Marcos is back in P.O.D.

Like we've been saying, P.O.D. without Marcos blows. Apparently they finally figured that out too. Dude is back in the band. They've announced that Marcos has rejoined the band and that they've already got a record deal in place. Word on the street is that Columbia agreed to give them a deal, but only if Marcos was back in the band. Desperate times call for desperate measures. My guess is that the conversation went something like this:

Sonny: ' Hey, we got offered a new deal at Columbia but they'll only give it to us if you're back in the band. Truby's been great and we have no reason to kick him out, but I just figured out that our songs aren't as good with you gone. Praise Jesus.'

Marcos: 'See, that's why I left. You're always saying that 'Praise Jesus' shit.'

Sonny: 'Damn son, I just did that to see what you'd do. I just want to rock. Check it, our band hasn't written a good song since the Matrix Soundtrack and your band is on Rock Ridge. Really, you signed to Rock Ridge? C'mon dude.'

Marcos: 'Whatever, I thought we'd get paid. I was feeling Accident Experiment. Tony and Ernie do that shit right, but Pete sounds too much like Scott Stapp. I'm over it. I'm back in, yo.'

Sonny: 'Thank God! Just playin', got you again.'

Marcos: 'Seriously, cut that shit out or I'm gone.'

Sonny: 'Aight dude, chill. We're straight. We're going to Catalina for the weekend, you wanna roll?'

Marcos: 'Hell yeah, I'm in. Let's do this.'

My guess is that the above conversation led to this picture:

And that's the other guitarist, Jason Truby, not their manager or some random white dude from Catalina. That picture looks like a damn MTV contest to be in the band.

Anyway, there you have it.

Out.

- Black -

Roadrunner/Within Temptation/F.O.B.

Like Chainsaw said earlier, we'll be doing our 'Best of' lists in the next week or so. I had to have him redo his because it included 5 Pennywise records. Unlike Chainsaw's initial attempt, we'll include records (and maybe other stuff) that a) came out in 2006 and b) are good (hence 'best'). Since we have cool jobs in LA at places that don't work over the holidays we'll be writing lots of shit next week, probably while we're shit-faced, so don't blame us if it's completely incoherent.

- Warner Music Group bought a majority stake in Roadrunner Records a couple of days ago. Damn good work if you ask me. I hate Slipknot and Nickelback as much as the next guy (the next guy west of St. Louis that is), but there's no arguing that those assholes sell a ga-jillion records. (Did you know that 'ga-jillion' was a word? Or that it should be hyphenated? There you go.) Plus, CKY and Killswitch Engage are both fucking great bands, so at least they're getting some talent in the deal too.

- Speaking of talent, Roadrunner just signed a band that has none. It was announced today that Roadrunner signed Evanescence, excuse me, Within Temptation. I don't really have much to say about this band other than that they're from the Netherlands and their singer is a girl so now you know exactly what they sound like. Apparently these Netherlandianishians have been spending their time listening to Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir (instead of smoking weed, banging hookers and drinking Absinthe) because somehow they ended up sounding just like all those shitty symphony-metal bands from Sweden/Norway/Denmark. You'd think the with all the time those Swedes, Danes and Norwegians spend inside, that they'd be able to come up with more creative music than that same old symphonic metal crap. Oh well. Here's what they look like:

I can't tell if the singer is hot or not, plus she might be a hooker with herpes. I realize it's really sexist of me to automatically start talking about the singer being hot, but that's really their only redeeming quality (maybe). Let's wait and see....

- Fall Out Boy's new album is up for pre-order............through Wal-Mart. Wow. They must have got PAID to do that shit. Most musicians would pass that up due to Wal-Mart's shitty sounding downloads. Apparently FOB is targeting the white-trash demo running Windows 95, looking to save $.11 and listening to their music through $20 Radio Shack speakers. The good news is that those 128 kbps WMA files will sound GREAT on your iPod after you burn and rip them. I used to think Pete was a good business man, but this shit makes no sense. I guess it's all about the bottom line. Surprise, surprise.

