All signs pointed towards a new Probot record this year, whatwith recent news of Dave Grohl collaborating with such metal luminaries as Ratt’s Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, but now it appears that’s not the case.

Taylor recently gave an interview to Artisan News Service at Zakk Wylde’s Celebrity Roast [above, via Metal Injection] in which he revealed that Grohl is working on a documentary about Sound City Studios — the legendary California studios where Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot and many others recorded groundbreaking albums — and he’s recording some kind of companion project on the original Sound City mixing console (now housed elsewhere) to go along with it.

It’s not quite a new Probot record but it still sounds pretty cool, yeah? The Grohl + Ratt combo in particular turns me on.

-VN

Following in Slash’s footsteps, Corey Taylor and Clown from Slipknot have now launched their own film production company, Living Breathing Films. And they apparently made the below short, Thy Shalt I, to show at the company’s launch party.

Now, one might reasonably assume that a short film produced specifically to be shown at a launch party would be some kind of statement of intent — in other words, a way of the filmmakers declaring, “This is the kind of work we intend to do.” But if we assume that that’s the case here, well, apparently Living Breathing Films intends to make boring, cheap horror movies that are completely lacking in tension, style, and narrative coherence. Thy Shalt I isn’t even fifteen minutes long, and I barely made it through a third of the thing before giving up. It’s not as bad as the worst student films I’ve ever seen, but it’s probably as bad as the second-worst tier of student films I’ve ever seen.

Hopefully, Thou Shalt I isn’t actually a declaration of intent, and has nothing to do with the movies these fellas plan to make. Either that, or the company’s active purpose is to cure insomnia. In which case, BRAVO!

-AR

[via The PRP]

First came the news blip earlier this month that Dave Grohl was working on a new “project” with Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy and guitarist Warren “Tasty McTasterson” DeMartini. And now Noisecreep is reporting that Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor tweeted his excitement about having recently wrapped up a recording with Grohl, too.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on you… or something? My point being: the collabo with Ratt could’ve been anything, but the second announcement of Grohl teaming up with a prominent metal musician(s) this month would seem to indicate he’s working on something big, something metal. As the great Euclid deduced, a line can be drawn from just two known points, and this straight line points squarely at Probot.

Of course it’s entirely possible that Grohl is working on something else entirely. But I’m calling it right now: Probot’s second album! Having just wrapped up a massive Foo Fighters touring cycle, the timing would be perfect.

-VN

(Photo Credit: Jennifer Pottheiser for iHeartRadio)

I admit, I was skeptical about Scott Weiland’s decision to release an album of Christmas songs. I fucking hate Christmas songs. But you know what? He pulls it off.

Last night I had the opportunity to see Scott Weiland perform a private show in an intimate, 100-person setting with an 8-piece jazz band backing him up. Weiland came out wearing a white tux, his hair-slicked back all Bing Crosby-like, sobriety level dubious at best. The first three songs were all Christmas classics from his new album and he delivered them with startling sincerity and flair, his smooth baritone fitting the part perfectly. Then things got weird: an obscure STP song (“Wonderful” from 2001′s Shangri-La Dee Da) and a cringe-worthy cover of Velvet Revolver’s “Do It For the Kids,” followed by a convincing version of “Vaseline” that brought things back to reality and an impromptu jam to close the set. But you know what? He really seemed most at home, most comfortable, singing those Christmas songs.

Click to read more…

It’s no secret that Rick Rubin is what might be best described as a “hands off” producer. Based on what little I know about the guy, he wasn’t always that way — but these days, he has a reputation for being more a guru who comes into the studio X number of times a week and tells the band what they’re doing wrong before moving onto his next appointment. Y’know that image you have a record producer from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica? Of the producer being present 24/7, and being so passionately involved with his work that he often argues with the band? Yeah, that ain’t Rubin.

Corey Taylor confirmed as much while discussing working with Rubin on Slipknot’s Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses during a recent stop on his solo tour. So that’s not really news. What is news that Taylor apparently hates the dude, who he calls “overrated” and “overpaid.” Check out video below:

In other news, Rick Rubin could probably give a fuck what Taylor or any other members of Slipknot think of him, because eighteen gajillion other bands will still pay him squillions of dollars to sit on their couch, eat his smelly blue shit, and tell them what he thinks of their record. But, hey… great work if you can get it.

