Reviews

Blue Ridge Rock Festival Review

Published

3 years ago

October 4, 2021

Ron

Photos by Ron Senyo and Shelby Tyce

2020 might have tried to kill the music, but rockers and metal heads won’t ever allow that to happen.

Empire Extreme got to attend the 4 days of BlueRidge Rock Festival in Danville Virginia. Maybe you have heard of this festival after the social media frenzy or things that went wrong. Yes there were some things that could have been handled better but overall from what I experienced the festival was a success, maybe a little rowdy at times and with security being what you expect from “big men” syndrome.

The sun was a different issue, it was blazing all 4 days and didn’t give many any relief from the shade till the sun went down. For a lot of the bands on the bill this was the first show they have done since the pandemic, and with all the craziness of the festival that’s the main thing to take away from all of it. We got to enjoy music for 4 days and no virus nor government affiliates we’re gonna stop that.

With over 150 bands playing 4 days and 6 stages it was a epic adventure everyday to go from stage to stage, luckily those of us in the media were able to venture behind the scenes to make it easier, but even for fans the layout wasn’t that hard to go from stage to stage, overlapping set times happened but that’s what always happens at festival with this many bands per day.

The highlights of this festival was being able to photograph many bands that I haven’t been able to yet and check out a few sets in between. With my trusty helper and empire extreme photographer Shelby by my side for the weekend, I believe we ended up photographing over 40 bands.

The highlights on Thursday for me had to be Spirit box ( although my camera ended up dying on me during their set) Tech N9NE, who had a bigger turn out then I was expecting. The Ghost Inside coming back after the hardships they have endured, and Being able to finally get to photograph Halestorm.

Friday highlights were Fozzy, who Jericho talked about my Lizzie Borden shirt when I talked to him backstage but forgot to get a photo with him. Tallah was a huge surprise I’ve heard buzz from them but seeing them live was amazing. Also Fever 333 I was in awe of how bad ass they are live. Of course Anthrax is always great to see as well as Clutch. But the biggest highlight for me was being able to get a name off my bucket list to photograph. Rob MFN Zombie.

Saturday was the heavier day and the crowd was rowdy as hell. The dust from the venue wasn’t nearly as bad as this day. Highlights were being able to shoot Avatar in daylight, Hatebreed of course, Cypress Hill and Suicidal Tendencies. I got to take two more bands off the bucketlist on this day. BodyCount and Megadeth. Lamb of god destroyed the stage though, at one point Randy Blythe went to the side of the stage and told all the fans that this stage is the only one you need to be at right now.

Sunday was a crazy day, Steve O from jackass was in the house and of course he was being his normal self doing crazy ass tricks and stunts. Sunday we had StarSet which was cool to see as they look like sand people from starwars. The Hu were bad ass, I love the Mongolian metal and imaginary on the stage.we had Mastadon and Papa Roach. Ice Nine Kills had a huge crowd as usual. Shinedown was the headliner and I’m sure almost all of the 40,000 fans were there for them. It was a massive crowd as the sea of fans never ended.

Overall I thought this Festival was amazing, yes it had some crazy stuff that happened and things that probably shouldn’t have happened but for a new festival area, I think in my opinion it went well. I would love to cover it again, maybe less stages and more options for merch and food but I loved it. It had been a while since I’ve got to cover a festival and this was my co-worker Shelby’s first one. We survived the sun, the dust, the walking, and each other for 4 days and I believe we came out even more ready for the next festival.

We also got to do a few interviews with up and coming artists Alyxx and Alukah. Keep a look out on Empire Extreme for those interviews.

About Author

Ron

Ron has keen eye for new talent, a love for the underground, and a tremendous passion for music of any genera. You’ll probably bump into him at a horror convention or some seedy club checking out the next need-to-know band.

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Announcement/News

W.A.S.P. Album One Alive 2024 US Tour

Published

3 months ago

August 21, 2024

Josh Drespling

Hollywood, CA (August 20, 2024) — It is 2024, and W.A.S.P. is celebrating 1984! 40 years ago, the landmark debut album from W.A.S.P. was released on August 17, 1984, and the metal world was knocked on their ass!

The W.A.S.P. “Album ONE Alive” Tour celebrates the debut album by playing the album in its entirety, from start to finish.

To give the fans something every week to celebrate W.A.S.P. is giving away…

• 10 pairs of tickets a week for the length of the US tour.

• Silver Award – Blackie is also giving away each week of the tour two personal meet and greets in his dressing room. In HIS dressing room!

• Gold Award – One lucky fan will win Blackie’s personal certified RIAA award for the debut album.

• Platinum Award – And the Grand Prize, one fan and a guest will be provided airfare and a luxury Hollywood hotel to the final show in Los Angeles, meet the band and stay for the after show, end of tour party.

W.A.S.P. can only celebrate 1984 once and they want to do it big!

