The mighty MACHINE HEAD are set to tour the UK in December, in support of their forthcoming album, ‘Through The Ashes of Empires’, which is set for a 13th October release. Robb Flynn, Adam Duce, Dave McClain and new guitarist Phil Demmel (Robb’s former co-hort in Bay Area thrashers, Violence) are set to play the following shows: 27th November -LONDON Astoria 28th November – LONDON Astoria 29th November – PORTSMOUTH Pyramid Centre 1st December – BRISTOL Academy 2nd December – NOTTINGHAM Rock City 3rd December – BIRMINGHAM Academy 4th December – MANCHESTER Academy 5th December – GLASGOW Barrowlands Tickets are on sale now from box offices and all usual agents, priced 퉌£14 and 퉌£16 in London. You can also buy tickets from www.cclive.co.uk. MACHINE HEAD’s fifth studio album harks back to their old school roots and is sure to please fans of their earlier material. The new album will be available as a special limited double CD edition with a slipcase. However, this version of the CD will only be available on store’s initial orders of the album… so once their stock is gone, that’s it, no more double CD slipcase version. The 2nd CD will contain 5 demos (that were done for this record), the live video for ‘The Blood, The Sweat, The Tears’, the new video for ‘Imperium’ and footage that was filmed during the recording of ‘Through The Ashes Of Empires’.

Last night at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, the 2003 Kerrang! Awards took place. On the Roadrunner front, the Awards were attended by Cristian & Laz from Ill Nino, Robert Flynn from Machine Head, and Acey from the Murderdolls… the Murderdolls with 2 nominations for Best Live Act and Best Video for White Wedding. And the winners are… Best International Newcomer Evanescence Best British Newcomer Funeral For A Friend Best Album The Darkness – Permission To Land Best British Act Feeder Best International Act Linkin Park Hall Of Fame Metallica Best Single Good Charlotte – Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous Best Video Electric Six – Gay Bar Event Of The Year Download Festival (note: Acey joined selected others onstage to accept this award, as the Murderdolls played the festival) Classic Songwriter Red Hot Chili Peppers Spirit Of Independence Turbonegro Best Live Act The Darkness Spirit Of Rock Jackass With the Awards ceremony done, all gathered at Rouge for the Kerrang! Awards after-party – with the beers a-flowing, a merry time was had by all… Cristian & Laz running round snapping shots of themselves with System Of A Down, Lars Ulrich, & Linkin Park amongst others… Robert even indulging in a spot of impromptu The Darkness kareoke (we believe in a thing called love too)… Acey, cool as ever, taking all the shenanigans in his stride. Watch this space for their collective photos and memories of the event. We make no apologies if said memories are somewhat confused and hazy… the Roadrunner presence was still going strong after 4am this morning….

Once upon a time back on July 10th on Elm Street, Ill Nino’s latest video was shot. Well, it is here for you all to see. “How Can I Live” video now in our VIDEO section.

Sometimes the best words to describe something are no words at all. To My Surprise, the surprising new band comprised of Shawn Crahan, Brandon Darner, and Stevan Robinson, is ‘something’ that fits into that exact category. In fact, the band’s name – To My Surprise – says it all. To describe it is to hear it…else you will never understand… I always said no one understands. no one does I have changed. therefore you will change with me Enjoy! Shawn P.S. : The Clown made me do it. debut album (produced by Rick Rubin) in stores October, 2003

Well, doubleDrive is back home from Australia and better from the trip. You can check out interview and acoustic footage of the band performing “Big Shove” and “Imprint” at www.thebasement.com.au. As for some tales of the trip? Read on…a piece from their trip abroad: Australia…this place pretty much kicks ass. The band arrived for their first trip down under in time to take in the sites and freak out at everybody’s accent before playing their first show in Sydney at The Metro. MMM Radio or “Triple M” sponsored the doubleDrive shows and had winners from a contest flown in from Brisbane to meet the band and do the do. Rental gear for the boys to play arrived and the more than qualified Crew for the events (Craig, Bozz, Dave, Tim) was on the ball and handling things from the onset, all was lookin’ good. The band starts up for a blistering set and… Troy’s amp takes a dive right outta the box. No signs of recovery. Fuckin’ hilarious, right? He’s runnin’ in a circle and Josh, Donnie and Mike are plowin’ on down the road, beatin’ a path thru ’11:59′ and ‘Inside Out’. The crew’s hands were tied and the bands thinking, “Any sign of that amp yet?”. “All right people, how’s everyí¢ä‰åŒ_” and the show goes on. That piece o’ shit amp still ain’t workin’. But somehow after 3 songs of what should have been a bleak situation gone ultra bleak, laughter saved the show. Don’t ask how, but when the train starts it just goes. “We go halfway around the world with all this anticipation and build up to have an amp drop out on the first song…welcome to Australia!” and everyone was laughing with the fellas as they settled into their home away from home, the stage. “Everybody say, ‘we love you Troy you sonofabitch!'” and they did. The acoustic came out and Donnie and Troy stripped it down and reeled in the crowd with humor and genuinely captivating performances of ‘Big Shove’ and ‘Million People’. An exchange of amp heads – including one from the opening band, Plunja – got some rock happening on stage left and the party was brought up to warp speed for the remainder of the night. The band finished its set and knew it had made a connection to everyone with eyes and ears. A meet and greet ain’t complete without pool, people and of course Crownies and Victoria Bitters (do the math). Tons of media and press the whole time and the band did it all. Interviews with Kerrang!, Ralph (all men must have a copy), The Basement.com.au, TV and Film mags, webzines, Radio and the like were all met through the week with handshakes, smiles and songs from Blue in the Face as the boys left their indelible Imprint on the land down under. Now, off to Melbourne. A quick plane flight (1 hr 퉌_) and the band was at it again with Triple M and Austereo doing interviews and playing in some pretty cool studios for their taped performances to be aired throughout the coming months. Covers of ‘Pets’ from Pornos for Pyros and hints of ‘Up the Beach’ from Jane’s lured curious minds into the control room for an afternoon with dD as they played more from BITF. A trip to the Roadrunner office to sign posters and do phoners while listening to AC/DC, then off to the venue for sound check (with 4 amps this time). A quick but important photo shoot, then some rock. Plunja started things up again and dD prepared to do it old school. This time the band was relentless and it only took a few songs to get the new listeners motivated. We know the band is good to watch but they know how to access the magic pretty often. Donnie primed the pump and the audience let loose for what would be a stellar 1:10 minute set. “í¢ä‰åŒ_damn, this feels goodí¢ä‰åŒ_” and the crowd agreed loudly. At the last minute, sounds from earlier in the day surfaced in a “why not” sort of fashion and the band convened to let loose on some songs in the key of ‘Angus’ and pulled out ‘Shot Down in Flames’ from AC/DC, the Aussie natives themselves, before slamming it into ‘Seek and Destroy’ for good measure. “We hit the dressing room which is like right behind the stage and no sooner than you crack a beer you could hear, ‘we want more, we want moreí¢ä‰åŒ_’ that’s a fuckin rock show, jack!” So what was the highlight for the guys? Bondi Beach or playing on TV for 2 million people? Or maybe the encore in Melbourne? “I think it’s the possibilities, we love our jobs”

As we mentioned earlier, Cristian and Laz of Ill Nino are in the UK right now doing some interviews to promote their new record, out Sept 29th. So naturally, when we found out both guys would be dropping by the office today, we asked our street & e-teamers to come up with a few questions to put to them… and here is what they had to say for themselves. I would very much like to know what you think of MP3 piracy, I hear views from both sides, but I’ve never heard yours. (Joe Flanagan) There is nothing wrong with pre-viewing records. So I would have to say MP3s are a positive thing. Although I am not for the downloading of entire records. We are broke and starving. Every record sale counts. Hey guys, just wondering, how do you feel about being the main track on the Freddy vs Jason soundtrack? Have you guys been fans of the films? (Mo) It is awesome. Thanx to Roadrunner and New Line Cinema we had this great opportunity. I am a big Jason fan. He scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. Hey, I just want to know, how did you come up with the name Ill Nino for the band? And also where do you get the ideas for the songs that you write? Because they are like the best songs I’ve ever heard! (C.J.Pierce) The band name was given to us by none other than the ‘Milano Mosh Man’, Billy Milano of the group S.O.D and M.O.D. He called us from Europe and named us. Lyrically my inspiration comes from real life situations, that I have been through. Family, sex, drugs, critics, loss of loved ones, hate and love. Wow you guys rock!!!! Where do you get all your inspiration from? (Does it come in bottles?), and do you find it hard to put your lyrics to english from spanish or is the song just written as you sing it? (Glenn) When it comes to blending English with Spanish I just write it naturally. Amongst ourselves we speak a mixture of the both. We call it Spanglish. So it is pretty easy for me to cross the languages. I’ve seen you twice in London and will be seeing you again on the Roadrage Tour, what’s the best show you’ve ever played and has anything outrageously funny ever happened at a show? (Emma Savage) I thought our UK Ozzfest performance was pretty killer. We broke an attendance record that day. That was pretty exciting. Once we played a small club in San Francisco, the place was a shithole. During one of our songs I busted the wood on the stage from jumping. I wound up under the stage while the song continued. Did you write ‘How Can I Live’ with the Freddy vs Jason soundtrack in mind, or were you asked to contribute the song after you had already written it? (Steph) The song was not written for the soundtrack. Roadrunner and New Line Cinema asked for the song. It was an honour. Why did you decide to name yourselves ‘Ill Nino’, and what exactly does it mean? (Steph) The name was given to us by Billy Milano of S.O.D. It basically means a bunch of sick fuckers. Which bands have you enjoyed touring with the most? (Steph) Soulfly, Slayer, Tool, Chimaira, Machine Head. You’re on the bill for the Roadrage tour alongside Chimaira and Spineshank, but if it were up to you to choose, which Roadrunner bands would you have tour alongside you? (Lee Kelly) Definitely Chimaira, 36 CrazyFists, Slipknot. My little bro is in love with the colourful tracksuits that you wear in the ‘What Comes Around’ video but can’t find them anywhere. Do you get them made especially, or are they just hard to find? (Personally, I think you need dreads to pull them of, but he’ll learn from his mistakes). (Lee Kelly) Actually the Kappa suit was a gift from my friend Gil. He co-manages System of a Down. The Kappa factory is in Florida. So I am one lucky fucker. I have access to all of the Kappa Catalogued wear. Fred Durst approaches you to tour with Limp Bizkit in exchange for vast sums of money. Just how hard do you slap the obnoxious little fuck? (Lee Kelly) Not only do I slap the fucking wimp but I kick him in the nuts. When on tour, what’s the one thing GUARANTEED to piss you off above all else? (Lee Kelly) Someone that tries to steal something which belongs to the band. That, and techs that don’t know what they are doing. What should be prepared for or expected on the Roadrage Tour? (Sammie Lomas) Fucking chaos on the stage. Do you feel the line-up changes within the band have made a difference to your musical direction? If so, what exactly have they brought to the table that has changed your sound? (Ryan Bird) I think the line-up change has brought more fuel to feed the fire. Ahrue and Danny are extremely talented. It is a blessing to have them in the band. It does not change our musical direction yet defines it even more. What next for the band? Dinner with the label.

