The future of Ill Nino b-sides is here, and it takes the form of live tracks. Scrap 60 Productions is currently mixing 2 live tracks, as recorded at Brixton in the UK during their most recent Euro tour. The tracks are “God Save Us” and “What Comes Around”. Never Expected Remix – Now that they are back home, Ill Nino hit the studio earlier this week to do a remix of the song “What Comes Around” off their Revolution…Revolucion debut. BUT, this is a remix you’d never expect… Usually when you hear the word ‘remix’, you think radio friendly or dance (for lack of a better word) version, correct? This remix actually went in the exact opposite direction. “Total different parts with new guitar riffs. Almost death metal,” tell Marc. For this remix, the guitar, drums, and bass were re-recorded – only the vocals and acoustic guitar in the middle of the song remain the same. “The arrangement is different too. You will recognize things from the original, but this new version is straight up heavy, brutal.” Today (Jan 31), Marc and company will be mixing the song in New York. The destination for this song? Along with Slipknot’s new abuse mix of “My Plague” and new Coal Chamber track “Something”, this new rendition of “What Comes Around” is on the Resident Evil soundtrack…. It’s true. So you wanna see some video of some live Ill NIno? See VIDEO section! All the footage you see was shot at The Limelight in NYC on Nov 15th 2001 – during and after their show. Courtesy of BK (for BC/BK Productions), check out an interview with the band on their bus after the show, and other appearances too… Have you checked out our photo special of the band when they toured here in December 01 with Machine Head? Go to the Gallery…

Have you downloaded ‘Get Inside’ yet? For all you kareoke kings (and queens) out there, we present Get Inside’s lyrics in full. GET INSIDE Seed, gotta let it grow, why ya gotta watch when I let it feed? Better look into the mirror for the face you hide away, everyday But I don’t give a fuck I let it roll – I smoke the old Gotta run, gotta rend, gotta maim, gotta make it through another maze STAY AWAY! Pleaseí¢ä‰åŒ_ wring the blood from my hands Don’t pretend that you understand me I don’t even want you looking at me Motherfucker, GET INSIDE! Get inside, get inside (motherfucker) Christ, have you seen this guy? Make ya sick, gonna peel away all the impurities Cuz all you wanna do is keep curin’ me, but I don’t give a fuck I kill everyone You’ll be mopping up blood and guts and all the shit when I’m done Isn’t this fun? Gimme a gun and I’ll tell you all the secrets I hide BEFORE I RUN! Pleaseí¢ä‰åŒ_ wring the blood from my hands Don’t pretend that you understand me I don’t even want you looking at me Motherfucker, GET INSIDE! Get inside, get inside (motherfucker) (Solo: Josh) Maybe if you look away, I can slip away, gotta get away (RUN, MOTHERFUCKER) Right now I stare at shit, I’m a heretic, but I’ll never give you none of it Tied up in the back of the lab, laid on the slab, got the gift of gab, what’choo want from me? I don’t even know I got a damn disease, but I KNOW YOU WANNA KILL ME! Pleaseí¢ä‰åŒ_ wring the blood from my hands Don’t pretend that you understand me I don’t even want you looking at me Motherfucker, GET INSIDE! Get inside, get inside (motherfucker) Corey and Josh popped into the UK last Friday/Saturday to do some promotion of the forthcoming album, spending some time with MTV, Total Rock Radio, Radio 1, and XFM amongst others as well as taking in the Tenacious D show Friday night in London! Who is Stone Sour? Corey Taylor’s side project, also featuring Jim Root. Recognise the names? Corey and Jim are both part of Slipknot (although if you are expecting Stone Sour to sound identical, you’re in for a surprise). The band consists of: Corey Taylor – vocals, James Root – guitar, Josh Rand – guitar, Shawn Economaki – bass, Joel Ekman – drums.

