Ozzy Osbourne News
As an advice columnist, rock legend Ozzy Osbourne is Dear Abby with more fart jokes, or Ann Landers if Ann decided to tell readers about that time she dropped acid and ended up deep in conversation with a cow.
In other words, Dr. Ozzy is like none other, which made us curious to know more of how this heavy metal hero came to the advice game, and ultimately to “Trust Me, I’m Dr. Ozzy: Advice From Rock’s Ultimate Survivor,†which brings him to Orange County on Tuesday for a book signing.
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“It’s a spin-off from my ‘I Am Ozzy’ book, you see,†he says, referring to his recent memoir, when he comes on the phone from his home in Los Angeles. “Because what happened is, part of that book, I list all the drugs I had in my lifetime. And then the Times newspaper in London, which is a very sophisticated newspaper, they were doing this thing, genomics, where it maps out your blood and tells you what you’re allergic too, your family history, whatever people are in your bloodline.â€
That it might also unravel one of the great mysteries of rock ‘n’ roll â€" to wit, how a bloke like Ozzy, who before he cleaned up and got sober was famed for surviving prodigious amounts of booze and drugs â€" was another part of the appeal, of course. And based on that, the Sunday Times offered him the gig of Dr. Ozzy, advice columnist.
“There’s a disclaimer that I’m not medically trained,†Ozzy says. “I don’t go, ‘Take four aspirins and go to bed.’ Basically it was common sense. Because of my lifestyle if I haven’t experienced a lot of these things I’ll probably know someone who has.â€
And as funny as the book can be, it’s often actually good advice, with many answers sharing Ozzy’s opinions, but then referring the questioner to consult with their doctor to find out for sure.
“They always expect that it’s Ozzy, so I’m going to say take aspirin and a joint, or take aspirin and listen to Black Sabbath backwards, which I’m not going to do,†he says of the obligation he feels not to mislead people who read the column or book. “They all think I’m (bleepin’) mad anyway, so if they ask, ‘I’ve got this pimple on my (body part), what should I do?’ they expect me to say, ‘Have it tattooed.’ I’m not going to say that, though.
Some questions are serious, some less so, and some just offer themselves up for a joke from the light-hearted Prince of Darkness.
“A guy wrote in and said: ‘My sex life’s taken a turn for the worse. My wife and I enjoyed sex up to six days a week for many, many years. Now it’s dropped down to four times a week. I’m concerned she’s gone off me. I’m 64 years old.’
“I wrote back, ‘Don’t (bleepin’) complain,†Ozzy says.
The columns have proven popular, with Rolling Stone running them occasionally as well. In the book, they’re fleshed out with chapter introductions in which Ozzy shares anecdotes from his life as well as quizzes and info boxes about health and medical factoids and oddities.
“It’s kind of like a humorous book you read when you’re sitting on the can,†Ozzy says matter-of-factly. “It’s a light-hearted thing.â€
While it’s the book tour that brings him to Huntington Beach, he’s also happy to talk about “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne,†the documentary on his life co-produced by his son Jack Osbourne, which played theaters briefly a month or so ago and comes out on DVD in November.
Jack Osbourne is more comfortable behind the camera â€" though he played his part on the MTV reality TV series “The Osbournes†â€" and after starting a production company one day came to his dad with a proposal to do a film on his life.
“I says, ‘Whatever you want to do, but don’t make me something I’m not,’†Ozzy says. “ ‘Don’t make me look like the sun shines out of my (rear end).’ I’ve seen this kind of things where it’s all, ‘Oh, poor guy, he had such a hard life.’ I’ve had a charmed life and the bad stuff is all my doing.
“Don’t make me look like sugar when I’m (dirt),†he says was his bottom-line wish for Jack’s movie. But even so, there were parts that were hard for him to watch when it premiered, he says, especially some of the bad behavior that showed how badly he’d behaved, and what a poor father he’d been in the past.
“Some of it was cringing because it’s truth, and when you’re watching with a bunch of other people, you do tend to go, ‘(Bleep),’ you know?†Ozzy says. “But that’s what it’s all about. I’ve been honest about what I’ve been up to.â€
The quality of the film â€" which has earned good reviews from everyone from film critics to the woman behind Ozzy in line at the airport not long ago â€" makes him proud as can be for his son.
“I’m proud of him,†Ozzy says. “He’s a good kid, he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t do any drugs anymore.â€
And neither does Ozzy, which leaves him at peace at the age of 62, no longer restlessly seeking self-destructive cures to the kinds of problems Dr. Ozzy now handles.
It also leaves him able to get his driver’s license for the first time in his life â€" no longer too wasted to risk it â€" a fact that makes him sound almost like a 16-year-old just getting behind the wheel when he talks about it.
“It was freedom,†he says of how it felt to drive himself alone for the first time. “I got a Ferrari but I don’t go very far. Around here there’s paparazzi, you attract them swarms of (bleepin’) cameramen, you know. They’re like (bleepin’) gangsters.â€
Ozzy Osbourne will sign copies of “Trust Me, I’m Dr. Ozzy†at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11 at Barnes & Noble in the Bella Terra shopping center, 7881 Edinger Ave, Huntington Beach. Wristbands will be handed out starting at 9 a.m. You must have a copy of the book purchased at Barnes & Noble to get one.
714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com
Judas Priest’s worldwide ‘Epitaph Tour’ is upon us, in what is supposed to be their swan song to the heavy metal faithful. With new guitarist, Richie Faulkner, taking K.K. Downing’s place, the Metal Gods will tour throughout the U.S. from October to December, with opening acts Black Label Society and Thin Lizzy (be sure to check out Glenn Tipton’s tour diary here and, of course, ticket sales here).
But what does Judas Priest really mean by ‘retirement’? And can they be talked out of it?
The following is an interview with bassist Ian Hill, mostly about the upcoming Epitaph tour.
Is it really farewell?
Ian Hill: It’s more of a slowing down process than a farewell.
Ian Hill: It’s more of a slowing down process than a farewell.
Glenn Tipton hinted at the same thing recently; that it’s only the beginning of the end.
Hill: Yeah, it’s the intensity of the world tours that … not ‘get to us’ but, you know, we’re not spring chickens anymore. So we’ll do this farewell tour and we’ll do as much as we can. We’ll go see all of our friends â€" if they want us (laughs) â€" and then after that we’ve got an album to do; a good album in the pipeline. And then afterwards, we’ll just slow down a little bit. Instead of doing, I don’t know, fifteen shows in Germany, we’ll do seven. And spread them out a little bit more to take some time off. I think in the long run it’ll probably extend the life of the band. We’ll look forward to it â€" not that we don’t look forward to it now, we all still genuinely enjoy it. And even if we said we were gonna knock it on the head, we wouldn’t, I’ll tell you now because we all love it too much. I think the thought of not getting up there and playing terrifies all of us. But all the intensities, we’ll turn that down a little bit.
Hill: Yeah, it’s the intensity of the world tours that … not ‘get to us’ but, you know, we’re not spring chickens anymore. So we’ll do this farewell tour and we’ll do as much as we can. We’ll go see all of our friends â€" if they want us (laughs) â€" and then after that we’ve got an album to do; a good album in the pipeline. And then afterwards, we’ll just slow down a little bit. Instead of doing, I don’t know, fifteen shows in Germany, we’ll do seven. And spread them out a little bit more to take some time off. I think in the long run it’ll probably extend the life of the band. We’ll look forward to it â€" not that we don’t look forward to it now, we all still genuinely enjoy it. And even if we said we were gonna knock it on the head, we wouldn’t, I’ll tell you now because we all love it too much. I think the thought of not getting up there and playing terrifies all of us. But all the intensities, we’ll turn that down a little bit.
Especially since you’ve been doing this since you were young. You know nothing else, really.
Hill: Our entire careers. I mean, I started when I was sixteen or something like that. I spent a couple of years in a dead end job, quit, and just went from there, you know. It’s been that way ever since.
Hill: Our entire careers. I mean, I started when I was sixteen or something like that. I spent a couple of years in a dead end job, quit, and just went from there, you know. It’s been that way ever since.
It’s like anyone else who retires or is thinking of retiring …
Hill: People have been asking me for fifteen years, ‘When are you gonna retire?’ Well, I don’t know.
Hill: People have been asking me for fifteen years, ‘When are you gonna retire?’ Well, I don’t know.
Are there going to be any surprises on the Epitaph tour? Songs that have never been played?
Hill: We’re doing a song from every album.
Hill: We’re doing a song from every album.
Even Rocka Rolla?!
Hill: Yeah, we are doing “Never Satisfied†from Rocka Rolla, which I think â€" cast my memory way back (laughs) â€" I think we played it, you think we would’ve played it, because Rocka Rolla was part of our entire repertoire, you know. It’s like everybody’s first album, that’s all you got. Simple as that. So we would’ve played it back then. But we haven’t played it for a long, long time. A helluva long time, for decades even.
Hill: Yeah, we are doing “Never Satisfied†from Rocka Rolla, which I think â€" cast my memory way back (laughs) â€" I think we played it, you think we would’ve played it, because Rocka Rolla was part of our entire repertoire, you know. It’s like everybody’s first album, that’s all you got. Simple as that. So we would’ve played it back then. But we haven’t played it for a long, long time. A helluva long time, for decades even.
I would go to the concert just for that.
Hill: Yeah, it’s a GREAT song.
Hill: Yeah, it’s a GREAT song.
Well, you have stated that you were never satisfied â€" no pun intended â€" with the production of that album but the songs on that album are amazing.
Hill: The songs are great. We also had a big falling out with the record company at the time .
Hill: The songs are great. We also had a big falling out with the record company at the time .
Gull?
Hill: Gull Records, yeah. It’s nobody’s real fault. I mean, they were a small company. I think they were expecting us to help them out, and we were expecting them to help us out. And neither of us had the resources. We didn’t have the name we have now, obviously, and they didn’t have the clout of a CBS that we ended up signing for.
Hill: Gull Records, yeah. It’s nobody’s real fault. I mean, they were a small company. I think they were expecting us to help them out, and we were expecting them to help us out. And neither of us had the resources. We didn’t have the name we have now, obviously, and they didn’t have the clout of a CBS that we ended up signing for.
Al Atkins (original vocalist) came out with an autobiography (Dawn of the Metal Gods) about leading up to those days. Did you read it?
Hill: Yeah, I did read it. I wrote the sleeve notes as well. And I still bump into Al from time to time. He’s still doing what he was doing way back then. And it’s funny, there was a nucleus of musicians just in West Bromwich (Birmingham, England) â€" only a small town â€" and they’d all form different bands, wouldn’t get anywhere, and after six months split up, set aside a bunch of people and form different bands. And he’s still doing it today, bless him. Obviously some of the older guys have given it up but he does his best, Al. He really does.
Hill: Yeah, I did read it. I wrote the sleeve notes as well. And I still bump into Al from time to time. He’s still doing what he was doing way back then. And it’s funny, there was a nucleus of musicians just in West Bromwich (Birmingham, England) â€" only a small town â€" and they’d all form different bands, wouldn’t get anywhere, and after six months split up, set aside a bunch of people and form different bands. And he’s still doing it today, bless him. Obviously some of the older guys have given it up but he does his best, Al. He really does.
Will the set list change from gig to gig (on the ‘Epitaph Tour’)?
Hill: I doubt it. Not very often. I mean, it’s not just us. It’s the crew as well. It’s a big production and they all have the production cues, flashes going off and loads of lasers and all kinds of things. And now more than anything, with the internet, as soon as you announce a set list, it’s there. And people are expecting to see and hear those songs. It’s always a dilemma especially before every tour when we’re trying to put a set list together, trying to put new songs in. And for every new one you put in you gotta drop somebody’s favorite. It’s always a bloody nightmare, really, wondering which one we’re gonna drop. And it doesn’t matter which one we end up dropping, and which song we put in, we always get flak for it in the end. It’s difficult thing to do. So that’s one of the reasons apart from the production thing, of course, why we like to keep things the same every night. You get a momentum going as well. Everybody is comfortable with the gig.
Hill: I doubt it. Not very often. I mean, it’s not just us. It’s the crew as well. It’s a big production and they all have the production cues, flashes going off and loads of lasers and all kinds of things. And now more than anything, with the internet, as soon as you announce a set list, it’s there. And people are expecting to see and hear those songs. It’s always a dilemma especially before every tour when we’re trying to put a set list together, trying to put new songs in. And for every new one you put in you gotta drop somebody’s favorite. It’s always a bloody nightmare, really, wondering which one we’re gonna drop. And it doesn’t matter which one we end up dropping, and which song we put in, we always get flak for it in the end. It’s difficult thing to do. So that’s one of the reasons apart from the production thing, of course, why we like to keep things the same every night. You get a momentum going as well. Everybody is comfortable with the gig.
Will you play “Tyrant†or “Genocide�
Hill: No. Again, with all the albums we’ve got, time’s limited, even now, doing two and a quarter hours, which is longer than we’ve played for a long long time. And album like British Steel, you have to do more than one song from that, so there are favorites on that album that we’d get lynched if we didn’t play. It’s a tough thing to do, you know, with all the albums we’ve got and do at least one song from each one.
Hill: No. Again, with all the albums we’ve got, time’s limited, even now, doing two and a quarter hours, which is longer than we’ve played for a long long time. And album like British Steel, you have to do more than one song from that, so there are favorites on that album that we’d get lynched if we didn’t play. It’s a tough thing to do, you know, with all the albums we’ve got and do at least one song from each one.
The one recent tour where the band played “Dissident Aggressor†(a song off the Sin After Sin album)â€" unfortunately, I missed it. But the one thing about “Dissident Aggressor,†I always start it at “Here Come the Tears†(the song that precedes it). To me, that’s its introduction. The songs connect, they connect very well. You have that very mellow, moody ballad of “Here Comes the Tears†first and then, all of a sudden, it goes from melancholy to anger.
Hill: And we did it on that tour and that’s how we played it. We did “Here Come the Tears†and then went into “Dissident …†right after that. It’s a great song (“Here Come the Tearsâ€). It’s one of those songs that builds and keeps on building.
Hill: And we did it on that tour and that’s how we played it. We did “Here Come the Tears†and then went into “Dissident …†right after that. It’s a great song (“Here Come the Tearsâ€). It’s one of those songs that builds and keeps on building.
Is it still weird playing and not seeing K.K. out there?
Hill: It was at first. Of course it was. I mean, Ken’s been an immense part of the band for the last forty years or so. But now, Ken left nearly a year ago now. He told us just before Christmas last year. We kept it quiet. We were convinced we could convince him to come back, to change his mind. And we had to start looking and we got Richie (Faulkner) and we said to Richie: ‘Listen, Ken might come back but if he doesn’t, you’ve got the job.’ And he must have been bursting to tell somebody. But we actually got to the point where we had to get visas and we had to get flights booked and things like that. So, we said ‘Ken, it’s your last chance, mate.’ and, of course he was adamant that he wanted to retire, so… And that’s when we had to announce Richie. And you’ll see, when you see the live show. I mean, he’s absolutely unbelievable . We’ve been extremely lucky finding him. He’s a brilliant talent, he really is. And he fills Ken’s boots really well.
Hill: It was at first. Of course it was. I mean, Ken’s been an immense part of the band for the last forty years or so. But now, Ken left nearly a year ago now. He told us just before Christmas last year. We kept it quiet. We were convinced we could convince him to come back, to change his mind. And we had to start looking and we got Richie (Faulkner) and we said to Richie: ‘Listen, Ken might come back but if he doesn’t, you’ve got the job.’ And he must have been bursting to tell somebody. But we actually got to the point where we had to get visas and we had to get flights booked and things like that. So, we said ‘Ken, it’s your last chance, mate.’ and, of course he was adamant that he wanted to retire, so… And that’s when we had to announce Richie. And you’ll see, when you see the live show. I mean, he’s absolutely unbelievable . We’ve been extremely lucky finding him. He’s a brilliant talent, he really is. And he fills Ken’s boots really well.
Of course, you can’t do “Sinner†now.
Hill: Yeah, that was Kenny’s trademark.
Hill: Yeah, that was Kenny’s trademark.
You did get some flak from a recent interview where you said that no one is missing K.K.
