Unleashing A Killer – ENFORCER
Swedish heavy metal band ENFORCER are proud to today release their second live album, Live By Fire II, which documents their killer 2019 performance in Mexico City.
Physical formats of the release include extensive booklets containing a tour program, liner notes and tons of photos compiled and designed by vocalist/guitarist Olof Wikstrand recapturing ENFORCER’s touring cycle for the albums From Beyond and Zenith during the years 2015 – 2020.
To celebrate the release, the band premiered the video of the entire live show on YouTube yesterday!
Live By Fire II offers an intense and passionate performance captured in front of a truly dedicated and wild audience in Mexico City, 2019. Live By Fire II lets you experience ENFORCER at the top of their game and marks an outstanding live record documenting the group’s steady path to global recognition in recent years. It also serves as a stunning reminder of how many heavy metal anthems ENFORCER have crafted on their total of five studio albums so far! From the speed metal attack of ‘Destroyer’, ‘Searching For You’, ‘Midnight Vice’ to perfect sing-alongs like ‘From Beyond’, ‘One Thousand Years In Darkness’ and ‘Take Me Out Of This Nightmare’, the enthusiastic crowd and powerful sound of Live By Fire II result in a captivating and extremely entertaining listen.
Live By Fire II tracklisting:
01 Die For The Devil
02 Searching For You
03 Undying Evil
04 From Beyond
05 Bells Of Hades + Death Rides This Night
06 Zenith Of The Black Sun
07 Live For The Night
08 Mesmerized By Fire
09 One Thousand Years Of Darkness
10 Guitar Solo + City Lights Jam
11 Scream Of The Savage
12 Drum Solo
13 Run For Your Life
14 Take Me Out Of This Nightmare
15 Destroyer
16 Katana
17 Midnight Vice
ENFORCER is:
Olof Wikstrand | vocals, guitars
Jonas Wikstrand | drums, piano & keyboards
Tobias Lindqvist | bass
Jonathan Nordwall | guitars
Looking Back – Filmore
Curb Records recording artist Filmore knows a good thing when he sees it. His new song, “Good Thing,” the first in a batch of new songs Filmore is slated to share in the coming months, dropped yesterday (19/3). Listen to the new track HERE.
“Good Thing” finds the singer recalling sweet memories he shared with a former flame, wondering out loud if she, too, looks back on their time together and realises how good they had it. “My song, ‘Good Thing,’ is about key moments and experiences since I moved to Nashville. The song is looking back at real aspects of my past during my early 20s. It was my first time living in a city by myself and sharing that with another human. All those things are touched on in this song from a very real place,” Filmore says of the track he co-wrote with Geoff Warburton and Zach Abend. “When you look back and reminisce on things, it doesn’t mean that it was bad—you can have a good thing back then and not be with that person now. There’s just different chapters of life, and that’s what ‘Good Thing’ is for me.”
The fresh track follows Filmore’s return to Ballpark Village in St. Louis on March 5th. The Wildwood, Missouri native performed a sold-out, socially distant acoustic show, which followed strict COVID-19 protocol, on the Fox Sports Midwest Live! stage as part of the Hot Country Nights: Homegrown Series, presented by 92.3 WIL, at the home of the St. Louis Cardinals. Filmore headlined the same concert series in February 2020 with a full band and a sold-out, full-capacity crowd right before the pandemic shuttered live events.
The “Slower” singer recently sat down with American Songwriter for their “Drinks With” interview series filmed at the all-new Virgin Hotels Nashville on Music Row to talk about releasing music during a pandemic, his songwriting process, and his favourite tour moment to date. Watch him answer a round of rapid-fire questions HERE. In addition, the singer/songwriter filmed a set of exclusive acoustic performances for American Songwriter’s “Behind the Mic” series, presented by Jack Daniel’s, where he also shared stories behind the songs from his recently released album, State I’m In. Watch the stripped-down “Behind the Mic” performance of his current radio single, “Nothing’s Better,” HERE.
