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.
