The Witzard

Last we heard from Massachusetts' own 80HRTZ, he was producing "The Ghost of Route 44" as part of BRZOWSKI's 2019 odds-and-ends-style comp. BLooddrive, Vol. 4. Prior to that, 80 had produced a full-length album alongside fellow Bay Stater and emcee Purge dubbed WHERE THERE'S SMOKE... However, The Witzard regulars might remember 80HRTZ from his inexplicitly infectious genre-fusing remixes of The Misfits' "Astro Zombies" & Dead Kennedys' "California Über Alles" both premiered right here at The Witzard, respectively, featuring DJ Halo & Shortrock. Now, 80HRTZ has returned with his next similarly-minded remix concocted exclusively for The Witzard: Iron Maiden's fourteenth single, "Wasted Years." Maiden originally released "Wasted Years" in 1986 as the lead-off single from their then-upcoming synth-laden album, Somewhere In Time. 80HRTZ's "Wasted Years" fuses together Iron Maiden's beloved ...

Jacksonville 's very own genre-blending Alt. Country superstar Ryan Adams is in fact, no stranger to recording full-length cover albums; Adams reportedly recorded, and ultimately scrapped, a stripped down 4-track revision of The Strokes' critically-acclaimed debut Is This It? (2001). But for whatever reasons, Adams' " Blues cover version" has rather discouragingly still only been heard by members of his former backing band, The Cardinals . Ryan Adams' second attempt (or third, if you count his unheard Vampire Weekend album), at a full-length cover album: a self-described Smiths -indebted version of Taylor Swift 's recent career-redefining 1989 has been very well-documented through his own personal social media accounts. "Ryan's music helped shape my song-writing. This is surreal and dream-like. Countdown to [Ryan Adams' 1989] @TheRyanAdams ," @taylorswift13 frantically Tweeted Thursday afternoon, upon the sudden announcement ...

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving just as much as every other warm-blooded American citizen; Gotta love those celebratory, non-present giving holidays! But I must digress a tad but, and admit that the historical roots of said festivities aren't as "cookie-cutter" as we are all generally led to believe. For argument's sake, majority of us were taught back in grade school that the Indians/Pilgrims met, laughed, united, and collaborated to produce the joyous, harmonious feast that was forever immortalized as "The First Thanksgiving." According to various alternative accounts, the settlers at Plymouth Rock were in fact a very cruel, conniving brand of people. "They landed at Plymouth with a smile on their face / They said, "We're your brothers from a far away place" / I know the Indians greeted them with wide open arms / Too simple-minded and trusting to see through the charms / In came the religions, the liquor, and...

Ryan Adams is one of those dudes that you can never really predict what he's going to do/say next. But not in the same sort of mildly "threatening" way as say, a guy like... Charlie Sheen . But you can always bet that it's going to be unique, fun, and quite memorable - Maybe that's what makes an expectedly "dull" Alt. Country Rocker like Adams so utterly compelling. Take a look @ Ryan Adams' varied covers selections, for example: Vampire Weekend , Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains , and Oasis . Since first appearing on the music scene in 1991, Ryan Adams has managed to release somewhere between 13-20 studio albums, solo and as a member of assorted bands. (This excluding a gaggle of un-cataloged randomly released tracks and collections.) Even @ age 36, Ryan Adams seems to have quite the affinity for Halloween; "Halloweenhead" was a stand-out track on Easy Tiger (2007) - The track is seemingly about drug addiction, die-hard fans, and/or h...

Ryan Adams - "Wasted Years" (Iron Maiden) Many years ago [2000], when I was first REALLY "getting into" the Indie Rock music scene... my tech-savvy, older cuz Josh passed me a Led Zeppelin Greatest Hits 3-CD set, a box of cassette tapes, and a collection [Read: "stack of data CD-R's"] of shit to check out. Contained within the bounds of one of those CD-R's was "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)," a playful, little ditty from Alt. Country singer-songwriter Ryan Adam 's debut long-player, Heartbreaker . Since his 2000 inception, Ryan Adams has released 6 individual solo albums, 4 records with his [former] band The Cardinals , got married to Mandy Moore , released a Heavy Metal album as "Orion," upstarted his very own record label imprint, and unleashed a handful of mp3's from his assorted "side endeavors." In the mix of what may easily seem like to some a schizophrenic musical career, Adams man...