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The Star Chamber:
A conversation witn investigative reporter Linda Moulton Howe about the UFO conspiracy, animal mutilations, and the coming crisis in the US food supply.
Welcome to The Star Chamber. There must be a large cross-over between fans of heavy metal music with paranormal and unsolved phenomena because I get regular requests for us to cover those subjects along with our daily music coverage. So, this brand new section will be a monthly focus on different areas of interest...everything from ghosts and UFO's to the occult and prophesies will hopefully be covered. To kick things off in grand style though we went straight to one of the leading investigative reporters on earth in this field, Linda Moulton Howe. Linda is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning televison producer and investigavtive reporter who specializes in the fields of science and nature. She also produces, reports and edits the science, environment and earth myseteries website, Earthfiles.com as well as reports on these issues for Premier radio networks and UnknownCountry.com. There's tuly no better, or more respected person to start our new section off with and we're kicking it off with an incredibly important topic. In addition to her work with animal mutilations, UFOs and other mysteries, Linda is a leading investigator into the very serious mysetery of Colony Collapse Disorder, which has resulted in the deaths of 50% of the honeybee population in the United States. This is one of the most interesting interviews we've ever featured, and without a doubt the most important.
Anarchy Music: Linda, you deal mostly with things such as cattle mutilations and other science mysteries. What about this field interested you, as opposed to going into a more "glamorous" direction with your reporting?
Linda Moulton Howe: Well, you have to go back to 1968 when I graduated from Stanford University with a Masters Degree in communications. In my Masters Degree courses, what I emphasized was doing documentaries for television and I worked with the Stamford linear accelerator at the Stanford Medical Center. My Masters Degree film was the first film that focused on Stamford's efforts in the linear accelerator to get computers to do analysis on the bombardment images from the accelerator. So, I was grounded right from the beginning of my getting out of graduate school in science and medicine. When I began to work in television, first in news, and then i was put in charge of doing a series of live programs at KNBC in Los Angeles that would focus on the environment, science and medical issues. I did that until was hired in Boston, MA by the ABC affiliate there to produce all of their medical programing.
Anarchy: And that was where it took a bizarre turn, right?
Linda: It was while I was producing medical programing that I got a call one night from my brother, who was stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, and he was very excited. He said that a UFO had come down on the base, and told me this amazing event and encounter that I have written in books and reported on radio and television before. Shortly thereafter, probably by spring of 1976, my brother was also assigned to a unit that was going out to investigate what was happening with animals on ranches surrounding Great Falls, Montana. There were hundreds of animals found with the same incisions; ear, eyes, tongue, jaw flesh, gentials and rectum cored out with no blood or tracks around them. The United States Air Force was assigning teams to go study and try to find out what was happening. I know this first hand because my brother was assigned to one of those units. By 1978, I was hired to be director of special projects at the CBS station in Denver. I was married then and my husband took a job with Time Inc at a video unit that was based in Denver so we moved there. I began with an assignment by the general manager to produce four documentariees a year, news programs, live studio programs, all focused on environmental science and medical issues related to the state of Colorado. In September of 1979, I had been producing a tremendous number of projects for Channel 7 related to pollution and water contamination and all that. there was an audio guy who was working for me on a summer production in '79 who said that ABC on their new 20/20 show, which had just come into being, had shot over 100,000 feet of double-system film on a very strange story in which animals were being found all over the country with the ears missing, the eyes missing, the jaw flesh missing, the toungue missing, the genitals and the rectum cored out which is exactly what my brother had told me about in '75-'76 when these huge lights had come down on Malmstrom Air Force Base and set off all the sabotage alert teams and scrambled all of that. My curiousity was really piqued and I called the executive producer of 20/20 in August of 1979 when i learned about it from the audio guy and asked about the statusof the special that they had shot 100,000 feet of film on. To my absolute amazement the executive producer said that they were in the business of news and they could never get an answer to these unusual animal deaths so they scrubbed it. They said it was just going to be in their archives.
Anarchy: That sounds a tad fishy...
Linda: That was it. that was all I needed to hear was that ABC could not find an answer to all these strange animal deaths and I niavely thought that I'd get to the bottom of it. Here we speak in May of 2007 and I have walked many miles in that story, as well as what seems like a thousand other stories having nothing to do with animal mutilations, but it was that subject that began to dominate my life for a very long time. I was going out into the field collecting tissue, collecting blood, collecting fluid, glass and soil so I get examinations by scientists so I could report on what we were finding. That is in my first two-hour special "A Strange Harvest" that broadcast at the CBS station in Denver on May 28th, 1980. About nine years later in summer of 1989 my first book was released clled "An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence Linking Animal Mutilations And Human Abductions To Alien Life Forms". It was in that decade when "A Strange Harvest" was first broadcast there was this link that was being made by the Sherriff and with law enforcement that I'd been interviewing. That was the thing that impressed me. From the beginning of research, coming as an investigative reporter, TV producer and documentary film-maker, law enforcement were the first people I talked to. Having them say to me, always off the record, that "Linda I'm not going to stand in front of your camera, but I'm going to tell you, we're not dealing with predators, satanic cults, or anything human...we're dealing with creatures from outer space". It was like walking slowly through an Alice In Wonderland mirror from a world in which I had existed which was all science and environment and medicine into a world where law enforecement was telling me that based on their first hand eye-witness accounts that we were dealing with extraterrestrials.
Anarchy: What kind of proof or relaible eye-witness testimony did you uncover?
Linda: When "A Strange Harvest" was broadcast, it was like a bomb went off. I began recieving phone calls and faxes and photos from literally all over the world and both hemispheres from people saying "I saw your film and that's exactly what happened to me on my ranch". I would get drawings of creatures, people telling me that they'd seen their animals rising in beams of light, being lowered in beams of light and it took off from there that I walked two tracks. I went immediately into a hard science special on radioactive water, about uranium contamination in drinking water in a suburb of Denver. While I'm working again on something that was very consistent with everything else I'd ever produced, "A Strange Harvest" which started out as an investigation into what was happening to all of these animals around the world was leading me more and more into interviews and discussions largely with people in military and intelligence off the record, they would never talk to me on the record, that yes, the government of the United States has known since at least the Truman administraion that "extraterrestrial biological entities have been killing and excising tissue and fluid from animals around this planet as 1951", which was four years after the crashed disc in Roswell, NM. The person who spoke about the government knowledge of extraterrestrial gathering of tissue and fluids from animals from around the world, what he said was first hand knowledge from having read these documents in the Pentagon, was Lt Col Phillip J. Corso. He fought in the Unites States Army during World War 2, was a personal friend of General Arthur Trudeau. When Eisenhower became President, another General from World War 2, he knew and was a good friend of General Arthur Trudeau, one of the only high ranking military officers at the time who had a degree in engineering. Eisenhower went to Trudeau, his colleague from World War 2 and said that he wanted to establish a new research department for the Army in The Pentagon and he wanted trudeau to head it. Trudeau, who knew Corsoe from the war, reached out to him to come to the Pentagon and begin working on what Corso talked to me about firsthand and wrote about in the very important book entitled "The Day After Roswell" released in July of 1997 on the 50th anniversary of the headlines about a disc crashing between Corona and Roswell, NM.
Anarchy: For those who aren't fully aware, tell us about what Corso knew regarding the Roswell crash.
Linda: At that anniversary where I got to meet Lt Col. Phillip J Corso for the first time, we talked about much related to what he had seen and some of which was not in his book. He died in 1998 unfortunately, but before he died, he and I got together at his request and he showed me manuscripts, pages, documents of his own and "Linda, I saw with my own eyes highly classified documents when I was working in the Pentagon about the unusal bloodless, trackless deaths of animals in both hemispheres and that the perpetraitors were extraterrestrial biological entities". He said those were the words in the highly classified documents and that the earliest date that he saw with his own eyes was 1951. That 1951 date ties directly into documents that have only been released in the last 5 years. Amid all of the thousands of pages that Ryan and Bob Wood have gotten in the Majestic 12 project, leaked government documents about our governments knowledge and cover-up of extraterrestrial interaction with this planet, there's a highly important series of documents that goes back to the actual data of what happened between July 4th and July 6th 1947. There wasn't just one crash, there was three. The landing sites were given, what they retrieved, what they found, where the items went, what they learned, were all described in detail in these documents. One of the landing sites, was at the Trinity site in Northern White Sands Missile Range. At the Trinity site is where we did the first atomic bomb test in July of 1945 before we dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is where one of the 1947 vehicles came down or crashed. What's interesting about the document, they talk about there being damage to the craft at landing zone 1, between Roswell and Corona. landing zone 2 at the Trinity site, there was not much damage. The third landing zone was identified as 30 miles directly east of Allamagordo on the Mascallero Indian reservation there. That vehicle was described as being so damaged that very little could be learned from landing zone 3. If you go back to landing zones 1 and 2, the documents say first "at landing zone 1 they found bodies disected as one would a frog". That's a direct quote. It does on to specify if the bodies dissected are human, nonhuman or animal, but when you go to the document section released for landing zone 2 it says that they found animal parts in containers inside the extraterrestrial vehicle. Bodies of nonhumans were outside of the extraterrestrial vehicle at landing zone 2. When you start putting these pieces together, it means that the Truman administration in 1947 was having to confront the fact that what was defiined as extraterrestrial biological entities were somehow responsible for gathering bodies dissected as one would a frog and animal parts in containers in their craft. It's now May of 2007 and in Argentina and Chili, since 2002 there have been over 3,000 animal mutilation deaths reported to law enforcement, reported to Sinasa, which is Argentinas form of the Department Of Agriculture. The last 3 weeks in Chili, which would be the last week of April into the beginning of May, 2007 farmers in what is called District number 6 of Chili are reporting attacks of what they call the chupacabra attacks of about 11 years ago repeating itself on chickens and other animals.
Anarchy: The chupacabra? Now we're talking!
Linda: I spent two weeks in January of 1996 in Puerto Rico investigating what was being called the chupacabra attacks and simultaniously on the other side of the island, classic animal mutilations. In the chupacabras, which means "goat-suckers" in Spanish, I saw with my own eyes some of the animals. i went to the Puerto Rico Medical Center and was invited to attend a formal medical presentation with theirveteranarians and veteranrian pathologists at the university.they had about 100 slides that they went through in presentation with other medical colleagues in which I was allowed to attend. they were shoiwng bloodless...not any blood, anywehere...rabbits, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep and a variety of birds. In these photographs that were being presented, the issue in front of the medical authorities was what is making these very smooth puncture marks that penetrated 4 inches into the bodies of all these assorted animals, in some cases in goats and sheep going right through the thick skull with no blood whatsoever. In half a dozen cases the goats and one dog were completely alive, functioning with these holes in their skulls and in the neck of the dog, with these 4 inch holes penetrating deep into their bodies with no blood. the conclusion was that day, after several hours of listening to this was that they had to be dealing with something that was from their point of view a chemical cautery as opposed to a heat cautery because they couldn't find any evidence of carbon residue on any of the pentration holes. That is absolutely the same finding that hematologist and pathologist John Altshuler discovered in the late '80s and early '90s in all of his work for me and with me on animal mutilations. he was very curious. All carbon life forms if subjected to any kind of heat such as laser surgery, under a microscope you will find carbon residue. We have yet to see carbon residue on the incisons of mutilated animals. Here in the chupacabra research were holes of a completely different nature, half inch to three quarters of an inch inch holes in diameter penetrating into bodies over and over again four inches. Completely, absolutely different from the classic animal mutilations that I described earlier. Yet, there were medical authorities confirming that they did not find carbon residue in those holes either. So, what can take the tissue from every domestic animal in this planet, all of the wild animals, they have all been subjected to the classic animal mutilations. Then the chupacabras dont show up until 1995, starting in Puerto Rico and spreading to Mexico, the southern Unites States and now Chili and Argentina. What is it? It's punctures, bloodless punctures. Most of the animals that die have these very odd holes and there isn't anybody that has an answer. Nothing has ever been caught in any of these situations. No one has ever been arrested or arraigned in over 60 years on any of these animal violations. In Puerto Rico specifically, I interviewed about 12 people who did drawings for me of what they had seen outside their window, on the sidewalk, junping over a fence, flying over a car in a garage, jumping down from a tree. What's so interesting is that one of the creatures could stand up on its hind legs 5' to 5' 2" tall, had very odd grey slanted eyes and only 3 front fingers and 3 back toes.that was the creature that so many people described springing from the ground over 6-8 feet high brick walls. Then there was an entirely different creature, solid black with red glowing eyes with a huge wingspan that many people compared to bats. the owner of the dog who was punctured but survived saw this winged thing that was black come out of the sky and onto his very beige colored hunting dog and grabbed ahold of it.he came running and screaming and apparently this black thing flew away because the human was coming and approaching the dog. Then he found these holes in the dogs neck. There was direct eye-witness link between whatever this winged black creature is and the holes in the dog, but that's completely different from the other creature that springs over the walls. What I'm trying to describe is that this is a very, very, very complicated subject. When I began with my first interviews with sheriffs and deputies in September 1979, not having a clue and being told that we were being told that we were dealing with creatures from outer space, and finally getting law enforcement to go on the record about it. Now, 28 years later I am convinced that a nun-human intelligence has been interacting with earth life for not just the last 60 years, I think it's been millenia. What is interesting to me is that all the people who have talked to me off the record who have military and intelligence careers and have been exposed to whatever some of these intelligences are, they ask me if I know what the agenda is, and I would suggest to you that that is the $64,000,000 question. The tremendous amount of details, there is tremendous amounts of knowledge and cover-up that I'm not sure that the government insders with all of their classified documents, photographs and face to face exchanges with some of these entities, i don't know that they truly understand what the true agendas are.
Anarchy: Jesus! Now lets switch over to something based more on hard science, that being Colony Collapse Disorder. This has happened before where vast amounts of bees have died, but never quite like this. What is the difference between the current CCD's and previous honeybee deaths?
Linda: I have interviewed about 20 scientists from the Colony Collapse Disorder Group that formed last Fall. In the interviews I've done with a wide range of specialties from entomology, to biology, botany, zoology and so forth, I can say that this is an accurate consesus statement. There may have been die-offs of honeybees periodically, but bodies are always found. We're talking about a brand new phenomina in scale and the fact that no bodies have evr been found. There's no drones anywhere, there's no debris, but occasionally they've found some brood and some queens, but that's few and far between. We're talking about as one beekeeper in PA told me "Linda, this is a ghost story". "We open up our hives and there's nothing there". There's nothing to study. there's nothing to follow. The hives should be full of bees and they're completely empty. Where did they go? Why don't we find their bodies? That sums up Colony Collapse Disorder as first reported in October of 2006.
We're now in May of 2007. Everybody had prayed that by the time Spring came that whatever it was would have corrected itself, the bees would be flourishing all over the Unites States and everything would be fine and there would no longer be an issue. Well, the sad fact is that as beekepers in the United States, Canada, nine countries in Europe, China, Taiwan, Guatamala and Brazil opened up their hives in the Srping of 2007, massive disappearances were reported. these disappearances have made it much more difficult for the scientists because what do you study if you don't have a wide range of bodies? This is the first. This is the big, big difference. They ended up at the University of PA and Penn State with 250 bodies. that's how many they had to work with collected from three states, Pennsylvania, Florida and California. In March, as the Canadian beekepers were opening their hives, to their astonishment finding them empty as well and in some cases finding them full of dead bees. it was the opposite of the Unites States. Hives in Canada were chock full of all dead bees. In any case, the beekeepers that were opening up the hives and confrontedwith nothing or all dead had nothing to work with. The University of PA and Penn State were able to get some of the bees from Canada for thier study. What I'm going to tell you now is a news headline in and of itself. there still is not an answer. After seven months of research, there still is not an answer. The hypotheses keeps growing. More than a hundred scientists in the United States and scientists in other parts of the world are working on it. they don't have a definitive answer.
Anarchy: A few weeks ago there was a big news story proclaiming that this problem was solved. What happened?
Linda: It was the last week of April of 2007 and there was media all over the place headlining that the University of California in San Fransisco had "tracked down suspect in honeybee disappeance". I immediately called up various scientists that I had interviewed and they all said that they didn't know why they did this. They had not made one telephone call to the Colony Collapse Disorder that had beenworking on the honeybee disappearance since the Fall. the University of California biochemists had never even gotten in touch with them. Further, Nosema Ceranae, which is the so-called answer according to University of California, is called a one-celled protozoan. The media everywhere was calling it a fungus. There's no relationship between a fungus and a protozoan. So they didn't even get that right. Nosema Ceranae had long been identified before in the Unites States and Europe and other countrie. It had been isolated in Spain this Fall and Winter. There were scientists in Spain that were wondering if it had anything to do with the massive disappearances of honeybees in Spain. They're still not sure. This is like a cautionary tale. If there are scientists who are trying to work on a complicated phenominon and you're a scientist who comes into the field at the last minute, don't jump to a conclusion before you've talked to the hundred or so scientists who've been working on the problem for months. We are in a state of emergency. This is an urgent, urgent problem. there are not enough pollinators to go around to all of the food growers in the United States.
Anarchy: That's the thing that I think a lot of people don't understand. When I've mentioned this story to people they've basically just said "So what, that means I won't get Honey Nut Cheerios". But it's much more serious than that, right?
Linda: (laughs) What are honeybees responsible for? A simple way to think about it is that every one of three bites of food exists in this world because of honeybees. Honeybees started in Europe and were imported into the United States in the 1800's. Going all the way back 5000 years there has always been a relationship between humans and honeybees because humans caught on long ago that if they didn't have the honeybees around they wouldnt have berries, they wouldnt have nuts, they wouldnt have apples, they wouldnt have vegetables. there's a huge long list of all of these foods and food groups that wouldnt exist without primarily this wonderful little creature, the honeybee. Because it's existence is tied around gathering nectar and pollen to make honey in the hives for it's own food sustenance that it ends up transfering pollen from flower to flower and the universe was set up this way so that's how these various plants would be pollinated to produce foods. The almond growers in California could not get all the pollinators this Winter from all the states that they used to so they reached out to Australia. Australia to this date has not reported any problems with their bees, but when these millions of bees were imported to California to help fill in with the almond growers needs this february, all of those bees disappeared. that left scientists scratching their heads. What is the difference between here and Australia or New Zealand or any places where this phenomena is not occuring. They don't have answers but it certainly seems to be narrowing down to a few at the top of their list. One of those is a group of pesticides that did not exist prior to the last seven years. They are called neonicotinoids. They are a nicotinebased pesticide and ironically enough, they were developed to go into the environment to be less harmful to all insects because the nicotine based poison is so toxic that it would only take a small amount of it to kill weeds and beetles.just in the past twelve months, this is hard data, they have have learned that one of these pesticides sold all over the world will interfere so badly with memories of bees that the bees cannot leave the hive and return. That's been demonstrated in lab tests. This is a very interesting problem that scientists are trying to understand. What is the minimal amount of neonicotinoids that you can put on weeds and beetles and not affect the memory of honeybees. Right now they have never even been able to measure an amount small enugh that does not impact the bees. the bees are so sensitive to these particular pesticides that it may be coming down to the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency is going to have to eliminate this kind of pesticide.That hasn't happened yet yet, and they need to prove it, but I'm giving you an example of one thing that has been set loose in the environment in just the past decade that hs turned out in lab tests now to be so damaging to the bees memory that that might be whats responsible.
