Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park revealed this Instagram early yesterday. It just reminds me of the day I interviewed the band at their first NYC show in NYC. Actually, I spoke with Chester. It was backstage at Roseland Ballroom on West 52nd Street (now closed, it’s a condo building.) He was a little nervous and I set him at ease. It had to have been sometime in the fall of 2000 (Hybrid Theory was released in Oct 2000 and they were opening act on a 3 band bill with Fuel and Puya, I think.) I gotta find that, I remember it was recorded on a dat player and those have gone the way of the 8-track. Anyhow, it was a special time. I am working on getting all of the interviews we’ve done over the years with Chester and plan to air as much as we can, so please be patient and stay tuned.
Metallica frontman James Hetfield has slammed reality TV stars Kylie and Kendall Jenner for selling “vintage” T-shirts with the pair’s faces superimposed over some of rock’s biggest icons, including his band. The T-shirts were unveiled at the sisters’ online shop late last month, and featured images of Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Doors and Notorious B.I.G. overlaid with Instagram shots of the model/reality star siblings.
Asked by ET Canada about the shirts, Hetfield said, “I guess what they were thinking is, ‘We can do whatever we want.’ To me, it’s disrespectful. We’ve spent 36 years working hard, doing our best to keep a really close connection with people, make every note count, and someone just throws something up over something that we feel… Not that it’s sacred or anything, but show some respect.”
Hetfield told us a while back that Metallica prides itself on the connection between the band and its fans: “You know, when I see three generations out in the crowd, and they’re all three singing, like, ‘Master Of Puppets,’ it’s like, ‘Really? You guys really like this? Okay.’ I’ve got to believe them at some point (laughs). But it still blows my mind to go out there and, no matter what country you’re in, they are trying hard to sing along with it, and they just want to be a part of, man.“
The shirts. which were being sold for $125 each and featured the logo “Repurposed in the USA,” did not go over well with others either. Voletta Wallace, mother of the late Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G. She slammed the girls on Instagram, calling the shirts “disrespectful, disgusting, and exploitation at its worst!!!”
The Jenners quickly withdrew the shirts from sale, explaining in a statement, “These designs were not well thought out and we deeply apologize to anyone that has been upset and/or offended, especially to the families of the artists.”
Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy’s wife and manager, also made it clear that she and her husband were not pleased with the shirts, saying on Twitter, “Girls, you haven’t earned the right to put your face with musical icons. Stick to what you know…lip gloss.” Sharon later said on her program The Talk that the Jenners created the line of shirts “for press, like they do everything . . . they know exactly what they’re doing. They’re not kids. They were brought up in this industry.”
Nine Inch Nails main man Trent Reznor met with a terminally ill fan of the band named Paula this past weekend at the FYF Fest in Los Angeles on Sunday (Jul 23rd). A GoFundMe campaign was launched last month to raise funds so that Paula could attend the concert. The campaign’s mission statement read in part, “Paula (most commonly known as Peedro Paula in the NINiverse) has been given a prognosis of 6-12 months to live. We would love for her to be able to see her favorite band, Nine Inch Nails, one last time!”
Donations from the campaign, which met its goal, covered the cost of the ticket, airfare, hotel, transportation, food and spending money while Paula was in Los Angeles, and while at the show she also had the opportunity to meet with Reznor.
Nine Inch Nails released an EP titled Add Violence last Friday (Jul 21st). The five-track project was the second installment in the band’s three-part EP series. The first, Not The Actual Events, arrived last December. The third is yet to be titled but is expected to arrive by the end of the year. Reznor has said that all three EPs will connect to tell one story.
The last full-length NIN album, Hesitation Marks, came out in 2013. Nine Inch Nails began a string of live shows last week with a warm-up gig in Bakersfield, California on July 21st, followed two days later by the FYF Fest. Other concerts are scheduled throughout the summer and fall.
Whoa! I guess it WILL be in our lifetime after all! Since Guns N’ Roses have been getting on so well and these tour stops have been off the hook, sounds like new music just MIGHT be in their future! The Pulse Of Radio says guitarist Richard Fortus told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he is looking forward to recording a new studio album with the current lineup of the band, which now features three of the original five members. Fortus explained, “Everyone is excited about it. There’s a really magical thing now with the band. It feels like a new band. It feels like the best version since I joined, and it’s the most fun for me. There’s so much excitement around it.”
The last Guns N’ Roses album, Chinese Democracy, featured just founding singer Axl Rose and a shifting cast of musicians. It came out in 2008 after taking 13 years to produce, and was considered a sales disappointment. There has been speculation over whether this version of Guns N’ Roses will record new material at some point.
Original guitarist Slash, who is now back in the band, told us a while back he left in 1996 partially because Axl was taking so long to get a new album going: “Something with Axl was very insecure and it just kept the band from sort of functioning properly. Although he was wanting to do things, I never to this day really understand exactly what he was getting at, and because it took so long to ever get anything done, I always attribute it to some sort of fear factor.”
The current reunion tour, which also features founding bassist Duff McKagan, has grossed $230 million and counting since launching in Apr 2016. Fortus, who joined the band in 2001, said, “It’s bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced. Doing multiple nights at a stadium is a mindf**k. It’s hard to get your head around that level of craziness. Fans are just so rabid for it.”
Meanwhile, there was a big aftershow party on Thursday (or shall I say Friday in the wee hours of the morning.) Here is Axl Rose leaving for the evening.
Rock news in brief…..(from The Pulse Of Radio)
- Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder joined Roger Waters on stage in Chicago on Sunday night (July 23rd) to guest on a performance of the Pink Floyd classic “Comfortably Numb.” The cameo came at the end of Waters’ second of three concerts there on his Us + Them North American tour. It’s not the first time the pair have shared a stage or played that song together, with the last time at a benefit concert in New York in 2012. (Diffuser)
- Slipknot has shared a new behind-the-scenes clip of the band rehearsing without its masks from its upcoming concert film, Day Of The Gusano. The film captures the group’s 2015 Knotfest Mexico performance and also focuses on the fans that attended the event. Percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan directed the film, which will have one-night-only theatrical screenings around the country on September 6th. (The PRP)
- The official trailer for Black Sabbath‘s upcoming film, The End Of The End, is now online. The film chronicles the legendary heavy rock band’s final tour, climaxing on February 4th, 2017 at their very last show in their hometown of Birmingham, England. For one night only on September 28th, over 1,500 theaters worldwide will show a specially edited version of The End Of The End before the film is released in various formats later this year. (Blabbermouth)