Metal Blade GWAR front-thing Oderus Urungus is in the upper ranks when it comes to tearing humans apart both physically and orally. When he’s not ripping the limbs off celebrities and disemboweling politicians onstage, Oderus’ favorite pasttime is bashing those he feels are inferior to himself. In this most recent display, Oderus goes after both Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson , while taking the credit for Slipknot ‘s existence. The ‘Twins of Evil’ tour has been a source of controversy as of late, with co-headliners Zombie and Manson taking shots at each other onstage. Oderus Urungus addressed the situation during our recent interview with the intergalactic warmonger, but he went even more in-depth with BrowardPalmBeach.com . “A lot of bands have tried to do what GWAR does,” Oderus begins. ‘But no band has ever taken it as far as GWAR has. No one has ever out-sicked us. You think these Walmart behemoths of the music industry like Marilyn Manson or Rob Zombie are really scary people? That they have any kind of revolutionary agenda? All they care about is making money, and hanging out with their director buddies as they throw gala award ceremonies to circle jerk each other into a frenzy. GWAR is where GWAR should be: In the drawer marked filth.” The hideous space barbarian continues, “There would not be Slipknot without GWAR. I have a direct quote from Rob Zombie about GWAR when he was figuring out what he wanted to do with his career. They asked him, “Hey what do you think of them?” and he said, “The first time I saw GWAR, I thought ‘I want to be that, but I want to make money.’” That to me says a lot about Rob Zombie as an artist. It says that he isn’t one … Rob Zombie is a tired, G-Rated, mishmash of other people’s styles. When I see Slipknot I see lots of pentagrams and cow skulls. Really familiar imagery. What I do like about Slipknot is their music. Their drummer is f—ing amazing. But when I get to Marilyn Manson, he’s a little harder to peg. A little Alice Cooper, a little Bowie, a little Johnny Rotten.” GWAR are currently on tour with Devildriver, Cancer Bats + Legacy of Disorder. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/gwar-bring-back-the-bomb-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”GWAR: Top 21st Century Metal Songs” align=”center”]
Facebook: While She Sleeps UK act While She Sleeps are ready to break in America after winning Kerrang’s Best Newcomer Award . Now, in addition to getting to know the band, you can win a signed copy of While She Sleeps’ ‘This Is the Six’ album, as well as a bunch of other great items from the group’s label, The End Records. Included in the bundle is a Skull t-shirt, a Paradise Lost box set, a Cradle of Filth box set, two The End Records beer cozies, an AxeWound flat, an Audio Bullys bag, a “Here’s the Metal” hot sauce, and, of course, the While She Sleeps ‘This Is the Six’ signed CD. To learn a little more about While She Sleeps, check out our interview with the band, and then enter your details in the contest box at the bottom of the story for a chance to win The End Records Bundle Contest. We spoke with While She Sleeps guitarist Sean Long, who discussed the significance of their new album title, how they’re differentiating themselves from their peers, and what it was like to win the Kerrang award at such an early stage in their career. The title track, ‘This Is the Six,’ definitely has a special meaning for the band. Can you talk about where it comes from and if it was the obvious choice to be the first song heard off this record? It’s really hard to find an album title that is original and means something to you, we are really happy we landed on ‘This Is the Six.’ It basically means that we are the 5 and 6th member of the band is the crowd, our fans, anyone who has supported us in anyway, they are the six. So together we are part of the same this, THIS IS THE SIX! Guitarist Mat Welsh has stated that the band wants ‘This Is the Six’ to be an album that people grow up on? What were the qualities that drew you to the bands you listened to growing up and do you feel this album captures that, as well? Just music that stands out to me, I am a big fan of note selection. I believe the slightest change in note selection can change how you feel instantly so picking the right note for a certain song is very important. I really hope we have captured that because there are notes on that album that make me feel great and I get a feeling in my stomach that makes me love music. While She Sleeps have gotten some credit for thinking outside of the box in terms of their sound. What’s your take on the music scene and how do you differentiate yourself from other acts? I guess we just try our hardest to be different inside of all the music we love. I believe that all the music we listen to, which ranges from folk to metal, is captured in our music even without us knowing. You have a hard-rocking sound and there’s definitely a punk ethic to how the band addresses lyrical content. How much do you value having the platform to discuss things like politics, patriotism, and issues affecting the youth in your songs? I’d like to say at least we are singing about things that are real and that we are living in, things we all have experienced and about our lives as friends. The more people who like our band, the bigger voice we will have to let everyone know our opinions and join us! What are a few of your favorite songs off the record and can you discuss why they stand out to you? If I picked one I’d be lying to myself. I honestly love them all so much. We all really surprised ourselves with this so we listen to it like another band. Haha, but why not you know, we are very proud of it and love what we have created. What did winning the Kerrang Best Newcomer Award mean to you this early in your career? You have no idea. I cried for a start and I rarely cry. It just felt so amazing to know that what we are doing is real and people are actually agreeing with what we are doing. It was the best day of my life for sure! Fans wishing to check out While She Sleeps’ ‘This Is The Six’ album can currently pre-order the effort here . To enter to win a signed copy of the disc, along with items from Audio Bullys, AxeWound, Paradise Lost, Cradle of Filth and more as part of The End Record contest bundle, be sure to enter your information in the box provided below: While She Sleeps + The End Records Giveaway Enter your e-mail address for a chance to win a singed copy of While She Sleeps’ ‘This Is the Six’ CD plus a Skull t-shirt, a Paradise Lost box set, a Cradle of Filth box set, two The End Records beer cozies, an AxeWound flat, an Audio Bullys bag, a “Here’s the Metal” hot sauce. Contest ends Nov. 19, 2012. Click here for official rules . By entering this contest, you will receive email newsletters from Loudwire. You may unsubscribe at any time. Email Watch While She Sleeps’ ‘This Is the Six’ Video
Roger Kisby, Getty Images By now, most people have seen, or at least heard about, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong unleashing a profanity-laden rant at the recent iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas. Soon after the outburst, Armstrong packed his bags for rehab to deal with issues arising from substance abuse. The band has been relatively quiet about the details on Billie Joe’s health, but bassist Mike Dirnt recently went so far as to say, “I know that my friend’s life is in danger.” In the latest issue of Kerrang magazine, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt opened up about the band’s current situation, which forced them to cancel an upcoming tour. “Billie doesn’t take things lightly and he wouldn’t take rehab lightly, either,” Dirnt tells Kerrang. “He’s in the middle of some really big things, but we’re going to pull through. It’s killing everyone. Green Day has never been a band that sits still, but sometimes you have to step back and let life go on rather than try to control everything.” Green Day had been preparing themselves for a tour with some warm-up shows, one of which we recently covered at New York City’s Irving Plaza. There was nothing alarming about Billie Joe’s demeanor or the overall mood of the band while onstage, but according to Dirnt, this is an incredibly serious time for the band members as they support their frontman. ‘I know that my friend’s life is in danger and that’s all I care about,’ Dirnt says. ‘We’re brothers-in-arms waiting for Billie to return healthy, but we’re not going to force anything. Tré and I will be standing here for Billie.’ Green Day are currently in the middle of releasing a triple-album, ‘¡Uno!’, ‘¡Dos!’, ‘¡Tre!’. With ‘¡Uno!’ having dropped in September, ‘¡Dos!’ is set for release on Nov. 13 and ‘¡Tre!’ will hit stores on Jan, 14. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/green-day-jesus-of-suburbia-top-21st-century-hard-rock-songs/” title=”Green Day: Top 21st Century Hard Rock Songs” align=”center”]
