Artistes
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https://www.instagram.com/heartsocietymusic/ -
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https://www.instagram.com/theplotinyouofficial/
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Legendary metal outfit Riot, now RIOT V, have inked a deal with acclaimed metal label, Nuclear Blast! The two have decided to team up and unleash a full throttle ear assault on fans new and old in March of 2018! The album will feature special bonus tracks, guest appearances as well as a live “Thundersteel 30 the Anniversary” album release not far behind!
Long time Riot bassist and main songwriter Don Van Stavern says “Its really awesome to be on, 'THEE,' metal label and have so much respect and excitement between us. We are in great hands with the marketing king Markus Wosgien and It’s always nice to have a mutual vision of what this band needs to be thrust back onto the metal battlefield and with our thousands of Metal Soldiers supporting and fighting with us this will be the start of a great relationship”, and it doesn’t hurt that some of the Nuclear Blast staff are long time fans!”
RIOT V are busy recording the follow up to the highly acclaimed come back record “Unleash The Fire” which entered the Hard Rock 100 Billboard charts at 75 and Rolling Stone Magazine gives it a 4 out of 5 and most media including Burrn! Rock Hard and Aardshock calling it album of the year! The new disc will be released early next year in March 2018 and production duties will be handled by producer whiz Chris “The Wizard” Collier (Korn, Prong, Flotsam and Jetsam, Metal Church, Dokken, Slipknot etc). Long time members Don Van Stavern, Mike Flyntz, vocalist extraordinaire Todd Michael Hall, skin basher Frank Gilchriest and guitar whiz kid Nick Lee feel this next offering will please long time fans and create new ones as the material is fresh and power metal at it’s finest in the traditional styling’s of this era of RIOT. THIS WILL MAKE YOU RIOT!
Through the storm of life's obstacles the guys successfully continue to raise the flag in honor of the RIOT legacy of music, fallen band mates and the fans who have been demanding RIOT for years. This new onslaught headlined sold out shows in Germany, Greece, 6 and Italy and rocked the prestigious festivals Sweden Rock Festival (Sweden), Rock Fest Barcelona (6), Loud Park (Japan), Keep It True, Metal Assault, Headbangers Open Air (Germany), Fall of Summer (Paris), Metal Apocalypse, Bang Your Head with Twisted Sister/Anthrax, Metal Dayswith Megadeth/Volbeat, two appearances onboard 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise and top it off with appearances with Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Def Leppard and, Journey to name a few! RIOT V just headlined this years Skulls of Metal Festival (6), Blast from the Past Festival (Belgium) and appearances at Bang Your Head 2017 (Germany) and will do one last Europe Tour in early December! 2018 will see RIOT V headline Germany’s Headbangers Open Air as well as appearances at Loud Park 2018 (Japan), Rock Fest Barcelona and Leyendas del Rock 2018 (6) a tour of the UK and more tour dates to be announced!
With reissues on Sony, EMI & Metal Blade, RIOT are consitently on radio and metal charts worldwide, as well as being a part of New York City's Top 20 Most Influential Metal Bands, 100 Best Metal Albums of All Time, 100 Best Metal Bands of All Time and numerous mentions on VH1’s That Metal Show with Eddie Trunk and staff sighting RIOT as one of the innovators of Metal music in America and beyond! RIOT truly are Metal Soldiers and will keep marching and fighting the good fight to bring you the music you’ve come to know, love and expect from RIOT V.....Shine On!
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Line Up
Virginia Lillye - Vocals
Christian Lauria - Bass
Matt Ellis - Guitar
Bennet Livingston - DrumsWith well-established roots planted firmly in the best of Australian rock traditions, Lillye burst onto the Sydney live scene in late 2013. Before long they had played at every major venue in Sydney, leaving no one in any doubt that this was a rock force to be reckoned with, and reviews of their first EP confirmed it.
Recorded at bass player Christian Lauria's own studio and released in early 2014, the heavy-hitting self-titled five-track CD proved the perfect opening showcase for the mountain-moving vocals of Virginia Lillye. The EP gained solid airplay on radio stations across the world and won instant plaudits from The Music (AUS), Australian Guitar (AUS), Metal Hammer (GER), Powerplay (UK), Loud Online (AUS) and more, while the clip for the track 'Under' won awards for song writing and video production from Beat100.
