Happy Foo Friday! More news on Foo Fighters starts this Friday blog off!
The new Foo Fighters album, Concrete And Gold, will feature a guest appearance from Boyz II Men‘s Shawn Stockman. The news was revealed by Foos frontman Dave Grohl in a new interview with the BBC. Asked about the strangest thing that happened during the making of the record, Grohl explained, “The guy from Boyz II Men walking through the parking lot and me saying ‘Ahh, dude, would you sing on our record?’ And he does — on the heaviest song on the entire record (the title track). It sounds like Sabbath and Pink Floyd. It’s heavy. It’s the last song on the record with the guy from Boyz II Men . . . It’s insane.”
Grohl also admitted that “some” of the album is “a little political,” saying that he wrote and recorded many of the lyrics at an AirBnB in Ojai, CA. Asked about the meaning of the LP’s title, Grohl said, “There’s sort of a theme within the 11 songs that goes from beginning to end, so this is kind of the resolve of the entire record. The chorus (of the song ‘Concrete And Gold’) says, ‘I have an engine made of gold, something so beautiful. The world will never know. Our roots are stronger than you know. Up through the concrete we will grow.’ It’s kind of beautiful.” He added that the album’s themes involve “hope and desperation.”
Concrete And Gold is Foo Fighters’ ninth studio album and comes out on Sep 15th. (The Pulse Of Radio)
Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Jason Hook said in an interview with Italian outlet SpazioRock everyone who has heard the band’s new album (including yours truly)– which is currently in legal limbo with the group’s longtime record label Prospect Park — thinks its their strongest effort to date. Hook explained, “It’s completely done. There were 16 songs completed, sitting at Prospect Park, ready to go. Everybody that’s heard the record so far thinks it’s our best record. I’m super excited about it. I thought we f**king knocked it out of the park.”
Hook continued, “There’s some really cool, different things on there that are slightly different for us. There’s certainly a chunk of what you would expect from Five Finger Death Punch, but there’s some solid songs that are slightly outside of our regular box. But everyone thinks it’s a smash, and it’s in their control.”
Guitarist Zoltan Bathory told us a while back that staying focused is the key to the band remaining successful: “I think the idea of ‘rock star’ has changed in the last two decades. The whole idea of like, ‘hey, let’s party, let’s drink or do stuff that’s stupid’ doesn’t work. It’s a different world now. You have to be really conscious of what’s happening, because it’s so much harder now. You really have to work for it, you really have to know what you’re doing, you have to be aggressive, goal-oriented, and you have to have a head on your shoulders, or it’s just not gonna happen.“
Five Finger Death Punch delivered its follow-up to 2015’s Got Your Six to Prospect Park several months ago, but a legal battle with the company has delayed the LP’s release. The band filed a new lawsuit against Prospect Park in April, asking a judge to release them from their contract and order the company to pay over a million dollars in damages.
Hook says that the band completed the new album under the terms of its contract and blamed Prospect Park CEO Jeff Kwatinetz for the delay, explaining, “This Jeff Kwatinetz character has sued 89 people so far; that’s his thing. So we’ll never stop fighting. He won’t win . . . What he’s done is just kind of childish and ridiculous.”
The label sued Five Finger Death Punch in 2016 for breach of contract, alleging that the group wanted to rush the recording of a new album. The band signed a new North American recording deal with Rise Records last year.
Five Finger Death Punch recently completed a European tour without frontman Ivan Moody, who sat out the latter portion of the trek due to his battles with alcohol abuse. Singer Tommy Vext, who had been traveling with the group, filled in for Moody on the rest of the dates.
Watch Jason in the interview here (if you can understand the interviewer!)
Meanwhile, Hired Gun, the new documentary film directed by Fran Strine and co-produced by Jason, will be released in DVD and On Demand Aug 1st. If you had a chance to see it last week in it theatrical screening Jun 29th, you know what I’m talking about. It’s a must-see for music fans of all genres and generations of rock.
Celebrating life: Today: Synyster Gates aka Brian Haner of Avenged Sevenfold is 36. Ringo Starr is 77 (on 7/7!) And Sunday, if Bon Scott, who died in 1980, were alive, he would be 71!
Gotta dash. Prepping a ton of interviews today and I’ve got a sit down with Nickelback on Monday! Listening to their Feed The Machine album. “Coin For The Ferryman” and “The Betrayal (Act III)” some of my favs. (Don’t hate! LOL) Have a great weekend!