Angels & Airwaves have just released a new single and video, “Losing My Mind.” The video features frontman Tom DeLonge’s alter-ego Disco, brother to Boomer from blink-182’s “First Date” music video.
The video sees Disco on a grand adventure through the Las Vegas strip late at night alongside TikTok dance sensation, Rampage. The official video’s release also comes with another, more edgy director’s cut video that is now live on the band’s website. The infectious track and video are the band’s third this year as they prepare to release their sixth studio album LIFEFORMS on September 24.
“I wanted to write a song about a totally insane idea that would never happen, like, what if our own country was being torn apart by racists, a pandemic, and domestic terrorism, but all at the same time… you know, just normal made up shit that would never happen,” said Tom Delonge about “Losing My Mind.”
In 2021 the band has released the soaring “Euphoria” on May 19, and then most recently “Restless Souls” on June 15. Including 2019’s “Rebel Girl” and “Kiss & Tell,” the singles on the album collectively total over 43.5 million streams. NME called Euphoria “explosive,” while Rolling Stone said “the song shows the seductive nature of an intense love.” “Restless Souls” was dubbed “quintessential Tom DeLonge” by Rolling Stone.
DeLonge, a founding member of Blink-182, formed Angels & Airwaves in 2005. The band has released five full-length albums and charted numerous hits, including “The Adventure,” “The War,” “Everything’s Magic” and “Rebel Girl.” The Dream Walker, released in 2014, hit No. 1 on iTunes and No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart. A multimedia project, the album was accompanied by a graphic novel, comic books and the short film Poet Anderson, co-directed by DeLonge, which won Best Animated Short Film at the Toronto International Short Film Festival.
Angels & Airwaves are Tom DeLonge (lead vocals, guitar/synths), Ilan Rubin (drums/guitar/backing vocals/synths), David Kennedy (guitar) and Matt Rubano (bass).
In addition to his work with AVA, DeLonge created To The Stars, a multimedia entertainment company that creates original content across music, film, television and publishing. DeLonge served as executive producer of The History Channel series “Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation” and will make his feature film directorial debut with the forthcoming Monsters of California.
German modern metal outfit VENUES released their brand new single ‘Whydah Gally‘ from their upcoming album »Solace«, due for release on 27th August via Arising Empire.
»Solace« comes as CD and limited colored vinyl and unique merch bundle – pre-orders available now!
“‘Whydah Gally’ was actually one of my favorite songs on ‘Solace’ from the start! It’s full of power and takes you on a stormy journey from the first few seconds on which you can only get off at the end. The story behind ‘Whydah Gally’ is that I said to the rest of the band that I really wanted to write a pirate song. Shortly afterwards, Valentin did the instrumentals and Lela and I started the lyrical story. ” – Robin (vocals)
From the depths of their deepest crisis, VENUES emerge victoriously, welcoming two new members – clean vocalist Lela and guitarist Valentin. When former vocalist Nyves quit the band mid-tour, following the release of their pivotal debut »Aspire« (2018), the modern metal juggernaut was shaken to the bone.
Despite this, the remaining members refused to give up and tirelessly searched for new talent. Following guitarist Constantin witnessing a performance of Lela at (of all places) at a STEEL PANTHER show, the band found their new clean vocalist.
VENUES went into the studio with producer Christoph Wieczorek (Annisokay) to record »Solace«, who coated their massive sound with a metallic alloy of remarkable precision.
“We wanted to be more metal,”Robin comments.“There were some pop sensibilities of Aspire we wanted to replace with rather the opposite.”
Melody and punch-drunk heaviness, metal and alternative rock, zeitgeist and authenticity, barbed choruses and unleashed creativity: with their soaring sophomore release, VENUES fulfill every single promise they gave on »Aspire«.
In their short history Queensland punk outfit have certainly seen the highs and lows of the music industry. From getting to open for bands like Bodyjar and 28 Days through to seeing the last twelve months become a time of no gigs and band member changeovers it has been a wild ride for the boys that just want to write new music.
Now the boys are just released their brand new album titled Everyday Warrior – an album that explores topics as far and wide as aliens right through to human brainwashing.
To chat about the album Subculture’s Dave Griffiths recently sat down with the band. Take a listen to his interview right here:
New Zealand’s highest streaming rock band, Written By Wolves, have recruited Trenton Woodley of Hands Like Houses for a re-imagined version of “Better Luck Next Time.” Stream here: https://smarturl.it/nextime.
The new single takes a tongue-in-cheek look at one of the only inevitable facts of life: no matter what we do, no one gets out alive. Woodley not only contributed vocals, but also co-produced/mixed the track and starred in the corresponding music video directed by Written By Wolves guitarist, Bahador Borhani.
