BIO

Everything happens for a reason. The majority of global belief systems have this concept at their core. Notables from actress Marilyn Monroe to the Greek philosopher Leucippus believed in this. Fundamental to the matter at hand, it is a belief held by Scott Weiland, Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz, the members of Stone Temple Pilots. How else to explain the present beatific state the band currently inhabit than the concept of “divine obstacles” being deliberately placed in front of the band members in order that they fully realized their potential, strength, willpower and creativity. “Stone Temple Pilots,” the group’s sixth, eponymously titled album, due out May 25, 2010 via Atlantic Records, is a testament to this concept.

Stone Temple Pilot’s opening salvos revealed them to be Rock animals draped in traditional songsmith clothing. Equally at ease with the riff driven swagger inherent in “Sex Type Thing” and “Vasoline” as they were with the shimmering elegance that inhabited “Creep” or “Sour Girl,” the bands all-encompassing approach proved that any genre-specific tags gave short shrift to the sheer scope of their collective oeuvre.

Links

• Band homepage: www.stonetemplepilots.com
• Myspace: www.myspace.com/stonetemplepilots
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stone-Temple-Pilots/134914122905
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/stpband

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Like a stone worn smooth by a millennia of weathering, Stone Temple Pilots skipped across the mirror-plane of the 1990’s, skimming its glassine surface at habitual intervals to scoop up their latest bounty in an ongoing plethora of accolades; an 8 times Platinum debut album, 16 singles on the Billboard rock chart (six of which peaked at #1), a “Best hard Rock Performance” at Grammy in 1994 and the sale of nearly 40 million records worldwide before entering a period of suspended animation in 2001.
Emerging from their cocoon in 2998 the band reconvened for a tour that touched thousands upon thousands of fans thirsty to hear authentic organic music played by craftsmen at the zenith of their talents. For their first album in almost a decade Stone Temple Pilots decided to look inwards and mine the abundant resources they themselves had acquired since their inception. Their first decision was the resolution to help the new album themselves. “Producing the album meant a lot to the band,” emphasizes Dean. “We’ve worked with some amazing people in the past but this was a bid statement for us. We have high expectations we put upon ourselves and we have high expectations we put on one another.”

Subsequent was the luxury to record at their own pace realized by using the band member’s individual studios; Eric’s Bomb Shelter Studios, Robert’s Homefry Studio and Scott’s Lavish Studios. States Robert, “I’m most proud of the fact that in addition to the writing and arranging we took the initiative to record and produce in our own studios. It felt like a graduation to me, to an area where we encompassed all aspects of making our records from start to finish.” Explains Dean, “we didn’t have a time constraint and we didn’t have to appease anyone.” In our own souls it was something we wanted to accomplish.” Past Stone Temple Pilots albums featured meticulously crafted songs in a cornucopia of styles but “Stone Temple Pilots” contains arguably the most diverse collection of music in the bands career. What influences lead to the additional components the band has woven into it sonic blueprint? “Life itself” declares both Dean and Robert, “we’ve all become parents, we’ve matured and we’ve learned how to simplify things so they’re running somewhat smoothly. There are not many bands from our era with all the original members and there is a chemistry to this band after being together for so long. We know how to write songs with one another and that’s the major factor that allowed us to make this record on our own terms.”

“We bring in musical elements including Brazilian, Jazz and Country and introduce it via a Rock format that’s what sets us apart from other bands” Dean enthuses. “The multiple elements we have harnessed are also one of the reasons non of our albums sound like the one previous.” Another notable difference on “Stone Temple Pilots” is that “I’m soloing on almost every song whereas on “Core” there were solos in maybe 4 or 5 songs.” Scott is adamant in his praise; “Dean really stepped it up on this album.
Even a cursory listen to the album will reveal an entire band who have stepped it up. “Between the Lines” kicks proceedings off as if to remind everyone that even after several years away, Stone Temple Pilots is, above all, a Rock Band. Weiland’s no-apologies lyric rides a deliberately Dylan-influenced melody with a massive Pop hook in the chorus guaranteeing that the song will buzz around your brain long after the album has ended.

“Huckleberry Crumble,” “Hickory Dichotomy” and “Fast As I Can” roll along like freight trains about to come off the rails but incorporate seasoned Country licks that would seem out of place in the hands of less talented musicians.
Dare If You Dare” and “Cinnamon” suck you in to a Zen-like swirl that recall the headiest ingredients of the late 60s British Pop enigmatically merged with the most contemporary of influences. “Like Ian Curtis meets The Beatles,” laughs Scott.
“Mayer” is perhaps the song that benefits the most from the band’s arsenal of varied musical elements. “We always try to take influences from everywhere, whether it’s a bossa nova like we did on “Shangri-La Dee Da” or song like “Mayer” which is very R&B” explains Scott.

The lyrics also share the music’s ebb and flow. “I told stories on this record,” Scott reveals. “You travel around the world, you meet people, you experience things and you discover that there are so many stories to be told. I had a lot of fodder for genuine heartfelt lyrics.”

“Bagman” throws down the lines, “There was a dream/When we said we would be free/But now is the time to be real.” Never have Stone Temple Pilots been as real or as free as on this album.
Like piercing the membrane into an alternate musical reality where craft always takes precedence over glitz and talent always triumphs over headlines and reality shows, “Stone Temple Pilots” is the highest peak on the band’s enduring landscape. The music is both challenging and familiar at the same time giving the listener a skewed sense of déjà vu. But then again, déjà vu is perhaps fates way of telling you that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. And if the members of Stone Temple Pilots feel the same sense of déjà vu it’s because they’re right in line with their own destiny.

BIO

Early in 2007, producer Rob Cavallo asked Shinedown frontman Brent Smith about his goals for the band’s new album. Smith didn’t hesitate.

“I said, ‘You know what — when I’m dead and gone, when everybody in this band has passed or what have you, I want the world to remember this as a record that needed to be made, and that there was a reason for it,’ ” Smith says. “That was the motivation behind this album.”

Links

• Band Homepage: www.shinedown.com
• MySpacce: www.myspace.com/shinedown
• Twitter:  www.twitter.com/Shinedownmusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Shinedown

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“And part of the reason it took so long to make!”

Welcome then to THE SOUND OF MADNESS, Shinedown’s third album — and the Florida rockers’ boldest effort to date. Like its two predecessors, 2003’s Platinum LEAVE A WHISPER and 2005’s Gold US AND THEM, THE SOUND OF MADNESS offers a brave and unsparing look into the soul and psyche amidst a fierce musical attack that, even in its quieter moments, vibrate with the passion, energy and focus of a band with high-minded ideals and limitless ambitions.

Smith and company began the recording process for THE SOUND OF MADNESS with the formidable task of following up two massively successful albums that yielded a staggering seven consecutive Top five rock and alternative radio hits that included “Fly From the Inside,” “45,” the chart topping “Save Me,” and a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” along with a reputation as a hot live band with an insatiable appetite for the road. However, after one listen, it’s clear that the band didn’t shrink from the task. Where THE SOUND OF MADNESS differs most is in its growth; it’s the product of a group that has developed an even clearer vision for how it wanted to impact an audience.

“Lyrically, these songs are the most blunt that I’ve ever written,” says Smith, who formed Shinedown with drummer Barry Kerch in 2001 in Jacksonville, Fla. “I feel that on this record I wrote what a lot of people want to say, but they just don’t know how to say it — not that I should tell anyone how to live their lives, but I’ve had these experiences and these thoughts that are in my head. And I can’t believe I’m the only one who feels the way I do. So I just tried to express that in the most artistic and the most honest way I possibly could.”

On THE SOUND OF MADNESS, Smith and Shinedown express those thoughts and ideas in ways they never have before. The group’s hard rock muscles flex on songs such as the chart-topping first single “Devour,” “Cry For Help,” “Sin With a Grin” and the title track. But the likes of “The Crow and the Butterfly,” “Breaking Inside” and their followup single “Second Chance” incorporate more sophisticated, emotional dynamics (enhanced by a 20-piece string section), while Smith counts “If You Only Knew” as his first straight-up love song, a tribute to his girlfriend Ashley and a relationship that led to the birth of their son, Lyric, in late 2007.

“A long time ago I said, ‘I’ll never write a love song. I’m not that guy,’ “Smith recalls with a laugh. “I just never had a reason to write a love song before. I don’t mean to be corny, but it’s just a song that expressed how much she means to me and how she has given me more than I could ever imagine. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to repay her and thank her for everything she’s done for me.”

THE SOUND OF MADNESS also contains Smith’s first-ever political song “Devour,” which he says was inspired by Shinedown’s visits to troops in Iraq and his feelings about the end of George W. Bush’s presidency.

“I won’t lie; I got really angry,” Smith explains about the first single. “This is my statement to him; ‘This is the end of your presidency, and this is what you have to show for it’ — Not that everything he did was bad or wrong. I don’t want to get too political, because I’m not a political person. But after coming back from Iraq, I just had to write that song and get it out of my system.”

Elsewhere on THE SOUND OF MADNESS, listeners will find Shinedown waxing autobiographically (“Second Chance” is about Smith leaving his native Knoxville, Tenn., to pursue a career in rock ‘n’ roll; “What a Shame” is an elegy to a beloved late uncle) but also crafting insightful observations gleaned from the hundreds of shows and millions of road miles the band has logged.

“In the seven years of this thing called Shinedown,” Smith says, “I’ve seen a lot of different things – what we’ve all gone through on the road, things in our personal lives or witnessed firsthand through the fans that we’ve made and the relationships we’ve built with our audience. I think the biggest thing was I didn’t want to sugarcoat the way life can be sometimes. This is my viewpoint. This is my view of every day life.”

Kerch, meanwhile, says THE SOUND OF MADNESS succeeds most in putting some sonic power behind the power of Smith’s expression.

