Motorhead drops out of Carolina Rebellion

If you are anything like me, one of the biggest draws to this year's two-day Carolina Rebellion Festival was the return of the mighty Motorhead. Organizers of the Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion announced this afternoon that Lemmy and company will not be able to perform during the festival, which takes place May 3 and 4 at Rock City Campgrounds at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have learned that Motorhead will be unable to perform at Monster Energy's Carolina Rebellion in Concord, NC on May 3. We are working hard to find a replacement artist, so stay tuned to www.CarolinaRebellion.com for further updates," reports the festival's publicist via press release.

Motorhead has had to cancel several tours since early last summer when frontman and founder Lemmy Kilmister, who is dealing with diabetes, suffered a hematoma. The band's European tour was cancelled in February due to Kilmister's continuing diabetes-related health problems. Doctors advised Kilmister not to embark on the tour.

Motorhead also cancelled its upcoming appearance at Rocklahoma - Carolina Rebellion's sister festival in Pryor, OK.

Saturday's Carolina Rebellion lineup still includes Avenged Sevenfold, Rob Zombie, Seether, Volbeat, Black Label Society, Killswitch Engage, Blackstone Cherry, Trivium, Adelita's Way, Fozzy, Thousand Foot Krutch, Kyng, Devour the Day, and Truckfighters.

Sunday's lineup remains intact with Kid Rock, Five Finger Death Punch, 311, Staind, A Day to Remember, Alter Bridge, Theory of a Deadman, HellYeah, Of Mice & Men, Fuel, Nothing More, Redlight King, Twelve Foot Ninja, Gemini Syndrome.

Tickets are currently available at www.CarolinaRebellion.com.

This week's hot concerts

Johnny Clegg Band

Friday  7:30 p.m., McGee Theater at Batte Center, Wingate University, 403 N. Camden Rd., Wingate, $25, www.battecenter.org

With Juluka and Savuka, the English-born, South African musician tackled apartheid in the `70s and `80s with the country’s first biracial bands and a blend of Zulu and western pop that set the course for Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon’s forays into African music. Jesse Clegg joins his father on the young African alt-rock artist’s first North American tour.

Zach Myers

Friday  7:30 p.m., Amos’, 1423 S. Tryon St., $12-$14, www.amossouthend.com

The Shinedown guitarist’s loose acoustic shows take a low-key “VH1 Storytellers”-style approach with he and sideman Justin Moore revisiting Shinedown songs with a stripped-down twist as well as delivering several familiar covers.

Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn

Friday  8 p.m., McGlohon Theater, 345 N. College St., $19.50-$64.50, www.blumenthalarts.org

The progressive bluegrass and jazz fusion banjo legend and his accomplished singer-songwriter/banjo player wife, whose music and theater pursuits have long bridged her interests in American folk and Chinese culture, language, and art, embark on their first duo tour with baby boy Juno (born in May) backstage.

Jon Linker Band

Saturday  9 p.m., The Saloon, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $5, www.thesalooncharlotte.com

This Charlotte band etches out an original, but accessible sound by delivering distinctively Southern country-rock like “PBR Kinda Night” and “Bourbon Bound” with a gravelly, deep voice that provides a direct line to `90s rock and grunge era Pearl Jam and Collective Soul.

American Authors/Wild Cub/Oh Honey

Monday  7:30 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $12-$15, www.visulite.com

The former’s single “Best Day of My Life” (which since writing this on Monday I've heard playing at Harris Teeter, Concord Mills, and Target) and the latter’s sunny new EP point to the next chapter in the “hey” and “woah” indie-roots acts that followed bands like Arcade Fire and Of Monsters and Men, while Nashville’s Cub mine similar ground but with a darker nod to new wave.

Company

Tuesday  10 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., Free, www.snugrock.com

Two years ago “Paste Magazine” hailed this Charleston band as the No. 1 SC act folks should be listening to for good reason. Its live show is downright hypnotic as the group bridges snappy Weezer-like rock with pensive Band of Horses-style vocals and moody, psychedelic edge.

