According to Amazon.com, Da Capo Press has set a June 24, 2014 North American release date for LAMB OF GOD vocalist Randy Blythe's memoir, "Dark Days: My Tribulation And Trials". Random House has purchased the foreign rights to the book and will act as publisher in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
The memoir, which puts emphasis on the past year of Randy's life, is an incredible, harrowing, heartbreaking, and redemptive story told in Blythe's already well-recognized writing style.
It seems that almost every major media outlet has attempted to righteously cover the story of Blythe's arrest, incarceration, trial, and acquittal for manslaughter in the Czech Republic last year, but now, the man at the center of it all unveils the truths of the ordeal, personally detailing every aspect in his own words. No ghost writers, no co-authors, just Randy Blythe himself.
The rights to Blythe's book were sold to Da Capo executive editor Ben Schafer by Marc Gerald at The Agency Group.
"While I've dreamed of being a published author almost since I began to read, I never imagined my first book would center around such a sad topic," says Blythe. "Sometimes though, life unexpectedly provides you a story that needs to be told. I believe this one does (for several different reasons, not just for the benefit of myself), so I will tell it with the respect and dignity all involved deserve. This will be a good read, I promise you, and I hope some good comes of it."
Added Schafer: "I knew that Randy was a master vocalist and lyricist but it turns out he is a vivid and visceral prose writer as well.
"Regarding his arrest and trial in the Czech Republic, Randy handled a frightening and heartbreaking situation with courage, grace, and humility, and we at Da Capo Press are honored to have the opportunity to have a part in telling his story."
Da Capo Press, a member of American publishing company the Perseus Books Group, is an excellent home for Blythe's memoir, having already published several other books by heavy metal greats like Tony Iommi (BLACK SABBATH), Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR), Rex Brown (PANTERA, DOWN, KILL DEVIL HILL) and Al Jourgensen (MINISTRY).
Prague, Czech Republic's High Court upheld Blythe's "not guilty" verdict on June 5 in connection with the death of a fan three years ago. The court's decision is final.
A three-judge panel on March 5 acquitted Blythe of manslaughter in the death of 19-year-old Daniel Nosek.
Blythe was facing the possibility of conviction and a long-term jail sentence after a May 2010 incident in which Nosek, who attended a LAMB OF GOD performance in Prague, died almost a month later, allegedly from injuries sustained when he was thrown off the stage.
Though Blythe faced up to 10 years in prison, during the closing argument, prosecutors only asked the judge for the minimum sentence of five years.
APOCALYPTICA — the groundbreaking Finnish orchestral rock group — has just released "Wagner Reloaded - Live In Leipzig" (BMG), an epic live collaboration with the acclaimed MDR Leipzig Symphony Orchestra. The album's release is perfectly timed since 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of iconic German composer Richard Wagner.
For "Wagner Reloaded - Live In Leipzig", APOCALYPTICA created new compositions based on Wagner's body of work and his life, teaming with award-winning choreographer and dancer Gregor Seyffert to stage a brilliant and magical, cross-genre event featuring a live concert and theatrical production.
Since its inception, the Finnish cello-based heavy rock group APOCALYPTICA has been mining the classical form and structure creating compositions that are both unpredictable and unforgettable. From the METALLICA covers that turned the music scene on its ear to 2007's "Worlds Collide" — which saw the group collaborate with everyone from SLIPKNOT's Corey Taylor to RAMMSTEIN's Till Lindemann and LACUNA COIL's Cristina Scabbia — APOCALYPTICA have released seven studio albums featuring numerous cello-based instrumentals and vocal-based songs. They've explored styles from atmospheric interludes to fast, battering rhythms--their music has always been gripping, dynamic and full of melody.
Here's a question-and-answer session with APOCALYPTICA's Eicca Toppinen and Mikko Sirén where they discuss the controversial character of composer Richard Wagner, performing inside metal dragons with pyro as well as the creation of the music and production for "Wagner Reloaded".
Q: What role did Wagner play in the decision for this project?
Eicca: Wagner was both the whole starting point and the glue. "Wagner Reloaded" is not just an homage to Wagner and performance of his music, it's more about showing Wagner's life and character and personality in a new way.
Mikko: Wagner's whole career was an inspiring element for the creator Gregor, he wanted to make a movie out of it and for APOCALYPTICA to make a score for it, so, it was a new approach to his life and I think his life was more interesting for Gregor than his music even. That's the contradiction.
