SEVENDUST Extends U.S. Tour Dates In Support of Black Out The Sun, Headlines In St. Paul September 7

Click on the photo to see more pictures of Sevendust performing June 18, 2000 in San Diego (18).

One of the hardest-touring bands around, Sevendust, has added a slew of new dates in September that include a stop at Myth in St. Paul with support from Monster Truck (who recently opened for Alice In Chains and Chevelle in St. Paul) and American Fangs. Tickets for the St. Paul show are on sale now through etix. The list of new Sevendust concert dates is below, and check your local listings for support acts.

September 7 – St. Paul, MN, Myth, w/Monster Truck, American Fangs

September 12 – Pharr, TX, Pharr Events Center

September 13 – San Antonio, TX, Backstage Live

September 15 – Dallas, TX, Trees

September 16 – Oklahoma City, OK, Oklahoma State Fair

September 18 – Las Vegas, NV, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

September 19 – Salt Lake City, UT, In the Venue

September 20 – Billings, MT, Babcock Theater

September 23 – Fort Collins, CO, Aggie Theatre

September 24 – Colorado Springs, CO, The Black Sheep

September 25 – Cheyenne, WY, Atlas Theatre

September 27 – Fort Smith, AR, Arkansas-Oklahoma State Fair

September 28 – Tulsa, OK, Tulsa State Fair

October 5 – Nashville, TN, Nashville Center State

January 26 – Miami, FL, Shiprocked

RELATED CONTENT: If you missed these, check out my review of the latest Sevendust album Black Out The Sun (9/10), a From The Vault feature with lots of old pictures and promotional items, and an audio download of a headlining performance from 1997.

Concert Announcements - May 10, 2013

Taproot has added a stop at Buster’s in Mankato on Tuesday, May 14 with Boy Hits Car and Intertwined.

Reaping Asmodeia has added a date on Friday, May 17 at the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato with Conflicts, Fail To Decay, and Valor Tracks.

Metalcore band Phinehas will play Station 4 in St. Paul on Monday, May 20 with Ark Of The Covenant, Chugchugwob, When Glory Came Home, and Watchmen in support.

Local noise crew Burn Fetish is having a release party for their new album Sun And Dust at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis with With A Gun For A Face, Torch The Spires, and Fury Things on Sunday, May 26.

Singer guitarist Bob Mould of Minneapolis punk legends Hüsker Dü and alternative rock band Sugar is a part of the Rock The Garden concert that is already SOLD OUT. Sponsored by 89.3 The Current, Rock The Garden takes place in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center on Saturday, June 15. Headlining the event is Metric with Silversun Pickups, Low, and Dan Deacon also performing. Local writer Jeff Severns Guntzel has written an interesting piece on Bob Mould for the Walker Art Center that extensively quotes Bob from various fanzine interviews from the early 80s.

The next night, Sunday, June 16, Bob Mould plays Grandma’s Sports Garden in Duluth.

Grant Hart, former drummer of Hüsker Dü, plays the Turf Club in St. Paul on Friday, July 12 to coincide with the release of his new solo album The Argument.

Sevendust has scheduled a show in Rochester at the Wicked Moose on Saturday, July 13 with support from Otherwise and Devour The Day.

The Cabooze in Minneapolis on Thursday, July 25 will host the All Stars Tour with Every Time I Die, Chelsea Grin, Veil Of Maya, Terror, Stray From The Path, Capture The Crown, Iwrestledabearonce, For All Those Sleeping, Structures, and Ice Nine Kills.

On Saturday, July 27 Chicago’s Kommandant, which features ex-members of black metal band Nachtmystium, will play Station 4 in St. Paul with Atrum Inritus and Nuklear Frost.

Saturday, July 27 also has Face Of Oblivion teaming with Goregatron, Byleth, Mastiff, and First Against The Wall for a show at the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato.

Great White Featuring Jack Russell returns to Neisen’s in Savage on Saturday, July 27 the day after their appearance at Halfway Jam in Royalton.

BulletBoys also return to Neisen’s in Savage on Saturday, August 10.

CORRECTION: Thanks to reader mad angel for catching my mistake - Grant Hart is the former drummer (not bassist) of Hüsker Dü. This has been corrected and updated with the title of Grant's forthcoming solo album, The Argument.

In Concert This Week - May 10, 2013

Brace yourself for a ton of great shows coming up this week!

