In an apparent effort to redeem bass players for their transgressions throughout this week, Madball four-stringer Hoya Roc has posted the above photo, which is apparently Dani Filth being restrained by a security guard at France’s recent L’ez Arts Sceniques Festival, although it’s not a good photo so who knows.

Roc also posted a comment with the pic, which suggests he hates CoF as much as some of you guys do: “When metal fantasy goes wrong!! Haha cradle of filth singer gettin yoked up by security.” Alas, Roc does not say what Filth did to provoke the guard. Still, I’m sure this will bring some of you a little joy.

-AR

[via The PRP]

To celebrate the release of Madball’s latest aggro masterpiece, Empire (two new songs streaming here!), we asked vocalist Freddy “Madball” Cricien to compile a list of his favorite non-hardcore (but still heavy!) bands. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running two entries a day from Freddy’s list every day for the next five days, leading up to Empire‘s October 12 release. You can read Freddy’s initial installment here and his second entry here; to follow, enjoy day three of the countdown…

6) SLAYER

I got into slayer later than most probably. Like I said, my background wasn’t in metal. For me, when it comes to heavy music, it was H.C. and then I got into other heavy stuff via friends, etc. You have to give Slayer props. They are as hard as they come, have crazy longevity, are super influential, and keep it real with their style/sound. They are classic. What more needs to be said?! FYI — they are one of Hoya Roc’s favorite bands!

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Some months back, upon learning that Madball had recruited Jay Weinberg (a.k.a. the son of E Street Band member Max Weinberg) as their new drummer, I kept my mouth shut while others in the metal and hardcore community latched on to the novelty of it. I saw his inclusion in the band as somewhat negligible, considering the NYHC act’s long tenure. Founder/frontman Freddy Cricien, longtime bassist Hoya Roc, and guitarist Mitts have honed the band’s metallic hardcore sound, and no drummer — no matter what his pedigree — was going to dramatically impact Madball. Apparently though, Weinberg hasn’t been a great fit with the respect-centric act and, according to a press release, his membership has been revoked — in the middle of a Canadian tour, no less!

In the words of Freddy Cricien himself:

“I’m letting Jay go in Canada because I just feel he doesn’t represent this band well on a character level. It would go against my own code of ethics to keep him around. Not saying he’s a bad drummer. I won’t take that away from him. But the reality is – he has a lot to learn about paying dues, and about life in general. Granted, he is a kid, but I’m not sure that he’ll ever be built for this particular lifestyle. I wish him the best of luck, but the MADBALL machine rolls on!”

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