Hill: Well, somebody comes up to you and says ‘Anybody missing Kenny?’ You can’t say ‘Well, of course we are. We’re on tour and we ain’t as good as our last tour, so I won’t bother showing up if I were you.’ I mean, that’s what you’re saying, you know. I mean, I’ll say it again. People watching the band, okay, what Richie puts into it, there’s nothing missing. I mean, I did get flak for saying nobody misses Ken. I mean, he’s a lifelong friend. Of course I miss him. But the fan … if you’re listening to the song and you just close your eyes and listen to it. It could be Ken playing up there. And of course Richie puts his own angle on things as well. He’s a very very talented bloke … and I’ll probably get flak for that now as well (laughs).
Hill: Well, somebody comes up to you and says ‘Anybody missing Kenny?’ You can’t say ‘Well, of course we are. We’re on tour and we ain’t as good as our last tour, so I won’t bother showing up if I were you.’ I mean, that’s what you’re saying, you know. I mean, I’ll say it again. People watching the band, okay, what Richie puts into it, there’s nothing missing. I mean, I did get flak for saying nobody misses Ken. I mean, he’s a lifelong friend. Of course I miss him. But the fan … if you’re listening to the song and you just close your eyes and listen to it. It could be Ken playing up there. And of course Richie puts his own angle on things as well. He’s a very very talented bloke … and I’ll probably get flak for that now as well (laughs).
Well, it was obvious it could be taken out of context.
Hill: Well, it was. When somebody says that sort of thing, ‘Is he as good as Ken?’ ‘Nah, he’s not as good as Ken, no.’ You can’t say something like that. He’s at least as good as Ken. It’s true of the written word. If we’re talking here like this, okay, you can see my face, I’m chuckling or whatever when I say something. When it’s written down â€" anything that’s written down â€" is open to interpretation.
Hill: Well, it was. When somebody says that sort of thing, ‘Is he as good as Ken?’ ‘Nah, he’s not as good as Ken, no.’ You can’t say something like that. He’s at least as good as Ken. It’s true of the written word. If we’re talking here like this, okay, you can see my face, I’m chuckling or whatever when I say something. When it’s written down â€" anything that’s written down â€" is open to interpretation.
In a recent interview I did with Biff Byford of Saxon, he thought some fresh blood might help you guys reconsider retirement (click here to read Byford’s quotes).
Hill: It has, I must admit.
Hill: It has, I must admit.
He should know. He’s had a lot of line-up changes.
Hill: Of course, he has, yeah. We’ve had a breath of fresh air and a new lease on life with Richie, you know. And again, I’m not knocking Ken at all. If any of us left â€" if I were replaced or if Glenn were replaced or whatever â€" it would have the same effect. You know, suddenly you got a whippersnapper there and it gives you sort of more incentive and more enthusiasm maybe, seeing him jumping all over the place.
Hill: Of course, he has, yeah. We’ve had a breath of fresh air and a new lease on life with Richie, you know. And again, I’m not knocking Ken at all. If any of us left â€" if I were replaced or if Glenn were replaced or whatever â€" it would have the same effect. You know, suddenly you got a whippersnapper there and it gives you sort of more incentive and more enthusiasm maybe, seeing him jumping all over the place.
Out of all the accomplishments do you have one that stands out for you?
Hill: There’s been loads of things we’ve done. We did the US Festival with three hundred â€" odd â€" thousand people showing up. All kinds of things like that â€" LIVE AID. But the thing I keep on coming back to is: your first album. It didn’t sound as good as we expected it to. But to see that album on a shelf with all your favorite bands … and these were the days of record stores where you used to go out to buy a record. That was it. We had arrived and it was never going away. That was there for posterity and something to build on. And that was, I think, the greatest feeling. The fact that at last we had been accepted and we were on our way. We got the foundation stone and you can build it from there.
Hill: There’s been loads of things we’ve done. We did the US Festival with three hundred â€" odd â€" thousand people showing up. All kinds of things like that â€" LIVE AID. But the thing I keep on coming back to is: your first album. It didn’t sound as good as we expected it to. But to see that album on a shelf with all your favorite bands … and these were the days of record stores where you used to go out to buy a record. That was it. We had arrived and it was never going away. That was there for posterity and something to build on. And that was, I think, the greatest feeling. The fact that at last we had been accepted and we were on our way. We got the foundation stone and you can build it from there.
Did you think you had something special?
Hill: We always thought we’d get bigger â€" whether we expected to reach the heights that we did is, I don’t know, maybe arguable.
Hill: We always thought we’d get bigger â€" whether we expected to reach the heights that we did is, I don’t know, maybe arguable.
Taking nothing away from Al Atkins but Rob Halford’s voice is so unique. When you first heard him …
Hill: We went over to Rob’s house and he came in singing harmonies to an Ella Fitzgerald song that happened to be playing or something like that. “Ooh, harmonies that’s pretty good.’ (laughs) And we went from there. And of course we started rehearsing. Got such a terrific range. And obviously he’s been a big part of the success of the band.
Hill: We went over to Rob’s house and he came in singing harmonies to an Ella Fitzgerald song that happened to be playing or something like that. “Ooh, harmonies that’s pretty good.’ (laughs) And we went from there. And of course we started rehearsing. Got such a terrific range. And obviously he’s been a big part of the success of the band.
Brad Angle of Guitar World conducted an interview with METALLICA's James Hetfield (guitar, vocals) and Kirk Hammett for the magazine's November 2011 issue, which features the "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal (METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX) on the cover. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Guitar World: Touring back in the early days was filled with a lot of youthful, drunken troublemaking. There's the classic story of [ANTHRAX guitarist] Scott Ian and [late METALLICA bassist] Cliff Burton pissing down laundry shoots in London…
Hetfield: [laughs] Yeah, now it's shitting down laundry shoots. [laughs] There was certainly some childish behavior that happened on the road. There was a lot of pent-up energy back then. And I can only speak for myself, but now I'm able to channel that energy a lot better and focus it on the music. But I will say watching my kid piss off the balcony is still pretty funny. I wasn't even the instigator, but the wife still busted me. But she's supposed to. So I have to tell my son, "Hey, don't do that again!" But it was so funny. [laughs]
Hammett: For these Big Four shows, a lot of the guys have their families out with them. So you don't get that crazy debauched rock-and-roll party scene you might have gotten 15 years ago. I hate to say it but now it's all about dealing with the family and being tired from hanging with the family. But take away all the responsibility and it would be one great party scene at every show.
Guitar World: The METALLICA machine has grown significantly over the years. Ever get nostalgic for piling in a van and hauling your own gear.
Hammett: Heck no. [laughs] I have neck, back, shoulder and knee problems. But I do get nostalgic for the old days, when things were very simple. To play a show nowadays, it means you have to alert everyone and crank up the machine. I wish we were a lot more stealthy and quick on our feet. But we're an established band that's been around for a long time. What are you gonan do? We're brontosauruses.
Hetfield: [laughs] Usually we'll hop in some vehicle together, take a little ride and realize that's good enough. There's just so much other stuff in life that is fun for us and inspires us. And you know what? Headling out on tour is still one of those things. It's hard to say goodbye and leave the family, but once you get out there, you realize you really crave this guy hang time, whether that's jamming and writing together or just hanging out at HQ [METALLICA's headquarters in San Rafael, California]. We're all still a bunch of guys that need the guy hang. The circle is just a lot smaller than it used to be, and the word party means something a little different now. We do get nostalgic about the old days, and what they meant to us. But we're making "old days" right now. Ten years from now, we'll look back and wonder why we were wasting our time looking back at the previous ten years. We're making history now, and enjoying it while we do it.
Guitar World: James, I noticed that you were having a good time on the side of the stage watching MEGADETH's set. Is that a regular part of the hang, too?
Hetfield: Oh, definitely. I love to see what's going if I have time. It's real nice to get up there early and see what's up. It's annoying that I don't get to stand there the whole time and watch the show. But there are a lot of other parts of touring for us, with the fan club, interviews and actually grabbing a bite of dinner. It's nice to see how the crowd's reacting, and it's a good sign when the crowd's up for it. Because, really, we want everyone to do well and feel the vibe. And when the crowd is anti one of the Big Four, that's no fun. We're all moving forward in the same direction, so you gotta put that stuff aside. Sure, you might like one band better than the other, but hey, you're seeing some history.
Guitar World: Right now, Yankee Stadium is the last scheduled Big Four show. Are there any plans to add more dates?
Hammett: Well, there's a lot of surf spots I've yet to hit in the world. [laughs] I think we should bring the Big Four to Indonesia, Tahiti, the Maldives and Tavarua. [laughs] But seriously, the vibe at these shows is genuinely good. We'll do a slew of Big Four shows, go do our own things for a few months, and when we come back, everyone is glad to see each other. It's a super-cool thing for us, and I'm sure there are a lot of fans still out there that would love to see the show. I won't say yes, but I won't say no, either.
Hetfield: We don't know what's gonna happen. We're trying to cover the U.S. coasts, at least. Then we gotta get in and start focusing on writing a new record. But more Big Four shows? We never say never, because obviously, this was never gonna happen in the first place.
Guitar World: Touring back in the early days was filled with a lot of youthful, drunken troublemaking. There's the classic story of [ANTHRAX guitarist] Scott Ian and [late METALLICA bassist] Cliff Burton pissing down laundry shoots in London…
Hetfield: [laughs] Yeah, now it's shitting down laundry shoots. [laughs] There was certainly some childish behavior that happened on the road. There was a lot of pent-up energy back then. And I can only speak for myself, but now I'm able to channel that energy a lot better and focus it on the music. But I will say watching my kid piss off the balcony is still pretty funny. I wasn't even the instigator, but the wife still busted me. But she's supposed to. So I have to tell my son, "Hey, don't do that again!" But it was so funny. [laughs]
Hammett: For these Big Four shows, a lot of the guys have their families out with them. So you don't get that crazy debauched rock-and-roll party scene you might have gotten 15 years ago. I hate to say it but now it's all about dealing with the family and being tired from hanging with the family. But take away all the responsibility and it would be one great party scene at every show.
Guitar World: The METALLICA machine has grown significantly over the years. Ever get nostalgic for piling in a van and hauling your own gear.
Hammett: Heck no. [laughs] I have neck, back, shoulder and knee problems. But I do get nostalgic for the old days, when things were very simple. To play a show nowadays, it means you have to alert everyone and crank up the machine. I wish we were a lot more stealthy and quick on our feet. But we're an established band that's been around for a long time. What are you gonan do? We're brontosauruses.
Hetfield: [laughs] Usually we'll hop in some vehicle together, take a little ride and realize that's good enough. There's just so much other stuff in life that is fun for us and inspires us. And you know what? Headling out on tour is still one of those things. It's hard to say goodbye and leave the family, but once you get out there, you realize you really crave this guy hang time, whether that's jamming and writing together or just hanging out at HQ [METALLICA's headquarters in San Rafael, California]. We're all still a bunch of guys that need the guy hang. The circle is just a lot smaller than it used to be, and the word party means something a little different now. We do get nostalgic about the old days, and what they meant to us. But we're making "old days" right now. Ten years from now, we'll look back and wonder why we were wasting our time looking back at the previous ten years. We're making history now, and enjoying it while we do it.
Guitar World: James, I noticed that you were having a good time on the side of the stage watching MEGADETH's set. Is that a regular part of the hang, too?
Hetfield: Oh, definitely. I love to see what's going if I have time. It's real nice to get up there early and see what's up. It's annoying that I don't get to stand there the whole time and watch the show. But there are a lot of other parts of touring for us, with the fan club, interviews and actually grabbing a bite of dinner. It's nice to see how the crowd's reacting, and it's a good sign when the crowd's up for it. Because, really, we want everyone to do well and feel the vibe. And when the crowd is anti one of the Big Four, that's no fun. We're all moving forward in the same direction, so you gotta put that stuff aside. Sure, you might like one band better than the other, but hey, you're seeing some history.
Guitar World: Right now, Yankee Stadium is the last scheduled Big Four show. Are there any plans to add more dates?
Hammett: Well, there's a lot of surf spots I've yet to hit in the world. [laughs] I think we should bring the Big Four to Indonesia, Tahiti, the Maldives and Tavarua. [laughs] But seriously, the vibe at these shows is genuinely good. We'll do a slew of Big Four shows, go do our own things for a few months, and when we come back, everyone is glad to see each other. It's a super-cool thing for us, and I'm sure there are a lot of fans still out there that would love to see the show. I won't say yes, but I won't say no, either.
Hetfield: We don't know what's gonna happen. We're trying to cover the U.S. coasts, at least. Then we gotta get in and start focusing on writing a new record. But more Big Four shows? We never say never, because obviously, this was never gonna happen in the first place.
The musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, "Lulu", will be released on November 1 in North America via Warner Bros. Records and one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world through Universal Music. The CD was co-produced by Reed, METALLICA, Hal Willner — who has produced albums for Reed, Marianne Faithfull, and Laurie Anderson, among others — and Greg Fidelman. Fidelman also mixed the record.
"Lulu" final track listing:
01. Brandenburg Gate (4:19)
02. The View (5:17)
03. Pumping Blood (7:24)
04. Mistress Dread (6:52)
05. Iced Honey (4:36)
06. Cheat On Me (11:26)
07. Frustration (8:33)
08. Little Dog (8:01)
09. Dragon (11:08)
10. Junior Dad (19:28)
"Pumping Blood" lyrics:
If I pump out blood in the sunshine
Oil on the wheel
That is blasted and busted away
A nail or a little piece of glass
A little piece of glass
A little piece of glass
Swarming like bees over the air
Off the pump off the thing
The blood that I'm pumping away
Like bees over the air
Off the pump
Off the thing
The blood that I'm pumping away
Off the pump
Off the thing
The blood that I'm pumping away
If I pump blood in the sunshine
And you wear a leather box with azaleas
And I pump more blood
And it seeps through my skin
Will you adore the river
The stream, the trickle
The tributary of my heart
As I pump more blood
And it seeps through my skin
Will you adore the river
The stream, the trickle
The tributary of my heart
If I'm pumping blood
Like a common state worker
If I waggle my ass like a dark prostitute
Would you think less of me
And my coagulating heart
Waggle my ass like a dark prostitute
Coagulating heart
Pumping blood
Would you top me off
Would you top me off as I deepen a curtsy
While you yell out, "mercy"
We grow apart
Would you rip and cut me
Use a knife on me
Be shocked at the boldness
The coldness of this little heart
Tied up in leather
Would you take the measure
Of the blood that I pump
In the manic confusion of love
Supreme violation
Supreme violation
"Oh, ah, ah, ah Jack I beseech you"
"Oh Jack I beseech you"
Supreme violation
Blood in the foyer
The bathroom
The tea room
The kitchen, with her knives splayed
I will swallow your sharpest cutter
Like a colored man's dick
Blood spurting from me
"Oh Jack, Jack I beseech…"
"Jack, I beseech you, I beseech…"
In the end it was an ordinary heart
"Oh Jack I beseech you"
As I scream out my pain
In the end it was an ordinary heart
In the end, in the end, in the end
It was an ordinary heart
"Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack I beseech you"
Supreme violation . . . Oh
"Jack, Jack, Jack I beseech you"
I call out your name
Blood in the foyer, the bathroom,
The tea room, the kitchen
And knives splayed
I swallow your sharpest cutter
Like a colored man's dick
Blood spurting from me
Blood spurting from me
"Oh Jack"
"Oh Jack, I beseech ya"
In the end it was an ordinary heart
In the end it was an ordinary heart
Pumping blood [End of lyrics]
The idea for these two giants of modern music to work together was born after the 25th anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts in New York City in October 2009. METALLICA — singer/guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — played with Reed on VELVET UNDERGROUND classics "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat". "We knew from then that we were made for each other," Reed says.
After that triumphant performance, Reed suggested they all make a record together. At first they planned to record an album of Reedfraven's older material, what Ulrich describes as "some of Lou's lost jewels — songs that he felt he'd like to give a second spin, and we could do whatever it is we do to some of those songs." That idea "hung in the air for a couple of months." Then, a week or two before that session was to begin, "Lou called up and said, 'Listen, I have this other idea.'"
