MetalSucks

After the 2009 edition of Rocklahoma – a.k.a. the Wacken of Hair Metal – turned out to be an epic fail,  it was announced that AEG live, “the world’s largest producer of music festivals,” had been put in charge of “revamping” the fest for the 2010 version – including helping with “talent booking.” At the time, I suggested that this might be code for “no more hair metal bands,” and as it turns out,  I was right. Here’s the line-up for this year’s fest, in nifty poster form (via Bring Back Glam):

Click to read more…

Scott Weiland’s been out of Velvet Revolver for quite some time now, and there’s still no word on their search for a new singer. I had assumed that they hadn’t announced anyone because they just couldn’t find someone famous enough. I mean, let’s be real – they’re not gonna hire some unknown. If they did, they’d fail to be a supergroup – they’s just be Slash’s Snakepit III. As it stands, Slash doesn’t know Dave Kushner’s name (he repeatedly identifies his co-guitarist as “Dave Kirshner” in his autobiography), and he’s known Kushner since they were kids; what the fuck would he do with an unknown singer?

I guess there must be some other issue, though – ’cause Corey Taylor, front man for Slipknot and Stone Sour, recently revealed that he tried out for the spot:

“I had a meeting with those guys, we did some demos together, and it just didn’t work — for whatever reason… It was just really cool. It was one of those things where it’s like I could have got to jam with legends, man, in my opinion. But, you know, it was cool, and I still know those guys, I still hang out with them, and I still have nothing but respect.”

So I gotta wonder why this didn’t work out. Taylor’s voice is comparable to Weiland’s, he’s well-known, he’d probably bring in some young kids who might otherwise not give a shit about Guns Without Rose, and he’s a very charismatic and entertaining band leader. So did his personality just not gel with that of the dudes in VR? Were they worried that with two other bands, he was already over-committed? Did Roadrunner (the label that distributes both Slipknot and Stone Sour) put the kibosh on the whole thing, as they allegedly did when Taylor almost replaced John Bush in Anthrax? We might never know, but I find the whole thing pretty curious.

Weigh in with your thoughts on Taylor as the new Axl Weiland below. And while you’re pontificating, enjoy this bootleg video of Taylor performing “It’s So Easy” with Slash. It might be the closest we ever get to seeing  a Taylor-fronted VR.

-AR

I have no idea what made me think of them – maybe I saw a tranny in the Village or something, or maybe it was just writing about Dope, since half the members of Murderdolls started in Dope and then there was a ridiculous flame war between the two bands. But, uh, somehow they popped in my mind.

We all know what Joey Jordison is up to, and Blabbermouth tells me that Wednesday 13 still has something resembling a career. I see Acey Slade walking around the neighborhood sometimes, so I guess he’s still DJing at Don Hill’s or some shit. Actually, that guy used to spin pretty good, if you were in the mood for hair metal and 70s rawk. I have no idea what happened to the other d00ds in this band, though. In fact, I don’t even know what their names are.

I’d still rather listen to this than post-Feelgood Motley Crue. Or most Stone Sour, for that matter. If for some reason those were my only choices. I can’t imagine any scenario in which that happened, but, hey.

-AR

Just because it makes me giggle.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

Slipknot’s new album, All Hope is Gone, hasn’t even been released yet, and already guitarist Jim Root is expressing dissatisfaction with producer Dave Fortman. During a recent interview, when asked if working with Fortman was a better experience than working with Rick Rubin, Root responded thusly:

Click to read more…

So about a week back Slipknot released the following two minute-plus video “teaser” for the new, still untitled album. And even though I’m generally prone to defending Slipknot and I’m all in favor of trying things that are new and creative, I have to say, I have no fucking idea how this pertains to a new Slipknot album. I mean, there’s no music in it. Are they trying to tell us that their new disc will be an hour’s worth of ambient noise recorded around their hometown of Des Moines, Iowa? Or just that we should expect to be bored off our asses?

I assume that this thing was directed by Shawn Crahan (he’s the one in the clown mask, in case ya didn’t know), who also directed the very avant garde-y Slipknot DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine. But this video makes that DVD look like a straightforward piece of narrative storytelling.

The new Slipknot album comes out in August. Former Ugly Kid Joe guitarist/current Evanescence producer Dave Fortman is manning the boards, which, if I’m being completely honest, makes me a little nervous – I have no interest in a glorified Stone Sour album. Hopefully my cynicism will turn out to be unfounded.

-AR

[Welcome to the second entry of our exclusive blog series from the new thrash supergroup Iron Steel, featuring Morgan Rose (Sevendust) on drums; Jim LaMarca (Chimaira), Dave Ellefson (ex-Megadeth) and Rachel Bolan (Skid Row) all on bass (!); with vocalist and guitarist Fran Strine and guitarist Tommy Redd. Each week a different member will be posting a blog entry at MetalSucks. This week Chimaira's Jim LaMarca reports on the post-NAMM show apocalypse.]

As the wild NAMM weekend came to a close, Iron Steel almost broke up. Hung over from our release party, we had our first band meeting. Tommy was late, as usual, because he and Diggity Dave from Pimp My Ride closed down the party and moved it over to the custom shop, bringing the majority of the women in attendance with them. Fran had been barricaded in the bathroom of his hotel suite, hiding from Lacey from Rock of Love. She stalked him during the party and chased him all the way back to his hotel room. Morgan took his Sevendust bandmates, John Connolly and Sonny Mayo, left the party early and somehow wound up in jail for performing lewd acts at nearby Disneyland. Ellefson, in his usual ‘work mode’ did an impromptu ‘side-side project’ with some of the remaining musicians in attendance at the party – recruiting Mick Thomson (Slipknot), Josh Rand (Stone Sour), Marc Rizzo (Soulfly), Doc (God Forbid) – into a band that was all guitar players – and he was the only bassist (finally). I observed it all with Rob and Matt from my other band, Chimaira, sitting in the ultra-ultra-VIP section where nobody could see or speak to us – it was an invisibility chamber, actually – created just for Iron Steel.

Click to read more…