Heavy Music News
Slash Unveils Gibson “Victoria” Les Paul Standard Goldtop Electric Guitar
Gibson and Slash have announced the “Victoria” Les Paul Standard Goldtop electric guitar, the latest instrument in the company’s expansive Slash Collection of signature models. The “Victoria” Les Paul Standard features a maple top, a solid mahogany body, a dark back finish and personal touches from Slash, including a C-shaped neck profile, uncovered Gibson Custom BurstBucker Alnico 2 pickups, color coordinated hardware appointments, hand-wired electronics with Orange Drop capacitors, and a vintage style brown hardshell case. Exclusive to the collection is Slash’s “Skully” drawing on the back of the headstock and the guitarist’s signature on the truss rod cover. Developed in tandem with Slash himself, if you want to play and sound like the guitar legend, look no further than this new Les Pa...
Bad Religion Announce Four-Part “Decades” Streaming Performance Series
Bad Religion were hoping to tour in celebration of their 40th anniversary this year. Instead, the punk-rock veterans will mark the milestone with a four-part streaming performance series dubbed “Decades”. “Decades” will be divided into four episodes, one for each decade of the band’s existence: “The ’80s”, “The ’90s, “The ’00s”, “The ’10s”. Each episode will feature footage from a new set filmed at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles. In addition to the new performances of songs from each era, the episodes will include exclusive interviews, archival footage from each decade, and more. The band will also participate in a live chat as each episode premieres. “I can speak for the whole band when I say that we were so disappointed to not be able to tour this year,” said singer Greg Graffin in a pr...
David Lee Roth Creates Morbid Artwork Referencing Sammy Hagar
The rivalry between erstwhile Van Halen singers David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar has taken on a new art form … and a morbid one, at that. Diamond Dave has created a new piece of artwork that makes several references to the Red Rocker’s future passing and afterlife. Roth’s art piece comes just a few days after Hagar said he would have loved to take part in an all-inclusive Van Halen farewell tour featuring all three of the band’s singers (including Gary Cherone), despite a “not user friendly” DLR. The “kitchen-sink” tour, as Wolfgang Van Halen referred to it, was being planned by Eddie Van Halen before his passing in October. While the timing of Roth’s artwork seems to be in direct response to Hagar’s harsh words, the subject matter apparently references quotes that Hagar made back in June. A...
Primus Announce Concert Livestream “Alive From Pachyderm Station”
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Primus were forced to postpone their Rush tribute tour and other dates earlier this year. Now, to make it up to their fans, they’ve announced a “one-of-a-kind” virtual concert called “Alive From Pachyderm Station”. Their first live performance of 2020, the event will see Primus deliver a set from Les Claypool’s own California winery Claypool Cellars. There’s no telling whether the funk metal outfit still plan to pay tribute to Rush and late drummer Neil Peart, or if Aquaman himself will make a cameo, but Claypool & co. are definitely promising viewers a very memorable time “Strange, eclectically wonderful things tend to happen when the three of us get in a room together with our instruments. This will be an intimate and casual performance between t...
Corey Taylor Stars in Horror Film Bad Candy, Says Slipknot Could Release New Album in 2021
Longtime horror cinephile Corey Taylor has filmed a starring role in the upcoming movie Bad Candy alongside Zach Galligan of Gremlins fame. In addition to discussing the film, Taylor hinted in a separate interview that Slipknot could release their next album in 2021. The movie is structured in the classic horror anthology format. Taylor plays a radio DJ who weaves scary stories to his listeners — a task well-suited for the voice of Slipknot — with his co-host (played by Galligan). In a Creepshow-inspired twist, the stories come to life in graphic reenactments that owe much to the great horror films of yore such as Halloween and, of course, Gremlins. “It’s a pretty cool little horror movie that has a linear story going through it, but it’s really kind of made up of different short...
Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland: Deftones Made “Right Move” by Renouncing Nu Metal
Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland achieved massive success amidst the nu metal craze of the late ’90s and early 2000s. That said, he thinks fellow nu metal pioneers Deftones made the “right move” for their longterm career by renouncing the genre. While appearing on Dean Delray’s Let There Be Talk podcast, Borland was asked about where Bizkit fit in during the rise of nu metal. “A lot of it sort of all developed at once — Korn, and the Deftones … The Deftones really tried to separate themselves from everything, which was the right move, for sure. Because they were able to maintain longevity.” Deftones consciously made the decision to not tour with bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn, and abandoned the nu metal genre in terms of both scene and sound. In the process, Deftones have earned critical...
