NEWS, 25th March 2011
> JOURNEY'S NEW ALBUM ECLIPSE
Frontiers Records is pleased to announce the release of JOURNEY’s forthcoming studio album « Eclipse » in Europe on May 27th 2011.
"Eclipse" is Journey’s fifteenth studio album and shows the band at the peak of their creative juices, truly regenerated after the blistering success of their last studio album "Revelation".
Journey will follow the release of « Eclipse », Journey will launch the “Eclipse Tour” which will kick off with a 7 dates arena tour in the UK/Eire, together with Styx and Foreigner and will then hit Germany, Switzerland, Benelux, Scandinavia, France and – for the first time ever – Italy.
“I’m in love with this record, which I haven’t said about one of our albums for a long time,” says founding member and lead guitarist, Neal Schon. “It’s a rock record and it sounds amazing.” Commenting on the upcoming tour, Schon continued, “We’ve got a lot of hits to play and there’s plenty of time to do some new stuff too, so we’re gonna mix it up. We haven’t toured with Foreigner for over 10 years, so we’re really looking forward to this run.”
In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, keyboardist Jonathan Cain recently described “Eclipse” as "a concept record with some spiritual themes to it…pretty tough, hard-hitting stuff.” Jonathan continued, "We just felt like it was time to send a message to the world about how we feel about life in general.”
The new album release will be preceded by the digital release of the single “City of Hope” on April 4th.
Journey toured the world for two years in support of their 2008 release, « Revelation ». More than a million fans attended the shows, and welcomed new lead singer Arnel Pineda. Completing the Journey lineup is Schon (guitars, backing vocals), Cain (keyboards, backing vocals), Ross Valory (bass, backing vocals) and Deen Castronovo (drums, percussion, backing vocals). « Revelation » marked the band’s biggest first week's sales in more than a decade, debuting at #5 on the Billboard 200 in June 2008 and with chart entries in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland. “Revelation” earned the band their 11th Platinum album certification to date, leading The New York Times to declare that "the band…feels alive."
Since its formation in 1973, Journey has earned 19 Top 40 singles and 25 gold and platinum albums in the US. The band’s Greatest Hits album is certified 15 times platinum, bringing Journey into the elite club of Diamond-certified album holders. The group also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.
“Eclipse” will include the following tracks: City of Hope, Edge of the Moment, Chain of Love, Tantra, Anything is Possible, Resonate, She’s a Mystery, Human Feel, Ritual, To Whom It May Concern, Someone, Venus
JOURNEY – EUROPEAN TOUR DATES:
JUNE
Sat 04 London, UK - Wembley Arena
Sun 05 Birmingham, UK - LG Arena
Tue 07 Newcastle, UK - Metro Radio Arena
Wed 08 Manchester, UK - M.E.N. Arena
Thu 09 Glasgow, Scotland - S.E.C.C.
Sat 11 Dublin, Ireland - The o2
Sun 12 Belfast, N. Ireland - Odyssey Arena
Wed 15 Berlin, Germany - Zitadelle
Fri 17 Hannover, Germany - ParkBuehne
Sat 18 Esslingen, (Stuttgart), Germany - Richard Hirschmann Eisstadion
Sun 19 Winterthur, Switzerland - Eishalle Deutweg
Tue 21 Milan, Italy - Fiera Arena
Wed 22 Augsburg (Nuremberg), Germany - Schwabenhalle
Fri 24 Dessel, Belgium - Graspop
Sat 25 St. Goarshausen, Germany - Loreley Freilichtbuhne
Sun 26 Gräfenhainichen (Dessau), Germany - Ferropolis 'Stadt aus Eisen'
Tue 28 Copenhagen, Denmark - Store Vega
Thu 30 Haugesund Norway - Arena Tent, Skaanevik Blues Festival Site
JULY
Sat 02 Borlange, Sweden - Peace & Love Festival site
Wed 06 Luxembourg - Rockhal Box
Thu 07 Paris, France - Palais des Sports
Fri 08 Weert, Netherlands - Bospop, Festivalarea, Weert-Nord
> HEAVY RIPPLES VOLUME !
