27 Dec 2009

MUSE



MUSE
are an English trio hailing from the sleepy town of Teignmouth in Devon. The band consists of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and pianist), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitarist) and Dominic Howard (drummer).

Matthew’s childhood
Matthew was born in Cambridge on the 9th June 1978 and moved to Devon with his family at aged 10. Matthew’s dad was in a band called The Tornadoes, who were the first band from the UK to get a US number 1 record. At the age of 14 Matthew’s parents got divorced. "It was ok at home, middle class, we had money,” Matthew says. “Well until the age of 14. I think I almost got everything I wanted until the age of 14, yes. Then, everything changed, parents got divorced, and I went to live with my grand mother, and there wasn't that much money. I have a sister who's older than me, she's actually my stepsister: my dad had her from a previous marriage, and also a younger brother. Until the age of 14 music was part of my life since it was part of the family circle: my dad was a musician, he had a band, etc. But it's only when I moved in with my grandparents that I started playing music myself. It was like a need to me."

Matthew moved in with his grandmother and then found music was a need for him. He started playing piano at 6, but the absence of his parents turned him towards the guitar when he was 14. His parents and older brother also used an Ouija Board to contact the dead, which Matt discovered when he was wandering downstairs late at night. He then became interested in it after the divorce of his parents. “It was exciting to go to school and to tell 10-year-old kids all about it, as they found it all quite scary and I was quite impressed that I was doing something that was scary to other people but that wasn’t to me. I did get quite into that.” His beliefs changed after one correspondence predicted the first Gulf War a year before it started. “My beliefs in the whole thing changed. I now believe that you’re contacting something in your subconscious, which is quite different. Something that you might not have known was already there. That’s probably more realistic than thinking you’re contacting somebody who’s already dead. And I do practice that.

Dominic was born on the 7th December 1977 in Manchester and also moved to Devon when he was 8 years old. He and his family had no interest in music until Dominic went to high school when he then became interested in a jazz band, and started playing the drums. Chris was born on the 2nd December 1978 in Rotherham, Yorkshire but also moved to Devon (at 11). His mum would buy records regularly. He started by learning the guitar, and then the drums to finally play the bass when he met Dom and Matt.

