Cancer Bats, Exalt, The Banner, White Widows Pact

Cancer Bats have come to destroy. Fueled by a burning desire to rage harder, play louder and have more fun than any other band, Cancer Bats mix hardcore, southern metal and punk rock into a lethal rock and roll explosion.

The band originated in May of 2004 with singer Liam Cormier and guitarist Scott Middleton, former member of Toronto metal band At The Mercy Of Inspiration. The two wanted to form a project that combined their favorite parts of bands like Refused, Black flag, Led Zeppelin and Down, among others. The lineup was rounded out with the addition of Andrew McCracken on bass and Mike Peters on drums.

The four-piece wasted no time writing and recording songs for a self-released EP that saw light in January of 2005 (later reissued on Oct 31 2005 on vinyl by Tragicomedy Records). The band began playing shows throughout North America, spreading the gospel of rage with bands such as Every Time I Die, Nora, Alexisonfire, Haste the Day, It Dies Today, Bane, Comeback Kid, Buried Inside, A Life Once Lost, The Bled, Misery Signals and This Is Hell. With hundreds of shows and several tours in the US and Canada under their belts, Cancer Bats are eager to party in every city, town and metropolis that will have them. Cancer Bats' long anticipated first full-length record "BIRTHING THE GIANT" is due out NOW on Distort Records and will be released September 5/06 on Abacus Recordings.

Since its conception in October of 2010, Kitchener, Ontario's Exalt has let their music speak to their eclectic influences and outlook on living in this day and age. What started as a quiet and unassuming project evolved in to a unique musical experience. Exalt continued to play and write without any pretense or hypocrisy, instead relying on their powerful live performance to turn heads.

Since their first release, a split with Hamilton, Ontario's Counterparts, the band has honed a sound that they proudly, yet humbly, call their own. The passion they release on stage stands parallel to the dichotomy of hope and despair that burns through their lyrics. Exalt stands paramount in the Canadian music scene, but what makes their creativity undeniable is the fact that have only just scratched the surface.

From the state that brought you The Misfits, Thursday, My Chemical Romance and For the Love of comes one of New Jersey's newest and strongest outfits, THE BANNER, who have come to claim their place at the top of the heavy music mountain. Like a constantly evolving. mutating monster from the late night creature features, the Banner crushes stereotypes of what horror rock is and should be.

THE BANNER's schizophrenic blend of hardcore, punk and black metal flavor blasted its way into the New Jersey hardcore scene in 2000, and have since rocketed their way to the top tier of northeastern hardcore bands. From gut wrenching, metal tinged ballads, to bone crushing, mosh-laden breakdowns, the band seamlessly blends their influences into a finely honed and unique sound. Known through out the tri-state area for their insane live shows, the band earned spots on The Warped Tour and Skate and Surf fest as well as opening spots for many of the nations premier hardcore, punk and metal acts including Poison the well, My Chemical Romance, Bleeding Through, Eighteen Visions, Death By stereo, Throwdown, Dillinger Escape Plan, The Locust, A Static Lullaby and many others.

During the span of their existence, fans of the band have become accustomed to blood drenched insanity on the stage. The band is adept at drawing in a crowd, balancing the serious and aggressive lyrics of charismatic singer Joey Southside with a sense of fun and audience inclusion that blurs the line between band and audience.

The energy The Banner brings to the live environment can also be found in their collected recordings. After recording a widely circulated demo, the band released their first ep, "Posthumous"(2004) on Blackout! Records. The songs exhibited both heavy and melodic elements that blend together into unique, energetic hardcore anthems, with Joey providing horror-themed lyrics as metaphors for intensely personal musings. The band further honed their sound on following recordings, including a split with Dead Wrong on War Machine Records (2004), and a full length on Blackout!, titled "Your Murder Mix Tape"(2004). Following this, the band chose to finish their contract on Blackout! With a more experimental piece, a 32 minute song that allowed for guitarists Garrett Defalco and Chris "Beef" Leboeuf to expand their musical range, while the rhythm section of Ian Mullen (drums) and Fingerz (bass) provided both Neurosis-inspired pounding and more ethereal, light moments within the span of the piece.

The present and the future for the Banner continues to look bright. With their recent release of 'Each Breath Haunted', their Ferret debut, The Banner has unleashed their monster on the music scene. They'll be supporting 'Each Breath...' with rigorous touring through 2005 and 2006... Look for the Banner on tour in your local graveyard soon!

"I am here crying. This morning I left a bit early, I wanted to wake you, say goodbye, but you were sleeping so well I was afraid to wake you..."

An Italian bricklayer behind on his taxes wrote a note to his wife of 27 years, then doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire outside a Bologna tax office. Giuseppe Campaniello died nine days later.

His widow joined with other women whose husbands took their lives to form a group called the "Vedove Bianche" - the white widows - to show that in this long drawn out economic crisis, the cost cannot be calculated on a tax form.