The Whisky a Go-Go in Hollywood, California is the place to be every Tuesday Night because of one thing; Ultimate Jam Night! The event brings together the world’s greatest musicians into a live unrehearsed performance of cover tunes and is organized by bassist Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot), drummer Matt Starr (Mr. Big, Ace Frehley) and guitarist Mitch Perry (McAuley Schenker Group, Lita Ford, Edgar Winter). Tonight the a-list talent at the Whisky will be honoring the music of Slayer and the opening band tonight comes to us from Portland, Oregon and will be appearing at Rocklahoma this year; they are Mike Townsend (Drums), Jo Bierbrauer (Bass), Danny and Jimmy Littlefield (Guitars) and Nicholos Courtney 
(Vocals) which when together are known as AGNOZIA.
AGNOZIA did a tremendous job preparing the crowd for tonight’s tribute honoring the music of Slayer. Nicholos Courtney’s vocals were on point and grabbed my attention immediately. The music was more of a melodic metal and had some great hooks which kept your interest locked on their performance. Overall it was a very positive listening experience and I will check out their albums and hopefully catch them at Rocklahoma this year.
Tonight is about SLAYER who was formed in 1981 in Huntington Park, California and is a part of the “Big 4” of thrash metal which also include Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth. Performing songs from Slayers huge discography tonight will be a collection of 54 musicians that have been influenced by Slayer and in an unrehearsed format. Did you catch that last statement, Unrehearsed!! Anyone who loves Thrash Metal will recognize many of tonight’s players – starting with the special edition house band…
Playing ‘South of Heaven’ from Slayer’s 4th album “South of Heaven” is drummer Mike Dupke (WASP, Dee Snider), bass Jason Christopher (Prong, Ministry), guitar Steve Smyth (One Machine, Nevermore, Forbidden and Testament), guitar Ira Black (I am Morbid, Westfield Massacre) and vocals Jesse Snider (The Jesse Snider Band).
And now going backwards to Slayer’s debut album “Show No Mercy” the house band continued with ‘Die by the Sword’, which the guys killed it. The third song jumps to Slayer’s 12th studio album “Repentless” and is the song ‘Repentless’ which also featured musicians, Austin Waggoner (drums), Nathan Bramsway (bass), Matthew Perez and Ira Black (Guitars) and Nickey Waggoner on Vocals. Together they call themselves Divine Retribution.
Next up was the song ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ which was released in 1990 as part of the album of the same name, the album debuted at 44 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold in 1992. Performing this classic will be, drums Eduardo Baldo (Hiberia, Blaze the Thunder), guitar Pablo Kravitz (Red Devil Vortex), guitar Mike Kang (Attika 7) and on bass and vocals Gabriel Connor (Red Devil Vortex). Considering this is all Unrehearsed the bands did an amazing job bringing the songs to life. Staying on stage the musicians broke into ‘Bloodline’ from Slayer’s album “Dracula 2000” which was released in 2000.
Time for some songs from the 1986 album “Reign in Blood”, starting with ‘Necrophobic.’ The Musicians setup on stage for this ground breaking album, drums Lonny Pasillas (Eminent), bass Jerry Montano (Hellyeah, Danzig, The Damage), guitar Steve Smyth (One Machine), guitar Eli Santana (Huntress) and on vocals Natalie “Nova” Toppo (Beyond the Roots). They rocked hard and it put a different spin with a female powerhouse vocalist out front. The band stayed on stage and put their unique twist on the song ‘Jesus Saves.’
Continuing with ‘Alter of Sacrifice’ from “Reign in Blood”, which debuted at 94 on the Billboard 200 and was Slayer’s first Certified Gold Album, and also changing Musicians; now on drums is Silvestre Rojas (Forgotten Legion, Anti Hero, and Latin Grammy Winner CNCO), bass Erik Tisinger (Westfield Massacre), guitar JD McGibney (While Riding a Dragon), guitar Eli Santana (Huntress) and out front on Vocals from SNOT, Carl Bensley. This killer lineup also performed ‘mandatory suicide’ and killed it on both songs. The power coming from the stage was crazy.
