Now that they’re done with Sting, Blender has unveiled the rest of their list of the “Worst Lyricists in Rock.” The list takes objection to Professor Greg Graffin, saying:

Graffin hit the ground running in 1982 with the naive indignation of “Fuck Armageddon … This Is Hell!” (“We’re living in the denouement of the battle’s gripping awe”) and has maintained similar standards ever since.

Not content to take on just one punk icon, they also look at Henry Rollins:

Ever since hardcore pioneers Black Flag broke up, this self-styled Renaissance man has ­produced material that is unremittingly intense and silly. He claims to write only when he’s ­unhappy, as is made plain by tracks such as “Burned Beyond Recognition” and “Gun in Mouth Blues”; other men would just try and meet more girls.

It also rips into Ryan Ross of Panic! At the Disco, saying:

The guitarist and chief lyricist for Vegas emo dandies Panic! At the Disco, Ross writes like the quill and inkwell never went out of fashion, cramming his tarantellas full of baroque wordplay and breathless verbal curlicues.

Don’t forget Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service:

He’s got five albums of come-ons so abstruse the ladies will barely notice him tugging on their ankles.

Finally, Dashboard Confessional gets a turn:

Most of us chuck our eighth-grade diaries; Chris Carrabba sings his. To legions of ­adoring fans, this former special-ed teacher’s vein-opening anthems about love and heartbreak are emo gospel. To the other 99 percent of the world, they’re crybaby doggerel.

You can check out the rest of the list here.
Source Continue reading Blender doesn’t like lyricists: Greg Graffin, Panic! The Disco, Ben Gibbard, Henry Rollins, Dashboar →

Legendary thrash/melodic death metal act At The Gates has announced a handful of reunion shows set to take place next year in the UK, Germany and Finland.

The band split up in 1996 after releasing the seminal metal album, Slaughter of the Soul which went on to have a significant effect on punk, metal, hardcore and the burgeoning metalcore genres. Members of the band went on to form the Haunted and The Great Deceiver.

Source Continue reading Tours: At the Gates (Europe) →

After going from video to audio for their debut album Dethklok has returned to the visual medium and produced a video for their perfectly metal named single, “Bloodrocuted.”

You can check out the video here.

Source Continue reading Deathlok: “Bloodrocuted” →

Latterman has split up. They explained:

We were a band for 7 years and it was time to not be a band anymore. I was in New York less and less and there was some record label stress and things were just getting too weird with the shows we were getting asked to play, the things we were getting asked to do, and the way we felt the band was being perceived.

Personally, I don’t give a shit about “being positive” or whatever that meant when we were all 18, and the most people seemed to be getting out of the band was “how important friendships are.” Well how fucking boring is that? No shit friendships are important, but I think that was far away from the messages we were trying to convey with Latterman.

I Felt like a broken record going on tour and talking about sexism in punk rock every night and then some fucking bro-dudes coming up to me and saying some fucked up shit. I even got to a point where I stopped calling them out on it, and that just felt wrong. I was tired. Basically, it just stopped making sense for everyone in the band to keep on doing the band.

The band released …We Are Still Alive in 2006.
Source Continue reading Latterman (2000-2007) →

With his new compilation of demos spanning 1992-2007 due for release this Christmas, Weezer mastermind Rivers Cuomo spoke with Rolling Stone a little about the project and the material. The record is titled Alone – The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo and is due out December 11, 2007.

Of particular note is the fact that many of the songs are from the band’s Pinkerton-era. The songs were apparently destined for the original follow up to Weezer, a rock musical titled Songs From the Black Hole. While some of the songs ended up on Pinkerton, several songs from that era have yet to be heard.

As for the rest of the material, one song will be a cover of Ice Cube’s “The Bomb” and the rest?

It will have [roughly] eighteen tracks, and it’s spanning my demo-making career from 1992 to 2007, and there is one Weezer classic, ‘Buddy Holly,’ my original demo for that song, and there’s a few covers.

He also briefly mentioned Weezer’s upcoming as-yet untitled full length, saying only:

We’re done recording, and we’re just waiting to find a mixer. It’s very fresh and experimental

Source Continue reading Rivers Cuomo gives more details on upcoming solo/demo album →

Edmonton’s The Wednesday Night Heroes have announced the dates for a (mostly) Canadian tour. The band released their BYO Records debut, Guilty Pleasures, earlier this year.

Source Continue reading Tours: Wednesday Night Heroes →

No Use For A Name has posted another update on the progress towards their next record. Work officially began in July on the record which will follow their last studio record, Keep Them Confused, in 2005.

Source Continue reading No Use for a Name posts studio videos, talks new album →

Warner will be releasing a special compilation of Live Earth performance material from the July 2007 international performances. The disc will include music from AFI, The Police, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Madonna with Gogol Bordello and many more. It is due out November 20, 2007.

Source Continue reading Warner to release “Live Earth” compilation with AFI, Police, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters →

On the heels of their breakthrough single, “Hey There Delilah,” Plain White T’s will be reissuing a remastered version of their 2002 full length, Stop.

Besides the remastered album, the disc will include three previously unreleased tracks and “additional liner notes.”

The disc is due out November 06, 2007.
Source Continue reading Plain White T’s to reissue remastered “Stop!” →

In yet another attempt to avoid going to Apple’s iTunes service, Universal has unveiled plans to sell singles on USB memory sticks. The company will be selling the singles for £4.99 ($10 US) with a handful of songs, and multimedia content that can be reached on the Internet.

This compares with digital download services which are priced at $0.99 and do not include any other material other than the specific song requested by the consumer. The company defended the unusual plan saying:

This is aimed at the younger, 12 to 24 year olds, who no longer believe that the CD is as cool as it used to be.

You can find some more details here.
Source Continue reading Universal unveils plans to sell singles on USB drives →

That actually took longer than I expected. Congratulations to Scott Bolsby, presumably of or around Detroit.

Here’s the original text of the contest:

You free tonight? The first person to email me with their full name will be guestlisted +1 to see Thrice in Detroit, MI tonight. They’re playing with two other decent bands I guess.

Thrice released Volumes I & II of The Alchemy Index this past week on Vagrant.
Source Continue reading Thrice – live in Detroit, tonight – DONE →

Critically acclaimed hardcore act Suicide File has announced a one-off reunion show on December 15th at Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago. It will begin at 2pm and also feature The Killer, Blacklisted, Ringworm, Turmoil, Damnation AD, Regret and related band, The Hope Conspiracy.

Tickets will go on sale at 6pm CST tonight via this page. Formed in April of 2001 by former members of Death By Stereo and The Hope Conspiracy. The Boston, MA-based band recorded only an EP and a full length but remains highly influential and often cited in connection with rock’n’roll-based hardcore popularized by bands like The Bronx.

The band has two albums available, the sole full length, Twilight, and the EP/rarities compilation, Some Mistakes You Never Stop Paying For.
Source Continue reading The Suicide File plans reunion show →