shanesta7's Journals on Buzznet http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/ en-us <![CDATA["DR. KNOW"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/645031/ Dr. Know

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The Infamous Dr. Know Girl Logo by Jaime Hernandez

Dr. Know is a punk band which began as a Nardcore band and now has roots in Los Angeles, CA,

They are one of the founding figures of the "Nardcore" punk movement from Oxnard, CA. The band was started by Kyle Toucher, Ismael Hernandez, and Robin Cartwright in early 1981, and after auditioning a few singers, Brandon Cruz was chosen (although technically the first singer was a Ventura punk named Joey Pena). The notorious Silver Strand Beach in Oxnard, Ca. was the birthplace of Nardcore. The band recorded studio versions of several early songs with Cruz, which led to television appearances and gigs on the Los Angeles circuit.

However the early momentum was somewhat derailed by escalating inner turmoil which culminated in Cruz leaving the group in 1983, leaving Toucher to take over vocals just as the band was starting recording of Plug In Jesus for Mystic Records. Several more albums followed, including the Burn e.p. This Island Earth and Wreckage in Flesh were subsequently released on Death Records/Metal Blade, signaling a shift to a crossover direction in their sound. For This Island Earth the lineup was founding member Kyle Toucher on vocals and guitars, drummer Rik Heller and bassist Ismael Hernandez.

Before an American tour for "This Island Earth" with Scottish punks The Exploited, Ismael Hernandez quit the band and was replaced by ex-Stäläg 13 members, bassist Tony Black and 2nd guitarist Tim Harkins. After another short U.S.tour and attempt at writing a new album, Rick Heller quit the band before moving to Scotland, where he joined The Exploited and drummer Larry White was brought in to finish writing and begin recording of what would become "Wreckage in Flesh". During this period Tony Black was replaced by Mike Purdy and the album was finished April '88. Two subsequent tours followed in support of the album with bands such as The Circle Jerks, D.R.I., Murphy's Law, 7 Seconds as well as shows with up and coming Thrash-Metal bands Forbidden, VIO-lence, Holly Terror, and Metal Church. Dr. Know disbanded to pursue other projects in 1991. Since that time Slayer covered the Toucher penned "Mr. Freeze" on their "Undisputed Attitude" album.

Dr. Know also had a song, "Piece of Meat" written by Toucher and Cruz, appear on a South Park episode entitled "Clubhouse," from the 1998 season two.

In 1998, Cruz called Hernandez and together they approached Toucher to get the band back together. Toucher said no, but Hernandez and Cruz recruited others and embarked on a North American tour with big-name punk acts of the time.

In September of 2001, Cruz was asked to sing with old friends, the reunited Dead Kennedys, following the uninvolvement of Jello Biafra. That led to a gig with Dead Kennedys that lasted until April 2003. Dr. Know still managed another record, entitled Father, Son, and Holy Shit! and toured the west coast tour with Stäläg 13 and Ill Repute

Jeff Penalty has since replaced Cruz as the Dead Kennedy's vocalist.

Dr. Know today

 

While the band with Kyle broke up in 1991, Cruz and Hernandez have been reunited since 1998, playing gigs all over the world. Currently the band is recording a new album on their new label, Unrest Records. Dr. Know plans on recording their new album with Bad Religion and Circle Jerk's aging punk legend, Greg Hetson producing.

For upcoming gigs, please see the bands myspace page: http:www.myspace.com/thisisdrknow

Former lead singer/songwriter Kyle Toucher now works as a visual effects/digital artist for Zoic Studios in Los Angeles, CA. He has done work on TV series such as Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek Voyager as well as in movies such as Serenity and Van Helsing. Toucher has won an Emmy for his work. We in the band are all very proud of him. Former lead guitar player/songwriter Tim Harkins now lives in Los Angeles producing records as well as recording and mixing various artists..Some of the artists he's worked with include KoRn, Jerry Cantrell of Alice N Chains, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, French Hip Hop/ Rock band Enhancer, Rage Against the Machine,Lo-Pro, Outkast, MARZ, Good Charlotte, and Queens of the Stone Age. He and Kyle are still close friends and have their own ideas of what Dr. Know was, just as Ismael and Brandon do.

Dr. Know discography

  • We Got Power, Party or Go Home - Compilation LP (Mystic,1983)
  • It Came From Slimey Valley, Compilation LP (Mystic, 1983)
  • Party Animal, We got Power II - Compilation LP (Mystic,1984)
  • Covers, Compilation LP (Mystic,1984)
  • Mystic Super Seven Sampler #1, Compilation LP (Mystic,1984)
  • Mystic Sampler #1, Compilation LP (Mystic)
  • Mystic Sampler #2, Compilation LP (Mystic)
  • Mystic Sampler #3, Compilation LP (Mystic)
  • Nardcore, Compilation LP (Mystic, 1984)
  • Return to Slimy Valley, Compilation LP (Mystic)
  • Plug-in Jesus, 12" LP (Mystic, 1984)
  • Burn, 7" EP (Mystic, 1985)
  • This Island Earth, 12" LP (Death Records, 1986)
  • The Original Group, 12" LP (Mystic, 1987) This was actually the first recording, done with Brandon Cruz in 1981.
  • Wreckage in Flesh, 12" LP (Death Records, 1988)
  • Father, Son, and Holy Shit, LP ( recorded in 2000, never released)
  • Habily: What Was Old is New, CD (Cleopatra, 2001)
  • Best of Dr. Know, CD (Mystic, 2003)
  • Welcome to the Neighborhood, Compilation CD (Let Them Eat Records, 2005)
]]> dr. know mystic mystic records Buzznet shanesta7 2007-07-19T12:59:00Z <![CDATA["ADEMA"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/218361/


History

Formed in 1998, Adema began with Mark Chavez, Mike Ransom, Mike Montano, Tim Fluckey and Kris Kohls. In 1999, Montano left the band and Dave DeRoo, the band's current bassist, took his place. Adema was the subject of a major label bidding war, eventually won by Arista Records . The band released their first album, the self-titled Adema, in the United States on August 21, 2001. The first two singles from the album, "Giving In" and "The Way You Like It", helped it sell over 600,000 copies. Following the album's initial success, the band was part of the Ozzfest Tour in 2002 – featured on the Main Stage.

