Monthly Archives: September 2011

Interrogate – Silence The Fallen CD Review

Posted by Dante on

 

Band Bio

After years of frustrating knock-backs including a near fatal accident, practice rooms burning down and many line-up changes Northern Ireland’s Interrogate finally found their footing in 2005 releasing debut EP Unbroken which garnered the band a huge fan base and cemented their place in the Irish metal scene securing them support slots with established acts like hardcore legends GBH, Slit, Panic Cell, Raging Speedhorn, Las Vegas metallers Hemlock and appearances two years in a row at Glasgowbury, Ireland’s largest independent music festival.

2009 saw the band release debut album Scarred for Life to critical acclaim and play shows all over the country whipping crowds into a frenzy with their uncompromising, no-holds-barred, explosive brand of metal delivered with enough venom to floor a nation. The band suffered the major set-back of losing their lead singer near the end of the year but refused to concede defeat and decided to continue as a 3-piece with bass player Darren Brown taking over lead vocals. 2010 saw the band return, against the odds, to the live circuit stronger than ever before playing some of their best ever shows and touring as far away as the United States expanding their fanbase even further and establishing themselves as one of the biggest crowd-pullers in the Irish underground metal scene!

Influenced by aspects of the hardcore, hard rock and metal genres, Interrogate are continually upping their game, combining untamed aggression with melody and varying tempos in their quest to deliver high quality, adrenaline-pumping music and a high energy and intense live show.

Interrogate – Silence The Fallen CD Review

This CD came to me in the mail from Northern Ireland and while giving it a spin I was looking into the band. I found out they just finished up a short North American Tour of the East Coast. I know I missed a great show.

Anyway this CD is killer.  It’s full of melody, hooks, heavy riffs and great vocals. The opening track “Let Me Breath” is definitely the heaviest track on the disc. The song “Affliction” has to be the most melodic song while the title track “Silence The Fallen” shows off the bands diversity. With a lot of stops, time changes, changes in vocal style, pounding double bass and mellow breakdowns. I can not wait to hear their next full length CD. I strongly suggest getting this CD. You won’t be disappointed.

Interrogate Is:

Darren Brown – vocals/bass

Stephen Brown – drums

Mark Johnston – guitar

FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT

Official Interrogate Website

AND DON’T FORGET TO LIKE ”ROCKNIGHTMARE.COM”  ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

GUNS N’ ROSES ANNOUNCE FIRST U.S. TOUR IN OVER 5 YEARS

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GUNS N’ ROSES ANNOUNCE FIRST U.S. TOUR IN OVER 5 YEARS!

TWO AND A HALF HOUR SHOW TO FEATURE ALL THEIR HITS

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 21, 2011) – Guns N’ Roses have announced today they’ll be doing their first US tour in 5 years, kicking off October 28th in Orlando, Florida. The band will perform more than 30 concerts in the U.S. – fueled by Monster Energy – from October to New Year’s Eve. Before hitting the states, GNR will tour Latin America, starting with a sold out, headline slot for the closing day of the Rock in Rio festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 2nd , for 75,000 fans.

Guns N’ Roses are Axl Rose, DJ Ashba (guitar), Dizzy Reed (keyboards), Tommy Stinson (bass), Richard Fortus (guitar), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (guitar), Chris Pitman (keyboards) and Frank Ferrer (drums). GNR spent most of 2010 touring the globe, performing 71 shows in over 30 countries.

The two and a half hour show played to rave reviews everywhere including South America, Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia, playing close to one million fans worldwide.

Axl Rose started Guns N’ Roses over 25 years ago. Since that time, they have become one of the biggest bands in music history, selling over 100 million albums worldwide.  GNR’s “Appetite For Destruction” has sold over 28 million albums in the United States alone.

The band’s most recent release, Chinese Democracy debuted #1 on the charts in thirteen countries. Chinese Democracy was released on Black Frog/Geffen Records in November 2008 and reached 3 times Platinum in Canada, Platinum in Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, UK, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa. The album is Gold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Holland, Sweden, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Brazil and Colombia. In the U.S., the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 3, 2009.