Woodley said of the track and video, “After recently flirting with the possibility of hopping the Tasman to play some shows together, and COVID summarily putting the brakes on that almost immediately, it seemed only right to work out a way to work together in spite of it all. Already a stacked track, being given the opportunity to work on Better Luck Next Time was as much fun as the song itself – it’s a wry grin, a whirlwind of energy and both a literal and figurative reminder to stay on your toes no matter what life throws at you.“
“Better Luck Next Time” is the second single from Written By Wolves’ upcoming EP, The Collab Project, due out on September 17 (self-release). The 5-track EP is a collection of re-imagined collaborations of tracks from their debut album Secrets, released in late 2019. In addition to Woodley, Kellin Quinn (Sleeping With Sirens), Sonny Sandoval (P.O.D.) and others have collaborated on tracks for the EP. Written By Wolves vocalist Michael Murphy shares, “The Collab Project is an on-going initiative to try and spread awareness, and to remind our fans and our followers, that no matter what they are going through, no matter what mental health struggles or demons they are going through right now, they don’t have to do it alone and they don’t have to deal with it on their own.” He adds, “The aim is to help normalise talking about our mental health issues and to help to breakdown the stigma attached to mental health.” Watch the band’s video explanation of The Collab Projecthere. Written By Wolves are a fresh and progressive cinematic rock band and one of the most exciting new rock acts to come from New Zealand in recent years. Renowned for their highly energetic live show, the band have already shared the stage with international heavyweights such as Machine Gun Kelly, Limp Bizkit, Pendulum, Sublime With Rome, Suicidal Tendencies, We The Kings and Four Year Strong, to name just a few. Since forming in 2014, the band has amassed over 325,000 monthly listeners and more than 36 million streams on Spotify, as well as over 100,000 subscribers and 46 millions views on YouTube.
Australia’s maniacal rock-fusioneers Twelve Foot Ninja snuck back into the world’s eyes and ears last month with the stealthy drop of their single Long Way Home, the first taste of new music since their album OUTLIER in 2016. That single came with a 2D platformer videogame. Fans who collected all 12 brick phones in the game discovered they could unlock the band’s music video for Long Way Home.
On Friday July 9, the band released Start The Fire, the second single from their upcoming album VENGEANCE, and today, they reveal its music video.
But the big announcement includes an incredibly immersive set of content that they have been quietly working on for 5+ years. In addition to announcing the pre-order of their hotly anticipated third album VENGEANCE (scheduled October 15 release), Twelve Foot Ninja also announce PROJECT VENGEANCE which comes witha whole LOT more…
True to form, Twelve Foot Ninja aim to pull off something that no other musical act in history ever has before. In addition to the album VENGEANCE, the band is releasing a literary high fantasy novel called THE WYVERN AND THE WOLF written by Nicholas Snelling – both novel and album are available for pre-order now and scheduled for release on October 15, with the first 12 chapters sent to you when you pre-order.
Set in a grim and savage world, THE WYVERN AND THE WOLF tells the tale of an orphaned samurai boy called Kiyoshi who is adopted by the ruthless leader of a clan of ninja. Much more than a mere origin’s story, however, the novel is a tour de force in fantasy fiction and world-building, and represents a unique partnership with Snelling. Published by The Venn Gents, the novel can be pre-ordered now from www.twelvefootninja.com.
The original story of the Twelve Foot Ninja was conceived by the band’s guitarist/producer Stevic MacKay and his partner Fiona Permezel. It was that concept which first inspired THE WYVERN AND THE WOLF.
Also available now from the band’s website is a graphic novel called VENGEANCE, written by Stevic Mackay with artwork by George Evangelista. The graphic novel sees the band’s namesake, the Twelve Foot Ninja, journey through alternate dimensions to take on an evil alien entity.
As ambitious and unlikely as this ‘world-first’ multimedia release might seem, Twelve Foot Ninja deem it a vital innovation. In the age of streaming, music has become increasingly under-valued and the plight of the professional musician has become less sustainable. And yet, at the very beginning of the band’s journey, Twelve Foot Ninja planned to expand their offering with a suite of deeply immersive and premium content. Finally, we will start to experience the fruits of that early vision – perhaps a fortuitous move in this uncertain world of snap lockdowns, but certainly a smart way of broadening the band’s already fervent fanbase. Mackay explains PROJECT VENGEANCE: “This is an exorcism of content that’s spent a decade in gestation. ‘Catharsis’ is close to what it feels like to finally share Kiyoshi’s story; and I guess respond to all questions pertaining to our name; All this time, so many have thought ‘Twelve Foot Ninja’ was tongue-in-cheek, when in actuality, the story’s genesis occurred a year before the formation of the band. I really hope our fans enjoy the vastness of what we’ve created, and we’re able to continue to surprise people with new methods of storytelling.” The sheer amount of content might be a ‘world-first’ for a band, but the fact is, breaking records isn’t exactly new for Twelve Foot Ninja. They once held—and may still hold—the world record for most successful crowdfunding campaign of a music video. And since 2014, they’ve amassed a mantlepiece full of awards – from being named ‘Best New Talent’ in the US (Revolver’s Golden God Awards), ‘Best Artist/Song Discovery’ (SiriusXM Liquid Metal Charts), ‘Best Metal Music Video’ (Independent Music Awards) and a highly coveted ARIA nomination for ‘Best Hard Rock Album’. Little wonder, then, that they’ve also clocked up over 42 million spins on Spotify and 22 million plays on YouTube.
