Scott Gries, Getty Images Scott Weiland may have reunited with Velvet Revolver for a show early last year, but the singer’s comments about getting back together with the band are not exactly having the desired effect. Slash , in particular, says the band members see right through the ploy and he doesn’t expect a reunion with Weiland to ever happen. He tells Classic Rock magazine, “None of us have a clue what he’s talking about … We’re not buying it.” The guitar great says he’s reluctant to even give the former Velvet Revolver frontman the attention, but did not hold back on his feelings about the matter. Slash recently revealed that Weiland had been fired from Stone Temple Pilots and he’s confident that the singer is trying to publicly wedge his way back into a job. “I think he’s trying to pull off that trick of trying to get something else going on and we’re not buying it,” says Slash. “The door’s shut on this side and it’s probably shut on that side too, so he’s on his own. And he deserves it too.” The guitarist adds, “It also pisses me off because he’s put STP through so much s— over the years and put us through s— too when we were working with him. In 2008, that was all over with, so at this point, when he starts coming up with this stuff, it’s like, whatever.” These days Slash says he’s in a good place and is not looking to reconnect with Weiland. He concludes, “Even if I didn’t have my solo thing going on, I still wouldn’t work with him.” [button href=”http://loudwire.com/slash-talks-scott-weiland-diva-behavior-feud-axl-rose-kurt-cobain/” title=”Next: Slash Discusses Scott Weiland’s ‘Diva Behavior'” align=”center”]
YouTube Lemmy Kilmister may be an ageless wonder, but the Motorhead frontman need not worry about his band’s music surviving for the long haul. That’s because the robot band known as Compressorhead does a pretty nifty job of taking on the Motorhead classic ‘Ace of Spades.’ The mechanical outfit is not only quite adept at playing the hard-driving song, but one of the robots, guitarist Fingers, has the headbanging action down pat as well. However, watching Compressorhead play gives you newfound respect for Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee, as it’s noticeable that the robot drummer Stickboy has a few more appendages to pull off what Dee normally does behind the kit. Compressorhead take their “metal” roots to heart, also covering such songs as AC/DC ‘s ‘TNT’ and Pantera ‘s ‘ Becoming ‘ as part of their repertoire. Drummer Stickboy previously performed at the 2008 Big Day Out festival in Australia and will return with the full robot group to be part of the 2013 Big Day Out bill . Watch Compressorhead Perform Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/robot-band-marilyn-manson-beautiful-people/” title=”Next: Watch Another Robot Band Cover Marilyn Manson’s ‘Beautiful People'” align=”center”]
Megaforce Breaking news from the legendary thrash metallers of Anthrax . Lead guitarist Rob Caggiano has left the band to focus on production work. Having joined Anthrax in 2001, Caggiano stuck with the New York thrash band until the group’s ‘Among the Living’ lineup reunited in 2005. However, Caggiano was brought back in 2007, remaining as Anthrax’s lead guitarist until now. The announcement comes as a big surprise, as Anthrax have been experiencing their greatest success in years on the heels of their critically acclaimed 2011 album, ‘Worship Music,’ which just yielded a Grammy nomination for the track ‘I’m Alive.’ Caggiano explains his departure in statement just released by the guitarist himself: I’m extremely proud of my time in Anthrax. Actually, that’s an understatement! We accomplished so many great things together over the years and I shared some of the best times of my life with these guys. As a band, we also weathered quite a few storms along the way. It’s been a wild ride (to say the least) from Day One and I wouldn’t change one single thing about the last 12 years. This is an extremely difficult and emotional decision for me to make but my heart is just steering me in a different direction right now. I’ve always been one to follow my heart in everything that I do and while this might be one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make, it feels like the right one for me at this time. Scott, Charlie, Joey, Frankie (and John Bush) will always be part of my family and this decision doesn’t change the way I feel about that in the slightest. I would also like to say thanks to all the amazing fans I’ve met and hung out with worldwide over the years. You guys always were and always will be the reason why I make music! In this day and age, being a musician isn’t always easy -also an understatement- but the fans truly make it worthwhile for me. I hope to see each and every one of you again really soon. The fact that Anthrax is at the top of their game right now and totally ‘out for blood’ after all these years is a testament to this band’s longevity and conviction! I’m truly honored to have been a part of their brilliant legacy. As for this future, the former Anthrax shredder will continue his