Combichrist

Thursday  7:30 p.m., Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave., $16-$19, www.tremontmusichall.com

With its fusion of catchy buzzsaw industrial, death metal growls, and futuristic electronics the Norwegian group’s new album, “We Love You” alternates between the soundtrack to a space-age, war-torn apocalypse and the house music at the sort of exclusive European fetish clubs you only see in spy movies.  

Kris Allen

Thursday  8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36^th St., $18-$20, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com  

After a rollercoaster of a 2013 - a new baby and a car wreck that shattered the guitarist’s wrist - the “American Idol” season 8 winner is working on the follow-up to 2012’s commercially ignored “Thank You Camellia” with producer Charlie Peacock (Civil Wars, Switchfoot) in Nashville. Expect him to play poignant new tracks triggered by fatherhood.

Speed Street announces headliners, new name

The newly dubbed Coca-Cola Speed Street Festival presented by Chevrolet celebrates its 20^th anniversary in uptown Charlotte May 22-24 with NASCAR drivers, live music, and family-friendly fan events leading up to the Coca-Cola 600 race on Sunday, May 25. 

This year’s musical lineup, which was announced Thursday during a press conference that also revealed the new sponsor and name, features headliners Who’s Bad: The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band on Thursday. The Academy of Country Music’s 2013 Vocal Duo of the Year Thompson Square leads a country-heavy bill Friday. And Southern pop-rock pioneer .38 Special closes out Speed Street on Saturday.

The former Food Lion Speed Street festival, which takes place surrounding the NASCAR Hall of Fame, is book-ended by the NASCAR All-Star race on May 17 and the Coca-Cola 600 the following Sunday. The festival brought over 400,000 people to uptown over those three days last year.

Speed Street features a variety of local and national R&B, country, and rock acts. The Stranger: A Tribute to Billy Joel kicks off Thursday’s tribute lineup followed by Backbeat, a tribute to the Beatles. 

Friday’s acts include Rock Hill’s Zach Ludlam and Alabama’s NASCAR favorite (and fan) Tim Dugger. Saturday’s lineup includes actress turned musician Julie Gribble and Charlotte’s School of Rock. A full schedule, including driver appearances, will be posted at www.600festival.com closer to the date.

Gwar frontman leaves more than controversy behind

Yesterday I woke up to the sad, shocking news that Gwar frontman Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus died Sunday in his home in Richmond at age 50. I didn't go see Gwar last Halloween. Instead I took my boys trick or treating and went home early. Now, like any other local Gwar fans that missed the band's return to Tremont Music Hall last fall, I wish I'd gone back out. There's a tendency with bands that tour annually to think, if you miss them you can see them next year. That's not the case this time.

Brockie had history in Charlotte having been arrested at the 4808 Club in 1990 for disseminating obscenity. The arrest drew national headlines.

In 2011 a week or two after playing a show at Amos' Southend, Gwar's guitarist Cory Smooth aka Flattus Maximus was found dead on the band's bus as it was getting ready to cross into Canada. Smoot died of coronary artery thrombosis. The character he'd played since 2002 was retired a day later. The group, who has long had shifting lineups, soldiered on as always with Brockie at the helm. I can't imagine a Gwar without him.
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I remember the first time I heard Gwar. It was the June after 7th grade. I was at a 13-year-old's birthday party sitting alone by a green, slime-filled pool that hadn't seen swimming in years while the boys took turns riding four-wheelers and skateboarding in the driveway. Music was blasting from a boom box: "We share a cheeseball. We just do it all."

"Did they just say cheeseball?" I yelled to whoever was in the vicinity. Little did I know the aforementioned "cheeseball" was the least strange thing about Pookie - Gwar's ode to beastiality and necrophilia, "I'm in Love (With a Dead Dog)." That's not the kind of thing you forget.

