News From The Bunker

Grrrrrrrrrrrrreetings one and all, and in an "action" packed news update this time, I shall enlighten you all on all things that matter concerning the band. First we will be engaging in some more live performances on English soil in August with our ancient comrades SLOUGH FEG (America's finest). It's been over a decade since we last shared the stage together, during the "APOCALYPSE NOW" European tour of 2000, and we are very much looking forward to another bout of heavy metal madness. Although both bands line ups have changed considerably since then, you can expect nothing but the best. SLOUGH FEG themselves will be playing across Europe, in Portugal, Germany and Holland etc so check their site for full details. The dates in England are as follows -

Thursday August 4th -
London, Highbury Garage 

SOLSTICE (UK)

SLOUGH FEG (USA)
THE DEAD RESURRECTED (UK)

Friday August 5th -
Birmingham or Bristol TBC

SOLSTICE (UK)
SLOUGH FEG (USA)
THE DEAD RESURRECTED (UK)

Saturday August 6th -
Bradford, 1in 12 Club

SOLSTICE (UK)
SLOUGH FEG (USA)
ASOMVEL (UK)
ATLANTEAN KODEX (GER)
DEVIL (NOR)
THE DEAD RESURRECTED (UK)
and 1 more TBC

Joining us on all the dates, will be ex-SOLSTICE guitar player Lee Baines and his new band, THE DEAD RESURRECTED. And, most importantly vocals will possibly be handled for us again by General Felipe Plaza of PROCESSION, as although we are actively auditioning candidates for the position this month, it would seem unlikely that whoever gets the position (Which we will decide upon in June after a second round) will be ready to the standard we require in time for the gigs. But, as ever, we shall see.

Tickets for the London show are already available from the following outlets

Ticketweb :

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=445502

HMV Tickets :

http://www.hmvtickets.co/events/3216

We have two old shirt designs available once again from BLOOD & IRON Merch in Germany which is run by Hermann and Andrea of METAL SUPREMACY. The old "NEW DARK AGE" design with logo and Rune script and the "BLOOD FIRE DOOM" design. Please email Andrea at metalsupremacy.andrea(at)gmail.com for more info and ordering. We will also have these available at the August gigs if you desire to purchase one from us.

And finally, we will be playing in Portugal, Greece, Holland, Ireland and Germany as soon as we can. Please be patient, we are working at our own pace, progressively getting heavier and tighter and composing the new material for our next album. By the time we do play some of these countries, which will be later this year, we would like to be incorporating more than one new song into our set. As we've stated before, it's our intention to move on again, unlike so many other bands who dwell on past and imagined glories. And so, until the next time, ale & Kill.

Images From Athens

I will endevour to upload more images from our excursion over there as soon as possible. However, for now, this is my favourite from last weekend, capturing around one bar table the following noted luminaries and men of action. From left to right. : Mr Felipe Plaza (Procession/Solstice), Randolph T. Bastard (Solstice/The Lamp Of Thoth), General Richard Walker (Solstice), Sir Lenny (Asomvel/Solstice), Field Marshall Trummer (Atlantean Kodex) and Jonas (Procession). No wigs, no designer drugs, no publicists or any other crap, just a bunch of guys at a great festival sharing a beer.

Greece II

Greece Is The Word.

Well, it would seem we will be attending and playing the UP THE HAMMERS Festival in Athens later this week having found a suitable guest singer. Naturally we are quite pleased how this as turned out after our recent run of ill fortune, and we intend to do the best we can with the set we've been able to learn for this. And so, our thanks go out to the mighty General Felipe Plaza of Chilean Doom masters, PROCESSION, who at short notice jumped on a plane and came and rehearsed with us earlier this week at our secret underground bunker.

As you can see from the above picture we introduced Felipe to the joys of Thatchers Cider, and Tenants Super Strength. And as expected, he took to them both, like a duck to water. I really do think Felipe is one of the best singers in metal right now, with a majestic quality to his voice lacking in so many other bands, so I know it will be something a little bit different and a treat indeed for fans of real metal.  It would only remain for me to say, see you there if you going. Over and out.

Glue Tube

Has Chris Barnes been sniffing glue? Or is he sat on some "Adult leisure toy"? Who knows, but the 90 seconds of this youtube short make us wonder, that opening "Yelp" is something beyond words. Polarising I might be, but it's better to be that I feel than some "yes man" nodding my head in agreement to everything. That aside, you can indeed buy one of the last copies of "NEW DARK AGE" from Hellride Music, so make Mr. Barnes happy, and do the right thing. He's a good fellow, despite the burden of not coming from Yorkshire.

