New albums in 2010!

As its coming to the end of what has been one of the most exciting years for music I thought it would be a good time to look at what's in store for 2010! Several bands reformed this year, prompting the diehards to metaphorically whack themselves off with excitement. Faith no More probably being the biggest band to come back to the live circuit, performing an impressive set at this years Download Festival, which in turn prompted the organisers of the Reading/Leeds Festivals to book Mike Patton and co. to headline the Radio One stage. Sadly there is no news of a new album on the horizon, as bassist Billy Gould has said they are looking to tour the US pretty soon.

Jacksonville Nu-metallers Limp Bizkit reformed at the arse end of 2008 with original guitarist Wes Borland in tow, fully confirming their intentions to tour again earlier this year. After annihilating the crowds at Donnington (and shutting up the haters) Freddy D and his band made it known that they were back and intended on releasing one hell of a new album. Despite their past critical slaughterings they have earned deep respect this year from their past enemeies. Most surprising of all was NiN mastermind Trent Reznor, who even posted a picture of the band during their Sonisphere set at Knebworth on the official NiN website that same day. Sid Wilson of Slipknot has commented recently its good to see that they have reformed (giving the hostility Corey Taylor aimed at Fred Durst for his 'businessman' attitude, discarding any musicianship the red capped one may or may not have had). After several months of silence from the Limp Bizkit camp as they hammered away in the studio the first details of the new album were leaked by the frontman himself.

"The name of the new Limp Bizkit album is Gold Cobra. We will slowly be revealing the meaning of the title over the next few weeks. Cobras are quite venomous. I wish it were a much longer, more ridiculous title, but Gold Cobra is as ridiculous as we're going to get right now"

Gold Cobra? Is he serious? Well, with wes back on board, and that this must be the oddest choice of title since 2000's 'Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water' (the last full release with Wes not including 2005's 'The Unquestionable Truth E.P' we can only hope that this latest album is more well received than 'Results May Vary' one of the worst reviewed albums EVER on leading reviewer website Metacritic. I didn't find it THAT bad tbf.

After me declaring their latest album 'Crack The Skye' one of the greatest albums of the past decade (If you haven't checked it out yet, don't make me punch you) Atlantan prog-metal titans Mastodon have wrote the score to 2010 blockbuster 'Jonah Hex' not much information has leaked as of now whether it will be released as a full studio album or something just to tie in with the film. All that is known for now is that it is 'really fucking heavy' according to sources.

Blowing the minds of Australian audiences for the last few years. Newcomers Karnivool are bringing their latest album 'Sound Awake' to the rest of the world in February, after crashing into the Australian charts at number 2 this past summer. I had the chance to witness their debut UK performance on their tour with Skindred in October and only one thing can be said about the progressive rockers: The UK has been seriously missing out.

Here's the one I'm waiting for impatiently. The 5th studio album from Boston rock titans Godsmack! They're currently in the studio recording for a scheduled March/April 2010 release.

They released a new single this year entitled 'Whiskey Hangover' which has fast become another smash hit to add to the many notches on their singles belt. The song itself is very reminiscent of the first alb

um, but can we be expecting a similar sound to their multi-platinum debut? Word for now is that they intend to record around 20+ songs and whittle them down to around 11 tracks. Frontman Sully Erna has stated his thoughts on the direction of the new album on his Facebook page. 'It’s gonna be really heavy, I mean, it’s very aggressive. I think it’s going to be a lot more in your face. I don’t think there’s going to be any Voodoo's or Senerity's on this one. We decided to go balls out" I for one can't fucking wait!" Sully is also working on a song for Sylvester Stallone's new testosterone fuelled film The Expendables after Sly himself heard one of his solo tracks.

Recently on Twitter, Welsh metalcore outfit Bullet for My Valentine announced they had finished the recording process for their new as yet untitled 3rd studio release. It is now currently in the mixing progress and should be out in the first quarter of 2010. It's understood that the band have chosen to release a more hard rock sounding album as opposed to their more metal style.

