Get away Thursday! Leaving right after work for my little cabin in the Adirondacks, far far away. To our friends in NC, please heed the warnings and evacuate the Outer Banks! Don't put yourself in the path of danger, PLEASE! You may not be hearing hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus tonight on Rock 105 in Carolina as Wes Styles contacted us to say they are going to go All News to keep the community informed about the storm. Hang in and stay safe! Make sure to have batteries, portable radio, fill the tank with gas, WATER, non-perishable food and find shelter inland. Make sure to provide for the pets, too! And you daredevils who like to go into the water when the surf is high, be careful! Two people have already died from being caught in some serious riptides! .....Stone Sour's "Audio Secrecy" is streaming on www.nme.com now. And Sully Erna is streaming his solo record, "Avalon," on YouTube or hit this http://tinyurl.com/28wayr6 ....Chevelle have released "Ten in 10," their 10th anniversary retrospective CD/DVD. Congrats, boys!...Had Phil Anselmo on the hotLine yesterday talking about the 20th anniversary of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell." Be listening to hardDrive XL week of 9/20 when Pantera is our Featured Artist of the Week. HardDrive will also be spotlighting the release and we'll give away some cd/dvd sets too! ......Alter Bridge is close to announcing their U.S. label deal and when they will release "AB3." The record is coming out Oct 11 in Europe....Flyleaf will kick off the second leg of the band's Unite & Fight tour in Philadelphia on September 10th, with the band also launching a text campaign to support World Vision's fight against human trafficking of children. When fans text UNITE to 20222, $10 will be added to their cell phone bill and a donation will be made to World Vision's effort to rescue children who are victims of human trafficking. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/crek84 ....Scott Weiland is going to release a Christmas cd. Looking forward to using some of those songs on our annual "Nitemare B4 Xmas" special edition.....Happy 34th to Taproot's Phil Lipscomb & Happy 27th to Aimee Osbourne, the unseen sibling. Have a great long Labor Day weekend! Back on Tuesday!
Wednesday, Sep 1
Argh! Sep 1! WAAAH! Fall is in 21 days from today! NOooooo!!!!!.......As I'm typing this, I'm listening back to the uStream of the Stone Sour show I was at Monday night. I am sweating just thinking about it! Oh man, it was so hot in there! I dunno how bands can do that in these hot clubs. Stand there, performing their asses off in complete miserable heat and humidity. Not my idea of a good night. Find it now on Blabbermouth or I think it's on the Stone Sour website and on the uStream.tv site. See if you can pick out that crazy girl's screams coming from the right side of the stage. Cristina and I were dying from her. Wait, OH NO! See the girl who had to come out of the crowd after "Say You'l l Haunt Me"??? SHE'S THE SCREAMING GIRL! LOL ....Got a press release about Maynard James Keenan's "Blood Into Wine" documentary. Someone said it's the rock version of "Sideways." The DVD will be out on Sep 7th. There are some DVD Release Parties Sep 2 in DC at Arlington Drafthouse, Sep 6-7 at Zia's in Las Vegas, Sep 7 in Boston @ Parris Nightclub and New York's Highline Ballroom. For more: www.bloodintowine.com .....Linkin Park will perform "The Catalyst" on the MTV's VMAs on Sep 12. It will be their first public appearance and first live performance of the song....Saliva have parted ways with guitarist Jon Montoya. The band will go on as a 4-piece and are currently in LA recording their new album with Howard Benson. A single should be released sometime in the fall....10 Years' video for "Shoot It Out" is out and you can find it on YouTube...The benefit show for Drowning Pool's Ryan Combs' son Ayden will be held at Reno's Chop Shop in Dallas Sep 19th. Please, hit www.drowningpool.com if you can help!....Green Dayare apparently recording the shows along their current tour and rolled out a new song "Cigarettes and Valentines.".....Underoath fans will be happy to know "Disambiguation" will be out Nov 9th...>See Road Rage for tour dates for HARDDRIVE LIVE TOUR 2009's headliners All That Remains that starts on the 14th. They're going out with As I Day Dying and Unearth. Have a great day!
Tuesday, Aug 31
Wow, tomorrow is Sep 1. WAH! Summer is almost over! I hate this time of year! Most of the flowers in my garden are gone, the sun is setting earlier and rising later. Waaaaaaah!.......Last night was an amazing night at the Stone Sour show at the Studio at Webster Hall. More than 300 people packed into this small, low-ceiling, dark cavern to rock out to one of the biggest bands in rock! Hot, sweaty and airless! But Lou Brutus and I loved every moment! It was 100 or more Stone Sour fans along with about 200 industry folk from radio, retail and the label. A few of the hardDrive and hardDrive XL affiliate station notables were in attendance including WJJO's Randy Hawke, Z92's Matt Bingham, 101.7 The Fox' Scott Less and Lazer 103.3's Ryan Patrick. I also met for the first time some PD's from Tucson and Phoenix and they were really nice dudes! (Hopefully, some day, we can get on the air there too!) Anyhow, the night began with a big ole dinner and then we walked a couple of blocks over to the venue. The first person I ran into was our own "Ask Cristina" host Cristina Scabbia! We hung out together most of the night (and let me tell you, it was nice to see fans of Lacuna Coil ask her for her photo and autograph!) But the bummer of the evening was this one female Stone Sour fan who screamed SO BLOODY LOUD all night long, we wanted to stuff a sock in her mouth! If you watched online, I am sure you heard those blood curdling screams yourself, but imagine standing near by that big mouth! OY VEY! We found respite in a little room off the floor where the online video crew and director was working. They did a great job from what I could tell watching the screens (and, bonus, they had an air conditioned room!) Corey Taylor donned a New York City t-shirt like the one John Lennon was depicted in the famous photo by Bob Gruen. He was his usual personable and witty Corey, and the band was smoking hot. At one point, Corey took off his tshirt, and I got to see some of his tattoos. There was one, I had NO idea what the hell it was, but I saw the Heath Ledger/Joker tattoo on his inner right arm, which was cool. Anyhow, here is the set list. They did 3 songs from the new album (in red) Mission Statement, Reborn, Made of Scars, Say You'll Haunt Me, Come (what)Ever May, these were the acoustic songs: Bother, Miracles, You Got Lucky (Tom Petty cover), Through Glass. Then back to electric with Your God, Digital, Get Inside, Hell & Consequences & 30/30/150. The funniest moment of the night, I left the dressing room after the show to get an adult beverage from the bar. Realizing I was low on funds, I started to turn away after the bartender told me it was a cash bar, and this woman at the end of the bar said, "I'll buy that woman a drink!" I was really surprised and walked over to her to say thank you. She said "Thank you for your son! " and how much she loved Stone Sour, loved Corey's lyrics, had gone to Des Moines to see the band, etc. "You don't live in Des Moines anymore, do you?" "No, we moved a while ago," I responded. I was gracious and played along. (I am used to being asked if I am the Mom of a band member since I have gray hair.) I thanked her for the drink and made my way back to the dressing room. I thought it was the most hilarious thing! Told Corey and the band. So now I am "Mom" to the boys! LOL.....On a not so funny note, I found out poor Ayden Rose, son of Ryan Combs of Drowning Pool! He is probably going to lose his foot in that dreadful mower accident that happened last week. All I can say is our thoughts and prayers go out to the Combs family. How terribly sad for that little innocent kid! Note to parents: make the kids go inside when moving on a driving, push or manual lawn mower! ......It was revealed on TMZSlash and his wife of 9 years, Perla Ferrar Hudson, are divorcing due to irreconcilable differences. The couple has two sons, Cash and London, aged 8 & 6. The split is reportedly amicable and Slash has filed for joint custody and will pay alimony....Cristina Scabbia told me Lacuna Coil is beginning to work on new material for their next album. In the meantime, they will be performing in India for the first time in their career and she is looking forward. I asked her whether or not the band is going to come to the U.S. to record, and right now they are investigating producers and deciding if they'll stay in Europe to record or come here. Their euros will still go farther here than over there, so it remains to be seen. It was great seeing her, since I haven't since the band left the states after last year's hardDrive Live Tour....Have a great day!
Monday, Aug 30
I hate to start out the report sharing this sad news, and I thought the black cloud over these guys had somehow disappated since things have been going so well for Drowning Pool, but singer Ryan McCombs' three-year-old son, Ayden Rose, was seriously injured in a riding lawn mower accident that left severe damage to his right leg, according to Blabbermouth.net. Further details on the accident haven't been made public yet, but Ayden will reportedly need multiple surgeries and has a long road of recovery ahead of him. McCombs' family and friends are asking those who can to help raise funds for the astronomical medical bills, with a benefit concert already scheduled for September 19th in Dallas at Reno's Chop Shop. The benefit will feature six local bands, as well as an auction and raffle featuring items donated by friends in the music and sports industry. Drowning Pool has been on the road behind its self-titled fourth album and is scheduled to play on Saturday (Sep 4) in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The band will join Godsmack and Five Finger Death Punch on the road in October. A flyer advertising the benefit and featuring a picture of Ayden can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/28tkurz....Speaking of Godsmack, see more dates on the tour in Road Rage....On Saturday, I was back over at the RockStar Uproar stop in Saratoga Springs, NY. I went over to interview HellYeah's Vinnie Paul to talk about the 20th anniversary of Pantera's "Cowboys From Hell." We hung out on Vinnie's custom bus, all decked out in Dallas Cowboy gear, and complete with disco lighting in the galley area! Of course he was cooking! He had a huge pot of homemade chili in a crock pot on the counter and it smelled real good! Anyhow, he told me some great stories about the good ole days when the band had first signed to a major label and recorded their first album fro Atco with producer Terry Date. Listen for Pantera as the featured artist of the week on hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus the week of Sep 20th, and on a future edition of hardDrive (date TBA.) We'll be giving away copies of the deluxe edition of "Cowboys From Hell" with the bonus track, "The Will to Survive" on the week of Sep 20th, so keep an eye on the site.....Tonight, don't forget Stone Sour will stream their perfomance tonight that Lou and I will attend with 298 other specially invited industrites and the lovely Cristina Scabbia will also be there too! Anyhow, hit www.stonesour.com before 8:30 PM ET to get online with it.....Tomorrow, Disturbed will be on uStream hosting a live webcast at 5:30 PM ET. Submit questions now at www.disturbed1.com . Their "Asylum" cd hits stores tomorrow! Meanwhile, Disturbed help to launch the opening of the first Hot Topic store in Canada in Toronto. Right on!...Tomorrow, Papa Roach's "Time for Annihilation" cd will be released and they'll be serving food at the L.A. Mission for the Homeless in Los Angeles for WhyHunger, an organization which Jacoby Shaddix is very close with, having experienced homelessness and hunger as a kid. The band is asking fans to donate to WhyHunger by texting WHY to 90999. A $5 donation will be added to your phone bill. Do it!....There seems to be this whole scuttlebutt online about whether Scott Weiland of STP is lip synching to "Crackerman" at a recent show. In my opinion, he was not lip synching! Apparently, he fell off the stage during his performance of the song and never missed a beat. I say he's that good of a showman! You can tell when someone is not singing and I say his vocals were live. See for yourself....Have a great day! Later, taters!
