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Tom Meighan / Sergio Pizzorno / Chris Edwards / Ian Matthews Stardate: Summer 2006. As these words are being written, Kasabian are jetlagged, but happy. Three days ago, they returned from Mexico City, where a disused supermarket full of saucer-eyed devotees treated them like returning heroes. "They even sang along to the keyboards in Processed Beats," exclaims Serge Pizzorno. And then when we did the new stuff. It was..." Pizzorno is rarely lost for words. When he is though, here's Tom Meighan to pick up the baton "...legendary. I've never felt a force like it." Can a record be legendary before it has even come out? You might think you know Kasabian. After all, the dissolute Glimmer Twins of the post-Britpop firmament made no secret of their sources on that eponymous first album. A couple of years after Meighan and Pizzorno met in Leicester, aged 11, it was 1993 and Oasis were making the rock'n'roll dream seem like a goal attainable to a generation of schoolkids. Recorded at the now-mythical farm where they arrived for a party and never got around to leaving, Kasabian's eponymous debut bypassed most critics and connected dramatically with an audience that recognised them as one of their own just as Oasis had done with Meighan and Pizzorno in 1993. Kasabian sold over 700,000 in the UK and the band were the undisputed victors of last year's festivals, putting in bristling performances at Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and T In The Park. But if a debut album is all about showing your influences, this is the point where Kasabian truly show us who they are. The first thing you'll notice about Empire is that no other band in the world could have created it. The confidence is perhaps understandable given the lack of fanfare with which they managed to instantly shift 8000 tickets for their Ally Pally show last year. But the scale of its vision though is something else entirely. Asked a while back to describe the album's eponymous opener, Meighan's instant response was, "Marc Bolan smoking crack with Dr Who." "No other band apart from Radiohead would have the balls to put in a tempo change like that," adds Pizzorno. Under the circumstances, you decide it's impolite to tell him that Radiohead didn't get actually around to it until their third album. This time around the demonic amyl throb of Serge's electronic soundscapes feed into the very core of Kasabian's music. The flood of ideas is unstoppable. Propelled along by handclaps and Ian Matthews' inspired Studio 54 style drum fills, the filthy analogue glambience of Shoot The Runner will be inescapable between now and Christmas. Last Trip, appropriately, comes on like a postcard from the furthermost outpost of a 4am bender Meighan's brittle, anxious exhortations leading the way over an arrangement which recalls a beefier version of Suicide's primitive electro-pulse. Three songs in and Empire already sounds like an index of rock'n'roll possibilities. When it comes to taking the credit for their music, Kasabian rarely need to be encouraged. In this case though, they're swift to acknowledge the invaluable input of producer Jim Abbiss who, according to Meighan, "was very good at dealing with situations in the studio." Was that necessary? One imagines that when a double act like Meighan and Pizzorno disagree, they must really disagree. "Actually, we bicker," says Meighan, "But it's only ever when we're drunk. You know that Hot Chocolate song, It Started With A Kiss? Well, with us, it ends with a kiss, but starts with a bottle. But Jim kept our heads clear, so that there was no anxiety, like 'what the fuck are we gonna do next?'"
Macavity: "Another Try at Something New"
Macavity was bred out of the Dallas suburbs and collectively meshed their ideas and aspirations into an amalgam of "post-hardcore-emo-modern-space-pop-rock." With a median age of 19, Macavity is one of the youngest bands to achieve success in the booming North Texas music scene having become favorite openers for the top drawing bands in the area including Flickerstick, Chomsky and the Deathray Davies.
Underoath: "Reinventing Your Exit"
A heart-racing chase scene is set to this hard rocking tune from Underoath. From the "This is Solid State - The DVD".
Number One Common create a fresh style of hard rock by throwing heavy grooves, alternative rock melodies, punk rock attitude and metal guitar solos all into the same blender and spitting it out right into your face with an intense live show that bleeds with hunger and passion. "Oceans" is from Number One Common's cd "The Second Coming".
Number One Common: "Miss Subliminal"
Number One Common create a fresh style of hard rock by throwing heavy grooves, alternative rock melodies, punk rock attitude and metal guitar solos all into the same blender and spitting it out right into your face with an intense live show that bleeds with hunger and passion. "Miss Subliminal" is from Number One Common's cd "The Second Coming".
