Hey friends, I hope y’all have recovered from our last journey across space and time. This month, we’ll take it a little bit easier. One reason for that is we can’t go working you guys too hard . . . you may never sign up for another trip like that. Another reason is that I’m headed out on a full on Ripple trip that’s going to cut into this month’s Rumors Report. No fear, friends . . . this abbreviated episode still has some great nuggets of information for you and will inevitably have you circling dates on your calendar. And, once I do return from this Ripple assignment, I’ll have an even greater wealth of goodies to pass on your way, so don’t hate me because I’m in demand. Hop on my shoulders and we’ll make the best of it. What say? Shall we get into the rumors? Perfect . . . let’s do it!
Our first stop this month is going to be in Estonia where we’ll sit in on a jam or two from the straight up hard rock act of
House of Games. I stumbled on these guys a little while ago and was struck by the sheer beauty of the songs that these guys have posted on their page. It’s the furthest thing from the mind bending terror metal that I typically gravitate towards, and here’s the thing . . . the songs are well written and melodious. Listen to “My Child” and you’ll hear the lush keyboard passages and that singer’s rich voice crooning out the melody. It sounds slickly produced, but not the point that the songs sound candied in layers of sugar. “24” is a bit more of a rocker, harder edged and darker in its tones, but no less romantic and addictive. It looks like
House of Games has a CD available for purchase called
Rise and Shine and you can probably get it from the usual outlets like Amazon and CD Baby. Check ‘em out, they’re worth the few minutes it takes to go through the songs on their player.
www.myspace.com/officialhouseofgames
Heading over to Sweden now, we’ll drop in on our good friends
Katatonia as they make their way into the studio to begin work on their next album. It seems like a life time since
The Great Cold Distance was released, so I’m keeping an avid interest in the goings on for this recording. It seems that the band will be posting a studio diary on their page and it may behoove you to check in on occasion to get the latest and greatest from these guys. It appears that they’re aiming for a release on
Peaceville Records in October with the drum tracks already tackled on the 10th of June.
www.myspace.com/katatonia
Heading over to the UK, we’re going to stop in and catch up with Steve Wilson and the lads from
Porcupine Tree. They too are working on a new album to follow up the critically acclaimed
Fear of a Blank Planet album from a couple of years ago. Scheduled for release in September on
Roadrunner Records,
PT is planting one ambitious foot in front of the other on this project. The album is called
The Incident and will be a double CD. It looks like the first disc will be a 55 minute track while I have no idea what’s happening with the second disc in the set. Folks throughout the U.S. need to clear their concert schedules as the band are booked for a number of shows in September before hitting the European roads through October and November. That’s all pretty exciting news, isn’t it?
www.myspace.com/porcupinetree
Back in North America we need to catch up with our Canadian brothers in
Voivod. By the time you’re reading this, the band will have released the follow up to 2006’s epic
Katorz. The album is called Infini and will be released on
Relapse Records. Infini features the last tracks recorded by Piggy before he passed away a few years back and
Relapse is issuing the disc in a deluxe digi-pack format, as well as a double vinyl 12” . . . I’ll give you one guess which format I’m picking up. The band has a couple new tracks posted on their page and they sound awesome. It’s got that quintessential Piggy sound coating every aspect of the music. Damn . . . I’m looking forward to this one!
www.myspace.com/voivod
Back in the Lower 48, we’re gonna’ make our way to Austin, Texas to check out a punk band that we were turned on to a few months back by the one and only Marky Ramone. You see, he came on the radio show back in December and told us about a band that he was high on called
Riverboat Gamblers. And being that it came from Marky Ramone, we listened. These guys are a straight up punk band, complete with snotty vocals, head bobbing tempos, and catchy melodies. Stop by and soak in their infectious sounds, and then hit the road with the boys as they make their way across parts of the U.S. and Canada through June and then make their way to Europe to kick out the jams.
www.myspace.com/theriverboatgamblers
Finally, for those who like their metal on the progressive side, but with enough blistering attack, then you’ll be interested to know that
Nevermore are entering the studio with their sights set for a new album being released sometime in 2010. The band has booked studio time in August with producer Peter Wichers, who also happens to play guitar for
Soilwork. The album is scheduled to be released through
Century Media. And that’d all I know about anything this month.