Teignmouth


Teignmouth wasn’t a particularly good town to live in for the band as Matthew explains. "The only time the town came to life was during the summer when it turned into a vacation spot for visiting Londoners. When the summer ended they left and took all the life with them. I felt so trapped there. My friends were either getting into drugs or music, but I gravitated towards the latter and eventually learned how to play. That became my escape. If it weren't for the band, I would probably have turned to drugs myself."
Rocket Baby Dolls
The beginnings of the band came when Matt, Dom and Chris formed Rocket Baby Dolls and entered a “battle of the bands” competition. "I remember the first real concert we've ever made was for a band competition,” says Matt “We were the only real rock band; all the others were pop or funk-pop, kinda Jamiroquai if you want. We knew we had no chance to win - we were not the best musicians - it was a matter of 'fitting'. So we did the best we could, we took advantage of our feeling of being 'different'. We came on stage with make up all over our face, we were very aggressive, we played very violently and then we broke everything on stage. All that to say that the will, the attitude meant a lot to us. So we won. And I think that psychologically it changed many things in our heads. Because we came to lose, we expected to lose. And we were angry somehow. And we had just realized at this time that we could replace lots of things. We realized that emotion, the vibrations that you create are as important as your technical skills. We had just discovered something: music is a matter of emotion." Rocket Baby Dolls was then renamed Muse.
First gigs
As a band, Muse were often asked to play covers. They didn’t like that and were determined to play their own music. The number of gigs started to decline. Then, in October 1995, Dennis Smith discovered them playing in a Cornish village. Dennis Smith: “Matthew has an incredible range of thoughts. He’s got such an imaginative and creative mind, which was obvious in those early days, always challenging and wanting to get into very deep conversations that took 20 years of adult life to come to terms with. An older head on much younger shoulders is how I’ve always seen him.” It wasn’t until 1997 that Dennis offered them free studio time.
First EP, the record deal and Showbiz
In 1998, Taste Media got in touch and a self-titled EP was released on the ‘Dangerous’ label. A few specialist shows were set up in the USA. After strong interest, Madonna’s record label, Maverick, signed them on Christmas Eve 1998. Another EP followed before they released their first single ‘Uno’. It charted just inside the top 75. After the success of the second single ‘Cave’, Muse’s first album (produced by John Leckie who produced Radiohead’s ‘The Bends’) called ‘Showbiz’ was released in October 1999. Early comparisons were being drawn to Radiohead with some critics and music lovers describing them as mere copycats. But it did not stop their success – ‘Muscle Museum’ and ‘Sunburn’ were released as successful singles with ‘Unintended’ being the first Muse single to hit the top 40. The album sold 700,000 copies worldwide and still counting. Muse also released two box sets – The Showbiz box set (released only in France, includes all the copies of their singles) and the Random 1-8 box set (eight b-sides released only in Japan). A successful year for Muse was sealed with a Brit nomination for Best New Act but they didn’t win it.
Origin of Symmetry
John Leckie then returned with Dave Botrill (Muse asked him to produce the album with John) to produce the second album, ‘Origin of Symmetry’. Matthew explains the change in direction. "When we did the first album we'd only done a few gigs in London, no major tours. We've learned so much about how we want to be from touring with other bands because of the way they are on stage. If we recorded them in the way other bands do I'd be worried that it would sound the same as them. We've used wind chimes to set up entire backdrops... bits of bones, Llama claws and bubble wrap. It sounds much more atmospheric." Their first single off the new album, ‘Plug In Baby,’ reached number 11, the highest chart placing yet for any Muse single. Their second single ‘New Born,’ also charted top 20.
The Origin Era
The album was eventually released soon after to a bag of mixed reviews. However, Muse were on a roll and won the Best British Band award at the Kerrang Awards and were nominated for three Q awards (Best Album, Best Live Act and Best Producer) but didn’t win any. ‘Bliss’ and the double A-side ‘Feeling Good/Hyper Music’ were the last singles from the album. What followed in 2002 was a massive world tour promoting the album and a CD and DVD called ‘Hullabaloo’. The DVD featured Muse playing in ‘le Zénith’ in Paris in October 2001. The CD featured a selection of b-sides on one CD and the concert in Paris on the other. Another double A-side called ‘Dead Star/In Your World’ was released. An EP was also released in France called ‘Dead Star/In Your World’ and a second Japanese and French box set were also made. Muse won the ‘Best Live Band’ at the Kerrang Awards for the second year running topping off a successful period for the band, which saw 1.3 million copies sold.
Recording Absolution
Then they took another break to record the third album but this time they dropped John Leckie and worked with Paul Reeve, John Corfield and Rich Costey. Matthew explains "He was the man we originally thought of working with for the rock tracks. He'd previously mixed some great rock records -Audioslave, Rage Against The Machine's ‘Renegades’, The Mars Volta - but in the meantime he'd been sending us discs of other people he'd worked with like Philip Glass and Fiona Apple and was trying to convince us that he should do the whole album. We reworked Apocalypse Please with a more aggressive sound, without too much over-production, and it sounded better. In the end he did do pretty much all the album, and mixed it as well. He understood what we were trying to achieve. The main thing with Rich was that his mixing technique was pretty precise. Every cab would have about 10 microphones on it and they would all be placed with mathematical precision. I remember spending a whole day playing the guitar and seeing Rich outside with a measuring tape and a spirit level! He was making the slightest adjustments, millimetres at a time to get it so there was perfect phase."
The album was going to be uplifting but then the US and the UK went to fight Iraq in the Gulf and everything changed. "We started off with a full orchestra, experimenting, pushing it right over the Queen mark - 98 backing vocals, 32-piece orchestra and all sorts! We did two songs like that and kinda lost our minds,” says Matthew. “We ended deciding to get back to basics. We re-recorded some of the stuff with the orchestra, toned it down a little bit. It sounds a lot harder now than I expected. In terms of general context, the world's changed in the last year, the world events of the last year and a half. It's not that we're a political band but I think it's impossible to avoid those things. I think there's a lot of apocalyptic stuff going on in a lot of the songs. While we were recording all the war (with Iraq) was coming out and we were in the process of recording while watching that. The direction definitely took a pretty harsh change in the middle of it all. In relation to the album it's come across more as a general fear and mistrust of the people in power. It's about moments of extreme fear, and a fair bit of end of the world talk.”
Matt also explains how it is different from ‘Showbiz’ and ‘Origin of Symmetry’. “In the past I was layering guitars quite a lot but this time I wanted to get just one guitar part to stand out and be just perfect. On the last album [‘Origin of Symmetry’] for example, on songs like ‘Citizen Erased’ or ‘Micro Cuts’, I did a lot of multiple guitar parts. But when I went to do it live, I actually found myself simplifying the guitar parts and found that the simple parts were much more effective and much more powerful sounding. So in making this album, instead of recording the songs in layers, I was actually working on the parts a lot more before I recorded them.”
The release of Absolution
‘Stockholm Syndrome’ was released as a download only single to give fans a taste of what was to come on the third album, now called ‘Absolution’. It proved to be not only popular but also one of the most popular download singles ever. Muse then started to play warm-up gigs ahead of the release of the album and a huge European tour. Their next single, ‘Time Is Running Out’, was the only Muse single to feature in the top 10 of the UK chart. Shortly after the European release of ‘Absolution’, Muse won the Q Innovation Award and ‘Absolution’ also topped the album charts in the UK in the process and in December they won the Best British Rock/Indie Band award at the Interactive Music Awards and their third single, ‘Hysteria’, also charted in the top 20 to end a memorable year for Muse.
2004: The Absolution Year
2004 was full of drama for the Muse. They were again nominated for a Brit Award, this time for Best Rock Act but lost to the Darkness. They also went on tour in Australia, France, Japan (in which Chris lost his wedding ring that was eventually returned to him) and the USA. Matthew injured his mouth whilst performing in Atlanta. Matthew explains the pain: "I didn't feel any pain at first. Then I spat out this liquid and there were gushes of red stuff spurting out all over the microphone. I ran backstage and started puking up. At first you could feel the stitches stretching my face as I sang but now the only problem is that they seem to be disappearing into my lip.” Dominic also noticed that Matt was injured. "I knew it was bad as soon as he turned around, there was blood dripping everywhere."
He recovered and Muse continued touring America and Canada whilst ‘Absolution’ got critical acclaim, making them one of the British bands that have the potential to crack America like Coldplay. ‘Absolution’ was also only the second album to be released in America because ‘Origin of Symmetry’ was never released there following a dispute with Maverick. ‘Sing for Absolution’ was then released as a single on the eve of their huge European festival tour, charting in the top 20.
Matt has a very interesting habit whilst touring; poker. "I'm really into the mind games of poker", he explains. "I'm more ruthless than the other two so I've been taking all their money. It can get boring. In Barcelona I had to go to a casino to play with some pros. I still made around 500 euros. You know the Channel 4 poker programme Late Night Poker? My ambition is to appear on that. But the stake is £1500 and I'm not quite good enough yet."
Muse confirmed their status as one of the world’s best rock bands by playing a fantastic set at Glastonbury. But it was marred by tragedy as just hours after coming off, Dom’s father, died of a heart attack after seeing his son play live. "It was the biggest feeling of achievement we've ever had after coming offstage", Bellamy says. "It was almost surreal that an hour later his dad died. It was almost not believable. We spent about a week sort of just with Dom trying to support him. I think he was happy that at least his dad got to see him at probably what was the finest moment so far of the band's life."
More drama would unfold at the Cure Curiosa Tour in America as half-way through the tour, Chris injured his wrist, throwing many festival dates in doubt. However, they managed to recruit a temporary replacement in Morgan Nicholls, bassist for UK hip-hop act The Streets, and, with Chris playing on keys and providing backing vocals, delivered a storming show at the V Festival in August 2004, rounding a mad year since the release of ‘Absolution’.
The Future
Matthew explains how Muse will go about recording their forth album. “We want to have a new approach and a new atmosphere. We will maybe find a house and take our own material to record it. I’d like to spend some time in New-York too! It seems to be a “magical” city to record an album. We really dunno now. I think that we all wanna have a normal life. Chris is gonna spend some time with his children and I’m gonna find a job in a bar! I think the combination of guitar rock and full-on 70’s disco is ready to be exploited properly. Like Night Fever, but heavy. Or Billy Jean. A little bit rock guitar, a little bit disco."
"For me", Matt says, "Muse is about getting the hopes, dreams, desires, frustrations out of your system that you wouldn't normally be able to do. It's about showing people that there are things inside buried that should be exposed, and having no shame about them. We can communicate no matter the environment." Dom also explains what the band has learnt from their time as a band. “I think we've just grown up over the years and learnt loads about who are as people and how we played our instruments and it's definitely kind of a growing up process, but it's all about commitment. You know, believing in something you do a lot and kind of fulfilling that and fulfilling the things you really want to do!”

