The Pulse Of Radio via Blabbermouth found Metallica‘s episode of the streaming series Carpool Karaoke debuted on Apple Music yesterday (Aug 15th), and the band posted a clip from the show online to commemorate its premiere. The series is a spinoff based on the segment originally featured on The Late Late Show with host James Corden.
The clip contains Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo, alongside comedian Billy Eichner, belting out a Disney soundtrack number, one of Rihanna‘s biggest hits and revisiting some of their own catalog as well.
A post at Metallica’s website stated, “With James behind the wheel, we did a little backseat driving and singing and even made a pit stop for some grocery shopping!”
Meanwhile, the Calgary Herald asked James Hetfield what he admired most about his three bandmates. About bassist Robert Trujillo, the frontman said, “Been in the band longer than any bass player. He will forever be the new guy. Hopefully there’s not another new guy. He’s extremely dedicated. He’s always practicing. He challenges us: ‘How ’bout we try this?’ A dedicated musician.”
When it came to co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich, Hetfield revealed, “He does not take no for an answer. That’s good and bad when you’re a partner in a business (laughs). When you sic that bulldog onto somebody else, it’s great. He’s really good at the big picture, where I can get stuck in details. He’s very into what a fan would love — he’s the biggest Metallica fan there is.”
On lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, Hetfield remarked, “He’s got an innocence about him. He’s not really concerned about life, he flows through it really well and good things happen to him. He doesn’t feel the need to control things.”
Metallica is on a world tour behind its 10th studio album, 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct. They end the World-Wired Tour tonight in the U.S. with more dates TBA. And if you weren’t able to see the World-Wired Tour, don’t be bummed! The final concert of the North American leg of Metallica‘s tour — tonight, Aug 16 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada — will be streamed live on the webcast.livemetallica.com web site.
Says the band: “What a summer!! Thank you to some of the craziest, most passionate, intense avid fans on the planet!! This has been another memorable and special summer run for us seeing so many new faces along with lots of old friends as you welcomed us back for our first tour of North America in over eight years. As we near the end, we want to share one more evening with all of you by streaming the final night of the ‘WorldWired’ North American stadium tour live, this Wednesday, August 16th, from Edmonton.
“Grab a seat and a beverage as we’ll come live to your computer, tablet, mobile device or any other way you reach the Internet on Wednesday at approximately 8:45 p.m. Mountain Time (10:45 p.m. ET / 9:45 p.m. CT / 7:45 p.m. PT). webcast.livemetallica.com
Papa Roach have posted the music video for “American Dreams,” the current # 8 single on the Mediabase Active Rock chart currently. Frontman Jacoby Shaddix, who is recovering from recent vocal cord surgery, told us the song and clip sum up how he feels about what’s going on in the country these days: “It’s right on point right now with what’s going on in American politics and the s**tshow theatre of American politics. People are just like, ‘Come on, we just want some truth.’ It’s like smoke and mirrors. It’s like they’re playing this charades game for people and it’s like, ‘We can tell that you’re doing this. Give us some truth.‘”
Shaddix explained in a statement about the clip and song, “America is struggling, America is divided, America is hurting right now. We’re at a fever pitch of confusion, smoke and mirrors, blatant lies. The American Dream is on the chopping block.” He added, “Have you ever thought that war was a sickness? My father is a Vietnam veteran. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the disintegration of the American family are things I’ve dealt with personally. I know other people relate.”
The video for “American Dreams” was shot in Shaddix’s Northern California hometown of Sacramento and features a cast of real-life Americans fighting to create their own version of the elusive American Dream, while addressing many of the issues preventing them from attaining that dream.
The track is taken from Papa Roach’s ninth album, Crooked Teeth, which came out in May. The song currently sits at Number Eight on the rock radio chart. Papa Roach recently canceled all remaining shows for the month of August as Shaddix went under the knife to undergo surgery on his vocal cords. Shaddix previously had surgery in 2012 to remove a nodule on his vocal cords. I hear he doing just fine and the band will resume their touring in Europe next month.
30 Seconds To Mars will release some new music soon. Actually on Monday. Stay tuned and watch the teaser here.
Green Day has unveiled a new video for “Troubled Times” off the band’s 2016 album, Revolution Radio. The clip opens with singer Billie Joe Armstrong wearing headphones and singing the track into a phone. Soon he’s surrounded by a rapidly shifting montage of chaos and strife including scenes of domestic violence, car crashes, workers in sweat shops, fleeing refugees, war zones and environmental decay. The clip also contains footage of a recent Donald Trump speech that was accused of condoning police brutality, as well as scenes from this past weekend’s violence in Charlottesville. Green Day is currently in the middle of a North American tour that will end on Sep 16th in Los Angeles.
Royal Blood appeared on the Late Late Show with James Corden last night. Here is a sampling ICYMI. My interview with Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr will be our Featured Artist of the Week chat on hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus week of Sep 04-08, so be listening via your local station or via the hardDriveRadio APP or the streaming link on the home page.
Finally today, congrats to Slash who was named Global Brand Ambassador for Gibson Brands, the world’s leading music lifestyle company. This is the first such designation in the company’s history. As part of the new role with Gibson, Slash is developing new products with three of its celebrated guitar brands, Gibson Custom, Gibson and Epiphone. Details of new products and exclusive content will be announced beginning later this month.
Throughout his career, Slash has embodied Gibson’s values of quality, prestige and innovation and has brought the indelible sound and style of Gibson guitars to new heights of popularity and recognition over the last thirty years. Slash was a great admirer and friend of legendary guitarist Les Paul, who played what became his signature Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar going back to the 1950’s. Actually it was one of the first mass-produced line of electric solid-body guitars in the world, along with the Fender Stratocaster.
“We are thrilled to recognize Slash as Gibson’s first Global Brand Ambassador,” said Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman and CEO of Gibson Brands. “Slash embodies the characteristics of creativity, passion and excellence that are so closely aligned with Gibson and we are very proud of the friendship and mutual success we have shared together for over thirty years. We are also very excited about the future products we will be announcing soon.”
“It’s an honor to be Gibson‘s first Global Brand Ambassador,” said Slash. “I’ve been working with Gibson since the early days of my professional career and playing Gibson guitars since before that. I’m proud of the creative relationship we’ve developed over the years.” Right on!
Happy 55th today to actor Steve Carell.