that great unknown hardcore dancer

First off, I want to apologize. The awesome potential of the internet is that you could have read these thoughts and seen these pics just a few days after the Cornerstone Festival ended. I’m sorry, but my life is just so busy and I spend so much time on the computer that the last thing I want to do at the end of a day is blog. This sucks, because I think I do alright as a writer/blogger, but my energy is getting used up on all the necessary little business things that it takes to keep a magazine business going, like answering email, routing things to do, prioritizing this and that. Something like this (since I assigned another writer to review the fest for the magazine) gets put on the back-burner. I suck, I know, but hey.

a creative church sign

The first thing I noticed was the usual sights and sounds. People dressed casually for the heat, sporting various apparel that shows allegiance to this band or that movement. I love this. Then there’s the sound of the generator stages and artists trying to get attention. Say what you want, but this capitalist mindset for the arts is a good thing. It’s equal footing for those that hustle and work hard and that is simply not found at other festivals.

Another thing I noticed when talking to people early on was pessimism. “What do you think this year? I heard they weren’t going to have a fest next year. Wow, the attendance is low. Blah blah blah.” Like a bad attitude or gossip, these vibes spread so easily. I made it a point that all such talk stopped with me. Not that I could control anyone else or slow down the tide of negativity, but it wasn’t going to be encouraged by me. It wasn’t even a front, either. I genuinely love the festival this year and last and I didn’t have to fake my positive attitude. All the ingredients are here and our individual attitudes either build on that or tear it down.

This year at Cornerstone was really like no other. My old punk band (Lust Control) has reunited and we were asked to play the Underground Stage. I decided to play it smart and take it easy this year. This would save my voice and energy for our Thursday evening performance. I assigned the annual festival review to an intern that happened to live fairly close to the fest, so that took the pressure off of having to attend as many “HM-related” shows as possible and just chill. While my band played an officially-booked show back in 1989 and an impromptu set at one of the speaker tents in 1992, in those years I was catching as many shows as possible, banking on the common tastes and interests between Heaven’s Metal Magazine’s readers and myself. Those gigs were fun and quite memorable, but it’d been awhile since we’d played, so I wanted to do whatever possible to keep it from sucking. As a band we rehearsed a lot and had played a warm-up show in Austin on May 8th. I was confident that we’d do well. The day of the show it was pretty much my major focus, though other things were going on. As a husband and father, of course, there are priority relationships. There was the keeping track of my bandmates to make sure they were all safe and accounted for, there was the HM Magazine merch booth to attend to (with help, fortunately) and there was also this Global Roundtable speaking gig I signed up for. Our show was at 6pm, which was split between us and the band we somehow partly inspired – Sexually Frustrated) and this 30-minute speaking gig was at 4pm. While I would have prefered not to schedule something so close to our performance time, it was really no big deal. I made an effort to break the norm of huddled around in chairs with no microphone and no podium to the more formal podium – just so I could benefit from the microphone and amplification and thus save my voice.

My little talk was a planned no-notes and share-from-the-heart message. I simply shared about how HM was at a very tenuous and vulnerable place in time. I talked about not knowing what the future held. I laid out some of the HM Volunteer Army details and overview plans and openly shared my struggles and how I was leaning on God – an “onward thru the fog” kind of motto, sort of (though I did not use the slogan of one of Austin’s headshops as a direct reference). While the future is uncertain, fortunately our God remains trustworthy and stable.

One note about Lust Control: Because I was in a band and also ran a magazine that covered a music scene that said band played in, I made it a point to go out of my way to avoid “conflict of interest” and keep from promoting the band from within. This is why I never scheduled the band to play the HM Magazine Stage, for instance. This is also why I didn’t tell our intern to cover our set. Secretly, of course, I hoped he would catch wind of the set on its own word-of-mouth or whatever merits and attend and review. No such luck, however, ha-ha. So, since this is my blog, this’ll be the place I give any ink to the band (as opposed to bringing it up in the Cornerstone Festival review in the magazine). A funny side-note: When Lust Control started out in 1988, it was an anonymous act (which is why we used our middle names only, we wore ski masks and everything). No one knew who was in the band. And I reviewed the first tape (This Is A Condom Nation) in Heaven’s Metal and I slammed the lead vocals like I thought they were horrible and awful. Nobody was the wiser, which was funny.

The LC show started a little after 6pm. We were told we’d do a split-set with Sexually Frustrated. The split set was 30-minutes total, which meant 15 minutes per. When I pointed that out to Kyle (bassist of Flatfoot 56 and very capable frontman for Sexually Frustrated), he said that they would just split the time with Man Made Hell, who were to go on at 5:10. The day didn’t start on time and the stage crew were all about catching up, cutting sets short if necessary to get back on schedule (more on this later**). I can’t remember exactly when we went on, but we were told to play one more song midway through our 30-minute set. We cut two songs and went with our heaviest tune (”Finger”), which would roll right into our last tune – “Planned Parenthood.” It was really fun and a good show. One impromptu thing that happened was a spur-of-the-moment decision I made when our band wasn’t exactly ready to launch into the beginning of our song “The Big M.” Kyle of Sexually Frustrated had performed the entire set on the floor in front of the stage, so there was a live mic and stand in front at stage left. During this lull as the song preamble was rumbling to life I went over and put that mic stand back on the ground and told the audience to sing-along. Those in front responded with passion, crowding around that mic and singing with gusto. It was just a subtle on-the-fly decision that really worked. That brought a smile to my face. Oh yeah … we also played another show (this time a full-length, 45-minute set) the next day at the Texas Stage. By the way, there’s lots of footage of our sets on youtube.

The one and only Rob Shameless

I made it a point to get to the mainstage to hear some Resurrection Band on Thursday night. It was great, as always, to hear them soar on the tune “Shadows.” Such a moving, gripping, killer song. Wendy introduced another song, revealing that she promised to make Glenn his favorite dessert if they included this one in the set. “Where Roses Grow” sounded as good as that cappuccino-frosting snack she pledged to cook up.

It was awesome to see For Today unleash their explosive sound on the mainstage with that massive sound system. It was so fitting to see this killer band’s image all over the giant video screens on either side of the stage. The band killed it. Mattie delivered a clear call to this generation to stand up and take their flame and ignite the world. It was cool to see people not familiar with the band won over, like emcee John J. Thompson, who raved about what he’d just seen after the set. Brian “Head” Welch put on a nice show. Welch started one song on his back, screaming “Die, religion! Die!” Some of the Whosoevers shared between Head and P.O.D. The band that ruled the world for a few years in the early ’00s were in good form. Not their absolute best, but not struggling or misfiring at all. In other words, they sounded a lot better than last year. It was easier to totally “feel it” this year and it was so good you didn’t find yourself reminiscing back to the old days when they completely dominated. Sonny’s use of the stage a la Bono is fun and captivating to watch. The new song they played, “On Fire,” has some cool sing-along parts.