Friday, Aug 27
I actually tried to take today off, but hat ain't happening! Conference call, preparing interview tomorow with Vinnie Paul on the 20th anniversary of "Cowboys From Hell." Geez. What's a girl to do??? (Try to take NEXT Friday off!)...Here's the latest I found on Pulse of Radio: Speaking of Pantera, they'll debut the previously unreleased track, "The Will To Survive," on Monday (August 30th) at noon E.T. on its Facebook page. The band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its classic major-label debut, Cowboys From Hell, with a a limited-edition exclusive box set, available on its website (Blabbermouth.net)....Linkin Park debuted the new video for its latest single, "The Catalyst." According to Spin.com, "The clip (directed by DJ Joe Hahn, shows the guys in various scenes of smoky, nocturnal chaos, as fellow humans scurry for shelter." The track will appear on Linkin Park's fourth album, "A Thousand Suns," due out September 14th. Watch the clip here: http://tinyurl.com/2eru9lv ....Ozzy Osbourne's "Scream" cd will be reissued on Oct 5th with 3 new studio cuts, 4 live tracks and Black Sabbath's "Fairies Wear Boots.".... Stone Sour will stream its entire new album, "Audio Secrecy," next Wednesday (September 1st) on NME.com -- a week before you can buy it. In other news, the band has donated VIP tickets for its August 30th headlining show at New York City's The Studio at Webster Hall, with proceeds going to Child Find of America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the prevention of child abduction. Looking forward to seeing them Monday, and Lou Brutus too! Speaking of Lou, have yourself a great weekend and be sure to listen to hardDrive this weekend and tonight to hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus! See ya Monday!
Thursday, Aug 26
Hey there, hi there, ho there. A slower news day I dare say I can not find! I can report to ya I had a great time yesterday with the members of Apocalyptica, who stopped by the hardDrive studios while in town on tour. Drummer Mikko and cellists Paavo and Eicca along with newly recruited singer Tipe (pronounced TIP-pay) paid a visit with their hilarious tour manager Tom. (That guy missed his calling as a comedian for SURE!) The no show was Perttu, who was feeling a little under the weather. The poor lad hardly eats and apparently became dehydrated. Anyhow, we talked about their new album, "7th Symphony," and there are two bonus tracks on it, not just one! (The second one, the name escapes me, something about a speeding car in the streets of Paris or something.) One thing I found out that's making news is Ben Moody and Eicca wrote a couple of songs, which unfortunately did not make the record. (Ben, of course, is currently a member of We Are the Fallen and former guitarist and songwriter for Evanescence.) And guess who the singer of one of those songs was supposed to be? Maynard James Keenan! Apparently Mayn was all set to do it, but then his schedule with Puscifer and wine making prohibited it from taking place. Just know, some day they will hopefully do the song together! And the other thing I learned is there will be several (maybe 30 or so ) different versions of the album available all over the world! One cool one is the music will be on a USB flashdrive in the shape of a cello. That's neat! And the DVD that comes in the deluxe version contains "acoustic" versions of some songs filmed especially for this use. I have to check that out!....Other items for ya today are mostly tour news. Godsmack announced their brief stint out with Five Finger Death Punch and Drowning Pool. The shows will only be in the Northeast. Papa Roach have also announced a new string of headlining shows with Skillet, Trapt and My Darkest Days. And I also posted the theater screenings for the "Decade of Disturbed" showings around the country the next few days. Find it all in the Road Rage section on the home page. More later!
Wednesday, Aug 25
Today, the guys from Finland's Apocalyptica hit the hardDrive studios. I have to learn how to say "Apo-ca-lyp-ti-ca" instead of "Apoc-a-lyp-tica" since it must be how they would like us to say it. Anyhow, more on that tomorrow!.....Here's a good one: Saw this on Blabbermouth: Metallica's "Enter Sandman" could be one of the songs heard by the crew on the final flight of space shuttle Discovery this November, according to Gibson.com. NASA has launched a new "Wake-up Song Contest" that will allow the public to choose which songs the crew will hear on their voyage. The top two vote-getters will be used to awaken the crew during the 11-day mission. To vote for Metallica, hit http://songcontest.nasa.gov/home.aspx. (Did I ever think in my wildest dreams I would be posting a NASA site in my column??!!! Nah!)