Rock News

VOLBEAT Frontman: New Album Contains 'Some Of The Heaviest Songs We Have Ever Recorded'

Former ANTHRAX guitarist Rob Caggiano earlier in the month joined Danish metal rock 'n' rollers VOLBEAT. Caggiano served as producer onVOLBEAT's latest album, "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", alongside longtime production partner Jacob Hansen, who produced and mixed the band's prior four albums. Caggiano's other producer credits include THE DAMNED THINGS, BLEEDING THROUGH and ANTHRAX, and he was a member of ANTHRAX for two tenures — from 2001 to 2005 and again from 2007 to 2013.

Speaking to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine, VOLBEAT singer and guitaristMichael Poulsen stated about Caggiano's addition to the band and the upcoming CD: "When you get to the point in your career where you're making a number of albums, I don't really see the point in putting out the same record twice. So I felt it was time to change some of our habits, because in the past we've tended to work in the same way, at producerJacob Hansen's studio… So this time around, we've come to PUK studios in Denmark and Rob Caggiano has become involved, working alongsideJacob. The result is a new sound for VOLBEAT, a new vibe, although that's not to say the songs aren't still typical of what we are known for; it's still 100 percent VOLBEAT, but everything has been taken to a higher degree, and I can honestly say I've never heard the band playing so well. Everyone has been truly inspired by the new surroundings and the new team — so much so that I've even re-written some of the songs in the studio; there were so many great ideas flying around, that it made me want to push myself even harder… and the recordings are sounding great. Nothing is mixed yet, but it's really strong already, so my main concern is that whoever mixes the record doesn't fuck it up! Having said that, we just heard a test mix from Chris Lord-Alge — it was amazing, so he's now confirmed to mix the whole thing."

He continued: "I know everyone says this, but this IS the best albumVOLBEAT has recorded — at least until the next one! I set myself a number of goals for this record, and all of them have been achieved, so I couldn't be happier, and having Rob on board has really worked out well. 

"You know, I was really impressed with the sound of the new ANTHRAXalbum, which he worked on, so we discussed maybe working together in the studio on a couple of songs, but it's now gone way further than that!Rob really knows what he's doing…

"One of the things I'm most happy about this time is the contrast in the material, the range of the music; on the one side, you have the western motifs, the rockabilly/country songs, and the real emotional melodies, and on the other, some of the heaviest — actually, THE heaviest — songs we have ever recorded. There was a record company guy in the studio the other day, and he was absolutely blown away by the ultra-heavy stuff. He said he wasn't even sure he was listening to VOLBEAT! [laughs]"

VOLBEAT's fifth album, "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", will be released on April 9 (one day earlier internationally) viaSpinefarm/Universal Music. 

VOLBEAT will embark on a North American headlining tour in the spring. The trek, which will feature support from DANKO JONES, will kick off on March 6 in Dallas, Texas. 




Former KORN Drummer Pleads Guilty In Sleeping Pill DUI Case



According to TMZ.com, former KORN drummer David Silveria pleaded guilty to a charge of allegedly driving under the influence. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the hit-and-run charge in connection with the March 2012 incident in which the 40-year-old musician — who played with KORNfor 13 years — rear-ended another car on his way to breakfast in Huntington Beach, California.

Silveria was sentenced to three years of informal probation, a three-month first offender program, and he must attend a M.A.D.D. victim impact panel.

Silveria told TMZ.com that he had no alcohol in his system when he was arrested for DUI on March 25, 2012, claiming that he was taken into custody over a sleeping pill he took the night before. Hr said that he took a sleeping pill the night before his arrest to help him with insomnia. When he woke up the following morning, he accidentally rear-ended the other car.

Although Silveria says he blew a 0.0 on the breathalyzer at the scene of the accident, the cops decided to arrest him for DUI after being told about the sleeping pill.

Silveria told TMZ.com at the time that he planned to take responsibility for his actions, insisting, "It was an honest mistake." 

Silveria last year joined forces with ANYONE members Riz Story and Miki Black in a brand new project called INFINIKA.