Campbell the Band was a nice surprise to discover over at the Underground Stage, who put the actual stage on the North end of the tent (opposite from previous years). They play a nice ethereal and acoustically layered and laid-back style with great vocals. Near the end of the night at the Underground Stage (before it switched gears at midnight for as the “HM Encore Stage,” Gasoline Heart was the last band to bear the brunt of the ongoing delays and catching up that was going on. When told it was his last song, the singer responded live on the mic by referencing snakes, vipors and hypocrites and that he’d play as long as he (bleep) wanted. Nothing like a little drama to distract from the massive amount of performances at the fest. White Collar Sideshow put on their wild and crazy show, complete with some gripping poetry by traveling emcee (and former HM intern) Levi the Poet. Levi shared a poem that referenced his first bicycle ride with his dad holding on to the seat until the last moment and it went from there to capture the anguish of losing his dad to self-inflicted death and missing his wedding this year, his sister’s future wedding. It was packed with emotion. The dude is using tragedy to bring about something good and that is priceless.

"...and you give yourself away..."

One of the very exciting things about Cornerstone is the family atmosphere and there’s something familial about the word-of-mouth recommendations and “inside information” shared between friends. My bud in Grave Robber – that freak who fronts the stage with a shovel in hand – told me that Saviour Machine’s Eric Clayton would accompany them on a cover of “Children of the Grave.” Awesome. I made a mental note to remember that and see it go down. Prior to that late-night set at the Sanctuary Stage, Otto of Leper came over and told me that Mr. Clayton was accompanying Will (from Wedding Party, iDragon I) over at The Asylum. I came in just in time to hear him running through a cover of “With or Without You,” which he did well with this low register. It was interesting that he crouched down in a low-key manner. Ever-surprising that Eric Clayton. Later on Grave Robber was tearing through its set, who always deliver massive fun and great tunes. He mentioned with glee how he’d stayed up late the night before with Clayton and how they came to realize that, not only had the band Black Sabbath pioneered the heavy metal genre, but the goth genre as well. The rendition of “Children of the Grave” brought some sonic points to that argument. Clayton squatted through most of the song, which sounded great. It was hard not to recall Rackets and Drapes, whose song “Ball & Chain” conjured accusations of riff theft of Marilyn Manson’s “Beautiful People.” It was cool to see Kandy Kane explain how both his band and Manson were both ripping off “Children of the Grave” in their own, unique ways. He even played the two riffs on stage, showing how different they really were.

Seabird put on a great show on the mainstage, which was a bit ironic, since their tunes and sound are so organic and built for small, intimate clubs. But the tunes sounded great and the band delivered them as if they were totally relaxed. Frontman (let’s call him front piano-stool-man instead, okay?) Aaron Morgan told how excited they were to play Cornerstone, even telling stories of swimming in the lake, etc.

It was great seeing Blindside again – and especially so on the mainstage. They rocked that thing like they owned it. Frontman Christian Linkskog prowled the stage like a very tall lion, getting into the audience at times thanks to the catwalk and barricades. It was awesome to view it from the back and watch the big video screens at times, as the camera followed the charismatic singer around. At one point there was someone in the audience (videotaping, I guess) with an iPad and the camera splashed this image on the big screen. It had the effect of showing a picture of Lindskog inside the iPad frame with the larger true image of the man in the background. Would love to have a shot of that.

Anberlin took the stage and, instead of playing a litany of all new songs, they spread it out all the way back to their first EP. With a giant banner (which I think they used last year) that spelled ANBRLIN. I guess their name is too long to fit on the giant fabric…

I was over at the Sanctuary Stage later and saw Dark Valentine, which included Sheri Luckey (from Wedding Party). Singer/guitarist Simon Björn wore a top hat and cocked his head sideways a lot, as if he was very curious – like a character from a Tim Burton movie. Fellow Wedding Party co-hort and sister Libby Luckey played bass and the drummer for Grave Robber laid down the heavy rhythms (without his skeleton garb). The band had an unusual delivery and a nice dark and doomy sound with lots of clock-ticking sort of ambient sound effects thrown in with tracks. I liked what I saw and would love to see them play more.

Saviour Machine’s acoustic reunion show was appropriately at the Gallery stage late at night. The stage set was beautiful, spread out and the band started without me. Ha ha ha. I was late getting to the show for some reason (probably another set or three I was catching, I don’t remember). When I got there, I knew it was special, but the performance was overwhelming me. I’m not sure if it took me getting aclimated to the musical “weather” or not, but I was feeling it. Then, by the time they hit “Sword of Islam” they were in a groove and hitting on all cylinders. It was special from there on out. In fact, it was amazing. I was so glad to be right at that spot. I had that thing – that musical joy that I so appreciate. I love moments like this. The performers seemed to be giving it all and the mood, ambience and layers of sound of these songs were just filling the large tent.

When the night was getting along, a notice was given to the band or maybe it was a response to frontman Eric Clayton asking, “How are we doing on time?” When told one more song, he paused, smiled, chuckled a bit and asked if they could have 30 more minutes. They had something like 9 more songs to play. They could compromise and just play 30-minutes of them. He even said, “Come on, man, people have only been waiting 10 years for this.” When denied, he graciously thanked the crew, told the audience that he understood that they had a stage to run. It was a classy move by the frontman. He could have pouted and/or tried to turn the audience on the stage and sound cr ew, but he did not. I was impressed.

Cornerstone was, once again, a great experience with loads and loads of hidden gems and great music. And don’t forget the fellowship and hanging out with such wonderful and valuable people. When someone tells you it’s like heaven, it means there’s so much love, acceptance and great art around that it’s hard not to enjoy. My only regret? Not seeing Destroy Nate Allen later that Thursday night. I heard the tent was packed and hoisted Nate up in their arms and they were all singing along. From the descriptions I heard, that was one magical moment.

That random hardcore dancer guy...

airborne

it's a family thing

the X isn't always a sharpee-mark on the hand...

sing me a song, you're a singer...

emphasize your point with a finger...

...you've got to swing those hips now, ewwww...

...come on, come on and do the loco-motion with me...

Mychildren Mybride To Co-headline With Impending Doom
Solid State Records are proud to announce the upcoming tour for MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE. The tour playfully entitled, ‘THE NOCTURNAL ALLIANCE TOUR,’ features co-headliners IMPENDING DOOM along with support from A BULLET FOR A PRETTY BOY, THIS OR THE APOCALPYSE, and THE CRIMSON ARMADA. The five-week trek across the U.S. and Canada begins in San Diego, California on June 24th and ends in Cleveland, Ohio on July 29th. “I’m so glad this tour is finally happening,” comments Matthew Hasting. “MYCHILDREN MYBRIDE and IMPENDING DOOM have been talking about doing a co-headliner since we toured on the first SCREAM THE PRAYER together back in 2008!”
Tour Dates:
6/24 – San Diego, CA
6/25 – Anaheim, CA
6/26 – Fresno, CA
6/27 – Roseville, CA
6/28 – Sparks, NV
6/30 – Portland, OR
7/1 – Seattle, WA
7/3 – Calgary, AB
7/4 – Edmonton, AB
7/5 – Saskatoon, SK
7/7 – Winnipeg, MB
7/9 – Sudbury, ON
7/10 – Cambridge, ON
7/11 – Windsor, ON
7/12 – Toronto, ON
7/13 – Ottawa, ON
7/14 – Quebec City, QC
7/15 – Montreal, QC
7/16 – Manchester, NH
7/18 – Clinton, NJ
7/19 – New York, NY
7/20 – Crofton, MD
7/21 – Richmond, VA
7/22 – Lynchburg, VA

