Italy’s greatest musical export, LACUNA COIL, have returned with the massively anticipated, new full-length release, Shallow Life, which is set for an April 21st North American release. The album was recorded with acclaimed producer Don Gilmore (Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, Pearl Jam) at the famed NRG Studios in Los Angeles. The group recently completed a stunning new video for the Active Rock smash hit “Spellbound” that was shot in their hometown of Milan, Italy.
Shallow Life is now streaming in it’s entirety on MySpace, giving fans their first chance to hear the new album. LACUNA COIL has also posted a new widget on the page, giving fans access to two songs, new photos and the new video. Make sure you post the widget to your page and show your support.
An incredible, specially priced Shallow Life pre-order package is now exclusively available through CMDistro.com and this is a must for all diehard fans. The limited number package includes the Shallow Life CD, an 8×10 glossy band photo, a guitar pick, shallow life cover sticker and a choice between a LACUNA COIL necklace or belt buckle. NOTE: All materials included are exclusive to this pre-order and can’t be found anywhere else. Be sure to click on the link below now as supplies are limited. http://www.cmdistro.com/Artist/Lacuna_Coil/11291
Fans can now also rejoice as LACUNA COIL is performing some new material on this spring’s “Music As A Weapon IV” festival. LACUNA COIL joins such hard rock titans as Disturbed and Killswitch Engage crisscrossing the U.S. before finishing May 16th. The 38-city “Music As A Weapon IV” fest marks the group’s first run of North America in almost two years. Feel free to visit the newly revamped http://www.myspace.com/lacunacoil to view their complete touring itinerary.
LACUNA COIL
Music As A Weapon IV w/ Disturbed, Killswitch Engage & Chimaira
04/11 Amway Arena – Orlando, FL
04/13 Bojangles Coliseum – Charlotte, NC
04/14 1st Mariner Arena – Baltimore, MD
04/15 Tsongas Arena – Lowell, MA
04/17 Bryce Jordan Center – State College, PA
04/18 Cumberland County Civic Center – Portland, ME
04/20 Erie Civic Center – Erie, PA
04/21 Izod Center – East Rutherford, NJ
04/22 Arena at Harbor Yard – Bridgeport, CT
04/24 Crown Coliseum – Fayetteville, NC
04/25 Sovereign Center – Reading, PA
04/27 Glens Falls Civic Center – Glens Falls, NY
04/28 Petersen Center – Pittsburgh, PA
04/30 Kellogg Arena – Battle Creek, MI
05/02 Cobo Arena –Detroit, MI
05/03 The Wolstein Center – Cleveland, OH
05/05 Value City Arena – Columbus, OH
05/06 Peoria Civic Center – Peoria, IL
05/08 Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
05/09 Balloon Classic Field – Des Moines, IA
05/10 Resch Center – Green Bay, WI
05/12 Lacrosse Center – Lacrosse, WI
05/13 Roberts Stadium – Evansville, ID
05/15 Mid America Center – Council Bluffs, IA
05/16 Charter One Pavillion – Chicago, IL
Today marks the digital release of ”Who Do We Care For?,” the new single from Sebastien Grainger and second official single from his 2008 debut full-length Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains. ”Who Do We Care For” is backed with ”It’s a Living,” a new track recently recorded for this release. Both tracks are available through the Saddle Creek Online Store, iTunes, emusic and other digital outlets.
Videos for both songs are also available for purchase via iTunes (individually or as a video/mp3 bundle) and for viewing at the youtube links below. ”Who Do We Care For” was directed by Graydon Sheppard and features everything you could ever want in a big rock video - excellent cinematography, the band performing in the cold of Canada, and of course smoke and fire! The video for ”It’s a Living” provides a nice contrast by showing some of the studio recording for the song. The clip was shot and directed by Sebastien.
”Who Do We Care For?”
