"A band who's name says it all. The Heavenly sound of melody, with the Axe attack of real power. They've got the gritty attitude we've come to expect from all Aussie bands, but definitely have their own edge." - Malcolm Dome (METAL HAMMER MAGAZINE/TOTAL ROCK RADIO UK) "One of the hottest talents in Australia today - I'm a huge fan." Andy Grace National Night Show Host at WS FM / GOLD 104.3 (Major Australian Commercial Broadcaster)
Coldplay is a British alternative rock band, formed in London, United Kingdom in 1997. The band comprises vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion. Having released four successful albums, (all of which debuted at #1 on the UK album chart) Coldplay have also achieved great success with their singles, such as Yellow, Speed Of Sound, the Grammy-winning Clocks and the US and UK #1 single Viva La Vida. Frontman Chris Martin credits 1980s Norwegian pop band a-ha for inspiring him to form his own band.
The Trews are a Canadian rock group from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, consisting of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Sean Dalton. The band are currently based in Toronto, Ontario. The band started off with the name One I'd Trouser, before changing their name to Trouser and eventually The Trews. They released an EP as Trouser, and a second EP under the name "The Trews."
Alter Bridge is an American rock band formed by Brian Marshall (bassist), Scott Phillips (drummer), Mark Tremonti (guitarist) (members of Creed) and Myles Kennedy (lead vocals, guitar, and formerly of The Mayfield Four). Alter Bridge released their debut album One Day Remains in 2004, with the first single Open Your Eyes. Alter Bridge prefers to think of themselves not as "Creed with a new singer", but as an entirely new band. The name "Alter Bridge" comes from a bridge in Mark's childhood. Their studio album Blackbird, was released on October 9, 2007, with the single Rise Today.
PHARAOHS died, LEADER CHEETAH was born. That's the basics. Dan Crannitch spent the last few months of '06 writing and recording melodies to his mobile phone. Around New Years he assembled this ragtag bunch of misfits – showed them the sonics and LEADER CHEETAH started taking shape. Younger brother Joel on drums, ex-BAD GIRLS OF THE BIBLE frontman Dan Pash on guitar and childhood friend Mark Harding on bass.
J Mascis (b. 1965) is an American musician and songwriter, probably best-known as the singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr., though he has also occasionally worked as a producer and film composer. Born Joseph Mascis on 10th December 1965 in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the early 1980s he founded the short-lived hardcore group Deep Wound with his high school friends Lou Barlow and Scott Helland. He started out on drums, but moved to guitar when he went on to found Dinosaur Jr.
dredg is a progressive alternative band from Los Gatos, California, USA formed in 1993. Their first studio album, Leitmotif, was released by the Universal music label on September 11, 2001. Prior to that, it had been self-released by the members of the band. After the album hit music stores, Dredg acquired an almost immediate cult following thanks to Leitmotif's unique sound and concept. There has also been a movie planned for release as a music video for the entire album, though the project has been scrapped due to the death of the lead actor.
The National is a Brooklyn-based indie rock band formed in 1999, by friends from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger in a distinctive, deep baritone. The rest of the band is composed of two pairs of brothers: Aaron Dessner (guitar, bass, keyboards), Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).
Their self-titled debut album"The National" (Brassland 2001) was recorded and released before they had played even a single show. They cut the album with engineer Nick Lloyd and formed a label with writer Alec Bemis, so those recordings could be released. Kerrang! magazine gave it four Ks, calling it "the stuff underground legends are made of."
The National made a second album, "Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers" (Brassland/Talitres 2003). The staff was the same, though Peter Katis, who produced "Turn on The Bright Lights" and "Antics" by Interpol, helped produce and mix, and Australian composer Padma Newsome from Clogs collaborated on arrangements and strings.
Following the first session of several for Bernard Lenoir on France's Radio Inter, an in-between EP was released, Cherry Tree, containing what would become the blueprint for the sound on their next record and the session of Sad Song's standout Murder Me Rachael. After these accolades and being impressed by their live show, Roger Trust signed them to Beggars Banquet.
A show at their favorite bar became a van ride to neighboring cities, became a plane ride to Europe, became two summers overseas. Their ties to those good jobs slackened. And they continue on their own path, moving out even further out in Brooklyn to Ditmas Park, where there is space and familiar suburban streets and even Geese on Beverly Road. Their album, "Alligator", much of which was recorded at their homes in Ditmas Park, was engineered by Paul Mahajan, who has worked with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio. Padma Newsome camped out for a month with the band, and Peter Katis added more production and mixed the record at his house in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Berninger's potent baritone still intones about matters fraught and funny and sad; about record collections, missing persons and medium-sized American hearts. But the record's not simply gothic or miserablist -- more like the plays of Tennessee Williams, it's full of peculiar intimacies and awkward grace. Alligator's heroes are reckless and possessed seducers, but they are apologetic ones. In The National's imaginings, in songs alternately lush and spare, there is something twighlit and dreamy worked out in the basement of our brains.
"Abel," "Secret Meeting," and "Lit Up" were released as singles.
On May 22, 2007, The National released their follow-up to Alligator, Boxer, on Beggars Banquet. Taking advantage of the fact that nobody had heard their first album and earliest demos, Matt proceeded to steal lyrics and melodies from them and give them the attention they deserved while keeping the intimacy that made them special. They even managed to convince new friend Sufjan Stevens to lay down some piano tracks for them, and recorded the album in a scant 6 months after coming off the long post-Alligator road.
"Mistaken for Strangers", "Fake Empire" and "Apartment Story" have been released as singles. The band have just finished touring North America and are on a large European autumn/winter tour after playing high slots at several large festivals. In their Dec. 07/Jan. 08 issue, Paste magazine named Boxer best record of 2007.
The band's fifth album, High Violet, was released on May 10, 2010 by 4AD Records. "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Anyone's Ghost" and "Terrible Love" were released as singles.
In 2013 their sixth studio record Trouble Will Find Me was released and named "Best New Music" by Pitchfork. The album contained the single "I Need My Girl". In 2015, the album outtake "Sunshine On My Back" was released.
Four years after Trouble Will Find Me, marking the longest timespan between albums in their career so far, they released their seventh album Sleep Well Beast on September 8th, 2017 and were yet again met with great critical success.
The National homepage: http://www.americanmary.com/
The National blog http://tntl.tumblr.com
The National on Twitter http://twitter.com/The_National
Brassland homepage: http://brassland.org/
Beggars Banquet homepage: http://www.beggars.com/ Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.