Had a great chat yesterday with Mike Kerr of Royal Blood. Be listening in the coming weeks here on hardDriveRadio for the bits of it.
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is continuing to drop hints about the secret star appearance on the band’s upcoming ninth studio album, Concrete And Gold. Grohl began teasing fans last month in an interview with BBC Radio One, calling the unnamed guest the “biggest pop star in the world,” adding, “(He or she) sings backup on one of the heaviest songs on the record, and we’re not telling anybody who it is.”
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, however, Grohl walked back the “pop star” comment, saying that the person “is, I think, more than that.” He continued, “It was sort of towards the end of the album and this person came up and said, ‘Man, I’d really love to sing on your record’ . . . so we found a backup part for this person to sing and we decided we were gonna make it our own dirty little secret and see if anyone can figure it out.”
Grohl added, “I’d be amazed if anyone can really figure it out. But it was great and this person’s been around a long time. And I think I’ve met this person maybe a few times, but I’d never spent time with this person, and we had a blast together.”
The Foos’ main man gave one final hint, saying that the person was someone he had spoken with about appearing on a second season of the band’s HBO series Sonic Highways. (Hmmmm, could it be Dolly Parton????)
He denied that the “person” was either Taylor Swift or Adele as rumored, saying about the latter, “Everyone thinks Adele sang on the record. She didn’t sing on the record. I f**king love her, she’s an amazing person — I love her personally, and I of course also love her music.”
Confirmed guests on the record include The Bird And The Bee’s Inara George, the Dead Weather‘s Allison Mosshart, saxophonist Dave Koz and singer Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men fame. Concrete And Gold will arrive on Sep 15th, 2017. The first single, “Run,” currently tops the rock radio chart.
Grohl also said the Foos had fun meeting some of the other artists recording at the same Los Angeles studio where they worked, though he did not confirm whether they made appearances on Concrete And Gold. He explained, “There’s five rooms in there, so on any given day, you see Lady Gaga walking down the hall, or Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple is in there today. Hey, Justin Timberlake‘s in the kitchen. Or Rufus Wainwright‘s there one day. One day, I get a text like, ‘Shania Twain‘s in the big room. She wants to say hello.’”
Words can not express the devastating loss that my son & I both, along with the rest of our families are feeling over my ex husband & son’s father’s recent passing. Unreal to stay the least!
I pray from my soul that he is at peace and no longer suffering.
My son & I are extremely spiritual & would like to share our believes with you in hopes it brings a little comfort.
We do not believe there is a hell. We believe that we as souls make “soul contracts” we agree to come into this world with the knowledge of our destiny & when it’s fulfilled we move on to a higher vibration of energy, meaning “the next level”. He fulfilled his destiny while helping others every step of the way through his music, a hand shake,a conversation, or even a hug. No matter if you saw him on stage, had an opportunity to meet him anywhere he truly touched everyone in a positive way. He absolutely loved singing for each & every one of you & for all of his friends & family at home all the time. I have always missed him singing throughout our home & loved it when he would visit, he would sing for us every time we ask or just spontaneously . He absolutely had a God given talent!
We are all created the same & connected so Chester you are never “gone”. Our souls & energy are forever connected.
Chester, as one of my best friends of the age of 19, a husband, father to my son, business partner, and all we created together, I’m truly honored to have completed our soul contracts together, build all we did together, & thank you for giving me the greatest gift ever, our beautiful son Draven.
I promise to continue to raise a great man who has integrity, humility, kindness, & most of all compassion & love.
I do feel your presence as a guardian angel watching over us & Im extremely filled with gratitude.
Thank you to Draven’s god parents Uncle Stefie & Moni along with friends & family for joining us in with a raw ruby crystal that we shared a prayer, we all kissed the stone, & prayed to chester to find peace & fill his heart with love. Then our son through it in the ocean as an offering to God/Source.
We also want to thank our family and friend who traveled close & far for their support & continuous love.
