Hannah Johnston, Getty Images Serj Tankian got a chance to see his symphonic vision come to fruition Sunday (Oct. 28) when he joined the Das Karussell Orchestra in Austria to perform his ‘Orca’ classical symphony. Tankian launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the event and the recording of a filmed show for a 2013 release. The end result was a rousing success, as Tankian and the orchestra were loudly cheered following the performance. The singer stated before the show, “‘Orca’ is the first four-act symphony that I have composed, a mix of early-20th-century compositional styles combined with the powerful range of film scoring. I decided to name my symphony ‘Orca’ because orcas ‘appear to have no parallel outside humans’ in terms of their cultural faculties. An orca is really a dolphin with much darker tendencies. I see this dichotomy as a great metaphor for humanity.” Tankian initially sought a $25,000 goal to fund the entire project, and added that any additional funds would be used to cover the expenses of mixing, mastering, and promotion. Video footage from the show can be seen below. Watch Serj Tankian + the Das Karussell Orchestra Perform ‘Orca — Act 1′ Watch Serj Tankian + the Das Karussell Orchestra Perform ‘Sky Is Over’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-serj-tankian-offers-his-take-on-the-2012-u-s-presidential-election/” title=”Next: Serj Tankian Offers His Take on the Election” align=”center”]
Zak Bagans Entertainment Most know Zak Bagans as the host of the Travel Channel paranormal series, ‘Ghost Adventures,’ but he’s taking his expeditions a step further by teaming with Lords of Acid’s Praga Khan to create a spirit-filled album called ‘NecroFusion.’ The newly released album features eleven new songs that tell the stories of departed souls who have yet to cross over into the afterlife. Armed with his SB7 Spirit Box, Bagans has been able to record “electronic voice phenomena,” known as EVP, over the years and he’s showcased some of those cases on ‘Ghost Adventures.’ However, the idea came about over time for Bagans to translate those voices in a different kind of way, and that’s where Khan came into the fold. Loudwire caught up with Bagans, who shared how the idea initially came about, if he thinks that by making the album he’s helping some of the spirits to cross over, and he shares one of his more terrifying experiences researching spirits at a music store. Can you discuss how the idea to record this album came about and how you ended up working with Praga Khan from Lords of Acid? The idea behind ‘NecroFusion’ came about when Praga Khan of Lords of Acid contacted me after I started making a bunch of Twitter posts about how big a fan I was. Lords of Acid was my favorite band in high school and Praga is a true pioneer of that style of electronic music. He’s done songs for films like ‘Austin Powers,’ ‘Basic Instinct,’ [and] ‘Virtuosity.’ He’s a legend. I started tweeting how I was a big fan of Lords of Acid, and his manager contacted me and asked if I wanted to do vocals for a song called ‘Paranormal Energy’ on the band’s ‘Deep Chills’ album. Apparently Praga was experiencing some paranormal events in his studio in Brussels, and things just fell into place. So I went down to L.A., I recorded with Chris Vrenna from Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson and we did that song, it turned out really good, it hit the Top 5 in the Electronic music charts, it was a big hit. After that, it’s been revolutionary, and my paranormal research with these spirit voices that I’ve been getting — I use a couple of different devices, the SB7 Spirit Box, and also a digital recorder. About two years ago, we started getting absolutely insane, crystal-clear, intelligent voices from the dead. I tried debunking it. I’m very skeptical of our own evidence until we find those logical explanations to prove it as paranormal. Once we were able to put these voices up on a wavelength so you can see the waveform in an audio program, you can see that the spirit voices were laid on top of these sweeps through the Spirit Box, so we eliminated it as any contamination. The voices were intelligent, we had voices give us details about a murder-rape that happened in the 1970s in Denver that we shared with the Denver police department, and they were absolutely astounded by the findings. I’ve had another spirit tell me what color light that was making our electro-magnetic detector go off, and I established visual communications. So it’s 100 percent, and now that I know I’m documenting these spirit voices, I thought it would be a great way for the most powerful vocal messages of our time to be combined with music, the most powerful way to send a message. If you think about it, when you listen to music — music makes you cry, it makes you happy, it