Finnish heavy metal comedy film, "HEAVY TRIP", will make its DVD debut on Nov 13th. The film is Directed by Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio and stars Johannes Holopainen, Minka Kuustonen, Ville Tilhonen (Hilska), Max Ovaska, Smuli Jaskio, Antii Heikkinen, Chike Ohanwe. The release comes courtesy of Doppelganger Releasing and Bloody Disgusting. Turo (Johannes Holopainen) is stuck in a small village in the Finnish countryside where his greatest passion is being the lead vocalist for the amateur metal band Impaled Rektum. The only problem is that he and his fellow headbangers have practiced for 12 years without playing a single gig. But that’s all about to change when the guys meet the promoter of a huge heavy metal music festival in Norway and decide it’s now or never. Hitting the road in a stolen van with a corpse, a coffin, and a new drummer from a local mental hospital in tow, Impaled Rektum travels across Scandinavia to make their dreams a reality.
Horror legend, Director John Carpenter has announced a ‘Lost Themes’ a deluxe digital edition of his upcoming album. ‘Lost Themes’ will feature several remixes of his tracks. In addition to the original nine tracks, there will be six remixes from artists like ohGr, Silent Servant, Bill Kouligas, and more.
Lost Themes comes out February 3rd, 2015 via Sacred Bones Records. The deluxe edition can be pre-ordered via iTunes. Anyone in the New York area can see John Carpenter at BAM! on Thursday, February 5th where he will discuss his career, film, and music. NPR’s Brooke Gladstone, host of On The Media will also be appearing at the event. Go here for ticket info: Bam.
Early spring of last year Jeremy Campbell and crew held an online battle of the bands with the winner being featured on the “Velvet Vengeance” soundtrack. Bands from around the world submitted music to be judged by Johnny Solinger (Skid Row) and Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest). Johnny Solinger is of course married to Paula M Solinger who plays Lita in the film.
The judges narrowed the submissions down to 5 bands. Fans cast their vote on “Velvet Vengeance” Facebook Page for the band they liked best. The winner was UK’s Hex, a young rock band with an old school sound. Jeremy Campbell had this to say about the band’s music, “ Their music was such a perfect fit for the movie that we end up using 4 songs and their t-shirt.”
Now with “Velvet Vengeance” getting closer to release Hex have released a music video for ‘The Librarian’ from the film’s soundtrack. The video offers a throwback style from the 80’s that blended rock with horror promotion. Examples being Dokken ‘Dream Warriors’ from “A Nightmare On Elm Street 3”, Alice Cooper ‘Man Behind The Mask’ from “Friday The 13th Part 6” and 'Lazz Rocket ‘Leatherface’ from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3.”
Check out the video for Hex ‘The Librarian’ below, and also feast on some movie stills afterward. Velvet Vengeance will be released this May through Amazon.com. “Velvet Vengeance” stars Lindsay Norman, Jessica Ochs, Paula Marcenaro Solinger, Forrest Vickery, Amanda Marie, Laiken A. Thompson, Kevin A. Green, Elisa Castillo, Cody Hofmockel, Hollee McMurray and Carl “The Coach” Bailey.
A young woman is faced with the tragic murder of her brother. The police swear that the murderer is dead but Alice can not shake the feeling that the killer is still alive. Against her friends and family's best wishes she travels to the location of her brothers murder to hunt the killer but little does she know that she is the one that is being hunted.
SO-CAL BASED HORROR ROCKER UNLEASHES THE MONSTER POWER OF HER DARK IMAGINATION, DISCOVERING SPOOKY, UNKNOWN DIMENSIONS—A 'CIRQUE DU SOLEIL OF MUSIC'—ON HER UPCOMING FULL LENGTH DEBUT, PRODUCED BY DITO GODWIN (NO DOUBT, GREAT WHITE, KISS, MOTLEY CRUE) "Ready for Love," Characula's Follow Up Single to Last Years Debut Airplay Hit "The Mummy Dance," Jumped Into the Top 50 on the Mediabase Activator Chart
More than 30 years after Michael Jackson's legendary track, album and creep-out video stunned the world, it's "Thriller” night again. Only this time, it's got the kick ass edge of spooky-wicked, dimension-busting horror rocker Characula.
