05.20.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Fearless Records will be releasing St. Louis Rockers SOTHEYSAY's self-titled EP on June 14th. The 6-song offering is also available for pre-order from FearlessRecords.com right now. To celebrate the EP release, SOTHEYSAY will be having a special in-store and CD release party at Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, Missouri on June 14th. Meanwhile, SOTHEYSAY are currently slated for a string of Warped Tour dates in June, followed by tours with THE RECEIVING END OF SIRENS in July and A CHANGE OF PACE in August. SOTHEYSAY consists of 5 members in Mike Guffey, Dave Schroeder, Chris Dickey, Justin Hanson and Nick Walters. Guffey, who started the band, had been working on writng music for a new project, which would later become SOTHEYSAY. He tried out many different members from different bands within the St. Louis area. Hanson, the youngest member of the group, came in first with his love and talent on the drums. Vocalists came and went until Schroeder stepped in with the ideal voice for the band's music. Dickey, who had recently moved from California and played in a couple of popular local bands there, began playing bass for SOTHEYSAY. The final piece of the puzzle came to them in the form of Walters, who wasn't satisfied with the band he was currently in. A quick call to the band, and a few practices later, SOTHEYSAY had their permanent line-up. After playing together for awhile, the members realized that putting all their time and energy into SOTHEYSAY was better than their respective other bands. With all their time thus fully devoted to SOTHEYSAY, the band members locked themselves in Hanson's basement and began the writing process. Enter 2005, "The year of The Say." With a standing offer soon on the table from Fearless Records, the band members knew it was an offer they couldn't pass up. So each quit their jobs and drove half way across the country to California to showcase for Fearless, where with whom they eventually finalized a deal.
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05.20.05 (RockAndMetal.com) ANTHRAX guitarist SCOTT IAN checked in from the group's Australian tour recently with the following update: "The tour's been going really well. It came together really quickly. We only had three days rehearsal and most of that was spent just busting each other's balls. The shows have been great. Chicago was amazing. We played a couple of shows in Europe. Specifically the show in Glasgow in Scotland was unbelievable. We've done one show here so far in Australia, in Brisbane, and tonight is Sydney, and I expect tonight to be pretty insane." On whether same people are coming to the shows that have been seeing the band on the last few tours or if there are a lot of new faces in the crowd: "I would say it's a combination of both. It's people who have been coming to us all these years who are obviously coming out because of the curiosity to see what it's like, as well as people who haven't seen the band in a long time who are coming out to see Joey (Belladonna) again, and as well as, I just think, new people who never had a chance..." On whether they are playing songs they haven't done in a long time: "Yeah, we're playing all kinds of stuff. If we were gonna have Joey come back out and sing with us, we felt we had to do songs that people haven't seen us play since '86/'87. So, yeah, we're doing things like 'Medusa,' 'Lone Justice,' 'Armed And Dangerous' with the intro. We've been doing 'Gung Ho.' There's other ones, too. So, yeah, we're playing stuff that we haven't done in forever, which, in a weird way, makes us feel new, because even though it's reunion tour, we haven't played these songs in forever, so it keeps it really fresh for us." On how if felt to share the stage with original vocalist Joey Belladonna and guitarist Danny Spitz again after all these years: "It was very easy for that to come back, especially live. I mean, it's not like everyone had to study and go and had weeks' rehearsal to learn this stuff. I mean, it came back really, really fast. Really, after the Detroit show, which was the first show on April 29th, all the bugs just were out of us pretty much right after that."