The band followed up its self-titled debut with two albums that met with limited success. Insomniac's Dream (2002), an EP, sold only about 50,000 copies, but Unstable (2003) despite popular belief, sold roughly 200,000. This was confirmed on the band's myspace profile. Following the release of Unstable, the band lost guitarist Mike Ransom, and the band itself left Arista shortly before the record company was dissolved into J Records.

The band's former lead singer, Mark Chavez, is the half-brother of Korn's Jonathan Davis. When the band was launched, many criticized it for leaning on this relationship to gain attention. In September 2004, Chavez had a falling-out with the band and quit his duties as lead singer. He currently is the lead singer for Midnight Panic, which also features Montano.


Adema fronted by former vocalist, Luke Caraccioli (3rd left).

Adema released their third full-length album, Planets, in the United States on April 5, 2005, through Earache Records. The album featured a new vocalist following Chavez's departure, Luke Caraccioli , who formerly sang in the band Rewind Yesterday. The album's first single, "Tornado," was released in March 2005. The second single, the title track, was released in September 2005.

On October 25, 2005, Caraccioli informed the band that he would no longer continue to sing for them, leaving on his own accord. According to bassist Dave DeRoo, however, Luke had planned to leave the band long before his departure was announced, leaving the band feeling betrayed. For several days after Caraccioli left the band, he and DeRoo engaged in a heated debate as to why Caraccioli left the band on an unofficial message board dedicated to the band. It was during this time that Adema caught up with former vocalist Mark Chavez and, according to DeRoo, the band and Chavez are on good terms once again. The two parties even were involved in talks about possibly reuniting with Chavez as their lead singer and even wrote and performed a few songs for a brief period, although nothing more ever resulted from these events.

On March 10, 2006, Adema announced on their MySpace blog that they hired Bobby Reeves, frontman for Los Angeles band "LEVEL", as their new singer, as was previously rumored. On August 1, 2006, Former "LEVEL" guitarist Ed Faris was also announced as being in the band, becoming the new second guitarist of Adema.

In a recent interview with vocalist Reeves, it was confirmed that Adema had signed with Immortal Records, and will release their yet untitled fourth album in June. In live performances, Reeves is also performing previous Adema songs originally sang by Chavez and Caraccioli. Tours for Adema will be starting soon with the US followed by Europe.

Currently, a new demo entitled "Somethin' Better" can be heard on the band's PureVolume website. The demo is the first recording released to the public since Reeves and Faris joined the band. A clip featuring three new song demos, "Human Nature", "Out Alive" and "Los Angeles", can also be heard on the band's Myspace. Adema began shooting the music video for "Human Nature" on September 1 in Hollywood.

Band members

Current

  • Bobby Reeves – Lead Vocals (2006-Present)
  • Tim Fluckey – Guitar (1998-Present)
  • Ed Faris – Guitar (2006-Present)
  • Dave DeRoo – Bass (1999-Present)
  • Kris Kohls – Drums (1998-Present)

Former







]]> adema immortal immortal records Buzznet shanesta7 2007-05-15T08:39:00Z <![CDATA["Silversun Pickups"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/159709/

Silversun Pickups (also simply known as sspu) is an American indie rock band from Los Angeles, California, signed to Dangerbird Records, and headed by Brian Aubert. They released their debut Pikul EP in July of 2005, and their full length album Carnavas on July 26, 2006.

The current band lineup consists of Brian Aubert (vocals/guitar), Nikki Monninger (vocals/bass), Christopher Guanlao (drums), and Joe Lester (keyboards). The band members are friends who had played together previously or in mutual friends' bands. They got their start in many of the most important L.A. clubs and began to draw a strong following upon the release of the Pikul EP.

The band finished a three-week tour opening for Australian rockers Wolfmother on December 9, 2006, and have toured with OK Go and Snow Patrol on their U.S. spring tour, which ended on April 10, 2007. The Pickups are scheduled to play at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California on April 27, 2007.

