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Play onstage with the Rocket Summer

Tim Karan on 10/5/09 @ 11:00 AM

The Rocket Summer are looking for musicians who play unique instruments to join them onstage during dates of their fall tour. One musician in each city will be chosen to play the saxophone solo in "So Much Love" on his or her instrument. A bulletin sent from the band's MySpace explains: "If you play a unique musical instrument, meaning everything and in-between from the brass family (horns such as trumpets, tubas, trombone, euphoniums etc) to the woodwind family (Sax, Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Oboe, etc) to the string family (violin, viola, banjo, mandolin, ukulele) or even instruments such as bag pipe, the harmonica, the accordion and more.

Here's how:
1. Learn the solo on your instrument (does not have to be exact, just preferably close, however, if not close, just impressive!)
2. Make a video on youtube.
3. Send us a link of the video to RocketSummerSolo@gmail.com with your Name, Instrument, City of show and Date of show in the subject.
4. If your audition wins for your city, you get to come and play the solo on stage during So Much Love!
5. For those that don't win, you will still be thanked and your names will be mentioned at your city's show!"

Dates for the tour are as follows:
10/27 - The Beaumont Club - Kansas City, MO
10/28 - Peoples Court - Des Moines, IA
10/29 - Staion 4 - St. Paul, MN
10/30 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
10/31 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
11/01 - Pops - Sauget, IL
11/03 - Orbit Room - Grand Rapids, MI
11/04 - Clutch Cargo's - Pontiac, MI
11/05 - Bogart's - Cincinnati, OH
11/07 - Sonar - Baltimore, MD
11/08 - Diesel - Pittsburgh, PA
11/09 - Highline Ballroom - New York, NY
11/11 - The Crazy Donkey - Farmingdale, NY
11/12 - Starland Ballroom - Sayreville, NJ
11/13 - Crocodile Rock Cafe - Allentown, PA
11/14 - The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA
11/15 - House of Blues - Boston, MA
11/18 - Green Street Club - Greensboro, NC
11/19 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
11/20 - State Theatre - St. Petersburg, FL
11/21 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
11/22 - House of Blues - Lake Buena Vista, FL
11/24 - New Daisy Theatre - Memphis, TN
11/26 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
11/27 - White Rabbit - San Antonio, TX
11/28 - The Meridian - Houston, TX
12/01 - Rialto Theatre - Tucson, AZ
12/02 - Soma - San Diego, CA
12/03 - Avalon - Hollywood, CA
12/04 - The Grand Ballroom at The Regency - San Francisco, CA
12/05 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA

Brand New's "Jesus Christ" music video surfaces after three years

Scott Heisel on 10/4/09 @ 8:04 PM

While Brand New may currently be touring in support of their new album, Daisy, the band's music video for "Jesus Christ," off 2006's The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me, has finally surfaced. The video was posted online by its director, Matthew J. Santo, although no explanation for its initial delay/shelving was given. You can view the clip below:

MXPX Working On Left Coast Punk EP

Leah Preble on 10/4/09 @ 1:44 AM

MXPX is working on their new EP Left Coast Punk. They already have planned for six songs to be on the EP, but have not decided whether they will include rare material or videos in the release.
In the video below, Mike Herrera discusses what they are working on now and asks for feedback from fans:

AFI debut "Medicate" video

Enola Garland on 10/3/09 @ 7:03 PM

AFI have premiered the video for "Medicate". The track is the first single to be lifted from their recently released album, Crash Love.

You can check out the video below!

Fall Out Boy to release greatest hits comp

Tim Karan on 10/3/09 @ 3:44 PM

Fall Out Boy will reportedly release a greatest hits compilation in November. Fall Out Boy's Greatest Hits Volume One will include 14 songs spanning FOB's career, along with two new songs.

Tracklisting is as follows:
1. Dead on Arrival
2. Grand Theft Autumn
3. Saturday
4. Sugar, We're Goin' Down
5. Dance, Dance
6. A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me
7. This Ain't A Scene, It's an Arms Race
8. Thnx Fr Th Mmrs
9. "The Takeover, The Break's Over"
10. I'm Like A Lawyer The Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me and You)
11. Beat It
12. I Don't Care
13. America's Suitehearts
14. What a Catch, Donnie
15. New Song #1 (track name not yet announced)
16. New Song #2 (track name not yet announced)

Rise Against, radio station tumble over U.S. Army recruiting

Scott Heisel on 10/2/09 @ 11:52 PM

Political-punk band Rise Against were scheduled to headline the Buzz Bake Sale, an annual concert put on by West Palm Beach, Florida-based commercial radio station Buzz 103, this December. That was, until the band discovered the stage they were to perform on would be sponsored by the U.S. Army's recruiting department. As a result, the band chose to leave the bill -- which was not yet publicly announced -- only to have the radio station make the situation public earlier this morning. You can download MP3s of the station owner and their morning-show DJs discussing the situation, including accusing the band of being "un-American" and having "anti-American attitudes," below, or stream the audio at the bottom of this story:

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

The band has since responded at length to the station's accusations, writing in part:

"To dignify this ridiculous scare tactic, Rise Against supports the troops and always have. In the past year, Rise Against worked closely with the USO to allow troops and their families to attend our shows with Rancid for free. As our economy spiraled over the summer, we played near about 14 different military bases, making this all possible. We also continue to work closely with the Iraq Veterans Against The War who attended and tabled many Rise Against shows in the last year. We hear from troops overseas on a daily basis through email and cherish that contact. We learned so much in the time we spent with all of these individuals and look forward to doing it again.

That said, we grew up in a time where the decisions and stances that bands took in their career are the things that defined them, and what made them special and respected by fans and media alike. Nobody would have asked Rage Against The Machine to headline this stage. To not respect the decisions and stances of bands across this vast musical landscape puts real music and real musicians in jeopardy. To have radio stations become bullies and threaten the artists they play to conform with their agenda or else face the consequences is something that flys in the face of not only the scene, but of this country. Many of the bands that BUZZ 103 plays on the airwaves carved their name through the stands that they took musically and politically. We need to be wary of those who would bully artists into an agenda set by those who control the airwaves.

If we were to bow to this pressure, we would not be Rise Against. Shame on you BUZZ103 for even asking us to. Last time we checked, supporting the troops involves more than just accepting their money that you need to put on shows. We are sorry to the Rise Against fans who took BUZZ103s word as truth and had to spend the better part of the day believing that we are the monsters the DJs made us out as."

The band have also assembled comments from members of Thursday, Anti-Flag and Flobots regarding the situation; those can be read here.

Should Rise Against have turned the other cheek and performed under an Army recruiting banner? Is the radio station in the wrong for airing this private business and turning their listenership against the band? Tell us what you think!

Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3: