On Tuesday 23 March KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES performed as part of a Rock Radio secret session in Glasgow. The guys performed three songs from new album DIRT– Youngblood (Let It Out), Sunshine, and Matters At All plus their classic track Saturday.

Rock Radio have loaded video footage of the session to their YouTube. Check out ‘Matters At All’ in the player below, and find the rest HERE.

Dirt hit stores on Monday and is now available on all the usual digital platforms and in stores. You can pick it up online HERE.

The band will hit the road for a headline tour in May. Check the dates and get tickets on-line at our Tours Page.

EDIT- this was our April Fool post for the day. Sorry if we got some of your hopes up!

Roadrunner Records is happy to announce that to celebrate their 30th Anniversary, a second Roadrunner United album will be under way by the end of the year, with a tentative release date of quarter two 2011.

The team captains for the release- which is yet to be titled- are not yet confirmed. This time around, Roadrunner are giving fans the opportunity to suggest who they would like to see as team captains for the forthcoming release. ‘The All Star Sessions’ saw Robb Flynn (Machine Head), Joey Jordison (Slipknot), Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) and Matt Heafy (Trivium) take the helm for the 16 tracks that made the album, with each choosing players for their core bands and vocalists for each track. The forthcoming album will work in the same way but with YOU the fans suggesting whom A&R guru and Roadrunner United mastermind Monte Conner should approach.

Says Conner, “I feel like Dr. Frankenstein, combining various musicians to form all these different monsters. It’s an incredible amount of work but I am going to have the time of my life doing it!”

Roadrunner UK will be taking suggestions via the RR UK Official Twitter- HERE. Head on over and tweet @Roadrunner_UK with your suggestion, tagged #Roadrunner and they will be collated and passed over to Monte.

Watch this space for the team captains announcement in the coming months.

We love the MACHINE HEAD guys, so when they were here on the Black Procession tour, we sat down with them and had a bit of a chat.

Keep on reading to hear about how the tour went for the guys and what they are going to be getting up to in the coming months.

Roadrunner UK – Last time I saw you was Sonisphere- how did that go for you guys? It was all a bit stressful before hand with the will they won’t they play shenanigans but then you got onto the stage and it was just fucking insane…
Dave McLain – It was a rock star Machine Head moment. The whole day leading up to that at Sonisphere. Having our own chartered private plane to take us and our equipment and just the excitement of doing it as kind of a surprise show, ya know, like being back on the bill. We didn’t really wanna make it public because we wanted to come back… and just… and just make this impact of like people seeing us. The fans out there weren’t sure and watching the backdrop come down and hearing the Machine fucking Head chants starting… It was definitely… there was adrenaline time! It was awesome!

RRUK – So what do you go on to do after Sonisphere?
Phil Demmel – What did we do? We had 3 months off and then we were supposed to do a Canadian carnage dates with Slayer and Megadeth and then Tom’s back went out and so that go cancelled and we just and went to the world series and various other sporting events! After that we started to tour with Megadeth.

RRUK – How did that go?
PD – Really good, yeah! Playing in front of people that wouldn’t normally come to see us, so we definitely accomplished that and then ended up with some west coast dates with Metallica and we got to play at home with them, and it was like the best way to end it ya know; to end our States Blackening run with our hometown heroes in front of our home crowd.

RRUK – That must’ve been one hell of a show!
PD – It was a hell of a guest list *laughs* and out dressing room was retarded, I didn’t even want to go in there! [laughs]

DM – Those hometown shows are so draining because you just have to like turn it on and you feel like you kinda have to entertain everybody in for them. They have family members there and I know how, when I go through Texas or whatever like you have family come out, how it’s always like… It’s really like herding cattle coz you try and keep everybody kinda entertained and ya know.. You want them.. oh yeah come over here to this spot.. And you like herd them for a little while ya know..

