KAINE WEBSITE WAS VIEWED OVER 14,300 TIMES IN 2022

Our website was viewed a record 14,373 times in 2022. This is the most the website has ever been viewed. The top page was the tour dates page, which received over 6,100 hits after the Lillian Axe/Riot Act tour announcement back in August. The most read piece was from just a few days ago, with over 500 people reading the article about Rock/Metal journalism.

Thanks to everyone who checked out our website in 2022 and helped us continue to grow!

OPINION PIECE: SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE IN METAL/ROCK JOURNALISM

We’ve all seen it, the clickbait posts.

There was once a time prior to every Slipknot release we would get Corey Taylors’ view on every matter from every available media outlet, presently we are getting inundated with things about Ghost since they found TikTok success with Mary on A Cross, apparently Sleep Token is the next big thing and we know Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica 40 odd years ago, but for some reason, this story is repeated daily. This morning we learned about what Bruce Dickinson did when Blaze Bayley replaced him in Iron Maiden in slightly more recent times, 1994…

I have noticed these articles are getting two types of engagement. One group of responders are those who read the headline and not the detail and will comment on the headline only, without understanding the context of the headline or the quote in question.

One recent piece I read was about the challenges Dave Mustaine had replacing Dave Ellefson, organising the re-recording of the parts for the new Megadeth album, and then preparing a new line-up for a major tour, all of which anyone who’s been in bands will understand will know will be a stressful and difficult period. This was a small part of a recent interview where Mustaine talked about his success on his recent tour. In this, he spoke about how well the band had done, and he showed a great level of appreciation for the bands he had toured with.

It was an interesting piece, however the headline however simply said, “I know what it is like to have people gunning for me” in reference to how the music press had gone after Dave Ellefson immediately following the controversy, showing some empathy for his former bandmate.  The headline let down the article, which was actually a good one, a positive one. Because a large number of those who engaged with the article only read the headline, the response was overwhelmingly negative, assuming that this was again about Dave Mustaine and Metallica, which it absolutely wasn’t.

The other group who comments are those who are sick to death with seeing the same stories recycled by all the major outlets, the attempts to reignite a feud that finished decades ago and people’s opinions on stuff that frankly nobody cares about, just to get certain groups angry.

On the flipside the media outlets will argue, they post and write about this stuff because that’s what people engage with, but it’s almost all negative, whether it is people arguing over whether Sleep Token is the next big thing, how much they hate the latest Ghost single, or a falling out between the members of Journey.  But this negative content is pretty much all they write about, and it’s to win at algorithms and not contribute anything substantial to heavy music, or even the debate. They pander to the angry, not the interested. Surely there is something else, something better than just this to write about?

The whole Rock and Metal online environment has been turned toxic, and the music seems secondary to the online arguments and the drama.  In the U.K. we call these “Sun” “Mirror” or “Daily Mail” headlines used to get readers angry, and make a cheap political point but have very little substance. While it might generate engagement and a few clicks, it’s not going to be generating album streams, sales, or selling tickets to anyone’s gigs. We know that, as everything is declining.

I do think the silent majority are sick to death of the way things are presently, and do want something new. The media has the power to flip this on its head and to contribute towards growing streams, album sales, and ticket sales but instead, it’s choosing to go for cheap clicks instead. Is it any wonder so many of these outlets can no longer afford to print their magazines?

As I have stated, frankly, the silent majority want something new, the legacy bands are established, and they will always have a growing fanbase, they are not gaining anything from feuds from 40 years ago. People are getting fed up with this style of journalism which is doing a ton of damage to the Rock and Metal scene by encouraging its ugliest elements to continually engage with negative and angry content rather than celebrating the quality of the music, the live performances or the excitement at a potentially good new band. All the good going on is being lost behind the anger aimed at these clickbait articles, and the average music fan just wants something good to listen to, they don’t care about other stuff. These are the people we are turning away in droves by the media continuing to create this environment.

Do we see the same negativity ever being written about what say Ed Sheeran does by the “pop” media? No. Because they promote his music, and the qualities he has as a person, not whether he fell out with a mate when he was 19 while recording a demo. They are making big money with the positive approach. A lot could be learned from that.

