Good morning. Man, we came home to a dead mouse in a trap in our basement. BF put it in a shopping bag and threw it outside, planning to dispose of it properly in the trash barrel. We get up this morning, the mouse and trap are gone. The bag is still there. Wonder what came in the night to take it away, so neatly?
OK, on to the news at hand…..
Lemmy immortalized in bronze at the ‘Bow (photo credit: Blabbermouth)
So meanwhile, out in LA, Blabbermouth reports a statute of Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister was unveiled Wednesday night, Aug 24 in front of the late MOTÖRHEAD frontman’s favorite haunt, the legendary Rainbow Bar & Grill on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, CA.
Los Angeles-based artist Travis Moore was selected to create a realistic depiction of Lemmy for the life-size cast bronze statue, which stands at just over six feet tall and will be permanently housed in a special shrine that was constructed in the patio bar area at the Rainbow.
A native of Texas, Travis did his part for free, but there were considerable costs associated with the actual process that ultimately made the statute a reality. A funding campaign was launched by Katon De Pena from classic underground thrash-metal band Hirax, who raised about $23,000 to support the building of the statue.
Moore told Loudwire he and the team behind the campaign tried to find an image that typified Lemmy to base the statue on. “I know they were searching for that hat-coat combo,” he said. “Photographer Robert John had taken so many good pictures of him and I think that was about the time that they were at the Grammys and ‘Ace Of Spades’ was re-charting. There was really a resurgence for him and you can see that it was a happy time and he looks healthy and good. We just wanted to stay away from portraying him in a way that wouldn’t be proper, and he needed to be rocking, a tough-looking dude with a full face and that was the idea. There was initially some debate about would he be with a guitar? Would he be sitting at the bar? Would he have a bottle of booze? There were a lot of different options, and coincidentally, even the photo that Robert took, he’s standing there smoking a cigarette. We took that out, more of a liability reason, because someone could break that joker off or get caught on that. We don’t need lawsuits or anyone injured or definitely have the statue damaged on top of anything else. But there was a lot of consideration that went into this thing and everyone involved, their number one focus was honoring Lemmy.”
Moore told Sky News about twenty people worked on the statue and it took around five months to build. “I think it looks a lot like him. It’s a compelling image,” he said. “I think it will offer some closure. I think Lemmy is finally home.”
MOTÖRHEAD manager Todd Singerman told LA Weekly he never interfered in Moore’s design process. “This is for the fans. Nothing corporate,” he said. “Not the label, nothing. This is a fan thing and we tried to stay out of the way.” He added that there are plans to expand the tribute with a “Lemmy Lounge,” which will temporarily live at the Rainbow and possibly become the actual bar inside a separate “Motörhead Bar & Grille,” which Singerman said he’s working on, along with a major Lemmy tribute concert and a MOTÖRHEAD museum that will house some of Lemmy’s musical and military memorabilia.
Lemmy passed away at his home in Los Angeles on Dec 28, 2015, only four days after his 70th birthday. A memorial in his honor was held on Jan 9 at the Rainbow Bar & Grill, and it extended across much of the Sunset Strip. See more here.
HardWired indeed
Blabbermouth also reports Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich spoke to StarTribune.com about the band’s tenth studio album, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, which will be released on Nov 18 via the band’s Blackened Recordings. Regarding the musical direction of the long-awaited follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic, Ulrich said: “I don’t know if I have enough distance from it yet to really describe or explain it. Greg [Fidelman, producer] is back home mixing it as we speak. We’re mastering it starting on Monday. Here’s what I can tell you: I’m pretty [bleeping] sure it sounds like Metallica. The songs are probably a little leaner and shorter than the last go-around, and slightly less progressive. They’re more one-dimensional, meaning each song really just has one individual mood instead of having many moods within one song. And I can tell you, it feels pretty damn good to have this new music and to be getting it out there.”
Asked about the long wait between albums and tours, Lars said: “There’s just been a lot of other stuff going on. Metallica has always been active. Since we started making ‘Death Magnetic’, it’s coming up on ten years of steadily working. The last time we took a break was after San Diego in 2004. We started up songwriting for ‘Death Magnetic’ in 2005, then we toured it for three years. We spent about a year on ‘Lulu’, about two years on the ‘Through The Never’ movie and soundtrack. We’ve been playing all the great festivals around the world and hitting some really amazing places like China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Really, we haven’t sat still in almost 10 years.”
Hardwired…To Self-Destruct was produced by Fidelman with frontman James Hetfield and Ulrich. The band recorded the disc at its own studio. The album will be issued on double CD, vinyl and digital download. A deluxe version will feature a bonus disc containing the riffs that formed the origins of the album along with The Lords Of Summer, which the band debuted on tour a couple of years ago.
How about more Metallica news? Ok, so also from Blabbermouth:
“Metallica: Back To The Front,” the definitive story of Metallica‘s classic 1986 album Master Of Puppets and the tour that followed its release, hits bookstores and online sellers on September 13. A very special Collector’s Edition of the book will be available two weeks earlier on August 30 through Metallica.com and MoonriseMedia.net.
A new two-minute clip in which the members of METALLICA discuss what the album meant to their careers and to reflect on their original bassist, Cliff Burton, who died while on tour promoting the LP, can be seen below.
“Metallica: Back To The Front” includes an extensive interview with Ray Burton, father of late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who tragically died in a September 1986 bus accident during the European leg of the Damage Inc. trek.
A one-minute video clip in which Ray Burton can be seen flipping through his copy of “Metallica: Back To The Front” can be seen below.
Says Metalllica: “Two years in the making, we’re beyond excited to finally share it with you.
“To refresh your memories, we teamed up with acclaimed award-winning author Matt Taylor (‘Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard’) and you all jumped in to assist us in putting the pieces together by sending your photos, videos, stories and mementos. We hit the storage lockers, attics and basements to fill the book with hundreds of never-before-seen images pulled from our personal archives and have been involved every step of the way to bring you the complete story.
“The deluxe edition comes in a sleek case that includes a hardcover, clothbound, limited edition copy of the 276-page book and a portfolio containing a 1.25″ x 1.25” piece of an original roadcase used to ship the band’s equipment to Denmark for the recording of the album and on the tour that followed its release.
“Matt sat with us for exclusive, intensive interviews and we dug deep in our memory banks for stories, anecdotes, tidbits and tales from the studio, the road and beyond.
“A huge thanks to the people who were a part of our history at that time who sat with Matt, including record producer Flemming Rasmussen and the man who mixed it, Michael Wagener. Matt also tracked down the entire ‘Master Of Puppets’ road crew, including John Marshall and members of the bands who toured with us, Anthrax and Armored Saint. Our booking agent, tour promoters and managers, Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, all were overly generous with their time and recollections. Faith No More guitarist Jim Martin and drummer Mike Bordin and Diamond Head‘s Brian Tatler spoke with Matt about their memories of those crazy times. Of course, you, the fans who were at those shows gave us an amazing view of your memories and experiences. Finally, we’re honored that Cliff Burton‘s dad Ray sat down for an extensive interview.
“As we continue to celebrate 30 years of ‘Master Of Puppets’, in honor of the release of the book we’ve teamed up with ESP Guitars to give Fifth Members [members of the Metallica fan club] a chance to win a very limited-edition ‘Master Of Puppets’ guitar. Now you can customize Metallica.com with the new ‘Master Of Puppets’ skin.
“If you’re in the mood to hear some live music all eleven shows from the 2006 summer tour (those of you counting note that was the 20th anniversary of the release of the album!) featuring live performances of the entire album are now available on CD in the Met Store.
“Keep watching [Metallica.com] and on social media for sneak peeks of the book, videos with us chatting about the making of and other fun and games as we’ll be celebrating all throughout August.
“Oh, one more thing. We’re pretty sure that some of you will wonder about the remastered versions of ‘Master Of Puppets‘ we told you were in the works. They still are! As we keep digging in the vaults, we’re finding more and more music and video so that we can bring you an even bigger, more comprehensive, no stone-unturned version of the album. As always, [Metallica.com] is the place for more info as we have it!”
Master Of Puppets was released on February 24, 1986 and was the first album Metallica recorded after signing a major label deal with Elektra Records.
The set only reached No. 29 on the Billboard album chart but has sold over six million copies in the U.S. since.
It is the last record to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed later that year in a tour bus crash.
Several songs from the album are still staples of Metallica‘s live set, including “Battery,” “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” and the title track.
Many fans consider it the band‘s finest album, a fact they’ve acknowledged by playing it in its entirety on a European tour in 2006.
New music is raging
Beats 1 Music has posted a new track, “The Party’s Over,” from Prophets of Rage. The Apple Music service premiered the track yesterday. The Party’s Over EP is out now and the band has commenced their arena tour.
And then THIS happened! In honor of their 35th anniversary, Anthrax made an appearance on the Late Night with Seth Meyers and the other guest was another NYC icon, Robert DeNiro.
Watch their performance of “Monster At The End” here. The band will be touring this fall with Slayer.
Have a great weekend! Back on Monday when we are welcoming Jonathan Davis and Fieldy from Korn to the hardDriveRadio Studios! Oh yeah!