Search Results for: Rock Fest

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 »

It’s OK with Nickelback if you want to call them a pop group. In fact, pop doesn’t begin to describe the Canadian quartet’s third album, “The Long Road.” The Roadrunner set, arguably the most-anticipated global rock release of the year, is due Sept. 23 in North America and a day earlier in the rest of the world. “Somewhere along the line, people turned pop – as in ‘popular’ – into a dirty word,” says Chad Kroeger, leader of the hard-rocking band. “We want to reach the widest audience possible and let everyone know who we are. Korn, Tool and Slipknot… Read more »

Papa Roach will enter the studio on September 22 with producer Howard Benson (P.O.D., Cold) to begin work on their next full-length album. The follow-up to 2002’s Lovehatetragedy is expected to be released in March of 2004 through Dreamworks Records. About working with Benson, frontman Jacoby Shaddix said that “(Howard) makes huge sounding rock records, and that’s what we’re going for…just big rock.” Papa Roach will headline a benefit concert in their hometown of Vacaville, California, Saturday (September 6), with all proceeds going to the Vacaville High School music program and Opportunity House. Other bands slated to appear include The… Read more »

Marred by fiery riots a year ago, the Leeds leg of Britain’s Carling Weekend made a sold-out, subdued and sunny return this weekend. Metallica, Linkin Park, Staind, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, AFI, the Polyphonic Spree, Hot Hot Heat, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, the Libertines, Blink-182, the Cooper Temple Clause, Death in Vegas, the Streets and many others played the open-air arena and three tents at the festival’s new site, Bramham Park. Fifty thousand people were on hand each of the weekend’s three days, but police reported that only twenty-seven arrests were made this year – in contrast to the chaos… Read more »

British rock band The Darkness struck a blow for the big hair, skin-tight catsuits and wailing guitar solos of the 1980s Thursday, outshining rivals at Britain’s biggest heavy metal awards. The much-hyped quartet won two awards, for best album and best live act, at music magazine Kerrang!’s 10th annual ceremony in London. It was a far cry from the band’s humble roots in rural Suffolk, eastern England, where lead singer Justin Hawkins and the band used to perform before tiny audiences in bars. “We’ve always behaved like stadium rockers, even at the beginning when we were playing in pubs,” Hawkins… Read more »

It’s turning into a long, hot summer for Ozzy Osbourne. The metal god called in sick again Tuesday night and missed his third Ozzfest show. Osbourne skipped Tuesday night’s stop at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, with an undisclosed illness, according to a tour spokesperson. He is expected to be back on his feet in time for Friday’s show at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia. Ozzy sat out a July 9 show in Sacramento after struggling through the previous night’s set in San Francisco with what doctors described as severe laryngitis. He was still suffering… Read more »

In true DYI form, MxPx have been busy as heck since the release of THE EVER PASSING MOMENT three years ago. The band made rounds on the 2002 Warped Tour, filmed a Diet Pepsi commercial that aired during Super Bowl XXXVII and opened for Good Charlotte and New Found Glory this past spring. After recording over 40 songs, MxPx will release BEFORE EVERYTHING AND AFTER on September 16. Produced by Dave Jerden and mixed by Chris and Tom Lord-Alge, BEFORE EVERYTHING AND AFTER is MxPx’s sixth full-length album, the band’s third for A&M Records. “Everything Sucks (When You’re Gone)” is… Read more »