The Download Festival was conceived as a follow up to the Monsters of Rock festivals which had been held in at the Donington Park circuit between 1980 and 1996. Rather than run as a single day event Download was initially a 2 day event (expanding to 3 days in 2005).
The name Download was chosen for the festival for two reasons. Downloading was a dirty word in the music industry at the time, due to file sharing, and rock is seen as a rebelleous genre of music. The organisers faced pressure from the rest of the industry, with some even claiming that the Download Festival would “destroy the music industry”! Also Download was to be a Monsters Of Rock for the 21st Century and the internet would provide connectivity with its audience.

Download Festival Tickets are available through http://www.soldoutticketmarket.com

The Download Festival is a three day music download festival held annually at Donington Park, England (which hosted Monsters of Rock between 1980 and 1996, and 2002’s Ozzfest). It takes place at the end of spring, and is owned and managed by Live Nation. Traditionally features music from rock and heavy metal genres but features many others as well.

Download Festival Tickets are available through http://www.soldoutticketmarket.com

FAITH NO MORE

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Malefice have been making quite a name for themselves as of late. Since forming in 2003, the band have gone from shredding in Reading, to tearing up the stage at Download last year and supporting metal heavyweights such as Devildriver, and if today’s performance is anything to go by, it’s a privilege well earned. The Sophie Lancaster stage are heaving as a frantic mosh pits breaks out, only to continue for the whole set. Their crossover of death and thrash metal is an appetite for brutality, while exhibiting tracks from most recent full length “Dawn of Reprisal” and delving into old classics like “Risen Through the Ashes”. A great UK act for a Friday full of death and thrash metal from around Europe.

Well…Can you?

‘Lazy Camping’ is probably the kind of category i’d put myself into. As fun as the outdoors may be, putting tents back into bags they apparently came out of isn’t something i’d proclaim to be one of my skills. My mate? He’s good at it, he’s got putting away his now ancient, seen too many festivals and faded due to sun damage black and orange flame tent down to a fine art.

Me? Well this year i decided to splash out and buy a Pop up Tent. Now i’m a tall guy (6′2) So a standard pop up tent was never really going to work for me unless i planned to sleep with my head or ankles out of the tent, and to do this…at a festival? My face would be a modern art masterpiece by the time i woke up. My tent of choice was the Hi Gear Evolution 2. This gave me enough room for me and my rucksack to lay down.

Note: As a camping rule, always shop 1 ‘berth’ above the people you plan to take, this is a comfort thing. The berths are measured on people and people alone, not people and their weekends worth of stuff. If you’re feeling lucky…buy a 3 man tent giving you ample room for ‘entertaining’ …ahem..anyway!

I had a practice run on the back garden with a tent, pop up tents are great fun to put up as you can’t help but treat the thing like a frisbee. Then you get to the problem, with all the excitement of throwing the thing out you don’t prepare yourself for putting the thing away. I won’t lie…i struggled. Plenty of folding, springing back out and the neighbours six year old finding the whole thing hilarious. So i did what all people of the Tech-Generation do….i hit the Internet. Youtube, specifically. On You tube there is a really handy video for people like me who can’t wrap their minds around paper instructions, A video on how to put the thing away.

Brilliant. Watched that and within moments i had the tent, back in its bag. This was especially triumphant as every traditional tent ive ever owned i have NEVER been able to get back in the tiny bag first time. Would i recommend the extra size that a pop up tent comes with, to save yourself that time? I definitely would. I sat back and watched my friend fold his tent away after the festival was done while i ‘monged’ out with a four way induced hangover and waited for him to finish.

Since Download Festival, the tent has come with me camping to Newquay and while i wouldn’t recommend it for any long space of time, a few nights in a field somewhere is fine. After all…the last thing a camping holiday is about is the tent – in my eyes anyway (family campers are an entirely different breed).

I implore all of you to buy yourself a tent you are comfortable with, that you like and that you want to take home. People ditching so called ‘disposable’ £10 supermarket tents at Festivals because it was cheap enough to not have to take home are the reason Festival prices are going through the roof. So even if ‘going green’ isn’t on your agenda, at least think about your wallet and sort out your camping habits. Ive had that disposable tent, ive been that guy and i never want to spend another weekend in what i can only describe to be a glorified bin liner with a few poles and a zip.
Thats my review, and my little ‘green’ rant. Do with it what you will. I popped…and due to ease of use, i don’t have to stop until i want too.
Laters!

B

I was woken this morning in the middle of the most amazing dream..

So, I get to Download festival on my own. It’s like a part underground, part Lazer Quest and part field festival this year. The only band I know that are playing are Slipknot on the main stage on Saturday. I’m wearing neon paint on my face, denim shorts and a camo jacket [[not my usual attire]]. I get to what looks like a bunker, and my friend Becky Butters is waving to get my attention. I run over and sat next to her looking all chilled out and awesome is Dave Grohl. I quietly freak out and he tells me he is doing a DJ set in a few minutes so I have to be quiet so he can hang out before he goes on. We take some pictures and LOL about how they are going to be my facebook profile pictures FOREVER !! He then gets up and starts doing his DJ set where he plays Alphabeat and everyone dances like it is totally normal to be at Download festival rocking out to ‘Fascination’… Then I get woken up and am TOTALLY GUTTED that I do NOT have a photo with Dave Grohl ready to be uploaded.. Maybe that is to blame for my bad mood today.. Or maybe it’s the tootache that seems to be ripping out my SOUL…. ouch..

Glaswegian rockers Twin Atlantic release their debut mini-album Vivarium stateside today, September 15th. After sharing stages with the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Circa Survive and Taking Back Sunday on top of impressive performances at Download Festival and T in the Park, the band has already received an enthusiastic response from fans and critics alike. The band will tour the US this fall, dates to be announced soon.

Hear the entire album streaming on AOL Spinner this week here: http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/#/16

Grab free downloads from RCRD LBL here: http://rcrdlbl.com/2009/09/02/exclusive_new_download_twin_atlantic_caribbean_war_syndrome_lightspeed.

Check out videos for the band’s latest tracks “Lightspeed” and “What is Light? Where is Laughter,” which showcase their explosive live show, and more at www.youtube.com/twinatlantic or www.twinatlantic.com.

Promocionando su nuevo disco, que en lo personal me dejó un poco desilusionado, aquí están los íconos norteamericanos del metal progresivo actual, si quieren ver el video original aquí está. Disfruten de esta buena presentación.

Uploader

Letra
Since the new world order
Played upon our fears
Spreading accusations
Of radical ideas

The brotherhood of wisdom
Strength and dignity
Its rituals and secrets
Remain a mystery

Beneath an ever watchful eye
The angels of the temple fly

Turn the key
Walk through the gate
The great ascent
To reach a higher state
A rite of passage

The final stage
A sacred home
Unlock the door
And lay the cornerstone
A rite of passage

Men of wealth and power
Influence and fame
Philosophers and leaders
Are members of the trade

Bound by oath and honor
Like the rose and cross
An enigmatic union
Of esoteric thought

Beneath the ever watchful eye
The angels of the temple fly

Turn the key
Walk through the gate
The great ascent
To reach a higher state
A rite of passage

The final stage
A sacred home
Unlock the door
And lay the cornerstone
A rite of passage

Turn the key
Walk through the gate
The great ascent
To reach a higher state
A rite of passage

The seven stars
The rising sun
A perfect world
Where new life has begun
A rite of passage

Sitio oficial
Download festival

Sorry to everyone that reads my blogs/news posts, last week was pure madness. As some of you may or may not know I’m a big rock/metal music fan so when my girlfriend won us 2 tickets to the very first Sonisphere festival we were over the moon with joy. So im sorry to everyone and I will be posting as normal in the next few days.

Sonisphere Festival 2009

SONISPHERE 2009 REVIEW ~ Knebworth 1st – 2nd August 2009

ARRIVAL – Friday 31st July 2009 – 18:30ish

This is the 3rd festival ive been to in the last 14 months (Download Festival 2008, Download Festival 2009 and Sonisphere 2009) and it didnt disappoint. We arrived on Friday evening by National Express and after a short wait for my friend (who had forgot her ticket and had to commute from London) we finally got the camp set up around 9ish before we scouted out the site. For anyone that has ever been to a Download Festival you will recognise the atmosphere as its pretty similar … 20k+ campers all metal heads just drinking and having fun, no problems just harmless ‘free hugs’, high spirits and ‘Spartans what is your profession’ shouts.

