Solid State rookies Destroy the Runner are pretty freaking good; sure, they sound just like As I Lay Dying and a ton of other bands, but damned if they don't put so much energy and exuberance into their craft that the sincerity bleeds into my big friggin' headphones. I was listening to the seventh track, a four-and-a-half minute monstrosity called 'From the Red', thinking, "Wow, nice vocals here" - turns out Saosin's Cove Reber contributes guest throat to the tune. Natch.
Shortly after losing two-fifths of their band, it would appear The Warriors have rebounded rather nicely - they've been picked up by the increasingly-monolithic Victory Records, who of course, while being a little shytsy if rumour can be believed, market their bands pretty well. [lambgoat]
No kidding. Hmph.
Southern Ontario metal assault The End have completed the initial production work on their new record - as yet untitled - with the plan in place being to have it in my hands personally by February. I'm pretty stoked. Within Dividia was intense.
Funny, I bought it at my Friendly Local Christian Retailer, and it sure didn't have one: mewithoutYou's brand-new album Brother, Sister, it seems, comes bearing a Parental Advisory sticker at CD Universe down in the US of A. Innnnteresting. Apparently independent thinking such as mwY advocate is prohibited down there. I'll restrain the smirking. [buzzgrinder]
buzzgrinder always has the best news: former Rage Against the Machine guitarist(he now, obviously, slings for Audioslave - ick) Tom Morello was arrested on Century Boulevard, which for those NOT in California is the main entrance into Los Angeles Int'l Airport. "These hotel workers by the airport make 20 per cent less wages than hotel workers around the rest of Los Angeles," Morello told the press before the start of the march that wound up with him in the joint. "We're here to express our solidarity with them, to help them unionize and to help them close the gap between their sub-poverty wages and the millions and millions of dollars the people who own these hotels make." Well-spoken - and beforehand, Morello apparently played three songs with none other than Ben Harper under Morello's old Nightwatchman monikor. SWEET.
Snow Patrol, one of the few British bands I really do enjoy, will be the musical act on The Late Show with Jay Leno tonight, September 29th. Watch it. The band will be rocking 'Chasing Cars'. Jessica Simpson and Bill O'Reilly are the other two guests, so the Patrol will fill Jay's non-idiot quotient tonight.
My boys The Fully Down, Ottawa-born and bred, will play tomorrow night at Babylon with The Second Glance and more as the kickoff show for their US tour, after which they head to - steady now - Japan. So be at Babylon at five pm tomorrow with ten bucks for a ticket if you don't have one already.
Sup fuzzlings?
Long time no update around here. We'll fix that in short order.
The Big Cheese here at the D is a full-time college student as well as working evenings, so he's pretty damn busy - HOWEVER: feature interviews with Thrice, Strike Anywhere, Comeback Kid and Underoath are all on the way in the coming weeks. We've been busy 'round here.
...remember that Counting Crows tune "'Round Here"? Amazing song from an amazing record. Ah, nostalgia.
Side Walk Slam changed their name to Run Kid Run, added a member for extra audio punch and now sound exactly like Fall Out Boy. The things you learn working in top-forty Christian radio.
Speaking of Underoath as we were earlier, the lads from Tampa(minus keyboardist/sampler Chris Dudley, who broke his hand last weekend and returned to the Sunshine State) completely owned the Civic Centre here in Ottawa this past Tuesday. The kids were into openers Moneen and Silverstein(tragically, a friend of He Is Legend's camp back in the United States passed away, so they also returned south of the border), but it was Underoath who were the spectacle, and they did not disappoint. Playing a nice mix of material from the new album as well as They're Only Chasing Safety, and with a phenomenal light show behind them, they devastated and repped Christ from the stage, as is their custom. Outstanding.
Speaking of the overall subject of "shows", August Burns Red are coming back to decimate Ottawa for the second time this year, opening for Walls of Jericho next Wednesday, October 4th. C'mon out. And if you're listening to my metal show tomorrow night on CHRI FM here in Ottawa(streaming icon is up in the top right of the main page), I'll be doling out two tickets courtesy of the fine folks at punkottawa dot com.
Toronto veterans Barenaked Ladies have come a very long way from writing 'If I Had A Million Dollars', an ode to wistful thinking, funny references and Kraft Dinner, having sold millions of albums in the fifteen years since and making this jaded hardcore kid a genuine fan of their pop anthems. And now their new album Barenaked Ladies Are Me is available in - get this now - standard CD form, digital, a 27-song "deluxe" edition, single tracks, USB flash drives and even vinyl, all on the band's own Desperation Records. BNL decided they needed no major label help anymore and did this themselves, and for that they get mad pounds from us here at the D. [truthexplosion]
Damn it: Wheels On The Bus, one of the best bands in Ontario, have decided to call it a day. Frig! Ah well. I'll always have fond memories of a weekend tour through snowy rural Quebec with my boys in the defunct Is Grace Enough with WOTB opening the shows and killing it every night. R.I.P.
The Veggie Tales franchise is growing. Massively. In leaps and bounds. I still haven't tuned in on a Saturday morning to catch it on NBC, probably because I haven't gotten to BED at that hour yet.
