Archive for the Artist Watch Category

MTV Buzzworthy Featured Band OCEAN GROVE Announce Co-Headlining US Tour With Voxhaul Broadcast & Special Guest!

Posted in Artist Watch, News with tags , , , on September 21, 2011 by Randy

Announce South American Tour with Nick Jonas!

 Purchase ‘Another Place To Stay’, here: http://bit.ly/mFqRbS

 Watch “I Want You In Love” official music video: http://youtu.be/3Jyo0mfWKe4

 Ocean Grove, NJ – September 20, 2011 – New Jersey pop-rock band, Ocean Grove, just released their EP, Another Place To Stay, to great success during summer 2011. The band is currently preparing to extensively hit the road on two tours. First up, a 10-date, South American tour opening for their good friend and musical collaborator, Nick Jonas. Once the band makes it back to the states they’ll be embarking on a co-headlining tour alongside Voxhaul Broadcast with very special guest Robert Schwartzman, vocalist of Rooney (all tour dates below). For more information, please visit: www.oceangroveband.com

Bands come together in various ways, usually by chance meetings, Craigslist ads, or music class- but few can say their lineup was created after sharing the experience of playing in a backing band for one of the biggest bands in the world. After touring the globe and enjoying some of the greatest times of their lives, John Taylor (vocals/guitar), Ryan Liestman (keys/backing vocals), Greg Garbowsky(bass/backing vocals), Jack Lawless (drums) decided it was time to start their own project, one that would see them develop a truly unique rock n’ roll sound – Ocean Grove.

Once Ocean Grove finished their tour commitments, they were ready to record their first EP Little Record. In Spring 2010, they spent time in LA writing with various co-writers, but once recorded, the band knew the EP wasn’t the exact direction they had hoped to take. They packed up and went back to the East coast- to Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

There, the band shacked up in a beautiful Victorian home near the ocean to focus on a real and more rock n’ roll sound. After recording 14 songs in two weeks, Ocean Grove finally felt they had come into their own. The EP, Another Place to Stay, mixed by Paul Hager (Van Halen, Goo Goo Dolls, American Hi-Fi) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys) is an EP filled with feel good songs pulling from their greatest influences such as The Beach Boys, Tom Petty, and Weezer. The inspiration for the EP came from years of experiences and all the little things life throws our way.

The band is proud of all their past accomplishments like having played with acts such as Stevie Wonder, Brad PaiselyVince Gill and performing on over 50 television shows, but Ocean Grove is ready to continue something truly special and all their own, just like their bond as a band. With their new EP, and positive outlook on all that’s to come, they are ready for just about anything.

For more information on Ocean Grove, please visit www.oceangroveband.com

Tour Dates w/Nick Jonas:

9/21      Via Fuchnal                                Sao, Paolo Brazil

9/22      HSBC Arena                              Rio de Janerio, Brazil

9/23      Chevrolet Hall                            Belo Horizonte, Brazil

9/25      Master Hall                                Curitiba, Brazil

9//27     Pepsi On Stage                         Porto Alegre, Brazil

9/29      Jockey Club                               Asuncion, Paraguay

10/1      GEBA                                        Buenos Aires, Argentina

10/2      Orfeo Superdome                      Cordoba, Argentina

10/8      Centro Sambil                            Caracas, Venezuela

10/11    SMG Theatre                              San Juan, Puerto Rico

Tour Dates w/Voxhaul Broadcast:

10/20    El Corazon                                 Seattle, WA

10/21    Backspace Café                         Portland, OR

10/22    Great American Music Hall          San Francisco, CA

10/23    Troubadour                                 Los Angeles, CA

10/24    Bar Pink                                     San Diego, CA

10/25    Hard Rock Café                         Phoenix, AZ

10/26    Skrappy’s                                  Tucson, AZ

10/28    Red 7                                        Austin, TX

10/29    White Rabbit                              San Antonio, TX

10/30    HOB – Cambridge                       Dallas, TX

11/1      Vinyl                                          Atlanta, GA

11/3      Jammin Java                             Vienna, VA

11/4      Soapbox Lounge                       Wilmington, NC

11/6      Space                                        Hamden, CT

11/8      TT The Bears                             Boston, MA

11/9      The Note                                   Philadelphia, PA

11/10    Studio at Webster Hall               New York, NY

11/11    Mohawk                                     Buffalo, NY

11/12    AE                                             Pittsburgh, PA

11/14    Grog Shop                                 Cleveland, OH

11/16    A&R                                           Columbus, OH

11/17    Crofoot Ballroom                         Pontiac, MI

11/18    Bottom Lounge                          Chicago, IL

11/20    Station 4                                    Minneapolis, MN

11/22    Bluebird                                     Denver, CO

11/23    Kilby Court                                 Salt Lake City, UT

KAURA Releases New Full-Length CD/DVD, ‘That Which Defines Us’

Posted in Artist Watch, News, Releases with tags , , , , on September 21, 2011 by Randy

California natives KAURA are pleased to announce today’s release of their new album, That Which Defines Us.  Fans can purchase the record now digitally at iTunes and physically at IndieMerchStore.com. Produced by singer Malcolm Guess, That Which Defines Us is a testament of dedication, taking over two years to record with the assistance of rock luminaries such as Sylvia Massey (Tool, System of a Down, Danzig), Ken Andrews (Failure, A Perfect Circle) and Michael Romanowski (Dredg).  Central to the album’s sound were instruments that the band collected on their travels to India, Thailand, Bali, Cambodia, Laos, and Nepal.

The DVD portion of the set includes two music videos directed by drummer Benjamin Jones for the songs ‘Ephemeral Fall’ and ‘Silence Speaks Louder’.  It also features an hour long ‘Making of the Album’, and footage of the band’s adventures collecting instruments during their travels.

Tracklisting:

1. Inovocation

2. Sera Phi

3. One Becomes Two

4. Ephemeral Fall

5. Solace

6. Silence Speaks Louder

7. Apathy

8. Alarmico Saturn

9. 2C&B

10. If This Were to End

11. Tether’s End

12. A Lament for Change

Comprised of Malcolm Guess (vocals, guitar, and production), Benjamin Jones (drums, hammered dulcimer), Ben Rojas (guitar), and Josh Albright (bass), KAURA have already racked up an impressive list of accomplishments, including invitations from Live Nation to open for national touring acts like Godsmack and Rob Zombie and garnering the praise of Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle, Zwan, Entrance Band) who appeared on their self-titled EP and airplay on Los Angeles’s World Famous KROQ  and Bay Area radio stations such as Live 105 and The Bone.  A recent national tour, culminating in a fiery performance at SXSW, earned their song ‘Now or Never’ a spot in a national advertising campaign for Ford Motors.

For more information about KAURA, please visit these sites:

www.kaura.com

www.twitter.com/kauraband

www.facebook.com/pages/KAURA/34203763931

Rat Pak Records set to release sophomore album “Lords Of The Edge” from Metal Church singer Ronny Munroe

Posted in All Metal, Artist Watch with tags , , , on September 20, 2011 by Randy

New York, NY – September 20, 2011 – Classic power metal is still alive and well! Ronny Munroe’s (voice of Metal Church) new CD Lords Of The Edge is hands down his finest work to date. Featuring the guitar mastery of Stu Marshall (Empires of Eden), Chris Caffery (TSO/Savatage), and Michael Wilton (Queensryche), Lords Of The Edge is a true metal offering that delivers an onslaught of fist-pumping, guitar-driven heavy metal.

Lords Of The Edge gives us 12 new solid tracks of melodic metal that can only be described as one of those rare albums that captures the magic of the classic metal era. “We wanted to create something that was totally new, but at the same time, true metal fans could hear everything that we were influenced by growing up in the classic metal era,” says Ronny on the recording of the new CD. “Lords Of The Edge sounds a little bit like what would happen if you put Metal Church’s Light in the Dark CD into a blender with Queensryche’s first EP and Judas Priest’s Painkiller, then mixed it with some present day themes and a shot of pure adrenaline.”

The opening tracks, “Just Breathe” and “Full Circle” offer fast and furious guitar assaults with high energy vocals, while tracks like “The Vision” and “Touched By A Demon” take on a more haunting melodic approach that set up the listener for the gritty, power-metal influenced tracks like “Let Them Feed” and “Rock And A Hard Place.”

