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All That Remains, Motionless In White & SOiL Tour To Kick Off This Month (Updated)

11.5.13 at 10:56am    Posted by wookubus   

All That Remains, Motionless In White and SOiL will be out on the road together in coming weeks. Dates announced for that run include:

11/26 Reno, NV – Knitting Factory (no Motionless In White)
11/27 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory (no Motionless In White)
11/29 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
11/30 Missoula, MT – Wilma Theatre
12/02 Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
12/05 Green Bay, WI – Distillery
12/06 Detroit, MI – TBA
12/07 Joliet, IL – Mojoes (no Motionless In White)
12/08 Louisville, KY – TBA
12/10 Charleston, SC – Music Farm
12/11 Johnson City, TN – TBA
12/14 Syracuse, NY – TBA (no Motionless In White)
12/15 Albany, NY – TBA (no Motionless In White)

Machine Head’s Robb Flynn Posts Fourth Part Of “Through The Ashes Of Empires” Reflection

11.5.13 at 10:43am    Posted by wookubus   

Part four of Machine Head frontman/guitarist Robb Flynn‘s warts and all tenth anniversary look back at the making of their 2003 album “Through The Ashes Of Empires” has been posted. The planned five part series has seen Flynn share various personal details about the troubled birthing process of the album, along with rare demos from it.

Read on for the fourth installment while the previous three can be found parts here (#1) and here (#2) and here (#3) respectively. A tip of the hat to Mr. Flynn for his mention of this very website in this latest installment as well.

“In July of 2003 Machine Head entered Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA to record our fifth album. We had just signed a deal with Roadrunner Records International that excluded a North American release, and we decided it best not to announce that until we had an American deal in place. In doing so, we had surely peaked the interest of Roadrunner America. Proof of this was their request that we make a demo of some new music for them.

Since we were already in the studio recording we put something together quickly with the existing drum tracks and sent it off in hopes that they would re-sign us, and we could have a simultaneous album release (sounds so sexual!). We were confident in the new material and continued recording the album, our first with new / old guitarist Phil Demmel.

Things happened very fast with the new Roadrunner deal, I mean literally we were signing the deal as Mark Keaton was giving us a studio tour! One of the side effects of the quickness of the deal was a few songs were still getting written lyrically / vocally in the studio.

Roadrunner needed the record out in their “third quarter” (October) and it was already July. Because things happened so fast the producers we would normally have chosen were all busy or soon to be busy and we then started looking at other “strange” guys to produce. After much discussion no one felt that paying some of these guys $20,000 plus “points” made a whole lot of sense.

We knew our long time producer Colin Richardson would be mixing the album, so in June I decided to throw-my-hat-in-the-ring as producer. I figured anything I fucked up, Colin could fix. This was to come as a surprise to some, even though I’d been producing our demos since 1996, first on 4-track cassette, then an 8-track cassette recorders, then digital, and I had learned a lot from Colin about tones and Ross Robinson about capturing “vibe.” The band usually loved my demos so it wasn’t that big of a stretch. But this wasn’t just a demo and I was well aware of what was at stake. Because of this it seemed dangerous.

The band was a little apprehensive at first, but eventually got on board. My old buddy Andy Sneap who had engineered / saved the 3rd and final remix of ‘The More Things Change’ (and had since launched a successful production career) was in town recording Exodus‘s “Tempo Of The Damned,” and would come down on the first day to help set up tones.

Our gear was pretty shot, Dave didn’t have new drum heads and my old Marshall 1960 BV cabinet didn’t even have handles on the sides and barely had any low end coming out of it. There was also the input jack on Adam‘s bass that had been broken for the last year and worked maybe 50% of the time. Five albums in and we were total pros!

Somehow we made it all work. We began recording drum tracks as a 4 piece and this process was fairly uneventful other than Adam who was constantly an hour or two late, barely knew the songs, and goofed off the whole time. Dave was annoyed and often furious with him, and he and I got into it more than a few times because of it. Historically speaking, and because of this, ‘Through The Ashes of Empires’ would be the last time we ever recorded as a full band. This honestly wasn’t all that unusual as it was Dave and I doing the demoing and half our practices were just him and I, until Phil joined.

As I briefly touched upon in an earlier, despite the band being nearly broke, Adam had recently bought a house (which he got for a good deal; he always was a good negotiator), completely gutted the insides down to the framework, and borrowed a large amount of money to expand it. But his plans stalled and for 14 months he would be totally consumed with re-building it.

We barely saw him. He had started contributing lyrics on ‘Supercharger’ (“White Knuckle Blackout“, “Nausea“, “Supercharger“) and now that I was producing the album, my already full plate, was very fuckin’ full and I needed help with lyrics. I needed ideas or at the least another point of view. I drafted everyone, McClain even chipped in a few lyrics.

From time to time Adam would fax me a paragraph or two, and I worked them in (most notably the entire middle section of “Vim” and “Wipe The Tears“), but usually the lyrics would show up a week after I had already recorded the song. After a slew of arguments with him, I finally just gave up.

It was all on me.

Even with all that surrounding us we were optimistic. Mark Keaton was a great engineer, and recording was going smooth. We had a batch of really strong songs, Phil was writing some awesome leads (“In The Presence Of My Enemies” is still one of my favorite leads by him, and one of the best leads, well, EVER!) and even though some songs were still in their final stages, we knew we had something special.

Some songs were extremely cathartic for me. As I mentioned in Part 2, “Days…” was about Genevra’s heroin addict / alcoholic father who had recently passed away. Despite the urging of his doctor to quit drinking, he wouldn’t. The doctor told him in no uncertain terms that if he “didn’t stop drinking alcohol, his esophagus would separate from his stomach lining and he would die.” His family urged him, his daughter urged him, but he wouldn’t.

