Archive News Sep 04, 2001

A riot was started following a presumed cancellation of a SYSTEM OF A DOWN scheduled free show in Los Angeles, California on Monday, September 3rd, with fans reportedly rushing barricades, looting and destroying all of the band's equipment and attacking security guards. Set up as a “thank you” to their hometown fans, the gig— which was sponsored by radio station KROQ—was due to begin at 5:00 PM in a parking lot across the street from Club Vynyl at 1650 Schrader Blvd., just south of Hollywood Blvd., but quickly turned into a disaster after a promotional banner featuring the band's logo was apparently taken down by someone that climbed on the stage, giving the 3,500 attendees inside the fence (with several thousand more gathered outside) the impression that the group was not going to perform. Fearing the concert was being called off, the crowd began rushing the stage and started throwing quarters, eventually replacing the coins with bricks and various other objects, including water bottles, tennis shoes and stones. Eventually, LAPD riot police had to be called in to break up the looting, with many of them shooting rubber bullets and hitting fans with batons. Although no one was seriously hurt, at least six arrests were made after the disturbance, with charges expected to range from vandalism to assault. Several officers and concertgoers also were treated for minor injuries, police and witnesses said.

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In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist Serj Tankian said late Monday that “we're definitely overwhelmed and stressed out at how things turned out.'

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'People were tired of being here all day,' witness Angel Plascencia, 17, of Sylmar told the Los Angeles Times. People started chanting insults and throwing objects, including water bottles, tennis shoes and stones, he said.

According to various reports, show organizers and others on the stage at times responded with taunts, with the inadequate security for the event described by those in attendance as “unprepared”.

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Eventually, it took about 160 officers, including some on horseback, some 30 minutes to disperse the crowd, using 'less than lethal' riot control methods, in the words of police spokesman Jason Lee.

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According to witnesses, several concertgoers later showed off bags of looted equipment, including microphones and amplifiers.

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Tankian told the Los Angeles Times that the band lost all of its touring gear (with an estimated worth of $30,000),including a drum set, guitars, basses and amplification equipment. The frontman added that he and other band members were “distraught” over how the event turned out.

As of Monday night, a scheduled in-store appearance today (Tuesday, September 4th) at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd. was still set to go ahead—albeit presumably with better security.

SLIPKNOT's Iowa has entered the UK album charts at number one, having sold over 52,000 copies in its first week of release. Iowa beat out strong competition from the likes of THE STROKES, FIVE, BJORK and NEW ORDER to the top spot, in the process ensuring it gold status, with over 100,000 copies having been shipped to record stores around the country.

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'It's absolutely awesome,' RoadrunnerRecords UK GM Mark Palmer told Kerrang! magazine. 'It's particularly amazing in such a strong week for albums. There was a lot of big stuff out there this week. It's good news for us, but it's great news for metal generally, too. When I listen to the album now, I just think 'Jesus Christ! How could a record like this get to number one? It's got to be the heaviest number one album we've ever had. It's just incredible.'

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As reported here last week, SLIPKNOT's Iowa is widely expected to enter the Billboard Pop Album charts at #1, with anticipated sales of between 350,000 and 400,000 in the first week of release. The exact numbers and chart positions will be made public tomorrow morning.

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In related news, American entertainment publication Entertainment Weekly has taken it upon itself to publish a review of Iowa in its current issue, with the seemingly unenviable task going to a writer who is clearly unfamiliar with the genre and whose opinion will ultimately carry little weight with any potential fans of the group. Although we normally don't pay attention to such meaningless drivel, the contents of this particular write-up was humorous enough to warrant its being reproduced here for everyone's reading enjoyment, if nothing else. Incidentally, Entertainment Weekly gave Iowa a rating of C-, with A being the highest and F being the lowest. Read on:

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“Apparently there's some cosmic law which ordains that every so often, a metal band emerge from the slag heap to garner mass acclaim and platinum status. SLIPKNOT, a god-awful goggle of KORN-fed mask wearing midwesterners who identify themselves not by names but by numbers 0 to 8 are the current lucky ducks. They were one of Ozzfest's big mainstage draws this year. Now, their second album Iowa has arrived on wings of hype and buzz. It's an almost unrelentingly brutal disc that like so much of the NU Metal, often seems like a parody of itself.

