Today’s report will be brief. Heading to the airport to go to Las Vegas where what happens in Vegas, won’t stay there because I’ll be back on Monday to tell you all about it! LOL
The Pulse of Radio says Linkin Park has confirmed that its new single “Heavy” will debut online this Thursday (February 16th), according to The PRP. The band confirmed the premiere in a new video filmed in the studio, the seventh of eight clips the group has released showing them at work on their seventh album. The new video shows singer Chester Bennington laying down lead vocals for the track. It is speculated that the eighth and final clip will arrive at the same time as the song.
Although the band has remained vague about the direction of the new album, guitarist Brad Delson told us not long ago that Linkin Park has always followed its own creative impulses: “We have to do artistically and creatively what we’re driven to do, irrespective of, like, the advice everyone’s giving us or the commercial ramifications of it, and ultimately I think if you chase what you love and you chase great art, then everything else follows. I think where people get into trouble is when they’re chasing what they think people want to hear and it becomes flat and derivative and disingenuous, and that’s the last thing we wanted to do.”
“Heavy” features guest vocals from Kiara Saulters, who is best known for recording stop-motion, hip-hop-inspired electro-R&B under the name Kiiara. Linkin Park unveiled the cover art for the new album earlier this week, although the title and release date of the set still remain under wraps.
The Pulse Of Radio also sharing Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone the band’s collaboration with pop giant Lady Gaga at this past weekend’s Grammy Awards may end up being just the beginning for the unlikely combo. Ulrich explained, “We already started fast-forwarding to the next chapter when we can do more of this. It’s not one of those ’20 lawyers, strategists and managers trying to force two people from two different worlds to figure out how to spend four minutes together on a national telecast.’ Of any of these undertakings, this is about as organic and authentic as there’s ever been one. We’re just getting started.” Watch it here.
Must be a lot of scotch tape there.
Ulrich added Gaga was the “quintessential perfect fifth member of this band,” saying, “Her voice, her attitude, her outlook on everything is so awesome. (The performance) was so effortless and organic and she just has the spirit of hard rock and metal flowing through her veins. It comes really easy for her. There’s nothing contrived; she just has this super warm, easy energy.”
As for the technical problems that left frontman James Hetfield without a mic for the bulk of the song, Ulrich remarked, “There was a slight technical snafu, but that’s not really something you can do much about. You just learn to live with that side of it. It happened to Adele last year; I guess this year it was our turn.” The performance on Sunday night’s (February 12th) awards show was marred by the incident, which was reportedly caused by a stagehand accidentally unplugging Hetfield’s mic. That forced the frontman to share Gaga’s mic for almost the rest of the song. A visibly angry Hetfield knocked down his mic stand at the end of the performance and threw his guitar offstage.
Metallica and Gaga may not be able to get together for an encore anytime soon, as both are heading out on world tours. Metallica announced on Monday (Feb 13th) the details of the North American leg of its “WorldWired” 2017 tour in support of the band’s new album, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct. The trek kicks off on May 10th in Baltimore, Maryland and will hit stadiums in 25 cities before winding down in mid-August. Support will come mainly from Avenged Sevenfold and Volbeat, with Gojira taking over for the latter group for the last six shows.
Celebrating life today, Brandon Boyd of Incubus, who I’ll see on Friday, is 41 today! And Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons and Futurama, is 63. See ya Monday!