Stone Sour – Bristol February 25th My day started a couple of hours before the show when I got into Bristol and handed out some of my Stone Sour and Saliva flyers. An hour before the show we went in to have a meet and greet with the guys from Stone Sour. Unfortunately, Corey couldn’t make it because of his busy schedule but I had met him earlier in the day so that was ok. All the guys were really laid back and chatted with us for ages, signed stuff and had photos taken. When the time came for the doors to open the queue outside the venue was huge! Inside the venue everyone was looking forward to the night ahead. The first band on were AKO, a local band, they went down really well. When they finished their set, as the roadies were setting up for the next band Corey walked onstage and the the crowd erupted with screams and chants of “Corey, Corey”! The next band on were Saliva. They played a lot of their older stuff which really got the crowd going. They come across a lot heavier live than on their cds which was good. When it was time for Stone Sour to hit the stage, all the lights dimmed except some green lasers. Sound effects started playing and in the darkness you could see five figures getting into place. As the lights came up they hit straight into Get Inside, which sent the place nuts!!!! During the set they played songs like Monolith and Blotter. Towards the end, Corey got his acoustic guitar, and after a bit of a jam he proceded to play Bother. Everyone in the venue was singing along and the atmosphere was electric. It was amazing. All in all the show was electrifying, and I can’t wait to see them back in the UK again. Simon Robinson

from the eyewitness account of our very own ‘Marketing Matt’ in the US: Killswitch Engage invaded Springfield, MA last Wednesday (Feb 19) to shoot a live video for the track “Fixation On The Darkness” – and they took no prisoners. The video, their third from their Roadrunner debut Alive Or Just Breathing, is a testament to the fury and passion that is a KsE live show. The band began shooting at 3 PM, running through the song about 10 or so times in various incarnations to ensure that the directors were able to get shots of each band member playing the shit out of his instrument (or screaming until veins bulged in his head, as in the case of Howard). It is amazing to witness their intensity. The band ripped through the song to a click track and an empty room as if they were playing to a sold out arena. At the same time, all the guys were in a great mood – each relishing his time offstage to mock the other poor saps who were running through the song for the umpteenth time. To watch this whole process take place is a pretty cool sight to behold. For all of the fury they seemed to capture on the run-throughs, nothing equaled the actual live performance. Everyone in attendance knew that a video was being shot that night (thanks to the sign outside the venue that read: Killswitch Engage Live Video Shoot Tonight – or something to that effect). The 300 or so kids that packed the room were just a tinderbox waiting for a match to strike. And that proverbial match was struck when Howard announced after the opener that “Fixation” was the song the video was being shot for and he urged the hometown crowd to go sick. And go sick they did. You will see it in the final product (which the first cut came in just today), but the kids stormed the stage, causing Adam to stand on his amp just so he had room to play. Howard braved the masses and clung to his microphone amidst the onslaught of KsE fans pulling at him. It was quite a moment to witness – seeing all of these fans just feeling the music and responding with such visceral intensity. Anyway, thanks to all of you who showed up (and sorry to all of you who were tuned away at the door). Look for the new KsE video “Fixation On The Darkness” to hit the web and airwaves some time in mid-March. In the meantime, check out KsE’s PHOTO GALLERY for a slew of pictures taken from the evening.

If you’ve ever checked out the photo credits on photographs of your favourite rock acts, it’s highly likely you’ll have come across the name Ross Halfin more often than not. Recently, Ross did a photo shoot with Stone Sour in Des Moines, and some of the resulting photos were used in Kerrang! magazine with a Stone Sour feature (issue Feb 22). Here’s what Ross had to say about shooting the band: “Shot them first on January 4, 2003 on Broadway downtown LA. Then again on January 28 in Des Moines–the coldest I’ve ever been. It was miserable. I just didn’t want to be there. Got in at 11am, got out at 3:30pm. Jim Root dropped me at the airport. Shot them in the street in front of City Hall, then at a fake brewery bar (you know–those dreadful “this is meant to be the 1920s”). Drove out to Corey’s grandmother’s (Thelma) home, shot them in front of the house and the two of them on her doorstep. This was the first time I’d been back in Des Moines since the Iowa Jam (I think in 1984 or ’85). Aerosmith headlined with Dokken and new band Metallica in support.” If you want to check out the rest of Ross’s great Stone Sour photos, surf on over to his website HERE. Explore a little and you’ll find some Slipknot ones too…

We are pleased to report that Type O Negative are all set to embark on a European tour in support of upcoming album ‘The Dream Is Dead’. TON haven’t played the UK since November 1999 when they crossed the pond with Coal Chamber. With just two dates planned for the UK we expect a speedy sell out! Catch them at the following stops! June 19th – Manchester, MDH (tix 퉌£14) June 20th – London, Astoria (tix 퉌£16) Additional dates in Europe include: June 21 – Waldrock Festival – Bergum, NETHERLANDS June 23 – Vega – Copenhagen, DENMARK June 24 – Rockefeller – Oslo, NORWAY June 25 – KB Club – Malmoe, SWEDEN June 26 – Kick – Herford, GERMANY June 28 – Festival – Bologna, ITALY July 1 – Longhorn – Stuttgart, GERMANY July 3 – Live Music Hall – Cologne, GERMANY July 4 – Graspop Metal Meeting – Dessel, BELGIUM July 5 – Full Force Festival – Leipzig, GERMANY July 6 – Forest Glade Festival – Wiesen, AUSTRIA July 7 – Sky Club Burmlovka – Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC July 8 – Stodola Club – Warsaw, POLAND July 11 – Tuska Metal Festival – Helsinki, FINLAND

Did you know that Josh from Stone Sour has been spotted at more than one show this tour, including Manchester, walking up and down the queue before the doors open, just meeting people? And that’s he’s been giving away fully signed Stone Sour CD inlays at the same time? It’s true. Cool huh? When we asked him about it, he just shrugged it off saying, “Ah, it’s just something I like to do.” In other touring news… the band play Bristol tonight.. Nottingham last night.. London, the final UK show, on Wednesday. Stone Sour have been playing 2 unreleased songs this tour which aren’t on the album… namely ‘Rules Of Evidence’ (which you can find on the ‘Bother’ single, out March 3rd) and ‘Inside The Cynic’. More to come…

Corey Taylor from Stone Sour spoke to Scotland Today’s music correspondent Billy Sloan when Stone Sour were in Scotland to play at the Barrowlands in Glasgow… not only that, he did a special acoustic performance of ‘Bother’. And now, you can watch both the interview and acoustic performance via Real Player HERE. Enjoy.

Chimaira continue to update from the studio… Day 11 – Title Track Yo, Mark here again. Checking in and giving you the latest over here. We finished “Cleansation” yesterday and started the title track today. Almost done with it, and it will be finished before I even wake tomorrow. The title track is one of the best songs on the record I feel. It will be the 2nd song on the record, and like the first song it has the traditional Chimaira elements you all love, but when the end hits, you will realise you have a different kind of Chimaira record, and a special one at that. We finalised the track listing for the cd today, and we were only going to put 11 songs on it, but our pals at Roadrunner talked us into sneaking 1 more on there for ya so your getting 12 now. We didn’t want to be greedy with our songs, we just wanted to make sure every single song was good enough to make this record. I will give you guys the heads up on the order and what not soon. We are also working on some touring plans, but right now the main focus is finishing the record. Tomorrow we will start mixing the last song on the record, it is called “Implements of Destruction”. This song is our masterpiece. It is very long, and it is very epic. We all wrote this song together and a lot of the riffs came from all the touring we did for pass out. This will be my favourite song to play live if we do, you will understand why when you hear it ) Tonight Jim and Rob spent some time at a local show and they said they had a blast, looks to me like they did because they could hardly walk when they came in and they came up with ideas like going to our chef’s cabin and banging on the door then running away (this is at midnight here) Hey whatever works! This has been a great time, but it is time to come home soon, and we get to go home on WED so we are all pretty stoked about that. Talk to you soon. Day 13 – Time Nearly Up Yo amigo’s. Still mixing, but there is light at the end of the tunnel now. We get to come home this week! Colin just wrapped up the song “Eyes of a Criminal”. This song is just metal, there is no other way to describe it. It has a nice slow ass heavy half time ending and some insane double bass pattern by Andols that Colin refers to as sounding like a marching band snare pattern! hahah his feet are that fast. We are about to start the song “The Dehumanizing Process”. This song just jams, it has some great parts, and it is one of the first songs Matt did most of the writing duties on. (No it’s not the only one, just the first since joining the band) Tuesday morning we leave for London to do a press/RR UK street team listening party. Don’t you all wish you lived in London!! We get to jam it for the dudes at Metal Hammer, Kerrang! etc.. Hope they enjoy and if not, hey at least they can get drunk (pissed as they say it over here) and think that they did. Our stay in England has been most triumphant to quote fellow metal head Bill S. Preston, Esq. and we can’t wait to get back over here to play some damn shows. We will send you another update from the studio before we leave, a quick review of the listening party and some more pictures before the video shoot in LA. February 28th we will debut the first instalment of the online studio documentary. Keep checking in with us! Mark COMPETITION HEAR THE NEW CHIMAIRA MIXES! And if you want to be in with a shot of coming along to the invite-only free-bar listening party in central London tomorrow (Tuesday Feb 25) night… send us in an email to: rrguest@roadrunnerrecords.co.uk, marking your email ‘Ass Ripping Metal’ including your name, a contact phone number, and the answer to this question: What is the name of the last Chimaira record? A winner will be chosen at lunchtime. Good luck.

