Fort Rock is in just 5 days and we've been doing a ton of advance content since December for this festival! There have been tons of news articles, biographies and album reviews! We have actually written a biography for every artist performing at Fort Rock, and made a series out of it! Last week, we concluded the Fort Rock series with the openers of day two for the festival, Red Sun Rising. So, we thought we would link all of the biographies in one convenient place! These are all in order of which they were written, and the dates they were posted on are included! It started off being once a week for the most part, but then we stepped it up a notch near the middle of it, and started doing twice a week.
We also just finished writing all of the reviews for each of these artists! They're not all up yet though, so stay tuned for the rest! Only four remain, and the last two will be up on Wednesday, April 27. Once they're up, we're going to put together an organized directory for those as well! There's a lot of them! Over 130, actually! So get excited and look forward to that! This Saturday is day one of Fort Rock and there will be a ton of content like a recap blog, at least one vlog, maybe even two, depending on how much I get to film, interviews hopefully, and a ton of pictures! So there's a lot to look forward to so stay tuned!
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This is the final installment of the Fort Rock series! This week, we wrap things up with the openers for the second day of Fort Rock 2016, Red Sun Rising! We're not going to waste any time, let's get into it and learn a little bit about Red Sun Rising! Red Sun Rising is a rock band from Akron, Ohio! Even though they formed in 2007, their name has only semi recently begun to become extremely well known. The band has three albums and an EP out, and they have five members. The band consists of Mike Protich as the band's vocalist, Ryan Williams on guitar, Ricky Miller on bass, Dave McGarry rhythm guitar, and Pat Gerasia on drums! It is mostly the original lineup too, all but Dave have been in the band since the start. Dave joined in 2015 after original rhythm guitarist, Tyler Valendza departed. When asked about their music, Mike was quoted saying, “It’s not today’s rock, but it’s a new alternative. We want to uphold the foundation with subtle nuances of what’s familiar. It’s fresh because we’re telling our story through that framework." They self released their first two albums, which you can find online if you look hard enough. We were not easily able to find a ton of information on early releases but you can find them on Spotify if you hunt hard enough. We hunted everywhere and found only a couple of songs from their 2013 EP, Into Forever, which was also self released. Red Sun Rising themselves got in touch with us to give some more insight on their early work. They spoke up and told us that they actually have three independent EPs, and two full length albums that are out in the world. Their most recent and most well known album so far is Polyester Zeal. This album came out on August 5, 2015 and was released through Razor & Tie, who they signed with in 2014 after a sold out hometown show in the fall. The album reached number 41 on the US Rock Albums chart, and have spurred some pretty big hits. The album's lead single, "The Otherside" reached number one on the Mainstream Rock Songs charts and "Emotionless" hit number four! That's pretty impressive, if you ask us. The band has done some extensive touring, and the fun does not stop here. They are currently on tour with Highly Suspect, and in just a couple of weeks will also be performing with Sick Puppies and taking part in many festivals all around the US! Those festivals include the 98 Rockfest, Welcome To Rockville, Fort Rock,Carolina Rebellion, and Rock On The Range coming up this May! For further information, please check out the festival websites or Red Sun Rising's official website. Speaking of all of the festivals! We are actually going to be interviewing Red Sun Rising on May 1, which is day two of Fort Rock! We're really looking forward to sitting down with them, and learning all about them. If you have questions for them, please don't hesitate to send your questions to us, and stay tuned to hear more and see pictures from the entire festival! Also be sure to check out Red Sun Rising on Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, Instagram, YouTube, ect! Don't forget to use the hashtag #wearethread too! They often use this themselves. Trivium is a heavy metal band from Orlando Florida. They originally formed in 1998, and have sold over a million albums world wide so far. Trivium today consists of Matt Heafy as the front man and guitarist, Corey Beaulieu as the unclean backing vocalist and another guitarist, Paolo Gregletto on bass and clean backing vocals, and latest Paul Wandtke, on drums. Its been said that Matt Heafy performed a cover of "No Leaf Clover" by Metallica at a school talent show and got the attention of Brad Lewter, the original singer and founder of Trivium. Supposedly, he asked att to audition for the band, and