Artist | Page 123 | Revolver

Artist

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Detroit hard-rock outfit Wilson are shitter aficionados. They've been rating toilets on the road for a while on their own blog, and now they're bringing their expertise to RevolverMag.com. The band is on the road all summer and hitting the major festivals, from whence they will be educating us on their various bathroom encounters. Here, singer Chad Nicefield and drummer Matt Puhy give us the recrap on Carolina Rebellion.

When you're playing the fourth stage at a festival, your amenities as an artist are depraved at very best (yes, that was the artist restroom you're staring at), but that didn't stop my asshole from having A Day to Remember down here in the muggy trenches of Carolina Rebellion.

In a Clutch moment I entered this sweatbox with every intention of producing a Lamb of God and offering it to the Megadeth that filled the port o johns hole below me. But as I squeezed my sweet cheeks it seemed all I was producing were the Ghost shits. NOTHING! Apparently the catering from Lunatic Luau the night before in Virginia Beach hadn't ripened itself yet, so I sat with my hands in my face unable to deliver the Anthrax I knew I was brewing in this iron gut.

As I picked up my drawers from the vile floor and tried to stand up like a Red Sun Rising I felt the tingling in my toes–shit, my legs are asleep at the wheel. What now... I can't wiggle out to a field full of my peers like this, I'm a man goddammit! As I contemplated and prayed to Saint Asonia for a miracle, I felt the rumbling in my tum tum. "Shit yes!!! Here it comes"! I yelled as I pointed The Sword of my butthole and poised it ready to let the Five Finger Death Punch Shinedown from my insides.

I evacuated my bowels into the Texas Hippie Coalition that formed from yesterday's events below me. I was now drained and empty. Alone in a sweatbox inhaling what was most likely one of my buddies intestinal offerings after their Parkway Drive the day before.  I've definitely seen better days - and I'm sure I'll see worse. But for my mother's sake...I can only hope she'll never have to picture me like this again.

2 out of 10 over here. Here's hoping Rock on the Range at least has hand sani! Ugh....

Matt Puhy's recrap:
Today was one of those days that at the time, you wished it never would have started, but by the end of it, you wished it never would have ended. That was today in a nutshell, as told by this asshole...

The overnight drive coming from another festival the previous day wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and the set up was some sort of half-asleep, funtastic frenzy that somehow moved at light speed. It was all totally worth it though. Every last second of bullshit immediately melted away when we went on. I can't  go into detail because I only have so much room, but fuckin' shit God damn!!! That was a show!!!!

It's amazing enough that you get to play in front of such a great crowd, and then get the opportunity to meet these amazing people afterword and have them tell you how much they enjoyed it. I wish I had the testicular fortitude to do that with bands that inspired me to do what I do now, and for that, I salute you!!!!!

Wilson recently released its new album, 'Right to Rise,' via Razor & Tie. For more on Wilson, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Wilson tour dates:
May 19 – Libertyville, IL – Austin's +
May 21 – Columbus, OH – Rock On The Range #
May 24 – Johnson City, TN – Capone's +
May 25 – Montgomery, AL – Rock Bottom +
May 27 – Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma #
May 28 – Bettendorf, IA – Harley Corins (Free show)
July 15 – Oshkosh, WI – Rock USA #
July 16 – Cadott, WI – Rock Fest #
+ with Avatar
# Festival dates

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Hard rock act Sons of Texas are currently touring across American with Texas Hippie Coalition. Here, for Revolver, the rockers will be providing updates that will give you a behind-the-scenes insight to life on the road. Check out Part 2 below and let us know what you think in the comments!

For more on Sons of Texas, follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

One week into the tour and we're feeling like an unstoppable, well-oiled machine hauling six bags of dirty laundry across the eastern states.

This tour route has taken us all through the southeast and up along the east coast, so far. These areas are so rich in American history it's unreal to think about the Revolutionary and Civil War battles that took place on these lands we're traveling across to live a dream we've been chasing since we were young kids.