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05.19.05 (RockAndMetal.com) "The Curious City," the second full-length release from Pittsburgh Rockers MODEY LEMON, is slated to be released on May 31st via Mute Recordings. The band's new album sees them not only blasting away from their retro-obsessed Garage Rock peers at Mach 10 speed, but also subtly shifting the shape of the Psychedelic Synth Rock that defined them with 2004's "Thunder & Lightning." Where abrasive guitar riffs, serrated keyboard runs and wild, textured Electronic noise once dominated, structure -- if somewhat wayward -- now has a strong presence. MODEY LEMON's sound is no less quirky, it's simply been pulled more into focus on "The Curious City" without compromising the raw sonic attitude of the band. Guitar, drums and Moog synthesizers, part late '60s and early '70s Hard Rock, part early '90s Grunge, filtered with Punk from all three decades all comprise MODEY LEMON's highly unique sound. "The Curious City" is also polymorphously perverse beast, 'Bucket Of Butterflies' suggesting THE TEARDROP EXPLODES as mauled by NIRVANA, through the compulsive, motorik groove of 'Red Lights' to the deranged Folk/Rock of 'In The Cemetery' and the sombre, Leonard Cohen-like lament of 'Countries.' In between, the SUICIDE take on STEPPENWOLF suggested by 'Sleepwalkers.' 'Trapped Rabbits', arguably the album's piece de la resistance, is a hypnotic exercise in controlled chaos running at 16 minutes. It lays paranoid, needling guitar notes over looped, heavy drum patterns and rumbling bass tones, building to a compulsive, Krautrock crescendo. The prevailing mood on "The Curious City" is best encapsulated in the album's cover - the work of APES bassist Erick Jackson. MODEY LEMON frontman Phil Boyd's inspiration for the image came from the book "Watership Down." "It talked about how rabbits constantly live in fear," Boyd recalls. "There are all these things you love and hate about the space that you inhabit, and that's where our band is at its best - when it's teetering in between those things. The songs on this new album really ride that line. They're either a celebration of life, or they're caught up in the claws of the monster we live with."
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05.19.05 (RockAndMetal.com) RAGE frontman Peter "Peavy" Wagner has posted an update on his condition after he was hit by a car on last week while he was riding his bicycle. The driver of the car reportedly didn't give him the right of way, resulting in injuries to Wagner's arm. Commented Peavy: "I'm back home now. They wanted to keep me longer in hospital, but I left on my own responsibility. The pain is OK now, and I had enough of just lying there. I can only type with my left hand and it hurts a bit. My right elbow was fractured in my bike crash, and in a two-hour operation the doctors managed to fix all the bone parts. It was a bit complicated, and I have now more metal inside!! A few screws and stuff... My left arm is also injured, but I can use it a bit. I have to keep the broken arm in this big heavy splint for the next 6-8 weeks, I have rehabilitation and physiotherapeutics to get it back to moving. I hope I'll be fine again by July. We'll try to do the show in Italy on the 4th of June - maybe I can play some rudimentary bass. Besides this, I can only stay home now and rest to get better. I thank you all for your good wishes, this gives me a lot of energy I can use now! I'll be all right and play for you again!!" RAGE recently signed a long-term recording deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The group's follow-up to 2003's "Soundchaser" is expected in early 2006. The RAGE story begins way back in 1984 when AVENGER first got together. Following the arrival of their debut album "Prayers Of Steel" and an EP, AVENGER changed their name and became RAGE, releasing "Reign Of Fear" in 1986. Albums came out at regular intervals after that, their 1992 album "Trapped" marking their international breakthrough. Their success was repeated in 1993 with "Missing Link," followed by a personnel change - the new line-up recording the groundbreaking album "Lingua Mortis." Their thirteenth album, "XIII" saw the light of day in 1998, marking the beginning of a new chapter in their line-up. RAGE's subsequent album, "Ghosts," was followed by a severe personnel change, resulting in the current line-up featuring Peavy, guitarist Victor Smolski and drummer Mike Terrana.
