Artimus Pyledriver "High Life"

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Artimus Pyledriver
Southern Fried E.P.
CDR EP
(self-released, 2004)

If you're gonna pick a band name based on a silly pun*, you better have the goods to back it up. Luckily for Artimus Pyledriver, they had 'em in spades.

For the few years they were around, Artimus Pyledriver were the ruling kings of the Atlanta metal scene . . . in my opinion, at least. They sported a sound that mixed a rooting in classic southern and hard rock with influences like hardcore punk and metals of the stoner and thrash variety. Their first release was this snazzy lil' self-released CDR EP, and it's the source of today's jukebox selection.

Sometime after the release of this EP, they got picked up by Belgium's Buzzville Records, who released their eponymous debut CD. All the songs from the initial EP appeared, but not in the same versions. As to how a band from Atlanta got signed by a label on the other side of the planet, Buzzville had previously released the debut album by their fellow Atlantans Gonzalez.

I must confess to not knowing a lot about the band members, but at least one was a scene veteran; bassist Mike Faulkner had played with Din, with whom my band Meat played a show back in the early/mid '90s. Sometime after that show, they changed their name to Big Twin Din and appeared on the Metal Massacre XII compilation.

After touring a bit, Artimus Pyledriver got picked up by DRT Entertainment in the States, and their album got issued on my and their side of the pond, sporting new cover art, a new mix, and an additional cut. Interestingly, the version of today's song had gotten an acoustic, country blues intro for the Belgian release, but it was removed for their countrymen. The world is, indeed, a strange place.

Sadly, after the album hit these shores, the band began to fall apart. They announced some upcoming split releases with Hank III, but they never materialized, to the best of my knowledge. Vocalist Dave Slocum temporarily took over the mic for another local metal combo, Doomsayer, and that was the last I heard of any of them.

They did shoot one official video, for the song Swamp Devil and I've included it below. You'll notice Dave does a lot of jumping. He did that at shows all the time. I used to wonder when he was gonna land wrong and snap off an ankle.

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*Artimus Pyle was the drummer for the classic line-up of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the piledriver is, of course, a professional wrasslin' move.

Calamus "Boobtown"

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Calamus
Highdrive
CD
(Daredevil Records, 1999)

NYC scuzz metallers Angel Rot came to town a couple of times back in the late '90s. I think it was the second time that they came through that they were touring with the previously unknown to me German band Calamus. Whereas Angel Rot were dissonant and ugly (and fantastic), Calamus were more thick'n'groovy (and excellent). I was impressed enough that I bought the CDR EP they were selling that night, and I spun it many times in the ensuing weeks. A trip to their (now defunct) website showed that they'd released a couple of CDs already, plus a split 7" with the band Duster69.

The first of the CDs was a two-tracker named The Road Trax, but that's not what I'm featuring today on the jukebox, even though it's a fine slab of metal and plastic. No, today's song is the leadoff track to Highdrive, their first full-length album. The CDR EP mentioned above ended up being a teaser for their next album, These Days, released on the gently named I Used to Fuck People Like You in Prison Records, though the label website seems to have toned it down a bit, to simply People Like You Records. Wussbags.

When These Days was released, Calamus came back to town with NYC doom metallers Slow Horse, who featured the guy (Scott Sanfratello) who'd played drums with Angel Rot on that earlier tour. Crazy, man! Calamus never made it back over here, to the best of my knowledge, though they did release a couple more CDs: a self-released EP entitled A Few Lines in Mind and a full-length, The Same Old Demons.

These days (ha!), vocalist Ralf (in the cowboy hat above) sings for a band I found on-line the other day but whose name I now cannot for the life of me remember. The other guy in the photo is guitarist Jens. The two of them were responsible for all of Calamus's original material, with Ralf penning the lyrics and Jens planning out the notes.

Slow Horse "When Are You Coming Home?"

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Slow Horse
Slow Horse
CD
(Freebird Records, 1999)

I saw these guys play with German stoner metallers Calamus here in the ATL many years ago (they kicked butt, btw). Maybe I was just too excited to see Calamus again, or maybe they had an off night; either way, I thought Slow Horse kinda . . . stunk. Somehow, at a later date, I still ended up buying their second album, which has the same title as the one featured today, but different artwork (there are boobies, if you look closely and that's your thing) and songs (shocker, huh?). I wonder who's the bigger inspiration? Peter Gabriel or George Foreman?

Today's jukebox selection (almost) shares a title with one of my favorite Galaxie 500 songs, When Will You Come Home. Lyrically, well, they're both downersville, though this song is about finality, rather than temporary separation. Musically, this song's a bit heavier.

:-D

After the release of their second album, vocalist-slash-guitarist Dan Bukszpan gained an iel and became a published author, with the release of The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal. In addition, we even worked for the same corporation for a bit, though our desks were probably around 1,000 miles apart.

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Sadly, I have not been able to find a good link for Calamus. They released three albums, a couple of EPs and a couple of split 7"s records, one with Slow Horse (each covering a song by the other) and one with Duster69. The latter is on vinyl so heavy, my turntable thinks it's an LP!