Rounder Hailing from Canada, Big Wreck showed plenty of promise in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but after their sophomore set slumped the band members decided to part ways. Now, a full decade later, singer Ian Thornley reached out to his longtime friend and cohort Brian Doherty and by opening the lines of communication, his onetime guitarist returned and a surprise resurrection of Big Wreck followed. Loudwire spoke with frontman Ian Thornley about how Big Wreck came back into focus, the solid early returns from the band’s ‘Albatross’ album in their native Canada, the breakout success of the title track in the U.S., and Thornley also revealed a little about his onetime audition for Velvet Revolver as well. Thank you for the time and I’ve got to say that I’m so happy that Big Wreck is back as a recording entity again. Can you tell me how that came to be? Well it’s just Brian and I from the original lineup, but it was just my personal relationship with Brian had sort of fallen by the wayside after we parted ways the first time and that was something that was just sort of a sour spot for me. I just missed the guys and we had been roommates in college and had been really tight before and through all of the Big Wreck thing. So I just called and we just started hanging out and then he filled in for Paulo [Neta] for one show because Paulo was going to be in Portugal and then the idea to do a Thornley-slash-Big Wreck tour came up and that’s sort of the band that we have now. I just love the idea of playing with three guitar players and doing the record. We didn’t go in to make a Big Wreck album per se. I was just going in to make a record. And I think it was Nick Rasculinecz, the executive producer, who suggested calling it Big Wreck, which didn’t sit right at first, but eventually I came around to, you know. Well perhaps that is what makes it sound like it does, because a lot of times reunited bands feel like they’re missing something that wasn’t there in the past, but this sounds as fresh like it developed organically without any pressure. Yeah, I’m really proud of the record and the fact that it’s being received at all is just gravy. The fact that it’s being received well is just exceptional at this point and to go out and score a No. 1 up here [in Canada], that’s a big deal for someone who’s been at it as long as me. I’ve had so many Top 5, almost No. 1′s, that finally we get one when we go in to make a record by our rules, you know. There’s some sweet vindication to it and I’m also really proud of it. You mentioned the accolades and already there’s a couple of CASBY Award wins for you even before the disc drops in the U.S. So with that momentum going, how good does it feel to get that recognition right off the bat? It’s great. I don’t know how much that carries over, but it’s great. I’m in a position to … I think Brian and I, as well as the other guys, I think we’re all in a position to enjoy it this time around and really sort of take it all in. Cause I know how fleeting someone digging one of your songs can be. But it feels great, but I think the overall vibe with the guys and myself is a lot of different than it was 10 years ago. Everyone is a lot more positive and a lot more focused and I think the priorities have changed. So, any and all is icing on the cake. And I think the cake is still a record that I still listen to and it’s been out here for almost a year and I still enjoy listening to it. That to me is what I’m most proud of is, in my opinion, making a really kickass record. Having people recognize that and just dig it is just gravy. It’s great that you’ve reconnected with Brian but once you went head on into this thing again, can you talk about how that relationship has evolved? Is it different? The same? Yeah, everything is fantastic. I think all the time we were apart sort of, I think we both matured, a lot. When we started hanging out again, there wasn’t a sort of, ‘OK, well here is what upset me about…’ We didn’t hash anything out. It was just that neither of us were holding any grudges and I just sort of missed my buddy and we were in similar places in a personal way and we both matured a lot in dealing with the things you have to deal with in this industry. We deal with them a lot better now, whereas before a lot of stuff would get swept under the rug and get turned into something great down the line. I don’t think either of us is going to let that happen in this incarnation. One of the things I love about the album is that you can almost feel the room and how live it feels. I know as producer you have a lot of say in that. Can you talk about what you wanted from the sound of this album going in? There was a lot of discussion about the sound and the feel of the record before we even knew what we were going to do. How do we achieve a certain sound? Do we know those tricks? Do we need