The arena was at most a 10 minute stroll from our campsite (we were the furthest from the arena, closest to entrance) and was opening 24hours a day. Food was around about 50p cheaper than Download Festival but had about the same stands and shops including Monster, Comfy Campers, Hog Roast, Fun Fair, Legal Highs, Guitar Hero : Metallica and of course Domino’s. The stages were viewable at all times but guarded by security during the evenings. In total there was 4 stages with a range from the truly global mega stars to the minnows on the Jagermeister Stage. Bohemia doubled up in the evenings as entertainment with comedy and silent discos, while the 2nd stage turned into the cinema. All in all a nice layout with a wide range of shops and food.

SATURDAY – 1st August 2009 – Alien Ant Farm, Skindred, Bjorn Again (Played Enter Sandman), Bullet for My Valentine, Linkin Park with Dead By Sunrise

After dragging ourselves out of our tents we ventured in to see Alien Ant Farm. Its great to see them re-emerge from the slumber they have been in since the front man disappeared for a side project. AAF had the crowd moving and although it was weird to see the lead man with long hair it was great to see the crowd reaction as they ended with a completely unannounced Smooth Criminal without the expected 10mins of Michael Jackson epitaph. As always Skindred whipped the crowd into a frenzy with fist pumping songs like Trouble, Pressure and finally ending to nothing short of a standing ovation with Nobody… for a band that was performing to less than 100 in Leeds last year at All Hallows Eve its amazing to see Benji rock and animate the thousands in attendance, definitely a highlight to my weekend.

Linkin Park - Sonisphere 2009

Out of pure curiosity we took our place in the crowd for Bjorn Again who before they settled on to the Saturn Stage made sure that we all knew that ‘Metallica invited us to play’ before blasting out classics like Waterloo, Dancing Queen and … Enter Sandman by Metallica as a thank you for the invitation. The crowd all wiggled and finger waggled to the secret pleasure of the ABBA tribute act and everyone seemed to have a good time, including my friend who I’ve always seen as a hardcore metal head. Sadly we missed Bullet for My Valentine as we jostled for position in the crowds waiting on Linkin Park who started with Session with liberal sprinklings of hits like Lying From You, What Ive Done, Somewhere I Belong and Bleed It Out and then … Linkin park left the stage only 1 hour into the set …. ??? and Chester arrived with Dead By Sunrise. This being Chester’s side project it was not accepted readily by the most festival onlookers as they felt this was more abuse of power than ’special guests’. Chester and co played us a ’sample of their debut album’ finally leaving the stage to a less than warm spattering of claps followed by a 10 minute gap of pitch black and bewildered LP fans demanding more of the headline act they had paid to see. Finally they graced us with their presence and ended with New Divide, Faint, and One Step Closer at exactly 1h45mins of a 1h45min time slot including their 10min delayed ‘encore’ and 25min meander into a band people didn’t really warm to. Slightly disappointed.

Saturday Summary - Skindred amazing crowd reaction, Bjorn Again the guilty pleasure and Linkin Park should have stuck to performing as billed and not trying to shill a side act for 25mins.

SUNDAY – 1st August 2009 – Buckcherry, Special Guests – Machine Head, Limp Bizkit, Nine Inch Nails, Avenged Sevenfold and Metallica.

It was an early start for us as Buckcherry opened Apollo Stage. This was only the second time I had stumbled across this Aerosmith/Guns and Roses-esk band with the attitude turned up to 11. Another gem hidden in the under card as they banged out fist pumping, foot stomping rock songs that invigorated the early afternoon crowd. This is a band i will be keeping my eyes on in the coming years as they truly have some catchy songs like Next To You and Crazy Bitch. After a bit of shopping, food and snoozing we made our way to the main stage (Apollo) to see the ‘Special Guests’ – Machine Head. There were many rumours of a secret Slipknot set or even Stone Sour but after long lengthy ego stroking Machine Head finally agreed to play the festival they had agreed to do before Limp Bizkit was moved above them in the bill. I must admit im not a Machine Head fan and I doubt I could name a song without the help of set-lists but the crowd, after some initial heckling, did fully welcome the ‘returning heros’.

