Van’s Warped Tour 2005 Starts - Hawthorne Heights, Atreyu and Silverstein Rock Out
Nothing says summertime like the launch of Van’s Warped Tour! The 2005 model starts tomorrow, and Victory Records’ Artists are rocking big stages throughout the tour. Atreyu and Hawthorne Heights headline the entire tour, and are joined by their friends in Silverstein for the first half, from June 18th through July 17th. Long hailed as the summer camp for bands, Warped Tour is a traveling circus of tour buses, big rigs and road crew, setting up and breaking down the huge festival like clockwork. Exhausting but exhilarating, it has become the prime warm weather gig for punk rockers, emo bands and and other rockers.
Hawthorne Heights are the fastest selling band in Victory Records’ history. Their debut, “The Silence In Black And White” is closing in on gold status quickly, and to celebrate, a deluxe edition jam-packed with extras hit stores on June 14th. Its arrival was almost a year to the day from the original release, when the album broke the Victory record for highest selling debut album, beating Taking Back Sunday with a first week of 3,458 sold. As the industry paused and took notice of this previously unknown band, they hit the road, opening for label mates Silverstein, followed by MEST. Their first headlining run was very successful, so the next move was to accept a spot on the highly regarded Take Action Tour ’05 with Sugarcult. The record continued to sell in leaps and bounds, blowing away expectations no matter how highly placed. AOL Sessions called, and Hawthorne Heights joined legends like Green Day and Robert Smith in their catalog. MTV added their first single, “Ohio Is For Lovers” into rotation, and the sleeping dinosaur that is Alternative radio slowly began to stir, with stations across the country supporting the single. Before Warped Tour, the band paused momentarily to film a video for the new single, “Niki FM”. It is an homage to the 80’s cult film, “Say Anything” and will be out in late July.
Atreyu are in fine form for the tour, having just completed their hugely successful “Thick As Thieves Tour 2005” which took them to the North America, the U.K., Japan and Australia. They have been on the road constantly in support of their second album, “The Curse” which has been a Victory Records top seller. The band have been covered in every major music magazine (singer Alex is on the cover of Revolver’s Summer Tour Issue) and have plenty of exposure on MTV2’s “Headbanger’s Ball” and Fuse TV’s “Uranium”. Their songs are in high demand in movies lately, with their cover of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name” featured on the soundtrack to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt out now. They have music in the soundtrack of The Cave as well. “The Curse” will be re-issued with a bonus DVD and a custom Atreyu mp3 player cover on June 28th.
Silverstein has come a long way from their start in Burlington, Ontario, where the band formed and began writing post-hardcore songs with an underpinning of metallic guitar and the dual singing/screaming of singer/lyricist Shane Told. Signed to Victory, they released “When Broken Is Easily Fixed” on May 20th 2003. It’s rare to see such single-minded determination in a young band, but Silverstein worked hard and refused to give up, touring with anyone who would take them out. Their talent and commitment were obvious, and a fan base slowly be surely grew, till suddenly they found themselves in a position to sell out venues on their own steam. Though their debut album continues to sell 1000 copies per week, in the spring of 2005, the band was ready to record their follow up. They found a kindred soul in producer Cameron Webb. Webb, known for his work with such diverse bands as Social Distortion, Motorhead, Sum 41 and Ben Folds Five, was the ideal choice for Silverstein, due to his diverse musical accomplishments. Paul explained, “Silverstein has such a wide range of influences that we were hoping to find a producer who could appreciate them all instead of focusing on one or two aspects of the band.” “Discovering The Waterfront” is a stellar collection of songs, fully realized and brilliantly executed. It will hit the street on August 16th.
Hawthorne Heights, Atreyu and Silverstein aren’t the only Victory Records bands on Warped Tour. The Black Maria plays the Boston show, where they will be joined by Darkest Hour, who also rock New Jersey and Randall’s Island, New York. For more information and to set up interviews contact me as soon as possible.
Nothing says summertime like the launch of Van’s Warped Tour! The 2005 model starts tomorrow, and Victory Records’ Artists are rocking big stages throughout the tour. Atreyu and Hawthorne Heights headline the entire tour, and are joined by their friends in Silverstein for the first half, from June 18th through July 17th. Long hailed as the summer camp for bands, Warped Tour is a traveling circus of tour buses, big rigs and road crew, setting up and breaking down the huge festival like clockwork. Exhausting but exhilarating, it has become the prime warm weather gig for punk rockers, emo bands and and other rockers.
Hawthorne Heights are the fastest selling band in Victory Records’ history. Their debut, “The Silence In Black And White” is closing in on gold status quickly, and to celebrate, a deluxe edition jam-packed with extras hit stores on June 14th. Its arrival was almost a year to the day from the original release, when the album broke the Victory record for highest selling debut album, beating Taking Back Sunday with a first week of 3,458 sold. As the industry paused and took notice of this previously unknown band, they hit the road, opening for label mates Silverstein, followed by MEST. Their first headlining run was very successful, so the next move was to accept a spot on the highly regarded Take Action Tour ’05 with Sugarcult. The record continued to sell in leaps and bounds, blowing away expectations no matter how highly placed. AOL Sessions called, and Hawthorne Heights joined legends like Green Day and Robert Smith in their catalog. MTV added their first single, “Ohio Is For Lovers” into rotation, and the sleeping dinosaur that is Alternative radio slowly began to stir, with stations across the country supporting the single. Before Warped Tour, the band paused momentarily to film a video for the new single, “Niki FM”. It is an homage to the 80’s cult film, “Say Anything” and will be out in late July.
Atreyu are in fine form for the tour, having just completed their hugely successful “Thick As Thieves Tour 2005” which took them to the North America, the U.K., Japan and Australia. They have been on the road constantly in support of their second album, “The Curse” which has been a Victory Records top seller. The band have been covered in every major music magazine (singer Alex is on the cover of Revolver’s Summer Tour Issue) and have plenty of exposure on MTV2’s “Headbanger’s Ball” and Fuse TV’s “Uranium”. Their songs are in high demand in movies lately, with their cover of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name” featured on the soundtrack to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt out now. They have music in the soundtrack of The Cave as well. “The Curse” will be re-issued with a bonus DVD and a custom Atreyu mp3 player cover on June 28th.
Silverstein has come a long way from their start in Burlington, Ontario, where the band formed and began writing post-hardcore songs with an underpinning of metallic guitar and the dual singing/screaming of singer/lyricist Shane Told. Signed to Victory, they released “When Broken Is Easily Fixed” on May 20th 2003. It’s rare to see such single-minded determination in a young band, but Silverstein worked hard and refused to give up, touring with anyone who would take them out. Their talent and commitment were obvious, and a fan base slowly be surely grew, till suddenly they found themselves in a position to sell out venues on their own steam. Though their debut album continues to sell 1000 copies per week, in the spring of 2005, the band was ready to record their follow up. They found a kindred soul in producer Cameron Webb. Webb, known for his work with such diverse bands as Social Distortion, Motorhead, Sum 41 and Ben Folds Five, was the ideal choice for Silverstein, due to his diverse musical accomplishments. Paul explained, “Silverstein has such a wide range of influences that we were hoping to find a producer who could appreciate them all instead of focusing on one or two aspects of the band.” “Discovering The Waterfront” is a stellar collection of songs, fully realized and brilliantly executed. It will hit the street on August 16th.
Hawthorne Heights, Atreyu and Silverstein aren’t the only Victory Records bands on Warped Tour. The Black Maria plays the Boston show, where they will be joined by Darkest Hour, who also rock New Jersey and Randall’s Island, New York. For more information and to set up interviews contact me as soon as possible.
