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The drummer saga continues

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:40:18 +0000

We are probably better known for the number of drummers we had rather than any other feat we’ve achieved in the last few years. And a fourth drummer wasn’t enough, once again we are looking for a drummer.

We’ve come to an agreement, which we strongly believe is for the best interest of the band. Unfortunately, this means that John will no longer be part of Knockturn Alley, however he will still play any upcoming shows until we find a replacement. So this means that we are still taking part in the Xtreme Metal Assault taking place on September 4th and 5th. It’s always sad to see a good friend leave but things weren’t really working out the way we wanted them and John wanted to take a different musical direction.

We’ve already started taking auditions with some drummers but we haven’t made up our mind yet, so we are still looking for the right person. If you think you could fill in John’s seat and enjoy hitting the skins hard, let us know. Send us an email, on Facebook, or at info@knockturnalleyband.com. Send us links of any recorded music which you have online, videos etc. and we can arrange an audition and give it a shot. The person chosen must be dedicated and committed plus of course gets the chance to work on the new tracks we’re working on for an upcoming record and any other future plans involved.

2 day festival in less than a month
I’m sure you’ve seen it on Facebook—a kick ass line-up of some of Malta’s top metal acts spread on 2 days, all for just €18. Definitely not one to miss. More info on flyer below.

That’s it for now…. see you at the Xtreme Metal Assault
Clint

Video clip from Paradise Lost show

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:04:35 +0000

The show with Paradise Lost was great, and for many reasons… big stage, good sound, our first gig in more than 2 months and of course supporting such a band. Thanks to all of you who made it early to the show and supported us and special thanks to you who bought our cd and t-shirt!

Medusa review
Medusa has just received another good review, this time in Spanish. You can read the review here. The review is in Spanish but Google translate can help you with that. Cuernos Arriba

That’s all for now. Enjoy the video clip from Medusa (found below) and let us know what you think… see you very soon.

Stay safe
Clint

Gozo Gig update

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:52:44 +0000

It has been announced cancelled on Facebook, but we hadn’t given up yet. Just this morning we managed to confirm an alternative venue for out gig. We are still playing in Gozo, still in Xewkija but in a different venue. Bands will start at 8pm, and the gig will be held at Prekursur Xewkija Band Club. For more info about the gig please go to the event page on Facebook. Please check below for directions.

View Xewkija Band Club in a larger map

Gig in Gozo, Medusa Tour and updates

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:43:11 +0000

If you have been following our Facebook profile lately you could notice that it’s been kept quite active and busy. We have posted dates and info about our upcoming gig in Gozo and tour which should start later this month. So this should explain why we haven’t been writing anything on our blog. Practicing our set list and planning shows is enough to keep our minds busy somewhere else. Due to this absence from our blog, here’s a long list of happenings for Knockturn Alley.

Gig in Gozo with ItEM – 14th November

In exactly 10 days we will be playing a show in Gozo, at Oli’s Wine Bar in Xewkija to be exact. We’re looking forward to this event, not only ’cause it’s a first for us in Gozo but but ’cause for the second time in 5 months we will be sharing the stage with ItEM. Last July’s gig with the guys could easily be described as one of our best this year and those who were present… know we’re not lying. We should be attending Loathe’s gig at Rookie’s the night before our gig, after that, hang around at a bar where James will be playing, and head to the ferry in some early hours on Saturday morning together with our mates from ItEM. Sounds like a good warm up for the gig. Check out flyer below and if you happen to be in Gozo make sure you don’t miss this.

Medusa Tour

Exactly a week after Gozo’s gig we will start our tour, visiting 5 countries in all. Following our debut album release last May, which has been positively reviewed a couple of times, we decided that a tour is best to promote our album, hence the name Medusa Tour 2009.

The tour dates can be found in the poster below.

Of course without the help of friends and other people this tour wouldn’t have been possible and we would like to show our appreciation towards the following: Tomáš from Calidad, Denis from SleighMSN, Sergejs from Melna Piektdiena and Ruta Mik. Thanks to all of you, we will be meeting very soon!

Merchandise

In preparation for the coming shows, we have also been working on a new t-shirt design which should be coming your way very soon!

That’s all we had to say for now, we should be back with something new after the gig in Gozo with hopefully some images from the night.

Last gig’s photos and site updates

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:21:35 +0000

Firstly thanks to everyone present at our last gig with ItEM at Liquid, and also a big thanks to everyone who helped in making this gig possible – Ray at Liquid, Antoine and Shawn from Prostage, Mark Biwwa for the lights, Beast for the music and ItEM for sharing the stage with us. As the photos below show, it was definitely a night to remember and hopefully this will be repeated in the future. The gig progressed from one song to another having the bands alternating and perform their tracks, closing the night with both bands getting on stage to cover Sepultura’s Roots Bloody Roots!

A new page has been recently added to our blog, the review page will feature an updated list of reviews recieved for Medusa.

Bring your phones, cameras!

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:04:23 +0000

Tonight’s gig will be entirely filmed to be used for future promotional material for both bands. You too can take part in this – your video clip will be used in the above mentioned media and you will be given credit for the clips used. Your name will be mentioned on the bands’ blogs and youtube pages! You don’t need to own a €500 video camera but any camera will do, even your crappy phone. We want to capture the motion from the crowd’s point of view. We want to capture the sweat, both on stage and in the pit. All we want to get is as many different angles as possible. So bring along your cameras, phones etc and join in, cause while you will be filming us, we will be filming you!

A different kind of gig and more band news.