to know those tricks? But what you’re speaking of is the end result that I wanted. I wanted it to sound like a real band making a real record. It’s so easy now to do it the other way and there’s the pre-packaged guitar sound and pre-packaged drum sound and press ‘Alt’ click whatever and you’ve got drums. But it’s much harder to catch a performance and capture interaction between musicians and all the little ghosts that can make their way into a piece of tape, it’s much harder to get it on a computer screen when you’re putting it into a grid and making it all perfect and correcting this and that. I think as evidenced by a lot of the things you see on television or whatever, and musicians performing live and something goes down and the music’s still going. There’s a lot of that going on and it might be great for some, but it’s not really my cup of tea. I love hearing real sounds made by real people with real fingers and real throats and it’s harder work, but we still made a record in about month. We did it quickly and kept it fresh. Getting into the album, ‘Albatross’ the song, and you mentioned getting things to sound a certain way, I just love the guitar sound at the beginning and it’s got that great psychedelic feel to it. Well, the sound at the beginning is just an electric 12-string with some delay on it, but it’s in an open tuning, which also lends itself to that sound, but nothing was not considered that went into the whole album. Everything wasn’t argued over, but it was discussed. I think it should be this guitar with this amp and we distance mic it so we get more ambiance with it and it’s all those things, but still having said that, it was all very quick. It was a lot of go with your gut and go with what you know sounds good. The psychedelic stuff is fantastic. But a lot of my trick bag is about trying to get the sounds that I know and love from all the albums I grew up listening to. I have to ask, I know that riff for ‘Albatross’ has been hanging around for a long time. So how gratifying is it to not only see it completed, but embraced as a single? [laughs] I didn’t think it was ever going to be single. I was thrilled when the guys at Warner here in Canada were like, ‘Well we want to go with ‘Albatross,” and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s ballsy. Go for it. Have at it.’ But I think for me the satisfaction was hearing that riff finally being in a song. That little na-na-na-na melody has been kicking around for, I can’t put a date on it, but well before the first Big Wreck album. I’ve tried a million different things with it. I tried to put it on the end of a song. I tried to put in the middle of another song. OK, maybe an intro then. But I never tried it as the focal point, the meat and potatoes of the song and then have it be the song. But that’s the thing … sometimes it takes ten years to write the song that writes itself in five minutes. I was listening to Rod Stewart. I was listening to ‘Gasoline Alley’ a lot and it dawned on me that I should just try the 12-string acoustic trick and as soon as I started playing the 12-string acoustic, like the demo of ‘Albatross’ was all acoustic, and then a song popped out and there you go. Finally! But to have it be a single, yeah, why not?! There’s a slide guitar solo on radio. Who would have thunk it? I have to say, ‘A Million Days’ off this album has to be one of my standout tracks. Where did that track come from? It’s hard to say. I had that sort of mellow chorus, the ‘Stay with me for a million days’ which was hooky and pretty if not a little corny. And then I just started surrounding it with things that were going to take the tease out of it. And then then challenge became how do I make this sound like one arcing song with all the mood changes and color changes, but I think it was successful. What I wanted to do, and maybe it’s just me, but contrasting colors to where if you heard one section of the song without the others, there was no way you would say that was the same song. But hearing the whole thing in context, there’s a good arc to it and I think it makes sense. But yeah, I love trying things like that and musical experiments that work out. It’s one of my favorites for sure. Watching some of the videos you’ve done, ‘Wolves’ sounds great live. Is that song starting to be one of the live favorites for the band? Yeah, it’s one of my favorites on the album. Certain songs just have a feel and a vibe and a life to them and it’s a little different than the other ones. For me, ‘Wolves’ has always been that. When we first put it down, I got choked up listening to it. And I still do get a tingle listening to it, but doing it live and seeing people singing those lyrics back to me is just huge. That’s one that is near and dear to me for sure and it’s a lot of fun to sing. ‘Control’ really feels like you have a chance to let loose. Can you tell me