Freeman Promotions Clutch are still rocking hard as the band prepares for the release of their ‘Earth Rocker’ album, but frontman Neil Fallon tells Loudwire that the overall mood of the disc is a little lighter than their last few discs. The frontman explained about the content shift, “I wanted lyrically this record to be more fun than the last couple of ones. Both ‘Strange Cousins’ and ‘Beale St.’ were both pretty dark records lyrically. This one has a bit more levity I think.” One of the songs that lightens things up is their current single and the album’s title track , where Fallon himself is having a blast giving his best rock ‘n’ roll cackle. The singer explains, “The ‘bu-ha-ha,’ for lack of a better way to describe it, I wouldn’t be doing that if Screaming Jay Hawkins hadn’t done it in ‘I Put a Spell on You.’ I did that kind of as a goof in practice once and I told the guys I wouldn’t do that and they said, ‘No, please do that again and make that part of the song.’” Even though it is a fun track, Fallon admits he has other uses for the song. He reveals, “It’s a little bit of a self-motivational speech. It’s something you say to yourself in the mirror before you go out and take on the day and that came about primarily when we were doing a lot of festivals. I heard a lot of young bands bemoaning or whining about having to play in the heat or the catering sucks or the crowd wasn’t good and I just, maybe I’m getting old and cranky, but I just found myself saying, ‘Shut the f— up and play.’ You should be so lucky that you have the opportunity to do this and most people would gladly exchange the opportunity to switch places with you at this point in time. Maybe I just found myself guilty of some of those same attitudes and had to slap myself out of it and that’s kind of where at least the attitude of that song came about.” Clutch’s ‘Earth Rocker’ arrives in stores March 19 and is currently available for pre-order here . Stay tuned for our full interview with Neil Fallon. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/clutch-2013-must-see-rock-concerts/” title=”Next: Clutch – 2013 Must-See Rock Concerts” align=”center”]
Megaforce – Anthrax cover AC/DC ‘s ‘T.N.T.’ and we’ve got the exclusive premiere of the song here: [ Loudwire ] – Machine Head and their longtime bassist Adam Duce have parted ways. [ Loudwire ] – Who would you cast as the members of Black Sabbath in a movie? We offer our suggestions here: [ Loudwire ] – Chris Jericho , Scott Ian and many other of your favorite rockers star in a funny new commercial for the 2013 Revolver Golden Gods Awards. [ Loudwire ] – Pearl Jam ‘s Mike McCready says the band hopes to have a new album “this year, for sure.” [ Loudwire ] – Shadows Fall have called off their upcoming tours of Europe and the U.K. [ Loudwire ] – Pete Townshend cursed out an audience member at a recent show. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Deep Purple give you a glimpse of their new music with an album preview video. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Twenty years ago, Radiohead started their path to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world with the release of their ‘Pablo Honey’ album. [ Diffuser.fm ] – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are offering up the new free ‘Let the Day Begin’ EP ahead of their full-length album release. [ Diffuser.fm ]
Theo Wargo, Getty Images It’s time to start stocking up on extra padding as Suicidal Tendencies have announced their impending return with a brand-new full-length album and a full-on tour to follow. The band will release their ‘Who’s Afraid?’ album on March 26 and you can bet the group’s ninth release is filled with all the energy and fury of its predecessors. Details on the disc are scarce at this point, but it’s likely that the group will incorporate songs from the album into their set lists when they tour in April. Frontman ‘Cyco Miko’ Muir stated last year of their hopes for their new music, “The way we look at it is that next year will be the 30th anniversary of our first record. When we look at a record, we don’t want to have it sound like 2012. We want it to sound awesome 25 years from now, so when a kid who wasn’t even born when we made it listens to it, he’s like, ‘Damn, that’s a cool record!’” The group has dubbed their upcoming