RRUK – And how was the crowd at the show? Insane? I just get this feeling it would’ve been an absolutely insane show…
PD- It was, it was good I mean it wasn’t like, it wasn’t one of the better Metallica shows that we had, but it was awesome Metallica crowd. There was a lot of people that knew us, and we had a lot of friends there- especially for me I had a lot of people from high school that came out.It wasn’t like an insane headlining show for us, it was more of a benchmark we’d achieved.

RRUK – Talking about mad crowds for you guys, this tour’s been pretty insane, right?
DM – Totally been insane. In the UK there’s kinda like their own brand of craziness. Like here in Manchester’s always insane. London this time was really amazing.. Like ya never know really what to expect with London because it’s London and it’s kind of like in LA or New York- sometimes you get a crowd out there that will maybe subdue coz they get shows the whole time or whatever, but this time around it was killer. Glasgow was just insane just craziness but I think tonight’s [Manchester Apollo] gonna be the best show

PD – That is the reason why we come here; why we did like the Burn My Eyes thing here- just the crazy circle pits we get here. Manchester’s always a special show. We’re looking forward to it, it was actually gonna be the last night of the tour. But we had a couple of shows in Ireland.

RRUK – So, a lot of people have asked me this question so I’m gonna put it to you- this is really the proper first headline tour of this album for the UK, why so long?
PD – For anywhere in the world, it’s been the first proper headline ever. I mean we’ve done co-headlines but the longest we’ve been playing is like an hour, until this tour. We wanted to do a States tour, proper headline, but then how do you turn down Slayer and Megadeth? And then ending with Metallica and we opted for right out of the gate we had all these support slots, It’s Lamb Of God, Heaven and Hell ya know? We did festivals over here but then it was Slipknot for 8 months, Metallica for a year or whatever- the biggest bands in metal, you can’t turn that down. ever since I joined the band we were, if we wanted to go out it had to be ok well who are we gonna get to headline and take our own package out, so now we finally get to go out on support and we set ourselves up really well for the next record.

RRUK – This record’s just been crazy for you guys – album of the decade, Amazing reviews, you got your silver plaques last week for over 60 thousand copies sold- how’s it feel?
DM – It’s fucking awesome, like it’s really the best stuff that’s ever happened to the band. Ever!. Ya know? And it’s just to have it happen now and at this point in our career? From going though like, just like all kinds of stuff ya know? Like good, bad, whatever, real bad, real good, and having it happen now, when we have this line up that we have, that is like, it feels… Its Machine Head ya know? Like to me THIS is Machine Head. And to have all this stuff happening to us now is like…I don’t know…not that I wouldn’t have appreciated it before, but now more than ever. You just don’t expect things like this to happen and its kick ass! [laughs]

RRUK – So after you’ve finished this headline run, you gonna go back and start work on a new record?
DM – Yeah, I mean we are, me Robb and Phil are *laughs*

PD – We’re probably gonna take a couple weeks like after we get home around the 1st of April, ya know settle in and then me and Dave are probably gonna go down to the studio and trick it out and get it work comfortable for us. Our last place, it was just gear everywhere, and I’m pretty much freaked out just sitting between the two of you right now cus I’m really claustrophobic so we need to have a good working environment, because that’s where we do all our writing. We come up with riffs here and there… but probably by mid April we’ll be in there starting to rock out.

RRUK – And do you feel any nervousness or apprehension given how well The Blackening has done; are you thinking holy shit how do we follow this up?
DM – No because all the stuff that’s happened has really just like, it was never on our minds while we were writing in the first place, and it was kind of just like the icing on the cake, like we know now that you take that when it comes your way, and The Blackening has been this amazing special moment in our career and I think more than anything we’re just more excited, like it’s not being nervous it’s not like oh god how are we gonna follow The Blackening? Like we’re just gonna go in and do our thing and just write, it just seems to happen ya know?