Five years ago Raw Materials, the classic debut from Mars Ill, was unleashed upon the unsuspecting masses, and recently, MC Manchild found six ADAT tapes while cleaning out his basement in Hotlanta that contained the original masters of the recording sessions in 2000, as well as three songs that didn't make the album and the instrumentals for both versions of the album that were released(Sphere and Uprok, respectively). Raw Materials: The Five-Year Anniversary Edition will be in stores real soon - the guys probably feel bad that Pro*Pain took two extra years to come out. [cmcentral]
Robert Randolph and his Family Band have a brand-new album coming October 10th called Colorblind. It will doubtless feature more lights-out slide guitar and amazing work from the bass and drums, and lead single 'Thrill Of It' has been tapped as the theme song for ABC's Saturday Night College Football.
The first sign that the uber-poppy-yet-somehow-still-awesomely-hardcore Set Your Goals(seriously, is 'Mutiny' not the catchiest song released by a hardcore label this year? I think so) are spreading their creative wings already, hot on the heels of their first big release, is an acoustic show they're doing soon down in Florida. How long before they do MTV: Unplugged? [hxc]
A band SYG will play with October 10th in Baltimore, xLooking Forwardx, have said that the writing stage of their new record is about half-done, and a big ol' tour featuring other acts like Jesus Wept and Our Corpse Destroyed starts soon, going right through next month; for the itinerary, check this out.
A band I saw twice in 2005 in two very different places(a huge tent in Illinois and a small bar in Ottawa), Still Remains, have covered Nine Inch Nails' 'Head Like A Hole'. Check out the video here.
And a band whose singer I would marry(she's real cute, okay? Shut up!), Bloodlined Calligraphy(from Michigan, my home state, as are Still Remains!), have put their entire new album Ypsilanti up for streaming over here. Singer Ally French screams better than eighty percent of the men out there in this fool hardcore game.
Did you know rap legend Kurtis Blow is a Christian minister? I didn't, til I read this. How 'bout that. "These are the breaks..."
Couple of quick things concerning Tuesday night's Underoath show - firstly, openers He Is Legend have canceled their Canadian shows from yesterday through September 28th due to the sudden death of one of their friends(source: Dave Leibold @ CKCU Carleton University), and secondly(on a decidedly happier note), a feature piece on the headliners appeared in today's Ottawa Citizen in the Arts section. Gonna be a sweet show even without HIL.
I'm gonna listen to the new album from DJ Shadow, The Outsider, on the way home tonight. We'll see how this goes.
Oh, one more thing: Edmonton's annual Harvest Moon Festival, which a couple weeks ago saw performances from Blindside, MxPx, Pigeon John, Starflyer 59 and other stellar acts, appears to be on the brink of insolvency, according to a Myspace bulletin the organizers sent out. This would be a blow to Canadian Christian-music(GOOD Christian music) fans, as HM was among the highest-profile events in the country.
One of the first punk bands I ever loved was Goldfinger and their 1996 self-titled album, including gems like 'Here In Your Bedroom' and 'Nothing to Prove'; the record was featured in Alternative Press' nostalgic look back at the year '96, and now comes word that Goldfinger have signed to SideOneDummy Records. Good move by them. [Decoy]
Norma Jean's big new album, their third, entitled Redeemer, had a big first week out: 21,334 albums sold in stores, meaning #38 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. How 'BOUT them Southern boys??
...strictly by way of contrast, New Found Glory's Coming Home's first week's sales were between forty and fifty thousand, according to HITS. Hmm.
Former Ironclad Recordings act Since the Flood have jumped up to Metal Blade Records, joining I Killed the Prom Queen, who announced their the other day. Ironclad is owned by Unearth vocalist Trevor Phipps - Unearth are on Metal Blade - you can see this train of logic.
Stop the presses, hold everything: NEW TENACIOUS D.]
Trend riders, heads up: Senses Fail and Saosin are going out on a full US tour kicking off November 25th. No word yet on Canadian shows, but the scene kids will be out en masse.
Justice, apparently, has not been served in the case of the fire in Rhode Island that killed dozens at a Great White show in 2003. [Billboard]
Closet Freak: The Best of Cee-Lo Green the Soul Machine is a best-of rounding some of Cee-Lo(known to almost a million record buyers as the vocalist for Gnarls Barkley)'s work from the Goodie Mob days, including a twelve-year-old collaboration with a very young Outkast and some of his solo stuff. The album drops on Halloween.
His shadow stretches nowhere near as far as his father's, but Wallflowers' mastermind Jakob Dylan is no slouch in the songwriting department either. The Wallflowers left Interscope Records last year after a long association, and during the lull in that side of his life, Dylan has joined Columbia Records and started writing for the new NBC drama Six Degrees(produced by the everywhere-important J.J. Abrams).
The D's third birthday day before yesterday passed uneventfully, really; gifts were presented, Monte Carlos were lit up, and subtle celebrations ensued.
