YouTube President Obama began his second term with his inauguration earlier this week and with the ceremony came a number of galas . Soundgarden ‘s Chris Cornell , one of Obama’s many supporters, was invited to perform at the Commander-in-Chief’s Ball, which recognized Medal of Honor recipients and Wounded Warriors, and video footage of his entire performance has surfaced online. Cornell, armed with an acoustic guitar, took the stage to perform a trio of cover songs. However, with some microphone problems on the guitar, the set really provided a spotlight on his voice. The vocalist took the stage, telling the audience, “I’ve got to say this is an honor to play for you guys and to celebrate this event, the re-election of President Obama, so thank you so much.” From there he launched into ‘(What’s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding,’ the Nick Lowe song popularized by Elvis Costello. After making note of the microphone issue, he would perform his other two tracks with a little more amplification for the guitar. First came a powerful performance of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic ‘Long As I Can See the Light,’ which really showed off the wonderful rasp and emotion in Cornell’s voice. He followed with what he called “a song of hope or an impossible dream maybe” — a cover of John Lennon ‘s ‘Imagine.’ The full almost ten-minute performance can be seen below. Cornell would return later in the evening with the full Soundgarden lineup to perform at the Inaugural Ball , doing a three-song set of ‘Been Away Too Long,’ ‘Outshined’ and ‘Rusty Cage’ for those in attendance. Watch Chris Cornell’s Commander-in-Chief’s Ball Performance [button href=”http://loudwire.com/soundgarden-talk-future-albums-perform-at-inaugural-balls/” title=”Next: Chris Cornell Discusses Soundgarden’s Future” align=”center”]
2013 North American Tour Here comes yet another solid metal tour for 2013! New-school heavy metal heroes 3 Inches of Blood are set to hit the road with blackened death merchants Goatwhore to co-headline a North American tour starting April 10 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Near the end of the duo’s string of dates, technical death metal band Revocation and heavy metal newcomers Ramming Speed will hop on to increase the tour’s overall awesomeness. The nearly month-long tour includes a ton of Canadian dates, so metalheads north of the boarder will have plenty of chances to witness the brutality in person. After the April 10 starting date in Vancouver, the tour will venture down to the U.S. before heading back to Canada once again at the halfway point, finally capping off the dates May 4 in Cleveland. 3 Inches of Blood and Goatwhore have also revealed that they’ll be playing the 2013 New England Metal and Hardcore Festival on April 20, adding a new sonic dimension to the already must-see Worchester, Mass. institution. Check out the full list of tour dates below. See you in the pit! 3 Inches of Blood + Goatwhore 2013 Tour: 04/10 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Rickshaw Theatre (Goatwhore only) 04/11 Kamloops, British Columbia @ Level Night Club 04/12 Calgary, Alberta @ Gateway 04/13 Edmonton, Alberta @ Avenue Theatre 04/14 Regina, Saskatchewan @ Exchange 04/15 Winnipeg, Manitoba @ The Zoo Cabaret 04/16 Eau Claire, Wis. @ House Of Rock 04/17 Chicago, Ill. @ Reggie’s 04/18 Columbus, Ohio @ Ace Of Cups 04/19 Baltimore, Md. @ Ottobar 04/20 Worcester, Mass. @ Palladium / New England Metal Fest 04/21 Montreal, Quebec @ Les Foufounes Electriques 04/22 Quebec City, Quebec @ L’Agitee 04/24 Charlottetown, New Brunswick @ Hunter’s Ale House 04/25 Fredericton, New Brunswick @ Lava Vodka Bar 04/26 Moncton, New Brunswick @ OC Night Club V 04/27 Halifax, Nova Scotia @ Michael’s 3 Inches of Blood, Goatwhore, Revocation + Ramming Speed Tour Dates: 04/28 Bucksport, Maine @ The Kave 04/29 Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Saint Vitus 04/30 Burlington, Vt. @ Nectar’s 05/01 Middletown, N.Y. @ Sounds Asylum 05/02 Rochester, N.Y. @ Bug Jar 05/03 Toronto, Ontario @ Opera House 05/04 Cleveland, Ontario @ Now That’s Class (No Revocation) [button href=”http://loudwire.com/decibel-magazine-tour-2013-must-see-metal-concerts/” title=”Check Out the 2013 Must-See Metal Tours” align=”center”]
