photo credit: David Rubene
Wooo! Busy day today! Richard Patrick of Filter is coming in. His new Crazy Eyes album is off the hook AMAZING (especially if you were a fan of early Filter) and I can’t wait to talk to him about it! You may recall, Richard started his career playing guitar for Nine Inch Nails way back in the early 90’s! Then there’s a label party for Richard where Matt Pinfield will conduct a Q&A and after that, we head over to see Muse at the Barclays Ctr! Should be awesome! God, I love my job!
Lou Brutus, who also loves HIS job, spoke with Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach before he went on the air yesterday. You can listen to it when Papa Roach is our Featured Artist of the Week Feb 22-26 on hardDrive XL!
Papa Roach is gearing up to begin the creative process for its ninth studio album, with frontman Jacoby indicating on Twitter the band was going to begin writing new music next Monday (Feb 1st) at its headquarters in Sacramento, CA. Shaddix wrote, “Can’t wait to get into our studio and start creating again.”
Papa Roach wrote and recorded its last album, F.E.A.R., in Las Vegas, taking the band out of its Sacramento stronghold for the first time since 2006. Shaddix told us at the time that he wasn’t happy at first with that arrangement: “I ended up in this city where I’ve had some of my greatest failures and worst decision making, and some of my biggest debacles of my life happened in Vegas, you know. And I believe I was sent back to that city to go do right this time, and we went there and I just faced that fear of living in this city that I felt was gonna eat me alive. But really and truly I just gave myself to this music 100 percent, and that’s what pulled me through.”
Jacoby told us he and the band are going to be writing anything and everything that comes to mind since they would eventually like to write songs for other bands to record. Songs that might not necessarily work for Papa Roach, but would be right for someone else. I’d love to see that happen for them. They are a great and talented band with nothing but blues skies ahead.
Check out Papa Roach’s video for their latest single, “Falling Apart.”
Speaking of NIN, The Pulse of Radio reporting main man Trent Reznor has written a heartfelt essay about the late David Bowie in the new issue of Rolling Stone, which is dedicated to the legendary musician and actor who died earlier this month at the age of 69. Reznor, who toured with Bowie in 1995, wrote, “There were a number of times where the two of us were alone, and he said some things that weren’t scolding, but pieces of wisdom that stuck with me: ‘You know, there is a better way here, and it doesn’t have to end in despair or in death, in the bottom.’”
“A few years later, Bowie came through L.A. I’d been sober for a fair amount of time. I wanted to thank him in the way that he helped me. And I reluctantly went backstage, feeling weird and ashamed, like, ‘Hey, I’m the guy that puked on the rug.’ And again, I was met with warmth, and grace, and love. And I started to say, ‘Hey listen, I’ve been clean for . . . ’ I don’t even think I finished the sentence; I got a big hug. And he said, ‘I knew. I knew you’d do that. I knew you’d come out of that.’ I have goosebumps right now just thinking about it. It was another very important moment in my life.”
Reznor began his essay by discussing his early memories of Bowie and the influence he had on his own career, saying, “For me, every Bowie album has its own set of memories . . . His music really helped me relate to myself and figure out who I was. He was a tremendous inspiration in terms of what was possible, what the role of an entertainer could be, that there are no rules.”
When the two joined forces for The Outside Tour in 1995, Reznor did not want Bowie to open for Nine Inch Nails even though the latter was selling more tickets. He recalled, “We found out a way to do the show that made sense, where it all felt like one experience . . . One of the greatest moments of my life was standing onstage next to David Bowie while he sang ‘Hurt’ with me. I was outside of myself, thinking, ‘I’m standing onstage next to the most important influence I’ve ever had, and he’s singing a song I wrote in my bedroom.’ It was just an awesome moment.”
Bowie died of cancer on January 10th, just two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar. His death sent shockwaves around the world and throughout the global music community. Meanwhile, Reznor recently hinted new Nine Inch Nails music will be coming in 2016.
Well, they’re finally doing it! Breaking Benjamin will make its way to Europe for the first time ever this spring. The band announced its debut trek on that continent will kick off on May 29th in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, wrapping up on Jun 20th in Stockholm, Sweden. The group is touring in support of its first album in six years, Dark Before Dawn, which debuted at Number One on Billboard’s Top 200 and features the chart-topping rock radio hits “Failure” and “Angels Fall.”
Breaking Benjamin has never toured overseas before because of frontman Ben Burnley‘s fear of flying. Burnley’s phobias also include fear of high speeds and even riding in a car, and he told us a while back how he dealt with that while traveling in a tour bus: “I have a driver that I trust really a lot, and I basically just shut all the windows and turn the TV on and pretend I’m sitting in my living room, ’cause I have no choice, you know.”
Breaking Benjamin is currently on an acoustic tour of North America that stops tonight (Jan 27th) in Raleigh, NC and continues through Feb 10th. The unplugged trek will be followed by a fully electric headlining jaunt beginning on Feb 18th in Atlanta. Meanwhile, the NJ ocean town where Ben lives was hit pretty badly with Snowstorm Jonas over the weekend. We hope his place isn’t flooded!
The Pulse of Radio says Red Hot Chili Peppers are throwing their support behind Bernie Sanders in his quest for the White House. The band will headline an all-ages show at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb 5th, with the proceeds from ticket sales going toward Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Ticket prices will range from $30 to $2,700 and there is a pre-sale going on now.
The Chili Peppers have been politically and socially active for years, performing at benefits for climate change awareness, Hurricane Katrina victims, President Obama‘s 2012 re-election campaign, Haitian relief efforts and more.
The band is currently working on its 11th studio album, which will follow up 2011’s I’m With You. Drummer Chad Smith revealed a few days ago that the Chili Peppers had recorded a new song in just four hours. I believe it will be released this summer with a massive tour behind it!
Happy 48th today to Mike Patton of Faith No More and a very Happy 72nd to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason!