Rory Kelly Feature Review On Shutter 16

Rory Kelly feature review on Shutter 16

Link to original post on Shutter 16

"North Carolina rockers Rory Kelly’s Triple Threat, which consists of his father on drums and bassist Billy Miller, keep the bluesy, southern rock vibe alive with their latest release Kings Never Sleep. A veteran of several previous metal and rock acts, Kelly finally melds his self taught guitar chops, hard scrabble voice, and southern rock vision into something to behold.

Kings Never Sleep is a nice amalgamation of thick electric blues/rock guitar, contemporary blues sounds, and good ole’ fashioned southern rock. “Laid to Waste” opens the album with a hard driving southern rock groove that one would expect from a blues based act. While not the album’s strongest track, it does get the point across, quite melodically in fact, that you’re in some humid southern territory sonically. “Kings Never Sleep,” the album’s title track, slows the groove down to a slower burn, and unlike Metallica’s attempt at a bluesy sound on “2X4” off Load, Kelly really DOES conjure an “Aerosmith on steroids” sound here that’s much more natural sounding. For “Black Widow,” Kelly pulls out the acoustic guitar and cranks up his gravelly growl a notch for a real down and dirty little ditty about a much revisited, but here fresh sounding, look at an old blues/rock trope. “Walking Wounded” and “Menace to Society” amp up the blues rock stomp and will stoke the crowd into a heated frenzy when played live, but really demonstrate nothing unique or outstanding. “Wouldn’t Listen” with its snaky acoustic guitar is a much better track musically, even if it will probably be regulated to the acoustic break in the show. Clocking in at a scant 1 minute 58 seconds, “Wouldn’t Listen” nevertheless is the strongly beating heart of the album with its stripped down muscle and beat. “Stood Your Ground,” the album’s second longest track at 4 minutes 23 seconds is the album’s most consummate rock track, and its most radio friendly one. “Hittin’ the Bottom” bookends perfectly with “Stood Your Ground” as it delivers some more thick cut southern rock chops. Kelly’s cover of Merle Travis’ “16 Tons” delivers some of the album’s best blues/rock guitar and wraps it all in a Bruce Springsteen-like populist sound. About midway through though, Kelly unleashes some brilliant metal riffing that takes the song to a whole other level before returning it to its chain gang stomp. Easily one of the album’s best tracks (because of what Kelly does with it), “16 Tons” is one of those songs that will get stuck on your MP3 players repeat function. Rounding out the album is “Hasta La Muerta” that, like it’s title suggests, allows the band to dabble in a Southwest sound. It’s an instrumental track that allows the listen to drift off mentally to a landscape full of Gila monsters and cacti. Kelly and company pull off this sound well, and more of this on their next album will be most welcome.

Rory Kelly’s Kings Never Sleep is a great step in the right direction for a talented musician and songwriter. There’s much on this record that warrants repeat listening, and even more scarily, Kelly and company’s best is yet to come based on what we hear here."

Flat Tires Feature Interview On Shutter 16

Link to original post on Shutter 16
"Usually flat tires are a bad thing. Correction, they are ALWAYS a bad thing. But, now there’s a flat tire worth the trouble. The Flat Tires’ brand of southern punked-up rock ‘n’ roll fits perfectly for a band from North Carolina. A recent performance at Tremont Music Hall with Rory Kelly and ANTiSEEN cemented that idea. I sat down with Flat Tires’ lead singer Clint Harrison about his thoughts on being more than just a “local” band, his love of wrestling, singing about things he knows about, and not trying to be what he (or the band) isn‘t.

Shutter 16: Just so everyone is aware, you guys are local. Right?

Clint: Yes, absolutely. We just don’t play much around here anymore but, yes, we’re from Hickory.

Shutter 16: Why haven’t you guys played here more recently?

Clint: Well, we’ve been on the road a lot more and play out of state a lot more than around here. We like it. We really haven’t played around Charlotte for almost three years. We’ve hit the road in New York, going to Florida, all in between on the East coast. Last year we went to California, did three shows there. We’re going on tour with The Queers and Agent Orange in two weeks, and that’s going to be a ten-day Northeastern tour right there. We just never wanted to be a “local” band only. We wanted to have a customer base and fan base everywhere.

Shutter 16: So what’s your take on this show tonight (Rock N Rassle Apocalypse), with the hardcore punk and wrestling mixed in?

Clint: Oh man, it’s going to be great. An insane show. It’s something you don’t get to see all the time.

Shutter 16: Sticking with wrestling, are you a wrestling fan?

Clint: Yea. We all group up with it when we were kids. We had three channels. You could always watch the NWA, Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, and all those guys talking trash to each other playing “heel.” It gets in your blood at a real young age. Now, I’m not nearly as big of a fan as some of the boys in ANTiSEEN are, but I love it.

Shutter 16: Now, the music you guys play has been described as “Carolina Shit Stomp.” Is that a good description of it?

Clint: (laughs) Well, I’ve never called it that. People around here call it that. Everybody has a term for it. I’ve heard that one, “honky-tonk.” I just call it rock and roll. But, we’re southern; we’re not trying to sit around and sing like we’re from England or California, so we do it our own way, man.

Shutter 16: Are most of the songs written from a southern perspective? Either from having seen things occur, or even autobiographical?

Clint: Most of it. Almost all of it is something that either happened to us at some point in life or something we watched happen. For instance, we have one song called “GD Woman,” and a lot of people hear it and think we’re for beating up women, which we’re not. It was something we saw at a redneck bar. We saw these bikers and came into the bar and one of them made his woman sit down at one end of the bar, while he and his buddies sat at the other end of the bar talking and shit. She had had to sit there all docile-like, and some guy came up and sat down by her, and well, that’s a WHOLE other story. Actually, I think I got that song mixed up with another song (laughs). A lot of it is southern culture. What we’ve seen, what we watched, and instead of being traumatized by things, you write a song about it and laugh about it.

Shutter 16: Your music is very distinctive with the mix of fast punk rock and the southern lyrical content, giving an easy fit to the sound of the Flat Tires.

Clint: If you don’t sing about what you know, then you’re just putting on a front. I couldn’t do what we do if we were singing about the Queen or something. We don’t know anything about all that man. Really, all we’ve ever done is keep it real as possible, go out and have a good time. People like it. Girls like it! The only people that have ever gotten mad at us about any of our lyrics has been Northeastern review guys. The women love it, they eat it up. Sometimes people get emotional about certain things we say. If you’re not doing something to get peoples attention, you’re doing nothing.

Shutter 16: How long have you guys been a band and could you see yourself doing something different other than the Flat Tires?

Clint: We’re going in to our 8th year. This was it for me. They asked me and asked me to do it (join) and I said, “All right, let’s give it a shot.” Its kind of taken a whirlwind of it’s own. I don’t think I could do anything different man. I’m not a musician, I’m a flat tire."

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Flat Tires interview with Clint Harrison on Shutter 16

Rock N' Rassle Apocalypse Featured In Shutter 16

Rock N' Rassle Apocalypse feature write up on Shutter 16 Magazine

After the good times that were had in Charlotte, NC this past weekend at the Tremont Music Hall, we can now look back and crack an insanely wicked smile. Not only did we pull off one of the undergrounds most kick ass music and wrestling events, but we made the die hards want even more. With fans already asking for round two, wait to see what we have in store for ya and will be coming up in mid June of 2013.

How about we leak a few details just to savor on. In mid June 2013 we have a brand new event starting called Wrench N' Roll. Not only will it involve some sort of "grappling" but it will be a one day event with music and all things motorized. We couldn't give a rat's ass about "pre" this or "period" that. What we care about is good times and enginuity. So to all the folks that dig monster trucks, to hot rod fire trucks, to bitchin' Ural choppers, we have the event coming up for you. Oh yeah, it will be in Durham, NC so keep the early June calendar open. It will also take place before the Smokeout in Rockingham, NC as we don't like to miss that event with all of our motorcycle brethren.

Now that the dust has settled and videos are starting to leak from the Rock N' Rassle Apocalypse have a look at the write up from Shutter 16. We think they did a damn great job of talking on the event so check it out.