Starting with a couple show outside the metro area, tomorrow, Friday, May 10 has local industrial metal bands Gabriel And The Apocalypse and Thira at Buster's in Mankato for a 21+ show at 9:45 for only $5. Down in Rochester, DoryDrive plays a free 21+ show at the Wicked Moose with Venus On Fire and Angry Room; doors are at 8:00.

Friday also kicks off the Girls Got Rhythm Festival at the Amsterdam Bar in St. Paul with cult punk band The Avengers, Gateway District, The Pinsch, and Total Trash. The second night on Saturday, May 11 features former singer of The Runaways Cherie Currie, Sugar Stems, Marilu And The The Machetes, and Is/Is. These are 21+ shows, and tickets are $20 each night at the door or $35 for a two-day pass. You can read an interview with Cherie Currie and Girls Got Rhythm organizers Dana Raidt and Travis Ramin over at City Pages.

There's four other shows of interest on Saturday, May 11. Fans of progressive metal should turn out for the first U.S. tours of Sweden's Pain Of Salvation, Italy's Kingcrow, Detroit's Imminent Sonic Destruction, Omaha's Violent Fade, and locals Redshift. Over at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis you can catch hard rock band Escape The Fate with support from England’s Glamour Of The Kill. Note that metalcore band The Color Morale is no longer on the Escape The Fate bill. The Hi 5 Bar in Burnsville has alternative rock band DoryDrive. Lastly, it’s a big night of local metal at Neisen’s in Savage with Blue Felix, Throw The Fight, Gabriel And The Apocalypse, and A Sound Theory.

Speaking of Escape The Fate, their former frontman’s new band Falling In Reverse also plays Mill City Nights in Minneapolis on Sunday, May 12 with support from American Fangs. You can save some money by purchasing the “Escape The Fate 2 Show Pack” that gets you into both the Escape The Fate and Falling In Reverse shows for only $25. Just across the street at Epic the same night metalcore band Asking Alexandria tops a large bill with Motionless In White, Whitechapel, Chimaira, and I Killed The Prom Queen.

On Monday, May 13 rock radio darlings Sick Puppies perform at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with local support from Pinwheel.

Limp Bizkit performing at Kemper Arena in Kansas City on October 22, 1998 on the Family Values Tour. Click on the picture to see more photos from this show (7).

Limp Bizkit returns to town after a long absence for a show at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. This show sold out quick, and additional tickets were released earlier this week – you can still purchase them through ticketfly here.

The busy week ends on Wednesday, May 15 with metalcore stars Bullet For My Valentine teaming up with Halestorm, Young Guns, and Stars In Stereo at Myth in St. Paul. The Stars In Stereo Album Preview EP was reviewed here (6/10). Also on Wednesday alternative rock band Taproot plays the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis with support from Boy Hits Car, XFactor1, and Willpowerless. Up north, Wednesday finds Sevendust plays Duluth at Clyde Iron Works with Pop Evil and Canadians Monster Truck.

RELATED SEVENDUST POSTS: I reviewed the awesome new Sevendust album Black Out The Sun here. You can download the audio from an early headlining show on July 19, 1997 in Lawrence, Kansas here, and my From The Vault feature has a ton of live photos and promotional materials from 1997–2000.

Sevendust performing June 18, 2000 at Cox Arena in San Diego. Click on the picture to see more photos from this show (18).

From The Vault - CLUTCH

Off the wall heavy rockers Clutch are out now promoting their new album Earth Rocker so I dug through my archives to present the findings from early Clutch shows up through The Elephant Riders. My first live exposure to the band was when they were out supporting their debut album, Transnational Speedway League, on a crushing bill that had them sandwiched between Sepultura and Fear Factory on March 29, 1993 at Big Dog's in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sepultura was riding high on the Chaos A.D. album, while Fear Factory was promoting Soul Of A New Machine. From my recollection, Clutch ripped through most the debut album, including "Earthworm", "A Shogun Named Marcus", "Rats", and "El Jefe Speaks".

The only time I remember seeing Clutch on the road for their second, self-titled album was in 1995 at The Hurricane in Kansas City on a co-headling jaunt with Tad with Far opening the show. Clutch and Tad was a great pairing, and both bands put on intense performances.

Two promotional pictures of Clutch from 1998 for The Elephant Riders album.

