Monday’s post on Misery Signals’ pending new album led me into YouTubeLand where I proceded to spend too much time listening to old Misery Signals tracks. But it also led me to discover something I wasn’t expecting at all. I was aware of the free metal soundtrack to the Homefront video game released earlier this year, but I honestly didn’t pay it much attention because it was a covers album. Shame on me, because I just discovered Misery Signals’ cover of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon classic cut “Us and Them” and my socks have been knocked all the way into New Jersey. Like all truly great covers, Misery Signals have made this song their own while still managing to stay true to the original spirit of the song; it starts off similar to the original but all that goes out the window when the chorus kicks in just before the 2-minute mark. Holy fuck, I’ve never heard Pink Floyd sound so heavy and epic! Misery Signals also introduce some rhythmic and harmonic variations throughout, presented a marked contrast to the original that somehow just works.

I’ve always wanted to put together a comp of famous metal bands covering Floyd. Shadows Fall did that cover of “Welcome to the Machine” a while back (that was actually my introduction to SF!), Nachtmystium’s past two albums have basically been giant tributes to Floyd, Foo Fighters and Brian May did “Have a Cigar” and tons of other bands have covered Floyd throughout the years… but to my knowledge there’s never been one cohesive Metal Pink Floyd comp. “Us and Them” wouldn’t've been on my short list of songs ripe for metal covers, but I absolutely love this version. I always thought “Fearless” would be perfect (Junius would tear that song a new arsehole!), maybe “Hey You” (Queensryche!), something from The Final Cut by Opeth, any of the middle three tracks from Animals (heyo BTBAM!)… we could skip “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Money” (too obvious and Korn already butchered the former). Any other ideas?

-VN

Post-script: A forum thread from 2006 on Ultimate Metal turned up this version of “Run Like Hell” by Kittie! Best thing they’ve ever recorded. Go figure.

Two big pieces of news dropped yesterday evening after the MS Mansion Monkeys had shuttered our gates for the day. Which label a band signs to might seem insignificant to some fans, but there’s actually a lot at stake; think of the way a label treats and nurtures a band as similar to how parents raise their children… it has a profound affect upon their future!

First, the Shads: We’re getting to the point where we’re starting to see record label fallout for the bands that comprised the original New Wave of American Heavy Metal of the early-mid ’00s. Things worked out quite nicely for Mastodon and Lamb of God, the two major label metal poster boys who seem to be sitting high and dry. Not everyone else was so fortunate: Killswitch Engage’s last record tanked, although I doubt Roadrunner will drop them just yet; Chimaira have had more labels than you can shake a drumstick at; and God Forbid signed with frickin’ Victory Records! And then there’s Shadows Fall, who tried the major label route, then tried the make-your-own-imprint-under-a-major’s-umbrella route, and now have signed with… Razor & Tie.

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Jerry Garcia during a recent live performance.

Jerry Garcia died sixteen years ago today from being an overweight drug addict, and the anniversary interests me mostly because I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Garcia was dead, and, holy shit, I can’t believe it was sixteen years ago.

But Shadows Fall front man Brian Fair is an actual Grateful Dead fan. And so he has commemorated Garcia’s death not by pining for his youth (and possibly scarfing down a tub of Cherry Garcia, Cathy-style), but, rather, by writing a guest blog for our friends over at Metal Insider, in which he basically seeks to answer this question: “Why should metal fans give a poo about Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead?”

Here’s a sample:

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I’m probably the last guy around the MetalSucks Mansion that should be writing about pot.

Last time I smoked was over 20 years ago. I was riding around in a van with a couple of dudes from Deadhorse somewhere in Houston, Texas, having a great ol’ time. For some inexplicable reason though, I decided to give up the ganja then and there. There was no traumatic reason for doing so. I just knew I was done. Haven’t touched the stuff ever since.

So, instead of trying to opine about marijuana, I decided to turn to some of my metalhead friends in the business. I simply asked them to write down their thoughts on pot.

These are their stories:

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Shadows Fall’s Paul Romanko: Still without a side project of his own.