This is for the fans: Curious? Stone Sour played in Des Moines, Iowa on Sunday (June 23), and then three days later at the Whiskey in LA on Wednesday (June 26). Couldn’t be there to check it out? Check out this awesome write up of the Des Moines show, written by Denny Harvey (who was an original founding member of Stone Sour, and although no longer in the band, who introduced them at the show). “Where do I begin? My day started at 9am and I had to work all afternoon before the show. This is what I get for being in retail. After putting up with the public’s bullshit all day. I had a lot of anxious fellings about this show, it was the first official Stone Sour show in five years. I know, I know…what about Superego? Over the last two years, I kind of knew it was going to come back around. Every time our old friends would see Corey it was always “When are you going to get Stone Sour back together?”. People, myself especially, wanted to see this for so long it hurt. Deep down Corey really wanted to do it too. In a way, I think Corey always wanted this and all of the project x / superego stuff was to test the water and see what people thought about it. 9 times out of 10 it was an amazed reaction. Those of us who knew what Corey was capable of knew barking like cookie monster wasn’t going to cut it forever. Don’t get me wrong, I love Slipknot and what they do, but I know just how much further Corey can go in other kinds of music. This was the homecoming that we had all waited for. This was about fun. About loud emotions being set free. About letting the rest of the world hear something made with heart and spirit along with the aggression. Sing along, this is the soundtrack to your life. I got to the venue @ 6pm. The line was wrapped along the building and snaked around the other side. Poor bastards. To those who waited out in that Iowa humid 95 degree heat, I salute you! Inside, I met up with Corey and Co., talked with the “Round Guy” from KGGO and shot the shit with Lou Brutus from Hard Drive. Lou is a fucking maniac in the finest sense of the word! I met him 2 years ago in New York and had a blast. He came out for this as a vacation! How many people do you know that will take their vacation in fucking Des Moines, Iowa?!?!?! A town we have been trying to escape our entire life! After the doors opened, I was pretty much mobbed by old friends I haven’t seen since… Well… since the last Stone Sour show! A lot of love in that room, a lot of memories for the people who remember. People who kept Corey and I alive for a few fucked up years. Speaking of which, Gram showed up!!! “Gram” Taylor is a lot of the reason I am still alive right now. Hell, she kicked Corey out of his own room so I had a roof over my head. I have a lot of love and respect for that lady. Anyway, it was getting closer to showtime. I went back towards the side of the stage and went back to the “green room”, which was a glorified broom closet, and hung out with the guys for awhile. Corey was a little nervous as to what the crowds reaction was going to be to Stone Sour vs. what they were used to with Slipknot. I told him “Fuck It, I think this is going to kick ass…don’t worry about it” or something to that effect. Joel summed it up best: “Let’s just have fun.” Ever since Corey had asked me to do the introduction, I was stoked. Back in the old days, I would always open the show with a big “Kiss Style” announcement. I went over what I was going to say in my head and getting more nervous by the minute. I really don’t get nervous about being in front of a crowd, I’m used to it, but this was different. This was a night to remember. It was time. I left the room and looked out, the place was stupid packed full of bodies. i walked up to the stage, took a deep breath, and made my way up to Corey’s mic. This is my little speech, as best I can remember: “What’s up Des Moines! About ten years ago I guess I did something right, I helped start this band.” “How many of you have never seen Stone Sour live before?” [much cheering] “How many old school people do we have here that remember the battle of the bands?” [lots of cheers] “Back then, they said Stone Sour wasn’t good enough. ” [lots of boos] “Well, I guess fate is a bitch. Cause the way a see it…Tonight it looks like these guys win after all!” [Crowd goes batshit] (for those who noticed, this is where I start to get choked up) “I have been waiting five years to say this… Would you please welcome Des Moines own… STONE SOUR!!! ” At this point, they kick into “Get Inside” and it’s on ! People crowd surfing, moshing, stage diving, the works. I was standing over on stage left on singing my ass off all night. At one point, during “Inhale”, I got so choked up I actually cried. They sounded great from my side of the stage, i didn’t get to hear it through the front of house speakers so i have no idea how you guys heard it. Back in my section it was friends and family,m and we were all beaming with pride. Dizzy, Katie, Laura, Burk, some model from Chicago (?!), Brandon…too many people to list. I did get a kick out of Corey doing “Bother” by himself. It reminded me of sitting at Gram’s house with no air conditioning and an acoustic guitar. He really was having a blast, I can tell. The show closer “Tumult” was explosive to say the least. I about blew my vocal