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    Centro-matic influences

    Austin Collins comes home to Duck — with a more electric sound

    Susan Darrow
    May 23, 2010 | 9:19 am
    • Austin Collins (left) and the Rainbirds.
    • Houston's Austin Collins keeps churning out records.

    Since releasing his debut CD in 2005, Houston native Austin Collins has earned all kinds of critical acclaim. He’s been compared to everyone from Americana legends like Uncle Tupelo and Steve Earle to alternative rock pioneers R.E.M. and The Replacements. When you listen to Collins’ latest release Wrong Control, you can hear the influences of Jay Farrar and Paul Westerberg … but you can also hear a sound that’s distinctly his own.

    Collins and his band, the Rainbirds, will land at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck on Tuesday. We checked in with him a few days before his upcoming return to his hometown to get the scoop.

    “The Mucky Duck is one of my favorite places to play,” Collins said. “I’ll play there as long as Rusty (owner Rusty Andrews) will let me.”

    Collins finished Memorial High School and then went to college at the University of Texas. He has lived in Austin ever since: “I was one of the lucky ones who got to stay,” Collins says.

    Collins, who graduated from UT with a finance degree, spent a year working for a wealth management company. Then September 11 happened, Collins got laid off from his job, and he started taking stock of what he really wanted to do.

    Three albums and many, many gigs later, Collins is a rising young musical star, having played shows at the Austin City Limits and South by Southwest festivals and shared the bill with artists like Billy Joe Shaver.

    Last year, Collins beat out 130 other entrants to claim Airplay Direct’s All Things Americana Award, bringing him a host of radio promotion benefits. “We were looking for a shot in the arm,” Collins says of his e-mailed entry that landed the prize. “I tend to operate under the ‘Why not?’ strategy.”

    Wrong Control is Collins' second effort with producer Will Johnson. Best known as the leader of indie-rock darlings Centro-matic, Johnson has lately been moonlighting with Conor Oberst and M. Ward as the drummer for the Monsters of Folk’s national tour.

    Collins described how working with Johnson has helped move his music in a new direction. “He’s a real free spirit in the studio … it’s fun to watch his mind crank,” Collins said. “My bent is toward Americana, and attitudes too heavy on minor keys.” Johnson’s influences – a harder-rocking sound, a little more electric guitar, and some added harmonies and hand claps – add pop muscle to Collins’ country-rock sound.

    Collins is looking forward to sharing songs from the new CD — and seeing Houston family, friends and fans — Tuesday night at the Mucky Duck. “It’s always nice to be home …and have a little home cooking.”

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    Metallica concert review

    Heavy metal legends Metallica roll into Houston with thunderous riffs

    Craig Hlavaty
    Jun 15, 2025 | 12:59 am
    Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025
    Photo by Brittaney Penney
    Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

    Heavy metal is a baton that has been passed on for generations now. Now, more than ever, metal has turned into family entertainment. On Saturday night at NRG Stadium, the Metallica family reunion left ears ringing and hearts full, with a few scorch marks from hellacious pyro.

    Metallica — 44 years into this — is a frenetic, multigenerational machine. Four gray hairs from San Francisco that can still pack out a football stadium. The current lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo is the longest-running one in the band’s history.

    Hetfield’s frenzied screech from 1981 is now a smoky, barrel-chested growl. Hammett’s metallic, exploratory guitar lines are a part of the metal vocabulary, and Trujillo — still the new guy — has been the sturdy thunder below it all. Urlich’s reliable drumming is its stadium-honed heart.

    Openers Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera provided direct support, with ST serving as a bracing thrash appetizer. Keeping it all in the family, Trujillo’s 21-year-old son Tye is now playing bass for ST, just as Robert did in the ‘90s. The band’s set whizzed by before most fans were able to enter the building, but those who arrived early witnessed a masterclass in ‘80s hardcore thrash.

    Texas sludge legends Pantera have been celebrating the lives of departed brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul since the group reformed in 2022. Collapsing in acrimony in 2001, the band and its fans never got a proper sendoff, and, with the violent shooting death of Dimebag and Paul’s death due to heart disease, the current lineup only features two original members in lead singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown. Guitar hero Zakk Wyle, stepping into Dimebag’s shoes, is a Hall Of Fame avatar for Dimebag, perhaps the only living human that could have delivered the appropriate riffs. Anthrax’s Charlie Benante now handles drumming duties.

    It’s 2025, and I’m watching a Pantera pit on the floor of NRG Stadium from a comfortable seat in the end zone. Anselmo, seemingly ageless, stalked Metallica’s sprawling, jaggedly circular stage barefoot and howling, splitting the difference between Henry Rollins and Rob Halford. Heathen anthems “Walk” and “Cowboys from Hell” still slice with precision, just as they sounded in the adjacent Astroarena in 1995.

    Before Metallica hit the stage around 9 pm, bored fans passed the time by doing the wave in NRG Stadium, but it only made a few laps before fizzling out.

    Kicking off with “Creeping Death” from 1984’s Ride The Lightning, Metallica reveled in rumbling NRG Stadium’s foundations.

    “For Whom The Bell Tolls” sounds as apocalyptic as ever, one of the early highlights of the night. The band has embraced it’s Load and Reload era recently, with the latter’s “The Memory Remains” and “Fuel” making setlist appearances. The crowd deftly filled in for the late Marianne Faithfull during the former. There’s still a lot of love for ‘90s eyeliner Metallica.

    Metallica’s 2023 album 72 Seasons saw the quartet reconvening for a loose and unrelenting collection of songs. “Lux Æterna” and “If Darkness Had a Son” have a slithery swing to them, borne from those famous Metallica jam sessions that sometimes appear on YouTube.

    1991’s “Nothing Else Matters” is still a romantic ballad for metalheads, a Gen X wedding staple.

    Few hard rock bands can still pack a football stadium in 2025, which makes Metallica among the last of a dying breed. All in their early ‘60s, they’re not unlike a performance hot rod team with 30 or so souped-up machines in the garage that only they know how to drive. They just have to take a few more breaks than they used to in between laps. Those four guys together still make magic via extremely loud noises.

    Closing out with “Master of Puppets and “Enter Sandman,” Metallica pushed Houstonians out into a humid Saturday night, covered in each other’s sweat, looking forward to the next Metallica family reunion.

    Setlist

    Creeping Death
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Ride the Lightning
    The Memory Remains
    Lux Æterna
    If Darkness Had a Son
    Kirk and Rob Doodle ("Hit the Lights" and ZZ Top's "La Grange")
    The Day That Never Comes
    Fuel
    Orion
    Nothing Else Matters
    Sad but True
    One
    Seek & Destroy
    Master of Puppets
    Enter Sandman

    Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025
      

    Photo by Brittaney Penney

    Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

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