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05.18.05 (RockAndMetal.com) New York City's MORNINGWOOD will release their self-titled debut album via Capitol Records on August 2nd. The band, fronted by 23-year-old tempest Chantal Claret, made their reputation in the city's clubs with a bumping, grinding frenzy of a live show and instant anthems like 'Take Off Your Clothes,' a dictate that some of their fans have been known to take literally. MORNINGWOOD was born when Claret met Pedro Yanowitz (who had played drums for THE WALLFLOWERS, Natalie Merchant and Money Mark before turning to the bass) at a birthday party for Sean Lennon at the historic Dakota in 2001. "Sean spontaneously asked everyone to take turns singing him a birthday song on the spot," remembers Yanowitz. "There were great songwriters in the room like Rufus and Martha Wainwright. And when it was Chantal's turn, I thought she'd pass because she doesn't play an instrument, but she launched into a song she wrote when she was sixteen with no accompaniment, and her voice just blew everyone away. You could hear a pin drop. I was hooked, and Morningwood was born that night." The newly christened duo immediately began writing songs together, and were soon joined by former CIBO MATTO drummer John Paul Keenon O. Guitarist and vocalist Richard Steel, who is originally from Leeds but has lived in New York for ten years (many of them spent as a guitarist for SPACEHOG), was the last to join the band. On November 13th, 2003 the current incarnation of MORNINGWOOD played their first show together at Piano's in New York City's lower east side. After becoming the stuff of local legend for their off-the-wall live shows -- which always provoke a lot of bumping, grinding and dancing, both onstage and off -- MORNINGWOOD were spontaneously added to a showcase for Capitol Records executives, where they proceeded to completely wipe the stage with the intended headliners, and soon found themselves signing a recording deal with the label. Ceaselessly inspired by the insanity of their home city but dying to get away from the endless distraction of living in it, the band was eager to record their debut elsewhere. That's when famed producer Gil Norton called to invite the band to London. Norton, who rarely works... [full story]
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05.18.05 (RockAndMetal.com) HATE ETERNAL, one of the most crucial bands on the Extreme Metal music scene today, have announced the addition of Eric Hersemann to their line-up as a second guitarist. Hersemann's induction into the band sees the former power trio newly upgrading to a quartet. Hersemann's addition to the current HATE ETERNAL line-up of vocalist/guitarist Erik Rutan, bassist Randy Piro and drummer Derek Roddy will undoubtedly propel the band's already savage live performance to new heights, and will also enable HATE ETERNAL to fully represent the intensity of their upcoming new album, "I, Monarch," in a live setting. Erik Rutan had this to say regarding the addition of a second guitarist into the group: "Eric is an amazing guitarist who has worked extremely hard crafting his skills and is learning to perfection the Hate Eternal songs, old and new. To hear the music live with the second guitar, as it was written and performed in the studio, is amazing. This will be the first time ever in the history of the band we have played live as a four-piece. Such a powerful way to start touring for the release of our new album, 'I, Monarch.' We are now complete, and look forward to the future with Eric in the fold." Hersemann's first shows with HATE ETERNAL will be June 3rd-10th in Australia, after which the band will return to the U.S. for a headlining tour beginning June 16th. "I, Monarch," slated for a late June worldwide release via Earache Records, pushes the Extreme Metal envelope into the next dimension through its dizzying musicality and creativity. Torrential blastbeats meld with inhuman polyrhythms while lyrical firestorms rain down with unmatched rage on the album, yet the groove underlying the chaos is of collosal proportions. Amidst shredding guitar leads and warp-speed drums, strange and unexpected sounds lie lurking in the form of Tibetan drums, tabla, and even a didjeridoo. With "I, Monarch," HATE ETERNAL have struck a groundbreaking balance between groove and chaos, soul and precision, focused aggression and open-minded musical vision.
