Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Clutch have been quiet as of late, but the band is ready to emerge from the studio with their latest chugging opus, ‘Earth Rocker.’ The group just completed the effort, and they currently have circled March 2013 on their calendar to release the disc. Singer Neil Fallon tells Antiquiet , “Last minute overdubs are fun — Harmonicas, tambourines (yes, we use those), claps, the odd backing vocal. Recording can be monotonous, so those unintended moments can be a lot of fun. It’s kind of like kindergarten music class, but with beer. And sometimes the spontaneity of a last ditch idea breathes a lot of life back into a song that we’ve been beating up for weeks on end. A looming deadline can be a great muse!” As for the sound, the frontman adds, “It has a lot in common with ‘Blast Tyrant’ in that Machine’s production techniques are really unique. It differs from ‘Blast Tyrant’ and a lot of other Clutch records in that, overall, the songs are faster and concise.” With the record ready to go, Clutch will get their live chops in order. The band has booked a handful of late October/early November shows in the Midwest, and will also take part in a late year holiday tour in the period between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. After that, the group will head to Europe for January and February dates before ‘Earth Rocker’s’ March release. Clutch Tour With Lionize and Monstro 10/31 — Flint, Mich. — Machine Shop 11/1 — Flint, Mich. — Machine Shop 11/2 — Joliet, Ill. — Mojoes 11/3 — Detroit, Mich. — St. Andrews Hall 11/4 –Detroit, Mich. — St. Andrews Hall Holiday Tour With Mondo Generator, Saviors and Wino 12/26 — Washington, D.C. — 9:30 Club 12/27 — Asheville, N.C. — Orange Peel 12/28 — Lexington, Ky. — Buster’s Billiards & Backroom 12/29 — Columbus, Ohio — Newport Music Hall 12/30 — Sayreville, N.J. — Starland Ballroom 12/31 — Worcester, Mass. — The Palladium
Stuart Wilson, Getty Images It's been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career for the Red Hot Chili Peppers , and we're attempting to count down the 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs. To help narrow things down, we're keeping it to original tracks, which knocks out their splendid covers of 'Higher Ground' and 'Love Rollercoaster,' but there's still so many other great songs to choose from. From their early days as a college rock/party band through their present day reign as chart-topping hitmakers, singer Anthony Kiedis and bassist extraordinaire Flea have kept the band's spirit lively and sound extra funky. They've been joined on their mission by guitarists Hillel Slovak, Jack Sherman, DeWayne McKnight, John Frusciante , Arik Marshall, Jesse Tobias, Dave Navarro , and Josh Klinghoffer and drummers Jack Irons, Cliff Martinez, D.H. Peligro, and Chad Smith , and have rarely missed a step. So let's take you to the songs you love, take you all the way, and count down the 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs: ? 10 'Suck My Kiss' From: 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' (1991) ? ? Red Hot Chili Peppers may have gotten more commercial around the 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' era, but 'Suck My Kiss' still had the energy and ferocity of some of their early albums. The track is driven by Flea's ferocious bass playing, while Anthony Kiedis delivers overly-amorous lyrics about his partner's obvious sexiness. Listen to 'Suck My Kiss' ? ? 9 'Brendan's Death Song' From: 'I'm With You' (2011) ? ? 'Brendan's Death Song' is a new tune, but it makes our 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs as an example of a band connecting as one, letting their emotions from a traumatic experience flow simultaneously in perfect harmony. The group penned the track for late Los Angeles club owner and close friend Brendan Mullen, who gave the band their first break. Anthony Kiedis said the song was instantaneous after he delivered the news to his bandmates, and his voice, in particular, reaches emotional levels not heard prior on the band's records. Listen to 'Brendan's Death Song' ? ? 8 'Californication' From: 'Californication' (1999) ? ? The title track from Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Californication' album definitely shows the band's dance-with-the-dark side of life in Hollywood. The group delves into the superficial nature of modern society, with references like “ Space may be the final frontier / But it's made in a Hollywood basement ” and “ Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging ” lamenting an increasingly plastic world. The song would reach No. 1 on both the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock Tracks charts. Listen to 'Californication' ? ? 