Artist

As the Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock tour continues to roll around the U.S., one of the performing bands, Eluveitie has blogged about their experiences for Revolver.

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

Photo credit: Shir-Ran Yinon and Merlin Sutter

We've arrived in San Francisco safe and sound. Not with flowers in our hair, but with outbursts of flu bacteria in the air.

This tour has thrown a colorful collection of misfortune at us—ranging from minor to major catastrophes. Yet still all of us are in good spirits thanks to amazingly good shows and even more amazing crowds. We think the "North America effect" also plays a big part in all of this, leaving us spellbound even if it's already the seventh time we're touring here (yes, we love the US of A. and Canada, of course).

The first minor setbacks (we didn't yet know what was still to come…) happened during our tour rehearsals at the SST rehearsal studios in New Jersey. Besides drums and other vital equipment not arriving in time (solved quickly thanks to the amazing SST Rentals New York), Anna's vocal chords lost a fight with the terrible ice-wind of doom (or what you Americans call air conditioning) and after a day of singing already gave up on her. However, lots of sleep, tea and not having any fun whatsoever got her through the first couple of shows just fine.

And the first show was indeed a huge success! We had worked hard on this setlist, even rented a venue in Switzerland and then a rehearsal studio in New York to get both the band and our brand new violin player in top shape. The hard work paid off, and crowd and band kicked each other's asses especially. So did Epica (no pun intended), and with the Agonist opening the bar was set sky-high right from the get-go.

Now let's continue to the part we would define as the "major catastrophe." In Montreal, just two shows into the tour, Simone Simons got a call concerning a very grave family issue. She played the show, but had to fly home the next day. And holy shit, respect goes out to her for playing that show! We all love touring, obviously. It is an absolute dream job, and we wouldn't give it up for anything. But, it does involve being away from your loved ones, sometimes for thousands of miles and many weeks. This lifestyle choice can take a devastating turn if something terrible happens on tour, what do you do? If you fly home, you leave a dozen people including band and crew members without work, you cancel shows fans have been looking forward to, you turn your back on expensive-ass buses and flights, and you forgo a significant part of your, and your band's, income for the year. Our hearts are with Simone and her band, and anyone else who's had to deal with such a situation.

So, Nobody knew what was going to happen and we had to wait for updates and play shows without Epica. The Epica guys traveled with us, did VIP meet and greets and hoped every day that the situation would change for the best so that they could continue the tour. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and they had to leave the tour for good.

At first we had no idea what to do. Ask another band to join? Cancel and fly home? Dress up as Epica and learn their songs? We had successfully done mushrooms in Amsterdam and eaten many a french fry covered in mayonnaise, but did that make us Dutch enough?

We made the right call in the end. We couldn't leave our fans hanging, so we'd just have to step up our game and bring something huge and unforgettable to those stages. We had one (!) day to plan and rehearse a two-hour set—something which we've never done on tour before. Add some more metal songs here, some Irish jigs there and, ta-da! We've got the perfect folk metal sandwich consisting of two kickass metal sets with a brand new acoustic session in the middle. Kudos go out to our amazing crew for making this happen right along with us!

It was too good to be true, so Anna's $10'000, half-electric and batman logo-adorned hurdy gurdy took a suicidal jump off a dressing room chair, spilling parts even we hadn't seen before.  Thankfully we're touring in a country where helping people isn't considered something awkward or potentially harmful. As soon as Anna put out a shout online, hurdy-gurdy players all over the States pulled all strings (and turned all cranks, haha) to arrange the help we needed. Mel and Ann Dorries, the coolest hurdy-gurdy couple on earth, traveled for four hours to fully repair the "metal gurdy" in a hotel room in Chicago. Win! U.S.A.!

Let's focus on the positive stuff, for a change: As implied earlier, our brand-new two-hour set is probably one of the coolest things we've ever done. We feel great, the crowd feels great, hell, they even mosh to pure folk tunes! What's more, after our violin player left the band mere weeks before the tour start, we put out our first-ever public casting call and wound up with the ridiculously talented Shir-Ran Yinon. The German-Israeli power-fiddler is kicking ass as if she'd been in a metal band before, which she in fact has not. Together with Italian flute-stallion Matteo Sisti, part of the band since last year, we've got the strongest line-up of our career together. And what's most important, our fans don't leave us hanging! Every day they show up to support one headliner when they've paid for two. They're there in time to rock out with the amazingly talented support acts, and they go home brandishing band merch, allowing us to continue on with this tour and calling it a victory in the end, despite all setbacks. Sure, the tour-flu has kicked in, Chrigel's Mandola has broken in two, and  who knows what's waiting around the corner. But rocking out with our fans, dripping sweat and finding some more energy for the encore when it all seemed to have been used up several songs ago, that's what this is all about. No matter what hardships a day might bring, two out of those 24 hours are pure bliss and we're possibly the luckiest people in the world for being able to share this with you.

As Once Human (a group that  features ex-Machine Head and Soulfly's Logan Mader) are touring with Fear Factory in support of their recently released 'The Life I Remember' (available via earMUSIC), the band will be checking in with their experiences via video for Revolver. Check out part 3 below.

To get 'The Life I Remember,' visit iTunes. For more on Once Human, follow them on Facebook.
 

