Mudvayne is launching a new interactive mystery contest as a tie-in to its upcoming album, The New Game, according to the group's publicist. The competition, also called "The New Game," is described as a "unique and immersive experience" that will begin with fans finding items inside the album packaging necessary to play. Among those will be a unique code number with which to register at mudvayne.com, 11 mugshot photos of different "suspects," and a back story for each suspect and their situation.
One suspect must be eliminated every week and the ongoing mystery will also involve clues in the band's lyrics, knowledge of Mudvayne's history, and further hints in the video for current single "Do What You Do."
The grand prize winner will earn a "VIP Laminate for Life," good for all future Mudvayne shows. One runner-up will win an autographed Washburn guitar, while 10 more will get signed copies of the deluxe edition of The New Game.
Official rules and other info will be posted at the band's official website on November 18th, the same day that The New Game hits stores.
Drummer Matt McDonough told us that it's vital for bands to find new ways to engage their fans as CD sales decline: "I just see a lot of people all around, from every angle, from the record labels to the musicians to the managers, everyone's trying to just figure out how to continue their careers and make things work. I think if everyone, you know, just is willing to accommodate the twists and turns that come, I think music is, you know, going to continue to be an exciting thing and I want to be a part of it."
The video for "Do What You Do" premiered on Monday (November 10th) on MTV and MTV2.
Mudvayne is currently on the road to promote the arrival of The New Game through December 20th. And will be making a stop at Bogart's on December 8th
Linkin Park has premiered a live video for the song "Breaking The Habit" on MySpace. The clip is taken from the group's upcoming live CD/DVD, Road to Revolution, which will arrive on November 25th. The double-disc set was filmed on June 29th at the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, during the European leg of this past summer's Projekt Revolution tour. Vocalist Mike Shinoda told us what made this show special enough to film: "It was the biggest Projekt Revolution show to date. It just felt like it was a good time to film. It was the end of a month-long European tour, we had really good momentum and, you know, it's a really special venue. It's a beautiful venue to play and we decided to film it and see what happened, and it worked out. Everything kind of... the stars aligned and it was a great show."
The Milton Keynes show drew 50,000 fans and was the biggest in the six-year history of Projekt Revolution.
Road to Revolution will come in an eco-friendly package made from recyclable materials, and will include hidden bonus tracks and a booklet filled with never-before-seen live photos.
Linkin Park spent the past year and a half touring behind 2007's Minutes to Midnight, one of that year's best-selling albums.
Linkin Park began the early stages of recording its next CD last week.
Guns N' Roses' new album, Chinese Democracy, has been reviewed by Rolling Stone writer David Fricke, who says right up front, "The first Guns N' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard rock record. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Guns N' Roses you know. At times, it's the clenched-fist five that made 1987's perfect storm, Appetite for Destruction; more often, it's the one sprawled across the maxed-out CDs of 1991's Use Your Illusion I and II, but here compressed into a convulsive single disc of supershred guitars, orchestral fanfares, hip-hop electronics, metallic tabernacle choirs and Axl Rose's still-virile, rusted-siren singing."
Fricke adds, "If Rose ever had a moment's doubt or repentance over what Chinese Democracy has cost him in time (13 years), money (14 studios are listed in the credits) and body count -- including the exit of every other founding member of the band -- he left no room for it in these 14 songs."
The review notes that as many as five guitarists are credited on some songs on the record, saying, "What (original members) Slash and Izzy Stradlin used to do with two guitars now takes a wall of 'em."
Fricke notes that of the many musicians who appear on the album, bassist Tommy Stinson plays on nearly every track. Stinson told us a while back that he did not have any idea how Chinese Democracy will be accepted: "You never know what people are gonna like, what they really want... all I know is that, like, that we made a really powerful record that I think he's proud of, I'm very proud of, and all we can do is put it out and tour behind it and hope they accept it and hope it does what I was hoping it would do when I joined the band, which is, like, make history."
The only remaining member from the band's Use Your Illusion days is keyboardist Dizzy Reed, who was not part of the original lineup.
Chinese Democracy goes on sale exclusively at Best Buy on Sunday, November 23rd. The vinyl version of the project will include instructions for obtaining a free download of the entire album.
In other news, Kevin Cogill, the 27-year-old Los Angeles man who was arrested by federal authorities after posting nine leaked songs from Chinese Democracy on his website, has agreed to plead guilty to one federal count of copyright infringement. According to Wired.com, federal prosecutor Craig Missakian confirmed that Cogill had made a deal. Terms of the arrangement were not disclosed, but Cogill will enter his plea on December 8th.