May Day! May 1st. I always reflect on this day in 1970 when I was arrested in Washington, DC for demonstrating against the war in Viet Nam. I know, one of your parents was in the war. Maybe didn’t come back from the war. I was a peace-loving hippie. Guess I will always be. I didn’t agree with the war. What were we fighting for exactly and why did my boyfriend have to die serving his country? Today, I will march with Tom Morello, activist and Rage Against the Machine guitarist, for human rights. Today Tom’s organzing the largest group of guitar players, tambourine shakers, kazoo blowers & noise makers he can in Bryant Park, right across from my office as part of Occupy Wall Street. He’s starting the morning by performing folk songs, workers’ rights tunes, as The Nightwatchman. “This Land Is Your Land,” “We Shall Not Be Moved” and other songs and then march down to Union Square. Unfortunately, it’s raining. Guess I’ll be leaving my guitar at home…Today is also International Workers’ Day. And being reminded of activism, there is this story on Pulse of Radio I wanted to share: Rise Against is one of the most politically engaged bands on the modern music scene, but frontman Tim McIlrath told Noisecreep in a new interview that the band is not interested in painting politics in stark black and white terms. He explained, “Politics are so prepackaged today — far left wing, far right wing — we think it’s confused a lot of our younger fans. We never want to present either side of politics as a stereotype . . . we want our fans to understand the bigger picture. Don’t just blame elected officials, but find out the root causes of what is going on. Be educated.” McIlrath added, “A few years ago, so many bands were attacking (George W.) Bush — at the same time, by just attacking him, they were also attacking a symptom of a much bigger problem. It didn’t start with him and didn’t end with him leaving. There are many long-running problems in our political process.” McIlrath explained that the hardcore scene in his hometown of Chicago opened him up to the idea of combining activism with music, saying, “It wasn’t until I found the Chicago hardcore scene that I found bands and music that could seen as a vehicle for ideas of change — so that triggered my interest in an active way.“….Matt Tuck of Bullet For My Valentine announced news about his side project called AxeWound. The band features members of Cancer Bats, Rise to Remain, Pitchshifter and Glamour of the Kill. They’re offering a free download of a track called “Apocalyptic Party.” (What’s with all the Apocalyptic usage lately, huh?) Matt spoke of the band to England’s NME.com: Speaking previously about the band, Tuck said: “It’s far more like Slipknot or Pantera. It’s metal as f*@k, it’s stepping away from the melodic, not giving a f*@k. Because obviously Bullet For My Valentine is a business and we have our formula, and what we do works so we won’t stray from that.” He continued: “It’s nice to step out of that comfort zone and do something f*@king ridiculous and not worry about what people are going to think, because it doesn’t exist yet. We wanted to go in there with kind of like a Slipknot attitude of just everything. Like the ‘Iowa’ album — just f*@king violent. Let it all out. No holds barred.” mm/ …Meanwhile, seems everyone is going nuts over Manchester United losing the big game to Manchester City. Sorry, blokes! It’s sort of the equivalent of a Yankees–Red Sox match-up. Or Jets–Patriots. They hate each other and so do their fans…..System of a Down-Deftones Tour tix go on pre-sale tomorrow at 10 AM ET. General on-sale is Thu and Fri for select dates. Hit www.systemofadown.com or www.deftones.com…..Meanwhile, I always called the band THE Offspring. But I’ve been wrong all these years! For the latest on those guys, hit www.offspring.com. I quite like their new song “Days Go By” from the forthcoming album of the same name due Jun 26. Hopefully going to get someone from the band on the hotLine or in the studio soon. (Listen to the song and tell me the intro doesn’t have a distinct hint of The Cult’s “Sanctuary.”)….Can you believe the debris from the Japanese tsunami is hitting the shores of Alaska? Including a metal crate containing someone’s Harley? That is INSANE…..Today, Marilyn Manson‘s “Born Villain” is available….I just posted the line up for the Rockstar Uproar Tour in Road Rage. Shinedown, Godsmack, Staind, Papa Roach, Adelitas Way, P.O.D., Deuce, Redlight King, In This Moment, Thousand Foot Krutch, Fozzy, Candelight Red, Mindset Evolution. And I’ve posted a new Halestorm tour there as well! Have a great May Day!
