Status: Single
State: Germany
Country: IL
Signup Date: 2/28/2006
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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Category: Automotive
Let’s start the interview by introducing yourselves. What’s your name, how old are you, what do you do in the band? When did Saving Grace form, how did you come up with the name and have there been any member changes since the beginning?
xpigxMy name is Vasely (pronounced Vah-see-lee), but you can call me xpigx (the x’s are silent). I turned 22 this year but I’m so fat and tired it feels like I’ve turned 30. I play guitar and write music. xnickxI’m Nick, I’m 24, I sing, I write lyrics and give lectures. xpigxThe idea for Saving Grace came about over a phone call between me and Nick (vocals) back in the end of 2004 when he had briefly moved to the big smoke ( Auckland) to be in a relationship which was soon to be over. We talked about starting a hardcore band with a brutal metal edge and having lyrics about God (which at that stage was something completely new to us). At the time I was doing vocals for a skinhead hardcore band called ’Total F**king Defiance’ and Nick was in ’Mind Bloodshot’. Both of these bands were Gisborne’s first Hardcore bands and the scene basically started out from us playing house-shows and parties. We had our first jam in Mark’s (original drummer) shed and wrote what were to be the first two tracks of our demo. We played our first show as a three piece with no bassist and we played two and a half tracks under the name of ’xMarky and the Boysx’ which was a joke name until we came up with Saving Grace. I think Nick actually just called me one day with a bunch of names he had in mind. Most of them didn’t really suit, but Saving Grace just made sense. It was a pretty bold name and represented our faith in Christ. We liked how straight up it was and we were also pretty pumped on the fact that it sounds really emo/rock (like a mix of Saves The Day and Three Days Grace) but we play such ugly sounding metalcore, it’s pretty funny. Bruce Reid from ’Mind Bloodshot’ joined shortly after on bass and we started doing shows across the country and put out a five-track demo which, despite its horrible quality, managed to get into stores all over New Zealand thanks to Global Routes Music, a large New Zealand distributor. Bruce and Mark played in Saving Grace with us until mid 2006 when they both moved to Wellington to play in a terrible pub covers band called ’3play’ with Matt Jennings (who recorded our demo). They’re still in that band and they get paid like $600 a night for a four-hour set of all the radio’s worst hits from the 80’s until now. Big Ben joined on drums in 2006 when he moved back home to Gisborne from Auckland. He experienced a pretty radical salvation after years of being in gangs and doing hard drugs... it was pretty awesome. We started writing new music and got this dude Savage to play bass for us, he couldn’t really keep up so he only played with us for one show. Then along came Little Ben who started out with us on the Darkest Hour tour and played with us for over a year. He was an awesome dude to play and tour with and we all miss him, but he moved to Hamilton to pursue photography and be with his lady (check him out at myspace.com/someherophotography, he does photos for New Zealand and international hardcore bands and he’s real good). That brings us to the line up we have now. Myself, Nick, Big Ben and George (the new kid) who is an amazing bassist and a real fun dude to have in the band, he is also the youngest having just turned 18. It’s crazy to think that we’re on our fourth bassist already... but this line up is extremely solid. You come from New Zealand, a country that is known for its beautiful landscape. Was the first time you got to see your country’s beauty in a comprehensive way when you watched the Lord Of The Rings trilogy or did you have a chance to get to see it in such a way already before? What would you say is typical for native New Zealand people? What would be the top three things people should know, experience or taste about New Zealand, even if they might never get the chance to visit the country?xpigxDude... as crazy as this may be, I haven’t even seen Lord Of The Rings... I get so much crap for it, too. My wife swears she’s going to make me watch it some time this year, because apparently I’d love it, but I’m not too sure. Plus she is originally from Wellington where it was filmed. The country is definitely beautiful... I have been here 16 years now (originally born and raised in Minsk, Belarus – former USSR) and I absolutely love it here. The majority of the people here are really laid back and friendly, although like any country there is a darker side to it also (see the film Once Were Warriors). There are many families who are caught up in cycles of abuse, drugs and poverty, especially in some of the suburbs of Auckland and in Gisborne, our home town. But honestly, the country is great and we are very lucky to have what we have, we are very priviliged with the amount of freedom that most of us here do have. Apparently there are more sheep than people here... but I think that’s mostly down in the South Island. xnickxThe top three things that people should know about New Zealand would have to be Once Were Warriors, the fact this is NOT a Third World Country and the fact that it is Definitely worth coming here for a holiday to admire and experience its culture and beauty. What does the hardcore and metal scene in New Zealand look like and how did you personally grow up and get in contact with hard music? How is touring like in your area?xnickxI got into hard music through my cousin Josh when I was 13, listening to bands like Sepultura, Pantera, Fear Factory and Rage Against The Machine. My musical tastes naturally progressed from reading other bands’ thank you lists and checking them out. As far as Hardcore is concerned, I discovered bands like Earth Crisis and Madball on a skate video called ’Tweekage 2’ and when I was 17 I joined my first band and that’s how I met Vasely, the rest is history. xpigxI grew up listening to bands like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse when I was a kid. I got into hardcore as a teenager. Bands like Biohazard, Pro Pain, Madball and Agnostic Front really appealed to me and I’ve been playing in heavy bands for almost ten years now. The metal and hardcore scenes in New Zealand are almost entirely separate and only sometimes there will be crossover shows with both metal and hardcore bands combined (’Battles In The North’, an annual metal and hardcore fest, is one of them). It wasn’t always like this and things have really changed a lot in the past few years as new trends and lots of kids have come and gone. I haven’t been to a metal show for a long time now, but hardcore shows and the scenes of different cities have changed drastically in the last year even. The kids who were repping the edge and listening to mosh bands a few months ago are all sold out and listening to stuff like ’Pissed Jeans’ and ’Municipal Waste’. And the turnouts for hardcore shows with actual local ’hardcore’ bands playing have drastically dropped unless there is a thrashy punk hardcore band playing. I’m not really down with it and I don’t have a lot of love for sellouts, especially those that talk crap on the stuff that they were into last year. It’s really stupid in my eyes and makes their convictions seem non-existent. Most of the kids that are hating on mosh bands and sraightedge and are getting rad drinking whiskey outside of the venues, were the kids who hadn’t even heard of hardcore until a couple of years back when they first heard of Parkway Drive ya know? Touring New Zealand is still fun, though, and we have a lot of friends in every city we play, some shows are quite small, some are big, but most of them have a really good vibe and we all love driving up and down New Zealand. Do you surf? If yes, did you ever get a chance to compete with the Aussie guys in Parkway Drive, with whom you’ve played a couple times before? If not, what kind of sports do you excel in? Axe-grinding, throat-abuse, head-walking, moshing and group-hugging shall be ignored in this case. If you don’t do sports other than Saving Grace please list your top three movies along with your favorite quote out of them or the simple reason why you like them best. xpigxHaha speaking of Parkway Drive, we toured with them in 2005 on their first ever shows outside of Australia and now they are actually one of the world’s biggest metal/hardcore bands.. it’s crazy. Those dudes have a pretty sweet life and we definitely couldn’t step to them in the surf (or on the bowling lanes for that matter). However, we would clean them up (again) in the sport of playing Street Fighter which is the one sport aside from eating curry that we do excel in. Favorite movies would have to be Next Friday and Friday After Next... don’t get us started on quotes.  On your MySpace page you have a graphic with album covers listed under ’influences’. Could you list the artists and album names for those that don’t recognize all of the covers? (from left to right, top to bottom please)xpigxPromise of Bloodshed – Hatred Inherit, Earth Crisis – Breed The Killers, Slayer – Seasons In The Abyss, Zao – The Funeral of God, Point of Recognition – Day of Defeat, Martyr AD – On Earth As It Is in Hell, Lamb of God – As The Palaces Burn, Dead To Fall – The Phoenix Throne, Sepultura – Schizophrenia, Cannibal Corpse – Gallery of Suicide, One Must Fall – For Such a Time as This, Bury Your Dead – You Had Me At Hello, Seventh Star – Brood of Vipers, Arkangel – Dead Man Walking. They are our combined influences from old-school to new-school metal and hardcore. Their influence has shaped our sound today in some way or another... definitely some more than others, but in a round about way those are the main ones. You’re said to be the most confrontational spirit-filled hardcore band from New Zealand. What does the title of your upcoming album "Behind Enemy Lines" mean to you from a philosophical and spiritual point of view? What topics do you write about in the album’s lyrics. Please tell whatever you can or want to share in advance to the album’s release.
xnickx
The title ’Behind Enemy Lines’ deals with the fact that we are essentially in the enemy’s territory. The hardcore and metal scenes in general are, lets just say, a little less than accommodating to our spiritual beliefs and values. So the whole idea behind it is that we are going into the deepest darkest reaches of the world, as far as the spiritual realm is concerned anyways, and we are trying to take a light in there with us. That light being Jesus Christ.
