Sinéad O'Connor

  Sinéad O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter, that rose to fame in the 1980's after her album, Lion and the Cobra. When O'Connor was only eight years old, her parents split up and she went to go live her mom. O'Connor says that while living with her mom, she encountered physical abuse. Later, O'Connor wrote the song, Fire on Babylon which is about the effects of her own child abuse.
  At the age of fifteen, O'Connor was truant and stealing so she was sent to a Magdalene Asylum where she worked on a lot of her songs and music. There she was singing Evergreen by Barbra Streisand and was discovered by the drummer for In Tua Nua. O'Connor ended up recording a song with In Tua Nua called, Take my Hand but she wasn't able to join the band because they felt she was too young.
  On October 3, 1992, O'Connor presented as a music guest on Saturday Night Live and did an a cappella version of Bob Marley's song, War, but she changed the word, racism to child abuse. While singing the song, when she said the word, evil, she took out a picture of the pope, ripped it in half and said, "Fight the real enemy!" while throwing the pieces of the photo at the camera, all because of the Sunday Independent Catholic sex abuse scandal. A lot of people were really mad at O'Connor for what she did, but at the same time, other people did the same exact thing as she did except with a picture of someone else other than the pope.

  In later interviews, O'Connor was asked if she regretted anything she did that night and her reply was, "Hell no!" and now O'Connor is a priest.

Limp Bizkit

  Limp Bizkit is a Nu Metal or Rap Metal band, although they have like an alternative sound to them. In Limp Bizkit is Fred Durst with vocals, Wes Borland on guitar, Sam Rivers on bass, John Otto on drums, and DJ Lethal with turntables, samples and keyboard. In 2001 Borland left the band was replaced by Mike Smith and in 2003 Borland came back to record The Unquestionable Truth, Part 1 in 2005.
  Limp Bizkit started in 1994 and have released six different albums. The first album was a debut album called, Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ which was released in the mid 1990's. The next two albums were only released within a years difference, Significant Other in 1999 and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water in 2000. Both albums made to #1 on many international charts including Billboard 200. With just those three albums, Limp Bizkit sold over 35 million records, world wide. Results May Vary was released in 2003 and then Borland rejoined and recorded The Unquestionable Truth, Part 1 in 2005 which was recorded with Sammy Siegler, who replaced Otto.
  In 2009, the original line up of Limp Bizkit went on tour and recorded their most recent album, Gold Cobra in 2011. Limp Bizkit then signed with Cash Money Records to come out with a new single, Ready To Go, a full length album, Stampede of the Disco Elephants, and an EP, The Unquestionable Truth, Part 2. Later DJ Lethal left the band because of problems with drugs and alcohol but came back on October 11, after apologizing.
  In September Fred Durst leaked their new song, Lightz (City of Angles) on Youtube and is currently recording their newest album, Stampede of the Disco Elephants.

Embers From the Altar

  Embers From the Altar is a melodic death-core band from Virginia. In Embers From the Altar is James Knopp on drums, on bass in Carson Stokes, Vocalists are Khris Payne and Tank Shurtleff, and guitarists are Ian Scot, Jackie Gray, and Justin Hall. I've listened to their song, I see (Said the Blind Man to the Deaf Mute) and it's an amazing song. Kind of towards the end of the song, in my opinion, there is this part that sounds like Avenged Sevenfold from their CD Waking theFallen and I thought it was really cool because they've been my favorite band for the longest time. They have a lot going on in I See, but the way they put it together is amazing. A lot of people have tried pulling it off but it doesn't work. I don't know how to explain what they did, it sounds like a keyboard, but i'm not sure. All I know is you have to have a lot of talent when it comes down to what they did.
  After listening to their song, The Camel's Back, I realized their drummer is a beast! They've been together since 2008, but they sound like they've been together and practicing way longer because they don't look old, at all but the talent they have is ridiculous!
  They just released a new album called, Mirrors and if you like metal, I suggest buying it. I like Metal and I like what I have heard from them so far, so I'm buying it. You can check them out on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/embersfromthealtarband?fref=ts

When Cities Sleep & Plantation

  Recently there has been a lot of bands writing me asking me to check them out. Two of the bands that stood out to me the most are When Cities Sleep and Plantation. They stood out most because they both have really good music and I believe they could go really far.
 When Cities Sleep is a newer post hardcore band from Maryland. In When Cities Sleep, is Mike Garrow with Vocals, Justin Hein with lead guitar, Alex Gonzales with bass guitar, Austin Jordan on drums and Ricky Dean on Keys. They're currently working on a new EP, but I listened to some of their older music and it's really good, they have a lot of potential. When Cities Sleep have lots of influences, but some of them are Motionless in White, Confide, Of Mice&Men, The Devil Wears Prada, August Burns Red and many more. When Cities Sleep is one of those bands where you first listen to them, and you fall in love with them immediately. Mike Garrow has a voice that's hypnotizing and sounds amazing. Ricky Dean is amazing at keys, I've always thought playing keyboard and piano was so cool. Austin Jordan's drum playing is extraordinary you can tell he likes what he does, and he's not bored with it, which is really good. Justin Hein's guitar playing is awesome and so is Alex Gonzales' bass guitar playing. It takes real talent to play every instrument and everyone in When Cities Sleep shows that they all can play really good and come up with amazing songs. You can check them out on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WhenCitiesSleep .

