Brooklyn Allman, Marilyn Manson & Alice Cooper Poison Mother Wonderland

Dearest I'm So Sorry you're disturbed

You know I hang on every Word

Three Masters of Mannequins

Waltz Across Mother Wonderland

Alice, Marilyn and Brooklyn

A Fairytale to Portend

The Begining of The End

Fresh from pillaging the rock n roll landscape with Otep Shamaya, lead singer for OTEP, LA-based PICTURE ME BROKEN, featuring vocalist Brooklyn Layla Allman, drummer Shaun Foist and guitarists Dante Phoenix and Jimmy Strimpel, are set to torture Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper on the Masters of Manicured Methods Of Methodical Madness Tour.

Make no mistake. Ms Marilyn and Ms Alice will shock and awe audiences as they always have, but the real reason to see this tour is to witness the emergence of Ms Allman as a bonafide superstar. 

Armed with a vast vocabulary, hyper-intelligent insight, an uncompromising artistic vision and a vociferous ability to exact voluminous vicissitude, vocally, 20-year old Brooklyn is already one of the leading lights of her generation.

Pair her powerful presence with the twin thrash attack of Phoenix and Strimpel and you have the most exciting threesome representing The Sunset Strip since Stradlin, Slash and Rose.

On their spring/summer path of immolation, PMB will showcase songs from their recent Mannequins EP, one of my Top 10 releases from last year (their debut full-length Wide Awake made my 'Best of' the previous year).



Add in their mind-melting version of 'Crazy On You' (by Heart) and the succulent seeds of scintillation are poised to manifest indomitable reverberation.



Another reason to immerse oneself in some Shock Therapy is for the hope that somehow the Masters of Premeditated Madness will figure out a way to work Brooklyn into Cooper's set so she can do some obligatory rock poses with Orianthi.

Historic moments in time, awash with peroxide quixotic.

PICTURE ME BROKEN

2013 TOUR DATES
5/29 — San Diego, CA @ House of Blues (w/ Marilyn Manson)
6/01 — Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater*
6/03 — Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre*
6/04 — Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre*
6/06 — Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amp at Universal City Walk*
6/07 — Tucson, AZ @ Anselmo Valencia Amphitheatre*
6/08 — El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center*
6/10 — Grand Prairie, TX @ Verizon Theatre*
6/13 — Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica*
6/14 — Buffalo, NY @ Outer Harbor*
6/18 — Reading, PA @ Reading Eagle Theater at Sovereign Ctr*
6/20 — Gilford, NH @ Meadowbrook U.S. Cellular Pavilion*
6/21 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena*
6/23 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE*
6/25 — St. Charles, MO @ Family Arena*
6/28 — Rockford, lL @ BMO Harris Bank Center*
6/29 — Mt Pleasant, MI @ Soaring Eagle Casino*
7/03 — Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/06 — Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/11 — Richmond, VA @ The National (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/12 — Norfolk, VA @ The Norva (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/15 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/17 — Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/20 — St Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live (w/ Marilyn Manson)
7/21 — Miami Beach, FL @ The Fillmore (w/ Marilyn Manson)

(w/ Marilyn Manson & Alice Cooper on Masters of Madness Tour)





Fully realized vision coming into focus.

Picture your preconceptions Broken... their Beautifully Disguised Mannequins have been Tortured and from their decomposition, the unshackled Truth has Risen.

Succumbing to its majesty is a given.

ETSY

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Whisky A Go Go

Hollywood, CA
April 19, 2013

R.E.M. GREEN 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Due May 14 Via Rhino Records

LOS ANGELES, CA – R.E.M. achieved global success with the 1988 release of GREEN, the Athens, Georgia quartet’s sixth studio album and first for Warner Bros. Records, which would be the band’s label home for the rest of their recording career.

While R.E.M. was fast becoming one of the most acclaimed and revered acts in the U.S., GREEN was their first album to gain the attention of a worldwide audience.

Packed with tracks destined to be definitive additions to the band’s canon, including “Orange Crush,” “Pop Song 89,” and “Stand,” GREEN was certified double platinum by the RIAA and doubled the domestic sales of the band’s previous release.



GREEN continued R.E.M.’s dedication to the message of social consciousness, as evidenced by the album’s title, which would go on to became a ubiquitous buzzword for environmentally friendly initiatives.

To celebrate the landmark album’s 25-year anniversary, Rhino is releasing a two-disc deluxe edition that features the remastered original album accompanied by a disc of live performances taken from the penultimate show of R.E.M.’s 130-date Green World Tour.

