In between designing her own sets, costumes, writing books and making records Ms Autumn still finds time for some of life’s little pleasures.

And we found out exactly what makes our favourite Goth rocker tick ahead of the latest rushonrock Rider.

On your iPod: I’m listening to a lot of Victorian circus music. I play it for an hour before the show to get fans in the right mood. I’ve been collecting records recorded in the 1890s and transferring them digitally to use in the show.

Small Screen Pleasure: I’m obsessed with cooking. When I’m actually at home I have the Food Network on 24/7. I love watching anything to do with kitchens and cooking.

Making a meal of it: Right now I’m loving the vegan green tea muffins that I make. They’re melt in the mouth and a beautiful shade of green.

Drivetime: I’m terrified of driving. I like travelling on horseback or via horse and carriage. But I love walking and if none of those modes of transport are available then I’ll hail a cab.

Ace Place: It’s got to be the UK. My interest in the Victorian era means I look forward to coming back to Britain again and again and again. My HQ is in London and the city is very important to me on so many levels.

Dream destination: I’ve been promised that I get to go to a koala bear sanctuary in Australia. I’m pretty excited about that!

Nickname shame: Milldew.

Those who predicted the end of Black Sabbath following the departure of Ozzy Osbourne hadn’t bargained for a little bloke with a booming voice.

And here at rushonrock we firmly believe that the day Ronnie James Dio joined Tony Iommi for an impromptu jam session was the day Sabbath reached its creative peak. So let’s just say we’re more than a little excited about the latest batch of reissues – due next month. Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules and Live Evil hit stores on April 5 and as an Easter treat they’ll go down way better than a chocolate egg or furry chick. Boasting classics such as Neon Knights, Children Of The Sea and Sign Of The Southern Cross there’s little to dislike about these expanded editions.

And of course they’re expanded. With exclusive live versions, video clips and demos these revamped reissues are every Dio fan’s dream. Or should that be every Dio fan’s dream evil?

Anyway, expect a full review of all three here very soon and for now feast your eyes on the full track listings:

HEAVEN AND HELL

DISC ONE: Neon Knights; Children Of The Sea; Lady Evil; Heaven And Hell; Wishing Well; Die Young; Walk Away; Lonely Is The Word

DISC TWO: Children Of The Sea (Live); Heaven And Hell (Live); Lady Evil (Mono Edit); Neon Knights (Video – Live); Die Young (Video – Live); Neon Knights (Live, Hartford, CN, USA, ‘80); Children Of The Sea (Live, Hartford, CN, USA ‘80); Heaven And Hell (Live, Hartford, CN, USA ‘80); Die Young (Live, Hartford, CN, USA ‘80)

MOB RULES

DISC ONE: Turn Up The Night; Voodoo; The Sign Of The Southern Cross; E5150; The Mob Rules; Country Girl; Slipping Away; Falling Off The Edge Of The World; Over And Over; Bonus Tracks: Die Young (Live – 12″ version); The Mob Rules (Alternative Version)

DISC TWO: E5150 (Live); Neon Knights (Live); N.I.B. (Live); Children Of The Sea (Live); Country Girl (Live); Black Sabbath (Live); War Pigs (Live); Slipping Away (Live); Iron Man (Live); The Mob Rules (Live); Heaven And Hell (Live); Paranoid (Live); Voodoo (Live); Children Of The Grave (Live)

LIVE EVIL

DISC ONE: E5150; Neon Knights; N.I.B.; Children Of The Sea; Voodoo; Black Sabbath; War Pigs; Iron Man

DISC TWO: The Mob Rules; Heaven And Hell; The Sign Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell (continued); Paranoid; Children Of The Grave; Fluff

Kan you ever be too old for Kerrang!?

As a spotty teenage boy reading the magazine on Newcastle’s Metro 20 years ago I was well used to the weird looks and disdainful sighs every time I reached inside my satchel and whipped out the latest edition.

Back then I didn’t fit into the Kerrang! demographic because I went to a posh school, wore a smart uniform and had hair cut above the collar.

In fact there were occasions when people laughed because I looked so out of place with my shiny shoes, smart slacks and battered copy of a mag preaching sex, drugs and rock and roll.

But two decades down the line and it’s no different.

At least back then I was young enough to read Kerrang! and my personal favourite of the time, Metal Hammer. These days I can occasionally look like more of a rocker – coming back from London the other day someone even asked if I was in a band – but an old rocker at that.

