Archive for September 25th, 2012

Devin Townsend Talks ‘Epicloud,’ Evolution of His Music, Legendary ‘Skullet’ + More

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire On a lovely New York City evening, we hiked up to the roof of the legendary Irving Plaza to have a discussion with the eclectic and somewhat undefinable musician known as Devin Townsend . We sat down with the always entertaining frontman to talk about a mass of topics shortly before his set on the ‘Epic Kings & Idols’ tour, featuring Katatonia and Paradise Lost . We spoke with Townsend about the continuously evolving and seemingly out-of-nowhere progression of his career, the writing process behind his latest album, ‘Epicloud,’ working with members of Between the Buried and Me , Gojira and the Dillinger Escape Plan , among others for ‘Deconstruction,’ and, of course, what provoked Townsend to chop of his legendary “skullet” hairstyle. Check out our exclusive video interview with Devin Townsend. Devin Townsend Talks to Loudwire

Korpiklaani + More Bring Folk Metal Show to New York City

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire The Finnish folk metalers of Korpiklaani graced New York’s Gramercy Theater on Saturday (Sept. 22) with a stellar performance along with Moonsorrow, Tyr and Metsatoll. The New York crowd moshed, danced and crowd surfed during the entire Korpiklaani set. The band had charming stage presence as they played fan favorites such as ‘Levan Polka,’ ‘Kunnia,’ ‘Wooden Pints,’ ‘Journey Man’ and numerous others. They also played some tavern tunes that the crowd appreciated such as ‘Beer Beer,’ ‘Vodka,’ ‘Tequila,’ ‘Happy Little Boozer,’ just to name a few. The Helsinki pagan metalers of Moonsorrow rocked fans with their heavy sound as they donned fake blood all over their faces and body. Sweaty and smelly doom metal never sounded so killer. While the gentleman of Tyr, from the Faroe Islands, had an outstanding set as they won over some New York City fans. The band had the ability to incite mosh pits with one song and cause couples to slow dance with another. Estonian group Metsatoll kicked off the incredible night of European metal, which was a true treat for the NYC crowd. Korpiklaani’s North American Tour in support of their album ‘Manala’ has ended, but you can check out our photos of the New York gig below. The band is currently on tour in Europe. For a full list of dates and countries, go here . Korpiklaani Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Moonsorrow: Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Tyr: Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Liz Ramanand, Loudwire

Rancid Hitting Studio to Record New Album

Noel Vasquez, Getty Images Veteran punk rockers  Rancid have set up shop in a San Francisco studio to record what will be their eighth album, reveals drummer Branden Steineckert via Twitter . Details are sparse on the group’s new disc, which will be their first since 2009′s ‘Let the Dominoes Fall.’ The band has yet to reveal their producer, though Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz has overseen each of their records since 2000. While an official release date has not been announced, the disc is tentatively expected to arrive in early 2013. Rancid will break from the studio on Oct. 16 to play a benefit show in Los Angeles at the home of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea . The event, which takes place on the bassist’s birthday, will raise funds for Flea’s non-profit Silverlake Conservatory . Rancid will then finish out 2012 with a U.K. tour launching in Belfast Nov. 28. In related news, Rancid singer Tim Armstrong just revealed via Twitter that his other band, the Transplants, are currently in the process of mixing their next album.

The Melvins’ Buzz Osborne Recalls Past Tours With Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie

Lucy Johnston, Getty Images The Melvins are in the midst of their ’51 States in 51 Days’ tour, attempting to set a Guinness World Record for fastest tour of the United States. Frontman Buzz Osborne has been keeping a tour diary at Spin.com , and had some interesting observations about previous tours with Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie . Playing Sioux Falls, S.D. on the tour reminded Osbourne of the last time the Melvins played there, which was with Nine Inch Nails in the mid ’90s. He remembers NIN smashing up the dressing room there, causing about $30,000 in damage. “This was NIN’s ‘Downward Spiral’ tour, which ended up being the bands zenith, meaning it was their biggest and most interesting album along with the biggest and most semi-interesting point in their career,” Osborne writes. “I honestly didn’t know much about NIN before this tour. I mean I knew they were popular with the MTV baby rock crowd and that they had sold a lot of records but I had never actually listened to one of them. Why would I? I usually have no interest in checking out what sort of bands the baby rockers dig. This is as a result of almost always hating whatever bands the baby rockers dig.” Osborne says at least Nine Inch Nails and their crew were nice to them during the tour.  He can’t say the same about White Zombie, and unloads with both barrels. He describes it as the worst tour experience of his life, due mainly to a road manager dubbed ‘Mr. Mullet.’ “Mr. Mullet told us straight up that he was going to see to it that we got fu–ed over every night PA-wise in order to not piss off his boss, the swollen White Zombie dictator Rob Zombie,” Osborne recalls. “And it just went from there. He openly told us that Rob acted a prick to him, and that’s how life on the road was going to go for us as well. Perfect.” He goes on to say, “One insane thing after another every day for the whole tour. On one of the few times we actually got a soundcheck, Mr. Mullet came on stage and pulled the plug because Rob was eating and that we were to “shut the f–k up” because he didn’t like the “noise.” The ’51 States in 51 Days’ tour isn’t even halfway done yet, with plenty more tour diary entries to come. Hopefully Osborne will spill more great stories from the good old days as the tour progresses.

Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Daughter Design ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ T-Shirt

Kevin Winter, Getty Images Foo Fighters frontman  Dave Grohl is getting some serious daddy-daughter points by signing on to design a ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ t-shirt with his daughter Violet. Audio Ink reveals that the shirts are aimed at the younger demographic, and the tee designed by the Grohl father-daughter team (shown below) features three of the ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ characters drawn and colored by Violet against a white t-shirt backdrop. You can also make out a faintly drawn character with an emo haircut and devil horns with a halo hovering overhead, which might be the work of Violet’s dad. The shirt is just one of many created by musicians and/or their offspring. Rocker Jack Black created a shirt with his many facial expressions revealed in various colors against a green t-shirt backdrop, while the Tenacious D singer and his son Sam teamed up on a “Brobee” t-shirt with a white backing. The Flaming Lips ‘ Wayne Coyne, Devo ‘s Mark Mothersbaugh, actor Jon Heder and rapper Biz Markie have also created special shirts for the ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ line. You can check out all of the ‘Yo Gabba Gabba’ t-shirts here . Volcom.com [button href=”http://loudwire.com/foo-fighters-concert-ejection/” title=”Next: Dave Grohl Ejects Fighting Fan From Concert” align=”center”]

Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister Talks Touring, Bandmates, New Album Plans + More

Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Lemmy Kilmister was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. He spoke all about his experience playing festivals, his Motorhead bandmates, this past summer’s Mayhem Festival, his adoration for fellow British band Skunk Anansie and much more. If you missed Jackie’s show, read the full interview with Lemmy Kilmister: There’s going to be ‘The World Is Ours Vol. 2’ release; it’s going to feature Motorhead’s 2011 headlining Wacken Open Air Festival, highlights from Sonisphere in the UK and Rock in Rio in Brazil. What was it like playing that Wacken show, what was it like to headline Wacken last year? All around the world rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay. I think it was 85,000 people the last one we did, it was amazing. We did the full show old show, it’s a great festival. Rio was bigger in fact, Rio was good but you can only see the first 50 rows really. It must look like some crazy sea of people when you look out on the crowd. I’m so used to it now, it’s a funny thing to say you got used to it but I am. You see a lot of people, it’s just a lot of people – you don’t really think about the number, the actual number because they go out over the horizon and they’re out of sight anyway. It’s really funny I got used to that really quick, at first you get intimidated the first time – Reading, I think was our first one, Reading festival, there was like 20,000 people and we were freaked out. After that I really didn’t care ‘cause it’s only good as the one guy who’s applauding, isn’t it? I wanted to ask you how your summer was, you were obviously on Mayhem this summer. Which band did you bond with most over the course of the Mayhem Festival? Let’s see now, Anthrax probably ’cause they’re old friends of ours already – so yeah we had a good time with them. They’re good lads. How was your overall experience on the Mayhem Festival, it was your first time playing obviously. It was my first time playing the Mayhem one, yeah, we just went on when we should just go on and we came off when we should come off and that’s all you have to look after really. There’s things, you have to be punctual – a lot of people aren’t with us because they’re unprofessional. Do your main influences like Buddy Holly and Little Richard still come into play when you record new music? No. Not at all? Well no, it’s a different time now, isn’t it? It’s not 1959 anymore, if it is they didn’t tell me. Do you hear them any different now than when you were a kid? No it sticks with you in that frame, with me it does anyway. You remember the things you were hearing then, little time capsules songs are. It hasn’t changed much over the year so what is it that makes writing and recording a Motorhead album with Phil [Campbell] and Mikkey [Dee] such a comfortable process? It’s not comfortable when we’re doing an album, it’s terrible. I mean we fight like cat and dog over the smallest thing – “That extra beat” “Shut Up!” We always fight over things but that’s how it should be, you should have different points of view or else you’d never get it right. How do you come to some sort of conclusion or agreement at the end of the day? The one who talks last, gets it. [Laughs] The one who shouts out gets it, usually. I’ve heard you compliment your other bandmates in the past and how much of a better musician do you feel you are as a result of the time you’ve spent playing with Phil and Mikkey? I’m not better at all, they just enable to be lazier ‘cause they’re so much better you know. We play what we play, we all got our little niche what we cover for the other two. You’ll never hear us do a mistake onstage, there are lots [Laughs] ‘cause we hate rehearsals but you’ll never hear them because we cover them up real good, usually at least. There’s a couple now and again. I really like playing with these two there some of the best musicians in the world right now and they don’t get enough recognition for it. It’s a shame. You’ve collaborated with a lot of different artists over the years. Is there anybody that you’ve never had a chance to? Yes, Skin from Skunk Anansie is one, Dave Edmunds although I did half a collaboration with him once. He produced our first four tracks ever. Who else? I don’t know really, there’s a lot of people that you think you would like to but then you come down to it and you think about it real hard and you think “No it wouldn’t work.” I’d like to collaborate with Billy Gibbons again ‘cause last time it was only half collaboration, I didn’t get to play in the studio with him. I’ve got to imagine you’ve met everbody that you’ve wanted to in terms of musicians and other artists. Has there ever been anyone who was a letdown when you finally met them in person? Oh I don’t bad mouth people. I’m not asking you to name a name. Yeah you are. You shouldn’t do that, if they got to let you down isn’t that enough dismay you want to share it with people. No, I’ve met most of the people I’ve wanted to and most have been okay. Well I just hope that everybody has been respectful to you because … They should be because I ain’t bad mouthed them, right? [Laughs] You’re a legend, man, and you deserve to be respected and when you sit there and you go to a Motorhead show and you watch the band play live you’re like “Wow there are so many bands that have been influenced by Motorhead over the years.” It’s pretty amazing so they need to respect that. You can’t really hear it though. Motley Crue used to play a couple of songs of ours onstage to get themselves going but you can’t hear it in their music, obviously. It’s like your influences are just your influences, they make you play certain way or they make you realize a certain thing about how it was done. The Everly Brothers are one of my biggest influences and there’s nothing in that obviously ‘cause there’s no one to harmonize with in my band but that was a big valuable influence on me but I couldn’t tell you what for particularly – it isn’t the harmonies which is what I loved them for. So there must be – there’s something else I got from them that I don’t even know about, subliminival. Who do you listen to before you go onstage? I don’t listen to music before we go onstage. There’s enough s— going on without listening to music, as well. [Laughs] Usually I just get up from the table, put a marker in the book and walk onstage and I’m alright. I’m pretty easy to please, I don’t ask for much. Is there any new music that you’ve been listening to lately that’s exciting to you? Not lately, I have not been really looking for any to listen to. Skunk Anansie have a new album coming out though which you should promote and ZZ Top have a really good album out now ‘La Futura.’ The Skunk Anansie one you should listen to, Americans, ‘cause you ain’t got them yet and you should ‘cause they’re excellent. What can we expect in terms of new music and another tour, I guess we’re going to have to wait until next year? Yes we’re going on tour in Europe at the end of October but we’re not playing here until the New Year obviously. I don’t know where we’re going to be, we didn’t set it up yet. For your next record are you going to have a collaboration with any other artists? I’m hoping to get Skin to do a song with me, so I got the solo album almost finished and I just need one more track so I thought I’d do one with her. She said “yeah” but our schedules really odd, they’re not being helpful [laughs] — the schedules themselves. We’ll wait and see, it’s been 10 years anyway, making it. Six months ain’t going to hurt. In terms of another Motorhead record, do you think in 2013? Next year we go into the studio in January so from then on it’s a work in progress. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Canadian film director Sam Dunn, who put together and starred in the ‘Metal Evolution Series’ on VH1 Classics on her next show. Full Metal Jackie can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com .

