MetalSucks

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

Now skip to the 3:54 mark to get Mr. Weiland’s thoughts:

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With Velvet Revolver on what is starting to look like a permanent hiatus, Slash has been off recording a Santana-style all-star solo album with lots and lots of famous collaborators. It’s actually kind of a brilliant idea, and you wonder why he didn’t do that instead of Slash’s Snakepit Mach 2, a fun band that was really never gonna pay off for him.

Now Slash has announced his first solo offering: a two-track Japanese (and thus “internet,” whether Saul Hudson likes it or not) single called Sahara, which will offer both that song, with some Japanese dude I’ve never heard of on vocals, and… a re-recording of “Paradise City” with vocals by Cypress Hill and Fergie.

Fergie.

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If Velvet Revolver’s second album, Libertad, had a bed, it shat all over it. The sales would have been considered top-notch for your average metal band, but for mega super duper rockstars likes Guns Without Rose, it was bad enough for their major label to promptly drop them.

There’s a few reasons this might have occurred. Personally, I think that VR’s debut, Contraband, was good but not great, and I think once the curiosity factor (with regards to a supergroup) had passed, the band was kind of doomed. Being a major success means doing crossover business (e.g., attracting people beyond the hardcore fanbase that would’ve bought the album even if it was by Slash’s Snakepit 3), and I know a lot of people who bought Contraband, went “meh,” and then never bothered to check out Libertad.

But even if we assume that Contraband really was Appetite’s second coming, the band released a shit first single that impressed absolutely no one. And I seem to be the only person in the world who actually thought that Libertad was superior to Contraband. So it’s possible that being creatively lackluster is why the album undersold.

Keeping all of this in mind, here’s Matt Sorum basically saying that Libertad sucked, and that it’s all Scott Weiland’s fault:

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I know we (well, I at least) give Slash a lot of shit around here – but it’s only because the dude was my hero growing up (I had his poster on my wall, was him for Halloween at least twice, etc.), and it’s always disappointing when one of your heroes, say, starts gigging with the alien “chick” (recent evidence suggests she may, in fact, be a dude) from Black Eyed Peas.

But Slash turns 44 (!!!) today, and it’s pretty much a miracle the guy is still alive. So I am going to take this moment to celebrate him by pretending that he’s still the way I’d like to remember him:

-AR

I imagine that when the members of, say, Daath get together for rehearsal, no one expects to be paid for said rehearsal. They’re all dudes who are friends – some of them even grew up together, if I’m not mistaken – and it’s not like they’re making squillions of dollars playing metal. Rehearsal, then, has to be viewed as an investment – get better as a band, put on a good show for the crowd, and, knock on wood, your band will get bigger and the money will come.

I also imagine it’s different being in someone’s solo band. If your boss is Ozzy Osbourne or Axl Rose or Dave Mustaine or Trent Reznor, there’s going to be a lot of money involved, and your creative input is going to be somewhat limited (I imagine). I know for a fact that the members of nu-GN’R are paid an annual retainer, just in case they’re needed; I assume members of certain other solo bands are given a similar (if perhaps less lucrative) deal. And actors definitely get paid to rehearse; granted, the rehearsal rate is less than the performance rate, but the unions insist that if you want an actor there for rehearsals, he or she must be compensated.

Now. Sebastian Bach’s record sales obviously are not what they used to be. But the guy still opens for arena bands, routinely plays large festivals, and, by his own admission, gets paid very large sums of money to appear on crappy reality shows. Doing something like, say, paying for his band’s member’s gas so they can get to rehearsal seems reasonable, especially when you’re talking about dudes like Metal Mike Chlasciak, who, even if he’s not exactly Zakk Wylde, has played with dudes like Halford, and is definitely a “known entity.”

Well, Baz disagrees. He’s looking for a new guitarist and a new bassist, and, more specifically, he’s looking for someone to do it for bubcus. Check out this statement from the Old Dude Gone Wild:

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This is gonna be a long, Lefsetzian rant that is only peripherally related to metal. Don’t read it if that’s gonna bother you.

MTV’s The State came out on DVD yesterday – the complete series. For those of you too young to remember, The State was a sketch comedy series that launched all the guys (and girl) who went on to make Wet Hot American Summer, Stella, Reno 911, and a whole bunch of shit I’m forgetting.

(The troupe’s members have also written and/or acted in some terrible movies, I’m sure because it paid well, but if it funds their own work, then whatever.)

So last night after we shuttered the MetalSucks Mansion Grand Study of Doom & Horror (where we do all our “work”) for the evening, I went out (To fucking Best Buy – because there is now no place else in the city to purchase DVDs) and bought The State, came home, “got right” as Ron Saint Germain would say, and sat down to watch a show I haven’t seen in sixteen years.

Holy shit, that makes me feel old.

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At the risk of sounding disrespectful: we cannot look at Michael Jackson through rose-colored glasses just because of his untimely passing. The dude was, to put it mildly, a weirdo, and probably very, very crazy. And the fact that he is now dead does not change that fact.

