2015

I wish you all a great 2015 with a lot of great music and a lot of great shows too!

Be prepared for the new, great thing that I'm adding on my YouTube channel soon (and this will be just the first of many). And I still will be adding more livevideos I made too ofcourse. 

Just be openminded and check the bands I tell you about, when you can, because they're good and deserve your attention. 

And in 2015 spend your time with the people important to you and the music you love ofcourse!

See you with a new post! 

Satanic Surfers! and new bands to check out!

First some very good news, the Satanic Surfers are back!!!!! Well at least they are for a show on the Resurrection Fest in Spain! I think it's about time I visit Spain, don't you think? But let's hope they do more than just one show!

Now I want to give you some new bands to listen to and maybe one or a few ones you didn't know yet.

I recently found a very nice punkband from Italy, called Alleyways. They have not one but 2 singers. Not something that's has never seen or done before, but that doesn't make it any less good. Just give it a try and take a listen to these awesome guys from Italy who just released their debutalbum a few months ago (september).

www.alleyways.eu

Now something completely different, stonerrock. Already a few months ago I got to know this band thanks to my Instagram and my big musicsource called Twitter (I found so many great bands there) and that band is called Crobot and they released their album Something Supernatural a while ago this year.
They're a bit crazy, as it should be, being normal is just so normal.
These guys make this...wow, this rock is good, got me hooked since the first time I listened to it. Absolutely no need to be high to listen to this band. 
Well, no, just open the page, fill your cd-player or get your vinylplayer and spin that awesome shit!
crobotband.bandcamp.com/album/something-supernatural

You can already listen to these bands while I get to think about a few more bands and find some time while travelling to write about it.
And think about this, every band is worth a listen, even if it turns out it's not your style or you simply don't like it. Broaden your musical horizon.

While in Chile

I know it has been a while, sometimes life gets in the way and the planning of my trip to see friends and concerts took all my time too. 

So here I am in Chile now, where I saw Nuclear live last night. And it was awesome! It was a short, but sweet show, but you know some shows will never be long enough.

I hope to show you some new things on my YouTube channel soon and not only new livevideos, but you'll see when I'm ready with that. I think it will be a very nice extra on my channel there. And I hope to improve that every time ofcourse (I'm not a music-beginner, but with blogs, videos and stuff I still am).

I will update the concertdates as soon as I have time and wifi again, which can be difficult when you travel and want to see a lot.

Will you wait until the band you like maybe will play your city or are you prepared to travel around your country or even cross (far away) borders to see them live? If you are able travel around, I would say do it! Nothing better than new places, new sights, new experiences, new friends and seeing the band you love. Not that it's all fun always, some things go wrong ofcourse. I for example, totally couldn't find a venue I was supposed to visit to see Atlas Losing Grip. It was kind of embarrasing, but some days...well, some days can better be over quickly hahaha. But for every bad day thousands of good and awesome ones.

So 2015 is approaching quickly and I can tell you some albums that I'll be looking forward to:

The new Atlas Losing Grip, that is released on January 16th is one I was eagerly waiting on. Can't wait for great great music and Rodrigo's voice, yes!!

Also, ofcourse I'm can't wait to have the new Nuclear album in my hands. The  magicians of awesome oldschool thrash with the amazing riffs, are supposed to release a new album in 2015 as well, so I'm already excited for this! 

Ah yes, my friends from Fuzi and Anzol as well, are  still working on their albums, so I expect 2015 will be their year also. If it doesn't matter to you that they sing in Portuguese, and you like punkrock and rock'n'roll from the heart, than you surely need to check their new stuff next year!

Another punkrelease to look forward to is the new Versus The World-album. Can't wait to see these guys giving their all live the stage again and the new album should be great as always! No doubt in my mind about that. 

Let's not forget the thrash/deathkings of Amsterdam called Seita, 2015 should be their year as well. If I remember correctly the new album will be released in the first part of 2015 and these guys will blow you away with their songs if you give them a chance in your record-/cd-player (and on stage ofcourse).

The punkveterans of Good Riddance are I'm the studio again as well, so I think we might expect the new album of them in 2015 too! That would be so good to hear some new things next to the already impressive discograpy they already have.

I'm probably forgetting loads of bands and I'm sorry for that, but hey I'm on vacation ;-).

Back again with some cool bands!

Sorry for letting you wait, but here I am again, trying to write a new post.
So, this time again about some bands that I think you need to listen to.
And I'm not a professional writer and not good at cd-reviewing yet either, but still what I have to write should be fun to read and if you keep visiting my blog, I'll only keep writing more and show you new and also old bands that are definitely worth a listening. Some you may like, some not, but keep checking my blog and get to know some awesome bands.
And for a lot of tourdates you can watch all the concertpages. I try to put in what I can find of the bands that deserve your live attention at their shows!

Let's start with Slasher from Brazil, they released their album "Katharsis" this year. I had to privilege to witness live in person some of their recordings that they did at home. This is just their second album, but I already knew with their first album that they were making some pretty good modern thrashmetal. So as I said they recorded and released this album theirselves and they even had Tue Madsen to produce it. So it's still hard working, like being in a band simply is, but I believe these guys will do very well in the future. And keep your eyes open Europe, because they had to cancel their tour for this month (October 2014) yes, but they will return in 2015 for a tour. Check their site to get the album and other merch or find a link to just listen to the music (or both).
www.slasher.com.br
www.facebook.com/SlasherBR



Now from thrash to punkrock. The Apers released their new album, Confetti on the floor, last week. (I haven't heard it yet honestly, but I hope t buy it soon at the releaseshow).
I'm sure that this june with the Travoltas, at Paradiso, wasn't the first time I saw them live, but my list of concerts is so long (at least 500 shows..festivals included, but it could be more) that I simply can't remember it. Anyway, I have to say they make very nice punkrocksongs and that you should give them a try right here:
theapers.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/thepunkrockdontstop

Wow, just read some awesome news on internet 2 days ago!: Burning Heart Records is back!! They are the label that used have bands under their wings like Millencolin, Satanic Surfers, Refused, The Hives and many more. But they've been away for years. It would be awesome if they will get some new, awesome and timeless bands on the label again.
www.facebook.com/pages/Burning-Heart-Records


So, this was it for now, since I'm eager to put this new post out there, but I have lots of bands that I want to tell you about and I will do it asap. Hope you'll give the bands a listen and like them!

Pre-order madness

When a band brings out a new album, then often you can order it in pre-order these days. I think that's a good way to get the true fans involved in it again. And the most bundles are pretty awesome too. That's just the way music is now: pre-ordering, crowdfunding and things like that to get to the fans. I've listed some very nice pre-order albums under this text. With everything from punk, hardcore to rock and metal. It's all different and you can find out one by one if you will like any of the bands, if you don't know them yet. But I wanted to write about some other things first so that this post isn't only a long list of pre-orders.

I think september is one of the months that you get bombarded with new albums. And maybe this is not so crazy, since the concertseason (indoors) really starts again this month. At least here in Europe it does. But on the other hand this is a bit weird too, because the music never stopped. It has been festival after festival this summer and the festivalseason has just ended (with some exceptions here and there).
    
So I think the fall here in Europe will start very good with tours this september/october with the metal of Slasher, Eminence and Cannibal Corpse and also the punkrock of  OFF!, Helmet and The Menzingers. 
After that in november/december more metal from Kreator (with Sodom, Arch Enemy and Vader) and Machine Head. 

In the USA/Canada region first the season will start with the punk of Authority Zero and MxPx and this fall will also be very good for the metal-lovers with tours of Carcass & Obituary (and also Exhumed), Crowbar (with Havok & Revocation) and Kataklysm & Suffocation (and also Jungle Rot). Furthermore Snot and also Drowning Pool have found their way to the stages again. And finally one you can't miss in my opinion is Slayer & Suicidal Tendencies, what a good line-up those two together!

South America will be visited this coming spring and summer by Toxic Holocaust, The Hives, No Fun At All, Within Temptation, Hatebreed, Queens of the Stone Age. So as you can see pretty filled last months of the year with awesome bands.

The new liveseason in Australia this summer will be filled with great bands and musicians like Sepultura, Joe Satriani, NOFX, Prong and InFlames & Trivium.

But that's just the top of the iceberg, there's so much going on these last months of 2014 in all kinds of countries and you can find all the dates I found of a lot of different, but good bands in the concertdates-pages.

Now you can find the new albums, that I think you should give a listen, and are coming out soon here:


Affiance 
New album 'Blackout' 
-pre-order: affiance.merchnow.com

At The Gates
New album 'At war with reality' 
-pre-order US: www.cmdistro.com/Artist/At_The_Gates
-pre-order EU and rest of the world: not yet

Crobot
New album 'Something supernatural'
-pre-order: www.crobotband.com

Decapitated
New album 'Blood mantra'
-pre-order EU: www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop
-pre-order US: shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop

Devin Williams
New album 'Destruction of kings'
-get it at: www.devinw.com/NewAlbum.html

Exodus
New album 'Blood in, blood out'
-pre-order EU: www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop
-pre-order US: shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop

Joey Ramone
Re-issue 'Don't worry about me'
-pre-order here: www.amazon.com/Dont-Worry-About-Joey-Ramone

Meshuggah
New album 'The ophidian trek'
-pre order EU: www.omerch.eu/shop/meshuggah
-pre-order US: shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop

Nonpoint
New album 'The return'
-pre-order: nonpoint.merchnow.com

Obituary
New album 'Inked in blood'
-pre-order: www.relapse.com/obituary

Scar Symmertry
New album 'The singularity'
-pre-order EU: www.nuclearblast.de/shop
-pre-order US: shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop

Sick Of It All
New album 'Last act of defiance' 
-pre-order: www.sickofitall.com

Suicide Silence
New album 'You can't stop me'
-get it at: www.nuclearblast.de/en/shop


Awesome albums that already out (for a while), but still are worth your attention (and orders):

Bambix
Album 'The Storytailor'
-get it at: www.bambix.org/joomla

Bodyjar
Album 'Role model'
-get it at: www.24hundred.net/bodyjar

Despite
Album 'EPic'
-get it at: www.despiteofficial.com/product/epic

Eminence
Album 'The Stalker'
-get it at: www.eminence.com.br

Every Time I Die
Album 'From parts unknown'
-get it at EU-store: eu.kingsroadmerch.com/every-time-i-die
-get it at US-store: kingsroadmerch.com/every-time-i-die

Gemini Syndrome
Album 'Lux'
-get it at: www.geminisyndrome.com

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes
Album 'Are we not men? We are diva!
-get it at: www.fatwreck.com/record

Rise Against
Album 'The black market'
-get it at: www.interpunk.com/theblackmarket.cfm

Slasher
Album 'Katharsis'
-get it at: www.slasher.com.br

Statues Of Fire
Album 'Phoenix'
-get it at: www.statuesonfire.com

Water Rats
Album 'Ugly by nature' 
-get it at: waterrats.com.br

Winchester Rebels
Album 'Warrior'
-get it at: winchesterrebels.com/store

Getting robbed, vans breaking down and other tourtrouble

Unfortunately it seems to get more and more standard than ever that bands vans get robbed or airlines losing equipment. I know how much a guitar can mean to a person and some are irreplaceable. So if you leave your van outside, and to sleep inside, at night take your 'girlfriend' with you. Because it's better to sleep with a guitar in your sleeping bag than losing it to people that take it from your van.
But I'm not really sure if you can do a lot to prevent getting your instruments lost by airlines. The only thing I can think of might be renting your backline in the same area that you get your rented van and only bring your guitar, bass, personal microphone, snare drum, sticks and picks and keep it at that. Or maybe you can use the backline of your friends in the city/country that you're going to play in.

That's why I have to show you a few bands again that can need your help now.
But if you rather help another good cause, then by all means do that. I'm happy that you want to help, any good cause is better off with your help, no matter how small your donation might be. But here some bands, (that you can find now in my tab "Contribute to help bands and projects"), that need help for broken down vans or bands that simply want to release a new cd and need money for that:

The van of Allegaeon broke down.
Allegaeon: Allegaeon are going on tour to support Arsis next week, but ofcourse on this 'moment suprême' their van is calling it quits. If you want to donate a bit to help them out so that they can rent a van to complete this tour or have a start on a new (secondhand) van, that would be very much appreciated. Please just send some money to their Paypal-account allegaeon@gmail.com

Just 2 days left to buy an awesome Trigger Happy shirt and help the family of the late Mark Gibson.
Almighty Trigger Happy: Unexpectedly and unfortunately the guitarist of this band died last year and now this campaign is started to help the wife and son with covering the bills following this tragedy. If you can, please help out:
http://teespring.com/thealmightytriggerhappy_copy_1#mobile_description

Nerf Herder a re hard working on their new cd and even if they reached their goal already...touring will cost money too (or their next cd).
Nerf Herder: Pledge to help the band make their new album
www.pledgemusic.com/projects/nerfherder

Honestly I don't even know the music these guys make, but I can imagine they're devastated and desperate after some bastards robbed them of almost everything except from the things they wear. Sirens And Sailors: I don't know this band actually or the music that they make, but they're stranded in a strange country and their robbed of literally all their stuff. Help them out if you can or want. You don't wish this on any band or person that is on tour.
Read here: 
Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to please take the time to read this, it could make a gigantic difference in our lives today.

It is every bands nightmare to come back to their van and see that it has been broken into and robbed, and today that nightmare has become reality for us. To add to it, we are overseas in completely foreign territory feeling more helpless than ever. 