“Groundbreaking” is just one word that can begin to describe Curb Records recording artist Filmore, a Wildwood, Missouri native, who now calls Nashville home. With over 171 million on-demand streams, appearances on NBC’s “TODAY” and The Bobby Bones Show, the singer/songwriter has honed his electric and engaging live show by opening for artists such as Sam Hunt, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Dan + Shay, Lauren Alaina, and Pitbull; and has rocked performances at Stagecoach, Watershed, CMA Fest and Country Thunder. Song releases like “Slower,” “Love That About You,” and “Other Girl” are resonating with fans thanks to unprecedented streaming boosts, as prior to being signed, Filmore was the first independent artist to be featured on Spotify’s Hot Country cover. Filmore’s new radio single, “Nothing’s Better,” impacted at Country Radio on 2/16/21. F
For more information, visit filmoremusic.com or follow online @filmoremusic.
A Magnetic Pull – DUSTIN LYNCH
BMG/BBR Music Group hitmaker Dustin Lynch is just one phone call away in brand-new song, “Thinking ‘Bout You” (feat. MacKenzie Porter) available now at all streaming platforms and digital retailers – listen now.
The artists were interviewed by Baylen Leonard earlier today on Country Hits Radio, with MacKenzie returning to the station from 4pm GMT today for a DJ set and live performance as part of their Live Weekenders series.
Feeling the magnetic pull of the past, Lynch is giving second life to a track first shared on his acclaimed TULLAHOMA album. Now teaming with a new country riser for the passionate power duet, heart-pounding hooks and memory-soaked vocals stir up nostalgic romance, as exes begin to reconnect: “Don’t be sorry for calling me up right outta the blue / I was just thinking ’bout you.”
“This is one of my favorite songs from TULLAHOMA, and I’m so excited we get to shine a light on it in a new way with MacKenzie. We chose her voice for this version when my team and I reached out to our country music community for submissions from newer artists. Not wanting to be swayed by any other factors, we got a folder of numbered submissions and listened blindly,” shares Lynch. “It all pointed to MacKenzie. I fell in love with her tone – it was effortless and honest. Her voice is something that can’t be taught, it’s clear she was born with that tone. She was brilliant at bringing her uniqueness to this song, but also keeping it familiar for fans of the original.”
Dialling up Porter to star in his “Thinking ‘Bout You” music video, the duet partners went live on Lynch’s YouTube and Instagram this afternoon (19/3) to chat with fans and count down to the anticipated YouTube premiere. Assuming the roles of a former couple reminiscing over the phone, the moody clip is all-too-relatable as snapshots of a long-gone relationship flash into view. Directed by Justin Nolan Key, the intimate conversation by-way-of the Lynch, Andy Albert, Hunter Phelps, and Will Weatherly-penned lyrics, ring straight to the heart of a broken connection.
“‘Momma’s House’ isn’t what it seems,” warns The Tennessean, as the Top 10-and-rising hit continues its blaze at US country radio, while his fourth studio album has already delivered back-to-back #1s: Platinum “Ridin’ Roads” and Gold “Good Girl” – both co-written by Lynch.
Singer-songwriter MacKenzie Porter is a rising Country talent whose sound knows no borders. Signed to Big Loud Records, Porter is surging now with DRINKIN’ SONGS: THE COLLECTION, an arsenal of two years’ worth of new music produced by Joey Moi. Since moving to Nashville in 2014 from her native Canada, she’s developed a radiant Country style which threads the needle between traditional heart and modern energy, often collaborating with songwriting mainstays like Nicolle Galyon, Craig Wiseman, Natalie Hemby, and Tommy English. Her “mesmerizing vocals and hook-driven songs” (Billboard) have sparked a list of headline-worthy accolades, including multiple Canadian Country Music Award nominations — 4X Female Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Fans’ Choice — as well as 2021 and 2015 JUNO Award nominations, both for Country Album of the Year. Making her mark, Porter became the first female artist to have three back-to-back #1 singles at Canadian Country radio in 22 years with “About You,” “These Days” and “Seeing Other People” in early 2020, following Shania Twain in 1998. Porter also earned her first crossover Top 10 at Canadian Pop radio — a first since 2003 for a Canadian country artist — with “These Days (Remix),” and joined CMT’s elite sisterhood of tastemakers and trailblazers as one of their Next Women of Country class of 2021. The Pandora 2021 Country Artist to Watch has toured extensively on her own, also sharing stages with Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Chris Lane, Blake Shelton and Dallas Smith, and co-starred in the Netflix series, Travelers.
