Larry Busacca, Getty Images – Slash typically takes the high road where Axl Rose is concerned, but his wife got in a jab at the Guns N’ Roses singer’s weighty ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ appearance. [ Loudwire ] – The ever-spooky Marilyn Manson seems like an ideal choice to soundtrack a family’s Halloween display. Watch the ‘This Is Halloween’ light show. [ Loudwire ] – The Foo Fighters may be taking an extended break, but that just means it’s the perfect time to reflect on the 10 Best Foo Fighters Songs. [ Loudwire ] – Are you ready for the second annual National Metal Day? Find out what metal favorites will be turning up on VH1 Classic Nov. 11. [ Loudwire ] – In honor of Halloween, check out this list of horror movies that inspired songs. [ Loudwire ] – The Rolling Stones finally returned to the stage, playing a small club show in Paris. See the set list and watch some footage. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Twisted Sister are ready to go to war over businesses utilizing their band name. [ Ultimate Classic Rock ] – Looking to add to your Metallica collection? A 2003 Orlando show is available as a free download. [ Ultimate Metallica ] – All That Remains have debuted a new lyric video for ‘You Can’t Fill My Shadow.’ [ Rock Music Report ] – Foster the People vocalist Mark Foster got tossed from watching a Prince club gig in Los Angeles. [ Diffuser.fm ]
Larry Busacca, Getty Images Foo Fighters recently announced they were going on hiatus , which made us think it was perfect time to reflect on the band's career so far and count down the 10 Best Foo Fighters Songs. Who knew that the demos that Dave Grohl recorded in 1994 on his own would serve as the spark for what became one of the biggest rock bands in music? With the help of his Foo Fighters bandmates, Grohl has created a string of infectious, yet still hard-rocking hits. So, in their honor, let's rock through the 10 Best Foo Fighters Songs: ? 10 'Learn to Fly' From: 'There Is Nothing Left to Lose' (1999) ? ? If there is a choice for the most melodic, radio-friendly track in the Foo Fighters catalog, 'Learn to Fly' would have to be right up there. The lead single from the band's 'There Is Nothing Left to Lose' album was a critical one for the group, as they were once again in the process of trying to replace a guitarist and working in drummer Taylor Hawkins on an album for the first time. Not so coincidentally, the song itself deals with the struggle for inspiration and “looking for a sign of life.” Listen to 'Learn to Fly' ? ? 9 'This Is a Call' From: 'Foo Fighters' (1995) ? ? 'This Is a Call' is a must for the 10 Best Foo Fighters Songs. The track introduced Dave Grohl as someone other than the guy who played drums in Nirvana , and guess what? He rocked! With the song, Grohl offers, “This is a call to all my past resignation,” which is his way of saying thank you to everyone from who was there for him along the way and announcing his arrival as an artist. Listen to 'This Is a Call' ? ? 8 'Stacked Actors' From: 'There Is Nothing Left to Lose' (1999) ? ? The album 'There Is Nothing Left to Lose' found Dave Grohl escaping the glitter of Los Angeles for his more peaceful Virginia home, and the change of environment worked its way into song on the fan favorite track, 'Stacked Actors.' Dave Grohl told SwayMag.com , “'Stacked Actors' is a response to living in Hollywood for about a year and a half, and my disdain and disgust of everything plastic and phony, which is the foundation of that city.” Listen to 'Stacked Actors' ? ? 7 'Walk' From: 'Wasting Light' (2011) ? ? That never-give-up-spirit is at the heart of the Foo Fighters single 'Walk.' The final track on the 'Wasting Light' album leaves the listener on a high note, as Grohl sings about taking the next steps in life after believing he's “waited long enough” for everything to begin. The video for the song also left a memorable mark, as the band offered up their take on the Michael Douglas film 'Falling Down.' Listen to 'Walk' ? ? 6 'The Pretender' From: 'Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace' (2007) ? ? 'The Pretender' makes the Top 10 Foo Fighters Songs because it represents what the band does best. The opening of the track is a moody, haunting, melodic piece that pulls you in, while the remainder of the song is an amped-up infusion of hard rock goodness. Grohl told England's XFM that the song is about being f—ed over and not getting what they were promised. Listen to 'The Pretender' ? ? 5 'Monkey Wrench' From: 'The Colour and the Shape' (1997) ? ? To intoduce 1997's 'The Colour and the Shape' album, Dave Grohl laid his soul bare on the lead single 'Monkey Wrench.' The track, which was an anthem for those frustrated by their place in a relationship, was penned as the singer's first marriage was falling apart. Grohl lets fly a feverish rant during the bridge that was captured in one shot during the album session, and there's emotion in track not heard on prior tracks. Listen to 'Monkey Wrench' ? ? 4 'All My Life' From: 'One by One' (2002) ? ? There may not be a harder driving song than 'All My Life,' which finds bassist Nate Mendel keeping the band on course while Grohl, guitarist Chris Shiflett and drummer Taylor Hawkins unleash the fury at several points during the song. Grohl revealed that the song started as an instrumental before it evolved into what we hear now. As for the lyrical content, Grohl would reveal to Q magazine , “That song is a little dirty. Use your imagination.” Listen to 'All My Life' ? ? 3 'My Hero' From: 'The Colour and the Shape' (1997) ? ? While some may be quick to attach the song 'My Hero' to any big time star or celebrity, that's not what the track is about. Grohl explained , “That's my way of saying that when I was young, I didn't have big rock heroes … My heroes were ordinary people and the people that I have a lot of respect for are just solid everyday people – people you can rely on.” With the Foo Fighters dealing with the exit of drummer William Goldsmith during sessions, Grohl played hero by returning to the kit on the song. Listen to 'My Hero' ? ? 2 'Best of You' From: 'In Your Honor' (2005) ? ? 'Best of You' makes the Top 10 Foo Fighters Songs list as perhaps the most inspirational song the band has recorded. Filmmaker Mark Pellington, whose wife had died months earlier, reached out to the band to direct the video after the lyrical content helped him through a difficult time. Grohl revealed that the song actually almost never was, as the band had demoed so many tracks that it got lost in the shuffle until the group's manager asked him what happened to it. The song cracked the Top 10 on Loudwire's Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs list . Listen to 'Best of You' ? ? 1 'Everlong' From: 'The Colour and the Shape' (1997) ? ? 'Everlong' headlines our list of the Top 10 Foo Fighters Songs. The track has become a fan favorite over the years, in both fully rocked-out band style and with Grohl playing it acoustically by himself on occasion. The track came about during a low point in Grohl's life, and speaks to the immense feelings brought about by love. The singer told Mojo magazine that Bob Dylan once praised the song, saying that he should learn it, which was one of the biggest accolades he could have ever received. Listen to 'Everlong' ? ? What Is Your Favorite Foo Fighters Song? There you go, one by one we counted down the Top 10 Foo Fighters songs. Did we get the best for you, or is our list a pretender? It was hard narrowing it down to 10, so we know there are tracks you probably thought should have been there. Let us know what you would add and what you would drop in the comments section below: ?
