The individual roots established by Keith Morris (Black Flag/Circle Jerks), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), and Mario Rubalcaba (Earthless/Hot Snakes/Rocket From the Crypt) are uniquely woven throughout the rock music canon. Each has challenged society's cyclical and complacent ideals in their own respective bands, and three decades on they've never strayed from their intentions.
The Dangerous Summer is an alternative rock band from Ellicott City, Maryland. The band independently released the five song EP There Is No Such Thing as Science, which drew the attention of Hopeless Records in 2007. They then re-released their debut EP under a new name, If You Could Only Keep Me Alive, with new songs included. The band's debut studio album, Reach for the Sun, was released on May 5, 2009.
Twelve Foot Ninja are a rock band from Melbourne, Victoria. They formed in 2007. Melbourne Australia based Twelve Foot Ninja are independent and self-funded. Their music and lyrics are inspired by a story (written by guitarist Stevic) of a ninja's mission to restore balance in a world headed toward self-inflicted catastrophe. Sound familiar? Twelve Foot Ninja describe themselves as a hybrid of genres - metal, dub, yacht rock, funk and world music.
Karnivool is a five-piece progressive rock group based in Perth, Australia that was formed by Ian Kenny in 1996, who at the time filled the roles of both guitarist and vocalist for the band while they played Carcass and Nirvana covers. Their name stems from the band being initially described by local fans as "a bunch of clowns". Their style of music can be classified as both progressive rock and alternative rock, with alternative metal undertones. Major influences of the band are Nirvana, Radiohead, Meshuggah, Pink Floyd, Tool, Soundgarden and Carcass.
Spiderbait are an alternative rock band formed in 1991 in Finley, New South Wales, Australia which consists of Mark "Kram" Maher (drums, lead vocals), Janet English (bass, vocals) and Damien Whitty (guitar). They have had two top ten albums and another three albums reach the Australian top 40. Their song Buy Me a Pony was #1 on the Triple J Hottest 100 for 1996, and the group enjoyed success with their 2004 #1 Australian hit cover of Black Betty.
When you have as big a celebrity fan as Stephen King, you must be doing something right! The three-piece from Finley, New South Wales, Australia, often jump genres from disco-pop (Stevie, Calypso) to mutant dance (Arse Huggin' Pants) - in the course of a single album, no less. And yet, they still manage to rock like mofos (Shazam!, Outta My Head, and - of course - their cover of Black Betty).
The three band members Mark Maher or "Kram" (drums and vocals), Damien Whitty or "Whitt" on guitar and Janet English on bass/vocals come from the small town Finley in southern New South Wales where they jammed together in their youth.
The band moved to Melbourne, Australia where Kram was studying at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Music. The band played its first gig at a loungeroom for a friend's party. The band soon became part of Melbourne's punk scene playing gigs at venues like the Tote Hotel in Collingwood, Victoria. They released their first single Circle K on Au-Go-Go Records with an EP titled P'tang Yang Kipper Bang Uh! following in 1992. The band's first album Shashavaglava was released in 1992. 'Shashavaglava' means 'dickhead' in Croatian. This album featured the songs Old Man Sam and a cover of English comedians The Goodies' song Run.
Spiderbait signed with Polydor Records and released their first album with the new label, their second album overall, named The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake in 1995. The album reached #14 on the Australian charts with singles Monty and Jesus receiving extensive airplay on Triple J. The album title refers to an unfinished project by the Finley Rotary Club, which became a venue for teenage drinking in their home town.
Their third album Ivy and the Big Apples was released in 1996, reached #3 and sold over 180,000 copies in Australia. Their first single Buy Me a Pony received extensive airplay on Triple J resulting in listeners voting it as their favourite song of the year. The second single Calypso also achieved commercial airplay, and reached #13 in the Australian singles charts in 1997.