My Epic Release New EP
My Epic are back with Broken Voice, an acoustic-based EP filled with beautiful misfit songs written during the creation of 2010’s Yet that didn’t quite fit with the sound of that album. Now the band has made a home for those songs, simply written then fleshed out in the studio, on Broken Voice. According to Aaron Stone: “More than anything else Broken Voice is about joy. The last year of my life has been about finally learning that I don’t have to fight G-d to get what I need. I don’t have to prove myself to Him either. Jesus came precisely because none of my own methods would ever work. I had been striving so hard for perfection when all I ever had to do was surrender to it. I never knew where I was headed until G-d broke my will and gave me His. I never sung a song worth hearing until He broke my voice and made it His.”
Broken Voice was recorded in March and April in Winston Salem, NC with Sid Mennon at Sleepwalker Studios. Sid and My Epic go back a long way, all the way to the days of recording demos, and the band wanted to pair up with him again for this EP so they could feel free to experiment with the sound. Most of Broken Voice was written at Machina House, a Christian mission house founded by the band in a poor neighborhood on Charlotte’s north side four years ago. “The seeds of these songs, musically and lyrically were planted firmly in the soil of our home community,” says Aaron. The band did spend a week in seclusion, locked away in a barn, “trying to make sense of all the parts, but overall it was a very smooth process. The songs had already taken their basic form in the living room and around the burn barrel at Machina House.” Broken Voice will be released July 5th, and although it is an altogether different sound for My Epic, Aaron notes “This record is not a permanent departure from where we have been headed in the past but simply another focused aspect of what the Lord has placed within us.Normally it would not be possible for us to put out two records one year apart but since these songs were so different it allowed us to keep creating in a vein that hadn’t recently been depleted.”

The Chariot To Perform At Bled Fest
Georgia’s THE CHARIOT recently announced that they will appear at this year’s BLED FEST 2011. New details about the festival have just been released! The 7th annual BLED FEST will take place on Saturday, May 28th with doors opening at 11:30am. BLED FEST is held at the Hartland Performing Arts Center in Howell, Michigan. Other bands performing at the fest include Every Time I Die, Norma Jean, I Am The Avalanche, La Dispute, Eisley, Defeater, This Is Hell, After The Burial, and many more. This year’s BLED FEST features a staggering 71 bands on six stages. Ticket prices for this year’s fest are $18 in advance/$22 day-of-show and BLED FEST is an all ages event! Tickets can be purchased online with no service fees at BledFest.com, and in person with cash at Discs and Tapes in Howell, Hartland Community Education, Music Manor in Lansing, Flat Black and Circular in East Lansing, and Vertigo Music in Grand Rapids. VIP ticket packages are also available exclusively online at BledFest.com. VIP packages include an exclusively designed T-shirt or hooded sweatshirt, a screen-printed event poster, and a drawstring backpack.

TFK To Release Live CD/DVD
After 15 years of bringing fist-pumping, in-your-face rock music to their fans, Thousand Foot Krutch has recorded their first live CD/DVD, Live at the Masquerade, which will release June 7th on Tooth & Nail Records. Recorded on May 28, 2010, the CD/DVD was shot inside the historical Rexall Place arena in Edmonton – the home of the hockey great Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers. Fans can view a clip from the forthcoming CD/DVD at TFK’s Facebook by “Like”ing their page now. Diehard TFK fans need to check out two of the pre-order options that include the signature white TFK mask and the option to be a part of the Fan Edition release of Welcome To the Masquerade. Fans can take photos of themselves with the TFK mask and upload the images for use in TFK’s Fan Edition. This new Fan Edition releases in the Fall 2011 and will feature 3 brand new songs along with exclusive packaging. Recording Live at the Masquerade, TFK performed in front of 20,000 fans after Canada’s largest youth event “YC,” which boasted record-breaking attendance for this conference. Live at the Masquerade captures all that TFK fans have come to love from their latest release, Welcome To The Masquerade, songs like: “Bring Me to Life,” “Forward Motion,” “Fire it Up,” and “Already Home” plus fan-favorites and TFK classics like “Rawkfist,” “Move,” “Falls Apart” and “Puppet.” Over a year-and-a-half after the release of their critically acclaimed project Welcome to the Masquerade, Thousand Foot Krutch is still sharing hits from this album that has produced three No. 1 Rock singles and three Top 20 CHR singles. TFK also celebrated their 11th career Rock single with “E For Extinction” this past fall. They also were a part of the hit spring tour “Rock & Worship Roadshow” with MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Matt Maher and The Afters.

A Sequence Of Ghosts Release Hostage(s)
Rarely do EPs make such a meaningful and impactful mark on a music scene ripe with rip-offs and the same old same old. While A Sequence of Ghosts have drawn comparisons ranging from As Cities Burn to Bring Me the Horizon, the Kansas City five piece has no intentions of being anyone but themselves. Hostage(s) is a crushing second effort in which ASOG truly shows their developed colors. The record is miles ahead of their previous self-titled effort and being only a year into their careers, ASOG are poised to become giants. The record includes guest vocals from Poema’s Elle Puckett, A Bullet for Pretty Boy’s Danon Saylor and solo artist Jake Germany. The guest spots only serve to emphasize the power and heart of these tracks as they drift from the soothing ambient to the bone shattering breakdowns that carry the listener to a different world.

Farewell Flight Signs With Mono Vs. Stereo
Farewell Flight is a melodic indie-pop rock band from the heart of Central Pennsylvania, where sometimes country kids and preachers’ sons abandon college degrees and steady jobs to chase down the dream of rock stardom, a goal they hope to accomplish with their debut CD for Mono vs. Stereo ‘Out For Blood’ produced and mixed by Grammy-winners Mitch Dane and Vance Powell, available digitally and at tour stops starting July 12. Farewell Flight’s ‘Out For Blood’ is the fourth release from Mono vs. Stereo, a partnership between Gotee Records and Relient K. Watch what Matthew Thiessen and Matthew Hoopes of Relient K (also A&R for Mono Vs Stereo) have to say at youtube.com/farewellflightmusic. “We’re very excited about this relationship with MVS. Matt Thiessen and Matt Hoopes first showed an interest over two years ago, at which time we were somewhat wary after being independent for so long. But the continued belief they showed in us and our music, coupled with our observation of how hard they’ve worked for their bands won us over completely.” – Luke Foley Comprised of singer Luke Foley, bassist Robbe Reddinger, lead guitarist Brian Campbell, and drummer Marc Prokopchak Farewell Flight embodies the spirit of true traveling musicians, having played nearly 700 shows from coast to coast over the last five years of their existence. Through their music and lyrics, the band seeks to bring accessible pop songs that highlight the ups and downs of life in general, drawing from personal experiences to which many people can relate, but especially those going through a quarter-life crisis.

