As you read this we will be landing in Austin, TX for this year’s SXSW festival which by the looks of it has a ton of metal shows. Expect to see less featured stories this week as our hands will be too full of BBQ and beer to type. Our news feed on the sidebar will be rolling as usual though. Make sure to look out for us at Full Metal Texas on Thursday night of the festival, which we are proud to be a sponsor of.
Posted by Zach Shaw on Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Yesterday, metal gods Rob Halford, Zakk Wylde, Dave Mustaine, Lemmy Kilmister, Vinnie Paul and Chuck Billy joined Kat Von D and NFL Dallas Cowboys Marc Columbo, Cory Proctor and Leonard Davis outside the Rainbow Bar & Grill on the Sunset Strip in L.A. to announce the nominees for the second annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards. The award show, presented by Epiphone Guitars, will take place on April 8 at Club Nokia in L.A. and air on VH1 Classic on May 22.
This year’s show will be co-hosted by Andrew W.K. (or at least someone appearing as him) and wrestler/Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho. Rob Zombie, Fear Factory, As I Lay Dying and The Devil Wears Prada are the bands set to perform so far. Last year’s host Brian Posehn will also perform with an all-star band made up of Scott Ian, Brendon Small, John Tempesta, Joey Vera and Zakk Wylde. More performers are expected to be announced soon.
Unlike last year, fans will get to vote on who wins each award (for the exception of the Revolver Golden God Award and Lifetime Achievement Award). Fans have until March 31 to vote on the nine categories at RevolverMag.com/goldengods.
Nominees for the 2010 Revolver Golden Gods Awards are after the jump: Read more »
Posted by Bill Shouldis on Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Eerie Von, bass player for Samhain and Danzig, recently released a book entitled Misery Obscura, a collection of his photographs documenting his career including early photos of the Misfits, Danzig, Metallica and much more. The book comes highly recommended, especially for those who style their hair in a devil lock and keep their guitars in coffins.
In honor of the release, Eerie did a book signing and in store performance at New York City’s Generation Records with Lyle Preslar (Minor Threat) and Mike D’Antonio (Killswitch Engage) who both wrote forwards for the book. The acoustic performance included a couple of tracks from Eerie Von’s latest solo album, “Lay the Blame” and “Please Don’t Wake Me” as well as Samhain’s “To Walk the Night,” Danzig’s “Killer Wolf” and Elvis’ “The Wonder of You.” (The performance took place on Elvis’ birthday).
Also, The Motherchick, aka the woman from the Danzig “Mother” video, was sited at the event! More info on that, photos from the performance and a video after the jump.
Posted by Bram Teitelman on Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 7:10 pm
While there’s been a ton of talk about the “Big Four” tour (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax), none of the bands have directly addressed it… until now. Metallica made a post about on their site today suggesting that their Sonisphere appearance in Europe this summer is the start of something more.
You’ve been posting and chatting about it for months and we’re here now to confirm it . . . Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax will all share the same stage for the first time EVER! Look for the four of us at the Sonisphere shows in Warsaw, Poland and Prague, Czech Republic on June 16 and 19, 2010 with a few more of the festival dates still in the works, you can be sure these shows won’t be the only ones.
In the words of Lars: “Who would have thought that more than 25 years after its inception, thrash metal’s big 4 would not only still be around and more popular than ever, but will now play together for the first time…what a mindfuck! Bring it on!”
While we’ve known the Sonisphere dates were happening, the suggestion that it could lead to more shows is promising. Sure, it doesn’t say anything about America, but we can hope. Also, Lars’ quote sounds way better if you read it in an imitation of him. First on Anthrax’s ‘to do’ list? Figure out that pesky singer problem.
Posted by Bill Shouldis on Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Punk legend Eerie Von, bassist for the likes of Danzig and Samhain, as well as roadie and photographer of The Misfits during the eighties, will be releasing a collection of his photography titled Misery Obscura: The Photography of Eerie Von (1981-2009). To celebrate the performance he will make a special in-store appearance at Generation Records on located on Thompson St. in New York City on January 10. There will be a book signing and a special acoustic performance featuring punk and metal heavyweights Lyle Preslar (Minor Threat) and Mike D’Antonio (Killswitch Engage). Eerie Von will also be joined by book designer Tom Bejgrowicz for a Misery Obscura book signing at the event. This is how the book is described:
“Misery Obscura gives fans unique insight into the punk and metal scene of the 1980’s and early 90’s from the perspective one of its greatest stars, chronicling the rise of The Misfits, Rosemary’s Baby, Danzig, and Samhain through the worldwide success of the punk and metal scene as they tour with acts like Metallica and White Zombie.”
