The metal and hard rock community received the news on Monday, February 17th, that Devo‘s Bob Casale died of heart failure at the age 61. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, and two daughters, Alex and Samantha.
Casale, who also went by the nickname “Bob 2,” was a founding member of the five-piece band, whose name was short for De-Evolution. Playing along side his brother, Gerald, the iconic group developed a following from songs like “Jocko Homo”, “Girl U Want”, and their 1980 mega-hit, “Whip It.”
Outside of Devo, Casale had many musical side projects. He’s responsible for contributing to the score to Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, and provided the theme song to the 1990s cartoon, Rugrats. His field of work also included musical contributions to video games and television commercials.
The last Devo album that Casale released was 2010’s Something For Everybody.
Casale was a solid sound man, engineering the sound for each Devo album, in addition to guitar, keyboard and back-up vocals. His stage presence is often described as fun and wacky. Devo was a part of the playbill in Lollapalooza in 2010, performing on the main stage. Devo was so unique and visually entertaining and Casale played an intricate role in that.
Do yourself a favor and check out some of Devo’s discography and celebrate Casale’s work. Also some great metal Devo covers, check out Soundgarden’scover of “Girl U Want” and Love and Death’s cover of “Whip It.”
For more Metal News, Concerts, and more keep visiting Upstate Metal and be sure to follow me on twitter @SaintGOfficial and feel free to share your thoughts with me about Bob Casale.
Belgian death metal veterans ABORTED are hitting the bricks in support of their upcoming release, The Necrotic Manifesto, launching an international tour on February 22.
ABORTED named Rochester and Albany among the cities they will pass through during their upcoming international tour. (Photo Credit: Aborted/Century Media Records)
The tour takes them through upstate New York, with stops in Rochester on March 30th, at the Montage Music Hall, and a stop in Albany the following day at Bogie’s.
The Necrotic Manifesto will released on April 29th by Century Media Records, and will be the band’s eighth full-length studio album. It will feature Jacob Hansen as producer, who is also known for his work with Volbeat, HeavenShallBurn and Mercenary.
“I can’t believe we did it to be honest.”, stated front-man Sven de Caluwé, through his label’s press release. “We had a little over three months from start to master on this record– everyone really gave 300% on this record, and it was an absolute pleasure to work with Jacob once again, who really pulled the best out of all our asses.
“I can say in all honesty that ‘The Necrotic Manifesto’ is without a doubt the strongest record ABORTED has done thus far and could not be more proud of everyone involved in the project, stated de Caluwé. He continued to describe the CD as the band’s “most brutal,” and “technical” record from the band, in their nearly 20 years of recording.
Phlegethon, of Wormed, and Vincent Bennett, of TheAcaciaStrain, provide cameoi appearances on the CD with their vocals.
The album artwork was done by Par Olofsson (Pathology, Immolation, Immortal).”
Below is a track listing for the upcoming CD, along with announced tour dates.
The Necrotic Manifesto track-listing:
1. Six Feet Of Foreplay
2. The Extirpation Agenda
3. Necrotic Manifesto
4. An Enumeration Of Cadavers
5. Your Entitlement Means Nothing
6. The Davidian Deceit
7. Coffin Upon Coffin
8. Chronicles Of Detruncation
9. Sade & Libertine Lunacy
10. Die Verzweiflung
11. Excremental Veracity
12. Purity Of Perversion
13. Of Dead Skin & Decay
14. Cenobites
In support of The Necrotic Manifesto, ABORTED will tour North America together with Kataklysm in March/April 2014. The band will then return to Europe in May for a handful of release shows before heading into the festival season. See below for all upcoming tour dates.
ABORTED tour dates:
Feb. 22 – BlastFest – Bergen (Norway)
Mar. 27 – Empire – Springfield, VA (United States)
Mar. 28 – Sounds Asylum – Middletown, NY (United States)
Mar. 29 – The Underground Arts – Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Mar. 30 – Montage Music Hall – Rochester, NY (United States)
Mar. 31 – Bogie’s – Albany, NY (United States)
Apr. 1 – Middle-East – Cambridge, MA (United States)
The Gathering at Chaffee’s has announced the 2014 lineup for their annual festival held in Girard, PA. The two-day event will take place July 25th-26th and feature some major regional acts.
