Avenged Sevenfold

An exclusive interview with Avenged Sevenfold as they embark on tour with Ozzfest 2006

Droids Attack

In an age where music bands are defined by their range of MySpace graphics and anyone that can strum a hackneyed power chord is a rockstar, it is no wonder that originality in local bands today is alarmingly scarce. Droids Attack is, however, the exception.

Droids Attack consists of Madison’s rock triumvirate: lead vocalist and guitarist Brad Van, bassist Nate Bush, and drummer Tony Brungraber. Droids Attack’s premier album, “All Your Chicks Are Belong To Us” garnered much deserved recognition in the punk-metal realm of the Midwest. In 2004, the album won a MAMA (Madison Area Music Award) for Best Punk Album.

Currently, the band is promoting their sophomore album, “Fatal Error,” due to be released in late 2006/2007. Fatal Error maintains the same rhythmic foundation of the first CD, but with tighter riffs and a distinctly sharper sound.

Korn - 2006

In an era where nameless, faceless and meaningless have become standards, Korn have transcended hard rock and heavy metal banality with a sound and vision that defies categorization. They bubbled from the Bakersfield, CA, heavy metal underground more than a decade ago, emerged as a hard rock phenomenon with the breakthrough success of Follow The Leader in 1997, and have exceeded any and every conceivable expectation since then. It may seem premature to consider Korn legends in only their second decade as a band, but not when you acknowledge the facts.

Impressed by numbers? Korn have released seven albums, surpassed the 25 million mark in worldwide sales (more than 15 million of those in America alone), and have had every album since their self-titled debut enter the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart in the Top 10, with all seven of their studio albums achieving Platinum sales (their 2004 Greatest Hits release is certified Gold). The numbers don’t lie, but they don’t even begin to tell the story of Korn, who not only redefined heavy metal with the diabolic, cutting-edge histrionics of their 1994 debut, but turned the industry on end in the years that followed, having a profound influence on today’s heavy music scene and making a marked impact on the way metal has reemerged as a sonic force on the pop-driven musical mainstream.

In one fleeting decade, Korn have single-handedly changed the way America views heavy music. Now, with the release of See You On The Other Side, they’ve opened the doors to even more disarray, taking their trademarked sound to the next level. It’s what they’ve always done, but to even more astonishing depths.

Sevendust 2006

Onstage, Sevendust frontman Lajon Witherspoon is widely acknowledged as one of hard rock’s most gripping performers and electrifying voices. Offstage, he’s seldom heard, mellow as a church mouse, and as mild-mannered as they come.

But something has changed.

Less than a week into his band’s first tour in more than six months, Witherspoon gets notably agitated when asked about the prospects of hitting the road in support of two albums - their first studio effort since joining forces with new label Winedark Records, and the recently issued greatest hits album issued by their former label.

Trans Siberian Orchestra

It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and while the rest of us are worrying about what time we should start roasting our turkeys, Paul O’Neill has a different set of concerns: The 18 semis and 16 tour busses that are transporting his Trans-Siberian Orchestra spectacles across America.

Yes, spectacles.

In seven years, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has not only become the holiday season’s main concert attraction, but also one of the year’s top ticket-sellers. And they accomplish this in less than six weeks on the road, splitting their ensemble into two equally impressive and awe-inspiring bands, each of which is responsible for performing in front of a different half of America in the final weeks of each year. Sound confusing? Try spearheading the whole operation, which O’Neill has done since he conceived the idea that would become the band’s now multi-platinum debut, Christmas Eve And Other Stories, nearly a decade ago. 

Yet in the face of it all, he remains as calm and composed as a freshly fallen Christmas snow.

Bif Naked

Just the name, Bif Naked, conjures up pornstar imagery right off the bat and certainly the Canadian rocker and starlet (whose scene was the highlight of the otherwise cinematic bowel movement, House of the Dead) isn’t afraid to take advantage of her sex appeal, but that doesn’t mean she’s invulnerable.

“I’m a real gullible girl and I always believe anything a boy will ever tell me. I get suckered a lot, but always get back up on the love horse,” she explains when discussing the songs on her latest album, Superbeautifulmonster. “I just came off a big heartache and was enshrouded in despair when I wrote [album tracks] ‘Abandonment’ and ‘After A While’. I like to think that I better my efforts, my songwriting, and singing with every record and this one’s a little darker and sadder, it’s much more guitar-oriented. There’s something that everyone can relate to. I’m crazy about love, crazy about the whole process. I keep getting knocked down, but I keep getting back in the ring.”