PD – Yeah, we’re not gunning for album of the next decade or ya know. Those accolades were great and everything.. But that isn’t why we wrote The Blackening in the first place- we wrote it coz we enjoyed it and people just happened to like it, so.. Hopefully it happens again. If not whatever… so long as we’re happy with it.

Machine Head are now on their way home to take that downtime before starting the writing process. We’ll bring you updates as and when we have them. The Blackening is available online HERE.

Okay- a little later than the advertised date granted- but the best things come to those who wait!~ here we bring you part 2 of our Gear Nerd interview with Matt Heafy of TRIVIUM. In this section of the interview, Matthew talks about his playing style, writing solos, endorsements and hit set-up.

If you missed part 1, where Matt chatted about the music that influences him, you can check that out HERE.

Roadrunner UK: So how would you describe your playing style? What would you say is the Matt Heafy playing style?
Matt Heafy: That’s something that we’re finding out more and more now, you know what really is each of us in the band, so when we do this next record it’s gonna be more accurate of what we are. I think a huge thing with my guitar playing is I guess that fusion between melodic death metal and metal and utilizing thrash picking- thrash right hand but not thrash left hand. I’m not really a thrash left hand person where it would be chromatic power chords thrown all over the fret board but more calculated about good melodies happening with the left hand with an approach of like thrash metal on the right hand, I guess. So, the left hand that’s death metal that’s inspired by bands like ‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Judas Priest’ with the right hand inspired by bands like ‘Slayer’ and ‘Pantera’. I guess with more recent bands being like ‘Death’, like the right hand approach of ‘Death’ with the left hand approach of old school ‘In Flames’ or ‘At the Gates’ or something. I guess that melodic and catchy and to be able to sound like a song with one guitar player- that’s how I try to write rhythms and my leads? I definitely recognize I’m a better melodic solo player than a shreddy dude. I leave all that shit to Corey [Bealieu]. Even though I can do some of it, so I do some of it sometimes.

RR: So you guys are known for having great solos in your songs and you obviously have guitar duals and stuff going on. How do you guys put those together and write your solos?
MH: Each album is different. With ‘Ascendency’, we pretty much planned out every single solo, ‘Crusade’ I think they were all improv’d and memorized from there. ‘Shogun’ was half and half. Moving forward I think I’m gonna do it more like I did with ‘Shattering…’ where I do plan it out and I think planning is the best way to go for me. To actually make the solo into a song and make it something special.

RR: When you are putting it together are there key elements that you look for in a solo that you try and insert into them?
MH: Yeah, to have to be able to be identifiable by itself. There are so many dudes that can play six billion notes a second but it’s very hard to pick out who that is, who that guitar player is. I mean if you want to think modern guys like Mike Amott (of ‘Arch Enemy’) you always know it’s him. With me, if I hear a solo from Mike Amott of ‘Arch Enemy’ I always know it’s his playing- little things like the subtle phaser on his solo and the occasional wah and really big open melodies. I feel like I’m finding more and more what my solo style is, it’s that kind of incorporation of I guess blues / old school heavy metal based soloing but with the occasional like [John] Petrucci-esque [of ‘Dream Theater’] sextuplet type run type thing.

RR: So tell us about your endorsers, you’ve had a few over the years. Who have you been endorsed by?
MH: I am full on now 100% representing Gibson guitars for the Les Paul Customs, Explorers, their 7-string Explorers and SG300 acoustics, which I don’t do live obviously. Marshall, I use JVM210H through a 1960 BB cab. So Gibson, Marshall, Dunlop for strings, picks, accessories, straps, strap locks and EMG pick ups…and I believe that’s it. And my rig nowadays is just my guitar into a head that goes straight into the PA so I don’t actually use a cab or mic or anything, I use no pedals, no channel switching, nothing- just a guitar and one channel.

