. Now, without even getting into details, I can tell you that that is a big, heaping lie. Ever heard Jet? How about Godsmack? Yeah. So, want to fuel your musical cynicism? Take a ... More >>

Diary of A Mad County

Live Reviews

Eight Days

Zeke/The Ruby Doe

Paging John Ashcroft

White kids on dope!

Undeserved Self-Abuse!

Textbook Heckling

The Club Crawl

And then there were the Nazis

Joyridin