alex from atreyu doesnt know how to pimp it...

[Guest highroller]

found this awesome recent article on screamo/metalcore/hardcore that the atreyu frontmans comments start and end....

its a great read....

Alex Varkatzas is totally pissed off.

That's nothing new for the high-strung singer of Atreyu, who routinely lashes out in song about complacency, mortality and head games. But this time he's got a different reason to fume.

His band has just arrived at the Las Vegas club it's supposed to headline and the marquee lists Atreyu as the opening act, below From Autumn to Ashes. The fliers hanging inside feature Atreyu's name in tiny letters on the bottom of the page, and a local radio station recently announced that the show starred "From Autumn to Ashes plus guest."

"Everyone thinks we're some piddly-ass opening band," Varkatzas grumbles. "And our tour manager called in advance to tell them we were headlining and make sure this kind of sh-- wouldn't happen. And it didn't do a f---ing bit of good."

Such exasperation helps keep Atreyu's fire burning but circumstantial misfortune pales in comparison to the soul-rending stories of betrayal and breakup that have helped turn Atreyu into a major new force in heavy metal. Along with a host of other heartbroken, hate-filled noisemongers like Bleeding Through, From Autumn to Ashes, Every Time I Die, Unearth, Avenged Sevenfold, Poison the Well and Funeral for a Friend, they're turning headbangers on to music that's more cerebral, unpredictable, volatile and lyrically articulate than much of the n-metal that has permeated airwaves for the past five years.

Dubbed "screamo" or "extremo" by those who invent categories for such things, the groups write scathing, turbulent songs rooted equally in hardcore, metal and emo. Typically they play aggressive, chaotic passages flush with larynx-shredding vocals, then balance them with swooping melodies and vocal harmonies. But while there's certainly a formula at play, it's not as predictable as the soft verse/ loud chorus formula followed by most neo-grunge acts.

"This is extreme music for extreme times," said Maria Fererro, an independent publicist who has worked with metal and screamo bands for well over a decade. "Metal isn't what it used to be, but 20 years later it's still about the same things. These kids are dressed differently, but they're still rebelling."

Over the past year, screamo has surfaced in a major way: just check out your local Hot Topic, turn on "Headbangers Ball" or leaf through the major metal mags. And Ozzfest has caught on like a shark following the scent of blood. The festival, whose second stage has proven to be the litmus test of all things loud it booked System of a Down in '98, Slipknot in '99, and the Used in '02 is making its boldest strides to date by enlisting screamers Atreyu, Every Time I Die, Unearth, Hatebreed and Throwdown for this year's festival.

"Before we left for a European tour with Chimaira, our manager told us he was putting in a shot-in-the-dark bid for Ozzfest," recalls Every Time I Die singer Keith Buckley. "No one had their hopes up or anything, so we just focused on the tour. Then, when we were on the road, we got a call saying it was looking real good, and by the time we got home it had already gone through. We were pretty blown away."

As thrilled as he is to go from playing small clubs to festival crowds, Buckley is shocked to be embraced by today's metal fans. Like many of his screamo peers, who enjoy elements of metal but align themselves more closely with the ethics and aesthetics of hardcore, he has little respect for stereotypical heavy metal.

"When I was younger, my older second cousin used to listen to metal, and it was all about big work boots, hair down to your ass and tapered jeans," Buckley said. "You'd enter your car at the crash-up derby at the county fair and listen to Guns N' Roses and Slayer. Compared to that, there's no way we're metal but today metal kids are [different]. ... Maybe the aggression and the energy we have in our music is something those people can relate to."

Screamo's progression to Ozzfest didn't happen in a weekend, and it required the right climate and circumstances to prosper. In the late '90s, while punk rockers were getting turned on by Slayer, Pantera and melodic Scandinavian metal, some rivetheads were discovering the social and political messages of '80s D.C. punk bands like Minor Threat, Fugazi and Rites of Spring. What followed was a rash of metallic but lyrically poignant hardcore outfits including Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Neurosis and Cave In, which inspired a legion of other musicians to push the boundaries of both punk and metal styles.