Little information has been released for these albums as of late. but we are due new releases by:

Adema (Back with original forntman Mark Chavez)

Avenged Sevenfold

Blink-182

Deftones

Disturbed

Down

Good Charlotte

Iron Maiden

Judas Priest

KoRn

Linkin Park

Meat Loaf

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Seether

Stone Sour

Sum 41

Better Late than never: Rammstein - Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da

Internal conflict has always played a destructive part in some of today’s biggest rock bands. Who can forget Metallica’s 2004 film Some Kind of Monster where rage-infested drummer Lars Ulrich screamed the word f*** in the face of a calmly sat James Hetfield. Germany’s finest export Rammstein are no strangers to bust ups, having nearly called it a day after 2001’s smash hit Mutter. 2004’s Reise Reise and 2005’s Rosenrot seemed patchy at best to others and the future of the industrial sextet looked in serious doubt. You would never have guessed what problems affected Rammstein when seeing their live shows. More pyrotechnics and fireworks than your average Bonfire Night the band appear to have a lot of fun on stage (almost too much fun with props such as squirting dildo’s and frontman Till Linderman’s persistence to faux sodomize willing keyboardist Flake) Album number six Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da (Love Is For Everyone), once again sees them sadly on the brink of collapse in the wake of what could be their finest album yet. The lead single ‘Pussy’, with the chorus ‘you’ve got a pussy, I have a dick, so what’s the problem? Let’s do it quick’ should be more than enough to tell you what is in store on Liebe Ist Fur All De. Catchy yet never losing its industrial vibes dancing isn’t even an option, it’s a necessity. Although for those who have seen the music video may choose to engage in something else besides dancing. In their 15 years, Rammstein have never been a band to shy away from controversy, they downright revel in it. So it only seems natural that they cover such subject as sex tourism and on ‘Wiener Blut ‘ the notorious Josef Fritzl. The overall musicianship demonstrates that Rammstein have chose to shy away from their industrial roots in favour of a more in your face metal sound. Although heavier than its predecessors there are the odd lighter moments. The fanfare introduction of Waidmanns Heil and the acoustic driven ‘Freuhling in Paris’ to name such a few. Considering their reputation it will be interesting to see how these songs transpire on their UK tour in February, a spectacle you’d be as mad as Rammstein to miss as this is a record destined for great heights and would be a shame yet a fitting tribute to Rammstein’s legacy if it were to be their swansong

Top tracks: Rammlied, Pussy, Fruling In Paris, Waidmanns Hell

Watch the video for 'Pussy' if you dare!

Front Cover!

Just a quick design for my magazine cover. I'm more leaning towards using Mastodon as the cover star (that's if their management replies to my countless emails, I'm going to try until I annoy them that much they give me it hehe) Wouldn't mind some feedback on what I could change/add I know there's some issues with choice of colour and font (not really feeling the love for the font the magazine name's in, having some trouble installing Metallica font for the 'Metal' bit) but they can easily be solved.

A few minutes with Jaret Reddick.

I recently emailed some questions for hilarious pop-punk veterans Bowling for Soup to answer. After a successful string of shows across the UK dubbed 'The Party in Your Pants Tour' the Texas natives ventured back to the States to promote their latest album Sorry For Partyin', here frontman Jaret Reddick shares his random thoughts on touring the UK, loving the fans and hating L.A...

• So, did you enjoy touring the UK once again?

The tour was incredible as always! We had a blast

• The Party in Your Pants Tour seemed to be UK exclusive at present time, is this intentional or do you plan on touring other areas under the same name?

No...It was JUST a UK thing...You guys are special!

• Why do you always bring the same supports over? Is it because you have found the PERFECT support formula?

We don't really...But we have had the same bands on multiple tours...But yeah, we like to bring our friends!

• What does it feel like being able to sell out VIP tickets and venues all over England?

It is the best thing ever...Our fans are so loyal and they support us year to year...We are very blessed

• How do you prepare before going on stage, are there any pre-show rituals you like to do?

No...We just drink a lot of booze!

• How do you feel the UK crowd differentiates from the rest of the world?

They are intense man! there is such an energy from UK audiences...

• The new album Sorry For Partyin’ went top 10 on iTunes, how did you guys celebrate?

Our entire life is a celebration!

• Tell me about the recording of the new abum. Were you distracted at any point? And how fun was it to record?

It was great...The only hiccups were a few late nights that made the next days long...But we held it together....We always have fun in the studio!

• Are there any particular highlights on the album? As in, what are your favourite songs and why?

I love them all...But I think "I Gotchoo" is a good one...And "A Really Cool Dance Song"...Great stuff!

