A little more than a month ago, the Valley’s own Jon Donais arrived in Chile, Santiago. He had flown in with his present band, hardcore heroes Anthrax, along with headliners Iron Maiden on “Ed Force One” — an aircraft infamous in aviational circles for both its “Book Of Souls/Iron Maiden” graphics outside and Iron Maiden frontman/official pilot Bruce Dickinson inside manning the stick. Later that evening, both bands would perform before some 75,000 strong.
On Friday, April 22, Donais will roll into Whiskerz Pub in Easthampton with decidedly less fanfare as his ’80s metal cover act Kobra Kai (a name copped from the evil dojo in Karate Kid) takes the stage for a free show with Rush-replicators Milton Gabor. As Kai bassist Matt Bachand is quick to note, the entire purpose of the side project is to have fun and celebrate the music band members listened to while growing up. After this weekend, however, Bachand isn’t sure when Kai will strike again as those pesky “real jobs” are getting in the way with increasing frequency.
“It’s been a year since we played last, and due to the touring schedules of both Anthrax and Act of Defiance [a new act Bachand performs with that includes former members of Megadeth], it doesn’t look like we will be able to do this again for quite a while,” he warns.
In other news … there is nothing puzzling about Sunderland’s Outer Stylie or the band’s confirmed April 16 Horse engagement. It’s a straight up CD release party for the freshly-minted Puzzle full-length, and quite simply, the disc is outwardly awesome. Tracks like opener “Beyond the Dawn” and “Addicted” evoke aural images of everyone from Soundgarden and Zeppelin to Incubus basted in Black Label Society sauce. And there’s definitely something Phishy going on with “Artist’s Plight.”
Tix for this 9:30 p.m. show are $10 in advance, $13 at the door and available at iheg.com
Catch the Nightcrawler on Wednesday mornings with Leslie at 6:20 a.m. and 9:20 a.m. on Lazer 99.3 FM. Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. box 427, Somers, CT 06071; garycarra@aol.com.
