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We are shocked and saddened by last night’s horrible and senseless shootings. This is a tragic day for the music community, and our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their families, and the surviving members of Damageplan and their crew. Dimebag Darrell was an exceptional musician and an extraordinary person. Along with his brother and bandmate, Vinnie Paul, he was a member of the Elektra/Atlantic family for the past 14 years, and he will be deeply missed. The bravery displayed by Damageplan, their crew, their fans, and the local police will never be forgotten.

Ted Leo will be appearing on tomorrow’s Morning Sedition and will play a live solo set at 8:30 EST.

I figured with all the bad news today we needed something “up” to look forward to…

This is from radio station 99.7FM The Blitz in Columbus OH. DJ Ronnie Hunter is interviewing some people who were at the show.

Save me some bandwidth charges and right click, save and listen to the audio.

Columbus television station WCHM 4 has a photo of Nathan Gale, the person who shot and killed Dimebag Darrell of Damageplan and others last night at the Alrosa Villa. Local hard rock station WBZX just reported that Gale has a military background. More info as it becomes available.

Holy fuck.

This is the Al Rosa Villa in Columbus Ohio. It’s mostly a metal club, but Guided By Voices just played there.

It looks like the singer (or guitarist?), Dimebad Daryl, was shot onstage. The band was Damageplan, featuring ex-Pantera member.

From the local news:

A man reportedly entered the club, ran onto the stage, and began shooting, according to a witness who identified himself as Sean. (source)

From Metal Sludge message board:

Less than a minute into Damage Plan’s set, some guy ran onstage, grabbed Dimebag, and just started pumping shots into him!!! I am in total shock right now. I was close to the stage and it was all very confusing. As soon as I realized that the shots were real, I got the fuck out of there, along with many screaming and crying others. It’s lucky there was not a Station style trampling on the way out the door.

Donewaiting.com message board discussion for ongoing updates.

We’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE: Link to discussion on the Al Rosa message board.

UPDATE: Channel 4 is reporting that the singer of the band is dead.

UPDATE: Death toll risen to five.

Donewaiting.com writer Chip Midnight is mad as hell about all the hype the Motley Crue reunion is getting.

GRR!

Kong Studios is back and open for business, which can only mean one thing. The Gorrilaz are getting ready to get back in action. To build up the buzz, they?re offering an on-line talent search a la ?(fill-in-your-country-here? Idol.?

Welcome to the World’s First Online-Only Talent Competition! Get Yer Skills out! Win a Chance to be a new Gorillaz Collaborator and get your work shown around the world.

We are looking to shine a light on brand new talents, and are asking people from all creative fields to send in submissions. Entries could be anything from animations, musical, sickly off-cuts, brief sketches, film scenes, caught-on-cameras clips, out-takes, voice-overs, bits of unused footage, whether humorous, dark, edgy, juvenile, insightful or thought provoking.

We are hoping that this will throw up some truly creative fresh talents, and provide an open forum for people who would normally have no outlet to display their work.

We’re not looking for people to send in the slickest most, professional formats. It’s much more about the execution of simple ideas, however bizarre, dark, funny, ingenious or off the wall. The nature and content of the submission is entirely up to you. (full details)

The winner gets to collaborate with The Gorillaz in ?a way they see fit.? Could be cool. Or it could be lame. I guess we?ll just have to wait and see?

If you make your way over to Chromewaves you’ll find links to some new Fiery Furnaces mp3s.

Check out Paul Cox‘ list. He also throws out a few other random awards to bands and people. Great read.

The Sans Alabaster Group is a band of close friends from New Jersey. While Sans features members of Rye Coalition, the two bands are only alike in their passion and skill. Sans bring the amps down a bit, but turn up the reverb and stretch out the groove. They?ve just finished their first recording session, and I can tell you that the result is very impressive. A 7? can be expected soon.

MP3s for your pleasure:
This Isn?t Red Leicester
Solitude

Known to his friends as “Scottie Bee“, Scott Thomas Bolasci is a fine, fine man, and a fine, fine drummer, and he’s taking part in this week’s edition of the “Tuesday Three.”

If you’re new to the game, here are the rules: Recommend three albums; one from 2004, one from 2003, one from whenever. We then ask our participant to answer three questions.

