I guess I'm allowed to talk about it now - I wasn't when I was first informed: The Flatliners will provide support for a run of NOFX dates in our fair Canada - here are the dates!

The success over the last couple of years since their inception has made To Write Love On Her Arms a big deal in the underground scene, particularly amongst the Christian kids, though that wasn't necessarily the aim of the non-profit org when they started. Now the girl who provided the initial inspiration to founder Jamie Tworkowsky, name of Renee Yohe, is publishing her journals. More info over here.

Metallica's tracklisting for their new album Death Magnetic is out - and includes 'The Unforgiven III.' No word of a lie. Keep milkin' that cow, Metallica. [absolutepunk]

It's the end of the world as we know it. Geez.

One of the bands who had by far the most fun playing at Warped in Montreal over the weekend was Anberlin - and with their record New Surrender hitting in September, they'll headline a tour this fall with direct support from Scary Kids Scaring Kids as well as openers Straylight Run. Solid tour. The ticket presale happens next week on July 29th.

Further congratulations, incidentally, to myself, the Big Cheese, for surviving another expedition to Montreal for the annual traveling circus known as the Warped tour - Oh Eight styley. Pics and a full rundown to come in the next few days, but suffice it to say that Warped remains the most well-run event I attend every year. That and it's an absolute orgy of commercialism. But you vets knew that already. It's honestly an outdoor large-scale Hot Topic.

Be sure to take four minutes out of your busy lives to check out the latest musical offering from the six-man wrecking crew known primarily as Underoath! The new album is coming soon!

Apparently being in A Life Once Lost isn't enough for vocalist Bob Meadows(the new album isn't as good as their first anyway - though it's still solid) - Meadows has another project called NO People who have put some stuff up on the interwebs. [lambgoat]

A new Terror record, as any fan of the band knows, is a new excuse to go buckwild in the pit and rush the dogpile at stagefront - I miss doing that, in fact; been a while since I've seen the band live. However, they do have that new album, some thoughts on which can be had over here. I bet it's awesome.

I helped load their gear for an Ottawa gig earlier this year: Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke, a black man, claims he was attacked verbally/physically by the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten and his entourage because he is a black man. However, the man born John Lydon has his own spin on what happened: "I feel very sorry for a man who needs to lie about what was a perfect evening. After the show John Rotten and management remained behind to sign autographs, which we did for four solid hours without incident and had a great time talking to other Spanish bands. This seems to have sparked jealousy in certain bands. The trouble was brought to us, resulting in those causing the trouble being physically removed by festival security." As always, there's three sides here - one side, the other side and the truth. But this being the world it is, I'm inclined to believe the first side. [buzzgrinder]

Today's Essential Listening I haven't even heard yet - Misery Signals' third record Controller came out today, and from all accounts it's a hell of a piece of work. Find it, buy it, whatever - just enjoy.

One of the most special bands in my time in the quote-unquote "underground" played their final show July 12th in their home state of Connecticut - Life In Your Way will be truly missed by a ton of people. Check out a great writeup replete with pictures over here.

Interesting and amusing piece on a former Mr. USA, The Showdown and how Invisible Creature's Ryan Clark combined the two for the imagery on the band's new album Back Breaker(out August 19th) - enjoy.

I spent my time in the backstage catering line at Warped chatting with Kyle of Forever the Sickest Kids - great dude who happens to be in a band I'm not that into, you know how it goes, blah blah blah. Anyway - at the Detroit Warped stop last week, FTSK vocalist Jonathan Cook videotaped a burly security guard(employed by the festival) punching some skinny chick in the face more than once; there's talk of charges being pressed over this.

How badass is Stephen Colbert?? In the last month he's had The Roots, Rush(making their first American TV appearance in over thirty years) and freakin' Cookie Monster on the Report! Amazing. "Cookie Monster, did you eat my Peabody award?" "Um...I think I hear Elmo honking...coming!!"

For years now we've heard about various projects involving Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha - but aside from that thing with DJ Shadow I don't believe I've ever actually heard any of it - but no more! One Day As A Lion are for real, as evidenced by their existence on MySpace. Apparently it's Rage avec electronics.

No idiocy permitted, but you can still take a stab at having one of your questions for Thrice answered on an upcoming DVD the band are working on when they're not writing massive, sprawling, epic(...no...more...*whew*...adjectives) concept albums. Email your query to thrice@vagrant.com! Go! Shoo!

