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Jason Kempin, Getty Images / Instagram: Mike Dirnt We all come from somewhere in life and Green Day ‘s Mike Dirnt is offering a tribute to Carol Alba Rowland, his birth mother, after her recent death. The musician spoke about the loss of Rowland and offered a few photos in an Instagram posting. Dirnt reveals that while he was adopted as a youth, he feels lucky to have gotten to know Rowland right before she passed away. The bassist has obviously enjoyed a very successful career, playing in one of rock’s most famous bands, but one of the biggest thrills in this past year was getting to meet Rowland. The musician states in his posting: Today we mourn the loss of “Carol Alba Rowland” my birth mother! As many of you know I was adopted. Over the last 10 years I have sought her out with the help of a good friend, only to meet her one month before her passing! I was blessed to have this moment as surreal as it was. The irony of this life never cease to amaze me, being that we were neighbors my entire life! We were able to share a cup of coffee, a cigarette and some smiles. She was a beautiful woman with a huge smile, a hot temper and a kind heart. I will miss her as I did before, only now with some memories and a picture to go with the place in my heart! Love you mom!!! One of Rowland’s photos can be seen above, but the collage that Dirnt posted on Instagram may be viewed by clicking this link . After spending the latter portion of 2012 on a break due to Billie Joe Armstrong ‘s rehab stint , Green Day will return to the road this spring. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/green-day-x-kid-video-2013-european-tour-dates/” title=”Next: Green Day Reveal ‘X-Kid’ Video + Euro Dates” align=”center”]
Machinehead1.com Machine Head have built their fan base over a steadily strong career, but singer Robb Flynn still gets surprised by who some of his fans are. The rocker reveals in his latest journal that former baseball manager Tony LaRussa and his family have shown their fandom for his work in recent years, which is something that still blows him away. Flynn says, “Life has a funny way of playing out, how seemingly innocuous encounters can take you to place you never thought you’d go. Flash back to about a year and a half ago … I’m walking through Whole Foods in Walnut Creek, talking on the phone to my friend Tom when a lady and her daughter approach me wide-eyed. ‘Are you f—ing Robb Flynn?!’ … ‘I could be …’ They scream and make a big ‘ol to-do, ‘Oh my God, we’re huge fans, I love ‘The Blackening,’ I’m Tony LaRussa’s wife!’” Then, just last year when the band returned to play the Warfield in San Francisco, the LaRussa family came to the show. Flynn recalls, “My baseball fanatic dad FREAKS OUT, and Tony L blows my mind when he tells me that I ‘have so much charisma, he wishes he could bottle it and make his players drink it.’ Wow!!?? I’m not worthy!” After speaking some more, Flynn says they bonded over the fact that he got his dog from the Animal Rescue Foundation that LaRussa founded. The vocalist says he and LaRussa exchanged information and the manager reached out to him about attending his annual benefit. LaRussa also asked if he would perform as an anniversary gift for his metal-loving wife. The singer admits he was nervous, but says LaRussa’s intro was great. He recalls, “Tony LaRussa’s intro blew me up!! Dude rules. After that intro I could have farted for 10 minutes and people would have at least politely clapped. Did ‘Die Young’ first, went down good. I sang the end a lot better than at the Mitch [Lucker] benefit, and then came time for the debut of the acoustic version of ‘Darkness [Within],’ just me and an acoustic, no sing-alongs, no band to kick in the heavy — a new version I had never played live. It worked, it totally worked. I nailed most of it, was a little flat in some parts at the very end, but overall it felt good and I was proud of myself for taking up the challenge.” Flynn returned for the finale, joining all the evening’s performers and headliner Tony Orlando in taking on ‘Hey Jude’ with a little bit of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ thrown in to rock out. The evening also gave the singer a chance to meet some of his comedy heroes like Robin Williams and Dana Carvey. For more about Flynn’s night, check out his latest journal entry here . Watch Robb Flynn Perform ‘Darkness Within’ Acoustically Robb Flynn With Dana Carvey Machinehead1.com Robb Flynn With Robin Williams Machinehead1.com Robb Flynn With Tony Orlando Machinehead1.com [button href=”http://loudwire.com/machine-head-robb-flynn-moving-performance-mitch-lucker-memorial-concert/” title=”Next: Robb Flynn Performs at Mitch Lucker Memorial” align=”center”]