So two of the three current Shadows Fall-related side projects both released new music yesterday, and despite the fact that it is not particularly fair to either band, I am lumping these two projects into one post for the sake of my own comfort and convenience. My apologies to all parties involved.

And so…

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“Somebody get me a goddman second band!!!”

Paul Romanko is now the only member of Shadows Fall who doesn’t have a side project — or, if he does, he hasn’t gone public with it yet. What’s that about? I’m sure he has no recollection of this whatsoever, but back in my lowly fanboy days, before I was a super-cool blahger d00d, I had beers with Romanko, and he was a totally cool guy! And he had no B.O. problems that I noticed. So how come no one wants to play with him? Let him in the sandbox, damn it!

While you ponder that completely meaningless question (I mean for all I know the dude is just enjoying his time off and has no desire to be in a second band), feel free to head over to Noisecreep and check out the song “Shades of Grey,” the new song from Dead of Night — a.k.a. the side project of Shads’ guitarists Matt Bachand and Jon Donais (ex-Unearth skinsman Derek Kerswill plays drums, making this somewhat of a NWOAHM supergroup).

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Back in 2008, legendary metalcore pioneers Overcast — who went on to be in a couple ofsmaller bands you may have heard of, like Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage — got back together to re-record some old tunes for a collection called Reborn to Kill Again. When that album was released, I interviewed vocalist Brian Fair (also of the aforementioned Shadows Fall), and I asked him if Overcast might ever write some new music together. His answer?

“We’ve actually talked about it because Pete [Cortese, guitarist] and Mike [D'Antonio, bassist] definitely have ideas for songs. We just have to make sure that they’re Overcast songs, you know? And not just a Pete song. Like I said, it has to be tuned to E and there has to be a mosh part that goes nowhere and there has to be random time changes for no reason. All those things have to be there in order to make it an Overcast song. We’re definitely not opposed to [writing and recording new material]. It may or may not happen, it depends on if the songs are quality.”

Well, I guess somewhere along the way these dudes either decided that these songs are not “Overcast songs,” or otherwise decided that it just wasn’t Overcast without guitarist Scott McCooe and drummer Jay Fitzgerald, or, uh, something else — because the band’s three most famous alumni (In case you’re dumb: D’Antonio went on to join KsE, Cortese went on to join Seemless) are now reuniting to form a new band called Death Ray Vision.

Click to read more…

Congrats to grand prize winner A.J. Gregory and runner-up Erin Wood; they correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to be Beatus. A.J. wins a sweet Helloween 7 Sinners denim jacket, PLUS a 12 x 12 7 Sinners poster signed by all the members of Helloween, PLUS a copy of the album; and Erin gets the same, minus the coat. MetalSucks: Where Kids Can Really Win!

This week we have another super-awesome prize to give away — a signed copy of Mosh Potatoes: Recipes, Anecdotes, and Mayhem from the Heavyweights of Heavy Metal, an incredible new book from Moth Eater bassist Steve Seabury that spotlights 147 (!!!) recipes for mouth-watering “opening acts” (appetizers), “headliners” (entrees), and “encores” (desserts), including dishes from such metal titans as Lemmy, Zakk Wylde, Joey Belladonna, Dave Ellefson, Jason Bittner, and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal… PLUS lots of great backstage stories and other metal-related shenanigans. Seriously, I’m salivating just typing about the book!!!

All you gots to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. ALL ENTRIES WITHOUT AN ADDRESS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select one winner announce his or her name next week.

Of course, if you’re too pussy to play my little game, you can always just pre-order a copy of Mosh Potatoes before its release next week. Also, our pals at RED Distribution are having their own excellent contest, “The Metal & Meat SweepSTEAKS,” in which they’re not only giving away a copy of the book, but also a customized autographed Skeletonwitch Epiphone guitar and a $150 Gift Certificate to Omaha Steaks. You can enter that contest here. And that’s in conjunction with The World’s Loudest Metal Sale at f.y.e. presented by Revolver, which is offering a shitload of metal albums for just $9.99, including the most recent releases from Between the Buried and Me, Skeletonwitch, Kingdom of Sorrow, Within the Ruins, and more. So get on that shit.