Any metal fans, heads up - here's some footage of pretty much every metal band that matters performing at Hellfest 2008.

It has probably been at least five years since I've blogged in any way about Finch, whose Letters album was pretty good when I was 21, 22 years old. Anyhow, the band are back with two new tunes on their myspace interwebbage.

There is no good reason why I don't already own this.

Will Ferrell is stretching: the man best known(and deservedly so) for Saturday Night Live and the drop-dead hilarious Anchorman has signed on to perform a dual role in a new film called 2-Face as a man who develops a multiple personality after a car accident. One will be a liberal-minded sort while the other - innnnnteresting - is an unbashed racist. Check out the promotional tools. [Paste]

While we have five seconds, here's today's Essential Listening, another multi-parter, and culled entirely from the 2008 Ottawa Bluesfest thus far:

1. Kathleen Edwards - Ottawa's own, and a hell of a singer/songwriter/all-around performer
2. The Weakerthans - anyone from the punk scene is familiar with singer John K. Sampson's time spent with Propagandhi, but the Weakerthans have been kicking at the can for almost a decade now, and getting better with age. I've listened to nothing but 2003's Reconstruction Site for two days now
3. The Black Crowes - American southern-rock originators - and they're actually from the south! The Georgia band is touring behind their first album in years, War Paint, and while they played some of the new material, older hits like 'Remedy' and 'Jealous Again' sounded superb
4. Bernard Allison - a bit of a curveball for longtime readers here at the D, but as I get older(softer?) I'm opening up more and more to blues and other things, and Allison and his band kick out an amazing rock/blues/funk sound that literally drew me from one end of a massive open-park festival to the other with nothing more than a bass line

Bonne nuit!

Minnesota's family act Children 18:3 are the freshest sound Tooth & Nail Records has had in quite some time, bringing to mind the spunk of Squad 5-0 and the girl vocal angle of the late Halo Friendlies. If AFI lightened up a touch and were born again, they might sound like C183. In particular, 'Search Warrant' warrants(sorry) a few spins.

Lastly, my Canada Day(yesterday, yes, but the sentiment remains) week was improved by the discovery of War of Ages' new album Arise & Conquer having arrived at my studios today. Into the CD drive it promptly went, and the producer's touch of AILD's Tim Lambesis is immediately apparent. This is the first album that WOA have had help on that front(their first two full-lengths were entirely self-produced and recorded), and their efforts, it seems, have been rewarded with a far thicker sound than their previous work. Their passion, as anyone who's ever read an interview or spoken to them personally can attest, speaks for itself. They're as real as it gets, and the sky's the limit.

Generally speaking we're not much into the trendy pop-rock the kids love these days(Fall Out Boy and their legions of copyclones), but Hit the Lights' first album was uber-catchy, including the song that's still my MySpace profile tune, 'Bodybag.' They have a new record out soon, clips of which can be heard over here.

Published just hours after his death, here's a link to the last known in-depth interview given by comedy legend George Carlin, who died last week at the age of 71. Enjoy some of the last wisdom one of the most verbose, intelligent men who ever picked up a mic. And not that we're comparing ourselves to George, but this quote kinda resembles the approach here at the D: "A lot of things are already established in my mind as things I say, things that I'm interested in, things that are fodder for my machine. And when I see something that relates to one of them, I know it instantly and if it's a further exaggeration and a further addition, or an exception—if it plays into furthering my purpose, I jot it down."

Also stolen without recompense from RS(like they need our money): not to be outdone by the Guitar Hero folks putting out games devoted to Aerosmith and Metallica, the Rock Band kids are throwing us a curveball, announcing their intention to release their playalong version of Pixies' Doolittle album in its entirety. Didn't see that one coming.

Two of Canada's most beloved bands, Tegan & Sara and City & Colour, will be heading the road together this fall. Girl In A Coma(morbid!) will open up. Having seen both acts live recently, the D can verify that it's worth your ticket price to catch the show.

Maybe with age comes the impulse to hurry the hell up: Jimmy Eat World are already thinking about heading back into their own studio to record the followup to Chase This Light, which only came out late last fall. Word is that they're considering self-releasing future work, since this next album will be their last under contract to their label.

And speaking of aging, Tom Araya, who holds down the low end for the mighty Slayer, has said that the band's next album, expected late this year or early in '09, may be their last, as he's getting to an age where the recording-touring cycle is getting to be a bit much.

I don't know enough about the man or his work to really care that much, but if you're a Tom Waits fan - like Scarlett Johanssen is - he interviewed himself(you read that right) over here. Awesome.