2015 saw Lillye explode, taking on the world even more by getting added to commercial radio in Chicago and college stations across the US, playing for the troops at the Talisman Sabre military exercises in FNQ and being featured on ReverbNation, leading to a #2 on their chart. Multiple interstate tours followed and Lillye appeared on Foxtel's The Music Room before heading to the Middle East to play for the troops once again.This four-piece rock machine of Virginia, Christian, guitarist Matt Ellis and drummer Bennet Livingston now comes armed with a swag of awards collected from The Akademia in LA and the Global Music Awards for the high-octane clip to their track 'Who I'm Meant to Be'. Lillye were part of a select group chosen to feature at Australian Music Week's new talent showcase and on the new Australian music program The Void AU.
2016 and 2017 saw the band playing shows across the east coast of Australia, joining the ‘Brewtality’ and ‘Wallapalooza’ Festivals, also joining the line up for the international campaign ‘Rockin’ For West Papua’.
Nominated for Best Rock Artist & Best Metal/Hardcore Artist at the Australian Independent Music Awards, they were asked to perform their award winning song ‘Who I’m Meant To Be’ at the awards staged at the iconic Sydney venue, Enmore Theatre. The end of 2017 ended on a high with the band supporting Gilby Clarke (Guns ‘n’ Roses/Heart/MC5/Slashs’ Snakepit) to great reviews.
With preparations under way to release their debut full-length album, 2018 is set to be the year that this hard rock beast comes to full bloom.
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Line up
Andi Kravljaca - Vocals.
Rich Hinks - Bass, Vocals, Keyboards.
Alistair Bell - Guitar, Backing Vocals.
Steve Burton - Drums.Formed in 2008 around founding member, composer and multi-instrumentalist Rich Hinks, Aeon Zen released their debut album, ‘A Mind’s Portrait’, in 2009, quickly followed up by 2010’s ‘The Face of The Unknown’. Continuing from strength to strength, Aeon Zen brought their own brand of creative, complex, melodic progressive metal to fans all over the world, along with their highly energized live shows, most significantly in 2011, when Devin Townsend tapped Aeon Zen as main support for the Devin Townsend Project’s 12-nation European tour that year.
Over the years, Aeon Zen, in addition to the vocals of Andi Kravljaca and Rich Hinks, have enlisted the aid of guest performers such as Atle Petersen (solo artist, Above Symmetry), Nils K Rue (Pagan’s Mind), Michael Eriksen (Circus Maximus), Elyes Bouchoucha (Myrath), Jem Godfrey (Frost*), Andreas Novak (Mind’s Eye), and Jonny Tatum (Eumeria), each adding his own biological and technical distinctiveness to the band’s own.
2013 saw the release of the band’s third album, ‘Enigma’. A departure from previous records, this concept album displayed a band continuing to grow and mature musically while building a solid and increasing fanbase, as well as moving on from early influences like of Dream Theater, Metallica and Opeth, to creating their own unique sound and identity.
Late 2013 saw the release of their Self-Portrait EP, the first release to showcase the stand-alone dual vocal attack of Kravljaca and Hinks in 4 tracks re-imagining the band's début album to represent the bands musical and stylistic progression.
This year, Aeon Zen reveal their most ambitious effort to date, showcasing the band at their hitherto most progressive, and most aggressive. Produced, mixed, and mastered by the band’s own Rich Hinks, the new album showcases the band’s new line-up with the addition of Alistair Bell and Tom Green. ‘EPHEMERA’ delivers on the potential of one of the UK’s most promising progressive metal acts, and picks up, musically and thematically, where ‘Enigma’ left off. Continuing the story, ‘EPHEMERA’ closes the narrative loop with the all-encompassing story of a world reborn.
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Change is good. Change is important. Change is the enemy of stagnation, a vital means to keep things fresh, innovative and exciting. For Tax The Heat, ‘change’ means something else too. The title track of the acclaimed British band’s stunning new album, ‘Change Your Position’, sees them addressing the turbulent state of the world right now and the very real impact it is having on people. “It’s looking at division in society and people using it as an excuse to do wrong and say wrong,” says singer and guitarist Alex Veale. “It’s saying, ‘Look, change your position.' It’s holding up a mirror to things.”Fittingly, ‘Change Your Position’ – recorded once again with maverick producer Evansson – represents a huge leap forward for Tax The Heat, who are completed by guitarist JP Jacyshyn, bassist Antonio Angotti and drummer Jack Taylor.
