Trans-Siberian Orchestra Unveils Holiday Tour

LiveDaily.com reports: Trans-Siberian Orchestra has revealed plans for its eighth holiday tour, and it's the outfit's most ambitious itinerary yet.

The group--which will once again break into two touring units--has lined up an eight-week, 117-show arena tour that will feature two same-day performances in many cities.

According to a press release, tickets for all stops on the tour will go on sale to fan club members on Sept. 12, and will be available to the general public starting Sept. 15. One dollar of every ticket purchased will be donated to local charities in each market.

Organizers promise that new elements will be added to this year's production, "which already includes an orchestral string section, a full rock band, multiple vocalists, a narrator, extensive pyrotectics, a stunning laser- and light show and even a snowfall," the press release said.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra sprouted from a collaboration between producer/songwriter Paul O'Neill and keyboardist Jon Olivia, both of whom were members of the progressive-metal group Savatage. In the mid-'90s, the two wrote some Christmas songs that eventually became Trans-Siberian Orchestra's 1996 rock-opera album, "Christmas Eve & Other Stories."

The group has since released two more holiday sets--1998's "The Christmas Attic" and 2004's "The Lost Christmas Eve"--as well as 2000's non-holiday offering, "Beethoven's Last Night."

In the fall of 2004, the group issued "The Christmas Trilogy," a box set that houses all three of the orchestra's Christmas albums, as well as its 2001 DVD, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve."

Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour dates: More...

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New White Lion Album In The Works

Former WHITE LION and current TRAMP'S WHITE LION vocalist Mike Tramp has issued the following statement:

"After much thought and consideration, I have decided to give TRAMP'S WHITE LION a second shot and make it a good one. I never felt good about giving up after our last agent messed up our plans for 2006 and we were left with nothing. So together with your many requests and the band wanting to do it, we're already off and running and this time will be taking it one step further! Yes I/we have decided to record an album of all-new TRAMP'S WHITE LION songs. Without promising too much, this is something we hope will be released sometime in April/May next year.

"It's funny how it all started. As you well know I have been working on a new solo album for a long time, but started finding myself a bit lost as I was progressing. One of the problems was that the album was getting too heavy and it was something I never set out to do. Ever since I recorded 'Capricorn' in 1996 I have wanted to go far away from the WHITE LION and FREAK OF NATURE sounds. But as the live shows started featuring songs from both bands, my solo songs started getting back into the WHITE LION/FREAK OF NATURE sound again. How many times have I said that MIKE TRAMP is MIKE TRAMP, not WHITE LION or FREAK OF NATURE? Still I never stuck to it, feeling that people still want to hear the old songs. Well, now that has solved itself. TRAMP'S WHITE LION or WHITE LION II, as I aim to call it, will play the songs of WHITE LION and what will come from the new album. The album will be the heavier side of me without compromise, leaving me to now soar free and higher in the direction I have always wanted to be as a solo artist.

"You might not believe it, but this is a heavy burden lifted off my shoulders as I hate to be confused when it comes to where I am going with my music. I am very excited to record the next WHITE LION album and from the songs already in the box, I know it will not disappoint the fans.

"The band will do a small tour of Europe in November-December so check out the tour dates as they get confirmed. We are not able to cover everywhere this time due to many reasons, but the goal is to be back sooner than later and reach as many of you as possible."

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Chiodos Re-release Album, Touring With Atreyu

With a hugely successful Spring and Summer behind them and looking toward the Fall and Winter, Michigan's newest success story Chiodos is celebrating the second half of 2006 with the re-release of their breakthrough album All's Well that Ends Well that will include bonus acoustic tracks, DVD and brand new cover art by Paul Romano (Mastodon, Trivium). Once the boys return from their dates in Europe, they're jumping back into US venues with Atreyu, From First to Last and Every Time I Die for a tour that will prove to be one of the biggest and loudest this Fall.

