Just realized today is my 14th year with my guy. Sigh.
As I am writing Dirt today, I am also finishing up the first of many 20th Anniversary segments for the weekend edition on hardDrive, or as we are calling it: hardDrive XX. Hard to believe it has been 20 years since Lou Brutus was hired to host my little weekend show that we had such a hard time coming up with a name for. Geez. I wish I could remember some of the ones we originally had. Some were funny, others were taken. But hardDrive has become like part of my family, my “other” boyfriend. LOL Can’t wait for you to hear the special edition I am putting together for the weekend of Jul 09-10. Don’t miss it! I’ve dug up hilarious and very clever show opens, crafted by the genius that is Lou Brutus. And really great interviews with the likes of the biggest bands from our kick off year, including Metallica, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine and a new band called Seven Mary 3. Til this day, hardDrive continues to bring you the best new rock. So excited!
Meanwhile, speaking of Soundgarden, The Pulse of Radio says singer Chris Cornell has laid out a rough timeline for the band’s seventh studio album, which will follow up 2012’s King Animal.The band started work on a new record last year, but took a break while Cornell toured through the fall in support of his latest solo effort, Higher Truth. Now on a new leg of his solo tour, Cornell told the Hartford Courant, “Soundgarden is in the middle of writing songs. After this tour, the songs will become real and we’ll put an album out.” Cornell added,, “There’s much more to Soundgarden. I get to play with my band and I get to go solo. It’s great for me.”
The vocalist told us that working on different projects is what keeps an artist fresh: “At no time am I immersed in something that I’ve been doing too much of, and I think that’s kind of what kills the creative spirit. That’s sort of what burnout comes from, I think. It’s not from doing too much, it’s from doing the same thing too much.”
Soundgarden reunited in 2010 after a 13-year layoff, touring and then eventually writing new material that became the basis for King Animal, its first new studio album in 16 years. In addition to King Animal, Soundgarden has issued a live CD, a greatest hits compilation and a two-disc collection of B-sides, outtakes and rarities.
Higher Truth is Cornell’s fourth studio solo set and contains the Top Five rock radio single “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart.” His tour stops on Wednesday night (Jun 29th) in Englewood, NJ. It ends on Jul 27th in Winnipeg.
Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda made public a note he sent to his fellow band members about the progress of their seventh studio album, in which he stated, “I want this album to be our best.” Shinoda wrote, “I had an epiphany today about the album. Right now, in the studio, the foundations of the songs are there . . . I think it’s time to shift into the next gear. Let’s discover the voice of this album . . . I want to get into experimentation mode, get weirder, and record more live instruments . . . I said at the beginning, I want this album to be our best. Let’s do this! Feel free to give me a call to discuss, or we can talk on Monday. I’m AMPED.”
Shinoda also recently appeared in a video giving a 360-degree tour of the band’s studio. He also offered a few more insights on the next album, saying, “We’ve got basically like vocals and chords, like words and melodies and chords on a lot of our favorites and we’ve narrowed it down recently to like under 20 hopefully.”
One other thing that Shinoda notes in the video is that he’s not sure if the new album will be finished in time to come out in 2016, saying, “We’re doing our best.”
The new disc will follow up 2014’s The Hunting Party, which featured the Number One singles “Guilty All The Same” and “Until It’s Gone.”
Linkin Park has been mostly out of the public eye since an early 2015 tour in support of The Hunting Party was scrapped when singer Chester Bennington injured his foot. Bennington also ended his two-year run as Stone Temple Pilots frontman in late 2015 so he could refocus on Linkin Park.
Corey Taylor last night in Nashville, TN performing with neck brace (photo credit: Richard Bond Twitter)
They’re BAAAAAAACCckkkkkk!
Slipknot returned to the stage last night in Nashville, TN (Zigz, were you there?) raring to go! Except, what is that thing on Corey Taylor‘s neck? Oh, I guess doctor’s suggested it would be a good idea to wear the brace. DUH! The dude had a disc in his neck replaced and bone shaved away from his spinal cord just 3 weeks ago, so, yeah, you’d wear a brace too! Corey wasn’t the happiest about it, tweeting, “First day back. Haven’t smoked in two months. Broken neck, weird scar. Not enough coffee.”
According to Blabbermouth, Slipknot played a 17-song set at the Bridgestone Arena, with Taylor telling the crowd: “Let’s address the elephant in the room: I fucking broke my neck. But there was no way I wasn’t coming to Nashville to do this show.” Oh and they delivered it. Check out more clips! (Thanks Blabbermouth!)
Saying goodbye is hard. I get it. The end is approaching for Black Sabbath, with the legendary metal band scheduled to give its last performances ever next Feb 2nd and 4th in its hometown of Birmingham, England. But if it was up to singer Ozzy Osbourne, the quartet would extend its farewell tour as long as possible. Ozzy told Billboard.com, “Tony Iommi wants to do 80 shows. We’re doing 80 shows. It’s good enough. I wouldn’t mind extending the tour for another few gigs. There’s a lot of people who won’t get to see us, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Ozzy also made it clear that Sabbath saying goodbye was not his call, explaining, “It’s not me that wants to retire; it’s Black Sabbath. I’ll be continuing my own musical thing . . . I know I’m not hanging ’em up for a while. Being Ozzy Osbourne solo again is not a job. It’s a passion. It’s a love. It’s the biggest, greatest love affair of my life.”
Ozzy told us a while back what motivates him to keep performing live: “I was watching 60 Minutes and there was a segment on Bruce Springsteen where they asked him the same question, and he said, ‘You know what? It’s fun. It’s what I like doing. I like making them have fun and I like having fun for me by seeing them have fun.’ And it’s pretty true, you know. It’s because I just love to see the kids. It’s like a challenge for me.”
Meanwhile, I’m excited to say Of Mice & Men are coming to NYC and will stop by the hardDriveRadio studios in two weeks! I can NOT WAIT!
Gotta dash! Have a great day!