Las Vegas Weekly

October 7, 2009 · 9:56 AM

What’s in a (band) name?

By Allison Duck

Four of the five members of Taintstick. Good Charlotte's Benji Madden has just signed on to play bass.

When we saw the Hard Rock’s band lineup for the weekend before Halloween, we almost thought they’d confused All Hallow’s Eve with April Fool’s Day.

Booking a band named Taintstick any day is guaranteed to garner a few worthy snickers and snide comments. (We’re not sure what a taintstick is, but we’re pretty sure we don’t want to find out first hand.) But book them the day before a show featuring Swollen Members and you’ve got back-to-back shows at Wasted Space that sound either like a porno flick or a doctor’s visit gone terribly wrong. I can imagine the X-rated event flyers now.

LA-based death metal group Taintstick has little to do with Vancouver’s hip-hop and rap trio Swollen Members, other than sharing an album release date and the same weekend at Wasted Space. The Taint guys, who call themselves “explosive gods of heavy metal ecstasy,” play a satirical brand of hard rock that echoes Tenacious D with amusing lyrics and a mockingly self-important tone. The recent addition of Benji Madden as bassist should entice some curious fans out to the show, which will be one of the first live performances ever for the quintet.

Canadian hip-hop trio Swollen Members has many more shows under its, ahem, belt, having been in the business for more than a decade. Known for more than just their tumescent name, Swollen Members have yet to add a Grammy to their mantel, but have been honored with several Juno Awards, Canada’s Grammy equivalent.

Both bands will be dropping new albums on October 27th, so expect some new songs to be debuted at each show. And plenty of sexual innuendo. It wouldn’t be Taintstick/Swollen Members weekend without it!

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