Deathride, the new band featuring Coal Chamber vocalist Dez Fafara, is ringing in the New Year with rehearsals, new music, recording a new record, and getting on the great tour road. Dez speaks as follows: “Rehearsals started again on [January] 3rd with about a 4 to 5 hours session. We’re all having a great time playing this music and we’re tight as hell. “Then on the 4th, we wrote a new song called “Meet the Wretched.” We rehearsed for about 4 hours and now on Sunday [Jan. 5], we’re just taking a break. “As we await for [producer] Ross Hogarth to return from the east coast, we spend our time tightening up everything and when the inspiration hits, we write new stuff. “Album titles have been shifting around and nothing is set in stone, but right now, the band is holding on tight to the number Thirteen for a title. “So basically pre-preproduction is starting. We’re getting ready to fly people in for video taping and were waiting for our producer. So everything’s moving along nicely. “Last night, the band and I were talking about touring and we cannot wait. We all want to go overseas and we smell festival seasons coming as well as the summer in the United States will be a DEATHRIDE summer. As we constantly crisscross the United States playing 6 shows a week, I personally can’t wait to get to Texas and New York City to play this music, see people and party.”

The fantastic Roadrage DVD featuring new video’s from the likes of Murderdolls, Stone Sour, Killswitch Engage, Nickelback, Soulfly, Ill Nino and classic video’s from Life Of Agony, Machine Head and Type O Negative, gets it’s general release on Feb 17th. The DVD , originally released only through Virgin Megastores will be available to buy everywhere for just 7.99.

Best Day of My Life í¢ä‰åäóì Part 2 Pretty much a month has passed now since I won the bidding for the VIP Tickets and Backstage passses to the private Nickelback gig in New York. Probably one of the main things that I’ve been doing is trying to pay for the damn things! Handy hint for anyone who buys anything on eBay that amounts to a considerable amount of dosh í¢ä‰åäóì don’t try using their PayPal online payment system! I literally wasted two and a half weeks trying to pay using my credit card on the PayPal system. Never again! Utter nightmare! Basically, even if you OK everything with your credit card company, if the amount you’re trying to pay is considered ‘considerable’, then the PayPal system itself can refuse the transaction due to ‘unreasonable risk’. It’s all part of their automated anti fraud system apparently, and its something that cannot be manually overridden (I know this because I called PayPal in California!) Anyway, because of all this delay, I started to panic and I was convinced that the tickets would be re-auctioned as it was getting dangerously close to the 14 day payment deadline. In the end, after numerous emails between myself and Treana Peake (thanks Treana for assuring me that the tickets were most definitely mine and that it didn’t matter if payment was a bit late), we decided that a new line of attack was called for. Off I went to the bank and set up an international money transfer. So hopefully, all is now sorted. I booked our flights to New York just before Christmas and me and my boyfriend fly out on the 18th January. We thought that we’d take full advantage of being in New York and do the full tourist thing. We’ve got our Rough Guide to New York City, comfy shoes, warm coats and woolly hats. Not very rock n roll I know, but apparently the temperate in New York is í¢ä‰åäóì3 degrees on average during January so warm apparel is definitely required. Still got to book accommodation, but I’m waiting to find out exactly where the venue is in New York, so I can book something fairly close by. Finally got round to telling my parents about it all. They weren’t as shocked as I was expecting! I think they already knew that I’d entered my ‘mad, do crazy things, I’m approaching 30’ phase. Mum was just worried that I was going to run off with Nickelback (Chad specifically) and be a groupie. I told her to breathe deeply, relax, not to worry and that I thought I’d read somewhere that Chad preferred blondes rather than brunettes, so him running off with me was a bit of a long shot 🙂 What else? Oh yeah, having a major girlie panic about what to wear for the gig. I have problems even when it’s a normal night out, let alone a night when I’m actually going to meet Nickelback. No doubt between now and then I’ll change my mind about a thousand times and will then go back to the first outfit I picked out. Needless to say, the colour black will probably play a major role and big, high heeled boots as well í¢ä‰åäóì can’t be a complete short arse when I stand next to Chad 🙂 WOW, standing next to Chadí¢ä‰åŒ_oooohhhhhí¢ä‰åŒ_.sorry, it all went a little bit funny then. It all still keeps hitting me like a tidal wave. I have alternating waves of excitement and panic. I keep watching the Live at Home DVD and just end up drifting into a Chad induced trance! Blimey, its all a bit silly really. I’m 29 years old and behaving like a complete girlie. I keep wondering what its going to be like í¢ä‰åäóì best day of my life or worst? What if it’s a complete disappointment? What if Chad and the guys turn out to be real arses? Sorry, that’s the ‘worse case scenario’ side of me talking. I think in my heart I know it will be a great night and after reading Verity’s account of meeting Ryan and Chad after the Sheffield gig, it sounds as if my heart is right. I still have very little idea of what I’m going to say to them or what I’m going to ask them. I think even if I did prepare a load of questions, I’d just forget them all as soon as I was there. I’m just hoping that it’ll all happen naturally on the night. If all else fails, I can just get them all completely shit faced (especially Chad) and then it won’t matter if I talk complete and utter bollocks í¢ä‰åäóì no one will notice! :-)Wonder how many beers it takes to get Chad drunk? Watch this space for Best Day of My Life Part 3: A Night with the Greatest Rock Band in the World.

