Neurot Recordings Neurosis singer and guitarist Steve Von Till was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. He spoke about the band’s new album ‘Honor Found in Decay,’ as well as creating music independently and on their own time. Read Full Metal Jackie’s interview with Steve Von Till below: It was five years between albums before ‘Honor Found in Decay’ was released late last year. Creatively, how has that time between albums broken down? Is it a lot of time spent consciously thinking about new music or is it more about living a life of adventure that will ultimately manifest itself musically? It’s more about just surrendering to the flow – it’s complete chaos, we have no set method and it’s definitely not time spent in the brain trying to conceive. This music comes from the heart and soul and it’s really just finding the time together over the years that are the hard part because we live quite spread out but most of it’s just waiting for it to demand attention. It must be kind of cool not having people say, “Oh you have to put out this many records in this certain timeline,” so you sort of have creative freedom to let it come when it’s ready. Absolutely, I mean we all work day jobs and have families and we run our own record label, so there’s no external pressure and that’s the way we like it. This music is so important to us as a form of expression that we really feel the need to keep it pure and the only way to really keep it pure is to keep all external influence out. ‘Honor Found in Decay’ is now being released on vinyl. What’s more obvious about Neurosis in that format compared to digital? I think that’s the era we come from, the album time – where you sit and you put on an album and you absorb the whole thing while holding the artwork in your hand and reading the lyrics and just surrendering to it. I still love that format best myself, I think it sounds best and more natural, there’s more soul in it. Would you consider yourself a purist when it comes to the styles of music that you listen to and recording and everything? No, because you always go for what’s convenient too. I’ve got an iPod, probably like everyone else, but I still prefer to sit and play an album if I can. What kind of stuff are you listening to these days? All across the board, lately a lot of Joy Division and Amebix. Visual presentation has always been such an integral part of Neurosis. You very recently announced discontinuing that element of the band; what made such a drastic change necessary at this point in the band’s career? We always feel the need to push our boundaries and evolve and to go to new places we haven’t been and we’ve had visuals as part of our live performances since 1992. It just felt like it was time for a major change in that way. We started to feel that maybe it was a bit of a burden or that time has caught up to the multimedia aspect of what we’re doing and it no longer feels vital at this point – at least not the way we were doing it. It was time to just destroy it and put it away for a while and see what else comes new. Right now we’re enjoying just being completely liberated and playing under bright light and going for it. Who exercises greater influence over what you do musically: other bands and musicians or the non-musical people central to your life? I’d say the entire world probably influences us but it definitely has nothing to do with what other musicians are doing. I think music is the least influence on our music in some way because when you’re trying to find something original even though we’re all music fans and we love music and listen to a lot of music – when it comes time to create Neurosis music we have to let all of that slide and dissipate and not have other people influencing it. Everything we see, everything we hear, everything we feel must influence some aspect of what we’re doing – it’s probably our emotional world and the world around us that influences us the most. How do you feel about Neurosis being an influence to so many bands today? That’s pretty much the biggest honor that we could have. We think about what our musical heroes meant to us and how we play this really unique, strange, self-centered, self-absorbed music and the fact that anybody else likes it is kind of amazing. The fact that it might go out in the world and be a positive influence and inspire other people to pick up guitars or find their own true musical path or artistic expression, that’s just a great feeling. What can we expect from the band this year? We’ll definitely be playing a few more shows around the United States and we’re hitting Europe in the summer and we’ll just see where it takes us. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Kvelertak frontman Erlend Hjelvik 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 .