Who knew being in a touring band would be so much more than just playing music. Performing is merely five percent of your day. The past year of our career has been a gnarly crash course in travel planning, van and trailer maintenance, more travel planning, diet/health awareness and precaution, and patience. Seriously, the other 95 percent of your day goes towards waiting to use the bathroom. It can get brutal, but we love what we do. Our families have made sacrifices that allowed us to pick up music and pursue a career in it. So we're not about to let them down. We get exhausted, moody, and sometimes really sick, but the five of us work together to keep the fire burning. We stay hungry and grind the hardest we can to get better and better at what we do.

Among the many stops we made this week (including Richmond & Winchester, V.A.; Lancaster, P.A.; and Fayetteville, N.C.) New York City, where we headlined The Studio at Webster Hall, was our favorite! It was a busy day for us from beginning to end. A couple of reps from Sony Music Japan flew in to NYC to catch our show, take photos, and do some promotional interviews for the release of our record in Japan! Razor & Tie Records is doing a hell of a job getting our music out there. And of course, no NYC stop is complete without a visit to the Razor & Tie headquarters in lower Manhattan! It's always fun to catch up with the staff at the office and see what they're up to. It's also a blast seeing our manager, Larry Mazer, who always drops in to make sure our crowds are getting a proper slayin'.

Shortly after all the presstivities (totally just made up that word) it was show time. We hit the stage at 9:00pm and gave The Big Apple all we've got. Had a hell of a time doing it, too.

We've got another leg of dates up here in the northeast and then we're cuttin' West to visit the illustrious Machine Shop in Flint, M.I.! It's so far so good for all of us here in the Sons of Texas camp. Be sure to visit our website Sonsoftexasmusic.com for all our tour dates! See ya soon!

Sons of Texas Tour Dates
with Texas Hippie Coalition
May 17 – Columbus, OH – A and R Music Bar*
May 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Hard Rock Café*
May 19 – Fort Wayne, IN – Pierre's*
May 20 – Battle Creek, MI – The Music Factory
May 21 – South Bend, IN – Cheer's Pub*
May 22 – Libertyville, IL – Austin's
May 24 – St Louis, MO – The Firebird
May 25 – Omaha, NE – Chrome Lounge
May 26 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly's
May 27 – Lawrence, KS – Granada

with Otherwise
July 6 – Colorado Springs, CO – Black Sheep
July 8 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
July 9 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theatre
July 10 – Omaha, NE – Waiting Room
July 12 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly's
July 13 – Tulsa, OK – The Shrine*
July 14 – Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom*
July 15 – Dubuque, IL – The Venue*
July 18 – Merriam, KS – Aftershock^
July 19 – Fayetteville, AR – George's Majestic Lounge*
July 22 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
July 23 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock
July 24 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress*
*headline shows
^festivals

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Hard rock act Sons of Texas are currently touring across American with Texas Hippie Coalition. Here, for Revolver, the rockers will be providing updates that will give you a behind-the-scenes insight to life on the road. Check out Part 1 below and let us know what you think in the comments!

For more on Sons of Texas, follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

The first week of tour is always much like the first week of school. Everyone on the tour package has to get to know each other, get organized, and condition themselves to take on a four week semester of working hard, performing well, and most importantly, learning every day. A young band has much to learn in its early years and we've been grateful to learn from some amazing acts we've had the opportunity to tour with such as, Buckcherry, All That Remains, Devour the Day and Trapt.

We hit the road to our first gig on this 'Dark Side of Black Tour' with Texas Hippie Coalition in Louisiana after a two month break from touring which was spent writing material for our sophomore album with our producer/good friend, Mr. Josh Wilbur. We definitely needed to break ourselves back into tour-mode.

Soundcheck at the first gig in Shreveport was rough. Jon and Jesse brought out some new toys to utilize in a live setting on the road: two 'Kemper profiling guitar amps.' They spent a good deal of the first day dialing in their guitar tones, which isn't easy, as sound systems vary from venue to venue. Mark had to clear his pipes, Mike had to shake off rust behind the kit, and I had forgotten how heavy my bass was to wear strapped to my tiny body. Fortunately enough the show was a success. The headliners on our current tour, Texas Hippie Coalition, drew a nice crowd for us to share our music with and Louisiana undoubtedly showed us nothing but good ol' southern hospitality. We were also happy to see some familiar faces who traveled to watch us! A half dozen officers from Longview, Texas' Fire Department drove through tornado warnings & heavy rain to spend our first night of tour with us!