what it was like putting that track together and what you were looking for? ‘Control’ is born of me picking up a Strat, with Mark Knopfler being one of my heroes and certainly those first two Dire Straits records being close to me. And you’ve got that chorus, that’s where I was going for that Peter Gabriel vibe and I just thought marrying the two, how do we do that? I just that adding that Fleetwood Mac drum sound laid the whole vibe for that. And then lyrically, it’s pretty well-mined territory, but there’s some room there. And live, it’s one of those things I look forward to every night because you never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes the solo will go on a little too long and sometimes not long enough and sometimes it’s just right, but when it’s just right, that’s when everybody is strumming with their iPhones, you know. I see you’re doing some dates with Theory of a Deadman . What are you thoughts on joining them on the road? Great guys man. I’ve toured with them a few times on the road here and there and Joey, the drummer, is an old friend and they’re just nice guys. I couldn’t say enough nice things about them. It’s been great so far and it does make it a lot easier when the guys in the other bus are easy to get along with. It makes every day go a lot quicker and it’s been great so far. I noticed on Twitter that you’re wife has her black belt. So does that make things a little more dangerous around the house for you? [Laughs] No, but for anybody else trying to get in the house, sure. It’s something that’s a hobby for her and it’s one of her passions. She’s also a chef, so she’ll kick your ass and cook you a nice meal. But it’s been great for her … and both the kids are involved and I love the martial arts. I know a couple of years back your name was mentioned for Velvet Revolver and they’ve gone through so many different people trying to find a singer. What was your experience trying out for the vocalist spot? It was great. They were all great guys, and Slash in particular was really [cool]. I was really taken aback by how genuine and what a real human being he is, well actually all of them are. They’re just really good dudes. But I flew down and jammed with them for a few hours and the music part was great, but I think they were looking for a guy that doesn’t play guitar. At least at that time, they wanted a guy who was a frontguy, like an Axl or Scott Weiland or one of those dudes who doesn’t play guitar — he dances and gets the crowd going and all that stuff, and that’s just never been my thing. So when I was up there, it was like, ‘That was great, but do you mind playing it without the guitar?’ And I was like, ‘Nah, nah, it’s not going to happen.’ What am I gonna do if Slash takes this awesome 10-minute guitar solo. I don’t want to, I don’t know any of those moves. I just think and Slash has said this in interviews too, ‘Well he was great but he wanted to play guitar and that’s why he’s not in.’ And hey, I’m fine with it. Had I tried to do something without a guitar around my neck, it would have felt unnatural and weird, you know. I couldn’t imagine doing that night after night. I gravitate toward the guitar, that’s always been my cool factor. I’m a Keith more that a Mick. I know you did Thornley in between the Big Wreck periods. What do you see for the future of Big Wreck? Will you continue or balance projects? I’ve learned enough to never say never in this biz. But right now everything is going great, sounding great and everybody’s in a really good place, so for the time being, I’ll say absolutely to [more Big Wreck]. Having already sold well in Canada, Big Wreck’s ‘Albatross’ album will arrive in the U.S. Feb. 19. The disc may be pre-ordered here . The ‘Albatross’ single can already be purchased via iTunes here .
Michael McAndrews/Hartford Courant/MCT, Getty Images As has been widely reported, there was a tragic shooting that took place at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning (Dec. 14). According to the latest news reports , at least 27 people were killed, including 18 children. Sandy Hook Elementary School was quickly evacuated after the lone gunman opened fire. The 24-year-old shooter killed himself after the massacre. The devastating incident is being called the deadliest school shooting since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Upon hearing the news, various rock musicians and bands have offered their thoughts and prayers to those affected via their Twitter accounts. Below is a list of tweets from rock acts in regard to this horrific tragedy: The Conn elementary school shooting is horrific. Those poor kids. & their families. I’m speechless. — Slash (@Slash) December 14, 2012 Wow. Our hearts go out to the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Sad and sickening. #prayfornewton — ? Papa Roach ? (@paparoach) December 14, 2012 Our hearts, prayers and condolences go out to the families that have been affected with the shooting in CT. What awful news to wake up to. — Nonpoint (@nonpoint) December 14, 2012 It’s tragic what happened this morning in #Newton . CT has some strong gun control laws, we need to focus on mental health issues. — Philip Labonte (@philthatremains) December 14, 2012 ANOTHER ONE, ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE PEOPLE; news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/sho… — DAVID DRAIMAN (@DAVIDMDRAIMAN) December 14, 2012 At least 27 dead in shooting at Conn. elementary school news.msn.com/us/at-least-27… We can’t do this to each other it’s Heartbreaking — adelitasway (@adelitasway) December 14, 2012 We are deeply saddened by the tragedy in Connecticut.Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. — Rev Theory (@revtheory) December 14, 2012 Loudwire offers its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones affected by this tragedy.
Kristian Dowling, Getty Images Queens of the Stone Age are having a little fun with the media leading up to the release of their next album. Singer Josh Homme and band took the time to write up a missive on their forthcoming release for Mojo magazine, admitting a little bit of the pretention that comes with quotes hyping an album. Queens of the Stone Age have been in the studio for a good part of 2012 with Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl coming on board to play drums for the full record and both former Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri and Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor lending a hand as well during sessions. The Mojo message , which featured a rather artful drawing of a single eye with a clock face in place of the pupil that’s set to 9:00, reads as follows: Dear Mojo, A stitch in time will save you 9, but … there’s no way we could have prepared for the journey up the river that is this album. In our grand plan, we envisioned our lives and recordings running like clockwerk. However, the reality has been manic and unpredictable. These songs aren’t recollections of the times we had. They are depictions of what we are going through in real time. It means even a bad event can turn into an unforgettable song — at least for us, ha. The record sounds like running in a dream inside a codeine cabaret. I hope you understand what that means, cause we don’t. Sounds like a load of pretentious s—! What? Gotta go, the therapist says our time is up… Queens of the Stone Age Homme recently spoke about the difficulty the band has had in getting their new album to completion. Though a firm title or release date has yet to be announced, it’s expected that the next Queens of the Stone Age album will arrive in the first half of 2013. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/nick-oliveri-vocals-queens-of-the-stone-age-album-rejoins-kyuss-lives/” title=”Next: Nick Oliveri Contributes to New QOTSA Album” align=”center”]
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Flynn spoke all about his hardships and fears with his hernia surgery as well as how going through that experience may impact future material for Machine Head. Flynn also spoke in depth about recording the band’s new live album ‘Machine F—ing Head.’ Read the full interview with Robb Flynn below: How are you feeling, sir? I’m doing alright, could be better, could be worse. You obviously had to drop off the Dethklok tour for some surgery and pretty amazing that you jumped back on so quickly. Thank you, we took nine shows off – I had an emergency, double hernia sugery. About a year ago I got a hernia and it was right before we started touring for ‘Locust’ and I went in to get it fixed and the doctor was like, “Well you’re not going to be able to sing for a couple of months,” and I was like, “Well I’m going on tour next week so that’s not going to work.” So he was like, “You know what if it’s not hurting that bad, basically it’s your intestines are poking out, you just push them all back in” and I was like “Oh, okay” [Laughs] so I did that and it didn’t really hurt that much. About three months ago I don’t know what I did but I got a second one in my nuts and basically my guts would drop into my nuts and that was a little more painful – having to push those back in, it was a little more complicated. I was touring and I just kept on touring and then we had a break and then we went back out on this thing and I figured, “Hey I’ve been on tour already with both of these things it should be fine.” I had already scheduled a surgery for January and about halfway through the tour – this whole tour has just been nuts it was like the f—ing hurricane and getting banned [by Disney] and the hernias and the bus breaking down [laughs] it’s just like Jesus Christ. The three shows leading up to Minneapolis it was pretty brutal after every show and then the