Archive | Collaborations
Cult Of Luna’s “Vicarious Redemption” was epic enough the way it was. But now the Swedish group’s 18 + minute track has received the remix treatment from none other than Justin Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu.
Regarding his approach to the remix, Broadrick had the following to say:
“It was both a pleasure and a challenge to work on such a sprawling epic song. So much material to choose from and to attempt to refocus in my own context, and a challenge to make something new and concise which resonates like the original.”
Cult Of Luna’s Johannes Persson added the following about the remix:
“When I was 14 years old, my friend taught me how to play guitar. We spent hours listening to songs and then trying to play them. One of the records he had was the Streetcleaner LP that since has been continuously in my rotation for almost 20 years, so listening to Justin’s remix of ‘Vicarious Redemption’ kind of felt like going full circle. Justin has created something new with the elements of the song which, in my opinion, is the only way to justify a remix.”
You can stream and download Broadrick’s remix, as well as the original version of “Vicarious Redemption” (which originally appeared on Cult Of Luna’s latest release, Vertikal) below. Read more »
The A.V. Club, an offshoot of The Onion, is one of our favorite pop culture blogs. Along with no-bullshit reviews of TV, movies and video games, they also have original features like “Undercover,” where artists come in and cover one of 25 songs from a list. Last year, GWAR covered Kansas and Reggie Watts covered Van Halen, judging from this year, they’re getting even quirkier. Take this week’s installment of the series, which finds Louisville hardcore band Coliseum covering Eddie Money’s “Shakin’” with special guest Bruce Lamont on the saxophone. Of all the things we thought we’d be writing about today, the saxophonist of Yakuza playing an ’80s song with a hardcore band wasn’t one of them. Check it out after the jump. Read more »
Who: Page Hamilton (Helmet), Derrek Hawkins (Stabbing Westward, Ace Frehley), Harley DiNardo
What For: Shampoo and Death film, soundtrack
Seeking: $77,000
Collected: $15,530
Days Left: 14
Chance of successful campaign: medium
Crowd funding makes the most sense when there are tangible rewards at stake: thanks on an album you helped fund, knowing you played a part in getting a film made, getting something (like a smart watch) before anyone else, or a one-of-a-kind memento from what you’re helping fund. Those factors, combined with helping someone’s dream become a reality, is why there have been so many crowd funding initiatives in the past few months. Many of those are in play for Shampoo and Death, a horror film that’s the brainchild of musician and hair salon owner Harley DiNardo. Since DiNardo is an accomplished musician in his own right, he’s lined up a solid group of collaborators, including Helmet’s Page Hamilton, to make the soundtrack for the film.
Shampoo and Death is set in 1977. It’s about a fading rock artist that opens a hair salon to placate his wife who’s nagging him because she knows he’s getting too old to play. With the punk movement on the horizon,when a punk rock kid shows up at his salon for a job, the salon owner takes interest in him. When he passes the kid’s demo off to a columnist for Creem as his own music, all hell breaks loose. Helmet’s Page Hamilton has signed on to co-write songs for the soundtrack, which DiNardo is working on in addition to writing, acting and co-directing. Hamilton joins other acts for the soundtrack including guitarist Derrek Hawkins (Stabbing Westward, Ace Frehley), Rodrigo Lopresti, and Jonny Dubowsky.
While the $77,000 that DiNardo is seeking is a little steep, it’s relatively inexpensive for a film, especially one that will come with an original soundtrack. There are some pretty cool perks being offered as well. One of the biggest-ticket items is a 1980 Vespa that was will be used in the film (for only $3,500). You can also be a producer, get a coffee table book of the artwork hanging in the salon during the film, or even a haircut from DiNardo himself at Jersey City’s Shampoo, his salon that part of Shampoo and Death will be filmed in. Check out a personal appeal from DiNardo after the jump, as well as a trailer for the film. DiNardo still has a ways to go to meet his goal in two weeks, but funding is starting to pick up. Do your part here.
Read more »
What would the ultimate compliment be for a girl asking iconic Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister to write lyrics for her? If he turned in a song called “I Want to Fuck You to Death.” That’s exactly what happened with Huntress singer Jill Janus, and the song is the first single from the band’s sophomore album Starbound Beast. The duo actually go back a ways, as Janus explains:
I met Lemmy through my former band Chelsea Girls. We’d play hard rock and metal covers featuring guest celebrities. Lemmy was already friends with the girls, so he played “Ace of Spades” with us and it blew my mind. We stayed in touch and would meet up at The Rainbow for drinks. So I asked him a few months back over Jack & Cokes if he’d write lyrics for a Huntress song and he said ‘Sure’. A few weeks later, I met him at the studio during Motorhead recording sessions. Lemmy handed me two pieces of notebook paper with the lyrics for ‘I Want to Fuck You to Death’. I am beyond honored. To me, this is a love song. It is the most romantic song I’ve ever heard.
Lemmy, for his part, is equally complimentary toward Janus:
The first time I heard Jill’s voice with Chelsea Girls, it was phenomenal. I wrote these lyrics from her point of view, the Huntress. ‘I Want to Fuck You to Death’ was inspired by her, written for her. I’ve always had a soft spot for her. And a hard spot too…
Well then. If you want to hear how the collaboration came out, it’s streaming exclusively at the band’s Facebook page. Just go there, ‘Like’ Huntress, and check the song out. Starbound Beast is out on Napalm Records on July 2 in North America and in Europe on June 28th.
What’s cooler than a song featuring Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe and Corrosion Of Conformity’s Mike Dean and Reed Mullin? How about that same song but also with Dave Grohl? Well as it turns out, such a track is in the works now, as all four musicians will appear on a newly recorded track for a multi-vocalist project dubbed Teenage Time Killer.
Posting the picture above via Instagram of him with the COC members, Blythe revealed the collaboration by saying the following:
“This is me with Mike Dean & Reed Mullin of the legendary NC band, Corrosion Of Conformity. Their record, Animosity, is a HUGE influence on me, in fact the vocals on that record by these two men were the first screaming type music I tried to sing along to, EVER. Reed had a track he wanted me to write lyrics for & sing on, so I did (title is “Hung Out To Dry“)- it’s old-school COC style thrash punk & I killed it on the mic last night- SO FAST!
It was a huge honor for me to work on this- it will eventually come out as a project called TEENAGE TIME KILLER (named after a Rudimentary Peni song) w/a bunch of cool vocalists. The instruments were recorded at Dave Grohl‘s studio (watch his documentary, Sound City- track was recorded on THAT board)- Grohl will add a couple of guitar tracks to the tune too. So good! Then I interviewed these two for The Crucible.”
The notion that Blythe recorded a song with members of COC is awesome enough. Add on Grohl and you have a “holy fuck!” moment. No clue as to when we’ll get to hear the song (and it may still be a while till Grohl gets to add his guitar parts), nor do we know who else will contribute to this Teenage Time Killer project. Either way, we’re certainly looking forward to hearing the finished collaboration.
This past Tuesday, LL Cool J’s 13th album, Authentic, was released. Why are we writing about it on Metal Insider? Because Eddie Van Halen appears on two songs on the album. While we’d known that he’d be appearing on a few songs by the actor Grammy host rapper, the songs are now online. We’ll hand it to him, the two songs sound drastically different from each other. “We’re the Greatest” is a typical rap/rock song that could have come out in the ’90s. The riff itself is pretty Rage Against the Machine-like, while LL Cool J raps about heavy metal, including the line “I got Van Halen, I don’t need a bass line.”
“Not Leaving You Tonight” features Los Angeles soul-pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, and is far more melodic, anchored by a chorus from Fitz’s Noelle Scaggs. In fact, Van Halen’s solo almost sounds out of place when it pops up at 2:52. Regardless, on both songs, it’s still good to see Eddie Van Halen back at his finger tapping best, and who knows, maybe this reappearance will help kick start him into writing some new music for his band. Check out “Not Leaving You Tonight” after the jump. Read more »
So what if a single was to come out featuring System of a Down’s Serj Tankian, Ihsahn, and guitars from Devin Townsend? Yeah, that sounds like a dream collaboration that has never happened, right? Actually, it’s happening, and it’s coming out soon, courtesy of Revolution Harmony Records and it’s founder, Ray Holroyd. Holroyd, a British journalist and lecturer, started Revolution Harmony in Vancouver in 2011 as a way for his students to sell their music and donate the profits to charity. “We Are,” the track that Tankian, Townsend and Ihsahn collaborated on, was written by Holroyd.
The lyrical content of “We Are” is about musical harmony inspiring “a revolution towards societal harmony,” and is dedicated to Melson Mandela and the memory of Lucky Dube (viewed as the Bob Marley of South Africa). The song will be coming out worldwide on July 18th, which is Nelson Mandela Day. All proceeds will be donated to Buskaid, a charity providing free music lessons and instruments to children in South Africa.
“Revolution Harmony is a dream come true, it’s the perfect harmonious marriage of my two callings: making music and making a positive change in the world,” Holroyd comments. “‘We Are’ is the first milestone for Revolution Harmony, and to share it with three of my musical heroes, Serj, Ihsahn and Devin, who all believe in my vision, is deeply heartwarming and humbling. These musicians are overflowing with talent and compassion, and I am eternally grateful and monumentally honoured to have had them contribute to my cause by singing and playing on a piece of my music. The goal for these All-Star charity singles is to raise significant funds for various smaller charities, by making/selling creative and meaningful music that features rare collaborations by inspirational artists.”
Tankian commented on his involvement with the song, stating that “Music has saved my life and has the potential to create positive change in all those young kids struggling to make themselves heard and to survive.” Townsend also commented, stating:
“I met Ray while he was working at a guitar magazine in the UK. He was very generous with his position there and had convinced me to guest on his charity project. I am happy to contribute and to be involved with the other musicians. I hope the goals he has for the benefit of people in need come to fruition, and I wish everyone involved the best of luck. Please do what you can to help people less fortunate than yourself, it is rarely easy, but it is a testament to the human spirit.”
You can read more about “We Are” here, and Buskaid here.
While it was confirmed earlier this week that Device and Disturbed frontman David Draiman stopped by the studio to help Megadeth out with writing, Draiman went out of his way to say that there were no actual guest vocals on the album. However, Mustaine just disputed that via Twitter: ”David Draiman ended up singing on Super Collider. It sounds amazing!” Mustaine tweeted.
It makes a degree of sense that Draiman ended up in the studio with Mustaine. Johnny K, who produced Super Collider as well as the band’s last album Th1rt3en, also produced the first three Disturbed albums. Draiman would be the first guest on a Megadeth album since Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia sang on “A Tout ‘le Monde,” in 2007.
Hard rock and hip-hop/R&B have co-existed since the early ’80s, when Eddie Van Halen contributed a blistering guitar solo to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” in 1982 and Run DMC rapped over guitars on “Rock Box,” on their 1984 self-titled debut album. And while it reached its oversaturation point in the late ’90s with Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit (hed) p.e. and more, it seems like the two forms of music might be co-existing again. We’d already reported that Van Halen himself is appearing on the forthcoming LL Cool J album, due out on April 30. Now comes word that another rap/rock collaboration is happening, this one between System of a Down’s Serj Tankian and rapper Tech N9ne.
But now 90 seconds of the track, “We’re the Greatest,” has surfaced, via Van Halen News Desk. The song might win over a few Van Halen fans, in that unlike the songs on last year’s A Different Kind of Truth, it’s a new song. Also, LL shouts out Eddie, saying “I got Van Halen, I don’t need a bass line,” which is kinda cool. The album is a star-studded affair, with Tom Morello, Fitz and the Tantrums, Blink 182′s Travis Barker (who drums on “We’re the Greatest”), Brad Paisley, Chuck D, Bootsy Collins and more appearing on it.
Meanwhile, Tankian will be appearing on the album-opening track from Tech N9ne’s forthcoming album, Something Else. The Kansas City rapper is no stranger to rock, having collaborated with deftones in 2011 for the song “If I Could.” Apparently, his love for metal extends beyond that, as he tells Rolling Stone that he reached to Tankian:
“I think he is fucking insane lyrically, musically, spiritually . . . Totally cluster-fuck-ish like myself – you never know what’s going to happen in the music. If you talk to Serj, he’ll probably tell you he knew nothing about Tech N9ne until the song was sent to him, and after listening to it he went and got all my music, and it makes him run faster on the treadmill.”
Rolling Stone did just that, reaching out to Tankian, who confirmed his newfound appreciation for the rapper.
“I had not heard of Tech N9ne when we were sent the track. I checked out a bunch of his songs and really got into his flow, intensity and dynamics, and I agreed to sing on it. Originality in hip-hop and rock are hard to come by.”
Another guest on the album, which will be released on June 25th, is Cee Lo Green, but Tech had other heavier (music wise, not weight) artists in mind for collaborations. He’d also reached out to Slipknot/Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor, but the timing didn’t work out. But that’s not stopping him from aiming even higher for possible collaborators on the still-unfinished album. “I might send it to James Hetfield,” he tells the magazine. “I heard he was a fan. I heard they [Metallica] warm up to my song ‘Einstein.’”
While Dave Mustaine is hoping that Willie Nelson will contribute to the new Megadeth album in some fashion, there’s already one big time collaborator he can confirm. As it turns out, Disturbed frontman David Draiman actually stopped by the studio to help shape some of the new tunes.
While Mustaine first let it slip during an interview with Shockwaves that the Disturbed frontman helped out with writing, he confirmed via Twitter this past weekend that Draiman specifically contributed to “Forget To Remember” and “Dance In The Rain.” He also tweeted that he had the chance to listen to new music from Draiman (including his new group Device and two other projects), and Trivium (whose forthcoming album Draiman produced). Draiman also clarified via Disturbed’s Facebook page that the collaboration only involved writing (aka, don’t expect to hear a guest vocal appearance from him on the new album).
In addition to his collaboration with Draiman, Mustaine also teased about the lineup to the next Gigantour. “Finalized the bands for Gigantour 2013 and have to admit, I am hella impressed!! Details coming soon. @Gigantour2013,” Mustaine tweeted. Back in January, Mustaine hinted during an interview that this year’s lineup would include a band of “notorious bad boys.” While we’re still not sure which band he’s exactly referring to, we have to believe that now Draiman’s Device is a leading candidate for the touring festival as well.
Cult Of Luna’s “Vicarious Redemption” was epic enough the way it was. But now the Swedish group’s 18 + minute track has received the remix treatment from none other than Justin Broadrick of Godflesh and Jesu.
Posted by Zach Shaw on Fri, May 24, 2013 at 11:25 am
Collaborations