Good morning. Had a killer evening last night with my ole pals Godsmack. Sully Erna and Shannon Larkin dropped by the studios yesterday, and last night, performed a 9 song set at the iHeartRadio studios in lower Manhattan. It was a killer set which started off with new tracks from the 1000hp album: “Generation Day,” (probably the longest song they’ve ever recorded) followed by the single “1000hp,” the heavy “Locked & Loaded,” followed by the staple “Keep Away,” then another new song destined to be their third single from this album called “What’s Next,” then “Cryin’ Like A Bitch,” followed by the definite second single “Something Different,” and wrapping up with “Straight Out Of Line” and “Awake.” After that blistering session, Paulie Walnuts & I joined the band and the Republic label execs to a lavish dinner in Tribeca. It reminded me of the time I joined most of the same execs from Republic in a winnebago and drove up to New Haven to see the band for the first time as they had just signed to the label back in ’98. Still the same guys (except Shannon wasn’t with them then) and it’s great to see the success they enjoy today. Great night. BTW, Godsmack will be honored tomorrow in Boston at the Newbury Comics store in Fanueil Hall. (One of the coolest record stores in the country!) The mayor will be on hand for the ceremony after which the band will sign copies of the new album. Then it’s a few days off and rehearsals for the Uproar tour which kicks off on the 15th. Meanwhile, the band hit the coveted Number 1 Most Played Rock song on the charts today! Congrats! Boston Strong!….Meanwhile, I was on the hotLine with Gus Wood of Young Guns. He is putting the finishing touches on the band’s second US album, which won’t be out ’til January of 2015. The first single is called “I Want Out” and it’s coming next week. The new album is being produced by Steve Osborne in Bath, England, who is known for his work with New Order, Thrice, U2 and Peter Gabriel. He told me something I can not share, but I am excited to see them when I head to London in December. You can catch them when the hit the road with You Me At Six next month. BTW: have you entered the contest yet? And moreover, have you downloaded the new hardDriveRadio APP yet? Do it!…..Pulse of Radio reports Metallica is collaborating with an author named Matt Taylor on a book about the making of the band’s classic 1986 album Master Of Puppets, and wants the help of fans. The band wrote at its website, “Were you there in 1986? Snuck a camera into a show or two? Ran into us at a record store or in the bar? Have a funny story about getting to the gig or photos of you and your pals there? We want them all!! Cropped, blurred, overexposed? We’ll take ’em! No photographs, anecdotes, or stories are too insignificant. We want YOU to be a part of this book!” Taylor, who wrote an acclaimed and extensively detailed book on the making of the movie Jaws, contacted the band with a proposal to create a definitive history of the band’s third album. The band’s post explained, “When we took a spin through Jaws: Memories From Martha’s Vineyard, we were so blown away by the presentation, thorough coverage, and attention to detail that went into it, we knew he was the man to help us celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of that release.” The post stated that Taylor “has been very busy doing extensive interviews with all of us, our managers, record company staff, people we hung with then and Cliff‘s (Burton, late Metallica bassist) dad Ray,” but added, “Matt’s plan for the Master Of Puppets book is to lean heavily on amateur, fan-taken photos and stories reflecting the grassroots vibe of the time, so this is where you come in.” Metallica frontman James Hetfield told us a while back drummer Lars Ulrich is the band member who recalls everything about the group’s history: “He cannot forget things, where I’m pretty much the opposite, I remember hardly anything about what’s going on (laughs). But Lars is a great historian on Metallica and we joke about him being the biggest Metallica fan on the planet, and that he is. You know, he’ll be the guy that has the museum or all of that Metalli-memorabilia. He’s Encyclopedia Metallica.” ….Jack White‘s new solo album, Lazaretto, has become the best-selling vinyl LP release in 20 years. The old-school version of the set has moved more than 60,000 copies since coming out in June, the biggest vinyl seller since Pearl Jam‘s 1994 album Vitalogy. Lazaretto also set a record for the largest sales week for a vinyl album since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, moving 40,000 copies in its first week of release…..Me thinks there’s smoke rising out of the Disturbed camp. They haven’t made anything official yet, but with the news Jon Moyer is not returning for the Adrenaline Mob‘s fall tour, wonderers are wondering if it’s time to get back to the fold. I will have to do some investigating…. Limp Bizkit have released a new song called “Endless Slaughter” as a free download at the band’s website. The track is taken from the group’s next album, Stampede Of The Disco Elephants, which is due to arrive later this year. Limp Bizkit is about to embark on a U.S. tour that gets underway at the Aftershock Festival in California in mid-Sep….Soundgarden will help kick off the 2014 National Football League season by performing on Thursday, Sep 4th outside Seattle’s CenturyLink Field as part of the 2014 NFL Kickoff. The free performance will take place before the game between the Seahawks and Green Bay Packers and will be seen on the 60-minute pre-game show airing from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. PT on NBC and the NFL network.Also scheduled to appear is Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer Pharrell Williams. Soundgarden is out on the co-headlining tour with Nine Inch Nails through Aug 30th….And finally today, Pulse also reports on Slash, who has revealed in a new interview at the Guitar Center in Hollywood he originally aspired to play bass instead of lead guitar — until hearing a music teacher peel off some Cream licks changed his mind. Slash explained that since childhood friend and future Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler first opted to play guitar, he decided to learn bass. He recalled, “I went to a local music school and talked to the teacher and said, ‘I want to learn how to play bass.’ He asked me a few questions to figure out what I wanted to achieve. While he was talking to me, he was playing Eric Clapton’s Cream licks on electric guitar. I said, ‘That’s what I want to do,’ because I really didn’t know that much about guitars. So that was it — I switched over to guitar.” Slash added he learned how to play initially on a “beat up old Spanish acoustic that only had one string,” which was given to him by his grandmother. “There was no stopping me at that point — I was obsessed with it no matter what obstacles or hurdles there were. But Slash also told us he always wanted to be in a band and not just a “guitar hero” type: “I’m a band guy. I’ve been in a band since I was 16 years old, I guess. So I like being in a band, I think that a group of musicians working, interacting together can come up with amazing material and so on and so forth.” Slash will release his third solo album, World On Fire, on Sep 16th. The disc is his second with his now-permanent band, Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators. Slash is currently on tour in the U.S. with Aerosmith. Looking forward to him and his band in the hardDrive studios on Sep 15 or 16. Watch Slash in the Guitar Center video here…..Happiest of Birthdays to these guys: Pat Smear of Foo Fighters and Nirvana turns 54. Eicca Toppinen of Apocalyptica is 39 and Devo Keenan, son of Maynard, is 19.