RR: Who have you been endorsed by in the past and what inspired the change?
MH: When I first started touring I was playing Gibson and Peavey, Peavey because I was using Peavey heads through Marshall cabs, Marshall Cabs because I already owned them as a kid. The first amp I bought I think was a Marshall valve-state, so I bought a Marshall half-stack first, but for touring, Peavey because Jason [Suecof] used a lot of Peavey in the studio and it was a great tone that was easy to find for our sound. We were kind of a small band at the time so Gibson weren’t ready or willing to work with us yet and we were approached by Rita Hainey and Dean Zelinsky to join Dean [Guitars]. We joined Dean for a while and we were treated really well at that time. Dean [Zelinsky] then let go of Dean [Guitars] and he was the guy that partially brought us in and he was the dude who was creating our guitars and we didn’t have our dude anymore so we took off. At that time Gibson got in touch with us miraculously and they were like ‘we’d like to work with you’ and so it was my dream to be with them. So, the only other ex-company, we had Peavey and Dean, I think that’s it but Corey still plays Peavey heads, Marshall cabs and Jackson guitars.

RR: So what makes Gibson special for you? What is it you love about those guitars?
MH: For me, it’s always been the best guitar company. It was the first guitar company I ever loved. I’ve been able to see the Gibson plant and watch the amount of hand made work that goes into it. I mean the white binding that goes around the guitar is actually hand carved out by a human being, which is insane because most guitar companies, their hand-built is they take their hand and shove this piece of wood through a machine and guitar comes out the other side. I’ve seen that in many different companies. It’s all down to the quality and that Les Paul that I’ve had since I was 13, 14 I’m still using now. We used to use it when I didn’t really have a good guitar case, we’d thrown it in the back of the trailer and it got beat up and smashed up and it’s still the best sounding and playing one I have. So I guess in the end it’s all about personal preference, but for me it’s personal preference and quality and their shit is definitely high quality.

RR: So what’s your practice regime like when you’re on the road and off the road?
MH: On the road, at least always warming up for 5-15 minutes a day and I always use- I memorized- the John Petrucci ‘Rock Discipline Warmups’. I actually got to tell him that in person for the first time at Download which I was really stoked about. I’ve been using that since I was about 16. I’m not as good as he is but I still warm up with it, try to at least. If I go more to that I just play for an hour or two hours or whenever or how long. At home, I do play a lot but it’s more so jamming and writing, it’s not really practicing to learn something new exactly but if I feel that I need to, I’ll do it and I’ll sit there with a metronome and a classical guitar stool, foot pedal, all that and go for it. But it’s just about jamming and writing and trying to come up with the best riffs for the next record.

RR: So when you were a kid, how often did you practice? Did you drive your folks mad?
MH: Oh no not mad at all, but I practices a lot. Some days not at all, some days the 5-6 hours a day, if there was like a weekend or no school or something I’d just play throughout the day, yeah, a lot.

RR: So what tips would you give a budding guitarist?
MH: If you’re just a guitar player, ya know anything’s possible, all this crazy shit that humans are doing is possible, it just takes time to learn it, and then you work your way up. But if you’re in a band and making music, it’s all about the song first, the heavy brutal shit comes last, the technical flashy shit comes last, it’s all about coming up with really cool songs that you like that you’re audience can enjoy as well.

The band’s current album Shogun is available now. Order online AT THIS LOCATION.

When it came to finding a label to release their record, there was only one that MUTINY WITHIN really felt they could make their home- Roadrunner.

In this latest instalment the band tell us about getting signed to the label- how they went about it and how it felt to finally ink that deal. It also includes footage of teh bands showcase performance to the Roadrunner staff.

Click on the player below to check it out!

The band’s self titled debut album is available digitally now at all the usual spots. The CD will see a release on the 26th April. You can pick up the digital album and / or pre-order the CD HERE.

TAKING DAWN guitarist Mikey has written a blog about the band’s arrival to these shores this week. Check out what the dude had to say below…

We had our last 2 shows in Europe in Paris and Luxembourg. 2 killer fuckin shows! I would like to say that Paris might be holding the title for the most kickass crowd we have ever had. About 4000 fists pumping and fucking shit up! So much energy in that room. We made a crowd cam video of the show so you can check it out for yourself. Its called “A night in Paris 2” Its sorta like an unofficial sequel to the Paris Hilton sex tape.