then they together picked out Travis Smith to become the band's drummer. That being said, two weeks after Matt joined, Brad decided to leave, so he's never been part of any of Trivium's success. In 2003, they began recording some demos, and were actually briefly signed to a German Record label called Lifeforce. After they got signed, they set out to record their debut album, Ember to Inferno. The album came out on October 14 of that same year and did not reach any charts, but drew the attention of Roadrunner Records, who is still with Trivium today. In 2004, they recorded their second album, Ascendancy which didn't come out until March 2005. This was the first album that reached charts, and has a Gold certification from the UK. It reached number 79 in the UK, and 151 in the US. That was it, we're afraid, but it still did great things for their career. It helped bring them enough attention to gain them an opening performance at the iconic Download Festival in Donnington, England. They also got to open for Killswitch Engage, perform at Ozzfest, and were able to re-release Ascendancy with four bonus tracks and a DVD. The DVD contained music videos for "Like Light to The Flies", "Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr", "A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation", and "Dying In Your Arms." There's also live footage of all of those songs, along with "Rain." Their next album, The Crusade did wildly well. It was released on October 10, 2006, and hit charts in eleven different countries. It also has a Silver certification from the UK! The highest chart rating this one received was number 7 in Australia. It managed to break the top fifty in Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, Australia and the US. It also reached 92 in Switzerland, and 115 in France. After the release of their album, they went on to perform with Korn, Dragon Force, Arch Enemy, Machine Head, and did a headlining tour around Europe! They also were named the Best Live Band of 2006 a the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award. Then the following October, they decided to work with a new producer for their fourth studio album. They said they wanted to explore some new ideas and try a bit heavier of a sound. The album, Shogun was finally released on September 30, 2008, and became the first album from Trivium to break into the top 10 in any country. It reached number 4 in Canada, and hit number one in the UK! It also did very well in other countries as well. it broke the top fifty in 10 countries, Canada included. In support of this album, they set out on two different headlining tours around the US, and were a massive part of Mayhem Festival 2009. They also got to headline shows in Australia in early 2010. Their touring did not stop, and they actually contributed to the God Of War II video game soundtrack. After doing a few more tours, they entered the tour once more. For the In Waves album, they decided to take a step back and revisit the sound of their Ascendancy album some. They chose to use similar vibes and tuning, and apparently was a good idea. The album reached number 9 in Australia, 8 in Germany, 12 in New Zealand, 13 in Australia, 16 in the UK, and broke the top fifty in three other countries as well. The album came out in August 2011 around the world, and ended up co-headlining a tour with In Flames around the US and Europe in support of the album. They also made yet another appearance at Download Festival in June 2012. After that they went out on tour with Five Finger Death Punch on the Trespass America Festival with bands like Pop Evil, Emmure, Killswitch Engage, Battlecross, and God Forbid. They continued touring through the end of 2012, and then announced that they soon would be recording their sixth studio album. In works for this one, they hired Disturbed's David Draiman as a producer. They finally released the album, Vengeance Falls on October 15, 2013 and came in as high as number 8. That rating came from Australia, and the lowest it got came from France and was 78. So it did very well, and while we couldn't find much tour information regarding the period between the release of this album, and their next and newest album, we assume they followed their usual suit and did some extensive touring before hitting the road once more. As a teaser for the next album, Silence In The Snow, Trivium launched a website called "snow.trivium.org. Along with that was a change in a Facebook page profile picture to match the website. They then posted a countdown on their website, and had an unofficial picture get leaked on the internet revealing the title and three new songs. They actually did not confirm the album until after the song titles were leaked and then finally released the album on August 7, 2015. The album did fairly well, charting as high as number seven in Australia and as low as 81 in France. They are still promoting this album today, with a ton of touring world wide. They just concluded tours in the UK and are currently in Australia. After that, they come over here to the US to tour with Sevendust and Like A Storm. They also