My band ROME are gearing up for the release of our debut album on the 1/1/13. But to celebrate, we’re going to play the entire album from front to back at the Miami Shark Bar, Gold Coast, on December 1st to give the hometown crowd the first taste!!

In case you don’t know, ROME is a project started by former members of Devolved and The Berzerker, two of Australias most successful extreme metal bands throughout the 2000s. Shit’s about to get real!!

If you’d like to attend, you can click HERE for all the details.

See you at the sharky!

Todd.

Hi guys,

My band Amplitusion from Toronto, Canada has been featured on the latest Brutal Beatings compilation from Sick Drummer Magazine! This is volume 10 of the quarterly compilation which exposes underground bands and previews more established bands all in one e-compilation!! You can check it out by clicking this highlighted Brutal Beatings. Some faves of mine, Patholgy and General Surgery also appear on this compilation. And my fellow Brisbanites in Eternal Rest have a brutal offering on there themselves! Great to see some Brissy metal getting out there!

Enjoy the metal!!

Todd.

Hey gang!

Just thought i’d update you all on what i’ve been up to lately! I’ve been very busy in the last few weeks with various music projects going on. For the past 5 or so weeks I’ve been working with Wolvesblood, guitarist and vocalist for Toronto metallers Visions Of The Night, as a session drummer for their new album! Yesterday we tracked 10 new songs with the awesome Matt Connell at his Northwood Studios location near Chatham, Ontario. The studio was amazing, drums are sounding great and I’m really keen to check out the final product! I’ll keep you all posted on here.

I had a drum lesson in Montreal a couple of weeks back with the one and only Flo Mounier of the legendary Cryptopsy. He watched me play and offered some advice as well as some great hints and tips. He did comment that I have a great technique overall, which was a pretty big deal coming from him. I’ve moulded alot of my playing style around the things I learned off Flo’s DVD, so I guess he picked up on that! Once I’ve put the new learnings into practice, I’ll go into more detail in a future update.

My solo project The Hatred has completed another cover for a new Halcyon Records tribute, celebrating 20 years since the release of Stone Temple Pilots – Core and Alice In Chains – Dirt. The Hatred covered Dead And Bloated, the opening track from Core. I also contributed drums once again to my buddy Waylons Brake.Wall. project, covering Plush also from Core. There’s also a fantastic acoustic version of Down In A Hole by Dolores The Alma, a sort of Halcyon super group if you will! ;D You can check out and download for FREE, these three songs on the Halcyon Records Soundcloud page. You will also find the latest release from Amplitusion there. We did a cover of the classic Eddie Cochran tune Summertime Blues, as a part of the Halcyon Summer Series!! Halcyon Records has certainly kept me busy during my time here in Canada and I look forward to contributing more in the future.

Finally, Man Must Die have released the new single Antisocial Network, complete with the bands debut music video, with yours truly hitting the skins!! To watch the video and receive your FREE download of the song, simply follow this link… Man Must Die – Antisocial Network.

So that’s what i’ve been up to the past few weeks. Not only that, but I also helped organise a 10 year anniversary of the old Brisbane festival Halloween Hellfest, which I organised with various friends over the years. The festival has been off the scene since it’s fifth year, but will return this year on October 26th at Crowbar in Fortitude Valley for it’s 10th birthday! I will be performing with my bands ROME, SLEIGHER, HEADKASE and F.U.C! on the night, plus we have a bunch of other great acts rounding out the bill!!

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for all the excitement!!

Todd.

By Crikey!! How’s everyone been doing out there?? I’ve been keeping busy! Can’t wait to share some stuff with you!

Hi everyone!

Last Thursday night, the good folks at Halcyon Records unleashed another track for the Summer concept album One Hot Mess. This was very exciting for me as it is the first track from my new solo project The Hatred, AND it’s the first song I have ever performed ALL of the instruments and vocals on. I did a cover of an old favourite of mine by a band called The Lovin’ Spoonful. The track is called Summer In The City, and i’ve given it a bit of a metal facelift! You can check it out HERE!! It can also be downloaded for free from this very site. I hope you all enjoy it! ;D

G’day friends! Just a little update and a brand new song!!! Lets get straight to the song! My Canadian band Amplitusion and Andy and Ingrid at Halcyon Records, have been working hard on the new album and we’ve just released the first single ‘Alcohlic Venom Snake’ on a mini website: http://www.avs.amplitusion.com/

We released the song last weekend when we KAKAKACRUSHED EXTREME as the official band for the Warrior Dash!!  Follow that link and check it out!! We also did a version of an old summer song for the Halcyon Summer Series!! Keep an eye out for that!

I was just in the Halcyon studios last night, laying down tracks for my first solo effort EVER! It’s a cover of a summer song I always wanted to cover. I’m going to release it under the name ‘The Hatred’ cause it’s a pretty cool name and I googled it and can’t see anyone using it, so i’m taking it! Hhoh!

Hello all, it’s been a little while since I updated this! Alot has been happening though. Let me fill you in.

So last night Amplitusion played at the Hard Luck bar in Toronto supporting the mighty Aborted from Belgium! It was the first time Amplitusion had ever supported an international act. We also played mostly new material at last nights show, 3 songs we played had never been performed in front of an audience before. The show went well and was a great night!

I’m also pleased to announce that i’ve just joined the team at HEAVY magazine (Australia) as a contributor. I did my first interview last night with Sven from Aborted. I think it went very well! Now comes the fun part of transcribing it, editing it and sending it off to my HEAVY colleagues to critique. I’ll also be contributing a section about touring/playing shows to the mag.

