Yo! Have you guys signed up for our new e-mail list yet? If not, you can, and should, do so above. You’ll get occasional updates from the MS Mansion with breaking stories, special features, exclusive premieres, etc., delivered right to your inbox. Don’t worry, we won’t spam you — expect a newsletter-type of situation with updates once a week at most. And don’t forget to friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-the-minute on all the latest suckage.

With that shameless plug out of the way, let’s look at some of the things we did this week, shall we?

• Maybe we should rename the site “Sports Suck?” God Forbid’s Doc Coyle taught us about the NBA and Lazarus A.D.’s Jeff Paulick taught us about the NFL.
• We spoke to Matt Halpern from Periphery and Bandhappy and Nick Cohon from Cormorant.
• We were saddened to report that legendary Black Sabbath guitarist has been diagnosed with lymphoma.
• Jason Richardson was saddened to learn that he has been fired from Born of Osiris.
• We considered ten possible candidates to replace Howard Jones in Killswitch Engage.
• We wagered that the new Metallica album is not going to sound like The Black Album despite what the band says.
• We passed judgement on the new Van Halen single and video.
• We got excited that Refused and At the Drive In are reuniting.
• We learned that Virgin Steele are from Long Island.
• We started to look at some Albums That Will Fuck Your Face Off in 2012: new releases from Adimiron, Hypno5e, Ides of Gemini, Pallbearer, Sai Nam, and Samothrace.

Next week we’ll have even more Albums That Will Fuck Your Face Off, interviews, premieres, and, of course, plenty of snark. ‘Til then, brothers and sisters…

-AR

Well, this is probably a first for MetalSucks: an interview exclusively about another website. But Bandhappy isn’t just any website; as we’ve been telling you for months (first by “Run MetalSucks For a Day” contest winner Justin Gosnell), Bandhappy is a new platform that offers students and teachers — many of whom are famous metal musicians — the opportunity to connect directly for one-on-one, personalized video lessons, and also provides a platform for setting up in-person lessons while on tour. It’s a really robust platform that brings all the different parts of the equationinto one convenient hub, and Bandhappy founder Matt Halpern — who also happens to be a teacher himself and the drummer for Periphery — recently took some time to chat with me about Bandhappy, what it took to get it going, what makes it unique, and what to expect from it now and in the future.

Click to read more…

Seems like we’ve been hearing about the pending launch of Bandhappy for ages now… and it’s finally here! The website, created by Periphery drummer Matt Halpern, offers a platform for artists and students to connect one-on-one for video lessons on a variety of instruments in real-time, as well as the ability to archive those lessons for future review. Here’s just a small sampling of artists who are giving lessons through Bandhappy culled from a quick perusal of the site: Tosin Abasi, Chris Adler (Lamb of God), Francesco Artusato (All Shall Perish), Jason Bittner (Shadows Fall), Evan Brewer, Stef Broks (Textures), Dino Campanella (Dredg), Dave Davidson (Revocation)… and the list goes on. Check out the full list of artists currently signed up right here. Impressive, right?

As of today, Bandhappy is fully functional. Whether you’re a teacher looking to expand your student base or a student looking to connect with your hero, sign up and give it a shot. You can view the teacher tutorial here, and the student tutorial here to learn a bit more about how the platform operates from each side.

Coming later this week, we’ll publish an interview I did with Matt Halpern about Bandhappy; his motivations for creating it, the challenges he’s faced and continues to face in building it out, and his goals for the platform.

-VN

If you’re into what’s happening in the modern music world and especially the modern metal scene then you’re no doubt already familiar with the band Periphery.  To say they are carrying one of the biggest buzzes in the industry right now is an understatement.  While you may have heard of them, and even be a huge fan of their music, what you may not know is that they are continually focused on giving music lessons and teaching any and all up-and-coming musicians who want to learn.  Giving lessons has become a standard part of just about every tour they do and in a time where other bands find they are struggling to stay afloat on the road, Periphery uses this approach to not only bring in some invaluable extra money while on tour but also to enrich the next generation of musicians and create a stronger bond with their fans.

Periphery’s drummer Matt Halpern has gone way above and beyond with Bandhappy.com, a forthcoming website that has been many years in the making.  Once a musician creates an account on Bandhappy they are then able to pay for and take LIVE, online or on tour music lessons from a plethora of musicians and teachers from all over the world. If one would like to teach, anyone can apply, and once approved, all teachers gain access to an online profile where they can set their schedules, rates, and teach either online or on tour, anytime from anywhere – it’s easy to use and gives complete control to the teacher, enabling them to provide a truly personal learning experience. Perhaps the most awesome feature of Bandhappy is that it provides a great opportunity for students to take LIVE and personal lessons from some of the top names in the industry.  Something like that can be a complete dream come true and is something that’s never be made available before.  I certainly couldn’t imagine myself when I was 16 being able to take a guitar lesson from Adam Jones-my mind would have exploded!

Matt was kind enough to give me all the details on Bandhappy and more in the following interview.

Click to read more…



Photos by Robert Bejil

It’s weird. Mention Periphery to any person on the street and they’ll think nothing of it. But speak their name to those who know, and it’s like you just dropped “Jeezy” at an As I Lay Dying concert. Periphery have become a huge band in the warped little snow globe of the metal landscape.

As a person who’s listened as the sextet has grown and evolved, and go through singers like cheez balls, seeing them live was an experience that I was far overdue to have. I had my chance about a week ago when the group ventured over to Hartford Connecticut’s Webster Theater supporting Fair to Midland along with Scale the Summit [Alas, they have since dropped off the tour. -Ed.]. The evening turned out to be a proggy feast I won’t soon forget.

Click to read more…

Mazel tov to reader Emily Coate, who correctly answered last night’s trivia question — yes, Periphery have at least one Jewish member. I know that drummer Matt Halpern is Jewish; a few of you said in your e-mails that Misha Mansoor is, too, which I did not know, but could very well be true. In any case, Emily wins wins a mystery prize courtesy of Century Media, and a dreidel, courtesy of us. Yyyyyyaaaayyyy Emily!

Now here’s the trivia question for night 6:

• Which metal musician comes from an Orthodox Jewish background and has some 200 relatives living in Israel, including his brother and grandmother?

E-mail your answer to axl [at] metalsucks.net with the phrase “HEAVY METAL HANNUKKAH – NIGHT 6″ in the subject line. All entries should include your name and mailing address in addition to your answer, and are due by 5 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, December 7) evening. Shortly thereafter we’ll announce the winner and post night 7’s trivia question. And while you don’t have to be Jewish to enter the contest, you do have to live in the U.S. Shrug.

-AR

Periphery were the undeniable highlight of this year’s Thrash & Burn tour, and now that they’ve signed with Sumerian, we should finally be getting an awesome full-length sometime in 2010. That’s not as far away as it seems (!), but still, we wanna hear this fucker already. So we’re happy to post this video of drummer Matt Halpern that MS Maniac Chris Carter sent us. ‘Cause this dude can play.

We’ll have an interview with Periphery sometime in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, make sure you hit up their MySpace page…

-AR