So, what is “Guitar Shred” and who is The Great Kat? For those of you who might not be familiar with The Great Kat, all I can say is beware. Kat is a classically trained violinist and after performing for a bit decided that classical music was ‘dead’ and needed to be revamped and re-introduced to the world in a newer and more invigorating way. She takes classical music pieces and transcribes and reworks them into her own style known as guitar shred. Guitar Shred is basically, music that is played on guitar with extreme accuracy and technical ability. Throw in a dominatrix wardrobe, some blood and gore and sheer balls out intensity and you are almost close to what The Great Kat is. This woman is not for the weak and neither is her music or videos for that matter. This DVD release features six highly-charged and seriously intense music videos for her Guitar Shred style and classical violin virtuosity. This DVD isn’t for everyone, and if you get a little squeamish at gory scenes in movies, then be advised to stay away. For those of you who are willing to accept the challenge and view this disc you will be rewarded with an amazing talent who is a cut above the rest when it comes to speed metal styled guitar playing. The Great Kat and her music is a must hear for those who are interested in being a lead guitarist in a thrash metal band… or any band for that matter.

Again, like The Great Kat “Extreme Guitar Shred” DVD, this release isn’t for everyone. It is in fact for those who have an appreciation for classical music, fast and heavy music and music composition in general. Guitar One Magazine didn’t dub her one of the “Top 10 Fastest Shredders of All Time” for no reason. This woman is an animal on the guitar and violin. I remember growing up and hearing how wild Ted Nugent was… all I have to say to that is The great Kat would chew up the Nuge and spit him out onto the ground without even blinking.

This seven track masterpiece is chocked full of overly intense music and lyrics that can ignite a fire under your tail quicker than setting a flame to your gas soaked Levis. Her version of, Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody #2” is featured in “Coming Attractions” a comedic movie that is due out this spring. Each track is blistering and unmatched when it comes to guitar playing talent. I strongly urge guitarists and musicians alike to take stock in what The Great Kat has on the market.

Logos
In the Silence
2005

Grade: A

This seven song disc is packed full of excellent musicianship and songwriting by this St. Louis area trio. “The Lonely Man”, is still one of my favorite songs in the past… oh, I dunno say 20 years. These guys really have it together and it truly shows on this effort. I expect nothing but great things for these guys in the future. Get this disc while you can!

The Cut-Offs
American Standard
2005

Grade: A

Oh yes, the Cut-Offs are a group that comes through loud and clear on this release. Very good songs, not catchy enough to come across as some weak sounding punk band, but catchy enough to get your head bobbin and your feet moving. This CD is loaded down with thirteen fist in the ear songs and is definitely worth your time to check out.

The Cut-Offs
Fat, Drunk and Angry
2003

Grade: A

This is the disc that was release prior to “American Standard”, but this is the Cut-Offs that I have been listening to on the newest disc. Great songs with classic Greg Ginn like guitar riffs and overall punk rock how it should be; short and to the point. Check out the Cut-Offs if you are into any kind of punk music, I’m sure you will enjoy them!

The Ray Gradys
Better Loud Fast and Live!
2005

Grade: A

This band flat out rocks! This disc is packed full of awesome up-tempo and driving punk songs that will either make you slap yourself silly or pogo around the house like a madman. This has to be one of my new favorite bands I am very eager to see what’s these guys have up their sleeves for years to come.

Bodisartha
Find Yourself Getting Lost
2006

Grade: A

This trio brings some solid rock to the table on this full-length release. Mixing various rock influences and styles that remind me a lot of Nirvana, Bodisartha, has some great songs. They display sheer talent and grace on this twelve song disc, which is a must have for fans of groups like Seether, Breaking Benjamin and of course Nirvana. Be sure to check out the bands website for some information about getting the CD or you can just go ahead and buy it from amazon.com Go ahead, get this disc. I am certain you will love it.

Q. I see that your latest effort, "Take A Lick, Take A Bite" is only available on Napster and iTunes. What can you tell us about it?

A. ITS only available pretty much on the internet, aside from Fat Beats, NYC and Beat Streets, Brooklyn because I don’t have a major label or a distribution deal. The internet is a great thing for artists.. especially ones who don’t want to ass kick the system or pay with the clothes off their back to be a puppet!

Q. How does it feel to be known more throughout the world than in your home country of the US?

A. Well now as far as myspace is concerned, I have over 20,000 fans, and I think most of them are American... not all..

Q. You already have another project finished, but not available for release yet. Are you planning on putting out 'hardcopies' of it, or are you planning on just having it for download?

A. I have two more projects finished. One is 22 tracks called "The Attack" but my producer wants to wait to see if we get a label before we drop it fully. We'll release about 5 or 6 of the tracks on iTunes, Napster or Rhapsody in a few weeks. The second one is my newest album I’m about to record. That makes 6 underground albums. The last 2 should be Platinum..

Q. I read that you might be heading over to the UK soon. Is that for a tour, or will it be for an extended length of time?

