The second annual Rock Allegiance Festival and was one of the most fun times I can remember at a music festival. From the location on the water outside of Philly to the stadium, to the third stage area, food options, beer gardens, VIP amenities, signings and special performances and of course the bands; this was a dream to a music lover with many types of rock, metal, and punk bands represented. It was also my birthday , so it was especially rad!Continue reading
The 3rd annual Louder Than Life Festival kicks off today at Champions Park, in Louisville, Kentucky. Ghost Cult is there to cover and bring you all the sounds and flavors of the fest! Check below for the daily line-up!Continue reading
HELLYEAH and In Flames have just announced that they will be heading out on the “Forged In Fire” North American tour with From Ashes to New and Source.Continue reading
The third annual Louder Than Life Festival will take place October 1 & 2 At Champions Park In Louisville, KY.Continue reading
In Part 2 of chat with Michael Del Pizzo of Sunflower Dead, we discussed what is on tap next for the up and coming band, cover songs, writing album number three, and how do they see the climate right now for bands trying to be successful in the music industry.
We’re thinking about a lot of things. We’re trying a couple of songs with radio programmers right now to decide if were going to go to radio with the next single, and if we do, then there will be another music video and we’ll go to radio in the fall with the third single. We actually also are writing for the third record in our downtime, because you never know. We might decide to do the new record in the fall and get it out right away, or we might tour this record for another year. We’ll see what the demand is. I know there’s also been talk of, because we’ve been doing these acoustic tour shows, maybe doing the other three or four acoustic songs Sunflower Dead style, like a little EP for fans to download. We’ll see if that happens.
I know you guys have done covers before that were fun, but I don’t know if that’s something else you would do in the future or not. I think the first thing never heard from you guys was the Police cover.
We’re definitely not a band that does a lot of covers because we’re just lazy in the sense of learning other people’s songs, but we’ll do a cover thing on a whim, like we’ll just work it and reload it to make it fit us. I don’t knowing we’ll do any covers. Maybe. You never know. Like I said, I do think the album still has legs under it, so we’re just, like everything we do, we’re just going to see how it goes and make decisions when we get all the facts. That’s it. We’re just starting to tour the record now. We did press and media without touring for a year purposefully, and radio to just build the awareness. Now we are finally touring the record so it’s all coming together.
That was definitely an interesting choice. Do you feel like it’s tougher than it used to be to break a band? This is not your first rodeo with a band and this environment is brutal for rock music.
All I can say is that the music industry unfortunately is the Wild West right now. You have to make up your own rules. I would say that Sunflower Dead takes advantage of that. We make up our own rules and we see the current climate, and we use it to our advantage. I could see how the current climate would be discouraging to most people because at the end of the day whether you’re on a label or completely independent, it all comes down to not only does the talent and skill and desire you have, but you need to have financial backing. It costs money to make money in any business, and in the music business, it probably costs $2 million to make $1 million. Do you know what I’m saying? Its a difficult time, and for us we are taking advantage of it and it’s working. I think that I was personally disappointed that the first single didn’t go higher on the charts than it did in radio, even though it did well, and I believe that’s because it’s the first time we’ve gone to radio. We are a new band in their eyes, but It’s Time To Get Weird single hit the top 40, which was good. We’re just like everyone else. We’re working and cresting awareness, ans at the end of the day, a bands job is to create awareness of their sound and their product so people will come around to it. You have to beat people over the head with it over and over again until they finally go “Oh, I get it.” That’s just how it goes.
I heard a really great thing on a podcast recently: for a new band to make it, you have to reinvigorate your fan base every couple of years with new blood, and really stay consistent for the first five years of your career. If you can do that over a couple of releases and bring awareness, then you get that sustainability factor kicks in when you get that recognition.
It’s a constant building process, and then when you reach a certain plateau, then you think “Okay, I’ve gotten somewhere.” Then you realize “Oh my god. There’s another huge amount this time.” then when you acquire that one, then you’re like “Oh my god. There’s another huge mountain.” It just keeps going and going and going. It’s why you have to keep in your mind, I would tell myself to enjoy the small victories, enjoy the process. You never know how long we’re going to be here in life or as a band, so just keep enjoying it and working to get better and spread that awareness. It’s working for us at a nice steady pace, and I believe that the groundwork that were laying, if we put out the right song, so the right things, when it does really connect, it’s going to connect big. That’s definitely the hope.
