The Claw hooked up with Crusher and Gobo (my mofo) for Queens Of The Stone Age at the classic old-school venue, the Fox Grand Lake, in Oaktown, this past Monday. Both were a first for Claw (band and venue). Queens rocked the house. And the Fox transported Claw to another timezone. Wide staircases with classic red carpeting, sculptured walls in the lobby and hall, blue-lighted ceiling. Awesome. And the Queens? Took The Claw back to the days of dark, ambient, hypnotica of the 90's, made famous by Kyuss, Love & Rockets, etc. Gobo, a hardcore fan himself, was hardpressed to clue me in on the best album to purchase. No prob. We figured it out.
As for Oaktown? Both Claw and Crusher were glad he had GPS. Way too much construction to get in the way of commute, with one freeway access blocked outright. Oakland. Geez. Claw is glad he was with Crusher. He has a history of getting into situations that would take a normal person's life, and escaping without a scratch. Thanks, Crush.
Crusher was The Claw's tag team partner. If any of you have had an opportunity to read Claw's autobiography, "My Chequered Life", please put pressure on Crusher to pen his own story. Hangin' with The Crusher is always in order. Amazing history.
Claw missed the Alameda show, but made it to The Blue Macaw, for Shred Nugent's band, Kippis. Great show. Shred Nugent rocks on guitar. If you've never been to a live show with Shred on guitar, you'd see for yourself, this guy can play. When it comes to guitar playing, Claw is a total critic. Shred...he hits the notes, nothing off key, nothing over-the-top. He compliments the band as a whole, contributes to the music in general, and wails when the opportunity presents itself. It's why whenever Shred plays live, you will most likely find Claw in the audience.
Sidenote: after entering the Macaw for the first time, it became apparent that this was the old 12 Galaxies club. The very club where Claw's first mask, WWE's Kane mask, was stolen from backstage during an air guitar exhibition. On a positive note, 12 Galaxies also was Tiger Claw's second live appearance outside of the competition, showcasing for the Dr. Hal Show, a year before the mask loss. You can see the video on this site, on the right sidebar, performing EVH's Eruption. My friend videotaping, kept closing in and dropping back, and the camera screwed up on focus during the tapping part, for which Claw claims is simply because EVH had the intellectual property rights on the tapping technique. Yeah, right.
Great week for live music.
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