Anarchy: If they're not taking action now, and things are getting worse, at what point do we prepare for the fact that there won't be enough food to go around?
Linda: What you're asking is, will we have food shortages this Fall in 2007 because there aren't enough pollinators to go around. In February the answer was 'we hope not". In March it was "we're woried". In April it was 'we're probably going to have food shortages". In May, it is now "which food are going to be most affected"? So, do I think that there will be food shortages directly related to the lack of honeybees ability to pollinate? yes. The question is, 2007 is not going to be the crisis year in terms of food. What will really be a problem is 2008 if we haven't been able to solve what is happening to the honeybees. Some beekeepers have lost 100% of their bees. Many have lost 80% of their bees. The vast majority have lost between 40% and 70% of their bees. That means that out of the total supply, we have seen the complete disappearance of one half of our entire honeybee pollinators. If that continued into 2008...two plus two equals four. There will be many, many crops that aren't pollinated. That's what everybody is so worried about. That's why they're saying that this is an emergency. They're trying to solve it. It may be that 2007 there isn't enough and we have to import more foods. but what does happen in 2008? A very major issue for you and your readers to think about is, If the United States began importing more and more food because it can't pollinate it's own food, it makes us vulnerable to China, South America, to counties where our political relationships are sometimes quite rocky. As one of the scientists at the Colony Collapse Disorder group pointed out to me, the United States cannot put itself into a position where it is depending on 20%, 30%, 40% of its food to be coming from other nations. We have to solve this. We have to find out what is wrong. we have to eliminate some pesticides if that is the problem. We have to put the United States back on a track where our pollinators balance out the food we use and get nature back in some kind of balance. If we don't, i think there are huge problems ahead, much bigger than they are now.
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For more information on all of these topics and more, visit Linda Moulton Howe's website at Earthfiles.com .Her site is the very best place to go for current news on the honeybee crisis, crop circles and other unsolved phenomina.
The Showdown New Video + Ozzfest All Summer Long!
For Immediate Release
May 28, 2007
THE SHOWDOWN SHOOT BRAND NEW VIDEO FOR “TEMPTATION COME MY WAY” WITH DIRECTOR DOUG SPANGENBERG!!!
On May 21, Tennessee’s own The Showdown began filming their first music video with accomplished music video director Doug Spangenberg. The video for “Temptation Come My Way” will give a television audience their first official look at the South’s high-voltage rockers.
For their first video, The Showdown brought in Doug Spangenberg, who has directed videos for Norma Jean, This Is Hell, and Terror, as well as Lamb of God’s 2005 gold-selling DVD Killadelphia. Filmed on the same grounds used by MTV’s Jackass crew, the video will reflect the band’s 80s style and features some serious explosions!!
Frontman David Bunton says, “This music video captures the true spirit and feel of The Showdown. No holds barred, heavy metal, pyro, and headbanging. That’s what we’re all about. The goal for our first video was to give people a small taste of how rude we can be live. Heavy metal is plugged in and loud. Heavy metal is the law.”
“I was amped on the song as soon as I heard it,” says Spangenberg. “We kept it simple and shot the band shredding their faces off in a field with a shitload of pyro. In retrospect, I'm surprised they made it out with only light singe marks. They're great dudes, and I look forward to barbequing with them this summer on Ozzfest.”
Since the release of their second full-length, Temptation Come My Way, The Showdown have been living up to the high expectations placed on them by their peers and the media. The Showdown were named one of AP’s 100 Bands You Need To Know In ’07, and were profiled as a Band To Watch in Revolver Magazine.
“…plenty of hard-swinging Southern swagger...a melodic brand of Euro-accented metal delivered with a distinctive drawl.” – Revolver, April 2007
“The Showdown has brought a breath of fresh air into the metal scene with an unflinching album…ruthless and epic…” – HM, Jan/Feb 2007
“8/10…plenty of hell-yeah metal guitar work” – Outburn, Spring 2007
“…a Southern rock-influenced breakthrough…it totally shreds…” – AP, March 2007
“…pure meat ‘n’ taters heavy metal…” – Decibel, May 2007
The Showdown will be busy all summer as part of this year’s Second Stage at Ozzfest!! Tour dates are as follows:
7/12 – Seattle, WA – White River Amphitheatre
7/14 – George, WA – The Gorge
7/17 – Sacramento, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre
7/19 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/21 – Devore, CA – Hyundai Pavilion
7/24 – Phoenix, AZ – Cricket Pavilion
7/26 – Albuquerque, NM – Journal Pavilion
7/28 – Denver, CO – Coors Amphitheatre
7/30 – Kansas City, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8/02 – Dallas, TX – Smirnoff Music Center
8/04 – San Antonio, TX – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8/06 – St. Louis, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
8/08 – Columbus, OH – Germain Amphitheatre
8/10 – Tinley Park, IL – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
8/12 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Valley Music Theatre
8/14 – Indianapolis, IN – Verizon Wireless Music Theatre
8/16 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
8/18 – Hartford, CT – New England Dodge Music Theatre
8/20 – Boston, MA – Tweeter Center
8/22 – Philadelphia, PA – Tweeter Center
8/24 – Pittsburgh, PA – Post Gazette Pavilion
8/26 – Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/28 – Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8/30 – West Palm Beach, FL – Sound Advice Amphitheatre
www.myspace.com/theshowdown
www.theshowdownmetal.com
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Also known as Return of the Jedi at Sea
Or Speed 2 – but on a Boat
By James "Bo" Gorceski
Greetings true believers, let this mark my semi-anniversary for writing reviews for the Anarchist and his evil alchemy of arch-villains and nerds. Pirates 2 was the first review that I wrote for this site; so now it feels just a little bit special writing my first "sequel" review as it has come close to my one year anniversary of having my work seen to a much larger public.
And so thinking about when I wrote that first film and how I am writing it's sequel LESS THAN A YEAR away from its prequel. Which gives me a bad feeling about initially coming to see Pirates 3 and if a film is written, shot and put it within a year from it's predecessor – something didn't fall through the cracks all too well. Unless you are filming films simultaneously such as the Matrix films or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy you end up rushing yourselves into production and not taking an adequate amount of time to plot out things – especially the script. BUT, if you do plan to shoot a film without a finished script, just borrow the concept from another film - such as Return of the Jedi!
Back to the Future Part 2, many of the Bond films, and Superman II all come to my mind after these films were released and IMMEDIATELY rushed into production. I know Spielberg regretted making Back to the Future 2 and then HAVING to make Part III only to suck ass. And chances are, if you are a comic book fiend you will already have your opinions about Superman III (which is seminally one of the greatest comic book films of all time). Unfortunately, so much work and success was put into Superman I/II that when III came about, with a much more comedic approach – the fiscal return on the film wasn't as well. Now, I feel that there IS a direct parallel between Pirates 3 and Superman III but primarily the plot is Return of the Jedi.
Yeah, I know what you are thinking – this nerd is ludicrous! Trust me, I won't let you down. Okay, so I ended up seeing the RATHER LONG epic film and I became very bored throughout most of the film as it was over run with waaay too much information about Pirate-lure, constant betrayal amongst all of the main players of the cast and waaay too much computer generated Johnny Depp for an over zealous attempt for a comedic Johnny factor for the film. The man has got like forty clones – I felt like I was watching the Clone Wars L
SPOILERS AHEAD!! IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND DON'T WANT PLOT POINTS REVEALED, THEN TURN BACK NOW MATEY!
Okay, let me get back to the alternative titles for this film as saying this is like Return of the Jedi. Actually, A LOT of this film felt like Return of the Jedi. Perhaps because I feel that Star Wars is the quintessential film saga that set the standard for "Trilogy Films" but even the opening of the film feels very much like Jabba's Palace. Okay so Kiera Knightley is in disguise to rescue her beloved and captured Will. Just like Princess Leia, in Boush disguise is rescuing a Han Solo frozen in carbonite (TEEGLO-CARBON!) She is about to be captured by some Singapore Pirates that wanna see her naked, but luckily, mudda fuckn' Barbosa is to the rescue. In this sense of the word, you can think of Barbosa as Luke who has come to rescue everyone. Or perhaps you might want to think of him as Lando Calrissian, a man who betrayed everyone and is now trying to redeem himself. In fact, I personally feel that Barbosa plays the ultimate hero in the film and has some of the most endearing qualities as far as a blood thirsty and back stabbing pirate would go.
Okay, so what is going on in this film is that Kiera, Barbosa, Will and the rest of the crew have traveled to Singapore and are meeting one of the "Pirate Lords" who is played by Chow Yung Fat and that they may continue their little quest. These guys need the help on bringing back Captain Jack Sparrow from the land of the dead. Ang Lee had a map that shows them basically on how to get to the "Edge of the World" and gain access to Davy Jones' locker and get Jack back. Some events happen along the way when the East India Trading Company (The Galactic Empire) comes barging on in. Apparently, Marshall law has been declared and if you are a pirate – you will die.
This strict law on all pirates can also be kinda like a direct correlation of what happened to most of the pirates in the world. Jack and Barbosa end up having a conversation about this, about how the world is getting smaller, the world has changed and the ways of the sea have changed. The strict enforcement of the seas and overtaking the pirates can be also seen as "The Evil Empire" who is trying to rule the seas with an iron fist. Their Death Star is the Flying Dutchmen with Davy Jones (aka Darth Vader) at it's helm who must do all of the bidding commanded by the evil "Emporer"
Lord Beckett. The only way to combat this evil empire is for all of the pirates to band together, like the Rebellion, and unleash their secret weapon. (Just like finding out how to destroy the bunker base on the forest moon of Endor).
Okay, so some BETRAYAL begins to unfold. Will makes a deal with Ang Lee on trying to make co hoots with the EIC in order to get Jack back from the dead so that he can get the Black Pearl from him and thus deliver Jack to Ang and Ang to the EIC in order to ensure his own safety. SO the crew sets sail to the edge of the world, go over a large waterfall and come out the other side of the world. Meanwhile, Jack is having a nervous breakdown in the middle of Davy Jones' locker. He is having delusions of grandeur and has created many imaginary versions of himself as he does work on his ship the Black Pearl. The ship itself is stuck in a sea of salt surrounded by these spherical rocks. But luckily Jack licks one of these rocks and turns into a crab, then that crab commands an army of other crabs and is able to lift up to take it out to sea. Once it lands, Barbosa and his crew are there and finally everyone is united.
SO now onto the next part, it will be intertwined with some more betrayal, twists and turns. Barbosa knows that the Nine Pirate Lords must unite in order to release the ancient Goddess Calypso from her human form. The pirates all know that Lord Beckitt is on a mission to rid the world of all pirates and he also knows that they are all convening on Shipwreck's Cove for a final stand off. There is a traitor amongst their midst, actually everyone betrays one another at some point in this whole film. Anyways, all of the pirates head on over to Shipwreck's Cove where they need to decide on the issue over unleashing Calypso and regain their title over the sea.If you know your Greek Mythology, you might know Calypso as a seductive Goddess with much power (in this case over the sea). Her story goes that Calypso was in love with Davy Jones many years ago. Davy made a deal with her that he would command the flying Dutchmen after he gave her his heart. His job was to take souls who died at sea to the next resting place. He would be at sea for ten years and one day at land. When he came back, she wasn't there and Davy felt betrayed. He and the original "Meeting of the Brethren" convened and decided they would enslave Calypso and take the sea as their own. The original nine pirate lords captured her and enslaved her in a human form which became Tia Dalma, who originally helped bring about Barbosa back from the dead.
This story amongst other Pirate Lure, mythology, information, characters, Lords, a King, traditions becomes WAAAAY too much information. The story just gets all of this stuff thrown at you which becomes intertwined with consistent betrayal. The main difference with this film from it's predecessor was that each person needed to get something from the other. This film still has that element, but it's toned down a bit on the very well choreographed fight scenes and instead has a whole lot more introduction of all of these nameless pirate lords and just keeps on trying to introduce to more and more Pirate characters. There are even times when we don't even know who they are or very more or on what their purpose is on the film. But whereas they have this ability to just stir up problems and create drama. They can see a few lines and then drop off into the distance as the remaining action happens in the film. What they need is to have a visual dictionary guide to this film so you know the official "Pirate Code" and what is going on behind the scenes of all of the action and inter-twining betrayal.
Finally, the whole big battle happens at the end of the film. Calypso is freed, Kiera Knightley becomes the "King of the Pirates," Jack is freed and goes through constant hallucinations, Will and Kiera get married and then Will ends up stabbing Davy's heart and then ends up taking oversees the captain of the Flying Dutchmen and ends up freeing the crew men of the Dutchmen so that they are no longer cursed as "the fish men." Will then comes back from the Dead and gets his heart taken out and gets put into the new locker and given to Kiera for protection.
Will there be a fourth Pirates film?! The film ends where Barbosa ends up kicking Jack and stealing the Black Pearl back and making it rightfully his. But what they didn't know was that Jack ended up stealing the valuable map from Barbosa and his men making it unassailable in order to reach the "Fountain of Youth". If you end up sticking around for the end of the credits, there is a scene where Will Turner returns to shore ten years later and Elizabeth has bore a son. But, who knows if another one will come around, personally I hope they do not and if they do – they should not rush this film as much. They rushed this film waaay too much and it falls through the cracks on some development and too many characters and glam and information and not enough for us to process. For a three hour movie, you will end up leaving the theater a little exhausted.
Concert Review: My Chemical Romance and The Black Parade with Muse
By The Anarchist and Marina Branton
My Chemical Romance have boldly gone where most of their Warped Tour buddies will likely never go. With their latest album The Black Parade, the band has cut it's ties with the dying "scene" trend and become what they were always destined to be...a massive arena rock juggernaut. Amazingly, this shy group of comic book geeks have flawlessly made the trasistion and taken their show on the road, bringing with them enough lights and spectacle to rival any superhero slugfest. To sweeten the deal, they've also brought along label-mates Muse, making this one of the best double bills you are likely to see in years. Thanks to our friends at Reprise, photographer Courtney Sultan and myself saw the show in Atlanta, GA, while our Forum member Marina Branton wanted to chime in from the show in Charlotte, NC. Both nights were incredible, as Courtney's pictures will show, but as the sold out crowds will attest, this is a show that grabs you by the throat and takes you on a journey into the world of The Black Parade. A journey that is not be missed.
Despite what the ticket may have led you to believe, there was no opening act. Sure, Muse went on first, but that was just to let you know that these guys will soon be headlining places like this. When you see them in a big areana you will realize that this is where they belong. Already a smash in the UK (with a headlining stadium tour starting soon with...you guessed it...My Chemical Romance as an opening act) that fame should be crossing the pond any day now. Often recieving comparisons to Radiohead, that nonsense needs to stop. While Radiohead has slipped into an avant garde ego trip, Muse is accessible to mainstream fans and actually appear much closer to being the next U2. Like Bono, Muse vocalist Matt Bellamy doesn't mind sharing his political opinions, and his band is different enough to stand out while still appealing to the masses. In other words, expect great things from them in the future and catch them while you can while they still headline smaller venues in the states. They certainly showcased their blooming star power on this tour, with an impressive light show and a multi-layered wall of sound that was played to absolute perfection. Muse is the real deal, in all their spacey glory! To drive home the point, when the band played their new single "Starlight" the crowd erupted...a mere taste of what's to come.
Accordng to the concert tickets and promotional campaign, the next band up was The Black Parade, who are of course My Chemical Romance in the mindset of their new new album. In true rock opera fashion, they played the entire album from start to finish, including the hidden track "Blood".. I'll let Marina tell you how it went down...
The lights went out and out comes Gerard Way in a hospital gown and on a gurney. After playing "The End" he took off the gown revealing the famous black marching band jacket. Right afterwards, the curtains opened and the rest of the band joined Gerard on stage. As they played the song "Mama" (who's lyrics include "mama, we all go to Hell") they made you feel like you really were in Hell. There was plenty of fire and red lights to assist with the effect. When they were down to their last two songs "Disenchanted" and "Famous Last Words", Gerard made a remark stating "We only have two more songs and then you get the likes of my Chemical Romance". The crowd went crazy. Then he added "I personally think that guy isn't very good looking and can't dress".The curtain closed again and "Blood" started playing. As soon as it was done, My Chemical Romance came out as themselves and started playing "I'm Not Okay (I Promise". The fans went nuts for all 5 songs that were played from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. "Helena" was the final song and I was sad to see the show end. The band combined tons of pyro and nonstop action into their show, making it the one of best concerts I've ever seen.
Not so famous last words::From the moment Gerard appeared onstage until the very end, the crowd was absolutely on fire. The band gave them everything they had in return and presented an amazing spectacle that showcased the new album and it's importance to the career of the band while also giving fans the hits from the previous cd.. I definitely ant to thank MCR and Reprse for hooking us up, Marina for helping us out, and of course Courtney Sultan for photographing the show for us.
Dark Horse announces an exclusive line of Elfquest busts
One of the most successful and best-loved fantasy comics series comes to life in three new striking busts from Dark Horse!
Without question one of the most successful fantasy comic book series
of the last thirty years is Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini.
A sprawling saga with hundreds of characters and a fully-realized alternate world hosting visionary, magical cultures and creatures, it
has sold over three million copies in various editions.
As many readers know, the primary characters of Elfquest are Cutter, Leetah and Skywise, who form a triangular group of protagonists whose
interaction forms the foundation of the story. As brought to life by
Wendy Pini, these characters have become familiar but remain uniquely
her own.
Dark Horse is happy to announce that, with the help of master sculptor Tim Bruckner and significant guidance by Wendy and Richard Pini, a new series of three limited-edition busts of these characters
is scheduled for a November on-sale date.
“We feel these busts are some of the best we have done so far,” Dark Horse’s David Scroggy noted, “and are happy to say that the creators agree.”
When asked what led Dark Horse to Elfquest, Scroggy continued, “We were at New York Comic-Con in February, and were quietly in the process of lining up some characters from modern comics for a new group of our 1940s-inspired ‘syroco’-style statuettes. We asked Wendy and Richard if we could do one of Elfquest. Our timing was good, as figure rights, which had been tied up elsewhere, had just reverted to the Pinis. They agreed to let us do Cutter in this style,
but in reviewing our display at the Comic-Con, Wendy admired Tim Bruckner’s work on our group of Hellboy Animated busts, and thought that this format, along with Tim’s specific stylistic approach to it, might be the best one for her audience.
“A deal was struck, and work commenced. It was decided to create three stand-alone pieces, but to have them enjoy a special relationship that suggested emotion and interaction when displayed as
a set. As Cutter took shape through rough clay and more finished versions, excitement grew at both Dark Horse and at WaRP Graphics. The result was such a realization of her personal vision that upon final approval Wendy told us that ‘you made this Elfmom cry.’ To which Tim Bruckner replied ‘Making creators cry is nothing new to me; it happens all the time. But this is the first time it has ever happened in a good way.’