Lyrically.... well, I tend to write about my life and some quite personal issues, nothing I have any hesitance discussing mind you, just things that have closely and deeply effected me, in fact the first song we ever wrote with Saving Grace was about my hesitance and absolute fear of committing my life to Jesus. But ’Behind Enemy Lines’ is a different kettle of fish. The first track ’For So Long...’ is about the amount of people whom I have seen take the gift of salvation, embrace the Lord as their savior, then when they feel things are going well they say ’Thanks God, I can take it from here’ and then walk away from Him. There is also ’The Most Beautiful Promise’ which was divinely inspired, I honestly feel as if the Holy Spirit was writing through me when that song was penned out. That song is about the word that Christ spoke to me in the moment I gave my heart to Him. Every time we play that song I feel His presence. It’s like.... no matter how hard I scream... I just want to scream louder. There is a spoken word bit in the middle of that song that nine times out of ten I can’t merely speak it.... I just have to scream as hard as I can.
One song (’In Your Own Hands’) is about suicide and basically my views on the whole thing. I have struggled with suicide many times in my past, so I felt lead to write this song. Also written in the wake of two local kids’ deaths in my home town of Gisborne. There is a song called ’Just a Second’ which is about sexual addiction. Another about the woes of heartbreak. Another about being yourself. And one straight worship song. I would love to go into graphic detail about all of my lyrics but don’t want to take up the whole zine! Haha. But if anyone has questions about my lyrics, please feel free to email me. (forever-content at hotmail dot com)  How would you respond to someone who’s arguing that Christians should not be in hardcore and metal? Have you ever had an experience of dispute regarding that matter that resulted in a real positive outcome in the end or even better was the beginning of a lasting friendship?xnickxHaha! Yeah, there have been a few occasions where people have made it clear that Christians aren’t welcome in hardcore. I remember one guy said online "NO JC IN HC". I had to laugh. But my response is generally something along the lines of ’Oh I see, according to who?" I guess I kinda went into all that a little in the last question... I’ll happily elaborate though. We have had quite a bit of negative attention, I guess largely because I try not to water down my message, I have no problem with saying it like it is.... I guess because that’s the Great Commission right? The way I see it, when you’re in a hard scene... you have got to bring it hard. That’s just the way it is, and I really don’t think that I should shut my mouth or hold my tongue just because what I have to say might piss a few people off. Why shouldn’t I have the same freedom that atheist, apathetic or agnostic singers do? Why is it such a bad thing that I want to talk about what I found freedom in? All of the negative things that have ever been said have been either on message boards or behind our backs... but the thing that I haven’t had... is people confronting me face to face about not being welcome in hardcore. Most of that has seemed to fade away over the past year however, though I do get people asking me why I’m a Christian or why I believe in a God that I can’t see or hear or feel. Actually, I had a chance to pray for a kid at one show in my home town, he asked me that very question, ’why do you believe....’ and I pretty much gave him my whole testimony. Then I asked him if he wanted us to pray for him, he said yes and so we did, then Vasely felt the Spirit telling him to invite Him to lay hands on the kid... so he did... and He did. Said kid was standing and very drunk one second and the next he was flat on his back... the next he was upright and completely sober talking about a warm fuzzy feeling in his heart. Praise God. Hahaha! Oh and me and him are still friends... so in short. Yes. I have made some friends through such conversations. xpigxWe have seen God do some amazing stuff through our band and we have been blessed with many amazing opportunities to witness and talk to kids about Christ. Just recently after we played a show with Bleeding Through we spent a lot of time with some young girls sharing about our faith and why we do what we do... one of them was only 13 and told us about some very concerning stuff that she was involved in and it was a real privilege to be able to give her our perspective on a few issues and tell her about God’s love for her, when she said she felt that she was ugly and worthless. There are also times when we get to share with Christians who have no idea about our kind of minstry. One time we played a festival and a young girl was so excited that there were bands of our ilk that were bringing a Christian message... she ran to catch us after we were getting off stage and told us how psyched she was. It’s amazing how many people have no idea about Christian metal and hardcore. We do our best to create lasting friendships with people that we meet... it’s one of the biggest blessings that come with being in a band.  Your Myspace page shows that you’re straight-edge. What does being straight-edge mean to you personally? How does it mix with your faith in Jesus Christ? Given that there’s still very much hopelessness going on in this world, what do you think how much should people that follow Christ and are straight-edge really focus on things like veganism and animal rights?xpigxWell both Nick and I are straight-edge. I am also vegan and he is vegetarian. All of these things to us are very important and they are a part of who we are and how we live. The most important thing is making sure that we don’t put these things above our faith and our love for the Lord. We all struggle with pridefulness, arrogance and anger, but we are all human and have God to be accountable to. I believe that God honors the fact that we are straight-edge and that we have made a firm decision and a lifetime commitment. We have seen so many Christian kids sell out on straight-edge and claim that they felt it was getting in the way of their faith etc. I don’t really want to comment on that too much, but let’s just say most of these kids also claim that after ’dropping the label’ they are going to remain poison free etc., but in no time at all they are falling back into drugs, alcohol and are eventually further away from God than they were before... not all of them, but most of them. I think that it is totally possible and also honorable to remain straight-edge, vegan/vegetarian and follow Jesus, because the scriptures tell us to honor our world and our promises... finding a good balance can be hard, but it’s our responsibility. I don’t view straight-edge to be a part of my Christian faith although there are similar morals between the two. I am straight-edge because at a point in my life, where I had reached rock bottom with drugs and alcohol abuse, that was the only option for me. At a later time I fully committed my life to God and became involved in ministry etc., but that isn’t an excuse for me to be a sellout and claim that I did it for God. I have a lot of respect for straight-edge kids who are Christians and know what’s up, not the Christian kids who feel like they need to claim something like ’Drug Free For Christ’ now that they’ve sold out and want another label. Veganism and Animal Rights are also important and are a positive thing, although they are not for everyone. The vital thing for me, is the fact that dominion doesn’t mean domination and God has blessed us with a beautiful world and beautiful creatures to look after. It’s important to realize that it is all a waste of time unless it will benefit mankind in the long run. After all people are more important than animals and veganism and the way we view and treat other creatures also reflects on how we treat other people and will also reflect on the state of the environment and the world we leave behind for our kids and their kids. There are plenty of other positive things for people to get involved in whether they be edge, vegan or not. The hopelessness of the world will only last as long as our collective apathy and we are all responsible in one way or another for the change or lack of change in the world. Ghandi said ’Be the change you want to see in the world’ and I believe those words to be very powerful... He was a man who admired Christ, but could not stand the hypocrisy and rejection that he experienced from other Christians, which is another thing that we are all going to give an account for at the end of our days. Where, through which label(s) and when will your new album "Behind The Enemy Lines" be released? Who contributed and worked on the album in terms of production, mixing and artwork? How do you personally look at the music scene, the problem with declining album sales and the overall change of mindset of the consumers? What would you like to see change for the future?xpigxIn New Zealand the album comes out on Deadboy Records through Universal Music. In Australia on Acceptable Risk Records and in the USA on Harvest Earth Records. If things go well we would love to secure a deal for Europe also. We had the opportunity to work with some amazing people on the record. Firstly Zorran Mendonsa who is undoubtedly New Zealand’s metal guru. This guy is just amazing and we can’t thank him enough for all the work that he has put in. He handled the duties of engineer and producer. We learned SO much recording this album and Zorran was an amazing teacher... there is no one else we would rather do another album with. Hands down. The artwork for ’Behind Enemy Lines’ was done by Dave Quiggle... who has done record covers for everyone from xDisciplex AD and No Innocent Victim to Bury Your Dead and Atreyu. I’m sure that everyone is familiar with his work both musically and visually. We are all huge fans of Dave’s art and the bands he has played in over the years and it was always a goal and dream of ours to have him do an album cover for Saving Grace. We got in touch with him over a year ago about doing the art for a full-length and he was down for it... We are all totally stoked on how it turned out, he is just an awesome artist and we plan to work together a lot more in the future on stuff like T-Shirt designs and possibly more cover art for future releases. The album was mastered in California by ’ Vile’ guitarist Colin Davis, who has worked with a lot of brutal metal bands like Deeds of Flesh, Disgorge, Skinlab and Origin. We were interested in working with Colin, because our sound has a very brutal, metal edge to it and we knew we could rely on him for a huge, clear final sound... and he definitely delivered the goods. As for the change of consumer mindset... well it’s always changing. As trends and music related fashion evolves, sales and support for artists who remain firm in what they do will drop. It’s just what happens. The internet and the availability of music digitally has its pros and cons, however I’m not too concerned about any of that crap to be honest... As long as the underground remains underground and the smaller labels are still being supported, then everything is fine by me. If a hundred kids who weren’t going to pay for our album anyway happen to download it and hear the message of Christ then praise God! I think there is solid support in the metal and hardcore community for the bands and the household labels... the only change I really would love to see would be a growth in the sense of pride, community values and DIY ethics of underground music from younger kids that get into hardcore. More people need to make zines and do distros! Christian labels like Harvest Earth are a pretty good example of how people with a strong work ethic and the right networking can stay on their feet and continue releasing quality heavy music with a heavy message despite all of the worrying corporate trends and the ever decreasing popularity of Christianity in the world’s eye. If you want to say something that we haven’t covered yet, anything that you would want to let people know, please feel free to add it now!xpigxWe have been extremely blessed to be in a position where our album will be available all across the world, and the support we have received thus far has been nothing short of incredible. It’s crazy to think how far we have come as a band since the beginning... all glory to God. Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for us and gives us encouragement. Please pre-order ’Behind Enemy Lines’ from Harvest Earth Records or pick up a copy when it hits the stores... send us an email, leave us a comment or just simply tell a friend to check us out. We hope to meet you all on tour soon... God Willing. Thank you guys for the interview and thanks for standing up for Christ. We wish you all the best for the release of "Behind Enemy Lines" and your future touring. May the Spirit of God continue to pervade Saving Grace and your personal lives strongly!xpigx and xnickxThanks so much for taking the time to talk with us and helping us spread the word. Blessings in Christ from Gisborne, New Zealand! Interview by Tobias Tobe Reiss
from left to right: George White - bass, Nicholas ’xNickx’ Tautuhi - vocals, Vasely ’xPigx’ Sapunov - guitars, Ben Davidson – drums
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Tuesday, June 05, 2007
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Over the course of more than 11 years Sweden's BLINDSIDE have come a long way. From their head-turning debut album "Blindside" in 1997 to their devastating sophomore album "A Thought Crushed My Mind" (still being one of the best metallic hardcore records ever made, long before the word Metalcore even existed), to their commercial breakthrough albums "Silence" (2002) and "About A Burning Fire" (which undeservedly didn't get released in Europe in the end), all the way to their latest studio album "The Great Depression" - Blindside have more than proven themselves as a band of great musical ability and deeply moving lyrics. After their success in the US over many years, they made the decision in 2005 to finally return to Europe and focus on building up a fanbase on their home continent. Now in 2007 the band is on to new things and fans are eagerly awaiting another great release. On May 14th [the day of the foundation of the state of Israel], when Blindside were right between two major tours - just having finished a tour with AFI and right before a series of support shows for Linkin Park - we sat down with the guys at their headlining club show in Cologne, Germany to find out more about what Christian, Tomas, Simon and Marcus have been up to and what it means to be in Blindside in 2007!
