Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
I’m going to put about as much effort into this intro as the thief who was sent to prison by the jury I served on last week did into not leaving his cell phone at the scene of the crime.
We begin this week with “Follow the Signs,” the new video from Born of Osiris. On the whole this clip is pretty cool, and I applaud all parties involved for trying to make something way more epic than most modern metal vids. But sticking the band in front of a green screen for their performance footage was a mistake, ’cause it looks silly and cheap, and the editing is completely random, which long time readers know is a pet peeve of mine — and is especially bothersome when dealing with a band like BOO, whose music provides such obvious rhythmic cutting points I can’t believe anyone would just ignore them like this. Bummer.
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011 at 12:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
The first thing I thought of when I saw the cover of Jane’s Addiction’s new album, The Great Escape Artist, was the cover of Jane’s Addiction’s old album, Ritual de lo Habitual. Of course, there are some very obvious differences between the two; in fact, all they really have in common is that they’re both still photographs of sculptures. (The Ritual art is by vocalist Perry Farrell; I’m not sure if he’s also responsible for the Escape art or not.)
But the mere fact that the band went back to that well twenty-odd years later strikes me as being fishy, kinda like when Metallica suddenly reverted to their old logo on the cover of Death Magnetic after fifteen years of not using it for the Load or St. Anger releases (to say nothing of various compilations and live recordings, VHS and DVD releases, and merchandise). It seems like a ploy to invoke nostalgia in fans and reassure them that, “Hey, we know we fucked up, but look! We’re back to being the band you knew and loved!”
Check out both album covers below, and then tell me if I’m being too cynical or not in the comments section. The Great Escape Artist comes out October 18 on Capitol.
Back in June, Mastodon’s Brent Hinds revealed that he was working on a new project with Ben Weinman (The Dillinger Escape Plan), Eric Avery (ex-Jane’s Addiction), and Thomas Pridgen (The Mars Volta) — which certainly sounds like a line-up worth getting all hot n’ bothered over. Of course, that’s four very successful dudes who all have their own stuff going on, and so, as Hinds put it, “it’s been hard to get together.”
But now it looks like there may be some progress being made! Writing on DEP’s official website over the weekend, Weinman dished the following info:
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 10:00am by Axl Rosenberg
I’m going to put about as much effort into this introduction as I put into trying to be sensitive to Hinder’s feelings.
We begin today’s cinemetal round-up with “Irresistible Force,” the first new video from Jane’s Addiction since whenever the last time they released a video was. The clip has some stuff going for it — like a lot of mostly-naked beautiful women, and a particularly funny moment, at the :54 second mark, when there’s some not-at-all-subtle vaginal imagery — but for the most part it’s pretty standard stoner stuff. The fact that the song is fairly boring doesn’t help.
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 11:30am by Axl Rosenberg
So how’s this for a new supergroup? Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds, The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman, The Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen, and and former Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery are apparently joining forces to create a new project. And while I’m always a little bit suspicious of mega-all-star-team-ups like this — for every Murder Construct, it seems like there are ten The Damned Things — it’s hard not to get excited by that line-up.
Devin Townsend has so much explaining to do. As a tireless songwriter and producer, he’s set to release two albums on June 21, Ghost and Deconstruction, to complete the Devin Townsend Project cycle that he started with 2009′s Ki and Addicted. That’s four full-length records, 43 songs, and 260 minutes of music unleashed over about two years. But for Townsend, discussion goes beyond song ideas and his exhaustive studio work required to bring them to life; he could talk all day and yet only touch on the subjects of touring, sales, and modern music industry calamity; and, shit, his back catalogue is too huge and varied to even approach in a Q&A of any reasonable length.
You see, being a modern musician and being Devin Townsend are not the same thing. Sure, he grinds out records and then tours like everybody. However, our latest MetalSucks interview with Townsend reveals an artist unbound by the limits of imagination, but pretty aware of averse reactions to his art; his self-expression is total and unapologetic — until fans and media misinterpret him or disapprove of his humor. He’s confident as a person, but shakeable as a virtuosic guitar player, a theater and puppet enthusiast, and a production wiz. He lets no truth about his world go unexpressed, beit via the hair-raising cacophony of Deconstruction (think Strapping Young Lad’s Alien: The Ride) or Ghost‘s murmuring calm. He puts himself out there all the way; now, let him explain why.
The most recent album by Jane’s Addiction, 2003′s Strays, was a big-budget, big-production heavy rock record that kinda flopped despite its awesomeness. Since those distant days, Jane’s members have flirted with a full reunion (momentarily counting longtime hold-out Eric Avery as a returned member), with ex-Guns N’ Roses/current Velvet Revolver bassist Duff McKagen (he came and went within weeks), and with total futility (via singer Perry Farrell’s lame project The Satellite Party, featuring his wife and Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt).
So, along with my fandom, Jane’s has my curiosity about their new stuff — not just for the abovementioned travails, but also ’cause the album is a Rich Costey production (Mastodon, Muse, Cave In) and is the beneficiary of creative goosings by TV On The Radio dude Dave Sitek. I don’t care about TVOTR, but I’ve surmised that a dose of noisy post-rock might be good medicine for trio of moribund freak-rockers whose attempted return to glory was a safe, anthemic rock radio record. And now I see that my diagnosis is accurate, so far: Just listen to their thunderous, cacophonous new jam “End To The Lies” and its nipply new video (above, NSFW; audio only here). The jam is on fire! Turn it up!
-ADF
Jane’s Addiction’s fourth album The Great Escape Artist is out August 23 on Capitol Records.
Monday, November 29th, 2010 at 4:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Actually, I don’t know if you could call this a “cover” — it samples the guitar riff and title phrase from Manson’s “The Beautiful People,” but beyond that, it’s a new creation. According to this right wing tabloid disguised as a legitimate newspaper, the track appears in Xtina’s new film, Burlesque, which I have not seen, but appears to have been sent here by Satan to announce The Dark Lord’s imminent arrival, and the subsequent end of days. (One question for Cher: What’s wrong with your faaaace?!?!)
And this song ain’t no better. Normally I’d say something about how it goes against everything Manson original stood for, but since he’s not exactly a bastion of creative integrity, and I think Aguilera thinks her lyrics are facetious in much the same way Manson’s lyrics were facetious, I guess I can’t cry philosophical rape.
So why am I posting this? Because I mothertruckin’ hate you, and I want you to die.
This isn’t Aguilera’s first dalliance with a hard rock/pop metal star of the 90′s — Dave Navarro plays guitar on her song “Fighter.” Nor is it Manson’s first run-in with a diva I wish would take an acid bath already: he raped our ears last year when he leant his vocals to a remix of a Lady GaGa’s “Love Game.”
Friday, November 19th, 2010 at 5:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
Allow me to shill for a beat before the weekend: If you haven’t already bought one of our new, limited edition shirts, go get yours now!!! They’re selling fast, and soon they will be the title of a God Forbid album. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Thursday, October 28th, 2010 at 1:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
The interwebs are all aflutter today because Dave Grohl has announced that his former Nirvana bandmate, Krist Novoselic, is going to make a guest appearance on the new Foo Fighters album — which is also being produced by Garbage’s Butch Vig, a.k.a. “The Dude Who Produced Nevermind.” This will mark the first time Grohl and Novoselic have recorded with one another since Kurt Cobain injected himself with enough heroin to kill an elephant, and then stuck a shotgun in his mouth, just to make sure that medical science didn’t get any bright ideas.
Look: I know Nirvana were cool, and I know that Cobain’s premature passing means they get to stay cool forever and ever and ever because the dude didn’t get to grow up to be lame like Billy Corgan and Chris Cornell, but I really don’t see any reason to get excited about this. Novoselic was never a songwriter; he was never even a particularly distinctive bass player. Cobain was Cobain and Grohl certainly beat the ever-lovin’ shit outta his drums, but Nirvana pretty much could have swapped out Novoselic for another bassist at any point and not missed a beat. This song isn’t gonna sound like Nirvana — you’d need to re-animate Cobain to make that happen — it’s just gonna sound like Foo Fighters. I’d wager that the bass lines won’t even be that special, since, like I said, Novoselic’s playing never had much discernible personality. So you’re not even gonna get the “What might that sound like?” curiosity factor that you might get from, say, Dave Lombardo filling in for Lars Ulrich at a Metallica show, or Duff McKagan joining Jane’s Addiction. Creatively speaking, this reunion doesn’t amount to much more than a gimmick.
All of that being said… I’ll take any excuse to post the below video of Novoselic hitting himself in the head with his bass at the 1992 MTV VMAs while Grohl taunts Axl Rose from the stage. This has to be one of the five proudest moments in MTV’s history, right?
Friday, October 15th, 2010 at 10:30am by Axl Rosenberg
So E! is apparently doing a new reality show, called Married to Rock, which, in case the title doesn’t make it obvious, is about the wives of some famous rock stars. Here’s a rundown of the women who are going to be on this show (some barely safe for work pics after the jump… you’ve been warned, you horn dogs):
So Duff McKagan joined Axl Rose and his new Guns N’ Roses on-stage at the 02 Arena in London last night, playing bass for “You Could Be Mine” (video above) and rhythm guitars for “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “Nice Boys.” (You can also see photos here.) Inevitably, this is going to make people ask the question: “Is the original line-up (or something closely resembling the original line-up) of Guns N’ Roses getting back together?” As MetalSucks’ resident GN’R geek, I hereby take it upon myself to provide reckless analysis regarding this blessed event. After the jump, get both sides of the argument, as provided by my drug-addled fanboy brain.
