Friday, October 11, 2019

JACKPIPE JOINS THE BREW CRUE

JACKPIPE


JACKPIPE is as crude and fun loving as a heavy metal and hardcore-punk crossover band can be, with all of the gruff bigmouth charm and deeply buried (but ever present) endearing sentiment that helps define the Big Apple. These are four guys weaned on Howard Stern, Andrew Dice Clay, and S.O.D., armed with big riffs, bigger pitchers of beer, and the biggest of belly laughs.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK is a full-length slab of Neanderthal riffs, barbarian rhythms, and tongue-in-cheek lyrical revelry. It’s defiantly free of trigger-warnings and safe spaces in its introduction of JACKPIPE to the world.

This is situational and observational comedy, the musical equivalent of a night out with your friends. JACKPIPE sounds like Jim Norton swallowed a gallon of coffee, stuffed his face with several slices of New York pizza, and grabbed the microphone to rant over stomping metalcore anthems made for moshing.

Lead vocalist Larry Forman, guitar shredder Dom Emanuele, bassist Rich Streng, and drummer Chris Califano follow in the fine East Coast traditions of unapologetic blowhards and jokesters M.O.D. and fellow native Long Islanders Ludichrist, with a brutal dose of heavy Hatebreed-style breakdowns.

I’m normally a guitar player but I stink at guitar. I’m even worse at singing, but I sing for Jackpipe,” Forman deadpans. “We’re heavy and my voice is rough, but people can understand the words, which is obviously important.”

Take Me to the Buffet” details the apocalyptic damage done when JACKPIPE devastates any all-you-can-eat opportunity. “Catfight” is about the can’t-look-away allure of two women brawling. “Inch of My Love” is a self-deprecating celebration of the not-very-well-endowed. The title track is about the attitude of the greatest city in the world. “New York is kind of dirty and crappy, but it’s still New York,” Forman explains. “People come here to live their dreams.”

All of them are veterans of their local scenes. Forman and Califano went to high school together and knew Streng from their Long Island club days. They grew up listening to classic metal bands like Maiden, Priest, and Metallica. Emanuele answered an ad the guys put out and brought the hardcore edge.

One fateful night, the wisecracking working class troublemakers had just finished playing a show in Queens, pummeling a packed crowd of sweaty headbangers and hardcore kids with their distinctive brand of comedy metal.
As they stood outside the club afterward, talking trash with a few friends, a woman casually made her way through their small group, then dove into the dumpster. As she rummaged around, legs dangling, drummer Chris Califano snapped a photo. The rest of the band crowded around his phone to have a look and the consensus was clear and immediate: “There’s our album cover!”

Buffalo wings, Diet Pepsi, pizza, beer, and a tiny bit of kale (somebody’s wife gets a little bossy!) power the East Coast’s most boisterous musical wrecking crew. As Forman puts it with non-paralleled eloquence, “We’re just four fat knuckleheads from New York who like to eat, drink, and play stupid music.”

Everyone is invited to the JACKPIPE party. The band’s short songs, catchy riffs, delicious hooks, good humor, and unrelenting groove connect across multiple genres and subcultures, like the subway connects the boroughs. 

LARRY FORMAN – Vocals
DOM EMANUELE – Guitar
RICH STRENG – Bass
CHRIS CALIFANO – Drums 


 

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