Orange Goblin, previously Our Haunted Kingdom, are a stoner metal band from the United Kingdom that formed in 1995. The band’s lineup currently consists of singer Ben Ward, guitarist Joe Hoare, bassist Martyn Millard, and drummer Chris Turner.
The band was originally formed in 1995 under the name Our Haunted Kingdom. They released a split 7” with Electric Wizard in 1996 on Rise Above Records before adopting the moniker Orange Goblin. The band’s first three albums were stoner/doom metal. On 2002’s Coup de Grace they began to add punk, doom metal, and other influences to their sound.
Their first five releases were issued by Rise Above Records. Rhythm guitarist Pete O’Malley left the band in 2004 to pursue a career as an artist. On December 16, 2005 the band celebrated its tenth anniversary with a concert at the Underworld club in Camden also featuring Scissorfight and Blood Island Raiders. Their 2007 album, Healing Through Fire was released on Mayan/Sanctuary Records. On September 3, 2008 the band announced that they had signed with Candlelight Records and were working on material for a new album with a September 2009 release date in mind. It was then announced in May 2009 that “Songwriting for the new album is ongoing but looks very promising with the skeleton of four or five new songs already in place. Two rough working titles for the new songs include Red Tide Rising and The Bishop’s Wolf”. The band had earlier announced that it had postponed the recording sessions for the new album due to “unforeseen circumstances” and apologized to the fans assuring them that “it will be worth the wait”. Twelve months later, in March 2010, a statement was issued by the band stating that while they were not necessarily never going to release a new album ever again, the prospective forthcoming album was to be postponed for the foreseeable future. The band announced they will be recording new material in August 2011. Once mentioned on Ricky Gervais’ XFM radio show. This recording was indeed completed in September 2011 and is set to be released early in February 2012 under the name of ‘A Eulogy for the Damned’ by Candlelight Records.
In mid 2010 the band’s back catalog was reissued on Rise Above Records in digipack form. In mid-December 2010 they celebrated their fifteenth anniversary with support coming from British blues-rock band Firebird - featuring previous members of Carcass and Spiritual Beggars - and American doom-rock band Solace culminating in their annual Christmas show in London.
They have also played as one of the acts playing the 2011 edition of the Maryland Deathfest music festival in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States.
Greenville, North Carolina, USA (2001 – present)
Valient Thorr is a band whose Venusian spacecraft landed in Greenville, North Carolina, USA, forming in 2001. Soon after they relocated to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA so they could fix their spaceship quicker.
On July 1, 2003 Valient Thorr self-released their first album (only pressing 1000 copies which were sold at shows), Stranded on Earth, which had the same musical setup as present, but one of their guitarists (Djinn Thorr) used a keyboard, which helped to bring dance elements into their music. This aspect of their music not only further influenced their legendary live shows, but helped to cement their local status as the ultimate live band, with packed hometown shows at local favorite venue Kings Barcade (located in downtown Raleigh, NC). They toured the United States and Canada shortly afterward, doing 47 shows in 52 days.
After replacing original drummer (Donn Thorr) with current drummer Lucian Thorr and ditching the keyboard entirely live and on release, they were soon signed to Volcom Entertainment, where their full-length album Total Universe Man was released on June 7, 2005. At that point, the group members gave up their regular jobs, which ranged from 6th grade teachers to pornshop workers, and set out on the road. They performed on the Volcom stage on the Warped Tour 2005, for the entire tour, except for a few shows where they played the main stage. They continued touring, taking six days off for Thanksgiving and ten for Christmas. Along the way, they lost their original rhythm guitarist (Djinn Thorr) and replaced him with Bjorn Thorr before going on tour with Hot Rod Circuit and Piebald.
Hilversum, Netherlands (1995 – present)
Ayreon is a progressive metal project started by Dutch composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen in 1995. Based in Hilversum, Netherlands, Ayreon’s musical style derives mostly from heavy metal and progressive rock, but combines them with genres like folk, classical and electronica. The majority of Ayreon’s albums are dubbed a “rock opera” with an ongoing science fiction storyline featuring a host of characters, usually with each one being represented by a unique vocalist.
Ayreon’s music is characterized by the use of traditional instruments in rock music (guitars, bass guitar, drums, analogue synthesizers, electric organs) mixed with instruments more native to folk and classical music (e.g. mandolins, violins, violas, celli, flutes, sitars and didgeridoo). Lucassen writes the music and the lyrics, sings and plays instruments on all of the Ayreon albums, alongside many guest musicians. His most regular collaborator is drummer Ed Warby.
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Deadsoul Tribe was founded in 2000 by Devon Graves (Buddy Lackey), former vocalist of Psychotic Waltz. A year later the debut album Deadsoul Tribe was released and proved to be a success with former Psychotic Waltz fans and beyond.
Graves is the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music is both philosophical and challenging. “Everything I write has a message, an approach to poetry,” he says. “It’s the major function of poetry not to provide answers, but to raise questions - to be thought provoking and to create space for individual interpretations.”
Together with drummer Adel Moustafa, who also plays the drums on the records, the guitarist Roland `Rollz` Kerschbaumer and bass player Roland Ivenz, Deadsoul Tribe is known for their stirring stage performance.
Leeds, United Kingdom (2002 – present)
The Pigeon Detectives are a five piece indie rock band from Rothwell, Leeds with influences such as The Beatles, The Kinks and The Velvet Underground. Pigeon Detectives, who formed in 2002, found acclaim among DJs and the musical press when they performed at 2006 Reading and Leeds festivals, being tagged as the “band most likely to leap to the main stage in 2007”.
They supported Dirty Pretty Things whilst they toured in spring 2006. In early November 2006 they supported fellow West Yorkshire band Kaiser Chiefs, who are known to be fans of the band, on a number of occasions around Europe. On 8 July 2007, they played on the Radio 1 NME Stage in front of thousands at T in the Park. The performance was televised and shown later that day on BBC3.
They performed a secret gig at leeds festival 08 on the Thursday night following in the kaisers foot steps
Line-up is as follows:
Vocals: Matt Bowman
Guitar: Oliver Main
Guitar: Ryan Wilson
Bass: David Best
Drums: Jimmi Naylor