-AR

[via The PRP]

In case both my headline and the above video are somehow confusing to you: yes, during this past Saturday night’s stop on his current solo tour, Corey Taylor did indeed reveal that Slipknot will be touring the U.S. this summer, and he did say that “there will be another Slipknot album,” although “we’ve still got a couple of years before” said album gets made.

Click to read more…

Interview and live pics by Emily Eve; girls on stage pic by Friedia Niimura

In one sense, making records is like using the toilet: It takes more to do number two than number one. And in the case of L.A. heavy metal semi-parodists Steel Panther, a follow-up to their wildly funny and compulsively banging 2009 debut Feel The Steel is an even bigger, stinkier challenge: This time, fans can see them coming, um so to speak. But in the spotlight’s glare, before expectant ears and faces poised to smile, lead singer Michael Starr and crew deliver a bigger, dirtier, and awesomer mass of heavy metal hilarity called Balls Out (available Tuesday). The 14-track tour de farce covers 47 amazing minutes, a range of hot-button rocker issues (drugs, gender roles, boners), and a load of singalong mega-choruses and nip-scorching guitar solos unheard since pro tools was just an aisle at Sears. To those somehow able to resist Feel The Steel, I say: You’re fucked now. Balls Out is stronger than you and your feeble protestations. Crank. It. Up.

This feat of skill and cocksmanship on display in Balls Out begs for investigation, so last week I went to hear firsthand how Steel Panther achieved the equivalent of making a Ghostbusters II better than its Ghostbusters I. And though it was a rainy, gusty Autumn night, the huge Steel Panther dressing room was buzzing heatedly as I sat down with Starr and lead bass player Lexxi Foxxx to get answers. Just nearby were lead guitarist Satchel (at whom I gazed lovingly whenever his inattention allowed) and lead drummer Stix Zadinia (with entourage) as the three of us gabbed highly about Balls Out, drugs, vaginas, immaturity, maturity, the guy from Nickelback, shaving stuff, the responsibilities of being Steel Panther, and much more.

Click to read more…

“Spit it Out” is not the Slipknot song you’d most expect to lend itself to an acoustic rendition — and yet, it is the ‘Knot number that vocalist Corey Taylor recently chose to perform during a tour in support of his new book, Seven Deadly Sins.

And you know what? It actually works pretty well! I find the original tune to be too rappy/nu-metally for my tastes — Iowa was actually the album that convinced me Slipknot were worthy (although there’s at least one regrettable rap-metal song on there, too)  – but re-imagined as a kind of folky lil’ ditty, I actually find it to be quite catchy. Check out the video below, via Artisan News Service:

Not too shabby, eh?

Meanwhile, Taylor has announced that he’ll be embarking on a solo tour starting next month, which will include acoustic and spoken word performances, plus a Q&A session. That could be fun. Dates are after the jump, courtesy Metal Insider:

Click to read more…

So I just tried to listen to this excerpt of the audiobook version of Corey Taylor’s debut as an author, Seven Deadly Sins, but I didn’t make it very far. Not ’cause Taylor’s voice is displeasing or the writing seems especially awful or anything. But ’cause Taylor talks about Cabbage Patch Kids, Fraggle Rock, and Beanie Babies all within the first minute. Holy shit, those are some timely references. I can’t believe that he didn’t also manage to give a shout out to his favorite movie star, Lillian Gish, or the recent discovery of a cure for polio.

Seven Deadly Sins is out now in a variety of formats via someone who publishes books.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

To help promote their upcoming tour, on October 11 Judas Priest will release The Chosen Few, their umpteenth career retrospective, and one which does not feature any new material. The Chosen Few does have a hook, though — I mean, beyond the fact that the band members appear on the cover only as silhouettes, I assume at least in part to downplay the fact that a certain key member is no longer in the group.

No, the hook  (and this is actually a neat idea) is that the band has let a lot of other celebrity musicians — including Ozzy, Lemmy, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kerry King, Slash, and Vinnie Paul  – choose which songs would appear on the collection. And, yeah, it’s interesting to know that Zakk Wylde is way into “Grinder,” and and that Randy Blythe and David Coverdale might actually have something to talk about at a cocktail party, and that Joe Satriani likes his Priest heavier than I might have suspected.