This week’s logo was recommended by reader John Lindmeier… thanks, John!

-AR

For my opening salvo, I suppose I should mention that it has been a long break between blogs. I’ve been meaning to get back to it, but this summer has been a very busy one filled with the musical composition of the new God Forbid album as well as a new project I’ve been working on, in addition to the daily pursuit of living life and getting by. I hope to contribute more frequently in the near future.

If you’ve followed my articles in the past, you may notice that I often address music history, and pertaining to this site, heavy music specifically. I have a great respect for artistic pioneers and the roots of where the most admirable and brilliant music stems from. I was the type of kid who would read liner notes and interviews by my favorite bands to find out who influenced them. I would always want to climb that musical family tree to see where it lead.

In my process of discovery, there was a common thread that jumped out at me that has been consistent through metal and rock history.  There seemed to be an intercontinental ping-pong match between the USA and Europe in terms of trailblazing the cutting edge of whatever musical genre was the dominant force of the time. This goes way back before metal existed — and yet, it has helped shape the musical landscape that exists today. The torch keeps being symbolically passed from one shore to the other.

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For last week’s contest we offered two winners the chance at three Hammers of Misfortune CDs recently reissued by Metal Blade. I quite enjoyed the photo for last week, so let’s see what we’ve got in the way of winning entries:

• aidangerard: “I prefer TRVEBLOOD.”
• Jim: “Bella has really let herself go.”

Shoutout to Rich Hall for another good one: “Hello?? Southern Lord’s web store customer service? I think I got the wrong Twilight shirt?” I’d pick you, Rich, but for some reason I don’t think you actually want these CDs!

This week’s contest celebrates the release of Shadows Fall’s upcoming Madness in Manila Live CD/DVD set — filmed at last year’s show in the Philipines — which hits stores October 25th and you can pre-order here. Check out the live clip of “A Public Execution” from the DVD that we premiered here a couple of weeks back for a taste of the madness that’s in store. Not only will this week’s winner receive an autographed copy of said CD/DVD, but also a nifty Zoom Q3 Handy Video Recorder! Since the below photo is of the SF dudes themselves we’re asking you guys to submit Shadows Fall-related captions, and of course to make ‘em funny. To win, just come up with the funniest caption to the below photo, and remember to use a real email address (or post it with your comment if you’re using FB Connect)!

Seriously, if you haven’t read Vince’s epic story about how MetalSucks Maniac “whiskey” won last week’s last week’s photo caption contest, you need to go read it now. It’s pretty amazing. Whiskey’s mom even left a comment! We like to think of MetalSucks as something the whole fucking family can enjoy together, so that warmed the cockles of our collective heart.

Here’s some other fun stuff that happened this week:

• We debuted a performance clip from the new Shadows Fall live DVD, the new Intronaut album, and a new Madball song. PHEW!
• We spoke to Jeremy Creamer from Daath, Johnny Plague from Winds of Plague, Adam Warren from Oceano, and Ashmedi from Melechesh. Oh, and Anso unveiled part one of his massive two-part interview with Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer.
• We checked out new releases by Salome, Madball, Woe, and Arson Anthem and Ender. And a DWARR reissue!
• Greg Weeks from The Red Chord said good-bye to Randy Moss and hello to men wearing pink tights, Sacha Dunable from Intronaut contemplated the legalization of recreational marijuana use in California, and Eyal Levi from Daath discovered DestinAsian.
• Sergeant D. celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell. Wait, what?
• We couldn’t figure out why everyone was so surprised that ICP are evangelical Christians.
• We found out the hard way that Attack Attack!’s music could be even worse than it already is.
• We took a slow ride on Metallica’s Lightning.
• We laughed at one shit stain calling another shit stain “a shit stain.”
• And, oh yeah! Gary Suarez took over the site for a day.

Next week is CMJ here in New York! If you’re in the area and looking for some awesome metal, check out our handy guide to all the festivities — including not one but TWO showcases sponsored by MetalSucks. We’re not gonna lie — we are going to be very hungover and tired next week. But that just means we’ll be crankier than usual. We’ll still be here with lots of debuts, interviews, and other assorted nonsense. Bring your mom! It’ll be fun.

