Darkest Hour has unveiled touring plans for the coming year. The first tour will see the band hitting venues in Scotland and the UK before embarking on a US tour with Cephalic Carnage, Emmure and Whitechapel.

Many more US dates are expected to be confirmed as the tour kick off approaches.

The band issued Deliver Us this year.
Source Continue reading Tours: Darkest Hour (UK, USA) →

As the end of the year approaches, it’s time for the appropriate amount of reflection. The latest look back on the previous year comes from MTV who seem ready to write the music industry’s obituary. Their new article examines the declining power of the major label, and examines some high profile defections including Trent Reznor, Madonna and (of course) Radiohead.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, album sales were down 15 percent from 2006 (a trend that’s continued for eight straight years now); big-name artists jumped ship in increasingly complicated — and messy — ways; and the powers-that-be seemed to get even more heartless and disconnected, thanks to a series of lawsuits, feuds and terrible decisions.

You can check out the feature here.

Those of you in the industry should start figuring out the grand idea that will save music, those of you in this band‘s t-shirt can probably start gloating.
Source Continue reading MTV calls 2007 “The Year The Music Industry Broke” →

The Hold Steady are looking for a new release in 2008. The band made the following announcement on their website:

For the last few weeks we’ve been holed up in our rehearsal space in Greenpoint finishing up preproduction with John Agnello for the new album. Since the band’s beginning, this is the longest we’ve gone without being in the studio. I’ve never looked forward to being placed in a giant aquarium with headphones like I have been lately.

We’ll be recording for most of January and February and I’ll post updates and photos for those interested. No release date yet but you all will be the first to know.

The band delivered their Vagrant Records debut, Boys and Girls in America, in 2006.
Source Continue reading The Hold Steady set to record →

As Punknews.org suggested in the original signing announcement, current AFI and former Son of Sam vocalist has declined participation in the upcoming version of the band.

Todd Youth explained:

I’m not sure if you heard but me and Steve are working on a new Son Of Sam record,we asked Davey but he declined,which is a bummer,but we understand and he gave us his full blessing with looking for a new singer.There’s been some speculation on some of the Danzig/Misfits message boards who the new singer is going to be,I’ve heard Michale Graves,Matt Skiba,ect.ect,but we found someone who fits perfectly with the band,but we’re going to keep the singer a mystery for a while.

The band’s sole previous album, 2001’s Songs From The Earth, was recorded with Havok.
Source Continue reading Son of Sam confirms that Davey Havok is not participating →

Ferret hardcore act Misery Signals will be headed to Vancouver, Canada to begin work on their next full length record with producer Devin Townsend (Darkest Hour). Townsend was responsible for the band’s critically acclaimed debut, Of Malice and the Magnum Heart and the band had this to say:

We recorded ten brand spanking new songs, most of which should make the album. The band will be splitting ways over the holidays for a couple weeks, then we will reunite in early January to write a few more songs, get some more demos together and once again send them to Devin… Once again, its hard to express in words just how excited we are to be back working with Devin, and how excited we are about our material. I said it before and I will say it again, I think if you are fan of Misery Signals, you will really enjoy what we have come up with this time around.

The band released Mirrors in 2006.
Source Continue reading Misery Signals to record with Devin Townsend →

Rapper Jay-Z who also happens to be the CEO of Def Jam Records recently spoke with Billboard about many of the new business models being experimented on by the music industry as it struggles to find a future in music.

Regarding the controversial “360 deals” covered recently, Jay-Z is skeptical, saying:

I believe that 360 becomes a bad deal unless you’re doing artist development. Being an artist, I’m an artist-friendly executive as well. You can’t take someone’s rights, profess to be an expert in that field and then not do anything for it. If you’re sharing and partnering with an artist, you better build an artist. Or the record company is going to lose out. You could make a 360 deal with an artist and maybe you don’t have that artist two years from now. We can’t — as record executives — expect to take someone’s rights and not add value.