”It’s a Living”
The band recently hit SXSW and continues a tour of US and Canada now through May 7. The following are remaining tour dates:
Wed-Apr-01, Seattle, WA, Sonic Boom (Free in-store at 6pm)
Thu-Apr-02, Seattle, WA, The Crocodile Cafe
Fri-Apr-03, Victoria, BC, Lucky Bar
Sat-Apr-04, Nanaimo, BC, The Spice Lounge
Sun-Apr-05, Vancouver, BC, Zulu Records (Free in-store at 3:30pm)
Sun-Apr-05, Vancouver, BC, Richards on Richards
Tue-Apr-07, Edmonton, AB, The Pawn Shop
Wed-Apr-08, Calgary, AB, The Marquee Club
Thu-Apr-09, Saskatoon, SK, Amigos
Fri-Apr-10, Winnipeg, MB, Pyramid Cabaret
Sun-Apr-12, Minneapolis, MN, 400 Bar
Mon-Apr-13, Mankato, MN, What’s Up Lounge
Tue-Apr-14, Chicago, IL, Subterranean
Wed-Apr-15, Toledo, OH, Frankie’s
Thu-Apr-16, Pontiac, MI, Pike Room
Sat-Apr-18, Kitchener, ON, Go Festival
Sun-Apr-19, Hamilton, ON, Casbah
Fri-May-01, Brantford, ON, The Ford Plant
Sat-May-02, Peterborough, ON, Montreal House
Wed-May-06, Ottawa, ON, Zaphods
Thu-May-07, Montreal, QC, Il Motore
Fri-May-08, Quebec City, PQ, La Casbah
3/30-31 and 4/2 with New Villager
4/3-8 with Flash Lightnin
MySpace Music has just premiered the video for “The Night” from hard-rock titans DISTURBED. The band enlisted director Noble Jones (3 Doors Down, Jack’s Mannequin) this time out and the clip’s stark imagery is fitting for the track’s dark guitar tones and brooding vocal melodies. Jones looked to classic sci-fi/horror movies like Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing for inspiration and the results are haunting.
“The Night” comes off Indestructible, Disturbed’s Gold certified fourth studio album. Continuing their exhaustive touring in support of the album, the band is currently headlining the “Music Is A Weapon” tour which runs through June. Check out all of the Disturbed’s tour dates here.
Duff McKagan’s Loaded have just premiered the video for “Flatline,” the first single from their forthcoming album, Sick. The band features McKagan, the former Guns N’ Roses and current Velvet Revolver bassist on vocals and guitar. This clip features the high flying camera work of Director Thomas Mignone, who is know from videos for world acts such as Slipknot, Cradle of Filth and Fall of Troy. The clip premiered on AOL’s Noisecreep metal blog.
Check out the video for “Flatline” here:
Duff McKagan’s Loaded’s new album Sick, will be available in stores and online, April 7th.
Tour dates:
Apr. 09 - Crocodile - Seattle, Washington
Apr. 18 - Cannery - Nashville, Tennessee
May 02 - Showbox Market - Seattle, Washington
May 16 - Rock On The Range Festival - Columbus, Ohio
May 17 - Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, New Jersey
Jun. 03 - Virgin Oil - Helsinki, FIN
Jun. 04 - Teatria Club - Oulu, FIN
Jun. 05 - Sauna Open Air Festival - Tempere, FIN
Jun. 06 - Rock AM Ring Festival - Nurburg, GER
Jun. 07 - Rock IM Ring Festival - Nuremburg, GER
Jun. 10 - Caribana Festival - Crans-Pres-Celigny, SWI
Jun. 12 - Download Festival - Donington, UK
Jun. 14 - Zenith - Munich, GER
Jun. 15 - Schleyerhalle - Stuttgart, GER
Jun. 16 - Funkpark AM - Berlin, GER
Jun. 17 - Arena - Prague, CZR
Jun. 20 - Metalway Festival - Zaragoza, SPA
Jun. 21 - Nova Rock Festival - Nicklesdorf, AUT
Jun. 22 - Sportzentrum - Wettingen, GER
Jun. 23 - Palladium - Cologne, GER
Jun. 26 - Idroscalo Festival - Milan, ITA
Jun. 27 - Graspop Festival - Dessel, BEL
Jun. 28 - Melkweg - Amsterdam, NETH
Our sister site WatchMojo.com had the chance to interview progressive metal act, Protest The Hero. Check it out:
Heavy rock iconoclasts MASTODON will release their new album, Crack the Skye on March 24, 2009. However, hardcore fans will have the opportunity to pre-order a very special Deluxe Limited “Tunnel Book” Edition of Crack the Skye online only via the band’s website: www.mastodonrocks.com.
