With the festive season almost upon us its time for the annual 1157 Xmas Show behing held at Auckland’s Kings Arms Tavern on Friday 5 December 2005. Bands performing at this year’s show are the BLEEDERS, COBRA KHAN and LOS MUERTOS.

This will be the BLEEDERS last R18 show in New Zealand prior to them relocating to North America. COBRA KHAN will also be supporting the BRONX on their one and only New Zealand show. Make sure you check out NZRock’s review of the debut COBRA KHAN album ‘Helogrithms’ here.

After a ripping reunion performance at the Southern Amp 2008 music festival in Christchurch earlier this month, legendary Wellington rockers WETA are about to play three more shows. Here are the dates:

Thursday 20 Nov - Galatos, Auckland
Friday 21 Nov - San Francisco Bath House, Wellington
Saturday 22 Nov - Al’s Bar, Christchurch

WETA’s appearance at Southern Amp was the band’s first show since 2001. After forming in Wellington in 1995, the band (comprised of Aaron Tokona on lead vocals, Gabriel Atkinson on guitar, Clinton Tokona on bass and Clinton den Heyer on drums) quickly rose through the ranks to become tour mates of choice for fellow Wellingtonian rock stalwarts SHIHAD. They shared the stage with the likes of THE FOO FIGHTERS and SOUNDGARDEN (WETA paid homage to SOUNDGARDEN at Southern Amp by incorporating the riff from ‘My Wave’ into one of their own songs!).

The band recorded their debut LP ‘Geographica’ at Melbourne's Sing Sing Studios. Released in 2000, ‘Geographica’ yielded radio hits 'Let It Go', 'Got The Ju' and the epic 'Calling On', taking WETA to the top of the Kiwi music charts and securing commercial airplay in Australia. WETA also won 'Best Video' and a nomination for 'Best Male Vocalist' at the New Zealand Music Awards. If you’re anywhere near Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch this week, make sure you check out this iconic kiwi band LIVE!

WETA will also be playing at Wellington’s Vodafone Homegrown festival on 14 March 2009 along with HEAD LIKE A HOLE who are reforming for the gig.

Post Metal Masters CULT OF LUNA are heading to Australia and New Zealand in February 2009. The band’s one New Zealand show will be at the Transmission Room in Auckland on 10 February with special guests FORNAX CHEMICA.

CULT OF LUNA was formed in 1998 by guitarist Johannes Persson and vocalist Klas Rydberg in Umea, Sweden. Their sound has progressed from being heavily doom metal influenced to one much less aggressive and more about orchestration which falls into a sub-genre known as post-metal. CULT OF LUNA are at post metal's forefront along with contemporary such as NEUROSIS, PELICAN and ISIS. The band also cite RADIOHEAD and PINK FLOYD as major influences.

The best way to describe CULT OF LUNA sonically is with adjectives. Long, Slow, Repetitive and Crushing! Heavy sections of distorted guitars are often interspersed with orchestral moments and extended, post-rock-esque excursions of both light and dark. No verse, chorus, verse formulas here rather an evolving soundscape that often moves towards climactic crescendos leaving you breathless.

CULT OF LUNA are known for their stunning live shows and will be showcasing their talents to Australian audiences with performances from their deep back catalogue as well as with material from their fifth release, 2008's conceptual masterpiece, 'Eternal Kingdom' their heaviest and darkest offering yet.

The concept behind Eternal Kingdom is complex, dark, and challenging. It is based around a diary the band discovered in their new rehearsal space which is on the site of a long demolished mental institution. The diary was from one of the inmates and was titled ‘Tales From The Eternal Kingdom’. Inside was the ramblings of the man as he explained how he had been wrongly imprisoned for killing his wife. He created a completely fictional world involving half man/half animal creatures and a character called Ugin who he blamed for his wife’s death.

The album has gained worldwide critical acclaim for it's uniqueness and intensity. Be sure to spend an evening with CULT OF LUNA. It's an experience that will stay with you long after the last note has resonated into the darkness.

Legendary UK Metal outfit IRON MAIDEN has announced two New Zealand concerts as part of the final leg of their global ‘Somewhere Back In Time World Tour‘. Following the tour’s success this year, IRON MAIDEN will be taking to the skies once again in 2009 for a fourth and final leg. The two New Zeland shows will be the bands first visit here since 1992! NZ dates are as follows:

Fri 20 Feb - Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
Sat 21 Feb - AMI Stadium, Christchurch

Loaded up with a full complement of band, crew and 12 tons of stage set and equipment, the band’s customised Boeing 757, christened Ed Force One by the fans and flown by Astraeus Airlines Captain and Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, will be circumnavigating 80,000km around the planet for concerts in 19 cities in 11 countries, making it a staggering 37 countries in total visited on this tour, playing to almost two million fans.