“We wanted to come out of the gate crushing,” the drummer explains. “We really wanted to make a statement with this record and make it bigger than life — a big rock album that made a statement that, ‘Alright, we’re back. This is our third record, and this is what we’re about.”

By the time Shinedown first met with producer Rob Cavallo — whose own Grammy award winning, multi-platinum track record includes work with Green Day, My Chemical Romance, the Goo Goo Dolls and Kid Rock — the frontman had a number of songs already together and further dazzled the producer by improvising a new composition during their discussion.

“I was just taken with (Smith),” Cavallo says. “He was really just on fire to do well. He’s a guy driven to win. He wants to make the best record he can make and spent a lot of time writing …making sure it all mattered.”

Cavallo, meanwhile, entered THE SOUND OF MADNESS with his own agenda for Shinedown’s next step.

“I thought they definitely had a greater potential than the success they’d already achieved,” he explains. There’s no reason a guy with that voice and intensity shouldn’t be able to go all the way. We decided to make sure that the songs had that potential.”

Smith heard the message loud and clear. He left the first meeting with Cavallo and returned with nearly 60 songs by the fall, when Shinedown entered the studio in Los Angeles. The group wound up recording 15, including some — such as “Cry For Help” — that were written in the studio during the recording process.

All the while, however, Smith says that Shinedown “wanted it loud and wanted it big and heavy and grandiose. For the heavy songs, we wanted it as heavy as it could be, but using different kinds of styles with a lot of different guitar tones.” Incorporating synthesizers and the aforementioned strings, Smith notes that, “we used a lot of really unique sounds and different variations underneath the music that you wouldn’t necessarily know were there, but, if they were gone, you’d miss them.”

Kerch says Cavallo’s role in helping attain that layered sound cannot be understated. “He brought to the table not only knowledge of music in general but a lot of patience and a real comfortable environment,” Kerch recalls. “He would sit on the couch and we’d be playing a take and he’d pop up and go, ‘Oh fuck! This is what we have to do!’ and come out and literally show us. He was so energetic and made everybody want to do better.”

That bigger sound on the album is mirrored in the new lineup of Shinedown, a revamped edition of the band that, along with drummer Kerch (or ‘the almighty Barry Kerch’ as Smith likes to say), includes Eric Bass on bass and former touring guitarist Zach Myers as a permanent fixture.

“All of a sudden it started growing into this other thing,” Smith says. “These guys are brilliant, brilliant players. It’s a reinvention, and it’s stronger.”

Smith plans to take keep this “new reincarnation” of Shinedown on the road for quite awhile, too, making sure THE SOUND OF MADNESS is heard worldwide. A justifiable pride in the album as well as a growing international fan base for the band will lead to an even further evolution in which the record that “needed” to be made will similarly need to be heard in a live setting.

“I sometimes look at Shinedown as an entity unto itself,” Smith says. “It keeps evolving all the time, like it actually has a heartbeat. It’s not a machine; there’s actually blood flowing through it. From the time we came up with the name, it’s felt like it’s conducting us and flowing through us. It’s weird — but it’s pretty wonderful, too.”

BIO

The Cult emerged in 1984 as one of England’s leading post punk rock revivalists. With a nod to the mysticism of the Doors, the psychedelic guitars of Led Zeppelin, and the three-chord crunch of AC/DC, the Cult culled a rabid following in their native Britain with hit singles like “She Sells Sanctuary” from the classic LOVE album. The band broke into the American hard rock market with “Love Removal Machine,” from the Rick Rubin produced Electric. But the groups largest commercial success came in America with Sonic Temple, which reached the Top Ten of the Billboard Charts.

Links

• Band Homepage: http://www.thecult.us/
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thecult
• FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/officialcult
• Twitter:  http://twitter.com/THE_CULT

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The hit single “Fire Woman” helped propel the album into an American Top Ten record, and within no time the Cult were hanging out with the likes of Aerosmith, as well as supporting Metallica on the Damaged Justice tour. Though the group was experiencing its best sales, it was fraying behind the scenes, due to infighting and substance abuse.. The resulting album, Ceremony, was released in the fall of 1991 to weak reviews and disappointing sales. Following the release of Ceremony, the group took a break for the next three years. In 1993, the band released the U.K.-only hits compilation Pure Cult, which debuted at number one. By summer 1993, the Cult had a new rhythm section and recorded The Cult, which was released in late 1994 to poor reviews and sales.

In spring 1995, the Cult disbanded, with Ian Astbury forming the Holy Barbarians later in the year. Billy Duffy briefly played with Miles Hunt’s Vent 414 before leaving to pursue a solo project. In 2000, the band’s catalog was remastered and reissued, and Pure Cult was released in the U.S.. It was followed by Rare Cult, a six-disc box set of rarities. The Cult resurfaced in June 1999 at the Tibetan Freedom Festival. This version of the band recorded the 2001 album Beyond Good and Evil before the Cult was retired again, as Astbury joined former Doors members Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek in the Doors of the 21st Century.

In 2007, it was announced that Astbury had left the band to rejoin Duffy in a new version of the Cult, with Chris Wyse on bass, John Tempesta on drums, and Mike Dimkitch on rhythm guitar. They signed to Roadrunner Records and released Born into This later that year. The album received critical acclaim and re-established the Cult as an artistic force in the new millennium. In the summer of 2007, the first single “Dirty Little Rockstar” was the number one ad across the board at all rock radio formats in the U.S. The record did equally as well overseas as it did in the US. The band embarked on a full tour throughout 2008 to support their latest release.

2009 saw the band revisit the LOVE album with a series of sold out shows across the globe. Retracing the footsteps of tours from their origin, The Cult played to sold out theaters, and standing ovations. They performed the LOVE album in order, finishing the set with the haunting Black Angel, which up until this tour had only been played live a handful of times. The band had planned to end the special concert series as 2009 came to a close. But due to demand they will perform LOVE LIVE in both Australia & Japan in May 2010.

The band recruited producer Chris Goss in early 2010 to produce the next Cult release. The next music will be delivered in a series of capsules, heralding in a cutting edge delivery of music that is sure to help redefine music delivery for years to come. Four tracks have been captured, and are earmarked for a late Summer release. The music will be packaged with original short film, conceptual photography, and modern art.

BIO

There’s something almost intangible about a band with strong chemistry. When the guitarists vibe off each other just right, the bassist is lock in step with the drummer, the music almost transcends the musicians. And when the vocalist is feeding off the power of the other players, almost anything is possible. It’s something Sevendust learned early in their career when guitarist Clint Lowery joined forces with the eclectic Atlanta group.

Links

• Website
• Facebook
• Myspace

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Track: Prodigal Son

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“I knew once I got him in there that he could definitely change the band fully,” says drummer Morgan Rose. “His background vocals and his writing style and guitar playing were the final ingredients for us to become the band that we needed to be.”

With Lowery as a major contributor, Sevendust released four albums that stretched the limits of hard rock and metal, combining elements of thrash, classic metal, southern rock and soul into songs that were both sinfully tuneful and ruthlessly aggressive. Then in 2003, after the release of Seasons, the guitarist quit to focus on his other band Dark New Day. Sevendust continued for three more albums, and enjoyed considerable success, but something was clearly missing. So, when the band reunited with Lowery in early 2008, it was like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle was finally reinserted and the picture was again complete.

“It was really cool having Clint back in the band,” vocalist Lajon Witherspoon says. “That energy was great and it was really exciting to be able to work together to really hone in on what we had before and make it even better.”

The band’s new record, Cold Day Memory, capitalizes on all of Sevendust’s chemistry and potential. While the band’s last few efforts were mainly heavy and rhythmic, the new songs balance brutality with textural passages and infectious counter-melodies. There are even fleet-fingered guitar solos. But whether confronting the listener with double-bass drums and staccato power chords or using melodic arpeggios and soft brush strokes to sweeten the sound of Witherspoon’s multi-faceted vocals, Sevendust sound excited, energized and ready to take on the world.

“We wanted to change the template completely from what we did with our last album Hope and Sorrow, Rose explains. “We were going, ‘Let’s bring back those other elements Clint brought in that made us what we were. So we sort of made a silent agreement that we were going to let Clint run wild. We said we’ll jump in when it’s time, but if you’ve got an idea let’s go with it.’”

“I just wanted us to do what we do best,” Lowery says. “We have a lot of melody that’s a cool contrast to the heavy music that we play. So, you’ll have a melodic chorus that comes out of nowhere, but we still have aggressive vocals there. And I did a lot with the harmonies, but I also did a lot of the heavy vocal stuff as well. So it was a challenge for me to really dig in and find a voice that was aggressive enough to where it sounded sincere enough to put on the record. We’re a very heavy, but melodic band and I wanted to maintain that.”

Throughout, Cold Day Memory is inventive, immediate and infectious. “Unraveling,” the first single is vintage Dust, a dynamic radio rocker that combines Witherspoon’s pained, melodic vocals with angry bursts of distorted guitar, peaking with a chorus made for driving with the pedal to the floor. “Splinter,” which opens with galactic sound effects, showcases the band’s heavier side with an opening guitar line reminiscent of Iron Maiden and a chugging riff that feeds into surging verse that bristles with animosity. Yet no matter how loud it gets, Witherspoon’s acrobatic vocals – which see-saw from an enraged howl to a vibrato-laden croon – keeps the song from flying off the rails. Other tunes are more experimental. “Karma” features jazzy, twanging guitars, a tumbling tribal beat, chiming guitar harmonics and vocals that build from a whisper to a scream. And “The End is Coming” incorporates electronic effects and string samples into an apocalyptic, harmony-laden amalgam of doom and dreams.

While Cold Day Memory is easily Sevendust’s most accomplished release in at least seven years, it wasn’t an easy album to create, especially for Lowery, who went above and beyond to prove himself. “I was second-guessing the hell out of myself and driving everyone else in the band crazy,” he says. “I was questioning whether everything I did was good enough. So, it was the hardest record for me because I was putting a lot of pressure on myself.”