On one side of the fence were more punk-oriented bands like Converge, Dead Guy, Coalesce and Botch. And on the other were metallic groups such as Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Lamb of God and All That Remains. Different though they were, all were united in their efforts to experiment with the parameters of extreme sound. Then, as heart-on-sleeve screamo outfits including Thrice, Thursday and the Used poked their heads into the mainstream, the floodgates opened for the new breed to feed. Almost immediately, an audience tired of formulaic n-metal began lapping it up.

"Some of that old metal sounded cool, but lyrically, none of those bands were speaking to us," said Bleeding Through guitarist Scott Danough. "So many of the new bands are singing about real relationship issues and personal sh-- that means so much more than the 'I'm harder than you' wall that a lot of the metal bands put up."

To Varkatzas, the growing popularity of screamo has more to do with kids getting tired of being spoon-fed trends, stereotypes and capitalistic values. "People want to be able to make up their own minds about things, and they want to feel like the music they listen to is written for them," he said. "These bands are doing better now because they have real sincerity and passion. Kids know the sh--'s for real. I'm not singing about cocaine and fast cars and bling and bitches and hoes. I'm singing about my everyday sh-- that everyone goes through. I can't relate to pimping it. ... I don't even know how to pimp it and there are lots of kids out there who can't pimp it, either."

Jon Wiederhorn

[Guest evil noodle]

I think your referring to this as a 'great read' needs reviewed under the trade description act.

[Guest evil noodle]

hmmm, I wasn't aware I was trying to be funny, or emulate these 'greats' of whom you speak.

I merely didn't think it was that good a read and is simply symptomatic of the sort of shite music journalism which has become the norm these days.

I assume you think because I didn't find it an entertaining read that I am automatically going to start trying to antagonise you as others have done.

Get over yourself mate, you're really not that important in the grand scheme of things...

[Guest highroller]

eh?? what you on about... ?(

[Guest evil noodle]

just because i am new doesn't mean i haven't read a number of the threads on here...

so who are the 'greats' who have gone before then???

[Guest highroller]

lost me.....

[Afro Droid]

Ian Winwood and Johnny Cigarretes - there's some fine music journalism.

[Guest evil noodle]

i'd second that notion.

[Guest evil noodle]

although, of course, modern music journalism is fuck all compared to the legends of decades gone by. Mind you, at least they had viable music bands to report on, and not just pretty boy posers with guitars...

[Afro Droid]

Lester Bangs? Legs McNeil? Even Mick Wall....

[Guest evil noodle]

there is much truth in what you speak...

[Guest highroller]

for three good examples of this very genre discussed in the original post in this thread....

Saturday 15th may

the secret

azriel

mymindsweapon

afternoon gig at dr drakes

weapon first on at 3pm

heart on your sleeve music....oh yes...

[Guest Tooms]

oi evil noodle...you seem intent on taking a morale high ground yet still try and bash whoever or whatever, for some reason i can't see, ...yet as i read your posts i notice you never actually SAY anything, merely tend to agree or disagree with whom ever you deem an authority on the subject at hand.

any opinions of your own? who IS your favourite music journalist of the decades gone past and why?

[Guest evil noodle]

my morale is high at the moment, yes, due to my enjoyment of life and the approach of summer.

If you meant moral high ground, as in thinking I'm better than others, I think you're talking absolute bollocks as there is no morality in what I have said here, and I think if you look at my other posts I have articulated my own opinions. It is unfortunate, yet not entirely unexpected, that you have put this opinion across.

In response to your question - I find Lester Bangs extremely entertaining, and I believe him to be probably the best music journalist of all time. Definitely the best journalist of the last four decades.

[Guest highroller]

Well done Lucifer...you walk into posts...lay a wasps nest, and wait for some fucker to kick it open...then you walk out again and no-one picks up that its you that does it...you sir are a tyrant....a shit stirring, trouble making menace....

[Afro Droid]

What? I only listed some music journo's that I like!