Ethan Miller / George De Sota, Getty Images Zakk Wylde ‘s name has come up more than a few times this year as a fill-in for a potential Pantera reunion, but before that could ever happen, the remaining members would have to determine if a reunion without the full original lineup is in their best interest. Wylde tells Brave Words that Pantera getting back together after the death of Dimebag Darrell is similar to what Led Zeppelin had to consider when offers continued to flood in after the loss of John Bonham. Wylde explains, “The guys … they’d have to talk about it. THEY’RE Pantera (laughs). I mean, they’re the boys. You get em’ in a room, and I mean it should be like Led Zeppelin gettin’ back together. You know, the guys gotta work it out.” The guitarist, who also fronts Black Label Society , says that it’s been nice to hear both Vinnie Paul and Philip Anselmo even suggest that he might be the guy if they were to reunite, but there’s still a long way to go before that could happen. Wylde says, “Put it this way. I’d be beyond flattered if the guys wanted me to do it and were like, ‘Zakk, we really want to do it and we want you to honor Dime’ and everything. I would say, ‘Yeah, of course I would honor Dime.’ But it’d be like the Jimi Hendrix Experience; you know Mitch and Noel, they wanted to get together to celebrate Jimi’s life and they asked Eric Clapton to fill in and play the guitar and sing the songs. I mean, of course Eric would do it, cause he was buddies with him. It would be that type of thing. But that’ll be a bridge we cross, if the guys ever get to that point and they wanted to do it. But I’m friends with all the guys. I always wish the guys the best with whatever they’re doing. I just had Vinnie on my radio show and everything like that, so it’s all cool. Like I said, I’m good with all the guys. So it would just be up to them and like I said, it’d be a bridge we cross when we get there.” While the Wylde rumor has been a hot one for some time, Anselmo stated earlier this week that even though he had met with Wylde recently, talk of the guitarist being part of a potential Pantera reunion had been blown way out of context . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-pantera-songs/” title=”Next: 10 Best Pantera Songs” align=”center”]
Dave Hogan, Getty Images It has been a while since we’ve heard anything about the progress of Black Sabbath ‘s upcoming album , but Metal Injection has uncovered some details about the recordings, including a song title. Sabbath are working on the album at Shangri La Studios in Malibu, Calif. As previously reported, 15 songs have been recorded, and now bassist Geezer Butler revealed to SiriusXM’s Jose Mangin that 12 will make the album, with the other three likely being used as bonus tracks for special editions. Ozzy Osbourne is currently recording vocals with Rick Rubin. Butler is writing all the lyrics, and the two are working to complete the songs in five track increments. They are reportedly working on the first five now. One song title has been confirmed – ‘God Is Dead.’ Guitarist Tony Iommi completed all 15 guitar tracks during the band’s sessions in England earlier this year. As for Iommi’s health, Ozzy told Mangin that he spoke to Iommi recently and he is in good spirits and recovery is coming along very well from his cancer treatments earlier this year. Drummer Bill Ward has not been part of the Sabbath reunion because of a contract dispute , and it looks like he won’t be. If the guitar tracks are done, most likely the drum tracks have been finished, as well, although the band has not confirmed that. Snippets of Mangin’s interview with Ozzy and Geezer will begin airing on Ozzy’s Boneyard (SiriusXM channel 38) starting next week. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/black-sabbath-release-pro-shot-2012-performance-of-paranoid-live-in-birmingham-england/” title=”Next: Black Sabbath Unleash Pro-Shot Performance of ‘Paranoid'” align=”center”]
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire / Ethan Miller, Getty Images There have been several stories over the past year on the topic of Zakk Wylde filling in for the late Dimebag Darrell should Pantera ever decide to reunite for shows, but singer Phil Anselmo says comments he made to that effect were taken out of context. Anselmo tells Ultimate-Guitar.com , “That whole thing was taken way out of context. All that happened was Zakk and I spoke and what it was about was just a personal issue between he and I that was worked out quickly and easily. We were cozy as kittens after that and we just shot the sh-t. Honestly, the whole Pantera thing did not come up at all. Whoever interviewed me and I f—in’ forget the whole thing but it was taken out of context because we didn’t even talk about Pantera reuniting or anything like that. Matter of fact we talked about relations and mutual friends and just honestly everybody getting along and that’s really all we talked about.” Anselmo was quoted by the Village Voice as saying , “I talked to Zakk about two weeks ago, and he’s very open for it. He’s got an open mind about it. But, truth be told, Vince has got a grudge against me that is really unfounded. And, honestly, I’ve always had a wide-open door when it comes to Vince. If it takes me standin’ there and lettin’ that little guy punch me in the f—in’ face repeatedly, over and over and over, til his hands were tired of hittin’ my rock-hard f—in’ head, as long as we could sit down and talk afterwards, I’m all for it, man.” Earlier this year, drummer Vinnie Paul also stated that should a reunion ever happen, Wylde would be the choice to fill in for his late brother Dimebag. But Vinnie Paul also stressed that he felt it was best to leave the band’s legacy alone. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/pantera-revolution-is-my-name-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”Next: Pantera – Top 21st Century Metal Songs” align=”center”]
Simone Joyner, Getty Images It’s always interesting to see how things will work when members from various bands decide to take on a project together, and one of the better collaborations this year is the new metal outfit, AxeWound . The band features Cancer Bats singer Liam Cormier, Bullet for My Valentine ‘s Matt Tuck (on guitar), Pitchshifter drummer Jason Bowld, Glamour of the Kill guitarist Mike Kingswood, and Rise to Remain bassist Joe Copcutt, and they just released their debut disc, ‘ Vultures .’ Loudwire caught up with Cormier, who told us about the band’s speedy recording period, how quickly the group has bonded, and his thoughts on bringing their music to North American audiences this fall. This record was recorded in a little under two weeks and you were the last addition to the lineup. What was it like being thrown into the fire with this record? I was at home just having some downtime from finishing the Cancer Bats record and I got a phone call from Matt Tuck basically telling me that he had written a record, a metal record, and he was asking if I wanted to sing on it. I was like, “Yeah man, that’d be rad. I’ve got some time off and I think we could do something.” He was like, “OK then, I’ll send you something, the eight songs that I have mixed down and we’ve got another three that are finished. Let me know what you think.” I had no idea that he’d even have that many songs finished or what was even up with the project and I got all these crazy metal tracks and I was like, “Whoa, this is awesome!” I called him back and I was like, “Hey man, I’m totally in. When are you thinking?,” and he [asked], “How soon can you get on a plane and fly to Wales? I need to do this before I write the Bullet [for My Valentine] record.” I was like, “Ooh, I guess I can jump on a plane next week,” and he [said], “OK, perfect.” So before I had a chance to even think it out, I was getting on a plane flying to England. I was basically trying to write out as much as I could while waiting to meet this new band. We went to Wales and recorded the vocals in five days and that was it. We were like a real band. That’s great, and listening to this you hear the immediacy. You did it so quick, there’s not much time to think about it. You just knock it out and move on. That was the real fun side of it. It was just all of our gut instincts, and we didn’t have time to overanalyze things, so when we were laying down vocals or in the same spirit when they were doing the tracking of the album – the drums and guitar – it was just like whatever was your gut feeling, what felt right, that’s what went. It was cool having that spirit throughout the whole thing. It was like, “Hey man, that sounds great. Let’s move on.” I’m like, “Oh, do you want an extra track?” “Nope, we don’t have time and that sounds perfect.” It was really positive for me being in the studio under those circumstances, cause it was Ginge who was recording and Matt who was producing just being really pumped on everything we were doing. I’d show them lyrics and me and Matt would work on it, change a few words up or take some things out and for the most part it was just hammering it out. It was fun. Matt had talked about in a previous interview how interesting it was for him not having to be the lead singer and letting someone else go crazy onstage. Given his experience fronting a successful band and your experience with Cancer Bats, how has it worked co-existing onstage together? Well that’s what he told me when he came into – “I just want to play guitar and drink beer and have fun. I don’t want to have to worry about my voice or anything.” Originally it was supposed to be Matt singing on two tracks — ‘ Cold ‘ and ‘Collide’ — he had some ideas. But as we went on, just because he had some ideas, we were getting pumped and had some ideas, and I think it’s funny that I still roped him into being a singer [laughs]. It was like, “You’ve got a great voice. It’d be stupid of us not to take advantage of that.” And he’s got a really crazy screaming voice which I think is awesome. I think it doesn’t get presented as much as it could and Bullet, and the same with me and Cancer Bats, there’s some things I can’t do cause it wouldn’t fit the band. So this whole project was just trying different stuff. Like ‘Blood, Money & Lies,’ where Matt’s vocals are just brutal. It was awesome. I didn’t know he could scream like that. So it’s cool for both of us trying out different styles. With balancing Cancer Bats and AxeWound this past summer, does that just make you more energized when you return to one project after doing the other? It was fun this summer doing double sets, going from Cancer Bats to AxeWound or vice versa. It made me appreciate how different both projects were. I think when I’m screaming in the studio, it’s obviously Liam from Cancer Bats screaming on a metal record, but then playing those two different shows, it’s like, “No, I’m Liam from AxeWound, fronting this band.” I do see how different both projects are, especially when I’m doing them back to back. [laughs] Gotta say ‘Cold,’ such a great song to lead off with. Can you talk about how ‘Cold’ came together? ‘Cold’ was rad for me because that was the one song that Matt – it was the first song that Matt wrote for AxeWound. It was him thinking he had some stuff that was completely different from anything he was doing with Bullet. So for me, in the studio, that was actually the best because we were cramming, writing lyrics and working inside the can, and when it came to ‘Cold,’ Matt was like, “Oh I have the lyrics. We can just sing that.” It was like, “Whew! OK! Cool.” So we just banged that one out super quick. I think it’s rad because that song is such a 50/50 of Matt and I, between the verses and chorus, and to me that is the epitome of what the band is, having those different dynamics and how it comes together. I really like that song. It’s super fun. ‘Collide’ seems like the curveball on the album. It’s definitely heavy, but it’s got that soft piano opening and the strings, and after the brutality of the rest of the record, it kind of changes things up. We even position it in the set the same style, about halfway through as the sort of weird breather. But the song itself is super heavy when it all kicks in and it’s super fun to play live as well. But for those guys, they were telling me that when they were writing everything, they kind of got to a point where they didn’t want to rewrite the same style. We actually had that conversation of what other types of metal do we all really like. And having that theatrical style of things and Matt has a friend who plays all the piano on it, so we had this idea that we could make this heavy song, but have it be … Well, I like how all the songs don’t sound the same, and with this you’ve got something completely different. It’s a total curve ball. But once we put the vocals down, it didn’t seem out of place. I think on the album what’s cool is we can do something different, but it still stands up next to like ‘Destroy’ or ‘Victim of the System.’ It’s just as rad of a song because it has the theatrical and more dynamics to it. Obviously, we know you and Matt as the singers for your other respective groups, but man, Jason Bowld from Pitchshifter on drums kicks ass on this record. He’s like the secret weapon. Yeah, he’s an animal. It’s amazing playing with him live. He just locks in the click and just all of the songs he hammers home. It’s like you said – he is our secret weapon. Having this dude that’s like a machine gun behind you just let’s us go out and do our thing. You just always know that there’s this super solid dude backing you up. It’s the best. What’s crazy though for Matt is that with Jason, there’s some songs that, like ‘Victim of the System,’ Jason just laid down those drums and Matt wrote the guitars around it. So he wrote that song around the drum tracks. For a lot of guitar players and anyone in a band, it’s such a different way of thinking of things – doing drums first and then everything else according to that. But I think that Matt finds it really exciting. Just having this completely different way of doing things is refreshing. You’re also getting some love for ‘ Exorchrist ,’ and what a freaky video you’ve got for it. What can you tell us about the song and the clip? [Laughs] That’s one of my favorite songs. I just really liked it. When we were talking about what could be the next single, that one was up there for me. I love the chorus for the song. The lyrics and the idea was something that I had written. Actually, when we were throwing around ideas for a band name, I was thinking we could call the band Exochrist, like the opposite of an exorcism – getting all the good out and letting the evil in. I thought that was pretty metal. So I kind of kept that idea around and wrote a whole song about it. The cool part for me was that I had the structure of that chorus set out a lot different, just more traditionally hardcore singing on the beat. But with Matt producing, he was like, “Let’s bring out that last line and make more of a