makes you dance, it makes you mad, those are the same emotions that I experience when I feel the energy of a spirit when I’m contacting the spirit and communicating with it. So it’s a full supernatural experience while you listen to these songs. Praga obviously has the musical background with Lords of Acid, but many of the samples he’s using came from you and what you’ve recorded. How much input did you have into deciding what would and would not be used for the record and can you talk about the process of putting the songs together? I had a lot of input on every song. Ideally, every single spirit chose the lyrics for every single track. At times, I would be sitting doing hundreds and hundreds of sessions because you don’t always get spirit voices. Over the course of a year, I did hundreds of sessions, maybe in one session at one haunted location I’d ask 150 questions, I’d get no response. Another time I’d ask another 150 questions and maybe I’d get a spirit response from two questions. So I had to take those two questions and use them for a song, and I never knew which questions would be answered by the spirit. That’s why I say that the spirits answered the questions and chose the lyrics for the songs. What’s really interesting is that once I got the spirit voices, I would then tell Praga the emotions that I was feeling during that time, because when I communicate with spirits, I feel that spirit’s energy. They don’t have a body. They don’t have a mouth. It’s just their energy. And so, if the spirit was angry, if it was sad, I would feel that energy. I would explain that to Praga and together we would choose the right tone and tempo of the music and the display and the presentation, so that the listener could be calibrated with that emotional level, that experience of when I was communicating with that spirit, and the emotion from the tone of the spirit, so it’s a full, emotional, personal experience. The spirit voices are complimented by the music that is establishing the emotional tone originally set by the spirit. So, you have the full-on experience. And you never know, you’re listening to these spirit voices, and the spirit may know that you’re listening to the music and their voices, so you’re really helping the spirit to be at rest and have closure and maybe be free from being trapped, just by your listening to the song. The music has so many different purposes. Obviously you’re used to hearing the electronic voice phenomena that you’ve recorded over the years, but what was it like the first time you heard it put to music? The first time I heard the EVPs put into music, it was awesome. On my show, ‘Ghost Adventures,’ you just hear the voice. You’re not there so you don’t get the full experience. You don’t feel the energy of that spirit that’s talking to you. I like to say it’s like being in a bubble – you lose track of time, you lose track of everything. It’s like being in the afterlife, but you’re still alive. You can feel that, and it’s actually a great feeling. Sometimes it’s scary as s—, too. But the first time I heard it in music, it put me back in that moment of feeling the energy when I captured the voice. The spirit voices are immortalized through the music, but the music brings you that emotional energy as well, what I feel when I talk to those spirits. So I’m bringing that full, first experience to you as you listen to it. Having completed the ‘NecroFusion’ album, do you think that it’s helped any of those whose voices are heard on the disc or was this just an interesting thing to put music to? Yes, I believe I’m helping these spirits to possibly be free from being trapped, being stuck here by allowing their voices to be heard. If you think about it, I believe a lot of spirits are trapped, because they’ve been trying for 100, 200, 300 years to tell somebody a clue to their unsolved murder, or just something they need to say or they want to contact someone. So now, with the evolution of technology, I believe that’s to my benefit. The technology that I’m using, we’re able now to tap into these spirit frequencies and listen to them. It’s no different from a cell phone, or being able to send a picture or a video through space. This technology is now allowing us to tap into these frequencies and hear these spirits, and I think it’s helping these spirits. On the track ‘Sing for Me,’ where you hear the female sing — when I was conversing with her — I tried for months to get a spirit to sing a song, and once this woman did — you can even hear her go, “I … sing …,” and then she gives us a note. I don’t know what she’s singing, but during that moment, I remember I was very emotional, extremely emotional. And the tone of the music in that song reflects my emotional experience when it was happening. I believe that putting these spirit voices in this music is helping to free them because their voices are finally being heard. Not only that, but I’ve already gotten tons of feedback from people saying ‘thank you so much, I had a friend who committed suicide, you’re now giving me that closure that I needed to know that there’s an afterlife.’ I’m helping the dead and I’m helping the living with this music. You talk about many of your demonic encounters happening at Bobby Mackey’s Music World, and in particular one case that inspired the song ‘Poor Pearl’ (as seen in the video below). Would you discuss your research into Pearl and your thoughts after hearing the demonic response to whether or not she was fine? For some reason, my investigations at Bobby Mackey’s, Pearl Bryan was very sad. We did an investigation there, and one of the EVPs we captured, you hear a girl crying, and they you hear a male voice going, ‘Precious … No.’ Pearl Bryan was murdered by her boyfriend –- Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling were two devil worshippers who killed Pearl –- it was a documented case. When they were being hung in the gallows, they said that they would forever haunt Bobby Mackeys [the building that today is Bobby Mackey’s club was a slaughterhouse when the murder was committed). I believe that it is those two spirits who haunt that building today. I believe that the EVP we recorded there was Pearl, and it makes me sad to think that she may be being held hostage there, that she’s trapped there, being held there by these two evil spirits. I believe that these two spirits opened a portal to all of the demonic attacks that have taken place at Bobby Mackeys. Bobby Mackey is a strange guy. He doesn’t believe in the hauntings there, yet he’s had 19 sworn affidavits from police officers, clergy, officials who have signed their names to having had paranormal experiences there that were all demonic. But Bobby is the only one who hasn’t had a paranormal experience — the only one who doesn’t believe in it — yet every single person in his family has had severe experiences there. So I thought it would be a great idea for him to do a song with me and dedicate it to Pearl Bryan, so that’s what we did. I actually documented a voice, I believe that the spirits of Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling have followed me, have attached themselves to me, having caused my demonic possession at Bobby Mackeys, to where I had to have a demonic exorcism performed on me. It’s been a horrific place. At one point during the investigation and on the song, I said ‘I think Pearl is safe now…’ and unexpectedly, we got a crystal-clear voice that said, ‘Is she?’ mocking me in a sarcastic manner, and I believe it was the voice of one of the two guys who killed her and chopped her head off and threw it down the basement’s well that was used by the slaughterhouse to drain all of the blood into the Licking River. So I believe that they opened up that place to hell. I believe that they came through and said, ‘Is she?’ What was the most interesting track on this album for you and can you explain why it stands out? ‘Demonator.’ I did that song to say ‘f-you’ to the demons who have wreaked havoc in my life. The track starts with two EVPs who were captured during a live event. These EVPs were witnessed by about 25 people as they were captured in real time by a Spirit Box. My friend Tara, her daughter’s voice came through saying ‘mommy’ and Tara immediately knew it was her daughter who was back home. That’s what they like to do, these demons, they like to f–k with you, mess with you, they like to mock your voices. The second voice you’ll hear on ‘Demonator’ goes ‘Guys, be careful.’ That’s MY voice that was captured at the event as well. The problem was, I was in the basement doing an investigation with 15 people, and that voice was captured upstairs with Dave Schrader [fellow paranormal investigator] and another group of people, and the demon was mocking me and used my voice. So I thought it would record a track and dedicate it to all those demons who tried scaring me with these voices. Now I use these voices in a badass song called ‘Demonator.’ You can pick up Zak Bagans Vs. Praga Khan’s ‘NecroFusion’ album via iTunes here . Watch Zak Bagans Talking About His Connection With Spirits
