QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's 'Secrets Of The Sound' Mockumentary Posted Online
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE has posted a "mockumentary", apparently inspired by "This Is Spinal Tap", in which they give fans a sneak peek into the making of the band's next studio album. The nine-minute"Secrets Of The Sound" segment, hosted by Matt Berry and Steve Agee, can be seen below.
FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl, who plays drums on the upcomingQUEENS OF THE STONE AGE studio set, recently confirmed that he will not be part of the QUEENS touring lineup. Grohl played drums on theQUEENS' 2002 album, "Songs For The Deaf", and did go on a short club tour with the group before returning to active duty with the FOOS — who took QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE out as support.
There's no release date or title for the new QUEENS OF THE STONE AGEalbum yet, although it's expected to surface in early 2013.
The band is said to be auditioning drummers now. Grohl stepped in for the recording sessions after the group parted ways with longtime drummerJoey Castillo.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's fifth album, "Era Vulgaris", came out in June 2007 and entered the Billboard chart at No. 14.
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE commemorated the reissue of its classic 1998 debut with a limited series of intimate shows at which the band played the record in its entirety, plus B-sides and other rarities and hits from the early QUEENS catalog up to the present.
CLUTCH Frontman Says New CD Is 'Probably Faster Than Most Of Our Recent Albums'
Metal Chris of DCHeavyMetal.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist Neil Fallon of Maryland rockers CLUTCH. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
DCHeavyMetal.com: What can fans expect from the new album ["Earth Rocker"]?
Neil: Well, I think, as a whole, this record is probably faster than most of our recent albums. Maybe compared to some other bands, it's not the fastest thing on planet Earth. For us it was definitely a step up in the tempo. And I think the other thing that kind of stands out about this one is the blues influences that we've been flirting with over the past couple records is more or less absent in this record, which didn't really happen intentionally until we looked back at it. As a whole, it's just much more of a straight-up rock and roll record.
DCHeavyMetal.com: This will be the second studio release for CLUTCHon your own label, the Weathermaker Music label. Why exactly did you guys decide to ditch, say, a "traditional" label and instead create your own and put your own music out this way?
Neil: Well, we've tried it many many times with many different iterations with labels, and just to be frank about it, the major labels are in thebusiness of selling platinum records and even a gold record, probably, in their eyes is considered somewhat of a failure. CLUTCH is a band that, we're happy to be a touring band and continue to do what we do, but I don't think we're that band and we never were. But in the '90s, it did give us an opportunity to do a lot of touring, tour support and kick down a lot of doors that way to eventually put us in this position that we have now. And because of the Internet, and how easy it is to connect with people, it's very easy to cut out a lot of middle men and sell directly to the people that want to buy our records. It's more work and you can make mistakes, but if something goes wrong, you know who to blame and it's a lot easier to fix. And I think if any artist is in a position to do this, you know whether they be a writer or comedian or it doesn't matter, you'd be foolish not to. Because it just makes more sense. I don't see why you would subscribe to the kind of antiquated model of a major label. I think some people look at that as some kind of patron or home, but we never certainly thought that way.
DCHeavyMetal.com: So has it changed the way you put your albums out, like the way you record it or anything like that as well?
Neil: Um, I don't want to say it complicates it, but we have to kind of wear both hats. You know, on one hand we want to be the band and say well we want this amazing package. We want this to fold out. We want to do this, we want to do that. But at the same time, we're also the label and we're looking, well, that's going to cost X amount of dollars, that's going to cost Y. So we have to kind of find a happy compromise between those two. We certainly haven't changed any of the writing aspect of it, or the recording. We haven't tried to cut corners because of it. If anything, it's made our ability to do cool packages easier because it's much more cost effective. But other than that, not a lot has changed. It's going very well.
DCHeavyMetal.com: Well, you talk about the packages. You guys put out the "Blast Tyrant", you re-released it with some bonus material and stuff. A whole another disc, actually. Are you planning on doing that with any of your other older albums in the future?