But like I said, there’s no new material here, so I can’t quite imagine why anyone would want this album anyway. The coolest thing about The Chosen Few is seeing which dude chose which song, and you can do that after the jump. So, look, we just saved you ten bucks.

Click to read more…

Yeah, I don’t think this gonna come as a galloping shock to anyone, but in case there was ever any doubt, the above tweet from Slipknot’s Corey Taylor has ostensibly announced an upcoming Slipknot U.S. tour.

I think this was pretty much inevitable. Maybe the band’s future was legitimately in doubt immediately following the tragic passing of bassist Paul Gray, but as soon as they announced European gigs, it was only a matter of time until U.S. shows were announced. In fact, I’m going to continue to stand by my prediction that there WILL be another Slipknot album as well.

Look: I’m not even trying to say anything negative about Taylor or Slipknot. I’m a Slipknot fan, and I’ve never hid that fact. When they tour the U.S., I’ll be stoked to go see them — they put on a fun show. I’m just saying, this news is about as surprising as the fact that the sun came up this morning.

-AR

[via Metal Injection]

GothicKingCobra52 knows a LOT about metal, and you should watch his videos, so that maybe you can learn a thing or two about a thing or two.

For example, are you a young guitar player looking to learn how to sweep pick? Fret not, for GKC52 has a video instructing viewers about this very subject!

Click to read more…

Corey Taylor and Joey Jordison have basically been contradicting one another in the press for months, with Jordison telling anyone who will listen that Slipknot will live on without Paul Gray, and Taylor telling anyone who asks that he’s not so sure. Now Metal Insider tells us that, in a recent video interview (above), Jordison has gone so far as to say that not only will Slipknot continue with Gray, but if necessary, it will continue without Taylor, too:

“You know what?! That’s for him to answer. As far as I’m concerned, Slipknot’s my baby and I have a bunch of songs written. And I’m in rehearsal right now with all the guys and it’s completely on fire. Donnie [Steele, Gray's replacement]’s doing a great job. And as far as Slipknot’s concerned, it’ll always exist — with or without [Taylor]. So that’s it.”

Click to read more…

UPDATE: Whoops. Pic is apparently photoshopped. Thanks to our readers for catching what I missed. Oh well. It was a funny story in theory at least!

It was just in January that Corey Taylor refused to deny that he’s the new singer for Velvet Revolver, which he really should not have done unless he IS the new singer for Velvet Revolver. And then it was just in February that Duff McKagan publicly sucked Taylor off, which he really should have done unless Taylor is the new singer for Velvet Revolver. I guess what I’m saying is, all signs point to Corey Taylor being the new singer for Velvet Revolver. Right?

Wrong. Check out this shirt Taylor was sporting at a recent performance:

So I guess that’s the closest thing to a public statement we’ll get from Taylor. Maybe his next shirt will tell us whether or not there’s gonna be a new Slipknot album.

-AR

[via 94 WYSP... thanks to Saul Hudson for the tip]

From Beastmaster:

“Over the last week I’ve noticed on the PRP that both Chelsea Grin and Within The Ruins have been denied entry into to Canada for their separate respective tours. Now granted, I don’t necessarily love these two bands, but I’m wondering if they are possibly related in some way…. Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN.”

Yes. They are both related in that I don’t like either of them. Unfortunately, I don’t control the Canadian government, so my guess is that they actually both just have merch dudes with records for possession or something idiotic like that. In any case, yes, I agree it’s ridiculous that Canada gets to be spared Chelsea Grin while Americans have to continue to endure them.

Click to read more…

Here’s the latest round of idiotic news revolving around the band you can pretty much blame for this website’s existence.

First of all, Corey Taylor has been heavily rumored to be the new vocalist for Velvet Revolver, and then a couple of weeks ago, he refused to contradict that rumor, thereby pretty much confirming it. Now Metal Insider tells me that Duff McKagan thinks he’s being cute by pretty much doing the same thing, telling fans during a recent online chat that “I can neither confirm nor deny” that Taylor is the group’s new singer before apparently mistaking Taylor for a can of Pepsi: “He’s the voice of a whole new generation.”