After another stage change the show continued with songs from “Reign of Blood” and performing the song ‘Piece by Piece’ will be Prong’s Jason Christopher on Bass, Ira Black on guitar and also on guitar from Prong Tommy Victor. Handling the vocals will be Carl Bensley. Not only were individuals influenced by Slayer, but so were entire bands. While Ira Black and Tommy Victor stayed on stage we are joined on bass by Jerry Montano (Danzig, The Damaged) and on drums Art Cruz from Prong. Jason Christopher showed off his vocal skills and turned bass duties over to Jerry Montano on the song ‘Raining Blood.’ I thought Jason did a great job handling the lead vocal.
Moving back to the 1988 album “South of Heaven” which debuted at 57 on Billboard and became their second Gold Album, we see another stage change. Now on drums is Aquiles Priester (AGRA, Tony McAlpine), bass Greg Christian (Trauma, Testament), guitar Steve Smyth (Nevermore) and Joe Faulob (Trama, Danzig) and on Vocals Eli Santana (Huntress), and the song ‘Live Undead’ hit the walls of the Whisky and immediately went into the song ‘Hell Waits.’ Another lineup change and moving to the 1985 three song EP which featured a darker, more thrash style than before and laid the foundation for the direction of future bands. Musician Lonny Pasillas (Eminent) is now on drums, and Ira Black returns on guitar. Staying on stage is Trauma’s Greg Christian on bass and his Trauma bandmate Joe Fraulob on guitar. And out front on Vocals from Hellyeah and Danzig is Jerry Montano. They all prepare to perform ‘Chemical Warfare’, and like every other song tonight drove the crowd crazy.
The next three songs come to us from the “Seasons of Abyss” album, which when the band was touring in 1990 it was hard to get tickets for the sold out shows. But tonight everyone at the Whisky gets to experience the music right now.. On stage performing ‘War Ensemble’ will be Prong’s Art Cruz (drums), Darksun’s Chris Dale (bass), on guitar Lucas Kanopa (Void Vater,Heaven Below) and Doc Coyle (God Forbid, Bad Wolves). Handling Vocals will be Darksun’s Jordan Sassone. After the song ends, Mike Dupke slides behind the drum kit and takes over for the song ‘Dead Skin Mask.’
Then the band continues with ‘Spirit in Black’ and after another lineup change , continue into the “Seasons of Abyss” album and perform ‘Hallowed Point.’ On ‘Hallowed Point’ the lineup is Agnozia’s Jimmy Littlefield (drums), Warbringer’s Jessie Sanchez (bass), Death by Stereo’s Dan Palmer (guitar), Westfield Massacre’s Stephen Brewer (guitar) and on Vocals Robert Madrigal (Death by Stereo, Kaustik). Staying on stage the band kicks off ‘Postmortem’ and a young guitarist from Brazil named Luis Kalil joins the current lineup for ‘Ghosts of War.’
The Music was a non-stop ride thru Slayers history and continued with Steve Haaker (Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse) on drums, Shannon Bizzy (Slunt, The Young Royals) on bass, Johnny Blade (The Young Royals) on guitar, Markus Svensson (Nuclear Salvation) on guitar and from the Sixes, Stephen Cummings on vocals. This lineup pumped out ‘Criminally Insane’ from the album “Reign in Blood” and ‘Antichrist’ from the album “Show no Mercy.”
If you haven’t noticed yet, the lineup changes were constantly changing and the musicianship was off the chain. The night was coming to an end so joining Shannon, Johnny and Marcus on stage we have WASP’s Mike Dupke taking over the Drum kit and out front we have Matt Williams (Delphian) on Lead Vocals to perform the song ‘Disciple’ from the 2001 release “God Hates us All”, which was Slayers first Grammy nomination.
The final song of the night was ‘Angel of Death’ from Slayers “Reign in Blood” which was smashed by Mike Dupke on drums, Ira Black on guitar, Prongs Jason Christopher who played and sang throughout the night, Jerry Montano on bass, Joe Fraulob on guitar. All I can say is come to the Whisky for Ultimate Jam Night this Tuesday. If you love Metal you won’t be disappointed. And I would like to say a special thanks to Lisa Woodward for the invite to the show, you were very gracious and keep up the great work that you do for the music community.