In relevant news, Comeback Kid opened for the legendary Bad Religion tonight at the Civic Centre, playing a tight set on a bigger stage than I've ever seen them play before. Keep your eyes peeled for sweetdisaster's talk with guitarist Jeremy Hiebert in the coming weeks. Before that, look for conversations with Strike Anywhere's Thomas Barnett and Thrice ringleader Dustin Kensrue. And maybe some reviews. We're busy cats over here.
And in related news, Bad Religion are apparently demoing tracks for a 2007 album. Woohoo! They really impressed this admittedly sometimes-easy-to-impress-'cause-he-just-lives-for-the-rock web-writing nerd with not only their songs, but onstage personality, banter and vigour. They act like men half their ages, and that's commendable.
Some other news now.
Muthableeping Jack Nicholson is the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone. That should be enough for all y'all to be running to your nearest newsstand. [RS]
My beloved Ottawa Senators kicked off the NHL preseason last night, winning over Pittsburgh in a game played out in Halifax, Nova Scotia - then soured the entire thing by LOSING to the stupid Leafs tonight. I'm pissed.
I came across this article recently; a photojournalist's account of her forays into "Christian rock". Taken with a grain of salt, it's rather revealing.
After bringing over thirty thousand people last year to the inaugural event, the second AmsterJam Fest played to about one-third that crowd, and when the highlight of the entire event is Busta Rhymes being busted for weapons charges, well, that's not a good sign for next year's edition.
Quickly-rising Australian metal act I Killed the Prom Queen have made a significant step forward, signing with worldwide extreme music giant Metal Blade Records. Music For the Recently Deceased, IKTPQ's debut already released elsewhere, will see its American(and Canadian?) release November 17th. [soundthesirens]
Can't remember if we reported this already, but Switchfoot's new album Oh! Gravity is gonna land on our heads the day after Christmas. I'm excited.
Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida, after twelve years of busting his ass worldwide with the Toronto band, is gonna do some solo stuff, according to his Myspace page.
The laddies in Dead Poetic have put up another new joint on their Myspace page; the new album Vices comes ever sooner. Excitedexcitedexcitedexcitedexcited. [TVU]
sweetdisaster's media coverage was set up today for next week's massive Underoath/Silverstein/Moneen/He Is Legend show at the Civic Centre(September 26th). Join us, won't you? Hit up punkottawa for the deets.
As I Lay Dying are contributing to a DVD compilation called Hold On This Hope, alongside the likes of Anberlin and Emery among others, with proceeds going to cancer research. Check out more at AILD's website.
My boys in the Lost Angels rap crew LA Symphony are literally, as I write these words, in Seoul, Korea, spreading rap magic and love to the land of the morning call. Now THAT's a tour.
The previously-mentioned(a couple months back anyway) MxPx album, their first since 2005's Panic!, is called Let's Rock(which is an awesome title). It's a bunch of material that isn't new but has never been released. So I'm gonna go buy it soon.
This, our 742nd news entry, falls on...
SWEETDISASTER'S THIRD BIRTHDAY!!!!
September 19, 2003, we launched our rock and roll assault on the WWW, and we're still swinging despite taking some punches three years later. Congratulations to US!!
Thanks especially to Mr. Galen Broaddus, Mr. Dave Flikkema, Mr. David Marcantonio, Mr. Shawn Scallen for the endless love and support over the years.
And to you, the readers, all of you fuzzy fuzzy fuzzies!!
DJ Shadow's first album in a few years, The Outsider, drops in stores tomorrow, September 19th. Via Myspace, Shadow(aka Josh Davis of Oakland, California) wanted all you fuzzy readers to know that you can order it starting tomorrow night at over here, and the first hundred orders off his site will receive "a special bundle offer." Innnnteresting.
Shock jock Howard Stern doesn't get nearly the love online as he used to; search-engine hits using 'Howard Stern' as a query line dropped almost ninety percent since March of 2005. Since Stern's move to satellite radio late last year, his own website's traffic has dropped by seventy percent, while Sirius Radio's spiked by almost three hundred. Innnteresting. [R&R]
The jackasses who try to run popular music are after Myspace and YouTube again; the latest is Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris, who had this asinine comment: "We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars." He added, "How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly." What a tool.
From an admittedly rather dry newsposting at Radio & Records:
"Flinn top 40 WHBQ (Q107-5)/Memphis programming/promotions assistant Joe Mack is promoted to MD. Later, this bonus sentence was added to make this rather minor news appear more weighty."
That's comedy.
Here's some highlights of the lineup for this year's Farm Aid event, if you're in the New Jersey area(Camden, to be exact) September 30th:
Willie Nelson
John Mellencamp
Neil Young and Dave Matthews
Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Jay-Z's three-year "retirement" is over - though he did pretty well for himself in the interim between The Black Album and the present, given that he ,i>did become president of one of the world's foremost record companies(Island/Def Jam). Nonetheless, the mic has lured Shawn Carter back to the game, with his new album Kingdom Come dropping November 21st. The record features appearances from some usual suspects(Dr. Dre, Kanye West, producer Timbaland and Pharrell Williams) as well as unusual - Coldplay's Chris Martin produced one of the songs. Weird, but like everything Hovah, it'll be a smash. [MTV]
Essential Listening for today, September 18th, is Belvedere's swan song Fast Forward Eats the Tape(2004). Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, the four-piece made kickass, blindingly-fast punk rock with hardcore breakdowns and hooks for days. Belvedere broke up six months or so ago, and FFETT sounds even better posthumously. Recommended.