You know you're getting up there as a punk icon when your progeny are starting their own bands: son of Bad Religion frontman/UCLA prof Greg Graffin, Graham Graffin and his band The Rolemodels will make their live debut in their native Ithaca, NY next week.

Fans of no-b.s.-tunes, take note - a band containing former members of Botch and Unbroken(!!), Narrows, have put up some stuff online for your enjoyment.

Hot on the heels of word of their demise, From Autumn to Ashes have a live(posthumous?) album just out called Live at Looney Tunes, which is a record store somewhere that I can't recall. Probably the band's native Long Island.

It's amazing - the day has finally come(maybe). What is allegedly a large chunk of Guns 'N Roses' new album Chinese Democracy has found its way onto the interwebs over here. Could it be true? Somewhere, this dude is gnashing his teeth and weeping. [theprp]

One of the NYHC bands I loved most in high school, Vision of Disorder, have a live DVD coming out - no idea when, just that it's coming - and a trailer has been put online. Enjoy!

Regina melodic hardcore band Means are touring their new album To Keep Me From Sinking(Facedown in the US and the world, Underground Operations here in Canada), and they'll be swinging through Ottawa this Sunday, June 22nd at Cafe Dekcuf(221 Rideau St. downtown, upstairs). When I'm not blogging mercilessly on pop culture and the music I love, you'll find me at my day(night?) job at CHRI FM in Ottawa, particularly Friday nights from nine to midnight Eastern, spinning Christian metal, hXc, punk and indie. We'll have bassist Todd Wells of Means on for an interview this Friday - two nights from now; if you're down to listen, stream it live at CHRI.ca. Worrrrd up.

Not quite sure how it developed, but Frank Black sure will be opening up for Stone Temple Pilots this summer on tour under his Black Francis moniker. No word on where the other Catholics may be. [Paste]

Don Cheadle, one of my absolute favourite actors from films like Traffic and Ocean's Eleven, will be honoured in Los Angeles at month's end with the Spirit of Independence Award, bestowed by the LA Film Festival to someone who's pursued their own independent artistic vision. Others who've been similarly honoured include Clint Eastwood, George Clooney and Charlize Theron. Congrats to Cheadle!

Iced-out rapper Ludacris - I call him Luda - is hyping something new called WeMix, his new website that he says will put an end to the entire traditional recording-press-radio junket artists have had to endure for fifty years. With this system, users can record stuff on their cellphones and upload it to the website, for instant broadcast worldwide - a Youtube for musicians. Disney has their fingers in this as well, calling it a 'mobile recording studio' for users. Innnnteresting.

My beloved Toronto Blue Jays, already not playing well the last two weeks, have left ten men on base through eight innings this evening in Milwaukee. Permit me to simply register my disgust with that fact.

Good night.

Hey, Gainesville, what up? Against Me! - who, unlike these dudes, have kept the extraneous punctuation mark - have slapped up an unreleased tune on their myspace called 'So Much More.' [punkbands]

Our boys Underoath told MTV last week that the new album, due out September 2nd, will be called Lost in the Sound of Separation. They do like their verbose album titles, don't they?

He was pretty much in the band already, but bassist Josh Newton of the now-defunct From Autumn to Ashes has officially joined Every Time I Die on the low end, making him the band's 35883489th bassist in their history. Seriously, they've had lots of bassists.

October will reportedly see a live Between the Buried and Me DVD, footage for which will be shot at the band's August 2nd set at Rocketown in Nashville. Fun fact: Rocketown is owned by Christian-music superstar Michael W. Smith. Hilarious.

Hit Youtube for the new video from The Weakerthans, for the song 'Tournament of Hearts.' The band will be in Ottawa for Bluesfest! Stoooooked.

Former Essential Listening band Ambitions have already decided to be over. Booo-urns.

We mentioned the other day that Pearl Jam were gonna headline the Bonnaroo fest - apparently their set was a full three freakin' hours. Amazing. [buzzgrinder]

R. Kelly has dodged the proverbial bullet, having been acquitted on all charges of child porn at trial this week. The jury reached their verdict in under eight hours yesterday in Chicago, after Kelly had gone up on fourteen counts that would've seen him in prison for a minimum of four years, as well as having to register as a sex offender in Illinois. Justice, however one views it, has been served by the people.

