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| Saturday, October 23, 2010 at Roseland Theater |
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(click for full-page printable poster)
GENRES
Metal
Rock
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KUFO Presents
Bullet For My Valentine
Escape The Fate
Black Tide
Drive A
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Roseland Theater 503-224-2038
8 NW 6th Ave, Portland, OR (MapQuest)
6:30pm (doors open at 6pm). All Ages.
$25.00 advance tix from TicketsWest.
$28.00 at the door.
Since their inception in 2003, the Welsh quartet Bullet for My Valentine have been taking cues from '80s metal bands and the punk-infused metal of the new millennium to make melodic, dark rock with, well, metal tendencies. Coming from Bridgend, South Wales -- breeding ground for the likeminded Funeral for a Friend and LostProphets -- the group consists of childhood friends Matthew Tuck (vocals/guitar), Michael Padget (guitar/vocals), Jason James (bass/vocals), and Michael Thomas (drums). Everyone in the group, except James, had been performing together for a few years in Jeff Killed John, when the day before entering the recording studio, their bassist abruptly walked out.
Regrouping under the new name Bullet for My Valentine with James on board, the guys reworked their sound and were signed at their second gig by London's Visible Noise. They released a self-titled EP in the U.K. in November 2004, and their debut full-length, The Poison, appeared that next fall. May 2005 saw the band sign to the U.S.-based Trustkill, re-releasing its EP, titled Hand of Blood, in August. That same year they won Kerrang!'s Best British Newcomer Award and headlined the magazine's XXV tour. With February 2006 came the U.S. release of The Poison, followed by a nationwide tour in support of Rob Zombie before Bullet for My Valentine headed back to the U.K. in June for their third stint at the Download Festival. The band released its second album, Scream Aim Fire, in 2008. After touring, the band went into the studio with Linkin Park producer Don Gilmore and began work on a new album. In 2010 they released their third record, Fever, on Jive.
ABOUT ESCAPE THE FATE -
With an uncanny ability to always land on their feet, notorious Vegas rock group Escape the Fate have begun writing and recording with a spectacular new singer and a superstar producer. With John Feldmann (the Used, Story of the Year) lending his talents as both producer and songwriter, and with the addition of singer Craig Mabbit, formerly of Bless the Fall, Escape the Fate are on track to make an even more amazing record than their stellar 2006 debut.
Following the departure of singer Ronnie Radke in early 2008, the band performed a handful of shows with Mabbit, and the personal and creative connection was immediate. A fan of both ETF and Mabbit, Feldmann was the natural choice to produce, and in April, Escape the Fate began recording the follow-up to 2006's Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, which featured the massive hit song "Situations." "People are going to be blown away and definitely surprised when they hear Craig's vocals mixed with Escape's diverse sound," explains bassist Max Green. "This is the next generation of rock." The yet-untitled record is tentatively scheduled for a fall release.
"I'm excited to have the opportunity to continue making music with a group of amazing people," says Mabbit. "I'm loving what's coming out of us in the studio right now and things couldn't be going better. Escape the Fate is taking over the world, so buckle your seatbelts 'cause we're here to stay."
After Radke's dramatic departure, wild speculation spread across the internet regarding the future of Escape the Fate and direction the band would take if they were to continue on. However, fans can breathe a sigh of relief: the turmoil has left the band even more determined and fired up. "We've been through a lot of shit this last year, and we took all that anger, frustration and sadness and molded it into an album with huge rock choruses, in your face riffs and melodies, and drums that will give your parents a heart attack," explains Green. "This new album isn't going to be a hardcore metal album and it's not going to be a soft melodic album, we are who we are, we are Escape the Fate."
ABOUT BLACK TIDE -
Ever since he was eight years old, Gabriel Garcia knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life -- write songs, sing lead and play shredding guitar for a hard-rocking band. "My cousin used listen to Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Pantera and all that stuff," Gabriel remembers. "He played it for me, and he taught me how to play guitar. And then I just practiced my ass off." Gabriel learned fast; six years later, at an age when most budding guitarists are still getting their chops together and dreaming of future stardom, his band Black Tide has already opened for Ozzy Osbourne and Lamb of God on the mainstage of OZZfest 2007, and are preparing to unleash Light From Above, their debut record for Interscope.