Frazer Harrison, Getty Images Rob Zombie has been releasing music since 1987, providing us with memorable tracks as a solo artist and as the frontman for White Zombie . Today’s Readers Poll asks you — Rob Zombie fans — what is the best album the singer has released? We’ll start with the early Rob Zombie years, when he was fronting White Zombie. The band’s 1987 debut, ‘Soul-Crusher,’ was described as noise rock by many critics. With tracks like ‘Drowning the Colossus,’ ‘Die Zombie Die’ and ‘Future Shock’ leading the way, admiration for the disc has only grown since its release. That was followed by their 1989 effort, ‘Make Them Die Slowly.’ Their sophomore set found them dipping more into thrash metal but admittedly the band was not completely happy with the outcome. The group’s frustration with their sophomore set primed them for a breakout with their third album. White Zombie’s ‘La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1′ arrived in 1992 and found some radio and video love with ‘Thunder Kiss ’65′ and ‘Black Sunshine.’ White Zombie’s tenure came to an end with 1995′s ‘Astro-Creep: 2000,’ but not before spawning another hit single in ‘More Human Than Human’ and fan favorite tracks ‘Real Solution #9′ and ‘Super-Charger Heaven.’ On the solo front, Rob Zombie has been responsible for four records. ‘Hellbilly Deluxe’ arrived in 1998, featuring the immediate hits ‘Dragula’ and ‘Living Dead Girl,’ as well as fan favorite, ‘Superbeast.’ 2001 brought ‘The Sinister Urge,’ which spawned ‘Feels So Numb,’ the groovy ‘Never Gonna Stop (Red Red Kroovy)’ and ‘Demon Speeding.’ Zombie slid a little commercially with 2006′s ‘Educated Horses.’ However, the album did feature the singles ‘Foxy Foxy,’ ‘American Witch’ and ‘Let It All Bleed.’ Zombie went back to the well and rediscovered his energy with ‘Hellbilly Deluxe 2.’ The 2010 album featured the songs ‘What?’ and ‘Sick Bubblegum.’ So there you have it — eight albums from Rob Zombie’s career. Let us know which album you think was the best in the Readers Poll listed below. Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-shinedown-album-readers-poll/” title=”Previous Readers Poll: Shinedown’s Best Album” align=”center”] ?
Giveforward.com/mictoddsfight Former Coheed and Cambria bassist Michael Todd is facing the most important battle of his life after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. The musician had surgery last year to remove the cancerous area, hoping that it had been isolated, but unfortunately the cancer had spread. Since then, Todd’s medical costs skyrocketed, but he was able to take care of things financially up until recently. In order to help as he continues his fight, friends and supporters of Todd have launched a Give Forward campaign to help offset the costs of his cancer battle. According to the fund’s website, the cancer appeared to have receded for a period last year and Todd was back in good spirits, working on music again with the hopes of forming a new band. But the cancer has since returned and after selling off most of his possessions, Todd is now living with a friend. “We are hoping to raise money to not only help Michael get the treatment and medications he needs to fight the cancer, but to help him regain his independence,” says a message from the support team on the campaign’s site. “Michael doesn’t deserve this. He is not perfect and he has made mistakes, but he is an amazing human being with such a wonderful spirit.” At present the goal is to raise $3,500. At press time, fans had already provided $2,700 of the amount. To contribute to Michael Todd’s campaign, click here . Todd’s tenure with Coheed and Cambria ended with his 2011 arrest in which he robbed a Walgreens store for painkillers. The musician entered a guilty plea last June and was sentenced to a year of home confinement with a monitoring system and required to enter a drug treatment program. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/coheed-and-cambria-introduce-zach-cooper-as-new-bassist/” title=”Next: Coheed and Cambria Name Zack Cooper New Bassist” align=”center”]
Photo by Matthew Rodgers – Anthrax have secured Shadows Fall ‘s Jon Donais to fill-in on guitar for departing member Rob Caggiano on their upcoming tours. [ Loudwire ] – Disturbed ‘s David Draiman unveiled an all-star guest list, the title of the lead single and a tentative release date for his band Device ‘s debut album. [ Loudwire ] – Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins was denied bail in his child sex offense case. [ Loudwire ] – Bullet for My Valentine have unveiled their new video for ‘Riot.’ [ Loudwire ] – Jane’s Addiction and Camp Freddy guitarist Dave Navarro has shed his clothes for a new PETA ad campaign. [ Loudwire ] – Ted Nugent is the latest rocker to fall victim to a Twitter death hoax. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Bob Seger has revealed the dates for his 2013 North American tour. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Vampire Weekend and Tegan and Sara lead the latest additions to South by Southwest’s lineup. [ Diffuser.fm ] – Ben Gibbard was joined by Aimee Mann and Ted Leo during a performance on ‘The Colbert Report.’ [ Diffuser.fm ]
