Metal Blade Experimental metallers Between the Buried and Me are approaching the release of their sixth studio album, ‘The Parallax II: Future Sequence.’ The band has already treated fans to the 10-minute epic ‘Telos’ along with the album’s kickstart track ‘Astral Body,’ but now Loudwire is proud to exclusively host never-before-seen, close-up footage of BTBAM guitarists Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring demonstrating the dual guitar mastery from ‘Telos.’ In our recent interview with Paul Waggoner, the guitarist described ‘Telos’ as “the meat” of the band’s upcoming 72-minute album, and once the record comes out, fans will surely gain an understanding of what Waggoner means. ‘The Parallax II’ is the full-length follow-up to their 2011 EP, ‘The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues,’ which begins the storyline continued within ‘Future Sequence.’ “The two main characters of the story take on a journey through space and time with the unenviable task of having to cure the flaws of humanity by any means necessary,” begins Waggoner. “While the EP served mostly as an introduction to the characters, ‘Future Sequence’ contains the action of the story. The lyrics are written in the stream of consciousness style, which really helps to capture the perspective and emotion of the characters. We really enjoyed the challenge of writing this record, and I think we were all pleasantly surprised with how well the music and lyrics jived with one another.” Between the Buried and Me’s latest masterwork, ‘The Parallax II: Future Sequence,’ will blast fans into the infinity of space on Oct. 9. To hold you over until the album’s release, check out this exclusive footage of Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring jamming on ‘Telos.’ Paul Waggoner ‘Telos’ Guitar Demonstration Dustie Waring ‘Telos’ Guitar Demonstration
Troy Augusto, Getty Images Pearl Jam made good on playing their lone political fundraiser as a full band this past weekend, packing the Adams Center in Missoula, Mont., to help out the re-election campaign of Sen. Jon Tester. The group has personal ties to Tester, as bassist Jeff Ament grew up with the senator in a small Montana town. “I can vouch for how much he cares for Montana,” said Ament at a pre-show event. “I couldn’t be prouder to be up here with the band.” The senator and his wife were seated alongside Pearl Jam fan club members watching the show. Tester told Billboard that the show was not the traditional campaign fundraiser, but they did sell some premium ticket packages. However, the Senator says the primary goal was “to get people to vote and have fun in the process. If we can get everybody to vote who is eligible, that’s really what’s most important. And then everything will turn out right.” While Pearl Jam do tend to work in a few cover songs into their sets, the band added several that were very specific to the issues at hand. They rocked through the Clash ‘s ‘Know Your Rights,’ Neil Young ‘s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World,’ and Creedence Clearwater Revival ‘s ‘Fortunate Son.’ They would also perform MC5 ‘s rocking anthem ‘Kick Out the Jams’ with longtime cohorts Mudhoney, who opened the show. As is typical, Eddie Vedder , who recently played solo for a Barack Obama benefit , took the chance to speak openly to the audience. In this case, he used the platform to discuss Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, stating, “The candidate on the other side talks as if 47 percent of people are living off the country, taking welfare and living on food stamps. The person that said that has never had the thrill or terror of walking on the tightrope without a net. He doesn’t understand that that doesn’t represent half the country. We can all agree on that. Only maybe one percent can relate to him.” Meanwhile, Mike McCready , speaking with Folha de S. Paulo , opened up about the progress of their latest album. The told the Brazilian press, “There are seven songs recorded and at least 15 ideas on which we’re working. But we’re taking it slowly. Eddie Vedder is on a solo tour. Matt [Cameron] is playing with Soundgarden , and I’m playing with Duff McKagan .” [button href=”http://loudwire.com/pearl-jam-the-fixer-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/” title=”Next: Pearl Jam: Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs” align=”center”]
Jason Merritt, Getty Images Here’s a look at the top stories of the day on Loudwire and around the Web: – Dave Grohl may not have wanted to make a “ big deal ” about it, but yes, the Foo Fighters have officially announced their hiatus. [ Loudwire ] – Falling in Reverse singer Ronnie Radke’s enthusiasm at a weekend show in New Jersey got him arrested when the microphone stands he tossed into the crowd injured audience members. [ Loudwire ] – Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward may not be with the band right now due to a contractual impasse, but that doesn’t lessen his desire to rejoin the band at some point. [ Loudwire ] – The man of many bands – noted session drummer Josh Freese – is moving on from his long time gig with A Perfect Circle . [ Loudwire ] – Scorpions ? Def Leppard ? What acts have songs that make up the perfect Oktoberfest soundtrack? Check out the Top 10 Oktoberfest Songs. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Heard that latest Smiths reunion rumor? Faster than you can say, ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before,’ Johnny Marr has dashed those hopes. [ Diffuser.fm ] – Bonnaroo is branching out, offering the new “Bonnaroo 365 Tour” for emerging acts White Denim and Maps & Atlases. See where they’ll play. [ Rock Music Report ]
