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

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

It’s almost as if Dave Grohl isn’t confident in his perennial “Coolest Rockstar on Earth” status and needs to keep finding ways to prove his coolness over and over again. Fortunately, he never fails.

Ratt frontman Stephen Pearcy spilled the beans via his Twitter account yesterday that he and Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini would be working with Sir Grohlness, then later clarified that’s it’a “Grohl song idea open to Ratt madness” for some kind of new project.Could this be the resurrection of Grohl’s metal side project Probot? Let’s hope! But either way, I’m completely bonered about the posibility of a Grohl + Ratt collabo; with some of the best rock songwriters of the ’80s and ’90s (and ’00s and ’10s!) working together, it’s all but assured of being fan-fucking-tastic.

In other Ratt-related news, check out a cover of “Round and Round” by Ryan Adams after the break:

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The gates of the Mansion may be shuttered this week, but that doesn’t mean there won’t still be a few bibs and bobs happening in the metal world before the holidays put us all into a food coma. To boot:

• Axl Rose booted a concertgoer out of the GN’R show in Vancouver, just like in the good ol’ days. Watch video of the incident above, in which DJ Slashba stands there and looks on awkwardly. In other GN’R news, Duff McKagan joined the band in Seattle to play “You Could Be Mine” (after his band, Duff McKagan’s Loaded featuring Duff McKagan, opened the show.)
• Attack Attack! are now a djent band. Check out their new tune here. Sergeant D misses the old Attack Attack!.
• Every Time I Die invited fans up on stage for their last song at their annual Christmas song in Buffalo, NY, but the venue’s security team wasn’t having it. Watch video of the bench-clearing brawl that ensued here. Maybe it’s a pre-cursor for what’s to come when all the scene bands open for Every Time I Die at the 2012 New England Metal and Hardcore Fest?
• Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy released an unplugged album of seven Ratt classics under his solo name. I wonder how his bandmates feel about that?
• Jeff Loomis just completed a three-week clinic tour of China, Taiwan and Indonesia. Here’s Jeff permorning “Enemies of Reality” in Jakarta; Gawd, I love this dude.
• Tool have announced a few more live dates as part of their winter U.S. run, and Intronaut might be the opening act.

-VN

Until their new song, “Time and Time Again,” premiered online today (stream it here), I had not heard any music from Kill Devil Hill, the new band featuring Rex Brown and Vinny Appice. (I was about to type those dudes’ previous credits when I realized that if you don’t know who Brown and Appice are, I don’t especially care about you anyway.) I know there have been some live bootlegs floating around — the band has been gigging for awhile now — but I somehow managed to avoid them and wait for the real thing.

And now that I’ve heard it… it’s good. Not great. But not bad at all.

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For every Vince there’s a Nikki, for every Steven Tyler there’s a Joe Perry, for every Axl there’s a Slash (or Izzy, as it were); rarely is the frontman of a band the driving creative force and chief songwriter, even when he’s the outsize personality. I love Stephen Pearcy to death and what he brings to the table in Ratt as a frontman and voice, but his new solo stuff just ain’t doing it. Without Warren DeMartini’s sweet n’ tasty riffs, “Don’t Wanna Think About,” Pearcy’s new solo single, could be any old group of dudes in an aging bar band. I’m sure the dudes in his band are all great guys, but the way they’re dolled up in this video they look like the waiting room of a Five Finger Death Punch audition session:

Ratt’s last album was so good (#1 of 2010 good!) that I wanted to like Pearcy’s upcoming solo record Sucker Punch at all costs, but if this is the best song that just ain’t gonna happen. Hopefully those guys get to kissing and making nice instead of talking smack in the press sooner rather than later

-VN

…Max Cavalera recently revealed during a radio interview (video above) that he’s working on his autobiography with British journalist Joel McIver, who has previously penned such metal-themed tomes as The Bloody Reign of Slayer and Justice for All: The Truth about Metallica. The forward will apparently be written by Dave Grohl, who collaborated with Cavalera as part of his Probot project back in ’04.

