Good morning! The nominees for this the 2018 Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductions was posted today! Rage Against The Machine and Radiohead are among the first-time nominees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, part of a list of 19 potential candidates that was unveiled on Wednesday evening (Oct 4th). Other first-timers making the cut included Judas Priest, Kate Bush, Dire Straits, Eurythmics, the Moody Blues, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Radiohead and Rage Against The Machine are the only acts to appear on the ballot in their first year of eligibility.
Other artists up for induction in the Class of 2018 include Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, the Cars, J. Geils Band, LL Cool J, the MC5, the Meters, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Link Wray and the Zombies. This marks the fifth chance for the J. Geils Band, the fourth for LL Cool J and the Meters, the third for the Cars, MC5 and the Zombies and the second for Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, Rufus and Wray.
The top vote-getters will be announced in December and inducted on Apr 14th at a ceremony in Cleveland. HBO will broadcast the ceremony later in the year. To be eligible for this year’s ballot, each nominee’s first single or album had to be released in 1992 or earlier.
For the sixth consecutive year, the public will have the opportunity to vote alongside the more than 800 artists, historians and music industry insiders of the Rock Hall voting body.
From now until Dec 5th, my birthday!, fans can vote on the Rock Hall’s site for the nominees they’d like to see inducted. The top five acts will comprise a “fan’s ballot” that will count as one of the ballots that determine the class of 2016.
The induction ceremony this year could feature some reunions: Rage Against The Machine has not performed together since 2011, and it’s unknown whether reclusive frontman Zack de la Rocha would turn up for the event.
Dire Straits has also not performed in more than two decades, while Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora left the group in 2013 under less than amicable circumstances. Last year’s Hall of Fame class included Pearl Jam, Yes, Journey, Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez and Electric Light Orchestra.
Five Finger Death Punch has released a music video for the song “Ain’t My Last Dance,” a track from the band’s latest album, Got Your Six, which came out in 2015. Guitarist Zoltan Bathory said about the clip and the song, “We thought this was the perfect song to address the various rumors circulating out there. Ivan (Moody, vocals) is doing great and the band is firing on all cylinders. Not just isn’t this our ‘last dance,’ but as we are gearing up for the European tour, we are kicking it up a notch and building our biggest stage show to date.”
As previously reported, Five Finger Death Punch has already completed its seventh studio effort and is still waiting to get a release date for it, nearly one year after the disc was finished. Bathory gave hardDriveRadio an update on where the new album is at over the weekend when Lou Brutus sat down with Zoltan: “I think we have about 18 songs, 19 songs on deck and right now we are, you know, we will figure out if a greatest hits comes first or the record comes first. But we have a lot of songs and there are a couple of massive ones that I’m really proud of, that I know that they will touch a lot of people.”
Guitarist Jason Hook told Detroit radio station WRIF that the set turned out “killer,” adding, “Some of the stuff will be right in line with what people want and expect from the band, and then some of it, again, we took some chances, tried to branch out a little bit to see if it would work, and some of that stuff wound up on the record.”
The band delivered the new LP to its current label, Prospect Park, several months ago, but a legal battle with the company has delayed its arrival. But we understand there could be some light at the end of the tunnel, which is great news!
The band filed a 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. 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.The group has also dealt with Moody’s struggles with substance abuse, which forced him to miss a number of shows last year and this past spring.
The Pulse Of Radio reporting Linkin Park officially confirmed the cancellation of its previously booked Japanese tour that was to take place in November. The band issued a statement on Tuesday (Oct 3rd), saying, “We have been looking forward to being with all of you, but unfortunately cannot play our previously scheduled performances in Tokyo. Until now, we have not communicated about our November shows because we sincerely wished to play, even in the wake of Chester (Bennington)‘s passing.”
The group added, “We are working each day to grieve, heal, and work towards stepping on stage together without our dear friend. We are so grateful for your love and support. Our sincere appreciation for your kind understanding.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the statement mentioned that the band had “sincerely wished to play,” indicating that Linkin Park does seem likely to carry on without Bennington. The group is scheduled to take the stage at a memorial concert for its fallen singer on Oct 27th at the Hollywood Bowl, with members of Korn, System Of A Down, Blink-182, Avenged Sevenfold and others all scheduled to appear as well.
Co-vocalist Mike Shinoda told Los Angeles radio station KROQ last month, “I know that for some of the guys in the band, getting on stage is more scary than (for) other guys in the band, but I will say that for all of us, it’s definitely the thing that we want to do. It feels like the right way to celebrate Chester.”
Proceeds from the show will go to Music For Relief’s One More Light Fund in memory of Bennington.
It’s a very small list of bands that can claim they’ve had their own comic book published and now Hollywood Undead can add their name to that list. On Dec 6th, Hollywood Undead will partner with Heavy Metal Magazine to star in their own comic: “Undead Origins.”
Written by Paul Allor, the comic follows Hollywood Undead’s members as they discover a deep conspiracy; all across Los Angeles, people are acting unnaturally happy and compliant. People in the counterculture are suddenly fitting into society, finding square jobs and loving them. Is it clones? Robots? Alien replacements? The crew discovers that in reality, it’s a system of mental and physical alteration, funded by a powerful tech mogul-turned City Councilman. And what’s more, the “victims” aren’t victims at all; they’re undergoing the process voluntarily. But our guys won’t stand for that. They work to destroy the facility, assisted by like-minded people from across the city.
This 56-page comic ties in with the release of Hollywood Undead’s fifth studio album: FIVE. The issue will hit retail shops on Dec 6th, however fans can order it directly from the band’s web store (http://smarturl.it/FiveStore) and receive it around the street date of their new album.
Hollywood Undead just began a North American tour in support of FIVE this past weekend at the Louder Than Life festival. For all U.S. headline shows, Butcher Babies will serve as direct support. European dates will begin on Jan 24th in Glasgow, UK at the O2 Academy.
The number five holds a deep significance. We have five senses. Five points adorn a star. Five represents man in theology. For the five members of Hollywood Undead—Johnny 3 Tears, J-Dog, Charlie Scene, Funny Man, and Danny—the digit perfectly encapsulates their fifth full-length offering—FIVE [Dove & Grenade Media/BMG] out October 27th. Fans can pre-order the new album from here: http://smarturl.it/HUFive
Finally today, I spoke with Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean and Robert Deleo yesterday. I adore those guys and the feeling is mutual. Although they wouldn’t go as so far to tell me who the singer is, they did hint they were getting closer to the big reveal and have been working with this person for quite some time.
It isn’t that easy to bring someone new into one’s musical family, just like it wouldn’t be easy to bring someone into your own family without vetting them. Do you want them around you kids, or your parents? Would you want to share a room with them? That sort of thing. These guys aren’t a new band either, so it’s not like they are trying to break into the business. They must be comfortable with the person and know this is the right one to continue their legacy. I wouldn’t expect is it any different for Linkin Park, either, to be perfectly honest. So we will have to be patient and wait for when the time is right. In the meantime, Stone Temple Pilots will be our hardDrive XL Featured Artist of the Week Oct 23-27 and we will be giving away the super deluxe 25th anniversary edition of Core with 15 runner ups receiving the remastered and reissued 2-CD set. So be sure you are a hardDriveRadio Radical or find the registration page on the home page of our site,.
Happy 70th today to Brian Johnson of AC/DC.