day off — I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t stand and I was like “Alright guys” I pulled everybody in my room and I’m like “This is it, I’ve been doing this for a year and a half, my body’s having a mutiny on me here.” They were cool and we just shot for Portland and here I am and it’s been going good. I thought I would take it easy, I told myself when I started going back out, “Okay take it easy, you’re going to take it easy now” and I don’t know how to take it easy. I get up there and do my thing and pay the price after if I have to. Documenting the sugery as a series of video diaries is pretty revealing. Was that about creating a greater bond with fans or more for you to see yourself throughout the whole process? I mean at first it was just kind of a goof [laughs] like I want to see what I look like coming out of all this great anesthesia and all the great drugs they’ve got me on. I don’t know I guess I was a little nervous and I just wanted to film it – I don’t know it sucks, the whole thing sucks, I’m dropping off, missing a bunch of shows, a bunch of people were bummed. I just thought maybe show people what I’m going through and share this thing – lots of dudes are like “I’m f—ing invincible” even if that’s how I feel sometimes that isn’t the way life goes and it was cool to share it. People were stoked about it like, “Wow man that’s a pretty brutal thing to show” and it was pretty f—ing brutal those first couple of days. I had to have Pando, my merch guy – he was with me the whole time, lifting my legs into beg, it took me about a minute to stand and a minute to sit down or lay down. I just felt like doing it and even for my own posterity just to see this moment in my life and I guess I thought I might die or something under the anesthesia. My goddamn wife planted all these stories in my head and I was like, “Jesus Christ, stop telling me all this crap” and so I was like, “Maybe if this is the last time, f— it there it is.” It’s like this morbid thing going through my head but that’s just how my brain was thinking at the time. What part of the surgical process will most likely become lyrics or somehow influence Machine Head music? Thinking about almost dying maybe? Yeah maybe, something like that – I was going to say writing a song about a hernia would be super lame. [Laughs] I don’t know yeah, maybe the thoughts about dying. What was pretty cool when I went into the actual surgery room – my wife watches a bunch of shows like ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ and all the hospital shows, all the emergency room shows and I’m expecting it to be this f—ing totally dimly lit like, “Pass me the scalpel now! Stat.” I walk in and it’s this super brightly lit room and everyone’s like “Oh hey, how you doing?” And I’m like, “This isn’t like f—ing ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ what the f—?” [Laughs] I want to talk a little bit about the new live record ‘Maching F—ing Head’ Live. The album just came out, what do you like best about how you’ve evolved as a live band compared to what the ‘Hellalive’ album represented back in 2003? I think that the coolest thing about the live record for me, is that the ‘Hellalive’ documented up to ‘Supercharge’ where we were at in 2001/2002 and this is documenting up to where we are now –so the three records after that ‘Through the Ashes,’ ‘Blackening,’ ‘Unto the Locust.’ For me as I was going through the tracks and getting ready to mix them and we’re picking from all these different cities and countries and just listening to the fans, man The fans and the sing a longs and just chanting Machine Effin’ Head every three or four minutes and going on for a minute or so – it was amazing. When we started mixing it, we started listening to a lot of live records and a lot of live records now are like crappy studio records with a little bit of crowd here and there. There are screw ups on it, you can tell when the city changes and my voice is cracking here and there. There was a night where we were on fire and you’re going to miss a note here and there. Ultimately, as I started mixing it – I was just like the crowd needs to be louder I was telling the engineer the whole time “Dude, turn it up” and he’s like, “It’s making everything go out of phase” and I’m like “I don’t care.” We’re not the stars of this album, the fans, the head cases, those are the stars of this record. Listening to it, I got goosebumps – just listening to some of the live tracks it’s awesome. It’s amazing to walk out there and see those people lost their minds like they do. The head cases are intense. Robb, putting together the new live album for you, what was the biggest challenge when it came to differentiating between multiple recordings of the same song from an entire tour? My two criteria were if the band played it good [laughs], you know if we didn’t suck that night