Falling In Reverse teased us with a “May 7th” Video Teaser last week, and the wait is over! The band has release a new single titled “Alone” along with a music video for the song. They have also announced their new album “Fashionably Late” out June 18th! Pick up the single and Pre-Order the album on iTunes now! Check out the Album Artwork and tracklisting below! What do you think of the new song?

“Fashionably Late” Tracklisting:

1 Champion
2 Bad Girls Club
3 Rolling Stone
4 Fashionably Late
5 Alone
6 Born to Lead
7 It’s Over When It’s Over
8 Game Over
9 Self-Destruct Personality
10 F**k the Rest
11 Keep Holding On
12 Drifter
13 Where Have You Been
14 Goddamn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un82tyFzG7I

(3:24 minutes)

I was lost, now I’m found, I’m sustained by the sound, by the angels singing me to sleep. While my feet are leaving the ground. Am I dead or am I dreaming instead. A cornucopia of opiates are flooding my head.

I’m insane, I am smart, all it takes is a spark, to ignite my bad intensions, and do what I do best to your heart. Don’t be fooled, I was raised by the wolves. Now the moon takes its full, so you know that I won’t play by the rules. I will never sleep. Spill my blood for you. You have let me down, one to many times.

Some way, some how we’re falling out. Caught in between my enemies. No way, not now, I won’t back down. I draw the line at you and me. You’re what I started, now disregarded. One day they’ll see, it was always me.

Due to mistakes I have made to this day, I am trapped inside a dillinger. Diligently thinking of ways to get out of this God awful place. I just learned that my fate is something I can’t escape, so sound the alarms, we were dead from the start. It’s a never ending system, break me down, tear me apart. Don’t be fooled I was raised by the wolves. Now the moon takes its full, so you know I won’t play by the rules. I will never sleep. Spill my blood for you. You have let me down, one too many times.

Some way, some how we’re falling out. Caught in between my enemies. No way, not now, I won’t back down. I draw the line at you and me. You’re what I started, now disregarded. One day they’ll see, it was always me.

…

Oh, this is the end of you! This is where I draw the line! And I will live! This war is mine!

Oh!

Spill my blood for you, one too many times.

Someway, some how we’re falling out. Caught in between my enemies. No way, not now, I won’t back down. I draw the line at you and me. You’re what I started now disregarded. One day they’ll see it was always me. One day they’ll see it was always me!

It was always me!

What was the one experience that completely changed your life? What happened? How did it change your life?

Oh-ho-ho boy.

This ‘inspire me’ prompt is gonna be go-oo-od.

Well, It all started last year. A bitter-sweet time known as “7th grade”, a lovely yet horrible year. I can honestly say that the only good that came out of it was meeting Jeremy, Tommy, and Colleen. And possibly being introduced to a world of opportunity that came with a price. A deadly price. One that almost cost me my life. Yes, I almost died. But that story will come soon. 

So where was I…

Ah, yes. Lets say this occurred around mid-September. I was sitting talking to Gabrielle and Taylor (fucking backstabber….) and I looked up. I saw “I watch Shane Dawson T.V.” printed on this tall-as-fuck guy with long hair and skinny jeans. Needless to day, I had a crush on him instantly. I stopped him and asked where he got his Shane Dawson shirt because it was the first YouTube channel I’d ever subscribed to, and I loved it. He told me Hot Topic and sat down at the table diagonal to mine (really behind me because I sat a different way). I saw the two other people sitting at the table with him. One I knew from my math class. Tommy. (Funniest fucking kid ever ;~; he moved recently) and a pretty red-head, Colleen, who was in choir with me, I think. I still had no idea who the tall one was. Despite that, Tommy called me to their table and..well…this is how the conversation went:

Tommy: probably being a smart ass  ”Hey, -insertmynamehere- want to be his girlfriend?”

Jeremy: obviously confused “wait, what?”

Me: wanting to say yes. “It would help if I knew his name…”

 Basically, I regret and thank myself for saying no. But we’ll get into why I don’t regret saying no later. Sometime around two months later (long enough for me and Taylor to have a fight and kick me out of the table) I sat in a bigger table with much better people. One of them asked if I had a crush on “the girl-ish looking one” (admittedly, Jeremy does have long hair and people say he looks like a girl). I sort of nodded. She told me to sit there, then. I reluctantly asked Tommy if I could sit with them (Jeremy was absent the first day I sat there). He let me and literally the first thing he said was:

“So….*triangle hands of evilness*..Vagina”

I looked at Colleen and we both laughed uncontrollably. We all knew this would be a good fuckin’ year. 

And we were right.

But I some-what messed up

Jeremy had this girlfriend. She was in 8th grade (really supposed to be in 9th, held back a while ago). She was beautiful, I can’t even deny it. I’ve told Jeremy she was beautiful on multiple occasions (They, at that point, knew I was bisexual) and he always said “I know”. See, I loved to hear about their relationship, because I’ve never had one. He told me one day she was upset and she was crying, so he walked to her house to give her a hug while it was pouring fucking rain. That. That is love. I was so stunned he would do that for her, and all I said was “You’re a good boyfriend.” He smiled and nodded. 

PLOT TWIST!

