The Podcast That Rocked episode for June 23rd, 2020 featuring Geaux Gretchen. Discussion on the Attila accusations, Linkin Park memories and potential new music, Deftones’ 20th anniversary an upcoming new album this fall, and more.
Click below for discussion topics and links.
Attila Should Have Been Cancelled Long Ago
The Podcast That Rocked on Spotify
Discussion Topics: -The sexual assault allegations toward Fronz of Attila. -Unreleased Linkin Park music with Chester Bennington -Deftones’ 20th Anniversary of White Pony and upcoming 2020 album -Billboard Mainstream Rock Top 3 -Evanescence and Within Temptation postpone huge tour to 2021 -Sevendust address past flag usage -Livenation is being Livenation again
Fronz has manipulated and guilt tripped me into sleeping w him, even when i was underage. He got me drunk at every show of theirs like really drunk to the point where i blacked out for several hours. He then used me in that state to get me to consent to things i didn’t want to do
Los Angeles based rock duo Dead Posey have released the official music video for ‘Parasite’, the first from their brand new EP, Malfunction, that was released via Sumerian Records/Position Music on Friday last week. Watch the video here or below. To help celebrate this release, Dead Posey will be performing live and conducting a Q&A on the SPIN Magazine Twitch channel tomorrow Tuesday, June 23rd at 7pm PST. Submit your questions here for a chance to win a merch bundle. Answers and winner will be announced during the live stream. Be sure to tune in to the live stream with Dead Posey here.
Like ghosts from rock ‘n’ roll lovers past, wedded duo Dead Posey‘s aggressively provocative sound lingers between two worlds like Jekyll & Hyde, instantly hypnotizing you. Following up on their debut EP Freak Show, Danyell Souza (Vocalist/Producer) and Tony F. (Producer/Multi-instrumentalist -formerly of Eve 6) have concocted a world from the dark corners of their minds with their 2nd EP, Malfunction, which is available for order here.
Malfunction EPTrack Listing Head Of The Snake Parasite Bad Things Holy Roller
The four track EP invites listeners into a nightmarish fever dream, fueled by Danyell’s wicked vocals, Tony’s unholy guitar and drum tones, and flashes of soul-sucking industrial production meticulously arranged by the two. Topped with lyrics that will haunt and seduce you into the pair’s twisted minds, what better way to visually symbolize Malfunction than with the cover art they photographed, last minute while in quarantine at home along with the rest of the world.
A little back story on creating the official music video for ‘Parasite’ in the words of Danyell Souza:
“Music videos and the visual medium are such an important aspect to Dead Posey that we were crushed when hit with the reality that due to the state of the world we would be unable to shoot all the music videos we intended for our EP, Malfunction. However, a few months ago we did a day of filming some video content and did a few takes of performing our song ‘Parasite’ while we were at it. Thanks to that day of shooting using our manager’s camera, we had enough raw footage that we were able to edit it ourselves in iMovie & Final Cut and turn it into the official music video for ‘Parasite’.
Given how everything has been the last few months we were required to do everything with this video completely in-house, when we had originally planned on working with directors and other professionals for our videos. We set up a whole day of shooting, bought all the props and staged the set, rented the location and arranged lighting & camera angles (special thanks to our digital marketing manager Paul Crary for working with us on the shooting day and letting us really hone in on our vision). We are used to doing most everything ourselves with our music anyways – writing, recording, producing, mixing, mastering – so this wasn’t new to us in that regard. Art is created in all types of situations; in this case it was a happy accident that we could concoct a music video on a shoestring budget out of this footage. We hope you enjoy it!”
The Pretty Reckless recently released their new single “Death By Rock And Roll,” which has been tearing up the Billboard and Mediabase Rock radio charts, garnering massive love from fans and critics alike. The song screamed into the Top 10 in just three weeks’ time.
