To celebrate the release of Bullet for My Valentine‘s new album, Scream Aim Fire on January 29, 2008, the band has put up a pretty snazzy ESP electric guitar.

To get your name into the draw, just drop by this page and fill out the appropriate form.
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Avenged Sevenfold have posted a trailer for their new animated mini-feature, “A Little Piece of Heaven.” The feature itself looks to be a sort of music video/animated story for their song which is one of the more narrative bits of the album. The song appears on the band’s new album, Avenged Sevenfold, and will be made available to fans with the “MVI” version of the record.

According to one interpretation, the song is about a man who is afraid that his girlfriend will leave him and so he kills her. He keeps and preserves her body but she returns from the grave and kills him. The man regrets his actions and apologizes to her. She forgives him and they get married before embarking on a killing spree together. The video looks to be bringing this macabre little story to the cuddly world of hand-drawn animation.

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After cancelling touring for much of 2007, Sum 41 has unveiled plans to hit the road in the UK and Canada in the new year. The band will be venturing to the UK for shows in February before returning to their native Canada for a tour in March.

The band released Underclass Hero in 2007.

Source Continue reading Tours: Sum 41 / Die Mannequin / Social Code (Canada, UK) →

As the Camel Advertorial Controversy continues to escalate, Toronto-based hardcore act Fucked Up have teamed up with Xiu Xiu to launch a class action lawsuit on behalf of all the bands named in the ad.

According to this report from the Daily Swarm, The suit names R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (the parent company of Camel cigarettes) and Wenner Media (the publisher of Rolling Stone) and claims the companies misued the artists names, misused them for commercial advantage (right of publicity) and takes them to task for unfair business practices.

The suit goes on to accuse both the cigarette company and the magazine of engaging in “despicable conduct” that was “illegal under settled, unambiguous California statutory and common law.” The lawsuit demands Rolling Stone publish an admission that the artists’ names were used without consent in a spread equal in size to the original ad, as well as seeking actual and punitive financial damages. (Under California law, this could conceptually amount to $750 per issue of Rolling Stone, per band, or a whopping $195.3 billion

Budding lawyers and/or masochists can check out the entire PDF version of the complaint here.
Source Continue reading F*cked Up and Xiu Xiu sue Rolling Stone, tobacco company →

Tragedy struck on the recent Australian tour headlined by deathcore act All Shall Perish. According to a report from The Age, the lead singer and crew member of supporting act The Red Shore were killed when the mini-van they were travelling in veered off the Pacific Highway at Moonee Beach, north of Coffs Harbour.

The Red Shore had played a gig at Club Phoenix in Brisbane on Tuesday night and were heading south to play Hermann’s Bar at the University of Sydney last night. All Shall Perish decided to continue with the show. Just after 7am yesterday, the hired Hertz mini-van carrying the band and crew crashed off the highway, down an embankment and into a tree. The driver, Andy, 27, was pronounced dead at the crash site. Lead singer Damien Morris, 22, was taken to Coffs Harbour Hospital after being trapped for an hour in the vehicle. He died later in the day.

The six other band and crew members were admitted to the hospital. They are all in a stable condition but “two or three are expected to undergo surgery tonight”, a hospital spokesman said yesterday. The band had just been named one of the “25 bands you have to hear in 2008” in local heavy music magazine Blunt.
Source Continue reading Two killed in fatal crash on All Shall Perish/Red Shore Australia tour →

Anthony Raneri of Bayside has announced some solo acoustic dates to kick off the new year. Anthony will be performing Bayside tracks in the stripped down format. Among the stops will be a very special performance at “A Night of Songs, Conversation and Hope,” presented by the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms in Orlando, FL on December 29th. Anthony will join members of Hawthorne Heights , Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, and Underoath in conversation and performances.

Source Continue reading Tours: Anthony Raneri of Bayside (Solo Acoustic) →

According to numerous reports, Seattle’s famous venue, Crocodile Cafe has closed down. The venue has hosted a number of notable artists including Beck, The Ventures, the Indigo Girls, Death Cab for Cutie, The Presidents of the United States of America, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Beastie Boys, Dinosaur Jr., Michael Stipe and R.E.M., Ann Wilson, Yoko Ono and Sleater-Kinney.

A now-legendary Croc double bill, with a $3 ticket, took place Oct. 4, 1992, and featured Mudhoney and Nirvana (billed that night as Pen Cap Chew). A 1996 gig by Cheap Trick included a surprise appearance by Pearl Jam.

The closure was apparently fairly sudden according to employees and due to financial problems. Eli Anderson, the club’s current booker, received the brief voice mail from Dorgan on Sunday afternoon.

We all knew the club has problems with money, but we certainly didn’t think it would be closing right now. … I was booking new shows on Saturday, so I was freaking out when I received Stephanie’s voice mail. And the thing is — band contracts require 50 to 75 percent of full payment if a club cancels their gigs, so she’s probably not saving much money by closing.

Source Continue reading Legendary Seattle venue, Crocodile Cafe, closes →

6131 Records has signed Los Angeles-based hardcore band Alpha & Omega. The band is described as influenced by Cro-Mags, Biohazard and Crowbar.

You can check out their first demo on their myspace page. A debut 7-inch is expected next year.
Source Continue reading 6131 welcomes Alpha & Omega →