WOW! What an evening! Went to SIR Studios in lower Manhattan to see Before the Curtain‘s showcase for some label folks, and some folks who are performing together this evening at Rock for Recovery, a benefit show at the Gramercy Theater. Adam Gontier discovered the group, who live outside of Toronto in Peterborough, ONT, the famous town where bands like Three Days Grace, Thousand Foot Krutch, My Darkest Days are from. Anyhow, BTC are on Adam’s Sludge Factory label. He helped produce their debut music. They’re tight, melodic rockers with great harmonies. Like em! Their debut single will be “I Want It All” and you can find it on their site. Meanwhile, I had a nice sit down with Adam. First, he did indeed leave for “health issues;” he has been mentally bothered by things within the band he realized he could no longer deal with. Second, he is working on music he plans to release as a solo artist. He played me a track he did with Ben Burnley of Breaking Benjamin! (So THAT’S what Ben’s been up to! Actually, Ben has been writing music for video games and faring nicely, thank you very much!) The song was great called “The End of the Day.” So Adam’s next steps are to find a U.S. label partner for BTC and work out details on his own career and material. Jeremy Taggart of Our Lady Peace is working with Adam as his drummer. Meanwhile, Sid Wilson of Slipknot was there to check out the band. We hung out and chatted for a while, and he’s performing tonight at 11, doing his dubstep DJing. I look forward to finally catching one of the best turntablists I know! Sid is a genius. Love him, that little punkster. He told me both he and Paul Gray (RIP) both came up on punk rock. Sid also said he’s stoked to be performing again with his brothers in Slipknot, and only wishes there were some U.S. dates on his plate. We do, too! So far, only 5 festivals, all overseas. Damn! Other bands performing tonight include Art of Dying (just watched their video for “Raining” which features vocals by Adam G!), Hurt, Smile Empty Soul, Edisun and a couple of local bands. I’ll be on hand to talk to some of the bands, so stay tuned…Filter is officially signed to Wind Up Records and the plan is to release his next album in the spring. It was funny since I mentioned Richard Patrick‘s name last night and like 5 minutes later, he sent me email with the announcement! I love when things like that happen! Anyhow, the lead single comes in March. The album probably in May. I think they could be at Rock on the Range this year, at least I hope so! The album was produced by Bob Marlette and Richard wrote the music with former Kill Hannah/Ashes Divide guitarist Jonny Radtke. Saw them on Shiprocked, they were amazing. If you were a fan of their first album, you will LOVE this music. Where “Hey Man Nice Shot”, “Take a Picture” left off, this album begins. Can’t wait to play it! Richard’s band on the album includes bassist & actor Phil Buckman, drummer (A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, Ashes Divide) Jeff Friedl and (Opiate for the Masses) drummer Elias Mallin. See Filter’s website for more…. My friends P.O.D. will perform during the halftime show at this Sunday’s (Jan 20th) Falcons vs. 49ers NFC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The group will perform the single “Higher” during the Fox broadcast, which starts at 3:00 p.m. ET. Yeah!….Here’s some good news for rock! Congrats to two bands whose new albums debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart! Hollywood Undead‘s Notes from the Underground was the Number 2 best seller for the week of Jan 8-15, while Black Veil Bride‘s Wretched & Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones was Number 7! My friends, rock is not dead! It is just changing all the time! Hollywood Undead’s Johnny 3 Tears and Charlie Scene will be in the hardDrive studios tomorrow to celebrate! And be listening for Andy Biersack of the Brides, new interviews on hardDriveRadio shows soon!…Happy Birthday today to First Lady Michelle Obama (49), Kid Rock (42), and Muhammed Ali (71.)