For more info, visit: https://mackenzieporter.com
Stuck On You – DOGJOY
Florida-based duo DOGJOY have delivered their latest video, “Super Glue” – an exploration of dark sounds being washed over with distortion and robotic frequencies – an appropriate parallel to these times where simply giving into uncertainty and chaos seems the best option for survival. The track comes from their latest EP, Hardcore Fun, available digitally now.
“I wanted to tell a story about a being who is either cursed or very special, who has arrived in the world in a strange way,” explains DOGJOY vocalist KK. “Lyrically, the song is about a person who has a little too much control over a more vulnerable partner; terms of endearment become traps meditatively set until the two are woven together like threads in super glue.”
An accurate description of the dance/pop/electronic, DOGJOY was formed by vocalist Katherine Kelly Larson (known as KK), and producer Jasmine Deja. Both idolize synthesizers, 808s, vocoders, pop melodies, and weird sounds, and collectively the two-piece offer a versatile and surprising journey – from the moody vocal style in “Super Glue,” to the infectious rhythm of “Heartbeat,” and back to dark pop in “Into the Night” and “Feed Me Poison.”
The Florida twosome released their full length debut Sober Nights in October 2020, and follow-up EP, Hardcore Fun, released in December 2020.
Uncertain Times – The Cambridge Folk Festival Is Cancelled
The Cambridge Folk Festival will not go ahead this year, it has been announced. Ticket holders will be offered a choice of a full refund or rolling their tickets forward to 2022.
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision, and it is not one any of us wanted to make,” said Cllr Anna Smith, Executive Councillor for Communities. “The Festival is an enormous undertaking, bringing together scores of artists, hundreds of staff, and thousands of music lovers from around the country and beyond, which we are not currently able to guarantee can be delivered safely. Our first responsibility must be the well-being of the people we serve – both our festival-goers and our local residents.” “Despite the government roadmap out of lockdown, a great deal of uncertainty remains over how large-scale summer events would work,” Cllr Smith continued. “We still don’t know whether artists will be able to travel internationally and what steps organisers would be required to take to keep the public safe. With summer and the need to make binding contractual commitments fast approaching, we couldn’t delay a decision any longer. We are all so upset that we can’t have the Festival this summer, but we look forward to being together again in person in 2022.”
Established by Cambridge City Council and held each year since 1965, the Festival is renowned for its unique atmosphere and eclectic mix of music. It attracts legendary traditional folk artists along with cutting edge contemporary acts, the finest Americana, blues and roots artists, world music and acclaimed singer songwriters.
Heading For The Stars – MIDDLE KIDS
The Sydney-based three-piece Middle Kids (Hannah Joy, Tim Fitz and Harry Day) today release “Today We’re The Greatest”, the cinematic title track from their hotly anticipated second album, out this Friday March 19th 2021 via Lucky Number (pre-save ithere).
“Today We’re The Greatest” features a heartachingly beautiful performance from lead singer Hannah Joy and showcases the juxtaposition of her compelling songwriting. The grandiose and romantic notion of the song’s title is offset by the repeated refrain “life is gory and boring sometimes” which both closes the song and also the album – reveling equally in the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly.
About the song, Hannah explains:
“This is a simple song of people being TINY and our lives being FLEETING but in that we are EPIC and GREAT. It’s finding the beauty and majesty of the every day. Therein lies life and meaning.
LIFE IS GORY AND BORING SOMETIMES: it’s both hectic and mundane and we have to accept both.”
Pre-save / pre-order the album here.
“Today We’re The Greatest” is accompanied by a stunning music video directed by W.A.M. Bleakley and filmed on the Kiama costal path in Australia.
“Today We’re The Greatest” follows the release of singles “Stacking Chairs”, “Cellophane (Brain)’’, “R U 4 ME?” and “Questions” and was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mommy, Purity Ring). The album Today We’re The Greatest is the uninhibited product of fearless collaboration, a vivid collection of 12 courageous, personal and rattling songs. It follows the release of the band’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut, Lost Friends, which was awarded Album of the Year by Triple J Radio and was also nominated for Best Rock Album at the ARIA Awards. The record earned them support slots with the likes of Bloc Party, War on Drugs and Cold War Kids as well as several US TV show performances including Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and The Late, Late Show with James Corden.
