At The Skylines featured on ARTISTdirect's "See the Music" series!

At The Skylines, who recently released a 4 song acoustic EP entitled To Build An Empire (pick it up here), is being featured on Artist Direct's "See the Music."

Here's what they had to say:

In the latest installment of our exclusive See the Music series, ARTISTdirect.com sat down with rising stars At the Skylines, who are from our own backyard in Southern California. They opened up about the song "The Amazing Atom," revealing the deeply personal origins of the song.

It's about being a child of divorce.

Vocalist Chris Shelley said the song was written "around the end where my parents severed all ties. I moved into my mom's house and I wanted to write a song that my dad can listen to and know it's about him."

The song was recorded six times, but it has become the band's anthem, since it's what kids love and go crazy to in the live setting. They are never going to record it again, since it's been done over and over for years now. We're fine with that, as long as they keep playing it live.

The band's new digital EP, To Build an Empire, is out now, as is their full-length, the criminally underrated The Secrets to Life. It's one of our favorites of 2012, so if you've slept on it, wake up people! Check it out now. We never lead you astray here at ARTISTdirect.com.




Go check out the full interview at: http://www.artistdirect.com/entertainment-news/article/see-the-music-at-the-skylines-the-amazing-atom/10254132

"Chasing Ghosts" and "House of Gold & Bones" are the most anticipated albums of the fall!

Artist Direct named The Amity Affliction's "Chasing Ghosts" and Stone Sour's "House of Gold & Bones Part 1" among the most anticipated albums of the fall! 
Here's what they had to say:

Stone Sour - House of Gold & Bones Part 1

I’ve heard that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Therefore, people who live in houses made of Gold and Bones (or any houses for that matter) should listen to Stone Sour! How would you like to have a house made of Gold and Bones? I bet it would be the flashiest and creepiest house on the block. All these ramblings aside, expect big things from a band that knows how to intertwine melody and intensity with the best of them. This is already a contender for album of the year as far as we're concerned as it's the first-half of the group's double-disc concept epic. [October 22, 2012]

The Amity Affliction - Chasing Ghosts

The Amity Affliction remain one of the most exciting bands to infiltrate heavy music in over a decade. They fuse soaring, searing melodies to absolutely crushing grooves. We have a feeling we're going to be Chasing Ghosts forever as soon as this one drops. [October 2, 2012]

Check out the full article here: Feature: The Most Anticipated Albums of the Fall

 

Mind Equals Blown gives The Amity Affliction's "Chasing Ghosts" an 8.0: "Their best release to date."

Australian post-hardcore act The Amity Affliction’s last two releases, Youngbloods and Severed Ties, were albums that scratched the surface of greatness but never quite reached it. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to love on both releases, but at times, the band would ridiculously devolve into genericore. With Chasing Ghosts – the band’s third release – however, The Amity Affliction have eliminated a lot of their past problems. There are some minor missteps (such as needlessly applying auto-tuned harmonies to Ahren Stringer’s already fantastic voice), but Chasing Ghosts is definitely the band’s biggest achievement so far, especially in the lyrics department.
Chasing Ghosts seems to serve as the band’s answer to the increase in teen suicides as of late, and each track seems to at least touch on the subject of death. Prevalent throughout the album is also the message of living your life to the fullest because, well, it’s the only life you’re ever going to get. In addition to being a sentiment that I agree with on a personal level, Chasing Ghosts adds just the right amount of emotion to make it the band’s most personal work to date. I found myself getting more and more attached to the album with each subsequent listen.
“Chasing Ghosts,” which serves as both the album opener and the title track, is a clear indicator of a tighter band altogether. Joel Birch’s screams have improved so much since the early days of Severed Ties; it’s almost hard to believe it’s the same vocalist. Stringer’s clean vocals are just as good as ever (even with the rather annoying auto-tune), which is made abundantly clear in the first 30 seconds of “Life Underground,” one of the album’s strongest tracks. Birch and Stringer mix together well here, and the musicianship is tight and well-executed.
“Open Letter,” which contains some of the best lyrics on the entire album (“I’m not searching the sky, for a reason to live/’Cause I found beauty right here, and the passion to give”), is another big highlight. Stringer’s vocals are also exceptionally good here, especially in the track’s catchy and emotional chorus. ”Greens Avenue” has a solid groove to it, and includes a headbanger of a breakdown. The track also contains a healthy amount of changes, and guitarists Troy Brady and Imran Siddiqi really show off their chops here. “I Heart H.C.” is another one of the album’s strongest tracks, complete with anti-God and anti-suicide lyrics. “So when you leave this earth, when your heart stops you’ll see/There’s no choir of angels, there’s no gods to meet.”
Chasing Ghosts is, without a doubt, the band’s best release to date. Do they have more in them? Absolutely, and with this album, it’s clear they’re on the path to crafting their masterpiece. But Amity fans should have no problem connecting with this album, and for the band to evolve their sound so much in such a relatively small amount of time is incredible. Chasing Ghosts is nothing groundbreaking, at least musically, but the album’s stunning emotional center will keep it high on my playlist for the foreseeable future.