With sales of 70k of the original release, All's Well That Ends Well is a milestone for the band and their label Equal Vision Records. And with the excitement generated by their incendiary live shows that had Warped founder Kevin Lyman singing their praises ("It's great to go by the Smartpunk stage and see Chiodos's crowds growing with each stop of the tour. Word is defiantly out on these guys!"), Chiodos have arrived and what better way to prove it than to bring it back to the fans by offering more material to sink their teeth into. The re-release is slated for stores on October 17th and will include acoustic versions of "Baby, You Wouldn't Last A Minute On The Creek", "Queen of Diamonds" (live demo by Craig Owens) and "Lindsay Quit Lollygagging" (a new recording of an unreleased track). The bonus DVD includes exclusive content such as the Popcorefilm-directed video for "Baby, You Wouldn't Last...", behind the-scenes content shot by the band, and live show footage from Chicago, the first-ever acoustic set, and Bamboozle in New Jersey.

With tour dates filling up for this frenetically melodic aggro six-piece, this Fall is going to be sweat-drenched and packed to the gills with their exciting live shows and amazingly complex music. Seems like as well as 2006 has been, it's going to end far better than anyone had expected.

Sep 12 Effenarr Eindhoven, Holland
Sep 13 Skaters Palace Munster, Germany
Sep 14 Live Music Hall Koln, Germany
Sep 15 Brixton Academy London, UK
Sep 16 Barrowlands Glasgow, UK
Sep 17 Rock City Nottingham, UK
Sep 18 The Academy Manchester, UK
Oct 6 SOMA San Diego, CA
Oct 7 Mesa Amphitheatre Mesa, AZ
Oct 9 Graham C. Station San Angelo, TX
Oct 10 Verizon Theater Houston, TX
Oct 12 Tabernacle Atlanta, GA
Oct 13 Masquerade Jacksonville, FL
Oct 15 House of Blues Lake Buena Vista, FL
Oct 18 House of Blues Myrtle Beach, SC
Oct 22 Lifestyle Pavilion Columbus, OH
Oct 24 Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA
Oct 26 The Palladium Worcester, MA
Oct 27 Nokia Theater New York, NY
Oct 28 Convention Hall Asbury Park, NJ
Nov 3 State Theatre Detroit, MI
Nov 4 Congress Theatre Chicago, IL
Nov 5 The Rave Milwaukee, WI
Nov 6 The Pageant Saint Louis, MO
Nov 8 Quest Club Minneapolis, MN
Nov 9 The Beaumont Kansas City, KS
Nov 10 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
Nov 11 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
Nov 12 Avalon Theatre Salt Lake City, UT
Nov 14 Fenix Seattle, WA
Nov 15 Roseland Theater Portland, OR
Nov 17 Civic Auditorium San Jose, CA
Nov 18 Bren Events Ctr Irvine, CA
Nov 19 House of Blues Las Vegas, NV

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Ex-Sum 41 Guitarist Returns w/ Brown Brigade

BROWN BRIGADE, the new metal band featuring ex-SUM 41 guitarist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh and his cousin Vaughn Lal (bass), has announced the addition of singer Travis Sanders (RPO) to the group's ranks. The band is currently recording a six-song EP and preparing for a cross-Canada tour with PENNYWISE and the CIRCLE JERKS. In the meantime, if you want to get a rough idea of what BROWN BRIGADE sounds like, check out the band's MySpace page. "These are basically demos of us with a drum machine and no vox," the band writes on its web site.

In a June 2006 interview with MTV.com, Baksh stated about BROWN BRIGADE, "As a guitarist — and this isn't meant to insult SUM's music — but it was getting way too easy to play. I really wanted to get into my roots and pay homage to the three bands that started me off in music: ANTHRAX, MEGADETH and METALLICA.

"I'm not the most serious guy in the world, so BROWN BRIGADE songs are about funny stuff," he added. "I think that SUM 41 lost a lot of their sense of humor, which is where things started to go wrong. The whole thing got a bit too dark for the public."

"The basic music [of BROWN BRIGADE] is going to be metal and some thrash, some IRON MAIDEN with some DEEP PURPLE thrown in, too. It's going to be red-hot. I can't wait."

