Is this month nearly gone already? Wow.
The Pulse Of Radio reporting Five Finger Death Punch is putting the finishing touches on the music video for the song “My Nemesis,” the next single from the band’s latest album, Got Your Six. The track has already started leaping up the rock radio airplay chart, jumping last week from Number 33 to Number 19. The set’s two previous singles, “Jekyll And Hyde” and “Wash It All Away,” both reached the top of the survey.
Guitarist Zoltan Bathory told us “My Nemesis” has emerged as a fan favorite, but went through a lot to get there: “You know, that song went through a lot of transformations. You know, that had a different title originally, and we recorded it and later we came back and upgraded it, so to speak, and it’s one of the strongest tracks. I think a lot of people consider it as their favorite.”
Got Your Six entered the Billboard 200 album chart at Number Two, selling 119,000 copies in its first week of release. This was the band’s third straight Number Two debut, following both volumes of The Wrong Side Of Heaven And The Righteous Side Of Hell in 2013. Five Finger Death Punch will team up with Shinedown for a series of co-headlining shows this May, while also appearing at some of the biggest U.S. festivals of the year.
Watch Jeremy Spencer, Jason Hook and Chris Kael talk about “My Nemesis” right here!
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Say hello to your new Ambassadors! Metallica has been announced as the 2016 ambassadors for Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent music retailers and record store culture that is set this year for Sat, April 16th. They join a great list of previous ambassadors including Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Jack White.
Drummer Lars Ulrich said, “Independent record stores are part of Metallica’s DNA. They have been pivotal in shaping each one of us into the music fanatics we’ve all become. We could not be any prouder to be Record Store Day Ambassadors for 2016 and are looking forward to screaming from every rooftop the next few months about everything independent record store and beyond.”
Throughout the nine years that Record Store Day has been in existence, Metallica has participated with events and special releases. The band did a meet-and-greet with fans at Rasputin Records in Mountain View, CA back in 2008 to help kick off the very first Record Store Day. And a few years later, did an in-store in Grimey’s Records in Nashville, TN (Lou Brutus went to that as I recall!) And last year the group issued a cassette version of its original 1982 demo, “No Life ‘Til Leather,” which ended up being Record Store Day 2015’s biggest seller.
Following the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Metallica’s release for this year’s Record Store Day will be Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Metallica! – Live at Le Bataclan. Paris, France – June 11th, 2003, a CD featuring a live recording of Metallica performing at the same venue that was the site of the deadliest of the November attacks. Proceeds from sales of the CD will benefit Fondation de France‘s Give For France charity. Metallica will also be releasing deluxe reissues of its first two albums, 1983’s Kill ‘Em All and 1984’s Ride The Lightning, on Record Store Day. Watch the video promo from Metallica! (Lars, you should’ve memorized your lines! LOL)
Hmmmm. Trouble in Paradise??? The Pulse of Radio says Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter admitted in a new interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com he “didn’t want to play” on the band’s new record, Gore. Asked what he was most proud of on the new disc, Carpenter answered, “I think my proudest thing about my guitar playing on this record is just playing on the record, because I didn’t want to play on the record to begin with. It wasn’t until way later once I actually got into it. I look at all the songs on the record and they were all a challenge for me to get into.”
Asked why the new music was so hard for him to get into, Carpenter replied, “When we were coming up with ideas and writing the songs, the stuff that was being written, you know, the other guys’ ideas, I wasn’t too interested in it. It wasn’t the style or the sound I was hoping we would take. It wasn’t what I was expecting or wanting.”
Carpenter continued, “My band is going one direction and I am going another one currently,” but when asked if that meant he might leave Deftones, he said, “I would never leave the band that I started, but the band started leaving me. I can’t control that.”
While the guitarist said he has “a great time for the most part” with Deftones, he admitted, “We have got issues that I do not want to leave home, but how things will be in the future, I do not know . . . there are some things that I will not do in the future because I just don’t agree with it.”
Carpenter has always been known as Deftones’ resident metalhead and admitted a while back that he’s not into the more commercial aspects of being in a band, like choosing radio singles: “I’m personally opposed to singles at all. I could care less about making a single, or a follow-up single, or what’s gonna be the hit. You know? I just can’t stand all that stuff, man. I really can’t stand it. I’m not good at hyping us up, like, hype, hype, hype, blah, blah, blah, so singles, I don’t relate to them.”
Deftones will release Gore on April 8th. The opening cut and first single is “Prayers/Triangles.” I have to say I’ve heard 5 songs from it, and it takes you from dark to light, heavy to soft. All the things we love about Deftones is on this album. Steph, lighten up (or “light up”), man!
Hellyeah has unveiled both a new single and the dates and venues for a spring North American tour with Escape The Fate, New Years Day and From Ashes To New. The “We’re All In This Together Tour 2016” will kick off on May 2nd in Baltimore, MD (Tom’s home town!) and hit 18 cities before ending on June 5th in Las Vegas. With each ticket purchased, fans will receive a code redeemable for a free “We’re All In This Together Tour 2016” sampler on iTunes. The sampler will include music from all four artists on the tour.
At the same time, Hellyeah has posted a lyric video for “Human,” the first new track from the band’s forthcoming fifth album. The disc is due out later this year and will follow up 2014’s Blood For Blood. The band has not yet announced the title of the new disc, but it is expected to arrive around May. Guitarist Tom Maxwell said last year about the next record, “It’s gonna be moody, it’s gonna be dark, it’s gonna be crushing, it’s gonna be heartbreaking, it’s gonna be everything. So it’s gonna be a proper take-off from our last record, but with a lot of new surprises . . . It’s gonna be a really, really savage album, and I’m really excited.” We are too! See Road Rage for all the dates!
Stone Temple Pilots guitarist Dean DeLeo revealed in a new interview with Celebration Rock that the last time he saw former singer Scott Weiland alive was in a courtroom. DeLeo recalled, “The last time Scott and I were nose to nose, we actually were in the judge’s chambers, we were sitting across one another when we were in this court thing. It goes well beyond what you probably read, our relationship was strained for many years man.”
DeLeo added, “I spent half my life just full of false hope, with every intention to try to help him, and try to get him together. It led to what we’re talking about right now, the guy died. No matter how you look at it or how you slice it, it’s just so tragic that that is where he went.” The guitarist also said Weiland’s ongoing troubles while he was in STP led DeLeo to despise the term “rock star,” explaining, “When I was a kid, the term rock star was intriguing to me, it kind of meant something. As I got older, and I was in business with someone who abused that term, I found it more and more repulsive. Because I don’t know any other line of work where I could simply just show up late, not show up at all, show up really out of it, and it’s kind of glorified, and I think it sucks.”
Stone Temple Pilots dismissed Weiland in 2013, five years after the band reunited in 2008. The band later sued Weiland, citing his erratic behavior, poor performances and prioritizing of his solo career as reasons for letting him go. Weiland countersued the group, although the dispute between the band and singer was eventually settled. Stone Temple Pilots joined forces with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington in 2013 for an EP and several tours, but Bennington exited last fall. The band is currently holding open auditions for a new vocalist.
Happy 43 today to Chris Fehn # 3 of Slipknot!