Reports are that Atom Willard has left The Offspring.
Willard became famous as the drummer for Rocket From The Crypt and lately has been part of the Angels And Airwaves group started by Tom Delonge.
The Offspring meanwhile are working on the next album and rumours are that they will be touring it on this year’s Warped Tour.
Capdown will release new single Surviving The Death Of A Genre on February 26th and have announced some dates to support the release of that and their new album Wind-Up Toys:
February:
2nd – Bristol Academy
3rd – Milton Keynes Pitz
4th – Exeter Cavern
5th – Bournemouth Elements
6th – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
7th – Plymouth University
8th – Bridgewater Palace
9th – Oxford Zodiac
10th – Stoke Sugarmill
12th – Sheffield Leadmill
13th – Manchester Academy 3
14th – Leicester Charlotte
15th – Nottingham Rock City
16th – Middlesbrough Cornerhouse
17th – Dundee Westport bar
18th – Glasgow King Tuts
20th – Leeds Cockpit
21st – Reading Fez
22nd – London ULU
23rd – Norwich Arts Centre
24th – Peterborough The Park
Kings Of Leon‘s third album. Because Of The Times, will be released on April 2nd. The album, recorded in Nashville and LA, will be preceded by the My Party single, which is out on March 26th.
In addition to this, the band will play some low key shows as well as their headline appearance on the NME Brats tour in February.
February:
22nd – Folkestone, Leas Cliff Hall
23rd – Norwich, UEA
24th – Lincoln, Engine Shed
26th – London, Astoria (NME Brats Show)
Minus The Bear have begun work on their new album, and will be produced by their former synth player who left the group a year ago to focus on production work. The album will feature 14 songs and has a working title of Planet Of Ice. Jake Snider said:
“We’re substantially done with writing and the music sounds very organic to me. We’ve been on this intense musical journey the past few months and this new record is going to be expansive… but catchy. Everything is bigger and seems, at least to me, more dramatic than the last record.”
Punk band of the moment, Gallows, have been added to the line up at this year’s Warped Tour in America.
They will make their first trip over to the States for it and will be joined by the likes of Bad Religion, Paramore and Tiger Army.
A team that likes to travel and have fun is the Girl/Chocolate camp.
One of their latest adventures across the United States was the Badass Vs Dumbass tour.
You can watch the trailer here whilst waiting for the DVD which will drop very soon.
The verdict is out on one of the most anticipated sponsorship moves – Darrell Stanton will now be setting up Element Skateboards.
Be on the look out for some sweet Stanton footage in the next full-length Element video due to drop for Go Skateboarding day! June 21st.
Comeback Kid and theAudition will play some headline shows to coincide with their upcomcing support slots in the UK.
theAudition will play the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes on January 17th, and are currently touring with Biffy Clyro, I Am Ghost, The Bronx on the 2007 Kerrang Tour.
Comeback Kid, who will support Alexisonfire’s UK tour, will play a headline gig at the Peel in Kingston on 6th March.
Not to be confused with the UK Subhumans, these Canadians rode in on the first wave of Punk Rock, releasing their debut EP in ’78, the seminal ‘Death to The Sickoids / Oh Canaduh’, and the phenomenal album ‘Incorrect Thoughts’ in 1980.
Following mucho touring in their homeland and the US West-Coast, their second album ‘ No Wishes No Prayers’ was released on Black Flag’s SST label, but by then the band was as good as finished, with singer Brian Goble having departed to pick up bass playing duties in DOA.
Gerry Hannah, the original bassist in the Subhumans had already quit the band after the debut album to become involved as a full time political activist in a group calling itself Direct Action, who really did walk it like they talked it – their targets included blowing up an environmentally unfriendly hydroelectric substation on Vancouver Island, and bombing a plant which manufactured parts for the American cruise missile. The group got caught by the authorities, and Gerry was sentenced to ten years in the can, eventually getting released after five.
In ’95 Gerry and Brian reunited as The Subhumans and have played sporadically during the ensuing years. In 2005 they solidified the line-up with the return of original guitarist Mike Graham, and veteran drummer Jon Card, who has previously seen active duty in Personality Crisis, SNFU and DOA. And the upshot is this album of 14 brand new songs, and having spun it a number of times, I have to say it’s pretty damn great. There’s nothing fancy as such is what these guys deliver, just solid straight up Punk with a melodic punch and some hard rocking tunes to boot. There are some really wry lyrical statements, with the War on Terror getting much attention, and American Foreign policy in general.
I’d go as far as to say the Gerry Hannah penned ‘Moving Forward’ is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a long time, a power packed number that totally nails American political hypocrisy – “heard your rhetoric again today , I don’t believe a single word you say. Telling us you’re gonna make the world free, But I know my history. You’ve never minded tyranny, As long as it was used against your enemy. You’ve always been willing to look the other way, As long as it was good for the USA”. The opening track ‘World at War’ is actually about the personal struggle of homeless and oppressed people to survive. Really thoughtful and compassionate sounds and an album I can thoroughly recommend as worth your attention.
Pete Craven
Junk mail is a the bane of any normal person’s doorstep. That is until a gem pops through the letter box and makes you wonder- “What were they thinking???”
Here’s a shot of Stereo’s Benny Fairfax getting extreme (facial) for the new Mazda car range. The Dutch spiel underneath probably says “This boy will ollie your car and steal your daughter!” but it actually says “Exceptional Introductions at Mazda“. What do we know though is that coverage is coverage.