Review of Mushroomhead - Volume 1 (DVD)

Ok, all the haters step off right about now, yea, yea, yea. The title Volume 1 should clue you in to the fact that this is Mushroomhead’s first ever DVD. And since the guys are so damn involved in everything Mushroomhead related, this DVD is no different and was shot almost entirely by the band themselves except for a few of the professionally done videos that were included. Ahhh… they also produced, directed and edited it as well. Where does the creativity stop I say. Well it doesn’t. From the music, to the costumes, to the videos, to the vision, to even some of the financing, it just keeps coming and coming. If you don’t like them, who gives a shit. Stop reading and save your lashes for yourself. If you think they are Slipknot copycats why don’t you do some research and find out who was around first with the costumes and the massive amount of band members. If you don’t think they are “metal” enough, wake up and smell the ashes of the small box that metal used to live in; guess what, it has evolved. Now onto the film…

What a great DVD! It is packed with all kinds of cool stuff for the fans and is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long while. (Yes I do get out of the house from time to time) I never expected to laugh out loud so many times during the course of a music DVD. Think all the hi-jinks of a behind the scenes Pantera video, minus all the gross stuff and replaced with a bunch of funny shit that includes a recurring voice over crew video footage, something like 2 dudes talking but the camera man is talking for them and saying things like “Oh Bob last night when you touched my pee-pee that was wonderful” and the other dude says “Thanks Stan why don’t you get down and do it again right now” then they touch each other and walk out of view etc. etc. Childish I know but funny as hell most of the time. There are also several drunken episodes and a few joints and bongs thrown in for good measure. The absolutely sloshed band member that can’t make it to the bathroom and pisses all over the floor of the bus is another crazy bit, as well as the hilarious videos shot of people messing with unsuspecting sleepers by shooting cap guns at them and covering them with newspapers. They trash hotel rooms, shoot fireworks off, clobber video games with sledgehammers and majorly fuck around for most of the time they are off of the stage, which as I said causes you and them to laugh your asses off.

Oh yea the music, this is a music video after all not a Jackass DVD release. All of the footage is with ex-singer J. Mann now replaced by the competent Waylon. There are live recordings, including segments with other bands they have toured with like Meshuggah, Sevendust, Lamb Of God, Motograter, Dope and more. There are a few professionally shot videos intermingled with the chaos. There is studio and backstage footage out the wazoo. The DVD has a total running time of about 70+ minutes, so it's a lot of fast paced activity packed into over an hour of video, which gives us a great flow that doesn’t ever come close to getting boring. 17 chapters in all with titles like “Bronson/In The Studio”, “Kill Tomorrow”, “Down For Life”, “Sleepytime”, “Eternal”, and “Gravy”. Replay value is fairly high, especially with the ability to show your friends all the goofy and riotous things the band gets into. The best part is seeing the guys hanging loose, unmasked and just being themselves amongst their members, crew, and fans. This is a truly great DVD, a must for all the “Mushroom-heads” out there, and also recommended for any open-minded metalheads.

Release Details

Mushroomhead

Volume 1 (DVD)

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