26 Dec 2009




  • Disturbed


is an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1996 when musicians Dan Donegan, Steve "Fuzz" Kmak, and Mike Wengren hired singer David Draiman. Since the band's formation, they have sold over 11 million albums worldwide, making them one of the largest grossing rock bands in recent years.The band has released three consecutive studio albums that have debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200; only six other rock bands have achieved this.

Early years as Brawl (1994–1996)
Before vocalist
David Draiman joined Disturbed, they were known as Brawl, a band whose lineup consisted of vocalist Erich Awalt, guitarist Dan Donegan, drummer Mike Wengren, and bassist Steve "Fuzz" Kmak. Awalt left the band shortly after the recording of a demo tape and the other three members went on advertising for a singer. They posted an ad in the local music publication in Chicago, Illinois, called the "Illinois Entertainer".Draiman had answered the ad after going to twenty other auditions that month. As guitarist Dan Donegan commented on Draiman, "You know, out of all the singers that we had talked to or auditioned, he [Draiman] was the only singer who was ready to go with originals. And that impressed me, just to attempt that".
With regards of Draiman being the new singer for the band, Donegan said, "After a minute or two, he just starts banging out these melodies that were huge...I'm playing my guitar and I'm grinning from ear to ear, trying not to give it away that I like this guy, you know, because I don't want to, you know...[say] 'Yeah, we'll give you a call back. We'll, you know, discuss it.' But I was so psyched. Chill up my spine. I'm like, 'There is something here'." As drummer Mike Wengren commented, "We clicked right off the bat."Draiman then joined the band in 1996 and the band was re-named Disturbed. When asked in an interview why he suggested to name the band Disturbed, Draiman said, "It had been a name I have been contemplating for a band for years. It just seems to symbolize everything we were feeling at the time. The level of conformity that people are forced into was disturbing to us and we were just trying to push the envelope and the name just sorta made sense."
The Sickness (1998–2000)

