#MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog: Suburban Paranoia "Never Dies"



 #MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog

Review: Suburban Paranoia "Never Dies"

By Mike Vanek



During this pandemic, bands have been forced to find new ways to reach out to their fans and one way is to play live virtually. One band that has taken this method and ran with it is the Bay Area's Suburban Paranoia. Suburban Paranoia has both played virtual concerts and has broadcasted live from their practice space and I have really enjoyed watching this band from the comfort of my own home as they support their record released last year entitled "Never Dies" and this is one of my favorite records I've heard in a really long time!!



Suburban Paranoia started in 1990 as a punk/metal band attacking the Bay Area metal scene and dealt with the trials and tribulations of being in one of the most active and competitive metal scenes in America the SF Bay Area metal scene. Led by guitarist and vocalist Daniel Arruda the band faced multiple-member & sound changes leaving Dan as the only original member bringing us to the current and strongest lineup to date. Today's Suburban Paranoia consists of Branden Blacker on drums and leads vocals, Joe Butler on guitar and vocals, Paul "Thall" Martinez on bass and vocals, and of course Daniel Arruda on guitar and vocals. Over the past six years, the band has toured all over California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. With the release of their first major release "Never Dies" the band is poised to return to the road and destroy venues as soon as the world opens back up!



With powerful songs like "Monster", "I remain", and "Where is your god" Suburban Paranoia mixes a modern thrash sound with a melodic metalcore style that mixes very well together and proves why they are one of Nor Cal's top bands. The band has also made a video for the track "Run for your lives" which concentrates on the current crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic and demonstrates the udder madness that has taken over society. You can find this outstanding video on YouTube.com



I recently had the chance to ask Suburban Paranoia drummer/vocalist Branden Blacker a couple questions and here is what he had to say. When asked, "How was the recording process for you making this record, and how happy were you with the outcome??" Branden responded with "We recorded with Brian Altman out of Altman studios in Oakley California and it was one of the more educating and humbling experiences of our life. We have never worked with a producer before so it was fun and again educational to get someone else's take on something and redo things over and over and over again. The process took about a year to record the EP because it was a learning experience for all of us involved and a new venture for Brian himself. That being said the experience brought us down because being in the studio is a tough business and this wasn't like we were in somebody's garage we were in a legitimate studio. We had to make a lot of changes throughout the year that we were recording this because we had member changes and we lost our drummer and I had to become the drummer and stuff like that so it was a struggle and it was a blessing because it gave us what we have today. We are completely satisfied with how the Never Dies EP came out, and I personally am very happy with the songs themselves because every song has a very deep meaning to them." I also asked Branden "The one thing I love about Suburban Paranoias live videos are you guys always look like you have lots of fun!! How important is that to y’all as a band??" to which he replied "During this pandemic, we made a decision about halfway through to start doing live streaming shows because we've never been a band that wants to just sit back and let the world happen we want to be a part of the world. Doing live streams is fun and chaotic at the same time. It's fun because we're just at our rehearsal pad doing our thing but with like mics and lights and fog. And with a live stream, there's no real pressure to put on a super intense song by song show you can play a song or two stop banter with each other talk to the audience that's watching, and just have fun with it. Obviously, when you're playing a real live show you're under time constraints and people are mostly there to just see you play your songs as opposed to talking to them and have intimate conversations with them. So trying to stay relevant as a band in 2020 has been the goal all along. Trying to keep eyes open on Suburban paranoia that way when the world does eventually open up again people will be excited to come to see us live in the Hope and the goal." I wanna thank Branden for taking the time to answer said questions.



In closing, I absolutely love this album and this band and only a fool would pass up an opportunity to check out the mighty Suburban Paranoia!!

For more information on Suburban Paranoia

www.suburbanparanoia.com

www.facebook.com/suburbanparanoia

www.suburbanparanoia.bandcam.com

CHECK OUT VIDEO FOR "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74aMb-XWhCU&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1HVbUOUUiTNNqg8NRgV1BITC8qX8Fb4MwWcfj21-N40V0T070pd0FIC9A






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog: Blind Illusion "Straight As The Crowbar Flies"

Image
 #MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog Review: Blind Illusion, Straight As The Crowbar Flies By Mike Vanek When I was an early teenager listening to Bay Area metal I spent the weekend with my family in my hometown of El Sobrante California and my Uncle John turned me onto a band called Blind Illusion which featured a very young Les Claypool from Primus. These guys were awesome when I was younger my Uncle proclaimed as he was sitting behind his drum kit. My Uncle was my hero so any band he told me about I jumped at the opportunity to learn about them. As the years went on I became addicted to the Blind Illusion's album "The Sane Asylum and it became one of my favorite albums of all time and especially the talented guitar work and lyrics of one Mr. Mark Biederman.  The godfathers of technical progressive metal or Hippie stoner metal Blind Illusion set the standard for how a progressive metal band should sound.  Fast forward a bunch of years to when I was booking shows for 209Productions in M
Read more

#MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog: A Look at Inhuman Condition “Rat God”

Image
Mike Vanek Sucks The Blog: A look at Inhuman Condition “Rat God” By Mike Vanek  In my never-ending mission to bring you quality metal, I submit for your approval “Rat God” by Inhuman condition. Comprising of bassist & Florida Death Metal legend Terry Butler (Obituary, DEATH, Massacre, Six Feet Under) who has teamed up with fellow former Massacre bandmates Jeremy Kling (Venom Inc, The Absence, Goregäng) on drums/vocals and guitarist Taylor Nordberg to form masterfully crafted album brings a whole new level of heavy. This album hits like a cement truck and has riffs that will have you bobbing your head to the groove to instantly breaking your neck from banging to these epic death metal licks. “Rat God” is everything you want in a death metal record with its crushing vocals to the absolute tightness of the band. Inhuman Condition brings a comforting familiarity to their music that takes you back to a place when Death Metal from Florida was king with blistering solos mat
Read more

#MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog: A look at Internal Bleeding

Image
 #MIKEVANEKSUCKS The Blog:  A look at Internal Bleeding  By Mike Vanek It’s not every day you get to write about a band that pretty much created a genre of music, let alone one of the coolest bands of all time... In the world of death metal and slam it’s hard not to like the mighty Internal Bleeding... Now before I write this a word of thanks... I just went through one of the worst times of my life right smack in the middle of doing the research for this blog and I took a week off... Watching I.B’s Smoke Sesh videos and listening to the band's latest album on Spotify really helped me get through some of the darkest days of my life and I thank them for that...  When I started getting into the extreme metal scene at The Workshop in Ceres California, Internal Bleeding is a band I heard a lot about and I would check em out on YouTube from time to time, and of course, they would be on my Spotify radar when that came to be and of course, I listened to everything I could researching this
Read more