SHINEDOWN STRIKES GOLD
05.11.09
AS “SECOND CHANCE” EXPLODES INTO TOP 10;
THE SOUND OF MADNESS CERTIFIED BY RIAA
WHILE SMASH SINGLE BLOWS UP AT CHR/TOP 40

“THE SOUND OF MADNESS,” the acclaimed third album from Atlantic recording group Shinedown has been certified Gold by the RIAA, marking sales exceeding 500,000 units. The news comes as the band’s single “Second Chance,” has just exploded into the top 10 at CHR/Top 40 outlets nationwide and is quickly shaping up to be the Jacksonville, Florida-based quartet’s biggest crossover hit to date.

Currently standing at #15 on Billboard’s “Hot 100,” “Second Chance” has already topped the airplay charts at Active Rock outlets, while also reaching #2 at Alternative. In addition, the single’s companion video is now in “X-Large” rotation at VH1, where it is the #3 clip on the network’s Top 20 Countdown. “Second Chance” is also in “Heavy” rotation at MTV.

As if that weren’t enough, Shinedown’s latest single, “The Sound of Madness,” is blowing up at Active Rock radio outlets across the country. The track’s top 10 success marks the band’s tenth consecutive top 10 showing at the format.

Shinedown – who recently performed “Second Chance” on CBS’ The Early Show Saturday Edition and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – is currently traveling the country as both headliners and as featured artists on a number of radio-sponsored festival concerts (see attached itinerary). In June, the band will cross the Atlantic for a hugely anticipated European tour, including performances at such world famous festivals as England’s Download Festival, Germany’s Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, and the Netherlands’ Pinkpop.

Upon their return, Shinedown will team up with fellow Atlantic artists Staind and Halestorm for the much anticipated “Stimulate This!” tour. The four-band bill – also featuring Chevelle – is designed to offer hard rock fans maximum value at a minimal price.

Kicking off July 1st at Peoria, Illinois’ Peoria Civic Center, the “Stimulate This!” tour will hit more than 40 US markets, including some of the hardest hit by the recession. In a show of solidarity for their fans, the four bands have worked closely with the concert promoters to create a package of exceptional value for ticket buyers. Through their collective efforts, base ticket prices will remain mostly under $40 each – half the cost of comparable multi-band summer tour packages – with some venues offering lawn seats for less than $10.

“We’ve always said that we, as a band, only answer to one boss…and that’s everyone in the audience,” offers Shinedown’s Brent Smith. “It’s our job…our privilege to offer our fans an escape. Teaming up with these other great bands, we’re doing what we can to help lift everyone’s spirits in these tough times…the power of music can do that.”

Additionally, each stop on the “Stimulate This!” tour will include special promotions for ticket holders that will vary from market to market, but could include discounts on concessions at the venue during the show, store discounts at local retailers, and online rebates for band merchandise to name a few.

Inspired by the bands’ efforts to craft a cost-efficient tour for their fans during these hard times, Atlantic Records will give away a pair of tickets to five fans in every market who pose the best reason as to why they need a free night of rock. Fans can send their stories and enter the contest through Atlantic Records’ www.atlanticrecords.com – see website for details.

* * * * *

Produced by multiple Grammy award winner Rob Cavallo(Kid Rock, Green Day), “THE SOUND OF MADNESS” debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 upon its release last summer. The album marks the dynamic hard rock band’s first foray into the international marketplace, where it has been met with incredible enthusiasm, particularly in the UK: “There’s little doubt that Shinedown are among the most exciting new bands around,” declared Classic Rock, while Kerrang! praised Smith as “simply a masterful entertainer and frontman, a star.”

“THE SOUND OF MADNESS” follows the band’s RIAA platinum certified 2003 debut “LEAVE A WHISPER” and its gold certified 2005 follow-up, “US AND THEM.” Both albums have yielded a staggering seven consecutive top 5 radio hits, including “Fly From the Inside,” “45,” and the chart-topping “Save Me.”

Shinedown is Brent Smith (vocals), Barry Kerch (drums), Zach Myers (guitars), and Eric Bass (bass).

For further news and information, please visit www.shinedown.com or www.myspace.com/shinedown.

SHINEDOWN – ON TOUR 2008
7/1-8/30: “Stimulate This!” w/Staind, Chevelle, and Halestorm
except 7/25 w/Staind only
Additional dates to be announced.