Originally posted at: http://mindequalsblown.net/2012/09/21/the-amity-affliction-chasing-ghosts-review/

Nightwish on Their First Thematic Album "Imaginaerum"

Nightwish's Tuomas Holopainen reveals the large themes behind their new album "Imaginaerum", and gives the details on the upcoming feature film based on the record



Originally posted at: https://www.fuse.tv/videos/2012/09/nightwish-on-their-first-thematic-album-and-movie

Trespassing with Trivium – Paolo Gregoletto at Trespass America Festival

After a year of touring, Trivium are still making tremendous waves in the music world. This summer, the band toured on the Trespass America Festival. I caught up with bassist Paolo Gregoletto towards the end of the run to talk about the tour and the band’s upcoming plans. “The tours’ been excellent,” Paolo said. “We’re all getting pretty tired, but all the shows have been great. You get up there, and the show just rejuvenates you.”

In the recent months, Trivium has begun work on it’s next album. “We have about 12 demos,” Paolo revealed. “We’re hoping to have about 20 songs ready to go by the UK/Europe tour – we’re gonna start rehearsing on the tour.” Paolo also reaffirmed that the album is going to be heavier and angrier than previous Trivium outings. We went on to discuss the upcoming album in more detail, talked about the state of metal in pop culture, and more.
Trivium’s latest album, In Waves, is out now on Roadrunner Records, and debuted at #1 on The Billboard Top 200 and #1 on the Billboard Hard Rock Chart. In Waves is the evolution of heavy. It’s a balanced record on which the band showcases all their strong points; mixing heavy, shredding riffs and beautiful melodies. Back in the spring, the band released another single off the album, entitled “Black”. Having just wrapped up a quick South American run, Trivium are currently touring the UK, and then on to the rest of Europe until Thanksgiving. Get your tickets and make waves while you can, ’cause when the holidays come, into the studio they go. - by Matt Bishop (Photos Courtesy of Kaitlin Follmer (Amped Up Aperture Photography)


Originally posted at: http://therockrevival.com/heavy-metal/trespassing-with-trivium-paolo-gregoletto-at-trespass-america-festival/

Corey Taylor Talks New Stone Sour Music, Knotfest, Slipknot’s Future + More

 

by Full Metal Jackie

Slipknot / Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. He spoke all the hard work Stone Sour put into their double concept album ‘House of Gold & Bones – Part 1’ and ‘Part 2,’ as well as this year’s first installment of Knotfest and how long Slipknot fans will need to wait for new music. If you missed Jackie’s show, read the full interview with Corey Taylor:

Let’s talk about Stone Sour, a double concept album described musically as Pink Floyd meets Alice in Chains and with a corresponding comic book it sounds like a major creative undertaking. What got the ball rolling?

This was something I was actually thinking about when we were making ‘Audio Secrecy’ and honestly it came from all the little bits and pieces that were kind of left over after we were done with the initial recording for ‘Audio Secrecy.’ I had a story wrapped in my head for a while and I just started really trying to envision what it would be like especially in this day and age when everyone is so single minded — absolute pun intended there.
I was like, “You know what, screw the industry. If I wanted to make something above and beyond a piece of art but also great music and something that could really fire on every artistic cylinder, what would it be?” I really started flushing the story out early on, then obviously certain things happen that really drew me away from anything artistic – Paul [Gray] died and then about a year later Roy [Mayorga] had a stroke so everything really went topsy turvy for me for a bit.
Right around the middle of the Sonisphere shows we were doing with Slipknot, I was really thinkin’ about Stone Sour for some reason and that’s when I really started to put a lot of pieces together. I flushed the story out on the road and a lot of the songs that I wrote for the albums I wrote on the road. So by the time I got back it was chomping at the bit to do some demos and what not and that’s where it started from.

Looking back what part of doing a concept album were you least prepared for?

I got to be honest, I was pretty set to do whatever it took. The thing I really had to remember was that the lyrics were a narrative – that’s really where I had to focus and make sure I was telling the story the way it should be told. Basically the songs are the internal dialogue for the characters that are in the story itself so when you listen to the music and read the story you almost get this 3D kind of experience – you’re reading the story but you’re also getting what they’re thinking.
For me the real challenge was to maintain the integrity of that and make sure each character has their own little bit to say and have their own little hero moment and that everything that we tried to do musically and creatively was a nice reflection – that everything enhanced the story. It was so much fun, I mean it was a lot of work but it was so much fun as well. Working with Dave [Bottrill] he was really able to pull all of this great material out of us – basically doing two albums in the space it takes to make one. So I mean it wasn’t a lot of work, it was just a lot of fun at the end of the day.

Now that you’ve got the experience of recording a concept album, does that open the door for Slipknot to maybe try one, too?

Maybe. [Laughs] I don’t know. This was a lot of work, If it was a single concept album, maybe. It was almost trying to play basketball on a trench – you know what you want to do and you know what you want to try and do but you’re already four feet in the ground. It was like running against the breakers basically. The end result is so satisfying – so maybe, I hate to say “Never” anytime because the more you announce your plans out loud the more you make God laugh. So to me it’s more about waiting and seeing what happens. I can’t say that doing it with five guys was a kick in the ass I don’t know what the hell would happen with nine.

I got to talk to you about Knotfest, which recently happened. You’re in Iowa, home to Slipknot, playing there for the first time without Paul, it was also Randy’s [Blythe] first gig after being released from prison. How wild was your range of emotion at that first Knotfest show?

It was pretty crazy. I drove up there on my own and the whole way there – first of all you’re going through the practical emotions of “God, is anybody gonna be there?” it’s your own gig but it’s bigger than your own gig. You’re trying to start something, you’re trying to set the stage for something that can live for a few years after you’re done. The only thing I’m worried about is “Is there going to be anyone there?” So when I was driving in and I saw all the people I was immediately like “Oh thank God.” [Laughs]
Randy was the first person I went to try and find when I got to the gig and knowing that this was his first taste of it back. He was so stoked, I ran up and gave him a huge hug and we talked a little bit and he was just like, “Dude, I cannot wait to get on that stage and just let so much go.” They put on one hell of a show, I was so proud of him and the band to be able to rise above everything thrown at them in the last couple of months.
I kind of had to turn my mind back to the business at hand and basically realize that this is the beginning of something that we’re trying to build. We want Knotfest to become its own household name when it comes to festivals kind of like the way Ozzfest is. There was a lot of anxiety on my part but then you go out onstage and that audience just rolls that positivity back at you and you just eat it up. We went above and beyond for the kids and I think Paul would’ve been proud.

Speaking about this being you’re very first festival that you guys put together, did you take your experiences from all the festivals you’ve been on over the years? You’ve been on all of them.

Oh yeah, definitely. That was one of the things that got us thinking about wanting to do our own festival in the first place. We’ve been extremely lucky to have been a part of a lot of really good festivals – everything from Ozzfest here in the States to Soundwave in Australia, all the wonderful festivals that are over in Europe. We would walk around and go “This is really cool, but if we were gonna do one…” and then that was seriously an eleven year conversation. Everytime we’d be on one of those things we’d be like “You know what this is awesome and really cool but if we get to do…”
So it was really something we’d been talking about for a long, long time and about a year ago we found ourselves surrounded by the best people in the business to help us really achieve this. One thing led to another and then all of a sudden all of the things we talked about are sketched on a piece of paper or written down on a napkin and all of these crazy ideas just came rushing to the surface.
I can only take a little bit of credit for that, 99 percent of credit for everything that happened in Knotfest creatively that was all Shawn Crahan, that was all the Clown. Day and night he put so much work in and I was proud of him when we got there and saw it all physically. I was just so stoked that we were able to pull it off, I gave him a huge hug and was like “Well here it is, if we’re gonna make a mess this is the way we’re gonna do it.” It was great everything from the Slipknot museum to the crazy Pagan fire everywhere it was just insane but it was a blast. I was really proud to be a part of it.

What can you tell us in terms of a timeline and what we can expect between the two bands for you?

Stone Sour is going to dominate the next year and a half to two years for me, obviously. We’re going to have two albums coming out, right now flushing out an outline for the comic books that we’re gonna put out. I can’t tell you the company because we’re waiting for a big reveal on that but it’s going to be really, really cool – getting all the artwork together, trying to hit as many territories as possible, two or three times just to be able to get a real album cycle out of this and hopefully have this lead to something even bigger and better for that.
Probably in the next year or so we’ll start talking musically with Slipknot and seeing where it’s at. I know there are some demos here and there that are floatin’ around but nothing solid. I’ve been jotting down some ideas and whatnot but the next two years are solid, solid, solid Stone Sour. Will there be the random Slipknot show here and there? Probably but no major tours – the more stuff we do with Slipknot the closer we get to that next step in being able to walk into a studio and feel okay about it. It’s going to be very daunting but when the time is right, we’re gonna do it.
Other than that I’m workin’ on my next book and working on this damn film company with Shawn and just – Oh my God, you’d think I’d leave enough time in the day for me to sleep at some point.

Do you feel uncomfortable to have nothing going on, is that why you fill your time with 20 different projects?

I must be one of those dudes that just – but it’s my own damn fault. I have ideas everyday and if I’m not carrying a pad of paper, I’m typing it into the notes thing on my iPhone and it’s just ridiculous – idle hands or the devil’s plaything and I can’t be the devil’s plaything. I got to be the devil, I got to be the guy making it all happen.
Full Metal Jackie will welcome the very legendary Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead on her next show. Full Metal Jackie can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com.

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 Corey Taylor Talks New Stone Sour Music, Knotfest, Slipknot’s Future + More