Armor for Sleep: "Car Underwater"
What To Do When You Are Dead, Armor For Sleep's second installment due to be released February 22, 2005 is a record that will breathe new life into the carcass of thought provoking albums that has been lying on the side of the road which is the post hardcore/emo/rock whatever scene for years. Through the prism of buzz bands that flash and burn in dirty clubs under piles of screaming kids who will denounce them a month later it gets harder for words like longevity and individuality, originality and endurance to surface in the wash of MP3s and P2Ps that carry them to spread and deletion. In every band stickered corner in every smoke filled club from New York to California, Armor For Sleep has been showcasing their unique sound to thousands of kids who show up religiously and repeatedly to sing every word almost to the point of absurdity. In the past two years they have supported Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday, Midtown, From Autumn To Ashes, Further Seems Forever, Bane and countless others. They have also done their own full U.S. headlining tours. If the last two years have been only a prelude to what the band is ultimately capable of, and if the success of their debut album "Dream To Make Believe" is any indication, Armor For Sleep is destined for canonization in the fluctuating music genre they have helped to create from the ground up. "We have seen our friends bands blow up overnight," says singer/songwriter/guitar player Ben Jorgensen, "and we?re always happy for them. We have just been working hard focusing on our sound and touring nonstop until we are so close to the brink of insanity that it hurts." Bands grow. Whether it's constant touring, self-reflection, or just being jaded from the crap bombarding modern rock radio, bands mature. "We?re not afraid to write the songs we want to write," Jorgensen said, admitting that the band was a little timid with their debut album. After working with producer Machine (Clutch, Lamb of God, White Zombie, King Crimson, Vision of Disorder) in an assortment of studios in Hoboken, New Jersey for two months, Armor For Sleep emerged with the 11-song album equipped with their signature evocative vocals, and hauntingly catchy melodies. Noted for his work with progressive metal bands, it was Machine's first time producing a band with a sound like Armor For Sleep, and what came out of it is sure to bring a new kind of reverence to the rock and roll community. With the first lines "Believe the news / I?m gone for good," of the opening track, "Car Underwater," listening to the album is like taking the hand of a ghost as he guides you around to the different people and places he likes to check up on, and in doing so, tells you the story of his life. Digging deeper into the musical styles of their genre, what comes out of What To Do When You Are Dead seems less like an experiment and more like what happens when everything just clicks and gears start turning by themselves, creating an album that promises to shine like fresh flowers on the gravesite of an industry of regenerated soulless music to fall asleep to. What To Do When You Are Dead offers the perfect balance between a self-contained concept album and a powerful collection of songs, completely unaware of each other?s existence. "We wanted this record to be a record where each song could be listened to individually," Jorgensen says "But still have a story flickering through every song, pointing the listener down the path we?ve paved for them." Where Dream To Make Believe dealt very much with time and space, What To Do When You Are Dead moves in cinematic scenes through the passage of life and death. The lyrics have the band's original literary presence that makes this album feel like every line was specifically written to fit with every guitar note, bass line and drum beat in perfect cadence. As the album moves from an actual death, to being in heaven and alone, to floating above the trees of a hometown and walking as a ghost through a graveyard, Armor For Sleep encompasses the feelings so inherent with youth. The feelings of loneliness, of social suicide, and of being an outsider conveyed in their songs put them in time with the music, and in the category of bands that connect with an entire generation, something the bigger bands of today seem to fall short of. But don?t expect them to realize the power they have over the people listening to their records. "We are just doing what we love," Jorgensen says, "what never crosses our minds is what other people will like... we just write music and I just write words that make me feel something in my gut. That is our only platform and always will be." The sound is delicate and combustible, using both clean and distorted guitar tones with a lot of slide power chords and punctuating notes that appear like gunfire across the appropriate tracks. The lyrics are meticulously crafted, smart and well placed and Jorgensen's voice is soaked with reverberation and infectious melody that can be both calm at times or impetuously turbulent. The ancient Greeks never wrote obituaries. Instead they asked only one question: Did they have passion? After their major success in such a short time, it is obvious that Armor For Sleep has a positive answer for that question. What To Do When You Are Dead is that answer.
Number One Common create a fresh style of hard rock by throwing heavy grooves, alternative rock melodies, punk rock attitude, and metal guitar solos all into the same blender and then spit it out into your face with an intense live show that bleeds with hunger and passion.
