Check it out. We’ve just launched a brand new Spineshank listening party with the folks over at Kerrang.com. Right now, you can hear the ENTIRE new Spineshank record, ‘Self-Destructive Pattern’, HERE. Tommy sez: í¢ä‰åñWe realized where we stood in our career, and that we needed to put out a great record and we concentrated on that. We felt it was time to change, and made our sound more of a punk rock type thing. There are fewer loops and less electronics, and we simplified some of that and made a rock ‘n roll record. We wanted to stay true to kids who loved our last record, and we wanted to make stuff we liked.í¢ä‰åŒ

Couple of things of the Chimaira front for you to check out. FIRST, check out Chimaira’s PHOTO GALLERY for 29 new live shots of the band from their ‘classic’ metal outing at Irving Plaza in NYC earlier this week. SECOND, you know what we learned about the band during the show, drummer Andols in particular? He plays drums barefoot. It’s true. “I’ve been playing barefoot since March.” Apparently, it makes the foot and the bass drum petals feel as one…if you are a drummer, judging by the way Andols plays, we highly suggest trying it. THIRD…oh, and after the show we learned another thing about Andols – The Fast Food Situation. Apparently, that is basically the ONLY type of food he eats whilst on the road…and at home. “The thing about home, fast food is still what I eat,” tells Andols. Oh, for you dabbling in the art of fast food, Andols tells more: “If the club has a Wendy’s next to it, I love it. Club Laga in Pittsburgh, love it. Main Event in Toledo. Loved it. Main Event, R.I.P. The Back Room in Austin, there is a Wendy’s right across the street. House Of Blues in New Orleans, too. Whatever the venue, I always scan the food situation.” Andols’ Top Three Fast Food joints break down as follows: 1 – Wendys. “Best fast food burgers, best dollar menu. My standard fare there varies…but a triple burger combo with a five piece if feeling saucy.” 2 – In ‘N Out Burger (West Coast chain). No explanation is really necessary, and Andols did not give one. If you have never been, this place comes highly recommended from everyone who has ever been. 3 – Mr. Hero (Cleveland area fast food chain) “Ah, the Roman burger…but also, the bacon cheeseburger & waffle fries,” croons Andols. FYI, the Roman burger…think Italian roll, three beef patties, and deli meats. Honorable mentions include Del Taco, the cheese & bacon fries and Jack In The Box, and of course, McDonalds…Andols’ standard McD fare being a 20 piece nuggets & double cheeseburger. Did You Know? McDonalds is the only fast food joint with hot mustard sauce. According to Andols, it’s true. Andols’ 3 Worst Fast Food joints break down as follows: 1 – Taco Bell. “Straight up dog meat. Lowest on the fast food chain,” Andols tells us straight. 2 – Burger King. “Just nasty. Beef tastes nasty. Just tastes bad.” Do note, not all of us necessarily agree with Andols’ judgement on this one… 3 – Arbys. “Has potential. Food could be good, they just make it like crap.” And we have something to add, ‘hey Arbys, ever hear of a dollar menu????’ Of course if you’ve never been to the US, chances are you’ve never heard of, or indeed experienced, some of the above mentioned eateries. Not necessarily a bad thing.

July 2nd marks the start of a two week tour run with Finger 11 for doubleDrive. First show, Valentine’s in Albany, New York. However, the past couple of weeks saw a flurry of shows with RA, 12 Stones, Socialburn, and even a couple of headline dates. Twenty random memories, thoughts, and thanks over that time go out as follows: 1 – a thanks goes out to Cracker Barrel, for the sweet tea in Texas… 2 – new t-shirts on the way… 3 – en route to Route, this marks 24 hrs straight of driving on the road. Looking forward to starting this series of shows, and meeting up with finger 11… 4 – Paul from 12 stones got ‘almost a mohawk’ in Syracuse… 5 – we started off getting pulled over at customs in Canada… almost got the rubber glove treatment, but managed to get out of it, made it through Canada. 6 – Steel Music Hall in Rochester: an outdoor stage built in a sand area. We were the first band to ever play on the stage, we christened it. Two fine bartenders, the kind that make you anxious to return. Threatened the crowd with a game of volleyball. 7 – Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT: a million degrees..everyone sang “Imprint.” 8 – Northern Lights in Clifton Park, NY: in a shopping center. RV parked out front. 9 – The Bridge Street Music Hall in Syracuse, NY: a pretty fun show. We aired our laundry out on the ropes of the parking lot…getting ready for Red Rocks. 10 – Red Rocks: That was awesome, I do know that. Flying in a plane to Denver didn’t suck much. It was our first time there, can’t wait to go back. All the other bands were cool, food was awesome…we all stood around to see who would past out first, nobody did. Had to use rental gear for the show, so didn’t get ‘our sound’…but overall everything was amazing (see food review). 11 – Music Farm in Charleston, SC: after a billion miles – plane from Colorado, airport, straight to Charleston (probably one of the longer hauls), hung with air force people at hotel, and some field guys at a data company. Free drinks at the hotel, they had sham. Real good show. Packed house, billion degrees. 12 – Home Sweet Atlanta…2 billion degrees. Hugfest 2003 – all our friends were there, catching up at the show. Crowd surfing was a welcome site. Everyone came expecting something big, hopefully they got it. Nice for us to get back into town because…because we live there. Good show. 13 – Exit/In in Nashville, TN – fun gig. Ran into some old school people there that remember days gone by…some copies of our old record still manifesting itself. 14 – Juanita’s in Little Rock, AR – playing there once again. The show this time, way packed. Crowd was singing the songs back at us. Arkansas is arena football cheerleaders, and mosquitos. Loved it a lot. 15 – The Forum in Jackson, MS – Swarmy. Heat you can’t shake off. It’s a big open sports bar, 800-1000 people capacity. Kind of hometown show for 12 Stones. Big turn out. Regular games on the tv, a lot of cussing… 16 – New Orleans – came a shower…we woke up to water that was on a level even with our trailer and getting in. The rain was coming with no sign of stopping, we drove so far we went out of contention to play that night. A first with flooding. 17 – Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, TX – food review on the way…some of the best bbq. Small room downstairs, but great vibe. Love the building and the staff. Brutally hot, but quite a festive evening. 18 – Dallas…real cool. Packed. 3 billion degrees. Being that it was our last night on the tour, all hell broke loose. Jammed a Judas Priest song with Closure (“You’ve Go Another Thing Coming”)…crowed seemed to like it. During our set, nobody ‘got’ us, until our van came around silly string all over it. We spent the next day washing it. Socialburn’s set was accosted by the blackheads – who turned the beginning of “Down” into “Push It” by salt n peppa. That was then followed by uncomfortable stares, and then silly string and talcum powder (made the club smell better). During 12 Stones’ set, the blackheads reappeared, this time around with glitter and an ugly lady wearing a ghetto nighty – and when you’re hot and wet, that glitter does not come off. From there, a night of people getting tats. CJ from Drowning Pool stopped by… 19 – Socialburn got thrown in jail in New Orleans – nothing major, just some drunken stuff. 20 – the blackheads – it’s doubleDrive in blue coveralls and ski masks.