The ‘Somewhere Back In Time’ tour revisits the band’s history by focusing almost entirely on the 80’s in both choice of songs played and the stage set, which is based around the legendary Egyptian Production of the 1984-85 ‘Powerslave Tour’ featured on the recent DVD ‘Live after Death’. This is arguably the most elaborate and spectacular show the band have ever presented, and will include some key elements of their Somewhere In Time tour of 1986/7, such as the Cyborg Eddie. However the set list for this leg will vary from that of the 2008 shows with the inclusion of some of the earlier classic songs featured during the band’s 2005 ‘Early Days Tour’ (which did not get to NZ), based around their first four albums.

Says band founder Steve Harris “We are all so very pleased to be able to get to New Zealand this time! We were disappointed not to have made it earlier this year when we were in Australia, but, although we did try hard, we couldn’t make the schedule work. So when we decided to do this last leg of the tour we felt that, despite the distance, we just had to get there as we heard how disappointed our fans were to be missed out. But at least we have our own plane with our crew and a few beers on board to keep us entertained on the way down there!

IRON MAIDEN have always valued their fans and have made arrangements with DCE for a special fan club first ticket pre-sale. This will ensure that members of their fan club get first access to the best seats and most importantly the standing tickets which means they are eligible to enter the exclusive fan club draw to win special privileged first access to the stage barrier. This first fan club pre-sale will run Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 November. Full details of this and how to join the fan club can be found here. Tickets go on sale Friday 28 November through Ticketek.

‘Whispers And Tremors’ the debut album from Auckland Industrial outfit SOLSTATE is in stores now! In April 2008 the band’s lead singer and songwriter Troy McKubre traveled to Los Angeles to work with super engineer/producer Ben Grosse (MARILYN MANSON, FILTER, BREAKING BENJAMIN, 30 SECONDS TO MARS, SEVENDUST) in the legendary ‘Mix Room’ studios.

The pair mixed two songs from the album including the third single ‘Tonight’ which has just been released to radio and TV. ‘Tonight’ has reached the Top 20 on Juice TV's most requested chart and is currently climbing the NZ Top 40 and Rock radio charts.

In November 2007 Solstate were awarded a Phase Four album grant from NZ On Air. SOLSTATE's debut single released to radio in 2007 was ‘Alright Now’ (featuring BOH RUNGA) and it reached #7 in the NZ Top 40 Radio Charts. The next single ‘Against & With’ also charted well and videos for these songs also received airplay on NZ music TV.

McKubre has enlisted guitarists Zorran Mendonsa (NEW WAY HOME) and Darren Crowe as well as drummer Tristan Reilly and bassist Dan Insley to help him transform the album live. In January 2008 SOLSTATE were chosen to play Big Day Out and are currently planning a nationwide tour to promote ‘Whispers And Tremors’. The tracklist for the new album is:

1. Free Your Mind
2. Tonight
3. Rise
4. Start Again
5. Turn The Other Way
6. Against & With
7. Where To Go
8. Resist
9. Single Taste
10. Alright Now
11. Midnight
12. Finally
13. Anything
14. So Far Away

Christchurch Death / Thrash Metal band TAINTED are proud to announce their affiliation with JacksonR Guitars USA following official endorsement by the iconic guitar company.

This is a first for New Zealand based musicians and adds members Tim Facoory, Linly Baxter and Sean McCurrie to an enviable list of artists who use and play Jackson Guitars including Mark Morton and John Campbell (LAMB OF GOD), Adrian Smith (IRON MAIDEN), Matt Tuck (BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE), Chris Beattie (HATEBREED) and Phil Demmel (MACHINE HEAD). Tim has played Jackson Guitars exclusively for many years while Linley and Sean were keen to move over to Jackson after experiencing and road testing the exceptional quality of JacksonR Guitars.

Jackson’s endorsement follows the ground breaking New Zealand release of TAINTED’s new studio album ‘Carved And Created’ in October this year. Make sure you check out the band on their ‘Path Of Vengeance Tour’ this month. See the NZRock Gig Guide for more details.

