Music
OPETH announces 20th Anniversary Tour
New York, NY: Sweden’s OPETH, easily one of the most revered and respected bands in the metal scene and beyond for the past two decades, will commemorate their twentieth anniversary in the of Spring 2010 with six exclusive shows that will take place across the globe in various international locales such as Stockholm, Sweden; Essen, Germany; Paris, France; London, UK; New York City, NY; and Los Angeles, CA.
Frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt had the following to say on behalf of the band: “I can’t believe it, but… fuck, we’re celebrating 20 years. I’ve been in this band ever since I was 16. It’s insane. As far as I remember, we’ve never had a release party, never celebrated anything officially. Well, now is the time, you hear? We’ve set up a string of shows, six of them actually, around the world. To say that they will be super-exclusive is beyond an understatement. We’ve discussed the set list already and it seems like we’ll pull out a few songs we’ve never played before, some of which fans all over the world have been demanding to hear for years and years. Our main agenda for these shows is to have ‘fun’ whilst trying to blow your fucking minds. You could say business as usual, but really, it’ll be special. I can’t stress enough how exclusive this will be. We will not add any more shows on top of the six that we’ve confirmed already, so please make up your mind early on whether you want to go or not – of course you fucking do- as I would assume there’s quite a few of our fans that might be interested in seeing a thing like this.”
Akerfeldt said the band will spend the better part of January through March rehearsing for this special series of shows. “All to make you fucking happy! OK, we’ll be tight, very tight indeed. Come see us.” It’s a celebration,” he finished.
At each show, the band will perform two sets. The first set will feature the band playing its breakthrough epic Blackwater Park in its entirety. The second set will consist of mixed material from the band’s extensive catalog. The band will be playing for over two hours at carefully selected venues in order to achieve an element of intimacy and exclusivity, and an overall “You had to be there” vibe!
The venues include the famed and prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London, as well as the luxurious Lichtburg in Essen, the oldest fully seated cinema in Germany.
The band will offer exclusive VIP ticket packages to all shows which include a laminated VIP pass exclusive to each show, access to sound check, a meet ‘n greet with Opeth, a t-shirt exclusive to that particular show, a signed tour program and a special edition CD/DVD of Blackwater Park, with a 5.1 mix and a 30-minute, never-before-seen documentary all nicely packaged in a hard cover digipack designed by artist Travis Smith. The special edition will be released in March 2010 through Sony Music. All the Opeth loot will be included in an Opeth rucksack. The VIP laminate will also allow early access to venues without seat allocation so that VIP’s can get the best seats in the house.
Below are the dates and venues:
March 30 – Cirkus – Stockholm, Sweden
April 1 – Lichtburg – Essen, Germany
April 3 – Bataclan – Paris, France
April 5 – Royal Albert Hall – London, UK
April 7 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY
April 9 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
Synthwave outfit GUNSHIP has released a new official music video this morning for their cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” featured on the soundtrack to Corin Hardy’s (The Nun, The Hallow) supernatural horror film Whistle.
To bring it full circle, Corin Hardy directs the music video himself, incorporating previously unseen footage from Whistle. More specifically, the new music video features an extended sequence from the film.
This collaboration builds on GUNSHIP’s longstanding relationship with Hardy, who previously contributed vocals to the band’s track “Cthulhu.”
“Working with Corin is a total dream,” said GUNSHIP. “He’s an old friend who we bonded with over our love for cinema and music, and we were honored to have our song featured in the film. After the Whistle premiere, we were chatting over a pint, and he told us about a beautiful pseudo ‘one shot’ sequence he was heartbroken to lose in the final film. We suggested resurrecting it and using it as a music video. Corin got it immediately, and the result is perfect. It’s heartbreaking, haunting and pure 80s noir soaked.”
Corin Hardy added: “I wanted Whistle to feel like a horror movie I might have watched around the late 1980s, alongside films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Lost Boys, and The Breakfast Club. Films steeped in teen-angst and heightened feelings. Music was such a huge part of creating the romance of those cinematic worlds. Gunship’s synth-drenched cover of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ was always top of my list. Their unique heart-on-your-sleeve sound was the perfect choice for a key moment in the movie. To come together post-release and create this extended music video is simply the cherry on top. Dan, Al & Al (Gunship) have provided the film a real companion piece in the world of Whistle… it makes me want my MTV again!”
It’s a fitting collaboration, as music serves a narrative purpose in Whistle. Music, the director told Bloody Disgusting, was a means of immersing viewers in this world and its characters’ perspectives. Hardy even touched on this particular track: “So in a way, the music you’ll listen to is effectively what Chrys is listening to, which is her dad’s record collection. Then there are other songs like the Gunship track, which is a Cyndi Lauper cover, which is more like Rel’s [Sky Yang] music. It comes in when we have a sequence in Rel’s romantic heartbreak moment. So yeah, I made a character list of who might be listening to what.”
Whistle sees a misfit group of unwitting high school students confronted with mortality when they blow a cursed Aztec Death Whistle, setting a terrifying chain of events in motion.
Dafne Keen (Logan, “The Acolyte“), Sophie Nélisse (“Yellowjackets”), Sky Yang (Rebel Moon), Jhaleil Swaby (“Supergirl”), Ali Skovbye (Grizzly Night, “Firefly Lane”), Percy Hynes White (“Wednesday”), Michelle Fairley (“Game of Thrones”), and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead).
The supernatural teen horror movie is available to stream on Shudder now.