As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis Arrested For Murder-For-Hire Plot

As I Lay Dying’s frontman Tim Lambesis has been arrested on accusations that he had sought the assistance to have his estranged wife murdered, according to San Diego Police.

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said that Lambesis was taken into custody in Oceanside, California after soliciting help with murder from an undercover detective. Caldwell said that “the information came to us late last week. We acted quickly on it. I believe that we averted a great tragedy.”

Lambesis is expected to appear in court for an arraignment on Wednesday or Thursday.

Ed. note: MTT sat down with Lambesis for an interview at last year’s Mayhem Fest. Besides being a gigantic and intense guy, he seemed very nice.

Dillinger Escape Plan

The Tracks and Greg from Dillinger speak about camaraderie, DIY or Die and more at Bonnaroo.

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN INTERVIEW WITH MOE TRAIN’S TRACKS

Greg Puciato, Monty Wiradilaga, Brian Kracyla

Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo 2009

 

You never know what’s going to happen during a Moe Train’s Tracks interview, as Greg Puciato, frontman of Dillinger Escape Plan, has his own interview with a dazed and confused girl, we speak about the camaraderie of the scene, how “DIY or Die” fuels his band, their new lineup, and next year’s upcoming album.  Enjoy.

M:  What’s going on man?

G:  Nothing, just hanging out, just walking around checking some stuff out.

Random girl:  (to Greg) Can you point me in the direction of the Rendezvous Tent?

G:  Umm. (Laughter)  What is your name?

RG:  I’m Caroline.

G:  Caroline, I’m Greg from the Dillinger Escape Plan, and we are doing an interview right now.

C:  Okay.

G:  Um, and I have no idea where I am right now either.

C:  I’m supposed to have a rendezvous at the Rendezvous Tent.

G:  That what you do at the Rendezvous Tent, right, but you don’t know how to get there, which poses a problem.  I don’t know either.  (to random passerby)  Do you know how to get to the Rendezvous Tent?

RP:  I don’t know how to get there.

G:  What good is trying to rendezvous with someone if you can’t get to the Rendezvous Tent?!  (all laughing)  Caroline, good luck trying to get there.

C:  Thank you.

G:  Wow!  How many drugs did that girl take?

M:  Welcome to Bonnaroo.

G:  Seriously, that was amazing.  She was higher than a kite.

M:  (Laughter) I think that’s the general consensus with most people here right now.

G:  Most people I look at here, if they don’t have sunglasses on, you can just look in their eye and be like, “You’re on some other thing right now in some other place.”

M:  Exactly.  Earlier today, when you guys came on, it was like, “Wake the fuck up Bonnaroo!”

G:  Dude, I can’t believe how siked people were.  I thought for sure, in general at this fest’ because it has a reputation for being more of a hippy peace-love type of thing, that as soon as we come out and start screaming at people and doing cool shit, people are going to turn around and just walk the other way, but people were siked, at one in the afternoon on the last day!  It was honestly, we were talking about it after the show, the best big show that we’ve ever played in the United States.

M:  Really?

G:  Yeah.  We felt like we played well.  People seemed stoked on us.

M:  Yeah, the reception was definitely great.

G:  This type of vibe, it just doesn’t exist that often in the U.S., this type of festival vibe.  It felt very European.  In the United States, when you think of a festival, you think of Ozzfest or Warped Tour, and it’s like the same thing all day long.  But this is cool because yesterday was Nine Inch Nails and today, if you wanted to, you can see the Dillinger Escape Plan and then Erika Badu.

M:  She’s still on right now.

G:  I really wanted to see her…

M:  I’ll cut it short then.

G:  It’s okay.  It’s cool because it seems like, for a very long time here, people have been very into the mind-set of like, “I’m only listen to metal” or “I only listen to hip-hop”.  Now, it’s cool to see so many people turn out for such an eclectic thing.

M:  Exactly.  It’s just always weird to see the different  the different scenes clashing.

G:  No, it’s cool, it’s very cool.

M:  In watching your set it became evident how camaraderie really works its way into your music.  You don’t see often where you can throw your mic into the crowd, let them sing, and when you call for it, they throw it right back to you.