So I was failing the fuck out of 7th grade. Literacy and Math was hell for me, I barely passed the whole year. So, The teachers would make me go to their classrooms to do work. But here’s the problem: It was during lunch. I was so disappointed. From about January until the end of May, I missed lunch with the best friends I’ve ever had. Sure, there was still Facebook, but that wasn’t the same. One day, I found a system that worked; I’d get my lunch, stop at the table, talk to them until I had to go, then walk straight into the hell known as detention. Once, I remember so clearly, I got to go to lunch one day. Jeremy and Tommy were happy, and Colleen was absent. Jeremy suddenly started drumming on the table and sang:

“Sitting in a room playing Russian Roulette, finger on the trigger to my dear Juliet, out from the window see her backdrop silhouette  this blood on my hands is something I cannot forget.”

He sang Not Good Enough For Truth In Cliche by Escape the Fate, and I didn’t know what song it was until this year.

I decided to do something outrageous. I hugged Jeremy. Well, is girlfriend saw the whole thing. The whole damn meaningless lousy friendly hug. She broke up with him, he was crushed, and I was feeling guilty as hell. I hated myself for ruining the best thing he’s ever had. He truly loved her and I was the slut that came and ruined it all. One hug. One hug was all that ruined everything. He moved on pretty quickly…or so I thought….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~8th grade begins, I’m in his homeroom, fuckyea~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, as we progressed into 8th grade, I developed a major crush on that hot mysterious guy in Social Studies. He liked Colleen though. They dated, broke up, that whole thing. Then he asked me out. I thought it was real. I thought he loved me. I thought they broke up. That’s right; the dirtbag asked me out and Colleen knew as they still dated. I cried for days, because I though he was my first boyfriend. Nope. I was his fucking mistress. I told Jeremy on Facebook ,Jeremy obviously hated Noah. Hated, so he pretty much blew up. He told me all kinds of shit about what he’d do to Noah and such. I was stunned, because I had no idea why h was acting like this. Then he said something I’ll never forget:

“If you really want to make me happy, stop talking to Noah.”

Like I was gonna ignore a fucking sign like that. I wanted to have both of them, but Jeremy made me chose on or the other. And I knew that if I pick one, I’d lose the other for good. So I had a lot to think about. A lot. And to be honest, I don’t regret my decision. Jeremy was the right choice. But I did slip up sometimes. 3 to be exact. The first time, I admitted myself that I talked to Noah (The promise was not to). He forgave me after I apologized. The second time…it was hell. I was walking and talking to Noah, and guess who didn’t know Jeremy’s class was walking right towards us. Me. I didn’t know. And he saw it. The whole thing. One look. A mixture of betrayal, hurt, rage, and maybe jealousy. I stopped walking, and I knew. I blew it. I fucking blew it. I instantly left Noah’s side and pretty much crashed into Jeremy. I was begging, pleading, apologizing. Nothing swayed him, nothing made him start talking to me again, nothing made me cry more than that week. I lost him, but why was I so sad. Sure, he was my best friend, but even when I lost Elizabeth’s friendship, I barely shed a tear. So why is it whenever I even looked at Jeremy I burst out crying? I knew as I cried in bed one day; I loved him. He was so special, so different. He introduced me to post-hardcore and metal bands, which I never would’ve listened to on my own (what can I say? I used to be a pop princess c;) So as I sobbed and whined about this sudden epiphany, I vowed I would make this right, no matter the cost. Well, the cost was Noah. I could live with that though.Until I fucked up again.

Jeremy was behind Noah and I was walking to get to Schofield’s class which was past them. Noah saw me give him a dirty look so heres what happened.

“What’s YOUR problem?” He asks, giving me a strange look. I walk a few steps before I realized he said it to me, so I stop, turn and say “Nothing”

Jeremy saw (what else is new). I was going to talk to him, but before I could get a word out, he said ” I saw that.” and walked away. I legit cried then and there in a crowded fucking hallway feeling guilty as fuck for even saying a single word. He ignored me for 1 and a half weeks. It was hell. No amount of pleading was going to sway him this time. I was dying on the inside. Why did I let this happen again?! Finally, he forgave me after I apologized in a letter, which i constantly did to him. I doubt he kept anything I’ve written, though….except for one that he may have. One day, I was talking to Noah for no particular fucking reason (by now you can tell I never learn). Same thing happened. He was walking the opposite way and saw us. I felt my heart drop and my blood ran cold just by seeing Jeremy’s face. Tears threatened to spill. I choked back sobs and held my head up. Don’t act weak, he’ll just leave you again. He’ll leave you again. What a stupid thought. We’re not even dating. And after this, I doubt he’ll even want to be my friend. He left his locker and walked down the hall. I walked next to him. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. He said one phrase, one that broke my heart and made me hate Noah more than anything:

“You fucking blew it”

“Good”

Wait, what the actual fuck did I just say. Well lets see, hormones and emotions were running high and I couldn’t stop myself. His face twisted into more anger and hurt and…pain? Was he hurt that I didn’t care? No, no that can’t be. What did I just do? WHAT DID I JUST DO?! Noah ruined everything. He really did. I stopped walking and went to Sam’s locker. The only one who would understand at this point. Sam saw my face and that was all it took. She put down her bag and held me as I cried my eyes out, spilling my pain and emotions onto her beautiful grey/gray sweater. (The one she let me keep one sleepover). I told her everything. She understood why and what was going on. She always put up with my drama, and that’s why she’s the best sister-like-friend I have. We walked to the library, where Ms. Tait told us to go that day instead of her room, which is why Jeremy walked the other way that day and saw me and Noah. I cried the whole way and had to hide from Ms. Tait or else she’d talk to me about it. I couldn’t deal with “teacher concern” right now, I had a real fuckin’ problem. I decided to write him one last note, and if it didn’t convince him, I’d better learn to live alone. What if I couldn’t forget him? (Good job for anyone who gets the reference to Pierce the Veil). It said something like this:

“I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t know why I did it *blahblahblahidkwhatit said*. I want to show you I’m sorry, if not, then I love you and goodbye.“

Yes, you read that right. I said I love you as proof I can’t be without him or his friendship. Needless to say, it didn’t work right away. I deleted the messages, but our Facebook conversation went a little like this:

Me: I’m sorry

Him: You fucking blew it

Me: I’m sorry

Him Sorry isnt gonna fucking work this time

Me: I didnt mean to talk to him

Him: You didnt mean to talk to him? lol i saw you talk to him the whole time

~~~~~rift in time; idk what i said about this~~~~~

Me: Im not fucking perfect. he wouldnt leave me alone.  Why do you even hate Noah in the first place? {(or something to that affect) }

Him: cuz

Me: Because why?

Him: cuz

             you know

I care {Insert my heart exploding like a freaking firecracker}

about people

things

Me: oh {Really about to scream I love you, even though only my phone would hear it}

Him: damn it im not good with this stuff {as in feelings}

Me: Yes you are. 

Him: no im not.

Well, that’s all I remember, but I do remember it made us closer. I got out of another huge fight. Sorta.

There’s another way Jeremy’s affected my life. My wrists.

Sorry that didn’t make sense; cuts on my wrists. They would be there, a lot of them, if he didn’t make me promise not to cut. I used to have cuts on scars because there was no room for clean skin, my whole arm was cut. nothing else. It was hard for him to see and handle. So he made me stop. Once he ignored me for cutting. But I understood. He couldn’t handle seeing me hurt myself. The way the cuts were…they were organized, wide, and deep. I would purposely cut to make it bleed, because once I bleed, I sometimes never want it to stop. We both knew one day I’d hit a vain or something and die, and I don’t think he wanted that to happen. I decided one day, I’m going to give him my last razor. And he will get rid of it. And he’ll see I don’t want to lose him. I hid it in my stress-ball and when the time came, I hid it in my agenda and walked to where we usually walk. I was mostly silent but here’s what happened when I did it:

Me: So….I have something to tell you, sort of.

Him: {I can hear the panic and slight anger in his voice} What?

Me: Well, its really important

Him: What? What is it?

Me:*I hold my hand out {not the one holding the razor} and he has no idea what I’m doing* Well…

Him: What? 

So I grab his hand, put the razor in it and whisper “Get rid of it”

So he does. And later here’s our conversation:

Him: So, uh, why’d you have that with you in school? {I heard slight anger in his voice that makes me flinch under the circumstances}

Me: I wanted you to get rid of it?

Him: Oh. {He smiles. Now there’s satisfaction and maybe a loving tone}

Me: You’re not mad?

Him: No.

Usually, at this point of walking, I’d walk to class, but something drew me in. I asked for a hug, the first on since 7th grade. And he hugged me. His head rested against mine for a split-second. I wished it lasted a minute….then I was late to class.

Worth it. So that’s hoe Jeremy affected my life. And I love him for that. He’s the honestly best thing to ever happen to me and I can’t thank him enough. He’ll never see this hopefully but Jeremy, I love you and I never want to almost lose you again.

For now, just enjoy this rare gem that I stumbled upon. One more for the “how did I not see this before?” list. It brings the best (or maybe worst) parts of my two favorite genres together.

I really, really wish that there was an unedited version of this song. But, sadly, there’s not.

I even went in search of a music video, hoping it was unedited. And that. Is how. I found. This video.

You are all SO welcome.

The best part, in my opinion, is how they have a Mary Poppins car – clearly the trunk will never run out of hot (and assumedly slutty) women to climb out.

Or maybe the best part is the hot pink mike. Clearly, I’m conflicted.

Check out this trailer for the 2013 Vans Warped Tour! Don’t miss it this summer!

I love it. I absolutely love this band. I used to love Escape The Fate so much. And their music helped me through some tough times. So I was really sad when I found out Ronny Radke had to leave the band a few years ago. They changed a lot after that.

But a while ago there was good news: Ronny had a new band. And they turned out to be all I loved about Escape The Fate.

So enjoy

Falling In Reverse announced they will be playing selective dates on this summer’s Vans Warped Tour! They’ll be playing June 15 – June 30th!

Photo Credit: “052″ by Robert Bejil used under a Creative Commons license

As I’ve finished my Masters and truly entered librarianship, I’ve wondered about a couple of things: A) What can I bring to the library table? B) How can this blog help other librarians?

And it struck me: what am I doing to serve certain niche groups? Sure it’s easy to serve teens into dystopian fiction or who like food programming; but who am I not serving well? Who can I serve better?

To answer those questions I began thinking about my interests and my teen interests. A couple of my library’s frequent patrons are card-carrying teen metalheads. They wear Iron Maiden shirts. They play in bands with three lead guitarists. They rock out hard to Metallica (only putting in headphones when I remind them of our headphone rule). Metal sometimes gets a bad rep. Long hair. Dirty t-shirts. Devil worship. Worse. Not to mention, the music itself can be loud, angry, and sometimes incomprehensible. While I agree One Direction is easier listening (fantastic pop, BTW), challenging our tastes to better serve our patrons is just as important. But you don’t have to do it alone. There are people out there who can help you out. To get the conversation started, I’ve written this post as a bare bones “collection development” guide for librarians serving teen metalheads (and I’ve brought in a few experts to help the cause).

