Very High Frequencies

Episode: 194 - Tool

VHF-194 (TOOL) Very High Frequencies is demonstrating the musical and lyrical evolution of one of Alternative Music’s heaviest hitters, very long running L.A. four piece, Tool. 
From their first E.P., released in 1992, the band have consistently raged against the machine. First single Hush called out Tipper Gore’s PMRC for its blatant censorship of rock and rap songs. Out-shocking the other bands of the era, tours grew exponentially with their quickly expanding audience enthralled as the musicians took the listener’s on an ever changing progressive sound. I should like to point out that several band members have said in interviews that their increasingly prog rock sound was directly inspired by their musical heroes and tour mates, King Crimson. 
Vocalist Maynard James Keenan also progressed from early snot nosed shout outs and f-bombs to poetically pontificating on the possibilities of self enlightenment and spiritual awakening. Rather than lashing out at society perhaps looking within is the better - although more difficult - option. 
We will be playing some of the big hits but a majority of the show will be highlighting deep cuts. Songs can stretch out so have your beverages ready! 
Tracks selected from ‘92’s Opiate, ‘93’s Undertow, ‘96’s AEnima, 2001’s Lateralus, 2006’s 10,000 Days and 2019’s Fear Inoculum. 
- Not Dead Yet Mike

Episode 193: Robert Fripp

Very High Frequencies 193 (Robert Fripp) explores a small amount of the guitar craft Mr Robert Fripp has created in his long musical journey. We are highlighting some of the work Robert has released outside of his hugely popular musical collaborations with the various permutations of King Crimson. VHF is ping ponging between instrumental tracks both solo and with other musicians as well as songs featuring a who’s who of international vocalists. Many well known rock staples are propelled via the unique sounds of Mr. Fripp. His guitar can be heard alongside tracks by Bowie, Eno, Nick Cave with Grinderman, Blondie, Daryl Hall, Steven Wilson & Porcupine Tree, Peter Gabriel, Peter Hammill, and a bunch of other amazing and talented artists that are all represented on this episode of Very High Frequencies. It’s  an all Robert Fripp show that Not Dead Yet Mike has called “Robert Fripp - Monstrously Heroic, Heroically Monstrous.” Check it out and discover why this articulate, well mannered, and highly productive gentleman deserves your attention. Listen in utter and complete awe as you too will realize why this legendary musician is so appreciated by people all over the world.

Episode: 192 The Scorpions

VHF-192 (Scorpions 74-78) explores the early era of legendary German rockers Scorpions. Before they achieved huge success with power ballads like Rock Me Like A Hurricane and sing along chants such as Winds Of Change the band actually rocked hard. 
Backstory in 1972 they released a morose psychedelic album called Lonesome Crow. It didn’t sell well, mainly appreciated by heads and freaks. Bad trip psychosis isn’t exactly everyone’s thing. Rhythm guitarist Rudolf Schenker, Scorpions founder,  invited his 16 year old brother Michael to play lead guitar. They hit the road opening for fellow psychonauts UFO. By tours end the members of UFO had charmed Michael into quitting Scorpions and joining UFO to quite a successful career. 
That’s when Rudolf, via Michael’s suggestion, hired Hendrix disciple Uli Jon Roth to play lead guitar, slide guitar and vocals. With Ulrich Roth in the group the songs changed towards psychedelic hard rock. Between 1974 and 1978 Uli Jon Roth and the rest of the Scorpions released four studio albums and the mandatory Japanese live album. We will check out 1974’s Fly To The Rainbow, 75’s In Trance, 76’s Virgin Killer, 77’s Taken By Force and 1978’s live album Tokyo Tapes. 
By the end of the 1978 Japanese tour Uli was not enjoying the direction other members of the band were taking their music. He quit, they hired a melodic guitarist and made it big in a commercial sense. 
We at Very High Frequencies appreciate the heavy early era of Scorpions and have put together a sampling of all of the Uli Jon Roth era albums. 
The day after Not Dead Yet Mike put this show together it was announced that after many years the phenomenal guitarist Uli Jon Roth is touring North America. He announced that after all these decades every Scorpions album he played on has just been rereleased on vinyl, as well as his post Scorpions band Electric Sun. Full disclosure, Not Dead Yet Mike even scored two third row tickets to see him live in May. Serendipity is real! Keep your frequencies high!

