Oh Dave Mustaine. As the frontman of Megadeth, he’s nothing less than an idol, the singer of one of the Big Four bands that’s still putting out good, relevant music. As a political commentator, he’s somewhere between a redneck uncle at Thanksgiving after some Old Grand Dad and a guy walking around Union Square with a tinfoil hat on. At an August 7 performance in Singapore, a shoe thrown onstage launched Mustaine into a four-minute rant onstage that starts with a lighthearted “this is what happens when cousins fuck.” But what starts out as a fun aside quickly turns into pure batshit insanity:
“Back in my country, my President is trying to pass a gun ban, so he’s staging all these murders, like the “Fast and Furious” thing down at the border, in Aurora Colorado, all the people that were killed down there, and the beautiful people at the Sikh temple. I was talking to JD our promoter, what a great guy. I was saying, ‘I don’t know where I’m gonna live if America keeps going the way it’s going because it looks like it’s turning into Nazi America. And he said, ‘Move down here to Singapore.’
The last time anyone cared about Dave Mustaine’s political opinions was back in 1992, when he was an MTV correspondent for ‘Rock the Vote.’ Yeah, that’s right – the last time anyone cared what he had to say, MTV was still playing music. And while it’s his stage to say what he wants, to make such a ridiculous, baseless accusation about anyone holding public in the face of multiple tragedies is not only insensitive, but also ludicrous. And while Dave’s against gun control, maybe the Secret Service should be checking to make sure he doesn’t have access to firearms.
[via Blabbermouth]
This much is indisputable: over the past five years or so, Scion A/V has been one of the biggest supporters of underground metal. Any major corporation that’s held festivals and label showcases, and put out free music by extreme bands is ok in our book. That’s why we’re a little surprised to hear Eyehategod’s accusation that they have been banned by the car company’s imprint.
“!! EYEHATEGOD officially BANNED by SCION !!,” the Nola sludge metal group said in a posting on their Facebook page earlier today. As of now, that is literally all we know. Eyehategod have yet to reveal more details, and Scion A/V likely won’t respond either. Perhaps they’re heading off the potential shit storm that could be incurred if someone from the religious right did some digging and accused Scion’s parent company Toyota of backing a band called “I Hate God.” That makes a modicum of sense. Regardless of the reasoning, we’re still supporters of both Eyehategod and Scion.
Meanwhile, it would appear that we at least know where this year’s Scion Rock Fest. Thanks to a photo posted by Scion A/V Metal, it’s being “hinted” (but essentially confirmed) that Scion Rock Fest 2012 will take place at the Ritz Theatre in Tampa, FL. Lambgoat have also discovered that an undisclosed event has already been booked at the venue on June 2, hinting at the festivals date. An officially announcement will likely be made soon (or at least a month prior to the festival). However, it’s safe to say we know at least one band that will not be performing at the festival.
UPDATE: When reached for comment, Scion A/V had the following to say:
“Scion A/V has a long history of supporting the metal genre. There are thousands of bands in the world and it’s just not possible to work with them all. We’re excited about our upcoming projects including this year’s Rock Fest in Tampa, Florida on June 2, 2012 and will be announcing the full line up soon.”
Cradle Of Filth may not be a household name in America. But the extreme black metal group’s controversial music and visuals has made them the most successful metal band to come out of the U.K. since Iron Maiden. That would explain why frontman Dani Filth received the highest votes in a ranking for Suffolk County’s top “icon,” much to the chagrin of the county.
Launched by Choose Suffolk, a group aimed to promote the U.K. county Suffolk, Suffolk Icons was an online contest where people were asked to submit photographs of landscapes, people or products to be named as one of the top ten icons of Suffolk. They were expecting people to nominate landscapes or respected figures from the town. They weren’t, however, expecting fans of Cradle Of Filth, who formed in Suffolk in 1991, to vote for Dani Filth, who ended up receiving the most amount of votes with 13,025 (apparently 11,806 more than the nearest rival).
Despite having the most amount of votes, Choose Suffolk has re-staged the poll with only 20 approved nominees, minus Filth. In other words, they are ignoring the public vote. Tim Passmore, the interim chief executive of Choose Suffolk, released the following statement to British newspaper The Telegraph:
“The finalist Icons have been selected because the judging panel believe they have a countywide resonance and are symbolic of Suffolk, and extend across the county and beyond its borders. As a user-generated gallery, the site was designed to engage with visitors and encourage their participation. We are encouraged this remit has been successful. However, while some of the images on the site may have gained a larger proportion of visitors’ votes, the judging panel felt that their list of finalists displays the required credentials to act as representative iconic images of Suffolk.”