will be performing at many festivals such as Earth Day Birthday, Welcome To Rockville, Fort Rock, Carolina Rebellion, Northern Invasion, Rock On The Range and Rock N' Derby! Further information can be found on Trivium's official website! Please stay tuned because we hopefully will be catching their set at Fort Rock and will have plenty of pictures to share! Before the show though, please be sure to check out the reviews we'e done for Trivium! We have nearly completed their album discography, and will be doing so later this week! What we have so far is: Ember To Inferno -Ascendancy -In Waves -The Crusade -Vengenace Falls and Silence In The Snow! Shogun is the last one remaining and will be up later in the week! This was also the next to last installment of the Fort Rock series! The whole series concludes next week with Red Sun Rising! After five months of constant working, I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Immortal Music will be going to the 2016 Fort Rock festival! The festival is on April 30 and May 1, and I have already requested several interviews! Now, keep in mind before you read this list that none of the following have been confirmed just yet, but are potential interviews! The only interview we have confirmed thus far is Red Sun Rising. I will be meeting with them sometime on Sunday, after they perform early on Sunday morning. I have requested interviews with Adam Gontier of Saint Asonia, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, A Day To Remember, Bring Me The Horizon, Shinedown, Rob Zombie, and Asking Alexandria. As I get them confirmed, I will be posting about them over on our Facebook and hopefully Twitter and would greatly appreciate your help with the questions! If you have any for any of the artists above, please send it to us, and let us know if you want us to include your name or not. We will, unless you state otherwise! We are absolutely ecstatic about getting this pass, and cannot wait for the festival! We are still going to keep up with the content we've been doing now through the festival. There's going to be two album reviews from Fort Rock artists every day until the festival, news, and there's still two more installments of the Fort Rock series left to do. After the biographies are complete, we will compile them all into a directory for you, so you can read all about them in one convenient place. I also wanted to thank Cassidy Donahue and Coby Andrews for all of their help with the preview coverage! Both of them are part of the Immortal Music team, and have helped write a handful of reviews for this festival. More are still coming! So please stay tuned for all the content still yet to come, and please be sure to send any questions you have for the bands previously mentioned to us! You can send them in the comments of this post, Tweet us or message us on Facebook! This is going to be the second year in a row I've gotten to go to Fort Rock, and will officially be the biggest festival I've ever attended, let alone covered! Here's hoping I can do it all! Thank you so, so much for all your support and I hope someone out there is excited as I am for this! Sincerely, Ariel -founder of Immortal Music Asking Alexandria is a metalcore band originally from North Yorkshire, England! The band today consists of Denis Stoff as the vocalist, Ben Bruce on lead guitar, Sam Bentley on bass, Cameron Liddel on rhythm guitar, and James Cassells on drums. But, the original lineup started a bit different, and Denis is actually a brand new edition to the band. Back in 2008, the band was formed by Ben Bruce, who brought in Danny Worsnop as the vocalist, Joe Lancaster on bass, James and Cameron in their current roles, and a man named Ryan Binns for keyboard. Ryan left in 2009 to join a band called With One Last Breath, and then Sam joined. The lineup remained to be just Danny, Ben, Sam, James and Cameron until 2015, when Danny left to focus on We Are Harlot full time. We'll get into that, but first let's talk about what Asking Alexandria has done so far. FIrst off, where did the name Asking Alexandria come from? There's a running joke on the internet that goes, "Who's Alexandria and why are we always asking her things?" When asked about it, Ben Bruce said this, "Most bands have a pretty shit band name, so I just came up with something. I came up with Alexandria as a human name, because people relate to humans." To this day, there's no answer on why 'Asking' was thrown in, but we assume its because it had a nice ring to it. In Spring 2009, Asking Alexandria began recording their first album, Stand Up And Scream and got signed to Summerain Records. The album was then released on September 15, 2009, and just barely broke the Billboard 200. It only hit 170 but on that chart, but alternatively it reached 29 on the Top Independent Albums, and number 5 on the Top Heatseekers chart. It stayed in the Top Heatseakers chart until July of the following year, actually. The album features a couple of the biggest Asking Alexandria songs to ever be released. Those are, "The Final Episode (Let's Change The Channel)" and "Not The American Average." This