Certain to clock up even more views, is the video for their brand-new single Start The Fire.The trackwinds in with the lupine howl of a Tibetan kangling (a horn made out of a human femur). Known as the sound of death, you can learn more on the kangling in the graphic novel VENGEANCE). A chirruping pattern of digitised tablas and sliding panes of silvery synths then ratchet the tension before a demented scream and a snarling, bass-heavy, bowel-emptying riff drops in!
In the words of Mackay: “Start The Fire drew lyrical inspiration from Todd Phillips and Scott Silver’s portrayal of the Joker. When you start treating people according to broad prejudice, they’re left with little reason not to become what they’re supposedly guilty of already being. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.” “The video concept revolves around the threat of total annihilation. The strung-up band is being injected with a copper-based enzyme that, when mixed with human blood, can be extracted to power up current collector fuel cells (purposed for reanimating Primordian bio-technology). The band’s performance is a shared, mutual delusion. It’s all pretty straight-forward, really.”
Twelve Foot Ninja’s third album VENGEANCE is scheduled for release on October 15, 2021, through Volkanik. All the information about PROJECT VENGEANCE can be found at twelvefootninja.com including how to pre-order the album and the novel THE WYVERN AND THE WOLF.
THECITYISOURS reveal their brand new single ‘Dangerous’, a stylistic experiment showing an additional edge to City’s sound, wrapping catchy pop choruses in driving beats, and encompassing honest lyrical content about feelings of empowerment from pushing forward to make the best of a bad situation.
The track is taken fromthe band’ssophomore album »COMA« set for release 22nd October 2021, via Arising Empire. Speaking on their new single, guitarist/vocalist Mikey Page remarks: “When writing this record, we really wanted to blow the doors of gate kept genre boundaries wide open. We believe art should be about expression of thoughts, feelings and values however you see fit, without fear of judgement. Dangerous was born through this mentality. Collating ideas we had whilst removing the hand break of “what if?” We wanted to create something that empowered the ideology of being true to yourself no matter what and the lyrical content really reflects the excitement and freedom we felt through embracing the process. We were keen to try something new with the visuals to truly embrace this ethos, so what better way than to throw stereotypes to the wind and create an independent wrestling promotion as a vessel to carry this message. You’re perfect just the way you are, so don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”
»COMA« was recorded, engineered and mixed by long-time collaborator Oz Craggs (FEED THE RHINO, NECK DEEP, MALLORY KNOX) at Hidden Track Studios and mastered by Ermin Hamidovic (ARCHITECTS, PERIPHERY, NORTHLANE) at Systematic Productions.‘
THECITYISOURS is a 5-piece metal band from London who has quickly garnered attention and growing support for peers, industry and fans alike, with their high-octane live show and the success of their debut album. »LOW« (2019) smashed into the top 5 iTunes metal charts with several singles appearing in editorial playlists with the likes of Amazon, Deezer and Spotify (Including 2 covers on New Core and Metal UK) supporting the band.
Progressive metal outfit from Denmark, COLD NIGHT FOR ALLIGATORS, have dropped their brand new single ‘Nostalgic‘, today. A straight-up banger with a lot of brilliant nuances. Solid riffs, electronics and rhythmic oddities in a blender with a total complex and catchy outcome. The song feels like a nice continuation of both proggy and more metal influences.
The video was shot and edited by their friend Jacob Harris, who integrated live-action, the lyrics and a cool, throwback video-game aesthetic. Johan Pedersen (vocals) on the song: “We’re a weird band and have gotten quite a bit of hate over the time, both in person and online. Now we finally wrote a proper “metal” song, so it seemed appropriate to write about this. I guess this is a kind of loving middle finger to a metal scene that we come from, but don’t really fit into.”
Cold Night For Alligators are a respected and forward-thinking progressive metal outfit from Copenhagen, Denmark. Swaying the world with their innovative take on progressive metalcore and playing numerous shows across Europe and even the far east of India, these guys are no freshmen.
Having explored dense, technical prog metal on their two previous full-lengths, their upcoming material shows a more mature band with a cleaner, softer sound, focused on well-crafted, innovative elements with a progressive edge.
