Congrats to all the Team USA Olympians! 121 medals? That’s amazing!
Now back to regular programming……
Sad news to start us out today. The Pulse Of Radio informs us former 3 Doors Down guitarist and co-founder Matt Roberts has died at the age of 38, according to multiple online reports. Roberts was found dead early Saturday morning (Aug 20th) in the hallway of a hotel in Milwaukee. He had been rehearsing earlier that night for a fundraising concert for veterans and had returned to the hotel with his father, Darrell Roberts, who had been traveling with him.
Darrell Roberts told CNN, “I was wakened at 8:50 this morning by some detectives beating on my door. It’s always scary as a parent, they were in suits and that’s when they told me. They asked me if Matt Roberts was your son, I said yes, and they said, ‘We have bad news to tell you, Matt deceased last night.‘”
An autopsy will be conducted to determine Roberts’ cause of death, but a drug overdose was suspected. Darrell Roberts said, “I know he had prescription drug addiction. He suffered greatly from anxiety. I thought he had beaten it all.”
Roberts formed 3 Doors Down in 1996 with singer Brad Arnold and bassist Todd Harrell in Escatawpa, MI. He was a member of the group until 2012 when he left for unspecified health reasons, playing on the band’s first five studio albums. He was replaced by Chet Roberts (no relation).
The group scored mainstream success in 2000 with its debut album, The Better Life. The disc featured the monster Top Three single “Kryptonite,” which Roberts co-wrote. He aso co-wrote other hits for the group including “Loser,” “When I’m Gone” and “Here Without You.” Roberts’ exit in 2012 and Harrell’s dismissal from the group in 2013 after being charged with vehicular manslaughter left Arnold as 3 Doors Down’s sole original member.
3 Doors Down frontman Brad Arnold posted this on the 3 Doors Down Facebook page:
“Words cannot express our sadness as we hear of the loss of our brother, Matt. He was a truly talented artist and great friend. His memory will live on through the songs we all created. He will be greatly missed.”
New tour dates to announce! Five Finger Death Punch and Shinedown have expanded their fall co-headlining North American tour, adding dates in Oct and Nov and booking a whole new set of shows that now stretch into mid-Dec. The two bands, along with guests Sixx: A.M. and As Lions, will now play a total of 36 shows, kicking off on Oct 18th in Little Rock, AR and winding down on Dec 10th in Duluth, GA.
Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Zoltan Bathory promised to us that fans won’t be disappointed: “You’re gonna get the show that you expect and some. This particular tour (is) going to be massive, you know, and every band’s gonna bring it. You know, they’re gonna bring their production, they’re gonna bring fire and lights and whatever the hell they want to bring. You know, they want to bring a tank, bring a tank. We don’t care, you know. It’s really about, you know, the fans are getting a proper rock show. That’s basically the goal and that’s exactly what’s gonna happen.“
VIP tickets are available for purchase today (August 22nd) at 10:00 a.m. ET. Fan club pre-sales begin tomorrow (Aug 23rd) at 10:00 a.m. local time, while general sales will start on Friday (Aug 26th) also at 10:00 a.m. local time.
Each of the four bands on the bill will donate one dollar from each ticket sold to four hand-picked charitable organizations. Five Finger Death Punch chose the Badge of Honor Memorial Foundation, Shinedown selected MusiCares, Sixx:A.M. will support the anti-human trafficking organization Don’t Sell Bodies, and As Lions will donate to Make A Wish America. Fans who donate an additional five dollars at the time they buy their ticket will have the chance to win VIP tickets and a meet-and-greet with the artists.
Whoa! Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has spoken with Rolling Stone about the band’s 10th studio album, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, which as announced last week is due out on Nov 18th. Ulrich said the set isn’t quite finished yet, explaining, “We have all but one of the songs mixed and done. In the last two or three days, Greg (Fidelman, producer) was going to mix the one called ‘Spit Out the Bone’ . . . and all of a sudden Rob (Trujillo, bass) showed up in the control room yesterday to work on it. So what the f**k do I know? It’s pretty much done. We should have that last song mixed this weekend.”
The album’s opening number, “Hardwired,” premiered last week, with the short, fast tune possibly setting the tone for the rest of the record. Ulrich said, “Most of the songs are simpler. We introduce a mood and we stick to it, rather than songs we’ve done where one riff happens and we go over here and then over there and becomes a journey through all these different soundscapes. The songs are more linear.”
Watch the trailer for the new Metallica album due Nov 18th!
Ulrich said the band was possibly inspired by revisiting its earliest albums, Kill ‘Em All and Ride The Lightning, while preparing reissues of them. He remarked, “It wasn’t until 2013 when we played it (in its entirety at the Orion festival in Detroit) that I realized Kill ‘Em All had a cohesiveness . . . the songs are longer but not quite as progressive. It’s a world all its own. And I think there are some elements of that that rubbed off into this. I’d say there’s a trace of residue from rediscovering Kill ‘Em All that crept into the songwriting.”
Hardwired…To Self-Destruct follows up 2008’s Death Magnetic and will contain 12 new songs and 80 minutes of music over two discs. The set will also be available on vinyl, as a download and also in a deluxe edition. Metallica headlined Minneapolis’ new U.S. Bank Stadium this past Saturday (Aug 20th), with guests Volbeat and Avenged Sevenfold.
Speaking of Avenged Sevenfold, this is for our Dirt reader Louie Feraro!
Avenged performed a free show Thursday night in Minneapolis at First Avenue for 1,500 lucky fans who stood in line prior to 7 PM. It marked the first show with their new drummer Brooks Wackerman. Wackerman, formerly of Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies, The Vandals and Infectious Grooves, joined Avenged last year following the departure of Arin Ilejay, who is now in Islander.
Blabbermouth reports Korn posted a new song called “Insane” online over the weekend. The full track premiered on BBC Radio One’s Rock Show last night (Aug 21st). The track is taken from Korn’s new album, The Serenity Of Suffering, which will be released on Oct 21st. The band is joining me in the hardDriveRadio studios on Monday (Aug 29.) Got questions? Send ’em in!
Meanwhile. over on Loudwire, they premiered the music video for “Insane.”
Today I am on the hotLine with Neil Sanderson, you know him as Three Days Grace drummer, who has now formed a new side project called King City. The band just posted their debut tune, “Neurotic” on iTunes and YouTube. You can also submit questions to me via the interact link on the home page! Do it!
Happy 58th today to Vernon Reid of Living Colour!