May 20, 2005
I was cruising around purevolume.com and came across The Forecast, straight outta Peoria, Illinois. Straight-up, rought-edged pop rock in the vein of Boston's Helicopter Helicopter(great band), but with less pop polish. The difference? The Forecast are on VICTORY RECORDS. As in the label responsible for crushingly heavy new releases from Comeback Kid and Sinai Beach, among a slew of others. Weird.
As a favour to our man Pigeon John:
One of the best live hardcore bands I've ever seen, My Revenge, will have another album out this fall on Thorp Records. Anyone who's seen MR play live will attest to their ability to just destroy a stage. Incidentally, I saw them here in Ottawa at Bumpers, which was shut down a while ago already. Remember Bumpers? That small stage? My Revenge wrecked it. [lambgoat]
Canada Day(July 1st) will be huge if you live in or around Edmonton, Alberta! The Yesterday Was Everything festival, debuting in 2002, has revealed the lineup for the two-night affair taking place on the 1st at the Starlite Room and the 2nd at Red's(inside the West Edmonton Mall). Check some of the bands playing: Eighteen Visions, With Honor, Comeback Kid, He Is Legend and Rosesdead. That's like one-third of the lineup. Huge. The YWE event was started to "raise awareness of the dangers of drunk driving", and to commemorate the deaths of two members of Edmonton hardcore band Compromise, who were killed in an accident involving a drunk driver; the remaining members went on to form - by no coincidence - Misery Signals, also playing the event. Got all that straight? Good. I'd kill to go to this festival.
The Great Depression, the new album from Blindside that has me tres excited, will be out August 2nd on their new label, Wasa/DRT. Stokedstokedstoked. [theprp]
There's a venue in Farmingdale, New York called The Crazy Donkey. Just thought I'd share that. Rad.
A while ago we reported news of a very large tour featuring headliners Dream Theatre and Megadeth, with openers like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Fear Factory and Nevermore. Well, since then two Canadian dates have been posted:
September 02nd Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
September 03rd Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre
No surprises whatsoever in terms of venues. And two new bands are also added to the bill: Dry Kill Logic(they're still around?) Symphony X. So there you have it.
A band called Wintersleep, who're gaining some big press for their new album, have posted a video over here. Really awesome piece of work, actually. The band will be here in Ottawa July 27th as part of a Canadian tour that will stretch from coast to coast. I think one of them, Jud, used to be in Bucket Truck, or balances both bands. I have no idea.
A new record from A Perfect Murder, after the band practically dissolved last year from member changes, will be out on Victory Records in July; it's called Strength Through Vengeance, and will undoubtedly be every bit as brutal as the title implies. If you liked Unbroken two years ago, you'll probably dig the new one. Keep July 26th on the radar if you're not already stealing the album online somewhere.
Hey, one of my longtime favourites, Chevelle, have set up some shows:
May 21st Urbana, IL - Canopy Club
June 30th Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
July 08th Chicago, IL - NASCAR
August 12th Columbus, OH - Germain Amphitheatre
August 13th Chicago, IL - Tweeter Center
August 20th Las Vegas, NV - Aladdin
August 21st Tucson, AZ - Valencia Anselmo
The four August dates also feature a well-known radio-rock band featuring ex-members of Stone Temple Pilots and Guns 'N Roses, but that band's name will never be uttered in this space if I can help it.
This band Mastodon I keep hearing about, apparently they're amazing, but anyway, they've lined up some Ozzfest one-off shows. Check it out:
July 16th Quebec, QC - Colisee Pepsi Parking Lot feat. Iron Maiden
July 28th Virginia Beach, VA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre feat. Rob Zombie, Killswitch Engage
August 03rd Toronto, ON - Molson Amphitheatre feat. Iron Maiden
August 09th Englewood, CO - Coors Amphitheatre feat. Iron Maiden, Rob Zombie
September 01st Atlanta, GA - The Roxy Theatre feat. Rob Zombie
That's right. This Mastodon band is so good Maiden are opening for them. Wow.
Speaking of crazy metal, The Red Chord, aside from being here in Ottawa next Wednesday(May 25th), have slapped up a lil' video over here. Crazy metal.
Posted by mike at May 20, 2005 09:07 AM