David Crowder Band Announces Massive Tour
The GRAMMY ® nominated David Crowder*Band will headline the highly anticipated “The 7 Tour” with acclaimed artists Gungor, who is doing an acoustic set, Chris August and John Mark McMillan. The shows will span from September through November and hit over 30 clubs and theaters across the U.S. including key markets such as: Dallas, Texas, Los Angeles, Calif., Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wash., Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y., Atlanta, Ga. and Orlando, Fla. Known for their fan-centric focus, David Crowder*Band unveiled a fan-exclusive pre-sale in order to give their core group of supporters the opportunity to purchase tickets before everyone else without high ticket fees and with the incentive of being the first ticket-holders into the venue each night. The pre-sale was such a success that in addition to the website initially crashing due to high traffic, nearly half of the dates sold out of their limited presale quantities seven months early. “We’re really excited about this tour,” comments David Crowder. “The line up is ridiculous! We’re pretty sure this is going to be a really special outing.” David Crowder*Band is currently working on their new album slated for release later this year or early 2012, this will be the follow-up to their GRAMMY ® nominated Church Music which released in the fall of 09.

Eisley Debuts New Video
EISLEY’s music video for “Smarter,” the first single from their new album THE VALLEY, premieres today on mtvU and online at mtvU.com. The video was filmed near the band’s hometown of Tyler, Texas, and directed by photographer Chris Phelps, who shot all of Eisley’s packaging and publicity photos for THE VALLEY as well as other artists including MGMT, Panic! At The Disco, B.o.B. and Travie McCoy. “Smarter” has received nationwide radio support while spending nine consecutive weeks on the FMQB Triple A top 200 radio charts. “Smarter” also spent six weeks on the FMQB Submodern top 200 chart, peaking at #25, with spins and support from KROQ/Los Angeles, KDGE/Dallas, WEDG/Buffalo, KBZT/San Diego, KFMA/Tucson, WRMR/Wilimington, WCNR/Charlottesville, WCYY/Portland and more. Says Josh Venable of KYSR/Los Angeles and KDGE/Dallas, “Comparisons to Kate Bush and her 2000’s counterpart Florence and The Machine are fine by me. This is the Eisley album we’ve been waiting for since the beginning. Don’t wait. This is the future.” Eisley are in the midst of a six-week headlining tour in support of THE VALLEY, with dates continuing through June 4. In a review of last week’s show at Boston’s Brighton Music Hall, the Boston Globe wrote, “They worked up a muscular guitar power that somehow maintained a sundressy feel…. By the time the band performed the romantic eulogy ‘Ambulance’ and the ghostly ‘Marvelous Things’ an observer might have found himself at a loss for words.”

Romero To Drop New EP On May 20
“The Awakening” – a 6-song EP by Romero is set to drop on 05/20/11. However, it is NOW available for PRE-ORDER! This is the debut release from the death metal/deathcore group from Shawnee, OK! Having taken their name from world-renowned film director/producer, George Romero – famous for the cult classic and original zombie flick, “Night of the Living Dead”, they have openly admitted that they have a deep interest in God and zombies, of all things. Their debut release, “The Awakening” is sure to bring the zombies to your door, to your windows, to your locked car with you in it, or busting into your basement where you hide, or anywhere else where “the living” wait in fear and trembling, as the undead will attempt to eat your… er, actually to RENEW your brain with the truth and redemptive power of the Gospel of Christ, in as brutal a way as they possibly can!
Track listing:
1. Defiance
2. Ophelia
3. Postmortem Ritual
4. La Petite Mort
5. Godless
6. Sovereign Dialogue

The Great Transparency To Release New EP
Power Pop Rock band The Great Transparency (Razzbarry) is happy to announce their new EP Rebuild Your Love along with the release date, April 29, of the title track to national radio. Through the release of their EP Rebuild Your Love, Columbus, Ohio’s own The Great Transparency seeks out those who understand that this world needs a redefinition of love. Singer Miah Wagner says, “The kind of love that this world clings to in today’s culture is what is portrayed in movies, magazines, love songs on the radio, etc. It’s fiction, and it will fade away when stacked up against eternity. This world needs to know what true love is, as there is hope. People need to be brave enough to share love, and to live it out loud.” Love. This word is universally used more than any other. It describes a powerful force that affects us all. The meaning, however, is losing its power as the frivolousness of the word grows. With all the violence, stress, and frustration that surrounds our world, there are only two options left: give up on love, or set out to make it stronger—rebuild it. Rebuild Your Love is already gaining attention from stations such as The Effect, M88 and Christianrock.net. Though the upcoming radio release date is not until Friday, April 29, there is an exclusive listening party for the EP at Jesusfreakhideout.com and Razzbarry.com for previewing and pre-ordering .

Rebecca St. James Gets Married
Christian GRAMMY Award winning singer, Rebecca St. James, whose voice and personal story of dedication to purity behind her self-written signature song “Wait For Me”, encouraged millions of young people worldwide since its release a decade ago, said “I Do” this past weekend to the man she’s been waiting for. Rebecca married Jacob Fink on Saturday (4/23), in a ceremony held at the picturesque Junipero Serra Museum in San Diego, California. The noon wedding vows, including self-written commitment vows the couple wrote to each other, were set as the centerpiece of an intimate ceremony attended by 150 of their closest relatives and friends. Both Rebecca’s long time pastor, Rick White of the People’s Church in Franklin, Tennessee and Chris Schmaltz, the youth pastor who influenced Jacob’s decision for Christ as a teen and later provided ongoing spiritual guidance including marriage counseling for the couple, both officiated at the marriage. The glowing bride was given in marriage by her parents, David & Helen Smallbone. Included in the ceremony were special moments that included the couple’s exchange of the purity rings each had worn prior to their marriage, and a very personal spiritual exchange of their commitment to serve each other which included the bride and groom washing each other’s feet before their wedding guests. Special music included Rebecca & Jacob’s inclusion of the song You Make Everything Beautiful co-written by St. James and included on her recently released praise & worship album I Will Praise You. (Reunion Records/Provident Label Group). It was sung for the bridal couple and their assembled guests by the bride’s brothers, Joel & Luke. Rebecca’s long time spiritual mentor and close personal friend, Evie Tornquist Karlsson, following the wedding noted: “This was a glorious day of celebration! A marriage ceremony where from beginning to ending Jesus was the absolute focus and the special guest of honor of the bride and groom.”

©2011 HM Magazine All Rights Reserved

More news from last week:

still fresh (as far as you know)

Blindside announced details on their new album: “We’ve been working on this album for three years and really feel we have something special, worth waiting for and something worth getting right. “

Haste the Day is back in the studio with acclaimed producer Andreas Magnusson, recording for their fifth studio release.

Upon returning home from the They Came in Shoals European tour, A Plea for Purging has entered Foundation Studios to record their third full-length record titled The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

I Am Alpha and Omega have just sent their new album titled The Roar and The Whisper off to mastering. It will be mastered by Alan Douches (Duchess). His mastering credits include: A Day To Remember, The Acacia Strain, Our Last Night, Emmure, Zao, Gwen Stacy, A Plea For Purging and Oh, Sleeper.

Purple Door Festival marks its 15th anniversary this year (from August 13-14).

The Devil Wears Prada “back to the roots” tour [band to mix small clubs with fests]
“We want to go back to our roots, play little hole-in-the-wall places where fans can be right there in front of the stage, where we can hand someone a mic and really have the fans be an active part of the show, not behind a barrier ten feet away,” explains Mike Hranica. This summer, Rockstar Energy Drink partners with one of the brightest rising stars in the metalcore world, The Devil Wears Prada, who will play the biggest venues of their career, and probably the smallest. 25,000 screaming kids one night, then 250 hot and sweaty fans the next. A much-anticipated venture for a band that regularly plays to sold-out crowds of 1500-2500. Joining the band at all the smaller venues will be Miss May I and Your Demise. “We’ll include several Dear Love songs that we have not played in a long time, and probably will not play again or anytime soon,” adds Hranica.

One of Christian music’s most respected singer/songwriters, Andrew Peterson, headed to Washington state to record his new project, slated for a July release.

Bonded Records and Universal Music Christian Group have partnered together for the March 30 release of the Letters to God: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. A two-disc, 23-song collection consisting of original score compositions and inspirational songs inspired by the upcoming feature film. Letters to God, from one of the producers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants, opens in theaters nationwide on April 9 via Possibility Pictures and Vivendi Entertainment.

Owl City started a Spring headlining tour of the US on March 30, hitting every major US market.

Leeland and Phil Wickham will co-headline the 26-city A Night Of Worship Tour featuring special guest, songwriter/artist/worship leader Matt Maher.

In back-to-back weeks, Headbangers Ball (which now airs at the crazy time-slot of  Mondays 3am EST) has been hosted by Demon Hunter and The Devil Wears Prada.

Strike First’s newest family member is from Hendersonville, TN: As Hell Retreats. Look for their debut full-length Revival to be released on May 25.

The German power metal band Sinbreed have released their video for the track “Dust to Dust” online.

Relient K fans are about to get more than their money’s worth when Gotee Records releases Relient K: The First Three Gears (2000-2003) on April 20 at retail stores and digital retailers worldwide. With a whopping 51 songs, including five rare bonus tracks, the compilation is a three-disc set of the first three Relient K albums.

The UK-based ice-cold legion Wintersoul are proud to announce that they have just signed a deal with American record label Nokternal Hemizphear.

Just weeks after releasing its bonecrushing new album, The Infinite Order, metal juggernaut Living Sacrifice continues beating down doors at radio, elbowing its way onto scores of stations across the nation, as well as Sirius/XM, Music Choice and DMX. The band currently holds the #23 position on the CMJ Loud Rock charts, the #27 position on the Media Guide Metal Specialty charts and #4 on the FMQB Metal Detector chart.

The Almost have contributed their cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” to the upcoming compilation Punk Goes Classic Rock.

“Again,” the lead single from A&M/Octone recording artist Flyleaf’s latest album, Memento Mori, has climbed to #3* at Modern Rock radio.

“Castaway” off of Chasen’s  March 9 release of That Was Then, This Is Now, was featured as March 23’s free Discovery Download on iTunes.

The Sufjan Stevens song “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” is featured on the Friday Night Lights Vol. 2 Original Television Soundtrack.

U2 to release historic Rose Bowl Concert on DVD.
U2360° At The Rose Bowl will be released on DVD and Blu-ray by Interscope Records on June 3, coinciding with the band’s first U.S. show in 2010. U2360° At The Rose Bowl was the penultimate gig of last year’s U2360° tour in support of their Grammy-nominated album No Line on The Horizon. The Rose Bowl performance was the band’s biggest show of 2009 and U2’s biggest U.S. show ever, with a live audience in excess of 97,000. The show was also streamed across seven continents via YouTube. The first-ever live streaming of a full-length stadium concert, U2360° at the Rose Bowl had over 10 million views on the channel in one week. Shot entirely in HD, the concert was filmed with 27 cameras and directed by Tom Krueger who had previously worked on U23D, the first live-action 3D concert movie taken from U2’s Vertigo Tour. Available in standard and two-disc deluxe DVD formats. The deluxe formats and the Blu-ray will feature a new documentary called “Squaring the Circle: Creating U2360°,” with new interviews from U2, Paul McGuinness and the team behind the touring production.

Corrections: Last issue’s Classic Moments section was laid out by Jeff Bruno and The Spiritual Significance of Music (reviewed in the LIFEstyle section)is available at xtrememusic.org

Destroy The Runner In Ernie Ball Contest
Destroy The Runner has a chance to play at San Diego’s Warped Tour & need your help. Here is what the bands says: “This is super easy and can change our lives forever. We have a really good shot at this. If you go to this link, you can vote for Destroy The Runner to play San Diego Warped Tour for the “Metal” genre. If we win we get $15,000.00, we record with a famous producer, and we get to be on Van’s Warped Tour next year. This would drastically change our lives. We have a very good chance to win this because of our fans, friends, and family. S if there is anything that you can do, PLEASE, help support us. This is legit. They will ask for your email, but you can uncheck or check boxes to never get spam or emails from Ernie Ball. Super easy. All we ask for is your vote and anything extra is amazing. Amazing.
Thank you so much friends and family. Much love and thanks.
- chad & destroy the runner

Tobymac Tune Chosen As MLB Theme Song
Following the highest sales debut of his solo career with his new CD TONIGHT (No. 6 on Billboard Top 200/No. 1 Christian SoundScan/No. 2 iTunes® overall), multi-platinum and GRAMMY® Award winning artist TobyMac is now celebrating the project’s title track being chosen as the theme song for Major League Baseball Network’s (MLB) 30 CLUBS IN 30 DAYS spring training series. The song will be featured throughout each episode. With just 41 days until Opening Day, MLB Network recently announced it will once again televise the Spring Training series 30 Clubs in 30 Days, with hour-long features on each of the 30 Major League clubs previewing the 2010 season. The new season of 30 Clubs in 30 Days will provide extensive coverage of each team with field reports, interviews, predictions and inside access to every club’s training camp as Opening Day approaches. A preview of the new season can be viewed on MLB Network’s web site. 30 Clubs in 30 Days premieres on Wednesday, March 3 at 5:00 p.m. ET with the Detroit Tigers, followed by the New York Yankees on Thursday, March 4 at 5:00 p.m. ET (check www.mlbnetwork.com for updates).
Sold out and packed crowds helped TobyMac kick off the AWAKE TONIGHT tour with Skillet last week, which runs through April 11.

Soundmass Signs Coram Deo
Soundmass is pleased to announce the signing of Coram Deo for the release of their new EP “Death is Dead”. Formed in 2003 in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, this EP follows on from Coram Deo’s “Escape to the Heaven” demo (2005) and their debut album “Evangelion” (2007). “Death is Dead” sees the band honing a melodic thrash/death metal sound. Influenced by the likes of Arch Enemy, Carcass, Holy Moses and Dark Tranquillity, be on the lookout for “Death is Dead” to be released mid 2010 but, in the meantime, check out the title track from the new EP on the Coram Deo MySpace.