Just in time for their first tour in many years, half of Stone Temple Pilots have been slapped with lawsuits by Atlantic Records. Drummer Eric Kretz and singer Scott Weiland are accused by the label of using California laws to nullify their contracts with Atlantic, which are governed by New York state laws. The other half of STP, the DeLeo brothers, were both released from their contracts some years ago after the band's first stint had run its course. Without delving deeply into the well of legalese here, Atlantic is basically coming off as a desperate traditionally-modeled record label trying hard to squeeze some last juice out of a band they still see as viable. Pathetic.

We don't know how it's still possible, but Disturbed just scored their third consecutive number-one album. How? Why? Who? We demand answers!

From Disturbed to music that's actually meaningful, Buddy Guy is still truckin' and working on a new album - and he's scored some bigtime help in the form of Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph, among others. Skin Deep will drop July 22nd, and relatively speaking no one will buy it, and it will be largely ignored by the scads of skids who prefer this bilge, and justice will NOT have been served. The defense rests. PS Buddy will be on tour the day after the album hits, with openers George Thorogood & the Destroyers. Damn straight.

Sure, the Eagles did it, but somehow we didn't see AC/DC following this path - reports here and there indicate the legendary Australian rock act's next album will be another Walmart exclusive. Others who've taken this route include Garth Brooks and Journey. Aren't AC/DC supposed to have more chutzpah?

Random opinion - funny how record sales of three million now qualify for journalistic terms like 'enormous success.' Less than ten years ago, you had to move ten mil to get that kinda props.

We'll end the night on a higher note - no reunion in the last five years has excited me more than that of Living Sacrifice, and Arkansas' finest have their first brand-new album tune since 2003 up on their MySpace. Dig in, enjoy, and you're welcome. It sounds like LS never left.

I've heard the first single in the shower(I keep a little FM radio in the bathroom to monitor what kind of crap is on the air these days), and while I'm very much 'meh' on it, you can decide for yourself by listening to the new Offspring album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace over here. [decoy]

Suddenly I'm sixteen again: Blues Traveler, Live and Collective Soul will be touring this summer - TOGETHER. Fantastic! Where do I sign up?

I'm sure it's only a coincidence, but...okay, no it ain't. Nas has posted a new song over on Youtube called 'Black President.' The hook? Supplied by a guy you may have heard of called Tupac.

Wonder if this is an open admission to the world that he's a huge nerd, but Leo DiCaprio will direct and star in the upcoming movie Atari, about Nolan Bushnell, the creator of the pioneering game system. I'd watch that. Oops. *blushes*

Zebrahead still exist!

Baltimore's oppressionist-metal maestros Misery Index(I bantered with them about minor-league baseball once!) will partner with Origin to headline the 2008 Relapse Records Contamination tour. The jaunt kicks off July 21st in St. Louis - check local listings, as they say.

Ah, punch-drunk punk-rock romance(I see you, Every Time I Die): rumours abound that New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert is dating Paramore frontwoman Hayley Willliams. I bet they're a cute couple. Or something.

More band-label wars - Bleeding Through(the band who in my opinion closest approximates the sound of an atom bomb going off onstage) have called out Trustkill Recs over the label's plans to put out a special edition of 2006's The Truth. Check out the nastiness over here. I don't have the time.

Let the controversy ensue!

Seemed like a really long time coming, what with the drama that always seemed imminent in their camp: emocore co-founders From Autumn to Ashes have split up. They're calling it an 'indefinite hiatus,' but it's over. Two of them have a new band going called Warship. [SPB]

Check out a new Integrity tune over here! New music for the first time since 2003!

If you miss Refused - and who doesn't? - two of them have formed another band called AC4, and though there's no album or tour or anything, a video does exist of the band performing a song live.

Hatebreed are working on a covers album. Artists who will be hatebred? Misfits, Obituary, Sheer Terror, Metallica, Agnostic Front and more. This will be, um, loud and hardcore-y.

White Stripes drummer/sometimes vocalist Meg White showed up out of the blue, appearing onstage at a Raconteurs show recently. Ten short months ago, her bouts of anxiety forced the Stripes off the road during a world tour. Her compatriot, Jack, also a Raconteur, has already said that the duo are at work on the WS' seventh album. [RS]

I worked security at the one here in Ottawa last year: the 150th Myspace Secret Show went down last night in New York City, headlined by Gnarls Barkley and opened by (?) math-rock dudes Battles. Weird bill. In case you were wondering, the Ottawa affair was an acoustic show featuring All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. Not my favourite bands, but who cares? I was well paid.

Following a few personal issues(namely, a drug-related arrest) Snow Patrol are back at work on the followup to their breakout 2006 album Eyes Open. "Some loveliness is happening and it's very exciting to hear songs I've been demoing over the last year or more spring to noise-covered life," says singer Gary Lightbody on the band's website. 'Hands Open' is still a favourite song of mine.

Hard to believe it's been three years already since Lagwagon's career-rebirthing Resolve album, but it sho' nuff has, and now they're working on a little EP with perhaps the best title in some time: I Think My Older Brother Used To Listen To Lagwagon. No tracklisting or cover art to tell you about yet, but that title's enough on its own. And only is this new EP coming down the pipe, beginning in late August the band are blitzing across Canada with the likes of MXPX, The Sainte Catherines and Only Crime:
08/26/08 Vancouver, BC Canada at Croatian Cultural Center w/ The Sainte Catherines, TAT
08/28/08 Calgary, AB Canada at Warehouse Night Club w/ The Sainte Catherines, TAT
08/29/08 Edmonton, AB Canada at Dinwoodie Lounge w/ The Sainte Catherines, TAT
08/30/08 Saskatoon , SK Canada at The Odeon Events Centre w/ The Sainte Catherines, TAT
08/31/08 Regina, SK Canada at Pyramid Cabaret w/ The Sainte Catherines, TAT
09/01/08 Winnipeg, MB Canada at Pyramid Cabaret w/ MXPX, TAT
09/04/08 London, ON Canada at Call The Office w/ MXPX, TAT
09/05/08 Toronto, ON Canada at Phoenix Concert Theatre w/ MXPX, Only Crime, TAT
09/06/08 Montreal, QC Canada at Metropolis w/ MXPX, Only Crime, TAT
09/07/08 Quebec City, QC Canada at Imperial w/ MXPX, Only Crime, TAT
09/10/08 Halifax, NS Canada at The Marqee Club w/ MXPX, Only Crime, TAT
We have no idea who TAT are either.

Remember how Aerosmith got their very own Guitar Hero game? Well, no one really cared about it, and now Metallica are hoping to cash in some of that same consumer apathy with their version. Now we can all pretend to rock 'One' and wish the band was even a fraction that good anymore.

July 29th will see the Oliver Stone-directed Rolling Stones concert movie Shine A Light come to DVD - highly recommended by the folks here at the D. A few backstage cuts and some tunes that didn't make the movie are included as extras.

Somehow, as sometimes happens, this escaped me - Sloan will release their ninth album Parallel Play next week Tuesday, June 10th. I will buy it. [chartattack]

Remember when Thursday somehow forgot all their legal grievances against their label Victory Records and released that live DVD of theirs called Kill the House Lights through said label? Well, it looks like Victory's won another one - a victory, pardon the pun - with Hawthorne Heights, who've dropped their August 2006 lawsuit against the label and will soon release their new album Fragile Future on August 5th with, you guessed it, Victory Records. Check out the statement from HH drummer Eron Bucarelli: "We now regret having begun the lawsuit we filed in 2006. We should not have listened to those who, for whatever reasons, were then advising us to pursue this strategy. We are sorry for having put Victory Records and Tony Brummel through this ordeal, and regret any negative publicity that may have resulted. Many false, hurtful and incorrect statements were made, especially on the internet, none of which were true. Tony Brummel and Victory gave us our start, and did an unprecedented job with our first two albums. We hope they can repeat that success with our third studio album. Unfortunately, we cannot change the past, but we're now taking steps to heal the wounds and start fresh." How 'bout that.

Speaking of live DVDs, I purchased Underoath's new one Survive Kaleidoscope yesterday, and we'll surely let you know how it looks/sounds.

I was just having a conversation last night with a friend saying that I was pretty much done with breakdown-centric metalcore, unless it was done by experts, namely Unearth - well, they must've been listening, because Boston's finest are coming out with a new record. Check out a discussion with main man Trevor Phipps about the differences between the last album and this upcoming new one, who will produce it and more over here.

One of our faves here at the D, Between the Buried and Me, toured with Ozzfest in 2006 and hated the entire thing.

Today's Essential Listening - for June 7th, 2008, y'all! - is West Texas natives Sleepercar, aka the new Americana/country band featuring At the Drive In/Sparta veteran Jim Ward and a bunch of his cronies. The debut album, simply called West Texas, is eleven songs of steel-forged outback music, rocky here, country there, and excellent listening throughout. Listen!