by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
What: Alabama Thunderpussy
When: March 20th @ 8PM
Where: Jack Rabbits
Wondering where all the gritty, down-and-dirty, over the top heavy metal has gone? It’s still around, and it’s a scene that’s gaining momentum in response to all those whiney emo-esque bands.
One such pure metal band is Alabama Thunderpussy, a band that should receive accolades based on their name alone. They were formed a little over ten years ago in ’96. I got the chance to speak with drummer Bryan Cox, one of the founding members, for an EU interview.
Of course, I asked the inevitable question: Where did the name come from? Cox, who came up with the name, told the story of how he discovered it during school.
“I had…a roommate back in college who had a pretty extensive collection of weird horror movies and kind of underground films. I never even saw the thing, but he told me about some horror movie from the ‘70s that had a transvestite in it named Alabama Thunderpussy and I thought it was just a pretty hilarious, hot band name.”
Their name and music aren’t the only things that are massively epic. On their latest album cover for Open Fire, my favorite out of all their cover art, they feature an illustration of a Norse warrior in massive battle. It looks as though it has been lifted straight from the pages of the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Cox said that the band had an idea of the kind of picture that they wanted while the album was still in progress. They looked at art from different artists, but finally settled on fantasy artist Ken Kelly. The work wasn’t commissioned especially for the album but was a pre-existing oil that Kelly had in his archives. Kelly has done album covers for a number of rock bands, including KISS, Rising for Rambo and the Man of War album cover.
“He’s just on old school bad-ass fantasy artist…We figured we’d go straight to the source and get the real deal…I’m stoked, I think it looks great. We wanted something this time around that was kind of over the top, something that makes people make a second take when they look at it.”
Like most bands over 10 years old, ATP has had more than their fair share of line-up changes. They’ve switched singers 3 times and have gone through even more bass players. Most of the band members left the band on good terms except for the band’s very first bass player, who Cox admits “was an a**hole.” Their current singer, Kyle Thomas, joined the band just as they were putting together riffs for Open Fire. Thomas joined them as they recorded and is now fronting the band as they tour. His Judas Priest-like vocals throw a new light on the band’s normally Southern tinged grit-rock. In range and style, Thomas is one of the best metal vocalists I’ve come across recently. He can be melodic and yet scream artfully, as he does for part of the CD.
To get a feel for the band, you might want to go online and take a look at their music video, ‘Words of the Dying Man,’ which harkens back to old school music videos featuring a house party at which the band would play. Cox said that during filming, “it kind of turned into a real party.”
Catch Alabama Thunderpussy live at Jack Rabbits this Tuesday as part of their tour to promote their newest album, Open Fire.
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