This super-deluxe version of Crack the Skye will come housed in a hard box case featuring a third dimension worm hole design that will contain exclusive and additional album art by long-time Mastodon artist, Paul Romano. The special package will include the full-length Crack the Skye album on CD, plus a DVD containing The Making of Crack the Skye with photo gallery, Track by Track band commentary and more by director Jimmy Hubbard.
All pre-orders will also receive a 14” x 14” exclusively designed lithograph unavailable anywhere else. Additionally, those who are first to pre-order will receive the lithograph autographed by the band members themselves. These extraordinary packages will be extremely limited and once they are gone, no further editions will be created so don’t delay. Cost of the Deluxe Limited “Tunnel Book” Edition will be $39.99. This may be the most beautiful and innovative album packaging you’ll see for years to come.
Shortly thereafter, Mastodon will unveil a new online destination designed to bring fans into direct focus on the upcoming new album, Crack the Skye. www.cracktheskye.org will launch the week of Feb 16, and will compliment its existing sibling location of www.mastodonrocks.com.
The new site will be a flash-based, interactive experience threading fans through an extremely visual, user-controlled cyber journey into the inner sanctum of Crack the Skye. Content will be thematically based on the album’s concepts, artwork, images, lyrics, videos, and its unique packaging through engaging visuals and music from Crack the Skye intended to accompany and enhance the experience of listening to the album in its entirety.
As previously announced, Mastodon will tour Europe with Metallica this summer. In addition, they have been invited to perform as part of the Sonisphere Touring Rock Festival this summer in Europe and the UK with Metallica, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Lamb of God and more. Go to http://www.sonispherefestivals.com/ for details, dates, etc.
Here is a pretty solid list of the best guitar solo’s of all time from GuitarWorld.com. Its impossible to please everyone, but at 50, most of the great ones are there. Here are 50-41:
50) “Shock Me” (Ace Frehley) - Kiss Alive II, 1977
“I basically did the same solo every night on that tour, with minor alterations, so I had it kind of planned out when I did it the night we recorded it for Alive II album,” says Ace Frehley.
“But if you listen carefully to the ‘Shock Me’ solo you can hear me make a mistake about two thirds of the way through. Instead of tapping a B at the 19th fret of the high E string, I accidentally hit the A# note at the 18th fret—that’s definitely a wrong note for the scale I’m using. We could have fixed it in the mix, but I said to Eddie [Kramer, Alive II producer], ‘Screw it! Leave it in. The run sounds cool, so who cares—it’s rock and roll!’ ”
49) “Europa” (Carlos Santana) - Carlos Santana Amigos, 1976
“I started writing this song in 1966 or ’67, but didn’t finish it until ’75 when we were on tour with Earth, Wind and Fire, in Manchester, England,” says Carlos Santana. “We were backstage while they were on stage playing. And we were just warming up, tuning up. I started playing it and [keyboardist] Tom Coster and I completed it right there on the spot. It immediately became a crowd favorite; it is one of those songs that, whether it’s played in Japan or in Jerusalem or in South America, it just fits right in with everything.”
