Search Results for: Rock Fest

Just like everything that surrounds Sum 41, Chuck, the band’s fourth full-length album, has an outlandish story behind it. Last May, the group of 20-somethings were in the Congo, doing the charitable rock star thing by filming a documentary for War Child Canada about the civil war there, which has claimed over three million lives. In the midst of their altruistic act, the band suddenly found themselves in the midst of a serious violent outbreak as gun-fighting and bombs began falling just outside of their hotel. We caught up with Dave “Brown Sound” Baksh to talk a bit about dodging… Read more »

To many touring bands, the East Coast of Canada is uncharted territory due to logistical and financial reasons. Some bands manage to make it to the Maritimes, but few are able to extend their tours over to Newfoundland. Even many Maritime bands have never been over to The Rock. And in reverse, some Newfoundland acts have never performed outside of their home province. The St. John’s music scene continues to thrive, but longtime scene veteran Liz Pickard says that it’s time for local bands and labels to get their respective acts together and to get some national exposure. As a… Read more »

Seven months ago, A Dozen Furies were just another band you would catch playing in a dive bar and, looking up only briefly from your drink, note to yourself, “Interesting name.” Now, after besting North Carolina’s Cynder in the finals of MTV’s “Battle for Ozzfest” – scoring $60,000, a contract with Sanctuary Records and a slot on next year’s Ozzfest second stage in the process – they’ve become the metal community’s biggest overnight success story. “We’re a very new band. We only have one album. We’ve only been around for a year,” ADF guitarist Marc Serrano laughed. “When we won… Read more »

Sometimes, Washington is as hot as Bangkok. OK, I stole that line, but it was baking hot at RFK Stadium Saturday for the HFStival, the annual, all-day, relentlessly eclectic rock extravaganza put on by local radio station WHFS-FM (99.1). An estimated crowd of 60,000 blazed under a pre-summer sun, moseying in and out of the stadium from parking-lot attractions that included a forest of beer trucks, giant inflatable corporate logos, two more bandstands – one for national acts, the other for local acts such as Washington Social Club and Jimmie’s Chicken Shack – and, for the truly adventurous, a Ferris… Read more »

British heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath will reunite for the first time since 2001 for Ozzfest, which begins July 10 in Hartford, Conn., a spokeswoman for the annual road show said on Tuesday. Ozzfest co-founder and headliner Ozzy Osbourne will revisit such hard rocking classics as “War Pigs” and “Paranoid” along with guitarist Tony Iommi and bass player Geezer Butler. But original drummer Bill Ward will be replaced by Mike Bordin, who backs Osbourne on his solo gigs. Along with three-quarters of the original Black Sabbath, Ozzfest will also feature four-fifths of the original Judas Priest, and such acts as… Read more »

The Foo Fighters will replace Guns N’ Roses in the May 30 headlining slot at the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon. Guns N’ Roses last month pulled out of its planned performance at the event, citing the departure of guitarist Buckethead. The performance would have made GNR the first act to perform three times at the festival. Buckethead is already in the midst of a solo tour opening for Particle. Rock in Rio will stretch over two weekends, May 28-30 and June 4-6 in the Portuguese city’s Bela Vista Parque. The Foo Fighters will top a “World Stage” bill… Read more »

Ozzy Osbourne may be famous for biting a head off a bat, but he’ll never bite the hand that feeds him-that is, his fans. Chomping at the bit to get back onstage again since his near-fatal ATV crash late last year, the Prince of F-king Darkness has confirmed plans to headline this summer’s Ozzfest, the monstrously successful heavy metal touring festival he founded in 1996, Billboard.com reports. Details are still sketchy but the bill is also said to include such other headbangers as Slayer, shock-rockers Slipknot and enduring British metal mavens Judas Priest, who recently reunited with vocalist Rob Halford… Read more »

Rick Van Santen, a co-president of Goldenvoice, a Los Angeles concert promotion company that ushered punk rock from the fringes of the music scene to a wide audience, died last Sunday at his home in Ventura County of flu-related complications, his Goldenvoice partner Paul Tollett said. He was 41. In the 1980s, a time when major promoters shunned punk because of its reputation as a violent subculture, Goldenvoice presented acts in large, established rooms with quality sound, such as the Hollywood Palladium and the Palace (now the Avalon). “There cannot be any L.A. band since the early ’80s that was… Read more »

In their 13 years together, the members of P.O.D. have never denied their faith. And frontman Sonny Sandoval says the group never will. “It’s going to come out, whether I build houses or collect garbage,” he says. Spirituality and positivity have saturated the band’s material to date and have helped turn P.O.D. into a multiplatinum-selling act in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. With the new Atlantic effort, “Payable on Death,” both band and label hope that the faith of the 2.7 million U.S. fans who bought P.O.D.’s previous album also remains intact, as the new set – the group’s… Read more »

Their music has always been personal and uncompromising, expressing their distaste for authority and their penchant for classic punk. But Rancid have never worn their hearts on their sleeves – until now. The band’s latest album, Indestructible, is a musical manifesto of strength and courage, reflecting all the styles in the group’s arsenal – from the Clash-tinged groove of “Memphis” to the roaring punk firestorm of “Born Frustrated.” Lyrically, however, is where the real breakthroughs take place. Songs like “Ghost Band” and “Tropical London” are more poignant and confessional than most of the band’s past output, revealing a sensitivity that… Read more »