www.myspace.com/nevermorefans
Hey friends, I hope y’all have recovered from our last journey across space and time. This month, we’ll take it a little bit easier. One reason for that is we can’t go working you guys too hard . . . you may never sign up for another trip like that. Another reason is that I’m headed out on a full on Ripple trip that’s going to cut into this month’s Rumors Report. No fear, friends . . . this abbreviated episode still has some great nuggets of information for you and will inevitably have you circling dates on your calendar. And, once I do return from this Ripple assignment, I’ll have an even greater wealth of goodies to pass on your way, so don’t hate me because I’m in demand. Hop on my shoulders and we’ll make the best of it. What say? Shall we get into the rumors? Perfect . . . let’s do it!
Our first stop this month is going to be in Estonia where we’ll sit in on a jam or two from the straight up hard rock act of House of Games. I stumbled on these guys a little while ago and was struck by the sheer beauty of the songs that these guys have posted on their page. It’s the furthest thing from the mind bending terror metal that I typically gravitate towards, and here’s the thing . . . the songs are well written and melodious. Listen to “My Child” and you’ll hear the lush keyboard passages and that singer’s rich voice crooning out the melody. It sounds slickly produced, but not the point that the songs sound candied in layers of sugar. “24” is a bit more of a rocker, harder edged and darker in its tones, but no less romantic and addictive. It looks like House of Games has a CD available for purchase called Rise and Shine and you can probably get it from the usual outlets like Amazon and CD Baby. Check ‘em out, they’re worth the few minutes it takes to go through the songs on their player. www.myspace.com/officialhouseofgames 
Heading over to Sweden now, we’ll drop in on our good friends Katatonia as they make their way into the studio to begin work on their next album. It seems like a life time since The Great Cold Distance was released, so I’m keeping an avid interest in the goings on for this recording. It seems that the band will be posting a studio diary on their page and it may behoove you to check in on occasion to get the latest and greatest from these guys. It appears that they’re aiming for a release on Peaceville Records in October with the drum tracks already tackled on the 10th of June. www.myspace.com/katatonia
Heading over to the UK, we’re going to stop in and catch up with Steve Wilson and the lads from Porcupine Tree. They too are working on a new album to follow up the critically acclaimed Fear of a Blank Planet album from a couple of years ago. Scheduled for release in September on Roadrunner Records, PT is planting one ambitious foot in front of the other on this project. The album is called The Incident and will be a double CD. It looks like the first disc will be a 55 minute track while I have no idea what’s happening with the second disc in the set. Folks throughout the U.S. need to clear their concert schedules as the band are booked for a number of shows in September before hitting the European roads through October and November. That’s all pretty exciting news, isn’t it? www.myspace.com/porcupinetree 
Back in North America we need to catch up with our Canadian brothers in Voivod. By the time you’re reading this, the band will have released the follow up to 2006’s epic Katorz. The album is called Infini and will be released on Relapse Records. Infini features the last tracks recorded by Piggy before he passed away a few years back and Relapse is issuing the disc in a deluxe digi-pack format, as well as a double vinyl 12” . . . I’ll give you one guess which format I’m picking up. The band has a couple new tracks posted on their page and they sound awesome. It’s got that quintessential Piggy sound coating every aspect of the music. Damn . . . I’m looking forward to this one! www.myspace.com/voivod 
Back in the Lower 48, we’re gonna’ make our way to Austin, Texas to check out a punk band that we were turned on to a few months back by the one and only Marky Ramone. You see, he came on the radio show back in December and told us about a band that he was high on called Riverboat Gamblers. And being that it came from Marky Ramone, we listened. These guys are a straight up punk band, complete with snotty vocals, head bobbing tempos, and catchy melodies. Stop by and soak in their infectious sounds, and then hit the road with the boys as they make their way across parts of the U.S. and Canada through June and then make their way to Europe to kick out the jams. www.myspace.com/theriverboatgamblers 
Finally, for those who like their metal on the progressive side, but with enough blistering attack, then you’ll be interested to know that Nevermore are entering the studio with their sights set for a new album being released sometime in 2010. The band has booked studio time in August with producer Peter Wichers, who also happens to play guitar for Soilwork. The album is scheduled to be released through Century Media. And that’d all I know about anything this month. www.myspace.com/nevermorefans
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