The Killers Go Country, Kind Of, for Holiday Single

What do you give the band that's done everything, at least when it comes to annual holiday singles? Cowboy hats, of course! Every year around this time, Las Vegas pomp-rockers the Killers release a new single benefiting AIDS-fighting charity RED. And every year, they come up with something suitably grandiose: 2008's collaboration with Elton John and Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant, 2009's Spanish-flavored team-up with Wild Light and Mariachi El Bronx, or last year's It's a Wonderful Life-themed video directed by Napoleon Dynamite's Jared Hess, to name a few examples.
This year, the Killers have gone country-western — relatively speaking, anyway. They've reunited for a new holiday single that fan communities are alternately calling "Cowboy Christmas" or "The Cowboy's Christmas Ball," with a digital release apparently due on Thursday, according to the blog Arjan Writes. Hear an unofficial stream here, via the Audio Perv.
The Killers' latest effort is a whimsically upbeat, shuffling tune, with plenty of local color (the Truckee River, Carson City, bighorns "a-grazin' "), and enough of a country tinge to have more than a few fans of even the Killers' synthier material itching to don their cowboy boots. Lots of chiming, holiday-friendly instrumentation, too. A drinking song? "Woo!" cries frontman Brandon Flowers, like an old ranch hand, or just a Wild West pop star having a ton of fun. Think of it as "Fairytale of Old Nevada," perhaps. Fa la-la-la-la, and a do-si-do.

 http://www.spin.com/articles/killers-go-country-kind-holiday-single Selengkapnya...

Sonic Youth's Future Still Unclear

The outlook for Sonic Youth's future is no brighter following a fascinating Rolling Stone interview with guitarist Lee Ranaldo. "I'm feeling optimistic about the future no matter what happens at this point," Ranaldo said. Unfortunately, the question was about "the future of the band" — a phrase Ranaldo drops from his answer, which could be telling or could just be a coincidence, but either way doesn't sound entirely optimistic. Especially not for anyone still hoping for a follow-up to 2009's The Eternal, or at least more SY live shows.
Ranaldo went on to say, "I mean, every band runs its course. We've been together way longer than any of us ever imagined would happen and it's been for the most part an incredibly pleasurable ride. There's still a lot of stuff we're going to continue to do. There's tons and tons of archival projects and things like that that are still going on, so there are so many ways in which we are tied to each other for the future both musically and in other ways. I'm just happy right now to let the future take its course and I guess I'm kind of thankful that I've got this other project that kind of came about on its own."
That "other project" is Ranaldo's first proper solo album, Between the Times and the Tides due on March 20, 2012, via Matador. "Over the last couple years Sonic Youth has slowed down markedly, just because we've all been working on our own projects," Ranaldo told Rolling Stone, "and I guess I was just starting to feel a little bit antsy or something." As previously reported, Sonic Youth's lead couple Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon are going their separate ways after 21 years of marriage; Moore released his third solo album, the Beck-produced Demolished Thoughts, earlier this year.
Look at Moore and Gordon's relationship in pictures here, and check out SPIN's examination of their relationship in song here.

http://www.spin.com/articles/sonic-youths-future-still-unclear Selengkapnya...

Michael Stipe on the End of R.E.M. as we Know It

Artist talks about staying friends with his ex-bandmates and why he won't make a solo LP

 

"This is my last day of work," Michael Stipe says cheerfully, strolling through the Rolling Stone offices after giving one of his final interviews as the singer of R.E.M. Theoretically, he is promoting the two-CD compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011, a thorough primer on the band's wild ride from the small post-punk scene in Athens, Georgia, to worldwide celebrity. But that ended on September 21st, when Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills announced they were disbanding – drummer Bill Berry quit in 1997 – and Stipe, 51, spends most of our hour looking back in candor and relishing the idea of a new life out of rock. "Who says I have to be a songwriter?" he says, smiling. "I'm in a place right now where I don't know what the future holds for me." There are immediate prospects, including a new documentary film he's producing about Internet celebrity and his current work in sculpture. Stipe also makes it official: no solo album. "It's unfathomable to me right now. What would it sound like? Watered-down R.E.M.?"
How did you feel the day of the announcement? Scared, relieved?
I stayed in New York. Mike was in Athens. Peter was in Mexico – he wanted to be as far away as he could. But I was here in case things went pear-shaped and I had to go on Jimmy Fallon or something to say, "No, this is really OK." I'd texted everybody I felt needed to know from me, called a few people and then went to Madison Avenue and walked. I went into a cafe, took a deep breath – and I completely let go. I had been under contract since I was 22. I'd been in a band since I was 19. I was experiencing something profound for the first time: freedom. Suddenly, I was a free agent. Mike and I met up two nights later, and he said to me, "This feels liberating." [Sighs] I was like, "He feels the same way."
Mike told me the three of you first discussed disbanding in 2008. How hard was it to keep it a secret?
It was very hard. My fear was that it would leak – and it would be my fault [grins]. It's not like we sat down one night and had a somber discussion. But we were at the end of a record contract. We are all in our fifties and have other lives. And R.E.M. has always been about the rule of "no." We always knew what we didn't want to do. The number of times in 31 years when one of us almost packed our bags and left is uncountable. But we stuck with it.
I first saw R.E.M. live in 1982. What was your idea then of a life in music? How long did you think it could go?
I was still emerging into this teenage dream of what it was to be in a band, travel the world and have people love you. I had not worked out how much work it would take. Anyone can make a bozo of themselves – that's easy. To do something valuable for you and others, fall flat on your face and bounce back from that – that's not so easy. I got a handle on it with [1987's] Document. I felt like, "OK, I can take my shirt off in this photograph. People are going to like it more." I had long hair like Robert Plant, and I looked great. But I felt I had a purpose, and it came from the songs. It wasn't just me spouting about my own stuff. It was recognizing that I become furious at injustice.
How did your friendships with Peter and Mike change? Most of your time together was about tours and records.
The work is our life's dream come true. As hard as it was to play somewhere in January where it's bitch-ass cold, there's two feet of snow on the ground, and you have a sore throat because everyone in the crew is sick, all of that stuff doesn't matter when you step onstage. Personal problems between us would disappear. That part didn't change at all. I'm seeing Peter next week. Mike and I had dinner the other night. Those relationships will continue.
So why bother splitting?
It was important for R.E.M. to be finite, not let it become this thing that might or might not happen. We needed this not to be the elephant in the room: "Why has it been three years and you're not talking about a tour or a new album? You haven't signed a new deal." We had to put it behind us.
Is there a particular song you will miss singing onstage with R.E.M.?
"Man on the Moon" – watching the effect of that opening bass line on a sea of people at the end of a show. And that is an easy song to sing. It's hard to sing a bad note in it.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/michael-stipe-on-the-end-of-r-e-m-as-we-know-it-20111129#ixzz1fC4p2rtf

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Hear 5 Songs From the Black Keys' Awesome New 'El Camino'

We've already weighed in with our verdict about the Black Keys' new El Camino (we loved it!). Now, in advance of the album's December 6 release, you can hear a bunch more of the butt-kicking album's tracks for yourself.
Enter your email address, country, and postal code at the El Camino website and you'll gain streaming access to five of the album's 11 tracks, including propulsive lead single "Lonely Boy" (of dancing dude video fame). Other tracks offered up include the crunching, slyly funky "Gold on the Ceiling," "Little Black Submarines," which moves from plaintive acoustic ditty to Sabbath-style stomp, the sinister "Sister," and slide-guitar driven "Run Right Back."
Like the rest of El Camino, the teaser tracks are all supremely strong, immediately catchy stuff — the most straightforwardly satisfying music of the duo's career. Buckle up.

http://www.spin.com/articles/hear-5-songs-black-keys-awesome-new-el-camino Selengkapnya...

