Posts Tagged ‘life’

Spoken, ‘Illusion’ – Exclusive Album Stream

eOne Arkansas rockers Spoken have taken things up a notch with their latest disc, ‘Illusion,’ and you can check it out for yourself with Loudwire’s exclusive album stream, available right here in advance of next Tuesday’s (Feb. 12) release. The hard-hitting rockers definitely grab your attention right out of the gate with a pair of brutal tracks — ‘I Stand Alone’ and ‘Beneath the Surface.’ But it’s not all in-your-face aggression as songs like ‘Don’t Go’ and ‘Through It All’ show off a more melodic side. ‘Through It All’ and the anthemic ‘Take Everything’ are already targeted as singles from the effort. Singer Matt Baird says, “We wanted a record that both fans and musicians would appreciate. We spent so much time on it, rewriting and reworking over a period of years. This is the most fast, heavy, riffy stuff we have done.” The singer cites Slipknot and As I Lay Dying as bands that might have comparable sounds on some of the tracks, but he adds, “In the end, we are a rock band that has really aggressive moments. This is more accessible as we have ever gone, as well as heavier than we have ever gone.” For Spoken, ‘Illusion’ is the culmination of a period of determination and Baird says he’s anxious to share his passion for their work with fans. He explains, “‘Dedicated beyond reason’ has always been our philosophy and it has brought us through the storms to this point. I feel like I have been called to this from above, and this record is another evidence of that in my life. I can’t wait to see the impact it has, the people we will be able to bless in the process.” Spoken will play a handful of February shows around the album’s release and will then join Volbeat for their North American trek in March and April. Check out their tour dates here . Take a listen to Spoken’s ‘Illusion’ album below and if you like what you hear, you can order the album or any of its bundle packages here . Listen to Spoken’s ‘Illusion’ Album [button href=”http://loudwire.com/2013-albums/” title=”Next: Most Anticipated 2013 Albums” align=”center”]

The Devil Wears Prada’s Mike Hranica Discusses New Album Progress + Tour With As I Lay Dying

