Week 105 – LIKE A STORM

My HeadBangers like I always say Metal is a constant evolving beast, with that in mind please welcome, from Auckland, New Zealand, the Hard Rock, Alternative Metal, Post Grunge Band:

LIKE A STORM

“Pure Evil”

The intensity in that face, how can you not listen to that!!

“The Devil Inside”

I’m jumping right in to their bio:

Like a Storm is a rock band from Auckland, New Zealand, started in 2005, best known for combining heavy baritone guitar riffs and hard rock songs with didgeridoo. They are the highest charting New Zealand hard rock band in American radio history. Both of their two studio albums, “The End of the Beginning” and “Awaken the Fire”, debuted in the Billboard 200. Like a Storm have toured North America extensively as a headline act and have shared American and European stages with Godsmack, Alter Bridge, Gojira, Korn, Shinedown, Three Days Grace and Sevendust. The band has toured with Alter Bridge, Black Stone Cherry, Three Days Grace, Steel Panther, Shinedown and Hellyeah.

Don’t say shit about Shinedown guys, I actually do like them ok lmao, hey what can I say.  It was the song with Apocalyptica, Not Strong Enough, the first song that spoke to me years ago and led me to this blog.  10 Days my HeadBangers almost 24 hours a day I listened to that song, it was trying to tell me something and I finally got it, but of course who can resist Apocalyptica and Brent when he had long hair, not me that’s for sure, anyway guys here I am and here we go….

The band moved from Auckland, New Zealand, to North America. They first began touring the US in 2009, when they were invited to join Creed on their nationwide “Full Circle” Reunion tour. Overwhelming fan response to the band’s live show saw their first album, The End of the Beginning, enter Billboard‘s New Artist Charts at No. 61, as well as the Billboard 200 from tour sales alone.

The band continued extensive American touring into 2010, in support of their first single “Chemical Infatuation” – sharing stages with artists such as Shinedown, Skillet, Puddle of Mudd and Drowning Pool, as well as playing major festivals including Rock on the Range. “Chemical Infatuation” reached No. 43 in the U.S Active Rock Top 100.

2011 saw Like a Storm complete two tours of the US with Alter Bridge. In between tours, the band entered the studio to record Like a Storm Unplugged, an unplugged album featuring acoustic and piano-driven interpretations of some of their most popular songs. Like a Storm Unplugged, produced and mixed by the Brooks brothers, showcases the Brooks brothers playing a wider range of instruments – including didgeridoo, piano, church organ and djembe. In the words of singer/guitarist Matt Brooks, “We all grew up playing any instrument we could get our hands on, and it’s awesome to be able to explore these different ideas within the music of Like a Storm. We see it more as re-building the soundscape with different instruments and textures than stripping the songs down”.

“Complicated”

In 2011, Like a Storm played main stage slots at 3 summer festivals – Boonstock in Gibbons, Alberta, Canada; “Pain in the Grass” for KISW Seattle; and the PDX “RockFest” in Portland. In December 2011, the band was voted Tunelab’s “Most Fan Friendly Band.” The Brooks brothers responded by thanking their fans on social networking sites. In January 2012, Like a Storm returned to their native New Zealand for a monthlong holiday, and recorded the band’s first unplugged DVD “Southern Skies” which was released 22 February 2012. In the movie Chris, Kent, and Matt take viewers to some landmark places and tell of stories growing up in Auckland before playing acoustic versions of fan favorites while at those sites. Southern Skies also gives you a sneak peek at two new songs off of the upcoming album as well as Matt’s humorous home video documenting the little time they spent in Australia. While in their hometown, Matt and Kent went on to do an interview with New Zealand’s largest rock radio station. At the time singer/guitarist/didgeridoo player Chris was ill and could not attend. A filmed version of the interview can also be found on the “Southern Skies” DVD.

