Well hello again!

I hope you’ve been enjoying everything I’ve been posting here today on Metalsucks.net.  This next interview is really something I was beyond thrilled to be able to do!

A Perfect Circle is without a doubt one of my all-time favorite bands and are also a huge inspiration on myself as well as my own band, Vestascension. So, when Matt McJunkins agreed to do an interview with lil’ ol me, well, I basically soiled myself.  Matt is a really awesome dude and everyone out there should give this a good read even if you’re not into any of the bands he’s involved with.  He provides some very interesting insight into what it takes to land an audition and what to do and what not to do if you actually land one.  Of course he also talks about his work in A Perfect Circle, Ashes Divide, Puscifer, 30 Seconds To Mars, and even gives a few details about his new project with Jeff Friedl.

Check it out below and if you’d like to know more about Matt click here to visit his official website.

-Justin Gosnell

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I didn’t think A Perfect Circle could get more irritating than when they released (e)Motive, but they’re going out of their way to prove me wrong. First they split up, and then they got back together, and then, just two months and four shows into their reunion run, they seemed to split up again. And now there’s this tweet, which more than implies that, no, all is well and good in APC land:

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I didn’t think A Perfect Circle could get more irritating than when they released (e)Motive, but they’re going out of their way to prove me wrong. First they split up, and then they got back together, and then, just two months and four shows into their reunion run, they seemed to split up again. And now there’s this tweet, which more than implies that, no, all is well and good in APC land:

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‘Cause earlier this week, Billy Howerdel sent out the below tweet:

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Yesterday A Perfect Circle announced their reunion, and we wondered who, besides Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel, would be in the band; now we have our answer. Drummer Josh Freese, the band’s only constant besides Keenan and Howerdel, and guitarist James Iha, who joined the group for Thirteenth Step, are both returning to the fold, while bassist Matt McJunkins, who must have been teased mercilessly in grade school, will replace Jeordie White, who has since returned to being “Twiggy Ramirez” in Marilyn Manson.

McJunkinthetrunk, pictured above, was practically a shoe-in for the gig, since he’s played with both Keenan and Howerdel before, in Puscifer and Ashes Divide. Other than that, I don’t know squat about the dude. His Facebook page would suggest that he sometimes refers to himself as “Junk,” which somehow makes him a-okay in my book.

And that settles that. Matt McJunkins is now the Dave Kushner of A Perfect Circle.

-AR

Listen, I don’t think this is gonna come as a galloping shock to anyone given all the talk there’s already been about A Perfect Circle returning from their hiatus/break-up/whatever, but we just got a press release making it official. The band is apparently gonna get this party started with a five-city tour in the fall:

Shows in Phoenix (Marquee Theatre), Los Angeles (Avalon), Seattle (Showbox at The Market) and San Francisco (The Fillmore) will be three-night stops with each night featuring one of A Perfect Circle’s three albums in its entirety (Mer de Noms, Thirteenth Step and eMOTIVe).  Las Vegas (The Pearl) will be a two-night outing (Mer de Noms and Thirteenth Step).

The band will also play Jimmy Kimmel on October 27.

Two quick and random thoughts:

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So Maynard James Keenan has said that Tool are working on their next album, and that “If it comes together” they may even play some new shit live this summer. I’m always totally down for some new Tool, so I won’t even say what we’re all thinking, which is “It might be nice to a get a new Tool album in under five years for a change.” I mean, we’d heard that Tool were in writing mode back in 2008, but whatever. It’s Tool. If they need that time to make the best possible record that they can, I’ll go along with it.

But a new Tool album was always a foregone conclusion; the band may very well break our hearts and throw in the towel one day, but we are (very luckily) not there yet.

So more interesting, in a way, is the news that writing has begun on a new album for A Perfect Circle. Not “more interesting” in a APC > Tool way, ’cause, come ON, that would just be a ridiculous argument to try and make. Interesting in the “Oh, cool, A Perfect Circle really aren’t done” kinda way.

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There’s a rumor going around that Billy Howerdel’s Ashes Divide have broken up. To which I say: HUH?

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We haven’t spent all that much time talking about the impending release of Chinese Democracy, which is now just ten days away from finally hitting stores. Here’s a quick round-up of some the shit that’s been going down in the world of Axl Rose:

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With Ashes Divide, essentially a one-man solo project in band form, former A Perfect Circle collaborator Billy Howerdel has stepped out on his own. While Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright lacks the dynamic and immediacy that Tool’s Maynard James Keenan brought to the band, the album is certainly strong enough to prove Howerdel’s mettle as an able songwriter. Still, something about the ambitious artistry Howerdel seems to be getting at falls short, leaving Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright a bit on the short end of the straw and ultimately a tad disappointing.

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Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with Billy Corgan? The Associated Press reports that the bald rock god, a mere shadow of his former self, is suing his record label of 17 years, Virgin Records, because said label’s “use of the band in a ‘Pepsi Stuff’ promotion with Amazon.com and Pepsi Co. threatens their reputation for ‘artistic integrity.’”