Hatebreed have confirmed the death of former guitarist Lou 'Boulder' Richards at the age of 35. Suicide is hinted at in the official statement. I first saw Hatebreed in 2001 or 2002 before Boulder left the band late in '02, and he was a class act to me and my friend that night. Rest in peace.
Big surprise: Victory Records honcho Tony Brummel has fired back at his prized act, Hawthorne Heights, who filed a lawsuit last month claiming they're owed thousands in unpaid royalties and that Brummel employed street-team tactics to unethically manipulate other records in brick-and-mortar stores to boost HH sales. They're right pissed, and they should be. However, Brummel says it's all slander, and he's suing them right back for the two albums left on their deal with Victory. Hooray for the legal side of rock. This is why if you're in a freakin' band, get a freakin' lawyer. [aversion]
Costa Mesa, California's Supernova have won their court battle against CBS and its Supernova series featuring Tommy Lee and ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newstead; the court decided in favour of the first act's four albums and touring work. Stick it to the man!
Thursday keyboardist Andrew Everding is a smart fella.
Recently my alma mater(Algonquin College) and its radio station(add us on Myspace!) had a fire sale of CDs from last academic year; they're promo and can't really be sold, per se, but whatever, life is life, move on. Anyway, one of my prizes was a sought-after-by-me copy of P.O.D.'s The Warriors Vol. 2 EP from last fall, before the release of Testify this past January. Featuring 'Boom' and 'Wildfire' live at Cornerstone 2004, this little treat also had 'If It Wasn't For You', which is one of P.O.D.'s strongest, most consistent songs in four years. Find this and buy it.
When he's not busy being, you know, the light of the world and our Saviour, Jesus Christ has found time to build a Myspace page. [Relevant]
If you were born between 1975 and 1980, this will take you back. Oh, to be young again!
Everybody's favourite dark-pop-punk kids, Yellowcard, announced on the road over the weekend that the followup to Lights and Sound will be recorded soonish and released in the middle of next year or so. This is, of course, sandwiched around singer Ryan Key's alleged canoodling with Kelly Clarkson. Everyone make obnoxious kissy noises! [AP]
How 'bout this for must-see Monday television? Last week we reported that Green Day and U2 were collaborating on a cover song to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans - well, damned if they're gonna not perform the tune live on Monday Night Football(ESPN) on September 25th. The game is in New Orleans(Saints hosting the Atlanta Falcons, if you're an NFL buff) for the first time since last year around this time. The performance will officially reopen the Louisiana Superdome, which was condemned as a disaster zone following its conversion to a shelter for victims last fall.
Not only are Bad Religion coming to Ottawa this week(Wednesday, September 20th at the Civic Centre), but they're also prepping to record an album due out in 2007. It'll be their 14th since they formed in 1981. And it will sound pretty much like all the others, with the exception of some of the major-label stuff from the '90s. And I will love it.
Word from the P.O.D. camp this afternoon - shortly after leaving Atlantic Records, their label home since 1999, Payable have teamed up with the venerable Rhino Records to release Greatest Hits - The Atlantic Years. Rhino is well-known for comps, best-ofs and box sets, and have said that this album is a number-one priority for the rest of this year. There'll be seventeen songs as well as two brand-new cuts, one from the Glen Ballard sessions for Testify and another that'll be recorded next week with producer Travis Wyrick in Los Angeles.
I don't think the last tour ever actually came off(you know, the one that I was planning to drop everything to attend), but post-breakup Further Seems Forever have one last project in the pipe: a CD/DVD called The Final Curtain, coming out November 14th on 567 Records(who?). The DVD portion is the entirety of the band's final performance, and the two producers are well-known to Christian-rock geeks: Bruce Fitzhugh(Living Sacrifice and Mike Lewis(Puller), who are both still active in the biz - in fact, Fitzhugh's Zambooie merch/apparel line is co-releasing this bad boy. Want a teaser? Check out an acoustic clip of 'For All We Know'. [IVM]
Two former members of Denison Marrs, a criminally-underrated Florida band who broke up last year, have a new gig called The Dark Romantics(listen here). They're on Lujo Records, and there's also talk that DM's World Renown For Romance may be re-issued by Lujo as well. That'd be sweet.
There's an Astro Boy movie coming in 2009! Line up for tickets now!!
Uprising Festival and Purevolume have teamed up for this free downloadable sampler. Music from Relient K, Copeland, Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue and more. I'd go listen if I was in your shoes.
Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie's side gig The Almost are setting up a record and tour in 2007. Innnteresting. The one song I heard a long time ago sounded just like Chasing Safety-era Underoath.
Tiger Woods lost this afternoon the first round of the World Match Play Championships. This means that come the weekend, he won't be playing. That's unreal.
I didn't make it out to Cornerstone Festival 2K6 this past summer, after going in 2005 for the first time; obviously this rock and roll junkie really wanted to go, but money was an issue, and time, and yeah. Me no go. BUT - the kids at HM magazine were sure there in full force - hell, they have a stage with their name on it every summer - and their review of the festivities is right over here. Read about what you missed.