As a 13-year-old girl, even one who liked metal, I wasn't completely sold. But Gwar became a favorite of my skater boyfriends and their crowd and I eventually grew to love "Hell-o," Gwar's debut album. We saw them numerous times. So many of those shows were memorable. My first was New Year's Eve 1994 at The Masquerade in Atlanta. That show raged on until nearly 4 a.m. In Morgantown, WV, the summer of 1997 I believe, Gwar encored without their costumes or anything else for that matter. They may have worn strategically placed socks, but I, luckily, was too short to see and lodged behind a big guy who I could duck behind every time someone was decapitated or de-limbed. I was not so lucky at a December show with the Meatmen in Winston-Salem where I trudged to my car freezing (it may have even begun to snow) after getting showered with fake blood and other fake bodily fluids. Eventually I started standing in the back.

But as much as Gwar will be remembered for outrageous live shows where Popes were beheaded and dinosaurs prowled the stage, I will remember them most for great songs.

I tried to bring that up to Brockie (pictured above in full Oderus gear) during a 2012 interview, but he sort of brushed off the compliment. He was doing the interview in character.

Gwar's music is often overshadowed by the theatrics, the shock rock, and the satirical criticisms of politics and pop culture. Beneath all of that are some really fantastic, catchy, punk and metal-tinged songs. "Sadaam A Go-Go" (despite being dated) and the unsung "Mary Ann" and "If I Could Be That" have been making their way on to mix tapes (and now iPod mixes) of favorite songs for years. Of course "Sick Of You," "The Road Behind," and most of their first two albums "Hell-O" and "Scumdogs of the Universe" are classics.

Brockie will no doubt be remembered more in the mainstream for his band's antics and from appearances on Fox News and "The Jerry Springer Show" than for leading a band as big on songwriting, arranging, and tight musicianship as theater and satire. But he also filled a hole, calling out pretty much anything and anyone and shining a light on ridiculousness, greed, and injustice.

During our October 2012 interview he explained the otherworldly band's earthly mission best: "Gwar is an adult comedy metal show. It's like an x-rated version of 'The Simpsons' except playing rock n' roll. Getting upset at Oderus Urungus is like getting mad at Homer Simpson. As artists it's our right and duty to take the ugliest parts of our society and put them in the spotlight and defang them by laughing at them or beating the hell at them or both at once."

Look for Michael Plumides, who owned the 4808 Club and was arrested along with Brockie following that show in 1990 and who chronicles the story in his book "Kill the Music," to eulogize his friend Brockie in "The Observer" later this week. 

John Schneider talks new film "Smothered"

Imagine Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Michael Myers stalked by a busty, young blonde. That idea was the seed for actor/writer/director John Schneider’s new movie "Smothered," which premiered Friday at Mad Monster Party - the three-day horror and sci-fi convention taking place at the University area Hilton.

Schneider, who is best known for his roles as Bo Duke, Smallville's Jonathan Kent, and currently stars in Tyler Perry's "The Haves and the Have Nots" on OWN, wasn’t quite sold on the idea that horror’s most notorious killers would vacation together. Instead he devised a scenario for the actors that have played these seminal characters to take off into the woods in an old Winnebago.

"I was at a horror convention in Dusseldorf, Germany sitting at a bar with a gaggle of horror icons who weren't having a particularly good show," he says sitting in the lounge at the University Hilton Friday afternoon before the convention kick-off. "I said to one of them, 'If I gave you $1000 right now to haunt an RV park and blow off this convention, would you do it?' They said, 'Absolutely.' That clicked in my writer's brain. That's the reason why a bunch of presumed serial killers - actors who play serial killers in movies - would gather together and go camping during a weekend. They'd be perfect prey for some psycho chick who wanted to take out the bad guy."

A week later he'd finished the first draft of the script. He found a backer and by June he and the cast were filming in Louisiana. Sounds fast, but "Smothered" wasn’t without hurdles. Richard Brooker, the "Friday the 13^th Part III" actor whose bad convention experience in Germany inspired the script and who Schneider intended to be the film's lead, died on April 8, 2013 (Schneider’s birthday).

