Classic Spins with Mike Redston of Snakeblade

Every musician you love is at heart, just a fan of music like the rest of us are. It's fun to get inside of their fandom as well.

Today Mike Redston of Snakeblade is telling us about the music he loves.

Dig in and check out their BANDCAMP page for some background music.

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. 

Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. What's your favorite one and why? 

The Wall has gotta be my favorite as well! Another great one is Avenged Sevenfold’s The Stage. 

It’s all about artificial intelligence, science fiction, and the cosmos. I’ve always been really interested in space and the universe, so naturally, this album grabbed my attention. 

It’s closed out by a 15-minute epic piece called “Exist” which is one of the greatest songs ever written in my books. It even features a spoken-word passage by Neil Degrasse Tyson and I’m a huge Startalk and Cosmos fan so that was just crazy for me. 

I think A7X often gets a lot of wrongful hate in the metal community and I feel like The Stage never got the attention it deserved but it’s definitely one of my favorites. 

 2. My very first album was Live Evil b Black Sabbath. Since then I've had a strong affinity for the live record, even if they're a bit fake. KISS set the bar with Alive!. Surely, it was fake, but its got the best concert feel of any one.

Tell me about your favorite live record?

Metallica’s Live Shit: Binge and Purge has got to be one of the best live recordings of any band ever.

Their performance in Seattle in ‘89 is Metallica at their absolute prime and you can see why they were so popular in those days. They have so much energy and play so god damn tight. 

Man, if only I was born twenty years earlier so I could be a teen in those days...

3. There are a great number of records I've turned to for my moods. What do you listen to when you're angry? Sad? 

The Mantle by Agalloch is a stellar album that I often put on when I’m stressed out. It always manages to calm me down and centers me. It’s a great record to put on when you’re going on a long walk in nature.

Where Owls Know My Name by Rivers of Nihil is another album that deeply affected me. The lyrics on it are extremely raw and deal a lot with regret and loneliness. I was at a really rough time in my life when it came out and I developed a really close emotional attachment to that album. 

Even now when I hear it brings back some really heavy nostalgia and emotional response that only music can do. Death metal doesn’t often conjure heavy emotions from me but this album hits in a completely different way. 

Maybe it’s the soaring mellotron and saxophone over top of all the chaos and intensity.

4. One of my friends laughs at me, routinely, for loving the Misfit Toys of albums by major bands. Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed, Carnival of Souls by Kiss, Diabolous En Musica by Slayer, etc. 

What's the strange one that you love? 

Devildriver came out with an oddball record a few years ago called Outlaws ‘Til the End and it’s a compilation of metal covers of classic country songs. 

I think it’s super, super cool because it’s got such an aggressive attitude to it. Songs like “Whiskey River”, “I’m the Only Hell Mama Ever Raised”, and “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me” are almost completely unrecognizable from the originals because they’re so god damn heavy. 

The lyrics also fit surprisingly well, as a lot of those country tunes are filled with sorrow.

Plus, hearing a slide guitar solo on a metal song is dope. It’s a really unique record and one I still put out quite often these days.

5. It's almost fashionable to release live versions of albums or re-record the old ones. King Diamond is releasing a concert with Abigail front to back. Roger Waters has done The Wall twice. 

Which ones do you have in your collection?

I’ve got Behemoth’s Messe Noire on vinyl, which is a live recording of The Satanist in full. That’s one of my favorite black metal records and hearing the energy of a live performance adds another layer to the awesomeness. 

Behemoth has such great theatricality and definitely brings a “larger than life” feeling to their live experiences. You can put this thing on and feel like you’re at the front row watching Nergal and the guys absolutely destroy.