BROWN BRIGADE supporting PENNYWISE and CIRCLE JERKS:

Oct. 03 - Croation Cultural Centre - Vancouver, BC
Oct. 04 - Commodore - Vancouver, BC
Oct. 06 - MacEwan Hall - Calgary, AB
Oct. 07 - The venue formerly Red's - Edmonton, AB
Oct. 08 - Odeon - Saskatoon, SK
Oct. 09 - Burton Cummings Theatre - Winnipeg, MB
Oct. 11 - Club Denim - Guelph, ON
Oct. 12 - The Phoenix - Toronto, ON
Oct. 13 - Surface - Ottawa, ON
Oct. 14 - Metropolis - Montreal, PQ
Oct. 15 - Imperial - Quebec City, PQ

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Tolkki Writing "More Traditional" Strat. Material

STRATOVARIUS guitarist/mainman Timo Tolkki has issued the following update on the songwriting process for the group's new album:

"Everything has gone very smoothly and I have written seven songs by now. I expect to complete the songwriting by the STRATOVARIUS tour that kicks off [in] Canada. After that we will record the demos and enter the studio somewhere around February. Release date should be either October 2007 or February 2008, followed by a world tour. I already have the album title and for those who want to guess, it's two separate words that both start with 'R.' The song material is more traditional STRATOVARIUS, it is very melodic and quite reminescent to 'Visions'/'Episode' era. After last album I wanted to write more traditional STRATOVARIUS songs. There are double-bass-drum songs as well."

STRATOVARIUS will be touring North America this fall in support of their latest, self-titled effort, which was released in the U.S. in September 2005 via Sanctuary. A video for the album's first single, "Maniac Dance", was shot in April 2005 in Helsinki by director and Tolkki's old schoolmate Antti Jokinen (BEYONCÉ, WYCLEF JEAN, KORN, MISSY ELLIOT, NIGHTWISH, SHANIA TWAIN, CELINE DION).

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Suffocation To Shoot Video, CD-Signing Session

SUFFOCATION will film a video for the track ‘Abomination Reborn’ from it's forthcoming, self-titled album.

The shooting for the video, the first from the band’s new record, will take place with director Frankie Nasso (MUDVAYNE, HATEBREED, MISERY INDEX) and producers Dale Resteghini and Melissa Manousos of Raging Nations Films with the band this weekend in Brooklyn, NY. The video is scheduled to make it's international debut in late-September.

Suffocation will be released on September 19th in North America and September 25th internationally. SUFFOCATION will be commemorating the North American release of Suffocation with a signing session at Looney Tunes Records in West Babylon, NY. An e-card previewing Suffocation, featuring the tracks ‘Abomination Reborn’ and ‘Blind Torture Kill’, can be viewed at this location.

Additionally, SUFFOCATION will undertake an extended fall tour of North America with FEAR FACTORY, HYPOCRISY, and DECAPITATED starting October 26th at The Pound in San Francisco. A complete listing of SUFFOCATION tour dates and appearances can be found here.

SUFFOCATION CD-Signing:

Tuesday, September 19 at 7pm
Looney Tunes
31 Brookvale Ave
West Babylon, NY 11704
www.looneytunescds.com

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Vile Wrap Up Tour, Writing New Material

Californian brutal death metallers VILE have posted the following message on their official web site:

"We want to thank all the die-hards that came out to our shows on the Bloodletting North America tour [also featuring DECREPIT BIRTH, DEEDS OF FLESH, and ODIOUS MORTEM]! Some great shows on that tour because of you guys! Also, major thanks goes out to Lance Wright who stepped up to drum for us on this tour. Lance really came through with the speed, stability and groove that VILE is known for. Thank you, Lance! Also, cheers to the cool dudes in all the other bands. It was a pleasure!

"Right now we're writing some new material as well as looking for the best options for more touring. J.J. [Hrubovcak, guitar] and Mike [Hrubovcak, vocals] are getting ready to record their second DIVINE RAPTURE CD. Colin [Davis, guitar] is writing some new VILE material at this moment. Erlend [Caspersen, bass] is probably working on some kind of eight finger tapping or something...Stay tuned."

