Nuclear Blast owner Markus Staiger has joined forces with former Roadrunner Records A&R chief Monte Conner in the formation of a new U.S. partnership — Nuclear Blast Entertainment.
The new record label, which will share most major operations with the existing U.S. branch of Nuclear Blast, will announce its first signings in the coming months.
Conner recently departed Roadrunner after a 25-year run that saw him sign most of the successful hard rock and metal bands on the label, including SLIPKNOT, SEPULTURA, MACHINE HEAD, TRIVIUM, FEAR FACTORY, STONE SOUR, TYPE O NEGATIVE, SOULFLY, COAL CHAMBER, LIFE OF AGONY, BIOHAZARD, DEVILDRIVER, DEICIDE and most recently, RUSH and GOJIRA.
Plans are also underway to expand Nuclear Blast‘s strength in the U.K. market and the label has now paired with former Roadrunner U.K. managing director, Mark Palmer. Palmer will open Nuclear Blast‘s first U.K. office. Palmer had been with Roadrunner almost from the start and had built the U.K. branch of Roadrunner into one of the most respected and successful local record company teams the metal world has ever seen.
Says Conner: “What Markus Staiger and his incredibly dedicated staff have built over the last 25 years is quite an achievement, and it has all happened almost concurrently with my time at Roadrunner Records. I am very pleased to align myself with a team of loyal, hard-working people and am looking forward to playing my part in the continued evolution and dominance of this worldwide metal powerhouse. I hope to both complement as well as expand on all the great things already happening at Nuclear Blast, especially when it comes to the U.S. market and Nuclear Blast Entertainment. I feel Markus and I can be an unstoppable force in metal and beyond, and with my long-term colleague Mark Palmer also now aboard in the U.K., this already feels like home to me.”
Adds Palmer: “I am really excited at the prospect of working with the amazing staff at Nuclear Blast and putting together a new team to strongly develop their business and profile in the U.K.”
States Staiger: “I am absolutely thrilled to welcome metal veterans Monte Conner and Mark Palmer to the Nuclear Blast team. I am continually striving to strengthen Nuclear Blast on all fronts as a worldwide force, and with the addition of Monte and Mark, I feel we just took major steps in two key territories.”
Nuclear Blast was founded by Staiger in Donzdorf, Germany in 1987. With offices in Donzdorf and Los Angeles and a worldwide staff of 150 people (including a thriving mail order business), Nuclear Blast is one of the biggest independent labels in the world. Some of the label’s current artists are MESHUGGAH, TESTAMENT, NIGHTWISH (Europe only), CHILDREN OF BODOM, ANTHRAX (Europe only), DIMMU BORGIR, ALL SHALL PERISH, EPICA, EXODUS and ACCEPT.
Pictured below from left to right: Monte Conner, Markus Staiger and Mark Palmer
TeePee of Total Rock Radio conducted an interview with Jørn Stubberud, best known as the bassist in the legendary Norwegian black metal band MAYHEM (where he performs under the stage name Necrobutcher), at this year’s edition of the Bloodstock Open Air festival, which was held August 9-12 at Catton Park, Derbyshire in the United Kingdom. You can now watch the chat below.
Asked if MAYHEM has begun working on material for the follow-up to 2007’s “Ordo Ad Chao”, Stubberud said, “I think that we are not a traditional band in that matter, that we make an album every year and then do a tour with that. ‘Cause we don’t feel it’s necessary to do that — we do an album when we feel like doing an album. It’s true — all the guys have some other projects also; like Hellhammer [drums] has ARCTURUS, Attila [Csihar, vocals] has VOID OV VOICES and SUNN O))). It takes time to come up with some good stuff, and we don’t wanna rush anything. But we are now, actually, working on some new stuff. It’s very hard to say [when the next CD will be released], but we are currently working on some new material and we have a plan to do something that will kick us in the ass a little bit. It’s too long a story to go into that [right now]. . . We’re waiting for the right inspiration, but having a blast in the meantime, too — travelling around the world and playing.”
MAYHEM was honored in the “Metal” category at the 36th annual Spellemann awards (the Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy Awards) for “Ordo Ad Chao”.
“Ordo Ad Chao” entered the Norwegian album chart at position No. 12, the band’s highest position ever.
Female fronted mix of power/thrash metal band SHADOWSIDE, one of the rising stars of Brazilian Metal music, has just added an important international award to their career. The fans have spoken and the band is the winner of the 11th Annual Independent Music Awards on the Best Metal/Hardcore album category, in the Vox Pop poll, the fan-determined portion of the influential international awards program for independent bands and fans. The quartet competed against Asking Alexndria, 16 Second Stare, Hemoptysis and Scarab.