What does Blindside have going on right now, what can fans expect from Blindside in the near future?
Christian: We're releasing an EP soon and it's gonna be called "The Black Rose EP". It will have five new songs on it [including "The Way You Dance" and "Pretty Nights", which the band has already been playing live] plus three live recorded songs from a festival called "Hultsfred" in Sweden. We're probably going to tour more in Europe and try to promote this. We have in the states a lot before but now we're trying to go for Europe a lot more.
Which live songs are on the EP? Christian: Um, it's "My Alibi", "Fell In Love With The Game" and "When I Remember". The EP will be out June 18th!
A little while back you were touring in South Africa. I guess a lot of people can't imagine South Africa having an actual music scene compared to how it is in Europe or the US. How did you get hooked up with the opportunity to play there and how was it for you there also considering the cultural difference? Tomas: We've been wanting to go there for a really long time and finally we got the opportunity to actually do it. We found some good contacts while we were in England last summer and so we managed to do a little tour there. I think it was five days and a smaller festival and it were really good shows. I mean the music scene is not that big in South Africa, it's very divided in-between all the cultures and stuff like that, but it was big enough for us to go down there and have really good shows and a really good time. Christian: It was just a great experience, a lot of emotional…I mean it's a country that's been through so much horror and also a lot of forgiveness since Apartheid ended. It's a country with a lot of violence but it's also the most beautiful country we've ever been to, I think I can speak here for all of the guys in the band. And as Tomas said, the shows were amazing and it was like these emotional shows were everyone knew the lyrics and sang along. One time we played in Capetown and this little boy that I got to meet two years ago - he's called Yemkela - that I didn't think would survive because of HIV, he was fully alive and he was now adopted by my friend who lives down there. He was at the show and was singing his song "Yemkela". That was a really powerful highlight for me on that tour.
It's been awhile since you've been in the states and went to Europe to do your "much needed" European appearances to simply (re-)connect with the people over here. Because of that there might be some kind of an uncertainty among the people what's really going on with Blindside right now. What do you want to let the people know, what kind of things happened for Blindside over the last two years? Simon: I think since 2005 where we kind of left the states, we had talked among the band about the future a little bit, see what the next goal is, what we gonna do next basically and we just thought that we should go to Europe. We decided really that we needed to go to Europe even though we hadn't anything going for us here, we just decided it was time, for a number of reasons. And it felt really good actually cause we've been to the states so many times that at every show people were saying "I have seen you three or four times this year" and it got to a point where it was like, there's nothing interesting in that, cause we play kind of the same songs and you just come back with different bands and different tours. So I think it's good actually that you let people wait for a while and just get excited again. And I think it was the same thing for us, it wasn't as exciting to go to the states anymore. I think we needed to play in front of different people and I think what has happened is that when we played in Europe we played a lot of festivals where a lot of people didn't know who we were. So you had to really get people excited, you had to win the crowd over which we hadn't done in a while. I think that meant a lot for the band and we tried to put something different into the show and it was definitely kind of a pioneering spirit going on with the band. The next time when we come back to the states it'll be a totally different athmosphere. I think so at least. It feels like we're different band now. And it's good to see other cultures, meet other people and bands too. Playing with bands from other cultures is just a different thing and I think that's been really interesting for us and I think we've matured a lot. As far as uncertainty it's the same thing for us, too. We've been uncertain about what we're gonna do, we haven't had a grand plan, but I think we feel really positive about the future and are glad to be kind of starting over again.
Tomas (bass), Marcus (drums), Simon (guitars), Christian (vocals)
Right now you're about to release the new EP but most people probably don't know where it's going to be released and how the label situation is for you guys. What do you wanna let people know as far that goes? Simon: It's a little bit up in the air, for sure. What we've done is that we licensed the record to a couple of companies in Europe and we're probably going to release it in these countries in Europe, like Northern part of Europe. Germany, England and Scandinavia will have the actual record and for the rest of the world we're releasing it through our webpage somehow like a digital thing, but we'll probably have something on our webpage as well so that you can also buy it, like the actual product.
All your albums in the past always had a really strong spiritual attachment to it and showcased your progression as a band as well, like you were saying that you matured over the last two years. Thinking about "The Great Depression" and the contradiction of cultures as with the depression in Africa and the different kind of depression in the Western world that presented itself to you, what would you say with a title like "The Black Rose", at which point are you right now, what is moving yourselves and what has brought you to the point you're at right now? Christian: Well, it's really hard to say at this time. Usually we know these things more afterwards, but during "The Great Depression" it was kind of like a heaviness over the whole situation, just personally and it seems like that's the way God does it for us you know. He let's us go through things and then afterwards we see what he wanted to tell us kind of. At this time it seems like we're somehow pregnant with hope in a way. There's a new spark in the band that wasn't really there before I think, even though the circumstances sometimes are not so good as far as what you see in the physical…But it's really contradictional in a way because we're getting on a lot of big tours now, so there's a lot of good things now also in the physical that are starting to happen for the band. But as we were saying, when we went over to Europe we didn't have anything going for us, at all. We just felt that we should be here and stuff. As far as the "Black Rose EP" it's not like something that we just… we don't want to have it viewed as something we just threw together. We wanted to make it a real good "product", something that would stand by itself. And I think, "The Black Rose" has something to tell us individually as a band but also maybe some other kids out there. So far we have kind of deciphered a little bit like half of the songs are about losing yourself and half of them are about finding yourself kind of. I believe that's it.
Looking back at the Blindside of the past and all your records so far you've spoken for yourselves and people know you as being really passionate about your beliefs. Yet, like you were saying, it's not always easy to know where you're at at the very moment, because God is doing things through you just like he has been in the past. As you're now at a kind of new start in Europe, in which connection does that new spark of hope stand to your current situation as you're playing together with bands that you haven't played with before and also re-unite with old friends like Linkin Park. How do you feel about that at the moment? Simon: I think for some reason it feels almost like that it's transforming from one thing to another and it feels like we're in the middle of it. We don't know where it's gonna lead, if it's gonna be like "These bands took us on tour in Europe, maybe that's for a reason, maybe we should do more in Europe." or if it's like "We got to know these people and that's the door opening in the US for different bands..." It's very hard to know what it's gonna bring, but it feels really positive right now.
So it's like this is the ultimate spark of hope, that you're at a moment right now where you're almost expecting things, because the time is ripe for you guys. Because it's been a journey up to know, a different kind of journey. Is that what you meant by sparkle of hope, that you're really excited about hitting it hard again so to say?! All together: Yeah!!...Exactly!! Christian: Yeah, and we're getting there. As we said it's a different vibe in the band now than it was two years ago. That's really all I can say. Simon: I think it's a little bit like…cause we've been playing for so long and we've seen a little bit of ups and downs and other bands succeeding and going down and stuff like that. As far as career and things go it doesn't feel like we're that dependent on certain things going well.