Clutch hit the road heavily for their third album, The Elephant Riders, during which time they played Lawrence, Kansas and Kansas City a number of times. March 11, 1998 had them playing The Beaumont Club in Kansas City on an unlikely tour opening for Limp Bizkit with Sevendust. The crowd was respectful but seemed largely indifferent. That same year, they did a phenomenal headlining show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence as part of a short tour with support from Shine (who later changed their name to Spirit Caravan).

The pictures below were all taken at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas on October 28, 1998 as direct support to Sevendust together with Stuck Mojo and Ultraspank. Again, Clutch seemed out of place on this tour, but they still rolled through a great set as only they can do.

Clutch performing October 28, 1998 at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas. Click on any of the live pictures to see more photos from this show (20).

Clutch performs tomorrow, Wednesday, April 10 at First Avenue in Minneapolis with support from Orange Goblin, Lionize, and Scorpion Child.

Tonight - SEVENDUST and COAL CHAMBER in Minneapolis, SUFFOCATION in St. Paul

Sevendust performing June 18, 2000 at Cox Arena in San Diego. Click on the picture to see more photos from this show (18).

Coal Chamber performing April 19, 2000 at the Hollywood Palladium. Click on the picture to see more photos from this show (21).

The work week kicks off with two great shows in the area. In Minneapolis, Mill City Nights has a co-headlining show with Sevendust and the reformed Coal Chamber. Supporting the bill is Italy's Lacuna Coil and Candlelight Red. This is an 18+ show that starts at 7:30; tickets are $32 at the door. Check out the recent posts for the review of the latest Sevendust album Black Out The Sun (9/10), audio of Sevendust on July 19, 1997, and From The Vault features of both Sevendust and Coal Chamber with lots of pictures and old concert ads from 1997-2000.

Watch the video for "Decay" from the new Sevendust album Black Out The Sun.

The intensity increases at Station 4 in St. Paul tonight with death metal legends Suffocation performing with support from Exhumed, Jungle Rot, Rings Of Saturn and Adimiron. This is a 16+ show with an early 6:00 start, and it's $25 at the door. Come back later for a From The Vault feature on Exhumed! I haven't had a chance to write a review, but Suffocation has a great new album out on Nuclear Blast, Pinnacle Of Bedlam.

Album Review - SEVENDUST

Sevendust – Black Out The Sun

7Bros., 2013

9/10

By the time most bands with respectable levels of mainstream success have lasted long enough to make it to their ninth album, they’ve either evolved their style or changed personnel as to be nearly unrecognizable or slid into a morass of musical irrelevance. So where does Sevendust stand, with three Gold albums in the U.S. and Black Out The Sun, their eighth album to chart in the top 30? Like any band they’ve had some weaker albums, but Black Out The Sun easily belongs near the top of their output. It essentially sounds like a heavier, more modern version of their outstanding debut album from 1997. Loaded with heavy, dark riffs and the deep melodic voice of Lajon Witherspoon that define most of the band’s albums, Black Out The Sun also incorporates some occasional production tricks on the drums and extensive keyboards in the background that prevents the affair from sounding like a throwback. Make no mistake, though – this album is heavy, with Lajon releasing some vicious screams on songs like “Faithless” and some tight, fast double bass drumwork on others such as “Dead Roses”. The fast and heavy “Faithless” and “Till Death” start the album in relentless fashion before “Mountain” settles in with a lively groove. “Cold As War” and the title track are ok, probably my least favorite. Some great vocal harmonies and melodies make “Nobody Wants It” a high point. “Dead Roses” picks up the tempo again, then the second half of the album relaxes into a series a slower, more nuanced songs. It all leads into the penultimate songs, “Got A Feeling”, a dramatic acoustic ballad that builds into a massive guitar solo at the end. “Murder Bar” ends the album on a strong note with some neat guitar work. Black Out The Sun is strong from start to finish, one that captures your attention in its entirety. I’ll admit that I was a bit surprised at how good the album is, and if you’ve felt let down or bored by other Sevendust albums this is the time to rediscover the band. This is one of the finest moments in Sevendust’s career, an album that shows they’re still capable of writing fresh, heavy songs that retain great hooks and melodies.

Sevendust performs a co-headlining show with Coal Chamber on Monday, April 8 at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis with support from Lacuna Coil and Candlelight Red. The bands returns to Duluth on Wednesday, May 15 at Clyde Iron Works with support from Pop Evil.

RELATED CONTENT: Check out the downloadable audio of Sevendust live on July 19, 1997, and the From The Vault feature with some old Sevendust pictures from 1997–2000.