[Guest highroller]

i know your sat there at mels comp...i can picture you with that mischevious grin...lighting up your rollies...loving it!

[Fast Caz]

Well if its heavy and fast and good for a pit and headbanging then im sold !!!!

[Teabags]

Originally posted by Ben Quik:

Well done Lucifer...you walk into posts...lay a wasps nest, and wait for some fucker to kick it open...then you walk out again and no-one picks up that its you that does it...you sir are a tyrant....a shit stirring, trouble making menace....

emm, I think he was just discussing what muisc journalists he likes with that emm, evil dude whatever his name is.

I think you and jamesy, like Scot when he was in Oddity, just seem to look at Johnny's posts in a degrading light. the same way as Hog and the rest of E106 always seem to think everything I say is an attempt to undermine them.

[Guest stuartmaxwell]

Well done Lucifer...you walk into posts...lay a wasps nest' date=' and wait for some fucker to kick it open...then you walk out again and no-one picks up that its you that does it...you sir are a tyrant....a shit stirring, trouble making menace....[/quote']

ha ha ha ha

i laughed so much when i read that

everyone is looking at me

ha ha ha ha h a,

i love this scene

[Guest stuartmaxwell]

my god i am still laughing about that post

fucking legendary

perhaps the funniest thing on aberdeen-music that i have witnessed

[Guest highroller]

i thank you sir...

[Lawy Lawson:Attorney]

Dubbed "screamo" or "extremo" by those who invent categories for such things' date=' the groups write scathing, turbulent songs rooted equally in hardcore, metal and emo. Typically they play aggressive, chaotic passages flush with larynx-shredding vocals, then balance them with swooping melodies and vocal harmonies. But while there's certainly a formula at play, it's not as predictable as the soft verse/ loud chorus formula followed by most neo-grunge acts.

Over the past year, screamo has surfaced in a major way: just check out your local Hot Topic, turn on "Headbangers Ball" or leaf through the major metal mags. And Ozzfest has caught on like a shark following the scent of blood. The festival, whose second stage has proven to be the litmus test of all things loud it booked System of a Down in '98, Slipknot in '99, and the Used in '02 is making its boldest strides to date by enlisting screamers Atreyu, Every Time I Die, Unearth, Hatebreed and Throwdown for this year's festival.

As thrilled as he is to go from playing small clubs to festival crowds, Buckley is shocked to be embraced by today's metal fans. Like many of his screamo peers, who enjoy elements of metal but align themselves more closely with the ethics and aesthetics of hardcore, he has little respect for stereotypical heavy metal.

"When I was younger, my older second cousin used to listen to metal, and it was all about big work boots, hair down to your ass and tapered jeans," Buckley said. "You'd enter your car at the crash-up derby at the county fair and listen to Guns N' Roses and Slayer. Compared to that, there's no way we're metal but today metal kids are [different']. ... Maybe the aggression and the energy we have in our music is something those people can relate to."

Screamo's progression to Ozzfest didn't happen in a weekend, and it required the right climate and circumstances to prosper. In the late '90s, while punk rockers were getting turned on by Slayer, Pantera and melodic Scandinavian metal, some rivetheads were discovering the social and political messages of '80s D.C. punk bands like Minor Threat, Fugazi and Rites of Spring. What followed was a rash of metallic but lyrically poignant hardcore outfits including Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Neurosis and Cave In, which inspired a legion of other musicians to push the boundaries of both punk and metal styles.

On one side of the fence were more punk-oriented bands like Converge, Dead Guy, Coalesce and Botch. And on the other were metallic groups such as Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Lamb of God and All That Remains. Different though they were, all were united in their efforts to experiment with the parameters of extreme sound. Then, as heart-on-sleeve screamo outfits including Thrice, Thursday and the Used poked their heads into the mainstream, the floodgates opened for the new breed to feed. Almost immediately, an audience tired of formulaic n-metal began lapping it up.

Jon Wiederhorn

I can't help feeling this is the creative coffin nail for "screamo", which is a shame. Cos some of it was alright. Meh.