Ryan Adams Says Mandy Moore Is 'Luckily Not Terrified of Black Metal'

At private L.A. show, singer-songwriter performs tunes from his new album and discusses his love of metal

 

There is black metal in the heart of Ryan Adams. It is an obsession for the folk-rocker, who hosts a black metal talk-show on YouTube called "Night Sweats," where his female co-host, Balphazar, wears corpse-paint and groans her approval amid the skulls and candelabras. Adams performs the morose theme song on banjo.
So Adams was not being ironic when he wore a pentagram Slayer T-shirt a couple weeks ago at a private performance for KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif., that will be broadcast and streamed online at kcrw.com this Friday night. He is the most metal of sensitive singer-songwriters.
"I love it," he told station DJ Jason Bentley during an onstage interview. "There's all these musicians in the world, and anybody that takes enough time to create a record or even think about the fantasy of rock & roll, it's a vulnerable place to be in, it's a huge thing to do. I hear that when I listen to black metal."
Adams performed no metal at the KCRW taping, instead focusing his 15-song set largely on the solo acoustic rock of his new album, Ashes and Fire. Sitting onstage at engineer-producer Bob Clearmountain's intimate Berkeley Street Studio, Adams explained that he's most happy while hearing musical variety that goes from Napalm Death's "Scum" to Toots and the Maytals to the Go Go's.
He noted that his wife, singer-actress Mandy Moore, is "luckily not terrified of black metal – I desensitized her to the entire thing." He recalled taking her to a shop in Norway called Nose Blood Records, where one of the gift items was made of real body parts. "Several of the spokesmen of this movement are totally dead and some of them impaled each other, burned a lot of churches down."
Adams also praised metal icons AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, and endorsed the newest album from Ratt, last year's Infestation. "It is so good. Put track two on, sit down on your couch and wait for fucking Memorex hair," he said, only half-joking. "The sickest guitar parts ever. It's like every song is 'Round and Round.' Every song is that good."
His own songs were not as loud, but were fueled on subtle playing and sudden vocal bursts of searing emotion as he swayed in his chair, strumming and singing with his eyes shut. The song "I Wait" was a mix of anguish and resignation as he sang, "I've been waiting here all night / If you're not going to show, we're not going to fight."
During the interview, he said he still writes his songs on a typewriter. "I'm super ADD. I have to work on something simple and keeps me focused," he said. "I like the sound of it and I like the permanence of when I see the lyrics written out. It makes me feel good. I can write on a computer, but there's too many options."
He also prefers an open window in front of him when he writes, not a glowing computer screen: "You can get the far away eyes thing – you can get that glaze when you're really lost in thought. And I can never attain that in front of a computer unless there's a vaporizer. You can't naturally space out."

Set List:
 "Oh My Sweet Carolina"
"Ashes & Fire"
"Dirty Rain"
"My Winding Wheel"
"Invisible Riverside"
(Interview)
 "Let It Ride"
"Please Do Not Let Me Go"
"Lucky Now"
"Chains Of Love"
"Do I Wait"
Encore:
"Somebody Remembers The Rose"
"Houses on The Hill"
"Jacksonville Skyline"
"When Will You Come Back Home?"
"Like Yesterday"

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ryan-adams-says-mandy-moore-is-luckily-not-terrified-of-black-metal-20111129#ixzz1fC1JT9nv

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Video: Corey Taylor Says “There Will be Another Slipknot Album,” and Summer U.S. Tour

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has reassured fans by stating that there will be another Slipknot record, although it would be a “couple of years” before it happens. Speaking onstage during his solo tour, Taylor, who also fronts Stone Sour, also confirmed that Slipknot will be touring the U.S. next summer.












http://www.revolvermag.com/news/video-corey-taylor-says-there-will-be-another-slipknot-album-but-not-right-now.html Selengkapnya...

Corey Taylor, Henry Rollins, and Many More, to Perform at Drop in the Bucket Benefit Concert

A legendary list of hard rock and metal names will be coming together for a charity benefit in Hollywood on November 30 to support the Drop in the Bucket charity. Taking place at the historic Avalon Theater, the event–which is being sponsored by Revolver–aims to raise money to build water wells in the troubled South Sudan.
Hosted by Henry Rollins, the event will also feature performances by Slipknot/Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor, Jane’s Addiction’s Dave Navarro, Anthrax’s Scott Ian, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo, and guitarist John 5 along with other members of Rob Zombie’s band. In addition, artist Shepard Fairey, who designed the poster for the event, will be a guest DJ and actress Kate Flannery, from The Office will be performing a musical comedy routine with her ironic lounge act, The Lampshades.
Drop in the Bucket is a Los Angeles– and Gulu, Uganda–based non-profit that builds water wells and sanitation systems at large rural schools in sub-Saharan Africa. For more information, click here.
Tickets are available to purchase for $25, through Ticketmaster, and at the door at an increased price with availability pending. For VIP tickets and table inquiries please contact Alden Kirkman by e-mail, or by calling 323.683.5390. Selengkapnya...

Bruce Springsteen Announces New Album, World Tour

Springsteen and the E Street Band will play Europe and America next year

 

Bruce Springsteen's official website has confirmed longstanding rumors that he will tour with the E Street Band in 2012. A short statement says they will tour Europe from the middle of May through late July. There will also be an American tour, as well as a new album. The complete text of the note is below:

Well, things are starting to heat up down on E Street.
A lot of you have been hearing that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will be on tour in 2012. That is absolutely correct. The European dates run from the middle of May until end of July and are being announced this week. Info on the US dates and the World tour dates will coming up shortly.

In addition, we want you to know that the music is almost done (but still untitled), we have almost settled on the release date (but not quite yet), and that we are all incredibly excited about everything that we're planning for 2012. That's all the info we have for right now, but we'll get back to you--real soon.

So far, only four dates have been announced. He probably wouldn't have announced any tour plans this early, but the European festivals were announcing their line-ups this week. Expect many more dates to come soon. Also, don't be surprised if he does a run of American arenas before going to Europe in May.

June 21st: Stadium of Light, Sunderland, England
June 22nd: Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England
June 24th: Isle of Wight Festival, Isle of Wight, England
July 14th: Hard Rock Calling, London, England    

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-announces-new-album-world-tour-20111120#ixzz1eUiomoYc

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Noel Gallagher: Liam Attacked Me With Guitar

Oasis songwriter files countersuit against his brother

 

ormer Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher has filed a series of claims against his brother and former bandmate Liam, accusing him of abusive and irresponsible behavior prior to the band breaking up in 2009. These claims counter charges from Liam accusing his brother of slandering his name after the band scrapped a headlining performance at the V Festival that year.