  Plantation is a grunge band. They're trying to bring back grunge, which is awesome! For grunge to come back would be pretty hard, but I think they can do it. Plantation is a 4 piece rock band that started up in 2011 from New Jersey. Plantation is Patrick Fiore on guitar, Dusty Trullender on vocals, Matt Williams on bass and Ben Torpey on drums. Their influences are Blues Grooves from the 1970's and the Grunge movement from the 1990's. Plantation could be compared to Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Tool, and Black Sabbath. In their song Painted Dessert I can hear the relation to Soundgarden especially in the guitar in the beginning. I think they can grow their fan base by a lot because a lot of people of all ages really like grunge and rock. Black Sabbath, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains are all still really famous, so since they have comparisons to them, I'm sure they'll succeed like no tomorrow. The whole band is really good. When listening to their songs, you just can't help but want to listen to more. You can check them out of facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PlantationBand/app_2405167945

Suicide Silence: Mitch Lucker

  Suicide Silence is a metal band that has been around for years and were very loved. Just last year all the members of Suicide Silence, Chris Garza, Mark Heylmun, Alex Lopez, Dan Kenny and Mitch Lucker all went and bought hundreds of dollars worth of toys, went to a charity and donated all of it. Even though they were a metal band and everyone thought different of them, they were all very nice people.
  November 1st this year Mitch Lucker was riding somewhere on his motorcycle when he was hit by a drunk driver and died the next morning. It was very disappointing to many. He was one of the nicest people you could meet; so full of life. Mitch had a wife, Jolie and a little 5 year old daughter, Kenadee. Mitch and Kenadee had the best father-daughter relationship ever. Every chance he got, Mitch was spending time with Kenadee, teaching her things, singing to her, playing with her.
                                   

Mitch and Kenadee

                                               
  On the night Mitch passed away, there was a candle light vigil for him. hundreds of fans and friends showed up. It was really sweet that so many people showed up on such short notice, all though when you're loved by many like Mitch was, people would drop everything they were doing to go show their love for him.
  People are still in shock and disbelief that Mitch passed away. His daughter, Kenadee still doesn't understand he is gone forever. She still asks her mom if she can go get her dad to sing to her. It's heart breaking.
  Mitch was buried November 8. It's still hard to think about or to even look at pictures of him. He was a legend and legends never die.

                                                                   

Next to Nothing

  Next to Nothing is a new band from Maryland that just got together during the summer of 2012. They started off just wanting to make music and doing covers but now they want to extend their fan base and become an actual band. Next to Nothing is Keller Nigh on vocals and lead guitar, Connor Brown on drums, Sean Scott on bass and back up vocals, and Andrew Lewis on rythm guitar. They came up with the name by picking one out of a whole bunch of names and Next to Nothing sounded coolest to them.
  Keller and Sean write the songs and they take it very seriously and are very picky on what they write. They said, "So once we get the song done, and we know it's written exactly how we want it, it's an amazing feeling to be able to share with all our fans." They also said they try to relate their songs to what people go through and try to connect to their fans that are going through any difficult times.
  Before they play a show, they all go crazy during the other bands sets and get their adrenaline going which makes for a better performance.
  Like any other band, Next to Nothing had inspiration. They were inspired by many bands including Mayday Parade, Boys like Girls, The Cab and We are the in Crowd, but their biggest inspiration was All Time Low.
  Their favorite part of being in a band is meeting awesome new people but what they don't like about being in a band is having to spend a lot of money on gas, equipment, merchandise and more. I think they have the potential of becoming famous so I think once they get there, spending money on equipment, merchandise and other things won't be as much as a problem for them as some other stuff.
  During their free time Connor plays soccer, Keller writes new music, Sean is a fire fighter and also writes new music and Andrew works at some local stores. They try and hang out with each other and other friends as much as possible.
  If you haven't checked out Next to Nothing yet, I think you should. They're really good, have amazing songs and play amazing. You can check them out on facebook, http://www.facebook.com/Next2Noth?fref=ts or follow them on twitter, https://twitter.com/Next_ToNothing

Korn

  Korn was formed in 1993 in Bakersfield, California. They've sold over 30 million albums and earned six grammy nominations. The name Korn was just suppose to be temporary but since everyone liked it, they kept it. When Johnathan Davis was writing out the name he wrote it with a crayon and imitated a little kid, using a 'K' instead of a 'C' and a backwards 'R'.

  In the 1990's it was hard for Korn to get signed because of the rock scene and they tried several times to try and get signed but it wasn't working. Then one night, at a night club, Paul Pontius heard them and decided to sign them right then and there and then they started working on their self-titled album. Korn's second album, Life is Peachy and it sold 106,000 copies in the first week and got #3 on the billboard 200.

  In 1998, Korn came out with their third album, Follow the Leader, which had their most famous songs, "Freak on a Leash" and "Got the Life". Both songs got Korn a wider audience including mainstream fans. Freak on a Leash, won a grammy for best music video, short form and got a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. 

  In 2006, Korn's drummer, David Silveria was leaving the band for good. Soon afterwards on December 9, Korn played at MTV studios in time square for the MTV unplugged series. Since David left, Korn has had a few other famous drummers fill in for him during concerts like, Terry Bozzio, Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion, and Joey Jordison from Slipknot. 

  Korn is still together today and still plays shows. They've been famous from the beginning and still has thousands of fans. I'm sure Korn will be one of those bands that are famous forever and that everyone will remember.