GRAVEYARD RODEO, CHOKE, RED ARMY, PAIN TRIBE Confirmed For RAISE THE DEAD Festival

GRAVEYARD RODEO, CHOKE, RED ARMY and PAIN TRIBE have been confirmed for the "Raise The Dead Festival II", set to take place Friday, October 19 at The Howlin' Wolf in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tickets are $13 at the door.

The idea for the "Raise The Dead" festival came about thrugh a discussion on NolaUnderground.com, the quintessential encyclopedia of the New Orleans metal / punk / hardcore / sludge scene (a haven for stories, memorabilia and audio/visual delights featuring everyone from today's artists to the groups that were part of the scene's formative years in the early 1980s).

Al Hodge, one of the festival's coordinators, stated, "After the storm hit, all of us on the NolaUnderground.com forums were talking about the different bands that we use to like to go see playing at the VFW Hall on Franklin or Storyville Jazz Hall on Decatur and one thing led to another and we started to contact these bands to see if they would be interested in doing a one-off reunion show. Some of them responded and the ones that did, well, it turned into the first Raise The Dead show (which featured a reunited FLOODGATE and SKAB) that we held in January of 2007 at One Eyed Jack's the night the Saints beat the Eagles in the dome. It was a very successful show that benefited the NOMHRF, which helped put instruments into the hands of those musicians who lost everything after the storm. This time we're giving it back directly to the musicians we all knew and grew up with. So it's a benefit, but the bands that are playing are actually going to reap the rewards from this, which will hopefully recharge some of them to get back out on the playing field again."

"Raise The Dead Festival II" marks the return of local hardcore metal legends GRAVEYARD RODEO. GRAVEYARD RODEO, along with SHELL SHOCK and EXHORDER, was part of the building blocks of the metal/hardcore scene that spawned many great bands and was a huge influence on everybody.

GRAVEYARD RODEO once featured C.O.C. / DOWN guitarist Pepper Keenan in its ranks. The band made several demos throughout the 1980s that featured songs like "I Wanna Rot" and "Cell XIII / Paradise Lost". But it wasn't until 1992 that German record label Century Media picked up the band and they re-recorded most of their earlier songs for their 1993 debut entitled "Sowing Discord In The Hants Of Man". They toured Europe and then came back to New Orleans to implode. Original bassist Tommy Scanlan and guitarist Gary Gennaro forged on and secured another lineup to record a follow-up in 1994 entitled "On The Verge", then they disbanded. Rumors of a possible reunion started to surface in 2004, then fizzled shortly thereafter, but this time they say it's really going to happen. "It is time for the world to know what this band was all about," says Gennaro. "We have all grown and matured and have put all of our past bullshit behind us. We promise that you won't be disappointed." The group's current lineup also features Perry McCauley on vocals, Tommy Mesculine on bass and legendary drummer Wayne "Doobie" Fabra.

RED ARMY features in its ranks Steve and Ian, who some may remember were the hosts of the "Generally Hostile" metal show on Tulane's campus radio station WTUL in the mid-1980s. It's been close to 17 years since these guys hit the stage with their high-octane hardcore punk. CHOKE, the Lake Charles, LA-based blues groove metal band will return to the stage after a very long hiatus from playing in the New Orleans area. The show will also feature members of the New Orleans-based torture kings PAIN TRIBE.

For more information, visit www.nolaunderground.com.