Catch Sunflower Dead on tour this fall with Hellyeah and Escape The Fate.
KEITH CHACHKES
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Sunflower Dead have spent this summer on tour, much like they have the last year. Supporting their 2015 release It’s Time To Get Weird, from their own label Blood Bat Records, the band has gone from unknown to underground sensation in a few short years. Just off the road from the tour bus, we spoke to frontman and leader Michael Del Pizzo about the bands’ recent tour with Avatar, breaking an “art rock” band in today’s climate, and the fun challenges of being a “different” kind of band than people are used to.
With Avatar and Sunflower Dead being like-minded bands and talents, we asked first how the tour went:
The Avatar tour was great. The way it happened was we had not signed onto a booking agent for our first album, and then this album, we were picking up so much steam that their booking agent came to us and said “Look, we want to pick you guys up and then we’ll put you with Avatar to get it going.” We were like ” That’s perfect.” It’s a perfect match. Those guys are very theatrical like we are, but they are a little more metal than we are, and I think we’re a little more rock than we are. The fans, in my opinion, really got their money’s worth. It was a great show and I know people have been emailing me already being like ” Are you guys going to tour with Avatar again? We’d really like to see that again.” I’m like “Hopefully.” We definitely got along great and the show, every night was just phenomenal.
In addition to the recent tour, Avatar played dates with Hellyeah and In This Moment, and have another leg of the Hellyeah tour booked, along with Escape The Fate. As a relatively new band in the last few years, we wondered how the band deals with trying to convert new fans all the time?
The live thing has been great for us since day one. The weird looks we get, they are purposefully weird. We usually start with me just playing the accordion by myself for the crowd, and for people that don’t know or haven’t heard of us, they are just bewildered that a guy in makeup would walk onstage by himself with an accordion at a metal show, but I’ll tell you what, it gets everyone’s attention and makes them shut up. The camera phones start coming out. They start filming and then when the band joins me, we start our set, and by the end of the night, we’ve made a whole slew of new fans.
Michael is a well-known multi-instrumentalist and singer, but the accordion is his main weapon of choice. We asked what drew him to him to a non-traditional instrument and when did he figure out if it could work in rock context:
When I was younger, I played the piano. I play the piano in Sunflower Dead and we haven’t been able to bring it out on the stage alone yet. I play the piano, so I just wanted to pick something up that was challenging. I never has any kind of magnetism towards the guitar or the bass or drums. I just wanted to challenge myself, and I went to a used music store when I was a kid and bought an accordion. I picked the thing up and it felt like eerily right. I just started writing on it. I don’t know why, it just worked. I showering it to my guitar player at the time when I was a kid and he was like “Wow that is really cool.” I showed him how I was playing and he was like ” Wow. That is he creepiest thing I’ve ever heard.” I don’t know how it worked for me when we started Sunflower Dead. Jamie, my guitar player in the band said ” Why don’t you play that instrument you play, the accordion. It’s just so visual.” I was like “Cool.” It’s coming to the band, and when you put it together with the band and the makeup and the music, it just fits.
Do you use a special custom microphone? How do you mic that for a live a club setting, a club PA?
I have a mini accordion. It’s made by Roland. It’s made completely different from an acoustic accordion. The mic actually plugs directly into the accordion itself and I go direct into the PA system. It’s all MIDI. It’s like this little keyboard thing I have. It’s crazy! Roland did a really great job with mocking what an accordion does, but giving something with the versatility to create sound and just have it be very simple work. If I had the mic and the acoustic accordion with the band, that would be terrible.
There is a tactile thing about accordions, if you’ve ever played one. There’s a pressure and a feeling like a real piano. Does your instrument simulate that well or did you have to get used to it?
It worked really well. The feel is there, it’s amazing what you can do with these things. There’s no doubt about it, what Roland did and the feel of the instrument is incredible. I love it. I actually love it more than the acoustic accordion because of other things I can do with it. It’s quite an instrument. They’re not cheap, but I’ve beaten it up. I’ve broken it a couple of times already because I’m a little violent with it onstage, but hey, it’s all about a show, right?
It is all about the show, and that’s the thing. I know there’s an audience of people who appreciate theatricality, not just makeup and costumes. It’s putting on a show. It’s a display of performance art really. It comes from art. I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that and just making your music as art, not a band with a gimmick.