Photos: Facebook: Device / Roadrunner Records With Clutch headed to Loudwire’s Cage Match Hall of Fame after five straight victories, it’s time to start a fresh battle with two bands and their new singles. Device enter the cage with their debut single ‘Vilify’ off of the upcoming self-titled album, due April 9. Fronted by Disturbed singer David Draiman, Device’s forthcoming disc will feature heavy hitting collaborations with Serj Tankian, Geezer Butler, Lzzy Hale, M. Shadows and many others. The band will also be playing a handful of U.S. festivals in April and May; go here for more information. Stone Sour take the Cage Match by storm with their latest track ‘Do Me a Favor’ off of their forthcoming record ‘House of Gold & Bones Part 2.? Frontman Corey Taylor and company recently wrapped up a U.S. trek with Papa Roach and Otherwise, and will be hitting the road again in Australia and Europe. For a full list of dates and countries, go here . So will Device ‘Vilify’ the competition or will Stone Sour’s fans do them a ‘Favor’ and help them earn a victory? Listen to both tracks and vote for your favorite in the poll below! (This Cage Match will run until Friday, Feb. 22, at 8AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) Device, ‘Vilify’ Stone Sour, ‘Do Me A Favor’ Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. Email Me When Cage Match Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of the daily winner of the Cage Match, as well as our top stories of the day. Email Rules of Cage Match: Fans can vote once per hour for their favorite song. If a song remains the reigning champ for five straight cage matches, it is retired to the Loudwire Cage Match Hall of Fame. With so many great songs out there, we have to give other bands a chance!
Chung Sung-Jun, Getty Images / Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com / Jim Dyson, Getty Images The annual rite of summer passage, Wisconsin’s Rock Fest, is back for its 20th anniversary year and this time around fans will be treated to headlining sets from Korn , Motley Crue and Kiss . Officials revealed most of the lineup Monday morning (Feb. 18), with one mystery headliner yet to be named, but the four-day festival should provide a great mixture of rock’s most-respected vets and the new guard of in-demand hard rock acts. According to the Leader Telegram , the mystery headliner will head up the opening night bill on July 18, with support from Seether , Halestorm , All That Remains and Aranda . Korn front the bill on July 19, with the Offspring , Theory of a Deadman , Pop Evil and In This Moment also taking part. The Saturday July 20 bill is headlined by Kiss, with support from Megadeth , Stone Sour , Hellyeah and Warrant . The final night (Sunday, July 21) has Motley Crue finishing out the music weekend, preceded by Whitesnake , Skillet , Device and Otherwise . Rock Fest runs July 18-21 at The Venue in Cadott, Wis. Ticketing information for the event can be found at the festival’s website here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/rocklahoma-2013-must-see-rock-concerts/” title=”Next: Check Out Other 2013 Must-See Rock Concerts” align=”center”]
Jo Hale, Getty Images / Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Slash has been making his way around the world in support of his ‘ Apocalyptic Love ‘ album, and during a recent visit to the Czech Republic he shared his thoughts on the Randy Blythe manslaughter trial and his perception of the legal system from the outside. The guitar great told the Czech Republic’s Be in TV, “I know as much as I’ve been told from everybody I know in that camp. It’s a strange unique situation. I think that when he first came over here and put up his bail and they never let him out and they kept paying and they kept paying and paying and paying and they never let him out, I said, ‘What the f— is going on there.’ I mean, that’s a whole different type of law to me, where it’s just different. And so finally they let him out and now it’s actually going to trial.” The guitarist added, “I really don’t think he, in any way, shape or form, is guilty. So they’re gonna let this thing run its course I suppose. And because the judicial system here is so different that he was able to stay in jail here so long, who knows what the verdict is gonna end up being?! It’s hard to say.” The Lamb of God frontman recently returned home after some of the witnesses in the case failed to appear, leading to a delay . Slash concludes, “It’s a very long and, unfortunately, it’s a very expensive process. It’s like f—, really?!” During his interview, Slash also addressed his progress toward a follow-up to the ‘Apocalyptic Love’ album and his work on the Slasher Films horror flick ‘Nothing Left to Fear.’ Take a listen to Be in TV’s entire interview with Slash, including the comments on Blythe (at 5:02 into the clip), below. Listen to Slash’s Interview With Be in TV [button href=”http://loudwire.com/slash-debuts-live-video-for-anastasia/” title=”Next: Watch Slash’s ‘Anastasia’ Video” align=”center”]