According to a 14-page writ acquired by the Daily Mail, the elder Gallagher is accusing Liam of disrupting gigs at least 12 times over between 1994 and 2005, aggravating a throat condition with unhealthy lifestyle decisions, attacking fans and leaving "offensive voicemail messages" on his brother's phone. In one particularly shocking passage, Liam is accused of entering Noel's dressing room, snatching his guitar, swinging it around and nearly hitting his brother in the face with the instrument.

In addition to these complaints, Noel clarifies that he never spoke to Liam about his clothing line Pretty Green, but insisted that the products not be advertised in the band's tour brochure. He also mentions that he believed that Liam was being "spiteful and childish" by dedicating songs to Pretty Green employees during gigs.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/noel-gallagher-liam-attacked-me-with-guitar-20111122#ixzz1eUiHnwFj

 

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Dave Grohl, Ryan Adams Honor Bob Mould in Tribute Concert

Hüsker Dü frontman jams with famous fans in Los Angeles

 

Near the end of a bristling, two-hour tribute in his honor at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Bob Mould took the stage to note the irony of his life and music. "I’m sort of speechless," he said last night, following performances by Dave Grohl, Ryan Adams, No Age and many others. "The cruel joke in this whole thing is... if I didn’t have such a strange childhood, and all this anger that I was carrying around and channeling into my music, I don’t know if we would be in this spot tonight."
Indeed, the impact of Mould's rage and his musical innovation continues to be felt in the generations of artists whom he's influenced since emerging with Hüsker Dü in the early 1980s, then fronting Sugar and performing as a solo artist. Each stage of his legacy was on vivid display at "See a Little Light: A Celebration of the Music and Legacy of Bob Mould."
The warmly acoustic Disney Hall featured a no-frills stage setup: just amps, guitars, microphones and drums. It was not unlike a 1980s Hüskers gig or a Sugar set from the 1990s, minus the musicians' boots kicking mosh pit members in the faces. Opener Britt Daniel, lead singer of Spoon, captured the essence of Mould’s best work with the biting vocal melodies of Sugar’s "The Act We Act," while guitarist Jessica Dobson took on the raw, slashing lead. Things got heavier with "JC Auto" as Daniel's soaring chorus emerged from the familiar, impenetrable Sugar wall of sound: "Here’s your Jesus Christ 
/ I’m your Jesus Christ, I know!"
Craig Finn of the Hold Steady noted that his first stage dive was at a Hüsker Dü show and that he’d taken guitar lessons in Minneapolis from the same person who taught Mould and other local rockers. Finn showed off his punk-rock education in his anxious deliveries of Hüsker Dü's "Real World" and Sugar's "A Good Idea," seething with well-honed frustration.
Comedian Margaret Cho performed a yearning cover of Sugar's "Your Favorite Thing" with singer-songwriter Grant Lee Phillips on jangly acoustic guitar. She was a convincing rock vocalist, delivering the lyrics with personality. "People don’t expect it to come out of my face," Cho joked from the stage. "I’m a lot like Susan Boyle."
The Los Angeles rock duo No Age – occasional collaborators with Mould – acknowledged the larger scene that Hüsker Dü represented in the 1980s, as well as the band's famed indie label, SST Records. It was home to not only the Hüskers but also Black Flag, Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, Minutemen and the Meat Puppets. "SST, for us, was the beginning and end of punk. It was everything," said guitarist Randy Randall. They were joined onstage by Mould, who plugged in and immediately began flailing over his guitar while belting out Hüsker Dü's "I Apologize" with intense, commanding physical authority.
Wearing a black Motörhead shirt, Ryan Adams strummed an acoustic guitar through the power and sensitivity of "Heartbreak a Stranger" (from Mould's 1989 solo album, Workbook). Adams unfolded the tune like a small and careful drama, then followed up with the delicate guitar melodies of Mould's unaccompanied song "Black Sheets of Rain" and left the stage without a single word.
Dave Grohl appeared with Mould for an explosive six-song set, looking thrilled to be there as merely a fan, singing harmony and slashing along on guitar. They stood just inches apart during the opening of  Hüsker Du's "Ice Cold Ice," thrashing their guitars and trading shouted lyrics. For "I Can’t Change Your Mind," a Sugar track, Grohl pounded a shattering drumbeat as Mould smiled at him over his shoulder.
"If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be making music the way I do, or play guitar the way I do," Grohl told the audience. "His albums have really shaped me as a musician as much as the Beatles, as much as Led Zeppelin. He’s a real hero of mine and a real American icon."
After the chief Foo Fighter and former Nirvana drummer exited to a standing ovation, Mould stepped up to the microphone. After a long pause, he said simply, "Wow."
Mould’s own five-song set was a powerful finish, beginning with Sugar’s "Hoover Dam" and ending with Hüsker Dü’s "Makes No Sense at All." He brought his guests back onstage to close with "See a Little Light," a ballad from Workbook and the title of his autobiography. As Grohl leaned with his arms around the No Age members, Mould roared a fitting farewell: "Listen, there's music in the air / I heard your voice coming from somewhere / But look how much we've grown."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dave-grohl-ryan-adams-honor-bob-mould-in-tribute-concert-20111122#ixzz1eUhXy398

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Chris Cornell Looks Back on 20 Years of Soundgarden's 'Rusty Cage'

Perhaps more than any other song from the early '90s, Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" is emblematic of grunge's rock-mutt DNA. It was punk spirit tempered with rock-star bravado, metal riffs forged with pop smarts. "Suffice it to say," SPIN wrote about its accompanying album, Badmotorfinger, in 1991, "whatever awesome heavy rock experience you might have grown up with, you can probably find traces." Inhabiting the same magnetically arty X-factor that pulsed within contemporaries like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains, "Rusty Cage" helped changed the musical and cultural landscape of the '90s (you can even spot guitarist Kim Thayil rocking a flannel in the video). Soundgarden's sound was a raw, threatening ferocity that made radio metal seem immediately gauche, but played with arena-ready chops that could beat them at their own game — and you can hear both in frontman Chris Cornell's fire engine wail.
Immediately following its release, "Rusty Cage" became a bridge between Headbanger's Ball thrashers and 120 Minutes alternageeks; not to mention wooing the Grammy voting board, who nominated Badmotorfinger for Best Metal Performance. "Rusty Cage" didn't walk home with a trophy that year, but would be vindicated in 1998, after Johnny Cash sealed the song's place in the American songbook with his mournful cover on the Grammy-dominating Unchained. The "Rusty Cage" legacy lives on in 2011 as a staple of Soundgarden's recent reunion shows, which barrel along with a massive arena tour this summer. To celebrate 20 years of "Rusty Cage," SPIN caught up with Cornell during his ongoing acoustic tour, a journey he's taking before releasing thefirst Soundgarden album in 16 years.