Silversun Pickups

In the brutally cold world of Big Rock Biz, there’s something very comforting about just knowing that a band like L.A.’s Silversun Pickups exists. That feeling derives from the group’s searingly sumptuous music, sure, but it has a lot to do with knowing their rather humble origins and super-admirable raison d’etre.
Silversun Pickups, you see, rather than being just another fiercely determined young band willing to claw and scrap their way to the top of the rock heap, genuinely appear to be far more like a gang of real, true friends who happened, quite fortuitously, to meet as a result of their mutual love of — shock horror! — music, and who seem to enjoy each other’s company as much as they like playing their own brand of ravishing rock noise.
And in fact, guitarist-singer Brian Aubert, bass player Nikki Monninger, drummer Christopher Guanlao and keyboardist Joe Lester are bona fide pals who’d played together or in mutual friends’ bands when they finally settled on a Silversun lineup and began playing shows at local clubs, which further broadened their innately formidable playing chops and established loving loyalties among a growing crop of seekers and sinners.
Silversun’s initial forays into live performance weren’t exactly stunning achievements in stage artistry, according to Aubert. “In the beginning, we were just trying to figure out what we wanted to do, didn’t even know if this was what we wanted to do. But we were playing clubs while we were learning – and I was learning to be a frontman all of a sudden.”
 “But after a little while we started honing in on where things were going and what we liked and didn’t like,” says Aubert. “It was like trial by fire, playing on stage all the time. It was scary, but you learn fast that way.”
 Their initially haphazard performances didn’t phase their growing core of devotees, who seemed to easily grasp the inner grace of Aubert’s plaintively savage songs about the whys and wherefores of love lost and found, wrecked loyalties and fear of genetically inherited failure genes. These fans didn’t mind that the band’s otherwise wickedly pretty tunes’ delivery was a bit rough-edged, or that Aubert was initially painfully shy in front of a mike; it was obvious that Aubert and co’s. desire knew no bounds.
The band lived to play, and play they did, at numerous dates at many of the most important L.A. clubs, which found their stage sets growing more confidently not cocky but in greater command of their playing prowess. Aubert’s guitar was a rapidly developing feral beast of tight chipchop splendor and near-Hendrixian fuzzy howl in songs that seemed to reference the spare, driving cool of Neu while injecting a barely constrained glee – something like youthful romance, in the more tormented My Bloody Valentine way – into great walls of shredding white noise and a big throbbing rhythm section. The interplay of Aubert’s guitar with Lester’s spidery/splintery keyboards on songs like “Three Seed” made their combined effect resemble an enormous shiny machine being launched into the farthest reaches of the solar system.
Ex-Pine Marten keyboardist Lester was an important addition to the band, says Aubert, “because a) he was family — we didn’t want anybody we didn’t know, like take out an ad in L.A. Weekly: ‘Must not wear cowboy hats.’ Joe is like having a guy who’s not a keyboard keyboard player -- not a scientist, but like an orchestrator. He does things that really trip out the guitar, like sample it and make sounds that you can’t really tell what it is.”
“Or we’ll use our voices with something from Joe, as just a sonic element,” says Monninger
Guanlao adds, “People come up to us and they’ll be like, ‘Dude, how’d you do that sound on the guitar?’ or ‘How’d you do that sound on the keyboard?’ and it’s like, ‘No, the guitar player wasn’t doing that, neither was the keyboardist.’”
Yet Silversun’s secret weapons are the achingly potent melodies of their songs, which poke their lovely, shy heads out and ultimately proclaim their power in rare shades of melancholic ardor. While so many bands oft-claim supreme melody as the underpinning of their noise, with the Pickups it can claim moral superiority: Silversun radiates palpably great melodies that – the real test – simply won’t leave you alone no matter how you try to shoo them away.
That melodic/toughness no doubt encouraged Dangerbird Records to sign Silversun Pickups for an EP, called Pikul (pronounced pie-kul), a six-song set crammed with polished versions of many live favorites such as the growlingly ethereal “Kissing Families” and “…All the Go Inbetweens.” These songs sealed in the love among Silversun Pickups’ L.A. fans and critics, and their subsequent mounting acclaim led the band to undertake an increasingly heavy touring schedule, which found them playing alongside Brendan Benson, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Dead Meadow and Two Gallants, and they returned home to record, Carnavas, their full-length debut for Dangerbird (July 25, 2006).
Produced by Dave Cooley (J Dilla, Rolling Blackouts), engineered by Tom Biller (Sean Lennon, Jon Brion) and mixed by Tony Hoffer (Beck, The Kooks, Belle and Sebastian), the album reveals the Pickups in a full flowering of their considerable melodic, textural and rhythmic gifts, with 11 dark/light songs about "Melatonin,” “Little Lover’s So Polite,” “Future Foe Scenarios” and “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” among other provocatively ambiguous themes. The album rages with a kind of mixed emotion well matched to those themes, a vibrating compound of feral cries amid tender harmony, resonating powerfully with heavily filtered guitar squawk, hovering keyboard clouds, and bass & drums that often seem to lurch their way into divinely propulsive beats.
For the new disc, Silversun Pickups got to play in the studio, which they’d never done before, and, at producer Cooley’s insistence, they got to take their time.
Says Aubert, “We wanted the EP and the record to be two different sort of things, and we knew that we didn’t want the same songs. Basically our live sound was so loud and big, and before we just sort of documented it -- Pikul didn’t sound like us live; even though we essentially recorded itlive.”
 “We think of records and live shows being two different sorts of worlds,” he continues. “Ironically, in the studio, getting really specific about sounds -- how they cut through -- made us sound as big as it is onstage.”
Cooley proved an inspiring force for the band, sometimes if only to affirm their belief in doing things their own way.
Says Lester, “Sometimes he’d push and push, and sometimes suggest a bunch of different ideas, and all it did was steel our resolve. It was almost better that way, because it just reaffirmed what we know is the best way to do it.”
Aubert: “In pre-production meetings, we discussed the structure, for example, but he brought out ideas that were already clicking in our heads -- we would change things that we didn’t like and had been too lazy to change, or just hadn’t thought about. Or completely battle him and realize, wow, we really do mean this. Having someone who’s antagonizing you and you have to defend your choice, when you didn’t have to defend it before, you realize you actually really believe in that.”
Says Guanlao, “Before that experience, we were very organic about how we got a song going and finished; we would never really think about it too much, we did it how it felt. And then Dave came in and we really had to focus on things, just a measure or a little beat or whatever.
Aubert: “He’s amazing, because he’d push you and push you, but he’d be the first to pull the plug. I remember I’d been singing for days and days, trying to get a track right, and he’d say, ‘No, man, just stop. You’re tired.’ And I’m like ‘No, man, let me drink some more whiskey!’ And he’d be ‘Nope.’ He’d just push the stop button and say ‘It’s not right, it’s not working, it’s too job-like.’”
Not just the songs but their performance and their very sound were all critical factors in the album’s production. Says Lester: “Two measures in on a take, Tom would be like, ‘Snare’s out of tune.’ Stop everything, and we’re like, ‘Really, you can even hear that?’ And then we could hear it. It changed the vibe, and it sounds like the bass and drums are almost one thing. That made it seem way more solid.”
The proof’s in the pudding, and now all you need to do is listen. And all Silversun Pickups need to do is figure out how to transfer the album’s splendorous riot of beauty onto the concert stage — and deal with the acclaim that’ll inevitably follow. But that shouldn’t prove difficult for these dedicated friends, who’re happy to have found each other and make, almost like frosting on the cake, magnificent music together.