Each bust in the Elfquest series measures about 5.5 inches, and the body pivots on the base, allowing the owner to set up exact placement
and position. Meticulously hand-painted, each limited-edition piece is individually numbered. Edition is set at only 1,500 per character,
so allocation may occur. Dark Horse is supervising worldwide sales territory for the busts, which have a suggested retail price of $49.99 per character.
Dark Horse Deluxe Announces Glenn Barr Limited-Edition Designer Vinyl Figure!
Hell’s Proprietor to Be Presented in Two Versions: Brown and Blue.
In the past ten years, an exciting new world of limited-edition designer toys has exploded worldwide. Tracing its roots to the Hong Kong toy scene in the late 1990s, this phenomenon refers to unique figures, usually produced in very limited editions, that are either original creations by individual designers or small companies, or else three-dimensional works inspired by contemporary artists.
Dark Horse Deluxe is pleased to announce a new addition to this burgeoning field: Hell’s Proprietor, a creature sprung from the
imagination of American artist Glenn Barr. Standing a large 11” tall, the figure will be released in two versions: a regular edition of one thousand pieces that utilizes a palette of earth tones taken from Barr’s paintings, and a variant edition of only five hundred pieces decorated in shades of blue. Suggested retail price for each version is $74.99. The release date is slated for late September 2007.
Asked to explain the origins of the character, Barr recalled, “This little beetle has been popping up in drawings and paintings for years. He was initially a humorous antidote to some of my more surreal depictions of a post-apocalyptic carnival midway. He then slowly turned from barker into a managerial position, relocating him in Hell, a position he felt suited his stern yet gentle nature. He sees to it that all cares are met and that everyone is comfortable.”
Hell’s Proprietor is the first in a planned series of three- dimensional art toys based on Barr’s work from Dark Horse Deluxe. In addition to being able to see a preview version of Hell’s Proprietor, lucky attendees of July’s Comic-Con International in San Diego will be treated to the first look at other future releases.
“We have been very excited by our experience in working with Glenn Barr,” Dark Horse’s David Scroggy observed, “and his participation all the way through the process has been a big part of the success of this figure. Early reaction has been quite strong from
the industry, so collectors and retailers are advised that allocation
of this item seems likely. The limited-edition nature of the designer
toy and urban vinyl market means that the purchasing window for upcoming items is often quite compressed, and we are seeing that in this case for sure.”
This kind of art toy is now taking a place alongside paintings and drawings in many contemporary artists’ bodies of work. It is no
different for Glenn Barr: “With every show, I try to bring in all aspects of my work, including prints and books, and now toys. If there is a gallery store, it usually caters to the folks who love the
artist branded merch. The limited edition toys have become a big part
of this. Because, well, who doesn't like toys?”
In addition to the Dark Horse version of Hell’s Proprietor, another, different version has recently appeared from Ningyoushi.com. It is made out of wood, and at 5’’ is much smaller in size, but is nonetheless a worthy companion piece to the Dark Horse edition. Other
recent items by Glenn Barr include a two hundred page hardcover art book titled Haunted Paradise: The Art of Glenn Barr (Last Gasp/La Luz
de Jesus), a set of stationery, envelopes, and stickers based on his Janes paintings, and a 128-page journal, from Dark Horse Deluxe.
Barr’s next art exhibit, titled “No Means Yes,” will be held in June at Outré Gallery in Melbourne, Australia.
CD Review: Meg & Dia -- Something Real
By The Anarchist
In case you didn't know, Cute is the new Sexy. There's so many barely dressed skanks in music right now that it's become down-right boring. Meg and Dia Foster are cute. Real cute! In fact, it's damn near a super power! Was this a good reason for me to first listen to their music? Perhaps not, but once I heard them I was glad that I did. Their debut album "Something Real" is exactly that, a true pop/rock album written and recorded by the musicians in the band, not a team of producers and hitmakers hired the label. It's kind of ironic then that this album has more well crafted soon-to-be hits than anything in the Top 40. The girls, with Dia on vocals and Meg on guitar, know how to capture that pop sensibility without stripping the songs of their emotional core.
The first single, "Monster" paints a pretty disturbing picture for those who look beyond the surface of this radio hit. This depth is a trend throughout the album. If you just want to sing along to a catchy song then this cd should stay in your playlist for quite some time, while the rest of us can appreciae the stories told in the lyrics. Don't get me wrong, this isn't Bob Dylan we're talking about, nor is it reinventing the wheel. You have to admit though, indie pop is a pretty good wheel when done well. "Roses" is the second single, and I would suggest they follow that up with "Tell Mary", which is a well-written ballad that has huge multi-format potential. Several songs pick up the angst flag that was once poorly held by the likes of Avril and that chick who won American Idol that time. The difference being that fans of those artists are a few years older now and should appreciate a more well-rounded take on the concept.
"Rebecca" is an absolutely gorgeous piano ballad that gives us a glimpse in a rather odd and potentially disturbing love story. It also gives me a reason to talk to about one of my biggest pey peeves in popular music. Usually i can't stand it when songs mention people by name. As far as I'm concerned it completely removes everyone who has not experienced that exact situation with people with those names from the potential emotional impact of the song. Meg & Dia are the exceptions to this rule. Several songs namedrop the people in the story and it just serves to bring you in closer to their world. I liken it to Adrian Tomine's comic book masterpiece Optic Nerve. In that, he begins each short story with little or no explanation of who the characters are, shows you a brief emotional or pivital moment in their lives and simply leaves it at that. This is not easy to do, and is even more difficult in the context of a song. the girls have mastered the art...and it's only their debut album!
Another thing I really enjoy is that they leave enough of the song up to interpretation that you can write your own story for the characters. For instance, I have no idea what "Getaways Turned Holidays" is about, and that's a good thing! The story I've invented in my head is unique to me, as are the ones in the minds of all of their fans. This may seem like no big deal, but turn on the radio and you'll hear song after song of cliche' storylines being read to you verbatim. To their credit, the band is not treating their listeners like idiots. Many of them may be kids, but the girls trust them enough to interpret the songs on their own. This involves the listners in the songwriting process and makes the album that much better.
It is a rarity that a band in this genre will release a smart album that isn't completely processed and spoon-fed to the public like so much baby food. Sure, some of the imagery will appeal to kids, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as the songs can stand up as well as these do. there is room for this band to grow, and I expect future work to be even better, but if this is any indication of what's to come then the bands currently at the top of the charts might not want to get too comfortable up there. Meg & Dia are coming to stake their claim...and are going to look darn cute doing it!
News on Gaza, Behold... The Arctopus, Architect, The_Network and more!
For immediate release:
GAZA confirms summer tours with Destroyer Destroyer and Genghis Tron!
Gaza has confirmed a series of summer tours with Destroyer Destroyer, The Handshake Murders, Genghis Tron and label mates Ed Gein. The band will be hitting the road in June and touring through late July. You can also catch Gaza at this year's Dude Fest on July 28th and at GoreFest on July 29th.
Tour with Destroyer Destroyer and The Handshake Murders
6/03 San Diego, CA Soma
6/05 Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction
6/06 Santa Cruz, CA 418 Project
6/07 Portland, OR Satyricon
6/08 Redding, CA The Plaza
6/10 Ogden, UT The Country Club Theatre
6/12 Denver, CO Sox Place
6/13 Wichita, KS Eagles Lodge
6/15 Morgantown, WV Flipside
6/16 Virginia Beach, VA Club Relevant
6/17 Philadelphia, PA Italian American Social Club
6/20 New London, CT El N Gee
6/21 Gettysburg, VA Emmaus
6/24 Mt. Clemens, MI Hayloft Liquor Stand
6/25 Grand Rapids, MI Skelletones
6/28 St. Louis, MO Creepy Crawl
6/29 Little Rock, AR Vino's
6/30 Fayetteville, AR Fayetteville Music Hall
7/28 Indianapolis, IN The Harrison Center Dude Fest
7/29 Westland, MI VFW Post 6896 GoreFest
http://www.gazamusic.com
BEHOLD... THE ARCTOPUS hard at work on new album!
Behold... The Arctopus is currently hard at work in the studio recording their first full-length album, "Skullgrid". Almost all the tracking has been completed and the band is very excited about the way the album is sounding. "Skullgrid" will contain 7 new tracks and and will feature guest solos by Mick Barr (Orthrelm, Octis, Ocrilim) and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater). More album details will be revealed soon!
http://www.beholdthearctopus.com
ARCHITECT extends Brokeback Moun-Tour 2007!
Due to the popular demand of the Architect's Brokeback Moun-Tour with Destroyer Destroyer and label mates Dance Club Massacre, the tour will be extended through August 27th reaching into the Northeast.
Brokeback Moun-Tour 07 with Destroyer Destroyer and Dance Club Massacre
7/07 Dayton, OH Christian Center
7/08 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen
7/10 Louisville KY The Bulldog Cafe
7/11 Springfield, MO Billiards Blue Room
7/12 Tulsa, OK The Pinkeye
7/13 Gainesville, TX The State Theater
7/14 Austin, TX Red Seven
7/15 McAllen, TX The Metro
7/16 Houston, TX Walters on Washington
7/17 New Orleans, LA The High Ground
7/19 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
7/20 Port St. Lucie, FL The Haunted House
7/21 Winter Park, FL The Haven
7/22 Jacksonville, FL Thee Imperial
7/23 Atlanta, GA The Treehouse
7/24 Charleston, SC The Studio
7/26 Fredericksburg, VA KCs Music Alley
7/27 Blairsville, PA The Corner Pocket
7/28 Dayton, OH Trenton's Fisherman Club
7/29 Westland, MI VFW Post 6896 GoreFest
http://www.myspace.com/architectkills
THE_NETWORK confirms first full US tour!