The band just shared the lyric video. Watch it here:
“Death By Rock And Roll” is enjoying universal praise from the press. PAPER declared the track “an uproarious new offering.” Loudwire labeled the song as “a badass, outlaw-styled rock track with an ascending, evocative chorus and vibrant guitar melody,” while Consequence of Sound deemed it “a guitar-driven anthem.” Alternative Press proclaimed, “In a time of mass uncertainty about the world and a general feeling of dread, the rough-riding, raucous anthem by the Pretty Reckless might be just what we need to break on through.” MXDWN christened it an “instant rock anthem.”
Southern California rock quartet Joyous Wolf, described by the Los Angeles Times as a “mix of rugged grunge and blues,” have partnered with American Songwriter to premiere the animated video for the brand new song “Odyssey.”
Watch a mariner and his son navigate the waters of life — quite literally — here and here.
“I was inspired by Homer’s The Odyssey since that story has always been profoundly impactful on my life,” explains singer Nick Reese exclusively to American Songwriter. “I knew that I wanted to write a song about it, but I wanted to modernize it, I wanted to focus on the emotional and deep familial aspects of the story.”
As for the video, the singer says, “I think the above all theme is positive feelings, the song is about hope through the turbulence, and I believe the video illustrates that hope. No matter the obstacle, the loss, or barrier, keep moving forward.”
ABOUT JOYOUS WOLF: Joyous Wolf is an American rock band formed in Orange County, California, in 2014. With humble beginnings, playing any venue that would have them, Joyous Wolf — Nick Reese (vocals), Blake Allard (guitar), Greg Braccio (bass), Robert Sodaro (drums) — have created their own hybrid of hard driving rock & roll, soul, blues, and alternative music. Heavily influenced by artists spanning not only various genres, but literally decades of music, their electric live performances would take them from the clubs of the Sunset Strip to international tours, earning them a recording deal with Roadrunner Records in 2018. The quartet has shown to be a force both on and off stage, having released their critically acclaimed debut EP Place In Time on Roadrunner in 2019, which led to subsequent tours supporting rock icons such as Slash and Deep Purple. Their new, highly anticipated single, “Odyssey,” will be released on June 19 on Roadrunner.
Chicago’s Knuckle Puck — vocalist Joe Taylor, guitarist/vocalist Nick Casasanto, guitarist Kevin Maida, drummer John Siorek, and bassist Ryan Rumchaks — will release their third full-length album 20/20 on September 18 through Rise Records. The album is available for pre-order here.
The band just shared the music video for their new song “Breathe,” featuring Derek Sanders of Mayday Parade. Sanders also appears in the clip.
“I find myself dwelling on things when they go wrong,” says Casasanto. “Maybe something happened that was beyond my control or I said something that I later regretted. When these thoughts enter my mind, they takeover and it’s hard to breathe, putting me into an almost dissociative state. It wasn’t until I discovered mindfulness that I started to regain control, telling myself to take a deep breath and purge the negative thoughts.”
He continues, “Life is going to constantly challenge you, but the only thing that truly matters is your mindset while weathering the storm. In these strange, infuriating and often scary times, remember to stay positive and breathe. Cool heads always prevail.”
Knuckle Puck previously dropped the video for “RSVP.” The band also shared their cathartic yet upbeat track “Tune You Out.”
20/20 was produced by Seth Henderson (State Champs, Real Friends) and mixed by Vince Ratti (The Wonder Years, Title Fight, The Menzingers). 20/20 is launching with a limited edition, 300-piece vinyl pre-order that includes a free zine featuring the band’s personal photography.
20/20 is in many ways a companion piece to Knuckle Puck’s 2015 debut Copacetic — filtering the same youthful, wide-eyed approach of their early material through the sonic evolutions they’ve explored since. All at once, 20/20 is both a look back and a step forward — and most importantly, it’s an album that, at its core, urges listeners to live in the here and now.
“Not every song has to be an existential journey,” Casasanto says. “We went into this album wanting to make people feel good about who they are and not upset about who they aren’t. There’s so much to be angry about right now, and rather than contribute to it, we wanted to give people a reason to feel good. I want people to want to listen to this record.”
