Pete Steele from Type-O-Negative has died... Or not?

Pete Steele of New York's most sarcastic and brilliant metal band, Type-O-Negative has died of apparent heart failure..... Or he hasn't and it's another attempt to pull the wool over everyone's eyes??

The linked Wikipedia page above says he has passed, Entertainment & Showbiz  has said Kenny Hickey has confirmed it, Zakk Wylde posted on his Twitter but Blabbermouth are saying it's still a joke.

The rumours of his death are gaining more and more weight but I guess we will see either way, very very sad news if it is true.



Till the next time....

Excited much?

Get in with the Nightmare On Elm Street reboot, what makes it better is Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach from Watchmen) is the man that makes us afraid to fall asleep!



Till the next time....

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW! Sven from Belgium's Aborted. Joke filled & gore obsessed on recording, labelling bands and a hatred of Twlight

Aborted's vocalist Sven very kindly had a chat with me about their up coming tour, writing music about gore and generally making ears bleed the world over.

Q1, Please introduce yourself to those who don't know you

Hi, My name is Sven, I make barfy noises in a microphone for a band called Aborted, I live in a house.

Q2, Please give us a brief history of the band.

The band was founded by myself in 1995, had a shitton of members, some left, some got fired, as time goes by we are nearly doing 15 years of this death metal thing, and we realised its not getting us chicks, bummer.

Q3, Why should people buy your latest release, The Coronary Reconstruction EP?

Because it destroyes the last 2 releases by far, and will make you look awesome with your friends, scare your parents and piss off your teachers.

Q4, Do you have a certain process when recording a new release, if so how do you feel the latest compares to the previous?

Yeah, we usually just start with the drums, as most bands, then gutiars, bass and vocals, pretty standard really, been the same nearly every release we did and it went much smoother and easier this time around than the last couple records to be honest.

Q5, What is so appealing to you about the kind of music that Aborted produce?

Its very loud, and fast and portrays wonderful things in life.

Q6, Do the remarks about Aborted "selling out to become a Metalcore band" get to you, when clearly you’re the same kind of band you have always been?

Not really, we have been called metalcore, deathcore, and whatever else, it doesn't really matter

everyone has an opinion, if we would care about all that shit we would have stopped playing ages ago.

Q7, While on the subject of Metalcore, would you mind being on the same bill as some of the more mainstream Metalcore bands?

Don't really care about things like this, if its a good show, its a good show. We once were on the same festival

as beyonce, if you start caring about this kind of stuff then you are limiting yourself into a small box. I also do not hate metalcore, we are open minded people and listen to alot of different things, even outside of metal.

Q8, Do you like or think that there is anything positive about the more “pop” side of Metal?

It certainly made the whole genre and extreme music more popular with alot of people, which in the end also benefits the more underground music styles and smaller bands. Am I a fan of it? Not really, but as said, we are open minded and there are good bands and bad bands in every style of music.

Q9,  So, Twilight or Blade and why?

Blade, FUCK this twilight bullshit, straight up the ass, worst thing that has ever been made.I cannot even come up with a reason why anyone would like this crap.

Q10,  In your free time (if you have any), what web sites would you recommend to waste your time on?

Life, a real one, outside of a computer, is nice.

Q11, Who would you say was the lynchpin of Aborted’s creation and if they had not existed, there would be no Aborted?

I would guess seeing I am the only one left that would be me hahaha.

Q12, What 3 records by other bands / artists would you recommend to the people out there?

Anything by Impaled, Hemdale, Burnt By The Sun, Converge, Suffocation, ...

Q13, What will be the best thing about seeing Aborted live on the upcoming Machines Of Grind tour?

We are damn sexy and smell fabulous and also play a good bunch of death metal songs.

Q14, Aborted always have a large amount of merchandise while on tour and even on your web page. How long does it take from idea to sale of a new item of your merch and who does your designs?

Depends really, I do alot of the designs, then we hire other people so its really depending on

the designers that are used. recently we have worked with Dan Mumford, Godmachine etc

who are all great designers. printing takes up to 3 weeks, give or take.

Q 15, If you weren’t in Aborted, what would you be doing for a job?

I am a graphic designer actually, so I would be doing that, making some more album designs and merch designs for bands and what not.

Q16, What are your guilty secrets when it comes to music, film and TV?

