NEVER SAY NEVER FESTIVAL

The Devil Wears Prada is an American metalcore band from Dayton, Ohio, formed in 2005. It consists of members Mike Hranica (vocals), Jeremy DePoyster (rhythm guitar, vocals), Andy Trick (bass), and Daniel Williams (drums). The band had maintained its original lineup until keyboardist James Baney left the band. To date, the group has released five full-length albums: Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord (2006), Plagues (2007), With Roots Above and Branches Below (2009), Dead Throne (2011) and 8:18 (2013) as well as one EP, one DVD, thirteen singles, and ten music videos.


Caleb Shomo – Vocals
Taylor Lumley – Guitar
Kamron Bradbury – Guitar
Oshie Bichar – Bass
Brandon Mullins – Drums

Collaborative creativity can produce brilliant results, but there's something almost otherworldly about what emerges from the minds of remarkably talented artists, the types who've lived many lifetimes in a short period, left to his/her own devices.

As much as Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure or Foo Fighters (particularly on that first album) are considered "bands," they brazenly exhibit the precision focused passion of a specific person; often a person bursting at the seams with something to say. BEARTOOTH began and in many ways continues to be such an artist, bubbling forth from the psyche, soul and complex emotions buried in multitalented instrumentalist and songwriter, Caleb Shomo.

Beartooth shares equal inspiration with brutal metalcore as with old-school punk like The Ramones and the bombastic theatricality of Queen. The end result is a back-to-basics hardcore stomp that would get the crowd moving at a Hatebreed or Terror show, interspersed with a steadfast determination to give equal importance to anthemic choruses.

"I made the whole thing by myself," Shomo says of Beartooth's debut album, Disgusting, out this summer via Red Bull Records. "The entire record, front to back, is literally a reflection of my thoughts and my mental well-being at the time. The album captures every end of the spectrum musically and lyrically. I know this may sound strange, but I didn't write these songs for anyone. I wrote just to write. All of the songs came about because I love writing Beartooth songs. That's it. I won't record a song unless I love it, unless I believe in it. I won't do it any other way."

Beartooth began as a way to blow off steam and add another dimension to Shomo's genre-hopping creative output. He and his hometown friends started jamming; hanging out in his Columbus, OH basement studio and playing music for fun. They released an EP, Sick, and then hit the road, touring North America and Europe with genre titans August Burns Red, Memphis May Fire, The Word Alive and Of Mice & Men, among others. In between support slots the five-piece headlined everything from basements to club shows, building a strong and devoted following. The EP's accompanying music videos for "Go Be the Voice" and "I Have a Problem" (both live and traditional) quickly accumulated over one million views, and set the stage for the band's next endeavor, Disgusting.

While he's still a very young guy, Shomo has lived a lifetime in music already. He had already dabbled in a project with Escape The Fate cofounder Max Green and Craig Mabbit (Blessthefall/The World Alive/Escape The Fate) when he was called up to play keyboards for Attack Attack! at the tender age of 15. The band incited polarizing dialogue around the world, as some jaded critics mocked the group's "crabcore" while a new generation of fans followed the band's every move. Shomo found himself thrust into the front man role following a series of lineup changes. The band's self-titled sophomore effort debuted at #1 on Billboard's Independent chart.

Shomo was handling all of the vocals, programming and production duties by the time the third Attack Attack! album, This Means War, broke into the Top 10. The record sold 17,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #8 on the Billboard Top 200.

Battling the same type of depression, anxiety and overindulgence as many of his fans, Shomo bowed out of Attack Attack! to get himself together, and the songs on Disgusting reflect that struggle.

The closing track, "Sick and Disgusting," is so personal that Shomo has trouble listening to it. It an intense exploration of the mental health issues he's struggled with, not dissimilar from the raw truth found on Korn's eponymous debut, or Reznor's open confessions of drug addiction scattered throughout NIN. It's a song where Shomo just hit "record" and let it all pour out.