Last week the_Network announced their first full US tour, bringing them to the West Coast for the first time since the_Network's inception. "We are beyond excited to get back on the road, live in a smelly van, and live out our dreams of being broke" says guitarist Pete Marr. The_Network will be heading out on the East Coast dates with S.W.W.A.A.T.S, and recent label mates Khann who will join up for the Florida stint. The_Network will meet up with Autonym for the West Coast portion of the tour, then make their way home through the Midwest with some yet to be announced headliners. The band is also thrilled to be bringing along new bass player, Seth Coleman (ex-Acacia Strain, ex-Dead Water Drowning).
5/25 Syracuse, NY Westcott Community Center with Rosetta and The Binding
5/26 Rochester, NY Penny Arcade with The Red Death, Sons of Azreal and Closed Casket Affair
Shows with Our Final Chapter and Dead by Dawn
6/01 Danielson, CT The Riverside
6/02 Saratoga Springs, NY Backstreet Billiards
6/03 Torrington, CT Sons of Italy with On Paths of Torment
end tour
6/10 Holyoke, MA The Waterfront Tavern
6/15 Burlington, VT Odd Fellows
6/16 Cambridge, MA Cambridge Elks Lodge
6/23 Trenton, NJ The Chainsaw Symphony Listener's Party
6/30 Nashua, NH American Legion Hall with Abacabb
7/13 Manchester, NH VFW Post 79 with Porphyria, A Familiar Terror and Devil's Champion
The following dates remain open.
Tour w/ S.W.W.A.A.T.S
8/03 Long Island, NY
8/04 NJ
8/05 Philly, PA
8/06 Baltimore, MD
8/07 Richmond, VA
8/08 Virginia beach, VA
8/09 Raleigh, NC
8/10 SC
8/11 Charleston, SC
8/12 Savannah, GA
8/13 Jacksonville, FL
8/14 Daytona beach, FL
8/15 Cocoa beach, FL
8/16 Orlando, FL
8/17 Clearwater, FL
8/18 Gainesville, FL
8/19 Tallahassee, FL
8/20 Panama City, FL
Tour w/ Autonym
8/21 New Orleans, LA
8/22 Baton Rouge, LA
8/23 Houston, TX
8/24 Corpus Christi, TX
8/25 San Antonio, TX
8/26 TX
8/27 El Paso, TX
8/28 Tucson, AZ
8/29 Phoenix, AZ
8/30 Corona, CA
8/31 Los Angeles, CA
9/01 Bakersfield, CA
9/02 Fresno, CA
9/03 Santa Cruz, CA
9/04 Sacramento, CA
9/05 Arcata, CA
9/06 Eugene, OR
9/07 Portland, OR
9/08 Seattle, WA
9/09 Spokane, WA
9/10 Boise, ID
9/11 Salt Lake City, UT
end tour
9/12 Denver, CO
9/13 Omaha, NE
9/14 Des Moines, IA
9/15 Minneapolis, MN
9/16 St Cloud, MN
9/17 WI
9/18 Chicago, IL
9/19 Detroit, MI
9/20 Toledo, OH
9/21 Akron/Cleveland, OH
9/22 Erie, PA
9/23 Buffalo, NY
9/24 Rochester, NY
9/25 Syracuse/Oswego, NY
9/26 Albany, NY
http://www.thenetworkmusic.com
TOUR UPDATE:
Animosity
Tour with As Blood Runs Black, The Faceless and Beneath the Massacre
5/24 Fresno, CA The Exit
5/25 Orangevale, CA The Boardwalk
5/26 Berkeley, CA 924 Gilman
Paria
Tour with Harlots and Dead Hands Rising
5/26 Winfield, KS The American Legion Heartland Hardcore Festival
6/15 Omaha, NE The Rock
6/16 Kansas City, MO El Torreon Phantasm Festival
6/17 Denver, CO 2126 Arapahoe
6/18 Las Vegas, NV Fort Cheyenne Events Center Firefest
6/20 Fullerton, CA The Alley
6/24 San Antonio, TX Scooby's
6/25 Corpus Christi, TX The Compound
6/26 McAllen, TX Metro
6/27 Austin, TX The Red Seven
6/29 Hartland, WI Skate World Robot Mosh Festival
the_Network
5/25 Syracuse, NY Westcott Community Center with Rosetta and The Binding
5/26 Rochester, NY Penny Arcade with The Red Death, Sons of Azreal and Closed Casket Affair
Shows with Our Final Chapter and Dead by Dawn
6/01 Danielson, CT The Riverside
6/02 Saratoga Springs, NY Backstreet Billiards
6/03 Torrington, CT Sons of Italy with On Paths of Torment
end tour
6/10 Holyoke, MA The Waterfront Tavern
6/15 Burlington, VT Odd Fellows
6/16 Cambridge, MA Cambridge Elks Lodge
6/23 Trenton, NJ The Chainsaw Symphony Listener's Party
6/30 Nashua, NH American Legion Hall with Abacabb
7/13 Manchester, NH VFW Post 79 with Porphyria, A Familiar Terror and Devil's Champion
Engineer
5/31 Auburn, NY Auburn Public Theater
6/16 Cheswick, PA Sincerity Fest
6/30 Pottsdam, NY Combat Fest
Tour with Coliseum
7/12 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen with Sweet Cobra
Tour with Coliseum, Buried Inside and Rammer
7/13 London, ON Call The Office
7/14 Toronto, ON Sneaky Dees
7/15 Kingston, ON Time To Laugh
7/16 Ottawa, ON Mavericks
7/17 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa
end tour
7/18 Quebec, QC L'Agitee
7/19 Boston, MA Cambridge Elks
7/21 New York, NY ABC No Rio
7/22 New Brunswick, NJ 228 Hamilton
7/23 Syracuse, NY Westcott Community Center
7/24 Rochester, NY AV Space
7/25 Cleveland The Beachland Ballroom
7/26 Columbus, OH Carabar
7/27 Indianapolis, IN The Harrison Center Dude Fest
Dance Club Massacre
Tour with Architect and Destroyer Destroyer
7/08 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen with Tower of Rome DCM Record Release show!
7/10 Louisville, KY Bulldog Cafe
7/11 Springfield, MO Billiards Blue Room
7/12 Tulsa, OK The Pinkeye
7/13 Gainesville, TX Gainesville Civic Center
7/14 Austin, TX Red Seven
7/15 McAllen, TX Club Metro
7/16 Houston, TX Walters on Washington
7/17 New Orleans, LA The High Ground
7/19 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
7/20 Port St. Lucie, FL The Haunted House
7/21 Winter Park, FL The Haven
7/22 Jacksonville, FL Thee Imperial
7/23 Lawrenceville, GA The Treehouse
7/24 Summerville, SC The Studio
7/26 Fredericksburg, VA KC's Music Alley
7/27 Blairsville, PA The Corner Pocket
7/28 Trenton, OH Trenton's Fisherman's Club
7/29 Westland, MI VFW Post 6896 GoreFest
Click the bannerto see how to win!
Blackmarket Activities sign KHANN, new realeases from Engineer and Dance Club Massacre!
Blackmarket Activities proudly announce the signing of KHANN!
Formed in 2006, the Orlando based KHANN creates a unique brand of metal incorporating latter day screamo with strong punk and psychedelic undertones, not excluding a powerful drone and hardcore influence. Lyrically, KHANN pulls from their collective veganism making their music an epic representation of “pralay”: the concept of nature reclaiming the Earth from an apathetic and abusive mankind through the literal eradication of humanity itself.
In April 2007, guitarist Andrew LaCour, drummer Josh Dulcie, bassist Patrick Chumley and vocalist Joshua Vitale (ex-Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus) entered the studio with Lords frontman Chris Owens to record their first full-length album. This Blackmarket debut, entitled “Tofutopia” features 23 tracks and clocks in at over 50 minutes.
The track listing for “Tofutopia” includes:
Himalayan Green
Pralay
Anodynic Spheres
Cleanse
Black Water Permeates
Charisma
Birds
Tofutopia
Quarantined
Silver Mouth
Leeches
Volcanic Lungs Pt I
Volcanic Lungs Pt II
Apprehension
Ignorant
Squall
Lament
The Lone Hum
Check out mp3s from “Tofutopia” at http://www.myspace.com/khannn
KHANN is:
Andrew LaCour - Guitar, Vocals
Josh Vitale - Vocals
Patrick Chumley - Bass
Josh Dulcie - Drums, Vocals
Look for KHANN’s Blackmarket Activities debut “Tofutopia” later this year!
http://www..myspace.com/khannn
http://www.blackmarketactivities.com
Summer releases from Engineer and Dance Club Massacre!
Engineer “The Dregs”
In February 2007, Engineer entered More Sounds Studio with producer Jocko to record their sophomore full-length album “The Dregs”. The result is an album that achieves the band’s original goal to push the musical boundaries of each other while maintaining a strong sense of integrity. Engineer will be touring with Coliseum, Burned Inside and Rammer in support of “The Dregs”.
Track listing for “The Dregs”:
1. Scala Natura
2. The Iron Worker
3. Greenhorn
4. Tremors
5. Hollow Vessel
6. The Thinning Cynic
7. Big Black Smile
8. First Frost
9. Waves
10. Kings
Check out the mp3 Scala Natura from “The Dregs” at http://www.myspace.com/engineercooldude!