Ethan Miller, Getty Images Korn may have revitalized their career somewhat with the dubstep heavy ‘The Path of Totality’ album, but what does that mean for their next disc? Guitarist James “Munky’ Shaffer tells the Phoenix New Times that he envisions the return of more guitar-heavy music, though electronics will still factor in. He stated about the upcoming disc, “I wouldn’t say it’s a 180 from the last album, but we’re definitely taking a different approach. We’re not going with the dubstep style, but we are using a lot of interesting recording techniques.” When asked if it meant a return to a heavier Korn sound, the guitarist added, “I think it will be. I think once Jonathan [Davis] puts vocals on it, it has … it’s more melodic and the guitars are more aggressive and much more in your face. I think what we did before was bold and took a lot of balls, in regards to the album devoted entirely to dubstep. To me it’s very much a Korn album, but I want to feature more guitar on this album, on the one we’re writing right now.” Munky added that the band still has “one foot in the electronic [style],” but he says it’s not necessarily the dubstep sound and that there will be a fresh approach to the guitar riffs. The guitarist says when the idea of initially approaching their music in a dubstep manner came up, he was on board as he felt it was time to shake things up. He added, “We’ve always been a band that’s tried to reinvent themselves and innovate what we do, I think. We were at the point in our career you know, our tenth album, [and it was] like, let’s go for it. And if we don’t like it, we don’t have to put it out.” Munky says the band is currently writing and working on new music, but no timeline has been set for the release of their next album. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/korn-munky-unveils-fear-and-the-nervous-system-documentary/” title=”Next: Munky Unveils Fear and the Nervous System Documentary” align=”center”]
Facebook: Napalm Death Earache Records founder Digby Pearson has gained the respect of many metalheads by signing some of extreme metal’s most legendary bands, such as Carcass, Morbid Angel, At the Gates, Deicide and of course, Napalm Death . Although Napalm Death and Earache Records shared a successful business partnership at one point, Digby recently took some jabs at Napalm vocalist Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway . Reacting to some harsh words thrown at him, we recently got to experience Greenway’s retort during an exclusive interview. The initial verbal assault began on the ‘ Ask Earache ‘ blog when a fan asked Digby about the best and worst personalities he had worked with over the years. After singing the praises of Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, Disfear) and Troy Azagthoth (Morbid Angel) among others, Digby addressed the ‘worst personalities’ side of the question: I’ve never had a pleasant time dealing with Napalm Death’s Mark “Barney” Greenway. We supported him and his band for over a decade, investing eye-wateringly huge sums of money into his career. It’s quite possible he was never even aware of this fact, as his bumbling manager Mark Walmesley dealt with everything for him — including all his financial affairs I suspect — on a daily basis. The basic problem stems from the fact Barney was not involved with the explosive first 2 albums by Napalm Death so he completely missed out on the feel-good factor which came from a brand new band and label both blasting-off from obscurity. He had no reason for any goodwill towards me or Earache because he walked into an already successful band. Likewise I never actively chose to sign the dude, he was the band’s roadie, he was the Benediction singer, suddenly drafted into the role of singer of a successful band, and was obligated to sign into an existing contract, not one of his choosing. Barney did willingly ink deals with Earache twice more in the 90s though. The band’s slow gradual loss of fanbase during their groove-grind phase could have proved fatal, but Earache worked tirelessly behind the scenes to prevent Napalm Death splitting, quiting or becoming a totally spent force — for very little gratitude I might add. Even Barney himself jumped ship from Napalm to join ENT at one point. It was not a happy camp during those latter Earache years. His enmity to Earache is legendary and grudges are held, for the most trivial of reasons, for an inordinate length of time. On Oct. 28, we had the opportunity to speak with Greenway before Napalm Death’s Connecticut co-headlining show with Municipal Waste. After bringing up the topic of Digby’s harsh words, Greenway offered an in-depth response about Digby, which was less than sterling. Greenway says that he in fact never had a personal manager, that Digby never pumped an unusually large amount of money into Napalm Death and that the Earache Records founder has not come through with contractual obligations in the past. See Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway’s full response in our exclusive video below and stay tuned for our full interview with the booming Napalm Death vocalist. Napalm Death’s Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway Responds to Digby Pearson