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:06:05 +0000

ItEM vs Knockturn Alley
With just 4 days to go here’s a summary of what the gig is going to be like. The ItEM vs Knockturn Alley gig is in no way a competition or anything of the sort. Last Saturday a few of us from both bands met up at Liquid to set up the stage and discuss things in more detail. The stage is set up in a different way and is even bigger, probably one of the biggest we have ever played on… the reason being that on stage there will be 2 set ups not one, 2 bass amps, 4 guitar amps and even 2 drum kits. There will be no opening band and no headlining band but 2 alternating bands! The bands will be playing a song each. This was possible thanks to Ray at Liquid and Antoine and Shaun from Prostage sound.

Last week, both bands gathered at ItEM’s practice room to decide the bands’ playlists and the order of the tracks for both bands. To add more to this special gig both bands will have guest members from the other band. Cedric will be our 3rd guitarist on the track Medusa, Max will be the guest vocalist on Bringing Back the Terror, Clint will be performing vocals on one of ItEM’s newest tracks God for the Godless and James will be a second guitarist on Give up the Ghost, ItEM’s recently uploaded track on myspace. If you haven’t checked out ItEM’s redesigned myspace profile, make sure you do now and listen to Give up the Ghost! Below are some photos from last week’s practice session.

Beast from Loathe will be our guest dj for the night and we’re sure that he will keep it loud while the bands are not hitting the stage. Apart from all the above mentioned, more surprises will follow; some will be announced later on this week on this same blog and some will only be revealed on the night of the show.

Knockturn Alley news
Last week we were also busy taking a new photoshoot, and 2 new band photos have been uploaded on our facebook and myspace profiles. The photos will be uploaded on this blog very soon. While all this was going on, preparation for the gig, band photoshoot etc. our album Medusa received another positive review on Metalreview.com. The album was rated an average 4.3 out of 6 and the ratings were as follows: 5/6 for production, 3.5/6 for songwriting and 4.5/6 for musicianship. To read the full review click here. Extract below:

“…a respectably energetic, well-structured and admirably produced self-released effort, that shows off a desire to appeal to wide audiences. The songwriting is good, with the few expected moments of legitimately kick ass riffing… “Deadly Twist Of Fate” has a cool groove going on that I’m sure will win over the live crowd with a vengeance, and the eight-minute title track manages to end the album on a progressively sprawling, highly promising note that I wish the rest of the disc contained.” -Metal Review

Medusa’s latest review, new band photoshoot

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:35:53 +0000

Once again our recently released album Medusa was reviewed online, and this time it was rated 75/100. The album was reviewed by Jasper at www.lordsofmetal.nl, a dutch e-zine specialising in Metal releases. Below is an extract from the full review which can be viewed here.

“These brute Maltese have peaked with American bigshots like Darkest Hour, and Lamb Of God, and they like to turn up both volume and speed …the riff in opening song ‘Under A God-like Sun’ gives a fresh Southern-rock view on Swedish melodic death metal that I had not heard before. On top of that ‘Medusa’ is beautifully packaged and the whole record breathes professionalism. It seems weird that no label has picked this up yet, In the case of Knockturn Alley, this should only be a matter of time.” – www.lordsofmetal.nl

New band photoshoot scheduled.
Since our new member John has joined, a new band photoshoot is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. The location is not confirmed yet as we will be trying different shots and backgrounds this time, so this might actually end up taking longer than planned. We will keep you posted on this one and expect some new shots, hopefully mid-week.

Meanwhile you can check out Loathe’s latest album update here. They’ve just finished recording their debut full-length Despondent by Design and they are set to cause some earache anytime soon. For all those who didn’t make any plans yet for tonight, make sure you don’t miss the Abysmal Torment, Coalition to the Sun and In The Name Of gig… I’ll see you there!

Gig venue and date changed, album review

admin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:09:52 +0000

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the venue for the coming gig has been moved and so has the date. We tried our best to keep the date unchanged but unfortunately we were forced to move it to a day earlier. However this will not change any plans mentioned in the previous posts and the ItEM vs Knockturn Alley gig is still on. So the date is now 17th July and the venue is Liquid club San Gwann. Updated flyer below.

Meanwhile we received our first review for Medusa and below is a translated extract since the review was written in German. Medusa was given a 7.5 out of 10. To read the full review click here.

“…with influences of Metalcore, Melodic Death, Thrash and hardcore elements …The epic “Medusa” builds a magnificent tension …With this bold production, one wonders how come the band has still no record label to be able to draw attention. Knockturn Alley clearly shows that Malta is more than summer, sun, beach. “Medusa” is probably a small pearl, which was ashore waiting for us to enjoy its beauty.” – www.metal-district.de

Competition Winners Announced

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:00:21 +0000

Just a day before the official Knockturn Alley debut album launch, we are glad to announce the 3 winners for the Medusa competition. We would like to thank everyone who took part and sent in their emails – all answers were correct so of course as stated in the previous post, 3 winners were randomly picked. So here they are:

Winner of first prize… Medusa CD, The Dream is Dead CD, Skull t-shirt & FREE entrance to Medusa release gig tomorrow is Stephen Galea. So Stephen, we will see you tomorrow at the gig and make sure you show up half naked ’cause a Knockturn Alley t-shirt will be waiting for you together with 2 cd’s and FREE entrance to the gig!

Winner of second prize… Medusa CD & The Dream is Dead CD is Manuel Camilleri. Well done Manuel you’ve just added 2 more cd’s to your collection!

Winner of third prize…Knockturn Alley Skull t-shirt is Shaun Meilak. Well done Shaun, you just got yourself a Knockturn Alley t-shirt!