-AR

The 2010 incarnation of the CMJ Music Marathon is almost upon us! A solid week of booze, partying and music in the streets and clubs of New York City makes us all just a little bit crazy every year, but there’s just so much fun shit happening all week that impossible not to heed its beck and call. Fortunately for you and for us, there’s plenty of metal at this year’s festival including some killer shows that aren’t even officially sanctioned by CMJ. Here’s a list of MetalSucks-approved events happening next week:

• Mon, Oct. 18: The Syndicate Conflict of Interest Party feat. Nada Surf, Reggie Watts, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and more. Drink specials. 7pm at Club Rebel. RSVP only.
• Mon, Oct. 18: Cattle Decapitation, Son of Aurelius, Devourment, Knights of the Abyss and Burning the Masses at Santo’s Party House. 7pm, $13 advance, 18+. This is not a CMJ-sanctioned event.
• Tues, Oct. 19: Nevermore, Warbringer, Blackguard and Hatesphere at The Gramercy Theater. 6pm Doors, $32.25, tickets available here. This is not a CMJ-sanctioned event.
• Wed, Oct 20: The MetalSucks / Metal Injection / 1000 Knives Official CMJ 2010 Showcase! Featuring A Life Once Lost, Car Bomb, This or the Apocalypse, Baptized in Blood and Last Chance to Reason at Club Europa, Brooklyn. 7pm, All Ages, and tickets are only $10 (buy them here).
• Thur, Oct 21: Metal Insider’s Mosh Potatoes book release party! Release party for the forthcoming metal cookbook Mosh Potatoes and listening party for the new The Damned Things album Ironoclast, with drink specials and yummy treats of recipes from the book. Idle Hands Bar, 5-8pm. Private event (if you think you should be invited, you should know who to contact).
• Thur, Oct 21: Skateboard Marketing / Nova Entertainment CMJ Showcase featuring SuperMetal Records / Megaforce artists Misery. 5:30-7:30pm, Bowery Poetry Club. Budweiser and Jaeger drink specials. First hour is RSVP only, second hour is open to the public and CMJ badges.
• Thur, Oct 21: Doomsday Mourning, Hivesmasher, The Judas Syndrome, Fin’amor at the Charleston in Brooklyn. 7:30pm doors, show starts at 8:30pm, 21+. This is not a CMJ-sanctioned event.
• Thur, Oct 21 – Sunday, Oct 24: The Grill ‘Em All burger truck guys will be here all the way from L.A. without their truck, making special guest chef appearances at area restaurants!! Get details here.
• Fri, Oct 22: Smell the Glove Party / Holy Grail Crisis in Utopia CD Release Party at St. Jerome’s (155 Rivington). No cover, 21+, 9pm.
• Fri, Oct 22: Tee Pee Records / Metal Insider Showcase: Naam, Priestess, Quest for Fire, The Atomic Bitchwax, Mirror Queen, Hopewell, and Weird Owl. 6pm, Union Pool, Brooklyn, $10/adv and $12/dos. Tickets available here.
• Sat, Oct 23: MetalSucks and 1000 Knives present: Powerglove, Wetnurse, The Binary Code, Pack of Wolves, Meek is Murder and Batillus. Free drinks courtesy of Sailor Jerry Rum from 4-5pm, and $3 drinks after that ’til they run out! 4pm, $10, 21+.
• Sat, Oct 23: Helmet, Intronaut and Fight Amp at the Gramercy Theater. 7pm, 16+, $29 (tickets available here). This is not a CMJ-sanctioned event.
• Sat, Oct 23: Brooklyn Vegan / Black Bubblegum CMJ Showcase featuring The Body, Cough, Inter Arma, Royal Thunder + more TBA. Union Pool, Brooklyn, 7pm, $5, 21+.

Whew… it’s going to be a punishing week! See you out there.

