Drive-Thru Metal: Mac Sabbath w/ The Angry Samoans.
Ronald Osbourne of Mac Sabbath - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
I was at The Loving Touch the previous week for The Bad Nerves/Spiritual Cramp/Norcos Y Horchata show, and we sat out at the patio bar for a half hour before the show and had drinks. I was disappointed that the outdoor area was closed this week, but I ended up being glad to have the extra half hour in the venue. This was the second time that I had bought tickets to Mac Sabbath, mainly to see the warm-up band. The last time was a year ago when they played The Magic Bag (right down the road) and Speedealer warmed up. I wasn't able to see them that time but vowed to stay for the entire show tonight.
This time, I bought my ticket the day they went on sale to see The Dickies, who were originally scheduled to be on the bill. I was planning to go alone. When, unfortunately, The Dickies had to cancel, they were replaced by The Angry Samoans. After the change, 6 more of my friends signed on, and we ended up with 2 carloads. There was a line to get in right at the doors, which was a sign that the venue would be full (and it was). I headed right over to The Angry Samoans merch booth, and while all of the XXL shirts were gone, they had some great patches and stickers. But more importantly, their drummer and only original member, Bill Vockeroth, was running the merch. Bill spent a good 15-20 minutes telling me tour stories and said he would also be interested in meeting with Dick Slaughter and myself during Punk Rock Bowling for a follow-up interview (they are playing a show just before PRB with The Effigies, who are headed over to PRB). He also confirmed (after a discussion that we had had during the car ride down) that their original singer, "Metal" Mike Saunders, was indeed the person that coined the term "heavy metal."
From Wikipedia: Michael Earl Saunders (born May 1, 1952), commonly known as Metal Mike Saunders is an American rock critic and the singer of the Californian punk band Angry Samoans. He is credited with coining the music genre label "heavy metal" in a record review for Humble Pie's "As Safe as Yesterday Is" in the November 12, 1970, issue of Rolling Stone. Six months later, in 1971, he used the phrase again while reviewing Sir Lord Baltimore's first album, Kingdom Come, in the pages of Creem magazine.
Alyson Blake Dellinger of Flummox
I headed up to the front to grab a good spot and spent a few minutes asking the fans that were already there what they knew about Flummox (yes, the band’s name was taken from that old Dr. Seuss children’s book). Everyone seemed to be waiting for either Mac Sabbath or The Angry Samoans, and no one had heard of Flummox. We were all excited for the prospect of hearing a new band, though, and they did not disappoint. Singer Alyson Blake Dellinger also plays a 6-string bass (which you can see in the photos) and was quite theatrical. She would later come out as a replacement singer for Ronald Osbourne after he would be kicked out of Mac Sabbath for snorting lines of ants off of the floor using a giant McDonald’s straw (all part of the show).
The Angry Samoans
Back in 2021, I had seen Reagan Youth at P.J.'s Lager House in Corktown (Detroit), when they had only one original member (Paul Cripple). The set was great, and it was incredible to hear those songs played live by any semblance of the original band. Tonight, Bill Vockeroth (on drums) would be the only original member of The Angry Samoans. I was hoping for the same experience, and I absolutely got it. I had actually seen The Angry Samoans one other time (in California at The Showcase Theatre, back in the 1990s) before "Metal" Mike Saunders had retired. Tonight was just as much fun.
The Angry Samoans had a huge 24-song setlist that included the classics "Gas Chamber", "Steak Knife," and "Lights Out" and finished with "My Old Man's A Fatso." Due to time constraints, they ended up skipping three songs (thankfully, nothing from "Back From Samoa" was cut) but got through 21 of them. Bill Vockeroth, the drummer and only original member, shared vocals on a few of the songs, and the new band members were animated and made the songs their own. It was an amazing show, and my friends that had never gotten to see them live were able to check an item off of their bucket list.
Mac Sabbath
Mac Sabbath
We were expecting a Black Sabbath cover band, dressed as characters from McDonald’s, but it turned out that they are much more than that. The props were amazing, with the centerpiece being a grill set up around the microphone with smoke and faux flames where they grilled burgers and chicken throughout the show. The microphone stand was a McDonald's straw, and the band members were based on Mayor McCheese, the Hamburgler, Grimace, and Ronald McDonald. On vocals was Ronald Osbourne (a cross between Ronald McDonald and Ozzy Osbourne with Ronald's costume and Ozzy's accent), and on drums was The Catburgler (a cross between The Hamburgler and Peter Criss from Kiss).
They played songs by various bands, including Kiss, Roy Orbison, Cake, Iron Maiden, and Black Flag. For the Iron Maiden cover ("The Trooper" modified to "The Grouper"), they brought out a character dressed as a fish who had a sword fight with Ronald Osbourne before being beheaded and made into a fish sandwich. After Ronald Osbourne did a beer bong through a giant McDonald’s straw and then snorted a line of ants off of the stage with it, he was temporarily kicked out of the band and replaced with Alyson Blake Dellinger from Flummox and The Catburgler. Additional stunts included crowd surfing on a giant inflatable hamburger, singing through a McDonald's-branded megaphone, Grimace bringing out a guitar shaped like the Golden Arches, a McDonald's-themed air dancer, and the McDonald’s employee of the month doing guest vocals on "Fries Above" (a cover of Black Flag's "Rise Above"). Of course, at the end, Ronald Osbourne bites the head off of a (plastic) bat.
