Away Team

After touring extensively in 2011 with his band, Queensryche, lead singer Geoff Tate has announced that he will be doing a handful of acoustic solo dates billed as “Geoff Tate and Friends” beginning on Friday, January 27 at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California.

According to Tate, he’ll be “playing acoustic renditions of songs from my solo album as well as some of my favorite Queensryche songs.” And that certainly gives him a lot to choose from…

Not one to remain idle, Tate is anxious to hit the road again next year despite an incredibly busy 2011 that found the band performing over 75 dates along their 30th Anniversary tour primarily in support of their 12th studio album, Dedicated to Chaos (Roadrunner Records/Loud & Proud), that was released in the summer.

Towards the end of the tour, Geoff and the band pulled out “all the stops” by performing Rage for Order in its entirety for the first time ever (New York City on Halloween) and Operation: Mindcrime from beginning to end on this year’s ShipRocked Cruise (with In This Moment‘s Maria Brink handling vocal chores as “Sister Mary“) for the first time in three years. Both shows were a pure treat for fans!

It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years and more than 20 million albums sold worldwide later…

For 2012, Queensryche has plenty up its sleeve…

Geoff‘s acoustic performances are just the beginning of what promises to be another exciting year.

GEOFF TATE and Friends acoustic dates:
Jan-26 Thu San Diego, CA Anthology
Jan-27 Fri Agoura Hills Canyon
Jan-29 Sun San Juan Cap Coach House
Jan-31 Tue Grass Valley, CA Center for the Arts
Feb-01 Wed Chico, CA El Rey
Feb-02 Thu Napa, CA Uptown
Feb-04 Sat Snqoualmie, WA Finapalooza

For more information, please view the official Queensryche website at www.queensryche.com.

ShipRocked 2011, the music and life-style cruise, sets sail November 14th – 19th, heading for the tip of Mexico and its popular stretch of gorgeous Caribbean water known for scuba diving, shopping and bars aplenty.

ShipRocked guests are in for a very special treat next month, when QUEENSRŸCHE takes the stage onboard the cruise to perform their epic concept album, Operation: Mindcrime, in its entirety!

This performance of Mindcrime – which will feature Maria Brink of IN THIS MOMENT on vocals as “Sister Mary” – will be the band’s first of the album since the Rocklahoma festival in the summer of 2008.

“We’ve always enjoyed performing for our fans in intimate settings and the forthcoming ShipRocked cruise will certainly be one of those occasions,” states Queensrÿche lead singer Geoff Tate, who returns with the band for their second ShipRocked cruise. “We’re calling this one, ‘Mutiny on the Mindcrime‘.”

The special performance of Operation: Mindcrime, covering all fifteen songs from the album including such fan favorites as ‘Revolution Calling’, ‘Operation: Mindcrime’, ‘I Don’t Believe In Love’ and the closing track ‘Eyes Of A Stranger’, will be in addition to a greatest hits performance that will take place on another night of the cruise, which sets sail towards the Mayan Riviera on Monday, November 14th.

Maria Brink is ecstatic about joining Queensrÿche for the ten-minute song, ‘Suite Sister Mary‘. “I am so excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity to sing with Queensrÿche on the upcoming ShipRocked cruise! All of us in the band are huge Queensrÿche fans, and Geoff Tate is one of the best lead singers in the business. Getting to sing ‘Suite Sister Mary’ off the original Mindcrime album is a huge honor. This is going to be a cruise to remember!”

Acts confirmed for ShipRocked include: BROKEN TEETH, BUCKCHERRY, HELLYEAH, HINDER, IN THIS MOMENT, LIVING COLOUR, LYNAM, QUEENSRŸCHE, SEVENDUST.

ShipRocked 2010 Recap from ShipRocked on Vimeo.

Get ShipRocked with Vinnie Paul & HELLYEAH! from ShipRocked on Vimeo.

Buckcherry Wants You To Get ShipRocked! from ShipRocked on Vimeo.

For more SHIPROCKED 2011 click here.

HALESTORM

Reanimate: The Covers EP

Atlantic Records

8 out of 10

Ok, so you put an even remotely attractive woman on a stage, and I’m pretty much hooked from the get go. Sexist? Probably… But I’ve got a thing for women on stage. Sue me.

But when a woman has talent on top and exceeding her looks? Well then you’ve got something for your ears and eyes. Heart, Pat Benetar, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, Tori Amos, Doro Pesch, the list goes on and on, all have amazing talent vocally as well as musically.

