Axel Rudi Pell (born June 27, 1960) is a German guitar player, playing melodic heavy metal. He started off with the band Steeler (1984–1988) before leaving to start his solo career in 1989 with the eponymous band Axel Rudi Pell. During this time, he has played with such drummers as Jörg Michael, Mike Terrana and singers Jeff Scott Soto and Rob Rock. He plays a classic traditional melodic heavy metal, predictably guitar-heavy but less flashy than Yngwie Malmsteen, with an emphasis on softer ballads as evidenced by three separate ballad compilations over the years.
Axel Rudi Pell's latest album is Tales of the Crown.
SPV Records released a live DVD on February 25, 2008, titled Live over Europe, which includes the full performance from the Rock Hard Festival in 2007, and comes with a bonus disc which includes live footage from Pell's own archive.
Axxis is a German power metal band which was founded in 1988. Their debut album "Kingdom of the Night", became the best ever selling debut album by a hard rock band in Germany in 1989.
Axxis albums
Utopia - 28/08/2009 (AFM Records/XU) Doom of Destiny - 21/11/2007 (AFM Records/CH) Matters of Survival - 17/07/2007 (Capitol Music Co./US) Paradise in Flames - 20/01/2006 (AFM Records/CH) Time Machine - 30/01/2004 (AFM Records/CH) Eyes of Darkness - (Massacre Records/DE) Back to the Kingdom - (Massacre Records/DE)
A Rock opera concept solo project by ex-BODINE and VENGEANCE guitarist / keyboard player Arjen Anthony Lucasson. AYREON would make a sizeable impact upon the Rock world and inspire a plethora of imitators internationally. The grandly titled 'The Final Experiment - A Rock Opera' album, a tale of a 6th century minstrel, features many guests including KINGDOM COME vocalist Lenny Wolf, VAN EE's Robert Soeterboek, KAYAK singer Edward Reekers, ELEGY's IAN PARRY and GOREFEST vocalist Jan-Chis De Koeijer. Lucasson's old comrades in arms Jay van Feggelen of BODINE and Leon Goewie of VENGEANCE would also be in force.
On the musical side drums would be held down by Ernst van Ee of VAN EE and HELLOISE whilst bass was delegated to Q65 man Peter Vink and Jan Bijlsma. FINCH's Cleem Determeijer provided the elaborate keyboard work. The single, 'Sail Away To Avalon' finds GOLDEN EARRING's Barry Hay on lead vocals and flute. The 'Actual Fantasy' album was issued as a CD-ROM in the Netherlands which included video footage for 'Strangers From Within'.
Oddly, despite the mammoth world-wide success of 'The Final Experiment' AYREON would temper the grandiosity down for 1996's follow up 'Actual Fantasy', this record, with both Soeterboek and Reekers in evidence once again, coming across as a straight forward accessible Hard Rock album.
'Into The Electric Castle', over 100 minutes of music lavished across a two CD set, would break the band internationally. The guest list was even more edifying than the debut. For this outing individual voices portrayed story line characters with Sharon van Edel of WITHIN TEMPTATION as 'Indian', FISH suitably cast as 'The Highlander', Anneke van Giersbergen of THE GATHERING as 'Egyptian', Jay van Feggelen as 'Barbarian', THRESHOLD's Damian Wilson as 'Knight' and Edwin Balogh of TAMAS as 'Roman'. The whole affair was held together by the esteemed patronage of ROGER DALTREY of THE WHO as the main 'Voice'. GOREFEST and LANA LANE man Ed Warby took on percussive duties throughout with Robby Valentine of VALENTINE, Ton Scherpenzeel of KAYAK and Clive Nolan of PENDRAGON demonstrating their skills on piano and keyboards. 'Into The Electric Castle' had a huge impact on the international Rock scene which was soon awash with imitators.
Whilst the sprawling 'Into The Electric Castle' set had made it onto a double CD package the follow up 'Universal Migrator' was spread over two packages billed as 'The Dream Sequencer' and 'Flight Of The Migrator'.