....Watched Korn's performance on YouTube this morning from last night's "Lopez Tonight." Alas, you never get to see Wes Geer in there. He's replaced Shane Gibson as back up guitarist for their live shows. Shane has left to join his own band called Stork....Pulse of Radio posted Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello told a Florida radio station despite recent comments from singer Zack de la Rocha, a new album from the band is not likely. When asked about de la Rocha's remarks in which he said that there was a "genuine possibility" of the band recording a new album, Morello replied, "I think that that is an inaccurate quote. There's no plans for that now . . . The band gets along great, we're playing some of the best shows of our career over the last couple of years, and no one is ruling out that . . . (Zack's) been in the middle of making a One Day As A Lion record, and he's been on tour with that, I have a Street Sweeper (Social Club) record coming out, and I'm working on the next The Nightwatchman record. So there's no plans to go into the studio and do that now, but as a band, I hope that we will continue to, at a minimum, play shows in the future." ....Pearl Jam will co-headline this year's Bridge School Benefit shows with Neil Young at the Shoreline Amphi in Mountain View, CA Oct 23-24. They are honored to be a part and this falls at the same time the band will celebrate their 20th anniversary. Other acts rumored to be included on the bill are Nickelback, Alice in Chains and Sir Elton John....Disturbed have posted another new song on their site called "Never Again." It was inspired by the Holocaust (David has family members who were interned in concentration camps.) Their new "Asylum" album hits stores Tuesday! Check it out at http://neveragain.disturbed1.com/ ....Sorry to see 12 Stones have severed their relationship with Wind Up Records.Paul McCoy is a good guy and we hope his endeavors in the future work out better for him and his band....Happy 61st to Gene $immon$ of KI$$, Happy 59th to Rob Halford of Judas Priest and Happy 52nd to director Tim Burton, who I am forever indebted to for stealing his "Nightmare Before Christmas" title for our holiday hardDrive show! :)
Tuesday, Aug 24
OMG! You must seek out the Ozzfest 2010 Intro video on YouTube or hit Blabbermouth now. My sides are still hurting from laughing so hard! Genius! I think Ozzy should release a DVD of all of the intros for his shows from over the years. They are all clearly amazing. Ozzy as an Avatar! Come on! Awesome!......Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor is working on a book about the Seven Deadly Sins, according to an interview with music blog Attention Deficit Delirium. Taylor explained, "I just finished writing it, and it's being edited right now. We're hoping to get it out by the spring of next year. It's about the Seven Deadly Sins and my take on them and how I don't think they're sins at all. They're human characteristics. They're just human flaws and things that we all experience, yet because we all deal with them we're all doomed? Screw you."...I absolutely LOVE the story I saw on Blabbermouth this morning about the Reading & Leeds festival promoter who was on the BBC warning Guns N Roses if they show up late for their scheduled appearances at the shows this month in England, they won't perform at all, which violates the contract and may allow the promoter to not pay them at all! Come on Axl, grow up and stop thinking you are better than everyone else. It is beyond rude when you constantly show up late for your shows. It's an insult not only to the fans, the rest of the bands, but to the concept of being where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there (my high school principle's quote that has always stayed with me, as funny as it is.) 20 minutes, a half hour, ok, that can be tolerated. But nearly 2 hours, totally unacceptable. I hope they don't show up on time just for the hell of it. I say to the agents and promoters out there, STOP BOOKING them! Then maybe Mr Rose will wake the hell up! Sorry, I had to rant there.....I loved yesterday while I was waiting for Tommy Lee to show up for his interview, he was late, as I expected, that this huge tour bus rode by W. 40th Street with RockStar logos. At first I thought it was Tommy's, then I saw the logo: The Devil Wears Prada. I had to laugh since my office is in the fashion district in Manhattan and it just seemed so right on to see "The Devil Wears Prada" driving through the glass and cement canyons of the fashionistas. Very surreal! Tommy is stoked about his new Methods of Mayhem album, due Sep 21. It's very pop oriented and I enjoyed listening. Guests include my boy Morgan Rose (on The Fight Song), Chino Moreno (on Only One) and TLee thinks Derek Whimbley of Blink 182 is on a track called "Louder." Funny he wasn't sure. But so many times, bands have working titles for songs, but when they make it to the actual album, they get changed. For example, the single "Time Bomb" was originally called "Swallow Me." So there ya go. Shot some video with Tommy, so check the video page on the site in a few days....Saving Abel and Theory of a Deadman will join 3 Doors Down this year for their annual fund