BaronessMusic.com In this third and final part of our exclusive, hour-long interview with Baroness frontman John Baizley , we discussed his face-to-face encounter with the moment of death. Baizley shared his experience with what he perceived to be the absolute end, going into heart-wrenching detail about how his views of finality have been reshaped by the band’s bus crash. We also discussed Baroness’ masterful double album ‘Yellow & Green’ with Baizley, who concluded our conversation with his hopes of when the band will hit the road once again. How has that crash shaped your views on the moment of death or about any sort of afterlife? Well to be brutally frank, it’s just shown me what is there. It’s given me a glimpse of what exists once you take that step and in my experience, which I will preface in by saying it’s my experience. I’m not trying to be philosophical or to dictate to anyone else how to think about this, but I felt it, I looked at it. I did everything but take the one more critical step that I would have needed to take and there was nothing there, that was what impressed itself so deeply in me; the fact that it wasn’t horrifying, it wasn’t comforting, there wasn’t any emotion at all. It was just very calm, very quiet, very calculated. I keep saying scientific, but I mean, that’s only to say it was very sterile. Just another part of nature? Yeah, and I was sure at that moment, had that whole thing ended differently for me, you just wouldn’t know. It’s like “poof,” gone, and at this point I’m still feeling fairly close to the accident so I wouldn’t say I’ve come to terms with this yet. But it would seem to me the most sensible way to move onwards is just to ‘seize the day.’ If there’s nothing waiting for you tomorrow and even if there is, who cares? But if there’s nothing tomorrow, if that’s one potentiality, then I’m not wasting time. I’m not wasting any more time. I’ve effectively conquered any misgivings I had about pain. I think I felt it about as extremely as you can and it wasn’t impossible to deal with, it was fully possible to deal with, and I’ve dealt with a number of things over the past month which I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Things like being stuck in a non-native health care system that has no means or protocol in which to deal with you. I’m not even saying that the British health care system is bad, I’m just saying there was no provision for me. At some points, I felt like my paperwork had been lost and there were moments that I ran out of medications, and I’m not talking about things like pain killers, I’m talking about things like blood thinners and an anti-inflammatories and all these scary things I was on that I didn’t know if I could be off. I had to figure out a way out of the hospital because I got stuck there, and once I was out, I had to figure out a way how to get back in because there was just no protocol for me. I’ll make a very long story short; so my wife and I spent a lot of days wondering what state I was in. Am I healing? Am I fine? One day I’ve got basically a nurse alongside me taking my blood pressure, checking my vitals and making adjustments to me as necessary, and then I’ve got nothing. I hadn’t seen a doctor or a medical professional for three weeks because I couldn’t get scheduled. I got moved around to three different hospitals while I was there. The first week-and-a-half while I was there was unbelievably good. The care I received was awesome and then after that it was kind of a nightmare, because I never knew what was going on with myself. As incapacitated as I was, there was nothing I could do about it. So, being wheelchair-bound and not being able to prepare meals for yourself, clothe yourself, all the basic functions of being in a state where you can’t provide that for yourself, and there was no medical professionals to weigh in on your situation. It’s wasn’t really scary, but it was just very, very frustrating. Since then, things have been beginning to normalize and it’s been great. I’d like to just ask you some quick questions about ‘Yellow and Green.’ I truly love this album and it’s been out for a while now. Have you been able to gauge the reaction to the record from both fans and from yourself compared to your previous works? Yeah, I mean, it goes without saying that it was a new type of record for us. Honestly, I was actually saying the same thing right after the record came out. I was telling people, “Well this is a new kind of record for us and a step in a slightly different direction,” but I know that I like it. It’s absolutely bar none my favorite record that we’ve done. It came out on the tour that we had the accident on. We were playing a bunch of the new songs and the crowd reaction seemed great to it and everything like that. At the time we were touring it was still a really fresh record, so I actually don’t have a really good perspective on things. I hope everybody likes it. The press initially was good on it, but you and I both know that doesn’t mean fans and audiences are going to lap it up. Just based on the amount of support we’ve gotten since the accident; it seems great. I don’t know if we’re just a pity party now [Laughs] but I stand behind this work the same way I stand behind our past records, only I think with this record we’ve pulled the curtain back a little bit more. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to write heartfelt music. We’re trying to find the core of what it is that makes our band special and unique and we’re trying to express who we are individually while at the same time trying to touch on the universal aspects of music that are so important to listeners. I think we’ve taken a step in the right direction. We’ve left so much unsaid at this point that I’m excited to see where it goes. I think a lot of people love the record. My favorite ‘Yellow & Green’ song at the moment is ‘March to the Sea.’ I really love the lyric, “ You tied yourself up and jumped in the sea ,” and the whole ‘March to the Sea’ concept of a downward spiral from drugs. Is there anything you could tell us about the meaning of that song? Yeah, not to get too specific, but the whole record lyrically speaking is based on parts of my life, people that I know, things that have occurred around me, experiences that I’ve gone through, and there’s some autobiographical content to that song. I think that the way that I’ve tried to raise it and frame that song is from older Baroness material in that it’s quite a bit more exposed in terms of its content. What I intend to do, basically what I think is the most moving and powerful aspect of music, is the fact that you can take one person’s individual idiosyncratic and unique pain and when it’s expressed in the right way, the whole world has the ability of connecting to it. With a song like ‘March to the Sea’ and almost nearly all of the songs on the record, I’m not talking about things that are unique, I am talking about things that have touched us all at some point. Whether it was substances, the loss of a loved one, pain, anxiety, all of these things that I gravitate towards when I’m writing songs; they are things that I think I have in common with people as opposed to things I think that separate me from other people. These are, while it’s played out in a way for me, there’s actually nothing unique about it. We all will deal with these things and I try not to pass too much judgement on it. Just with that song ‘March to the Sea,’ it’s more like a question than an answer in every way. There was a lot of time to reflect on the subject matter for that record. I wasn’t able to come up with any solid answers, it was just something where every time I wrote a song and I was thematically asking a question, it just gave me more questions, which gave me more songs, which in that way, has reflected something kind of big. It was 18 songs worth of material. It may seem like a million miles away right now, but do you guys have a goal or a date in mind for when you’d like to start touring again? We don’t have a specific date, but it goes without saying; the sooner we do it, the better. I think that every minute worth of space in between our crash and our next show makes things more difficult for me. I’m an eager person; you can ask the other guys in the band. I’m kind of antsy and jumpy. I just want to get back to it. It’s helpful for me. I’ll say that we’re better once we’re playing again. Put us in a rehearsal space and see what we can do. This accident will do nothing but challenge our notion to know who we are and what we do, and we just have to come out on the other side of this relatively as the same people with the same interests. The accident hasn’t deluded my passion for music one iota. Thanks again to John Baizley for the incredible interview and we’d like to send our unwavering support to Baroness and the other passengers involved in the bus crash. Here’s to a speedy and full recovery. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/baroness-john-baizley-bus-crash-isnt-going-to-stop-us/” title=”Part 1: A Bus Crash Isn’t the Sort of Thing That’s Gonna Stop Us” align=”center”]
Fangoria Anthrax guitarist and horror aficionado Scott Ian recently had his head split in two by a chainsaw … tough break, dude. Fortunately for Ian, it was a stunt head, and luckily for us, a camera crew was there to film the entire scene from beginning to bloody end. As a maniacal fan of all things horror, Ian was able to live out one of his wildest dreams thanks to the people at Fangoria . The third season of ‘The Walking Dead,’ which Ian once made a cameo in, recently premiered with many zombie-philes finally able to get their fix of undead kills. The premiere episode seemed to pack more of a punch due to visibly less digital carnage, with various members of the living-impaired getting their faces beaten in by blunt objects. In a sense of perfect timing, it’s only right that Scott Ian not only follows suit, but tops it completely. Ian states in the video below that one of his lifelong dreams was to have a cast made of his head. The fine people at Fangoria made Ian’s dream come true, as they coated his chrome-dome with alginate, which served as the foundation for creating an incredibly lifelike model of Ian. Unfortunately, Ian didn’t live long enough to see the mold, as he was quickly chainsawed by an overalls-wearing hillbilly. In all seriousness, it’s ridiculous how lifelike the skull-splitting looks, with copious amounts of blood jetting from Ian’s head cast as the chainsaw does its work. Check out the horror-tastic process of creating a human head from scratch along with the gory playoff. Watch Scott Ian Get His Head Sawn in Half