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The current drama in the Ratt camp that’s playing out through the media is nothing short of ridiculous, but we really shouldn’t be surprised; they’ve always conducted business this way! It’s part of how they operate, like how you know Axl Rose is always going to show up late to a concert or how an abusive husband is probably gonna repeat the same behavior over and over again despite what he promises. Eventually Pearcy, DeMartini, Blotzer and co. will kiss and make nice, after which they’ll inevitably hate each other even more and sink to even deeper lows via press mud-slinging. Hopefully they can record an album as unstoppably good as 2010′s Infestation in between.

The latest: Blotz referred to the way the rest of the band handles business as “a joke,” as if the very act of him saying that was somehow not apt to be included in his own statement (so meta!). The sleuths at Metal Insider then goaded Stephen Pearcy to react via Twitter:

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Two weeks I wrote about how Ratt’s “Dance” is an excellent stripping song, and jested about trying it out myself. Jokes aside, I’ve always been fascinated by strip clubs and strippers and the whole shebang. It’s just so weird to me. The way it all functions and how lucrative it really is. When I was in college, we affectionately called the street right next to us “Stripper Alley” because of the cluster of clubs situated two steps from the dorms. You’d be hard-pressed to find worse houses of “burlesque” in the country.

Unfortunately, any fantasies or visions of naked grandeur were put to rest when I attended one innocent evening and an enthusiastic and obviously pregnant girl started raving about how much she loved my name. ‘Cause my real name was her stage name. Thanks, mom and dad.

It’s hard to deny that there’s some connection between metal, especially hair metal, and stripping. They go hand in hand like… syphilis and crazy. But I really don’t like the “stripping songs” that everyone always seems to go with. “Pour Some Sugar On Me”… like, really? There are so many underrated bands from that era and even more underrated songs. Some just had bad timing and some were plain ignored. But it got me thinking.

So here are the top underrated bands (note: “underrated” does not necessarily mean “unpopular”) of the 80s and early 90s, along with their corresponding strip songs. Now, these aren’t my choices, mind you — I just think they’d get the job done. I really hope no family members are reading this but if they are: HEY YOU GAVE ME A STRIPPER NAME, THIS WAS INEVITABLE.

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I was trying to think of a good excuse I could use as to write about Ratt ,since I’ve been having kind of a Ratt week. Warren DeMartini’s birthday? No. Apparently, that was in April. Anniversary of Robbin Crosby’s death? Nope, that was back in June. Then it hit me! The always useful ALBUM OF THE DAY.

My favorite Ratt album is Reach for the Sky. Come on — “Way Cool Jr.,” “What’s It Gonna Be,” “I Want A Woman?” All great classics. But recently I’ve been sticking to songs strictly from 1986’s Dancing Undercover. Especially “7^th Avenue.” It’s got a slow-but-hard intro that I absolutely adore. It might possibly be because it’s the exact same one as on  “Between the Eyes,” from the band’s previous album, Invasion of Your Privacy. If you’re going to rip someone off, it might as well be yourself.

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I hail Roadrunner Records for their success at landing major label-weened acts like Megadeth, Ratt, Dream Theater, and as of today, fuckin’ RUSH. These are high-performance, self-steering acts with little need for career guidance or image interference, and who shouldn’t allow their profits’ to be diverted to cover losses incurred by ten shitty signings this year by Belinda the 22-year old A&R prodigy whose aged bf got her the job or Dan the radio personality’s son who spent $19 million on promotions for an Amerie collection.

