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In 2010 Wheatus toured around the UK to celebrate the 10 year Anniversary since the release of their self-titled debut; the tour almost made the man behind the band - frontman Brendan Brown, bankrupt. A year on and Wheatus are back in sunny old England with a fierce and admirable determination that proves Brown is a force to be reckoned with; nothing is going to get in the way of doing what he loves best – writing and performing music. Rock & Rose sat down and had a chat with Brendan when the band arrived in Birmingham.
For its first two or three years Wheatus was a one-man machine, with Brendan writing and recording music on a four-track before recruiting his brother Pete Brown on drums, Philip Jimenez on keyboards / percussion and bass guitarist Rich Liegey. Liegey left the band shortly after the debut album, simply titled ‘Wheatus’, dropped in 2000; Mike McCabe took over his role. Featuring glorious pop-rock melodies, the album was fresh and energetic; it also included the brilliantly catchy single ‘Teenage Dirtbag’, a song which captured instant attention upon its release and turned Wheatus into chart sensations. Since then the song has been covered by many artists including Dashboard Confessional and Weezer. Earlier this year the track re-entered the UK charts, climbing into the Top 40.
The second long-length outing was ‘Hand Over Your Loved Ones’ in 2003. It was not as successful as its predecessor due to lack of promotion by the band’s record label following disagreements, Sony never even released it in the US. Two years later, once they were free from the chains of the label this album was re-released by the band under the moniker ‘Suck Fony’, with album number three ‘Too Soon Monsoon’ hot on its heels. ‘Too Soon Monsoon’ their first fully independent release, came with a more mature, sincere sound and in comparison to previous efforts this showcased Wheatus’ diversity musically.
Brendan is the only remaining member from the original line-up. Over the years Wheatus has not only been like a revolving door with frequent line-up changes it has also seen the number of band member’s increase. “I’ve always had what I could afford to have” the frontman explains, “before I had anybody else in the band it was just me writing and recording for album one and album two. I wanted keyboards and backup vocalists but couldn’t afford them. Wheatus was conceived by myself prior to there even being a band and continues in various incarnations because of that.”
Since going independent Brendan has become the jack of all trades when it comes to the daily life and grind of the band. Between writing, recording, mixing and producing songs he also plays the role as manager and tour manager. With more people in the band, taking control as tour manager can prove a little tricky when organising a tour: “Putting everything together, making sure everybody has their work permits and that I’ve got what they all need to get into the country in order to work properly can be a bit difficult. Once we are on the road it’s a bit easier because there are more hands to make lighter work; it pays off having more people.”
When asked whether he enjoys the role Brendan replies: “I do when I get it right. It’s just work. I’ve had regular jobs and this is harder but more rewarding; I wouldn’t trade it for anything – I wouldn’t trade it for some easy banking job where I get to steal money from old ladies!” The most difficult aspect of doing everything himself is the lack of private time and not being able to catch up with his own thoughts: “Everybody takes their private time for granted” the singer points out, “when you have a lot of press or a lot of running around to do you just don’t get to reflect on anything. Another hard thing about it is, like today I have a cold, being sick is difficult to get back from because you are running 100% all the time.”
One of the major disadvantages of being an independent artist is the financial aspect. Brendan risked bankruptcy to fund the 10th Anniversary tour in the UK last year, he reveals: “From about July 2010 through to June 2011 I was heavily in debt and pretty much bankrupt, unable to do anything just because of the tour.” Rock & Rose wonders what keeps him so motivated having faced that kind of situation? The answer: “Writing and recording new material and playing on stages in front of people and trying to get it right…That’s the only thing that’s ever really motivated me.”
Back in 2009 the first in a series of EP’s was made available on wheatus.com free or as a donation based pay-what-you-like download, in a variety of formats. ‘Pop, Songs & Death: Vol. 1 The Lightning EP’ was recorded live in their home studio using Sonoma DSD (Direct Stream Digital) which can be used with PlayStation3 and modern SACD players. The second volume was released at the tail-end of last year following a six month delay due to numerous factors including technical difficulties, a legal dispute and tour personnel changes. The EP’s are also being offered as limited edition physical CD/DVD sets with the DVD portion containing a ‘Making Of…’ documentary, video performances, live footage and printed comic books. Brendan tells Rock & Rose that he is aiming to have the third volume ready by May/June 2012. Brendan reveals that he feels less restricted making EP’s: “With an EP the art is intact. When you are making a record you have to chop it up to make sure it fits into the box, I think the album is dead except for on vinyl and we will always do that. I don’t see the point of designing recording sessions to accommodate albums; you’re done when you feel like you’re done.”
‘You And Your Stoopid Guitar’ and ‘Now’, from ‘The Lightning EP’ were used in the movie April Showers – a film based on the true story of the Columbine High School massacre, written and directed by a former Columbine student and survivor of the shooting – Andrew Robinson. The song ‘Now’ was written specifically for the movie’s ending sequence. “It is actually a bit easier to write where there’s already an idea,” Brendan says about writing for a movie, “generating content from nowhere is harder; so writing my own songs is a bit more of a challenge.” It’s an area in which Brendan is keen to continue dabbling in.
Talk leads to the on-going arguments in the USA regarding University students who are concealed weapon permit holders being allowed to carry guns on Campuses following the shocking events at Columbine and Virginia Tech. “There are already guns in Universities in America. Unless everybody is trained in military, you know, hostage crisis…unless you are a trained police officer or swat team combatant you’re not going to have the steady mind that it would take to stop somebody from committing a massacre even if you do have a weapon,” Brendan observes. “A lot of these guys they plan for these things. When they really finally snap they plan for months, they wear bullet proof vests, they are not going to get stopped easily. You could have every student with a fire arm and it wouldn’t necessarily help because they are not trained properly.”
In the US statistics reveal that youth violence is the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24. “In reality life is interwoven with a real current sense of hopelessness in terms of finding a job, getting your education that you pay for; I mean that’s a scam to now – higher education in America, they put you $140,000 into debt and give you a piece of paper that’s worthless. Essentially the American higher education system now is a machine for creating debt slaves and it sounds like yours [in the UK] is sort of heading that way. That hopelessness mixed with this message, this toxic message that everybody has the right and can be a billionaire. It’s this get rich quick easy mentality that is advertised to these people who are in this hopeless state and in-between there is no real way to climb unless you cheat, steal, kill. So you know that is a recipe for gang warfare.” What does Brendan think society could do to help combat youth violence? “We have to stop with this religious extremism and we have to re-institute the Glass–Steagall Act in America which was the law that kept a wall up between investment banks and private banks. America is currently no longer the United States of America, it’s the United Banks of Insurance Companies; we are owned wholesale by corporation, our government every branch of it, the legal system.” Brendan continues: “I don’t know whether you have been following it, but the Supreme Court have just declared that corporations are now classed as individuals in America, so we don’t really have a government anymore, we have a totally corrupt ass backward system of oligarchy where we practice socialism for the rich and capitalism for the rest of us. But I still believe that we can come back and I believe that there were values in the mid-twentieth century that are worth fighting for still, even though we have lost touch with them.”
Brendan recalls how his life was when he was a student: “It was pretty horrible. I went to a boy’s school that was about 40 miles away from my home and I commuted on a train back and forth. That was a lonely time” he laughs but you can sense it was a period of time that was far from happy. “Yeah, it was bad news. There isn’t much else to say about it.” Graduating from the University of Scranton Pennsylvania in 1995, with a degree in history and a minor in Psychology, Brendan admits that he knew all along that he wanted to play music for a living. “My history concentration was Russian Revolution. It is a very nice hobby to have, history, and I relax watching documentaries and reading historic accounts but college was a waste of money and time for me.”
While his studies may have been a waste of time, his career as a musician is anything but, as we will all be able to see in the forthcoming documentary Wheatus: You Might Die, which is set to show how hard-working this band really are and the determination they have to keep their dreams alive.
Alongside his commitment to the band Brendan has also been writing a musical, which he remains tight lipped about for now although he does expose: “There is sataners in it and that’s a big reveal coming from an atheist!” Another avenue he would like to explore is writing a book of poems, ideally with Christopher Hitchens. “He is a wonderful author who was originally from England and now lives in America and he is battling cancer right now I believe,” informs Brendan. “He’s awesome. He’s one of my heroes; he wrote a book called God Is Not Great”
We ask Brendan to look back at his time in Wheatus; when did he feel most fulfilled? “Only recently to be honest” he answers. “When we started it seemed like the press were a little bit ahead of us, anticipating our demise before we ever had any sort of a life; I guess that is easy to do if you shoot to the top and you have singles. But, I feel that’s a sort of a cop out because all it does is let them off the hook for finding out what we’re really doing, and if they were never going to pay attention anyway then I guess it’s a good thing to have a single that went big.” He pauses slightly before adding: “Only recently because the musicianship in the band is up to where I have always wanted it to be and as a unit we function so independently without label or management that it’s much easier to deal with emotionally.”
Wheatus has never been a band to sell itself out for commercial gain. Right from the beginning Wheatus was all about doing things their own way, achieving their own goals, their own dreams - not satisfy someone else’s. In the music industry it takes a lot of determination and guts for any artist to remain true to themselves and fight for what they believe in; Wheatus are one of the few bands who have managed to do just that.
The EP’s are available to download here
www.wheatus.com
October 2011
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Having recently wrapped up a tour with Filter, Saliva and Anew Revolution, Chicago, Illinois’ Heart-Set Self-Destruct are currently busy promoting their Soundmine Musicworks debut ‘Of Nightmares’. The first single from the album - ‘Monster’ - is currently hitting the radio-airwaves in the US. After six years together things are starting to look up for the band. Not only is the quartet working hard to make a name for themselves in their home country they are setting their sights on the UK in the not too distant future. Rock & Rose had a chat with founder and front-man Dave Naruszewics to get the lowdown on the band.
Prior to forming Heart-Set Self-Destruct (also referred to as HSSD) Dave studied Exercise Physiology, for which he obtained a Masters at Eastern Illinois University. At the time Dave, keen on keeping fit (and still is), was interested in doing sports specific / athletic training. Dave reveals that he did an internship with a hospital for cardiac rehab before going on to look for a job as an Exercise Physiologist: “It was just impossible” he recalls, “most hospitals only had one and nobody was leaving, meaning there was a very limited number of jobs so I went back to cardiac rehab.” Eventually, fed up with his role - “I got really bored. I mean, God bless the women that are able to do that but you can’t really motivate someone who is 80 years old who has had triple bypass surgery to walk any faster on a treadmill…it’s kind of social hour for them” - Dave started to think about his career in music. Were you family supportive of your decision to concentrate on music full-time? “I think a lot of them thought it was going to be just one of those things that I did for a while, I’m a real passionate person when it comes to stuff and I do everything 100 percent. My dad wasn’t real happy because I had this degree and I wasn’t using it. It was really my uncle [a CEO of a Fortune 500 company] that sat my father down and said something to him.” Dave’s uncle asked: ‘Have you ever sat down and actually listened to Dave’s CD? It’s really good.’ This was a turning point for both Dave and his father: “I think that kind of made my Dad really think y’know - coming from someone like that. That was the big hurdle as far as my family goes, now everybody is gung ho about what I’m doing and it’s a lot easier to sit down and talk to them about it.”
The hardest part when putting together the band was finding people that had the same kind of drive and determination: “I was in four or five different bands before, when things started to get a little bit serious all the guys were like ‘whoa…’ they weren’t willing to sacrifice anything for it. I was done with weekend warriors and people that just liked the idea of being in a band. It’s not easy; you’ve got to give up jobs sometimes, putting yourself in a position where you might not have a lot of money for a long time.” Dave finally struck lucky with the members who are with him now: Chris Rogers [guitar], Dan Concannon [bass] and Steve Bitte [drums].
Earlier this year producer Dan Malsch [Tantric, Framing Hanley] who had previously worked with HSSD on their 2007 release ‘Victims Like Me’, set-up his own record label (Soundmine Musicworks) and signed the band. The singer informs Rock & Rose: “We’re actually going to be the first band that Dan puts out. There’s a lot of pressure there but at the same time having someone that believes in you that much…it is great.”
The Chicago rockers first came across the producer when finding a studio in their home State was proving to be difficult: “They were all so expensive and being a brand new band we didn’t have that kind of money to go and spend on a record, especially as we were still trying to grow as a band and figuring out how everybody writes songs.” During that period the foursome were listening to a band called Lifer (who later split and became Breaking Benjamin and Drama Club); impressed by the recording Dave contacted Malsch who owns a studio in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. “I didn’t realise at the time but Dan doesn’t let just anybody into his studio to record,” Dave tells us, “But, ever since I have known him he’s gone to the end of the earth for us, he’s kept us in the loop and thrown opportunities our way.” It was when the band went back to record more music the producer decided to start his own label. “He really liked our song ‘Monster’ and some other songs from a couple of bands that he was working with. We are really lucky with where we’re at; we’ve got a guy that we trust, who we’ve worked with a long time, putting time and effort into us.”
Rock & Rose talks to Dave about ‘Of Nightmares’. The album took three months to make, with the band playing shows in-between breaking up the monotony of being holed up in the studio writing and recording for hours on end. Unfortunately for the singer, he was going through some serious personal issues at home at that time and found it stressful that he couldn’t be there to deal with them, although the singer admits: “It worked out in the end because I was really able to release my aggression and my feelings on the record.” Rock & Rose asks whether he finds himself reliving that dark period when singing those songs on-stage: “Yeah; that’s the reason why I’m the only person that writes the lyrics in our band,” Dave answers, “I can’t see myself ever singing someone else’s lyrics and them coming off completely sincere. When I am singing them onstage you go to where you need to go in your head. It’s such a release when you’re standing on stage and you’re able to get that off your chest and you open your eyes, look out and there are people actually singing your lyrics along with you. Just being able to connect with all those people is absolutely amazing.”
With their first national tour completed, HSSD are making many new friends. Dave Naruszewics made the risky decision to live his life as a musician and now it seems it is about to pay off.
There are plans for HSSD to cross the pond sometime next year so do yourself a favour and get acquainted with them now.
‘Of Nightmares’ is available to download now on iTunes or to purchase a physical copy head over to www.soundminemusicworks.com
www.heartsetselfdestruct.com
www.facebook.com/heartsetselfdestruct
August 2011
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Introducing Emphatic, a modern hard rock six-piece from Omaha, Nebraska…Having just set free their major label debut - ‘Damage’ - guitarist and chief songwriter Justin McCain gave Rock & Rose a call to talk about the new album and the reason behind why Emphatic modified their music style. If the Emphatic name isn’t familiar to you yet there is a high chance it soon will be so read on and find out more...
Completed by frontman Patrick Wilson, guitarist Lance Dowdle, bassist Alan Larson, drummer Dylan Wood and keyboardist Jeff Fenn; the buzz surrounding Emphatic started a few years ago after building up a loyal fan-base thanks to their impressive live shows which saw them opening for bands such as Papa Roach, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Temple Pilots, Buckcherry, Breaking Benjamin, to name but a few. By 2008 they had two independently released albums under their belts and following great support from regional radio stations the band were eventually lead into the hands of Atlantic Records, the label to which they are now signed. Justin calls Atlantic ‘the perfect home’. There are very few bands in today’s industry that have a good word to say about major labels, Emphatic, it seems, are one of the rarities: “We have the most incredible team at Atlantic and we couldn’t be happier. They’re absolute masters at media and everything that needs to push this machine” the guitarist enthuses. “It’s an absolute honour to have such an amazing team behind us and such supportive fans.”
Calling the release of ‘Damage’ a dream come true, Justin say’s “it’s something that we’ve always wanted, it’s surreal, we’re very excited! It is definitely a milestone in our lives and in our careers.” According to Justin the band loved every second of the writing and recording process for the album. “Everything came together so naturally and perfectly – it was smooth going. Working with Howard Benson was another dream come true.” Justin tells Rock & Rose: “Howard’s just a great, laid-back, down to earth person and really helped bring the best out of us as musicians and it really shows on the record. Working with such an amazing producer my expectations for the album were high, but to actually hear the record back and…who knows maybe I’m biased because it’s my band, but I’m just blown away by the amount of talent as far as Howard, his team and Chris Lord-Alge who mixed the record, they are just so incredible at what they do. The band’s estatic with the result and we’re very grateful.”
There are some people who are not quite as enthusiastic with the finished product. Long-time fans of Emphatic know the band for their heavier, less commercial roots and would prefer it if they had stayed that way. Justin is aware that some of the local fans who’ve been following the band for a while may be caught off guard, but he is confident that once they hear the record a few times they will respect and appreciate what they are hearing. “They are just used to one side of Emphatic” Justin points out. “This album [Damage] has multiple sides and I am very proud of it from a song writing perspective. I’m a guy that listens to all kinds of music, I’m not stuck in just a straight up hard rock niche; honestly I didn’t want that to represent Emphatic in general, we do hard rock but at the same time I wanted to provide both ends of the spectrum as a song writer.”
One song in particular that has struck a chord with fans is the inspirational ‘Pride’. One fan used the song as a soundtrack to an emotionally moving video uploaded on YouTube featuring a photo montage of the devastation caused by tornados in the US earlier this year. Justin refers to this powerful number - originally written to reflect the state of today’s economy - as an anthem for ‘everyone who works their asses off’. “Maybe they’re in a difficult situation, maybe they lost their house but that doesn’t make them a bad person” he observes. “If I didn’t have any material objects whatsoever I still have my pride, I still have my family and my friends. Love is the most important thing in this life and that is what the song ‘Pride’ is all about.”
Emphatic know a thing or two about working hard and how challenging life can get when trying to earn a living but hopefully it will not be too long before they start to reap the rewards. Having spent the majority of this year on the road, the band are now preparing to head out on the month long Carnival Of Madness Tour 2011 in the US, with Theory Of A Deadman, Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry and Adelitas Way. At the moment the guys of Emphatic really are living their dream and the guitarist tells us that he cannot wait to go out there and show everyone what Emphatic is all about: “Patrick is one of the best frontmen out there today. We pride ourselves on bringing everything we have, every element and every component to our live show. We want to get on-stage in front of as many people as we possibly can and kick some ass!”
www.emphaticrock.com
July 2011
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| Despite going through numerous line-up changes throughout their career, since returning to the scene in 2005 following a three year break, the present members of Buckcherry – lead singer Josh Todd, guitarists Keith Nelson and Stevie D, bassist Jimmy Ashhurst and drummer Xavier Muriel – appear to be going from strength to strength. Their current release ‘All Night Long’ is an album which sees Buckcherry continue to do what they do best: deliver no frills rock ‘n’ roll. The band is back in the UK and Keith Nelson kindly answered a few questions Rock & Rose sent his way prior to their performance at Download Festival.
“Festivals are always fun” Keith notes. Buckcherry are no strangers to festivals and this year’s Download marks their third appearance on the bill. “The other bands on the bill always inspire you to give a great performance and it really brings out the ‘all for one - one for all’ attitude of this band.” Having witnessed the band live on numerous occasions over the years we know firsthand that the quintet put on a show that rarely fails to win over a crowd no matter what bands they are sharing the stage with. In today’s industry very few bands are able to resist the temptation of building their sound with the heavy use of pro-tools, we ask Keith whether he thinks the rawness of Buckcherry’s music, especially during the live show, has enabled the band to stand out: “I think the majority of modern bands are making records they cannot perform live without the help of additional prerecorded tracks aiding their performance. We continue to do it the exact way we got started, five guys giving an honest performance. Anything could happen at any time during a performance and I think that sets us apart from a lot of other bands”, the guitarist answers, before dropping a statement which sums up a true rock show to a tee: “It's not about perfection, it's about the moment.”
After the shows in Europe (including Sonisphere in Switzerland and Italy), they head back to the US where they are set to tour until mid-August. In November they will be part of the ultimate cruise - Shiprocked - with Hinder, Sevendust, Sick Puppies and more. The Californian rockers schedule is looking rather busy for the remainder of the year with the band getting to visit places that most of us can only dream about; although it’s not all glamorous, as Keith describes how a recent trip to South America opened his eyes to the poverty he had only witnessed on TV prior to that. “It was unreal” he recalls. Before the end of the year Buckcherry are hoping to head over to Iraq to perform for the troops, a trip which was supposed to take place at the end of April, but had to be postponed due to drummer Xavier undergoing minor surgery on his hand.
The guitarist reveals to Rock & Rose how a meeting with Brian O’Neal from The Busboys helped change his life. “I was working a dead end job, he had a 2 minute conversation with me that he'll never remember and I'll never forget. I met Josh shortly after that and without Brian’s advice I wouldn't have been ready for it.” For Keith hobbies come and go but music has always be the staple in his life, even at a young age; “I always have the feeling that music chose me, and I'm just following the path.” Keith, who produced ‘All Night Long’ – the band’s fifth studio album - alongside Marti Frederiksen, has written and produced for various musicians in the past and continues to do so, but his main priority is Buckcherry: “Working with other bands and artists makes me truly appreciate what a unique experience Buckcherry is. I'm very proud of what we do and how we do it.” ‘All Night Long’ is probably Buckcherry’s most mature offering to date, while still remaining true to the band’s original musical style, capturing their energy and grit. There is one song - 'These Things' - which explores how relationships can be broken when the insignificant things in that relationship turn into big things. We ask whether as a band they now approach things differently in order to maintain a strong unit between themselves. The guitarist answers: “We focus on the most important thing which is the music. We're also very lucky to have strong friendships between all the current members; it all starts with the brotherhood of your band mates”.
Like many rock bands, Buckcherry’s music is influenced by the 70's and 80's 'classic rock' era, we wonder if Keith thinks there are any artists from the 90's or 00's whose music will stand the test of time and be held in the same high esteem twenty years from now? “Yes” he replies, before listing Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, My Chemical Romance and Tool. But, let’s not forget that Buckcherry themselves have a 15 year career under their belts, and having gone through the highs and the lows it is testament that Keith and Josh in particular have never given up on the vision they’ve had for Buckcherry - that in itself is an inspiration.
To those of you who have people telling you that you will not amount to anything, here’s a message from Keith: “Go with your gut. Stick to your guns. FTW!”
www.buckcherry.com
June 2011
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| Emerging from Knoxville, TN, Oh No Fiasco - Lindsey Stamey (vocals), Seth Rowlette (guitar) Thomas Boyd (bass) and brothers Colin (drummer) and Cameron Cunningham (keyboards) - are on a mission to get everyone hooked on their brand of progressive dance-rock. Rock & Rose received a call from Lindsey who gave us the lowdown on the band and what they are up to in the wake of releasing their debut album.
All five members have been slugging it out in the Knoxville music scene for a number of years between them prior to joining forces in January 2010. Lindsey started playing in a band at the age of 15. “I’ve always wanted to sing. I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t,” the front-woman states. “Once I was in high school I went through a change where I didn’t just like pop music, I started really getting into rock and stuff like that. It was then that I was like ‘ok I wanna be an awesome chick in a band!’” she laughs. Luckily Lindsey has always had amazing support from her parents, and she says that her Dad is probably her biggest fan!
Until recently Oh No Fiasco were known as The Few, the name change was a result of ‘trade marking issues’. Lindsey has been quoted as saying that Oh No Fiasco is the most powerful project she has ever been a part of. The singer explains: “It’s the dynamics that we have together onstage; even hanging out together we all get along so well. I think it really shows when we are on-stage that we are actually good friends, we have such an amazing time performing.”
After spending time on the road throughout 2010 touring with the likes of Finger Eleven, Red, Saliva and Sevendust, Oh No Fiasco have worked hard to fine-tune their act and as a result their live shows have been described as ‘explosive’. Lindsey tells Rock & Rose that as a band they love dressing up on-stage and thinking of different themes each time they go out on tour. Of the show Lindsey says: “It’s just chaos! No one ever stands still. I enjoy going out in the audience and getting in people’s faces. I’ve been hurt a few times but it’s not too bad; usually there are people that look out for me.” So it doesn’t put you off going back in there? “No” the singer laughs; “You have the adrenaline so you don’t really feel it until after the show!”