Last week Noisecreep debuted the track “A Public Execution” from Madness in Manila, a new DVD/CD set Shadows Fall are releasing on October 26 that chronicles their performance last year to 15,000 manic Filipinos. “I can just see Brian Fair’s windmilling dreads in my mind’s eye,” commented Señor Rosenberg upon hearing the live rendition of the track for the first time. Imaginary dread-windmills are no longer necessary, ’cause today we got our hands on the video for the track and we’re able to share it with you.

You gotta wonder, those dreads probably weigh a pretty good amount… does it hurt his scalp to windmill? Who would win in a neck muscle endurance contest, Brian Fair or Corpsegrinder? These questions may or may not be answered when Madness in Manila comes out on October 26th; pre-order it here. In the meantime, enjoy the performance below of one of our favorite tracks from last year’s album Retribution.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

And I don’t mean that they literally killed someone.

What The Shads did do is slay  – in the figurative, idiomatic sense of the word — a gimongous (15,000 people) audience in the Philippines last year, and filmed and recorded the event to boot. The result will be Madness in Manila, a new DVD/CD set the band is releasing on October 26.

Noisecreep is offering the first taste of the Madness in the form of a stream of “A Public Execution,” the studio version of which originally appeared on last year’s Retribution.

As for the quality? It’s Shadows Fall! On a bad day, these dudes still rip, and this recording doesn’t sound like they were having a bad day. I can just see Brian Fair’s windmilling dreads in my mind’s eye. It’s making me realize I haven’t seen these guys live in too long. Sad for me.

Check out the live version of “A Public Execution” here. You can pre-order Madness in Manila here.

-AR

To the MetalSucks Maniac known as “Sacajewea,” we would like to say the following: YOU ARE A FUCKING RETARD. It’s incredible how retarded you are, you stupid fucking idiot mongoloid half-wit retard.

We send this message because in October of ’09, Sacajewea left a comment on the very first post we ever wrote, saying he was “Just here to dig up the past;” then he left another comment, just this past June, which read:

“I did it twice. Fuck I’m retarded. If anyone sees this please find me in a recent post and tell me how retarded I am.”

On December 26, 2006 — a date that will live in infamy — we did what professionals call a “soft launch” but we just call “the day we first posted on this blog.” Our slogan was “Smart About Metal,” a play on the slogan for Film Comment magazine.

We had these two stupid South Park caricatures that Axl made at his then-job when he was bored. (Axl forgot until just now that he had a really long goatee in ’06; Vince still had phantom Jew ‘fro, where some days he can feel it, man!) We only posted once or twice a day, throughout the week, pretty much when we had time/interest. We didn’t use tags. We often didn’t post graphics or videos. Our headlines weren’t capitalized. We interviewed members of Stuck Mojo and Twisted Sister, because that’s who we could get interviews with. Believe it or not, we tried to get an interview with God Forbid… and we failed.

Basically, we had no fucking idea what we were doing.

We can’t believe that this is our 10,000th post. We can’t believe we’re still doing this almost four years after we started. We can’t believe that so many of you are reading it. Seriously: WE WERE ONLY FUCKING KIDDING.

So…

Thanks to Kip (who has been here longer than anyone besides Vince and Axl!), Sammy, Gary, Anso, Satan (the MetalSucks contributor and the deity), Sergeant D., Bob, Leyla, Corey, Urbandale, Dave, Matt, Ferris, Dallas, Eyal, Sacha, Paul, Bulb, Arthur, Anton OyVey, Rich Hallford, David Bee Roth, Van Arseface, Mike Pattongill, Angela Gossowski, Joey V., and everyone else who has ever written for us… MetalSucks would not be where it is if not for all of you.

Thanks to everyone in the music industry who has helped us over the years, even as they must have been secretly hoping we would van flip.

And of course, thanks to all the MetalSucks Maniacs, Suckalos, annoying people who can’t use the “search” function, and dudes that have sent us death threats. We can’t tell you how grateful we are that you read our site. Thank you thank you thank you.

Now, with a complete lack of humility, Axl and Vince present their ten favorite MetalSucks posts of all time. Enjoy.