raiser for the Better Life Foundation. The event will take place Nov 12 & 13 in Tunica, MS at the Horseshoe Casino/Hotel. The two-day event will include the concert and a day of events from clay shooting to a silent auction and motorcycle exhibitions. For more: www.thebetterlifefoundation.org ....Atreyu have announced a fall tour (about time!!) See Road Rage....Tomorrow night in Las Vegas, Gavin Rossdale of Bush will perform at an event with Carlos Santana in honor of his forthcoming "Guitar Heaven" album, which contains the legendary guitarist performing with contemporary singers doing classic covers. Rossdale is on it doing T Rex' "Bang A Gong." I got my hands on 4 tracks from the album early (it's due Sep 28) and you will hear some of them on Labor Day weekend on hardDrive's "Cover It Up" special edition. I think you will love them!....Slash, Eddie Vedder, Flea of the Chili Peppers and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top appear on Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood's upcoming record. Kinda cool....The Gracious Few have added a second leg to their fall tour. See Road Rage....New in stores today: Apocalyptica's "7th Symphony". Listening now and I discovered a bonus track called "The Shadow of Venus." (Don't you love when you find those little treasures!)...Happy 42nd to Spider One, aka Michael Cummings, of Powerman 5000.
Monday, Aug 23
Man, is Mother Nature pissed at us, or what?!! Flooding all over the world, including here in the Metro NYC area. Please, turn off the water! And there really isn't any global warming now, is there?........Ozzy Osbourne has announced he's been in touch with all the members of Black Sabbath and perhaps the time could be right for the fellows to get together to make at least one more album and tour. Let's face it, they are all reaching or into their 60's. Let's go, boys! As Ozzy said, "We're all talking, and that's a good sign."....Rob Zombie has been cast as the voice of God in an upcoming spoof of superhero movies called "Super." It stars Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and more. Oh, Satan is rolling around in his inferno just thinking about it!.....Happy 49th to my friend Dean Deleo of Stone Temple Pilots! In the studio today: Tommy Lee; Wednesday: Apocalyptica!....More later!
Friday, Aug 20
Tickets on sale TODAY for most of the HARDDRIVE LIVE TOUR 2010 dates! Get over to www.harddrivelivetour.com at 10 AM and start shoppin'! We finally saw some mock ups of the tour t-shirt and I have to say, it looks pretty rad. Sorry about last year's shirt....kinda sucked. I am so stoked for the tour. Seems like the response has been really positive and we regret we can't add more dates in order to get into more hardDrive affiliated markets, but ya know, there's always next year! Who knows, maybe we can pull off another in the spring! Ya never know! Meanwhile, I am reading the new Revolver! Get out and grab one! Stone Sour is on the cover and it contains a feature story on the band! Joey Jordison's Murderdolls is also included in the issue as well as a story on Disturbed! Did I mention Lou Brutus makes a cameo appearance in the "Decade of Disturbed" video that's included in the "Asylum" cd? One more reason to get out and grab it on Aug 31....Slipknot will release a live DVD of their Jun 13, 2009 performance at the Download Festival in Donington, England and was one of the last performances with bassist Paul Gray. The "(sic)nesses" was compiled by M. Shawn Crahan of the band and also includes the making of the "Snuff" video. You can get your little maggot hands on one Sep 28th (woulda been my Dad's bday, and it's kinda strange, and Corey Taylor married Stephanie Luby on my parent's wedding anniversary, Nov 13. Weird connections.....) Richard Patrick of Filter stopped by the studios yesterday! Always a pleasure seeing my old friend Richie and I shot a great video interview with him you will be able to see on the site next week. The band is just back from a promo tour of Europe. The new Filter album, "The Trouble with Angels," is out now. Tommy Lee will be in the hardDrive studios on Monday to talk about his new Methods of Mayhem album. On Wednesday, Apocalyptica stop in, and we were just informed we may be one of only 5 radio interviews Soundgarden will be doing in support of their new album, "Telephantasm" due 9/28. Very kewl!....Happy 62nd today to Robert Plant, Happy BIG 4-0 to Fred Durst,on Saturday, Happy 43rd to Serj Tankian and Sunday Happy 52nd to Living Colour's Vernon Reid!.... Anyhow, be sure to check out hardDrive this weekend when Lou's guests are Linkin Park (in theri first national radio interview), Serj Tankian, Drowning Pool, get ya Plugged In with Anchored, a hardDrive Concert Report on Smashing Pumpkins in Charleston, SC, Dirt, Find out What's in Lou's MP3 Player and more of the best new rock in all the land! And don't miss tonight's hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus too! Football season is around the corner! GO SAINTS!