In the Spring of 2012, the band went out on an acoustic tour of the United States with more than 50 shows to promote the Limited Edition Acoustic EP and their Southern Skies DVD. In these shows the band frequently covered songs from other artists as well, such as: “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Shortly after their acoustic tour, the band went back to tour alongside Creed in May 2012 with drummer Roye Robley. Like a Storm also played several festivals in Summer 2012. Shows include: Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Common Ground Music Festival in Lansing, Michigan, Jinxfest and Cornfest in Illinois; among others. The day after headlining Jinxfest, Like a Storm headed off to tour with Creed for several more dates. Their first show of their US headlining tour, titled “Unleash the Chaos”, was held on 13 October 2012, in support of their EP, “Chaos Theory, Pt. 1.” The first single from the record, “Never Surrender,” has a music video that came out 21 November 2012. The seven-track “Chaos Theory Part 1,” followed shortly after, being released just two days later. Included in the album is a cover of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” which has received airplay on multiple stations including Sirius XM’s Octane.

In 2013, the band released the live double-album Worlds Collide: Live from the Ends of the Earth. The album includes two live discs, recorded on opposite sides of the world. The first CD features Like a Storm’s high energy rock show, recorded during an American arena tour – while the second disc showcases the band’s unplugged side, and was recorded in their native New Zealand. The album features a range of instruments in addition to the traditional hard rock sound – including didgeridoo, djembe, piano, synthesizers, choirs and programming.

The single “Love the Way You Hate Me” was #1 on Sirius XM Octane in North America for five weeks. Its stateside success makes the band the highest-charting New Zealand rock act in US radio history. The song charted for 19 weeks on the Mainstream Rock chart and peaked at No. 21 there.

“Love The Way You Hate Me”

Love how they add their native instruments, these guys got it HeadBangers.

Their subsequent single, “Wish You Hell” peaked at #17 on the Mainstream Rock chart.  It combines hard rock with delta blues into a sound referred to as “Voodoo Metal”, and features slide guitar, jaw harp, and mandolin alongside a heavy rock band track. The third single, “Become the Enemy”, peaked at number 11 on the same chart.

“Wish You Hell”

The band is signed to Another Century Records. The band’s second full-length studio album, and first with record label support, “Awaken the Fire”, is also one of the first releases from Another Century. It was written, produced & recorded by the band. Featuring updated versions of the tracks on “Chaos Theory, Pt. 1” along with 4 new tracks, the album was released on 24 February 2015.

In 2015, the band toured in support of Hellyeah alongside of Devour the Day and play festivals including Rock on the Range and Rocklahoma. They also played at Bay City River Roar 2015 in Michigan, along with Devour the Day and Three Days Grace. The band also toured all across Europe supporting the release of “Awaken the Fire”.

On 10 May 2018, Like A Storm announced that their upcoming third album, titled Catacombs, will be released on 15 June 2018.

On 18 May 2018, the band released their latest single “The Devil Inside” off of Catacombs. That same day they released a music video for the track and announced the album would be released on 22 June 2018.

Let’s meet the band:

Chris Brooks – Lead Vocals, Lead and Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards, Programming, Didgeridoo.

Matt Brooks – Lead Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards, Programming.

Kent Brooks – Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Programming.

Zach Wood – Drums, Percussion.

My Thoughts:

Well my HeadBangers, let me tell you this band just grabbed me like an iron fist, I kid you not.  You all know my thing is Melodic Death Metal but, when I heard these guys it was like a smack right to the head.  I love their sound and the way they incorporate the Didgeridoo, which by the way is:

The didgeridoo  is a wind instrument, played with continuously vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia at least 1,500 years ago, and is now in use around the world, though still most strongly associated with Indigenous Australian music. 

I’m impressed anyway, and I love the sound.  I love their energy and I  can feel their enthusiasm run right through me.  Hell I did this blog this afternoon without stopping so that tells me I really like these guys.  It’s been a rough year on all our bands with the Corona running all over the place and now it’s on it’s second go round, but this was posted by the band on October 30 from New Zealand at 8:15 pm, see their FB page:

See what I mean my HeadBangers, how can you not like these guys, they care.  They have history in their music with the instruments they play.  All I can say is they are talented artists with a long promising future.  I will diffidently keep an eye open for updates on them.

Well my HeadBangers that’s it for this week.  Join me next week for another band and another song.  In the meantime don’t stand to close to the fire if you can’t handle the burn…..