'The Dream Sequencer' hosted the mellower side of AYREON. Donating for this outing would be Johan Edlund of TIAMAT, Floor Jansen of AFTER FOREVER, LANA LANE, Jacqueline Govaert of KREZIP, Neal Morse of SPOCK'S BEARD and THRESHOLD's Damian Wilson. Rob Snijders of CELESTIAL SEASON manned the drum kit.
The latter sequence 'Flight Of The Migrator' would prove to be AYREON's most heavyweight offering to date. It pulled in such guests as PRIMAL FEAR's Ralph Scheepers, HELLOWEEN frontman ANDI DERIS, ELEGY's IAN PARRY, TIMO KOTIPELTO of STRATOVARIUS, Russell Allen of SYMPHONY X and RHAPSODY, VISION DIVINE and LABYRINTH vocalist Fabio Lione. Most notable of all though was the undoubted coup of attaining IRON MAIDEN's BRUCE DICKINSON.
Luccasen found time amidst all this activity to make a guest appearance on ERIK NORLANDER's 2000 album 'Into The Sunset'.
Such was the success of the AYREON project that an album collection of demos and alternate takes arrived in early 2001 dubbed 'Ayreonauts Only'.
Lucassen would divert his energies briefly onto another ambitious venture entitled AMBEON releasing the 'Fate Of A Dreamer' album in 2001. Lucassen announced the formation of a new Sci Fi themed project STAR ONE in late 2001, a confederation of name musicians which included Dan Swanö of EDGE OF SANITY and NIGHTINGALE, Damian Wilson of THRESHOLD, Russell Allen from SYMPHONY X and countryman Floor Jansen of Doom merchants AFTER FOREVER.
Lucassen would form part of LANA LANE's touring band for 2002. He would also find time in 2002 to guest on the grandiose GARY HUGHES Arthurian concept album 'Once And Future King'.
Getting back into gear with the ever expanding AYREON saga Lucasson set about recording a sixth album, 'Ayreon: The Human Equation', during the latter half of 2003. Initial guest vocalist confirmations included Devon Graves of DEAD SOUL TRIBE, Magnus Ekwall from the THE QUILL, Heather Findlay of MOSTLY AUTUMN, Eric Clayton of Christian Metal band SAVIOUR MACHINE and Mike Baker from SHADOW GALLERY. During November OPETH frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and STRAPPING YOUNG LAD mentor DEVIN TOWNSEND would also be confirmed. One of the last vocalists in line would be the relatively unknown Marcela Bovia from Mexican act ELFONIA, the lady having won her position on the record by sending in a demo via an online request. Notable guests on the keyboard front included URIAH HEEP veteran KEN HENSLEY and IQ man Martin Orford.
Ayumi Hamasaki was still an infant when her father left the family in their home town of Fukuoka, and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. At age seven she began modeling to earn money for her family. At 14 the family moved to Tokyo so Ayumi could pursue an acting and modeling career. She got small roles in several minor films and a little TV work, but she didn't particularly like acting, and was considered too small to have much of a future in modeling, so she left both fields, and for good measure dropped out of high school. Her time was spent mostly shopping and partying, until one night a friend took her to a karaoke club, where she was persuaded to get up and sing. The club was owned by a major record label, and a producer for that label happened to be in the club that night, heard her sing and offered her a contract. At first she turned him down, but he persisted, and the next year she agreed to at least take singing lessons. She didn't like them either, and wound up missing most of them. The label then sent her to New York for lessons; this time she found that she enjoyed the experience and stayed there for three months. When she returned to Japan, her producer - impressed by the contents of several letters she had written to him from New York - suggested that she begin writing her thoughts down as songs. She began recording in early 1998, and her debut album A Song for XX topped the Oricon charts for 4 consecutive weeks. Her single "Love-Destiny" in 1999 was her first #1 single, and she has had at least one #1 single or album every year since. He fame as a singer has carried over into other entertainment media, and she is also one of the top spokesmodels in Japan, making commercials for Honda cars, among others. Her success at both singing and commercials have combined to make her the highest-paid entertainer in Japan.
