On the heels of the rerelease of their quintessential Bleed American CD (which was retitled Jimmy Eat World shortly after 2001’s terrorist attacks for some idiotic reason) Jimmy Eat World have annouced a string of North American tour dates, which will doubtlessly feature thousands of screaming post-teens trying to relive their high school years shouting for the band to play “The Middle.” BE THERE!!!11 Maybe I can go too, and get kicked out of the photo pit and screamed at by the band’s tour manager again for “shooting flash” even though it was the dipshit college newspaper photog behind me, get manhandled by said middle-aged douchebag TM, then get in a gigantic pissing match with the band’s publicist who will take his word over mine and we can all CC as many people on our e-mails as possible and then I can wait until she quits and gets a job somewhere else to start trying to set up shit with the band again. That might be fun!

Dates after the JUMPPPPPppppPPPPppp Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been 13 years coming, but Connor Oberst will finally be releasing another solo album. The Bright Eyes front man teamed up with long time friend/engineer Andy LeMaster in Tepoztlán, Morelos, México (a mysterious city known for Aztec Magic among other strange phenomenons) to record the self-titled release, set to hit stores August 5th 2008, according to Merge Records…

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I didn’t like At the Drive-In. The Mars Volta makes me ill most of the time, and Sparta puts me to sleep. So, when I went to go see Jim Ward at this year’s SXSW with his new band Sleepercar, I wasn’t too brimming with anticipation. I ended up being very pleasantly surprised, and as it turns out, Jim’s a pretty cool guy. Sleepercar’s debut West Texas is due out on this coming Tuesday, April 22nd. If you like his aforementioned three bands, you might not be too stoked. But if you’re not just into style-core and have a soft spot for dusty rock ‘n’ roll/Americana, it might be the thing for you. Jim and co. will play the Tonight Show on May 2nd before heading out on a tour of North America (mostly Canada) starting May 12th. Check out a full list of dates after the jump, and watch this video interview conducted by the disembodied voice of Synthesis editor Ryan Prado that took place before the Sleepercar show at SXSW.

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I don’t know if this is indicative of all their songs, but after checking out the “Echoes” video, Set Your Goals is okay in my book. I usually don’t listen to this sort of thing, because I don’t wear eyeliner, but I do like the fact that the band isn’t afraid to be pop-y. They holler out shitty harmonies like no one’s business, and they just don’t give a fuck. Best of all, there’s no misguided metal influence in this song, and that’s refreshing, because the only thing worse than something not being metal is something pretending to be.

Set Your Goals is a part of the Bamboozle Roadshow 2K8 and will also be playing every date on this year’s Warped Tour. They even played Synthesis’s hometown of Chico recently, and we got some video of it. If you’re planning on stalking the band this spring and summer, their full itinerary is after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Last summer or something I tried to go down to UC Berkeley to see Dethklok of Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse perform a free show. We got there so early, there was no one online. That’s when we found out Berkeley is the best university ever, because it’s got a bar right there on campus. We ended up drinking a few pitchers of this strong, cloudy ale that completely demolished us, and by the time we stumbled out of the bar, the line was a mile long.

We waited all night, but didn’t get in. We also found out why Dethklok hates their fans so much, because a lot of the kids waiting in line were complete tools.

Now, Dethklok, the most brutal animated metal band on Earth, is ready to hit the road for reals. With actual tickets and everything.

The Dethklok tour will begin on June 2nd and run through early July. Tickets will range from $20 to $25, and Chimaira and Soilent Green will be in support. Full list of dates after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Gods of the Earth is turning out to be a prophetic title for The Sword’s latest album. First off, congrats goes to the band for topping the Billboard Heatseeker chart this week and also showing up at 102 on the top 200. Not bad for an indie metal band from Texas. I don’t know if that means their rich yet, but I’m sure they’ll have extra cash for medieval weapon replicas and sweet bongs.

They also premiered a new video for my favorite song on the new album “Maiden, Mother and Crone,” which you can view on the MTV’s Headbangers Blog. It’s got beards, eerie backgrounds and a hot, witch-y chick, so pretty much everything you could ever want from a metal video.

If that weren’t enough, the band will now tour with fuckin’ Metallica in Europe. No shit. The Sword/Metallica tour starts in June in the most metal place on Earth, Norway. With any luck, the boys from Austin will remind Metallica that they used to be a metal band.

I’d like to think that some of this success has to do with me blogging about them everyday. Just saying.

Here are The Sword’s dates with Metallica:

06/16: Bergen, Norway @ City of Bergen Festival*

06/18: St. Petersburg, Russia @ SKK Hall*

06/20: Riga, Latvia @ Skonto Stadium*

06/22: Bologna, Italy @ Parco Nord*

06/23: Bucharest, Romania @ Cotroceni Football Stadium*

06/25: Sofia, Bulgaria @ Levski Stadium*

06/27: Istanbul, Turkey @ Inonu Stadium*