Your semi-regular huge Saturday-night update!
A nice little Canadian tour has shaped up featuring headliners Bleeding Through with The End, Cancer Bats(those two bands sure tour together a lot) and Risky Business opening up:
May 24th Vancouver, BC - Plaza Club
May 25th Victoria, BC - Lucky Bar
May 28th Langley, BC - Vineyard
June 01st Calgary, AB - The Underground
June 02nd Edmonton, AB - Avenue Skatepark
June 03rd Regina, SK - The Exchange
June 04th Saskatoon, SK - The Bassment
June 07th Toronto, ON - Opera House
Sadly, no Ottawa date. [theprp]
A video for Helmet's 'Money Shot' has popped up on the interweb, right over here.
Hey, a tour that is coming to Ottawa - All That Remains will blow through town June 4th at the New Capital Music Hall downtown with openers Protest the Hero, Bless the Fall, The Holly Springs and Threat Signal. PTH need no introduction to Ottawa crowds; BTF were last here in the capital opening for Greeley Estates, The Holly Springs are from the Canadian midwest and Threat Signal are ragin' outta Hamilton, Ontario. There's the skinny.
Evergreen Terrace's Wolfbiker record will be out July 24th, God willing. Renowed producer Jason Livermore is behind the board, and Tim Lambesis'(As I Lay Dying) High Impact label will co-release it with Metal Blade.
Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison will play with Korn on tour for the foreseeable future, in the stead of founding member David Silveria, who remains on hiatus. I don't care about Korn or Slipknot, but lots of people do, I suppose.
One of my favoured bands of the moment, Lovedrug, are opening up on tour with Straylight Run and Sparta beginning May 28th. No Canadian dates as yet.
According to a Myspace bulletin issued from the depths of the Comeback Kid camp, tourmates This Is Hell rolled their van in western Canada yesterday - no one was hurt, but the van and status of their playing the last four shows is up in the air. Keep TIH in mind - man, those guys can't seem to catch a break in Canada.
Rock and baseball in one album review? Beautiful.
I still don't get how Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams wounding up guesting on The Chariot's new album.
Does this sound dirty to anyone? The White Stripes' new album is called Icky Thump. Hmm. It's purported to be "sonically bombastic." Hmm. [Paste]
Hmm.
What a fab tour this would be: Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, under his moniker The Nightwatchman, is going on the road with Ben Harper in June:
7 - Tulsa, Okla. @ Cain's Ballroom
9 - Council Bluffs, Iowa @ Stir Cove at Harrah's Casino
10 - St. Louis, Mo. @ The Pageant
12 - Cleveland, Ohio @ House of Blues
13 - Asheville, N.C. @ The Orange Peel
14 - North Myrtle Beach, S.C. @ House of Blues
16 - Manchester, Tenn. @ Bonnaroo
Man, what a bill.
Shoe manufacturer New Balance(never worn 'em in my life, but what the hell) have come out with a new line of Joy Division kicks - wait, what? Joy D have shoes? Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the group's inception, they're mostly white with a touch of grey. Oh, and they have album art embroidered on the tongue and on the sole of the thing. Wow. Check out a picture over here.
...not to be outdone by Joy Division, Beck has released a shoulder bag.
His band the Bouncing Souls are coming to Ottawa in a couple of days, but frontman Greg Attonito has some other stuff on his mind too: he's putting out a childrens' book called I Went For A Walk. I like this sort of variety in my punk rock. If you're wanting to pick the tome up for your kidlings, the project has its own MySpace page. Bouncing Souls play the Capital Music Hall in downtown Ottawa this coming Tuesday night(April 24th) with Strike Anywhere. [punknews]
Speaking of veteran punk rock acts, New Jack City's Kill Your Idols have announced their last shows and such. Of special note is who will play with them: Jersey legends Ensign! I'd kill to go.
They don't screw around with hardcore down in Florida, and Seventh Star's upcoming album The Undisputed Truth will undoubtedly conquer all who attack - check out the title track over here.
Perhaps the summer's biggest tour - Rise Against, Comeback Kid, Silverstein and more - starts June 15th in Dallas, winding all over the continent, including a bunch of Canadian shows, none here in Ottawa. Montreal road trip, here we come. Check out the shows here.
