Orange Amplification's Micro Terror Saves The Day For MASTODON's TROY SANDERS

Troy Sanders of the explosive, unbridled force that is MASTODON was as sick as a dog when he found out that all six of his amps had failed just before a gig. Orange Amplification's Micro Terror was rushed to him by wonder dog "Bear," who ran mile after mile across all terrains to deliver the amp and save the show!

The Micro Terror is Orange Amplification's smallest, most portable Terror amp yet, delivering a classic Orange sound way bigger than it looks and more than capable of giving enough stage volume to satisfy the mighty MASTODON.

Orange amps — a breed of their own, be careful how you use them.

The Newmerica video agency collaborated with Orange to produce the video below. Music is by The N.E.C. and Rump Posse.

OPETH, KATATONIA: Complete North American Tour Details Revealed

Swedish progressive metallers OPETH will return to North America in support of their most recent studio album, "Heritage". Released September 20, 2011, it garnered rave reviews from everyone from Rolling Stone who called the album "a career record that reimagines prog as actual rock 'n' roll" to Pitchfork saying "a pretty, well thought out collection” to NPR who called it “equally vast, thoughtful and heavy.” The tour will kick
off on April 18 in Buffalo and will take the band throughout North
America on a 30-plus-city tour. KATATONIA has been confirmed as direct support for the tour.

There will be several dates of note during OPETH's North American run. On April 20, OPETH will be making a stop to headline alongside ANTHRAX, HATEBREED and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival. The April 28 show in Clifton Park, New York will see OPETH mainman Mikael Åkerfeldt's STORM CORROSION collaborator and friend Steven Wilson of PORCUPINE TREE join OPETH for a special evening that is not to be missed. There will also be two rare and intimate evenings with OPETH planned for Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on April 29 and The
Roxy in West Hollywood on May 24. These shows will allow fans the
unique opportunity to experience OPETH like never before.

OPETH will also be offering VIP packages throughout the tour that will allow fans the following:

* 1 ticket to the show
* Access to a meet-and-greet with the band
* Early entry to venue after meet & greet
* OPETH fan pack which includes:
- Exclusive VIP T-shirt
- Exclusive VIP double 12" clear vinyl of Heritage
- OPETH tour photo book
- Commemorative VIP laminate & lanyard

Fan club pre-sales begin on January 10 followed by public on-sales on January 11 and January 12.

The dates are as follows:

Apr. 18 - The Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY
Apr. 20 - New England Metal & Hardcore Festival Worcester, MA
Apr. 21 - Capitole - Quebec City, QC
Apr. 23 - Halifax Forum - Halifax, NS
Apr. 24 - Casino New Brunswick - Moncton, NB
Apr. 26 - Guelph Concert Theatre - Guelph, ON
Apr. 27 - Crocodile Rock - Allentown, PA
Apr. 28 - Upstate Concert Hall - Clifton Park, NY
Apr. 29 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
Apr. 30 - NorVa Theater - Norfolk, VA
May 02 - Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
May 03 - State Theatre - St. Petersburg, FL
May 04 - Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA
May 05 - Lincoln Theatre - Raleigh, NC
May 06 - The Orange Peel - Asheville, NC
May 08 - Buster's Billiards & Backroom - Lexington, KY
May 09 - The Vogue - Indianapolis, IN
May 10 - The Machine Shop - Flint, MI
May 11 - Mojoe's - Joliet, IL
May 12 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
May 14 - The Venue - Fargo, ND
May 15 - Wooly's - Des Moines, IA
May 16 - Pop's - Sauget, IL
May 17 - Bourbon Theatre - Lincoln, NE
May 18 - Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK
May 20 - Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO
May 21 - Fox Theatre - Boulder, CO
May 23 - Rialto Theatre - Tucson, AZ
May 24 - The Roxy - West Hollywood, CA
May 25 - The Canyon Club - Agoura Hills, CA
May 26 - The Catalyst - Santa Cruz, CA

In a recent interview with Uppsala Student Radio 98.9, Åkerfeldt stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2011's "Heritage" album: "I have one new song, which I really like, a new song. It's the
most miserable song I ever wrote, and it's beautiful, I think. And then I have a song that we jammed, actually, on tour. I came up with a little
lick and became a bit of a director and just told everyone to play this
and that, and we started jamming on something. And it sounded,
immediately from the beginning, which was also my idea, it sounded like
the band GOBLIN, if you heard them, the Italian [progressive rock] band. So it's a crazy riff, a GOBLIN rip-off, and the song is called 'Goblin', which is a good title, I think. And we're gonna record it. I'm not sure if that will be too much of a fucked up song to be on the record,
because there will definitely only be one song ever we do that is gonna
sound like that. So maybe it'll just be some extra thing that we have.
But it's really good; I love it. But then again, it's just because of
the closeness to GOBLIN."