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05.17.05 (RockAndMetal.com) COLDPLAY have announced the tour dates for the North American leg of their upcoming "Twisted Logic" world tour in support of their new album, "X&Y." Tickets will go on sale for all dates listed below beginning June 4th, except Dallas (on sale June 11th) and Houston (on sale now). Registered users of coldplay.com can also participate in a first-come, first-served ticket pre-sale starting May 24th. Tour Dates: 08/02 Toronto, ON [Air Canada Centre] • 08/03 Montreal, QC [Bell Centre] • 08/04 Hartford, CT [Meadows Music Theatre] • 08/06 Boston, MA [Tweeter Center] • 08/07 Philadelphia, PA [Tweeter Center] • 08/09 Cincinnati, OH [Riverbend Music Center] • 08/11 Pittsburgh, PA [Post Gazette Pavilion] • 08/12 Indianapolis, IN [Verizon Wireless Music Center] • 08/13 East Troy, WI [Alpine Valley Music Theatre] • 08/16 Seattle, WA [White River Amphitheatre] • 08/17 Portland, OR [Amphitheatre at Clark County] • 08/19 San Francisco, CA [Shoreline Amphitheatre] • 08/20 Irvine, CA [Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre] • 08/24 Albuquerque, NM [Journal Pavilion] • 08/25 Phoenix, AZ [Cricket Pavilion] • 08/26 San Diego, CA [Coors Amphitheatre] • 08/30 Detroit, MI [DTE Energy Music Theatre] • 08/31 Columbus, OH [Germain Amphitheater] • 09/01 Darien Center, NY [Darien Lake Performing Arts Center] • 09/03 Holmdel, NJ PNC [Bank Arts Center] • 09/06 New York, NY [Madison Square Garden] • 09/09 Charlotte, NC [Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre] • 09/10 Raleigh, NC [Alltel Pavilion] • 09/13 West Palm Beach, FL [Sound Advice Amphitheatre] • 09/14 Tampa, FL [Ford Amphitheatre] • 09/16 Birmingham, AL [Verizon Wireless Music Center] • 09/17 St. Louis, MO [UMB Bank Pavilion] • 09/18 Nashville, TN [Starwood Amphitheatre] • 09/20 Minneapolis, MN [Target Center] • 09/21 Kansas City, MO [Verizon Wireless Amphitheater] • 09/23 Dallas, TX [Smirnoff Music Center] • 09/24 Houston, TX [Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion] • 09/25 Austin, TX [Austin City Limits Music Festival] • 09/28 Atlanta, GA [Philips Arena] • 09/29 Virginia Beach, VA [Verizon Wireless Amphitheater] • 09/30 Bristow, VA [Nissan Pavilion]
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05.17.05 (AP) NINE INCH NAILS frontman TRENT REZNOR testified Monday against his long-time manager, saying he was stunned to learn in 2003 that despite millions of dollars in earnings by his band, he was left with as little as $400,000 in cash. "I felt I had an accountant I couldn't trust," he said in his federal civil lawsuit against John Malm. Reznor contends that his former friend duped him into signing a contract that allowed Malm to collect 20 percent of the singer's gross earnings rather than net earnings. A lawyer for Malm, Alan Hirth, said in an opening statement that his client worked many years for no salary and kept nothing secret from Reznor. "Of the millions upon millions upon millions that Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails made, the vast majority went into his (Reznor's) pocket," Hirth said. Reznor testified he trusted Malm more than anyone in his life when he agreed to let him handle his finances in the 1980s as the band signed its first recording contract with TVT Records. "John was the business guy, and I was the guy working for nothing in the studio," Reznor told jurors. He also said the pair created their own production company and managed sales of merchandise but the expenses piled up, draining large portions of the millions of dollars the band earned with its music releases and concert tours. He admitted he ignored his finances, and sometimes signed documents without reading or understanding them. Reznor said he began to grow worried about finances when he was told during a meeting with Malm and a lawyer in 2002 that there was "cause for alarm." The following year, he said, he asked Malm to tell him how much money he had. He said he was sent a financial statement that revealed he had at most $3 million in total assets, and as little as $400,000 in cash. Pre-NINE INCH NAILS, TRENT REZNOR (whose full name is Michael Trent Reznor) played keyboards in an AOR band called THE INNOCENT in the mid-80s, who released one album entitled "Livin' In The Street" on Red Label Records.