VILE's latest album, "The New Age of Chaos", was released in North America last October via Unique Leader Records and via Listenable Records in Europe.

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Fuck The Facts Announce New Guitarist

Canadian grind outfit Fuck The Facts recently added guitarist Jean-Louis Wittinger to their line-up. Wittinger has previously done time with Putrescence and Lykeum, and will is making his live debut with Fuck The Facts on the Relapse Contamination Tour.

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Hezzakya Post Two New Songs Online

Southern rock/metal outfit Hezzakya have posted two new demos on their Myspace Page www.myspace.com/hezzakya for download. The songs “Hands of Stone” and “In Her Garden” feature their new singer Rob, who adds a new dynamic vocal presence to the band.

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Bleed The Sky Guitarist Departs

Bleed The Sky guitarist Kyle Moorman has officially left the band. Vocalist Noah Robinson has issued the following statement:

"Kyle Moorman has officially left the band to pursue other elements of the music business. He has plans to be involved in studio production and engineering and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. We are in the midst of looking for a new lead guitarist, and are accepting open submissions. If you would like to audition, we will need some vital information. We require at least 3 full songs (MP3 formats preferred), pictures (both live and personal), and personal goals for your future in music. You can send all of this information to bleedtheskytryouts@yahoo.com. Do not attempt to contact us any further on the matter after the initial submission. Each submission will be thoroughly looked into, and those that qualify will be notified of further auditions. Also we are currently working on preproduction for our follow-up record on Nuclear Blast. We're set to hit the studio in December to record and shooting for early summer for our release date. We will see you guys all soon and thank you all so much for the love youve shown our band over the last solid year of touring. See you all on the road soon!"

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The Legacy Posts Two New Songs Online

Hardcore band The Legacy just posted 2 new songs online from their upcoming release, which should be out around December/January. You can check the tracks out on their MySpace page.

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Scars Of Tomorrow Replaces Drummer

Scars Of Tomorrow has now parted ways with drummer Ryan Severino. Reasons behind Severino's departure have not been publicly disclosed. Regardless, the group quickly recruited drummer Justin Salinas (ex-Inked In Blood), who is now on tour with the band on the West Coast.

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Texas Helloween Metal Fest III '06 Bands Revealed

The third installment of the Texas Helloween Metal Fest will take place on October 21, 2006 at The Underground in Corpus Christi, TX. The following bands have been confirmed thus far:

AVERSION TO LIFE
ADUMUS
BOUND BY BLASPHEMY
BOWEL'S OUT
CARNAL
CUNT HAMMER
CYSTIC DYSENTERY
DEMONOLOGY
ENSLAVE THE GRAVE
GROTESQUE FORMATION
INSIDIOUS DECREPANCY
INCINERATE
IMAGES OF VIOLENCE
KILL THE CLIENT
NAIL SHITTER
SUTURE
STARING AT THE EMPTY THRONE
STRANGLE CHELSEA
SUBMERGED IN DIRT

You can view the show's flyer here.

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Messaiah Will Sing On New Candlemass Album

Legendary Swedish doom metallers CANDLEMASS have posted the following message on their official web site:

"In a conversation with the label Nuclear Blast, Messiah Marcolin has agreed to sing on the upcoming CANDLEMASS album. It will happen sometime in September/October. Some contractual stuff has to be sorted out first, but things look very promising at the moment.

Commented bassist/songwriter Leif Edling: "I'm glad to hear it. Whatever problems Messiah has, I'm sure they can be solved for the benefit of the album. It really kills and the fans deserve to hear Messiah on it. Let's just make this a great album. If Messiah wants to do his solo thing after or whatever, then I got no problem with it, but the album is the most important thing right now as I see it. For us, for the label, for the fans!"

Earlier this year CANDLEMASS frontman Messiah Marcolin had stated that he had parted ways with the group and that it's 100 percent definite that he will not return. "We could not agree on how to do the new album," he said, but would not further elaborate on his sudden exit.

In a subsequent posting on CANDLEMASS' web site, the band wrote, "Messiah's got a severe pre-recording psychosis at the moment, so folks, please calm down. The band is confident that he will sing on the [upcoming] album as planned."