Marilyn Manson’s Role Cut from Stephen King’s The Stand Miniseries
More than a year ago, Marilyn Manson announced that he would be acting in CBS All Access’ miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. With just a few weeks to go before its December 17th premiere, the show’s director, Josh Boone, has revealed that the shock rocker’s role has been cut from the limited TV series. While Manson’s particular role was never formally unveiled by the series’ creators, it was assumed by many that he would play the pyromaniac Trashcan Man from the 1978 novel. However, it was recently revealed that actor Ezra Miller would play that role, leading to speculation that Manson had been cut from the series. As it turns out, Manson was set to play The Kid, a character who appeared in an extended version of King’s novel, but not in the original story. As dir...
Eddie Van Halen Covers Jimi Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9” on Newly Unearthed Recording: Stream
Jimi Hendrix from Live in Maui, courtesy Experience Hendrix / Eddie Van Halen, photo by Philip Cosores A cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “If 6 Was 9” featuring guitarwork by the late Eddie Van Halen has been unearthed. The archival track was recorded in the ’90s with keyboardist David Garfield, who recovered and remastered the song for a new EP, Guitar Heros OTB, Vol. 1. Eddie shreds through a decadent solo on the classic Hendrix number. The Van Halen guitarist wasn’t known for his psychedelic flourishes, but he unfurls some mesmerizing licks that would have no doubt impressed Hendrix himself. After all, “If 6 Was 9” stands as a highlight on the latter’s 1967 opus Axis: Bold as Love, one of the great psych-rock albums of all-time. The cover came about when Garfield, a veteran keyboard and session ...
Creed’s Scott Stapp: Even My Kids Mock My “Over-the-Top” Singing
During their heyday, Creed were a multiplatinum success, but critics and many music fans have jeered at frontman Scott Stapp’s vocals over the years. Apparently, things aren’t much different among his family members, with his own children poking fun at his “over-the-top” singing. Stapp and Creed rose to fame in the late ’90s with inspirational rock hits like “Higher” and “With Arms Wide Open”. While they were ruling the charts, they were also getting ridiculed, with Stapp’s singing style bearing the brunt of the mockery. Not only did people says that Stapp was trying too hard to sound like Eddie Vedder, they also chided him for the way he over-enunciated his lyrics. In a new interview with The Ringer’s “10 Questions With Kyle Brandt”, Stapp admits that his singing on Creed’s first couple o...
System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” Video Passes a Billion Views on YouTube
The music video for System of a Down’s classic song “Chop Suey!” has surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube, making it one of few hard rock songs — and arguably the first metal song — to hit that illustrious mark. It’s certainly no surprise — “Chop Suey!” has been a System of a Down staple song since it dropped as the first single from the band’s 2001 masterpiece, Toxicity. It immediately made a huge impact on rock radio, and earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. As the YouTube numbers prove, the song’s relevance has endured. “Chop Suey!” joins the company of Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine”, Linkin Park’s “In the End” and “Numb”, and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in the YouTube billion club. While each of those songs definitely fall in...
Ozzy Osbourne on COVID-19: “If I Get This Virus, I’m F**ked”
Ozzy Osbourne has suffered through a number of health issues over the past few years, and the last thing he needs right now is to contract COVID-19. As the metal legend puts it, “If I get this virus, I’m f**ked”. Over the past two years, Osbourne has had a series of health setbacks, including a serious staph infection in late 2018, followed by pneumonia in early 2019. While he was recovering from pneumonia, he fell at home, dislodging metal rods that had been inserted into his body after an ATV accident in 2003. He then disclosed at the beginning of this year that he has been battling Parkinson’s disease for a long time. Had it not been for his various health problems and the pandemic, he likely would have completed his farewell tour by now. But he had to cancel all of his dates for the pa...
Sammy Hagar: Van Halen “Kitchen Sink” Tour Would’ve Rocked Despite a “Not User Friendly” David Lee Roth
Sammy Hagar would have gladly participated in Eddie Van Halen’s planned “kitchen sink” farewell tour featuring all three Van Halen singers. However, he admits it would’ve been tough to share the stage with David Lee Roth. In a new interview with SiriuxXM’s Eddie Trunk, Hagar said that the proposed tour would have been a “dream come true”, but expressed some misgivings about sharing the spotlight with founding Van Halen frontman Roth, whom Hagar replaced in 1985. The band’s third singer was Gary Cherone, who replaced Hagar and sang on 1998’s Van Halen III. The Hagar versus Roth eras of the band have always created contention among fans, but Hagar himself finds Roth “not user friendly.” Despite some choice words, Hagar was otherwise positive about the idea of featuring all three singers. “It...