Just keep whipping the dead horse: though almost a decade has passed since Supernatural, the band's last album, the apparently cash-strapped Forefront Records will release another dc Talk best-of in June. There is nothing notable about this new compendium, aside from its mere existence. Geez. Enough already. [JFH]
Interesting that this byte comes immediately following the dc Talk bit - the band's most talented, innovative member, Kevin Max, has a new album coming entitled The Blood. He's relocated to Nashville after a stint in Los Angeles to escape the Nashville scene(divorce ain't popular in the Nash), but his legacy lives on in Lost Angels; his regular gig at the Viper Room(owned by Johnny Depp, I believe) attracted the likes of Tom Arnold, Gene Simmons and Christian Slater. High roller.
Fin.
From the inbox this evening: Stavesacre have welcomed back founding member/long-lost amigo Jeff Bellew into the fold to begin writing what will be the band's sixth and final studio album, the recording of which they hope to be getting to in the summertime. As well, footage is being compiled from the last twelve years for a DVD; if you've got some awesome shots of Stavesacre, be they sad, rad or embarrassing, swing by myspace.com/badopera and drop a line.
In somewhat surprising news, The Chariot's new album The Fiancee debuted at #169 on the Billboard Top 200 with seven thousand copies sold. Can anyone imagine if Botch existed now instead of ten years ago? How many copies would they have moved? [lambgoat]
Apparently, former Pedro the Lion frontman Dave Bazan is so disillusioned with American Christianity that he'd prefer his 2-1/2-year old daughter not know any Bible stories or anything about Jesus. Hmm. I'm well aware of what a provocative statement that is, so I'll just save my own skin by giving one and all the link it came from. [buzzgrinder]
Correction: due to some other idiot's difficulty with the English language, we misinformed one and all of the name of Vagrant Records' new heavy-music imprint - it's called Density Records, and not, as previously stated, 'Destiny.' I hope whoever originally misled us is duly punished.
In the wake of Thursday's canceling their 2007 touring plans, My Chemical Romance have recruited The Bled to open instead on their Canadian run, including a stop here in Ottawa May 10th at Scotiabank Place. The rest of the Canadian dates:
May 09th Montreal, QC - Bell Centre
May 11th Toronto, ON - Air canada Centre
May 12th London, ON - John Labatt Centre
May 15th Winnipeg, MB - MTS Centre
May 16th Saskatoon, SK - Credit Union Centre
May 17th Edmonton, AB - Rexall Place
May 18th Calgary, AB - Pengrowth Saddledome
May 20th Vancouver, BC - Virgin Festival
[theprp]
Ozzy Osbourne has a new single out, but we've put some thought into this, and are so confident that the new song is an abomination that we won't even put up the customary link to it. No. Not us. Not this time.
Anyone who, like us, loved Sixpence None the Richer before 1999's 'Kiss Me' blew the doors off the pop charts will appreciate this story, which ran in the Ottawa Citizen last week. Props to Dave Leibold for the heads-up.
Really long week last week for the Big Cheese here at the D - attended the funeral of my grandmother(Anne Postma went home to be with the Lord at the age of 77 on Easter Monday), and found out my beloved girlfriend is moving way the hell up north to Timmins, Ontario, to work at Q92 FM up there. Man. Rough one. However, there is good news on a personal level for yours truly: my brother Dan popped the question to his lovely fiancee Mira last weekend, so that's groovin'.
Time for some news.
From the silver screen to the The Militia Group: Juliette Lewis and her band The Licks have signed with TMG out in southern California; the label will release Four On The Floor this summer. [punkbands]
Goldfinger's 2007 album has been, well, pushed back to 2008. Guitarist Charlie Paulson says, "We know we promised the record would be out by now and we'd be doing Warped Tour this year as well as our own thing in the fall. Well...sh*t happens." So take that.
The band everyone most loves to hate, Yellowcard, have finished up their new album Paper Walls, due out this summer.
Not content to rule the emo/screamo scene with an iron fist, the kids at Vagrant Records have formed a new "heavy music" imprint called Destiny Records. The first signing? They've come up north, picking up Kingston, Ontario's I Hate Sally.
I will so go to this if it comes to Montreal and/or Ottawa: actor Will Smith and his former partner in crime, DJ Jazzy Jeff, are going back in time twenty years to do a world tour as Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. "We always talk about doing a JJFP record and a huge tour, we just have to clear the time to do it," says Smith. "Right now, the plan is we are supposed to go out on tour together at the end of this year." SICK. [anti-music]
Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz made a record with a band called The Himalayas - in 1989. And it was never ever ever released...until now. She's Like The Weather will come out on Duritz's own label, and, says the man himself, it reflects "probably the greatest period of musical productivity of my entire life." This puppy also contains the original version of 'Round Here,' which later shot CC to fame in 1995.
I didn't know it was the record til now: Linkin Park have hit six straight number-one singles, with their latest 'What I've Done' debuting at the top spot on the Alternative charts, and this makes them the recordholder for consecutive number ones. Kudos, even if they haven't made interesting music since Hybrid Theory. [tunelab]
The resurrected Soul Embraced, featuring Evanescence drummer Rocky Gray on lead guitar(homeboy can shred, take it from us), will release a new album this summer called I Am Dead. Check out a new tune called 'Kill This'(natch) right over here.
Word.
For anyone who was at the Horse the Band show here in Ottawa last week and wonders why vocalist Nathan appeared to be drunk onstage - his back was in tremendous pain, and he did what he had to do to get through the show. The promoter found him backstage unable to move and barely able to speak. So whatever crap you're talking, stop talking it.
Aight then.
Call them "fashioncore" or whatever you want, they wrote some great songs in their day: veteran Orange County unit Eighteen Visions have announced their breakup. Rest in peace. [Decoy]
According to reports, Avril and hubby Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 have purchased a motherfriggin' enormous house in California, to the tune of $9.5 million in the suburb of Bel Air. Eight bedrooms. Nice. More power to 'em.
More drama for A Perfect Murder(how many members will this be now?) - they're looking for a new bassist.
First he was in Glassjaw. Then, Classic Case. Now, Durijah Lang has joined the mighty Saves The Day on the four-stringer. Homey keeps himself busy.
Gwar will once again help headline this summer's Sounds of the Underground tour. Does no one ever get sick of this band?
If you're a Smashing Pumpkins hoping original guitarist James Iha would rejoin the fold - he ain't.
Are you a big Hopesfall dude or dudette? Getting sick of streaming one new song a week over at their MySpace page until May, when the new album drops? Never mind that - the entire new CD Magnetic North is up over here!
Wow, we didn't see this one coming - the Kirkwood brothers, a.k.a. the Meat Puppets(dude!) are reuniting for a new MP album. Rise To Your Knees will be out in a couple months, the first offering from Curt and Cris since 1995's No Joke!, though the Puppets did put out an album in 2000 minus Cris, who had to deal with a near-fatal drug addiction and an eighteen-month prison sentence in between. I'm pretty stoked out. [Billboard]
Outta town for a few days to attend my grandmother's funeral(RIP Anne Postma) - more news when time permits. God bless, kids.
Interesting quote from Pillar singer Rob Beckley in a recent interview with breathecast; Pillar just wrapped up the second leg of the Dead Reckoning tour promoting the album of the same name, and Leg Two was apparently far more club-oriented than Leg One, which hit mostly churches. "It really made us appreciate the Christian shows a lot more, and the staff and the volunteers and just the way the people are there to take care of you and serve you and be there for you," Beckley says. "The club environment, they could care less. The promoters and the people putting on the show, they don't even want to talk to you, they're just there to make their buck. So it was definitely an eye-opening experience."
Innnnneresting, and even more is Beckley's later statement: "The mainstream world - we don't want anything to do with it, really. If something happens great, but honestly, I'm completely content with being a Christian band and playing Christian shows."
I'm helping bring them to Ottawa in a couple weeks' time: The Reason's new album is called Things Couldn't Be Better, and a video for lead single 'This Is Just The Beginning' can be seen online over here. The Reason, Daphne Loves Derby and Jonezetta open up for Anberlin April 26th at Babylon here in town. Sweet. [absolutepunk]
Brown Brigade has signed with Aquarius Records. Alert types will recognize BB as the new project from former Sum 41 guitarist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh - and Aquarius would be Sum's label.