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Testament and Overkill have been rocking stages hard over the past month, but being out on the road during cold and flu season is not always easy. Overkill frontman Bobby Blitz has been dealing with a cold over the course of the trek that recently turned into something more serious. Overkill bowed out of the tour’s show Friday night (Feb. 15) in Huntington, N.Y, which led the band to reveal Blitz’s worsening ailment as the reason for canceling the show and potentially other dates in the immediate future. Their statement on the matter reads as follows: We are terribly sorry that we had to cancel our performance last night [February 15], but let’s put the rumors to rest, before speculation runs rampant. Blitz [singer Bobby Ellsworth] was diagnosed with what is called ‘walking pneumonia,’ and was medically advised to not perform due to it potentially getting worse if he did. When the health risk is no longer an issue, he’ll be ready to kick ass once again. Overkill’s dates with Testament and support acts Flotsam and Jetsam and 4ARM are scheduled to run through the end of the month. To see the remaining stops, click here . The band has been out on the road promoting their ‘The Electric Age’ album. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/overkill-bobby-blitz-east-coast-thrash-metal-young-fans-more/” title=”Next: Bobby Blitz Talks East Coast Thrash Metal + More” align=”center”]
Century Media Records Voivod ‘s long road supporting their ‘Target Earth’ album was just getting underway, but at least several dates on their run will not happen as scheduled. The band has announced a series of postponed dates while their frontman, Denis ‘Snake’ Belanger, undergoes a procedure to deal with diverticulitis. For those unaware, diverticulitis is a common digestive disorder in which the formation of pouches within the large intestine just outside of the colon become inflamed, leading to discomfort and pain, as well as a number of other symptoms like fever and nausea. The band’s Facebook posting on the situation reads as follows: show cancellations!!! Voivod has had to postpone any shows for the immediate future as Snake needs 4-6 weeks rest due to a procedure for diverticulitis, a common digestive disease. This affects the MS Benefit in Ottawa and the SXSW shows, this should not affect the Santiago, Chile MetalFest appearance in April More tour news to be announced shortly. Stay tuned to see if and when Voivod reschedule the lost dates. In the interim, fans in Chile can begin to look forward to the band’s return to the stage. Loudwire sends our best wishes to Snake during his recovery period. The ‘Target Earth’ album is out now and available here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/decibel-magazine-tour-2013-must-see-metal-concerts/” title=”Next: Check Out Other 2013 Must-See Metal Concerts” align=”center”]
Facebook – Device In this day and age in the music industry, it’s hard for bands to keep songs under wraps before their official release. Disturbed singer David Draiman ‘s new band Device are no exception, with the first single ‘Vilify’ off their self-titled debut hitting YouTube today (Feb. 17). Listen below. Draiman himself acknowledged the leak via a Twitter post, even including the YouTube link for his fans to hear the song. “It’s out there, so I might as well share it,” tweeted the singer in his usual all caps. As for the song itself, ‘Vilify’ features the rapid-fire vocals Draiman has delivered with Disturbed for more than a decade. Musically, the aggressive tune boasts industrial rock and electronic elements, as Draiman has indicated when he began talking about the direction of Device’s music. Lyrically, Draiman sings of a relationship gone bad, with a chorus that declares, “When you vilify / You begin to nullify / Everything that we’ve ever done / You’re f—ing with my head.” All told, Disturbed fans will likely embrace ‘Vilify,’ as it incorporates Draiman’s trademark vocals while adding a fresh sound to his repertoire. The leak of the song should only increase anticipation for Device’s self-titled debut album. The disc drops April 9 and features such guest musicians as Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler, System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, among others. ‘Vilify’ officially hits radio on Tuesday, Feb. 19, but, with Draiman’s permission, you can listen to the song below and let us know what you think of the tune in our comments section. Device, ‘Vilify’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/david-draiman-device-fan-support-disturbed-future/” title=”Next: David Draiman Talks Device and Future of Disturbed” align=”center”]