In a replay from this years Download Festival I lined up to see Limp Bizkit. I have to once gain throw up my hands and admit I was wrong, I was expecting Fred Durst and co to pull the exact same set from earlier in the year but they did mix it up a bit. Fred also graced the stage wearing a … shock horror … BLACK baseball cap, and had fans eating out of their hands with hits such as Break Stuff, My Generation and Take A Look Around. I do feel they perform better in front of larger audience and therefore there was more energy at Download Festival. Nine Inch Nails supposedly playing their very last UK date was another band that I didn’t know much about but the somber calming mood swept over a waiting crowd with them ending on a soul touching version of Hurt, I am honoured to have seen NIN live before they choose to fade into the black.

Metallica - Sonisphere 2009

Once again I had to sacrifice a band to make sure I have a decent view of the headliner and this time it was Avenged Sevenfold. The crowds were treated to pure live genius with Gunslinger, Critical Acclaim and Bat Country. I have promised myself that next time they are on a festival bill I will give them the time they truly deserve. Finally with the sunset and the tension rising the legends of Metallica arrived with a blend of pyros, fireworks, flashing lights and iconic songs. Opening with Blackened the loyal Metallica fans erupted into almost primal roar as the band was able to show why they deserve such a high pedestal to perch on. A full 2 hour set and proper encore with no side acts or special guests showed Linkin Park how you should headline a festival leaving fans beging for more and more. The rock metal messiahs stacked the set-list with classic after classic … Fuel, One, Nothing Else Matters, Master Of Puppets, Cyanide, Enter Sandman, a tribute to Queen with Stone Cold Crazy and ending on Seek & Destroy. With flames almost as high as the stage, fireworks and an impressive light display Metallica signed off Sonisphere 2009 in style.

Sunday Summary – Buckcherry a real find, Machine Head proof that ego > money, Limp Bizkit slightly limp without a red hat, NIN an honour to see, Avenged Sevenfold sorely missed and Metallica cement themselves has high paid festival icons.

Sonisphere Summary – A very good festival in the making, its taken Download Festival years to establish itself with a cult following … Sonisphere might just beat that record. Sonisphere 2009 had many things right and a handful of mistakes but the experience of the previous Download guru Stuart Galbraith has definitely started the Sonisphere Festival on a firm foundation, but Download (for now) is still the benchmark to beat.

Abhijeet Ahluwalia

Marilyn Manson has lost it. Period. As a one-time fan, it sucks to say this, but it would seem the drugs have finally caught up with the god of fuck

The excruciating performance at Download 2009, that got a measly 1 K from Kerrang! (one more than I’d have given it frankly), was bad enough. Metal Hammer then reported that Manson was AWOL from their Golden Gods awards because “(his) manager has been trying to get him out of his hotel room since 5PM, but to no avail.”

Which is why it’s bloody annoying that he’s issued a statement on his Myspace blog, saying ‘I can, but do not need to defend myself and the absurd accusations that the average press has clinged onto”

Absurd accusations? Dude, the way you’ve been acting recently will have all but the most hardcore fans questioning your motives. After two strictly ho-hum albums, the only thing you had going for you was your electric live performance. After Download 2009,  it seems even that is beyond you. I mean, who the fuck has spotlights and make up done between EACH AND EVERY SONG? The whole “coat-or-no-coat” episode sums up that performance: very little style, zero substance and an audience that was so bored no one asked for the encore, which you came on and did anyway.

When this BBC interview came out I thought you were being clever and toying with the wankers at a state-run media corporation that has never understood metal. But when you start doing it regularly, expect your sanity to be questioned.

You know you’ve hit a dead end when you’re a shock rocker who can’t shock anymore, only annoy.

Follow me on Twitter and last.fm

Here is an article I wrote for the Download offical website but never got website due to lack of communication. This was for the Boardie Takeover evening, which was organised by the forum users on the Download Festival Website.

 Thursday of Download usually consists of over the top drinking, before the serious waiting around for bands commences, however this year the beginning starts at the end; the End tent that its.

The Boardie Takeover evening  fills with “boardies” on both sides of the barrier for an evening of entertainment ,to warm up the neck muscles for a hectic weekend of head banging. The night will be an array of music, comedy and burlesque; a communal effort for a bunch  forum fanatics all interested in the same thing.

