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.jpg) Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles issue #104 | |
| Editor-in-chief | Martin Popoff |
|---|---|
| Categories | Heavy metal music |
| Frequency | 10/year[1] |
| First issue | March 1994 |
| Final issue | January/February 2009 (print) |
| Country | Canada |
| Based in | Toronto |
| Language | English |
| Website | bravewords |
| ISSN | 1705-3781 |
| OCLC | 57191652 |
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles (BW&BK) is a Canadianheavy metal website and former magazine. Although based inToronto, Canada,BW&BK features writers from the US, Germany and the UK, allowing the magazine to represent metal music from an international prospective.
Covering many facets ofextreme music,BW&BK features a reviews section which reports on current records circulating through the underground metal world, a Metal Forecast section which tracks the release date of upcoming recordings, and a website (named justBraveWords) which reports current metal news.Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles was founded by formerM.E.A.T. magazine staffer Tim Henderson and authorMartin Popoff in 1994.[2] The magazine published its last issue in January 2009, but continues online as theBraveWords website, which was launched in 2000.[3]
Henderson, who had published several photocopied issues of a newsletter calledMetal Tim Bits (the title a play on the Tim Bit donut served at the popular Canadian coffee chainTim Hortons), encountered Popoff in the Toronto HMV's metal section and Popoff began discussing his first metal book,Riff Kills Man.[4] The two subsequently plotted a magazine creation based onMetal Tim Bits; theBrave Words & Bloody Knuckles title was based onAgony Column's 1990 album of the same name.[5]
200 copies ofBW&BK #1 were originally printed, and its cover price was $1.95.[5][3] HMV stocked the magazine and other record stores followed suit. Issue #1 was 16 pages, and featured interviews withPantera,Entombed,Gwar,Cannibal Corpse and Geezer Butler ofBlack Sabbath. No ads appeared in the inaugural issue.
BW&BK continued to grow, reaching 48 pages by October 1997. In the interim, the magazine had interviewedSlayer,Alex Lifeson ofRush (an interview conducted in Lifeson's living room),Metallica'sJason Newsted andLars Ulrich,Megadeth,Mercyful Fate,Iron Maiden,Fear Factory,Cradle of Filth,Venom,Annihilator and others. By this time, current writersCarl Begai, Chris Bruni, Mark Gromen, Allan Grusie and Aaron Small had joined the team.
BW&BK #21 was the first issue of the magazine to feature a colour cover. Inside the issue, interviews withOzzy Osbourne andAC/DC were featured, while Metallica'sReLoad was chastised in BW&BK's Cross-Fire review section.
A new layout team, Hugues Laflamme and Angie Aue, joined the magazine. Events in this period include interviews with Slayer,Sepultura,Gene Simmons ofKISS,Death,Morbid Angel,Emperor,In Flames (in celebration ofGothenburg, Sweden's then-rising scene),Rhapsody,Hypocrisy,Witchery and a chat with Janie Hendrix (administrator of theJimi Hendrix vaults).
A large piece focusing on Canadian metal bands was also printed, a reflection of BW&BK's Canadian roots. A Top Metal Albums of the '80s feature also surfaced around this time. The magazine also included a CD,Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles Proudly Presents Blood Tracks II, with the February 1999 edition.[6]
Chronicling the rise ofpower metal, BW&BK printed interviews withRob Halford,Demons & Wizards,Stratovarius andEidolon.Entombed's comeback album,Uprising, put the band on the cover of issue #39. AC/DC was once again featured in the magazine, while Iron Maiden, In Flames, Rob Halford, Hypocrisy,Nevermore,The Haunted,Dimmu Borgir, Annihilator andDimebag Darrell all featured on the magazine cover throughout the year. Writers Alex S. Johnson, David Perri and Greg Pratt also joined the fold.
BW&BK was by this time distributed in 23 countries. Cover features includedLed Zeppelin, Metallica and Rush alongside mainstaysOpeth, Dimmu Borgir and Slayer.
BW&BK debuted the Brave Picks soundcheck in its reviews section, asking individual writers to rate the month's most relevant albums, and then publishing average scores based on all the writers' grades.
In 2004, BW&BK celebrated its tenth anniversary. The covers over this annum included first-time appearances fromMegadeth,Children of Bodom (one of BW&BK's top-selling issues),Fear Factory,Behemoth,Soulfly,Kataklysm,Candlemass and Gene Simmons of KISS. Classic strongholdsJudas Priest and Black Sabbath were also given the main page.
In 2005,BW&BK once again spotlighted Canadian metal, this time creating an incomplete A-Z list of all active, signed Canadian metal bands. Current writer Dom Lawson began contributing to BW&BK.
The 100th issue of theBW&BK was released in October 2006. Filled with personal reflections from Henderson and the rest of the magazine's staff, issue #100 also included a congratulatory autographs from some of well-known metal musicians (all autographs were requested in person by BW&BK staff members). In addition, issue #100 showcased a re-print of BW&BK #1, a nod to the magazine's roots. Issue #100's cover featuredMotörhead frontmanLemmy cutting a BW&BK birthday cake.
In conjunction withBW&BK #100, the magazine held a birthday party at Montreal'sLes Foufounes Électriques concert venue/nightclub and also produced the fourth installment of its annual 6-Pack metal festival.
Also in 2006,Voivod, Sepultura andSatyricon appeared on the covers, andLamb of God andTrivium's faces closed out the year.
2007 began with a piece onHeaven & Hell and commercial black metallists Dimmu Borgir gracing the cover of the magazine once again.
The final print issue of the magazine was published in January 2009, citing declining advertising revenues and its small readership,[7] but the website BraveWords kept going.[8]
BW&BK organized and put on the BW&BK 6 Pack Festival inCleveland, USA in the spring of 2003, 2004 and 2005. The festival featured, over the years,Falconer,Katatonia,Candlemass,Trouble,Soilwork, andKataklysm,Shadowkeep.[9]
2006's incarnation of the 6 Pack Festival was held inMontreal, Canada on October 14 at Le Medley. The line-up includedTestament,Brutal Truth,Dismember,Grave, Camilla Rhodes and Torn Within. The pre-show party was also held in Montreal on October 13 at Foufounes Electriques, and the Foufounes event also celebrated the 100th issue ofBW&BK.[10]
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