Photos: Facebook: Love and Death / eOne With Black Veil Brides making their way to Loudwire’s Cage Match Hall of Fame, it’s time for two new bands and their latest tracks to duke it out! Brian ‘Head’ Welch , who many of us may know as Korn’s former guitarist, has a new band Love and Death and they have recently released their debut album ‘Between Here & Lost.’ They enter the Cage Match with their latest track ‘I W8 4 U’ featuring For Today’s Mattie Montgomery. Love and Death have U.S. dates lined up for February and March, while Head is also slated to play some reunion shows with Korn this year. Swedish rockers Avatar take the Cage Match by storm with their new track ‘Smells Like a Freakshow’ off the band’s fourth studio album and first proper American release titled ‘Black Waltz.’ Avatar have tour dates with Sevendust and Lacuna Coil in February and solo dates set for March. For a full list of dates and cities where you can catch Avatar, go here . So will Love and Death stay alive with their track ‘I W8 4 U’ or will Avatar sniff their way to a win with ‘Smells Like a Freakshow’? Listen to both tracks and vote for your favorite in the poll below! (This Cage Match will run until Monday, Jan. 28, at 8AM ET. Fans can vote once per hour! So come back and vote often to make sure your favorite song wins!) Love and Death, ‘I W8 4 U’ Avatar, ‘Smells Like a Freakshow’ Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. Email Me When Cage Match Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of the daily winner of the Cage Match, as well as our top stories of the day. Email Rules of Cage Match: Fans can vote once per hour for their favorite song. If a song remains the reigning champ for five straight cage matches, it is retired to the Loudwire Cage Match Hall of Fame. With so many great songs out there, we have to give other bands a chance!
Razor & Tie Hatebreed fans don’t have to wait until Jan. 29 to hear the band’s new album ‘The Divinity of Purpose,’ as the Connecticut rockers are streaming the disc in full on their official site. ‘The Divinity of Purpose’ is Hatebreed’s sixth studio album and their first with new label Razor & Tie Records. In our exclusive interview with frontman Jamey Jasta, he talked about working with their new label: “It feels good that we have a good team of people behind us and we’re looking forward to getting this record out and touring in support of it – that’s all you want, you want people that like the band, people that care about the band. We’ve been lucky with pretty much every label has had those people and now we’re continuing with that.” In a separate interview with Full Metal Jackie, Jasta talks about the meaning and impact of the powerful lyrics on the new record by stating, “I hope this record is like a compass where it could point someone in a new direction, whether it’s a direction of thought or an actual action – I don’t know, that’s up to the listener.” In support of the new record Hatebreed will embark on a tour with Shadows Fall and The Contortionist, for a full list of dates, go here . They are also set to play this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival along with Anthrax, Opeth and Suicidal Tendencies. For more info on that event, go here . [button href=”http://hatebreed.com/” title=”Click to Listen to Hatebreed’s New Album ‘The Divinity of Purpose'” align=”center”]
Welcome to Rockville The Monster Energy Welcome to Rockville festival returns to Jacksonville, Fla., for its third year with a hard-rocking lineup headlined by Alice in Chains and hometown heroes Limp Bizkit . The festival has expanded to two days — April 27 and 28 at Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park along the St. Johns River. Though the exact lineups for each day have yet to be revealed, Alice in Chains and Limp Bizkit will have solid support for the event. Jacksonville legends Lynyrd Skynyrd along with 3 Doors Down , Shinedown , Stone Sour , Three Days Grace , Papa Roach , Bullet for My Valentine , Halestorm , Buckcherry , Hollywood Undead , Skillet , All That Remains , Device and Asking Alexandria are also part of the bill. Fans can also look forward to sets from Escape the Fate , Filter , In This Moment , Steel Panther , Motionless in White , Pop Evil , Otherwise , Saving Abel , Nonpoint , Red , Young Guns , Thousand Foot Krutch , Gemini Syndrome, Girl on Fire and more over the two-day weekend. A special Monster Energy Welcome to Rockville ticket presale will take place Jan. 29 and 30 at Metro PCS stores, with tickets for the general public will go on sale Feb. 1 at Ticketmaster and the WelcomeToRockvilleFestival.com website. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/alice-in-chains-2013-must-see-rock-concerts/” title=”Next: Check Out Other 2013 Must-See Rock Concerts” align=”center”]