20/20 Track Listing: 1. 20/20 2. Tune You Out 3. Sidechain 4. Earthquake 5. RSVP 6. Breathe (feat. Derek Sanders) 7. What Took You So Long? 8. Into The Blue 9. Green Eyes (Polarized) 10. True North 11. Miles Away
Tomorrow, June 19, Portland, Oregon’s progressive alt metal act Veio release their bold new album Vitruvian through Silent Majority Group. Led by strong singles “Flare Of Defiance” that broke the Top 30 atActive Rock Radio and “Crux” released in late May, anticipation for the album has helped the band recently amass more than 1.3 million streams on Spotify, 1 million video views and has led Vitruvian to be the #2 most added album on the Metal Contraband charts as well as the #3 most added Loud Rock album at college rock radio.
“This album is our introduction to the masses and we put a lot of time into perfecting it the way we wanted it,” says bassist/backing vocalist Kris Lewis. “This new album is a step forward for us in experimentation with synth programming, lyrical complexity and songwriting in general, and we are thrilled to share it with the world.”
To celebrate, the band will be hosting a special livestream release party tomorrow night, June 19, at 6 pm PT on their Facebook page.
Vitruvian is inspired by the name of a famous sketch from Leonardo da Vinci in 1490, and the band has conceptualized and translated the artist’s legendary “proportions of man” into a sonic interpretation on the album by giving each song a theme, emotion and proportion of its own.
Vitruvian was recorded over a year-and-a-half with Stephan Hawkes (Chelsea Grin, Attila, I Declare War) at Interlace Audio in Portland, with additional production by Sylvia Massy (Tool, System of a Down) who has called Veio “the loudest band” she ever recorded. To her point, the cops were called as the band tracked drum parts.
Sonic Perspectives says of the album, “Blending together elements of progressive metal and alternative rock, Veio proves that modern anthems can also shoulder impressive levels of complexity in their depths. Bright even during its heaviest moments Vitruvian is a serene reprieve that fearlessly gazes upon a more beautiful world.”
Veio also recently debuted acoustic versions of “Flare Of Defiance” and “Ascendancy” during the inaugural Mayhem Unplugged Festival, an online streaming event sponsored by Music Mayhem Magazine. See the tracks here (at the 1:03:30 mark).
Vitruvian is available in CD, vinyl and bundle packages at www.veiomusic.com
Vitruvian follows Veio’s 2017 debut album Infinite Light/Desperate Shadows and tours with the likes of Seether, Tremonti, Starset, The Veer Union, Skyharbor and RED. Veio is part of the notable Silent Majority Group that has managed the careers of Creed, Saving Abel, Paramore, Candlebox, Sevendust, Tantric, Framing Hanley and Brother Sundance. SMG is a music company made up of Silent Majority Recordings, a global and fully functioning record label currently promoted and distributed by Warner Music Group/ADA, and JHMP, a full-service artist management company.
Earlier this month, Canadian melodic power metal quartet UNLEASH THE ARCHERS announced the upcoming release of their fifth full-length album, Abyss, out August 21, 2020 via Napalm Records. Lifted by the urgent, breathtaking vocals of frontwoman Brittney Slayes, on Abyss, the band re-cements themselves as an unequalled, undeniable metallic force with their strongest album to date.
Today, the band is thrilled to reveal a brand new, otherworldly music video for the album’s colossal title track, “Abyss”. Musically, the track unveils the diversity of UNLEASH THE ARCHERS, delivering one earworm moment after another. Its accompanying video, directed by Rod Scobie (also director of the band’s music videos for “Awakening” and “Northwest Passage”), takes the viewer on a CGI rollercoaster ride – launching them firmly from the terrestrial plane to the celestial one. At first, the viewer could assume they’re viewing a regular performance video, but little hints here and there begin to reveal that it is far from your average clip!
Frontwoman Brittney Slayes says about “Abyss”: “This track set the tone for the whole record; conceptually, lyrically, musically, it all started here. Andy came up with the opening riff back when we were writing Apex, but I knew right away it didn’t belong on that record. When we finally started writing Abyss in 2019, this was the first song we wrote and it was the first song I listened to when the record was done. It symbolizes five years of hard work for us, and I think it does a great job of putting the listener in the right place emotionally to start the record. It hints at what the rest of the album is all about, but also doesn’t give it all away, not by a long shot!”
Beginning with a dreamlike acoustic introduction accented by the smoky beckonings of singer Brittney Slayes, opener “Waking Dream” quickly punches into a colossal wall of sound, setting the stage for the auditory escape that is Abyss. Powerful anthems such as the immense power metal-encapsulated title track “Abyss” and metallic pop-tinged earworm “Through Stars” conjure classic elements while maintaining an entirely fresh, forward-thinking approach. Guitarists Andrew Kingsley and Grant Truesdell turn heads with wicked work on stellar tracks such as “Legacy” (fans of artists like Devin Townsend and Astronoid, take note), while Slayes showcases her incredible vocal diversity and range on mighty epics like “Return To Me” and “The Wind That Shapes The Land”. Drummer Scott Buchanan makes technical strides on burners “Soulbound” and “Faster Than Light” – setting breakneck twists and turns ablaze with his bandmates. UNLEASH THE ARCHERS rounds the edge of Abyss with throwback-hued “Carry The Flame”, and wraps up with the soaring, rewarding concept closer “Afterlife”.
Thematically, Abyss is the direct sequel to the band’s 2017 album Apex. Brittney Slayes explains about the concept: “Our protagonist, The Immortal, is once again awakened at the beginning of our story, but this time he is in an unknown place: a ship out in deep space. He wanders alone for a time, reflecting on his misdeeds, searching for his new master. Finally, he finds him, and learns that it is the Grandson of The Matriarch, our antagonist. The Immortal had taken The Grandson’s father away some sixty years before, to be sacrificed by The Matriarch in a ritual to achieve immortality (the events from Apex) and now the Grandson seeks revenge against The Matriarch with the aid of her own weapon, The Immortal.
This album is a classic take on good versus evil, light versus dark, The Grandson versus The Matriarch, but it also uses the ‘person versus self’ literary device in that The Immortal is battling with the good and evil within himself, and must decide in the end if he is simply a tool for others to use, or a man with free will and the ability to choose his own path; a struggle I think every human can relate to.”
Abyss was once again engineered, mixed and mastered by Jacob Hansen of Hansen Studios in Denmark (Volbeat, Delain, Amaranthe), with production by guitarist Andrew Kingsley. Additionally, transcendent closer track “Afterlife” features orchestration contributions from Francesco Ferrini of Italian symphonic death metal machine Fleshgod Apocalypse. Fans will notice that, unlike on Apex, Abyss incorporates a weighty dose of synth in the mix, and for the first time ever, all tracks were written on seven strings – adding to the massive expanse of the album’s sound as it explores the celestial realm.
Pre-order Abyss in physical, digital and bundle formats HERE!
Abyss is available for pre-order in digital, CD format, as well as 2LP gatefold vinyl format in original black, limited editionred/yellow swirl (mailorder only, limited to 300 copies), and limited edition purple (North American mailorder only, limited to 100 copies). The album can also be purchased with several additional bundles including t-shirts and more!
A limited edition Deluxe Earbook format is also available – the only edition including instrumental versions of each track, plus two bonus tracks – synthwave and gothic folk-pop versions of “Abyss” and “Soulbound”, respectively (also featured in a standalone 7” only available with the Earbook format). This is something UNLEASH THE ARCHERS has never done before, turning their tracks into something completely different!
A video album review on Lamb Of God, the self-titled album from Richmond’s groove and thrash heroes. This is an album labeled as 100% political and intended to call out the system.
Click below to watch the album review and scroll below to hear music from the new album.
