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New Years Day has premiered a new song and music video for "Other Side." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!
The track comes off the band's forthcoming 'Epidemic' EP, out November 18 via Grey Area Records. The EP is available for pre-order here.
Vocalist Ash Costello said, "We've taken what we have experienced in the past year and a half and poured it all into these new songs. We have had such an incredible year but at the same time, dealt with many hardships as we discovered who our real friends were and real enemies. The people who love you for you, and the people who are never satisfied with anything you do. It's something we know everyone can relate to on their own level. The world can infect us with its negativity, and it's ok to struggle with it. That's truly what 'Epidemic' is about. Owning the diseased parts of us and turning it into a strength."
Butcher Babies have premiered their cover of 'They're Coming to Take Me Away," as made popular by Napoleon XIV. Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!
The band's covers EP, 'Uncovered,' will be out September 30 via Century Media Records.
Lacuna Coil released their new album, 'Broken Crown Halo,' earlier this year. Today, the band has teamed up with Revolver to premiere a new music video for "Nothing Stands in Our Way." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments!
To get 'Broken Crown Halo,' visit iTunes or Century Media's webstore. For more on Lacuna Coil, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Carla Harvey of the Butcher Babies will release a semi-autobiographical novel, 'Death and Other Dances,' on August 25. The book is available for pre-order on Harvey's webstore. She will be doing a book signing and reading at Book Soup in Los Angeles on August 28.
'Death and Other Dances' tells the story of Autumn Franklin, an awkward, biracial girl growing up in a suburb of Detroit. Already disconnected from her peers at an early age because of her background, she becomes even more withdrawn when her young parents divorce. Ever changing but stubbornly tenacious, she survives the cards she's been dealt by playing them against the odds. Hurt her and she will not hesitate to "kill you off," making it easier to walk away. Transplanting herself from her factory-driven hometown to the alluring City of Angels, she has but one goal: to find herself. Struggling to make solid connections with those around her, Autumn swallows her reservations and pushes limits to the extreme as she transitions between two drastic career changes: from the bowels of the adult entertainment industry to her rebirth as a mortician. There amongst the dead, she learns what it is to live, love, and to allow others inside, finally landing in the most comfortable place of all: her own skin.
Today, Harvey teamed up with Revolver to premiere an excerpt from the book. Check it out below.
Danny always met me outside the brick entrance to school every morning. One day, he didn't show. I went to my first period class and tried to concentrate but my thoughts centered on him. He still wasn't around after second period. During third period, I was called to the principal's office. As I walked down the hallway my blood ran cold.
I opened the door and my mother and Danny's mother, Cathy, sat in the office chairs. Cathy's face was raw and puffy. My mother looked shell-shocked. They both walked me outside. I felt like I was going to throw up. We stood in the sun for a moment, and Danny's mother finally spoke. "Danny was hurt once," she started and paused. "It happened at church.
Someone hurt him... so this really isn't his fault. He didn't mean to hurt his sister." My face turned red. I rolled her words around in my brain, trying to make sense of them. "Danny," my mother interjected, "isn't coming home for a while. He touched his sister and he had to go away." I couldn't breathe. "You are not to talk to him anymore."
I turned away from her stare. "Okay," I said. "I have to go back to class now. I have a test." "Are you okay?" My mother touched me on the shoulder. "I'm fine," I said, and pushed her hand away. I didn't want to be touched. "Okay, well, we'll talk later about this more?" "I don't need to." I turned and walked back into school. I went to my locker and took out Danny's notebook. He always left it in my locker when he couldn't open his, which was most of the time. It smelled just like him. I opened it, burying my nose in the pages and breathing him in. I held it in my hands and cried.
The news spread like wildfire through our middle school. By the next afternoon everyone knew that Danny Hunt had been sent away for "diddling" his sister. The kids were unforgiving. Spitballs were launched at my head, laughter thrown in my face. I walked the halls with my head down. I tried to make it through the day without going to the girls' bathroom. When I couldn't hold it in any longer, I found the bathroom furthest away from every class, aware that it would make me late for math class. I snuck behind the sanctuary of the restroom's big red door, locking myself in the last stall.
One time, I was seen. The door slammed open again, letting in two giggling "He musta had to do that to his sister because you wouldn't fuck him," one said, tapping on my stall door with her nails. I stared at my feet. "You shoulda sucked his dick."
"Nasty bitch," her friend joined in. I could see their Reeboks under the stall door as they stood and waited for me to come out. I knew the bell would ring any second. I just had to wait for it. I stopped going to the bathroom altogether after that day. My insides atrophied. My mother took me to the doctor. They poked and prodded me, gave me barium shakes to drink so that they could investigate my intestines on the big screen. I was too ill to go to back to school. I stayed at home, comatose on the couch.
The letters began to arrive. Danny sent me snippets of his hair with letters from prison. Once, he even sent me a piece of his skin. All of his letters smelled like him and I would sleep with them under my pillow. I wanted to be sick forever so I could stay and watch the mailbox.
Danny had an older brother named Todd. Todd was even better looking than Danny and acne free. He also always wore a leather trench coat that I was infatuated with. I decided with Danny long gone, Todd was my next best option. But there were other contenders as well. From the ninth grade on, I'd had dates booked for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My mother was beside herself. "One of these boys is going to kill you," she'd say. "Someone is going to chop you up and put you in a suitcase!"
But how could I choose? I loved them all desperately and for different reasons until they'd do something to annoy me. It could be something as slight as the way they chewed their food, a catch phrase they overused, or a song I loved that they didn't get. Whatever the reason, I would cut them off instantly and brutally, wanting them scarred, all of them. After all, I knew they would do it to me eventually. I had to protect myself. I hated them all.
Lzzy Hale of Halestorm joined country artist Eric Church onstage at Tuesday's CMA Music Festival's "Country's Night to Rock" special. Together they performed Church's "That's Damn Rock and Roll," which you can see below. And thanks to Phillip Sweet for the sweeeet shout-out!!!
Halestorm will join Church on tour this fall.
The Pretty Reckless' Taylor Momsen celebrated her 21st birthday over the weekend. She hosted a party at the Harrah's Pool Party in Atlantic City, NJ—photos can be seen below.
In addition to the event, Momsen's fans celebrated her birthday with a record-breaking birthday card as seen here: http://goingtohell.me/
Revolver's own Stephanie Cabral was on hand to catch all the action for Eyes Set To Kill, Evolove, and Speaking the Kings' stop on August 2 at the Whisky in West Hollywood, California. Check out the photos she captured for us below–you can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
As a thank you to their fans for getting us to a million likes on Facebook, Halestorm have posted a live video of an acoustic performance of "Sweet Love," an unreleased song the group wrote with Weezer mainman Rivers Cuomo. Check out the clip below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Seventeen-year-old rocker chick Diamante has premiered her cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Watch the live video below and let us know what you think in the comments.
"Musically, Nirvana has become a huge inspiration in my life," Diamante comments. "Nirvana's music is essentially pop melodies with a hard rock edge, and that is what I see my own music to be. I want to bring rock music back to the masses, and back to top 40 radio especially. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is the best track to connect those who don't know me yet to something familiar. It is such an iconic song, and no one has really had the balls to cover it yet. This cover is our own token of mad respect Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, they've been such a strong influence to all of us growing up."
Diamante's single "Bite Your Kiss" is now available on iTunes. For more on Diamante, visit her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Revolver readers may remember axwoman Nita Strauss from the all-female metal tribute group The Iron Maidens or for her regular appearances as one of the magazine's Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock and Metal. Now she's the new guitarist for shock rocker Alice Cooper. We caught up with Strauss on the first day of rehearsals as the band prepared its set as the special guest for Motley Crue's final tour to talk about how she got the gig, playing for the L.A. KISS, and how she's come to shred so hard.
REVOLVER How did you get the gig as Alice Cooper's new guitarist?
NITA STRAUSS You know who connected the dots? It was actually Kip Winger. He heard through the grapevine they were looking for a guitar player and he threw my name in the mix. A little while later I got a call to meet Shep Gordon [manager] and Bob Ezrin [producer]. From there it snowballed and happened really fast.
And you're replacing Orianthi.