Virgin Longtime A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese has announced his departure from the band. The group performed a handful of shows in 2011, but Freese was unable to accompany APC due to a scheduling conflict concerning Weezer , with whom Freese was touring member of from 2009-2012. Freese now seems to have other priorities, as he officially announced his exit from APC earlier today (Oct. 2). For those unfamiliar with the career of Josh Freese, he’s played drums for seemingly every band ever. Along with A Perfect Circle, Freese has played with acts such as Nine Inch Nails , the Offspring , Motley Crue , Paramore, the Vandals, Guns N’ Roses + many more. The prolific drummer has also appeared on nearly 400 albums. Along with Weezer, Freese currently drums for Devo and Sublime with Rome. Freese tweeted the following from his personal account: After 13 years, I’ve decided to leave @ aperfectcircle with no plans of returning. Apologies to those inquiring about the upcoming shows. — Josh Freese (@joshfreese) October 2, 2012 Jeff Friedl is A Perfect Circle’s current touring drummer and has also appeared live with one of Maynard James Keenan ‘s other musical endeavors, Puscifer . Both APC and Puscifer will be performing at Lollapalooza Brazil and Chile in 2013. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/a-perfect-circle-judith-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/” title=”A Perfect Circle: Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs” align=”center”]
Larry Busacca, Getty Images Frontman Dave Grohl has officially announced that Foo Fighters will indeed be taking an extended hiatus. There’s no word on when Foo Fighters will play a show or record an album again, with Grohl himself writing, “I was serious. I’m not sure when the Foo Fighters are good to play again.” As we recently reported , Grohl told a New York City crowd during his band’s set at the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday (Sept. 29) that Foo Fighters have no additional shows planned. “We’re not making a big deal out of this, but this is it,” stated Grohl. “We don’t have any more shows after this. This is it. We don’t have any ones after this. This is the show where we play as many songs as we can in a short period of time because honestly, I don’t know when we’re gonna do it again, but this is the perfect place to do it right now tonight.” Now, Grohl elaborates further in a post on Foo Fighters’ Facebook page: Hey everyone… Dave here. Just wanted to write and thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for another incredible year. (Our 18th, to be exact!) We truly never could have done any of this without you… Never in my wildest dreams did I think Foo Fighters would make it this far. I never thought we COULD make it this far, to be honest. There were times when I didn’t think the band would survive. There were times when I wanted to give up. But… I can’t give up this band. And I never will. Because it’s not just a band to me. It’s my life. It’s my family. It’s my world. Yes… I was serious. I’m not sure when the Foo Fighters are going to play again. It feels strange to say that, but it’s a good thing for all of us to go away for a while. It’s one of the reasons we’re still here. Make sense? I never want to NOT be in this band. So, sometimes it’s good to just… put it back in the garage for a while… But, no gold watches or vacations just yet… I’ll be focusing all of my energy on finishing up my Sound City documentary film and album for worldwide release in the very near future. A year in the making, it could be the biggest, most important project I’ve ever worked on. Get ready… it’s coming. Me, Taylor, Nate, Pat, Chris, and Rami… I’m sure we’ll all see you out there… somewhere… Thank you, thank you, thank you… Dave [button href=”http://loudwire.com/foo-fighters-best-of-you-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/” title=”Foo Fighters: Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs” align=”center”]
Roadrunner / Nuclear Blast The battle between Gojira and As I Lay Dying became pretty fierce in its closing hours, with the Death Match songs being separated by less than a one-percent difference. As the match came to an end, Gojira received a huge push from their fans, clinching the competition in its final moments. With two wins under their belt, Gojira and ‘The Axe’ will now face one of black metal’s most legendary acts. Enslaved enter this week’s Death Match with their new track ‘Veilburner’ from the band’s upcoming 12th album, ‘RIITIIR.’ The veteran Norwegian black metallers have been going strong since 1991 and have been releasing a steady stream of albums since their 1994 debut, ‘Vikingligr Veldi.’ Can Gojira make their next step on their way to Death Match Hall of Fame immortality? Or will the black metal legends freeze the French metal outfit in their tracks? The choice belongs to you. Vote for your favorite track now! (This Death Match ends on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 10AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) Gojira, ‘The Axe’ Enslaved, ‘Veilburner’ ? Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. ? Email Me When Death Match Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of the weekly winner of the Death Match, as well as our top stories of each day. Email Rules of Death Match Two bands fight to the death each week. Fans can vote once per hour. The triumphant band goes on to compete in the next Death Match. If a band wins four straight Death Matches, its song will be honored as immortal in the Loudwire Death Match Hall of Fame.