"I almost didn't put it on the record because I felt embarrassed about people hearing it," Shomo confesses. "It is really intense for me personally. It's hard to explain but suffice it to say, it's a song about a lot of mental health things I've dealt with. If people listen to it and understand where I'm coming from and respect it, great. If other people think I sound like an idiot because I start crying in a song, I really don't care. I know how much I put into that song emotionally. It's one straight take, all the way through. I realized I'd be shorting myself if I didn't put it on the record."

Alternatively, a track like "Beaten in Lips" is written from Caleb's experiences outside his own world: he wrote it from the perspective of abused kids with nowhere to turn. "I was just thinking about it one day, about how absolutely ridiculous it is that some parents abuse their children," he explains.

The album's opening track, "The Lines," hits a lighter note. "We have been playing that song live before the record comes out. It's just a fun jam. I wanted to write riffs that people can jump around and get wild to. People can sing at shows and have fun. I want people to sing along so they feel as much a part of the show as we are. I love doing house shows, shows without barricades, floor shows."

There's a beautiful authenticity in Beartooth's music, which is the result of Shomo's simple intention: to write songs for the sake of writing songs. There is nothing calculated, nothing crafted for mass appeal. It's simply the truth of his experiences and emotions.

"Red Bull Records has been backing whatever I want to do musically which has been really refreshing," Shomo says. "There isn't any pressure to write certain types of songs or to have a certain sound. I don't go into my basement thinking, 'OK, I've got to write a pop song' or 'I've got to write a heavy song.' The songs are what they are and are allowed to be whatever comes out of me. Beartooth ends up having a lot of dynamics that way, a lot of diversity. I never want to make a record that becomes boring."


we are not cops.


we live for this. pop punk from the suburbs of chicago.

Emo/pop punk band from Tinley Park, Illinois.

SAD SONGS | MEAN SONGS | MIDWEST LIVING


We play songs.

Tunes - http://knucklepuck.bandcamp.com/

Merch - http://knucklepuck.limitedrun.com/ |

http://silverbulletmerch.com/collections/knuckle-puck (UK) |

http://knucklepuck.merchnow.com/

Twitter/Instagram - @knucklepuckil


In the two-year span since blessthefall's album His Last Walk was released, the band has undergone some internal repairs that could have sunk any other band on the rise. Not so for the Phoenix five-piece, who've learned that a kink in the gears isn't enough to stop a band this strong for good. Formed in 2004 by a group of higher-thinking high-schoolers who wanted their peers to find meaning and camaraderie in their music, blessthefall was intent on making their post-hardcore/screamo blend a different breed that people would remember. After several gigs in the area, more than just the locals began to notice. Later, after a 3-song EP made the rounds at shows and landed in label hands, this buzzy and burgeoning band were signed to Warner subsidiary Science Records and making their first full-length.

"Everyone has their first shows that consist of just the bands, and your parents, if you're lucky," reflects guitarist Eric Lambert. "Things picked up rather quickly, though. We started selling out hometown shows, then started touring, and, oddly enough, we had fans outside of Arizona. It was small shows, but the fans we met are still coming to every show and are the best people ever."

Armed with a defiant upcoming record and a new frontman, blessthefall have returned to the scene a stronger entity than ever before. Witness, the band's sophomore album and first with singer Beau Bokan, formerly of Take the Crown, will be released from new label Fearless Records, who signed the band in May. Bokan says this album reflects the positive energy that now enfolds the band. "We wrote this album to show people we aren't the kind of band to lay down and give up," notes Bokan. "We're here and won't be going anywhere for a long, long time."

Those fans will undoubtedly be out in droves to obtain Witness, a forward-thinking record that boasts bigger choruses, heavier guitars and, essentially, Bokan adds, "His Last Walk on steroids. It has all the same elements that got us where we are today." Recorded earlier this summer with Elvis Baskette (Incubus, Escape The Fate, Story Of The Year) in Virginia, blessthefall took their collective struggles to the forefront to produce a highly personal and evolved album - and bombastic live show - that shows the band back is with vengeance.