“The Dregs” in stores July 10th, 2007!
Tour dates:
5/31 Auburn, NY Auburn Public Theater
6/16 Cheswick, PA Sincerity Fest
6/30 Pottsdam, NY Combat Fest
Tour with Coliseum
7/12 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen w/ Sweet Cobra
Tour with Coliseum, Buried Inside and Rammer
7/13 London, ON Call The Office
7/14 Toronto, ON Sneaky Dees
7/15 Kingston, ON Time To Laugh
7/16 Ottawa, ON Mavericks
7/17 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa
end tour
7/18 Quebec, QC L’Agitee
7/19 Boston, MA Cambridge Elks
7/21 New York, NY ABC No Rio
7/22 New Brunswick, NJ 228 Hamilton
7/23 Syracuse, NY Westcott Community Center
7/24 Rochester, NY AV Space
7/25 Cleveland The Beachland Ballroom
7/26 Columbus, OH Carabar
7/27 Indianapolis, IN The Harrison Center Dude Fest
http://www.engineermeusic.com
Dance Club Massacre “Feast of the Blood Monsters”
Originally released in Summer 2006, “Feast of the Blood Monsters”, Dance Club Massacre’s first self-released album is now being re-issued by Black Market Activities. Newly remixed and remastered by Eric Butkus at Plan to Record the World Studios in Chicago, “Feast of the Blood Monsters”, will be re-issued with new artwork and packaging by Discordant Art. Dance Club Massacre will be hitting the road in support of “Feast of the Blood Monsters” with label mates Architect and Destroyer Destroyer.
Track listing for “Feast of the Blood Monsters”:
1. ¡Dios Mio! El Diablo es Muy Picante
2. Meet Me in the Pub for a Shot of Dignity
3. Devon Butler's Dying Wishes
4. You Know...You Kinda Look Cute in the Dark
5. Wet Between the Thighs
6. Murders Come With Smiles
7. The Duchess and The Cougar
8. Showdown in San Antonio
9. You Bring the Bitches I'll Bring the Dynamite
10. You're What the French Call "Les Incompetents"
Check out four tracks from “Feast of the Blood Monsters” including Murders Come With Smiles only at http://www.myspace.com/danceclubmassacre!
“Feasts of the Blood Monsters” in stores July 10th, 2007!
Tour with Architect and Destroyer Destroyer
7/08 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen w/ Tower of Rome DCM Record Release show!
7/10 Louisville, KY Bulldog Cafe
7/11 Springfield, MO Billiards Blue Room
7/12 Tulsa, OK The Pinkeye
7/13 Gainesville, TX Gainesville Civic Center
7/14 Austin, TX Red Seven
7/15 McAllen, TX Club Metro
7/16 Houston, TX Walters on Washington
7/17 New Orleans, LA The High Ground
7/19 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
7/20 Port St. Lucie, FL The Haunted House
7/21 Winter Park, FL The Haven
7/22 Jacksonville, FL Thee Imperial
7/23 Lawrenceville, GA The Treehouse
7/24 Summerville, SC The Studio
7/26 Fredericksburg, VA KC's Music Alley
7/27 Blairsville, PA The Corner Pocket
7/28 Trenton, OH Trenton's Fisherman's Club
7/29 Westland, MI Gore Fest w/ Dead to Fall, The Banner
http://www.myspace.com/danceclubmassacre
Our second interview with Andrea Ferro of Lacuna Coil
Photo by Clay McBride
When we launched this site nearly one year ago, Lacuna Coil was one of the first bands to step up to be a part of it. They are not only a great band, but they love their fans and enjoy giving back to them. In the time since our first interview, the bands latest album Karmacode has sold a ton of copies and the band has toured their asses off in order to get the word out about it. I caught up with the band again during the Jagermeister tour to catch up on things. Due to a scheduling problem with the venue (not her fault and entirely our of her control), co-lead vocalist Cristina Scabbia had to leave the venue so our friend (and other co-lead vocalist of LC) Andrea Ferro took the time to speak with us after meeting with some fans. This is what went down...
Anarchy Music: You know, most bands as they get more popular tend to shy away from their fans, the more popular you get, the more you seem to embrace them. How do you manage that and why is it so important to you?
Andrea Ferro: Yeah, it’s good to keep your feet on reality. You don’t have to think like if you achieve a little bit then you are now a complete different person or complete different entity. We’re still the same people we were before. Of course, sometimes it’s not possible because there’s just too many people. Like, we are doing a signing every night of the Jager tour and it’s a lot of new people coming to us because there’s all those people from Stone Sour coming to us and we mesh pretty well so we have a lot of new people. It’s impossible for example to take pictures with everybody because the line is too long and it becomes longer with the pictures. It’s not that we don’t want to be touched it’s just that the line is too long and it makes the signing last two hours instead of one.
Anarchy: You’d have people missing Stone Sour’s set as well, and that’s not cool.
Andrea: Yeah, exactly. So sometimes it’s possible to hang out , to stay with people, but sometimes not. That doesn’t depend on our wanting to meet the people or not, it just depends on the situation. When it’s possible it’s nice. We like to keep contact with the fan base. The fan base will always be there for you so you have to take care of them. Those are the guys that brings you somewhere, that brings the name of the band to more exposure.
Anarchy: Just between us, I see a lot of Lacuna Coil t-shirts today…
Andrea: Every night we have a lot! Merchandise sales on this tour are amazing and every show we have a very good reception. Also, a lot of new people are coming to us. All the mainstream people who only listen maybe to the Stone Sour single on the rock radio station, then they discover our band here. It’s good.
Anarchy: Every time I see anything about you guys, it’s followed by you saying how proud you are to be from Italy. I find that to be really cool because a lot of foreign bands don’t really talk about their homelands for one reason or another. After a year of touring, do you get treated like a superhero when you get back home?
Andrea: Not like superheroes but for sure, the fact that we’ve had some success over here helped our popularity back home. So now a lot of people are looking at us as the biggest Italian export product or something like that (laughs). We gather more attention because we’ve had success over here. It changed for sure the perspective of the band. We get more credibility because we have made some kind of success here in the states. It helps the popularity also back there.
Anarchy: Your bio states that you got the name Lacuna Coil because the words translate to “empty spiral” and that reflects your view on life. That’s kind of all it says on that. How does an empty spiral in your mind reflect life? Could you expand on that?
Andrea: Yeah, in the beginning when we did the promo tape we were called Ethereal, which means something that you can’t touch, that is not concrete but is in the air. It’s atmospherical. So, since we were playing a more atmospherical kind of metal that name was perfect for us at the time. We had to change it because when we signed a deal there was there were like two other bands that was using the same word in the band names. It was pointless to start with a name that was unoriginal and taken by other bands so we decided to create our own name and we put together this Italian word with the English word coil, so it had a personal meaning. The translation is empty spiral, which is more or less the same as ethereal. It’s the way we live as a band. We are mixing the more atmospherical parts with the metal side of our music. That’s what we mean when we say it’s our lifestyle. It’s the way we approach the music especially. Of course, in life it’s a little bit harder to translate, but I think we have this point of view which is a bit spiritual but it’s not religious. It’ not connected to any Christianity or Satanism or whatever. We are more open to spirituality and inner search of spirituality in our lives.
Anarchy: That’s something that I think appeals to a lot of people. I certainly get that through your music is that it’s not religious but it does have an odd spiritual aspect to it. You feel as if it opens you up to whatever’s going to come in.
Andrea: Exactly, and our spirituality is not always positive, because you can’t be happy all the time. When we write a song sometimes it’s very sad or depressive kind of song. Sometimes it’s more happy and energetic. So we want to face all the different aspects of life and spirituality. It’s not that your spirituality can always be super positive and good. You try to make it like that but it’s not always possible. Sometimes you are negative and you hate and you have bad feelings sometimes.
Anarchy: What’s the new single “Within Me” about?
Andrea: “Within Me” was a song that we wrote for a friend that basically, it was not suicide, but basically he let himself go by using drugs a lot. He passed away 3 or 4 years ago now. The fact that we couldn’t do anything. It was not suicide but it was just abusing so he let himself go in a way that we couldn’t do anything to help him out. He was in New York and we in Italy so it was tough to stay with him. We were on tour, we had other things to do. So, the idea was that sometimes you want to be there for your friends but you can’t be there. That time we were not there we lost him. It was the first time that happened to us as a band, that you know somebody and work with him and he died like that, in a stupid way. So we learned to be stronger people with that. We learned to deal with situation that you can’t always have control of.
Anarchy: I think it’s my favorite song off the record.
Andrea: Yeah, it’s a good song, I like it.
Anarchy: It’s a beautiful video too. That must have been fun to do.
Andrea: Yeah, we did it right before this tour actually. We did it in Italy. It’s partly in an island called Sardinia, the part that looks like a dessert where Cristina has a special effect. The other part is in a castle in Turin, like one hour from Milan.
Anarchy: Oh, that’s not your house?
Andrea: No. (laughs) It’s a bit too expensive. It was cool. We did it with an American director which actually moved to Italy like 7 years ago. The guy also works special effects for Industrial Light And Magic for special effects in Star Wars. So, he was an experienced guy who had also done some videos for Italian artists as well. We wanted to try something different and we were at home so we figured we’d shoot it in Italy since we were there and it’s going to look different than the usual American video in this big city and stuff that we already had done. So we said why not/
Anarchy: Are you ready for a question you’ve never heard before?
Andrea: (laughs)
Anarchy: NEVER! EVER!
What do the numbers on the Karmacode album cover mean? You’re dying to tell me! I know you are!
Andrea: Yeah, we can’t tell that, it’s a secret!
