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.”

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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Track: Bat Country

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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.

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BIO

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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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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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.

BIO

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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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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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’.”

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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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BIO CONTINUED

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.”