BTW – I’m using metalhead as a blanket term. It’s an easy cultural reference. It may not be the greatest term, but this is a broad-ish post.

My first expert is actually one of my teen metalheads. I asked him to tell me his five favorite albums (These aren’t in order, but they are his top 5), and I tried to keep this in mind when developing the rest of this post.

1. Megadeth-Rust in Peace
2. Iron Maiden-The Number of the Beast
3. Metallica-Master of Puppets
4. Anthrax-Among the Living
5. Slayer-Seasons in the Abyss

The top 5 albums for this teen includes mostly thrash (all thrash? I don’t really understand the subgenres. If it rocks, I’ll listen to it.) His list also includes no new albums, which seems to jibe with what I’ve seen from my teens. They are perhaps developing their tastes from their parents, and so they start with the classics. This may not be true for every community, but our metalheads don’t necessarily want new or progressive albums (or they don’t go out of their way to find them). This is probably true for many teens, who are just starting to develop their identities. Listening to Metallica may be as rebellious as some teens ever get.

It’s important to develop a core collection for teens starting to develop and interest in metal/hard rock/loud music. There is no reason to go too crazy here. Look for what is popular in your community and develop your collection based on that. I think most teen collections should have (or their librarians should be aware of) the following albums (I should point out that I am using a loose interpretation of metal, I ask that any metal purists help add to these titles.):

1. Metallica-Metallica (The Black Album): The common thinking is older Metallica is better. That is true. Although, “Enter Sandman” is a heck of a song, and this is an extremely popular album.
2. Pantera-Cowboys From Hell: My teens love the fact that Pantera started as a glam rock band. Pantera was the cool thing to listen to when I was in high school, that seems to still be the case.
3. Iron Maiden: Somewhere Back in Time Best of 1980-1989: This was a roll of the dice. Iron Maiden is prolific. Grab a best of and see what hits. Also, their mascot is named “Eddie.”
4. Motorhead-Ace of Spades: “Ace of Spades” was on a Guitar Hero game. It’s an easy introduction. Who would win in a fight Lemmy or God?
5. Guns N’ Roses-Appetite for Destruction: It’s iconic. It rocks. My teens still dig it.
6. Falling in Reverse-The Drug in Me is You: Learn the name Ronnie Radke.
7. My Chemical Romance-The Black Parade: It’s hard to classify this as a metal album, but it fits that mold better than others. Plus, with a lyric like, “Teenagers scare the living shit out of me,” it is perfect for this post. Plus, Gerard Way (lead singer) wrote the awesome Umbrella Academy comics.
8. Slipknot-Antennas to Hell: Sometimes you have to include stuff you don’t like. Slipknot has fans. The album Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) checks out more than Antennas. However, Antennas is a greatest hits album and includes “Wait and Bleed,” which is a solid Slipknot track.
9. Anything by AC/DC: We have the entire AC/DC discography in our teen area, and they check out just as much (if not more) as a Taylor Swift album (which your library should also have.)

So that’s the core, but if you are feeling adventurous, I recommend the following five recent albums:

1. Baptists-Bushcraft: One of my favorites of 2013 (already). Loud. Heavy. Fast. Canadian.
2. Overkill-The Electric Age: I recommended this to the above teen and he is in love with it.
3. The Unclean-The Eagle: Played this at the library and everyone loved it. It has a classic rock feel.
4. Converge-All We Love We Leave Behind: YEAH!
5. Author & Punisher-Ursus Americanus: One of the most fantastic albums I heard last year (albeit very late). Check out some video to see the crazy instruments this guy makes/plays.

I also promised some experts, and I’ve been yammering quite a bit. I approached Brandon Duncan, Overlord (Co-Overlord?) of Backlit Zine and friend, for a little assitance when I was writing this post. I can talk on and on about metal my community enjoys, but what albums to other metalheads think are important for teens to listen to. So Duncan and a couple other writers from Backlit gave me some input. My question was a little wonky: What five albums (new or old) do you think teen metal fans need to get their hands/ears on? I clarified by adding: I’d like to have some things they may not have heard of and albums that were important to your youth. Here are their choices:

Brandon Duncan:

1. Emperor – In The Nightside Eclipse
2. Incantation – Diabolical Conquest
3. Pig Destroyer – Book Burner
4. Danzig – 1-4 (I know that’s a copout but they are all crucial listening)
5. Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer
6. Another addition from Brandon: CanNOT believe I didn’t think of this before – but Napalm Death-SCUM HAAASSS to be included. Essential for all metal heads!

Dan Obstkrieg:

1. Nile – Black Seeds of Vengeance
2. Cradle of Filth – Cruelty and the Beast
3. Opeth – Blackwater Park
4. Dream Theater – Scenes from a Memory
5. Neurosis – Through Silver in Blood

Jordan Campbell:

1. Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales
2. Sepultura – Chaos A.D.
3. Type O Negative – World Coming Down
4. Strapping Young Lad – City
5. Akercocke – Words that Go Unspoken, Deeds that Go Undone

Finally, when librarians are attempting to serve teens, especially teens who have interests outside of our comfort zone, it is important to remember, we don’t have to know everything. We also don’t have to be the coolest people in the room. If you want to reach out to teen metalheads, try listening to them. Ask them what they are interested in, then do a little research. Part of our responsibilities as librarians is to communicate to teens that their interests matter to us. It’s fairly simple to find stuff they may be interested in. Here are a few resources to get you started:

1. Decibel Magazine – “America’s only monthly metal magazine”
2. AP Magazine – This magazine covers varying ranges of loud music, from punk to metalcore. I personally like the monthly Essentials feature.
3. About.com: Heavy Metal – Great Coverage, including album releases.
4. Backlit Zine – Cool, well-designed ‘Zine with some awesome writers who were cool enough to help me with this post.
5. Billboard Hard Rock Charts – You don’t have to break your back to find popular metal/hard rock. iTunes also have charts of the most purchased metal, etc.
6. AV Club’s Loud - I’m a huge fan of the AV Club. Great writing. Decent coverage.
7. Noisecreep’s Top 10 Heavy Metal Books – Since this is a post for librarians.

Special shoutout to my coworker Holly for helping me develop the core collection and listened to me talk about this post for several days. She also made a great Goth and Industrial playlist that you might want to take a look at. I’ve included a playlist of stuff discussed in this post. For the most part I included the first song on an album, unless I wanted to include something else. Give it a listen.

Two parts of Falling in Reverse, Ronnie Radke (vocals) and Jacky Vincent (guitar), recently had an interview with Loudwire discussing the band with its touring and fans. The interview mostly asked questions about situations and incidents they’ve been in . According to the interview though, there seems like the band will be releasing some new stuff.

When asked about future material with the band, Ronnie stated that the music is going to have people “lose their minds.” It’s going to be something special. Something that isn’t going to be explainable. With these promising words, Falling in Reverse fans should be expecting something sometime this year.

Also, when touring was being discussed, Ronnie was asked where would be somewhere that he’d like to play that he hasn’t got the chance be. He said that the UK would be somewhere he’d like to play, which is in the progress of getting scheduled. Australia was also mentioned, but touring around the world is something Ronnie desires. So those of you from the UK, expect some venues to be advertising future shows with Falling in Reverse!

Other things in the interview were also asked such as incidents that have happened with them on tour, what gives them the inspiration for their interesting music videos, and things that the members like buying with their money.

2013 looks like a big year for Falling in Reverse so expect some news about the band in the future! Here is the link to the interview: http://loudwire.com/falling-in-reverse-ronnie-radke-jacky-vincent-touring-fans-more/

Falling In Reverse with Enter Shikari at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, PA.
November 2012.

At the beginning of the month, I attended a Falling In Reverse concert at Stage AE as part of their headlining tour, “The Thug In Me Is You.” I normally don’t listen to much post-hardcore music, as it’s one of those genres that I tend to only seek out through particular artists. In fact, I appear to be one of the least likely candidates to go to a concert of this nature, taking into consideration the music I tend to play on my radio show. I will admit that this was my first post-hardcore concert experience and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. My primary interest was the chance to see Enter Shikarilive since they rarely pass through the U.S. at my convenience.

The performance opened up with letlive., a group from Los Angeles that I wasn’t familiar with at all until the day of the show. They were… entertaining, at best. Jason Aalon Butler, the lead singer, was utterly incoherent and I would have needed closed captioning to understand what he was attempting to convey to the audience. It was like watching a bunch of circus monkeys, with Butler performing destructive stunts that resulted in a blown out speaker. I especially liked it when he grabbed the metal barricade, violently threw it down towards the floor, wrapped his hands around the bars like he was trapped in a prison, and then repeatedly attacked it. At the conclusion of that song, he explained that his act was representative of “breaking down the barriers of society” and I lost any remaining respect I had for them as a band.

Thankfully, Enter Shikari proceeded to take the stage to make up for letlive.’s mediocre efforts. They began the set with some songs from their latest album, A Flash Flood of Color, which was released in January. A friend of mine had only good things to say about Enter Shikari’s stage presence, but both of us felt that they were a bit lacking. I later came to the conclusion that I probably felt this way mostly due to the concert repertoire for the evening: It was predominantly material from their earlier years, which I didn’t recognize as much. Nevertheless, I will give them credit for selecting tunes that meshed better with letlive. and Falling In Reverse’s styles. Even though I was a bit disappointed, I would love to see what Enter Shikari could do as a headliner.

Before Falling In Reverse took the stage, they decided to test the audience’s patience by playing a silly cat video to lighten the mood followed up by an introductory video that satirized Ronnie Radke, the lead singer, as the president of the United States. The entire venue erupted into cheers and screams when they finally came into view, bringing with them an incredible energy that I have never before encountered in all of the other concerts I have been to.

Let me be frank: I was floored. Something that really stuck out to me was Falling In Reverse’s ability to connect with their fans. For instance, Radke pulled out a Terrible Towel and swung it around as he cheered for the Steelers, an action that definitely made the night that much more memorable. Although Falling in Reverse is a fairly young band, all of its members have had prior experience in other groups, which adds to the overall musical skill of the band. They succeeded in reeling me in to wanting more and they have raised my expectations for future concerts. I walked out of there knowing that this first post-hardcore concert was definitely not my last.

Photos by Jess Phoa.

(Originally from: http://www.wrct.org/2012/11/27/j-walking-falling-in-reverse/)

Boy oh boy, where are we even supposed to start? We could write a five thousand word write-up documenting the chronicles of Mr. Ronald Radke, and it would hardly scratch the surface of the musicians tumultuous time in the music scene. From various amounts of jail time to selling hundreds of thousands of albums, saying Radke has created a whirlwind would be an understatement. But the question remains, does he deserve your support?

Let’s start off where he started off: post hardcore outfit, Escape The Fate. Radke formed the band with Max Green in 2004. Shortly after signing to Epitaph, the band (*cough* Ronnie *cough*) began to run into difficulties. In an attempt to settle differences, an altercation between the band and various other persons took place in a desert outside of Las Vegas. The fight resulted in the death of 18 year old Michael Cook. In the end, Radke was charged, along with his past drug abuse, with 5 years if probation. A few years later (2008), Ronnie failed to report to his parole officer and was reprimanded by authorities. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Think it stops there? Unfortunately, you’re wrong. After being released from jail, Ronnie created a brand new project, titled, Falling In Reverse. The outfit wasted no time, as they recorded their debut album, The Drug In Me Is You, and released it in the Summer of 2011. Things were finally starting to look up for the frontman, who seemed to have turned a new leaf, so to speak. Well, around the beginning of last summer, it must’ve gotten windy, because that “new leaf” began to get thrown around. Radke soon found himself back in jail, for a brief stay this time, after conducting domestic assault on his girlfriend. Not soon afterwards, he was reprimanded yet again, this time for throwing mic stands into the crowd during one of FIR’s performances, injuring multiple crowd members.

Done, right? Not so much. The vocalist’s most recent travesty involved the removal of electronic post hardcore outfit, I See Stars, from FIR’s recent headlining tour, The Thug In Me Is You. Radke’s rebuttal for the seemingly rash action? Members of ISS were recently arrested on accounts of marijuana possession, therefore Radke believed they were a “threat” to his sobriety, so he removed them from the tour. This caused extreme unrest amongst the bands fans. For the remainder of the tour, Radke and the rest of FIR were greeted with boos and overwhelming chants for justice for I See Stars. He even went as far as kicking out countless amounts of concert attendees just because they didn’t support his actions.

So there you have it. The complete (brief) history of Ronald Joseph Radke. Thoughts? Opinions? It’s quite obvious the vocalist has been through a lot, but it also doesn’t look like he intends on slowing down any time soon. According to a recent interview with Alternative Press, not only is FIR scheduled to release a sophomore full length this year, but Ronnie is going to become a daddy as well. Nevertheless, no matter your final verdict of the infamous vocalist, it’s people like him that make our jobs a whole lot more interesting.

Written by: Tyler Sharp

For the past few years, William Francis has been opening the eyes (and ears) of fans new and old with his haunting electronic “dark wave” project WILLIAM CONTROL. Now, with three full-length albums, an EP, a DVD and several live performances under his belt, the singer, writer, producer and engineer (also known around the world as the wickedly-striking frontman for scene giants Aiden),  has taken his project out on the road with his friends in Black Veil Brides on their “The Church of the Wild Ones” tour.

Infusing a new wave sensibility reminiscent of New Order, Bauhaus, Gary Numan, and Depeche Mode with a reinvented twist of his own, WILLIAM CONTROL has already proven to be an accepted, unique, and unrelenting addition to the Black Veil Brides tour.

WILLIAM CONTROL is on the road now! See below for all remaining tour dates.

WILLIAM CONTROL with Black Veil Brides:

1/18 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live

1/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero

1/22 – Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s

1/23 – Buffalo, NY @ Club Infinity

1/25 – New York, NY @ Best Buy Theater

1/26 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium

1/27 – Manchester, NH @ Armory Ballroom

1/29 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Alter Bar

1/30 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House

2/17 – Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock Cafe

2/19 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall

2/20 – Chicago, IL @ The Castle Theatre

2/22 – Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom

2/27 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex

2/28 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

3/1 – Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory

3/2 – Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven

3/4 – Chico, CA @ Senator Theatre

3/5 – Reno, NV @ Knitting Factory

3/6 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades

3/8 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom

3/9 – West Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues

The latest album to come out of the WILLIAM CONTROL solo project, 2012’s Silentium Amoris, melds together dark, cinematic themes with experimental synth pop sounds.  While alarmingly melancholic and moody, it also evokes an unrelenting fury, as well as aggressive elements of the industrial dance sound. William also just released a 90-minute live DVD entitled William Control – Live in London Town. The DVD, shot over the course of three days in London, England, and features 20 tracks, including a brand new unreleased song.