Anarchy: I know, I know! People have been trying to pry that out of you for a while.
Andrea: We did a contest also on our fan website where they have to guess what the numbers mean and we gave an award to the nicest explanation. It was not the real one of course. (laughs) It’s part of the mystique, it’s the spiritual part.
Anarchy: Okay, then without revealing what it is, do you have a belief in numerology, or anything like that?
Andrea: No. In Italy there is a big culture about lotto. It’s where you gamble on numbers.
Anarchy: Yeah, we have that here as well.
Andrea: It’s a big tradition in Italy. You dream something and turn it into numbers and you play those numbers that you dreamed about. So, it’s a big story of numerology in Italy but that is not connected strictly to that. Even if we always give particular attention to numbers, that’s in the culture of the country. The date you were born or the date you get married or even met your girlfriend, it’s very celebrated. It’s very important.
Anarchy: That’s the code part, what about karma? Do you believe in that?
Andrea: Yeah. I’m not saying that what your read in the book is exactly what’s going on in life but I think that if you act positive with people you will probably have something positive back sooner or later. If you act negative, you try to fuck somebody else in a bad way, I think that is coming back to you in your life. That’s my opinion. I believe in energy, and energy can be positive or negative. If you have a lot of negative energy then you‘re only going to get negative energy back. .I think it’s true. In that way I believe in karma.
Anarchy: Well, you guys definitely put out positive energy. The time we hung out before I tell people to this day that you’re one of the few bands that don’t seem to realize that they’re rock stars. You seem to be just regular people that are doing your job and your job happens to be entertaining millions of people.
Andrea: Yeah, it is. Maybe because we’re from Italy and we don’t have stories about rock stars, about bands touring and this kind of success, so maybe we’re more naïve in regards of our success compared to other bands which are more used to the environment of the music business, of the rock star lifestyle. For us, everything is like a great experience. It’s always like ‘wow, we’ve got a limousine , wow we got to meet Alice Cooper!”.
Anarchy: Alice Cooper huh?
Andrea: Yeah, we met him in Phoenix. We were playing a show and he was watching from the side of the stage. Then we met him after the show. We’ve met Ozzy, we’ve met a lot of famous people that we never thought would be possible to meet just because of your job.
Anarchy: What’s the coolest thing so far?
Andrea: The coolest thing I think is the way we’ve been able to bring the level of the band. When we started the band back in Milan in 1996 we never thought it would be possible that we would actually tour America or actually sell some records or make it to the Billboard. We never thought it was possible. We just had a dream to sign a little deal and distribute our records somewhere, maybe do a European tour. That was already a big goal for us so whatever we have achieved so far, it’s always a surprise. It’s always something “wow, we are really doing this“. We are really doing so many tours in the states with so many good bands and it’s already a big satisfaction. We never expected it to happen.
Anarchy: On this tour you’re doing some in store acoustic sets…
Andrea: Yeah, it’s a special thing organized by Ovation guitars. We do in music stores a little mini concert, like 3 or 4 acoustic songs. Then we do a question and answer with the fans and a little bit of signing. It’s cool because it’s almost therapeutic because you go there and see all these young kids who are in the music school of the store and they want to learn. They are very curious. Like, the last day we did a signing in a guitar store that they have a lot of teaching going on. There was this band of probably 8 years old guys. They had a band already. That’s more about the music how it is in life, instead of a regular concert where you go to see the big show. It is more intimate and is more about telling what music is really about to people. It’s a great experience.
Anarchy: Your music even though it’s very ethereal, it still has an earthy texture, so I think it lends itself well to the acoustic style. Do you see doing an acoustic EP or something in the future>
Andrea: It’s possible. We never really sit down and write specific songs in acoustic. Instead we always adapt a song we already had in an electric version into the acoustic. I think that one day with a little more time and after we ar maybe out of the big promotion cycle of the album. Now it’s a lot of promotion every day. It has to be a moment where were more quiet, maybe in a few years. Why not? We’d love to. We’d love to also do a proper tour in small theaters only acoustic maybe with a drum kit and violins and stuff like that. Real acoustic stuff.
Anarchy: That would be great. Your stuff is so moody…
Andrea: I think we will do it. I would love to do something like we get dressed up, something special, really special. Keep it in small places with nice acoustics. Just us and maybe a 4 piece, with a cello, a big bass and a coupe of violins. We have some friends in Italy who helped us record the album with real strings who work for the orchestra at La Scala in Milan. They’re young guys, they also like metal music. They might come with us for that but I don’t know when. We need time. Right now we are focusing on this album and probably we’re going to start writing for the next one.
Anarchy: You said the last time that we spoke that when it came time to write Karmacode that you were inspired by some of the recent US stuff, especially with the bass sounds…
Andrea: Yeah, the American Metal in general for the sounds because I would say it’s Rock, not only Metal. Metal you maybe only mean Lamb Of God or something like that. I’m talking more mainstream sounds like bands with big production like Korn for example.
Anarchy: Is that continuing? Are you hearing new bands now and thinking “yeah, maybe we can incorporate that into our sound”?
Andrea: Yeah. It’s not easy because a lot of the bands they tend to sound the same as every other. Like, a band will make it then every other band will come with the same sound and almost the same name. It’s difficult to really want to sound like that because we already have our sound so we don’t want to change completely to sound like everyone else. We want to try to keep a little bit of influence of different stuff but not overdo it.
Anarchy: Like after My Chemical Romance got big, every band starts with the word “My” so they’ll be near them in cd stores.
Andrea: Exactly. That’s stupid. That’s not the way to make it. You may have some little success for one but then you’re gone.
Anarchy: Lacuna Coil has changed their sound on pretty much every cd, so your fans are used to be a part of an evolution, right?
Andrea: Yeah, and I hope it’s going to be like that. That’s what keeps us alive is the evolution. That keeps us wanting to go on tour because we can play the new songs and new sounds.
Anarchy: Everybody is excited because after this you’re doing a headlining tour called The Hottest Chicks In Metal tour with a bunch of bands with hot chicks in them. I’m assuming that was your idea?
Andrea: (laughs) No, that’s a good idea, but it’s not coming from us. It’s coming because Revolver has an article every year now and they put Cristina on the cover and they did a special on all the bands that includes at least a girl in the band. It turned out to be a successful issue so this year they did it again and the issue will be Cristina again on the cover with someone else. They wanted to put it as a tour and since we had to do our own headliner run for the first time we decided why don’t we bring some bands from Europe that can be more interesting and do a different package from any other package that is on the road right now. To make it ore interesting we are going to keep it to small venues, try to sell them out, try to show the people that there is also this side of metal and make it as a special event, intimate and with different bands, a combination of something that makes it unique.
Anarchy: That also means a longer set from you guys since you’re headlining!
Andrea: Oh yeah!
Anarchy: What will you be playing?
Andrea: We have put a pool out on the fan club and on the Myspace for the fans to vote on the old songs. We have picked out 2 or 3 songs from every release and they can vote for the songs they prefer. The songs we can actually play live, because some songs we don’t have the trucks for the violins because they are too old and we didn’t put it on digital at the time because it was all analog. Or we don’t rehearse some songs for 9 years and we don’t have time. So, we tried to put out a list of songs we can actually play and we have keyboards. So, for sure the set list is not decided yet. They can vote until the 20th of April so until that time we won’t know exactly what we will do. Of course there are some songs we will play for sure, like “Heaven’s A Lie” “Swamped” the new stuff like “Enjoy The Silence” Besides the singles all the odl stuff is going to be picked out by the fans. Also from show to show we’re going to try to change it to make it even more interesting.
Anarchy: You have played so many live shows and so much of your success has come from your live performance. When are you going to release a live DVD?
Andrea: We were thinking about it for this year because it’s almost the 10th year anniversary. Probably during the year we’ll doa special show but we’re still thinking about where to record it, whether it’s going to be in Italy or Europe or in the states. We have to decide the location and find a special place. I would love to do it in a coliseum, kind of ancient Italian place. On the hand, in Italy you have to speak Italian to people so maybe we’ll do it some place where you can speak English and everybody understands. It’s in the talk for sure.
Anarchy: I’ve had a lot of people ask me why you don’t do an entire record in Italian…
Andrea: Because in the end of the day we also have to take care of the business side of things which include having singles on the radio and tv in the states. For here, to do a song in Italian for a single would not be a good idea for a single in America and the UK and all those places where they don’t speak Italian. It can work for Italy of course, but not for the rest of the world, we might do a double version. (laughs0.
Anarchy: You do a lot of special releases in Italy. The “Within Me” single has an Italian exclusive, right?
Andrea: Yes, because it’s the place where we still sell a lot of singles. In America there is no market for the single. You do singles for internet, for radio, for tv but not for actually selling the actual cd. In Italy you still can sell a good quantity of cds and going on promotion for radio for cd, it’s a little more like it sued to be. It makes sense to release it in Italy but not the rest of the world.
Anarchy: Since this is the 10th anniversary do you have a big birthday party planned?
Andrea: Were thinking about it. I think the best thing would be to do the live DVD and maybe a special acoustic thing inside the set or on secondary dates. We have to think about it.
Anarchy: If you’re going to have a party, you might as well get Jager to sponsor it. I hear it’s a big hit at parties!
Andrea: Jager, so far they endorse us here, the UK and Germany, but the rest of Europe works differently. They have an importer that is not working with rock bands the way they do here. They are trying to change this so if they also do this in Italy they might sponsor us.
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We are honored to have Lacuna Coil on the site again, and hope that eevryone will suppot this band! Go to Lacuna Coil on Myspace and Lacunacoil.it for more info. Oh, and BUY KARMACODE!
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