David left KORN in late 2006 in order to focus on family life along with running his steak house and sushi restaurant.




OZZY OSBOURNE Says New BLACK SABBATH Album Sounds Like 'Satanic Blues'

Legendary heavy metal band BLACK SABBATH will release its much-anticipated new album, "13", in June via Vertigo/Universal Republic in the U.S. and Vertigo in all other territories. The drum tracks on the group's first LP with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978 were laid down by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE sticksman Brad Wilk following original drummerBill Ward's decision to bow out of the reunion.

Osbourne, Tony Iommi (guitar) and Geezer Butler (bass) recorded the album primarily in Los Angeles with producer Rick Rubin. Songtitles set to appear on the CD include "God Is Dead", "End Of The Beginning" and"Age Of Reason", the latter two of which stretch out to as long as eight minutes. 

"I wanted to make an album that stood alongside their first four albums,"Rubin tells RollingStone.com. "The first album wasn't a straightforward heavy metal record. You could hear the jazz influence, so that was the goal, and to capture that live interaction."

Ward in May 2012 announced again that he was declining to join his former bandmates for its scheduled 2012 dates, as well as the recording of the new album, due to a contractual dispute. After SABBATH shot downRubin's suggestion to replace Ward with Ginger Baker (CREAM) ("I thought, 'Bloody hell?'" Iommi tells the magazine. "I just couldn't see that."), Rick suggested Wilk.

Iommi tells RollingStone.com that Ward's demands came out of the blue. "I didn't know Bill was having these issues when we got together — he never even mentioned it to us," he says. "It was quite confusing. We wanted him involved, but it was just getting too hard." Adds Osbourne: "You can't go, 'Well, I don't like it.' You get off your ass and get your shit together. The life of a bohemian rock star is fucking long over."

Iommi was diagnosed with cancer at the end of 2011, and his treatments forced BLACK SABBATH to cancel all but three tour dates in 2012 after announcing their reunion in November 2011.

"Things are fairly good, dare I say, at the moment," Iommi tellsRollingStone.com. "I'm still here and it's okay. We had to do this album now. Christ, if it happened in another 10 years, I don't know if we'd be around."

Osbourne, who describes the new SABBATH album as "Satanic blues," also spoke about one of the band's new tracks, the provocatively titled"God Is Dead". "It starts off, 'God is dead,'" Osbourne says, "but at the end it says, 'I don't believe that God is dead.'"




COREY TAYLOR Says GRAMMYS 'Don't Respect' Heavy Metal Genre At All

SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor has accused The Recording Academy of disrespecting the heavy metal genre by not including it in the televised portion of the Grammy Awards.

HALESTORM was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" category in the pre-telecast ceremony at the 55th annual Grammy Awards, which were held last night (Sunday, February 10) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. HALESTORM was nominated for the track "Love Bites (So Do I)" , from the band's 2012 album "The Strange Case Of…"

Writing on his Twitter profile shortly after the "Hard Rock/Metal" winner was announced, Taylor said: "I'm happy for HALESTORM, but sad because the Grammys don't respect our genre AT ALL. We get one category and it's not even televised."

In an effort to continuously evolve its Grammy Awards process, The Recording Academy announced in April 2011 that it had restructured theGrammy categories across all genres and fields, bringing the total number of categories to be recognized at the 54th Grammy Awards in 2012 to 78 from 109. As a result, instead of separate "Best Metal" and "Best Hard Rock" performance prizes, there is now a single "Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance" award.



Source: Blabbermouth.net



Grammy Winners List

 

Looking for that perfect gift for the music lover in your life?  The Grammy Foundation and MusiCares are offering up some sweet deals over at eBay in an auction that got under way on Friday.
The sale features guitars autographed by The Black Keys as well as music memorabilia from the likes of Aerosmith, fun. and Jack White, among others.  In addition, the auction will include official merchandise from the 55th Annual Grammy Awards signed by artists who participated in the rehearsals and telecast.
The auction, which ends February 21, will benefit the Grammy Foundation and MusiCares, which offers assistance to musicians in need.