After re-naming the band, Disturbed started to record several demos and played in live shows. The band eventually signed with
Giant Records. In 2000, the band released its debut album, titled The Sickness, which launched the band into stardom. The album peaked at number twenty-nine on the Billboard 200 and it has sold over four million copies in the United States since its release. Before joining Marilyn Manson's 2001 European tour, bassist Steve Kmak was unable to play with the band due to a shattered ankle, caused by falling out of a fire escape outside Disturbed's rehearsal hall in Chicago. He took the fire escape to exit the building while the elevator was being used to move their equipment downstairs. After a successful operation, doctors highly recommended that Kmak skip the tour to avoid more severe damage to his foot.But he did perform with the band on January 11 and 12, 2001 at Disturbed's show in Chicago.During the European tour, Marty O'Brien replaced Kmak until he was able to tour again.
Believe (2001–2003)

In February 2001, it was announced that the band had covered the song "
Midlife Crisis" for a Faith No More tribute album,however the cover was not used. On June 4, 2002, Disturbed released a documentary DVD about the band, titled M.O.L., which showed some of the band's more personal moments in the studio and during tours, as well as featuring several music videos and live performances. On September 17, 2002, Disturbed released their second studio album, titled Believe, which debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200. The music video for the first single from the album, titled "Prayer", was pulled from most television stations, due to the similarities it had with the September 11, 2001 attacks.David Draiman recorded vocals for a song titled "Forsaken", a song written and produced by Jonathan Davis of the band Korn, released on Queen of the Damned.
In 2003, the band once again participated in the Ozzfest tour and started another one of their own tours, titled Music as a Weapon II. The bands
Chevelle, Taproot, and Unloco toured with them. During the tour, Disturbed debuted an unreleased song, titled"Dehumanized".Disturbed finished the Music as a Weapon II tour, Steve Kmak was fired by the band because of "personality differences." He was replaced by John Moyer,who is now the current bass player. On the night Moyer became the band's new bass player, Disturbed played live at the House of Blues and performed two new songs, "Hell" and "Monster", both of which are B-side tracks on the band's third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists.
Ten Thousand Fists (2004–2006)

Disturbed's third studio album, Ten Thousand Fists, was released on September 20, 2005. The album debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200, while also selling around 238,000 copies in the week following its release. The album was certified platinum, shipping 1,000,000 units, in the United States on January 5, 2006. The band toured with
10 Years and Ill Niño in support of the album. Disturbed headlined Ozzfest 2006 along with Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Lacuna Coil, DragonForce, Avenged Sevenfold, and Hatebreed.
In an interview with Launch Radio Networks, Disturbed vocalist
David Draiman stated that twenty songs were recorded for the album, but only fourteen made it to the final track listing The remaining songs included "Hell", which was included in one of the two "Stricken" singles;[ "Monster", which was included as an iTunes pre-order bonus for Ten Thousand Fist then later included on the Ten Thousand Fists Tour Edition; "Two Worlds", which was also included on the Tour Edition of Ten Thousand Fists; and "Sickened", which was included in the "Land of Confusion" single.
In 2006, a European tour was scheduled but had been moved twice due to Draiman having troubles with severe acid reflux, which affected his voice.Draiman commented, "I had been taking
Prevacid for about four years and my body built up a resistance to it, to the point where it wasn't doing anything anymore...I had a night of drinking in London followed by a full day and night of drinking on a day off in Dublin, because what else is there to do in Ireland but drink? That, coupled with a show where I had monitor problems, and I pretty much trashed my voice." Later that year, Draiman underwent surgery for a deviated septum which affected his voice. It was successful, and ever since then, Draiman has limited his drinking on the road.
Draiman became involved in the music
file sharing controversy by publicly speaking out against the RIAA's lawsuits against file sharing individuals, despite the fact his record label is a member of the RIAA. Draiman commented, "This is not rocket science. Instead of spending all this money litigating against kids who are the people they're trying to sell things to in the first place, they have to learn how to effectively use the Internet. For the artists, my ass...I didn't ask them to protect me, and I don't want their protection." Draiman also told NYRock: "[I'm] Very positive about the internet, Napster. I think it's a tremendous tool for reaching many more people than we ever could without it. When you release music you want it to be heard by people...Nothing is going to do that better than Napster. I can't tell you how many kids have come up to me and said, 'I downloaded a couple of tunes off Napster and I went out and bought the album.'...I don't really make money off of record sales anyway."In late 2006, Disturbed headlined another one of their own tours named Music as a Weapon III; the bands Flyleaf, Stone Sour, and Nonpoint toured with them. Disturbed completed the first leg of their Music as a Weapon III tour in late 2006. Soon after, Draiman stated that there was not going to be a second leg to the tour and that instead the band was going off the road to start working on their fourth studio album.[31]
Indestructible and recent events (2007-present)