The Bristol band’s brilliantly received debut album, 2016’s ‘Fed To The Lions’, established them as one of the most electrifying new bands in the country. ‘Change Your Position’ does more than just build what they achieved with that record. It pushes the Tax The Heat sound to the next level, adding a razor-sharp modern edge to their rock’n’roll approach.
“In my mind, this is what a modern guitar band would sound like,” says Alex. “We’re influenced by so many different genres. It’s no secret that guitar music is struggling generally. We’re on a mission to help keep it alive and well.”
On that front, they’ve more than succeeded. Stellar new songs such as electrifying album opener ‘Money In The Bank’, ‘All That Medicine’, the instant classic title track and epic closer ‘The Symphony Has Begun’ showcase a band brimming with confidence, humour and A-list songwriting skills. The band put this evolution down to the intensive touring that followed the release of ‘Fed To The Lions’. As well as further honing their musical instincts, the road-work also brought them even closer as a band.
“That always was the case,” adds Alex, “but time and touring has made our understanding of each other even stronger. Anyone’s first record is created over time. With this one, the four of us went into a room with a vision of what we wanted to create.” The influences they have drawn on – from groundbreaking modern icons Queens Of The Stone Age and White Denim to such eternal visionaries as David Bowie and Prince – were uniformly contemporary, though the end result is uniquely Tax The Heat.
The new songs came surprisingly easily, and the band sent a handful of rough demos to producer Evansson. Alex admits that he fully expected the producer to be hyper-critical but the opposite happened.“He phoned me up and said, ‘These are brilliant’,” says Alex. “And as soon as he said that, we felt so relieved. That’s when we started writing all kinds of stuff, sending ideas back and forth to him. It was the song ‘All That Medicine’ that really made us realise we were on to something special. It has a quirky riff but still has a big chorus. It felt like things were moving forward.”
The band recorded the new album at The Chairworks studio in Castleford, West Yorkshire, with extra work done at Evansson’s own studio in Wiltshire. The bond that was initially forged with the producer on ‘Fed To The Lions’ remains so strong that Alex and Jack call him “the extra member of Tax The Heat.”“We know we can rely on him, we know he brings such great energy to the table,” says Jack. Tax The Heat had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve with ‘Change Your Position’. The most important thing was that it captured the incendiary energy of their live shows. They insisted on recording it with all four members standing in one room, playing their instruments together, looking each other in the eye. “We primarily see ourselves as a live band,” says Jack. “That’s what we write the music for – to get out and play all these shows. That gives us a clear idea of how we want our songs to sound. And these songs were designed to be played live.”
That energy, and the sense of joyous camaraderie that fuels it, runs deep through ‘Change Your Position’. It’s one of the things links the muscular, gut-level punch of ‘Money In The Bank’, the pedal-to-the-floor rush of ‘On The Run’, the glam rock-esque stomp of ‘My Headspace’ and the uplifting ‘Cut The Chains’, which possess the sort of anthemic chorus that wouldn’t have sounded out of place during the Britpop era. While Tax The Heat haven’t completely jettisoned their old sound, ‘Change Your Position’ has its eyes resolutely fixed forward.
Alex and Jack cite the sudden and unexpected deaths of David Bowie and Prince as partial catalysts for the new album. Both had an undoubted musical influence on Tax The Heat – Alex says that he immersed himself in Bowie’s ‘Young Americans’ after his passing, while the band covered Prince’s ‘Bambi’. But it was those legendary figures’ single-minded artistic vision that proved an even bigger inspiration.
“It’s utterly inspiring when you see how they built these amazing careers purely by going against the grain,” says Alex. “It does make you think, ‘Let’s do what we want to do, not what we’re expected to do.’ I took the approach in my head, what would we do if were only going to make one more album? It’s kind of not really giving a shit about anything other making it as good as it possibly could be.”
While Tax The Heat insist they’re a non-political band, it’s impossible to separate any album from what is happening in the wider world. The world is in turmoil, politically and socially, and that turbulence has inevitably found its way onto ‘Change Your Position’, from the title downwards. “There are a crazy amount of things going on, and it’s definitely inspired us in a weird way,” says Alex. “I was at the gym, of all places, where Donald Trump’s inauguration was on the TV, and literally the first two verses of ‘Change Your Position’ came into my head. I thought, ‘I’ve got to write that down.’ Stuff like that and Brexit and the divisions in society are hard to ignore.”
The flipside of that is ‘On The Run’, an outlaw anthem that crackles with a kind of escapist romance and features such lyrics as: “Now the fuzz are on our tracks, eating razorblades for snacks.” Another song, ‘Cut Your Chains’, came from a more personal place. It was inspired by a friend of the band who had opted to live a gender-neutral lifestyle.“We went to the pub with them, and they were telling us how they had been feeling about all of this stuff and all these battles in their head,” says Alex. “I came home and started scribbling stuff down, and it turned into this cool song. To anybody else, ‘Cut Your Chains’ is just about being free and doing your own thing, but it came from somewhere deeper.”
For Tax The Heat, everything they do – the songs, the choruses, the style that gives them the kind of striking visual dimension every great band requires – comes down to one thing: the live experience. “The best part about music is seeing bands play live,” says Jack. “It’s what The Beatles and the Stones and those other great bands were doing back in the 60s. It’s what The Hives and The Bronx and other electrifying live bands who inspired us more recently were doing. We’re creating music for people who want to go and experience that.”These aren’t just hollow words and empty gestures. With ‘Change Your Position’, Tax The Heat have delivered one of the greatest albums of the year. The future is safe in their hands.
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Is the man part machine or is the machine part man?
Mesmer, Northlane’s beautiful new album, represents both sides of the equation. The band’s most organic yet precise album yet, it covers familiar topics but renders them in a new way, at once paying heed to the band’s heaviest roots and looking forward to an unwritten future. It is the fullest and most accurate expression yet of who Marcus Bridge (vocals), Jonathon Deiley (guitar), Josh Smith (guitar), Alex Milovic (bass) and Nic Pettersen (drums) really are.
“The album started taking shape around a lyric from Savage – ‘Through the eyes of the sun’ – which talks about what human society looks like from an external, objective viewpoint,” says Marcus. “And from there, the writing became more and more personal but still retained that same sense of context and interest in the bigger picture.”
“Jon said while we were writing in Germany that we shouldn’t be afraid of saying what’s important to us, and whether it’s a story about someone who’s passed away or something broader regarding the state of the world then so be it,” he continues. “It really is all one and the same.”
The abiding theme of Mesmer (produced by David Bendeth) is magnetism between all living creatures, something which has its roots in the psychedelic experience and which has been percolating within Northlane’s consciousness since the band’s inception. “Was it intentional for Mesmer to be thematically connected to Node? Definitely not,” smiles Josh. “But we have an album called Singularity. These ideas have always been there.”
That Mesmer is stalked by death – closing track Paragon deals explicitly with the loss of a close friend, while Veridian and Fade are also intimately concerned with bereavement – makes its rhapsodies on life all the more joyful. Colourwave is a love letter to the act of creation itself, while Citizen turns the band’s most political statement yet into a plea for unity and Intuition links personal struggle with a wider responsibility to those around us. Mesmer is human to its core, and that humanity runs from the bone marrow of its lyrics to the very way it was created.
Writing began in a familiar fashion as 2015 drew to a close: Jon grinding out riffs at his laptop alone while Josh wrote new lyrics to develop the themes of Node, the band’s third album, both their first with Marcus and Northlane’s first #1 on the ARIA chart. But without any conscious discussion as to why, the band’s writing process slowly evolved. On previous albums, lyrics and music would be composed independently and then brought together in the studio; now words and sounds bounced spontaneously between Jon, Marcus and Josh. This continued throughout 2016, and a stint between legs of a European tour writing at the bucolic Ghost City Recordings in Bavaria, Germany bore further fruit.
“Usually the instrumentals don’t change after they’re written, but this time there was a lot more give and take with the lyrics,” says Jon. “We’re always asked why we do certain things, but it’s simply that we’re constantly trying to make things the best they can be. At the beginning, Northlane songs were born on a computer using tablature software, so to go from that to using ideas that came out of jamming at soundcheck with Nic is wild. We’ve never done that before, and that’s why these songs feel a lot more human.”