 

]]> silversun pickups Buzznet shanesta7 2007-04-20T10:39:27Z <![CDATA["Mad Caddies"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/154675/

Mad Caddies

The Mad Caddies are a third wave ska band from Solvang, California. The band formed in 1995 and has released four full-length albums, one live album, and one EP. The Mad Caddies (Known commonly by fans as simply "the Caddies") are a unique band in the fact that they are not constricted by the 3rd wave genre, bringing a huge variety of influences into their diverse, varying and technical sound including ska, punk,hardcore, swing,pop punk, reggae,jazz, Spanish, polka (All-American Badass), even Rockabilly (Crew Cut Chuck) and Pirate Shanties (Weird Beard).

History

Its founding members, Chuck Robertson, Sascha Lazor and Carter Benson started the group in high school but the band's membership has changed frequently since its inception. Benson left the band in 2002 and bass player Mark Iversen left the band in 2006. The current lineup consists of:

The band used to play under the name The Ivy League, but in 1996 they changed their name after signing to the Honest Don's Records label to avoid confusion (and potential litigation) with two prior bands that went by the same moniker. The band's debut album, Quality Soft Core, was released the following year. After the release of the album, the band was signed to Fat Mike's label Fat Wreck Chords, through which the Mad Caddies have released 3 studio albums, an EP and a live album.

The band's fifth studio album Keep It Going is set to be released on the 1st of May. Two songs from their upcoming album can be found on a CD sampler that is sold for 5 or 2 dollars at their latest shows with Pepper (band).

Discography

]]> fat wreck chords mad caddies Buzznet shanesta7 2007-04-12T12:34:17Z <![CDATA["Aaliyah"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/122127/ Aaliyah

AaliyahAKA Aaliyah Dana Haughton

Born: 16-Jan-1979
Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY
Died: 25-Aug-2001
Location of death: Marsh Harbour, Abaco Island, Bahamas
Cause of death: Accident - Airplane
Remains: Buried, Plot M-11, BBB, C-114, Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, NY

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Singer

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: R&B singer dies in plane crash

Born in Brooklyn, Aaliyah Haughton was moved to Detroit at an early age, where her parents provided her with a vocal instructor before she was even old enough to attend school. Her public singing career was initiated at the ripe old age of 9, the young singer making an unsuccessful bid on the televised pissing contest Star Search; the loss didn't break her stride in the least, and by 11 she was performing in Las Vegas as a part of Gladys Knight's act. The combination of good lungs, training and inside connections moved things along quickly, and after an uncle (fortuitously placed as CEO of the Blackground management company) introduced her to one of the artists in his stable - R&B singer R. Kelly -- the 15-year-old's recording career was underway. Kelly went on to write and produce most of the debut album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, which, released in 1994 on Blackground Records (a new label created by her uncle specifically to provide a outlet for her debut) launched Aaliyah into the charts with 2 top ten singles.

Following the success of the record, Aaliyah embarked upon an extensive world tour before returning to complete her education. During this time a controversy surrounding her relationship to Kelly (some sources claiming they had married despite her status as a minor) was stirred up by the press; both denied a romantic link of any kind, but the gossip brought their working relationship to an end regardless. For the next album, Aaliyah enlisted the services of then-mostly-unknown producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott: a combination that would send the careers of all three into the stratosphere with its resultant One in a Million (1996). With this second album, she would score her first #1 single (If Your Girl Only Knew) and establish herself as a multi-platinum artist.

Over the next two years, Aaliyah kept herself in the public consciousness with contributions to the soundtracks for the animated film Anastasia (earning her an Oscar nomination) and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Doctor Dolittle (earning her a Grammy nomination). The inevitable move from the soundtrack to the film itself was made in 2000, when producer Joel Silver enlisted her as one of the lead actors in the action film Romeo Must Die; the popularity of the film would later bring about a role in Queen of the Damned (released in 2002) and prospective roles in the sequels to The Matrix (which she was never able to pursue).

Eventually the singer returned to the studio, her 2001 eponymous release again making use of the skills of Elliott and Timbaland. The combination proved as potent as ever, and her third record effectively repeated the success of One in a Million. Shortly after completing her scenes for Queen of the Damned later that year, however, Aaliyah's career was brought to a premature end when a chartered plane bound for Miami from a video shoot in the Bahamas crashed near the airport, killing everyone on board.

Father: Michael Haughton
Mother: Diane
Brother: Rashad Haughton
Husband: R. Kelly (m. 1994, annulled that same year)
Boyfriend: Damon Dash (Roc-a-Fella co-CEO)

    High School: Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts, Detroit, MI (1997)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Queen of the Damned (10-Feb-2002)
    Romeo Must Die (20-Mar-2000)

]]> aaliyah Buzznet shanesta7 2007-02-22T00:10:00Z <![CDATA["His Infernal Majesty"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/118363/  
H.I.M.
 