MAY
12 Johnson City, TN Freedom Hall
13 Chattanooga, TN UTC McKenzie Arena
15 Greenville, SC BI LO Center – Greenville Crawfish Boil
16 Washington, DC RFK Stadium – DC 101 Chili Cook-Off ‘09
17 Columbus, OH Columbus Crew Stadium – Rock on the Range
19 Winston Salem, NC Millennium Center
20 Harrisburg, PA The Forum
22 Cleveland, OH Time Warner Cable Amphitheater
23 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center – Mayday 2009
24 Rockford, IL Rockford Airport – WXRX Bell Bowl
26 Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium
27 Wichita, KS Cotillion Ballroom
29 Oklahoma City, OK Zoo Amphitheater – Discorus
30 Kansas City, MO Liberty Memorial Park

JULY
1 Peoria, IL Peoria Civic Center
4 Detroit, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
7 Roanoke, VA Roanoke Convention Center
9 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
10 Gilford, NH Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion
12 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga PAC – WHRL Big Day Out Festival
14 Boston, MA Bank of America Pavilion
16 Wallingford, CT Chevrolet Theatre
17 Asbury Park, NJ Asbury Park Convention Hall
21 Pikeville, KY Eastern Kentucky Expo Center
22 Corbin, KY Southeastern KY Agricultural & Expo
24 Evansville, IN Roberts Stadium
25 Dubuque, IA Dubuque County Fair
26 Brookings, SD Swiftel Center
28 Rapid City, SD Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena
29 Billings, MT MetraPark Arena

AUGUST
10 Ridgefield, WA The Amphitheatre at Clark County
13 Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium
14 Rio Rancho, NM Santa Ana Star Center
15 Lubbock, TX Lonestar Amphitheater
18 Laredo, TX Laredo Entertainment Center
28 Toledo, OH Toledo Zoo Amphitheatre
30 Philadelphia, PA Festival Pier @ Penn’s Landing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2009

LITTLE BIG TOWN RIDES FOR A CURE FOR
THE T.J. MARTELL FOUNDATION

NASHVILLE, TN – Capital Nashville Recording Artist Little Big Town is set to Ride For A Cure on Sunday, June 14, 2009 benefiting the T.J. Martell Foundation.
The event, presented by Roberts and Lyons, marks the third year of Little Big Town’s Read the rest of this entry »

STEVE MADDEN MUSIC PROGRAM COMMENCES JUNE 1

JAMES’ MERCURY RECORDS DEBUT ALBUM OUT JULY 14th

(May 12, 2009 – New York, NY) Today, iTunes started featuring Jessie James’ sultry “Wanted” video as the “Video Of The Week,” after more than 180,000 folks had viewed the video on her MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/jessiejamesmusic, since it launched three weeks ago. iTunes has also made “Wanted” available for sale With the single hitting at radio (over 60 stations across the US are playing “Wanted”), additional video play on MTV hits, and her upcoming Steve Madden Music campaign,– it’s a cinch that Jessie has stolen her way into the heart of pop.

Steve Madden, known for their stylish, fashion-forward footwear and accessories has committed to supporting Jessie by featuring her in their Steve Madden Music program, beginning June 1st. This 60 day promotion utilizes their retail network of 97 stores to promote Jessie through in-store signage and video play. They will also use their impressive online presence across www.stevemadden.com and www.stevemaddenmusic.com to showcase photos and video content with Jessie and allow fans to purchase the single and album from the site. Previous artists featured in this initiative include Katy Perry and Lady Gaga.

Jessie’s self-titled debut album is set for release July 14th. Recorded in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and London, the album takes off with “Wanted,” the full-throttle dance-rock scorcher that Jessie co-wrote with American Idol judge and hit songwriter Kara DioGuardi (along with Mitch Allen and David Hodges). There’s also “My Cowboy,” the twangy gem co-written with Mercury Nashville artist Jamey Johnson and Randy Houser, first raved about last summer by Perez Hilton on http://perezhilton.com/2008-07-21-listen-to-this-ride-em-good. A third tune, the sassy “Blue Jeans,” with its hip-hop swagger and tribal percussion, was heard in the hit Touchstone film and Hollywood Records album soundtrack of Confessions of A Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher, the first film adaptation of Sophie Kinsella’s popular book series. Another featured track is the soulful ballad “Burning Bridges” which shows additional depth to James’ powerful voice.