— COLD NIGHT FOR ALLIGATORS are: Johan Pedersen | vocals Kristoffer Jessen| guitar Roar Jakobsen | guitar Nikolaj Lauszus | drums
Pieced together over the last two years, ONCE HUMAN’s upcoming album “SCAR WEAVER” represents a massive step forward for the band. Blessed (or perhaps cursed) with plenty of additional time during the last year’s lockdown situation, the band have been able to refine and redefine their sound, inspired by a sudden creative surge from latest recruit, Max Karon. The result is an gloriously idiosyncratic modern metal record, with Lauren Hart’s career-best vocal performance just one of its dazzling revelations. With ONCE HUMAN’s most intense and explosive music to work with, the singer has pushed herself to new heights, showcasing a vastly expanded vocal range in the process.
One instant highlight of the new ONCE HUMAN record is preview single “DEADLOCK”, featuring a typically imperious vocal cameo from Machine Head’s Robb Flynn. Logan Mader’s history with Machine Head is well documented, not least in recent times when he toured the globe with Robb for the Bay Area band’s Burn My Eyes 25th Anniversary Tour. As a result, this new collaboration needs no explanation, but Lauren remains thrilled by the whole experience.
“It was absolutely amazing, are you kidding?,” Lauren Hart says, “I didn’t believe it was happening until he sent something back and I heard his voice on our song. I was like, ‘Holy crap! This is real!’ He came back with a new chorus and it was so much better than mine, so my chorus was gone! [Laughs] But then performing with him in the video, that was insane. The energy he brings on stage, he brings in person too. It was a great experience and his energy is so powerful. The video came out amazing!”
Mass Sky Raid, South East Queensland’s favourite sons of progressive music, are returning to the fray of the Australian music scene today with the news of the imminent arrival of their new single ‘Arrows’. The new single will be released on Friday July 2 and it comes with a scenic film clip shot my Ten of Swords Media! All details on how to purchase and stream the single can be found at massskyraid.com.
Not only that, they are celebrating with some sweet, sweet live shows to back it up! Friday 9th July sees them play hometown Gold Coast at Mo’s Desert Clubhouse, and supporting prog metal legends The Stranger at Woolly Mammoth on the 20th August! Details and Tickets are all available at massskyraid.com.
As for the new single, the band say that it is “…sonically progressive, crossing genres and exploring both the heavier and more ambient lighter side of our sound. We think that Arrows gives the listener a journey – both vocally and musically – moving from anthemic heavier riff-driven moments to subtle open musical space, which compliments the lyrical journey of discovery and the struggle within the search to find meaning.“
Mass Sky Raid formed in 2011 and released their debut EP ‘Courage Under Fire’ mid 2013 – and set about securing support slots with Dead Letter Circus, Twelve Foot Ninja, UK exports I Am Giant and more. They followed that up with their first full length album “Science of Fiction“, which garnered love from rock radio including triple J, Triple M, Rebel FM, Andrew Haug Radio, The Faction, 4ZZZ and 2FBi, in addition to over 40 stations worldwide. Their single “Closer” was also featured in Jane Gazzo’s top 30 of Triple M Home Grown tracks in 2017.
The band have consistently worked in collaboration with talented local Gold Coast producer Luke Palmer, and this new single and further releases to happen in 2021 are no exception.
Expect more from Mass Sky Raid this year – in the meantime, Arrows will be released into the world on all digital stores and streaming platforms on Friday July 2. All details at massskyraid.com.
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Mass Sky Raid are: Adam Lomas (Vocals), Alex Kewley (Guitar), Nic Ross (Drums), Joshua Whitney (Bass)
Electro Prog Sensation VOYAGER will transmit to the universe a special edition online show direct from Perth, Western Australia this September. Following the success of their debut online show that served fans during the first lockdown, Voyager have now expanded their horizons and announced a unique once in a lifetime performance that spans the band’s extensive career.
‘A Voyage Through Time’ sees Perth’s premiere Progressive Metal outfit Voyager present a one of a kind visual and aural performance that outlines the progression of their musical career. An online live experience with full production, a journey across two decades and seven albums with a fan-voted set list, seeks to explore a new and enhanced approach to the band’s live show serving to grab the attention of both their Australian and international fan base, and as a tribute to the songs that have stayed with fans over time.
The show will air on Sunday, September 5, a date which celebrates the Voyager 1 Spacecraft that was launched by NASA.
This is a Voyage that won’t be forgotten. Save the date.
More details and set list to be announced in due course.
Frontman Danny Estrin comments “Voyager will return to the world stage in full force this September for a cosmic show that spans the entirety of our career. Inspired by a fan curated set list, and songs that we haven’t performed in years, we’re plotting an insane live production that displays the progression of our music over the course of two decades and seven albums. We’re here to deliver a show that is truly A Voyage Through Time. Expect Voyager live like you have never seen us before.”