That idea was to record a series of songs Reed had written for American avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and German theater group the Berliner Ensemble's production of the "Lulu Plays", which premiered in April at the Theatre am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, founded by Bertolt Brecht. The songs are inspired by German expressionist Frank Wedekind's early 20th century plays "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's Box", and were a rewrite of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", which emerged as a graphic novel on Fantagraphics Press.
"We were very interested in working with Lou," says Hetfield. "I had these giant question marks: What's it going to be like? What's going to happen? So it was great when he sent us the lyrics for the 'Lulu' body of work. It was something we could sink our teeth into. I could take off my singer and lyricist hat and concentrate on the music part. These were very potent lyrics, with a soundscape behind them for atmosphere. Lars and I sat there with an acoustic and let this blank canvas take us where it needed to go. It was a great gift, to be asked to stamp 'TALLICA on it. And that's what we did."
"We had to bring 'Lulu' to life in a sophisticated way, using rock," Reed says. "And the hardest power rock you could come up with would have to be METALLICA. They live on that planet. We played together, and I knew it: dream come true. This is the best thing I ever did. And I did it with the best group I could possibly find. By definition, everybody involved was honest. This has come into the world pure. We pushed as far as we possibly could within the realms of reality."
"It's definitely not a METALLICA album, or a Lou Reed album," adds Hammett. "It's something else. It's a new animal, a hybrid."
A variety of physical "Lulu" releases are available for pre-order at LouReedMetallica.com:
** 2CD Package - $19.99
Contents: Double CD with 24-page booklet including all lyrics.
** Deluxe 2CD Poster Set - $119.99
Contents: Limited-run tube including a poster of the "Lulu" mannequin and song lyrics, three high-quality prints of Anton Corbijn photos of Lou Reed and METALLICA, and the double CD of "Lulu" in a unique folding slipcase. Each tube is numbered. Dimensions of the tube are approximately 5.5 inches in diameter by 49 inches long.
** Deluxe Book 2CD - $109.99
Contents: Limited-run two-book set, each book 12" x 12" square bound with a hard cover. The Anton Corbijn book is 20 pages of photos taken of Lou Reed and METALLICA in Gothenburg, Sweden in the summer of 2011. The lyric book is 28 pages with lyrics from each song along with imagery from the objects collection of WerkbundarchiV Museum Der Dinge, Berlin, Germany. The two "Lulu" CDs are also included in the lyric book. All housed in a clear plastic slipcase.
** Vinyl 2LP Set
2CD Package
"Lulu" final track listing:
01. Brandenburg Gate (4:19)
02. The View (5:17)
03. Pumping Blood (7:24)
04. Mistress Dread (6:52)
05. Iced Honey (4:36)
06. Cheat On Me (11:26)
07. Frustration (8:33)
08. Little Dog (8:01)
09. Dragon (11:08)
10. Junior Dad (19:28)
"Pumping Blood" lyrics:
If I pump out blood in the sunshine
Oil on the wheel
That is blasted and busted away
A nail or a little piece of glass
A little piece of glass
A little piece of glass
Swarming like bees over the air
Off the pump off the thing
The blood that I'm pumping away
Like bees over the air
Off the pump
Off the thing
The blood that I'm pumping away
Off the pump
Off the thing
The blood that I'm pumping away
If I pump blood in the sunshine
And you wear a leather box with azaleas
And I pump more blood
And it seeps through my skin
Will you adore the river
The stream, the trickle
The tributary of my heart
As I pump more blood
And it seeps through my skin
Will you adore the river
The stream, the trickle
The tributary of my heart
If I'm pumping blood
Like a common state worker
If I waggle my ass like a dark prostitute
Would you think less of me
And my coagulating heart
Waggle my ass like a dark prostitute
Coagulating heart
Pumping blood
Would you top me off
Would you top me off as I deepen a curtsy
While you yell out, "mercy"
We grow apart
Would you rip and cut me
Use a knife on me
Be shocked at the boldness
The coldness of this little heart
Tied up in leather
Would you take the measure
Of the blood that I pump
In the manic confusion of love
Supreme violation
Supreme violation
"Oh, ah, ah, ah Jack I beseech you"
"Oh Jack I beseech you"
Supreme violation
Blood in the foyer
The bathroom
The tea room
The kitchen, with her knives splayed
I will swallow your sharpest cutter
Like a colored man's dick
Blood spurting from me
"Oh Jack, Jack I beseech…"
"Jack, I beseech you, I beseech…"
In the end it was an ordinary heart
"Oh Jack I beseech you"
As I scream out my pain
In the end it was an ordinary heart
In the end, in the end, in the end
It was an ordinary heart
"Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack I beseech you"
Supreme violation . . . Oh
"Jack, Jack, Jack I beseech you"
I call out your name
Blood in the foyer, the bathroom,
The tea room, the kitchen
And knives splayed
I swallow your sharpest cutter
Like a colored man's dick
Blood spurting from me
Blood spurting from me
"Oh Jack"
"Oh Jack, I beseech ya"
In the end it was an ordinary heart
In the end it was an ordinary heart
Pumping blood [End of lyrics]
The idea for these two giants of modern music to work together was born after the 25th anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame concerts in New York City in October 2009. METALLICA — singer/guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — played with Reed on VELVET UNDERGROUND classics "Sweet Jane" and "White Light/White Heat". "We knew from then that we were made for each other," Reed says.
After that triumphant performance, Reed suggested they all make a record together. At first they planned to record an album of Reedfraven's older material, what Ulrich describes as "some of Lou's lost jewels — songs that he felt he'd like to give a second spin, and we could do whatever it is we do to some of those songs." That idea "hung in the air for a couple of months." Then, a week or two before that session was to begin, "Lou called up and said, 'Listen, I have this other idea.'"
That idea was to record a series of songs Reed had written for American avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson and German theater group the Berliner Ensemble's production of the "Lulu Plays", which premiered in April at the Theatre am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, founded by Bertolt Brecht. The songs are inspired by German expressionist Frank Wedekind's early 20th century plays "Earth Spirit" and "Pandora's Box", and were a rewrite of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", which emerged as a graphic novel on Fantagraphics Press.
"We were very interested in working with Lou," says Hetfield. "I had these giant question marks: What's it going to be like? What's going to happen? So it was great when he sent us the lyrics for the 'Lulu' body of work. It was something we could sink our teeth into. I could take off my singer and lyricist hat and concentrate on the music part. These were very potent lyrics, with a soundscape behind them for atmosphere. Lars and I sat there with an acoustic and let this blank canvas take us where it needed to go. It was a great gift, to be asked to stamp 'TALLICA on it. And that's what we did."
"We had to bring 'Lulu' to life in a sophisticated way, using rock," Reed says. "And the hardest power rock you could come up with would have to be METALLICA. They live on that planet. We played together, and I knew it: dream come true. This is the best thing I ever did. And I did it with the best group I could possibly find. By definition, everybody involved was honest. This has come into the world pure. We pushed as far as we possibly could within the realms of reality."
"It's definitely not a METALLICA album, or a Lou Reed album," adds Hammett. "It's something else. It's a new animal, a hybrid."
A variety of physical "Lulu" releases are available for pre-order at LouReedMetallica.com:
** 2CD Package - $19.99
Contents: Double CD with 24-page booklet including all lyrics.
** Deluxe 2CD Poster Set - $119.99
Contents: Limited-run tube including a poster of the "Lulu" mannequin and song lyrics, three high-quality prints of Anton Corbijn photos of Lou Reed and METALLICA, and the double CD of "Lulu" in a unique folding slipcase. Each tube is numbered. Dimensions of the tube are approximately 5.5 inches in diameter by 49 inches long.
** Deluxe Book 2CD - $109.99
Contents: Limited-run two-book set, each book 12" x 12" square bound with a hard cover. The Anton Corbijn book is 20 pages of photos taken of Lou Reed and METALLICA in Gothenburg, Sweden in the summer of 2011. The lyric book is 28 pages with lyrics from each song along with imagery from the objects collection of WerkbundarchiV Museum Der Dinge, Berlin, Germany. The two "Lulu" CDs are also included in the lyric book. All housed in a clear plastic slipcase.
** Vinyl 2LP Set
2CD Package
According to DNAIndia.com, the organizers of METALLICA's October 30 concert in Bangalore, India have yet to seek police permission for the event to proceed. T Suneel Kumar, the Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), tells the site, "A concert of this size to be held in this city requires the organizers to seek police permission and also police protection. I have only been reading media reports about this band performing in Bangalore, but no one has yet sought any permission from the police department."
Officials are reportedly concerned that they have been left with little time to organize a large contingent of police and traffic personnel to ensure that routine life around Palace Grounds is not disturbed.
At least 20,000 fans are expected to the sold-out concert, which has been dubbed "Rock In India".
According to RadioAndMusic.com, MTV India will broadcast METALLICA's first-ever concert in India. The channel, in association with F1 Rocks, will telecast the one-hour special of historic METALLICA performance one week after the live event.
F1 Rocks and MTV have organized a nationwide band hunt where a lucky band selected through online voting will get an opportunity of a lifetime to perform at the concert. MTV will telecast this nationwide search as four half-hour episodes.
MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy said, "MTV reaches approximately 130 million people across 40 million homes and it's a huge thing for MTV to broadcast the most awaited concert in India in association with F1 Rocks. METALLICA concert will boost the Indian economy as international acts tend to do well in the live-music circuit in an emerging economy like India."
METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo revealed the band's plans to play India in an April interview with the Inland Empire Weekly magazine.
"We are going to play India in October," he said. "That should be interesting, playing a place we never thought in our wildest dreams we'd [go] to play. It's an honor for all of us that we get to be a part of that whole music scene as a metal band sharing our music with fans in India at this incredible concert!
DNA Entertainment Networks, which has previously brought international names like IRON MAIDEN, MEGADETH, SCORPIONS, ROGER WATERS and DEEP PURPLE to Indian shores, was responsible for booking METALLICA's Indian concerts.
Officials are reportedly concerned that they have been left with little time to organize a large contingent of police and traffic personnel to ensure that routine life around Palace Grounds is not disturbed.
At least 20,000 fans are expected to the sold-out concert, which has been dubbed "Rock In India".
According to RadioAndMusic.com, MTV India will broadcast METALLICA's first-ever concert in India. The channel, in association with F1 Rocks, will telecast the one-hour special of historic METALLICA performance one week after the live event.
F1 Rocks and MTV have organized a nationwide band hunt where a lucky band selected through online voting will get an opportunity of a lifetime to perform at the concert. MTV will telecast this nationwide search as four half-hour episodes.
MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy said, "MTV reaches approximately 130 million people across 40 million homes and it's a huge thing for MTV to broadcast the most awaited concert in India in association with F1 Rocks. METALLICA concert will boost the Indian economy as international acts tend to do well in the live-music circuit in an emerging economy like India."
METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo revealed the band's plans to play India in an April interview with the Inland Empire Weekly magazine.
"We are going to play India in October," he said. "That should be interesting, playing a place we never thought in our wildest dreams we'd [go] to play. It's an honor for all of us that we get to be a part of that whole music scene as a metal band sharing our music with fans in India at this incredible concert!
DNA Entertainment Networks, which has previously brought international names like IRON MAIDEN, MEGADETH, SCORPIONS, ROGER WATERS and DEEP PURPLE to Indian shores, was responsible for booking METALLICA's Indian concerts.
GUNS N' ROSES' continual tardiness is making things rough for concert promoters and fans alike, with long waits for Axl Rose just as much a definite at a the band's concert as hearing "Paradise City" or "Welcome To The Jungle". At the Rock In Rio concert on October 2, GUNS N' ROSES came onstage two hours late despite having reportedly agreed to pay a heavy fine for making the audience wait.
GUNS N' ROSES' defended its actions with a brand new post on its Facebook page, stating, "Love it Hate it Accept it Debate it — You want 8 o'clock shows go find F-R-I-E-N-D-S or hit a cinema somewhere.. or you wanna be informed go catch the 10-o'clock news.. this is Rock N' Roll! Treat yourself don't cheat yourself thinking you're gonna go to school or work or whatever you 'normally' do the next day. Oh and remember before you get high and never want to come down. 'you can have anything you want but you better not take it from me!' This is GUNS N' ROSES and when the time is right the stage will ignite. Looking forward to sharing that with rockers soon!"
GUNS N' ROSES' 2001 show at Rock In Rio saw them take to the stage two hours late, and while the crowd waited patiently for them on that occasion, this has not been the case at other shows.
In March 2010, fans of the band rioted in São Paolo, Brazil after a private show was canceled at the last minute, and in 2002 fans in Vancouver, Canada and Philadelphia in the U.S. rioted when shows were canceled on the day.
Also in 2010, organizers of the Reading festival in England pulled the plug on the band's PA, silencing them after they took to the stage an hour late and tried to overrun the event's curfew time by over half an hour.
GUNS N' ROSES' was reportedly fined $108,000 (£72,000) by officials at London's O2 Arena in October 2010 after Rose's late stage appearance meant he and his bandmates went over the venue's strict 11 p.m. curfew. The fans were so upset about GUNS N' ROSES' tardiness at the first of the two London shows that they were throwing things at Axl Rose. He told the audience not to be doing that because they could miss him and hit someone at the front of the stage by accident. They wouldn't want that to happen, he added. The concert organizers allowed them to play for the extra hour over curfew for two gigs.
At GUNS N' ROSES' lone U.S. concert appearance in 2010 in Sturgis, South Dakota, the crowd — composed largely of bikers — was forced to wait the usual two hours before Rose arrived. Rather than rioting, however, those in attendance either littered the stage with debris or simply left.
Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach, a close personal friend of Axl Rose, explained in a September 2010 interview why Axl is persistently late going on stage. Bach said, "Everybody has all these theories as to why he acts the way he acts. And there's no big mystery: it's his voice. It's his job to sing like that, and sometimes that sound is hard for him. To sing in that range is just not an easy thing to do. He does what he can — even if it takes him 45 more minutes to warm up his pipes so he can sing 'Sweet Child O' Mine'."
GUNS N' ROSES' defended its actions with a brand new post on its Facebook page, stating, "Love it Hate it Accept it Debate it — You want 8 o'clock shows go find F-R-I-E-N-D-S or hit a cinema somewhere.. or you wanna be informed go catch the 10-o'clock news.. this is Rock N' Roll! Treat yourself don't cheat yourself thinking you're gonna go to school or work or whatever you 'normally' do the next day. Oh and remember before you get high and never want to come down. 'you can have anything you want but you better not take it from me!' This is GUNS N' ROSES and when the time is right the stage will ignite. Looking forward to sharing that with rockers soon!"
GUNS N' ROSES' 2001 show at Rock In Rio saw them take to the stage two hours late, and while the crowd waited patiently for them on that occasion, this has not been the case at other shows.
In March 2010, fans of the band rioted in São Paolo, Brazil after a private show was canceled at the last minute, and in 2002 fans in Vancouver, Canada and Philadelphia in the U.S. rioted when shows were canceled on the day.
Also in 2010, organizers of the Reading festival in England pulled the plug on the band's PA, silencing them after they took to the stage an hour late and tried to overrun the event's curfew time by over half an hour.
GUNS N' ROSES' was reportedly fined $108,000 (£72,000) by officials at London's O2 Arena in October 2010 after Rose's late stage appearance meant he and his bandmates went over the venue's strict 11 p.m. curfew. The fans were so upset about GUNS N' ROSES' tardiness at the first of the two London shows that they were throwing things at Axl Rose. He told the audience not to be doing that because they could miss him and hit someone at the front of the stage by accident. They wouldn't want that to happen, he added. The concert organizers allowed them to play for the extra hour over curfew for two gigs.
At GUNS N' ROSES' lone U.S. concert appearance in 2010 in Sturgis, South Dakota, the crowd — composed largely of bikers — was forced to wait the usual two hours before Rose arrived. Rather than rioting, however, those in attendance either littered the stage with debris or simply left.
Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach, a close personal friend of Axl Rose, explained in a September 2010 interview why Axl is persistently late going on stage. Bach said, "Everybody has all these theories as to why he acts the way he acts. And there's no big mystery: it's his voice. It's his job to sing like that, and sometimes that sound is hard for him. To sing in that range is just not an easy thing to do. He does what he can — even if it takes him 45 more minutes to warm up his pipes so he can sing 'Sweet Child O' Mine'."
