Good morning! Coffee’s brewin’! News is flowin’! Lou Brutus posted a very thorough description of what happened in Cadott during Rob Zombie‘s set. He posted this on his Facebook: I know that it sucks that Rob Zombie was unable to finish his set at Rock Fest this weekend. It sucked for the fans. It sucked for the nice people who put on the show. And it also sucked for Rob Zombie. I was there in the photo pit, just a few feet from Rob during the performance, and from very soon into the set it was apparent that something was wrong. At first, I thought he had monitor problems or some tech thing like that. However, it quickly became clear he was in distress. After the second number, contrary to what some people are saying, Rob explained he couldn’t finish the set because he didn’t want to put on a “shit show.” His voice sounded to me then, albeit in the pit where the hearing is actually the worst, like he had gargled with razor blades. Rob Zombie does not need me, or probably even want me, to defend him. I’m not pals with Rob, though I always find him pleasant and interesting to interact with. However, I believe it’s my duty to to help set the record straight. The man is a consummate professional, a dedicated and hard-working entertainer, a top-notch showman. He doesn’t party. He’s not a diva. He doesn’t fly off the handle. Rob’s as level-headed as anyone I’ve ever met in the business. It simply is not in his nature to stop a show unless something is very, very wrong. Rob Zombie did not trek to Central Wisconsin, at great expense of time and money, to get out in front of tens of thousands of people to piss them off. It would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise. So if you were there in Cadott WI like I was, it’s alright to be disappointed that Rob couldn’t finish his set, but don’t be angry with him about it. As bad as you feel about this, I’ll bet that Rob feels a thousand times worse about letting you down. Well put, ole bean, well put. Zombie had performed just two songs when he stopped the gig, telling the audience, “I’ve never done this before. I can’t even talk, man. There’s no way I can do this show, I’m sorry. It’s f***ing bulls***, I know. We don’t want to give you a s*** show, I’m sorry. What can we do?” Zombie was the closing night headliner of the four-day festival, which also featured Sammy Hagar, Five Finger Death Punch and Aerosmith on the three previous evenings. Zombie, who doesn’t tour again until this fall, later issued a statement saying, “Sorry, everybody. I wish my voice wasn’t so f***ed. I knew from the first second we started that it was impossible to get through the show.” As I mentioned yesterday, Rob would NEVER cancel a show unless it was dire. And this was…Meanwhile, among his many interviews over the weekend, Lou interviewed Corey Taylor at Rock Fest (Stone Sour did one of their last shows of this record cycle) and here’s what I can share. Slipknot is totally stoked about finally having new music after 6 years. They are planning an amazing event at Knotfest in California Oct 24-26. Corey was saying he wants to try to take the festival to other destinations next spring as well. Possibly the south, midwest and east coast. He wants it to be a destination event like Rock On The Range or Download. Have 60 bands in three days. (Oh please, not 60 bands…..that’s 60 interviews!) Corey also won’t yet reveal any album title or even confirm who the new drummer is. At least not yet. But he did say Jim Root, Clown and the new drummer have really stepped things up and taken this thing to a whole new level. Obviously, this is the first album without Paul Gray and Joey Jordison. The band had to move studios at least 3 times while recording in the Los Angeles area: stops in West Lake, one in Malibu and another in LA. They just didn’t want anyone to hear it outside of the camp. And Corey took a moment to thank all of their fans, who have hung with them and waited this out. Be listening on Tuesday Aug 5th for a special edition of hardDrive XL with Lou Brutus, and you will hear Corey Taylor as our only guest for the entire night….Have you downloaded the hardDriveRadio APP? What are you waiting for an invitation? iPhone and Android: iTunes and Google Play….And finally, here is the blooper reel of ESPN/Sports Center-Metallica spot. Fun….This sucks! Avenged Sevenfold is back in control of its Twitter account after it was hacked and taken over by a group of racists. According to Team Rock, the band’s followers were subjected to vile slogans, images and video clips by an organization calling itself Clan Vv3 Ape Squad. The organization took responsibility for the hacks on its website, writing, “Another couple Twitters got popped by your fellow neighbourhood apes. Mastodon, 131,000 followers — A7X, 1,230,000 followers.” Mastodon also confirmed that its account was hacked. Some followers were apparently unaware that the hackers had changed the Avenged account’s username and avatar, somehow believing instead that a major mainstream rock band would begin posting racist remarks and images. Both bands managed to get control of their accounts back within 24 hours, deleted the inappropriate posts and released brief statements on the situation. I’m heading to the Rockstar Mayhem stop in Saratoga Springs, NY tomorrow to interview a bunch of the bands there. Looking forward to seeing them there!…Pulse Of Radio also reporting this morning Godsmack has released a second new song from the band’s upcoming album, 1000hp, called “Generation Day.“ Sully Erna told me the tune is one of his favorites from the new disc, and was quoted at Grammy.com saying, “‘Generation Day’ is really unique for me because not only is it this six-and-a-half minute epic, but it has these really cool textures and colors in it. The middle section has this cool, Zeppelin-y kind of breakdown, drifty and trippy. The song has this really fat, cool opening riff, and it’s something I almost think we want to open the live show with.” Erna added the song was inspired by the idea that his generation will be possibly the last to experience “analog” music and not just digital recordings and copies. He explained, “‘Generation Day’ is about realizing that this new era is taking over . . . when I think about that whole world, I feel sad and wish my daughter and the people (who) are younger could have had that experience of putting on an album and pulling out the lyrics and looking at the artwork. It was such an experience back then.” 1000hp is due out on Aug 05th and follows up 2010’s The Oracle. Sully said in our video interview, which you can find on the new hardDriveRadio APP, how he thinks the sound of 1000hp compares to earlier Godsmack records: “This one just became a little bit more raw, a little bit more open. The writing was a little freer, the production was really kind of raw and in your face, and the songs, man — I’m really, really excited about these songs.”….Two major characters celebrating a birthday today: Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton is 74! Hung out with him in the 70’s in Boston. He was a card! And actor Willem Dafoe is 59….Back at ya on Thursday….Go download the app, dammit!