William has two other albums (Hate Culture, Noir) and an EP (Novus Ordo Seclorum) out now. He has also had select tracks featured on soundtracks for Saw V, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and Underworld: Awakening and has appeared as a guest vocalist on tracks byThe Used, Vampires Everywhere! and more.

You can purchase all WILLIAM CONTROL releases via iTunes, Amazon and other digital retailers.

For more information on William Francis and WILLIAM CONTROL, please visit these websites:

www.williamcontrol.com

www.facebook.com/williamcontrolofficial

www.twitter.com/williamcontrol

www.myspace.com/williamcontrol

www.youtube.com/Iamwilliamcontrol

Ronnie Radke, frontman for post hardcore outfit, Falling In Reverse, has revealed that he is writing new music with Get Scared vocalist, Nicholas Matthews.

You can check out a message and picture from Radke below:

@nicholasscared_ and I laying down some amazing music right now!!!!

Like to dance a little? Then AWOLNATION, 3Oh!3 and Enter Shikari got you covered with their electronic like mixes of  “Sail,” “Warm Smiles Do Not Make You Welcome Here” and “You’re Gonna Love This.” Not into shaking, well then you’ll probably like things a little heavier. That’s when you head towards Whitechapel’s “Animus,” We Came As Romans’ “Fair-Weather” and Memphis May Fire’s “Prove Me Right,” just to name a few of the more, well, badass tracks on this Take Action mixtape.

Now for the obvious ones I wasn’t going to pass up…Everyone knows if I was 15 today, I’d probably be in love with Alex Gaskarth and have The Summer Set all over my room. So it’s safe to say that All Time Low’s acoustic of “The Reckless & The Brave” and The Summer Set’s latest “Fuck U Over” were on top of my list. Another one that falls onto that list is Plug In Stereo featuring We Are The In Crowd’s Tay Jardine with “I Hope You Know.” If something as precious as puppies and kitties had a soundtrack, that song would be numero uno.

Those were the ones I naturally gravitated towards, but there were a few that surprised me when I actually gave them a penciled star (a high honor from a blogger on paper, of course). Dye my hair jet black, toss me in a ripped up metal tee and call me 14 because I actually liked Falling In Reverse’s “The Drug In Me Is You.” Another one was Sleeping With Sirens’ acoustic version of “James Dean & Audrey Hepburn.” I thought a girl was singing the entire time, but either way, it was a delight. Last notch on my “really, I dug that belt” is Seahaven’s acoustic rendition of “Understanding.” I have a love hate relationship with this mumbling man’s voice, but here I could make out the words, so I didn’t feel the need to hit “skip.”

Those were all the ones to look out for, but you can’t have almost 40 songs over two CDs and not expect some misses with the hits. The Used used to be my favorite band, and they’ll forever be a part of my adolescence, but I can’t back their new stuff. “The Lonely,” you’re going to stay that way. Another one that didn’t get a pass was Itch’s “London Is Burning.” Listen and you’ll know why, or maybe you’ll like it?

The Take Action Compilation Volume 11 has a lot of well-known artists like I Am The Avalanche, Say Anything and Mayday Parade, but it also shines a light on acts I wasn’t too sure of, including Glass Cloud and Ice Nine Kills. So not only will get you a variety of scenes, styles and sounds, but also a lot of rare and unreleased tracks. Oh yeah, and it’s an album for the It Gets Better Project, so don’t steal it. Paying for it will be good karma. Take Action Compilation Volume 11 is out January 8^th.

Track Listing
*denotes rare or unreleased

DISC 1

1. Glass Cloud – Everybody Wants To Rule The World*
2. Ice Nine Kills – What I Never Learned in Study Hall (6 Feet Below)*
3. Memphis May Fire -  Prove Me Right
4. Upon This Dawning – A New Beginning
5. Parkway Drive – Dark Days
6. SHARKS – Sea Of All Seas*
7. Balance & Composure – Quake
8. Silver Snakes – All My Eye*
9. Broadway Calls – Bring On The Storm*
10. We Are The Ocean – Machine
11. Transit - Skipping Stone (Alternate Version)
12. Seahaven -  Understanding (Acoustic)*
13. Set It Off – Dream Catcher
14. I Am The Avalanche -  I’ll Be Back Around
15. The Scene Aesthetic – Carelessly (feat. Dresses)*
16. Plug In Stereo – I Hope You Know (feat. Tay Jardine)*
17. William Beckett – 48 In A Hospital *
18. Itch – London Is Burning*
19. Twin Atlantic -  Make A Beast Of Myself (Space Brother Remix)*
20. The Animal In Me – Speak*
21. Hell Or Highwater – Come Alive (Acoustic)*
22. Palisades – Bury It (Acoustic)*

I am sorry to all the men/youthful men that must read this…. But I am quite frustrated right now..

Frustrations:

1. A TON of songs that I absolutely love because of their sound, their great rhythm, and amazing vocals, are usually about men hitting women. Not kidding:

             (sublist) a. Never Again – Nickleback
                            b. Pick up the Phone -Falling in Reverse 
                            c. Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm
                            d. Chop Suey! – System of a Down
                            e. The Day That Never Comes -Metallica
                            f. Men Are All The Same – The Used
                            g. I Don’t Love You – My Chemical Romance

2. Why..?? Why must this infect my life? All these guys either the attackers or defenders, its still happening. Not saying that men dont get attacked either, but have you ever seen that on the daily news? “Wife brutally beats husband because she was unsatisfied with blah.” C’mon people.

3. The men I must deal with abuse me emotionally ever day of my life. Now this is not a pity party, just to put it out there. But the thing that bothers me about this, is that the inapropriate behavior that I suffer under is a direct correlation to what all these guys experienced from their parents. To make things worse, if this doesn’t end now in my generation with my brother and cousins then it well never end. These traits will never be resolved, this bitterness will be carried for eternity.

4. As stated above, this will be catastrophic. So please, as a gift to your sons and daughters, and their sons and daughters etc, please stop the madness……

Thanks guys, and you know I love you for who you are, not who you are tormented by.

Go me. *Confetti*

In any case, because we all know how great I am with topic transitions, it’ll be another bullet-point post.

One of these days I’ll post frequently enough that I won’t need bullet points every time.

Maybe.

So November 8th being the last post….

• Managed to get my internet fixed. Which is good. On the downside, my graphics card decided to die on me, and I have a relatively shitty replacement until the new one comes in/the old one gets fixed. [Boyfriend's working on that; sent it back to the company, so we'll see what happens.]
• We missed Yellowcard on the 10th. Boyfriend had horrid food poisoning [Read: "Taco Hell is to be avoided at all costs always. Mistakes were made.] and while he insisted he could go, we went to a friend’s birthday party first, then headed to the show and made it through the first two bands before I suggested we go home. Ah well. They’ll be back. [Not like I haven't seen them three times anyhow. And headaches suck.] Did get to see We Are The In Crowd, so I at least knew one song in the time we were there. Hah. Whoo.
• All Time Low on the 11th was awesome as usual. Those guys are snowflakes to the highest degree. Also, bras. So many bras. Always.
• Falling In Reverse on the 15th, started their set with this video and managed to keep up the awesomeness after that. A hard thing to manage, as you can see.
• Stayed at the boyfriend’s most of the week I was off over Thanksgiving/my birthday. Had cereal for my birthday dinner and microwave potato skins from the freezer aisle for Thanksgiving. Awww yissss. [No really, it was nice. Also he got me ridiculously wonderful art markers, so I was happy camping.]
• SUM 41 HNNNGG. I’m more excited about this show right now than ATL’s or FIR’s both because I’d seen them a few times each already [whereas this was the first time seeing Sum 41], and because this one was more recent, being last weekend. AND OH SO GREAT THEY WERE. I left the show wanting them to come back. Ah. I think they’re going on the list of ‘to see every possible time they come through.’

It’s otherwise been a whirlwind of babysitting, shopping, and trying to get Christmas things together. And although I have no concerts coming up right now, I DO have a bunch of other random stuff coming up. For instance:

• Blondie [being my friend Jordan, not the band with Debbie Harry] is planning on staying a day or two in just over a week, as we plan on being able to see the mutual friend that rounds out our 3 Musketeers setup for the first time in…well, ever. That should be just before Christmas, assuming it all works out.
• Probably going to Universal sometime over the next month or two since another best friend is going to be home from college and I haven’t seen her since June. Yayyy.
• Babysitting. Always more babysitting.

But that’s as of right now. Things might change and chances are more might pop up. Like hopefully a trip relatively soon to the movies, because OH MY GOD THE HOBBIT I AM DYING HERE.

Not that I haven’t been to the movies enough lately. I went twice last week and saw two of the same movies twice. Those two being Skyfall and Wreck-It Ralph. Also saw Red Dawn and Rise of the Guardians on the first trip. I don’t think I’ve been that impressed with every movie on a multi-movie-day in quite a while. Usually there’s at least one that’s just ok, but lord, all of these were so great.

• Rise of the Guardians – I went into it knowing it would be awesome. Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Alec Baldwin, Isla Fisher, Dakota Goyo…could not be bad. [And if you don't recognize that last name, you should. This is the kid that was in Reel Steel, and is indescribable awesome. Also played the younger version of Thor in the beginning of the movie of the same name.]
• Red Dawn – I assumed it would be awesome, but was scared it might not be. Speaking of Thor, Chris Hemsworth is unspeakable wonderful. Same for Josh Peck. Guy’s come a long way from the Amanda Show/Drake & Josh days, and he was good back then too. My dad told my sister and I when we mentioned we were seeing that not to bother, because the original with Patrick Swayze was so bad. Glad we didn’t listen.
• Wreck-It Ralph – OH MY GOD I CANNOT WORDS. Perfect movie is perfect. I’m going to say nothing apart from ‘you absolutely must watch it’, and I went through the whole thing going “LOLOL IT’S KENNETH’ every time Felix was on screen. Jack McBrayer you wonderful bastard. If you haven’t seen 30 Rock it will mean nothing to you, but oh god if you have….
• Skyfall – All the people who have complained about this movie need to re-watch it. All the people who haven’t seen it, but have listened to those who complain about it need to ditch their pretentious movie-snob friends and think for themselves, because it was fantastic.

Also I feel like noting the Bourne Legacy was just as wonderful the third time, even out of theaters. Had to, of course, run to Target on Tuesday after babysitting to pick it up. Watched it last night with my parents – both loved it – and I’ll probably watch it again relatively soon because A.) Genuinely really like the movie, and B.) Genuinely really like Jeremy Renner’s existence. Oh my god why so attractive.

And that was that.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my Christmas presents. I would post explanations and pictures now, since I really have no worries of surprises being ruined [being that I'm 99.9% sure no one who's getting presents checks this blog at all], but you never know and paranoia. So there.

P.S – The BBC show Luther, with Idris Elba, is utterly fantastic, and I’m only 2 1/2 episodes in. Run to Netflix immediately.