Scottie was very excited about the whole idea. When I sent him an e-mail last Friday afternoon asking if he’d be interested, he responded right away, saying that he felt honored. He went home from work that night, and started writing. Monday morning, I found this in my inbox:

2004: There were so many great albums that came out this past year. Some of my favorites were Sonic Nurse by Sonic Youth and A Ghost is Born by Wilco but the one that stole my heart was an album that was never released legally. The Grey Album by DJ Dangermouse is one of the most creative albums I?ve ever heard and just blew my mind. My friends all know how much of a Beatles fan I am. They are the most amazing band EVER. Combined with Jay-Z was just insane. To me, it was a door opening into a world I had never been before. I appreciate hip-hop and old school rap, but this album made me understand it and soak it in. Not only did he sample songs but he took specific hits and progressions and just amplified it to match the lyrical content. It wasn’t the cheesy Puff Daddy remix or just taking a song?s chorus and rapping in between, it was dissected over and over again until the perfect sounds were constructed to make an overall masterpiece.

2003: Again, another year where we saw a lot of great bands doing some interesting stuff. We saw Sevenious unleash Weird War and Dischord had one of my favorites, El Guapo, but I will stick to my old favorites. Blur released Think Tank and the Breeders released Title TK. Two albums that were and are greatly overlooked. It was a shame that Blur had to include a song like Crazy Beat on that album to appease the label pressure of having another Song 2. That song totally disrupts the flow of the album. When I first put on the CD and heard the song Jets, I almost lost my mind, incredible. On Title TK, Kim really perfected her style. The Amps album was always one of my favorites and I always anticipated a follow-up. Title TK delivered that low-fi garage rock fix I needed. The songs are so perfect, even when she purposely comes in late with a guitar part or messes up a vocal. She is truly amazing. The songwriting on both these albums far exceeds what anyone could ask for. I am a fan of structure and these really deliver, reinventing the simplest chord progressions with unique rhythm accompaniment.

ANY YEAR: I could fall back on The Beatles or The Stones or pick some other classic rock album that I grew up on that influenced me more than any other band in the world but I will go with what I have in my car right now. Due to the fact that I drive around in an 89′ Jag that only has a cassette player, I am forced to either make a compilation or drag out a tape from a bag that sits in the trunk. The one tape that gets constant play is Cypress Hill‘s self-titled first album (1991). I don’t know what it is about that tape. No matter what mood I am in, that tape just fits right in. I find myself letting that cassette go round and round for hours. Every time a song comes on, I feel like I am hearing it for the first time. Sometimes I force myself to switch up with some other cruddy cassette I have or I make a comp one day, but before I know it, I have the Hill back in, rapping my ass off with the boys. Maybe it is the fact that they mostly sing about weed and violence, two intriguing topics and concepts for me.

QUESTIONS

1. What are three things you want for Christmas?
Honestly, I don’t even know this year. We were in the Bridgewater Mall the other night and we walked into a Lego store and I remembered how much I loved them as a lad and thought that I would like to get toys again for Christmas. They have a Star Wars Lego set that is amazing. They have the At-At and the Millennium Falcon all in Lego. It looks like so much fun. Maybe an external hard drive for my Mac or a wireless mouse. I don’t know. I am bad like that. When I want something, I buy it, so I really don’t need anything at the present moment. I like watching other people get gifts and be happy, especially children. Christmas is for kids. I would like to have a kid so I can live it through their eyes all over again. A kid would be the best present.

2. Please list two things most people don’t know about Sans Alabaster Group.
Hmm… None of us has ever been to jail and we are all retired superheroes. We also demand to play for no pay, but I think that is a joke.

3. Please give one piece of advice on how to keep creativity flowing strongly within a band.
The main thing is to always have an open mind. Go with the best idea, not the cool one or the one that you think is the ace in the hole. Do not be afraid to rework ideas until they are right. Change is good. Do not limit yourself to one style or classify yourself.

Be open with your band mates. Let them know what you are feeling and what you think. Communication inspires growth. Being in a band is like being in a committed relationship. You have to be honest with yourself and those around you in order to release what you have inside and that inspires creativity.

There is a tremendous amount of pressure and hard work involved in taking four different views, combining them all together, and making one complete idea. Then you have to take that idea and present it in front of an audience and believe in it enough to sell it to them. If you are not being honest with yourself and do not believe whole-heartedly in what you are doing, the audience will know. They are not stupid. They feed off of you and you from them and that helps inspire you to go back and try to create something even better for them and for yourself. That is what keeps the creative juices flowing.

Scott Bolasci is the drummer for The Sans Alabaster Group.