24 hours! Just 24 hours til the start of one amazing three day festival in San Bernardino, CA! I’m talkin’ about KNOTFEST people! It is going to be AH-mazing! Lou Brutus and Paulie Walnuts will be amid some incredible bands and in an atmosphere (sans camel dung burning smell) of sheer HARD ROCK and HEAVY METAL! And once again, to all those freakin’ idiots who say “ROCK IS DEAD,” I say, “Oh Really?!!” Hopefully the internet connection will be good and we’ll see a ton of pix and things happeneing on the new hardDriveRadio APP! Be listening in a couple of weeks for the Backstage @ Knotfest special editon of hardDrive!…..Congrat to my Canadian friends! Nickelback‘s “Edge Of A Revolution” has notched its second straight week at Number One on the rock radio chart, giving the band its eighth chart-topper and its first from the new album, No Fixed Address. Frontman Chad Kroeger told us why the tune is a little more politically charged than usual for Nickelback: “It really was about the state of the world and what was going on, you know, with global news. And it’s a little bit depressing, but I’ll tell you what, it makes for great lyrics when it comes to a pissed-off rock song. But it was fun to take on that challenge, ’cause we’ve never really stepped into that arena when it came to songwriting before.” Look for their No Fixed Address cd Nov 18th. A 2015 tour is in the works and should be announced very very soon! Meanwhile, Chad was in Las Vegas and was partying with Sammy Hagar. Check out THIS jam session with Jason Bonham on drums, Joe Satriani on guitar, Michael Anthony on bass and Sammy! WOW! Chad, didn’t know ya had that one down!….Speaking of 2015 concert tours, Foo Fighters should be announcing those very soon, and congrats to You Me At Six. Josh Francheshi told me yesterday the band is going to be doing HUGE arena shows, including London’s O2 Arena, in February! Look for them to return to the U.S. in December for radio shows in KC, St Louis and more! Be looking for my video interview with Josh soon!…..Today, Live’s Chad Taylor and Chris Shinn drop by for interview and acoustic performance. Looks like I’ve had one of the busiest weeks of my career! LOL! Who’s complaining???!!!!…..And what can I say about Slipknot! The album is great. And it is projected to sell between 100,000-110,000 copies in it’s first week! And in this day and age, those are pretty good numbers. We love you Slipknot! Even if you like the smell of burning camel dung. Pulse of Radio reports guitarist Jim Root has defended the band in an interview against accusations they did not do everything they could to stop bassist Paul Gray from dying as a result of a drug overdose. Gray’s widow, Brenna Gray, testified in the involuntary manslaughter trial of the doctor who treated Paul shortly before his May 2010 death she tried reaching out to some of Paul’s bandmates just days prior to the bassist’s demise but none of them wanted to get involved. She revealed, “One was playing golf two minutes away from our house but couldn’t come. Nobody else cared, nobody was involved.” Asked about Brenna’s remarks, Root told Sweden Rock, “I think she’s probably gonna say whatever it is she thinks she needs to say for the lawyers to hear. You know, I mean, Paul was our brother; Paul was very close to us. We tried putting Paul into treatment numerous times, we took him off of tours and we had interventions with him . . . At the end of the day, Paul was sick and Paul had a problem and we were there for Paul. Paul wasn’t always available.” Root added, “Brenna’s always got brothers that she can count on, and (Paul and Brenna’s daughter) October will always have eight uncles that give a s***.” October was born three months after her father’s death, and Slipknot singer Corey Taylor told us a while back she was being well taken care of by the inner Slipknot circle: “She’s surrounded by love right now, you know. I mean, she’s got me, she’s got my wife, she’s got her mother, who we’ve basically taken and made our own, basically, you know. And you know, she’s got all of our friends who dote on her. It’s gonna be hard when she gets older, but at the same time there’ll never be a lack of love around that little girl as long as I’m living.” I know this weekend will also be a fitting tribute to Paul, as he is surely smiling on the Knotfest festivities and I am sure he will be there in spirit….Congrats to Jeremy Spencer of Five Finger Death Punch! His autobiography, Death Punch’d: Surving Five Finger Death Punch’s Metall Mayhem, made the Top 10 on the NY Times Celebrities Best Seller List! That’s FREAKIN’ H U G E! Congrats Jeremy! If you haven’t, check out the video interview with Jeremy on the hardDriveRadio app and the hardDriveRadio YouTube channel!….Blabbermouth reports Sully Erna of Godsmack is doing a series of solo acoustic performances in December. Public on-sales for all the dates start this Friday (October 24th). Fans will have the opportunity to buy an additional limited-edition VIP package upgrade through Erna’s official web site. The package will include early entry, access to a meet-and-greet with Erna, an exclusive lithograph signed by Erna and a VIP laminate, all for $99 in addition to the actual concert ticket. Erna said in a recent interview that he intends to continue with his solo career when not recording or touring with Godsmack. The singer released his debut solo album, Avalon, in 2010. The disc featured a very different style than what Erna does with Godsmack, incorporating world music, female vocals, keyboards, cello, hand percussion and other diverse sounds. He toured behind the album with a large ensemble that incorporated many of the instruments heard on the record. See Road Rage for all the info!…..Happy BIG 5-0 to Metallica’s bassist Robert Trujillo! And Happy 55th to Weird Al Yankovic!