To enter all you have to do is visit and enter your email address:
https://forms.gle/WU5wE3K4BbmaBSQv9

It was recently announced that Armored Saint will be replacing Death Angel on the tour. W.A.S.P. issued the following statement: “W.A.S.P. is pleased to announce that Armored Saint will now be joining the “Album One Alive” Fall 2024 U.S. Tour. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Death Angel will no longer be able to be a part of this tour. We all wish them the best going forward.”

Tickets and VIP packages available at WASPnati on.com/tour

THE ALBUM ONE ALIVE WORLD TOUR 2024 DATES:

10/26/24 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theater*

10/28/24 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater

10/29/24 Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre

10/30/24 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre

11/01/24 Calgary, AB The Palace Theatre

11/02/24 Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory

11/03/24 Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

11/04/24 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot

11/05/24 Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre

11/07/24 Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore

11/08/24 St Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre

11/09/24 St Charles, IL @ The Arcada Theatre

11/10/24 Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre

11/11/24 Toronto, ON @ History

11/13/24 Montreal, QC @ MTELUS

11/14/24 Quebec City, QC @ Theatre Capitole

11/15/24 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre

11/16/24 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom At Manhattan Center

11/17/24 Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall

11/19/24 Cleveland, OH @ The Agora Theater

11/20/24 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE

11/21/24 Stroudsburg, PA @ The Sherman Theater

11/22/24 Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore

11/23/24 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore

11/24/24 Orlando, FL @ The Plaza Live

11/26/24 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium

11/27/24 Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern

11/29/24 Houston, TX @ House Of Blues

11/30/24 San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre

12/01/24 Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep Ellum

12/03/24 Little Rock, AR @ The Hall

12/04/24 Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion

12/06/24 Albuquerque, NM @ REVEL

12/07/24 Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee Theatre

12/09/24 Tucson, AZ @ The Rialto Theatre

12/10/24 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues

12/11/24 Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra Resort and Casino

12/12/24 Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl

12/13/24 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield

12/14/24 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium

* No support acts.

About W.A.S.P.

Few bands in the history of rock n roll have ever incited the love, the hate, and the raw emotional effect this band has had on the world. From the very beginning, in the small venues of Los Angeles, California, and later to the numerous countries worldwide that banned these Winged Assassins from performing live, the band’s unique style of shock and rock caused religious organizations, local city councils, parliaments, and the Washington D.C. Senate to hold hearings in an effort to bar this group from selling records and trashing stages everywhere they played.

The band’s founding member, frontman Blackie Lawless, has led the group as its lead vocalist and primary songwriter since its beginning. His unique brand of visual, social, and political comment took the group to worldwide heights and sold millions of records alongside a legacy of sold-out shows across the globe for 4 decades.

https://www.waspnation.co m

https://www.facebook.com/W.A.S.P.Nati on

https://www.facebook.com/groups/waspnationofficialgroup/
https://twitter.com/waspofficial
https://instagram.com/waspnationofficial

https://youtube.com/@WASPNationOfficial

@waspnationofficial

https://www.threads.net/@waspnationofficial
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/7553

About Author

Josh Drespling

Josh is the Publisher and creator of Empire Extreme and it’s sister publication Kingdom Extreme Magazine. He is an accomplished writer, photographer and graphic designer. He is always conjuring up new ideas and has a amazing passion for the music industry and all the things that surround it.

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CD Reviews

Them Damn Kings “Shown With A Fist”

Published

6 months ago

May 20, 2024

Ron

Them Damn Kings from NJ just released a new single “Shown With a Fist”.
If you like your music in your face with a touch of old school rock and roll this is the band for you. It’s got gritty vocals and pounding drums adding in some killer guitar shreds.
It’s a song that you listen to when you want to get into a bar fight or want to drive your car really fast down the highway.
It’s worth a listen, check out the lyric video below with a little bonus guitar mortal kombat shred off.

THIS IS A SPONSORED REVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAG PUBLICITY

About Author

Ron

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CD Reviews

Ashes to Omens “Feed Me More”

Published

7 months ago

May 8, 2024

Ron

Ashes To Omens are a band from Georgia who’s latest single “Feed Me More” has a great sound to it. It reminds me of bands around the mid to late 2000s. They have a good mixture of sound. The song is a perfect blend of hard rock and metal with the vocals very crisp and delivered with passion.

The song “Feed Me More” has a great melody and works well with the bands style and genre of music. It also is a great title to a song because after listening to it I wanted more of the band.

Some will say that it’s very radio rock/metal and sometimes I do have issues with that but I felt that this song even though it does have that feel to it, isn’t just a radio rock song for the sake of being a radio rock song. I think this single is worth a listen to and could possibly be a track that might make your playlist.

THIS IS A SPONSORED REVIEW BROUGHT TO YOU BY TAG PUBLICITY