While I appreciate that music is subjective, and not everyone will like every band, at the same time we have an absolutely thriving underground Rock and Metal scene here in the U.K. with hundreds of amazing bands which cover every heavy genre, from Hard Rock to Extreme Metal. We have bands with great songs, we have tons of great young bands who really can play their stuff live, they have great attitudes, and their own growing fan bases. There is something for everyone, every generation and every taste. This should be covered, but it is being completely ignored. For me, it’s a shame this is being ignored in favour of promoting negative headlines and feuds from half a century ago, or the latest TikTok success. I think that something needs to change in Metal/Rock journalism that helps promote the good that is happening, and not just focus on the negativity algorithm or trying to benefit from a social media flash in the pan.

That may upset a few influential people, or make me unpopular as a result, but this is how I feel.

Kaine’s website recognized as one of top 60 Metal blogs in the world for 2019

Expertido have recognised Kaine’s website as one of the best Metal blogs in the world for 2019 and have been featured alongside industry giants such as Anthrax, Avenged Sevenfold, Decibel Magazine, TeamRock, Accept, Angry Metal Guy, Lamb of God, Metal Blade, Queensryche, Rage, Sabaton, Terrorizer and The Scorpions .

If you’re looking for the latest 2019 items in Musical Forms, we’ve analyzed over 256 to find those that would meet our requirements. Of those, only 64 passed our evaluation. Expertido heartily will recommend all the blogs listed below, as they have impressed our staff and met our golden seal of approval, which means they can use our seal free of charge permanently.

We look into many different characteristics other than appearance in social media and follower calculations, but this metric is an important one to think about. If we look solely on Facebook, you’ll find Metal Music Blogs blogs have an average of 595122. The best of the best in Metal Music Blogs, however, is the blog dabearsblog.com, coming in at 16579000 followers.

If we also consider Twitter, which is always a top choice for bloggers, the median follower count in the finest Metal Music Blogs blogs are about 81440. You’ll find that the top-rated blog is dabearsblog.com that has over 2091900 normal readers on Twitter.To synopsize this, we’ve made sure that the blogs we’ve endorsed are highly popular on social media and will continue to grow. Expertido sends these great blogs the best!

Kaine signs Deal with American Management Distilled Entertainment

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Kaine have signed an exclusive management deal with American based Distilled Entertainment ahead of their forthcoming album recording. The band is looking to further expand moving into 2017 with the group hopeful that the third record will help finally break the band, both in the U.K. and abroad. 3

Kaine frontman Rage Sadler said that: “The decision to work with Distilled Entertainment is part of the natural progression with the band looking to build our career in 2017. We have an exceptional record on the way with some of the best material we have ever written, a new line-up working extremely hard which has turned into a class live act and it’s time we capitalised on this.”

Distilled Entertainment has worked with artists signed to such labels as Metal Blade, AFM Records, and Universal Music Group and artists such as Blaze Bayley (ex: Iron Maiden), Stuck Mojo’s Lord Nelson, Onslaught, Enforcer, and Cauldron.

“I am very positive that by working with Distilled, their professional background and willingness to work hard to push the band forward will result in a positive outcome for Kaine.”

Kaine is also currently in discussion with a number of record labels regarding offers for the new album.

Ryan Raes of Distilled Entertainment added: “In today’s difficult UK metal scene Kaine has proven to stand the tests thrown their way and I am excited about the new songs coming later this year. Kaine has the proper attitude I am seeking along with the talent needed to move forward in the industry. I look forward to what the future brings working together”

 

Kaine to support ex: Testament & Forbidden Guitarist Steve Smyth this Saturday

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Kaine will be supporting headliners One Machine at this Saturday’s show at The Aquarium in Lowestoft for Attitude Fest 2015.  One Machine features Steve Smyth who is famous for playing in legendary bands such as Testament, Forbidden, Nevermore among others.

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Kaine will hit the stage at 9:20pm (doors are at 2pm) immediately before One Machine. The last train back to Norwich is at 11:30pm and the station is 15 minutes from the venue. The show is in association with Metal Blade Records and tickets are just £10.00 and are available from here.