For guaranteed entry into the event you can pre-order the book from Generation Records. More details on this here.
Posted by Bram Teitelman on Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Alcohol? Drugs? Suicide? That’s so passe. The latest hazard to the rock and roll lifestyle is the road. In the past week, there have been three automobile accidents involving musicians, two of them by metal bands. The first reported accident was the most serious, as Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo cracked three ribs, suffered internal injuries and sustained a lower leg injury after their tour bus skidded off a road in Albany on December 6. Cuomo is recuperating, and the band has postponed the rest of their winter tour.
The following day, Underoath’s van carrying all their equipment was totalled en route to their December 8 Omaha show. Fortunately, the band was traveling in a bus, but the van’s driver was injured. “Our van carrying all our gear got into a very bad accident,” a blog post says. “The driver has some injuries, but is stable. However there is no possible way we can make the show tonight. Please pray for our friend Zack that was driving. He’s in pain but he survived which is honestly a miracle if you would have seen the van. If there were any way we could make the show work, we would but it’s not possible. Our sincerest apologies to all who are braving the weather to get to the show. Please drive safely back home. There have been way too many accidents lately. We love you all and will keep you updated.”
Every Time I Die’s name could have been prophetic, had their accident been more serious. the same day as Underoath’s accident, ETID’s bus got into an accident in Germany. Everyone came out ok in that one, and Keith Buckley was calm enough to tweet: “bus is totalled. everyone is ok. we even managed to salvage some beers. see you tomorrow, munich. we’ll post pics of the wreck soon.”
It’s been a rough week for touring musicians, but travel is definitely always hazardous. The attached picture is from Candiria’s 2004 album What Doesn’t Kill You… They got rear-ended by a tractor trailer, the band was seriously injured, and it almost ended their career. And no one needs to be reminded about the loss of Cliff Burton after their bus flipped. So be careful out there.
So the Grammys were announced, and it’s pretty much more of the same. Predictable, safe, boring. I mean, for the
most part, the metal nominees deserve it, but they could have taken a ton more chances. Here’s what got nominated for Best Metal Performance:
Again, not bad, but not earth-shattering. Song for song, it should definitely be between LoG, Slayer and Megadeth. With no offense to Ministry, they haven’t put out a vital album since Psalm 69, and although Judas Priest are the heritage choice, it’s from a non-essential live album. Musically, I’d say Megadeth is the best song, but if any of those three win, that’s fine. And if Crack the Skye and Killswitch Engage were produced well enough for Brendan O’Brien to be nominated for Producer of the Year -Non Classical (as he was), why the hell isn’t either band nominated for Best Metal Performance? It would have been amazing to see a newer band like Baroness, BTBAM, Behemoth or Goatwhore sneak in there as well. And for Mastodon to have made the most adult record of their career, to have been completely shut out of the Grammy is pretty much bullshit in our book.
The Best Hard Rock Performance category is slightly better:
Alice In Chains should absolutely win this for the opening riff alone. It is hard rock, so it’s not like it’s a travesty that Nickelback and Linkin Park are nominated, but again, an old song from a forgotten live album should immediately disqualify Linkin Park. And Halloween III was a better sequel that “The Unforgiven III.”
In the Best Rock Album category, AC/DC was nominated for Black Ice. That’s a pretty solid choice, but since it’s up against U2, Green Day, Dave Matthews Band and an Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood live album, there’s no way it’s going to win. In fact, while announcing the nominees, they should have mentioned that U2 will win and Pope-in-training Bono will accept the award via satellite from the moon, where he’s building a colony for hungry children from war-torn countries.
Also, Spinal Tap’s Back From the Dead was nominated for Best Comedy Album and Best Packaging (again, no Mastodon for packaging?), while Underoath’s Lost in the Sound of Separation picked up a nom for the Best Boxed of Special Limited Edition Package.
The Grammys will be handed out on January 31.
Posted by Bram Teitelman on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:56 pm
One of the best things about owning your own label is that you can do whatever you want with it. For Clutch, that’s going to involve releasing a vinyl edition of this year’s Strange Cousins From the West on their own Weathermaker Music label. The double-LP version will be released on December 15, and will include two non-album tracks. One song, “Metroliner Special,” was recorded during the Strange Cousins sessions, and there will also be an extended version of “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” included. The first 4,000 copies of the album will have a code for a digital download of the album as well.
And it took a while, but the band finally has possession of their three albums from their last label, DRT Records. While Weathermaker will be putting out re-releases of Blast Tyrant, Robot Hive/Exodus and From Beale Street To Oblivion in 2010, their first order of business will be giving them a digital release, something the albums have never had before. Beale Street has already been made available digitally, based on the demand for “Electric Worry,” which is featured in ads for Left 4 Dead 2.