 And what better way to start it all off than with a blast of aggressive punk from Scumface. This terrible twosome from Manchester is quite literally like their opening song, as they hit you like a “Briefcase in the face”. Their ten second anecdotal anthems of anarchy definitely become a hit with the audience as the drummer and guitarist swap places for songs, yet the theme does not change, as piss-taking puns rule over the circus-looking tent, which is rather apt. Scumface’s tracks include classics such as “Knobhead”, which is repeated continuously throughout the set in response to the crowd’s pleads, as well as rather self explanatory title “Pies”.

 Orestea are next to the stage and after a wave of their melodic metal we spoke to the Surrey five-piece. If a band was based on aesthetics, then the first thing anyone would notice is the shocking blue hair of front woman Lisa Avon. In comparison to her haunting vocals on stage, she is incredibly down to earth and modest, as are the rest of the band when discussing how they started out. Orestea is completed with Lloyd Wilson and Luke Genders (guitar), Mike Quinn (bass) and Will Crozier (drums), a group at the end of their teen years who met at the Guildford College of Music. Although they are constantly compared to Lacuna Coil, the band claim they are influenced by the likes of Pantera and Killswitch Engage, which shows in their rocking riffs and heavenly harmonies. Despite this being only their sixth gig(!) Orestea have definitely got their heads screwed on and their live show this evening is tight and hypnotic. Lisa explains that they were more interested in recording their debut EP, Shadows of Yesterday, before hitting the road and getting the following they deserve. Here’s what the band had to say about their experience at Download so far:

 How would you describe your set tonight?

Luke:”Audible rape.”

 Good Answer. Although it’s only Thursday, have you had any interesting Download stories to tell so far?

Lisa: Well we haven’t been drinking too much yet to save ourselves for tonight, but I’m sure the drinking will begin shortly.

Mike: However we did have a pretty interesting morning involving air horns and hangovers, which is never a good combination. 

What bands are you looking forward to seeing on this year’s bill?

All: Slipknot, Steel Panther, Motley Crue, Forever Never, Killswitch, a real mix really.

Lisa, you seem to manage to control all these boys. As a singer do you feel women are given a fair chance in metal?

Lisa: Yes I do, I feel that us girls have an advantage as the minority on the metal scene and feel that I have as much of a shot in this career than any male vocalist. I think the boys would agree with me on that one?!

 The boys nod with true sincerity as I close up the chat and it’s fair to say that Orestea have both the musicianship and the friendship to keep this band going into a much bigger spotlight.

A man was caught drink driving after he drove his girlfriend to a police station to pick up her licence – which she lost for the same offence.

The 22-year-old man pulled up in front of the police station in Abbotsford, in Canada’s British Columbia province in his black pick-up truck with his 21-year-old companion.

I hereby declare the existence of a new genre, Metalbilly. Well actually unbeknown to me it was already in existence, but it was the first word that rushed to my head upon plugging in to listen to this latest discovery. I came to hear of Volbeat upon the announcement that they would be playing download festival, and sweet mother Mary am I glad they’re on the list. These crazy Danes know how to rock, and I don’t just mean rock in the moderate, half arsed way that seems commonplace. Volbeat will take you on a voyage in their rockabilly longboat, exploring new pastures where the heaviest of guitar riffs collide head on with a blasting vocal performance. Don’t be led into a false sense of security, Volbeat will knock you sideways along with any preconceptions you bring with you in your first listen. For a starting point, dip into Volbeat’s latest effort. The epically titled ‘Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood‘ rings with potency. Imagine Metallica, The Cramps and Social Distortion in a dive bar brawl and you would be half way towards establishing Volbeat’s unique sound. You can catch Volbeat rocking the second stage on Sunday at Download Festival ‘09. check out these links for more Volbeat: Last.fm Myspace Official Homepage

A look back on a day which included Metallica headlining a scorching Donington Park on the 10th June 2006.

Down kicked off the day in their own way, appearing unannounced on the main stage at half past 11 in the morning. Phil Anselmo was his usual abrasive self, threatening to fight with people in the crowd, in what was the highlight of an otherwise forgettable performance (perhaps that can be put down to the early time).

Johnny Truant had a couple more songs to play on the second stage as I made my way into the tent. It was the second time I had seen them and I still couldn’t discern any sort of rhythm or tunes inside all of the dirge that was their thumping and screaming. Sorry, I know that they’ve just split up and everyone who wants underground cred says they miss them, but I never understood what the point was.