G:  I think something about our music, we’ve been around for ten years, I think there’s some aspect to it, besides the obvious insane energy and aggression of it, there’s a vibe of everyone knowing that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to listen to and it’s not the easiest thing in the world to get.   For as many people who are siked on it there’s a lot of people that just probably hate it.  I think that makes the people that are into to it have this really us-against-the-world type of vibe.  We’ve always tried to be really hands-on with our fans and really communicative and never to-cool-for-school and always talk to them and do cool stuff with them.  If they right to us online we try to write back to every person.  I think, over the years, it’s created now a point where we have this really cool synchronous type vibe with our fans.  It’s neat man, it’s really nice.

M:  It’s also basically crossed the line from camaraderie to trust.

G:  Yeah, that kid could have stole the mic and ran away with it, but he threw it back.  That’s the other thing, I think when you have confidence and you give someone some responsibility and your cool to them, they feel obligated to be cool back.  If that kid had tried to run away with the mic I probably would have jumped on him and killed him.  But it feels good and it’s interesting, I have a lot of people say that our shows, even though they are so aggressive and so violent, it feels like the overall vibe is still positive in a way.  So, yeah, that’s really cool.

M:  Absolutely.  Also, not just that, but you doing stage diving and your guitarist stage diving with his guitar!  Now that’s trust.

G:  Yeah.  To me, we just try to take the vibe of playing in a basement to twenty people where we came from and try to get that to translate to bigger places and the only way to do that is to be as hands-on and as physically in people’s faces as possible and force them to wake up a little bit.  It sad to see so many people have such a rock star complex that the only time that they engage their fans is if they do some kind of scheduled meet-and-greet or a signing or something.  You know, hang out for a little bit and shake some people’s hands or jump into the crowd or do something.  I do know man, you (the rock star) are no better than anyone else. This is going to be over for us one day and who knows what we’re going to be doing.  So to try to act like you’re cooler than school is silly.

M:  Hippies versus hardcore kids…

G:  It’s two sides to the same coin because the whole hippy vibe and the punk rock thing, which is what hardcore came out of, are both very socially aware movements.  The

re both very communal, we’re all in this together versus some type of exterior force type of vibe, and one just took a much more aggressive approach than the other.  It’s kinda like one is Malcolm X and one is Martin Luther King Jr.  They want the same thing but one is like, “I’m gonna smoke you out” and the other is like, “I’m gonna kick you in the fucking face!”  But we want the same thing, so I think that’s why it translates.  It’s not like we’re just knuckleheads trying to incite the crowd to beat each other up.  I’d like to think it’s more intelligent than that.

M:  What do you think about the term “DIY or die” and how’s that relate to your band?

G:  Well, for us, that’s pretty much exactly how we try to do everything.  We don’t have a manager, we self-manage ourselves.  We are very hands-on, there’s no merch’, there’s no poster, there’s nothing about our band visually, sonically, how we are represented in press, anything, that we are not the seed of and have the final say in.  As much as it drives us nuts and we spend every waking moment of our lives working on this, I know that there is absolutely nothing out representing us that we didn’t see from its inception to its finality.  I think that it’s another thing that our fans appreciate.  If they get a t-shirt from us, they aren’t getting it from some graphic designer that works for the record company that we were just like, “Yeah, whatever, that sounds cool, how big is the check we’re gonna get?”  That thing has to look like something that I would wear, that means something to me, that’s looks cool.  I think, especially in the climate now where the record industry is just collapsing completely, that the people that can do the most DIY are the only ones that are going to stay afloat.

M:  That’s basically how the trend in music is going these days.

G:  It has to be.  It has to go back to that.  If you’re forced to be in a position financially to cut back every bit of slack you possibly can and to try to do as much by yourself as you possibly can, it’s gonna weed everybody out.  The only people that are going to stay alive are the people who really give a shit and the people who care enough to put in the time to do everything themselves.  The days of being a kid, and thinking that your rock star fantasy is going to come true and someone else is going to wipe your ass for you and do everything for you and you’re just gonna get a check at the end of the day, are completely over.