Thursday, Sep 19
Added another date to the HARDDRIVE LIVE TOUR, Oct 8th in Hartford, CT at Webster Theater. Don't forget, tix on sale Friday and Saturday!....Today, Richard Patrick of Filter hits the hardDrive studios here in NYC! He's an old friend. And I can't wait to see baby pix!...OK, here's a recap of my backstage activities at RockStar Uproar. First off, thanks to Reprise Records for providing Lou Brutus and I the ability to be at one of the best rock events of the year! The Uproar promoters are the coolest folks around and hardDrive hopes to share some events in the future! I see today Blabbermouth has posted the arrival of Paul Gray's daughter October Dedrick Gray on Tuesday night and thank GOD, since I doubted I would be able to keep my big mouth shut about it!!! While Lou Brutus was interviewing Stone Sour in the dressing room, Corey's wife Stephanie'scell phone rang, so she dashed out of the room, to return joyously to announce Paul's wife Brenna was in labor back in Des Moines. (That was around 3:30 PM CT. She gave birth around 11:10 PM, which makes sense. That would be the time Slipknot would be offstage!) Little October looks like her daddy! Corey Taylor is so excited you would think it was his own baby! "I love babies" he shouted in the hallway after the birth! I know this little baby won't ever feel like she doesn't have a father figure in her life what with her 8 dads in Slipknot! So wonderful and many congrats to Brenna and her family! Meanwhile, excited to be invited to Stone Sour's initmate performance on Monday here in NYC at Webster Hall. Me and 299 other industry-ites are invited to see the band perform the new album. You can feel like you are there because you can watch it online! Look for me in the crowd! LOL Hit www.stonesour.com for more!...Disturbed's David Draiman invited me on his bus to meet his beautiful new akita (well, he's not so new anymore) Gabriel! He is already about 100 lbs of cream colored fur with a face like a panda bear (those eyes). He almost reminds me of a lion. He is just the sweetest dog ever! (But does he shed!!!! OY VEY!) David is so happy to have him, as well as his beautiful girlfriend Lena's two rescue dogs from LA (whose names I am sorry I can not recall! Senility!) So they are all traveling on the tour bus, along with Jon Moyer and his wife Kristen and 2 1/2 yr old son Logan. I am so happy for the entire Disturbed crew. Dan Donegan, Mike Wengren and Jon are all dads. Mike's 9 month daughter Ava is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen! She is gonna be a man killer! Dan's two kids, a little boy 3 and a girl nearly 7 are also sweet as pie, and so it their mom! It's just an all around great family and I am happy to know them! Their show was amazing! A total assault of the senses. Huge LED screens with so many different visuals, it knocks you off your feet, not to mention the pyro, which is all state of the art now. Huge plumes of fire everywhere! Explosions too! David said to Lou, people who are prone to seizures should be advised!!! As Dan told Lou in their interview, you are gonna see me turn around with my back to the audience, not out of disrespect, but because I want to see the production too! The show starts out with a short film with David in an asylum. It's intense and then it's as if he leaps out of the film onto the stage to perform the title track of the new album, which comes out on Tuesday!! It's AWESOME! Their performance was the best I have ever seen from them! And the biggest news of all! Their videographer told us Lou Brutus has a cameo appearance in "Decade of Disturbed"!!!! So when you buy your Disturbed "Asylum" cd on Tuesday, you get LOU BRUTUS, TOO! m/--m/....Hung out with the Avenged Sevenfold boys! Zacky V is going to send hardDrive one of his guitars for us to giveaway in the future and I am stoked! Got to meet and hang with drummer Mike Portnoy who is very nice fellow! After their show, he was having a conversation with a heavy in the merchanidise field about Pink Floyd (who's got the better version: Roger Waters or David Gilmour-Mike's a Waters' guuy and has The Wall hammers on the back of his