This edition of FUTURE-ROCKER was powered by large doses of CIRCLE OF DUST.
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Monday, 27 March 2017
Thursday, 23 March 2017
OBSYDIANS / SYBREED: UPDATE FROM THOMAS 'DROP' BETRISEY
NEWS ON OBSYDIANS, THEIR NEW VOCALISTS, AND SAMAEL!
As you may know from reading Future-Rocker's comprehensive interview with Thomas back in early 2016, the cyber-metal juggernaut that was SYBREED is no more. Ironically, interest in the band has grown since its cessation, due to an ever-growing army of admirers on Youtube, and no doubt aided by the French singer Rachel Aspe's herculean cover-version of one of Sybreed's best-known songs ( 'Emma-0' from 'Antares' which she did on the popular TV show France Has Got Talent ). It's clear that large numbers of people still listen to the back-catalogue.
With the vocalist Benjamin Nominet leaving for personal reasons, Thomas felt the focal point of the band went with him, and so decided to close the chapter on Sybreed, and build a new, updated-model, called OBSYDIANS. Retaining Sybreed's core musicians ( alongside Thomas, there is also Ales Campanelli on bass, and Kevin Choiral on drums ) Obsydians is apparently going to be very similar to the classic sound of 'Antares', with a notable exception: There will be three vocalists!
We will let Thomas pick up from where we left off last year...
Future-Rocker: Are you in the studio with Obsydians yet?
Drop: We are not in the studio at the moment, but things have
moved forward a bit. We’ve finished 3 demos, and as we speak the singers are
hard at work on them. We have Jon Howard from Threat Signal, Steve Fari from
This Misery Garden, and Guillaume Bideau from One Way Mirror.
For those of you unfamiliar with the different vocalists and their respective bands, we have included clips below. We're pretty excited, because none of them are run-of-the-mill choices. Thomas is obviously a man of singular vision, and knows that each will compliment his writing and producing.
For those of you unfamiliar with the different vocalists and their respective bands, we have included clips below. We're pretty excited, because none of them are run-of-the-mill choices. Thomas is obviously a man of singular vision, and knows that each will compliment his writing and producing.
Obsydians vocalist #1: Jon Howard
Obsydians vocalist #2: Steve Fari ( look closely and you'll see Thomas in the video ).
Obsydians vocalist #3: Guillaume Bideau
Future-Rocker: That is a stellar collection of singers for one band. They will definitely all be able to fit the original Sybreed blueprint and bring something completely new for Obsydians. How long will we have to wait until we hear a new track?
Drop: As soon as we have all the vocals and music, we’ll record
everything and make the final versions. I really hope to be able to release one
of these songs before the summer! But you know how tricky schedules are, even
more when you work with people living in different parts of the globe. ( - Threat Signal are from Canada, This Misery Garden are Swiss, and One-Way Mirror are French. ) In the meantime we’ll finish some more demos, we have
approximatively 8 more songs to be finished. ( Continued ).
Below: Thomas 'Drop' Betrisey playing bass on tour with SAMAEL.
Future-Rocker: With singers in three different bands in three different countries, it's surely going to be logistically difficult touring?
Drop: Obsydians is not really a live band. If we’ll have to play
some shows, I will surely ask only one singer to sing for them all.
Here at Future-Rocker we suspect that summer festival dates will be the most likely place to witness an Obsydians performance. You never know, more than one vocalist could be available if his other band is also playing on the same bill.
When we last checked-in with Drop, he was sitting under a palm tree in Mexico, telling us about achieving his teenage dream of joining his favourite band, Swiss industrialists SAMAEL. Shortly after that, he was delighted to be joining his new bandmates on the 2016 '70,000 Tons of Metal Tour', a yearly metal festival that navigates the Caribbean aboard a cruise-ship.
Future-Rocker: How was the 70,000 Tons tour?
The 70,000 Tons was amazing man. Really cool times, met a lot of nice people. Smoked some green in Jamaica, all good...I really hope we can go back to perform on that "boat" soon.
So you're still with Samael?
For sure I’m still with Samael. We just signed a deal with
Napalm Records, and we are gonna release the new album later this year.
With the intense sound of Sybreed, and also in your guise as producer-for-hire for bands such as Clawerfield, Nakaruga and This Misery Garden, has it ever been suggested that you produce a Samael album?