More than simply a creepy-fun alter ego for multi-talented singer, songwriter and performer Cheri Anaclerio, Characula is her turned inside out, and upside down. She unleashes the demons in her powerhouse imagination to create, in a tip of the blood-dripped cap to Frank Zappa, blistering music about monsters, sex and rock 'n roll.
Lady Gaga's got her "little monsters,” named for a track on her multi-platinum The Fame Monster, but Characula is a full-time musical phantom, roaming and dreaming in a world where vampires, werewolves, space aliens and even your next door neighbor have looked good on her plate…and bed! That is when she's not in her Clark Kent mode applying the other side of her brain to her day job as a hardware engineer working for a major electronics company.
Characula may not be able to hide her wild inner truth from anyone much longer, considering the momentum that's been building since fall 2012. Before Halloween and for a few weeks after, her infectiously ghoulish single "Mummy Dance” snagged airplay on numerous Top 40 stations across the country; her follow-up, a blazing cover of Bad Company's "Ready For Love,” recently jumped ten spots into the Top 50 on the Mediabase Activator Chart, just behind superstars Maroon 5, Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull, Bruno Mars and Mumford and Sons. Her singles are being promoted by Howie Rosen of Howard Rosen Promotion, Inc.
In her live band video for "Ready For Love,” she sports two different looks, one with a red "electro-shocked” wig, and the other with black hair and wearing a nightgown from the 1940's —because in those old black and white horror movies she loves, the female victims are always wearing nightgowns. She is also shooting videos for "Come On Baby” (a searing blend of seduction and evil) and "Mummy Dance.”
When she's not traveling back and forth in time, spending nights in the 69th and 666th dimension and prowling the streets after midnight hunting for lecherous monsters and lonely men, Characula is busy putting the finishing touches on her full-length debut album. The project is helmed by renowned rock producer Dito Godwin, whose vast resume includes No Doubt, Great White, members of KISS and Motley Crue.
With its over the top sound and tons of electric guitars and keyboards behind her in-your-face vocals, Characula promises the project will be "very sexy, the Cirque du Soleil of music.” The titles of some of the other tracks fit the alternate dimension theme perfectly: "Dead Light District Dolls,” "Werewolf Hunter,” "Vampire Fever” and "Graveyard Party.”
"I love the world of monsters because not only can everyone relate to them, they provide a door into an exciting life beyond my everyday reality,” she says. "I tell story songs like one of my favorite singers, Cher, did in the 1970s, but in my super-dimensional world, I'm luring in and being pursued by B-movie monsters. To me, the cheesy black and white monsters of the 1930s, '40s and '50s represent the epitome of traditional masculinity: strong, silent and slightly dangerous! What's even more alluring is that under their gruff exterior, they have the capability to be gentle and loving toward a woman they love—or are trying to seduce! Both Dracula and Frankenstein would make for much better dates than some of the ones I've had been on, believe me! And neither requires online dating to get a woman. Imagine that!!
"In a twisted way,” Characula continues, "these songs are about female empowerment. Characula is an insatiable she-entity that takes on the guise of a seductive woman to live out dark fantasies that have preyed upon man from time immortal. It baffles me that a man can be attracted to a woman and at the same time, not respect her. Characula uses this attraction to her advantage to lure her male victims and exact whatever fate she wishes upon them! And because she is not confined to this life, she's not limited to human interaction. She can be friends with whomever she likes—space aliens, werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein. She can pick up anyone—or anything! She can cut continents and cross centuries like sailors voyage the seas. It's complete freedom and allows me to go anywhere I want to in a song.
"It comes down to exploring and exploiting the world of imagination. Everyone has a 'Characula' inside of them!”
Even before the transformation from "Cheri” to "Characula,” the multi-faceted performer embodied the sheer boldness that would later infuse the character. She explored her musical abilities during grad school at UNC, when she used a KORG synthesizer with 16 tracks to write her first tune, the racy "I.F.U.F.O's.” She began writing more and then started collaborating on tracks with a lab mate who happened to be a rock guitarist.
