In Flames headlining tour dates

I happened upon In Flames’ ‘Come Clarity’ album in 2006 and was completely floored by how METAL it was (doses of prog rock tossed in too). I wrote a review of it for Wonka Vision Magazine in which I said I hadn’t heard a metal album as good as this one since Pantera’s ‘Vulgar Display of Power’. In Flames has a new CD coming out on April 1 called ‘A Sense of Purpose’ and this spring they’ll be part of Megadeth’s Gigantour. On off nights, they’ll be playing some headlining shows (just a couple, but, hell, one of them is in Columbus and that’s all I really care about). Here are those dates:

Apr. 18 – Little Rock, AR – The Village (w/ JOB FOR A COWBOY)
Apr. 24 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory (w/ CHILDREN OF BODOM)
May 02 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall (w/ JOB FOR A COWBOY)

Here is In Flames new video “The Mirror’s Truth”.

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And here’s the song that made me a fan, “Take This Life”.

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Free Music Friday

The Wombats“Kill the Director”
Guillemots“Kriss Kross”
Mobius Band“True Love will Find You in the End” (Daniel Johnston cover; download the Mobius Band’s FREE covers EP, ‘Love Will Reign Supreme’)
PWRFL Power“It’s Okay”, “Alma Song”
Oren Lavie“Her Morning Elegance” (featured in Chevy Malibu ad; influenced by Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake)
The Dollyrots“Valentine’s Day” (MP3 contained in the .ZIP file)
Ghostland Observatory – “Dancin’ On My Grave” (Let There Be Vinyl Remix)
Caithlin De Marrais“The Fire” (ex-Rainer Maria)
Thao Nguyen“Beat, Life and Fire”, “Swimming Pools”
Model Photographer“Gone”

And, check this out: Download Amplive’s Rainydayz Remixes, an 8-track collection featuring remixes of Radiohead’s historic seventh album, In Rainbows. The songs are available in a zip file and feature verses courtesy of Too $hort, MC Zumbi of Zion I, Chali2na of Jurassic 5, and Del the Funky Homosapien.

The Police announce FINAL tour dates

When I was a teenager I would tell anybody that listened that if The Police ever reunited and toured, I was going to go no matter where the concert took place and no matter what the price of a ticket was. I even said I’d sell a kidney if that’s what it took because Sting, Stewart, and Andy broke up before I was old enough to be able to see them.

A year after the reunion tour was announced I’m both pleased and saddened to report that I still have both kidneys and remain a Police virgin despite the fact that they played just 2 hours from my home during their 2007 run (the poster of which is featured to the left).  I made all the excuses in the world for not going to the show … “It’s on a Monday night and I can’t miss work the next day”, “The only ticket I can afford would put me in the nosebleed section in the upper deck”, etc., etc.

Upon hearing today’s announcement that the band is doing one final farewell sweep to hit many cities they missed last time around, I felt like a kid being given a second chance. Before even seeing the dates, I decided that anything within a 4-hour drive was fair game. Lucky for me, there’s a May 4 date in the arena directly across the street from where I earn a living. Hell, the $10 I’ll save by being able to use my parking pass in the arena’s garage can go towards my concert ticket!

Here are the dates. Elvis Costello is scheduled to open all shows.

May 2008
1 – Ottawa, Ontario – Scotiabank Place (on sale 2/23)
3 – Buffalo, NY – HSBC Arena (on sale 2/23)
4 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena (on sale 2/23)
10 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena (on sale 2/25)
13 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center (on sale 2/23)
14 – Omaha, NE – Qwest Center (on sale 2/23)
16 – Orlando, FL – Amway Center (on sale 2/23)
17 – West Palm Beach, FL – Cruzan Amphitheatre (on sale 2/23)
20 – Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion (on sale 2/23)
21 – Dallas, TX – Superpages.com Center (on sale 2/23)
23 – Las Vegas, NV -MGM Grand Garden Arena (on sale 2/23)
24 – Phoenix, AZ – Cricket Wireless Pavilion (on sale 2/25)
26 – Chula Vista, CA – Coors Amphitheatre (on sale 2/23)
27 – Los Angeles, CA – The Hollywood Bowl (on sale 2/24)