On a night described by member Chris Spicuzza as being “cold as fuck,” Chimaira played their 3rd Annual Christmas Show at The Odeon in Cleveland. The band ripped through sixteen songs, including three new tracks – “Stigmurder,” “Power Trip,” and “Pure Hatred.” In fact, word has it the crowd was singing along to “Pure Hatred” by the second chorus…a new song which the band never before played live. A couple other surprises from the night? Chimaira tattoos. For those of you sporting one at the show, the band did take note. What else…people traveled to Ohio from places as far away as Oregon, Iowa, Detroit, Chicago, (the streets of) Philly, Indiana, and NYC. What else…ahh yes, guitarist Rob gave an early Christmas gift to the crowd, throwing out one of his ESP guitars at the end of the show…it was a mob scene, we tell ya… Onward and Upward…on the Chimaira recording front, all recording is complete for the upcoming The Impossibility Of Reason release ceptin’ for vocals and samples, which we hear are about 50% complete as of now. Fourteen songs have been/will be recorded in total… And now, before we leave you with this update, the full set list from Chimaira’s 3rd Annual Christmas Show: This Present Darkness Let Go Lumps Force Life Painting The White To Grey Stigmurder Silence Sphere Divination Jade Sp lit Severed Lend a Hand Pure Hatred Power Trip Dead Inside

2002 has now come to an end, and what a year it was in music. We asked a handful of Roadrunner’s artists and employees what they thought were the greatest releases of 2002. Overall, here’s what Roadrunner artists thought of 2002… 1 Queens of Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf 2 Hatebreed – Perserverence 3 TIE Soilwork – Natural Born Chaos 3 TIE Audioslave – Audioslave 4 In Flames – Reroute To Remain 5 Down II – A Bustle In Your Hedgerow 6 Mudvayne – The End Of All Things To Come 7 Killswitch Engage – Alive or Just Breathing 8 Taproot – Welcome 9 System of a Down – steal this album 10 Beck – Sea Change …and here’s what Roadrunner employees thought… 1 Killswitch Engage – Alive or Just Breathing 2 Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf 3 Sinch – Sinch 4 Stone Sour – Stone Sour 5 Sepultura – Under a Pale Grey Sky 6 Opeth – Deliverance 7 Audioslave – Audioslave 8 System of a Down – Steal This Album 9 Eminem – Eminem Show 10 Foo Fighters – One By One 2002 was a great year but 2003 is looking to be even better, already we are looking at releases for Machine Head, Type O Negative, Chimaira, Spineshank, Double Drive, Goneblind, Dirty Americans and Rumblefish plus loads more. So a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all and here’s to a great 2003.

All here at Roadrunner UK would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… You can check out our Murderdolls festive greeting by clicking HERE… thanks to Mik McDade for the design!

This morning it was brought to our attention that the following rumour was making it’s way around the Internet… and naturally enough, we got a lot of emails from concerned fans. Slipknot’s #2 Paul Gray is in stable but guarded condition at the St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Paul, MN after he was brutally attacked by a distraught fan and was stabbed 6 times in the chest area coming within inches from the rockstars heart and major organs. Police have arrested a 16 yr. old male that escaped from a local medical ward indicating he was sent messages through the former lyrics of Slipknot’s music. Also, injured were 3 security staff and a female patron with minor stab wounds during the mayhem on the evening of Slipknot side project F.O.R. Fear not, for the rumour is false… Paul is in fact, safe and sound at home in Des Moines, Iowa. He sends his thanks to all the fans for their concern and wishes all the maggots a (sic), fucking merry holiday!

