In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Kirk Hamnett, Metallica’s long-serving guitarist, revealed that the band’s tenth studio release is set to be a “heavier ‘Black Album’”.
The 1991 self-titled album has never really sat easily with Metallica’s dedicated band of followers and its commercial success only served to push the metal rockers into the mainstream.
It has already been announced that the ‘Black Album’ will be played in its entirety at this year’s Download Festival, but even though the new album is to go back to “more groove-oriented” songs, fans have been told to expect this version to be heavier. Eight of the new tracks have already been written for the album.
It says a lot about the state of rock music in the United Kingdom at the moment when the bestselling rock artists of last year were named as Coldplay - not that the States has been faring much better in the quality stakes either.
The Official Charts Company has revealed that the band beat Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds to the top selling album of 2011 with their fifth release ‘Mylo Xyloto’. It sold a staggering 900,000 copies within just over two months, so the band obviously relates to pop music lovers.
True rock and metal fans are happy to be in the minority when it comes to most commercial releases in any case – but we still need our artists to up their game!
In an interview with Vulture, Bret McKenzie, one half of the indie-folk-rock-comedy act Flight Of The Conchords, spoke about his (and Jermaine’s) plans for the coming year.
Not only is he due to perform a cameo role in The Hobbit as Lindir the elf, different from the one he played in the Lord of the Rings, but a reunion tour is in order with the Conchords.
Bret said:
“We’re planning to do solo tours at exactly the same time. On the same venues. And we’re going to play the same set list. We’ll play the same songs, simultaneously. We’re loosely planning to tour in the next six months, yeah.”
With such a big following in the UK, Bret and Jermaine are bound to come over to these shores at some point, so if you want to know the latest on this, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more details when they are released.
It still remains to be seen whether we will ever see a FOTC feature film, as HBO revealed it had no plans to make one, despite Bret admitting they had discussed it.
Rock-themed restaurant chain Hard Rock Café has revealed it is looking for the next big thing on the music scene. In order to find the right talent they are giving one band the opportunity to perform with the likes of Bruce Springsteen at Hard Rock Calling in July.
To be in with a shout of claiming a supporting slot at the Hyde Park event, you need to register your interest at some point between January 6 and 17 on their official Facebook page.
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Hard Rock International, John Galloway, said:
“Hard Rock believes it is critical to support emerging artists and discover new musical talent through the Hard Rock Rising programme.
“We are confident our partnership with ReverbNation will help us secure world-class talent that we can showcase to the international music community at this year’s Hard Rock Calling festival.”
The festival will be taking place across three days (July 13-15), with other headliners to be revealed over the coming weeks.
News certainly spreads fast these days – and so do hoaxes. It didn’t take long for news of Jon Bon Jovi’s apparent demise to spread across Twitter, but it has taken till now for the initiator to come forward.
Jeffrey Goho, a musician from Pennsylvania in the United States, confessed to Asbury Park Press that he set the wheels in motion for the buzz that was to follow.
Using a friend’s account he decided to tweet this made-up news because he was frustrated that the singer seemed to be more focused on his business pursuits than he was on making new music with the band. That’s certainly one way of getting the singer to take notice of your gripes!
Many of those hoping to buy pre-sale tickets for next year’s tour across Europe were left disappointed after experiencing issues on the band’s official Ten Club page.
The huge demand for tickets to shows in Manchester and the Isle of Wight Festival taking place next summer was not surprising, but even when the tickets did seem to be added to the shopping cart on the Pearl Jam site, the service unfortunately crashed.
When tickets for the gigs did go on general sale they were snapped up pretty quick too. So, for a lot of fans, there really is no option but to try on eBay, Viagogo and other ticket reselling sources.
It sounds remarkable to find out that a global ticketing brand like Ticketmaster would only start to sift through its masses of customer data now as it looks to understand the best approach to selling tickets.
A report by VentureBeat has shown how Ticketmaster has turned to data expert John Carnahan in a bid to learn more about the science of how people buy tickets to events such as rock music gigs.
With market share in this competitive industry being taken by companies like Seetickets and Seatwave as well as various reselling sites such as Viagogo, it is no wonder the firm are exploring every way to distribute more tickets to eager customers.
Carnahan is eager to take on this challenge though as he said:
“We’re sitting on a relatively untapped dataset of fan interest. It’s very exciting from a science perspective.”
Fans of veteran rockers Van Halen will be delighted to hear that the band have announced they are to get together and go on tour again next year, with tickets due on sale from January 10.
There is no news as of yet exactly what countries Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth and co will be visiting during 2012, but those in the States will surely get the opportunity to see the four-piece’s (minus original bassist and backing vocalist Michael Anthony) return to the stage.
With four decades of music in their back catalogue, their rock music is well-known the world over, so this promises to be one comeback event not to miss.
Check out their official website for further announcements.
Last weekend, my local rock radio station decided to dedicate its playlist to the forgotten rockers Creedence Clearwater Revival which really only had a four year lifespan at the top. However, their songs are so catchy it is a pleasure to listen to their full back catalogue.
From hits like Fortunate Son and Bad Moon Rising to impressive covers like Heard It Through The Grapevine, I just love to listen to the distinctive voice of former-frontman John Fogerty.
It is just a pity that the band were only around for the five years between 1967 and 1972, but their music is still appreciated today by Southern rock aficionados as well as those who just enjoy great music.
Anyone who has ever been to see the Smashing Pumpkins live will testify – you never really know what you are going to get. While I have never seen Billy Corgan walk off stage or throw a tantrum at his bandmates, I know this is pretty common.
Last Friday night at Manchester’s O2 Apollo the Smashing Pumpkins returned to the city with a completely new line-up. Of course lifelong drummer Jimmy Chamberlin had now gone (replaced by 20-year-old Mike Byrne), with the other guitar and bass positions being filled by Jeff Schroeder and
Nicole Fiorentino.
They set the tone for their two-hour-plus set by hitting the “new songs” – OK some of these had been released one by one on the band’s website over the past couple of years – but the majority were from the upcoming release Oceania (expected around March).
However, even Billy Corgan realised that the old songs were what many of the hundreds packed into this renowned Manchester venue really wanted to here. As Corgan launched into ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ following a crowd sing-a-long on ‘Zero’ he admitted to great cheers: “I guess we’ll have to play some songs you know next time”… which he won’t of course.