Last Night we played our first show ever in UK in Portsmouth. So far we are pretty excited about the UK. We have been told soo many badass stories about the people there.. legend says that there are no crowds that rock harder. Last night was a nice little taste but the crowds are not always the most important… Paris may currently hold the title for best crowd but UK is currently holding the “hot girl” title. Everywhere we go there all kinds of beautiful bitches runnin wild! And I mean that in the most respectful way possible. All these different accents make me want to stay over in this motherfucker and never go back to the states! Or maybe ill just stuff a few of them in my suitcase and bring them with me.

We were confirmed for a new UK tour very soon. We cannot announce it yet but it will be amazing and it will be the biggest baddest fucking thing we have ever done! So excited. I sometimes wonder how we get these opportunities.. we are only decent musicians.. its probably just the way we look. We are usually voted “best looking band in the world”. Its a poll that our parents and closest friends put together every year. Which reminds me, we were actually nominated for a METAL HAMMER Golden Gods award for “best new band” You should all follow this link and vote for us. We are sick of winning “best looking band”. We want to win something else for a change! 🙂

We love you Fuckers! Cant wait to meet more of you on the road! We will kill it together!

Recap: Check out Paris video HERE
Cast yo vote for “Golden Gods” HERE
And add us on facebook and these other fine sites to stay up to date on the latest unimportant TD news!

Cast yo vote for “Golden Gods” HERE

And add us on facebook and these other fine sites to stay up to date on the latest unimportant TD news!

Facebook

Twitter

MySpace

TakingDawn.com

God bless you! And America. And the Uk and Europe, And its fine bitches. And their fine booties.

The band’s debut album Time To Burn is available now as a digital album on all the usual platforms. You will be able to pick up a CD from April 12th. Pre-order that bad boy online HERE.

WITHIN TEMPTATION have announced the departure of their drummer Stephen van Haestregt. A statement from the band on their site reads as follows:

We are sorry to announce that Stephen and Within Temptation will go their separate ways after the upcoming theatre tour. It isn’t easy to say goodbye after all we’ve been through together.

In this period of time many dreams have become reality for all of us and exceeded our highest expectations. Through the good and bad it has created a bond; we’ve had a wedding, a funeral and have seen each other’s kids being born and growing-up. Everything passed in a flash and we are looking back on it with a smile.

We would like to thank Stephen and his wife Veroniek for all the great moments, passion and devotion. We wish you the best for the future!

You can read the full statement, which includes a letter to the fans from Stephen himself at the bands official site HERE.

Within Temptations most recent studio album The Heart Of Everything is available in stores now. Pick it up online here!.

With the release of the stunning ‘Year of the Black Rainbow’ fast approaching, we sat down with COHEED AND CAMBRIA frontman Claudio Sanchez to talk about the album in this two-part interview.

In this first part, Claudio discusses the producers, the maturity level of the band’s songwriting and the vibe in the studio during the recording process. Head to the player below to watch now.

Once you’ve got over the fact that Mr Sanchez has the most enormous hair EVER, turn your attention to getting your hands on the album from April 12th on CD, CD/DVD Special Edition and digital download.

You’ll find special pre-order offers at HMV.com (exclusive art cards) and Play.com (exclusive puzzle coaster).

Roadrunner Records announced today the worldwide signing of multi-platinum, genre-defining hard rock band KORN.

If there was a list of the nicest people in the history of rock n roll, LYNYRD SKYNYRD‘s Rickey Medlocke would undoubtedly be right up there at the top.

In this, the third part of our four-part catch-up interview, we chat to the legendary six-stringer about his musical influences – from Free to Audioslave to Ray Lamontagne – this is a guy who doesn’t rest on his laurels! Check out the video in the player below.