Sevendust started working on Cold Day Memory at Room 56, their practice space in Atlanta in May 2009. With the help of Lowery’s brother Corey (Stereomud Dark New Day) who engineered and produced, Sevendust wrote a batch of high quality demos, including one, from which they procured the title of the album.

“It’s kind of funny because we were writing a song and I couldn’t come up with lyrics for the chorus,” says Lowery. “So I just threw in a bunch of words that sounded cool, and one of the phrases was ‘Cold Day Memory.’ We didn’t end up using the lyric, but when I came up with it I thought, ‘That sounds like a cool title for a record.’ So I put that back in my mental Rolodex. Then, when we were up in Chicago in the dead of winter, and it was such a dismal scene every day with the clouds, the snow and the rain, I started thinking back to that title, and I was like, ‘Man, that pretty much explains this whole experience.’”

In October 2009, Sevendust flew to Chicago to work on Cold Day Memory with producer Johnny K (Disturbed, Three Doors Down, Staind) at his Groovemaster Recording Studios. There, they spent three months reconfiguring their arrangements and fine-tuning their playing until the songs were tight and powerful.

“The schedule was brutal,” Witherspoon says. “We worked from 12 to 12 every day. We went through the works, but it went down really well. We did the vocals in this big booth that we built upstairs that overlooked the whole city, and along the way it became known as The Zone. And The Zone had rules. You weren’t allowed in there if you were too rambunctious. You couldn’t talk too much. It almost made me feel like when I was a wrestler in high school and you were going on deck. You were getting ready to go to The Zone to do your magic.”

More often than not, the vocal melodies and harmonies on the demos were different than those on the final takes. And the final takes were rarely the same as the 10 or 15 that preceded them. In the studio, Johnny K worked quickly, but he liked to examine multiple options from different angles.

“I tried a lot of different singing styles because we wanted to make sure we had a lot of things to choose from,” Witherspoon says. “But that was fun for me, man, and it felt like incredible conditioning because I was able to not only do vocals with Corey [Lowery], but then turn around and go back over those songs with Johnny K to tweak different things that he wanted to hear.”

All five band members contributed to the lyrics on Cold Day Memory, and the songs were works in progress up until the moment they were recorded. In the end, the band crafted songs that encapsulated their experiences with the world and one another. Witherspoon, who recently became a father, penned some lines about commitment and responsibility, while Rose, who was going through a painful divorce, wrote lyrics about heartbreak and disillusionment. “Unraveling,” which was co-written in Malibu, California by Lowery and Dave Bassette, is about the collapse of a relationship and “Confession” indirectly addresses Lowery quitting and returning to the band.

“Since we all write, it’s hard to tell exactly what each song is about, but we like to leave it up to the listeners to decide for themselves,” Rose says. “It’s funny because in the end you almost don’t know what you wrote. I remember telling [guitarist] John [Connolly] one time, ‘Dude, that was an amazing line you wrote,’ and He went, “What are you talking about? You wrote that.”

Despite it’s unconventional creation, in the end, Cold Day Memory is a cohesive return to form that restores everything Sevendust pioneered and excelled at in the late ’90s with the writing and playing chops the members have developed since then. Moreover, it’s a modern sounding disc that uses the latest technology to create timeless tunes.

“It just brings a more musical side back to us, but at a more seasoned level,” Witherspoon concludes. “I’m just glad we’re all back together like this. I feel like this is a great album, and it’s only the beginning of a lot more stuff to come.”

BIO

Raditude’s swift appearance on the heels of 2008’s The Red Album is hardly the only surprise Weezer has in store on its seventh record. Raditude upends any expectations audiences may have of Weezer, amplifying their trademarks to a dizzying degree – the pop hooks dig deeper, the rock hits so hard it bruises – but the group subverts these signatures with a sly hand while pushing boldly into new territory.

Links

• Band homepage: www.weezer.com 
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/weezer
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/weezer  
• Twitter: twitter.com/weezer

MUSIC

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“I’m Your Daddy”

“(If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To”

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Perhaps the collaborative nature of Raditude – arguably its calling card – is in the collective spirit of the band’s experience on their last tour. “It feels like an extension of all the fun we were having last year with the Hootenannies,” explains Rivers Cuomo, referring to Weezer’s innovative supporting tour for The Red Album. Inspired by the old folk sing-a-longs of the ‘60s, Weezer invited fans onstage- hundreds, at times- to play the band’s songs, teaching them the chords while Rivers, Brian and Scott sang.

The wild, wooly settings borne of the Hootenannies couldn’t help but push the band in new directions, turning Rivers into a demonstrative performer. “For 15 years I went onstage and looked at my feet as I strummed my guitar,” recalls Rivers. “That wouldn’t work at the Hootenannies! We had to come out of our shell. We feel like the experience of doing it was boot camp for being frontmen. If we’re comfortable walking into a room of a few hundred kids with random instruments, guiding them through the process of playing some Weezer tunes, we can feel comfortable in an arena, knowing that we can interact with a more traditional crowd.”

With its rollicking communal spirit, Weezer’s latest offering can be viewed as a natural progression from those resulting impromptu jam sessions. Raditude sees the band partying with Lil’ Wayne, hitting the clubs with Jermaine Dupri and bringing in a host of Indian musicians to push the band into a psychedelic, spiritual dimension. Within these 10 songs lie boundless possibilities and ceaseless excitement, proof that Weezer remains a band that defies easy summations and can never be taken for granted, a band who has grown as they’ve opened their horizons.

Part of Raditude’s charm comes from its thrilling unpredictability. No song offers an indication of what’s next: Weezer inverts Jermaine Dupri’s hedonism on his Cuomo collaboration “Can’t Stop Partying,” spinning it into a minor key that gives it an underlying ironic tension; the band pounds out a classic arena-rocker with the gleefully lascivious “The Girl Got Hot;” they ride a sleek electro groove on “I’m Your Daddy,” while “Love is the Answer” builds slowly, surely to its swaying anthemic close and “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” kicks it all off with its clanking acoustic guitars and Motown beat, setting the tone for an album that’s filled with thrilling surprises, infectious melodies, marrying Weezer’s hookiest pop with their heaviest rock. As Cuomo says, “It sounds like a roomful of people having a great time” but more than that, Raditude is Weezer’s wildest, weirdest, best record yet, easily supporting Cuomo’s assertion that “Raditude feels like the greatest realization of my musical goals.”

Raditude caps off a remarkable decade that saw Weezer reassert its position as one of the biggest, best rock bands in the world while also seeing their influence echo through a generation who absorbed the sound and feel of the group’s two classic ‘90s albums: their self-titled 1994 debut, dubbed The Blue Album featuring such era-defining hits as “Undone—The Sweater Song” and “Buddy Holly” and their cult classic 1996 sophomore set Pinkerton. Weezer refused to ride on those past glories when they returned in 2001 with The Green Album, sounding vigorous on the hits “Hash Pipe” and “Island in the Sun.” The hard, heavy Maladroit, featuring “Dope Nose” and “Keep Fishin’,” followed in 2002. Three years later, Weezer released Make Believe in 2005, an album highlighted by “Beverly Hills,” their first single to climb into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100. The Red Album arrived in 2008 along with the single “Pork and Beans” whose YouTube-satirizing video won Weezer their first Grammy.

BIO

Los Angeles, CA – February 25, 2010 – Founding members of Sublime, drummer Bud Gaugh and bass player Eric Wilson have announced after 14-years they will officially take to the stage once again; with new frontman, singer/guitarist Rome. Dubbed Sublime with Rome, the group will reintroduce themselves and Sublime’s music to fans across the country with an exclusive six-date intimate theater tour beginning 4/20/10 in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Palladium. Ticket presales for all shows begin March 2nd, please visit www.SublimeWithRome.com for details.

“To go back out on the road and play this music again is a gift. We want to celebrate the music and share the experience for not only our fans, but also for ourselves. It’s been 14-years and is long overdue,” said Gaugh.

Stated Wilson, “Many of our songs have never been performed live, most notably our self-titled release. Songs such as ‘April 26, 1992,’ ‘Under My Voodoo,’ ‘Burritos’ and even ‘What I Got’ will all get their proper stage  debuts.”

Links

• Band homepage: http://www.sublimewithrome.com/
• MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sublimewithrome

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“This tour will be full of surprises,” said Gaugh. “Sublime has never used a set list. We will be performing songs off every album and will mix it up from show to show, never delivering the same set twice. We’ve also been working on some new material and have put together a couple of songs with Rome. We’re excited to introduce them, and Rome, to all our fans.”

Rome, a 21-year-old northern California native, was introduced to Gaugh and Wilson in 2008. Last year, a handful of jam sessions led to an impromptu show at a small club in Nevada flooring a packed-house crowd. The trio later performed a one-off at the Smokeout Festival last fall and was a surprise special guest at the infamous KROQ Acoustic Christmas show, before officially announcing themselves as Sublime with Rome. Currently, the new hit single “Lay Me Down” by the Dirty Heads (co-written by and featuring Rome) is racing up the radio charts across the U.S.

Portions of the proceeds from the shows will go to benefit an addiction recovery program currently being developed to financially assist underprivileged teens and adolescents, in honor of Sublime’s fallen singer/songwriter Bradley Nowell, who succumbed to his own addiction when he passed away in May 1996.

“Sublime has so many fans and attracts new fans every year who were never able to see Sublime perform live after Bradley passed away,” said Troy Nowell-Holmes. “One of the inspirations for forming ‘Sublime with Rome’ was to bring Brad’s spirit in his music back to the fans and to give the new fans a glimpse of what it was like to see Sublime live.”

