BURBANK, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Warner Bros. Records) - After over 200 worldwide dates in the past three years, playing in over 20 countries including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan, France, Mexico, New Zealand and Italy among others, Rockstar Taste of Chaos, the only worldwide lifestyle festival tour, is back with another onslaught of winter arena shows in North America.
The tour is scheduled to hit 43 cities in the U.S. and Canada between late February and late April 2008. Canadian dates will be released in January 2008. The multi-artist package in the U.S.A. and Canada will feature AVENGED SEVENFOLD, ATREYU, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, BLESSTHEFALL, and this year we are proud to bring U.S. audiences the best Japanese Rock bands (a burgeoning movement also known as JROCK). The JROCK explosion will include MUCC, D'ESPAIRSRAY and THE UNDERNEATH. Bellingham, Washington group IDIOT PILOT will play two special sets every night in each venue concourse.
Million-selling artist AVENGED SEVENFOLD will head up closing the night with their unique brand of rock. It's the band's maverick spirit and rabid fan base that has helped A7X do what few bands before have accomplished - to become the only band to headline Warped Tour and Ozzfest and be No. 1 on MTV's "TRL" at the same time. Avenged Sevenfold knows that it's a combination of the power of their music along with the dedication of their fans that has propelled them to where they are today. Says frontman M. Shadows, "We have the best fans in the world."
ATREYU is touring in support of their blistering new album "LEAD SAILS PAPER ANCHOR," which entered Billboard's Top 200 at No. 8 and Billboard's Rock and Hard Rock Album charts at No. 1. The powerhouse album has garnered rave reviews from the likes of Revolver, Blender, Metal Hammer and Kerrang!.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE, who will release their new album in early 2008, hails from England and has become one of the most popular hard music bands around the globe.
BLESSTHEFALL was clearly the most popular new band on the 2007 Vans Warped Tour and were hand-picked by the tour founders to bring their fiery live show to the RTOC stage.
"As a tour, it is so amazing for us to see how far AVENGED SEVENFOLD have come and the fact that they have done the hard work necessary to go from clubs to arenas. They have built their career through hard work and great songs," state tour producers Kevin Lyman and John Reese.
"ATREYU performed on the 2006 RTOC in the USA and have performed numerous times on the Vans Warped Tour, and have proven themselves as a huge headlining draw in hard rock venues all over the world," states Kevin Lyman.
In announcing the JROCK Revolution coming to America, Kevin Lyman states, "After having a chance to be involved with introducing DIR EN GREY to American audiences and working on the successful JROCK Revolution Festival with Yoshiki last May in Los Angeles, I felt that the fans across the U.S. would really appreciate a chance to have these bands come to their cities. When I have worked these shows, the energy of the bands and the fan involvement is amazing and is rarely captured at shows in America these days, and this is going to be an amazing opportunity for all in attendance."
ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK will continue to be the title sponsor of the 2008 tour and will be sampling their products, as well as coming up with some great surprises for attendees. Other sponsors include Hurley, PETA 2, Hard Rock Cafe, Hot Topic, Vans, Tokyo Pop, Skull Candy, Shirts for a Cure, Sugar Hooker, Music Saves Lives, The Dingstore.com, Declare Yourself and Ernie Ball (who will provide musical instruments for fans to play and will pick the opening act through their massively successful Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands). FUSE Television, JROCKRevolution.com, MySpace and Alternative Press (who will produce the Official Tour Program) have signed on as official Rockstar Taste of Chaos media partners. The Canadian Leg sponsors include West 49, D-Tox and Vexy.
The Internet pre-sale for the 2008 edition of the Rockstar Taste of Chaos will begin January 5, 2008, at www.rockstartasteofchaos.com in conjunction with MUSIC TODAY. The national on sale will take place on Saturday, January 12, 2008.
Having already spawned multiple soundtrack CDs and a Live DVD, the Rockstar Taste of Chaos, like its summer sibling the Vans Warped Tour, is only getting bigger and better, offering fans the opportunity to see their favorite bands and take part in a number of concourse activities including playing the newest video games, acoustic performances, attending autograph signing sessions and a slew of interactive fan activities that will add to the experience.
Tour co-founders Kevin Lyman, Darryl Eaton and John Reese state, "We are very excited about the great bands and concourse activities planned for the 2008 North American Tour; as in years past we want to bring Music Fans a BIG show at a very reasonable price. The RTOC has become an important event on music fans' calendars in the long, cold winter in the U.S. and Canada."
Rockstar Energy Drink Marketing guru Mike Kelso states, "We are very proud to be the title sponsor again for the 2008 Rockstar Taste of Chaos. Rockstar Energy Drink is committed to supporting live music and to bringing rock fans a great show at a reasonable price. The Rockstar Taste of Chaos has been our marquee music presentation for the past three years and we look forward to a great year in 2008."
Hurley Sr. VP Paul Gomez states, "Hurley looks forward to RTOC every year. The RTOC team always brings the best and most relevant music. The tour is about giving the kids what they want and Hurley is all about being the microphone of the youth. I'm sure this year's tour will be the loudest. Let the kids make some noise."
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
Avenged Sevenfold is poised to be "the next great American rock band" (Guitar World). With the larger than life, awe-inspiring excitement of their live performances and "musicianship that is unimpeachable" (Entertainment Weekly), A7X continually strives to raise the bar. By self-producing their highly acclaimed self-titled October 2007 release, the Huntington Beach, CA hard rock band rose to the challenge and masterfully crafted an album that Revolver Magazine calls a "magnum opus." Indeed the band's follow-up to the 2005 million-selling "City of Evil," topped the Billboard Alternative, Hard, and Rock Charts, and debuted at Number Four on the Billboard Top 200. In seeing Avenged Sevenfold live, you'll experience what the Los Angeles Times witnessed as a "capacity crowd... come in devotion."
