BIGGEST HEADLINES OF 09
With 2010 almost here, we’re taking a look back at the biggest headlines of 2009 on the Insider.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. There’s usually one or two bands that don’t make it through the entire year, unfortunately in 2009, that list was a lot longer. Capital Lights, Nevertheless and Copeland all threw in the towel, and As Cities Burn quit again. All of which will be dearly missed.
Other big headlines this year included the announcement that Blindside is back in business. After a long hiatus they are recording a new album to release sometime in the new year, followed by a world tour. Also, Switchfoot announced the release of four new albums that would be release over the next couple of years. The first album “Hello Hurricane” was release in September. |
NEW MUSIC IN 2009
This year saw top of the charts releases from The Fray, Skillet, Red, Hawk Nelson, Relient K, Pillar and TFK. After a long break from releasing new music, Flyleaf released their sophomore effort “Memento Mori,” this year. 2009 was also a big year for hardcore with releases from August Burns Red, Oh Sleeper and the chart topping album from The Devil Wear’s Prada “With Roots Above and Branches Below.”
New music in 2009 didn’t stop there; MuteMath released their new album “Armistice,” in August, followed by a huge headlining tour. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster release their new album “III” and Aaron Gillespie was working double time with the release of the new Underoath and the new album from The Almost. Also some of the best albums of the year came from Emery, mewithoutYou, Showbread and Deas Vail and that’s just scratching the surface. |
BIGGEST TOURS OF 2009
Two of the major tours this year included Skillet. They teamed up with Disciple and Decyfer Down for the second round of the “Comatose” tour and then hit the road with Hawk Nelson in the fall for the “Awake and Alive” tour. Norma Jean announced a huge headlining tour with Before Their Eyes and Blessthefall and the promptly dropped off said tour. Scream the Prayer 2009 was bigger and better than it’s predecessor hosting Oh Sleeper, The Chariot, Haste the Day, A Plea for Purging and Project 86.
Lecrae announced the “Don’t Waste Your Life,” tour which featured Tripp Lee, Flame, Tedashii and more. “Thee Summer Bailout,” tour included Emery, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Ivoryline or Secret and Whisper. Emery was also a part of one of the biggest tours of the year with Underoath and August Burns Red. |
NEW ARTISTS IN 2009
Each year, RadioU ads a few new artists to the playlist and sometimes it takes a while for them to get some recognition. This was not the case for And Then There Were None. This hardcore-turned-electronic band released their new album “Who Speaks for Planet Earth?” back in February and went straight to the top of the Ten Most Wanted.
Another new artists to RadioU in 2009 although L.A. Symphony has been on RadioU for a while, was Flynn Adam. He released three EP’s this year, all of which are quality and you can catch a couple of his videos on TVU.
Other n00bs to this year’s playlist include I Am Empire and Rootbeer. Also, Seabird was introduced to RadioU for the first time with their song “Don’t You Know you’re Beautiful,” maybe you’ve heard of it. Although they were new to RadioU, all of you TVU folks have know about them for a while.
|
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2010: MUSIC
Although they did release new music in 2009 in the form of three different EP’s, House of Heroes has been in and out of the studio working on new music, which they hope to have out sometime this summer. As I Lay Dying was also in the studio recently and they will have a new album out this year as well. Speaking of hardcore, Norma Jean signed a new deal with Razor and Tie Records and will release a new album in the next couple of months. They are already playing a new song called “Kill More Presidents,” on tour.
Another album I’m really excited about is the new release from The Classic Crime. They have already finished mixing their new record so it shouldn’t be too long before we hear new stuff from them. Earlier this year, Demon Hunter released a new press photo which included Randy Torres from Project 86, and they also stated they would be releasing new music. |
LOOKING FORWARD TO 2010: TOURS
Since you are already looking forward to the new music coming out this year, I figured why not give you a couple new tours to look forward to as well.
I can already tell you Skillet’s new tour will be making the “Biggest Tours of 2010,” insider for next year. They have just announced the “Awake Tonight,” tour and considering the title, I would hope you inferred that TobyMac will also be on this tour. No official dates for the tour have been announced as of yet, but we know the tour will be happening in March.
Another big tour that has been announced for the new year is the “Abominable Snowtour.” The tour includes Living Sacrifice, War of Ages and The Great Commission and kicks off February 5th in Nashville. Living Sacrifice’s new album “The Infinite Order,” release on January 26th, just before the start of the tour. |
