Manmade God

Manmade God

Former American recording artists MANMADE GOD are reforming for a Bay Area appearance on July 21 at the New Parish in Oakland, California. It will be the first time all four members have played together in since January 2005 when they abruptly and unexpectedly called it a day.

MANMADE GOD's self-titled debut album was released in 2004 under Rick Rubin's guidance while co-produced by Brian Joeseph Dobbs and later mixed by Sean Beavan. The CD was acclaimed by fans and critics but extremely underexposed and not properly supported after its release. That turned into the frustration that led to their inevitable breakup.

Singer Pann Reed, guitarist Craig Locicero (FORBIDDEN, SPIRALARMS), bassist James Walker (formerly of SPIRALARMS) and drummer Steve Jacobs (formerly of FORBIDDEN and former SPIRALARMS) got into the same room together and felt at ease with one another immediately. There was undeniable chemistry.

The video blog catches the days leading into the first time they all saw each other and caught their genuine emotions. The band has also decided to share a previously unreleased track. "Swallow The Sun" was originally recorded and mixed in the same sessions as the debut album but left unused.

Commented Locicero: "Sometimes emotions are painful things to bury and other times it helps to dig them up. MANMADE GOD reforming for this show has been nothing but therapeutic for me. It feels great mostly because how quickly everything ended the first time. We feel we wrote music from our souls for everybody else to enjoy as much as we did making it. I'm very fortunate to have a lot of great music in my life and believe there is always room for more with my bros."

He continued, "I think 'Swallow The Sun' was a good example of the emotional heights MANMADE GOD could reach that other bands have a hard time of letting themselves fall into. It's a great way to re-introduce our sound. Pann's vocal performance is stellar!"

Added Reed: "I feel like the time is right. We are all mature enough to really enjoy the experience that lays before us...All of it, in all of its complexities and forms. It's good to have my brothers back by my side."

Somewhere in the heat of New Orleans you'll find that life is lived differently. It's a place of ghosts and celebration, a place where music hangs heavy in the air and all the music and all the souls that have ever played it there somehow remain, alive and buoyant in the humidity. The thickness this gives the air slows things down a bit, and when you breathe it in it soaks through your bones and settles in the marrow. There is an ethereal wave, a pulse really, that you can ride through the chaos. It becomes part of your blood and your eyes begin to change. You will never see this world the same. You will never feel the same about this city or this life. It has taken part of you and given something beautiful and painful back. This kind of enchantment is the reason that people are drawn to New Orleans. It's as if the city wakes and surges to the surface just enough for you to hear her heart beat, hear her breath.

The city itself is curved into the shape of a crescent moon by a dark and muddy river that would drown you as soon as let you swim in it. Moss hangs from ancient oak trees that look down on their dark reflections in cracked and wet asphalt. In this city, beneath their gaze, there was Juliette, her heels clicking, marking time on the make shift mirror. In this city, she met Sean.

Sean had moved from the post industrial age wasteland of Cleveland, Ohio to this haunting land of jazz funerals and brass bands with Trent Reznor and the band Nine Inch Nails. As Trent's longtime engineer, co -producer, and musical director, Sean helped forge the sound of NIN from studio to the stage. Finally having a home base for various projects, Sean and Trent set about building a studio in an old abandoned funeral home in the heart of uptown New Orleans. It was during this time that, being a mortal man, Sean succumbed to the whimsy and sway of a southern girl and met his muse in Juliette. After finishing mixing Marilyn Manson's epic "Antichrist Superstar", Sean left the NIN camp and followed up with Manson's "Mechanical Animals" During production of which Sean and Juliette moved to the land of stars, scars and broken dreams: Los Angeles.

While Sean was producing the Atlantic Records band "Kill Hannah" the request to add a female voice to a chorus led him to ask the lovely Juliette to add some vocals on the last day of recording. When Juliette started to sing, the texture and dynamic of her voice bewitched both Sean and his engineer "Critter". Inspired by her ethereal voice, Sean immediately set about to write the music for the song "Never Enough" almost as an experiment. He gave Juliette the music and asked her to write lyrics and a vocal melody to it. The resulting confessional story with the plaintive refrain "I'll never be enough for you" became a blue print for the tapestry of sorrow and beauty in the works that followed.

The two decided to become 8mm, a name that reflected the tone of their songs. The image of an old 8mm projector whirring in a clandestine back room called to mind innermost secrets and forbidden desires. The kind of thoughts we keep to ourselves, the hidden motives that drive our public lives. Very much influenced by the pulse and undercurrent of the haunted and haunting New Orleans and the bluster and underlying power plays that accompany even a simple "hello" in Los Angeles, 8mm has opened our diaries and shown us how alike we are.

Beer Drinker and Hell Raisers

The ultimate ZZ Top tribute BEER DRINKERS AND HELL RAISERS! No fake beards here folks, these are the real McCoy's! Taking ZZ Tops greatest hits of the 70's to a whole new level. The blistering Guitar/Vocal antics of Tim Narducci. The thunderous Bass/vocals of Cornbread and pounding grooves of Ron Rodeen. Wrap it up in a great stage production/performance that leaves all other ZZ Top Tribute bands in the dust! I

$15.00 - $20.00

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Manmade God with 8mm, Beer Drinker and Hell Raisers

Saturday, July 21 · Doors 8:00PM / Show 9:00PM at The New Parish