Happy Post Father’s Day to all you dads out there. Here’s what’s happening!
First off, on Friday, two new albums were released. Nickelback‘s Feed The Machine and Royal Blood‘s How Did We Get So Dark? In case you hadn’t heard, Nickelback will kick off their tour on Friday night with Daughtry and Shaman’s Harvest (who were in the hardDriveRadio studios last week for an interview with Paulie Walnuts and an acoustic performance) and also with Cheap Trick on select dates, and Royal Blood is on tour now, and as of the 22nd, join Queens Of The Stone Age.
Feed The Machine, Nickelback’s 9th studio album, follows a hiatus during which frontman Chad Kroeger had to undergo surgery in 2015 to remove a cyst from his vocal cords. Kroeger told us about going through that experience and getting his voice back: “I think when you get out there and, you know, you’re screaming as much as I was screaming year after year after year, doing these world tours, and not ever taking, you know, proper training, you can beat yourself up. And I developed a cyst and had to get it removed. They put me on rest for a long time and I’m back. I got a new set of tires and I can scream like a banshee.”| Asked if there was any moment when he felt afraid of what might happen, Kroeger told us: “Well, the worst part was, when I was able to speak again, I sounded just like the douchebag from Nickelback and it really scared me.” (I love that Chad can razz himself….he really is a good guy and I’m hoping to interview him in Saratoga on Jul 10th!)
Kroeger said in a new interview with Holland’s FaceCulture he wasn’t able to speak for two weeks after his surgery. He explained what he does differently now to keep his voice in shape, saying, “I warm up and take good care of it. Now, I don’t scream AC/DC at four o’ clock, five o’ clock when I’m drunk with my friends like I used to.”
Feed The Machine follows up 2014’s No Fixed Address. The band has released two singles from the disc, the title track and “Song On Fire.” Nickelback will begin a lengthy 44-date North American tour on Friday (June 23rd) in Noblesville, IN.
My favs, Foo Fighters, started their World tour this weekend at the Summer Solstice festival in Reykjavik, Iceland, where the band premiered a new song called “Lah Di Da,” while also giving the first live rendition of its current single “Run” and the first full band performance of “The Sky Is A Neighborhood,” which Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins debuted at an acoustic charity gig back in March. (P.S. Listen for Dave this weekend on the World Famous hardDrive!)
Grohl introduced the new music by telling the audience, “We only have 22 minutes left, but I want to play you all the new f**king songs.” Another noteworthy moment took place when Grohl’s eight-year-old daughter, Harper, got a chance to play drums with the Foos on a cover of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Grohl told the audience that Harper recently asked to learn drums, explaining, “I said, ‘Do you want want me to teach you?’ She said, ‘Yes.’ And then I said, ‘Do you want to get up in front of 20,000 people in Iceland and play?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’” Grohl added, “Ladies and gentleman, welcome the next generation — there’s another Grohl on the drum set now.”
The Foos’ next stop on their European trek is Helsinki, Finland tonight (June 19th). (Thanks Consequence Of Sound and The Pulse Of Radio)
Blabbermouth reporting Five Finger Death Punch will play a free show on Monday night (Jun 19th) in Tilburg, The Netherlands, for ticket holders from the band’s infamous concert there a week earlier. Guitarist Zoltan Bathory said, “Last Monday’s show was an avalanche of events largely out of our control. We could sit here all day and apologize, but our fans in the Netherlands deserve better than that. They’ve stuck with us all these years and helped get us to where we are today. So, we managed to re-route our tour and come back to Tilburg and play a free show on our day off — because actions speak louder than words.”
This show will take place in the same venue, the 013, and ticket holders of last week’s show were scheduled to receive an e-mail from the venue with instructions to obtain their free guaranteed priority tickets. Last Monday’s (June 12th) show ended in controversy with singer Ivan Moody arriving onstage late and telling the audience that he was quitting the group. Five Finger Death Punch announced on Wednesday (June 14th) that Moody would sit out the remainder of the band’s European tour due to his battles with alcohol abuse. Singer Tommy Vext, who sang the first number in last Monday’s set and has been traveling with the group, is filling in for Moody on the rest of the dates.