For Today Release New Video
For Today have just released their latest video for the song “Saul of Tarsus (The Messenger)” off of their album Portraits. They worked with Drew Russ to produce great results. “Drew was a blast to work with!” says Mattie Montgomery. “He was incredibly organized and thoughtful. He was a ton of fun, and he really took our loose concept for a video and made it his own. I think our finished product is much better for having had him involved.”
Tour Dates:
3/26 – Fresno, CA
3/27 – Anaheim, CA
3/29 – Salinas, CA
3/30 – Santa Rosa, CA
4/3 – Saltillo, Coahuila
4/4 – Monterrey, Nuevo Le’on
5/14 – Mansfield, OH
5/15 – Bristol, IN
5/16 – Windsor, ON
5/17 – Toronto, ON
6/18 – Wilmore, KY
6/19 – Evansville, IN

Queens Club Post New Song
Queens Club have put up a new song Dust on their myspace today. he song is from their forthcoming album Young Giant to be released on 3/23 via Tooth & Nail Records. Zambooie.com has also launched a unique pre-order today as well. All pre-order customers for the album placed on Zambooie will receive a link and login to listen to the album in it’s entirety IMMEDIATELY! Pre-Order is sold with a special t-shirt and CD package or as CD only (links below). Queens Club produces music that wields throbbing post-punk energy with a dollop of electronic pop gloss and infectious melodies. The band was formed by Dan Eaton (vocals/guitar) and Jake Ryan (drums/vocals) both of whom are former members of hardcore/noise rock outfit The Chariot. The band has just completed a tour with Breathe Carolina and will be announcing new tour dates shortly.
For more information on the pre-orders, visit:
Shirt & CD Bundle –
zambooie.com/toothandnail/detail.tpl?sku=TNDCOMBO56959
CD Only –
zambooie.com/toothandnail/detail.tpl?sku=TND56959

Tourniquet Rocking Again
As posted on the Tourniquet forums by Ted Kirkpatrick of Tourniquet: “I have three exciting things to tell you about. I have just completed recording my first solo album called ODE TO A ROADKILL.” The title track refers to the sad reality of the millions of animals who die each year on our roadways. 7 songs, over 40 minutes of brand new music. I have been a fan of slow “stoner” music for many years, and this album definitely fits that category, with my own influence to it, of course. I’m really pleased with the way it turned out and look forward to having you all hear it as it is super, super heavy. All “vocals” are done utilizing majestic, creepy, haunting, unaltered animal calls. Cool album art designed by Jared Meyer – aka Lucid Hysteria. The album will be available as a 6 panel Digipak CD and an online download. Looking at a release date of March 10, 2010 – right around the corner. At the same time, I have been working on a different solo project also very soon to be released called IN THE SHADOW OF THE MASTERS. It is a very technical drumming album featuring drums played over classical music. I’ve done a few things on past Tourniquet albums, but I think this is beyond anything so far just in length of the pieces. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MASTERS will feature music by Mozart, Chopin, Rossini, Beethoven and more. Release date: March 30, 2010. Finally, we will be recording a brand new epic TOURNIQUET album in July or August, 2010. We are excited to announce that we will be working with legendary English producer NEIL KERNON. Neil has either produced, recorded, mixed, or engineered a staggering amount of cool music from classic metal (Queensryche, Dokken, Judas Priest, Autograph) to death metal (Nile, Cannibal Corpse) to progressive music (Nevermore, Magma) to hair metal (Britny Fox) to Christian bands like Petra, to classic bands like Kansas, to platinum selling albums like Hall and Oates “Private Eyes”. We plan to release it as soon as it’s finished in fall of this year.”

Woe Of Tyrants News
Woe Of Tyrants’ new album, Threnody, will be in the hands of fans by April 14th. Vocalist Chris Catanzaro explains the concept behind the song, “Threnody”: “This song was written to describe a point in “Threnody” which our traveler is within a dream, a dream that is one of the few points in his journey that he experiences any semblance of peace and serenity.” Read the full explanation on MetalSucks.net HERE.

New Klank Album Readies
The new KLANK titled NUMB…Reborn will be available for download thru FIXT ONLINE on 4-20-2010. Featuring guest appearances by Jim Chaffin, Larry Farkas and Michael Phillips. Spread the word.
URBAN WARFARE coming late summer… Will u be ready???? To enter the Klank Ringtones Kontest, send an email to contest at hmmag.com and list your three favorite Klank songs. The winners will be forwarded to Klank, who will make your custom ringtones. How cool is that? Now enter!

White Collar Sideshow Update
White Collar Sideshow has released an update via their newsletter: “Wow…time has just slipped away from me…and as it flies by, the thought of an update has become more and more intimidating! How in the world do I wrap up the last almost 5 months in an email?!? Well…here goes my best effort…”. “We had some amazing experiences in October. We participated in the Unified Underground Conference in Annapolis, MD. Long story short, they had “The Sideshow” picked as their theme and when they heard about us, they asked us to play and speak. It was so awesome-we highly recommend it to everyone! The second half of October was spent playing shows in Florida with our dear friend Levi the Poet. We adore him. He does poetry from the heart…very intense, very real. Check him out if you have the chance-you won’t be disappointed. Florida was awesome. Amazing weather, amazing people! We got to go to a few of the theme parks, too. Way fun. Our highlight of November was touring with The Great Transparency. We spent a solid week with them and they are solid guys! Also throughout Oct and Nov, we helped collect socks for Faceless International. They were originally going to go to India, to help a village devastated by a tsunami, however, when they were about to send them, the Hatian earthquake happened, so the socks were sent down there. Thanks to all of you who donated socks!!! We ended up with hundreds of pairs! We took December and January off. We really needed time to regroup and just rest after traveling for a year straight. It was great to be able to spend time with family and friends. I saw my first official White Christmas and I even had a white birthday! Never seen either! Pretty cool. We started back on the road mid-January and on the way to our first show, Harvey the RV started smoking so bad that the smoke alarm went off!! We had to cancel that show (sorry Dallas!) and head back to Fort Smith for a few days to get it repaired. We then made our way to California. We were there during the week of rain! They drive in the rain the same way us southerners drive in the snow. eek! Had such a great time in Cali. A few of the guys from XXX Church came to our show at Epic Ventura. Epic is the same location where we filmed our episode of The Dog Whisperer-which still hasn’t aired. They promised they’d keep me informed, so as soon as I find out, I will pass the info along to all of our pages. Anywho…while the XXX Church guys were there, they filmed some of our set and we sat down for an interview with them. You can check out the podcast at their home page, or you can visit our YouTube to watch it. Leave us a comment to let us know what you think! After Cali, we worked our way back east and while we were up in South Bend, IN, T and I got to do an interview with The Harvest Show. It’s part of LeSEA broadcasting and is shown all over the world!! It aired on Feb 5 and you can watch it HERE.We were interviewed about 20 min into the show and our interview was about 15 minutes long. It was a great experience! Wow…this hasn’t been too bad February has been good to us. Got to spend Valentine’s Day with The Leech as well as dear friends in Arkansas. We all went on our annual Valentine’s date to McDonalds…10 years running! It’s about the only tradition T & I have! Then we headed south and got to visit New Orleans for a few days. T had never been there-we walked around, people watched and ate some biegnets. It was a good time. While we were there, we finally met Brandt Russo. This guy is legit. You may remember a few tweets back in the day about Operation Starvation or Adopt-a-Jesus…that’s Brandt. Operation Starvation was crazy. He went on a hunger strike until he was able to raise $15000. With that money, 1,000,000 children were provided deworming medicine. 30,000 children die every day from hunger! If they do get food, most of it is eaten by stomach parasites. Brandt’s strike lasted 9 days. His story is similar to ours in that he sold everything he owned to follow Christ’s lead. He has been such a blessing to us and we are so happy know him! I’m sorry if I left something out-perhaps I’ll do a better job about sending regular updates So, here I sit, in Houston, TX…Ecclesia Houston has been so gracious to let us park here while my father is recovering from surgery. This church has been incredible. They’re a 7 day a week facility-so if you’re in Houston, please stop by!! We are also borrowing a car from a complete stranger. It has been amazing to see the body of Christ at work. We have several shows/festivals scheduled for this year, and hope to fill our dates up like last year! You can always check our dates at our MySpace to see if we are coming to your neck of the woods! If we are not-then email me and let’s make it happen (whitecollarsideshow@hotmail.com)! Our MySpace also links to our merch store, so if you would like to sport some WCS gear, you can get it online. We updated the look of our page as well, so if you haven’t seen it, I’d suggest a visit-it’s pretty sweet, I must say. Since I’m talking MySpace, I might as well give our Facebook, Twitter and YouTube a shoutout as well. Since I got my new phone, I’ve been posting silly mini-vids. Check’m out. We have really started talking about The Witchunt (WCS II) and trying to figure out how to make it a reality. WCS was 3 1/2 years of dreams, my Jump Day, then about 2 years of elbow grease to get to our first show. Obviously, money is a factor, but time and creative also play in. T has been working hard at writing and trying to get his visions on paper. I’m stoked to see it all happen-I just know how much work it will take to get where we want to be. We would love to see it launch in 2012.

War of Ages Pre-Order
The brand new album from War Of Ages titled “Eternal” will be released on April 13, 2010. You can pre-order it here. There will be a very limited pressing of colored vinyl copies made (only 500!), so make sure to check that pre-order option out so you don’t miss out on these very rare records. Also, all pre-orders will be entered to win a test pressing of the vinyl (only 5 made) and a $200 Facedown Records shopping spree! You can hear a brand new song from the album called “Desire” on the bands myspace. Check that out and stay posted for some big touring news that will be announced shortly.

Creed Release New Video
Creed’s new video for “A Thousand Faces” is now available on iTunes! Click here to get your copy now and make sure to leave a review! Don’t forget to listen for “A Thousand Faces” on your favorite radio station!

©2010 HM Magazine All Rights Reserved

More news from last week:

still fresh (as far as you know)

“We are mixing right now and taking the time we need to get it right,” states the band’s management. “We have been working on this album for 3 years and really feel we have something special, something worth waiting for and something worth getting right. “

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Thrice News
THRICE’s brand new album Beggars is available today via iTunes! Thrice will play the final five dates of the Vans Warped Tour, from August 19 – 23. The band kicks off their fall trek on October 25 as main support for Brand New, and immediately following, they begin their own headlining tour with The Dear Hunter and Polar Bear Club on November 15. Tickets are available for Thrice’s headlining dates now through a special Ducat King presale and go on sale to the general public on August 20. The CD version of Beggars, featuring two b-sides (“Answered,” “Red Telephone”) which were recorded during the Beggars sessions, as well as a studio rendition of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and remixes of “All The World Is Mad” and “Circles,” by Free The Robots and Textual, respectively, hits the street on September 15.
Tour Dates:
8/19 – Fresno, CA
8/20 – Mountain View, CA
8/21 – Sacramento, CA
8/22 – San Diego, CA
8/23 – Los Angeles, CA
8/29 – Vancouver, BC
10/25 – Lubbock, TX
10/27 – Austin, TX
10/29 – Tulsa, OK
10/30 – Dallas, TX
11/ 02 – Memphis, TN
11/ 03 – Atlanta, GA
11/ 04 – Lake Buena Vista, FL
11/ 05 – Tampa, FL
11/ 07 – N. Myrtle Beach, SC
11/ 09 – Charlotte, NC
11/ 10 – Richmond, VA
11/ 11 – Baltimore, MD
11/ 13 – Norfolk, VA
11/ 14 – Philadelphia, PA
11/ 15 – Pittsburgh, PA
11/ 16 – Grand Rapids, MI
11/ 17 – Poplar Grove, IL
11/ 19 – Colorado Springs, CO
11/ 20 – Salt Lake City, UT

Confide Tour News
Los Angeles’ Confide has announced that they will headline The Thriller Tour alongside Agraceful, Memphis May Fire, and This Romantic Tragedy. Dates will run from August 21st through September 22nd, hitting most every major US market and will be sponsored by Denny’s. The restaurant will host the band after shows, giving fans a chance to meet and hang out with Confide. Singer Ross Kenyon commented, “We’re really thankful for having Denny’s sponsor the tour and allowing us to hang out at their restaurants will be a great chance for us to get to bring our fans closer to us.”
For more information, check out:
myspace.com/confide
Tour Dates:
8/21 – San Antonio, TX
8/22 – Claremore, OK
8/24 – Morris, IL
8/25 – Aurora, IL
8/26 – Toledo, OH
8/27 – Romeo, MI
8/28 – Charleroi, PA
8/29 – Poughkeepsie, NY
8/30 – Manchester, NH
8/31 – Revere, MA
9/01 – Vineland, NJ
9/02 – Richmond, VA
9/04 – Fredericksburg, VA
9/05 – VA Beach, VA
9/06 – Jacksonville, FL
9/07 – Fort Myers, FL
9/08 – West Palm, FL
9/09 – Orlando, FL
9/10 – Tampa, FL
9/11 – Foley, AL
9/12 – Montgomery, AL
9/14 – Bartlett, TN
9/15 – Springfield, MO
9/17 – Houston, TX
9/18 – McAllen, TX
9/19 – Laredo, TX
9/20 – El Paso, TX
9/21 – Tempe, AZ
9/22 – Canoga Park, CA

Austrian Death Machine Releasing New Album This Fall
The heaviest metal band in the world (by sheer mass) has finished their follow up to Total Brutal – get ready for Double Brutal! Not satisfied with the limitations offered by putting out a single disc album, Ahhnold demanded two full cds full of muscle pumping metal! When asked why they needed two discs and why he thought that was best, he quickly replied, “Two discs made it heavy and brutal enough to crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and to hear the lamentations of their women!!!” Double Brutal is packed with more “juice” than a professional athlete. Disc one features soon to be classics See You At The Party Richter, and Let Off Some Steam Bennett. Disc two is crammed full of metal covers, complete with Ahhnold’s take on them, including Metallica’s Trapped Under Ice and Killing Is My Business…and Business Is Good by none other than Megadeth. Austrian Death Machine guitarist, bassist, drummer and vocalist, Tim Lambesis adds: “Most bands sit around in a rehearsal room for a few years to put out a 10 song album and do a tour supporting that release. I’ve been a busy touring with As I Lay Dying and traveled everywhere this year besides Antarctica, but in the five minutes that I was home between tours I decided to put together a double disc of Ahhnold inspired brutality called Double Brutal. Also, Ed Repka (the legend behind the artwork for Megadeth) did an amazing job on this album cover.”
For more information on Austrian Death Machine, visit:
myspace.com/austriandeathmachine

Thieves & Liars Posts New Songs
Head on over to the newly designed Thieves & Liars myspace page where you can hear 2 brand new songs from their upcoming album American Rock N Roll. Pre-orders are now up in Facedown Records online store. and check those out. American Rock N Roll comes out on September 1.