FILTER mainman Richard Patrick has posted the following message to the “Rich’s Words” section of the group’s official web site: “Holy shit, it’s been awhile [since I’ve last written] but I apologize í¢ä‰åäóì as always I’ve been a busy man. A lot of stuff has been going on behind the scenes. I just finished working with [former LIMP BIZKIT guitarist] Wes Borland, [NINE INCH NAILS drummer] Danny Lohner and [A PERFECT CIRCLE drummer] Josh Freese. The four of us have been working together on a project called THE DAMNING WELL and we’re contributing one song to the soundtrack for the upcoming movie ‘Underworld’. The song came out great and I really like the way my voice sounded with all those guys, they are definitely some talented fuckin’ musicians! It’s interesting because I had never met Josh Freese because his drum tracks were done before I got to the studio, but I had always admired his work, so it was pretty cool. I also did some stuff with THE CRYSTAL METHOD which might not come out ’till later on some soundtrack, and as always I’m still making sure to work on new FILTER shit. I gotta tell ya, things are great, it’s been nothing but good clean living and some seriously loud motherfuckin’ rock music!” In other Underworld news, a video will be shot for the Finch track ‘Worms From The Earth’.

Cristian and Laz from Ill Nino fly into the UK today for a couple of days of promotion for the new album ‘Confession’, out Sept 29th. Which is perfectly timed to take in the Kerrang! Awards party on Thursday night, with labelmates Acey & Wednesday 13 of the Murderdolls. Prior to that, Cris, Laz, Acey, & Wednesday will be out on the (London) town on Wednesday night… for dinner & drinks with the Roadrunner UK staff. No, we won’t tell you what restaurant we’ll be at.

So you miss the Murderdolls? Fancy a decadent night out next weekend? Acey will be DJing at the ‘Decadence’ club night at Gossips, 69 Dean Street, London W1 next Saturday night, 30th August. The club night runs from 10pm-3:30am, with Acey spinning the decks from about 12:30am. Door charge is a fiver. In other Acey news, guess who happened to be in the middle of New York when last week’s power cut hit… “I had to walk from mid-town Manhattan to Brooklyn. About…6-8 miles? I thought my legs were going to buckle when I had to take my steps up! but I guess all the Murderdolls jumping around prepared me somewhat as my legs don’t hurt today….weird.”

If you tried to visit this site from late Thursday night onwards, you’ll have noticed some difficulty! No website! Our servers which host this site, reside in New York, and as you are likely aware, NY was one of the power cut affected areas in the US at the end of last week. So when the lights went out, so did our servers, and the website with them. Our apologies for any inconvenience, and normal service is now resumed!