One of the most notable and successful ska-punk bands of all time, Sublime has sold over 17 million albums worldwide with the group’s music remaining in constant radio rotation across the country. Influential Los Angeles rock radio station KROQ has listed Sublime as the #3 act in their annual “biggest bands” list for the last six years in a row with the single “Date Rape” ranking as the all-time most requested song at the station. To this day, the group’s multi-platinum landmark debut album “40oz. to Freedom,” lo-fi follow up “Robbin’ the Hood,” and multi-platinum self-titled major label debut (a virtual greatest hits set in itself) are all widely regarded as music collection staples. Formed in Long Beach in 1988, Sublime’s final performance was in the spring of 1996.

BIO

Primus¹ unusual approach to music and the diversity of their sound has made them difficult to define.  The band has been called everything from thrash funk, to progressive metal, to  alternative rock.  Bass player and lead singer Les Claypool has called his band psychedelic polka.  Original members Les Claypool and Larry ³Ler² LaLonde have been producing records and performing live together since the late eighties.  This year, Primus welcomes back to the stage one of their original drummers Jay Lane, who has not played with the band since 1989.  Their irreverent approach to music and their willingness to play music outside of the norm has garnered them a large, eclectic fan base.  Primus plays music with an edge that is unique and like nothing else.  The Vibes welcomes Les Claypool back for a special performance and we are excited to see him grace the stage for the first time with Primus.

LINKS

• Band homepage: Official site
• MySpace: Myspace
• Facebook: Facebook

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“Thirty years ago, people said that we were cynical, that we had a bad attitude,” says Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. “But now, when you ask people if de-evolution is real, they understand that there was something to what we were saying. It’s not the kind of thing you want to see proven right, but it does make it easier to talk about.”

“The world is in sync with Devo,” says his band-mate and co-writer Gerald Casale. “We’re not the guys who freak people out and scare them—we’re like the house band on the Titanic, entertaining everybody as we go down.”

Links

• Band homepage: www.clubdevo.com
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/devo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ClubDEVO
• Twitter: twitter.com/devo

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And so, now is the time. More than three decades after the release of its visionary debut, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo, and a full 20 years since its last studio album, Devo is back with the aptly titled Something for Everybody. The long rumored, wildly anticipated album (which was launched with a memorable performance in Vancouver at the Winter Olympics) features the band’s classic line-up—Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald and Bob Casale—joined by drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns n’ Roses). Produced by Greg Kurstin (The Bird & The Bee), the album also includes contributions from John Hill and Santi White (better known as rising hip-hop star Santigold), John King of the Dust Brothers, and the Teddybears.

Though the 12 songs on Something for Everybody are built on Devo’s signature mechanized swing, the recording and presentation of the album saw the band experimenting with an entirely new approach. Greg Scholl was brought in to serve as COO for Devo, Inc., and—working with the advertising agency Mother LA—conducted a series of studies through the www.clubdevo.com site to help the band with its creative decisions, from color selection to song mixes.

“We decided to actively seek comment and criticism from outside people and use that as a tool, rather than shunning or ignoring it,” says Gerald Casale. “Our experiences participating in secondary creativity—things like corporate consensus building, focus groups—make you appreciate the connection that an artist has to society.”

“In the past, Devo was very insular,” says Mark Mothersbaugh. “This time, I became intrigued with the idea of having people who understood Devo actually work on the songs, and to do to our songs what we did to ‘Satisfaction’ on our first record. Don’t put any boundaries on their production style, let them bring what they needed to make Devo be what it should be after waking up from suspended animation for 20 years.”

His revelation came when the Teddybears did a remix of the song “Watch Us Work It,” an idea initiated by the Mother agency. “They took Josh Freese’s drums off and put on a sample from something we did back in, like, 1982. And I thought, ‘That actually is better!’ That was when I first really saw that Devo had something to absorb, as well as something to impart.”

Certainly Devo has had plenty to convey since Gerald Casale founded the group in Akron, Ohio, in 1973. The band was an extension of a multi-media exploration of the concept that mankind’s progress had ceased, and the process of de-evolution had begun. Devo’s early work caught the attention of such icons as Neil Young and David Bowie, and, with such hits as “Whip It” and “Girl U Want,” and the accompanying, revolutionary music videos, the group became one of the defining acts of the 1980s.

Devo’s sound, style, and philosophy have been an influence on artists from Rage Against the Machine to Lady Gaga. Kurt Cobain once said, “Of all the bands who came from the underground and actually made it in the mainstream, Devo is the most challenging and subversive of all.”

In 1990, Devo morphed from a recording and concert act to putting more focus on individual pursuits and various creative enterprises. Mark Mothersbaugh, along with brother Bob, and Bob Casale, began making music for films and television, working on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and Rugrats and the movies of Wes Anderson. Gerald Casale directed scores of commercials and music videos for the likes of Miller Lite Beer and Mrs. Butterworth’s to Rush, The Foo Fighters, and Soundgarden respectively. (“Everything we’ve done outside of Devo is basically a permutation on the theme we started with,” says Mark Mothersbaugh.) Meanwhile, Devo’s music remained a staple in movies, commercials, and videogames.

After appearing sporadically in concert and working on 2006’s Devo 2.0 project—with kids providing the vocals to Devo songs—the band began the stop-and-start project of making new music. “It was now or never,” says Gerald Casale. “We’re all still alive, and we can all play and sing—probably better than we ever did in the past. These new songs, like ‘Don’t Shoot (I’m a Man)’ or ‘What We Do,’ are as Devo as anything Devo has ever done.”

Especially notable on Something for Everybody is the focus its songs bring to the vapid absurdity of so much contemporary speech (don’t miss the closing wail of “Don’t tase me, bro!” on “Don’t Shoot”). Mark Mothersbaugh points out that, for all the attention usually given to Devo’s funky robot sound, this has always been a central aspect of its work.

“We grew up in a time when we saw hippies become hip capitalists, when the real punks truly destroyed themselves, and we came to the conclusion that rebellion was obsolete,” he says. “We saw subversion as the most successful form of change, so we always had an attraction to loaded phrases that you can reshape and subvert to fit your own needs.”

Gerald Casale adds that Devo really was looking at today’s world when writing the new songs. “The tautology of a line like ‘What we do is what we do’ is taken straight from hip-hop,” he says. “And words like ‘bro’ and ‘dude’—we’re surrounded by it all the time, 20-year-olds don’t even see any irony in it anymore.”

A Devo for our times. A band that evolves, even as the world around them confirms the decay they have long suspected. With Something for Everybody, Devo has gained from experience, honed its attack, and stands ready to sound the alarm for another generation.

“As angry young men who have been validated, we have the possibility to do something that resonates like it did back in the early days,” says Mark Mothersbaugh. “It’s the same car, just now with air bags, power brakes, and steering.”

“We’re inspired by reality,” says Gerald Casale, “because the world is so ridiculous and stupid. DE-EVOLUTION IS REAL.”

BIO

On the new Blue October album, Approaching Normal, Justin Furstenfeld, moves his band forward into confident new territory as a songwriter and as a storyteller. Steve Lillywhite, the producer synonymous with U2 and five-time Grammy Award winner guided the way and the result is an album that breaks the mold of whatever anyone may think Blue October is.

Lillywhite’s first attraction to Blue October was the voice. “For me, it’s always the voice that gets me first because my opinion on a voice never changes. There are singers and there are expressionists and Justin is both,” says Steve, who quickly adds that just as important is the artistry, “Their music really touches people in a way that the music of great artists do. There is bond of passion and trust between artist and audience.”

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Track: Calling You

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“Working with Steve has always been my dream and I learned so much from him…like less is more.” Justin comments, “I was like a painter that did not know how to paint. It’s quite a new step trusting someone with your vision…but hey it’s Steve Lillywhite and I trusted him completely.”
Approaching Normal is the follow-up to the band’s platinum selling breakthrough album, Foiled. Released in 2006, the first single, “Hate Me,” a song that offers a stepping stone from  regret to hope, became the surprise modern rock anthem of the year spending 16 weeks in the Top 10 with five weeks at #2. The crossover success of the follow-up single, “Into the Ocean,” propelled the album sales well into the million plus territory in North America alone.
Having a platinum selling album creates pressure and as a songwriter, Justin felt it. Lillywhite helped him along the way by encouraging him to work more deliberately at his craft “He pushed me as a writer. I would have a song written and Steve would say, ‘that part is boring.’ No one has ever said that to me  before. Steve would tell me to sit down and work on it and I never did that before.  I re-wrote melodies and lyrics that didn’t make sense and now they are gorgeous. He pushed me to be better and that inspired me and I accomplished more than I would of on my own.” Approaching Normal is a journey; a song cycle that begins with “Weight of the World,” a song that made its first appearance as a spoken word poem on the band’s brilliant live CD and DVD “Argue with a Tree.” The new version, fully orchestrated by the band, finds Justin, as himself, at the peak of his youthful destruction. I blackout in the room again, a busted lip and broken skin. I wake up in the bathroom and dare not bother asking why the mirror’s cracked and all I see are shards of glass inside of me. There’s voices there to dare me, my father’s here to scare me.”
“Foiled was about all of this crap that I had to get off of my chest,” states Justin, “I’m sick of being the victim. I want to be a strong, confident individual,” and that is exactly what Track 2, “Say It,” a song about empowerment and gaining confidence is all about. The same confidence can be heard again and again throughout the album on songs like, “Blue Skies” and “Should Be Loved.” but not before the album turns angry and vindictive with the powerful first single, “Dirt Room.” The song is an all out aggro-rocker with a lyrical metaphor about not
allowing yourself to be taken advantage of, protecting your family and standing up for what is yours.
“Dirt Room” also marks the point on the album, when the listener is slapped into noticing just how fierce Blue October is as a band. On this song, Jeremy
Furstenfeld (drums) and Matt Noveskey (bass) lay down a metallic rhythm that doesn’t quit while C.B. Hudson III adds the guitars that drive the band into altmetal-
garage-punk terrain while Justin scream-sings the vivid and graphic storyline. The surprise comes when multi-instrumentalist, Ryan Delahoussaye,
kicks it all up with a violin solo that turns the hot up a few degrees more. Throughout the album the musicianship of the band never falters and always
amazes…whatever pallet is required…delicate, ethereal, fiery, rollicking, dramatic, you name it and the band always delivers. The centerpiece of the album is “Kangaroo Cry/Picking Up the Pieces.” The two songs cross-faded to tell the story of a soldier’s heart-wrenching goodbye to his girl on the eve of being deployed into active duty and then the how-and-why of