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05.16.05 (RockAndMetal.com) Electric guitar pioneer LES PAUL is one of 14 people that have been inducted into the National Inventors Hall Of Fame for 2005. Paul invented the solid body electric guitar in 1946, a pioneering instrument that has transformed and dominated popular music for the last 50 years or so, his Gibson Guitar Corp. model still being one of the best-selling instruments in the music industry to this day. Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, LES PAUL became a professional musician as a teenager, and was the leader of his own trio by the age of 21. From the beginning of his career, Paul was fascinated by the opportunities of amplifying musical instruments electronically. He tinkered with a wide range of techniques in search of a way to produce a pleasing and unique sound. Coupled with his pioneering recording techniques, LES PAUL produced a series of extremely popular recordings that introduced the public to his fast, multi-layered productions that frequently included Paul playing as many as six musical parts simultaneously through the process of overdubbing. His music was usually recorded on advanced multi-track tape recorders he designed and built himself. The quality and originality of LES PAUL's work resultingly inspired a generation of musicians to embrace his guitar and recording techniques. In 1952, the Gibson Musical Instrument Co. began selling its popular "Les Paul" model electric guitar, rapidly establishing the new instrument as a powerful influence in the entertainment industry. LES PAUL also has won five Grammy Awards. Other inventors inducted on Saturday included Dr. Alec Jeffreys, who invented genetic fingerprinting, and Robert Gundlach, who has earned more than 150 patents and invented the modern photocopier. The National Inventors Hall Of Fame was founded in 1973 by the U.S. Patent And Trademark Office and the National Council Of Intellectual Property Law Associations. It accepts nominations on its website, however inductees are selected by a committee including leaders in scientific and technical fields. There are currently 235 inductees in The National Inventors Hall Of Fame.

05.16.05 (RockAndMetal.com) The following update has been made by the members of Norwegian Extreme Metallers GRIMFIST: "Hail fans and fiends!! Some long awaited news is in order, and to start off, we'd like to officially announce and welcome our new drummer, and full-time Grimfist member Christian Svendsen a.k.a. 'Anti-Christian' (Tsjuder, The Cumshots) to our ghoulish ranks. This marks a new era for us, and we are very proud and excited about this new addition to Grimfist. Whatever happened to Dustin (Pearl) you ask?... Well, unfortunately, due to different reasons, things did not work out between him and Grimfist, with distance being the main factor. Him living in L.A, and the rest of us in Norway made this very hard, but we'd like to take the opportunity to thank him for all the time, hard work and dedication he put into this band. We played 2 killer shows with him, and together we destroyed, drank and had fun as hell, and we would also like to wish him the best in the future. For us, the time has come to take this monster to the next level, and on that note, we can proudly tell you that our new album has been recorded!! That's right people. 10 tracks of brand new brutality. We entered Subsonic Society, with engineer Lars Klokkerhaug (Enslaved, Darkthrone, Red Harvest), straight after the Inferno Festival, spent 14 days hammering out the new songs, and we will be heading for Gothenburg and Studio Fredman May 23 to mix the motherfucker, and this new shit will sound insane. Prepare yourself to be surprised. New images and more updates will be added shortly at our website at www.grimfist.com, so stay fucking tuned boys and girls. Meanwhile, drink fuck rock and have a good fucking time. Many cheers and hails from us to you!!" Combine pure Heavy Metal with brutal Death/Black vocals, and enough groove, blastbeats, and power to crush a ten ton brickwall, and you come up with GRIMFIST. "Ghouls Of Grandeur," their 2003 debut album for Candlelight Records, resulted in 10 tracks of insane, grinding Metal of the highest order.
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[Music News: 05.09.05 - 05.15.05]
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