Tracklist:
Bad Neighbours
Lost in Los Angeles
Golden Star
Summer Hill
Some People Stay In Our Hearts Forever
Run With You
I Don’t Care
Follow Middle Kids:
http://www.luckynumbermusic.com
A Great British Classic – The Treatment
Frontiers Music Srl is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the The Treatment’s new studio album, “Waiting For Good Luck” on April 9, 2021. Today, fans can get their first taste of the new album in the form of new single and video ‘Rat Race’.
“Waiting For Good Luck” is the fifth full-length album from British hard rockers The Treatment. Showcasing an intense sonic power only hinted at thus far, The Treatment is truly firing on all cylinders now. A first listen will instantly reveal hulking riffs and memorable choruses and further listens reveal more and more as the listener delves into this love letter to hard rock. “Waiting for Good Luck” truly is a classic album in the making.
Pre-order/save “Waiting For Good Luck” HERE: https://orcd.co/thetreatment
Produced by UK rock maestro Laurie Mansworth (Airrace) and mixed by Kevin Shirley (Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, Black Country Communion, etc.), “Waiting for Good Luck” is The Treatment’s second album featuring Tom Rampton on vocals (new bass player Andy Milburn joined after the recording of the album). Rampton’s raspy, whisky-soaked vocal style suits the band’s driving, hard rock style perfectly and the results of him having toured with and gelled further with the band can really be heard distinctly here.
A magnificent slice of groove-laden, fist-pumping, unapologetic rock ‘n roll anthems, which showcase a band hungry for more and showing no signs of slowing down, “Waiting For Good Luck” is the most realized offering yet from The Treatment.
“We honestly all believe this album is a huge step forward for The Treatment and we can’t wait for you to hear it. We will be touring as soon as circumstances will allow us and we look forward to seeing all you Treatment troops at our shows next year,” says the band.
THE TREATMENT
The Treatment formed in 2008 in Cambridge, England. Their debut album, “This Might Hurt” was released in 2011 and followed by “Running With The Dogs” (2014), “Generation Me” (2016), and “Power Crazy” (2019). The band has toured with KISS, Mötley Crüe, Steel Panther, Thin Lizzy, and Alice Cooper, just to name a few, as well as appearing at massive rock festivals like Download and Sonisphere.
Tracklist:
1. Rat Race
2. Take It Or Leave It
3. Lightning In A Bottle
4. Vampress
5. Eyes On You
6. No Way Home
7. Devil In The Detail
8. Tough Kid
9. Hold Fire
10. Barman
11. Let’s Make Money
12. Wrong Way
Line-up:
Tom Rampton – Vocals
Dhani Mansworth – Drums
Tagore Grey – Guitars
Tao Grey – Guitar and Bass Guitar
https://www.facebook.com/TheTreatmentOfficial
https://www.instagram.com/thetreatmentofficial/
Dishing Out The Medicine – Nick Waterhouse
Nick Waterhouse, whose album new album Promenade Blue is set for release on April 9 on Innovative Leisure, has just announced his EU / UK tour which will include dates in the UK, Spain, France, Germany, and more.
Having been forced to stay in one place for the longest time since the start of his music career, Waterhouse says “I’m eager to dust off my stage wear, ring up the band on the phone, and start pounding out the rhythms of Promenade Blue as well as some familiar favourites!”
Tickets will go on sale from 10am GMT on 19 March via www.nickwaterhouse.com/tourdates. All dates are listed below:
Promenade Blue
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic work The Great Gatsby came to represent the Roaring Twenties, an era of decadence and spiritual vacuousness, using the color green to represent longing and hope for the future. Nick Waterhouse takes the color blue as his hue of choice as he takes a spiritual look to the past on new album Promenade Blue due out April 9 on Innovative Leisure. It’s not Gatsby’s New York in the 1920s, it’s Waterhouse’s California in the 2020s. He makes this crystal clear with swaggering vocal stylings and powerhouse delivery on new single “B. Santa Ana (1986)”, debuted alongside SPIN Magazine “A Day in the Life” feature.
Reverberating with energy, heart, and creativity, lead singles “Place Names”, “Very Blue”, “Medicine” continue to build anticipation for the new record and sparked critical praise across NPR, Under The Radar, BrooklynVegan, KCRW Today’s Top Tune, Buzzbands.la, and Tour Stories with Joe Plummer.
