news

Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) plans solo shows

Alternative Press - Rachel Lux on 12/20/07 @ 2:32 PM - altpress.com

In between playing shows with his recently reunited band Hot Water Music, singer/guitarist Chuck Ragan is planning a string of solo dates, as well. Ragan released a solo full-length, Feast Or Famine, on SideOneDummy Records this past August. Dates and venues below:

1/20 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
1/21 Atlanta, GA - Vinyl
1/22 Wilmington, NC - The Soapbox
1/23 Washington, DC - The Blackcat
1/24 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwells
1/27 Cambridge, MA - Middle East
1/28 Pittsburgh, PA - Garfield Artworks
1/29 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
1/30 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
1/31 Chicago, IL - Schubas

A7X, Atreyu, more to play Taste Of Chaos 08; dates revealed

Alternative Press - Rachel Lux on 12/20/07 @ 12:52 PM - altpress.com

Taste Of Chaos, founded by Warped Tour Svengali Kevin Lyman, has officially confirmed the lineup for the 2008 U.S. edition of the tour. Co-headlining the trek will be Avenged Sevenfold and Atreyu (the latter of whom you may remember from the 2006 TOC lineup).

Supporting the pair will be Welsh metal act Bullet For My Valentine and Arizona screamo troupe Blessthefall; Washington-state weirdos Idiot Pilot will play two sets a night in each venue's concourse.

Also new to the lineup this year are a trio of Japanese bands who are part of the burgeoning JROCK movement: Mucc (pronounced "mukku"), the Underneath and D'espairsRay. Lyman explains their involvement, saying, "After having a chance to be involved with introducing Dir En Grey to American audiences and working on the successful JROCK Revolution Festival with Yoshiki last May in Los Angeles, I felt that the fans across the U.S. would really appreciate a chance to have these bands come to their cities. When I have worked these shows the energy of the bands and the fan involvement is amazing and is rarely captured at shows in America these days and this is going to be an amazing opportunity for all in attendance."

Pre-sale for the tour begins Jan. 5, with a regular onsale date of Jan. 12; the routing is below:

2/29 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
3/1 Kansas City, MO Memorial Hall
3/2 Milwaukee, WI The Eagles Ballroom
3/4 Minneapolis, MN Roy Wilkins Auditorium
3/5 St. Louis, MO Family Arena
3/7 Dayton, OH Hara Arena
3/8 Detroit, MI Cobo Arena
3/10 Rochester, NY The Armory
3/11 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
3/14 Philadelphia, PA Tweeter Center
3/15 Asbury Park, NJ Convention Center
3/17 Washington, DC Patriot Center
3/18 Portland, ME Cumberland County Civic Center
3/20 Nassau, NY Nassau Coliseum
3/21 Boston, MA Tsongas Arena
3/22 Albany, NY The Armory
3/24 Atlanta, GA Gwinnett Center
3/25 Tampa, FL USF Sundome
3/26 Miami, FL Bayfront Park
3/28 Orlando, FL UCF Arena
3/29 Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
3/30 Houston, TX The Woodlands/Verizon
4/1 Dallas, TX Nokia Theatre
4/3 Oklahoma City, OK Fairgrounds Arena
4/4 Corpus Christi, TX Concrete Street Amphitheatre
4/5 San Antonio, TX Freeman Coliseum
4/6 El Paso, TX County Coliseum
4/8 TBA
4/9 Phoenix, AZ Jobing.com  Arena
4/10 Long Beach, CA Long Beach Arena
4/12 San Jose, CA Event Center
4/13 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
4/15 Seattle, WA WaMu Center

Russian Circles confirm February tour with Dalek

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 12/20/07 @ 12:29 PM - altpress.com

Instrumental rockers Russian Circles have set up a brief Midwest/East Coast tour for this February along with hip-hop group Dälek. This will be the band's first tour after completing their sophomore album, which they're recording now for new label Suicide Squeeze. Dates:

Feb 20 2008 8:00P Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Feb 21 2008 8:00P The Ravari Room Columbus, Ohio
Feb 22 2008 8:00P The School Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Feb 25 2008 8:00P Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Feb 27 2008 8:00P Rock N Roll Hotel DC, Washington DC
Feb 28 2008 8:00P Grog Shop Cleveland, Ohio w/Dub Trio, Beans

If you're not aware of how sick a live act RC are, peep this clip of "Death Rides A Horse" and be blown away:

First look at Forgetting Sarah Marshall

If you're like us and have a shrine erected to director Judd Apatow, then you're probably counting the days until Forgetting Sarah Marshall hits theaters on May 30, 2008. Starring Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Freaks And Geeks) and Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes), the movie's about an Everyday Joe who has to deal with his movie-star girlfriend giving him the ol' heave-ho. Maybe Jessica Alba's no-name baby-daddy should be taking notes...

Glos (Sparta/Cursive) post new song, release digital EP

Alternative Press - Scott Heisel on 12/19/07 @ 5:39 PM - altpress.com

Glös, the collaboration between Keeley Davis (Sparta, ex-Engine Down/Denali), sister Maura Davis (ex-Denali/Ambulette) and drummer Cornbread Compton (Cursive, ex-Engine Down/Biology/Heavens), have self-released a new digital EP today titled Hidden Cities. The four-song EP is available only through the band's Snocap store (embedded below) for $.99 a song or $3.96 for all four. You can hear one of the new songs, "Break My Heart," on the band's MySpace page.

The band released their debut album, Harmonium, earlier this year through Lovitt Records.

Casey Calvert's wife comments on autopsy report

Alternative Press - Rachel Lux on 12/19/07 @ 5:22 PM - altpress.com

The wife of Hawthorne Heights' Casey Calvert spoke out about his autopsy report in an article in the Cincinnati Post. An excerpt from the article says:

Calvert's wife, Ashley Calvert, a high school teacher in Oxford, said Tuesday that she worried the results left room for people to make negative assumptions about her husband's actions.

"From what I know of Casey, he definitely wasn't abusing anything. ... All the medications he was taking were prescribed by his doctors," she said.

She said Calvert had prescriptions for depression and panic attacks, which account for the citalopram and clonazepam in his bloodstream.

She said the opiate was likely Vicodin, a powerful painkiller, which had been prescribed for the musician Nov. 17, following a root canal three days before. He wasn't able to go back to the dentist to replace a temporary filling, she said, before starting a 28-date national tour the day after Thanksgiving.

She believes the tooth must have been hurting him after the band's first performance the evening before his death. The interaction of the drugs "caused a bad reaction. It was just a horrible accident."

Calvert passed away in his sleep sometime during the night of Nov. 23 or early morning Nov. 24 in Washington D.C. The band were in town to play a show at the 9:30 Club.