Frazer Harrison, Getty Images The year 2012 was a great one for the  Devil Wears Prada , as the band had a prime spot on the Mayhem Festival tour while promoting their ‘Dead and Alive’ concert album, in addition to their 2011 studio album, ‘Dead Throne.’ After some late year touring overseas, the Devil Wears Prada started getting back to work on their next album. Loudwire caught up with singer Mike Hranica during a break in writing sessions, and he told us about the progress for their forthcoming disc and he also spoke about the band’s upcoming co-headlining trek with As I Lay Dying , which kicks off Feb. 22. After taking a break for the holidays, do you build up any rust as you get ready to head back on tour? Right now, and I know the tour is sneaking up on us about a month away, but really we’re quite distracted. We’re working on really finishing the record as far as writing. We’ve been doing that for about two weeks. We’re all in Portland right now working, so right now the big thing on the table at the moment is getting everything figured out for our new record in terms of timing, producer, engineer, mixing all of that stuff, and even more immediate is making sure we have our songs good to go. So that’s weighing on us right now and keeping us real busy. But it was great to be home for the holidays. We had about five weeks in Europe into Thanksgiving and spending a lot of time overseas. It was particularly exhausting, so it was good to just wind down in December and then get back at it writing right now and we’ve got about another week of this. Then in the beginning of February we’ll relax again and get ready to tour. When we talked at the Mayhem Festival last summer , the ideas for the new disc were just starting to pop up at that point. What can you tell me about how this album is progressing? Since ‘Dead Throne’ came out, I knew what I wanted to do. This is not a conceptual record, but it’s kind of like what the underlying theme of the record would be. I’ve had that for a while, but after Mayhem we recorded four songs and actually tracked vocals and everything and now that we’re in Portland so far I have another four tracks and the rest of the guys have a number more on top of that. They’re really refining and fine tuning I suppose. Before we’re done here, I’ll try to track some more vocals so we’re definitely on the right page and being diligent about it. It’s exciting to be writing songs again. I know that ideas come from the other band members as well, but how difficult is it to gather all the ideas and make it into something your own. [Chuckle] It’s kind of forced. I mean the band lives all over. Chris is in Portland, Dave’s in San Diego and then the rest of us are in Chicago, so when it’s time to meet up, there’s no option. It’s time to go. I think for me at least, and for all of us, you know you have to do it. It’s just that time and I know for me personally it’s not a huge challenge to try to write better songs than what I was doing previously, but it’s never a challenge to write because I always have stuff on my mind. I’m always ready to come up with new things, at least for the most part. I was very excited with ‘Dead Throne’ and it still feels like a very relatable record to me and it’s still truthful. I guess I’m always good to write for the most part and now that it’s been a while since we worked on ‘Dead Throne’ and recorded ‘Dead Throne,’ there’s definitely more stuff on my mind. You mentioned ‘Dead Throne’ and you also had the concert disc, ‘Dead and Alive.’ Do either of the experiences from those albums carry over into the creative process for this disc or are you starting fresh? For me, I definitely feel a little bit of a carry-over from ‘Dead Throne,’ particularly because it was a very cool record for me learning, for me learning to write better and that was working with a new [producer] … working with Adam [Dutkiewicz] for the first time and having [ A Day to Remember ‘s] Jeremy McKinnon working on some of the songs with us, and I feel I took a lot from that. On ‘Dead Throne’ there were better vocal parts and everything was more cohesive and understandable and made for better song structure and everything and that had had a big impact on me creatively and so it’s definitely carried over into this. Conceptually, the concepts of ‘Dead Throne’ didn’t carry over. I feel like that would be repetitive and monotonous to keep going at the same subject matter, but obviously it all comes from the same place and I can say that nothing got more happy or uplifting really. So I think it’s very much the Devil Wears Prada but also it’s got a bit of freshness and originality to it and I think that even musically we started approaching the songs differently. Like this song could be more like this and working off of a base we never really worked off of before. You mentioned getting back together in Portland and I’m wondering does location ever factor into the mood or feeling of what you’re putting together? Does this new music have what you might call a Portland-feel? I don’t think it drastically changes what I’m writing about. For me the things going on in my personal life is more immediate and turns into songs and lyrics rather than where I’m writing it from … unless we’re in Europe and then I might write a song and work off of that. But the big thing for me is that this is the first time writing outside of Chicago for a while, because we usually write there … In Chicago, I go to practice and I go home and I’m right there to write and everything. Here I don’t have those comforts and pleasures of being at home. It’s different in Portland and I think it has a good effect on a few of us in terms of having a separation and letting us know it’s time to work and it’s time to create, so being in Portland has a little bit of a different effect, but I don’t think it’s anything too drastic. I think if I was somewhere sunny and warm, it would definitely have more of a firm hand on the songs. While sunny and warm may be a few months off, here in the heart of winter you’re heading back indoors for club and concert hall-type shows. Do those type of shows hold a special place for the band in terms of what you get out of intimate venues? I’ve always really liked everything as long as it works and nothing is breaking and there’s actually enough room onstage. But I’ve always really liked doing tiny club shows that we’ll throw in here and there. I’ve always liked the House of Blues routing, which we’ll be doing on this As I Lay Dying tour, and I love doing Warped Tour and Mayhem, as well. It’s just nice to have a good knack for it. The last tour we did was a European tour with August Burns Red and it was the same thing, small-to-midsize venues or whatever, and it is a bit of separation from what we were doing on Mayhem but I’m excited to get back into it. We haven’t done indoor in the States for about a year now, so I’m definitely enthused to get back into it and be playing a lot of the cities that we love to be in where we’re seeing such a rewarding and complimenting crowd. As I Lay Dying joined you last summer on the Mayhem Festival and I’m sure you’ve crossed paths before. Can you talk about the relationship there and why they’re the perfect compliment for you on this run? The first time we toured with them was 2008 on Warped Tour and I didn’t really get to know any of them back then, but there’s been a few run-ins since then and obviously Mayhem, we really got along with them well on Mayhem. Even prior to that we always got along and also before Mayhem, Tim [Lambesis] was on ‘Dead Throne’ and had a guest part and sincerely, I love that band. I’ve been listening to them since I was a sophomore in high school, and it’s awesome to be doing a proper venue tour with them because we’ve never done that. It’s always been the sort of festival thing. You mentioned Tim and his guest role on ‘Dead Throne.’ Any thoughts on him possibly guesting during your set? A few times on Mayhem, every couple of days or so, he’d come out and do his part on ‘Constance.’ We haven’t written a set list for the tour yet, so I don’t know if we’ll be playing ‘Constance,’ but I know a lot of people will want it and they’ll want to see Tim do the part. I’ve done parts on other band’s records and when your on tour you have your own set to play and then you have someone else’s set and have to do the song with them, it can be a little pain-in-the-butt hassle, so I hate to put that on Tim, but we’ll probably be playing ‘Constance’ and it’s just up to him if he’s busy or wants to do it. It’s not like he’s obligated to doing the song every night. You’ve got a couple of acts opening as well and one of them, For Today , just had a little pre-tour drama with their guitarist leaving after sparking some outrage with his online commentary. Your band has been around enough that this probably isn’t the first time you’ve toured with another act dealing with a change or some headline-making drama. Does that make it any weirder or more difficult to approach them when you know a band is dealing with something more than just playing shows? I don’t think things will be weird with our relationship with For Today. We’ve toured with them. They did our ‘Dead Throne’ tour, the first one we did in the States, a little over a year ago. I mean, we’ve always gotten along with the guys. I know [singer] Mattie [Montgomery] really well and I was talking to Mattie yesterday. I don’t think it’s going to burden them. They’re really strong men, really strong in their faith and I don’t know. I think if everything that happened with the comment had subsided while on tour, there would have been a noticeable amount of tension, but I’m not too concerned about it. It’s a very heavy issue to be speaking about and I don’t mean to underplay the comment, but we’ve always really got along with that band and we’re really happy we’re touring with them again whether they think those things or not. It’s nothing that we agree with, but we have the same faith and we enjoy touring with them. I’m not sure of the timeline, but do you plan on recording before hitting the road or after? We haven’t scheduled anything proper yet, but we’re trying to hop into the studio close to after the tour is finished. Right now, we did it with ‘Dead Throne’ and we’re doing the same thing this time around. We track everything and Chris [Rubey] demos everything out and I’ll do vocals over it and it really really enhances the pre-production process as far as getting into the studio. Last time, it was with Adam D. and really being able to cut the songs apart rather than standing in a room playing songs and saying, “I feel like you should change that,” and taking so much time to do that, you have it all right there in front of you. So we’ve realized how important that is in terms of being sustainable and sufficient and recording and coming up with the best songs that we can so, right now it’s just a matter of writing songs and working on the songs that Chris already has and then demoing it all out and throwing some sloppy vocals over it and having a couple of months to listen over it and then when you hit the studio you can say, “Oh the progression should have gone this way so the melody can go this way” … so really that’s the important thing to us. Everything is tracked out, but not really sounding very good. I thought this was kind of cool when I talked to you last, but you were walking around Mayhem with a Julian Penti record that a fan had given you. I just wanted to see what you’re listening to these days and see if any of your fans had turned you onto any other music. Lately, all I listen to is Nick Cave. Really, for most of the year. He’s got a lot of albums so there’s plenty of options, but I really love him. He’s the greatest so I’ve been listening to a lot of that. And [Julian Plenti], that EP, that vinyl turned out to be pretty good. The opening song, the bass is just fantastic. Overall though I was a little disappointed in what I heard this year. I did a couple of ‘Top 5′ records [posts] and I had a choice, but at the same time it was not like there were records that will always be an important part of my life. I really like mewithoutYou’s record, ‘Ten Stories,’ and because Underoath is breaking up and on their farewell tour, I’m actually flying back to Chicago for the show and I keep listening to them, reliving my high school life and experiencing nostalgia. So a little bit of Underoath, but really Nick Cave. And there’s this thing called Power Trip, that’s a thrashy metal band out of Texas. Obviously we’ve got the touring coming up and the record is primary in your mind, but any other things on the horizon we should be looking for? I’m close to finishing up a project I’ve been working on for about a year-and-a-half, but I haven’t told anyone about but I can almost start telling people about it pretty soon. Tentatively keep an eye out. I need to use this Twitter thing to let people know what I’m doing. Is it a solo thing or full band? No, it’s not musical. It involves music but it’s not a side project. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/the-devil-wears-prada-mammoth-exclusive-video-premiere/” title=”Watch The Devil Wears Prada’s ‘Mammoth’ Video” align=”center”]

Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider Roasted by Zakk Wylde, Scott Ian, Lita Ford + More

Rogers & Cowan Twisted Sister ‘s Dee Snider was subject to a little skewering Thursday night (Jan. 24), but it was all for a good cause as the Revolver / Guitar World Rock & Roll Roast raised funds for the MusiCares organization. Snider sat upon his throne throughout the evening as a dais of rockers, comedians and actors each took their shots at the singer. Snider’s ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ pal Penn Jillette hosted the evening, which featured last year’s roastee Zakk Wylde , as well as Anthrax ‘s Scott Ian , Lita Ford , ‘That Metal Show’ co-hosts Eddie Trunk and Jim Florentine, Snider’s son Shane, and comedians Jim Norton and Craig Gass. Plus, actor Mark Metcalf was on hand to provide his salute, delivering his “Whaddya want to do with your life?” speech before introducing Snider and the panel. In addition, Alice Cooper , Lorenzo Lamas, Sebastian Bach , Donald Trump, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Steel Panther , Brande Roderick, Chris Jericho and Gene Simmons all sent in video tributes. Jillette opened the night citing the “motley crew” that made up the dais, before apologizing to Snider for mentioning “a real rock and roll band.” Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian had perhaps the line of the night, telling the audience, “Twisted Sister tribute bands don’t exist because no one wants to play the same two songs over and over.” Gass also provided a zinger, stating, “Somewhere in America, there’s a county fair with an empty stage.” Alice Cooper, appearing via a video tribute, took his own jab at Snider, congratulating him on his “regionally successful music career,” while Lita Ford showed her concern for Snider telling him she hoped that menopause hadn’t affected his singing voice. The Twisted Sister frontman wasn’t the only target however, as Zakk Wylde told the singer’s son Shane he was worried about his future, adding, “Those are some big gay shoes to fill.” Florentine singled out another rocker, explaining “I thought Scott Ian came to my house, but it was a garden gnome.” And Norton offered up a dig at Ford, stating, “You can tell Lita is a Ford because no one has wanted to get inside her since the early ’80s.” Snider, however, had some revenge at the end of the night, targeting Jim Norton with one of his best barbs. The rocker joked, “Jim Norton’s career is going so poorly, he’s opening for my son, Shane.” [button href=”http://loudwire.com/bret-michaels-and-dee-snider-return-for-all-star-celebrity-apprentice/” title=”Next: Dee Snider to Return for ‘Celebrity Apprentice'” align=”center”]

Newsted Unleash Hard-Hitting ‘Soldierhead’ Video

YouTube Simple. Sweet. Badass! There’s nothing too out of the ordinary for the first video from the band known as Newsted as ‘Soldierhead’ is a traditional performance clip, but it packs a powerful punch. Jason Newsted and his new group offer up a rapid fire, hard-hitting performance of ‘Soldierhead’ that shows exactly what they’re all about and serves as a bit of a proving ground before the band ever hits the concert stage. After watching the video, there should be increased anticipation for whenever Newsted takes the stage. The bassist-frontman exclusively tells Loudwire, “I think [‘Soldierhead’] probably came to me in like 10 minutes and I got the main riff down and then the lyrics just came to me and I said ‘this is going to be the one’ and I had it done by that night and it just showed up, because I keep chasing it, man.” As expected with that title, the track comes from a particular point of view. Newsted added, “‘Soldierhead’ is for all of our military service personnel guys and girls … You hear such crazy stories about all of that and I met so many thousands of soldiers in my life traveling around the world and they’ve always been so supportive of the metal, so that’s my tip of the hat to them. I’m glad that everybody loves the song for what it is, because it can represent something for all of us as they represent us.” ‘Soldierhead’ is featured on Newsted’s debut ‘ Metal ‘ EP, which is available now via iTunes . Watch Newsted’s ‘Soldierhead’ Video [button href=”http://loudwire.com/jason-newsted-touring-wont-charge-meet-and-greets/” title=”Next: Jason Newsted Shares His Thoughts on Touring” align=”center”]