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images It was a less than amicable parting of the ways, but after three years away singer Jim Lindberg is rejoining Pennywise . Lindberg and guitarist Fletcher Dragge appeared on KROQ’s Kevin and Bean Show in Los Angeles to make the announcement and revealed that the reunion will finally follow through when they take the stage at a January performance. Dragge explained, “We’re happy to announce that Jim is rejoining Pennywise and we’re all looking forward to playing music together again. We’re going to celebrate our reunion with a show at the Hollywood Palladium, Jan. 18, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Pennywise for our friends and fans in L.A.” Lindberg admitted that being back with the band was somewhat of a surprise, and he joked, “[I feel like] someone who took an Ambien [and] has found themselves down by the lake and they don’t know how they got there.” Dragge revealed that the first step in the reunion came about after “a little self introspection,” and that he called Lindberg while he was at a bachelor party. Lindberg said he had erased Dragge’s number, thinking he’d never hear from him again as he’d repeatedly called following his initial exit only to have Dragge not answer or return any of his messages. Meanwhile, it appears as though things have worked out all around for the singer switch. Zoli Teglas, who joined the group after Lindberg’s exit and sang on the band’s ‘All or Nothing’ album, had back surgery earlier this year, which has kept the band off the road. His recovery has taken longer than expected, and according to both Lindberg and Dragge, the vocalist let it be known he was ready to exit. “He’s actually happy. He’s happy to get the hell out of here,” says Dragge. “Jim told me he was calling and saying, ‘Hurry up and come back man.’” For now, Pennywise just has the 25th anniversary show at the Hollywood Palladium on their schedule. Tickets for the Jan. 18 performance go on sale via Live Nation this Friday (Nov. 2) at noon here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/ex-pennywise-singer-jim-lindbergh-book-idea-adapted-film-jason-segel/” title=”Next: Jim Lindberg’s Book Idea Adapted for Big Screen by Jason Segel” align=”center”]
Christopher Polk / Ethan Miller / Frazer Harrison, Getty Images The People’s Choice Awards will return in January, and a number of top rock acts are in competition to take home honors for Favorite Band. Green Day , Shinedown , Van Halen , Linkin Park and the Black Keys are among those vying for the honor. Music fans can currently choose up to five of their favorites among a list of 12 acts. Other acts that can be voted for include the Dave Matthews Band, Maroon 5, Matchbox Twenty, Mumford & Sons, No Doubt, the Killers, and Train. There’s also an option for a write-in vote. Fans can currently vote here in the Favorite Band category. Other People’s Choice music categories include Favorite DJ, Favorite Face of Pop Music, Favorite Fan Following, Favorite Festival Headliner, and Favorite Singer/Actor. The ceremony will also feature fan favorites in film and television. To vote in all categories, click here . The People’s Choice Awards take place at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre at the L.A. Live complex. It will air on CBS Jan. 9 at 9PM ET. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/top-songs-2012-so-far/” title=”Next: Best Songs of 2012 So Far” align=”center”]
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images – Bad News: Green Day has canceled their remaining 2012 gigs and postponed their early 2013 shows. Good news: The band pushed up the ‘Tre’ album release. [ Loudwire ] – Black Veil Brides revealed the full track listing and street date for their ‘Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones’ album. [ Loudwire ] – Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Nickelback ‘s Chad Kroeger is good with a comeback. He got in a jab against Sum 41 ‘s Deryck Whibley after the singer and his girlfriend dressed up as Kroeger and Whibley’s ex, Avril Lavigne , for Halloween. [ Loudwire ] – …And then there were four! The President of Heavy Metal Finals are down to the semifinals, where every vote counts. [ Loudwire ] – Steel Panther have exposed the performance of ‘Fat Girl’ from their ‘British Invasion’ DVD. [ Loudwire ] – What if every rocker turned into a zombie? See some of your favorites turned undead. [ Loudwire ] – Jimmy Page has reportedly been revisiting Led Zeppelin ‘s catalog to remaster the old recordings. [ Ultimate Clasic Rock ] – Paul McCartney says Yoko Ono was not to blame for breaking up the Beatles . [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Blaqk Audio has a new video for the track ‘Faith Healer,’ and its debuting both on mtvU and at the network’s website. [ Rock Music Report ] – What are some key things to remember for a hurricane? Check out the WTF hurricane preparedness checklist. [ GuySpeed ]