Posts Tagged ‘interview’

Papa Roach Frontman Jacoby Shaddix on Making ‘The Connection,’ Sober Living + More

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Papa Roach have proven that they are ‘Still Swingin’ with their latest album ‘The Connection’ and their recent co-headlining tour with Stone Sour . During the New York City stop of the trek, Loudwire had the chance to sit down with Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix , who chatted with us about how his vocal cords are feeling after surgery, living a sober lifestyle and more. The frontman talks about moving forward in a positive way, saying, ‘I can’t sit in the past and dwell on the past. I can’t worry about what was, just live in what is.” He also told us that making ‘The Connection’ helped saved his life. “There were these moments where I was spun out but music was there.” Check out Part 1 of our video interview with Jacoby Shaddix below: Watch Part 1 of Our Interview With Papa Roach Vocalist Jacoby Shaddix [button href=”http://loudwire.com/stone-sour-papa-roach-otherwise-new-york-city-concert-review-gallery/” title=”Check Out Photos of Papa Roach + Stone Sour Performing in NYC” align=”center”]

Slash Doesn’t Believe Randy Blythe Is ‘in Any Way, Shape or Form’ Guilty of Manslaughter

Jo Hale, Getty Images / Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Slash has been making his way around the world in support of his ‘ Apocalyptic Love ‘ album, and during a recent visit to the Czech Republic he shared his thoughts on the Randy Blythe manslaughter trial and his perception of the legal system from the outside. The guitar great told the Czech Republic’s Be in TV, “I know as much as I’ve been told from everybody I know in that camp. It’s a strange unique situation. I think that when he first came over here and put up his bail and they never let him out and they kept paying and they kept paying and paying and paying and they never let him out, I said, ‘What the f— is going on there.’ I mean, that’s a whole different type of law to me, where it’s just different. And so finally they let him out and now it’s actually going to trial.” The guitarist added, “I really don’t think he, in any way, shape or form, is guilty. So they’re gonna let this thing run its course I suppose. And because the judicial system here is so different that he was able to stay in jail here so long, who knows what the verdict is gonna end up being?! It’s hard to say.” The Lamb of God frontman recently returned home after some of the witnesses in the case failed to appear, leading to a delay . Slash concludes, “It’s a very long and, unfortunately, it’s a very expensive process. It’s like f—, really?!” During his interview, Slash also addressed his progress toward a follow-up to the ‘Apocalyptic Love’ album and his work on the Slasher Films horror flick ‘Nothing Left to Fear.’ Take a listen to Be in TV’s entire interview with Slash, including the comments on Blythe (at 5:02 into the clip), below. Listen to Slash’s Interview With Be in TV [button href=”http://loudwire.com/slash-debuts-live-video-for-anastasia/” title=”Next: Watch Slash’s ‘Anastasia’ Video” align=”center”]

Pantera’s Phil Anselmo: ‘It’s a Shame’ Vinnie Paul Never Reached Out to Me

Kathy Flynn, WickedGoddessPhotography.com / Gilbert Carrasquillo, Getty Images The rift between longtime Pantera bandmates Phil Anselmo and Vinnie Paul has been well documented, but that hasn’t kept Anselmo from offering olive branches to open communication in the media over the years. The former Pantera frontman once again opened up about his onetime band and their disintegrated relationships in Revolver magazine’s latest issue, which recently hit newsstands. “I feel bad for Vince,” explained Anselmo in the interview (excerpted by  Blabbermouth ). “People should pity the guy. I wasn’t there when Dimebag [Darrell] was murdered, but he sure as f— was. That’s his flesh and blood, murdered right in front of him. It’s a shame that Vince never reached out to [bassist]  Rex [Brown] and I. I think the healing process would have been beneficial to him, instead of his knee-jerk reaction to fear and his therapy through tit bars and whiskey.” The vocalist added that while he will admit his role through a fair share of mistakes that led to the downfall of Pantera, he wasn’t alone. “One guy can’t break up a band,” says Anselmo. “You have to understand, it goes all four ways when a band breaks up. Yes, I made mistakes. Yes, there was a lack of communication on both sides and some of it is my fault — a lot of it is my fault.” Anselmo also insists that he would have repaired his relationship with Dimebag had the guitar legend not been slain. “We would have made amends. I would like to think he would be proud of me for pulling myself out of the muck, the abyss,” says the frontman. “I just choose to remember the positive things. He was almost like the perfect counterpoint to me. We may have clashed to a certain extent, but we would always find a happy medium. It was a vital relationship that I miss greatiy.” [button href=”http://loudwire.com/vinnie-paul-on-pantera-reunion-it-aint-gonna-happen/” title=”Next: Vinnie Paul Says Pantera Reunion ‘Ain’t Gonna Happen'” align=”center”]