Green Day ‘¡Uno!’ – Album Review

Reprise Green Day  are a band who’ve reached the level where each new album is greeted with anticipation and scrutiny to see where they’ll take their music next. After taking a couple of years off and then returning with the announcement that a trilogy of albums was en route, there’s more focus than ever on what the band will provide listeners. The band’s latest, ‘¡Uno!,’ may deserve a second look once the whole trilogy arrives, but for now it stands on its own as a mixture of the punk goodness, attitude and heart that their early albums delivered combined with some nods to the straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll that they grew up on. The band dials back the political rhetoric to some extent on ‘¡Uno!,’ and puts the focus back on the angst and the joys of the heart, with tracks like ‘Stay the Night’ and the lead single ‘Oh Love’ offering variations on the theme that feel perfect for radio. ‘Fell for You’ is also a mid-album standout, speaking to the nervousness of first love, while ‘Sweet 16′ is an infectious gem. But for those not looking to get in touch with their feelings, there’s some great rock tracks on this album as well. ‘Let Yourself Go’ is destined to be a longtime concert favorite, with its blistering aggression, f-bomb filled lyrics, and the full punk scream of Billie Joe Armstrong begging for an audience sing-along to “ Gotta let it go / Gotta let it go .” And while we’re on the subject of sing-alongs, it won’t be long before crowds are joining Armstrong with “ We’re all crazy / You’re all crazy ” from ‘Loss of Control.’ Meanwhile, ‘Kill the DJ’ finds the band venturing into Franz Ferdinand -like beats; ‘Angel Blue’ has guitar work reminiscent of the Clash version of ‘I Fought the Law’; and ‘Troublemaker,’ with its chugging Tre Cool drums and clap-along vibe, seems a perfect fit for the live setting. There’s also a sense of familiarity on the album, as the leadoff track ‘Nuclear Family’ immediately lets you know from the opening drum beats and guitar riff that this is the band you have come to love. This piece of ear candy will be stuck in your head for months and fits perfectly alongside some of their greatest hits. Meanwhile, ‘Carpe Diem’ is ‘¡Uno!’s’ anthem, with Armstrong belting, “ Carpe diem, the battle cry / Are we all too young to die? / Ask a reason and no reply / Are we all too young to die? ” With more pointed lyrics like ‘ Making a living / Making a killing / What’s worth forgiving? ” the track is one of the strong statements on the record. All in all, it looks like the reflective ‘¡Uno!’ is the first step to a promising future from the ambitious trilogy project. We can’t wait to see how it fits with ‘¡Dos!’and ‘¡Tre!.’