All 21 songs were recorded in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 10, 1989, just miles from where Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry had their very first recording session at Mitch Easter’s Drive In Studio in Winston-Salem.

The anniversary set is packaged in a hard clamshell box (similar to previous R.E.M. reissues) and comes with four postcards and a foldout poster, plus insightful liner notes by Uncut editor, Allan Jones.

GREEN: 25TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION will be available on May 14 as a 2-disc set and digitally.

The same day, the remastered album with original art and packaging will also be available on 180-gram vinyl.

In anticipation of the anniversary set, Rhino will release a limited edition, five-track EP as part of Record Store Day. This exclusive CD features a handful of performances from the Greensboro show that, due to space constraints, are not found on the Deluxe Edition, including the Green track “I Remember California” and classics like “So. Central Rain” and “Feeling Gravitys Pull.”

Limited to just 2,500 copies, the disc comes with an original (non-reproduction) patch from the Green Tour. These patches were recently uncovered in the band’s vault. The LIVE IN GREENSBORO EP will be available for Record Store Day on April 20 for $7.98.



The concert spread across the anniversary set and the Record Store Day EP captures a fiery set from R.E.M., which had been forged in the crucible of nearly one year of shows. R.E.M. performed most of GREEN (“Get Up” “World Leader Pretend” and “You Are The Everything”), while mixing in early favorites like “Fall On Me,” “Finest Worksong,” “The One I Love” and “Perfect Circle” from the band’s 1983 debut Murmur.

The show also finds the band testing out new songs (“Low” and “Belong”) that would appear two years later on GREEN’s follow-up, Out Of Time.

R.E.M. GREEN: 25TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION
Track Listing

Disc One – Original Album
1.       “Pop Song 89”
2.       “Get Up”
3.       “You Are The Everything”
4.       “Stand”
5.       “World Leader Pretend”
6.       “The Wrong Child”
7.       “Orange Crush”
8.       “Turn You Inside Out”
9.       “Hairshirt”
10.   “I Remember California”
11.   “Untitled”

Disc Two – Live In Greensboro 1989
1.       “Stand”
2.       “The One I Love”
3.       “Turn You Inside Out”
4.       “Belong”
5.       “Exhuming McCarthy”
6.       “Good Advices”
7.       “Orange Crush”
8.       “Cuyahoga”
9.       “These Days”
10.   “World Leader Pretend”
11.   “I Believe”
12.   “Get Up”
13.   “Life And How To Live It”
14.   “Its The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
15.   “Pop Song 89”
16.   “Fall On Me”
17.   “You Are The Everything”
18.   “Begin The Begin”
19.   “Low”
20.   “Finest Worksong”
21.   “Perfect Circle”


LIVE IN GREENSBORO EP
1.       “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)”
2.       “Feeling Gravitys Pull”
3.       “Strange”
4.       “King of Birds”
5.       “I Remember California”

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Vetting The Vaunted Vestibule of Varna; A Volley With Vocalist Tiana Woods

The Year of the Trio?

Had really considered that until recently. Perhaps it's that glaring "3" at the end of 2013 that should have been recognized as a foreshadowing of divinty, or in this case, tréshadowing.

And to dial it in a little further, Twenty Thirteen is under assault by female-fronted triumvirates.

Whether it's the recalibration of Paramore as a tightly-knit Hayley Williams threesome, the emergence of the stately sisterly rock of Haim, the EDM dominance of Krewella, the mellifluous melodies of Now Now or the illustrious Hall of Fame indoctrination of one of rock's greatest trios (with a singer that sounds like a girl), creativity is flourishing within the mysticism of three.

But this fact shouldn't surprise anyone for its origins have been around longer than prophetic tea leaves. Whether it's basketball or music or neapolitan ice cream or The Trinity, the triangle works. There's a certain unassailable majesty in its resolute symmetry.



It's time to add one more entity to the gilded age of geometry as the vaunted vessel of Varna is set to raise the bar for all to see.

Partnering with acclaimed producer Erik Ron, known for his ground-breaking work with female-led buzzbands VersaEmerge, New Years Day, Blameshift and The Atlantic, this LA-based three-piece showcases Rossen Pinkas on guitar, Rob Shin on drums and vocalist Tiana Woods, a powerful singer who unabashedly smears her heart on her sleeve.

And although their promising debut EP declares This Time It's Personal make no mistake, with Ms Woods at the helm, it's personal every time.

Precipitously pushing forth with a heavy dose of live shows, band promo and industry networking for the past three years, 2013 seems fertile ground to stage their breakout as rock's latest one-of-a-kind instant karma, but this time, it's instant Varna.