Mark Tremonti and His Band Visit U.S. Troops Stationed in Germany

American Forces Network – Photo Courtesy of Russell Toof Over the years as a member of Creed and Alter Bridge , guitarist Mark Tremonti has taken the opportunity to play for and meet members of the military, and now that he’s out on the road with his own self-titled band, that tradition continues. Tremonti and his bandmates Wolfgang Van Halen, Eric Friedman and Garrett Whitlock made a detour to the Warrior Zone in Heidelberg, Germany on Feb. 5, where they took the time to sign some autographs, talk to members of the military and take a few photos. Tremonti himself also spoke with American Forces Network’s Russell Toof about his experiences visiting the military. In a video interview (posted below), the Tremonti frontman says there was never any hesitation once a visit was requested. “Who’s going to say no to that,” asks the guitarist-singer. “We definitely wanted to come out here to see everybody.” He added, “Anytime you can make someone happy that’s away from home and bring any kind of joy to any rock and roll fans that are out here, away from their home, away from their country, it’s great to help out in any way we can.” Tremonti says he’s made it a point over the years to invite military personnel to their shows to meet and visit with them. He concluded, “I know they’re doing everything they can for us. I know they’re away from their families and friends, so it’s gotta be tough. So we respect the hell out of ‘em.” Watch Mark Tremonti’s Interview With American Forces Network [button href=”http://loudwire.com/tremonti-wish-you-well-video/” title=”Next: Watch Tremonti’s ‘Wish You Well’ Video” align=”center”]

Mark Tremonti and His Band Visit U.S. Troops Stationed in Germany

American Forces Network – Photo Courtesy of Russell Toof Over the years as a member of Creed and Alter Bridge , guitarist Mark Tremonti has taken the opportunity to play for and meet members of the military, and now that he’s out on the road with his own self-titled band, that tradition continues. Tremonti and his bandmates Wolfgang Van Halen, Eric Friedman and Garrett Whitlock made a detour to the Warrior Zone in Heidelberg, Germany on Feb. 5, where they took the time to sign some autographs, talk to members of the military and take a few photos. Tremonti himself also spoke with American Forces Network’s Russell Toof about his experiences visiting the military. In a video interview (posted below), the Tremonti frontman says there was never any hesitation once a visit was requested. “Who’s going to say no to that,” asks the guitarist-singer. “We definitely wanted to come out here to see everybody.” He added, “Anytime you can make someone happy that’s away from home and bring any kind of joy to any rock and roll fans that are out here, away from their home, away from their country, it’s great to help out in any way we can.” Tremonti says he’s made it a point over the years to invite military personnel to their shows to meet and visit with them. He concluded, “I know they’re doing everything they can for us. I know they’re away from their families and friends, so it’s gotta be tough. So we respect the hell out of ‘em.” Watch Mark Tremonti’s Interview With American Forces Network [button href=”http://loudwire.com/tremonti-wish-you-well-video/” title=”Next: Watch Tremonti’s ‘Wish You Well’ Video” align=”center”]

Buckcherry Singer Josh Todd Talks ‘Confessions,’ Seven Deadly Sins, New Film + More