AZEROTH, heavy metal band from Argentina, was founded in 1995 by Fernando Ricciardulli (bass and keyboards) and Maria Eugenia Ricciardulli (drums). Their first album was published in Argentina in late 2000 for the record label Nems Enterprises. During 2001, it has been distribuited in South America (Mexico, Chile, Uruguay) and in Europe by Arise Records (Dark Moor, Labyrinth, etc) and in Japan.
Two vocalists participated in this first work, entitled simply “Azeroth”: Adrian Barilari (vocalist of the famous Argentinian heavy metal band Rata Blanca) and Christian Bertoncelli (Imperio - Renacer).
The album has been mixed and burned by the famous German producer Charlie Bauerfeind (Blind Guardian, Helloween, Angra, etc) in the Mission Digital Studio and in the Karo Studio in Hamburg, Germany. The work gained therefore a sound and a production quality at the same level of the best bands on the market. The brand and the cover have been created by the Belgian artist Eric Philippe (Rhapsody, Sonada Artica, Luca Turilli, etc).
During 2001/2002 the band presented their first work in a long tour and in several festivals throughaout Argentina and also Uruguay, proving their high potential in live shows. Also AZEROTH have been special guest in live shows of important groups like Helloween, Nightwish, Shaman, Labyrinth and Vision Divine, gaining a huge audience and a very good reception from the media.
AZEROTH decided to record their new album both in Spanish an English, considering the good worldwide feedback they had, both ifrom music magazines (including some reviews from: Rock Hard – Germany, 8/10; Metal Hammer – Spain, 8/10; Rock Brigade - Brasil, 9/10; Metallus – Italy, 8/10; Epopeya – Argentina, 9/10) and in the international audience (it has been considerably increasing throughout the years). Moreover their first album has been recorded only in Spanish. The second issue has been recorded in Argentina between January 2002 and October 2003 with the prestigious participation of Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) in choruses. The title of the second album will be simply “II” and was burned by Kimmo Ahola.
The album was released in spanish in 2008. The album has 11 songs in which is exibited a considerable maturity of the group both as performers and as authors. Moreover a certain solidity and a complexity in rhythm and melodies deserve to be highlighted. Meanwhile AZEROTH recorded 2 covers to be included in “II”: a song of Lorena McKennitt – famous Celtic and Oriental singer - (The Mummer's Dance), and another one of the legendary Manowar (Sing Of the Hammer).
At the moment, the band live and work in Mexico and the new CD will be published by Duskwood Records in 2010.
Azra was a rock band from Zagreb (Croatia) that was popular across Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Azra was formed in 1977 by its frontman Branimir "Johnny" Stulic. Other two members were Miso Hrnjak (bass) and Boris Leiner (drums). They named the Band after a verse "Ja se zovem El Muhamed/Iz plemena starih Azra/Sto za ljubav zivot gube/I umiru kada ljube!" (trans. "My name is El Muhamed/From the tribe of the old Azras/who die for love/And die when they kiss!") from a sevdalinka "Kraj tanahna sadrvana" ("Azra" here being a reference to a shortened versione of "Azera" or "Azeris", rather than a popular Bosnian name "Azra", as commonly thought). They are considered to be one of the most influential bands from the former Yugoslav New Wave rock era and the Yugoslav Rock scene in general.
They released their first single in 1979 with songs "Balkan" and "A sta da radim". The first album named Azra was published in 1980 and achieved commercial success and popularized Azra in former Yugoslavia. Azra recorded its last studio album Izme?u krajnosti (Between the extremes) in 1987. In 1988 the band recorded 4LP live album under the name Zadovoljstina (Satisfaction), after which Stulic disbanded the band. He is often at lengths with his past as he lives a secluded life and is often the target of reporters seeking an interview, which he is reluctant to give. Stulic recorded three more solo albums since moving to Houten, Netherlands, where he currently lives. A 2003 rock documentary, Sretno dijete (Lucky Child, the title of a Prljavo kazaliste song) depicts Azra as the locus of the rock scene in the former Yugoslavia during the 1980s, along with the influential Bijelo dugme. Even until today, Azra has remained very popular among youth in the countries of former Yugoslavia, unlike many other new wave bands which are now considered, more or less, historical examples.