Schneider contacted Kane Hodder, the actor and stuntman best known for donning the hockey mask in four "Friday the 13^th"films and headlining the "Hatchet" franchise. Schneider knew both Hodder and Brooker as stunt guys on "Dukes of Hazzard." Hodder accepted the starring role and rounded up other horror icons - R.A. Mihailoff ("Texas Chainsaw III)," "Halloween 5’s" Don Shanks, "Devil’s Rejects'" Bill Moseley, and "Christine’s" Malcolm Danare. Louisiana actor Dane Rhodes took on a Roddy Piper-style role when the pro-wrestler and "They Live" star couldn't do it. Most of the actors play versions of themselves.

The gist is these down-on-their-luck horror stars leave a convention similar to Mad Monster Party to haunt an RV park for a weekend for $1000 a piece.

"One of the oddities of 'Smothered' is that it makes sense. It could happen," says Schneider, who has frequented conventions with these actors since his "Smallville" days. "It's not boogeyman in the closet. It's not supernatural. It's not anything horror films of late have been, which I think makes it unique. It’s funny, but it’s not a spoof."

During the Q&A panel with the cast that followed Friday's screening, Shanks revealed: "In 42 years I've never had so much fun doing a movie.” Mihailoff agreed adding that during the 14-day shoot cast members would come to the set even on days they weren't filming.

A horror film with an obscenely buxom psycho who kills with gore and glee may come as a surprise to fans that know Schneider, who cameos in the film, from family-friendly roles on "Dukes," "Smallville," and "Secret Life of the American Teenager." But the admitted horror-fan says "Smothered" is closer to where his interests lie.

"That's actor for hire," he says. "I like psychological drama, dark, complex characters whose life or choices have forced them into a position of doing things that they wouldn't do. And then they realize they enjoy it. I find those characters far more interesting to watch and write. With 'Have and Have Nots' (his character) is far more interesting to play. I've been the good guy long enough."

He’s hoping "Smothered" will lead to more behind-the-camera work.

"When 'Dukes of Hazzard' happened there was a line drawn. There's before 'Dukes'and after 'Dukes.' When 'Smallville' happened there was a line drawn in my career. Before 'Smallville.' After. Those are all John helping to further someone else's dream. This is John working on what he believes he should be doing, which is the same thing I was doing at 8-years-old with a Super 8 camera - telling stories through moving pictures."

He pauses, "I’m more nervous about watching people watch this movie than I've been about anything before."

Check out the trailer for the film, which is R-Rated, here. This is the censored version. There's also a more colorful uncensored trailer on YouTube too. Cast photo from left to right: Amy Brassette, Dane Rhodes, R.A. Mihailoff, Brea Grant, Bill Moseley, Shanna Forrestall, Malcolm Danare, and Kane Hodder. Schneider photo courtesy of IMDB.com. 

This week's hot concerts

David Mayfield Parade

Friday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $15, www.visulite.com

The mighty showman and his band spill charisma and technical chops on stage while making some of the most beautiful, heartfelt Americana you’ve ever heard with ample personality and humor. As a special treat, he and fiddler Ross Holmes (Mumford & Sons) will reunite for the first time on stage since their bluegrass days in Cadillac Sky.

The Duhks

Friday  8 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36^th St., $18-$20, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com 

After lineup shake-ups and a hiatus, the progressive Canadian soul-folk/grass outfit returns with original vocalist Jessee Havey and fiddler Tania Elizabeth (last seen headlining New Year’s with the Avetts) with the promise of a new album (some of which fans will here at this show) later this year.

We Butter the Bread with Butter

Friday  8 p.m., Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave., $12-$15, www.tremontmusichall.com

This German theatrical metal outfit fuses disparate elements like Sepultura-style growling with the pomp and bombast of fellow Deutsch hard rockers the Scorpions and Muse and a layer of shimmering synthesizers that recall one-time arena giants like Europe and Asia.

St. Paul & the Broken Bones

Friday  9 p.m., Chop Shop, 399 E. 35^th St., $14, www.chopshopnoda.com

It may have taken twenty years, but Birmingham may in fact be the next Seattle. This vintage soul powerhouse elevated by a charismatic frontman whose singing is rife with raw emotion and a crew of impeccable players follows Alabama Shakes and Lee Bains on the road to national stardom.

DTCV

Saturday  10 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., $10, www.snugrock.com

Former Guided By Voices bassist and fiction and screenwriter Jim Greer keeps the `90s indie rock spirit that bands like GBV, Sonic Youth, and Dinosaur, Jr. made popular alive through chunky, urgent rhythms and wailing, but brief solos. But the trio’s fun, lo-fi alt-rock approach is tempered by female vocalist Guylaine Vivarat.

Three of Clubs Tour

Monday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $12-$15, www.visulite.com

Charlotte’s own Flagship, who create big, bold, emotional anthems in the spirit of early U2 and Muse join fellow up and comers Terraplane Sun and Little Daylight for the second round of the national tour that helped introduce Sweden’s Royal Concept to the US last fall.

Nicole Atkins

Tuesday  8 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St., $12-$15, www.eveningmuse.com

Fresh from SXSW the Jersey singer (and former Charlottean) returns following the recent release of “Slow Phaser,” which is a bit of a game changer. Recorded with Swedish producer Tore Johannson (the Cardigans), it’s a livelier, dancier, and grander version of the always striking vocalist.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Wednesday  7:30 p.m. McGlohon Theatre, 345 N. College St., $14.50-$59.50, www.blumenthalarts.org

The 50-year-old New Orleans institution has long been known for keeping the city’s signature sound alive, but since Katrina the group’s mission to permeate public consciousness has grown through collaborations with bluegrass legend Del McCoury and indie-jam royalty Jim James (My Morning Jacket).

Rocky cast, Misfits, & a Runaway at Mad Monster

A bevy of horror and sci-fi actors and pop culture favorites roll into the University Hilton this weekend for Charlotte's third annual Mad Monster Party, which takes place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Musicians with horror ties and actors with musical connections populate a guest list that also includes William Shatner, Corey Feldman, Elvira, Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Henry Winkler.

Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn, and Little Nell (aka Magenta and Columbia) from the seminal cult
musical "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" will be on hand for the Saturday midnight screening of the film as well as signing autographs and snapping pictures with the rest of the guests.

"The Dukes of Hazzard's" John Schneider - who was also a country singer - will screen his new film "Smothered" Friday with several of the film's cast members including "The Devil's Rejects'" Bill Moseley, who was in the band Cornbugs with guitarist Buckethead.

Other rock n' roll guests include Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre, who has appeared in films like "Repo: The Genetic Opera" and other horror fare, Doyle (who joined Glenn Danzig on stage in Charlotte last fall) and former fellow Misfit Dr. Chud, and the Runaways' co-founder Cherie Currie, who appeared in "Twilight Zone: The Movie" and recently "Hansel & Gretel: Warriors of Witchcraft."

Rock n' roll and horror are so closely related. They're like cousins. Actors from Rob Zombie's "House of 1000 Corpes" and "Devil's Rejects" Moseley, Sid Haig, Ken Foree ("Dawn of the Dead") and Michael J. Pollard, for instance, join the fine faces that have donned Jason, Michael Myers, and Leatherface's masks and wrestling figures like Jimmy Hart, Ox Baker, Hogan (who will only be there Sunday) and Piper. That rock n' wrestling connection really never disappears either.

You might not know all the guests by name, but if you grew up with `70s, `80s and `90s horror, you know Heather Langenkamp ("Nightmare on Elm Street's" Kruger-kicking Nancy), Ed Neal (the original "Texas Chainsaw" hitchhiker - yikes), Jane Badler (Diana, the queen lizard from the original "V"), Dick Miller (the ill-fated neighbor in "Gremlins"), and Richard Kiel (Jaws from James Bond films like "Moonraker"). The entire guest list as well as screenings, Q&A sessions, and performances is online here.

Single day tickets, 3-day passes and VIP weekend passes are available at that link as are pre-sale tickets to get Shatner and Hogan's autographs. Kids 12 and under get in free.