The next couple nights in Atlanta, Clarksville, T.N. & Knoxville, T.N., we're really fun as well. It didn't take long to get back into the groove of touring. We were also lucky enough to meet and share a stage with our labelmates in the band Wilson at The Concourse in Knoxville, T.N.! Killer musicians, funny dudes, great band, and an impeccable live performance.

We're incredibly excited to continue the rest of the tour, as we'll be stopping at some of our favorite cities like New York N.Y., Flint M.I., Virginia Beach V.A., Columbus O.H., and Little Rock A.R., as well as cities we've never been to, like Poughkeepsie N.Y., Fayetteville N.C., and Louisville, K.Y!. We're happy to keep y'all updated on how the rest of the tour goes!

Sons of Texas Tour Dates
with Texas Hippie Coalition
May 10 – New York, NY – The Studio*
May 11 – Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance*
May 12 – Manchester, NH – Jewel Night Club
May 13 – Rochester, NY – Montage Music Hall*
May 14 – Flint, MI – The Machine Shop
May 15 – Louisville, KY – Trixie's
May 17 – Columbus, OH – A and R Music Bar*
May 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Hard Rock Café*
May 19 – Fort Wayne, IN – Pierre's*
May 20 – Battle Creek, MI – The Music Factory
May 21 – South Bend, IN – Cheer's Pub*
May 22 – Libertyville, IL – Austin's
May 24 – St Louis, MO – The Firebird
May 25 – Omaha, NE – Chrome Lounge
May 26 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly's
May 27 – Lawrence, KS – Granada

with Otherwise
July 6 – Colorado Springs, CO – Black Sheep
July 8 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
July 9 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theatre
July 10 – Omaha, NE – Waiting Room
July 12 – Des Moines, IA – Wooly's
July 13 – Tulsa, OK – The Shrine*
July 14 – Springfield, MO – Outland Ballroom*
July 15 – Dubuque, IL – The Venue*
July 18 – Merriam, KS – Aftershock^
July 19 – Fayetteville, AR – George's Majestic Lounge*
July 22 – Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad
July 23 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock
July 24 – Tucson, AZ – Club Congress*
*headline shows
^festivals

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Detroit hard-rock outfit Wilson are shitter aficionados. They've been rating toilets on the road for a while on their own blog, and now they're bringing their expertise to RevolverMag.com. The band is on the road all summer and hitting the major festivals,  from whence they will be educating us on their various bathroom encounters. Here, singer Chad Nicefield and guitarist Kyle Landry give us the recrap on Welcome to Rockville.

After an overnight drive from Myrtle Beach where we shared a glory hole with Steel Panther the night before, we entered the Welcome to Rockville festival grounds at a punishing 9am. With my Candlebox ready to Shinedown upon an unsuspecting porcelain goddess, I entered the "artists men's room." Ready to remove my brown holes Filter, I opened the first stall door and begged "Miss May I"?!

This was it!? This was my scream queen?! It looks as though I couldn't Escape the Fate of the blown out festival style turd hole. Even as early as it was, it seemed this 'lil lady had already been pulverized by a Monster Truck and smelled worse than the dead Collective Soul of a thousand rats. The entire festival must have arrived at Sixx:A.M. with the same bunged up hole I was rocking! I dropped my trousers and removed the Filter of my unwashed whitey tighties to Crown the Empire below me.

As I truffle shuffled in my stall, a mere 3 Doors Down seemed to be another human Asking Alexandria to Enter Shikari as well! It was Trivium in an epic "battle shits" royale and class was in session! This man's innards were deeply Disturbed and the sounds that were cast against the stall walls were obviously meant to Bring Me the Horizon with a Bullet for My Valentine. I squeezed the last little Pop Evil inside of me out and reached for that sweet success wipe—NO FUCKING TP. I screamed in dismay when to my surprise, my opponent down the row from me came to my rescue with a toss of a roll over the door! "Hellyeah!" I blurted out.

