Hottest Band News and Interviews

Slayer formed in 1981, when guitarist Kerry King met Jeff Hanneman while auditioning for a band. The two recruited bassist and vocalist Tom Araya, who had played with King in a previous band. Drummer Dave Lombardo was recruited when he met King delivering a pizza. The band played cover versions of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs at clubs and parties in Southern California. Early shows relied on a Satanic image, which featured pentagrams, make-up, spikes, and inverted crosses.

In 2005, the Senses Fail’s web site announced the departure, by mutual agreement, of guitarist Dave Miller. He was replaced by Heath Saraceno, previously the guitarist/vocalist of the band Midtown. Subsequent interviews with band members have made it clear that Miller did not leave voluntarily.

Saosin started off as the brainchild of two musicians; Justin Shekoski, a former guitarist in As Hope Dies, and Beau Burchell. They planned to be called “The Gift”, but there was another band by that name. They recorded an instrumental demo, with Justin and Beau, and MIDI drums. The first song on this demo was called You’re No Angel and had Beau Burchell on vocals. They were trying to find a vocalist and they asked Keith Goodwin from the band Days Away. He said, I know this guy Anthony.

Shortly after forming, they gave their first public performance in Orange County, California, where a friend of Commerford’s was holding a house party. The blueprint for the group’s major-label debut album was laid on a twelve-song self-released cassette, the cover image of which was the stock-market with a single match taped to the inlay card. Not all 12 songs made it onto the final album—two were eventually included as B-sides, with the remaining three songs never seeing an official release.

Poison is an American rock band which achieved great success and popularity in the late 1980s and the 1990s. To date they have sold more than 25 million albums worldwide and are still selling out concerts and recording albums today.

Parkway Drive is a metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia. As of 2007, Parkway Drive has released an EP, entitled Don’t Close Your Eyes, two split CDs, and two full-length albums, Killing with a Smile and Horizons.

Pantera was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas, that formed in 1981. Although initially influenced by 1980s glam metal bands, thrash metal acts such as Slayer and Metallica as well as traditional metal bands such as Black Sabbath would prove to be influential in the band’s significant change in musical direction at the end of the 1980s.

The original lineup included singer/bassist Fat Mike (Michael Burkett), drummer Erik Sandin, and guitarist Eric Melvin. Since 1991 (and after several line-up changes) El Hefe (Aaron Abeyta) has played lead guitar and trumpet. The band rose to popularity in 1994 with their album Punk in Drublic which was certified gold.

Machine Head was formed in 1992 in Oakland, California by vocalist/guitarist Robert Flynn and bassist Adam Duce. Flynn had recently parted ways with Vio-lence after a physical fight between the band members and a local gang. He still had a desire to write music and along with Duce recruited guitarist Logan Mader and drummer Tony Costanza to form Machine Head. The band’s name was thought of by Flynn because it sounded cool, despite the popular belief that it came from the Deep Purple album of the same name.

Old-school hip-hop, traditional classic rock, and spooling electronic vibes were the initial factors behind the building of the alternative metal quintet Linkin Park. The band’s Southern Californian musical roots were also an underlying basis, for drummer Rob Bourdon, guitarist Brad Delson, and MC/vocalist Mike Shinoda formed a tight friendship while still in high school. Shortly after graduation, art student and DJ Joseph Hahn hooked up with bassist Dave Phoenix Farrell and Shinoda for the band Xero. Hybrid Theory came later, but the band opted on the name Linkin Park when singer Chester Bennington was the last piece added to the band in 1999.