Noisecreep

Haste the Day Decide to Break Up

Bram Teitelman — 2010-11-23T17:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Tours

Solid State Records

It's not a good year for fans of Indiana Christian metalcore bands. Less than a month after Gwen Stacy broke up, Haste the Day have announced their plans to disband in 2011. "We mainly feel as though we have created the best music we can and believe it is now time to move on to the next stage of our lives," bassist and sole founding member Mike Murphy said in a statement on the band's website.

Fortunately, Haste the Day will be giving fans several chances to wish them a farewell. They'll be doing their annual 12 Days of Christmas Tour from Dec. 7 to Dec. 18 with Oh, Sleeper, Our Last Night and Conditions in tow. They'll also be doing a proper farewell tour in February and March of next year with MyChildren MyBride, the Chariot and A Plea for Purging as the openers. Murphy promises the shows will be special and feature rarities they usually don't play live.

Metal Food Truck Winners Return to New York for 'Victory Lap'

Bram Teitelman — 2010-10-20T20:00:00+00:00

Filed under: News, Metal Minutia

Matt Chernus

After coming out on top of the first 'Great Food Truck Race' (named after the Food Network show of the same name), what's a winning truck to do? If you're Los Angeles-area metal-themed burger truck Grill 'Em All, it's return to New York City, where they won the contest, for a "victory lap."

While the season finale of the show aired last month, it was taped back in May, and the only people that got to sample their winning burgers were either in the right place at the right time or beneficiaries of word of mouth. Now, loosely in conjunction with the CMJ Music Marathon, chefs Ryan Harkins and Matt Chernus will back to give New Yorkers a second chance to sample their wares.

Music Industry Execs Open Idle Hands Bar

Bram Teitelman — 2010-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview

Redboy

Whether through TV shows like 'Cheers' and 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' or beer-fueled bonding sessions with friends, nearly everyone's dreamed about owning a bar. A trio of New York music industry veterans has just made that dream a reality by opening Idle Hands, a speakeasy-themed bar in New York City's Easy Village with the tagline 'Bourbon. Beer. Rock.'

While label vet Marc Schapiro entertained the idea of bar ownership for the last decade while working at labels like Roadrunner and Ferret, it wasn't until he started his own company, Branch Marketing Collective, several years ago that he got serious about it.

Stone Sour Preview 'Audio Secrecy' at Intimate New York Show

Bram Teitelman — 2010-09-02T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Shows

Getty Images

If your forthcoming album is titled 'Audio Secrecy,' there's probably a clause in your record contract stating you have to play a secret show to promote it. That's exactly what Stone Sour did on Sept. 30, taking a break from playing amphitheaters as part of the Uproar Tour to play to an enthusiastic, sweaty crowd at the 300-capacity Studio at Webster Hall in New York City.

In a best-case scenario, a band in a small club show feeds off the energy of the crowd, who in turn feed off the energy of the band. The crowd, consisting of equal parts Stone Sour fans and music industry types, were amped even before they took the stage. As the opening song 'Mission Statement' ended and frontman Corey Taylor surveyed the room with an incredulous grin, it was clear the band would be holding up their end of the bargain as well.

Saviours on Playing Ozzfest: 'Good Riffs Transcend Genre'

Bram Teitelman — 2010-08-23T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, Tours

The Syndicate

It's overstating things a bit to say you've 'arrived' once you play Ozzfest, but playing the (mostly) annual show is one of the most high-profile tours a metal band can get. So when Oakland's Saviours play the six U.S. Ozzfest dates, they'll be playing in front of more people than they ever have in America. That doesn't faze them, however.

"We're just doing what we've always done, trying to kick ass every night no matter if it's for 60 or 60,000 heads," drummer Scott Batiste tells Noisecreep. "Our recent run in Europe hit quite a few festivals, so we had a little taste of what's to come on Ozzfest."