trek the ‘Slam City’ tour. It launches April 11 at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco and runs through a May 12 finale in San Diego. Suicidal Tendencies revealed that DRI will be joining them for the first part of the run, with Sick of It All taking over as primary support on the back end. Meanwhile, Wake the Dead will serve as the opening act throughout the run and the band is teasing the possibility of another great band who they hope to have on board for the first four shows of the trek. Stay tuned. Suicidal Tendencies Spring 2013 North American Tour 4/11 — San Francisco, Calif. — Regency Ballroom 4/12 — Reno, Nev. — Knitting Factory 4/13 — Salt Lake City, Utah — In the Venue 4/14 — Denver, Colo. — Summit 4/16 — Minneapolis, Minn. — Mill City Nights 4/17 — Chicago, Ill. — House of Blues 4/19 — Philadelphia, Pa. — Electric Ballroom 4/20 — New York, N.Y. — Best Buy Theater 4/21 — Worcester, Mass. — Palladium 4/23 — Patchogue, N.Y. — Emporium 4/24 — Baltimore, Md. — Baltimore Soundstage 4/26 — Charlotte, N.C. — Amos’ Southend 4/27 — Atlanta, Ga. — Masquerade 4/28 — Charleston, S.C. — The Music Farm 4/30 — St. Petersburg, Fla. — State Theatre 5/2 — Miami, Fla. — Grand Central 5/3 — Orlando, Fla. — The Plaza Live 5/6 — Houston, Texas — House of Blues 5/7 — Dallas, Texas — Granada Theater 5/9 — Albuquerque, N.M. — TBA 5/10 — Tempe, Ariz. — Marquee Theater 5/11 — Pomona, Calif. — Fox Theater 5/12 — San Diego, Calif. — House of Blues [button href=”http://loudwire.com/decibel-magazine-tour-2013-must-see-metal-concerts/” title=”Next: Check Out Other 2013 Must-See Metal Concerts” align=”center”]
Jeff Gross, Getty Images While Pearl Jam have been taking their time with new music, it appears as though the immediacy of generating new music is starting to ramp up for the band. Guitarist Mike McCready tells Rolling Stone that the group hopes to have their next album out “this year, for sure.” Speaking about the disc’s current status, he told the magazine, “We’re working on demos right now and we’re going to be recording soon. What everybody’s been saying is ‘ halfway done .’ I think that’s true — we have seven songs that are relatively completed. But then we have an additional 15 ready to go aside from any that Eddie [Vedder] brings in, so we’ll weed through those too.” McCready’s bandmate, Stone Gossard, recently suggested a “ nine-to-twelve month ” wait until a new album would be ready. The guitarist says he’s reluctant to discuss the album’s direction yet, adding, “What I can say won’t make any sense until you hear it.” However, he did offer, “I would say as a cliché answer, it’s kind of a logical extension of what ‘Backspacer’ was. But I think there’s a little more experimental stuff going on. There’s a Pink Floyd vibe to some of it, there’s a punk rock edge to other stuff.” The band met with producer Brendan O’Brien earlier this year and will resume work with their longtime knob-turner in the coming months. In the downtime though, McCready is free to pursue other passions. The guitarist is traveling to New Orleans to play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and run a half-marathon in support of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is battling ALS. To read more of Rolling Stone’s interview and McCready’s thoughts on joining Team Gleason, click here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/pearl-jam-ten-surpasses-10-million-copies-sold/” title=”Next: Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’ Reaches New Sales Milestone” align=”center”]
Razor & Tie Shadows Fall had been set for a big spring overseas. The band had booked dates with Testament in Europe and Ill Nino in the UK, but now they’ve bowed out of both of those tours. Shadows Fall revealed that they were exiting the upcoming treks due to “a number of circumstances beyond our control.” It is unknown what those circumstances are. However, the band as a whole appears to be okay having just completed an early year tour with Hatebreed , Dying Fetus and The Contortionist . It is known that guitarist Jon Donais would be taking leave from the band over the next couple of months (with Shadows Fall’s encouragement) to play with Anthrax in Australia and on that group’s ‘Metal Alliance’ U.S. tour this spring. But it is not known if his absence played into the