By: Mike Abominator
I have heard a few things about this magazine over the last month or so. It is brought to us by some of the people that work on the website The Left Hand Path, which is a site that is often entertaining as well as informative. Much like this website, the Chips & Beer magazine almost seems like the “cool guys at the metal party”. They don’t talk to just anyone. They only like “certain” bands. There is arrogance about them. There is some debate at times with some of these types of sites and zines. Like, are the people that run the show really just scensters disguised as old school die hards? At times some of these folk just try too hard to be “underground” or “old school”. For example, some of the pictures that were taken of the zine here are in front of an old cassette tape collection. This screams “WE ARE BAD ASS! WE ARE COOL!” hahahaha. To be honest, I have NO idea, I don’t know the people who run it. Plus I have an attitude like that at times and I would take a picture of shit in front of a cool collection myself! hehehe. I think my band is probably too boring and “party death metal” for them, maybe not EVIL and MYSTERIOUS enough, hahaha. But who gives a fuck about what people say or think in the end. Quality shit is quality shit and these guys do quality shit. If memory serves me correctly, my friend Matt “Putrid” Carr had a post about being featured in this zine. He mentioned that it was a killer interview and the zine itself would also be pretty killer. That peaked my interest for sure. There was a nice buzz about the zine and some of the response was both positive AND negative, which I got into already with what has been said. But I was still curious, so when I ran into a copy up in Portland I had to check it out. While on tour with Impiety, and at one of my all time favorite bars, PLAN B in the PDX, we had set up a merch booth with our good friend Timmy from a thousand Portland bands and also Parasitic Records. Someone had left a stack of the zines on the pool table/merch table. So during breaks in the action, I would read the zine. At that point I was sold and I was a fan of this mag.
Let me be honest here. I don’t agree with 100% of what these guys say or put out there. I mean, do you really need THAT long of a Negative Plane interview? Good band, but are they THAT good? The features on Christian Mistress and Vanhelg are similar. Nothing against these bands, just interesting choices I guess. I can see what they are trying to do as far as cover some DIFFERENT stuff than the usual, but CM gets a lot of press as it is, but to each their own for sure. Whatever, they are obviously fans of these bands and it shines through with the way the interviews turn out. Some of the reviews are cocky and a waste of space. But as a fellow cocky reviewer myself at times, I can’t talk too much shit on THAT one! Hahaha. The AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” DVD review is confusing at times. It’s as if a back woods ass/redneck Harmony Korrine wrote it. Is that a BAD thing? NAHHHHHH, it’s cool! But there are some fucking gems in here that just RULE. It all starts off with my pal Annick Giroux and her husband Francois giving some cool drink concoctions. Then my boy Putrid gets in the mix with a killer spread about what he does in the art/horror/music world. Next up is a killer feature on Eerie Von. It is done in a full comic book layout type deal that is fucking awesome! After the Negative Plane interview, there is a cool feature on my Glorious Times friends Brian Pattison and Alan Moses. Then there is a rad interview with Bobby Liebling talking about music collections, influences, as well as the normal Pentagram talk. Then comes the true gem of the issue, and I need to thank these guys on this one. The centerpiece of the mag is a big ass feature on Manilla Road. It has an amazing interview with Mark Shelton. It has some amazing pictures. And it has a killer timeline and breakdown of events in the career of the band and focuses on key albums (MOST of them) in the band’s discography. It is one of the best articles I have seen on a band. I think the conviction and heart really came through on this one!
There is more with a cool talk with the awesome artist Benjamin Vierling. The Christian Mistress and Vanhelgd interviews are there, with the AC/DC review that follows. The reviews show up towards the end of the zine and include everything from Cavalera Conspiracy (?) to Deceased. This also includes a cool review of the obscure Italian metal band Black Hole (does anyone remember the killer “Land of Mystery” album from the mid 80s?) This review covers the “Behind the Gravestone” box set that came out this year on the killer label that specializes in that kind of thing, Area Death Productions. There is a comic book/cartoon type spread that closes the zine out. All in all, this concept and idea RULES and should bring a whole new form of entertainment to the NEW generation of kids, to enjoy reading a REAL zine that is actually on paper. The “publisher’s note” in the beginning says things like: “Chips & Beer has been birthed to correct some of the wrongs with today’s metal mags. Too much SHIT is being covered.” It goes on more in depth with the gospel, and I fucking agree with it! It is a diatribe not much different than what I spew forth at times with the state of today’s heavy metal. The overall writing contained in the zine is clever and funny, and very well done. Even if I don’t always agree with their musical tastes, I look forward to meeting these fuckers, hanging out and talking metal. This mag is fucking killer and I look forward to getting and reading the shit out of more issues! And guys, cool you were jamming Merciless “The Awakening” Osmose press LP while writing this, but I’ll be jamming my DSP press while on the pot re-reading this fucker for the 18th time! Keep up the killer work guys! Maybe I can get invited to the “cool party” some time! Bahahahaha. This is ESSENTIAL and for $6, quite a bargain! GET IT! Get it from the Dark Descent web site. Type in CHIPS & BEER in the search engine.