Chris Krovatin is the author of Heavy Metal & You, Venomous, and the Gravediggers series. He is a contributing writer for Revolver and a good-natured pain in everyone's ass. This column represents his opinions–and probably only his opinions.

Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival featuring Slayer, King Diamond, Hellyeah, The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel, Thy Art Is Murder, and more

July 5 at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, C.O.

• Climate: Chilly, windy, grey.
• Chance of rain: 90% in the late afternoon.
• Outdoor festival prayer: Oh, Lord Dionysus, bless this day so that no gear malfunctions or extreme weather jeopardizes this festival.
• Climb up to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre: Winding, seemingly endless, suspended over the tour buses.
• General crowd consensus: Slayer.
• Shameful admission: I swore that Slayer at Madison Square Garden would be my last Slayer show, but here I am.
• Security attitude: Surprisingly cool and upbeat. But I'm originally from New York, so maybe I'd just poorly conditioned.
• Location of the Victory Records Stage featuring Jungle Rot: Not available at this stop in the tour due to venue restrictions.
• No Rot: Denied.
• Nostalgia: The past Mayhem Fests I've been to in Jersey and P.A. that have had multiple stages, vendors, signing booths…
• Sad state of affairs: There is something that New Jersey does better than Colorado.
• Time when rain begins: Approximately 4:10.
• Time spent putting waterproof shields on stage lights: 15 minutes.
• Amphitheatre concert prayer: Please, Dionysus, make strong the metal of this lighting rig so that a stage light does not fall and murder King Diamond.
• First band onstage: Thy Art Is Murder from Australia.
• Sounds like: Core-oriented death metal with thrashy tendencies.
• Title bestowed on crowd by frontmant CJ McMahon: "You cunts."
• Smart move by CJ McMahon: Leaping offstage, running into the audience, and performing his first song via wireless mic from on top of the sound tent. Immediately, the whole crowd loves him.

• Level of worry felt that McMahon would slip, fall, and kill himself during his first song: Medium. But a deathcore singer better know what he's doing in terms of climbing all over shit. Part of the job requirement.
• Types of beer slung by vendors at Red Rocks: A surprising assortment of decent ones! Worst is Dale's.
• Reason this reporter can't partake: If you've ever driven the back roads that lead to Red Rocks, you know not to drive them with any level of alcohol in your system.
• Increase in rain: Sporadic, but nasty. Ponchos are coming out.
• Next up: Whitechapel from Knoxville, T.N.
• Sounds like: Core-oriented death metal with gruesome tendencies.
• Percentage of Whitechapel's tour budget allotted for black button-down work shirts: 32%
• Cool tour idea: Whitechapel playing the spots in Whitechapel where the canonical five victims of Jack the Ripper were slain.
• Worst dancing of the night: The deathcore kid next to me in the seashell necklace who did a lot of that shuffle-jumping and crab-squatting.
• Ho boy: And now he's taking off his shirt.
• Least favorite audience member: The dude in front of me who begins the day nice to everyone, then gets drunk and then repeatedly starts shoulder his friends like he wants to fight.
• Percentage of concerts where the reporter has seen a guy like this: 77%
• Number of people this dude threatens to fight: Two
• Chances this dude will be dragged out of Red Rocks screaming obscenities: 85%
• Nerd moment of the day: Realizing that all these people are wearing The Devil Wears Prada gear and not clothing featuring the Black Lantern ring.
• Other option: Maybe The Devil Wears Prada are the nerds, and I'm just savvy.
• Now, we have: The Devil Wears Prada from Dayton, O.H.
• Sounds like: Death-oriented core metal with fashionable tendencies.
• Enthusiasm shown by audience: Considerable. Obviously these guys are mainstays with younger metalheads.
• Concert truth: It is hard to fully dislike a band when you're catching them live and everyone's having a great time.
• Chances Meryl Streep listens to The Devil Wears Prada: 286/1.
• Fun fact: I've actually been to Dayton, Ohio, and spent a night chatting with Juggalos outside a downtown club while bummed fed me countless Camel Crush cigarettes.
• Number of cities this reporter has experienced like this: nine
• Weather check: Rain has abated and the sun is coming out. There's a small section of rainbow floating in the distance.
• Hopeful prayer: Dionysus, god of revels, keep this weather going for the rest of the night.
• Crowd drunkenness: 1.5 sheets to the wind. No one's passed out or puking, but there's a ton of stumbling and some terrible jokes.
• Amount of weed smoked: Surprising. They threw people out left and right at Clutch/Mastodon; today, they don't seem to care.
• Home stretch: Hellyeah from T.X.
• Sounds like: Pantera and Mudvayne jamming together, pretty much.
• Notably cool stage decorations: Hellyeah's twin banners reading 'SANGRE' on either side of the band.
• Crowd response: Loud! I had no idea Hellyeah had so many diehard fans.
• Conspiratorial fact: They say that is you place certain photos of crop circles against those of the pyramids, they're spaced in the exact same way and pattern as the lines in Vinnie Paul's mustache.
• Tiresome stage banter: Frontman Chad Gray's second tirade about the power and importance of heavy metal. The first one was heartwarming, but now, you know, we get it.
• Amount of King Diamond's stage set-up used for his set: The whole thing! The inverted crosses, the light-up pentagram, the staircases, the haunted house backdrop! I'm impressed.
• Time spent chasing blown-away haunted house backdrop: 15 minutes.
• King Diamond's prayer: Lord Satan, let not King Diamond's stage set-up malfunction in such a away as to harm the dude, his crew, or his band.
• Now we have: King Diamond, from all over Europe.
• Sounds like: Halloween metal.
• Reporter trivia: I have never seen King Diamond outside of Colorado.
• Percentage of crowd that was alive when any of these songs came out: 41%.
• Crowd response: Universally positive. Everyone loves some Satanic falsetto.
• King Diamond' cane budget: $25,000.
• Best classics of the night: "Tea" and "Evil."
• Sadly-missed new classic: "Shapes of Black."
• Interesting choreography of the night: King Diamond spends a lot of the show lurching down the stairs and hanging from the wrought iron. It's less like he's a Satanic master as much as he's a phantom haunting his stage set.
• Stoney thought of the night: What if King Diamond never survived his battle with heart problems, and he is in fact a ghost trapped to his stage set-up, who can be summoned when a metal band plays "The Candle"?
• Pros and cons: On the one hand, King Diamond would be dead. On the other, he might want it this way.
• Number of chants of 'SLAYER' begun during band interim: 12.
• Percentage of audience on its feet: 96%.
• Number of Slayer tattoos seen brandished before the set: Three
• And for our main course: Slayer from the Bay Area.
• Sounds like: Satan laughing as you eternally rot.
• Amount this reporter liked new single "Repentless" when he heard it on YouTube: Eh, pretty good.
• How it sounds live: Fucking phenomenal.
• Coolness of new projections: Amazing. It's nonstop Slayer imagery—skulls, knives, the Devil, and that fucking logo.
• Chances Kerry King has a professional head polisher: 3/1.
• Awesome opening move: They play a song chronologically from the four most recent albums—the title track from Repentless, "Hate Worldwide" from 'World Painted Blood, '"Jihad" from 'Christ Illusion,' and "Disciple" from 'God Hates Us All.'
• Classy move: Repping their latest material. Slayer have played so many 'Our classic album in its entirety' tours. Good for them, loving their new stuff.
• Stoney, but genius idea: Someone should put together a latter-day Slayer tribute album. Bands can only perform songs from 'Divine Intervention' and later.
• Belief in Slayer: Restored, hard.
• Polite follow-through: Praise be to you, Dionysus.

All photos by Azara Golston.

As Santa Cruz are touring the U.S. in support of their recently released self-titled album (available via Spinefarm Records), the band will be blogging about their experiences for Revolver. For more on Santa Cruz, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Entry by Middy.

After playing at the YouTube spaces, hanging out with Sebastian Bach and spending a night with our friends at the Rainbow, you can imagine the size of the sledgehammer banging inside my head the day after. The late check-out was definitely in order. Fuck the breakfast, we had to leave straight after the wake up call to LAX to catch a plane to Chicago so that we could hook up with the Amaranth guys and continue the tour. No rest for the wicked, right?

We arrived to Chicago late at night and grabbed our stuff from the baggage claim. Then the Spinal Tap started. We took a cab and stuffed our gear and gave the driver the address where the bus was at. What we didn't know was that it was the wrong address, that we had to drive across the state border and that the ride would eventually take over two hours. It's close by, they said. At the point when even the lady at the gas station looks at your cab outside laughs at you and says that "You guys are in are in the middle of nowhere. Are guys sure where you going?" then you know that you're really lost. Well, we found the bus and got to Mojoes at Joliet, Illinois on time. The show was badass and from this on it was just traveling with the bus. No more airports and no more tight schedules, or so we thought.

Next up was the hometown of Prince or the artist formerly known as Prince or …. damn I don't have the button for that one. We got to the sunny Minneapolis. We loaded in our stuff to the venue called Mill City Nights. That night the place was packed and the crowd was mental. Afterwards we hanged out with some local folks and enjoyed ourselves across the street where these two guys jammed old Bon Jovi songs with two pianos but like always the party popper bus call ended the partys way too early. Next up was three shows in Canada and probably the most memorable show of the tour in Calgary. The show was at this intimate club called Republik and the crowd was insane. It was just a matter of time when the crowd would have taken over the stage. You can't describe the feeling when you go to a city you've never been in and people know your lyrics, they're jumping up and down and as a cherry on top of the cake, this dude in the front row has a Santa Cruz tattoo. We were blown away by the gig and the Canadian hospitality that made us arrive back to bus 7AM.

The next morning. Then we had our first proper and needed day-off of the tour. We spent the day in the Canadian Rockies at a little town called Kamloops and spent the day hiking at the mountains. Yes, rock bands do other things on the road than just play gigs and drink 'til the morning light—at least so I've heard that some bands did it back in the early '60s. Or then it's just an urban tale. Just when things started to roll too smooth it finally happened, yes, you guessed it the fucking bus broke down. Somewhere at the Rockies the cops pulled us over for the broken taillight and further inspections also found out that we had a flat tire, ups. Not that we weren't already late on top of that, we had to wait for a new tire for 4 hours at the side of the road, rock star city life. Well shit happens, but we made it to Vancouver an hour before the doors. As we arrived to the Rickshaw Theater we saw probably the most saddest and fucked up sights of our lives. The people on the street looked like they had escaped from 'The Walking Dead.' Doing crack in front of their four wheel homes that you guys are probably more customer to pile up groceries at Walmart. Not the merriest feeling seeing other people without a chance to taste the high end of low. Thank god the things looked a bit brighter for us as we heard the roar of the engines and started our journey towards U.S. border and the home of the grunge Seattle, Washington.