cords singing along. One of the funniest moments of the night was watching Brandon (yes, that Brandon) stage dive from the stage only to be tackled by the security guards and running across the stage flipping them off. I laughed my ass off. At the end, both Shawn and Jim threw their guitars/bases and destroyed them. Thus, fucking up any possible encore. Josh is protective of his shit, no broken guitars there! I almost had everybody ready to do an encore of “Wicked” but security had already started clearing everybody out. It was a good thing, Corey had passed out from exhaustion out behind the bar. Afterwards, we stuck around to talk to old friends. Corey was talking to the kids to see what their reaction was, most were extremely fucking positive. That’s about the time I met S2k. He’s a cool guy. I am an easy person to talk to so I think I blew his perception of me. Eventually, I went to Perkins for some food with old friends of ours. Lou showed up with everybody but Corey and Joel. We pretty much took over the smoking section for a couple of hours. After that, my happy ass went to bed. Looking back, I was very happy with the turnout and the show itself. It was a great way to introduce this band to the kids who really were curious about it for so long. It was nice for this to be their introduction. Today, when I went to the bank for a deposit I overheard some kids in the parking lot talking about how much they loved the show. And that’s what it’s all about. Thank you to everybody who showed up, there is so much more to come, this is only the begining. See you at the show.” Love, Denny Want to read more comments on the shows? Check out the following messageboard thread here (www.musicfanclubs.org/slipknot/bbs/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topicf=1t=000454) – thanks to Chad Wierson (a.k.a. S2k) and Dizzy Draztik (ex-Rejects) in particular for writing! VIDEO: What else about these 2 shows? The LA show at the Whiskey A Go-Go was filmed for use in a video for ‘Get Inside’. The description, “Aggressive. It’s a collage of sounds coming together to be a kick-ass song,” tells Stone Sour vocalist Corey Taylor. The goods taped during soundcheck will be used as b-roll footage in the video, with the meat of it shot later in the evening during the band’s live performance.

Some friends and I were out at a bar last week, having a few drinks as you do, when I came across surely the coolest cocktail. An El Nino Margarita. What a great name for a drink, no? Tasted pretty damn good too. So if you’re hanging out this weekend, having a few drinks, get yourself one of these. All you need to make it is: Sauza Hornitos Tequila (although I reckon any Tequila will do), Grand Marnier, Cointreau, and Orange Juice. Mix, drink, and fall over. And if you drink a couple, maybe you’ll have some funny stories to write in and tell us about – email: rrguest@roadrunnerrecords.co.uk. The best El Nino Margarita stories I hear I’ll send Ill Nino US only promo stickers out too.. names can be changed to protect the innocent.

Welcome to Part V of Mr. Roger’s Return To The Hood – words from Ill Nino’s percussionist Roger Vasquez…It is Friday, December 21st, a mere 4 days before Christmas. Ill Nino is back in NY from their first ever tour of Europe…which means that Roger is back in the hood. So, how was this virgin European experience? Roger’s words are as follows: “Cheers, ya? This is Roger, ya? I’m back in the hood, kickin it live, very happy to be back in the homeland. Although, on the real, Europe has become our second home. In my eyes, everything about Europe was memorable, much like the first time I masturbated – I didn’t know what to expect, but in the end it was all good in the hood, if ya know what I mean… Yo, I wanna drop a big up to Machine Head, those are our true brothers. They gave us mad respect and the knowledge & guidance they showed us was the shit. It will definitely never be forgotten – much love to those brothers. The fans were totally the shit, they were fuckin each other up at shows, much like the Christmas parties at my house when mom brings out pernil and pastelitos…you know that shit is gonna get dogged up. No doubt. All in all, everything about Europe was a memorable moment, BUT, one of the craziest shit to happen to me and my brothers (Ill Nino) was the crazy ass plane ride from Newark to Germany. The Airport – For one, we get to Newark airport straight from the previous show in Detroit, which by the way ruled. Now Newark ain’t the happiest airport in the world right now, know what I’m sayin’? And to have Ill Nino walkin up in there was like bringin hookers to church for confession…It ain’t gonna happen (by the way, Ill Nino don’t like flyin’). After security checks, anal cavity checks, dental checks & bounced checks, they finally decided to let us up in on this bitch. So we’re all loungin’ in the plane, gettin our drink on, waiting for the take-off of what would come to be known as the flight from hell (by the way, Ill Nino don’t like flyin’). The Weather – Did I mention there was a big ass rain storm up in this mother? Shit, Moses could’ve parted the seas with all the water that was droppin’. No doubt. We was lookin at each other wonderin how the hell did we get into this one? Much like when a crack deala gets his cream cropped, you