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Headbanging Punk-Metal Heroes Headline Slim's

By Dave Pehling

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Pummeling audiences with their high-octane mix of '70s hard rock and '80s hardcore punk since first coming together in Southern California in 2008, Venice Beach-based power trio the Shrine comes to Slim's in San Francisco this Thursday night.

Drawing equally from both Black Sabbath and Black Flag (the band even issued a digital single paying tribute entitled "Tribute to the Masters" that featured covers of "Symptom of the Universe" and "In My Head" in 2012), the band found its genesis when guitarist Josh Landau and bassist Court Murphy first started playing music in high school. Though separated by four years, the punk-obsessed Landau and the metalhead Murphy found enough common ground to start a band once they found drummer Jeff Murray through a musician wanted ad.

Taken under the wing of founding Black Flag bass player Chuck Dukowski (who invited the band to open for his group and produced their first self-titled release on Eliminator Records), the Shrine developed a hard-hitting punk-metal sound inspired by skateboarding, getting high (after all, the band's mascot is a wolf's head with a hit of acid on its tongue) and music ranging from early Nugent and Thin Lizzy to Bad Brains and D.R.I. evident on the corrosive songs on their Tee Pee Records debut Primitive Blast that came out in 2011.

The Shrine - Louise by Edu Raddi on YouTube

Since then, the trio has put out a couple more albums along with a slew of limited-edition singles and spent almost as much time on the road as off, honing it's incendiary stage show while touring extensively with such notable acts as Red Fang, Fu Manchu, Earthless, Graveyard and Dinosaur Jr. The band has also become a regular festival attraction, playing large weekend music celebrations both in the US (last year's Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, the latest edition of Aftershock in Sacramento and Rock on the Range in Columbus, OH) and elsewhere (the Noiseground Festival in Buenos Aires, Italy's Rock in Roma).

THE SHRINE "Whistling's Of Death" Live @ L'Astrolabe - Orléans // ASTROTV by ASTROLABE TV ORLÉANS on YouTube

For the band's most recent recording and their first for powerhouse metal label Century Media, the Shrine teamed with renowned producer Dave Jerden (best known for his work with Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains and Social Distortion) to track Rare Breed. The 2015 release was rightly hailed as the band's most fully realized effort yet.

The Shrine has been working on material for its forthcoming next album and may preview some new material at this headlining show at Slim's in San Francisco. The Shrine is joined by SF psychedelic glam/doom group Glitter Wizard -- who last year celebrated the release of their third heavy, headbanging prog-metal album Hollow Earth Tour and its collision of Deep Purple's riffs and Hawkwind's propulsive space rock -- as well as LA-based psychedelic garage punks Mind Mend and Bay Area hard rockers Banquet.

The Shrine
Thursday, March 30, 8 p.m. $16
Slim's

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