Another HUGE day in the hardDriveRadio studios here in NYC! Yesterday with AC/DC, today with Starset and In This Moment! Starset will be performing in the studios as well, so that will be a treat! I haven’t seen them live yet and hopefully I will get a chance to do so tonight when they perform with In This Moment and Twelve Foot Ninja! And the new In This Moment album is out, so it will be cool to see what that band pulls off live from the new tunes. (I love love love the song “Sex Metal Barbie” and was pleasantly surprised about the slower tune featuring Brent Smith of Shinedown! ) Good times! And tomorrow night, I’m attending a big charity event for the TJ Martell Foundation, which raises money for cancer, AIDS and leukemia research. It’s their big Wine Dinner, this year honoring Rush! (Last year was Robin Quivers.) Should be a great night with delicious (and expensive) wine. Remember: drink water between glasses of the fruit of the grape! Less headache! LOL….So let’s get back to AC/DC for a moment. The “surprise” guest was uber-producer Brendan O’Brien, who is the most down to earth guy you’d ever want to meet! We chatted it up for some time in the green room while the band was being interviewed by other outlets (they stationed themselves at our studios, and we even had a satellite truck there for interviews the band did in Australia for TV and radio there.) I wasn’t aware the studio that Brendan always worked out of when he was based in Atlanta had been sold, so Brendan moved to LA and AC/DC loves the studio there in Vancouver so Brendan is now Mr Mobile. I asked Brendan if he was going to be doing Tom Morello‘s next solo record which is supposed to be “heavy.” He said no, since Tom is probably producing himself. He built a studio in the house he moved his mom into next door to his up in the Hollywood Hills. Tom is such an awesome guy! Anyhow, hope to be staying in touch with Brendan. Good peep! Also got to be friends with Angus’ wife Ella. What a sweetheart! We are very similar and it’s so awesome she and Angus have been married for 34 years! Love it!…..As promised, Foo Fighters dates are posted in Road Rage. This upcoming tour is the biggest in their history. At one point, it was speculated they’d do a tour of the same clubs they did as a band 20 years ago, but in reality, they’re playing the biggest venues they’ve ever played in the U.S. starting with RFK Stadium in Washington, DC on Jul 4. Royal Blood will be the support act on the July and August dates, except for Aug 27th in Indianapolis and the first Fenway show on July 18th, which will feature Boston legends Mission Of Burma. Drummer Taylor Hawkins told us America has never necessarily been the Foos’ biggest market: “As a band, we’ve always actually been a little bit bigger outside of America. England, we do really well and Australia we do really well and a lot of parts of Europe we do well. And we do well in America, but mainly in the big cities, you know. We’re not huge necessarily in the Midwest and places like that because, frankly, America’s big.” But you can’t believe everything Taylor says, now can ya? LOL…..Getting back to AC/DC for a second, plan on them hitting the U.S. stadium circuit probably late Spring. The staging will be second to none, I am sure!….Halestorm recently wrapped the recording sessions for its third studio album and is previewing some material on its current fall tour. The band has been playing the track “I Like It Heavy,” which a fan filmed during the band’s November 14th gig in St. Petersburg, Florida. The new Halestorm disc is due out in early 2015. (Brave Words)….Smashing Pumpkins have recruited Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk and Killers bassist Mark Stoermer for a string of upcoming dates in support of their new album,Monuments To An Elegy, due out Dec 9th. Frontman Billy Corgan said, “We’re absolutely thrilled and humbled to have Brad and Mark helping us out with these shows. And if our rehearsals are any indication, they should be one-of-a-kind.” The short run of gigs will stop in Berlin, Paris and London before hitting New York on Dec 8th, the Jimmy Kimmel Live outdoor stage in Los Angeles on the 10th and Los Angeles radio station KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas concert on Dec 14th. (Blabbermouth)….Happy 43rd today to bassist Justin Chancellor of Tool and Happy 54th to drummer Matt Sorum, ex-Guns ‘N Roses, Velvet Revolver, The Cult. (Thanks to Pulse Of Radio for their help today!)