know the brotha is gonna be crazy mad…and this storm was indeed a crack deala (by the way, did I mention Ill Nino don’t like flyin’?). Take-Off – We were in the air not just 2 minutes when this dildo with wings starts vibrating all over the place (turbulence). It was like this bitch just got brand new Energizer batteries, I mean it was squirmin’, and the rain was makin her wet. The Flight – “Make mine a double…as a matter of fact, make everyone’s a double” I was shittin bricks, cement, mortar, you know what I’m sayin…this plane shook for almost 2 hours straight – Mother Nature was pushing all the right buttons on this bitch, and she was squealin. No doubt. After all that craziness, they started servin us food (plane food). It was like eatin G.G. Allin’s underwear…it was not righteous. I passed on the grub. I passed out, all drunk n’ shit. When I woke up, I was in Germany (schiezer). Praise the almighty god Ozzy, we made it down. Europe, thanks once again for the great times and the hospitality – it was well worth the trip. To the Roadrunner staff in Europe, you guys are the shit. And to Machine Head, thanks once again for this experience…can’t wait to see you guys again and share a brown-eye. Next, we’re back out with Kittie. So look out for the madness. Peace in the middle east, Roger ‘Babaloo’ Vasquez” Roger, thanks once again for the update. For the rest of you, know that Ill Nino’s stay at home was brief, as they are back out on the road already with Kittie and Chimaira and come March will be hitting the road with Drowning Pool.

US Radio Update: Without being officially released to radio, “BOTHER” has also become the #1 requested song in both Detroit and Philidelphia, beating out EMINEM’s “Without Me” by a 2-1 vote. It should also be noted that Des Moines’ LAZER 1033 (KAZR), was among the first to add “BOTHER” to its play lists. Nice. Many a first-time happening this weekend in Des Moines, IOWA. Where to start…ah, yes – Stone Sour (featuring Corey Taylor and Jim Root of Slipknot) and downthesun will be playing their first ever show together (see end of update for show details)…in fact, it is the first show for either band while on Roadrunner Records. …this will be Stone Sour’s first time playing live under the name Stone Sour in this here the new millennium (first show played under the name Stone Sour since 1997, to be exact)…the band has been practicing for this weekend’s show in the basement of Corey’s home – back when Stone Sour first formed in 1992, they first used to practice in the basement of Corey’s grandmother’s house, back when Corey used to work at the Adult Emporium on 14th Street (Corey’s first job? Don’t know)…Rock… …for downthesun, this will be the first time a live show of their’s will be videotaped (Slipknot’s Clown is directing the effort)…that videotape will most likely serve as the first time YOU get to see live footage of the band, as this footage could very well be used as an early video for one of their songs…this will be the first and last time you will ever get the opportunity to buy a certain downthesun t-shirt (the band printed up 84 shirts of a design for this show, one time only, never to be printed again)…Roll… show details: Sunday, June 23rd Toad Hollar 1820 East Army Post Rd. Des Moines IA, 50320 doors at 6:00pm 1st Band at 8:00pm (Index Case and On A Pale Horse also appear) another first: this will be the first time for either band hitting the stage at Toad Hollar – neither has ever played there before. famous parting words: “If you’re not there, I feel very, very, sorry for you” – Corey Taylor, 06.21.2002 Corey Is Bothered… In stores now is the soundtrack to the motion picture Spider-Man. In case you don’t already know, there is a song on the soundtrack titled “Bother”. “Bother”, as written and performed by Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. How did this come to be? What is the song all about? What does the song sound like? Interview with Corey Taylor: “Bother”, Spider-Man, and more (May 9th, 2002): Roadrunner: Have you seen the movie Spider-Man yet? Corey : I haven’t had a chance to yet, man. I’m freakin’ out, I’ve been waiting for this movie to come out since ’93 when James Cameron was going to direct it. The movie I’ve been waiting for most of my life hits, and I’m in the studio workingí¢ä‰åŒ_but I’m probably going to see it tonight. Roadrunner: Very cool, what are you in the studio working on right now? Corey: Well, I’m working on my side project that was entitled Superego, but now I think we’re gonna call it Closure. Roadrunner : I was going to ask you a bit about your side project. How many people are involved in it? You andí¢ä‰åŒ_ Corey : Jim from Slipknot is in it. Two of the guys from Stone Sour, the band I was in before Slipknot. Actually, Jim was in Stone Sour as well. And a friend of mine who I’ve been working with for like 13 years plays guitar. Roadrunner: How many songs do you guys have down? Corey: We have 16 songs, including “Bother”. Roadrunner: So, “Bother”, the recording and writing, that was purely you, right? Corey: Yeah. Roadrunner: “Biggest Spider-Man freak of all time”, you have been quoted as saying. When did this all start? What is the attraction? Corey : It started when I was a kid – my mom actually kept a lot of comic books around. She just kind of had them stacked all over the place. As a kid, we were really poor so I didn’t have a lot to read, but I was an avid reader. So I’d start picking up these comic books and reading them. I discovered Spider-Man and just fell in love with the character. Everybody likes to talk about his sense of responsibility, and that he’s cursed with these powersí¢ä‰åŒ_what I liked was that he would just talk shit the whole time he was fighting the enemies. He didn’t take any of it seriously – he’s staring into the face of danger and he’s just like ‘Guess what? If it’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen, I’m gonna win, and that’s just the way it goes.’ I really looked up to that, ya know? Roadrunner: “Bother”, this was written what, seven years ago you’ve said? Corey: Yeah, about seven years ago. I wrote it on the dashboard of my friend’s car as I was moving back from Denver, back to Des Moines. I wrote the lyrics in about six minutes. When I finally got home I grabbed the guitar because I didn’t want to lose it, and I worked the music out. It was basically just something that I would play once in a while just for myself. And then when I was doing the demos for this side project, I went in and recorded it – just on a whim, real quick, real barebones, me and a guitar. It fell into the hands of Denise Louiso at Sony. She heard it, she flipped outí¢ä‰åŒ_it just kind of went from there. Roadrunner: What’s the song about? Corey: The song is just about the time I was moving back from Denver – I just felt really broken down because I moved to Denver to try to move forward with my music. I just got to the point where it was like ‘nothing is going to happen for me in Des Moines.’ Ya know, how ironic is that? I moved out to Denver and found out it was the same way all over the place. It was actually worse in Denver because at the time nobody gave a shit about original music, it was all cover bands out there. I was so used to being able to do what I wanted in Des Moines. I actually fractured my arm at a party and I lost my job out there so I was literally living off bottles and cans. It got to the point where I had to move back, just no way it was working for me out there. So I move back to Des Moines and that song, I had been toying with the idea of that song for a while. And I just hit the dash lights and wrote it down in like 5-6 minutes, and I just kept humming it the whole way home. Roadrunner: Obviously, you had no end use in mind for this song at the time, correct? Corey: No, no, not at all, man. Ya know, I have forty or fifty songs just like that, all acoustic. I write that stuff for me. It was just one of those songs where if I never get to do anything with it, at least I have a recording of it. So it just turned into that, and through the grace of God it ended up in somebody’s hands. It’s funny how fate works. Roadrunner: The whole Spider-Man soundtrack, did you actually pursue that or did it just happen? Corey: You know what, I’d been telling my ex-manager to get me on the soundtrack for a year. As soon as I found out it was happening, I was like ‘look, I don’t care what you do, I don’t care what you say, you need to get me on that soundtrackí¢ä‰åŒ_’ Roadrunner: You wanted that song on it in particular. Corey: Oh, absolutely. If there was any song that was going to be on there, it was going to be that one. Roadrunner: And why was it “Bother” over any of the other 40 songs you have written acoustically? Corey: Just for the fact that if you read the lyrics, it’s all about following your path in life even though you know it’s not the path that you want, and it’s not the path you really have in mind. And it kind of fits along with the whole Spider-Man theme, ya know? If you look at his powers, it’s a blessing and a curse – he’s cursed to fulfill his own destiny because of this, and yes he gets to help people and what not, but at the same time he has to live with all this stuff going on in his life and really deal with the downside of everything. So the lyrics, the feel of it really fit in with what is going on in the movie, I believe. Roadrunner: Very well put, very well put. Couple more questions. The side project, how often you guys playing right now? Corey: Actually, we just got done recording the album. We’re just trying to get it mixed and mastered and all that stuff. Roadrunner: You recorded all sixteen songs? Corey: Yeah. Roadrunner: What do people have to look forward to hearing, sound wise? Corey: It’s really good – It’s real melodic, it’s more hard rock, but it’s still heavy, by all meansí¢ä‰åŒ_.it’s really heavy. But at the same time it’s nowhere near as heavy as Slipknot is. This is more of like Metallica meets Alice In Chains. It’s really good stuff and I hope people dig it. Roadrunner: As for Slipknot, dvd is in the works right now, and you’ll be playing some upcoming shows in Europe, so festivalsí¢ä‰åŒ_ Corey: Yeah, some festivals in Augustí¢ä‰åŒ_ Roadrunner: Other future Slipknot plans in the works right now? Corey: We (Slipknot) are gonna get together next year and start working on a new album. For right now, this side project is pretty much my only priority. Roadrunner: You see this project touring this year. Corey: Yeah, absolutely. Should be doing America this year. We thank Corey for his time. Stone Sour… more info coming soon….

Ill Nino’s debut album is called ‘Revolution Revolucion’ and is available to buy now! Ron St. Germain (311) produced it. The CD is available for around 퉌£11.99 from the following stores: HMV, Virgin, MVC, Andys and all good Indie stores. Or get it with those Xmas vouchers from Great Aunt Mary. “Both startingly aggressive and yet also effortlessly commercial” – Kerrang! “Ill Nino have rapidly sliced out a bloody, angry niche as one of the most ferocious of the nu-breed” – Metal Hammer “Angry album of the month” – RockSound “Ill Nino bring styles together styles with brutal and brilliant effect” – The Times 4/5 The tracklisting is: “God Save Us” click to hear streaming version or click here to download an MP3 “If You Still Hate Me” click to hear streaming version “Unreal” “Nothing’s Clear” “What Comes Around” Click HERE to download the free MP3. “Liar” “Rumba” “Predisposed” “I Am Loco” “No Murder” “Rip Out Your Eyes” “Revolution/Revolucion” “With You”

You can now request the video for Seek ‘N’ Strike on Kerrang! TV – selection # 709. DOWNLOAD TEAMER INTERVIEW On short notice and no warning, we called up one of our street teamers, Gavin Lewis, and sent him off to meet Max & Gloria at a London hotel during their last promo visit here. With him he took a minidisc recorder and a bunch of questions, submitted by other teamers, as well as his own! Why? To do an interview of course! To download the MP3 of the interview (approx 10mb), just go to the MUSIC page. If that’s a little on the large size for you, worry not, for we shall be adding a streaming version of this shortly. And if that still doesn’t cut it with ya, we’ll be adding a written transcript shortly after that. Enjoy. And thanks for the help Gavin! COME AND GET IT: OUT NOW: The band’s third album is called simply “3”. Available for around 퉌£12.99 (digipack) & 퉌£11.99 (CD) from the following shops: HMV – 퉌£2 off with ‘Download 2002’ discount card + free ‘Download 2002’ sampler, Virgin/VShop – available as part of the current ‘2 for 퉌£22’ offer, MVC, Sanity, Andys, and indies – free poster at selected stores. Check the new album out for yourself in our MUSIC section, you will find (in RealAudio Streaming format, of course) a 1 hour, 17 minute stream…that there stream is Soulfly 3. Don’t say we never gave ya anything. Enjoy. The tracklisting is: 1. Downstroy (4:24) 2. Seek ‘N’ Strike (4:27) 3. Enterfaith (4:46) 4. One (5:21) 5. L.O.T.M.(2:35) 6. Brasil (4:56) 7. Tree Of Pain (8:19) 8. One Nation (3:42) 9. 9-11-01(1:00) 10. Call To Arms (1:23) 11. Four Elements (4:20) 12. Soulfly III (5:00) 13. Sangue De Bairro (2:18) 14. Zumbi (2:37) Digipack – bonus tracks 15. I Will Refuse (4:06) 16. Under The Sun (5:45) 17. Eye For An Eye (live at Ozzfest 2000) (4:07) 18. Pain (live at Ozzfest 2000) (5:00)

UK Tour Reports.. Manchester – The first UK show ever for Ill Nino! Lots of anticipation therefore, and the band are anxious to play well and not disappoint. And the crowd goes wild… not only during the set, but when the band appear at the merchandise stand afterwards to sign some stuff and hang out with the people at the show. We hear they were literally mobbed! The band were happily overwhelmed and would have stayed there all night if they hadn’t been taken off to RockWorld for a few post-show beverages. Ill Nino have a massive amount of energy on stage, and don’t stand still for a minute. Marc Rizzo (guitar) demonstrates to the UK for the first time how it is possible to kick your feet up head-height, repeatedly, while still playing guitar. “Really fuckin’ excellent” was how we heard the show described. London Did you catch the band at their recent London Brixton show with Machine Head? If you did, then you may already know that the band spent near enough 2 hours hanging out at the merch stand chatting to anyone and everyone, and signing many an autograph to boot. They must of made some new friends, coz they sold out of every single piece of merchandise they had with them, and some fans were still clamouring for more… some of the band have shorter hair having not escaped from fans bearing scissors… New band bud Felicity (Flic) who skipped watching the Head to keep hanging with the Ninos was declaring she was going to marry more than one person in the band, putting Roger (Mr. Return To The Hood) in the Best Man position, and myself as bridesmaid… you heard it here first. Bodies were bared, and duly signed, and photos were taken as evidence. You’ll be able to see these photos and live ones from the set up here soon. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, the band stayed in the lobby signing and posing for photos even as the show ended and thousands piled out… and upon spotting the Nino guys hanging around, the flood of people out the venue slowed to a crawl as more fans joined the merry throng! So much so, security were overheard wishing the band hadn’t been so good, so they could go home! When all managed to make the after show party, some band members instead of diving into the free bar were still trying to do interviews (not easy in a room full of party people with a free bar to exploit) with foreign fans – now there’s dedication! As for exploiting the free bar, we hear rumours of a security guard, a headlock, and a band member, but what’s an aftershow without a little rock ‘n’ roll… Wolverhampton How was the show? Mindee, the RR rep out on the road at Wolverhampton was only in a state to say “it was just really fuckin’ good!” The band were again mobbed at the merch stand to sign anything and everything, and we hear reports of numerous lucky girlies keeping our boys company in their dressing room post show. It’s a hard life. We spoke to a happy Laz earlier today about how the tour is going so far, and all he had to say was “it’s been really incredible, such a great time. It’s been consistantly great, although of course every show is different, and we’ve had no negative response yet. We’ve been very very lucky at the reaction we’ve received over here. A lotta fun, a lotta madness.” As the band have been touring in the US with Machine Head already, the 2 bands are pretty tight, hanging out with eachother at the shows – so much so that Adam Duce (Machine Head guitarist) even tagged along on the Ill Nino meet & greet with the RR competition winners and roadcrew! Keep an eye on the Machine Head news page as well as here for more tour stories along the road… Glasgow Having travelled up to Glasgow overnight in the tour bus from Wolverhampton, the band slept most of the long journey! Although we have heard that Jardel has been making use of the Playstation on the bus after the shows, and a several hour trip is plenty of time to get some good practise in before your bandmates wake up and challenge you again. After load-in of all the band’s kit, much of the afternoon was spent doing regional radio interviews, with the likes of Oban FM & Caithness FM stations. Congratulate them on their good taste in wanting to feature Ill Nino in their shows. Squeeze in a soundcheck and a meet & greet with the Roadrunner street & e-teamers and website competition winners and it’s time to eat and play a show! Did you know at the end of the set each night, Ill Nino pay tribute to one of their inspirations, and do a blistering cover of Soulfly’s Eye For An Eye? It’s gone down a storm every night, and tonight was no exception. Guess there are a few Soulfly fans up in bonny Scotland too. Nottingham So keen were the band to play tonight, they came on 5 minutes early so they could play for that little bit longer! Seems like there are lots of Nino fans in Nottingham, judging by the number of Revolution t-shirts we saw along the crowd barrier at the front. Lots of faces who knew all the lyrics to all the songs singing along too. Suffice to say, the band loved every minute of it. With the aftershow taking place in the venue at the downstairs bar The Rig, it wasn’t long at all before all the band were found mingling with new friends, swopping bracelets, signing stuff, sinking a few drinks. With a 2-for-1 offer on Stella Artois, it would have been rude not to. With 3 Roadrunner staff there to queue at the bar, a merry evening was had by all, despite the bar running out of tequila! The double shots of lemon schnapps though, it must be said, did bring a tear to one percussionist’s eye. The infamous Machine Head Brown Eye drinks were circulating too, resulting in more than one sore head in the morning! Yes, a lotta fun was had in Nottingham. Newport The last show of the Machine Head tour for Ill Nino. Everyone is in fine humour, albeit starting