Sure. The thing about having an image, it’s funny. There are a million bands who try to be the whole image thing and if you really don’t have the art part of it to back it up, people just see through it very quickly and write it off. They’re like ” Oh, it’s a gimmick.” In fact, I believe we do have the art to back it up, but we still have to fight in Sunflower Dead to show people that no, it’s not just a gimmick. They are actually challenging you to pay attention with this image and what I’m doing artistically. It’s easy to write people off when they have makeup or look, but I believe that what we’re doing is challenging people a little bit to have fun with them, and then when they get it, they’re like okay cool. I see what’s going on here. That’s just my personal feelings on it.
KEITH CHACHKES
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For the second year in a row, the Monster Energy Rock Allegiance Festival promises to be the east coast’s answer to the best rock and metal festivals the USA has to offer. The fest takes place at Talen Energy Stadium, 1 Stadium Drive, Chester, PA, just outside Philadelphia on September 17 & 18, 2016. With 35 bands on two stages over two days, the fest is headlined by Avenged Sevenfold, Alice In Chains, Slayer, The Offspring, Breaking Benjamin, Volbeat, and Chevelle, the fest also features The Cult, The Pretty Reckless, Pierce The Veil, Of Mice & Men, Ghost, Anthrax, Killswitch Engage, Chevy Metal, Baroness, Hellyeah, Sevendust, Motionless In White, Buckcherry, Trivium, Avatar, Max & Iggor Cavalera Back To Roots, Jim Breuer and the Loud & Rowdy, Sick Puppies, The Amity Affliction, letlive., Neck Deep, Skindred, KYNG, Young Guns, Crobot, Devour The Day, Twelve Foot Ninja, Dinosaur Pile Up, Death Angel and Hundredth.
Rock Allegiance also features a craft beer and Gourmet Man Food experience celebrating what makes Philadelphia cuisine famous, unique and delicious. A main theme of the fest is supporting craft beer entrepreneurship with a celebration of local breweries and specialty drafts hailing from throughout the nation. The initial lineup of regional and national craft beers is as follows: Evolution Craft Brewing Co. (Salisbury, MD), Fordham & Dominion Brewing Company (Dover, DE), New Belgium Brewing (Fort Collins, CO), Starr Hill Brewery (Crozet, VA), Tröegs Independent Brewing (Hershey, PA) and Victory Brewing Company (Downington, PA). Gourmet Man Food: The initial Gourmet Man Food lineup includes: Braz-B-Q, Chickie & Pete’s, The Cow & The Curd, Dos Hermanos, Dump ’n’ Roll, M.A.T.T.’s Gourmet Sliders, Mama’s Meatballs, Seoulfull Philly, Sum Pigand The Tot Cart. You can get tickets at this link:
Once again Hellyeah has proven why they are dubbed with the name “supergroup”. This all American heavy metal band consists of many of the biggest names of metal to date. Including vocalist Chad Gray of Mudvayne, former guitarist Tom Maxwell of Nothingface, bass player Kyle Sanders (Bloodsimple/Monstro), guitarist Christian Brady, and former Pantera drumming legend Vinnie Paul. Release their fifth album since their debut in 2007, entitled Unden!able (Eleven Seven Music).
This in your face power house of an album will get your body begging for the pit. From beginning to end the album shows the raw talent of the five member team. Fast paced riffs, wicked blastbeats, brutal break downs, and demonic vocals, this thirteen track album reminds us of what it means to be “Born and Breed a metalhead”.
The album opens up with ‘!’. This powerful intro begins raising the intensity inside your body until you are slapped in the face by track 2 ‘X’. This track is full of a strong lyrical rhythm accompanied with powerful double bass, strong break downs, and mind shredding riffs. Then it leads my personal favorite song on the album track 3 ‘Scratch a lie’. Chad Grey brings those blood chilling screeches, and fast paced lyrics that made him the monster he is today. This song will make you want start a mosh pit at your family reunion. The fourth track ‘Be Undin!able’ is what I like to call the anthem song. Most albums have them. It is the song where it seems to bring the crowd together, though heavy and still has the possibility to knock your teeth out, it’s a song with a positive message and encourages us to stand together as one.