Neil: Well, we've kind of exhausted that. "Blast Tyrant" and "Robot Hive/Exodus" and "Beale Street" were out on a label called DRT that was the last label we were signed to before we went out on our own. And to make a long story short, they just stopped paying us our royalties and we had to go to court to get the money. We won the case, but they still couldn't pay us, so in lieu of paying us what we were owed, we were awarded those masters for those records. It was sort of a windfall toWeathermaker to get these three records back and we could re-release them. But the ones prior to that, when you're talking about "Pure Rock Fury" and "Elephant Riders" and the self-titled, maybe in the distant future those records will revert back to us just because of the terms of the contract will expire. But that's not on our to-do list because trying to talk to Sony's lawyers is like launching a spacecraft.
You can read the entire interview at DCHeavyMetal.com. The chat is also available for streaming in audio format using the SoundCloud player below.
"Earth Rocker" (song) performance:
MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Allegedly Duped By Christmas-Card Contest Winner
MEGADETH and the band's official web site, Megadeth.com, hold an annual Christmas card contest where the top ten winners all win a prize, and the first-place winner receives a phone call on Christmas Day fromMEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine, along with other prizes. This year, the winner allegedly submitted the artwork of another artist.
A posting on Megadeth.com reads: "Although we were notified of the possible plagiarism by an anonymous fan in Brazil after the Christmas Day call was already placed, we are investigating this matter further. We stand by the fact that [the chosen winner] is innocent until proven guilty, and if our winner did indeed use someone else's artwork, we will be notifying the second-place winner to award him the first place prize and he will receive a phone call from Dave Mustaine. We hope to clear this up as quick as possible."
To see the winning artwork and what appears to be the original 2009 piece it is taken from, follow the links below.
Before the alleged fraud was uncovered, Mustaine had the following to say regarding the winning artwork:
"The reason that I picked this card over the others:
"Text: Some were funny, some were serious, and some were just simple text or bad clichés. I preferred both the classic and the funny, but there is only so much room for a funny Christmas card; although I have picked funny ones in the past. This year I leaned more toward the traditional 'Christmas' cards, since there is so much ridiculous disputing whether a 'Christmas tree' should be called a Christmas tree or a holiday tree — the idiot who came up with that is the mayor in Rhode Island, I believe.
"Style: some were obviously cut-and-pasted, some were hand-drawn, and some were done in applications. It is unfair for the contest entrants that have no resources to expensive programs like AI, Photoshop, etc., and it is equally unfair for a normal Droogie with the desire to enter this contest to go up against someone who is a graphic artist. Having said that, one of the top ten was obviously a rendition of Charlie Brown and was an illustration, but I ended up going with the entry that had the horses and the outdoor winter scene.
"The call: The winner and I talked for about 5 or more minutes and we discussed several things, like music, art, politics, and future designs forMEGADETH. Our winner lives in Greece and it is no secret that the corruption of the officials in Greece (it's just as bad here in the U.S.) has led to terrible financial death for the beautiful people of Greece. We talked about the taxes are destroying the hopes and dreams of people all around the world, and how the world bankers are behind it all, and that they are using puppets to run our world governments and doing their bidding. We also discussed when we were going back to Greece, doing future artwork for MEGADETH (which I didn't rule out, but we are very happy with John Lorenzi and we are planning on using a picture for the new cover anyway).
"Hanging up: I asked our winner if there was anything else that he wanted to ask me and we talked for a few more minutes, we wished each other a merry Christmas, and then we hung up.
"I enjoyed this year’s Christmas card contest, and I really enjoyed talking to our winner. I can't wait for next year's contest to see what you creative Droogs will come up with next!"
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE: Video Footage And Photos Of 'Hometown' Show
AlexIsLegend.com has uploaded photos and video footage ofKILLSWITCH ENGAGE's December 19 "hometown" stop on their "Alive Or Just Breathing" 10th-anniversary tour at Pearl Street in Northampton, Massachusetts. Check out the clips below.
