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Thursday: Pallbearer & Royal Thunder at Ace of Cups

Pallbearer with Royal Thunder and Before the Eyewall play their only Ohio date at Ace of Cups on Thursday, September 13. Doors are at 8pm, show at 8:30. Tickets are $8 in advance (at Ace of Cups), $10 at the door.

How many times have I reviewed an instrumental band saying, “Not bad but find it hard to write more than a few words about the ebb and flow of the music. If they had vocals, there would be something I could latch onto and at least discuss that”? Arkansas’s Pallbearer has taken the metal instrumental sound (think of a heavier, doomier Mogwai) and added what could best (best? maybe not, but the best I can do) be described as early Ozzy-like vocals more for effect than for the listener to grab onto and singalong with.

On the current tour, sponsored by Scion A/V, Pallbearer is joined by (slipping into my Bill & Ted voice) the most excellent Royal Thunder who I had the great fortunate of interviewing earlier this year prior to the show at Ace of Cups with Baroness. For my money (and I’m sure some will disagree), Royal Thunder stole the show as Mlny Parsonz led the band through an amazing set of classic hard rock/stonerish anthems that I describe to the uninitiated as early Ann Wilson (Heart) fronting Led Sabbath.

Interview: Royal Thunder

Royal Thunder opens for Baroness at Ace of Cups on Wednesday night. The Facebook event page says doors open at 8, with Royal Thunder going on at 8:30. Tickets are $15 at the door.

On heavy rotation in my ears the past few weeks has been an advance copy of Royal Thunder’s CVI which Relapse Records will be releasing in all sorts of different formats (sorry, no cassettes) on May 22. In simple terms, the Atlanta band sounds like Ann Wilson of Heart fronting Led Sabbath – Royal Thunder obviously influenced by the early stoner rock bands of the ’70s.

Already making a wave in Atlanta and the south – where heavy music is thriving – Royal Thunder’s been invited to join Baroness on a few dates in the next week including a Columbus show at Ace of Cups on Wednesday night, giving the four-piece an opportunity to try new material out in front of metal-loving crowds.

Singer/bassist Mlny Parsonz was kind enough to answer questions via email and she responded within an hour of receiving them which makes for the quickest response I’ve ever received when conducting interviews this way.

I have 3 kids and I won’t answer the question, “Which is your favorite?” because each one brings joy to my life in a different way. BUT … I’m asking you to pick – If Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin both announced reunion tours running the entire summer of 2012 and somebody owed your booking agent a huge favor and gave you the option of opening one of these tours, which one would you pick and why?

When I was in high school, some friends and I piled into a van and drove to PA to see the Black Sabbath reunion tour with Pantera in the late ‘90s. So we pull into PA and turn on the local rock station only to hear the DJ say “The Sabbath show is canceled due to Ozzy having voice issues”. Being a HUGE Sabbath fan, I was surprised at how much I hated them at that moment. We went to a hockey game instead; I walked away a Pittsburgh Penguins fan(!) and finished off the night drinking booze, and sulking while we watched “What Dreams May Come”. Our tickets were good for the reschedule in ATL, so we eventually did get to see ‘em and needless to say it ruled.

Saw Page and Plant in the late ‘90s as well! They were doing some homoerotic tour together and I enjoyed every bit of that sexy display while smoking PCP.

All this to say, what was the better show? Sabbath. Who would I wanna tour with? Zeppelin. Sabbath. Zeppelin. Sabbath. Well fuck, what came first, the chicken or the egg? That’s how I feel about this question. Ha. Legends man, LEGENDS!!
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