OPETH performed a special "unplugged" show on November 16, 2012 at the Union Chapel in London, England.

"Heritage" sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart.

EDENBRIDGE To Begin Mixing New Album Tomorrow

 

Austrian female-fronted symphonic metallers EDENBRIDGE will begin mixing their eighth album, "The Bonding", tomorrow (January 8) with Karl Groom (THRESHOLD) at Thin Ice Studios in Surrey, England.

Commented the band: "'The Bonding' is the connection of the baby to the mother right after the birth, as
well as the connection to the bigger whole in the major sense.

"The
change of times [in] 2012 is nothing else than a new starting cycle, in
which our memory of the bonding will increasingly appear. To this
degree, that we will trust in our inner force and dare into life, though
it might be full of insecurities.

"We owe our mind enormous
awareness and achievements, but is not able to open our hearts; it's
just able to prevent it due to the fear of all sorts of things. But we
ourselves decide what we think, when it is useful to make up our minds
and when it is time to let our thoughts leave and go into our hearts.
Then 'The Bonding' can happen again!"

"The Bonding" will feature orchestral parts by the Klangvereinigung Vienna orchestra, conducted by Gerald Mair and recorded at Home Music Studio in Vienna with Georg Luksch. EDENBRIDGE guitarist Lanvall stated: "The result is overwhelming. We have decided to record strings, brass/woodwinds and percussion seperately this time. Everything sounds
more voluminous and cleaner. The musicians of the orchestra did a
tremendous job. Be prepared for a real blast!"

The drum tracks for "The Bonding" were recorded by Max Pointner at Sunprojects Studio.

EDENBRIDGE's seventh album, "Solitaire", entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 95 back in July 2010.

OPETH And KATATONIA To Join Forces For North American Tour

 

As expected, progressive metallers OPETH will join forces with fellow Swedes KATATONIA for a North American tour this spring. So far, only one date has been
leaked: May 10 at The Machine Shop in Flint, Michigan. The complete
itinerary will be revealed this week. Tickets go on sale Friday, January 11 at 10 a.m.

In a November 2012 interview with Roadrunner, OPETH guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt spoke about the band's 2013 plans. "We still have a few details to
work out, but we were supposed to be in the U.S. in the fall [of 2012]
and we didn't do it, so we're gonna be in the U.S. in the spring, I
think. But it's not completely settled yet, so I'm not sure. I can't say 100 percent that we're gonna be there. But 90 percent sure, we're going on a North American tour, which will be the last lengthy tour that we
do for this record."

Åkerfeldt also revealed that OPETH has been recording shows on its recent tours but wasn't sure if and
when any live material will be released. "We bought some type of rig, so we can record every show," he said. "I'm not sure if we’re recording
every show, but we did record the London show, and we're probably gonna
continue recording whenever we can."

He added, "But I'm not sure
what we’re doing with that stuff, to be honest. It's always good to have
material, and maybe further down the line, if we have a bunch of shows
recorded, we can pick and choose the best segments of the shows and
maybe put something out, but we don't know yet."

In a recent interview with Uppsala Student Radio 98.9, Åkerfeldt stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2011's "Heritage" album: "I have one new song, which I really like, a new song. It's the
most miserable song I ever wrote, and it's beautiful, I think. And then I have a song that we jammed, actually, on tour. I came up with a little
lick and became a bit of a director and just told everyone to play this
and that, and we started jamming on something. And it sounded,
immediately from the beginning, which was also my idea, it sounded like
the band GOBLIN, if you heard them, the Italian [progressive rock] band. So it's a crazy riff, a GOBLIN rip-off, and the song is called 'Goblin', which is a good title, I think. And we're gonna record it. I'm not sure if that will be too much of a fucked up song to be on the record,
because there will definitely only be one song ever we do that is gonna
sound like that. So maybe it'll just be some extra thing that we have.
But it's really good; I love it. But then again, it's just because of
the closeness to GOBLIN."

OPETH performed a special "unplugged" show on November 16 at the Union Chapel in London, England.