So you feel like kind of a free agent right now, do you? Simon: Yeah! Which is actually an interesting thing because you're at home, in Europe, and before you came here you didn't really have anything going. Just like it was for you many years ago with your first US tour (the story you told on the DVD that many people have seen), that there were things that you didn't know, but you just went and did a couple days of bowling with your first tour being totally up in the air. All together: Yeah...haha. Christian: Yeah we're kind of at the same point right now. We don't know what's going to be next, but we're really, really excited!!
www.myspace.com/blindside
www.blindsideonline.com
Blindside @ Wikipedia Interview by Tobias Reiss
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Monday, April 09, 2007
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Category: Dreams and the Supernatural
After a cancelled European tour in August of 2006 and a cancelled festival appearance at Christmas Rock Night in Germany in December, Becoming The Archetype finally made it over the pond in January to play their first European tour together with The Chariot. [tour e-card] At the Munich, Germany date we sat down together with Alex and Brent in the band's touring bus to find out more about Becoming The Archetype and get introduced to the meanwhile trademarked expression "LOTS MASSIVE"! Enjoy the read ;-) Seth (guitar, keys), Brent (drums), Jason (bass, lead vocals), Alex (guitar, vocals)
Firstly, welcome to Europe, finally!Alex: Ha yeah. Brent: Thanks! What were your expectations now that it has been coming such a long way that you're finally playing over here. I mean, obviously to rock out, but is there anything that you might have heard about Europe that might have scared you?![laughter]Alex: Well, we thought that it's gonna be really, really cold right now, but it's not that bad. Everybody said it's gonna be really cold. And actually more people have spoken English than we thought it would. And we learned enough German to order coffee. Have you seen any Starbucks so far?Alex: No..not yet. Brent: I'm looking forward to seeing one cause I work for them in America and I just wanna see one, just to see it! Just to feel comfortable?! :-)Brent: Well no, just to say to everybody at home that I' ve been to one over there, that's kinda cool! :-) Any other things you might have been wondering about coming to Europe?Brent: I didn't think that anybody was gonna be that nice. Alex: Yeah... Brent: Like you hear about "people hate American people", but everybody has been really really nice and I thought we were gonna have to really try to get all of our food and stuff cause we' d not really get fed, but everybody has been just so helpful and so nice and generous with everything. We' ve had so much to eat and we've had awesome places to play and all of the people have just wanted to talk, like they've been just so thankful for us coming. It completely exceeded expectations. Remembering the good responses for your last album here in Europe, how has it been for you guys so far compared to the US?Alex: Yeah, most of the stuff I read was pretty positive so everybody is real excited and alot of the people that come to the shows Really know the songs. In America they're kinda like, they listen to it and they might know the names of their favorite songs and would be like, yeah I like that too. But here people actually know all the words and stuff. Brent: Yeah it' s weird. So it's actually that you've experienced so far that European fans that have been coming to your shows are really into it?!Brent: I think they're better than American fans. Like, they know more of the words and know more of the songs and they're really intense, really excited and enthusiastic about all your songs. They want you to play more and they know more words than I do. It's crazy. I think they know more words than Jason does. [laughter]Brent: They told Alex the other night that he didn' t play a song right, which was weird, they were like "You didn' t play the right notes!". Wow.Alex: Yeah, one part of one of the songs I played an ( hard to understand on tape) instead of an ( insert musical expression here also) and the guy was: "Joo Doo Not Play That Right Like Itt Is On CeeDee!" and I said that I indeed don' t play it the same as on the CD and he was like "It Was Good Anyywayy!" [everybody laughing]Brent: But it's also in America they don' t care, they just figure we'll do it however we need to do it, but here they're like, they know all the parts and sometimes I think they'd probably do it better than we would. It's been just amazing. It' s been awesome, I can't wait to come back! So thinking about Europe and the perception American's might have, is it like Europe = Metal, or metal history, metal influences?Alex: Yeah, alot of the opinions is that alot of the heavier, darker metal comes from Europe so we expected alot of Metal people here. More than in the states, in the states it' s alot of skinny guys doing hardcore dancing, alot of Metalcore. So you actually might feel a bit more comfortable here in Europe so far?Brent: Yeah, the kids also seem to get along better. We haven' t seen any fights or weird stuff. In America we have fights at our shows all the time, like if there' re not Metal kids and they' re hardcore kids they can 't get along really well... Yeah it's a little bit more mixed here in Europe. It's like, if you like Hardmusic you'll listen to that as well but don't necessarily like it.Alex & Brent: Yeah! Having said that, how has everything been for you from the spiritual standpoint, having a record that really is about putting a statement out there. How do you feel about the expression "darkness only is the absence of light"? How do you feel about it if you look at life and related to you guys' music and your lyrics.Alex: Well, yeah...it' s true. If nobody's out there doing what we're doing it' s just going to continue being dark. And it's tough because there aren' t really all that many straight-up metal Christian bands...there' s alot of Christian hardcore bands and that type of thing, I mean I don't know how it is here but in America if there' s a guy who just listens to Metal and hears a Hardcore breakdown he just shuts the CD off. So you can't reach that person, they never gonna get the message. And that's really what we're all about doing, and it's been going pretty rule over here. And even, there are alot of the guys that are super fans and alot of the guys that just heard the music and liked it and come to know that you' re Christian band at all. Yeah, I' ve expected it kinda like that because Europe is so open for Metal but on the other side it' s really like, you wonder if people really get what band' s like you are about.Brent: I had a guy that came talk to me the other day, he was an atheist, but he was probably one of the biggest fans of our band that I ever met and it was just like, it was neat to get to share a couple moments with him and just talk and I guess encourage him in his life even in a kind of a different way. We talked about Christ for like just a second and he was like "you know it doesn' t fit in my mind". And I was just thinking, I can understand that, like I might relate to you better than I do with some of the other people in their lives that are kinda at an indecisive moment, because you're really sure, you're really certain that God doesn't exist - and I'm sure that he is active in life. You know, like I really respect that you can really say that there is no God and you might be at a closer place than these other people that are at other places accepting something uncertain. I was so encouraged that he was able to move over and get over the fact that we were a Christian band and like us, and still take something from us. We weren't able to share the same things spiritually but we were able to connect. It was really good and it was just like, if I didn't come over here I might not be able to touch that guy' s life at all, you know. We' re just here to bring light into whatever kind of darkness there is. We' ve been called to share the gospel to everyone and not just the one who wants to hear it. How is it for you having so much on your heart that you want to share but still - and maybe too often - you see that things are just about music and you'd like to share more of what's actually on your heart - although the music really translates a lot?Brent: Sometimes - like I was saying with this Atheist guy - it's good to connect on whatever level it's possible to do. We wanna bring light in any facet that' s possible. Like, if we can bring light in the musical sense then we wanna do that. We feel that with doing your best at anything Christ shows through, like in Phillipians it says "to think on whatever is good or noble or praiseworthy" or anything like that and it's just like when you start thinking about something that's good you think about the best. It's just like if you think of us as a good thing then you think of like the best thing and then you give credit to the best thing. So I think it's like if we can be good at anything, if we can be praiseworthy in anything then eventually...like they're all "what's better than that, what's better than that, what's better than that...", then eventually God is getting all the glory. And we feel like if we are praised for doing a good job then it's only that God is receiving glory through that. Having said that, do you have any things you would want to tell people who might be really into your music but don' t find the way to approach or find any connection to what you guys are about, like being an Atheist or something? Any message how they could maybe get an easier way to connect with you and what you' re about, as I' m sure there' s alot of preconceptions people have about Christians?Alex: I think the biggest way, I mean really the only way that someone is reached is that they have to find something that speaks to them on their level and we' re out there trying to speak on the level with those metalheads. If the music reaches them, think about what we're saying and don't go necessarily right to a church or something like that where you're gonna feel alienated and everything...there are closed-minded people and unfortunately sometimes freaky metalheads go to a church and get shut out. Start by talking to other Christians, go to other Christian shows and talk to some of them about their faith, and then if they have a place that they are comfortable maybe go with them there. Then you'll have somebody else and just try to find out what they' re about. That's probably the best way to do it. [as all of the other guys have been coming to the bus as well to pray together before the show I put out one last question to all of them.]About the upcoming record, any details you wanna share that European people have to get it, any last comments?Seth: He sings really good (points to Jason). There's alot of blastbeats and faster stuff which he plays (points to Brent). More keyboards for me! Great clean singing by him (points to Alex). Lots more solos, lots more brutal, lots more metal, lots darker... Lots massive!!Seth: Yeah that's the best way to say it. Our new CD is Lots Massive!! Yeah, for a European non-grammatical expression. :-)[laughter]Brent: Yeah it's like the ocean, dig in deep and it's still dark. The ocean is huge... Seth: Lots Massive!! Haha ;-) Interview by Tobias Reiss
Listen to " Terminate Damnation" in its entirety here!
 | Currently listening:
Physics of Fire
By Becoming the Archetype
Release date: 08 May, 2007 |
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Friday, March 23, 2007
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Category: News and Politics
 24.03.2007
I´d like to encourage you to take some time and read the lyrics of Sleeping Giant´s upcoming new album "Dread Champions Of The Last Days", out on Facedown Records on May 1st. The band was gracious enough to send us the lyrics in advance to the album´s release that we may post them up here. Truly one of the most spirit-filled hardcore bands I´ve come to experience lately!!
posted by Tobe 
01-The Army of One
There is an antichrist agenda you will mark that day when you follow the idea of your God in Your Own Way. When all is finally finished and truth is finally dead you will deny true sovereignty and follow "you" instead. When love has been extinguished in the memory of time self preservation is the greatest law you abide it is our highest order in the new dawn that we seek there is no need for a savior when God is for the weak. We all knew this was coming but never thought we'd see the final Christian bound gagged shot on our TV. As the sun sets slowly on that final waking hour you will smile smug and sweetly as you watch believers cower I watch these believers shrink back into the shadows where they belong and our new government devours the beast devours and the banner lifted masses adore him and though the vision is distorted you can't quite remember, welcome The New World Order. I pledge my allegiance to Jesus Christ the Lamb of God Who Takes Away The Sin of the World.
