Comments Off on DEVILDRIVER Guitarist Reveals Concept For Upcoming Double Album “Main Idea Was Taking Away Of Liberties and Bondage Of The Human Soul”
Neal Tiemann has had a storied career in the music industry as a session guitarist as well as being a full time member of a handful of big bands. From starting out as a session guitarist turned member for James Hart’s post Eighteen Visions band Burn Halo, to becoming a part of Brandon Saller of Atreyu fame’s solo band Black Cloud Collective which would then become Hell or Highwater. This before finding a home in Devildriver where he’s put out 3 albums, one of which is an upcoming double length concept album, in a 3 year span. Continue reading →
Comments Off on Ep. 152 Dez Fafara (Devildriver) Returns – Talk Toomey: The Metal Nexus Podcast
Dez Fafara (Devildriver, Coal Chamber) returns to the Talk Toomey Podcast. Dez calls in to talk about the upcoming Devildriver album ‘Outlaws ’til the End: Vol. 1′ which releases July 6th via Napalm Records. We discuss our mutual love of country music and the origins of this country covers album. Dez goes into detail about working with John Carter Cash and John’s stories about his dad.
Chris Czynszak of the Decibel Geek Podcast calls in to talk about the upcoming Rock N Pod Expo.
Robb Rivera (Nonpoint) hits us with a great Prong tune for his Pick From The Kit!
Comments Off on Chicago Open Air Spotlight: DEVILDRIVER
*Every Tuesday and Thursday from now until Chicago Open Air gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*
Today’s artist is DevilDriver.
On Sunday, July 16th, there will be Clouds Over Chicago as DevilDriver hits the BlackCraft Stage at 2:00 at Chicago Open Air. You’ll see in just about any live footage of DevilDriver that they bring ridiculously large mosh pits through their entire set. Dez Fafara is one of the best at making a crowd go crazy. There’s a reason they did two separate US tours with Hatebreed last year. Although he is the only original member left of the band, they still continue to put out fantastic material constantly. They took a short hiatus after releasing their first album via Napalm Record in 2013 (‘Winter Kills’) so Dez could focus on his other incredible band, Coal Chamber. Fafara has even mentioned bringing Coal Chamber material into DevilDriver sets. It would definitely be interesting to see a mix of both of his projects but we will more than likely only get DevilDriver material in Chicago. DevilDriver returned quickly in 2016 with their new album ‘Trust No One’ and have been touring since then. Sunday will include an abundance of moshing with bands like them, Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, and Slayer all hitting the two stages on the same day. Continue reading →
It has been very hard to narrow down all the albums released this year into 25 selections and even harder to put them in order. Some of these albums came as a surprise to me and some I just can’t seem to put down, I love each and every one of these albums for some particular reason. If you haven’t heard one or several of these albums I highly suggest you give them a shot. Continue reading →
Comments Off on Asheville, NC: Coal Chamber, Fear Factory, Jasta & More….
After finally releasing their first studio album in over 13 years Coal Chamber has organized one of the best touring lineups in recent years. Of course you have Coal Chamber, and co-headlining is Fear Factory who have a new album releasing August 7th entitled “Genexus”. The Devil You Know was on select dates of the tour and it features Howard Jones formerly of Killswitch Engage. On the date we were attending at The Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina we got Jasta. The band of course features the namesake of the band Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed and Kingdom of Sorrow fame. If you thought this was enough there are still two bands left. Motor City Metal band Saint Ridley was immediate support for the bands. They were also on Coal Chamber’s previous tour with Filter and Combichrist. The opening band was Los Angeles based nu metal band Madlife, who became the pleasant surprise of the night.
Comments Off on Interview with “We Are The Riot” guitarist Cheyne Fritts!
We had the honor of catching up with “We Are The Riot” guitarist and co-founder Cheyne Fritts. The band has released a demo along with a hard hitting single and music video for “It’s Not What You Wanted.” The band includes two members of Coal Chamber, guitarist Meegs Rascon, and drummer Mikal Cox. The band was formed in 2010 and was the first time Meegs and Mikal had played together since the Coal Chamber split in 2003. The material released so far is a fresh new sound that will appeal to a wide range of audiences. In a recent interview on Bods Mayhem Hour, Mikal referred to We Are The Riot as a “baby band”. Even though the band released material a year ago they are still considered a “newborn” in the music world. The band has all the right pieces and is in the writing process of capturing what will eventually become an album I’m sure we will all grow to love.
Cheyne Fritts
Metal Nexus: You and Meegs formed We Are The Riot in 2010, Did you have a specific sound in mind when you first started?
Cheyne : Not really. We just wanted to have fun and not have any rules. Our only rule was that there were no rules. No idea could be shot down unless we tried it. We try and stick to that as much as we can. I don’t give a shit if one of the guys wants to play a flute in a song as long as it sounds good.
Metal Nexus: The Hollywood Demos was released in 2014, as well as the video for “Not What You Wanted”, How did that material go over with everyone?
Cheyne : I think it did ok. We only really put that out so that we could have something to give away and sell when we went on tour with Wayne Static. We have been hard at work with new material recently.
MN: You have recently been working on new music, When can we expect a debut album?
Cheyne: I really have no idea. We are just trying to write as much as we can right now . I’m hoping to have at least 20 good songs to choose from for an album. We will definitely have more of a idea of a timeline in the next few months. Sometimes our writing process feels like we are taking as long as Tool . Sorry.
MN: Do you have a title in mind for the album or know who might produce it?
Cheyne: As far as a album title; I think I’d like Jimmy to come up with one after we finish it. He might have a certain direction he wants to go with as far as lyrics. Who knows. We have worked on a couple of songs with Ulrich Wild and I think we might be sticking with him. He has a pretty awesome group of artists and bands that he has worked with, and he’s just a really cool guy.
MN: One of the last tours you went on was the Static-X “Wisconsin Death Trip Tour” celebrating 15th anniversary of that release. The tour ended in June and Wayne passed away around 5 months later, was that something hard to handle after being on tour with him so recently?
Cheyne: I didn’t get to know him as well as Mikey, Meegs and Andy but it definitely came to everyone as a surprise. It always sucks to loose a close friend to addiction or accidents.
MN: What is the earliest we can expect a tour from you guys? And will you be making it to the east coast as well?
Cheyne: There are no plans for tour right now. We are looking for booking agents for the near future. So those things will come when we find the right one. Trust me; we want to go EVERYWHERE!!
MN: If you had to describe how We Are The Riot sounds to someone that hasn’t heard you guys before how would you describe it to them?
Cheyne: Maybe If Helmet had a bastard child with Deftones but was raised by Bring Me The Horizon and The Cure.
The satisfaction of knowing the debut album will not take as long as the new Tool album is a great piece of information. We are looking forward to hearing the new material and have our fingers crossed it doesn’t include a a flute player. Make sure to follow these guys as they put alot of hard work into their writing process. You can purchase “The Hollywood Demos” via iTunes here. You can keep up with them on social media through Facebook, Twitter, or their website http://www.wearetheriot.info/ We would like to thank Cheyne for the interview, we know he is a busy guy and we are very gracious for his time.