With their self-titled debut dropping on May 10th [see the review in the ‘Music’ section], the band is gearing up to hit the road again with plans to stay out until August / September time. Talking about touring Lindsey ponders:”How did bands even make it before, without the internet? How did they book tours? Or find directions to venues without GPS!? I almost wish I could go back and experience being in a band in the 60’s or 70’s and see how different it is.”
Also in the pipeline is a new music video for the next single ‘Stand In Lover’. The band will be filming it later on this month: “We’ve got it all planned out” Lindsey reveals; “It’s kind of a weird, almost a mental institution but not dark, it’s going to be more fun. A fun mental institution and I’m the crazy nurse - kind of like Nurse Ratched from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’!”
Their previous video effort was a no budget, home-made affair using Photo Booth software. The band members sing along to their song ‘Cardiac Resistance’ while their faces are being distorted in weird and wonderful ways. Who came up with the concept? “That was me!” Lindsey exclaims. “I did not know about Photo Booth until I saw a video on YouTube of this girl just cracking up and making funny faces, and I was like ‘I have a Mac’ so I brought up Photo Booth and played around with it for probably 10 hours, just laughing at myself and taking pictures. Then I realised you could actually do videos on it. I was like ‘It would be hilarious if we were all singing the song with the funny faces’” she laughs.
This band is a full-time commitment and Lindsey hopes that by the end of the year Oh No Fiasco will be catching enough attention in order for all its members to be able to earn a living making music. “I just want to be able to really do this! We are going to use every tool we possibly can to get our name out there.” With that kind of determination, Rock & Rose believes that Oh No Fiasco will achieve their dreams, and we hope they do.
www.ohnofiasco.com
May 2011
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| In September 2010 Tennessee quintet Framing Hanley set foot on UK soil for the first time. The tour - in support of current album ‘A Promise To Burn’ - was a huge success. The band [vocalist (Kenneth) Nixon, guitarists Brandon Wootten and Ryan Belcher, bassist Luke McDuffee and drummer Chris Vest], has recently made a return trip to take part in Kerrang’s Relentless Tour 2011 headlined by Good Charlotte. Rock & Rose had a quick chat with Ryan Belcher just before Framing Hanley took the stage by storm at Bristol’s O2 Academy.
“The crowds over here are fantastic!” Ryan announces, “They’re a little more receptive to music in general. People just seem to love music, they watch everybody’s set and are more receptive than they are back home.” We ask the guitarist whether coming over to the UK and Europe has freshened things up for Framing Hanley: “Absolutely. I mean the first time we came over here back in September it was like going on tour for the first time again. It was just great; the fans over here are amazing. It’s a completely different market and what does and doesn’t fly in the States is not necessarily the same over here so it’s all very interesting to see how it all works out.” Framing Hanley’s energetic live shows help captivate any audience they play in front of. Having played shows with Evans Blue, Theory Of A Deadman, Hinder, Saving Abel, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus to name but a few, the Nashville rockers are certainly earning their road warrior stripes.
Back in May 2010 the band released their sophomore album ‘A Promise To Burn’, produced by Brett Hestla. Its content exhibits the fact that things in life do not always go to plan. The lyrics focus on the ups and downs – the mistakes, the lessons learnt and the promises made and broken. In ‘Warzone’ Nixon sings: Change your ways for them, it’s all part of the game, Ryan tells Rock & Rose that the entertainment business is all about opportunity but as a band and as individuals they all have a sense of pride which helps them stay true to the course they wish to take: “No-one wants to do anything that they don’t agree with, that they’re not sure of. If you did stuff like that you would kind of lose all credibility. It does suck when you have somebody trying to tell you what they want you to write. It’s like ‘I’m not going to do that’; I want to write what we want to write to make us happy and to make...I don’t know, hopefully everybody happy. I think that when you try and write something that somebody else wants you to write you don’t write to your full potential. At the end of the day I wouldn’t see myself being happy with a record that someone else told me what needed to be done on. I wouldn’t really feel good about it.” The guitarist feels that the experiences the band have been through earlier on in their career has given them a better understanding of how the industry works, they are not so naive nowadays as they were back then. “People will blow smoke up your ass to manipulate you and try and get what they want, whether it’s actually good for you or the best decision you could make, they’re gonna try and paint it that way” Ryan declares. “You just have to learn from your mistakes and make better decisions in the future. I would definitely say we’ve learned a lot over the years!” he laughs.
It’s a busy time for the band. As well as heading out on tour with Sick Puppies and Adelitas Way when they return to the USA, they are also thinking ahead to album number three. The third album is always deemed to be a mark over any band; showing whether they have staying power and something else worth hearing. Is Ryan apprehensive about making the new record or is he ready for the challenge? “Oh I’m ready!” he exclaims. “You know, we’ve been writing constantly. We’ve progressed a lot and I think this next record will really show that. I’m excited I can’t wait to put it out there and hopefully everybody will really like it. I know a lot of bands, their third record, like you said, it’s like the culmination of most people’s career and the third record it’s kind of make or break for a lot of bands. I’m sure that will probably be the case with us, but you’ve got to take it all in your stride.”
As a band who aims to keep progressing musically, Ryan is more than aware that with evolution, disconcertion can follow: “That kind of happened with the second record but you can’t keep writing the same record over and over. We just want to write what comes out and what makes us happy. You’re going to lose fans, a few doors close here and there but many more can open up as a result of that.” Framing Hanley have said in the past that they firmly believe a well written song has no limitations and is capable of touching people of all ages. As musicians they hope to make music that affects people: “I just hope that every song we write does something for someone, no matter if the context that we wrote it in is the context that they interpret it in” says Ryan. “That’s the beauty of music - one person can write a song about something that’s very important to them and it can mean something completely different to somebody else.”
For the next few months the band’s tour schedule will be keeping them busy. With European festival dates lined up for June we ask Ryan whether the band is planning to play a few of their own shows in-between, he answers: “Other than the festival dates we haven’t really confirmed any others yet - but it is possible.” Rest assured that when the time comes for Framing Hanley to deliver any more live dates here in the UK, there will be plenty of fans waiting to snap up the tickets!
www.myspace.com/framinghanley
Framing Hanley’s performance at Bristol’s O2 Academy is reviewed in the Live section
February 2011
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| The Crave may be unsigned but the Brit rockers have held their own against the array of bands they’ve toured with over the past three years: Shinedown, Hinder, Buckcherry, Theory Of A Deadman and Flyleaf, to name but a few; gathering fans each step of the way. After scrapping the first batch of material on the grounds that it did not flow as an album or reflect their current stage as a band, the quartet’s long-awaited debut - ‘Breaking The Silence’ - is finally set to get its full release on 7th February 2011. As they prepare once again to hit the road, Rock & Rose caught up with front-man Ryan Burnett on the eve of the band’s first headlining tour since December 2009.
“You’ve just caught us in rehearsals” Ryan says chirpily. The band - completed by: Carlos Garcia (guitar), Tom Swann (bass) and C.J Evans (drums) – can be heard in the background as Ryan speaks. They are all eager for the tour to begin. “We’ve kinda just been on a lot of support tours since our last headline tour. When you are on a support show 95% of that audience have never heard of your band before, you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to impress and make fans. You could have the whole front row just staring at you like they want to kill you” laughs Ryan. “When you’re out there playing your own shows it’s a totally different vibe, you are playing to people that are there to see you and they sing along to all your words. I’d say it’s much more of an exciting experience overall.” The Crave have certainly cut their teeth in the live environment. Crafting anthemic rock songs, this Brighton based crew rarely fail to win over a crowd.
Striving to stay true to themselves as musicians, the band has avoided temptation to change themselves or their sound in order to gain rapid mainstream success. “A lot of bands now will get together and just listen to what’s big at the time and go ‘right we need to sound like that to get a record deal’. We still play the music that we’ve always loved playing and we’re not going to change that to suit a scene or to make us more noticeable”, the singer states openly. “We’re doing pretty well as it is. We stick to our guns; that’s the best way of doing it. We are still enjoying doing what we are doing and we are getting better as a band every day.”
With the state of today’s music industry and in an age where people are taking the songs rather than buying, it is getting harder for up-and-coming musicians to make a living. Today’s bands have to think outside of the box to earn income. Ryan cites Radiohead as a good example: “They released their last album for whatever price you wanted to pay for it – you could pay a penny for it or you could pay £10 for it. It creates a whole buzz about the record and hopefully will shift a lot of records through doing something different. We give away free songs on our website, in exchange for an email address so that we have you on a data base to send out any news, tours, tickets... It’s just trying to be a bit clever about it. Phil our manager was explaining to us the other day about a new way of putting records out which is going to be, I think, through Sky bundles, or your Virgin bundle. You pay say £15 a month and if you pay an extra £5 you could have unlimited downloadable music which would then cover all the costs that are being lost through record sales.”
From an early age being a musician has been Ryan’s vocation. Throughout high school he was playing in bands rather than playing football. “I was rubbish at maths and everything else academic” Ryan confides,” I just kind of knew it was my calling, I think it’s the same as all the other guys really” he says, before quickly adding: “I’m not saying they are all as thick as me!” he laughs. The Crave are proof that you do not need the help of a major label to follow your dreams. Hard work and determination are key factors, this band lacks neither. Building their own foundations by constantly touring, they have recorded and are releasing ‘Breaking The Silence’ off their own backs. They are sharing their hard work ethic with others. When they are on tour the band visit colleges and talk to students who are hoping to follow the same career path, giving help and advice to aspiring musicians. Ryan explains where the idea of tutoring came from: “There is actually a rock school that the four of us go and teach at every now and again on their half terms, that sparked an idea. Our manager sort of said ‘let’s do more of this and make the most of the time we have on the road’. We have four or five hours before we actually sound-check at a venue so we’ve found something useful to do with it. I think a lot of kids get the impression that they are going to be handed a record deal on a plate and that is not the case. For them to be able to see the amount of things that we have done on our own I think that it can be quite inspiring to them.” It also proves to be a beneficial move for the band as well: “Every city we do it in we will be playing a show that night. We take our CD’s in, we take our guitars and play a couple of acoustic tracks for them, 60 to 70% of that class will then show up at the show that night.” Did anyone ever try to discourage you from being in a rock band? “Not at all” says the singer.”For me personally my family has been behind me 100% since that early age, and my friends - everyone’s been cool. To be honest most of my friends are in the same boat anyway, they are all musicians not earning any money” he laughs. “They have been great all the way, I probably owe them about 40 grand but hopefully one day I will pay them back!”
After documenting their travels, the band has been contemplating putting a together a DVD: “It would be brilliant to do it one day, as a story if you will. We have been making video diaries for years so it would be great to see the progression that we have gone through.” Some of these amusing video diaries have been put up on their YouTube account for fans to see their adventures. One such video blog includes footage of their trip to the States where they walked through a drive thru of a fast food restaurant to avoid the queue, their high jinx kept fellow customers amused but didn’t impress the cashier. So, what is the strangest situation The Crave has been involved in while on tour? As Ryan ponders we hear one of his band mates, who is listening in on the conversation, saying something about a gun. “Oh yes! That was interesting” Ryan recalls. “We were in Denver [USA] and we were in a petrol station. We’d had a few beers because it was someone’s birthday, one of the security dudes that was with us, and Tom our bass player, wandered over to a car in the petrol station because they could see they [the occupants of the vehicle] might have been having a little smoke. They sort of asked for a little toke on the ‘magical cigarette’, then all we see is this gun come out of the side of the car and they pretty much told us to move on, swiftly move on! But then the security guy got all [agitated] and started shouting ‘shoot me, shoot me; go on do it!’” Ryan laughs at this memory, the rest of the band can also be heard laughing in the background; Ryan continues: “...and we were just sort of standing back, totally in utter disbelief at what was going on!” Let’s hope the guys avoid such trouble on their up-and-coming UK tour!
For those yet to discover The Crave, in order to get a taste of what they are about, Ryan recommend’s listening to ‘Breaking The Silence', ‘Cooking In The Kitchen’ and the old crowd favourite ‘High’. “High is the only song on there that has kind of lasted, you know, that we’d already written before the album but we had to keep it,” notes Ryan. Rock & Rose has heard ‘Breaking The Silence’ and we are sure that there will be a number of new songs added to the list of live favourites by the time the tour has ended. “It’s what we love doing you know; it beats sitting at a desk and working in an office”, says the singer; “Bring it on!”
www.myspace.com/thecraveband
www.facebook.com/thecraveband
January 2011
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| Throwing Gravity’s long-term goal is to be able to make a sustainable income as musicians in order to continue to do what they love best – performing music for a living. With the mind set, determination and talent Throwing Gravity are ready, willing and able to become the next big stars to hail from Nashville, Tennessee. They have become hotly tipped to be a band to watch in 2011. Rock & Rose gave lead singer Nick James a call to talk about their highly anticipated, forthcoming Lava / Universal Republic debut ‘Wake Up’.
At 13 years of age Nick wrote his first song. At the time Nick remembers that he was listening to the likes of Nirvana and Metallica and credits these bands for inspiring him in some way to start writing. “I probably still have the recording around here somewhere on a hard-drive or CD. It was probably the most awful song in the world; I mean it absolutely made no sense” Nick recalls, “I guess everybody’s got their starting point!” he laughs.
Now 27 years old, Nick’s song-writing skills have quite obviously improved since his first attempt and together Nick and his band mates produce catchy, clear-cut, radio friendly melodies that are honest and easy to relate to. Honesty is a trait that the band uses to make life within Throwing Gravity run smoother: “My belief is in order to be successful and in order for everybody to get along you can’t hold back on anything, let’s get things out in the open. If somebody’s got an issue with something let’s deal with it and put it to the past,” Nick explains. As it happens, so far the band members have rarely disagreed, thanks to their ability to be able to compromise and make sacrifices in order to achieve what is best for the band.
In 2008 Nick teamed up with producer Jon King to work on demos for what he refers to as a ‘large EP’. It was during this year long process that the band - Jesse Triplett (Lead Guitar), Greg McCool (Bass), Chris Scott (Keys/Piano) and Tom DuPree III (Drums) – solidified. At the time ‘Anticipation’ was made public Throwing Gravity were known as The Rust. With a freshly signed record deal and a new name, the start of 2010 saw the Nashville sextet enter the studio with King to rework the material from ‘Anticipation’. The results will feature on Throwing Gravity’s major label debut ‘Wake Up’. “For the majority it was probably just freshening the songs up, getting the tones better. When we did it the first time it didn’t have as much time spent on it as it probably should have”, the singer states. “Working with some new ears on the project definitely brought new things in each song; it’s pretty much like a nice little face-lift. Our single ‘Bring Me Down’ is almost a complete new song compared to the first version of it [‘Broken’ off ‘Anticipation’]; that one definitely got a good face-lift! It was a great breath of fresh air to actually hear these songs come into something larger than life” reveals Nick; “it felt like they were finally finished.”
The singer tells Rock & Rose that there will be three or four brand new songs on ‘Wake Up’, for which the band worked with Josh Abraham [Linkin Park, Velvet Revolver], Chris Lord-Alge [Daughtry, Breaking Benjamin] and Ryan Williams in Los Angeles.
The experience of working on the album has been both exciting and memorable, with Nick completing many of the goals that he had marked down for himself and for the band. “It was the best time of my life. The band and I were getting to do things that people just dream of. It’s kind of one of those experiences that whenever you are in the moment of doing it, it’s not such a big deal but afterwards you kind of take a step back, you think about it and you’re like ‘Wow this is quite amazing.’ It’s a blessing from God to be able to do those things because not everybody gets that chance.”
‘Wake Up’ has been ready since May last year but the release has been delayed for reasons not clarified, it has a tentative release date of March 8th 2011 – hopefully this will be confirmed soon. When asked whether it will be unleashed world-wide, Nick answers: “They [the record label] haven’t confirmed that yet. I would love it to be; especially in the UK...I am definitely pushing for it.”
With the album complete, Throwing Gravity have started writing more material which could go towards album number two, a task which is keeping the band occupied. “I’m super excited even about the second one and we’re not even out the gate yet with the first!” Nick laughs. To appease fans waiting patiently for the debut’s arrival, Throwing Gravity recently announced that they will be issuing two acoustic EP’s on iTunes within the next three months. This will include free downloads of the first two songs off each EP.
Despite the stripped down offerings, the band has yet to perform acoustically during their live shows: “We really want to. We actually had a headline show recently here in Nashville, we were going to incorporate three acoustic songs within the middle of the set, but it got too late. We are definitely getting ready to start doing that, I’m glad you brought that up.”
The band prides itself on keeping the shows interesting and energetic; it’s on-stage where they set themselves apart from their peers. Nick tells Rock & Rose that they have just started covering Michael Jackson’s ‘Dirty Diana’ and apparently it’s going down well with the crowds - “that’s a fun song to sing” he confesses, “our most favourite thing to do is play live.” The single ‘Bring Me Down’ and a track called ‘Candlelight’ are two of the songs the singer is fond of performing: “’Candlelight is one of those songs that basically on CD it sounds great but when you hear it live it’s kinda like ‘Wow there is more feeling in it’”.
Plans are underway to start getting out on the road by April. “We are working on getting in with a couple of bands right now; we are hoping to really start hitting it hard. We just want to continue to tour, building a fan base. In the next year or so, we would love to do an overseas tour - that would be awesome and everybody is definitely onboard with that. It’s definitely going to be a busy year for us – we are making sure of it!”.
Last year was a tough one for a lot of touring musicians with record labels tightening up their belts. Although Throwing Gravity felt the economical strain they have kept optimistic that the circumstances will turn around. Continuing to push forward and keeping a positive attitude, 2011 looks set to be a big year for the band. As the lyrics within ‘Bring Me Down’ suggest: ‘It’s time to tell your friends...’ So, what are you waiting for? Start spreading the word about Throwing Gravity now!
www.throwinggravitymusic.com
www.myspace.com/throwinggravity
January 2011
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When their debut ‘Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume’ dropped in February 2006, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart, alternative rockers Evans Blue drew comparisons to the likes of Taproot, Staind and even Tool. The album was credited as being a creative and compelling effort, a solid debut with radio ready tunes. During their first U.S tour the same year, drummer Darryl Brown left without any explanation. Danny D was drafted in to finish off the eight month tour, being replaced by Howard Davis in time for the release of the band’s second album ‘The Pursuit Begins When This Portrayal of Life Ends’ which hit the shelves barely a year after their first release. No time for slowing down, the band jumped straight on the road for their first headline tour, taking bands such as Framing Hanley, Saving Abel and Neurosonic with them across the Western Coast of USA and parts of Canada. It was during 2008 that major changes were afoot and by July that year it was announced that lead singer Kevin Matisyn had been voted out of the band, with musical and business differences stated as the grounds for the decision.
After finding a new lead singer – Dan Chandler – the quintet headed into the studio in order to make the album they always envisioned. That album is simply titled: ‘Evans Blue’. Rock & Rose got hold of guitarist Parker Lauzon along with Dan Chandler to find out how the group has settled since the line-up change.
Someone with writing skills was the key element during the hunt for a new lead singer. Parker explains: “We wanted somebody who could fit into the writing process and keep up with the usually very quick pace that we write at. We were never looking for a vocal double for Kevin. Of course he had to be able to sing the old songs, but that wasn't top of the list. We are not the type of band that wants to sound the same over and over again. We want to constantly evolve and push each other to bring out the best in each of us.” Losing any band member can be a very unsettling time for a band and Evans Blue – completed by guitarist V and bassist Joe Pitter - are no strangers to this, however introducing a new frontman is even more difficult. “Of course we were worried; I would be more concerned if we weren't” Parker states, “It was nerve-racking but it was an absolute MUST in order for this band to continue making music.” After asking whether they have any sort of relationship with Kevin now, Parker replies honestly: “He has made it very clear that he does not want to be mature at all about the situation. We are just trying to move on as a band in a professional manner.”
What has Chandler brought to Evans Blue that perhaps wasn't there before? “A positive attitude to start”, the guitarist notes, “He also has an open mind when it comes to songwriting and structure; he will try anyone’s suggestion to see if it works until we find the right one.” Revealing that working on and changing songs until they are at “their absolute best” is something that the band has never been able to do before: “I have always envisioned and pushed for us to be a heavier band than we have been, but my suggestions have previously fallen on deaf ears. Dan shares the same vision as me, in that we can push the music to be heavier yet still be commercially viable.” Heading into the studio with long-time Evans Blue Producer Trevor Kustiak at the start of 2009, the group set about making a new chapter in the history of Evans Blue. Being in the studio is something that Parker adores: “Honestly, if I could live in one I would be so happy. The energy is always flowing at its highest level, everyone is excited and the ideas are flying everywhere. It's really amazing to be a part of.” The result is a compilation of tracks with a more aggressive sound while keeping enough melody to capture a mainstream audience. ‘Sick Of It’ was the first single to be unleashed, sold via iTunes the song received widespread airplay on SirusXM Octane and has sold in excess of 30,000 copies. A year after being made available digitally on iTunes, ‘Evans Blue’ was physically released with the bonus track ‘Erase My Scars’. This song became their first charting single since 2007's ‘The Pursuit’ and according to Parker is a good example of the direction this band is going in musically. Written about losing a loved one, ‘Erase My Scars’ is about being broken and the feelings of hopelessness. The inspiration came following the death of singer Dan’s 8 year old nephew – Chase Franklin - who lost his battle against brain cancer several years ago. “Family and friends are a huge support, but sometimes there is still a void. I've always turned to writing. I think our minds can get the best of us a lot of times, and writing it down really helps you sort through your thoughts and come to an understanding of where you are”, Dan tells Rock & Rose. On the back of this song the Keeping Chase Foundation was set up (visit www.keepingchase.com for more information); a percentage of the sales from the digital single of ‘Erase My Scars’ is donated to help families who are in need of some sort of support. “Unfortunately there are a lot of families fighting these kinds of battles, so we never have to go far to find someone in need but being able to help out in any way is something we are all happy about” Dan remarks.
Parker reveals that they have already begun writing new material towards the next album and it promises to be heavier than anything they’ve previously released. “We have a bunch of stuff on the table right now, all pretty heavy. We hope to be in the studio late next summer to record it with a late 2011 release.” With the second leg of the Erase My Scars Tour coming to an end, Dan discloses that fans can expect to see them back out on the road early next year and this time they hope to venture further afield. “We have been looking into an overseas tour and everything we need to do to make that happen. We would love nothing more than to bring our live show to new places.” For those of us not lucky enough to catch you live yet what can we expect from an Evans Blue show? “Our shows are a result of us all loving what we are doing. We have fun on stage but we take it seriously at the same time” replies Dan. “The energy is way up now” adds Parker, “We all get along on stage, and it is a great atmosphere for everyone involved. I think it makes the performance better on a whole new level.” Dan agrees: “There is a lot of energy and the chemistry is visible. We feed off of the passion from our awesome fans!”
‘Evans Blue’ is available now.
EVANS BLUE WEBSITES:
www.evansblue.com
www.facebook.com/EvansBlue
www.myspace.com/EvansBlue
www.youtube.com/EvansBlue
www.twitter.com/EvansBlueMusic
www.twitter.com/Chandler_EB
www.twitter.com/Parker_EB
November 2010
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| In 2006 The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus emerged on the scene with their major label debut 'Don't You Fake It'. Containing the singles: 'Face Down', 'False Pretense', 'Your Guardian Angel' and 'Damn Regret', the album turned the band into Platinum-selling stars. Upon its release their eagerly awaited sophomore -'Lonely Road' (produced by Howard Benson) - went straight into the Top 20 on the Billboard Top 200 charts in 2009. After parting ways with their record label Virgin earlier this year The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus have taken a gamble and recently released their new EP 'The Hell Or High Water' independently. Drummer Jon Wilkes fills Rock & Rose in with what it has been like for the band since taking the DIY route.
"The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was never about charts or sales; it has always been about friends/fans loving our music and coming to rock out with us. If that connection leads to us being on the charts it is because the people put us there...Rock 'n' roll lifestyle for life!" testifies Jon. "When something doesn't work it simply doesn't work" the drummer states when asked about the group's decision to part ways with their label and long-time manager Steve Tramposch. "Without a doubt it was an easy decision. We have since signed an awesome management deal with The Collective and haven't looked back. I think great music will prevail and prosper with or without a label because music is a huge part of life for everyone."
The first song to be taken from the new EP - 'Choke', features the lyrics: 'Sing it like last time, where every line ends with a rhyme. You'll get great reviews, but I refuse to be reused...I hope you choke on the promises you broke.' Would it be safe to assume that this song is directed towards the record label? "Well my interpretation is it's written about anyone who has let you down. So to say it's about one certain thing I can't do because I just play the drums, but when the lyrics and melody where written by Ronnie [Winter - lead vocals], it was during the time we parted from Virgin..."
Completed by founding member Duke Kitchens (Guitar/Piano), Matt Carter (Lead Guitar) and Joey Westwood (Bass), The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus has been looking forward to being able to share the new material with everyone. "We opened the floodgates of creativity and held nothing back" Jon discloses; "it is everything I could want it to be and know once you hear it you will agree." All seven tracks on 'The Hell Or High Water' EP were recorded at the band's studio in Middleburg, Florida. Jon describes the atmosphere during the recording process as 'euphoric', revealing: "The chemistry between us is at an all time high. To be completely honest the songs are just pouring out effortlessly and it's not stopping anytime soon."
In the past Ronnie has commented about making sure the music is able to withstand snide attacks from people judging the music and looking out for weak spots. When writing new material, at what point do you know when you are ready to say 'that's done, we're okay with it and it's ready to go'? "The way that we see things is the song writing and ideas are never done until the song goes through mastering. Once it's mastered that's it - the song is locked in for life. As musicians we are constantly evolving and getting better and when it comes to writing its rock n roll so we make sure it rocks!" Jon answers, before admitting that in the past there are some drum parts which he thinks could have been more technical and stylish. "Although with that said, I've realised over the years that it's not about cool drum parts, it is about the vibe and capturing the moment. So basically there is nothing to regret in songs which have already been written because each one is different and awesome in its own way."
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus are very fond of acoustic performances. A couple of years ago the quintet headed out on a mini tour dubbed 'Unplugged and Unaffected' and last year saw the release of the 'Shock Session' EP which features acoustic renditions of 'Pen & Paper', 'You'd Better Pray' and 'Face Down'. Jon tells Rock & Rose that fans should get ready because they have plans to do more acoustic style albums and tours in the future.
Being unsigned will not be a hindrance in any way for them and Jon is optimistic about the future of the band: "Without a doubt we will tour the same, if not more being independent. Sit back and see for yourself the next few years are ours and we are going to take them by storm!"
www.myspace.com/redjumpsuit
September 2010
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| In 2007 Age Of Daze released their first single, assaulting Canadian radio airwaves and hitting the number one spot on the Rock Top 20 chart of US satellite radio Sirius Octane. The song was ‘Afflicted’; radio listeners couldn’t get enough of this chunky rock anthem and in 2010 its catchy melody is still proving to be a hit. In September it will be used as the soundtrack to launch Hans F Hansen’s new line of men’s skin and hair care products. While holed up in the studio recording the band’s new single - which is expected to hit radio airwaves at anytime now - frontman Tim Morrison took time out to fill Rock & Rose in with what has been happening in the Age Of Daze camp.
Since Age Of Daze released their second album ‘Hollywood Ending’ at the tail end of 2007, the New Brunswick crew have gone from strength to strength, touring none stop around Canada supporting the likes of Hinder, Papa Roach, Shinedown, Buckcherry, Default and State Of Shock. This year the band settled down and started writing new material for their forthcoming album. “We are literally in the studio as we speak” Tim reveals. “Jeff Dalziel is producing the album. Jeff has a vision for Age Of Daze that we liked and fans can expect a more edgier sound from us - together we have modified the band’s sound slightly.” The currently untitled album will be released via Wax Records, whose roster includes Finger 11, Seether and Evanesence in Canada. “We have learned to be cautious about certain things that pertain to the music industry but Wax has a history of working with bands in our genre,” Tim says about the band’s new home. “It's refreshing to work with a label that wants to hear the bands take on things - we consult on everything.” Between them both band and label have chosen the 10 songs, plus a bonus track, set to feature on the forthcoming release. Tim divulges: “There will be several, I hate to use the term... ‘ballad’ style songs and one which features a piano.” While we may be hearing a softer side to the Canadian rockers Tim points out that the songs vary in terms of sound and emotion. Tim also goes on to mention the possibility of a guest appearance on one of the tracks, although he remains tight lipped and does not reveal the guest’s identity.
The singer informs Rock & Rose that the lyrical content will be darker: “Everyone in the band has had some life experiences that we are passionate about.” The new single - ‘What’s Left Of Me’ - for example, relates to being taken advantage of in a relationship. “Let's face it, we have all been there one way or another,” Tim says, “and since one of the band members experienced this first hand, we wrote about it; it's a very emotional song but fans can identify with it.”
Growing as songwriters and having experienced more as a band, the songs seem to have come together much easier than in the past. “We have always believed in writing each song as if it could potentially be a single so a lot of effort goes into everything we write, but now we have more things to say,” Tim acknowledges, “we also have a definitive sound in Age Of Daze which makes the process more streamline in the studio.”
With ‘What’s Left Of Me’ ready to drop any day now, an album launch to prepare for and tour dates also on the horizon, Age Of Daze are gearing up for the hectic time that lies ahead. In Tim’s own words, 2010 looks set to be the start of “a big year” for Age Of Daze. Keep your eyes and ears open - get ready to be rocked!
www.myspace.com/ageofdaze
August 2010
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| In late 2009, Art Of Dying were the first band to be signed to Disturbed’s Dan Donegan and David Draiman’s label Intoxication Records (part of the Warner Bros family). They have shared stages with the likes of Seether, 3 Doors Down, Papa Roach and Hinder as well as an appearance at the UK’s Download Festival back in 2006 alongside Metallica, Tool and Deftones. In recent months the Vancouver rockers have been hard at work putting the finishing touches to their major label debut ‘Vices & Virtues’. Rock & Rose caught up with lead singer Jonny Hetherington just as the band were getting ready to fly to Los Angeles to listen to the final mixes with Chris Lord-Alge and Mike Plotnikoff.
“I'm proud to say WE'RE DONE!” Jonny announces; “we're stoked to say the least and just as excited as anyone to hear the final mixes!” When the quintet - completed by: Greg Bradley (Guitar); Jeff Brown (Drums); Cale Gontier (Bass) and Tavis Stanley (Guitar) - went into the studio last September with acclaimed producer Howard Benson (Papa Roach/Seether/Daughtry) at the helm, they knew how they wanted the record to sound and Jonny informs Rock & Rose that they did not stray away from that for a second. “On our debut I sang all of my own harmonies. On ‘Vices & Virtues’ Tavis and Cale are backing me up, often incorporating three part harmonies just like we do on stage, which has been a dream come true for me. There's just something about killer harmonies that makes my fucking day! I don't want to spoil the surprise just yet but we also had two guest vocalists that came out and did some singing for the record; the performances they gave are absolutely incredible and we're honoured to have them involved” teases Jonny. “Our sound is always evolving and ever changing as we grow as musicians and people, but I knew going in that it was going to sound like Greg, Jeffy, Tavis, Cale and myself. We tried to give the songs a lot of room to breathe, which is different from the way we approached our indie record [Art Of Dying].”
Do you still approach writing in the same way you did when you were writing for the self-titled release? “Do I still write songs on the toilet...hell yeah! The creative process really gets me off. It's crazy when you wake up completely hung over, grab a guitar and start from nothing and then a few hours later you have a song, or the skeleton of a song. It's something from nothing, know what I mean? I love that feeling; it gets me through a lot of shit. I do my best to match honest feelings to honest music, and if other people connect with that then I consider myself fortunate. I really crave that connection.” Jonny confesses.
What was it like working with Benson? “It has been crazy. I had a sense of what it would be like after cutting some vocals on a Three Days Grace song with Adam Gontier and Howard. I think the coolest thing was that Howard really let us do our own thing. He kept the car on the road and between the lines if you know what I mean, but we had complete creative control. He sees the big picture and has poignant insight at the exact right moment. I think we went into the process very prepared, and that had a pretty big impact on how things worked out”, Jonny reveals. “He has an amazing team of people working with him that we really connected with too; good people who know their shit makes for a pretty good result in the studio.” Jonny and Howard did not sit down and pen songs together but the pair did team up to tweak a few lyrics along the way: “It was always an easy and open discussion between us. I actually had a few visits from ‘Dream Howard’ (I’m not kidding), which inspired me to change a few things in anticipation of what I thought Howard might like” Jonny admits. “Anticipation was a big theme and motivator for me on the record.” While Jonny still writes a lot of material on his own, the band get together to go on ‘crazy’ writing retreats: “They have been amazing experiences. We've done a few in the back country here in British Columbia, in Ontario and in LA.” Jonny explains: “We simply shut out the rest of the world, clear out the local liquor store and come out with a couple of songs every day. The vibe between us is something very special, and that is starting to rise to the surface in our new songs.” The singer goes on to tell us that the band even wrote a song with a ghost in Norwood, Ontario: “True story!” he vows, “We stoked the wood burning stove, lit some candles and let it come out while some pretty supernatural things were going on. I scribbled words down on a torn up beer case while we hummed melodies and strummed guitars, and it all came together in an hour or so...it was a pretty special moment in time.”
Some of the new material was tested out last year when they went on tour with Disturbed. Songs such as ‘Die Trying’ (with guest vocalist Seether’s Shaun Morgan) and ‘Everything’ have been well received by the fans. Both of those songs have been recorded but the frontman points out that until the band have heard all the final mixes they will not know exactly which songs will be on the record. “Although, after playing them live I think we knew right away that they had a big potential to make the cut.” The band cannot wait to get back on the road: “As soon as we have a release date we'll be announcing some major touring shortly after.” states Jonny. “We feel so fortunate to have already met so many cool people around the world that are waiting for the music. Our goal is to get to every city that we can in order to share the live experience with all of our amazing supporters. Write to us when you can and let us know where you are - we personally return all mail. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or whatever. We're on the web every single day interacting with the most important people in the world to us - the people that connect with our music! This connection to our friends and fans around the world is really important to us; we believe we're all building something together so thank all of you who are making this happen with us.” For those of you who have iPhone / iPod Touch you can also download the Art Of Dying application so you can watch the latest videos, sample the latest music and get regular bulletin and blog updates directly from the band.
Rock & Rose are confident that ‘Vices & Virtues’ will catapult the Canadian rockers into the spotlight worldwide, not only because of the quality of their songs but also due to the fact that Art Of Dying are not ones to shy away from hard work. “We're used to a huge workload and it is part of what Disturbed and Warner Bros noticed about us in the first place. We're the last band in the world that's ever going to sit back and think we ‘deserve’ something. Whether it's playing a great show, hanging up posters on the street or being the last people out of the venue at the end of the night, we're gonna do what it takes day in, day out. The best person to do something for you is yourself.” says Jonny. The band’s motto is: ‘The art of dying is your life to live’; “It's a way of life, it's the very core of our band. I believe that we're all here for a purpose and living in the moment is key. What else do we have but now? Everything we've done has got us here and I really like ‘here’, so I would never change a thing.”
There is no release date set as of yet for ‘Vices & Virtues’, but expect an announcement to be made on www.artofdyingmusic.com very soon.
www.myspace.com/theartofdying
May 2010
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| In October 2009 Minnesota’s Camera Can’t Lie released the EP ‘Days & Days’, their first since being snapped up and signed by Atlantic Records in 2008. The trio are about to hit the road Stateside and are gearing up to unleash their major label debut album. Bass guitarist Kyle Lindsay recently took time out to answer some questions Rock & Rose put his way.
This band of talented musicians - Lindsay’s high school friends Eric Arjes (vocals/guitar) and Josh Bendall (drums) complete the line-up - share a love of rock music alongside Humanitarianism and Philanthropy. The video for the EP title track ‘Days & Days’ was filmed as a tribute to soldiers and their families. Lindsay explains: “We decided to get involved with the organization www.militaryfamily.org. My brother-in-law is serving in the Marines and the other two guys have family in the service as well, so it is something that is close to our hearts. In my mind if you are an American it should be close to your heart too, because these men and women are the reason we have freedom”. The video features families from the band’s home State holding up either photos of their soldiers or a card with the amount of days they have been away. (See Rock & Rose news section for a link to watch ‘Days & Days’).
Camera Can’t Lie obviously believe that actions speak louder than words and over the past couple of years have been keen to prove this. Not only donating their rendition of Radiohead’s ‘High & Dry’ for the cause Invisible Children on www.biggestlabelever.com, the trio took also part in The Go Green Tour with Windsor Drive. In order to conserve as much energy as possible, the two bands shared a van and equipment. “We had to sacrifice a lot of things on that tour, including our personal space. There were 11 people in a 12 passenger van but it was well worth it”. As a band and as individuals Camera Can’t Lie continually strive to limit their carbon footprint: “Our CD jackets are printed on at least 30% recyclable materials. We all recycle and when the weather is warm we try to ride our bikes as opposed to driving. Any time you can do your part to help a good cause, whether it is for the environment or otherwise, there are sacrifices and rewards" Lindsay accurately points out.
Last year the band relocated to Los Angeles while they recorded the ‘Days & Days’ EP and songs for the forthcoming debut, working with Producer Ron Aniello (Lifehouse, Jars Of Clay). “We wrote nearly 70 songs for the record and Ron co-wrote two of them” the bassist reports, before going on to reveal that the co-written songs will not be making it onto the album. The lyrics to Camera Can’t Lie’s songs are inspired by other people's experiences. Frontman and song-writer Eric Arjes tells us that he aims to find inspiration for his lyrics from both the good and bad in life while finding hope in any situation. Is the current EP a hint of what we can expect from the album or will we be hearing a new side of Camera Can’t Lie? “As song-writing goes, yes but as overall sound goes, no – we’ve made a rock n' roll record with pop sensibilities. This record is very cohesive and has a very defined theme, feel, and sound. We are definitely growing into our own” confides Lindsay, “we are all on the same page with who this band is.”
‘Days and Days’ EP is available now; an easy listening soft rock affair which is worthy of lending your ears to. You will be seeing a lot more of Camera Can’t Lie in 2010 and that’s a certainty.
Catch Camera Can’t Lie on tour in the USA with label mate and former American Idol contestant Jason Castro.
Tour Dates:
- 4/22 - Chaser's - Scottsdale, AZ
- 4/23 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
- 4/25 - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA
- 4/27 - Bottle Neck - Lawrence, KS
- 4/28 - Lincoln Hall - Chicago, IL
- 4/30 - The Pike Room - Pontiac, MI
- 5/1 - Grog Shop - Cleveland Heights, OH
- 5/2 - The Basement - Columbus, OH
- 5/4 - Vinyl - Atlanta, GA
- 5/6 - Rocketown - Nashville, TN
- 5/8 - Capitol Theatre - Clearwater, FL
- 5/12 - Joe's Pub - New York, NY
- 5/13 - Jammin Java - Vienna, VA
- 5/15 - Cafe 939 - Boston, MA
- 5/16 - The Note - West Chester, PA
www.myspace.com/cameracantlie
April 2010
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| In 2009 Texan quintet Mothers Anthem released their debut album ‘Save The Fallen’, an album eagerly anticipated by the band’s followers. In January this year the band (vocalist Kirk Baxley; guitarists Julian Mandrake and Zak Loy; bassist Drew Walters and drummer Jono) returned to the studio to begin work on Mothers Anthem’s sophomore release. We gave Julian a call to have a quick chat about how things were progressing.
Has the recording process been any different for the band this time around? “Yeah; with the last record somebody had the majority of the ideas and everybody just came in on it. This time we all individually had ideas which we brought to the rehearsal room and we would work on them with everyone collaborating on it”
“We have about 19 new songs recorded but only eight of them have survived” Julian reveals. “We will probably put 12 songs on the album. I think we’re gonna try and record maybe 10 more and take four of those – see which ones survive from that.” There is no release date set yet but the band has been testing out a couple of the new tracks at recent shows and the reaction so far has been positive: “People have been saying they really love the energy of the new songs. The two we have done live will definitely go on the album” the guitarist tells us.
‘Structure Of A Heart’ a song from the band’s debut is available as a free download on the socially conscious music site www.biggestlabelever.com, in support of The Rescue campaign by www.invisiblechildren.com, to raise awareness about the child soldiers in Uganda in the hopes of rescuing these abducted children from the Lord’s Resistance Army led by Joseph Kony. Julian agrees that raising awareness for causes such as this is an important part of what Mothers Anthem is about. “Although we have not done one in a while, occasionally a couple of us will pair up and do little videos to try and remind people of some of the causes.” If you were to start your own cause up as a band what would it be related to? “I think right now one thing that has come up a lot is the whole battered women kinda deal, so something connected to that.” Making music that inspires people is what Mothers Anthem aim to achieve and so far it seems to be working. The band’s street team: The Mothers Anthem Movement work hard to promote and spread the word about the music of Mothers Anthem. The band themselves also try to be as active as they can in staying connected with their fan base. “People write us personal emails through MySpace or Facebook saying ‘Hey I just wanted to let you know how this song has affected me’. We don’t ignore that; one person or another will respond sometimes three or four of us! Our online director Jillian is always pushing us to be active online, even with the record business you can get a lot done through the internet these days.”
When asked about their fan base the guitarist states: “we have really great fans that have stuck with us the last two years straight; some even travel just to come and see us play.” He goes on to describe them as: “loyal, very animated and very passionate...we are really lucky!”
Why not check Mothers Anthem out for yourselves. ‘Save The Fallen’ is available to buy now, visit www.myspace.com/mothersanthem for more details.
March 2010
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BOWLING FOR SOUP
Suburban Legends / Orange
O2 Academy, Birmingham
(16.10.11)
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 A case of orange by name, orange by nature…With his mop of thick bright orange hair Joe Dexter, frontman Californian band Orange, cannot be missed, and with his red military style jacket he looks like he could be Gerard Way’s double. Delivering discordant pop-punk tunes from their album ‘Phoenix’ and new EP ‘Dead Sexy’, songs like ‘Each Other’, ‘Everything I Need’, ‘Elektron Gun’ and ‘Pistols and Pills’ are quirky and chaotic. Orange may not be to everyone’s liking but they manage to entertain most of the crowd filling the Academy who dutifully clap and swing their arms from side to side when prompted.
Next up the Birmingham audience get bitten by the contagious energy of the Suburban Legends. Even if you are not a big lover of ska you are unable to resist raising a smile and enjoying the moment of madness this bunch creates when they are on-stage together. The band’s high-spirited act goes down a treat; the crowd appear to love every minute of it. The brass section are the main focal point as they leap around the stage, pull out some interesting dance routines, have pretend ‘sword’ fights and generally have a crazy time. And we cannot forget to mention their rendition of the Lion King’s ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’, which is performed as if it belongs to their very own collection of songs. Suburban Legends truly got the party started!
Chants of ‘BFS’ reverberate around the walls of the Academy, the house lights go down and the Here comes Bowling For Soup intro begins. ‘I’m Gay’ would have been a great way to break the ice, except there’s no need for ice-breakers tonight, the crowd are already eager to be immersed into Bowling For Soup’s world of infectious tunes and on-stage shenanigans. The catchiness continues as ‘High School Never Ends’ and ‘S-S-S-Saturday’ are dished out to a crowd that include a sizeable amount of first-timers to this unique experience that is a Bowling For Soup concert.
 Although a great arsenal of songs are squeezed into the set – including: ‘The Bitch Song’, ‘My Wena’, ‘Belgium’, ‘Emily’, ‘Punk Rock 101’, ‘No Hablo Ingles’ - the constant banter in-between and during them means that the songs are ran through quickly. Nevertheless, Bowling For Soup’s ability to provide a memorable evening out never lets them down; a couple of lucky fans have the opportunity to sit by the band’s on-stage bar and throughout the course of the evening frontman Jaret checks up on them to make sure they’re doing okay. Later in the show Jaret calls a fan to come on stage, the guy brings his girlfriend with him and we witness a marriage proposal – the answer is yes! The newly engaged pair head over and sit by the bar.
While covers of Fountains Of Wayne’s ‘Stacy’s Mom’ and Fergie’s ‘London Bridge’ go down a storm, the beautiful ‘Turbulence’ is the first song of the night that is kept at its original pace alongside the poignant ‘When We Die’; these are among the highlights of the show. A blistering ‘1985’, the super ‘Summer Of 69’ and a finale of the infectious ‘Girl That All The Bad Guys Want’ confirm that should Bowling For Soup ignore complaints from their promoters regarding too many appearances in the UK and return to these shores next April, the band will definitely see this audience again!
**More photos from the show can be found on the Rock & Rose Facebook page**
www.bowlingforsoup.com
www.suburbanlegends.com
www.orangeband.net
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THE CRAVE
Black Russian
The End, Birmingham
(12.10.11)
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 Worcester's Black Russian play in front of a virtually empty room, the handful of people who have bothered to show up early gather together at the back.
The female-fronted five-piece formed just over a year ago. Alexandra Rudman’s powerful vocals are delivered in a deep and raunchy package perfect for the hard rock genre they are targeting. The quintet are still in the early stages of their career as a band and that does come across when you are watching them, they do not seem to have that tight connection yet and there are times when Rudman appears to look slightly uneasy.
Songs like ‘Easy’ and ‘Voodoo Woman’ are strong, offering a good indication of what Black Russian are all about. ‘Wrong Side Of Crazy’ is a 70’s throwback, with chugging, dirty, repetitive riffs. However, the songs do begin to sound very similar after a bit so it’s hard to imagine they would be enjoyable to watch and listen to if they had the longer headlining slot. Get another year of gigs under their belts and it will no doubt be a whole different story although, for now, they may be able to win enough people over to begin building a fan base but there are areas that could do with some tweaking.
By the time The Crave take to the stage a few more people have arrived, though the venue is still shockingly far from full, possibly due to its mid-week timing. Those who have shown up are now gathered in a small semi-circle around the tiny stage.
Opening number is the straight no chaser rocker ‘Set Me Free’, an instant attention grabber and sets the pace of the evening. The poor turnout for the last night of the tour does not stop The Crave from giving their all as they perform songs from their debut album ‘Breaking The Silence’. ‘All Of You’ and the ultra-catchy ‘Cooking In The Kitchen’ are fuelled with energy and spirit, stirring a handful of people to get their dancing shoes on while the more reserved nod along and casually tap their feet. Due to constant requests for it, singer Ryan Burnett announces a rare, hardly ever played during previous tours, treat – ‘Defector’ - much to the pleasure of the audience. That’s not the only bonus handed out during the 45 minute set as new songs ‘Paper Planes’ and ‘Postcards From Paradise’ mingle adeptly with the likes of ‘Maverick’ and the searing ‘Breaking The Silence’.
Raising a grin and a sing-a-long is a cover of Queen’s cheeky ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ before final song of the night ‘Mercenary Man’ brings the show to an vibrant close. There is no encore, instead the band head straight off stage to greet and take photos with the fans.
The Crave are not only one of the best British bands around they are also one of the most hardworking. Next time they are in your area make sure you go and see them!
**More photos from the show can be found on the Rock & Rose Facebook page**
www.facebook.com/thecraveband
Black Russian’s Facebook Page
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PAPA ROACH
Yashin / Slaves To Gravity
O2 Academy, Sheffield
(17.07.11)
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 Slaves To Gravity receive a warm reception from the people of Sheffield. ‘Good Advice’ is well chosen as the introductory number; this catchy delight screams ‘we rock’ and it’s always a pleasure to hear. ‘Honesty’ follows suit and has the audience clapping along. These hard-working London rockers have some pretty decent material on offer, on-stage they give a tight and professional performance, but they do not quite win over the crowd in the same way Yashin manage to.
From the moment Yashin come bounding on to the stage with ‘Mr Hyde’ they have the sold-out crowd hyped. The sextet do not lose momentum once as they deliver a roudy feast of post-hardcore goodies from their debut album ‘Put Your Hands Where I Can See Them’. Three songs in and Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix joins the fun to provide guest vocals on ‘Friends In High Places’. “It won’t be long...” they sing. Judging by the chaos they create Rock & Rose predicts it won’t be long before Yashin well and truly make their mark in the rock world. During the set closer ‘Get Loose!’ singers Harry Radford and Kevin Miles climb up and on the speaker stacks situated either side of the stage before Miles decides to go one better and greet the people standing on the balcony area; the singer walks around the perimeter of the balcony as his band mates look on in amusement. Yashin exit having well and truly prepared the crowd for the appearance of headliners Papa Roach.
This show in Sheffield is the second of two intimate UK dates from the Californian crew who will soon be heading into the studio to make a new album set for release next year. Storming into ‘Getting Away With Murder’ the crowd go crazy; jumping around and flashing their metal horns with fervour. Yes, Papa Roach know how to make an entrance! For the old school ‘Between Angels & Insects’, now here’s a song that sounds as good today as it did back in 2000. With a sturdy collection of songs being played, Papa Roach are on fire tonight. Their raw energy shines through.
Frontman Jacoby Shaddix is a bundle of liveliness; he never stops in the same place for one second, he is fascinating to watch and the fans follow his every instruction – scream, clap, sing, jump, sit down and jump some more. Blistering renditions of ‘Hollywood Whore’, the beautiful single ‘No Matter What’ and the fast and frenzied ‘...To Be Loved’ are served up. Followed by more infectious monsters to whip up the excitement levels - ‘The Enemy’, ‘Kick In The Teeth’ and ‘Lifeline’.
The rousing ‘Scars’ creates a mass sing-along before the fist-pumping ‘Blood Brothers’ brings the main section of the show to a close. The quartet deliver a two-song encore of old favourites ‘Dead Cell’ and of course the one and only ‘Last Resort’. All in all Papa Roach give Sheffield a night to remember – let’s hope they keep to their word and come back next year!
www.paparoach.com
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THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS
Water Plaza – Faliro Complex, Athens, Greece
(06.07.11)
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 The paper confetti rains down on the crowd as ‘Closer To The Edge’ creates mayhem; “No No No No!” the audience yell with all their might, punching the air with vigour. It is true what they say: a crowd can help make or break a show and as Thirty Seconds To Mars head off stage to prepare themselves for the ‘Kings & Queens’ encore, the crowd remain as euphoric in their wait as they were at the start of the show when the ‘Escape’ intro tumbled out into the warm air of Athens. For many of the attendees this has been the first opportunity to witness the Los Angeles rockers live show first-hand and their genuine passion ignites an atmosphere that feels great to be part of. In return they are treated to a dynamic performance from the band.
Opening song ‘A Beautiful Lie’ instantly brings the show to life, following with ‘Attack’ to keep the momentum going. Singer Jared Leto plays his role as frontman well and the Athens crowd obey his every command of jumping, singing and screaming with gusto.
It’s one mass karaoke session as the lyrics for ‘Search And Destroy’ appear on the big screen at the back of the stage; not quite sure why Leto insists on stopping the song mid-way through in order to get the audience to ‘go crazy’ when they are clearly having a great time already! An invigorating rendition of ‘This Is War’ is a rather apt anthem for the people of Greece at the moment; tonight the song is dedicated “to those fighting for a better life”. After drummer Shannon Leto takes his turn in the spotlight with his performance of ‘L490’, there is a slight lull as Jared performs his acoustic bites including ‘Bad Romance’ (Lady GaGa cover), ‘Hurricane’, ‘Alibi’ and ‘From Yesterday’. After getting three fans to join him onstage in order to learn some Greek vocabulary, Jared continues his piece with ‘The Kill’, for which the band return to the stage, much to the crowd’s delight and the fervour returns once again (‘The Kill’ acoustic would never create the same intense reaction), only topped when ‘Closer To The Edge’ is unleashed.
As Jared stockpile’s fans onto the stage for the finale of ‘Kings & Queens’, the band deliver a soundtrack of Metallica and Pantera instrumentals to aid the operation. Once everyone is in place the chorus of ‘woo oohs’ begin and the chaos of ‘Kings & Queens’ ensues - the result is fantastic!
The set-list may be on the stale side for those who have been fortunate enough to see the band before, but to most each and every song is a welcome delight. All in all, for pure energy and entertainment and with gratuitous interruptions being kept to a minimum, this gig in Athens is one of the most memorable Thirty Seconds To Mars shows Rock & Rose has seen for a while.
www.thirtysecondstomars.com
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BON JOVI
Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester
(24.06.11)
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 ‘Good evening. Welcome to a summer Friday night in Manchester, England’ Jon Bon Jovi greets the packed out masses playfully. The sun is nowhere to be seen, instead the rain is pouring down. ‘To me it’s like taking a shower with 45,000 of my closest friends’. The rain fails to dampen the atmosphere and for 2.5 hours the Old Trafford Cricket Ground holds one hell of a party. The hosts – New Jersey legends Bon Jovi – are superb throughout and the crowd are in jovial [pun intended] spirits. Three words: What a Night!
Despite Jon being in pain - the singer is supporting a black leg brace following a recent knee injury at a show in Finland – he still battles through, not allowing his routine as frontman suffer once. While guitarist Richie Sambora appears to be back in fine form, looking healthy and playing like the true guitar God he is. Drummer Tico Torres and keyboard player David Bryan may be positioned behind Jon and Richie towards the back of the stage, but their stellar performance does not go unnoticed.
In 2008 their Lost Highway tour saw Bon Jovi hold the title of #1 Worldwide Tour, two years later they held that position again with The Circle tour. It would come as no surprise if the guys kept hold of the title in 2011. Bon Jovi has always been renowned for their killer live shows. Here’s a band able to create an electric atmosphere – whether you are at the front or at the back of a stadium, dishing out anthem after anthem and whose frontman has the ability to make each and every person in the crowd really feel part of the show.
As always there is an abundance of sing-a-longs throughout the evening, with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ as second song in, the Manchester crowd do not have to wait long to show how loud they can be. Jon has often referred to the church of rock ‘n’ roll during shows and when the pumped up masses shoot their arms skywards during the ‘yeah yeah’s’ from the catchy ‘We Weren’t Born To Follow’ it feels very much like you are part of a gospel choir.
The fist pounding ‘It’s My Life’ rips through the stadium at full throttle, the crowd singing each word back at the stage. Golden oldie ‘Raise Your Hands’ and ‘Crush’ favourite ‘Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars’ present more opportunities for audience participation with thousands of arms being raised and then swaying from side to side.
As always there is an abundance of sing-a-longs throughout the evening, with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ as second song in, the Manchester crowd do not have to wait long to show how loud they can be. Jon has often referred to the church of rock ‘n’ roll during shows and when the pumped up masses shoot their arms skywards during the ‘yeah yeah’s’ from the catchy ‘We Weren’t Born To Follow’ it feels very much like you are part of a gospel choir. The fist pounding ‘It’s My Life’ rips through the stadium at full throttle, the crowd singing each word back at the stage. Golden oldie ‘Raise Your Hands’ and ‘Crush’ favourite ‘Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars’ present more opportunities for audience participation with thousands of arms being raised and then swaying from side to side.
As always there is an abundance of sing-a-longs throughout the evening, with ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’ as second song in, the Manchester crowd do not have to wait long to show how loud they can be. Jon has often referred to the church of rock ‘n’ roll during shows and when the pumped up masses shoot their arms skywards during the ‘yeah yeah’s’ from the catchy ‘We Weren’t Born To Follow’ it feels very much like you are part of a gospel choir. The fist pounding ‘It’s My Life’ rips through the stadium at full throttle, the crowd singing each word back at the stage. Golden oldie ‘Raise Your Hands’ and ‘Crush’ favourite ‘Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars’ present more opportunities for audience participation with thousands of arms being raised and then swaying from side to side.  It’s during ‘Bad Medicine’ when Jon get’s things off his chest with a little bit of a rant: “No tape recorders on this stage. What a concept” he states in his New Jersey drawl. “Don’t have no DJ’s, ain’t got no girlie background singers doing this [Jon starts mimicking a dance, twirling his arms around in front of him]. This ain’t no reunion tour, this ain’t no nostalgia tour...and y’know what?We ain’t even out in the mud! Now I don’t mind getting’ a lil’ bit dirty but...I don’t need to go in the mud” he jokes before continuing as the crowd cheer and woop with delight at his every word: “Last time I looked my band could sell out a stadium by itself, I don’t need 50 other mother fuckers onstage!” In need of some “bad boy music” the jukebox segment calls for The Doors’ ‘Roadhouse Blues’.
The ever stunning ballad ‘I’ll Be There For You’ ignites a mass chorus of woah oh’s, making an impressed Jon flash his pearly whites. Playing with the crowd a little during ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’ by changing the clapping rhythm from slow to fast, slow to fast. ‘That was fun – I’m having a really good time!’ Jon announces once the song is finished.
The encore which includes ‘Dry County’ and ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ comes around all too soon. Of course there is room for one more song and oh boy does the place erupt once Richie’s talk box is heard – ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ sets the whole stadium alight like you’d never believe. Pure magic!
Bon Jovi are apparently having a break from touring after this current one comes to an end but let’s hope they do not leave it too long before they come back and do what they do best: rocking millions of faces!
www.bonjovi.com
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3 DOORS DOWN
The Crave
O2 Academy, Birmingham
(20.06.11)
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 When they released ‘The Better Life’ in 2000, 3 Doors Down became multi-platinum superstars. More success followed but to this day that debut album remains their best-seller, but could that be about to change? 11 years on and the Mississippi rockers are set to unleash their fifth studio effort: ‘Time Of My Life’; judging by the reaction the new material receives when it is aired here in Birmingham, things are looking rather promising.
Flying the flag for British rock, The Crave have the evening off to a grand start. Fresh from touring with Lifehouse, this Brighton band certainly are capable of holding their own when it comes to sharing stages with their American peers, in fact if The Crave were American then chances are that they would be headlining arenas by now.
Playing a vigorous set, the crowd soon get warmed up as the quartet dish out gems from their first full-length ‘Breaking The Silence’. As the band rock out the audience nod and clap along; new single ‘Maverick’ is followed by the slow burning ‘Silently Screaming’. The brilliant ‘Mercenary Man’ brings the set to a close, an eruption of cheers and wolf-whistles of appreciation break out along with raised metal horns. Once again The Crave have delivered the goods and another crowd has been won over. Job well done!
After almost an hour of waiting the house lights go down and a large screen at the back of the stage bursts into life, as the intro video rolls and the 3 Doors Down logo appears, the crowd holler. Not long after the headliners walk out onto the stage. The title track to the forthcoming album ‘Time Of My Life’ brings the set to life, followed by old favourites ‘Duck and Run’ and ‘Away From The Sun’.  The beautiful ballad ‘Here Without You’ soars. The band is on fine form tonight. Frontman Brad Arnold uses every inch of the stage, you don’t find him in one spot for too long, while bassist Todd Harrell has a penchant of sticking out his tongue and drummer Greg Upchurch beats the hell out of the drum kit, constantly lifting himself off the stool for maximum power!
A collection of the new songs are showcased and greeted with much approval. Songs like ‘When You’re Young’, the uptempo ‘Round and Round’ and the fast-paced rocker ‘Believer’ are spot on. Arnold describes ‘Believer’ as the band’s “foul”, their “left-field”; it is without a doubt a different offering from past 3 Doors Down endeavours - different in a good way.
The crowd stomp their feet and chant ‘3 Doors Down’ as they wait for an encore. After a short wait ‘Kryptonite’ delights. New single ‘Every Time You Go’ is performed as crew members bring out mini video cameras to film shots of the band and crowd. The action will be pieced together with other footage captured to make a video for the song.
The set ends with a dedication to those who serve in the Military making ‘When I’m Gone’ powerful in more ways than one. All in all tonight’s gig was a hit – two great bands with a great collection of songs delivering a great live show.
www.3doorsdown.com
www.thecrave.co.uk
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BLACK STONE CHERRY
The Treatment
Solus Cardiff University, Cardiff
(09.06.11)
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 Black Stone Cherry played three warm-up shows in preparation for their appearance at this weekend’s Download Festival and to celebrate the release of their brand new album ‘Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea’, which went straight to #1 on the rock chart. Rock & Rose caught them in action at the intimate Solus, Cardiff Student Union.
Before the Kentucky quartet hit the stage the packed out crowd are entertained by five long-haired young lads known as The Treatment. With songs showcasing their influences to the fullest: AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and the like, the crowd are given a feast of classic 70’s rock. Slick guitar licks, great vocals and an energetic stage presence which comes oozing with confidence, there is not much more you could ask for as the band deliver tracks from their debut album ‘This Might Hurt’. The question is can The Treatment reach commercial heights not yet achieved by Heaven’s Basement – who have also, in the past, been hailed as the ‘future’ of rock n roll by many. Guess time will tell, but after seeing how they’ve won over this crowd and hearing rave reports from the other shows, things look very promising indeed for The Treatment.
Black Stone Cherry’s southern rock comes out in full force and it’s sounding huger than ever! They definitely have a knack of producing songs which are not only packed with arena storming hard rock melodies, but they manage to craft them into timeless masterpieces. Opening up is the heavy riff laden ‘Change’, giving us a first taste of the new stuff live and it is blistering. ‘Blind Man’ unsurprisingly causes the mosh pit to go into overdrive, which continues throughout ‘Rain Wizard’ – “Here comes the raaaain” everyone sings as the intro kicks in. Wearing sunglasses and a beanie hat, frontman Chris Robertson is looking every inch a rock star. His soulful vocals capture the feeling of each story-telling song he sings. The touching ballad ‘Things My Father Said’ sees the band letting the audience take over lead vocals, the results are near perfect. While much of the set concentrates on material from their 2006 self-titled debut and welcoming tunes from the blinding ‘Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea’, they save room for a cover of the radio bothering chart sensation Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep’. ‘Hell and High Water’ gets them back to their bluesy rocking best. More brand new tracks are set loose to blow everyone away – ‘Killing Floor’ and the brilliant ‘White Trash Millionaire’ – before drummer John Fred Young belts out a lengthy drum solo. The heart-on-sleeve number ‘In My Blood’ follows the confession from Robertson that he has been battling depression and is unable to do meet and greets after the show as they have done in the past, because of his anxiety.
‘Blame It On The Boom Boom’ may have a ridiculous title but damn it’s a catchy little devil. All too soon the hefty ‘Lonely Train’ brings the scorching show to its end. The quartet have certainly given a solid and memorable performance. The chants of ‘BSC’ echo around the room but there is no encore forthcoming; as they make their way out of the exit the Cardiff crowd are already counting down the days until Black Stone Cherry return to these shores with Alter Bridge in November.
www.blackstonecherry.com
www.facebook.com/TheTreatmentOfficial
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98 ROCKFEST
featuring the Avalanche Tour
St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL
(02.04.11)
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Stone Sour, Theory Of A Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm and Art Of Dying...When Rock & Rose saw the line-up to the Avalanche Tour we decided that seeing all these bands together, sharing the same stage was an opportunity not to be missed. We packed our bags and headed across the pond to Tampa, Florida where the Avalanche tour merged with the 98 RockFest, extending the event into a day festival.
 A stage had been erected outside within the venue grounds. On this stage four bands perform a free concert for fans prior to the main event inside. The sun is blazing down and the beer is flowing. At 3pm the first band of the day - Battle of The Bands competition winners Barrelhead - kick things into action. With an aggressive slab of metal the Sarasota quintet tear up the stage and do a fine job of winning over the audience despite their set being so short. Eye Empire is next to assault. Featuring Donald Carpenter (Submersed) on vocals, B.C. Kochmit and Corey Lowery (Dark New Day) and recent addition Will Hunt (Evanescence / BLS), the band have been referred to as a ‘super group’. As tracks from their debut album ‘Moment Of Impact’ bleed out into the air, the hard hitting yet melodic sound proves to be accessible to not only those watching who love their rock music to be on the heavier side but also to those who prefer more mainstream rock. Ultimately you could say Eye Empire is the stepping stone between the two and judging by the reaction received today these guys are ones to watch for sure.
Rock & Rose favourites Art Of Dying is the first band to appear from the Avalanche tour. It’s a little weird that Art Of Dying were not playing inside with the rest of the bands on the Avalanche bill, especially as their major label debut ‘Vices and Virtues’ recently debuted at #1 spot on Billboards Heatseekers Album Chart. Regardless, the band deliver an impressive set as they showcase gems from the album. Whether it’s the social commentary of ‘Whole World’s Crazy’, the balladry of ‘Raining’ and ‘Best I Can’ or the powerful ‘Die Trying’, the alternative rockers, lead by Jonny Hetherington, perform with passion and an infectious energy. Rounding their set off with the song which successfully lead many loyal followers to the band: ‘Get Through This’ (or ‘Get Thru This’ as it’s now called). It’s always great when a band comes across even better live than on disc, this is certainly the case with Art Of Dying. 2011 looks set to be a very promising year for them.
 Platinum rockers Crossfade are in charge of closing the open-air segment. It’s a pity that their running slot leads right up to the opening of the doors to get into the venue. While there are still plenty of people with their eyes and ears fixed to the stage, there are also queues of people eagerly waiting to enter the main building. Nevertheless, those who are paying attention receive a top-notch show.
Heading inside, it’s not long before road warriors Halestorm take to the stage for a short but memorable show. The band get their teeth into a six song set comprising of old: ‘It’s Not You’, ‘Dirty Work’, ‘I Get Off’, and brand new: ‘Love Bites (So Do I)’ and ‘American Boys’, both of which sound like a guarantee that the forthcoming album will be another winner. Throwing in their rendition of Skid Row’s ‘Slave To The Grind’, front-woman Lzzy Hale’s vocal capabilities do not fail her; Sebastian Bach would be proud as Hale gives it her all. The only thing disappointing about the set is that it wasn’t longer! A tight and enjoyable live act, Halestorm always look like they are having fun, looking like they WANT to be on-stage and that’s part of the allure when witnessing Halestorm in the live environment. There is no question that this band will be headlining venues like this in the not too distant future.
 The award for best visuals goes to Skillet. With great lighting, frequent blasts of smoke shooting up from the front of the stage, the rising platforms either side of the drum kit...Who doesn’t love props and a bit of theatrics, huh? All these extras are great but are they in place to help disguise the fact that the music is less than adequate? In this case the answer is no. Skillet’s collection of great arena rock songs pound at your door and before you know it you’ve let them in. Catchy, vigorous, intense...you can’t help but be drawn into Skillet’s world. Joining the band on-stage is a violinist and cellist, adding a different kind of atmosphere to the music, the whole affair is dramatic and stimulating to the ears and eyes. “Do not be afraid to be who you are” lead singer John Cooper advises before the epic ‘Awake And Alive”, for which drummer Jen Ledger shares vocal duties and the rising platforms make their first appearance when guitarists Korey Cooper and new recruit Jonathan Salas are lifted high above the stage. Crowd favourite ‘Monster’ is an infectious beast - excuse the pun – and one that sticks in your head all evening! Skillet were obviously out to make an impact and they sure did.
Theory Of A Deadman is another band which has a great selection of songs to offer; unfortunately though there are moments when Tyler Connolly’s voice isn’t strong enough. On the whole it may have been the best Rock & Rose has ever heard him sing, but on more than one occasion the vocals sound strained, struggling to be heard over the loudness of the band. Despite this Theory Of A Deadman prove to be a hit with the audience. Bringing out songs from their current release ‘Scars & Souvenirs’: opener ‘So Happy’, ballad ‘Not Meant To Be’, the up-tempo anthem ‘Hate My Life’ and the rockin’ ‘Bad Girlfriend’. A new album is on the horizon and two new songs are aired: ‘Low Life’ and ‘Bitch Came Back’, both are treats so let’s hope there are more like this to come!
 Next are Seether who are not on the Avalanche bill - having been brought in as part of 98 Rockfest – they are a great addition though. Starting with the classic ‘Gasoline’, quickly followed by the equally brilliant ‘Fine Again’, the LA-based trio play a blistering show. Much to the crowd’s delight Lzzy Hale joins the band to perform ‘Broken’ and boy does she do the song justice. The twangy ‘Country Song’ - the first single to be lifted off the forthcoming LP ‘Holding Onto Strings Better Left To Fray’ – is superb and gets those toes tapping. ‘Rise Above This’ and set closer - the rousing ‘Remedy’ - have the crowd truly rocking out. Frontman Shaun Morgan abuses his guitar and tosses it into the air leaving it to crash land on the stage floor as he and his fellow band mates exit the stage.
Avalanche Tour headliners Stone Sour are on top form. Charging full force into ‘Mission Statement’, Corey Taylor and co are taking no prisoners. Watching the band in action is a truly enthralling experience. The fist punching ‘Made Of Scars’, the much-loved ‘Say You’ll Haunt Me’, the tenderness of ballad ‘Hesitate’...each and every song is poured out with emotion. When the crowd cheer him before and during Taylor’s solo performance of ‘Bother’ the singer stops for a few seconds each time to take it all in before continuing; ‘Through Glass’ sees the band rejoining Taylor. Scuffles galore have broken out during today’s festival, the security have had to restrain a concert-goer during Stone Sour’s appearance. This obviously didn’t go unnoticed as Taylor jokingly comments: “the people of this town shouldn’t be fed alcohol after seeing the amount of people being led out in handcuffs and shit.” Confetti sprays out of cannons as the band round the set up with a blinding rendition of ‘30/30-150’, the paper pieces are fluttering down on the crowd long after Stone Sour have left the stage. A memorable, ass-kicking performance and one that event headliners 3 Doors Down will have a hard job to beat.
 The stage is empty, too empty. Aside from two microphone stands plus a large drum kit sitting high on a metal grate platform of steps leading up to the kit, there is nothing but a big bare space. After witnessing 3 Doors Down in action numerous times before we know that they are indeed a really good live band. Tonight though, the sound carries too much bass and drum noise which at times gets distracting. Visually as you’ve just read, for a headline band it’s pretty bland. Still, all that said, when songs such as ‘Duck & Run’, the delectable ‘Here Without You’ and ‘Not My Time’ are put into action there is that sparkle. New songs galore are dished out including the title track from the forthcoming ‘Time Of My Life’ record, ‘When You’re Young’ and ‘Round and Round’, all gain a good response from the Tampa crowd. It’s during the encore the smash hit ‘Kryptonite’ is let loose, not surprisingly this is dynamite. The finale is another crowd pleaser in the form of ‘When I’m Gone’. If the sound had been better 3 Doors Down would have been fantastic, sadly ‘good’ is the word to be used this time round.
