Five Albums That Changed My Life: John Allen of Charm City Devils

Maryland's Charm City Devils have been out causing a ruckus throughout the U.S. on their Sinners Ball Tour. The band is out in support of SINS, their latest album of hook-filled hard rock. It looks like the road carnage will continue as the band recently announced a new slew of dates opening for Taproot starting this week (May 30). Charm City Devils will then jump on a tour with Theory of a Deadman on July 20 that will keep them on the road into fall.

As busy as the band is, Charm City Devils frontman John Allen took a moment out of his schedule to take part in Noisecreep's 'Five Albums That Changed My Life' series.

Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin (1969)

"Jimmy Page set out to show shades of light and dark and achieved it in spades. From the bombast of 'Communication Breakdown' to 'Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You,' he managed to rock out and mellow out -- sometimes within the same song! Led Zep pioneered the sound of heavy music. In addition to writing great music and arrangements, Page's production has also held up ever since."

Alive!, KISS (1975)

"This album could be the one that started me on this path of wanting to rock people's faces off! I pictured myself playing at the L.A. Forum or Cobo hall singing 'Cold Gin.'"

Shout at the Devil, Motley Crue (1983)

"I've always loved their first album, Too Fast for Love, but Shout at the Devil features 'Looks That Kill' and 'Red Hot.' Case closed."

Made in Japan, Deep Purple (1972)

"These guys could play their asses off and Ian Gillan's screams in 'Child In Time' can still compete with anything a screamo singer can do today!"

Ride the Lightning, Metallica (1983)

"We used to drive around in my first car listening to this record over and over trying to figure out if there were 100 or 200 guitar tracks recorded on there (Yeah, we were pretty stoned). The guitars sounded so massive and so good we hoped one day we could sound that good!"

Charm City Devil's latest album, SINS, is available now via Fat Lady Music.

Tour dates:

* Wed 5/30 Pittsburgh, PA Altar Bar

* Thu 5/31 Hagerstown, MD Breakaways II

* Fri 6/1 Hartford, CT Webster Theatre

* Sat 6/2 Allentown, PA Crocodile Rock

* Sun 6/3 Portland, ME The Asylum

Fri 6/22 Savannah, GA The Rock House

Sat 6/23 Johnson City, TN Capone's

Thu 6/28 Milwaukee, WI Summerfest (Rock Stage)

Fri 6/29 Ft. Wayne, IN Piere's (with Redlight King)

Sat 6/30 Detroit, MI Small's Bar

Sat 7/14 Chesaning, MI Showboat Rockfest

** Fri 7/20 Panama City Beach, FL Club La Vela Gulfside Amphitheatre

Sat 7/21 Carlisle, PA Carlisle Bike Fest

** Wed 7/25 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts

** Sun 7/29 Cincinnati, OH Bogart's

** Wed 8/1 Lincoln NE The Bourbon Theatre

** Sun 8/5 Lewiston, ID Boomer's Garden

** Tue 8/7 Modesto CA Modesto Centre Plaza

** Fri 8/10 Chico, CA Senator Theatre

** Sat 8/11 Reno, NV Knitting Factory

Sat 10/13 Centreville, MD Island Bay Day Festival

* With Taproot

** With Theory Of A Deadman