Knee High Fox–the L.A. rock band featuring frontwoman Christine Connolly, bassist Simon Nagel, and drummer Tuesdai Murgia–are currently recording their debut album with renowned producer Howard Benson (Halestorm, RED, Art of Dying); the record is set for release later this year. In anticipation, the group is premiering its new music video, for the song “Black Widow,” right here right now. Check it out below.
If frontwoman Connolly looks familiar, it’s probably because she has acted in such films as Underworld: Evolution and In the Land of Women. An accomplished songwriter, she also cowrote Halestorm’s “I Miss Misery,” 12 Stones “Blind,” and several songs with Theory of a Deadman including “Bad Girlfriend” and “Lowlife.”
Check the band out at: KneeHighFox.com, Facebook.com/KneeHighFox and on Twitter.
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Leading up to the end of the year, Revolver has asked some of our favorite artists to pick their Top Albums of 2012 and tell us why each record rules. Here, hard-rock band Blameshift selects their faves.
5. Hit the Lights, Invicta
“This record is a lot more mature without losing their original sound completely. The songs are put together much better than their previous work.”
4. I the Mighty, Karma Never Sleeps EP
“If you haven’t heard of this band yet…now’s the time. They write incredible songs that are as much catchy as they are intricate.”
3. 12 Stones, Beneath the Scars
“We had the opportunity to tour with this amazing band all summer. This record is their best work to date. The songs are all amazing and lyrically it’s just perfect. The conviction and emotion in Paul McCoy’s voice is undeniable.”
2. The Used, Vulnerable
“The Used can do no wrong..and this record just proved that even more. We really love the energy of this record.”
1. Yellowcard, Southern Air
“This record has some of the best rock songs we’ve heard in a while on it. It’s feel-good rock and roll.”
Alt rockers 12 Stones are currently in the midst of their summer headlining Beneath the Scars Tour in support of their fourth studio album, Beneath the Scars, which hit stores in May. The band recently teamed up with Feed Them With Music to help raise funds for the charity’s fight against hunger. Through Groupees.com, the band offered a name-your-price digital bundle of dozens of songs, including their second and third albums, a rarities collection, and several unreleased songs. Check out one of those unreleased tracks, “Picture Perfect,” below. For more information on Feed Them With Music, head to: FeedThemWithMusic.com. You can catch 12 Stones on tour this summer at the dates under the song stream.
12 Stones, “Picture Perfect”
12 Stones with Blameshift, Digital Summer, and Throwing Gravity:
8/01 – Stanhope, NJ @ Stanhope House
8/02 – Buffalo, NY @ Broadway Joe’s
8/03 – Mechanicsville, VA @ Cullen’s Cove
8/04 – Centreville, VA @ Bull Run Park (Summer Jam Fest)
8/05 – Towson, MD @ Recher Theater
8/06 – Charlotte, NC @ Milestone Club
8/07 – Marietta, GA @ 120 Tavern & Music Hall
12 Stones on tour:
8/11 – Franklin, MN @ City Baseball Field (with Edisun, Scattered Hamlet, Blameshift)
8/13 – Nashville, TN @ Hard Rock Café
8/20 – West Hollywood, CA @ Whisky A Go Go
8/24 – Portland, OR @ Bossanova Ballroom (with Bobaflex, Ionia)
8/31 – Colorado Springs, CO @ Sunshine Studios Live (with Bobaflex, Ionia)
Rock on the Range returns for its sixth year boasting a massive lineup covering the rock spectrum. America’s premier destination rock festival will be held May 18–20 at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, featuring performances from Incubus, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Five Finger Death Punch, Slash, Megadeth, Chevelle, Cypress Hill, Mastodon, and many more.
“Incubus is stoked to be joinin’ the killer lineup at Rock On The Range this year. We’ll see y’all in Columbus,” comments Brandon Boyd from festival co-headliner Incubus.
“If you thought last time was a blast, then this time we are gonna blow your fucking mind,” says co-headliner Rob Zombie.
To get the party started and based on the success of last year’s anniversary celebration, the weekend will kick off with the Friday Night 4Play, which is absolutely free with every Rock on the Range weekend ticket purchase. The May 18 party will feature performances from Hairball, Foxy Shazam, Hells Bells, and more.
The current lineup for Rock on the Range 2012 is as follows: Incubus, Rob Zombie, Shinedown, Marilyn Manson, Five Finger Death Punch, Slash, Megadeth, Chevelle, Cypress Hill, Mastodon, Theory of a Deadman, Volbeat, Down, The Darkness, Halestorm, Escape The Fate, P.O.D., Lacuna Coil, Adelitas Way, Black Stone Cherry, Cavo, Attack Attack!, Trivium, Bobaflex, Falling In Reverse, Redlight King, Aranda, Emphatic, Otherwise, James Durbin, Black Tide, Kyng, 12 Stones, SOiL, Rival Sons, Eve To Adam, and Ghosts of August.
Monster Energy returns as one of the driving partners behind the success of Rock on the Range as more than 15 acts perform on the mammoth Monster Main Stage. Jägermeister also celebrates its fifth year as a key partner while welcoming 12 of the hottest up-and-coming bands to the in-your-face, up close and personal Jägermeister Music Stage. In all, Rock on the Range features three stages, 44 bands, and three days of non-stop rock.
“There are so many incredible bands playing at ROTR this year, and every one of them is significant,” says Del Williams, co-executive producer of the event for Right Arm Entertainment. “I think this is the most interesting mix of bands that we have had at the festival. The Rangers already know that the weekend is going to be insanely great, but there will be surprises this year and a certain edge to the lineup that will likely create some of the most memorable moments in the six-year history of Rock on the Range.”
Tickets for Rock on the Range go on sale Friday, February 10, at 10:00 A.M. EST at the festival’s website, Ticketmaster, and the Crew Stadium Box Office. Two-day weekend stadium GA tickets once again start at just $99.50 (plus service and transaction fees). A limited number of ROTR presale layaway tickets are also still available through February 29. Visit www.RockOnTheRange.com for full details and VIP package information.
Visit www.RockOnTheRange.com, www.facebook.com/rockontherange, and www.twitter.com/rockontherange for the most up-to-date information.
Presented by Right Arm Entertainment, AEG LIVE and Crew Stadium, Rock on the Range is a multi-stage music and lifestyle event featuring a potent line-up of bands on three stages. The nationally renowned festival centrally located in the heart of the country has annually drawn weekend crowds in excess of 70,000 since its inception in 2007.
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Hard rockers 12 Stones are set to release Only Human (Executive Music), their fourth full-length, on August 23. The album comes four years after 2007′s Anthem for the Underdog (Wind-up) and follows up last year’s EP The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday. Since forming in 2002, the band’s aggressive sound has earned them at least five WWE theme songs, including “Broken” and “We Are One,” as well as spots on soundtracks for movies like The Scorpion King and Never Back Down. And the band has followed, grabbing themselves multiple GMA Dove award nominations since forming over a decade ago.
Listen for the new single, which will hit radio in late June. For now, McCoy fills us in on the album’s progress, his stance on Christian rock, and what it’s like to be a Navy SEAL for a day.
REVOLVER How’s it going in the studio?
PAUL McCOY It’s going great! We’re finishing some stuff up now. We’re doing some last-minute vocals, some guitar stuff. We’re in the last week of it.
What can fans expect from the new album?
One of the things that I love about this record is that there are so many different things. We’ve got some songs that are really heavy and then some really nice songs that have a full orchestra behind them. There’s a lot of variety on this record. Those 12 Stones fans that like the heavy stuff, we’ve got something for them. And the 12 Stones people who like “Lie to Me” and stuff like that, we’ve got plenty of songs in there for them as well. This album’s our most mature for sure.
Rumors suggest that you had enough material for a full-length last year. Why did you release an EP instead?
It wasn’t our decision. We were with Wind-up at the time. They wanted a five song EP, and we did what they told us to do. When we came in to do this record we’re working on now, we showed up with over 40 songs that were pretty close to recordable. So we picked from that and wrote some more stuff when we got here to Nashville, Tennessee. I think we have a great record because of it.
Some of your older songs have been used in the WWE. Are you a wrestling fan?
I watched wrestling a lot when I was younger, but lately I don’t watch too much of it. We got to meet a bunch of wrestlers. We met the Nexus guys and John Cena when they came to New Orleans. We sat ring-side. It was really cool. I enjoy the fact that a lot of people who are really into wrestling become 12 Stones fans because our songs are used.
You won a Grammy for your personal work on the Evanescence song “Bring Me to Life.” Is that a goal for the entire band?
Absolutely. I would love to go to the Grammys and get an award with all these guys. These are guys who have been putting in blood, sweat, and tears right next to me for ten years. The thing I did with Evanescence was great, but it was done in a couple hours for me. When it’s your band doing the same thing? When that’s rewarded, that’s got to be one of the best feelings ever. But as an award winner, I’m actually able to vote for the Grammys, so that’s pretty cool.
If all that wasn’t enough recognition, you guys were also nominated for Christian music GMA Dove awards earlier in your career. Does religion still play a big role in your writing?
It plays somewhat of a role. It’s tough for me because we’re not a Christian band. We get played on Christian radio and sold in Christian bookstores because for some reason everyone latches on to the lyrics in a religious context. That’s great, but it gets bad when they get mad at you for something like having a picture with a beer in your hand. Being or not being Christian shouldn’t matter. If you hire a plumber, and he does great work, but he’s not a Christian plumber, are you not going to hire him anymore? Now that you know we’re not a Christian band, does everything you heard and all the meaning of our music for you just go away? I don’t understand how that works.
Have you kept up with any of the members of Evanescence?
By way of Facebook I talk to Ben Moody and a couple of those guys. The strange thing about all that is none of us really knew each other. We were on the same label, and it was one of those, “Yeah, awesome, I’d love to be on another record.” We honestly at the time had no idea it was going to do what it did. It was just one of those things where I flew in and tracked for a couple hours. Then I had to fly out at 5 in the morning to go back to Texas and start a tour with 12 Stones opening for Sevendust.
Speaking of tours, what are your plans for the coming months?
At the end of June, we’re actually going to Japan to play for the troops overseas. We’re playing a show on July 4 in a military base in Japan. So we’re super stoked about that. We’re very big supporters of the troops and the families of the troops.
What’s your most memorable moment from performing for military?
When we were working on the last record, we went out and played a free concert for the U.S. Navy SEALs out near San Diego. They walked us through their daily routine, and we actually got to take one of the rafts they use for training. We got to paddle it out in the ocean with a Navy SEAL. For training, you have to paddle out in the boat and get past where the waves are breaking, then turn around and come back in. They said that eight out of 10 rookie SEALs flip their boat the first time they try. A bunch of fat, tattooed rock guys went out there and kept the boat right side up and road the wave all the way into the beach. But I got embarrassed on the obstacle course, obviously.
Interview by Cody Thomas / Photo by Mark Anthony Jeffries