Hot off the email… thanks for writing in Verity. Have a great Christmas. Hey guys!! I was just reading how Sam won the VIP trip to meet Nickelback next month so I thought I’d share my experiences of meeting the band with you all!! Well, we went to the concert at Sheffield on Nov 25th!! The gig was absolutely killer… I’ve never seen anything like it!! So anyway after the show we decided to hang around the backstage gates in the hope of getting the slightest glimpse of Chad!! So we waited and waited with about 10 other people and suddenly the security guy just dissappears!! Unable to resist the urge, we went through the barrier and over to the tour bus!! I wasnt really expecting to see anything, but I look over to my right and Ryan Peake’s coming towards us!! He was such a nice guy..he even warmed everyones hands for them (it was about -10 degrees!!). So I got a photo with him and he signed my tour programme….he had a bottle of American bud in his hand so he put it down between his feet so no-one knocked it over! Then when he’d chatted to everyone he got on the tour bus and Hawk (Chad’s bodyguard) asked us very politely to stand behind the barriers! So we did, and about an hour later when the madness was setting in as well as hypothermia, Chad came out!! The arena security were in a flap when we went over to him but he just said ‘no it’s fine!’ and called us over!! This was one of those’I really dont believe this is happening’ moments!! He is SO gorgeous up close….very tall too!! I got a photo with him, then he signed my tour programme….he chatted for a few minutes and said ‘you guys are nuts!’ cos we’d been waiting for so long! Then I asked him for a kiss (I couldn’t resist!) and he goes ‘yeah sure!’ and I’m like ‘ooohhhhhh my god!!’ He’d obv had a few beers… I guess that’s why it took him so long to come out! He was so down to earth and friendly…he made time for everyone and said goodbye to everyone individually! I wish I’d spoken to him more, but I was totally in awe of him…..words escaped me!! We’re already planning the next tour and im determined to meet him again – and next time I’ll try and speak a bit more to him!! So Sam , I know you’re gonna have the best day ever when you meet them….don’t be nervous cos they’re total sweethearts!! Have a great time!! from Verity White

Could the new Type O Negative record be called ‘The Dream Is Dead’? Josh Silver posted the following on the official Type O Negative website: “I got a call from Roadrunner who tell me that our manager told them that this is what Peter said, ‘The name of the new CD is ‘The Dream Is Dead’. Glad they called me to tell me, I didn’t know that was what we were planning to call it.”

You can’t keep a touring band off the road… goneblind, the band whose debut EP was released earlier this year, is now in the midst of recording the debut full length. They started pre-production with producer Jim Wirt on November 19, for about 10 days…then moved onto Sound City in the Valley (where bands such as Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac, and even Slipknot have done time) for bass and drums…then onto 4th Street Studios in L.A., where the band is now and has been since – “it’s all a blur right now,” tell bassist Mitch Burman – let’s just say a couple weeks. Currently on the agenda at 4th Street, hammering out the guitars, vocals, and some bass. And speaking of bass, Mitch Burman answers the following: Roadrunner: What’s a typical day in the life of studio tracking right now? Mitch: For me personally? Getting to the studio around 10am, then listen to stuff from the day before…actually, we’re always doing a bit of mixing. From there…ahh shit, playing pool, playboy channel…no, after that, onto songs – a lot of guitar, and lot of vocals…. RR: What’s the Jim Wirt (producer) situation? Mitch: He is a great guy to work with…we definitely have a vibe going with him, all of us. He’s just got that ear, a great ear for rock. RR: Oddest thing he has made you do? Mitch: Hmmm, has us tuning a lot. We’ll sometimes literally play one or two notes on something, and then he’s like, “Okay, re-tune.” It’s definitely been a process of keeping everything the utmost in tune. RR: I heard something crazy that you have 35 songs you are recording? Is this true? Mitch: Well, actually we probably started with about 30 songs. We then narrowed it down every day in pre-prod, one day to 25, the next to 20…now we are at 15. We want at least 12 on the album, but not sure whose call that is… RR: Of the 30 songs you started out with, any songs you’re pissed about not recording? Mitch: Actually, I’m really happy with what we’re doing. There is probably one song that, personally, I wish we were doing. But I think we chose the right songs. RR: How much longer on the tracking front? Mitch: I think we’ll be done tracking by January 5th…and then a couple days making sure we’re happy with everything we’ve done, and then off to be mixed. That’s still up in the air. RR: Immediate plans tonight? Mitch: Me, I believe I’ll be playing bass tonight on a track that John (Curry, vocals/guitar) is in the studio recording right now…and then hopefully after that, going to shoot some – that would be a great night. RR: Immediate plans after leaving the studio? Mitch: For all of us? Hopefully home for a few days, relaxing…and then hopefully hitting the road. Right on the road and start playing. We miss playing live. We’ve been such a band that plays live, constantly for the past 5 years – this is really our first idle time. We can’t wait to get back out there. We thank Mitch for his time, and wish the band all the best during these last couple of weeks recording. Onward and upward.