The traffic-stopping Georgia beauty is a true daughter of the South – although she was born in a military field hospital in Italy. A self-proclaimed ‘military brat,’ she started writing music in her teens as an outsider who “never seemed to quite fit in.” In high school, she made weekend road trips from Atlanta to Nashville, working with some of Music City’s greatest producers and songwriters. A song demo eventually made its way to Mercury president David Massey, who arranged a live audition at IDJ headquarters in New York with Chairman Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid. When Mr. Reid started to dance, “I knew I’d finally found my home,” said Jessie. “I can’t wait to get out there and sing my songs and continue on this incredible journey.”

MAE
SINGULARITY

(Capitol Records)
Dave Elkins – singer/guitar
Jacob Marshall – drums
Zach Gehring – guitar

We’ve all had that moment.

 Maybe it comes after a long day of work, or during your trying commute home. You turn on the radio and, at first, nothing grabs you. But then, a song emerges that can make everything stand still. It could be “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins or “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2. But whatever the case, as the music kicks in and the guitars lurch forward, you have that moment. The one when the hairs on your arm stand at full attention and it feels as if you have no other choice but to crank up the volume a bit.

As longtime music aficionados, the members of the modern rock troop MAE have come to know this moment well. “For us, that’s what music is about,” says singer guitarist DAVE ELKINS, who formed the band with drummer JACOB MARSHALL, and is now joined by guitarist ZACH GEHRING. “I remember listening to Matthew Sweet on my Walkman as a kid and feeling like I was on cloud nine. That’s what we want to do for other people. We want to write songs that people connect to.”

Though it would take some serious arm-twisting in order for them to admit it, for the past six years, that’s exactly what ELKINS and his band mates have done. In that relatively brief amount of time, the Virginia Beach-based group have developed a unique and affecting sound that, with albums like 2003’s Destination: Beautiful and 2005’s The Everglow, has scored them a rather sizeable following around the world. That fan base has not only brought the band to sold out shows in the US as well as the UK and Japan, but also to arena dates with bands like the Foo Fighters, Weezer and, most recently, The Fray.

Furthermore, that devoted following has helped pushed the combined sales of The Everglow and Destination: Beautiful toward a half-million copies. But it’s with the band’s third album, SINGULARITY, that MAE truly seems destined to create that moment. “I really do think this is the best record that Mae has ever written,” ELKINS says, in a rare moment of unabashed pride. “The three of us understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses now more than ever, and over the past couple years, that momentum has continued to change and grow our band in really positive ways.”

Granted, throughout the disc, ELKINS and his band mates still churn out the kind of soaring ballads that made their first two records such fan favorites. But SINGULARITY is a far more rocking affair, as evidenced by its first single, “Sometimes I Can’t Make It Alone,” a brawny blast that recalls some of the seminal alternative groups that the members of MAE grew up listening to. “We’ve always loved bands like Pearl Jam, U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins and on this record we wanted to tap into that,” MARSHALL says. “We weren’t trying to recreate a ’90s record, per se, but we definitely wanted it to have that same energy.”

In order to achieve this, the band headed to Los Angeles, where they hooked up with producer Howard Benson, who has previously worked with artists like My Chemical Romance and All American Rejects. While Benson gave many of the songs on SINGULARITY a certain radiant sheen, he also helped the band center in on a much livelier sound. “In the past, we’ve never quite captured things the way we wanted to, so there was a very concerted effort to do that this time” states MARSHALL.

That particular shift can be heard on “Telescopes,” an instantly memorable track that features a grungy guitar line that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an early Soundgarden album, as well as “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” a revved up punk tune that will surely soundtrack a few drives to next summer’s Vans Warped Tour. Yet, where SINGULARITY contains some of the most energetic and aggressive music that MAE have recorded, it’s also an incredibly thought-provoking album, filled with the kind of questions that many ask when trying to seek out their place in the world.

The title SINGULARITY, in fact, came out of a rather heavy discussion that the members of the band had one night while out on tour. “There was a physiology book that Rob and I were reading,” MARSHALL recalls, “and in it, the author used the term ‘singularity.’ That was the first time I ever heard it, but he described it very eloquently as ‘the point where the laws we use break down into a singular thing.’ We realized that ‘singularity’ was the boundary between what’s real and what’s not, and that idea inspired us to begin questioning everything.”

Indeed, throughout SINGULARITY, the members of MAE may get into some rather heady material, but more than anything, this is an album that aims to connect with its listeners and maybe even encourage them to crank up the volume just a bit. “That’s all we were looking to do with this band,” ELKINS says in closing. “We’re not worried about being considered an ‘emo band’ or an ‘indie band.’ We’re just a rock band, and we’re happy to be given the chance to get our music out there to all of these different people.”

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