7 'Knock Me Down' From: 'Mother's Milk' (1989) ? ? Still reeling from the death of guitarist Hillel Slovak, Red Hot Chili Peppers found themselves in the midst of a band shakeup, with Chad Smith and John Frusciante eventually coming on board. Anthony Kiedis was also coming out of rehab and wrote this song about his withdrawal and realizing that if Slovak could die, he too was invincible. Listen to 'Knock Me Down' ? ? 6 'Dani California' From: 'Stadium Arcadium' (2006) ? ? The character of Dani California was first conjured up by Anthony Kiedis in 1999's 'Californication' and continued her journey in the 2002 single 'By the Way,' but with 2006's 'Stadium Arcadium,' the singer used the character as a representation of many women he knew in his life and built a full song around her. The video featured the band representing the different eras and genres of music that influenced their style. The group would win Grammy awards for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for the track. Listen to 'Dani California' ? ? 5 'Breaking the Girl' From: 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' (1991) ? ? 'Breaking the Girl' found singer Anthony Kiedis dipping into his personal life for material. The singer revealed in his 'Scar Tissue' autobiography that the song was about the turbulent relationship with his ex-girlfriend, and also his father's relationship with women. The track is driven by Chad Smith's percussive instrumentation, and Flea's initially hypnotic and later aggressive bass playing. Listen to 'Breaking the Girl' ? ? 4 'By the Way' From: 'By the Way' (2002) ? ? 'By the Way' earns its spot among the 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers tracks for its ability to show the band's strengths. The John Frusciante guitar line demonstrates a melody-driven style, while Chad Smith and Flea deliver a full-on audio assault on drums and bass. Singer Anthony Kiedis told Kerrang of the song, “I thought that single was an ?ber-bombastic assault of non-commercialism.” The track is No. 8 on Loudwire's Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs list. Listen to 'By the Way' ? ? 3 'Give It Away' From: 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' (1991) ? ? If ever there were a guitar lick and drum beat that told you exactly what band it was, 'Give It Away' is that song for Red Hot Chili Peppers. While the lyrics may seem nonsensical, the group revealed on VH1's 'Behind the Music' that the track comes form the idea that the more that you give, the more you receive, so why not give it all away. Kiedis would later say that his girlfriend at the time, Nina Hagen, inspired the lyrics, after she gave him a jacket he liked from her closet. Listen to 'Give It Away' ? ? 2 'Scar Tissue' From: 'Californication' (1999) ? ? 'Scar Tissue' is a must for the 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs. The cut would serve as the band's first single marking the return of guitarist John Frusciante to the lineup after dealing with the substance abuse issues. The track itself featured themes of life and resurrection, which reflected not only Frusciante's return but other band members' abilities to emerge from their past demons as well. The moniker would also serve as the title for Anthony Kiedis' future biography. Listen to 'Scar Tissue' ? ? 1 'Under the Bridge' From: 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' (1991) ? ? The song that catapulted the band to superstardom was also one in which Anthony Kiedis laid his soul bare for all to see. The track was about the singer's heroin addiction and his own isolation the deeper he got into the drug. The lyrics initially were part of a poem, and producer Rick Rubin reportedly convinced the singer to explore them as a song. The track also featured a wide style shift, from the somber opening guitar chords through the mid-tempo drum beats up to the climactic finale. Listen to 'Under the Bridge' ? ? What Is Your Favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers Song? So there you have it, our 10 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs? Did we get it right, or with the birds are we sharing our lonely view? There's still plenty of great songs that just missed out on the list. What would you add and what would take away? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. ?