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Funds Haitian Soup Kitchen and Christian Ministry

Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine may be one of the most controversial musicians on the planet in terms of his personal beliefs and public statements, but even his most colossal naysayers will surely find themselves praising Mustaine for this most recent announcement. Mustaine has revealed that he will fund a soup kitchen in Haiti, which will feed up to 8,000 meals a day to those in need. Mustaine announced news of his soup kitchen and attached Christian ministry, ‘Outside the Bowl,’ late last night (Jan. 13) via Megadeth’s Facebook page. Mustaine writes: Droogies, I just wanted to take this time on a peaceful Sunday to stop and thank you for your tremendous support. I know not everyone here is a fan, but that’s ok too; this message will be waiting for you when you change your opinion of me/us. Until then, I want to sincerely thank those of you for something you have no idea that you’ve done, but that is really a righteous and unbelievable thing to do. You see, all faults aside, I really am trying to live my life differently today, and part of that was in finding something to believe in. One of the things that has happened since I started this transformation is getting involved with helping widows and orphans, and helping the homeless. Now, here’s what you’ve done… I was approached with an opportunity, and thanks to your unwavering support, my family and I have been able to fund a soup kitchen in Haiti with a ministry called, “Outside The Bowl,” and you will be proud to know that when it is started (which will be very soon), we will be feeding up to 8,000 meals a day to the less fortunate. I am so very grateful, and I love you all so very much (yes, even you haters), because even when I am being vilified and having my character assassinated, I can find comfort knowing up to 8,000 meals will be served each day, along with a healthy serving of love and some spiritual nourishment as well. Again, I cannot thank you enough. Love and bruises, Dave Mustaine Megadeth are currently in the studio recording their yet-untitled 14th full-length album. The band has been releasing short clips of their recording sessions via YouTube, which you can watch in the videos below. Megadeth at Vic’s Garage – Studio Update No. 2 Megadeth at Vic’s Garage – Studio Update No. 3 [button href=”http://loudwire.com/megadeth-dave-mustaine-rants-on-chemtrails-blasts-cnn/” title=”Dave Mustaine Rants on Chemtrails, Blasts CNN” align=”center”]

As I Lay Dying Singer Tim Lambesis Talks Touring, Humanitarianism, Side Project + More