Eicca: Yes, that's very true and it turned out to be so bombastic and massive, which is "Wagnerian," it's really in the spirit of Wagner, because he was famous for being over the top. Wagner wanted to make a 12-hour opera, opera trilogies, and he wanted to build his own opera house — his visions were crazy. Wagner's craziness was driving this project from the very beginning.
Q: In Germany, there are controversies regarding Wagner's life and personal political choices. How is that looked at in Finland?
Mikko: In general, at least in Finland, people don't look at Wagner as a political character or a person; his music is well-known, and people, who follow the scene, which in truth is a minority of people, might know more of his history.
Eicca: Yeah, it doesn't stir up such emotions in Finland as it seems to in Germany, of course. It's a complicated issue, because nobody knows exactly how to think about people, who have already passed away long, long, long time ago. Whether their music or art was used for certain purposes — it's complex territory. But in Finland, people listen to Wagner just as Wagner music and don't think so much about possible political relations, or anti-Semitic writings. It's not really at the top of the conversation in Finland. But in Germany it seems to be a hot topic.
Q: Musically speaking, what were the greatest challenges?
Eicca: The greatest challenge of doing this project was the way we worked. Gregor Seyffert, who was also dancing one of the main roles, had a very clear script for how all the scenes would follow each other, how Wagner was born, was a kid, and I got a length for every scene. Like, for example: This scene is four to five minutes long, and this is what's going to happen on stage, and this is what the energy of the music should be like. And sometimes Gregor wanted to have a specific composition by Wagner and therefore maybe the biggest challenge was to combine Wagner's music with new music, because Wagner, of course, was a great composer and a lot of his music is perfect and there is nothing to add to it. So it was a combination of what is APOCALYPTICA's role in the Wagner pieces, and how we could create music, which is as exciting in the performance as Wagner's original music. Because all of APOCALYPTICA's music was newly composed for this project, no one had ever heard it before — and everybody knows all of Wagner. The
Thomas Stanley Orwat Jr. of RockMusicStar recently conducted an interview with Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, SEPULTURA, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
RockMusicStar: You have recently written an autobiography. When will it be released?
Max: Yes, it's coming out in February in America. It's called "My Bloody Roots", and it's out in Brazil already and Poland, and it's going to come out in America in February. I've been working on this book for the last three years. I did thousands of interviews, and Dave Grohl [FOO FIGHTERS, NIRVANA] did the introduction of the book. He wrote a really cool introduction; it's really funny. It's a great book; it's got a lot of cool people in it, like Mike Patton [FAITH NO MORE], David Vincent [MORBID ANGEL], Sharon Osbourne. It's an amazing book. It's gonna tell my whole story. It's gonna tell about the split; I finally tell the truth about why I left SEPULTURA. All the stuff that happened, all the tragedies that happened, and then there's some funny stuff, like puking on Eddie Vedder [PEARL JAM], and shit that happened in my career and my life. They're all crazy stuff. Everything's gonna be in the book, and it's going to be great for people to read that.
RockMusicStar: Wow, I can't wait. That's awesome. How is it doing in Brazil?
Max: It's doing really good, man. It's gonna probably make the best-selling list of the Brazilian books, and we're very excited about that. People in Brazil are very excited, they are reading the shit out of it. I get a lot of comments on Facebook, from my wife, she does Facebook, and gets a lot of people talking about how much they love the book, and has really, really great reviews. A lot of people especially like the part when I talk about the split from SEPULTURA, because I really explains my side of the story, about how I really felt, and why I left my own band. And a lot of people, after they read that, they will understand. And, for them, it makes sense that I did what I did, that I left SEPULTURA. They would have done the same. After they read it, they understand why I did it, and it makes sense after you read what I said about the split, you'd think that it was the rational thing to do, for me, was to leave them, you know. Even though it was my own band from the beginning, it was kind of like, all of my integrity, you know, and that's why I decided to leave. It's going to be great. It tells all of those stories, and puts kind of a final stamp on the whole "SEPULTURA split" shit, and talks about SOULFLY and how it was created, and how cool SOULFLY was building over the years, and the cool people I worked with. Sean Lennon is in the book, Corey Taylor [SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR] is in the book, all talking about how it was to work with me, and I think it's going to be great. I can't wait for people in America to read it. It's going to come out through a company called Jawbone. They're going to distribute the book in America.
RockMusicStar: I always wondered about the SEPULTURA thing. I always thought to myself, I mean, I don't know the all the little nuances about the spilt. That's why I'm looking forward to reading your book, but, I always wondered why you didn't just fire everyone from SEPULTURA, keep the name, and find replacements.