MOTÖRHEAD will release "The Wörld Is Ours Vol. 1 - Everywhere Further Than Everyplace Else" on November 14 via Motörhead Music / UDR / EMI.
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" is a blistering DVD containing live footage, interviews and some of the finest moments from the band's 2011 world tour.
Mixed by the band's long-time producer Cameron Webb, "Around The Wörld Vol. 1" is stuffed with the classics Motörfans demand, from "Overkill" to "Ace Of Spades" to "Killed By Death" as well as some old gems like "Over The Top" and new favorites such as "I Know How To Die".
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" gives you the complete set from the band's supreme performance in Chile at the Teatro Caupolican in Santiago on April 9, 2011, shot by Banger Films and Sam Dunn ("Iron Maiden Flight 666", "Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage"). The DVD continues with some tasty morsels from New York's Best Buy Theater and the Manchester Apollo.
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" is a pure testament to the power, glory and sheer voltage of the finest rock 'n' roll played by real legends. Accept NO substitute! And yes, as you guessed, the DVD documentation will be continued next year…
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" track listing:
Santiago, Chile (90-minute concert) + interview (9 minutes)
01. We Are Motörhead
02. Stay Clean
03. Get Back In Line
04. Metropolis
05. Over the Top
06. One Night Stand
07. Rock Out
08. The Thousand Names of God
09. I Got Mine
10. I Know How to Die
11. The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
12. In the Name of Tragedy
13. Just 'Cos You Got the Power
14. Going to Brazil
15. Killed by Death
16. Ace of Spades
17. Overkill
New York (20 minutes) + interview (23 minutes)
01. Rock Out
02. TheThousand Names of God
03. Killed By Death (feat. Doro and Todd Youth)
Manchester (25 minutes) + interview (12 min)
01. We Are Motörhead
02. Stay Clean
03. Be My Baby
04. Get Back In Line
05. I Know How to Die
06. Born to Raise Hell (feat. Michael Monroe)
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" will be available in the following formats:
1. DVD + double audio CD (3-disc set)
* Digipack 8 panel / 24 page booklet / CD format for CD racking
* The DVD contains the full track listing as above plus 2 bonus audio CDs containing
the Santiago concert in full and the selected tracks from New York and Manchester
2. Blu-ray - Amaray box (single disc)
The Blu-ray contains the full track listing as above plus the following bonus
Material: "Get Back In Line" video clip (3:45), "I Know How To Die" video clip (4:00), "The Wörld Is Yours" EPK (23 minutes)
3. DVD - Amaray box (single disc)
The DVD contains the full track listing as above
4. Vinyl LP - Gatefold sleeve (double disc)
The vinyl album contains the full 90-minutes concert in Santiago, Chile at Teatro
Caupolican
5. Digital audio
The digital package contains full 90-minute concert in Santiago, Chile plus selected songs from the New York and Manchester concerts
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" is a blistering DVD containing live footage, interviews and some of the finest moments from the band's 2011 world tour.
Mixed by the band's long-time producer Cameron Webb, "Around The Wörld Vol. 1" is stuffed with the classics Motörfans demand, from "Overkill" to "Ace Of Spades" to "Killed By Death" as well as some old gems like "Over The Top" and new favorites such as "I Know How To Die".
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" gives you the complete set from the band's supreme performance in Chile at the Teatro Caupolican in Santiago on April 9, 2011, shot by Banger Films and Sam Dunn ("Iron Maiden Flight 666", "Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage"). The DVD continues with some tasty morsels from New York's Best Buy Theater and the Manchester Apollo.
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" is a pure testament to the power, glory and sheer voltage of the finest rock 'n' roll played by real legends. Accept NO substitute! And yes, as you guessed, the DVD documentation will be continued next year…
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" track listing:
Santiago, Chile (90-minute concert) + interview (9 minutes)
01. We Are Motörhead
02. Stay Clean
03. Get Back In Line
04. Metropolis
05. Over the Top
06. One Night Stand
07. Rock Out
08. The Thousand Names of God
09. I Got Mine
10. I Know How to Die
11. The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
12. In the Name of Tragedy
13. Just 'Cos You Got the Power
14. Going to Brazil
15. Killed by Death
16. Ace of Spades
17. Overkill
New York (20 minutes) + interview (23 minutes)
01. Rock Out
02. TheThousand Names of God
03. Killed By Death (feat. Doro and Todd Youth)
Manchester (25 minutes) + interview (12 min)
01. We Are Motörhead
02. Stay Clean
03. Be My Baby
04. Get Back In Line
05. I Know How to Die
06. Born to Raise Hell (feat. Michael Monroe)
"Around The Wörld Vol. 1" will be available in the following formats:
1. DVD + double audio CD (3-disc set)
* Digipack 8 panel / 24 page booklet / CD format for CD racking
* The DVD contains the full track listing as above plus 2 bonus audio CDs containing
the Santiago concert in full and the selected tracks from New York and Manchester
2. Blu-ray - Amaray box (single disc)
The Blu-ray contains the full track listing as above plus the following bonus
Material: "Get Back In Line" video clip (3:45), "I Know How To Die" video clip (4:00), "The Wörld Is Yours" EPK (23 minutes)
3. DVD - Amaray box (single disc)
The DVD contains the full track listing as above
4. Vinyl LP - Gatefold sleeve (double disc)
The vinyl album contains the full 90-minutes concert in Santiago, Chile at Teatro
Caupolican
5. Digital audio
The digital package contains full 90-minute concert in Santiago, Chile plus selected songs from the New York and Manchester concerts
MEGADETH guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine recently underwent surgery for stenosis, a neck and spine condition that he says was caused by "years of headbanging." He writes on Twitter, "[October 5] was two-week check-up. Looks good! Feels great!! Start physical therapy Monday. More TreadClimber [cardiovascular exercise machine similar to a treadmill. — Ed.] until then."
In a brand new interview with Metal Obsession, MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover stated about Mustaine's post-surgery recovery processs, "He's recovered really well. Everything went really well and the surgery was a complete success. You know, he just needs time to heal. It takes time to heal. He needs to rest up before our South American tour in November. He really needed to have it done. He was in a lot of pain for the last several shows that we did during the [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem tour and at the ['Big Four' show at the] Yankee Stadium [in New York City] as well. It sucks seeing him in pain, but he's a real trooper. As soon as we were done with Yankee Stadium, we flew right back home and ran him to the doctor and got the results. Now we're really happy that he did that."
Two days prior to the "Big Four" event in New York City on September 14, rumors spread that MEGADETH had pulled out of the concert so that Mustaine could undergo surgery. Mustaine eventually had a change of heart and decided to go through with the performance, but struggled through the set due to the pain. He told Rolling Stone before the show, "I thought about it and I thought, 'You know what? I trust God and I know He's got me in His hands. I know that He hasn't brought me this far through all this adversity and done all this reconciliation with all the [other] bands [the bill] and us all getting along this well to have the finale show [of the 'Big Four' tour] here in the States stopped. And I just thought, either God's everything or it's nothing, and I believe in Him, so that's why [I wanted to go ahead with the concert]."
Regarding the nature of his injury, Mustaine said, "It's [caused by] years of headbanging — just doing this [moving head up and down] over the years. I have what's called stenosis — three herniated discs and bone spurs everywhere. It's just a lot of wear and tear over my body over the years touring."
He continued, "We've had to push our Dubai date back to December and we may end up having to push our South American tour back, too, because they say the healing time is somewhere around two months. And even I [undergo the neck surgery] in the next three days, I'm not gonna be able to be fully recovered within that two-month period unless I work my butt off. I mean, I know I how I am — I got my hand back after I got injured the first time. The funny thing is it's the same hand and almost the same thing. It's just that it happened once before, went away and now it's back."
In a brand new interview with Metal Obsession, MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover stated about Mustaine's post-surgery recovery processs, "He's recovered really well. Everything went really well and the surgery was a complete success. You know, he just needs time to heal. It takes time to heal. He needs to rest up before our South American tour in November. He really needed to have it done. He was in a lot of pain for the last several shows that we did during the [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem tour and at the ['Big Four' show at the] Yankee Stadium [in New York City] as well. It sucks seeing him in pain, but he's a real trooper. As soon as we were done with Yankee Stadium, we flew right back home and ran him to the doctor and got the results. Now we're really happy that he did that."
Two days prior to the "Big Four" event in New York City on September 14, rumors spread that MEGADETH had pulled out of the concert so that Mustaine could undergo surgery. Mustaine eventually had a change of heart and decided to go through with the performance, but struggled through the set due to the pain. He told Rolling Stone before the show, "I thought about it and I thought, 'You know what? I trust God and I know He's got me in His hands. I know that He hasn't brought me this far through all this adversity and done all this reconciliation with all the [other] bands [the bill] and us all getting along this well to have the finale show [of the 'Big Four' tour] here in the States stopped. And I just thought, either God's everything or it's nothing, and I believe in Him, so that's why [I wanted to go ahead with the concert]."
Regarding the nature of his injury, Mustaine said, "It's [caused by] years of headbanging — just doing this [moving head up and down] over the years. I have what's called stenosis — three herniated discs and bone spurs everywhere. It's just a lot of wear and tear over my body over the years touring."
He continued, "We've had to push our Dubai date back to December and we may end up having to push our South American tour back, too, because they say the healing time is somewhere around two months. And even I [undergo the neck surgery] in the next three days, I'm not gonna be able to be fully recovered within that two-month period unless I work my butt off. I mean, I know I how I am — I got my hand back after I got injured the first time. The funny thing is it's the same hand and almost the same thing. It's just that it happened once before, went away and now it's back."
Megadeth have been at the forefront of the thrash metal movement for nearly 30 years and there doesn't seem to be any sign of giving up, yet. As we reach the eve of Megadeth's thirteenth album, ironically called, 'Th1rt3en'. Metal Obsession sat down with Megadeth's drummer, Shawn Drover to discuss the band's latest musical escapade.
We delve into the personal psyche of Shawn Drover to unravel his personal views towards the political hierarchy and social disorder, ever so abundant and constantly fuelling the fire of Megadeth's poignant lyrics…plus we talk about the new album as well.
Metal Obsession: Hey Shawn. How are you?
Shawn Drover: (puts on a typical Australian accent) Good! How you doin', mate!
MO: [laughs] Not to bad thanks, mate! How's Dave Mustaine been after the surgery. I take it he's recovered well?
SD: You know, he's recovered really well. Everything went really well and the surgery was a complete success. You know, he just needs time to heal. It takes time to heal.
He needs to rest up before our South American tour in November. He really needed to have it done. He was in a lot of pain for the last several shows that we did during the Mayhem tour and at the Yankee stadium as well. It sucks seeing him in pain, but he's a real trooper.
As soon as we were done with Yankee stadium we flew right back home and ran him to the doctor and got the results. Now we're really happy that he did that.
MO: You must be quite pleased the new album 'Th1rt3en' is finished and ready to be released onto the world?SD: Yeah man! We're pretty psyched about the record. I think it turned out very well. We recorded it in record timing…nine weeks! I mean that was a very short period of time, but the funny thing was everything went so smoothly and so easily that we got it done without any effort. [laughs] I mean it wasn't like we were thinking "Oh my god! Will never get this done".
It just seemed very painless and a very enjoyable process for us to do this record. I personally think it turned out great. We are really excited about doing a world tour for 'Th1rt3en' and support it as much as possible. We can't wait for the fans to hear it!
MO: As this is Megadeth's thirteenth album. Were there any bizarre moments throughout the recording process due to the superstitious nature of the number thirteen?
SD: It's funny. I did my drums on the record first, so I was there for about two and half, three weeks. Nothing weird happened with reference to the number thirteen, but after I left that's when this whole weird thing started to happen. The funny thing was the title of the record, the working title was 'Thirteen, until we came up with something else because this is our thirteenth record, you know what I mean?
It was just a working title at the time but after I left, Dave started to see all this stuff and it all had to do with the number thirteen. None of it was really that bad, just odd coincidences and just odd things happening with the number thirteen. Dave then started to say "Why don't we just call the new record Thirteen" and we all thought "Yeah! That would be a cool idea".
There were a couple of bizarre things which happened in the studio with the number thirteen and I guess Dave just kinda went with it.
MO: I take it the transition from Andy Sneap to Johnny K was quite an easy one?
SD: It was. It was very easy. Both producers are a thrill to work with and are just great people. You know, Andy is a very good friend of mine and we've known each other for quite sometime now and he's a fantastic producer. Andy wasn't really available for the time frame we had. We had a very limited time frame, as I mentioned before about nine weeks from the beginning to the end of this record.
We thought why don't we do something different this time. Why don't we get in a new producer. Johnny K's name came up and Dave had a couple of conversations with him in the past or did something with him in the past. So we decided to go with him and it worked out great. He's a great guy and a great producer. I think the results will speak for themselves. Sonically it sounds great and it was a joy to work on.
It's always good to have a producer who has ideas as well instead of a "knob twister", you know what I mean? You are hiring a producer so you can bounce ideas off each other and give guidance. He was very good at that.
MO: There seems to be a common ground between Johnny K and Megadeth after listening to the album last night. A certain vision at least…
SD: He really had that right from the get go. I was in there first as I said before, but Dave and I are usually in the studio most of the time. Right away we all seemed to hit it off. There is always that concern when you get someone new and you think to yourself "Is this the right choice?".
Ultimately we know what we want, both sonically and musically, we knew what we were shooting for and he was on the same path immediately. I've actually never had a bad experience with a producer, but I'm sure its happened in the past to someone else when the band and the producer don't get along as well as they'd hoped or may not have the same vision. Luckily for us we always seem to get great producers and I think it turned out really well.
MO: 'Th1rt3en' seems to follow the same ideology as 'Endgame' with its lyrics heavily seeded in politics, corruption and social turmoil…
SD: Social turmoil. I like that! [laughs]
MO: [laughs]…essentially the typical Megadeth lyrics you'd hear nowadays. I guess it's become easier in recent years to write more poignant lyrics as social disorder is never ending?
SD: I would say that's an accurate assumption. I mean look at what's going on in the world right now. Its so easy to write heavy metal songs. All you have to do is turn on Fox News or CNN and it's right there!
That's not to say we actually did that, but Dave is very current and keen on world events and what's going on with a lot of things, politically and socially. He's a very worldly person and watches that stuff all the time. You know, he's a very intelligent lyricist, so he puts his twist on everything. I mean he'll watch something on TV or read a book and put his take on it and make it poignant.
But again, as you suggested there is so much crap going on in the world right now, economically and politically speaking. There are so many things which are going on which aren't so great, so its quite easy to write how we personally feel towards this stuff.
MO: Do you and the others members in Megadeth all share the same feelings towards these topics?
SD: Yes and no. It depends what the subject matter is and how I feel towards it. Obviously I agree with some of the subjects we touch on, we share the same vision or opinions on certain things, but I'm not as involved as Dave is. I don't turn on Fox News every morning and watch it for several hours. I'm just not that kind of guy. It would drive me mad after awhile from all the negativity and the amount of crap. After awhile your like "Jesus!". I choose to watch things that are a little more light on TV, you know. I try and laugh about life and not take it to seriously.
I try not to get to caught up in the turmoil of the world….shall we say. But I am aware of a lot of it. I'm very aware of it but I don't delve to deep into it, unless its something which effects you so much, you know what I mean. Like the whole 9/11 thing. You have to be on top of something that catastrophic. Even what happened in Japan recently. Other than that, I don't keep on top of world events as much as Dave. But you know…it's my choice.
MO: Do you see these certain events in society as a sign of the times, or do you believe that there is something threatening our existence and the world is literally going to shit?
www.megadeth.com
SD: I don't know. I don't believe the world is going to hell in a hand basket. Bad things have happened in the past. We've had World War I, World War II and all the major changes and effects throughout history. No matter what we always seem to rebounded back from it. I think the things that are going on in the world right now, things like that have been happening for many years now.
I try not to let that effect my personal life to much. I mean I don't think the world is going to shit as you suggested. I think there are a lot of good things that happen in this world as well. At the end of the day you got to take the good with the bad. Unfortunately there is quite a bit of bad stuff at the moment which is kind of a drag.