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Lambesis spoke about the band’s upcoming co-headlining tour with The Devil Wears Prada, as well as plans for the release of his own side project and much more. Read Full Metal Jackie’s interview with Tim Lambesis below: ‘Awakened’ came out back in September and it’s pretty much a two year period between As I Lay Dying albums but you’ve already come up with an idea or two for what comes next. When does it hit you that you’re consciously starting to think about the next album? Usually we tour the main touring places and when we start to overlap and play the same city twice on one album then we realize “Okay we should problem do a new album before we go back out on tour.” So believe it or not it’s the touring cycle that determines when we need a new album. Tim, you’re pretty well known for your humanitarianism. Does it provide you with a source of lyrical inspiration? Yes, it’s definitely a part of my life for me, my kids are adopted and I’ve visited their country – they’re from Ethiopia and that was eye opening to what the world is really like, at least a third of the world. I think that just influences my entire world view even if I’m not necessarily writing a song about humanitarian work, I’m writing a song about what truly makes us happy in life and those types of think that have been influenced by my experiences. You’re going to be co-headlining with The Devil Wears Prada through the beginning of April and touring is a unique means of seeing the world. Where is the place you always make a point of visiting if you’re in the area on tour? For me, I always try to find good food. One of the hardest tours to do is actually arena tours because it’s in the middle of nowhere since many arenas are outside the cities. For a band like us we usually play in clubs or theaters right in the middle of downtown for the most part. We typically just walk around – and I eat like six meals a day so I got to find a few good meals. You definitely must have some sort of workout regime as well, I got to imagine. You’re pretty buff. Yeah that’s why I eat six meals a day, I got to keep my body fueled. It’s pretty tough – I’m a naturally very thin person so I have the opposite problem of most people, I try to put on weight. I think it was like a progression, when we first met you were really skinny and as the years have gone on you’ve definitely had this huge build. Is it something like one day you were just like, “I want to start working out more.” How did that come about? Yeah it’s funny because I saw a lot of my peers past their prime, so to speak, where they were starting to get older and starting to show and they weren’t quite putting on the same stage show. One day I was like “Well all of our peers seem to be trailing off and I want to be the band that keeps getting better with age” of course as the frontman that means I need to be in the best shape of my life. It kind of went a little overboard but I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life. Tim, last month you performed with Suicide Silence at a show that was a tribute to Mitch [Lucker], their singer who died unexpectedly in November. Like Mitch, you’re a singer and a father, what went through your head when you played that show? It was definitely an emotional show, everybody was pretty choked up. We showed a video clip of Mitch growing up and his family was there. It was really tough, I think for me seeing his parents was probably the most emotional event of the night. Beyond the tour with The Devil Wears Prada, what can we expect from the band this year? Well after that tour, we’re going to hit a few places internationally that we skipped over. This isn’t necessarily from the band but I have a little side project in the works that I want to release sometime next there is a slight break in the As I Lay Dying schedule – something more on the death metal, extreme end of the spectrum. We recorded a few songs and hopefully that will be out by the summer time. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta to her program this coming weekend. She can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com .

Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor Offers Deeper Look Into ‘House of Gold & Bones’ Comics

Dark Horse Comics So far, music fans have been indulging in ‘ House of Gold & Bones, Pt. 1 ,’ the first of a two-part musical installment from Stone Sour . But those who’ve been following Corey Taylor ‘s exploits know that the music is only a portion of the ambitious scope the singer has for his latest artistic output. Coinciding with the second album release this April, fans will get to check out a corresponding comic book series . Taylor told Comic Book Resources , “The last 10 years of my life have been the most formative. I realized I was on the threshold of the rest of my life — I had an idea of who I wanted to be as a man and I realized who I was at the time didn’t exactly jibe with what that idea was. So I started the process of changing for the better … ‘House of Gold & Bones’ is loaded with that journey, but it also has a lot of pieces from my friends’ lives — some are a lot more ahead of the curve than others, but we all are trying to do the same thing: trying to figure it all out. That’s why I wanted to tell the story in the first place — to put it all in perspective and find my place in it all.” The singer says the comic series story spills out like a contemporary fable, with the hero waking up in a world he doesn’t understand and learning more about himself than he could have ever imagined. While the two albums tell part of the story, Taylor says it’s been enjoyable to translate the tale and expand on some of the ideas with the comic series. He’s also found that his two artistic loves balance each other out. “Both genres are fathomless when it comes to possibilities,” says Taylor. “But in music, you only really get the emotion of the singer or the music, which makes it hard if you’re trying to convey the emotion of the scene. With comics, you get that snapshot of emotion: the looks on the faces, the color of the sky, the veins in people’s necks, but you don’t get the fluid feel of being in the moment, like film or music. I hope between the two, we’ll be able to put these pieces together perfectly.” The first issue of the “House of Gold & Bones’ comic series arrives April 17. Artist Richard P. Clark’s variant cover for issue No. 1 is shown above. For more on Taylor’s discussion about comic books and more exclusive images, check out Comic Book Resources’ full interview  here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/corey-taylor-stone-sour-elaborate-touring-plans-latest-on-slipknots-next-album/” title=”Next: Corey Taylor on Stone Sour Tour + Film Plans” align=”center”]