Samir Hussein, Getty Images Eddie Vedder , perhaps as much as any musician, used his celebrity to rally the efforts to get the West Memphis Three a new trial. So it should come as no surprise that he’s contributing music to the ‘West of Memphis’ documentary about the now free former death row inmates Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr. and Jason Baldwin. Vedder, who lent his song ‘Satellite’ for the soundtrack, spoke about the track in an exclusive video at Diffuser.fm . The singer wrote the song for Lorri Davis, a woman who first began corresponding with Echols after witnessing his plight in the 1996 documentary, ‘Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.’ Davis, believing the Echols and his friends were wrongly convicted of killing three youths, would later marry the inmate while he was still in prison and she tirelessly worked to clear her husband’s name. Vedder reveals in his video commentary that Davis makes an unknowing guest appearance in ‘Satellite’ that is sort of a happy accident. ‘Satellite’ first appeared on Vedder’s ‘Ukulele Songs’ album, but felt like a perfect fit for the ‘West of Memphis’ soundtrack. In addition to the Pearl Jam frontman, the disc includes contributions from Camp Freddy , Marilyn Manson , Henry Rollins , Band of Horses , Bob Dylan and more. It arrives in stores Jan. 15. You can check out Loudwire’s exclusive premiere of Camp Freddy’s ‘West of Memphis’ soundtrack contribution, ‘The Jean Genie,’ right here . To see Vedder’s video commentary, as well as the actual video for ‘Satellite,’ check out the exclusive preview at Diffuser.fm by clicking the button below. [button href=”http://diffuser.fm/eddie-vedder-west-memphis-three/” title=”Watch Eddie Vedder Discuss His ‘West of Memphis’ Contribution” align=”center”]
Motorheadphones.com Now that the world’s loudest band has released their own signature brand of headphones, Motorhead are looking to take down rapper Dr. Dre and his ‘Beats’ empire. Frontman Lemmy Kilmister himself presented the new headphones this week in Las Vegas at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Along with introducing the headphones, Lemmy offered some priceless quotes while answering questions at a Motorheadphones press conference. Motorheadphones brand manager Andres Nicklassen describes what make the new product different from the various headphones released by hip-hop musicians. The main difference is that Motorheadphones are engineered to focus on mid-range sounds, rather than Beats headphones and the like, which are more about the bass. Nicklassen went as far to say that Beats “takes the soul out of rock,” after which Lemmy compared the Beats experience to “listening through a towel.” Lemmy was full of dry British wit when interviewed by reporters: Reporter 1: “There’s a lot of lines of headphones; celebrity headphones…” Lemmy: “Oh, is there? I didn’t know.” Reporter 1: “So why are these different?” Lemmy: “Because they’re from Motorhead.” Reporter 1: “So is the sound quality different?” Lemmy: “These are for deaf people, you see. Our fans are deaf, remember?” Lemmy is exactly right when he says that Motorheadphones are for deaf people, as the speakers are 6-10 times more powerful than a standard set of headphones. “These new headphones are not like the weak-kneed, lily-livered, tin-pot, skinny sounding little pieces of garbage out on the market today,” says Lemmy. “We designed these headphones to deliver everything louder than anything else and with the sort of range, clarity and TRUE rock reproduction you’d expect from a band of warriors like us.” Meanwhile, Lemmy took some time to mess with some additional reporters: Reporter 2: “When you were developing this did you listen to a lot of your music when you were playing it back and make sure they sounded the way you wanted them to sound?” Lemmy: “I didn’t have a chance to do that, but we told them what to do with them … very specifically. And we threatened them with terrible violence if they didn’t get it right, so I’m sure they got it right.” Reporter 3: “Lemmy, do you like hip-hop?” Lemmy: “No.” Reporter 3: “Why are these headphones better than any headphones out there?” Lemmy: “Because we’ve said they are.” We’re sold! Motorheadphones come in various shapes and sizes and run anywhere from $49.99-$129.99. They are currently available in Europe, and will begin shipping in the United States in April. Check out Motorheadphones at its official website . Lemmy Kilmister Messes With Reporters at Motorheadphones Showcase ? [button href=”http://loudwire.com/robot-band-compressorhead-performance-motorhead-ace-of-spades/” title=”Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’ Played By Evil Robots” align=”center”]