"Trenches", the new single from Grand Rapids, Michigan hard rockers POP EVIL, is available for streaming on the band's Facebook page. The song comes off the band's new full-length album, "Onyx", which is due out on May 14.
The message of "Trenches" applies to the world of art as well as the world of sports, the military, or anyone struggling with the economic downturn, like POP EVIL's home state of Michigan.
"It's about our battles," POP EVIL frontman Leigh Kakaty says. "Not focusing on the things we can't control, if we really want to be a band that stands the test of time we have to write the music that connects. We have to dig our way out of the trenches."
During a slump in the music industry, POP EVIL is living proof that you can still make a living following your dreams. "It's a matter of time before rock and roll is in the forefront again and we want to be part of that," Kakatysays.
After three Top 5 songs at rock radio, a fourth in the Top 10, a half million digital singles sold and over 1,000 shows a few short years into their impressive career, POP EVIL's return with "Onyx" is a swaggering, fistpumping, ballbusting ride through American rock. The grandiose melody of the '70s, the danger of the '80s, the emotion of the '90s and the loudest of modern riffs all have a home in POP EVIL, who fashion a fresh sound that looks to the future through the prism of rock's past.
STONE SOUR: Trailer For 'Do Me A Favor' Video
A trailer for "Do Me A Favor", the new video from STONE SOUR, can be seen below. The clip was directed by Phil Mucci, whose video for HIGH ON FIRE's "Fertile Green" was named best video of 2012 by Revolver. The song is the first single from "House Of Gold & Bones - Part 2", the second part of the band's two-album series, "House of Gold & Bones", which will be released on April 9 via Roadrunner Records. The albums were recorded at Sound Farm Studios just outside of the band's native Des Moines, Iowa with producer David Bottrill (TOOL, MUSE) at the helm.
"Do Me A Favor", was made available digitally on February 12. SingerCorey Taylor gave The Pulse Of Radio a preview of what to expect from the song. "It's quite aggressive, and actually the label asked me if I would go in and tame stuff down and I was like, 'No.' I'm not doing that," he said. "This is going out the way it is and I'm not gonna touch it up. I'm not gonna have people looking for a song that doesn't exist. This is the way it is on the album, that's the way it's going to be when we put it out to radio."
"House Of Gold & Bones - Part 2" track listing:
01. Red City
02. Black John
03. Sadist
04. Peckinpah
05. Stalemate
06. Gravesend
07. '82
08. The Uncanny Valley
09. Blue Smoke
10. Do Me A Favor
11. The Conflagration
12. The House Of Gold & Bones
When asked by ThisIsNotAScene what fans can expect from the second part of "House Of Gold & Bones", Taylor said: "Part 2 is much darker [than the first part], if I'm honest. Aside from it being a completely different album, it feels more like a soundtrack to a movie in a lot of ways, man. It's really thematic. There are themes from part 1 that reveal themselves and that come again, musically. There's actually stuff from part 2 that you'll hear that's on part 1 and you'll be like, 'Fucking hell!'"
He continued: "We essentially recorded these, and this is where technology is now, so you could have these in a playlist on your iTunesand play them top to fucking bottom and really get that experience while you read both parts. So it's some of our darkest music, our most intricate and complex music, some of the best fucking lyrics I've ever written, to be honest. Even writing from a narrative like that, it was so challenging. Plus, it's got some of our best songs on it.
"You guys think part one's good? Fuck off. 'Do Me A Favor' alone is going to kick the shit out of people and that's going to be the first single, which comes out in January, that's going to be the first taste that people get of part 2, and people aren't going to know what to do."
"House Of Gold & Bones - Part 1" came out last fall.
Music is just one of the mediums used to tell the "House of Gold & Bones" story, and Taylor recently revealed details of the new project with Dark Horse Comics of the same name, which follows, and expands on, the story contained within the albums. With stunning covers fromJason Shawn Alexander (Empty Zone, Batman, Abe Sapien), this four-issue limited series marks Taylor's debut in the comics genre. The first issue of the series will be out on April 17.
Taylor recently told Billboard.com recently that the group is planning a world tour in 2014 during which they will spend two nights in each city and perform both halves of its "House Of Gold & Bones" double album in their entirety.
