Hard Rock
Tom Morello Releases Comandante EP Featuring Eddie Van Halen Tribute and Slash Collaboration: Stream
Tom Morello has just dropped a new EP dubbed Comandante. The five-song effort features a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen, a collaboration with Slash, and a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child”. The Rage Against the Machine guitarist calls the song “Secretariat” an Eddie Van Halen tribute, and it’s easy to hear why. The guitar track features some intricate scaling reminiscent of Van Halen’s instrumental classic “Eruption”. Morello does battle with Slash on the song “Interstate 80”, and even promoted the track on Twitter with a side-by-side video of the two guitar greats performing the song next to their Guitar Hero avatars. The EP leads off with Morello’s take on the Hendrix classic “Voodoo Child”, while the tracks “Suburban Guerrilla” and “Cato Stedman & Neptune Frost” close out ...
David Lee Roth Dedicates Previously Unreleased Song to Eddie Van Halen: Stream
David Lee Roth has unveiled a previously unreleased song called “Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill” in dedication to his late bandmate Eddie Van Halen. The track was recorded several years ago with guitarist John 5 as part of a full album’s worth of material that was shelved. The song features John 5 on acoustic guitar as DLR reflects on his pre-fame days on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California. A still graphic accompanying the YouTube clip contains the words “Hey Ed, I’m gonna miss ya … See you on the other side.” Previously, Roth shared a photo of himself with Eddie Van Halen on Twitter, along with the caption, ‘What a long great trip it’s been.” Around six years ago, Roth and John 5 co-wrote and recorded an entire album, but it never saw the light of day. Last year, Roth pro...
Mike Patton: John Carpenter’s Halloween “Made Me Not Want to Trick or Treat When I Was a Kid”
Mike Patton is a man of many musical hats. He’s the celebrated singer of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Tomahawk, and Dead Cross, just to name a few, as well as the co-owner of the acclaimed independent record label Ipecac Recordings. He also knows a good scary movie when he sees one. We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Patton, who told us all about Mr. Bungle’s new album, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo, and how he was navigating the pandemic both professionally and personally. During our conversation, he also took time to remember the late Eddie Van Halen, telling us the guitarist’s “level of musicianship was off the chart.” Knowing Patton was a bit of a film buff, we couldn’t let him go without asking him to recommend a few movies for Halloween night, especially consider...
Rob Zombie Announces New Album The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy, Unveils “King Freak”: Stream
Rob Zombie has announced his long-awaited new album, The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy. The veteran rocker’s seventh solo LP won’t be released until March 12th, but the first single, “The Triumph of King Freak (A Crypt of Preservation and Superstition)”, is available now. The 17-song album will arrive nearly five years after Rob Zombie’s previous LP, 2016’s The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser. The single, shortened as “King Freak”, marks his first new song and music video in more than four years. The track is heavy on the riffs, thanks to guitarist John 5, with a thunderous rhythm section powered by bassist Piggy D and drummer Ginger Fish. The song is accompanied by a music video that combines newly shot footage with concert scenes, presented in...
Deftones Announce White Pony Reissue Featuring New Black Stallion Remix Album
Deftones have announced a 20th anniversary deluxe edition of their landmark 2000 album, White Pony, featuring a bonus LP of brand-new remixes dubbed Black Stallion. The extra disc features reworkings of each song on White Pony by the likes of DJ Shadow, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, and more. In advance of its December 11th release, Deftones have unveiled Purity Ring’s remix of “Knife Prty”. The official announcement comes after Deftones revealed their intention to release Black Stallion during a virtual press conference back in June, at which time they discussed the 20th anniversary of White Pony. At the time, singer Chino Moreno said, “We’re going to be releasing later in the year a reissue of [White Pony] and we’re going to do sort of a split side of the record, a...
New Music-Competition TV Show to Feature Alice Cooper, Lzzy Hale, Gavin Rossdale, Bishop Briggs as Judges
A new music-competition TV show called No Cover is going into production, featuring Alice Cooper, Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale, alt-pop singer Bishop Briggs, and Animals as Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi as judges. The reality program will focus on finding artists and bands who compete with their own original material. The show is being produced by Hit Parader, which was once the name of a popular rock magazine but was recently relaunched as a TV/film production company. The competition will be filmed at the famed Troubadour club and the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, California. No Cover is being billed as an alternative to programs like American Idol and The Voice, which mostly rely on competitors singing cover songs. And judging by the aforementioned judges, No C...
Five Things to Know About Puscifer’s New Album Existential Reckoning
Five years after the release of their last album, Money Shot, Puscifer are back with their fourth LP, Existential Reckoning. As with the band’s previous releases, the album comes with an abundance of intrigue and mystique. Puscifer — featuring core members of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round — have crafted a 12-song album that is both experimental and cinematic in quality. The songs range from the dance-y “Apocalyptical” to the angry “Fake Affront”. The album also continues the story of the fictional characters Billy D and his wife, Hilda Berger, who’ve been portrayed by Keenan and Laura Milligan, respectively, in promotion of the band’s previous LPs. Along with the announcement of Existential Reckoning came a classified document that reported on an alien abducti...
Nine Inch Nails Are Selling Face Masks with Removable Words
The coronavirus pandemic is still raging on, and that means everyone should follow the CDC guidelines: quarantine when you’re feeling sick, socially distance when you’re out, and wear a mask if there’s anyone nearby no matter what. Thankfully, Nine Inch Nails can help you with that last step, as they’ve just rolled out their own line of face masks to deal with COVID-19. Say hello to the “NIN Modular Face Mask Starter Kit”, a $35 ctton face mask deal that comes with interchangeable messages “for uncertain times” like these. Both of the grey and black masks have a filter, a bendable nose band, adjustable over-the-ear ringlets, and 13 replaceable patches to let the world know how you’re feeling: “DIRTY,” “CLEAN,” “NUMB,” “ENRAGED,” “BROKEN,” “FIXED,” “FRAGILE,” “PIG,” “ASLEEP,” “AWAKE,” “COMP...
Filter Target “Trump-Supporting Nutbags” with New “Murica” Video: Watch
Filter mastermind Richard Patrick is on a political vendetta with the band’s upcoming album, Murica. As the frontman said himself, he’s targeting “Trump-supporting nutbags” with an incendiary video for the album’s title track. Patrick has been outspokenly anti-Trump on social media, opinions that led to the cancellation of a Filter show in the state of Texas in 2019. In the video, the singer portrays his version of a radical right winger, and he pulls no punches. “I just wanted to show this surreal, crazy side of what America looks like,” he told Alternative Press. “I literally am doing it just so the record shows that someone was willing to f**kin’ say something about the right. Something about how crazy they are.” The gun wielding, Nazi saluting characters in the “Murica” video are caric...
Alice Cooper Launches His Own Horror-Themed Party Game
When he’s not satirically running for president, the legendary Alice Cooper usually has his hands in a variety of multimedia projects, from his long-running syndicated radio show to inspirational music videos. The shock rocker’s latest endeavor is just in time for Halloween: a horror-themed party game called HorrorBox. The Cards Against Humanity-style game was written by Cooper and a host of other horror fanatics. It takes the basic CAH concept of pairing setup and answer phrases from different cards to create absurd statements. For example: “‘The tenth circle of hell is for’ … ‘setting up my haunted house as an Airbnb.’” There are also dare cards mixed in with the question cards, prompting players to engage in a spooky action. Cooper’s version of the addictive game is geared specifi...
Butch Vig Says Nirvana’s Nevermind “Would Not Have the Same Cultural Impact” If Released Today
Out of all the people to debate the relevancy of Nirvana in the modern day, perhaps nobody’s as fit to do so as Garbage drummer Butch Vig. He produced the band’s breakout album, Nevermind, back in 1991, but even he doubts the grunge icons would have the similar type of “cultural impact” today. “I think it would be tough to repeat that zeitgeist moment,” Vig told NME. “If Nevermind came out this week, despite being a great record, it would not have the same cultural impact. It was perfect timing coming out when there was a shift in music and it felt like a revolution. I can see that happening again, but not in the same way.” Vig’s opinion isn’t meant as a slight to Nirvana, of course. If anything, it’s a comment on how much the industry has changed since then. Which is why he’s so...
Puscifer’s Maynard James Keenan and Mat Mitchell on Existential Reckoning, Alien Abduction, and More
In the midst of a pandemic and a truly bizarre year, it somehow feels like an ideal time for Puscifer to release a new album. The experimental rock act is back with a new LP, Existential Reckoning, and it’s a fitting document of the times, even if that wasn’t intentional. Led by a core of Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Mat Mitchell, and Carina Round, Puscifer have often thrown out the rulebook when it comes to rock ‘n’ roll. Each album is surrounded by eccentric characters, while the music is equally unconventional. Existential Reckoning is no exception, picking up on the story of the fictional characters Billy D (apparently now abducted by aliens) and his wife, Hildy Berger, as it had left off with 2015’s Money Shot. The new album is shrouded in a cloud of alien activity, from its init...