Lamb of God is the upcoming tenth studio album by American heavy metal band Lamb of God. The album was originally planned to be released on May 8, 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it will not be released until June 19. This will be the first studio album of all-new material by the band since 2015’s VII: Sturm und Drang, making it the longest gap between their albums, and the first to feature Art Cruz as the replacement of original drummer Chris Adler, who left Lamb of God in July 2019.
Fire From The Gods’AJ Channer could not sit on the sidelines for one more day. When the world erupted in protest of the killing of George Floyd, he set out right away for Minneapolis. No better time than now to enact the philosophy supported by the lyrics of the songs on his band’s album, AMERICAN SUN, which was recorded in early 2019, well before this call to action heard worldwide. A song fully representative of that line of thinking is their single “Break The Cycle”, which revealed its stunning visual counterpart today. Watch the official music video HERE.
The video for “Break The Cycle” (directed by Wombat Fire) is a story of support for people fighting to not have to fight anymore. It is the story of generations of struggle experienced by BIPOC all over the world. Footage from Channer’s trips to Minneapolis and Atlanta make their way into the video with additional protest coverage from the media and the proverbial fire started by the movement.
Tonight at 7pm EST, the band will broadcast a free performance from their local venue in Austin, TX, Come And Take It Live to raise funds for charity, Embrace Race – an organization that educates children on race, starting the conversation early in life. Tune in @ www.soundrink.live. As no coincidence, Fire From The Gods dedicates the live performance and new music video to celebrate Juneteenth – the anniversary of the emancipation of enslaved people – first celebrated in Texas in 1865.
All of the footage from AJ’s recent travels will be combined to make a docu-series on the current state of the world. The moving footage takes you to the streets of Minneapolis and Atlanta days after the murder of George Floyd, focusing on why the system is set up to fail while investigating how we can change that as one united body. AJ interviews protestors on the ground, community leaders and other local artists to showcase the power of strength in community, and how we, as a country, can move forward. A written narrative on what he learned from his travels will be released on Friday.
Armed with a bold hybrid of metal, rock, and hip-hop, Fire From The Gods punch through genre and cultural barriers and make a provocative and powerful statement with each subsequent album. Averaging nearly 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify with close to 30 million total streams, the Austin, TX outfit introduced themselves on 2016’s Narrative and expanded 2017 follow-up Narrative Retold. Signing to Five Finger Death Punch guitarist and mastermind, Zoltan Bathory and 10th Street Entertainment for management and Better Noise Music for label in 2019, the group served up its most potent offering yet with AMERICAN SUN. The lead single from the album, “Right Now,” went Top 10 at Active Rock radio. The band was also named among SiriusXM / Pandora’s Bands To Watch in 2020 – the only hard rock band on the list. Along the way, they also toured with everyone from Five Finger Death Punch to Bad Wolves, building a devout following. Now, AMERICAN SUN sees them burn brighter than ever.
In light of current events, Body Count announces the release of their radio single “No Lives Matter” today via Century Media Records. Watch the music video for “No Lives Matter”, which is off their 2017 full-length album Bloodlust HERE.
The track’s message is more relevant than ever as Body Count frontman Ice-T states in the music video intro, “…when I say ‘Black Lives Matter’ and you say ‘All Lives Matter’, that’s like if I was to say ‘Gay Lives Matter’ and you say ‘All Lives Matter’. If I said, ‘Women’s Lives Matter’ and you say ‘All Lives Matter’. You’re diluting what I’m saying. You’re diluting the issue. The issue isn’t about everybody, it’s about black lives, at the moment.”
Century Media Records Director Philipp Schulte adds, “As a company we felt it was necessary to release this single as a way to actively participate in the change that is needed to combat police brutality and racism. It is a first step in doing our part to inspire unity and transformation.”
Body Count is Ice-T (vocals), Ernie C (guitar, backing vocals), Juan Garcia (guitar, backing vocals), Vincent Price (bass, backing vocals), Ill Will (drums), Sean E Sean (samples, backing vocals).
