Our story begins in Switzerland, in Pratteln near Basel, on the 1st of November behind the Z7 venue. The zone is industrial… metal! There is already a fan who has spotted the red bus and the cover of their latest album is carefully placed on the top of a cardboard box, waiting to be signed. His collection is almost complete. Annihilator have already achieved over half of their European tour as the headliners in 2010 and everything seems to be going well for them.

In the words of Jeff Waters, promotion in local areas is not very important. There was a time when labels used to hire companies from each country to ensure such promotion. In Ottawa, where band’s main man lives, you can just open up a newspaper a day or two before the artist’s concert and there is an article on the person. In 2010, Jeff Waters admitted that this was the first time that he was on tour with such a small amount of local promotion for the band. And yet, to his great surprise, the shows were all fully packed. The internet has replaced usual music promotion, people share information via social networking sites and the band’s management saw an opening.