Take 12 minutes of your life and watch this video. A listener sent this over to me with a link to the video and a short note that said: WATCH THIS. You don’t have to be a fan of Converge, or Jacob Bannon, or heavy music to understand the message. Extremely well done.

“Like a good cheese or a fine wine, Deftones just keep getting better with age. Maybe it’s a sense of pride in the fact that they have outlived many trends in rock music or perhaps it’s the newfound resolve the band acquired when bassist Chi Cheng was put out of commission in late 2008 following a car wreck that left him comatose. Whatever it is, it’s working. While most bands their age are slowing down, Deftones seem to be prolonging their prime.”

“I listened to the latest All The Remains album. I cannot believe this is the same band that released This Darkened Heart and The Fall of Ideals. The under 18 crowd must rejoice. If you no longer bring a lunchbox to school, it’s time to move on. All That Remains 2012 isn’t for you. This buried treasure is a lunchbox. I brought this with me to school during my early grade school days. ALF, at that time, was king.”

Like a warm fire on a cold day, Hallelujah! I’m a Bum is likely to provide comfort for even the most jaded rock fan. Whether you’re burnt out on the redundancy of modern politics of simply sick of hearing the same musical garbage being recycled again and again, Local H’s seventh effort will provide a haven of warmth.

Now is your chance to play the role of promoter, because I absolutely love reading this stuff. Summerland 2012 was nostalgic. If you were promoting 2013, which five bands would be on the bill? Let the debate begin!

This is a question I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves, in some form or another. Narrowing it down to one is tough. I’m curious to see what you guys and gals come up with. Perhaps we’ll do some variations of this question down the road, but for now, let’s see what you got.

When I heard that Clint Lowery and Morgan Rose from Sevendust were starting a side project that was going to be a complete rock band, I was pretty excited and very anxious to hear the results. I’ve always been a fan of Clint’s vocals in Sevendust and his stripped down Hello Demons… Meet Skeletons project.

This is obviously a different venture. Clint Lowery, front and center, in a new rock group called Call Me No One.

Charm City Devils are signed to Eleven Seven Music and were actually named by label president and Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx. Since their inception, the band was featured as part of the Crue Fest 2 lineup and has released two albums, 2009’s Let’s Rock n’ Roll and Sins, which recently dropped on April 10th.

John Allen is a really cool guy and talking to him was akin to meeting an old friend in a bar. It was such a fun conversation.

In early April, I attended the Candlebox record release show at 12th & Porter in Nashville, TN and wrote a review about the experience. The response has been unbelievable. I was actually startled when looking at the recent numbers. Therefore, having someone from Candlebox join our program was a no-brainer.

“One thing I picked up on didn’t happen on the stage. It happened at merch. I’ve seen thousands of merch tables in my day. Very rarely have I seen what I’m about to tell you. During RED’s set, Welch made his way to the Love and Death table. I saw countless groups of fans go from banging their heads to running – literally – to Love and Death’s merch table. Mid-set. Mid-song. Amazing stuff. This dude is a star. Period. When you’re a star, that’s how people react.”