Season of Mist Records Morbid Angel frontman David Vincent was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. He spoke all about the band’s headlining North American tour with Dark Funeral and Grave. Vincent also spoke candidly about his troubles crossing the border into Canada as well as Morbid Angel’s latest disc ‘Illud Divinium Insanus.’ If you missed Jackie’s show, read the full interview with David Vincent below: Morbid Angel out with Grave and Dark Funeral through late October; tell us how the tour’s been going so far. This tour has been going really well, we’ve had some great shows – a lot of support, a lot of excitement. It’s been a long time since Morbid Angel’s toured the states so a lot of the hoopla that we’ve garnering in Europe and South America and elsewhere, we’re now able to bring it home and show everybody what we’ve been up to for the past so many years. A band can’t really say that they’ve made it without being denied entry into Canada. What are border crossings like for a metal band especially Morbid Angel? You know I got to say that we’ve been back and forth about this, we did have some challenges getting into Canada – this happens to bands throughout their career. I’ve personally never had a problem getting into the country and this particular agent, the agents up there – if they decide they want you in or they don’t want you in then that’s pretty much what’s going to happen, all reasons be damned. It is what it is, my main thing with it is I just don’t like disappointing fans, when we’re that people plan on going to – luckily they worked it out, both the promoters in Montreal and Toronto are standup people and they honored people’s ticket prices and be refunded and stuff. That’s all the business side of it, the real crime here is that the border agents they don’t care about their promoters, apparently they don’t care about their Canadian citizens who are fans and I would hope in the future that they wouldn’t be so benign to some of these concerns. You’ve been getting good reviews on this current tour, so, David, how will that most affect what you do going forward? Well I think the main thing is we enjoy touring … we enjoy playing and really getting down and showing people what we’re all about. It has been several years since the band has done a complete stateside tour. We’ve been out doing west coast stops, flying in special events, Maryland Deathfest, we did that this year – just sort of larger events but not really gearing up and getting everybody all suited up for battle and getting on the tour bus. It’s feeling fresh, the bands that we’re touring with are really good bands both of which we’ve been friends with for a number of years. Everything’s going well and like I said the response has been really good and we’re riding it all the way home to our final show which is in our area, in the Tampa Bay area on the 21st of October. The latest record ‘Illud Divinium Insanus’ was your first Morbid Angel album in 16 years, in what ways did you find your creative relationship with Trey [Azagthoth] had changed and what about that changed relationship would you like to explore next? One thing about Morbid Angel is that there’s never been any rules and it’s an interesting perspective, we just kind of go in and do what we do and sometimes it blossoms – every flower is a different color and a different smell and this album it surprises people, a couple of track on there and then there’s a couple of other tracks that are as Morbid Angel as you can get. People are coming around, it was slow going at first, people were going “What are these guys doing here?” and night after night I’m getting comments, people are like, “I finally really listened to it and I really like it, it just took me a while.” That’s no different than some of the other records we’ve done in the past so everything is going as planned, thanks for asking. You’re a guest on the new Chaostar album and rumor has it in a narrative sense? Yeah, you find out things – you’re the metal oracle these days. How’s voice over work satisfying compared to singing or playing? When there’s something creative that I can identify with, it’s easy when you have like minds sharing a creative outlet – it’s good stuff so I’m looking forward to seeing what the end result is going to be. What’s the best way for people to keep up with you on what’s happening, is it your personal Facebook or Twitter? Sure the easiest thing to do is official David Vincent on Facebook and you can keep up with me and all the day to day idiocies and stupid things that happen along with special messages to the fans. It’s a cool thing, I’ve realized that these things are important so that’s where people can go and I read it. I do have some people to help me from time to time. We do get busy overseas and sometimes and even in the best of third world countries, internet is something to be coveted. I’m just really excited about a lot of this stuff and we’re looking forward to pounding our way through the states. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Joe Duplantier of Gojira 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 .
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Five Finger Death Punch take pride in their live set, and they’re putting it on full display with their new video for ‘The Pride,’ the latest single from their 2011 ‘ American Capitalist ‘ album. The clip for their latest single features footage shot during the band’s touring and showcases not only their stellar live performances but the stage setup, which includes a visual assault of imagery behind the band. The song itself deals with a fair amount of commercialism, as singer Ivan Moody riffs on a number of brand names and celebrity endorsers, while the video board in the clip has plenty of brightly placed images flashing to the crowd. Five Finger Death Punch recently wrapped up their Trespass America tour, and they’ve discussed the idea of ramping up to a January start for recording their follow-up to the ‘American Capitalist’ disc. The disc has already spawned the singles ‘Under and Over It,’ ‘Back for More,’ ‘Remember Everything,’ and ‘Coming Down,’ with ‘The Pride’ surfacing as the fifth single this month. Watch Five Finger Death Punch’s ‘The Pride’ Video [button href=”http://loudwire.com/five-finger-death-punch-jason-hook-discusses-next-album-coming-down-video-randy-blythe/” title=”Next: Jason Hook Discusses Next Five Finger Death Punch Album” align=”center”]