Next up however was the, never dull, Sikth. The awesome jazz-influenced (maybe?) indefinable-genre metal band put on a set the really get the day going in style. A mixture of tunes from both their first and second albums, with Skies of the Millennium Night particularly hard-hitting, the band captivated and got moshing a large proportion of the crowd, far beyond the Watford crew that they gave a shout out to during the set. A much missed band, and not just in Watford.

Pretty early on in the day it was announced via the big screens that Jonathan Davis wouldn’t be appearing with Korn and they would be having guest vocalists.

War painted, and less than unattractive, Angela Gossow strutted around the main stage during Arch Enemy’s brief set which featured classics such as Dead Bury their Dead and We Will Rise. Short and to the point, and generating a few huge circle pits, the performance (even though they didn’t have Chris Amott on guitar) was better than their headline set at the Kentish Town Forum eighteen months previously, in my opinion.

Alice in Chains followed, in what was a big UK audience’s (and possibly any UK audience’s, I’m not sure) first look at William DuVall on vocals. No one could replace Layne Stayley very easily, but DuVall did a sound job, and three years later, we are hearing him on recordings with the band for the first time. It was great seeing the grunge legends live, something I had never expected to happen, although the only downside was that they played all their biggest tunes first and so the set sort of petered out rather than going out with a bang.

Following both Stone Sour and the England football team (on a big screen) boring everyone, a delay, and a round of big screen boob flashes, Avenged Sevenfold came onto the stage trying to suck up to everyone present by wearing customised England football shirts and tore into Unholy Confessions immediately. A solid performance from the band by all accounts, although it was still weird hearing the aforementioned and Remenissions sung during the screaming parts as M Shadows’ vocal-style change was a relatively recent phenomenon at this point. It was also surprising, and quite fun, to hear them play To End the Rapture.

Opeth tore into their set on the second stage with aplomb and no little quality, although something told me that Korn with guest vocalists had the potential to be legendary, so I have to admit that I left the enthralling set for the main stage a couple of songs in. I only caught the last three songs, but I hadn’t counted on Korn with guest vocalists sounding like dodgy karaoke rather than being a cool set, so I completely wasted my journey. It was obviously unrehearsed and at short notice, but neither Corey Taylor nor Matt Heafy really improved the band.

Next up was the mighty Metallica. Now, I know that some people don’t see the point in a band playing through an entire album in a live set, thinking that they might as well have stayed at home and listened to that album rather than going out to see the band, but I seriously doubt anyone who witnessed the 25th anniversary of Master of Puppets set could have felt that way that night. It was an epic two and a half hour set which included tonnes of material from other albums before and after the Masters of Puppets bit, which really couldn’t disappoint anyone. The atmosphere built up hugely beforehand with the video intro seguing brilliantly into Creeping Death, and continued throughout, including during the early drop of Unforgiven, the director not realising that there was a bass solo during Orion and frantically changing shot to see which guitar the sound was coming from, right through to second encore closer Seek and Destroy. Truly an awesome set; no one headlines a festival better than Metallica, they were a great finish to a great day of Download 2006.

Were you at Download 2006? Do you agree with my thoughts on the day? Let me know via commenting below.

En este episodio hablamos sobre el Metal/Hard Rock en Español. La idea es llamar atención a grupos que son menos conocidos, o tocar rarezas de grupos algo más conocidos. Los grupos que forman parte de este episodio vienen de España, Estados Unidos, Chile, Argentina, y Puerto Rico. Son por ejemplo:

Propaganda
Encrucijada
Cruzdiablo
Sherpa
Obus
Skizoo
Hamlet
Puya
Clutch
David Lee Roth

Tambien se habla sobre Korn, Slash, Steven Adler, Velvet Revolver, Sacred Reich, Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, Black Label Society, Hellfest, Jack Daniels, Download Festival, Van Halen, AC/DC, Heaven & Hell, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Sugar Ray, Limp Bizkit, Machine Head, Baron Rojo, Phil Rind, Mark McGrath, Kiss, Sepultura, Pantera, Sober, Fantastico Hombre Bala, Saratoga, XXL, Last Tour International, Kobetasonik

El podcast se puede descargar en formato que prefiere desde aquí:

O escucha online aquí:

We Are The Fallen - The New Evanescence?