Stay tuned for the part 3!!! Peace out.

The Metal Alliance Tour, featuring Deicide, Entombed AD, Hate Eternal, Black Crown Initiate, Lorna Shore, Svart Crown

June 3^rd at Summit Music Hall in Denver, CO

• Transport to the venue: An Uber car.
• Pats I give myself on the back for not driving drunk: 6.
• Chances of getting pulled over tonight: Significant. Bad weather, Rockies game, death metal show…don't risk it.
• Band arrived just in time to see: Svart Crown from Nice, France.
• Sounds like: Grating blackened death metal.
• Creepy backdrop of the night: Svart Crown's dead-eyed pregnant woman from the cover of their newest record, Profane.
• Best merch move of the night: Hate Eternal, who have a $15 grab box at the merch table. Which shirt will you get? It's a fucking mystery!
• Percentage of dudes here who think metal stopped after Heartwork: 32%.
• Percentage of these dudes alive when Heartwork came out: 54%.
• Up next: Lorna Shore from New Jersey.
• Sounds like: Listenable deathcore with weird atmospheric moments.
• Anticlimactic mosh moment: "Let's do it guys! Circle pit!" Then three dudes try an start a pit on a barely-populated venue floor.
• Local hazard for vocalists Tom Barber: Altitude. Dude wheezes out, "Jesus, man, how do you guys breathe here?
• Don't forget, vocalists: No matter where you are in Denver, you're a mile up. Deep breaths, don't overdo it.
• Backpatch of the night: William's Dissection The Somberlain patch. Doesn't hurt that the dude's also rocking an Enforcer patch.
• Number of flirtatious single moms out smoking: One.
• Topic I now know too much about: The romantic preferences of said mom's son. Apparently, he likes them cute and Asian.
• Terrifying thought: What if my own mom is smoking outside a metal show in NYC show right now, telling some dudes about my sexual preferences?
• Next up: Black Crown Initiate from Reading, Pennsylvania.
• Sounds like: A stoner doom band and a blackened death metal band collided on their way onstage.
• Footage of hair amongst Black Crown Initiate's members: Approx. 1,700.
• Amount of merch Black Crown Initiate carry: A metric fuckton. I've never seen so many lighters at one band's station in my life.
• Honest question: Why is this band on this tour? No shade, but they're definitely the odd one out—I can't see the brutal death metal dudes getting ecstatic over these jams.
• Deicide merch game: Touch and go. You have some awesome classic designs, and then these kinda silly 'Devil Music' and 'Fuck Yo' Momma' graphics.
• Number of girlfriends who seem ready to get into a shitfest fight: Three.
• Saddest sight in the world: Some dude who weighs at least 210 lbs seemingly terrified of getting between his girlfriend and someone else in a fight.
• Unexpected cool shirt seen: An Inferi Path of Apotheosis shirt. What a cool album.
• Up next: Hate Eternal from Florida.
• Sounds like: An empathic boil on the Devil's back popping in a spray of pure hatred.
• Effect: Absolutely crushing.
• Frontman of the night: Erik Rutan, Hate Eternal mastermind and death metal producer extraordinaire.
• Classics blasted: "Para Bellum", "Haunting Abound," "Hatesworn."
• Nostalgia moment: My first real death metal show was Hate Eternal opening for Cannibal Corpse and God Dethroned at L'Amours in Brooklyn. Erik Rutan had a fan pointed at his face and looked like something from the depths of Hell. I was thirteen, and a skinhead brought barbed wire into the show. Ah, those were the days…
• Chances of someone bringing barbed wire into a show today: 0.0%. These days, your venue gets sued, shut down, and turned into a Sephora for that kind of shit.
• Sadness felt over lack of weapons at shows: None. And any aged thrasher who likes to idolize that kind of shit can fuck off.
• Piece of gear it'd be fun to own: A Deicide speaker. Awesome.
• Crowd drunkenness level: Medium-high. Everyone isn't entirely wasted, but we're getting there.
• Next up: Entombed AD from Sweden.
• Sounds like: Entombed BC.
• Reactions inspired: Headbanging, knee-slapping, fist-pumping, repeated yelling of, "YEAH!"
• Obnoxious trend in metal: Split-off bands using the same name as their original band with a suffix. Like Venom Inc.
• That said: Man, Entombed AD are fucking killing it. Nothing like some straight-forward Swedish death metal to get fans headbanging.
• Stroke of luck: Getting to see the band before they got pulled from the tour. Sucks to be everyone after me?
• Separated at birth: Entombed AD vocalist L-G Petrov and Revolver contributor Kory Grow (pictured here with the author).
• Drunkeness level: Officially high. You can just feel waves of inebriation coming off the crowd.
• And now: Deicide from Florida.
• Sounds like: Satan belching in your mom's face.
• Crosses: Inverted.
• Undeniable fact: If you're into Satanic death metal, you gotta love Deicide to a certain extent.
• Addendum: You don't have to love In Torment, In Hell. No one needs to love In Torment, In Hell.
• Nostalgia moment: Reading interviews as a teenager in which Glen Benton would say, "Yeah, [this record we're about to release] is really all about making the people at Roadrunner shut up and leave us alone…"
• Classics played: "Dead By Dawn", "Serpents of the Light", "Blame It On God", and "When Satan Rules This World".
• New classics honored: "Death to Jesus" and "In The Minds of Evil."
• Unexpected transformation: Glen Benton going from the Bob Larson-baiting press-hating psychopath to the master of chill death metalheadom.
• Signs it's time to go: One of the aggressive girlfriends finally snaps and starts fighting with someone, has to be dragged scratching and screaming out the door and away from the venue.
• Agreement issued by my cab driver: "Yikes, that's a sign of a night that's over!"

As horrorcore hip-hop duo Twiztid continue to to support their latest, 'The Darkness,' on the road, the band will be blogging about their experiences for Revolver.

Entry by Jamie Madrox.

It's not often that we get asked to attend or perform at festivals, but when we do get the opportunity to do so, we always like to leave our mark and/or lasting impression on the crowd. That said we hit the Blaze N' Glory festival grounds in peaceful, scenic San Bernardino, C.A. nice and early on Saturday morning, May 16, 2015.

Our bus driver, Jesse, seems to travel at Star Trek light speeds and we even joke from time to time that he has hidden wormholes that he drives through in order to get us everywhere with the quickness. It seems like we just left Las Vegas not even a half an hour or so ago... and we are already parked and I can hear the stage techs sound checking from outside of the bus. We are here Blaze N' Glory! Inside of the bus, the front lounge is filled with Frisbees, Nerf footballs, and inflatable characters and our crew is rigorously taping 20s, 50s and 100 dollar bills to all of them as well as CDs, T-shirts, and our own signature brand of Twiztid rolling papers, "Wicked Wraps"... remember that lasting impression we spoke about in the introduction to this entry? Well, we'll come back to that in a few... now it's time for us to do a meet & greet at the COLDCOCK Whiskey booth.

For those of you who may not know, Rick Zeiler, who owns COLDCOCK Whiskey, has been following us through most of our musical career and he and his entire crew are all down with the FAM so it was basically a no-brainier for us to link up! Not to mention that I'm a super big whiskey fan too, so it's a good venture for both of us. Shortly after the meet and greet we made our way to the press tent to film some interviews and meet some more really chill and interesting people, like the guy from DaVinci Vape products that presented my brother Monoxide with a customized Twiztid DaVinci portable vaporizer, with which you can smoke both oil and flower out of. So that makes it killer and the Porsche of vape products to say the least!

So many people, pictures, and conversations later we found ourselves back at the bus to overlook all of the money-encrusted projectiles soon to be hurtled from the stage. Everything was perfect and it was almost time to go live! The cool thing about this festival was that there were two stages side by side more or less, and as one band was finished, the other band would begin their performance making it a non-stop show... super cool! So while we piled up all of our buckets of money balls, and CD Frisbees, etc. backstage we were quickly handed our cordless mics and began the wait as the legendary Body Count feat. Ice-T belted out hit after hit on the opposite stage. Finally, the last lick of the guitar, and the sound tech on our stage shouts "Twiztid... you're live!," and it began. We rocked the crowd with power and intensity taking small breaks to converse and break the people in attendance off with some of our buckets of goodness and have a laugh or two all at the same time. It was such a great experience! We came right from stage and walked down the ramp and cut a quick interview with this super cool guy people were saying was an HBO documentary ninja—so props to him! And super-duper props to all the FAM who were there to represent with us: You guys were amazing for reals. Nothing but luv to you all!

After the set was over and the dust had settled, everyone from security guards to other performers complimented our set, so I guess we actually achieved that "lasting impression" we were in search of after all!

Till next time.
Much Much Family Luv,
jAMIE

As Santa Cruz are touring the U.S. in support of their recently released self-titled album (available via Spinefarm Records), the band will be blogging about their experiences for Revolver. For more on Santa Cruz, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Entry by Archie Cruz.

It's May 9, 2015, Helsinki Airport. Ready to get our asses on the plane for our first full-on US tour. So rad! We got the bass master Middy, drummer Taz, guitar player Johnny, and myself, Archie, ready to depart for this wonderful journey. Party on, excellent! Destination is the city that never sleeps, New York, baby.

We're all pumped & excited to get to shred through North America and we head down to our favorite airport bar Oak Barrel to get those brewskies down our throats. As the plane flies out to the evening sky, we chat about what's coming up for our lovely bunch across the pond called Atlantic. We have 18 shows supportin' our Swedish homies, Amaranthe, with whom we share the tour bus with and our soon to be mates from Detroit, I Prevail.

Before the tour kicks off in, we have couple of days off in NYC. We get to go to a friggin' Yankees game on a first night! Party on Wayne! Brewskies are downed & vibes are felt in Bronx that night. After the game we cruise to Manhattan and enjoy what the night has to offer. Next morning we wake our jetlagged, hungover bodies up with Johnny for a visit to Guitar World to shoot an instructional video of our song "We Are the Ones to Fall." We are super stoked 'cause we know our shred heroes from Zakk Wylde to John Mayer have sat here, bombing away! Great s*it!

The first gig of the tour takes place north of the border, in Montreal, Canada. Our knowledge of U.S.A.'s northern neighbors is pretty much limited in ice hockey, high-rate of weed smokers & 'South Park''s lovely portrayal of Canadian people. As we hear the intro kickin' in at Virgin Mobile Theatre, we have no idea what to expect. We look at each other & run to the stage. The lights kick in. We got this. The old burlesque theatre built in 1929 breaks out screaming. We are home. Canada is 100% proof baby! After a night of fun in the bus, we wake up in New York City again. It's time to rock the Big Apple tonight. Gramercy Theatre shook all night!

After amazing shows in Baltimore and in haunted house in Worcester, we rock Trocadero in Philadelphia. The house crew tells us that this is the venue where they shot the legendary video for the Pearl Jam song, "Evenflow." After checking out the town and the mandatory pilgrimage to the stairs where the one and only Rocky is jogging at in the late seventies Stallone classic, I guess it's only right to play a little tribute to Eddie Vedder and start climbing towards the roof of the venue in the last song of our set, "Aiming High." After watching I Prevail & Amaranthe sets, it's time to load out the gear out of the bus & in to a van, to depart for night-time roadtrip towards the biggest rock festival in the U.S.A., Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio. Schwing! We wake up at dawn, after a sweaty night of crankin' tunes in the van. Our set time is as early as 11:45 A.M., as we are the openers of the Sunday bill of the festival. The stage is set, the sun is shining and the people start flowing in. The only thing that's up to us now is to rock the shit out of Columbus man! 30 sweaty minutes later we own the crowd! What a show! Can't be anything but grateful for getting a slot on on a festival like this! After the show we split in two groups & head out to the artist lounge with Taz to down some Jack and cokes and do a bunch of interviews. We see Scott Ian and Joey Belladonna from Anthrax, the guys from Rival Sons & Crobot hanging out. Rad! The Crobot guys remember me from Finland when they opened for Black Label Society in Nosturi where we rehearse & keep shelter in Helsinki. We had some backstage fun and it's so cool to see these f*ckers again! We don't have too much time to enjoy the sun & the bands though, as we have to leave to the airport soon after we're done. It's time to set out towards the City of Angels, where the taping of Breaking Band for AXS-TV is done.

We fly to Phoenix, Arizona where we have a connecting flight to Los Angeles! Yarr! Next morning a ride comes to get us from out hotel in Marina Del Rey towards the YouTube Spaces where the episode will be filmed. The deal with Breaking Band is that we're shooting the episode which will be aired in September the whole day, after which we'll play a full 60 minute gig for a live audience & worldwide live Broadcast. We're told that we will be having a rockstar Mentor whose identity is kept from us. We speculate with the guys who it might be & we all agree that Sebastian Bach from Skid Row would be a dream come true for us! We hardly believe that could ever happen though. After we've done the soundcheck for the night's show we suddenly hear a voice on the loudspeakers "ALRIGHT I'VE SEEN ENOUGH! I'M COMING DOWN THERE!" My heart starts racing, "Oh my god, that sounds like Sebastian Bach…" But before I say anything, the door slams and in comes my favorite singer in the whole god damn world, Sebastian Bach, with horns up in the air. I jump off the stage and hug the mofo like I've known him all my life. All of us are smiling like 6-year-olds in a candy store. We're the happiest bastards on earth at this moment. Turns out Sebastian has been watching our soundcheck from another room and really liked what he saw. We are super stoked as we sit down with him to discuss rock 'n' roll. He tells us how he's blown away by our guitar work and how we remind him of his young self. He also says that Santa Cruz are the saviours of rock 'n' roll! Hearing this from our No. 1 idol is beyond nuts! After the crowd's arrived, where ready to crank it up in hot Los Angeles. Turns out Sebastian will be watching the whole set too! As we kick in to Bonafide Heroes, our first song, I belt out the opening scream and watch the man that inspired me to start singing in the first place straight in the eye. He smiles and gives me the horns. Oh boy, I guess dreams really do come true! We end the set with a surprise encore,  "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister with guest vocals from the king himself, Sebastian f'ckin' Bach! We've never played this song before, but we know it by heart and tear the place to bits! After the set Sebastian comes backstage, we have a killer time. These four sons of bitches are the happiest guys (with pants on) on Earth right now!  As we head out to the Rainbow and Hollywood night, nothing's gonna stop us! The 2015 U.S. tour could not have started better for us! The Cruz boys signing out for now, PEACE OUT!

Archie Cruz XXX

As horrorcore hip-hop duo Twiztid continue to to support their latest, 'The Darkness,' on the road, the band will be blogging about their experiences for Revolver.

Photos by Ryan Brewer and entry by Jamie Madrox.

We left the Michigan offices of Majik Ninja Entertainment in the early hours of Friday Morning May 1 and filed into the tour bus one after another. A few of us, including myself had went out on a drinking binge the night prior and weren't very bright eyed or able to form complete sentences when we arrived, but needless to say we, as well as the remnants of our whiskey bottles all hopped aboard and hit the road.

