When our good friends Emery recently announced they were ending their run with Switchfoot and Athlete on the TWLOHA-sponsored Up In Arms Tour a few weeks early, internet naysayers had the rumor mill working overtime. But the band put all rumors as to their demise to rest today with the announcement that they will be joining up with longtime musical cohort Aaron Gillespie on his last tour with The Almost before devoting his attention to Underoath full time for awhile. Here’s the announcement:

We are extremely excited to announce that we will be joining The Almost for their US tour in May and June. We’ve known Aaron for some time, and since our 2007 Australian tour with Underoath was such a good time, we know we had to go out with him again. We will be joined on this tour by Envy on the Coast and Army of Me. We could not be more excited about this tour. Please check back as more shows are announced. We’ll see you soon. Love - EMERY

Also joining them on this tour will be long lost Synthesis blogger Trevor Digby Sellers. Write to him on his Myspace and tell him to start putting his iPhone to use by writing some damn blogs. Tour dates after the jump:

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Underoath’s last release, Define the Great Line, definitely owned my cd player for a month or two, and I’m not the only one in the office that could attest to that. Since them, they’ve dropped a dvd (777), and are soon releasing a live cd entitled Survive, Kaleidescope, on May 27th, making them about 1,000,00 times more productive than almost every other band EVArRr.

Currently, UO is in the studio with Adam D. From Killswitch the follow up to Define, which promises to be amazing. Check out the first studio update…

The album is set to come out September 2nd.

As previously reported on this here blog, Underoath is currently in the studio working on the follow-up to their wildly successful third LP Define the Great Line with producers Adam Dutkiewicz and Matt Goldman. Though the album is still in its most nascent form — as of this posting, it’s still untitled — the group is allowing fans the opportunity to lurk all creepy like and watch them, you know, do it. Make the record, I mean.

Two cameras are posted on StickAm (here and here). You can also check the cams out on the Underoath MySpace page. Right now Adam is behind the boards doing some shit and there’s another dude in the room with him. I’m assuming it’s one of the band members, but I can’t really make him out. RIVETING. If you’re on StickAm, you’ll be able to chat with other fans and even be able to participate in impromptu Web chats with the group. Have fun with it, kids.

I have no idea when this was announced, but the Rockstar Mayhem Fest looks pretty decent. Granted I’ll be at the beer tent for all most of the show, they managed to pull some heavy ass bands along on the same tour. Notable acts include The Red Chord, Mastodon, Machine Head, Dragonforce, Slipknot and my personal favorite, Underoath.

Still, some of the other acts are really out of place. Disturbed managed to get the direct support spot, but I guess I can’t complain too much as someone who still digs Slipknot. From the press release:

BURBANK, CA – March 17, 2008 – ROCKSTAR ENERGY MAYHEM FESTIVAL announces
today that hard-hitting metalcore band UNDEROATH will headline the HOT TOPIC STAGE at
this summer’s highly anticipated tour, set to kick off July 9th at the White River Amphitheatre in
Seattle. The much-buzzed-about tour will hit 30 cities in the U.S. and Canada between early
July and late August. A full itinerary will be announced on April 1 with the festival’s Pre Sale
commencing on April 4 and the national on sale to commence on April 19.

Underoath joins an all-star lineup that includes main stage
closer SLIPKNOT, DISTURBED, DRAGONFORCE and MASTODON and a plethora of hard
music’s most influential artists and exciting young voices. The tour will have two second
stages: Underoath will headline the HOT TOPIC STAGE and MACHINE HEAD will
headline the JAGERMEISTER stage. The second stages will also feature BLACK
TIDE, SUICIDE SILENCE, AIRBOURNE, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, 36 CRAZY
FISTS, THE RED CHORD, WALLS OF JERICHO and the JAGERMEISTER Battle of The
Bands Winner.

Tour title sponsor ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK, who will be offering product samples and
providing great surprises for attendees, will also be presenting the VIP area THE ROCKSTAR
LOUNGE where a national contest will take place, and fans can PARTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR in the
VIP area. Details for this special promotion will be forthcoming and can be accessed at
www.rockstar69.com

Festival organizers have also announced that world famous freestyle motocross team METAL
MULISHA—known for its lineup of legendary riders—are joining the riotous road show,
performing three backflip-laden sets at each date in the festival area. “The Rockstar Energy
Mayhem festival combines the best bands in extreme music with the Metal Mulisha rebels,” says
freestyle Motocross legend Brian Deegan. “They’ll be mixing the sound of riffing and ripping
250CC motorcycles flying 150 feet in the air against the backdrop of double bass drums and
shredding guitars.”

Word.

Godcore luminaries, and one of my personal favorite bands, Underoath announced yesterday that they are currently finishing up the writing for the follow up to 2006’s Define the Great Line, and are planning on entering the studio next month to begin tracking:

So we’re less than a month away from going into the studio! It feels just like it was yesterday when we recorded Define the Great Line. I’m having a lot of fun writing this record. It’s one of our heaviest things we’ve ever done, and at the same time really experimental. A few months ago I felt like this record would be the least we’ve changed in a while. It seemed that for the first time we were going into a record we hadn’t been dissatisfied with our previous effort, and therein had no predisposition toward alienating ourselves from it. I look back at Define the Great Line and wouldn’t change a thing artistically, and although I feel a sense of achievement to have finally made a piece of art that I wouldn’t have changed years later, it also opens up new pressures of matching or exceeding what has already been done. I think our new record is going to be less of a attempt to disassociate the 24 year old men we are now from the 22 year old men we once were, but rather embracing what creativity we have and expanding on it with new influences and new experiences. I’m super pumped to see Matt’s new studio, and to work with Adam and Matt again. It will be a really fun experience.

Adam and Matt are of course producers, Adam D and Matt Goldman, the production team from Define the Great Line and a big reason why that record has scanned upwards of 500,000 copies since its release. Someone at Wikipedia is claiming the new record will be titled “I Am the Culprit” but that shit is highly doubtful since Wikipedia is made mostly of FAIL. Read an interview I did with Underoath frontman Spencer Chamberlain in the music archives and see for yourself just how hard I jock this band. Seriously.

Photo by Jeff Shaner, 1337 shooping by Daniel Taylor

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