I mean look at the all damage Hurricane Irene caused when the levy broke, the tsunami in Japan…there have been so many catastrophic events which have just been through mother nature. Humans didn't do that, mother nature did! A lot of bad things have happened, but we are pretty resilient the human race so somehow we seem to survive and prosper despite all the crap.
This interview has sure turned negative, hasn't it? [laughs]
You know we have this great new record out called, 'Th1rt3en'. [sarcasm]
MO: [laughs] I guess a lot of people only see the negative due to the amount of pain and fear that is being conditioned into society through controlled media and so forth. But as you said there is a lot of good out there too!
SD: There is! There is a ton of good stuff out there but unfortunately with the way the human race is now in comparison with the internet and certain media, a lot of people mainly focus on the negative, you know what I mean?
The stuff you see on the news is always the same. If a movie star gets caught doing something stupid they'll put that on Entertainment Tonight instead of the twenty things that person did good last week. To them that's not news worthy. It only seems news worthy when they get caught drunk at 4am coming out of a party or something trivial or stupid like that.
It's a major drag when the internet and media in general in focused in the negative, instead of more positive things. Again…whatever! It doesn't effect my life personally.
MO: Well, one of many good things to look forward on this planet is the new Megadeth album, 'Th1rt3en'. Don't you just love my subtle segway. [laughs] Do you ever feel anxious or threatened by certain fan reactions whenever releasing new material?
SD: No, not at all! Because I know its a good record and at the end of the day you can't…first of all you can't please everyone, secondly I wouldn't want to please everyone because that would be boring. I mean we have our fans who are fantastic. We have a fantastic fan base. Ultimately though some people will say "Oh! It's not as heavy as 'Killing is my Business", or not as fast as that song or this song.
That's just the way people react and then they'll go post it on the internet somewhere and be all pissed off. I don't worry about that kind of thing because there is so many fans who we have, who appreciate us and don't go out of their way and do all those silly things. If anything, they go out of their way to contact us and tell us how much they love our music.
Like what we were talking about before I choose to kinda go with the positives rather then the people who bitch about everything and say "its not this and its not that"…the people who want us to sound like we did in the past. For us, you can't live the past. I mean we all respect what we have done in the past and its all fine and dandy. But ultimately for us we want to keep moving forward and keep writing music. We celebrate our past but we want to move forward as well.
www.megadeth.com
MO: Having said that could you explain the inclusion of the songs 'Millennium of the Blind' and 'New World Order' on the new album, as they are relatively old songs?
SD: That's the ironic thing about what we were just talking about. I'm actually the guy who brought up the idea to Dave to include the songs. Because when the songs were recorded initially they were just demo's and they were included on the Youthanasia remix/remaster. You know, Dave actually initially brought up the idea but I was the guy who really pushed for it because I feel those songs are fantastic. I really think both songs are great. My thing was if we could re-record these songs with modern day studio quality and give it 100% they would sound fantastic.
'Millennium of the Blind' wasn't necessarily a completed song, more of a demo. We have no refined that song and if you listen to it on the new record compared to the old demo version. This new version is actually longer, we've changed some things and added a couple of new things as well. By far its not the same tune. In essence its the same tune, but heavily modified and extended.
The bottom line for me though was that both of the songs are great songs and don't really care if the song was written yesterday or twenty five years ago. These songs are good songs. I really pushed for this quite hard every time the conversation came up with what we should record or what we should work on. I really tried to push to get those two songs and ultimately I got my own grubby little way.
But you have to realise that Dave was the one who initially started the conversation, but I really pushed for it hard.
MO: This will be Megadeth's final release with Roadrunner Records. Has there been much discussion whether Megadeth will sign with a new label or perhaps just release albums independently in the future?
SD: The conversation hasn't really come up. Yes, under the current contract this is our last record with Roadrunner Records. That's not to say will resign, but we haven't really had the conversation, you know.
That's something more to do on Dave's side of things, the business side of things. I'm not part of that as much as he is, obviously. I am apart of the conversation, but ultimately that's something he'll work out with management and the record label. But we aren't even thinking or talking about that stuff right now. We are more interested in the new album and excited to get it out.
Roadrunner Records is extremely excited about the record and I think really good things are going to happen. We aren't even focusing on labels or anything like that at the moment, but it will come up in a couple of years.That's a long winded answer to just say, I don't know. [laughs] I obviously don't know. I do think that Roadrunner are a great label, but I guess we will see what happens.
MO: Have fans received the new song, 'Public Enemy. No 1′ well on the current Big 4 and Mayhem tour?
SD: We don't want to give to much away until the album comes out, but the reaction has been quite good actually. People were able to watch the song on Youtube. Some people having watched the live clips on Youtube were able to sing the song which was really cool.
Some only heard it for the first time when they were at the gig and they seemed to dig it as well. We look forward to playing more songs from the new record once we get this world tour under way.
MO: I know its asking much, but is there a possibility of the Big 4 making its way to Australia?
SD:Nothing is impossible. The short winded answer is…I don't know. [laughs] The last show we did, as you know was Yankee stadium and I haven't heard any more talk if we will be doing any more shows with the Big 4. There are endless opportunities of where it can go next like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America and Canada. If we can easily play two shows in America, we could definitely play fifty shows everywhere else.
Umm..I just don't really have an answer I can give you because I don't know. Obviously I'm hopeful we will do more shows and play more territories like Australia, as we have such a great fan base in Australia. Well, all the bands on the Big 4 do down there. It would certainly be a no brainier in my opinion. I just don't know yet.
MO: Speaking of the Big 4. September 27th, 2011 marked the 25th anniversary of Cliff Burton's death in Metallica. Is there a moment you perhaps fondly remember about Cliff Burton in Metallica. I assume you must have seen them play during the early years?
SD: You know its funny. I grew up in Montreal, Canada and I don't recall seeing Metallica. I know that Metallica did play in Canada when I was growing up, but I never seen them at the time with Cliff. Obviously I was a fan from a very early age. I remember vividly going to a heavy metal store in Montreal and buying 'Kill Em' All'.
As soon as that came out I heard a song on a show called "The Metal File" in Montreal which played all the new releases of young bands at the time. I heard a couple of tracks from Metallica's debut album and went out the next day and bought the album. At that time it was the fastest thing I'd ever heard in my life and hearing songs like 'Metal Militia' and 'The Four Horseman' was amazing.
I was a big Metallica fan right off the bat. I think they were a fantastic band at the time and still do to this day. Unfortunately, I never got to see Cliff Burton perform when he was alive which is a real drag, but who would have ever thought something that severe would have happened anyway. It's definitely a tragic loss, but I wish I got the opportunity to see Cliff when he was still alive, but sadly never did.
MO: Shawn, its been a pleasure. Any famous last words?
SD: Buy our new record. Don't steal it!
Megadeth's latest magnum opus will be on store shelves starting from October 28th in Australia via Roadrunner Records and all leading music outlets. You can claim a special edition bundle of the new album via the Megadeth official website for a measly $30 which will be released on November 1st.
For more information on anything Megadeth related, head on over to Roadrunner Records Australia.
Zakk Wylde promises a show resembling "Romper Room on steroids" Friday night at the Diamond Ballroom.
Zakk Wylde, pictured above, brings his band Black Label Society to the Diamond Ballroom Friday night with Texas Hippie Coalition and Anti-Mortem. PHOTO PROVIDED
And that's just the kind of outrageous line — and live performance — his devoted fans (known as "Berserkers") have come to expect from the Black Label Society leader since he first broke big as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist back in 1988.
"It's time for Black Label church services to begin," Wylde said from his home outside of Los Angeles last week. "Black Label family dysfunctional fun."
He's a funny dude, but he's also a seriously successful musician, having followed in the footsteps of Tony Iommi, the late Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee as Osbourne's right-hand man, serving as lead guitarist in the metal mad man's band for nearly 20 years, and playing on Osbourne's biggest-selling album "No More Tears" (for which Wylde wrote all the music) and "Ozzmosis."
And since 1998, Wylde also has flourished fronting Black Label, which released its eighth album, "Order of the Black," in 2010, and "The Song Remains Not the Same" earlier this year, featuring acoustic versions of songs from the previous album.
"I love the heavy stuff, listenin' to Sabbath and Zep, or when I'm liftin' weights listenin' to the Dimebag or Messhuggah or Ministry or whatever," Wylde said. "But it's just like we'd be sittin' on the bus and we got an 18-hour drive. I mean, the last thing I feel like listenin' to is heavy music. I mean, I'll listen to the Eagles, I'll listen to Neil Young, Elton John. You know, just all the good mellow stuff; Bad Company or whatever. I'll make a compilation just of awesome, a---kickin' mellow (stuff). Crowded House, you know, just all the good mellow stuff.
"I listen to everything. Even classical. I've been playin' tons of classical guitar."
Ozzy and beyond
Of course, Wylde will be playing tons of what he's best known for — string-shredding, plugged-in, heavy metal guitar — on Black Label Society's current tour, which includes headlining dates like the one in Oklahoma City and supporting gigs with Judas Priest and Thin Lizzy.
The days with Ozzy are behind him now — at least for the time being — since Osbourne announced in 2009 that he was replacing Wylde. But Wylde harbors no hard feelings. On the contrary. Osbourne simply decided his band was starting to sound like Black Label.
"Yeah, no, totally, I still talk to Oz," he said. "No, no fallin' out or nothin'. No, we never got in any arguments ever. I mean, we were too busy dyin' of laughter. It was just like with Oz, 'Zakk, I don't wanna be the lead singer in Black Label,' you know what I mean? I mean, if Randy Rhoads, if Saint Rhoads was still around, and if Randy was leavin' Oz goin' to Quiet Riot and comin' back to Oz, Quiet Riot, Ozzy, Quiet Riot, after a while you go, 'Uh, Randy, it's startin' to sound like Quiet Riot. I don't wanna be in Quiet Riot ... I wanna have my own thing.' And you know, you can't blame Ozzy for that at all.
"He knows I'm at his disposal whenever he needs me. It's like, 'Oh, you want me to come over and clean the dog run before you have company over? No problem.' And Gus G (Wylde's replacement), aside from being a killer guitar player, he's a super cool dude ... Mom and the Boss (Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne), I mean, what more could Ozzy do for me? He introduced me to the world and then on top of it, Mom and the Boss always had me opening up on the Ozzfest and helping me all the time, so I mean, how could I not be eternally grateful to them?"
No time for AA, booze
And as for adjusting to a life of sobriety, on orders from his doctor, Wylde says he's faring just fine.
"Over two years now," he said. "No, it's no big deal. It's just like, I don't go to AA meetings. I got a million things goin' on in my day, the Black Label to-do list. Before my feet hit the floor I've got stuff that I gotta do. Goin' to an AA meeting? I'll go to the gym. That's my therapy. I know Ozzy was havin' AA meetings. I went to one of 'em. I said, 'Ozz, nothin' for nothin'. Like, I gotta go clean the dog run, I got things I gotta do around the house, I could be practicing right now, I could do other things."
One of those other things includes an "Unblackened" DVD, a continuation of the "Song Remains Not the Same" project, coming soon, complete with a string section and several of Wylde's musician buddies making guest appearances in the live performances. But first comes the tour, which begins Friday night at the Diamond Ballroom.
Until then, Wylde said, "Just tell the rest of the Oklahoma chapter to stay strong, keep bleedin' Black, man."
When Ronnie James Dio succumbed to stomach cancer in May 2010 (some reports say it occurred here at M.D. Anderson), heavy metal lost its arguably greatest voice. And with a career spanning decades in bands like Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell, and his own Dio, he left a lot of material to throw up the devil horns to.
In an effort to keep his music being performed live and give fans sort of a collective grieving venue that still rocked, Dio's widow/manager Wendy Dio has coordinated The Dio Disciples tour. The band features Craig Goldy (guitar), Rudy Sarzo (bass), Scott Warren (keyboards), and Simon Wright (drums), all of whom did time in Dio. For vocals, duties are split between multi-band singers Tim "Ripper" Owens and Toby Jepson.
Owens is probably most familiar to the masses for his stint replacing (and then being replaced by) Rob Halford as vocalist in Judas Priest. He was a tribute-band screamer who got to front the real deal. and whose story was the inspiration -- much to his chagrin -- for the Mark Wahlberg movie Rock Star.
Today, in addition to his solo career and stint with the Disciples, Owens also sings for Yngwie Malmsteen's band, Beyond Fear, Charred Walls of the Damned, and Hail!
Rocks Off somehow squeezed into Ripper's schedule, tighter than a pair of leather pants, as he spoke from his Akron, Ohio, home about Dio's legacy, the current Judas Priest controversy, and how hot wings and heavy metal go together.
Rocks Off: How did you hear about the project, and why did you want to be part of it?
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| RJD: Gone, hardly forgotten. |
Tim "Ripper" Owens: I think with Ronnie, he was such a legend and a friend and everybody loved him. When Wendy mentioned that she wanted to do something to celebrate his music, I wanted to be involved. It was a no-brainer, and I was excited. And we wanted to do it the right way, with people that Ronnie would want to do it. He was such a great person, no one nicer in the industry and vocally, he was the best.
RO: I have to agree. I did a phone interview with him once, then spent about 15 minutes with him backstage one night, and he was incredibly generous.
TRO: Everybody was his friend, no doubt about it.
RO: When did you first hear his music?
TRO: I'm not exactly sure. I really got into him when the band Dio came out, and then I kind of went back in his career. I'm sure it was Holy Diver.
RO: When did you first meet him?
TRO: It was 1997. I had just finished recording Jugulator [with Judas Priest] and went to his show here in Cleveland and went backstage. I was in awe, and he said, "Well, Tim, you're one of us now, you're just like me." And from then on, he was great and would tell the press I was one of his favorite singers. We just connected.
RO: You've already done some shows in Europe. Which song has been your personal favorite to sing?
TRO: That's tough. There are so many emotional parts in the evening. You know what, I enjoy singing "Heaven and Hell" and watching the people get into it. But emotionally, it's "Rainbow in the Dark." It's a hard one to sing. This feeling just comes out.
RO: Which has been the biggest challenge vocally?
TRO: "Rainbow in the Dark!" You know, they're all a bit challenging! (laughs). There's so much power and light and shade in how he [did the songs]. And he sounded amazing all the way to the end.
RO: You have anything different planned for the U.S. shows in terms of material?
TRO: We have a couple of new ones we're going to try and throw in, but I don't think we're taking anything out. We'd like to do something off one of the albums that Craig and Simon played on together. But there are so many songs to pick, it's impossible to make a set list to satisfy everybody. It was the same thing when I was in Judas Priest.
RO: Since four of the six Disciples played with Dio at various times over the years, do you hear a lot of Ronnie stories?
TRO: Oh, all the time, and I loved to hear them. And remember, these are all people that I grew up listening to. We had a barbecue at Simon's house one day, and I heard just the most amazing stories. They're endless!
RO: I have to ask, what are your thoughts about founding guitarist K.K. Downing abruptly quitting Judas Priest?
TRO: Well you know, I'm friends with all the guys, and that's what happens. It's just a shame that they were going to embark on their last tour - though I think they've kind of backtracked on it. You know, whatever made it happen, it was probably for good reason, and I wish Ken success. He's probably got some other things he wants to do, and I wish the band all the success. But when they do end it for good, I hope it's something with Ken.
RO: You sing with a number of bands in addition to your solo career. Is the flexibility a good thing?
TRO: You know, they just sent over songs for the Yngwie for the next tour, which starts right after the Dio Disciples tour, a day later! I think you know, may I have a bit too much on my plate! But it is a blessing. I toured solo last year most of the time in Europe and South America, all over the world.
But it's funny that people are always telling me to do more music. I've also got a Hail! tour and new Charred Walls album. This is a real job. I just booked 12 shows in Australia for next May!
RO: So you have no spare time.
TRO: Well, I spend the summer with my family and my wife and kids. The kids are in cheerleading and piano and they're always running around. I also have a restaurant, Ripper Owens' Tap House, in Akron, Ohio. It's a rocking sports eatery, and we have a lot of acts play like L.A.Guns, the BulletBoys, and Lynch Mob.
RO: I know today that the cycle has come back for a lot of those '80s bands playing to big audiences and recording new stuff.
TRO: It's true. Not only with the hair metal bands, but Death Angel and Exodus and Testament. They've shot back up. The whole genre kind of disappeared, and the bands realized they won't be big recording artists again, but people still want to see them!
For more on Owens, visit timripperowens.com.
The day before the The Big Four (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax) took the stage at Yankee Stadium, I got to a chance to chat with Machine Head front man Robb Flynn about their new album "Unto the Locust" and his involvement with spreading the Big Four rumors. I got a chance to check out Machine Head this summer at the Mayhem Fesitval and night after night they were one of the stand out bands on the bill. I can't wait to pick up "Unto the Locust."
Zoiks!: Can you tell us about your new album "Unto the Locust?"
Robb Flynn: It is the logical follow up to "The Blackening," but it is not "The Blackening II." It's definitely going…it's part of the evolutionary chain of Machine Head records, but it's still has all the things that you've grown to know and love about Machine Head. It's got the patented harmonics, heavy vocals, fast, grooving.
Z!: How do you handle the pressures of following up such a successful album like "The Blackening?"
RF: We didn't try to compare. When we started writing it was just a matter of, 'where can we take this? Where can this go?' 'How can we challenge ourselves and push ourselves as musicians?' When we wrote "The Blackening it was 2005 into 2006. When we wrote this album it was four years later. When we wrote "The Blackening," that was the threshold of our abilities and we went and toured that record for three years. What was at one point the threshold became the new normal. So we became better players and better as a band. We took that and tried to utilize that more.
Z!: The early indications is that "Unto the Locust" is that its going to be a pretty big album for you guys, what was different about the writing and recording process this time around?
RF: Not much. I'd love to sit hear and tell you that when we write these grandiose epic records that we've got this big vision (laughs), but when we're in the studio it's just very "Beavis and Butthead." 'Hey what do you think of this riff?' 'That's cool, what do you think of this?' 'It's ok.' It's very much like that. We just write until we feel like we have a good collection of songs. I think the main thing for us is that the four of us get goose bumps. We're not writing for fans, we're not writing for radio, we're not writing for what we think people might want. We're just writing for ourselves and we feel that's the truest most honest gauge that there can be.
Z!: When you're making an album, what point do you realize you have something special?
RF: I think it differs from album to album. But with this record, even from the first song that was finished we knew we had something special. The first song that was done was "This is the End." We knew we had something different, something special, and something very unique and that was inspiring. It was really inspiring to have such a strong start and that helped spread into the rest of the work.
Z!: You have some listening events coming up can you tell us a little bit about those and how they came to be?
RF: There are listening events going on all over the world in the UK, Germany, Japan and Australia, we thought it might be cool to do some here. Being that we just wrapped up touring in America we weren't going to necessarily be touring right at release. We hadn't done some in awhile, but last time we did some was around "Through the Ashes" and that was 8 years ago, so we were like lets do it. We will be attending them, but I just want to clarify that we will not be performing there. We will be drinking (laughing) and the record will be playing, we'll be hanging and everybody can hear it for the first time. They're all going to be a bit different. Some of them will be having a Machine Head karaoke contest where kids can compete against each other to win bundles or a cd or shirts. It'll be killer man, we're really excited. We've done the karaoke thing in the past and it's fucking awesome. Kids just go out there and kill it, it's fun.
Z!: How was the Mayhem tour with Megadeth, Godsmack and Disturbed?
RF: Amazing.
Z!: Did you get a chance to play any of the new songs live?
RF: We did, we debuted "Locust."
Z!: How was the fan reaction?
RF: It was great man. The whole tour was great. I literally have nothing bad to say about it. It's the type of thing that you didn't want to end.
Z!: You heading out to South America for the first time in a long time with Sepultura, how excited are you?
RF: Super excited, we played Argentina one time, but we've never been to Brazil, we've never been to Chili. To go out and have Sepultura co headline with us and let us close is amazing. It's huge. It's killer, we're really stoked. The response to the tour has been phenomenal; we're very much looking forward to it. I've seen so many of the Rock in Rio's with Rush and the Maiden thing…I've just heard so many amazing thing about it, I can't wait.
Z!: How did that opportunity come about?
RF: When I was at NAMM, I went to see Sepultura play. We've never toured with Sepultura before, but we knew the guys. Obviously they were a huge influence to us. They were one of the main reasons that we wanted to sign with Road Runner. We felt whoever Sepultura was with they knew what they were doing. I was just talking to Andreas (Kisser) at the show and it was kind of like, 'we should tour man.' They were getting ready to release their record, we hadn't been there, it was a great opportunity to get together. They were like, 'you guys can headline, and it'll be fucking awesome.'
Z!: After that you have the Eighth Plague Tour, can you tell us a little bit about that tour?
RF: It's Machine Head, Bring Me the Horizon, Devildriver, and Darkest Hour. We'll be doing arenas across Europe and the UK. We're playing Wembley Arena for the first time which we're fucking so stoked about, it's awesome. It's our first headlining tour in awhile over there. Just to be doing it on such a huge scale is a huge moment for us and we're really proud and feel very grateful that we've had so many awesome opportunities to do this kind of stuff.
Z!: Are the crowds different around the world compared to here in the states?
RF: There are little differences here and there, but over all I think metal heads are…. they're the runts of the litter. They tend to have some problems, dysfunctional home life or whatever. We all as band members, we can all identify with that, that's where we all came from too. It definitely seems like that is a common bond that everybody shares.
Z!: When the Big 4 Shows were just a rumor, Kerry King mentioned that he thought Machine Head should be apart of it, what was your reaction to that?
RF: I was blown away when he said that. I don't know if we felt like we should be involved, those were the classic bands. Those were the bands that we looked up to. For my part, being on tour with Metallica, it was cool to play this little role in putting that all together. I kept on asking Lars (Ulrich), 'how come Metallica and Slayer have never toured together, you guys should tour,' we'd be all hammered. Then in LA, I introduced Kerry and Lars and said, 'hey man you guys should tour together.' I kept on sprinkling some seeds. I didn't play any big role in it or anything, I was just sprinkling seeds here and there…watered it a little bit. To see it finally happen was just incredible, it's such a cool thing.
Z!: If you could put together your own little Big 4, what bands would be on the bill?
RF: Fuck man, tomorrow is going to be pretty fucking close…it's going to be pretty fucking killer.
Z!: I interviewed Korn awhile back and asked them when they were starting out, what band's helped them get the word out and show them the ropes and they said Machine Head. Was there a band that was influential when you were first starting out that you learned from?
RF: Hmmm, I don't know if we learned from them, but Biohazard, who was also on Road Runner at the time, definitely were big supporters of the band. They were really hot at the time, they had that video on "Beavis and Butthead." They really backed the band, even from before, I was seeing them open for The Exploited like super hard core punk rock shows, We loved them. Sepultura I think gave us the thumbs, Napalm Death, Slayer…not getting us signed, but Slayer took us on tour.
Z!: What advice would you have for young bands out there trying to make a name for themselves?
RF: I don't know if I'm qualified to give advice on this subject (laughs). I don't know just be yourself. Do what you do, ultimately people can see if you're not being true to yourself. The more true to yourself that you are and in tune with the music you make, the more it connects with people.
Zoiks!: Can you tell us about your new album "Unto the Locust?"
Robb Flynn: It is the logical follow up to "The Blackening," but it is not "The Blackening II." It's definitely going…it's part of the evolutionary chain of Machine Head records, but it's still has all the things that you've grown to know and love about Machine Head. It's got the patented harmonics, heavy vocals, fast, grooving.
Z!: How do you handle the pressures of following up such a successful album like "The Blackening?"
RF: We didn't try to compare. When we started writing it was just a matter of, 'where can we take this? Where can this go?' 'How can we challenge ourselves and push ourselves as musicians?' When we wrote "The Blackening it was 2005 into 2006. When we wrote this album it was four years later. When we wrote "The Blackening," that was the threshold of our abilities and we went and toured that record for three years. What was at one point the threshold became the new normal. So we became better players and better as a band. We took that and tried to utilize that more.
Z!: The early indications is that "Unto the Locust" is that its going to be a pretty big album for you guys, what was different about the writing and recording process this time around?
RF: Not much. I'd love to sit hear and tell you that when we write these grandiose epic records that we've got this big vision (laughs), but when we're in the studio it's just very "Beavis and Butthead." 'Hey what do you think of this riff?' 'That's cool, what do you think of this?' 'It's ok.' It's very much like that. We just write until we feel like we have a good collection of songs. I think the main thing for us is that the four of us get goose bumps. We're not writing for fans, we're not writing for radio, we're not writing for what we think people might want. We're just writing for ourselves and we feel that's the truest most honest gauge that there can be.
Z!: When you're making an album, what point do you realize you have something special?
RF: I think it differs from album to album. But with this record, even from the first song that was finished we knew we had something special. The first song that was done was "This is the End." We knew we had something different, something special, and something very unique and that was inspiring. It was really inspiring to have such a strong start and that helped spread into the rest of the work.
Z!: You have some listening events coming up can you tell us a little bit about those and how they came to be?
RF: There are listening events going on all over the world in the UK, Germany, Japan and Australia, we thought it might be cool to do some here. Being that we just wrapped up touring in America we weren't going to necessarily be touring right at release. We hadn't done some in awhile, but last time we did some was around "Through the Ashes" and that was 8 years ago, so we were like lets do it. We will be attending them, but I just want to clarify that we will not be performing there. We will be drinking (laughing) and the record will be playing, we'll be hanging and everybody can hear it for the first time. They're all going to be a bit different. Some of them will be having a Machine Head karaoke contest where kids can compete against each other to win bundles or a cd or shirts. It'll be killer man, we're really excited. We've done the karaoke thing in the past and it's fucking awesome. Kids just go out there and kill it, it's fun.
Z!: How was the Mayhem tour with Megadeth, Godsmack and Disturbed?
RF: Amazing.
Z!: Did you get a chance to play any of the new songs live?
RF: We did, we debuted "Locust."
Z!: How was the fan reaction?
RF: It was great man. The whole tour was great. I literally have nothing bad to say about it. It's the type of thing that you didn't want to end.
Z!: You heading out to South America for the first time in a long time with Sepultura, how excited are you?
RF: Super excited, we played Argentina one time, but we've never been to Brazil, we've never been to Chili. To go out and have Sepultura co headline with us and let us close is amazing. It's huge. It's killer, we're really stoked. The response to the tour has been phenomenal; we're very much looking forward to it. I've seen so many of the Rock in Rio's with Rush and the Maiden thing…I've just heard so many amazing thing about it, I can't wait.
Z!: How did that opportunity come about?
RF: When I was at NAMM, I went to see Sepultura play. We've never toured with Sepultura before, but we knew the guys. Obviously they were a huge influence to us. They were one of the main reasons that we wanted to sign with Road Runner. We felt whoever Sepultura was with they knew what they were doing. I was just talking to Andreas (Kisser) at the show and it was kind of like, 'we should tour man.' They were getting ready to release their record, we hadn't been there, it was a great opportunity to get together. They were like, 'you guys can headline, and it'll be fucking awesome.'
Z!: After that you have the Eighth Plague Tour, can you tell us a little bit about that tour?RF: It's Machine Head, Bring Me the Horizon, Devildriver, and Darkest Hour. We'll be doing arenas across Europe and the UK. We're playing Wembley Arena for the first time which we're fucking so stoked about, it's awesome. It's our first headlining tour in awhile over there. Just to be doing it on such a huge scale is a huge moment for us and we're really proud and feel very grateful that we've had so many awesome opportunities to do this kind of stuff.
Z!: Are the crowds different around the world compared to here in the states?
RF: There are little differences here and there, but over all I think metal heads are…. they're the runts of the litter. They tend to have some problems, dysfunctional home life or whatever. We all as band members, we can all identify with that, that's where we all came from too. It definitely seems like that is a common bond that everybody shares.
Z!: When the Big 4 Shows were just a rumor, Kerry King mentioned that he thought Machine Head should be apart of it, what was your reaction to that?
RF: I was blown away when he said that. I don't know if we felt like we should be involved, those were the classic bands. Those were the bands that we looked up to. For my part, being on tour with Metallica, it was cool to play this little role in putting that all together. I kept on asking Lars (Ulrich), 'how come Metallica and Slayer have never toured together, you guys should tour,' we'd be all hammered. Then in LA, I introduced Kerry and Lars and said, 'hey man you guys should tour together.' I kept on sprinkling some seeds. I didn't play any big role in it or anything, I was just sprinkling seeds here and there…watered it a little bit. To see it finally happen was just incredible, it's such a cool thing.
Z!: If you could put together your own little Big 4, what bands would be on the bill?
RF: Fuck man, tomorrow is going to be pretty fucking close…it's going to be pretty fucking killer.
Z!: I interviewed Korn awhile back and asked them when they were starting out, what band's helped them get the word out and show them the ropes and they said Machine Head. Was there a band that was influential when you were first starting out that you learned from?
RF: Hmmm, I don't know if we learned from them, but Biohazard, who was also on Road Runner at the time, definitely were big supporters of the band. They were really hot at the time, they had that video on "Beavis and Butthead." They really backed the band, even from before, I was seeing them open for The Exploited like super hard core punk rock shows, We loved them. Sepultura I think gave us the thumbs, Napalm Death, Slayer…not getting us signed, but Slayer took us on tour.
Z!: What advice would you have for young bands out there trying to make a name for themselves?
RF: I don't know if I'm qualified to give advice on this subject (laughs). I don't know just be yourself. Do what you do, ultimately people can see if you're not being true to yourself. The more true to yourself that you are and in tune with the music you make, the more it connects with people.
The legends of the Sunset Strip, STEEL PANTHER, are getting ready to release their sophomore album, "Balls Out", via Universal Republic Records. The CD will be released on November 1 and will continue the raucous tradition of the band's 2009 debut, "Feel The Steel". The latest album features 14 soon to be classics such as "Just Like Tiger Woods", "Gold Digging Whore" and "Weenie Ride". The album also features cameos by Dane Cook on the album opener "In The Future" and NICKELBACK frontman Chad Kroeger and EXTREME axeman Nuno Bettencourt show up on an instant classic "It Won't Suck Itself". "Balls Out" was produced by Grammy-nominated producer/mixer Jay Ruston who produced the band's "Feel The Steel" debut and is known for his work with ANTHRAX, MEAT LOAF, THE DONNAS and MORRISSEY, to name a few.
The first single from "Balls Out" is "17 Girls In A Row" and will be impacting at radio over the next few weeks. The song showcases the band's ability to write memorable hooks while mixing them with their signature style lyrics like "I banged 17 girls in a grocery store and never lost my erection." With its driving opening drum beat and infectious guitar riff, "17 Girls In A Row" will be sure to heat up rock airwaves and give it a much-needed kick in the balls — no pun intended.
STEEL PANTHER was, for a long time, rock's best-kept secret: a cult legend on the L.A. scene. But in recent years due to the success of their debut, the band has enjoyed huge acclaim from fans and peers alike. At sell-out club shows in Hollywood and Las Vegas, STEEL PANTHER has been joined on stage by rock and roll icons such as Steven Tyler of AEROSMITH, Paul Stanley of KISS, Corey Taylor of SLIPKNOT, Tom Morello of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE/AUDIOSLAVE, Chester Bennington of LINKIN PARK and GREEN DAY, to name a few. Across the Atlantic, the band has shared arena stages with ZZ TOP and rocked an audience of 30,000 at the U.K.'s Download festival. In Germany, "Feel The Steel" was proclaimed "Best Debut Album" at the Metal Hammer Awards. The band will be heading out on a U.K. tour with DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE in December before coming back to start a nationwide tour of the U.S. in 2012.
STEEL PANTHER is Michael Starr (vocals), Satchel (guitar), Lexxi Foxx (bass) and Stix Zadinia (drums).