And every time I pull out my copy of Kerrang! in 2010 it’s clear that everyone on the Metro – young, old, rocker or chav – thinks the same thing: aren’t you a bit old for that mate?

I don’t  know. Am I?

This week’s issue featured a two page spread on Kiss’ Islington Academy gig – a show I attended with a bunch of people much, much older than me.

There was a look at Megadeth – both the band and their fan base have a few years on me – and a page on Steel Panther. Those boys were ripping up the Sunset Strip when I was barely into my teens.

Cover star Ville Valo can’t be any younger than me and I saw Slash at Gateshead Stadium when I was 17 and he was a good deal older. Both are Kerrang! faves and yet this is a magazine I should have stopped reading at least 15 years ago.

But it’s not as if reading Classic Rock is any better. When that sees the light of day between Central Station and Tynemouth a whole new volley of strange looks bounce my way.

Only this time those eyes are saying ‘you’re way too young for that crusties’ tome’. And I must admit they’re probably closer to the truth – I don’t know anyone else under the age of 35 who subscribes to the finest rock magazine in the world. Their loss, obviously.

But the point is I’m stuck right in the middle of a socially unacceptable void – my taste in magazines makes me a figure of ridicule with just about every passenger who populates Tyneside’s favourite mode of transport.

And yet it seems to me that if you rock enough you’re young enough and if you roll enough you’re old enough. Kerrect?

With all good metal bands there is no higher accolade than being mentioned in the same breath as Metallica.  However, with this comes the added pressure of living up to that reputation and this is where Trivium enter.

Touted for a long time as a band that could take Metallica’s mantle after Hetfield and co. decide to call it a day, Trivium have big shoes to fill.  They rolled into Newcastle Academy with a point to prove, fans queued for hours expecting to see raucous scenes and Trivium didn’t disappoint.

After the audience had been warmed up by support act Chimaira, Trivium strode out on stage backed by a snapshot Andrew WK’s finest material. Frontman Matt Heafy swaggered on stage like a man who had done it all, a special confidence and aura reserved only for metal heavyweights.

As soon as the first chords of Rain rang out this promised to be a gig not for the fainthearted.  Bodies began to fly around the room as Trivium powered into Drowned and Torn Asunder.

The Orlando four-piece were demonstrating why they have been classed as one of the best metal bands of the modern era and the technical guitar work of Heafy and guitarist Corey Beaulieu was exceptional – alongside the competent display from new drummer Nick Augusto.

Trivium showed no signs of waiting around and powered through excellent renditions of Ascendancy and Insurrection – a song which, Heafy told the audience, requires “circles on the ground and circles in your mind” prompting a huge circle pit to engulf the Academy.

After informing the audience that there wouldn’t be an encore the band treated them to a cover of Sepultura’s Slave New World.  Heafy continued to thank the crowd throughout encouraging them to “give yourselves a round of applause”.  What was a whirlwind of a show closed with Heafy offering all-comers ‘one last chance to move’before breaking into the thunderous Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr.

On this showing Trivium are undoubtedly one of the best live acts metal has to offer and are able to credit themselves with being able to rub shoulders with the heavyweights of metal.  Heafy has a Hettfield-esque presence and could one day be up there with the great man himself.

Thomas Walsh

With a raft of good time sleaze rock and roll tunes under the belts and too many sold out shows to mention then this really should be their time.

If you haven’t checked them out yet then what on earth have you been doing? We caught up with one of our tips for the top for 2010. rushonrock: You’ve just come back from Finland’s Trash Fest 2010 and Scandinavia seems like it’s good to you?

AJ: It has been has been a great place for us so far and we intend to spend a lot of time there in the future. We went back over there before Christmas and there were a lot more people came out to see us than we expected. It went down so well and we were invited to go back and play Trashfest 2010. We’re hoping to do a full tour of Finland later this year.

rushonrock: Why have NGS been such a big hit in Finland?

David: We play music and drink beer. That’s our mantra and they love that over there.

AJ: Not necessarily in that order though!

David: Yeah. It’s just party, party, party. We heard all about the booze cruise they do over there and usually it’s mayhem. It just so happens we did it midweek when it was all truckers and old women. So it wasn’t quite rock and roll. But we still managed to be rock and roll and get wankered.