48) “Sympathy for the Devil” (Keith Richards) - Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet, 1968
Writer Stanley Booth once suggested to Keith Richards that “Sympathy for the Devil” was cut from the same cloth as bluesman Robert Johnson’s haunting “Me and the Devil Blues.” “Yeah,” Richards replied. “All of us pursued by the same demon.” But while “Sympathy’s” lyrics reflect the Stones’ attraction to the dark side and allegiance to Johnson, the music is a prime example of how in a real band, composition is a group effort.
“It started as sort of a folk song with acoustics and ended up as kind of a mad samba, with me playing bass and overdubbing the guitar later,” says Richards. “That’s why I don’t like to go into the studio with all the songs worked out and planned beforehand. Because you can write the songs, but you’ve got to give the band something to use its imagination on as well. That can make a very ordinary song come alive into something totally different. You can write down the notes being played, but you can’t put down the X Factor—so important in rock and
roll—which is the feel.”47) “Jessica” (Dickey Betts) - Allman Brothers Band Brothers and Sisters, 1974
Dickey Betts’ instrumental “Jessica” is as uplifting a piece of music as can be found in all rock. And that, says Betts, is no coincidence: the music actually began with his desire to express pure jubilation.
“My instrumentals try to create some of the basic feelings of human interaction, like anger and joy and love,” says Betts. “With ‘Jessica,’ I knew what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t quite find it. Then my little daughter, Jessica, crawled into the room, and I just started playing to her, trying to capture the feeling of her crawling and smiling. That’s why I named it after her.”
Betts wrote the song’s melodic theme while emulating one of his heroes—the gypsy guitarist Django Rheinhardt, who had the use of only two fingers on his left hand. “I came up with that melody using just two fingers as a sort of tribute to Django,” says Betts. “That the song turned out so well is very satisfying. In general, writing a good instrumental is very fulfilling, because you’ve transcended language
and spoken to someone with a melody.”46) “Hot For Teacher” (Edward Van Halen) - Van Halen 1984, 1984
“I winged that one,” says Eddie Van Halen. “If you listen to it, the timing changes in the middle of nowhere. We were in a room playing together and I kind of winked at the guys and said, ‘Okay, we’re changing now!’ Because I don’t count, I just follow my feelings. I tend to do a lot of things in threes and fives, instead of fours.
“My weird sense of time just drives my brother Alex nuts because he’s a drummer, so he has to count. But generally he’ll say, ‘Well, Ed, you did it in five again. If that’s the way you want it…’ But that’s not the way I want it, that’s just what feels right to me.”
45) “Light My Fire” (Robby Krieger) - The Doors The Doors, 1967
“Light My Fire” was one of the first songs ever written by Robby Krieger, and his extended solo on the album version was also one of his shining moments as a guitarist. Ironically, however, in order for “Light My Fire” to become a hit for the Doors and Krieger the songwriter, Krieger the guitarist had to swallow his pride and allow his masterly two-and-a-half-minute solo to be trimmed down to its essential opening and closing themes for use on the single.
“That always bothered me,” Krieger readily admits. “We never wanted to cut it, but our first single, ‘Break On Through,’ flopped and radio stations told us that ‘Light My Fire’ would be a hit if we cut it down. We didn’t have much choice because AM radio ruled everything, and if you wanted to get on AM you had to have a short song.”
The longer solo now regularly broadcast on the radio in its entirety, is a perfect distillation of Krieger’s style. A flamenco-trained guitarist who played with his fingers and often evoked sitar-like Eastern sounds, with his Gibson SG, Krieger pulled out all the stops on “Light My Fire.” Still, the guitarist says that the
complete version on the album is far from his finest effort. “It was the kind of solo that I usually did, but it was different every night. To be honest, the one on the album is not one of my better takes. I only had two tries at it. But it’s not bad; I’m glad that it was as good as it was.”44) “Alive” (Mike McCready) - Pearl Jam Ten, 1991
“Basically, I copied Ace Frehley’s solo from ‘She,’ ” says Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. “Which, of course, was copied from Robby Krieger’s solo in the Doors’ ‘Five to One.’ ”
43) “Sharp Dressed Man” (Billy Gibbons) - ZZ Top Eliminator, 1983
In 1983, a smart gambling man would have bet the house on ZZ Top’s imminent doom. After all, it wasn’t the best of times for good and greasy Texas blues and boogie music. Then the Little Old Band from Texas surprised everyone with Eliminator, a brilliant merger of roadhouse blues and synthesizer swells and looped beats. The album quickly became their biggest hit ever, spurred in large part by the irresistible “Sharp Dressed Man.”