02-This Calls For Patient Endurance on the Part of the SaintsWarned Be Warned One day the underground will be the only option War Destruction Comes to the Shores of America. One Day the price you'll pay the Brutal price to pray will be the blood of your firstborn sons. NO what will you do will you remain true to his name though the Antichrist reigns and this nation rolls over bones of believers and they sing "The Saints Are Dead" But we'll keep on truckin. Though this nation rolls I say Keep Rollin.
03-Narrow Road
It's ride or die, on this rocky road, the crowds no prize and I feel so alone. Life empty burdens and lies amidst the demons of woe, you feel the flames pile high higher, But not me I'm on the narrow road no room for pride yeah the walkin is low. Life I feel so alive the seed of permanence sown, and there's this joy in my eyes he's mine mine This is my day the road of life it's ride or die.
04-Whoremonger: Epilogue to AdulteryWitness to a youthful lust who made the same mistake guess he didn't know it would cost him everything he'd make Spied that young one through my window, oh the subtle path he didn't know the loss he didn't see the cost it will cost him everything. Now he can't find and he can't understand why but you see cuz you cheat and believe that you're free but you know. Now he can't find the way he can't find the way around It'll cost him his life so wave goodbye she'll kill you with a smile and slit your throat with a wink of her eye why oh brutal heart for a lie. I was that man once I tell you the truth I'd rather die. Die. He didn't see why can't he see the truth cuz adultery feels so good it takes away you. Disciples would you rise, I know there is sin you despise and say no, well I guess you'll never know now so wave goodbye and live like it's so. Now he can't find the way. He can't find the way out. I was that man once I'd rather die. Why can't you understand why I only got one heart oh precious wellspring of life Why Oh why will you die, Leave this filth and pain in the past leave the darkness behind. Jesus Christ no other love why? Now you'll finally know your own mind you can't run this time your desperate to rest in the peace of the light I'll be kneeling right there at your side, Battering hell now I declare tonight. "Hell Relinquish Your Hold On My Sons"
05-Behold the Pale Horse (for Vinnie and John) Hail! The Fourth seal screams the beast is holding the veil at bay and it all seems surreal to war and conquer life from all man Slain by sword the plagues rising the beast of burden becomes your demise Oh my god I've not known a fear so pure and here it swings. Again by my vision now the rider cloaked in heavens name is. I can't speak I shake I see him. Slain by sword, the plagues rising. The one who sat on him was death and all Hell Followed with him. All hell Follows with him. BEHOLD the Pale Horse. All Hell Follows With Him. 06-Dynasty (for Maryn Victoria Green) My daughter spoke through tear streaked eyes, Oh daddy daddy please don't die, I said Listen Either way I'm done for. Just remember what I come for. Remember me. I said you know the God to whom I pray, they'll be a time when hell call me away, but listen either way I'm done for, you just remember What I loved for, please remember me, I'll see you soon. When I'm dead will my children say My father had a destiny and he fought to taste it, so now because of him I can arise and say, I'm part of a dynasty that won't be wasted. I'm not wasted. Dynasty Eternal Dynasty His Eternal Dynasty.
07-CovenantThough this pain is life's reality. You're by my side, its right where the lord says you oughta be. Your heart is mine. You declared the word, covenant. Your heart is mine. I'll never forget. Though all this pain is my reality, I'm by your side it's right where I feel my honored destiny. My heart is yours I declared it all Covenant My life is Yours Never Forget it. A word of truth in my spirit and I ask you take part. Not just an oath something I break I'd no sooner split my heart, Father Preserve Us. Your Heart is Mine Covenant. Your Heart is My Heart. Never Forget.
08-Blame it on the Holy Rollers (Romans 8:31) Don't you Judge Me. Don't you dare. One day I know I'll sit before a just God. Will you be there. Or will your false, your short sighted views hold you back from real truth. All your views leave you hostage, from love, from the real truth. Held Hostage! Don't point your finger like I'm the fake, You let me in this room that was your first mistake. You've got nothing. It's okay I was there once so don't point the finger like I'm the fake you let us in and that was your last mistake. Follow Me. It might be your last "mistake".
09-The Power of PrayerThe fury of voices unleashed contained in breath and fire gasping crawling begging for mercy demons plead. Where I come From we Call this War and when we strike we see the unseen topple where monstrous spirits tread the DREAD Champions Claim His Glory We've already won this game but now the prisoners of war remain and at the end of this terrible day we'll judge the hosts of rebellion and Sing Dominion To the Lion and The Lamb He Who's Slain In heaven Is Victor in Hell On earth Dominion to the Lion and the Lamb he who's slain in heaven was Victor in Hell Hallelujah Salvation Glory Power Forever. For The Lion and The Lamb. All for the Lamb.
10-Sleeping GiantAwake clothe yourself with my strength my betrothed one. Would you give it all to sit enthroned cuz I've watched you I chose you for mine mine alone who are you that you fear mortal man, oh what a saga don't you forget me know cuz I set you on high take your place know and be found at the seat for I am the lord your God who churns up the waves the waves of the sea Awake Do You see me. One day I'll speak your name I'm the one that I'm calling you out awake arise take your place now look in my eyes I'm calling you out Take my hand. Awake Holy Ones awake cherished daughters my honorable sons you are under attack quit standing there helpless Fight back I clothed you with grace as these demons assault you they spit in my face What lies you believe You Belong to Someone You belong to me You belong You me and I've covered you with my right hand and these Giants have dwelt too long in this land Yet my army arises awake O Zion Sleeping Giant. Awake arise And Build Up. Awake! Arise! And Build Up Wake O Zion Sleeping Giants.
11-No Sleep From My EyesMy master told a parable once that we should always pray and not lose heart. When You face the Corruption of life, he says "Come boldly and trust Me", say. Grant me justice against my adversary, that thieving traitor I despise. Every word you speak's a prophecy that I feel true over me you speak I believe countering his deceit your will be released within me. I'm not here alone, I rise and Smash agendas back and One day soon I'll see it, my prayers your prayers they will be answered. All my life I wished for a fight that actually meant something more than all this earthly waste I hope to bring people face to face with you lord. You'll get no sleep from my eyes till she comes home. You'll get no sleep from me I'll sit here and pray alone You'll get no sleep from me I'll wait here and pray alone You'll get no sleep from me the lost will see the high cost as you paid I plead War. The lost will see the high cost you paid plead war. All My Watchmen, Wake Up! 12-King of Kings
The horror of all my own reality of self existence all is nothing all is dust truly nothing in this sphere can be real apart from the everlasting But what can I say to the one who knows my name are you able to see my life for what it could be worth there must be more than every horrible chain around my wrists and this blade to my throat made alive in the face in the mirror must I stay me, must I stay me. But what can I say to the one who's ripped all these horrible choices from me. Holy One I know your face Holy I know your name. Holy I know my place in this existence. Holy Set me Free Holy Release Me Holy Let it Be Me. A desperate man in the depths of need I'm hungry, I'm so hungry for meaning if there could be thirst in the dead let it be me And let nothing satisfy but more need. But what can I say to the one who knows my name, and what can I say to the one who knew my name, who ripped all my horrible choices from me. I know your name, in my reality; I have no choice I will declare what you mean to me. Holy one King of Kings. They see the valley of death cast its shadow I see my last breath before real existence and I scream to the battered and bloodied the hopeless and used be broken and come forth be claimed and set apart as the faithful and true the faithful and true.
13-Oh Praise Him
Oh Praise Him. The resurrected Lord Jesus the Lamb who was Slain, The mighty Lion of Judah with Blood on his Mane. We love You Lord Jesus We Lift up our lives and sing, all Praise Honor and Glory to you Christ The King. Oh Praise Him The faithful True Witness Your Song we will bring. Our Lord Everlasting Bridegroom Judge and King. You are worthy Oh Jesus you paid with your blood, You redeemed us a people that live in the flood of your grace lord. Oh Praise Him. HE is Holy. He Is Worthy. 14-This is the WordThis is the Word of the Lord. Prepare. He Is Coming. Prepare. The King Is Coming. Hear the Saints March. 
"Dread Champions Of The Last Days"Out on Facedown Records May 1st, 2007! Sleeping Giant on Myspace
Sleeping Giant on Purevolume
Sleeping Giant on Facedown Records
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Friday, January 19, 2007
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Current mood:high voltage heavy metal
Category: Music
Having laid down a straight up high-voltage heavy metal show as the openers of the Dirty Southern Blood Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, The Showdown from Tennessee, USA sat down with me for a beer after the show to do a little interview that revealed that these guys don´t just play legit as legit heavy music, but are also some kind of monsters, like a yellow and black attack that wants you to git snake bit! Check it out ;-)
So, the term Dirty Southern Blood, what does it mean to you, what´s your definition of it?
David (vocals): Well, I didn´t really came up with the name of the tour but to me it means just high-voltage heavy metal from people from the south, just to break it down. What´s going on tonight will be no different from what would be going on in USA. Just bringing it to another speck!