M:  Hit the road and promote yourself.

G:  Yeah man, go out and do the shows.  Don’t suck live.  Don’t write shitty music.  Put out cool shit and you’ll last.

M:  So what’s your favorite lyric, the one that means the most to you?

G:  You know what, it’s probably a lyric that’s going to be on our upcoming record because, for me, lyrics are snap-shots of where you were in your life, and you don’t want to be there forever.  So when we sing songs from our past records it’s like looking at a picture of myself in an auditory way.  I’ll be singing a song, and I’ll remember writing that song, I was twenty-three, I was in my basement, this is exactly what I was talking about.  I might not relate to it now.  Hopefully, you’re in a different place, especially when you’re yelling and screaming and pissed, you know.  You shouldn’t still be pissed six years later at the same thing.  The trick is to find a kernel of that memory and hone in on it, you can still mean what you saying and you’re not just spitting out consonants and vowels.  That’s for someone else to decide.  I know that’s a shitty answer, but I don’t have a favorite one of my lyrics.  I know they’re all pretty piss-poor, to be honest with you.  (laughter)  If you want to listen to lyrics, you should probably listen to Dylan or something.

M:  So when’s the new album coming out?

G:  February or January of 2010, which sounds like a long time but it’s realistically like 6 months away.  We do three more weeks of touring and then we go home and start recording in late July, early August.  January, February at the latest, we’ll get it out, and we’re siked man.

M:  What can we look forward to in the new album?

G:  Well, we got a new drummer, and that’s the biggest difference.  Our new drummer is just on fire!  He’s twenty-four and honestly the best drummer I’ve ever played with.  He wants to crush everyone.  He’s got this fire in him that he needs to prove to the world he’s the shit.  That’s kinda cool because he’s pushing us, and we’re really hard on ourselves so to be pushed by someone who is brand new is a really good feeling.  I can honestly say, after being in this band for a decade, that the stuff we’re writing now is the most inspired stuff we’ve ever written.  It’s hard to know whether you’re still going to be able to do stuff without becoming a caricature or parody of yourself.  The fact that we can still have something to say, ten years into it, with essentially the same style music, to me is nice, the fact that people still give a shit.  I think everyone will like it.  Anyone that likes us should be pleased with the new record.

M:  Awesome.  We look forward to it.  Thanks a lot for being with us.

G:  Definitely dude.

RIP JEFF HANNEMAN FROM SLAYER

The Metal Gods above are receiving a gift today in the form of Jeff Hanneman, guitarist and founding member of Slayer.

Jeff passed away due to liver failure around 11am at a hospital near his house. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy, and his brothers Michael and Larry.

Rest in peace, brother.

Rockapalooza Fest Adds Mushroom and Adam Gontier (Formerly of Three Days Grace) to Official Line-Up

The Monster Energy Drink Rockapalooza festival is celebrating its 6th year this year! Presented by Experience Jackson, Revolver Electronic Cigarette, Kings of Rock Entertainment & Happy’s Pizza, the fest recently added MUSHROOMHEAD and Adam Gontier (formerly of THREE DAYS GRACE) to the official festival mainstage line-up.

The festival has also added the Monster Energy Motorcross Team to the day’s activities on June 22nd. If you are at the show and you are looking up in the air, chances are you might see this:

This year’s festival weekend will kick off on June 21st with a FREE pre-party, the main festival will take place on June 22nd, and everything will close with CountryPalooza, ROCKAPALOOZA’s new sister festival.

This year’s festival will be hosted by Kristen Renton, best known for her roles on FX’s Sons of Anarchy and NBC’s Days of our Lives.

ROCKAPALOOZA is looking for volunteers. If you’re interested, please contact Hunter Keith hunterofkor@gmail.com.

For more information on how your business can advertise in the ROCKAPALOOZA program please contact timcorser@hotmail.com or kendall.rohrs@gmail.com. The rates are very affordable and the program will be distributed to over 20,000 people during ROCKAPALOOZA weekend!

See below for all details and line-up information for each day.