He also touches on the now infamous Radiohead distribution model saying:

What Radiohead did shocked everybody. It was a genius idea. I’m sure someone [in R&B/hip-hop] will follow that model.

And when asked if he personally would consider doing it, he adds: “Of course.”

Source Continue reading Jay-Z talks “360 deals,” Radiohead-style distribution →

Bryan and Pete from Bouncing Souls have kicked off a new video podcast series titled 2BudsTV. The band explained the “all profesh” new program:

Recently, it’s occurred to us that the people we know, the places we go, and things we do can be pretty interesting. So before it all gets lost to our burnt-out memories, we’ve decided to capture some of it, in the form of a podcast TV show we can share with everyone.

We’ll be making this up as we go along, but we have some rough ideas on how we’ll structure the show. When Harley-Davidson hired the two of us as web-TV correspondents to cover bike rallies (Bike Week, Sturgis) some of it turned out kinda funny, so we’ll be taking a couple of those same ideas, like the roving “man on the street” questioning/interviewing strangers, maybe some skits, who knows?

You can check out the duo’s introduction in the first video right here.

The Souls released The Gold Record last year.
Source Continue reading Bryan & The Pete from Bouncing Souls launch video podcast →

Murder By Death, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Hex Machine have been tapped to provide support for Clutch on their upcoming headlining tour.

Source Continue reading Tours: Clutch / Murder By Death / Maylene & The Sons of Disaster / Hex Machine →

Three members of recently defunct post-hardcore act Blood Brothers have unveiled their new project. Dubbed Past Lives, the band has launched a minimal myspace page though no music is available. The band adds:

We are currently holed up in a Belltown sublet, getting songs together for our first release. We’re all quite excited to be playing music together, and hopefully we’ll have songs up for you to hear soon.

The Blood Brothers split up earlier this year after a decade together.
Source Continue reading Three-fifths of the Blood Brothers form Past Lives, enter studio →

Pluto Records has added Broadcast Sea to it’s roster of bands. The band was formed in Jun eof 2005 and hails from Texas. Wounded Soldier, the band’s first album, is due out March 18, 2008 was recorded by John Congleton of the Paper Chase and mastered by Alan Douches.

You can hear tracks from the release at their MySpace page.
Source Continue reading Broadcast Sea joins Pluto Records →

Canadian skate-punk outfit Handheld have signed with Guelph-based Year of the Sun Records. The band will release their upcoming, self-titled debut album with the label on February 26th, with a tour to follow.

The band’s style has drawn comparisons to Face to Face, Screeching Weasel and the Bad Religion. Their drummer, Patrick Dietrich provided the following description of their upcoming record:

“This album is what you get when you take 4 guys, who love fast punk rock music, who have been in the same band, playing the same thing for a really long time, who haven’t changed with the times, because they don’t really like the times. It embodies everything they have always wanted to hear in a punk rock record. A straight forward, balls to the wall fast and aggressive yet melodic punk rock album without all the fancy-pants bells and whistles of most standard radio friendly so called punk rock bands.

Handheld is currently streaming tracks from forthcoming debut album at their MySpace page, and the video for the group’s debut single “World Today” can be seen here, or below
Source Continue reading Handheld sign with Year of the Sun Records →

Punk rock group The Short Fused have posted a second song from their upcoming full-length. Check out their original Christmas carol, “Xmas Sell Out” on their MySpace page.

Pop-punkers The Guts have posted a new track from their new album, Let It Go online. The album will be out some time next year, via Rally Records, who are streaming the song “Down The Drain” on their MySpace page.

Experimental pop-outfit Alligators have previewed some new music online. You can have a listen at their MySpace page.

Melodic-hardcore group Transit have posted a new song. “Rule of Nines,” from their upcoming debut full-length Nothing Left to Give, on Barrett Records, can be heard at the band’s MySpace page.
Source Continue reading The Short Fused, The Guts, Alligators, Transit →