Comeback Kid have unveiled plans to hit Hawaii, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and South America in the coming months as they support their 2007 album, Broadcasting…. Along with the previously announced shows with Propagandhi, the band will be visiting all those countries in the coming months.

Source Continue reading Tours: Comeback Kid (Hawaii, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, South America) →

The Smashing Pumpkins have filed suit against Virgin Records, saying the record label has illegally used their name and music in promotional deals that hurt the band’s credibility with fans.

In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the band said it has “worked hard for over two decades to accumulate a considerable amount of goodwill in the eyes of the public,” and that Virgin’s use of the band in a “Pepsi Stuff” promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for “artistic integrity.”

Virgin released the Smashing Pumpkins’ music for more than 17 years, but the only active agreement between the two parties, the lawsuit claims, is a deal granting Virgin permission to sell digital downloads of the band’s songs. The agreement does not give Virgin the right to use the band in promotional campaigns to sell outside products, the lawsuit said.

The band members said they would “never grant such authority to Virgin, or any other entity.”

The band most recently released Zeitgeist via Warner Bros.
Source Continue reading Smashing Pumpkins sue Virgin Records for using music in ads →

The LA Times music blog has an interesting entry regarding the so-called resurgence of “bro-core.” The blog largely groups the mid-90s punk rock sound popularized by Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords under that label, and calls attention to the major success of Pennywise‘s free album (which hit 500,000 copies) and the lineup of Bamboozle which includes H20, a Hot Water Music reunion, Face to Face, Goldfinger, Bouncing Souls and 7 Seconds.

The reasoning, it says, is that:

It’s like Fueled by Ramen signing Lifetime, or Kurt Cobain touting the Vaselines in interviews — a devoted subculture act breaks big and wants to show off its influences, both to keep its credibility and throw a bone to its favorite veteran bands.

Thoughts?
Source Continue reading The re-ascent of bro-core? →

Jacob Bannon, artist and frontman of Converge, has launched an official website. Among the information shared on the site includes some of his upcoming solo project releases as well as a small aside about a new album from Converge:

We are casually working on a new Converge album.

Along with his new solo debut, The Blood of Thine Enemies, Bannon is promising a new DVD from Converge.
Source Continue reading Jacob Bannon confirms work has begun on new Converge album →

Jacob Bannon, artist and frontman of Converge, has launched an official website. Among the information shared on the site includes some of his upcoming solo project releases as well as a small aside about a new album from Converge:

We are casually working on a new Converge album.

Along with his new solo debut, The Blood of Thine Enemies, Bannon is promising a new DVD from Converge.
Source Continue reading Jacob Bannon (Converge) confirms work has begun on new Converge album →

Anticon act Why? have posted a new video from their 2008 album, Alopecia.

Source Continue reading Why?: “Song of the Sad Assassin” →

While he is home taking care of his first child, prolific Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris has posted a new solo project. Dubbed Variant Qualities, the album is the most recent of new material from the guitarist who also released material under the name Locus Factor in 2005.

He explained:

In I think it was 1999 or so whenever Liquid Tension Experiment came out I wondered how awesome it would be to just get together and jam on stuff like that in the more dream theater progressive vein. Since I was in school and didnt have any time I decided to just do what they did write a jam record in a week and I just sat in my room and jammed out some stuff went back and added keyboards and drums and this was the result. It’s got a kind of crude production since it was basically 4 tracked.

You can download the album for free here.
Source Continue reading Darkest Hour’s Kris Norris releases free solo album →

Hardcore act Stick To Your Guns have posted “Heartless” which will appear on their upcoming Century Media debut, Comes From The Heart.

You can find the song on their myspace page.
Source Continue reading Stick To Your Guns: “Heartless” →

Milwaukee/Los Angeles based Truth In Fiction will be releasing their next full length, Fireflies via Fabtone Records on May 17, 2008. You can check out four songs from the album on their MySpace page.

Richmond, VA’s East City Rivals (current and former members of AVAIL, Ann Beretta, ATP) are playing their first show March 29th. They will be headlining Slaughterama 2008 at the the Canal Club in Richmond, VA. They will be playing with Antlers, Mark Lind (of The Ducky Boys) and Pedals on our Pirateships

Austin, TX’s Cruiserweight will have a new album titled Big Bold Letters due out sometime this summer via Doghouse Records. While you anticipate its release, you can currently hear the track “Balboa” as well as snippets from the entire album on the band’s MySpace page.
Source Continue reading Truth in Fiction, East City Rivals, Cruiserweight →