How much are you influenced by the Yellow And Black Attack [a.k.a. Stryper]? To bring it in one sentence, what does it mean to you?
Josh (guitar): ALOT!!!
David: We`re influenced 777%!!!
[laughing] Alright, so your upcoming new album, "Temptation Come My Way" was already described by the press as being the "legitimate follow-up to Metallica´s "Black Album" [read about that in German here]. What´s your standpoint on that?
All together: "Man it blew our minds!"...."Sounds good to us!"..."It´s killer!!!"...."I´ll take it!" ;-)
Josh: That´s probably, overall within the band, our favorite album, the "Black Album"! So that´s a huge compliment!!
Travis (guitars): Yeah it blew all our minds to have somebody say that!
I personally haven´t heard all the new songs yet, but I believe they say it rightly so. I really loved the songs that I heard so far!
Yet, one thing a friend of mine from the states said was: "If we could just have both The Showdown, the old And the new. I don´t wanna miss the old!" What´s your answer to that?
David [matter-of-factly]: Sorry!!!
[other guys laughing]
David: But I mean, it honestly is together because, I mean we still jam stuff off the old record. Especially when we headline, we play like 12 songs, like half-and-half! And we will always gonna be...we don´t even know what´s gonna come out the next record you know.
Just playing what you feel?
All together: "Yeah."..."Exactly."
Ok! Well, there´s a quote I wanted to give you..."fear is failure". What do you think about that?
David: I believe it! Do you believe that? [asking the other guys] We´re ever afraid of anything...
If we were afraid we would never came on tour, I mean that´s straight up. Failure would be us at the house. That´s straight up. In every aspect of The Showdown...we try to not be afraid.
So claiming that you guys are the new "Yellow And Black Attack", what should people expect and why should people take you seriously?
David: I mean, because anytime people are having a good time, hopefully they´re taking that seriously, and we´re just trying to be a good time, you know what I mean? And when they have a good time and they hear our honest as good yellow and black attack message, I mean... that´s "Good times + Jam for the Lamb = 777", I mean that´s basically all I know... ;-)
Josh: Hopefully the music is just legit as legit. Because as for Stryper, the music was pretty legit. Seriously, I mean they threw bibles out, whatever, a little cheesy, like...we´ll leave that part out. But musically...
Can you promise that you keep the hair the way that you have it now? Not like the bubble gum hair that Stryper had? [our talk is now getting a little tongue-in-cheek ;-)]
Josh: As long as I´m in a band, my hair is going to keep growing.
[pronouncing like he couldn´t care less] I don´t know about anyone else, but...
Yeah? So you wanna have a mane?
[other guys laughing]
Josh: Yeah. That´s the goal!!
David: I already have my hair longer than Matthew...[unfortunately the last name is hard to understand on tape], and I cut it off once!!
So in which aspects are you, David, "better" than James Hetfield (of Metallica)?!
[other guys going "ooooohhhh"]
David: Actually, this is an easy question....Have you ever seen that movie "Some Kind Of Monster"?!
[other guys cheering like "That was a good answer!"]
Tell me what is it about, in short?
Travis: They [Metallica] go through therapy. They hire a therapist to go with them and they fight and they cry over their musical fission...
Josh: They act like girls...for an hour and a half!
[Make sure to watch the trailer for "Some Kind Of Monsters" here!]
David: But you know what, honestly...all it always goes back to is: bey do bey do beyyyy [plays and sings a famous Metallica riff melody on air guitar]
[everybody laughing]
Which brings me to a band called "Kansas", who had a cheesy little song called "Carry On Wayward Son" - which a cheesy little band also covered on their new album. What´s your point on that? ;-) [it´s the second to last song on "Temptation Come My Way"]
[everybody laughing again]
David: Man, I think it´s the perfect song for our record, I mean, you just gotta hear it!
Josh: It´s heavy, I mean...it´s a good song anyway!
It is!
Josh: It´s probably a thousand times heavier now.
Yeah, that´s how cover songs should be! ;-)
Travis: But we didn´t change it, at all, like, it´s still the same!
So who sings the higher parts?
Travis: It´s so lowed that you wouldn´t even need any high singing. ;-)
I see! You know, today I watched "Anchorman" again...
David: Haha, yeah...
And in the credits at the end - although I´ve seen it alot of times by now - I noticed for the first time that it´s actually "Carry On Wayward Son" that´s playing, so yeah... ;-)
So to round this up, there´s a website called Buzzgrinder.com who have kind of made fun about you [Travis] and the "heavy metal" tattooes on your arms. It was in their regular video show called ScenePoints, asking jokingly what you would do if you´d need to play in a jazz-band if the band thing wouldn´t work out. [Watch that episode here before you read on!]
So what´s your standpoint on that?
Josh: I would never need to play in a jazz band...?! I mean, the thing is, what dude with Heavy Metal (!!) tattooed on his arms is gonna be in a jazz band?! :-)
[general amusement at its peak]
So...any last words for the European folks? I mean, you´ve put your slogan already out there...
like "777 + jamming for the Lamb = ?"
David: High voltage! :-)
Travis: Git snake bit!
David: Yeah, I mean we´re just trying to bring you a good time anywhere, you know? Overseas, here, in the states or wherever. Just trying to have a good time, jam heavy music and just rock out, anytime!!
Josh: Yeah, we´re gonna be on a regular tour in Europe this summer. See you then!!!
A.J Barrette (drums),Travis Bailey (guitars), David Bunton (vocals), Josh Childers (guitars), Eric Korushak (bass)
Interview by Tobias Reiss
 | Currently listening:
Metallica
By Metallica
Release date: 12 August, 1991 |
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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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Category: Life
After an awesomely energetic show at the Dirty Southern Blood Tour in Stuttgart, Germany, I sat down with Norma Jean´s Cory Brandan (vocals) and Daniel Davison (drums) for a little interview. Already in the first question I was asking them about a certain bible verse that they had put at the end of the lyrics of the song "Coffinspire" on their last record "O God, The Aftermath"; the passage Joel 3, 13-16.
As I couldn´t find such passage in my bible - only Joel 4, 13-16 - I was wondering if it was actually meant to be this way on purpose or if it was just accidently misprinted. The guys weren´t really sure about it being misprinted or the wrong passage, but as I found out the day after the interview, all European bibles (except the Luther version from 1545) seemingly have the 3rd chapter of Joel only with five verses and an additional 4th chapter - on the other side, American bible versions don´t have a 4th chapter, but instead have all 21 verses within the 3rd chapter.
So, with the fact in mind that "Norma Jean" actually stands for "pattern of God´s grace and mercy", I thought I would just share with you this very passage from Joel and then dive right into the interview:
13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow— so great is their wickedness!' 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 16 The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. So, in "Pretendeavor" (from "O God, The Aftermath") there´s the lyric: "I burned 41 hills for the love of academic ability. That exceeds the love of searching for the truth." What does that mean exactly?
Cory: Oh, um, that song or that part is kind of a thing where I feel like, with all the things we have these days like science and knowledge, that we can dig too far into it and can kind of get away from the things that really matter. Basically, it´s a C.S. Lewis quote, like alot of the songs, cause at the time when we were writing I was reading C.S. Lewis...there´s one thing that he said that I think was really amazing that he was talking about, that if you look through everything, like in original form science is amazing you know, knowledge and seeking knowledge...but like, if you had an apple and you open that up and you keep opening until there´s nothing left to open. When you find your goal, you look through that, too, and then there´s nothing. It´s the same as..."Seeing through everything is the same as seeing nothing at all", that´s basically what he was saying. So, that´s what I was thinking about when writing this line.
As for one of the first lyrics on "Redeemer" in "A Grand Scene For A Color Film", what does it mean for you to "unlearn the strange devices of the world"?
Daniel: Yeah, like a lot of the things that we find appealing or that are a pleasure to us, can in the wrong context be strange devices. Things that we somehow find pleasure in even though we know that it´s wrong. And just kind of finding a way to break out of that somehow, and not be a slave to those things or just to get away from that. Again like, a more simple way of life I guess?!
What did you mean by the words "No passenger, No parasite", the last song on "Redeemer"?
Cory: I guess that was a C.S. Lewis quote, too, wasn´t it?
Daniel: I don´t remember if it`s C.S . Lewis or Tozer, but yeah, I think it´s C.S. Lewis talking about Christianity, like in Christianity there´s no passenger, no parasite. Like, just because I know you, let´s say we would be best friends and you would be a Christian, you can´t take me to heaven with you. Parasite is just basically like a passenger, kind of synonyms.
In the time of recording "Redeemer" there was this one happening where you, Daniel, were snowboarding with your merch guy, Noah, and you found a dead body on the hill. How did that make you approach the record differently after you got confronted with that kind of situation?
"[...] The city is right next to Mount Shasta, so there's lots of snowboarding and stuff up there," explains Brandan, setting the scene for the most unnerving occurrence of their time in the mountains. "So, our merch dude, Noah, who is kind of a vagabond, came to hang out with us for a couple weeks and to go snowboarding with Daniel [Davison, drums]. They went boarding at the same spot two days in a row and they found a dead body on the second day! They went one day and went to the exact same place the second day; she wasn't there the first day and the next day she was. She actually had committed suicide. The story we heard was that she drove from San Francisco to that spot, there was alcohol involved, and for some reason she had taken her shoes off and walked out into the snow. It totally flipped those dudes out; none of us have ever experienced anything like that before.[...]" (Decibel Magazine)
Cory: I think you were done by this time, weren´t you? Cause I was actually tracking.