and sometimes you just hear something – there’s just a vibe, we’re playing with more power, if the drums are hitting harder, if there’s more spit going into the mic and the guitars are locked in tighter. Sometimes you just found a show where that happened a lot and then also how the crowd was, if the crowd was singing along, if the crowd was kind of quiet. We weren’t going to do something corny like fly in a crowd – we wanted the crowd to be the crowd from the shows. So those were the two things, a lot of times it was the band was on fire and the crowd was on fire too and it was almost like you could hear them feeding off of each other like they’re getting more pissed, we’re getting more pissed. It was just that back and forth and that was amazing to stumble upon when you finally find like “Oh s—t listen to that, that’s killer, that’s it” and you know it in a second. What can we expect after this current tour, going into 2013? You guys are done touring for the year – I hope you guys get a break. Yeah, for this year we got some stuff coming up and next year, we’re going out in March and April. It looks like we’re going to be doing some stuff in the summer, more touring. We’re going to start writing though in the beginning of the year or at the end of this year we’ll start writing. Do you think there will be a new record out next year? I don’t know if it’s going to happen next year, I’d love for it to happen next year – maybe some songs though. We might throw out maybe three or four new songs on an EP or on iTunes or do something where we just put up a song a month, maybe even just on the Internet or something. Who knows, just give fans something, I don’t necessarily think it needs to be a record that comes out. It can be new stuff that gets people talking and gets people excited and just put something out. Even for us, when we did ‘Through the Ashes of Empires,’ we put it out and it came out in Europe first and then when it came out in America six months later the label asked us, “Hey can you write another song to give people an incentive to buy it,” because if they’ve already bought the import from Europe which a lot of people had in America. It kind of lit a fire under us, we had to push, we had to put a new song together really quick. Just having that pressure in many ways made people stoked because they like the new song after something they had already heard for six months. It almost laid the foundation for the direction of ‘The Blackening’ and how it was going to go. I love the idea of doing something now and putting it out in April or May right before a summer tour and see how that inspiration takes us into the next record. I don’t know if it’s going to happen but that’s where my head’s at right now, that’s what I’d love to see happen. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Anders Friden of In Flames to her program this coming weekend. She can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com .
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Late last year, All That Remains singer Phil Labonte raised a few eyebrows when using the word “f–got” while talking about a song competition between his band and Black Veil Brides. At the time, he was referencing a photo split that featured himself and the glammed out singer of Black Veil Brides , Andy Biersack. The vocalist later clarified his comments and with some distance now between the remarks, he’s commented further on the outrage over his usage of the term. In a recent issue of Revolver (excerpted by ThePrp.com ), Labonte says, “I don’t worry what people think about me. I’ll call everyone in my band a f–got and some people who read that get really butt-hurt. I just don’t know why. What happened to ‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me’? I don’t advocate hurting someone’s feelings because of their sexual orientation, but at the same time, if it really offends you when someone says ‘f–got,’ you need to man up. It’s just a word.” At the time of the incident and pending backlash, Labonte criticized the metal media for latching onto one aspect and not telling the whole story, like his vocal support of gay rights. He adds in the new interview, “Passing laws against gay marriage is the most ridiculous thing that straight people do. That’s offensive to me, because they’re just people, and it certainly isn’t my right to go ahead and tell people how they can live or cannot live.” For all the hubbub over that incident last year, All That Remains have also done a lot of good. Just last month the band continued their support of the military by visiting a Marine Corps base around the Thanksgiving holiday. The group recently issued the video for ‘ Stand Up ‘ from their newly released ‘ A War You Cannot Win ‘ album. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/all-that-remains-phil-labonte-talks-military-religion-a-war-you-cannot-win/” title=”Next: Phil Labonte Discusses the Military + Religion” align=”center”]
Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler was the guest on Full Metal Jackie’s radio show this past weekend. Adler spoke all about Lamb of God’s current trek with In Flames, Hatebreed and Sylosis as well as awaiting the trial in Prague for frontman Randy Blythe . Adler also spoke of the brotherhood of Lamb of God and the band’s future music. Read the full interview with Chris Adler below: I had the chance to see you guys at the start of this tour, happy to have you guys back and finally doing a tour for ‘Resolution.’ Yeah it feels good, we did a pre-release week of small shows in January and then the plan was to do the longer summer tour but things got derailed a little bit but we’re very happy to get on the road here and work the new record. Has the chain of events from the last few months created a frustration that’s resulting now in greater aggression onstage? I think we’ve come to a point where we’ve realized how fragile, what we do is. Not that we were taking any of it for granted before but it does become a bit routine after 16, 17 years of playing these shows. To have something like this happen you get shocked by it and it definitely was a wakeup call to us all – especially for this tour because with the situation not resolved and Randy [Blythe] having to go back to trial sometime next year, they said somewhere between January and April so we can’t make any plans after this tour. Right now we’re looking at every night as the first and last so it’s really exciting and putting a lot more positive energy into the show. Before you get on tour and you start to turn gray and drink too much and everybody is sleeping all day and now everybody’s up and laughing and we’re having a good time and getting along. The shows have been really good and very energetic. In what ways has the situation in Prague change your appreciation for each other as band mates and also individuals? Yeah I think we’ve all come through some periods with the band that not a lot of bands are able to get through. Obviously we start as friends and things go awry and end up in fist fights and people leave and somehow we made it through that – knowing that together we are much greater than the individual parts. It’s taken a long time but I think we’ve come to the conclusion that we do have a lot of respect for each other and what we’re able to do together. Having this situation go down and having to lose a family member – to us the band is family so to have this happen was just shocking. We’ve all come together as much as we can to support Randy and try to do the right thing. It’s a complicated situation but we’re certainly hoping for the best. Randy has stated that he’ll return to the Czech Republic to stand trial, if necessary. Should that happen what’s the Lamb of God contingency plan for the down time while he’s in Prague? Right now we’re being told that the trial will be between January and April so we can’t really make any plans, we can’t tour. What we may do is begin some sort of preliminary writing process and hopefully the result that we’re hoping for this trial, we’re able to get back out on the road. I think the plan is assuming all is going to go well – which may not be the case but we certainly hope it is – we’re going to do two more world tours on ‘Resolution’ so the idea would really be to go into about the middle of 2014 on this record and then begin writing. If we can get a head start on that – that would be great. All summer long, we spent at home and I was lucky to spend the time with my daughter and wife but I know that Willie [Adler] and Mark [Morton] have already spent some time writing some new material and Randy while he was doing nothing but time, writing some stuff. I think we’ve got the element there to begin this creative process I’m just not sure how quickly we’ll be able to get to it. Do you think there’s going to be any kind of a different direction of the music being as what has happened or in terms of anything that you’ve heard or lyrics of anything that you’ve seen? As you mentioned earlier there certainly is a continuing sense of frustration about this scenario and what happened and obviously the important part of this is that somebody lost their life and we’re not going to glance over that we have to try and do the right thing – so in that there are certainly a lot of deep thoughts on what we do and how we do it and what it is we’re doing with this music. I think what it has in what I’ve heard from the guys and what Randy has explained to me in his time there – I think it is going to be a bit darker. I think it is going to go in some directions that maybe a band like us, at this point – maybe we just kind of lighten up and in the distance rest on our laurels kind of thing but I think this particular circumstance is going to push us even further in a dark direction. Full Metal Jackie will welcome Robb Flynn of Machine Head to her program this coming weekend. She can be heard on radio stations around the country — for a full list of stations, go to fullmetaljackieradio.com .
You know them, you love them, and though the singer may get most of the spotlight, we all know that a good guitarist is what typically drives a band. Whether it be a flashy solo or just keeping time with the band, hanging on a heavy chord, the guitarist is one of the most key elements to a group, especially when it comes to hard rock and heavy metal. This Loudwire Music Awards category of Guitarist of the Year to narrow down to 10, as there are simply a lot of great guitarists out there, but here are the nominees for the Best Guitarist of the Year. Check out each and our argument for them, and then let your voice be heard by voting in the poll below: ? Alex Skolnick, Testament As far as thrash metal goes, there aren’t many guitarists that are held in as high regard as Testament ‘s Alex Skolnick . This year he got a chance to shine again on the band’s ‘Dark Roots of Earth’ album. Frequently working in tandem with Eric Peterson, Skolnick’s runs and riffs remain as fresh today as they did way back when. ? Jacky Vincent, Falling in Reverse One of the emerging guitarists on the scene is Jacky Vincent, who is getting plenty of notice for his work alongside vocalist Ronnie Radke in Falling in Reverse . Vincent’s riffing helps make ‘The Drug in Me Is You’ album really go. ? Jim Root, Slipknot / Stone Sour Onstage this year, Jim Root brought his energetic licks to Slipknot ‘s North American trek, and he further showcased his axe skills in 2012 on Stone Sour ‘s latest disc, ‘House of Gold & Bones, Pt. 1.’ Working opposite Josh Rand, Root delivered some of the most in-your face licks on the singles ‘Gone Sovereign’ and ‘Absolute Zero.’ ? Herman Li, DragonForce It was a welcome return in 2012 for Dragonforce ‘s Herman Li, whose band got back in the game after changing vocalists. ‘The Power Within’ album got the group back out on tour and refreshed in the minds of fans exactly how quick and masterful that the guitarist is at his instrument. ? Kim Thayil, Soundgarden Kim Thayil has been largely out of the spotlight since the late ’90s, when Soundgarden went their separate ways, but the time apart allowed Thayil to replenish his riff bank and it’s the fans that are reaping the rewards on the stellar new disc, ‘King Animal.’ ? Kurt Ballou, Converge Hardcore rockers Converge returned after a three-year absence with ‘All We Love We Leave Behind,’ an aggressive collection featuring the superb guitar (and production) work of Kurt Ballou. Ballou gets bonus points for doing it all organically, rocking without artificial distortion, triggers or Auto-Tune. ? Mark Tremonti, Tremonti / Alter Bridge /Creed We knew Mark Tremonti was a great guitarist before this year, but the Creed and Alter Bridge member showed he was a true artist with his ‘All I Was’ solo album. If anything, it allowed Tremonti rock even harder than he usually does and show off more of his metal side. ? Paul Waggoner & Dustie Waring, Between the Buried and Me Between the Buried and Me ‘s ‘The Parallax II: Future Sequence’ would not have been the standout set it was without the talents of guitarists Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring. The pair perform in tandem for the majority of the 2012 record, making it nearly impossible to choose just one of the two. ? Siouxsie Medley, Dead Sara While Emily Armstrong is getting the bulk of the attention for her powerhouse vocals, Dead Sara ‘s Siouxsie Medley is the perfect compliment on guitar. It’s her mesmerizing guitar lick that pulls listeners into the lead single ‘Weatherman,’ and her bluesy work on ‘Sorry for It All’ and ‘Timed Blues’ show her versatility. ? Slash A perennial favorite for Top 10 lists anytime he’s involved with a record, Slash got to put more of a stamp than ever on his music with the ‘Apocalyptic Love’ disc. Whether it was the chugging ‘You’re a Lie,’ the hard-driving ‘Standing in the Sun’ or the groovy ‘Bad Rain,’ Slash got a chance to show his range with no real restrictions. ? Voting for the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards closes on Jan. 15 at 11:59 PM EST. Fans can vote once per hour, so keep coming back to make sure your favorite guitarist wins! Sorry, you need to have javascript running to see this poll. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/bassist-of-the-year-2012-loudwire-music-awards/” title=”Next Category: Bassist of the Year” align=”center”] Get Notified When Winners Are Announced Enter your email address below to receive the daily Loudwire newsletter, which will include notification of our full list of winners in the 2012 Loudwire Music Awards, as well as the top stories in rock and metal. Email