BaronessMusic.com On Aug. 15, Baroness were involved in a terrible bus accident in the United Kingdom. The accident that occurred that morning caused Baroness’ bus to break through a guard rail at 50mph, plummeting 30 feet off a cliff into a wooded area below. Incredibly, every passenger on the bus survived, and in a fascinating recollection written by Baroness frontman John Baizley, fans are now able to understand how truly lucky the band was to survive. No matter your personal religious convictions, or lack thereof, one word can be universally shared to describe the survival of each bus passenger — ‘miracle.’ In Baizley’s written account on his brush with death, which left him with a severely broken arm and leg, he shares with incredible depth exactly what happened, the moment of impact, insight into his near-death experience (which is oddly reminiscent of Woods of Ypres ‘ song ‘Death is Not an Exit’) and much more. Baizley writes: On August 15th, just before 11 am, Baroness and our crew were involved in a very bad crash while on tour. The brakes in our bus failed completely, on a notoriously dangerous, incredibly steep (12% grade) hill in Monkton Combe, UK, on our way from a show Bristol to another show in Southampton. Our bus went entirely out of control, and we had no choice other than hitting a perpendicular guardrail going about 50 mph at the bottom of the hill. The guard rail and the 20 or 30 trees we ploughed through snapped like matchsticks as we went fully airborne and fell down more than 30 feet off of a viaduct to the ground below. Half of the band/crew were asleep while we lost our brakes, and a few of us were awake and sitting in the rear lounge. I was up front with our driver, and I bore witness to the entire thing. Once our brakes failed, the bus could do little more than gain momentum and plummet down the hill. There was nothing anyone on the bus could have done during our descent to avoid the crash, and no one, the local residents, the police or any of us can believe we survived the impact. Most people who have been in accidents understand the pre-trauma sensation of time slowing down. There were almost two minutes during which I knew we were heading for a collision. It felt like two hours. I remember the sound of the air-brakes failing, and the panicked cursing of our driver as we slowly realized how desperate the situation was. I tried as hard as I could to yell and wake everyone up to prepare for impact. I remember the sounds of confusion from behind me as our collective terror rose. I remember seeing the guardrail split, then a cluster of trees smacking against the front windshield. While we were airborne my eyes met with our driver’s. I knew then that we each shared the same look on our face; and I won’t soon forget it. We had spent enough time in the air to appreciate, make peace with and accept a fate we thought inevitable, and we looked at one another with a horribly silent “goodbye” in our eyes. When the bus hit the ground, I flew like a missile into the windshield. I can still see the double-paned auto glass turning blue and the spider-webbing cracks spreading outwards from the impact my body made. I hit the glass so hard, that the entire windshield flew from the frame to the ground, and I bounced back inside the bus. I landed on the ledge of the windshield. This came with an immediate and overwhelming pain throughout my body. I surveyed the damage to see instantly that my left leg was very obviously and badly broken. Then I lifted my arms forward to see if either had been damaged. My right arm was covered in burns, blood and broken glass, but working well enough. My left arm was crushed beyond belief, broken in the middle of the bone in my upper arm (humerus), and hanging 90 degrees backwar ds, with many spurs of bone poking through muscles and sinew at the surface of my skin. The bone was shattered into seven free-floating pieces, and my wrist and hand were swinging behind my back, spasming freely. Instinctively, I reached behind my back, grabbed my wrist and re-broke my arm forwards, hugging it to my chest, where it remained for the next three hours until it was cast in plaster. Meanwhile, I watched as some of the band was able to get off the bus and help the others, many of whom were broken-up as well, and several of whom were unconscious. There was blood, glass and diesel fuel everywhere. We were all rushed to the hospital in Bath, and treated for our various injuries, broken arms, legs, vertebrae, bruises, cuts, etc. Our driver was air lifted to a separate hospital with many breaks as well. A few of us had to remain in the hospital for a few days, I was hospitalized for two weeks, following an eight-hour surgery in which my arm was rebuilt with the aid of 2 massive titanium plates, 20 screws and a foot-and-a-half of wire. The 15? incision took almost 50 staples to close up. I was left completely immobilized for the remainder of my hospital stay, able to do next-to-nothing on my own and in need of constant care. Following those excruciating first two weeks, I was quite literally stuck in an apartment for another three weeks with my family while waiting for my doctor to allow me to safely board an airplane, for fear of bloodclots and swelling. I have just this past week returned back to the US and my home, where I am wheelchair-bound for another several weeks of physical therapy, learning to use my arm and leg again. While I cannot lift a glass of water to my lips to drink with my left arm and hand, I am still able to play music with it. I picked up a guitar and played the day after