Daniel: Yeah, I was personally finished with my...
Oh yeah, that´s why you had actually time to go snowboarding, right?
Daniel: Yeah, that was like a day or two days after I finished, so I was able to go out and do whatever...so it didn´t really affect my play on the record.
Cory: I kind of like felt like we were more weirded out than he was, or maybe we weren´t, but I know I´ve been in situations that were very stressful, like there was a time when I saw a wreck happen where this car was upside down under the water and they pulled this woman out, she wasn´t breathing, and...it would freak me out. But like...telling that other people they would freak out even more. Like telling that whole story...if you were a part of something and you were there and you saw it and were part of the event it´s somehow not as weird to you as to other people who have never experienced that or something like that. Although it was totally freaking weird.
Daniel: Yeah...it was crazy, but I mean, it didn´t really affect the record other than that for the next like two weeks I was thinking about a lot of stuff...
So Ross Robinson [producer - Wikipedia English / German], I guess, is a good friend of you now...and there´s all these stories out there of how he needed to "treat" certain bands in the past, like you were talking about in your interview with NotMTV.tv [watch the video interview here!]
The band together with Ross Robinson (producer), Ryan Boesch (engineer) and Oak dog.
I was glad to hear that you guys got really deep with him, which probably was a big part from his side, that he wanted to have that for making the record, but on the other side I think - I mean you´re now friends, but before you were working with him you probably were wondering how it would be and hoping for the best - there probably was a certain point where you were having real deep conversations with him and he was really getting what you were about - just because it was necessary. But at that point where you really were talking with him about things that really have meaning or are important to think about, like the lyrics "Unbelief is no diversion" in "The Longest Lasting Stament". Plus I know you guys also prayed with him...How was that for him and how was it that he felt that God did something on that record and what kind of questions did he have?
Cory: Ross believes in God...He´s open, he said he wants to do that kind of thing with every band and he always tries to bring out something in that band, whatever they feed on, and alot of times he would bring up like, he would call it like an energy source or something like that, but he said in his mind he was thinking God and with us he was able to say it. But the weird thing is that we were already really good friends with him by the time we started recording, because he came to Atlanta before to spend a week or so just hanging out, we were playing songs for him, it all was just hanging out, talking, there was a lot of deep conversations and we already prayed, so we were very connected by that time.
Daniel: Yeah, he definitely did see something totally different in us, even to a point where he was like "It´s gonna be hard going back recording bands that don´t believe the same thing". Not necessarily "don´t believe", but "don´t act the same way" and have that, that God is a part of their music, he was like "It´s gonna be hard doing that". But it was cool, I think he got alot out of it, alot of the spiritual side of the band, which is cool!
Which is awesome, yeah.
Some shorter questions. What kind of music, which bands inspire you today personally?
Daniel: For me like Radiohead, Helmet...
Cory: That´s always a hard question for me...alot. Alot of bands!
Which Christian band influenced you on your way you´re at right now?
Cory: Strongarm was a BIG influence for me...
Daniel: Eso-Charis... (Cory and me laughing)
That doesn´t count here... (everybody laughing)
[Eso-Charis was the band Cory was singing in before he joined Norma Jean] Daniel: Yeah...like..Warlord, Zao, Training For Utopia, Spitfire...all of it!
Which book would you recommend someone who is not a Christian but wants to know more about what Norma Jean stands for as a band, beyond your lyrics?
Cory: You mean besides the bible?
Yeah.
Daniel: Hmm, other than the bible...
Cory: I think even like C.S. Lewis books would be too heavy...
Daniel: I think "Mere Christianity" [C.S. Lewis - in German "Pardon, ich bin Christ"] would be a good one...it´s pretty deep. But, it´s not like, it doesn´t start off talking about Jesus necessarily. Basically it´s talking about "good" and "bad" like, if there really is a concept of good and bad then, if you really believe in that, that really points to God, because if there´s not a God, who´s to say what´s good and what´s bad. So, it starts off really broad, kind of like building its way up, like halfway through the book he´s like "I haven´t even hinted to the name Jesus yet", which is kinda cool. It´s a kind of a slow build and kind of hard to understand, but I would definitely recommend that book. "Mere Christianity" is awesome...
Cory: It´s good...sometimes even I´m like "phew, ok, let´s go back", cause it´s hard to grasp.
Daniel: Oh, me too...
One last question which I really would like to have you answer from your heart would be about the lyric in "Blueprints For Future Homes", "I will not sleep while you´re throwing anchors to a drowning generation". What do you wanna have people know are anchors for a generation that is actually drowning?
Daniel: Well in that case the anchors are a bad thing. Just any kind of deception...
Cory: A lot of our songs are about deception. Like our last record, "O God, The Aftermath", was completely about deception, and its many faces and forms.
Daniel: I mean anything...from something like a bad self-image, thinking you´re an idiot...that, to...everything you can´t deal with in life...to there´s no God, those are deceptions in different ways.
Like, for people who are not necessarily Christians, what kind of deceptions?
Daniel: Yeah, like the idea or belief that we can be good, good enough that we get to heaven just because we´re good people and because we´re nice, or that when you die you notice that we´re not eternal...
Cory: I feel like there´s so many things inside and outside of Christianity that can throw people off, but the most important thing is to remember that it´s not about...like when you come to that question specifically, there are alot of different things you can name off as this is bad and and this is bad, this can deceive you and this can deceive you, all that stuff, but the most important thing would be to remember that God is...he Invented love. He´s just waiting to give that love and he´s very merciful, and he basically has open arms anytime, no matter what or where you are in life, what you believe, how many times you´ve cursed his name or anything, it just doesn´t matter, just know he´s standing there with open arms. And even I forget that sometimes...where I´m like I´m not good enough you know...and that´s probably the most...that´s probably the biggest deception, just to not believe in His love.
Yeah man, totally!
So, any last thing you wanna shout-out to the European folks?!
Cory: Buy Redeemer!!!
I mean, that´s a given... : ) Other than that?
Cory: Buy it for you, and a friend! And listen to it!! :-)
Daniel: We might be coming back in June for some festivals and a little, like week on tour.
Will you be on tour with any specific band?
Daniel: We don´t know at this point. We`ll be with some, but we have no idea.
Cory: It doesn´t matter which other bands are playing, come see us!! ;-)
Check out our blog with the complete lyrics for "Redeemer" - click here!
Interview by Tobias Reiss
 | Currently listening:
Redeemer
By Norma Jean
Release date: 12 September, 2006 |
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
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Hey everyone,
STRONGARM are thinking about doin a reunion tour depending on the interest of people.
They wanna know what YOU think about it!!!
Read the following lines and tell them your opinion!
Much Love,
Bands On Fire
(Greetings to David & Gabriel)
--------------------------------------------
David, webmaster of the Strongarm Tribute Site, wrote:
First of all, I'd like to let you know that the URL for the Strongarm stribute site changed. The new location is www.xmusicx.nl.
But what not many people noticed until now, is that Chris Carbonell posted an entry two weeks ago in which he mentions some things about a possible reunion tour! This is what he says:
First of all I just want to say how blown away I am that people still like the music we put together in Strongarm.
Secondly, I don't know how many people come across this site that are fans, but last night 11/27 Matt from Shai Hulud, Josh, Steve and I were talking about doing a tour together sometime next year.
The only problem for a lot of you is that it will most likely be in Japan. This is because there seems to be a stronger following there. That being said we are talking about doing a European tour, and U.S. both that is only if things work out. It's hard to say because it's been so long. We don't want to put a tour together and have hardly anyone show up.
Anyway, Let me know. I have a myspace account, but I don't know how to use it yet. I will however check this site more often to see if you guys are interested in the tour/s. I will also write a response to jason's and Chads interview soon.
Of course people have been speaking about a possible reunion tour for a long time, but this surely gives some hope, doesn't it ?
Maybe it would be an idea to show Chris and the others that there is "some" demand for a Strongarm gig in your area.
For that reason i started a topic on the Strongarm tribute forum.
You can find that right here.
Just to give the guys some feedback.
Of course you could also react by leaving a comment in either the guestbook on the tribute site or on the Myspace page.
Leaves me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2007 !
-David
www.xmusicx.nl
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- 31.10.2006
Norma Jean's new album "Redeemer" will be released in Europe through Century Media next week. As some of you might already have the US version of the CD, you will know that the booklet of the CD only has parts of the lyrics printed. Because of that we did some homework for you and have now posted the complete lyrics on our MySpace! They're not available anywhere else on the web, btw!