In what will become a regular feature, we bring you the men behind the music. We get many emails in asking questions about various band members. You told us it’s not just about liking the music…. you want to know about each person involved in making that music. So, we decided to pick the most popular questions and collect some answers. Some of the answers are funny, some serious, some sarcastic, some downright rude(!) but all are genuine… First up, Joel Ekman – drummer of Stone Sour. Date of birth? – A favourite tour story? “A van picked us up from a venue to go 20 meters to a signing!” Five words that describe you? “Honest, shaky, laid back…” Joel: “Hey Corey! I need 2 more words to describe myself…” Corey: “Non-plussed.” Joel: “What’s that?” Kirsten, Roadrunner: “Not bothered by stuff.” Joel: “Oh. Yeah. One other…” Corey: “Drunk.” Joel: “Hah. Good one.” One album that you think everyone should own? “Tonic – Head On Straight” Which famous person (dead or alive) would you invite over for dinner and why them? “Tommy Lee, for road stories!” Best piece of advice you’ve been given? “Don’t take anything serious.” If I wasn’t in this band I would be… “Working at a furniture store.”

Two reports for you on the Stone Sour Glasgow show. The first, straight from one of our teamers who met the band before the gig… thanks for the write up Mik! What can I say, entertainer, jackass, joker….3 words that make me think of Corey. When we got in at first he was nursing a hangover from the Mudvayne show so he (along with Jim and Shawn) were quiet…for a second or two. As soon as they got going, Corey at centre stage, things just kicked off with stories of pitchers of ale over Clown from Slipknot, flaming cymbals, Rainbow strobe lights and Leprecaun hats. Then…they hit the stage tearing thru most of the album tracks, throwing in non album track ‘Inside The Cynic’..this track itself proves what a RAWK band these guys are..fists in the air, crowd chants of ‘STONE SOUR’, waves of water and beer thrown all over the place…this is what this music does to people. This band is what music is all about. Fuck the hype, Fuck the bullshit, this is the Real Thing. Second report, from the Roadrunner ROTR (Rep On The Road) Luke. The show was blindin’, fantastic… everyone was jumping around like maniacs, the floor was bouncing, people were chanting ‘Corey! Corey! Corey!’ At the meet & greet with the street team, Corey was regaling everyone with tales of Stone Sour and Slipknot tours – all this talk of overloading smoke machines and severed beaver tails being thrown around! As for the show, Corey had to stop playing 3 times during ‘Bother’ coz everyone was clapping so loudly and out of time! Of course when he apologised for asking people to stop clapping, and started playing again everyone just clapped harder! Joel and Jim were clapping at the side of the stage encouraging everyone to join in, and Josh even came out with a lighter…” Fun times indeed… as for the Newcastle show last night our ROTR had to say he’d “never seen a pit like it”. Birmingham & Manchester to come tonight & tomorrow.

Don’t forget, if you live in the Birmingham area, that Stone Sour are doing an instore tomorrow before the show at the Academy! Get yourself to: Virgin Megastore, 98 Corporation St, Birmingham B4 6SX From 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. (signing only – no performance).