Source: Blabbermouth.net
Scott Weiland: My STP Firing Was Just a Marketing Ploy
Depending on the source, Scott Weiland is either still a member of Stone Temple Pilotsor the band's former singer.
Weiland himself insists that STP is fully intact. He tells TMZ.com, "STP is not broken up. It's a whole thing to try to boost ticket sales," referring to a purported tour his band mates were organizing without him.
Weiland further argues to TMZ that the band's contract forbids potential future incarnations of the group from using the STP name. Therefore, he believes, there's no way he's been fired.
As for the future of the on-hiatus supergroup Velvet Revolver, Weiland tells Rolling Stone"it's not something I can count on," but he's definitely game for reuniting with guitaristSlash, bassist Duff McKagan, guitarist Dave Kushner and drummer Matt Sorum.
"It would be a great thing," Weiland says in an interview with Rolling Stone. "I know the fans would love to see it."
For the time being, however, Weiland says he's focused on a solo career and working with his backing band The Wildabouts. They've recorded nearly 30 songs that he describes as "really lean and raw, sort of like garage rock."
Weiland and the The Wildabouts will launch a tour Friday night in Michigan. He'll be performing STP’s first two albums, 1992’s Core and 1994’s Purple, during the tour.
New 30 Seconds to Mars Single Is Bound for the International Space Station
On Friday morning, the countdown literally begins for the launch of the new 30 Seconds to Mars single, "Up in the Air."
At 10:10 a.m. ET, the first copy of "Up in the Air" will be among the 1,200 pounds of cargo and scientific experiments being sent from Cape Canaveral in Florida to the International Space Station. Band members Jared Leto, Shannon Leto and Tomo Milicevic are expected to be in the Sunshine State to watch the launch of the Space Exploration Technologies cargo capsule containing their song, according to Rolling Stone.
Fans on Earth must wait until March 18 for their first taste of the tune. That day, 30 Seconds to Mars will premiere the song and do a live online interview with astronaut Tom Marshburn, who’s aboard the space station. Look for more information about the chat soon on the band’s website, ThirtySecondsToMars.com.
The digital release of “Up in the Air,” the first single from the upcoming fourth studio album by 30 Seconds to Mars, is set for March 19.
Pearl Jam's Mike McCready Sheds Light on Abandoned Second Mad Season Album
There were definite plans to record a second Mad Season album, says Pearl Jamguitarist Mike McCready about his side project with Alice in Chains singer Layne Staleyand Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan.
But that album, christened Disinformation, was never finished because Staley and bassistJohn Baker Saunders -- both users of heroin -- "were getting hard to get a hold of," McCready tells Billboard.
Says McCready, "You can only try so long before you kind of go, 'OK, we need to move on or figure something else out.'" Saunders died of an overdose in 1999, followed by Staley in 2002.
Three songs from the Disinformation sessions that were recently completed by Lanegan will appear on a deluxe reissue of Mad Season's only studio album, Above. The three-disc edition is due April 2. McCready refers to his guitar solo in the unreleased song "Slip Away" as "my pain of how this whole thing was all falling apart when Baker and Layne were dying."
The Black Keys Are Booked for May's Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis
The Black Keys are set to headline at this year's Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis. The band will take the stage on Saturday, May 4, day two of the three-day event.
Other confirmed acts announced this week by the festival's organizers include The Flaming Lips, Deftones, Phoenix, Smashing Pumpkins and Papa Roach.
The 2013 edition of the Beale Street Music Festival takes place May 3 through 5 at Tom Lee Park, which covers 25 acres in Memphis and runs alongside the Mississippi River. Single-day and three-day tickets are available now through Ticketmaster.com.
Alter Bridge to Start Recording Fourth Studio Album in April
Guitarist Mark Tremonti says about five songs have been "outlined" for a new Alter Bridge album, which the band plans to record starting in late April.
He describes the material as "real fun rock/metal," telling Billboard, "We want to not be predictable; we want to make it a little surprising, and we're having fun with it."
Tremonti adds that Alter Bridge plans to wrap up recording its fourth album in the summer and begin touring in September. For the time being, he is focused on playing shows with his own band -- billed simply as Tremonti -- in support of All I Was, his first solo album.
"It's definitely keeping me on my toes, especially having to keep re-creating new sounds for each band," Tremonti says.