the picking up the pieces of their broken life upon his return.  “My Never,” is, perhaps, the most anticipated song on the album since it’s introduction last summer during the Stephenie Meyer/Justin Furstenfeld Breaking Dawn Concert tour. Meyer, a Blue October fan and bestselling author of the Twilight saga, surprised Justin when she invited him to join her theater tour and help her introduce the release of the fourth and final book of her uber-popular series.
On the Breaking Dawn stage, Justin sang acoustic versions of his songs and Stephenie would talk about how they roused her writing, “As a writer, I’m always looking for music that can bring out the emotions that I need for the story. While there are many musicians that can recall to me times in the past where I might have felt sadness or rage or infatuation, it’s very rare to find a song that can actually put me in that emotion, rather than just reminding me of it. There is empathetic power in Blue October’s music–the listener doesn’t just sympathize
with the feeling of the song, the listener has no choice but to feel the song as if the emotion was his/her own.”
Says Justin of the experience, “I was taken back by her invitation and I am equally motivated by her writing and her fans. It showed me that you don’t have to be broken to be a Blue October fan.”
Along the Normal journey there are songs that break the Blue October mold. The philosophically happy, “Jumprope” and the lullaby, “Blue Does,” were both written for a new life, Justin’s baby girl. “I don’t want to write sad songs anymore. I am a little older and I have a child and that allows me to see the beauty and the mystery of life. I want to show my fans that it is OK to be happy.”
And then, just as everything seems settled into a comfortable suburban life, the Approaching Normal song cycle wraps with a shocker, “The End.” This tale of an unstable man self-tortured by jealously is as frightening as any song ever recorded. You won’t find it on the “clean” edit version of the album…it is that scary. “It’s the dark and quiet unexpected stories on this album, the explicit, the raw and, yes, it is the crazy that deserve a home also…I’ve just always been fascinated with what people think they can get away with…what in their brain is making them say ‘that’s OK.’”
“What is normal?” concludes Justin, “everyone’s sense of normal is at risk over something, happiness or sadness or, god forbid, madness. Blue October is a mood. Whether you listen to the words or not, the music sets a tone and as for  the lyrics, well, you either love it or hate it.”
“I think that we have made an album that is an artistic statement,” adds Lillywhite, “it’s a journey, but it also checks the boxes of commercial potential. I really love the record.”

BIO

Rooted in the Orange County community of Huntington Beach, the Dirty Heads emerged onto the Southern California music scene with their unique signature blend of acoustic infused hip-hop and classic reggae, creating the perfect soundtrack to an upbeat, sun-soaked California.

Founding band members Jared Watson and guitarist/vocalist Dustin Bushnell met in 1996 while in high school, embarking on a friendship based on music, as well as their shared passion for surfing, skating and the endless party of the laid-back SoCal lifestyle.

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Track: Believe

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Early on, they spent many late nights jamming in Bushnell’s soundproof garage with a four-track recorder, writing unique acoustic hip-hop songs that featured reggae inflections. Inspired by the rock and reggae sounds of Bob Marley, Sublime, 311 and The Beastie Boys, the band’s music evolved into their distinct Dirty Heads style.

To complete the Dirty Heads’ sound, the duo added percussionist Jon Olazabal, drummer Matt Ochoa and David Foral on bass. With a set of solid material, the Dirty Heads were further motivated to take their craft to the next level, and they began building a loyal fan base throughout the west coast, while performing acoustically at local bars and small music venues.

Executive produced by the Grammy Award-winning Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Kid Rock, Paramore), the band connected with sought-after producers Steve Fox and Stan Frazier (Sugar Ray) working long hours to polish their material and further develop their style. The Dirty Heads also recruited mixing engineer Mario Caldato Jr., best known for his work with the Beastie Boys, to add the finishing touches and create just the right blend.

The band’s highly-anticipated expanded album titled, Any Port in a Storm – Special Edition (Executive Music Group (EMG)/Fontana, a division of Universal Music Group Distribution) features 22 tracks and a bonus video that are reminiscent of the upbeat, sun-soaked Southern California party energy. The first smash hit single is “Lay Me Down” featuring Rome, of Sublime with Rome.

Any Port in a Storm also features one of the final recordings of the late music industry icon Billy Preston. Frequently referred to as “The Fifth Beatle,” Preston played on three tracks, including “Stand Tall,” “Chelsea,” and “Driftin.’ ” Additional special guests on the album are drummer Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Sting, The Vandals), and veteran session percussionist Alex Acuna, whose A-list musician resume includes Peter Gabriel, Johnny Clegg, and Jackson Browne, to name only a few.

Recently, named one of the “Best New Bands of 2010” by Rolling Stone, the Dirty Heads’ music has been attracting attention throughout the world of entertainment. They have been a featured artist on Fuel TV and their songs have been featured in the movie and soundtrack for Surf’s Up (Sony); and the television drama, Shark staring James Woods (CBS). Actor Matthew McConaughey selected the band’s music to be in his film, Surfer Dude. In addition, the Dirty Heads can be heard in Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam video game (Activision), and several other music compilations and surf/skate videos. On the marketing side, the Dirty Heads have also been included in campaigns for Etnies Jeans, Vestal Watches, Hurley, Skullcandy and more.

Dirty Heads vocalist Jared Watson sums up their fun, uncomplicated style, “We want to be positive and entertain,” he says. “We just want to make you feel good.”

BIO

With a blend of old-school punk, world beat and modern pop influences, Chicago-based AM Taxi combines experience with exuberance on their Virgin Records debut, We Don’t Stand A Chance. The band was formed almost two years ago-with the encouragement of Sublime producer Miguel Happoldt-by longtime Windy City bandmates and pals, singer/songwriter Adam Krier, drummer Chris Smith and bassist Jason Schultejann. The trio began writing and recording and produced their first EP, Runaway Songs. Shortly after, they were joined by brothers John and Luke Schmitt on guitar and keyboards. AM Taxi began establishing a rep as a dynamic live outfit with headlining performances at local clubs like the Metro and soon after recorded their second EP, The Good, The Bad and The Fed Up.

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Entering an Austin studio with producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Patty Griffin, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), AM Taxi proceeded to record a major-label debut that reflects the group’s diverse influences. From the Springsteen-by-way-of-The Hold Steady, “Fed Up,” and the heart-on-the-sleeve Replacements-like confessional, “The Mistake” to the Police-inspired world beat of “Dead Street” and the Clash-esque reggae pulse of “Charissa,” the group has one foot firmly planted in the classics and one right here, right now in the present.

“We wanted someone who could capture the way we sounded live,” says Krier about the choice of McCarthy. “What made Mike stand out was how he still records bands that way. He still uses reel-to-reel and we recorded majority of the album live in studio. We weren’t so interested in making a record that sounded current, as we were something that could be classic.”

Pointing to personal favorites like Pacific Northwest Nuggets-style garage bands like the Wailers, the Sonics and Paul Revere and the Raiders, the British Invasion bands, soul greats Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, Two-Tone bands The Specials and the Selecter or Alt-Country acts Wilco and Ryan Adams, AM Taxi were not afraid to experiment with their sound.

“Our motto in the studio was, ‘If it ain’t broke, break it.’ We’d try things from every possible angle,” says Krier. “We’re not re-inventing the wheel here. It’s just classic rock songwriting with present-day arrangements. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been attracted to the honesty of bands like the Replacements and the Clash, who are completely opposite, actually. One would go out of their way to shoot themselves in the foot and the other wanted to take over the world. But both told the truth.”

That ability to tell it like it is comes through in Krier’s writing and in AM Taxi’s musicality. Taking their inspiration from his touring around the U.S. with several of his previous bands, songs like “Dead Street” and “Shake, Rattle and Stall” explore the restlessness he encountered along the way or, as Krier puts it, “Wherever I went, people were trying to get out of where they were.”

There are also songs about things everyone can identify with, like a couple in which no matter how much he messes up, she takes him back (“Charissa”) or New Year’s
resolutions gone bad (“Champagne Toast”).

“I try to write songs about things people can relate to,” nods Adam. “For me, the best music, at the end of the day, is therapeutic. That’s always in the back of my mind a little when I’m sitting down to write.”

And now, AM Taxi-short for American Taxi, so-called because they’re all about moving across the U.S. towards their destination-gets ready to hit the road…hard. They’ve already been out on the road with the likes of Sum 41 and The Ataris, while opening for The Offspring at Summerfest in Milwaukee, so they’re more than up for the task.

“Our goal is to take that 45 or 60 minutes and let people get away for a little bit,” says Adam. “And maybe even convert some of ‘em to AM Taxi fans. And, if they dig what we’re doing, maybe they’ll check out some of the stuff that influenced us.”

Take one listen to AM Taxi’s debut, We Don’t Stand A Chance and you can hear that same reverence for the past and hope for the future, a band that can cut across any number of age or genre demographics. Take the ride… they promise not to leave the meter running.

BIO

Nearly a decade after the release of their groundbreaking debut, The Sickness, Disturbed have become one of the most passionate and well-respected bands in the hard-rock universe, a dependable source not only of pummeling riffs and jackhammer beats, but of personal and political insights into our troubled times. Yet success (in the form of three platinum-plus albums, with both Believe and Ten Thousand Fists topping Billboard’s album chart and over ten million albums sold) hasn’t dulled this Chicago-based foursome’s taste for adventure. If anything, Disturbed’s loyal fanbase has pushed the band to newer heights of self-expression. So it makes sense that on the occasion of their fourth album, Indestructible, that frontman David Draiman, guitarist Dan Donegan and drummer Mike Wengren decided to take the reins and produce themselves in the studio.