Early Graves Frontman Killed In Van Accident

Bram Teitelman — 2010-08-02T17:15:00+00:00

Filed under: News

Rebecca Reed

Makh Daniels, vocalist of San Francisco metal band Early Graves, was killed In a tragic van accident in the early hours of Aug. 2 in southern Oregon. Daniels was one of nine people in the van, which overturned on Interstate 5 near Central Point, Ore. at about 6 AM PT, according to the Medford Mail Tribune. According to the Tribune, the van's driver fell asleep, and some of the passengers weren't using seat belts. Daniels was apparently ejected from a rear cargo seat and pronounced dead at the scene. In addition to Daniels, the van's driver and one other passenger were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The van had also been carrying tourmates the Funeral Pyre.

Early Graves had been touring in support of their sophomore album, 'Goner,' which was just been released on June 22. The band had been traveling from Eugene, Ore. to Reno, Nev. when the accident occurred. They were nearing the end of the tour, which had begun on June 25 and was scheduled to end Aug. 8 at the Power of the Riff Fest in Los Angeles.

Supergroup the Damned Things Make Their Live Debut

Bram Teitelman — 2010-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Shows

What do you get when you take half of Fall Out Boy, add the guitar players of Anthrax, and top it off with Every Time I Die singer Keith Buckley? You get the Damned Things, who started off June by playing their first-ever show to an enthusiastic crowd at Brooklyn, N.Y. venue The Knitting Factory. The six-piece band (which also includes ETID's Josh Newton as touring bassist) blazed through a nine-song set sounding like a well-oiled hybrid of their full-time bands. In addition to getting their first show jitters out of the way, they also got to road-test material for their debut album, coming out on the Island label later this year.

The genesis of the Damned Things began several years ago when Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman met Anthrax axeman and frequent VH1 spokesperson Scott Ian. After writing together, they each brought another band member in (Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley and Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, respectively). Buckley was the last member to join.

Torche, Circa Survive Discuss Central Park Show With Coheed and Cambria

Bram Teitelman — 2010-06-01T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, Shows

While New York City's Central Park has played host to the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, the Dave Matthews Band and Bon Jovi, it recently played host to one of the heavier shows to ever play there, as the Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive and Torche tour stopped there to kick off the unofficial start of the summer concert season. While Memorial Day was still nearly almost a week away, it sure felt like a Summer show, with 85 degree heat, plenty of concertgoers stretched out on blankets, and the expanse of one of America's best-known parks for the setting of the show.

For Circa Survive guitarist Colin Frangicetto, it was a sort of homecoming. "I couch surfed for about a year in [Jersey City, N.J.] and interned at Roadrunner Records for a year, so I have this affinity for New York City, and I love it," he told Noisecreep. "Ever since I've been a gypsy and moving around, I've always missed New York and living here. Central Park has always been this place of sanctuary. It's a place that I think of as historic and meaningful, and to play here is really cool."

Hellyeah Unveil New Material at Brooklyn Show

Bram Teitelman — 2010-04-30T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, Shows

How do you know when you're at a Hellyeah show? There are a few giveaways: If the band takes the stage to 'East Bound and Down' -- Jerry Reed's theme song to the 1977 comedy 'Smokey and the Bandit' -- you might be at one. If there's a mass shout-out to Dimebag Darrell, former Pantera shredder and brother of Hellyeah skinsman Vinnie Paul, you're probably at one. And if you find yourself unable to resist smiling while hearing song titles like 'Alcohaulin' Ass,' 'Goddamn,' 'Nausea' and 'Hell of a Time,' you're definitely at one of their shows.

All of those telltale signs were present and accounted for as the band tested out some new material from their forthcoming sophomore album, 'Stampede,' during their first headlining show in two years at Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Music Hall of Williamsburg.

In This Moment, 'The Star Crossed Wasteland' -- New Album

Bram Teitelman — 2010-04-12T20:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, New Music

When In This Moment's third album, 'The Star Crossed Wasteland,' is released on July 13, it will be the closest the band has come to a concept album. "It's not quite a concept album, but it's a themed album," frontwoman Maria Brink tells Noisecreep. "It's this cowboy, apocalyptic wild west thread going through the album. It's all just a big metaphor for certain things going on in my life, but I made it into this big story." The title and theme of the album comes from author Stephen King's seven-novel series, 'The Dark Tower."

The band's last album, 'The Dream,' was notable for the fact that it was much more commercial than their debut, 'Beautiful Tragedy.' Brink says that the new album is a combination of the two. "It's the heaviest album we've ever written, but it's still very melodic," she says. "It's a really good combination of the melodies from the second album and some of the heavier tones of the first records."

Lemmy Gave Documentary Directors Almost Unlimited Access

Bram Teitelman — 2010-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, Movies

When 'Lemmy' makes its debut on Tuesday,March 16 at the SXSW festival, it will be the culmination of three years of work for co-directors Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski. The documentary about the iconic Motörhead frontman spanned continents, with everyone from Dave Grohl to Billy Bob Thornton offering testimonials and sharing anecdotes with and about Lemmy Kilmister. But none of it would have happened if the film's subject didn't want it to.

"He let us in and accepted us right off the bat," Orshoski tells Noisecreep. "Management had told us that there were four or five people who had tried to do the same thing over the previous two years, and each one of those people were shot down. Honestly, I'm not sure what it was about us that he liked, [but] the night that he gave us the green light, we met at the Rainbow to discuss business -- the three of us, plus management. We spoke about five minutes of business and just hung out drinking and eating pizza for four hours. When Lem excused himself, his manager, Todd Singerman, said that that was the longest he's ever sat in a business meeting."

Cave In Won't Rule Out Playing an Album in Its Entirety

Bram Teitelman — 2010-03-02T08:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, Metal Minutia

Megadeth will be playing 'Rust in Peace' in its entirety on their upcoming tour, the same one in which Testament will be performing their debut album, 'The Legacy.' With their latest EP, 'Planets of Old,' just released on CD, would post-hardcore quartet Cave In follow suit and perform a classic album like 'Until Your Heart Stops' in full?

"If the money's right, we'll consider it!" frontman Stephen Brodsky said to Noisecreep, laughing. "I haven't been to a show set up in that style before, but I think it's a great way to inspire a band to get out of their box, so to speak."

Joe Satriani Says Guitar Hero Revitalized His Instrument

Bram Teitelman — 2010-03-01T20:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, Metal Minutia

When was the absolute low point for guitarists? According to Joe Satriani, whose CD and DVD 'Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock' was just released, it was 1998. Not from a creative or recorded music standpoint, but rather how the muscians were received.

"It was the beginning of the high point of video games," he tells Noisecreep. "People spent more money buying video consoles and playing video games than they did not only buying music, but going to music. That was the year where the industry saw a 63 percent drop in all catalog sales of recorded music. I noticed it in the eyes of the audience that year."

Joe Satriani Vividly Remembers CD/DVD Taping

Bram Teitelman — 2010-02-26T22:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview

Joe Satriani's new double CD and DVD 'Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock' gives fans an extremely close-up look at his May 2008 Paris performance. But they're only getting part of the story. Satriani remembers the show like it was yesterday.

"Sometimes they say your memories are strongest when they're associated with adrenaline, and that would be the case with this show," Satriani tells Noisecreep. "I remember pulling into Paris that afternoon, the excitement of doing it, the weird hotel room, what I ate, the fact that my jacket got holes burned in it downstairs in the dressing room while we were doing the show. I remember the crew, the band and every song. And I wouldn't be a guitar player if I didn't remember every little note that I missed that still haunts me to this day."

Joe Satriani Talks Criteria, Wish List for G3 Tour

Bram Teitelman — 2010-02-22T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview

Since 1996, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani has literally been surrounding himself with the competition. That was the year he launched the G3 Tour, featuring fellow shredders Steve Vai and Eric Johnson. Since then, the tour has continued semi-regularly, with Satriani the only original member.

Some of the fret-burners he's had out with him include Robert Fripp, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert, among others. The tours give all three guitarists a chance to play some solo material, with them convening for an epic jam for the second part of the show. Other than the logistics of getting two popular guitar players away from their ongoing schedules, Satriani has specific criteria when selecting fellow axemen.

Judas Priest, Remastered 'Behind The Music' -- Video

Bram Teitelman — 2010-02-19T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Video

Much like the way Judas Priest returned to glory in 2003 when Rob Halford rejoined the band, VH1's documentary show 'Behind the Music' also made a comeback, airing new episodes last year on VH1, and more recently, on VH1 Classic as 'Behind the Music Remastered.' The eight 'Remastered' episodes, airing on Saturdays at 10 PM ET, pick up where the original episodes left off.

Since Judas Priest's initial episode aired in 2001 before Halford rejoined the band, they were a prime suspects for an update, which aired this past Saturday. Other episodes will feature Metallica, Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard.

Chickenfoot Have Second Album, Tour In Works, Satriani Says

Bram Teitelman — 2010-02-16T21:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview, New Music

One jam session in Las Vegas brought Chickenfoot together, but chemistry is what's kept them together -- and that's what is leading to a second album. "Every time we play, we have a really good time, and we all play stuff that we'd never be able to play with our other bands," guitarist Joe Satriani tells Noisecreep about the supergroup, which also features former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

"It's an opening up of all the stuff that we've been carrying around for so long," Satriani adds. "We're starting to write again for the second record, and we hope to convene some time in April to start the process of recording demos. There's a second record and a tour in the works, but it's going to have to wait for some solo stuff from me, and Mike and Sam, and Chad with the Chili Peppers."

Chimaira Have Three Generations of Fans, Says Mark Hunter

Bram Teitelman — 2010-01-27T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Interview

While their first album wasn't released until 2001, Chimaira have been a band since 1998, meaning the Cleveland band spans three decades. They're currently touring Australia and Europe in support of their fifth album, last year's 'The Infection.' Vocalist Mark Hunter says the constantly-evolving sound of the band, as well as their longevity, has given Chimaira three generations of fans.

"When we started, we were playing with bands that were in the nu-metal realm, and we were playing parts of the country we haven't been back to since," he tells Noisecreep. "On 'The Impossibility of Reason' era, those kids have all grown up, and now we have a whole new set of fans. If I remember back to myself when I was first into metal, I'd listen to groups, I'd get out of them for a little bit, and maybe I'd come back to them. It's a normal cycle, and we've definitely been around long enough to experience it a couple of times now."

Acrassicauda Make North American Debut

Bram Teitelman — 2010-01-22T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Shows

For any other band, playing a show in the cramped basement of Brooklyn metal dive bar The Charleston would be just another night. For Acrassicauda, it was nothing less than revolutionary. The band's first show in two years was also their North American debut, and the circumstances that brought them there were nothing less than extraordinary. The last we heard from the band, in 2007's gripping documentary 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad,' they weren't just trying to book gigs and play shows, they were struggling to survive.

While it's tough to find a rehearsal space and deal with the egos involved when in a band, that's nothing compared to what Acrassicauda had to go through to get to Brooklyn. 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad' showed the band being forced to cancel rehearsal on account of their practice space being bombed.

Chimaira Vocalist Thinks 'There Hasn't Been Anything New' in Metal

Bram Teitelman — 2010-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

There's no denying that Chimaira had a great 2009. Their fifth album -- and second for Ferret -- 'The Infection' debuted in Billboard's top 30 and was the third most-spun record of the year at metal radio, according to music industry trade magazine FMQB. When Noisecreep caught up with vocalist Mark Hunter last year, he was happy about the band's success, but a bit less cheerful about the state of the music industry. "I'm very proud we weren't a band that fell off," he tells Noisecreep. "A lot of times it's hard to keep the momentum from record to record, and I'm pleased our fans are still interested in buying albums and supporting the band."

But while Hunter is grateful for his fans' support, he says the music industry is "tanking," with fewer people legally buying albums. "To be number 30 on the Billboard charts five or six years ago would have been a dream come true, and five or six years ago, the sales number we had would have been triple that," he says. "We've done a lot, but everybody keeps going down and going down, and it's just not as important anymore. Nobody in the metal scene is doing numbers that are mind-blowing."