Anyway, how about some exciting details of Rush and Roadrunner’s deal?! First, know that a RR press release states that a live album will come out ahead of new set Clockwork Angels; also, it calls this deal a “partnership,” which I’ve seen translated to “distro services and profit share.” But in an email today, RR A&R super-stud Monte Conner told me that Rush will be worked like any other RR band (i.e. publicity, promo, the whole whack). I also asked if RR bought out “Caravan” and “BU2B,” the jamz that Atlantic released as a single last summer; Conner said that the songs will appear on the album as planned. Next I’ll ask him how he plans to repair the rip in the fabric of time caused by having Rush, Dream Theater, and Opeth on the same roster. Stay tuned.

-ADF

Rush’s freaking 19th studio album Clockwork Angels is slated for 2012 release. Get “Caravan” b/w “BU2B” here. 

For all the shit we give hair metal bands we once admired around here, not all of them have aged so terribly. Sometimes they even surprise you and release something terrific. Last year, Ratt’s Infestation knocked us on our asses; just recently, Whitesnake caught us off-guard when their new album, Forevermore, actually turned out to be a whole lotta fun. (Extreme’s 2009 release, Saudades de Rock, was also quite good, although they’re not really hair metal.) My point just being that you have listen to these albums with an open mind, because sometimes these bands really pull their shit together and remind you why you ever liked them to begin with.

And sometimes they turn into Warrant.

The band’s new album, Rockaholic, comes out next month, and now they’ve released a video, “Life’s a Song,” to promote it. And the song totally fucking boring, the video so cheesy that Dino Cazares tried to eat it, drummer Steven Sweet apparently invented a time machine, went back in time to the 70s, doped a woman, shaved her bush, and used it as a wig, and — perhaps worst of all — the band has the cojones to use lots and lots of vintage footage — “Hey, remember when you loved us? YOU FUCKING LOVED US!!!” — despite the fact that Jani Lane, their most recognizable member, is no longer in the fold. (And this new dude, Robert Mason, is no Jani Lane. I mean he sounds like he can sing, but his vocals have as much personality as the name “Bob Mason” would suggest.) I think I even saw an old still featuring Jani in there, although my eyes may be playing tricks on me. What a load of crap.

Rockaholic comes out May 17 on Frontiers Records. It features a song called “Sex Ain’t Love,” so I guess we really are a long way away from “Cherry Pie.”

-AR

8-bit remixes of songs aren’t exactly rare these days, as NES music seems to be all the rage amongst the youngins who weren’t even alive when NES was the baddest, hightest-tech system on earth, so it takes a lot for an electronic re-interpretation of a metal song to impress me. But Kasio Kristmas’ take on Ratt’s greatest hit “Round and Round” is definitely worth a listen. If you’re a fan of the original, of course. It’s actually not even 8-bit — it’s a full-on electronic version — but it takes Pearcy’s original vocal track, alters it, and places it on top of Kasio Kristmas’ own version of “Round and Round.” Most importantly, it’s really well done.

So check it out on Kasio Kristmas’ MySpace page. There’s a sweet Radiohead remix there for the listening as well. Buy “Round and Round” or the whole album on iTunes.

-VN

Thanks: Privoe

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

This week’s question was once again suggested by “Hipsters Out of Metal!” columnist Anso DF, and even though the Grammy nominations were actually announced last week, it still seemed like a fun debate to have. So:

WHAT ARE YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR BEST METAL GRAMMY?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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I’m so legitimately happy for the dudes in Ratt; not only did they write the most ass-kicking metal album of the year in Infestation, but they were able to follow it up with a legit club headline tour thanks to all the praise and press they received because of it. No more lame-o fairs and festivals or shitty dive bars for these Ratt N’ Rollers — actual, real-deal clubs, with big stages and enough room for their own production. I’d imagine it felt really good after slogging it out in the dregs of the live music circuit for well over a decade; especially so for DeMartini, Blotzer and Crane, who finally got Stephen Pearcy back in the fold (a big part of the band’s newfound success, to be sure). Fitting then that Ratt’s new video for Infestation opening slammer “Eat Me Up Alive” chronicles that experience; if you missed Ratt in 2010, well, too bad for you ’cause they ain’t gonna be back on the road for a while… but at least you can live vicariously through this video.

