Hi, My name is Joe Hickman. I am 25 years old and I live in Dallas, TX. I am a Web and Print Designer and Developer. I have been doing this for over 6 years and I have the experience and knowledge to handle almost any project. I am Jamey Jasta's "web guy" and I work full time for Atomic Design & Consulting in Plano, TX.
We’re spending the weekend in Las Vegas, courtesy of Jamey Jasta and Hatebreed. Jamey is not here yet, but should be here within the next couple of hours. Here’s some pictures so far of our trip. I’m having so much fun, it’s really nice to get away from Texas and all of the work. I know I will have hell to return to but that’s life…
I hope everyone else in the world is having a great weekend too, be thankful for everyone in your life and never take anything for granted.
If you happen to be one of the great customers of Stillborn Records online store (www.stillbornstore.com) you will soon see these finely crafted Stickers and Postcards inside your envelope of goodies in the mail from us. It took me a complete hour to throw these bad boys together and I have to say they turned out better than I expected. I wanted to do something a little different. When I order stuff from Roadrunner / Victory or Sumerian, I always get a postcard type paper or a cool little sticker with about 90 bands on it. That's cool. I wanted to keep it a little more personal this time around.
You see, Thy Will Be Done and The World We Knew both recently released new albums via, you guessed it, Stillborn Records. I really enjoy both of these albums a lot. Not because I have to, but because they're both really killer albums. I think you should spend some time checking them out and consider purchasing via our fine online web store or via iTunes, both of the albums.
Personally I love loud music and the TWBD record slams on my two 12's. I buy a lot of metal and hardcore records that are poorly produced and or mixed, and listening to them in my car just isn't a treat for me, sounds like grumbled up crap. I was impressed when I inserted the albums into my fine Pioneer (yes I know, I need an Alpine!) stereo and proceeded to turn the volume upwards of "40" and let my 1k watt Alpine amp heat up my two Memphis 12's. It was and is every time, a beautiful, beautiful sound.
Anyways, here are the Stickers, let me know what you think. How's that for a long drawn out plug for the albums, do you want your 3 minutes back now, you speed reader!!?
E1 Music To Release Long-Awaited New Studio Album From Metal-Hardcore Leaders Hatebreed In Fall Of 2009
Roadrunner To Release New Studio Album In All Other Territories
(New York, NY) —Metal-Hardcore juggernauts HATEBREED have re-entered the studio to begin work on its long awaited new studio album which is slated for a fall 2009 release.
HATEBREED’s follow up to 2006’s SUPREMACY will be released on E1 Music in North America and Roadrunner in all other territories. The new album will be self-titled and is shaping up to be one of the band’s most ferocious albums ever.
Frontman Jamey Jasta comments, “I can’t wait to work with E1 Music and Roadrunner International on this release — E1 did a great job with our LIVE DOMINANCE DVD and our recent covers album. We’re so pumped to give them both our new studio album!”
The announcement of the band’s new album is also part of E1’s continuing / expanding relationship with the group after its initial first 2 releases together, including the #1 charting Billboard DVD LIVE DOMINANCE and the recently released covers album, FOR THE LIONS.
Scott Givens, E1 Music’s VP of Metal says, “E1Entertainment is proud to be the home of Hatebreed in North America. I speak for everyone here when I say we are 100% committed to putting every resource we have behind the new record. Jamey Jasta is part of our E1 family and we are looking forward to continuing to work with him on all of his endeavors both now and in the future.”
Wally van Middendorp, with Roadrunner International, adds, “After having released their last two studio albums on Roadrunner internationally, it is an honor to work again with HATEBREED, a band that is on top of its musical league.”
The new album will be once again produced by Zeuss and will feature the return of original guitar player Wayne Lozinak (who recently replaced departed guitarist Sean Martin) alongside core members Chris Beattie (bass), Matt Byrne (drums), Frank “3 Gun” Novinec (Guitar) and singer Jamey Jasta.
Jasta continues, “The record is mean as hell, fans of American metal and east coast hardcore will be very pleased and maybe even somewhat surprised.”
The band is currently taking a breather from the recording studio and touring Europe and South America doing a series of high profile festival appearances and headline shows in before returning to the U.S. for its own headline DECIMINATION OF THE NATION tour which begins in late July and runs through September.
