Man, what a morning. So much happening around the hardDriveRadio cubicle, I’m dizzy!
Monday, Brad Arnold and Chris Henderson from 3 Doors Down will hit the hardDrive studios in our new digs! They’ll be talking about the release of the new album Us And The Night, which drops tomorrow, and more. Then, the following week, we’ve got our good friends Black Stone Cherry coming to town to do an acoustic performance and interview and Thousand Foot Krutch in April. And hopefully Disturbed will have time to drop by when they are in town Apr 4th. So much happening!
Black Stone Cherry “Kentucky” album cover
Meanwhile, speaking of Black Stone Cherry, check out their new EPK for their Kentucky album, which arrives Apr 01. Love this new record! They really explored a lot of different musical paths on this and they’ve done so righteously! So if you love the band, you will absolutely eat this record up! The cover shot is the house where they practice and recorded some of the record.
Black Stone Cherry: John Fred Young, Ben Wells, Chris Robertson, Jon Lawhon
Blabbermouth posted an interview the boys did with Metal Hammer. Guitarist Ben Wells said: “This is the first time we get to self-produce. And most of the songs, with the exception of maybe two or three out of fifteen, are all written by us, the four of us. Which all of our songs always are — we might co-write with somebody — but this time, the majority of the songs are all written by us. So it feels really good to kind of have that creative freedom. Even though we’re still learning things as we get along, we’ve kind of picked up over the years touring internationally what our fans have come to expect and what we expect from ourselves and what we know people are gonna enjoy from us. So it’s definitely… it’s raw, it’s heavy. We’re going back to our hometown to record it, where we did our debut album. So we’re kind of revisiting some of that old mojo that we had, and I think our fans have been wanting that from us for a long time now. So we want, and I know they want it, and we’re just excited about it. I mean, the songs… These are probably some of the coolest songs we’ve written as far as the music and the melodies.”
Added drummer John Fred Young: “We’re not doing a prog record — it’s not that different — but I think it does have parts where I don’t think records before have had these parts. And I think people are gonna go, ‘Wow! I’ve never heard ’em do that, or that transition there.’ And I think, too, with us, we’re… In America, like I’ve said before, and we’ve all said, you are only as good as your last American rock single, and for us, we just don’t play that ballgame, because our fans, they’re here for the live show, they’re here to hear the songs and have a great time. And I think that in some previous records, we were in positions with the label where we had to write songs formatted [for radio].”
Continued Wells: “But this time, we weren’t focusing on that. We said, ‘Look, if they pick it up and they like it, awesome. But our fans are the ones who gave us a career. So we wrote it with them in mind and [the songs were assembled for] the live setting.”
Tickets are on sale now for Sick Puppies, Red Sun Rising, Stitched Up Heart and HUDSON on the hardDrive Live Tour! When you purchase the Sick Puppies VIP package, you also get a copy of their forthcoming new album, Fury! So get over to www.harddrivelivetour.com right now! And if you go to the show, be sure to post photos on the hardDriveRadio APP and the hardDriveRadio Facebook page! The more, the better!
Today is a pre-sale day over at Blabbermouth for the Return of The Dreads Tour featuring Rob Zombie, Korn and In This Moment. Click here.
Trivium posted a new video for the song “Dead and Gone” from their killer Silence In The Snow album. Matt Heafy told me they had filmed the clip back to back with “Until The World Goes Cold” down in Orlando. We had actually done a phoner when he was in his car at one of the locations. Sounded like a long hard couple of days. But fun! Trivium is getting ready to head off to the UK for shows that being Mar 20th and then go on to Japan and Australia before returning to the states Apr 23. Hit their site for the latest.
And let’s leave you with this: Killswitch Engage also posted a new tune from their Incarnate album, which drops tomorrow. Check out “Quiet Distress” here!
Celebrating life today: Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam is 53. Ben Burnley of Breaking Benjamin is 38, producer Rick Rubin is 53 and Chuck Norris is 76!