American Idol powerhouse vocalist Carly Smithson is joining the original guys of Evanescence, who are relaunching as a hard-rock band called We Are The Fallen. (www.WeAreTheFallen.com)

They’ll make a formal announcement Monday in Hollywood, with a news conference and their first live performance. Debut song Bury Me Alive will be available at that time for free download at wearethefallen.com.

The lineup consists of Smithson and three of the four original members of Evanescence — guitarists Ben Moody and John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray — as well as bassist Marty O’Brien, whose recording and touring credits include Disturbed and Kelly Clarkson.

“This all happened by accident,” says Smithson, who sang Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life during the 2008 Idols Live tour. She’s friends with Moody’s housemate, Monique Morrison. “I met him once or twice (at the house) before the band thing,” says Smithson, who had been working on a solo project.

Though Smithson and Moody both shared similar visions with Morrison for bands they wanted to form, Moody wasn’t ready to bite.

“I’m sometimes hard-headed, and it took me a while” to give the Idol a shot, Moody says. But when another artist persuaded him to check out YouTube videos of Smithson performing, “I just kind of freaked out.”

Moody called Morrison and asked her to arrange a meeting. “She happened to be with Carly and said, ‘We’ll be there in 20 minutes.’

“Carly is a rock star,” he adds. “She was one of us.”

She isn’t the first Idol to attract the interest of an established act: Season 5 finalist Chris Daughtry turned down an offer to become Fuel’s frontman. But Smithson jumped at her chance. “The first time we rehearsed, everybody started in on this jam of Iron Maiden. I was like, ‘I’m in a band! I love this!’ “

The new group’s name alludes to Evanescence’s 2003 major-label debut album, Fallen, which has sold 7 million copies in the USA.

Dont worry Amy, I still love you

Moody left Evanescence shortly after Fallen, citing creative differences with singer Amy Lee. LeCompt and Gray followed in 2007. Lee continues to perform under the Evanescence name, though the group hasn’t released an album since 2006.

The Fallen plans to tour in September and initially will release its songs in small doses every few months, Moody says, “so there’s always new music and new reasons to come to another show.”

BURY ME ALIVE – LIVE – WE ARE THE FALLEN

Note : I am and always will be a fan of Evanescence and Amy Lee. In fact I believe I could quiet happily die should the day ever come that Amy Lee comes back to my bed

However, a few things…

Amy Lee seems to have been slowly making the ban more and more about herself rather than the music. If you want to make your own music …. go solo? As for Ben Moody’s Evanescence Mach 2 I have listened to Bury Me Alive and it is back to that perfect formula of hauntingly sexy female vocals blended with stunning lyrics and the perfect rock cacoon, I wish you well and as a Download Festival fan I would love to see these 2 go head to head on stage at 2010 or any coming festivals for the matter.

Si quieres escuchar algo fuerte, algo pesado, Lamb of God es la eleccion, una banda que su musica varia a lo que se le llama groove metal y metalcore, pero solo es muy buen metal: disfruten

REDNECK  en vivo

RUIN

….

Fans who attended Rock Werchter, the Belgian music festival that ended Sunday, were being tracked by Bluetooth scanners as they enjoyed the music of  Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Fleet Foxes, Metallica, Oasis and numerous other bands.

Researchers from the University of Ghent set up a network of 36 Bluetooth scanners at the festival site as well as on a few surrounding roads and bus stops that noted each of the 80,000 daily attendees as he or she came within 30 meters (approximately 100 feet).

The resulting data is the first time a large crowd has been tracked in a live situation, according to the researchers. They added that privacy wasn’t a concern since they only tracked MAC addresses (the unique identifier assigned by the manufacturer) and therefore cannot be linked to an individual user.

Some fans who attended the UK’s Download Festival last month encountered a different unexpected Bluetooth application. Local police and the Leicestershire Drug and Alcohol Action Team asked if they wanted to opt in to receive free informational animated messages. Among those that were sent out were friendly advisories on alcohol and drug use.

(Title lyric from the Dead Kennedys.)