For most intents and purposes, Aztec Camera is Roddy Frame, a Scottish guitarist/vocalist/songwriter. Several other musicians have passed through the band over the years -- including founding members Campbell Owens (bass) and Dave Mulholland
Click here to find out more! (drums) -- but the one constant has been Frame. Throughout his career, he has created a sophisticated, lush, and nearly jazzy acoustic-oriented guitar pop, relying on gentle melodies and clever wordplay inspired by Elvis Costello.
Aztec Camera released their debut album, High Land, Hard Rain, in 1983. Before its release, Owens and Mulholland had left the group, leaving Frame to assemble the record himself. Upon its release, the album won significant amounts of critical praise for its well-crafted, multi-layered pop. After releasing a stop-gap EP, Oblivious, the group's second full-length record, Knife, appeared in 1984. Produced by Mark Knopfler, the album was more polished and immediate than the debut, featuring horn arrangements and a slight R&B influence. Three years later, Roddy Frame returned with Love, which featured musical support from several studio musicians. Love was a synthesized stab at pop-R&B, resulting in his greatest commercial success -- the album launched four hit singles, including the Top Ten "Somewhere in My Heart."
Two years later, Aztec Camera returned to a more guitar-oriented sound with Stray. It wasn't as commercially successful as Love, yet it was a hit with fans who missed the chiming hooks of Frame's early work. Dreamland, released in 1993, followed the same pattern as Stray and achieved about the same amount of commercial and critical success.
AZTEC JADE are a prog metal band from Albany, N.Y., who combine the heavy style of DREAM THEATER with the melodic hooks of RUSH, ASIA and SAGA. The vocals of Leon Ozug (a real signer as opposed to a 'yeller') are first rate and somewhat reminiscent of STYX or KANSAS. The band's guitar/keyboard driven material focuses on interesting off-time progressive rhythms, soft prog-metal riffs, melodic choruses and thought provoking lyrics. Although self taught, all five musicians are technically highly skilled.
Their first release, "Frame of Mind" (1998), is a little gem of melodic metal with some great complex riffs and keyboard work. Well structured, it features nicely laid-out melodies with a strong emphasis on song writing (the band's forte). Their second album, "Paradise Lost" (2000) is simply a re-edition of the first plus some tracks from an early E.P. ("Modern Prophet", 1995). With "Concrete Eden" released in 2002, the music takes on a more progressive approach and could almost be divided into to parts: the first half has DREAM THEATER, QUEENSTYCHE and FATES WARNING overtones whereas the second half has a decidedly more symphonic feel a la SYMPHONY X (due in great part to the keyboard work). The song writing is excellent, as usual, and the production is impeccable. However, don't look for ground-breaking innovations or long drawn-out technical solos here. The music of AZTEC JADE is exciting but has no pretention except to provide some good clean fun. And it rocks!
Source: http://www.lyricsmania.com As we near the 3 year anniversary of the origination of Philadelphia's own A Life Once Lost, let us remember how it all began. This band started off like so many others before them by making loud, undefined noises in a basement. That noise eventually molded itself into the unique, easily-defined sound that is their own. A Life Once Lost reapplies Old School traditional Metal techniques to today's more abrasive, cause-of-death Hardcore. Anger and despair fuel much of the band's repertoire with every new song breaking through to new levels of brutality. Over the years, their live show has been known to draw much blood. Cracked skulls and bloody noses are commonplace and play a large role in adding to the intensity of their live performance, which, through it all, portrays the same sense of precision that can be heard on their CDs. Past releases include full length, "Open your mouth for the speechless, in case of those appointed to die", released in 2000 on Loudnet records. This was the band's first attempt at etching their sound into stone. This sound continued to thrive and carried over onto their latest release: "The Fourth Plague: Flies", which is available on CD from Robotic Empire, as well as re-released on vinyl by Deathwish Records. All along this path, A Life Once Lost has developed an extremely large, loyal fanbase, which continues to grow daily. Keep checking back as the band continues to create history.