That being said, back when the guy was slightly less crazy (or, at least, the general public was less aware of his craziness), there’s no denying that he was major talent who had a huge impact on music. Denying this fact because of his later follies is just foolish. And even though I’ve been listening to metal since before I had pubes, I freely admit that I owned a copy of Thriller long before I owned a copy of Reign in Blood.

Jackson apparently had some kind of affinity for hard rock guitarists, or, at least, had someone in his camp who did. Besides employing Jennifer Batten for years, Jackson worked with Eddie Van Halen (”Beat It”), Slash (”Give in to Me”), and Steve Stevens (”Smooth Criminal”).

For the usual dumb reasons, none of the videos for these collaborations are embeddable, but you can easily find them on the net. In the meantime, here’s Jacko and Slash:

On a more cynical note, except at least one, if not more, of these guitarists to start exploiting their relationship with Jackson for publicity any second now.

-AR

I was a little taken aback when I was this editorial in the New York Times this morning, written by former Guns N’ Roses/current Velvet Revolver bassist/current Loaded front man, Duff McKagan. Not so much because I was surprised to see that Duff is literate – he has a column in Playboy – but because the byline features his birth name, Michael McKagan.

Maybe it’s wrong of me to assume that the Times was being snotty – perhaps it was his idea to use his real name in the Paper of Record – but the whole thing is just kind of a head-scratcher.

No word yet on whether or not Axl Rose will now start writing for the Washington Post under the name “Bill Bailey.”

-AR

P.S. I interviewed Duff back in April. The MetalSucks Mansion Monkeys have been dragging their feet getting that shit transcribed, but at some point, you’ll get to read it.

If you don’t know who Amy Sciarretto is, well, ya should. She’s Roadrunner Records in-house PR goddess (and often writes the very funny “Ask Amy” column for the Roadrunner website) and also writes for NoiseCreep. She’s also written for Revolver, Kerrang!, Guitar World, and a butt load of other publications and websites. In other words, she knows her shit.

Now Amy has teamed up with Rick Florino – founder or Ruined magazine and a contributor to Inked, Revolver, Hit Parader, etc. – to write Do the Devil’s Work for Him: How to Make it in the Music Industry (and Stay in It!). Featuring interviews and music biz advice from members of System of a Down, DevilDriver, Dragonforce, Matt Sorum (current Velvet Revolver/ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer) and Roadrunner A&R guru/blade runner Mike Gitter, this promises to be much, much cooler than your average “how to” guide.

The book hits shelves on June 26. In the meantime, you can get more info here.

-AR

I haven’t watched any of Sam Kinison’s old stand-up in years, so I have no idea how his work holds up – but when I was a younger, I thought he was just about the funniest human being that had ever lived, and when he died, I was really, really upset about it.

I heard recently that HBO is making a TV movie about Kinison’s life – which is why I was thinking about him again – and I suddenly remembered Kinison’s video for his cover of “Wild Thing.”

Today the video seems vastly inferior to Brian Posehn’s “Metal by Numbers,” because a) that song is actually about metal, b) that song isn’t a cover, and c) that song doesn’t have Tommy Lee in its video. But at the time, this clip was the shit – I mean, in addition to the aforementioned Lee, it also features Slash, Billy Idol, Richie Sambora, members of Aerosmith and Ratt, and Jessica Hahn’s tits.

-AR

In case ya didn’t know: in the years following his time in Guns N’ Roses, Duff McKagan actually went back to school and got his degree in… finance. If I’m not mistaken, that makes him the only member of the original GN’R to have a college degree – when they were most at their most successful, only Izzy Stradlin was even a high school graduate – which may explain why Duff and Izzy are the only members of the original band who have not completely humiliated themselves in the years since, either by appearing on a reality show, becoming a fucknuts recluse, taking gigs with anyone who can meet their quote, or being Matt Sorum.

ANYWAY, McKagan has a column at SeattleWeekly.com, and this week he chose to make a big announcement: he’s going to be a financial columnist for Playboy.com.

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MetalSucks’ own Kip Wingerschmidt and the ballerina turned cock rawk supahstah from whom he takes his name have more in common than a mutual love of getting stone on Saturdays. Turns out they both think Lars Ulrich drinks donkey semen, too. Ulrich can spotted in A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica (Y’know, the less-famous Metallica documentary that doesn’t make you feel quite as embarrassed to like this band) throwing darts at a pull-out of Kip Winger; now, in an interview with C.C. Banana for Metal Sludge (IT’S ALIVE!!!!), Winger has decided to strike back at the diminutive Dane drummer. Asked if he has himself ever thrown darts at Ulrich’s photo, Winger responded:
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As you are no doubt aware by now, Chinese Democracy was released last week to what are generally considered disappointing sales figures. Here in the States, the album sold 261,000 copies to land at number three on the Billboard charts; that’s a little more than Velvet Revolver’s debut, Contraband, sold in its first week back in 2004, when the industry was actually in better shape – but Contraband didn’t take fifteen years and didn’t cost thirteen million dollars. So that number just ain’t really cutting it in most people’s eyes.