ARTISTIC FUCKING INTEGRITY?! Is this shithead completely fucking bonkers or what? You wanna talk about damaging your artistic integrity, let’s talk about how you’re doing Smashing Pumpkins “reunion” without 50% of the Smashing Pumpkins. Let’s talk about your decision to include photos of Paris Hilton in your album’s liner notes. Or let’s just talk about the fact that you made a really, really shitty album. Ya think any of that shit might’ve damaged your so-called “artistic integrity,” Billy? Fuck, Trent Reznor even called you “corporate.” And what’s the photo above this article, Billy? Oh, yeah. It’s a picture of you. With Courtney Love. At the fucking premiere for the movie Freedom Writers. Your artistic integrity is about as intact as Edsel Dope’s career, so let’s cut the shit. If you’re pissed that the label fucked you out of royalties for using your image and/or music in a soda ad, that’s one thing, but don’t bitch and moan about artistic integrity.

There’s only one bald Billy making relevant alt rock right now, and that’s Billy Howerdel. While we’re waiting for his new album to get released next month, someone please beat Corgan to death with a sock full of quarters.

-AR

After three Perfect Circle records with Tool’s Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel is set to embark on his own journey with the brand new outfit Ashes Divide, essentially a solo project assembled around himself NIN-style. A few weeks back MetalSucks was fortunate enough to be able to speak with Billy, who was one of the more articulate and intelligent interview subjects we’ve spoken with to date. Billy told us about the long writing and recording process for the new record Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright (April 8th, Island/DefJam), the personal battles contained therein, working with a slew of guest musicians, and stepping out on his own from underneath Maynard’s shadow. The full interview transcript, after the jump. Click to read more…

In case you didn’t know, Billy Howerdel is something of a hard rock Cinderella story: he started as a guitar tech for bands like Nine Inch Nails, Tool and Smashing Pumpkins, and was working with Axl Rose on Chinese Democracy when Maynard James Keenan heard some demos he’d written and decided to start a band with him. That band, of course, was A Perfect Circle, and that’s the reason any of us know who the hell Billy Howerdel is today. See? Doing other people’s grunt work really can pay off!

Billy hasn’t forgotten his roots, though; that’s why his new band, Ashes Divide, are teaming up with MetalSucks and Travelworm.com for a contest that will allow one luck fan to be Billy’s guitar tech for a day. And while that might sound like some shitty contest where you get to bring Dave Mustaine his coffee, it’s actually way, way cooler than that: one lucky winner and a guest will be flown to LA to stay at a super swanky hotel for 2 nights, PLUS they get to go see Ashes Divide live, PLUS they get to watch the show from the friggin’ stage, PLUS they get a private meet and greet with the band. And, no, I don’t think you actually have to set up Billy’s guitar for him.

Click here to enter this super duper sweet contest. Ashes Divide’s new album, Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright, hits stores April 8, and is pretty much guaranteed to be one of the more buzzed about alt-metal releases of the year. In case you somehow still haven’t heard their so-catchy-it’s-painful first single “The Stone,” click here to look at a neat-o widget with the song’s PR Brown-directed video, plus pics, band news, and all the other stuff that comes with widgets.

Heh heh. “Widget” is a silly word.

-AR

Dude, remember Matt Pinfield? The last time I saw him was at least four ago, when he was hitting on my friend after her band Morningwood played a showcase. I kind of thought he’d retired or died or something.

But not so! He’s alive and just did an interview with Billy Howerdel about his new project, Ashes Divide (As much as I like Howerdel, I refuse to do the lowercase “a” and “d” thing. Sorry, Billy.). It’s a good interview, but I’m kinda peeved that Pinfield never appears on camera with Howerdel, since it denies us the sight gag of a Pinfield looking like Howerdel if Howerdel, y’know, ate the other members of A Perfect Circle.

VIDEO REMOVED DUE TO TECHNICAL ISSUES – ED. 

Ashes Divide’s debut album, Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright, comes out March 18 on Island Records. The band’s first single, “The Stone,” is out now and can be heard by clicking here.

-AR

I’ve made it clear before that I’m excited about Ashes Divide, the new Maynard-free project from A Perfect Circle mastermind Billy Howerdel; now that I’ve heard “The Stone,” the first single from their forthcoming debut Keep Telling Myself It’s All Right, my curiosity has peaked.

The song basically sounds like APC with Howerdel on vocals – which isn’t that much of a surprise, given that Howerdel wrote and recorded most of APC’s music, and that APC skinsman Josh Freese is handling drum duties (Maynard’s eleven year old offspring, Devo – I imagine he’s named after one of the approximately 2,436,758 bands with which Freese has played in the past – will play cello on the album).  And that’s just fine with me, ’cause, well, I really liked APC.

Keep will come out in March; in the meantime, if you’ve yet to hear “The Stone,” check it out on Ashes Divide’s MySpace page.

-AR

I don’t know what the consensus is on A Perfect Circle these days, now that they’ve been gone a few years; personally, I loved them (okay, maybe not eMotion, but definitely their first two albums). Were they as good as Tool? Of course not (who is, really?). But they were fuckin’ great, and the two times I got to catch them live, they killed.

So I’m glad to hear that APC mastermind Billy Howerdel has a new solo project, Ashes Divide, and that they’ve signed to Island Records, who will release their debut album sometime in March. Howerdel, you may recall, was once a guitar tech to the stars (he’d done work for Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, of course, and was working on GN’R's Chinese Democracy right before APC took off) who practically won the lottery when Maynard James Keenan heard some of his demos and decided to front his band.

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