Angus Khan

Reasons to give some ear to Black Leather Soul (Nickel and Dime), by the Los Angeles power-rock five Angus Khan: The band’s name is brilliant; guitarist Frank Meyer and bassist Dino Everett were in ace neo-Stooges group the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs; the album opens with a hot cover of “Midnight Moses,” by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band; and the whiff of AC/DC is strong in Derek Christensen’s son-of-Bon Scott vocals and the chanted choruses. You get some generic put-downs (”Scene Bitch”). But in songs like “Call Me Motherfucker” and “Exile on Mean Street,” you get a lot more meat and moxie.

RS. David Fricke - Rolling Stone Issue 1085

If you think heavy metal is dead, Angus Khan has something to say to you. Band member Dirty-D told Metalrage.com that the band's new album, “Black Leather Soul,” is “ass-kicking, face-melting, blistering hard rock with dashes of punk ‘tude and glam flashiness.” And the site went on to say that the music is “a breath of fresh air for lovers of KISS, Aerosmith, AC/DC and good old-fashioned biker rock.” (On sale July 28)

- MSNBC

Angus Khan

8.19.09 | Knitting Factory | Los Angeles, CA

by Dawn Kohn

“Yeah, we’ll come to New York and we will stay with you.”

Mid-way through their set at Hollywood’s Knitting Factory, arguably “too small” a venue for the larger-than-life Angus Khan, frontman Dirty D replies to a screaming fan’s lurid proposition with the equally salacious: “You better have a really small bed!”.

With that, another metal band is re-born. Touring Southern California to promote the just-pressed Black Leather Soul, these Hollywood natives prove that age really ain’t nothing but a number as long as you can still wear leather, grow your hair long, and act like you are the sexiest musician in the room.

Angus Khan opened the set with two recent music videos projected onto a screen in front of the stage curtain, while behind the curtain the “boys” busied themselves onstage setting up lights, bubbles, and smoke machines. The videos gave the audience a peep show of the band, but also paid tribute to Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” Guitar Girls.

The opening curtains revealed the night’s eclectic rockers with Full Monty choreography, Village People costumes, a Robert Plant look-a-like guitarist, Jack Black’s twin brother on vox, and the ever-present, chain-smoking heavy metal drummer.

With Angus Khan’s membership a pilfering of Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, B-Movie Rats, and Jesters of Destiny, it’s no wonder these soon-to-be legends rocked a phenomenal live show. Its music is the soundtrack of our real lives, even if we don’t want to admit it: the seedy strip club lap dance set on a Tuesday night, the Harley bar on the weekend, or emanating from the stage of the Staples.. ..Center. There’s no need to cover AC/DC in this all-original set – Angus Khan’s music is its own draw.

Not only can they rock out (and party harder than Van Halen in their prime) but, girls, there’s a waitlist for sexy groupies and, guys, stop congratulating yourselves for blogging first about this one. Their male fan base is on the rise – just ask the guy next to me who jabbed my ribs and socked my arm as he flailed in Angus adulation (get a mosh pit, dude). The wasted women in the front row to my left were surely intoxicated from a combination of booze and the vision of Dirty D’s “Big Balls.” (Wait for it, wait for it, OK)

My personal favorite was "Scene Bitch" because, well, everyone knows one. Sorry kids, that one’s not in the MySpace playlist – gonna need the CD to hear that track. The set ended with “Exile on Mean Street,” with a plethora of smoke, lights and bubbles for the perfect sign-off. Personal note: Not enough bubble machines on rock stages. “Exile,” written by guitarist Frank Meyer, is spectacular and the quintessential hard-core finale. The band wrapped tight lyrics around squealing instrumentation, pulsating riffs, and synched, rhythmic motions. Hard to believe the set was over without warning.

After repeating a request for “the next song is dedicated to Rachel” Dirty D scaled a mountain of speakers, raised his mic stand, and gave his screaming fans a very special message tagged across the bottom: “YOU WISH.”

And believe me – there were many who did.
- Mish Mash Magazine

Angus Khan: Black Leather Soul

It's only a supergroup if you're really cool, so I won't mention that Angus Khan is littered with ex-members of sleaze/psyche semi-legends like Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, B-Movie Rats and Jesters of Destiny. All you really need to know is that they dress like Zodiac Mindwarp and they sound like AC/DC blowing up a school bus.

(7 out of 10)

--Sleazegrinder - Classic Rock Magazine