I awoke the next morning with the hangover of the century in the parking lot of Chicago's own Concord Music Hall. Regardless of what my spinning head and churning stomach were telling me, today was going to be a good day! We've got a lot of really cool down-to-earth bands and artists on this run, so meeting them all is going to be interesting for sure.

Doors for the show opened and bodies of FAM from Chicago and the surrounding areas quickly filled the Concord faster than a fat kid can wink at a cheeseburger. From the tour bus outside I could hear the rumble of bass and thumps from drums as the Uber talented acts on the Back To Hell The Darkness Tour 2015 each took the stage, leaving their opening night impressions on the slayed crowd. Finally it was time for us... I normally don't get any type of pre-show jitters so I'm still chalking up the pass out feeling to my whiskey onslaught. Needless to say, my brother and I took to the stage and schooled it like a substitute teacher on Adderall blowing off eyebrows and wigs of all in attendance with our brand of "Rock The Dead" underground fun!

When all was said and done and people were collecting themselves and heading to the doors we were making our way back to the hotel for some much deserved hot showers and then on to the late night snacks. Well there you have it... that's my first tour diary entry. I will make another entry again about this time next week too, and just maybe I'll invite some of my "Back To Hell-The Darkness tour" pals to pen some lines with me as well. 'Till then much much family luv!

All photos by Azara Golston.

• Parking set-up at Red Rocks: Labyrinthine.
• Press entry stages for Red Rocks: Box office, trading post, climbing van, and then waiting at the bottom of some stairs for a guy.
• Size of hassle: Very little. It's hard to be bothered when there are huge jutting red rock formations everywhere, and anyway, climbing that hill myself would've been murdered.
• Percentage of vitality lost to altitude: 12 percent. Man, it is…it is high around here.
• Percentage of audience bearded: 71 percent.
• Favorite Red Rocks employee: Gonzo, who insisted I come see Primus Thursday night.
• Venue layout: A huge outdoor Greek-style amphitheater face a huge stage with a giant rock formation behind it. Awesome.
• Sad state of merch: $35 T-shirts. What a bummer.
• Problem to look forward to: Having kids. Shirts will be $50 a pop by the time they're concert age, and I won't be able to say no to them.
• First up: Graveyard from Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Sounds like: Creedence went metal, but then took a lot of tranquilizers.
• Not to be confused with: Mausoleum from Pennsylvania. I always do that.
• Separated at birth: Drummer Axel Sjöberg and Opeth's Mikeal Åkerfeldt.
• Audience response: A lot of the people up front seem to be going apeshit, but everyone up here is sitting around.
• Timing issue: Graveyard seem like they'd be a lot better after dark, when everything is spooky out here and everyone is more stoned.
• Night's consumption method of choice: Vape pens. You can just smell that healthy seared weed rather than the dank burnt stuff.
• Security presence: Tight and hard. I've seen multiple different people get tapped on the shoulder by security guards.
• Notable fact: Red Rocks is also a state park, and they're pretty hardcore about the whole "No Weed on Federal Land" thing.
• Moon phase: Full and huge over the horizon.
• Tip for visitors: If you get a chance, go to the top of the Red Rocks amphitheater. The view is fucking breathtaking.
• Up next: Clutch from Maryland.
• Sounds like: A voodoo possession ceremony at a Texas biker bar. Where everyone's a cryptid.
• Neil Fallon quote of the night: "Well…isn't this fantastic."
• Favorite classic tracks played: "Pure Rock Fury," "Cypress Grove," "Cyborg Bette," "Texan Book of the Dead."
• Songs missed: "The Face," "Animal Farm."
• Favorite new track: "X-Ray Vision," a kickass new song about psychic warfare in everyday America.
• Chances this reporter would win a psychic battle with Neil Fallon: 42/1.
• First awesome guest appearance of the night: Mastodon's Brent Hinds playing standing guitar on "DC Sound Attack."
• Intense memory during Clutch's set: I say Clutch two years ago to yesterday, in New York at Terminal 5.
• How I remember this: It was the night that Jeff Hanneman died (R.I.P., Jeff).
• Number of audience members who drunkenly yell "SLAYER" at this reporter: 3. It's my hoodie.
• Urge to have a beer: Rising.
• Urge to navigate Red Rocks while tipsy: Entirely absent. I'll stay on the wagon.
• Number of beers it would take to feel drunk at this altitude: 0.6.
• Number of audience members thrown out before Mastodon: Two. At least they aren't "That Guy"—fighting a dude twice his size with a bloody nose.
• Last bloody nose had at a concert: Cavalera Conspiracy Wednesday night, but that was just me moshing.
• Number of concerts this reporter has been thrown out of: Two.
• Number of concerts Brent Hinds of Mastodon has probably been thrown out of: At least 75.
• Finally: Mastodon from Atlanta, Georgia.
• Sound like: Your metalhead friend when he gets back from his first semester at college.
• Separated at birth: Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher and South African rapper Jack Parow.
• Amount this reporter would pay for a ticket to see Mastodon play with Jack Parow: $150. Well, maybe more. Who's opening?
• Awesome image of the night: Mastodon playing with a strobe light behind them illuminating the huge slab of raw natural stone that serves as their backdrop.
• Stage set-up advice: Mastodon should forget banners and projections and just travel with a huge rock formation that they put behind themselves. Like Spinal Tap's Stonhenge.
• Favorite tracks played: "Oblivion," "Aqua Dementia," "Halloween".
• Second awesome guest appearance of the night: Clutch frontman Neil Fallon singing "Blood and Thunder" with the band.
• Way out of Red Rocks: Shadowy, winding, convoluted.
• Thank God moment: Being sober as I try to drive out of this insane place. Even tipsiness would do me in out here.
• Sight for sore eyes: Denver appearing around me. Ah, civilization!