With the intense sound of Sybreed, and also in your guise as producer-for-hire for bands such as Clawerfield, Nakaruga and This Misery Garden, has it ever been suggested that you produce a Samael album?
Haha, the producer and mastermind of Samael is Xy, and I
think he does this job really well. So the future will tell what’s gonna happen
production-wise.
Cool. Any other big festival tours lined up for Samael?
We have
confirmed California Deathfest on October 14th 2017, and we hope that some
dates in the US will follow.
Thanks for the update, Drop. A lot of fans will be very happy to know that you've got some new music coming out this year.
Thanks, man! Cheers.
Thanks for the update, Drop. A lot of fans will be very happy to know that you've got some new music coming out this year.
Thanks, man! Cheers.
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
SKOLD: CAREER RETROSPECTIVE
Few musicians get to navigate the fickle music industry as successfully as Tim Skold. Here we present the promo video from his latest solo release. After that, Future-Rocker will guide you through some of the many high-points of his career...
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1 ) Skold's band Kingpin emulate the Glam Metal sound and look of the era, and move from Sweden to LA to capitalise on the scene. There they sign with guitar-shredding label Relativity, and re-release their debut album under their new name, Shotgun Messiah, in 1989.
2 ) Skold takes over on lead vocals, as Shotgun consolidate with their follow-up album, Second Coming, in 1991.
3 ) The times are a-changing: By 1993, MTV and the rest of the media has changed its focus and so grunge is in, Hair Metal is out...but what is also getting big is Industrial music, which by now has begun to adopt a more 'metal' guitar sound. Converging with that, Shotgun close their career with 'Violent New Breed', an explosive blast of intense industrial rock that was ahead of its time.
4 ) Amidst many side projects, solo releases and collaborations, Skold's next big hook-up is with notable German industrial band, KMFDM ( re-booted for a short time as MDFMK ). Skold works alongside bandleader Sascha Konietzko in various iterations from 1997 to 2009. Here he is writing, playing and contributing lead vocals.
5 ) Skold's first stint with Marilyn Manson is as producer on the single Tainted Love. He then joins Manson's band after the departure of Twiggy Ramirez, contributing writing, guitars and production. Skold is with Manson from 2001 to 2007.
BRAND-NEW CELLDWELLER TRACK! : ELECTRIC EYE
Fantastic new track, and long overdue amongst Klayton's myriad other projects.
Can't wait for a new Celldweller album..!
Can't wait for a new Celldweller album..!
Thursday, 9 March 2017
THIS MONTH: REVISITING SOME CONTEMPORARY PROMO CLASSICS!
Featuring Carpenter Brut, Huntress and Rob Zombie. Keep scrolling for updates and clips about TRON:LEGACY, ALIEN:COVENANT, indie sci-fi, new electronica and more!
DIRECTED BY PHIL MUCCI : RETRO-STYLED HARD ROCK FROM HUNTRESS & MONSTER MAGNET
Chronology: Zenith, 2013; The Duke, 2013; Sorrow, 2016.
PHIL MUCCI ON TWITTER
PHIL MUCCI / DIABOLIK FILMS HOMEPAGE
DIRECTED BY SETH ICKERMAN : RETRO-STYLED SYNTH ROCK FROM CARPENTER BRUT
( Apologies for not being able to show the no-ads VIMEO version, will post at a later date if terms and conditions change ).
CAN'T GET ENOUGH? WATCH THE CLIP BELOW AND THEN CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR NEXT COLLABORATION VIA KICKSTARTER!
CLICK HERE FOR THE SETH ICKERMAN & CARPENTER BRUT KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN!
Sunday, 5 March 2017
FROM COLLIDER VIDEO - DIRECTOR JOSEPH KOSINSKI TALKS 'TRON: LEGACY', DAFT PUNK...AND 'TRON 3'..?
CELEBRATING TRON:LEGACY ON IMAX
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Below: Tron: Legacy's supporting cast featured Revlon model Beau Garrett as Gem.
ARTICLE: COULD IT BE THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR THE TRON UNIVERSE? by Alexi K
Below: The Japanese poster for 1982's TRON.
