Hi there guys, how's everything out there? Thought I would post a short update. Please note that I've imported this from my official Myspace blog, so all the links are safe.

Okay, so I got back from Romania on Tuesday, and I miss everyone there so very much. Obviously I had my friends (Mike, Colm and Linda) there, but we made some real connections and I am very proud to have worked with so many amazing people. You can check out the official KhaoZ Media blog here. That has some wicked video and written interviews with people from different countries including Ukraine, Portugal and France. It's definitely worth a look if only to laugh at my ramblings.

We have some awesome new stuff on SPHERE magazine this month:

Interviews:

My Ruin
Skinlab
Infected Mushroom
The Birthday Massacre
Gypsy Rhodes (model)
Experiment Haywire
Gwar
EsOterica

Reviews:

Skin Two (Fetish Ball)
Screaming Banshee Aircrew
Zeitgeist Zero
The Birthday Massacre (live)
Life Cried

We have loads more coming up before the end of the month, and we'll be taking a trip to Sonisphere to cover that too.

Thanks for reading.

Take care everyone,

All the love in the world,

Dom.

Currently listening:
Era Vulgaris
By Queens Of The Stone Age
Release date: 2007-06-11

Check out one of my interviews from Romania...

Fear not this blog has been copied from my Myspace, so all the links are safe.

Current mood:  angsty

Hi everyone!

How is it going?

Well, I am going to Romania next week as part of KhaoZ Media for the Digital Global Village. I will be blogging like mad and updating at most times during my days there on behalf of KhaoZ. You can learn more and track our progress by checking out the official KhaoZ Media blog, here.

In other news, I have been busy with SPHERE Magazine collecting a number of interviews and reviews. Check out some of the links below:

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esOterica
Infected Mushroom
Ourfamous Dead
Coreline
Combichrist (audio from Sheffield)

Reviews of:

Skin Two North (Event)
Portion Control (CD)
Dope Stars Inc (CD)
The Moon OST by Clint Mansell of PWEI (CD)
Flesh Eating Foundation (Live)

Incase you missed them, check out our spotlights on Mis-Fest (by Maisey of Legion) and The Farmyard Party (by Dan Buckley of [DIGI]Core).

and much more exciting content and news!

Go here to check it all out.

The ed will be in Romania as of next week for a few days so we are going to try and keep on top of things for all of you lovely readers.

Don't forget to keep checking us out @ Twitter, Facebook and here on Myspace. Get in touch! We would love to have a chill with you.

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Stay safe, and drop me a message.

All the love in the world. As always, thanks for your time.

Dom [S]

Currently listening:
Viva Machine
By Viva Machine
Release date: 2009-06-15

Check out this video below by my good friends over in the States, Left Spine Down. This is the video for their track 'Reset'.

Current mood:   argumentative
Category: Life

Going to Romania

So it’s been an interesting week. The weekend was tough in some ways but cool in others. I ended up in Liverpool on Saturday for a MA reunion with a couple of old friends and we went to The Krazyhouse which is a kick-ass venue in the centre of Liverpool. I had the most awesome time there rockin’ my little bum off.

In other news, I am hopefully off to Romania with KhaoZ Media on July 14 which should be loads of fun. I think it will be great to reach out to so many other young people who are as interested in the media as we are. It’s something I never thought I would get to do and I’m very excited to be given the chance.

It’s also cool because (quite aptly) SPHERE Magazine will be covering Sonisphere festival this year. That’s right the ultimate team of myself, Linda Chester and Helen Gilroy (the doctaaa) will be unleashed all-over that wicked little  festival on August 1 and 2 of this year...KEEP ON ROLLIN BABY!

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Your opinion on Nine Inch Nails?

 Carrying on from the above subject, people are talking a lot about how Fred Durst and NIN will react to each other as there is such a long history there and a storied rivalry. It got me thinking, just how important Nine Inch Nails have been (whatever your opinion) to both alternative and industrial music. I have realised more recently, and on a personal note because of the decline of my favourite artist Marilyn Manson.

Reznor commented on Manson recently, “During the Spiral tour we propped them up to get our audience turned on to them and at that time a lot of the people in my circle were pretty far down the road as alcoholics. Not Manson. His drive for success and self-preservation was so high, he pretended to be fucked up a lot when he wasn’t." He continued, "Things got shitty between us and I'm not blameless. The majority of it though was coming from a resentment guy who finally got out from under the master's umbrella and was able to stab him in the back."  

Honestly, the above was a little hard for me to swallow as a long-time fan, and so I went to Download festival earlier this month hoping that Manson’s performance would outshine all of these negative comments, and it did not. Whether he is ill, or just really f*cked up on whatever drug, it seems that (despite a decent last album) the age of the Antichrist Superstar is dead.

I digress, my point is that Reznor and/or Nine Inch Nails have without question outlasted or just plain overshadowed their doubters (Manson, The Bizkit) and some of those that they influenced (Manson, Gravity Kills, Stabbing Westward, pretty much every industrial rock act of the mid 90s actually...) and while it’s sad because all of the aforementioned made/make great music what is even worse is that now with the last US tour out of the way and the current NIN/Jane’s Addiction tour about to start over here, we are going to be seeing the last of Nine Inch Nails for a while at least.

Fortunately, while in the first instance this silly journo actually spurned a first chance to go see the band in Manchester in favour of an awesome trip to Romania with KhaoZ, fate hath smiled upon me again because I/we are hopefully going to cover Sonisphere. Result. I know, I did mention that earlier but it’s pretty important, so I make no apologies!

The thing is that, as I sit here now listening to ‘The Fragile’ album, I am as always, blown away by its complexity and its beauty. In the same breath I am compelled to ask for your thoughts on the band, are they totally overrated or the best thing since sliced PVC? Obviously this has been a crazy few weeks for tributes to legendary musicians. This one is slightly different, and I want to ask for your honest opinions on the band Nine Inch Nails and theartist Trent Reznor (one and the same), are they one of rock music’s pioneering bands or are they not?

The floor is yours and as always, I thank you for your time.

 All the love in the world,

Thanks,

Dom Smith =)

Currently listening:
The Fragile
By Nine Inch Nails
Release date: 1999-09-21

Hi there guys, I just wanted to tell you we have some cool new interviews up on SPHERE now with Collide and Alter Der Ruine, along with a pretty awesome live review of Flesh Eating Foundation in York. Obviously, that's not all - we've got CD new reviews of Ana Kefr, Uberbyte, Cryogenica and We Got This Far.

This stuff comes hot of the heels of our wicked interview with VNV Nation and our exciting review of Pink Punk's new album.

Check them out along with loads more up-to-date news here.

Dom SPHERE