Photo by Jimmy Hubbard It’s been nearly three months since progressive rock leaders Baroness were involved in a catastrophic and gruesome bus accident. After the breaks on the group’s bus failed to work, the band plummeted 30 feet into a wooded area at a speed of around 50mph. Although serious injuries were sustained, all of the bus’s passengers survived and are nursing themselves back to health. In a great honor here at Loudwire, Baroness frontman John Baizley offered us his very first interview since the crash, discussing in great detail how the incident changed his life. In this three-part interview, where we spoke to Baizley for nearly an hour, the musician opens up about the crash itself, his current physical condition, when the band will tour once again + much, much more. Read Part 1 of our John Baizley interview below: We’ve all heard that the bus crash left you with very debilitating injuries. You’ve just started picking up a guitar again and you wrote that incredible recollection of what happened. Since you weren’t able to pick up a guitar for a little while, I’d think that it’s left a little bit of a creative gap in you. So writing the recollection of that crash, was that somewhat of a creative catharsis for you? Yeah, in a way. It’s a far cry from writing full songs and really jumping back into art, but when I was first put in the hospital and had to go through surgery, I was just on my back and it was hard for me to sit up. The one thing that I did have the ability to do was use my right hand and I started very early on, very quickly after the crash, just typing really or texting, whatever I was able to do with those fingers to keep in touch with my friends and the people that I needed or wanted to have access with. Shortly thereafter I discovered that being able to articulate the experience, either verbally or on paper, was quite nice for my mental state. I won’t say cathartic because that would seem to denote that at the end of it, I feel better or that I purged with it. I guess over time it’s a slow purging. But yeah, I discovered some sort of therapy through putting my thoughts down on paper in a different way than I’m accustomed to. The tools in my trade are typically songs and images, so now I’m trying to keep them a verbal thing. It’s a new thing for me but it’s actually been quite good for me. It was strangely beautiful, that memoir . I think it connected with a lot of people and you mentioned that you only recently have been able to pick up a guitar again and you still struggle with some pain when playing. Could you elaborate on what that pain is actually like? I’ve been probably living with it now for close to seven weeks. It’s a physical pain, it’s a corporeal pain that won’t go away and of course when it initially happened, I was in real need of heavy medication. Since then, the trick has been to sort of get away from it, so I’m still not quite so far away from the injury that I’m without pain. There’s a 16, 17-inch scar going down my arm that hasn’t healed yet. There’s a small army of metal pieces inside which are not only helping keeping me together but also beginning to react with the organic parts of my body, and at the same time, it’s important for me to get to know the nature of my injuries so that I am as mobile as I possibly can be. I’m trying to move what doesn’t want to be moved and all the while I’m trying to heal. There’s that pain from the injury and along with that severely extensive nerve damage, basically from all the way up from my shoulder down to my fingertips. Playing music is like a different thing, you know? Now there’s a rehabilitative quality to what I’m doing because I essentially had all of the musculature and all of the nervous system removed from my arm for eight hours during the surgery and once it was replaced, you’re dealing with scar tissue and you’re dealing with some parts which aren’t going to work again. There’s a swash of skin down the middle of my arm; basically the top half of my arm doesn’t have physical feeling to it anymore. When I first came out of surgery, there was very, very extreme and incredibly painful pins and needles in my hand, which scared me at first. I said to myself, ‘Oh god what if this lasts forever? What if everything I touch hurts?’ Fortunately, the nerves in my hand are going to work again correctly but the interesting thing is I have to teach the nerve endings how to feel certain things. Textures are quite alien to me at this point. It took me a week to tell the difference between wood and cloth and to pick up my guitar and being able to do that. To my utmost surprise, my fingers were able to play and there was still a ton of muscle memory that was really left in them. They were articulate despite the absence of muscle in my arm, which is almost total. My fingers which require very little musculature; my fingers could do what they’ve always done with a guitar. It was remarkable, it was super surprising. I put it like this; I was stuck in the UK for like six-and-a-half weeks, and when I got home I went back to my studio and there was a guitar hanging on the wall and I was just sitting there looking at it for a full day trying to build up the will and energy and confidence to pick it up and touch it. To me, even at that time, it represented something more than just a guitar. The moment that I picked it up I was going to assess exactly where I was and exactly how much work I had ahead of me to get back to being normal, or whatever the new normal is. Like I said, to my surprise I put it on my lap and was instantly able to play. At first, it was country music; just simple chords, and then within three or four days my fingers were able to stretch out. After five days I was able to play all of our songs and at the end of the week, I had written three songs. So it was very quick and I think it’s an incredible tool for me given the very specific nature of my injuries. Having this tool is not only good physically for my arm, but also a positive thing for me mentally and a constructive thing for me spiritually. It’s like, here’s a tool to help me get back anything I could do with my hands. I’ve begun making art again and I started writing a lot more songs, so all of these things are sort of, multifaceted tools to express myself and to heal myself and to get right with myself by engaging. But, as you said initially, it doesn’t come without pain. I think that one of the big lessons through this process for me is that I’ve been broken down to the basic physical functions of a two-year-old and since the accident I’ve been trying to reclaim myself from all directions and it doesn’t happen without pain. I’m still waiting, it’s still just so fresh for me, I’m just waiting for the first moment of my life where just sitting here doesn’t hurt. It’s actually not that bad because if you’re sore all the time or if you’re in pain all the time, then adding a little bit doesn’t freak you out at all. So what I’m doing is I’m being very aggressive with my rehabilitation. My therapists keep asking me ‘Does it hurt when I do that?’ and my answer is, ‘Yes, but it hurt before you started doing it, so just lets get back together.’ [Laughs] I’m not the sort of person that likes sitting around. I don’t see the benefits in having the time-off aspect of this. I see this as another challenge for me this year and one in which I’m fully equipped to deal with even though it’s certainly been intense. It’s really been traumatic and it’s certainly become something that will define this year, if not this section of my life, but because of that, I think it’s very important not to let it be all negative. Yeah, I was in a crash and that’s bad. I got banged up, broken — that’s bad. There’s nothing good about that, but you can learn something through it, like anything. Like any mistake that’s made or any injury to a person, you could take something from it and use it to make yourself better. With this thing in particular, because it’s touched me on so many different levels, it’s allowing me to regain perspective and regain motivation and reaffirm my ideas and my passions and become, if nothing else, more confident, more resolute in the choices that I’ve made in my life in the fact that I’ve dedicated myself to music, and as I said in the press statement, this wasn’t the fault of my career path, this wasn’t the fault of my lifestyle. This could have easily happened … it’s that cliche, it could have happened walking out of the house in the morning or could have happened downtown while I was going to see a show or eat dinner. It’s just that what we do in Baroness puts us on the road and on roads very frequently, so it’s certainly part of the risk but it wasn’t something inevitable. It was a fluke, and like all of these things that happen as a fluke or by happenstance, we have to use it. We can use it very easily and in a negative way and become more fearful of leaving the house or fearful of going out on tour or, you know, less secure and sort of paranoid and sad about it, but that has nothing to do with us getting back out. It’s just that something has happened to us and it’s going to take a minute for us to get ready again, but f— it, put me back on the road; that’s what I do. This isn’t the sort of thing that is going to stop that. Please visit Loudwire on Friday, Oct. 19, for Part 2 of the interview, in which Baizley tells us that if his arm injury was any worse, there would have been discussion of amputation, among other revelations. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/tags/baroness/” title=”More Baroness Coverage Here” align=”center”]