To date, HATEBREED has sold over 1 million albums in the U.S. alone and toured the world with the likes of Slayer, Slipknot, System of The Down, Lamb of God, Korn, Killswitch Engage, Disturbed, Black Sabbath and much more.
For more information, please visit www.myspace.com/hatebreed, www.hatebreed.com and http://twitter.com/hatebreed.
About E1 Entertainment
E1 Entertainment (AIM: ETO) is a leading independent entertainment content owner that acquires film, television and music rights and exploits these rights in all media in more than 190 countries.
The company currently operates in Canada, the U.S., the UK, Holland and Belgium through its four primary businesses units: E1 Television, E1 Films, E1 Music and E1 Distribution. These businesses collectively represent E1’s extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production/distribution, Kids content, Licensing and Distribution.
E1’s content library includes more than 3,700 feature films, 2,700 hours of original television programming and 15,000 music tracks.
It's times like this when my endurance is tested. I'm going through a lot right now, mentally, physically and financially. I'm not the only one in my immediate surroundings that are going through the same thing as well. I'm making a huge change in my life and it's a very hard and expensive one but I know it will make everyone around me a little happier.
I have so much work on my plate I sometimes don’t know even if the day was 100 hours long if I would complete any of my work. With the economy being so terrible right now I have had to cut my freelance rate so much it's stupid. I have taken on more work to overcome the rate change and in turn I am as busy as ever, but that's a great thing! It's Wednesday and I already have 40 hours clocked at work, I have worked at least another 20 on top of that, and literally have gotten about 12 hours of sleep this week.
I could sit here and list all of the terrible things that are happening in my life but where would that get me? I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me because those are the kind of people who make me lazy...
I work with one of the best people in this whole world. Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) has been such an influence on my work ethic and my determination to make things happen for me and the people around me. Things could always be worse than they are so I must live every day and be thankful for what I have worked hard to achieve and what I will work even harder to overcome in the future days ahead of me.If you knew his story you would appreciate everything you have just a little bit more. Hopefully he will share some of that stuff in the book he is writing.
Hatebreed is leaving for tour tomorrow, make sure you catch them in early July here in the US. Their new album is complete, so this year should end on a great note!
The Destro CD artwork is almost done, I know I have been saying this for a month but this time I really mean it. I can't wait for people to see this album and hear it too, it's amazing all the way around.
I have also recently been inspired by a client of ours at work whom my friend and old "bossman" works with now, James Chippendale. He is a cancer survivor and you must go read his story. Here is a link to a good article I found online.
If I get lazy and quit I let a lot of people down and right now that's not an option. It really never has been. I don't even have time to write this blog so what the hell am I doing? Back to work!
The past two weeks have been pretty much pure hell for me since E1 Music (formerly KOCH) has started releasing the tracks (week by week) from the new Hatebreed covers album, "For The Lions". Let me just explain a little more... First of all Roadrunner still had ownership of the domain, then E1 got it. But here's the problem, nobody knows what the FTP information for the website is on RR's server. Why is that a problem you ask? We can't download the site, or backup any databases but it's sort of okay with me for one reason... We get to build a better website! The current website is great and all but it's not very user friendly. Expecially since social media has pretty much taken over since Hatebreed released their album, "Supremacy" in 2006. Now Jamey Jasta uses twitter daily, and we depend highly on social media to spread the word of news and tour information. We HAVE to have this stuff.
The current Hatebreed website doesn't have dedicated pages for each post and everything is generated in one iFrame (I don't know who's genius idea this was, even in 2006? WTF? You can't bookmark any posts on digg or facebook, or even twitter. The biggest problem for me is there's no way for the fans to respond to the news we post on the site and you can't bookmark a damn thing on there. Not to mention we can't advertise anything on there.
Check out the newest band website that I built for Walls Of Jericho (http://www.wallsofjericho.net). When I set out to redesign and rebuild that site, I wanted a way for fans to respond to the band and post comments but I really didn't want to use WordPress... The website turned out great, it's easy for me to update and there is a banner manager for the site so I can design several banners showcasing several tours, items for sale in the store or contests, I mean there is a impossible amount of options there and it's a great tool that every band should use.
What of some of the features you like about your favorite band's websites? Do you even visit your favorite band's websites anymore? Comment!
By the way... I'm not knocking what the guys over @ Sons Of Nero did with the website at all, they do great work!