Slipknot’s been around for over a decade now, so I guess McKagan doesn’t actually know what the phrase “new generation” means, but whatever. Like I said last month, there’s absolutely no reason to say shit like this in the press unless Taylor got the job. And at this point, VR absolutely needs to start denying the rumor, or just announce Taylor as the new singer. Because now if he’s not the new singer, whomever the new singer is is gonna hafta be pretty frickin’ awesome and/or famous, or the whole thing is just gonna seem anticlimactic. In fact, if Taylor isn’t the new singer, I’d say they either need to get Robert Plant, or just announce a reunion of the original Guns N’ Roses.

Which, incidentally, some morons think is what’s gonna happen. From Classic Rock:

Click to read more…

Corey Taylor performing “It’s So Easy” with Slash in 2009. Could this be what Velvet Revolver sounds like in the not-too-distant future?

Corey Taylor must really, really hate having free time on his hands. He’s already the vocalist for Slipknot and Stone Sour, and he nearly joined Anthrax in 2007. Then, in 2009, he revealed that he’d “had a meeting” with Velvet Revolver about taking Scott Weiland’s spot in the band, but that it “it just didn’t work — for whatever reason.”

Now VR’s search for a new singer has been heating up, with drummer Matt Sorum going so far as to tell an interviewer that “The guy we’re liking now is a young guy” who is “known” (e.g., not a noob they picked up on Hollywood Boulevard) and whose background is in “a little bit heavier rock ‘n’ roll than we are.” Naturally, this led to lots and lots of speculation as to this mystery singer’s identity, and the combination of clues — that the vocalist was not unknown, that he was younger than Slash and company, and that he traditionally sang for a band or bands that were heavier than VR — caused some spectators, like our friends at Metal Insider, to ponder the possibility that Taylor might the man for the job after all.

Now the story has taken another interesting turn. Billboard has done a new profile on Taylor, which begins thusly:

Click to read more…

Alright, let’s get our Headbanger’s Ball on.

First up today we have “Get Back in Line,” Motörhead’s first video in support of their new album, The Wörld is Yours. That album title, in case you don’t know, is a Scarface reference, and the title of this year’s offering from Upon a Burning Body — although my gut tells me Motörhead’s album will probably make a much stronger impression on the world at large. I dunno, call it a hunch.

But I digress.

The video is pretty cheap and definitely trite, but it’s Motörhead, so I don’t think anyone will care. I don’t know why this band even feels the need to make videos anymore — I would imagine that, at this point, Motörhead’s following will buy their new album pretty much no matter what, and that new generations of Motörhead fans will be created the same way they have been for years: via cool older brothers, cousins, uncles, and other terrible role models who pass the music down to the next generation. But even if I’m wrong and this band still needs new videos to sell their wares, well, I don’t really care so much that the video is a little lame, ’cause the song made me grab a MetalSucks Mansion Monkey by the tail and swing him around over my head for three-and-a-half straight minutes.

Click to read more…

So all this “We’re making a new album!”/”No we’re not!” back-and-forth between the members of Slipknot — specifically, drummer Joey Jordison (pro-new album) and vocalist Corey Taylor (anti-new album) — was already pretty baffling before the band started announcing tour dates for next summer, especially given that these announcements came roughly 24 hours after Taylor’s latest assertion that there’s no new ‘Knot on the horizon. ‘Cause if the band is booking gigs, then there MUST be at least SOME communication either between the band members or directly or at least via their handlers, which would suggest that someone could either tell Jordison to shut up, or tell Taylor to shut up, or tell them both to shut up.

But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Over the weekend, Taylor once again took to Twitter to try and clear things up for his fans, and, in doing so, once again only made things muddier:

Click to read more…

Slipknot is annoying as all fuck, and worse, the Iowan nonet makes me look like a shitty prognosticator. Or at least a victory-drunk prognosticator, ‘cuz after correctly predicting in 1999 that Slipknot’s debut would net Roadrunner a first platinum sales award, I then guessed that the band would bring extreme metal to mainstream media. Which hasn’t happened, unless you grant a technical allowance for a metal band whose intrusions into radio and TV are, by extreme standards, too pussy even for my little cousins. I blame Corey Taylor, who has vaulted sanity and perspective straight into Anselmoian delusion.

Click to read more…