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach announced during the band's December 16 concert in Brooklyn, New York that their studio album will be released in April 2013 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded byKILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, an acclaimed producer who has previously worked with ALL THAT REMAINS, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and AS I LAY DYING, among others. The mixing sessions were overseen by veteran British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH,TESTAMENT, EXODUS, ACCEPT, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE).
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's forthcoming album will mark the return of Leach, who rejoined the group earlier this year following the departure of Howard Jones after nine years and three successful albums.
Asked for more information about the status of the upcoming CD and how it came together, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE bassist Mike D'Antonio toldHorns Up Rocks!: "We've got the title, I've got all the artwork finished for it. I've just gotta fit in the lyrics. [There are] 12 songs on it. It was hard to whittle down which songs were actually gonna make it on the record, 'cause we like them all; we're really excited about it."
He continued: "It was weird. Jesse did two songs and then kind of wanted to get a feel for how the band was communicating and hanging out together. And he was, like, 'Let's go out on tour and see how it is and then I can come back and finish the rest of the record and really have a better headspace for what's going on with the band.' So he did two songs, we went out on tour, came back and all of a sudden, he started doing all this new stuff — like, eight or nine different, new voices we had never heard before. And we were were, like, 'Wait a minute, man! Now you're gonan have to redo the last stuff we did, because this stuff sounds so great.' So he just blew us away. This guy… I don't know if he's got split personalities or what's going on in his head, but he's got a million different voices going on there, and it sounds really cool on the record."
Leach sang on the band's first self-titled album, which came out in 2000, and on their landmark release, 2002's genre-defining "Alive Or Just Breathing".
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Kings of Leon’s Nathan Followill’s Christmas Gift: His First Child
Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill celebrated Christmas by becoming a father for the first time. On Thursday he revealed the news on Twitter: “I can proudly announce the birth of my sweet angel Violet Marlowe Followill. My heart has been stolen and it feels so good.”
According to Zap2it.com, Violet was born Wednesday at 4:01 p.m. in Nashville, weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces. This is the first baby for Nathan and his wife, singer-songwriterJessie Baylin, who were married in 2009.
It is the third child for the family band. Nathan’s brother, lead vocalist Caleb Followill, and Caleb's wife, Lily Aldridge, welcomed their first child, daughter Dixie Pearl, in June. His cousin, guitarist Matthew Followill, and Matthew's wife, Johanna Bennett, became parents in 2011 with the birth of their son Knox.
Courtney Love’s Daughter Offers a Christmas Olive Branch to Her Mother
The Christmas spirit may be easing the bitter feud between Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain, her estranged daughter by late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. On Tuesday, 20-year-old Francis reached out to her mother via Twitter, writing, "@Courtney merry Christmas kooksmcgee.”
Mom was overjoyed and replied to Frances, “That was best Christmas gift ever. proudest mama in the world thank you Bean. means the world to me.” She added, “That tweet was the best gift ever, its all I need even if its a dammed social network. Miss that little head of yours. That beautiful little head, and those long legs.”
Three years ago Courtney lost at least temporary legal guardianship of Frances, and at the time TMZ reported that a judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Courtney from contacting her then-17-year-old daughter, although the website reported the documents were filed under seal. Since then mother and daughter have been involved in a series of public feuds, including one in which Frances blamed Courtney for the death of her dog and cat.
Metallica Reveals Venue for Orion Music Plus More Festival in Detroit
Following the announcement that Detroit would be the location for Metallica’s second annual Orion Music Plus More Festival on June 8 and 9, 2013, it has now been revealed that Belle Isle will be the venue. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit City Council has approved the landmark for the two-day event.
City Councilman Ken Cockrel Jr. anticipates the festival will make a positive financial impact on the city. “Anytime you have a two-day music festival like this, that’s going to bring fans from throughout the country and possibly throughout the world, it’s good for the city from an economic perspective," he tells the paper.
Metallica debuted the Orion Music Plus More Festival this past June in Atlantic City. The event also included a car show and horror memorabilia from guitarist Kirk Hammett.
