I gotta admit when I heard this song I was skeptical, and not because I didn’t like it, I just thought it wouldn’t catch outside of the Bay. Being the first single for the Federation on the album that should blow them up, it seemed like a risk. Then I realized, fuck it, it’s not time to play safe. If cats can’t feel cause it’s different, fuck them too. FEDERATION UP, HIP HOP ELITISTS DOWN

IRON MAIDEN CONFIRM NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
Iron Maiden are pleased to announce they will be beginning their 2006 World Tour with eight dates across the USA and three dates in Canada starting October 4th in Hartford, CT.
Tickets for the shows will start going on to the general public from the weekend of August 12th, with details of local box office and on-sale times at www.ironmaiden.com. Iron Maiden has also arranged for a special fan club pre-order for all shows beginning August 1 and continuing through to the public on-sale date
This follows the recent announcement that their highly anticipated new studio album A Matter Of Life And Death, will be released by Sanctuary Records on September 5th.
Says Bruce Dickinson “This is the first time we’ve started a tour in the States for many, many years. It’s going to be great to get out there so the fans can get to hear the new material and see the new show first for a change. We’re all incredibly pleased with the album, and the tremendous response of those people who have had the chance to hear it so far. Their reaction has been phenomenal and we expect to play a lot of it on tour.”
“We will be bringing the full show to America, which we are currently putting the final touches to, and we fully intend to make it as spectacular and memorable as we can. And of course, our mate Eddie has already booked a place on the plane with us”
On the topic of A Matter of Life and Death, Bruce comments, (This album has to be our best since working with Kevin Shirley (Producer). There is such a wide scope of musicianship on this album. Every one of us has put everything into this record and it’s really paid off.”
The upcoming North American dates represent the beginning of the (A Matter of Life and Death World Tour,” which will continue into Japan and then travel through to Europe, finishing with two shows at London’s Earls Court Arena just before Christmas. All the shows on the European leg have been on sale since March and reaction to the dates has been incredible, with the majority of shows already sold out months in advance.
Accompanying Iron Maiden on the USA tour (excluding the Hartford and Los Angeles ) are new UK metal sensation, Bullet for My Valentine, who have been receiving rave reviews while on tour with Guns N' Roses throughout Europe.
The full tour dates are -
4 OCT USA - New England Dodge Music Center - Hartford, CT
6 OCT USA - Agganis Arena - Boston, MA
7 OCT USA - Tweeter Center At the Waterfront - Camden, NJ
9 OCT CANADA - Colisee Pepsi Arena - Quebec City, QC
10 OCT CANADA - Bell Centre - Montreal, QC
12 OCT USA - Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum - Uniondale, NY
13 OCT USA - Continental Airlines Arena - East Rutherford, NJ
16 OCT CANADA - Air Canada Centre - Toronto, ON
17 OCT USA - Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, MI
18 OCT USA - Allstate Arena - Rosemont, IL
21 OCT USA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Irvine, CA
Full details of the new album, tour and links on where to get tickets can be found on www.ironmaiden.com.

This is Devin Townsend:

Devin sings and plays guitar for Canadian thrash/death/synth metal band Strapping Young Lad (on Century Media). They are one of this year’s opening bands for Ozzfest. I spoke with Devin the other day. He was in a bad mood. Here’s a selection of highlights from our interview:

(I've been doing this for so many years that the excitement has worn off. So if I sound like I'm bitter and old, then there's a good chance that I'm just bitter and old.�

(The whole procedure of people wanting to be rock stars, people walking around with puffy chests and sleeve tattoos trying to get to the top of their heap, I don't care. You gotta understand this is stupid. If you don't understand this is stupid there's a good chance you are as well.�

(I just say what I feel like saying. Sometimes I don't want to do it at all, and if someone is lucky enough to capture that in an interview at that time then that's exactly what I'll say. happens. Interviews are something that you have to do. I can't regulate my moods based on the fact that I have to do interviews. If I'm in a shitty mood it's hard for me to lie to an interviewer, I just say what I feel like saying. Yesterday my favorite color was gray, today it's blue, and tomorrow it will probably be green.�

(I don't like it when people get obsessive, I'm not a big fan of rock ‘n' roll as a profession. I think the industry is lame, the whole Ozzfest thing is a traveling advertisement and it's hard to keep my enthusiasm about it when I'm playing at 8:30 in the morning and spending the rest of the day trying to figure out what the fuck to do with myself.�

I asked him a few questions about music in general, and it went something like this:

Me: So, what do you think is really missing in metal right now?
Devin: Honestly, I don’t pay a lot of attention to other bands, I just don’t care. Pretty much the only band I like is Meshugga.

Me: How do you think you, as a singer, relate to other singers in metal?
Devin: I don’t really care.
Me: You don’t like obesssive fans, what do you think would be a better use of their time?
Devin: I don’t care, they should do whatever.

So, after I got that answer a few times I asked him what he actually does care about:

(Peace, love, family, sleep, good food, Futurama, The Iron Chef. I don't know what I should be saying. Everything's good, the music industry is awesome, I'm really happy to be a part of it. How's that?�

That’s aweseome, Devin. That was about it for our interview, I decided to let him off the phone so he could go beat up a kitten or whatever he does to relieve stress.

So the next day he phones me back, apologizing for his mood during our interview, saying he had an awful day and that our interview occured in the middle of a whole bunch of streessful shit. I told him I understood, and he asked me not to write about one of the negative things we had talked about - I agreed, since I didn’t think it was pertinent to the article.

In the end, it was actually a kind of awesome interview. He may have been in a pissy mood, but at least that made for riveting, if sour, quotes.

I still think Strapping Young Lad should lose the keyboard shit, though. Keyboards in metal? Only allowable if you’re Faith No More.

See? This just doesn’t look right. Sounds kinda cheesy, too.
Strapping Young Lad - The New Black

Del tha Funkee Homosapien’s latest DVD, Â 11th Hour, dropped on Tuesday. Check out a sample of its contents here.

Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and My Chemical Romance, Hawthorne Heights are all playing the 2006 Nintendo Fusion tour. Daniel Taylor, dudes with black hair and 14 year olds are stoked.

If there is one thing you should have done yesterday, it was picking up Aloe Blacc’s solo debut Shine Through. No exageration, the album is incredible. So much heart and soul went into this record, it’s impossible not to feel it. Do yourself a favor.

check here when you have a minutehttp://www.myspace.com/aloeblaccmusic