We’ve written about Rob Scallon quite a bit here at Metal Insider. That’s because instead of releasing an album every few years like most artists, or every 20 years like Tool does, his main medium of choice is YouTube and he releases songs at a furious clip. Granted, many of them are covers, like Job For A Cowboy on banjo or Slayer’s “Angel of Death” on banjo, or originals with a shovel as a bass. He still puts out quite a lot of entertainment for his fans. For his next trick, he’s going to do something he’s never done before – release an album.
The Scene Is Dead will be released on his own label on January 30th, and you can preorder it here or digitally on his Bandcamp page. The album features solos by Jeff Loomis and The Haunted’s Ola Englund. Fellow YouTuber Pete Cottrell contributed a solo to Scallon’s first single, “Gas Mask Catalogue,” which was recorded on a nine-string guitar. Released only yesterday, the video has racked up an impressive 139,000 views on YouTube since then. Here’s what Scallon says about his first album:
The tracks on this album are named after no longer with us metal bands from the Chicago suburbs. The album is dedicated to them and all the other local bands that made up our local metal scene growing up.
The album was made with extended range guitars. 4 tracks of which featuring the 9 string tuned to C# or double drop B. This song was written with the goal of sparingly using the extended low range for particular accents and leaving most of the riffing to regular guitar territory. And if I was able to shred well enough to play Pete’s solo it would include all the strings…
Kudos to Rob for putting an album out. Judging from the YouTube spins on the first single in one day, he’s got the audience for it.
