Former DARKEST HOUR Guitarist KRIS NORRIS Attending NAMM

Former DARKEST HOUR guitarist Kris Norris has issued the following update:

"I will be finally attending this year's NAMM. Not as an artist for any of my endorsement companies, but for JamPlay.com, the online lessons site. We'll just be hanging out, walking around, and finding out what this whole NAMM experience everyone talks about is actually about. So if you see me, stop by, say hey and grab a promo CD of the new solo CD coming out on Magna Carta Records."

This year's NAMM (National Association Of Music Merchants) show is being held January 15-18 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

Important: The NAMM show is **NOT** open to the public. The only attendees are NAMM member companies and their invited guests.

THE KRIS NORRIS PROJEKT's "Icons of the Illogical" will be released through Magna Carta Records on January 14. This is guitarist Kris Norris' first solo record and release since his departure from DARKEST HOUR in September 2008. Randy Blythe of LAMB OF GOD provides vocals on two tracks. Cory Smoot of GWAR recorded, co-produced and mixed the record at his studio Karma Productions in Virginia. A special-edition three-song EP featuring original artwork by Jeremy Bonaventura will be released on December 15, 2008 and available on iTunes and Amazon.

"Everything you hear on this record has been written by me," says Norris. "The new and the older riffs and musical concepts sit side by side to create a full picture of my development."

Taking a cue from the improvisational methodology of Magna Carta's own prog-metal supergroup LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT, Norris let his passion (and fingers) fly when it came to recording these tracks, a process that took just two weeks to complete.

"I've always loved LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT and I said if I had the opportunity to ever record an album in a similar vein I would take it," says Norris. "In my own way, I accomplished this by, basically, creating these songs out of thin air. When we went into the studio I let drummer Dave Gibson hear a little bit of a song and then we'd hit record and just play. We continued like that for the entire session. Then when we did the bass tracks with Dave Fugman and did the same thing. I loved working this way and, I think, the record has immediacy, a real fire, because of it."

For sound samples, visit www.myspace.com/thekrisnorrisprojekt.

Kris Norris is working with the JamPlay.com team to create a new angle in the world of guitar lessons, utilizing high-definition and slow-motion frame rate cameras to capture the most demanding guitar techniques.

JamPlay.com is expected to begin releasing Norris' material in the next few weeks, and will include in-depth lessons on song composition, theory applications, speed-building and song lessons.

"Honestly, it's insane. We've all learned a ton about my playing, and figured out a lot of misconceptions about sweeping and tremolo picking from this," said Norris, who recently spent a few days at one of the JamPlay.com studios in Kent, Ohio. "It feels like we are on 'MythBusters'. Just seeing the differences between pick thicknesses and string response was eye-opening."