Pre-Order Abel’s New Album Now
You can now pre-order Abel?s The Honest Love here. There are a couple of pre-order packages available and as an added bonus, you will receive an instant 3 song digital download from the release after you pre-order it! So get those pre-orders in and check out one of the sweetest new bands out today.
For more info on Abel, visit:
myspace.com/abeltheband
Tour Dates:
8/12 – Sicklerville, NJ
8/13 – Dunellen, NJ
8/15 – Purple Door Festival
8/16 – Springfield, OH
8/17 – Carmel, IN
8/18 – Kansas City, KS
8/19 – Emporia, KS
8/21 – Nashville, TN
8/22 – Athens, GA
8/23 – Birmingham, AL
8/25 – Jackson, MS
8/26 – Little Rock, AR
8/30 – Poughkeepsie, NY

The Heroine News
HM Magazine, T-Flo Productions, and HitMusicLinks.com are sponsoring The Heroine’s Austin Show on August 22nd. The show details are as follows:
The Heroine (SA,TX)
Sat Aug 22 @ Club Mixx
612 E. 6th St Austin, Tx.
Doors Open at 9pm
With Special Guests
Invisible Target (ATX)
Atomic Alive (ATX)
And More

SXSW Accepting Applications For Showcase
The twenty-fourth South By Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference and Festival is now open for business. Geared toward music industry professionals from around the world, SXSW is a unique opportunity to make lasting connections within the entertainment industry. A keynote address anchors four days of panels, interviews, workshops, mentor sessions, peer meetings, and the trade show. Daytime events at the Austin Convention Center flow into the world-renowned music festival, which showcases over 1800 acts on stages throughout downtown Austin. Conference registrations, hotel requests, and music festival showcase applications are now being accepted. SXSW Music takes place March 17 – 21, 2010 in Austin, Texas. Registration for SXSW Music allows you access to all daytime events at the Austin Convention Center, entry into official SXSW day parties, the Trade Show which opens on Wednesday and runs through Friday and priority access into all SXSW nighttime showcases. In addition, registration will allow you to access the 2010 Online Registrants Directory, a great tool to aid in planning your SXSW meetings and networking throughout the year. SXSW is now accepting showcase applications for music acts to perform at the 2010 music festival. Sonicbids is the exclusive online musical event submission platform of the 2010 SXSW Music Festival. Unlike in the past, this year there will not be a separate international and domestic deadline. All applications must be submitted no later than November 6, 2009. Application fees are $30 for early submissions, $40 for applications submitted after September 25, 2009.
For more information or to apply, visit:
sxsw.com/music/shows/apply

Telegraph Canyon In Dallas Observer
Telegraph Canyon was recently featured in the Dallas Observer’s video blog. You can check out the video here.
Tour Dates:
8/21 – Ft. Worth, TX
8/21 – Ft. Worth, TX
8/22 – Dallas, TX
8/28 – Austin, TX
8/29 – Austin, TX
8/29 – Denton, TX
9/04 – Albuquerque, NM
9/05 – Colorado Springs, CO
9/07 – Tacoma, WA
9/08 – Seattle, WA
9/09 – Portland, OR
9/10 – San Francisco, CA
9/11 – Los Angeles, CA
9/12 – San Diego, CA
9/19 – Austin, TX
10/02 Ft. Worth, TX
For more information on Telegraph Canyon, visit:
telegraphcanyon.net

Flyleaf News
Flyleaf has posted information about their upcoming album in their recent newsletter:
Hello everyone!
We are so happy to bring wonderful news! We have finished recording our new record, Memento Mori! We want to thank you for all of your stories and encouragement. It has really influenced us to make the music for Memento Mori what it is. If you relate to the songs, you might be happy to know that the stories you’ve shared with us have impacted who we are and that it has come out in the music. You are beautiful people and your stories are filled with hope and overcoming and we are better people for having known you through your emails, letters, and seeing you at shows. We picked the title Memento Mori because even though God has given us favor and your support has allowed us to taste fame and turned us from slaves to kings in some sense, we are humbled by all that has happened because we recognize that we are regular people and no better than anyone else. Our success has been a foolish thing to confound the wise, beating odds and exceeding all we could have imagined for our lives. Memento Mori means that no matter who you are, we are all mortal. There is no king that won’t face a mortal death the same as a slave. So kings and slaves alike should make the most of life and love everyone as selflessly as possible, because tomorrow is another day, and kings can fall, becoming slaves, and slaves can be promoted to become kings. If you’ve had the opportunity to come out to some of our shows within the past year you will have heard the first single Again already! It should hit the radio in the next couple weeks… But you crazy people seem to know what’s happening with us before we do and I’m not surprised to find out many have known the lyrics to Again for a year now. The first verse and chorus did change in the studio! It is a good thing, because the words say better what my heart meant. It is written for people like me, who feel a restlessness to make the world better somehow, but are much to small to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Its to say, you have the right heart, but you weren’t meant to carry it all. You are so strong, you are able to handle so much! But you can’t handle everything all at once. Let go! God’s big and He can handle it all better than you! Its okay to let go and not understand everything. I should start a control freak support group… Anyone interested? Maybe this song will help us. I sing it to myself “Only surrender will help you now..” And then I let go. Thanks for reading this and caring what we are up to. We are so thankful for you!
-Lacey Sturm (Yes I got married 9-6-08 and changed my name because my husband is AMAZING and I love belonging to him.)
For more information on Flyleaf, visit:
flyleafmusic.com

Get Beloved & Zao’s Albums On Vinyl
Broken Circles Records has released new classic albums on vinyl. They have released Zao’s Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest on opaque yellow and clear dark red vinyl and Beloved’s Failure On on opaque hunter green, opaque aqua, and opaque gold vinyl. Be sure to check them out.

Blindside News
One movie producer, Tim Hudson, a conversation with the band’s management/friend revealed the following info about Sweden’s Blindside: They are going to record with Howard Benson in September and doing two shows: one in Albuquerque and one in Las Vegas in August.

Mike Herrera’s Tumbedown Releases Single
MxPx front-man, Mike Herrera, and his hit pop-punk-a-billy side project, MIKE HERRERA’S TUMBLEDOWN, are releasing the second single off of the band’s debut self-titled album through End Sounds. The “Butcher of San Antone”, has already picked up radio airplay in markets like Louisville and Wilmington, DE and with the new official release is expected to continue with its already paved momentum. In support of the album and new single, the band will be embarking on a co-headlining tour with John Nolan of Straylight Run, starting in Seattle on August 29. Their twangy first single, “Homeward Bound”, has received spins on specialty radio across the country in Seattle, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Omaha, and Amarillo. Proving the reach and demand of the band’s sound, a Japanese version of the album was recently released on Bullion Records. Herrera has been writing country music since 1998, and claims some of the industry greats as his influences; songwriting legends as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Bill Monroe. MIKE HERRERA’S TUMBLEDOWN captures the punk rock energy of MxPx, while also displaying the soulful experiences of Herrera’s travels along the lonely, open road. MIKE HERRERA’S TUMBLEDOWN out of Bremerton, WA consists of Herrera as songwriter/lead vocals/guitar, lead guitarist Jack Parker, standup bassist Marshall Trotland, and drummer Harley Trotland.

©2009 HM Magazine All Rights Reserved

More news from last week:

still fresh (as far as you know)