The bizarrely named Swedish death metal band A Canorous Quintet came into being in 1991, when they evolved from what was previously "A Canorous Quartet," and included singer Marten Hansen, guitarists Linus Nirbrant and Leo Pignon, bassist Jesper Lofgren, and drummer Fredrik Andersson. After recording two demos, 1993's "The Time of Autumn" and 1994's "As Tears" (later released as an EP), the group debuted with 1996's Silence of the World Beyond full-length, then followed with the quite impressive The Only Pure Hate album two years later. But their participation in endless side projects had begun to overwhelm the members of A Canorous Quintet, and they soon decided to split up the group in order to pursue them. Most notably among their various destinations, the two guitarists turned their focus to Guidance of Sin, while drummer Andersson joined leading Viking death metal band Amon Amarth.
As well-known for their bizarrely teased haircuts as their hit single "I Ran (So Far Away)," A Flock of Seagulls were one of the infamous one-hit wonders of the new wave era. Growing out of the synth-heavy and ruthlessly stylish new romantic
Click here to find out more! movement, A Flock of Seagulls were a little too robotic and arrived a little too late to be true new romantics, but their sleek dance-pop was forever indebted to the short-lived movement. The group benefitted considerably from MTV's heavy rotation of the "I Ran" video in the summer of 1982, but they were unable to capitalize on their sudden success and disappeared nearly as quickly as they rocketed up the charts.
Hairdresser Mike Score (lead vocals, keyboards) formed A Flock of Seagulls with his brother Ali (drums) and fellow hairdresser Frank Maudsley (bass) in 1980, adding guitarist Paul Reynolds several months later. The group released its debut EP on Cocteau Records early in 1981, and while the record failed to chart, its lead track, "Telecommunication," became an underground hit in Euro-disco and new wave clubs. The band signed a major-label contract with Jive by the end of the year, and their eponymous debut album appeared in the spring of 1982. "I Ran (So Far Away)" was released as the first single from the album, and MTV quickly picked up on its icily attractive video, which featured long shots of Mike Score and his distinctive, cascading hair. The single climbed into the American Top Ten, taking the album along with it. In the U.K., "I Ran" didn't make the Top 40, but "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" reached number ten later that year; in America, that single became a Top 40 hit in 1983, after "Space Age Love Song" peaked at number 30. "Wishing" was taken from the group's second album, Listen (1983), which was moderately successful.
However, the band's fortunes crashed shortly after the release of Listen as 1984's The Story of a Young Heart failed to produce any hit singles. Reynolds left after the album and was replaced by Gary Steadnin; the band also added keyboardist Chris Chryssaphis. The new lineup was showcased on 1986's Dream Come True, which failed to chart. Shortly after its release, the band broke up. Mike Score assembled a new lineup of A Flock of Seagulls in 1989, releasing the single "Magic" and touring the U.S.A. The band failed to make any impact and most of the members left by the end of the year. The band continued to tour worldwide, although with major changes to its members, and in 1996 released a new album, The Light at the End of the World.
Okay let's see, we, well Bryan, Brett, Tim and Westy started the band in early '97 and released "The Kids Will Revolt" in early '98. That was when The Illegitimates, the band Mike and I were in started playing shows in Maine with A Global Threat, so ya know Bryan and Brett moved to Boston and Tim and Westy couldn't hack it so Mike and I quit The Illegitimates and joined A Global Threat as the new guitarist(me) and drummer(Mike). So we practiced a bunch and started playing shows in the Boston area and we caught on.
Mark from the Unseen took interest in us and he asked us if he could repress "The Kids Will Revolt" since only 500 copies were pressed originally. We agreed and then we embarked on a half-assed tour of upstate NY and western Mass. There our first van broke down and Mark came and bailed us out under the one condition he could join the band. So mark was in, we recorded another ep, called "What the Fuck Will Change?" on ADD Records. We aquired Crusty Jon Bon Jovi of General Strike fame and hit the road for a month long east coast tour. Well everything ruled until we crashed our van in Austin, Texas. So we rented a Ryder truck, cut our losses and drove home to Boston in 2 days.