band bowing out of their overseas dates. The group offered their statement on the matter in a Facebook posting that reads as follows: Due to a number of circumstances beyond our control, Shadows Fall has been forced to cancel our upcoming European tour with Testament and our co-headlining UK run with Ill Niño. We tried everything we could to make this tour happen and exhausted all options we could think of but unfortunately we were not able to work it out. We sincerely apologize to all the fans, promoters and bands involved. Everyone in Shadows Fall thank you for understanding and we plan on making it up to our European fans as soon as possible. Shadows Fall have been promoting their ‘ Fire From the Sky ‘ album, which dropped last May. The disc has already spawned the title track and the follow-up single ‘ The Unknown .’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/shadows-fall-thoughts-without-words-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”Next: Shadows Fall – Top 21st Century Metal Songs” align=”center”]
Photo by Dave Ma There’s a big shakeup at the top of the Loudwire Radio Top 20 Countdown this week. Just when it seemed like Deftones were knocking on the door to No. 1 last week, the band’s single ‘Tempest’ just got leapfrogged by Alice in Chains ‘ ‘Hollow,’ which makes a major move from No. 4 to No. 1. ‘Tempest’ holds strong at No. 2 for a second week, but their chances of taking that final step to reach the top of the charts just got a little more difficult. Meanwhile, All That Remains , who held the No. 1 spot for two weeks with ‘Stand Up,’ slide back to No. 3 this week. Elsewhere in the Top 5, Young Guns inch up a spot to No. 4 with ‘Bones,’ while Volbeat ‘s former No. 1 song, ‘Heaven Nor Hell,’ falls back two more spots to No. 5. While Alice in Chains moved three big notches to the top spot, they weren’t the biggest mover of the week. That title goes to Soundgarden ‘s ‘By Crooked Steps,’ which jumped up from No. 19 to No. 13 this week. The track actually traded spots with Five Finger Death Punch ‘s ‘The Pride,’ which took the biggest tumble, falling six notches to No. 19. And yes, there is one new track on the Loudwire Top 20 Countdown. Sevendust ‘s ‘Decay’ slips in at No. 18, pushing out Shinedown ‘s former chart-topper, ‘Enemies,’ from this week’s chart. Check out the full list of top 20 songs of this week’s countdown below and be sure to tune in and crank it up to rock out to Loudwire Radio this weekend. To find out where you can hear the countdown, click on the red button below. Loudwire Radio Top 20 Songs of the Week: 20. Green Day, ‘X-Kid’ 19. Five Finger Death Punch, ‘The Pride’ 18. Sevendust, ‘Decay’ 17. Hollywood Undead, ‘We Are’ 16. Otherwise, ‘I Don’t Apologize’ 15. Dave Grohl + Corey Taylor, ‘From Can to Can’t’ 14. P.O.D., ‘Higher’ 13. Soundgarden, ‘By Crooked Steps’ 12. Chevelle, ‘Same Old Trip’ 11. Avenged Sevenfold, ‘Carry On’ 10. 3 Doors Down, ‘One Light’ 9. Three Days Grace, ‘The High Road’ 8. Papa Roach, ‘Where Did the Angels Go’ 7. Halestorm, ‘Freak Like Me’ 6. Adelitas Way, ‘Alive’ 5. Volbeat, ‘Heaven Nor Hell’ 4. Young Guns, ‘Bones’ 3. All That Remains, ‘Stand Up’ 2. Deftones, ‘Tempest’ 1. Alice in Chains, ‘Hollow’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/loudwire-radio-station-list/” title=”See Which Stations Air Loudwire Radio” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com “You left me here like a chalk outline” – the chorus to the first single off of Three Days Grace latest disc ‘Transit of Venus’ rang out almost prophetic in nature as the band took the stage to ravage a rock-hungry New England crowd on a freezing February evening in Lowell, Mass., on Wednesday (Feb. 20). Shortly before the co-headlining tour with Shinedown kicked off, former Three Days Grace frontman Adam Gontier unceremoniously up and left the band without much notice, leaving them in a bit of a bind. Luckily, the music genes seem run deep in bassist Brad Walst’s family and he was able to recruit his brother, My Darkest Days frontman Matt Walst, to fill in on the trek. While this left Matt with some large shoes to fill and certainly sky high expectations, he seems to have settled into the role as the (temporary?) Three Days Grace vocalist with ease. The band erupted onto the stage looking as if they just crawled out of the