But the number actually strikes me as being kind of impressive, when you consider how little promotion was actually done for the record. At the Best Buy where I bought my copy of the album, not only was there no floor display or posters announcing its release, but when I couldn’t find a copy on the shelves (in either the “new release” section of the “Guns N’ Roses” section), one employee actually tried to tell me that they weren’t carrying the disc – despite the fact that Best Buy is the only store in America that are stocking the record (Another, slightly less retarded store worker was able to find the album for me no problem. As it turns out, I could have walked ten blocks to the Virgin Megastore, who are selling Canadian imports of the CD at a slightly higher price.). And if reports are any indication, I’m not the only one who experienced a Best Buy blunder.

And that’s on top of the fact that, as we’ve noted, the man himself, W. Axl Rose, hasn’t come out of hiding to grant interviews, shoot a music video, tour, or in any way acknowledge that his masterpiece is finally seeing the light of day after years of waiting. I think this fact struck most Axl fans as a typically bizarre/enigmatic/just plain dumb move on Rose’s part – I don’t think it actually occurred to anyone that Rose might be, y’know, actually missing, as Music-News.com is now reporting.

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Dude. Did anyone else know that Scott Weiland has a new solo album coming out two days after the release of Chinese Democracy? What the fuck? I wonder what it’s like to be Slash this week. Seriously. Is he pissed off that these two assholes get to live? Scared of the success they might achieve without him? Does he even know the albums are coming out, or is too busy having tea with Ozzy? Does SCOTT even know that Scott’s album is coming out??? The mind boggles.

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When I lost my virginity, I was so excited to actually have my penis in a vagina after so many years of thinking about it that whether my first time was actually an enjoyable experience or not was kind of beside the point. And with its release now less than a week away, that’s how I’m starting to feel about Chinese Democracy: I’m tired of thinking about it and just wanna experience it already, no matter what my final feelings on it turn out to be.

And even though the marketing campaign behind this mo’fo hasn’t been as massive as one might’ve thunk, Team Axl Rose certainly does know how to keep themselves in the headlines: they’ve now released a second single from the forthcoming opus, “Better,” which you can stream at Noo Yawk classic rawk station Q104.3. Incidentally, they are also running a search for New York’s hottest mom. Yowza.

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We love Machine Head and we love Iron Maiden, so naturally Machine Head covering Iron Maiden would be a good thing, right? Yes indeed. The track comes from the Maiden Heaven compilation released by Kerrang in July, which also features loads of other cool bands covering Maiden. The below video is included on The Blackening bonus edition which comes out today.

The new Weiland video comes from Happy in Galoshes, his 2nd solo record, due November 25th. I actually rather like Weiland’s solo work — 12 Bar Blues, released 10 years ago, was an exercise in completely drugged-out nonsensicalness on the level of John Frusciante’s in-between-stints-in-RHCP solo work. This song is alright; it’s definitely different from STP, and WAY different from Velvet Revolver, but it’s decidedly more focused than his first record.

Watch the vids after the jump.

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Given all the shit Velvet Revolver has pulled over the last few years, and the fact that most post-GN’R projects by that band’s original line-up are pretty lackluster, you couldn’t exactly blame someone for thinking that Duff McKagan’s Loaded would suck ass for sure. But McKagan seems to have learned from his past mistakes; after Geffen dumped not one but two of his solo albums, he’s now signed to Century, a considerably smaller label than you’d expect given his connections and squillions of dollars, which would suggest he’s not in it for the money, a nice change of pace from the usual greedy bullshit we see these kind of rock tars pull these days.

Of course, putting his ego aside and saying “Y’know, I think I actually have enough cash, thanks” would mean nothing if Loaded was terrible, but they’re not; they make the kind of catchy hard rock that fewer and fewer bands seem to indulge in these days (Even Queens of the Stone Age seem to have pretty much given up.). And they’re not afraid to come across as genuinely messy: McKagan obviously isn’t the best singer in the world, but you’ll never hear the guy use auto-tune, not even for a second, God love ‘im.

So Loaded far exceeds expectations, and almost – almost – redeems McKagan for those terrible John Varvatos ads he did with the rest of VR a year or so ago.

Here’s Loaded’s video for “No More.”

-AR

No booze at a Motley fucking Crue show? Jesus fucking Christ. That must be like having sex with a condom made of nails.

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I gotta say, I’m loving this “Who will be the new singer for Velvet Revolver?” guessing game. I’m probably having way more fun with all the rumors than I will with the actual band once they do announce a replacement for Scott “My Days on this Earth are Surely Numbered” Weiland.

The latest probably-not-true bit of gossip is that Lenny Kravitz is gonna take over for Weiland. I don’t see any incentive for Kravitz to step into Weiland’s shoes, but maybe he really just wants to, y’know, do it for the fun of it.

ANYWAY, Kravitz has a history of working with the former members of GN’R – Slash co-wrote his hit “Always on the Run,” which was deemed “too funky” for GN’R, and then Kravitz later performed the song with the band for their Paris PPV special:

-AR