ATREYU
Since muscling their way into the Orange County metal/punk scene in 1998, Atreyu (Alex Varkatzas, vocals; Dan Jacobs, guitar; Travis Miguel, guitar; Marc McKnight, bass; Brandon Saller, drums) have sold over a million albums by constantly challenging themselves and their audience with charged music and acrobatic performances that push the boundaries of catharsis and emotional exorcism. The band's recently released album, "Lead Sails Paper Anchor," fueled by the hit single "Becoming The Bull," rocketed onto Billboard's Top 200 debuting at No 8 and Billboard's Rock and Hard Rock Album Charts at No 1, making it the highest-charting album of the band's career and landing them on the cover of Revolver Magazine, who called the disc "a coffin-tight collection of singles... the potential for hugeness is all over these 11 tunes...," while Metal Hammer declared it "a truly landmark album."
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
The four-piece metal core band from Bridgend, South Wales, UK - Matthew "Matt" Tuck/vocals, Michael "Padge" Paget/guitar, Michael "Moose" Thomas/drums, and Jason "Jay" James/bass - are, according to the UK's Kerrang!, well on their way to "phase two of world domination" with their sophomore release, "Scream Aim Fire," due out January 29, 2008 (Jive/ SonyBMG). The CD's title track has been the Most Added Track at hard rock radio formats since mid-December. For their 2006 debut album, "The Poison," Bullet For My Valentine graced the covers - at least once - of Kerrang!, Rock Sound, and Metal Hammer. In addition, they won Metal Hammer's 2006 "Golden God Award" for Best British Band, and the 2006 Kerrang! Award for "Best UK Single" for their track "Tears Don't Fall." Here in America, the band was named "British Import of the Year" in Revolver, and "The Poison" generated the hit singles "Tears Don't Fall" and "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)," with the video for "All These Things I Hate" going to the No 1 spot on MTV2.
BLESSTHEFALL
One of the breakout acts from the Vans Warped Tour, Arizona's Blessthefall won over audiences on a daily basis thanks to their incendiary live show which included their jaw-dropping "wall of death" mosh pit. As the band's profile skyrocketed, resulting in over 6 million plays on MySpace, fans voted them into the top spot in the Energizer "Demand It" contest in Phoenix, Virginia Beach and Montreal, earning Blessthefall longer sets in each city on Warped Tour. Stalwarts of the Smartpunk Stage, the band saw its debut video for "Guys Like You Make Us Look Bad" enjoy a solid two-month run on MTV's "Headbangers Ball" and Fuse's "Uranium." A well oiled touring machine that takes no prisoners, Blessthefall has toured the U.S., Canada and Europe extensively with numerous established acts and held their own on the first year of the Radio Rebellion Tour. Be forewarned, Blessthefall will be a hard act to follow for any band on this year's Rockstar Taste of Chaos Tour.
MUCC
In August 2006, the members of MUCC (pronounced "mukku") were featured as musical guests at Otakon, the largest Japanese culture convention on the East Coast, playing to two full houses at Rams Head Live in Baltimore. That was their ninth year. Now at a decade together, MUCC has proven itself to be not only prolific, having produced more than ten unique releases to date, but long lasting - and with throngs of stateside fans to boot.
D'ESPAIRSRAY
This rock band, D'espairsRay, first crossed international borders in 2004 when Japanese bands were still unknown to foreign land. They started out activities abroad in Europe and debuted stateside in 2005 for their very first American headline tour, hitting San Jose, San Francisco, and Dallas. In the fall of the same year they played Europe once more and returned to the West Coast of America, opening for Genitorturers, playing in 8 states. In 2006, they released their first album in Europe and received tremendous response from local fans. They were also among the last few bands to play at the legendary rock club CBGB in New York. In the summer, they were invited to participate in the Wacken Open Air metal festival in Germany again garnering vast attention from press and music lovers. In winter of 2006, they headlined a European tour, appearing at 14 venues in 8 countries, with their popularity only growing forth. In July 2007, they are also slated to appear at rock festivals in Finland.
TOUR DATES:
2/29 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
3/1 Kansas City, MO Memorial Hall
3/2 Milwaukee, WI The Eagles Ballroom
3/4 Minneapolis, MN Roy Wilkins Auditorium
3/5 St. Louis, MO Family Arena
3/7 Dayton, OH Hara Arena
3/8 Detroit, MI Cobo Arena
3/10 Rochester, NY The Armory
3/11 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
3/14 Philadelphia, PA Tweeter Center
3/15 Asbury Park, NJ Convention Center
3/17 Washington, DC Patriot Center
3/18 Portland, ME Cumberland County Civic Center
3/20 Nassau, NY Nassau Coliseum
3/21 Boston, MA Tsongas Arena
3/22 Albany, NY The Armory
3/24 Atlanta, GA Gwinnett Center
3/25 Tampa, FL USF Sundome
3/26 Miami, FL Bayfront Park
3/28 Orlando, FL UCF Arena
3/29 Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
3/30 TBA
4/1 Dallas, TX Nokia Theatre
4/3 Oklahoma City, OK Fairgrounds Arena
4/4 Corpus Christi, TX Concrete Street Amphitheatre
4/5 San Antonio, TX Freeman Coliseum
4/6 El Paso, TX County Coliseum
4/8 TBA
4/9 Phoenix, AZ Jobing.com Arena
4/10 Long Beach, CA Long Beach Arena
4/12 San Jose, CA Event Center
4/13 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
4/15 Seattle, WA WaMu Center