Episode:191 Altsentials

VHF-191 (Altsentials 101) is one essential track from some iconic Alternative Music artists. Hugely successful bands like The Cure, Killing Joke, Siouxsie and The Banshees, and Echo & The Bunnymen get the one and done treatment. Lesser known but influential artists get a chance to represent as well. American Death Rockers Christian Death, The Cramps and T.S.O.L. bring a goth punk sensibility that gels well with English outfits Joy Division, Bauhaus and The Sisters Of Mercy. First wave artists and bands are given a single track as well. David Bowie & Roxy Music have songs from the early seventies. Suicide, Ramones, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols and Hawkwind all gave songs from 1977. Alice Cooper goes high wire new wave in 1980. Peter Gabriel, King Crimson and Kate Bush illuminate with pop prog masterpieces. Nine Inch Nails fire up their pretty hate machine and Type O Negative are always ready for Halloween. Skinny Puppy gnaws on a bone while Gary Numan & Tubeway Army hang down in the park. Ministry share a sermon about thieves and The Lords Of The New Church remind you to open your eyes. And Henry Rollins wants you to know that Black Flag is throwing a TV party tonight! VHF-191 (Altsentials 101)

Epsiode: 190 Nine Inch Nails

VHF-190 (Nine Inch Nails - Cleveland Rocks!) manages to sample a track from nearly every single Halo release in the band’s phenomenally successful career. 
If you weren’t there you might not realize that their debut single Down In It announced it’s get go to the dancefoor right away. Freaks and dead enders, goths, cheerleaders and industrial hard cores, even metal dudes found something to like on the very first album and accompanying singles. Vinyl was still quite popular in 1989. Teenage angst dissipates with some audio scream psycho therapy. Coming down is hard in a drug hysteria fueled dance of near death mayhem. 
Nine Inch Nails started out opening for horror movie synth psychos Skinny Puppy. Trent wrote Down In It as his own version of Puppy’s dark dirge Dig It. Complete with fishnet, big ass Doc Martens and guyliner, perhaps a little white powder to liven up the mood. Did we mention MTV picked up on the antisocial sexually ambiguous pretty boys first album, 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine? 
With a couple cool music videos out when such things still mattered, main man Trent Reznor made quite a splash with his glitchy voodoo angst diatribe set to pulsating rhythms. His musical hero Robert Smith alluded to his own animalistic urges but Trent spelt it out in uncertain terms. That’s right, he wanted to fuck you like an animal. What, exactly could go wrong? 
Perhaps another bit of white powder to liven up your mood?
Nearly every release by Nine Inch Nails proper gets their moment in this week’s episode of Very High Frequencies. Remixes, hits, deep cuts and movie soundtrack one offs show the incredible range Mr. Reznor has displayed over the decades. 
Flash forward  past rehabs. Can he still make music people like? Still fresh, still cutting edge. Family man, now long clean and sober, the goddamn rock and roll Robert Downey Jr. Trent beat the odds and did not follow Kurt and the other ghost rock casualties. 
These days he may be more known for his hugely successful career with musical partner Atticus Ross, making award winning Hollywood movie soundtracks and scores. We will save that part of Trent’s career for another VHF so that we can fully focus on a slice of alternative music’s output over nearly every Halo release. 
In conclusion, we stipulate that yes, thanks to musicians like Trent Reznor we can say with confidence that Cleveland does indeed rock. Let’s hear it for Nine Inch Nails! They’re good!

Episode: 189 - Inter Arma

VHF-189 (Inter Arma) introduces a progressive metal band out of Richmond, Virginia. Active since 2006, the group has a new album out next month. We will be checking out the title track but before that annihilates your eardrums Not Dead Yet Mike is playing a selection of songs from earlier  albums and EP’s, mainly material released in the last decade. Heavy rhythmic drumming is the foundation for songs that often weave in a tribal or militaristic pattern. Twin guitars trade melodic leads while the bass roams subsonic frequencies. The vocals are a mixture of clean and death metal. The group has released a covers album so we’re going to hear the group interpret Ministry, Neil Young, Nine Inch Nails and a few others. Occasionally tunes can last well over ten minutes. There’s even a 45 minute long song called The Cavern that has elements of classic prog rock interspersing with very heavy sections. Keyboard flourishes bring a Pink Floyd type of sound into the mix. Very High Frequencies aims to enlighten the listeners to a fascinating alternative metal outfit that is doing their own thing while nodding to the music that they loved to rock out to.

Epsiode: 188 The Electric Hellfire Club

Very High Frequencies flashes back to The Electric Hellfire Club. (VHF-188 EHC) More psycho than psychedelic, the group of devil worshipping serial killer sampling no goodniks was a bit too much back in 1991. In a time before metal lite outfit Ghost made it big shouting at the devil and the dark lord Marilyn Manson was just a spooky kid Thomas Thorn aka Buck Ryder departed My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. With his new cohorts they made an evil doppelgänger band that ramped up the Devil mojo with horror movie samples. From 1991 to 2002 the band tried to be shocking and toured with like minded freaks. With their forked tongues firmly in cheek the Satan shtick morphed towards Norwegian Black Metal industrial by 2002, which was perhaps too much for the dance clubs. Very High Frequencies slices through the heart of the band’s catalog. Social commentary is weaved throughout the lyrics. Comedy gold lies within the odes to Evil. Heavy but melodic keyboards and guitars rock out in between serial killer prison confessions and B movie soundbites. Charles Manson and his Family feature quite a lot. EHC also did a Hell of a lot of cover songs. Mostly each cover song happens to be about Satan but Bela Lugosi gets a shoutout too. Come for the decadence - that may seem quaint by today’s standards - but do what thou wilt and enjoy the revolting black humor of the bad boys and girls, The Electric Hellfire Club.