Shining the spotlight on a musical movement that’s ready to blast the world back four decades, Ripple Music is releasing the long awaited Heavy Ripples double 7” compilation that features the sonic delights of four up and coming acts who embrace the sounds of rock n’ roll the way it used to be played: aggressive, uncompromising, honest, gritty, and most of all, fun! More than just an ode to the old school ways of rock n’ roll, these four bands embrace the lifestyle and the sounds of a bygone era. This release has a limited first pressing of 500 copies and the tripped-out gatefold art was contributed by Wayne “Braino” Bjerke, who has lent his artistic talents to all of the Mighty High releases to date.
70’s rock preservationists Stone Axe contribute a cover version of the Mos Generator tune, “Nightwolf”; Sun Gods in Exile, on loan from the incomparable Small Stone Records, turn in the southern-tinged “Over My Broken Bones”; the UK’s dirty grit-rockers Grifter offer up two tracks, “Small Man Syndrome” and the tongue-in-cheek nod to porn legend Ron Jeremy, “Hey Ron”; and Brooklyn’s favorite sons of punkified regressive rock Mighty High drop the beastly “Hempaphobic”.
Heavy Ripples will be available on April 19th, 2011, just in time for all of the 4/20 celebrations around the world. Here's what the press is saying:
"Stone Axe's “Nightwolf” is one of the bad ass of all bad ass songs, reminds me a bit of ZZ Top’s “Tush” mixed with early Judas Priest. Sun Gods in Exile’s “Over My Broken Bones” and continues the great sound from their 2009 debut. Grifter gets two songs on this release, and both are punchy, upbeat, catchy and Grifter seems to be having a lot of fun. Mighty High's “Hempophobic” is fast punchy and the guitars are tight with hints of a blues tune in between the bong hitting.This delicious slab of wax first pressing is limited to 500 copies so don’t hesitate on ordering yours." -- The Soda Shop
“As we approach the end of winter this is the perfect thing to melt those frosty edges off of you and warm you up a bit . . . Lots of pure grit and grooves to spare on this one." - Heavy Metal Time Machine
> CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE VIDEO
http://www.myspace.com/chargeband
> BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION "2" TRACK LISTING
Black Country Communion, the Anglo-American classic rock group featuring blues rock guitarist/vocalist Joe Bonamassa, bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin), and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater), has announced the track-listing for their highly anticipated second album.
Produced by Kevin Shirley, the album, which is simply entitled “2”, will be released in the U.K. on June 13th via Mascot Records, and June 14th in the U.S. on the J&R Adventures label.
The album track listing is as follows: 1. The Outsider 2. Man In The Middle 3. I Can See Your Spirit 4. The Battle For Hadrian’s Wall 5. Save Me 6. Cold 7. Smokestack Woman 8. Faithless 9. An Ordinary Son 10. Little Secret 11. Crossfire 12. Crawl
> LEGION'S CODE OF HONOUR SET FOR RELEASE
LEGION'S bombastic follow up to their critically acclaimed self titled debut "Code Of Honour" will be released on April 4th. If ordered via the Z online store you can purchase it for just £8.00 until midnight on March 31st. All pre ordered copies will be mailed out on April 1st. Don't forget Legion will be appearing at Z Rock 2011 on May 15th.
> LIMP BIZKIT TO RELOAD
The RELOAD FESTIVAL in Sulingen (near Bremen) is around for 5 years now and has had a lot of big acts in the past like Billy Idol, Sepultura, Anthrax etc. This year we are glad to present you the ONLY festival performance in Germany by LIMP BIZKIT!!!
The almost complete line up looks like this:
LIMP BIZKIT
HATEBREED
PAPA ROACH
BLOOD FOR BLOOD
AGNOSTIC FRONT
ILL NINO
SOILWORK
LUXUSLÄRM
TERROR
THE BONES
4LYN
FIDDLERS GREEN
WIRTZ
DEEZ NUTS
THE GHOST INSIDE
EMIL BULLS
FOZZY
MR IRISH BASTARD
DAMPFMASCHINE
RELOAD FESTIVAL will take place from July 1st - 3rd in SULINGEN (near Bremen / Hannover / Osnabrück).
http://www.reload-festival.de/
> BELLE PHOENIX
Dark, enigmatic, beautiful and unique – Australian native Belle Phoenix is a singer, songwriter and aspiring poet and she arrives kicking and screaming onto the UK music scene like a desperately needed shot in the arm - an anti-dote to the current epidemic of bland & sterile female pop stars infecting our airwaves, TV screens, magazines and daily lives with safe, middle of the road personality free drivel.