AJ: In the morning we woke up and thought ‘let’s get some breakfast’. Everyone was rushing about and we’d slept through the ship docking. Our car with all the kit on was blocking everyone in and nobody could get ashore.

rushonrock: Once you did escape the ferry what was the best bit about playing the rock clubs of Finland?

David: The after-show parties were pretty crazy. AJ the rock star and singer had to go to every one and managed three hours sleep the whole weekend. They like their drink and they like their parties in Finland – the shows were just one part of the whole package. It’s just amazing.

AJ: The people are fantastic and so welcoming. They just love the music.

David: The titty bars are rubbish though.

rushonrock: Back home and you’re racking up the high profile support slots with a whole load of blasts from the late 80s/early 90s past.

AJ: “We enjoyed the dates we played with Vain before Christmas. They’re nice guys. We’re very lucky – we’ve made a connection with Vain, LA Guns and Love/Hate and we get to use their audiences to promote what we’re doing.

rushonrock: And how’s the new material coming on?

Chris: We’re always writing when we’re on the road. We’ve got two albums under our belts but we’re always looking ahead. The latest album has been out for around six months now but we’re still finding a new audience. We’re hitting Germany and Spain soon and world domination beckons. You get a different vibe on the continent. I think foreign audiences really appreciate any British band heading over to their country. We do get spoiled over here with the number of bands who tour regularly from all over the world. It doesn’t happen elsewhere.

rushonrock: But the UK will always be your priority?

AJ: The fan base is building in the UK and we’re all about gigging so hopefully it will grow and grow. The thing which makes us work is that we all come at this from different backgrounds. But we all have a few bands in common like Motley Crue and Kiss and when we’re writing that’s why it flows. And that’s why we’re so comfortable on stage.

rushonrock: So what does the future hold?

Tony: We don’t have a lot of money so we have to keep playing. It’s as simple as that. We do what we can. We rock hard and party even harder.

AJ: The only problem with the UK – and there are a lot of good bands out there – is like we were saying before: people are spoilt for choice. You can go out and watch a good rock gig almost every night. So we go out of our way to be a bit better than that and make sure that the fans who do come out to see us are made to feel a part of what we’re doing. We spend time talking to our fans, we tour up and down the country and one day that might pay off. We’re just four guys playing rock and roll and the only way we survive is because of fans and friends helping us out.

Chris: You can’t get into this for the money. As soon as you start thinking that way you die.

AJ: We’re lucky and we’re very rarely out of pocket. We cover the bills but we’re realists – we get to play rock and roll and people come to see us. If we can get by on that then that’s all we can ask for. We’ve never lost focus of what we’re doing.

rushonrock: Is the live arena still your main focus?

Chris: The main tour we did of the UK last time almost all of the other bands have split up. You can lose focus if you stop thinking about the value of the live show.

Tony: That’s what we’re all about. We didn’t even set out with any ideas about an album. We put out at EP and then thought sod it we’ll do an album. We just sort of did it. It wasn’t a masterplan. It just happened. Of course we’d love it to go double platinum one day…

After a long spell on the road opening up for the legendary Metallica, the US stars are finally bowing to fan pressure and crafting their next assault on the rock world.

With the album expected later this year, The Sword’s Trivett Wingo said: “Sword fans everywhere, since you wouldn’t stop asking for a new album, we figured we’d write some songs and give you what you deserve.

“Last week we started recording our as yet untitled third full length with producer and engineer Matt Bayles here in Austin.

“We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves and of course you’ll be the judge, but let’s say we have a strong intuition that this will be our best release to date.

“We’ve never attempted something quite on this scale as far as song-writing and sheer sonic magnificence go and we’re a little worried it might be TOO AWESOME for you to handle.

“While you’re waiting for this baby to drop you can check out our show at Stubb’s on March 16th with Year Long Disaster and some old school metal band called Motörhead…”

A Day to Remember at Newcastle University was a good venue choice after the show sold out quicker than expected at the O2 Academy and had to be upgraded to a larger room.

The band’s headlining tour is mostly sold out and tonight fans seemed to turn out for the two support acts just as much as for the headliners.

Your Demise took to the stage first and although the whole room wasn’t buzzing, a handful of people set about ‘moshing’ before the band had even played a note.

What ensued was an energetic performance from new vocalist Ed McRae, yet a display lacking in enthusiasm from the rest of the band. The vocalist managed to spur on the crowd but in between songs his words sounded so contrived it was almost as though he were checking all the boxes scrawled on the back of his hand.