The CD - a concept album about the road to ruin in the modern society - is being self-produced and will feature nine or ten tracks.

CANDLEMASS recorded four new songs with the help of producer Andy Sneap (NEVERMORE, ARCH ENEMY, MACHINE HEAD) in late February at the Polar studios. At the time, Leif Edling said of the material, "The songs are pretty much in the same vein as the stuff on the [self-titled 2005] reunion album, maybe a bit darker."

GMR Music recently announced plans to re-release the CANDLEMASS albums "Chapter VI" (1992) and "Dactylis Glomerata" (1998) as double remastered discs.

"Chapter VI" will include the "Sjunger Sigge Furst" EP as bonus tracks plus a live DVD disc and "Dactylis Glomerata" will contain an entire previously unreleased album. Each reissue will be sold for the price of a normal full-length CD. An early fall release is expected.

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Vader Frontman Talks About Passing Of Doc

Dr. Abner Mality of Wormwood Chronicles webzine recently conducted an interview with Peter of Polish death metal stalwarts VADER. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Wormwood Chronicles: The next question is kind of intense. When you're up on stage this year, do you ever look back at the drumkit and still see Doc there? (Former VADER drummer Doc died in 2005 after a long battle with addiction.)

Peter: Actually, I don't think that way. I knew Doc a long time. I tried to help him so many times. I lost a passion for it after many years of trials of trying to explain to him what was so clear for everybody else. So he was my friend. I'm so sorry that something like this happened, that I could do nothing after so many attempts. So this should be a lesson for others... how stories end when you can't control yourself. That's about all I can say about that. What we're trying to do now is to help Doc's family."

Wormwood Chronicles: You recently changed your record label from Metal Blade to Regain Records. What was the reason for the switch?

Peter: The same reason we have changed labels in the past. Not enough attention for us. We don't expect anything special from a label but we do expect a kind of trust for our band and our music. We could not do anything more on our own than we did without support from a record label. We expect this sort of support from Regain and right now we are full of hope. Metal Blade in America is quite different from Metal Blade in Europe. Metal Blade in Europe did a lot for us...they wanted to help us. Metal Blade in America...I had the chance to talk to the bosses there and what I heard was "You're great, man!" and that was it. (chuckles) Nothing more!

Wormwood Chronicles: They didn't have a plan, in other words.

Peter: Right, right. If a record company puts all their attention on three other bands, they're not the record company for us, because we need to be one of those bands! We need to have a chance. We spent a long time waiting for more from Metal Blade America and we expected more.

Read the full article at Wormwood Chronicles.

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UVTV Films Hatebreed, Napalm Death and Exodus

Underground Video Television (UVTV) was at the Monsters of Mayhem tour in Allentown PA at the Croc Rock on Friday Sep 8 with arrangements for filming live footage of Exodus, Napalm Death, and headliners Hatebreed. During the show Exodus bassist Jack Gibson told the UVTV crew stories of tour bus driving expertise in Europe and hoped his hair looked good in the footage. Rob Dukes, Exodus vocalist, asked if his stage dive into the mosh pit was captured on tape. You can read the full Monsters of Mayhem show report and review on the UVTV blogs. Exclusive live footage from this event will be available on the UVTV website in the future.

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Interview With Newly Re-formed Pitchshifter Posted

Dan Rayner, of British rockers Pitchshifter, was recently interviewed by RockMidgets.com about the re-forming of the band, what the band members have been doing during their "indefinite hiatus", the band's roots, and what's next for Pitchshifter. Also, a new, limited edition EP, entitled "None For All, And All For One", is now available from the official Pitchshifter site in both unsigned and signed versions. Some excerpts from the interview follow:

Obvious question, but why have Pitchshifter got back together now?