Disturbed at 2008's Mayhem Festival in Dallas, Texas.
In July 2007, a new track titled "This Moment" was released on the
soundtrack to the film Transformers. Disturbed mixed their fourth studio album, titled Indestructible in Los Angeles, California in late 2007. In an earlier interview, David Draiman said that they were going to record fifteen songs, but only twelve would be on the album.
On March 6, 2008, the band released a thirty second sample of a newly re-recorded version of the song "
Perfect Insanity" on their MySpace profile. In March 2008, the song was made available for full download on the band's website, which led to the song receiving some minor radio airplay, and the band playing it live in Kuwait during a special Operation MySpace event. It was later featured in the soundtrack of the video game WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009.
Indestructible's first single, "
Inside the Fire" was made available on digital distribution services for purchase on March 25, 2008. The band also toured in the United States in April and May 2008 with the bands Five Finger Death Punch and Art of Dying. The music video for "Inside the Fire" was released on May 2, 2008 on the band's official website. Disturbed released their previously free song "Perfect Insanity" on iTunes Store as a second single on May 6, 2008, and the album Indestructible become available for pre-order for the release date on June 3, 2008.
On May 13, 2008,
Harmonix, the developers of the video game Rock Band announced they had reached a deal with Disturbed and Best Buy to offer two tracks from Indestructible for play in Rock Band to those who pre-ordered the album from Best Buy's website. On June 3, 2008, Harmonix released three tracks from Indestructible; "Indestructible", "Inside the Fire", and "Perfect Insanity". On May 12, 2009, Harmonix released Stricken and Stupify to the Rock Band music store. Disturbed played their first live online concert on May 29, 2008. The concert was sponsored by Pepsi and Deep Rock Drive. They performed in Las Vegas.
Indestructible was released in the United States on June 3, 2008 and in Australia on June 7, 2008 and became the band's third consecutive number-one debut on the Billboard 200. A special "Internet Only" limited edition of the album that includes the B-side track "Run", a making-of
DVD with instructional videos, wrap-around poster, VIP laminate, access to special Disturbed events, and a special website with exclusive video, rare audio and more was also released.The band toured in support of the "Mayhem Festival"alongside Slipknot, DragonForce, and Mastodon during summer of 2008.Disturbed also completed a tour of Australia and New Zealand through August and September 2008.
On September 30, 2008, the band released an iTunes-exclusive live album entitled
Live & Indestructible, made up of songs from Deep Rock Drive, as well as the music video for "Indestructible". The band started a tour of Europe, starting in London during October 2008 and finishing during November 2008 in Helsinki.In November and December 2008, Disturbed toured in the United States.The song "Inside the Fire" was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award in the "Best Hard Rock Performance" category. In March 2009, Disturbed released a music video for the single "The Night".
The band began their
Music as a Weapon IV tour in March 2009 and it ended in late May. The tour, also dubbed a "festival", featured the bands Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil, and Chimaira on the main stage.The band released a second cover version of Faith No More's song "Midlife Crisis" on the album Covered, A Revolution in Sound, which also included bands such as Mastodon, The Used, and Avenged Sevenfold. This cover of "Midlife Crisis" was originally recorded for Indestructible, but the band decided not to include it on the album.
In an earlier interview, David Draiman briefly talked about the band's fifth studio album, stating that the album will be as dark as Indestructible, if not darker. The band stated that they will take a few months off and then song-writing for the next album will most likely begin in late 2009.In another interview with Mike Wengren and John Moyer, it was stated that, judging by Draiman's feelings on the last few years of his life, that Disturbed's new album will be aggressive, angry, and "hard-hitting", but will be similar musically to their album Believe. Wengren also said that the new album may be released in the
summer of 2010.Additionally, Draiman has confirmed that a DVD is in the works, but no title or release date has been decided on yet. In a July 2009 interview with FaceCulture, Draiman stated that the upcoming DVD will be "chronicling the past decade of Disturbed's existence. It's meant to show our growth over the course of the decade." He also talked more about the upcoming fifth album: "A couple of them [song riffs] that Danny has come up with are really amazing. But they're just little pieces...it's not even in two-three part progression [yet]."
MASCOT
MascotDisturbed's mascot, named The Guy, was originally just a drawing of a face with a large grin, as seen on the back of the album
The Sickness. The Guy eventually became the official mascot for the band, fully animated by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane in the music video for Disturbed's "Land of Confusion" cover, and has also appeared on the artwork of two of Disturbed's albums, Ten Thousand Fists and Indestructible.
[
edit] Style and lyrical themes
Classified by most as a
rock or metalband, Disturbed is also regarded by some critics as alternative rock alternative metal, heavy metal and rap metal.However, when asked about die-hard heavy metal fans not finding Disturbed heavy enough, frontman David Draiman stated:
"We probably have too much melody going on or we're not quite as turbulent or caustic. While I really love that type of music, it's not what we try to do. If we have to place things in context, we're more
hard rock than heavy metal these days."
"The secret is that we were never really part of any particular trend, although we definitely benefited from the popularity of what was called nu-metal at the time," Draiman says. "We never had the stereotypical attributes that those bands had. We don’t rap; there’s no turntable involved; no fusion in that respect. We play, in my opinion, classic metal.
[Black] Sabbath, [Iron] Maiden, [Judas] Priest, Metallica, Pantera: These are the bands that made us want to play.[62]
Allmusic reviewer Bradley Torreano described the album Believe as "taking the sort of jump that their heroes in Soundgarden and Pantera made after their respective breakthrough records".[63] He also described the title track as moving "from a brutal chug to a sweeping chorus that suddenly stops in its tracks and turns into a winding riff that recalls the work of vintage James Hetfield". Believe is also considered by several critics to be a step away from the nu metal sound featured on The Sickness, moving towards a more hard rock/heavy metal sound that was continued in their following albums.
According to frontman David Draiman on the band's home documentary
M.O.L., the lyrics that he writes are inspired by life experience, perception, and actual experiences of his own, and he stated that he likes to present his ideas with cryptic lyrics.These lyrical themes range from the Judeo-Christian ideology of Heaven and Hell, domestic abuse, suicide, relationships, war, to more fantasy-like themes, such as vampirism and demons.

18 Dec 2009

APOCALYPTICA


Apocalyptica is a Finnish metal band from Helsinki, Finland, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists and, since 2003, a drummer. Three of the cellists are graduates of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. Their music features elements from classical music and neo-classical metal, to symphonic metal and gothic metal. They have sold over three million albums to date.


History
Apocalyptica was formed in 1993 when four
cellists, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, Max Lilja, and Antero Manninen gathered to play Metallica covers at Sibelius Academy. They performed in an after-Christmas party as a "Jailhouse Band" at the Teatro Heavy Metal Club. That evening the line-up was Toppinen, Lilja, Manninen and Perttu Kivilaakso (who was to join the band permanently in 1999.) Among the audience was Kari Hynninen, who worked for the independent label Zen Garden Records. After listening to Apocalyptica's set, Kari Hynninen signed them on the spot to Zen Garden Records.
In 1996, Apocalyptica released their debut
studio album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, which consisted solely of Metallica covers played on cellos. In 1998, Apocalyptica released their second studio album, Inquisition Symphony, which was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa. Inquisition Symphony once again contained covers of Metallica, but also contained covers of Faith No More, Sepultura, and Pantera. For this album the band also decided to include three original songs written by Eicca Toppinen.

Apocalyptica at 2005's Wacken Open Air.
In 1999, Antero Manninen left the group, and was replaced by
Perttu Kivilaakso. In 2000, Apocalyptica released their third studio album, Cult, which featured 10 original songs, and 3 covers. And it was after the recording of Cult that an Apocalyptica track was first seen featuring vocals, "Path Vol. 2". In 2002, Max Lilja left the group and joined Hevein, leaving Apocalyptica with only three members.
In 2003, Apocalyptica released their fourth studio album,
Reflections, which consisted for the first time of all original songs. Reflections featured a more experimental sound, instead of the previous acoustic style arrangements found on Inquisition Symphony and Cult. Dave Lombardo from Slayer played drums on five songs from Reflections, with session drummer Sami Kuoppamäki playing on the rest of the songs. As Lombardo was unable to join the band on stage on the following tour, the band hired Mikko Sirén, who would stay with the band for future tours as well as the recording of the next album.
In 2005, Apocalyptica released their fifth studio album,
Apocalyptica. This album featured a number of guest musicians including Ville Valo of HIM, Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus, and once again Dave Lombardo. They also recorded the Intro for Bullet For My Valentine's album The Poison. In December 2005 Mikko Sirén was announced as an official band member after having played around 200 shows with the band.
Apocalyptica released their sixth studio album,
Worlds Collide, on 17 September 2007. It was produced by Jacob Hellner. To the surprise of many, the album includes a cover of the German version of David Bowie's song "Heroes". Till Lindemann of Rammstein, for whom they opened on the Reise, Reise tour, was the guest vocalist on the track "Helden". Worlds Collide was released on April 15, 2008 in the United States. The first single "I'm Not Jesus" featuring Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour from the "Worlds Collide" album cracked the top 10 of both the Active rock and Alternative rock charts.
To end 2007, the band toured Europe successfully, selling out many of the venues they played. In 2008 the tour continued in US and included numerous festivals in Europe.
The band has played approximately 850-1000 concerts during their career in about 50 countries.
Apocalyptica announced a large world tour for 2008, so far including concerts in Europe and North America (including Mexico).

Perttu Kivilaakso at the 2009 Ilosaarirock festival.
In June 2008, during the Rock in Rio concert in Lisbon, Apocalyptica joined the
Greenpeace "energy [r]evolution campaign" and played the Beethoven 5th symphony from the stage.

aThey have most recently recorded 'I Don't Care' with Three Days Grace lead singer Adam Gontier.
The band also appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly on October 31, 2008. Here they made their American television debut with a performance of "I Don't Care" with Toryn Green.
In November 2008, Apocalyptica featuring Adam Gontier of
Three Days Grace hit first at the BDS and Mediabase Active Rock radio charts with the single "I Don't Care". Later that month, the band ranked 3rd at Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Track chart and 2nd at Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart just after AC/DC, and just ahead of Metallica, an ironic twist, due to their origins performing Metallica covers. Recently, it reached #1 on the Billboard rock chart, making Apocalyptica the first Finnish band to top the US charts. The song "I Don't Care" was also featured in the 16th episode of season 8 of the TV series Smallville, which aired on March 19, 2009.
Three Days Grace

Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band, formed in Norwood, Ontario, Canada in 1992, under the name Groundswell. After a breakup in 1995, the band reformed in 1997 under its current name and with a line-up consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer and backing vocalist Neil Sanderson, and bassist Brad Walst. In 2003, Barry Stock was recruited as the band's lead guitarist.
After signing to
Jive Records, Three Days Grace released two studio albums, Three Days Grace in 2003 and One-X in 2006, both of which have been certified platinum and double platinum in the United States and Canada, respectively. In 2007, the band was declared number one rock artist of the year by Billboard and was the number four artist in airplay in Canada that same year. The band's third album, Life Starts Now, was released on September 22, 2009.
Contents


Independent years (1992–2002)
Three Days Grace's predecessor, Groundswell, was a classic rock band that formed in 1992 in
Norwood, Ontario, and had a line up that consisted of vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer Neil Sanderson, bassist Brad Walst, guitarist Phil Crowe, and secondary guitarist Joe Grant, all of whom were attending high school when the band formed.
In 1997, after being disbanded for two years, the band regrouped in
Toronto as a trio that consisted of Gontier, Sanderson, and Walst. They had also changed their name to "Three Days Grace". According to Gontier, the name stands for the question: If you had three days to change something in your life, could you do it?[3] Once in Toronto, the band became acquainted with local producer Gavin Brown. The band gave him several years of material that they had created since forming, and he "picked out what he called 'the golden nuggets'", according to Gontier. Brown and the band polished the songs into a demo album which they gave to EMI Music Publishing Canada. The record label wanted to hear more material, and with Brown producing, the band created the song, "I Hate Everything About You", which attracted the interest of several record labels.The band was soon signed to Jive Records after being sought out by the company's president.
Three Days Grace (2003–2005)
After being signed to Jive, the band moved to
Long View Farm, a studio in North Brookfield, Massachusetts to record their debut album.The self-titled album was finished in Woodstock, New York and released on July 22, 2003.It was met with generally favorable reviews. Dave Doray of IGN said of the album, "Mistakes? There's not many." Allmusic reviewer Heather Phares said that on Three Days Grace, "the band's focus and adherence to alt-metal's formulas — coupled with tight songwriting and some unexpectedly pretty choruses — results in a strong tracks that are more memorable than the work of many of their peers".[She did criticize the album for its simplicity, concluding, "Three Days Grace are definitely one of the most accessible alt-metal bands of the 2000s; they just need to add some more distinctiveness to their sound."
To support the eponymous album, in 2003 Three Days Grace released its first single, "
I Hate Everything About You", the song whose demo had gotten the band its record deal.The song received heavy airplay and rapidly became a widely recognizable song,being labeled as the band's "breakout hit.After acquiring lead guitarist Barry Stock in late 2003, Three Days Grace toured continuously and extensively for nearly two years in support of their major label debutThe album peaked at number nine on the Canadian Albums Chartand number 69 on the Billboard 200and was certified platinum in the US by the RIAA in December 2004 and double platinum in Canada by the CRIA.
One-X (2006–2008)
While touring in support of Three Days Grace, Gontier became depressed and addicted to drugs and alcohol. Pressured to quit by his friends, family, and bandmates, he checked himself into rehab after the band finished touring, and while there, began writing material for the band's second album. After leaving rehab, he rejoined the band in a cottage in Ontario to finish writing material for the album. In a 2006 interview, Gontier said that the album's material was more personal to him than the band's previous work because the material had come out of his experiences with despondence, drug abuse, and rehab that had constituted the past two years of his life.The album, titled
One-X, was then released on June 13, 2006,and was guitarist Barry Stock's recorded debut.
"Animal I Have Become"
"Animal I Have Become" reflects Gontier's regrets about the person he became during the Three Days Grace tour. "A few of us got really carried away, especially myself. I became somebody I didn't want to be."


Three Days Grace performing live at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, Michigan, in 2008
One-X was met with generally favorable reviews. The
Toronto Star complimented the album with a review title of "One CD worth buying..." and focused on its lyrics, saying, "The lyrics really speak out to you, especially if you're going through a tough time in your life." Allmusic reviewer Corey Apar praised the music, saying it "remains catchy despite its lyrical darkness".The album did receive some negative criticism. Apar pointed out that Three Days Grace is "hardly innovative" in their approach to writing music and that "further distinctive qualities" would help the band separate itself "from their alt-metal peers".One-X peaked at number two on the Canadian album chart and at number five on the Billboard 200,selling 78,000 copies in the US in its first week of release. Its first single, "Animal I Have Become", was Three Days Grace's most successful, becoming 2006's most played rock song in Canada, and the album helped propel Three Days Grace to become the number one rock artist in airplay in the US and Canada in 2007, with Billboard ranking them as the number one rock artist of the year in 2007.One-X was certified platinum by the RIAA in the US on August 30, 2007,and double platinum by the CRIA in Canada in July 2007. Three Days Grace toured the US and Canada throughout the second half of 2006 and all of 2007 in support of One-X.In early 2008, they toured alongside Seether and Breaking Benjamin across the US.
[
edit] Life Starts Now (since 2009)
From March to August 2009, Three Days Grace recorded their third album at
The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Los Angeles, with producer Howard Benson, who had worked with them on their previous releases.The album, titled Life Starts Now, was released on September 22, 2009. Critics as well as band members have noted the album's departure from the angry tone of the band's previous releases into a lyrical style that comes off as more optimistic. According to guitarist Barry Stock, the album's theme centers around "a new sense of freshness" and the idea that "you don't have to be stuck in whatever it is you're dealing with. Whether it's good or bad, it's your choice to make a change."Life Starts Now debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, Three Days Grace's highest chart position, and sold 79,000 copies in its first week. The album was met with mixed reviews. Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star gave the album a negative review, saying it possesses "no sound of its own, just a shallow range between Nickelback and Linkin Park".According to Allmusic reviewer James Christopher Monger, who gave the album three out of five stars, Life Starts Now continues the theme of One-X, Gontier's personal demons, but with a "hint of sunlight".He compliments the album, saying it "treats the well-worn metal themes of anger, isolation, heartache, and redemption with the kind of begrudging respect they deserve, pumping out a competent flurry of fist-bump anthems and world-weary, midtempo rockers".
The first single from the album, "
Break", was released on September 1, 2009. Three Days Grace embarked on a 20-date Canadian tour lasting through November and December 2009.They will be co-headlining a January-February 2010 tour of the US with Breaking Benjamin.
Musical style and influences
Three Days Grace's musical style has generally been described by critics as
alternative metal and hard rock throughout the band's career. Heather Phares of Allmusic, in a review of the band's debut album, compared them to rock bands Chevelle and Helmet.Dave Doray of IGN described Three Days Grace as "heavy and catchy, with chewy chunks of assurance and fury thrown in for added measure."Allmusic's Corey Apar said One-X brings an "accessible alt-metal attack of blunt lyrics and crunching rhythms" that retains the melodic sound of its predecessor "despite its lyrical darkness".
The band has listed numerous influences in their music. Gontier has mentioned such bands as
Sunny Day Real Estate, Kyuss, Nine Inch Nails, and Tool as influences for the band's music.Julie Garisto of the St. Petersburg Times has claimed that Three Days Grace's influences also include the grunge band Nirvana and the heavy metal outfit Black Sabbath.According to Gontier, the lyrics for Three Days Grace songs have mostly been influenced by the Seattle music scene. He summarized about the band's influences in an interview, "Musically there's a lot of different influences, but lyrically it's hard to have different influences because you just write."
Awards
Three Days Grace has been recognized for their musical efforts through several awards and nominations. In 2007, the band was ranked by
Mediabase as the number one artist in airplay across all rock formats in the US and Canada,and Billboard named them Number One Rock Artist of the Year.Three Days Grace has been nominated for three Juno Awards. In 2004, the band was nominated for New Group of the Year.In 2007, they were nominated for Group of the Year, and their album One-X was nominated for Album of the Year.The band's first single from One-X, "Animal I Have Become", was Canada's most played rock song in 2006 and won that year's Mediabase award for the most played active rock song on radio/