(left to right: Eric Wagler, Ryan Wagler, Mike Burtett, Mike Nichols)

With an album titled Memento Mori, a Latin phrase that roughly translates to “remember that you are mortal, remember you will die”, there is a lesson and message to be heard. The album fittingly reveals we must live each day to its fullest, for tomorrow may not remember us. Since they’ve been together for more than a decade, they don’t seem like a band, more like a brotherhood and their music truly shows how they in sync.
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This year’s most nostalgic alt-rock parade, held at Grant Park in Chicago, took a more subtle note from years’ past with a lineup that spoke more to fan loyalty and longevity than emerging buzz and bombast. Iggy and The Stooges, Pearl Jam and Modest Mouse all spoke to their respective die-hard collectives, but as far as sporting the best rookies, the lineup fell a bit short. Last year’s festival capitalized on the most electric acts of 2006 with Gnarls Barkley, Editors, Mates of State, The Raconteurs and Panic! at the Disco. While Kings of Leon, The Black Keys, The Hold Steady and Polyphonic Spree helped to continue that trend, artists such as Explosions in the Sky, Brazilian Girls, Shiny Toy Guns, Rufus Wainwright, Junior Boys, Lily Allen and Patrick Wolf were sorely missed, not to mention Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and the reassembled Rage Against the Machine, who all broke their teeth touring with the festival in the early 90s.

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Greetings and welcome to the new ShotgunReviews.com. Since 1999, we’ve done our best to give you worthwhile (and often funny) reviews and columns, and it’s time to shake off the rust and do it a little differently. We’ve kicked around a few ideas regarding how we’d do this new thing, and we hope you like what you see.

The new design comes to us from Barb Hallock, a student of mine with the appropriate attitude for this place (that is, bad). The more bloggish format puts us more on par with the current landscape. After all, we’ve been doing this almost eight full years. It was time for a big change. I think that you’ll agree that the new format, with a huge list of categories and easy searching, is a good one.

As part of that big change, we’ve brought in an influx of new talent from a variety of places. The entirety of our Best Shots team, responsible for the Best Shots column that runs every Monday at Newsarama.com, is now operating here in several capacities. You’ll also meet several talented young writers, including Barb herself, who will be tackling a variety of topics.

However, if you’re one of the rare folks that has read us since 1999, don’t get too worried. Shawn Delaney will still grace us with terrific music reviews, as will Jonathan Birdsong and the Lyrical Lounge crew. The Russ is back on wrestling coverage in full force. L.I. Rapkin’s already kicking in some culture. Eric Barker’s already opened the film vaults. And they aren’t the only familiar faces lurking around.

In the next few days and weeks, you’ll see the roster expand a little more and you’ll see some new recurring columns and features that we hope will become favorites. If you want to check out the old stuff, the old site currently still exists in its full glory under the archive button. If you want to talk about any of the stuff, old or new, visit our newly established forums.

So there’s my big speech. Enjoy yourselves, express yourselves, and invite friends. ShotgunReviews.com never went away, but we are most certainly back. Thanks for your time.