Don't let Black Tide's youthfulness fool you; Gabriel may be only fourteen, and his three bandmates all under twenty, but this Miami-based band is unquestionably the real deal. Gabriel, guitarist Alex Nunez, bassist Zakk Sandler and drummer Steven Spence hit the stage with a street gang's confident swagger, and back it up with a combination of raw power and highly developed chops that would easily shame bands ten years their senior. "We're young, and we come from Florida," says Zakk, "but that doesn't mean we're a boy band or a novelty. We rehearsed our album every day in our guitarist's garage, in the middle of the summer in Miami. We weren't working on our choreography, and we certainly weren't waiting around for our next song to come in the mail!"
Though they're too young to remember the Eighties, Black Tide's music draws from the best hard rock and thrash from the era (think Guns N' Roses, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Skid Row) while giving it a 21st century kick up the ass. "Shockwave," the band's calling card and the album's opening track, is an utter classic -- all bloody-knuckled thrash riffs, squealing guitars, rampaging drums, in-your-face vocals and an instantly memorable chorus. The rest of Light From Above is up to the same impressive standard; anthemic, take-no-prisoners tracks like "Shout," "Black Abyss," "Let Me," "Live Fast Die Young," the Maiden-esque "Warriors of Time" and their spot-on cover of Metallica's "Hit The Lights" will punch any metal fan squarely in their pleasure centers.
Despite the obvious influences, what makes Black Tide's music sound so fresh is the fact that all four members harbor vastly different musical obsessions. "We all agree with the Iron Maiden, Pantera, Megadeth -- everyone's into 'em -- but we all kind of branch off from there," Zakk explains. "Alex is really into grind and crust-punk, and he loves bands like Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys and Phobia. Steve is into Rush, Dream Theater and newer metal stuff like Killswitch Engage and All That Remains. Gabriel's into Satriani. Vai and Death, all that shred kind of stuff; and I'm into Meatloaf, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Doors. Things that really don't make sense together, but it works for us!"
Black Tide first started playing Miami-area clubs about four years ago, shortly after Zakk -- at the time, a lead guitarist for a rival group -- agreed to fill in for a couple of gigs on bass. ("How quickly two shows become four years," Zakk laughs.) Though Gabriel was only ten at the time, none of the older guys were remotely fazed by the idea of playing in a band with him. ""It wasn't weird at all to be in a band with a ten year-old," Zakk explains, "Because it was just like, 'This kid is fucking talented!'"
After playing countless house parties and club gigs, Black Tide scored their big break when they talked their way onto the main showcase at the 2006 Florida Music Festival. "We did three songs in front of all these industry people, and everyone was like, 'What the fuck was that? Who were those kids?'" Zakk recalls. "All of a sudden, we started getting all these calls from major labels."
Interscope signed Black Tide and flew them to Chicago, where they recorded their debut album, Light From Above, at Groovemaster Studios, with Johnny K (Disturbed, Machine Head, Soil) producing. "They took four Miami boys and threw us into the middle of the Chicago winter," laughs Zakk. "There was nothing we could do except work on the record day and night." After the album sessions wrapped, the band scored their coveted main stage slot on OZZfest 2007. "It was crazy, man," says Gabriel. "Sharing the stage with Ozzy and Lamb of God, it was just an awesome feeling. I've been listening to Lamb of God constantly for the past two years; then we got to meet them, and they turned out to be really cool." "We learned so much about touring on OZZfest," adds Zakk. "We learned what the pros do. It was our first real tour, so it was like, 'Okay -- this is how you properly soundcheck; this is how you properly sing into a mic; this is what you should never say to a crowd in Detroit!'"
After ending 2007 on another high note -- a six-week tour with Avenged Sevenfold -- the band is ready to take it to a whole other level with the release of Light From Above. You read it here first -- 2008 is the Year of Black Tide.
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