Additionally to the lyrics you might also want to check out the bonus content of the album website NormaJeanRedeemer.com. For that click here and get access with the password "r3d33m3r"!
posted by Tobe
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Norma Jean – Redeemer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A Grand Scene For A Color Film Return to sender, I've fallen off the hint of suggestion
Unlearning the strange devices of the world
Is this the end of the earth. Or something like it
The great, the great universal coma has arrived We are holding our hands towards the sun
Sit down, Come on sit down
Let's break out the shotguns, we're going to town Return to sender, Carried straight from the womb to the grave
Your eyes have been paled to emptiness
All things have been carved out by the unceasing haunts of this
The Great Manipulator The holding of our hands upwards and around the eclipsing sun
Has become empty and automatic
Sit down, Sit down, Come on sit down
Let's break out the shotguns, we're going to town
Let's break out the shotguns, we're going to town You've given us user friendly grenades
Just what are you trying to say? Just what are you trying to say? The holding of our hands upwards and around the eclipsing sun
Has become empty and automatic
Sit down, Sit down, Come on sit down
Let's break out the shotguns, we're going to town
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Blueprints For Future Homes Like miracles like
Clockwork and like miracles
You witnessed halos
But you failed to see its horns
The illusion of intelligence, a continuous sounding bell
And can you feel the interruption in the air? Can you feel the static?
I've never seen you like this
Yeah, well that's what I said. Drive drive the vultures home
You're killing me. Just bury me
Yeah, well that's what I said. And I said exactly what I meant
You're killing me. Just bury me
Holy Ghosts and talk show hosts
How I panic as you fail
Your conscience is a wolf
Walls are being built, deception wears its veil
And her charm is fleeting, her love just will not last
Far from men you hang and sway with no defender
Pushed around by the noise of this carefree crowd
Charm is fleeting, love just will not last I will not sleep while you´re throwing
Anchors to a drowning generation Yeah, well that's what I said. Drive drive the vultures home
You're killing me. Just bury me
Yeah, well that's what I said. And I said exactly what I meant
You're killing me. Just bury me
Yeah, well that's what I said Hell is empty, the devils are here
I will never sleep ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A Small Spark VS. A Great Forest
What did you say? Don't speak
You nailed down all your words on me
It felt like a blind guide
Leading me into quicksand
Fight fair, fight fair
But all you hear is noise
Fight fair. Fight fair!
I've earthed this seed so many times
Deeply held in this skin of bark
Branches made of ash and
Forests born aflame
Restless and full of poison
Shattered by a sea of dialogue
Rabid speech, like dogs with teeth
With words like a beggar, that don't speak, that don´t speak
Crouched and bent out of shape
Rip this tongue out by the root
And shake, shake these walls of this pale grave
A blaze a blaze
Is set upon the hills
A blaze a blaze
Is set upon the hills
Open grave from which a great
Forest will rise
The fire collapses
The corpses I've made
This should not be
O how we curse
The tongue is a flame
Let there be Grace With words like a beggar, with words like a beggar
That don't speak, that don´t speak
That don't speak, that don´t speak
Don't speak
Rip this tongue out by the root
And shake these walls
Shake these walls of this pale grave
A blaze a blaze
Is set upon the hills
Fight fair! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A Temperamental Widower We're not going backwards
We're not going backwards
We're just killing onward, today And put that knife away!
My first thought, a dragon
My first thought, a dragon
Two contending marches
And put that knife away!
She'll sting you to death
Like a swarm of hornets
From the hive
Endlessly I drift
Into this distraction
Sign my name to shame
Press hard, there are three copies
You'll put me in the grave
You'll put me in the grave
We're not going backwards
We're not going backwards
We're just killing onward, today Put that knife away!
And put that knife away!
Making progress like that of a dead man
Constant last words…the last word.
The last words. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The End Of All Things Will Be Televised All we know will be folded. A day of clouds. Creation waits…
Get away blue collar instrument
Get away politicians and priests
Refined to consume
It will be laid down
On the necks of the pure
The proud and the damned
Your day will come
Turn the page, embrace your
Comforting company
The sun beats down on your
Comforting company
Everything is burning because
Tonight the south is on fire!
The south is on fire.
Creation waits in eager expectation. Anxious. Patient.
Heaven will pause.
Get away blue collar instrument
Get away politicians and priests
Refined to consume
It will be laid down
On the necks of the pure
The proud and the…
Comforting company
The sun beats down on your
Comforting company
Everything is burning from your
Comforting company
The sun beats down on your
Comforting company
The seas are boiling
Out comes the light
Awake and rehearse
Out comes the demons
I never saw you
Out comes the mercy
Shutting down hell
Bite down until it bleeds
Out comes the exit
All things complete
O infamous city, full of turmoil, I'm terrified at your collapse
The kings, they shudder with horror, their faces distorted with fear
Endless empires gently brushed away in the blink of an eye
All Creation, wilted.
Captain, the ship is sinking. Have mercy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Songs Sound Much Sadder We´ll be legends
We are smashed men, still moving
We've tried everything in the book
No stranger to failure, death with a steady heartbeat
Scratching into any surface it wants
Joy and beauty rejected so many times
A world of hurt, a heart of false hope
And while we thought that we were learning how to live
We have been learning how to die
I should have known, we will be legends
Our hopes and dreams, our worst nightmares
Our worst nightmares have now come true
Tonight when this deep sleep falls on men
Driven by an instinct more powerful than life itself
From horror to hope, from hope and devastation
And while we thought that we were learning how to live
We have been learning how to die
I should have known, we will be legends
Overfed and unconcerned
It came with teeth and claw
Oh, hated form of emotion
You have become so obvious
My friend, the fatal habit of being myself
Ok there's hope step down with all your friends ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Longest Lasting Statement Will the body be abandoned? Will it?
Improvement is no redemption, unbelief is no diversion
Drenched in Blood, soaked in Grace
Take this body A sound that is lasting (for) 2,000 years
The deafening crash of unbroken surrender
Are we safe from the wreck?
Who will take this body?
Who will take this fear?
There is now no separation
Who will take this body?
Who will take this fear?
We'll run straight to the murder ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amnesty Please Astounding! Let us consider our current state
A string of events and I tied the first knot
You´re an anchor and I won't be drug down
Because no matter what
Burn this to ashes
Ashes and framework
A dying man needs to die, as a tired man needs to sleep
And there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist
Burn this to ashes
Ashes and framework
You are forgiven
But this just does not mean that what was done is okay
Trust is destroyed for you and me
What's done is done and this will never be right
The sun has gone dry
So we can sleep forever You can be free to turn your back
I'm not holding a gun Burn this to ashes
Ashes and framework Trust has been destroyed for you and me
What's done is done and this will never be right
The sun has gone dry
So we can sleep forever And I've been so bitter towards you
And I've been so bitter I've been so bitter towards you ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Swimming Circles I don't care what you said
I won't sink in the flood
But I listen to every noise
That you make and make sense of what you say
And I take note to every sound
We're not the same again
Don't you dare insinuate me
You don't care what you create
You can't swim in this flood
And you'll swallow with every wave
That comes by and take take what you need
You'll still swallow with every tide
We're not the same again
Don't you dare insinuate me
To hell with that!
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cemetary Like A Stage There will be no more color
Broken I stand here
A new creation
On the stage of history
Where map and compass
Mean nothing at all
The arrows are in me
My spirit drinks poison
I joined the avalanche
Just to feel alive I remember sitting in
My mothers room
And I watched them cry
We're not supposed to be here
Tonight I will sleep on the floor
Oh, such weight All colors rushing back
Restoring frail life
We're broken here
We're ruined here There are strangers
In my house
Tripping over
Themselves to
White wash this
Disaster
I am young but
I'm not blind
All colors rushing back
Restoring frail life
We're broken here
We're ruined here The Voice of Heaven
Speaks with time
A new understanding
Dedication
This will never fade
I guess the body
Means nothing at all
Broken and unbroken All colors rushing back
Restoring frail life
We're broken here
We're ruined here ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No passenger, No parasite Wake up. No passenger, No parasite. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Currently listening:
Redeemer
By Norma Jean
Release date: 12 September, 2006 |
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Sunday, January 14, 2007
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Current mood:  excited
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
12.01.2007
Most of you guys and girls might know that BandsOnFire.com originally started in conjunction with the release of a compilation called "Songs To Set Hearts On Fire", which was released on Guideline Records in 2003.
More than three years later now, BandsOnFire is still up and running (still on fire!), and while still being very much European (just like the "Songs To Set Hearts On Fire" compilation was), we also have a very strong focus on international Christ centered bands as you know.
Well, 2007 marks the year of another compilation, entitled: "Songs To Set Hearts On Fire 2"!!!
Put together by Guideline Records, Whirlwind Records and Century Media Records this CD will be given out for free at shows of the bands that are on the sampler. Compared to Vol.1, though, the compilation this time around is totally independent of BandsOnFire.com and more of a promotional project of the three participating labels.
Although we´re not part of the project, we of course are very very stoked about the whole thing and can only recommend you to get yourself a copy of it! The disc comes in a card-sleeve and won´t be sold online or anywhere else, as it is a promotional only project. You can either get it at concerts of the compilation´s bands or as a free bonus if you place an order in the stores of the labels!
So, which bands are on it you ask?! Check it out. Here´s the layout and tracklisting:
(click for bigger view)
 posted by Tobe
 | Currently listening:
As Daylight Dies
By Killswitch Engage
Release date: 21 November, 2006 |
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Sunday, January 14, 2007
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Category: Games
For Norma Jean photos check out Allschools Network !!!
Some more photos can also be seen in this blog !!!
The Showdown Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster ( Send us your photo and video links and we will post them up here!!! )
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