Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Today In Rock News, May 9th...


Opeth Frontman Suffers Serious Head Injury



Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt suffered a serious head injury this week which sparked rumors across the web.
Akerfeldt took to the band's Facebook page to fill fans in on what happened and to dispel the rumors. He wrote:
"Hi guys! I'm writing from beyond the grave. Seriously, I was not in a car crash and I haven't broken my arm. All that happened is I hit my head in mastodons tour bus as I was getting a new pair of (red) underwear out from my suitcase. Wish the story was more rock and roll, believe me. Anyways I split my head open down to the skullbone and had to be taken to the emergency. They gave me a bunch of shots in the wound, cleaned me up and stapled my head shut with 8 metal staples. Head is sore and if I smile it feels like the wound is gonna burst open again, but I'll be on stage by tomorrow again. I feel extremely disappointed that we couldn't play at the myth in Minneapolis, but paramedics told me I couldn't. We will reschedule the show for our next trip to the USA. So all rumors of me being in a car crash are false. I did crash my head into a car though, well…a bus really. Sorry for disappointing our fans in Minneapolis but I hope you understand. See you next time. Best. Mikael~



McCartney, Springsteen and Vedder Guest On Jimmy Fallon Album



How many people can say they’ve released an album that included contributions from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and Dave Matthews? Not to mention Justin Timberlake, Big & Rich, fake newsman Stephen Colbert and real newsman Brian Williams?

Perhaps the only person who could pull together this impressive and eclectic lineup is Jimmy Fallon, who has performed with each of the stars on his NBC talk show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The comedian/musician is compiling those collaborations into a new album, Blow Your Pants Off, according to Rolling Stone.

In additions to team-ups with McCartney (on “Scrambled Eggs”) and Timberlake (“History of Rap”), the album will feature Fallon’s rock parodies, such as his version of “Charles in Charge” as Bob Dylan and his David Bowie/Tim Tebow mash-up “Tebowie.” The album will be released on June 12.






Jimmy Fallon, Blow Your Pants Off tracklist:

1. “Neil Young Sings ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’”
2. “History of Rap” (feat. Justin Timberlake)
3. “Tebowie”
4. “Scrambled Eggs” (feat. Paul McCartney)
5. “The Doors Sing ‘Reading Rainbow’”
6. “Balls in Your Mouth” (feat. Eddie Vedder)
7. “My Upstairs Neighbors are Having Sex (And Listening to the Black Eyed Peas)”
8. “Bob Dylan Sings ‘Charles in Charge’”
9. “Walk of Shame” (feat. Dave Matthews)
10. “Slow Jam the News” (feat. Brian Williams)
11. “New French Girlfriend”
12. “Cougar Huntin’” (feat. Big & Rich)
13. “You Spit When You Talk”
14. “Friday” (feat. Stephen Colbert)
15. “Neil Young Sings ‘Whip My Hair’” (feat. Bruce Springsteen)




 Axl Inspired Guns N' Roses Rock Hall Jam


When Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose issued a public statement last month declining his participation in the band’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, it upset longtime fans, made headlines, and – according to Slash – motivated the former members of the group to get up on stage and play the event.



In a new interview with Madison.com, Slash discussed the Rock Hall experience.


“It was a really nice event all around, and it was a special moment for all the guys that showed up,” said the guitarist. “It was a nightmare going into it, but when it actually happened it was like, ‘This is pretty cool.’”

“Going up there you feel very much part of something that is bigger than…all the stories, drugs, the fights and this and that and the other,” Slash continued. “There was a body of a music that had a significant impact. When you think about where we come from, which is really like sort of the back alleys of Hollywood and being just scourges of the neighborhood…it was like, ‘Wow. It was a pretty big thing we ended up doing.’”


Asked about his initial reaction to Axl’s letter, Slash revealed “The funny thing is we never would have played had he never written it. I think at one point he alluded he was at least going to go, and so we hadn't really prepared to play at all. We were just going to show up as almost an obligatory thing — more for the fans than anything. But that letter set a fire that was like, ‘Okay, (bleep) it. We’re going to go play.’ So it really almost didn't happen. And if it hadn’t been for that special letter it wouldn’t have.”



Guns N’ Roses' original lineup - Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler - along with later additions Matt Sorum and Dizzy Reed, were officially inducted as part of the Class Of 2012, which also included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beastie Boys, The Small Faces/The Faces, Donovan and Laura Nyro.




Former GNR members Slash, McKagan, Adler, Sorum and Gilby Clarke were on hand to perform (Clarke was not inducted) a few classics for the Cleveland crowd; the guys were joined by Myles Kennedy (Slash, Alter Bridge) on vocals.




 Metallica Want Rick Rubin For New Album



Metallica aim to stick with producer Rick Rubin to work on the album they’ll record in 2013.
He wasn't involved in Lulu, last year’s collaboration with Lou Reed, but he worked on 2008′s Death Magnetic and its little-brother follow-up Beyond Magnetic.




Front-man James Hetfield tells Metal Hammer: “He’s a different kind of producer. He’s challenging. He’s a very cut and dried, to-the-point kind of producer – but he’s also very open to lots of ideas.
“The main thing for us was getting to the core and essence of Metallica, and that’s the reason we chose to work with him. He gets the best out of artists who have been around for a while, I believe. That’s what we wanted him for.”
Drummer Lars Ulrich reports: “I saw Rick in LA and we talked about him coming to San Fransisco in March or April to start talking about the process,” he reports. “But we've got another couple of balls in the air with out movie and live dates.
“Rick is not a one-trick pony,” Ulrich continues. “He builds a particular ease around whatever your task is. Whatever we want to do with the next record, he’ll help us with that.”