With “Last Call” tickets only being $50, there really aren’t that many other festivals offering this caliber of talent for such a low-cost. Take our advice and check out this hidden gem of a festival that sits just outside of New York’s borders.
As a Valentine’s Day surprise, Pitchfork Music Festival has announced the first round of artists for its 2014 lineup. Taking place July 18-20th in Chicago’s Union Park. The festival will feature headlining performances from Beck, Kendrick Lamar, and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Tickets are currently on sale; three-day passes are available for $130 and single day passes are $60. Find the day-by-day breakdown of artists below, and read ‘s coverage of Pitchfork Music Festival 2013 here.
Friday: Beck, Giorgio Moroder, Sun Kil Moon, Factory Floor, Death Grips, The Haxan Cloak, Sharon Van Etten
Saturday: Neutral Milk Hotel, tUnE-yArDs, Mas Ysa, Pusha T, The Range, DIIV, Ka, Circulatory System, The Julie Ruin
The Buffalove Music Festival rounded out its 2014 lineup with the final headliner added which was announced during a special Buffalove announcement show this past Friday, February 14th at Neitzches.
The festival will also include over 20 other bands sure to please fans of all genres of music. Cody Conway, the man behind the music festival really hit this one out of the park and making the second year for this festival, a true winner.
The festival will run from June 19-21st in Silver Creek, NY at The Willow Creek Winery. Tickets include 3 nights of camping and music.This is an all ages show and gates open on Thursday 6/19/14 at 4pm. Look for the schedule of times in the near future. This is one you will not want to miss.
The groundbreaking festival Electric Forest, held within the magical confines of the Sherwood Forest will return to the legendary Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan on June 26-29, 2014. This year, Electric Forest will welcome back The String Cheese Incident for three performances including a collaboration with Lauryn Hill which has been referred to as “The Lauryn Hill Experience”.
Electric Forest has done an amazing job bringing together diverse artists into a beautiful venue for a wide array of fans throughout the musical community.
The Current 2014 Artist Lineup in Alphabetical Order: 12th Planet, Alex Metric Aloe Blacc, Anders Osborne, Andy C, Anna Lunoe, Art Department, Bob Moses, Bombino, Booka Shade Live, Bro Safari, Cash Cash, Cashmere Cat, Catz n Dogz, Cherub, Chrome Sparks, Conspirator, Cut Copy, Dantiez Saunderson, Dead Confederate, Destructo, Dirtyphonics, Dusky, Emancipator Ensemble, EOTO, Flying Lotus, Fury + MC Dino, Golf Clap, GTA, I Am Legion, Isaac Tichauer, J. Phlip, Jimmy Edgar, Jonas Rathsman, Justin Martin, K Theory, Kevin Sauderson, Kygo, Lee Burridge, Lindsay Lowend, Luminox, Matt & Kim, MK, Moon Boots, Moon Taxi, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nahko and Medicine For The People, Natasha Kmeto, Papadosio, Paper Diamond, Pegboard Nerds, Penguin Prison, Perseus, Poolside, Protohype, RAC, Rayland Baxter, Rising Appalachia, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Rosin Coven, Seven Lions, Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds, Soul Clap, Soul Visions (members of Rising Appalachia & The Human Experience), St. Lucia, Stephen “Ragga” Marley feat. Ghetto Youths Crew, Steve Angello, STS9, Syd Arthur, T. Hardy Morris, The Glitch Mob, The Revivalists, The String Cheese Incident, Thomas Jack, Topher Jones, Trippy Turtle, Until The Ribbon Breaks, Wilkinson, Xavier Rudd, Zedd, Zeds Dead, & Zoogma.
Black Lillies front man Cruz Contreras is no stranger to the music business and the Black Lillies are not his first musical endeavor. Having lent his name to two previous bands that held notable success – Contreras continues that success and more with this electrifying bluegrass outfit. The Black Lillies have grown from a group of friends sitting around a campfire to one of the hardest working independent bands in the industry.