In 1998, Janet English and her then boyfriend Quan Yeomans of Regurgitator recorded an album as Happyland. Around the same time, Kram and Richie Lewis of Tumbleweed released their own side-project the Hot Rollers - so named as both member's mothers were hairdressers. The Hot Rollers only album (self-titled) was released through Polydor.
Spiderbait returned together in 1999 with the album Grand Slam which also debuted at #10 on the Australian album charts.
Despite good airplay for the Grand Slam singles Shazam! and Stevie, their 2001 album The Flight of Wally Funk was a commercial flop, only selling 20,000 copies. The album was recorded in Whitt's living room.
Spiderbait recorded the Tonight Alright album in Los Angeles with producer Sylvia Massy who had worked with acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Tool, System of a Down and Skunk Anansie. The first single Black Betty was a cover version of the old Leadbelly song which became a hit in 1977 when covered by Ram Jam. The single reached #1 after 10 weeks in the singles chart in May 2004 (after debuting at #12), and stayed there for three weeks, becoming their biggest selling single ever. The film clip featured a hot rod similar to the car on the ZZ Top Eliminator. The song also made the soundtrack to the Electronic Arts video game Need for Speed: Underground 2. Tonight Alright was released on 28 March 2004, and debuted and peaked at #14. The second single Fucken Awesome debuted in the top 30 on June 28 2004. Interscope Records signed the band in 2004 to distribute Tonight Alright in the US and UK.
At the 2004 ARIA awards, Kram performed as part of the supergroup The Wrights, featuring members of many other Australian rock bands.
In September 2005 they released a Greatest Hits collection to reveal their back catalogue to younger fans who were caught up by Black Betty. This debuted at #6 and received a Gold Accreditation.
The band went on hiatus March 2005 after bassist Janet English gave birth to her daughter and planned a cycling tour across Europe. More recently Kram had announced plans of a solo album to be released sometime in 2006.
On 18 November 2006 the band performed at the Queensland Council of Unions organised Rock the Vote! concert in Brisbane after a nine month hiatus from touring. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
CKY (short for "Camp Kill Yourself") is a 4-piece rock band consisting of Deron Miller (vocals, guitar, bass), Chad I Ginsburg (guitar, vocals, bass), Jess Margera (drums), and Matty Janaitis (bass). Deron and Chad both played bass on all 4 of their albums, but Matty will take over when they record their next album, and he has now taken over for their live shows. They share their name with a series of skate videos produced by Bam Margera, who is the brother of the drummer.
Sydonia are probably most best described as a melodic metal band. Whilst their music can sometimes represent that of anger and pain, as in "Andwethoughthewasmad" off the EP (Man)ipulate, it can also sometimes represent that of calm, soft and somewhat relaxing taste, as in "Taste More", also from (Man)ipulate. However, this variety in sound further intensifies the talent that is posessed in this band. Lead singer, Dana Roskvists, explores as many regions of the larynx as you may have thought possible. Lyrically and musically this band will not fail to amaze.
Created in 1998 in Los Angeles, California, United States by actor Jared Leto and his brother, Shannon, 30 Seconds to Mars initially began as a small family project. Matt Wachter later joined the band as bassist and keyboard player. After working with a number of guitarists (including Kevin Drake and Solon Bixler), the three auditioned Tomo Miličević to round out the band's official roster. After Wachter's departure from the band in 2006, the Leto brothers and Miličević continue on as a trio with additional touring members, including Tim Kelleher on bass.
Train is a Grammy Award winning rock band formed in San Francisco, California. To date, three of their albums have peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and have sold a total of over 4 million albums in the US. Three of their songs have been top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 including their biggest hit "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)". Train has found success on modern adult contemporary radio stations, where they have had eight songs in the top 20 of the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart.
Dommin - an infatuation with melody, the palpable taint of loss, and an enduring faith in the power of dark romance. The band is fronted by a voice from the past declaring its yearning for the future. Singer/songwriter and guitarist Kristofer Dommin is backed by Billy James on bass, Konstantine on keyboards and Cameron on drums.