Granted, it was a bit of a shock that Dani Filth was even nominated for such a contest (can you picture the judges walking around the county wearing this shirt?). But you have to call bullshit on the Choose Suffolk organization for ignoring such a large amount of votes. So the band’s fan base isn’t necessarily the type of crowd they are trying to attract to the county, but you can bet now that a bunch of COF fans will be voicing their complaints. Filth has already voiced his displeasure with the Choose Suffolk’s actions in an interview with Metal Hammer. However, as he points out, he’s been in the press for far much worse things, so consider this good press.
[via The Telegraph]
MetalSucks scored (what has lately been) a very rare interview with Andrew WK regarding his multiple-actor conspiracies, and it’s a doozy. Loaded with evasive answers and carefully thought out phrasing, it leaves no question that there are only three possible realities:
- There really are multiple people portraying/have portrayed Andrew WK in an official capacity.
- There is only one Andrew WK, but he/his often-mentioned “advisors” either created or is perpetuating these conspiracies for publicity.
- He’s not very bright or articulate and is not properly understanding which rumors are in question.
The last one is the least likely. Andrew is a very deep, thoughtful, bright, creative and successful artist. He is not a fool. While this interview won’t settle the issues, it does prove that at the very least Andrew is/can not answer very simple, straightforward questions regarding these rumors. For example:
That was also you as in the guy I’m talking to right now as opposed to somebody else, not an imposter or anybody else.
It was Andrew W.K.
Okay. That’s an interesting answer.
That’s the only answer that could be. That’s who I am, that’s me.
But it wasn’t necessarily the guy I’m talking to right now or it is?
It [pause]… even me not saying anything could make it worse. Could we make that silence off the record?
[Laughter]
I’m serious. The way that I can answer that question is to say that Andrew W.K. and that was Andrew W.K. at 77 Boadrum.
Right, sure we can make that silence off the record.
Okay. I appreciate that. It’s not supposed to be like that.
[Andrew later agreed to leave this part on the record. -Ed.]
We highly recommend checking out the full interview, at least until Lost comes back on. Andrew will be doing a public Q&A at Santos Party House on February 23, and the Insider will be live-blogging from it.
Our buddies MetalSucks.net are on the Andrew W.K. conspiracy beat as well, and they’ve posted a lengthy interview with Obituary and former Andrew W.K. drummer Donald Tardy.
Tardy’s take? He’s pretty sure/adamant there is only one Andrew W.K., though the conspiracy “proof” throws him off, too.
We’re hoping to be at Andrew’s February 23 public Q&A, live-blogging what’s sure to might be a strange conclusion development to this story.
I found it odd that the much-publicized alleged Soundgarden came from nothing more than a cryptic two lines from Chris Cornell and a new website. The Pulse of Radio (subscription required) does some digging, only to come up with more questions than answers:
The post reads, “The 12-year break is over and school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!” But Knights of the Soundtable was the name of SOUNDGARDEN’s fan club, and the message does not say explicitly that SOUNDGARDEN itself is returning — although it is worded vaguely enough to hint at a possible reunion.
And then there’s this: Former NIRVANA bassist Krist Novoselic wrote at his Seattle Weekly blog just before Christmas, “I’ve heard a rumor about a SOUNDGARDEN reunion at the next Coachella festival in April. As a longtime fan of the band, this blew my mind. So I poked around a little, and — according to an excellent source — the rumor is not true.”
Rumors of a SOUNDGARDEN reunion have picked up steam in the last year, possibly because the band members are known to have gotten together to talk and three of them — all but Cornell — jammed together last March at a Seattle club.
The talks, however, were reportedly only about the possibility of releasing a long-awaited collection of rarities, along with reissuing the band’s catalog and selling some new merchandise.
Billboard.com, after the New Year’s Day announcement was posted, reported that the band was in negotiations with several festivals, but that has yet to be officially confirmed or denied.
I doesn’t make much sense that a dormant fan club from the nineties would start back up again without a reunion from its namesake, and while Novoselic is a grunge luminary, I don’t think he should be considered an expert on the intimate details of someone else’s business. I’d have to say this debunk attempt is grasping at straws, though a lack of formal, official confirmation should keep fans’ hopes at least tempered.
What do you think? Did the Internet get everyone ahead of themselves or is the reunion the real deal?
[Pule of Radio via Blabbermouth]
When MetalSucks re-broke the story last year, I kept quiet. When I came across this bizarre RockFeedBack interview yesterday, I kept quiet. For two reasons: one, it makes my head spin to the point of illiteracy and two, it scares me. I’ll get into the latter in a bit, and I can thank Gawker for solving the former by doing the concise writing for me.
So, according to conspiracy theorists (and possibly now Andrew W.K. himself), Andrew W.K. is not a real person but rather a performance character developed and portrayed by multiple people. I found myself caught in the middle of this in the Winter of 2005. Read on, if you dare.
Read more »
Posted by Bram Teitelman on Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 3:12 pm
Conspiracies, Video