Likened in spirit to PJ Harvey, Johnny Cash and The Sex Pistols, Belle’s spaghetti western stylized rhetoric on her new album ‘Nine Lives’ deals passionately in tales of love, death, irony and humour – all wrapped up in a sexually deviant package of artistic expression and creative conviction. The story of Belle Phoenix is as intriguing as her music….
As a child Belle was brought up on a steady diet of choice cuts borrowed from her parent’s diverse record collection and it was this early influence from her discovery of artists like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones that she was inspired to teach herself guitar in an attempt to imitate her heroes. As her love affair with music steadily grew, it was the punk movement above all others that seemed to call out loudest and indulging in albums by The Clash, The Ramones, The Cure and Joy Division shaped the future path she would take in her own music.
A period of time spent squatting in a band rehearsal studio (that doubled up as punk commune)whilst dabbling in heavy use of drink & drugs as a typical teenage punk loving rebel bought her into contact with real gigging musicians on a daily basis. Waking up on the studio floor day after day as band members dragged amps and equipment around her inspired Belle to drop out of school, head first to Melbourne and then to Brisbane trying to form a band around her vocal talents and developing song writing ability.
A brief stint in LA followed before a return to Sydney bought about a record deal with Warner/Chappell but bad luck was to follow as the label folded just after the first single was released to radio. Determined to carry on, and stick one to her over protective producer/manager, Belle took 10 demos of her own material and fled to New York where she started to record an album with producer Mark Plati (David Bowie, The Cure, Robbie Williams)."It was the middle of winter 2007 and going from 40 degrees Celsius to - 30 was tough and also invigorating as I felt I was finally honouring myself and my expression without having someone forcing me into a mold.”
Inspired by stories of war, child sex trafficking and meditation (Belle spent time as part of a Sikh cult) the album ‘The Glorious Dead’ was born and Belle was able to form a band, move out of the Aussie run hostel she had been staying after spending all her money on recording and tour across Australia, Germany and the UK (playing to 20,000 people at the ROX festival main stage) before arriving in London after successfully applying for a Finnish passport (her father was from Finland).
Now settled in Camden, and with a brand new backing band formed in the UK, Belle is readying her next collection of twisted, schizophrenic & eccentrically brilliant personal notes to a nation of lost souls. ‘Nine Lives’ is a wonderfully imagined record, the kind of record Quentin Tarentino might well use to serenade Karen O or Patti Smith to join him for a perfectly choreographed foxtrot during an Andy Warhol hosted party at The Factory . Sinister in its melody yet disarming in its projected innocence, more than anything ‘Nine Lives’ is a breathtaking confessional journey into the very depths of a troubled but gifted musical soul.
Belle Phoenix is set to be one of 2011’s most exciting breakthrough artists – her debut UK album ‘Nine Lives’ is released in May 2011 through Old Crow Misery Records.
> INTRODUCING CONTINENTS
Having just finished a UK tour with Boys With X-Ray Eyes, CONTINENTS have gained an impressively large following in a short space of time and have huge plans for the rest of this year.
With a solid line up and a set full of exciting grooves, vicious breakdowns and unforgettable banter, the South Wales band are constantly winning people over with their dynamic live shows and distinctive songs. It’s shaping up to be an incredibly exciting summer for the ambitious quintet.
“We’re so stoked on 2011, I mean we’ve only been playing shows since last August and already had the privilege of playing with bands like Desolated, It Prevails, Heart In Hand, House Vs Hurricane and Heights; and already this year we’ve been announced for main support slots for bands like Heart Of A Coward and Silent Screams so, obviously, we’re super excited about our opportunities to impress people this year. Alongside that we’re currently in the process of writing our first real record so all the positive feedback from shows is really pushing us to make this record as good as we can possibly make it." Tom Weaver, guitar.
Continents will be recording their debut record this summer.
They are confirmed to play the following dates:
April 2 – The Windsor, Neath
April 15 – Green Rooms, Treforest (W/ Desolated + Demoraliser)
April 17 – The Croft, Bristol (W/ Silent Screams)
May 27 - The Dolls House, Abertillary (W/ This Distance)
May 28 - Sin City, Swansea (Half-dayer)
May 29 – The Croft, Bristol (Chaos For Cause Festival)
June 5 – Hobos, Bridgend (W/ Heart of a Coward)
http://www.facebook.com/Continentsband