All events will take place at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Jackson, MI (200 W. Ganson St).

Friday, June 21st:
*FREE ROCKAPALOOZA PRE-PARTY
Presented by Monster Energy, Experience Jackson, Revolver Cigarettes & Happy’s Pizza
Doors: 5pm-11pm
All Ages

Line- up:
National Act Headliner: TBA
Surrender The Fall
Evans Russell Saffer
Distant Decend
Deveraux
Divided We Fall
Know Lyfe
Model Citizen
Silence The Fear
Condition; Critical
Killing Mistress

Saturday, June 22nd:
*MONSTER ENERGY DRINK ROCKAPALOOZA FESTIVAL
Doors: 10am-11pm
Advance Price: $30
Day of Show: $35
VIP: $100 (Includes a meet & greet w/ Candlebox in the Jam Heads VIP tent at 5pm, access inside the Jam Heads VIP tent w/ half off beer, side stage access, shading and seating area, and a special VIP Rockapalooza laminate)
All Ages
Kids 10 and under in FREE

Line- up:
MONSTER ENERGY STAGE
Candlebox
Mushroomhead
Saliva
Adam Gontier (formerly of THREE DAYS GRACE)
Surrender the Fall
Deveraux
HURT
Rotation
Shockwave
DreamKiller
Lifeline Revolution
Martian Tea Party
Another Lost Year
Fire in the Sky
Sugar Phix
The Big Beige

REVOLVER ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES STAGE
Taproot
Hed PE
Through the Ashes
Cyanide Sunrise
Red Stone Souls
Distant Decend
Killjay
Smile Empty Soul
Defiant
Shotgun Rebellion
10 Gauge Rage
Sunset Junkies
Living the High Life

EXPERIENCE JACKSON STAGE
12 Stones
Diecast
Ventana (featuring members of Mushroomhead)
Stand Confounded
Absinthe Junk
Paisty Jenny
Red Calling
Psychostick
Blackened Earth
Blue Felix
We Ended In Disaster
A Memory Down
Screaming for Silence

MICHIGAN NATIONAL GUARD STAGE
Mr Denton on Doomsday
Ruler Music Group
Boy Hits Car
Throwing Gravity
Obie Trice
Prodical Kings
The World Square
Prosevere
Cyk Cylinder
Brobot

CLOVERLAND TATTOO STAGE
Nine Mile Drive
Super Bob
Reign of One
Silence The Fear
Model Citizen
Trample the Weak
Bloody Spades
Skyline Divide
Torn Apart
Tisk Tisk
Deadlite Redemption
Altered Paradime
Oeno

JAM HEADS STAGE
Infamous
Mary Janes Pride
Fatally Yours
Good Question
Lit Up
Nation of Wealth
Bet Me I’m Lying
Evan Russell Saffer
Tropic Bombs
Expired Empire
Civil Action

PRETTY FACE, TRASHY MOUTH STAGE
Deleted By God
Wings of Apollo
Elude Fearra
Calming Hannibal
Given Six
Amerikaz Knightmare
Shudder
Illumira
Road to Rockapalooza Battle of the Band Winner (Kent OH)
Road to Rockapalooza Battle of the Band Winner (Kent OH)
Road to Rockapalooza Battle of the Band Winner (Detroit MI)

MICHIGAN MAINSTREAM STAGE
Who’s This We?
Maybe Whitney
Six Seconds to Oblivion
To The Devil A Martyr
Monument 6
Road to Rockapalooza Battle of the Band Winner (Jackson MI)
Road to Rockapalooza Battle of the Band Winner (Jackson MI)
Road to Rockapalooza Battle of the Band Winner (Detroit MI)

Sunday, June 23rd:
*COUNTRYPALOOZA (All Country & Classic Rock Day)
3 stages! Over 40 acts featuring Jacob Martin from (RCA/Sony Records) & HELLBOUND GLORY (on tour w/ Kid Rock)
More acts to be announced!
Local acts: Calming Hannibal, Tracy Chapman Tribute Artist w/ Layle Weatherford, The Keri Lynch Band
Advance Price: $10
Day of Show: $20
Kids 10 and under in free
All Ages
Doors: 12pm
Purchase tickets online at: http://local-acts.com/deal/rockapaloozagoescountry/