"Balls Out" track listing:
01. In The Future
02. Supersonic Sex Machine
03. Just Like Tiger Woods
04. 17 Girls In A Row
05. If You Really, Really Love Me
06. It Won't Suck Itself
07. Tomorrow Night
08. Why Can't You Trust Me
09. That's What Girls Are For
10. Gold-Digging Whore
11. I Like Drugs
12. Critter
13. Let Me Come In
14. Weenie Ride
Check out the "Balls Out" cover artwork below.
In a May 2011 interview with Guitar International, Satchel stated about the recording process for "Balls Out", "We've been recording since last August and we've been tracking five songs at a time so we focus intently on a few songs rather than all 15 at once. We're just finishing up the last five now and they all sound amazing. I would say that out of the 15 songs we've recorded, there are at least 10 or 12 No. 1 singles in there."
When asked what lessons STEEL PANTHER learned from its 2009 debut, "Feel The Steel", that he and his bandmates applied to this new album, Satchel said, "It's funny because we haven't learned any lessons from our first record. We don't even think of it as our sophomore album, we think of it as our second debut release. Many bands will try to make a different-sounding record for their second release, but we couldn't really get any better than our first record. Our first record was awesome, so we decided to go in and make the same record for our second album, just better. We didn't really grow as writers. We didn't grow as musicians. In fact, I think I got a little bit worse . . . But because of that it's much better. It's kind of like a fine wine. If you let it sit there and let it get moldy, that's what they do with wine, right? Then you let the mold fester in the bottom of the bottle, that's what our music is like on this record. We're like a moldy cheese that's been left out in the sun all summer. You wouldn't think that it would taste good at the end of the summer, but surprisingly, it does. That's us in a nutshell."
The first single from "Balls Out" is "17 Girls In A Row" and will be impacting at radio over the next few weeks. The song showcases the band's ability to write memorable hooks while mixing them with their signature style lyrics like "I banged 17 girls in a grocery store and never lost my erection." With its driving opening drum beat and infectious guitar riff, "17 Girls In A Row" will be sure to heat up rock airwaves and give it a much-needed kick in the balls — no pun intended.
STEEL PANTHER was, for a long time, rock's best-kept secret: a cult legend on the L.A. scene. But in recent years due to the success of their debut, the band has enjoyed huge acclaim from fans and peers alike. At sell-out club shows in Hollywood and Las Vegas, STEEL PANTHER has been joined on stage by rock and roll icons such as Steven Tyler of AEROSMITH, Paul Stanley of KISS, Corey Taylor of SLIPKNOT, Tom Morello of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE/AUDIOSLAVE, Chester Bennington of LINKIN PARK and GREEN DAY, to name a few. Across the Atlantic, the band has shared arena stages with ZZ TOP and rocked an audience of 30,000 at the U.K.'s Download festival. In Germany, "Feel The Steel" was proclaimed "Best Debut Album" at the Metal Hammer Awards. The band will be heading out on a U.K. tour with DEF LEPPARD and MÖTLEY CRÜE in December before coming back to start a nationwide tour of the U.S. in 2012.
STEEL PANTHER is Michael Starr (vocals), Satchel (guitar), Lexxi Foxx (bass) and Stix Zadinia (drums).
"Balls Out" track listing:
01. In The Future
02. Supersonic Sex Machine
03. Just Like Tiger Woods
04. 17 Girls In A Row
05. If You Really, Really Love Me
06. It Won't Suck Itself
07. Tomorrow Night
08. Why Can't You Trust Me
09. That's What Girls Are For
10. Gold-Digging Whore
11. I Like Drugs
12. Critter
13. Let Me Come In
14. Weenie Ride
Check out the "Balls Out" cover artwork below.
In a May 2011 interview with Guitar International, Satchel stated about the recording process for "Balls Out", "We've been recording since last August and we've been tracking five songs at a time so we focus intently on a few songs rather than all 15 at once. We're just finishing up the last five now and they all sound amazing. I would say that out of the 15 songs we've recorded, there are at least 10 or 12 No. 1 singles in there."
When asked what lessons STEEL PANTHER learned from its 2009 debut, "Feel The Steel", that he and his bandmates applied to this new album, Satchel said, "It's funny because we haven't learned any lessons from our first record. We don't even think of it as our sophomore album, we think of it as our second debut release. Many bands will try to make a different-sounding record for their second release, but we couldn't really get any better than our first record. Our first record was awesome, so we decided to go in and make the same record for our second album, just better. We didn't really grow as writers. We didn't grow as musicians. In fact, I think I got a little bit worse . . . But because of that it's much better. It's kind of like a fine wine. If you let it sit there and let it get moldy, that's what they do with wine, right? Then you let the mold fester in the bottom of the bottle, that's what our music is like on this record. We're like a moldy cheese that's been left out in the sun all summer. You wouldn't think that it would taste good at the end of the summer, but surprisingly, it does. That's us in a nutshell."
MY RUIN — the Los Angeles-based band featuring the husband-and-wife rock duo of vocalist Tairrie B. Murphy and multi-instrumentalist Mick Murphy — will embark on the "Southern Revelation Tour" to celebrate the release of the group's seventh album, "A Southern Revelation", which MY RUIN is making available as a free download and gift to fans starting December 7, 2011 exclusively via www.myruin.net. Special guests for the trek are British metal heavyweights GODSIZED along with Colchester thrashers and longtime friends SANCTORUM and Nottingham rockers LONG DAY FEAR.
Commented Tairrie B.: "We're looking forward to returning to the U.K. and kicking things off in a big way with our first show in Glasgow, Scotland on January 18th for my birthday! In the past we have always played London on this occasion but since we were forced to cancel our last show at Classic Grand on our previous tour due to my being severely ill at the time, we wanted to do something special for our friends and fans who have been waiting to see us to make up for it. Previously purchased tickets from March 2011 will remain valid for the new show and we will be having an after party / meet-and-greet following our set on this and a few other select dates during the tour. We're playing many of our favorite cities in the U.K. this time around, which, except for two familiar haunts, will be our first time playing most of these new venues, including one night near Paris in Vaureal, France, which I'm sure will be a evening to remember, and ending the tour back in England at a deconsecrated church!
In other news, MY RUIN has announced the addition of drummer Isaac Lee to the group's ranks. Tairrie states, "Isaac has replaced Matt LeChevalier, who toured our 'Ghosts And Good Stories' album with us and remains a good friend. Unfortunately, Matt being based in France became a bit difficult for us logistically and did not allow for MY RUIN to work as much as we would like as a band. With the new album, we felt it was time to look for a more permanent drummer.
"Although not originally from Los Angeles, Isaac currently lives in L.A. and we felt an immediate connection with him when he reached out to us after hearing from a mutual acquaintance that we were quietly looking for someone new to fill the drum seat. It's been great getting to know Isaac and watch the songs from our new album come to life with the band which is on fire at the moment in the rehearsal studio.
"We just filmed our first video together for the song 'Tennessee Elegy' and have recently confirmed several warm-up shows which we will soon be announcing in and around L.A. for November and December."
MY RUIN U.K. tour dates:
Jan. 18 - Classic Grand - Glasgow, UK
Jan. 19 - Moho - Manchester, UK
Jan. 21 - Scala - London, UK
Jan. 22 - The George - Andover, UK
Jan. 24 - White Rabbit - Plymouth, UK
Jan. 25 - Tunnels - Bristol, UK
Jan. 27 - Legends - Newcastle, UK
Jan. 28 - Slade Rooms - Wolverhampton, UK
Jan. 29 - Hydrant -Brighton, UK
Jan. 31 - Leicester Square - Leicester, UK
Feb. 01 - The Well - Leeds, UK
Feb. 02 - Chinnery's - Southend, UK
Feb. 04 - LeForum -Vaureal, France
Feb. 07 - Waterfront - Norwich, UK
Feb. 08 - Arts Centre - Colchester, UK
Commented Tairrie B.: "We're looking forward to returning to the U.K. and kicking things off in a big way with our first show in Glasgow, Scotland on January 18th for my birthday! In the past we have always played London on this occasion but since we were forced to cancel our last show at Classic Grand on our previous tour due to my being severely ill at the time, we wanted to do something special for our friends and fans who have been waiting to see us to make up for it. Previously purchased tickets from March 2011 will remain valid for the new show and we will be having an after party / meet-and-greet following our set on this and a few other select dates during the tour. We're playing many of our favorite cities in the U.K. this time around, which, except for two familiar haunts, will be our first time playing most of these new venues, including one night near Paris in Vaureal, France, which I'm sure will be a evening to remember, and ending the tour back in England at a deconsecrated church!
In other news, MY RUIN has announced the addition of drummer Isaac Lee to the group's ranks. Tairrie states, "Isaac has replaced Matt LeChevalier, who toured our 'Ghosts And Good Stories' album with us and remains a good friend. Unfortunately, Matt being based in France became a bit difficult for us logistically and did not allow for MY RUIN to work as much as we would like as a band. With the new album, we felt it was time to look for a more permanent drummer.
"Although not originally from Los Angeles, Isaac currently lives in L.A. and we felt an immediate connection with him when he reached out to us after hearing from a mutual acquaintance that we were quietly looking for someone new to fill the drum seat. It's been great getting to know Isaac and watch the songs from our new album come to life with the band which is on fire at the moment in the rehearsal studio.
"We just filmed our first video together for the song 'Tennessee Elegy' and have recently confirmed several warm-up shows which we will soon be announcing in and around L.A. for November and December."
MY RUIN U.K. tour dates:
Jan. 18 - Classic Grand - Glasgow, UK
Jan. 19 - Moho - Manchester, UK
Jan. 21 - Scala - London, UK
Jan. 22 - The George - Andover, UK
Jan. 24 - White Rabbit - Plymouth, UK
Jan. 25 - Tunnels - Bristol, UK
Jan. 27 - Legends - Newcastle, UK
Jan. 28 - Slade Rooms - Wolverhampton, UK
Jan. 29 - Hydrant -Brighton, UK
Jan. 31 - Leicester Square - Leicester, UK
Feb. 01 - The Well - Leeds, UK
Feb. 02 - Chinnery's - Southend, UK
Feb. 04 - LeForum -Vaureal, France
Feb. 07 - Waterfront - Norwich, UK
Feb. 08 - Arts Centre - Colchester, UK
Former SLAYER/TESTAMENT drummer Jon Dette will fill in for Scott Travis (JUDAS PRIEST, RACER X, FIGHT) at ANIMETAL USA's appearance at this year's edition of the Loud Park festival, set to take place October 15 at Saitama Super Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Saitama City, Japan. Dette says, "I'll be stepping in for Scott Travis while he is out with PRIEST." He adds, "This project is a lot of fun and I'm privileged to be playing some amazing musicians!"
ANIMETAL USA is the American counterpart to ANIMETAL, the Japanese heavy metal band which specialized in metal covers of popular Japanese anime/tokusatsu theme songs.
A short preview of ANIMETAL USA's new video can be seen at the band's newly launched web site.
ANIMETAL USA is:
* Mike Vescera (OBSESSION, LOUDNESS) - Vocals
* Rudy Sarzo (BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, OZZY OSBOURNE, QUIET RIOT, WHITESNAKE, DIO) – Bass
Scott Travis (JUDAS PRIEST, RACER X, FIGHT) - Drums
Chris Impellitteri (IMPELLITTERI) - Guitar
ANIMETAL USA will release its self-titled debut album in Japan on October 12 via Sony Music Entertainment. The group is planning a world tour next year, including dates in Japan and the U.S.
Says Impellitteri: "I wanted to confirm that I am indeed playing with the band ANIMETAL. The band is playing a mix of classic Anime songs mixed with our own original heavy metal riffs, solos, vocals, bass and drum parts. The record is pretty insane sounding! The playing is intense and the live show is extremely theatrical. It should be lots of fun for our fans. All four of us worked extremely hard to take Anime to a new level. So, I hope you have a chance to join us on this new musical journey both on record and live."
"Animetal USA" track listing is as follows:
01. Uchuusenkan Yamato
02. Gatchaman No Uta
03. Mazinger Medley
04. Makafushigi Adventure!
05. Zankokuna Tenshino Thesis
06. Aiwo Torimodose!!
07. Ganbare Dokaben
08. Pegasus Fantasy
09. Yuke Tigermask
10. Fight! Kinnikuman Go Fight!
11. Yukeyuke Hyuma
ANIMETAL USA is the American counterpart to ANIMETAL, the Japanese heavy metal band which specialized in metal covers of popular Japanese anime/tokusatsu theme songs.
A short preview of ANIMETAL USA's new video can be seen at the band's newly launched web site.
ANIMETAL USA is:
* Mike Vescera (OBSESSION, LOUDNESS) - Vocals
* Rudy Sarzo (BLUE ÖYSTER CULT, OZZY OSBOURNE, QUIET RIOT, WHITESNAKE, DIO) – Bass
Scott Travis (JUDAS PRIEST, RACER X, FIGHT) - Drums
Chris Impellitteri (IMPELLITTERI) - Guitar
ANIMETAL USA will release its self-titled debut album in Japan on October 12 via Sony Music Entertainment. The group is planning a world tour next year, including dates in Japan and the U.S.
Says Impellitteri: "I wanted to confirm that I am indeed playing with the band ANIMETAL. The band is playing a mix of classic Anime songs mixed with our own original heavy metal riffs, solos, vocals, bass and drum parts. The record is pretty insane sounding! The playing is intense and the live show is extremely theatrical. It should be lots of fun for our fans. All four of us worked extremely hard to take Anime to a new level. So, I hope you have a chance to join us on this new musical journey both on record and live."
"Animetal USA" track listing is as follows:
01. Uchuusenkan Yamato
02. Gatchaman No Uta
03. Mazinger Medley
04. Makafushigi Adventure!
05. Zankokuna Tenshino Thesis
06. Aiwo Torimodose!!
07. Ganbare Dokaben
08. Pegasus Fantasy
09. Yuke Tigermask
10. Fight! Kinnikuman Go Fight!
11. Yukeyuke Hyuma
Danish hard rockers D-A-D have set "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK" as the title of their 11th studio album, due on November 11. The follow-up to 2008's "Monster Philosophy" was helmed by Nick Foss, who previously worked with D-A-D on such LPs as "No Fuel Left For The Pilgrims", "Sympatico", "Everything Glows" and "Soft Dogs".
The album title is a play on D-A-D's original band name DISNEYLAND AFTER DARK, which had to be changed after a threat of a lawsuit from The Walt Disney Company.
The first single from "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK" is called "I Want What She's Got" and can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.
The vinyl edition of "Monster Philosophy" was made available in March, including two exclusive bonus tracks.
"The Overmuch Box", a collection of D-A-D's complete works in a box, was released in November 2009.
The album title is a play on D-A-D's original band name DISNEYLAND AFTER DARK, which had to be changed after a threat of a lawsuit from The Walt Disney Company.
The first single from "DIC.NII.LAN.DAFT.ERD.ARK" is called "I Want What She's Got" and can be streamed in the YouTube clip below.
The vinyl edition of "Monster Philosophy" was made available in March, including two exclusive bonus tracks.
"The Overmuch Box", a collection of D-A-D's complete works in a box, was released in November 2009.
New Brunswick, New Jersey's melodic, thrash-metal warriors GOD FORBID will enter the studio at the end of October to begin recording their new album for an early 2012 release via Victory Records. The bulk of the production on the CD will be handled by Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER, TRIVIUM), with Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, ALL THAT REMAINS, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER) stepping in during the the vocal-tracking stage. The album will be mxed at Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden with Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with such acts as KATATONIA, OPETH, PARADISE LOST and AMON AMARTH.
A demo version of a new GOD FORBID song, "Where We Come From", is available for streaming in the YouTube clip below. The track was originaly given away as a free download as part of a Victory Records Labor Day digital sampler.
GOD FORBID guitarist Doc Coyle previously stated about the material for the band's forthcoming CD, "It's always difficult to tell how a new album will sound this early in the process, but I can say that our new guitar player Matt Wicklund [ex-HIMSA] is contributing tons of material. His stuff is very hook-oriented with a Scandinavian twinge.
"The stuff I've been writing has been varied from evil MORBID ANGEL, black metal shit to mid-tempo/power groove MACHINE HEAD-type stuff, and signature GOD FORBID material that is a logical progression from our previous albums."