EVERMORE’s new single, ‘Between The Lines’, is available for free download from the band’s official website. Jon Hume, lead singer from EVERMORE says “Musically, the song came to us at the beginning of a search for a new musical experience for us as a band. We feel like this song is a big departure for us and wanna give everyone a chance to hear it. That’s why we’re giving it away. If you like us or hate us, give this new track a spin. It’s free music without the guilt!”

SUPERGROOVE and ELEMENO P are hitting the road for their ‘Rock’n'Roll Caravan Summer Tour’ which will see the bands playing shows in both the North and South islands these Christmas holidays. ELEMENO P drummer Scotty Pearson and SUPERGROOVE’s Che Fu have been busy working on a purpose built caravan which both bands will be calling home for the duration of this tour.

“The caravan is a forty foot mid ’60s Crusader that we bought from a guy in Otorohanga on TradeMe,” says Scotty Pearson. Custom elements in the new look Rock’n Roll caravan include an expanded fridge area and beer taps, mag wheels and a rear spoiler. All new suspension was a crucial part of the rebuild and Jonah Lomu consulted on the installation of a ridiculously loud stereo system.

“Joe Lonie’s bringing his cricket set, Dave Gibson’s got the cards, and between the two bands, we’ve got plenty of tunes to keep the party going, One of our crew guys, Big Tony, I think it was mentioned something about getting a warrent of fitness for the caravan, so one of us will look into that,” says Pearson.

The ‘Rock’n'Roll Caravan Summer Tour’ kicks off 19 December at the Powerstation in Auckland with DEJA VOODOO before heading towards a number of classic kiwi summer hotspots. Check out the full list below:

Fri 19 Dec - Auckland, Powerstation (w/ DEJA VOODOO)
Tue 23 Dec - Brownzy , Browns Bay, Auckland
Fri 26 Dec - Waihi Beach Hotel, Waihi
Sun 28 Dec - Mangawhai Tavern, Mangawhai
Mon 29 Dec - Butlers Reef Tavern, New Plymouth
Wed 31 Dec - The Riwaka Hotel, Nelson
Fri 2 Jan - Lake Hawea (w/ SHIHAD)
Sat 3 Jan - Coroglen Tavern, Coroglen
Sun 4 Jan - Auckland, Kings Arms Tavern

The second announcement for Big Day Out 2009 was released today. The latest additions to the BDO line-up are: SUBTRACT, DROPKICK MURPHYS, THE MINT CHICKS, LUPE FIASCO, SERJ TANKIAN, BLACK KIDS, HOT CHIP,  HOLY GHOST!, ZANE LOWE, Z*TRIP, P-MONEY, CORNERSTONE ROOTS, HORSEMEN FAMILY, PEE WEE FERRIS, ETHICAL, THE DHDFD'S, BRAND NEW MATH, GEORGE & QUEEN, THE SIDEKICKNICK.

Longstanding Auckland Heavy Metal outfit SUBTRACT have just posted the following statement regarding their BDO appearance, “It’s official. SUBTRACT have been announced to play Big Day Out ‘09. While we’re not sure what time and what exact stage, we believe it will be late morning on one of the main stages. Official announcement to come on that one. This is very exciting for SUBTRACT, who haven’t played a Big Day Out since ‘99, as it will coincide with the release of their new album ‘Winning Hearts and Minds’ on January 1st, and sits right in the middle of the national tour throughout January. We look forward to seeing all you crazy fuckers there nice and early to catch the SUBTRACT set. We’ll have the full January/February tour date schedule up as soon as it’s locked down. Fuck yeah!”

Big Day Out 2009 artists confirmed in the 1st announcement are, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, THE PRODIGY, THE LIVING END, COBRA KHAN, THE DATSUNS, ELEMENO P, LUGER BOA, HEADLESS CHICKENS, ARCTIC MONKEYS, THE NAKED AND FAMOUS, THE TING TINGS, TV ON THE RADIO, TIKI TAANE, MY MORNING JACKET, THE BLACK SEEDS, SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, NESIAN MYSTIK, PENDULUM, SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM and LADI 6.

Auckland Hardcore rockers the BLEEDERS are about to perform their last New Zealand shows until 2010! The band has announced North Island dates this November/December after which they plan to tour the US and Canada in the new year then base themselves abroad. The BLEEDERS latest Myspace announcement says they’ll be performing plenty of old material written over their 2002-2008 history. Check out the NZRock Gig Guide from more details.