When we got back we were in mad debt so we hopped on GMM Records out of Atlanta and started work on our first full length. During that time Step-One Records out of England offered to combine our first two ep's to make a full length, we agreed. We finished recording Until We Die and it came out in March of '99. But before we began recording Brett Threat departed from the band, so we found good ole' Gabe Asturd from Pluto Gang fame. Also Johnny was lost in the mix as well so AGT was down to a five piece. After we released Until We Die, Mark decided he would leave the band. We recorded one 7", In the Red with out him and it was one of our favorite releases to date. That came out in the spring of 2000, oh ya we hit the road in December of 99 with fellow boston scrubs the Statistics, what a disaster but a hell of a good time, strippers, coke, thousands of dollars - your typical shit.
The Bees (known as "A Band of Bees" in America, owing to a rights conflict over their name) started out as the duo of Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher, both of whom hailed from the Isle of Wight. They recorded their debut album, Sunshine Hit Me, in a home studio in a shed in Butler's parents' garden. Butler and Fletcher, both multi-instrumentalists and singers, were avid record collectors and, even more so, avid record listeners with interests that extend back to the roots of British rock and into American soul, as well as a multitude of other directions. Sunshine Hit Me, released by We Love You as a U.K.-only issue and credited to the Bees, reflected their interests and listening, melding '60s freakbeat and psychedelic sensibilities with '70s power pop, and got nominated for the coveted Mercury Music Prize in 2002. Their prospects were further enhanced when the duo's rendition of Os Mutantes' "A Minha Menina," from Sunshine Hit Me, was licensed for use in a car commercial in England. The Mercury nomination and the album's critical success led to the assembly of an actual band, and a couple of years of steady touring. When the smoke cleared, the Bees were officially a sextet with everyone writing songs and switching off on instruments (and Fletcher doing their lyrics). And instead of recording their second album in the Butler family garden shed, as they'd intended, Butler's stint producing another act at EMI ended up with the group booking three weeks there. It took that long for the six members -- Kris Birkin, Michael Clevitt, Tim Parkin, Warren Hampshire, Butler, and Fletcher (all of them except lead guitarist Birkin multi-instrumentalists) -- to create Free the Bees. Released in the summer of 2004 on the Virgin imprint, the album got rave reviews in England and earned notice in the United States as well, working its way into better stores and eliciting positive reviews from critics who normally would never have known about it. The group's work has been variously compared to that of the Small Faces (and the Faces), the Beatles, the Byrds, Donovan, the Kinks, the Temptations, and early Pink Floyd, with some other interesting permutations. Butler, for example, counts his own influences as Lee Perry, King Tubby, and Fela Kuti. They saw further commercial success when the tracks "Chicken Payback" and "Wash in the Rain," off of Free the Bees, were both picked up for use in television commercials. In 2005, in the wake of their success with Free the Bees, the band was also prominently featured on the soundtrack of the Brian Jones biographical film Stoned. Their contribution, doing some finely executed and nicely inventive covers of songs from the Rolling Stones' repertory -- including a version of "The Last Time" that managed to rock as hard as the original and get the guitar nuances right, even as it was decked out with sitar -- provided some of the very few bright spots to be found in a film that was otherwise greeted as wrong-headed and tedious by most critics; and their tracks made the soundtrack CD well worth picking up. In 2007, reduced to a quintet with Clevitt's departure, they released Octopus, a brilliant, wide-ranging pop/rock opus that had inventiveness and unexpected influences quietly oozing out from between every note and chorus. Its feet were planted in 2007, but its musical influences looked back to the Kinks of Village Green Preservation Society and the Small Faces of "The Universal." As with much of their earlier work, the album seemed to demand attention as much as it elicited delight, like a book the reader can't put down. For all of their seeming '60s influences, the group comes off as startlingly contemporary, just willing to reach back to artists and styles they admire when it suits them and the music at hand.
A Perfect Circle is Maynard James Keenan's musically talented new group, it is not a side project. Tool is not gone for good though, Maynard looks forward to start recording the Tool album after this year's Canadian Somersault tour finishes. Maynard will have 3 weeks off at this point, and he will start to record the next tool album if the other band members are ready. Maynard has been trying to fire the other tool members up in recent interviews, so as to make sure they will be ready when he comes off from tour. FYI: Maynard wears a wig for APC concerts and photo shoots, he is still as bald as ever. As "Recreational Racism", Maynard and others played a series of covers country-style at the Viper Room in LA on August 15, 1999. Later that night, a new band called "A Perfect Circle" played their first public show.