GOD FORBID's last album, "Earthsblood", sold around 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to land at position No. 110 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD debuted at No. 2 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
GOD FORBID's previous album, "IV: Constitution of Treason", entered The Billboard 200 chart at No. 119 in September 2005 after shifting 8,300 units.
A demo version of a new GOD FORBID song, "Where We Come From", is available for streaming in the YouTube clip below. The track was originaly given away as a free download as part of a Victory Records Labor Day digital sampler.
GOD FORBID guitarist Doc Coyle previously stated about the material for the band's forthcoming CD, "It's always difficult to tell how a new album will sound this early in the process, but I can say that our new guitar player Matt Wicklund [ex-HIMSA] is contributing tons of material. His stuff is very hook-oriented with a Scandinavian twinge.
"The stuff I've been writing has been varied from evil MORBID ANGEL, black metal shit to mid-tempo/power groove MACHINE HEAD-type stuff, and signature GOD FORBID material that is a logical progression from our previous albums."
GOD FORBID's last album, "Earthsblood", sold around 5,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan, to land at position No. 110 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD debuted at No. 2 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.
GOD FORBID's previous album, "IV: Constitution of Treason", entered The Billboard 200 chart at No. 119 in September 2005 after shifting 8,300 units.
Technical extreme metal instrumentalists BLOTTED SCIENCE — featuring guitarist/mastermind Ron Jarzombek (WATCHTOWER, TERRESTRIAL EXILED, SPASTIC INK), bassist Alex Webster (CANNIBAL CORPSE, HATE ETERNAL), and new arrival, drummer Hannes Grossmann (OBSCURA, TERRESTRIAL EXILED) — have completed work on their long-awaited EP, "The Animation Of Entomology", which is being released via Jarzombek's EclecticElectric label. The cover art was done by Atlanta, Georgia-based artist Richard Morley of Morley Arts and can be seen below.
Commented Jarzombek: "Usually with any release that I'm part of, whether it's on my own, or in a band/project context, I have a specific direction of how I hope things turn out, and this is another one that was absolutely nailed. Putting together these long distant recordings always involves a tremendous amount of time, discipline, communication, and motivation, and once again we wrote and completed another recording without the three of us ever having been in the same room together. While putting this all together was a bitch and a half, working with Alex and Hannes has been beyond exhilarating!
"As many of you know, all 24-plus minutes of the EP are a musical score to some type of bug movies. We will reveal the first one at my YouTube channel next Friday. We'll miss Friday the 13th by one day, but hopefully this viewing will be creepy enough for you. And so until the video appears, enjoy the audio. I realize that it all may be beyond wacky at this point, but it all will soon make perfect sense. In the meantime, you can get the digital download from iTunes or Amazon (Rhapsody, eMusic, etc. should follow shortly) or grab a physical copy of the EP from CD Baby or IndieMerch (who will also be our official merch company from now on; new shirts will be arriving soon), or directly from me at RonJarzombek.com.
"Apologies to those that pre-ordered the CD and T-shirt) from IndieMerch and are still waiting for their stuff. Unfortunately, we ran into a manufacturing issue with the CDs along the way which delayed everything by about a week.
"Many thanks to the fans who have already picked up the EP. The support is greatly appreciated! To those who choose to rip us off by illegally downloading, I hope a black widow spider bites you tonight while you're sleeping..."
"Up next for me is what I started working on several years ago. Yep, the instructional guitar DVDs. And this time, I'm not going to let a band project push them aside. I've had WAY too many people ask me about them over the past few years — it's time to make them my priority. They were first shelved for the first BLOTTED SCIENCE CD, 'The Machinations Of Dementia', then a year and a half of trying to complete 'Mathematics' with WATCHTOWER and having it fall apart for a fourth time (in a nutshell — we managed to complete the 'Size Of Matter' digital single around the time we played the Keep It True festival in Germany last year only to run into singer issues yet again. We tried to find someone who could work with the material and it went nowhere. First with Jason [McMaster], then with Alan [Tecchio], Stu Block, then back with Alan again. Didn't work. Maybe we'll try again in another four years.....). Then over the last couple of years, my main focus has been the 'Animation' EP.
"In any case, there were already three instructional DVDs in the works featuring SPASTIC INK, 'Machinations' and Ron Jarzombek solo material. Now I am adding the DVD which will include all guitar playing and theory for the just-released BLOTTED SCIENCE EP.
"If you guys are sick of all the bug stuff — it's just starting! Since I will be taking apart everything guitar on the DVD, it will appropriately be called 'Dissecting Bugs'.
"For the EP, we used another 12-tone system, this one called '12 Tones In Fragmented Rows' and I was amazed at how well it worked for this material. Its use will be fully demonstrated and animated in the DVD.
"The DVD will be along the same lines as the 'Oscillation Cycles' video that I posted a while back, but I may have a bug mask on or have some scorpions crawling on my guitar as I'm playing.
"Finally, I have received quite a few inquiries about online guitar lessons. Right now, I am only doing private live-in-person lessons five days a week at two locations here in San Antonio, but am thinking about getting into online lessons. If/when this happens, I will post any info on all of my sites."
An audio sample of the new song "Omitting Eyes" from BLOTTED SCIENCE can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below.
Described as "a cross between CANNIBAL CORPSE, SPASTIC INK, and a Bugs Bunny cartoon," "The Animation Of Entomology" takes Jarzombek's fascination with animated cartoons and creepy crawlies to a whole new level. Having experimented with writing complex pieces of music to sync up with movie sequences in the past with his previous outfit SPASTIC INK, the concept has now been applied to BLOTTED SCIENCE over the course of seven songs and a total of 24 minutes of music.
Said Jarzombek: "We wanted to follow up 'The Machinations Of Dementia' along some of the same lines of science and gore, and came up with a killer concept and some great material with yet another 12-tone writing system. I totally busted my ass syncing things up, carefully orchestrated music to film, bug movies actually, and nit-picked notes to death on this material until my fingers bled and my brain nearly exploded. How everything falls into place I think is beyond incredible! Whether this is the heaviest or most technical thing I've ever done, I don't really know or care, but no other band/project is pulling off what we are doing with this EP."
"The Animation Of Entomology" track listing:
01. Ingesting Blattaria
02. Cretaceous Chasm
03. Vermicular Asphyxiation
04. A Sting Operation - I. Human Barbequed
05. A Sting Operation - II. Cessation Sanitation
06. A Sting Operation - III. Seeing Dead People
07. A Sting Operation - IV. Omitting Eyes
The folllow-up to the band's highly acclaimed 2007 "The Machinations Of Dementia" full-length album was produced and mixed by Ron Jarzombek and recorded in San Antonio, Texas; Tampa, Florida; and V. Santura's (OBSCURA, TRIPTYKON) Woodshed Studios in Landshut, Germany where the drums were cut. Mastering duties were once again handled by Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, DESTRUCTION) at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark.
Commented Jarzombek: "Usually with any release that I'm part of, whether it's on my own, or in a band/project context, I have a specific direction of how I hope things turn out, and this is another one that was absolutely nailed. Putting together these long distant recordings always involves a tremendous amount of time, discipline, communication, and motivation, and once again we wrote and completed another recording without the three of us ever having been in the same room together. While putting this all together was a bitch and a half, working with Alex and Hannes has been beyond exhilarating!
"As many of you know, all 24-plus minutes of the EP are a musical score to some type of bug movies. We will reveal the first one at my YouTube channel next Friday. We'll miss Friday the 13th by one day, but hopefully this viewing will be creepy enough for you. And so until the video appears, enjoy the audio. I realize that it all may be beyond wacky at this point, but it all will soon make perfect sense. In the meantime, you can get the digital download from iTunes or Amazon (Rhapsody, eMusic, etc. should follow shortly) or grab a physical copy of the EP from CD Baby or IndieMerch (who will also be our official merch company from now on; new shirts will be arriving soon), or directly from me at RonJarzombek.com.
"Apologies to those that pre-ordered the CD and T-shirt) from IndieMerch and are still waiting for their stuff. Unfortunately, we ran into a manufacturing issue with the CDs along the way which delayed everything by about a week.
"Many thanks to the fans who have already picked up the EP. The support is greatly appreciated! To those who choose to rip us off by illegally downloading, I hope a black widow spider bites you tonight while you're sleeping..."
"Up next for me is what I started working on several years ago. Yep, the instructional guitar DVDs. And this time, I'm not going to let a band project push them aside. I've had WAY too many people ask me about them over the past few years — it's time to make them my priority. They were first shelved for the first BLOTTED SCIENCE CD, 'The Machinations Of Dementia', then a year and a half of trying to complete 'Mathematics' with WATCHTOWER and having it fall apart for a fourth time (in a nutshell — we managed to complete the 'Size Of Matter' digital single around the time we played the Keep It True festival in Germany last year only to run into singer issues yet again. We tried to find someone who could work with the material and it went nowhere. First with Jason [McMaster], then with Alan [Tecchio], Stu Block, then back with Alan again. Didn't work. Maybe we'll try again in another four years.....). Then over the last couple of years, my main focus has been the 'Animation' EP.
"In any case, there were already three instructional DVDs in the works featuring SPASTIC INK, 'Machinations' and Ron Jarzombek solo material. Now I am adding the DVD which will include all guitar playing and theory for the just-released BLOTTED SCIENCE EP.
"If you guys are sick of all the bug stuff — it's just starting! Since I will be taking apart everything guitar on the DVD, it will appropriately be called 'Dissecting Bugs'.
"For the EP, we used another 12-tone system, this one called '12 Tones In Fragmented Rows' and I was amazed at how well it worked for this material. Its use will be fully demonstrated and animated in the DVD.
"The DVD will be along the same lines as the 'Oscillation Cycles' video that I posted a while back, but I may have a bug mask on or have some scorpions crawling on my guitar as I'm playing.
"Finally, I have received quite a few inquiries about online guitar lessons. Right now, I am only doing private live-in-person lessons five days a week at two locations here in San Antonio, but am thinking about getting into online lessons. If/when this happens, I will post any info on all of my sites."
An audio sample of the new song "Omitting Eyes" from BLOTTED SCIENCE can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below.
Described as "a cross between CANNIBAL CORPSE, SPASTIC INK, and a Bugs Bunny cartoon," "The Animation Of Entomology" takes Jarzombek's fascination with animated cartoons and creepy crawlies to a whole new level. Having experimented with writing complex pieces of music to sync up with movie sequences in the past with his previous outfit SPASTIC INK, the concept has now been applied to BLOTTED SCIENCE over the course of seven songs and a total of 24 minutes of music.
Said Jarzombek: "We wanted to follow up 'The Machinations Of Dementia' along some of the same lines of science and gore, and came up with a killer concept and some great material with yet another 12-tone writing system. I totally busted my ass syncing things up, carefully orchestrated music to film, bug movies actually, and nit-picked notes to death on this material until my fingers bled and my brain nearly exploded. How everything falls into place I think is beyond incredible! Whether this is the heaviest or most technical thing I've ever done, I don't really know or care, but no other band/project is pulling off what we are doing with this EP."
"The Animation Of Entomology" track listing:
01. Ingesting Blattaria
02. Cretaceous Chasm
03. Vermicular Asphyxiation
04. A Sting Operation - I. Human Barbequed
05. A Sting Operation - II. Cessation Sanitation
06. A Sting Operation - III. Seeing Dead People
07. A Sting Operation - IV. Omitting Eyes
The folllow-up to the band's highly acclaimed 2007 "The Machinations Of Dementia" full-length album was produced and mixed by Ron Jarzombek and recorded in San Antonio, Texas; Tampa, Florida; and V. Santura's (OBSCURA, TRIPTYKON) Woodshed Studios in Landshut, Germany where the drums were cut. Mastering duties were once again handled by Jacob Hansen (VOLBEAT, DESTRUCTION) at Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark.
Justin Broadrick of reformed industrial metal pioneers GODFLESH has confirmed to Decibel magazine that the band has begun working on material for a new studio album. "[The songwriting process is going] really, really slowly," Justin said. "I guess because I've had my son, it's slowed things down a bit for us. I mean, [fellow GODFLESH founding member] Ben Green got married last year and he still holds a very good job, so he's very busy, we're both very busy but we have a lot of ideas. Also, there's no way we'd approach a new record just to milk the newfound popularity of GODFLESH. I mean, it could take another year before we release something, and even the intitial impact of the reformation could have subsided by then, but that's kind of meaningless, really; it's just making another really good, cold and bleak record. And it's more than in us, it's in me, it still translates the same emotions that I've been struggling with all my life."
When asked if he would say GODFLESH is the best way he has found to articulate the more aggressive emotions, Justin said, "Absolutely. And the defensive side as well. I mean, JESU was another realm altogether and it was intended to be; it was meant to be distanced from GODFLESH. That was the whole point and it was more of an indulgence in terms of other aspects of things that I enjoyed but couldn't touch upon in something like GODFLESH. Even if GODFLESH touched upon some of the premises of JESU, JESU is the full-blown conceptualization a form of pop, a heavier form of it but a form of pop all the same. It's just in my context, it's clearly far from any sort of pop music. Arguably, it still contains a lot of GODFLESH because, in a way, you could say that's still how I am, and JESU is a deviation, an odd root away from the whole GODFLESH thing. Essentially, GODFLESH is what I've always been."
GODFLESH will make an exclusive North American appearance at the Maryland Deathfest X festival, set to take place May 24-27, 2012 at Sonar in Baltimore.
Quality multi-camera video footage of GODFLESH's performance at last year's Supersonic Festival can be viewed below.
GODFLESH performed its seminal debut full-length album, 1989's "Streetcleaner", in its entirety at the 2011 edition of the Roadburn festival on April 14 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. In addition, founding members Justin Broadrick and Benny Green played the "Tiny Tears" EP, which was conceived as part of the overall "Streetcleaner" vision, in full as well.
"Streetcleaner" was remastered and reissued in a deluxe digipak in Europe on June 21, 2010 and in North America on August 10, 2010 via Earache Records.
"Streetcleaner" was GODFLESH's second release, proving to be one of the band's finest and most recognized albums and helping them to become one of the most influential industrial bands ever. Now "Streetcleaner" was brought up to date as a special expanded version, with all tracks remastered by GODFLESH founding member Justin Broadrick. The album also includes a bonus disc featuring 12 previously unreleased live tracks, alternate mixes and demos, and comes housed in a deluxe multi-panel digipak with detailed liner notes.
When asked if he would say GODFLESH is the best way he has found to articulate the more aggressive emotions, Justin said, "Absolutely. And the defensive side as well. I mean, JESU was another realm altogether and it was intended to be; it was meant to be distanced from GODFLESH. That was the whole point and it was more of an indulgence in terms of other aspects of things that I enjoyed but couldn't touch upon in something like GODFLESH. Even if GODFLESH touched upon some of the premises of JESU, JESU is the full-blown conceptualization a form of pop, a heavier form of it but a form of pop all the same. It's just in my context, it's clearly far from any sort of pop music. Arguably, it still contains a lot of GODFLESH because, in a way, you could say that's still how I am, and JESU is a deviation, an odd root away from the whole GODFLESH thing. Essentially, GODFLESH is what I've always been."
GODFLESH will make an exclusive North American appearance at the Maryland Deathfest X festival, set to take place May 24-27, 2012 at Sonar in Baltimore.
Quality multi-camera video footage of GODFLESH's performance at last year's Supersonic Festival can be viewed below.
GODFLESH performed its seminal debut full-length album, 1989's "Streetcleaner", in its entirety at the 2011 edition of the Roadburn festival on April 14 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. In addition, founding members Justin Broadrick and Benny Green played the "Tiny Tears" EP, which was conceived as part of the overall "Streetcleaner" vision, in full as well.
"Streetcleaner" was remastered and reissued in a deluxe digipak in Europe on June 21, 2010 and in North America on August 10, 2010 via Earache Records.
"Streetcleaner" was GODFLESH's second release, proving to be one of the band's finest and most recognized albums and helping them to become one of the most influential industrial bands ever. Now "Streetcleaner" was brought up to date as a special expanded version, with all tracks remastered by GODFLESH founding member Justin Broadrick. The album also includes a bonus disc featuring 12 previously unreleased live tracks, alternate mixes and demos, and comes housed in a deluxe multi-panel digipak with detailed liner notes.
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