With 12 strong tracks on this CD, it is a fantastic offering that deserves to be in every metal fan’s music collection!

Track listing:
1  Just Breathe
2  Full Circle
3  Pierced By The Maiden
4  The Vision
5  The Fear Of What’s To Come
6  Let Them Feed
7  Rock And A Hard Place
8  Blood Red Skies
9  Lords Of The Edge
10  Touched By A Demon
11  Still Alive
12  Goodbye To The Black
*Mixed and mastered at Frontier Studios – Sydney Australia
For pre-order info and FREE download please visit: www.ratpakrecords.com/ronnymunroe
Pre-Order start date: Tuesday September 20, 2011
Official release date: Tuesday, October 18, 2011

TEXTURES Stream Full Upcoming Album, ‘Dualism’, at GuitarWorld.com Today

Posted in Artist Watch, News, Releases with tags , , , , on September 19, 2011 by Randy

Dualism Hits Stores on September 27th, 2011 in North America

Catch TEXTURES on Tour NOW with Periphery, The Human Abstract, and The Contortionist

Progressive technical metallers TEXTURES and GuitarWorld.com are teaming up today to bring you an exclusive full album stream of the band’s upcoming full-length album, Dualism, out on Nuclear Blast in the US on September 27th, 2011. The exclusive also features a special video introduction recently filmed at the Guitar World studios in New York City. Head to GuitarWorld.com now to listen to the full album an entire week before release!

Dualism will also be released on September 23rd in Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia. The album was recorded at Split Second Sound Studios in Amsterdam with TEXTURES guitarist & producer Jochem Jacobs.

The band is currently giving away their new single ‘Reaching Home’ for free through the smartphone app Repudo! In this embedded videoTEXTURES guitarist Jochem Jacobs explains how the Repudo app works. To download the app please visit www.repudo.com.

Last week, the band released the music video for ‘Reaching Home’, the first single from Dualism, via the band’s YouTube page. ‘Reaching Home’ was shot on the island of Lanzarote (part of The Canary Islands) off the coast of Morocco and was directed by TEXTURES bass player Remko Tielemans together with the help ofKunststoff Media.

The Dualism CD can be pre-ordered from Nuclear Blast USA’s webshop for $10.00.  An album art t-shirt + CD bundle is available here.  Pre-order bundles with a variety of t-shirt designs to choose from can be purchased from IndieMerch.com.  All Indie Merch pre-order bundles will be automatically entered into a raffle to win a TEXTURES Mayones guitar.

TEXTURES are currently on their inaugural North American tour with PeripheryThe Human Abstract and The Contortionist.  Remaining “Frak The Gods” tour dates are:

09-20-2011         The New Parish                                Oakland, CA
09-21-2011         Branx                                               Portland, OR
09-22-2011         Studio Seven                                    Seattle, WA
09-23-2011         The Venue                                        Boise, ID
09-24-2011         The Complex                                    Salt Lake City, UT
09-25-2011         The Marquis Theatre                        Denver, CO
09-27-2011         Fubar                                               St. Louis, MO
09-28-2011         The Bluestone                                   Columbus, OH
09-29-2011         Mojoe’s                                           Joliet, IL
09-30-2011         Rave Bar                                          Milwaukee, WI
10-01-2011         MXTP                                             Grand Rapids, MI
10-02-2011         Wreck Room                                   Toronto, ON – CANADA
10-03-2011         La Tulipe                                          Montreal, QC – CANADA
10-05-2011         The Palladium                                   Worcester, MA
10-06-2011         Gramercy Theatre                             New York, NY
10-07-2011         First Unitarian Church                       Philadelphia, PA
10-08-2011         Kingdom                                          Richmond, VA

Pre-sale tickets can be purchased via the online links on the band’s Facebook page.

Visit the TEXTURES landing page here.
Follow TEXTURES online at:

www.TEXTURESBAND.com

www.facebook.com/TEXTURES

www.youtube.com/TEXTURESTV

Twitter.com/TEXTURESBAND

www.myspace.com/TEXTURES