I pulled my pants back up... banished my children to the world below me, opened the door and slapped my compadre a high five! Thanks, Richard Patrick!

All in all, 6 out of 10 in muggy Jacksonville. "Welcome" indeed!

Kyle Landry's Day Review:
We were moments from hitting the stage when I noticed I was pinching a loaf. For how long, I wasn't quite sure, but the turtle was ready to see the light. I had baked a biscuit and forgotten to take it out of the oven. The ballpark frank was cooked through, but still burning under hot flame of the Craftsman grill. Gas poured into the atmosphere as I naturally opened the lid to tame the heat. It would now be just over an hour and hundreds of headbangs before I could lay a royal flush and shed my poker face. "Who farted?" asked a startled stage crew guy, who now looked like Gilbert Gottfried sniffing glue. "I did," I replied, as I walked onto the stage to give my own Gottfried impression to the good people of Jacksonville, F.L. This was Welcome to Rockville, and I came over-prepared to wrangle a gator in the pond. Of course, this is a common problem that every musician is forced to confront at one point of another. It's always five minutes before show time when the genie comes out of the bottle to remind you that you forgot to drop the kids off at the pool. As the cardinal rule states, the kids will have to wait and the show must go on!
 

 

Wilson recently released its new album, 'Right to Rise,' via Razor & Tie. For more on Wilson, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Wilson tour dates:
May 5 – Silver Spring, MD – Fillmore ^
May 6 – Virginia Beach, VA – FM99 Lunatic Luau #
May 7 – Concord, NC – Carolina Rebellion #
May 9 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In *
May 10 – Indianapolis, IN – The Hi-Fi *
May 13 – Racine, WI – Route 20 *
May 15 – Minot, ND – Original Bar +
May 17 – Waterloo, IA – Sicoli's +
May 19 – Libertyville, IL – Austin's +
May 21 – Columbus, OH – Rock On The Range #
May 24 – Johnson City, TN – Capone's +
May 25 – Montgomery, AL – Rock Bottom +
May 27 – Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma #
May 28 – Bettendorf, IA – Harley Corins (Free show)
July 15 – Oshkosh, WI – Rock USA #
July 16 – Cadott, WI – Rock Fest #
^ with Megadeth
* with Monster Truck
+ with Avatar
# Festival dates

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Denver-based thrash act Havok are currently touring across North America with Megadeth! Vocalist/guitarist David Sanchez said, "Each of us has dreamt about playing with all three of these bands since we were teenagers and to see it coming to fruition is absolutely unreal. Megadeth, Suicidal Tendencies, and Children of Bodom have all influenced Havok's sound and we cannot wait to rip with these stellar bands. This is a dream come true."

Here, for Revolver, the thrashers will be providing updates from the road via video that will give you a behind-the-scenes look. Check out Part 2 below and let us know what you think in the comments!

For more on Havok, follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
 


 
WATCH PART 1!

Havok with Megadeth / Suicidal Tendencies / Children of Bodom
3/9 – Edmonton, Alberta
3/10 – Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
3/13 – Chicago, Ill.
3/15 – Niagara Falls, N.Y.
3/16-7 – New York, N.Y.
3/19 – Bethlehem, Pa.
3/20 – Philadelphia, Pa.
3/21 – Boston, Mass.
3/23 – Bangor, Maine
3/24 – Quebec City, Quebec
=*Megadeth only

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Frederick, Maryland-based teenage rock act Bad Seed Rising are currently touring with Ghost Town, Dangerkids, Palaye Royale, and Sounds Like Harmony. Here, for Revolver, they will be providing updates from the road via video that will give you a behind-the-scenes look. Check out Part 4 below and let us know what you think in the comments!