-VN

Probably a bit like this.

-GS

Am I the only one who sees the complete absurdity in the whole “on hiatus” thing bands do these days? In 2010 no band stays broken up… every band gets back together, at least to tour if not also to release new music, because they need to do so to make a living. But it seems like every time a band announces they’re taking a break / “on hiatus” the media freaks out; will they ever be back, or is this the end??? Of course they’ll be back, nincompoop!

I call Metal Insider’s Bram Teitelman a nincompoop only in jest, of course, because I know the guy’s a legit Ratt fan; dude once told me his first concert was Ratt with special guest openers Bon Jovi, some new young band at the time. That’s real deal! Metal Insider is reporting that Ratt singer Stephen Pearcy is the latest band member to confirm there won’t be any more Ratt shows or new music in the near future after bassist Robbie Crane said the same this past Monday. In an interview with Philadelphia’s WYSP:

I’ll be taking care of some solo stuff until Ratt takes care of its business, and then we’ll probably or hopefully start working on another record. We’ll go on hiatus for a while, and everybody will do their own thing, and then we’ll take it from there.

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Looks like the only Ratturday that’s gonna be celebrated any time soon is in my own living room; a monkey from the Axl Annex arrived at the Vince Division of the MS Mansion early this morning ooo-ooo-ing like a crazed chimpanzee, then proceeded to my computer and pointed my browser to Metal Sludge, where I read this:

A recent rumor has popped up about Robbie Crane no longer being in the band. We reached out to Robbie and asked point blank. His reply is below.
Sludge,

“As far as I’m concerned there is no Ratt to be “fired” from as Ratt is on an indefinite hiatus as we’ve finished the Infestation tour in Japan last week… Warren has dates with his and Dee Schnider’s Christmas band, Stephen has 4 to 6 months of solo dates, Carlos is working with Rudy and Vinny on an awesome new project and I’m touring with Lynch Mob over the next couple of months… Thanks for the concern…

Sludge out with your cock out! Robbie”

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The reason all the hair-metal autobiographies have been disappointing is because the best hair metal band, Motley Crue, did it first, and did a really killer job (treating it like an oral history told from lots of different  perspectives = master stroke), and so there was really no place to go but down. Bret Michaels’ autobiography never actually materialized, Slash’s was good but not great, Steven Adler’s sucked, I only know one person who read Bobby Blotzer’s,  and now all the Motley Crue guys are dipping back into that pool for a second or even third time, only without each other because after thirty fucking years they still haven’t figured out that the unit is stronger than each individual. At this point I think it would take everyone who ever worked on Chinese Democracy, including Axl Rose, all banding together to make a The Dirt-style Roshomon piece if anything is even gonna BEGIN to compete with The Crue’s initial tome.

Now glam’s ugly twin, thrash, has started to catch on that there’s an interest in these books. And they don’t seem to be following the same pattern as cock rock. Sure, Dave Mustaine went first, but no one seems to really believe a word of his book, and it’s certainly not a definitive snap-shot of the time and place the way The Dirt is for the Strip in the 80′s. And I obviously have a lot of faith in Phil Anselmo’s upcoming collaboration with MetalSucks’ own Corey Mitchell, but Pantera weren’t purely thrash, and weren’t around for the Big Four’s heyday.

So. Now Noise Creep says that Kirk Hammett is doing his autobiography. (The news actually originated in an interview with Ultimate-Guitar, but I can’t find it. If anybody does, drop me a line.) There’s no word on which lucky writer will score that coveted “with” credit, but here’s a choice quote from Kirk:

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Since it’s hair metal week here at MetalSucks, it seemed only appropriate to consider a glamtastic question. So we asked our writers:

WHICH HAIR METAL BAND FROM THE ’80s BEST STANDS THE TEST OF TIME IN 2010?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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