“That song and the whole album really embrace the simplicity of blues and techno music with the complex challenge of how to blend them together,” says guitarist Billy Gibbons. “If you zero in on the middle solo, you will find a slide guitar part played in open E tuning on a Fender Esquire and a sudden shift halfway through the solo to standard Spanish electric tuning played on my good ol’ Les Paul, Pearly Gates. Both were played through a Marshall plexi 100-watt head with two angled
cabinets with Celestion 25-watt greenbacks. It was a compound track, two parts blended to one.“To this day, the song certainly stands among one of the band’s favorites and we’re particularly delighted to share spotlight on a solo that enjoys such favoritism. There are, of course, the more intricate and demanding solos, but we will gladly finger through the solo of sharp dressed man at any requested moment! The track just has a really raucous delivery, which is a good ignition point on stage, sitting on the tailgate out in the middle of nowhere, sipping a cold one, or wherever you may be. It just does something to you.”
42) “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Eric Clapton) - The Beatles The Beatles (White Album), 1968
“When we actually started recording this, it was just me playing the acoustic guitar and singing it, and nobody was interested,” recalls the song’s author, George Harrison. “Well, Ringo probably was, but John and Paul weren’t. When I went home that night, I was really disappointed because I thought, ‘Well, this is really quite a good song; it’s not as if it’s crap!’ And the next day I happened to drive back into London with Eric [Clapton], and I suddenly said, ‘Why don’t you come play on this track?’
“And he said, ‘Oh, I couldn’t do that; the others wouldn’t like it…’ But I finally said, ‘Well, damn, it’s my song, and I’d like you to come down.’ So he did, and everybody was good as gold because he was there. I sang it with the acoustic guitar with Paul on piano, and Eric and Ringo. Later, Paul overdubbed bass. Then we listened back to it and Eric said, ‘Ah, there’s a problem, though; it’s not Beatlesy enough.’ So we put the song through the ADT [automatic double tracker] to wobble it a bit.”
41) “Brighton Rock” (Brian May) - Queen Sheer Heart Attack, 1974
Universally venerated for his lavish guitar orchestrations and tasteful British restraint, Brian May kicked over the traces on this high energy rocker that leads off Queen’s third album, Sheer Heart Attack. One of May’s most blues-based excursions ever, the song’s extended solo section grew out of the guitarist’s experiments with an Echoplex tape delay unit. His original goal was to reproduce his multi-part guitar harmonies live on stage with Queen, back in the days before harmonizers were invented.
“I started messing around with the Echoplex, the delay that was available at the time,” May recalls. “I turned up the regeneration until it was giving me multiple repeats. I discovered you could do a lot with this—you could set up rhythms and play against them, or you could play a line and then play a harmony to it. But I decided that the delay [times] I wanted weren’t available on the Echoplex. So I modified it and made a new rail, which meant I could slide the head along and make the delay any length I wanted, because the physical distance between the two heads is what gave you the delay. Eventually, I had two home-adapted Echoplexes. And I discovered that if you put each echo through its own amp, you wouldn’t have any nasty interference between the two signals. Each amp would be like a full-blown, sustaining, overdriven guitar which didn’t have anything to do with the other one.
“So, ‘Brighton Rock’ was the first time that got onto a record. I’d already been trying it live on stage in the middle of ‘Son and Daughter’ [from Queen’s self-titled ’73 debut album], when Queen first toured with Mott the Hoople. It was rather crude at first. But I certainly had a lot of fun with it.”