Rubin is currently working with Black Sabbath on their first album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1979 and hr was behind the desk for I’m With You, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first record with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. But he’s been the subject of downbeat headlines in recent times......
Billy Gibbons last month suggested the producer was to blame delays facing ZZ Top’s fifteenth studio album, which has been in progress since 2008. Gibbons said: “The band is wondering, ‘Where is this thing? When do we hear it?’ He’s got a somewhat unorthodox way of doing just about everything he does.”





That followed a furious onstage outburst from Slipknot and Stone Sour front-man Corey Taylor, who called Rubin “overrated” and “overpaid,” adding: “I will never work with him again as long as I fucking live.”




In 2012 Muse thanked the desk-man for “teaching us how not to produce.”


Meanwhile, Metallica have begun a series of shows in which they perform their classic Black Album in full – but they’re performing the album backwards. They’re also gearing up for their own Orion Festival on June 23-24 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.






ZZ Top Preview New Song In Eliminator Era Styled Commercial


ZZ Top has partnered up with Jeremiah Weed to bring fans a glimpse of the band's first new single in nine years.
The Texas band is seen playing "I Got To Get Paid" in the new campaign for the Connecticut-based Jeremiah Weed Distilling Company.
The commercial has the look, sound and feel of a vintage 1980s ZZ Top video, complete with flashing lights and plenty of girls dancing around.
Still no word on a release date for the album, which the band has been working on with producer Rick Rubin for a few years now.


The Texas rockers will headline the Gang Of Outlaws Tour, with special guests 3 Doors Down; the pair will be joined by Gretchen Wilson on select dates.
The 6-week, 24-date trip starts May 25 in Manchester, NH.




 Ozzy Osbourne Diary Of A Madman Tour DVD Coming


Eagle Rock has set a July 17th release date for a new DVD release of Ozzy Osbourne's Speak of the Devil.
This show was filmed at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in California on June 12, 1982 as part of the delayed continuation of the "Diary Of A Madman" tour following the tragic death of Randy Rhoads a few months earlier.


The audio has been digitally restored and remastered and is now available in DTS and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound for the first time. Speak Of The Devil includes the classics "Mr Crowley" "Over The Mountain" "Crazy Train" "Flying High Again" "Iron Man" "Paranoid" "Goodbye To Romance" and many more.


The concert is a perfect snapshot of Ozzy Osbourne's live performances in the eighties with dramatic staging and masses of energy with a setlist based around his first two solo albums and a few Black Sabbath classics. The line-up for this show features Ozzy Osbourne (vocals); Don Airey (keyboards); Tommy Aldridge (drums); Brad Gillis (guitar) and Rudy Sarzo (bass).




 Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Forced To Adjust His Headbanging


Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine is ready to fight for his right to bear arms.
The thrash icon says battling is nothing new to him and he’s not prepared to settle for a draw – although he’s come to terms with limitations of his physical movement following emergency surgery on tour last year.
Mustaine tells AL.com: “When people in Washington say they’re going to take away my guns, they better bring theirs if they’re going to take mine.
“People like me, we’re used to fighting for what we have. My mum was a maid. I grew up with a key around my neck so I could get into the house after school while she was at work. I know about hardship. When I started out I was homeless. I lived on the streets and panhandled.”



The outspoken frontman is even used to fighting with his own lineup, which has changed significantly several times since Megadeth formed in 1983, after he was kicked out of Metallica. He says: “You have to pick the right guys – but things happen. We have our lineup and everything’s working, and one guy says, ‘I want more money,’ or, ‘I want to write more songs.’”


Mustaine is even used to battling with his own body. Last year at the age of 49 he found himself struggling with a back problem that left him in agony – and has limited his ability to keep headbanging on stage.
“Something had broken in the back of my neck,” he recalls. “I had a bone fragment in my spinal column the size of an eraser. The pain had me on my knees, sobbing. My hand went numb. My ring and pinky finger were not communicating with my brain. But the surgery was a complete success.


“The act of headbanging, when it started, was to play guitar, stand in a wide posture and move your head up and down. Now I move my torso a little bit more and get the desired effect. I make the necessary adjustments I need to keep myself healthy. It’s been a blessing in disguise.”




Dave comments that he considers the state of the world today he believes he’s in the right place at the right time, playing the right music, and sending the right message. “When times get tough, when people are stressing a little more, heavy metal becomes more popular,” he insists. “It has the right speed, tempo, vibration and colour. When people listen to songs like that, they connect.”



 Halestorm Make Chart History


Halestorm have become the first female fronted band to score a number 1 hit on the Active Radio charts.
The band claimed the top spot with their new single, "Love Bites (So Do I)," which comes from their new album, "The Strange Case Of…".




Halestorm will be hitting the road this summer for a North American headline tour, festival appearances, a series of European dates, and a number of support slots alongside Avenged Sevenfold.


The band is currently wrapping up a tour alongside Godsmack and Staind. The "MASS CHAOS 2012" tour continues through a May 16th finale at Manchester, New Hampshire's Verizon Wireless Arena.




Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry Jam at Dark Shadows movie premier





If you're one of the lucky few in attendance at Monday (May 7) night's Dark Shadows premiere party in Los Angeles, you got to see a one-of-a-kind performance. Three rock legends and one rock star actor teamed up to play some rock classics for a VIP audience, according to a post on Alice Cooper's website.
Alice Cooper (who has a small role in Dark Shadows) and pals served as the house band for the party, joined by Dark Shadows star Johnny Depp on his TV Yellow Les Paul Special. Before long the gang was playing Cooper's biggest hits, with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry joining in on his Gibson Les Paul.


As if that wasn't enough star power, Perry's pal Steven Tyler hit the stage to lead the whole group through "Come Together" and "Whole Lotta Love."
-Antimusic.com





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