album also sent them out on their first US tour, with Evergreen Terrace, For The Fallen Dreams and Unholy. Success was also beginning to rise for AA, and then they came out with their second album, Reckless & Relentless. The album was released on April 5, 2011, which makes today (the day this biography was written) the album's fifth birthday! They began recording it in June 2010, and the album reached as high as number 2 on US charts. That was on the US Hard Rock Albums, and it also number four on the Rock Albums, and number 9 on the Billboard 200. It also charted at number 9 in the UK and 30 in Australia. This album spurred two more very popular Asking Alexandria songs, which are "Breathless" and "Someone, Somewhere." "Someone, Somewhere" actually was re-released as a special acoustic version featuring Ben Bruce as the primary singer on a bonus iTunes edition of their next album, From Death To Destiny. Just before the release of From Death To Destiny, Asking Alexandria set out on the 2012 Outbreak tour. Near the end of the tour, in December, Danny actually tore a vocal cord, and was put on vocal rest. He actually did continue on for a bit before seeing a doctor, but something like that is not to be messed with. After performing at a memorial concert for Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence, Danny went to a doctor and was put on the vocal rest previously mentioned. Surprisingly, he managed to fully recovery without surgery by January 2013. From Death To Destiny was already mostly recorded by the time all of this happened, and they released the technical first single for the album, "Run Free" on December 4, 2012. It sort of felt like a one off single, because it was so long between that and the announcement for the album. he album wasn't announced until late March-ish, and wasn't going to be released until August 6, 2013. The song that's actually thought to be the first single from the album is "The Death Of Me." This was actually the final album to feature Danny Worsnop as the singer. Danny announced his departure from the band in January 2015, after doing some extensive touring over the course of 2014. He actually had started We Are Harlot in 2014, and released one song, which was "Denial", but that was it until the departure was announced. Danny did leave on good terms, just wanting to make different music, and Ben announced that there would be a new singer soon. Then in May of 2015, they announced that Denis Stoff would be the new singer, and revealed him with a new song called "I Won't Give in." Denis had previously been in two metalcore bands from the Ukraine, Make Me Famous and Down & Dirty. Many people said that Make Me Famous was "ripping off Asking Alexandria", but they actually were just very similar. When Ben was asked if he had considered anyone else, he said it ha to be Denis. Frankly, after hearing their new album, The Black, we definitely agree it was a good fit. Many people at first actually did not like Denis, but due to the fact that the album has hit number one here in the US on two separate charts, clearly some minds were changed. They originally planned to perform with Denis for the first time at Manchester Academy 3 in late May 2015, but he could not get his work visa secured and had to cancel. They finally did get to perform with him, and went on to perform at Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals in Germany and then the 2015 Vans Warped tour. While on tour in Europe in October, they announced that they would be releasing an album in early 2016. Then finally, The Black was released on March 25, 2016 and is taking the world by storm right now! It hit number one on the Top Hard Rock Music Albums, and Recorded Label Independent Albums here in the US, and did extremely well everywhere else! We're actually loving the album right now, and if you haven't heard it yet, well we recommend you do! We have written a review for it, along with every other Asking Alexandria! If you're interested in reading about any of their albums, all of the reviews are linked at the bottom of this post. We also encourage you to go on over to Asking Alexandria's official website. Over there you will find a bunch of new music, along with a ton of tour dates! In just a couple of days, they will begin a tour that's primarily in Australia and then will move on to perform at many festivals here in the US and do the second leg of the British Invasion tour with Bullet For My Valentine. The Festivals include Welcome To Rockville, Fort Rock, Carolina Rebellion, Northern Invasion, Rock On The Range, and the Chicago Open Air Festival! Stand Up And Scream -Reckless & Relentless -From Death To Destiny -The Black Hello everyone! Its possible that you noticed we've been very active over the last couple of months. Particularly in the review section, actually! Its okay if you didn't notice, but just so you know we've been posting reviews very consistently since January, and have missed very few days since then. In fact, we didn't miss a single day review wise for the month of March, and managed to get nearly 30,000 views on the website! So first