I gotta be honest: I cannot for the life of me keep track of who the crap was in Periphery or Haunted Shores when. Misha Mansoor was definitely involved with Haunted Shores at some point, but I assume that involvement ceased before former Periphery vocalist Chris Baretto joined… although I don’t think that Baretto a part of that band now, though I could be wrong… and then I guess at some point current Periphery vocalist  Spencer Sotelo also did a track with Haunted Shores… and we just got a press release telling us that HS guitarist Mark Holcomb (above, with Mansoor) has joined Periphery full-time after filling in with them on their last few tours after other other guitarist Alex Bois parted ways with the band back in July, and… maybe now Bois can join Haunted Shores? And I just went cross-eyed typing all that shit. Seriously, it’s easier keeping up with who is what version of L.A. Guns than it is with who was in what version of each of these bands at what time.

I’m sure someone will try to explain it to me in the comments section, but don’t bother. The important thing is, like I said, Holcomb is the new permanent guitarist in Periphery. Or, uh, that is, he will be, following the band’s upcoming European tour with Dream Theater, because a dude named Nolly from Red Seas Fire was already slated to be on that tour. But after that! Holcomb all the way!

In all seriousness, I saw Holcomb play with the band just a few weeks ago, and he was great. So if any Periphery fans were worried about who Bois’ replacement was gonna be, they can now breathe a sigh of relief.

-AR

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.

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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.

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Still think Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo is a softee? If your gripe with him is not that his screams aren’t harsh enough but that his clean vocals are out of character for Periphery — which seemed to be the argument made by most commenters in last week’s post about his re-recorded version of “The Walk” — then the new Haunted Shores song “Passenger” featuring Sotelo on vocals probably won’t do much to change your mind.

Though I personally have no problem with Sotelo I do understand certain folks’ aversion to his particular style of cleans. Sotelo’s clean vocals on the new Haunted Shores track still sound like Sotelo’s clean vocals of yore, as likely they always will; soaring, and sure, a little emo-y in timbre. But his screams on this new track are certainly fierce, and like on the re-vocaled version of “The Walk” he definitely seems to have stepped up his growling game.

So check out the new track on Haunted Shores’ MySpace page. It comes from the band’s forthcoming album, produced by Periphery’s Misha Mansoor, which guitarist/mastermind Mark Holcomb tells us will feature a multi-singer approach with tracks performed by Jesse Leach (ex-KsE), Dan Tompkins (TesseracT), Elliot Coleman (Sky Eats Airplane), Casey Sabol (ex-Periphery), Greg Pope (Monuments) and many more. That’s quite the lineup of vocalists and I’m definitely psyched to hear it.

-VN

Super-Internet phenoms Periphery came under intense fire by fans earlier this year when, as their debut album release was finally drawing near, they booted popular vocalist Chris Barretto in favor of Spencer Sotelo who many fans perceived to be too soft and emo-y. When the album came out with Sotelo’s re-recorded vocals, many longtime followers rebelled against Sotelo and claimed that the album was the aural equivalent of a butterface — great band, bad vocals. Then, in a somewhat surprising move that was something of a slap in the face to Sotelo, Misha and co. decided to release an entirely instrumental version of the album giving said fans their wish.

Now Sotelo is fighting back. Got-Djent.com is reporting that Sotelo has posted a re-worked version of the song “The Walk” on his personal MySpace page featuring harsher vocals.

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We’ve been hearing rumors that things weren’t working out between Periphery and their vocalist, Chris Baretto; well, now those rumors are confirmed, as Baretto has been replaced by Spencer Sotelo:

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