We will always love you Chester.
From the bottom of our hearts .. love Sam & Draven Bennington
Meanwhile the Arizona tattoo parlor partly owned by Chester hosted a memorial for the fallen musician on Sunday (Jul 30th). The event at Club Tattoo in Tempe was attended by hundreds of fans who shared stories with the crowd of how they connected with Bennington’s music. Bennington and his partners opened the first Club Tattoo in Phoenix more than two decades ago and expanded with several other locations in Arizona and one in Las Vegas. (Thanks The Pulse of Radio)Anyone wonder what ever happened to Aaron Lewis of Staind? Well, he’s still working on his new found career as a country musician, as evidenced in the video above. (And also a healthy eater!) Aaron possesses an amazing voice, no doubt.
He also is a philanthropist, raising money for his community. He recently announced the 6th annual Aaron Lewis Invitation Charity Golf Tournament and Aaron Lewis and Friends Benefit Concert. The concert will take place on Friday, Aug 4th at the Pines Theater at Look Park in Northampton, MA, with the golf tournament scheduled for the following day (Aug 5th) at the Crumpin-Fox Golf Course in Bernardston, MA.
The concert will feature Lewis joined by special guests Corey Taylor from Stone Sour, plus Mike Mushok and Adam Gontier, who are both in Saint Asonia (and are working on a new album.) The addition of Mushok is interesting since he also plays with Lewis in Staind, which has been on hiatus for a few years now while Lewis has pursued a country music career.
Among the causes that the ITAC Foundation supports are Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County, Greenfield Education Foundation, YMCA of Hampshire County’s Camp Norwich Improvement Fund and Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (T.A.P.S). ITAC works with local leaders and organizations that have firsthand knowledge of the needs in their area to support initiatives that improve community life — particularly the lives of children and families.
The tournament and concert will benefit the It Takes A Community (ITAC) Foundation. Past events have raised more than $700,000 for the initiative, which helps to fund vital programs, education and services to communities in need of support. Lewis and his family started ITAC to keep the doors of the local elementary school in the wake of state funding cuts. He explained, “If we can make a difference in our little corner of Massachusetts, couldn’t we give additional worthy organizations in our area a similar leg up?”
Meanwhile, Staind has been mostly inactive since 2011, with the exception of a handful of live appearances, while Lewis has released one EP and two full-length albums on his own. (Thanks The Pulse Of Radio and Loudwire)
Blabbermouth reporting Marilyn Manson was fan-filmed during his stop last night in Moscow, Russia. The setlist included the same four songs Manson has been performing since the start of his current European tour: “Revelation #12”, “We Know Where You Fucking Live”, “SAY10” and “1°”.
Setlist:
01. Revelation #12 (new)
02. This Is The New Shit
03. mOBSCENE
04. The Dope Show
05. Great Big White World
06. No Reflection
07. 1° (new)
08. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (EURYTHMICS cover)
09. Disposable Teens
10. We Know Where You Fucking Live (new)
11. The Beautiful People
Encore:
12. Coma White
13. SAY10 (new)
14. Irresponsible Hate Anthem
Manson’s new album, Heaven Upside Down, is tentatively due later this year. In April he released several cryptic videos on his Instagram account which were thought at the time to be related to the release of his next album.
In November last year, Manson issued a brief teaser video for the track “SAY10” which saw him tear pages from the bible and focus on the bloodied body of a man in a suit — believed to represent then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Manson revealed last September that his new album — which was originally expected in February — would be “the last thing people would expect after hearing ‘The Pale Emperor’.” He explained: “Coming from the people who I’ve played it to, it’s a combination of ‘Antichrist Superstar’ and ‘Mechanical Animals’ in feeling.”
Manson added: “It wasn’t my intent to go backwards. Everything goes in a full circle and it just becomes, without cannibalizing work from the past, the same thing, which is ultimately you. I’m a little over-anxious to release it, so it was done very quickly, but it’s by far the most thematic and over-complicated thing that I’ve done. In a way, it’s deceptively delightful to strangers. It’s like the old saying that the devil’s greatest secret is that people don’t believe he exists.”
The North American tour will kick off on Sep 27 in Silver Spring, MD.
Poor Brian Johnson! The AC/DC frontman‘s car rolled and crashed while he was qualifying for the Celebrity Challenge Trophy race at this weekend’s Silverstone Classic in the U.K. As a result, he was unable to start the race at the world’s biggest classic motor racing festival in which up to thirty Austin A30 and A35s battled for honors on the full 3.66-mile Grand Prix circuit. Luckily, Johnson emerged unscathed in the incident after being tended to by medical personnel.
The celebrities and their team leaders qualified and raced on Saturday (July 29th), and had the opportunity of winning the charity prize fund of £10,000 for the event’s official charity, Prostate Cancer UK. The Celebrity Challenge Trophy was one of 21 scheduled races at the Silverstone Classic, which has been called the world’s biggest classic-car racing festival.
Johnson is a longtime car enthusiast who told us not long ago that the thrills of racing and playing rock are not too different: “There’s not much difference when you think of it. You’ve got a crew, you’ve got a race crew, and band, you’ve got the band crew. The excitement when the flag drops, the green flag drops, and the excitement when you walk onstage for the first song, it’s a very similar feeling, you know what I mean?”
The singer has hosted a television program called Cars That Rock, and competed at Florida’s Daytona International Speedway earlier this year to raise money for the charity Highway To Help.
Johnson has said that he believed the hearing problems which forced him to leave AC/DC in the middle of a 2015 U.S. tour were related to a race track mishap that caused one of his eardrums to burst. Since 2014, AC/DC has lost guitarist Malcolm Young, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams in addition to Johnson. The band’s future plans remain unclear.
Finally today, our friends Trivium have released the title track from their forthcoming album, The Sin and The Sentence. Although it is not the first radio single, it is a taste of the new music the band has been working on for the past year.
Blabbermouth reports the track, which has also been made available for purchase as a digital single through online retailers, marks the band’s first recording with drummer Alex Bent (Battlecross, Decrepit Birth), who joined Trivium in late 2016.
“The Sin And The Sentence” is expected to appear on Trivium‘s follow-up to 2015’s “Silence In The Snow” album, tentatively due this fall via Roadrunner.
Asked why it has been so difficult for Trivium‘s core trio — guitarist Corey Beaulieu and bassist Paolo Gregoletto and guitarist/vocalist Matt Heafy — to keep a drummer in the last few years, Paolo told Germany’s Grasser Production this past March: “I don’t know. Alex is touring with us right now, and we’re not rushing into anything. We wanna make sure he likes the situation, he likes the songs. We’re having fun touring with him, he’s an incredible drummer, and once we get done with the touring, we’ll see what happens next. The other guys, we just rushed into every situation, so we’re not making the same mistake for a fifth time. We decided to learn from our lessons, which is give it some time, tour with the dudes, see how they actually are on tour, ’cause that exposes a lot about people’s personalities and playing. And we’re just kind of taking it as we go. Matt, Corey and I have been doing it for so long, we have a set way we like to do things. We’re very demanding of each other and of ourselves and our playing and how we are on tour, and we expect nothing less from whoever is behind us on the kit. And thankfully, Alex is a super-pro player, great person, [he’s] crushing it live, [and he has] a lot of experience.”
Bent’s predecessor, Paul Wandtke made his live debut with the band in December 2015 at Knotfest in Mexico. A short time later, he appeared in an official promotional photo with the three core members of the band.
Paul joined the Florida outfit on the recommendation of Dream Theater‘s Mike Mangini and replaced Mat Madiro, who departed due to reasons of “creativity.”
Happy 49th today to Dan Donegan of Disturbed and Happy 57th to Chuck D of Public Enemy and Prophets of Rage!