Dan: Well, we never really broke up. If you read the small print, it says, indefinite hiatus. And I don't know, I guess that's a cover all clause, but Pitchshifter has evolved into something really quite interesting now. Obviously musically, we were always an interesting, progressive band, but as a group of individuals now, it's kind of a really nice network of people with divergent sorts of tastes and talents. We've all got a lot of other stuff going on. There's no label pressure because we are the label and there's no 18 months touring or recording schedule and people forcing us to do stuff we don't want to do. It means now that we're completely hegemonic and we can do whatever we want. When we feel the time is right, we all put gaps in our schedules and we all come back together and that's what happens. We don't sort of sit down and have a strategy meeting. We don't all like fly in like Thunderbirds, but after a while it just starts to feel right and I'll have a conversation with Jase or John to see what's going on, and it just comes together like that.

But you've not all been quiet have you? Members of Pitchshifter have been in various bands...

Yeah, sure. John's (J.S. Clayden, vocals - Ed. PSI Ed.) over in LA. He's doing a lot of management for people but he's also spending most of his time running PSI Records. As well as being a regular record label for Pitchshifter they also released This Is Menace stuff, which is Mark (Clayden, bass - Ed.) and Jason's (Bowlds, drummer - Ed.) massive side project that's sort of taken over the rock world, with every singer you can think of appearing on their groups of albums. They're recording a new album as we speak. I heard some of it the other day, it sounds amazing. Then me and my brother (Tim - Ed.), we're in Drawbacks, which is a sort of production thing, couple of producers that we are, and occasionally getting time to go out and do gigs and put an EP out. We've got a new EP called I-Bomb coming out in May, but we spend most of our time remixing other people, like 'Menace for instance, and doing production for people, and production music. John pushes our music into film and stuff in LA, that's how we hook up, still working within the Pitchshifter family when we're not Pitchshifter.

That brings us onto the Pitchshifter ethic, which is extremely DIY and very steeped in punk rock. You've got your own record label, and as you say, online you interact directly with your fans. They don't get some street-teamer or label dogsbody. How important is the DIY attitude to Pitchshifter?

Oh, it's a matter of importance. Pitchshifter has been around a long time now, but I feel that at this point, although we're not the most prolific we've ever been, we're really sort of satisfied with the way things are, because we do have that to and fro interface with people. We can respond to what they like and what they don't like, and at the same time, we respond most importantly to what we like about life. We do what we like, and not in an arrogant way. And there's no pressure, there's no marketing machine, and yet Pitchshifter has such a good fan base that we can do this. We don't need the leviathan of the music industry to be pushing our music because people know where to find us. You know, the DIY thing was there at the beginning and it's there now more than ever.

The one thing I've got to say about PSI is you use your influence and experience to support the underground and the underdogs. I think you were the first guys to take Lostprophets out on tour, and Skindred. And of course, This is Menace are opening for your tonight. Do you get to choose the opening bands?

Well, we had Architects last night in Portsmouth and they were really pretty good. And we're friends with In At The Deep End Records at Nottingham, and of course we find out about new bands from them, find out what they're putting out, what they're interested in. Nottingham is a really vibrant town. I mean Mark is the only one that's based there at the moment. Most towns are shutting down all their music venues to make executive style flats, but Nottingham, luckily, has Rock City, the sort of nucleus of the music scene up there, so Mark's always got his ear to the ground with new bands. He'll always try and bring them out on tour to give them a leg up, and that's something we all really care about. Like I said before, we have to look after music, nurture it.

Finally, what are your plans now you are back together?

Finish our tour. London tonight, Nottingham tomorrow, which should both be brilliant gigs. London is sort of a home town for me and Tim, then Nottingham is the spiritual home of the band and we're big friends of the owners of Rock City, so they always look after us. There's always a great crowd there, being the band's home town. So get that done, and then we're going off to do some remixes for various people. John's flying straight back to LA. There's some discussion about a few European things in the pipeline, but again, we're not going to say we must do it because that's what our lives depend on. We'll see if everyone's around and if it's something we really want to do, and then we'll do it again. It's not out of sight, out of mind, but the more time we spend together, the more time we talk about Pitchshifter. It's funny in that way. If we don't do anything, we don't talk about it; do more stuff, and we talk about doing more stuff.

Read the full article at Rock Midgets.

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