Periphery Announce Dual Albums; 2015 Tour Dates Announced

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2014 – Periphery, the D.C. based prog outfit whose music Rolling Stone described as “instrumentally vigorous” and whose members have graced the covers of Guitar World and Modern Drummer, release dual albums Juggernaut: Alpha and Juggernaut: Omega, on Jan. 27 via Sumerian Records.

“Given the nature and complexity of the Juggernaut story, we’ve actually done something different and exciting in regards to the release,” explains drummer Matt Halpern. “Juggernaut is a story that is told through our music, and we want our audience to fully digest the whole experience. Because Juggernaut is very detailed and dense in terms of character development, peaks and valleys, climaxes and resolutions we’ve divided the story and music in two, in the form of two separate albums. Juggernaut: Alpha, the first part of the story, focuses on the back story and character development, while part two/album two, Juggernaut: Omega, focuses on some pretty serious and gut-wrenching events, taking you for a thrill ride along the main character’s complex journey. Although the albums are split in two physically, the story is only complete when the albums are digested consecutively, allowing the listener to recognize and hear the lyrical and musical overlapping themes, foreshadowing, and connected ideas.”

“This is new ground and it’s exciting,” band founder and guitarist Misha Mansoor says of the band’s approach to writing and recording Juggernaut, which saw all six members work collectively for the first time in Periphery’s history. “It’s a way to shake things up. Everyone contributed to everything, even if it wasn’t his instrument. It wasn’t about confrontation. Everyone was focused on creating a really cool album.”

Periphery hit the road in support of the forthcoming album on Jan. 10, kicking off a five-week, North American tour at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, N.C.

“We are ecstatic to be out of the studio and touring on Juggernaut,” said vocalist Spencer Sotelo. “The band is planning on performing a good amount of tracks from that record on this tour and we are beyond excited to share this experience with all of our fans. It’s going to be a killer tour and we feel very strongly about the diverse line-up of bands that we were able to bring together for this.”

Openers for the upcoming tour are Nothing More, Wovenwar and Thank You Scientist. Tickets are on-sale Nov. 7 with VIP packages available simultaneously via Soundrink.com.

“I first saw Nothing More play in London after the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards and was instantly blown away by their performance,” said Mansoor. “I am so happy that we have the opportunity to take out such a unique and original band on our headliner.” Nothing More’s Johnny Hawkins on the tour: “We’ve been Periphery fans for a long time now – their recordings were a benchmark of quality when we were making our album and we are honored to be sharing the road with them!”

Confirmed dates are as follows:
January 10 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
January 11 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore
January 12 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
January 13 Tampa, FL Orpheum
January 14 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution Live
January 16 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
January 17 Houston, TX House of Blues
January 18 Dallas, TX House of Blues
January 20 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
January 21 Phoenix, AZ Club Red
January 22 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
January 23 Anaheim, CA Yost Theater
January 26 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
January 27 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
January 28 Seattle, WA El Corazon
January 31 Denver, CO Summit Music Hall

February 2 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
February 3 Chicago, IL House of Blues
February 4 Detroit, MI St. Andrew’s Hall
February 6 Toronto, ON Opera House
February 7 Montreal, QC Corona Theatre
February 8 Albany, NY Upstate Concert Hall
February 9 Rochester, NY Water Street Music Hall
February 11 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
February 12 New York, NY Irving Plaza
February 13 Silver Spring, MD The Fillmore
February 14 Philadelphia, PA District N9ne

ABOUT PERIPHERY:
Formed in 2005 by guitarist and tech-guru Misha Mansoor, Periphery released their self-titled, debut album in the spring of 2010. In the few years since the band’s introduction, the members of Periphery (vocalist Spencer Sotelo, Mansoor, guitarists Jake Bowen and Mark Holcomb, bassist Adam Getwood and drummer Matt Halpern) have been heralded as some of heavy music’s best and brightest new players and innovators. They have landed on the covers of Guitar World, Modern Drummer and Bass Player magazines for their adept skill at balancing technically innovative playing alongside songwriting that’s “enjoyable, occasionally evocative, and often brilliant” (Metal Sucks). The band’s 2012 release, Periphery II: This Time It’s Personal established “their own sonic territory” with their sophomore album, emphasizing “melody and texture over heaviness, resulting in a more mature and accessible sound (Revolver).” Rolling Stone recently profiled Mansoor in their “Young Guns” series, highlighting the next generation’s most notable guitar players.

ABOUT NOTHING MORE:
Hailing from San Antonio, NOTHING MORE is a four-headed musical hydra that runs on frenetic passion, unswerving DIY spirit and relentless sonic experimentation. Part schizoid System Of A Down weird-isms, part Mars Volta-esque prog rock freak out, part effortless pop nous; they seamlessly barrel from churning headbang to skyscraping chorus and back again in the blink of an eye. Capable of bombastic bounce that hits as hard as an uppercut to the jaw when they fancy it, the band is equally able to dial down the bluster into deft moments of crystalline beauty when the mood takes them. It’s a gut-punching blend made all the more powerful by a keen lyrical sophistication and philosophical undertone, which both belies their years and marks them out from their contemporaries. Artist Direct goes to the heart of NOTHING MORE’s appeal “(NOTHING MORE) indisputably stand out from their peers, yet they can enjoy mass consumption and unanimous radio play because they write intricately irresistible songs. The trick is they find that delicate balance between technical grandiosity and catchy palatability. That’s why they’re so important to rock music right now. They’re crucial to its future and how it flourishes in the same way that Tool, Deftones, and At the Drive-In were upon first debuting. Simply put, we need Nothing More.”

ABOUT WOVENWAR:
Our choices define us. At heart, we choose between good and evil or right and wrong. It’s not predisposed, but rather something we learn through experience, life’s twists and turns, and the stops along the way. The very moniker Wovenwar speaks to that truth. In the spring of 2013, the members of As I Lay Dying—Nick, Phil Sgrosso [guitar], Josh Gilbert [bass, vocals], Jordan Mancino [drums]—made an important choice of their own. They had seen tremendous success, selling over one million albums, enjoying a Top 10 debut on the Billboard Top 200 with 2010’s The Powerless Rise and a Top 15 debut with 2012’s Awakened, and touring globally alongside the likes of Slipknot, Slayer, Suicide Silence, Killswitch Engage, and more. Facing tumultuous controversy related to their singer and a shattering foundation shakeup, these four musicians decided to press on and do what they do best. Wovenwar’s self-titled debut was released in August of 2014 and landed at #36 on the Billboard Top 200 charts. On iTunes, the album peaked at #2 on the rock charts, and #1 on the metal charts during its week of release. Revolver Magazine heralded the album as “more multifaceted than anything by As I Lay Dying,” and Decibel Magazine added that “Wovenwar sounds confident, vital, and even liberated on this splendid debut.”

ABOUT THANK YOU SCIENTIST
Hailing from New Jersey, Thank You Scientist is an experimental, progressive rock septet comprised of Salvatore Marrano (vocals), Tom Monda (guitar), Ellis Jasenovic (saxophonist), Andrew Digrius (trumpet), Greg Colacino (bass), Odin Alvarez (drums) and Ben Karas (violin). The band fuses elements of rock, jazz, classical and metal on their new album, Maps of Non-Existent Places, which was recently released via Coheed and Cambria front man Claudio Sanchez’s label Evil Ink Records.

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