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at 11:00am by Axl Rosenberg
‘Cause apparently he’s out. No word yet on whether he was quit or fired, but either way, this news should be about as shocking as the fact that Axl Rose walked off-stage during a show in Dublin last week. Why? ‘Cause Jane’s Addiction have had four bass players just since 2001. Either these dudes are really hard to get along with, or they have terrible luck. And I don’t believe in luck.
And it’s too bad, really, ’cause for people like me, who basically gave up on Jane’s Addiction when they heard Strays (y’know, from the band’s second reunion), having McKagan in the group was probably a good incentive to pay attention again. And McKagan seemed like a good fit for Jane’s Addicition, ’cause Jane’s and GN’R are similar in that they’re both bands that released a couple of killer records forever ago, and whose members manage to milk those records’ popularity to remain in the spotlight even as their work becomes increasingly lackluster.
No word on who Jane’s Addiction’s next soon-to-be-former bassist will be, although I’m really pulling for Jason Newsted. Meanwhile, I imagine McKagan will now go back to his non-solo solo project, Loaded, and calling Slash at all hours of the night, asking when Velvet Revolver can get back together.
MetalSucks Maniac K-milo just sent us a link to the below video of Jane’s Addiction performing a new track, “Soulmate.” We can assume it marks the co-writing debut of one Mr. Duff McKagan, who is now the bass player for the band.
And, um… y’know, it’s hard to judge ’cause it’s not the highest-quality recording, but it doesn’t do much for me. I dunno. I think it needs a stronger hook or something. But check it out and let us know what you think…
Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 3:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
Slash has been unveiling a song a day from his new, self-titled solo album, so at this point, if you’ve wanted to hear the entire record, you pretty much have. But if you’re like me, and you were too lazy to keep checking back all the various websites where the shit has been streaming these past week, AOL now has the entire album in one place. I’ll try to write a full review in time for Slash‘s release on Tuesday, but the short version is: “Hey! It’s not the total face-raping I was expecting!” Which I guess would make it Slash’s Death Magnetic. So, April Fool’s on me, I guess.
I don’t think it will come as a galloping shock to anyone to learn that the rumors are true: Duff McKagan is the new bass player for Jane’s Addiction. Slash basically spilled the beans in an interview a couple of weeks back, and then some photos of Duff working with the band popped up online, and now he’s actually gigged with the group – that grainy video up top is footage of Duff’s Addiction covering Led Zep’s “Whole Lotta Love.” I’m excited that Duff will now once again be in a band that plays for more than fifty people a night, although I’m sure the dudes in Loaded are pretty bummed. Of course, between this and Slash’s solo album, I’d wager we won’t get any new developments on the Velvet Revolver front until 2012, if ever.
Finally: the drums on Slash’s solo album were recorded by Josh Freese, who also played drums on the nu-GN’R song “Oh My God,” which featured a guitar solo by… Dave Navarro. Small world. But I find it funny that Slash and Duff are now both working with dudes who have played with Axl Rose more recently than they have.
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 10:40am by Anso DF
We all hear how the metal was murdered by grunge, with the newly grave listening public as its willing accomplice. A competing theory is that metal essentially committed suicide, or at any rate fell into disrepair, enabling a transfer of power to guys who moan about their unyielding feelings of injustice and unhappiness. Either way, it’s sad, especially for people who think rock radio should like be fun and shit, instead of being packed with nominally tuneful inventories of jock neuroses.
Friday, January 29th, 2010 at 11:11am by Axl Rosenberg
Well here’s a nice juicy rumor to end the week. From Blabbermouth:
“According to The Pulse of Radio, the JANE’S ADDICTION fan web site Xiola.org has reported that VELVET REVOLVER and ex-GUNS N’ ROSES bass player Duff McKagan is writing and recording with the band, following the departure of original member Eric Avery for the second time in the group’s troubled history. After JANE’S reunited for a third time in late 2008 — with Avery on board for the first time since the band originally broke up in 1991 — and toured last spring with NINE INCH NAILS, the band began feuding once again as it tried to record new music, with recent rumors suggesting that Avery was headed out the door…
“…There has been no official announcement about McKagan from JANE’S ADDICTION themselves, except a brief post by frontman Perry Farrell saying that the band was working with a new ‘writing partner.’”
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 2:00pm by Axl Rosenberg
So Slash performed a new song, “By the Sword,” at some benefit over the weekend, and of course there’s bootleg footage now on the net. It sounds better than the crap we’ve heard before, but the sound of Slash taking an actual crap would sound better than the crap we’ve heard before, so whatever.
The vocals are being performed here by Carrot Top. I don’t remember anyone saying that Carrot Top was on the actual album, so either he is and we just didn’t know it ’til now, or someone else sings the studio version. Let’s hope it’s the former.
Filling out the band for this performance is Dave Navarro, another dude from Jane’s Addiction who isn’t Navarro or Perry Farrell, and Blink-182′s Travis Barker, who tragically survived a plane crash earlier this year.
Slash’s solo album should ruin your 2010 sometime in the spring.