If you missed their barn burner this past Summer at the Rochester Jazz Festival, this is your chance to see what you missed – if you were one of the foot-stomping attendees to that dance party, you know what to do! Come and enjoy the Appalachian sounds of Knoxville, Tennessee at Abilene in Rochester, NY on March 3rd. Show starts at 8:30PM and tickets are $12 and this is an all ages show.
Eschewing record labels, they’ve still managed to conquer the Billboard Top 200 charts (Runaway Freeway Blues debuted at #43), put three tracks in Country Music Television’s top 12 requested videos, and film a nationally broadcast commercial for Twizzlers. They’ve been featured on numerous television specials and played festivals as widespread as Bonnaroo, Rochester Jazz Festival, MerleFest, and CMA Fan Fair. Despite trafficking in a richer, more authentic brand of country and Americana than what gets played on mainstream country radio, they’ve still been invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry more than twenty times – a record for an independent act.
The Band: front-man Cruz Contreras, harmony vocalist Trisha Gene Brady, multi-instrumentalist Tom Pryor, bass player Robert Richards and drummer Bowman Townsend.
Ahoy there! Pirate metal band Alestorm returns to the studio for a much-awaited fourth album to be titled Sunset on the Golden Age.
“This is gonna blow all your expectations as to what an Alestorm album is all about,” said Christopher Bowes (vocals & keytar) through a Freeman Promotions press release.
Currently, there is no date for release but once it is out it will serve as the follow-up to the band’s 2011 Napalm Records release of Back Through Time.
Back Through Time was an 11-track album that any fan of this “True Scottish Pirate Metal” band would raise up a pint and sing along to rum influenced anthems. The album itself did not receive as much media coverage as it deserved. However fans of the band claim it is their favorite album. The song that caught the most attention from fans is “The Sunk’n Norwegian.”
One more drink at the Sunk’n Norwegian. One more drink before we have to die
The mighty chorus belts out battle cries and last drinks before sailors face their deaths.
Alestorm did not leave their fans marooned after the release of Back Through Time. In January 2013, the band sailed back to Australia and released their first concert DVD, Live At The End of the World. The DVD contains the full band playing a 16-song set list, including hits ‘Keelhauled’, ‘Shipwrecked’ and ‘Death Throes of the Terrorsquid’.
The band was formed in early 2004 but performed under the name Blackheart. Originally, Blackheart was a two-man band that consisted of Gavin Harper and Christopher Bowes. Shortly after being signed to Napalm Records in 2007, they changed their name to Alestorm, as the band agreed that the original name, Blackheart, did not fit their musical style.
In 2008, they released their first album, Captain Morgan’s Revenge. That same year, Gavin Harper (guitarist and founding member) left the band and was replaced with Dani Evans. Gareth Murdock later joined as the bassist. The band’s original drummer, Ian Wilson left the band in 2010 and was replaced with Peter Alcorn. Back Through Time was Alcon’s first record playing for Alestorm. In 2011, Elliot Vernon joined as the band’s keyboard player.
Alestorm is now starting a new journey and they are now recording their fourth album in Lasse Lammert’s LSD-Studio in Lübeck, Germany.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve been writing non-stop, and we’ve come up with a ton of badass material,” Bowes stated through a Freeman Promotions press release. “Some of this stuff is catchiest pirate party anthems you’ve ever heard, with choruses that’ll make you want to raise a pint of rum up high and sing your guts out. And for the fans of the epic stuff, we’ve got some songs that hit the 10-minute mark, with lyrical themes about historical events and crazy mythological madness. It’s gonna rule!”
Fans should expect more updates in the next couple of months. Alestorm plan to release Sunset of The Golden Age in the early summer.
LACUNA COIL are (L-R in picture above): Cristiano “Criz” Mozzati – drums, Marco “Maki” Coti-Zelati – bass, Andrea Ferro – vocals, Cristina Scabbia – vocals, Marco “Maus” Biazzi – guitar, Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore – guitar (Photo Credit: Century Media Records)
Just days before they set to tour, and a few weeks before the release of Broken Crown Halo, Lacuna Coil announced the retirement of both their drummer and guitarist, Cristiano Mozzati and Cristiano Migliore, collectively.