career as an in-studio producer: I can’t wait to get back in the recording studio again! Over the years, I’ve been blessed with the privilege of working with a wide range of great bands/artists from Anthrax and Cradle of Filth all the way to Bruce Springsteen, and I look forward to a hopeful continuation of that side of my career while I figure out my next move as an artist. BTW in case anyone was wondering after reading all of this, I do FULLY intend to get back out there on the road very soon in some way shape or form….it’s in my blood! Anthrax have also released their own statement, wishing their friend the best on his new path: Rob has been an integral part of Anthrax for so many years, as our lead guitarist, in a production capacity, but most of all, as our close friend. His contributions to the band have been enormous. While we are sad that he is leaving, we wish him nothing but great success going forward, and hope to share the stage with him again sometime down the road. With the Metal Alliance Tour on the horizon, we have been considering several lead guitarist options, and will be making an announcement on that shortly. Stay tuned for Anthrax’s decision on who will replace Caggiano on lead guitar for the 2013 Metal Alliance tour, along with Caggiano’s future plans as a producer. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/dates-revealed-2013-metal-alliance-tour-anthrax-exodus-municipal-waste/” title=”Anthrax – 2013 Metal Alliance Tour Dates” align=”center”]
Rise Records With 14 years together and seven studio albums under their belt, the California metal band Bleeding Through have announced that they will disband. The band first began as a side project for vocalist Brandan Schieppati’s in 1999, who was a member of Eighteen Visions at the time. Bleeding Through released their latest album, ‘The Great Fire,’ in 2012. Prior to disbanding, Bleeding Through will embark on a farewell tour. Schieppati released an official statement via Blabbermouth.net addressing the band’s decision to go their separate ways: “When you have some success doing something that you love, you never really think about writing a statement about that something coming to an end. Well, that dream that we have had as Bleeding Through has come to an end. I think I can speak for the rest of my bandmates in saying that we always hoped it would end on our terms, and it has. We have been fortunate to have a strong fan base worldwide and have brought joy to many and pissed off many more. As Bleeding Through was always a band that wore the emotion of the music on our sleeves. We cared about everyone like family that ever took the time to listen to our band, support our merchandise and go to our shows. Since 1999, we have been blessed to be able to tour the world, record seven records with some great musical minds, tour with amazing bands and people, work with people with character such as management, booking agents and road crew. Most importantly, we made lasting friends from this journey. We have been honored to be part of a expanding the musical movement of heavy music and hope to be remembered as a benchmark and pioneer of a specific style of music. We have been a band since 1999, and many of us just had life catch up with us in the way of marriages, kids, businesses and other endeavors. We can no longer dedicate what we need to to keep as Bleeding Through going. Personally, I feel doing this band in a part-time fashion is not what this band is about and feel like we have always been an all-or-nothing band. With that being said, and because we have established a worldwide following over the last 14 years, we want to give us and those people one more chance to share in this music together. We are setting up farewell tours. Dates will be up and promoted very soon. To those who supported this band: It has been an honor.” Stay tuned for information in regards to Bleeding Through’s Farewell tour dates. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/bleeding-through-dave-nassie-interview-new-album-the-great-fire-more/” title=”Next: Bleeding Through’s Dave Nassie Talks ‘The Great Fire'” align=”center”]
Kevin Winter, Getty Images In 2009, Virginia Tech college student Morgan Harrington was murdered shortly after disappearing from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. Three-plus years later, the band is still involved with the search for the 20-year-old student’s killer and her parents are thankful for the continued support. Noisecreep reports that the band’s latest venture, allowing the title of ‘Enter Sandman’ to be used on a line of Virginia Tech t-shirts , has resulted in another $40,000 being raised this past fall for the Morgan Harrington medical scholarship fund. That comes after the band chipped in $50,000 of their own money when the fund was initially launched and they also donated $50,000 to the reward in seeking information that would lead to the capture of Harrington’s killer. Plus, just last year, the band filmed yet another PSA seeking information in the case. Morgan’s mother, Gil Harrington, said of the band’s involvement, “It has been very humbling from the very beginning. Two days after Morgan was abducted, they could have distanced themselves from an ugly occurrence. But James Hetfield called this house to speak to Dan [Harrington], as a father, and asked, ‘What can we do?’ Three years out, and they are still doing things.” Harrington says Hetfield spoke to the FBI and also generated the first “missing person” poster that went up on their website in hopes of locating her daughter. “It’s a visceral response as fathers. They were not liability driven or self-protecting,” she adds of their involvement. At present, between the Harrington family and Metallica, there is $150,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Morgan’s murderer. For more information on the case and reward, visit this location . To read more of Noisecreep’s interview with Gil Harrington’s exclusive interview, click here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/james-hetfield-films-new-psa-to-help-bring-justice-for-murdered-metallica-fan/” title=”Next: Watch James Hetfield’s PSA Seeking Morgan Harrington’s Killer” align=”center”]
Kevin Winter, Getty Images / Men’s Warehouse Shortly before the new year, Megadeth ‘s Dave Mustaine became the victim of a terrible injustice perpetuated by corporate America. The thrash frontman simply wished to bestow his beloved tour manager Jim Carroccio with a Men’s Wearhouse gift certificate via mail, but alas, the gift certificate failed to be transported in time. No, we haven’t tapped Mustaine’s phone or hacked into the Men’s Wearhouse supercomputer … Dave Mustaine actually shared this news to over 5 million Megadeth fans on the band’s Facebook page. After poking fun at Men’s Wearhouse CEO and spokesman George Zimmer, calling him an “old geezer with the voice that sound like he has chain-smoked since he was a fetus,” Mustaine wrote a lengthy rant detailing how Men’s Wearhouse failed to live up to their two-day delivery guarantee. Strangely enough, Men’s Wearhouse has actually issued a statement in reaction to Mustaine’s Facebook post, offering an apology to the musician: Dave, thanks for reaching out to us on Facebook. We apologize for the delay in receiving your gift card and agree that the delay is unacceptable. Customer satisfaction is our highest priority and we stand by our guarantee to deliver world-class customer service. So, we’d like to speak with you about a solution but are having some trouble reaching you since we last connected on 12/28. Please send your contact info to MWListens@tmw.com and our team will help you right away. John Cleese of ‘Monty Python’ once said while attempting to return a dead parrot, “If you want to get anything done in this country, you’ve got to complain ’til you’re blue in the mouth.” Apparently, truer words have never been spoken. And by the way, do not , we repeat, do not , send any silly emails to Men’s Wearhouse while pretending to be Dave Mustaine. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/megadeth-progress-new-album-dave-mustaine-sells-gear-from-old-studio/” title=”Megadeth Making Progress on New Album” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com The numbers are in for the highest grossing touring acts of 2012, and there are a few surprises peppered into the list. What isn’t surprising, however, is that Metallica were the biggest draw of any hard rock act in 2012, followed closely by bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nickelback . Metallica amassed a tremendous amount of wealth from their live performances in 2012, even though they didn’t tour very extensively throughout the year. With only 30 shows performed last year, including their very own Orion Festival in Atlantic City in N.J., Metallica managed to rake in $86.1 million from ticket sales. Overall, Metallica came in at No. 8 on the list of highest grossing touring acts. Red Hot Chili Peppers toured a bit more extensively in 2012, performing a total of 77 shows and gaining a total gross of $57.8 million for their efforts. Nickelback also made a killing from their live performances. Don’t jump out of your seats, Nickelback haters, but the Canadian rock band acquired $43.6 million from their 81 live performances. Think of it this way: At least they made more than Justin Bieber did last year. We’d tell you how much the pop singer made, but if you laid your eyes on that number, you’d probably smash your computer. Other top draws of 2012 include Paul McCartney ($56.9 million), the Black Keys ($38.1 million) and German heavy metal veterans Scorpions, who made $32.7 million last year. The top grossing act of the year was Madonna with an astonishing $296 million. Check out the full list of 2012′s highest-grossing musical acts at Pollstarpro.com . In other Metallica news, the band were given some new certifications from the RIAA to start the new year, with their 1991 self-titled disc (aka the Black Album) hitting 16-times platinum and ‘Ride the Lightning’ attaining 6-times platinum status. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-metallica-songs/” title=”10 Best Metallica Songs” align=”center”]