 
 

 
H I M 
Biography
 
An essay on metallurgy... or was it alchemy?

Three albums into their career, with healthy combined sales of 2 million, HIM felt it was the right time to define a couple of things. Define HIM - the band. Define the music, already commonly known as love metal. And, last but not least, figure out the deeper meanings behind the mighty Heartagram!

You hold the results in your hands, in the compact form of "Love Metal". One and a half years worth of exploration and soul searching, as well as the time-honoured tradition of 'working one's ass off', has gone into these ten songs.

"There we were. Gas a hopeless Slayer addict and Burton completely hooked on Tchaikovsky. Mige getting high on Brian Eno and Linde tripping on Jimi Hendrix on a regular basis. Me, I was curing my hangovers with shots of Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison."

The 'me' being Valo, vocals and songs. Gas on drums, Burton on keyboards, Mige on bass, Linde on guitar. Collectively they are known as HIM.

"We had no idea where it would lead us in the end. Whether it would turn out to be silly psychedelic music or the meanest motherfucker of metal known to man," Valo grins. "But it felt really good. We just incorporated all the elements that came naturally and took it from there. With pretty mediocre success, of course..."

That last tongue-in-cheek shot reveals that Valo & co. are content - in fact they are immensely proud of their fourth album. Just listen to that new kind of urgency that's so evident on songs like "Buried Alive by Love" and "Soul on Fire"! The deep dark groove of "Sweet Pandemonium"! The sheer spiritual qualities of "The Sacrament" and "Circle of Fear". The innocent beauty of "The Funeral of Hearts". The purgatory that is the epic finale, "The Path". Consider love metal defined.

"It's the love of the Summer of '67 getting crushed by the metal of the post-Altamont world," Valo offers with a sly smile. "And everything's happening right here, right now! In 2003."

The making of "Love Metal" was a two-dimensional thing. The album was produced and recorded in Helsinki by Hiili Hiilesmaa, producer of the very first HIM album back in 1997. Hiilesmaa is noted for his work with mostly pretty uncompromising metal bands (Sentenced, Moonspell, Amorphis, Theatre of Tragedy...), and easygoing as he might be on the outside, in certain respects he runs a tight regime. Nobody survives his sessions if failing a serious attitude check!

"What has always fascinated me about Hiili is the manic way he approaches recording. The guy is nothing else but metal's answer to reggae's Lee 'Scratch' Perry! The Mad Scientist. One who always dares to experiment with things that others dismiss off-hand as crazy or laughable."

The second dimension came about through a transatlantic move. Next stop was Scream Studios, Los Angeles. Birthplace of Nirvana's "Nevermind", Faith No More's "The Real Thing" and countless other latter-day classics. The album was mixed there by Tim Palmer whose work, especially with U2, caught Valo's attention. A bit of a surprise, this one?

"Yes and no. U2's music as a whole isn't really my thing, that's right. Then again they have songs like "One" and "With or Without You" that are very close to the thing I try to achieve, you know, melodically, lyrically and feel-wise. But always with my own, shall I say, David Lynchian twist to it," Valo reveals. "Tim did a beautiful job unearthing all those hidden treasures within our music. I could just sit back wearing the fly glasses that Bono had left behind at the studio, and listen to the music sort of unravelling before my ears."

So it was as if a piece of Helsinki winter madness had been thrown onto Venice Beach. Or perhaps a case of LA smog vs. the midnight sun (with a few English showers thrown in for good measure, given the fact that Mr. Palmer is indeed a Briton). Light and darkness clashing. Whatever the case the different elements complement each other beautifully. The end result is a vibrant concoction of in-your-face riffs, heavy beats and sweet soulful melodies.
]]> h i m Buzznet shanesta7 2007-02-16T01:46:00Z <![CDATA[Orgy]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/118333/  

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

Spawned by the fertile L.A. alt metal scene, Orgy adds catchy melodic hooks to the familiar mix of crushingly loud riffs and electronic-tinged production. Formed in late 1997, Orgy consists of vocalist Jay Gordon, guitarist Ryan Shuck, guitar synthesist Amir Derakh, bassist Paige Haley, and drummer Bobby Hewitt. Shuck had collaborated on material with Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis, while Derakh had produced several records for already-signed L.A. bands, so it was no surprise that Orgy became the first band signed to Korn's Elementree subsidiary of Reprise Records. Their debut album, Candyass, was released in 1998. Their cover of New Order's "Blue Monday" and second single, "Stitches," instantly pushed them into the mainstream. Dates supporting Love and Rockets and shows with Korn's Family Values Tour only fueled their popularity into the next year. Their experimental sci-fi sophomore effort Vapor Transmission, which hit number 16 on Billboard's Top 200, followed in 2000. Two years later, Jay Gordon and his Dad, Lou Gordon founded their own label, D1 Music. Founding drummer Bobby Hewitt also left the band for a three-month stint in Snake River Conspiracy although he participated in the recording sessions for Orgy's third album. Punk Statik Paranoia was planned for a February 2004 release.
The best rock music always combines raw power and absolute panache. It should pulse with sexuality and pathos, but look damn stylish in the process. It can forge heavy, almost Paleolithic riffs – yet retain intelligence, cunning, and pure pop hummability. In short, the best rock is utterly savage, unabashedly stylish, and entirely guilt free.

But records like that don’t come along very often. Enter Punk Statik Paranoia, the latest and greatest Bacchanalian musical salvo from L.A.-based death-pop quintet Orgy.

“We want to make people stop in their tracks,” says vocalist Jay Gordon. “We may have gone a little bit out there musically on our first two records, but this time we focused on the songwriting. It’s just time to really connect with our fans. We just want people to go, ‘This is worthy.’ And of course we want the girls to think, ‘I want to sleep with every member of that band.’”

A cursory listening of Punk Statik Paranoia should have music fans scurrying to lock up their daughters, sisters, and/or moms. It’s that good. The first single, “The Obvious,” pours layer after decadent layer of sweet distortion over subterranean fuzzbass and deep rhythmic grooves, all infused with a pop hook that’ll haunt your head like a hangover. And it’s danceable.

Throughout the disk, Orgy spin decadent lyrical yarns of love, medication and psychotic associates over addictive arrangements that alternate between chilly, electro-glazed soundscapes and monstrously heavy metallic pop. Dark gems like “Leave Me Out,” “Inside My Head,” and “Vague” are some of Orgy’s most focused and catchiest works to date – and ironically their loudest.

“I’m screaming a lot more on this record – but I kind of needed to,” laughs Gordon. “It’s been the hardest of all three to write, and it’s definitely taken the longest. We’d finally finish a song the band was happy with and I’d be like, ‘Hey, are you sure there’s nothing else? Have we exhausted every tip, trick and rule we know that can make this thing better?’ I’m a total neurotic perfectionist.”

Neurotic perfectionism has served Orgy well thus far. Releasing their 1998 debut album Candyass on Korn’s Elementree label as the flagship act inside a year of forming, Orgy struck the singles charts twice with a bruising cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday” and the dynamic follow-up “Stitches.” As the record soared to platinum-sales status, pundits tagged the Orgy sound a number of ways (“electro-rock,” “industrial synth,” “sleaze rock,” “techno-goth”). But they all seemed to agree on one thing: Orgy’s brave new mix of prismatic synth lines, pulverizing guitar, and New Romantic vocal stylings was fresh and welcome. Even attendees of Korn’s notoriously heavy Family Values Tour approved.

“It was really weird to see how people responded to what we did on that tour,” Gordon says. “We were just being as ridiculous as possible trying to try a bunch of new things. But it worked out – whatever kind of twisted message we were trying to get across, I think we achieved delivering.”

Several more tours, most notably with label-mates Videodrone and ‘80s goth-rock pillars Love and Rockets, helped expand the fan-base, and by the year 2000, Orgy debuted its sophomore album, the sci-fi concept piece Vapor Transmission, at No 16 on Billboard’s Top 200. The sound was harder this time out, the songwriting more complex, and the record garnered even better reviews than had Orgy’s first, spinning off a pair of strong singles in “Fiction (Dreams in Digital)” and “Opticon.” More successful touring followed, with Orgy once again headlining.

All well and good, but the past is the past. And Orgy’s always been a bunch with a collective eye on the future.

“Forget looking back,” Gordon states emphatically. “We don’t walk around with copies of our first two records or anything like that. We certainly aren’t into the VH1 ‘Where Are They Now’ nostalgia circuit! But I was afraid if we didn’t get this record out soon that I was going to start getting phone calls from them. Instead, I hope the new stuff has VH1 making documentaries like, ‘Why are they still kicking ass? Why are they still blowing shit up? Why are they still pulverizing the planet?’”

While VH1 has announced no plans to create a series called “Why Are They Still Blowing Shit Up?,” Punk Statik Paranoia may well accomplish a different goal of Gordon’s: Converting the few people still out there who remember Orgy mainly as “those guys who did that cover song.” Gordon thinks this record will do it. And if not, well that’s fine with him too.

“You know, thank god everybody doesn’t like just the same old thing. That’s why we have fans in the first place,” he says. “There’s never any one set way that things have to be. I think our three records prove that. We’re just doing what we’re into. I always wanted to be in a band with a bunch of Bruce Lees, where everybody was just sick. And we’re getting there – we may only be white belts right now, but we will yet achieve that ultimate dopeness that we so crave.”

]]> orgy Buzznet shanesta7 2007-02-15T23:03:00Z <![CDATA["Saosin"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/117380/  

 

 

 

 


SAOSIN

Biography


Southern California quintet Saosin are one of the fastest-growing headliners in rock – earning mainstage slots on the Vans Warped Tour, selling out clubs in a flash, going out with heavyweights like AFI, Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday and garnering an ocean of fans who’ve downloaded their songs from MySpace over five million times – all before they’ve released a full-length album.

That will all change on September 26th with the Capitol Records release of their self-titled debut.  As your average Saosin fan (and there are legions) will be quick to point out, the wait was a considerable one.  “We were waiting until the songs were right,” says frontman Cove Reber with some understatement.

It’s been three years since word of the band’s full-length debut first surfaced, and in that time a lot has changed within the music scene from which they originally emerged and within the band itself.

Seemingly overnight, stylized bands playing strains of melodic post-hardcore have sailed up the pop charts.  But for Saosin -- Reber, bassist Chris Sorenson, drummer Alex Rodriguez, and guitarists Beau Burchell and Justin Shekoski -- things have played out a bit differently. During the scene’s ascension, the band’s members have all but shunned the idea of a genre tag or an “image” -- unless, of course, you count the jeans and t-shirts they soak in sweat every night onstage -- and have instead focused their energies on making an album that will live or die strictly on musical merits.

“At first we said we weren’t interested in putting the album out on a major label,” says Burchell.  “We wanted to grow first.”

But the band’s sound and its ambition grew tremendously during the recording of their 12-song debut, an album that exceeds even the wildest of expectations.  From the dueling guitar crunch of opener “It’s Far Better to Learn” to the nosebleed anthemic heights of lead single “Voices,” the livewire maelstrom of “Follow and Feel” and epic heartstring-puller “You’re Not Alone,” Saosin have created the kind of debut album that announces something indisputably new under rock’s sun.

“It was a long time coming,” says Sorenson, “but finishing the album really put a fire under our asses and we were better for it.”

The initial stages of the band’s debut date back to late 2003 when founding guitarists Burchell and Shekoski and original frontman Anthony Green began playing out, recorded a quick EP, Translating the Name, and embarked on a U.S. tour during which time Green exited the band.  To the group’s surprise Translating the Name garnered the band a massive fanbase both online and at their live shows, which grew organically, and quickly.

The band, however, was so hands-off about promoting themselves that Google searches of the band turned up precious little info.

“It was cool if you knew about the band, we weren’t always easy to find,” says Burchell.  “But I think that really brought kids together, having to actually make the effort to track us down.”

A collection of rabid fans with Ethernet connections soon began arguing about such pressing matters as how the band’s name was actually pronounced (it’s “say-o-sin”) and what it actually means (Saosin means “small heart” in Chinese.  The word comes from a 15th century proverb about fathers telling their sons who are being married off for money not to get emotionally involved with their wives, who could die at any time.)

In the winter of 2005 the revamped Saosin lineup with Sorenson, Rodriguez and new frontman Reber signed to Capitol, released a self-titled EP of demos and live tracks, and began pre-production on their long-awaited full-length debut.  As the band recorded various versions of their new songs -- both at their home studios and on a mobile recording unit that they set up on their tour bus – the burden of heavy expectations eventually gave way to genuine excitement.

“I would demo stuff with Chris,” Reber recalls, “and say, ‘This is really good – we can’t not run with this.’”

In turn, the album that Saosin began recording with producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Head Automatica) this past January -- nearly a full year after they began properly demoing its songs -- would live up to the band’s great expectations, and then some. More importantly, though, it proves that in a world of overnight success at least one group is devoted enough to write songs that are built to last. 

“This record is going to take us places,” says Sorenson.  “We don’t know exactly where, but it will definitely be an experience getting there.”

]]> saosin Buzznet shanesta7 2007-02-14T14:23:00Z <![CDATA["A Perfect Band"]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/117022/

A Perfect Circle
Biography


A Perfect Circle is a Los Angeles-based band formed at the end of the last decade by free-thinking
individuals, each actively seeking to challenge themselves and their listeners through intense and
provocative performance. Mer de Noms, French, for sea of Names, is A Perfect Circle's first album, a
remarkable collection of creatively un-categorizable modern music.

Singer Maynard James Keenan [who is also the vocalist for the rock band Tool] is the voice and. the soul of
A Perfect Circle. On twelve new songs Maynard delivers a towering yet vulnerable presence which stands

Guitarist Billy Howerdel, the band's chief songwriter and producer [who previously worked with Tool, The
Smashing Pumpkins, David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails and others] write the incredible music and is the heart
of A Perfect Circle. Billy deftly combines keen instinct with raw talent to create passages of atmosphere,
beauty, and power.

Q: Noire did the two of you first decide to form A Perfect Circle?
Maynard: This band came together when Tool was working all Aenima, and Billy was doing same work-
with us during that recording process. There was a lot of down-time in the studio. He had his computer
rigged there, and he had a lot of his music on it. I really liked what I heard, and I could really see a lot of
potential in the way he approached everything. I begged him to let me be involved in what he was doing.

Billy: I was more than thrilled. Having Maynard as a singer, I couldn't ask for more. And it turned out
better than I even thought it could. Once we decided we where going to work together the sound came
together very quickly. It was different than the sound I had in mind, and that was inspiring in itself.

Maynard: I had no idea what it was going to sound like, and I think that's important. I try to keep an open
mind. It's difficult to know where something is going to go musically when different people get together.
The hardest part is to learn how to listen. Everyone involved in A Perfect Circle listens well, so our sound
came together right away.

Q: What's the significance of the name A Perfect Circle?
Maynard: Well, there are many layers to the name. The most obvious is a timing issue. We were going to
play a show and we didn't have a name. We were reading some of the lyrics and perfect circle is in a line in
one of our songs. But it does go beyond that. It's a whole idea of a group of people that have come together
and completed each in some meaningful way. And there are other interpretations of the names but I'll let
you explore the possibilities on your own..

Billy: It's a tricky thing to try and name your band, and to convey all your ideas in just a word or two. A
Perfect Circle popped out of the song and immediately it seemed like the obvious name to me.

Q: Maynard, can you compare how you approach your role in A Perfect Circle as opposed to Tool?
Maynard: The four of us in Tool get together, and there's somewhere in the middle where we meet and
write our music. This was different because Billy had a lot of the music done already, so I came up with
vocal melodies and words for what he had already written. It was a very different process for me and I
really enjoyed it. I was always thinking, 'what do I bring to the table to make this complete?'

Q: So were you able to try different things than you had done in the past?
Maynard: With A Perfect Circle, because of the nature of how we recorded, I really experimented a lot with
harmonies and layered vocals, which I really don't do that much of with Tool.


Q: Billy, did you also feel a sense of experimentation as you worked on the album?
Billy: Yeah, I had no boundaries set whatsoever. The music came out exactly the way I wanted It to.
There were no restrictions, no one looking over my shoulder. The record was made primarily at my house
in the back of the garage in a tiny little room, so we could do or try whatever we wanted to. So in that sense
it was a relaxing environment.


Maynard: It was pretty interesting recording in his garage. We had to keep stopping while planes went
overhead. And the dead possum odor coming from the ceiling was interesting. Not exactly the way I'm
used to recording. It's amazing to me that the album sounds as good as anything I've ever heard,
considering it was recorded in a stinky garage. Pretty fabulous.


Q: How did Alan Moulder become involved with A Perfect Circle?
Billy: I knew Alan from when he worked with Nine Inch Nails, and I think he's just brilliant. His work with
My Bloody Valentine was just so interesting. His mixes have passion, and he really does the right thing for
each and every song, rather than coming out sounding like every other record he's worked on.

Q: Do you have a preference between working in the studio and playing live?
Maynard: It's hard to say which I like better. In the studio you're dealing with your own dynamic – your
relationship with the room your standing in, and the mike that's in front of you, and figuring out how to
make your piece in the big picture fit right. And then live, there's a billion other variables. You have an
entire audience, and a different room every night. The only constant is you're playing with the same people
each night. I think it would be easier to say I like this particular show or this particular day of recording. It's
more about the moment than it is about the overall process.

Q: Billy, are you looking forward to performing your music in front of an audience?
Billy: Yeah I really enjoy playing live. I'm definitely ready to get out there and play our music. The
reception was so good when we played in the fall of 1999 that it really catapulted this band to a different
place. I didn't know that it would be received so well, it was very inspiring.

Q: So what can we expect from A Perfect Circle as far as the live show?
Maynard: It's hard to say, yet, what to expect from our live performances. It's such a young thing, still in
its infancy. It's going to be interesting. I think the music is going to speak for itself, and you're really going
to get a lot of passion out of the music. But as it goes and grows we'll be adding some visual eye candy,
where we'll really take it to a whole other level. So rest assured, we have a few tricks up our sleeve.

Q: Who are the other members of A Perfect Circle?
Billy: Guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, who was in the band Failure, is the newest member, and he's just the
greatest guitar player in that I can ask him to play something that fits with what I've written and he just does
it. He's so creative, and he's a great live player. Josh Freese is such a great drummer I'm always proud to
show him off.

Maynard: Yeah, Josh is the best. He's worked with a lot of great people. The Vandals, Paul Westerberg,
Guns 'N Roses. I first met him when he was touring with Devo in Lollapalooza.

Billy: Qur bassist Paz Lenchantin, she`s the most multi-talented person in the band. She plays piano and
violin, she sings, she plays guitar and bass. And she's really taken the reins on our Web site
]www.aperfectcircle.com].


Maynard: Paz comes from a long line of concert pianists and classically trained musicians, so she really
brings that sense of structure and professionalism to the band. Her brother Luciano played viola on one of
the tracks.

Q: Can you give some background on the bands Logo?
Billy: It’s important to have something to identify with other than a name, something visual that can
convey the spirit of the band and of the music. If something has substance, sometimes you have to look a
little harder, and go below the surface, before you see everything that's there. Things that aren't so apparent
at first. I think that's the case with A Perfect Circle. Some of the things in this band will take shape and will
present themselves over time. Let your imagination run wild is how we’re looking it.

Q: Could you both talk about how you approached the writing of the songs on Mer de Noms?
Maynard: In the past I've approached a lot of my writing from a knowledge base, where I take some subject
matter and try to personalize it. Kind of writing from more of a left-brain function, not necessarily very
intuitive, not as emotional, more of a thinking process. Mental puzzles and what not. With A Perfect Circle
I abandoned all the books and just got down to the bare bones of my feelings. I went directly to
relationships and I explored the energies involved with them. Lt comes directly out of the Music, really,
Hearing Billy's music I just had to sit down and clear my head and listen to where it takes me. Listen to
what was being said by the music and what kind of emotional dynamics were coming out of those sounds.

Billy: Songwriting for me comes pretty naturally, but it’s also almost an obsession with me. It comes all the
time, I have to have an outlet for my writing or I would go crazy. A lot of the music was written in different
places all over the world, in different countries where I was working with different bands.

Maynard: I think many of the songs are about the stages of forgiveness and healing. Some of the songs are
more aggressive and finger-pointing, while others are exploring a more intimate approach to dealing with
personal relationship issues.

Q: Maynard, do you feel it's important to express yourself in a variety of ways?
Maynard: I think it's important as an artist in particular, and as a human being in general, to push forward
and to explore and re-explore everything around you, just to learn and to grow. There's an abundance of
inspiration out there and I think it's important to see and hear and feel as much of it as possible.

Q: Could the two of you talk about a couple of your favorite songs on Mer de Noms?
Billy: "Judith" is the most unique song on the album in that it was written in one sitting, start to finish, very
late one night. It probably took about ten hours, but it felt like the song began almost writing itself once I
started it.

Maynard: For me, working out the words and melodies to "Judith" took a little longer, because I could hear
that there was something very special about that song. I was holding that song very close and trying not to
finish it Until I was sure that I had done it justice. But as far as favorites go, I would have to say Brena and
Thomas.

Billy: "3 Libras" is my favorite song on the album and always has been. It’s a very simple chord
progression, but whenever I pick up my guitar it's pretty much the first thing I play. That piece seems to
almost represent who I am as a guitar player. "Rose" also means a lot to me. I always saw that song as an
instrumental and I almost couldn't imagine vocals over the top of it. But Maynard saw that as a challenge,
and the words he found are so amazing, it's probably the most powerful song on the album.

]]> a perfect circle Buzznet shanesta7 2007-02-13T23:39:00Z <![CDATA[Lost Profit]]> http://shanesta7.buzznet.com/user/journal/109322/ 1) What Does It Profit A Man To Gain The Whole World If He Looses His Own Soul.

2) Do Unto Others As You Would Have Done Unto Yourself.

]]> words to live by Buzznet shanesta7 2007-02-01T08:05:00Z