**More photos from the show can be found on the Rock & Rose Facebook page**
www.3doorsdown.com
www.stonesour.com
www.seether.com
www.skillet.com
www.halestormrocks.com
www.crossfadeband.com
www.artofdyingmusic.com
www.eyeempire.com
www.barrelheadband.com
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OCTANE OK
Academy 2, Birmingham
(23.02.11)
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 The crowd is filled with young teenagers ready for the high dosage of catchy, radio friendly power pop that will be coming their way. Squeezing five bands into a less than four hour time frame equals super quick change over’s which is in itself a pleasurable experience! In terms of quality the bill should have been shuffled around a bit though. That Sunday Feeling and main support Living In Hiding should have exchanged positions with openers Falling Faster and the second act Aces High – the latter definitely deserve to have been higher up the bill than they were. Nevertheless, Falling Faster prove to be a good appetiser, their up-tempo tunes including ‘I Saw This In A Movie’ and the Simple Plan-ish ‘That Girl’s Got Whoremoans’ go down a treat.
Local lads Aces High are up next. Singer Lewis Hemming has a captivating voice although he does appear to be a little unsure, awkward even, as he stands singing his heart out on stage while his band mates jump energetically around beside him. The quintet still deliver the tightest performance out of all of the supporting acts. Even after belting out half decent renditions (albeit quick snippets) of tracks by Paramore, Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy, it’s their own songs - ‘Traffic Lights’, ‘Drive’, ‘You’ and ‘California’ – which stand out. Aces High is a band to look out for. In all fairness That Sunday Feeling and Living In Hiding manage to keep the crowd suitably entertained. They each have a passable batch of songs, however - we may be being a little too harsh here - both bands sound like they would benefit from more practise, vocally at least. It’s when they start to dish out the cover versions that they show themselves up. With unpleasant results That Sunday Feeling attempt sound bites of Wheatus’ ‘Teenage Dirtbag / Cee-Lo Green’s ‘Forget You’ / Kings Of Leon’s ‘Sex On Fire’ / Bruno Mars’ – Just The Way You Are, while it takes a few moments to work out that the song being wailed by the Living In Hiding is Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’.
Moving on... swiftly. Tonight’s gig is Octane OK’s biggest headline show to date. Here in their hometown of Birmingham the rising stars receive a rapturous welcome from the sold out audience, and rightly so. Octane OK may be unsigned but they sound like they are destined for the big time; tantalizing the ears with extremely infectious power pop-rock anthems such as ‘Tear This Place Down’, latest single ‘Curtain Call’ and ‘Fly Again’. Throwing in some new material for good measure, the quartet dispense contagious melodies to a crowd who happily sing and bounce along. Instantly likeable and full of energy, Octane OK put on a great show even if it is all over way too soon with ‘Corner Man’ and ‘Take Take’ filling the encore. Hopefully we’ll be hearing more from these guys in 2011.
www.myspace.com/octaneok
www.myspace.com/livinginhiding
www.myspace.com/thatsundayfeelinguk
www.myspace.com/aceshigh89
www.myspace.com/fallingfasterband
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THE CRAVE
Tiger Please / 8th Time Luckie
The Flapper, Birmingham
(09.02.11)
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 8th Time Luckie step into action; showcasing their pop-rock-punk wares, the London trio are clearly influenced by bands such as Fall Out Boy and Blink 182. ‘The Other Side Of Nothing/We Are’ shows another side to 8th Time Luckie, the ballad-esque number stands out from some of the more disposable offerings. Just when you think these guys are on a winner they throw in a cover - ‘Promise This’ (the annoying hit from pop star Cheryl Cole), of all the songs...Thankfully they turn things back around with their final number ‘P.T.O’. There’s nothing original being handed out from 8th Time Luckie, nevertheless they do have some pretty catchy tunes and are entertaining enough to watch.
From Wales, Tiger Please have been making a name for themselves and it’s easy to see how they’ve gathered such backing from critics and fans alike. Presenting their music in a package of depth, character and vibrancy, Tiger Please are an interesting pleasure to the ears. ‘There’s No Hero In Heroin’ sees lead singer Leon Stanford starting the show off stage and in with the audience. Stanford’s powerhouse vocals instantly capture everyone’s attention. ‘Strawberry Moon’, ‘Autumn Came The Fall’ and other melodic offerings lifted from the debut ‘They Don’t Change Under Moonlight’ and current EP ‘Seasons’, appear to go down well with the crowd. The quintet deliver a new, untitled song as their parting gift; asking for suggestions on what the title should be proves to generate some funny and naughty banter so for now it remains: ’Untitled’. Stanford ends the song back in the audience armed with a drumstick and drum, he bashes the drum aggressively for a short while as the band continue to play. It certainly provides a novel way to end a set. Tiger Please are definitely ones to watch.
This gig belongs to The Crave though and this evening’s show at The Flapper sees the band in all their vigorous, rocking glory. From opening song ‘Set Me Free’ right until the closing notes of anthem ‘Cooking In The Kitchen’ play out, The Crave are out to give an energetic and memorable performance. Having recently unleashed their album ‘Breaking The Silence’, the band is kicking some ass with its material, providing the Birmingham audience with a good selection of charged, upbeat songs. The album’s title track is brought in early on, along with ‘High’ which receives the first round of audience participation as those near the front raise their fists each time the chorus kicks in. The beautiful delicacy of ‘Spinning Wheel’ supplies a moment of serenity which gets kicked back out when the catchy ‘Weight Of The World’ presents itself. The rousing ‘Mercenary Man’ is always relished; a feisty tune which assaults the ears in the best possible way! ‘The Stray’ may be an oldie but it still has a freshness about it, this is testament to the quartet’s ability to write great songs. All in all, a fun and enjoyable show for all involved. The Crave look set to have a promising future ahead of them and 2011 could see their career really start to take off.
www.thecrave.co.uk
www.myspace.com/tigerplease
www.8thtimeluckie.co.uk
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GOOD CHARLOTTE
Four Year Strong / Framing Hanley / The Wonder Years
O2 Academy, Bristol
(08.02.11)
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 What a night. The Kerrang! Relentless Energy Drink Tour 2011 rolls into Bristol, throwing one hell of a party. With an impressive line-up of bands no-one exits the Academy feeling short changed - hot, sweaty, exhausted and possibly suffering from a sore throat due to too much singing, maybe; but definitely not disappointed!
Kicking the festivities off is The Wonder Years. Playing a short but upbeat set, the Philadelphia crew’s positive pop-punk anthems garner a generous, well deserved, welcome from the Bristolian masses. Showcasing tracks from their album ‘Upsides’, The Wonder Years do a great job setting the mood for the rest of the evening.
Next up are Framing Hanley. From the moment the quintet step onto the stage, the crowd move closer together and things become more vigorous as ‘Lollipop’ brings in the madness. As the songs pour out and the adrenaline pumps, the crowd get crazier. The crazier they go the harder and crazier the band plays, resulting in a high-octane 30 minutes. Holding back on the pop-rock sensibilities which creep into some of the other songs, ‘The Fold’ and ‘Livin’ So Divine’ are delivered with aggressiveness and enough rawness to show that there’s more scope to Framing Hanley than some people give them credit for. The infectious ‘Back To Go Again’ and ‘Stupid Girl’ has the crowd clapping and singing along but it’s ’23 Days’ that rocks the house; the entire crowd jump up-and-down as if their lives depend on it. ‘Hear Me Now’ ensures the set finishes just how it started –blistering.
Continuing the insanity is Four Year Strong. With chants of ‘Four Year Strong’ prior to the band’s arrival on stage, you know that this band will be stirring up more bedlam. As ‘Tonight We Feel Alive (On A Saturday)’ breaks loose so do the crowd. While delights from current album ‘Enemy Of The World’ take up a bulk of the set, the heavier, punkier sounds of ‘Maniac’ and ‘Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die’ from ‘Rise or Die Trying’ are given an airing with great results. Songs such as ‘What The Hell Is A Gigawatt?’ and ‘It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now’ sees the audience furthering their efforts in showing off their vocal and pogo-ing abilities. “One more song! One more song!” rings around the venue as the band head backstage...It’s fair to say that Four Year Strong created friends rather than enemies here tonight.
 In theory, with the amount of effort and energy the sold-out crowd has been delivering throughout the evening, they should be worn out and voiceless by the time headliner’s Good Charlotte take to the stage. In practise, they appear to be louder and livelier, ready to show the California-based rockers what Bristol is made of. Old favourites ‘The Anthem’ and ‘Girls & Boys’ guarantee a frenzied start to the set. “I’ve got a feeling tonight’s gonna kill every other night on this tour” singer Joel Madden enthuses. As the show rolls on Madden may just be proved right; the crowd are in the mood to party and Good Charlotte seem more than happy to be the obliging hosts.
Every single fan, old or new, is catered for as Good Charlotte pick a great collection of songs from their back catalogue, spanning ten years, including: the chaotic ‘Little Things’, ‘The Young & The Hopeless’, ‘Predictable’, ‘Dance Floor Anthem’ and the contagious ‘Like It’s Her Birthday’. Both Joel and his brother – guitarist Benji – are very talkative; later Joel apologises for this, he has been ‘as sick as a dog’ during the tour. He reveals that his talking in-between songs buys time to save his voice when it’s been giving out. For most of part Joel does a superb job and, in all honesty, Joel and Benji’s bantering is humorous rather than annoying.
The energy levels do not seem to wane - songs like ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Girl’, an outstanding rendition of ‘The River’ and ‘I Just Wanna Live’ make sure of that. From latest album ‘Cardiology’, the sunshine melody of ‘Sex On The Radio’ proves to be a hit. With no encore, the band’s breakthrough single - ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous’ - is the party’s last dance. After the performance they have just given, it’s easy to see why Good Charlotte is still around after all these years. It may be Tuesday night but it felt like a Saturday inside the walls of the O2 Academy!
www.goodcharlotte.com
www.fouryearstrongmusic.com
www.myspace.com/framinghanley
www.myspace.com/thewonderyears
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TASTE OF CHAOS 2010
Featuring: Disturbed / Papa Roach / Buckcherry / Halestorm
UK TOUR
(December 2010)
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| It’s been a hectic but very enjoyable week or so for us here at Rock & Rose’s headquarters. We’ve been travelling around the country to see the Taste Of Chaos tour, featuring, what could possibly be the best Taste Of Chaos line-up yet: Halestorm, Buckcherry, Papa Roach and the mighty Disturbed.
The UK leg of the tour began on December 7th at the NIA in Birmingham. Shockingly the venue was far from full. It may have been the start of the week but surely that wouldn’t have been responsible for keeping gig goers away; perhaps it was the freezing cold weather. Thankfully as the tour rolled on - stopping in London, Plymouth, Glasgow, Manchester and finishing in Nottingham – the number in attendance increased.
 The first band to hit the stage each night is Pennsylvania’s Halestorm. “I’m in love...” front woman Lzzy Hale sings dragging out the end notes, “with somebody...”, Lzzy walks to the front of the stage with guitar and microphone in hand. Guitarist Joe, bassist Josh and drummer Arejay –who is dressed to impress wearing a skeleton face mask, sunglasses, a military style jacket decorated with badges and matching top hat – take their places and the quartet launch into the snarling ‘It’s Not You’.
After the harder hitting delights of ‘What Were You Expecting?’ and ‘Love/Hate Heartbreak’, Lzzy is handed a wine bottle - labelled ‘Poison’ - and glass, the singer raises a toast to the audience before launching into ‘Familiar Taste Of Poison’, slowing things down a touch.
Afterwards Arejay Hale performs an enjoyable drum solo during which he swaps his regular sticks for a giant pair, causing the crowd to laugh out loud as they clap along to the beat; he really is an entertainer behind the kit; his arms flay wildly, he tosses the sticks into the air or hurls them at a member of crew stood side stage, catching them as they are thrown back. The rest of the band return to the stage, bringing with them drums to perform their renowned Halestorm drum circle. In Nottingham, as a surprise end of tour treat, Buckcherry’s Xavier Muriel, Papa Roach’s Tony Palermo and Disturbed’s Mike Wengren take over from Lzzy, Joe and Josh while Arejay returns to his own kit and all four drummers perform together.
The crowd jump up and down as ‘Dirty Work’ kicks in before the raunchy ‘I Get Off’ brings Halestorm’s blistering set to an end. Judging by the reaction this band received night after night during this tour, their fan-base in the UK is sure to have multiplied.
Bringing some swaggering, no frills rock n’ roll to the bill, Buckcherry deliver songs about women, sex and drugs. The five-piece - fronted by the snake-hipped Josh Todd - give a great performance. Looking every inch the rock stars that they are, these guys ooze charisma on stage; with a tambourine slapping at his hip, lead singer Josh struts around bare chested displaying his heavy collection of tattoos. The party-like sleazy rock anthems come blasting through the speakers. The majority of the set is made up with tracks lifted off their latest album ‘All Night Long’, including the sexual ‘Oh My Lord’, ‘It’s A Party’ and ‘Dead’, which bring out catchy choruses and a fistful of attitude. However it’s the old favourites ‘Lit Up’ and, more so, ‘Crazy Bitch’ that capture the full attention and the biggest response from the crowd.
Next up are Papa Roach. Six long screens sandwich the drum kit, each displaying various graphics, colours and words throughout the course of 55 minute set. Getting their show off the ground with one of the newer pieces of material, the anthemic rocker ‘Kick In The Teeth’, Papa Roach appear to be a band on a mission – a mission to make sure every single person in the building goes home a Papa Roach fan. Putting 110% and then some into their performance, the Californian quartet energetically deliver an array of scorching numbers old and new: ‘Lifeline’, ‘Scars’, ‘The Enemy’, ‘Getting Away With Murder’; the crowd get well and truly stuck into the offerings and jump, clap and sway in all the right places. Singer Jacoby Shaddix knows how to work an audience even in big arenas, managing to get them to do what he asks without over playing the game.
The angry two fingered salute of ‘Hollywood Whore’ is amongst the highlights. Wrapping the set up with the hugely successful debut single ‘Last Resort’, the crowd go wild. It’s hard to believe that song is well over 10 years old, it still sounds fresh and exciting as it did all those years ago and the rabid reaction this song receives during the Taste Of Chaos tour is a testament to Papa Roach. As a band which has had more than a few dips along their career path, Papa Roach’s star is once again rising; live and loud they are an unstoppable force. Mission accomplished.
Love them or loathe them Disturbed are great at what they do and this has helped turn them into one of the most successful hard rock/heavy metal bands in recent years, with four out of five albums debuting at number one on the Billboard Charts. They are probably the least accessible band on this year’s Taste Of Chaos bill musically, assaulting ears with David Draiman’s unique growls and marking the songs with much darker, heavier riffs.
The lights go down and the screens at the back of the stage show an eerie film of frontman David Draiman lying in his cell inside an asylum, as a doctor is trying to rouse him David has flashbacks from his childhood torment. As the video rolls the band, except Draiman himself, start playing instrumental number ‘Remnants’; on cue, as the film depicts Draiman running to escape the asylum, the singer runs onto the stage and the band dive into ‘Asylum’.  Taking a trip back to the year 2000 for ‘The Game’, a song that is welcomed with open arms and clapping of hands. ‘Liberate’ also goes down a storm; the flashing images shown on the screens (which have been placed closer together to give the illusion of one big screen), portray a snowy / out of tune television picture. Bringing out their cover of Genesis’ ‘Land Of Confusion’ before the theatrical tones of ‘The Animal’ fill the air; returning to their more aggressive sound with the brilliant ‘Inside The Fire’, flames and smoke are shown on the screens, making you feel quite toasty even though there is not a real flame in sight! When each song crashes out into the open, whether it is about domestic abuse, insanity, relationships, politics or even religion, the heaviness is always entwined with a powerful melody; with David’s vocals adding a very theatrical approach in the way the song is carried, different dimensions are reached compared to on record.
The rousing fan favourite ‘Stupify’ and ‘Ten Thousand Fists’ indicates time for more audience participation; you can feel the energy. ‘Indestructible’ closes the main set but the band is not leaving just yet. The encore comes in the form of the incredibly immense ‘Down With The Sickness’, signalling a sing-a-long and a mass pogo-ing session to end a fantastic fun-filled night of rock. “My brothers, my sisters, my blood; we are...” Draiman says before the crowd join him in unison to conclude: “Disturbed”.
All four bands put a show to be proud of and although ticket sales may not have gone through the roof, this fifth Taste Of Chaos tour will certainly be one of the most memorable thanks to the great line-up and performances given each night. Looking forward to see if the organisers will be able to top this in 2011!
www.disturbed1.com
www.paparoach.com
www.buckcherry.com
www.halestormrocks.com
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KORN
Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
(09.10.10)
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 Competition winners Enemo-J fought off rivals to win this opening slot with Korn. Their ferocious blitz may have made their own adrenaline pump but they didn’t quite manage to have the same effect on the Wolves crowd. Fellow Brit metallers, the up-and-coming Rise To Remain, garner a better response in their aim to get the audience prepared for the Bakersfield headliners but it’s a DJ going by the name of Kid Knuckles who takes the stage by storm. Blasting out an array of crowd pleasing tracks from Drowning Pool, System Of A Down, Rammstein, Pantera, Disturbed, Slipknot and a whole lot more. The crowd absolutely love it! Singing, dancing and cheering – by the time he’s finished banging out the tunes Kid Knuckles exits leaving behind 3,000 hyped up revellers.
The eerie, soul bearing cry of ‘4 U’ ripples around the confines of the Civic Hall before Korn tear brutally into ‘Right Now’. With a 17 year career Korn have managed to continuously churn out Platinum selling albums, even though some have been better received than others. If you do not agree that their latest album - ‘Korn III: Remember Who You Are’ - reveals Korn to be back on top of their game then seeing them live should wash away any doubts. If this Wolverhampton show is a measure of how Korn have been performing throughout this Ballroom Blitz tour, well, it would be safe to say the band is better than ever! Frontman Jonathan Davis at times looks like a wounded animal as he moves around the stage, pouring his tortured heart and soul out through the lyrics. Davis puts his all into every song and seeing the singer lost in his own anguish, you can’t help but want to go and give him a big hug. ‘Coming Undone’ is split with a brief cover of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ before Ray Luzier has a good chance to display his skills on the huge drum kit he’s sat behind which has more symbols than you can shake a stick at, excuse the pun, during ‘Pop A Pill’. Tracks like ‘Here To Stay’, ‘Oildale (Leave Me Alone)’ and ‘Falling Away From Me’ keep the momentum going.
 Although in the past Korn have played arenas, it is in the smaller capacity venues such as the Civic Hall where the band’s intensity and vigour really does stand out – the energy in the room is immense, like feeling electricity running through your veins. Korn are captivating despite the fact that Jonathan Davis may not be the chattiest of frontmen and the band, as a whole, do not appear to interact with each other on-stage, preferring it seems to go into their own zone and get lost in the music, but when you see them perform you cannot help getting drawn in. Latest single ‘Let The Guilt Go’, oldies ‘Good God’, ‘Freak On A Leash’ and the killer ‘Blind’ are all delivered with such force and aggression, watching how Jonathan, guitarist Munky, bassist Fieldy and Ray individually release their emotions is magnetic.
The bagpipes are out for ‘Shoots And Ladders’ – the best nursery rhyme ever told; that song - along with ‘Clown’ - never fails, serving as a reminder of what great songs this band has produced, even during their early days. The brilliant ‘Got The Life’ closes Korn’s triumphant return to Wolverhampton.
www.myspace.com/korn
www.myspace.com/kid.knuckles
www.myspace.com/risetoremain
www.myspace.com/enemoj
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LIFEHOUSE
Shepherds Bush Empire, London
(04.10.10)
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 It’s been seven years since Lifehouse’s last visit to the UK, now they have returned for three back-to-back, sold-out shows at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire as part of their European tour. After being suitably warmed up following a noteworthy performance from Birmingham based rockers Mexicolas, the crowd are more than ready for Lifehouse take to the stage. “Hello there ladies & gentlemen, are you ready to rock?” sings Jason Wade as the headliners rip into their opening number, a rendition of Cheap Trick’s ‘Hello There’; an almighty cheer is the welcome response. In contrast to seven years ago the Lifehouse live experience in 2010 is much more enjoyable - the band’s stage presence has improved tenfold and their setlist isn’t overstuffed with slow songs which float wearily to a stock still audience. This time round Lifehouse are on fire, coming armed with an array of scorching songs and a compelling show that has you begging for more. The cracking ‘All In’ is the first of many up-tempo delights belted out including ‘Here Tomorrow Gone Today’ and ‘Spin’. Jason stops strumming during the intro to the stirring ballad ‘You And Me’; “It was here 8 years ago [it was actually 2003] we played this song in this building for the first time, before it was on radio, before anyone heard it...” the singer reminisces, “I’m just having a real crazy flash back right now!” he says before continuing with the hit song, creating a mass sing-along.
 Bass guitarist Bryce Soderberg steps up to take over lead vocals for the catchy ‘Wrecking Ball’ before Wade does a solo acoustic spot, performing snippets of songs - a few audience requested - from the band’s back catalogue. As the gorgeous ballad ‘Breathing’ strikes up another sing-along, the frontman looks genuinely taken aback: "What?!” he yells looking deliriously confused, “I didn’t know anybody knew that song. They told me that song was a total flop on the radio in the States...” Continuing his performance with more songs including ‘Blind’ and ‘Sick Cycle Carousel’ before drummer Ricky Woolstenhulme Jr. walks onto stage interrupting Jason’s medley to inform the singer that he ‘just wants to rock’. Cue Ricky heading to his drum kit to get things moving up a gear as he launches the band into ‘Wash’.
Anthemic pleasures ‘Hanging By A Moment’ and ‘First Time’ are more weighty in the live setting and they sound just perfect as they make their mark towards the end of the set. The only minor grumble about this show is the encore songs should have been swapped around to finish with the rockier ‘Halfway Gone’ as opposed to the slowness of ‘Everything’. That aside Lifehouse play a fantastic show and judging by the charged up crowd no-one exits the venue disappointed. Let’s hope the band do not leave it so long before they return to these shores again.
www.myspace.com/lifehouse
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LACUNA COIL
Slaves To Gravity
Sugarmill, Stoke-On-Trent
(01.10.10)
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Playing in front of a sold out crowd, London rockers Slaves To Gravity do their best in winning over Lacuna Coil’s fans with their brand of heavy, modern grunge rock. Delivering a good showcase of songs including: ‘Good Advice’, ‘Mr. Regulator’ and latest single ‘Honesty’ (lifted off their forthcoming ‘UnderWaterOuterSpace’ album). Bassist Toshi Ogawa encourages the crowd to clap along to the songs while Jason Bowld is all smiles as he rains heavy blows down on his drum kit. The members of Slaves To Gravity have been doing the rounds on the live circuit for years, their experience may have yet to pay off in terms of commercial success but in the live environment these guys are a tight live band and they look like they are still enjoying every second of being on stage. Lead singer Tommy Gleeson pours out every lyric with conviction and strength: “Are we gonna be alright...” he questions in ‘Honesty’ - by the end of their half hour time frame Slaves To Gravity, despite being somewhat lost in a fog of red lights, succeed in getting the crowd on their side. They will certainly be alright with shows like this under their belts. 2011 could well be the year of Slaves To Gravity – they’ve sure worked hard enough for it.
The intro tape rolls and the theatrical atmosphere creeps in. ‘Underdog’ rolls out like thunder. Lacuna Coil have been criticised by many of their supporters for leaning towards a more mainstream sound during their past two albums – 2006’s ‘Karmacode’ and in particular the latest effort ‘Shallow Life’; however, in the live setting tracks such as the up-tempo ‘Closer’, ‘I Won’t Tell You’ and ‘Survive’ kick as much ass as their predecessors’. The set is heavily laden with material from ‘Karmacode’ but the Italian six-piece throw out oldies ‘Honeymoon Suite’, the haunting ‘HalfLife’ and the atmospheric ‘Heaven’s A Lie’, all packing a mighty punch. Vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro work well together as a duo and while the beautiful Scabbia’s powerful set of lungs offer smoothness, Ferro’s harsher vocals give the songs their bite.
The flashing lighting strips at the back of the stage are a giveaway to the fact that Lacuna Coil are usually more accustomed performing in much bigger venues than the Sugarmill which holds 400 people; their epic sound certainly takes over the room with ease. Depeche Mode cover ‘Enjoy The Silence’ is a crowd pleaser. The intensity of ‘Swamped’ slips back to Lacuna Coil’s gothic side. ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Our Truth’ round off Lacuna Coil’s debut Stoke gig. There’s nothing like the intensity of a small venue where everyone present can feel part of the show; it has certainly been a night to remember for the band and fans alike.
www.myspace.com/lacunacoil
www.myspace.com/slavestogravityofficial
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ACEY SLADE & THE DARK PARTY
Scruffy Murphy’s, Birmingham
(26.09.10)
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 The Reptile House Tour 2010 rolls into Birmingham. It’s a Sunday night but Scruffy Murphy’s is bustling with a crowd ready for the party to begin. The host of the festivities is none other than the charismatic Acey Slade alongside his band – guitarist Andee, PerC on bass/keys and drummer Matt K. First up though are Jukebox Junkies; playing the kind of rock ‘n’ roll that makes toes tap and heads bob - their music is likeable and their vibe is enjoyably fun. A good appetizer.
Performing tracks from debut album ‘The Dark Party’ - out earlier this year on TrashPit Records – Acey Slade & the Dark Party tear up the tiny stage at Scruffy’s. The songs fill the room with their punk meets electronica rawness. A Marilyn Manson-esque ‘She Brings Down The Moon’ proves to be one of the highlight’s of the set although tracks such as ‘Nothings Gonna Change’ and the catchy ‘SugarCum’ are also attention grabbers. Acey dips into the past and brings Trashlight Vision number ‘Black Apples’ out to play – always a choice pick to please the crowd. Playing hard and rowdy the New York based rockers are fascinating to watch on-stage. Frontman Acey declares: “This is our sanctuary tonight; others might be at Church but we’re at Scruffy’s”, cue their blinding cover of The Cult classic ‘She Sells Sanctuary’.
Acey get’s some audience participation going during ‘Coming Down’, jumping up on the merch desk. “Can I get a ‘yeah’?” he sings, pointing the microphone in the direction of those standing in front of him before he walks round the crowd for other participants who are only to willing to contribute their vocals! The set closer is another cover, just for fun, this time Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ which gets the Acey Slade & the Dark Party treatment and what a fine job they do to.
Acey and his crew certainly managed to turn a Sunday evening into party night here in Birmingham.
www.myspace.com/aceyslademusic
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FRAMING HANLEY
Academy 3, Manchester
(21.09.10)
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 With up-tempo pop-rock tunes and their cover of Jason Derulo’s ‘In My Head’ going down a storm, Welsh quartet Brooke do a great job of winning over the Manchester crowd. Just Surrender receives the same enthusiastic response. Delivering songs from their new album ‘Phoenix’, the New Yorkers’ dose of catchy tunes appears to take effect; there is no doubt they have secured a few more followers here in Manchester.
Originally set to take place at the 200 capacity Roadhouse venue, unsurprisingly it had to be upgraded to the Academy 3 which sold out, along with a number of other dates of this tour, in no time. Indeed Framing Hanley’s trip to the UK is long overdue. ‘Bittersweet Sundown’ - from their latest studio effort ‘A Promise To Burn’ – kick-starts the rousing hour long set. The crowd jump vigorously in time with ‘WarZone’ and the blistering ’23 Days’. “You guys [the UK] are second to none at making us feel welcome”, frontman Nixon states sincerely to a chorus of screams and cheers.
A contagious ‘Back To Go Again’, the heartfelt ‘Fool With Dreams’ and an atmospheric ‘Photographs And Gasoline’ get an airing before guitarist Ryan Belcher has technical problems with his amp. After attempting to make small talk while waiting for the amp to be replaced, the Nashville five-piece are soon back on track with the stirring ‘You Stupid Girl’. ‘Hear Me Now’ closes the main set, leaving the crowd wanting more. Chants of ‘Hanley, Hanley’ strike up before the quintet return to the stage. ‘Built For Sin’ is sung back to the band word for word before a rip-roaring rendition of Lil’ Wayne’s ‘Lollipop’ ends the Framing Hanley takeover on a high. From the response received not only here in Manchester but during the previous UK shows, Framing Hanley’s debut overseas tour has proved to be well worth the wait.
Framing Hanley will be back in the UK and Europe with Good Charlotte next Jan/Feb. Check the band’s official MySpace for details.
www.myspace.com/framinghanley
www.myspace.com/justsurrenderrock
www.myspace.com/brookeuk
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THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS
House Of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ
(04.09.10)
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 To begin with Brisbane’s Violent Soho receive a mixed reaction from the audience. Reliving the 90’s grunge scene with their raw and distorted sound; the Aussie quartet gradually manage to turn things around and gain support. Violent Soho live up to the first part of their moniker – they may not be hurling punches physically but they throw out hefty, angst laden songs delivered with the forceful screaming vocals of Luke Boerdam. The snarling ‘Muscle Junkie’ is the set’s most dominate song. While Violent Soho may not be to everyone’s taste, they are certainly not a boring band to watch!
The adrenaline levels inside the House Of Blues rockets as Thirty Seconds To Mars take to the stage and dive straight into ‘Escape’. “Atlantic City, get up off your fucking feet” are the first words from frontman Jared Leto before launching into ‘Night Of The Hunter’. The mighty ‘Attack’ and ‘Vox Populi’ result in impressive sing-a-longs. Things appear to be going well but obviously not well enough for Leto who from this point on continuously stops and starts songs to berate the crowd, even picking out individual people to tell them what they should and shouldn’t be doing in order to enjoy the show. Later contradicting himself saying: “This is your show...” - guess this should mean people can enjoy it how they please? Aside from moments like this that wasted time and effort which could have been put into playing more songs, the band play an energetic set.  Guitarist Tomo Milicevic is always a bundle of liveliness, jumping around like crazy and rocking out to the max.
The commanding ‘This Is War’ - dedicated to the true believers - takes things up to the next level. Shannon Leto briefly exchanges his drum kit for a guitar as he performs the serene instrumental number ‘L490’. Then it’s time for Jared’s solo slot, where he presents acoustic renditions of ‘From Yesterday’, ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Capricorn’ - the only song to make it into the set from the band’s first album. Leto has a voice that can send shivers down the spine – when he’s singing the words and not screaming them.
'Closer To The Edge’ has taken on a life of its own since its release as a single. Not only do the band look like they are having the time of their lives with this one, the crowd do to. ‘The Kill’ keeps the momentum high before some lucky members of the audience manage to leap over the barriers or crowd surf their way to join the band on stage for the revelry of set closer ‘Kings & Queens’. On the whole it was a good enough show however we know Thirty Seconds To Mars are capable of doing much better.
www.thirtysecondstomars.com
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BON JOVI
Kid Rock
O2 Arena, London
(26.06.10)
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 Over the course of their 12 night residency at London’s O2 Arena, Bon Jovi has performed in front over 189,000 people. Night after night the New Jersey megastars have put on one hell of a show. The dazzling light display, the latest state of the art equipment and screens all make for the most fantastic viewing pleasure, but it’s the music that truly shines. Generations of fans unite as one to sing along to the old classics together with the newest material from ‘The Circle’. There is nothing that beats being at a Bon Jovi show on nights like this - they have always been one of the best live bands around and to this day this remains true; add Kid Rock to the bill and you know already to expect an evening of mind blowing entertainment.
Kid Rock comes on stage while the arena is still more than half empty, but this quickly changes and soon enough the seats are filled as people rush in to be bowled over by the Detroit rocker and his Twisted Brown Trucker band. Ripping straight into ‘Rock n Roll Jesus’ before the rather apt ‘You Never Met A Motherfucker Quite Like Me’. This guy is clearly a born entertainer; like a magnet people are drawn to him and he soon has the crowd in the palm of his hands, dancing and clapping along to the songs. The songs come in many forms, some rap-rock, others southern rock as well as “hillbilly” Country– Kid Rock has the ability to cover all these styles with an ease and coolness that you don’t see too often. “This ain’t no American Idol bullshit, this is American bad ass shit right here!” the singer declares.
Twenty five minutes later and the intro tape ‘This Is Our House’ rolls. Jumping out of their seats the crowd cheer wildly as the large screen moves downwards to block the front view of the stage. Words such as: Love, Anxiety, Relief and Hope spiral round and round on the screen, the screen lifts up as the first chords of ’Blood On Blood’ ring out. The anthemic ‘We Weren’t Born To Follow’ delivers a swift punch ready for a glorious sing-along to ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’. Jon Bon Jovi jokes: “The only American Idol you need to see is standing right here!” the crowd do not disagree. Tonight’s set list features a whole host of delights, with material spanning from 1986’s ‘Slippery When Wet’ through to current day. The quartet’s mission for the O2 shows was to perform 70 different songs; which found them reaching further into their back catalogue than on previous tours, pulling out songs that have not seen the light of day in quite some time including: ‘Wild Is The Wind’, ‘Hey God’, ‘It’s Hard Letting You Go’ as well as rarities like ‘Let It Rock’, ‘Love For Sale’, ‘Homebound Train’ (performed by guitarist Richie Sambora), ‘Santa Fe’ and ‘Blood Money’. The mission was completed this evening with ‘Blaze Of Glory’. The infectious ‘Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars’ has arms in the air, swaying from side to side.
 Towards the rear of the stage the smaller screens transform into steps for Jon to use during ‘We Got It Going On’, getting closer to the audience in the seating area behind the stage. During ‘Bad Medicine’ the Bon Jovi jukebox is fed a quarter and Kid Rock and his band join the headliner’s for an outstanding and infectious rendition of Bob Seger’s ‘Old Time Rock n Roll’. Lead guitarist Richie Sambora takes over vocal duties on ‘Lay Your Hands On Me’. Jon re-appears to perform the delectable ballad ‘Bed Of Roses’. The singer is joined up front by Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan (who is armed with an accordion), touring guitarist Bobby Bandiera and drummer Tico Torres for an acoustic performance of ‘Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night’. Then things are put back into a faster gear as the fist pumping ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Who Says You Can’t Go Home’ are belted out, and as always for the latter, the charismatic frontman effortlessly manages to get the crowd waving their arms high in the air a thousand and one times (that’s how it feels!), during the “It’s Alright” segment.
After almost 2.5 hours on-stage it’s time for the encore. ‘Have A Nice Day’ leads the charge. Bon Jovi’s National Anthem ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ signals a mass sing-along without the band for the first verse – it never fails to give you shivers to hear thousands of voices singing with so much enthusiasm. As Jon begins to break into ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, he looks out into the crowd, stops singing and turning to the band says: “Their not ready for that one yet...they want to hear ‘These Days’!” After a brilliant performance of ‘These Days’ Jon jokes with the crowd: “you’re not satisfied, you say you want more!?” He gives a grimacing smile as he begins to play guitar, “my fingers are cramped up!” The soppy ballad ‘(It’s Hard) Letting You Go’ and the uplifting ‘I Love This Town’ are brought into action before the finale ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ – a timeless song that has been raising the roof whenever it is heard for over 23 years and it certainly does not fail to do so this time round either. An unforgettable show from start to finish, Bon Jovi know how to make memories to treasure.
www.bonjovi.com
www.kidrock.com
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AEROSMITH
Airbourne
O2 Arena, London
(15.06.10)
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 Australian hard rockers Airbourne are undoubtedly delighted at supporting their heroes Aerosmith; the grins on their faces are huge! As the band deliver songs from albums ‘Runnin’ Wild’ and ‘No Guts. No Glory’, frontman Joel O’Keefe looks every inch a rock star as he prance’s around the stage, throwing in a few high kicks here and there. Airbourne look more than comfortable playing large arenas; by the time they exit the stage you get the feeling that they will be headlining these types of venues in the future.
This tour has been dubbed: Cocked, Locked, Ready To Rock. Ready to rock? Hell yeah - those inside the bustling O2 Arena certainly are. The curtain falls as ‘Love In An Elevator’ kicks in. The Boston five-piece unleash a set list that goes back to 1973. ‘Back In The Saddle’, ‘Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees)’, ‘Pink’, ‘Livin’ On The Edge’, ‘What It Takes’ all receive a great response from the crowd. Singer Steven Tyler wears an eye catching pair of silver trousers teamed with a flowing white shirt, completing the look is a large white hat and not forgetting that scarf draped microphone. Tyler’s trademark moves captivate as he makes the most of the walk-way that runs from the centre of the stage out into the audience, spending more time out there than on the main stage. Brandishing his guitar, side-kick Joe Perry still looks as cool as ever; later in the set he takes over lead vocal duties to perform a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Stop Messin’ Around’.
The staple of Aerosmith’s live show -‘Cryin’ and super ballad ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ are unsurprisingly two of the main highlights. The highly charged ‘Sweet Emotion’ and main set closer ‘Draw The Line’ leave the crowd craving more. Power-ballad ‘Dream On’, the infectious ‘Walk This Way’ and old favourite ‘Toys InThe Attic’ make up the encore. Before leaving the stage the band take a group photo with the audience behind them, which apparently will be used for the cover of their next album! Despite all the drama in the Aerosmith camp over the last year, Aerosmith appeared to be intact, having fun and working as a solid unit on-stage. Aerosmith are BACK and they sound as good as ever – let’s just hope they continue to stick around for some time yet.
www.aerosmith.com
www.airbournerock.com
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SWITCHFOOT
HMV Forum, London
(01.06.10)
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 Performing songs from their self-titled EP including: ‘Dumb & The Ugly’, ‘Take Back Away’ and ‘Nasty Habits’; New York trio The Audio Cartel’s rumbling bass lines, raging guitar licks and Jesse Hunter’s raspy vocals make for a intensely raw live show. Flood Of Red also deliver an energetic set; captivating the audience who eagerly clap along to the songs being played for them. The songs do seem to blend into one after a while but to watch the six-piece keep you adequately entertained, especially drummer Graham Griffith who manically beats the hell out of his drum kit throughout the entire set!
The crowd can no longer contain their excitement and it’s not long after Flood Of Red exit the stage that chants of ‘Switchfoot’ echo around the Forum prior to some impromptu singing of the intro ‘woah ohh’s’ of ‘Hello Hurricane’. As soon as the lights go down the cheers are deafening. “Hello Hurricane” we hear Jon Foreman say, he’s not on stage so where is he? Look up to the staircase at the side and there stands the Frontman. As ‘Needle In A Haystack Life’ kick-starts the action, Foreman clambers over the banister, climbing down to make his way onto the stage. The gritty single ‘Mess Of Me’ has fists punching the air while a joyful sing along occurs during up-tempo numbers ‘Stars’ and ‘Oh! Gravity’. There are plenty of numbers aired from the latest album ‘Hello Hurricane’ and they leave room for material from their back catalogue; hell the San Diego crew even throw in a cover of Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ for good measure! ‘Free’ and ‘The Sound’ are much heavier in the live setting, both powerful and poignant - “Love is the loudest song you’ll hear in your life” Foreman declares.
Seeing the interaction between Switchfoot and their audience wonderful to watch - the energy levels are spilling over at all sides. Never in one place for too long; especially Jon who runs around the stage, jumping on and off to greet fans at the front. ‘Awakening’ and ‘Meant To Live’ receive an extra rapturous response before an encore featuring the blistering ‘Hello Hurricane’ and set closer ‘Dare You To Move’.
What the people here in the Forum witness tonight is spellbinding, it’s not disposable, it is heartfelt and it is real. Switchfoot have forged a tight unity as a band; add to that the songs which are both soulful and uplifting and some kind of magic happens.
www.switchfoot.com
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WE ARE THE FALLEN
Kings College, London
(23.03.10)
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The tiny Kings College in London plays host for the world-wide live debut of We Are The Fallen. Comprising of ex-Evanescence members: guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray who are joined by bassist Marty O’Brien and American Idol finalist Carly Smithson. Needless to say this band has already caused a stir, receiving mixed opinions, within the online music community. Let’s push the past aside and focus on the here and now; this gig is about showcasing We Are The Fallen and what they have to offer.
If the quintet are nervous it certainly doesn’t show. Smithson’s shows off her vocal talent during the powerful ‘Without You’, competing well against the sound of the guitars and drums. The riffs roll out dark, muscular and heavy. Be it a ballad or one of the heavier, melodious tracks, each song holds an epic, theatrical sound wrapped in a haunting, gothic melody. Delivering an unexpected but rather good rendition of Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’, turning it into an atmospheric hard rock number.
Throughout the set the band exchange wide smiles with each other, it’s easy to see that after months of preparation they are extremely happy to be on-stage performing in front of an audience.
Not surprisingly its debut single ‘Bury Me Alive’ which receives one of the biggest reactions of the evening; “written about shitty friends” Smithson announces after they are done. It is a very brave – or very stupid - band who dares to cover the mighty Iron Maiden, but on this occasion some serious ass is kicked as We Are The Fallen belt out ‘Flight Of Icarus’. They love every second of it and so do the throng in front of them: “That’s for London!” the front-woman declares. ‘Through Hell’ and ‘Tear The World Down’ (the title track of the forthcoming debut) bring the show to an end.
We Are The Fallen look like a united unit, they sound like a united unit and hopefully they will go on to put their all into the band and rise above any criticism that will undoubtedly come their way. For a debut show this one went remarkably well – let’s hope there is more to come.
www.myspace.com/wearethefallen
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THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS
Street Drum Corps
Wembley Arena, London
(23.02.10)
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The United Kingdom, February 2010: Los Angeles trio Thirty Seconds To Mars launch their ‘Into The Wild’ World Tour. The band’s first ever arena headline tour includes a stop off at the prestigious Wembley – classed as the pinnacle venue for all bands to play on the arena circuit. Here they are; three years after their first European tour, who would have thought it. Question is can Thirty cut the grade in large venues such as this? Read on to find out.....
Brit rockers Lost Alone are no strangers to the Thirty Seconds To Mars crowd, having opened for them previously. Performing tracks such as ‘Blood Is Sharp’, ‘Unleash The Sands Of Time’ and ‘Standing On The Ruin Of A Beautiful Empire’ from their debut album ‘Say No To The World’, the trio manage to gain a few extra fans at least even if they didn’t win everyone over.
 Making friends and influencing people are California’s Street Drum Corps. The troupe fail to showcase their group drumming skills in full glory, which is a shame as this is where they excel as a band, but still they entertain the crowd with quirky numbers like ‘Knock Me Out Again’, ‘Little Ones’ and the catchy ‘Marry Me’. There are many happy faces during the Street Drum Corp’s set and although it may be the band’s first time in the UK, without a doubt it will not be their last. This crew are not your ordinary, everyday rock band but it’s certainly a case of once seen, never forgotten.
The crowd roar as the lights go down and shadows of the band standing in place form on the sheet shielding the view of the stage. ‘Escape’ echoes around the arena; “This is warrrrr...” the masses sing. The sheet floats down to the floor and Thirty Seconds To Mars begin the mayhem, with the Street Drum Corps standing waving flags proudly by their side. Breaking into ‘Night Of The Hunter’ then ‘Attack’, much to the delight of the Wembley crowd; singer Jared Leto’s newly acquired Mohawk is in place, where it manages to hold firmly in position throughout the show. Video stills are shown on the screens during ‘A Beautiful Lie’ and ‘From Yesterday’, both of these songs always sends the crowd into some kind of frenzy. Watching the energetic antics from both guitarist Tomo Milicevic and touring bassist Tim Kelleher creates a bonus boost of adrenalin. The atmosphere changes and lighters are held aloft as ‘Hurricane’ receives its debut performance - it sounds amazing live. In fact all the tracks performed from latest album ‘This Is War’ come across really well in the live setting. No surprise that the Summit pieces are sung by the audience, well they have a go at least – not all the gaps are filled in but hopefully by the time the trio return to these shores every ‘woah, woah’ will be sung to perfection!
 After a rousing rendition of ‘This Is War’, ‘L490’ sees drummer Shannon Leto come from behind his kit (which is positioned at the right-hand side of the stage rather than at the back) for his own brief stint, sitting on the edge of the stage playing acoustic guitar. A spotlight suddenly shines onto the tiered seating section towards the back of the arena where front-man Leto appears amongst the crowd to perform acoustic versions of ‘Capricorn’ and ‘Modern Myth’. Part way through Leto’s rendition of ‘The Kill’, the band emerge on a second stage at the back of the arena and start playing. The singer makes it through the crowd and onto the stage in time for some serious rocking out to ‘Buddha For Mary’ – with a dedication “for the old school crazy ones”.
Back on the main stage for the infectiously catchy ‘Closer To The Edge’. There’s a whole lot of stomping and clapping, with a little help from Street Drum Corps (who in fact have been a fairly big part of the show) for ‘Vox Populi’ and large white balloons are thrown out into the audience. Closing the show with ‘Kings and Queens’, for which a handful of fans are invited to join the band onstage. A massive and very enjoyable sing-along is delivered, ensuring the historic evening in the bands career ends on a high.
So to answer the question at the beginning of this review....yes they can. Thirty Seconds To Mars are more than capable and deserving of being arena rockers and they certainly looked like they were having the time of their lives – welcome to the club guys!
www.thirtysecondstomars.com
www.streetdrumcorps.com
www.lostalone.com
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NICKELBACK
Daughtry
Liverpool Echo Arena
(17.01.10)
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Chris Daughtry and his band kick start the evening in fine form, delivering an equal mix of tracks from their self titled debut and the stunning new album ‘Leave This Town’. ‘Every Time You Turn Around’ comes bursting out capturing the crowd’s attention instantly. The catchy melodies of ‘Ghost Of Me’ and ‘No Surprise’ continue the momentum. Daughtry can carry off performing in arenas; they certainly look very at ease in this kind of environment. Plenty of voices can be heard singing along to ‘It’s Not Over’ and set closer ‘Home’, so while Daughtry is not currently a household name in the UK it’s clear from the response received tonight that the band will have a decent sized fan base waiting for them when they return to these shores.
For headliners Nickelback this is the second European leg of the Dark Horse tour. Loud bangers and a blast of fireworks ensures that all eyes are focused towards the stage before the band make their entrance, breaking straight into the dirty ditty ‘Something In Your Mouth’. A montage of band and crew photos takes up the screen during the memory lane epic ‘Photograph’, snap shots of Liverpool landmarks and The Beatles bring cheers of delight.
 The stage has a walkway running into the centre of the arena. During ‘Figured You Out’ Frontman Chad Kroeger and guitarist Ryan Peake wander to the front of the walkway to have some call and answer fun with the crowd: “I say Nickel, you say Back!” the singer hollers, to which the audience duly comply. Kroeger is an extremely witty host; although he could do with some fresh material the humorous bantering in-between songs keep the mood light-hearted.
Beautiful ballads ‘Savin’ Me’ and ‘Far Away’ are followed by a very special treat - the first airing of Peake’s noteworthy rendition of Flock Of Seagull’s ‘I Ran’. While lead single from ‘Dark Horse’ - ‘Gotta Be Somebody’ - is stunning live; a blistering, catchy as hell rock anthem.
The band gather and take a seat at the front of the walkway where a drum kit has appeared from underneath; performing: ‘If Today Was Your Last Day’ and the mega-hit ‘Rockstar’ before heading back to the main stage with more antics for the crowd; crew members are brought from behind the scenes to shoot merchandise from air rifles as the band jam Metallica’s ‘Sad But True’.