Desperate housewives, paramore and i don't watch shit movies, those two are already bad enough as it is hehe

Q17, Which 3 Aborted releases should a new fan invest in?

Coronary reconstruction, goremageddon, the archaic abattoir

Q18, Any recommendations on new bands out there that people must know about?

New bands eh? We like Dr Doom, System Divide :), Nervecell,...

Q19, What can we expect from Aborted in 2010?

We are doing some tours for coronary reconstruction and some festivals, but mainly working on writing our

next fullength which is to be recorded end 2010 and will melt your faces off, guaranteed!

Q20, Legs, Bums or Boobs?

Limbs, preferably severed

Well, I should have guessed that was coming. Thanks for chatting with me. 

Till the next time....

Darkest Hour sing to E1 music, issue press release.

Darkest Hour have inked a new deal with E1 music and hope to release a new record on the imprint by early next year. 


The band had this to say...

“Washington, D.C. heavyweights Darkest Hour have signed with E1 Music in North America, joining artists such as Hatebreed, High On Fire, Overkill, among others. The band will enter the studio to record new material to be released early next year. “We couldn’t be more excited to announce that Darkest Hour has found a new home with E1 Music,” says founding guitarist Mike Schleibaum. Formed in 1995, the band has seen their share of experiences over the years. “When we started the band we were just a couple of rejects with one collective dream, rock the world with our bastard combination of punk and metal!”
Darkest Hour reflect back on their humble beginnings. Schleibaum continues, “It has truly been the ride of a lifetime. From playing our first punk shows in the basements of Washington DC to touring all over the world, the band has really grown up across generations of punk, metal, and hardcore kids.”
After spending nearly a decade with Victory records, the band looks forward to the next chapter in their already full impact history. Schleibaum concludes, “It’s time for the next metamorphosis: enter our new partners, the good people at E1 Music. We have been hard at work on our E1 debut for months now. More news will follow but rest assured we have found a new home with E1 and can’t wait to open the next chapter!”
E1’s VP of metal Scott Givens adds, “Adding Darkest Hour the ever growing E1 Metal roster shows the company’s continued commitment to the genre. They are an amazing band with an amazing future.”
The band is currently finishing up a highly successful tour with The Dillinger Escape Plan and Iwrestledabearonce. Remaining tour dates can be found here:http://www.myspace.com/darkesthour.
“The Eternal Return” was released in June of last year. The CD was produced by Brian McTernan (Senses Fail, Thrice, From Aautumn To Ashes) at his Baltimore, Maryland studio, Salad Days.”

Till the next time.... 

The Ghost Inside talk about latest video shoot

California's The Ghost Inside have commented on their latest video shoot for "Unspoken" which is off the forth coming album "Returners" which is to be release June 8th on Mediaskare. 


Guitarist Aaron Brooks had this to say...


“We also just shot a new video for the song ‘Unspoken.’ We wanted the video to be a rager because the song sounds like a party in itself. We were throwing around ideas and didn’t want to do the standard house party theme so we decided to do the next best thing. Pool Party!!! Our good friendJohnny Plague (Winds Of Plague) was nice enough to let us and 40 of our friends take over his backyard for a day. The video came out amazing! Scott Hansen (A Day To Remember, Alesana,Skylit Drive, Carnifex) is the man and put together a great cut. Look for that video online in May sometime.”

Till the next time.... 

As I Lay Dying release sample off The Poweless Rise

San Diego, California's As I Lay Dying have posted a sample of the new track, Beyond Our Suffering on to thier Myspace page to help tease you until the final released date of the 11th May.

Head on over to their page to listen to the taster.



Till the next time....

NEW BAND ALERT! CHECK OUT HEARTSOUNDS!

If you like speedy Bad Religion type punk rock, then go no further than the band to come out of the demise of female fronted Metal(core) band Light This City.

Vocalist Laura Nichol and drummer Ben Murray decided they wanted to move on to a new band, this is what came of their union and I quite enjoy it.

Do check them out on their Myspace.

Till the next time....

Fall Out Boy drummer comments on playing with Earth Crisis

Andy Hurley of pop punkers Fall Out Boy has issued a statement on the recent stint on the drum stool for Hardcore Straight Edge legends Earth Crisis.


He had the following to say...


“Earth Crisis is one of my favorite bands ever. They are the reason why I am vegan and straight edge. The origins of most of my philosophical/political beliefs come from them introducing me to a whole new way of thinking. When I was asked to fill in on the upcoming tour, I was beyond stoked. It felt like being called up to the major league, and I think that this will be the most fun I will have on a tour. Be sure to come check it out because this is a band whose songs beat in my heart and who have never forgotten how to write brutally awesome songs.”





Till the next time.... 

Crowbar European tour dates.

Crowbar have released details of their up coming Euro tour.

Dates follow below...

June 18th Clisson, FRA – Hellfest
June 19th Enschede, NET – Atak KZ
June 20th Amstelveen, NET – P60
June 21st Lille, FRA – Fête De La Musique
June 22nd Marburg, GER – KFZ
June 24th Schaffhausen, SWI – Tabtab
June 25th Innsbruck, AUT – PMK
June 26th Montebelluna, ITA – Mani’n’rock Fest
June 27th Graz, AUT – Explosiv
June 28th Prague, CZE – 007 Club
June 29th Hamburg, GER – Markthalle (feat. Sepultura)
June 30th Rostock, GER – Mau Club
July 02nd Roitzschjora, GER – With Full Force
July 03rd Tuska, FIN – Tuska Open Air Metal Festival
July 04th Budapest, HUN – Wigwam
July 05th Wien, AUT – Viper Room
July 06th Tolmin, SLO – Metalcamp
July 07th Millstatt, AUT – Bergwerk
July 08th Pfarrkirchen, GER – Bogaloo
July 09th St. Wendel/Saar, GER – Rock am Bach
July 10th Essen, GER – Turock
July 12th München, GER – Feierwerk
July 13th Freiburg, GER – Walfisch
July 14th Köln, GER – MTC
July 15th Maasmechelen, BEL – JH Alibi / St. Cecilia
July 16th Schloss Holte, GER – Serengeti Festival
July 17th Dour, BEL – Dour Festival
July 18th Rotterdam, NET – De Baroeg

No sign of UK dates as of yet, but don't count it out as of yet.



Till the next time....

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW! Straight talking, alternative model and self-proclaimed nerd, Alex Sim-Wise, talks career and life.

Alex Sim-Wise took time out to chat to me about her move from modelling into writing and presenting and spilled the beans about some of the challenges she has faced on her way up the ladder. 

Q1, Please introduce yourself to those who don't know you?

Hello, I am Alex and I am a girl and I like all kinds of shit and I am a nerd.

By Alex Sim-Wise, age 8.

Q2, Please give us a brief history on Alex Sim-Wise?

Well I was born, and then I grew up, and lived in some city that was a bit of a shithole and tried to be a chav but it didn’t really work out. Then I moved to London and had no friends because I didn’t have a mobile phone and wasn’t posh or Jewish, so I played a lot of video games and didn’t leave my room, only to be co-erced out of it to go to university, where I became a cheerleader, and turned into a tosser. Thankfully I had nice friends and they turned me back nice again so I left university with a degree in nerd, started modeling, made a Myspace, it got big, and I got a job writing for FRONT. People saw my writing and thought I might be good on the telly and the radio, so I went on the telly and the radio, and that is all there is to tell so far.

Q3, What has been your worst job so far in your working career?

My worst job ever was my first job that I got from the Job Centre when I was 16, where they sent me to work as a breakfast waitress at the Royal Air Force Club in Piccadilly. I had to get up at 5am in the morning every Saturday and Sunday only to be shouted at and called ‘Maid’ by senile posh people who smelled like farts. It was fully grim.

Q4, How did you get in to your former career of modelling?

I entered a student competition in FHM when I was in my final year of University and won it, and kind of got into it from there. It was a completely different industry then to what it is now, and the fake tanned/fake tit look was huge so I never really fitted in but I grew to like being different and now it’s one of my strengths.

Modeling was fun, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It can be a bit shallow and there are sides of the industry that I really disliked, but overall I had a really positive experience and worked with some amazing people, like the shoots I did for Rankin - they were so rad! Definitely the highlight of my career.

I’m semi-retired now, so I still do the odd shoot but it has to be something really special or exciting. I’m getting psyched about my next shoot for FRONT right now though as we’re gonna get a bit gory. Yeah!

Q5, Why have you decided to move from that and into presenting and writing?