Some of the Blabbermouth reader posts included some good points from their legends of loyal fans:
“These guys are cool dudes who always treat their fans great! I feel bad for them for what they have had to put up with the last few years with Moody but hopefully this stint in Rehab finally gets him to beat his addiction!!”
“It’s pretty telling that they were touring with a backup lead singer, or understudy, if you will. It must be tiring babying your self-destructive singer and wondering if he’s going to tank all of your careers and not just his. If they find a vocalist who’s halfway professional and cares about his health and fans, then they might be better off.”
“Not many bands would go to that much trouble to make up a show. That’s great of them to do that. I’d still rather punch myself in the balls than listen to their music, but they’re doing the right thing here.” (Ok, so maybe this dude isn’t a loyal fan, but he appreciates what the band did for sure!)
Stone Sour, Seether and In This Moment lead the lineup of the 2018 ShipRocked cruise, which will set sail aboard Carnival Liberty from Jan 21st through the 25th. More than a dozen acts will play the ninth edition of the cruise as it sails from Port Canaveral, FL to Nassau and the private island of Half Moon Cay in The Bahamas.
In This Moment has been on the cruise three previous times and singer Maria Brink told us what it’s like: “It’s a vacation, filled with like music in the middle of the ocean. We were playing and it was like, just the crowd was filled and it was outside on like the deck area, and the crowd’s roaring and like the sun was going down and it was so epic. And you just look out and you’re in the middle of the ocean! Like this big energy ball of music just floating through the ocean. And then you got the pina coladas and the pool and the Bahamas — I mean, it’s definitely a good time.”
Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor said, “Finally. We’ve been trying to make this happen for a long time. Now Stone Sour is joining the ShipRocked party — and we hope you’re all as excited as we are!!” The rest of the lineup includes Nothing More, Starset,Beartooth, Red Sun Rising, Nonpoint, Shaman’s Harvest and several others, including the cruise’s all-star band The Stowaways.
The ShipRocked 2018 pre-sale is sold out. Remaining staterooms for the cruise will go on sale to the general public tomorrow (Jun 20th) at noon ET at ShipRocked.com.
Ozzy Osbourne has opened up about his sex addiction which came to light nearly a year ago, when the revelation of a long-term affair almost destroyed his marriage to manager Sharon Osbourne. Speaking with Hello! magazine about Michelle Pugh, the woman he was seeing, Ozzy said, “She was a hairdresser who was coming round to the house. I honestly don’t know how it started, but then it picked up momentum and I thought, ‘If I stop, she’s going to go to the press.’ By giving in to temptation, you put your head in the lion’s mouth, but then it closes, and no matter which way you go, you’ve done wrong.”
Ozzy apologized last August to several women with whom he had extramarital sexual relationships, including Pugh, and admitted he was going to therapy for sex addiction.
Sharon told the magazine that she never seriously suspected that her husband was having an affair with his hairdresser, saying, “I knew that she was overly flirty with Ozzy . . . but to be truthful with you, I thought, ‘He would never go with that, ever.‘”
Ozzy said he was “scared to death” of what might happen when Sharon found out, saying, “My first wife divorced me because of my playing around. It’s by far the worst addiction that I have. When I was drinking or doing drugs, I was affecting myself physically, but with the sex addiction, it affects everybody.” The Black Sabbath singer continued, “I sat down and I thought, ‘What the hell have I done?’ I can’t imagine life without Sharon. She’s my soulmate. I love her. I can honestly say that I’ve never loved any other woman besides Sharon. I’ve got a crazy-assed way of showing it, but she’s the love of my life.”
Ozzy said he is still undergoing therapy for his addiction and admitted that he “damaged” his relationship with Sharon, adding, “I’ve been doing my utmost to make amends to Sharon and to all of the family.” Ozzy and Sharon renewed their wedding vows on May 14th, nearly 35 years after their July 1982 marriage. The singer recently completed a farewell tour with Sabbath and is preparing to hit the road with his solo band. (Thanks Blabbermouth)
Happy 47th today to my dear friend Head, aka Brian Welch, of Korn and Happy 67 to Ann Wilson of Heart.