“We are absolutely stoked! We really did not expect to win, the guys in the band thought I was joking when I broke the news to them. All we can say is thank you to all the fans that took the time to vote for us, you guys rock!“, says lead singer Dani Nolden.
More than 60000 music fans from all around the world have voted online for their favorite self-released and independent label artists. This year’s Vox Pop winners represent more than 350 Nominees in more than 70 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories.
Artist and industry judging pannel included Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, Tori Amos, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Gwar, Benji Madden (Good Charlotte), Kevin Lyman (Mayhem Festival), Anthony DeCurtis (Rolling Stone Magazine), Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan, Suzanne Vega, Alan Light (Live From Artists Den), Kevin Lyman (Warped Tour) and Bill Bragin (Lincoln Center), among many other artists and industry professionals.
“The IMAs celebrate artists who follow their own muse and the music fans who support them,” said Executive Director, Martin Folkman. “The Vox Pop award is one of the many ways the program motivates fans to discover and support incredible independent talent, which is the purpose of The Independent Music Awards,” Folkman said.
Bands such as Lacuna Coil, All that Remains, Diablo Swing Orchestra and Vixen have also participated in the Independent Music Awards in previous editions.
At this very moment, SHADOWSIDE is on tour in support of their latest album Inner Monster Out, produced, mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström (In Flames, Arch Enemy, Hammerfall and more) and features special guest appearances of Björn “Speed” Strid (Soilwork), Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity) and Niklas Isfeldt (Dream Evil) on the title track.
Former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. frontman Udo Dirkschneider — who turned 60 this past April — was honored with a “lifetime achievement award” by his record label, AFM Records, at this year’s Wacken Open Air festival, which was held on August 2-4 in Wacken, Germany. Dirkschneider‘s award recognized his status as one of the most popular and respected voices in metal ever, having had a massive impact on future generations of metal musicians.
In other news, U.D.O. and AFM recently extended their long-term deal and look forward to continuing on the path of success.
U.D.O.‘s November 16, 2011 concert at Hristo Botev Hall in Sofia, Bulgaria was professionally filmed for release as a DVD+CD and Blu-ray+CD. Entitled “Live In Sofia”, it will be made available on September 28 via AFM Records.
“Celebrator”, a collection of rare tracks from U.D.O., will be released on double vinyl on August 17 via High Roller Records. It is limited to 500 copies in three different colors. The set was made available in Europe on May 4 via AFM Records and was released in North America on June 19.
U.D.O.‘s latest album, “Rev-Raptor”, was released on May 20, 2011 via AFM Records.
Wolf Hoffmann is an amazing artist indeed, a legend for many of us who influenced many bands and musicians. He is one of the founders of the legendary band ACCEPT who play Metal loud, heavy and powerful. I am one of those lucky journalists who got a chance to have a talk with Wolf and ask him some questions. I believe you’ll find his answers interesting. Check them out below:
Mohsen: Hello Wolf, How is it going today? Any shocking news?
WOLF: Mohsen, nice to meet you. It is a real adventure to be talking to someone from IRAN!
Wonderful news ….plenty. STALINGRAD has been as successful as BLOOD OF THE NATIONS – both albums are still selling and both have been in the top of the charts, sometimes even competing with each other! We are very happy about that. The tours are going great and we have been around the globe twice in not even 24 months and we are starting another tour around the world again in a few weeks.
Mohsen: To begin with, we had a tribute project to Ronnie James Dio and we got several nice messages from many artists like your band mate Stefan, but I’d like to know your opinion about Ronnie and if you have any particular memory of him?
WOLF: Like everybody, I remember him well and he has been one of the greatest and he has left a huge legacy for all of us to enjoy….forever. One of the great artists and great human beings!
Mohsen: You’re going to tour the USA and the Canada with KREATOR this September, it would be a long tour and I’m sure it won’t be a new experience, but would you tell me how do you find living on the road? Myself personally and perhaps our readers would like to hear if you have any particular or funny memories?
WOLF: The tour is about 5 weeks with KREATOR. We share the bill with them as co-headliners. This package is a historic one. It is to bring GERMAN HEAVY METAL to the fans. Both bands are from the industrial area of Germany, where the German Steel is coming from. ACCEPT opened the door for KREATOR and Mille told me, ACCEPT has been his first concert. The interesting aspect of KREATOR is, that he did not copy anybody, they took the inspiration and created their own niche, they made their stand and will leave their vey own legacy. So this is a very special co-operation and the fans will love it!
Mohsen: You shared a stage with Swedish heavy metal band WOLF in the UK last year. The vocalist Nik is a good friend of mine and they are one of my favorites, but what are your thoughts about them?
WOLF: You know, I guess they are a cool band. But, we are so very busy that we hardly have time to hang around. I wish we cold have seen them. However, they did a good job.