For more information on the Monster Energy Drink ROCKAPALOOZA festival, please visit:
www.rockapalooza.net
www.facebook.com/RockapaloozaFestival
www.twitter.com/RockapaloozaMI
www.facebook.com/pages/Kings-of-Rock-Entertainment/24138009279?fref=ts

AMARANTHE New Track ‘Mechanical Illusion’ Out Today — New Album ‘The Nexus’ March 26th

Swedish/Danish modern metal sextet Amaranthe are streaming a brand new track today, entitled ‘Mechanical Illusion’, on their official website, www.amaranthe.se. ‘Mechanical Illusion’ is cut from their forthcoming sophomore album, The Nexus, due for release in the U.S. on March 26, 2013 via Spinefarm Records. The Nexus will be released everywhere else internationally one day prior on March 25, 2013, also via Spinefarm Records.

In the words of Amaranthe guitarist/composer Olof Mörck, “To give a second taster of The Nexus is truly exciting! The first single and title track showed a familiar, yet amped-up AMARANTHE. ‘Mechanical Illusion’ is quite different from what people have heard from us so far. Probably the heaviest track yet, a dystopian vision steeped in a darkened futuristic atmosphere, combined with a mega-catchy chorus that is likely to ring in your head for days. Brace yourselves, the illusion is upon us!”

AMARANTHE recently released their new music video for the title track, ‘The Nexus’, which alone has racked up an impressive 916,000 views in just one month! The video is available for viewing now on VEVO at this link. The video was directed by Patric Ullaeus, who has worked with names such as In Flames, Arch Enemy and Dimmu Borgir; he was also responsible for AMARANTHE video for ‘The Hunger’, the lead single from the band’s highly successful debut, now at a whopping 3.5 million YouTube views (and counting).

The Nexus was produced by Jacob Hansen (whose credits include Volbeat, Dreamshade & Ginger Wildheart, and who worked on AMARANTHE’s 2011 self-titled debut).

DOWN Announce Headline Tour Dates Plus Vinyl LP Release Of “Down IV Part 1″ Out 2/26!

Heavy metal rockers DOWN has announced that they will perform a handful of headline dates this May. Kicking things off on May 23 in Birmingham, AL – the band will stop in 7 cities in the Southeast including Baltimore’s Maryland Deathfest, and wrap things up with a hometown show in New Orleans on May 31. Tickets go on sale to the general public on February 16 and include VIP Packages with opportunities to meet the band and hang out at soundcheck. For more information, visit DOWN-NOLA.com.

DOWN is touring in support of their latest release, Down IV Part I. The 6-song EP will be released on vinyl on February 26 (Down Records/ADA). The EP – a collection of dark, dangerous and decisive metal tracks – debuted at the top of the Hard Music Album Chart and sat comfortably at the #1 spot on Metal Radio for several weeks upon its official release last September. The release was critically acclaimed, with Rolling Stone praising “a typically aggressive Anselmo vocal against a twisting, grinding musical backdrop,” while Noisecreep proclaims “Down specialize in the kind of Saint Vitus-kissed grooves and vocal hooks that get stuck inside your head long after it leaves your stereo.” Additionally the band was featured on the January cover of Decibel.

DOWN’s notorious dark and unique southern-infused brand of hard rock/metal consists of lead singer Phil Anslemo’s (Pantera) gut-wrenching vocals, Pepper Keenan (C.O.C.) and Kirk Windstein’s (Crowbar) grinding guitar riffs, Jimmy Bower’s (Eye Hate God) thunderous drums, and Pat Brunder’s (Crowbar) blasting bass cords leave even the most dedicated and hardcore of fans in complete shock and awe. DOWN are back with a vengeance, and intend to show everyone exactly why they are one of heavy metal’s most iconic figures.