To get Bad Seed Rising's new EP, 'A Place Called Home,' visit iTunes. For more on Bad Seed Rising, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Tour dates:
12/2 | Ft Lauderdale, Fla. | Culture Room
12/4 | San Antonio, Texas | Kapones
12/5 | Dallas, Texas | Gas Monkey
12/6 Houston, Texas | Warehouse Live
12/8 | Phoenix, Ariz. | Pub Rock
12/9 | San Diego, Calif. | SOMA
12/10 | Anaheim, Calif. | Chain Reaction

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Frederick, Maryland-based teenage rock act Bad Seed Rising are currently touring with Ghost Town, Dangerkids, Palaye Royale, and Sounds Like Harmony. Here, for Revolver, they will be providing updates from the road via video that will give you a behind-the-scenes look. Check out Part 1 below and let us know what you think in the comments!

To get Bad Seed Rising's new EP, 'A Place Called Home,' visit iTunes. For more on Bad Seed Rising, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
 

 
Tour dates:
11/5 | Vancouver, BC | Tom Lee Hall
11/7 | Salt Lake City, Utah | In The Venue
11/8 | Denver, Colo. | Marquis
11/10 | Tulsa, Okla. | Vanguard
11/11 | St Louis, Mo. | Firebird
11/12 | Minneapolis, Minn. | Skyway Theatre
11/13 Dekalb, lll. | House Cafe
11/14 | Chicago, Ill. | Bottom Lounge
11/16 | Detroit, Mich. | The Shelter
11/17 | Toronto, ON | The Mod Club
11/18 | Montreal, QC | La Sala Rossa
11/19 | Philadelphia, Pa. | Voltage Lounge
11/20 | Worcester, Mass | Palladium (Small Room)
11/21 | New York, N.Y. | Webster Hall
11/22 | Baltimore, Md. | Ottobar
11/24 | Pittsburgh, Pa. | Altar Bar
11/25 | Cleveland, Ohio | Grog Shop
11/27 | Nashville, Tenn. | Rocketown
11/28 | Atlanta, Ga. | Masquerade
11/29 | Charlotte, N.C. | Neighborhood Theatre
12/1 | Orlando, Fla. | Backbooth
12/2 | Ft Lauderdale, Fla. | Culture Room
12/4 | San Antonio, Texas | Kapones
12/5 | Dallas, Texas | Gas Monkey
12/6 Houston, Texas | Warehouse Live
12/8 | Phoenix, Ariz. | Pub Rock
12/9 | San Diego, Calif. | SOMA
12/10 | Anaheim, Calif. | Chain Reaction

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New Jersey electronic-hardcore act Palisades are currently on the road. Here, the band catches up with Revolver about touring in Japan.

For more on Palisades, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

September 12
Everyone loves waking up to an earthquake first thing in the morning. The lamp above our heads shaking and a huge thud shook our hotel walls. Apparently this is a normal occurrence in Japan. You know, earthquakes. At 8 A.M. none of us could go back to sleep.

Lou and myself decided to get ready and check out the sights that Shinjuku had to offer since we weren't able to go out for too much around the area the previous day. We found a bakery that had some pretty neat breakfast foods such as a chicken teriyaki and egg pot pie, and chocolate filled pastries shaped like anime characters. Also may I say that the google translate app works fantastically and the locals actually really liked that we used it to break the language barrier. After that we walked around discovered that arcades are really fucking popular. They are almost on every block in Shinjuku and in most parts of Tokyo. As huge anime nerds we are, we were excited to find Gundam games where you can pilot the robot suit as well as the Teken Pokemon mashup game. Also I must have spent at least $30 dollars on crane games which are also insanely popular in Japan. I could never catch that fucking Pikachu....

This is too much, and we're running late.

On our way back to the hotel we found the Hanazono shrine right in a secret part of the city. So we stopped, cleaned our hands at fountain, and we prayed at the shrine. We see buildings in in America that are just as old among our new modern buildings, but in Japan their older architecture is so much different from the modern business buildings among society today. That is one of the coolest parts of Japanese culture that we experienced. Finally we got back to the hotel to get ready to get back to the venue and soundcheck.

Fast forward completely bypassing all boring shit.

