Thrice guitarist Teppei Teranishi has posted an update on progress towards their highly-anticipated new studio album. He notes:

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been super busy and there really hasn’t been anything new. Still doing vocals, still working on some mixes. We’re about 6 songs deep into vocals now, and I think I’ve finally shaped up a mix that I like for one song. I’ve started working on mixing a second as of today. This has been a pretty brutal routine for me, as both mixing and tracking vocals take a lot of concentration, and doing both, day in and day out, has left me with a raisin for a brain. That was a lot of commas. Too many? I don’t know. Raisins can’t think.

The band released The Alchemy Index: Volumes I & II: Fire & Water in 2007 and The Alchemy Index: Volumes III & IV: Air & Earth in 2008.
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Fake Problems have announced the rest of their forthcoming US tour and have added a run of shows with Ninja Gun. The first run will feature Kiss Kiss and kicks off June 25th.

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My Chemical Romance have announced that they will be recording with producer Brendan O’Brien (AC/DC, Killswitch Engage, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, Bruce Springsteen) for their forthcoming album. The band had this to say:

In the next few weeks, My Chemical Romance will head into the studio to record their fourth full-length album with producer Brendan O’Brien. […] He’s good.

The record will follow 2006’s The Black Parade. The band promised a back-to-basics sound.
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Social Distortion have added some US and Canadian dates for a tour to kick off this summer. The tour, which will also be supported by Civet and Strangers, is going to be the follow-up to their European jaunt as well as their first full-scale tour with new drummer Atom Willard (Rocket From The Crypt, The Offspring and Angels and Airwaves), who joined the band last month.

Rumors of an impending new Social Distortion album have been swirling since 2006 Though no official title and release date have been revealed, frontman Mike Ness noted last summer that the new record is expected to drop this year. If it is released, it will be their first album of new material since Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll in 2004 as well as their first release with two new members, Brent Harding on bass and Atom Willard on drums.

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Rise Against‘s Tim McIlrath recently spoke with Billboard about their forthcoming tour with Rancid and how the double header came together. Tim explained:

It’s amazing just to tour with such a legendary band. Without them paving the way for us, who knows where we would be. It’s something we never saw happening; it was kind of like a fantasy idea, and I can’t believe it all came together to happen. It’ll definitely be an honor to share the stage with them.

We were just completely shocked when they came back and said (Rancid) was interested in doing it. I didn’t believe it at all, and it wasn’t until Tim Armstrong came personally to one of our shows in L.A. and came to our dressing room and shook all of our hands and said, ‘Hey, we are so excited to be going out on tour with you guys’…and I was still like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.

Rise Against issued Appeal to Reason in 2008. Rancid will be releasing their long-awaited new album, Let the Dominoes Fall on June 2, 2009.
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We’ve posted some new reviews. You can check them out below:

• Flipper – Love
• Pomegranates – Everybody, Come Outside!
• Bullet Treatment – Designated Vol. 1 [7 inch]
• Casting Curses – Heartificial
• 10-4 Eleanor – …Too Bad
• Deadlights – The Noisy Shore
• Ramming Speed – Brainwreck
• Portal – Outre’
• Gallows – Demo 2005
• Dos – Justamente Tres

You can check out any of our 8340 reviews right here
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The first eight bands have already been confirmed for the inevitable Guitar Hero 5.

They are: Wolfmother, Rammstein, Beck, Garbage, Billy Squier, My Morning Jacket, Kaiser Chiefs and Brand New.

You can find some more early details here.
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The Mars Volta have posted another new song from Octahedron, due out June 23, 2009.

The song is “hidden” in a picture and you can find the song here.
Source Continue reading The Mars Volta: “Since We’ve Been Wrong” →

Silverstein have announced a two week headlining run with support from Poison The Well, Oceana and The Sleeping.

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Brooklyn, NY’s Young Hearts have posted their new donation-based EP, Nowhere Kids. Two tracks from the EP can be streamed at the band’s myspace page, and the entire EP can be downloaded here. Nowhere Kids follows up The Fight, released in 2008.

The band also has a short tour scheduled in June alongside New York City’s The Reveling.
Source Continue reading Young Hearts release new EP, announce tour dates →

The Takers have posted a free download and several streaming tracks from their forthcoming debut on Suburban Home Records. The record is titled Taker Easy and is due out July 21, 2009.

You can download an MP3 of the title track “Taker Easy” on the Suburban Home Records website here.

The band has also posted three other tracks from the album. You can stream “Curse of a Drunk,” “Drift,” and “Friends in Bottles” on the band’s MySpace page.
Source Continue reading The Takers: “Taker Easy” →

Sleep for Sleepers have posted the new video from their debut album, The Clearing.

Source Continue reading Sleep for Sleepers: “Thieves & Bones” →

Nashville’s Blacklist Royals recently rolled into town on the end of a recent tour. At the end of their set, the band performed a cover of Ann Beretta‘s “Love’s Easy Tears” and were joined by a couple of special guests.

Source Continue reading Blacklist Royals “Love’s Easy Tears” (cover) →