And then when you're done reading about the exploits in rural Illinois, check out the interview with enduring legends Stavesacre over here. Their new album How to Live With a Curse is, in a word, fantastic.
Oh, and hey, kids: for the best hiphop and alternative, check out my alma mater's radio station at CKDJ 107.9. There's the frequency if you're around Ottawa, and streaming if you're not. No excuses, fuzzlings.
This is unconfirmed as yet, but tragic if true: there's an internet report that former Hatebreed guitarist Lou 'Boulder' Richards passed away earlier this week. Richards played on Satisfaction is the Death of Desire and Perseverance before leaving the band in 2002. [saveyourscene]
Every Time I Die have jumped on the DVD train; Ferret Records will release Sh*t Happens October 30th, featuring an absolute ton of stuff including Warped footage, tour hijinks and more.
They were featured in AP's nostalgic look back at ten albums that shaped 1996 a couple issues ago, and now they're reuniting: Texas Is the Reason, credited by many as the founders of 'emocore', will play a Thanksgiving gig at Irving Plaza in New York City.
Pigeon John's brand-spankin'-new album Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party dropped day before yesterday on September 12th. The cuts online are bangin', and I gotta run right over to wherever's carrying it to pick this puppy up. Among my most-anticipated releases this year.
The Used have ousted their drummer. I'm sure they'll keep making anthems for the kiddies though. [bedlam]
I don't feel like doing news this morning. Word out of Montreal concerning the shooting at Dawson College has me sick to my stomach. I'm gonna think and pray instead. Maybe I'll change my mind later.
So it's come to my attention yet again that Anberlin(not that we don't hype them enough around here) simply write perfect rock songs - and singer Stephen Christian is getting together with some of his Florida homeys to do Anchor & Braille, a sombre, sweet side project. Others included in the cast are Copeland mastermind Aaron Marsh and drummer Jon Bucklew, manager extraordinaire Kyle Griner(Denison Marrs, among others) and a few other cats. Give it a listen over here. Note who their first Myspace friend is - yes, indeed, if I'm not mistaken, that's Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie. What a guy.
Today, because I'm a lover of hardcore music and lifestyle(a lof of its facets, anyway), and because I've heard the name bandied about literally for years, I bought Strife's In This Defiance album today. 1997, Victory Records. I feel like I should be wearing an Earth Crisis hoodie right now.
Does it count that I'm blasting Blacklisted as loud as humanly possible?
I'm so hardcore.
Their name isn't quite as good as Ottawa's own Sleeping Pilot, but Idiot Pilot's second album is pretty much finished, and the drumming was done by two guys who are pretty decent, they being Travis Barker(Blink-182) and Chris Pennie(The Dillinger Escape Plan). I'm already impressed. [absolutepunk]
Those crazy kids in New Found Glory have put up their entire new album Coming Home up for streaming at their purevolume page. I'd go listen if I wasn't buried in a textbook concerning microphones and their various attributes. Hooray for college.
If you watch FUSE TV and wonder how come there ain't no videos anymore from anyone under the Universal Music Group umbrella(because I know people are wondering that), it's because Universal yanked all their artists' videos from the channel effective September 1st because an agreement on compensation(ie money) couldn't be reached. I'm truly shocked. Next.
The choice of name isn't that surprising: ex-Sum 41 guitarist Dave 'Brownsound' Baksh has a new band called - natch - Brown Brigade. Check their steez over here. Meanwhile, the remaining members of Sum continue working on a new record.
I have to sleep.
I hate being sick.
But anyway.
Musical discovery of the day comes from longtime webmaster here at the D, Mr. Brody. He was traversing the wilds of Myspace and came across Asher, an interesting little unit from southern Ontario. Mr. Brody lives in Illinois and thinks it's just hysterical that he's finding stuff in my own province while I sit around with my finger up my nose. Anyway, Asher are pretty impressive - and two girls in one melodic-metal band - and hot ones at that? Wow. Check them out ASAP. Sure, they sound kinda like Evanescence, but thanks to that band selling six million records, any female-fronted metal-leaning band will get that comparison.
Emanuel and a killer band called I Am The Avalanche are gonna hit the bricks together next month. No dates of interest to me or anyone in Canada yet, but we'll keep y'all posted. [punknews]
I've gotten my hands on the Canadian itinerary(two whole provinces, hooray) for Bleeding Through's headlining tour with Trustkill labelmates Walls of Jericho and relative newcomers to the scene August Burns Red(already one of my favourite modern metalcore bands). Check this sked out:
October 2, 2006 Anti Quebec City, PQ w/Blessed By a Broken Heart
October 3, 2006 Club Soda Montreal, PQ w/local act
October 4, 2006 Babylon Ottawa, ON w/local act
October 5, 2006 Opera House Toronto, ON w/local act
October 6, 2006 Underground Hamilton, ON w/local act
October 7, 2006 Call the Office London, ON w/local act
Word has it the local opening the last three Ontario dates is Arise And Ruin.