• Like in the song No Hablo Ingles, have you ever done or said something comical to get out of a tight situation?

Of course...Making folks laugh gets me out of everything!

• Tell me about the songs A Really Cool Dance Song and I Gotchoo, they’re quite a departure from your other songs, emphasising on elements of dance music etc, were there any inspirations?

"A Really Cool Dance Song" is sort of a play on the movement of dance songs in the US right now..."I Gotchoo" - Was written on the beach...I think it sounds like the beach!

• In light of the song, do you actually possess any hatred for LA? If so, why?

Not the city...I hate the attitude...People in LA don't think their shit stinks...But shit stinks!

• You commented on your Twitter that there was enough material for a double album. Could a double album be a possibility in the near future? and will the left over material be released at some point?

All of the songs will get out there one way or another!

• When you’re not touring what do you guys like to do in your spare time?

I spend a lot of time with my kids. But I keep really busy with my label, and doing writing, voice and production for film and TV...

• If you had the choice what other musical instrument would you like to include on a regular basis?

I'd love to have someone play keyboards and guitar on a tour sometime.....It would add a cool element!

• I understand that you never play to a setlist at any show, has this at any point in your career not gone according to plan i.e fuck ups etc?

Ha...Yes...One of the first REALLY big shows we played, I started a song we had already played...The beauty of being in BFS is we can turn anything into a joke

• You received an overwhelming response to your hilarious performance at the Download Festival in 2007, what was it like to hear 70 thousand people in unison shout ‘I’m Gay’ and do you plan on returning next year?

It was amazing...Always cool to play with heavy bands and win their fans over! and yes, we will be back this year!

• You’re known for covering songs by the Ramones and Black Sabbath, are there any other songs you have considered covering live and would like to play?

We actually did Katy Perry "Hot and Cold" on the UK tour....It went over great!

• Is there any news on the forthcoming documentary My Home Town?

It is on the backburner for now...We will do it soon!

Bowling For Soup 'Sorry for Partyin' is out now on Amazon

You can follow Jaret and the rest of the band on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/jaret2113

http://twitter.com/gwise55

http://twitter.com/SoupBowlerChris

http://twitter.com/erik2113

My album of 2009

When you think of the term 'progressive metal' what comes to mind? unconventional guitar signatures? To many Tool have long been considered to be at the top of the mountain of prog metal but now, 4 albums later and 10 years in the making, one band has well and firmly laid its claim to the crown. And that band is Atlanta's Mastodon.

Mastodon first came to prominence in 2002 with their debut 'Remission', an aggressive release that contained enough sludgy riffs to keep the head-banging crowd happy as well as aspiring technical musicians. But that was just the groundwork.

After crashing onto the rock radar with 2004's sophomore release Leviathan, a concept album based on the novel 'Moby Dick' a tidlewave of 'album of the year' awards were thrusted upon it, beating out stiff competition from several major releases that same year. When 2006's Blood Mountain was unleashed, their second straight concept album, the praise continued (Including a Grammy nomination for 'Colony of Birchmen'). Ironically this is a band that progress musically with each release, avoiding repetition at all costs.

And so comes their third straight concept album (their fourth studio album overall). When news broke that Mastodon would be working with producer Brendan O'Brien accusations of selling out were thrown their way by their shocked fan base. Luckily for the fans Mastodon has never sounded this far from the mainstream ever before. Unconventional is possibly the only word that can be used to describe Crack The Skye, as the only phrase I can find to describe it is f*****g brilliant. The bar has never been raised this high as Mastodon have indeed taken an even big risk then ever before.

Consisting of just seven songs Crack The Skye spans an impressive 50 minutes. So it is with no surprise that 2 of these songs exceed the 10 minute mark. The whole concept in general is made up from various dreams that the band have had (as well as a few visions involving certain hallucinogens if rumour is believed) as well as drawing from Stephen Hawking's wormhole theories and an alternative Tsarist Russia. With this record a much cleaner sound has been produced when compared to the heaviness of past songs 'March of the Fire Ants' and 'Blood and Thunder' drawing from 1970's progressive rock as a whole rather than focusing more on metal.

Opening track Oblivion begins the story of a paraplegic who experiments with astra travel by going into space, with only a golden umbilical cord keeping him from straying. Such an unusual concept wouldn't transcend so well if it wasn't backed up by the most beautiful musicianship ever heard. Brent Hinds' guitar solo's are as epic as ever, almost putting you in the perspective of their paraplegic as he floats through space. 'Oblivion' also showcases the impressive debut vocals of drummer Brann Dailor, who named the album after his sister who tragicly committed suicide when he was 14.

Other odd inclusions are the use of a Deliverance-lite banjo riff at the beginning of 'Divinations' which kicks into a frenzy of hard hitting riffs. If it was released on Rock Band there'd be a lot of broken plastic guitars out there. The defining moment of Crack the Skye has to be the 11 minute opus 'The Czar'. Layer upon layer of keyboards and guitars demonstrate Mastodon's determination for their craft. Split into four parts ("Usurper", "Escape", "Martyr" and "Spiral") it continues the story of the paraplegic now in the body of the Russian priest Rasputin. It is important not to take this as historically accurate but as mere fantasy (in the way Tarantino portrayed Nazi Germany in Inglourious Basterds).

Ending on a high note with 'The Last Baron', the longest song on the album at 13 minutes, the influences can be heard furiously (listen for the cheeky Rush inspired homage halfway through) no other album has been as important in 2009 as Crack The Skye. It is an album you can not only lose yourself listening to but it is one that deserves to be embraced. If this is only a taster of what we can expect from Mastodon in the near future then I can't wait to hear what they have left in their arsenal.

Best songs: Oblivion, Divinations, Quintessence, The Czar

Crack The Skye is available from Amazon

Shinedown Interview Snippet and Another Review!

Here's a couple of minutes from my interview with the platinum selling SHINEDOWN. They are just genuinely nice guys just doing what they love to do and from what I could tell from them they do genuinely care about their fans as well as each other. They didn't shy away from several jokes which I haven't included as I swear and make enough poor taste jokes as it is. I've also done a review for their latest album 'The Sound of Madness' which came out over here in the summer yet came out in America last year. Boy these record labels are strange.

Now THIS is how you make an impact. A year after its release in their native US, the Jacksonville rock quartet unleash their third album in the UK. Little has been said about Shinedown until they made their UK debut late 2008 supporting Disturbed. Since then upgraded venues, sell out shows and a festival appearance have gained them a huge following this side of the water. Their previous albums, 2003’s Leave a Whisper and 2005’s Us and Them, demonstrated their hard driven determination in hits such as ‘Fly From The Inside’ ‘Save Me’ and the controversial ‘45’. Various line-up changes haven’t phased Shinedown one bit, as they step up their game and have released an album worn truly on their sleeve. It gets off to a fast paced start with the hard hitting ‘Devour’, a song displaying impressive fast paced (if now sadly dated) lyrics aimed at the Bush regime, backed up by Earth shattering drumming from Barry Kerch . Human emotion has never been so well expressed in an album such as The Sound of Madness. ‘If You Only Knew’ which frontman Brent Smith has confessed to being the only love song he has ever written, passes by with elegance all the while avoiding the schmaltz of a typical love song. ‘Call Me’ marks the first time the band stray from using traditional instruments in favour of a sole piano ballad, showing that they aren’t afraid to stray from their heavy roots and displaying why Brent Smith is one of the best rock singers of today. The anthems keep coming in the form of ‘Second Chance’ the most personal sounding song on The Sound of Madness. Leaving your family behind can be an emotional experience but the story Brent tells in his own words leaves you with a sense of optimism, as well as a reason to believe why Shinedown are one of the ‘new’ exciting bands to look out for.

Best Songs: Devour, Sound of Madness, Second Chance, Call Me, Sin With a Grin

You can buy the album on iTunes and Amazon now

More reviews and such and such...

Thought I'd bung another interview up whilst I get this Shinedown interview up onto Quark, might end up having to be a 3 page spread considering the interview banged on for about 30 minutes more than what I told their tour manager it was going to be. Mind you I think the guy was too stoned to actually care just as long as they made it on stage. Anyway thought I'd give my insight into Breaking Benjamin's new album, its a belter! Seriously more bands like these need to be coming over to the UK to rid us of these crappy deathcore and emo movements. Shinedown did it recently after remaining alienated from the UK since their inception 8 years ago and I'm still holding out for Godsmack to get their arses over here. I've said it before and I'll say it again a bell tower will be climbed with a rifle strapped to my back if they continue to snub our little island for another album cycle...

Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony

U.S Alternative metallers Breaking Benjamin are relatively unknown here in the UK but are a smash hit in their homeland. Platinum and Gold selling releases Saturate, We Are Not Alone and Phobia show that they are a band that grows from strength to strength with each record, adding more depth and e motion along the way.

Their 4^th album Dear Agony thankfully continues this trend. Building on the success Phobia brought the band, frontman Ben Burnley adds further maturity into his lyrical delivery, exploring territories anybody will find relatable in their own way. Opener Fade Away deals with the breakdown of some sort of relationship. Although it is a subject done infinite times before it’s the journey not the direction Ben’s lyrics take that make it stand out among other subjective songs. Darker themes are explored in angst ridden Hopeless, a song about the fear of dying and the haunting Anthem of the Angels (written about Ben’s Grandfather who died before the album was recorded). The hard edged lead single I Will Not Bow, which was used in Bruce Willis’ ‘Surrogates’ takes a swipe at several subjects such as alcoholism and selfishness. Driven by a passionate guitar riff and a chorus that will stick in your head for a period of time it is no surprise it topped the charts in the US. A step in the right direction for Breaking Benjamin and taking a darker turn it’s hard to fault, now if only Ben can overcome his fear of flying and bring the band to the UK…

Top tracks: I Will Not Bow, Dear Agony, Into The Nothing, Crawl

Reviewing like a mofo

Writing a tonne of reviews atm, so far got through Slayer's new album, Breaking Benjamin's and getting through SOiL's new alb. Thought they were quite good at the Shinedown gig. The singer AJ stood on my shoulder and sang Halo which was quite funny. Anyway here's a rough draft of my Slayer review, still a working progress so if it's crap it's crap! (much like my thoughts on the alb hehe)

Slayer - World Painted Blood

When Slayer released ‘Christ Illusion’ in 2006 all hell broke loose. Banned in India and containing lyrical content that would make any terroris

t weak at the knees it propelled Slayer back into the forefront of thrash metal. Sadly on this, their 11^th album it appears the cracks are showing. Guitarist Kerry King said of the album "I think this one has a little bit of everything more so than anything we've done since Seasons. So I would imagine people are gonna compare it to that one." In a way he is right, but for the wrong reasons. What is strange about World Painted Blood is that all the great elements of a Slayer record are there, but it just doesn’t feel as though the blueprint is good enough. Riffs reminiscent of the ‘classic’ Slayer era (Reign In Blood, South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss) fail to hit the mark, combined with the familiar lyrics dealing with serial kil

lers and sexual deviance. Slayer are beginning to sound like a band trying so hard to recapture their glory days and failing. That being said there are at the very least one or two solid songs on here to please the fans. The title track continues the noticeable tradition with Slayer albums that each title track (or in some cases, the song that references the album title) is without a doubt one of the better songs. The thundering ‘Hate Worldwide’ is the standout moment. Although it is Slayer-by-numbers, the rage-driven guitar riff matched with Dave Lombardo’s devastating drumming makes it is destined to become a live favourite. Somewhat frantic yet at the same time uninspiring, rumours of Slayer calling it a day may well and truly come to be if World Painted Blood is anything to go by.

Top tracks: World Painted Blood, Hate Worldwide, Psycapothy Red

Looky looky...

Just What I Wanted!

Shinedown interview done and dusted! transcribing it right now and then going to crack on with some gig reviews! Big thanks to my mate Ste who I got into the gig for free to take the huge amount of photos for me to use!

Also gotta thank Brent Smith for coming up with a name for my magazine! It is now called...

The Metal Institute (yes its a play on a mental asylum hehehe)

Can't believe we got Access All Areas passes and even got to see Shinedown soundcheck 3 of their songs (All of them some of my favourites, added bonus!) Even caught a drumstick and got my album signed as a further bonus. Isn't life just great :D

Going to post a snippet of the interview on here as it ended up running on for 40 minutes.

Templating it up

Woohoo! Got the email I've been waiting for! Bagged an interview with Shinedown on their UK tour over here. Already got a ticket to catch their show in Manchester so should be awesome (though I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't in fact filling my pants with you know what). Still waiting to get my questions back off Bowling For Soup, who themselves are currently ploughing their way through the UK! Managed to catch their show in Manchester the other night. It was pretty good, although I now share complete hatred and distaste for ANYONE who picks up VIP tickets. You already see the band close up in the day while we freeze in the cold for 5 hours so what makes you think you're better than us to be at the barrier? twats.

At the moment just getting some templates together in Quark Xpress, at the risk of sounding like an elitist arsehole mac user, I have to say I'm loving using Quark on this MacBook Pro. Although it is a pain when it comes to deleting certain boxes. Gutted about some of my Skindred photos because when I import them into Quark they're too small and they pixelate when I expand them. Wouldn't mind but I got the photos off a professional photographer. Nevermind I'll have to use a different gig as my lead into the gigs section, hopefully Shinedown considering I've hopefully got my mate in for free to take some pictures for me. Here's hoping his pictures don't suffer the same fate.

Off topic if you're an aspiring journalist and wish to interview people here's what NOT to do, this helped me take comfort in the fact I won't be this bad when I interview a multi-platinum rock band next week...

To title or not to title?

Can't think of an idea atm for a name for the magazine (although one blunt genius of a friend suggested an idea or two as it'd be a magazine like Kerrang and Metal Hammer. Although I fail to see the name 'Merrang' setting the world on fire...)

Anywho got an idea for a letters section. Instead of the usual random rants and musical politics you see 13 year old kids sending in; thinking that they warrant a credible opinion as to what real music is (bearing in mind half these kids metaphorically masturbate off 'fashion' bands like Bring Me The Horizon and My Chemical Romance). I thought I'd take it in a different path and get some people to write down their favourite gig memory or anything to do with music in their life i.e funny stories at gigs, meeting bands or anything of that origin etc. Just to give it a more human approach.

On the subject of Bring Me The Horizon etc I've come up with another feature that I best get cracking onto. Slightly inspired by Jack's 'So You Want To Be A Metalcore Singer' feature he's writing. I thought I'd write a short on how the image of a band has become more important in selling bands rather than their music. At the risk of sounding biased I freely admit I hate this 'emo' trend that shot up over the last 5 years or so. They offer nothing except ball-restricting pants, lego haircuts and a tonne of scars on a whiney kids arms which pissed off and scared the parents of America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p95_eF3bD1w.

It pains me to see these days that bands like Paramore, who when you actually sit down and listen to instead of looking at them with your mouth open. You'll see that they're offering nothing new and selling a tonne of records as compared to in my opinion far more superior bands such as Mastodon. Although admittedly not to everybody's tastes continuously raise the bar creatively with each album they've released and have received critical acclaim yet are criminally under-looked (Their latest album 'Crack The Skye' my favourite album this year, and possibly one of my all time favourites, has only sold around 200,000 copies in America). Anyway not too much to report, and hopefully should recapture a bit of motivation that I've lacked this week to tame this beast!

Transcibing and unwinding

Just had a crack at the new trailer for The Expendables, Stallones way of getting everyone whose ever been hard in a film (or in a wrestling ring) and ripping stuff up on a big scale. Can't wait to see this film, although it'll inevitably possess more ego than Kanye West's diary...

Finally got round to transcribing the Dead By April interview, spent two hours solid typing up everything. At this point I think it went a bit too far because I ended up writing over THREE PAGES and I still had another four minutes of audio to write up. A photographer I met at the gig has granted me the use of some of her photos so I can write up a gig review to bung into the magazine, and as I've already told her she will get photo credits ;)

Sent off my questions for Bowling For Soup to their A&R guy at their record label so should have them up some time soon! Not to go into too much detail but I basically asked a few bog standard question such as:

1. The new album Sorry For Partyin’ just came out and is doing well in the iTunes chart, how have you celebrated thus far?
2. Tell me about the recording of the new abum. Were you distracted at any point? And how fun was it to record?
3. Like in the song No Hablo Ingles, have you ever done or said something comical to get out of a tight situation?Jaret, you commented on your Twitter that there was enough material for a double album. Could a double album be a possibility in the near future? and will the left over material be released at some point?
4. When you’re not touring what do you guys like to do in your spare time?

5. I understand that you never play to a setlist at any show, has this at any point in your career not gone according to plan i.e fuck ups etc?

   Though my interviewing skills leave a lot to be questioned I hope I get back some pretty decent answers, I sent them literally about twenty questions too hehe.

   Besides the interviewing and all that stuff I've reignited my love of Black Books and South Park this week, a Black Books marathon took place the other night so all is good

   The second half of series 13 of South Park started last week. I'm quite surprised not alot of stick was given to them by the usual conservative bandwagoners for mocking the many dead celebrities from this year. It strikes me even more that they managed to slip in Patrick Swayze so shortly after he passed on. Yes I had to laugh at the episode, I'm not gonna suck up and say it wasn't funny because that's just who I am. Its human nature to laugh at other people's misfortunes. Whoever says they've never done it is either a liar or a repressed religious nut. Just like the media, we pray on human suffering, because that's what gets the better reactions from people (and that's about as intellectual as I'll ever get so sorry to disappoint!)

   On the subject of Bowling For Soup managed to pick up their new album Sorry For Partyin' this week just before I sent my questions off to them

   

   It's actually a really good album. Might not be the most 'out there' album to ever grace one's ears but its a decent fun-filled record full of catchy hooks and comical lyrics that you can relate to if you dig deep and find the meaning. What makes Bowling For Soup so popular is their refusal to suck it up and kiss the arse of 'the man' like some of these bands these days do just for business purposes. (give a read of some of the press releases for Linkin Park's Minutes To Midnight from 2007 and you'll see what I mean, and on that note, what a piss-poor effort that album was!)

   They certainly raised a few eyebrows in 2006 when they released The Great Burrito Extortion Case with the song "I'm Gay", in which they declared that they're sick of all these rock and metal bands coming out with all their 'we're moving to be more serious' bullshit (quick mental note: its the old meaning of the word gay; to be happy, not the meaning that makes some of you out there verrry uncomfortable, methinks Bowling For Soup were clever with that song title there hehe) I remember catching them at the 2007 Download Festival and believe me there's nothing funnier than witnessing 70,000 people in unison shouting 'I'm Gay'.

   The best song on the album has to be the Mexican-inspired 'No Hablo Ingles', a song about getting out of sneaky situations by pretending to be foreign. I wonder how many people have actually tried this? Ah well if they succeed more power to them. Overall its an album that deserves a few good listens and is perfect for house parties galore!

   
   

   
   

Life story so far, well thats what it feels like :P

Yo peeps! I've created this blog to keep up to date with my magazine project, and to rant and rave about anything that pops in my head at some point. Anyways I'll get you up to speed:

• Started back Uni two weeks ago. Got a bad boy of a project to do. I've gotta make my own magazine at least 40 pages in total with features and at least 3 interviews.

Being a man who loves his music I decided to make a music magazine. After making this decision I did panic slightly, as I wasn't sure what bands to interview! So luckily I've got a good friend whose tight with someone who work in the O2 Academy so simply asked him to get me in touch with PR whenever bands play so I can grab a sneaky interview with them. And at the same time I started thinking about bands that I was already going to see on tour. So I got onto good old Google and tracked down the management companies and record label execs of bands like Bowling For Soup and Shinedown. Had trouble trying to find a way to track down some contact details for Slayer and Alice in Chains but getting them would be like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Well the other week I went to see Skindred, supported by up and coming Swedish metallers Dead By April (one of my favourite new bands) the day before I found out their management's email address and sent them a nice little email explaining what I was doing and if I could bag an interview (even threw in the sneaky word 'exposure').

Fantastic news awakened me the day of the gig as I got this email back:

Hi James

Tomas forwarded your request to interview DBA for your project, as this is happening today, I suggest you just go to the venue (Club Academy) at 19:00 and call Paul, the Tour Manager on +44.....

Best wishes
Nelly

So we got to the venue and phoned the band's manager around 4 oclock, he met us outside the tour bus (even took us on and gave me an energy drink, awesome!) and scheduled us a bit of time with the singer as we'd already met the rest of the band on their way to the curry mile in Manchester. Suffice to say I was shitting a brick so to speak as I'd never done anything like this before, especially with a band that I'm a fan of. Despite this it was a great success and I'll post a snippet from the interview up when I've edited down the mp3!

And here's a sneaky picture with Jimmie the singer after the show, gutted we didnt have a better camera for when I did the actual interview!

Currently in the middle of writing out features, will keep up to date with other interviews and other things!