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“Doing three records with Johnny K taught us a tremendous amount,” Draiman says of the industry veteran who helmed The Sickness, Believe and Ten Thousand Fists. “We’re always trying to evolve and try new things and experiment,” adds Donegan. “So this time we wanted to do things a little bit differently.” Wengren says that Indestructible-which the band tracked over three months in Fall 2007 at Chicago’s Groovemaster Recording-afforded the band the “opportunity to prove to ourselves and to everybody else that we could do it.” The result of Disturbed’s experimentation in the studio is the group’s darkest, angriest outing yet. Inspired by two and a half years’ worth of challenging experiences, Draiman told the rest of the band that he was in the mood to purge. Fortunately, they were
right there with him.

“We wanted to get back to some of the elements that were maybe lacking on the last two records,” says Donegan. “David’s got a great ability to sing really melodically, but we wanted him to get back to the rhythmic, animalistic, rapid-fire delivery he’s known for. He’s very hard to touch when he does that, and we wanted to give him music to provoke that.”

Indestructible reflects that intensity of emotion across a broad spectrum of songs: “Deceiver” takes to task a former girlfriend of Draiman’s whom he calls “a master of deception.” “Divide” celebrates the will of the individual against the conformity of the masses. In “Haunted,” which Draiman calls a veiled critique of Los Angeles (where he lived for a few years before recently moving back to Chicago), a place of love becomes a nightmare landscape populated by demons masquerading in human form. “Inside The Fire” imagines the devil encouraging the singer to take his own life as a way of rejoining his dead girlfriend. (“Writing this record is the reason I don’t have therapy bills,” Draiman notes.)

Two of the album’s most powerful tracks address the situation in the Middle East, with “Enough” lamenting the causes of war and the suffering it causes, and the title track offering support for the troops “or anyone else looking to strip themselves of fear,” as Draiman says.

Throughout Indestructible, Donegan, Wengren and Moyer back up Draiman’s words with some of the most visceral, sophisticated music they’ve ever created. Donegan says his goal was to increase the dynamics-”to have the highs be higher and the lows be lower”-and to make more cohesive the relationship that exists between guitar, bass and drums and the band’s signature electronics.

“I don’t wanna sound arrogant,” says Wengren with a laugh, “but I think we’ve made the kind of record the industry needs right now. There are not a lot of heavy bands delivering these days. I think our fans-and fans of this genre-will go absolutely nuts for this.” “People never lose their desire for aggressive music,” adds Draiman. “And we’re happy to keep giving it to them.”

BIO

As musicians, the members of Avenged Sevenfold are definite virtuosos in a time when being accomplished artists seemingly means so little. They are inquisitive and never fully satisfied with their own work. They seek to grow and improve every day, regardless of the obstacles or costs involved.

They are a rock band. They are rock stars. They are Avenged Sevenfold.

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“They’re cheesy. They sing nowadays; they should scream like they used to. They’re sellouts.”

They fight. They fuck. They destroy hotel rooms.

They’re misunderstood.

They are warm. They are loyal. They are brave. They are authentic.

They are disciplined.

Avenged Sevenfold, the album, is a self-produced effort. While the band shared co-production credit on 2005’s million-selling City Of Evil with Mudrock, this new album is solely their responsibility – and they’re primed to accept it.

But attaining such stature didn’t arrive in an overnight jaunt. To the contrary, Avenged Sevenfold had been an integral part of the independent, underground rock scene years before breaking through on commercial radio. In fact, the Orange County, California-based act launched its career several years ago (they were barely out of high school) with the release of its debut in July 2001 of Sounding The Seventh Trumpet.

Miles of van touring ensued, performing in tightly packed clubs, and sweating shoulder-to-shoulder on both national and international levels. Despite the truly D.I.Y. affair (which still found the fledgling act putting on an eye-opening, elaborate stage show), Avenged Sevenfold never offered anything less than a full-throttle set. The band released its second independent full-length in August 2003, Waking The Fallen, a couple years later, greatly expanding on its metal-based foundation and giving us a not-so-subtle nudge that something exciting was in the imminent forecast.

Our suspicions were confirmed a couple years later, with Avenged Sevenfold’s breakthrough 2005 Warner Bros. debut, City Of Evil, featuring the wildly popular single “Bat Country.” That was the turning point for the fearless, genre-bending quintet that, after years of clocking in on the independent level, had finally advanced towards a milestone they had been seeking throughout their careers.

A7X wrapped 18 months of relentless touring in October 2006 and immediately began writing Avenged Sevenfold. After the success of City Of Evil – where they proved they had truly captured the imagination of music fans of all shapes and sizes – they became the only band to headline Warped Tour and Ozzfest while simultaneously hitting Number One on MTV’s TRL. The natural question was whether the band would continue its creative odyssey or return to the formula that brought them such success on the last go-around. Thankfully, they continued their musical exploration without caving in to any outside influences.

For this self-titled release, the act returned to the garage at M. Shadows’ parents’ home where these high-school friends had penned every other song in their discography. The band sought to delve into genres and recording techniques they had discovered on the road. For instance, they wanted to incorporate the narrative lyrics and biting guitar tones they’d admired in country music, as well as the powerful bottom end of hip-hop they felt would only add to the power of their music and message.

“All those months on the bus we really weren’t finding new rock that was moving us,” says frontman M. Shadows. “Instead, we were listening to everything from Toby Keith to T.I., and finding elements we could incorporate into what we were doing to make our next record more interesting to us.”

In the studio, Avenged Sevenfold enlisted engineers Fred Archambault and Dave Schiffman (System Of A Down, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and the team went to work.

The resulting sound and rhythm of Avenged Sevenfold is, in a word, eclectic. Yet it’s still trademark A7X. “‘Scream’ has a groove we really wanted to inject into this record,” says guitarist Synyster Gates. “And on ‘Lost,’ you can hear the influence melodic bands like NOFX have always had on our band.”

A7X composed the string sections, including the individual instrument orchestration, with the assistance of Marc Mann and Steve Bartek from Oingo Boingo (and who currently orchestrate for Danny Elfman). With the soaring strings in “Afterlife,” the haunting and theatrical performance of “A Little Piece Of Heaven,” or the gentle vocals of a child in “Unbound,” the band’s creative and varied approach is surprising. Percussionist Lenny Castro brought a dynamic to “Brompton Cocktail,” and noted pedal steel and banjo player Greg Leisz added a country flair to the song “Dear God.” Yet as Gates adds, “it’s the dueling guitars, Shadows’ voice and the Rev’s brutality that make every one of the songs sound like Avenged Sevenfold.”

Lyrically, Shadows was striving for something more personal on the new album. “I feel we all experience a certain inner conflict, the push and pull between how we think we should act, or want to act, and the temptations and human instincts that we often blame when we don’t end up being the person we want to be.”

In fact, the album’s first single, “Almost Easy,” focuses on more similar temptations. “Afterlife” addresses the notion of “memento mori,” or the need to remember that death may intervene before we have reconciled differences with friends or loved ones.

These guys worked their asses off making Avenged Sevenfold (enlisting studio legend Andy Wallace to mix the record), literally sweating every detail with the same (if not stronger) conviction they had years earlier in trying to prove themselves to the masses. But it’s best you understand what was really going on during the three months these five best friends were holed up making Avenged Sevenfold.

They were having the time of their lives.

BIO

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Track: Made of Scars

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Halestorm unleashes a turbulent torrent of infectious hard rock on their self-titled Atlantic debut. The band-guitarist Joe Hottinger, bassist Josh Smith, drummer Arejay Hale and singer/guitarist Lzzy Hale-churn out uncompromising rock n’ roll anthems. Drawing from an arsenal of songs that she’s penned since she was 13, Lzzy examines love and life on the edge.

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Track: I Get Off

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Lzzy and her brother Arejay formed Halestorm in 1998 while in middle school. They immediately began playing local shows and garnered a following across Pennsylvania. The band line-up was solidified with the addition of Joe and Josh. Further honing their sound, Halestorm began showcasing for labels in 2005. Lzzy explains, “We were doing a show at Don Hill’s in NYC. Don Hill himself loved the show and asked us to come back on a regular basis to help us build a buzz in the area. It was snowing hard in New York on the coldest night of the year when Atlantic Records first saw us perform. From there it was only a matter of time until we solidified our relationship, and put ink to paper.”

Halestorm signed with Atlantic and released the live EP, One and Done. The band immediately hit the road, touring with Shinedown, Seether, Flyleaf, and Trapt. Playing more than a thousand gigs, they cultivated a captivating live show, while appearing on various festivals and the annual Sno-Core tour.

In 2008, Halestorm entered a Los Angeles studio to record their debut albumwith Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson (Three Days Grace, Flyleaf, My Chemical Romance) and mixer Chris Lord-Alge (Underoath, AFI, Green Day). The album’s a fiery flurry, and Lzzy describes the band’s sound best: “It’s powerful rock’n'roll. We have a lot of classic rock influences, but the music never feels dated. It’s got an old school feeling with a modern edge.”

The record’s first single, “I Get Off,” blends a sexy hook with a rough and tumble groove. “On that song,” says Lzzy, “I reach outside of myself and explore sexuality. It also has this crazy metaphor of me getting off on the crowd getting off on me.”

Lzzy casts a hypnotic spell on stage. Drawing from influences as diverse as Pat Benatar, Janis Joplin, and Metallica, she has a dark sensuality that’s undeniable. Her sultry side comes through on the moody “Familiar Taste of Poison.” “That track is an amazing journey for me,” she explains. “It’s very low key, but it’s a bit of a performance piece. It shows a different side of this band.”

Lzzy’s dynamic voice cuts across genre boundaries. “I approach my timing and singing like a blues singer,” she says. “I’m very influenced by blues and soul. For me, it’s always about making sure I have feeling in my voice.” The soaring standout, “Bet U Wish U Had MeBack,” highlights Lzzy’s range as her voice oscillates from a sultry croon to a massive hook.