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Life is tough for the modern touring metal band, ’cause when you gotta put gas in the van and the 4-6 members of the group are splitting twenty bucks a night, paying for, say, food can become a real problem-o. So even though I’ll only eat at Taco Bell late at night, after a show, when friends (like, say, Metal Injection‘s Rob Pasbani and awesome metal photographer Justina “English Waffle” Villanueva) drag me, I fully endorse Taco Bell’s annual “Feed the Beat” program, which offers bands free diarrhea via Taco Bell Bucks, which can be redeemed at any one of the chain’s eight gajillion locations.

The fifth annual installment of the program is now accepting applications here, and while you might think Taco Bell would only wanna support wholesome, all-American artists who fit in with their image, filthy, stinky metal bands such as Shadows Fall, Atreyu, Municipal Waste and Iwrestledabearonce have all benefitted in the past. So if you’re in a poor touring group and you’ve got a strong stomach, go apply now.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

Any readers of MetalSucks that have been milling around here for at least the past year or so should know we love a good burger from time to time, particularly when it comes to the web’s premiere burger aficionado Burger Conquest. When combined with metal, we think burgers are just dandy — see our past “Burger Conquests” with the dudes from Shadows Fall and Mookie from Genghis Tron (who combined burgers and metal with a third love of Vince’s, The Mets). And with the three episodes released so far of our new metal-themed cooking show Cooking Contaminated, it shouldn’t be any surprise that we love good food.

With the commencement of this year’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival, Burger Conquest proprietor The Rev sees an opportunity to invent another of his delicious burger concoctions. Three patties of meat along with handmade fresh mosh-erella cheese, ground black pepper, crispy onions, and bacon… call it the Mayhem Burger. Sounds de-fucking-licious. Watch The Rev explain the recipe below, although you’ll have to sit through a cringe-worthy minute of live Korn footage first (or just skip to 1:20).

-VN

We’ve known that Chimaira and filmmaker Todd Bell were working on a new full-length DVD pretty much since the recording of The Infection – heck, we’ve even seen a small preview of its contents. But now that DVD has a name, a release day, and – bonus! – a CD component: Coming Alive will be released on July 20 via Ferret. In addition to a new four-part, Bell-directed documentary that covers a year and a half in the life of the band, the DVD will feature a concert film of the band’s tenth annual Chimaira Christmas hometown show from this past December, the awesome “Making of Resurrection” doc that was part of the bonus DVD for that album, plus a documentary made up of forty minutes of home video footage. And, oh yeah, then there’s that CD, which is the audio from the Chimaira Christmas concert.

Click to read more…

“But then our A&R guy got canned and no one at the label cared about us anymore,” goes the old tried-and-true saying about great bands being lost in the record label shuffle.

But what about when the A&R guy, marketing guy, label founder and owner are all the same dude? And what happens when he leaves voluntarily? And your band isn’t even “great” to begin with?

What happens is that you’re staring a giant shitstorm in the face and your band is called 36 Crazyfists.

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You probably know Century Media for their work with groundbreaking, legendary artists like Stuck Mojo and My Own Victim, but they are also home to lesser-known bands like Lacuna Coil, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Warbringer, Terror, and deathcore sensations Winds Of Plague and Suicide Silence. In all seriousness, though, I’ve worked with CM in one form or another since the mid-90s, and have nothing but good things to say about the CM crew. In addition to Despise You frontman/ CM warehouse manager Chris Elder, one of the many great people at CM is A&R guy Steve Joh. With the label’s 20th anniversary coming up soon, I figured it would be a great time to catch up with one of the nicest guys in metal and give the label some much-deserved props. Thanks to Steve for his time and help, and thanks to CM for being cool enough to send me promos when I was a teenager with a fanzine back in the day!

Note: I am a fan of both WoP and Suicide Silence. Knowing that they are lightning rods for the (negative) attention of angry metal dorks, I included their names in the headline for this post in hopes of attracting maximum viewership, and therefore giving the most possible publicity to Steve and the bands. Thank you for participating in this exciting social media marketing initiative.

Click to read more…