I Wish I Could Attend Download This Summer

Someday I'll go to Download. I mean, I could go this year, but I'm saving my money for another Hawaii trip. Choices, choices.

DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL has confirmed a whopping 37 incredible additions to its 2013 line-up, including LIMP BIZKIT, JIMMY EATWORLD, DOWN, KORN, AIRBOURNE, ENTER SHIKARI and CANCER BATS. They join headliners Slipknot, Iron Maiden, and Rammstein, as well as Bullet for My Valentine, Mastodon, Stone Sour,Volbeat and Coal Chamber, for what’s set to be THE biggest weekend in the rock calendar on 14-16 June 2013 at the ‘home of rock’, Donington Park.

Download is pleased to see the return of Fred Durst and co, as Limp Bizkit are confirmed for 2013. This year also sees the return of alternative rockers Jimmy Eat World, Southern metallers Down and nu metal legends Korn, who are coming back to Donington with their founding guitar player Brian ‘Head’ Welch. 

Ahead of their 2013 album release, British metalcore band Asking Alexandria will join the likes of Australian hardcore band Parkway Drive, UK tour buddies Motionless in White and raucous residents on the rock scene, Young Guns on the Download bill. Proving that loud, gritty and ranting punk rock is very much alive, Cancer Bats are also confirmed for their fourth appearance at the mighty Download Festival. With their grime style vocals, ferocious riffs and hard-edged British style, Hacktivist will make their Download Festival debut in 2013.

Post hardcore legends Enter Shikari join the incredible line up alongside Five Finger Death Punch whose infamous live sets are not to be missed. Returning to Donington for asecond year in a row, Duff McKagan will debut his new blues rock band Walking Papers who took the Seattle music scene by storm in 2012. Led by the stunning ‘operatic banshee’ that is Jill Janus, the incredible Huntress join the line up alongside sleaze rock Swedish 4 piece Hardcore Superstar. Their live set is set to pack a punch for punk, and Download fans won’t be disappointed with the addition of the mighty Converge to the line up.

Joining the brutal bill are Aussie rockers Airbourne, melodic death metallers Amon Amarth and the aggressively melodic Black Dogs. Critically acclaimed for their recent album ‘Blood’, industrially inspired In this Moment, will be joined by feel good rock ‘n’ rollers HellYeah. Fronted by ex Dragonforcevocalist, I AM I will see ZP Theart introduce his new band to the Donington crowds. Also joining the incredible line up at the ‘spiritual home of rock’ with their heavy beatdown hardcore are Last Witness.

Stylish Swedish rockers The Hives are confirmed, along with Heaven’s Basement who will bring their ferocious rock ‘n’ roll to Donington, Nottingham’s finest Earthtone9 and U.S.rockers 3 Doors Down.

Making their first Download appearance are metalcore rockers Goldsboro. Also added to the bill are classic British metal rockers UFO, Vision of Disorder - known for their intense live shows - the muscular riffing of Texan heavy metallers The Sword, and souful rockers Buffalo Summer.

Weekend and Day tickets for Download 2013 are on sale now and available from www.downloadfestival.co.uk

Stryper Just Signed A Multi-Album Deal With Frontiers

For all the Stryper fans out there - I know there are a lot of you, so good news!

Frontiers Records is proud to announce the signing of iconic Christian rockers Stryper to a multi-album deal.  The first release due out will be a new re-recorded collection; SECOND COMING will hit streets on March 22nd in Europe and March 26th in North America.  

The album features sixteen tracks, including new recordings of fourteen songs from the band’s early years as well as two brand new songs recorded especially for SECOND COMING, and is produced by Stryper frontman Michael Sweet.  

Sweet commented, “We're really excited about this record. The re-recorded songs are sounding awesome…better than the originals in many ways!  One word to describe the record? Heavier. We've hooked up with some great people - we've got new management, a great album, a great label. We just feel like everything is coming together, and hopefully some big things are to follow."  Please see below for the complete track listing.

Stryper is one of the top Christian rock bands of all time.  Comprised of the original line-up of Michael Sweet (vocals/guitar), Oz Fox (guitar), Tim Gaines (bass), and Robert Sweet (drums), Stryper has been rocking since 1984, and is responsible for such '80s metal classic albums as SOLDIERS UNDER COMMAND, TO HELL WITH THE DEVIL, IN GOD WE TRUST and such MTV hit singles/videos as "Calling on You," "Free," and "Honestly."

After a sabbatical for much of the 1990's, Stryper returned strong in the early 21st century.  To date, the band has sold upwards of 8 million records worldwide and is a Dove Award-winner and Grammy nominee.  Stryper is the first band to have two songs in MTV’s Top 10 simultaneously.

Dee Snider and Puppets

Yes, this happened. The Puppet Shakespeare Players joined forces with Dee Snider to teach kids about the letter D. Just watch.

Black Sabbath Announce New Album and Tour

Black Sabbath just confirmed a reunion tour and album. The new album will be called 13 and will be out in June.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler recorded the album in Los Angeles, Calif. with Rage Against the Machine's drummer Brad Wilk. (Excuse me while I freak out a minute. I love RATM!)

The tour will kick off in Auckland, New Zealand on April 20. The band will also play Australia and Japan before the album release. I guess we'll all have to sit tight and wait and see when (if) Black Sabbath makes it to America.

Kix Alert For West Coast Glammers

West coast Glam fans, listen up: Kix will play the Key Club in Hollywood, Calif. on March 8. If you live in the Golden State, you really have no excuse not to be at this show. Here's the ad mat:

Bullet For My Valentine, 'Riot' -- New Video

Bullet For My Valentine just released a new video for the song "Riot." I love this band and I'm excited they are back with new music. The song is from the forthcoming album Temper Temper due Feb. 12. Check it out.

Now I Love Amazon Even More

There's a reason 90% of all my non-food purchases come from Amazon.com. The company is just flat-out amazing.

Amazon just launched an auto-rip service that puts MP3 copies of songs into your Amazon cloud storage when you buy CDs. The auto-rip service goes back 15 years. That means I didn't have to manually rip all those CDs I own into my cloud after all! I have a premium cloud account and I have Amazon Prime, too. My premium cloud account is $25 a year and I get storage for something like 250,000 songs. Even major collectors can agree that's a ton of space.

In case you're wondering if this is legal, it is: Amazon has a special licensing deal with major labels to allow this auto rip process.

50,000 auto-rip titles are currently available and more will be added. So it's a process, and if you have something obscure it might take a little time to show up in your cloud. When the music is in the cloud, you never have to worry about losing it. Everything is neatly organized, the way you choose.

Right now, auto-rip is only open to folks living in America. Auto-rip is also available only for albums sold by Amazon.com. It does not apply to the same products sold by other sellers.

For audiopphiles: the bit quality is 256kbps.