I didn’t really decide, it just happened. I studied to be a writer at University and had a placement at a film magazine after I graduated. Then modeling came along and I got caught up in that, but I continued to write blogs on my Myspace which was what got me my initial column with FRONT. Then their games guy left and they offered me the job as their Games Editor which was sick as I love games, it’s pretty much all I do.

Presenting I got into via James Brown from Loaded. He’d seen and liked my column in FRONT and contacted Joe (my editor) to see if I could present. I did a screen test that went well and I got my own show on Sumo TV called ‘In Bed With Sim-Wise’ which should have been known as ‘What happens if you stick two mental people in a room with a camera and shittonnes of Red Bull’. It was completely insane, but off the back of it I got a showreel and a TV agent which was nice. Since then I’ve worked for Current TV, Channel 5, and I’m now the official London correspondent for G4TV, a TV show/network in the States. There’s loads of other stuff in the pipeline too, but I probably can’t talk about any of it just yet which sucks!

Q6, How do you have your bacon sandwich?

Not badly packed.

Q7, Getting serious, would you say that older games systems like the NES, Mega Drive etc have games that are better than more recently released ones? If so, give an example if you can?

Oh for sure, I guess the best example would be Sonic the Hedgehog as it is a sick game but it’s never really worked on next generation consoles as they always try to make it all fancy and 3D. Even if you play the old games now it’s addictive as hell and the 2D graphics don’t seem to matter. I mean, I’m a massive graphics hound - I’m all into amazing looking games like Heavenly Sword and Final Fantasy XIII - but sometimes gameplay can override graphics, as is the case with Sonic. When I heard that Sonic 4 was going back to basics I got sooooo psyched!

Q8, Which game do you think could be a great contender for the worst game ever?

Most movie tie-in games are terrible, but the worst game I’ve played recently was the new Prince of Persia. I got so pissed off with it I just threw it down and walked out.

Q9, What Game, Comic and / or Graphic novel would you say were completely essential purchases?

Game: Silent Hill for the PS1 - the ultimate game as far as I am concerned! It’s scary, atmospheric, has an ace story, and is truly truly addictive. Plus the nurses! They are pretty much straight up amazing.

Comic: Kick-Ass - they actually didn't finish writing the comics until after the film rights had been bought, but they are so so good, and really gory which is always a plus!

Graphic Novel: Alan Moore’s From Hell - I used to read it a lot when I was younger as I was obsessed with Jack the Ripper. It’s such an epic story, I love the attention to detail it has and all the sub stories it litters throughout about the royal family and Masonic architecture.

Q10, Have you ever met someone who you respected and they were really rude to you? Name and shame if you like.

Fearne Cotton. When I went to work for Radio 1 I was really looking forward to meeting her, but she wouldn’t give me the time of day. I totally got the cold-shoulder, which was a shame as I always thought she came across as really nice on TV. I was well disappointed.

Q11, In your free time (if you have any), what web sites would you recommend to waste your time on?

World of Warcraft is the best waste of time known to man, and is sort of a website in that it’s online and you have to go onto a website to access it ;) Other than that I go to Kotaku for games news, UK Resistance for retro gamer stuff, Theboobs which is like a trendy blog thing that makes me laugh, and Vice.com or Platform for like articles and shiz.

Q12, So, Twilight or Blade and why?

Blade, Twilight is for fannies. Even Blade Trinity is good, but that’s mainly because I love Ryan Reynolds and his silly Chevy Chase face.

Q13, With your TV presenting and writing work, how do you juggle the pair?

Well... I freelance at both so it’s not too difficult, they don’t really clash as I can write whenever (usually during the middle of the night as I’m a bit of a night hawk.)

Q14, Do prefer one over the other? Do you find one easier?

I prefer writing as I get to express myself more, but presenting is really fun so I guess they are both good!

Q15, where do you want to take your presenting and writing? Do you want to take it into any other fields?

It’s hard to say as I was never one of those kids who wanted to be famous so I’m just happy to work hard and see where things take me. I don’t have a master plan although my own flat would be nice, so whatever it takes to make enough money to get one of those would be grand.

Q16, Where can we see you on TV?

On G4! Although they don’t broadcast in the UK, you can normally see short clips of what I do for them over at http://g4tv.com

Also, I’m working on some other secret projects so I may be on other stuff soon too, watch this space!

Thanks Alex, I most certainly will be!

Till the next time....