“I AM FRYING PAN!!!” | Mac Sabbath Live Review | The Social, Orlando, FL | March 9, 2016

by • March 31, 2016

Vocalist Ronald Osbourne, guitarist Slayer MacCheeze, bassist Grimalice, and drummer The Catburglar: this is Mac Sabbath. This might just be the greatest parody band/artist of all time.

Not a light allusion. And not undeserving. This band combines two things I love: a disdain and outright loathing for corporately driven, GMO/Monsanto-filled fast food and the poverty-wage jobs its purveyors thrive on; and Black Sabbath.

Orwellian derived, yet comedy-driven lyrics: check. Spot-on covers of Black Sabbath‘s mega catalog: check.  A little mystery: check.

Band manager Mike Odd (of Rosemary’s Billygoat) handles all of the band’s press and interviews and claims to have never seen Ronald Osbourne out of character. The musicians are LA-based and never appear out of costume. No one really knows who they are. And apparently, that’s the way they want to keep it.

Who can blame them for keeping all of the focus on the show? It’s quite the spectacle. Drums that look like hamburgers. Evil-clown looking whacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-men. Fake grill on stage for Ronald to use to cook a bat-burger. Fake ketchup and mustard bottles for him to spray all over the audience.

Mac Sabbath Live Review

My McPhoto pt 1 By Josh Jauz | Mac Sabbath Live Review

These guys played their butts off for a loooong time. And just to be clear: the sound and image the band captured was spot on. Thick, sludgy doom guitar tone that did Sabbath’s Tony Iommi justice. Underrated and thick-cut bass a la Geezer Butler. The Catburgler’s drumming was surprisingly accurate, crisp, and punchy, especially for a guy in a full body costume. And Ronald’s performance captured all of the eccentric nuances Ozzy has become known for: leaping knees-up in one spot; throwing buckets of water/confetti on the audience; biting heads off of bats. You know, that old chestnut?

So I was pretty curious how this band came to be. Here’s what their Wikipedia page has to share:

Mac Sabbath performed their first public concert on July 12, 2014 as part of an art show at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. On October 26, 2014, MacSabbath was the headlining act for the final day of the three-day Long Beach Zombie Walk, which had featured novelty music DJ Dr. Demento and veteran horror punk group Haunted Garage as the previous days’ headliners. In their coverage of the event, the OC Weekly newspaper wrote ‘Though Mac Sabbath is a one-line joke, they are great performers. Both musically and comedically, Ronald Osbourne and his band of characters keep the energy high and the smiles wide.

‘In late 2014, news of Mac Sabbath and a video of them performing their ‘Iron Man’ parody ‘Frying Pan’ first caught public notice on the heavy metal websites Loudwire and Metal Injection, the former of which praised the ‘hilarity’ of the band’s presentation, singling out the ‘coked-out clown’ and the ‘skullet-sporting Grimace.’ Several days later, the band effectively went viral, receiving widespread online coverage from a myriad of sources including international music sites such as MTV NewsStereogumGigwiseand Music Times, lifestyle and culture sites like the LAist, horror movie site Bloody Disgusting, food-centric website The Daily Meal and even Fox News, who called the band ‘creepy.’

… Paste magazine commented succinctly ‘The most impressive — and terrifying — thing about Mac Sabbath is that they’re actually really good.’

Mac Sabbath Live Review

My McPhoto pt 2 by Josh Jauz | Mac Sabbath Live Review

And that last part is an understatement. They’re phenomenal. It takes some brass to parody BLACK SABBATH musically for a living and mix it with equal parts modern social mockumentary and 1984-esque substance. And those of us in the audience that night were totally eating it up (horrible pun intended). The band, having never played Orlando before, was sincerely surprised at the response and support they got from us. (A reaction I’ve noticed in many artists that play here for the first time.)  The house was packed and enthusiastically cheered the band back to the stage for a few encores. My personal favorites from the evening were “Frying Pan” (“Iron Man”), “Sweet Beef” (“Sweet Leaf”), and “N.I.B.B.L.E” (“N.I.B.”).

If you get the chance to catch this band live, do yourself a favor and go. Matter of fact, go out of your way to see them. It’s a unique experience that you really won’t get from anyone other than the self-proclaimed founders of “Drive-Thru Metal.”

Mac Sabbath Live Review by Josh Jauz, edited by Matthew Weller.


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