I'm taking the place or Orianthi who took the place of Steve Hunter, who took the place of Kane Roberts—Alice has had a history of incredible guitar players in his band. So I'm just feeling really lucky to be the latest one. I feel Incredibly honored. To this day I still can't believe I'm standing here. I was standing in the dressing room with [guitarists] Tommy Henriksen and Ryan Roxie, and I'm like, Woah, I'm here. [Laughs] It's really happening. It's me!
What's your favorite Alice Cooper memory?
I think the real amazing memories are going to be happening on this tour. My mom was telling me when I got the gig, she said she saw Alice when she was in 8th grade. [Laughs] And she said, 'Are you going to play that song, "I'm Eighteen?'" I said, "I'll try to get it in the set for you, mom."
Are your parents supportive of what you do?
My parents are incredibly supportive. My dad is a musician and he got me my first guitar and taught me how to play my first few chords. My mom is really supportive, too. They don't come to shows as much because I think they know I don't want them to. If you really like going crazy in playing in heavy-metal bands, it's kind of funny if you're up there screaming about death and blood even if your parents are in the back.
Recently you've been playing with L.A. KISS—what was your favorite part?
Playing with the L.A. KISS was an awesome experience. I'm a big NFL fan, and they asked if I wanted to come down and do some stuff for the KISS. I ended up playing the national anthem at the home games and doing some game break stuff. I gotta say I think the anthem was my favorite part for sure because first of all, it's such an honor to do it. When they say, "Please rise and salute America," and you're the one who gets to lead that salute—that's a pretty incredible feeling.
A lot of guitar legends have national anthem renditions, too.
Satriani, Hendrix, Slash… I watched all of theirs and tried to put my own spin on it but be respectful. You have to be respectful of a song like that because you don't want to take it and shred over it too much. I actually got some criticism on social media saying I used the national anthem as a chance to show off. I thought it's because I can't overcome how much I love this song!
How much would you say you practice or play guitar a day?
It really depends on what I'm doing. There's not a day that goes by where I don't play for a while. For instance, this tour I treat like a normal job. I get up in the morning and have my coffee and then I sit down and play guitar for six to eight hours. Sometimes I actually have to stop myself from playing because my hands will get fatigued if I play for more than a certain amount of hours. I stop at 10 at night and say, "OK, I can't play again until tomorrow," so I will be able to play the next day. I think the most important thing is to just keep your hands in shape. A lot of guitar players will go for weeks without playing and I think that's like if you're a runner and you go a couple weeks without doing any cardio. You just want to keep your chops up.
What's the most important advice you would give younger guitar players?
I think the most important advice is what I wish someone would have told me: It's so important to stretch before and after you play, especially if you know you're going to be playing for a long time. It's paramount, absolutely so important to stretch carefully. I actually didn't know that and gave myself a very bad permanent hand injury because I would just sit down for six hours and play these repetitive riffs over and over again so now I have a stress injury in my hand. So every young guitar player reading this—stretch, stretch, stretch. Take five whole minutes and it will make a world of difference.
There are a lot of differing opinions from women in the music industry and metal. What would you say is yours?
You are right when you say differing opinions because I read about a lot of female musicians and read interviews and they have all these horror stories. And really, when you look at someone like Lita Ford or Joan Jett, they did have it a lot harder than we do now. They were the ones that blazed the trail for us. I can't remember the last time someone said to me, "You're pretty good for a girl." People just don't say that anymore. I've also spent a lot of time making sure that my chops are where they need to be so nobody can say that. Nobody tells me I'm not good because I'm a girl, because they don't see me going out there and not playing well.
I'm always interested in other girls' responses, too. Sure, you'll still have people that still have the outdated stereotype that girls can't play guitar, but you look at Jennifer Batten and there's so many incredible female players out there like Courtney Cox and Orianthi. People who have this idea that girls can't play guitar just need to do a little bit of homework.
It's not like you're going to ask your doctor, "What's it like being a female doctor?" or "What's it like being a female auto mechanic?" It might be mostly guys but there are girls that excel in every field, whether it's playing guitar, writing about metal or being a proctologist. Actually, I'm sure most guys would rather have a female proctologist. [Laughs]