The band was started by Billy Howerdel (maynards ex-roommate) and Paz, and came to feature Maynard only after its inception. They are absolutely phenomenal and may best be described as Tool but ten times better.(ok this was a lie, but I got you to my page, hehe, no band is better than tool, it's scientifically impossible) It's a little more melodic and less dark than Tool but with stronger lyrics and more rythm. The songs are phenomenal and are well worth the wait. I recommend Thinking of You, Rose, and Three Libras, but they are all great.
A Perfect Circle released their first album May 23rd which is a cd in which every track is phenomenal. The first single was released on April 17th and it is called Judith. A Perfect Circle are touring with NIN, and will be touring with the Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins and Eve 6 in this year's somersault tour in canada and The deftones will even guest star in the tour on the Vancouver date.
Symbolically formed in the first year of the new millennium, A Perfect Murder’s solid foundation is the result of a few good men having payed their dues for years prior in bands such as the Shockwave-influenced Downfall Of Man and most recently the scene favorites A Death For Every Sin. A Perfect Murder’s founder, former vocalist, and current lead guitarist Carl Bouchard, who has taken on aliases of The Bouch and subsequently Dimebouch (an offshoot nickname of Pantera’s famous six-stringer Dimebag Darrell), already possesses the audacity necessary in the mire of faceless hardcore bands to set his band far apart from the others. The quick hands of bassist Luc Verville, who once played in old-school hardcore bands, ensures his interminable commitment to A Perfect Murder no matter how thrashy their future tunes may be. The remaining members of the rhythm section, guitarist Kevin Lemire and drummer Yan Chausse, establish themselves as a backbone to be reckoned with, though far from flashy as too many bands have recently fallen victim to. Spearheading A Perfect Murder is the bulky Frank Pellerin who is also a Physical Education teacher, and widely considered to be the both the best vocalist in the local scene in addition to possessing a human roar that is more than refreshing in the face of the many newcomers apparently auditioning to be the next Cookie Monster, clearly blind to the fact that Sesame Street has been off the air for over a decade. In layman terms, this is not a band of fly-by-nights.
As a quintet bent on crafting their own rules, the members of A Perfect Murder vowed to set themselves apart musically from the tiresome trends that were seriously watering down and obscuring the quality output emanating from the hardcore scene. They did so by delving deep into the annals of select classic heavy metal bands’ golden eras for inspiration, among them Metallica, Testament, and Pantera, along with the groove-loaded southern legends Crowbar and Down. Released one year following their formation, A Perfect Murder’s debut EP entitled Blood Covered Words luckily received vast distribution through Lumberjack and No Idea. Although it was a well-produced and superb onslaught of heavy metal not to be soon forgotten, not to mention the Max Cavalerian growl of then-vocalist Carl Bouchard, meager finances and non-musical employment stood in the way of an adequate tour in support of the EP.
Two years and many unifying local shows later, A Perfect Murder was signed by the rising Ontario label Goodfellow Records and soon released their debut album Cease To Suffer, on which all of the current frenzied hype is based on. Featuring a revamped and more streamlined sound in addition to the unveiling of new vocalist Frank Pellerin, Cease To Suffer shows a band sturdy from the ground up. And like the traditional southern metal bands that influenced them, Cease To Suffer is an album heavy on the bass and thick on the guitars, leaving very little room for avoidance of the rock that A Perfect Murder bring to the table. Seldom has a band originating in Canada taken the often unconvinced American hardcore scene by the balls as A Perfect Murder are in the process of doing, and you can expect this course of action to culminate when they release their sophomore album next year, one that is poised to incite sheer awe in the rock-hungry hardcore enclave. With an upcoming EP of Metallica, Slayer, and Black Sabbath covers alongside a couple of new songs, A Perfect Murder’s respectful yet working class approach has set them in motion to dominate the hardcore scene and set new benchmarks for years to come.
When you think Chino, CA, the first thing that often comes to mind is Chino State Penitentiary, a hulking slab of concrete and steel that holds within its walls some of the most dangerous criminals the Golden State has to offer. Standing in sharp contrast to that is the town of Chino Hills, a small slice of Orange County suburbia situated in the shadow of this man-made monstrosity; and this is where A Static Lullaby call home. Creating a musical fortress as imposing as the aforementioned edifice, their music is at first listen, seemingly impenetrable but filled with an underlying humanity. Building upon searing guitar riffs that stutter and tear, their songs quickly shift into choruses that are as sensual as they are abrasive.
Playing their first show a mere two weeks after their formation, the band – Joe Brown on vocals, Nate Lindeman and Dan Arnold on guitar, Brett Dinovo on drums and Phil Pirrone on bass – possessed an immediacy and passion that far transcended their short history. “August 18th (2001) was our first show. We never played a show before. People were showing us love the whole time. It was awesome,” recalls Pirrone. Having shared the stage since then with the likes of Glassjaw, Hatebreed, In Flames, Snapcase, Finch and Andrew WK, A Static Lullaby has learned the importance of giving everything they have to their audience. “We just fucking explode on stage. We just feel it and explode. We are known as the fucking crazy band that goes off and it’s awesome.”
Raised on a musical hodgepodge of hardcore, emo, ska and the likes of U2, Peter Gabriel and Jimmy Eat World, A Static Lullaby defy easy classification. “I know we’re defined as hardcore or apple-core. But we’ve come off with so many different names, we don’t really think are us just yet. It’s just what we’re being labeled as. We’re still waiting for that right one. We’d classify ourselves as hard rock,” explains Pirrone. Their sound embraces so many different genres – building on them and turning them inside out until they are almost unrecognizable in their original form – that the final product is far greater than the sum of its parts. “We have developed our sound over the months, it’s turned into something really beautiful. We are happy with the direction it’s going in,” enthuses Dinovo. “We’ll come up with the song, get it down and sometimes make changes live according to the energy of the crowd. We’ll reconstruct them like five times before it’s how we really want it.”
The band signed to Ferret Records in the Summer of 2002 after serious interest from major and independent labels alike. They opted for the personal attention that only a smaller label can supply. Arnold explains, “He (Carl Severson, label head) knows what’s going on. He knows how to handle it, he’s not being an idiot. So it’s awesome where we are.” . . . And Don’t Forget To Breathe, the band’s full length debut, is their first proper release. It follows their self-produced “Withered” EP. “We got sick of burning them and selling them. Then there was a demand for mail order from different parts of the world so we decided to press 1000 and call it the “Withered EP” and package it”, Phil explains. While “Withered” shows a band at its genesis, . . . And Don’t Forget To Breathe represents a huge leap forward both musically and aesthetically.
Produced by Steve Evetts (Snapcase, Sepultura, Hatebreed), the full length is a totally different beast. Opening themselves up to Evetts was a difficult, yet rewarding, process. “The whole point of it is Steve takes our music and feels it, he breaks parts off of it and really changes the songs. It’s been a learning experience from just doing it ourselves to actually having an outside opinion.” While the studio environment was foreign to them at first, they feel confident that . . . And Don’t Forget To Breathe will be a close representation of what they bring live. “We’re going to come out with something close. What we do in our rehearsal space is going to be on the record because even when we practice, we don’t just sit there and practice. We go crazy because that’s just the way the songs are.”
The songwriting process has not suffered at all in the confines of the studio. “The way I write my song is I write in moods, I will see something that affects me or my life and I’ll write. The music will be exactly how I feel. Every riff I write, everything is exactly how I feel at the moment,” says Arnold, the band’s primary songwriter. “I see things in my friends, things around them, people’s lives. I usually take different pieces of that and what I view and feel and just throw it into my writing,” adds Brown, who handles all of the songs’ lyrics as well as their powerful delivery.
And yet for all of the rage and catharsis that comes out in their music, A Static Lullaby are not the angry young men their sound might suggest. “You look at every other band and you’re like ‘oh these guys are in a band’, and you look at us and see five little shits, who play music,” jokes Brown. But while looks can be deceiving, their sound doesn’t lie. A Static Lullaby are, much like their name suggests, a volatile mixture of sound and substance built upon a foundation as rock solid as the monolithic jailhouse of their childhood home.