Mohsen: Let’s go back to 2009, when the best news of that year, “Metal Heart Beats Again” was published. Can you tell me more about those days, how did you and Peter get the idea of a reunion and did you expect such success that you got from both of your latest albums at the beginning of this reunion?
WOLF: We lived a different life for many years and it has been sheer destiny, that Mark Tornillo – who lives very close to Peter – never ever met Peter. But, he ran into us one day and like us, he had a different life and being a musician has not been on his agenda at that time. In a spur of a moment we invited him to jam with us, fell in love with his voice and he with our music and the rest is history!
Mohsen: ACCEPT seems to have followed the same themes in writing and recording the “Stalingrad” album as you did in your previous album “Blood Of The Nations” (For example writing lyrics which were influenced by WWII). Would you tell me more about it and what exactly the band wanted to say with those albums?
WOLF: ACCEPT has been one of the very first Bands who made very controversial lyrics and it is always about suppression, dark sides of humanity and a reminder, that there is something you can do about it. We cannot talk about that here, you really have to read the lyrics from BALLS TO THE WALL on….you will see, as the majority of the songwriters and the lyricist are still together there is a golden thread running through it and Mark Tornillo had the gift to continue our tradition.
Mohsen: Some of your fans believe that ACCEPT with Mark is even better than Udo and some do not, but how did you find the differences between working with Mark and Udo?
WOLF: Every time in your life has different circumstances. The voice of a singer is a matter of taste. Today – with Mark we feel absolutely on top of the game! To compare the times we are living in NOW with the past – is not possible. We all grew into different directions and Mark is with us at a time, where we are at our happiest.
Mohsen: Some critics and people believe record labels were killing metal in the 90’s when they were supporting Nu-metal bands. How do you see metal music and the industry today?
WOLF: Yeah, there is something to it. Same thing here, you can not compare the past with the present. Nothing is the same and the Internet has changed EVERYTHING. Today you have to do totally different things than in the past. I consider it as normal. Times change and who cannot change will be left behind!
Mohsen: Would you tell me more about ACCEPT’s future plans and when do you think it would be time for the band to retire? Hopefully not soon though!
WOLF: Hey…we just started…how can I think about RETIREMENT!!! Not possible. We are at our best and as long as the fans want us, we will be there…
Mohsen: You’ve chosen Andy Sneap for both of the band’s latest albums, would you tell me what was the reason and how it was working with him?
WOLF: Andy Sneap is the perfect match for us. We really got close and our creativity is exactly where it needs to be … FLYING HIGH!
Mohsen: Have you any plans to work on another solo album, as your “Classical” album is a masterpiece indeed?
WOLF: yes, that is my secret dream and like with all dreams, they take their time…but something is coming up. I miss that music and I can never let go! You got it …this is MY PASSION!
Mohsen: Photography is one of my favourite kinds of art, so I’m glad to ask you about that part of your life, how did you find out that you like photography? And would you tell me more about your techniques and influences?
WOLF: I am an Anselm Adams scholar…but drifted towards corporate photography in later years. I always work, when I can. Lately ACCEPT’s taking up all my time. But, this will never leave me – like CLASSICAL MUSIC.
Mohsen: As a final word feel free to leave a message to your die hard fans and our readers.
WOLF: I am really sorry, that we have no way of coming to your country. Please follow us on our web site – if you can. We wish for you, that times will change and that we will be able to live in a world without borders. We can only write songs ….telling you, that we understand you and that we love you!
Mohsen: Thanks a lot Wolf for giving me your time.
WOLF: THANK YOU and you are always welcome to write to us!
The new DVD Package “Live at Wacken 2011” (also available as Blue Ray/Double CD) which is available since W:O:A 2012 entered the German “Media Control” Charts on #2 after the first week of it´s release!
All info about the current release can be found HERE
The presale for the 24th edition of Wacken Open Air, which will occur from the 1st to 3rd of August 2013 is taking up more and more speed!
After the big run for the X-Mas tickets and normal 3-Day-All-In tickets after the presale start on Monday, the demand for tickets in the second is still unbroken. W.O.A. has posted: “By now we can confirm that 35000 Tickets are already sold – That´s a new record high!
Herewith we want to say thank you again to all metalheads for their great support and loyalty for all the years! And also in the next year we will present a great festival with lots of surprises and top-acts!”
The bands have been confirmed for W.O.A. 2013: Deep Purple, Anthrax, Sabaton, Nightwish, Doro (30th Anniversary Show), Arch Enemy, Lingua Mortis Feat. Rage, Subway To Sally and Amorphis.
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Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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Visionary artist KIMMO KUUSNIEMI's ANCIENT STREAMING ASSEMBLY (ASA) have released “Aurora Nuclearis”, a powerful 12-minute audiovisual experience, dedicated to the Late Keyboardist Esa Kotilainen. - Click image to watch the video
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Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 