Metallica have been working on this movie for quite awhile now. What started out being a concert film turned into a full feature film that incorporates concert footage. The story line involves a roadie(played by Dane Dehaan from The Amazing Spiderman 2) sent on a special mission by the band. From the looks of this trailer things seem to go very wrong.
Through The Never will hit IMAX screens in North America on September 27 and then regular theaters on October 4.
As far as Metallica recording a new album, James Hetfield told Billboard, "I want it done yesterday and [Orion] and this movie is keeping us pretty busy at this point and it's taking a lot of our time and effort. We've been touring some obscure places; I guess basically what we're trying to do is pay for this movie, so the touring is keeping us from getting in there and finishing the record. Right now the focus is on the movie."
While Disturbed is on indefinite hiatus guitarist Dan Donnegan and drummer Mike Wengren have formed Fight Or Flight, Bassist John Moyer has joined Adrenaline Mob, and singer David Draiman has his project called Device. Of course Disturbed fans are wondering what that means for the future of the band. This morning Draiman addressed those concerns with this statement:
MY DEAR DISTURBED ONES;
WHILE DISTURBED'S HIATUS IS IN EFFECT (AND NONE OF US TRULY KNOW HOW LONG THAT WILL LAST), MYSELF, DAN, MIKE, AND JOHN, WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE YOU ON THE GOINGS ON/PROJECTS FROM THE DISTURBED FAMILY. THERE'S NO ONE WE'D RATHER SHARE IT WITH, AS YOU, OUR LIFEBLOOD, HAVE GIVEN US EVERYTHING AND WE WOULD BE NOTHING/ARE NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT. THIS HIATUS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PROJECTS EACH MEMBER OF DISTURBED IS CURRENTLY INVOLVED WITH. IT HAS TO DO WITH STOPPING THE ASSEMBLY LINE TYPE OF MACHINE THE DISTURBED LEVIATHAN HAD BECOME, GIVING OURSELVES AND THE FANS TIME AWAY FROM IT SO THAT WE CAN EVENTUALLY REUNITE, WITH NEW INSPIRATION AND APPRECIATION FROM BOTH THE BAND SIDE, AND THE FAN SIDE. WHEN WE EVENTUALLY REUNITE, AND WE WILL, IT WILL BE AN EVENT, AND ONE THAT WILL HAVE GREATER MEANING FOR ALL OF US. BITTERNESS AT OUR INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS IS REALLY QUITE MISPLACED. SO PLEASE SUPPORT DEVICE, FIGHT OR FLIGHT, AND ADRENALINE MOB AS THEY ARE FRUIT BORN OF THIS HIATUS; WERE COUNTING ON ALL OF YOU. WE WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU ALL AS INVOLVED AS POSSIBLE AND UPDATE YOU AS THINGS PROGRESS. ALL MY LOVE AND RESPECT,
-DAVID
P.S. LOL...AS IVE SAID BEFORE THE CAPS ARE A STYLE PREFERENCE, BEEN DOING IT FOR YEARS/THERE'S A REAL WORLD OUTSIDE YOUR COMPUTER WHERE BIG LETTERS ARE JUST BIG LETTERS, THEY DO NOT ACTUALLY EMIT SOUND; ITS NOT CHANGING, SO IN THE WORDS OF DAN DONEGAN "BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT".
Remember that time the Cops showed up to that party we were playing at and confiscated all our beers? Don't let that happen again with the new Marshall Fridge! Hide those beers, bottles of Vodka, leftover pizza, or body parts(if you're into the whole Scandanavian Black Metal thing) in this rocking new fridge! Or tack the racks out and crank a keg up to 11! Not enough room? Just make yourself a Marshall Fridge Stack! After you have a few, just make sure you plug into the right head.
Founding member of the Doors, Ray Manzarek died yesterday after a battle with Bile Duct Cancer. He was 74. You can get more details on his death here. If you are a fan of Rock Music, hopefully you are aware of the influence of The Doors. Ray Manzarek had a signature sound that made the band recognizable in the first few seconds of the song. It was a mix between Saloon Piano player and Psychedelic Church Organ. Manzarek also took on low end duty by playing Bass parts on a Fender Rhodes Piano. Which made The Doors incredible groove all the more amazing to me. To have that kind of swing without an actual bass player is pretty awesome.
Doors drummer John Densmore gave this statement yesterday:
"There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison's words. Ray, I felt totally in sync with you musically. It was like we were of one mind, holding down the foundation for Robby and Jim to float on top of. I will miss my musical brother."
To back up Mr. Densmore's statement, check out this performance for Dutch Television from 1968:
So Jimmy Page said he was up for a Led Zeppelin tour after their very successful reunion show in 2007 at London's O2 Arena. But Robert Plant said not right now. Then, late last year, Robert Plant said he might be up for a Zeppelin tour. Crickets from Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. So Mr. Plant is hitting the road with his Sensational Space Shifters. That show will be coming to the Bank Of America Pavilion in Boston on July 25. Get more info here. If you're wondering if he's doing Zeppelin songs, the answer is yes! But don't expect a true to form reading of the classics. That's not Mr. Plant's style. Here's a version of "Black Dog" from a recent show in South America.
Queens Of The Stone Age keep the animated creepiness rolling with the latest video for new song, "My God Is The Sun". The track is from the upcoming album ...Like Clockwork which comes out on June 4. I'm getting the feeling that when this album is released it will open the gates of hell and be the soundtrack to the Apocalypse. Maybe that's just me?
*UPDATE*
They just released the whole weird package strung together. My suggestion? Take a couple of healthy rips from the bong, turn all the lights off, and enjoy.
In the past few centuries Transylvania has gotten a pretty bad rap for being the land of blood sucking freak vampires. The whole Dracula thing really didn't help(Thanks Bram Stoker!) and of course we root our blame for Twilight upon that. But Transylvanian Artist Sandu Ciorba has been providing his style of Romanian folk and weirdness for many years. As you can tell by this video it's not all Bats in the Belfry Transylvania:
F**ck Yeah that Rocks! I'm guessing you didn't make it through the whole video. I'm also guessing you're disappointed that the hot Romanian chick didn't get naked. But you'll come back... Sandu beckons you...
Heavy Metal fans are some of the most passionate and fanatical on the planet. The most beaten down genre of music is always the underdog, always fighting for respect. Well that moment of coveted validity may be here thanks to the British Institution of learning known as New College Nottingham. They are currently offering a two year degree in Heavy Metal Music Performance.
The classes will cover the history, cultural significance, and relationship Heavy Metal has to religion. It will also cover some of the business of Metal. Get a full course description here. Does the offering of a degree make Metal more legitimate? Ask Lemmy from Motorhead or Phil Anselmo if they think a College Degree in Metal would've been beneficial to their careers? I'm sure their responses would be quite informative and colorful. Maybe a class on Entertainment Contracts and Music Publishing would be more useful. I'm sure King Diamond didn't have a teacher tell him to paint his face like a demon. But I would safely guess he may have had a few teachers tell him to get out of their class once or twice.
The class should come with a warning: Loving Heavy Metal may cause a debilitating addiction. That is exactly what happened to 42 year old Roger Tullgren of Hasselholm, Sweden. According to three Psychologists(who, I'm guessing don't want to lose their sweet government grants) Mr. Tullgren's Heavy Metal Lifestyle disables him from having normal employment because of discrimination. Apparently he lost a few jobs because he attends around 300 Metal shows a year and can't get his fucking priorities straight. So now the Swedish Government pays part of his salary and his new job as a dishwasher allows him to listen to his music while working as well as giving him time off to go to shows.
Tullgren said he had been trying for ten years to get this scam approved. He says his debilitation began at age two when his brother played Black Sabbath for him.(Ozzy is still getting blamed for shit, unbelievable.) In an interview for the Swedish publication,The Local, he said,"Some might say that I should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but I can't. Heavy metal is my lifestyle." Don't get me wrong, but I love me some Metal too. But somehow the words, "Shut The Fuck Up" come to mind.
During Astronaut Chris Hadfield's stint as Commander of the International Space Station he has used twitter to help us understand why exactly we are sending humans into space. Now he is using the Music Video medium on his last day in orbit to convey the beauty of looking down from on his home planet.
This is the first music video created in space and maybe the first recorded music. Hadfield recorded his vocals and guitar on the ISS while he had a band do the rest on Earth. Despite his Porno-stache he deliver's a heartfelt version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity"; a song, I always thought, was about heroin addiction. But with some minor lyrical changes for accuracy he does a pretty good job at a more literal translation. Talk about getting cred! This guy was able to get more high than any Rock Star in history. Plus he's had to poop in a bag for 5 month's AND he did it sober!
Safe landing Commander Hadfield.
Commander Hadfield, I have a request for when you come back to Earth. PLEASE do NOT do a cover of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom". That song drives me nuts! Thanks and congratulations.
Visual Effects Pioneer and Legend Ray Harryhausen passed away today in London (5/7/13) at the age of 92. Harryhausen created a type of stop motion animation called "Dynamation" which was way ahead of it's time. That time being the 1950's and 60's. After seeing the original King Kong film as a kid he dedicated his life to being a visual effects artist. Here's a short list of some of the movies that featured his greatest work:
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) Mysterious Island (1961) Jason and the Argonauts (1963) One Million Years B.C. (1966) The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Harryhausen inspired the works of Directors like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton(who gave a nod to the artist in his movie Corpse Bride by putting his name on a piano that the main characters played). Peter Jackson said, "The Lord Of The Rings is my Ray Harryhausen movie." James Cameron(Avatar, Titanic, Aliens) said, "I think all of us who are practitioners in the arts of science-fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we're standing on the shoulders of a giant. If not for Ray's contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn't be who we are."
His passing today triggered a great memory from my childhood when my family lived in West Newton, MA. I'm going to get really Old and Farty here. When I was 8-9 years old my fellow Davis Elementary School friends and myself would walk down to the West Newton Cinemas a few Saturdays during the Summer and catch their weekly Sci-Fi/Fantasy Double Feature. The fact that our parents would let us do this on our own amazes me. It was like 2 bucks and air conditioned, with cheap popcorn. That's where I was introduced to Harryhausen's work. I caught most of the movies listed above which amazed and scared the crap out of me. Those Skeleton's from Jason And The Argonauts still creep me out to this day. I tried watching it on acid once and ran from the house in horror. Luckily I was clothed.
I found this sampler of most of his work. I also posted the Skeleton Fight from Jason And The Argonauts separately because it's still brilliant. Harryhausen worked 4 months on that scene unassisted. Look at those blood thirsty sons-a-bitches! Imagine them unleashed on a Rankin/Bass set? There would be Elf parts everywhere!
Sweet Dreams....
p.s. He also had the best Sushi place in Monstropolis.
Shinedown are becoming Kings of the Rock Power Ballad. The kind of song where you find your arm reaching for a lighter once it starts. The kind of song that could be great for a slow dance but kicks in just enough to make it seem a little awkward. Must be their Duval County, Florida roots. Lynyrd Skynyrd are from the same area. One thing is for sure, Brent Smith's voice is for real. No auto-tune there.
This performance was recorded live at Henson Studios, Hollywood CA:
Just using a bottle opener isn't good or fun enough for those crazy beer loving Germans. Quite honestly if it takes even a few more seconds to open my beer I get very impatient and cranky. Maybe that's just because I'm an American(or I'm an alcoholic).
The full on case opener is quite useful in a group drinking situation but the backhoe? Actually it would be pretty funny to have that dude drive around some festival or parking lot offering to open your beer. Although eventually, somebody is going to lose an eye.
This is a preview clip for the song "I Appear Missing" from the new Queens Of The Stone Age album ..Like Clockwork, out on June 4. It starts with a heavily bandaged and bleeding man waking(or rising) in the middle of one of Josh Homme's favorite subjects, The Desert. He seemingly wills himself to float past several hazards like hungry vermin and prickly cacti to an urban area where he ends up..well, you'll see. It's good to see QOTSA remain as creepy as ever. it's all about the Weirdness.
Metallica were honored by their Hometown team with a "Metallica Night" at AT&T Park in San Francisco. They didn't have Metallica Bobble heads but they did give out sweet Giants/Metallica caps and had Drummer Lars Ulrich throw out the first pitch. The most Rock part of the night was James Hetfield and Kirk Hammet injecting the Metal into the "Star Spangled Banner". I've always been a sucker for the epic twin guitar lead and when applied to our National Anthem, it was double Epic.
By the way, those sweet Caps are already $96.00 on Ebay.
Volbeat's greasy haired leader Michael Poulsen described their sound the best when he asked the crowd at The House Of Blues last night, "Do you want Metal? Do you want Rock-N-Roll? Do you want Country? Do you want Punk?" They delivered all of that with a steely-eyed confidence for 90 minutes. I have indentations in my skull to prove it.
They Hammered the crowd with songs from the new album, Outlaw Gentlemen And Shady Ladies like "Perl Hart", "Doc Holiday", and the Maiden-esque "The Hangman's Body Count". But the highlights of the night were older tunes like a pummeling version of "A Warrior's Call" from Beyond Hell/Above Heaven, witch was basically a challenge to every sweaty guy in the place to hurl themselves into the pit. And the Johnny Cash tribute "Sad Man's Tongue" witch started with an acoustic strum before being blasted full on with the railroad beat of Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" ,but on nuclear steroids.
By the end of the last song "Pool Of Booze Booze Booza" The House Of Blues was a steaming sweaty mess of drunken piles of flesh. Not once through the whole show did Poulsen not smile. Grinning while he and his band delivered a steady stream of beatings to the rabid dog crowd. With his black vest and Sheriff's badge he looked like the Doc Holiday from the song, prowling the OK Corral for a kill. He has a lot to be happy about with his band on a rocket trip and an album doing the same on the charts. You were lucky if you were in attendance. This might be the last time Volbeat plays a room this small in Boston.
It's called "How Not To Orgasm". All of these would be rather deflating and embarrassing. Although the reference to Rammstein wouldn't be too bad. It would confuse the wife though.
What would be worse is thinking of Rammstein at the point of orgasm. Or, having them in the room with you.