A. I have some major interest over there with radios. labels, and DJs. I’m still in discussion.

Q. Who would you say are one of your biggest influences both musically and non-musical?

A. Life.. I get my lyrics from reality..

Q. What can we find you listening to these days?

A. Always got the newest mixed tapes, I hear what’s hot (like Juvenile, Sean Paul and T.I).. but I got my steady diet of Redman.

Q. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about you or your

music?

A. My CD “Take a Lick Take a Bite”, was recorded in Brazil from 2003-5

and when I got back to Brooklyn, I passed out my copyrighted traxs to major people, and now major people have bitten me and licked me to the extent that I have over 89 counts of copyright infringement. For example If u just listen to "Crazy Dreams" you will hear the exact beat

of 50 Cent "This is How We Do" and if u see on my first track on “Take a

Lick Take a Bite“, "This is How We Do" 2003 ( JAH JAH) the biggest problem now that we have an official lawsuit on Dr. Dre, 50 Cent and all label affiliates is that they "MASSACRED” me so good, because Dr. Dre officially goes to expensive musicologist to make sure that the tracks are not obvious to the public ear.. and we went and paid

to one of the very few musicologists that Dre went to, and we got the

traxs thrown back in our poor faces. It takes money to make it.. so they say.. and 50s got rich off me! So did Eminem, D-12, Missy, G-Unit, Ne-Yo, The Game, Fat Joe, L7....is this fair..? to be the most bitten and under respected artists out there!

Hip Hop is about stealing and all that, but come on... It’s only cool when

the artist they are stealing from has a reputation already… not a poor

struggling artist…

Q. Who are you and what do you do in the band?

A. I'm Barry Donegan. I'm the vocalist or whatever you call it.

Q. How did the name, "Look What I Did" come about? A. Its named by this girl, Sasha Owens, who was, I guess, 2 years old at the time. Her mother is a friend and asked her what to name it, and there it was. It’s a command, which is cool, and has the kind of attitude we have, the whole "I need attention real bad, I’ll do anything to get it" vibe. hahaha.

Q. What would you like to tell us about your CD, "Minuteman for the Moment"?

A. We put a lot of effort into it, its got a lot of strange chords, and melodic contrast and other stuff that I don't think a lot of people notice right away. All the songs are very serious and about something frighteningly real and I think everyone thinks they're humorous because either I'm f**ked up, or they are.

Q. What are some of your goals as a band in 2006 and beyond?

A. To get this record out there to people via touring, then hit the studio and make a really detailed record that's more direct and frightening than this one.

Q. Who would you say is one of your biggest influences both musically and non-musical?

A. Fear. Luckily less and less by each day. Maybe one day I won't be influenced by that at all! I think Minuteman is our "least-influenced-by-fear" record yet. And I don't mean the L.A. Hardcore band Fear. I mean the concept.

Q. If you could be anyone in world history, besides yourself, who would you be? Why?

A. I wake up every day and spend every bit of energy I have making sure I'm not anyone else in world history. Its probably my biggest fault as a person.

Q. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about LWID?

A. There's really about a million things I'd like to tell you. A lot of them I'm afraid to. Some things I don't want u to know that are true. Some things I want to tell you, but I'd rather you just find out yourself. but to keep it simple I’ll kiss babies and wave and tell you to hit the stores and pick up "Minuteman for the Moment" and to catch us on tour, well be hitting the entire US throughout April, May and June, and probably all over again in July!

Look What I Did-www.ihatelookwhatidid.com

Marc-Keyboards
Mike Festa-drums
Craig-guitar

Q. How did you come up with the name Immortally Committed?
A. (Mike)That’s all Craig
(Craig)I thought of it as a name for a song and a drummer I was playing with at the time said we should call the band that.

Q. How can we get our hands on some Immortally Committed music and merchandise?
A. (Mike) Hopefully soon
(Craig) That’s something we will definitely be looking into soon because we have about 30 songs recorded that where never properly put out there and I get asked all the time for CDs.

Q. Mike, you are now doing the Horns High NY Chapter. Would you care to explain to us what Horns High is about?
A. (Mike)HHNY is taking off quite well, I’ve booked about 8 shows so far! I’m working on building a arsenal of LI NY best metal bands!
(Craig) Cool thing Mike’s getting into here and a lot of local metal bands are gonna benefit from it and get some exposure.

Q. What are some of your goals for the band in 2006 and beyond?
A. (Mark) It’s really been great getting out and playing shows. I've never been part of something like this, it's very exciting.
(Mike) To keep gigging write some more tunes and record.
(Craig) Get some merchandise for shows and write and record some new songs.

Q. If you could be anyone in world history who would you be? Why?
A. (Mike) John Bonham, cause he is the master of rock drums !
(Craig) Black Sabbath.

Q. What are you listening to these days?
A. (Mike) Aerosmith right now.
(Craig) the past week I’ve been listening to the new Venom CD.