Eventually, his esophagus separated from his stomach and he died. He was barely in her life and even when he was it was useless. I’ve told this before but it’s worth repeating, he called her the day after her birthday one time, not to wish her happy birthday, but to ask if “any of her friends were diabetics, so he could get ‘some needles’.” Somehow, somewhere, he was supposed to stop, he was supposed to make amends, he was supposed to change, there was supposed to be a happy ending.

There wasn’t.

It was a tough time.

The song “Left Unfinished” tackled my feeling about being adopted and never feeling like I fit in, never “knowing” anything about my history, and was basically was a “fuck you” to my birth parents. Don’t come looking for me, don’t try to reach out to me, just fucking die. In that song I admitted for the first time publicly my birth name “Lawrence Mathew Cardine,” which my adopted mom had informed me of a few years before. It was a bit of head-fuck. I needed to get it out.
click here to read on…

Suicide Silence Reportedly Added To 2014 ‘Soundwave Festival’

11.5.13 at 10:16am    Posted by wookubus   

It looks as though Suicide Silence are a late addition to the 2014 ‘Soundwave Festival‘ which takes place Australia. Studio sessions for the new Suicide Silence album with producer Steve Evetts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die) kicked off this week. The effort will mark the bands first outing with ex-All Shall Perish singer Eddie Hermida—who recently replaced the late Mitch Lucker.

Crosses (†††) Officially Stream “Bi†ches Brew”, Set February Release For New Album

11.5.13 at 9:55am    Posted by wookubus   

Following a previously leaked stream, Crosses (aka †††) have released official audio of their new song “Bi†ches Brew” below via Spin.com. Recently delayed from its planned November release, the bands self-titled debut album for Sumerian Records is now aiming for a February 11th release date.

The fifteen track effort will compile the bands previous two EP releases with five new songs that were originally planned for a third EP. The tentative track listing and presumed cover art for that taken from an early online retailer listing can be found below with pre-orders to launch on November 26th.

01 – “This Is A Trick”
02 – “Telepathy”
03 – “Bitches Brew”
04 – “Thholyghst”
05 – “Trophy”
06 – “The Epilogue”
07 – “Bermuda Locket”
08 – “Frontiers”
09 – “Nineteen Ninety Four”
10 – “Option”
11 – “Nineteen Eighty Seven”
12 – “Blk Stallion”
13 – “Cross”
14 – “Prurient”
15 – “Death Bell”

click here for the stream…

Linkin Park To Perform “Hybrid Theory” In Full At 2014 ‘Download Festival’

11.5.13 at 9:28am    Posted by wookubus   

Another announcement has been made for the 2014 ‘Download Festival‘. Linkin Park have been revealed as the Saturday, June 14th, 2014, headliner. The set will be a special event for the band as they will perform their debut album “Hybrid Theory” in full at the festival. Fall Out Boy have also newly been announced for that date as well.

The next announcement for the festival is due to be made tomorrow, while yesterday’s reveal saw Avenged Sevenfold headlining the Friday, June 13th show with main support from Rob Zombie. The 2014 ‘Download Festival‘ will be held June 13th-15th at Donington Park, England.

Jane’s Addiction Perform Three Songs On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

11.5.13 at 9:22am    Posted by wookubus   

Fresh off of receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, Jane’s Addiction were the musical guests on last nights episode of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!‘. Official footage of three songs (“Stop“, “Three Days” & “Another Soulmate“) from their performance on the show has been released below:
click here for the footage…

After The Burial To Release “Wolves Within” In December, Stream “A Wolf Amongst Ravens”

11.4.13 at 11:49pm    Posted by wookubus   

The new After The Burial album “Wolves Within” will be in stores December 17th through Sumerian Records. Pre-orders for the effort can be found online at this location. A lyric video for the new—or at least newly recorded—song “A Wolf Amongst Ravens” has been released below.

“Wolves Within” also finds the band re-signing with Sumerian Records with guitarist Justin Lowe stating:

“We are beyond excited to announce that our new album, Wolves Within, will be released December 17th on Sumerian Records. We’ve spent the last two years pushing our own limits in an attempt to give you what we feel is some of the most crushing and dynamic material we’ve written to date. We feel like this record is a new beginning for us. We are continually trying to push our own musical and creative boundaries that have yet to be explored, and simultaneously paving the way for the future of our sound.

We also couldn’t be happier to announce that we have re-signed with Sumerian Records. We have so much respect for not only everyone at the label, but for all of the bands on the roster as well. For almost six years, Sumerian has been our home, and the home to many of our favorite bands. None of us could ask for a better setting right now, having the opportunity to work with our friends on a daily basis doing what we love.”

Sumerian Records founder Ash Avildsen offered:

“Re-signing After The Burial is a momentous day for Sumerian. ATB has been a very important band to the label for many years. They’re a group of great people with diligence and determination for their craft who happen to also be excellent musicians. The cultural significance of After The Burial as a band and Sumerian Records as a brand have grown in tandem and are now at an all time high. Here’s to more years of kicking ass together. Twin Cities Crush FTW.”

click here for the lyric video…

DevilDriver Readying Their Own ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater’ & Holiday Ornament

11.4.13 at 4:12pm    Posted by wookubus   

DevilDriver are pulling out the stops with their ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ offering. Not content to stop at the sweater, the band are offering a ‘Christmas Kills’ bundle complete with a custom DevilDriver holiday ornament, scarf and sticker. You can check that all out below with pre-orders available here.

click here for the set…