Link to original post on Shutter 16 

Rock N' Rassle Apocalypse - July 28th 2012

(Warning from the writer: I realize that some reading this care more about the music and not at all about the wrestling. However, I use terminology and jargon associated with wrestling in describing the moves and happenings during matches. You can look online to see what they mean or completely ignore it. Either way, this is just a warning and your choice to skim over the wrestling parts and get to the music. Thank you.)

ANTiSEEN and wrestling go together like barbed-wire and baseball bats. It’s just meant to be. The band headlined the Rock N Rassle Apocalypse event at Tremont Music Hall. Rory Kelly and The Flat Tires rounded out the rock side of things, while independent stalwart Necrobutcher top lined the “rassle” side.

At the door, I had to sign a waiver that took the blame off of Tremont Music Hall or any of the people associated with the show in case I got hurt. It basically said, “Take care of yourself, as ANTiSEEN and Necrobutcher don’t mess around.”

Wrestling started off with local independent wrestler Zane Riley as “Zebidiah Munson” (an Amish gimmick) against The Taker. And, let me just say that ripping off a gimmick that WWE legend Undertaker doesn’t use anymore (the American Bad Ass from ’00-’03) makes for a bad impression upon the good amount of wrestling fans in attendance. It was mostly a comedy match with some of the crowd yelling out “Let’s bring the harvest!” to Munson, as he won the match with a “death-valley driver.”

Oh, and for all the matches, the referee was a little person who excelled in his oblivious-to-the-fact officiating.

The entire show was emceed by Cosmic Crusader (a gimmick similar to that of The Grand Wizard of Wrestling) who got the crowd thoroughly into the show, as they heckled and cheered the wrestlers.

The next match was a tag-team match with the Raleigh-based Gouge Tag Team champions Nicky Gambino and Lou Marconi against Seymour Snot (a beefed-up nerd) and another local wrestler, Jimmy Jack Funk, Jr. A good match, with Funk as the standout for his team. Marconi and Gambino put on a good display of heel (bad guy) actions to get their opponents AND fans despise them. The good guys prevailed as Funk won with a top-rope elbow drop.

The music portion was up and Rory Kelly took to the stage with his brand of soulful blues-rock. Kelly lit the crowd up with his rock and roll journey. It was a different side musically for Kelly (he was the lead-singer and guitarist for metal band, Intethod) but the same passion for the music was there.

After Kelly, a three-way match with Sterling Williams vs. S12 vs NC Heavyweight champion, Damien Wain, got the wrestling back into swing. A good match with “oohs” and “ahhs” for the aerial offense of S12 and Williams, and Wain had a good amount of power moves, such as a delayed suplex on both opponents. After a bevy of moves, which included mist from S12 to Wain, Wain was able to pick up the win with a top-rope piledriver on Williams.

The Flat Tires were up next with their brand high-energy rock and roll. These local boys played with tons of vigor and just let loose. Think Social Distortion but faster and southern. They faced technical problems when their guitar player broke a string halfway through their second song and, near the end of the set, a pop radio station came through the PA in between songs. Nonetheless, The Flat Tires played through it and didn’t let the crowd fall flat at all. Great stuff.

The main event was something to see. This was the reason I had to sign a waiver when I arrived. It was a hardcore match: the ring had a trashcan, chairs, lights, and even barbed wire 2×4′s. The emcee accidentally stepped on some of the lightbulbs in the ring, and it shattered upon a few of us standing near the ring. The match was Rick “The Beastmaster” Link vs national indy scene stalwart, the Necrobutcher. The no-holds barred affair had both guys bleeding and taking insane shots to the head via trashcan lids and chairs. They went all over the place and, while being double teamed by Link’s manager and Cosmic Crusader, out came ANTiSEEN singer Jeff Clayton to help Necrobutcher in the match. He counted to three to give Necro the win.

It didn’t take long for ANTiSEEN to take the stage and finish the night strong with their punk infused hardcore. It didn’t hurt that after a night of wrestling, the band was on fire and full of adrenaline to give the fans a good ending and send us home happy.