The tour is scheduled to hit the following cities:

Oct 28 Orlando, FL  @ Amway Center Arena

Oct 29 Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena

Oct 31 Greenville, SC @ Bi-Lo Center Arena

Nov 2 Atlanta, GA @ Phillips Arena

Houston, TX

Nov 5 Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavillion

Omaha, NE

Tulsa, OK

Nov 12 Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center Arena

Nov 13 Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center Arena

Chicago, IL @ All State Arena

East Rutherford, NJ

Hartford, CT

Wilkes-Barre, PA

Worcester, MA

Camden, NJ

Detroit, MI

Cincinnati, OH

Nashville, TN

Indianapolis, IN

Denver, CO

More dates, cities and venue information to be announced very soon.

www.gunsnroses.com

About Monster Energy: Most companies spend their money on ad agencies, TV commercials, radio spots, and billboards to tell you how good their products are. At Monster Energy, we chose none of the above. Instead we support the scene, our bands, our athletes and our fans. We back athletes so they can make a career out of their passion. We promote concert tours, so our favorite bands can visit your hometown. We celebrate with our fans and riders by throwing parties and making the coolest events we can think of a reality.  www.monsterenergy.com

The Things They Carried:Interview W/Steve Schwartz

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The Things They Carried:Interview W/Steve Schwartz

Long Island’s The Things They Carried, or 3TC as they are affectionately called by their hometown fans, is a band on a mission. After recording their first EP “Attention Crisis” in spring of 2009, the band hit the road with a vengeance touring the east coast for just over a year. By summer of 2010 3TC knew it was time to head into the studio again and make a record. “We wanted to create something that all of us were equally excited about. We wanted every song to be as good as the next, no fillers!” singer/songwriter Steve Schwartz explains. The band headed to Shoreline, Washington just outside of Seattle to work with famed producer Casey Bates (Chiodos, Pierce The Veil, Isles and Glaciers, Fall of Troy). With Casey on board the band knew that this record would be exactly everything they wanted and everything that there fans would hopefully want.

Released on Dec.17th 2010. The album titled “There’s Something I Can’t Tell Anyone” talks about many issues that people can relate to whether it be a relationship gone sour, feeling like you don’t belong, a secret that you’re afraid to share with anyone, or self image issues. “I like to write about issues that people don’t really talk about and keep locked inside” explains Steve Schwartz. 3TC has definitively created a sound they can call their own, while including aspects that fans love to hear. The band’s ability to switch from intense screaming and heavy breakdowns to epic sing along choruses will keep you asking, “What’s Next?” Live, 3TC, leaves it all on the stage. “Without an amazing live show to back up a record, you can’t really move forward” says drummer Andy Illiano.

With a 2011 tour in the works The Things They Carried are focused on making their mark and continuing to write music that they are proud of and hopefully inspires others.

The bands philosophy is best summarized by frontman Steve Schwartz: “Music, we believe is about taking risks, putting yourself out there, and hopefully people grab on to it.”

Interview W/Steve Schwartz

RN: A lot of my favorite bands come from NY. Where do you see “The Things They Carried” fitting into the New York scene?

Steve Schwartz: In a way I want to say I don’t want to fit in. We want 3TC to be its own thing and standout from everyone else.

RN: How long have you guys been together?

Steve Schwartz: We have been a band for about two and half years.

RN: You guys are headed out on tour. When does the tour start and how long are you going to be out for?

Steve Schwartz: We are starting to book dates now to do a mid west tour. The tour is scheduled to start October 14th we do a kick off show in Long Island NY then we go to NJ then PA and Ohio then all over the mid west.

RN: Tell us about your CD “There’s Something I Can’t Tell Anyone”?

Steve Schwartz: We formed the band then we made a five song E.P. called “Attention Crisis”. Then we noticed the crowd reaction. The reaction was good but we thought it could be better. So we went back and reworked the songs to make it a little heavier and a little more exciting. On the album “There’s Something I Can’t Tell Anyone” you are getting the five songs that appeared on the E.P. but they are reworked and they sound different and you are getting five brand new songs.

RN: How long have you been playing music for and what inspires you to write?

Steve Schwartz: I have been playing music all my life. I started playing piano when I was five years old. I picked up the guitar when I was thirteen and started singing when I was seventeen. I like movie scores and all different types of styles and genres.

RN: How about the other guys in the band?

Steve Schwartz: We have a lot of different influences in this band. I’m coming from bands like Tool, Radiohead and System Of A Down. Another guy is coming from bands like The Police and another guy is coming from bands like Thrice. We like to throw all that in there and see what we can come up with. It’s real interesting sometimes to see what happens.

RN: Have you been working on any new material?

Steve Schwartz: Absolutely, we have been doing shows none stop. But now we don’t have any shows booked until the tour starts. So these past few weeks we have been able to focus on a lot of new material. The writing has been great.  And it’s real exciting. We are doing things we have not done in the past and we are being more experimental.

RN: So what is in store for 3TC fans in the near future?

Steve Schwartz: Our plan is to tour up until next September then start recording our next one. But the new material is videocoming along nice.

For more info and Tour Dates check out

The Things They Carried – Facebook Page

 364 Day Anniversary Video can be viewed here

AND DON’T FORGET TO LIKE ”ROCKNIGHTMARE.COM”  ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

BOBAFLEX Interview W/ Marty McCoy

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BOBAFLEX Interview W/ Marty McCoy

RN: What’s up brother? How are things?

Marty McCoy: Things are going great. The band is kicking ass and taking names. We are doing it all on our own. Our song Guns is climbing up the charts. The industry turned their back on us and we are now our own label.

RN: I have to say congratulations, “Hell In My Heart” is the best record I have heard I a long time. I absolutely love it.  Who did the production?

Marty McCoy:  Thank you. That really means a lot. We got with Chuck Alkazian and did a few tracks with him. He really got the fire back under the band. Then we went to Columbus Ohio and got with Joe Viers, who did a lot of our records. He did “Apologize For Nothing” and did all the demo work on “Tales From Dirt Town”.

RN: What makes Bobaflex different from other bands?

Marty McCoy:  No one is doing what we are doing except for KISS. We have three lead singers and all three of us sing on different tracks. Our bass player (Jerod Mankin) finally hit the mic on this record. We have been trying to get him to do it for years and he is finally doing it. It’s really cool and I’m excited about it.

RN: I think that’s what I like most about you guys. You mix it up and you give fans a variety of different styles. And there isn’t one key member of the band. Everyone has their own identity. Like Kiss or Motley Crue.

Marty McCoy:  For a while it was a double edged sword. It was a curse. But it is what sets us apart from everybody else. People could not understand why we didn’t have one screamer up front and have everybody else banging their heads in the background. We all want to sing. We all want to have a good time and play what we want.

RN: How is “Hell In My Heart” being received by fans new and old?

Marty McCoy:  Again it was a knife in our side for a long time because promoters would say we are not heavy enough to go on tour with “Butchered At Birth” and we are not light enough to go on tour with “Saving Abel”. It was this weird thing, we never really fit in. Now finally people are coming around to our sound and people are digging the record. And we are getting good reviews.

RN: I wanted to ask you about one of the songs on “Hell In My Heart” called “Empty Man”. I wrote in my review of the CD that “Empty Man sounds like something Kiss would have done but heavier” I wanted to know if  that was a correct assumption or if I was drawing lines that just aren’t there.

Marty McCoy:  Thank you. You’re absolutely right. Kiss is one of our favorite bands. That’s why everybody sings in the band because of Kiss and bands like the Eagles. That’s the shit we grew on. Kiss is one of the greatest bands ever. One of my favorite records is Ace’s solo record.

RN: You can definitely hear the old school influence on this record.

Marty McCoy:  I think the 80’s influence really came out a lot on this new record. My brother and I are into all the 80’s metal. A lot of bands like Pretty Boy Floyd and Shotgun Messiah.

RN: I love Pretty Boy Floyd. I just caught them at the M3 Festival this summer. They did a great job. I thought they should have been higher up on the bill.

Marty McCoy:  Steve “Sex” Summers and Kristy “Crash” Majors, man they still have it.

RN: Yeah they do.

Marty McCoy:  They were some good times. I remember my brother would go to the record store and buy a record just because of the way the cover looked. He would bring it home and say I should like these guys look at the album cover.

RN: Back then we all did that. There was no internet to look at shit. We had to leave our houses to buy music. I bought my first Iron Maiden record because of the cover.

Marty McCoy:  I remember sitting in my bedroom and just looking at album covers for hours. The Molly Hatchet art work, a Frank Rosetta painting. I remember as a kid saying to myself “one day I’m going to have an album and the dragon on my cover is going to be bigger and better than your dragon”.  And that’s the vibe we had going into this record. I love our album cover. My brother is a big time comic book fan and he had a big part of designing the cover as well as a friend of ours.

RN: The sound of the band changed a lot over the years. I didn’t like “Primitive Epic“ at all. Than I heard “Apologize For Nothing” and thought this is real good. And became a fan. Then “Tales From Dirt Town” and I was in shock that this was the same band. The song “Home” is one of my favorite songs ever. Now “Hell In My Heart” which is your best and again one of the best records I heard in years.

Marty McCoy:  I don’t like “Primitive Epic“much either. And I think you can see the change over with “Apologize For Nothing”. When “Tales From Dirt Town” came out things were going really well. The people at TVT were really good to us and there were some people over there that really cared about the band. They thought that our single “Home” was going to go far. When “Home” came out during the second week of radio play we got told the label went bankrupt. It was devastating to a lot of people at TVT and of course us.

Looking back it was probably the best thing to happen to us. Being the black sheep of the industry we were lucky to get with TVT.  Knowing the labels are not going to do anything for us. They never wanted anything to do with us in the first place. We thought “let’s do what ever we want. Who knows what the future holds for us. Who knows if it will be our last record?” So when someone brought in a song we didn’t sit around and pick it apart and think about it we just did it. If someone walked in and wanted it on the album it went on the album. We didn’t question each other. We are a band and this time around we were going to do what we wanted to do for us. We did not question the genre or how heavy it was or how light it was or what style it was because who knows if it was going to be our last. And fortunately now, it does not appear to be the case. I think we made a good enough record this time around to be able to make another one together because we are the label now and we are not dropping the band.

What happen with “Tales From Dirt Town” was that my brother he just had a baby. Our guitar player we had at the time was mixed up with drugs and getting into some crazy stuff. Our bass was married and our drummer and I were really focused and took pieces of everybody’s songs and worked on them really hard and thought we had a pretty good record.

On this record, the divorces were final, the guitar player we had is gone and we have a new guitar player that we have known since we were kids he brought a new fire to the band. And like I said we did what we wanted to do. If someone brought in a song we said “cool lets record it“. And I think that’s what we always needed…..that go fuck yourself to the industry attitude. Labels won’t sign us, booking agents don’t want anything to do with us and no one wants to take us on tour, fuck’em we will do what we want and we will do it our way.

RN: Wow bro on that note I think it’s a wrap. Thank you for your time Marty.

Marty McCoy:  Any Time Dante thank you.

For more information, check out the Bobaflex Facebook page:
Check out Bobaflex on iTunes

Check Out Our Interview With “Shaun McCoy” Here

AND DON’T FORGET TO LIKE ”ROCKNIGHTMARE.COM”  ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Interview w/ Robb Rivera and Elias Soriano of Nonpoint

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Interview w/ Robb Rivera and Elias Soriano of Nonpoint

We had a chance to hang out and interview Robb Rivera and Elias Soriano of Nonpoint on their bus during their 8/18 stop in Lancaster PA at the Chameleon Club. Check it out.

RN: I read on your facebook page this is the last cycle of the “Miracle” tour. Is that correct?

Robb Rivera: Yes it is.

RN: Since the Miracle Tour is now coming to a close do you have any moments from this tour that stick out that are special?

Robb Rivera: Ozzfest was pretty cool. We played the main stage with Motley Crue, Rob Halford, and Ozzy. That was a lot of fun. Soundwave in Australia was great and we did Download. The All That Remains Tour was really cool too.

RN: After this you guys are going right back to start recording you next CD is that correct?

Elias Soriano: Yes.

RN: Do you have any thing planed for your next CD yet?

Elias Soriano: No nothing at all.

RN: You didn’t start writing anything yet?

Robb Rivera: No nothing we are still putting stuff together. There is nothing really set yet.

RN: Do you have an idea for the direction of the album?

Elias Soriano: Pretty much the same direction.

RN: Just straight up Nonpoint.

Elias Soriano: Yeah pretty much.

RN: Any idea for the time of release?

Robb Rivera: We are looking at a summer release hopefully.

RN: How do you guys write? Do you come in with ideas or do you just get in a room and let it happen?

Elias Soriano: We all write our own parts. I write the lyrics, Robb writes the drums, Zach writes the guitar parts and Ken writes the bass parts. It’s a group effort. We all contribute.

Robb Rivera: We don’t have a formula.

Elias Soriano: It’s like pot luck.

RN: Looking back at your catalog what do you consider to be your best effort?

Elias Soriano: The fans seem to think “To The Pain” is our best.

Robb Rivera: Every record has its own special place but “To The Pain” is the record that everyone seems to know and like.

RN: “To The Pain” was your most commercialized record. But what album do you feel is your best or your favorite?

Robb Rivera: I’m partial to “Statement” because it was our first and playing those songs for so many years locally then to finally see it get released was real special to me. But “To The Pain” has a lot of variety on it. If you ask me what I think is our most complete record, I would have to say “To The Pain“.

Mistress R. Nightmare: Where can you get a hold of the first four albums?

Elias Soriano: Probably Amazon or Ebay.

Mistress R. Nightmare: What about “Separate Yourself “?

Elias Soriano: That, your gonna have to get from somebody. That’s really hard to find.

Mistress R. Nightmare: Do you have anything you want to say to your fans?

Robb Rivera: Thanks for your continued support and keep checking our facebook page for updates.

Elias Soriano: And that’s what we like the most because we get to talk to our fans so check out our facebook.

For Pictures Of The Show Click Here  

 FOR MORE INFO CHECK OUT the Nonpoint facebook page

AND DON’T FORGET TO LIKE ”ROCKNIGHTMARE.COM”  ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Seven Day Sonnet Interview With Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk and Anthony Lojeski

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Seven Day Sonnet Interview With Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk and Anthony Lojeski

Seven Day Sonnet played Allentown Pa on 8/19 along with 3 Pill Morning, Nonpoint, and Pop Evil. The crowd response was great as was their set. Seven Day Sonnet not only played their brand new single “Farwell To Good Days” but also  debuted an unreleased song called “Closer”.  They ended their set with their first single “Hapless” that spent 17 weeks on the active rock charts. Make sure you check these guy out when they play your area.

Setlist was as follows

Sold Your Soul

Closer – unreleased new song

The Butcher

Confrontation

I Am The Son

Farwell To Good Days

Hapless

SEVEN DAY SONNET IS:

Michael Scarlata – Lead guitar/Vocals

Rick Tauber – Rhythm guitar/Programming

Anthony Lojeski – Bass

Dan Kashuck – Drums/Vocals/Programming

Benjamin Franklin VanBuskirk – Vocals/Programming

Check out our interview with lead singer Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk, and Bass player Anthony Lojeski

RN: The last time I caught you guys was on the Saliva Tour just a few months back. How did that work out?

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk: That tour was great. We got a lot of positive feedback and we made a lot of new fans.

Anthony Lojeski: It’s funny that you mentioned that tour because we are playing a lot of the same places we played on that tour. And the fans remember us and are digging what we do. That was our hello to the world and now we are seeing a return in fans so it’s pretty cool.

RN: Tell me about your new single “Far Well To Good Days”.

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk: “Far Well To Good Days” is spinning on Octane right now and is getting airplay through out the country.  And you can also watch the video for “Far Well To Good Days” on Youtube.

Anthony Lojeski: You can down load the single at iTunes for $1.99 with the video.

RN: I have seen the video for “Far Well To Good Days”. The imagery is deep. It’s what’s going on today. It’s right now in our country. Do you consider your selves a politically driven band?

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk: “Far Well To Good Days” is a song about people going through hard times that we all go through and we look back to better days but we push forward to the future.

Anthony Lojeski: That video was shot kind of like documentary style. Just driving around and everything that they seen they shot. Real life on video.

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk: The video and the song might seem political but we are not a political band it just came out that way.

 

RN: Is there a new CD in the works?

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk: Well, we are just kind of putting out singles for right now. And slowly we are putting together what is going to be our next record.

Anthony Lojeski: We are looking at an early 2012 full album release.

RN: What direction is the new stuff you are writing in? Is it more towards “The Farewell To Good Days” sound or more like your first CD “Reprisal”?

Anthony Lojeski: Right now the new stuff we are writing is a little darker. It’s a little heavier and there is also some electronic stuff going on in it. We are fans of a lot of different genres. And we want to take peaces from those genres that we grew up on and love.

RN: I wanted to ask you about your E.P. You have a few songs from “Reprisal” as well as a few new ones.

Anthony Lojeski: The E.P. is a culmination of what the band has done over the past few years. So it has a few “Reprisal” tracks on it that we still play live as well as a few others. When you come to a live show you get the songs that are on the CD and you can see how the band has developed over the years. The E.P. shows you where the band is going and how we want to bring a heavier element to radio. And make it interesting. Because our lyrics are metaphorical and really meaningful. We try and make music that people can relate to without being blatant about it.

RN: After the Nonpoint tour what are your plans?

Anthony Lojeski: We are looking to stay on tour throughout the rest of the year.

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk: And we are writing the new record as we are on tour.

RN: Is there anything you want to say to your fans that might be reading this?

Benjamin Franklin Vanbuskirk:  Thank you so much for your support and coming out to the shows. And keep checking out social media sits for updates.

For more info check out Seven Day Sonnet  

Check Out The Video For  “Far Well To Good Days”

THE SHOW PICTURES FROM 8/18 Lancaster PA

THE SHOW PICTURES FROM  8/19 Allentoen PA

AND DON’T FORGET TO LIKE ”ROCKNIGHTMARE.COM”  ON FACEBOOK AND FOLLOW US ON TWITTER