DOWN TOUR DATES:
May 23, 2013 – Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
May 24, 2013 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
May 25, 2013 – Baltimore, MD @ Sonar – Maryland Deathfest
May 27, 2013 – Augusta, GA @ Sky City
May 28, 2013 – Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
May 30, 2013 – Broussard, LA @ The Station
May 31, 2013 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues

Burial Mound – With Honor (7.2/10)

Have you ever popped in a freshly pressed CD, and soon wanted to throw around massive amounts of weight, then put your fist in the back of someone’s puny ass skull? While listening to Burial Mound’s With Honor in my car, I had a huge urge to hardcore dance at 80 miles an hour, but decided that in the best interest of the world around me, and the future of Excelsior, I’d wait till I got home.

If you’re going to name your album With Homor, you’d better damn well better honor whatever you’re trying to honor. If Burial Mound is setting out to honor the metal gods, living and decaying, their offering is pretty solid.

With Honor had to grow on me a bit. Honestly, I was drawn in by the tight, methodical instrumentals. Machine gun drumming, cohesively brutal bass/guitars… Then the thin, un-dynamic vocals dropped in. Ouch. I realize that he was taking some vocal chances with range, but it was too “all over the place” for the music. Still, I listened on, hoping for a moment of musical clarity.

One song later (Sacrilege), Burial Mound brought the fucking noise. With flashes of Atreyu, BM (a tough acronym, but one nonetheless) pushed the shit out, and destroyed it. The instrumentals are very consistent throughout, and the vocals seemed to widen and attain more balance with the rest of the band.

Nothing Is Sacred features a solid guest spot by Paul Goddard from Diecast. The harmonious singing that Goddard brings is welcome change in the album, and frankly, one that could be something more utilized in the future.

Go grab yourself Burial Mound’s With Honor, strap on some steel toe boots, drop kick the next person that gets out of line, and honor your fallen ancestors as well as Team Excelsior.

- The Train

Anthrax Sends Open Letter To Fans

Anthrax was our highlight of the Mayhem Festival this year, and they put out an amazing album in Worship Music.

Here’s a cool open letter from the band…

To our Fans and everyone who has supported Anthrax and Worship Music:

It was a little more than a year ago – September 13, 2011 – that Worship Music was released, and all of us in Anthrax can’t believe how much has happened since then.

Our friends in the press gave the album great reviews, and so many writers singled it out as one of the best metal albums of the year. Our label just told us that Worship Music has just passed the 100,000 mark on albums sold. Since Worship Music’s release, we’ve played 107 concerts all over the world – in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, South America, and the U.K. – we’ve gone home to New York to not only play Yankee Stadium as one of The Big Four, but had September 14 named “Anthrax Day” in The Bronx, where Charlie, Frankie and Rob grew up.

We’ve been so lucky as a band, and we know we’re able to do what we do because of you, our fans and all of our supporters in the press, at radio and retail, online, on the road, everywhere. We’ve had one of the best years of our career, and we share it all with you. So thank you for making the Anthrax’s “year of Worship Music” the best! More to come!

Frank, Scott, Charlie, Rob and Joey

Part One: Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival Coverage – Camden, NJ

Oh festivals, you used to be so easy. Getting to Mayhem Fest in Camden, NJ was a bit trying this year. I had to get a few final supplies at Staples on the way to the city, and my memory card broke. Good thing I had the files saved to my phone. Filled our field audio recorder with fresh batteries and a new memory card, but it wouldn’t read the memory card. Went back in to get a different memory card, but that didn’t work either. Decided to fly back home in 15 minutes to look for the old card… Which was nowhere to be found. Flew back to another store which finally had it, picked up a 12-pack to stay hydrated, then back on the road.

About an hour and a half to As I Lay Dying interview time. If I FLEW up 322 to 95, I should be fine. Fuck Murphy’s Law. Channelling my inner Dale Earnhardt Jr, I put the pedal to the metal while cranking Slipknot’s new “best of” through my speakers. Eventually, I sat in silence as I ran through the interview in my head. Excelsior dominates all interviews and this would be no different.

As the Philly skyline came into view, I asked the gods for no traffic, and thankfully, there was none. Could I do GTA insane stunt jump over the Delaware river and cut 20 minutes off of my time?