I returned. Not without pain (for the time being), but the hand still acts out the creative impulses I give it. I’m told I was quite lucky to have regained any use at all of my hand and arm, though I have sustained quite extensive nerve damage. In spite of this and against my logic and reason, when I pick up an instrument, my hand remembers exactly what to do. It’s far from perfect, and will require a lot of therapy in order to recover mobility and strength, but I am encouraged by the ability I have been allowed. I do not believe in superstitious signs, but I am truly overwhelmed to have been granted the continued use of my hands. As a result of the crash, I feel encouraged not only to recover, but to move forward with Baroness, as we had been doing every day previous to August 15th. This accident has inflicted an injury which has left its mark on the band: physically, mentally and spiritually. In order to rehabilitate ourselves fully, we must work towards and then past the goals we had prior to the accident. I will consider our immediate recovery a success only on the day we plug back in to play another show. We cannot allow this accident, which I believe is unrelated to the band or our music, to slow down or stifle what has become so much more than a passionate hobby for the four of us. Through Baroness, we have discovered a method by which we may harness our drive to create, and channel all the emotion, anxiety and pain in our lives into something constructive. Music is the universal means of communication we have chosen to express ourselves. Our message has never been one of the absolute positive or negative, neither black nor white. True life occurs within the shades of grey, and I see this experience form that perspective. It seems only fitting to me that we continue working towards creating and performing again as soon as possible, as this band and its music are the vehicle through which we grow as individuals, artists and brothers. The injury the band suffered is an injury to my family and loved ones. Rather than allow it to become a wedge that forces us apart, I would like to see this experience become part of the glue that strengthens us. We have only begun to accomplish what we set out to do through this band. There is so much more to say, and though we do need to heal up a bit; we will not allow any of those things to be left unsaid. I have no regrets about touring. I don’t blame music or the touring lifestyle for my current physical state, or for the accident itself. It happened the same way all things happen: randomly. If I was a carpenter, and I was injured on the way to the job-site, I wouldn’t consider quitting my job. That is truly how I see this situation. Baroness doesn’t stop because we got hurt on the way to work. We love what we do much more than that, and we have chosen this path because it offers us an unpredictable adventure. With any adventure that involves travel, and with any real passionate pursuit, one will occasionally come face-to-face with the reality of living on the other side of the yellow line. I didn’t choose to be a musician in order to live a risk-free life, safely avoiding bumps and bruises. I didn’t choose to play music because it seemed like a simple opportunity to make some quick cash. Nor did I ever make the assumption that things would get easier as we progressed. We can do nothing but attempt to make something constructive and beautiful out of all this disaster, and we are well on the way to becoming active again. I have used this time, stuck inside my own head, to consider the importance of music and Baroness in my life. I can say, after nearly 6 weeks of reflection, that I feel more resolute and passionate about our music than ever. I have come to realize the importance of time in this particular equation, that is, I have none to waste and none to spare. There is no better moment than now, broken and in physical stasis, to devote ourselves more fully towards our art than ever. We cannot allow the traumatic fallout of our crash to cripple us internally. It seems simple: the shows we have cancelled we will reschedule and play in the future. It isn’t going to happen next week nor will it be next month. But it will happen. We will be back on tour as soon as we possibly can. There was one moment in the crash that cut me deeply. For one heartbeat and one tiny sliver of time, I became disconnected entirely. It was, specifically, the moment I impacted with the glass. In that barest heartbeat of a moment, I came face to face with the infinite. I didn’t see a light, or the tunnel or hear any music. Nor did I get a “best-of” montage of my life. Instead, I felt the tip of my nose brush up against the very same fate I had accepted moments before. I looked into a cold, unreflective mirror. It was the dark, silent, dispassionate logic of the end. I realized in that moment that life can be seen as a light switch: “on” or “off”. When the moment passed and I heard the screaming, felt the pain, and tasted my own blood, I was overcome with joy. I was ecstatic to be back amidst all that chaos and horror because it was alive and real. I finally glimpsed the relative importance of all things. The support of our fans, our friends and our families has real meaning to me now. I say that now honestly, without false humility. Thank you. Everyone. Till the wheels fall off . . . John Baizley & Baroness BaronessMusic.com BaronessMusic.com BaronessMusic.com [button href=”http://loudwire.com/baroness-march-to-the-sea-best-2012-rock-songs/” title=”Baroness: Best Rock Songs of 2012″ align=”center”]