the producer and the label—he gives us a very
clear picture of the way this game is played,
who the various players are, what everybody’s
real role is, how they’re all trying to rip everybody else off—and why the artist is usually
playing to lose from the start. He shows us
the math, too. How many albums have to sell
before the artist stops hemorrhaging money
and breaks even? How many years will an
aspiring engineer/producer have to work as an
unpaid intern until they can catch a break and
start making a subsistence living, and how long
until they can actually start producing anything
at all? What percentage of new artists in one
year is a label really willing to get behind, and
how many will end up cutting tracks that will
never, ever see the light of day? And just how
do digital downloads impact artist royalties?
Perhaps most importantly, Avalon tells us
how artists can protect themselves from the
worst of it, what labels will slip into contracts
hoping the artist won’t understand or notice,
and what smart artists may be able to negotiate away. If you have any aspirations of playing the major-label game, this book should
be on your bookshelf. —GDP
List $24.99
backbeatbooks.com
Black Tooth Grin: The High Life,
Good Times, and Tragic End of
“Dimebag” Darrell Abbott
With a nickname like “Dimebag” and reputation for blurring the lines between one party
and the next, Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott has
a spot reserved for only the most legendary
rock ‘n’ roll party animals. And with a title
like Black Tooth Grin (a cocktail preferred
by Abbott, which is Crown with a splash of
Coke) you’d expect nothing but tour bus and
backstage tales of excess and debauchery.
While author Zac Crain does include such stories from bundles of sources, the book’s heart
lies in a message that doesn’t glorify Abbott’s
well-known antics, but instead humanizes the
prolific partier and shredder. When stripped
to his core, he was just a music fan who loved
to play his guitar.
Crain uses a loose chronological timeline to
direct the narrative about Abbott’s beginnings to his time on top of the metal world in
the mid ‘90s and his eventual murder. After
forming Pantera in ‘ 81 and spending years
on the Texas club circuit—Abbott’s parents
often had to be attendance just to get Darrell
inside—the planets aligned for Pantera and
their fifth studio release, Cowboys From Hell,
as it launched them into the metal spotlight.
Building off this success well into the ‘90s,
Pantera continued to dominate metal playlists,
but one thing remained unchanged: Abbott’s
status as fan first, rock star second. Whether
it meant signing autographs for hours, doing
free guitar clinics with fans or waiting in line
with the general public at guitar stores, he still
kept the same demeanor as the kid who first
played air guitar to KISS albums.
Black Tooth Grin provides a well-rounded,
introspective look into Abbott’s world as
music fan, guitarist, party ambassador and
mama’s boy—Abbott never lived farther than
10 minutes from his mother. But as his celebrated story unfolds, the fact that Abbott
was nothing more than a lucky fan becomes
more evident. A quote from original Pantera
lead-singer Terry Glaze says it all, “if you
would have told Darrell that, when you die,
Van Halen is going to put the guitar from Van
Halen II in your casket, Darrell would have
said, ‘Kill me now.’” And that’s something
nearly every fan can agree with. —CK
List $15.95
dacapopress.com
Battle of The Band Names: The
Best and Worst Band Names Ever
(and All the Brilliant, Colorful,
Stupid Ones in Between)
Does a band name really matter? Ever wonder if Joe Strummer and company would’ve
been as successful without a name like the
Clash? Likely. Would U2 have the cultural
significance and popularity with a different
name? Probably. Then again, why haven’t
acts like Milk Robber, Kannivalism or the
Mountain Playboys taken off? Maybe there’s
something to be said for a first impression…
even when it comes to band names.
In Battle of the Band Names, author Bart Bull,
former editor of Spin and DETAILS, compiles
a huge list of band names in 35 wacky chapters to show what happens when language,
music, pop culture and egotism converge.
The chapters are broken down categories
such as musical genre, mythical creatures,
metallurgy, the color pink, tribute bands and
Japan-based names. Not only does Bull do a
great job adding snarky commentary at the
beginning of each chapter to set the stage,
but the book is colorfully designed and laid
out in a way that’s as entertaining for the
eyes as the text is for the temporal lobe.
While Bull covers the known bands and
genres over the past 50 years, the real treat
of this tongue-in-cheek book is in the chapters dedicated to the not-so-familiar band
names like Bald Guys in Bow Ties. He guides
you along the path of musical history that’s
evenly sprinkled with band names from the
outrageous and idiotic to the thoughtful and
brilliant. So next time you’re brainstorming
for names, check Bull’s book so you know
that names like Papaya Paranoia or Kiiiiiii
have already been tried. —CK
List $15.95
