Away Team

SAXON will release a new concert DVD, “Heavy Metal Thunder Live: Eagles Over Wacken“, in early 2012.

“There are five in all, from 2002 to 2009,” SAXON singer Biff Byford tells Classic Rock. “But we’ve not got all five shows, in their entirety, because even I would get bored watching that! The most interesting one is 2009, which was Wacken’s 20th anniversary and our 30th. We did a set that included songs from all of our studio albums, as voted for by the fans. And we did it with the most recent at the start working backwards to our debut album, ‘Saxon’, at the end.”









For more SAXON click here.

One of the leading bands of the ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ movement, Saxon, is about to hit the U.S. shores hard once more.
On September 27th, Saxon will release their 19th studio album overall, ‘Call to Arms‘ (via UDR Music/EMI), and starting the following day, will launch a Stateside tour.
And as evidenced by such ass-kickers as “Hammer of the Gods” and “Call to Arms,” the group hasn’t lost their grip on composing hard-hitting yet anthemic heavy metal with their latest offering.

Comprised of members Biff Byford (vocals), Doug Scarratt (guitar), Paul Quinn (guitar), Nibbs Carter (bass), Nigel Glockler (drums), Saxon is responsible for penning some of the 1980′s most enduring metal anthems, including “Wheels of Steel,” “Strong Arm of the Law,” “Motorcycle Man,” “Princess of the Night,” and “Never Surrender,” and along with the likes of Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, helped breath life back into a metal scene that many had left for dead at the time.

It’s been 35 years since Saxon was originally up and running, and the group can still easily hold their own with the headbanging competition.
“It’s important to keep one foot in the past and one foot very much in the present,” says Byford. “At some points in your life, whether you’re younger or older, you do have these wonderful periods of ‘state of graceness’ where everyone likes everything you write. But you can’t keep being your own tribute band, you have to try and write great new songs, and you have to try to appeal to a younger audience. Saxon has been successfully doing that for the last decade, and the result is we still have our old fan base but we also have a whole new, younger one too.”

Soon, U.S. fans will be able to recapture “The Power and the Glory” of Saxon all over again – with the release of ‘Call to Arms,’ and on a concert stage near you.

‘CALL TO ARMS‘ TRACK LISTING:
01 Hammer of the Gods
02 Back in 79
03 Surviving Against the Odds
04 Mists of Avalon
05 Call To Arms
06 Chasing the Bullet
07 Afterburner
08 When Doomsday Comes (Hybrid Theory)
09 No Rest for the Wicked
10 Ballad of the Working Man
11 Call To Arms – orchestral version
DIGIPACK BONUS FEATURE:
Live At Donington 1980 [Re-mixed and re-mastered from original multitrack tape]
01 MOTORCYCLE MAN
02 STILL FIT TO BOOGIE
03 FREEWAY MAD
04 BACKS TO THE WALL
05 WHEELS OF STEEL
06 BAP SHU AP
07 747 (STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT)

TOUR DATES:
9-28-11 Key Club, West Hollywood, CA
9-29-11 Last Day Saloon, Santa Rosa, CA
9-30-11 Avalon, Santa Clara, CA
10-1-11 The Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA
10-2-11 Galaxy Theatre, Santa Ana, CA
10-5-11 Club Red, Tempe, AZ
10-7-11 Sunken Gardens, San Antonio, TX
10-8-11 The Arcada Theatre, St. Charles, IL
10-10-11 Foufounes Electriques, Montreal, QC
10-13-11 B.B. Kings, New York, NY
10-14-11 Jaxx, Springfield, VA
10-15-11 Bourbon Street, Baltimore, MD









For more SAXON click here.

SAXON releases their brand new studio album Call To Arms TODAY!!!!. The first video from the album is Hammer Of The Gods.

Call To Arms tracklisting:
Hammer Of The Gods
Back In 79
Surviving Against The Odds
Mists Of Avalon
Call To Arms
Chasing The Bullet
Afterburner
When Doomsday Comes (Hybrid Theory)
No Rest For The Wicked
Ballad Of The Working Man
Call To Arms (Orchestral version)









For more SAXON click here.

Canadian progressive metal icons VOIVOD are the latest acts confirmed for confirmed For 70000 Tons Of Metal, “The World’s Biggest Floating Heavy Metal Festival.”

Thus far, 35 out of 40 bands are confirmed: AGENT STEEL, AMON AMARTH, BLACKGUARD, BLIND GUARDIAN, CRIPPER, DARK TRANQUILLITY, DEATH ANGEL, ENSIFERUM, EPICA, EXODUS, FEAR FACTORY, FINNTROLL, FORBIDDEN, GAMMA RAY, ICED EARTH, KORPIKLAANI, MARDUK, MOONSPELL, NEVERMORE, OBITUARY, RAGE, RAVEN, ULI JON ROTH, SABATON, SANCTUARY, SAXON, SODOM, SONATA ARCTICA, SWASHBUCKLE, TESTAMENT, TROUBLE, TÝR, UNLEASHED, VOIVOD, WITCHBURNER.

70000 Tons Of Metal will sail Monday, January 24, 2011 aboard the Royal Caribbean Majesty Of The Seas from Miami, FL to Cozumel, Mexico and will not return you to the real world for four days until Friday, January 28, 2011.