She exudes that feeling on stage and in the studio, because she’s not afraid to be herself. She laughs, “As a kid, when a lot of my friends were into Backstreet Boys, I attached myself to Alice Cooper, Cinderella, and Van Halen. I want to give the audience a ride and connect with them.”

Ultimately that connection will be tangible, because Lzzy and co. were meant to be in a rock band. “My brother and I were very fortunate to know what we wanted to do at an early age. When I was 13 and he was 10, we got together and wrote five songs. We wanted to be in a band together, we wanted to make music, and that was it. Everything came second to that.”

In the end, that philosophy will ensure Halestorm’s longevity. “This album has been a long time coming,” says Lzzy. “There’s been a lot of dirty work that went into making it. Creatively, we went to rock’n'roll college through the experience. It was crazy, raw, down and dirty. Our blood, sweat, and tears went into this
thing.”

BIO

Every night is a Friday night for HELLYEAH and their fans. No matter what the situation, HELLYEAH’s mission is singular: to provide fans with good time, spirit-lifting hard rock. When you are at a HELLYEAH show or listening to their music, everything else takes a backseat to feeling good and focusing on living in the ‘here and now.’ Because that’s what real life is all about.

Frontman Chad Gray adds, “The band is called HELLYEAH, come on! It’s like ‘Hell yeah, let’s do it!’” The singer further admitted that he envisions the band as a salve that hard-hit American rock fans turn to in these rough economic times. Whilelifemay suck for the red-blooded, middle class American right now, art shouldn’t be a luxury they can’t afford and HELLYEAH’s goal is to bring their music to the people, like a port in the storm, the lifeline to save them from drowning in the harsh realities of life. And really, isn’t that why people turn to music in their bleakest hours, for something to connect with?”

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Track: Hell of a Time

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Despite not-so-humble beginnings as an enjoyable side project for members of Pantera, Mudvayne and Nothingface, one thing is certain about HELLYEAH in 2010: this is a real band that speaks to real people with their new album, STAMPEDE. While the members may have built their individual reputations in mega-successful, household name metal and rock bands throughout the years, when you strip them down to their base parts, the members of HELLYEAH aren’t much different than normal, average Americans who love their music. And that’s just the way the band likes it.

“First and foremost, we said if we were going to do this, it’d be about having a good time, with kick ass music and drinks, not a big corporate fuckin’ supergroup bullshit deal,” legendary drummer Vinnie Paul said, without mincing a single syllable. “Before a year together on the road and finding ourselves completely with the first record, we were all new to each other. We just did what came off the top of our heads. Now, we have great chemistry and for this second record, we knew that we found ourselves as a live band. We wanted to translate what came off the stage into the studio, with that same power and energy. But it’s even more diverse and deeper. Obviously, our roots are metal, but we have ties with Southern rock, like Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Marshall Tucker Band, and we’re bringing that out more.”

HELLYEAH toured for only nine months behind their 2007-released, self-titled debut, and they managed to sell nearly 400,000 records in the process. They performed at Family Values with Korn and at the lone Ozzfest date in Dallas, Texas in 2008 before the members took time off to attend to other commitments. However, in that short time span, HELLYEAH formed an unbreakable bond with each other and their fans, one that will be further cemented through their second album. “It’s HELLYEAH, VERSION. 2.0: more beer, more weed, more rock, more riffs,” Paul said.

Guitarist Tom Maxwell believes that through their first album’s activities, HELLYEAH is now even stronger as a unit, and that bleeds into the music on STAMPEDE, saying “It’s a true brotherhood. It’s middle finger in the air, wave the flag and mow everyone over with who we are and what we are. Like Vinnie says, ‘Let the stampede begin.’” Maxwell adds, “Our first album was in the moment, with pure fire, piss and vinegar, but STAMPEDE is more song-oriented, with a lot of personality, and a lot of personal stuff, too.”

The power of the band’s music aside, HELLYEAH are also noteworthy because they’re the project that brought Vinnie Paul back to playing, after losing his brother and metal icon Dimebag Darrell to a tragic onstage shooting in 2004. “It was a humongous step in my life, for the longest period, I didn’t know if I wanted to do it again,” Paul said. “My brother meant the world to me and we did everything together. We were inseparable and it took me a year before I decided to do this. One thing that struck a chord was when Dave Grohl sent me an email, saying, ‘Bro, I went through something similar with Kurt Cobain. I never thought I’d play music again, but music will heal you eventually.’ That meant a lot to me and that allowed me to open my heart and realize it was worth taking a shot.” The drummer wasn’t well-acquainted with Gray or guitarist Greg Tribbett (also of Mudvayne) when the seeds of HELLYEAH were being sown, but they all hit it off and destiny took over.

For STAMPEDE, the members converged on Paul’s Texas abode, for a recording process draped in arelaxed, pressure-free atmosphere, surrounded by the obligatory cocktails, good eats and familial brotherhood. “We were doing it at my house solely. We ate, drank and BBQed together, which made the brotherhood that happened, come through in the music,” Paul said. The band members lived in bungalows on the grounds and turned Paul’s house into a studio. Drums were recorded downstairs and guitars were recorded upstairs, with video screens in each room so the members could see one another while tracking. The methods may have been unorthodox, but the result was nothing short of magical. “It’s a broad, diverse album that covers rock, heavy metal and Southern rock ground. That is the main thing that I like about it: it’s not so focused on one thing,” Paul said. The high ceilings at the Paul home allowed for the creation of a big, booming sound. They also were able to work at their own natural pace. “We slept there, so if one of us just came up with an idea, we could jump on it,” Maxwell said.

Gray revealed that HELLYEAH helped him to step outside of his comfort zone, normally a dark place, that he resides within in his other band. “This band has gone beyond, and has country songs and Southern rock songs, and songs about girls. I never thought about writing that shit before, and I was out of my element, but I’m making it work. In that sense, it is exciting and has allowed me to grow as a songwriter, having no boundaries.” Maxwell was also able to step up his game within the parameters of HELLYEAH, saying, “I was about to do things I have never done on another record, creating different layers using an EBO, which is a battery-powered magnet that resonates so it sounds like a cello or violin!”

STAMPEDE boasts an eclectic set of tunes, with the title track coming on like a battering ram that takes out anything in its way while the thunderous, anthemic “Cowboy Way” will get the blood coursing through your veins even if you’ve never roamed a range. It’s a powder keg waiting to go off, one that could ignite an arena as quickly as a parking lot. It’s a song destined to be a fan favorite! Tribbett and Maxwell’s relentless tandem of riffery could take out a village, while Gray flips the bird to all convention, belting out the heaviest chorus above and below the Mason-Dixon. The uber-infectious “Hell of a Time” speaks to the people, with Gray’s “Everyman”
lyrical proclamations about “making it to Friday night” and about how the girl, family, friends and music are all you need in this life. The band shifts gears for the contemplative ballad “Better Man,” while “The Debt That All Men Pay” and the choppy homage to strippers, “Pole Rider,” jointly administer an industrial-sized can of whoop-ass. Of course, the entire album is anchored by Paul’s percussive presence, which is as formidable and ferocious it’s ever been, as Gray’s liquor-lubed vocals clamp down with razor-sharp teeth. The chemistry is tighter than a stripper’s g-string and the music will stun all your senses.

That’s “covers all ground” style and “writing without boundaries” technique is precisely why hard rock and metal fans react to and connect with HELLYEAH so fervently. Sure, they came to the HELLYEAH party based on curiosity and due to their fandom of the principals’ other bands, but the music HELLYEAH made and their genuine connection to the audience and their realities is what hooked them and kept them coming to the shows and buying the records. “We’re red state rock, man,” Gray admits with pride. “Greg and I are from Peoria, the heart of the Midwest, and from our earliest days of touring, we always had a kinship with Texas and I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I went down here with Vinnie and met his his friends and that was the thing I did not know I had. My connection is the people: the people are generally good people, down to earth and that is my roots. They believe in family and friends and will kill to protect that and I love that.”

American rock and metal fans are sure to connect to the people in this band and get caught under this STAMPEDE. Get on board and get run over with HELLYEAH.

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There’s something about the kind of potent rock and roll fury that Airbourne cranks out, all cylinders firing, that makes you want to chug a beer straight down your throat and punch the air as though it’d touched your wife inappropriately. It sounds crude, we admit. But that’s the thing about these Aussie pub rock rebels. Their music, like new album No Guts. No Glory., are perfect soundtracks for drunken debauchery, and “that’s what we’re here for, mate,” says rowdy lead guitarist and vocalist Joel O’Keeffe.

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Track: Blond, Bad and Beautiful

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Inspired by the likes of Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Angel City,Rose Tattoo, AC/DC and Motorhead, Airbourne have been waving the rock and roll flag for Australia since 2003, and in the process, winning fans and awards, like the one they took home in 2008 from the Metal Hammer Golden Gods, where the band’s album Runnin’ Wild was named the year’s Best Debut Album. They hail from Warrnambool, a small drinking town on the southwestern coast of Victoria, Australia, and they’ve steadily gained an immense following among fans of infectious, high energy, whiskey-soaked, whiplash-inducing working man’s rock. The band’s new album is a mandatory addition to any self-respecting jukebox’s library.

“Basically, we’ve never been about having a specific message; we don’t talk about politics or social injustices in our songs. There are other bands out there to take care of that,” says Joel O‘Keeffe, who, like brother and Airbourne drummer Ryan O’Keeffe, has been playing guitar since he could walk. “With us, it’s not like that. It’s just rock and roll. We want people to have a good time, no matter what. Have a drink, play it really loud, and kick back.”

Airbourne traveled to the Windy City to record No Guts. No Glory. with producer Johnny K, who has worked with Disturbed, Machine Head, Staind, and 3 Doors Down, among others. Like Runnin’ Wild, No Guts. No Glory. continues that good time vibe, but ultimately, according to Ryan, the record is about “standing up and going for it, and being a man. There’s a tougher element to the album, so to speak.”

Instead of sleeping every night in a comfortable hotel room bed on the label’s dime, the band actually slept in the studio, taking inspiration from Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band, who were known to live in the studio until an album was completed.

“We found out that they used to do that for the first bunch of records they did,” Joel explains, “so, the drums were set up in a big room with the guitars and [rhythm guitarist David Roads], he slept behind the amps; I slept behind a bunch of amps; Ryan slept behind his drum kit and [bassist Justin Street] slept behind this pool table, and we were all in the studio. It was really fun, because you’d just get up and go, ‘Fuck,’ and start recording. That’s how your day was. You just sort of woke up, had some food, and started recording. Maybe you’d have a shower; maybe not. Just sort of walk around in your shorts all day, just rocking away.”

No Guts. No Glory., the band’s second LP for Roadrunner Records, was recorded live and straight to analog tape, and Airbourne essentially used the acoustics of the recording space as an impromptu instrument. “Instead of closing all the doors and keeping the sound all confined, we just left everything open, so the sound would bleed a bit more, so it sounds a bit more open than the last one,” Joel explained. “That was one of the main differences. We just let it be open. We didn’t care if the guitar solo bled through the bloody cymbal mikes. It’s cool, because it adds to it.”

The album’s a virtual rock and roll buffet, boasting tracks like “No Way But The Hard Way” and “Blond, Bad and Beautiful.”  When the band lived together for three years on welfare in a Melbourne suburb, surviving on a steady diet of booze and barbecue, things were tough, and the band nearly burned their home to the ground- literally. “Nothing came easy, and we’d say to each other, ‘Ain’t no way but the hard way,’” recalls Ryan.

No Guts. No Glory. also features a song called “Steel Town,” which was inspired by the band’s time on the road, and some of the people they had encountered. “Every time we went through a town that was a steel town, there was something about the crowd themselves,” recalls Joel O’Keeffe. “They seemed to be a little bit wilder, and they’d always drink the pub dry, and we’d have to get more beer from other pubs. There was always a massive fight, always a crazy crowd. So we wanted to give them a song that gives them a chance to raise their flag and pump their fists in the air, and drink a beer to it. I guess it’s like throwing gasoline on the fire.”

Airbourne will be touring for much of 2010 in support of No Guts. No Glory. and for the O’Keeffe brothers, it’s the band’s live performance that brings folks coming back for more. “We want to become that band that, people hear the name, and they know that they’ll have a good time at the show,” Joel explains. “They know what they’re going to get. They‘re going to get rock and roll, and it’s going to be loud, and they’ll leave the concert with their ears ringing.”

BIO

“They say the singer should calm down,” says singer Bryan Crouch. “But it’s not enough to just be a good band. It’s about putting in the extra effort. It’s saying to the audience ‘I ain’t quitting so you better not quit. You better shout and scream because that’s what makes the show better.’”

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Track: Take Back the Fear

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Hail The Villain is a band with big ideas. They aren’t satisfied with writing songs, making an album and going out on tour. They want to create an entire Hail The Villain universe that includes not only the music, but a dynamic live show, animated videos, a comic book, a unique interactive website, and maybe even a movie someday. “Most people are going to aim for what’s attainable,” says Crouch. “For us, it’s aiming for what’s unattainable.”

Hail The Villain attack their career with the same hard-nosed approach you’d expect from growing up in Canada’s automobile manufacturing town of Oshawa, Ontario. From the moment they finished recording their debut album, they have been pain-stakingly involved in all creative elements that connect to fans in their vision.

The band came together in 2003 when Bryan Crouch quit school and used his parent’s student loan to record an album under the name Mr. Nobody Soon. Crouch played most of the instruments on the album, but needed to put a group together to perform live. He first turned to his childhood friend Chad Taylor to play bass. Guitarist Joseph Stamp made a musical connection with Crouch during a chance meeting at a local club. He had been working behind the scenes in a recording studio, and was dying to strap on his guitar again. Joseph reached out to his friend Drew Dockrill to play drums and the journey began.

“We were very much a hired support band,” says Chad. “But soon enough we started writing together.”

“Joe made it clear from the start that he’s a writer and that he’s not going to be pushed to the side”, recalls Crouch. “And I made it clear that if you’ve got a better song, bring it to the table. It’s been that way ever since in the band – best idea always wins.”

One day while jamming, Joe played a new riff on his guitar. The rest of the band fell in step and that riff became “My Reward”. That moment of epiphany helped the band find its path. “I always found that the “My Reward” sound was the direction we really liked,” explains Crouch. “Its got the march, its got the stomp, its got the four on the floor – all the things we love about hard rock.”

Over the next couple of years the Villains continued to work on their songs, but it wasn’t until they met producer Darryl Romphf and Engineer Alex “Condor” Aligizakis that they felt confident that their sound and energy could be captured on record. After flying in from Vancouver for pre-production, Darryl, Condor, and the band moved to a farm in Dashwood, Ontario where they set up a hi-tech studio in a barn.

As the music had gotten heavier and edgier, Crouch’s lyrics also became darker and far more personal. “When I was writing, I was under a lot of stress and was paranoid,” says the singer. I thought my health was not right, I thought I was in trouble. I made so many crazy mistakes instead of choosing the right path like my brother did. We all dropped out of school… I was just freaking out. This record was the be all and end all. If this didn’t work, I’d have to find a job and smarten up.”

Darryl pushed Bryan to embrace these feelings and express them in his lyrics. “For the first time in my life I actually said it. Everything from ‘Swan Dive’, which I will never talk about because it’s so incredibly personal, to ‘Take Back The Fear’, which was when I was coming out of my paranoia saying that I’m not going to be scared anymore. I’m
going to find out what’s wrong.”

While designing the artwork, the band discovered that they had given birth to far more than the twelve songs on the record. “Normally I would do the graphic design for the band” says Taylor. “I tried different concepts but they all looked pretty generic. Joe came up with the idea of doing the CD artwork like a comic book, and it grew from there.

Drawing inspiration for the album’s songs, the band created a tale of hate, lust and deceit. They gave the characters life and then set out to give them form. Enter Rune Entertainment, an animation production house. With the band, they created the shocking animated video for the first single “Take Back The Fear”, a Hail The Villain comic book, and a groundbreaking interactive website (www.hailthevillain.com).

In the spring of 2009, Hail The Villain inked a record deal with Warner Music Canada, and by the summer Roadrunner Records had come on board to release the album in the United States. Population: Declining will be released in the summer of 2010 along with the rest of the Hail The Villain universe.

“I think the audience wants artists that are more than just a band that they’re going to forget about six months after their first hit single,” says Crouch, always insisting on the last word. “It even keeps me excited because I don’t even know what we’re going to do next. It’s going to be some stupid conversation with some stupid idea, and then ‘BOOM’.”

BIO

New Medicine injects a little hope into hard rock on their debut album, Race You to the Bottom, due out this fall via Photo Finish Records. Each song tells a story, whether it’s about the loss of a loved one on “Little Sister” or the state of the world on “Race You to the Bottom.”

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Track: Laid

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For lead vocalist Jake Scherer, the band’s message is in their moniker. “Everybody has a different medicine-whether it’s coffee, drugs, alcohol or cigarettes,” says the singer. “When I was growing up, music was the only medicine I needed. If I was really bummed out about something, I’d put a record on and it’d cheer me up. Music’s the ultimate healer.”

In 2007, after years of playing in bands through middle school and high school, Jake decided to pursue music seriously as a career and began traveling back and forth from his hometown of Minneapolis to Nashville to hone his songwriting craft. “It’s a whole town dedicated to music. Everybody respects songs immensely in that city, and it inspired a good chunk of this album.”

One particular song from those Nashville trips laid the groundwork for Race You to the Bottom. In early 2008, Jake brought “Baby’s Gone” to guitarist Dan Garland back in Minneapolis. The track was so powerful that Jake had to record it, but he wanted a full band. So he sought out his high school buddy Matt Brady for bass and local drum whiz Ryan Guanzon. The birth of “Baby’s Gone” signaled the beginning of New Medicine, as the quartet quickly clicked around the track.

Immediately, New Medicine cultivated a following in Minneapolis as they constantly composed new material. With more than 100 songs in their arsenal, the band caught the attention of Photo Finish Records and joined the label’s roster in summer 2009. The band entered the studio and collaborated with producers Sam Hollander and Dave Katz, better known as S*A*M & Sluggo (Coheed & Cambria, Gym Class Heroes, Katy Perry), Steve Hodge (Michael Jackson, Sting, Psychedelic Furs) and The Blasting Room, the production team of Bill Stevenson (Rise Against) and Jason Livermore (Puddle of Mudd). The resulting 14 songs showcase a hard sound with a positive slant.

“Laid,” the first single, examines relationship troubles with a combination of wit and wisdom. The song is a propulsive lovelorn rocker that sugarcoats nothing. Jake, who co-wrote the song with S*A*M & Sluggo, reveals, “It’s about an experience with a girl who’s the ultimate wild child. She gets you under your skin, drives you totally crazy and she’s gone.”

Yet Jake doesn’t shy away from pain on the record either. Songs such as the hypnotic and heartbreaking “Little Sister” see the singer baring his soul. With its soaring melody and crunching riff, “Little Sister” can be hummed or pondered because it’s not culled from standard rock fodder. “My little sister died of infant death syndrome at age one. When I wrote that song, I was thinking about what she’d be like today if she were alive. How would my life be different? It’s a sad song, but the chorus is very positive. Even if she’s an angel now, she’ll always be my sister and no matter what, I’m here for her.”

In the end, Race You to the Bottom is based on honesty. “We never worried about fitting into a scene,” declares the singer. “I don’t care how my hair looks; I just want to write good songs. We’re proud of the music we created, and it’s the best feeling ever.”