The latest edition of the Festival of Faith & Music went down recently at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan - and being that both my parents are alumni, I thought I'd link y'all to some pictures. Day 1 / Day 2
Good Charlotte's new album hit the Top Ten. I'm getting tired of saying this, but there is no justice anywhere.
I picked up Further Seems Forever's last record The Final Curtain yesterday; it's a CD/DVD of the band's last show in June of 2006 as well as some extras thrown in. Pretty good investment for a longtime fan, though Jon Bunch's vocals were, are and never will what Jason Gleason brought to FSF in the early part of this decade.
In related news - Strongarm, the '90s hardcore band that spawned Further, look to have solidified a reunion, but it won't be until 2008, as the band wants time to practice songs they haven't played in the better part of a decade. Understandable. Go team go! [IVM]
Thursday have cancelled every last show remaining in 2007, including the Ottawa show with My Chemical Romance in the not-too-distant future, with one exception of a gig at the University of California on May 7th. So much for all the local happy kiddies. [AP]
A bunch of new Sick Of It All covers can be found over at the MySpace page devoted to Abacus Recordings' tribute album, including stuff from Ignite and Himsa. [pastepunk]
More new MySpace music: Hopesfall have slapped up another tune from their latest, Magnetic North, right over here.
Just to settle any confusion here in Ottawa: while Set Your Goals and Daggermouth are indeed playing Babylon May 2nd, Massachusetts' No Trigger are not on that bill. Unfortunately. Dammit.
In better news, The Weakerthans are doing up their fourth album this fall, scheduled for a release through Epitaph/Anti- this fall. They're working on things in their hometown of Winnipeg, hashing through years' worth of material for the followup to 2003's Reconstruction Site.
Sad: Good Riddance are over after ten years and eight records. The band will do three 'final shows' in California next month, winding up in their hometown of Santa Cruz. Opening all three shows? That's right - No Trigger. There is no justice.
Hey, if you're a proud American - and a lot of you are, by golly! - Paste wants to know what your favourite music venue in all of the US of A is! Check out their survey.
Seattle's annual Bumbershoot Festival will this summer feature The Shins, Steve Earle and - what? - Wu-Tang Clan, among a slew of others. Nice bill, that. For ticket info and location, check out the fest's website. [Paste]
I've only heard them once - and that a live performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien a while ago - but The Hold Steady are the buzziest of buzz bands in the last six months, and this bit relates to baseball, so what the hell: the Minnesota Twins have asked their state's homegrown lads to record a version of 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' to be played during games. You can hear the carnage, er, awesomeness over here. I'm picking my Toronto Blue Jays first in the American League East, if anyone was asking.
OK Go breezed through Ontario and Montreal last weekend opening up for Snow Patrol, but more entertainingly, their video for 'Here It Goes Again' was voted Most Creative at the inaugural Youtube Awards recently. The video also won something called a...Grammy? Yes, Grammy, that's it. More than thirteen million people have watched the clip at youtube.com.
Hot off all the fuss surrounding their reunion with original label Tooth & Nail, MxPx have announced a big ol' tour kicking off in a month with openers Hawk Nelson, The Classic Crime and The Fold. The dates? Over here. [punknews]
Weirdcore artistes Showbread are down by one singer.
One of the finest singer/songwriters around, Derek Webb, will release his fourth studio album The Ringing Bell on May 1st. "I do not do things in moderation," Webb admitted. "This is too important of a moment historically to not say more about the idea of peace. It's right in my face at all times if I claim to be at all concerned with anything that Jesus ever said." As well, check out Webb's concert DVD wherever you buy your sweet, sweet tunes. [JFH]
Some shows happening in the next couple weeks that all y'all should be catching:
- Horse the Band with The Number Twelve Looks Like You and San Francisco's Light This City - April 6th at Babylon
- Books and more - April 12th at Babylon
- Forty Cent Fix and more - April 13th at Zaphod's
For all the shows, check out punkottawa(banner above there). And in related news, Monday and Tuesday found sweetdisaster attending Jars of Clay with former Sixpence None the Richer frontwoman Leigh Nash, as well as last night's packed-out Tokyo Police Club show with openers Cold War Kids. One band from Newmarket, Ontario - the other from Los Angeles. What a great country we live in.