Make no mistake, 70000 Tons Of Metal is not your grandma’s cruise. It’s also not one of the cruises that share the ship with normal cruise guests. This is an all heavy metal cruise! Can you imagine that? A whole luxury cruise ship full of metalheads? And since there is no backstage area you will have the opportunity to mingle side-by-side with the artists in this incredibly fan-friendly scenario that has no comparison. It’s like everyone has a backstage pass!

Ticket prices start at US$666 plus US$249 taxes and fees per person and include all on-board entertainment, all meals, non-alcoholic and non-carbonated beverages at the dining rooms, most on-board restaurants and 24 hour room service!

What are you waiting for? You might even need a vacation from this vacation when all is said and done! Check out 70000tons.com for more information and book your cabin now!

From KKDowning.net:

“It seems that the time has come for us to put the touring wheels in motion for our next world tour in
2011!
It’s funny but these days around – about this time – I can’t help but reflect on the past when we had to
load the touring van ourselves. Sometimes in the ice and snow, being afraid that we would get frostbites
on our fingers and not be able to play the gig!
I remember one winter we had a gig at Hull City Hall in England. We were driving in heavy snow when we
hit black ice and the car hit the motorway barriers so hard that it was never able to be driven again.
However, it was fortunate that a passing farmer saved the day by letting us pile into his old Land Rover and was kind enough to drive us to the gig!
It seems just like yesterday, as they say, that we were on tour with our good friends Budgie, Accept,
Warlock, AC/DC, Saxon, Pantera… to name just a few. Very good memories indeed!
Actually, I have just received a copy of Accept‘s new album “Blood of the Nations“. And was really happy that Wolf and the boys are still creating great classic metal. I think it was back in ’81 that Priest
and Accept hit the road together for the first time and what a great tour that was! I really hope that we can meet up with the guys next year, at least on some of the festival dates and have a good laugh
when talking about the old times.
It was our great fortune, as time passed, to go on and tour with almost every band that you can think of. Some tours included very cool line-ups that many people may not even be aware of: e.g. Priest, Whitesnake & Iron Maiden / Priest, Scorpions & Def Leppard / Priest & UFO… and the list goes on.
People often ask me what it’s like to be on a tour and I always say the same things about it: simply
it’s the hardest thing that you will ever do, but you wouldn’t change it for the world. The travelling
becomes such a major part of your life that you actually feel like a piece of luggage yourself! But
I must confess when you get to go to places that you have never been before like Korea, Turkey,
Romania, Columbia etc. it’s no surprise that you feel like the luckiest man alive. I guess mainly
because for me – growing up as a kid – thinking of going to any of these places would have been
pure fantasy.”

For more JUDAS PRIEST click here.

In their early careers, members of COLOSSUS were in several formidable punk rock acts, but thankfully came to their senses and embraced their irrepressible youthful metal roots. Now, armed with guitars and beer they are storming across the tundra of central North Carolina to conquer the world. Colossus is setting out on the road on July 8th, and will continue through July until the 24th.
Raleigh, North Carolina’s Colossus sound as if they were actually taking part in the original NWOBHM scene alongside SAXON, DIAMOND HEAD, IRON MAIDEN and ANGEL WITCH in 1982, but cosmically slipped through a wormhole winding up in 2010.

Colossus tour dates:
July
8 – Virginia Beach, VA – Regal Beagle
9 – Baltimore, MD – Golden West Cafe
10 – Brooklyn, NY – The Acheron
11 – Philadelphia, PA – The Trocadero
13 – Pittsburgh, PA – The Smiling Moose
14 – Columbus, OH – The Carabar
15 – Ferndale, MI – The Loving Touch
16 – Chicago, IL – Ronnie’s
17 – Indianapolis, IN – The Melody Inn
19 – Newport, KY – Southgate House
20 – Johnson City, TN – The Hideaway
21 – Birmingham, AL – Bottletree Cafe
22 – Marietta, GA – Swayze’s
23 – Athens, GA – Caledonia Lounge
24 – Myrtle Beach, SC – The Basement

Colossus is:
Bill Fisher – Guitar
Ry Wilshire- Bass
Sean Buchanan - Vox
Nicky Nixon – Guitar
Andy Lewis- Guitar
Doza Mendoza -Drums

For more COLOSSUS news and information on COLOSSUS visit their MySpace page here.

In their early careers, members of COLOSSUS were in several formidable punk rock acts, but thankfully came to their senses and embraced their irrepressible youthful metal roots.
Now, armed with guitars and beer they are storming across the tundra of central North Carolina to conquer the world. Colossus sound as if they were actually taking part in the original NWOBHM scene alongside SAXON, DIAMOND HEAD, IRON MAIDEN and ANGEL WITCH in 1982, but cosmically (and fortunately for us) slipped through a wormhole winding up in 2010.
Drunk On Blood spiritedly follows on the heels of their debut album, …And The Rift Of The Pan Dimensional Under-Gods, and only further expands on their love of classic heavy metal, fantasy, folklore, zombies, science fiction and ultimately laying waste to any and all who catch their enthusiastic and sweat-filled live shows.
Drunk On Blood is for people who like to party and remember what it was like to make music for fun. When listening to Drunk On Blood your knobs most definitely should be cranked to 11.
The Drunk On Blood EP will be released on August 10th on Tribunal Records.

The EP features the following tracklisting:
‘The Mountain That Rides’
‘Kill More Better’
‘A Year Later (There Is Still Meat Left In The Skull)’
‘The Operative’
‘Wendigo’

For all things COLOSSUS check out their official MySpace page here.