Blabbermouth & The Pulse Of Radio reporting Papa Roach canceled all remaining shows for the month of August as our pal, singer Jacoby Shaddix, went under the knife to undergo surgery on his vocal cords. The band said in a statement, “This week, Jacoby was advised by his doctors and vocal specialists to have surgery on his vocal cord and to give his vocal muscles enough time to heal before Papa Roach resumes their current touring schedule in September. Jacoby had a similar surgery about five years ago. Fortunately, the diagnosis was made early and full recovery should be soon.“
The band added, “The vocal cords are a muscle and like any athlete, muscles can get injured in the course of their profession and we appreciate your understanding this diagnosis . . . We wish to thank all of our fans in advance for your prayers and good wishes.”
On Saturday, Shaddix tweeted a photo resting in a hospital bed, writing, “Just want to say thanks for all the kind words and well wishes from all my friends, family and fans. It means a lot. I will recover. I will…” And on Sunday posted one with one of his sons saying he was feeling better! Whew!
Shaddix had surgery in 2012 to remove a nodule on his vocal cord. He told hardDriveRadio at the time that it was the smart choice to get it done: “Best decision I ever made. You know, it was a tough decision, but best decision. Went in and got the surgery — I was freaking out. I remember I was going into surgery, I’m like, tear rolling down my face, like, ‘God, please guide this surgeon’s hands,’ cause, you know, I mean, s*** could go bad real quick.”
The dates affected by Shaddix’s surgery are Aug 11th at the Douglas County Fair in Roseburg, OR, Aug 19th at the Moonstock Festival in Carterville, IL, and Aug 25th at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, AK. Papa Roach has spent the last few months touring in support of its ninth studio album, Crooked Teeth, which was released in May.
Friends of late Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington have told Rolling Stone in a new report on the singer’s final days that he fell off the wagon for three days last August and drank until he blacked out, adding that he had been consuming alcohol again as recently as last October. Bennington’s longtime friend Ryan Shuck, who played with the singer in Dead By Sunrise, thinks Bennington may have had “a couple of drinks” before hanging himself on Jul 20th.
Shuck explained, “We don’t know how much, but it doesn’t take much when you’re that advanced an alcoholic and an addict and you’re battling to the extent he described to me. You don’t need much to lose your mind for a minute.
But Bennington had also been texting with Robert DeLeo, his onetime bandmate in Stone Temple Pilots, in the days prior to his suicide. DeLeo described Bennington’s messages as “loving, positive, looking-forward-to-the-future, growing-old kinds of things.” Just a day before he died, Bennington emailed former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, saying he’d like to perform again with their all-star covers band Kings Of Chaos.
Bennington had been open with the press and public about his struggles with drugs and alcohol, which landed him in rehab twice around 2006. Investigators reportedly found no illegal drugs or prescription drugs while searching Bennington’s home following his passing, although a partially consumed bottle of alcohol was found in the bedroom where the 41-year-old singer’s body was discovered. It will not be clear until a toxicology report is released whether Bennington had any drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.
Meanwhile, tributes continue to take place for the singer: Toni Cornell, 12-year-old daughter of late Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell, performed the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah” with the band OneRepublic on Friday’s (Aug 4th) edition of ABC’s Good Morning America.
Linkin Park was scheduled to perform on the show, but OneRepublic filled in after the former band canceled its tour and concert dates. The performance was described as a tribute to both Bennington and Cornell, who also committed suicide by hanging last May. Bennington died on Jul 20th, which would have been Cornell’s 53rd birthday.
OH MAN! Thanks to Sebastien Paquet, Korn‘s longtime videographer/key crew member who filmed this great short film narrated by Robert Trujillo talking about his son Ty and the experience of working with Korn in South America. (Lima, Peru, to be exact.) So awesome and making me miss my Korn boys! You even get to see behind the scenes with my friends JD‘s bodyguard and Munky‘s guitar tech! Love it!!!!! He also traces back to Robert’s memories of seeing Korn and the groups the guys were in BEFORE they were Korn, too! Love it! Enjoy! (Thanks Rolling Stone!)
Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan told NME in a new interview that the band has “about 27 pieces of work” in progress for the follow-up to its 2014 album .5: The Gray Chapter. Crahan explained, “Every three or four months we’ve been getting together and we’ve been writing for up to 30 days. Currently, we have about 27 pieces of work — about seven or eight are completed. They’re not completed songs, that’s far from the truth.”
Although singer Corey Taylor is currently touring with Stone Sour behind that act’s new LP Hydrograd, Crahan stated, “We’re not going to wait around for Corey Taylor to say that he’s ready, no one’s going to wait for me to finish directing a movie, the same thing goes if someone wants to go out on tour with someone else . . . Corey Taylor is doing his thing right now with Stone Sour, and when he’s done, he’ll need a little time off. He’s always done that. Then he’ll be right back in it, writing Slipknot songs and lyrics.”
Clown told us a while back that he’s always been supportive of Taylor’s other ventures: “If I didn’t support him or love what he’s doing, I wouldn’t be a friend, man. It’s important that he says and does what he needs to. Each one of us needs to be the artists and the musicians we are. Corey is an excellent, excellent songwriter and singer and he has a lot of love that he can give to people that need it, that he might not be able to bring into Slipknot.”
Crahan added to NME, “A lot of us are meeting up in September to start working on those 27 pieces of music and we’re going to add to that. Our goal is to get to somewhere where it feels like we could have a double album. Whether or not we’ll get to that, I have no idea . . . But I would like to have a double album and I would like to have a concept album.”
Slipknot’s touring cycle in support of .5: The Gray Chapter ended in November, with Taylor returning to Stone Sour this year. .5: The Gray Chapter was released following a six-year hiatus during which founding Slipknot bassist Paul Gray died and drummer Joey Jordison was dismissed. A new Slipknot film titled Day Of The Gusano, documenting the Iowa band’s first-ever visit to Mexico in December 2015, will premiere on more than 1,000 screens across the world on Sep 6th.
I knew I should’ve driven over there! Staind singer Aaron Lewis and guitarist Mike Mushok were joined onstage by Godsmack frontman Sully Erna at Friday night’s (August 4th) Aaron Lewis And Friends benefit concert at Pines Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts. The trio paid tribute to late Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and Linkin vocalist Chester Bennington with acoustic covers of Temple Of The Dog‘s “Hunger Strike” and Linkin Park’s “Crawling.”
The encore of the show, which also featured solo sets from Lewis and Corey Taylor, was a surprise reunion of Staind as bassist Johnny April and drummer Sal Giancarelli joined Lewis and Mushok for a three-song acoustic finale that included “Outside,” “Something To Remind You” and “It’s Been A While.” (Hopefully this little Staind reunion may spark Aaron to rethink getting the band back together, eh?)
Lots o’ Lollapalooza news! Loved tuning in to Octane and catching Highly Suspect‘s set. Heard Johnny Stephens give a shout out to a radio friend Troy Hanson, too! Love it! The Pulse Of Radio says Foo Fighters closed out Friday night at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival with an epic 32-song aftershow set at the intimate Metro nightclub, during which the band brought out Jane’s Addiction frontman and Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell for a run through Jane’s Addiction’s “Mountain Song.” Foos leader Dave Grohl told the crowd, “Tonight we’re gonna try and break our record for longest show ever, so I hope you brought comfortable shoes.” The set also featured five cuts from the upcoming Foo Fighters album Concrete And Gold.
The first full day of Lollapalooza on Thursday (Aug 3rd) did not go smoothly at all as fierce lightning storms in the Chicago area led organizers to postpone and finally cancel sets from Muse, Lorde and others. Both Muse and Lorde had to abandon the stage shortly into their sets, although other acts like Cage The Elephant managed to complete theirs, with Cage frontman Matt Shultz taking the stage in an evening dress and fishnet stockings. At press time the rest of the weekend had gone relatively smoothly, with the Killers even paying tribute to Muse during their Friday night set with a cover of the latter’s “Starlight.” (Diffuser)
We got a taste of that too, with an F-0 tornado over our lake and my roof now leaks! BUMMER!
Happy 39th today to Jamie Jasta of Hatebreed!