The Tenth Day

10 days have passed since we announced that we were searching for a new singer, and still the search continues. Although we are trying out a few people in a couple of weeks it would seem unlikely that we will make it to the Greek and German gigs, for this we can only apologise.

Let me explain further, it has been suggested we play with a stand in vocalist, and although we appreciate the 2 solid offers we have (Thankyou Andreas and Felipe!) it would defeat the object and lower SOLSTICE to little more than a tribute band level. This is certainly not for us. We envisioned that we would again be ready to take on all comers, but it is not to be just yet, and in all honesty it could be some time again before we are ready to play live once more.

Also as a result of all the line up problems, we will not be taking on any new bookings in the meantime. It would be stupid to have to go through the same situation. Again I apologise, but when we are ready, first on our agenda will be a show in Greece. Make no mistake, we will be there.

Until then, still contact us if you are wishing to audition for the position of band vocalist, we are keen to hear especially from people based in the "Satanic" North of England. email us via the metalculte@hotmail.com address.

In other news, the SOLSTICE pendants are now ready, you can order them directly from us, or from from SEVENTH CIRCLE ARTWORKS. Honestly these are simply great, and with a variety of extras of what you are able to order, the price varies to suit all pockets. We ourselves have only the basic pendant on a leather thong though, for the others you must contact SEVENTH CIRCLE.

Finally, work has recommenced by MARTIN HANFORD for the artwork for our next album, it will contain what I feel to be unusual imagery, and dare I say it, be a fist in the face of the "Sword & Sorcery" brigade. I have grown tired of ridiculous covers with bands depicting themselves as muscle bound demi-gods towering over a 7 stone weakling whilst wielding an unlikely looking weapon. The only thing it says to me, is lack of thought and looking to sell albums to the legions of emasculated internet commandos keen to make themselves connect with their "Inner warrior". Whatever....

One more thing, we have a new facebook page - if you are a facebook user you can find it by searching for SOLSTICE-ENGLANDER via the search function. This replaces the old one ran by Paul. And we'll try and keep it updated, honest!

Until the next time, drink and be merry.

11.1.11

That's a strange set of numbers if we ever saw them, but no time to dwell on the possible numerologcal implications of todays events. More about that later though....As we move forward to the first lot of live performances from the new line up, you can expect to hear both old and new songs. However, despite repeated requests we will be gradually dropping most of the old material barring three songs by the summer as we complete and introduce the new ones into the set.

The reason is simply that we do not wish to dwell in the past, and this is a new beginning for SOLSTICE as a band, and no matter how long it lasts, it would be foolish to become a tribute to ourselves (I myself have been down that road before with the last band I played for - its no fun after a certain point and counterproductive). As well, as a band we have issues that we need to address in our lyrics, and as time moves on, so do our concerns. To mirror this, the lyrics for our next album, "Englander" will address these subjects. There will be less hidden meaning, and no pretense of "Spiritual clarity" or other such nonsense that others market to you (Such as how their dog has died, girlfriend left them, they pissed the bed, or any "Hey nonny no, flight of the Harpie" etc) . Quite simply, the lyrics will be direct and straight to the point, like a fist in the face (Or a crossbow bolt to the kneecap).

We will also not be playing anything from the first two releases and will not ever again. The live set for Oslo at the end of the month will be as follows ;

I Am The Hunter

Cimmerian Codex

The Sleeping Tyrant

New Dark Age II

Cromlech

Aequinoctium II

It is also likely Athens will be the last ever live performance of "Cromlech" also, as we drop that in favour of something new for further dates, and we should also remind people that we will also be playing this weekend at the memorial for our departed friend, Jay Jay Winter of ASOMVEL at the Riverside Bar in Selby.

Finally, we took delivery just after yule of the first custom "Englander" effects pedal. I will post some pictures shortly as it will be put through its paces at some future rehearsals, if the sound is what we are looking for, it will be a fixture in the SOLSTICE pedal chain for both guitars. For now here is a picture of the unfinished pedal casing.

Until the next time, please remember that the Sterling is the greatest Sub-Machine gun ever invented. And if anybody has one to trade, we would be more than willing to take it off your hands.