Though she put her graduate degrees in biomedical engineering from UNC and electrical engineering from North Carolina State to good use working as an electrical engineer, Characula couldn't shake her love for music and the belief she could best express herself through the fantasy world she created in her songs. Wanting to work again with her original musical partner, who had moved to Los Angeles, she transferred to San Diego and got the ball rolling. Undeterred even after he got married, she started dating a guitarist and, inspired by a recent trip to Egypt, wrote "Mummy Dance”—which is loaded with powerful Egyptian imagery and trippy Middle Eastern sounds.
After she broke up with her co-writer, she penned some other monster-themed tunes and hooked up with a local producer to help flesh them out. As she explains it, he took moral and religious offense to her lyrics and wasn't willing to devote the time or energy to her material that she felt it warranted. Soon after she did some online research and found Dito Godwin's vibe and resume fit her style perfectly. Summoning that Characula-like courage, coupled with frustration after the fallout with her former producer, she contacted the well-known and respected Godwin online, explaining she had a Halloween song she thought could be a hit in the right hands. Godwin immediately saw the potential, turned solid tracks into hit singles and made a suggestion that changed the singer's life. Together they created "Characula” as an outlet for her vivid musical imagination.
Like Elvira back in the day, Characula has unlimited potential as a multi-media character. One of her upcoming opportunities is appearing on the popular Texas-based TV show "Guitar Asylum,” on which she will be interviewing guitar players in full Characula hair, garb and persona.
"My parents both appreciate that I work as an engineer,” she says. "However, while my mom likes my whole musical vibe, my more conservative dad is worried that I may actually think I'm Characula! The best part of all of this is being able to create something from nothing, writing and performing a song like 'Mummy Dance' that draws people into a whole different world. I want to share my songs, inspire and perform for people and take the Cirque Du Soleil monster concept into many different dimensions. My goal is to overwhelm everyone with a glamorous horror show, featuring a hard driving rock band that will lure ALL into the cult of Characula!”
Billie Jean Smooth Criminal Bad Black & White Jam Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough Thriller Rock With You Wanna Be Starting Something Dirty Diana Beat It Scream
The new Adam Lambert song is online and I like it! It has a heavy guitar riff and is very reminiscent of 80’s hair bands like Danger Danger, Winger, and Bad English.
Set your ray gun to stun, get your jazz hands up and get ready for “Live In L.A.: My Chemical Romance" on Monday, Nov. 22, when My Chemical Romance will take over L.A.'s The House Of Blues Sunset Strip to celebrate the group's new album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, with a live concert that MTV will stream throughout the world. "Live In L.A.: My Chemical Romance" will be streamed live on MTV.com at 10pm ET/7pm PT.
Dayton, Ohio metalcore outfit, The Devil Wears Prada, are releasing a new EP called Zombie next week, for which they’ve generated this rad promo clip that Liisa Ladouceur sent through this morning:
“The whole thing is just completely based upon zombies,” explained TDWP’s front man Mike Hranica. “Last fall, I was on a real zombie kick, I read The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, and I thought, ‘what if we made a zombie song?’ All it took was me just saying that to the band, and we had our hearts set on doing this EP.” The 5-song album (available from Ferret Music on August 24) includes the track “Survivor” – which follows the plight of a man who loses his beloved to the undead – “Outnumbered,” “Escape,” “Revive” and “Anatomy.”
Underwatermoon, which was released on July 30th, is based entirely on an original story from the band's bassist/co-founder Celestial (aka Sascha Latman), but this ain't your typical concept album. It continues the band's strategy of breaking down the borders of hard rock and metal genres to create a twisted and challenging new sound, and the darkly surreal themes explored in this record are pretty much open to interpretation.
The video for Hunting the Human was directed by Sergey Maydin and features an appearance by popular Israeli model & music journalist Angel Ogasta. It also features the fabulous Dee Snider-ish hair of vocalist Horeph, which deserves both your fear and respect. Seriously.
Check it out right now!