News #1 With their third Roadrunner album due in Sept 2003, Nickelback release a special package on July 28th that couples the triple-platinum U.K. number 1 album ‘Silver Side Up’ with their debut concert DVD release ‘Live At Home’. The DVD is comprised mainly of amazing footage from a sold-out home-town Arena show back in Feb 2002, but also provides a glimpse of what it’s like to tour around the globe with Nickelback. The set will retail for less than the price of the original DVD! News # 2 A version of Elton John’s ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)’ is part of the soundtrack album for the movie ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle’. This was recorded by the ensemble of Kid Rock, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Dimebag Darrell of Pantera. The album also includes Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, Bowie’s ‘Rebel Rebel’ and ‘Working For The Weekend’ from Loverboy amongst a host of others.

Type O Negative.. here and gone. To help you remember their spectacular 2 UK dates, make sure you stop by the TON PHOTO GALLERY and check out our exclusive live photos of Type O Negative in London at the Astoria, June 20th.

It is time for a little more information on the Freddy Vs Jason film soundtrack, coming to a store near you on August 11th. As of now, the tracklisting appears to be shaping up as follows (subject to change): * Ill Nino – “How Can I Live” * Spineshank – “Beginning of the End” * Chimaira – “Army of Me” * Type O Negative – “(We Were) Electrocute” * Slipknot – “Snap” * Stone Sour – “Inside the Cynic” * DevilDriver – “Swinging the Dead” * Killswitch Engage – “Darkness Falls” * Sepultura with Mike Patton – “The Waste” * The Blank Theory – “Middle of Nowhere” * Hatebreed – “Condemned Until Rebirth” * Mushroomhead – “Sun Doesn’t Rise” * Motograter – “Down” * Shadows Fall – “Deadworld” * In Flames – “Trigger” * Lamb of God – “11th Hour” Did You Know #1 Slipknot’s ‘Snap’ was recorded during the sessions that yielded 1999’s eponymous breakthrough LP, but this is the first time it will see the light of day. Did You Know #2 ‘How Can I Live’ by Ill Nino is soundtrack’s single. A video for the song will be shot July 8 in Los Angeles. Did You Know #3 Ex-Faith No More and now Fant퀌Çmas singer Mike Patton recorded ‘The Waste’ with Sepultura during their sessions for 1998’s Against release. Did You Know #4 Dez Fafara’s new band, DevilDriver, makes it’s debut with ‘Swinging the Dead’.

Please note the time of the Murderdolls instore at PMT in Birmingham on July 9th has changed. The band will now be there to meet fans & sign your stuff from 1pm.

Tune in to the Radio 1 Rock Show tomorrow night from 12am-2am for some special broadcasting exclusives indeed… Mary-Anne will be playing out a coupla tracks each of Murderdolls & Stone Sour, live at the Download Festival… Plus, a special interview with Shawn Crahan about his new project To My Surprise, and in a world exclusive, she’ll be letting you hear a taster of the music to come. If you can’t listen to Radio 1 on your radio, be sure to listen online via their website HERE. Don’t miss it.

The Murderdolls and Roadrunner Records proudly invite you to a White Wedding… At: THIS LOCATION. The new video is unveiled.

If you haven’t already, what are you waitin’ for? Head on over to our VIDEO section and check out the brand new Spineshank video for ‘Smothered’ in quicktime and streaming versions. Enjoy.