They're headlining the Radio Rebellion tour with openers Between the Buried and Me next month and onwards, but firstly, their third album is out Tuesday: Redeemer is about to drop from Norma Jean, who've done us all a favour and put the entire damn record up to listen to on their Myspace page. I'm pretty ridiculously awesomely stoked over this.
All these bands we've discussed thus far today have been acts that tour relentlessly; the type of band you go see and then you get home and they're in your backyard playing another gig at one in the morning. A band that doesn't do the touring thing all that exceptionally often, Propagandhi, have made good on their promise to tour part of the Great White North:
October 17, 2006 Thunder Bay, ON Killroy's
October 19, 2006 Ottawa, ON Babylon EARLY SHOW
October 20, 2006 Quebec City, QC L'Anti
October 21, 2006 Jonquiere, QC CNE
October 23, 2006 Montreal, QC Spectrum
October 25, 2006 Toronto, ON Funhaus
October 26, 2006 St. Catharines, ON L3
October 27, 2006 London, ON The Salt Lounge
October 28, 2006 Hamilton, ON The Underground
October 30, 2006 Timmins, ON GV Hotel
October 31, 2006 Sault Ste-Marie, ON Oddfellows Hall
I've never heard of The Skids, but they're an Scottish punk band of days of yore who did a song called 'The Saints Are Coming' in the late 1970s, and two bands you may have heard of are gonna do a cover of it with proceeds to the ongoing efforts in New Orleans, Louisiana. The organization behind this is Music Rising, which concerns itself with replacing musical instruments lost in the hurricane/flood. Those two bands, you wanna know? Oh nobody - U2 and Green Day. Wow. In a related story, Green Day are also being honoured by People For the American Way, a liberal advocacy group, who had this to say about the band: "Over the years, the group has lent their time and music to benefit many charitable causes, including the Live 8 concert series, Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and the NRDC. [...] their latest multi-platinum album, American Idiot, has effectively raised social and political consciousness among audiences worldwide." Heady praise for a trio of snot-nosed kids from Berkeley.
Toronto rapper Manafest, with two full-lengths already under his talented belt(boy, that could be taken in a dirty manner, but we're all adults here) is releasing his third proper album Glory on September 26th. "The hip-hop songs are more the introspective side of my view and how I look at life," says the man born Chris Greenwood, "and the rock songs are more of outward looking in approach." [JFH]
Finally news about Underoath that isn't some stupid rumour about cocain use or "how come they actually have personal problems, they're a band, everything's fine": check out a clip from the upcoming video for 'In Regards To Myself' over here. The band are here in Ottawa September 26th at the Civic Centre with openers Silverstein, Moneen and He Is Legend. [absolutepunk]
It reminds me of my former creative partner and colleague Brian Kidd, without whom I may not have been writing about rock music for the last six years - and who loved this guy: the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens is about to release his first work in years. Story's over here.
Some essential, essential Essential Listening for today, September 8th: Lightheaded are a trio of MCs and beatmakers from Portland, Oregon, and Wrong Way, released last year on Tres Records, is astoundingly good. Engaging, intelligent and with beats to destroy small cities, this album cannot miss. Make them your Myspace Friend over here, and listen to their tunes, and snap your neck to the beats. In particular, 'Not Afraid of the Dark"(track nine on Wrong Way, for those of you who don't pay attention to song titles) is just ridiculously good.
More later. Metal show tonight on CHRI. Stream if you're online elsewhere; those in Ottawa hit up 99.1 FM from nine to eleven.
Peace.
This Just In: getting up at 5:45am to complete an assignment for one's Intro to Communication course and then having class all day and then a tentative Strike Anywhere interview in the evening means very little sleep and life is terrible.
Kill me.
I don't usually furnish you fuzzlings with links to music videos, as I don't much care about music videos to begin with, but Head Automatica are good enough that this warrants our attention: the lads from Strong Island have put together a lil' clip for 'Lying Through Your Teeth', from the new album Popaganda. If you use Quicktime, click here. For Windows users, check this out.
Thrice have Myspaced everyone on their list to inform us all of the doings surrounding their next project: a four-disc concept record or sorts based on the four elements: earth, air, water and fire. From what it says here, it sounds like this thing'll practically write itself - and really, isn't that every band's dream? I think so. No title or anything given for this project, but singer Dustin Kensrue told me last spring that it will "out-prog Coheed & Cambria," which bespeaks pure awesomeness.
I haven't really listened to Beck in a very long time(like, since high school), but he's persisted in making what is allegedly good music, and last year's Guero reestablished his rep, so I'll throw the Beck-Man a bone and hype his new album, The Information. Three years in the making - Mr. Hansen had to backburner the project due to Guero's success and subsequent touring - the new album is produced by Nigel Godrich(Radiohead), and it's in your hands October 3rd, unless of course you know what "the internet" is, in which case you already know all the choruses. [Paste]
Snow Patrol are awesome. And know how you can tell they're on a major label? All the songs on their Myspace are cut off after about a minute! Some people need to get their heads out of their derrieres.