statement,” and all of a sudden that opened up that song to me in more of a Judas Priest-huge rock chorus context. That sold me on that song so hard. It was so cool and was a badass way of ending the chorus, just bringing on the ‘Exorchrist’ with the ripping guitar. And when the idea for the video came, it was like no videos get played on TV for metal bands anymore. Just very few daytime TV slots at all, so we thought why not make the gnarliest metal video we can. We just wanted some of those fun metal things, so we had some gore and naked demons. It was kind of cool and that’s where the idea went. I showed up to the set, and there were these girls just covered in gore, and I thought, “Oh, yeah, I guess it’s pretty full on.” [laughs] But I like how the video turned out in the end. It’s definitely pretty cool and something completely different than anything I’ve done with Cancer Bats or any other band I’ve ever been in. You’re right that Exorchrist would be an awesome band name, but it worked out perfectly with AxeWound, which is also pretty cool, and you still got a solid song out of the other moniker. AxeWound was always the band name, and then we kind of had a bit of a talk about whether it should be the band name. We threw around some of the songs and song titles that provided potential band names, like ‘Church of Nothing,’ ‘Exorchrist’ – I still like the idea of them, so it was just like, “Oh, well I’ll just write a song called ‘Church of Nothing.’ I’ll write a song called ‘Exorchrist.’ Perfect.” ‘Church of Nothing,’ yes we’re expecting metal, but that song swings. I really like how gallop-y and almost how power metal it gets in the bridge, but it’s also one of the fastest songs too. It’s so thrashy. I like it cause it confuses kids too. Like when we’re playing it on the tour live, you’d see kids when we start up the verse start the circle pit, but before they’ve even made a full circle, it crashes back into the gallop-y chorus. It’s like, “Oh, I need to pump my fists.” You see these kids wanting to get involved, but then having to figure out what to do. [laughs] Speaking of the circle pit, ‘Burn Alive’ has to work for that, as well. Yeah, ‘Burn Alive,’ that’s our circle pit jam. I’ll call it out pretty huge before that one and it’s rad because it’s an easy one right off the bat. ‘Destroy’ is actually going over really well where kids are singing along with the huge chorus and the big fist pumps in that bridge. ‘Post Apocalyptic Party,’ ‘Exorchrist,’ and ‘Cold’ have all been killing it too, just cause kids have known those songs that longest. But it’s great to see the whole record getting well received live. You can tell kids have put in the time and are learning the words and getting really into the whole thing. Most of your dates so far have been overseas. How pumped are you to bring it back to North America later this year? I’m pumped to see what the reaction will be like over here. I know I have a ton of friends in Toronto and Montreal where we’re playing that are really excited to see it. But I think in general, just Cancer Bats and Bullet fans and Pitchshifter fans, everybody is kind of finding out about this project is really getting excited. I think these shows are gonna be good. If this does go on beyond this first album , how excited are you to be there from the inception the next time around? All of us have been getting along super well and this tour has gone off, so for all of us, we want to keep working on the project. For us, especially Matt and I, it’s just a matter of finding time. But we’ve all talked about getting together at some point – maybe at the end of the Bullet tour cycle for this next record and maybe writing the next AxeWound record together – the five of us. Just thinking of how quick we were able to put things together with the quick sessions and it would be interesting to see what we could do – the five of us – maybe if we’re locked in a room for a month, which is the next step for the band. But at the same time, I don’t want to lose that urgency that we have with everything. Everyone’s on the same page that way, so I don’t think we’ll give ourselves too much time. But sometimes when you have a good deadline and your back is against the wall, that’s when you come up with your best stuff, so I think to not lose site of that with this band would be awesome. It seems like the song ‘Post Apocalyptic Party’ would make for a good video… If we could do a video for that song, Matt and I had this idea of us riding dirt bikes. We both ride motorcycles, so we thought it would be cool to do a Mad Max style video where we’re riding around on dirt bikes in a wasteland, kind of ripping around. Maybe if we become the biggest band in the world, we can make our high budget AxeWound video. Watch AxeWound’s ‘Exorchrist’ Video