Shihad sign with Roadrunner Records!

To rock fans the country over, Shihad are a band that that have continually delivered the goods. However, despite their reputation as one of the most loved (adopted) local artists of the last two decades, they never let the grass grow under their feet and their forthcoming album is just as anticipated as classics like Killjoy, The General Electric and their last album Beautiful Machine.

With this in mind, Roadrunner Records are proud to announce this week that they have inked a deal with the NZ rockers and will be releasing their new album in Australia in September this year.

“Roadrunner Australia is extremely excited to be working with the mighty Shihad, after being fans for many years. We look forward to working with them on the new album and sharing in a new chapter for the band .” Ben Ralph – General Manager, Roadrunner Australia

“Roadrunner is a label that we grew up admiring from our early days as a young, spotty and reasonably proficient speed metal band – We’ve come close a couple of times over the years to inking with them in various OS territories so it’s great to finally get a chance to work together – They are by far the world’s leading rock label, so it makes launching a new Shihad project with such a dedicated and vibrant team f#@king brilliant – Bring it on…!” Tom Larkin – Shihad

First taste from the new album will be the single ‘Sleepeater’, which opens with a slow burning mantra and warm guitar undercurrent uncoiling into a trademark booming chorus. The video is reverentially innovative, featuring Shihad fans being subjected to the elements on slo-mo, high definition video and is sure to become a viral fixture.

You can check out the video at www.shihad.com and find more details about Roadrunner Records at roadrunnerrecords.com.au

March 2010

The first month of Autumn is here already! All our bands are still hard at work on their various projects, more updates on these coming soon… they include a couple of video shoots, a lot of new music and some sneak peaks at album artwork…shh

Our great news this month is that our entire roster of bands have made it through to the finals of the 2009 ISC songwriting competition with the below song entries:

Shihad – One Will Hear The Other
Sparkadia – Mary (demo)
Faker – This Heart Attack
Metals – Drop Your Guard

The winner is announced in April and wins over $150,000 in cash and prizes. All songs are also able to be voted on in the People’s Choice awards – head to http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/PVWelcome2009.htm and follow the links. You can vote once per day, voting closes 31 March 2010.

We’d like to say congratulations to all our artists and wish them the best of luck!

February 2010 Update

2010 has kicked off to an exciting start for all out bands!

Faker gave a very special performance at Big Day Out’s 100^th show billed under ‘Freak’ – they really had the crowd going and played a bunch of new tracks as well as all the old favourites. The boys are currently spending countless hours in the studio working hard on the highly anticipated 3^rd album and follow up to ‘Be The Twilight’ due later this year.

Shihad have had a great start to the year supporting AC/DC on their recent tour across New Zealand. ‘After more than 20 years together, Shihad still know how to put on one hell of a live show and were the perfect choice to amp up the crowd. Kimberley Crayton-Brown, NewsWire.co.nz’
Next up for the boys is the Homegrown music festival in New Zealand later this month, before heading back to the studio to put the finishing touches on the new album.

Sparkadia have headed back to London to continue working on some new material for their upcoming sophomore album. The band is excited about heading to Paris to work with writer Luke Davies on the video for their first single, to keep up with all the latest Sparkadia news head over to their new blog – www.sparkadia.wordpress.com

Late January saw Metals play The All-Australian Music Festival, Kiss My Grass to a sold out Australia Day crowd. Latest single ‘Drop Your Guard’ is up on Triple J’s Unearthed and receiving rave reviews. ‘rating: 5/5  Awesome club track with top-end production. It’s dirty, sexy, bouncy and hella-catchy. Kinda like the bastard offspring of a one night stand between Peaches and Bumblebeez. The Dr Who sample is genius! Dan Buhagiar, triple j’

And as for us at Aloha? We recently launched Bandit Transit – Australia’s First Splitter Van Hire Company.

A splitter van is a long wheel based Mercedes Sprinters custom fitted with 8 – 12 comfy seats that provide personal space, reading lights, 240v power (computer and phone recharge), tinted windows and curtains, Digital TV/DVD/Stereo, Sat Nav, and in some cases games console inputs and fridges. They are fast (turbo diesel), comfortable, practical, reliable and affordable. At the rear wheel arches is a floor to ceiling bulkhead behind which is over 1.8 cubic meters of storage space accessed via the rear double doors.

This area provides privacy and security for personal, luggage, band equipment, or any other articles accompanying the passengers. For more information visit www.bandittransit.com.au or email info@bandittransit.com.au.