Lastly, the band will be ending the year with five headlining shows, listed after the jump. We highly suggest getting to the New Year’s Eve show early in order to catch opener Murder 1. Read more »
Posted by Metal Insider on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Billboard Magazine is holding their annual Touring Conference and Awards in New York. While We’ll be bringing you coverage from tonight’s awards ceremony, where Ozzy Osbourne and Mayhem Festival founder Kevin Lyman will be receiving awards, there was a “Metal” roundtable yesterday, and Metal Insider correspondent Emmy Burns was at the roundtable. Here’s her report:
So far, the only people sitting around the Metal Roundtable at the 2009 Billboard Touring Conference were three students, your correspondent, and a friend. The five of us stretched out around the empty table while the rest of the room tried to claw their way into getting a seat at the very crowded Indie and Country tables. Hey, at least we weren’t at the Heritage Rock table, we joked as we glanced over behind us at one person sitting by himself.
The students were from Berklee School of Music and they were keen to get a chance to talk to “real industry peeps” about how to get into the business. My friend and I on the other hand, were just interested to hear good metal stories from on the road. Our panelists were Andrew Goodfriend from TKO and Tim Borror from The Agency Group who kicked off the roundtable by asking if we had any questions. We gave way to the kids to ask their questions first. The main topic of the roundtable discussion: How did you get your start in the biz?
Andrew gave us a moving story on how he got his start by calling the company on his concert ticket stub to hound them for an internship and how he worked his way from being a receptionist that sometimes got the unfortunate task of taking calls from angry rock stars who yelled at him. No biggie he says, it only made him more resilient. Tim suggested learning from other genres to inspire new opportunities in Metal – if that includes watching the BET Hip Hop Awards then so be it!
The students were in awe at some of the bands that Andrew and Tim have worked with. Coal Chamber, Sevendust, Slipknot were just some of the metal bands the guys worked with in their early days and helped grow into what they are now. Someone mentioned Slayer as part of the impressive list of metal bands, but the students argued, “yeah, but that’s more ‘Heritage Metal’”
Tim closed the discussion by noting that Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons still stand as the people to discover the most innovative music genre, questioning if there will be another genre so cutting-edge ever again. He then reminded us that Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons were just college roommates when they formed Def Jam from their college dorm room –proof that there really is no official roadmap on how to get into the music business. “You’ve got to be creative, create your own rules, just get out there, make your way in, any way you can, just like pirates!” he closed.
And with that in mind, we hope to be seeing you next year at the ‘Heritage Metal’ roundtable!
Posted by Bram Teitelman on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 4:18 pm
With Halloween just around the corner and Saw VI out in theaters that day, what better time to throw a metal party? That was the thinking behind the first annual Metal Insider CMJ Listening Party, which took place on Friday, October 23 at New York’s The Studio @Webster Hall. With dozens of metal radio DJs and music directors in town for the annual CMJ Music Marathon, the listening party served as an exclusive taste of World Painted Blood, the long-awaited new album from Slayer. In addition, the attendees also got a chance to look at “Playing With Dolls,” a disturbing series of vignettes featuring the music of World Painted Blood that will be featured on the deluxe edition of the album, which will be out on November 3. The party also featured a screening of Gallows short film, Grey Britain.
It wasn’t just radio that made it to the party. A number of labels, managers and booking agents made it out, along with bands like Acrassicauda, Anaka, and VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show co-host Don Jamieson. They were able to feast on alcohol courtesy of sponsors Hornitos Tequila and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Each guest was also welcome to have a one-of-a-kind Music Skins Metal Insider skin for their Blackberry, iPhone or iPod (stay tuned for a chance to win one of your own!). Some attendees were lucky enough to get a Saw VI shirt courtesy of Lions Gate Films, or books about Anvil and Robert “Freddy Kreuger” Englund courtesy of Simon & Schuster. An even more select group got to win a copy of the first 5 Saw movies. And what better way to celebrate listening to World Painted Blood than with your own tube of Slayer blood. Who’s in for next year?!
Otep has released a new video for the song “Rise, Rebel, Resist.”
You can hear some 30 second clips of the new Slash album over at Metal Sucks.
1349 has posted a new song called “Atomic Chapel” on their MySpace page.
Amazon is joining the celebration of “March Is Metal Month” by offering many metal titles at just $6.99
Brooklyn Vegan has posted their guide to SXSW metal events.
Posted by Bill Shouldis on Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 11:26 am
Events