July 2008
11 – Ridgefield, WA – Clark County Amphitheatre (on sale 2/23)
12 – George, WA – The Gorge (on sale 2/23)
14 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre (on sale 2/24)
16 – Concord, CA – Sleep Train Pavilion (on sale 2/24)
17 – Marysville, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre (on sale 2/23)
19 – West Valley City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre (on sale 2/23)
21 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre (on sale 2/23)
25 – Milwaukee, WI – Marcus Amphitheater (on sale 2/23)
26 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Center (on sale 2/23)
28 – Burgettstown, PA – Post Gazette Pavilion (on sale 2/23)
29 – Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Center (on sale 2/23)
31 – Mansfield, MA – Tweeter Center (on sale 2/23)

August 2008
1 – Saratoga, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center (on sale 2/23)
3 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center (on sale 2/25)
4 – Wantagh, NY – Nikon at Jones Beach Theater (on sale 2/25)

Filter returns

When I was in college, my friend Paul told me that his best friend growing up was the guitar player for Nine Inch Nails (this was back in the ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ days). It seemed like every time Paul’s friend came to visit him at Ohio State, I was out of town and I never did have the chance to meet Rich Patrick. A few years later, another friend’s brother married Rich’s twin sister and, once again, I missed out on a chance to meet Rich. By this point Rich had left Nine Inch Nails and started Filter and become a big rock star. (I did have the opportunity to finally meet Rich when he was touring for ‘Title of Record’ but it was a quick handshake after a show).

Recently I’ve been craving some Filter music and loaded up all 3 CDs on my iPod along with the overlooked project Rich did with the DeLeo brothers of Stone Temple Pilots, Army of Anyone. And, not so surprisingly, the music sounds as good to me today as it did when it came out over ten years ago (Filter’s debut, ‘Short Bus’, was released in 1995).

I was listening to Tim Young’s Contrast Podcast, episode #95, (“My Brush With Fame”) today and heard one of the guest commentators Sid from Too Much Rock talk about how he had the opportunity to audition for Filter back when Rich started the band but didn’t pursue the gig because he didn’t want to move to Cleveland (oh the horror!).

For those who haven’t heard the news, Rich is putting the finishing touches on Filter’s fourth album, ‘Anthems for the Damned’, which is scheduled to be released in May.

It was just announced that Filter will be on the Rock on the Range bill in mid-May in Columbus, Ohio, a two-day festival featuring some huge names in modern rock (Kid Rock, Disturbed, Staind, Papa Roach, etc.) including the first reunion show for … Stone Temple Pilots. That might be kinda weird for Rich and the DeLeo brothers, don’t ya think?

Filter – “Welcome to the Fold”

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Army of Anyone – “Goodbye”

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The Hoosiers vs The Hooters

Am I the only one who gets confused everything I spy a Hoosiers CD cover or the band name in a blog post? I swear, everytime I see the name The Hoosiers I get butterflies in my stomach and think, “Did they REALLY reunite? Is there REALLY a new album?” and then I realize that I’ve misread the name as The Hooters. But, here’s the crazy thing, The Hooters (the Philly pop band from the ’80s) DID reunite last year and put out a new CD (which includes a cover of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”) that somehow didn’t find it’s way onto my radar.

The Hoosiers (from the UK) definitely don’t sound anything like The Hooters but, rather, wear the XTC/Supertramp/Talking Heads influence on their sleeve. It sounds like it could be good stuff, maybe even better (gasp) than The Hooters.

Check out tracks by both bands for yourself just to confirm that a) The Hoosiers and The Hooters are NOT the same band and b) The Hoosiers and The Hooters sound NOTHING alike. Though, truth be told, I think it would be awesome if The Hoosiers decided to cover “All You Zombies”.