So there’s a new breed of women rockers out there doing their own thing… Maria Brink (In This Moment), Otep (Otep), Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Alexis Brown (Straight Line Stitch), again the list goes on and on. And hot on their heels is the newest female fronted band… Halestorm.

Fronted by Lzzy Hale the band features her brother Arejay Hale, Joe Hottinger, and Josh Smith. They have released a solid self titled debut which charted well for them as well as got them enough notice to put them on the main stage of last year’s Uproar tour with Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour.

The Band has released a new EP of covers to tie their fans over until they can finish their follow up full length album.

An EP of covers from a band with only one album out seems to be a risky move to me. If you’re trying to keep your name in the forefront of your fan’s minds then maybe a live DVD (the label already put out a live album of theirs a year after their self titled album came out as their singles finally began to chart and hit with the public), or an EP of acoustic reworkings… something that is yours, not copies of other songs seems to be in the band’s best interest to me. But then I’m not some big label head honcho either. Whatever.

That being said, let’s look at the songs chosen for the EP:
All I Want to do (is make love to you) by Heart, Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Hunger Strike by Temple Of The Dog, I Want You (she’s so heavy) by The Beatles, Out Ta Get Me by Guns & Roses, Slave To The Grind by Skid Row. So this young upstart band definitely has some balls to it. From pop dance to classic rock, and grunge to sleaze rock. The song selection alone intrigued me. How would they do actually covering the songs?

Well, the Heart cover was pretty much straight forward, and done very well. Bad Romance seems to be the hardest one to cover. How do you take a rock band and throw in a dance song and make it sound good? I don’t know. Really… this should be a recipe for certain disaster, but Lzzy and the boys actually pulled it off and very well. This may actually be the highlight of the EP. Being able to turn a Lady Gaga song into a rock n roll monster? Hats off to Halestorm for doing it, and doing it well.

Oddly the Lady Gaga cover has caused less controversy and dissent from the internet trolls than their decision to cover Temple Of The Dog. I’m sorry, but when did Grunge become gospel? And if a band can run the gamut between classic Beatles, to Modern day dance pop, and everywhere in between why can’t they take on grunge too? I mean who made TotD the sacred cow anyway?

It’d be one thing if the band didn’t pull off the song. Or heaven forbid took a dance song and made a rock song out of it, only to take a grunge song and make a dance hit out of it!!!! But Halestorm sticks to the basics and pulls off a decent remake of a very good song. I will say that it does lose a little passion when Lzzy sings it over Eddie Vedder, but it isn’t a bad version by any means.

The Beatles song may be the only song I take umbrage with and that is only because it runs on too long and gets a bit monotonous at the end. But the first 4 minutes of the song are… the ballsiest the band has every sounded to me.

Out Ta Get Me is sleazy and dirty, but a little unremarkable compared to the rest of the songs on the EP.

And I may have to go back and listen to their debut, but I think Slave To The Grind may well be the heaviest thing the band has done. And heavy they do well. Would love to see this one live. I can totally see Lzzy standing their snarling out the lyrics to this, and I’m sure this summer that’s exactly what we’ll see.

So other than the odd choice of putting out a covers EP, the project works. A solid 8 from me for this, and that is only because Hunger Strike and Out Ta Get Me left me a little flat.









You can pick up Reanimate The Covers EP here.
For more HALESTORM click here.

IN THIS MOMENT have electrified the rock world with their opus ‘A Star-Crossed Wasteland‘. From climbing into radio’s coveted Top 40 with the single “The Promise” or touring relentlessly alongside KoRn, Disturbed and Sevendust as part of the Music As A Weapon tour, the band has already kicked off 2011 with a bang. Now they are excited to reveal plans for their first headlining tour of 2011. REVOLVER Magazine presents ‘Hottest Chicks In Hard Rock: Hell Hath No Fury‘ tour sponsored by Keep A Breast Foundation featuring IN THIS MOMENT with support coming from Straight Line Stitch, System Divide and Sister Sin.

Frontwoman Maria Brink comments: “IN THIS MOMENT are extremely happy to team up with Revolver Magazine and Keep A Breast Foundation for the ‘Hottest Chicks In Hard Rock Tour‘! It is always an honor to work with Revolver and we are excited to support a worthwhile charity in Keep A Breast Foundation by donating a percent of all CD sales on this tour to the charity. Most of all, we are excited to get back on the road and see all of you! Come out to a show and rock out with us!”

