Sayre says that Hager has been asking him to join ever since launching Shenoah six months ago. Sayre also had an in or two: The lineup comprises Erase the Grey programmer Jeff Butchko and guitarist Vinny DiFranco, in addition to Ben Hollowell, bassist for Clevo-core legends Ringworm.
A call was posted on the band's website, www.shenoah.net, for a singer with "a broad, dynamic range, who has the ability to write catchy hooks and melodies . . . who is inspired by bands like 30 Seconds to Mars, Deftones, Tool, Sevendust, Spineshank." Sounds like a hard and heavy affair, but the new singer says that's not the case.
"It's not what anyone's going to expect," says Sayre, who adds that the evocative instrumental demo posted on the band's website is merely a hint of things to come. "It's still rock, but it's honestly beautiful music."
All of Shenoah's members will remain in their other bands. The group plans to have a demo ready by January, with local dates to follow.
· In other Chimaira-related news, the band's brutal "Cleansation," from its LP The Impossibility of Reason, is featured on the soundtrack to the video game Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This at Home. Now in stores, the game features music from a long list of metal and punk acts, including Sum 41, Biohazard, and Anthrax. Chimaira also recently announced an upcoming tour with German speed-metal favorites Soilwork. It will run from November 18 through December 22. Exact dates will be announced shortly; As I Lay Dying, Cannae, and Bleeding Through will round out the bill.
· Cleveland hip-hopper Skent Dukes bum-rushed the Billboard charts last week. His bumpin' "Grind Right" single landed at No. 25 on the magazine's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart and at No. 43 on the Hot 100 singles. With help from fellow Clevelanders Sly Fam, Duke makes money and takes money, holding it down like a Clevelander should. He wrote, performed, and produced the track. Learn more at www.wiseowl-entertainment.com.
· Bands hoping to be featured on TV can submit music or video footage to North Coast Stars. Now in its sixth year, the Cleveland-area program is looking for artists of all stripes to be featured on its weeknight broadcasts on Adelphia cable. More details are available at www.proartist.cc.
· Billy Morris, the Cleveland-based guitarist for Warrant and the Billy Morris Band, is featured in the October issue of Cat Fancy magazine, the journal of record for "cat care for the responsible owner." Morris is profiled alongside such rock-celebrity feline fanciers as Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, Poison's Rikki Rockett, and the B-52s' Kate Pierson. A photo displays Billy and his two beautiful babies, Jerry and Erik, the three of whom have nearly identical hairstyles.
