Well its that time of year again, when i get to spurt a bit of nonsense and round up M$R years synopsis. 2011 started off really good for us , our first album was repackaged and released in the UK and released in Japan , it sold out in the first week of release in Japan! Then, the powers that be at our record label in the UK , Powerage records , decided it would be a good idea to put 4 of the bands on the roster out on a 14 city UK tour (that didnt include Norn Iron for some stupid reason) So in Feb we loaded up the van and headed off across England , Wales and Scotland with The Treatment , Leathergy and New Device on our first UK tour in 2 years . Suffice to say we had a great time on tour , made loads of new friends and sold a bucket load of merch ....which is always good.

During this tour it was quite a baptism of fire for our drummer Sean , who had just joined the band before Christmas , but like the true pro he is ...he never missed a beat and has now firmly put his stamp on the M$R sound and groove. After the tour , we took a conscious decision to get stuck into demoing and finish up writing for the new album , that went swimmingly and in between times we took ourselves off to Download festival for our second appearance in 2 years ( not bad even if i do say so myself) Our buddies Trucker Diablo also played Download for the first time and by all accounts ripped Download a new one!

When we got back home we played a few shows locally in Belfast , Diamond rock club etc but decided that July and august was the right time to record our new album, so we spent about a month in the studio with our producer Neal Calderwood and recorded 16 new tracks , some of you got to hear the fruits of our labour at the listening party in Sept. The album has a title , artwork is finished and tracking order is done too. It will be released in the spring 2012 , cant give a specific date yet...thats down to the labels.

A few more local gigs ensued , then we had a couple of really great shows with the Quireboys in Belfast and Dublin , ,Joe Elliot was at the Dublin show and begged us for a CD but we had sold out! Alas, our intriped TM Cathal collared a fan in the audience and managed to buy a CD back off him so we good give it to Joe! thankfully it all worked out and Joe has already played a couple of tracks on his radio programme on Planet Rock , good aul Joe!.

Last weekend it was off to Hard Rock Hell to play the 2nd stage , to be honest it was one of the most moving gigs we have ever done , and to one of the biggest audiences we ever played to. Half of Norn Iron must have been in the crowd cos when they sung along to the Last Icon , a wee tear came to my eye:). Then it was a dodgy ferry trip back over to Belfast for the Darkness show on Sunday nite in the Ulster Hall .

Anyone who knows the heritage and history of such a legendary venue will appreciate the pride we all felt in our wee band to make it to that great stage. Anyone who was at the gig will know how it went for us, and the reception we got especially during Goodnite New York .....well, just lets say there was a hint of another little teardrop.

So, on behalf of Andy, Kie, Brian, Sean and myself i just want to thank anyone and everyone who came out to a gig, bought a tshirt , bought a CD, humoured us by becoming our new friends and anyone who spreads the M$R gospel, we couldnt do it without you`s (as cliched as thats sounds , its so true!) .

Its great that Norn Iron has so many great rock bands `doing stuff`these past couple of years , and i have a feeling next year could be a breakout year. So again thanks a million and we`ll see some of yous on the 27th Dec for the M$R party nite and the rest of you good people we will see you`s all at some point next year!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!!!

Phil

M$R have been very busy lately, we have recorded our new album that will be released in due course. In the meantime to whet your appetite we have put a couple of samples of new songs on the player on the myspace page. Swing by and have a listen.

We have also added a few new gig dates on our .com page including a couple of Irish shows with The Quireboys leading up to our Hard Rock Hell festival appearance in Wales, which we are really pumped up about.

We would love it if you could encourage all your friends and head over to the Million Dollar Reload Official facebook page and 'LIKE' the page!

Keep an eye out for gig updates and merch deals and releases over the next few weeks.