Soundcheck is over and we are all really hungry. The first thing we see walking up the stairs is the a line of people dressed as Mario Kart characters in their own street legal go karts racing down the street. We all instantly started cheering, I personally wanted Yoshi to win. Actually now that I think of it he might of had a beer in his hand. I don't condone drinking and driving so I hope Yoshi is OK where ever he may be.

Finally time to do some more sightseeing. We have at least seven hours to do whatever we want, and I want to see the life size Gundam at Diver city. But none of us knew how to get there. Lucky for us we had our guide Haru, and his friend Maiko, who showed us a round Tokyo a little more and were able to take us to Diver City. Once we got to the Gundam front store, my inner nerd cried for seeing something that I could only imagine what it would look like in real life, actually be real. The detail was incredible, and if the guard wasn't watching I would have tried climbing it to get inside. After seeing all Gundam front has to offer, we went inside the mall and tried a Japanese dish known as Takoyaki. Takoyaki is a very hot fried ball of tempura, onion, and diced octopus. When we got them, they were so hot that Matt burned the inside of his mouth, so as that warning sign, we all took our time eating it.

On our way back to the venue we had to make one more stop that was on our train route, and that was to go to the Harijuku district. The Harijuku district is very famous for its fashionable residents from the trendy stylish, to the cosplaying person who is outlandish to Americans. But everyone doesn't judge you, or at least from what I could see, based on what you look like. That's one reason why Japan is so great to me. Anyway, we went around shops and saw some of the headquarters for some massive brands and designers in which we all really love and got to pick up some souvenirs for our families.

But now its time to get on the train and get to the venue because the last local is up and we need to get ready.

By the time showtime hits, the crowd is even bigger than the last, and we played another killer set. There is something magical about going to a country, headlining a show, and seeing your fans sing back every word in broken English. I would have never thought in a million years that our music would have taken us to Japan, let alone being able to play to fans halfway around the world. For that I could never be thankful enough.

And in thanks it's time to party.

Fortunate for us, our friends from other bands were also in Japan and they brought us to an A-List party, I mean the Japanese Ben Affleck was there, that's pretty fucking cool. As the night went on we all got pretty drunk and to be honest I got to drunk at the karaoke bar and sang my heart out to AC/DC's "Thunderstruck." I then fell asleep to only invite the worst hangover in the world to come and fuck me up in the morning. Of course this had to be the morning in which we had a 14 hour flight back to America.

Great shows, meeting great people, and playing music in front of our amazing fans.

At least we did Japan right.
 

joey Jordison 2011

In 2011, we interviewed all the members of Slipknot — minus sampler and keyboardist Craig Jones, who, as then-drummer Joey Jordison told us below, "doesn't talk" — for a special collector's issue of the magazine dedicated to the Iowan masked metal juggernaut. We spoke to Jordison about the 'Knot's history, the passing of his longtime friend, bandmate and songwriting partner Paul Gray, and looked ahead to the group's future. In the exclusive outtake below, the drummer, who split with Slipknot in 2013, breaks down the band's creative process.

"If you really look at our stuff, every record is different. The first one is what it was, Iowa got darker and heavier and more disturbing, Vol. 3 still is heavy but then we start putting in some really odd stuff like 'Prelude 3.0,' 'Circle,' 'The Virus of Life,' you know, started to expand our sound. And then with All Hope is Gone, you know, that record ... I mean, you listen to a song like 'All Hope is Gone,' nothing but double bass and thrash beats and just super heavy riffs, and then you've got 'Snuff,' you know. And then you've got 'Gematria,' like one of the best Slipknot songs we've ever played. And a funny story about that song is, like, the guitar players and Paul would be in rehearsals ... those guys would get in such heated arguments about how the riffs go, because they're so technical. So I'm like, 'All right, wait till the next time so you guys can all sit down and figure it out.'

"You know, a song will start with just a stem of drums and guitar. And then we'll demo it: I'll record the drums, we'll get the guitars on, then we'll put the bass on it, and that will be the template of the song. Corey [Taylor, vocals] will write his lyrics, or I might have some lyrics, as well, or Shawn ["Clown" Crahan, percussion] might have some lyrics, and, you know, then we get the lyrics on. Then we get that done and then we start, you know, adding the percussion, that goes next. And we get that, us three drummers all work, like, in a triangle on that, and you get everything where it needs to be. And then Sid [Wilson, DJ] comes in with his quirkiness, and you never know what that guy's gonna come up with — he's an alien. And then Craig — we call him the serial killer, he doesn't talk — he comes in last with layers of, you know, noise and whatever that we need to make the song even more disturbing. So that's how it works."

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New Jersey electronic-hardcore act Palisades are currently on the road. Here, the band catches up with Revolver about touring in Japan.

For more on Palisades, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

September 10
It's too early. I can't wake up. Shit. It's 6 a.m. and I need to start getting ready to go to the airport.

Fast forward to the airport. My nerves are kicking in. I hate flying. I'm nervous about turbulence and I'm dreading the just above average in flight dinners that the airline provides. However, some light joking around with Brandon put me at ease, and then it happens, we see a fully suited dapper business man lose his balance while walking and completely eat shit with the single word "fuck" coming from his mouth. At that point I laughed way too hard. Yeah it's a little mean, but at least Xavier asked if he was OK.

Fast forward to landing in Japan.

September 11
We went 13 hours ahead in time, and we are exhausted. We finally landed in Tokyo, Japan. We are in a place that we only dreamed of visiting. I've seen YouTube videos and watched concert DVDs with my father of artists like Dream Theater and Ozzy play at the Budukon Theater. We're seeing the place where our favorite anime as adolescents were created. The rich culture that Japan has with its history of warriors that could only be described as demons that where lightning fast with a sword, vast lands where civilizations have thrived, and of course, legendary food. Yes, the sushi is that much better over in Japan. We made it. We are in Japan.

The venue Antiknock had us play two headlining shows in Shinjuku, a district in Tokyo. Our first time in Japan, and were headlining two shows—talk about pressure. Our guide and venue runner, Akira, had picked us up from the airport and made sure we got to our hotel. But we didn't know that it was an hour ride from the airport by public transportation. So we get to the drop off point before the hotel to take three separate taxis to get there in order to fit in all of our guitars and luggage. Two cabs made it and the cab holding Earl and Brandon went to a different hotel by the same name which was 20 minutes away. Now at this point we are in another country with no phone service and having to rely on WIFI to get in touch with each other. We finally got in touch with the guys and they made it back safely. That was a pain in the ass. Also, not a lot of people speak English in Japan, so thank God for that Google Translate app because that shit works.

Our first night was incredible. We went to a restaurant where they made this chicken pot dish right on our table and it was absolutely amazing. The spices and sauces that they put in it along with what tasted like mozzarella cheese was just great. After dinner we went out exploring around Shibuya and Shinjuku, another district within Tokyo. Just walking around we ran into an American fan named Benji who at first sight recognized us and talked with us for a while, to the point where we just invited him to tag along with us to the famous rock bar called Rockaholic. When we arrived, fans greeted us and the bar was playing our music videos on a projector... is this what it is like to be a cool band? After having a few drinks at the bar we noticed a very familiar face. It was Herman Li, guitarist of Dragonforce. I wanted to tell him that I could never get past "Through the Fire and Flames" on 'Guitar Hero', even on medium difficulty but let's be real, that would have been really lame. We talked about the music scene in Japan and how amazing of a country it was to still be a strong force in the hard rock and metal scene and he gave us some knowledge on being in a band. If you are reading this Herman, you are the man. The night ended strong on karaoke of Limp Bizkit, Blink 182, AC/DC, and Drake.

The first show.

A bunch of local bands killed it before we played. The electronic metal scene is strong and their own of almost quirky yet aggressive style of the genre is mesmerizing to watch when played, and very interesting to listen to. After the last local played, we started to get our gear ready. We got on stage for our line check and the cheering crowd made us feel at home right away. After our soundcheck we hit the stage. From the moment of the first drop the intimate crowd of 300 kids burst into jumping and screaming our lyrics. Song after song it was a rush of adrenaline which made the set a huge furious and violent blur. Everything about that show was perfect, and made it a night to remember.

Stay tuned for part 2!

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