That's it for now. Keep checking back for all kinds of stuff in the next week or so. Late.

- Black -

fun with soundscan again

i swear to god, i could spend 10 hours just searching stuff on soundscan. it really is fun. yes, i have access to soundscan because the company i work for pays for it. and yes, i waste their time and money by playing on soundscan and reporting my findings to you. youre welcome.

so, just got an email from IDJ. "JAY-Z'S KINGDOM COME CERTIFIED DOUBLE PLATINUM." oh you fucking liars. soundscan? 923,158. look, i get it. they know its gonna sell 2 million. that's fine. it just bugs me how they jump the gun so much. what if jay-z eats a jew baby during chanukah? i bet he wont break 2 mill then. just saying.

also, remember when i said that brand new would sell 25K the second week? my bad...they sold 22K. and 11K last week. 63% drop and then another 46%. hope you guys had fun being on a major. peace out!

anyone see the new MCR video? i love it. i am sick of them trying so hard to be fucking scary. hey guys, you arent in danzig. just do your thing. thats what they did in this video. and they got burnt the fuck up too, so thats bonus points any day.

i guess that's all for now. we will do a year end top 10 list soon if we feel like it. if not, there are about 863990783470 other top 10 charts out there, so i think you will get by.

-chainsaw

The Black Maria and fake Entourage

- Hang with me on this one, but I really like the new album from The Black Maria. There is NOTHING I hate more than admitting that Victory put out a good record, but shit is good. Labels aside, what's good is good. Plus if you're stuck on the same label as Aiden, you need all the help you can get. I wasn't a huge fan of the last album, 'Betrayal' was annoying and got old really fast but I've listened to 'A Shared History Of Tragedy'.

Check out the video for their first single.



(NOTE: Chainsaw will respond about how much this band sucks and how bad this record is. Keep in mind that he only listens to shit if someone's bribing him with free drugs or a BJ. As far as I know Brummel hasn't given him either (well not for THIS record at least), so he hasn't even heard it. Don't listen to his dumbass.)

- Have you seen this new show 'Twenty-Four Seven' on MTV? Wow. Worst show on TV. Could you pull together a bigger group of tools than these guys? If you're going to try and do a reality show to rip-off Entourage at least find interesting people. You think we're really interested in watching a show about some hayseed from Arkansas who promotes clubs? Maybe I missed it, but which one of those dudes was the successful one? You'd think they'd at least have one guy who made it already. I know one thing, it's not the actor dude. Well, unless you count 'American Pie: Band Camp'. I remember seeing the straight-to-video ads for that, so maybe rentals at Blockbuster are blowing up, who knows.
And what's up with The Prom Kings? I'll admit that I was a little excited when I saw promos for this show because I couldn't wait to see the band we were dealing with. Little did I know it was a shitty Limp Bizkit/Trapt/Tantric carbon-copy. Seriously, this band BLOWS. I can't believe they live in LA. They should move back to Arkansas and they could probably get on the next 3 Doors Down tour in about 4 minutes. Oh, and if you go to their myspace page it says they're on a 'major' label. Yeah, well they're not. They're on the singer's brother's label Three Kings Records. Not quite a major although I'm sure they've put out some HUGE records. I tried to look on their website, but it's down. I guess all the kids looking for Prom Kings songs crashed it. Hey guys, give me a call. I know someone at Wind-Up, they'll be all about you.

p.s. I realize the fact that starting this post off giving kudos to TBM may kill my cred, however I'm making an argument that only has one side. There is nobody out there that thinks this band is good……except for 'the record producer' on the show. Jesus, he's gonna go far. I would love to knock him but I can't find anything that he's done. Enough said.

Here's the video for their song 'Alone'. Could this song be more Trapt? Shoot me. I also love that the singer looks like Scott Stapp. Could this be any easier?.



There you have it. It's Friday, go get drunk.

- Black -