The Stems are a garage punk band founded by Dom Mariani in Perth, Western Australia in late 1983. The group is heavily influenced by 1960s garage rock and 1970s power pop. They broke up in August 1987 and reformed in 2003, releasing a new album in 2007. Although the group disbanded in October 2009, as of 2013 The Stems are an ongoing live concern.

Magazine were a British rock band formed in 1977 in Manchester in England by singer Howard Devoto and guitarist John McGeoch. After leaving the punk group Buzzcocks in early 1977, Devoto decided to create a more progressive and less "traditional" rock band. The original lineup of Magazine was composed of Devoto, McGeoch, Barry Adamson on bass, Bob Dickinson on keyboards and Martin Jackson on drums.

Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. As a central band of the Canterbury scene, the group became one of the first British psychedelic acts and later moved into progressive and jazz rock, becoming a purely instrumental band in 1971. The band has undergone many line-up changes, with musicians such as Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth being members during the band's history. The current line-up consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker and Asaf Sirkis.

Travis are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1990, composed of Fran Healy, Dougie Payne, Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose. The band's name comes from the character Travis Henderson from the film Paris, Texas (1984). The band released their debut album, Good Feeling (1997), to moderate success where it debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart and was later awarded a silver certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January 2000.

The Living End is an Australian punk rockabilly band from Melbourne, formed in 1994. Since 2002, the line-up consists of Chris Cheney, Scott Owen, and Andy Strachan (drums). The band rose to fame in 1997 after the release of their EP Second Solution / Prisoner of Society, which peaked at No. 4 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. They have released eight studio albums, two of which reached the No. 1 spot on the ARIA Albums Chart: The Living End and State of Emergency. They have also achieved chart success in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Nicholas D'Virgilio, often abbreviated and referred to as NDV, is an American drummer, singer, keyboard player and guitarist, best known as a member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil Collins in Genesis on the Calling All Stations album. He has also done session work with many artists including Tears for Fears and Mystery, and is an official member of Big Big Train.

Simon Wright is an English drummer best known for his work with rock bands AC/DC and Dio. He started playing drums at the age of 13 and cites Cozy Powell, Tommy Aldridge and John Bonham as his greatest influences. He was also the drummer for Rhino Bucket, UFO and Operation: Mindcrime.

The Planet Smashers are a Canadian ska punk band from Montreal. Since their formation in 1993, they have been a staple of the Montreal music scene. During the third wave of ska, they performed nationally and later internationally, with tours in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Founding member Matt Collyer helped establish Stomp Records in 1994, which featured many ska and ska punk bands, including Montreal's The Kingpins, The Flatliners, The Know How, and Bedouin Soundclash. Their music has been used in the Japanese flash series Catman, Canadian show Radio Free Roscoe, and MTV's Undergrads. Lyrics by The Planet Smashers often deal with topics such as love, partying and good times, and sometimes use tongue-in-cheek innuendo.

David Brown was an American musician. He was the bass player for the band Santana from 1967 until 1971, then again from 1974 until 1976. Brown played in Santana at Woodstock and at Altamont in 1969 and on the band's first three studio albums before leaving after the "Closing of the Fillmore West" gig on July 4, 1971. In 1974, he rejoined for the album Borboletta and remained with the band for the follow-up Amigos before leaving again in the spring of 1976. In 1998, Brown was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Santana.

Matmatah is a French rock band, established in 1995 in Brest, Brittany.

The Spīn Ghar or Safēd Kōh meaning both White Mountains, or sometimes meaning white mountain range, is a mountain range to the south of the Hindu Kush. It ranges from eastern Afghanistan into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, and forms a natural border between the two areas. Its highest peak is Mount Sikaram on the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, which towers above all surrounding hills to 4,755 m (15,600 ft) above mean sea level. The lower hills are mostly barren and treeless, but pine grows on the main mountains that form the East Afghan montane conifer forests.

The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from November 30 – December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.

Abby Travis is an American musician. In the 1990s, she began working as a touring bass player. She has worked with The Go-Go's, The Eagles of Death Metal, Masters of Reality, The Bangles, KMFDM, Beck, and Elastica.

Scorpio Rising were an English rock band from Birkenhead active from 1989 to 1994.

Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, fell in November 2001 to the Northern Alliance forces during the War in Afghanistan. Northern Alliance forces began their attack on the city on 13 November and made swift progress against Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces that were heavily weakened by American and British air strikes. The advance moved ahead of plans, and the next day the Northern Alliance forces entered Kabul and met no resistance inside the city. Taliban forces retreated to Kandahar in the south.

Santa Cruz was a Finnish comedy hard rock band formed in 2007 in Helsinki by Archie Cruz and Johnny Parkkonen. The band's music has appeared in TV commercials for Mercedes-Benz and in sports compilations on ESPN.

Tora is an Australian electronic band formed in Byron Bay, New South Wales in May 2013. The founding members are Tobias Tunis, Thorne Davis (drums), Shaun Johnston, Jo Loewenthal, and Jai Piccone. They have undertaken Australian and international tours. Their tracks have received rotation on the Australian national radio station, after winning Triple J Unearthed competition in 2014.