We’ve been spending some time in the Halcyon Records studios working on the Amplitusion album. Its been a fun experience sitting with Andy and editing/mixing the drums. With all our rehearsals leading up to the show last night, some great ideas have come out to really build upon the songs we’re recording for this album!! Exciting!

Across the pond on the Gold Coast and the ROME boys have been hard at work with our debut album also! The guitars and bass have all been tracked now which leaves the electronics and the vocals. Then mixing, mastering and releasing the record! I think this stuff is really gonna turn a few heads so stay tuned!

And in the Man Must Die camp. The lads have sent me some demos for the new album which i’ve been working on. We’ve been doing most of the work online via videos, email and skype. I can’t wait to get over to Scotland and shred it out with the guys in a jam room.

So yes, it’s been an eventful couple of months on the music side of things indeed. Alot of ups and downs, but the wheels are still turning and headed in the right direction. I may even have some new session work coming up! Exciting!

I recently contributed to a Pink Floyd tribute album, the second tribute project from the good folks at Halcyon Records. Their first tribute album compilation was the “Whatever… Nevermind” 20th anniversary of Nirvanas classic album. I played drums on Come As You Are – Brake.Wall, Breed – Amplitusion and Territorial Pissings – F.U.C.!

This Pink Floyd release was a similar concept, but didn’t focus on any one album. Its more of a collection of Floyd songs by an international line up of bands from a variety of genres and backgrounds. Sixteen Psychedelic classics.

Once again I contributed on three tracks here. I played on One Of These Days – The_MK:Ultra5, and once again Amplitusion with Astronomy Domine and I also joined Waylon and Brake.Wall. with the track Echoes. Good times! I’m going to be doing some more work with Brake.Wall. in the near future for some original stuff so keep an ear out for that if ya like what you hear with these covers!

You can have a listen to it all right here! http://soundcloud.com/halcyon-records/sets

Let me know what ya’ll think!!

Enjoy!

Its been a VERY hectic month. I spent 2 weeks back in Australia and for the most part I only left my drums to eat and sleep. Sometimes I even ate at the kit! It was a very productive couple of weeks though. I booked out Core Studios on the Gold Coast with my good mate/producer Nik Carpenter, whom i’ve worked with on many occasions when it comes to laying down drums and making records.  I tracked 11 original songs for my Canadian band Amplitusions 2nd album (the first album I appear on) which James Sheehan and myself had spent alot of time writing and arranging over the past 8 months here in Canada. I layed down each track twice over 2 days. On the night of day 2, I played 4 sets at the 3rd TODDFEST. This included the debut show for my Aussie band ROME (featuring ex-members of Devolved and The Berzerker), plus killer and extremely fun sets from F.U.C., Happy Camper and a special xmas in March apperance by SLEIGHER.

Week 2s tracking consisted of a Pink Floyd cover for Amplitusion (Astronomy Domine), plus brand new song for my Scottish band Man Must Die! I laid down 10 takes of the song, which is currently having the finishing touches put on it in the UK by the rest of the band with producer Scott Atkins. All reports from MMD so far on the progress have been very positive! We’re all excited to unleash this beast upon the unsuspecting world! A music video for this new single will be shot in Glasgow in the near future as well as some touring and working on the follow up album to 2009s “No Tolerance For Imperfection” record. I can’t wait to get this thing rolling full steam ahead!

I also laid down the drums for the debut album from my Aussie band ROME! We had been working hard on the songs via the internet, so when I came to Aus, we knuckled down in the jam room and really got the songs feeling and sounding great!! The internet is quite amazing, but nothing beats getting in the jam room and sweating it out to really bring the music to life! I can’t wait to do the same thing with Man Must Die soon. It’s great when everyone is motivated and has done their homework. Everything just falls into place so nicely.

My return to Canada saw Amplitusion preparing to play our biggest show in the history of the band at The Opera House in Toronto! This was the first venue I ever played in Toronto back in 2009 when The Berzerker toured here. James was at that show (and got me mega wasted after we played) supporting. It was a dream of his to play there and i’m totally stoked I could share that with him. He went nuts with promo and got alot of heads thru the door. We had a sweet moshpit and nothing but positive feedback on the performance! We put in some great rehearsals throughout the week and really CRUSHED EXTREME on the night! Good times!

This week has been a little more relaxed on the music front. I laid down some more drums for another bands Pink Floyd song, and did some work on the Amplitusion one also. Expect to see that on the Halycon Records page for FREE very soon! I’m working on Man Must Die songs and just chilling enjoying listening to and discovering new music. Plus i’ve been putting in the hours at the day job ever since I got back to Canada too. Gotta make that money.. I’ve been working on some more writing stuff as well for Sick Drummer Mag and my Halcyon Records blog “Aussie Abroard” whenever I get the chance. Check out the links page to see SDM and Halcyon!

Also check out Man Must Die and Todd Hansen Official on Facebook!

Chat soon!!

Todd.

I’m super excited to have successfully auditioned for Scottish Metal band Man Must Die. I have been searching for the right band since The Berzerker disbanded a couple of years back. Man Must Die is right up my alley style wise. The death/thrash drumming style, the song writing, the lyrics, the dedication and commitment of the members as well as the fact they’re great dudes! I’m really looking forward to creating some great heavy music with these guys. Thanks to MMD for the opportunity, and my mate Scotty Mitchell for putting me onto them. Expect to see some new stuff soon!!