For the rest CLICK HERE
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It has been announced that the newly released “Shout” video from thrashers BLACK TIDE will be featured on mtvU’s new artist show, The Freshman. The show spotlights emerging artists both on air and online, with a chance for one of the competing videos to get an automatic add into rotation on the channel the following week. Be sure to visit http://freshmen.mtvu.com and vote! Fans can vote as many times as they want.
On the strength of their electric debut album, Light From Above, BLACK TIDE has been voted “Best New Artist” from several media outlets including Guitar World, Kerrang!, and TheGauntlet.com.
BLACK TIDE is currently overseas in the UK touring with Bring Me The Horizon, Mindless Self Indulgence and others. The band will return home in February to kick off a US tour with Escape The Fate. BLACK TIDE will also be a main stage performer all summer long on Warped Tour 2009.
Black Tide w/ Escape the Fate:
2/5 - Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
2/6 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee
2/7 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine
2/8 - El Paso, TX - Chic’s Billiards
2/10 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
2/11 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
2/12 - Houston, TX - Meridian
2/13 - Metairie, LA - High Ground
2/15 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
2/16 - Orlando, FL - Firestone
2/17 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
2/18 - Charlotte, NC - Amos’s Southend
2/19 - Towson, MD - Recher Theater
2/20 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
2/21 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
2/22 - Boston, MA - Middle East
2/24 - Buffalo, NY - Town Ballroom
2/25 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
2/27 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
2/28 - Pontiac, MI - The Crofoot
3/1 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
3/3 - Milwaukee, WI - Rave II
3/4 - Minneapolis, MN - Station 4
3/6 - Denver, CO - Cervantes
3/7 - Salt Lake City, UT - Murray Theatre
3/8 - Idaho Falls, ID - ICON
3/9 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
3/10 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
3/11 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
3/13 - Orangevale, CA - Boardwalk
3/14 - San Francisco, CA - Slims
3/15 - Bakersfield, CA - The Dome
3/17 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
3/18 - Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues
The sophomore record from Ladyfinger (ne) will be released on February 3. It’s entitled Dusk and it rocks. The follow up to 2006’s Heavy Hands is now available for pre-order on the Saddle Creek online store. In the meantime, check out the first single “Little Things”.
Ladyfinger (ne) - “Little Things”
Dusk is Ladyfinger (ne) at the peak of their powers, with one foot in the sounds of early 70’s classic rock and another in the punk and hardcore scenes of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Recorded once again with Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Minus the Bear, Isis), this is a more diverse and refined though no less intense collection of songs than their debut–witness Chris Machmuller’s confidence in his vocals grow exponentially and Pat Oakes’ powerhouse drums finding a firmer root to propel every snare hit and bass kick. An album clearly born of playing local dives and national tours over the last couple of years, Dusk is a statement of intent. The dynamics of each song and across the album are more evident, from the opening 1-2 punch of “Over and Over” and the bass growl of “ADD”, through the sharp riffs and aggressiveness of “Work Party”, the plaintive “Plans”–a subtle look at the band’s own past–and into the hit-in-the-making “Let’s Get Married”.
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Booooooooooooo… from Spinner.com:
Robert Plant has completely ruled out getting back together with Led Zeppelin for a concert tour. In a rare live interview, the singer, 60, suggested to BBC Radio Wales this weekend that he has gotten too old for lengthy hard rock shows and has moved on to other things.
“I’m doing very well with Alison [Krauss], and I’m enjoying that,” Plant said, while confessing that he still kept in touch regularly with Jimmy Page.
“I still see Jimmy quite a lot and he’s very complimentary and supportive of what I’m doing,” Page said about the Zeppelin guitarist. “But we are in different places now, and you have to go on to do different things.”
When asked directly about the likelihood of a Led Zep reunion, Plant joked of being too old. “Do you know how long it took me to climb up onto the stage here? And it’s only four steps!”
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