Cavalera Conspiracy with Death Angel and Corrosion of Conformity Blind
Wednesday, April 29 at Summit Music Hall

• Number of times this reporter has seen Max Cavalera live: 0. This is a first.
• Surprising discovery of 2014: Wow, the new Cavalera Conspiracy album is actually really fucking awesome! It has this grimy tone and everything.
• Sad question this raises: Is this what Sepultura would have sounded like, had things not gone sour?
• Answer: Nah. Those guys needed to go through Soulfly and whatnot to sound anywhere near this good.
• Last Sepultura album this reporter loved: Look, we're trying to have a good time. Let's not pick that scab.
• Crowd make-up: A weird mix. You have your older meatheads who you can tell were deep into Roots­-era Sep, you've got your younger fans who are just getting into second-wave Death Angel, you have outlying goth and nu-metal characters in between.
• Notable contingent present: The Latino metalheads are out in full-force. Lots of Mexican and Brazilian dudes.
• Often-forgotten fact: Death Angel have always been a Latino band, Cali-thrashers that they are.
• First up: Corrosion of Conformity Blind, featuring vocalist Karl Agell and drummer Reed Mullin playing the Blind album.
• Sounds like: Big Southern groove metal with an intense hardcore edge.
• Important fact about history: It repeats itself.
• Questionable move: Naming yourselves after your old band name and album. Why not name it a song reference, like Heaven & Hell?
• Possible name alternatives: These Shrouded Times, Damned for All Time, Echoes in the Well.
• Notable stage moves: Karl Agell's flappity hand motions and head swinging. Look at him go!
• Notable absence: Weed. No one's smoking during CoC? Maybe they just brought out too much of the hardcore crowd.
• Perpetual question of Summit Music Hall: Who's going to be the first guy to piss in the Men's Room sink?
• Number of dudes seen eyeing said sink and considering: Three.
• Best shirt of the night: White Zombie "Get Up And Kill!" shirt on the big Jamey Jasta-looking dude. No one gives White Zombie their due anymore.
• Up next: Death Angel from the Bay Area.
• Sounds like: Late '80s thrash that joined the Marines and came back with arms the size of your thighs.
• Crowd reaction: Wonderfully enthusiastic.
• Wonderful sight of the night: A good old mosh pit to some good old thrash metal.
• Less welcome sight: The single girl in the spiked leather bra trying to mosh with evvvvveryone.
• Public service announcement: Revolver and its reporter fully endorse female metalheads and women who want to get in the pit and thrash, but maybe don't wear a spike leather bra to do so.
• Jarring memory of the night: Getting thrown out of L'Amours in Brooklyn because I was wearing a spiked leather cuff under my shirt. A massive hardcore dude looked the pit grabbing wrists until he found mine and dragged me to the door by my hood.
• Favorite tracks of the set: "Thrown To The Wolves," "Claws In So Deep," "Succubus."
• Tracks missed: "No," "Sonic Beatdown," "Soulless." Aw man, especially "Soulless."
• Tension waiting for Cavalera Conspiracy: Palpable.
• Unexpected appreciation of the night: I'm not a big fan of that double-C logo of Cavalera Conspiracy's, but it looks awesome when printed in huge letters on a backdrop.
• Odds that Gloria Cavalera drove someone Summit Music Hall crazy today: 4/1.
• Finally: Cavalera Conspiracy, from Brazil and Arizona respectively.
• Sounds like: Early-to-mid '90s groove thrash run through a filter of crushing doom metal.
• Crowd response: Massive, excited.
• Number of creatures living in Max Cavalera's hair and beard: 26.
• Instinctive response: My pulse jacking up as the opening drums to "Refuse/Resist" come on over the PA.
• Mental age: 15.
• Foolhardy decision: Fuck this, I have to mosh for "Refuse/Resist." My teenage self would never forgive me.
• Time spent in mosh pit before colliding with someone's shoulder: Three seconds.
• Vision: White.
• Nose: Bleeding furiously.
• Immediately state of Men's Room sink: Slaughterhouse. Drinking plus headbutt equals blood fucking everywhere.
• Comforting thought: I hope no one's peed in here yet.
• Ridiculous situation of the night: Running back and forth between the door and sink of the bathroom, alternating between stuffing my nose with toilet paper and seeing the band.
• Other Sepultura classics played: "Roots Bloody Roots," "We Who Are Not As Others."
• Time it takes for me to stop bleeding furiously: One hour.
• Faces of fellow passengers on the bus home: Aghast.
• Tonight's lesson: Don't mosh when you're drunk and 30.