to look a little tired, all the travelling and touring catching up finally. As we reported on the Machine Head news page, we heard the band made the most of the venue being a leisure centre, and spent all their spare time goofing off in the swimming pool, the jacuzzi, and bombing down the water slide! Joined by Machine Head, our waterbabies were having such fun, they were still in there when the doors opened, and some rather surprised fans were greeted by some semi-naked, dripping wet band members hightailing it back to the dressing rooms double quick! If you were up front in the pit for Machine Head, you may have been landed upon by one of the Nino guys, for the band indulged in a little crowd-diving from the side of the stage while the Head were playing. After the show, everyone just hung out backstage, drinking some beers, swopping merch, and saying goodbye to new friends made this trip. Cue lots of hugging and email address swopping. The band are now off to Belgium for a couple of days of press, before heading home for the Christmas break. Ten days of rest & relaxation before they head back out on the road again in the US with Kittie. They send their best wishes to everyone for a very Merry Christmas and promise to come back soon! Check back here soon for photos from the shows and friends they made along the way!

“What Comes Around” – we are bringing out another Ill Nino track for free download from their Revolution…Revolucion debut. “What Comes Around” was the song in-progress throughout the writing and recording of Revolution…Revolucion. It originally started life as a more straightforward groove-metal track with Cristian scat-singing in Spanish over Marc’s acoustic guitar line. The original verses were much more straightforward with the original choruses being completely different in melody and lyric. It was during recording that the verses took on their current approach with a much stronger and more intimate performance from Cris. The chorus always remained an issue: neither the band or A&R being particularly satisfied with it. Cris probably spent two months brainstorming over what only came together when the band re-cut some vocals with the Scrap 60 guys. Eddie Wohl always referred to the chorus as “the Staind chorus.” The finished song was a surprise for everyone from the band to the record company. No one ever pegged it as the single from the onset of recording. That was always either “Unreal” or “Nothing’s Clear”. Well, “What Comes Around” indeed! Check out MUSIC for the MP3. Here’s a few early words from Mike Gitter, the A&R guy who signed them to RR, about their live show – and now they’ve been here you know this to be true… “When Ill Nino hits the stage they are a pummeling for both the eyes and ears. Driving it all is Chavarri, big arms a blur and a huge smile on his face from start to finish. Beside him, percussionist Roger Vasquez, who I recognize from his former band, Hispanic insurrectionists, Ricanstruction, is making the rhythms extra spicy. Guitarist Marc Rizzo is all flying kicks, confidence and muscle while Brazilian transplant Jardel Paisante beats the guitar like a long lost Cavalera brother. I’m surprised to see an old friend and longtime NYC scene dude, Laz Pina taking up the bass chores and stomping around as he wrings out the low end. And in the middle of it all, Cris Machado has grown into a fantastic live presence. Dreadlocks flying, aggro and melody in dos lenguas erupting from his mouth. From the kick-in call to revolucion of “Rumba” straight to a cover of Soulfly’s “Eye for an Eye”, the crowd is Ill Nino’s for the taking. And they take. And the crowd is suitably beaten by the end of the taking.” “I’m blown away by the end of their set.” NEW VIDEO – Here it is, your first chance to see the first Ill Nino video. “God Save Us” was shot in the course of a couple hours in a high school gymnasium in Southern California. Director Darren Doane (Pennywise, FAR) scammed the location, the guys stopped in and the Rumba was on! The spectacle you are about to watch took place one fine day in late June. Check out the brand new video for God Save Us in the VIDEO section. Check out the Ill Nino official website at www.illnino.com! Play our brand new cool Ill Nino game ‘Ill Pac Mano’ in the In The Pit Games area!