1. Earlier this year, you released an incredible three-song EP called This Time It’s Personal produced by Erik Ron (VersaEmerge, New Years Day, Panic! at the Disco, Get Scared).

The EP’s title is rather apt as the emotion jumping out of my speakers is chock full of vibrant urgency. I know this may sound redundant and rhetorical, but it sounds really personal. It is, isn’t it? Was there an event or a series of situations that was the genesis for your lyrics?

Tiana: Yes, it was purely intentional to be personal and have the album coincide with that theme. These songs were written at some of the worst points in my life and were actually never meant to be seen by anyone but myself. With this EP, I am exposing all my fears and the different sides of myself that people would never see if they met me in person.

TW: All these songs are based on true events that happened in my life. I ended up homeless for a couple of months last year, this band was going through a lot of changes and obstacles and I was going through some personal issues. I really felt that music on the radio failed to address serious situations in people's lives and I wanted to at least give someone an option to find that in our music.

2. When the band originally started in 2010, you were called “Living Eulogy” but changed the name to Varna, the street on which your rehearsal studio was located. At the time you changed the name, were you aware that there’s a city in Bulgaria named Varna (it’s a resort town along the Black Sea)? Have you heard from fans there or do you hope to one day play there?

TW: Rossen (our guitarist) is from Bulgaria, originally, so that absolutely played a role in changing the name. Yes, we have heard from a lot of fans from Varna and they love our music! They are excited to hear of a rock band in the US that has the namesake of their city. We have received an offer to play there but nothing has been confirmed yet. We can't wait to play a show there!

3. As Living Eulogy, you recorded a mid-tempo ballad called “My Heart,” which you then re-recorded for your new EP. Even though the impact of the sentiment is the same and your vocals soar on both, musically the versions are completely different! “Down” is from the LE days as well. Was it a collective decision (with Erik) to re-do the songs or was that your intention all along? Are there other Living Eulogy songs that are in queue to get tracked? It seems like a lot of longtime fans are clamoring for “Survival of the Fittest”? I must admit that the live version at Cinespace Hollywood (video below), with the opening scream and raging riff, kicks ass!

TW: Thank you so much! Towards the end of Living Eulogy, we had only performed 'Down' but never recorded it because it was brand new. I actually had to fight tooth and nail to get 'My Heart' recorded again. I always knew it was a special song even when it wasn't at it's full potential. We had worked with some other producers, spent a lot of money and the band was just burnt out on it. Originally, I paid for the entire song to be recorded but when the rest of the guys heard the finished product, we split the cost in the end. When I believe in something, I don't back down.

TW: And yes, we have a couple of LE songs, including 'Survival of the Fittest' that we hope to record with Erik. These songs have never been recorded properly and were only available to hear at the live shows. Our upcoming recordings will have new Varna songs as well. We just want to make sure our best songs are out there.

4. Varna’s influences range from Mariah Carey to Slayer, which immediately appealed to my sonic sensibility, but to be honest, not too many people would throw out the mighty Mariah and the dastardly Kerry King in the same breath. However disparate it seems at first, I did notice that the chunky tone of the guitars on the track “Down,” just before the breakdown, sound reminiscent of Slayer’s “South of Heaven” and then when the guitars drop out to reveal an angelic “North-of-Heaven” vocal melody, it made perfect sense. Perhaps that dynamic dichotomy, in a nutshell, is the essence of Varna? How do the band’s influences color the writing process?

TW: We had the pleasure of meeting Kerry at NAMM this year and it was awesome seeing Rossen meet one of his influences. Yes, you are exactly right! I have always admired a singer with a big range and if you're going to call yourself a singer, you should know how to do that. I'm an alto so I already have a lower register for a female and with the issues that I write about in our music, Ross' musical style fits in perfectly. It gives him the freedom to play in that C Sharp element that gives us our crunch. We write about the roller coaster of life. Varna is able to write a lighter or heavier song without straying from our core sound.

5. Most bands contend with a rotating cast of drummers but you had a similar swirl with a cast of bassists that finally prompted you to stop the merry-go-round and continue as a triumvirate. In concert, there’s a palpable chemistry between the three of you, the age-old mysticism of the triangular power of three.

Do you see this configuration as permanent or the best solution for the immediate future? And if it’s more infinite, are there other power trios that you look to for inspiration? Were you as excited as I was that Rush finally got their due and were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame?

TW: Thank you! Yes, as for now we are permanently sticking together as a three piece. It caused our band a lot of frustration and stress initially, but when we weighed out the pros and cons of the situation for us, it was the best thing that could have happened. It makes us a more unique female fronted band dynamic, easier stage show, better band chemistry and now we have nothing to stop the machine from going forward. 

Some of my favorite bands are three piece bands and they have always brought the power. Silverchair is one of my favorite bands. Ross loved Blink 182 and Rob really likes Alkaline trio, so we know it can be done.

6. You’re a powerful singer with a natural born talent and also a graduate of Musician’s Institute in Hollywood. Very often on singing talent shows, the competitors who are pitch perfect and technically spot-on make quick exits. How do you balance between what’s in your soul and what you’ve been taught?

TW: People are always surprised to learn that I graduated in Music Business and not in the Vocal Program. You can hear that I come from a pop and blues background.

In Pop, you strive to make sure your vocals are 'on point' but you can be so focused on the vocal that you forget to put on a performance. In Blues, it is all about the power and emotion and no one gives a crap if you 'mess up'-- that just makes you more authentic to what you are singing about. I am a perfectionist, but I am human and can have a bad show just like anyone else. At the end of the day, we know what we are capable of. People like to connect with passion and we give our blood and sweat on that stage. You will leave our show entertained!

7. During your Viper Room show, I loved hearing your version of The Pretty Reckless Make Me Wanna Die.

Are there other covers in the Varna arsenal and if you had the chance to front your favorite band for an encore, who would it be and what song would you sing?

TW: Thank you! We are toying around with some other covers at the moment, but I actually want to try and stay away from female driven songs due to the fact that it doesn't give us much creative power, in my eyes, to make it our own. Doing 'Make Me Wanna Die' was so much fun for us and I'm sure we will pull it out on the setlist in the future at some point!

8. Let’s touch on some favorites:

Midnight snack? Cold orange chicken from the refrigerator

Adult beverage? I'm such a boring musician! My drink of choice is Coca-Cola. It is the perfect drink in my eyes.

Animal? Dolphins

Brand of lipstick/make-up? MAC is essential for stage and/or daytime.

Clothing brand/store? I am more into specific pieces, like leather jackets and boots. They can be from any store.

Travel destination? New Orleans, Louisiana. It is such a magical city filled with music and history. I hope to have a house there one day.

Phone app? It's a tie between Twitter (to communicate with our fans instantly) and Song Pop!

TV show? The Walking Dead. I'm having withdrawals since the season ended!

Movie? The Neverending Story. I actually own an auryn (the necklace from the movie).

Singers? Mariah Carey, Susan Tedeschi, Daniel Johns of Silverchair, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. I'll be here forever...

9. It seems fairly trendy for artists/bands to nickname their fans.

With your fans already abbreviating Varna to “VA” (with requisite "V" & "A" finger formations on each hand, playing off the time-honored tradition of doing "L" & "A" for Los Angeles), has there been any discussion about anointing the proud soldiers of the Varna Army?

TW: Right now, we call ourselves and our supporters the 'Varna Family'. I think we are kind of waiting for them to name themselves and what they want to be called and we will go with that. It gives them the power. We work for them.

10. You’ve played most of the storied venues in Hollywood and showcased at this year’s SXSW festival. With some great milestones under your belt, what’s next for Varna? An official music video? Will you record another batch of songs with Erik?

TW: We actually ended up not showcasing at SXSW in the end, but that didn't stop us. We found it gave us more of an opportunity to network with industry and other musicians around the country. It was definitely a business trip and we had a mission. We were on our feet for 8+ hours a day, for 5 days, in 90-degree weather. It was brutal, but an amazing experience, and we are looking forward to playing in 2014.

Our main goal right now is to keep the 'buzz' going about Varna, play as many shows as possible, secure a management deal and yes, record more songs with Erik. Our long term goal is to travel the world, creating and promoting our music for a living.

11. Are there any charities or organizations that you support that you like to give a shout-out to?

TW: We are endorsed by MAKE A SOUND PROJECT (preventing depression, bullying and suicide awareness through the power of music in teens and young adults).

12. If you could spend a day with anyone (living or dead), whom would it be and why?

TW: Mariah Carey. I relate to her on a musical and a personal level. I would just love to pick her brain on how she got from where she was to where she is.

13. Since Mariah is such an influence, on a musical and personal level, what do you think of her stint as a judge on American Idol and if she returns for another season, would you consider auditioning?

TW: I am really happy to finally see her on American Idol! I had said from day one that she is the only worthy artist to be judging talent. She is the true 'American Idol' herself.

I actually have auditioned twice for the main producers of AI and never made it. Once you understand how the show is cast, it shouldn't interfere with you and your dream if you don't get picked.

VARNABAND

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