Over the last few days i began to compile my review of this years Download Festival, but interest took over and i decided to look and see what everyone else thought. I scoured the Internet, reading mainly brilliant, unbiased and on the ball reviews (mostly from users of this website may i add!) but then i made the mistake of spending £2.20 on Kerrang. Lets be fair, Kerrang aren’t the best most reliable source for music reviews and news in general, but i always find there Download reviews to be fairly accurate and make a fun read, but this year it completely took the biscuit. It didn’t just take the biscuit. Kerrang stole that Marylands cookie from me and devoured it in front of my face. They made sure i watched as every single crumb was rubbed and caressed across their smarmy looking faces. They were bastards with those biscuits.

Kerrang seemingly never mention the performance of bands in there reviews, instead they just slug insults each and every way to every band that dares break the prototype that Kerrang has set as the norm for each and every band that is featured in its weekly magazine. Originality is a sin these days. Hollywood Undead are the first band to take a battering, despite being a brilliant band and providing a very good set at Download. The review doesn’t mention the bands performance one bit, just that the reviewer thinks the music is “idiotic jock-rap” and various other insults that are completely unrelated. The Blackout get an arse licking, as if there some form of festival Demigods, and to be fair they aren’t very good (nor was there download performance). Over the course of the weekend, a few other reviews are equally confusing. ZZ Top get a lashing too, but the review doesn’t even talk about the bands performance at all. The worst comes when Volbeat and Shinedown are mentioned. Fair play, Shinedown did go on a bit between songs, but Anti Flag go on for a good 6 hours a time with the same old same old speeches and kerrang will praise them as the saviors of humanity. When a band doesn’t give any banter they get moaned at, and when a band does show a bit of enthusiasm they get it just as bad. You just cant win. The biggest joke is when Volbeats music is described as “meat and potato punk”. Its almost insulting to think they could call such a unique band unoriginal, yet they will happily feed out fifty plus You Me At Six-alites a week and claim there the new saving graces of music.

Its a shame really, Kerrang used to be a good magazine, and it provided good news from a host of genres. I used to enjoy reading it and I have come across a few favorite bands from them, its just a shame that somewhere along the line they decided to employ a bunch of idiotic, biased morons who bastardise every band with any form of originality. Ah well, roll on my review sometime this weekend.

Some people spend their time off from work lounging around on sunny beaches. Some people spend their vacations snowboarding down glistening white alpine slopes. Some people explore exotic locations and take tedious photos of themselves posing next to ancient ruined monuments.

I get drunk in fields in the Midlands and talk shit at rock stars at heavy metal festivals. So far my Summer highlights have included….

1) Giving Pepper Keenan a reach-around.

2) Remincing about said reach-around with Turbowolf.

3) Insulting DevilDriver’s taste in Star Wars characters.

4) Being accused of being a rapist by Hardcore Superstar – and this was filmed BEFORE Pepper Keenan!

5) Talking titties with Doc from God Forbid.

6) Poking fun at Five Finger Death Punch’s ludicrously literal video treatements.

7) Comparing haircuts with Wayne from Static-X.

8) Debating animal fighting (and fucking) with Suicide Silence.

9) And trying to pay Dregen from the Backyard Babies to beat up an endangered species. Classy.

All on behalf of ThrashHits.com. There’s a whole load more of our video tomfoolery from the festival over on the Thrash Hits YouTube channel. It’s pretty damn badass, actually.

Ok, so this morning I received a letter from my Blog informing me it plans to file for divorce on grounds of ‘Estrangement’.

Additionally, it plans to bring a criminal case against me for the mental abuse, suffering and anguish I have caused it by not acknowledging its’ existence for the best part of what? A month or so…?

The Blog didn’t cite ‘Irreconcilable Differences’ as grounds for divorce, however, so maybe if I can pull my finger out and give it the attention it deserves we may be able to avoid things getting ugly and me potentially losing half of everything I have to WordPress.

And no, I wasn’t clever enough to have a pre-nuptial agreement.

So, bearing that in mind, I have a lot to document from the last few months. Primarily, Jen & I’s trip to the Download festival and Paris trip, followed by festivities for my 31st birthday.

I’ll get cracking now & get back into the habit of writing for this Blog again.

Funny really that, when I started this thing I thought spending so much time writing is probably a girlfriend replacement and not something someone in a relationship could keep regularly updating. Annoyingly I made that a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Not that it’s Jen’s fault though, it’s entirely mine.

Let’s see if I can’t turn it around & get into it every couple of days again…