Juno Award-winning Canadian rock outfit SUM 41 hit the worldwide radar in 1996 after their hometown of Ajax, Ontario, proved unable to fully contain the foursome’s mixture of arena-sized riffing, hip-hop poses, and crass humor. Their breakthrough major-label debut, 2001’s All Killer No Filler, featured the chart-topping MTV hit “Fat Lip” and its follow-up “In Too Deep.” From there, the band’s mischievous pop-punk style was steadily hardened with darker, world-weary lyrics and a heavier, metal-inspired attack. By the time their double-platinum third effort, Chuck, landed in 2004, the band’s metallic tendencies were at the fore. Lineup changes and health problems sidelined the band in the 2010s, but they made a successful comeback with the well-received 13 Voices (2016) and Order in Decline (2019). In 2023, Sum 41 announced they would officially disband after touring to support their double LP Heaven and Hell.
Looking back at the band’s storied 27 year career, SUM 41 has firmly cemented their place in rock history with over 15 million records sold worldwide, multiple Billboard Charting releases, a Grammy Award nomination, 2 Juno Awards (7 nominations), a Kerrang! Award in 2002, multiple Alternative Press Music Awards, and countless other accolades.
ENTER SHIKARI’S music combines elements of electronica, rock and hardcore. The band is famous for hits like “Sorry, You’re Not a Winner”, “Juggernauts” and “The Last Garrison”. Their latest album, “A Kiss for the Whole World”, has been received with critical acclaim and fans around the world. The album was released on April 21, 2023 and immediately went to number one on the Official UK Album Charts, the first time they have done so. The combination of synths, hard hitting music and the great voice of frontman Rou Reynolds are the perfect equipment for a proper show. Their lyrics often reflect on various social and political issues such as the problem of climate change, Trump’s presidential candidacy and the poor state of British healthcare.
Since forming in 2003 at school in their hometown of St Albans, UK, ENTER SHIKARI have released seven studio albums to date: TAKE TO THE SKIES (2007), COMMON DREADS (2009), A FLASH FLOOD OF COLOUR (2012), THE MINDSWEEP (2015), THE SPARK (2017). NOTHING IS TRUE & EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE (2020) and the latest, A KISS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD.
With all six albums debuting in the UK Album Chart top 5 for the “midweeks”, with “A Flash Flood Of Colour” actually midweek-ing at #1, only to be crushed beneath the wheels of the juggernaut that was ’21’ by Adele come end of that week. “Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible” landed the band their highest UK chart position to date, ending up at #2 in the Official UK Album Chart.
BODY COUNT is Ice-T’s metal group that launched a hurricane of publicity with their self-titled debut album. The groups original lineup included Ernie-C (guitar), D-Roc (guitar), Mooseman (bass), and Beatmaster V (drums), all of whom attended Crenshaw High School in South Central Los Angeles. On the 1991 Lollapalooza tour, Ice-T and Body Count earned a substantial amount of fans and praise.
Fury over the song “Cop Killer” made their debut album a symbol for everything that was wrong with popular culture. BODY COUNT released their second album “Born Dead” in 1994. The band recorded a third album “Violent Demise: Last Days” in 1997 sadly drummer, Beatmaster V fell victim to leukemia early that year. In 2005 the band was revived and started to play live shows once again. “Murder 4 Hire” album followed in 2006. In 2012, Ice-T announced that the band had signed to Sumerian Records, and released their fifth studio album, “Manslaughter” in 2014.
In December 2016, the band issued the politically charged “No Lives Matter,” single from Body Count’s sixth studio “Bloodlust” which was produced by Will Putney and released on March 31, 2017 which earned the band a Grammy nomination for the song “Black Hoodie.” The band unleashed their seventh studio album “Carnivore” on March 6, 2020 on Century Media Records which got them their second Grammy nomination and first Grammy Award for “Best Metal Performance” for the song “Bum-Rush.” The band is currently working on a brand new studio album due out in 2024.
Besides music, Ice-T is also an actor. He first appeared in the film Breaking’ and its sequel Breakin’: Electric Boogaloo from the same year. In 1991, he began to pursue a serious acting career. Among his best-known roles are those in the crime series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and New York Undercover and the action thriller Survival Game.
On November 20th, 2021, HOOBASTANK celebrated 20 years of their self-titled release, Hoobastank. The 2001 album launched the career of the band to mainstream success with huge singles including “Crawling In The Dark”, “Running Away” and “Remember Me” – all of which have since been certified RIAA platinum. Almost two decades later, the band is still clocking in at over 6M monthly listeners on Spotify and “Crawling In The Dark” has surpassed the 100M streaming mark across DSPs.
The band’s 2003 follow up studio album The Reason took them to even greater heights and solidified HOOBASTANK as a household name. The title track “The Reason” went 4x platinum and racked up quite few #1 chart positions along the way, while the album went 2x platinum. “ The Reason” has over 2 Billion streams/views which has helped lead the way to the band’s catalog surpassing the 3 billion mark across the DSPs. The band looks forward to continuing their success in the years to come while also celebrating what they have accomplished so far. They will be hitting the road again in 2022 and hope to see all of their fans in person at a show sometime soon.