"With all the bands in the scene it's hard to stand out," says Bokan. "Anyone can go into a studio and make an over produced album that sounds amazing, but if they can't pull it off live it means nothing. We pride ourselves on our live show, and we want people to walk away from our live show and be blown away. We leave our hearts on the stage every night. The greatest compliment to ever get is when someone says we sound better live than on CD."

For these Taste of Chaos veterans and current road warriors, they're anxious to take their performance chops to the road for Witness. While trying to win over new fans while appeasing the old may be a difficult task for some bands, blessthefall accept it eagerly as a challenge that they'll work toward with this record and its following tours. "There is a lot more drive now that Beau is in the band," Lambert said. "We know we have a lot to prove and we are all hungry for it."

Witness is released by Fearless Records on October 6th, 2009.


From small acorns... Well, you know the rest. But the old adage couldn't be more applicable in the story of NECK DEEP, a band who have evolved over the course of just one year from 'a bit of fun' to one of the most exciting young names in today's UK scene.

Even for those that have traced the quintet's rise, it might be hard to fathom that it was only September of 2012 in Wrexham, North Wales, when hometown friends Ben Barlow and Lloyd Roberts recorded and uploaded a handful of tracks and a quickly shot video to YouTube.

At that time, Roberts was a guitarist with melodic hardcore band Spires, whilst Barlow was a local skater kid and bedroom musician; the project that the twosome dubbed as 'Neck Deep' was intended as a piece of casual fun, a musical homage to the likes of New Found Glory, Blink 182 and Sum 41 - the classic pop punk they had both grown up with.

Neither could have expected what came next.

Online praise for the songs snowballed while play-counts rocketed, and it was clear to Barlow and Roberts that Neck Deep needed to be more than an online enigma. So, after picking musicians from the lineup of Roberts' band Spires and from within the local music scene, Neck Deep - the band - was born, with guitarist Matt West, bassist Fil Thorpe-Evans and drummer Dani Washington fleshing out this real world incarnation.

By the time the band played their London debut at Camden's Barfly in December 2012 (their second ever show), the quintet already found themselves facing crowd singalongs that surpassed any reaction they could have ever anticipated. Meanwhile, online attention for their self-recorded debut mini album Rain In July had spread internationally, with anthemic lead track A Part Of Me inspiring particular acclaim from an ever increasing, worldwide pool of fans.

Neck Deep kicked off 2013 as they meant to go on, releasing a three track E.P, A History Of Bad Decisions, for free download, and hitting the road in its support. Respected media outlets were now catching on too, with the likes of BBC Radio 1 to Rock Sound magazine, and from Kerrang! Radio to Alternative Press (who dubbed them as ones to watch and made them 'band of the week'), excited to throw their hats in the ring in support for the band. And, after a last minute band holiday to the US to visit Florida's amusement parks saw the band playing an impromptu house show and a near sold out headline show (with only 48 hours notice) to crazed audiences of fans singing every last word, it was clear that Neck Deep had rapidly become much more than a flash in the pan, one hit wonder.

Not ones to waste momentum, the band returned from these few months of live activity creatively supercharged, and set about writing and recording the material that would become their debut full-length album. Initially, the ever pro-active quintet had plans to self-release their full length, but when Hopeless Records came knocking, the band knew there was no other choice to make; this was a label that embodied many of the values the fivesome held close as individuals and creatives, and boasted a roster the young musicians not only admired and respected, but which they had grown up enjoying as fans.

After a long, hot summer slaving away in the home studio of frontman Barlow's older brother, Seb Barlow - the very same studio where the band tracked Rain In July and A History Of Bad Decisions - the Neck Deep debut album, Wishful Thinking, was born.

A record that simultaneously belies their youth and yet radiates it from every audio pore, Wishful Thinking offers the listener a relentless array of anthemic hooks, intelligent songwriting and Barlow's trademark sharp witted, introspective and determinedly honest lyricism.

In little over 12 months, Neck Deep have won a lot of people over. Suffice to say - with Wishful Thinking set for a January 14, 2014 release - this is only the very beginning. Just think where they could be in another 12 months.