Damn it. I was out of my nitrous boost.

The shitfest of Camden was immediately evident after crossing the bridge into The Dirty Jerz. I really wish that this venue was on the PA side of the river. Isn’t Camden the Murder Capital of the US? Shady shit around every turn. It’s crazy what danger people will put themselves through to see live music, isn’t it?! I couldn’t help but to think that the “Park Here” signs would lead to the infernal pit of doom. Thankfully, we always park across from the venue.

As the minutes ticked off the clock, Jaegermeister trucks became visible in the distance. Waved closer and closer by the friendly Camden police, I ended up in the closest lot to the venue, and surrounded by a sea of black shirts, excessive piercings, BBQ smoke, and balls to the wall blasts of people’s favorite metal band (most commonly: Slayer).

Pulled my car into a ridiculously tight space, greeted my new neighbors, cracked a cold beer open, and with about 35 minutes to interview time, thought to myself…

‘Damn it. I’m home.’

Keep your eye on moetrainstracks.com for more Mayhem Fest coverage!

Anthrax Travels To Mars!

They are one of the bands that helped define the “metal/thrash” genre (with Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth – The Big Four). Their music has been played at New York’s Yankee Stadium, in Moscow, Warsaw, Australia, Japan, and at Castle Donington in the UK. But now, thanks to NASA, Anthrax is the first metal band to ever have its music played on Mars.

“Got The Time,” from the band’s 1990 Gold-certified Persistence of Time, was one of several songs on NASA’s wake-up playlist for the Mars Rover, Curiosity, that touched down on the Red Planet August 5. “Got The Time” woke Curiosity up on Day Six, along with “Echelon” by 30 Seconds to Mars. Since Curiosity’s Mars landing, the playlist has also included The Beatles’ “Good Morning Good Morning,” the theme from “Star Wars,” and Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries.”

As Anthrax’s Scott Ian put it, “Yes, there will be moshing on Mars.”

Next on Anthrax’s Planet Earth agenda is a Fall co-headline tour with Testament, with Death Angel supporting. This will be Leg Three of the Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel hat-trick, and will mark Anthrax’s first tour of Canada in support of the band’s most recent release, Worship Music, called the Metal Album of the Year by an abundance of journalists.

Added Ian, “With Testament and Death Angel before, we played sold-out shows, raging crowds and EPIC war dances, and we can’t wait to do it again, especially for our Canadian fans who have been waiting a long to time ‘worship music’ with us.”

Several new dates have been added to the thrash-fest routing, including shows in Chicago, Detroit, Hartford and Atlantic City. The complete itinerary is below.

L-R: Frank Bello, Scott Ian, Charlie Benante,
Rob Caggiano, Joey Belladonna
And if that’s not enough Anthrax news for you, Anthrax’s bassist, Frank Bello, will attend the premiere of “Greetings From Tim Buckley” at next month’s Toronto Film Festival. Bello made his feature film debut in the supporting role of punk rock legend Richard Hell in the film that stars Penn Badgley of “Gossip Girl” fame. Bello auditioned for the role on a Thursday, was cast on Friday, and reported to the set the following Monday, the morning after Anthrax’s big Yankee Stadium concert last September with The Big Four.

With the new dates added, the complete itinerary for the Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel thrash-fest are as follows:

SEPTEMBER
14 Ace of Spades, Sacramento, CA
15 Roseland Theatre, Portland, OR
16 Toyota Arena, Kennewick, WA
17 Knitting Factory, Spokane, WA
19 The Showbox @ The Market, Seattle, WA
20 Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC
21 MacEwan Hall Ballroom, Calgary, AL
22 Events Center, Edmonton, AL
24 The Odeon, Saskatoon, SK
25 Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, MB
27 Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
28 Harpo’s Concert Theatre, Detroit, MI
29 Danforth Hall, Toronto, ON
30 Capitole du Quebec, Quebec City, QC

OCTOBER
2 Metropolis, Montreal, QC
3 State Theatre, Portland, ME
4 Webster Theatre, Hartford, CT
5 Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ
6 House of Blues, Atlantic City, NJ

Next Page »