The trouble with the previous statement is the word 'cult'. Disney does not do 'cult'. They either do 'BIG', or not at all. And so the film Tron: Legacy ironically has a similar afterlife to the first film: An enthusiastic army of admirers that for reasons known only to box office alchemists ( or maybe Disney execs ), yet again failed to yield the monster hit Disney was hoping for. [ Cont'd ].
Below: One of the many posters for Disney's Tron: Legacy ( 2010 ).
In a way, the surprise was that Disney were attempting the sequel in the first place. A small but vocal pool of fanboy supporters does not guarantee a hit movie, even more-so if the sequel deviates from the source material, annoying those same purists. Instead of a brighter, refreshed take on the work of original designers Moebius and Syd Mead, we got a largely monochromatic CGI environment, all charcoal-and-neon. Against the expectations of the intervening years, it looked dull, in other words.
As Marvel have proved to a stunning degree, sequels only really work when the original is cleverly established and built upon. With veteran actor Jeff Bridges' reprisal of Flynn chewing the scenery, Tron himself - uber-cool Bruce Boxleitner - was left with a mere cameo, while the original's heroine Cindy Morgan ( who played Yori ), and villain ( David Warner's Sark ), were notably absent altogether. So the net result of the new version, was one of deflation, rather than elation. [ Cont'd ].
Below: Beau Garrett on a Hungarian poster for Tron: Legacy.
Sadly, it may take more than a handful of fans or an enthusiastic Disney insider to lobby for a further sequel. The reason for that is because Disney now owns box-office juggernauts Marvel Studios, Star Wars, and Pixar. With that unassailable monopoly, the studio simply does not need to make another Tron, or risk further expensive in-house flops ( to compound matters, two years after Legacy, their excellent live-action fantasy-adventure, John Carter, was a box-office disaster - although there are rumours the Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation was deliberately squashed, in favour of the looming Star Wars acquisition ). [ Cont'd ].
Below: The composers of the soundtrack, the already Tron-like Daft Punk.
And yet, in the seven years since its release, Tron: Legacy persistently entertains the possibility of a sequel. Its chilly palette and glassy environments do indeed become increasingly seductive with each viewing, while scenes including Michael Sheen's brilliant turn as a cyber-Ziggy Stardust, are always entertaining. Above all, it's the epic soundtrack by French techno-legends Daft Punk, that definitely rewards repeated visits. ( See clip, below ). And despite it's own rather flat plot progression, Legacy's final scene offers the tantalising possibility of Tron's electronically-generated characters entering the human world.
The director, Joseph Kosinski, definitely has what we call in the visual arts, 'the eye'. A trained architect, he also directed the starkly beautiful Tom Cruise slow-burner Oblivion. So his sensibilities are tailor-made for spectacle, and the new era of expanded universes.
In this age of enhanced reality, mass-participation video games and virtual environments, a blockbuster movie franchise populated with electronic superheroes, must surely, next time round, score big?
NEWS THIS WEEK: Jared Leto ( Suicide Squad, Dallas Buyers Club ), is apparently in talks to star in Tron 3 ( according to Variety, March 3rd 2017 ). It's unclear as yet whether this will be a reboot or a sequel to Tron: Legacy. There is no confirmation if Joseph Kosinski is attached to direct, and there is still no writer.
FUTURE-ROCKER's opinion is that Tron: 3, could be both a sequel to Tron: Legacy, as well as its own reboot. The worst case scenario would be rebooting the whole concept from scratch - effectively deleting the first two films - as audiences tend to be less enthused when they feel they've only recently seen the previous version ( see Amazing Spiderman and Fantastic Four reboots ). The studio will also run the risk of alienating the small fanbase that has grown up from the first two films, and who would be more interested to see how the characters transition into the 'real' world, rather than go through repeats of the scenarios already rendered previously.
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Below: The END OF LINE CLUB scene, featuring Garrett Hedlund, Michael Sheen, Beau Garrett and DAFT PUNK. ( - Could Tron even be a musical? ).
Friday, 3 March 2017
ALIEN: COVENANT - RED BAND TRAILER AND PROLOGUE SCENE
And to get more in the mood, here is a 'taster' - not included in the movie - 'conceived by Ridley Scott and directed by Luke Scott'.
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