Karl Walter, Getty Images Iron Maiden guitarist Steve Harris is working in a solo album between his regular band duties, and Harris assures the quality of the disc will be up to par as these songs were not leftover Iron Maiden tracks. In the November edition of Decibel magazine (excerpted by Blabbermouth ), Harris explains, “This is not throwaway Maiden stuff. These are not riffs that I could’ve used in Maiden because, like I said, it was done with other people. As soon as that happens, it’s not gonna be used in Maiden.” The guitar great adds, “I’ve got ridiculous amount of ideas that I’m probably never gonna get out the door in my lifetime. There’s no shortage of ideas for Maiden. And this stuff is different, anyway. It’s more heavy rock than heavy metal, but to me the influences are all from the well.” Harris, who is using the title ‘ British Lion ‘ for his disc, says the effort has been in the works since 1993, but because of his extended involvement in Iron Maiden, he’s never really had much time between discs to work on it. He laughs, “It’s been so long, it’s ridiculous. I’m just so relieved to get this thing out, really, because it’s finally there. I’m really pleased with the results, but it’s taken a long while.” The guitarist says that when Iron Maiden hasn’t been touring and recording, he’s often taken the lead on things like video editing that help fill the time between records, so his time left over to record his own music has always taken a back seat. “I get a lot less downtime than the others,” says Harris. “That’s why it’s taken so long, really. I was just trying to fit bits in here and there when the other people were available to work on stuff while I was back in the U.K., which over the last few years has not been very often.” [button href=”http://loudwire.com/iron-maiden-the-talisman-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”Next: Iron Maiden – Top 21st Century Metal Songs” align=”center”]
ECW Press For Danko Jones , 2012 is a year of transition. While the band has been busy working up to the release of the new studio album, ‘Rock and Roll is Black and Blue,’ they’ve spent an equal amount of time reflecting on their past with their ‘Bring on the Mountain’ documentary and now the forthcoming book, ‘Too Much Trouble: A Very Oral History of Danko Jones.’ Singer Danko Jones and bassist John Calabrese spoke with Loudwire about what made this the right time to reflect on the band’s past and what the experience was like putting together two time-consuming documents. Jones explained about the timing, “It just seemed the right time and we could do it in two years or three years or five years, but it had been the fifteenth year of the band as a band and when you think of seven years being the average lifespan for a band, nowadays, we’ve lived it two times. And that was two years ago. We’re now on our seventeenth year.” The singer admits that they’ve seen some highs and lows and transitions with their audience, and he views the ‘Too Much Trouble’ book as a way of bringing it all together. He explains, “We gained a new audience in some places and our older audience [is still there], so this is our chance to bridge the gap between the people who found out about us in the last two or three years because we’ve had singles on radio and the people who were into us a long time ago and moved on or annoyingly asked, ‘Whatever happened to that band?’” It also turned out that the time for reflection worked out perfectly for the band, as they changed drummers and added Rocket From the Crypt skinbeater Atom Willard, thus starting a new chapter in their history. Interestingly enough, Jones admits in the book that one of his goals when they started was to tour with Rocket From the Crypt, but although that never happened, he’s thrilled to have the drummer from the band as part of their lineup. For Jones and Calabrese, seeing both the documentary and the book finally arrive completes the labor of love they started after their fifteenth year. “It took two years to make and two years to track down the over 70 people who are in the book,” says Jones. Calabrese adds, “It’s gonna be great because the book and the DVD, they stand alone on themselves, but it’s a great way to bring everybody up to speed.” The ‘Too Much Trouble: An Oral History of Danko Jones’ book just arrived in stores internationally. The band’s new album, ‘Rock and Roll is Black and Blue,’ follows on Oct. 9, and the ‘Bring on the Mountain’ documentary was released earlier this year. Stay tuned for Loudwire’s full interview with Danko Jones, coming soon. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/danko-jones-just-a-beautiful-day-exclusive-video-premiere/” title=”Next: Watch Danko Jones’ ‘Just a Beautiful Day’ Video” align=”center”]