off, I want to say thank you for that! Your participation and excitement for the content and the music in general is very, very much so appreciated! It also is just very exciting to see others so passionate about it all as well! Now, I wanted to update you on somethings really quick. First off, the reviews are about to be stepped up another notch. With a lot of determination, and some luck, hopefully there will be two reviews a day between now and April 29. The reason for that is actually because we're currently trying to complete the discographies for every single Fort Rock artist, and surprisingly we're almost there! Back in December we made a list of every artist, and then went through and listed every album they had in their discography. We also then had to go through and check to see which ones were already done on the website, and which ones still needed to be done. Some date all the way back to the early days of Immortal Music, and some are more recent. What I find to be damn impressive is out of 119 albums in total, there are now only 47 left. Fort Rock is on April 30 and May 1, and I'm hoping with luck, we can get them all done before the show. Though it won't be completely done because on April 29, Rob Zombie releases his The Electric Warlock album, and due to scrambling for interview questions and probably working at my day job, I probably won't manage to get to it in time. So, stay tuned for that, because I really am going to try to get two up a day. I'm not sure if that can happen, but I'm sure as fuck going to try. There's also been a series going on once to twice a week since mid December that's going to be coming to an end here shortly. The Fort Rock series has mostly been one biography a week, primarily posted on the weekends. We did double up for a few weeks, so we had less work to do come closer to the festival. It was going to go back to once a week, and go through April 24, but I decided I'm going to do one more week of doubles. This will make it end on the 17th, leaving the last week of the month free to focus on the last bunch of reviews, and interview questions. I still have not gotten my pass yet for the festival, but have heard back from the press lady that's running it all. She told me approvals will be coming shortly, so I'm pushing on with the content. Now, for the last update, which is actually a big one. After Fort Rock concludes and I finish posting all the content from the festival and recover a bit from it all, I will be making some changes to the website. Nothing too drastic, though I am kicking around the idea of changing the layout of it a bit because its been the same for the last four years, and I feel its over due for a change. A massive change has already been made, but you guys haven't been aware of it. Some of you may remember that a few months back, I posted saying a friend of mine named Cassidy (or Pablo, as she was called from time to time), has helped write a few things here and there. She's now officially part of Immortal Music, and we have another writer as well. You can find posts from him already, if you look around the website, and will be properly introduced soon. I will be updating the website so you can find information about them, as well as updated information on myself and Immortal Music. I haven't touched hte information pages in a while, so in early to mid May, I will be doing that. Let's see, do I have any other updates for you? I don't think so, but I guess I can mention that I am planning on getting a pass for Warped tour 2016, and have applied to cover the Alternative Press Awards. I'm not counting on the APMA's actually going through, due to the fact that last year they had 300+ applications, and only about fifteen press spots to fill. Those odds, added with the fact that its in Ohio and I'm in Florida, its highly unlikely. But, I still felt like it was worth applying, so I did it anyways. So, we shall see. So that's what's going on! Thank you again for your support and excitement, and I hope I don't let anyone down! Newest writer for Immortal Music, Coby Andrews saw aeveral great bands at the Apollo Theatre in Chicago, IL. He saw Eyes of the Beholder, Reckless Redemption, Everybody Panic!, Beyond Threshold, Hed PE, and Powerman 500. He got a chance to speak with Everybody Panic a little bit, and wanted to share some information about them. Here is the biography he wrote about Everybody Panic!
Hailing from Oklahoma City, OK, Everybody Panic! formed in 2012, pulling their band name from one of the quotes in the movie Semi-Pro. released their first self produced, and self titled, EP independently in February of 2013. In support of the release of their EP the band performed at high profile dates with the likes of Fiver Finger Death Punch, Godsmack, Deftones and many others. Through hard work and dedication the band caught the attention of CaviGold Records and entered the famed and haunted Robert Lang Studios in Seattle, WA in March of 2015, to record their follow up, "Attack" which was released on October 30th of 2015. Since its release they have been on tour in support of the album with Steel Panther for the remain of their All You Can Eat tour and they started a country wide tour with Powerman 5000 and HED PE on March 24th. Everybody Panic! is a breath of fresh air in the modern metal music scene. Ty (lead vocals) brings hard driving clean and dirty vocals mixed into their music. Using a vocal technique that reminds one of Korn and somehow the Foo Fighters as well. Their unique sound isn’t just limited to vocals, the instrumentals throws back to the late 90’s/early 00’s Nu Metal scene. One moment you’d swear you’re hearing a Korn/System of a Down mashup and the next it sounds like modern Breaking Benjamin. Yet at the same time they have a completely new sound of which I’ve never heard before. I think what I see in them more than anything is that these guys are out there having fun and loving what they do. They bring so much energy and passion to the stage that I can see these guys, if they maintain this amount of raw energy, that they will be one of those lasting bands like Iron Maiden or The Rolling Stones. Check out our reviews on their two EPs Attack and EVERYBODY PANIC and be sure to see them while they’re out on tour with HED PE and Powerman 5000. Stay tuned for the reviews, they're coming very soon! For the 19th installment of the Fort Rock series, we're going to be talking about the American rock band, Pop Evil! Pop Evil originally formed in 2001, out of North Muskegon, Michigan. It was started by the band's front man, Leigh Kakaty, and he got Dave Grahs, Dylan Allison and Jamie Nummer to join him. Jamie was the band's original bassist, though he left in 2007 for personal reasons. Interestingly enough, we discovered his replacement and current bassist, Matt DiRito was in a band from here locally called Before The Fire, and Archangel. The lineup today consists of Leigh Kakaty as the band's vocalist, Nick Fuelling who is the lead and rhythm guitarist, Dave Grahs who originally joined as the band's bassist, and now is the rhythm guitarist, Matt DiRito as the bassist, and Joshua Manrunde on drums. Now that you've been formally introduced to the band, let's get into their legacy. Pop Evil have released four studio albums and one EP over the years. They made their debut technically in 2005 with the Ready or Not EP, which was a three song EP. Only one of the three songs was re-released on a later album, which was "Someone Like You." "Someone Like You" was featured again on their debut album, Lipstick On The Mirror. Their proper debut came on August 12, 2008 with their Lipstick On The Mirror album! It did not reach any charts, but still was a very good album no less. It was originally released by Pazzo Music but then was re-released through Universal Republic on May 26, 2009. Three years later, the band released their second album, War Of Angels. War Of Angels was released on July 5, 2011, and actually hit number one on the US hard rock charts! This album features several songs that put Pop Evil on the map, such as "Monster You Made", "Boss's Daughter" and "Broken & Betrayed." The War Of Angels album very clearly was a crucial album in Pop Evil's career. Then came their third studio album, Onyx. The album was released on May 14, 2013 and did fairly well. It hit number 3 on the US Rock Albums chart, and number 9 on the Independent Albums charts! This album produced three number one hit singles, all of which are often titles associated with Pop Evil's name. This album brought us, "Trenches", "Deal With The Devil" and "Torn To Pieces." At this point, Pop Evil has seen some massive success and have gotten do so some incredible things. They've gotten to tour with Drowning Pool, Trust Company, Papa Roach, 3 Doors Down, Escape The Fate, ect, as well as headline many shows themselves. They've even gotten to tour over in Sweden with Seether and Avatar! This brings us to their latest release, Up which came out on August 21, 2005. The album did do very well on charts, reaching number 3 on the US Hard Rock charts, and 6 on the Us Rock Charts. It so far has two singles, "Footsteps" and "Ways To Get High", though honestly aside from that, we found the album to be a bit disappointing. Feel free to read our review of it to find out more! Something else very special came up the day this album was released. Grand Rapids, Michigan declared August 21 to be Pop Evil day in honor of them! How many bands can say they have a day declared to them? Not many! Pop Evil is extremely active today as well! You can catch them on tour right now with Red Sun Rising, and Smashing Satellites. The tour goes through April 28, and then Pop Evil will be taking part in a few festivals. They will be performing at the 98Rockest in Tampa, Welcome To Rockville in Jacksonville, FL, and Fort Rock in Fort Myers, FL. After that, they get to go out on tour with Disturbed and Rob Zombie! That tour goes from May 3 through May 25! They also will be appearing at Carolina Rebellion, Rockfest 2016, Northern Invasion, Rock N Derby, Rock On The Range. There's even more where that came from! Be sure to take a look at their website for a full list of tour dates. |
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