Episode: 187 Jane's Addiction

VHF-187 (Jane’s Addiction) takes the Very High Frequencies trip backwards through time to reverberate the golden daze of 1991, the year of alternative music’s Woodstock. That is the first incarnation of Lollapalooza, featuring as the final biggest band, L.A.’s Jane’s Addiction. 
Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Stephen Perkins and Eric Avery led a freakshow caravan across North America. Deadheads, metal dudes and Cure fans mixed together with every conceivable counter culture possibility. No wonder their breakout studio album from 1988 was titled Nothing’s Shocking. Been there, injected that. Sex, drugs and rock and roll, that’s all my body needs. 
In 1990 MTV found some less lyrically offensive material on Jane’s follow up album, Ritual De Lo Habitual. Constant video rotation propelled the band to success and the opportunity for a lavish lifestyle. Sadly that lifestyle was nearly a death style for some of the band members. Friction between the users and the clean caused the group to dissolve. 
That is until members could get control of their habits. 
By the time the band released their third studio album, 2003’s Strays, the buzz was forgotten by many and it seemed the group’s momentum had dissipated. VHF gives the record a second chance and determines it packs a punch. Strays is produced by Dave Navarro’s childhood hero, the legendary Bob Ezrin, the man that produced Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd and a zillion others at their career apexes.
Fourth studio album The Great Escape Artist came out in 2011. It managed to retain the high energy buzz of the original releases while utilizing modern recording technology. Not Dead Yet Mike gives the album a fair shake and plays a few personal favorites.
A few early live songs from the 1987 self titled album demonstrate the band’s unique approach to music. Cover songs reveal the band’s influences. The sounds created by Lou Reed, the Stones, and the Grateful Dead can all be heard in some of the group’s own songs.
Expect some of the hits but stay for the whole party because you may just be wholly impressed. Check it out this week on Very High Frequencies Jane’s Addiction show.

Very High Frequencies: 186 Valentine's Day Show - We Heart You!)

Episode 186 (Valentine’s Day Show - We Heart You!) celebrates Cupid’s big day with sometimes mushy love songs by a bunch of alternative artists. We’ve got tunes about being your boyfriend, being your girlfriend, wanting your best friend’s girl and fear not, we have more than one song about digging your girlfriend’s girlfriend. 
A set of songs mentioning hearts examines the holiday in a slightly different angle. Finally we will hear some heartfelt laments that call out the Muse herself, Love, in their titles. 
Just some of this week’s contributors include The Sisters Of Mercy, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Queen, Ramones, Kate Bush, The Cure, The The, Peter Gabriel, PJ Harvey, King Crimson, Blondie, Depeche Mode, The Cramps, The Cars, Type O Negative, Peter Murphy, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Echo & The Bunnymen, Crocodiles, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Todd Rundgren, and a few more surprises. It seems just about everyone has an opinion to express concerning their views on Love and Romance.
Join Not Dead Yet Mike for a fun & festive party! We’re having a Very High Frequencies Valentine’s Day show this week, and you’re cordially invited because we heart you!

Episode: 186 - Queens Of The Stone Age

VHF-185 (QOTSA) is a two hour trip through Josh Hommes’ long running band, Queens Of The Stone Age. Each album in their catalog gets a couple/few tracks highlighted, along with a few b-sides from EP’s and singles. There will be unexpected cover songs performed too. When choosing material to cover clearly the band members said Never Say Never. Tune in to hear the range and variety the group exhibits. Not a band to repeat themselves, each album has it’s own unique personality. Last year’s highly acclaimed album, In Times New Roman, is featured prominently. In typical Very High Frequency fashion don’t expect an onslaught string of their biggest hits solely from their two best selling albums, Rated R and Songs For The Deaf. Of course you’ll hear some of your favorites from those albums, but they’ll be packed in between somewhat under-appreciated deep cuts and perhaps even a track from an obscure Josh Homme side project with former members of famous rock bands. Not to reveal too much information but let’s say Nirvana and Led Zeppelin. Come for the Hits & stay for the highly enjoyable entertainment, this week on Very High Frequencies, Queens Of The Stone Age Show. Crank it up, dude!