Diamond Head

It's gotta be a bitch when a band you influenced becomes the richest, biggest-selling metal group in music history... and you're still plugging away in clubs 37 years after you began. Such is mythic but true tale of Diamond Head and Metallica.

Diamond Head guitarist/founder Brian Tatler doesn't let it define him or his band, and will even repeat the now-legendary account for the benefit of Americans who might not be familiar with DH or its place in the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) movement of the early '80s.

See also: Former Metallica Bassist Jason Newsted Is Back to Kicking Asses Again

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Saigon Kick

When Florida foursome Saigon Kick first hit in 1991, they were post-metal, pre-grunge, and their approach--often epic and grandiose in the best possible ways--was in a category of its own. Their 1992 sophomore album, The Lizard, featured the group's MTV and Billboard hit, the ballad, "Love Is on the Way," but subsequent records and incarnations failed to thrill, and the beloved Saigon Kick entity lay semi-dormant, save for a few reunion attempts.

Until now. To plagiarize Poltergeist II The Other Side... 'They're baaaaaaack." "This line up has not been onstage since early 1993," says frontman Matt Kramer. "Phil [Varone, drummer and former Playgirl centerfold] and I went out for a few weeks just for fun in 2000 and it was great, but this is the real McCoy here. (Rounded out by founding member/guitarist Jason Bieler and longtime bassist Chris Mc Lernon.) "Those 20 year old kids we were back then just lacked the experience of how fast everything happened for us success wise."

See also: Soundgarden's Kim Thayil's Favorite Bands Sound Nothing Like Soundgarden

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Every Time I Die

These are the best metal shows in NYC this month.

See also: The Ten Best Metal Albums of 2012

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Black Francis

He's a man of many monikers and moods, and he rocks under any name. Charles Thompson / Frank Black / Black Francis has 23 albums to his credit, beginning in 1988 with Surfer Rosa by the Pixies, a band where the tired journalistic cliché "seminal" actually applies.

Black Francis performs tonight with Reid Paley at Maxwell's in Hoboken, 9 p.m.

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There are no whales in Freelance Whales.

The Freelance Whales emerged from the underground. Literally. Upon their 2008 inception, the quintet quickly found that the subway was the best way, as multi- instrumentalist Chuck Criss explains: "It seemed silly to book a small club and invite friends and that's all who would show up," he explains. "I remember playing a club in Williamsburg and we went outside a block away and started busking to encourage people to come see our set. It became immediately clear that people who would stop and listen to us on the street would also end up coming to our shows. From that point on, we ended up busking a lot, and it was a very organic way of growing the band."

See also: Freelance Whales - Webster Hall - 11/7/12

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For an (unintentional) architect of the "Seattle Sound," Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil sure likes a lot of punky New York and Detroit bands. He cites the MC5 as his all-time faves, with the Ramones a close second, also name-checking the Voidoids, Devo and Pere Ubu.

Soundgarden, formed in 1984 by Thayil and vocalist Chris Cornell, sound not-very-much-like those bands. Thayil, through a congested head/chest that he hopes isn't turning into the flu, explains: "We're on the cusp of these two different genres, so I like Sabbath and Zeppelin; I liked them more when I got older. As a kid, you only have 10 bucks a week to spend on records. I was going to try to find the Pere Ubu album; I didn't need to buy the Sabbath record, because my buddies have it, or it's on the radio."

See also:
- Does Soundgarden Have Any Business Reuniting in 2012?
- Soundgarden Invent Chillwave On Unreleased Track "Black Rain"

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Kent Miller

It's two-for-one happy hour at Motor City on the Lower East Side, and three-fifths of New York rabble rousers the Dirty Pearls quaff cheap suds to a soundtrack of the Heartbreakers, the Ramones and the New York Dolls.

The Dirty Pearls fit right in with such musical brethren of the '70s, as well as the dank, hipster divey-ness of the afternoon's locale. As Queens-born singer Tommy London explains: "I wanted to put together a band that was like something out of The Warriors; I thought that in rock 'n' roll, a gang was missing. I haven't seen a gang since Guns N' Roses."

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Back in 1991, Perry Farrell created the Lollapalooza Festival as a farewell tour for his then six-year-old band, Jane's Addiction, populating that year's outing with--besides Jane's--Nine Inch Nails, Ice-T & Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes, and Rage Against the Machine, among others.

Thus, we have Farrell to thank--or to excoriate--for giving rise to the "Alternative Nation" and the musical journey that's travelled from Rage Against the Machine to Florence + the Machine. While Jane's did break up following that landmark tour (despite the fact that "Been Caught Stealing" and "Stop!" became hits), in the years since 1997 the group has been an on and off proposition. Interesting side projects notwithstanding, the "strong" creative personalities and addictions were enough to derail the Jane's train for some years.

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Los Angeles is to X as New York is to the Ramones. Discuss.

Actually, not exactly. As X frontwoman Exene Cervenka relates, if it wasn't for a review slagging the Ramones, X might not exist. Seems the negative notice assured future X guitarist Billy Zoom that another band was as aberrant as he wanted to be, and, joining with bassist John Doe, the duo sowed the seeds of X.

X play 11/30 and 12/1 at Irving Plaza, and 12/7 at The Wonder Bar, Asbury Park, NJ.

See Also:
- X's Exene Cervenka Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis
- Interview: Exene Cervenka of X
- Live: X at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza

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The Daily News reports that tonight's Femi Kuti gig has been cancelled. But if you can't delay your fix, the Knitting Factory's New York AfroBeat Festival will otherwise continue as planned. Catch clarinetist Oran Etkin's free-form jazz at the early show, or Wunmigirl's African breakbeats late.

David Byrne shleps to Jersey to continue supporting his latest Brian Eno-produced venture. City-folk should consider waiting until Monday, when the former Talking Heads frontman does a free show at Prospect Park.

Guillermo Klein, the Argentinean composer and pianist, leads his orchestra through the labyrinth of modernist jazz at the Village Vanguard. Somehow, they keep it funky.

Low-budget bliss-rockers Holiday Shores leave us puzzling over the "tree falls in a forest" riddle with a 5 p.m. in-studio set at WNYU. Then they bring bubbly, old-world pop arrangements to the Cake Shop.

Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman perform at the Spin Book Club in Soho. The $25 tag may be steep for a pair of goths meandering over the piano, but it's a rare chance to see the Dresden Dolls frontwoman and Coraline author riff on each others' work.