wreckage of a post-apocalyptic showdown. With guns blazing in the form of behemoth beams of pyro, the band certainly showed no signs of only having recruited their singer a month ago, they played like a well-oiled machine. With one of the best bass faces in the business, Brad Walst performs alongside guitarist Barry Stock and drummer Neil Sanderson as seasoned vets on the stage. And while Matt Walst may be seeing some of the largest crowds he’s seen throughout his young career, you’d never know it. It’s hard to deny that many bands are defined by their lead singer and vocalwise, Walst’s voice has a lower register and overall sounds a lot cleaner than Gontier’s. There’s a lot less grit and grime and a bit more clarity fueled by his tenacity to deliver the songs in a manner where they still sound familiar. Of course, Gontier’s gritty vocals complement the often angst-ridded lyrics of Three Days Grace songs, but judging by the reaction of the crowd, Matt Walst was accepted with open arms. While the future of Three Days Grace seems a bit unclear at the moment, the band has truly embraced the rebellious spirit of rock and punched it into high gear to move forward wherever their path may take them. Shinedown were up next, starting off their set with a bit of a surprise. Drummer Barry Kerch walked onto stage solo and took his place behind the kit. As the music for their song ‘Enemies’ engulfed the arena, fans were searching to see where it was coming from. They only had to look back to the mixing board to see a separate smaller stage where vocalist Brent Smith, guitarist Zach Myers and bassist Eric Bass were getting the night started, rocking their hearts out. Halfway through the song, the three darted through the crowd and back to the main stage for a proper introduction to the near capacity venue. With something that has become part of a ritual at any Shinedown show, Smith encouraged fans to say hello to the people around them, engage a bit, and just have a good time throughout the night. It’s this all for one and one for all vibe that provides a lot of the backbone to their latest disc ‘Amaryllis’ and fuels such a solid connection between the band and their fans. Decked out head to toe in formal attire and looking like they’re possibly in the best shape of their lives, the sharp-dressed men of Shinedown didn’t let formality cloud their vision of getting down and dirty and delivering the best rock show in town. With a set that showcased their latest disc while still offering up some of the biggest hits of their career throughout, fans soaked up a retrospective of Shinedown’s full discography spanning from 2003’s ‘Leave a Whisper’ to their latest single ‘I’ll Follow You.” One thing Shinedown has mastered is seamlessly in a live environment is transitioning from uptempo rockers to more heartfelt ballads without losing energy along the way. This is something that has clearly come from years of experience. There’s a lot of fun going on up there too. Between Smith striking rockstar worthy poses centerstage, Myers and Bass swapping sides of the stage to say hi to the fans sitting on the sides, and Kerch’s hair flying to the beat of his own drum, the guys in Shinedown obviously love what they do, and that kind of infectious energy is the permeating kind. Although it seemed that their time onstage felt a bit short — Shinedown fans would probably feel that way if the set spanned three hours – the band delivered a jam-packed set that featured a slew of familiar chart-topping hits. Boom! P.O.D. got the night started with a short set that featured hit tunes like ‘Alive’ and ‘Youth of a Nation.’ Before their time was over, frontman Sonny Sandoval jumped off the stage and right into the fray to visit the fans in the front row and sing a song with them. After their hiatus, it’s great to see P.O.D. back in their element. It’s obvious that’s where they are at their best, so get there early to check them out! The Shinedown, Three Days Grace, P.O.D. tour continues through the end of March, check out all the remaining dates here . Photos of Shinedown, Three Days Grace + P.O.D. in Lowell, Mass.: Shinedown: Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Three Days Grace: Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com P.O.D.: Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com