Got this footage of President Obama‘s police escort out of town yesterday. He was staying at the hotel a block away from our office. I got a bird’s eye view! Can you believe the amount of vehicles? And two, count em, two versions of the Cadillac limo. Dunno which one he was in. So there ya go. Hail To The Chief!
We posted our Korn interview with Jonathan “JD” Davis and Reggie “Fieldy” Arvizu on the ole hardDriveRadio YouTube Channel. You MUST watch! And my friend Katherine Turman interviewed Munky and Head for Live Nation and you can read about that here. The band kick off their tour with Breaking Benjamin and Silver Snakes on Saturday. Looking forward to their set at Sonic Boom next weekend!
Still can’t believe Cliff Williams of AC/DC has retired. I mean, AC/DC now has one original member left with Angus Young. At this point no one knows what the future holds, only Angus knows. Could Brian Johnson return? That would be a start.
Meanwhile, Pulse Of Radio reporting Angus paid tribute to bassist Cliff on Tuesday night (Sep 20th) in Philadelphia, during the final gig of the band’s North American tour. The show was very likely to be the last ever with the band for Williams, who announced that he is retiring after a 40-year run with the group. During the final encore of “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You),” Young ran to the back of the stage and pulled Williams from his customary spot to the front for everyone to see him. Williams retreated quickly to the back again as the audience roared its appreciation.
Williams confirmed earlier this week in a video posted online that he is retiring from recording and touring with the group at the end of the current touring cycle for the Rock Or Bust album, saying, “I’m just ready to get off the road, really, and do what I do.”
Williams’ decision follows a string of personnel changes for the group that started with co-founding guitarist Malcolm Young‘s departure in 2014 after he was diagnosed with dementia. Last year, drummer Phil Rudd was sentenced to house arrest after he was found guilty on a drug charge, while earlier this year singer Brian Johnson was forced to step down or face the loss of his hearing.
Malcolm was replaced by his and Angus’ nephew Stevie, while Chris Slade took over for Rudd and Axl Rose was recruited on lead vocals.
The 66-year-old Williams is the longest-serving member of the group after Angus. He joined the band in mid-1977 and made his debut on its fifth album, 1978’s Powerage, (the first AC/DC album I ever worked with when Bon Scott was in the band!) appearing on every record and tour since. Only Angus now remains from the lineups that made albums like 1979’s Highway To Hell, 1980’s Back In Black and even 2008’s Black Ice.
The band does not have any more shows on its itinerary at the moment and Angus has not indicated for certain whether the band will continue on. Sigh. End of an era, I’d say.
Kansan Danny Carey….yes, he is a Jayhawks’ fan.
Whoa. He’ll be right down the street! Tool drummer Danny Carey will be the guest drummer on NBC-TV’s Late Night With Seth Meyer all next week, beginning on Monday, Sep 26th. Carey will anchor Meyer’s 8G Band, a position that has been held in the past by guest drummers like Mastodon’s Brann Dailor, Primus’ Tim Alexander, Against Me!’s Atom Willard and more recently, Ray Luzier of Korn. Carey’s week-long residency was announced via Facebook.
Carey has done a lot of work outside of Tool and told us a while back that he always thought doing extra-curricular projects had its benefits: “We just kind of look at it as going off on sabbatical, I think, pretty much, and then when we come back from doing our projects like this, it gives us more to offer into the Tool pot. It all feeds off of each other.”
Carey’s other projects include bands like Legends Of The Seagullmen, Pigmy Love Circus and Volto!, while he’s also guested on records by Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew and Carole King.
As for his day job, the instrumental members of Tool reportedly continue to work on material for their long-awaited new album, with bassist Justin Chancellor recently promising that it will be “awesome.” In the meantime, Tool will play a handful of shows in October, including Sacramento, California on Oct 22nd, Salt Lake City on Oct 24th, Denver on the 26th and Little Rock, AR on the 28th.
Meanwhile, Maynard Keenan is doing his book tour promoting “A Perfect Union Of Contrary Things” starting Nov 9th in Nashville. There will be a kind of big announcement about it here soon. Stay tuned!
Poor Oli. He’s very sick.
Apparently the Tweet & Instagram from Bring Me The Horizon revealed the band was forced to cancel their remaining headline dates of their Australian and New Zealand tour. (If I could figure out how to repost those on this website, I would. I am technically challenged. Sorry)
Oli Sykes Instagram said: Adelaide, all I can say is I’m sorry. We won’t be able to perform the show tonight. The concert for me in Sydney 2 nights ago was a real struggle for me to sing, we got through it & I was really hoping a day off yesterday and 24 hours of vocal rest would be sufficient… Unfortunately I’ve woken up today & my symptoms have worsened, my throat & face has swollen up, along with ulcers, rashes & other not so great problems. So it appears I have some kind of viral infection. I’m so sorry to let you all down, but believe me when I say no one is more gutted than me. Right now the shows are one of the main things helping me get through a personally difficult period of my life, & being told that I’m not in any condition to perform, & having to go back and sit alone in a hotel room until this infection subsides, well, is the last thing I wanna be doing. I guess I just wanted to let you all know that these decisions are never taken lightly, the complete opposite tbh, we live for the shows, they are usually the only highlight of our days, & for anyone that was supposed to see us tonight, I’m feeling your pain just as much as you are feeling mine. Hopefully we can make it back up to you in the not too distant future. Oli x
I would imagine anyone with tickets can get a refund at point of purchase. Bummer!
Oh and speaking of BMTH, Lou Brutus, Paulie Walnuts and I all received Gold plaques for helping to support the band’s Sempiternal cd. I’ll post a picture tomorrow. I left it in the office! Have a great day and if you see Joan Jett, please wish her a VERY HAPPY 58th Birthday today!