Lineup
Megadeth
Megadeth began in 1983 with its roots in thrash metal, a genre that its founder, singer/songwriter and guitarist Dave Mustaine helped pioneer. Mustaine’s musical roots began early on listening to AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, and took form in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal when he joined Metallica in 1982. Megadeth emerged in 1985 at the forefront of the thrash/speed metal scene with their seminal debut “Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good”, and continued on a blistering path of albums and tours throughout the decade. The nickname “world’s state-of-the-art speed metal band” and the critic-coined “intelligent metal” were often used to describe Megadeth’s sound, referring to Mustaine’s niche for angry, witty, intelligent lyrics about topics like politics, drugs and war, fused with aggressive, intricate guitar structures and a jazz-influenced rhythm section.
The 90’s saw a change in Megadeth’s sound with the polished and commercial “Countdown To Extinction” album, which skyrocketed them into multi-platinum success and MTV stardom. The incorporation of this new sound would be a trademark of every release to come, and would eventually earn them 9 Grammy nominations for Best Metal Performance and 7 platinum certifications.
After a brief hiatus early in the 2000’s, Mustaine triumphantly returned with a comeback album, a heavy metal festival called Gigantour and a new display of prodigious musicians to back him. The band’s legacy continues with 2009’s critically acclaimed “Endgame”, which debuted at #9 on the Billboard charts and 2010’s multi-platinum “The Big Four: Live From Sofia, Bulgaria” featuring the “Big Four” of 1980’s thrash metal — Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.
Megadeth’s 13th studio album, “TH1RT3EN” was released on November 1, 2011 debuting at position #1 on The Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart and #11 on the Billboard 200. The album was recorded at Vic’s Garage studio in San Marcos, California with producer Johnny K.
www.megadeth.com
www.facebook.com/megadeth
Motörhead
Motörhead have never JUST been the best rock’n‘roll band in the world. They’ve never JUST been the loudest. Or the hardest. Or the toughest. Or the bad-ass-est. No…Motörhead are also a lifestyle.
Motörhead are a mindset, a belief, a way to live your life, a way to both survive and beat a society that sometimes seems intent on grinding you down.
That is why Motörhead have chosen now, in what might be some of the most tense times in recent global history, to release a hell-raising, rebel-rousing rock’n‘roll statement known as The Wörld is Yours.
Recorded during the late spring of the year, the album’s creation was thrown into turmoil by the poor health and eventual sad passing of Philip Campbell’s father. The situation dictated that Philip needed to be home during some of the scheduled recording time, so Motörhead hired a studio in Wales where Campbell was able to continue working on ideas and record tracks, whilst first Mikkey and Lemmy, and then just Lemmy, laid down the rest of the album in L.A. Being Motörhead, nothing phases them, and with The Wörld is Yours, the band have triumphed over personal adversity to produce an absolute stormer in this, their 35th year as THE greatest, loudest and just plain goddam coolest band around.
“Rock’n‘roll is a vocation, you do it because it’s what you do,” concludes Lemmy. “In the beginning, you do it because you want to, but then you run into the business side of things, which is a shit, and so you either decide to battle through and carry on, or you quit and become a sheet metal presser…and I was never any good at a factory job!”
He might not be able to beat the dent out of your car door, but Lemmy and Motörhead remain untouchable in the art of hammering your ears, eyes and spine with their unique Motör-music.
www.imotorhead.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Lemmy-Kilmister
Volbeat
Volbeat, a Danish metal band begun by former Dominus leader Michael Poulsen in October of 2001, became a dominant force not only in Danish metal, but in Danish rock as a whole, charting albums and singles on a regular basis. Poulsen’s earlier group, Dominus, was a giant in Danish metal, releasing four albums in ten years, and making a lasting impression on the scene. Poulsen felt it was time to start over, and his concept of giving straight-up heavy metal a more trad rock flourish (Poulsen was a big Elvis fan, if that is any indication) was at the heart of Volbeat. Bringing together members Franz Gottschalk on guitar (he would be replaced by Thomas Bredahl in 2006), Jon Larsen on drums, and Anders Kjølholm on bass, vocalist and guitarist Poulsen was able to release the band’s first demo, Volbeat, in 2002. Reception was lukewarm to the initial release, but the group’s second demo, Beat the Meat, was an instant success, getting airplay on European radio. Volbeat consolidated this early win with a semifinal appearance on the Danish talent show competition Live Contest. From then on, Volbeat began an almost constant work schedule, including performances with Europe and America’s biggest metal acts, as well as winning a number of genre and industry awards for their music.
The band soon landed a record deal, with Rebel Monster, and released The Strength/The Sound/The Songs. That first “official” release was a relative monster in the band’s home nation, and beyond brisk sales, the album won a handful of awards, including Best Album in the Danish Metal Musik Awards in 2005. Volbeat had further reason to celebrate, as 2006 saw the group playing most of the Continent’s best-known rock festivals, including ~Roskilde and ~Summer Breeze. They followed up these appearances with a Danish tour. A follow-up to their best-selling debut finally appeared in shops in 2007. Titled Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil, the album debuted at number one in Denmark, and later that year Volbeat made a repeat appearance at ~Roskilde, opened for Metallica and Megadeth, and once again toured Europe. They followed that chart-topper with Guitar Gangsters and Cadillac Blood in 2008, which also hit the top spot in Denmark, and once more toured festivals worldwide, seeing their brand of metal, hard rock, and punk cross over into the pop market without a concession in their sound. In 2010 Volbeat released Above Heaven/Beyond Hell with guest appearances from Mercyful Fate/King Diamond guitarist Michael Denner, Napalm Death’s Mark “Barney” Greenway, Kreator’s Mille Petrozza, and Jacob Øelund of rockabilly crew Taggy Tones.
http://www.volbeat.dk
http://www.facebook.com/volbeat
Lacuna Coil
Andrea Ferro and Marco Coti Zelati formed a band in 1995 under the name of Sleep of Right. Andre played vocalist of the band, while Marco was its keyboardist. Then, they recruited Raffaele Zagaria and Michaelangelo as guitarist and drummer respectively. As a four-piece band, they released two demo singles, “Bleeding Souls” and “Noise of Bolgia”, independently.
Unfortunately, Michaelangelo decided to leave the band and gave the other members no choice other than recruiting new members. Claudio Leo joined as the band’s second guitarist, and Leonardo Forti filled in Michaelangelo’s shoes. Realizing that they also needed a backing vocalist to support Andrea, they asked Cristina Scabbia to be the backing vocalist, which then led her officially joining Sleep of Right.
In 1997, this alternative metal band changed their name to Ethereal, and lucky for them because shortly after that, they were signed to Century Media. However, the new name had already been used by a Greek band, and so they had to change their name once again, this time they agreed to pick up the name Lacuna Coil, which means empty spiral.
A year later, they released a self-titled mini album “Lacuna Coil [EP]” right before Raffael, Claudio, and Leonardo left the band. After the the mini album’s release, they signed Cristiano Migliore and Cristiano Mozzati as their guitarist and drummer respectively. Along with the new members and fellow band Moonspell, they went on a tour.
When their tour was wrapped up, this band were back to the studio and crafted new songs for their first full-length studio album “In a Reverie”. They dropped the record in 1999 and re-released it with a new artwork in 2005.
Following “In a Reverie”, the band worked on another mini album “Unleashed Memories”. Later in 2002, they released their second full-length studio album “Comalies”. While working on their next project, this band continued performing in major events, one of which was Ozzfest.
Lacuna Coil’s next effort titled “Karmacode” was dropped in 2006. First single off the record, “Our Truth”, was included in the soundtrack album of movie “Underworld: Evolution”. The album landed at number 28 on Billboard Hot 200 and peaked at number 1 on Top Independent Albums chart.
This band recorded a follow up to “Karmacode” and drop it in America on April 21, 2009. They work with acclaimed producer Don Gilmore, who has worked with Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park and Pearl Jam. They cook up “the perfect mixture between [their] old European sound and something more modern” for the album’s materials.