More flamethrowers and fireworks during the highly energetic rocker ‘Burn It To The Ground’ before the drum platform slides forward as drummer Daniel Adair begins his impressive solo slot. The kit rises and rotates as Adair gets busy pounding rhythms on the drums and twirling his sticks.  Panic rises when the platform fails to slide back into position by the time the rest of the band return to the stage, the problem is soon solved and the band launch into crowd pleaser ‘How You Remind Me’.
Guitar tech Timmy Dawson and Kroeger deliver a teaser of Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead Or Alive’ before the band break into ballad ‘Someday’. Rounding the festivities off with a pyro filled ‘Animals’. Nickelback may not be the critic’s favourites, but these guys always put on one hell of a show and you cannot argue with that.
www.nickelback.com
www.daughtryofficial.com
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MOTLEY CRUE
Greatest Hits
(Eleven Seven)
Motley Crue has once again re-released a limited quantity of their back catalogue including this ‘Greatest Hits’ package. Featuring 19 career spanning tracks, taking you back to the early days of ‘Too Fast For Love’ and guiding you through to the 2008 release of ‘Saints Of Los Angeles’, ending with a remixed version of ‘Animal In Me’.
Stuffed with vintage anthems ‘Shout At The Devil’, ‘Wild Side’, ‘Girls, Girls, Girls, ‘Dr. Feelgood’, ‘Kickstart My Heart’ and more. The collection showcases the energy, the spark and the attitude of these 80’s hell raisers and is a perfect package for any casual Crue fan who may not have the original versions or for those who may have only recently started to discover the band - nodding towards the younger generation of rock fans here - and want an introduction to what Motley Crue is all about.
‘Greatest Hits’ is available on December 5th 2011
www.motley.com
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THE WHISKEY SYNDICATE
Stick Or Twisted?
(At The Eye)
What we have here is some solid old school rock n’ roll. Think Motorhead, AC/DC and the ilk and you’ll be pretty close to The Whiskey Syndicate. The British quartet, from Wolverhampton, has been building up a reputation on the live circuit since 2004. They’ve played shows with The Answer, Blaze Bailey, Voodoo Six and many more top acts. These Black Country rockers have also ventured Stateside, winning over crowd’s when they toured with Tattooed Millionaires.
The three songs on this digital only release ‘Stick Or Twisted?’ EP possess plenty of dirty guitar riffs, whiskey drenched gravelly vocals and an amalgamation of 70’s hard rock, punk and an atmosphere that enables your imagination to take you to a dingy back street bar, having fun with friends while soaking up some rock n’ roll.
‘Stick Or Twisted?’ EP is available digitally now
www.thewhiskeysyndicate.com
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RHODE ISLAND RED
Kerosene
Describing their musical style as ‘pop music in a hard rock jacket’ and listing their influences as Nickelback, The Cult, Garbage and Foo Fighters means you already conjure up an idea of what type of rock category London-based Rhode Island Red will fall into. However, with the exception of Garbage’s feistiness none of those influences appear in the forefront of this quintets sound. Instead there is an 80’s feel to each of the EP’s three songs, courtesy of the cracking guitar licks and the powerful vocals of front woman Lyla D'Souza. Bringing plenty of attitude and grit to the table is ‘Kerosene’ and ‘Beige’; while the former has a seductive tone the latter is angry and hostile. As the succulent ballad ‘Stalemate’ comes to an end you are left eager to hear more. Let’s hope Rhode Island Red can produce an album’s worth of top tunes like these, it will be one hell of a debut if they succeed!
‘Kerosene’ EP is available on iTunes now
www.rhodeislandred.co.uk
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KYNG
Trampled Sun
(Realid)
Drawing from their influences of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age, a Californian trio going by the name of Kyng have assembled a collection of songs which will tickle the fancy of anyone who enjoys sludgy hard rock.
‘Trampled Sun’ is the title given to Kyng’s debut effort. The 12 grunge streaked tracks is led by the powerful vocals of Eddie Veliz and delivers dirty guitar riffs by the bucket load. A decent enough debut however it all sounds very familiar – Soundgarden is one of the first bands who spring to mind as the music pours out. While songs such as ‘Falling Down’, ‘Takes Its Toll’ or ‘I Don’t Believe’ offer nothing fresh to the ears, you will find your listening pleasure does intensify with each listen.
‘Trampled Sun’ holds some solid and likeable songs but there is nothing here to really wow you. Worth giving a spin, although it’s hard not to feel that Kyng have missed a boat which set sail 20 years ago which is a shame.
‘Trampled Sun’ is available on September 27th 2011
www.facebook.com/KyngRocks
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BURN HALO
Up From The Ashes
(Rawkhead)
Fronted by ex-Eighteen Visions founder and Frontman James Hart, Burn Halo has developed into a band who mean business, a band who want to deliver a fist full of straight down-the-line rock n’ roll which is easy to grasp, kicks a lot of ass while keeping its integrity intact.
‘Up From The Ashes’ is the follow-up to Burn Halo’s 2009 self-titled debut and it’s pretty fair to say that Hart and co have upped their game on this release, subtlety incorporating an array of rock styles to give you an album that has quality stamped on it from start to finish.
Opening track ‘Tear It Down’ comes out kicking and screaming; begging, no, demanding your attention. Throughout the album you will get strong whiffs of Buckcherry and Velvet Revolver as gritty rock n’ roll gushes out. You will also catch an early Guns n’ Roses vibe when you listen to the balls to the wall delight ‘Stranded’ and the slower, confessional strain of ‘Threw It all Away’.
Beginning with an epic guitar intro, the kind you would expect from Metallica, ‘Dakota’ turns into the heaviest and angriest sounding track present. The appealingly catchy ‘Stuck In A Rut’ is easy to relate to; the radio-friendly melody and sleek guitar work immediately cements itself into your brain.
This time Burn Halo got it just right. If you have not done so already, do yourself a favour and get yourself acquainted with ‘Up From The Ashes’ now.
‘Up From The Ashes’ is available now.
www.facebook.com/burnhalo
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EGYPT CENTRAL
White Rabbit
(Fat Lady Music)
Produced by the Grammy award winning Skidd Mills (Saving Abel, Skillet), ‘White Rabbit’ is a radio-ready release comprising of some pretty decent melodic and hard rock offerings that will send the radio airwaves into a spin given half the chance. The Memphis quartet may be on the generic side but there are plenty of people who will lap this up no matter how many times they’ve heard it all before.
Latest single ‘Kick Ass’ does exactly that; a fist in the air rocker, taking no prisoners. The subject matter over the course of ‘White Rabbit’ is a little dark: dealing with drug addiction, regret, broken relationships...all poured out, letting the pain and anger seep through as the band exorcise their demons.
As their highly anticipated sophomore album ‘White Rabbit’ has proven to tick all the right boxes and Rock & Rose think it’s about time the UK catch up and catch on to the world of Egypt Central.
‘White Rabbit’ is available now.
www.egyptcentral.net
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9 LEFT DEAD
The Wrong Things
(Dirtbag)
Early last year Nine Left Dead beat off stiff competition to win a competition to find the best local band in Oklahoma. Their prize included a developmental record deal with Dirtbag/ILG/Warner and the opportunity to be one of the first bands to record at the studio owned by Hinder’s Cody Hanson. Now Nine Left Dead are ready to unleash the outcome of their debut effort ‘The Wrong Things’. Produced by Hanson and Marshall Dutton, the album is filled with hard rock delights.
Opening with the beefy ‘Put Your Guns Down’, a song based on an incident which occurred with an inmate during singer Travis Jones’ time working as a prison guard. Oozing attitude and a catchy chorus, it’s no surprise it’s already starting to spread like wildfire on rock radio in the US.
Crossing into the rap territory ‘Bad Girl’ is a strip club anthem in the making while ‘Don’t Let The Door Hit Ya’ seemingly draws influence from Nickelback, Theory Of A Deadman and the ilk. Giving The Doors’ ‘People Are Strange’ a contemporary make-over, turning it into a heavier and more up-tempo song; Nine Left Dead have done a really good job with their rendition, they have even managed to maintain the quirkier characteristics of the original.
Soaring melodies, sleek guitars and smooth, powerful vocals on songs such as ‘Freak In Me’, ‘Like The Movies’, ‘In Their Lies’ and ‘The Tracks’ are not so subtle hints that the five-piece will be hitting the mainstream quite hard. Rock & Rose has the feeling that Nine Left Dead have not yet reached their full potential but for now they have a decent debut under their belt and one they should be proud of.
’The Wrong Things’ is available September 27th 2011
www.facebook.com/9leftdead
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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Dead Throne
(Ferret)
The Devil Wears Prada has taken the heaviest element from last year’s ‘Zombie’ EP and ran with it, resulting in ‘Dead Throne’ being the Ohio sextet’s most brutal sounding record to date. The lyrical theme that crops up is based on anti-idolatry. With titles such as: ‘Born To Lose’, ‘Pretenders’ and ‘Vengeance’ you can expect to hear quite a bit of venom: “Is this what you’ve worked for? Running your false empire to the ground; what is this substance that made your very own morals change?” on ‘Vengeance’ is just a taster.
The riffs are muscular and vocalist Mike Hranica screams, at times, are ear-bleeding. Thankfully the band has kept hold of some melody, you’ll hear an injection of that within songs such as ‘Mammoth’, ‘Vengeance’, ‘My Questions’, ‘Constance’ and ‘Holdfast’.
It’s obvious that The Devil Wears Prada pushed themselves during the making of ‘Dead Throne’, it certainly displays an evolution of the band; it’s as if they have found their feet musically. It does sound a little repetitive in places but no doubt you will love this album if you are already a fan of The Devil Wears Prada and the metalcore genre, however, if you are not it’s unlikely you will be won over.
‘Dead Throne’ is available September 12th 2011
www.tdwpband.com
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ABUSED ROMANCE
Shine
(Freeway)
‘Shine’ is the corking debut from California-based Abused Romance. Touted as one of the hottest new bands on the scene, Abused Romance certainly look set to cause a stir. The well-chosen album title is representative of its 12 songs which are well crafted, well produced, melodious pop infused rock. Whether it’s the radio-friendly hooks of ‘Vaporize’, the urgency of ‘Overcome’ or the uplifting ‘Fell In Love’, there is at least one song on here that will stir something inside of you.
Check out the great guitar work in an instrumental segment leading the way to the slow burning, composed yet powerful beauty ‘Shine’. The aforementioned instrumental stands apart from anything else on the album, it’s loud and feisty! It shows that there is a heavier side to Abused Romance just waiting to leap out and that’s not a bad thing, the Hollywood trio should consider letting loose every now and again. There really are some cracking moments on ‘Shine’; as its silky tones wrap around you ‘Shades Of Grey’ offers a familiar feel, giving you a sense of security.
There is no excuse whatsoever for you not to get your ears wrapped around ‘Shine’ because they are giving this gem away - literally; yes that’s right it’s yours for free. Just head on over to the bands website and download it now www.abusedromance.com – you will not regret it.
If you like what you hear there is a Special Edition CD available for purchase Here
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TURN OFF THE SUN
Armour Plated Tongue
‘Armour Plated Tongue’ is the fourth EP from Birmingham band Turn Off The Sun. Having formed in 2009, the five-piece have already scored themselves some decent exposure, with radio airplay all over the UK and Europe as well as in Japan, USA and Canada. They are now hoping that ‘Amour Plated Tongue’ will capture the ears and the hearts of an even larger audience.
Turn Off The Sun pen raw, heart-on-sleeve, alternative rock songs. ‘Let The Right One In’, ‘Cardiac’ and ‘Embers’ have intensity and while they do not bear an instantly obvious commercial sound, the more you hear these songs the deeper they imbed themselves into your head. If captured at the right time any one of these numbers has the ability to take Turn Off The Sun on to the next level of their musical career.
‘Armour Plated Tongue’ is available September 5th 2011
Download single ‘Let The Right One In’ free.
www.facebook.com/turnoffthesun
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BOBAFLEX
Hell In My Heart
(Megaforce)
Not long after the release of their second TVT Records outing ’Tales From Dirt Town’ West Virginia’s Bobaflex were faced with the hard task of freeing themselves from a bank who took automatic ownership of artists recording rights after TVT went bankrupt in 2008. After almost two years of fighting Bobaflex were finally able to record freely again and now they are coming at you all guns blazing with ‘Hell In My Heart’. Starting with an intriguing intro of a death-bed request, reiterated in the gritty anthem ‘Bury Me With My Guns On’. There are a number of topics covered throughout the songs: drugs, rape, revenge, love, hate...Murderdolls-esque ‘Chemical Valley’ is a blistering, face-paced punk / sleaze feast; the song is about having it all in life: a good job, family, friends...then ending up with nothing after turning to drugs.
Sharing vocal duties are brothers and founding members Shawn and Marvin Marvin McCoy, this makes an interesting listening experience. Singing about life in band ‘Last Song’ shows the reality of trying to strive in the music industry. The infectious melody of ‘Hate You’ requires you to crank up the volume; it’s a stomping sing-a-long gem and is a perfect stress reliever.
‘Hell In My Heart’ is well worth getting your hands on, it won’t be hell in your ears that’s for sure, especially if you like your music with a down and dirty, raw rock n’roll vibe.
‘Hell In My Heart’ is available August 30th 2011
www.theofficialbobaflex.com
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ADAKAIN
Silhouette Of Lies
Hard-working Texan rockers Adakain are destined to grab a piece of mainstream success. Their music is a nicely polished slice of hard-hitting, melodic, radio-friendly rock. The ‘Silhouette Of Lies’ EP - produced by Travis Wyrick (10Years) - is the follow-up to the quartet’s 2008 debut album ‘Together In The Heart’. Opening number ‘Sky Is Falling’ captures your attention, gripping your ears as it soars powerfully with determination. It’s as if Adakain have been replaced by a different band when ‘Distant Eyes’ rolls by; one of the huge bonus points about this release is not one of the songs sound the same, this makes a refreshing change. The smooth vocals of Travis Buck are delivered with enough edge to keep the songs from being too glossy.
Telling the tale of a girl who has gone off the rails the brilliant ‘Good Time Girl’ mixes heavy riffs with pop-rock harmonies. Songs that show the softer side – ‘Distant Eyes’, ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Change’ - reveal more vulnerability. ‘Change’ is an inspiring slow number which has elements reminiscent to Aussie rockers Silverchair. All-in-all ‘Silhouette Of Lies’ is a pleasure to listen to and it showcases the potential for Adakain to become bona fide stars of the future.
‘Silhouette Of Lies’ EP is available on iTunes now.
www.facebook.com/adakain
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HEART-SET SELF-DESTRUCT
Of Nightmares
(Soundmine Music Works)
The songs on ‘Of Nightmares’ are based on real-life experiences of Chicago four-piece Heart-Set Self-Destruct. The album carries a dark and angry mood. Combining hard rock and powerful melodies rarely fails when it comes to winning formulas although ‘Of Nightmares’ does tend to sound unvaried, especially upon initial listen. Stick with it though because there are individual songs which slowly begin to shine through in their own right: ‘Burn The Sky’, ‘Divide’ and the fiery ‘Lie To Me’ are bitterly intense and are among the first tracks to stand-out from the pack. First single ‘Monster’ is a typical melodic, mainstream radio rock anthem, its melancholic lyrics carried by a soaring chorus.
It may not offer anything different from hundreds of other radio-bothering US heavy rock bands but ‘Of Nightmares’ is definitely worth a chance; it could easily help Heart-Set Self-Destruct on their way to become major players in the rock world.
‘Of Nightmares’ is available August 23rd 2011
www.facebook.com/heartsetselfdestruct
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EMPHATIC
Damage
(Atlantic)
Emphatic definition: 1: uttered with or marked by emphasis 2: tending to express oneself in forceful speech or to take decisive action 3: a six-piece rock outfit who have been causing a stir within their home turf of Omaha, Nebraska since their independent self-titled debut in 2005; looking set to take on the rest of the world in the near future.
Emphatic are about to unleash their major label debut -‘Damage’. Produced by Howard Benson and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge –you can now take a guess that this package will come primed for commercial success; Benson and Lord-Alge are the dream team for radio friendly rock. Of course it’s not that easy, the bands the duo team up with have to give them something half decent to work with in the first place and Emphatic have certainly done that. Crafting songs which allow them to cross different territories within the rock genre: alternative, hard, melodic, Emphatic deliver a fairly diverse album with an aim to please more than one type of rock fan. Lead singer Patrick Wilson’s voice has a raspy edge to it, allowing the underlying grittiness that features in the band’s sound to break through within each song. Lead single ‘Bounce’ is the track which stands out instantly, it may be a tad generic but you’ll soon find yourself being dragged along with the infectiousness of this dirty anthem. However ‘Damage’ is not a one song wonder, the material which greets you on this release is solid enough for you to want to hear it some more. Tracks like ‘Do I’, ‘Get Paid’ and ‘Original Sin’ carry forceful melodies, the latter is the album’s heaviest track alongside ‘Beg’ which is very Rob Zombie-esque in places and it sounds great! ‘Put Down The Drink’, ‘Place To Fall’ and ‘Tonight’ are pieces of heartfelt balladry. From start to finish there is not a bad song on ‘Damage’, so our guess is this will not be the last time you’ll be hearing about Emphatic – these guys are gonna be big.
‘Damage’ is available July 12th 2011
www.emphaticrock.com
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OH NO FIASCO
Oh No Fiasco
(Fiasco Entertainment)
Introducing you to the debut from Tennessee five piece Oh No Fiasco… Labelled as ‘dance-rock’, Oh No Fiasco’s music bursts with colour; it is adept enough that it will be able to attract the attention of fans from a range of musical genres. The five-piece - fronted by Lindsey Stamey – will no doubt be spending a lot of time dodging the comparison to Flyleaf, but while there are vocal similarities, Oh No Fiasco should definitely not be written off as Flyleaf mark II. The electronic beats of ‘Stand In Lover’ and the first single ‘Where You Used To Be’ show off Stamey’s vocal capabilities; out of the seven tracks these two have the strongest ‘rock’ presence. Both have the capacity to take Oh No Fiasco to a commercial level along with the radio-friendly ‘Fly Me To The Moon’, a song which is quite Katy Perry-ish, holding a catchy melody which will undoubtedly strike a chord with pop lovers.
This self-titled is worth a listen. The potential is there for this band to make their mark on the music scene and they could certainly dip their toes in numerous genres and get away with it.
‘Oh No Fiasco!’ is available May 10th 2011
Amazon (UK)
Amazon (USA)
www.ohnofiasco.com
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SIXX:A.M.
This Is Gonna Hurt
(Eleven Seven)
Following in the footsteps of their successful debut ‘The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack’, Sixx:A.M. have another stunning concept album in ‘This Is Gonna Hurt’. Once again, as with the debut – the music is a soundtrack to an accompanying book ‘This Is Gonna Hurt: Photography and Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder; it’s true. What is beauty? Is it what you see on the outside of a person or do you look for what’s within the person before you decide whether they are truly beautiful? The ‘This Is Gonna Hurt’ package challenges people to look at their perception of beauty.
Opening with a direct punch that is the title track before the powerful ‘Lies Of The Beautiful People’ continues with the message: “if you think real beauty on the outside, well that’s a far cry from the truth. Maybe all the information you receive, you should not believe, there’s no proof.” The anthemic ‘Are You With Me’ is a call to arms; throwing down the gauntlet, daring listeners to look outside of the box inside their head and ‘find the places that scare you’. Despite the serious topic, these songs carry catchy riffs and impressive melodies which contain just the right blend of sounds - balancing in heaviness, sleazy-glam and modern rock.
James Michael’s vocals on ‘Oh My God’ give the song a U2 vibe and the epic, soaring guitar solo is brilliant - bringing in an essence of the 80’s. Michael’s uses a quivery tone in his voice reminiscent of Matt Bellamy, during ‘Goodbye My Friends’ making it very Muse-esque. The poignant closing number - ‘Skin’ – is a beautiful, slow piano driven number. It’s a tear-jerker and drives the message of ‘This Is Gonna Hurt’ home. The lyrics are inspiring and a reminder not to judge people – it really isn’t how the person looks on the outside that counts but what’s on the inside. All in all Sixx:A.M. have another hit on their hands, this soundtrack is honest, intriguing and inspirational.
This Is Gonna Hurt’ album is available May 3rd 2011
‘This Is Gonna Hurt: Photography and Life Through The Distorted Lens Of Nikki Sixx’ is available now
www.sixxammusic.com
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ART OF DYING
Vices and Virtues
(Reprise)
At last it’s here....The major label debut from Art Of Dying. The initial concern is seeing nearly half the tracks listed featured on the band’s 2006 self-titled album, surely the band should have more than enough new material? But wait; hold on a minute...the ‘old’ favourites have been reworked and re-recorded and they sound damn good. More textures and additional harmonies have been added to the songs and although we loved them just the way they were - ‘Get Thru This’, ‘Completely’, ‘I Will Be There’, ‘You Don’t Know Me’ and ‘Raining’ (formerly 'Inside It's Raining') - you’ll see they are pretty impressive here to. All have softer, smoother and more polished tones and dare we say it? More radio friendly. Adam Gontier (Three Day's Grace) contributes his vocals on 'Raining'.
Opener 'Die Trying' is a real powerhouse, you can feel the emotion seeping through every word. With the grit 'n' coarseness gone from the Art Of Dying sound, 'Whole World's Crazy' is probably the album's rawest sounding track; a story telling social commentary. The touching, heartfelt ballads 'Sorry', 'Best I Can' and 'Breathe Again' are delivered perfectly; the melodies, the lyrics...pure magic.
‘Vices and Virtues’ has been a long time coming but it does not disappoint*. Produced by both Howard Benson and Disturbed's Dan Donegan, every song on here is worthy of being a hit single, no fillers can be found and that's a fact. ‘Vices and Virtues’ is a powerful modern rock masterpiece which you will enjoy listening to over and over again. Truly one of the best releases you'll hear all year, go get it for your collection now!
*Even though the song ‘Everything’ didn’t make the cut; hmm... Maybe it’ll pop up as a bonus track on the UK edition, a B-side, a free download!?
Vices and Virtues available now on iTunes and Amazon
www.artofdyingmusic.com
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Book Review
EMMA SCOTT
Break Your Band ( A Guide To Getting Radio Airplay)
With a 23 year career in radio, including a successful 5 year stint at Kerrang! Radio, Emma has received hundreds of demos from bands wanting radio airplay. ‘Break Your Band (A Guide To Getting Radio Airplay)’ is Emma’s first book; it features extremely useful advice and insider tips for any band thinking of submitting their demo to local and national radio stations. If you are in a band then this guide is essential reading. You will learn how to approach stations, what to include in a perfect press pack, guidance on which tracks to send, how to conduct yourselves in radio interviews and more. Emma says: “I guarantee any band who read the book and who follow my guidelines will get radio airplay – as long as their music is good, that is!” The book features some great quotes from Kurt Cobain, Hunter S Thompson, Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello and Lou Reed, which help show what the music industry is really like.
The book has a RRP price of £14.99 and will be available on Amazon next month but you can go and buy it now from Emma’s shop: www.emmascott.bigcartel.com (hint: it’s currently at sale price so save some money while you can and you’ll be able to buy more stamps to send off even more press packs!).
There is set to be another two books released in the ‘Break Your Band’ series. The second, which Emma is currently working on, will be: ‘A Guide to Getting Gigs and Keeping Them!’ with the third to follow: ‘Get Earning From Your Music’. In February Emma started running the Break Your Band Music Industry Seminars. There will be more to come so keep your eyes peeled on the Break Your Band website.
If you are in a band and interested in playing at a future Emma Scott Presents...gig please head over here for more information.
www.breakyourband.co.uk
www.emmascottpresents.co.uk
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GUNDOGS
Little Deaths
(In At The Eye)
‘Little Deaths’ is the debut album from Midlands quartet Gundogs. It’s the kind of album you do not mind having on repeat; even numerous listens after being on loop for some time the songs on ‘Little Deaths’ do not get tedious to hear. Influenced by Nirvana, Pixes, Prince, PJ Harvey and many more, Gundogs deliver alternative rock numbers with the beautiful vocal harmonies from frontwomen Maria and Leila. There is delicacy snaking the roughness which whirls around within each song. ‘Call Out My Name’ and ‘This Is My Melody’ are stand-out tracks, with a harder rocking edge these are ballsy and in-your-face. ‘Waiting For The Rain’ is capable of bringing shivers as it carries in a tender air, slowly building up in power while retaining the poignancy. The aggressive tones of ‘Get Up (The Fire & The Flood)’ ensures that the song doesn’t go unnoticed. The Veruca Salt-ish ‘Constant As The Sun’ closes ‘Little Deaths’ in fine style, its melody drifting sweetly through your speakers.
Gundogs may not have a commercial sound but this debut will be right up your street if you like any of the artists mentioned in this review, or why not just head over to the band’s site to hear for yourselves....
www.myspace.com/gundogs
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WAKE UP CALL
Wake Up Call
Compared to many DIY efforts, both the sound quality and packaging of this EP is notably good. This perhaps should not come as a surprise, with band members who have been part of the underground rock scene in Italy for years in other bands, WakeUpCall have obviously taken note of the experience and knowledge they’ve picked up. WakeUpCall’s self-titled EP, produced by Beau Hill (Europe, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton) and Maurizio Baggio, contains five tracks: ‘Revolution’, ‘The Devil’s Round’, debut single ‘Before I Fall’, ‘Here To Stay’ and ‘Full Of Regrets’. Described as “a mix of passion for rock, with hundreds of different shades...” the songs are melodic hard rock with the ability to make your toes tap in an instant. Tommy’s vocals add an element of rawness which curbs WakeUpCall’s music from heading too far into the pop-rock genre. There is not one track on here that you are tempted to skip, this EP is certainly worthy of lending your ear and 20 minutes of your time to.
‘WakeUpCall’ EP is available now at:wakeupcall.bigcartel.com or iTunes
www.myspace.com/wakeupcallmusic
www.facebook.com/wakeupcallrock
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THE CRAVE
Breaking The Silence
Fans and soon-to-be-fans of rising stars The Crave will be delighted with this gem of an album. Packed with plenty of rock anthems fit for an arena, the songs are delivered with a classic rock inspired sound brushed with a contemporary coating. From the moment you press play and opener ‘Cooking In The Kitchen’ kicks in, you will be hooked. The songs continue to tumble out carrying radio friendly melodies and sleek guitar licks. The title track – ‘Breaking The Silence’ - is one of the many highlights; it’s the band’s battle cry. Lyrically and musically powerful, it serves as a reminder to never give up the fight. Fans of the band will already be familiar with a good handful of the songs held on this album. Some of the songs come across much lighter on record than they do in the live environment where the same songs come across heavier, ballsier; this is by no means a criticism merely an observation.
Ballads include: ‘Surrender & Retreat’, the delicate acoustic affair ‘Spinning Wheel’ and the Feeder-esque ‘High’. The latter is a soaring ballad and has been a true staple in the band’s live set. It’s the oldest number featured on here in terms of when it was written, but it certainly blends snugly in with remainder of the album tracks. ‘All Of You’ and the extremely catchy bite of ‘Mercenary Man’ bring ‘Breaking The Silence’ to a close. It’s a great debut. The Crave’s music has the ability to win over audiences from different genres of the rock world, they have proved this already. Buy it, turn it up loud, break the silence!
‘Breaking The Silence’ is available February 7th 2011
www.myspace.com/thecraveband
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ARMONIGHT
Suffering and Passion
(Heart Of Steel)
Within the last ten years there have been a good number of female fronted gothic bands successfully breaking through into the metal scene on an international level. As always, every success story generates more copycat bands, who having been inspired hope to catch the wave. Waiting in the wings for their turn in the spotlight with the first full length effort ‘Suffering and Passion’ is Armonight from Italy. Unsurprisingly there is an array of obvious similarities to the likes of Nightwish and Within Temptation thanks to the overall theatrical, gothic sound and vocal style; however Armonight rightly label themselves as pop-rock - rather than metal - with gothic influences.
‘Past Shadows’, ‘Emotions’, ‘Into My World’ and ‘What We Were’ are enchanting, and stand out straight away. Dropping the heaviness of their influences, Armonight produce melodies that are calmer and ultimately less dramatic, the 10 tracks on ‘Suffering and Passion’ float hauntingly along at a steady pace. Although there is not really a bad song on here, a bit more power here and there wouldn’t go amiss. You can’t help think that this band have not reached what they are really capable of on this album. That being said ‘Suffering and Passion’ is a decent debut and worth lending your ear to and we are sure Armonight could have a promising career ahead of them.
‘Suffering and Passion’ is available now
www.myspace.com/armonight
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HINDER
All American Nightmares
(Universal Republic)
The follow up to 2008’s ‘Take It To The Limit’ sees the Hinder crew delivering the goods once again. This time the band used Producer Kevin Churko (Ozzy Osbourne / Five Finger Death Punch), rather than Brian Howes who produced both ‘Extreme Behaviour’ and ‘Take It To The Limit’. ‘All American Nightmare’ heads down a darker, heavier sounding route compared to the Oklahoma quintet’s previous offerings but they still maintain that Hinder sparkle, sticking to raunchy lyrics depicting tales of the excess of women, alcohol and rock n’ roll! The guitar licks are smooth and there’s plenty for all you air guitar enthusiasts to get to grips with.
Hinder’s ballsy rock n’ roll spirit shines through on tracks like album opener ‘2 Sides Of Me’, the catchy ‘Hey Ho’ which carries a party vibe, while ‘Striptease’ dishes out plenty of attitude. The sleazy ‘All American Nightmare’ brings back the essence of 80’s era sunset strip. ‘I make the good girls bad and bad girls worse...’ singer Austin Winkler warns, proudly. But could the bad boys of rock be getting a bit tired of living it up like well, erm, rock stars? ‘What Ya Gonna Do’ and ‘The Life’ reveal the trials and tribulations of life on the road, how eventually the lifestyle catches up with you and you realise that it’s not always what it’s cracked up to be.
‘Waking Up The Devil’ is a raucous kick ass number, probably the heaviest track on ‘All American Nightmare’. Things are slowed down with beautiful ballads ‘Everybody’s Wrong’ and ‘Red Tail Lights’; these tracks in particular showcases the band’s ability to write songs which tell a visual story. As a listener you are pulled in and feel part of the song, a song which most of us can relate to.
On this album, the band has paid homage to their influences more than ever before. The lyrics are littered with the name dropping of songs, artists and album titles throughout. Artists such as AC/DC, Guns n’ Roses, Motley Crue, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Ozzy, Poison, Bon Jovi and a whole array of others are referenced in there in some way or another – closing number ‘Put That Record On’ ties it all together perfectly.
‘All American Nightmare’ is a great album from start to finish - you definitely get your money’s worth. It’s rowdy, it’s melodic and it has all the emotions you could want, packed into 10 thrilling songs.
‘All American Nightmare’ is available now
www.hindermusic.com
www.myspace.com/hindermusic
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TRANSMIT NOW
Downtown Merry-Go-Round
(ADA Global)
Infectious; quirky; pop-rock ‘licious... sound good to you? Those words describe ‘Downtown Merry-Go-Round’, the debut album from Florida’s Transmit Now. Produced by Brett Hestla (Framing Hanley, Dark New Day), this 11 track release has you hooked from the get go as ‘What You’re Thinking’ sparkles to life and takes over your head – you won’t be able to stop yourself being driven along with the contagious melody. The Transmit Now infection doesn’t stop there: ‘Let’s Go Out Tonight’, ‘Issues’, ‘Stop, Stop’ and ‘Pick Up The Phone’ are all ultra catchy; there are plenty of songs to get you dancing here! ‘Wish You Well’ eases on the pop and brings a slightly stronger rock vibe to the mix, ‘The Last Thing’ also sees a shift in sound, offering a blend of Matchbox 20 / Goo Goo Dolls / Our Lady Peace - a good indication of what road they could take in the future perhaps? There are no fillers but plenty of thrillers - ‘Downtown Merry-Go-Round’ is a must for anyone who loves bubbly radio-friendly pop-rock.
‘Downtown Merry-Go-Round’ is available on November 8th 2010
www.myspace.com/transmitnow
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SEASONS AFTER
Through Tomorrow
(ADA Global / Dirtbag)
‘Through Tomorrow’ is the debut album from Kansas crew Seasons After. Their style has been described as ‘nu-metal with old school roots’ which pretty much paints a fair picture. Combining heavy metal with soaring melodic moments, the songs on ‘Through Tomorrow’ have the ability to transcend to a wide audience throughout the metal and rock genre, with its hefty guitar riffs, pounding drums and big hooks – just take a listen to the title track for a fine example. Overtones of influences Faith No More, Sevendust and Iron Maiden seep through over the course of the album. Notable songs include opening track ‘Some Things Burn’, ‘11:11’, ‘Marked’ and let’s not forget their take on Gerard McMann’s ‘Cry Little Sister’ (theme song from The Lost Boys). All in all ‘Through Tomorrow’ is packed with booming aggression and hard hitting melodies; well worth checking out.
‘Through Tomorrow’ is available on October 4th 2010
www.myspace.com/seasonsafter
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STONE SOUR
Audio Secrecy
(Roadrunner)
Written by Whisper
After laying your hands on a copy of the latest Stone Sour offering ‘Audio Secrecy’ you will be transported into another world – we were! Although Corey Taylor is better known for being the lead singer of Slipknot, it's with his side project Stone Sour where we really capture the depth of his talent. ‘Audio Secrecy’ clearly has a dark tone, introduced from the very beginning with the title track opener, a brooding piano piece, only to explode into the energetic ‘Mission Statement’.
The album sets off with a fast paced collection of songs including: ‘Digital’ and ‘Nylon 6/6’ where lead guitarist Jim Root provides some amazing guitar solos; eventually evolving into a more calmer sound with songs such as ‘Miracles’, ‘Imperfect’ and ‘Threadable’. Overall, ‘Audio Secrecy’ has all the ingredients to make a great metal release: shredding guitars, the powerful voice of Corey Taylor and strewn with meaningful lyrics. A must have for all metal lovers!
www.stonesour.com
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FRAMING HANLEY
A Promise To Burn
(Silent Majority Group)
The highly anticipated follow-up to their 2007 debut ‘The Moment’, ‘A Promise To Burn’ sees Framing Hanley growing as songwriters and musicians. While the catchy melodies are still present, the material on this sophomore release offers more depth and variety than its predecessor. The Nashville quintet gravitate heavily towards power-pop-rock with plenty of mainstream radio friendly tunes this time round: ‘Wake Up’, The Fall Out Boy-esque ‘Bittersweet Sundown’ and ‘Warzone’ plus ‘Back To Go Again’ just scratching the surface. With the lead single ‘You Stupid Girl’ bringing a darker, solidness before the brilliant ballads ‘Weight Of The World’ and ‘Fool With Dreams’ step in. It’s during these ballads where you can really appreciate Kenneth Nixon’s vocals.
All in all, Framing Hanley have proved that there is more to them than a cover song, ‘A Promise To Burn’ is a fine piece of work and one which will ensure that they build upon the success they have already gained and take it to another level.
www.myspace.com/framinghanley
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EARTHTONE9
Inside, Embers Glow...
‘Inside, Embers Glow... a collection of earthtone9’s aural communiqués 1998-2002’ is the celebratory new release from Brit metal troupe earthtone9. A compilation of 16 career spanning tracks (three albums & 2 EPs), this release showcases a critically acclaimed band that went from strength to strength musically then bowed out before reaching their full potential commercially.
A hurricane of noise and harmony get twisted together as the songs emit a barrage of aggression and intensity. Tracks such as ‘O..O..O..’, ‘Amnesia’, ‘Alpha Hi’ are about as mellow as you’ll get from the Nottingham crew, compare these to the harshness of ‘Evil Crawling I’, ‘I Nagual Eye’ and ‘Vitriolic HSF’, you’ll think you’re listening to another band, such is the variation in sound. Re-opening the coffin of earthtone9, ‘Inside, Embers Glow...’ is a bludgeoning reminder of what these guys were capable of back in the day.
Will this release re-ignite the flame inside earthtone9 enough for them to work on new material? Only time will tell, but there is undoubtedly a place for them within the metal scene if they want to be part of it. In the meantime, if you love raging hardcore blasting through your ears, get downloading and delve into the world ofearthtone9.
Available from www.earthtone9.co.uk now – best of all it’s free, yes FREE to download or you can purchase a Limited Edition Digipack CD for just £5.99 .
www.myspace.com/earthtonenine
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ISLE OF THIEVES
Only Human
Recently remixed and remastered ‘Only Human’ was first released last year as the debut album of Isle Of Thieves. While every song is a gem in its own right, ‘Hollywood (Cleft Lip)’ and ‘Rockstar’ are the albums real stand out tracks. Both have a catchy hook – something that the Canadian quintet appear to be very good at delivering. The updated version of ‘Only Human’ also includes an additional song, the single ‘Best Mistake’. It’s easy to imagine singer Japeth’s distinctive vocal tones seeping through the radio airwaves. Isle Of Thieves carry a simplistic quality to their songs, offering alternative pop-rock with a good balance of synth without overdoing it – keeping things going down the same path, creating a uncomplicated yet effective sound. ‘Only Human’ is a pleasure to listen to and worthy of your ears.
‘Only Human’ is available now.
www.myspace.com/isleofthieves
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AUTHMENTIS
House Of Shadows
‘House of Shadows’ is the second full length from Reno, Nevada based rockers Authmentis. The sound quality of the CD could be better; being low and fuzzy it doesn’t give out the desired effect. However, this doesn’t stop the listener hearing the potential that lies within. ‘House of Shadows’ plays host to songs fuelled by hard hitting, chunky riffs. The eerie ‘Trancendent’, with its background sounds of clanking, tolling bells and screams, builds up the tension that is let loose as ‘Shallow Machine’ pours out, so raw it bleeds. ‘I’d Rather Be Possessed Thank You’, or ‘I.R.B.P.T.Y’ for short, is one of the more memorable tracks; this intense number is dark and angry. In contrast the songs which follow: ‘Priapism’, and ‘Jules’ show the lighter side of Authmentis, musically nodding in the direction of Foo Fighters and old school Silverchair. ‘The Thorn Engraved’ marches to the kind of raucous guitars and drum beats Metallica would proudly herald. The soft vocal approach of ‘Into The Hole’ brings the album full circle with its spoken word. All in all not a bad effort; a tweak or two here and there with a touch of polish, and ‘House of Shadows’ is capable of paving the way forward for Authmentis.
‘House Of Shadows’ release date: July 14th 2010
www.myspace.com/authmentis
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BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
Fever
(Sony - BMG)
written by : Alexis Frame
Fast paced, critically acclaimed Welsh band Bullet For My Valentine, has another hit with their third studio release, ‘Fever’. Ensuring a blistering start, the album’s first single ‘Your Betrayal’ leads the charge followed by the frenzied ‘The Last Fight’. On the whole ‘Fever’ sees Bullet For My Valentine staying close to their Metal Core roots but they throw in a couple of ballads - ‘A Place Where You Belong’ and ‘Bittersweet Memories’ - to slow things down just a bit. If you’re looking for something new to get you going then ‘Fever’ is just for you!
www.bulletformyvalentine.com
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WE ARE THE FALLEN
Tear The World Down
(Universal Republic)
Theatrical, gothic, bombastic and haunting – these are the words to describe the debut effort by We Are The Fallen. Musically there may be nothing on ‘Tear The World Down’ that you haven’t already heard before, but what is on offer still makes for good quality listening. Delivering moments of both melodic calmness and heavy metal mayhem as orchestral strings intermingle with crashing guitars and thrashing drums.
‘Bury Me Alive’ comes bursting out in full force to grab your attention. This, the band’s first single, is based on how the entertainment industry sucks people in, devouring them and changing the person they once were. The powerful vocals of front-woman Carly Smithson are put to good use on tracks like the booming ‘Paradigm’, ‘Through Hell’ and ‘Without You’. Nearly all the songs on the album were written based on the memories and the up and down life experiences shared by members of the band and deal with lost love and the feeling of hopelessness.
The urgency of ‘St John’ seeps through the darkness before you are being touched by the sombre softness of ‘I Am Only One’. Closing the album with the grand title track ‘Tear The World Down’, featuring a 37-piece choir and the backing of string instruments, it builds up to a dramatic climax that would not out of place in a horror movie. It’s a great finale. Armed with such material We Are The Fallen have the songs to make their mark in the world of rock.
www.myspace.com/wearethefallen
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HAIL THE VILLAIN
Population: Declining
(Roadrunner)
Hail The Villain is going to be your new favourite band. Rock & Rose know this because since we were sent a copy of their album for review we can’t stop listening to it – it’s a killer!
Hail The Villain’s first single ‘Take Back The Fear’ is the perfect choice to kick-start the rollercoaster thrill ride that is ‘Population: Declining’; the song packs a big punch while hanging on to the melody running through its veins. ‘Population: Declining’, the major label debut from the Canadian quartet is filled with potent hard rock numbers oozing raw energy and heavy riffs. Although the surface of the songs hold catchy harmonies, the lyrical content delves into dark, angry and tormented places like an open wound refusing to heal.
‘My Reward’, the pounding ‘Runaway’, the Korn-esque ‘Glad To Be’ alongside the faster paced ‘Pyro’ and ‘Social Graces’ are among the many highlights. From start to end this is one hell of an album – one of the best debut’s we’ve heard for quite some time. Having been a band since 2003, Hail The Villain have waited long enough for their time to shine to arrive, that time is NOW.
Release Date: 8th June 2010.
www.myspace.com/hailthevillain
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STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
Stone Temple Pilots
(Atlantic)
It has been just shy of a decade since Grammy Award winner’s Stone Temple Pilots released their last studio album – 2001’s ‘Shangri-La Dee Da’ – and now they are ready to rock your world again with this self-titled offering. Produced by the band themselves in their own individual recording studios and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge; ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ continues to see the band blending alternative rock with an medley of musical styles including pop, hard rock, punk, funk rock and even a whiff of country.
The single ‘Between The Lines’ is the first song to break free when you press play. Pop and grunge melodies collide to form a gritty anthem with a chorus that swims around your head for ages after listening to it!
This release is more riff driven than anything else in their back catalogue and this definitely works well. The Aerosmith-esque ‘Huckleberry Crumble’, the bluesy elements on ‘Hickory Dichotomy’, the faster paced angst of ‘Fast As I Can’ and the summery feel of ‘Cinnamon’ all showcase the different shades of Stone Temple Pilots. Wrapping around your senses, with every listen the deeper they dig.
‘Dare If You Dare’ has a sound that nods towards The Beatles while ‘First Kiss On Mars’ oozes the essence of David Bowie, showing the band are more than happy to wear their musical influences on their sleeve while adding their own swaggering style to bring a contemporary flavour.
Although overall it doesn’t have the instant wow factor which came with the quartet earlier releases, ‘Stone Temple Pilots’ is a great offering, confirming Stone Temple Pilots to be a band which is not only relevant, but one that can still hold high significance on the music scene 18 years after their debut.
‘Stone Temple Pilots’ is out on 25th May 2010.
www.stonetemplepilots.com
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DEV ELECTRIC
Dev Electric
From Houston, Texas, Dev Electric deliver a serving of alternative rock n roll. While there may be nothing on here that you haven’t heard 100 times before, Dev Electric are still good at what they do; these guys know how to create songs to make your ears prick up and capture your attention. The tracks sound polished while still holding an intense rawness. Stand out tracks include the Buckcherry-esque ‘Red, Red Carpet’, the catchy ‘Mr. Machine’ and ‘The Queen’. Acoustic number ‘Ordinary’ shows the band’s softer side; it may be the calmest offering but it shows off the subtle raspiness of singer vocals perfectly.
Go ahead and discover Dev Electric for yourselves – don’t forget to tell them Rock & Rose sent you! www.myspace.com/develectric
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2009 saw the release of many great rock albums; Rock & Rose would like to share some of our favourites with you. The following are albums that we think you should definitely check out - if you haven’t already. |
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Adelitas Way – Adelitas Way (Virgin)
If you are a fan of Wrestling you may be familiar with Las Vegas crew Adelitas Way; their high-octane song ‘Invincible’ is the official theme song of WWE Superstars. Showing their more sensitive side, latest single ‘Last Stand’ is a delicate, heartfelt ballad. Produced by Johnny K (3 Doors Down, Finger Eleven, Disturbed) ‘Adelitas Way’ is a stunning debut, every song is a winner. Influences such as Nickelback, Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin shine through while keeping their sound fresh. Definitely one of the best releases 2009 had to offer. www.myspace.com/adelitasway |
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Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony (Hollywood)
For those of you accustomed to Breaking Benjamin you can expect more of the same on the band’s fourth album ‘Dear Agony’; this not meant as a criticism – as the old saying goes: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Musically this latest material gives more than an occasional nod in the direction of earlier releases ‘Saturate’ and in particular ‘We Are Not Alone’. The songs are powerful and captivating, raw yet melodic. They may not have taken any risks in venturing away from their sound on ‘Dear Agony’, but Breaking Benjamin never fail to deliver. www.myspace.com/breakingbenjamin |
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Cavo – Bright Nights, Dark Days (Reprise)
‘Bright Nights, Dark Days’ is the major label debut from Missouri quartet Cavo. Blistering rocker ‘Champagne’ reached #1 last year on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart; the catchy second single ‘Crash’ made it into the Top 10 while power ballad ‘Let It Go’ featured in the soundtrack for the ‘Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen’ movie. Cavo’s melodic-pop-rock offerings will be right up your street if you love the likes of: Daughtry, Shinedown, Theory Of A Deadman, et al. ‘Bright Nights, Dark Days’ certainly captured our attention in 2009. www.myspace.com/cavomusic |
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Muse – The Resistance (Warner Bros)
Brit rockers Muse have always been a band that people will either love or hate. When they first broke onto the mainstream scene in 1999 many thought they were a poor man’s Radiohead who wouldn’t be around for long, yet over ten years on they are still here. As with their previous four studio albums ‘The Resistance’ holds a host of experimental, creative strangeness which incorporates various influences ranging from rock, disco and classical. One thing’s always guaranteed with Muse, they are happy to do their own thing and not jump on bandwagons and for that we salute them. www.myspace.com/muse |
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Three Days Grace – Life Starts Now (Jive)
The follow-up to 2006’s platinum selling ‘One-X’ - ‘Life Starts Now’ - became Three Days Grace’s highest charting album after it went straight into the #3 spot on the US Billboard 200 upon its release. The Three Days Grace key formula of melodic choruses and angst ridden lyrics is still intact. All in all ‘Life Starts Now’ is an emotional rollercoaster ride, with tracks covering topics which touch on: loss; betrayal and bullying. Lead single ‘Break’ is a scorching number and there’s no surprise it helped open the band up to an army of new fans and what’s more, you’ll find even more great tracks on this album. www.myspace.com/threedaysgrace |
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Thirty Seconds To Mars – This Is War (Virgin)
‘This Is War’ - the long awaited third album from LA rockers Thirty Seconds To Mars. Released at the tail end of 2009, ‘This Is War’ turned out to be an impressive work of art and well worth the wait. The songs are epic, theatrical and intense. The first single ‘Kings & Queens’ was just a small taster of what to expect from the rest of ‘This Is War’, so if you haven’t got yourself a copy yet we would recommend you do so! www.myspace.com/thirtysecondstomars
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