The tour will kick off on April 22nd in Santa Ana CA and run through May 15th. During the tour, Maria will be filming exclusive video blogs for Revolver and will be interviewing each of the other frontwomen on this incredible package. IN THIS MOMENT and CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS will be donating a percentage of all CD sales on this tour to the Keep A Breast Foundation, who will also be launching exclusive charity auctions during the tour. VIP ticketing will also be available for this tour, stay tuned for more information.

Hottest Chicks In Hard Rock dates:
04/22/11 – Santa Ana, CA, Galaxy Theatre
04/23/11 – Bakersfield, CA, Jerry’s
04/24/11 – Sacramento, CA, Ace of Spades
04/25/11 – Sparks, NV, The Alley
04/27/11 – Boise, ID, Knitting Factory
04/28/11 – Seattle, WA, Studio Seven
04/29/11 – Portland, OR, Bossanova Ballroom
04/30/11 – Spokane, WA, The A Club
05/01/11 – Billings, MT, The Railyard
05/03/11 – Des Moines, IA, The House of Bricks
05/05/11 – Madison, WI, The Annex
05/06/11 – Grand Rapids, MI, The Intersection
05/07/11 – Barrington, IL, Penny Rd Pub
05/08/11 – Little Rock, AR, Downtown Music
05/10/11 – Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck
05/11/11 – Tulsa, OK, The Marquee
05/12/11 – Lubbock, TX, Jakes
05/13/11 – Albuquerque, NM, Laucnhpad
05/14/11 – Tucson, AZ, The Rock
05/15/11 – Flagstaff, AZ, The Orpheum









For more IN THIS MOMENT click here.
For more KEEP A BREAST FOUNDATION click here.

In anticipation of the release of the new IN THIS MOMENT album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland, the group launches a special pre-order package deal where fans can purchase the new album now for $25 which also comes with an exclusive button, sticker, shirt and autographed photo.
These materials can only be found in this CMDistro pre-order package bundle and supplies are limited, so be sure to click on the link below to get your order in now before they are gone. The CD can also be pre-ordered separately for the low price of $10.

Package Bundle
CD

In This Moment also recently launched an eye-popping new MySpace page layout along with a new video message from Maria Brink (vocals). The clip also debuts the beautiful album cover art for A Star-Crossed Wasteland, which is set for a July 13th release.
The blistering new track, ‘The Gun Show’, is available now exclusively on iTunes, click here to purchase.
In This Moment also shot a cowboy themed video for the track ‘The Gun Show’ in the Los Angeles, CA area on May 16th. The shoot was helmed by acclaimed director David Brodsky. Look for it to make its debut on June 15th.
In This Moment are extremely excited to be performing on this summer’s much anticipated Rockstar Mayhem Tour playing on the Mayhem Festival Stage alongside ATREYU, NORMA JEAN and 3 INCHES OF BLOOD. This tour will mark the start of the group’s official, massive worldwide touring schedule for their new full-length album.

ROCKSTAR ENERGY MAYHEM FESTIVAL Dates:
Sat 07/10/10 Devore, CA San Manuel Amphitheater
Sun 07/11/10 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
Tue 07/13/10 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre
Wed 07/14/10 Nampa, ID Idaho Center Amphitheater
Fri 07/16/10 Phoenix, AZ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
Sat 07/17/10 Albuquerque, NM The Pavilion
Sun 07/18/10 Englewood, CO Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
Tue 07/20/10 Maryland Heights, MO Verizon Wireless Amph. St. Louis
Wed 07/21/10 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
Fri 07/23/10 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
Sat 07/24/10 Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre
Sun 07/25/10 Montreal, QC Parc Jean Drapeau
Tue 07/27/10 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
Wed 07/28/10 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Fri 07/30/10 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sat 07/31/10 Noblesville, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center
Sun 08/01/10 Atlanta, GA Aaron’s Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Tue 08/03/10 Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
Wed 08/04/10 Virginia Beach, VA Virginia Beach Amphitheater
Fri 08/06/10 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
Sat 08/07/10 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
Sun 08/08/10 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
Tue 08/10/10 Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre @ State Fairgrounds
Wed 08/11/10 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre
Fri 08/13/10 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center
Sat 08/14/10 Oklahoma City, OK Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre