The Athiarchists Crashed Mayhem Festival Parking Lots

Sure, the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is over for this year. But if you were lucky enough to go, there's a chance you saw a band ride into the parking lot, playing from a mobile stage with gear bolted down to it. That band was the Athiarchists.

What drove the Oregon duo of drummer Dano Lemm and guitarist Aaron Tunnell to not only build a stage they could travel with and live in is simple: They don't take no for an answer.

"We would want to play a show, whether it be in our hometown or anywhere else, with a bigger headlining band, and either the promoter, venue or band would not let us open up," Tunnell told Noisecreep of this DIY adventure's origin. "So we started playing in the parking lots with generators in front of shows."

Tunnell points out the early problems were involved set up and break down time, occasionally being forced to leave before a single song was played. "We have always talked about having a mobile stage so we could just open the door and start raging it with no set up time. We didn't know that we would ever pull it off until we saw the lineup for Mayhem this year. We knew it was time to do it"

Hatebreed, always a huge supporter of the trash hardcore two-piece, actually tried getting the band on the tour's roster. "From day one of this tour, they have been telling all the bands/roadies/managers about what we're doing.

"None of the other bands had any idea what was going on until the fifth show in Phoenix. We pulled up while Korn was playing to the [Jägermeister] stage/Silverstar stage band parking lot," he recalled. "We crawled into the back and were raging it in about 15 seconds. About 30 seconds after the door opened, every singe person in every tour bus was standing out in the parking lot scratching their heads with a smile on their face, saying, 'What the f--- is this?'"

Soon after that one show, the support came in. "Bands that we grew up listening to were buying our shirts. We were trying to give them shirts, and they were buying them because they knew we needed the support. We ended up with multiple cases of beer and bottles of liquor by the end," Tunnell admitted, admitting being humbled by everything.

Midway through, the Athiarchists were given the official go ahead to play outside of the venues fences. Tunnell wouldn't have had it any other way.

Sadly, the band suffered many breakdowns, even being stuck in New Mexico for ten days, but a new traveling stage that won't suffer the same issues is in the works. "This winter, we are going to build a bigger diesel powered mobile stage that will be more reliable as far as the truck engine goes. It will essentially be our own tour bus, that we don't have to lease, that has living quarters and a shower, a mobile stage with everything bolted down so we can play anywhere, extra equipment to play venue shows, complete with a screen printer so we can make more shirts on the road. We have created a monster, and we want to change the way smaller bands tour and play live shows. "

Tunnell continued, "I'll say it again: The bar scene is dying right now. Half of our last West Coast tour was canceled because either the venue closed down or the bar booking person double-booked. The possibilities are endless with this, but nothing could have prepared us for what is happening with it now. It honestly brings tears to my eyes. It is f---ing crazy."

NASA Launches Music Contests for Final Space Shuttle Missions

As NASA (the actual National Air and Space Administration, not the band) tragically prepares to dismantle the Space Shuttle Program, they still have a few missions left to complete. Since the Apollo days, Ground Control has entertained Major Tom (and all the astronauts) by playing them music as a wake-up call. Some music may sound better in space than others, but NASA often went with songs that were topical to the day's agenda. For example, Simon & Garfunkel's 'Homeward Bound' might play during the journey's final day. Or, to break up the monotony of seriousness that accompanies space adventures, a sly crew member might slip in the theme to 'Mission: Impossible' as a joke (true story). Family members, the astronauts themselves and even celebrities or politicians would sometimes be granted special requests.

Ground Control has two new missions: First, to bring the wake-up music to the people. And, then, to bring the people's music to space. For the final days of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA is allowing the public to vote on two wake-up songs for the STS-133 mission, which currently has a Nov. 1 launch date. Nominees include songs by U2 ('Beautiful Day'), the Clash ('Should I Stay or Should I Go?') and, of course, Thomas Dolby's 'She Blinded Me With Science.' Other bands on the list of 40 include Metallica, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.

But for those who truly wish to rock space and didn't get accepted to Space Camp because they were too busy playing their electric guitar, NASA is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- artists can go to NASA's website and upload an original song. A panel of science nerds and space geeks (err, an official NASA panel) will vote on two songs to be played as wake-up music for the STS-134 mission, which has a launch date of Feb. 26, 2011.

The winner gets galaxy-sized bragging rights: even if they usually play to empty rooms or, for that matter, only in their living room... at least they can say they're big in outer space.

RedOne Talks Lady Gaga’s Next Album

Producer RedOne, who collaborated with Lady Gaga on her chart-topping singles “Just Dance”, “Poker Face”, “Bad Romance” and “Alejandro”, talked about her next album in a recent interview with Billboard magazine. He said:
“It’s going to be shocking, shocking, shocking! You never want to go too far from your brand – people love you for a reason. But we still want to give them something with a kick, something that makes them say, ‘Oh my God! We didn’t expect this!’. When you heard ‘Bad Romance’ after ‘Poker Face’, it was like the best thing you’ve ever heard. We want that type of reaction. I think that’s part of my job and her job – to keep her evolving.”
RedOne confirmed that he has worked on two tracks for the upcoming album, which is set to be released next year, and described both of them as “massive” hits-to-be.

New Twitter Update from Lady Gaga

On Thursday night, Lady Gaga posted a photo along with the following message on her Twitter:

“Haven’t left the studio. Each song I write, I feel closer to you. Miss you little monsters, little inspirations. X”.

Lady Gaga is currently recording songs for her third studio album, which is set for release in 2011.