Where did you write "Rusty Cage"?
I wrote the lyrics in my head when we were in a van somewhere in Europe on tour. I honestly can't remember where, exactly. But I have a vivid memory of staring out the window, looking at the countryside, and feeling pent-up. I never wrote any of the words down, but I somehow remembered them. When we finished the tour and Soundgarden returned home to Seattle, I picked up a guitar and tried to come up with music that I felt matched the essence of that song. I wanted to create this hillbilly Black Sabbath crossover that I'd never heard before. I thought that would be cool and possible. I thought, "If anyone can do it, Soundgarden can do it." I was listening to a lot of Tom Waits at the time, and I wondered how Soundgarden could approach similar imagery and I wondered what the music would sound like. "Rusty Cage" is what I came up with.
It sounds like touring in this van wasn't a very pleasant experience, then, if it inspired lyrics like these — they're frightening!
It was a very claustrophobic. Soundgarden did a lot of long indie tours from the very beginning. At that point, the pre-Badmotorfinger period, we hadn't stopped touring from the time we released our first Sub Pop EP [in 1987]. It was all van tours with maybe one crew guy and a big U-Haul filled with gear. It was something that you're glad to do at 23. There's something in me that gets very active when stimulation is taken away. I understand how someone who isn't educated and has never really read will write an amazing book in prison. But I've never understood people who say some specific country or place inspired them to write an album. The more antiseptic and stark the studio and the writing environment, the better it is for me. I've had good luck writing and recording in sterile, blank environments, because there's nothing going on. It triggers creativity. That vivid imagery will literally come out of my imagination. There's nothing else to distract you, which includes drugs and partying or being on a beautiful beach. I've tried that [writing music on a beach] but I just sit there and think, "Wow, what a beautiful beach" [laughs]. It didn't make me want to write music. And if I did it would sound… beachy.

 Badmotorfinger was Soundgarden's first album with bassist Ben Shepherd. What did he bring to the equation?
Ben made our band whole in a way that we hadn't felt since Soundgarden began. [First bassist] Hiro [Yamamoto]'s absence was something we were living with long before he actually left the band. He was an extremely creative person in the beginning, but that waned quickly. Ben's creativity was overwhelming and exactly what we needed. We did 100 shows with [onetime Nirvana guitarist] Jason Everman in between Hiro and Ben, and we didn't have one song or even an idea of a song with him. Hiro had contributed very little to Louder than Love and was so critical of his own musical output that Kim and I had to talk him into doing things that were his idea. Ben, on the other hand, was an outpouring of musical ideas that were all uniquely his and coexisted perfectly with ours. It was when Ben joined the band that I realized, "OK, we're going to have a future with this. We're going to make great records."

How has your perception of the song changed over the past 20 years?
I see it as its own song now. I definitely don't see it in terms of how it relates to other people's music, or how it fits in with other music, which I did when I was writing it. I don't think of that song, or music in general, that way anymore. That's something a young musician does much more often.
As a young musician writing "Rusty Cage," what were you thinking about, then?
The challenge for me was, "How can I write a visceral, up-tempo, aggressive, post-punk rock song with screechy vocals, but that's not a heavy metal song or a retro hard rock song?" It sounds like what we were, which is a band that's all over the map.

Was "heavy metal" a bad word at the time?
Maybe in terms of what we wanted to play. But not in terms of what we liked. At that point, particularly around the Badmotorfinger period, this huge transition took place where commercial rock music was all bad commercial metal. It ruled the airwaves. It ruled MTV. It ruled record sales. We were trying to steer clear of anything that was going on in commercial hard rock.
Then how did it feel to have Badmotorfinger nominated for the Best Metal Performance Grammy?
We laughed about that. Our first album was nominated for a Grammy in the same category, and we assumed the Academy just invented the category and didn't know anything about it [laughs]. Like they'd vote for any album that brought some artistry into the heavy metal genre. So we were shoo-ins. We were the first band to get played on both Headbanger's Ball and 120 Minutes on MTV. It was like, "How is Soundgarden played on a program that also shows a Depeche Mode video?" But it made sense. It was an indication that we were doing things right. We were defying genre and carving out our own niche. So I don't have a tendency to think, "How does it sit?" anymore. It clearly exists on its own.
Grunge as a whole united disparate genres and fans, and Soundgarden are certainly spearheaded that.
I remember playing a show at bar in Vancouver, BC, in 1986. Mike Bordin from Faith No More was there — I don't know why, but he was there — and we were firing on all cylinders. We were the absolute best that Soundgarden was at that time. I could feel it. The audience was pinned against the wall looking at us and didn't have a clue as to what it meant. It was like, "What? An indie rock band with huge riffs that sounds like '70s rock?" And that was not okay for a band that wanted to fit into the punk rock world! I remember an ashtray whizzing right by my head. It almost hit me in the eye. Just then I thought, "Wow. This is clearly an indication that we're onto something. We are pissing these people off. They don't understand it, yet it's effortless for us." That was when I knew that Soundgarden was onto something special. We weren't going to be the only four people in the world that liked it.
How did Johnny Cash get involved with the "Rusty Cage" cover?
It was Rick Rubin's idea. What he did for Johnny Cash is the best thing he's done in his career. It would be really difficult to think of another producer that's done something so important with a person who carries that much weight in pop culture. But when Rick asked me to work up an arrangement of "Rusty Cage" for Johnny Cash, I thought it was a stupid idea. That shows how shortsighted I was. I just didn't hear it. It didn't make sense to me. Lyrically, it did. But I was hung up on it sonically. I didn't know how to turn it into a Johnny Cash song. I spent a couple hours trying and thought it was a waste of time, so I declined to do an arrangement. But later, when I heard the arrangement that Rick had somebody work up on the radio, I felt so stupid.
Ouch.
It was a big lesson for me. It taught me that songs are a lot more nimble than you think. Two days after Johnny Cash's version hit the radio, I started getting messages on my answering machine from people who'd heard it.

What did they say?
That the lyrics were great! Which was hilarious because nobody commented on how great the lyrics were based on hearing the Soundgarden version, which had been out for years. But the song helped me realize a lot too. When your lyrics are delivered a certain way or by a certain person, it's almost as if the meaning changes, even though it's the same words. I had the same experience when I did an acoustic version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." I originally did it as a prank on the other three guys in the band, because I'd play a couple acoustic songs in the middle of the set. But when I slowed down the rhythm, figured out the chords, and started singing it, it stared to feel like a lament. It had weight to it. Then I paid attention to what it was actually about.
As a fan, what did Johnny Cash's cover version mean to you?
I was simply knocked over that Johnny Cash would record a song that I wrote. I remember when my brother brought home At San Quentin when I was nine. We listened to it over and over for about a year. Short of the Beatles covering a song that I wrote, it was the biggest fan experience I've ever had.

Soundgarden are also recording their first album in more than 16 years — read more here.

http://www.spin.com/articles/chris-cornell-looks-back-20-years-soundgardens-rusty-cage?page=0%2C1 


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See Dave Mustaine's 10 Most Prized Possessions (Including Mini Horse!)

ABOUT OUR HOST
When ax-slinging thrash king Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica in 1983, he started Megadeth as an act of revenge. Though the legendary metalheads patched up their differences, it's fair to say the split worked out for both. "I was just some skinny redheaded kid, and the next thing I know, everybody wanted to give me their drugs or their girls," he says. Today, triumph means something else. Mustaine, 50, lives on a sprawling ranch outside of San 
Diego with two teenage children and his wife, Pamela, while Megadeth just notched a 13th album, the shockingly raw, awesomely loud, and accurately titled Th1rt3en.


1) AC/DC Let There Be Rock I used to sell pot, and this girl who worked at a record store would pay me in albums. I remember putting this one on — the first song is called "Go Down" and the cover shows the scruffiest-looking hooligans I'd ever seen. I thought, "This is my band." It changed my life.
2) Crossbow When we moved [to San Diego] from Arizona, my son Justis and I wanted to have a sport that we did 
together, so I got him a plastic bow and he was like, "Dad, this sucks — I want a real one." He's really good with this thing. We almost got a compound bow, but that's too 
serious. I don't wanna be Ted Nugent.
3) Peanut M&Ms When we were recording Endgame, I ate so much red licorice my pee turned red. I needed a new candy so I tried trail mix and only liked the M&M part. Now I can't stop eating them. It's like back in the day when we were smoking crack.

4) Shofar I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, rebelled by doing witchcraft, and got into all kinds of bad stuff before I saw a cross on a hill one day and said, "What've I got to lose?" [Mustaine is now a Christian.] But my mom is Jewish, and on holidays I blow this ram's horn to get rid of bad spirits.
5) Certificate I met a fan in Kentucky who had throat cancer. He was only supposed to live a few weeks. For some reason, I reached out, grabbed his throat, and started praying for the dude. He lived long enough to give me this on our next tour. It's signed by the governor and says I'm an honorary Kentucky Colonel. As far as I know, it's the real deal.
6) Unpainted guitar body I'm a proud supporter of Dean guitars, and they asked me to paint this guitar for a charity auction. I'm thinking about doing a self-portrait — a picture of me painting myself. The guitar is so high quality it'll be worth having regardless of how ugly it turns out.
7) Troy sword replica The tip's bent. I think Justis used it to open a can of paint for his mom. That, or he killed some delirious nomad out in the desert. One can only hope.
8) Autographed helmet I've been a Raiders fan ever since 
I was a kid in Costa Mesa. I didn't know much about the team then, but the logo was the baddest thing.
9) Coat of arms The Mustaine name came from Finland originally. My wife Pam had this made for my 40th birthday with a cake to match. The motto is "Our strength comes from God."
10) Miniature horse We found Rocky living in a junkyard, abused and malnourished. A lot of stuff was wrong with him and he didn't like people at all, but we just loved on him, and now he's really friendly. He comes into the house to hang out. Sometimes he spits up his apples. When you're a horse person, you get used to it.
Shot for SPIN in San Diego, October 7, 2011

http://www.spin.com/articles/see-dave-mustaines-10-most-prized-possessions-including-mini-horse?obref=obinsite

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Perry Farrell Lays Out Lolla Lineups, Plan to Save the Music Biz

This morning Perry Farrell announced the lineups for Lollapalooza Chile (Foo Fighters, Björk and Arctic Monkeys) and Lollapalooza Brazil (Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys and Jane’s Addiction), two massive events that'll take place March 31-April 1, 2012 and April 7-8, 2012, respectively. When SPIN caught up with the always-chatty Jane's Addiction frontman a week ago, he talked about bringing his Lolla dream to South America... then expanded on plans to create an NBA for rock stars, dissed the Jonas Brothers, sort of praised Britney Spears, and revealed his love for Bon Iver.
While planning these festivals in South America, how much have you been reminded of the first few in the early '90s?
A lot! The people down there are so enthusiastic about music because they're starved for all the talent that we almost take for granted here. When I first got down there, they were asking, "Can you get the Cure?" The Cure? I mean, even 15 years ago they were kinds past their prime. And after this year, when we deliver Calvin Harris and Skrillex, it's over. They're going to be shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the world as far as musical sophistication is concerned.

You've talked about wanting to help restore the music industry through some unconventional means.
I have ideas I want to develop that would bring music into the schools again. Because they don't teach music. All day long you hear music. You hear it on television, you hear it behind movies. Music is there but there's no respect. You know whose fault it is?
Who?
Rolling Stones.
The Rolling Stones?
No, not the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine. It's their fault because they don't respect music. That's a joke, but there's truth in that.
Well, hasn't music's role changed as well? It's moved to the background, it's not something people sit down with so much anymore.
We've associated music, just like we've associated acting, with commerce. My ambition, before I die, for the rest of my life, is to make music healthy and important. Because right now I see people losing their respect for that art form, because they get it for free. My ambition is to create an association, like a sports association, but for music. We're failing because we have a broken model. It's going to be Netflix and iTunes and Spotify. That's the model.
I do record and am involved in recording, but the other side of my business is festivals and great parties. I can tell you I'm throwing a Lollapalooza and you'll say, "Who's headlining?" If I gave you some bad headliners, like if I gave you the Jonas Brothers, I'm dead. So that shows you that music is important in your life. And music, if nothing else, is a congealing factor. It brings people together, en mass. So why shouldn't the music industry be run by the sports/entertainment industry? They have a National Basketball Association, a National Football League. And they have owners — these guys with their own stadiums, their own teams. The same thing can happen with music. But we can do things differently than they do.
What kind of teams are in the league?

You have Pop Warner and you have Little League, then you have junior high school and high school. There's always these organized teams in school, and these guys hoping to get into college and perform, then they're hoping to get into the pros. We with music are completely unorganized. We're always against each other. The promoters are trying to fuck each other. The musicians have no money because they're relying on recording. If we looked at it like, "OK, you, young man, you like music." So how are we gonna get the money for this young man to practice and even study music? They're cutting all the school programs. I'll tell you where you get it: you get it from the league, or the association.
What's this group called?
Let's call it the Scene Maker's Association, the SMA, Scene Makers because there's always been a music scene, until now. So how do you get that scene back? You get it back by supporting the arts. And you're not gonna support it by depending on the recording industry. They're not gonna support you for shit. I just had a record out. I haven't seen one poster. As far as I'm concerned, if I didn't schlep for myself, you wouldn't know I had a record out. You bring them all the way up, but the SMA waters it and puts music into schools. And those young people go into the clubs, because the clubs are in the association as well, on a certain night of the week. So tonight it's gonna be eighth grade students, and those eighth grade kids will go out and play. Of course you gotta make an appeasement for the liquor. Maybe the parents have to show ID.
Is the business model in your mind still based on touring?
Definitely. Here's what you do: You get together a certain group of people and it's only the people who really want to be there, and want to participate. It's that simple. You have a club, you want to participate. You have a record company, you want to participate. You have a festival, you want to participate. You have people that you manage, you want to participate. So we can get together and say, OK, we're now an association, and we will get together and go around the world and not only transform cities — because Lollapalooza transforms cities — but I'm not done there. My work, I want to transform young people and cause great music at the earliest levels, so that 20 years from now we at Lollapalooza have these incredible musicians that we're actually supporting through school. It's going to be better. Or, let's say Coachella wanted to come in with us, or Bonnaroo wanted to come in with us. I say we can take this concept and tie ourselves in with, I don't give a fuck, the United Nations. We'd really be doing some incredible work. Transforming the world through music is almost like this kind of saccharine, Dudley Do-Right, goody two-shoes notion. When you think about it, it's actually this very serious possibility. But what keeps it from working is greed, and power, and ignorance. It's not enough for people to just earn a living. They try to fuck each other. They don't want to work together. And as a result they're all suffering, just from not cooperating.
But how do you, at this point, with the way the vast majority of people value and consume music now, approach giving them music in a way that's translatable in the same way we're talking about?
How do you bring it up to the value? If you honor the musician again. I'm going to be pretty blunt here. The reason they stopped respecting musicians is because the money went out of the music industry. If we all were making as much money as Led Zeppelin, everyone would be putting Jane's Addiction on the back of their leather jackets. They don't do that anymore. Because Jane's Addiction doesn't have their own plane. You know who does? Britney Spears. That's why Britney Spears is on the front page of Yahoo!. Or Kim Kardashian. It doesn't matter what you do, "Wow, you've managed to earn yourself $65 million. I respect you." And to a degree, they are worthy of that respect. But there's a lot more to the picture than that.
Well, which young bands or new records this do you really like right now? This year, a feeling of '90s nostalgia can be heard in a lot of indie rock.
I've heard a lot of stuff like that this year. There's a lot of throwback stuff. Girls? They're pretty cool. Do you like Bon Iver? I think he's good.

http://www.spin.com/articles/perry-farrell-lays-out-lolla-lineups-plan-save-music-biz?obref=obinsite
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new-releases Lou Reed & Metallica - 'Lulu'

 Though it seems an unlikely collaboration, both artists involved here share the important distinction of riding the genius/joke line for more than half their careers. They met last year when Metallica played backup on "Sweet Jane" at Reed's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and that's mostly where this collaboration settles: blunt, '70s-style hard rock. Reed babbles like he's leaving a frustrated voice mail, while Metallica vamps. Later, Reed shouts, "C'mon, James!" and James Hetfield takes what I think is supposed to be a noise-guitar solo. Beats thud, chords chunk.

The aim seems to be to take the house down to the studs, to get loose. Reed's biggest genius/joke is his uncanny vulnerability, which sometimes comes through -- especially on the meditative "Junior Dad" -- but often gets buried in 11-minute-long songs that stop relatively close to where they started. Metallica, meanwhile, don't always know what to do with the freedom granted them. The result is gorgeous, hilarious, eerie, and, after 90 minutes, exhausting.

It would be blatant cultural prejudice to assume Reed is clowning Metallica for being self-serious metalheads or that Metallica is paying Reed lip service because he's a Historical Rock Poet. Like, are Lars and James insulted or flattered when Reed refers to them as his "power team" in a video trailer? Who knows. You can't understand narcissists this complete; you can only watch from afar, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.

http://www.spin.com/reviews/lou-reed-metallica-lulu-warner-bros

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new-releases Yelawolf - 'Radioactive'

He's not the new Slim Shady - and that's a good thing

His "mullet mohawk" may not resemble close-cropped, bleached-blonde 'do of label boss Eminem, but Alabama rapper Yelawolf treads familiar territory on his Shady Records debut: a pasty-faced MC from a previously barren hip-hop wasteland attempts to make it huge in the authenticity-obsessed world of rap. And like Marshall Mathers, the man born Michael Wayne Atha pulls off this feat by skillfully sticking to his roots.

Eminem acts as executive producer of Radioactive, but he's not concocting his own Mini-Me. Although both rappers possess an exhilarating ability to rap at warp speed, reciting densely packed syllables in a high-strung voice, Em channels Detroit's dilapidated 8 Mile strip, while Yela trades in the trappings of run-down Alabama backwaters. And Yela switches out Em's sociopathic tendencies for something inclusive and even tender. On "The Hardest Love Song in the World," he likens himself to Axl Rose and pays tribute to a girl who "Don't gotta drive a Fleetwood Cadillac / You just got to know some of the words to Fleetwood Mac / Horror movies turn you on, pull the seats back / Fuck it, I'll role play, do it to you in a Jason mask."
Moreover, while Em's breakthrough album had him cruising around looking to dispose of his baby's mom's body, Yela's fantasy envisions him and his girl skipping across the country like Mickey and Mallory from Natural Born Killers; he drives, and she hangs out the window with a pistol, taking potshots at dogs and cats for kicks. This unity of sentiment and persona drives the album and casts Yelawolf as a likable character — you warm to his honesty, even if you're a card-carrying Petco Pals member.
Much has been made of Yelawolf's Southern rock fandom, but Radioactive is more an ode to the Southern hip-hop movement that started to seep across the world a decade ago. Yela's influences dot the region: At times, he leans respectfully towards Outkast's mid-career work, all 808 drum patterns and synth lines; Atlanta's Lil Jon appears briefly on first single "Hard White (Up in the Club)," ranting and yelling like it's the 2002 crunk invasion all over again; and Yela himself pays homage to his spell living in Tennessee by inviting one-time Three 6 Mafia temptress Gangsta Boo to guest on "Throw It Up." (Em also appears on that song in full-on "trailer trash pioneer" mode, dropping references to White Castle, K-Mart, and Payless.
But the album's most guttural moment is "Slumerican Shitizen," which has Yela talking about being "on a sidewalk with this fuckin' skateboard and these dirty-assed jeans." It's a characterization writ large across Radioactive, delivered with sincerity and conviction.
http://www.spin.com/reviews/yelawolf-radioactive-ghet-o-visiondgcshadyinterscope
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Radiohead (Finally) Confirm 2012 U.S. Tour

Four years after the U.S. portion of Radiohead's In Rainbows tour wrapped, the band will finally return to North America for a string of late dates supporting this year's The King of Limbs. The band confirmed the news in a press release, announcing the first 10 dates (interestingly all scheduled for odd-numbered calendar days), which kick off February 27 in Miami and wrap March 15 in Glendale, Arizona. So far, all the shows are booked to take place in sports arenas, and all go on sale via Ticketmaster on November 12 with the exception of the February 29 show in Tampa, which will go on sale one week later. Per the band's website fans will have earlier access to tickets via the band's W.A.S.T.E. ticketing system on November 9. Others Lives will be the opening act.
Thom Yorke and Co. played only two concerts in America this year — a pair of dates at New York City's Roseland Ballroom in September the week they were in town to perform on Saturday Night Live. In 2010, only Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace made their way to the U.S. The band's last full U.S. tour included a headlining set a Lollapalooza and wrapped on August 28, 2008 in Santa Barbara.
There are obviously many holes in Radiohead's preliminary schedule — and many major markets have yet to be announced — but fans will be most vigilantly watching to see what happens with the band's itinerary in early April. This year's Coachella festival goes down over two weekends (April 13-15 and 20-22) and the band is a rumored headliner.
Feb. 27 - Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
Feb. 29 - Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
March 1 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
March 3 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
March 5 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
March 7 - Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center
March 9 - St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
March 11 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
March 13 - Broomfield, CO @ 1stBank Center
March 15 - Glendale, AZ @ Jobing.com Arena

http://www.spin.com/articles/radiohead-finally-confirm-2012-us-tour?obref=obinsite Selengkapnya...

'Bon Iver' Returning as Deluxe Reissue With 10 Videos

Bon Iver’s acclaimed double-self-titled record was released just five months ago, but it's already getting deluxe reissue treatment in time for the 2011 holiday shopping season. The new version of the disc won't feature any bonus tracks, though. Instead, it will include short films to “complement and enrich” each of the album’s 10 lush and (appropriately) cinematic tracks. The clips' directors include Dan Huiting, Isaac Gale, David Jensen, JoLynn Garnes, and Justin Vernon himself.
Read SPIN's Bon Iver cover story from July.
Bon Iver, Bon Iver will be released via iTunes and at a limited number of record stores on November 29. The videos will also be available for sale separately on iTunes, and Jagjaguwar will begin selling the package on its website starting in early December.
In the meantime, the label spliced together some samples of the videos in a YouTube trailer. It looks pretty much like you’d imagine: crashing waves, smoke wafting through a dark forest, in other words, the visual equivalent of a Bon Iver album.







http://www.spin.com/articles/bon-iver-returning-deluxe-reissue-10-videos Selengkapnya...

Cyndi Lauper Talks 'Women Who Rock'

Pop star on Madonna, Nicki Minaj and her new PBS documentary

 

PBS Arts from Cleveland: Women Who Rock will premiere tonight on PBS. The documentary celebrates the legacy of female musicians in rock, featuring interviews and live performances by trailblazers such as Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson and Mother Maybelle and contemporary stars such as Heart, Darlene Love, Deborah Harry, Bonnie Raitt and Le Tigre frontwoman Kathleen Hanna. Rolling Stone caught up with Cyndi Lauper, the host of the program, to chat about what inspired her to get involved with the film, and her favorite female rockers from yesterday and today.
How did you get involved with the Women Who Rock documentary?
I always have been saying [the Rock & Roll Fall of Fame] should include women. I was in Cleveland and I took my cousin's son to see it, because he wanted to see it, and they asked if I wanted a VIP tour and I said "Not really, because you don't really include women in your curation here." There's hardly any women, and I feel funny walking this kid around, explaining who the women were who were around at the time. The curator looked at me and it just so happened that there was a young woman who was trying to get them to do an exhibit of women in rock and they came to me, maybe because of that. You know, everybody grows and hopefully it will be more inclusive. I'm really glad they included the women they included.



I had an argument with a well-known, not a rocker, a folker – I wouldn't call him a rocker – and he was inducted. But he was a part of the rock & roll culture, I guess. And he was telling me he was going to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and they were going to induct Elvis. And I said, "What about Big Mama Thornton?" And he said, "She's a blues person," and I said "Yeah, but she made that song popular and now it's a rock song." And I said "And also, what about Wanda Jackson?" And he said, "There were no women in rock." And so it's fortunate, at this time at her age, she is finally being acknowledged for the work she did. She was always a rocker and she still rocks.

Did you feel a kinship with other female musicians who were kind of coming in around the same time as you back in the Eighties?
Well I had my alter-image, Madonna [laughs]. No matter what I did, there she was, and no matter what she did, there I was. And it wasn't similar and it was never intentional. We inspired each other. I am inspired by her because she still does it and she looks great and I'm always on a diet, I can never keep a diet, but she looks fantastic, she always does, so that's inspiring.

Do you think having her around made you raise your game as an artist?
No, in the Eighties I was really heartbroken that they would pit us against each other. Because I've always believed sisterhood is a powerful thing and I just wanted to have a friend in the industry. Another rocker. But they always isolate you when you become popular, when you become famous and then you're isolated all of a sudden. Nobody can get to you, I guess because everybody wants to get to you.

Is there anyone coming up right now that who has impressed you?
Yeah, there's a few of them, Nicki Minaj, but she's been around for years, I've heard her on other people's music. She's fantastic. When I came out as a solo artist, or even in Blue Angel, we knew then that you wouldn't just listen to music, you'd see it, and that music would forever be changed that way. And for me that was very exciting because I always saw myself more as a performance artist. And you know, people like Lady Gaga, who is a performance artist, it's really inspiring to see her and even to work in a campaign with her. I think that you can mix art and music and that's exciting.

I think Deborah Harry was always exciting. She influenced us with her fashion sense and the throw-back to the old movie star, that kind of fifties movie star look. It was really exciting to see her. That was exciting. When I was in Blue Angel I used to go watch Blondie. We were all rooting for them. We wanted someone to make it out of New York. So it was either going to be Blondie or The Shirts. And the Shirts didn't quite make it. And The Ramones, we used to go see The Ramones. They were from New York!

It was an amazing time. The possibilities were endless because there was a possibility. But the thing is, there's always a possibility. It got so industrious that people couldn't develop anymore. It got so industry-heavy. I think now that the industry is changing so dramatically, it now opens the door for more people. I think even women, but you gotta use the internet, you gotta use your smarts, you gotta be on top of it. And I think unfortunately, there aren't a lot of club scenes anymore. And that was important for people to grow. It's starting especially in New York, it's starting in Brooklyn a little bit, but it certainly isn't what the East Village was to us back in the day.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/cyndi-lauper-talks-women-who-rock-20111118#ixzz1e8Q75IpF

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Video: Corey Taylor Performs Acoustic Bon Jovi Cover

Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor kicked off his solo tour in style earlier this week, by performing an acoustic cover of Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA. Taylor’s ode to this particular Bon Jovi hit follows in the footsteps of Opeth, whose rendition of the song we brought you last month.
Taylor’s “An Evening with Corey Taylor” tour, featuring an acoustic set, readings from his book—Seven Deadly Sins—and an audience Q&A runs through December 13. Dates are below the video.

http://www.revolvermag.com/news/video-corey-taylor-performs-acoustic-bon-jovi-cover.html


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Coheed and Cambria Reunite with Drummer Josh Eppard

Coheed and Cambria have announced that they are reuniting with their former drummer Josh Eppard. Eppard, who featured on the prog-rockers’ first three albums, left the band in 2006, due to his problems with substance abuse. He returns to replace Chris Pennie.
A statement on the band’s website read: “As the songs for the new record began twisting into shape, it slowly became apparent that these songs were very dynamic, and could flourish with the groove-oriented approach that Josh naturally brings to the table.
“We understand there are risks involved bringing Josh back into the fray. Even with his two-years of sobriety, this is a giant leap of faith on our part. But at the end of the day, we have all grown up, and we have all been through so much, that playing with Josh again is sort of like coming home. It’s comfortable, it’s familiar, it just feels right… it’s hand in glove.”
The statement also confirmed that the band recently entered the studio to commence work on their sixth album. The group still remains without a bassist since the departure of Michael Todd, earlier this year, following an arrest for armed robbery.

 http://www.revolvermag.com/news/coheed-and-cambria-reunite-with-drummer-josh-eppard.html Selengkapnya...

Hear Four Vintage Smashing Pumpkins Demos

The first of the previously unreleased extras from the Smashing Pumpkins' upcoming deluxe album reissues have surfaced online, and they don't disappoint. The Pumpkins will release remastered deluxe versions of their first two — and arguably best — albums, 1991's Gish and 1993's Siamese Dream, on November 29, each with an embarrassment of bonus-track riches. Seattle radio station 107.7 The End is streaming four demo versions of classic Pumpkins songs right here. One of the tracks, debut single "I Am One," hails from Gish; "Today," "Rocket," and "Disarm", of course, all ended up on Siamese Dream. There's a reason some of these tracks needed the Butch Vig production treatment — the shaky vocals on "Today (Broadway Rehearsal Demo)" are definitely rehearsal-quality — but "Disarm (Acoustic Mix)," in particular, feels like a gorgeous addition to the SP canon.
In other Smashing Pumpkins-related developments, SP fan blog Hipsters United reports that the Pumpkins are apparently looking for new management. Remarks frontman Billy Corgan reportedly made to another blog that follows SP, Crestfallen, suggest that the search for new management and then a new label help explain why new album Oceania has been postponed until a tentative March 2012 release date. "We are just now choosing new management, and once we do I anticipate by the end of November we'll know what label is going to put [Oceania] out," he's quoted as saying. "So March is the realistic release window with the way that side works."
<>Separately, Corgan has confirmed that he was just "playing around" in a recent video that appeared to show him madly swallowing pills. "Haven't taken drugz in over 10 years thank you," he said in a tweet. "Smiles all around..."

http://www.spin.com/articles/hear-four-vintage-smashing-pumpkins-demos Selengkapnya...

The Eagles to Launch 40th Anniversary Tour in 2012

Joe Walsh also hopes to tour with the James Gang

According to Joe Walsh, the Eagles are going to celebrate their upcoming 40th anniversary with a retrospective tour next year. "Everybody's seen our show, so we have to put together something new," the guitarist tells Rolling Stone. "We've been archiving so much stuff from the band's early days, concert footage and interviews and stuff. Those will be the visuals to go along with the songs. We'll also revisit some old songs and some new stuff."
Walsh says the band plans to tour for four or five months in the second half of 2012 – which leaves him with plenty of time for other projects. He just finished work on a solo album that he hopes to release in February or March, and he wants to tour again with the James Gang. "I just played Cleveland solo and I saw Jimmy [Fox] and Dale [Peters]," he says. "We got together a few years ago just for six shows, just to see if we still had it. And we pretty much did. So, a James Gang tour is on my list. I've just been so darn busy with the Eagles. We played everywhere in the world last year."
Random Notes: Hottest Rock Pictures
The Joe Walsh lineup of the James Gang haven't cut an album since Thirds in 1971. "We should record at least four things playing the way that we used to," says Walsh. "I don't want to use Pro Tools and I want to overdub, because you can't do that live. But if we can do at least four things new and get them on the Internet, I think with that and a cross section of the old stuff, we'd have all we need to go out and try and kick some ass. I hope we get to do that in the first half of 2012. I really hope it works out."
Additional reporting by Patrick Doyle.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-eagles-to-launch-40th-anniversary-tour-in-2012-20111117#ixzz1e4PEBYgH

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Korn Premiere New Song, “Sanctuary,” Featuring Rotten

Metal legends Korn are releasing their 10th album, The Path of Totality, on December 6. The record features songs produced by a number of dubstep and EDM artists, including the track, “Sanctuary,” which features Rotten. Check out the song below, and let us know what you think of it in the comments.

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Motionless in White’s Chris Motionless Picks His Top Five Most Pissed-Off Records

Motionless in White have just released their controversial new video for the track “Immaculate Misconception” (you can view it here), which sees the band graphically venting their frustrations at certain aspects of the Christian community. Clearly knowing a thing or two about artistic expressions of anger, frontman Chris Motionless has made us this list of his Top Five most pissed-off records. Here’s what he came up with.
Pantera – Vulgar Display pf Power
“When I first heard this record and the song ‘Fucking Hostile’ I thought I got hit by a fucking train; so fast, so heavy and it lives up to its title perfectly. Not many bands make me want to mosh and stomp around my room like an asshole, but Pantera hits the nerve for me. ohhhhhh fucking hostileeeee!”





Metallica – …And Justice for All
“Master of Puppets may be my favorite Metallica record overall, but that doesn’t disregard the fact that …And Justice for All is heavier than any other Metallica record made to date. This is the first album they made after the death of Cliff Burton and I feel like the anger and hatred in each song thrived off of how they were dealing with the loss. Honesty and sincerity of emotion through music makes a huge difference and if you can tell me one record out today that could compare to the rawness of …And Justice for All, I will gladly listen… then tell you to get it out of my fucking face.”



Bleeding Through – Declaration
“It’s so hard to pick which of Bleeding Through’s records is the most pissed off because this band is, to me, the personification of ‘Pissed.’ But judging off of the feeling I get when I listen to any of their records, Declaration has me fired up more than the others. Bleeding Through is my most influential band in my life because of how deeply I relate to Brandan [Schiepatti's] lyrics. Declaration says it all.”



Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
“A lot of time in interviews people ask me, ‘What’s one band you listen to that people wouldn’t expect?’ My answer is always Eminem. If any one man has as much hatred for humanity as I do—not that I couldn’t name 100—it’s Eminem. His lyrics are pure genius and he knows damn well how to put emotion into his recordings. The hair on my entire body stands up when he gets to that point of every song where he might as well just be screaming with how fucking pissed he is. I back him forever.’



Slipknot – Slipknot
“When Slipknot first came out, I didn’t get it. I was heavily into bands like Metallica and Maiden at the time and hearing a band with nine members playing such insane music didn’t make sense. I never disliked them, I just didn’t understand at first. I gave them another shot with a pair of headphones and my walkman CD player and HOLY. FUCK! When I heard ‘Surfacing’ I knew this band was a game changer for life. I was a young teenager and I hated the world and everyone in it. Slipknot did too and I gladly made myself a Maggot for life.”





http://www.revolvermag.com/news/motionless-in-whites-chris-motionless-picks-his-top-five-most-pissed-off-records.html
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Courtney Love Can't Stop Ranting About Dave Grohl

On Sunday night, Courtney Love launched into a passionate (and profane) rant in the middle of a Hole set at Sao Paulo's SMU Festival after a fan waved a Kurt Cobain poster in front of her. Today, the Love buzz continued as footage from the outrage-prone frontwoman's post-show interview hit the web.
"I own Nirvana with my daughter [Frances Bean]," Love explains in the interview. "Because of tax reasons I have to give that money to my sister, Kim Cobain, and [Kurt's mother] Wendy Cobain. Dave makes five million a show... why the fuck, then, does he have a Nirvana Inc. credit card and I don't?" Love goes on to accuse Grohl of purchasing an Aston Martin while Kurt's mother and sister freeze under the bridge that Kurt sang about in the Nevermind track "Something in the Way."
Love also trotted out tired old accusations about Groh's contributions to Nirvana's music. "He didn't even write the drum riff for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' " she said. "Kurt owns 100 percent of that publishing... You can go like [the Foo Fighters] all you want. But don't say you like them in front of me, because I will walk off stage and never come back." Point made!
Love has long made bashing the very likeable Foo Fighters frontman a hobby. See 2009, 2007, and 2005, for a start!

http://www.spin.com/articles/courtney-love-cant-stop-ranting-about-dave-grohl Selengkapnya...