Q. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about IC?
A. (Mike) Marc has brought a new dimension to the band with his melodic keyboards. The band hasn’t played in about a year, then we had one practice and have been gigging since! This is a new Immortal ,that will be gigging 2-3 times a month.
(Craig) We where on a little hiatus for a year or so and now we are doing it again and we added keyboards which is something I wanted to add for a while and we have a good time hanging and playing music and that’s what its all about with me and people seem to like it as well.

Immortally Committed- www.myspace.com/immortallycommitted

Q. Who are you and what do you do in the band?
CO- I’m Cullen ODonnell and I play the guitars and sing the words.
JS- I’m Jimmy Sgroi and I play the drums.
ZC- I’m Zach Czajkowski and I play the bass guitar.

Q. How did you decide on the name Logos?
A. CO- Ah man, the naming was so bad. It took us forever to find something that seemed good enough. Everything we came up with just didn’t seem to fit us. But then, we found this word LOGOS in the newspaper. Finding out the meaning and things came later. It had a cool sound to it and it stuck.

Q. When you guys write songs, do you come up with some riffs and then pen lyrics to them or do one of you come in with some words and then write a song around the lyrics?
A. CO- The songs can come about in different ways. The majority of our music comes to life through jamming together for about an hour and then what we remember is what we arrange. Then lyrics are written which on the album are all mine but Jimmy and Zach have written some great things too that were sort of saving for later. Also, there have been times where either me or Zach will write and arrange something bring it in, and Jimmy will add his spin on shtuff.
JS- Most of the time someone will come up with some random beat off the top of his head. Well keep adding on and alter that main beat/riff to different things. Sometimes well stop and someone will say, play it this way, or try it this way, or can you speed it up or add something in there. Well eventually develop different choruses and verses for things and just make a song. We usually don’t work off lyrics or anything, someone will write some, and we just put it to one of the songs that have been in development.

Q. Is there anything you'd like to tell us about the new CD that you guys just put out??
A. CO- Go buy it! Haha. Well there is an interesting story behind it. We had all of these tunes already, but we were performing them at a Mississippi Nights (St. Louis, Missouri) gig one night and the awesome Modern Day Zero just happened to be there. We met them and they said we were pretty good, but a few days later we got a call and they told us about their Trailer Studios. We went out to have a look and it seemed perfect for recording this album. We chose the spot and began recording with Scott and Rich. We had a lot of fun. Those guys helped us out a bunch.
JS- The CD was really fun to make. It was fun to see how a CD is actually made and produced and how so much time and money goes into making a good high quality CD. Scott and Rich are great guys and truly helped us out a lot. Them having a lot of experience really helped us.
A. ZC- If we didn’t have Scott or Rich we would have been up a creek without a paddle. They are awesome and were always willing to help. They are very cool guys.


Q. If you could be anyone in world history who would you be? Why?
A. CO- Alan Parsons. How sweet would it be to engineer the recordings of The Beatles and Pink Floyd?
JS- Neil Peart. He has gone though so many times and is an all around legend. He is really smart and his books are great. He is a phenomenal drummer.
ZC- Definitely John Deacon (Queen Bassist). He has some of the sickest lines and fills I have ever heard. I try to model my playing off of his. I also model my playing off of Geezer Butler.

Q. What are you guys listening to these days?
A. CO- I’ve recently become a huge Genesis fan. A Trick of the Tail is a great album. Also, which can probably be heard in the album, I love The Floyd. Anything Pink Floyd is cool. The Mars Volta are really good too. I love that band and I really wish they would come to St. Louis some time. So, obviously I really like prog rock.
JS- I’ve been getting into a lot of Coheed and Cambria lately. At fist I didn’t like them because of the singers voice, but I warmed up to it and actually enjoy it now. Dream Theater is another great band I really enjoy listening to. Most people would get bored listening to them cause their songs are long and are just jams, but every single person in that band is so musically talented its unbelievable the kind of music they make. J.S.
ZC- Lately I have been listening to Dream Theater and as Jimmy has said they are kickass musicians. Rush another one of my favorites, Queen, Pink Floyd definitely, and of course YES. But the band I love is definitely Styx. Early and old Styx is still rockin.

Q. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about Logos?
A. CO- We’ve had a pretty crazy first year. The band is still young and we still have a ton more to show. Looking forward to a long career in music.
JS- As Cullen said, for it only being our first year Id say we’ve done exceptionally well. Id go to shows at Mississippi Nights before I had even known Cullen and Zach, and I always thought that it would be so amazing to just stand on that stage. I never ever thought that it would happen to me, at least not for our second show together!
ZC- It’s amazing to me that we are where we are. I’m looking forward to the future. I love playing and I hope Ill be playing the rest of my life.

Grindscape- “Overwhelm”
Fists of Phoenix- “In the Events of 1961
AnaDies- “Formamentum”
With Faith or Flames- “Tyler Orr demos”
Deadlock- “Earth.Revolt”