32 Leaves: "Blood on my Hands"
Hard rock played in dark places
?The intensity. The drama. The emotion. The colors. The darkness. The melodies. The anger. The honesty. The drive. The new. All of the above and more.? According to Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor, those are the things that define Stone Sour?s passionately pulsing second album, Come What(ever) May (Roadrunner). Stone Sour?s first album in four years finds the band firing on all cylinders, and primed to capture the attention and the hearts of the rock ?n roll masses.Stone Sour?s self-titled debut was twice Grammy-nominated and RIAA Certified Gold. It was an eclectic album, propelled by the band?s busy tour schedule, the contemplative smash single ?Bother,? and a series of groovy, melodic metal numbers. In 2002 and 2003, Stone Sour established itself as a multi-faceted hard rock force of nature.While Taylor is one of the most recognized figures in rock music, thanks to his role as the frontman for Slipknot, a Grammy winning, multi-platinum act, Stone Sour is anything but a side project. It?s a full-time band that all members are fiercely dedicated to. Taylor spent much of 2004 and 2005 supporting his other band, but will spend 2006 and 2007 focusing on Stone Sour and Come What(ever) May. Also comprised by guitarist James Root, who does double duty in Slipknot, bassist Shawn Economaki, guitarist Josh Rand and new drummer Roy Mayorga, Stone Sour is armed with an album that expands beyond the palette of its predecessor. The band was afforded more time to craft songs, and it shows. The album, produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver), is tight, crisp, and full of rowdy rockers and melodic numbers.?With Stone Sour, I loosen up and show more of myself,? Taylor reveals. ?As soon as the fans hear this new record, they?ll see it?s different than anything that we have ever done. It gives me a chance to do the singing that I love to do, the type of singing that I do when I?m walking around my house.? Taylor, a self-described extrovert, may be the mouthpiece for Stone Sour, but he insists the band is a truly collaborative effort, and that?s something he thoroughly enjoys. ?I?ve been able to blend into the background if needed, you know? You grow up thinking being recognized all the time will be sweet, but sometimes you just want to be one of the guys. I think I balance it fairly well, without killing people.?Guitarist Josh Rand, who ran 3-5 miles a day during the recording process to clear his mind for each day?s highly creative atmosphere, believes that the diversity of Come What(ever) May, which features guest appearances from The Wallflowers? Rami Jaffee and Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin, will be what hooks fans, and what keeps them. ?This album?s content will fit any mood you may be in,? the guitarist says. ?If you?ve had a shitty day at work, you could crank ?Hell And Consequences.? If you need a little optimism, you could listen to ?Through Glass.? If you are feeling depressed, you could listen to ?Zzyzx Road.??Obviously, Come What(ever) May is a sensory experience, encompassing a wide spectrum of emotions. ?30/30-150? and ?Reborn? are bruisers that?ll get the blood coursing through listeners? veins, while the first single, ?Through Glass,? takes up real estate in your brain for days at a time, thanks its unforgettable melodic twists and chorus. Try and purge your brain of Come What(ever) May?s melodies, and you?ll fail miserably. Taylor concurs, ?So many bands are so genre-specific these days. No bands cover the middle ground. If they try, it?s lifeless and limp. Our album has such a pulse. The cool thing is that when we write stuff, it turns out catchy whether we want it to or not. It?s just something that we do.? He?s right. Crafting melody and mixing it with metallic maelstrom is definitely something that Stone Sour does better than most.Jim Root, who contends that ?life? itself influenced this album and who claims he consumed nerve-shattering, tooth-staining amounts of coffee during the recording process, sees Come What(ever) May as a necessary evolution in the band?s sound. ?We?re taking every aspect to the next level. As an artist, no matter what you do, you must evolve. That?s very important to me. Some people fear change. I embrace it. This record is a testament to where I am at, musically and spiritually. Life is a learning experience and so is song writing. As with everything I try to improve. I can sit back and listen to these songs and know that I have.?Taylor understands that as his career goes on, he will be less and less understood and he likes it that way. ?I?ve lost a little sleep over the fact that people don?t get what I do and how I do it. I do everything I can to entertain, educate and infuriate the status quo. If I give the mainstream a headache once in a while, that works for me.? It?s that attitude that attracts the disaffected youth, the kids, the anti-conservative thinker, as well as the casual rock fan to Stone Sour. ?I have a conscience,? Taylor says about his songwriting style. ?I have a respect for the music and I have an agenda. I have an individualistic mind to botch the ?product? mentality, and I am not out to further myself in a spotlight that knows no favorites. This could all be gone tomorrow. If all you?re doing is trying to build your Q points, what are you going to do when no one wants to see you anymore? At least I?ll be happy about the music I left behind.?The songs and music on Come What(ever) May ensure that Stone Sour?s legacy will endure for a long time to come.
Quick Tips: Creative Time Exposures on a Nikon D80
Time exposure photos are easy with a Nikon digital SLR, creating great special effects, night scenes, and cityscapes.
