It’s a widely-held belief that Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction is one of the best debut albums ever, regardless of genre. But what were GN’R like before there was a GN’R? While many know of Axl Rose and Slash’s band immediately before Guns N’ Roses called Hollywood Rose, a preview of Axl’s pre-Hollywood Rose band has made its way online. Rapidfire, which featured Rose along with guitarist Kevin Lawrence, bassist Mike Hamernik and drummer Chuck Gordon, played long-defunct Sunset Strip club Gazzarri’s 30 years ago yesterday (28). In the audience was Izzy Stradlin, who eventually poached Rose for his band, and the rest is history.
Lawrence has made a snippet of a song called “Ready To Rumble” available, a song that was recorded on May 25, 1983. The recording hadn’t been made public until now. Rose’s vocals sound throatier, and he’s able to hit notes that he probably couldn’t hit now without help. In a lengthy post written by Lawrence’s attorney, he explains that the band recorded a five song demo with Rose, but he left the band just after the show at Gazzaris to join Hollywood Rose. Check out the snippet of “Ready To Rumble” after the jump.
It’s been exactly one month since Deftones bassist Chi Cheng passed away and about 4 1/2 years after a car accident left him in a coma. And while the band has continued forward, recruiting Quicksand’s Sergio Vega as bassist and releasing two albums, the band decided to scrap Eros, the album they’d been working on with Cheng. According to comments made by frontman Chino Moreno, the album may see the light of day after all.
Speaking on the red carpet at Revolver’s Golden Gods awards, Moreno told Artisan News that Eros may well be released. When askedabout the possibility, Moreno replied “I think moreseo now than ever. I actually went back and listed to some of it recently. I don’t know when, but it’s a little more appropriate now to think about it than in the last three years.” It would be both a fitting tribute to Cheng’s legacy and something that every Deftones fan would want to hear if the album was to come out. With Cheng now gone and two really solid albums out, it’s not like releasing Eros would be cashing in on tragedy.
Anthrax’s covers EP, Anthems, will be released on March 19th. We’ve already had a chance to hear their take on Rush’s “Anthem,” and their cover of AC/DC’s “T.N.T.” is out there as well. Now their Thin Lizzy cover of “Jailbreak” is out as well. Like their Rush cover, it’s a faithful version of the song. No Thin Lizzy fan would be upset with this, or probably even be able to guess that it’s Anthrax, and aside from Rob Caggiano’s solo, there’s really nothing much to differentiate it from the original.
Last week, Scion A/V strongly hinted that they would be releasing “something special” from Meshuggah. Well last night, the most metal car manufacturer didn’t disappoint, and as expected released a free EP by Meshuggah.
Granted, the EP only features two songs, one of which is a live version of “Dancers To A Discordant System” recorded at last years “Distortion Festival” in Eindhoven, NET. However, the other song titled “Pitch Black” is a previously unreleased track recorded back in 2003. 10″ vinyl pressings of the EP will be made available at each stop of Meshuggah’s upcoming tour with Animals As Leaders and Intronaut.
Meshuggah’s Scion A/V EP can be downloaded for free in the player above. However, if for some reason the words “FREE” and “MESHUGGAH SONGS” weren’t enough encouragement for you, both songs can be heard in the YouTube video clips after the jump. Read more »
After the relative success of their debut album Omerta, supergroup Adrenaline Mob has announced a U.S. tour and a covers EP. The goofily-named EP, Coverta, will be released on March 12, the same day the tour starts.
This will be the most extensively the band has toured since their album came out last year. And given that one of the centerpieces of their debut is a cover of Duran Duran’s “Come Undone” (with special guest vocals from Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale), it makes a degree of sense that they record some more covers. Plus, given that Mike Portnoy’s former band Dream Theater covered entire albums, we can see how he might have gotten singer Russell Allen (Symphony X) and the rest of the band to sign on.
The covers are as follows, and you can check the tour dates after the jump.
It’s been a few years since post-metal band Isis released Wavering Radiant, toured behind it, and then faded into semi-oblivion, saying they’d “done everything they wanted to do.” And while they’re done releasing new music, nothing’s stopping them from putting together a collection of outtakes, demos, unreleased tracks and videos. And that’s where Temporal comes in. The compilation, coming out on Ipecac, will be released on November 6, and will span the band’s discography, from Mosquito Control to Wavering Radiant.
“It was fun and also very nostalgic collecting material for this release,” Aaron Harris comments. “I hear our catalogue differently now that I’m not living with these songs day to day. This is a special collection of outtakes, demos, unreleased tracks and videos; some of which I think we even forgot about.”
In other Isis news, this month’s Decibel features Isis’ Oceanic as their hall of fame album. And while it’s allegedly very different from Isis, former members Harris, Jeff Caxide and Clifford Meyer have joined up with Chino Moreno to form Palms. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we’re intrigued. That will be out early next year.