The announcement came late Valentine’s Day evening.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share this news with you today,” stated the band through a press release provided by their record label, Century Media Records. “Our two brothers Cris ‘Pizza’ Migliore and Cristiano ‘CriZ’ Mozzati have decided to retire from LACUNA COIL.” The announcement went on to state that personal reasons have led to both Mozzati’s and Migliore’s departure. ” We know how stressful and difficult it can be to balance both real life and the life of a professional touring musician, and we have nothing but total respect for their decisions to focus on their families and lives at home.”
For Mozzati, he likens his retirement as leaving family.
“After over 16 years spent with the LACUNA COIL family, I decided to move on and begin a new chapter in my life,” said Migliore. “This hasn’t been an easy decision, as you can imagine, but I felt like I needed to change some things around.”
Migliore shared his bandmate’s sentiments towards family in his statement as well.
“This hasn’t been an easy decision at all and I’ve come to it with pain in my heart,” he said. “Because together we laughed and cried; we fought and gave all our lives to this amazing band. Together we lived the dream for 16 wonderful, intense and unforgettable years. All you guys around the world gave me such positive and sincere vibes and emotions that will stay embedded in my heart for the rest of my life!”
Century Media Records thanked Migliore and Cristiano, and stated that the two will be missed. However, they also clarified to the band’s many fans that plans are still in high gear. “Broken Crown Halo marks a new chapter in the ever-evolving history of LACUNA COIL, but the band will not be slowing down. In fact, they are currently packing their bags and gear to begin touring.”
LACUNA COIL return to the road to introduce North America to ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ as part of the REVOLVER HOTTEST CHICKS IN HARD ROCK TOUR, which launches February 20 and features LACUNA COIL sharing a stage with SICK PUPPIES, Century Media Records labelmates EYES SET TO KILL, and CILVER. The tour launches in Wilmington, NC, and runs through March 20 in Anaheim, CA. See complete itinerary below, and visit www.hottestchickstour.com for additional details and VIP packages.
Joining LACUNA COIL on tour will be drummer Ryan Folden. Fans will already be familiar with Ryan, as he performed live with LACUNA COIL on the majority of the 2012 and 2013 ‘Dark Legacy’ and ‘Dark Adrenaline’ tours.
Broken Crown Halo is set for releases April 1, 2014 in North America (March 31 in Europe, Australia, New Zealand) on Century Media Records. The album is the band’s seventh studio effort, and the highly anticipated follow-up to Dark Adrenaline, which was released in January 2012 and saw the band tour with acts including Megadeth, Motorhead, Volbeat, Sevendust and Paradise Lost after debuting at No. 15 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart.
Fans can get a taste of Broken Crown Halo in the form of the album track “Nothing Stands In Our Way,” recently released via the Century Media Records Soundcloud page:
The band will also be appearing on MONSTER ENERGY’S WELCOME TO ROCKVILLE festival, where they perform April 27 alongside ROB ZOMBIE, KORN, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and more. The two-day festival, held April 26-27 along the St. John’s River in Jacksonville, FL, will also feature headliners AVENGED SEVENFOLD and THE CULT. For more information, please visit www.welcometorockvillefestival.com.
LACUNA COIL were joined in their native Italy by producer Jay Baumgardner [P.O.D., Sevendust, Evanescence, Papa Roach] and engineer Kyle Hoffmann [P.O.D., Bush, Zebrahead]. Broken Crown Halo was mastered by Howie Weinberg, whose credits include Rammstein, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Deftones and Sheryl Crow.
Morrissey announced today that he will be touring the United States this summer and will be stopping in New York for two shows near the end of the tour. On June 16th, he will be bringing his great body of work to the Artpark Main Stage Theater in Lewiston, NY. Five days later on the 21st, he will be closing the tour out at The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY with special guest Sir Cliff Richard, Kristeen Young will be opening at both shows.
This tour is in support of an as of now yet unreleased new album that should be out by the time the tour starts. Morrissey has had trouble recently with tours being cancelled part way through, so here is hoping that this tour goes off without any problems. Ticketing information will be released soon.