leg!) and more. I noticed the recent tattoo all the guys in A7X have of the Rev. It's his face with bat wings. Matt has his on top of his right hand. Their show was so amazing. Starts out with a guy who is on a scaffold high above the stage, he ties a noose around his neck and jumps. As he swings back and forth, they burst out with NIGHTMARE! The set has the band in front of these huge gates (iron & brick) with a scrim of what appears to be a haunted mansion behind the gates. And there must be at least 8 or 10 pots where the pyro plumes shoot out, as well as around the tops of the front gates. It's amazing. Truly. (I know Mike Portnoy has an oxygen tank next to his drums). When you see the tour, notice what happens to the curtains above when those flames are ignited. And you can imagine how hot it must get on stage. After all, it's GAS being burned! The venue definitely was slightly sweaty once Disturbed's show was over, lemme tell ya! Hard to believe nothing catches on fire!....Stone Sour'sset was great. (Favorite moment: Corey Taylor walks behind Jim Root during his solo while signalling the audience to be quiet as he walks over and squeeses his ass! Jim, heavy into his solo, leaps, but never misses a moment!!! LOL) And that boy Corey has a way to remind fans when the new album "Audio Secrecy" is out. He had the entire audience chanting "September 7th" at the end! And look for Corey on a track on the upcoming Blink 182 cd! That boy is everywhere! ...But the band I was most excited to see handle the big stage was Halestorm! Going from the clubs to this massive stage is something and they pulled it off flawlessly. Lzzy is a star. Make no mistake. And the rest of the band, AreJay, Joe & Josh are the best people! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE LZZY's new hair cut! Wait til you see the pix Lou has. I think he's posting them on his Facebook and My Space and Twitter pages. I don't want to give anything away! I regret not having seen any of the bands on the second stage (it was 3 blocks away, but had too much to handle on the main stage area). But I got to meet New Medicine, who are from Minneapolis. Nice guys. Had dinner with the boys from Airbourne. RyanO'Keefe shared some nice Australian Shiraz with me that complimented our chicken. They were discussing how in Sydney, they have to put these nets out so the poisonous giant jellyfish, blue ring octopus and great whites don't get into the harbor and beach areas. You can easily die if you don't know what you are doing over there! Scary! I haven't wanted to swim since Jaws came out in 1970. LOL....Over at the Hellyeah table I was hanging with Vinnie, Chad, Tommy and Bobzilla. Great guys all. We were talking football. Vinnie is all about the Cowboys, of course. Chad and I are both Saints fans, while Bob is a die-hard Steelers fan (even tho he's from LA!) Tommy was non commital! LOL Vinnie was putting together the menu for his bbq plans for the Kansas City stop. I told him I would make my famous macaroni salad for the stop in Saratoga Springs, NY on the 28th! Got to hang out on the street for a few with Eric Fleming, PD from our Mason City, IA station, 102.7 The Blaze. Nice dude! We introduced him to Brian Crouch of Hail the Villain. Brian can't believe he's part of this amazing tour. Oh yeah, and our contest winners, Scott Reeves and his boss Jason from Oklahoma City were really great too! We all had a great time in Minneapolis! Be sure to listen to the BACKSTAGE at ROCKSTAR UPROAR on hardDrive weekend Sep 11....See Road Rage for new solo tour dates for Scott Stapp! And I just heard the new cover songs from Carlos Santana's forthcoming album, "Guitar Heaven." In our cover song special of hardDrive for Labor Day, we'll world premiere 3 of the songs: Chris Cornell on Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," Jacoby Shaddix on Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" and Scott Weiland on "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'" (one of my favorite Rolling Stones' songs!) Scott Stapp also appears on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son." Look for "Guitar Heaven" on Sep 21.