In Nick’s musical and lyrical world, blue is a refraction of his life and memories — shadowing a deep, spiritual San Francisco that fostered his musical vocabulary but has now been stamped out irrevocably; evoking the endless tours, marathon recording sessions, and highs and lows of success he’s experienced in his decade-long career; conjuring romances that were doomed, loves that lingered, and hope for future days of parity and partnership; summoning spirits of people who have gone but permeate his mind forever.
The world of Promenade Blue represents rebirth and reinvigoration as well as a clarity of purpose. It is vivid and magnetic, buoyed by both light and density due to Nick’s newfound collaboration with co-producer Paul Butler (Michael Kiwanuka, Devendra Banhart).
Finding The Power – Escape The Fate
Celebrated, genre-redefining rock band Escape The Fate dropped “Unbreakable,” from their highly anticipated seventh studio album Chemical Warfare, due April 16 via Better Noise Music.
With an infectious chorus about resilience, the track, accompanied by an epic animated lyric video from Toon53 Productions, continues the group’s momentum of high-energy, empowering releases leading up to the full LP. Like the rest of the songs on Chemical Warfare, “Unbreakable” was produced by John Feldmann (Blink-182, Panic! At the Disco, The Used) and co-produced by the band’s lead guitarist Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft. Stream or download “Unbreakable” HERE. Watch the Official Lyric Video HERE. Pre-save/pre-order Chemical Warfare HERE.
Chemical Warfare
“Unbreakable is about finding power in your life rather than just trying to fight your way through circumstances,” the band said. “There’s a theme of triumph and being victorious over the things that used to control you in this upcoming album.”
Escape The Fate have been earning critical praise for the music of Chemical Warfare since this past summer, with the release of the anthemic “Walk On,” which also served as a soundtrack single for the indie feature Sno Babies (released via Better Noise Films). They followed it up with the Lindsey Stirling-assisted “Invincible,” an energetic, sonic ride about never giving up. And most recently, the band kicked off 2021 with single “Not My Problem,” a soulful, cathartic hard rock offering with Travis Barker lending his drum skills to the track.
Escape the Fate are one of the boldest rock bands of the 21stcentury. Having spent the past decade-plus of existence doling out memorable rock n’ roll and hooks, the band have moved packed crowds at major international and radio festivals —everything from Rock on the Range to Graspop to Rock am Ring — to the legendary Vans Warped Tour, and while on the road with Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, Godsmack, Papa Roach, I Prevail, Bullet for My Valentine, Hollywood Undead, and more. Comprised of Craig Mabbitt (vocals), Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft (guitars), TJ Bell (bass), and Robert Ortiz (drums), their past has been defined by decadence, drama, and a retrograde “bad boy” image. They’ve evolved, grown, and, most importantly, grown up. They are going the distance — surviving and thriving in a scene that often cannibalizes its young and seeing their music take on a new, even more dynamic following in the streaming and digital era. With millions of listeners per month and an ever-growing social footprint – the band have received over 700 million combined lifetime streams and views with their music and videos and have over 5 million fans across social platforms.
The Las Vegas-bred group arrived in full force over ten years ago with their 2008 the breakout album, This War is Ours, leading to a major label deal and the rock crossover success of their self-titled sophomore project in 2010. Escape The Fate was produced by hitmaker Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Korn, Avril Lavigne) and hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Rock Albums and was the first of three ETF records to debut at No. 1 or No. 2 on said chart. Ungrateful (2013) boasts the roaring smash “You’re Insane.” 2015’s Hate Me is defined by singles like “Just a Memory” and “Remember Every Scar.” 2018’s I Am Human marked the band’s second collaboration with GRAMMY® Award-nominated producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, Skillet, Seether) and added fan-favorites Empire” and “Do You Love Me” to the ETF songbook. And now they are ready for their next chapter.
Chemical Warfare, the band’s forthcoming, highly anticipated seventh studio album, slated for an April 2021 release, was produced with John Feldmann (Panic! At The Disco, 5 Seconds Of Summer, The Used) and co-produced by the band’s own Thrasher. It continues the showcase of the band’s unique skill of redefining genre and blending it with their signature hard rock sound, delivering an arsenal of driving bangers and melodic ballads. The critical acclaim of newly released singles with Blink-182’s Travis Barker and violinist Lindsey Stirling are a testament that Chemical Warfare is the sound of a band at their most powerful, most resilient, and most comfortable in their own skin.