Had a wonderful chat with Puscifer’s Maynard Keenan and the very jovial Mat Mitchell yesterday in the studios. We mixed talk of making music with making wine, and after it ended, even their manager gave me a thumbs up on the interview. So we’ll share the entire thing with you in an upcoming hardDriveRadio podCast. Will let you know when it’s posted!
As the world reels from the terror attacks that took place in Paris, France on Friday night (Nov 13th), The Pulse Of Radio reporting members of the rock community are also reacting, often by canceling shows. At least six coordinated terrorist attacks claimed the lives of 129 people, including 89 concertgoers attending a show by American rockers Eagles Of Death Metal at a club called the Bataclan.
The members of the band, along with members of Deftones who were in attendance, were all reported safe in the aftermath of the attacks, which led to a state of emergency in France.
Maynard actually told me various members of Deftones reportedly left the venue just minutes before the attack. They were scheduled to perform three sold-out nights at Le Bataclan following the Eagles of Death Metal’s headlining gig. All three shows were canceled, as was the rest of the European tour. Two performances were scheduled in Germany, one in London. The band is headed home to be with loved ones.
The Arcs, featuring Black Keys member Dan Auerbach, were performing in Paris not far from the Bataclan on Friday night, and the Arcs frontman said, “We were playing a club almost the same as the Eagles of Death Metal: a 1,500-seat, 150-year-old theater [three] miles away from them, an American band. It’s crazy. They locked down the building. We were there for about an hour. We heard there were still gunmen on the loose. We knew there were two separate hostage situations. We were on a balcony. We had a good vantage point. We were hunkered down listening for gunshots. We had people guarding all the doors, which were all locked up. We saw the helicopters flying above us; police cars just screaming by.”
The Arcs’ tour manager moved to get everyone out of the area, so they reportedly made a break for the tour bus, heading toward Milan. One of the victims of the terrorist attack was Nick Alexander, who had previously worked with the Black Keys as their merch guy. Auerbach said: “We’d been working with him for years. He was part of our family basically — one of those guys we’d see every time we come over here for these big European experiences we’d been having for 10-plus years. He was always there; a really nice guy, always with his mod haircut and his big smile.”
Auerbach says the Black Keys last played the Bataclan, the site of one of the terrorist attacks (where the Eagles of Death Metal were performing) five years ago: “It’s a place I’ve been to a lot; a place I’ve been with the guys I was with last night. It just really hit home. I know people that were there last night. I know people who are like, ‘What am I gonna do – see the Arcs or the Eagles of Death Metal?’ And I’ve woken up feeling very out of sorts. What do you call it, survivors’ remorse? Why the hell did it happen there and not where we were playing? I’m just so brokenhearted about all those people. And I think about our sound guy and lighting guy who would have been right there. It’s so scary.”
Meanwhile, Five Finger Death Punch were scheduled to play La Laiterie – Grande Salle in Strasbourg Sunday, but issued a statement saying: “We followed the tragic events in Paris Friday night with great sadness. We are devastated at the loss of life and have friends and fans who were at the concert. Out of respect for the victims and to observe France’s 3 national days of mourning, we will be postponing our show in Strasbourg Sunday night, Nov 15th. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and those affected by the terror attacks in France. Please stay tuned to www.fivefingerdeathpunch.com for more info as we have it.”
Papa Roach were scheduled to play L’Aeronef in Lilles, France, which they canceled. I a statement they said: “We heard about the tragedy in Paris last night after our show in Frankfurt with great sadness. We are devastated at the loss of life and had friends and fans who were at the Eagles of Death Metal concert. Out of respect for the victims and the French three days of national mourning, we will be canceling our show in Lille Sunday night, Nov 15th. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and those affected by the terrorist attacks in Paris. Info on refunds will be posted in the next few days. We hope to know about our Paris show tomorrow. #Jesuis #Paris #PrayForParis.”
Motorhead was scheduled to play at the Zenith in Paris on Nov 15, which they postponed, saying: “Due to the serious situation that our brothers and sisters are facing in Paris we have to postpone our gig until January. We are working on locking a date and will give details as soon as we can.”
Consequence Of Sound said Prince also cancelled a 16-stop European run of his Piano and Microphone solo tour. And Pearl Jam’s tour throughout South America has yielded many powerful on-stage moments this month. In Brazil, the band covered Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” amid a torrential downpour. Meanwhile, in Chile, Eddie Vedder led a surreal rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
Over the weekend, during another gig in Brazil, Pearl Jam delivered an especially touching performance of “Love Boat Captain”, which they dedicated to those victims of the Paris terrorist attacks last Friday. “Our love goes out to all in Paris,” Vedder told the crowd while introducing the song, according to SPIN. Later, the frontman changed a couple of the lyrics as a tribute to those lives lost: The original line “Lost 9 friends we’ll never know/ Two years ago today” was modified to “Lost 90 friends we’ll never know/ Oh, again today.”
Andre, who handles our hardDriveRadio APP, is posting for us two ways to help victims of these terrible events in Paris. One is the GoFundMe for merchanise manager, Nick Alexander, and the other is for the French Red Cross (Croix-Rouge Francaise.) We do hope if you can help, you will. We Are All One.
On a lighter note, Blabbermouth says according to EW.com, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl will guest star on ABC‘s “The Muppets”. Grohl will appear as himself on the Dec 1 episode titled “Going, Going, Gonzo” in which he challenges Animal to a drum-off. Grohl previously appeared in the 2011 feature film “The Muppets” as Animal‘s replacement in the cover band The Moopets. “The Muppets” airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC. Check local listings.