Photo by Stevie D. Buckcherry have a busy year ahead of them with the release of their sixth studio album ‘Confessions,’ which drops Feb. 19. They are also in the midst of a U.S. tour with Kid Rock that runs through early April. Loudwire had the privilege to speak to frontman Josh Todd about the new album and the things in his life that influenced its theme of the seven deadly sins. We also discussed the film project he is working on to compliment the new disc. Check out our interview with Josh Todd below: You’ve said that ‘Confessions’ is based on the seven deadly sins, and I’m wondering if you can expand on that and also tell me what the album title means to you personally? There was a point in my life – when I was a youth, when I lost a family member and I acted out in my grieving process through the deadly sins so that’s kind of what the story’s about on the record. I think the seven sins are timeless and that everybody struggles with them in their daily lives all the time – it’s something that we’ve been throwing around for a long time, [guitarist] Keith [Nelson] and I as far as doing a record. There’s a lot of people who’ve done it but we wanted to do our take on it and I feel like we really did it justice. As a lyric writer, I wrote all the lyrics — it was really challenging for me and fun, as well. When I sit back and listen to this I’m so proud that it’s part of the Buckcherry catalog. The record makes me look at the seven deadly sins in a different way – when I listened to ‘Sloth,’ I didn’t expect it to be so soulful. When thinking about specific sins, did you already have a certain direction in your mind that you would go with them? I’m glad you brought that up about ‘Sloth,’ because nobody’s really talked about it. That was the hardest song for me to get through. When you look up sloth it relates to suicide and my father committed suicide when I was 10. It’s about how I felt when that happened – when he actually called my sister and I on the phone that night before he did it. I can’t remember what he said to me because I was just too young to process it. He was just saying goodbye and I didn’t know what that meant, until the next day. It was heavy and I struggled getting through recording those vocals and Keith worked with me and was really sensitive about what I was going through to get it out, but I think it turned out to be really beautiful. There are songs named after the seven deadly sins, but there’s a total of 16 tracks on the record. How did you choose what other songs would accompany the theme of the album — such as ‘Nothing Left But Tears,’ ‘Water,’ ‘The Truth’ etc. I wrote a short film to go along with the record and we’ve had such a hard time with the funding and we’re still working on that. The original idea was to have the record be the soundtrack to the film and we wanted to incorporate some of the elements like ‘Air’ and ‘Water’ and that’s why those are there. ‘The Truth’ coincides with the love interest in the story and it’s a real beautiful story but I also wanted to write songs that were memorable and mean something to somebody else not just me and what I was focused on at the time. That’s part of the challenge with writing songs – you want to take enough of your personal experiences so that you can get excited about performing it every night and you can go back to that place and get motivated because you have to sing your songs thousands of times. What did you notice about writing a screenplay that differed from writing songs for you? I’m a really big fan of storytelling and writing and I read a lot of books and I’ve done some acting and I’ve read a lot of scripts. Maybe about six or seven years ago I took a swing at writing a screenplay on my own, and I wrote a comedy actually, and Stevie D., our guitar player read it at one point and was like, “Why don’t you ressurect a character that was in the comedy?” and make it about this film. At the time I was just writing a screenplay based on my life so I just combined the two. What’s the progress on the film project? We got a great director, his name is Billy Jayne and he just directed both of our first two videos ‘Gluttony’ and ‘Wrath,’ and we introduce the character in the movie. His name is Gilby Stretcher. He basically is me in the movie as an adolescent 17-year-old kid. It’s going to be good, it’s a beautiful little journey about a kid that comes home from school and finds his dad dead and acts out through his behavior and the seven sins and then finds a love interest. In the end, he forgives his father and his this girl that he’s down with who’s the complete opposite of him. It’s really cool. If you had to choose a well-known actor to play you in a biopic, who would it be and why? Let’s see I’d like a young Leonardo DiCaprio. He did ‘Basketball Diaries’ and I think he’s just a great f—ing actor. I’m a big fan of his and I think he’d do a good job. ‘Confessions’ is the sixth studio album for Buckcherry. How was the recording process of this album for you? This record took a long time and it was aggravating at times – a lot of writing and re-writing, we just put a lot of work into it. I think it’s going to pay off and I think it’s our best record, honestly. As a whole, as a body of work, I think people will take us a little more seriously than they have in the past. We did it again with Keith [Nelson] who produced it with Marti [Frederiksen] and that’s how we’ve been doing the last two records so that was familiar which I like. I like having Keith there because he and I have a long history and I can talk to him in ways that nobody understands. What is one of your favorite tracks off the record and why? Probably the one I’m most lyrically proud of and spent a lot of time on is ‘Pride.’ I think that’s a very cool song for us and really off the beaten path. It was more poetry, that song and I’m a big fan of The Doors and Jim Morrison. I wanted a song that was poetry and the verses are like that so I’m proud of that song. Buckcherry’s ‘Confessions’ drops on Feb. 19. The album is available for pre-order in a few cool bundles through the band’s merch site or digitally via iTunes .  [button href=”http://loudwire.com/buckcherry-josh-todd-new-single-gluttony/” title=”Next: Josh Todd Digs Deep Into New Single ‘Gluttony'” align=”center”] Check Out the Video for Buckcherry’s New Single ‘Gluttony’

Jane’s Addiction Guitarist Dave Navarro Gets Naked for New PETA Campaign

PETA Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro has long been an activist for animal rights, and now the guitarist is proving it in his latest campaign for PETA. In a spot geared towards exposing the cruelty of animals led by the cosmetic industry, the rocker bares all in a squeamish series of photos. Throughout the photo series, Navarro can be seen simulating the torture animals endure at the hands of humans in the quest for perfecting cosmetics and household cleaners. Images of Navarro, like the one seen above, bleeding from the eye with patches of flesh ripped off and bleeding, accompany the message PETA is promoting, ‘Animal Testing Kills: Choose Cruelty-Free.’ The campaign not only calls out the heinous testing methods but helps promote cruelty free testing throughout the industry. In the behind the scenes clip below posted by PETA, Navarro talks about his first exposure to cruelty free makeup and how he learned about the inhumane practices, leading to his quest to become an advocate for the animals. “They’re not taking a bunny rabbit and putting mascara on it. They’re injecting a chemical directly into its eye to see what kind of adverse reaction happens to it,” Navarro explained in the interview. “In many cases, parts of their body are ripped open. They’re all alive, and they’re all aware. It’s torture for the animal, it’s terrifying and painful and probably one of the cruelest things done in the name of vanity.” This doesn’t mark the first time that Navarro has geared down for PETA though and if we were betting folk, probably not the last. He also participated in PETA’s ‘ Ink, Not Mink ‘ campaign, protesting the fur industry. Watch the clip below to see Navarro behind the scenes at his gory photo shoot and to learn more about cruelty-free animal testing, but be warned, it’s not for the faint at heart, as it contains some graphic images of animals. Watch Dave Navarro’s PETA Photo Shoot [Contains Graphic Images] ? [button href=”http://loudwire.com/dave-navarro-sends-canadian-musician-new-guitar-to-replace-stolen-instrument/” title=”Navarro Sends Canadian Musician New Guitar to Replace Stolen Instrument” align=”center”]