Hugely respected metal label Roadrunner Records has announced the worldwide signing of metalcore titans Atreyu, whose last album A Death Grip On Yesterday exploded into the US Billboard chart at number 9 last year.
We wrote music everywhere — Spain, Japan, Australia, the UK — so each song has a different mood,” says lead singer Steve Bays. “It’s difficult to describe its overall musical direction, but if I had to choose two adjectives I’d go with ‘big’ and ‘aggressive. As a band, we got most excited about the over-the-top, epic-sounding songs.”
Hot Hot Heat shot to fame with the singe Bandages in 2003, but have since found it difficult to recapture their initial momentum. The release of Happiness LTD follows a period of reflection for the band – described recently to the NME – when they scrapped an album’s worth of material in mid-2006.
One time guitar-pop favourites Hot Hot Heat are set to release their third record on September 10th. Titled Happiness LTD, the album was written while the band toured the world in support of their previous album, 2005’s Elevator.
North Carolina’s Sanctity have announced their first ever headline tour of the UK. Arriving in late October, the thrashers will be fresh from touring with Machine Head in the US, and look set to capitalise on the success of their previous UK tour with Trivium.
Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant has collaborated with bluegrass star Alison Krauss to release an album titled Raising Sand. Due for release in October, the record will comprise blues, R&B, country and folk songs originally recorded by the likes of Tom Waits, Gene Clark, Little Milton Campbell, Mel Tillis, Townes Van Zandt, Doc Watson, and Phil and Don Everly.
Bristol’s Fortune Drive have joined forces with gHOSTBOY, the graffiti artist widely hailed as the next Banksy, for the cover art of their debut album, A Modern Question. One of the new wave of guitar bands coming out of Bristol, Fortune Drive is fronted by Bobby Anderson, son of Carleen Anderson of the Brand New Heavies. He also had the distinction of being given his first guitar by none other than Paul Weller.
Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser is set to visit the Guitar Institute in Kilburn later this month to give students an exclusive clinic as part of the school’s Metal Hammer Weekender, described as “the ultimate metal workout, building up the skills needed to tackle the most demanding elements of this style.”
The recent decision of New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook to use a live radio show as a platform for announcing the demise of New Order continues to ripple through the music industry. While Hooky was adamant that the band was finished, his band-mates, singer Bernard Sumner and drummer Stephen Morris, declared that they had no idea what he was talking about.