Earlier this year for Record Store Day, fans of Mastodon and Feist were treated to a single with the band and singer/songwriter covering each other’s songs. There was probably many a Mastodon fan that weren’t aware that they’d ever like a song by Feist, and vice versa, but she did an interesting cover of “Black Tongue,” while the Atlanta quartet Mastodon-ized her “A Commotion.” Alas, all 5,000 copies of the single sold out immediately, but as of today, you’ll be able to pick up the digital version of the single at all your finer digital retailers, like Amazon and iTunes.
What’s arguably cooler than the single is that at both Mastodon and Feist‘s websites (as well as above), there’s an interactive version of “A Commotion.” While Feist’s version of the video plays, you can drag a mixer back and forth to toggle between Feist and Mastodon’s version of the song, or just leave it in the middle and listen to a mash-up of the two.
Earlier this month, we brought you news that Anthrax had recorded a handful of covers. The only question was what they were going to be used for. Thankfully, the guys at Loudwire have dome some detective work (aka interviewed drummer Charlie Benante) and discovered that they’ll be releasing an EP of covers to coincide with the first anniversary of Worship Music.
“To commemorate the first year of ‘Worship Music’ being out, we’re putting together a little companion EP with some fun s–t on it,” he told them. “It started out as what I call ‘The ’70s EP.’ It’s made up of some cover songs from our favorite bands — consisting of Rush, Thin Lizzy, Boston, Journey … We’re still working on it now, but I think it’s gonna be really cool.”
If you have a short memory or can’t read the drum head, the band recorded Rush’s “Anthem,” Boston’s “Smokin,’” AC/DC’s “TNT” and Journey’s “Keep On Runnin,’” which was technically released in the ’80s, so there. They also recorded Black Sabbaths’ “Neon Knights” (also an ’80s song!) for a forthcoming Black Sabbath tribute album. No word on what Thin Lizzy song they’ve covered, so guess you’ll have to wait until September to find out. At least they’re not doing anything outside of their comfort zone, like a Radiohead or Refused cover.
Anthrax are no stranger to cover songs. In fact, their cover of Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” is probably their lasting contribution to pop culture outside of metal fans. And even though last year’s Worship Music included it’s own cover (Refused’s “New Noise”), the band have recorded a handful more. The band posted a picture on their Facebook of a drum head signed by Charlie Benante that says:
I killed this head recording:
Rush – “Anthem”
Sabbath – “Neon Knights”
Boston -”Smokin’”
AC/DC – “TNT”
Journey – “Keep On Runnin”
While we already know that the Black Sabbath cover will end up on the Ronnie James Dio tribute album, it’s not immediately known where the other four covers will wind up. Regardless, the other songs are, with the possible exception of “TNT,” a bit more obscure, and it’s cool to see that they’re digging in a little bit more instead of going with obvious choices. In fact, if they covered “Don’t Stop Believin’,” it’ would pretty much be an instant cred-killer. So get ready for the above songs to come to a soundtrack, compilation, or EP near you.
Last month, we learned that Relapse Records is planning to officially release the debut album from Primate, the grindcore supergroup featuring Mastodon guitarist Bill Kelliher and Brutal Truth singer Kevin Sharp. Since then, we’ve seen a teaser trailer for Draw Back A Stump and heard the album’s title track via Metal Injection’s Relapse Podcast. And this past weekend, Primate premiered a lyric video for the song “Pride.”
To simply put it, “Pride” is a killer track that will please both Brutal Truth and Mastodon fans (especially those who prefer Mastodon’s Relapse era). So go ahead and watch the lyric video to “Pride” above. Primate’s Draw Back A Stump will be re-released (remixed and remastered with three bonus tracks) via Relapse Records on July 3.
Battlecross has premiered a new song called “Flesh & Bone” with Metal Sucks. The song appears on the band’s new album, War Of Will, due out on July 9 via Metal Blade Records.
letlive. are streaming their new album, and first for Epitaph, The Blackest Beauty. The album is set to be released on July 9th, but you can check it out in full here.
Chimaira has announced dates for a U.S. headlining tour in support of it’s forthcoming album, Crown Of Phantoms. Support on the trek will come from Threat Signal, The Browning and Dark Sermon.
It’s a widely-held belief that Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction is one of the best debut albums ever, regardless of genre. But what were GN’R like before there was a GN’R? While many know of Axl Rose and Slash’s band immediately before Guns N’ Roses called Hollywood Rose, a preview of Axl’s pre-Hollywood Rose band has made its way online. Rapidfire, which featured Rose along with guitarist Kevin Lawrence, bassist Mike Hamernik and drummer Chuck Gordon, played long-defunct Sunset Strip club Gazzarri’s 30 years ago yesterday (28). In the audience was Izzy Stradlin, who eventually poached Rose for his band, and the rest is history.
Posted by Bram Teitelman on Wed, May 29, 2013 at 5:55 pm
New(ish) Music