At least none of the bands did the generic thing of declaring the current audience and town as the best they’ve played. We’ve all heard that one before.

Next up were Architects which sounds more like a name for an Indie band. But I was pleasantly surprised by a fast paced and energetic set. A Day To Remember members stood to the side showing support for their own support acts; the band played a surprisingly technical set and appeared much improved on their previous incarnation as a bland metal band and a lame take off of Bring Me The Horizon.

The much anticipated A Day To Remember kicked off their set with Fast Forward to 2012 after a dramatic entrance. It appeared that the room was full of new fans that had mostly only turned up after hearing the new album Homesick and only a handful recognised songs off the old albums.

It was a tad disappointing to see that Jeremy refused to share the mic with his fans who were stood screaming the words in his face. The band played songs like A Shot in the Dark, Heartless and the popular The Plot to bomb the Panhandle seemingly to get the crowd going but a more passionate performance would have worked just as well.

The set was short and all in all it was a good night but a disappointing headline performance. It was the first night of a huge tour so just why ADTR weren’t more enthusiastic is anyone’s guess.

Chiara Giordano

Rushonrock caught up with Lexxi Foxxx after he called from his Hollywood pad last night – on two hours sleep and with a bunch of groupies to get rid of.

And the bass playing pretty boy said: “I’ve heard all about the reputation of Geordie girls and the fact that they never wear anything – even in winter. Well, here’s the challenge. “I’m pretty confident I’ll be wearing even less than the most scantily clad bitch inside the venue when we hit Newcastle next week.

“I’ve been doing extra sit-ups to make sure I look extra special and I’m planning a few special surprises for the hottest chicks.”

So there you have it. Look out for a full interview with Lexxi here soon and of course a full review of their debut Tyneside show.

With more than one million sales worldwide the crossover act look set to build on 2008’s phenomenal breakthrough throughout 2010.

And the first step towards Pendulum’s bid for world domination takes shape in new single Watercolour, released on May 3 – with third album Immersion due to follow three weeks later. “Please enjoy this refreshing musical beverage, bottled at source from the sparkling clear streams of Camden (and Perth, Australia),” said frontman Rob Swire. “What better way to start your immersive experience?”

What better way indeed. With festival slots already confirmed and a full UK tour slated for later this year, if you don’t understand the power of Pendulum yet then now is the time.

Heavily regarded as one of the pioneering bands of Death Metal, Florida based rockers Obituary left Newcastle in their wake on their current European tour.

Warming up for a night of guttural carnage, Furnaze were an apt starter with their pile-driving chorus’ and dark breakdowns.

Andorran band Persephone were marred by some early sound problems but really came into their own later in the gig, breaking into a healthy variety of sounds.

The unreal vocal range of Marc Martins Pia brought an assault of screams and hollers, yet the bands progressive nature shone through with Focus-esque keyboard solos suddenly breaking out.  Fans were treated to a funny but amazing surprise near the end of the set with a prog metal rendition of the Star Wars theme.

Obituary began in raging form.  While lead singer John Tardy threw his curly locks around the stage, guitarist Ralph Santolla quenched the anticipated thirst of the crowd with some of his trademark shredding that’s been seen with other acts such as Deicide and Iced Earth.  His style of lead guitar playing remained outrageously fast, and with the intimacy of the venue it was half expected that he’d cut the front row.

Echoes of a more classic rock sound could be heard in some of the more bouncy riffs. The tightness of the set showed with carefully timed pauses in between grinding thuds from the rhythm guitar.  Obituary’s ability to transcend from this into a full bloodied hell-bent frenzy portrayed their professionalism.

Turning 42 in less than a week, Tardy showed that he still not only has the energy to rock the stage but also demonstrate a coming of age.  From the low droning grunts to the higher screeches, Tardy constantly entertained.

Threatening Skies had a heathen energy that quickly established it as a favourite amongst the fans while Face Your God was full of intensity.  Its renegade punk drumming and deep bass made the song stand out above a set that was slightly repetitive at times.

As a unit Obituary does exactly what it says on the tin.  They were entertaining and consistent in death metal music.  However, lack of variation shackles them, serving only to restrain much of their potential.  On the night they didn’t make a mistake and within their genre they are squeaky clean performers, but it is within certain limitations and to their detriment.

Calum Robson