The initial run of a tour featuring Anberlin and Greeley Estates and headlined by Story of the Year(Monty Are I also appears) has been posted online:
October 13 , 2006 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
October 14, 2006 Cincinnati, OH Bogart's
October 17, 2006 Baltimore, MD Sonar
October 19, 2006 Boston, MA Avalon Theater
October 20, 2006 Providence, RI Lupos
October 21, 2006 New Haven, CT Toads Place
October 28, 2006 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution
October 29, 2006 St. Petersburg, FL Jannus Landing
November 4, 2006 Las Vegas, NV House Of Blues
November 7, 2006 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues
Is it just me, or do Anberlin and SOTY never tour without each other? [punknews]
And speaking of Anberlin, singer Stephen Christian's side gig Anchor & Braille have some new music online over here. The outfit features Christian on vocals as well as Copeland genius Aaron Marsh.
Primus's new record is called Blame It On The Fish. I always knew those guys were weird. But this guy here loves 'em. Stupid bass noodling and whiny vocals. If I want that I'll listen to Anti-Flag. OH SNAP! [theprp]
My Chemical Romance have an album due out next month? I didn't hear about this. It can't be real. I couldn't have missed a boat this big. Well then.
One of the craziest shows I ever saw was From A Second Story Window(misspelled name, dammit!) last year here in Ottawa, so it's sad that one-fifth of the mayhem has departed; guitarist Derek Vasconi has left the band for personal reasons. Ever realize how much band press releases sound like sports news nowadays? "______ guitarist _____ has been placed on the fifteen-day DL due to a pulled groin."
Guitar Hero was one of the biggest games of the year in 2005 for the PS2 console, and it's been announced that Lamb of God, Avenged Sevenfold and Alice In Chains have been added to the second installment of the game, due in stores November 7th. Check this lineup(one game!):
Lamb Of God - "Laid To Rest"
"Avenged Sevenfold - "Beast And The Harlot"
Alice In Chains - "Them Bones"
Nirvana - "Heart Shaped Box"
The Police - "Message In A Bottle"
The Pretenders - "Tattooed Love Boys"
Cheap Trick - "Surrender"
Spinal Tap - "Tonight I'm Going to Rock You Tonight"
Heart - "Crazy On You"
Allman Brothers Band - "Jessica"
Dick Dale - "Misirlou"
The Rolling Stones - "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
Anthrax - "Madhouse"
Motley Crue - "Shout At The Devil"
Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart"
Black Sabbath - "War Pigs"
Primus - "John The Fisherman"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Freebird"
Kiss - "Strutter"
Rush - "YYZ"
Van Halen - "You Really Got Me"
Reverend Horton Heat - "Psychobilly Freakout"
Drist - "Arterial Black"
Every Time I Die - "The New Black"
Butthole Surfers - "Who The Hell Was In My Room Last Night"
If you're a serious guitarist, though, you probably already know 'Freebird.' Who doesn't? Oh, right, me.
Bob Dylan is going on tour. Freakin' right! I hope he's coming to Ottawa, but let's be honest, if he even comes to Canada it'll be Toronto-Montreal-Vancouver-out, as always. Anyway, support will include Foo Fighters, The Raconteurs and more. Wow. [buzzgrinder]
Pop-punk kings Relient K, aside from releasing a new album in a couple months, are getting the royal re-release treatment from their label: Gotee Records will be putting out 'Gold' editions of The Anatomy of Tongue In Cheek and Two Lefts Don't Make A Right...But Three Do, remixed and remastered by boardmeister JR McNeeley.
Speaking of remastering, I finally picked up the re-done version of Converge's seminal Petitioning the Empty Sky, replete with live material and a liner written by notable metal maven Chris Gramlich, whose work we've read in Exclaim! magazine for years now. The album is dope, and even more so for the nicer sound this time around. Not that Boston's most underrated metal act could be called "nice", but you get the point. Shut up.
Fresh from touring their asses off as part of the Sounds of the Underground and Warped tours all summer, Horse the Band still get points for being succinct.. Hilariously antagonistic. Oh, and they explain why drummer Eli's out too.
I like Stick To Your Guns just fine - an incendiary mix of Sick Of It All and Throwdown - but they've literally just sent out four Myspace bulletins in the space of twenty minutes. Enough is enough.
And SPEAKING of Throwdown, Orange County's straight-edge kingpins rolled through Ottawa over the week, delivering their customary tight set, even though sound was rather off this particular afternoon. Zao and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster blew everyone away, while Evergreen Terrace, also hurt by poor sound, still managed to make me move my buns. Which is pretty good 'cause I'm so painfully white.
Beatmaker Banksy has apparently - allegedly - replaced 500 of Paris Hilton's CDs with his own work. I'm not sure exactly what's going on here, but it's an excuse to print here, replicated in unedited form, a Myspace bulletin from Dangerdoom, aka MF Doom and Danger Mouse:
"Waxploitation, the management company for Danger Mouse, can confirm the rumors that the 'DM' referenced on the Banksy/DM Paris Hilton CD is in fact Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse and Banksy are believed to have met whilst shopping for disguises in a Soho joke shop. The only comment they have so far offered on their remix is "Its hard to improve on perfection, but we had to try." That's friggin' awesome. Oh, and Danger(also known on the down-low as Brian Burton of Atlanta) was on Charlie Rose last week on PBS - the one late-night talk show sans a band, gimmickry or hijinks of any sort. Danger proved himself a very intelligent, well-spoken guy, especially on the subject of his latest(huge) success with Gnarls Barkey. Good for him and Cee-lo.
As well as picking a new drummer(that again!), The Agony Scene have signed with their third label in as many albums; the band announced a deal with Abacus Recordings(wow, are they ever signing loads of kickass bands this year) after leaving Roadrunner. TAS' label debut will be out next year. [theprp]
Make that five Myspace bulletins from Stick To Your Guns. Geez.
The Solid State Youngbloods II tour will go down in October, featuring The Chariot, August Burns Red, Destroy the Runner, Twelve Gauge Valentine and Inhale/Exhale all aboard. That is one hell of a lot of new-school American metalcore. Too much for this jaded scenester, I daresay, though obviously I'm going if it comes to Ottawa. And on the subject of August Burns Red, they're coming back to town for the second time with Walls of Jericho and Bleeding Through. C'mon out.
Tons of new shows(gonna be a busy autumn) are listed over here. Get on it.
So today I almost lost my cellphone, thinking it was left in a friend's car and when it wasn't, freaking right the hell out and thinking the last thing I needed was another problem in my already-hectic life. But it was found in my backpack, where it somehow wound up. I don't get it, but neither am I gonna question it.
Some news now from rainy Ottawa.
I hope one and all will be present tomorrow at three pm to watch Throwdown and friends tear Babylon apart for the kiddies. It'll be a great show. 317 Bank Street, so you have no excuses.
Atlanta greats Mastodon are about to embark on a headlining tour with support from Converge and The Bronx; following are the only Canadian shows:
9/10 Montreal, Canada Spectrum
9/12 Toronto, Canada Phoenix Theater
If you wanna hear their entire new album, Blood Mountain, check this out. [buzzgrinder]
Over three million bands/acts have their tunes up on Myspace.com, so it really was only a matter of time before they gave up on the notion of "free"; sooner or later, bands will be selling their music on Myspace.
Their debut landed them an opening slot for the Taste of Chaos tour in Atlanta last spring, and there's nowhere to go but up; Chasing Victory are about to start recording their second album for Mono Vs. Stereo Recordings. It'll be out sometime in the middle of next year. As if it's September of 2006 already.
Why can't we ignore this clown? Kevin Federline, Britney's resident lapdog, has already done a cameo on CSI, and now the doofuses at HBO have signed him to do three episodes of Entourage. Now, I've never seen this show - I have little time for primetime television - but apparently it's very good, so why bring this dude in? I'm sure he's a nice guy, and all that...well, I can't vouch for that personally, but...geez.
The new Dead Poetic promises to be immense, judging by the new material posted online; the lads have grown up to realize that the screaming thing gets old, and rock and roll - real rock and roll - is timeless. I'm stoked.
Essential Listening for today, September 1st, is Goldfinger's self-titled 1996 album, featuring 'Here In Your Bedroom', 'Mabel' and many more. Absolute pop-punk gem, and without it I'm not as big a music fan, not in radio, not going to school for radio. Talk about timeless.
The kings of the scene get their asses handed to them: My Chemical Romance and Panic At the Disco were both treated rather rudely by English fans at the recent Reading and Leeds Festivals over in yonder United Kingdom. Apparently MCR played after Slayer(what??) and fared none too well, getting crap hurled at them for half their set, while Panic!'s vocalist was hit by a bottle(you can see it over here, if you're sick in the head and wanna watch). [truthexplosion]
Along with Plus 44, his new band with fellow Blink-182 alumnus Mark Hoppus, and another called Idiot Pilot, Travis Barker has announced he'll be doing the drums for Avril Lavigne's new album as well. Busy guy.
Let's Rock is a new b-sides/rarities compilation from veterans MxPx. It'll be out October 26th on SideOneDummy Records. Twelve songs, some of which are previously-released but reworked by the band. Woohoo! Any MxPx is good MxPx.
They'll be in Ottawa September 26th opening for Underoath, but for now, two new songs from He Is Legend have been posted online over here. [lambgoat]
I hadn't planned on going to see Avenged Sevenfold even though the masterful-for-so-young-an-age Protest the Hero are opening, but now there's more incentive: two British Columbia metal behemoths in the form of 3 Inches of Blood(Maiden worship, complete with fantastic clean vocals) and A Javelin Reign(complete tech-craziness) are opening a few dates, including the Civic Centre here in lovely metropolitan Ottawa, September 19th. I just may go.
Classic Case, shortly after signing a deal with Fearless Records in California, have said that they'll soon begin recording their label debut with none other than Helmet's Page Hamilton(this guy). This could only lead to greatness.
Hey, kids, here's a surprise - GWAR are hitting the road again! Shocking. Well, the closest they're coming to the nation's capital this time out is Toronto(October 23rd at the Opera House), but opening are Municipal Waste(featuring drummer Dave Witte, ex of Burnt by the Sun) and The Red Chord. Worth looking into, I'd say. [buzzgrinder]