604 / Geffen / Nothing Despite the fall of MTV’s ‘M’ portion of its programming, the art of the music video is certainly not dead. Rock and metal acts continue to create incredible visual interpretations of their most invaluable tracks, further examining the profound and introspective analysis of the themes studied within their music. This list is not about that. This list is about the Sexiest Rock Music Videos of all time. We’ve all gotten that certain special feeling while experiencing a sexy music video that taps into our most primal urges in just the right way. Some of us make a break for the nearest private space, while others press their eyeballs into their TV and computer screens until they need to be pried loose like the pole-licking scene from ‘A Christmas Story.’ Either way, we’ve got some of the most pants-tightening videos ever released by acts such as Marilyn Manson , Papa Roach , Avenged Sevenfold and many more. We’ve teamed up with Ultimate Classic Rock and Diffuser.fm to bring you 15 of the sexiest rock videos of all time. Click below to enjoy the Sexiest Rock Music Videos! [button href=”http://loudwire.com/marilyn-manson-mobscene-sexiest-rock-music-videos” title=”See the Sexiest Rock Music Videos Here” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com The new year is bringing a new Black Sabbath album, their first original disc with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978′s ‘Never Say Die!’ Though the group was unable to work out their contract dispute with drummer Bill Ward , they’re forging ahead with the new music and their first extended touring since regrouping. Bassist Geezer Butler addressed the upcoming disc as well as the band’s drummer situation in a video interview with 96.7 KCAL Rocks . According to Butler, the ‘ 13 ‘ disc has a familiar feel. He explains, “It’s sort of got the feel of the first three albums — back to the basic rawness. And the lyrics are very … they’re just about life … life and death and doom and everything else. You get Prozac with every album.” The bassist revealed that even though the members are very familiar with each other, this was a different recording process as all of the members were completely sober. “It’s been more professional in that way,” says Butler. “We’ve stuck to a schedule every day. We’d go in at one o’clock and finish at six, just to keep everything fresh. Five hours a day — that’s it.” As for the decision to invite Rage Against the Machine ‘s Brad Wilk to play drums on the effort, Butler credits that call to producer Rick Rubin. “He didn’t want a typical heavy metal drummer on the album,” says Butler. “It’s not really a heavy metal album. It’s more of a rock … heavy rock. And Rick Rubin suggested Brad cause he’s more in the vein of Bill Ward. So we jammed with him and he sounded great with the stuff, so we went with that … It’s sort of back to the way we used to be in the ’70s. That’s his feel — sort of a jazzy, bluesy feel to him, and that’s the way the music is now. It was great working with him.” Though the band employed Wilk in the studio and Tommy Clufetos when touring last year, Butler revealed that they hadn’t decided on a touring drummer for this year’s dates. Black Sabbath’s ’13′ album is expected in June. For more on Butler’s discussion on the current health updates of Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi , watch the video interview below. Watch Black Sabbath Bassist Geezer Butler Discuss the Band’s Next Album [button href=”http://loudwire.com/ozzy-osbourne-suffers-injuries-house-fire/” title=”Next: Ozzy Osbourne Suffers Injuries in House Fire” align=”center”]