Every single dollar we brought with us, every single penny that we have earned over the past month of touring overseas has been stolen. Licenses, credit cards, essential medical supplies, laptops, electronic equipment, even down to our toiletries, GONE. In a matter of minutes, our livelihood has been taken from us. Our dream come true has become the exact opposite.

We have always been against starting a kick starter or any sort of band funding besides playing shows and selling merch, like any touring band should earn their keep. We have done it successfully for years now, but today we have no choice, and no other option.

If you would like to help us in any sort of way, whether it's something as easy as sharing this post so others can see it, or if you would like to donate to help us in any amount you can, here is our PayPal information to do so:

PayPal account: thesirensandthesailors@yahoo.com

Please click "Friends & Family" so you do not get taxed for your donation.

There are really no words to describe what we are feeling at this moment, and we are so grateful for all of you and the support you have given us throughout the years. Thank you.

SIRENS & SAILORS

I assure you, helping others make you feel good too, but don't do it to expect something back. Do it to genuinely help out and make a difference even if it's just a little donation you can make. A lot of 'little' donations also can give a very big endresult!

Depression is a disease, not just being lazy

Don't worry, the next post is about music again, but I felt the need to write something about depression, because of a lot of things that happened and also the suicide of Robin Williams. And also because a lot of people suffer from it, they just have hidden it very well for you sometimes.
I just want to let people realize that's it's not just being sad when you got your heart broken or something, but it affects much more than that. I think in my experience with people with depression, that a trauma can trigger this disease. For one person it's the death of someone close, rape, or things like that. But it can also be something insignificant to other people, like a broken heart. It may well be that people that suffer from depression are more sensitive than others (I don't know if this is true, I'm just guessing now) and they had every rejection build up inside over the years, until it one day comes out and bursts, sort of speak. I'm not saying this is the case for everyone, it's just an example that I know has happened. 
When you have a depression, others may think you're a lazy bastard, but honestly it's not that, you simply lose the will to do anything. It's not just procrastination, it's not simply that when you have depression, that you don't want to do things. You just can't make yourself do it. Ofcourse it's not good for any person that amount of selfpity and stuff, but when you have this, you can't control your mind so well, it's taking over your thoughts and making them worse. Some days are not so bad, but other days are complete misery...just laying on the bed crying and crying, seeing no future and that maybe you'd be better off if you were not on this world. But that's why it's so important to have treatment from a psychologist or psychiatrist. Because it's almost not possible to get over it yourself. If you're blessed with good and true friends it might seem that you're over it and it will feel like that for a while, but it simmers inside of you waiting to come out. And then one day, when you least expect it, something happens in your life and it hits you like a kick in the face again. 
If you feel like you have a depression, stop being stubborn, stop thinking: 'Oh I can fucking do this myself'. Stop it, STOP IT, because before you know it, years have passed and nothing has happened. Inside you know you are still depressed, you've just covered it with other things. To the outside world, you just seem fine, your life seems okay, but this depression is a disease, it hits you and it can hit you damn hard. So, it's time you realize that it's not a shame to get help and that you are NOT weak. You'll only regret it later that you haven't called out for help sooner. But I can assure you, admitting you have a depression (or admitting that you think that you have one) or admitting that you need help, is a fucking brave thing to do. You have saved a life and an extremely important one: THAT ONE OF YOUR OWN. Because you are not worth less than anyone else, no matter who makes you feel that way. If anyone makes you feel that way, than they are the ones that need help. They are jealous and want to make you feel inferior in the most cases. And that is the same when anyone gets angry at you. Ofcourse anger may seem like it's justified sometimes, but is it really? Does the person you're angry at really deserve your anger or is he/she just triggering something that's already deep inside you, something that you're trying to push away. 
Do people really not care about you or are you just thinking that? Because you don't know what other people think, maybe you mean the world to someone and you just don't know it. I know there's enough in this world that is still reachable for any of you. Some dreams are maybe not going to happen anymore no, but is that a reason to step out of this world? Aren't their more dreams to be made? You think nothing good is waiting for you anymore, but you cannot know that! Why? Because you have not been there yet, it's what lying ahead of you. And who knows what magical, lifechanging things are going to happen if you'll just try it again. Maybe the love of your life is just waiting until you arrive, maybe your dreamjob was just waiting on the corner.
 I know it's a long way and I see many people suffer from it. And I know realizing you're sick is one thing and doing something about it another. But do you really need to wait until you're ready to do something about it or do you decide to be ready? Take your life in your hands now and don't you dare think you are not worth it, that it will suck anyway or that nothing is going to change. Because the only one who stops your life from changing in a good way is YOU.