Next song ‘Human’ was the first single off the album. This song gave you the sneak peek of this monstrous album. Though not as heavy as the rest, it still gives you the adrenaline pumping, head banging feeling the rest of the album gives you. The album slows down a bit with the next couple tracks. Though still pure metal, it is just not as in your face as the beginning half. ‘Leap of Faith’, ‘Blood Plague’, the Phil Collins cover of “I Don’t Care Anymore” and ‘Live or Die’ bring you back to the typical Hellyeah style, the heavy metal outlaw, showing a little bit of that southern side of metal. ‘I Don’t Care Any More’ features some leads courtesy of Vinnie Paul’s brother, Dimebag Darrell Abbott, making an appearance via tapes from beyond the grave.
Then there is the track ‘Love Falls’. A melodic ballad that pulls at the heart-strings. Chads’ lyrics transport you to a heartbreak we have all received before, showing his embarrassment and humanity. It’s a refreshing song in the midst of such chaos and brutality. Then the sirens fill your ears. A short intro ’10-34′ that leads into a riot, ‘STARTARIOT’. This song alone makes me want to bleed in a pit. The impact of the drums, the lyrics, guitar, amazing bass riffs, all of it. It’s the perfect storm for a circle pit. Lastly, ‘Grave’. The last song of the album. Just as strong and in your face but has a nice fade out giving you a sense of rejuvenation. Like you just won a war. All and all this album is strong, fast, brutal, and most importantly, HEAVY!
In closing. This album is a must have for any metal fan. It shows the roots and development of our beloved genre. Combining southern and heavy metal together into a sweet harmony of chaos. I recommend this album to anyone and it will be in my playlist for a while. Did they make a great album. I say Hellyeah.
8.0/10
TIM STEBBINS
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Louisville Kentucky’s top flight metal and hard rock festival, the 3rd annual Louder Than Life festival has announced its 2016 lineup. Avenged Sevenfold will headline, with Slipknot, Slayer, Disturbed, Korn and The Cult performing among others on October 1st and 2nd.
Tickets go on sale this Wednesday at noon EST at www.LouderThanLifeFestival.com. Prices will be $79.50 for a single-day general admission, $89.50 for a general admission weekend pass, and $234.50 for a VIP weekend pass. Other packages are available, with prices increases soon.
Other bands performing at Champions Park on River Road are Ghost, Cheap Trick, The Pretty Reckless, Alter Bridge, Pierce the Veil, Clutch, Anthrax, Hellyeah, Sevendust, Trivium and Sick Puppies. More than 50,000 fans attended last year’s sold-out festival, most from out of state.
With the Louisville locale in the forefront, the festival also features on bourbon and “gourmet man food”.
Celebrity chefs will be Edward Lee, Tom Coghill, Bill Kunz and Jonathan Schwartz, while the Gourmet Man Food Village will have several dozen choices, including Doc Crow’s, El Luchador,: 502 Café, Aporkalypse Now, Hi-Five Doughnuts, Holy Mole, The Comfy Cow, Gelato Gilberto and Cheese Louise.
Bourbon World, presented by the Louisville Courier-Journal, will feature Angel’s Envy, Basil Hayden’s, Benchmark, Buffalo Trace, Bulleit, Eagle Rare, Evan Williams, Four Roses, Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Maker’s Mark, Michter’s, Old Forester, Town Branch, Willett, Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve.
Here are the daily line-ups:
Saturday, Oct. 1 – Avenged Sevenfold, Slayer, The Cult, The Pretty Reckless, Pierce The Veil, Cheap Trick, Chevy Metal, Anthrax, Motionless In White, Hellyeah, Sick Puppies, The Amity Affliction, Avatar, Neck Deep, Young Guns, Being As An Ocean, ’68, Twelve Foot Ninja, Dinosaur Pile Up.
Sunday, Oct. 2 – Slipknot, Disturbed, Korn, Ghost, Alter Bridge, Clutch, Biffy Clyro, Pop Evil, Skillet, Sevendust, Zakk Sabbath, Parkway Drive, Trivium, KYNG, Skindred, Adelitas Way, Crobot, Smashing Satellites, Sabaton.
HELLYEAH has released a lyric video for the first track from their forthcoming, as yet untitled new album, due later this year. The track ‘Human’ can be watched at this link or below.
HELLYEAH’s new album will be their fifth as a band, and will be released from Eleven Seven Music.
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