OPETH's new album, "Heritage", sold 19,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 19 on The Billboard 200 chart.

ULI JON ROTH Looks Ahead To 'A Very Busy And Intensely Productive Year'

 

Legendary guitarist Uli Jon Roth (ex-SCORPIONS) has issued the following update:

"Greetings to all of you! I hope you had a great New Year.

"Here
is a condensed list of some of the events that are planned for the
first half of this year. 2013 is going to be a very busy and intensely
productive year ahead, it seems.

"We will start off with a two-day Sky Academy in Los Angeles, at the Santa Monica Playhouse, January 21-22. This is a beautiful, intimate theatre, where we held one of the previous Sky Academies, of which we all have fond memories. I'm looking forward to being there again!

"On the next day, I will take part in Jason Becker's 'Not Dead Yet' concert in San Francisco, together with my friends Steve Morse (DEEP PURPLE), Richie Kotzen, Gus G. (OZZY OSBOURNE, FIREWIND) and several other great players. Jason is an inspiration to all of us and I feel honored to be part of this worthwhile cause.

"Following that, I shall be attending the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, California, and will do a signing event for the Sky Guitar limited edition at the Dean booth.

"At
the end of January, we are embarking on my extensive 40th-anniversary
tour of the U.S., which will take us all the way through February until
the beginning of March.

"2013 marks the 40th anniversary of my involvement with the SCORPIONS. The main theme of this tour will therefore be dedicated to performing
my personal favourites from the five albums which I recorded with that
great band. I have chosen about 30 songs in all from that era as the
basis of our repertoire, several of whom have never even been performed
live by either the SCORPIONS or myself. We shall be rotating a
selection of these songs on the tour, varying our sets on a nightly
basis, because we cannot possibly play all of them in one go. We will,
of course, also play some Electric Sun and Sky Of Avalon music, but the main theme of the performance will be dedicated to the early SCORPIONS era. Every show will be recorded for a live album, which will feature only songs from my time with the SCORPIONS. This will result in a double CD, which will be mixed in 5.1 Surround.
The release will also contain a DVD and a documentary, including
personal behind-the-scenes Super-8 footage, which I shot to document our tours from 1973-1978.

"As far as live albums go, I am intending to record two further ones in the following years: one will be featuring my favourite ELECTRIC SUN material, and the next one will consist of Sky Of Avalon/Transcendental Sky Guitar music.

"In order to do full justice to my selection of SCORPIONS songs, we are bringing a large band with an exciting lineup.

"Due
to the length of the tour, not all members were free to do the whole
tour. Therefore some of the positions will be filled by two musicians —
each of them playing part of the tour.

The 40th-anniversary U.S. tour lineup will be:

* Uli Jon Roth: guitars, vocals
* Henning Basse: lead vocals
* Ali Clinton: guitars, vocals
* Niklas Turmann: guitars, lead vocals
* Ule W. Ritgen, Elliott Rubinson: - bass
* Jamie Little, Peter Holmes: drums
* Paul Rahme, Corvin Bahn: keyboards, vocals

"In addition to the concerts, there are 14 introductory Sky Academy seminars to be held during the course of the tour! These are usually
taking place at the venues of the shows, on the same days and prior to
the concerts. Pre-booking is essential, though.

"The seminars are not only geared for musicians. Anyone who loves music can attend. Sky Academy is about much more than just guitar playing, but players are also very
welcome to bring their guitars and practice amps. The teaching should be useful to players of all levels.

"March, April and May will be dedicated to studio work and some shows in England.

"I also have been invited to play at the Royal Albert Hall in London by Alfie Boe as a guest for his concerts in April. Aside from this, we are going to collaborate on a new release of Bridge To Heaven intended for the Sunflower Jam cancer charity.

"In June, we will play six concerts in South America, co-headlining with Michael Schenker. The dates will be posted very soon.

"We
are planning further European and U.K. dates for the second half of
2013 and a tour of Japan. All of these will be announced on [my
official] website as well as on Facebook.

"I am also looking forward to my continued involvement in the Robert Johnson award in Hamburg, Germany, which is a great platform for genuine young
guitar talents. As a special appreciation of his talent, I have chosen
one of last years' participants, the 14-year old Merlin Lauert, to share the stage with us at our Wacken 2013 show.

"And
last, but not least: I have written an entire album's worth of new
material, which I am very excited about. As soon as time permits we will
begin to record it.

"Once again, many thanks to all of you and God bless! Have a great 2013!"