Victory Records Ill Niño ‘s new album, ‘Epidemia,’ hits stores on Oct. 22, but fans won’t have to wait until then to hear the disc. The band is teaming up with Loudwire to provide listeners with an exclusive stream of the album. The New Jersey-based rockers took a musical journey with their sixth release, recording in Hoboken, Austin and Denver before wrapping up the disc. Singer Cristian Machado tells Loudwire, “The recording of ‘Epidemia’ was definitely an amazing experience. We’ve set the bar higher than ever before. I truly believe this record is one of Ill Niño’s best efforts. I really can’t wait for our fans to hear the new record. I know it will connect with many of them on a new level. I can definitely say it’s going to be a crusher but will not lack any of the beauty and passion that appears on our early records.” Machado previously stated that this was the time for the band to redefine Latin metal, while drummer Dave Chavarri mentioned that they were delving more into Latin and tribal rhythms that will just expand their boundaries further than they’ve gone before. Ill Niño already gave fans a sample of the new music by recently unveiling a trailer that featured their song, ‘ The Depression .’ Fans also may have caught them building up to the new record over the past month while on tour with Static-X , who recently had to drop off the trek due to frontman Wayne Static’s medical condition. Ill Niño continue to remain on the road — check out their current tour itinerary here . So, listen to Ill Niño’s ‘Epidemia’ below. If you dig the tunes, you can pre-order the album here . Listen to Ill Niño’s ‘Epidemia’ Album
Adult Swim It’d be easy to forget that Dethklok are seen as an animated band, since braintrust Brendon Small is such a skilled guitar player, and the music isn’t secondary to the hilarious and bombastic plots of the show ’Metalocalypse.’ Strip away the funny and fantastical elements of the ‘Metalocalypse’ cartoon and listen to the music of ‘Dethalbum III,’ and it’ll become painfully obvious why metalheads love the show, the band and Small. First of all, the guitar riffs rip and snort. They are as well-constructed and as gnarly as it gets, fitting squarely into the melodic death metal categorization. But here is where the humorous aspect certainly adds some levity to music that is serious as a delinquent tax bill. How can you not have a chuckle at a song titled ‘I Ejaculate Fire’ before launching into fast and furious headbanging, courtesy of guitarwork so swift that it likely burned the fingerprints right off Small’s fingers? Small has rendered himself a more than capable riffsmith. Journeyman drummer Gene Hoglan’s footwork is as complex, propulsive and powerful as ever, with the percussion and blast beats being a signature and anchoring element of Dethklok’s sound. ‘Crush the Industry’ is a death metal gem, loaded with fills, guttural growling and overall chilling atmosphere. Put simply, it crushes skulls. ‘Andromeda’ sounds like it could have been reared in Florida, after hang sessions with Cannibal Corpse, Six Feet Under and Obituary, as it hacks a deep groove, thanks to its riffery. The galloping solo is as potent as moonshine. Most of the songs hover at four to five minutes, which is just enough time to get in, scramble your brain and get out, moving on to the next slab o’ metallic goodness. ‘Dethalbum III’ is certainly not extra progressive nor is it dynamically dazzling or esoterically experimental, but we don’t want it to be, either. It’s the extremity of the music that keeps us tuned in for 12 tracks. Another standout track is ‘Impeach God,’ which features an opening salvo so vivid, you can almost imagine fingers sailing up and down a fretboard. ‘Killstardo Abominate’ is a battering ram, as is ‘Biological Warfare.’ The riffwork on ‘Skyhunter’ is also exceptionally standout. ‘Dethalbum III’ is able to take a super serious (and often gore-slathered) genre like death metal and make it ‘deth metal.’ That is, it fuses skilled playing with a sense of humor, which is often not the case in the genre’s offerings. Big ups to Small for having created and continued his own genre. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/dethklok-discharge-crotch-blazing-new-video-for-i-ejaculate-fire-nsfw/” title=”Next: Watch Dethklok’s ‘I Ejaculate Fire’ Video” align=”center”]
Conan Colons, forward slashes, backward slashes, dots and coms — writing a URL can be a tricky business. And who better to set the record straight than rock’s very own Slash ? Slash weighed in on the subject during last night’s (Oct. 15) episode of ‘ Conan ‘ during the ‘Fan Corrections’ segment, which finds viewers sending in videos where they point out what they think are mistakes in the show. According to a YouTube user calling himself JRok34, the URL ‘Conan’ provides for ‘Fan Corrections’ submissions — which includes a small photo of Slash’s head where the slash should be — is incorrect, because it should be leaning forward. ( Forward Slash — get it?) For the definitive answer, Conan turned to Slash himself, who taped a brief response from a recording studio wherein he pointed out that because the picture shows him looking ahead, it’s very much a forward Slash — and then he demonstrated the difference between that and a back Slash by turning around and showing his back to the camera. Having made his case, he concluded by adding, “Sorry, JRok34, but you don’t know s— about HTTP addresses.” Hard to argue with that logic, no? Check out the video below to watch Slash kick his knowledge of all things internet.