Senses Fail Announce "Saints & Sinners" Tour Dates w/ Hollywood Undead, Haste the Day, brokeNCYDE (Vagrant Records)

I knew Sense Fail was attracting bigger audiences with each release but I hadn't realized that their popularity was to the point where they have already gotten 36 million plays on their MySpace jukebox. As a reference point, Metallica has 41 million plays but they have been in the mainstream and playing coliseums for now over twenty years.

Senses Fail have announced a 42-date Feb - April tour. Many of these dates are part of the Saints & Sinners Tour which includes Haste The Day, Hollywood Undead and BroekNCYDE on the bill. The local tour stops are:

Mar 7 – Farmingdale, NY @ Crazy Donkey,
Mar 8 – Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater and
Mar 10 – New York, NY @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza.

Sense Fail are touring behind Life Is Not A Waiting Room (Vagrant Records), which was released this past October and the disc debuted at #18 on the Billboard Top 200.

As the news media continues to bombard us with tales of a US recession and a global depression, Senses Fail vocalist Buddy Nielsen's offers the perspective that “[t]he economy sucks, the music industry sucks, business men are committing suicide, but I’m get much better at jiu-jitsu. I have been going off and on for a year and in the last 2 weeks I have progressed leaps and bounds compared to the other students in my class. I have diligently been working on my open guard and keeping my foe away from me with hip movements and foot control and in turn my closed guard has become much improved. I am finally feeling comfortable with delivering a string of attacks from that position. For all my new found strengths I still have many weaknesses such as, but not limited to, getting cross collared, inability to finish triangles, letting people take my back and many others. I would just like to say thank you to my school and I would really appreciate if everyone would come out and see Senses Fail on this tour.”

After the current series of tour dates, Senses Fail will be playing all dates on Warped Tour 2009 and will be touring Europe later this year.

Links:
Senses Fail's MySpace Profile

Haste The Day Post New Song, "68", from their forthcoming CD

Indianapolis' Haste The Day have posted the an advance track, "68", from their forthcoming CD Dreamer to their MySpace profile.

It is impossible to make any sort of conclusions based on one track but it appears that the band's sound has gotten a lot heavier. On this new track, vocalist Stephen Keech sticks with a metal growl and there are less vocal harmonies from the other members of the band. The production on this track is also heavier than past releases as the band utilized the services of Andreas Magnusson (The Black Dahlia Murder, Oh Sleeper) for this release.

Dreamer drops on October 14th.

Haste The Day Release Video for Stitches on their MySpace Page

Haste the Day premiered today the video for the song Stitches on their MySpace page. Stitches is the first single off the band's new CD Pressure the Hinges.

Shot in Los Angeles, California with director Dan Dobi (Bleeding Through, Cannibal Corpse) at the helm, the video shows a powerful band performance with undercutting images between two different stories. Both stories have the same theme; however each story has an individual feel, characters and problems.

Stitches was written by Haste The Day members Brennan Chaulk and Stephen Keech and Keech states what the inspiration behind it is, “Everyone knows at least one person in their life who destroyed their life with drugs or alcohol. The song is about the need of intervention from a loved one (friend or family member), and the use of five words that can change that person’s life: you're worth more than this. Sometimes we, as the loved one, have a hard time saying those words creating stitches in our mouth.”

Haste the Day will be headlining one of the stages at the Warped Tour starting next month and here are the band's June tour dates:

Jun 15 2007 8:00P Ichthus Festival Wilmore, Kansas
Jun 29 2007 8:00P Pomona Fairplex Pomona, California
Jun 30 2007 8:00P Seaside Park Ventura, California

Links:
Direct link to the Stitches video (link)

Haste The Day MySpace page (link)
Haste The Day Main Website (link)

From Autumn to Ashes @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, NY, April 20th

I haven't heard the new From Autumn to Ashes CD (Holding a Wolf By the Ears was released earlier this month on Vagrant Records) but their live show was great. The band doesn't look impacted by the departure of singer Ben Perri (they actually sound a bit stronger than the last time I saw them play) and Francis Mark is a great front-man.







Here are the band's upcoming tour dates:
04/25/07 Boston, MA Axis
04/26/07 Clifton Park, NY Northern Lights
04/27/07 Montreal,QC Centre Artistique Fractale
04/28/07 Toronto, Ontario Fun Haus
04/29/07 London, Ontario The Salt Lounge
05/01/07 Cleveland, Ohio Agora Ballroom
05/02/07 Skelletones Grand Rapids, Michigan
05/03/07 Louisville, Kentucky Headliner's Music Hall
05/04/07 Millvale, Pennsylvania Mr. Smalls
05/05/07 Poughkeepsie, New York The Chance

With SHADOWS FALL
05/08/07 Allentown, PA Crocodile Rock Cafe
05/09/07 Providence, RI Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

Links:
From Autumn to Ashes MySpace page (link)

Haste The Day @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, NY, April 20th

I hadn't seen Haste The Day prior to Friday's show at Irving Plaza. These guys are a great live act and their show is intense. The band plays with a passion and conviction that is impossible to fake. In a recent review of the band's new CD, I compared them to a less-intense All That Remains. After seeing their live show, I am not sure this comparison holds as the band plays hard and can hold their own with any metal band. The band doesn't sacrifice any of the melodies and harmonies in their live show but I think the production on the CD hides some of their sonic intensity.

This is really a band to catch live. (They are back in town at the Bamboozle Festival on May 6th with My Chemical Romance.)






For whatever reason, the pictures I took of front-man Stephen Keech and bassist Mike Murphy really didn't turn out that great. As such, I wanted to include the picture below which I took at an interview session with the band earlier in the day on Friday.

Maylene and The Sons of Disaster @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, NY, April 20th

I haven't kept up with what Dallas Taylor has been doing since leaving Underoath so I was looking forward to hearing Maylene & The Sons of Disaster's set at Irving Plaza last night. The band is quite impressive live. The obvious comparison would be to Clutch but, with the band utilizing three guitarists, I can't help but think of Lynyrd Skynyrd. This southern metal sound really seems to work for the band and Dallas' voice sounds great.


The band just released their second CD entitled "II" on Ferret Records last month. Based on the band's live show, it looks like this CD is well worth checking out.


Th band is currently on tour with Haste The Day and From Autumn To Ashes through the beginning of May, then they hit the road for 2 weeks of shows with UNDEROATH. They are back in the area on May 5th for the Bamboozle Festival at the Meadowlands. Here are the band's upcoming tour dates:

April 22, 2007 8:00P
Toad's Place New Haven, Connecticut

April 24, 2007 8:00P
The Station Portland, Maine

April 25, 2007 8:00P
Axis Boston, Massachusetts

April 26, 2007 8:00P
Northern Lights Clifton PArk, New York

April 28, 2007 8:00P
Fun Haus Toronto, Ontario

April 29, 2007 8:00P
The Salt Lounge London, Ontario

May 1, 2007 8:00P
Agora Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio

May 2, 2007 8:00P
Skelletones Grand Rapids, Michigan

May 3, 2007 8:00P
Headliner's Music Hall Louisville, Kentucky

May 4, 2007 8:00P
Mr.Smalls Millvale, Pennsylvania

May 5, 2007 2:15P
Meadowlands Sports Complex East Rutherford, New Jersey


Links:
Maylene & the Sons of Disaster Main Website (link)
Maylene & the Sons of Disaster MySpace page (link)

Haste The Day Plays Irving Plaza Tonight (April 20th)

Haste The Day is co-headlining the bill at Irving Plaza tonight with From Autumn to Ashes and tickets are available at the door. I had the opportunity to meet the band earlier today as they were filming a video interview for Metal Machine.

More on this tomorrow...

Haste The Day Pressure The Hinges CD Review

Haste The Day's new CD falls into the more melodic side of metalcore. New vocalist Stephen Keech has a vocal range similar to All That Remains' Phil Labonte which can range from a melodic harmony to a death metal growl. Musically, the band is less brutal than ATR and a closer point of comparison may be Midtown. Guitarist Jason Barnes was quoted as saying "We wanted melodies influenced by bands like AC/DC and Def Leppard rather than the bands we’ve toured with." There are a lot of strong songs on this CD and it has held up to repeated listenings.

The band doesn't stray much from its core melodic hardcore sound with the exception of the tracks Janet's Planet and Chorus of Angels. The later is an epic track that includes portions of Eye of the Needle (the first track on the disc). This track ties all the songs on the disc together and serves as a perfect closer. On the melodic side, my favorite tracks are Stitches (probably the best track on the disc) and The Minor Prophets. Both feature strong vocals and 'exploding' choruses.

Haste the Day are co-headlining a show with From Autumn to Ashes this Friday night (April 20th) at Iring Plaza with supporting bands Alesana, Twelve Gauge Valentine and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Tickets are still available and are only $15.75.

Links:
Haste The Day MySpace page (link)

Haste The Day Starts Tour/New CD Released March 20th

Haste The Day is preparing for the release of their third album, Pressure The Hinges on March 20th on Solid State Records. They have released on their Myspace page their new single “Stitches” and are headed to LA to film the video for that song.

“Stitches” was written by Haste The Day members Brennan Chaulk and Stephen Keech and Keech states what the inspiration behind it is, “Everyone knows at least one person in their life who destroyed their life with drugs or alcohol. The song is about the need of intervention from a loved one (friend of family member), and the use of five words that can change that person’s life: you're worth more than this. Sometimes we, as the loved one, have a hard time saying those words creating stitches in our mouth.”

The video was shot in California and shows a powerful band performance with undercutting images between two different stories. Both stories will have the same theme; however each story will have an individual feel, characters and problems.

After selling over 100,000 copies of their combined albums, Haste The Day is prepared to have a blow out third release that includes not only the single disc album, but also a deluxe version with bonus tracks and DVD including 2 live shows, past music videos and more. You can also pre-order the new album at Interpunk and receive a limited edition 7" split featuring two songs from aste the Day and From Ashes to Autumn.

The band hits the road on tour co-headlining with From Autumn To Ashes starting March 6th in Buffalo, NY. The only show in the New York area is at Irving Plaza on April 20th.

Haste The Day is Stephen Keech (Vocals), Michael Murphy (Bass, Backing Vox), Devin Chaulk (Drums), Jason Barnes (Lead Guitar) and Brennan Chaulk (Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vox).