antiMusic reports: Vice Records To Release Japanese Motors Debut Album in Rocktober. Here is what they have to say about them: Japanese Motors are the most exciting band to emerge from Orange County since the heyday of Social Distortion and TSOL [Judging by the song on their Myspace they don't really sound like either of these bands, unless that song is a joke.]
Hailing from Costa Mesa and comprised of RVCA pro-surfer and singer Alex Knost, guitarist Nolan Hall, bassist Chris Vail, and drummer Andrew Atkinson, the band is known around Southern California for the insane, all-night blowouts they put on as much as for the driving, raucous garage pop they set the partying to. Rather than fight the influence of their surroundings like so many of their So Cal contemporaries, Japanese Motors have channeled it into their music, making tunes every bit as sun-baked and laid-back as their coastal environs and rife with positive imagery.
"Most bands from here are trying to sound like they're from London or New York," Nolan says. "We embrace where we're from." In return for their local pride, the Southern Californian surf community has embraced them right back. Japanese Motors are part of RVCA's Artist Network Program and fellow surfers Emmett and Brendan Malloy (who made three White Stripes videos) directed the video for the band's first single.
Let's Capitalize All Pronouns Records! reports: On August 25th in Europe and September 2nd in the US, EARACHE RECORDS will be reissuing SCARS OF THE CRUCIFIX, the classic 2004 album from Floridian death metal legends DEICIDE as part of the Earache Classic Series.
SCARS OF THE CRUCIFIX is due to be reissued with a bonus DVD, featuring a never-before-seen live show filmed in Nottingham, UK in 2003. SCARS OF THE CRUCIFIX was the last DEICIDE album with guitarists Brian and Eric Hoffman, and this exclusive DVD will be the first and only official DVD release to feature the brothers!
Fans eagerly waiting to see DEICIDE after a long absence will be pleased to know that the band recently announced they are currently booking dates for both a US and a European tour in support of TILL DEATH DO US PART!
PR reports: "The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me," former Boston slugger Manny Ramirez told the press this week, explaining his imminent move to the other side of the country to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. When LUSTRA made the same journey a few years ago, there was no press conferences available to the band to make the announcement, so they wrote a song instead - "It's a Shame About Boston," a song about looking back while moving on. If Ramirez is in the market for a new anthem, he may need to look no further.
Name-checking Bostonian landmarks Central Square and rock club Middle East within the first thirty seconds, LUSTRA's "It's a Shame About Boston" paints a wistful, homesick portrait of the Eastern Seaboard metropolis with a driving beat, laidback talk-sung vocals and crunchy guitars. The lyrics weave a tale of geographical heartbreak, intermingling lines about disillusionment with the local music scene such as "Please don't come and see my band/because I don't want to see your band/and I bet that I'd forget it anyway," with suggestions of a lost love affair: "It's a shame about you/You left your heart where you lost it/Now that I'm gone." The sing-along first chorus makes mention, too, of the alleged "Boston curse," that still haunts the music and sports scene alike today: "All the good bands move away...The curse goes on and on, on and on and on."
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antiMusic reports: Festivals and music awards. Seems that there is a new one every weekend. While festivals can always be cool, the awards shows have gotten old real fast as it's sort of like watching those people you didn't like in high school attempt to revalidate themselves every chance they get. Is there anyone that doesn't have an awards show? Just wait, Viagra will be out with one real soon! We can't wait for the Monistat Music Awards!
We're sure some awards are worthy of attention, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's just getting old. And an awards show that actually goes out and gets corporate sponsors for individual awards? That's worth just a little contempt. It's no wonder we have so few great albums to talk about these days. The suits have taken over and the real musicians are left behind because they didn't have the right haircut. Here is the announcement about another music awards that you can ignore:
The third Vodafone Live Music Awards will take place on 18th September at the Carling Academy Brixton, London and will bring together the music industry and fans alike to celebrate the booming UK live music scene.
PR reports: For 20 years, Guitar Center has been committed to providing drummers across the country the opportunity to pursue their musical aspirations and achieve their dreams by way of the world's largest drum competition: Guitar Center Drum-Off. Starting August 1st, drummers can sign up for their chance to win over $45,000 in cash and prizes, joining over 5,000 drummers from across the country to compete for the title of Guitar Center's Drum-Off Champion '08.
Like all Guitar Center music programs, Drum-Off is designed to provide developing artists with support-based opportunities that vastly improve the potential for their success as professional musicians. Drum-Off inspires up-and-coming drummers to further their musical aspirations, while at the same time encouraging the local music community and providing a platform for local musicians to network and be discovered.
Guitar Center's Drum-Off '08 champion will win an impressive package of prizes, including $25,000 cash, a Roland TD-20 kit, and a custom designed drum kit by DW, Pearl, Gretsch, Tama, or Orange Country Drums as well as a drum, stick, cymbal, and drum head endorsement deals, be featured in Modern Drummer magazine, and in a Guitar Center ad campaign, along with a VIP appearance @ NAMM 2009 and shopping sprees with Levi's, Converse and Guitar Center. A Monster Energy Drink endorsement deal is also part of the prize package, making the total prize package worth over $45,000. In addition, Sabian, Zildjian, Remo, Pro-Mark, Vic Firth, Evans and Rhythm Tech are all proud sponsors of Drum-Off 08.
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PR reports: A Static Lullaby and Maylene and The Sons of Disaster will be hitting the road together this fall to tour nationwide. The tour will also include Showbread, Confide, and Attack Attack! The tour kicks off on September 26th in Memphis, TN and ends on November 15, 2008.
A Static Lullaby will be playing tracks off their upcoming album, "Rattlesnake!", which drops in retail stores nationwide on September 9th. If you can't wait until September for the fourth album from A Static Lullaby, jump online and listen to the Rattlesnake! sampler, now playing on their Myspace page.
The sampler plays clips from every track off their upcoming album. The band is really excited about Rattlesnake!, as vocalist Joe Brown explains, "This is the best thing I've ever been a part of, hands down...I truly am 100% happy with how the songs came out."
PR reports: Sound and Fury have taken their rock n' roll excess and poisoned the youth in the group's brand new video for "Teenage Rampage".
"It was shot at The Bovine Sex Club, directed by Britt Wilen," states Sound and Fury frontman Luke Metcalf. "The song is about a pretty wild girl I dated in high school and I wanted a video about her that was NOT politically correct. I wanted a video that showed what we were doing; drinking, getting stoned, listening to Rock and Roll and having sex, without some bullshit negative message. Good times!!!"
Sound and Fury turning heads with their brand of infectious whiskey drinking rock contained their self-titled debut full-length album, 'Sound and Fury' which was released through Rebel Youth Records/MRI-RED Distribution.
This band isn't easy to place into a category. The songs are pretty well based in roots rock, but there is a lot of other stuff going on too. Overall, if you are a fan of layered melodies, four-part harmonies, and roots rock, this is an CD you should check out. (4.5 stars)
- Read the full Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags - All the Great Aviators Agree review
If one word could describe Dantesco, it would be epic. Dantesco has one of the most original sounds I've ever heard. If you crave heavy/doom metal that takes the genre to new levels of brilliance, Pagano is a must-buy record.
- Read the full Dantesco - Pagano review