Spending a week in the German countryside cemented the feel of Mesmer, both lyrically and musically. Looking back, the band attribute this newfound fluidity to the writing to being closer as five friends than ever before but at the time it was simply a natural by-product of spending so much time together. And then, in September, Northlane did something else new: flew to New Jersey to let a third party get under the skin of their songs in a way they’ve never done before.
That someone was David Bendeth, a producer with a track record (Bring Me The Horizon, Paramore, A Day To Remember) that appealed because he could get right into the guts of the music and make Northlane the most compelling version of themselves possible. He and Jon oversaw Mesmer’s gestation from a few ideas that shot back and forth over email into a man-machine organo-digital beast.
What emerged from the studio is Northlane’s defining statement. And presented to their fans in such an unorthodox and exciting manner, Mesmer will echo worldwide through 2017 and long beyond.
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Hailing from Cologne/Germany, The SEWER RATS have made a name for themselves as one of Europe’s finest punkabilly acts, playing more than 400 shows worldwide, touring Europe, China, Japan & the U.S. with their slicked-back juvenile signature sound of catchy rockabilly and greasy punk rock.
Walking the line between Stray Cats-cool, early 90s Social D. and old Rancid, the band sounds like Mr. Ness and Mr. Setzer were hanging out with old Hank Williams, teaching him new skateboard tricks while drinkin' beers on a hot summer night.
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What started as an idea in Luke's bedroom to write and record some punk rock tracks in order for some kick arse vocalists to record to quickly became something more. Not content to sit on these songs as just a project, Luke moved forward quickly to enlist some help in getting the band off the ground. Jess came through luck, a meeting via Facebook. Michael a mutual friend of both Luke and Jess joined shortly after. Chem the final piece came sometime later. The boys all known to each other found it hard to practice due to being spread across the state, but due to technology they grew the band with the help of home recordings. Postscript are a hard working band already in their first year playing all over Australia, happy to jump in their car and drive 4 hours to play to anyone who will listen. Their self titled debut album with influences from the 90's skate punk scene is now ready to go, be sure to check them out!
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Elm Tree Circle Singer Songwriter / Band Project from Iserlohn Germany. Their debut EP 'Drawn' was released in march 2016 by Flix Records. Their debut LP 'The Good Life' is set for release early 2018.
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Hercules Morse combine the groove-based riffs of stoner / desert rock, the energy and audacity of classic British rock and the melodic focus of contemporary alternative rock to create something altogether distinct. Mighty riffs are carved over driving bass grooves with lavish guitar licks and catchy vocal lines, creating ferocious sonic beasts immersed in melody. Critics frequently laud them as a British hybrid of The Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age.
Since forming in late 2014, the Southampton-based quartet have released two EPs, receiving a host of outstanding reviews; notably KKKK (4 out of 5) in Kerrang Magazine and 8/10 in Rock Sound Magazine. They have also received airplay from Kerrang Radio and BBC 6 music and recorded a live session for BBC Introducing.
Their fervently engaging live shows have earned them support slots with great bands such as Turbowolf, Band of Skulls, Black Peaks, Tiger Cub and Dinosaur Pile Up, as well as performances on the main stages of festivals including Common People (with Duran Duran), Standon Calling (with Suede) and Weyfest (with The Darkness).
In 2017, the band successfully crowdfunded the recording of a full-length album, which is due for release in Spring 2018 and looks set to further their march towards becoming a household name in the world of rock 'n' roll.
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5-piece punk rock/pop punk band from Melbourne, Australia.
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Forming only in 2016, the UK's Sick Joy started life in Newcastle before moving to Brighton to pursue their future. Their mix of lo-fi post-grunge and dirty noise-pop has already seen Sick Joy drawing attention and marks the band as ones to watch.
Following a support slot with Honeyblood at Bush Hall, and their debut London headline show drawing a near sell-out crowd, Sick Joy have been picked to support Feeder at Brixton Academy in March.
Bearing comparisons from Nirvana, Pixies, Arctic Monkeys and Oasis, Sick Joy's first two singles 'Stars' (April 2017) and 'Cat In A Bird Cage' were released to acclaim and strong radio support, and led to their signing with SaySomething Records.