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“SLIPKNOT's schtick is to post themselves as the most violent depraved angst-ridden young malcontents on the block. The sickest of the sick. 'I wanna slit your throat and f.ck the wound' howls vocalist Corey Taylor in 'Disasterpiece' while in 'My Plague' he threatens 'You f.cking touch me I will rip you apart I'll reach in and take a bite outta that sh.t you call a heart'. It makes you long for the wit and inventiveness of EMINEM.”

SEPULTURA will shoot a video clip for the track “One Man Army”, from their most recent Nation opus, during the night on Monday, September 10th in their hometown of São Paulo, Brazil.

FILTER has completed the recording sessions for their upcoming album, entitled The Amalgamut, and will be mixing and mastering the songs for the remainder of this year, according to the band's official web site. Although unconfirmed, FILTER is said to be in the running for next year's Ozzfest trek, the official line-up for which won't be announced for at least several more months.

GRAVITY KILLS are in a Chicago studio with producer Martin Atkins (KILLING JOKE, PIGFACE, PIL) finishing up the recording of their new CD, tentatively entitled Superstarved. According to the group's official web site, six songs have almost reached a 'final mix' stage and are ready to move on to mastering. Nine other songs are currently going through “stages of changing arrangements, re-recording instruments and vocals, and enhancing the production”. Although most of the tracks will feature drums loops and samples, “live” drums (performed by Brad Booker) have been laid down for several of the cuts, with the album reportedly set to contain more live drums than the first two GRAVITY KILLS records. GRAVITY KILLS are said to be working at Martin Atkins' studio located at the site of his Invisible Records label, with additional tracking and mixing taking place at Alien Sound (ASI) overlooking the Chicago river. Superstarved is tentatively due to be completely finished sometime in October, with an expected release date through Sanctuary Records in early 2002.

According to Inter Sandman, unconfirmed reports indicate that METALLICA frontman James Hetfield has completed his session in a rehab center for alcoholism and “other addictions”. No further information is available at this time. Meanwhile, the members-only area of the official METALLICA Fan Club site, www.metclub.com, reports that issue #2 of the So What!METALLICA fan magazine will go to print next week, featuring Kirk Hammett on the cover, along with in-depth interviews with the guitarist and “a very involved discussion with James about his recent trip to Russia. This was done before James entered rehabilitation, yet remains as frank and honest an interview as the man has given.”

The first confirmed date of the planned QUEENSRYCHE three-week headlining tour of the US beginning on November 1st and ending on November 21st has been announced. According to the group's official web site, QUEENSRYCHE will be performing at the Beacon Theater in New York City on Wednesday, November 21st. QUEENSRYCHE will be promoting the release of a two-CD live set, entitled Live Evolution, which is scheduled to be issued through Sanctuary Records on September 25th. More dates and venues will be announced shortly.

MACHINE HEAD and SLAYER fans looking to sample a few MP3s culled from the Supercharger and God Hates Us All albums ahead of their respective release dates may want to check out this Swiss site. And while you're at it, you might want to check out SLIPKNOT's Iowa, too. (Disclaimer: all downloaded MP3 files must be deleted from your hard drive within 24 hours. If you like what you hear, buy the CDs and support the bands)

Los Angeles' MEDICATION, featuring former MACHINE HEAD / SOULFLY guitarist Logan Mader, ex-UGLY KID JOE / LIFE OF AGONY vocalist Whitfield Crane, ex-ADAYINTHELIFE guitarist Blunt, and ex-SOULFY drummer Roy Mayorga, have announced a couple of headlining dates in October and the details of the UK leg of their European tour with KULPRIT, which will take place between November 14th and November 26th (the rest of the continent will be covered between the end of November and December 15th). The confirmed dates are as follows:

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US:

Oct. 12 - Phoenix AZ @ Big Fish Pub

Oct. 13 - Las Vegas NV @ Pink E's

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UK:

Nov. 15 - Milton Keynes, UK @ Woughton Centre

Nov. 16 - Colchester, UK @ The Twist

Nov. 17 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City

Nov. 18 - London, UK @ The Underworld

Nov. 19 - Dudley, UK @ JB's

Nov. 20 - Oxford, UK @ The Zodiac

Nov. 21 - Portsmouth, UK @ The Wedgeroom

Nov. 23 - Newcastle, UK @ Trillians

Nov. 24 - Bradford, UK @ Rio's

Nov. 25 - Manchester, UK @ Manchester University

SYMPHONY X have confirmed the track listing for their upcoming double live CD, tentatively entitled Symphony X: Live in Europe, which is due to be released through Inside Out Music Europe in early October. The songs set to be included on the 105-minute effort are as follows:

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CD1

01. Intro

02. Evolution (The Grand Design)

03. Fallen

04. Transcendence

05. Communion &amp The Oracle

06. The Bird-Serpent War/Cataclysm

07. On The Breath Of Poseidon

08. Egypt

09. The Death Of Balance/Candlelight Fantasia

10. The Eyes Of Medusa

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CD2

01. Smoke And Mirrors

02. Church Of The Machine

03. Through The Looking Glass

04. Of Sins And Shadows

05. Sea Of Lies

06. The Divine Wings Of Tragedy

Chicago doomsters NOVEMBERS DOOM have reportedly lined up TROUBLE bassist Ron Holzner to lay down all the bass tracks for the group's follow-up to The Knowing, the recording of which is due to begin on October 19th at Studio One in Racine, Wisconsin. According to the group's official web site, “there has been no discussion on a permanent place in the band, but I'm sure we'll touch on this subject when the recording is complete.” Veteran producer Neil Kernon (i.e. NEVERMORE, QUEENSRYCHE, CANNIBAL CORPSE) will man the knobs for the upcoming sessions.

Recently departed MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan will reportedly rejoin his former bandmates for one last tour, but will apparently not continue playing with the group, who are planning to disband once the tour is done. In an e-mail to melodicrock.com, Sheehan states that “no, I'm not back in the band. We had a meeting and they asked me to return, but after everything went down and the way it all went down, I couldn't do it. I instead chose to do a Farewell Tour with them, under the condition that, afterwards the band will cease to be. They had originally thought of continuing on without me, but decided against it. So after the tour in Japan in January, no more MR. BIG. That's it in a nutshell. I'll be doing a more detailed explanation of all the events leading to this on my site when I get a chance. Yours, Billy Sheehan.'

Norway's EINHERJER were forced to cancel their appearance at Access To Amsterdam, held between October 17th and October 20th in Amsterdam, Netherlands, “due to circumstances beyond their control”.

Sweden's RUNEMAGICK were forced to postpone the drum recording sessions for their upcoming Revelation Of Darkness CD to late October “due to studio schedule problems” at KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy LaRocque's studio Los Angered Recording. However, the band will enter the studio in late September record a cover of BATHORY's 'Return Of Darkness And Evil' for a tribute on Hellspawn Records. Also due to be recorded during the same sessions is a song called 'Death Magick' that will not be included on the upcoming album, as well as possibly other, as-yet-unspecified material. 'Death Magick' may or may not be issued on a split 7' with SOULREAPER at a later date. RUNEMAGICK have yet to ink a new record deal following the group's split with Century Media Records earlier in the year and are asking all “underground” labels to get in touch with them at: [email protected]

PERFECT NOTHING, a 'progressive metal' band based in Indianapolis, is due to enter a Miami recording studio on September 17th with producer Paul Trust to begin work on its debut album, tentatively entitled Designer Children, for Flexible Records, a subsidiary of Roadrunner Records. An early 2002 release is expected. The songs that are tentatively set to appear on Designer Children include:

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01. God, Pupil (intro)

02. Anything Yet?

03. Bruised Face

04. Compensation

05. Any Last Words?

06. 17 In A 35

07. Gen

08. Foulkrod

09. P.N.W. (working title)

10. Apart

11. Noise

12. Matthew 1:26

Sweden's THYRFING will be entering Dug-Out Studios in Uppsala with producer Daniel Bergstrand (i.e. MESHUGGAH, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, DARKANE, STUCK MOJO) on September 17th to record the follow-up to last year's Urkraft CD, tentatively entitled The Fourth Outrage. Set to be completed on October 12th, The Fourth Outrage will contain nine songs, the music for which is being described as “the most dark and twisted side of THYRFING ever.”

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